Yale University Library

39002006514245

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

DANIEL M FRENCH

AN

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

OF

CENTRAL OREGON

EMBRACING

WASCO, SHERMAN, GILLIAM, WHEELER, CROOK,
LAKE AND KLAMATH COUNTIES
STATE OF OREGON

Western Historical -Publishing Company
PUBLISHERS
SPOKANE, WASH,
1905

Copyright
"Western Historical Publishing Company
1905.

Cr 2 3,6-60

SDebicateb

TO THK

pioneers of Central ©regon
TO THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE
AND TO THOSE WHO REMAIN TO RECITE THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PAST
THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

Cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad coelum. "He who owns the soil owns up to the sky.'- — Law maxim.

Look up! the wide extended plain
Is billowy with its ripened grain;
And on the summer winds are rolled
Its waves of emerald and gold —
— William Henry Burleigh — "The Harvest Call'

The first farmer was the first man, and all historic nobility rests on possession and ute of land.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson_

FOREWORD.

ITH this volume are presented the histories of seven counties in Central Oregon,
aside from a general history of the state. It is nearly a year since the com
pilation of this work was begun, and the historical part alone has occupied the
time and attention of four writers. In the collection of this valuable data cheerful assist
ance has been rendered by so many prominent residents and pioneers of the territory
covered that it would be invidious to make special mention of any, but to all who have
so willingly contributed to make this history as reliable and authentic as possible, we
return our most sincere thanks.
Histories of the state of Oregon have been written before and the field ably covered
in a general way. But this, the latest work of the kind, goes more deeply into county
detail and contains some features that have never before been presented to the public.
For instance the two portraits of the Indian pilgrims to St. Louis in search of the
'White Mans Book," were procured by us from the Smithsonian Institute, and we believe
they have never before been reproduced in any history. Their arduous journey, from a
historical viewpoint, forms one of the most romantic episodes in the story of the old and
famous Territory of Oregon.
In the compilation of this work Mr. F. A. Shaver, collaborating with Arthur P. Rose,
R. F. Steele and A. E. Adams, has given to the public as complete and reliable a history
as time and money could make it. That this is substantiated by the citizens of Central
Oregon will be seen from the voluntary endorsements of seven committees representing
seven counties.
THE PUBLISHERS.

ENDORSEMENTS.

The Dalles, Wasco County, Ore., August 18, 1905
We, the undersigned pioneer citizens of Wasco County, Oregon, having had by long residence here and par
ticipation in the history making events of Wasco County, ample opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with
everything that goes to make up the History of Wasco County, being selected as a committee to review the manu
script of the History of Central Oregon, which refers particularly to Wasco County, and also such other manuscripts
of general history of the Northwest and the State of Oregon which are to be embodied in the volume above referred
to and published by the Western Historical Publishing Company, certify as follows:
That we have examined with care all these above mentioned manuscripts, making such corrections as were
needed; that the manuscripts show evidence of much conscientious and pains-taking labor; that they are, substantial,.
complete, accurate, authentic, and form a standard and reliable record ot events from the earliest days of settlement
to the present; and that we cheerfully and unreservedly commend and endorse these above mentioned portions of
the History of Central Oregon, as reliable and worthy. Signed —
Sam'l L. Brooks,
Committee -j E. L. Smith,
John Michell.

Condon, Oregon, August 5th, 1905'
We, the undersigned, a committee of citizens of Gilliam County, Oregon, have read in manuscript form that
part of the History of Central Oregon relating to Gilliam County, to be published by the Western Historical Pub
lishing Company, of Spokane, Washington. The work bears evidence of extensive research and a careful compila
tion of data relative to the history of our county, and is a clear, comprehensive and accurate record of events in this
county from the arrival of the first immigrants to the present time. As such we endorse and commend it as sub
stantially accurate. Signed —
L. W. Darling,
Committee -j J. H. Downing,
John Harrison.

Prinevii.le, Oregon, August 7th, 1905
We, a committee of Crook County citizens, have examined in manuscript form that part of the History of
Central Oregon relating to Crook County, which is to be published by the Western Historical Publishing Company,
of Spokane, Washington. We have made some corrections, and from our personal knowledge of events have made
some additions thereto. To the best of our belief the history is accurate and as such we endorse it.
Signed —
( Arthur Hodges,
Committee -j Knox Huston,
H. P. Belknap.

Klamath Falls, Oregon, June 13th, 1905
We, the undersigned, a committee of citizens of Klamath County, Oregon, have read in manuscript form, that
part of the History of Central Oregon relating to Klamath County, to be published by the Western Historical Pub
lishing Company, of Spokane, Washington. The work bears evidence of extensive research and a careful compila
tion of data relating to the history of our county, and is a clear, comprehensive and accurate record of events in the
Klamath County from the arrival of the first immigrants up to the present time. As such we endorse and commend
it as substantially accurate. Signed —
( O. A. Stearns,
Committee •] I. D. Applegate,
( J. L. Hanks.

ENDORSEMENTS. vif

Lakeview, Oregon, July 29th, 1905
The undersigned, a committee of Lake County, Oregon, citizens, have examined so much of the History of
Central Oregon as relates exclusively to Lake County, which is to be published by the Western Historical Publish
ing Company, of Spokane, Washington. The history is complete and comprehensive, and, to the best of our
knowledge and belief, is accurate. The work shows that the editors have spent considerable time in research,
reading and collecting data, and the result is a history whichAve cheerfully endorse and commend to the citizens of
Lake County. Signed —

[ C. U. Snider,
Committee < J. B. Blair,
( J. Frankl.

Fossil, Oregon, August 2, 1905
We, the undersigned, a committee of citizens of Wheeler County, Oregon, have read, in manuscript form, that
part of the History of Central Oregon relating to Wheeler County, to be published by the Western Historical Pub
lishing Company, of Spokane, Washington. The work bears evidence of extensive research and a careful compila
tion of data relating to the history of our county, and is a clear, comprehensive and accurate record of events in this
county from the arrival of the first immigrants to the- present time. As such we endorse and commend it as sub
stantially accurate. Signed —
( J. D. McFarland,
Committee -j W. S. Thompson,
( D. Hamilton.

Moro, Oregon, August 10, 1905-
We, the undersigned, a committee of citizens of Sherman County, Oregon, have read, in manuscript form, from
that part of the History of Central Oregon relating to Sherman county, to be published by the Western Historical
Publishing Company, of Spokane, Washington. The work bears evidence of extensive research and a careful com
pilation of data relative to the history of our county, and is a clear, comprehensive and accurate record of events in
this county from the arrival of the first immigrants up to the present time. As such we endorse and commend it as ¦
substantially accurate. Signed —
( H. S. McDanel,
Committee -j C. L. Irkland,
( John Fulton.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PART I
CHAPTER I
Explorations, Coastwise and Inland.
"The Seacoast of Oregon a Historic Region— Cabrillo the Earliest Navigator in these waters— Francis Drake At
tempts to Find a Northwest Passage— Spain's Aggressiveness in Maritime Explorations— Voyages of Juan
deFuca and Vitus Bering— The Advance Guard of Inland Explorers— First Expedition of Alexander Mac
kenzie—Shadowy Theory Concerning the Word Oregon— Explorations of Jonathan Carver— Valuable Re
sults of the Expedition of Mackenzie — Monacht Ape 
CHAPTER II
Explorations by Land.
"Maratime Adventures for a Number of Years Quiescent— Determined Efforts of Verendrye to Force a Passage
Through the Rocky Mountains— Proposition of President Jefferson to the American Philosophical Society in
1792-Congress Votes an Appropriation for Lewis and Clark— The Treaty of Ryswick— War Between France
and Great Britian— The Louisiana Purchase— Attitude of Napoleon Bonaparte— Joshua Pitcher Describes
the Territory Beyond the Rocky Mountains— Jefferson's Opinion, of Captain Meriwether Lewis— The Expe
dition Starts From St. Louis— Their Journey Through "Oregon"— Description of Various Tribes of Indians
—Arrival at The Dallas and Cascades— Lewis and Clark Reach Tidewater— The Return Trip  6
CHAPTER III
What John Jacob Astor Did.
The Great Fur Companies of the Far Northwest— The Beaver, the Sea Otter and the Seal— John Jacob Astor
Establishes a Trading Post at the Mouth of the Columbia— The Hudson's Bay and the Northwest Companies
—Bloody Tragedy on the Ship Tonquin — David Thompson and party arrive at Astoria — Pitiable Condition of
the Hunt Expedition— Two Distinct Elements of Trappers — Scientific Swindling of Indians by Government
Agents and Traders— Melancholy Fate of John Day— The Gateway of the Sun-Kissed Pacific— Stuart's Trip
from Okanogan to Astoria— Ross Cox Arrives at Astoria— Betrayal of Astor by His Partners— A Scandalous
Deal — The Scheme of Astor Grand it Its Aim But Unfortunate in Its Conclusion  19
CHAPTER IV
The Oregon Controversy.
Struggle of Five Nations for Possession of Oregon — The Question All Important and Far-Reaching — Proud Boast
of France — The Hudson's Bay Company Falls Into Line — Russia is Counted out of the Contest — Presumptu
ous Claims of Prince Rupert's Gigantic Fur Syndicate — Graphic Description of the Hudson's Bay Company
by Mr. Barrows — Indian Policy of the Company — Its treatment of Missionaries and Antagonism to Progress
— Expedition of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville— Enterprise of Nathaniel J. Wyeth — He Returns to Massachu
setts Disheartened — England Condones the Manifest Wrongs ot the Hudson's Bay Company — Dark and
Criminal Deeds of this Silent, Mysterious Force — Long Continued International Dispute Over the Northern
Boundary of the United States— The War of 1812— Oregon Question Still Drags Along Like a Wounded
Snake — Astoria Restored to the United States by the Treaty of Ghent — Americans Strike Oregon Where the
English Failed— Oregon Left Out of the Ashburton Treaty — Dr. Marcus Whitman Goes From Oregon to
Washington, D. C. — Rufus Choate Speaks fcr Peace— The Question at Last Settled  31

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER V
t The Tragedy of Whitman's Mission.
Four Flathead Indian Chiefs Make a Perilous Journey to St. Louis After the "White Man's Book"— Their Re
quest, Perforce, Denied and Their Mission Becomes a Signal Failure — Indian Eloquence — President Fiske
Calls Upon Missionaries to Carry the Bible to the Indians — Personal Description of Dr. Marcus Whitman —
Text of His Famous Letter to Secretary of War Porter — Unjust Accusatioris Against Whitman Disproved —
Indian Superstition the Cause of the Fiendish Massacre at Waiilatpu — Barbarous Treatment by the Savages
of Patients Suffering From Measles — Sinister Conspiracy of Tamsuky and His Adherents — Names of the
Victims of the Massacre — Statement of Mr. Osborne— Inhuman Treatment of Mr. Hall by Agent McBean—
Organization of a Company of Oregon Volunteers — Factor Ogden Reaches Fort Walla Walla December 15,
1847 — Pow-wow With the Indian Assassins — Rev. H. H. Spalding Arrives at the Fort on New Years Day,
1848— List of Early Oregon Settlers  43
CHAPTER VI
The Cayuse War.
Attempts to Whitewash the Dastardly Conduct of Mr. McBean — But the Reasoning is Pitiful and Contemptible
Enough to Excite the Scorn of the Whole World — Americans Spring to Arms on Receipt of News of the
Whitman Massacre — James Douglas Writes to Governor Abernethy — Intense Excitement at the Willamette
Settlement on Reception of this Epistle — Patriotic Communication From Jesse Applegate, A. J. Lovejoy and
George L. Curry— Colonel Gilliam Leads a Regiment Against the Cayuse Savages — Indian Forces Composed
of Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas— Five Crows and War Eagle Lead the Savages— After the first En
gagement They Fall Back to Snake River — Volunteers are Successful and Some of the Indian Assassins are
Hanged — Many Men Afterward Famous in Oregon History Take Part in Cayuse War— Accidental Death of
Colonel Gilliam — Number of Indians in Oregon Territory and Names of the Different Tribes — Process of
Flattening Heads of Indian Papooses — Indian Superstition Most Appalling  52
CHAPTER VII
Indian Wars of the 'Fifties.
'Post Traders Furnish Indians Whiskey and Guns and Ammunition to Kill White Settlers— History of Indian Wars
the Subject ot Bitter Controversy — Following the Close of the Cayuse War Adventurous Ranchers Seek Claims
Along the Streams— List of Early Oregon Pioneers— Washington Separated From Oregon in 1853— General
Uprising of Indians in Oregon in 1853 and 1854— The "Snake River Massacre"— Treaty With Indians Made
by Governor Stevens in 1855— Major Haller Moves Against Hostile Tribes— The Battle of Walla Walla-
Death of Peo-Peo-Mox-Mox— Severe Winter of 1855-56— Portions of Governor Stevens' Report— He De
nounces the Course ot Major General Wool  60
CHAPTER VIII
Indian Wars of the 'Fifties Continued.
First Cloud Arises Foreshadowing the Rogue River War — Many Miners Flock to the Klamath Valley in 1850— .
Murder of Young Dilley — Major Kearney Assumes Charge of Government Property at Steilacoom, Astoria,
Vancouver and The Dalles — James Applegate Assists in Exploring the Country — Captain James Stuart Gives
Battle to the Indians June 18th — Many Indian Prisoners Are Captured— The Second Walla Walla Council —
The Bannock and Piute War of 1878— Volunteers Organize to Defend Pendleton — Death of State Senator C.
L. Jewell — Colonel Miles is Suspicious — Five Crows Kill Chief Egan— Umatillas Flushed With Victory —
White Cloud, Quit-a-Tumrs and Aps are Hanged  70

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.
Oregon: Physical Features and Evolution.

Boundaries of the State— Divided by the Cascade Mountains— Importance of the Willamette Valley— A Land
of Rivers and Clear, Pure Water— Average Elevation of Eastern Oregon— Rivers, Water Courses and
Irrigation Possibilities— Climatology, and Healthfulness— Evolution of the Government— Deserts of the
Interior Have their Wealth of Pasturage— A Provisional Government— The Willamette Cattle Company
— Americans Outgeneral English Diplomatists — The Organic Laws  11

PART II
WASCO COUNTY
CHAPTER I
Traditionary, Legendary and Authentic
The Original Wasco County — Definition of the Word Wasco — History Older than the Most Shadowy Indian
Legends— Statement of Dr. William McKay — The Dalles Settled by the Wasco Tribe — Salmon Fishing at the
Cascade— Strange Statues formed by the Hand of Nature — Mount Hood — Influence of the Medicine Men
— Conversion of One Thousand Indians — C. W. Denton Describes the Various Indian Tribes — Was There
a Hudson's Bay Company's Post at The Dalles? — Opening of the "Barlow Road" — Wasco-pum — The
Oregon Volunteers — Skirmish between Hostiles and Troops Led by Colonel Gilliam  85 -
CHAPTER II
Passing Events — 1805 to 1853.
One Hundred Years Ago — the Indian Village of Win-quatt — Natives are Friendly— Interesting Relic of the
Lewis and Clark Exposition Found Near The Dalles — Letter from George H. Hines — Denominational
Missions at The Dalles — Dr. Marcus Whitman Looks Over the Ground — Extract From an Impressive Ad
dress by Rev. H. K. Hines — Jason and Daniel Lee — The Dalles Mission an Outpost of Civilization
¦ — Indian "Regeneration" for Revenue Only — Methodist Missionary Society Claims The Dalles Townsite
— Fathers Rosseau and Mesplie — Building of Fort Dalles— Elaborate Structures Erected by Captain Jordan
— They Eventually Fall Into the Hands of the Sorosis S o ty — General Grant's Two Short Visits to The
Dalles  97
CHAPTER III
Passing Events— 1846 to 1862.
A French Trapper the First Settler in Wasco County — Nathan Olney Comes in 1847 — Short Sketch of His Career
— Oregon Donation Land Claim Law — Description of the Locality of The Dalles — Judge William C.
McLaughlin Builds a Cabin at Crate's Point — Earliest Permanent Settlers — First Steam Boat Above the
Cascades — Oregon Under Provisional Government — Wasco, the "Mother of Counties" — Organic Act
Creating the County — First Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners — Judge Cyrus Olney Holds the
First Session of District Court in Wasco County — Money is Appropriated to Build a Jail — The Oregon
Steam Navigation Company — Henry Villard Appears on the Scene — Prohibitive Freight Tariff on the
Columbia River — Severe Winter of 1861-2 — Record of Temperatures  106

CONTENTS. xi

CHAPTER IV
Passing Events— 1862 to 1905.
"The Dalles the Center of Wasco County's Population — Dismemberment of Wasco's Territory Begins — Mr. Ed
ward Mahn the Pioneer Hill Farmer — Financial Condition of the County in 1880 — Severe Winter in 1880-81 —
Great Losses of Cattle, Sheep and Horses — Railroad Approaches The Dalles — New Court House — The
Oregon Legislature of 1882 — Again Takes a Slice From Wasco — Opening of the Locks of the Cascades — The
Event Celebrated With Great Eclat — Wheat Takes the Lead in Wasco County's Resources — Growing Im
portance of the Fruit Industry — Failure of the Salmon Catch in 1896-7 — Engineer McCullough Speaks in
Behalf of an Open Columbia River to the Sea — Portage Roads and Boat Railway Projects — Wasco County
Emerges From Under the Handicap of an Enormous Public Debt — More Attempts to Form New Counties. 117

CHAPTER V
The Historic City of The Dalles.
Twinkling Camp Fires of the Immigrants of the Early 'Fifties — Geographical Location of The Dalles — Poem by
Ruth Gatch — Story of the Town as Builded by White Men — Origin of its Name — John C. Bell the First
Merchant — Mail Route Established in 1851 — Exceedingly Poor Freight Service — Pioneer Days Described
by Mrs. Lord — The Dalles Becomes the Capital of a County — Townsite of "Dalles City" — Original Board
of Trustees — Hostile Attitude of Indians Excites Apprehension in 1854 — Picture ol The Dalles as it
Appeared in 1858 — The City Becomes an Important Outfitting Point for Prospectors and Miners — Disas
trous Fire of May 21, 1879— Boom Period— July Flood of 1880  127
CHAPTER VI
The Dalles— Continued.
Amendment to the City Charter Passed by the Oregon Legislature — Wonderful Improvement of the Town in
1880-1 — Fish Packing Becomes a Leading Industry — Serious Fire Sunday, September 2, 1888 — Another De
structive Blaze Saturday, January 11, 1890 — The Same Year the Federal Census Enumerators Find 3,500
People at The Dalles — City is Enjoined from Purchasing a $50,000 Water Works Plant — Vast Amount of
Property Wiped Out by a $1,000,000 Fire September 2, 1891— "Hard Times" of 1893— The "Big Flood" of
June, 1894 — History of The Dalles Fire Department — Church History From Early Days of the Missions —
Fraternal Societies — Ladies' Clubs — Complete Roster of City Officials From 1855  139
CHAPTER VII
Hood River and Dufur.
The Former Town the Second City in Wasco County — A Hustling Commercial Center of Eastern Oregon — Earli
est Settlement in the Place Made by W. C. Laughlin in 1852— Postoffice Established in 1859— First Mercan
tile Venture Made in 1877— Townsite Platted in 1881 by H. C. and E. F. Coe— Settlers Flock In— Railroad
Rumors in the Air the Same Year — Organization of Company G, Oregon National Guard — First City Elec
tion December 4, 1894— Full Roster of City Officials— Fraternal Societies— The Picturesque City of-Dufur —
First Settler Came in 1852 — C. A. Williams Engaged in Mercantile Business in 1878 — Townsite Platted
December 1, 1880, by E. B. and A. J. Dufur, Jr. — Visible Signs of Improvement in 1881— Dufur Incorpor
ated as a Town by the Oregon Legislature in January, 1893 — At a Standstill During the "Hard Times" Be
ginning in 1893 — Great Southern Railroad Reaches Dufur — Present Business and Social Conditions.  157

xn CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII

Other Towns.

Antelope Ranks Fourth Among the Municipalities of Wasco County — Situated Seven Miles Southeast of
Shaniko — Origin of Its Name — Nathan W. Wallace Settles Here in 1870 — Hostile Indians Infest the Vi
cinity — Incorporations in the Air — First Mayor John L. Hollingshead — Serious Conflagration July 11, 1898 —
Shaniko — Description of the Town — Origin of Its Name — Real History of Shaniko Begins in 1900 — Incor
poration of the Shaniko Warehouse Company — Railroad Train Rolls In May 13, 1900 — Cascade Locks —
First Came Into Prominence in 1880 — Tygh Valley — Mosier — Kingsley — Wapinitia — Wamic — Boyd — Bake-
oven — Celilo — Mount Hood — Viento — Victor — Simasho Postoffice — Ridge way — Friend — Endersley — Meno
minee  166 •

CHAPTER IX
Descriptive.
Boundaries, Topography, Geology, Altitude, Climate and Soil of "Wasco, the Mother of Counties" — Industrial
Resources — Analysis of Wasco County's Soil — Valuable Table of Mean and Monthly Temperatures and
j Precipitation From the Year 1853 — Small Farms the Rule — Great Variety of Cereal and Pomological Pro
ductions — The First Fruit Trees Planted in Wasco County — Oldest Orchards at the Cascades — River
Freights at One Period Prohibitive— World Wide Fame of Hood River Apples— The Flora — Enormous
Runs of Salmon in the Columbia — Majestic Mountains — The Lumber Industry — Receipts for Hood River
Crops — The Columbia River — Extracts From the Diary of Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens — The Indian
Village of Wish-ram — Description of The Dalles of the Columbia— "The Bridge of the Gods" — Indian Burial
Grounds — The Famous Moving Mountain — The Warm Springs Reservation  175 .

CHAPTER X
> Political.
Fifty Years' Review — During Early Days in Wasco County the Democratic Party Was Supreme — With the
Opening of the Civil War There Came a Decided Change — Sometimes the Prohibition Party Had a Portion
of a Ticket in the Field — Political History of Wasco County From the Date of Its Organization  Initial
Election June 6, 1854 — Contest Between Jerry G. Dennis and C. W. Shaug — Election of June 4, 1860— John
C. Breckenridge, for President, Carries Wasco County Against Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas-
Personalities of Pioneer Political Officials— Wasco County Lines Up in Favor of Salem for State Capital-
Successive Elections to November 8, 1904  ^94
i CHAPTER XI
Educational.
First School in Wasco County— Taught by a Soldier in the Regular Army— Educational Work of the Early
Christian Missionaries— Union Street School at The Dalles Erected in 1873— Impossibility of Grading
Schools Where Teachers Were Few— St. Mary's Academy— Second School in the County Established in
the '50's— Issues of the Civil War Disrupt School Districts— John Michell's First School— Wasco Indepen-
nent Academy— Capital Stock Subscribed $20,000— Prof. T. M. Gatch, Principal— It is Made a Branch of
the Normal Institute of Oregon— List of Graduates— Roster of Wasco County Teachers in 1905  20&

CONTENTS. xiit

PART III
SHERMAN COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
Current Events — 1805 to 1905.
Territory of Sherman County Set Aside in 1889 — Situated Between the John Day and Des Chutes Rivers— Dr.
Marcus Whitman Meets Soldiers at De Moss Springs in 1843 — Samuel Price One of the Earliest Settlers —
Hay Enterprise of Henry Barnum — Florence Miners Perish in the Snow of 1862 — Quite a Colony of Settlers
Locate in 1865 — More Arrivals in 1879 — Organization of a Band of Vigilantes — Residents Begin to Agitate
for the Formation of a New County — Enabling Act Passed in February, 1889, by the Oregon Legislature —
Meeting of the First Board of Commissioners — Erection of a Court House and Jail in 1893 — Railroad Com
pleted to Wasco in October, 1897 — Glaring Land Frauds Committed by The Dalles Military Road Com
pany  427
CHAPTER II
Cities and Towns.
Mdro, the Capital of Sherman County — History of the Town Begins in the '80's — Name of the County Seat of
Spanish Derivation — In 1887 the Town Assumes the Proportions of a Village — City Charter Granted in 1899
— Roster of City Officials From 1899 — The Modern City of Wasco— Named From the County in Whjch it
was Originally Located — Great Prosperity in 1887 — Church History — City Officials Since 1898 — Grass Val
ley — In the Heart of One of the Finest Wheat Belts in Eastern Oregon — Dr. C. R. Rollins the First Settler
— Organization of a Fire Company in 1898 — Kent — Fourth Town in Sherman County — Grant — De Moss
Springs — Rufus — Biggs — Klondike — Murray Springs — Other Localities  443.
CHAPTER III
Descriptive.
Location, Altitude and Topography of Sherman County — Many Extensive Districts are Carved into Productive
Farms — Climate and Precipitation — Soil — Wheat the Principal Revenue Crop — Many Large Farms in the
County — Amount of Government Land Open to Settlement — Description of the Two Boundary Rivers, John
Day and Des Chutes  454.
CHAPTER IV
Political.
Enabling Act Provided that the Governor Should Appoint the First Officers — County is Divided into Four
Election Precincts — First Day at the Polls — Successive Elections Until November 8, 1904  457
CHAPTER V
Educational.
Excellent Schools of Sherman County — The First Building — Extracts From Educational Data'  Report of
School Superintendent Bright— Annual Report for 1892— For 1894— Apportionment of School Money for
April, 1905— The Middle Oregon Baptist Academy  460,

xiv CONTENTS.

PART IV
GILLIAM COUNTY
CHAPTER I
Passing Events, 1860—1905.
The Old Immigration Road — Stock Raising the Principal Industry in the Earlier History of Gilliam County —
First Grain Grown on the Creek Bottoms by Conrad Shott — Settlers of 1872 — First Sawmill Erected in 1874
by Edward Wineland — Initial Store Conducted in 1876 by R. J. Robinson — D. F. Stiickland the First Post
master— Shuttler Flat the First Hill Land Settled and Utilized for Agricultural Purposes— The "Double
Winter" of 1881-2 — Enabling Act Organizing Gilliam County — Long Continued County Seat Contest — Con
don Becomes the Capital of the County de facto September 17, 1890 — Gilliam County is Called Upon for a
Slice of Her Territory — The Year 1901 One of Great Progress— Construction Train Rolls Into Condon in
April, 1905— Other Railroad Matters  559
CHAPTER II
Cities and Towns.
Condon the County Seat— A City Built on a Hill— All Roads Lead to Condon — Topography and Surroundings-
First House Erected by William F. Potter in 1879— David B. Trimble the First Postmaster— Origin of the
Town's Name— Disastrous Fire September 27_ 1891— Organization of a Fire Department in June, 1899— City
Charter of Condon Amended in 1901— Organization of the Condon Commercial Club— Church History-
Roster of City Officials From 1893— Arlington— Elijah Ray Builds the First House in 1880— First Mercan
tile Business Established in 1881— Original Townsite Platted n April, 1882— City Controls Water Works in
1897— Town Incorporated in 1886-7— Mayville— Blalock— Lone Rock— Olex— Clem— Alville— Willows-
Trail Fork — Quinn's — Croy — Welshons  568
CHAPTER III
Descriptive.
Size of Gilliam County — A Crop Failure Has Never Been Known — Contour of the Country — Elevation of Vari
ous Points — Climatic Conditions — Mean Temperature and Precipitation— A Wheat Country Par Excellence
— Natural Resources— Soil — Abundant Supply of Pure Water— Extensive Wheat Fields On the Flats —
Many Farmers and Stockmen Have Large Bank Accounts  574
CHAPTER IV
Political.
First County Officials— Results of the First Election — Tie Vote Between Arlington and Condon Lengthens the
County Seat Contest — Successive Elections Until November 8, 1904  577
CHAPTER V
Educational.
¦Gilliam County at One Period Comprised a School District by Itself — Boundaries of District No. 5 — First School
in the County Near the Ranch of Conrad Shott — District No. 1 — Report of School Superintendent H. H.
Hendricks for 1888 — Second School House Erected in 1871 — School Apportionment for 1893 — Report of
School Superintendent Daggett for 1897 — Report of Superintendent McArthur for 1894  531

CONTENTS. ' xv

PART V
WHEELER COUNTY.
CHAPTER I
Passing Events— 1859 to 1905.
Location of Wheeler County— Gold Seekers— Captain Wallen Explores the John Day Valley— Early Travel
ers — Beginning of the Road from The Dalles to Canyon City — Dangerous Times — First Express on this
Road— H. H. Wheeler's Stage— First Settlers— Burnt Ranch— Camp Watson— Other Settlers — Bannock and
Piute Indian War of 1878— First Post Office— New County Talk— Effort to Create Sutton County Failed—
Beginning of Effort that Resulted in the Formation of Wheeler County — Enabling Act — Apportionment of
Debt — First Juries of Wheeler County— Location of County Seat — Death of John Day— Range War — For
mation of Pioneer Association— Native Daughters Organize  •  635
CHAPTER II
Cities and Towns.
Fossil, County Seat— Selection of Name— Hoover Established Fossil Post Office— Location — Platting of Town-
site— Fossil Incorporates — First Fire — Fossil Water Company Organize — Fossil of To-day— Caledonian
Club— Table of Town Officials Mitchell— Her Natural Advantages— First Settler— First Store— Fire Burns
Richard's Store— First Catastrophe from Water— What was in Mitchell in 1893— Early Characters— Fire in
March, 1896— Fire in August, 1899— Mitchell Enlarges Her Border— Bond Issue Voted in 1901— Terrible De
vastation by Waterspout in 1904— Mitchell's Postmasters — List of Tiwn Officers— Twickenham— Early Set
tlers — Spray — Location and Resources — Richmond is Well Situated — Waterman — Burnt Ranch — Caleb —
Barite— Antone Lost Valley  648
CHAPTER III
Descriptive.
Size of Wheeler County — General Contour— Climate — Altitude — Apples and Grain do Well in All Parts, Other
Fruits in Sections — Timber Resources — Government Land — Wheeler's Great Resource, Stock — Game — Pine
Creek Valley — Along John Day — Mountain Creek Country — Waterman Country — Mines — Portions of
Wheeler County once a Sea Bottom — Climate in Those Days —Fossil Remains — Formation of Country —
John Day Canyon  656
CHAPTER IV
Political.
First Officials — General Election Locating County Seat — Successive Elections until June 5, 1905  659
CHAPTER V
Educational.
First School — Fossil's First School — Fossil Takes Great Interest in Educational Matters — County High School
Voted — Located at Fossil— Mitchell's First School — Present School Facilities in Mitchell — Successive Re
ports of County Superintendents  661

xvi ' CONTENTS.

PART VI
CROOK COUNTY.
CHAPTER 1
Passing Events— 1843 to 1889.
Fremont Expedition — Creation of Warm Spring Indian Reservation — Road Made by Major Stein — Howard
Maupin — Earliest Settlers — The Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Company — Account
of Indians — First Indian Fight in Crook County — More Settlers and Improvements — Raid of Snake Indians
in Spring of 1868 — Camp Polk — Derivation of Ochoco — Agitation of Question of Dividing Wasco County —
Prineville — Severe Weather in 1880-1 — Organization of Crook County — Enabling Act — Killing of Two Men —
Harrison and Longdon Executed — Vigilantes Committee — Death of Huston and Luster — Moonshiners — First
Term of Circuit Court — New Court House — Beaver Country Becomes Part of Crook County — Roads Paved
with Wool — High Water on Ochoco — Financial Conditions of Crook County — Des Chutes Reclamation &
Irrigation Company  , 699
CHAPTER II
Passing Events— 1889 to 1905.
Another Prosperous Year for Crook County — Election Precincts — Country Being Fenced — Irrigation is Begun —
Crook County Has No Railroad — Population of Crook County in 1902 — Columbia Southern Irrigation Com
pany — Range War in Crook County — 1,000 Sheep Slaughtered in 1904 — Automobile Route in County — More
Sheep Slaughtered — Anonymous Letter on Sheep Killing — Irrigation Matters  713
CHAPTER III
Prineville.
Location — Barney Prine — Story of Early Days — Poker Game — Resume of Business in Prineville from Early
Times to Present — Prineville Townsite — Desparadoes Attempt to Run Town — Disastrous Fire — Prineville
Becomes a City — Water Bonds — Business of Post Office — Building Activity — Water Supply for Prineville —
Electric Light Plant in 1900 — Water Plant — Citizens Business League of Prineville — Long Distance Tele
phone Comes — City Park Secured — Postmasters of Prineville — Fraternal Associations  723
CHAPTER IV
Other Cities and Towns.
Bend and Vicinity— Madras — Incoming Settlers— Paulina— Meadow Country— Ashwood— Gold on Trout Creek-
Silver King Mine— Cline Falls— Falls of the Des Chutes— Lytle— Sisters— Laidlaw— Haycreek— Forest—
Haystock — Lamonta — Lava — Howard — Post — Culver — Other Towns  728
CHAPTER V
Descriptive.
Extent of Crook County— Climate— County Considered by Sections— Des Chutes River— Land Classed— County
Bounded— Desert Lands— Hay Creek Ranch— Prineville Land & Livestock Company— Timber Lands of
the County— Lava Butte— Ice Caves— Warm Springs of the County— Mines of County  135
CHAPTER VI
Political.
First County Officers in Crook County— First Election in the County— Tables of Successive Elections Showing
Candidates and Vote  742

CONTENTS. xvii

CHAPTER VII
Educational.

First School in Crook County— First School in Prineville— Superintendent's Report for 1888 — Statistics Regard
ing Educational Interests — Prineville Academy — Superintendent's Report — Schools Graded Throughout
the County— County High School — Large School Buildings— First Class to Graduate — Present Condition of
Crook County Schools  746

PART VII
LAKE COUNTY
CHAPTER I
Explorations and Indian Wars.
Various Trides of Native Indians — Lake County Visited by Employees of the Hudson's Bay Company in the
30's — Explorations of General John C. Fremont — Extracts From His Journal — Discovery of Gold in East
ern Oregon and Idaho— Establishment of Forts — The Oregon Volunteers — Camp Warner — General Crook's
Campaign in 1866 — Expedition Under Perry — Chief Otsehoe  805
CHAPTER II
Settlement and Current History From 1869-1905.
Joseph Ross Settles in Goose Lake Valley — Indians Go on the War Path — Arrival of John O'Neil — Other Pio
neer Settlers — Goose Lake Mining District — Establishment of a Mail Route — Bill for Creation of Lake
County Approved by the Governor — Organic Act — First Assessment Roll — County Seat Removed P'rom
Linkville to Lakeview — Land Litigation — Opening of the Range War — Death of J. C. Conn  815
CHAPTER III.
The Land Grabbers.
Origin of the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road Company — History of the Warner Valley Case — White Set
tlers Flock Into the Country — Story of the Early Settlement — Secretary Hoke Smith's Investigation— Defeat
in the Courts for the Settlers  829
CHAPTER IV
Cities and Towns.
Four Towns in the County — Lakeview the Capital — Energetic Character of Her People — Founding of the Future
County Seat — Passing Events— Citizens Who Have Held Office — Disastrous Conflagration — Paisley  New
Pine Creek — Silver Lake — Forty-three Victims of a Fire  843
CHAPTER V
Descriptive.
Lake County Appropriately Named— Area and Altitude— Its Many Productive and Beautiful Valleys  The
Chewaucan Basin— Goose Lake Country — Irrigation Projects — Salt Mines — Climate — Game and Fish  .
Grand and Impressive Scenery— Geology and Topography of the County — Rim Rocks— Wonderful Moving
Lake— Fossil Beds— Hot Springs  :  85g

xviii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI
Political.
First Election Held in the County— Strongly Democratic in Earlier Days— Pioneer Office Holders— County Seat
Contest of 1876— General Political History Down to 1904  868
CHAPTER VII
Educational.
Enviable Position Sustained by Lake County — Population Wide Awake to Educational Affairs — Lakeview in the
Lead — First School in the County in 1873 — Demand for School Privileges Imperative — Reports of Superin- •
tendent  876

PART VIII
KLAMATH COUNTY
CHAPTER I
From Earliest Days Until Settlements of 1867.
Klamath Territory — Early Indians — First White Men — Fremont's Explorations — Applegate Train — Selection of
South Emigrant Road — Rescue of an In migrant Train — Hudson's Bay Company Oppose South Road —
Klamath Commonwealth — Modoc Atrocities — Packers Reclaim Stolen Horses— Ben Wright Punishes
Modocs — Soldiers Chastise Modocs in 1853 — Mr. Frain's Experience in Klamathland — Judge F. Adams
Brings Cattle In — Early Settlers and Explorers — Establishment of Fort Klamath — Citizens Oppose Aban
donment of the Fort — Clamath Reservation Made — Treaty with Indians — Lucien Applegate Made Indian
Agent — Other Indian Agents — Progress of Indians in Civilization — Dispute over Reservation Boundary —
Klamath Indians  923
CHAPTER II
From Early Settlement to Modoc War.
Scattered Settlers — First Permanent Settler — Linkville Founded — Crops Can Be Grown — More Settlers — Saw
mill Established in 1868 — Talk of a Road Through the Country— A Railway is Surveyed — Mail Route Estab
lished — Stage Is Established  938
CHAPTER III
The Modoc War.
Status of Klamath Country and Settlers at Outbreak of War— Brief Summary of the Struggle— General Canby's
Recital of Events Leading up to Modoc War— Meacham Gets Modocs to Reservation— They Soon go to
Lost River— Settlers Complain of Depredations from Indians— Citizens ask Relief— Finally Military Takes
Action— Authorities Wrestling with Question of Locati n of Modocs— Real Cause of War Modocs Refusal
to Abide by Treaty— Yreka Uses Influence against Mo Iocs Being on Reservation— Linkville Pointed out as
Best Headquarters for Military— Major Otis Asks Indians to a Conference— Captain Jack Shows Signs of
Treachery— Account of Meeting— Major Otis' Report— General Canby's Intention — Captain Jackson Ordered
to Remove Modocs to Reservation, Arrest Leaders, Peaceable if Possible, Forcibly if Necessary— Accounts
of Jackson's Actions— Another Fight across River from Jackson's Command — Various Murders Following
these Battles— Various Blunders  942

CONTENTS. xix

CHAPTER IV
Continuation of Modoc War.

Further Accounts of Murders— Settlers Flock to Linkville— Volunteers Sent out by Governor— Indian Allies
Faithful to Whites— Col. Wheaton Assumes Command in Per. on— Lava Beds— Wheaton's Battle— General
Canby Joins Field Troops— Murder of General Canby— "Peace" Parleys out of the way, War to the Knife-
War Prosecuted with Vigor— Company of Capt. Evans Annihilated— General Davis Arrives at Lava Beds-
Account of His Actions until Close of War— Number Killed and Wounded— Hot Creek Indians Slain— Triai
of Leaders and their Execution — Civil Authorities Attempt to get Leaders  956
CHAPTER V
From Close of Modoc War to the Year 1905.
General Conditions — Tax List — Land Grabbers — Agitation for New County — Klamath County Organized — En
abling Act — Current Events — Hard Times — Klamath County Prosperous — Irrigation Items — Prosperity
Continues — Immense Irrigation Enterprises — -Railroads Coming — Financial Standing of Klamath County. . . . 967
CHAPTER VI
Cities and Towns.
General Summary — Klamath Falls — Original Name— Selection of Site— George Nurse Labors as Early Pioneer —
Various Steps of Progress — Original Plat, Other Additions— Business Houses— Klamath Falls Selected for
Name — Merrill— Bonanza— Fort Klamath — Keno — Dairy — Bly — Other Towns and Postoffices  975
CHAPTER VII
Descriptive.
General Word— Location and Boundary of County— Climate— Tule Lake Valley— Poe Valley — Langell's Val
ley — Sprague River— Sican Valley— Williamson River Valley — Horsefly, Barnes, Swan Lake, and Yonna
Vallies — Wood River, Klamath, and Odell Sections— Timber Resources — Stock Interests — Game — Berry
Patch — Lost River — Various Streams — Lakes — Crater Lake — Upper Klamath Lake — Other Lakes — Hot
Springs — Closing Word  984
CHAPTER VIII
Political.
Good Men lor County Officers — O. A. Stearns is Delegate — County Machinery Launched — Klamath County's
First Election — June, 1886, Election— Election of 1888— Election of 1890— Successive Elections  996
CHAPTER IX
Educational.
First School— Other Schools — Table of Pupils— Linkville Takes Steps for New School House — Movements for
High School— Latest Report of Klamath County Schools — Roster of County Teachers  1000

xx CONTENTS.

PART IX
ADDENDA CHAPTER I
Press of Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam,, Wheeler, Crook, Lake and Klamath Counties.
The Importance of the Newspaper— Wasco County— The Dalles Journal— The Mountaineer— The Times-
Times Mountaineer— The Weekly— Dalles Tribune— Inland Empire— Weekly Sun— Oregon Democrat-
Trade Journal— Oregon Democratic Journal — Economist— Chronicle — Hood River Glacier— Baptist Sen
tinel—Reformer—Dispatch—Hood River Sun— Dufur Dispatch— Antelope Herald— The Republican—
Shaniko Leader— Tygh Valley Bee— Sherman County— Observer— News — Journal— Recorder — Observer-
Origination of "Inland Empire" — News — Dispatch— Journal— Leader — Republic— Bulletin — Recorder — Gil
lian County — Arlington Times— Town Talk — Riverside Enterprise — Review — Advocate— Record— Appeal —
Globe — Condon Times — Crook County — Ochoco Pioneer — Preineville News — Ochoco Review — Journal —
Bend Bulletin — Des Chutes Echo— Madras Pioneer— Ashwood Prospector — Lake County — State Line
Herald — Examiner — Rustler — Post — Central Oregonian — Wheeler County — Monitor — News — Sentinel —
Courier — Klamath County — Four Papers have been in Klamath County — Star — Express — Klamath Repub
lican — High School News  1055
CHAPTER II
' Reminiscent.
Indian Wars of 1854-5 — How Explorer Clark Spelled His Name -A Reminiscence of the Indian War — First Mar
riage in Wasco County — A Good Indian — Eighty-ton Boat — Cascade Massacre — John Slibender— Fort Boise
Massacre — A Real, Live President — Snowstorm of 1884-5 — Relic of the Lewis & Clark Expedition — Colonel
Gilliam — Hank Vaughn — Advising the Government — Incident of the Modoc War — Dave Hill — Chief Henry
Blowe — A Relic of the Early Days — Death on the Desert — Relic of the Stone Age  1070

GENERAL ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
William Clark  id
Meriwether Lewis  16
H'co-a-h'co-a-h'cotes-Min, No
Horns on his Head  48
Hee-oh'ks-te-Kin, the Rabbit's
Skin Leggins  64
The Dalles Hospital  97
Cascade Locks  112
White River Falls  112
Site of the Methodist mission
building, erected in 1838.. . 116
Guard House of old Fort
Dalles, erected in 1858  116
Wasco county's first court
house  116
Surgeon's quarters of old Fort
Dalles  116
Wasco Indian dancers  128
Fish wheel on the Columbia
and Cascade Locks  128
Methodist Episcopal mission,
established March 22, 1838. 144
Salmon fishing on the Col
umbia  144
Scene on the Columbia  160
The Dalles, Oregon, in 1858. 160
Celilo Falls, Columbia river. 176
The Dalles, County seat of
Wasco county  192

page
Mount Hood from Lost lake 208
Combined harvester at work in
Sherman county  432
Moro, county seat of Sherman
county  443
Wheat scene in Sherman
county  448
Residence of John Simpson.. 454
Plowing scene in Gilliam
county  559
Freighting team between Ar
lington and Condon  559
Birdseye view of Condon,
county seat of Gilliam
county  577
Sheep shearers at work in
Gilliam county  580
Fossil, county seat of Wheeler
county  648
Prineville, county seat of
Crook county  7°4
Scene on the Deschutes .... 720
The Sisters  720
Old Brokentop  736
Benham Falls of the Des
chutes  736
Alfalfa field, scene in the
Haystack country  74°

PACE
Fort rock, a noted landmark
in Lake county  816
A Result of the Lake County
Range War  816
On the Lake county Desert. 816
A tenderfoot on the range. . . . 832
Table mountain  ¦ . . . 832
Ve w of Chewaucan marsh . . 848
A common view in Lake
county  848
Lakeview, county seat of Lake
county  864
Williamson river at the mouth
of Spring creek  928
Link river  928
Lake Ewaucan  944
Lost river  944
Nesting on the Klamath.... 960
Typical Klamath Indians . . . 960
Klamath county fruit  960
Klamath county Alfalfa field 960
Klamath Falls, county seat of
Klamath county  976
Crater lake  992
Threshing scene in the' Kla
math valley  992
Pelican Bay, upper Klamath <
lake  992

INDEX

WASCO COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Adams, Manuel D  359
Adams, Stephen B.  366
Adkisson, Jcshua T  293
Allen, Andy M  240
Anderson, Alexander J  363
Anderson, Enoch E  342
Anderson, Milton J  249
Balch, Charles P  233
Bartell, Gustav E  330
Bartmess, Samuel E  391
Bauer, Venz  319
Belieu, Benjamin F  291
Bernard, Charles  226
Bishop, Thomas  ; . . . . 316
Blakeney, Jesse W  300
Blowers, Amby S  373
Blowers, Laurence N  382
Boggs, James C  354
Bolton, Absalom D  307
Bolton, Lewis P  311
Bolton, Wilbur  420
Bonney, Augustus A  331
Booth, John S  418
Bourland, Oliver M  322
Bradley, Eber R  333
Bradshaw, William L  315
Brooks, Samuel L  400
Brookhouse, William  230
Brosius, Framton C  394
Brown, John W  390
Buchler, August  295
Bunn, George  414
Burgess, J. Newton  405
Burget, Charles N  277
Butler, Isaiah J  353
Butler, Leslie  392
Butler, Polk  334
Butler, Ralph E  339
Butler, Roy D  402
Butler, Truman  391
Caddy, Frank  369
Campbell, George C  414
Campbell, Julius  414
Cates, Daniel L  340
Cashier, George R  350
Champlin, Charles V  393
Chandler, Charles  356
Chandler, Frank  346
Chittenden, Hiram  240
Church. Frank G  316
Clark, Lucius E  313

page
Clark, Newton  339
Clark, William L  289
Clarke, Charles N  386
Clausen, Frederick  314
Cochran, Samuel  317
Coe, Henry C  228
Cook, Osmer W  408
Coon, Thomas R  290
Cooper, Daniel J  368
Cooper, David R  377
Cooper, George  365
Copple, Simpson  311
Cox, Perez A  325
Craft, Jacob  302
Crapper, William S  347
Creighton, David  355
Crockett, Hezekiah C  312
Crossen, James B  299
Crowe, Luther E  285
Culbertson, George D  389
Cunning, Thomas J  334
Cushing, Milo M  248
Cushing, William H  249
Dallas, Theodore C  229
Davidson, ' Arthur J  422
Davidson, Charles  421
Davidson, Horatio F  384
Davidson, Payton S  420
Davis, Daniel 0  321
Davis, William H  282
Deckert, August  219
Deni, Joseph  357
Dethman, Christian  237
Dickson, James W  245
Dodds, Hiram C  238
Donnell, Zelek M  284
Doyle, Albert G  251
Doyle, Michael  406
Drake, Riley V  242
Dufur, Andrew J. Jr  232
Dufur, W. H. Harrison  274
Dumble, Howard L  397
Ehrck, William  303
Elton, John W  407
Elwood, John L  262
Evans, Leander  388
Everett, S. 1  269
Fargher, Arthur W  260
Fargher, Horatio A  362
Fargher, Thomas C  349

page
Ferguson, Alfred  239
Ferguson, Belle R  331
Ferguson, Elmer E  329
Fitzpatrick, John H  375
Fitzpatrick, Will  401
Fligg, George W  247
Forman, Benjamin L  385
Fraley, Charles  371
Fraser, Alexander  409
Frazier, Aaron  277
French, Daniel M  425
French, Joshua W  278
French, . Smith  284
Fulton, James  241
Fulton, J. Franklin  227
Gibbons, John J  271
Gilbert, Clinton L  379
Gillmore, James H  258
Gilman, Charles N  309
Ginger, Frank  383
Glavey, Michael M  252
Glavey, Thomas W  252
Glisan, Edwin T  <  225'
Gorman, Richard J  287
Gribble, William S  372
Grimes, Clayton M  330
Grimes, F, Leroy....  328
Gulliford, Jacob A  234
Hampshire, John F  286
Hansen, Hans  423
Harbison, Robert E  323
Harriman, Arthur M  230
Harris, John H  234
Harriman, Edward M  247
Harriman, William J  281
Harth, George A  341
Haynes, Bert H  416
Haynes, Ellsworth A  326
Haynes, Joseph  235
Haynes, William R  326
Heisser, Alexander  269
Heisler, Charles M  258"
Heisler, Monroe  254
Heisler, William  255
Hemman, C. Ernest  220
Henderson, John L  296
Henderson, Walter  305
Hendricson, Morvin  362
Hendrix, Willis A  350
Hibbard, Henry J  313
Hill, Edwin M  276

INDEX.

PAG"
Hill, Marshall  343
Hillgen, Frederic H  355
Hinman, Eli T  250
Hixson, Augustus  408
Howe, Alma L  246
Howie, Andrew J  283
Hunter, William A  365
Irvine, Frank  406
Isenberg, F. Howard  344
Isenberg^ Miles P  345
Jackson, Francis M  324
Jaksha, Martin  341
Jayne, Andrew A  398
Jenkins, Carey H  272
Johns, Samuel S  265
Johnston, Charles W  245
Johnston, George W  231
Johnston, J. Henry  238
Johnston, John C  239
Johnston, Samuel B  268
Johnston, Thomas H  344
Jones, Owen  367
Keller, A. Ad  363
Kelly, Hampton  376
Kelly, Lucern B  376
Kimsey, Doctor S  411
Kirchheiner, Peter A  404
Klindt, Henry  280
Klinger, Louis J  244
Koberg, John H  297
Lage, Hans  '  243
Lage, Henry F  335
Lamb, Larkin  292
Lane, Andrew W  360
Lane, Louis L  360
Lane, Norris M  395
Lang, Thomas S  261
Laughlin, Robert A  '386
Laughlin, William C  217
Lewis, James J  378
Limeroth, Paulus  417
Linton, Kathleen D  267
Longren, August W  250
Lord, Elizabeth L  278
Lueddemann, Max  410
MacAllister, Abiel S  301
Magill, John B.  -  259
Marden, John M  307
Marden, Victor  308
Markham, Claude E  270
Markham, James F  298
Marquiss, James W  399
Marsh, Abel Y  395
Martin, P. H  357
Marvel, Arthur A  338
Mason, Albert 1  333
Mayes, Edward S  396
Mayes, Joseph W  403
Mayhew, Henry L  370
McAtee, Alvira  383
McAtee, John B  301
McBeth, Finlay  412
McClure, Thomas J  387
McCorkle, William M  242
McCoy, Dennis R  297
McCoy, Henson  352

pa ''--.
McCoy, Joseph H  294
McHargue, James  39°
Menefee, Frank  223
Menefee, William R  219
Mehl, Carl F  364
Michell, John  424
Miller, John 1  347
Moad, Archibald C  267
Morris, Clarrence L  384
Morris, Thomas F  268
Morse, Lewis E  381
Morton, Joseph W  353
Mosier, Jefferson N  377
Mosier, Jonah H  379
Nace, Seraphine  353
Nicholson, Charles J  310
Nicholson, James A  309
Nickelsen, Ingwert C  305
Nickelsen, Martin H  273
Nolin, James M  270
Nolin, John W  279
Obrist, Jacob  412
Odell, William  417
Parker, Asenath L  359
Patterson, Jonathan N  283
Patterson, Jeremiah M  299
Peabody, John C  275
Pealer, Russell  364
Perkins, George  337
Peters, Joseph T  220
Phipps, John S  294
Potter, Eleanor  272
Powne, Charles T  423
Prigge, Henry  280
Purser, Joseph  348
Rand, J. Elmer  410
Rand, Robert  356
Reed, Charles H  233
Reuter, John A  329
Rice, Austin C  266
Rice, George W  342
Rice, Horace  306
Richards, William D  403
Richmond' Horace S  375
Rigby, Jesse W  288
Ring, Hewitt  340
Rondeau, Leon  358
Rondeau, Remi  372
Rooper, Herbert C  415
Root, Amos  388
Roth, John M  348
Ryan, Thomas F  351
Sandoz, Charles E  422
Sandoz, Louis A  422
Sanford, Alfred C  397
Sargent, Isaac N  325
Selleck, Bernard E  315
Selleck, Menzo C  317
Setifert, Theodore J  327
Sexton, Felix C  3(18
Shelley, Roswell.. a  298
Shelley, Troy  303
Shernr. Joseph I-1  256
Sherrieb, Frank C  336
Sieverkropp, Henry 0  318
Sigman, Alvin  257

pao1";
Sigman, Melvin  1 . 258
Sigman, Richard  252
Slocom, George 1  236
Sl usher, Thomas W. S  320
Smith, Ezra L  336
Smith, James M  4T5
Smith, Lyman  253
Southern, Charles H  402
Sproat, Boyd N  318
Staats, William H  320
Stark, Frank J  419
Stewart, Alexander  291
Stirnweis, John H  294
Stogsdill, Asa G  382
Stoller, Peter  229
Stranaban, Albert K  411
Stranahan, Charles H  264
Stranahan, James A  419
Stranahan, Oscar L  264
Stratton, Frank R  328
Stubling. C. Johann  310
Swett, Charles H  345
Taylor, William H  337
Thomas, Alvin A  260
Thomas, Daniel E  308
Thomas, Lindsey B  301
Thorburn, Matthew A  322
Tomlinson, Henry H  371
Trudell, Alfred  354
Trudell, Gregoire  286
Turner, David A  288
Urquhart, Andrew  421
Vanderpool, George W  253
Vanderpool, Willard L  244
Vanderpool William T  254
Wakerlig. Henry  424
Wallace, Nathaniel W  224
Walter, Albert A  413
Walter, Orre L  413
Walther, William E  292
Ward, Joseph W  401
Ward, Thomas A  361
Waterman, Ezekiel H  304
Waterman, John W  263
Waterman, Martin M  404
West, John 1  387
Whitehead, Albert  223
Whitten, John D  374
Williams, Charles F  236
Williams, George E  396
Williams, Griffith E  222
Williams, William H  237
Williamson, John N  226
Wilson. David C  332
Wilson, John A  273
Wilson, Joseph A  351
Wilson, Joseph G  221
Winchell. Virgil  332
Wing. Charles W  262
Wingfield. Joseph C  232
Wingfield, Orville  231
Woodworth, Gilford D  287
Woolery, John J  ^12
Young, George A  ^g2
Zachary, Daniel L  -367

INDEX.

xxv

WASCO COUNTY PORTRAITS.

PAGE
Allen, Andy M  240
Belieu, Benjamin F  288
Bolton, Absalom D  304
Bourland, Oliver M  320
Brooks, Samuel L.....  400
Chittenden, Hiram  240
Chittenden, Mrs. Hiram  240
Clark, William L  288
Coe, Henry C  228
Coon, Thomas R  288
Coon, Mrs. Thomas R  288
Cooper, Daniel J  368
Cooper, Mrs. Daniel J  368
Cushing, JMilo M  248
Davidson, Horatio F  384
Davis, Daniel 0  320
Davis, Mrs. Daniel 0  320
Davis, William H  280
Drake, Riley V  240
Drake, Mrs. Riley V. ...... . 240
Dufur, Andrew J  232
Fargher, Horatio A  360
Fargher, Mrs. Horatio A.... 360
French, Daniel M . . . Frontispiece
Fulton, James  240
Fulton, Mrs. James  240
Glisan, Edwin T  224
Glisan, Mrs. Edwin T  224

PAGE
Harriman, William J  280
Haynes, Bert H  416
Haynes, Mrs. Bert H  416
Henderson, John L  296
Henderson, Walter  304
Henderson, Mrs. Walter  304
Hendricson, Morvin  360
Henderson, Mrs. Morvin  360
Johnston, Thomas H  344
Keller, A. Ad  360
Klindt, Henry  280
Lamb, Larkin  288
Lane, Andrew W  360
Lane, Loui§> L  360
Laughlin, William C  . 85
Limeroth, Paulus  416
Limeroth, Mrs. Paulus  416
McCorkle, William M  240
McCoy, Henson  352
Nickelsen, Ingwert C  304
Odell, William  416
Odell, Mrs. William  416
Perkins, George  336
Perkins, Mrs. George  336
Potter, Mrs. Eleanor  272

PAGE
Prigge, Henry  280
Rice, Horace  3°4
Rice, Mrs. Horace  304
Rigby, Jesse W  288
Sexton, Felix C  .'  368
Sexton, Mrs. Felix C  368
Sherar, Joseph H  256
Sherar, Mrs. Jos. H  256
Sherrieb, Frank C  336
Slusher, Thomas W. S  320
Smith, Ezra L  336
Staats, William H  320
Staats, Mrs. William H  320
Stewart, Alexander  288
Stranahan, Charles H  264
Stranahan, Mrs. Charles H. . 264
Stranahan, Oscar L  264
Stranahan, Mrs. Oscar L.... 264
Stratton, Frank R  328
Thorburn, Matthew A  320
Thorburn, Mrs. Matthew A. . 320
Turner, David A  288
Wallace, Nathaniel W  224
Wallace, Mrs. Nathaniel W. . 224
Ward, Thomas A  360
Waterman, Ezekiel H  304
Waterman, Mrs. Ezekiel H. . 304
Woolery, John J...  312

SHERMAN COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Andrews, Benjamin L  494
Andrews, C. Mortimer  489
Andrews, William H  520
Anson, Byron W  537
Barnum, Artimus H  489
Barnum, Elvin E  487
Barnum, Ladru  503
Belshee, Joseph F  483
Bennett, Milton H.'  539
Bennett, Walter H  539
Biggs, William H  497
Blau, Fred  532
BottemiUer, John H  534
Bourhil* George B  553
Bright, Cornelius J'  480
Brock, George W  504
Buckley, Charles A  529
Buhman, Charles  522
Campbell, Richmond L  543
Cattron, Eugene S  463
Clark, John W  527
Cochran, Charles K  508
Curl, Caleb W  552
Currie, William  469
DeMoss, George G  490

PAGE
DeMoss, Henry S  491
DeMoss, James M  492
Dennis, James  547
Dillinger, Alfred  482
Dunlap, Clark  470
Fairfield, William H  465
Foister, John A  481
Fowler, J. Shelby  463
French, Charlie F  473
Frock, Henry  540
Fulton, Annie L  526
Fulton, David  525
Fulton, James  512
Fulton, John  474
Ginn, Robert J  517
Glass, Harleigh  492
Hall, Arthur K  533
Hamilton, Preston A  508
Hannafin, Edmond  548
Harvey, James W  467
Hayes, Seth S  519
Heath, Chancv A  557
Heath, Elmer" F  555
Hcnnagin, George  478
Hilderbrand, George W  544

PAGE
Hill, Ira F  474
Hill, Tirpin  542
Hines, Levi S  482
Holman, John B  488
Holmes, Samuel B  541
Huck, Caesar C  513
Huck, Herman H  473
Hulery, Frank L  491
Hulery, John M  490
Hull, Charles E  505
Hull, John  502
Hulse, Oscar P  513
Ireland, DeWitt C  516"
Jackson, William F  485
James, George E  507
Kaseberg, Edward E  488
Kaseberg, John C  487
Krause, J. Henry  502
Krusow, Fred  .'... 548
Large, Isaac C  ' 505
Leonard, James W  525
Martin, Harvey U  551
Martin, John R  503

xxvi

INDEX.

PAGE
Martin, Leroy H  500
Matthias, Frederic W  538
McDanel, Hibbard S  522
McGinnis, Thomas R  514
McGrath, William H  468
McKee, Edward D  547
Meaeh, Edwin M  495
Meader, Fred H  521
Medler, Albert  509
Medler, Bruno F  515
Medler, Ernest A  495
Medler, Frank  509
Medler, Frederic  506
Medler, Henry. A  510
Medler, John  530
Medler, Julius  507
Medler, Walter  507
Meloy, George A  478
Miller, James H  556
Miller, Joseph J  535
Miller, William E  496
Montgomery, Robert W  531
Moore, Charles W  554
Murchie, W. Alexander  475
Myers, Dan W  549
Newcomb, Talmon  554
Nish, Alexander  479
Oehman, William  477
Olds, Emmitt  . 549
O'Leary, Cornelius D  471
Ornduff, Harry  510

PAGE
Peetz, Benjamin F  5°9
Peetz, Carl  476
Peetz, Louie L  499
Peetz, Otto  527
Pike, Benjamin F  511
Pike, Irwin D  500
Pinkerton, Robert W  486
Porter, Adelbert  528
Porter, Albert S  484
Ragsdale, Commodore P.... 523
Ragsdale, William H  511
Ramey, George W  468
Raymond, Will A  506
Reckmann, John  526
Rich, Orsinius H  472
Richelderfer, Henry  533
Rinearson, Jacob H  551
Rollins, Charles R  496
Root, Henry  524
Rutledge, Walter C  520
Schadewitz, Henry  537
Schadewitz Louis  538
Schaeffer, John J  535
Schassen, John  540
Schwartz, George W  552
Scott, Alexander  464
Sienknecht, John  499
Simpson, Jobn  544
Sink, Everett  473
Sink, George P  531
Sink. Thomas E  528
Smith, Hugh E  542

PAGE
Smith, James H  498
Smith, John W  469
Stanton, George V  546
Strong, Horace  5r7
Tate, William  471
Tate, William E  532
Tate, Worth A  472
Thompson, El wood  484
Thompson, George E  470
Tom, Charles H  46S
Trotter, Sarah  536
Turner, William H  466
VanGilder, Milon A  522
Van Winkle, James L  546
Venable, Francis M  501
Venable, James B  499
Venable, John R  467
Venable, Perry A  509
Vintin, George C, Jr  555
Walker, William W  518
Wallis, George E  479
Wallis, Rufus C  477
Walter, John A  541
Waterman, John W  506
Westerfield, William 1  545
Wheat, Jacob B  486
Wilcox, Hollis W  548
Wilcox, John D  550
Wright, Albert M  485
Young, David S  475

SHERMAN COUNTY PORTRAITS.

Biggs, William H  496
Bright, Cornelius J  480
Buckley, Charles A  528
Fulton, Colonel James  512

PAGE
Medler, John  528
Miller, William E  496
Porter, Adelbert  528
Porter, Mrs. Adelbert  528

PAGE
Rollins, Charles R  496
Sink, Thomas E,.  528
Smith, James H  496

f

GILLIAM COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Adlard, Fred  599
Adlard, W. T  602
Allen, F. H  583
Baker, William R  625
Barker, S. B  589
Barker, W. L.  619
Bowerman, Jay  612
Bowerman, Mary  607
Brown, John J  629
Brown, W. N  628
Campbell, William  630
Cantwell, D  603
Carnine, J. M  586
Cason, Pemberton F  618
Clarke, Myron 0  632
Cooke, James F  629
Cornett, William M  615

PAGE
Couture, Lewis  605
Couture, Stephen B  631
Crum' George L  601
Crum, J. A  596
Daggett, Eugene W  594
Danneman, Clemens A  592
Dean, Thomas  595
Dillon, Thomas  618
Douglass, F. H  633
Dunn, Edward  621
Dysart, John  630
Ebbert, J. W  612
Fitzwater, J. K  608
Flett, W. G  588
Froman, Ralph  586

PAGE
George, Fred T  609
Grider, S. S  634
Gross, Charles W  621
*
Hansen, George  600
Harrison, John  633
Hartman, Amon  622
Hartman, Henry W  605
Head, William W  593
Huff, Abraham C  625
Hurt, S. A. D  583
Johns, James M  624
Jones, Sherman  613
Kleizur, Manly F  604
Keys, William  587
Lillie, Charles L  50x3

INDEX.

xxvn

PAGE
Low, O. P  601
Maley, Edgar C  600
Maley, Oscar  600
Martin, Josephus  603
Matthews, John W   598
May, Ezra A  5S5
McGilvray, Samuel  589
McMorris, J. A  607
Moore, Frank  627
Moore, George W  610
Moore, Henry S  609
Morris, Robert L  584
Munroe, Roderick F  591
Pannan, G. G  623
Pattison, Samuel A  623
Randall, Henry D  594

PAGE
Richmond, John Alexander. . 611
Richmond. John Arthur  615
Rickard, Charles E  602
Rinehart, D. M  626
Rinehart, George W  627
Rcbinson, Robert H  , 602
Ruedy, A. Ii  598
Schctt, CeTge W  606
Shane, Clayton  597
Shannon, Francis M  605
Shelton, Andrew J  585
Simmons, Byron  013
Simmons, Jesse A  613
Smith, C. M  604
Smith, William  584
Smith, Wiilliam  597
Spencer, John  614

PAGE
Spencer, Robert B  592
Stevens, Frank B  617
Strickland, Hugh C  620
Sweet, John C  608
Thomas, Samuel A  593
Twilley, William  631
Ward, Fremont  606
Weatherford. Marion E  596
Wehrli, William  587
Wells, John R  616
West, Hans K  622
West, William P  610
Wilcox, W. L  614
Wood, Joseph F  620
Woodland, Thomas G  591
Young, Mary A  616

GILLIAM COUNTY PORTRAITS.

PAGE
Baker, William R  624
Campbell, William  630
Cason, Pemberton F  616
Couture, Stephen B  630
Danneman, Clemens A  592
Dysart, John  630
Dysart, Mrs. John  630
George, Fred T  .608

PAGE
Hansen, George  000
Head, William W  592
Huff, Abram C  624
Johns, James M  624
Moore, George W  608
Moore, Henry S  608
Moore, Mrs. Henry S  608
Spencer, Robert B  592

PAGE
Spencer, Mrs. Robert B  592
Stevens, Frank B  616
Stevens. Mrs. Frank B  616
Sweet, John C  608
Twilley, William  630
Wells, John R  616
Wells, Mrs. John R  616
West, William P  608
Withers, Matilda  616

WHEELER COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Asher, John F  !  684
Barnard, Coe D  689
Barnhouse, Jacob L  667
Baxter, David E  683
Blann, Isaac  692
Butler, George 0  692
Butler, John B  669
Campbell, W. L  663
Cannon, Robert D  670
Carroll, Charles  691
Carsner, Albert G  689
Chapman, George W.  677
Dakan, Grant W  685
Davis, Samuel B  1....686
Dement, Sedgewick S  678
Donnelly, J. W  693
Donnelly, R. N  681
Dousman, Julia A  679
Fitzgerald, Mike  673
Gates, William H  687
Gillenwater, Luther D  672
Gilliam, Robert A  668
Hale, Fred A  674

PAGE
Hale, Llewellyn H  675
Helm, A., Jr  664
Hendricks, H. H  676
Hoffman, Leonard C  697
Hoover, W. W  696
Horn, Edward F  694
Howell, E. W  682
Hubner, Joseph F  667
Hunt, James S  676
Iremonger, Benjamin  671
Johnson, Robert W  687
Keeton, Perry L  . . . 695
Kennedy, William W. ..... . 680
Lamb, Ancil B  690
Laughlin, Samuel D  665
Martin, P. C  686
McCoy, George J  673
McKav, George  666
McKenzie, Charles  678
McQuin, P. E  664
Metteer, George J  693
Misener, Robert E  685
Monroe, Thomas T  681
Moore, William S  677

PAGE
Mulvahill, Michael  670
Nelson, Samuel S  682
Owens, George V  668
Parsons, Jerome H  691
Price, Thomas M . '.  671
Prindle, Charles L  697
Putnam, J. H  695
Reed, Harry  690
Scoggin, C. T  665
Shown, Isaac F  679
Spray, John F  674
Stephens, Elzey M  669
Straube, Emil  671
Taylor, Edward W  684
Thompson, S. J  696
Trent, Henry  675
Trosper, George  684
Unsworth, Samuel  664
Wagner, Carl N  683
Wheeler, Henry H  688
Wilson, James  672

xxviu

INDEX.

WHEELER COUNTY PORTRAITS.

PAGE
Asher, John F  684
Blann, Isaac  692
Butler, John B  668
Dakan, Grant W  684

PAGE
Gilliam, Robert A  668
Kennedy, William W  680
Owens, George V  •. . 668
Stephens, Elzey M  668

PAGE
Taylor, Edward W  684
Trosper, George  684
Wheeler Henry H  688
Wilson, James  672

CROOK COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Adams, William  783
Adamson, D. P  767
Allen, Hardy  764
Balfour, Thomas N  , 763
Barnes, George W  781
Belknap, Horace P  792
Bell, Wells A  770
Bolsby, Charles  795
Booth, William A  768
Boyce, A. W  752
Breese, Richard W  789
Brennan, Thomas H  779
Brown, Michael L  771
Brown, S. S  '  800
Buchanan, T. F......i  793
Cadle, William H  769
Christiani, Michael  769
Clavpool, Luther D  779
Collver, O. G  751
Crooks, Joseph H  775
Deen, Joseph H  795
Delore, Joseph H  755
Delore, Peter  776
Delore, Peter Jr.  791
Elliott, John M  775
Faught, James M  759
Faulkner, John T  784
Forest, Francis  784
Foster, William H  788
Friend, Columbus. . .  761
Garner, J. 0  803
Gesner, Van  751
Gibson, Hiram  799
Gilchrist, John W  795
Grant, Alfred H  803
Graves, Charles A  782

PAGE
Gray, J. H  79°
Grimes, Henry T...'  765
Guerin, W. E., Jr  804
Hamilton, Thomas S  762
Harrington, R. P  797
Hodges, Arthur  767
Hodges, Monroe  778
Hon, Charles C  762
, Hunsaker, Joseph P  763
Huston, Knox  ,  785
Johnson, B. F  768
Johnson, Ewen  766
Johnson, W. J  769
Ketchum, I. L  792
King, Samuel F  797
La Follette, John D  772
La Follette, Thomas H  773
Lawson, James  771
Lawson, L. Rose  771
Liggett, Leander N  787
Lillard, Charles T  753
Lister, Charles M . .'  775
Maupin, Howard  761
McFarland, W. R  782
McMeen, James S  800
Meyer, Isidor B  773
Miller, G. S  801
Milliorn, William H  802
Newsom, S. J  786
Noble, George W  753
O'Neil, C.X  796
Osborne, George H  796
Palmehn, Charles W  783

PAGE
Parker, Edmund A  801
Peck, William H  765
Poindexter, Perry B  770
Porfily, Ralph  791
Post, Wallace  758
Powell, Marcus D  801
Powell, Thomas J  776
Read, Perry  780
Ream, Charles L  802
Roba, George  774
Robinson, John W  760
Rush, Samuel  756
Schmidt, William J  784
Senecal, Marcell  789
Shepherd, B. F  797
Slayton, Samuel R  754
Smith, Alex  800
Smith, J. J  774
Smith, William  785
Springer, Guyon  788
Steers, Lee  798
Stewart, David F  772
Street, James M  752
Street, Joseph  798
Stroud, Jacob  793
Templeton, David E  757
Thompson, Amos F  765
Vanina, Fulgenzio  798
Wagonblast, John  759
White, Edward N  ,.. 755
Wigle, Martha J. Spalding. . 780
Wilt. Marcus J  799
Wood. James  794
Wood, Lee  796
Wood, W. T  794
Yancey, Stephen W  754

CROOK COUNTY PORTRAITS.

PAGE
Barnes, George W  780
Belknap, Horace P  792
Belknap, Mrs. Horace P.... 792
Booth, William A  768
Brown, S. S  800
Delore, Peter. ,  776

PAGE
Faulkner, John T  784
Forest, Francis  784
Forest, Mrs. Francis  784
Friend, Columbus  760
Friend, Mrs. Columbus  760
Hamilton, Thomas S  760

PAGE
Hawkins, James H  764
Ketchum, I. L  yg2
Ketchum, Mrs. I. L  792
La Follette, John D  772
La Follette, Thomas H  772
Lillard, Charles T  752

INDEX.

XXIX

PAGE
Maupin, Howard  760
Maupin, Mrs. Howard  760
McFarland, W. R  780
McFarland, Mrs. W. R  780
Noble, George W  752
Read, Perry  780

PAGE
Read, Mrs. Perry  780
Robinson, John W  760
Robinson, Mrs. John W.... 760
Rush, Samuel  756
Rush, Mrs. Samuel  756
Schmidt, William J  784
Schmidt, Mrs. William J  784
Smith, William. ..'  784

PAGE
Springer, Guyon  788
Springer, Mrs. Guyon  788
Stewart, David F.  772
Stewart, Mrs. David F  772
Street, James M  .'  752
Street, Mrs. Jamse M  752
Wigle, Mrs. Martha J. Spald
ing  780

LAKE COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Ahlstrom, Svante F  897
Barnes, Marion S  902
Bennett,- Alvin N  , 916
Blair, John B  905
Blurton, ¦ William H  889
Boone, Daniel  909
Bryan, Ahaz W  ,  880
Bunting, Franklin 0  904
Cannon, Christopher C  912
Chandler, Daniel  884
Chrisman, Francis M  914
Conn, George  909
Cooper, William H  918
Currier, Manley C  910
Currier, William A  880
Dent, Christopher W  901
Down, Albert S  886
Duke, Frank M   887
Duke, James P  I  894
Duncan, Felix D  915
Duncan, Warren M  918
Daly, Bernard  ,  901
Ede, Eugene S  898
Edler, John D.\  894
Farra, John D  908
Field, John S  903
Fine, Nehemiah  885

PAGE
Fitzgerald, James T  890
Foster, Frederick W  917
Foster, James  897
Foster, John A  889
Frakes, Lorenzo D  883
Funk, Rufus K  893
Givan, James N  917
Hartzog, David H  891
Harvey, William  899
Hawkins, Rhesa A  913
Heryford, HetTry R  906
Flolder, William  903
Howard, Joseph  884
Howell, Alva L  911
Kelsay, L. N  881
Light, Frank P  887
Loveless, Charles S  896
Lutz, Elmer D  ,  920
Manring, Ahira W  891
Marshall, Charles P  921
Maupin, George F  882
McCall, William H.....  921
McCormack, William K  919
Metzker, C. Oscar  890
Moore, William J  895
Morris, John A  885
Morrow, Joseph L  879

PAGE
Moulder, William P  884
Musgrave, Mark E  904
Pope, William L  881
Prader, John  916
Random, William R  913
Reed, George  906
Reed, Herbert E-  896
Rehart, Charles A  912
Rinehart, Elmer E  893
Scammon, Willis E  883
Sherlock, Richard L  882
Sherlock, William J  910
Small, George H  888
Small, James M  920
Snider, Charles U  900
Studley, Silas J  899
Tracy, Walter D  886
Turpen, James H  908
Vanderpool, Leslie 1  899
Venator, John D  913
Vernon, Sterling P  900
Vernon, Thomas B  892
Vincent, George  895
Wardwell, Gilbert B  918
Watson, John N  907
West, William D  '.  920
Withers, John A  911

LAKE COUNTY PORTRAITS.

PAGE
Blair, John B  904
Blurton, William H  888
Bunting, Franklin 0  904
Bunting, Mrs. Franklin O... 904
Cannon, Christopher C  912
Chrisman, Francis M  912
Chrisman, Mrs. Francis M. . 912
Duncan, Felix D  912
Foster, James  896

PAGE
Foster, Mr. James  896
Foster, John A  888
Foster, Mrs. John A  888
Hawkins, Rhesa A  912
Hawkins, Mrs. Rhesa A  912
Heryford, Henry R  904
Heryford, Mrs. Henry R.... 904
Loveless, Charles S  896
Loveless, Mrs. Charles S.... 896

PAGE
Musgrave, Mark E  904
Musgrave, Mrs. Mark E  904
Random, William R  912
Rehart, Charles A  912
Reed, Herbert E  896
Reed, Mrs. Herbert E  896
Small. George H  888
Small, Mrs. George H  888
Venator, John D  912

XXX

INDEX.

KLAMATH COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL.

PAGE
Alford, Russell A  1018
Anderson, Henry T  1005
Andrews, Charles 1  1039
Applegate, Ivon D  1015
Applegate, Lucien B  1022
Benson, Henry L  1051
Bloomingcamp, George W...1010
'Boothby, Albion H  1029
Bradley, Clyde  1009
Brandenburg, John W  1050
Bryant, John W  1037
Burnham, Horatio H  1021
Burns, Mark L  1052
Burriss, Isaac W  1053
Cantrall, Roscoe E  1018
Casebeer, Edwin  1015
Castel, Antone  1042
Chastain, John A  1031
Copeland, George W  1004 I
Donnell, John 1  1023
Downing, Frank H  1018
Driscoll, Daniel F  1009
Duffy, Isaac A  1049
Emery, James M  1030 1.
Garrett, Thomas W  1014
Goeller, John F  1038
Gordon, Daniel  1040
Griffith, Daniel M  1046

PAGE
Plammond, Richard 1  1047
Hanan, Eugene R. . . . f  1028
Hanks, James L  1034
Hanks, Marion  1033
Hanson, Ira R  1044
Hazen, William W  1044
Herlihy, Stephen  1033
Hessig, Louis  1025
Hoagland, Charles H  1005
Hoagland, William S  1020
Houston, John V  1043
Irvine, Osbert E  1007
Jones, John L  1045
Kirkpatrick, Jefferson  1031
Lee, Joseph P  1043
Lewis, Arthur C  1040
Lewis, Charles C  1004
McClure, William H  1038
McCornack, Frank H  1022
Martin, S. Edward  1019
Melhase, Alford  1026
Merrill, Nathan S  1009
Meyer, Charles N  1017
Moore, James B  1021
Moore, Joseph M. .•  1053
Moore, Rufus S  1046
Morgan, Richard M  1029
Morine, George W  1034

PAGE
Nichols, Daniel B  1030
Nichols, Joseph  1008
Obenchain, Frank  1013
Oberchain, Silas H  1050
Offield, George W  1012
Offield, Thomas J  1013
Oliver, Caleb T  1010
Pope, Fred L  1006
Reames, Evan R  1048
Reed, Walter F  1012
Rhoads, William P  1042
Roberts, James T  1036
Shook, John S  1027
Short, John A  1009
Stearns, Orson A  1024
Stukel, Joseph  1014
Taylor, Ky  ,  1045
Van Meter. Franklin P  1036
Van Riper, Garrett K  1007
Van Valkenburg. Harry H. . .1019
Wheeler, James H  1052
Whitney, Major J  1006
Whitney, William P  1041
Wight, James G  1028
Wilkerson, Thomas H  1003
Willson, Charles D  1025

KLAMATH COUNTY PORTRAITS.

PAGE
Gordon, Daniel  1040
Hessig, Louis  1024
Lewis, Arthur C   1040

PAGE
Lewis, Mrs. Arthur C  1040
Rhoads, William P  1040
Rhoads, Mrs. William P  1040

PAGE
Stearns, Orson A  1024
Whitney, William P  1040
Whitney, Mrs. William P. .. .1040
Willson, Charles D  1024

PART I
GENERAL STATE HISTORY

CHAPTER I

EXPLORATIONS, COASTWISE AND INLAND.
"Far as the breeze can bear the billows' foam,
Survey our empire and behold our home."
— The Corsair.

The Seacoast of Oregon !
Historic region, rich with the legendary lore
of earliest adventurers in America ; struggles for
national foothold in bitterly disputed territory ;
establishment of outposts, trading posts, rude
forts, stockades and the ebb and flow of the tide
of desultory warfare. A terra incognita ; at one
period lying above California and having no
northern boundary known to man ; a football of
Semi-piratical adventurers and the bone of conten
tion of five nations. Such was the condition of
the wide expanse of Oregon so early as 1550. It
is ours to trace the gradual evolution of this great
state from a dormant, benighted region ; the hunt
ing and battle fields of various tribes of Indians,
and of various degrees of ferocity, through the
fierce crucible of semi-civilization into the broad,
fair light of industrial peace, business activity and
full intellectual development.
Few students of history have failed to observe
the immediate impetus given to maritime explora
tion by the royally proclaimed exploit of Colum
bus in 1492. Only nine years after the caravels
of the Italian navigator had dropped anchor in
American waters, off San Salvador, a Portugirese
sailor, Gaspar Cortereal, was cautiously feeling
his way along the Atlantic coast. This was in the
summer of 1501. The voyage of Cortereal
reached as high on the Atlantic mainland of
North America as 42 degrees north. Some his-
1

torians have advanced the claim that the explora
tions of Cortereal really antedated the discov
ery of Christopher Columbus. But of this there
is no authentic evidence ; there is a preponderance
of testimony to the contrary. By eminent cosmo-
graphists the year 1501 is now accepted as the
period of Cortereal's exploits on the coast of the
Atlantic, in the vicinity of modern New England.
This little fleet of two caravels had been dis--
patched by Manuel, King of Portugal. There
is no proof that this voyage had any other object,
or at least any other result, than pecuniary profit.
Seizing fifty Indians he carried them away, on his
return, and sold them as slaves.
As Cortereal was among the earliest on the
Atlantic seaboard, so Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, or
Cabrilla, as the name is sometimes spelled, is
admitted to have been the earliest navigator along
southern California. It was, evidently, the in
tention of Cabrillo to continue his voyage far
higher on the Northwest Coast, for he, too, had
heard of the then mysterious "Strait of Anian,"
now modernized as Bering Strait, and was en
thused with most laudable geographical ambi
tion. But fate ruled otherwise. Cabrillo died in
the harbor of San Diego, California, in January,
1 543, fifty-one years after the momentous achieve •
ment of Columbus on the southeastern shores of
the present United States. The mantle of Ca
brillo fell upon the shoulders of his pilot, Barto-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

lome Ferrelo. To within two and one-half de
grees of the mouth of the Columbia river Fer
relo continued the exploration, tracing the west
ern coast of the American continent along this
portion of the Pacific, and to Ferrelo has been
accredited the honor of having been the first white
man to gaze upon the coast of Oregon.
But back of that dimly outlined shore which
Ferrelo skirted, above latitude 42 degrees, far
inland, lay the immense, wonderful territory that
afterward became Oregon. It is not susceptible
of proof that Ferrelo ever gained north of the
present Astoria, although this claim was at one
period urged by Spain. But a country which
could solemnly lay claim to the whole Pacific
ocean, by "right of discovery" by Balboa, would
not be at all backward in declaring that one of her
navigators was the first to sight the Northwest
Coast, and that, too, far above the point really
gained by Ferrelo. It is not considered likely
that he reached above the mouth of Umpqua
river. Francis Drake was an English navigator, a
privateer, a freebooter, a pirate and plunderer
of Spanish galleons, yet withal a man of strong
character and enterprising spirit. In 1577 he
attempted to find a northwest passage. Drake
probably reached as high as latitude 43 degrees,
and dropped his anchors in the shoals of that
region. No inland explorations were achieved by
him, and he reluctantly abandoned the search for
Anian, returned to Drake's Bay, on the coast of
California, and subsequently to England around
the Cape of Good Hope. En passant it is noticea
ble that during the subsequent famous Oregon
Controversy, which obtained ascendency in inter
national politics two hundred and fifty years later,
the discoveries of Drake were not r resented bv
England in support of her claims for all terri
tory north of the Columbia river. Whether
Great Britain was doubtful of the validity of dis
coveries made by a freebooter, or attached no
importance to his achievement, the fact remains
that they were not urged with anv force or enthu
siasm. In that portion of the "History of North
America," written by Alfred Brittain and edited
by Guy Carleton Lee, Ph. D., the author says :
"Drake, in his voyage around the world, en
tered the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan
in 1578, and sailing northward, after calling at
various places to plunder Spanish ships, he
reached a point where the cold and ice compelled
him to turn south, and he put into a bay in Cali
fornia to refit. Here he landed and took formal
possession of the country in the name of Queen
Elizabeth and named the land New Albion. The
exact place of his landing is uncertain, but it was
Kjot far from the Golden Gate."

When compelled to turn south by cold and
ice Drake was, probably, in the vicinity of latitude
43 degrees north, perhaps many miles above. If
sq, he gained a higher point than had been reached
by Ferrelo. Continuing Mr. Brittain says :
"By Drake's expedition, undertaken with the
double object of exploring the Pacific ocean — the
South Sea of the Spaniards — and of crippling
England's secret enemy, the English formally ac
quired their first territory on the western shores
of North America, though the acquisition was not
followed up. The energies of England were to be
directed to the explorations of lands already dis
covered on the eastern coast, and to the founding
of the settlements that were soon to develop into
well organized and enterprising colonies."
This coincides with the fact that England did
not put forth her claims for a portion of Oregon
based on any exploits of Drake — did not, in fact,
follow up the acquisition. This must be borne in
mind by the reader when he approaches the chap
ter relating to "The Oregon Controversy."
Cabrillo and Ferrelo were not emulated in
maritime discoveries in the waters of the North
west Coast, until 1550. But on the shore line
of the Atlantic, Cartier, for six years, between
1536 and 1542, had made a number of inland
voyages, ascending the St. Lawrence Gulf and
river five hundred miles, past the site of Mon
treal and to the falls of St. Louis. In the far
south Hernando De Soto, contemporary with
Cartier, had sailed coastwise along the Florida
peninsula and penetrated that tropical country
until forced back by swamps, morasses and ever
glades. Inland exploration in the middle of the
sixteenth century comprised, practically, in its
northern limitations, a line crossing the conti
nent a few miles below the 36th parallel, from the
Colorado to the Savannahs, Coronado advancing
into the modern Kansas, having passed the line at
its central part. The Pacific had been explored
sufficiently only to barely show the shore line to
the 44th degree of north latitude.
In the way of northern exploration on the
Pacific coast Spain had, in 1550, accomplished
little or nothing. But fifteen years later Spain
became aggressive along the lines of maritime
activity ._ Urdaneta in 1565, planned and executed
the initial voyage eastward, opening a northern
route to the Pacific coast of North America.
From the Philippines he was followed by Manila
traders, eager for gain, and for two "centuries
thereafter, through the rise and decline of Span
ish commercial supremacy, these active and ener
getic sailors reaped large rewards from the costly
furs found in the waters of the Northwest Coast
It is fair to say that the spirit of commercialism
contributed far more toward development of the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3

region of which this history treats than did the
more sentimental efforts of geographical science.
Still, the latter spirit was not without its apos
tles and propagandists. Among them was one
who called himself Juan de Fuca, a Greek of
'Cephalonia. His real name was Apostolos Vale-
rianos. Acting, as had Columbus, under royal
commission from the King of Spain, he sailed
bravely away to find the legendary Strait of
Anian — the marine pathway between the greatest
oceans of the world. The name of Anian, a myth
ical northwestern kingdom, originated in 1500,
and it is said to have been taken in honor of a
brother of Cortereal. The real strait was dis
covered by Russians in 1750. These Russians
were fur-hunting Cossacks, who reached the
Pacific coast of North America in 1639. Their
point of rendezvous was at Okhotsk, on the sea
of that name. The following short biography of
Vifus Bering is from the Century Dictionary
and Cyclopedia :
Vitus Bering (or Behring) was born at Horsens,
Jutland, 1680; died at Bering Island, 1741. A Danish
navigator, in the Russian service, noted for discoveries
in the North Pacific ocean. He explored the northern
coast of Siberia in 1725, traversed Bering Strait (named
from him), in 1728, proving that Asia and America are
separated, and in 1741 explored the western coast o'f
America to latitude 69 degrees north.
Though the voyage of Juan de Fuca never
attained fruition, it must be conceded that it was
conceived in the interest of science ; a move in
behalf of international economics, and honorable
alike to both Spain and the intrepid navigator. In
1584 Francisco de Gali reached the Pacific coast,
from the west, in 37 degrees 30 minutes. He was
content to sail southward without landing, but
recorded for the archives of Spain the trend and
shore-line of the coast. By the same route Cer-
menon, in 1595, met with disaster by losing his
vessel in Drake's Bay, a short distance above the
present city of San Francisco. Prominent among
other voyagers, bent mainly on profit, were
Espejo, Perea, Lopez and Captain Vaca.
As has been stated, the earliest explorations of
the Northwest Coast were maritime. They were
also, in the main, confined between latitudes 42
degrees and 54 degrees, mainly south of the
boundary line finally accepted by Great Britain
as between Canada and the United States. Even
in that twilight preceding the broad day of inland
discovery, there were wars between nations, with
"Oregon" the issue; and some compromises.
Later came the advance guard of inland explorers
who found, at the occidental terminus of their
perilous journeys, a comparatively unknown sea
board 750 miles in extent, below the vast reaches

of Alaskan territory and the Aleutian Islands.
From the far north came Russian explorers, and
they encountered southern navigators who had
come upward from the ambrosial tropics. They
compared notes ; they detailed to each other
many facts, intermixed with voluminous fiction,
but from the whole was picked out and arranged
much of geographical certainty. Four nations
of Pacific navigators came to what afterwards
was known as Oregon, related their adventures,
boasted of the discoveries each had made, dis
cussed the probability of a northwest passage, the
"Strait of Anian" — and the Northwest Mystery
remained a mystery still.
And what a wealth of industrial resources lay
back of the coast line within the vast territory of
the ancient Oregon ; the country above California
with no known northern limits ! Gold and silver,
rich seal and salmon fisheries ; coal ; timber, at
that period apparently inexhaustible ; grain and
fruit lands ; extensive cattle and sheep ranges ;
splendid harbors, and, in short, every facility and
resource necessary for a mighty empire. But it
remained for future generations to recognize,
grasp and develop these glorious possibilities. To
these semi-barbaric early navigators all this
knowledge was without their ken.
The Spaniards, between 1492 and 1550, were
in the lead, so far as concerns actual geographical
results, of all other European sailors. Spain,
through the agency of the Italian, Columbus, had
discovered a new world ; Spain had meandered
the coast line for 30,000 miles ; from 60 degrees
on the Atlantic coast of Labrador, round by Ma
gellan Strait, to 40 degrees on the coast of the
Pacific. Vast were the possibilities of the future
for Spain, and the old world did honor to her
unequaled achievements. From a broad, human
itarian point of view it is a sad reflection that so
many of the golden promises held out to her
should, in subsequent centuries, have faded away
as fades the elusive rainbow against the storm-
cloud background. But Spain's misfortune be
came North America's opportunity. England,
too, and Russia, watched and waited, seized and
assimilated so rapidly as possible, piece by piece
the territory on which the feet of Spanish ex
plorers had first been planted. That it ,was the
survival of the fittest may, possibly, be question
ed, but it remains a fact that Spain's gradual, yet
certain loss of the most valuable territory in the
world has furnished many of the most stirring
episodes in the world's history. Spain has lost,
sold, ceded and relinquished vast domains to
nearly all the modern powers of the Twentieth
Century. And not the least valuable of Spain's
farmer possessions are now under the Stars and
Stripes.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

It is interesting to note the vast shrinkage in
the claims of Spain throughout successive years.
She finally departed from the contest for Oregon.
George Bancroft, in the best "History of the
United States," so far written, says, volume i,
page 9 :
"To prevent collision between Christian
princes, on the 4th of May, 1493, Alexander VI
published a bull in which he drew an imaginary
line from the North Pole to the South, a hundred
leagues west of the Azores, assigning to the Span
ish all that lies west of that boundary, while all
to the east of it was confirmed to Portugal."
Thus was the Northern Hemisphere arro
gantly and farcically given to two nations. In
the subsequent gradual deterioration of Spanish
possessions, or rather, preposterous claims, one
may consistently quote from the world's greatest
dramatist, "What a fall was there, my countrymen !"
Thus far has been hastily sketched the sali
ent facts concerning the earliest maritime dis
coveries on the Northwest Coast. None of the
Spanish, English, Russian or Italian navigators
had penetrated inland farther than a few miles
up the estuary of the Columbia river. It was
destined to remain for a class of explorers other
than maritime, yet equally courageous and enter
prising, to blaze the trail for future pioneers
from the east.
To Alexander Mackenzie, a native of Inver
ness, knighted by George III, is accredited the
honor of being the first European to force a
passage of the Rocky Mountains north of Cali
fornia. June 3, 1789, Mackenzie left Fort Chip
ewyan, situated at the western point of Atha
basca lake, in two canoes. He was accompanied
by a German, four Canadians, two of them with
wives, an Indian named English Chief, and M.
Le Roux, the latter in the capacity of clerk and
supercargo of the expedition. The route of this
adventurous party was by the way of Slave river
and Slave lake, thence down a stream subse
quently named Mackenzie river, on to the Arctic
Ocean, striking the coast of the Pacific at lati
tude 52 degrees, 24 minutes, 48 seconds. This
territory is all within the present boundaries of
British Columbia, north of the line finally accept
ed as the northern boundary of "Oregon" by the
English diplomats.
Singular as it may appear there is little auth
entic history of the origin of this term, "Oregon."
There is, however, cumulative testimony to the
effect that the name was invented by johathan
Carver ; that the name was exploited and made
famous by William Cullen Bryant, late editor of
the New York Evening Post and author of
"Thanatopsis ;" that it was fastened upon the

Columbia river territory, originally by Hall Kel-
ley, through his memorials to congress in 1837,
and secondly by various other English and Amer
ican authors. Aside from this explanation are
numerous theories adducing Spanish derivatives
of rather ambiguous context, but lacking lucidity
or force. It is likely that no more etymological
radiance will ever be thrown upon what, after
all, is rather unimportant, though often mooted
question. However, concerning the Spanish de
rivative, we can give no more convincing testi
mony than the following from the columns of
the Portland Oregonian. To the Editor of the
Oregonian the following question was pro
pounded — "Will you please give the derivation,
and the meaning of the word 'Oregon,' and oblige
Many New Comers ?" To this the Editor of the
Oregonian replied as follows :
On the 15th of September, 1863, the late Archbishop '
Blauchett contributed the following interesting paper
to the Oregonian, which fully answers the question. It
Will be observed that the archbishop speaks of himself
in the third person :
"Jonathan Carver, an English captain in the wars
by which Canada came into the possession of Great
Britain, after the peace, left Boston June 6, 1766; crossed
the continent to the Pacific and returned October, 1768.
In relation to his travels which were 'published in 1778,
he is the first who makes use of the word 'Oregon.' The
origin of that word has never been discovered in the
country. The first Catholic missionaries, Father De-
mers, now Bishop of Vancouver Island, and Father
Blauchett, now Bishop of Oregon City, arrived in Ore
gon in 1838. They traveled through it for many years,
from north to south, from west to east, visiting and
teaching the numerous tribes in Oregon, Washington
Territory and the British possessions. But in all their
various excursions among the Indians they never suc
ceeded in finding the origin of the word 'Oregon.'
"Now it appears that what could not be found in
Oregon has been discovered by Archbishop Blauchett
in Bolivia, when he visited that country, Chili and Peru,
in 1855 and 1857. The word 'Oregon,' in his opinion^
most undoubtedly has its root in the Spanish word
orcja, (ear) ; and came from its qualifying word orcjon
(big ear). For it is probable that the Spaniards, who
first discovered and visited the country, when they saw
the Indians with big ears, enlarged by the load of orna
ments, were naturally inclined to call them orcjon (big
ears). The nickname first given to the Indians became,
also, the name of the country. This explains how Cap
tain Carver got it and first' made use of it. But the
travelers, perhaps Carver himself, not knowing the
Spanish language nor the particular pronunciation of
the j in Spanish, for facility's sake, would have written
it and pronounced it 'Oregon,' instead of 'Orcjon'; in
changing / to g. Such, in all probability, must be the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

origin of the word 'Oregon.' It comes from the Spanish
word 'Orejon.' This discovery is due, in justice, to the
learned Dr. George Haygarth, A. M., M. D., of London,
a man well versed in the Spanish, whom the archbishop
met in La Paz, Bolivia. So much for the etymology of
the word 'Oregon.' This, probably, becomes a con
viction when we consider how customary it is for trav
elers in a new country to give appropriate names and
how generally these names are received, retained and
pass to posterity. We have not a few instances of this
practice on the Pacific coast, and in Oregon in
particular." We cannot but regard this explanation of the
worthy archbishop as rather far-fetched and not,
altogether, conclusive. The study of languages
reveals too many words of similar orthography
with, sometimes, diametrically opposite defini
tions. Again, it is nowhere recorded that Jona
than Carver ever visited the extreme Pacific
coast at the time mentioned by the archbishop.
Had he clone so he would have antedated the
Lewis and Clark expedition by between 36 and
40 years. Concerning Carver the Century Dic
tionary and Cyclopedia says :
Carver, Jonathan. Born at Stillwater, Conn., 1732;
died at London, January 31, 1780. An American sol
dier and traveler, explorer of the region beyond the
Mississippi. To find a northern passage to the Pacific,
"he started from Boston, June, 1766, explored the shores
of Lake Superior, and proceeded as far west as the
sources of the St. Pierre, returning in 1768. In 1769
"he went to England. He published "Travels to the
Interior parts of North America,'' including an account
of the manners, customs, languages, etc., of the Indians
(T778), "A Treatise on the Cultivation of the Tobacco
Plant" (1779), etc.
Here we have nothing indicating that Jona
than Carver went so far west as the Pacific
coast. We do have, however, the plain state
ment that' Carver was "an American soldier,"
instead of an British officer, and that he was born
in the New England state of Connecticut.
William Barrows, in his "Oregon : The
Struggle for Possession," clearly demonstrates
that Carver never gained the Pacific coast, and,
probably, never entered the vast territory then
known as "Oregon," Mr. Barrows says :
"Leading and prominent among explorers
was Jonathan Carver, a hard soldier in the
French and Indian wars, that terminated at
Quebec, a rugged and daring pioneer, with a pas
sion for forest life and all its wild adventures
and thrilling incidents. In the late wars he had
become inured to hardship, and he was enamored
•of the fascinations that lie along an unexplored

border of wilderness. Carver left Boston in
1766, under the geographical delusion of the day,
that North America was an archipelago, ^nd
that a sailing passage could be found, extending
through to the Pacific. The leading purpose
with him in his tour was to discover those mythi
cal and always receding 'Straits of Anian,' as
the channel was called. His head was fired with
the vision of the discovery of a northwest pas
sage, or a communication between Hudson Bay
and the Pacific Ocean — an event so desirable and
which has been so often sought for but without
success. He returned in two years, having ex
plored no farther than the present limits of Wis
consin, Ioiva and Minnesota. He claimed that
he was the first white man, after Hennepin, the
French missionary, to explore the Mississippi as
far up as the falls of St. Anthony."
The expedition of Mackenzie, crowned with
results most valuable to science and territorial
development, comprised one hundred and two
days. At the point he first made on the Pacific
coast the explorer executed with vermillion and
grease a rude sign bearing the following inscrip
tion : "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada by
land, July 22, 1793." Subsequently expeditions
were made by Mackenzie to the coast, one of
them via the Peace river.
But now comes one M. Le Page du Pratz, a
talented and scholarly French savant, with the
statement, made several years ago, that neither
Mackenzie nor Lewis and Clarke were the first
to cross the Rockies and gain the Northwest
Coast. Our French student claims to have dis
covered a Natchez Indian, being of the tribe of
the Yahoos, called L'Interprete, on account of the
various languages he had acquired, but named
by his own people Moncacht Ape, "He Who Kills
Trouble and Fatigue." M. Le Page declares
that this man, actuated mainly by curiosity, a
stimulant underlying all advancement, unassisted
and unattended, traveled from the Mississippi
river to the Pacific coast so early as 1743. This
was sixty years before President Jefferson dis
patched Captain Lewis and Clark on their gov
ernmental expedition, the results of which have
proven so important and momentous in the his
tory of the development of Oregon. Moncacht
Ape, it is claimed, met many tribes of Indians,
made friends with all of them, acquired portions
of complex dialects, gained assistance and infor
mation and eventually gazed upon the same
waters upon which Balboa had fixed his eyes with
enthusiasm, many hundreds of miles to the south.
It cannot be denied that hardly has a great
discovery been heralded to the world ere some
rival springs up to claim it. Possibly it was this

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

spirit which may have actuated M. Le Page in
producing the somewhat mysterious Moncacht
Ape, to pose as the pioneer of the Northwestern
exploration. But we, of today, are in no posi
tion to combat his claims, reserving to ourselves
the undeniable fact that Mackenzie and Lewis
and Clark were the first white men to gain, over
land, the Northwest Coast.

From 1 543 to 1803 this greatly abridged
foreword has traced northwestern discoveries..
We now enter upon a brief description of the
glorious achievements of Lewis and Clark in that
particular portion of their historic journey, com
memorated this year by the magnificent exposi
tion at Portland, Oregon, which proved so fruit
ful to this great state.

CHAPTER II

EXPLORATIONS BY LAND.

Following the exploration and rude charting
of Puget Sound, and the discovery of the Colum
bia, for a number of years maritime adventure
was quiescent. Activity in this direction was
stimulated, however, not by an immediate pros
pect of penetrating the "Strait of Anian," but
the possibility of finding vast auriferous deposits
— gold — the legendary lore of the primitive
country being highly embellished with a wealth
of glittering fiction founded upon a modicum of
fact. In overland exploration the pioneership must
be accorded to one Verendrye, although he ut
terly failed to discover a pass through the Rocky
Mountains. But he made a number of deter
mined efforts, and for these he deserves credit.
He acted under the authority of the governor
general of New France, setting out from Canada
on an exploration of the Rocky Mountains in
1773. This gallant explorer and his brother and
sons made many important expeditions, added,
much to the general knowledge of the country,
but being unsuccessful their adventures scarcely
come within the province of this volume.
The first traveler to lead a party of civilized
men through the "Stony mountains to the South
Sea" was Alexander Mackenzie. Yet his field
of discovery, although adding much richness to
the store-house of science, is, also, without the
scope of our purpose, being too far north to
figure prominently in the international complica
tions of later years. Western exploration by
land had, however, elicited the interest of one
whose forcefulness and dominant energy were
sufficient to bring to a successful issue almost
every undertaking worth the effort. While other
statesmen and legislators of his time were fully

engaged with the ephemeral problems of the
moment, the masterful mind of Thomas Jeffer
son, endowed with a wider range of vision and
more comprehensive grasp of the true situation,.
was projecting exploring expeditions into the
Northwest. In 1786, while serving as minister
to France, he had fallen athwart the enthusiastic
and ardent Ledyard, who was fired with the idea
of opening a large and immensely profitable fur
trade in the north Pacific region. To this young
man the astute Jefferson suggested the idea of
journeying to Kamtchatka; thence in a Russian
vessel to Nootka sound, from which, as a point
of 'departure, he should make an exploring ex
pedition eastward to the United States. On this-
suggestion Ledyard acted. But in 1787, in the
spring of that year, Ledyard was arrested as a
spy by Russian officials, and harshly treated.
This caused a failure of his health and a conse
quent failure of his enterprise.
Yet another effort was made by the indomit
able Jefferson in 1792. He then proposed to
the American Philosophical Society that it should
engage a competent scientist "to explore north
west America from the eastward by ascending the
Missouri river, crossing the Rocky Mountains and
descending the nearest river to the Pacific
ocean." This glorious idea was quite favorably
received. Captain Meriwether Lewis, who after
ward distinguished himself as one of the leaders'
of the Lewis and Clark expedition, at once prof
fered his services. But for some reason Andre
Michaux, a French botanist, was given the pre
ference. Michaux proceeded as far as Ken
tucky, but there received an order from the
French minister to whom, it seems, he owed
equal obedience., that he should relinquish his-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

appointment and engage upon the duties of an
other commission. Whether this abrupt counter
mand was inspired by a spirit of national jeal
ousy, or from a disposition to retard American
enterprise in the extreme northwest, is not
known. Suffice it to say that Michaux at once
threw up his commission and returned to the
French legation.
Thus it chanced that it was not until the
dawn of a new century that another opportunity
for furthering his favorite project presented it
self to Jefferson. An act of congress, under
which trading-houses had been established for
facilitating commerce with the Indians, was about
to expire by limitation. In recommending its
continuance President Jefferson seized the op
portunity to urge upon congress the advisability
of fitting out an expedition "to explore the Mis
souri river and such of its principal streams as,
by its course of communication with the waters
of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Ore
gon, Colorado or any other river, may offer the
most direct and practical water communication
across the continent, for the purpose of com
merce." An appropriation was voted by congress ; the
expedition was placed in charge of Captains Meri
wether Lewis and William Clark. Minute and
particular instructions concerning investigations
to be made by them were communicated by
President Jefferson. They were to inform them
selves should they win their way to the Pacific
ocean "of the circumstances which may decide
whether the furs of those parts may be collected
as advantageously at the headwaters of the Mis
souri (convenient as is supposed to the Colorado
and Oregon, and Columbia) as at Nootka sound
or any other part of that coast ; and the trade be
constantly conducted through the Missouri and
United States more beneficially than by the cir
cumnavigation now practiced." In addition to
these instructions the explorers were directed to
ascertain if possible on arrival at the sea board if
there were any ports within their reach fre
quented by the sea going vessels of any nation,
and to send, if practicable, two of their most
trusted people back by sea with copies of their
notes. They were, also, if they deemed a return
by the way they had come imminently hazardous,
to ship the entire party and return via Cape of
Good Hope or Cape Horn, as they might be able.
It was destined that material significance
should be added to this enterprise. A few days
before the initial steps were taken in discharge of
the instructions of President Jefferson, negotia
tions had been successfully consummated for the
purchase of Louisiana, April 30, 1803. But the

authorities at Washington, D. C, did not learn
of this momentous event, fraught with such
immense profit to the United States, until the
ist of July. Of such transcendant import _ to
the future of our country was this transaction
and of such vital moment to the section with
which our volume is primarily concerned, that
we must here interrupt the trend of our narra
tive to communicate to the reader an idea of the
extent of territory involved and, if possible, to
enable him to more fully appreciate the influence
of that purchase. France, by her land explora
tions and the establishment of trading posts and
forts, first acquired title to the territory west of
the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains,
although Great Britain claimed the territory in
accordance with her doctrine of continuity and
contiguity, the greater number of her colonial
grants, by express terms, extending to the Pa
cific ocean. Spain also, claimed the country by
grant of Pope Alexander VI. Concerning these
conflicting claims William Barrows, in his valu
able work, "Oregon : The Struggle for Pos
session," says :
In 1697, the year of the Treaty of Ryswick, Spain
claimed as her share of North America, on the Atlantic
coast, from Cape Romaine on the Carolina shore a few
miles north of Charleston, due west to the Mississippi
river, and all south of that line to the Gulf of Mexico.
That line, continued beyond the Mississippi, makes the
northern boundary of Louisana. In the valley of the
lower Mississippi Spain acknowledged no rival, though
France was then beginning to intrude. On the basis of
discovery by the heroic De Soto and others, she claimed
up to the heads of the Arkansas and the present famous
Leadville, and westward to the Pacific. On that ocean,
or the South Sea, as it was then called, she set up the
pretensions of sovereignty from Panama to Nootka
sound on Vancouver. These pretensions covered the
coasts, harbors, islands and fisheries, and extended
themselves indefinitely inland, and even over the whole
Pacific ocean, as then limited. These stupendous claims
Spain based on discovery, under the papal bull of Alex
ander VI in 1493. This bull or decree gave to the gov
ernment of the discoverer all newly discovered lands
and waters. In 1513 Balboa, the Spaniard, discovered
the Pacific ocean, as he came over the Isthmus of
Panama, and so Spain came into the ownership of that
body of water. Good old times, those were, when kings
thrust their hands into the New World, as children do
theirs into a grab-bag at a fair, and drew out a river
four thousand miles long, or an ocean, or a tract of
wild land ten or fifteen times the size of England.
At the Ryswick partition of the world, France held
good positions in America for the mastery of the conti
nent. Beginning on the Mississippi, where the Spanish
line crossed it, that is, where Louisiana and Arkansas

s

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

unite two of their corners on the Father of Waters, the
French claimed east on the Spanish boundary, and north
of it to the watershed between the head streams divid
ing for the Atlantic and the Mississippi. Their claim
was bounded by this highland line, continuing north and
east, and still separating Atlantic streams from those
flowing into the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence.
Where this line reached the springs of the Penobscot it
followed its waters to the ocean. It was the proud
thought of France that from the mouth of the Penobscot
along the entire seaboard to the unknown and frozen
Arctic, no European power divided that coast, and the
wild interior back of it. with her. So France claimed
indefinitely north to the farther rim of Hudson Bay, and
wildly west to the heads of the Mississippi and Missouri,
and thence down to our two corners of Louisiana and
Arkansas. This gave to France even the western parts
of Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, and a large
portion of New England, as we now name those sections.
Certain vague doubts hung over those French claims in
the great north land after the convention of Ryswick,
but were claims of little worth.
A constant warfare had been waged between
France and Great Britain for supremacy in
America. The latter was the winner in the con
test, and, in 1762, France, apparently discoura
ged, ceded to Spain the province of Louisiana.
By the treaty of February 10, 1763, which gave
Great Britain the Canadas, it was agreed that the
western boundary between England and Span
ish possessions in America should be the Mis
sissippi river, Great Britain renouncing all claim
to the territory west of that boundary. In 1800
Spain retroceded Louisiana to France "with the
same extent it has now in the hands of Spain,
and which it had when France possessed it, and
such as it should be according to the treaties sub
sequently made between Spain and other states."
As above stated the order for the formal de
livery of the province to France was by the Span
ish king, issued October 15, 1802. The United
States succeeded to the title bv treaty of April
30, 1803. The three ministers conducting the
negotiations ceding Louisiana territory to the
United States were Monroe and Livingston, rep
resenting the United States, and Barbe-Marbois,
selected by Napoleon to represent France. In
his well written and entertaining book, "First
Across the Continent," Mr. Noah Brooks says :
"The details of this purchase were arranged in
Paris (on the part of the United States) by Rob
ert R. Livingston and James Madison." This is
entirely incorrect. James Madison was at the
time secretary of state, and merely acted in an
official capacity in the ratification of the treaty.
James Monroe and Livingston, in Paris, working
co-jointly with Barbe-Marbois, a minister of the

French public treasury, arranged the details of
this important "deal in real estate." At that
period Marbois' relations with Napoleon were
close and confidential, and the current traditions
of Napoleon's attitude throughout the negotia
tions is a more or less inaccurate version of the
report made by Marbois in his "Historie de la
Louisiane," written after the Bourbon restoration
and published in Paris by the Didots in 1829.
The original edition, now rare in the United
States, one of the earlier, if not the earliest, con
tains the French maps of "the territory added
to the United States by the treaty." Still, inter
esting as all this is, it can not compare in impor
tance with the summary of the situation then ex
isting as Marbois gives it, and with his report of
Napoleon's conversations and speeches on the
subj ect.
The second part of this work, which is de
voted to the treaty and its effects on the destinies
of the world — which with surprising foresight
he fully appreciated — opens with a valuable sum
mary of the attitude of the United States toward
France and England. He shows that the de
feated Federalists were taking advantage of Jef
ferson's well-known French sympathies to press
against France and against the administration of
the United States the dangerous questions which
had been raised by the attitude of the West in
demanding assurances of the free navigation of
the Mississippi. "Although a very active faction
in Congress," he writes, "worked secretly to force
a declaration of war against France by the United
States, the chiefs of the administration desired
sincerely to preserve the good understanding.
On its side the Consular government ( Napoleon
personally) seemed to wish to follow toward the
republic a course opposed to that of the directory.
War between France and England seemed inevi
table, and the American Cabinet easily under
stood that in case it was declared the French
consul would be under the necessity of postponing
the occupation of Louisiana."
He then quotes from the message of Decem
ber 18, 1802, in which Jefferson called the atten
tion of Congress to the importance of the reoccu-
pation of Louisiana by France, and details the
circumstances under which Monroe went forth to
France to reinforce Livingston, who was alreadv
in Paris attempting to negotiate for the city of
New Orleans and the territory which controlled
the mouth of the Mississippi.
To understand the attitude of Napoleon it
must be recalled that in becoming first consul he
had announced himself as a pacificator of the
world, and after attempting to conciliate the pow
ers in the treaty of Amiens, had continued vio-or-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ously to attempt to reconstruct France in accord
ance with his own ideas. This he considered the
object of paramount importance at the time, and
whatever plans he had for extending the empire
of France over Europe were to be postponed until
he had firmly intrenched himself at home and
completely reorganized France. For doing this
he had, in a great measure, carried out his plans,
when he saw that England was once more about
to take the aggressive against him — this just at
a time when he was preparing to cease to be first
consul and to become "Napoleon the First."
This is the situation which Marbois defines,
and it explains the stimulus under which Na
poleon's genius acted in reaching the decision that
there must be a radical change in the attitude of
France toward the United States. After the Rev
olutionary War France had hoped to hold the
United States as a ward under an informal
French protectorate and had co-operated with
Spain to that end. To keep the United States
surrounded by French and Spanish territory was
part of this plan. When Monroe sailed for
France Napoleon seems to have reached a de
cision, foreshadowed in a conversation in the
Tuileries, to abandon once for all the idea of con
trolling the United States, and by a sudden stroke
to set them loose as a first-class power against
England. He announced this decision in a con
ference at which Marbois was present, just before
Monroe landed. •
Before calling this conference he had de
nounced the claims of England to be "mistress
of the seas," and had said "to free the world from
the commercial tyranny of England it is necessary
to oppose to her a maritime power which will
one day become her rival. It must be the United
States.- The English aspire to dispose of all the
riches of the world. I will be useful to the entire
universe if I can prevent them from dominating
America as they dominate Asia."
It appears that after announcing in the Tuiler
ies that the United States might be thrust for
ward as a rival for England, Napoleon brooded
over the matter, as was his habit ; and then, after
he had finally made up his mind, he called his
advisers to him and addressed to them his request
for advice in what was really a demand for their
assent to his plans, "made with vehemence and
passion," which did not invite argument. The
first declaration of his purpose is thus given bv
Marbois :
"I know the worth of Louisiana, and I have
wished to repair the error of the French negotia-
ator who abandoned it in 1763. I have recovered
it on paper through some lines in a treaty, but I
have hardly done so when I am about to lose it
•again. But if it escapes me, it shall one day be at

a clearer cost to those to whom I will surrender it.
The English have successively taken from France
Canada, the Isle Royal, Newfoundland, Arcadia
and the richest territories of Asia. They are in
triguing and disturbing in San Domingo. They
shall not have the Mississippi, which they covet.
Louisiana is nothing in comparison with their
aggrandizement in all parts of the globe, but the
jealousy they feel because of its return under the
dominion of France warns me that they intend
to seize it, and it is thus they will begin the war.
They have already twenty vessels in the Gulf of
Mexico — they swagger over those seas as sov
ereigns — and in San Domingo, since the death of
Leclerc, our affairs are going from bad to worse.
The conquest of Louisiana will be easy if they
only take the trouble to descend upon it. I have
not a moment to lose in putting it out of their
power. I do not know but what they are there
already. That is their usual way of doing things,
and as for me, if I was in their place I certainly
would not have waited. I wish to take away from
them even the idea that they will ever be able to
own this colony. I contemplate turning it over
to the United States. I would hardly be able
to say I had ceded it to them, for we are not yet
even in possession of it. But even a short delay
may leave me nothing but a vain title to transmit
to the republicans, whose friendship I seek. They
are asking me for but a single city of Louisiana,
but I already consider the whole colony as lost,
and it seems to me that in the hands of this rising
power it will be more useful to the politics and
even to the commerce of France than if I attempt
to keep it."
"Tell me your opinion," said Napoleon, in
conclusion, and his ministers made speeches, one
for, the other against, the cession. He listened
and asked questions. It was the next morning
after this that he called them to him again and an
nounced that England had broken faith in refus
ing to evacuate Malta, and that there was no time
for further deliberation.
Marbois consulted with Livingston before
Monroe's arrival, finding him full of suspicions
and unable to believe it when told that the first
consul would negotiate, not for New Orleans
alone, but for the cession of the entire territory.
He thought this merely another French device
to gain time, and when Marbois met Monroe and
Livingston together for the first time he dis
covered that both had doubts concerning his good
faith. However, these doubts he soon removed,
and the negotiations proceeded without friction
or the slightest degree of unpleasantness, except
over the price and the boundaries. The jurisdic
tion of the ecclesiastical authorities at New
Orleans had been claimed to the Pacific, but

IO

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

France was not willing to guarantee this, and the
American envoys desired an exact definition of
boundaries, because publicists had held treaties
invalid in which such definitions were not clearly
given. It was finally decided to accept the French
view, and it was intimated that there was an
understanding that this would be to 'the advan
tage of the United States in proceeding against
England for the occupation of the western Pacific
territory. Indeed the whole inference from
Marbois' book is that, back of the purchase price,
which was important at the time to give Napoleon
money to prosecute the war against England,
there was a much more important, if even wholly
undefined, understanding that the cession in
volved, on the part of the United States, the as
sumption of the aggressive against England in
support of France. This is strongly brought
-out in Marbois' report of Livingston's speech,
made at the signing of the treaty.
When this important document had been
actually signed, Marbois states that the three
negotiators (Monroe, Livingston and himself),
"felt a sentiment superior to glory. Never," he
says, "had negotiators tasted a joy more pure
than theirs." So soon as they had signed they
rose, shook hands, and Livingston, expressing the
satisfaction of all, said : "The treaty we have
signed has not been brought about by finesse nor
dictated by force.
"Equally advantageous to both the contract
ing parties, it will change vast solitudes into a
flourishing country. To-day the United States
'take their place among the powers of the first
rank. All exclusive influence in the affairs of the
United States is lost to England forever. Thus
is done away with one of the chief causes of
European hatreds and rivalries. Moreover if
wars are inevitable, France will have in the New
World a friend, increasing year by year in power,
which cannot fail to become puissant and re
spected on all the seas of the world. It is by the
United States that there will be re-established
for all the peoples of the earth maritime rights
which are now usurped by a single country. Thus
treaties will become a guarantee of peace and
good will between commercial states. The in
strument we have signed will cause no tears to
flow. It will prepare centuries of happiness for
innumerable generations of the human race. The
Mississippi and the Missouri will see them
prosper and increase in the midst of equality,
under just laws, freed from the errors of super
stition, from the scourge of bad government, and
truly worthy of the regard and care of provi
dence." In closing his review of Napoleon's action
throughout the negotiations, Marbois says that

"the following words (spoken when the signing
of the treaty was announced) are enough to
demonstrate what thought then dominated the
first consul : 'This accession of territory,'- said
he, 'assures (affermit) forever the power of the
United States, and I have given England a mara-
time rival which sooner or later will humble her
pride.' "
Exact boundaries had not been established
at that time, but some idea of the extent of the
purchase may be had when we remember that it
extended from the present British line to the
Gulf of Mexico and included what are now the
states of Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska,
Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas
and Louisiana, the Territory of Oklahoma, Indian
Territory, more than three-fourths of Montana
and Wyoming, also parts of ~ Colorado and
Mexico. Thus an enterprise which had in its incep
tion for its chief object the advancement of the
commercial interests of the United States ac
quired a new purpose, namely, the extending of
the geographical and scientific knowledge con
cerning our ozim domain. Upon Lewis and
Clark a further duty devolved, that of informing
the natives that obedience was now due to a new
great father.
That portion of Lewis and Clark's expedition
with which this history concerns itself must re
late chiefly to the achievements of these intrepid
captains after they had entered the territory
known as "Oregon," and from which the states of
Oregon, Washington and Idaho were carved.
And what was this territory, at that period a
terra incognita? Major Joshua Pitcher, early in
1800, contributed the following terse, if abbre
viated description of it:
The form and configuration of the country is the
most perfect and admirable which the imagination can
conceive. All its outlines are distinctly marked; all its
interior is connected together. Frozen regions on the
north, the ocean and its mountainous coast to the west;
the Rocky Mountains to the east; sandy and desert
plains to the south— such are its boundaries. Within
the whole country is watered by the streams of a single
river, issuing from the north, east and south, uniting
in the region of tidewater, and communicating with the
sea by a single outlet. Such a country is formed for
defense, and whatever power gets possession of it will,
probably, be able to keep it.
This was published in Volume I, No. 39,
senate documents, Twenty-first Congress, second
session. A more extended description is sketched
later by Mr. Parker, who says:

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ir

Beyond the Rocky Mountains nature appears to
have studied variety on the largest scale. Towering
mountains and wide-extended prairies, rich valleys and
barren plains, and large rivers, with their rapids, cata
racts and falls, present a great variety of prospects.
The whole country is so mountainous that there is no
elevation from which a person can not see some of the
immense range which intersects its various parts. From
an elevation a short distance from Fort Vancouver, five
isolated, conical mountains, from ten to fifteen thousand
feet high, whose tops are covered with perpetual snow,
may be seen rising in the surrounding valley. There
are three general ranges west of the Rocky chain of
mountains, running in northern and southern directions ;
the first above the falls of the Columbia river; the sec
ond at and below the Cascades; the third toward and
along the shores of the Pacific. From each of these
branches extend in different directions. Besides these
there are those in different parts which are large and
high, such as the Blue Mountains, south of Walla
Walla ; the Salmon River mountains, between Salmon
and Kooskooskie rivers, and also in the region of
Okanogan and CoRille. The loftiest peaks of the Rocky
mountains have been found in about 52 degrees north
latitude, where Mr. Thompson, astronomer of the
Hudson's Bay Company, has ascertained the heights of
several. One, called Mount Brown, he estimates at
sixteen thousand feet above the level of the sea; an
other, Mt. Hooker, at fifteen thousand seven hundred
feet. It has been stated, farther (though probably with
some exaggeration) that he discovered other points
farther north of an elevation ten thousand feet higher
than these. This is probably an exaggeration. Between
these mountains are widespread valleys and plains. The
largest and most fertile valley is included between Deer
Island in the west to within twelve miles of the Cas
cades, which is about fifty-five miles wide, and extending
north and south to a greater extent than I had the
means of definitely ascertaining; probably from Puget
Sound on the north, to the Umpqua river on the south.
The Willamette river, and a section of the Columbia,
are included in this valley. The valley south of the
Walla Walla, called the Grande Ronde, is said to excel
in fertility. To these may be added Pierre's Hole, and
the adjacent country; also Recueil Amere, east of the
Salmon River Mountains. Others of less magnitude are
dispersed -oyer different parts. To these may be sub
joined extensive plains, most of which are prairies well
covered with grass. The whole region of the country
west of the Salmon River Mountains, the Spokane
woods and Okanogan, quite to the range of mountains
that cross the Columbia at the Falls, is a vast prairie
covered with grass, and the soil is generally good. An
other large plain which is said to be very barren, lies
off to the southward of Lewis, or Malheur river, includ
ing the Shoshone country ; and travelers who have
passed through this have pronounced the interior of

America a great, barren desert, but this is drawing a
conclusion far too broad from premises so limited.
Aside from Captains Lewis and Clark, the
party of exploration consisted of nine young-
men from Kentucky, fourteen United States-
soldiers, who had volunteered their services, two
French watermen (an interpreter and hunter),
and a black servant employed by Captain Clark.
Before the close of 1803 preparations for the-
voyage were all completed, and the party wintered
at the mouth of the Wood river, on the east
bank of the Mississippi.
The following is President Jefferson's opinion
of Captain Lewis : "Of courage undaunted ; pos
sessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose
which nothing but impossibilities could divert
from its direction ; careful as a father of those
committed to his charge, yet steady in the main
tenance of order and discipline ; intimate with the
Indian character, customs and principles ; habitu
ated to the hunting life, guarded, by exact ob
servation of the vegetables and animals of his
own country, against losing time in the descrip
tion of objects already possessed; honest, disin
terested, liberal, of sound understanding, and a
fidelity to trust so scrupulous that whatever he
should report would be as certain as if seen by
ourselves ; with all those qualifications, as if
selected and implanted by nature in one body
by express purpose, I could have no hesitation in
confiding this enterprise to him."
The start was made May 4, 1804, and the
first reach made on the 16th, was twenty-one
miles up the Missouri. Of the many surprising
adventures encountered in ascending this river
to Fort Benton, it is not the province of this
history to recount. It was toward the North
west Coast — Oregon — that their faces were set,
and the advent of these pioneers into the future-
"Oregon" becomes of material interest to present
residents of this section.
August 18, 1805, fifteen months from the de
parture of this expedition, it had reached the
extreme navigable point of the Missouri river,
stated in Captain Lewis' journal to be in latitude
43 degrees, 30 minutes, 43 seconds north. The
party was now, for a certain distance to proceed
by land with pack horses. Tribe after tribe of
strange Indians were encountered, a majority of
whom met the explorers on friendly terms. The
party endured hardships innumerable ; game was-
scarce in certain localities, and at times the-
weather was inclement. They forded unknown-
streams, and christened many, Lewis river,
Clark's Fork and others.
Particular inquiries were made concerning the-

12

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

"topography of the country and the possibility of
soon reaching a navigable stream. In answer
to such questions an ancient chief, who, it was
claimed, knew more about the geography of this
section of the northwest than any one else, drew
rude delineations of the various rivers, on the
•ground. But it soon developed that he knew very
little concerning them. Yet some vague informa
tion was gained sufficient to show that the dif
ferent streams converged in one vast river, the
Columbia, running a great way toward the set
ting sun, "and at length losing itself in a great
lake of water, which was ill tasted, and where
the white men lived." Still another route was
suggested, an analysis of which convinced Cap
tain Clark that the rivers mentioned debouched
into the Gulf of California. He then inquired
concerning the route used by the Pierced-nose
(Nez Perce) Indians who, living west of the
mountains, crossed over to the Missouri. Ac
cording to Captain Lewis' journal the chief re
plied, in effect, that this route was a very bad
one ; that during the passage, he had been told,
they suffered excessively from hunger, being
compelled to subsist for many days on berries
alone, there being no game in that portion of
the mountains, which was broken and rocky, and
so thickly covered with timber that they could
scarcely penetrate it.
Difficulties, also, surrounded all routes, and
this one appeared as practicable as any other.
It was reasoned that if Indians could pass the
mountains with their women and children, no
difficulties which they could overcome would
prove formidable to the explorers. Lewis sets
down in his journal: "If the tribes below the
-mountains were as numerous as they were repre
sented to be, they would have some means of
subsistence equally within our power. They had
told us, indeed, that the natives to the westward
subsisted principally on fish and roots, and that
their only game was a few elk, deer and ante
lope, there being no buffalo west of the moun
tains." It was decided by Captain Clark to ascertain
what difficulty would be encountered, if any. in
descending the river on which the party was then
encamped. Continuing down the stream, which
runs nearly northwest, through low grounds,
rich and wide, they came to where it forked, the
western branch being much larger than the east
ern. To this stream, or rather the main branch,
was given the name of Lewis river. The party
followed it until confronted by insurmountable
obstacles ; it foamed and lashed itself through a
narrow pass flanked by the loftiest mountains
Captain Clark had ever seen. The Indians de
clared that it was impossible to descend the river

or scale the mountains, snow-capped and re-
pellant. The Indians had never been lower than
the head of the gap made by the river breaking
through the range. Captain Clark decided to
abandon this route. It was determined to pro
ceed on their course by land. On being ques
tioned their guide drew a map on the sand, repre
senting a road leading toward two forks of an
other river, where lived a tribe of Indians called
Tushepaws. These people he said frequently
came to Lewis river to fish for salmon. Through
the broken, hilly country through which flow
the tributaries of the Columbia the party pressed
forward. On the 29th Captain Clark and his
men joined the main party, under Captain Lewis,
which latter had made a wide detour in order
to gain information regarding a more feasible
route. August was not yet passed, vet the
weather was quite cold, and during the night
ink froze in pen and frost covered the meadows.
Still, the days were warm, and this peculiar at
mospheric condition became more pronounced as
they drew nearer the "Oregon" climate. Al
though they were then in Oregon territory, the
locality afterward became a portion of the Terri
tory of Washington.
The expedition began the passage across the
mountains August 30, 1805. Accompanied by
the old guide, his four sons and another Indian,
the party began the descent of the Lemhi river.
Three days later all the Indians deserted them,
with the exception of the old guide. There being
no trail leading across the mountains it became
necessary for them to cut their way through the
dense underbrush. Although the Indian guide
appears to have lost his way, on September 4th,
after most arduous labor in forcing a passage
through the almost impenetrable brush, the party
came upon a large camp of Indians. The fol
lowing day a "pow-wow" was held, conducted in
many languages, the various dialects suggesting
a modern Babel ; but it proved sufficient to in
form the Indians of the main object of the ex
pedition. These Indians were the Ootlashoots* a
band of the Tushepaws, on their way to join
other bands in hunting buffalo on Jefferson river,
across the Rocky Mountains. Parting from them
the toilsome journey was resumed. Game dis
appeared. September 14th they were forced to
kill a colt, their stock of animal food being ex
hausted. And- with frequent recurrence to the
use of horseflesh they pressed on throueh the
wilderness. An extract from Captain Clark's
journal of September 18th, conveys an idea of
the destitute conditions of the party :
We melted some snow and supped on a little por
table soup, a few cannisters of which, with about twenty

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

13

pounds' weight of bear's oil, were our only means of
subsistence. Our guns are scarcely of any service for
there is no living creature in these mountains, except a
few small pheasants, a small species of gray squirrel and
a blue bird of the vulture kind, about the size of a turtle
dove or jay. Even these are difficult to shoot.
Arriving at a bold running stream on Septem
ber 19th, it was appropriately named "Hungry
Creek," as at that point they had nothing to eat.
September 20th the party passed down the last
foothill of the Bitter Root range and gained a
comparatively level country. Here they found
another band of strange Indians ; people who
had never looked upon the face of a white man.
But they proved themselves hospitable and the
explorers remained with them several days. The
Indians called themselves Chopunnish, or
Pierced-noses, the Nez Perces of to-day. And
now the expedition was in the vicinity of Pierce
City, — its site — at one period the capital of Sho
shone county, Idaho. On a white elk skin the
chief, Twisted Hair, drew a chart of the coun
try to the west, to explain the geography and
topography of the district beyond. Captain
Clark translated it as follows :
"According to this the Kooskooskee forks
(confluence of its north fork) a few miles from
this place ; two days toward the south is another
and larger fork (confluence of Snake river), on
which the Shoshone or Snake Indians fish ; five
days' journey further is a large river from the
northwest (that is the Columbia itself), into
which Clark's river empties ; from the mouth of
that river (that is, confluence of the Snake with
the Columbia) to the falls is five days' journey
further ; on all the forks as well as on the
main river great numbers of Indians reside."
September 23d the Indians were assembled
and the errand of the party across the continent
explained. The talk satisfied the savages ; they
sold their visitors provisions for man and beast
and parted with amity. But immediate progress
was somewhat delayed by illness of different
members of the party. They had been nearly
famished when they encountered the Nez Perces,
and had eaten too heartily following their priva
tion. September 27th they camped on Kooskoos
kee river and began the building of canoes. Grad
ually the health of the men was recruited, and
the early days of October were passed in making
preparations to descend the river. According to
Lewis' journal the latitude of this camp was 46
degrees, 34 minutes, 56 seconds north. It should
be remembered that the Kooskooskee is now the
Clearwater, flowing into the Snake river which
in turn, empties into the Columbia. October 8th
the party began their long and adventuous voyage

in five canoes, one of which served as an advance
pilot boat, the course of the stream being un
known. They were soon assailed by disaster ;
one of the canoes struck a rock and sank. The-
river was found to be full of rocks, reefs and
rapids. At the confluence of the Kooskooskee-
( Clearwater) and Snake rivers a night's camp
was made near the present Idaho town of Lewis-
ton, named in honor of one of the commanders
of this expedition. And from this point the
party crossed over into the territory now bounded
by the limits of the State of Washington. Ex
perience in this camp finds the following ex
pression in Lewis' journal:
Our arrival soon attracted the attention of the
Indians, who flocked from all directions to see us. In
the evening the Indian from the falls, whom we had seen
at Rugged Rapid, joined us with his son, in a small
canoe, and insisted on accompanying us to the falls.
Being again reduced to fish and roots, we made an ex
periment to vary our food by purchasing a few dogs,
and after having been accustomed to horse flesh felt
no disrelish for this new dish. The Chopunnish have
great numbers of dogs which they employ for domestic
purposes, but never eat ; and our using the flesh of that
animal soon brought us into ridicule as dog eaters.
The expedition found almost continual rapids
from this point to the mouth of the Snake, which
they reached October 16th. Here they were met
by a regular procession of nearly two hundred
Indians. They had a grand pow-wow, and both
parties displayed a great affection for each other,
the whites bestowing medals, shirts, trinkets, etc.,
in accordance with the rank of the recipient, and
the Indians repaying the kindness with prolonged
visits and accompanying gifts of wood and fish.
On the next day they measured the rivers, find
ing the Columbia to be 960, and the Snake, 575
yards wide. They indulged in no poetic reveries
as they stood by the river which had been one
principal object of their toilsome search; but they
appear to have seen pretty much everything of
practical value. In the glimmering haze of that
pleasant October morning they noticed the vast,
bare prairie stretching southward until broken-
by the rounded summits of the Blue Mountains.
They found the Sohulks, who lived at the junc
tion of the rivers, a mild and happy people, the
men being content with one wife, whom they
actually assisted in the family work.
Let us at this point digress a trifle for the-
purpose of inquiring into the nature and habitat
of the various tribes of Indians encountered by
Lewis and Clark. In his wonderfully entertain
ing work, "Indians of North America in His-

14

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

toric Times," Cyrus Thomas, Ph. D., archaeologist
in the Bureau of American Ethnology, says :
"Passing into the great mountain range which
divides the Atlantic from the Pacific area, we
enter the territory of the Shoshonean family, an
Indian group which, if judged by the area over
which its various members have spread, is sur
passed but by two families north of Mexico — ¦
the Algonquin and the Athapascan. It extended
from the headwaters of the Missouri, in central
Montana, to southern Texas, and from western
Kansas to western Oregon, reaching the Pacific
coast in southwestern California. The term
'family' is applied to this group in the sense in
which it is used by Major J. W. Powell in his
"list of linguistic families ; however, according to
other authorities and as now generally conceded,
it is but a large division of the great Nahuatlan
stock which includes, also, the Peiman, Aztecan,
and related tribes of Mexico ; a vast family which,
including its outlying peoples, stretches from the
banks of the Columbia river to Lake Nicaragua.
What a long unwritten history of the past, of the
formation, growth and disintegration of groups,
. and of the slow and gradual movements south
ward from the Arctic regions is sealed up in this
fact! A seal that will, probably, never be
broken. "The principal members of the Shoshonean
group are the Comanche, Bannock, Ute, Paiute,
Gosiute, Paviotso, Shoshone (proper) and Hopi,
(or Moqui) tribes. The, natives of Oregon are
usually grouped, in part, with those of Cali
fornia and, in part, with those further north.
However, this grouping is based on the generally
observed customs and physical characteristics,
and not on strictly ethnic or linguistic data,
though, exclusive of certain intrusive elements
agreeing in a broad sense with the ethnic rela
tions. Here, as in California, there is little Indian
history save that in regard to intertribal rela-
- tions, of which there are but meagre data, and the
incidents of intercourse with the whites, which
were chiefly in the early days with passing navi
gators and the agents of the Hudson's Bay and
Northwestern Companies. The tribes, like those
further south, were small and too much absorbed
in their local prejudices and petty broils to unite
in anv great effort of resistance or aggression.
No great leader — as Philip, Pontiac and Tecum-
seh, among the tribes of the Atlantic side — ap
pears to have arisen among those Northwest
Coast Indians.
"Our information regarding these tribes be
gins with the accounts given by the early Euro-
-pean voyagers to this region. Bering came down
from the more northern regions in 174 1. In 1774-
75 the Spanish navigators, Juan Perez and La

Bodega y Quadra, coming from the south, ex
plored the coast to the northward. In 1778 Cap
tain Cook, having with him Vancouver as a
midshipman, made his celebrated visit to this
coast, perpetuating their names by applying them
to islands and waters. Soon thereafter vessels
of mercantile companies began to explore the
coast in search of trade with the natives, as that
under Captain Meares in 1786, and that under
Dixon in 1787. From 1788 to 1803, several
American ships representing a Boston company
appeared on the coast. Some of the latter were
unfortunate, as the Boston, whose officers and
men, amounting to thirty-five persons, were mur
dered by the Indians at Nootka. In 1792 Cap
tain Vancouver made his noted reconnaissance of
the coast. From 1804 to the purchase of Alaska
by the United States, the history of the coast
north of the United States is largely the history
of the Russian-American and Hudson's Bay
Companies. "The natives dwelling above the lower parts
of the Columbia river consisted of four tribes, in
cluding the Chinooks and Clatsops belonging to
the Chinookan family. These tribes, which are
reported to have been more populous and influen
tial, were greatly thinned by the smallpox, which
spread havoc through this region for several
years. "The Flatheads or Salish Indians, who lived
chiefly in the region stretching south of the lower
Columbia, adjoining the country of the Chinooks,
were described half a century ago as comparative
ly fair in complexion, well made and active, with
oval faces and a mild and playful expression of
countenance ; generally honest in their dealings,
brave in battle, amenable to their chiefs, of whom
Comcomly, who died in 1831, was the most
noted ; fond of cleanliness and less given to
theft and falsehood than was usual among the
Indians of the northwest section. * * *
The Walla Wallas, of the Shahoptian family,
appear to have been generally friendly to the
whites so long as they were left in peaceable pos
session of their lands, and tried to imitate them
in raising stock and cultivating the soil. But
the rapid increase of settlers, had, by 1848,
rendered the Indians of Oregon uneasy in regard
to their lands, and they were further irritated
by the failure of the United States government
to pay them for the lands they had parted with,
and for which official promise had been made.
The Klikitata, also of the Shahoptian family,
were troublesome through minor depredations
committed in the settlements in Willamette valley
in 1849 and I8so."
Let us now return to the stirring incidents
and adventures of the Lewis and Clark party.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

15

Captain Clark ascended the Columbia to the
mouth of a large river coining from the west,
which the Indians called the Tapteal. This was,
of course, the Yakima. The people living at its
mouth rejoiced in the euphonious name of Chin-
napum. Here Captain Clark shot what he called
a prairie cock, the first he had seen. It was a
sage hen, no doubt ; a handsome bird, nearly as
large as a turkey and very common along the
river at the present time.
After two days of much needed rest, being
well supplied with fish, dogs, roots, etc., and at
peace with their own consciences and all the
world, with satisfaction at the prospect of soon
completing their arduous journey, they re-em
barked. Think of this, ye Pullman tourists of
the present day who skim the continent as the
sea gull^skims the ocean, dining sumptuously on
the best viands which can be supplied by the
markets of the world ; cooked by the most artis
tic of professional chefs ; and mark the difference
between your touring and the long, dreary march,
by foot and canoe and that exquisite bit of
cuisine, dog meat! Truly, this contrast is most
striking. Sixteen miles below the mouth of the
Kimooenim, which they now began to call the
Lewis river, they descried, clearly cut against
the dim horizon line of the southwest, a pyramidal
mountain, "crowned with a diadem of snow," —
their first view of Mount Hood. The next day,
being in the vicinity of Umatilla, they saw an
other snowy peak at a conjectured distance of
one hundred miles. Near here, Captain Clark,
having landed, shot a crane and a duck. Some
Indians near were almost paralyzed with terror,
but they subsequently recovered sufficiently to
make the best possible use of their legs. Follow
ing them Captain Clark found a small cluster of
huts. Pushing aside the mat door of one of
them he entered, and in the bright light of the
Unroofed hut discovered thirty-two persons, all
of whom were in the greatest terror, some wail
ing and wringing; their hands.
Having by kind looks and gestures soothed
their grief, he held up his burning glass to light
his pipe. Thereat the consternation of the simple
Indian people revived, and in the presence of
this great mystery they refused to be comforted.
But when the rest of the party arrived with the
two Indian guides who had come with them from
the Clearwater, terror gave way to pleasurable
curiositv. These Pishqitpaws — such was their
name — explained to the guides their fear of Cap
tain Clark by saying that he came from the sky
accompanied by a terrible noise, and they knew
there was a bad medicine in it.
Being- convinced now that he was a mortal

after all, they became very affectionate, and hav
ing heard the music of two violins, they became
so enamored of the strangers that they remained
up all night with them and collected to the
number of two hundred to bid them good bye in
the morning. The principal business of these
Indians appeared to be catching and curing sal
mon which in the clear water of the Columbia
the explorers could see swimming about in in
credible numbers. Continuing with no extra
ordinary occurrence they passed the mouth of the
river now known as the John Day, but to which
they applied the name Lapage. Mount Hood
was now almost constantly in view, and since the
Indians told them it was near the great falls of
the Columbia, they called it the Timm (this
seems to be the Indian word for falls) mountain.
On the next day they reached a large river
coming in from the left, which thundered
through a narrow channel into the equally turbu
lent Columbia. This river which Captain Lewis
judged to contain one-fourth as much water as •
the Columbia (an enormous over-estimate),
answered to the Indian name of Towahnahiooks.
It afterward received from the French its present
name, Des Chutes. And now the party per
ceived that they were near the place hinted at
by nearly every Indian with whom they had
conversed since crossing the Rockies — the great
Falls. And a weird, savage place it proved to
be. Here the clenched hands of trachyte and
basalt, thrust through the soil from the buried
realms of the volcanoes, almost clutched the
rushing river. Only here and there between the
parted fingers can he make his escape.
Having made several portages they reached
that extraordinary place (now known as The
Dalles) where all the waters gathered from half
a million square miles of earth are squeezed into
a crack forty-five yards wide. The desolation
on either side of this frightful chasm is a fitting
margin. As one crawls to the edge and peeps
over he sees the water to be of inky blackness.
Streaks of foam gridiron the blackness. There
is little noise compared with the shallow rapids
above, but rather a dismal sough, as though the
rocks below were rubbing their sides together
in the vain effort to close over the escaping river.
Here the stream is "turned" on edge. In fact
its depth has not been found to this day. Some
suppose that there was once a natural tunnel here
through which flowed the river ; and that in con
sequence of a volcanic convulsion the top of
the tunnel fell in. Should there be any truth
in this the width of the channel is, doubtless, much
greater at the bottom than at the top. Lewis
and Clark, finding that the roughness of the
shore made it almost impossible for them to

i6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

"portage" their boats over, and seeing no evi
dence of rocks in the channel, boldly steered
through this boiling, "witches' cauldron."
Though no doubt whirled along with frightful
rapidity and flung like foam flakes on the crests
of the boiling surges, they gained the end of the
"chute" without accident. This feat excited great
amazement in the Indians who had collected on
the bluff to witness this daring experiment. Two
more portages and the party safely entered the
broad, still flood beginning where the town of
The Dalles now stands. Here they remained
two days hunting and caulking their boats. And
here, too, they saw evidences, for the first time,
of the white traders below, such as blankets,
axes, brass kettles and other articles of civilized
manufacture. The Indians, too, were more in
clined to be arrogant and suspicious.
The Dalles appeared to be the dividing line
between the Indian tribes. Those living at the
falls, where Celilo now is, called the Eneeshurs,
understood and "fellowshipped" with all the up-
river tribes. But at the narrows and thence to
The Dalles was a tribe called the Escheloots.
They were alien to the Indians above, but on
intimate terms with those below the cascades.
Among the Escheloots the explorers first noticed
the peculiar "cluck," or lock-stitch speech com
mon to all down-river tribes. The flattening of
the head, which above belonged to the females
only, was now the common thing. The place
where Lewis and Clark camped while at The
Dalles was just below Mill Creek (called by
the natives Quenett), on a point of rocks near
the present location of the car shops. The next
Indian tribe, extending apparently from the
vicinity of Crate's point to the cascades, capped
the climax of tongue-twisting names by calling
themselves Chilluckittequaws.
Nothing of extraordinary character seems to
have been encountered between The Dalles and
the cascades. But the explorers had their eyes
wide open, and the calm majesty of the river
and savage grandeur of its shores received due
notice. They observed and named most of the
sh earns on their route, the first of importance
being Cataract river (now the Klickitat), then
Labieshe's river (Hood river), Canoe creek
(White Salmon) and Crusatte's river. This last
must have been Little White Salmon, though
they were greatly deceived as to its size, stating
that it was sixty yards wide. In this vicinity
they were greatly struck with the sunken forest,
which at that low stage of the water was quite
conspicuous. They correctly inferred that this
indicated a clamming up of the river at a very
recent time. Indeed, they judged that it must
have occurred within twenty years. It is well

known, however, that submerged trees or piles,
as indicated by remains of old Roman wharves-
in Britain, may remain intact for hundreds of
years ; but it is nevertheless evident that the
closing of the river at the cascades was a very
recent event. It is also evident from the slid
ing, sinking and grinding constantly seen there
now that a similar event is liable to happen at
any time.
Having won their way to the cascades more
portages were required. Slow and tedious
though these were, our hardy explorers ap
peared to have endured them with unfailing
patience. They were cheered by the prospect of
soon putting all the rapids behind and launch
ing their canoes on the unobstructed vastness of
the lower Columbia. This was prosperously ac
complished on the 2d of November. With the
heavy verdure that now robed the gaunt naked
ness of the frowning rocks they were greatly
delighted. The island formed at the lower cas
cade by Columbia slough also pleased them
greatly by its fertility and its dense growth of
grass and strawberry vines. From this last
circumstance they named it Strawberry island.
At the lower part of that cluster of islands, that
spired and turreted relic of the old feudal age
of this majestic river, when the volcano kings
stormed each other's castles with earthquakes
and spouts of lava, riveted their attention. They
called it Beacon rock, but it is now known as
Castle rock. Thev estimated its height at eight
hundred feet and its circumference at four hun
dred yards, the latter being only a fourth of the
reality. And now the tides became noticeable. This
fact must have struck a chord of reflection similar
to that experienced by Robinson Crusoe when
he discovered the mysterious foot-print on the
shingle of the ocean within whose bounds he was
a prisoner. It was the first pluse-beat of the
dim vast of waters which grasps half the cir
cumference of the earth. And so, as this mighty
heart-throb of the South Sea, rising and fall
ing in harmony with all nature, celestial and ter-
restial, pulsated through one hundred and eighty
miles of river, it might have seemed one of the
ocean's multiplied fingers outstretched to wel
come them, the first organized expedition of the
new republic to this westmost west. It might
have betokened to them the harmony and unity
of future nations, as exemplified in the vast
extent, the liberty, the human sympathies, the
diversified interests, industries and purposes of
that republic whose motto yet remains, "One
From Many."
The rest of their journey was a calm float
ing between meadows and islands from whose

Wm. Clark

Meriwether Le

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

17

shallow ponds they obtained ducks and geese
in great numbers. They thought the "quicksand
river" — Sandy — to be a large and important
stream. They noticed Washougal creek, which
from the great number of seals around its mouth
they called Seal river. But strange to say they
missed the Willamette entirely on their down
trip. The Indians in this part of the river called
themselves Skilloots. Dropping rapidly down
this calm but misty stream, past a large river
called by the Indians Cowaliske — Cowlitz —
through the country of the Wahkiacums, at last,
on the 7th of November, with which morning
had enshrouded all objects, suddenly rose, and
they saw the bold, mountainous shores on either
side vanish away in front, and through the parted
headlands they gazed into the infinite expanse
of the Pacific ocean.
Overjoyed at the successful termination of
their journey, they sought their first pleasant
camping ground and made haste to effect a land
ing. The rain, which is sometimes, even now,
observed to characterize that part of our fair
state, greatly marred the joy of their first night's
rest within the sound of the Pacific's waves
breaking on the coast. Six days passed in mouldy
and dripping inactivity at a point a little above
the present Chinook. Then they passed nine
much pleasanter days at Chinook Point. This,
however, not proving what they desired for a
permanent camp, they devoted themselves to
explorations ; this with a view to discovering a
more suitable location.
The party wintered in a log building at a
point named by them Fort Clatsop. March 23,
1806, they turned their faces homeward, first,
however, having given to the chiefs of the Clat-
sops and Chinooks certificates of hospitable treat
ment, and posted on the fort the following notice :
"The object of this last is that, through the
medium of some civilized person who may see
the same, it may be known to the world that
the party consisting of the persons whose names
are hereunto annexed and who we're sent out by
the government of the United States to explore
the interior of the continent of North America,
did penetrate the same by way of the Missouri
and Columbia rivers, to the discharge of the latter
into the Pacific ocean, at which they arrived on
the 14th day of November, 1865, and departed on
their return to the United States by the same
route by which they had come."
Of this notice several copies were left among
the Indians, one of which fell into the hands of
Captain Hall, of the brig Lydia, and was con
veyed to the United States. The Lewis and
Clark party passed the following winter in camp
at the mouth of the Columbia. Before the holi

days Captain Clark carved on the trunk of a
massive pine this simple inscription :
WM. CLARK,
December 3, 1805, By Land From the United
States in 1805 and 6.
Of this notable achievement the Encyclopaedia
Britannica says : "They had traveled upwards of
four thousand miles from their starting point,-
had encountered various Indian tribes never be
fore seen by whites, had made scientific collections-
and observations, and were the first explorers to
reach the Pacific coast by crossing the continent
north of Mexico."
The closing statement of this article partially
ignores the expeditions of Sir Alexander Macken
zie who, while he did not cross the continent
from a point as far east as Washington, D. C,
made a journey in 1789, from Fort Chipewyan,
along the Great Slave lake, and down the river
which now bears his name, to the "Frozen
Ocean," and a second journey in 1792-3 from the
same initial point, up the Peace and across the'
Columbia rivers, and thence westward to the'
coast of the Pacific, at Cape Menzies, opposite
Queen Charlotte Island. Only to this extent
is the statement of the Encyclopaedia Britannica;
misleading, but it is quite evident that there is)
no pronounced inclination to do an injustice to
the memory of Mackenzie.
And now came the return trip. The expedi
tion made its way with no little difficulty up the
Columbia river. They discovered, on their re
turn a large tributary of that river (the Willa
mette) which had escaped their notice on their
outward journey, and made careful inquiries of
the Indians concerning it, the results of whicht
were embodied in their map of the expedition.
At the mouth of the John Day river their"
canoes were abandoned. Their baggage was-
packed on the backs of a few horses they had
purchased from the Indians, and traveling in'
this manner, they continued their homeward-
march, arriving at the mouth of the Walla Walla
river April 27th. The great chief Yellept was-
then the leader of the Walla Walla nation, and'
by him the explorers were received with such!
generous hospitality that they yielded to the'
temptation to linger a couple of days before un
dertaking further journeyings among the moun
tain fastnesses. Such was the treatment accorded
them by these Indians that the journal of the ex
pedition makes this appreciative notation con
cerning them : "We may indeed justly affirm that
of all the Indians that we have seen since leaving
the United States, the Walla Wallas were the
most hospitable, honest and sincere."'

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Of the return journey for the next hundred
and fifty miles that venerable pioneer missionary,
Dr. H. K. Hines, writes as follows :
Leaving these hospitable people on the 29th of April
the party passed eastward on the great "Nez Perce trail."
This trail was the great highway of the Walla Wallas,
Cayouses and Nez Perces eastward to the buffalo
ranges, to which they annually resorted for game sup
plies. It passed up the valley of the Touchet, called by
Lewis and Clark the "White Stallion,'' thence over the
high prairie ridges and down the Alpowa to the crossing
of the Snake river, thence up the north bank of
Clearwater to the Village of Twisted Hair, where the ex
ploring party had left their horses on the way
down the previous autumn. It was worn deep
and broad, and on many stretches on the open
plains and over the smooth hills twenty horsemen could
ride abreast in parallel paths worn by the constant rush
of the Indian generations from time immemorial. The
writer has often passed over it when it lay exactly as it
did when the tribes of Yellept and Twisted Hair traced
its sinuous courses ; when Lewis and Clark and their
ccmpanions first marked it with the heel of civilization.
But the plow has long since obliterated it. and where
the monotonous song of the Indian march was droningly
chanted for so many barbaric ages, the song of the
reaper thrills the clear air as he comes to his garner
bringing in the sheaves. A more delightful ride of a
hundred and fifty miles than this that the company of
Lewis and Clark made over the swelling prairie upland
and along the crystal stream between Walla Walla and
the village of Twisted Hair, in the soft May days of
1806, can scarcely be found anywhere on earth.
To trace the journeyings of these explorers
further is not within the province of this work,
but in order to convey a general idea of the
labors and extent of the voyage we quote the
bAf summary made by Captain Lewis himself:
The road by which we went out by the way of the
Missouri to its head is 3,096 miles ; thence by land by
the way of Lewis river over to Clarke's river and down
that to the entrance of Traveler's Rest creek, where all
the roads from different routes meet ; thence across the
rugged part of the Rocky mountains to the navigable
waters of the Columbia, 398 miles ; thence down the
river 640 miles to the Pacific ocean — making a total
distance of 4,134 miles. On our return in 1806 we came
from Traveler's Rest directly to the falls of the Missouri
river, which shortens the distance about 579 miles,
and is a much .better route, reducing the distance from
the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean to 3,555 miles. Of
this distance 2,575 miles is up the Missouri to the falls
of that river ; thence passing through the plains and
across the Rocky mountains to the navigable waters of
the Kooskooskie river, a branch of the Columbia, 340

miles, 200 of which is good road, 140 over a tremendous
mountain, steep and broken, sixty miles of which is
covered several feet deep with snow, on which we passed
on the last of June ; from the navigable part of the
Kooskooskie we descended that rapid river seventy-three
miles to its entrance into Lewis river, and down that
river 154 miles to the Columbia, and thence 413 miles to
its entrance into the Pacific ocean. About 180 miles of
this distance is tidewater. We passed several bad rapids
and narrows, and one considerable fall, 268 miles above
the entrance of this river, thirty-seven feet eight inches;
the total distance descending the Columbia waters 640
miles — making a total of 3,555 miles, on the most direct
route from the Mississippi at the mouth of the Missouri
to the Pacific ocean.
The safe return of the explorers to their homes
in the United States naturally created a sensa
tion throughout that country and the world.
Leaders and men were suitably rewarded, and the
fame of the former will live while the rivers to
which their names have been given continue to
pour their waters into the sea. President Jeffer
son, the distinguished patron of the expedition,
paying a tribute to Captain Lewis in 1813, said:
"Never did a similar event excite more joy
throughout the United States. The humblest of
its citizens have taken a lively interest in the
issue of this journey, and looked with impatience
for the information it would furnish. Nothing
short of the official journals of this extraordinary
and interesting journey will exhibit the im
portance of the service, the courage, devotion,
zeal and perseverance under circumstances calcu
lated to discourage, which animated this little .
band of heroes, throughout the long, dangerous
and tedious travel."
During the return of the expedition the Clark.
division came down the Yellowstone in Montana.
On a mass of saffron sandstone, an acre in its
base area, and four hundred feet high, called
Pompey's Pillar, twenty miles above the mouth
of the Big Horn river, about half way up the
following is carved.
WM. CLARK,
July 25, 1806.
Following the Lewis and Clark expedition, a
donation of land was made by congress to the
members of the party. This was in 1807. Cap
tain Lewis was appointed governor of our re
cently acquired territory of "Louisiana." But
Lewis while on his way to Philadelphia to super
vise the publication of his journal, in 1809,
was stricken with death. Clark was governor of
Missouri from 1813 to 1821, and died at St.
Louis, Missouri, September 1, 1838.

CHAPTER III

WHAT JOHN JACOB ASTOR DID.

The limits of our volume must perforce render
¦this first, or introductory part, somewhat char
acteristic of a summary. For a complete his
tory, voluminous in detail and exhaustive in its
treatment of non-essentials as well as essentials,
we can only refer our readers to the many more
pretentious works devoted mainly to special sub
jects. We must, however, in view of its effect
upon subsequent history, revert briefly to those
gigantic forces in the early annals of the north
west country — the great fur companies. At the
outset it is pertinent to inquire into the motives
that prompted the formation of these vast com
mercial organizations, whose plans were so bold,
far-reaching and comprehensive, and whose
'theatre of action was world wide.
The profits of the fur trade were such as
might well entice daring coupled with avarice
to run the gauntlet of icebergs, starvation,
ferocious savages and stormy seas. Great were
the possibilities. Net returns from a single voy
age might liquidate even the enormous cost of the
original outfit. As an example, Ross, one of
the clerks of John Jacob Astor's company and
located at Okanogan, relates that one morning
before breakfast he purchased from Indians one
hundred and ten beaver skins at the rate of five
leaves of tobacco per skin. Afterward a yard
of cotton cloth, worth say ten cents, bought
twenty-five beaver skins the value of which in
the New York market was five dollars apiece.
For four fathoms of blue glass beads, worth per
haps a dollar, Lewis and Clark obtained a sea
otter skin, the market price of which varied from
$45 to $60. The clerk, Ross, notes in another
place that for $165 in trinkets, cloth, etc., he
purchased peltries valued in the Canton market
at eleven thousand two hundred and fifty dol
lars. Indeed, even the ill-fated voyage of Mr.
Astor's partners proved that a cargo worth $25,-
000 in New York might be replaced in two years
by one worth a quarter of a million, a profit of a
thousand per cent. Who, then, should wonder
at the eager enterprise and fierce, oftimes bloody,
-competition of the fur traders?

Three in number were the fur-producing ani
mals of especial value in the Oregon country.
The first, the beaver, was found in great abund
ance in all the interior valleys, the Willamette
country, as was discovered, being in this respect
pre-eminent. The two others, the sea otter and
the seal, were found on the coast. Most valuable
was the sea otter fur, its velvety smoothness and
glossy blackness rendering it first in the markets
of the world of all furs from the temperate
zones of North America, and inferior only to the
ermine and sable, and possibly, to the fiery fox
of the far north.
Such, then, was the prospect that prompted
the formation of the Pacific Fur Company, which
shall have the first place in our narrative as being
the first to enter the Columbia river basin, though
it was long antedated in organization by a num
ber of other large fur-trading corporations. The
soul, the vital principal, the prime mover in this
enterprise was that historically famed commercial
genius, John Jacob Astor. He was a native of
Heidelberg ; he had come to America poor ; he
had amassed a large fortune in successful trade.
In his fertile brain was conceived a scheme which
for complex and multitudinous designs and
judicious arrangement of details was truly mas
terful — a scheme in which the looting, yes, down
right swindling of ignorant savages, per examples
given by Clerk Ross, was a far too prominent
attribute to permit the name of Astor to go down
to posterity sans criticism. But it developed into
a case of the biter bitten — the cheater cheated.
One grand mistake, coupled with overconfidence
in his partners, wrecked his enterprise. He en
trusted its development to men who were bitterly
anti-American ; men whose previous connection
with a rival company affected their loyalty to
Astor. Hence the comparative failure of this
gigantic venture.
To prosecute the fur trade in very unsettled
territory claimed by the United States ; the trade
with China and the supplying of the Russian set
tlements with trading stock, the goods to be paid
for in peltries, were all embraced in the far-

20

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

reaching scheme of Mr. Astor. At regular inter
vals a vessel was to be sent out from New York.
It was to be laden with goods and supplies to be
traded to the Indians at a profit of from all the
way from five hundred to one thousand per cent.
At a depot, or trading post, at the mouth of the
Columbia river she was to discharge her cargo;
then trade coastwise with the Indians and at the
Russian settlements until another cargo had been
secured in part. The vessel was then to return
to the mouth of the Columbia, there complete
her lading, sail thence to China, receive a return
cargo of Canton silks, nankeens and tea, and
thence to New York. For this vast "rounding
up" it was estimated that two years would be
required. One of the most important parts of
this scheme was supplying the Russian posts
at New Archangel. The object of this was two
fold — first the profit accruing therefrom ;¦ sec
ondly, to deflect competition from Mr. Astor's
own territory, through the semi-partnership with
the Russians in furnishing them with supplies.
With the Russian government careful arrange
ments had been made to avoid a clash between
the vessels of the two companies engaged in the
coast trade. "It was," says Brewerton, "a
colossal scheme and deserved to succeed ; had it
done so it would have advanced American settle
ment and actual occupancy on the Northwest
Coast by at least a quarter of a century, giving
employment to thousands and transferred the
enormous profits of the Hudson's Bay and North
west British fur companies from English to
American coffers," — Mr. Astor's coffers.
All this had been anticipated by Mr. Astor.
The enmity and jealousy of the Northwest Com-
¦ pany were aroused upon the entrance on the field
of a new competitor in the enterprise of swind
ling ignorant barbarians. Yet at this period the
Northwest Company had no trading posts west of
the Rocky mountains and south of fifty-two de
grees north. Astor, with his usual commercial
perspicacity resolved to soften enmity by a dis
play of frankness. To the directors of the British
company he wrote, enclosing the details of his
plan, and offering them a one-third interest in the
enterprise. But there was no response. His dis
play of ingeniousness had fallen on barren soil.
It must be confessed that they met assumed can
dor With duplicity, — duplicity almost equal to
that practiced by all the early fur-traders upon
the Indians — a duplicity which to-day is some
times practiced upon Indians by Indian agents
of the United States government.
The Northwest Company sparred for wind.
With Machiavellian diplomacy they replied that
they "would take the matter under advisement."
And immediately afterward they dispatched

David Thompson, the astronomer and surveyor
of their company, with instructions to "occupy
the mouth of the Columbia ; to explore the river
to its headwaters ; and above all to watch the
progress of Mr. Astor's enterprise." And then
they coolly declined the proposition.
But Mr. Astor proceeded with his project
energetically and, as he thought, skillfully. As
partners in the enterprise he associated with him
self (and here was a fatal mistake) Donald
Mackenzie, Alexander Mackay, who had accom-
'panied Alexander Mackenzie on his trips of dis
covery, hence possessing invaluable experience,.
and Duncan MacDougal, all late of the North
west Company, and though men of great skill
and wide experience, schooled in the ingrained
prejudices of the association with which they
had so long maintained connection, they saw
only through British eyes. Mr. Astor's hour of
betrayal was at hand. To the partners already
enumerated were subsequently added Wilson P.
Hunt and Robert Maclellan, Americans, David
and Robert Stuart and Ramsey Crooks, Scotch
men, and John Clarke, a Canadian, and others.
Thus it will be seen that the voting majority
was largely with the Englishmen and Scotch
men. Wilson P. Hunt was given the post of chief
agent on the Columbia, his term of office being
five years, and when he was obliged to be tem
porarily absent a substitute was to be elected by
the partners who happened to be present, to act
in his place. In the most solemn manner each
partner obligated himself to go where sent and
to faithfully execute the objects of the company.
But before subscribing to this bond two of the
British communicated to the British minister,
Mr. Jackson, temporarily in New York, full de
tails of Mr. Astor's plan and inquired of him con
cerning their status as British subjects trading
under the American flag in the event of war.
To them assurances were given that in case of
war they would be protected as English sub
jects and merchants. Their scruples were dis
pelled ; they entered into the compact.
The larger part of this expedition was to
proceed via Cape Horn and the Sandwich
(^Hawaiian) islands to the mouth of the Colum
bia, there to await the arrival of the Hunt party,
which was sent out by land. To convey them
thence the ship Tonquin, a vessel of two hundred
and ninety tons burden, was fitted out for sea.
She was commanded by Captain Thorne, a lieu
tenant of the United States navy on leave, and"
had on board Indian trading goods, the frame
timbers for a coasting schooner, supplies of all
kinds and, in fact, everything essential to com
fort.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

21

But a British war vessel, acting on the very
lines which had been suggested by the astute
Napoleon, when he had advanced reasons for
conveying the "Louisiana Purchase" to the United
States, was then cruising off the coast for the
purpose of intercepting the Tonquin and impress
ing the Canadian and British sailors who might
be on board. This was a ruse of the North
west Company, to delay the expedition in order
that their emissary, Thompson, should arrive first
at the mouth of the Columbia. Ol this fact Mr.
Astor had been apprised. With matchless sagacity
he secured a convoy, the now famous and histori
cal United States frigate. Constitution, com
manded by the equally famous Captain Isaac
Hull. Thus protected the Tonquin proceeded
safely on her voyage. March 22, 181 1. after a
passage, the details of which will be found in
Washington Irving's "Astoria," Franchere's nar
rative, or in some of the numerous publications
based upon the latter work, the Tonqidn arrived
at her destination.
April 1 2th a portion of the crew crossed the
river in a launch and established at Fort George
a settlement to which was eriven the name of
Astoria in honor of the projector of the enter
prise. They at once addressed themselves to the
task of constructing the schooner, the materials
for which had been brought with them in the
Tonquin. Mr. Mackay also made an expedition
to determine the truth or falsity of the rumor
that a party of whites were establishing a post
at the upper cascades of the river (Columbia),
hut on reaching the first rapids this expedition
was abandoned, the Indian crew positively re
fusing to proceed farther.
The ill-fated Tonquin started north June ist.
Mr. Mackay accompanied it. To their unfortun
ate conclusion we must now trace her fortunes.
The chief authority for the story is M. Franchere.
a Frenchman, one of Mr. Astor's clerks. With
"his account Irving appears to have taken some
poetic license. According to that graceful writer,
with a total force of twenty-three, and an Indian
of the Chehalis tribe called Lamazee, as inter
preter, the Tonquin entered the harbor of Newee-
tee. Franchere calls the Indian Lamanse. and the
harbor, he savs. the Indians called Newitv. We
shall, doubtless, be safe in following Hubert
Bancroft, who surmises that the place was Nootka
sound, which was an exceedingly bad place for
traders. It was here, as has been noted in an
other chapter, that the ship Boston, and her en
tire crew had been destroyed.
Let it be noticed, however, that these Indians.
like all others on the coast, were at first disposed
to be friendly : onlv the indignities and violence
¦offered by the traders transformed their naturally

pacific disposition to one of sullen treachery.
Against trusting the Indians Captain Thorne had
been repeatedly and urgently warned by Mr.
Astor and his associates. One standing rule was
to the effect that not more than four or five
Indians should be allowed on deck at one time.
And right here occurred an incident which
showed the rapacious cupidity of the swin
dling fur traders had met its match. The eyes
of the long cheated Indians had been opened.
Retribution was at hand. The choleric Captain
Thorne treated with equal contempt the sug
gestions that had been made to him by Astor and
his associates and the savage hucksters. A large
quantity of the finest kind of sea otter skins had
been brought on deck. To all appearance a most
lucrative and amicable trade was before Mr.
Astor's men. But they were too greedy ; actuated
by a too rank spirit of swindling commercialism.
Twenty years of traffic with the whites and a long
course of instruction from the diplomatic and suc
cessful chief, Maquinna, had rendered the Nootka
Indians less pliable and less like easily captured
gudgeons than Thorne had expected. His small
stock of patience was soon exhausted. He was
unable to secure something for, literally, nothing,
as had been customary with white fur-traders.
At one cunning and leering old chief, who ap
peared to be urging the others to hold out for
fairer and more equitable prices, the avaricious
captain began to scowl with particular rage. But
the oily visage was scowl proof. The impatient
sailor had the mortification to see that he was
likely to be out- Jewed by one of those dirty and
despised redskins. No longer could be control
himself. In his most impressive and autocratic
manner he bade the Indians leave. But the ob
noxious chieftian remained motionless. From the
captain's mind vanished sense and judgment.
Seizing him by the hair he propelled him rapidly
toward the ship's ladder. Then, with a convenient
bundle of furs, snatched up furiously, he empha
sized the Indian's exit. Nor is it likely that he
spared a liberal application of boot-leather to the
most accessible portion of the savage trader's
anatomy. Instantly, as though under a spell of
enchantment, the remaining Indians glided from
the ship. It was on this date that Indian
peltries took a slight rise in the market —
at least the Nootka market. In place of
the babel of jabbering traffickers were onlv the
hairbrained captain and his ' astonished, silent
crew — the most of them destined to become
martyrs to commercial cupidity.
Wrathfully indignant was Mr. Mackay, the
partner, on his return from a trip ashore, when
he became apprised of the untimely cessation of
trade. He assured Captain Thorne that he had

22

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

not only spoiled their business, but had endan
gered all their lives. He therefore urged making
sail from the place at once. The Chehalis Indian,
Lamanze, also enforced Mr. Mackay's wish, as
serting that further intercourse with the Indians
could only result in disaster. But to no advice
would the stubborn captain listen. So long as
he had a knife or a handspike they couldn't scare
him into running before a lot of naked redskins.
The night passed quietly. Early the following
morning a number of Indians, demure and
peacable as can be imagined, paddled alongside.
Bundles of furs held aloft signified their desire
to trade. In great triumph Captain Thorne
pointed out to Mackay the successful issue of his
discipline. "That is the way to treat them," he
said; "just show them that you are not afraid
and. they will behave themselves." Very respect
ful were the Indians ; they exchanged their furs
for whatever was offered.
And soon another large boat-load, well filled
with the choicest peltries, asked permission to
board the ship. To this request the now good-
natured and complacent skipper gladly complied.
Then came another canoe, a fourth and a fifth
disgorged a perfect horde on board. But some
of the more observant sailors noted with alarm
that, contrary to custom, no women left the
canoes ; and that certain of the fur bundles the
savages would not sell at any price, while as to
others the)' were perfectly indifferent. Soon after
it was observed that, moving as if by accident,
the Indians had somehow become massed at all
the assailable points of the vessel. When this
fact became unmistakable Captain Thorne was,
for the first time, startled. But masking his
sudden fear, and putting on a bold front, he gave
the order to up anchor and man the topmast,
preparatory to sailing. Then he sternly ordered
the Indians to return to their canoes. With a
scarce perceptible flush darkening their listless
faces they picked up their remaining bundles and
started for the ladder. As they went, their cat
like tread scarcely audible in the oppressive still
ness, their knotted fingers stole into their bundles.
Out they came again, like a flash, and in them
were long knives and cruel bludgeons.
And then upon the awful silence broke the
wild war-yell. The peaceful Tonquin' s deck was
a scene of slaughter grim and pitiless. Lewis the
clerk, and Mackay were almost instantly des
patched. Then a crowd, with fiendish triumph
set upon the captain, bent on at once evening up
the old score. The brawny frame and iron will
of the brave, though fool-hardy old salt, made him
a dangerous object to attack. Not until half a
'dozen of his assailants had measured their bleed
ing lengths on the slippery deck did he succumb.

With savage glee he was immediately hacked to
pieces. Meanwhile four sailors, the only sur
vivors besides the interpreter, Lamanzee, by
whom the story is told, having gained access to-
the hold of the vessel, began firing on the
triumphant Indians. With such effect did they
work that the whole throng left the ship in haste
and sought the shore. Lamanzee, meanwhile,
was spared, but held in captivity for two years.
The following day the four surviving sailors- at
tempted to put to sea in a small boat, but they
were pursued and probably murdered by the
Indians. And then, like a band of buzzards
circling around a carcass, the Indians' canoes be
gan to cluster around the deserted ship. In
savage mirth had the night been spent, and now
the prospect of rifling an entire ship gave them
joys that knew no bounds. The hideous tumult
of the day before was succeeded by an equally
hideous calm. Cautiously at first, and then em
boldened by the utter lifelessness, in throngs the
Indians clamored to the deck. Soon lost were
their instinctive fears of strategem in gloating
over the disfigured forms of their vanquished
foes, and in rifling the ship's storehouses. Ar
rayed in gaudy blankets, and adorned with multi
plied strands of beads, they strutted proudly over
the deck. Five hundred men, women and chil
dren now swarmed the ship.
Then an awful thing occurred. A rever
berating crash, and the luckless Tonqidn, with all
its load of living and dead, was flung in fragments
around the sea. Her powder magazine had be
come a Samson among the Philistines, had made-
common ruin of herself and her enemies in the
very scene of their triumph. Dismembered
bodies, fragments of legs and arms, and spattered
brains, stained those peaceful waters far and
wide. According to Lamanzee, as quoted by
Franchere, two hundred Indians, men, women
and children, were thus destroyed. It was claimed
by the same authority that no one knew who blew
up the ship, although he believed it most likely
that the four sailors left a slow powder train on
board when they abandoned her. Washington-
Irving graphically describes Lewis as having
been wounded, and, remaining on board after the
four other survivors had departed for the pur
pose of enticing the savages on board and then
firing the train so as to destroy himself and them
in one awful, retributive castastrophe. Hubert
Bancroft, however, finds no warrant for this in
the narrative of Franchere, the only known au
thority, and he does not hesitate to accuse Irving
of fabricating it.
Whatever may have been the authentic details
the general fact, and the horrible results, soon-
spread abroad through the widely scattered set-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

23

tlements, trading posts and "factories." With
bated breath it was whispered among the
Chinooks around Astoria. It there reached the
ears of the fur traders. Totally unbelieved at
first, it developed into painful certainty. A
month had passed. There was no Tonqrun in
sight in the offing. Surely, there must be some
thing in this ghastly story. Finally its floating
fragments assumed an accepted form, yet this was
not until the reappearance of Lamanzee, two
years after the event.
July 15, 181 1, David Thompson, with eight
white men arrived in Astoria. In searching for
a pass through the Rocky mountains his ex
pedition had been delayed. Desertions among
his men also impeded his progress. Finally he
was obliged to return to the nearest post and go
into winter quarters. He hurried forward in the
early spring. Among the Indians along the
Columbia river the party distributed small flags
(English colors), and built huts at the forks
of the river and took formal possession of the
country drained by the Columbia and its tribu
taries in the name of the King of Great Britain,
and for the company which sent them out. But
the main object of this expedition was not real
ized. They were unable to occupy the mouth of
the Columbia ; here the perfidy of the Northwest
Company failed of its reward. Hostile to the
projects of Mr. Astor was the expedition, yet it
was received in Astoria — by the "wicked part
ners" of the old Dutch fur-king — with open-
handed cordiality. MacDougal provided Thomp
son with supplies for the return journey. But
this was against the urgent remonstrance of David
Stuart. Such generosity to one's commercial
enemy is, to say the least, a trifle unusual. But
the magnanimity displayed on this occasion has
not, for some 'reason, evoked the plaudits of his
torians. Treachery is despicable in the eyes, even,
of those who materially benefit from it.
At the time of Mr. Thompson's arrival David
Stuart was on the eve of starting for the Spokane
country to establish a post. For a short period
he delayed his departure that his and Mr.
Thompson's parties might travel together. At
the confluence of the Columbia and Okanogan
rivers Mr. Stuart erected Fort Okanogan, the
first interior post west of the Rocky mountains
within the limits of the present state of Wash
ington. On January 8, 1812, a part of the Hunt ex
pedition gained Astoria in a pitiable condition.
We must here take a retrogressive step, chrono
logically, to pursue the fortunes of this ill-fated
band of adventurers. While the Tonqidn was
making sail from New York harbor under the
protecting guns of the Constitution, the second

partner in the enterprise, Wilson Price Hunt,
was organizing at St. Louis a land party. This
was to cross the plains and co-operate with the
division by sea. At St. Louis Hunt had, for
some years, been actively engaged in merchan
dising. His principal trade was with trappers
and Indians ; he had become perfectly familiar
with the requirements of the business. And in
addition to this primary requisite he possessed a
character, native and acquired, worthy of more
frequent mention in our earlier annals and of
more frequent emulation by his associates and
successors. Brave, humane, cheerful and reso
lute, he has risen from the mists of history and
reminiscence as the highest type of the Jasons
who vied with those of ancient story in their
search for the fleeches (this time seal and beaver
fleeces instead of golden ones) of the far west.
To a powerful physique and iron nerve, Hunt
added a refinement and culture rare indeed among
the bold, free spirits of the frontier.
Daniel Mackenzie, another partner in the
Astor enterprise, was with Hunt. He was a man
insensible to fear and inured by years of hardship
to the vicissitudes of a trapper's life ; renowned
even on the border, for his marvellous accuracy
with the rifle — the archaic flint-lock of the days
of old. For Mackenzie and Hunt the first thing
of moment was to secure men — bone, sinew and
brains for a perilous adventure. All the tact
and patience of Hunt was drawn upon. And here
it becomes necessary to briefly describe the classes
from which he was compelled to recruit his ranks.
There were, at this period, two distinct ele
ments of trappers. The first, and by far the
more numerous, were Canadians voyageurs ;
mainly of French descent — many of them half-
breeds. These were the legacy of the old French
domination over Canada. Cradley in the canoe
or batteau, their earliest recollections were of the
cold, blue lake or foaming river ; almost
amphibious by nature and training, gay and
amiable of disposition ; endowed with true French
vivacity and ingenuity ; gilding each harsh and
bitter experience with laughter and song; their
quick sympathies and humane instincts easily
finding the best side of the savages, not broad in
designing, but patient, courageous and in
domitable in executing, these French voyageurs
were the main dependence — the back-stay — of
traffic in the wilderness.
The second class were free trappers — Boosh-
aways they were sometimes called. Most of these
were Americans, a large majority being natives
of Kentucky and Virginia. They were the direct
antipodes of the volatile voyageurs. Often with
gigantic frames built up on prairie dew and moun
tain breeze, with buffalo steak and wild birds'

.24

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

flesh wrought into their iron sinews : with nerves
of steel ; mighty in braggadocio, yet quick to
make good the voicing of their most egotistical
moods ; patient and indefatigable in their life-
work of trapping ; but given to wild dissipations
in their annual visits to towns, "settlements" or
"factories;" "sudden and rash in quarrel;" care
less of each other's sympathies or companion
ship ; harsh and cruel to Indians when in power
-over them, but bold and recklessly defiant when
weaker than thev ; seizing without compensation
the prettiest Indian woman and the best horses
as their rightful loot ; with blood in their eyes,
thunder in their voices and rifles in their hands ;
yet underneath all this many of them possessing
hearts as big as those of a buffalo, could they be
reached — this now vanished race of Booshaways
has gone to a place in history beside the ancient
Spartans who boasted that their city required no
wall save the army. Gone are these trappers of
a hundred years ago, and at the head of their
enthusiastic biographers stands James Fenimore
Cooper !
This old streak of brutality and tyranny,
originally cast into the Anglo-Saxon nature and
manifested in its superior form in the savage
-grandeur of the Norse Valhalla, and in the over
powering energy — and vitality — of the Vikings,
and at every great emergency bursting with
volcanic fury through the thin crust of modern
artificial culture, has in no way shown itself more
notably than in the whole management of the
Indians by the American government. With a
swift, implacable vengeance the free trapper exe
cuted the not less real policy of our successive
administrations. Humanity, and even shrewd
diplomacy have little place in the thoughts and
actions of most of them. After having been
swindled by traders the Indian was simply to
be stamped upon like a rattlesnake. The Gallic
gentleness that enabled the Canadian voyageurs
to wander almost anywhere unharmed among the
Indians found no counterpart in the sterner com
position of the great majority of trappers and fur-
traders. And from these two classes Hunt was to make
up his little army. It was a vexatious assignment.
The grand opportunity of the trappers came with
the bitter rivalry of competing fur-companies.
Exhorbitant wages were demanded. Mr. Hunt
discovered that at nearly every station where he
had essaved to employ men that the active agents
of the Missouri Fur Company, chief of whom
• was a Spaniard named Manuel Lisa, were
neutralizing his best efforts by representing and
exaggerating dangers from hostile tribes and bar
ren wastes intervening between the Missouri
plains and the Pacific. But the patient persever

ance of Hunt was amply backed by the long purse
of Astor. This combination overcame all ob
stacles. In April, 1811, the winter rendezvous
at the mouth of the Nedowa (four hundred and
eighty miles above St. Louis) was abandoned, and
in four boats, one of large size and mounting a
swivel and two howitzers, the party numbering
sixty, set forth up the almost untraveled Mis
souri. With the companv were five of Astor's
partners; Hunt, Crooks, Mackenzie, Miller and
Maclellan. There were, also, two English
naturalists, Bradbury and Nuttall, and a clerk
named Reed. Forty of the party were Canadian
voyageurs, and on them devolved the duties of
rowing, transporting, carrying, cooking and other
general drudgery. Next in order of ascending
succession came the American trappers and hunt
ers. It was theirs to hunt and fight, plan and
explore, and when the proper place was gained
to cast themselves upon the mercy of savages and
wild beasts ; endure hunger and thirst and, despite
every difficulty, establish trading posts. That
was the great commercial end in view. The party
thus bountifully supplied designed following, so
nearly as possible, the route blazed by Lewis and
Clark. On the passage up the Big Muddy (Missouri)
scenes thrilling and exciting were encountered.
Especially was this the case on their way through
the country of the Sioux Tetons. But they en
countered no serious impediments; June nth
they reached a large village of the Arickaras,
fourteen hundred and thirty miles above the
mouth of the Missouri. At this point it had
been determined ts abandon the canoes and, se
curing horses, strike across the country south of
Lewis and Clark's route, thus avoiding the
ferocious Blackfeet, who, alike the terror of the
other Indians and of the whites, dominated all
the region of the upper Missouri. So with eighty-
two horses heavily loaded — the partners only, to
gether with the family of Pierre Dorion being
mounted — on the 8th of July they set out hope
fully, despite the many gloomy prognostications
from trappers remaining at the Arickara village,
on their march across the Great American Desert
and through the volcanic defiles of the great
divide. Day succeeded clay ; each morning's sun blazed
its "'ay from horizon to horizon above a scorch
ing landscape. They did not seem, in fact, though
taking a more direct route, to make so good time
as had Lewis and Clark. Guided by the Crow
Indians they penetrated each successive range
to the final ridge, supposing each to be the last,
only to wearily find, when it was surmounted that
one yet higher succeeded. At last, on the 15th
of September — the summer already gone — they

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

25

ascended a lofty peak whence the boundless wil
derness over which they had come as well as that
which yet remained for them to traverse lay like
a huge map in contour at their feet. To the west
ward their guide pointed out three shining peaks
against the western sky, whose bases he assured
the toil-worn party were washed by a tributary
of the Columbia river. One hundred miles lay
between this glittering goal and the travelers.
The verdant banks of Spanish river, a tribu
tary of the Colorado, were passed, and then they
laid in a large stock of buffalo meat ; gave their
jaded horses five days' rest and grateful grazing
on the abundant grass, and on the 24th of Sep
tember, crossing a narrow ridge, found them
selves on the banks of a turbulent stream, recog
nized by their guide as one of the sources of
the Snake river. From the name of their
guide this stream was christened Hoback's
river. The party descended the rugged
promontories which flanked this stream, often in
imminent danger of fatal falls, to its junction
with a much larger one, which so much exceeded
the first in fury of current that it received the
name of Mad river. And now an important ques
tion arose ; should they abandon the horses and
build canoes with which to descend the stream ?
Although containing abundance of water for
large boats, so impetuous was it that it rendered
navigation a dangerous business. The amphibious
Canadians insisted on making the attempt. Weary
of the toilsome and rocky footpaths of the moun
tains : having implicit confidence in their skill
in handling river craft, they longed to betake
themselves once more to their favorite element
and, paddle in hand, their gay French songs
attuned and timed to the music of the paddles,
they were ready to shoot another Niagara should
it come in their way. To construct canoes the
partners finally gave consent. The adjacent tim
ber yielded its best woods for the projected boats.
Meanwhile a party of three, of which the re
doubtable John Day was one, voyaged down Mad
river on a two days' journey of exploration. They
returned with the dismal information that neither
with boats nor with horses along the banks could
the party possibly proceed.
Here was a calamitous set-back. The advice
-of Hoback to go td a trapping post which had
been established the year before by Mr. Henry,
of the Missouri Fur Company, was accepted.
This post, Hoback said, was on the upper waters
of the Snake and he was of the opinion that it
was not very far distant. The Snake Indians
who had come to their camp professed to know
the location of Henry's post ; they agreed to guide
the party thither. October 4th they resumed
their horseback march. Through four days of

cold and blustering snow they journeyed only to
gain a cluster of deserted log huts. This had
been Henry's trading station, now utterly aban
doned. Beside the huts flowed a beautiful river
one hundred yards wide. To all appearances it
was a fine, navigable stream. Two weeks of in
dustry provided fifteen canoes ; in these, hastily
embarking, they pushed out into the stream. Two
Snake Indians assumed the care of the abandoned
horses. Nine men. also, including Mr. Miller,
one of the partners, had been detached from the
party at points between Mad and Henry rivers,
as the new streams were called. These men were
to divide into squads and trap on the neighbor
ing streams. And thus, well provided with
clothes, traps, horses and ammunition, they cheer
fully set forth into the unknown and wintry re
cesses of the mountains, expecting to issue thence
in the spring with a great stock of valuable pel
tries. With these they could make their best way
to Astoria. Rapidly on toward the sunset swept the
canoes, the swift current aiding the skillful voy
ageurs, whose spirits rose to unwonted height
so soon as they found themselves afloat. And
soon they came to the mouth of a stream which
they took for their old friend Mad river. They
now considered themselves fairly embarked on
the main body of the Snake ; already in imagina
tion they began to toss on the vast current of the
Columbia, and even to smell the salt breeze of
the smiling Pacific. For nine days they swept
gaily on, with comparatively slight interruptions,
making over three hundred miles from the place
where they had first embarked. Then they en
countered a most lamentable disaster. In the
center canoe of the squadron were Mr. Crooks
as bowman and Antoine Clappine as steersman.
The first canoe passed a dangerous rapid ; the
second essayed to follow. The latter, with a
sudden lurch, missed her course and the next
instant split upon a rock. Crooks and three of
his companions succeeded, after a hard struggle,
in gaining land, but Clappine, one of the most
popular and useful men in the company, was lost
amid the boiling surges. They had now arrived
at an unboatable chain of rapids and frightful
bluffs, among which neither boats nor horses,
nothing, in short, but wings, could be of any
use. At the beginning of this tumultuous strait
was one of those volcanic cracks peculiar to the
rivers of this coast, in which the whole volume of
the Snake is squeezed into a space thirty feet
wide. This miniature maelstrom received from
the disheartened boatmen the name "Cauldron
Linn." The entire squadron came to a halt. Here
a portage was absolutely required. From the

26

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

craggy, volcanic appearance about and below
them, they had great fear that the obstructions
extended a long distance. After a forty-mile
tramp down the river Mr. Hunt discovered no
prospect of successful navigation. Returning to
the main body, therefore, and discovering that
they had but five days' food and no prospect of
getting more, he determined to divide the com
pany into four parts, hoping that some of them
might find abundant game and a way out of the
lifeless, volcanic wstste in which they were. One
party, under Maclellan was to descend the' river;
another under Crooks was to ascend it, hop
ing to find game or Indian guides on the way
but, if not, to keep on to the place where they
had left their horses. Still another detachment
under Mackenzie struck northward across the
plains, having in view to reach the main Columbia.
Left in charge of the main body Mr. Hunt
proceeded at once to cache a large portion of their
goods. Nine caches having been made to hold
the large deposit, they took careful notice of the
land-marks of the neighborhood for future re
turn, and then got themselves in readiness to move
just as soon as the word should come from any
of the scouting parties. Within three days
Crooks and his party returned. Despairing of
success on their doleful, retrogade march, thev
had determined to share with their companions
whatever might await them on their onward trip.
Five days later, the party meanwhile beginning
to see ghastly famine staring them in the face,
two of Maclellan's squad returned, bidding them
abandon all thought of descending the river. For
many miles it ran through volcanic sluice-ways,
roaring and raging, at many places almost lost
from sight underneath impending crags, generally
inaccessible from its desert banks, so that, though
within sound of its angry ravings, they had often
laid down to their insufficient rest with parched
and swollen tongues.
"Devil's Scuttle Hole" the half-famished
travelers named this long volcanic chute that
barred their progress. What now remained?
Evidently nothing but to hasten with all speed,
their lives being at stake, to some more habitable
locality. Again the party was divided. Under
Hunt one division passed down the north side
of the river; the other under Crooks, took the
opposite side. This course was pursued in order
to increase the chances of finding food or meet
ing Indians. This dismal march was commenced
November 9th, 1811. Until December they wan
dered on their course, cold, hungry, often on the
verge of starvation. A few dogs were procured
at an occasional Indian camp ; once they got a
few horses. Loaded down with baggage these
animals, with scanty feed, soon became too weak

for service ; their attenuated carcasses, one by
one, were devoured to appease the cruel hunger
of these unfortunate people.
Around them all was desolation. No informa
tion could be secured from the few frightened,
half-starved Snake Indians whom they encoun
tered. However, the Indians claimed that the
"Great River" was yet a long distance away. It
was estimated by Hunt that they had now put
about four hundred and seventy miles between-
them and Cauldron Linn. Evidently they were
approaching something definite, for gigantic,
snowy mountains, lifeless and almost treeless,
seemed to bar their future way. But with the
energy of despair they persisted ; clamored pain
fully up precipitous, snow-crowned heights, until
they gained elevation sufficient to» command an
extensive range of view.
With a wild waste of mountains in front, bitter
winds whirling snow and sleet-pellets into their
faces, they began to despair of forcing their way.
The short winter's day shut in their despair, but
they were compelled to camp in the snow. Tim
ber was found in quantity sufficient to prevent
freezing, but during the night another snow
storm burst furiously upon them; sluggish day
light stealing through the snow-clogged atmos
phere, found them in a perfect cloud. Far below
them raved and plunged the river ; yet that was
their only guide to further progress. And to this
repellant stream, down the wind-swept mountain
side, they picked their painful way. And here
the temperature was milder. They devoured one
of their skinny horses ; thev crept a few miles
along the rocky brink of the" brawling flood ; they
made a cheerless camp. On the following morn
ing (December 6th) they saw on the opposite-
bank a party of white men more forlorn and
desolate than themselves. They proved to be
Crooks and party. Hunt shouted across the rag
ing stream; the other party discovered him and
screamed for food. From the skin of the horse
killed the night before Mr. Hunt constructed a
canoe. In this crazy craft one of the daring-
Canadians successfully crossed the fearsome river,
carrying with him a part of the horse and bring
ing back with him Crooks and Le Clerc.
The wasted forms and desponding looks of
these two men were appalling. They gave a dis
heartening account of the insurmountable obsta
cles^ a continuance down the river. To the last
Indian camp they had passed Mr. Hunt deter
mined to retrace his steps. Here he would make
an effort to obtain guides and horses. On the fol
lowing morning they took the back track. So
weak were Crooks and Le Clerc that they greatly
retarded the rest of the party. It was a moment
of extremity; self-preservation is strong, in human

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

27

nature ; some of the party besought Hunt to leave
these two men to their fate. Hunt sternly refused
to abandon his weakened partner. Gradually the
men pushed ahead ; at nightfall only five remained
to bear him melancholy company. Of provisions
they had none ; nothing but four beaver skins.
The morning following a bitter cold night found
one of the men badly frostbitten. Hunt, finding
Crooks entirely unable to travel, decided that his
duty to the main column demanded his presence
among them. He made the exhausted men as
comfortable as possible, and leaving two of the
men and all but one of the beaver skins with them,
Hunt and the remaining three men hastened on.
Another day and a night of famine and freezing
brought them up to their companions. Vacant
looks and tottering steps attested the ravages of
hunger. For three days some of them had not
tasted food. Toward evening of that distressing
day they gazed with surprise and profound grati
tude upon a lodge of Shoshones with a number of
horses picketed around it.
Necessity knows no law. They descended on
the camp, and seizing five horses, at once dis
patched one of them. After a ravenous meal had
satisfied their immediate necessities, they be
sought themselves of their deserted companions.
A man was at once dispatched on horseback to
convey food to them and to aid them in coming
up. In the morning Crooks and the re
maining three men made their appearance.
Food must now be made accessible to the
men on the opposite bank, but a superstitious
terror seemed to have seized their companions as
they gazed across the sullen river at them.
Ghastly and haggard the poor wretches beckon-"
ing across with bony fingers, looked more like
spectres than men. Unable to get any of the
Canadians, overwhelmed as they were with
ghostly fancies, to cross, one of the Kentucky
hunters at last ventured the dangerous undertak
ing. Exerting all his strength he at last suc
ceeded in landing a large piece of horse meat, and,
encouraged by this, one of the Canadians also
ventured over.
One of the starving crew, frantic by his long
deprivations, insisted on returning in the canoe.
Before they had reached shore the pleasant savor
of the boiling meat so inspired him that he leaped
to his feet and began to sing and dance. In the
midst of this untimely festivity the canoe was
overturned ; the poor fellow was swept away in
the icy current and lost.
John Day, considered when the expedition
started the strongest man in the company, also
crossed the river. His cavernous eyes and meagre
.frame showed well how intense had been the
suffering of the detachment on the west bank of

the river. Often the wild cherries, dried on the
trees, together with their moccasins, were their
only food.
The mountains which thus turned back this
adventurous band were no doubt that desolate
range bordering the Wallowa country near the '
mouth of the Salmon river. The detachments
under Mackenzie and Maclellan, having reached
these mountains before the heavy snows, and
finding each other there, had stuck to that route
until they had conquered it. After twenty-one
days of extreme suffering and peril they had
reached the Snake at a point apparently not far
from the site of Lewiston, and building canoes
there, descended the river with no great trouble,
reaching Astoria about the middle of January.
Hunt and his men, saved from starvation by
the discovery of the horses, hastened on to find
Indian guides. But first Hunt, with his usual
generosity, left at the lodge (for the occupants
had fled at their coming) an amount of trinkets
sufficient to pay for the horses they had taken.
A few days later they reached a small village pf
Snake Indians. This, the largest village they had
seen on this side of the mountains, they had ob
served on their down trip, but had not been able
to secure any assistance from the inhabitants.
Now, however, they demanded a guide. The
Indians demurred ; they represented that the dis
tance to the river was so great that it would re
quire from seventeen to twenty-one days of hard
travel; the snow was waist deep and they would
freeze. Quite hospitably they urged the party to
stay with them, at the same time admitting that:
on the west side of the mountains was a large and
wealthy tribe called the Sciatogas, from whom
they might get food and horses. Hunt deter
mined to push on if he could find a single Indian
to accompany him. By a most bountiful offer
Hunt gained his point. The party were informed
that they must cross to the west bank of the
river and enter the mountains to the west. Many
of the company wanted to cast their lot with the
band of Snakes, but with infinite tact and'
patience Hunt sustained their drooping spirits.
But four of the Canadians, together with Crooks
and John Day, were unable to go at all. At last
in spite of doubt and weakness everything was got
together (though they were compelled to desert-
their six sick companions), and in the bitter cold
of the early evening (December 23), they crossed
the river and at once struck for the mountains.
They could make only about fourteen miles a
day. Through the snow floundered their five
jaded horses; their only food was one meal of
horseflesh a day. On the 26th the mountains
gave way to a beautiful valley, across which they
journeyed twenty miles. This must have been*

.28

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Powder river valley. Leaving this attractive
vale and turning again into the mountains a
short but toilsome march brought them to a lofty
height whence they looked clown into a fair and
. snowless prairie, basking in the sunlight and ap-
¦ pearing to the winter-worn travelers like a dream
of summer. Soon they discerned six lodges of
Shoshones well supplied with horses and dogs.
With some flesh of the latter animals their hun-
; gry mouths were soon filled. It is apparent that
this was Grande Ronde valley. The following
morning the new year (1812) dawned upon them
bright and cheerful ; the Canadians must now
have a holiday ; not even famine or death could
¦deprive them of their festivals. And so with
•dance and song and roasted dog meat, dog meat
boiled, fried and fricasseed, they met the friendly
overtures of the newly appointed potentate of
time. Rested and refreshed they now addressed
themselves to what the guides assured them was
to be but a three-days' journey to the plains of the
-great river. Six days, however, passed ere the
cloudy canopy which enswathed the snowy
waste, hiding from sight both earth and sky,
parted before a genial breath from some warmer
clime. And wide below their snowy eyrie lay
-stretched the limitless and sunny plains of the
Columbia. No more gladly did Cortez and his
steel-clad veterans look from their post of observa
tion upon the glittering halls of the Montezumas.
' Swiftly they descended the slopes of the moun
tains and emerged upon that diamond of the
Pacific coast, the Umatilla plains.
Here were camped a tribe of the Sciatogas
(Cayuses) or Tushepaws (Umatillas), compris
ing thirty- four lodges with two hundred horses.
Well clad, active and hospitable, these Indians
•thawed out the well nigh frozen energies of the
strangers. Rejoiced above all was Mr. Hunt to
see the lodges, axes, kettles, etc., indicating that
these Indians were in communication with the
whites below. Answering eager questions the
Indians replied that the "Great River" was two
'days distant, and that a party of white men had
recently descended it. Concluding that these were
Mackenzie and party Hunt was greatly relieved
of one anxiety. After a thorough rest the way
farers set forth across the broad plains and after
a pleasant trip of two days duration on the
horses obtained of the Tushepaws, they beheld
before them a mighty stream, a mile wide, deep,
"blue, majestic, sweeping through the treeless
plain — the Columbia. The toilsome, hazardous
portion of their journey was at an end. But
they had no timber for the manufacture of boats ;
the Indians were unwilling to sell them canoes.
'Thus they were compelled to wait until reaching
'The Dalles before they launched upon the bosom

of the stream. In the vicinity of the present
Rockland (they had come from Umatilla on the
south bank of the river), they had a "hyas wa wa"
with the redoubtable Wishram Indians. Sharp
ened by their location at the confluence of all
the ways down stream, these Indians had clearly
grasped the fundamental doctrine of civilized
trade, to wit: Get the greatest possible return
with the least possible outlay. To this end they
levied a heavy toll on all unwary travelers. These
levies were usually collected while the eyes of the
taxed were otherwise engaged. In short, these
Wishram Indians were professional thieves.
At first they endeavored to frighten Mr. Hunt
into a liberal "potlatch." Then they represented
the great service they had rendered the party in
protecting them from the rapacity of other
Indians ; but finding no ready recognition of their
claims save an occasional whiff at the pipe of
peace, they gave up in disgust and contented
themselves with picking up what little articles
might be lying around loose. After no little hag
gling several finely made canoes were procured of
these people and in these the last stage of the
journey was begun. Nothing extraordinary
marked the two-hundred-mile boat ride down the
Columbia. February 15th they rounded the bluffs at
Tongue Point. And from here, with swelling
hearts and moistened eyes they beheld the Stars
and Stripes softly moving in undulating folds
over the first civilized abode this side of St. Louis.
Right beyond the parted headlands they recog
nized the gateway to the sun-kissed Pacific.
Drawing near the shore they were greeted by the
entire population of Astoria. First in the wel
coming crowd came the party that had been led
by Mackenzie and Maclellan. Until now these
latter had entertained no hope that the Hunt
division could escape the rigors of winter and
death from famine. Truly affecting was their
mutual joy; the Canadians, with French abandon,
rushed into each other's arms, crying and hugging
like long separated school girls. Even the hard-
visaged Scotchmen and nonchalent Americans
yielded to the unstinted gladness of the occasion.
And the following day was deyoted to feasting
and story telling. Possibly, like the banqueting
mariners exploited in the Aeneid, they discussed
with prolonged speech the Amissos socios. As
the reader will recall, these were Crooks and
John Day, with four Canadians, who had been
left too ill to travel on the banks of the Snake.
Of ever seeing them again but little hope was
entertained. But their story is a natural sequel
to what has gone before ; it shall here be given :
The succeeding summer (1812) a party under
Stuart and Maclellan, on their wa)- from Okano-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

29

gan to Astoria, saw wandering on the river bank
near Umatilla, two naked beings, haggard and
emaciated. Checking their canoes to investigate
they discovered with glad surprise that these
dejected objects were Day and Crooks. With
abundant food and clothes their forlorn plight
was quickly relieved ; and while the canoes were
flying down stream the two recent castaways re
lated their pitiful tale. Left destitute of food
and clothing they had sustained life by an occa
sional piece o* beaver o"r horse meat given them
by the Indians who, apparently struck with super
stitious fear, refrained from molesting them.
With rare heroism and self-abnegation Crooks
had remained by the side of John Day until he
was sufficiently recuperated to travel. Then,
abandoned by three of the Canadians, they had
plodded on amid Blue mountain snows, subsist
ing on roots and skins. March 1, 1812, having
left the other Canadian exhausted at a Shoshone
lodge Crooks and Day pressed on through a last
mountain ridge and found themselves in the fair
and fertile plains of the Walla Wallas.
They were received with that kindness which
has ever marked the intercourse of these Indians
with the whites. Having been fed and clothed
they continued down the Columbia river with
light hearts only to find at The Dalles that there
are Indians and Indians — vast differences between
the different tribes as well as between whites.
The Eneeshurs, or Wishrams, as Washington
Irving calls them, first disarming suspicion by a
friendly exterior, perfidiously robbed them of the
faithful rifles which thus far they had never lost
sight of, and stripping them sent them forth into
the wilderness. More wretched than ever they
now turned toward friendly Walla Walla. And
just as they were striking inland they provi
dentially saw the rescuing party. And so, with in
creased gratitude, they all paddled away for As
toria. But John Day never recovered from the
exposure and privations, through which he had
passed during the winter of-1811-12. In insane
frenzy, he once attempted suicide ; prevented from
this he soon pined away and died. The barren
and bluffy shores of John Day river possess added
interest as we recall the melancholy story of the
brave hunter who first explored them.
May 5, 1812, the Beaver, another of Astor's
vessels, made the port of Astoria. Among those
on board was Ross Cox, author of "Adventures
on the Columbia River," a work of considerable
historical value. About this period, also, Robert
Stuart, while bearing dispatches by land to Mr.
Astor, discovered the South Pass through the
Rocky mountains ; in later years this became the
notable gateway to the Pacific for immigrant
trains.

But now, above the little colony on the shores
of the Pacific clouds began to darken. August
4th, with Mr. Hunt on board, the Beaver sailed
northward for Sitka. Here he entered into an
agreement with the Russian governor, Baranoff,
the essential points of which were that the Rus
sian and American companies should forbear in
terference with each other's territory and to •
operate as allies in expelling trespassers on the
rights of either. The captain of the Beaver had '
been instructed to return to Astoria before sail
ing for Canton ; but instead of doing so the vessel
sailed direct ; Mr. Hunt was carried to Oahu,
there to await a vessel expected from New York,
on which he should obtain passage to Astoria.
But he did not arrive in time to avert the impend
ing calamity which befel the Pacific Fur Com
pany. War was declared between Great Britain -
and the United States. It was learned by Astor
that the Northwest Company was preparing a
ship mounting twenty guns, the Isaac Todd, with
which to assault and capture Astoria. To the -
United States he appealed for aid, but his efforts
were unavailing. Impending disaster was thick
ening around the American settlement.' Macken
zie was unsuccessful at his post on the Shahaptan
river, and had determined to press for a new
post. He visited Clarke, and while the two were
together John George MacTavish, of the North
western Company, paid them a visit and vaunt-
ingly informed them of the sailing of the Isaac
Todd and of her mission, the capture or destruc
tion of Astoria. At once Mackenzie returned to
his post on the Shahaptan, broke camp, cached his
provisions and set out in haste for Astoria, at
which point he arrived January 16, 1813. In the
absence of Hunt, MacDougal was agent-in-chief
at Astoria. It was resolved by him and Mackenzie
that they should abandon Astoria in the spring
and recross the mountains. Mackenzie at once
set off to recover his cached provisions and to
trade them for horses for the journey. He also
carried dispatches to Messrs. Clarke and David
Stuart advising them of the intention to abandon
Astoria and directing them to make preparations
accordingly. Mackenzie met a party of the
Northwest Company, with MacTavish as one of
their leaders, and the parties camped, as Irving
says, "mingled together as united by a common
interest instead of belonging to rival companies •
trading under hostile flags."
Mackenzie reached his destination ; there he
discovered that his cache had been despoiled by
Indians. He, Clarke and Stuart met at Walla
Walla according to arrangement and together de
scended the Columbia, reaching Astoria June 12th.
Stuart and Clarke refused to break up their -
posts, provide horses or make any other prepara-

3°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

tions for leaving the country. Furthermore,
Mackenzie's disappointment in finding his cache
broken into and its contents stolen made it neces
sary that the departure should be delayed beyond
July ist, the date set by MacDougal for dissolu
tion of the company. Treason was to be allowed
time and opportunity to do its worst. MacTavish
who was camped at the fort, began negotiations
for the purchase of trading goods and it was pro
posed by MacDougal to trade him the post on the
Spokane for horses to be delivered the next spring,
which proposition was eventually accepted. An
agreement for the dissolution of the company to
take effect the next June was signed by the four
partners, Clarke and Stuart yielding to the pres
sure much against their wills. Hunt, who arrived
August 20th, also reluctantly yielded, the dis
couraging circumstances having been pictured
darkly to him by MacDougal, the latter pretend
ing to be animated by a desire to protect Mr.
Astor's interests before the place should fall into
the bands of the British whose war vessels were
on their way to effect its capture. Hunt then sailed
to secure a vessel to convey the property to the
Russian settlements for safe keeping while the
war lasted, first arranging that MacDougal should
be placed in full charge of the establishment after
January ist should he fail to return.
While en route to advise Messrs. Clarke and
Stuart of the new arrangement, Mr. Mackenzie
and party met MacTavish and J. Stuart with a
company of men descending the river to meet
the" Phoebe and the Isaac Todd. Clarke had been
advised of the situation and was accompanying
them to Astoria. Mackenzie decided to return also
to the fort, and with Clarke attempted to slip
away in the night and so reach Astoria before
the members of the Northwest Company ar
rived ; he was discovered and followed by two
of MacTavish's canoes. Both MacTavish and
Mackenzie reached their objective point October
7th, and the party of the former camped at the
fort. Next day MacDougal, by way of prepara
tion for his final coupe, read a letter announcing
the sailing of the Phoebe and the Isaac Todd with
orders "to take and destroy everything American
on the Northwest Coast."
"This dramatic scene," says Evans, "was fol
lowed by a proposition of MacTavish to purchase
the interests, stocks, establishments, etc., of the
Pacific Fur Company. MacDougal then assumed
sole control and agency because of the non-arrival
of Hunt, and after repeated conferences with
MacTavish, in which the presence of the other
partners was ignored, the sale was concluded at
certain rates. A few days later J. Stuart arrived
with the remainder of the Northwest party. He
objected to MacTavish's prices and lowered the

rates materially. Mr. Stuart's offer was accepted
by MacDougal and the agreement of transfer
was signed October 16th. By it Duncan Mac
Dougal, for and on behalf of himself, Donald
Mackenzie, David Stuart and John Clarke, part
ners of the Pacific Fur Company, dissolved July
ist, pretended to sell to his British confreres and
co-conspirators of the Northwest Company 'the
whole of the establishments, furs and present stock
on hand, on the Columbia and Thompson's
rivers.' '' Speaking of this transaction in a letter
to John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, Mr.
Astor said :
"MacDougal transferred all of my property
to the Northwest Company, who were in pos
session of it by sale, as he called it, for the sum
of fifty-eight thousand dollars, of which he re
tained fourteen thousand dollars as wages said
to be due to some of the men. From the price
obtained for the goods, etc., and he having himself
become interested in the purchase and made a
partner in the Northwest Company, some idea
may be formed of this man's correctness of deal
ing. He sold to the Northwest Company eighteen
thousand one hundred and seventy pounds of
beaver at two dollars, which was at that time sell
ing in Canton at five and six dollars per skin.
I estimate the whole property to be worth nearer
two hundred thousand dollars than forty thou
sand dollars, about the sum I received in bills on
Montreal." Of course this was a scandalous deal on the
part of MacDougal, whose historical record shows
him to have been a man bearing the hall mark
of a consummate rascal. And yet had Mr. Astor
gone a trifle farther with his figures he would
have plumped against the fact that, even at Mac-
Dougal's ruinous discount on the furs, he was
receiving a far greater proportion of their intrinsic
value than he 'had allowed the ignorant, unlettered
savages. In his complaint to Secretary of State
Adams Mr. Astor did not come into court with
clean hands.
Subsequent to the transfer of Mr. Astor's
property by MacDougal the latter's conduct ap
pears to have been "in studied and consistent
obedience to the interests of the Northwest Com
pany." On Mr. Hunt's return, February 28,
1814, in the brig Pedler, which he had purchased
to convey Mr. Astor's property to a place of
safety, he found his old partner whom he had
left in charge of the fort still presiding over it,
but now a dignitary in the camp of the enemv.
No other course was open for him but to digest
the venom of his chagrin with the best possible
grace ; take his diminutive drafts on Montreal
and sail away in the Pedler for Manhattan Island.
MacDougal had been given a full partnership in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3i

the Northwest Company. What was the con
sideration ?
With the arrival of the British vessels Astoria
"became a British possession. On December 12th
took place the formal change of sovereignty and
the raising of the Union Jack. To obliterate all
trace of Mr. Astor's operations the name of As
toria was changed to Fort George. The follow
ing spring the Isaac Todd arrived with a cargo
of trading goods and supplies. These enabled
the Northwest Company to enter vigorously in
the prosecution of business in the territory of
their former rival in the "pelt industry."
"Thus disgracefully failed," says Evans, "a
magnificent enterprise which merited success for
sagacity displayed in its conception, its details,
its objects; for the liberality and, munificence of
its projector in furnishing means for its thorough
execution ; for the results it had aimed to produce.
It was inaugurated purely for commercial pur
poses. Had it not been transferred to its enemies,
it would have pioneered the colonization of the
Northwest Coast by citizens of the United States ;
it would have furnished the natural and peaceful
solution of the question of the right to the terri
tory drained by the Columbia and its tributaries.
"The scheme was grand in its aim, magnifi
cent in its breadth of purpose and area of opera
tion. Its results were naturally feasible, not
over-anticipated. They were but the logical and
necessary sequence of the pursuit of the plan.
Mr. Astor made no miscalculation, no omission ;

neither did he permit a sanguine hope to lead
him into any wild or imaginary ventures. He
was practical, generous, broad. He executed what
Sir Alexander Mackenzie urged should be
adopted as the policy of British capital and enter
prise. That one American citizen should have
individually undertaken what two mammoth
British companies had not the courage to try
was but an additional cause which had intensified
national prejudice into embittered jealousy on the
part of his British rivals, the Northwest Com
pany." By the first article of the Treaty of Ghent en
tered into between Great Britain and the United
States, December 14, 1814, it was agreed that
"all territory, places and possessions whatsoever
taken by either party from the other, during or
after the war, should be restored." Thus As
toria again became the possession of the United
States, and in September, 1817, the government
sent the sloop-of-war, Ontario, "to assert the
claim of the United States to the sovereignty of
the adjacent country, and especially to reoccupy
Astoria or Fort George." The formal surrender
of the fort is dated October 6, 1818.
The United States government had been
urged by Mr. Astor to repossess Astoria, and he
intended fully to resume operations in the basin
of the Columbia, but the Pacific Fur Company
was never reorganized, and never again did
the great "pelt trader" engage in business on the
shores of the Pacific.

CHAPTER IV

THE OREGON CONTROVERSY.

The struggle of five nations for possession of
"Oregon," a domain embracing indefinite terri
tory, but including the present states of Oregon,
Washington and Idaho, and a portion of British
Columbia, ran through a century and a half,
culminating in the "Oregon Controversy" between
"England and the United States. Through forty
years of diplomatic sparring, advances, retreats,
demands, concessions and unperfected com
promises the contest was waged between the two
remaining champions of the cause, the United
States and Great Britain. British parliamentary
leaders came and went; federal administrations
.followed each other successively, and each in turn

directed the talents of its able secretaries of state
to that vital point in American politics, Oregon.
The question became all important and far
reaching. It involved at different periods all the
cunning diplomacy of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, backed by hundreds of thousands of pounds
sterling; it brought to the front conspicuously
the life tragedy of a humble missionary among
the far western Indians, Dr. Marcus Whitman;
it aroused the spirited patriotism of American
citizenship from Maine to Astoria, and it evoked
the sanguinary defi from American lips, "Fifty-
four forty or fight."
It closed with a compromise, quickly, yet

32

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

effectually consummated ; ratification was immed
iate, and the "Oregon Controversy" became as
a tale that is told, and from a live and burning
issue of the day it passed quietly into the se
questered nook of American history.
To obtain a fairly comprehensive view of the
question it becomes necessary to hark back to
1697, the year of the Treaty of Ryswick, when
Spain claimed as her share of North America,
as stated by William Barrows, in Chapter II. of
this part of the general history. Nor was
France left out at the Ryswick partition of the
world. She claimed in the south and in the
north, and it was her proud boast that from the
mouth of the Penobscot along the entire sea
board to the unknown and frozen Arctic, ' no
European power divided that coast with her, nor
the wild territory back of it. At the date of this
survey, 1697, Russia was quiescent. She claimed
no possessions. But at the same time Peter the
Great and his ministers were engaged in deep .
thought. Results of these cogitations were after
ward seen in the new world, in a territory known
for many years to school children as Russian
America, now the Klondyke, Cape Nome, Daw
son, Skaguay, Bonanza Creek, the Yukon — the
places where the gold comes from. Russia entered
the lists ; she became the fifth competitor, with
Spain, England, France and the United States,
for Oregon.
Passing over the events of a hundred years,
years of cruel wars ; of possession and disposses
sion among the powers ; the loss by France of
Louisiana, and the tragedy of the Plains of
Abraham, we come to the first claims of Russia.
She demanded all the Northwest Coast and
islands north of latitude 51 degrees and down the
Asiatic coast as low as 45 degrees, 50 minutes,
forbidding "all foreigners to approach within one
hundred miles of these coasts except in case of
extremity." Our secretary of state, John Quincy
Adams, objected to this presumptuous claim.
Emphatically he held that Russia had no valid
rights on that coast south of the 55th degree.
Vigorous letters were exchanged and then "the
correspondence closed." Great Britain took sides
with the United States. Our protest was em
phasized by proclamation of the now famous
"Monroe Doctrine," the substance of which lies
in these words : "That the American continents,
by the free and independent condition which they
have assumed and maintained, are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for colonization
by any European power."
Subsequently it was agreed between Russia
and the United States, in 1824, that the latter
country should make no new claim north of 54
degrees, 40 minutes, and the Russians none south

of it. With Great Britain Russia made a similar
compact the year following, and for a period of
ten years this agreement was to be binding, it
being, however, understood that the privilege of
trade and navigation should be free to all parties.
At the expiration of this period the United States
and Great Britain received notice from Russia
of the discontinuance of their navigation and
trade north of 54 degrees, 40 minutes.
Right here falls into line the Hudson's Bay
Company. Between Great Britain and Russia a
compromise was effected through a lease from
Russia to this company of the coast and margin
from 54 degrees, 40 minutes, to Cape Spencer,
near 58 degrees. Matters were also satisfactorily
adjusted with the United States.
The final counting out of Russia from the
list of competitors for Oregon dates from 1836.
During a controversy between England and Rus
sia the good offices of the United States were
solicited, and at our suggestion Russia withdrew
from California and relinquished all claims south
of 54 degrees, 40 minutes. And now the contest
for Oregon was narrowed down between Great
Britain and the United States. But with the
dropping of Russia it becomes necessary to pre
serve intact the web of this history.
May 16, 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company
was chartered by Charles II. Headed by Prince
Rupert the original incorporators numbered
eighteen. The announced object of the company
was the "discovery of a passage into the South
Sea" — the Pacific Ocean. During the first cen
tury of its existence the company really did some
thing along the lines of geographical discovery.
Afterward its identity was purely commercial.
Twelve hundred miles from Lake Superior, in
1778, the eminent Frobisher and others had es
tablished a trading post, or "factory," at Atha
basca. Fort Chipewyan was built ten years later
and Athabasca abandoned. From this point
Mackenzie made his two overland trips to the
Pacific, treated in the first chapter of this work.
Commenting upon these expeditions, from a poli
tical view point, William Barrows in "Oregon:
The Struggle for Possession," says :
"The point reached by Mackenzie on the
Pacific is within the present limits of British
Columbia on the coast (53 degrees, 21 minutes),
and it was the first real, though undersigned step
toward the occupation of Oregon by Great
Britian. That government was feeling its way
daringly, and blindly, for all territory it might
obtain, and in 1793 came thus near the outlying-
region which afterward became the coveted prize
of our narative."
Between the United States and possession of
Oregon stood, like a stone wall, the Hudson's

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

33

Bay Company. It was the incarnation of Eng
land's protest against our occupancy. Such being
the case it is a fortuitous opportunity to glance
briefly at the complexion of this great commercial
potentate of the Northwest Coast. Aside from
Geographical discoveries there was another ob
ject set forth in the Hudson's Bay Company's
charter. This was the "finding of some trade for
furs, minerals and other considerable commodi
ties." Moreover an exclusive right was granted
by the charter to the "trade and commerce of all
those seas, straits and bays, rivers, lakes, creeks
and sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be,
that lie within the entrance of the straits com
monly called Hudson's Straits." The charter ex
tended, also, to include all lands bordering^ them
not under any other civilized government.
This ambiguous description covered a vast
territory — and Oregon. And of this domain, in
definitely bounded, the Hudson's Bay Company
became, monarch, tyrant and autocrat, rather an
unpleasant trinity to lie adjacent to the gradually
increasing and solidfying republic of the United
States. Then, with the old company, was united
the Northwestern Company, at one period a rival,
now a component part of the great original
"trust" of the Christian era. The crown granted
to the new syndicate the exclusive right to trade
with all Indians in British North America for a
term of twenty years. Their hunters and trappers
spread themselves throughout the entire north
west of North America. Their fur monopoly ex
tended so far south as the Salt Lake basin of
modern Utah. Rivals were bought out, under
sold or crushed. The company held at its mercy
all individual traders from New Foundland to
Vancouver; from the head of the Yellowstone to
the mouth of the Mackenzie. With no
rivals to share the field the extent of
territory under the consolidated company
seems almost fabulous — one-third larger than all
Europe; larger than the United States of today
— barring the Philippines and Hawaii — but
Alaska included, by, as Mr. Barrows states, "half
a million of square miles." And it was prepar
ing, backed by the throne of England, to swallow
and assimilate "Oregon." Concerning this most
powerful company Mr. Barrows has contributed
the following graphic description:
One contemplates their power with awe and fear,
when he regards the even motion and solemn silence
and unvarying sameness with which it has done its
work throughout that dreary animal country. It has
been said that a hundred years has not changed its bills
of goods ordered from London. The company wants
the same muskrat and beaver and seal; the Indian
hunter, unimproved, and the half-breed European, de

teriorating, want the same cotton goods and flint-lock
guns and tobacco and gew-gaws. Today, as a hundred
years ago, the dog sledge runs out from Winnipeg for
its solitary drive of five hundred or two thousand of
even three thousand miles. It glides silent as a spectre
over those snow fields and through the solemn still
forests, painfully wanting in animal life. Fifty, sev
enty, a hundred days it speeds along, and as many
nights it camps without fire and looks up to the same-
cold stars. At the intervening points the sledge makes-
a pause, as a ship, having rounded Cape Horn, heaves-
to before some lone Pacific island. It is the same at the
trader's hut or "factory," as when the sledge man's
grandfather drove up the same kind of dogs ; the same
half-breeds or voyagers to welcome him ; the same foul,
lounging Indians, and the same mink-skin in exchange
for the same trinket. The fur animal and its pur
chaser and hunter, as the landscape, seem to be alike
under the same immutable law of nature :
"A land where all things always seem the same,"
as among the lotus-eaters. Human progress and Indian
civilization have scarcely made more improvement than
that central, silent partner of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany — the beaver.
Originally the capital stock of this company
at the time the charter was granted by Charles
II, was $50,820. Through profits alone it was
tripled twice within fifty years, going as high
as $457,380, without any additional money being
paid in by stock holders. The Northwest Com
pany was absorbed in 1821 on a basis of valua
tion equal to that of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Then the consolidated capital stock was $1,916,-
000, of which $1,780,866 was from profits. And
during all this elapsed periods an annual dividend
of ten per cent, had been paid to stockholders.
One cargo of furs, leaving Fort George for Lon
don in 1836, was valued at $380,000. In 1837
the consolidated company organized the Puget
Sound Agricultural Company. This was intended'
to serve as an offset to encroachments of colon
ists from the United States which settled in Ore
gon. In 1846 the English government conceded'
United States claims to Oregon, and at that
period the Hudson's Bay Company claimed prop
erty within the territory said to be worth $4,990,-
036.67. In 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company became
the sole owner and proprietor of the trade west
of the Rocky mountains, and of all the rights ac
cruing under the license of trade of December 5,,
1821. An extended narration of the methods
and rules of this corporation would be quite in
teresting, but mindful of our assigned limits and
province, we are compelled to be brief. The
company has been aptly characterized by Evans
as an "impcriuin in impcrio" and such it was,

34

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

for it was in possession of absolute power over
its employes and the native races with whom it
traded. It was constituted "The true and abso
lute lords and proprietors of the territories, limits
and places, save always the faith, allegiance, and
sovereign dominion due to us (the crown), our
heirs and successors to the same, to hold as
tenants in fee and common soccage, and not by
knight's service, reserving as a yearly rent, two
elks and two black beavers." Power was granted,
should occasion rise, to "send ships of war, men
or amunition to any post, fort or place for the
defense thereof; to raise military companies, and
appoint their officers ; to make war or conclude
peace with any people (not Christian), in any of
their territories," also "to seize the goods, estate
or people of those countries for damages to the
company's interest, or for the interruption of
trade ; to erect and build forts, garrisons, towns,
villages ; to establish colonies, and to support such
establishments by expeditions fitted out in Great
Britain, to seize all British subjects not connected
with the company, or employed by them, or in
such territory by their license, and send them to
England." Should one of its traders, factors or
other employes "contemn or disobey an order,
he was liable to be punished by the president or
council, who were authorized to prescribe the
manner and measure of punishment. The of
fender had the right to appeal to the company
in England, or he might be turned over for trial
by the courts. For the better discovery of abuses
and injuries by the servants, the governor and
company, and their respective president, chief
agent or governor in any of the territories, were
authorized to examine upon oath all factors,
masters, pursers, supercargoes, commanders of
castles, forts, fortifications, plantations or colonies,
or other persons, touching or concerning any
matter or thing sought to be investigated." To
further strengthen the hands of the company the
charter concludes with a royal mandate to all
"admirals, vice admirals, justices, mayors, sher
iffs, constables, baliffs and all and singular other
our officers, ministers, liegemen, subjects what
soever, to aid, favor, help, and assist the said
governor and company to enjoy, as well on land
as on the seas, all the promises in said charter
contained, whensoever required."
"Endowed with an empire over which the
company exercised absolute dominion, subject
only to fealty to the crown, its membership,
powerful nobles and citizens of wealth residing
near and at the court jealously guarding its every
interest, and securing for it a representation in
the government itself, is it to be wondered,"
asks Evans, "that this imperii! m in impcrio
triumphantly asserted and firmly established

British supremacy in every region in which it
operated ?"
Something of the modus operandi of this
company must now be given. The chief factors
and chief traders were paid no salaries, but in
stead were given forty per cent of the profits,
divided among them on some basis deemed
equitable by the company. The clerks received
salaries varying from twenty to one hundred
pounds per annum. Below these again were the
servants, whose term of enlistment (for such
in effect it was), was for five years, and whose
pay was seventeen pounds per annum without
clothing. The servant was bound by indenture
to devote his whole time and labor to the corn-
party's interests ; to yield obedience to superior
officers ; to defend the company's property ; to
faithfully obey the laws, orders, etc. ; to defend
officers and agents to the extent of his ability;
to serve in the capacity of a soldier whenever
called upon so to do ; to attend military drill ; and
never to engage or be interested in any trade or
occupation except with the company's orders for
its benefit. In addition to the pittance paid him
the servant was entitled, should he desire to re
main in the country after the expiration of his
term of enlistment, to fifty acres of land, for
which he was to render twenty-eight days' service
per annum for seven years. If dismissed before
the expiration of his term, the servant, it was
agreed, should be transported to his European
home free of charge. Desertion or neglect might
be punished by the forfeiture of even the wretched
pittance — by no means so liberal as modern
United States homestead laws — he was to receive.
It was, furthermore, the policy of the company
to encourage marriage with the Indian women,
the purpose being to create family ties which
should bind the poor slave to the soil. By the
time the servant's term of enlistment had ex
pired, there was, therefore, usually no choice left
him but to re-enlist or accept the grant of land.
"In times of peace laborers and operatives were
ever on hand at mere nominal wages; in time
of outbreak they were at once transformed into
soldiers amenable to military usage and
discipline." The Indian policy of the company was no less
politic than its treatment of its employes, but it
had much more in it that was truly commendable.
Its purpose did not bring its employes into con
flict with the Indian, nor require his expulsion,
neither was there danger that the lands of the
savage would be appropriated or the graves of
their people disturbed. The sale of intoxicants
was positively and successfully prohibited. Con
ciliation was the wisest policy for the company,
and it governed itself according ; but when pun-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

35

ashment was merited it was administered with
promptness and severity. When depredations
were committed the tribe to which the male
factor belonged was pursued by an armed force
and compelled to deliver up the guilty one to his
fate. A certain amount of civilization was in
troduced, and with it came an increase of wants,
which demands could only be supplied at the
company's forts. . Indians were sent on hunting
and trapping expeditions in all directions, so that
concentrations of tribes became difficult, and if
.attempted, easily perceived in time to prevent it.
Thus the company secured an influence over the
savage and a place in his affections, from which it
•could not easily be dislodged.
In its treatment of missionaries, civil and mili
tary officers and others from the United States,
the company's factors and agents were uniformly
courteous and kind. The poor and unfortunate
rarely asked assistance in vain. But woe to the
American who attempted to trade with the Indian,
to trap, hunt or do anything which brought him
into competition with the British corporation. All
the resources of a company supplied with an
•abundance of cheap labor, supported by the
friendship and affection of the aboriginal peoples,
backed by almost unlimited capital and fortified
by the favor of one of the wealthiest and most
powerful nations of the earth, were at once
turned to crush him. Counter-establishments
were formed in his vicinity and he was hampered
in every way possible and pursued with the re-
lentlessness of an evil fate until compelled to
retire from the field.
Such being the conditions, there was not much
•encouragement for American enterprise in the
basin of the Columbia. It is not, however, in
the American character to yield a promising
prospect without a struggle, and several times ef
forts were made at competition in the Oregon
-territory. Of some of these we must speak
briefly, having devoted an entire chapter to the
unfortunate enterprise of John Jacob Astor. The
operations of William H. Ashley, west of the
"Rocky mountains, did not extend to the Oregon
country and are of importance to our purpose
only because in one of his expeditions, fitted
¦out in 1826, he brought a six-pounder, drawn by
mules across the Rocky mountains, thereby
demonstrating the feasibility of a wagon road.
In 1826 Jedediah S. Smith, of the Rocky Moun
tain Fur Company, encouraged by some previous
success in the Snake River district, set out for
the country west of the Great Salt Lake.
He proceeded so far westward that no
recourse was left him but to push on
ward to the Pacific, his stock of provisions
"being so reduced and his horses so ex

hausted that an attempt to return was deemed
unwise. He went south to San Diego for horses
and supplies, and experienced no little difficulty
on account of the suspicions of the native Cali-
fornians, who were jealous of all strangers, es
pecially from the United States. Eventually,
however, he was able to proceed northward to
the Rogue river, thence along the shores of the
Umpqua, in which vicinity serious difficulty with
the Indians was experienced. Fifteen of the nine
teen who constituted the party were massacred,
indeed all who happened to be in camp at the
time except one were killed. This man, aided
by friendly Indians, reached Fort Vancouver,
and told his story to the chief factor of the Hud
son's Bay Company, Dr. John McLoughlin, who
offered the Indians a liberal reward for the safe
return of Smith and his two companions. A
party of forty men was equipped at once to go
to the Umpqua country, but before they started
Smith and his men arrived. McLoughlin took
steps to secure the property stolen from Smith
and so successfully did he manage the affair that
peltries to the value of over three thousand dol
lars were recovered, and the murderers were
severely punished by other Indians. Smith was
conquered by kindness and at his solicitation the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company retired from the
territory of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Of various other expeditions by Americans
into the Oregon country and of the attempts by
American vessels to trade along the coast we
cannot speak. Some reference must, however,
be made to the work of Captain B. L. E. Bonne
ville, who in 183 1, applied for a two years leave
of absence from the United States army that
he might "explore the country to the Rocky
mountains and beyond, with a view to ascertain
ing the nature and character of the several tribes
of Indians inhabiting those regions ; the trade
which might profitable be carried on with them ;
quality of soil, productions, minerals, natural his
tory, climate, geography, topography, as well as
geology of the various parts of the country with
in the limits of the territories of the United
States between our frontier and the Pacific."
The request was granted. While Bonneville
was informed that the government would be to
no expense in fitting out, the expedition, he was
instructed that he must provide himself with
suitable instruments and maps, and that he was
to "note particularly the number of warriors that
may be in each tribe of natives that may be met
with, their alliance with other tribes, and their
relative position as to state of peace or war ;
their manner of making war, mode of subsisting
themselves during a state of war and a state of
peace ; their arms and the effect of them ; whether

36

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

they act on foot or on horse back ; in short, every
information useful to the government." It
would, seem that a government which asked such
important services ought to have been willing
to make some financial return, at least to pay the
expenses. But Captain Bonneville was com
pelled to secure financial aid elsewhere. During
the winter an association was formed in New
York which furnished the necessary means, and
May i, 1832, the expedition set out, the party
numbering one hundred and ten men. They
took with them in wagons a large quantity of
trading goods to be used in traffic with the
Indians in the basins of the Colorado and Colum
bia rivers. Bonneville himself went as far west
as Walla Walla. Members of his expedition
entered the valleys of the Humboldt, Sacramento
and Colorado rivers, but they were unable to com
pete with the experienced Hudson's Bay and
Missouri companies and the enterprise proved a
financial failure. The expedition derives its chief
importance from the fact that it forms the basis
of one of Washington Irving's most entertaining
works, which will preserve to latest posterity
something of the charm and fascination of that
wild, weird traffic.
Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of Massachu
setts, projected, 'in 1832, an enterprise of curious
interest and some historical importance. His
plan was to establish salmon fisheries on the
Columbia river, to be operated as an adjunct to,
and in connection with, the fur and Indian trade.
He crossed overland to Oregon, dispatching a
vessel with trading goods via Cape Horn, but this
vessel was never again heard from ; so the enter
prise met defeat. The following year Captain
Wyeth returned to Boston, leaving, however, most
of his party in the country. Many of the men
settled in the Willamette valley, and one of them
found employment as an Indian teacher for the
Hudson's Bay Company.
Not discouraged by one failure, Captain
Wyeth, in 1834, fitted out another land expedi
tion and dispatched to the Columbia another ves
sel, the May Dacre, laden with trading goods.
On reaching the confluence of the Snake and
Port Neuf rivers, Wyeth erected a trading post
there to which he gave the name of Fort Hall.
Having sent out his hunting and trapping parties
and made arrangements for the season's opera
tions, he proceeded to Fort Vancouver, where
about the same time the May Dacre arrived. He
established a trading house and salmon fishery
on Wapato (now Sauvie's) island, which became
known as Fort William. The fishery proved a
failure and the trading and trapping industry
could not stand the competition and harassing
tactics of the Hudson's Bay Company and the

constant hostility of the Indians. George B-
Roberts, who came to Oregon in 1831 as an em
ploye of the Hudson's Bay Company, is quoted
as having accounted for the trouble with the
red men in this way: He said "that the island
was thickly inhabited by Indians until 1830,
when they were nearly exterminated by congestive
chills and fever. There were at the time three
villages on the island. So fatal were the effects
of the disease that Dr. McLoughlin sent a party
to rescue and bring away the few that were left,
and to burn the village. The Indians attributed
the introduction of the fever and ague to an
American vessel that had visited the river a.
year or two previously. It is not, therefore, a
matter of surprise to any who understood Indian
character and their views as to death resulting-
from such diseases, that Wyeth's attempted estab
lishment on Wapato island was subject to con
tinued hostility. He was of a race to whom they
attributed the cause of the destruction of their
people ; and his employes were but the lawful
compensation according to their code for the
affliction they had suffered.
Wyeth eventually returned to Massachusetts
disheartened. Fort Hall ultimately passed into-
the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
with its acquisition by them practically ended
American fur trade west of the Rocky mountains.
But though Wyeth's enterprise failed so signally,
his account of it, published by order of con
gress, attracted the attention of Americans to
Oregon, and did much to stimulate its settlement.
Paradoxical though it may sound, the Hudson's
Bay Company's success in this instance was its
failure. It will be readily seen, then, that whatever ad
vantage the establishment of fur-trading enter
prises might give in the final settlement of the
Oregon question was with the British. While
we shall attempt a brief and succinct account of
the "struggle for possession," it is now necessary
to determine in some measure what the political
mission of the Hudson's Bay Company might be,
and what part that association was playing in
international affairs. In 1837 the company ap
plied to the home government for a new license
granting enlarged privileges. In enforcing its
request it pointed boastfully to its efficient services
in successfully crushing out American enterprise,,
and in strengthening the British title to the terri
tory, contrary to the spirit and letter of the Joint-
Occupancy treaties of 1818 and 1827.
In presenting the Petition the company's chief
representative in England, Sir John Henry Pelly,
called the attention of the lords to the service
rendered in securing to the mother country a
branch of trade wrested from subjects of Rus-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

37

sia and the United States of America ; to the six
permanent establishments it had on the coast,
and the sixteen in the interior, besides the migra
tory and hunting parties ; to its maritime force of
six armed vessels ; to its large pasture and grain
farms, affording every species of agricultural
produce and maintaining large herds of stock.
He further averred that it was the intention of
the company to still further extend and increase
its farms, and to establish an export trade in wool,
hides, tallow and other produce of the herd and
the cultivated field, also to encourage the settle
ment of its retired servants and other emigrants
under its protection. Referring to the soil, climate
and other conditions of the country, he said they
were such as to make it "as much adapted to
agricultural pursuits as any spot in America;
and," said he, "with care and protection the
British dominion may not only be preserved in
this country, which it has been so much the wish
of Russia and America to occupy to the exclu
sion of British subjects, but British interest and
British influence may be maintained as para
mount in this interesting part of the coast of the
Pacific." One might almost expect that Great Britain
would utter some word of reproof to a company
which could have the audacity to boast of violat
ing her treaty compacts with a friendly power.
Not so, however. She became a party to the
breach of faith. Instead of administering merited
reproof she rewarded the wrong'-doer by promptly
issuing a new license to extend and be in force for
a period of twenty-one years.
With such gigantic and powerful competition
for the territory of Oregon it is surprising that
even so determined a government as that of the
United States should have succeeded in ousting
it from its trespass on our property. Nor could
this have been accomplished had it not been for
the pluck, skill, determination and indomitable
energy of our hardy pioneers. While the sale
¦of rabbit skins alone in London, in one year, or
dinarily amounted to thirteen hundred thousand,
the company found its profit also in the beaver,
land and sea-otter, mink, fisher, muskrat, fox,
racoon, sable, black, brown and grizzly bear and
buffalo. And in search for these fur-bearing
animals the hunters of the company braved every
danger and spread themselves over the wild half
•of North America. So far from carrying out the
provisions of its charter relating to geographical
¦discovery, early in the nineteenth century the
company threw every obstacle possible in the way
of such discoveries. Evidently it feared rivals.
Sir John Barrow, in his "History of Arctic Voy
ages," says: "The Northwest Passage seems
to have been entirely forgotten, not only by the

adventurers, who had obtained their exclusive
charter under this pretext, but also by the nation
at large; at least nothing more appears to have
been heard on the subject for more than half a
century." ,
And what of the darker deeds of this myster
ious, silent, yet powerful commercial aggrega
tion? In 1719 it refused a proposal from Mr.
Knight that two vessels be sent by him to look
up a rumored copper mine at the mouth of an
arctic river. In 1741 the company showed signs
of hostility toward a Mr. Dobbs, engaged in the
same enterprise. The failure of Captain Middle-
ton, commissioned by the Lords of Admiralty to
explore northern and western waters of Hud
son's Bay, is attributed to a bribe of five thousand
pounds received from the company. The beacon
light at Fort York was cut down in 1746 to in
sure the complete wreck of an exploring party
then aground in that vicinity. Much of the in
formation concerning auriferous deposits brought
back by Mackenzie from his two journeys was
suppressed. Thus the self-sufficient Hudson's
Bay people missed the grand and astonishing
produce of the Alaska regions — deposits more
valuable than all the profits of their fur trade for
a century. The Hudson's Bay Company had set
its face steadily against mineral development.
Even that industry was regarded as a rival. Fol
lowing the assassination of Dr. Marcus Whitman
by Indians, in 1847, one of the survivors of the
massacre was refused the protection of Fort
Walla Walla then under command of an agent of
the Hudson's Bay Company. Taken as a whole
this aggregation of English capital appears to
have been as antagonistic to English enterprise
as it was to American commerce, but all the time
working like a mole underground.
Previously to the War of 1812 England had
strenuously urged the Ohio as the western limit
of the colonies. She seduced various Indian
tribes to oppose western immigration. In 181 1
General Harrison, afterward president, attempted
to hold a friendly conference with the great
Tecumseh. The meeting was disrupted by the
latter, and it required the battle of Tippecanoe fo
teach the warriors a bloody object lesson. Then
followed the War of 1812. In this Great Britain
made an effort to recover the northwest, but
failed signally. But the Hudson's Bay Company
was the incarnation of England in North
America. And when the nation failed the com
mercial syndicate succeeded — for a time. While
the United States had legal, she had not, owing
to the interference of this arrogant company,
actual possession and occupancy.
Following the close of the Revolution and the
treaty of 1783, an attempt was made to run a

3§

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

northern boundary for the United States. It
looked well — on paper. It traversed wild, un
explored territory unknown to either party to the
agreement. Says Barrows :
Thus the northwest point of the Lake of the Woods
was assumed for one bound from which the line was to
run, to the northwestern point of the lake, and thence
"due west" to the Mississippi. The clause in the treaty
reads thus : "To the said Lake of the Woods, and
thence through the said lake to the most northwestern
point thereof, and from thence on a due west course
to the Mississippi." But the head of the river proved
to be a hundred miles or more to the south. So that
little- prominence in our otherwise straight boundary is
the bump of ignorance developed by two nations. The
St. Croix was fixed by treaty as the boundary on the
northeast, but a special "Joint Commission" was re
quired in 1794 to determine "what river is the St. Croix,"
and four years afterward the commission called for an
addition to their instructions, since the original ones
were not broad enough to enable them to determine the
true St. Croix.
In 1841 another commission ran a boundary
from the head of the St. Croix, by the head of the
Connecticut, to the St. Lawrence ; thence through
the middle of its channel and the middle of the
lakes to the outlet of Lake Superior, occupying
the whole of seven years. And yet the line had
not been carried through Lake Superior to the
Lake of the Woods. Finally, in 1818, this was
done, and an agreement reached, though this line
was not on the 49th parallel, from the Lake of
the Woods to the Rocky mountains, the line that
was offered by Great Britain, accepted by one
administration, refused by another, and finally
adopted instead of "Fifty-four forty or fight."
Still the English commission was loath to part
with the Mississippi Valley. They asked for a
right of way to the headwaters of that stream. At
the same time the southern limits of their northern
possessions did not come within one hundred miles
of the source of the Mississippi from whence
its waters flow more than three thousand miles
to the Gulf of Mexico. The commission, how
ever, abandoned this claim and turned, to stand
resolutely on latitude 49 degrees. During
negotiations with England in 1818, a compromise
was effected which provided for a joint occupation
of Oregon for ten years. In 1827 it was renewed
to run indefinitely, with a provision that it could
be terminated by either party by giving one year's
notice. The Ashburton-Webster treaty of 1842
fixed the line between the St. Croix and St.
Lawrence. In 1846 another commission failed to
accomplish results in extending a line to the west
ward through their inability to agree on the

"middle of the channel" between the mainland
and Vancouver Island.
Not until 1872 was this latter question de
cided. It was submitted to the Emperor of Ger
many as final arbiter. He decided favorably to
the claim of the United States. Thus the boun
dary question was prolonged eighty-nine years,
under eight treaties and fifteen specifications, until
final adjustment in its entirety. The Oregon
boundary remained in dispute up to 1847. It
may here be appropriately remarked that the Joint
Boundary Commission of 1818, agreeing on the
49th parallel, might have carried the line to a
satisfactory point had they not been stopped by
fur traders. Two companies were then attempt
ing to gain possession of the territory.
The expedition of Lewis and Clark, 1804-6^
opened the eyes of England. Jealous lest Amer
icans should gain an advantage, Laroque was
sent by the Northwestern Company to sprinkle
the Columbia river country with trading.
posts. But Laroque gained no farther west
ing than the Mandan Indian village on
the Missouri. In 1806 Fraser, having crossed
the mountains, made the first English set
tlement by erecting a post on Fraser Lake.
Others soon followed and New Caledonia
came into existence. It had remained for
daring frontiersmen to open the dramatic con
test for possession of Oregon. Diplomats and
ministers had dallied and quibbled. Now the con
test had become serious and earnest. The part
that John Jacob Astor played we have detailed
in another chapter.
The War of 1812 was declared on June 12,
18 12; the treaty of peace was signed December
14, 1814. It contained this clause materially
affecting our interests in Oregon : "All territory,
places and possessions whatsoever, taken by
either party from the other during the
war * * * * shall be restored without
delay." Did this provision cover Astoria?
Apparently the _ English thought not, for
when, in 18 1 7, an American vessel was put
in readiness to occupy that post Mr. Bagot,.
the English minister at Washington, opposed it.
Two points are noted in his protest: The post
had been sold to the Northwest Company prior
to the war ; therefore never captured. Secondly,
"the territory itself was early taken possession
of in his majesty's name, and had since been con
sidered a part of his majesty's domains." But
repossession was granted despite the protest. In
18 18 the Stars and Stripes again waved over
Astoria and the name "St. George" was rele
gated to the limbo of the obsolete.
But the Oregon question was not dead ; only
hibernating. It sprang into life at the behest of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

39

the eloquent Rufus Choate. From his seat in
the United States senate he said :
"Keep your eyes always open, like the eye
of your own eagle, upon the Oregon. Watch day
and night. If any new developments or policy
break forth, meet them. If the times change, do
you change. New things in a new world. Eter
nal vigilance is the condition of empire as well as
liberty." For twenty-seven years the threads of diplo
matic delay and circumlocution were spun out
concerning the status of Oregon. Theoretically
Astoria had been restored to us ; practically the
Northwest's Company's fur traders thronged the
land. The English company had built a stock
ade fort. It signified that they intended to hold
possession of the mouth of the Columbia vie et
armis. Indian tribes ranged themselves on the
side of the English. Their minds had been pois
oned ; insiduous words had been breathed into
their ears to the effect that the Americans would
steal their lands ; the English wanted only to
trade with them for furs. And for more than ten
years following the treacherous sale of Astoria,
there were scarcely any Americans in the coun
try. Greenhow, in his "History of Oregon and
California," declares that at the period when the
Hudson's Bay Company was before parliament,
in 1837, asking for renewal of its charter, they
"claimed and received the aid and consideration
of government for their energy and success in
expelling the Americans from the Columbia re
gions, and forming settlements there by means
of which they were rapidly converting Oregon
into a British colony."
Astoria was restored to the United States by
the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. Yet in that docu
ment there is no allusion to the Northwest Coast,
or in fact, any territory west of the Lake of the
Woods. Our instructions to the American pleni
potentiaries were to concede nothing to Great
Britain south of the forty-ninth parallel. Thus
the question was left in abeyance with no defined
boundary between English and American terri
tory west of the Lake of the Woods. The south
ern boundary of Oregon was, also, in doubt. It
was not definitely fixed until the Florida Pur
chase. Then it was decided that parallel forty-
two, on the Pacific, running east from that ocean
to the Arkansas, down the river to longitude one
hundred ; on that meridian south till it strikes the
Red river ; down the Red river to longitude nine
ty-four ; due south on it to the Sabine river ; and
down the Sabine to the Gulf of Mexico, should
define the southern and western boundaries of
the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which up to that
date had remained indefinite. This act fixed, also,
the southern boundary of Oregon.

Until 1820 congress remained dormant so far
as Oregon interests were concerned. Then it was
suggested that a marine expedition be dispatched
to guard our interests at the mouth of the Colunv
bia and aid immigration from the United States.
Nothing resulted. In 1821 the same question was
revived, but again permitted to relapse into desue^
tude. Mr. Barrows does not use too strong lan
guage when he says : "There appeared to be a
lack of appreciation of the case, and there was a
skepticism and lethargy concerning that half of
the union, which have by no means disappeared."
In 1814 the question having been reopened
in London Mr. Rush claimed for the United
States from the forty-second to the fifty-first par
allel. This section would embrace all the waters
of the Columbia. Per contra the English de
manded possession of the northern half of the
Columbia basin. This would h/ive given us, as
the northern boundary of Oregon, the Columbia
river from a point where it intersects the forty-
ninth parallel to its mouth. It is well to exam
ine, at this point, what such a boundary would
have meant to Washington. Had it been ac
cepted there would, probably, never have been
any state of Washington, at least, not as subse
quently defined.
Thus remained the status of dispute until
1828. Joint occupancy had now continued ten
years. It must be conceded that the country,
owing to this provision, was now numerically
British. And English ministers were eager to
avail themselves of the advantages of this fact.
They said:
In the interior of the territory in question the sub
jects of Great Britain have had, for many years, numer
ous settlements and trading posts— several of these posts
on the tributary streams of the Columbia, several upon
the Columbia itself, some to the northward and others
to the southward of that river. * * * In the whole
of the territory in question the citizens of the United
States have not a single settlement or trading post.
They do not use that river, either for the purpose of
transmitting or receiving any produce of their own to
or from other parts of the world.
Yet why was this the condition of Oregon at
that period0 Simply because the aggressiveness
of the Northwest Company had opposed Ameri
can colonization and fought each and every ad
vance made by our pioneers, commercially and
otherwise. Nor can it be denied that for many
years Oregon was unappreciated by the east.
Today it appears to unreflecting minds, an ex
travagant boast to say that only one-fifth of the
domain of the United States lies east of the Mis
sissippi river: And yet the statement is true.

4Q

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Only in 1854 did the initial railway gain the
banks of the Father of Waters — at Rock Island.
From there progress to the northwest was, for
many years, slow, perilous and discouraging.
Truly, it was a difficult matter for Oregon to
assert herself. In 1828 an "Oregon wave" had
swept over congress, amid considerable feverish
interest and prolonged eloquence. Protracted de
bate was had on a bill to survey the territory
west of the mountains between 42 degrees and
54 degrees, 40 minutes, garrison the land and
extend over it the laws of the United States. The
measure was defeated ; again the question
slumbered. But the daring pioneers of the west were
by no means idle. Unconsciously they were ac
complishing far more toward a final settlement
of the "Oregon question" than all the tape-bound
documents reposing in the pigeon-holes of Eng
lish parliamentary and American congressional
archives. British ministers had impudently de
clared that Oregon had been settled by English
men ; that Americans had no trading posts with
in its limits. And why not? Read the follow
ing from Mr. Wyeth's memorial to congress:
"Experience has satisfied me that the entire
weight of this company (Hudson's Bay) will
be made to bear on any trader who shall attempt
to prosecute his business within its reach.
* * * No sooner does an American start
in this region than one of these trading parties is
put in motion. A few years will make the coun
try west of the mountains as completely English
as they can desire."
To the same congressional committee William
A. Slocum, in a report, goes on record as follows :
"No individual enterprise can compete with this
immense foreign monopoly established in our
waters. * * * The Indians are taught to be
lieve that no vessels but the company's ships are
allowed to trade in the river, and most of them
are afraid to sell their skins but at Vancouver or
Fort George."
Small wonder, then, that at this time there
were less than two hundred Americans west of
the Rockies. And Canadian law, by act of parlia
ment, was extended throughout the region of the
Columbia. Theoretically it was joint occupation ;
practically, British monopoly. So late as 1844 the
British and Foreign Review said, brutally : "The
interests of the company are of course adverse to
colonization. * * * The fur trade has been
hitherto the only channel for the advantageous
investments of capital in those regions."
Truly, the Hudson's Bay Company had
adopted a policy of "addition, division and
silence." Because meat and beef conduced to
pastoral settlements, so late as 1836 the company

opposed the introduction of cattle. One of the
missionaries stationed at Moose Factory has writ
ten this : "A plan which I had devised for edu
cating and training to some acquaintance with
agriculture native children, was disallowed.
* * * A proposal made for forming a small
Indian village near Moose Factory was not ac
ceded to ; and instead permission only given to
attempt the location of one or two old men, no
longer fit for engaging in the chase, it being
carefully and distinctly stated by Sir George
Simpson that the company would not give them
even a spade toward commencing this mode of
life." In 1836 when Dr. Marcus Whitman and his
party were entering Oregon, J. K. Townsend, a
naturalist sent from Philadelphia to collect speci
mens of fauna and flora, said to him at Walla
Walla : "The company will be glad to have you
in the country, and your influence to improve their
servants and their native wives and children.
As to the Indians you have come to teach they do
not want them to be any more enlightened. The
company now have absolute control over them,
and that is all they require."
And right here is the crux of the differences
between the United States and England concern
ing the territory of Oregon. It was the aim of
the former to develop, improve and civilize the
country; it was the expressed determination of
the latter to keep it in darkness and savagery. For
in North America the Hudson's Bay Company
was England and English statesmen were under
the complete domination of this company's abject
commercialism. It has pleased modern English
writers to describe America as a "nation of shop
keepers." But throughout the whole Oregon con
troversy the United States stood for progress and
civilization; England for the long night of
ignorance and barbarism — for profit. Summed up
by Mr. Barrows the relations to Oregon of the
two countries were as follows :
The Americans struck Oregon just where the En
glish failed; in the line of settlements and civilization.
One carried in the single man and the other the family;
one his traps and snares, and the other his seed wheat
and oats and potatoes; one shot an Indian for killing
a wild animal out of season ; and the other paid bounty
on the wolf and bear ; one took his newspaper from the
dog-mail twenty-four or thirty-six months from date,
and the other carried in the printing press ; one hunted
and traded for what he could carry out of the country,
the other planted and builded for what he could leave in
it for his children. In short, the English trader ran
his birch canoe and batteaux up the streams and around
the lakes to bring out furs and peltries, while the
American immigrant hauled in with his rude wagon

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

4i

the nineteenth century and came back loaded with Ore
gon for the American union.
, In 1840 the flow of American immigration into
Oregon, especially the missionaries, Lee, Whitman
and Parker, alarmed the Hudson's Bay Company.
It strenuously opposed the advent of wagons and
carriages. Immigrants were lied to at Fort Hall ;
were told that it would be impossible to proceed
farther on wheels. It is recorded that on this ac
count many of them reached Dr. Whitman's mis
sion in a deplorably destitute condition. But all
the artifices of the company could not check the
hegira from the east. It is reserved for another
chapter to relate the experiences of these pioneers.
We have to do here mainly with the final settle
ment of the great "Oregon Question" between
England and the United States — the political
struggle for sovereignty.
The Edinburg Review for July, 1843, said :
"One thing strikes us forcibly. However the
political question between England and America,
as to the ownership of Oregon may be decided,
Oreeon will never he colonized overland from the
•eastern states. * * * With those natural ob
stacles between, we cannot but imagine that the
world must assume a new face before the Amer
ican wagons make plain the road to the Columbia
as they have to the Ohio."
In 1843 Sir George Simpson, governor of the
Hudson's Bay Company, who had made a tour of
the continent, challenged us in these words : "The
United States will never possess more than a
nominal jurisdiction, nor long possess even that,
on the west side of the Rocky mountains. And
supposing the country to be divided tomorrow
to the entire satisfaction of the most unscrupulous
patriot in the union , I challenge congress to bring
my prediction and its power to the test by im
posing the Atlantic tariff on the ports of the
Pacific." Thus the great international question of tariff
was brought into the Oregon Controversy. But
we must not jump to the conclusion that Sir
'George was without some foundation for his
vaporous remarks. At that time the Hudson's
Bay Company had twenty-three posts and five
trading stations in the northwest ; it had absorbed
"ten rival companies, not leaving one American
or Russian, and had been the means of putting to
rout seven immigrant expeditions seeking homes
in Oregon. The Oregon boundary question was still in
•dispute. But those Americans familiar with the
subject were destined to temporary disappoint
ment. In 1827 it had been referred, through a
convention, to the King of the Netherlands as
.arbiter. Both parties to the dispute had rejected'

his decision in 1831. Five efforts had been made
to adjust the boundary by President Jackson, and
five failures had resulted. The administration of
President Van Buren closed with the vexatious
matter still unsettled. In 1842 Lord Ashburton
came from London to negotiate a boundary treaty
with Daniel Webster, secretary of state. A cer
tain boundary treaty was negotiated, August 9,
1842, the two ministers signed it; it was ratified
by the senate on the 25th ; by the Queen soon after,
proclaimed on November 10th, 1842 — and the
Oregon boundary was not in it. Nothing official
whatever alluding to Oregon was found therein.
The only boundary touched was one "beginning
at the monument at the source of the river St.
Croix," terminating at the Rocky mountains on
the 47th parallel. Little wonder that sectional
feeling developed in the far west.
Dr. Marcus Whitman. *whose connection with
the "Oregon Question" is treated in another chap
ter, had arrived in Washington, D. C, too late
for any effectual pleas for consideration of the
matter in the treaty just signed. Still, as Mr.
Barrows says : "The pressure of Oregon into
the Ashburton treaty would probably have done
one of three things, prevented the treaty alto
gether, excluded the United States from Oregon,
or producd a war. Delay and apparent defeat
were the basis of our real success, and the great
work of Marcus Whitman, by his timely presence
in Washington, was in making the success sure."
With Oregon left out the Ashburton treaty
had been ratified. The outlook was, indeed,
gloomy. As a reflex of the insiduous teachings
of the Hudson's Bay Company the following: ex
tract from a speech delivered by Mr. McDuffie in
the United States senate is interesting. He said :
What is the character of this country? Why, as I
understand it, seven hundred miles this side of the
Rocky Mountains is uninhabitable ; where rain scarcely
ever falls — a barren and sandy soil — mountains totally
impassable except in certain parts, ^ where there were
gaps or depressions, to be reached only by going some
hundreds of miles out of the direct course. Well, now,
what are we going to do in a case like this? How are
you going to apply steam? -Have you made anything like
an estimate of the cost of a railroad running from here
to the mouth of the Columbia? Why, the wealth of the
Indies would be insufficient. You would have to tunnel
through mountains five or six hundred miles in extent.
* * * Of what use will this be for agricultural pur
poses? I would not, for that purpose, give a pinch of
snuff for the whole territory. I wish it were an im
passable barrier to secure us against the intrusion of
others. * * * If there was an embankment of even
five feet to be removed, I would not consent to spend
five dollars to remove that embankment to enable our

42

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

population to go there. I thank God for his mercy in
placing the Rocky Mountains there.
At the time this speech was being delivered
Dr. Marcus Whitman was on his way from Ore
gon with "the facts in the case ;" information des
tined to shed a flood of intelligence on a rather
benighted congress. And, in reality, our country
was rapidly nearing the end of this interminable
controversy. An area of territory sixty-three
times the size of Massachusetts and four times
as large of Great Britain and Ireland was about to
come under the protecting aegis of the United
States government. The Hudson's Bay Company
had declared, through its emissaries, that a wagon
trip to Oregon was an impossibility. The same
sentiment had been voiced in the United States
senate. It remained for Dr. Whitman to prove
the falsity of such an audacious statement. He
led a party of two hundred wagons through to
his mission, near the Columbia river, arriving in
October, 1843. And this, too, against vigorous
opposition from the Hudson's Bay Company, at
Fort Hall. Then the people began to manifest
a lively interest in the question. This interest had
been stimulated in December, 1842, by a message
from President Tyler, in which he said : "The
tide of population which has reclaimed what was
so lately an unbroken wilderness in more contigu
ous regions, is preparing to flow over those vast
districts which stretch from the Rocky mountains
to the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the acquire
ments of individual rights sound policy dictates
that every effort should be resorted to by the two
governments to settle their respective claims."
January 8, 1843, congress received news that Dr.
Whitman had made good his claim and reached
his destination, with wagons, in Oregon. Party-
spirit, for there were two parties to the Oregon
Controversy, aside from the British, ran high.
Dr. Winthrop said: "For myself, certainly. I
believe that we have as good a title to the whole
twelve degrees of latitude," i. e., up to 54 degrees,
40 minutes. Senator Thomas Benton voiced the
prvailing sentiment of the time in these words :
"Let the immigrants go on and carry their rifles.
We want thirty thousand rifles in the valley of the
Oregon ; they will make all quiet there, in the
event of war with Great Britain for the dominion
of that country. The war, if it comes, will not
be topical ; it will not be confined to Oregon, but
will embrace the possessions of the two powers
throughout the globe. Thirty thousand rifles on
the Oregon will annihilate the Hudson's Bay
Company and drive them off our continent and
quiet the Indians.
Rufus Choate spoke for peace. He was fol
lowed by pacificatory utterances from others. Still

there was sufficient vitality in the "Fifty-four
forty or fight" to elect President Polk on such a
campaign issue. The population of Oregon at
the close of 1844 was estimated by Mr. Greenhow
at more than three thousand. The Indian agent
for the government, Mr. White placed it at about
four thousand; Mr. Hines said: "In 1845 it in
creased to nearly three thousand souls with some
two thousand to three thousand head of cattle."
The west was warm with zeal and anticipation.
In the house of representatives Mr. Owen, of
Indiana, said : "Oregon is our land of promise.
Oregon is our land of destination. 'The finger
of nature' — such were once the words of the
gentleman from Massachusetts (J. Q. Adams) in
regard to this country, 'points that way ;' two
thousand Americans are already dwelling in her
valleys ; five thousand more * * * will have
crossed the mountains before another year rolls
round." It was the opinion of the senator from
Illinois, Mr. Semple, that ten thousand would
cross the Rocky mountains the following year.
At last a resolution was introduced in con
gress "affirming Oregon to be part and parcel of
the territory of the United States from 42 degrees
to 54 degrees, 40 minutes, and that notice should
be given at once to terminate the joint occupancy
of it." It was held on the floor of the house
that "no doubts now remain in the minds of
American statesmen that the government of the
United States held a clear and unquestionable
title to the whole of the Oregon territory."
In the region, at this time, the Hudson's Bay
Company had about thirty "trading posts.""
Really they were forts and powerful auxiliaries
to an internecine war. Seven thousand citizens
of the United States were in the same country.
The question of another war with England had
become a live and important issue. To have
stood solidly for 54 .degrees, 40 minutes, would
have meant war, and as one gentleman expressed
it, "a war that might have given the whole of
Oregon to England and Canada to the United
States." During forty days the question of giv
ing notice to England of discontinuance of joint
occupancy was debated in the house. It was car
ried by a vote of one hundred and sixty-three to
fifty-four. The struggle in the senate was longer.
An idea of the engrossing nature of the Oregon
topic may be gleaned from the fact that three
score bills and resolutions were kept in abeyance
on the calendar for future action. Daniel Web
ster prophesied that war would not result; that
the incident would be closed by compromise and
that the compromise would be on the boundary
line of the forty-ninth parallel. The attitude of
the two countries was this : We had offered forty-
nine degrees from the mountains to the Pacific

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

43

Ocean, not once, but several times; England had
offered forty-nine degrees from the mountains to
the Columbia, and by that stream to the sea. A
comparatively narrow triangle of land only lay
between the demands of England and conces
sions by the United States. Most excellent
grounds for a compromise. April 23, 1846, the
notice passed the house by a vote of 42 to 10,
with important amendments strongly suggestive
to both governments to adjust all differences
amicably. No one longer feared war.
From the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north
latitude where the boundary laid down in existing
treaties and conventions between the United States and
Great Britain terminates, the line of boundary between
the territories of the United States and those of her
Britannic Majesty shall be continued westward along
said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle
of the channel which separates the continent from
Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the

middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Strait, to
the Pacific ocean : Provided, however, that the naviga
tion of the whole of the said channel and straits south
of the 49th parallel of north latitude, remains free and
open to both parties.
Thus reads the first article of the final boun
dary treaty between England and the United
States, so far as concerns Oregon. But to mold-
it into this form and sign the same, fifty-four
years, two months and six days had been re
quired by the two countries. July 17, 1846, the
document, previously ratified, was exchanged in
London between the two governments. But Cap
tain Robert Gray, of Boston, had discovered the
Columbia river May 11, 1792 and fully estab
lished a United States title to the country which-
it drains. It remained yet for a boundary com
mission, in 1857, to run the line. The first meet
ing of the commission was held July 27, of the.
same year.

CHAPTER V

THE TRAGEDY OF WHITMAN'S MISSION.

"Who will respond to go beyond the Rocky
Mountains and carry the Book of Heaven?"
This was the startling question asked by
President Fiske, of Wilbraham College. It was
an editorial inquiry published in the Christian
Advocate in March, 1833. Yet this ringing call
for spiritual assistance was not initiative on the
part of President Fiske. A Macedonian cry had
been voiced by four Flathead Indians, of the
tribe of Nez-Perces, or Pierced-noses. They had
come down to St. Louis from the headwaters of
the Columbia, the Snake, Lewis or Clark's
rivers, far to the westward of the Rocky Moun
tains. Far up in the mountains of Montana, in
one of the many valleys which sparkle like emer
alds on the western slope of the "Stony" range, a
handful of natives met to ponder over the unique
tale repeated by some passing mountaineer of a
magic "Book" possessed by the white man, which
assured its owners of peace and comfort in this
life and eternal bliss in the world to come beyond
the grave. The Flatheads were a weak and un-
warlike people; they were sorely beset by the
fierce Blackfeet, their hereditary foes, through

whose terrible incursions the Flatheads had been>
reduced in numbers and harrassed so continually
that their state was most pitiable. To this rem
nant of a once proud race the trapper's story was-
a rainbow of promise; the chiefs resolved to see
this "Book," and possess themselves of the white
man's treasure. They chose an embassy of four
of their wisest and bravest men, and sent them.
trustfully on the tribe's errand.
Alone and unassisted by government appro
priation, they had followed a course down the
Missouri and the Father of Waters three thou
sand miles to St. Louis. This was in 1832. The
peculiar mission of these Indians was the open
ing act of the Whitman tragedy. Mr. Barrows-
says :
"The massacre ran riot through eight days,.
and Dr. Marcus Whitman and wife, of the Amer
ican Board, and thirteen or more associates, were
savagely killed on the 29th of November, 1847,
and days following. It was the bloody baptism
of Oregon, by the like of which the most of the
American states have come into the union."
At the period of the arrival of these four

-44

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Nez-Perce chiefs Indians were not an uncommon
sight in St. Louis. At certain seasons the su
burbs of the city were fringed with teepees, or
"wickiups." So, at first, but little attention was
paid to them otherwise than to note their strange
dress and unknown dialect. It is not difficult to
gather how they had learned of the White Man's
Book. Their own rude eloquence addressed to
General William Clark at parting conveys this
information. After a long time passed in the
city, after two of them had gone to the happy
hunting ground, the survivors made their de
sires known, and it appears their request was,
perforce, denied. Translation of the Bible into
an Indian dialect is not the work of a few days
or months. The two remaining Indians decided
to return home; their mission a failure. The
pathos of their complaint is in the spirit, if not
~the words, of one of the chiefs in his farewell
speech to General Clark:
I come to you over a trail of many moons from
the setting sun. You were the friend of my fathers who
have all gone the long way. I came with one eye
partly opened for more light for my people who sit
in darkness. I go back with both eyes closed. How
can I go back blind to my blind people? I made my
way to you with strong arms, through many enemies
and strange lands, that I might carry back much to
"them. I go back with both arms broken and empty.
The two fathers who came with us — the braves of many
winters and wars — we leave here by your great waters
and wigwam. They were tired in many moons and their
moccasins wore out. My people sent me to get the
White Man's Book of Heaven. You took me to where
you allow your women to dance, as we do ours, and the
Book was not there. You took me where they wor
shipped the great spirit with candles, and the Book
was not there. You showed me the images of good
spirits and pictures of the good land beyond, but the
Book was not among them to tell us the way. I am
going back the long, sad trail to my people of the dark
"land. You make my feet heavy with burdens of gifts,
and my moccasins will grow old in carrying them,
but the Book is not among them. When I tell my
poor, blind people, after one more snow, in the big
council, that I 'did not bring the Book, no word will be
spoken by our old men or by our young braves. One by
one they will rise up and go out in silence. My people
will die in darkness, and they will go out on the long
path to the other hunting ground. No white man will
go with them and no White Man's Book to make the
way plain. I have no more words.
Of this utter failure to secure a copy of the
Bible Mr. Barrows says, pertinently:
In what was then a Roman Catholic city it was
¦not easy to do this, and officers only were met. It has

not been the policy or practice of that church to give
the Bible to the people, whether Christian or pagan.
They have not thought it wise or right. Probably no
Christian enterprises in all the centuries have shown
more self-sacrificing heroism, forseen suffering and in
tense religious devotion than the laborers of that
church, from 1520, to give its type of Christianity to the
natives of North America. But it was oral, ceremonial
and pictorial. In the best of their judgment, and in the
depths of their convictions, they did not think it best to
reduce native tongues to written languages and the
Scriptures to the vernacular of any tribe.
But the eloquence of this speech had fallen
on appreciative ears. A young clerk in General
Clark's office, who had heard the sad plaint
of the chief, wrote to George Catlin, in Pitts
burg, historian and painter, an account of the
scene. Thereafter events moved rapidly; the
seed was sown and the harvest was about to be
fulfilled. One Indian only lived to return to his
people, without the Book, yet it cannot be said
that his mission was a failure. The editorial ap
peal of President Fiske produced results. Meas
ures were at once taken by the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the
Methodist Board of Missions to send missiona
ries to Oregon. Revs. Jason and David Lee were
pioneers in this Scriptural crusade. They went
under appointment of the Methodist Board. They
were followed the next year by Revs. Samuel
Parker and Marcus Whitman, M. D., sent by the
American Board of Commissioners. In the sum
mer of 1835 the latter arrived at the American
rendezvous on Green river. Accompanied by a
body of Nez Perces, from which people the four
chiefs had gone to St. Louis, Rev. Mr. Parker
went to Walla Walla and on to Vancouver. And
with him he carried the "Book." Dr. Whitman
returned to the states the same fall, married
Narcissa Prentice, and organized an outfit with
which he returned, with his bride, to Oregon,
arriving at Walla Walla in September, 1836.
For the first time in any western history are
presented in this volume authentic portraits of
two of these Indians, Hee-Oh'ks-Te-Kin, the
Rabbit's Skin Leggins, and H'co-a-H'Cotes-Min,
No Horns on His Head. They are published by
permission of the Smithsonian Institute, Wash
ington. The following excerpt concerning them
is from the Smithsonian Report, Part II, 1885.
Mr. Catlin, the artist who painted these por
traits, did not visit the Nez Perces until 1854-5,
on his second journey through the west. Of
them Mr. Catlin says :
These two men when I painted them were in beauti
ful Sioux dresses which had been presented to them in
a talk with the Sioux, who treated them very kindly

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

45

while they were passing through the Sioux country.
These two men were a part of a delegation that came
across the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis a few years
since to inquire for the truth of a representation which
they said some white men had made among them "that
our religion was better than theirs, and that they would
all be lost if they did not embrace it."
Two old and venerable men of this party died in
St. Louis, and I traveled two thousand miles, compan
ion with these two young fellows toward their own
country and became much pleased with their manners
and dispositions. No Horns on His Head died near the
mouth of the Yellowstone river on his way home. The
other one, The Rabbit's Skin Leggins, I have since
learned arrived safely among his friends. * * *
When I first heard of the report of the object of this
extraordinary mission across the mountains I could
scarcely believe it ; but in conversing with General
Clark on a future occasion I was fully convinced of
the fact.
To this the editor of the Smithsonian report
adds : "No more romantic incident than this can
be found in Northwestern history — the four
Nez Perces traveling thousands of miles in search
of the Book, looking for the white man's Deity.
Still the Jesuits had been missionaries among
these same Indians for scores of years prior to
that time. Lewis and Clark found many of the
Black Gowns with the Indians."
The question as to whether or no Dr. Whit
man "saved Oregon to the United States" will
remain forever a question of casuistry. Events
might have shaped themselves as they subse
quently did, had Whitman not made his long
midwinter ride to Washington, D. C, to lay his
facts and fears before the president. Everything
might have resulted in the retention by the United
States of all of Oregon south of the 49th par
allel, had no warning cry come from the far
northwest ; a culverin shot announcing the at
tempt of England to seize the country, not only
bv force of majority colonization, but through
artifices of the Hudson's Bay Company. At a
dinner at Waiilatpu, attended by Dr. Whitman,
news was received that a colony of English one
hundred and forty strong was then near Fort
Colville, three hundred and fifty miles up the
Columbia. A young priest leaped to his feet,
threw his cap into the air and cried, "Hurrah for
Oregon ! America is too late and we have got the
country !"
This was but one of the many significant signs
witnessed by Whitman. He was a man of fore
sight ; he had seen and realized the wealth, posi
tion and future possibilities of Oregon as had
no other American at that period. And he rode
on to Washington and told his story. It will be

read in the preceding chapter that not until he
had done so did the American congress act. Of
the personality of Dr. Whitman one who knew
him contributes the following picture :
Marcus Whitman once seen, and in our family
circle, telling of his one business — he had but one — was
a man not to be forgotten by the writer. He was of
medium height, more compact than spare, a stout shoul
der and large head not much above it, covered with stiff,
iron-gray hair, while his face carried all the moustache ¦
and whiskers that four months had been able to put on.
He carried himself awkwardly, though perhaps courte
ously enough for trappers, Indians, mules and grizzlies, .
his principal company for six years. He seemed built
as a man for whom more stock had been furnished than
worked in symmetrically and gracefully. There was
nothing peculiarly quick in his motion or speech, and <
no trace of a fanatic ; but under control of a thorough
knowledge of his business, and with deep, ardent con
victions about it, he was a profound enthusiast. A
willful resolution and a tenacious earnestness would :
impress you as making the man.
Sordid motives have been attributed to Dr.
Whitman's efforts in behalf of Oregon. One
writer has assumed that his sole object was to
secure continuance of his little mission at Waii
latpu. But there is abundance of evidence that
his ideas were of a broader scope than this. Let
it be noted that efforts to depreciate Whitman
suddenly ceased as late as 1891. That year was
found in the archives at Washington, D. C, a ¦
letter from him proposing a bill for a line of
forts from the Kansas river to the Willamette. In
the Walla Walla Union-Journal of August 15,.
1891, the letter was first published to the world.
It has been reproduced in Dr. O. W. Nixon's
work, "How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon :" "
To the Hon. James W. Porter, Secretary of War :
Sir — In compliance with the request you did me the
honor to make last winter while at Washington, I here
with transmit to you the synopsis of a bill, which, if it
could be adopted, would, according to my experience
and observation, prove highly conducive to the best
interests of the United States, generally ; to Oregon,
where I have resided for more than seven years as a
missionary, and to the Indian tribes that inhabit the
intermediate country.
The government will doubtless for the first time be
apprised through you, and by means of this communi
cation, of the immense migration of families to Oregon,
which has taken place this year. I have, since our inter
view, been instrumental in piloting across the route de
scribed in the accompanying bill, and which is the only
eligible wagon road, no less than  families, .
consisting of one thousand persons of both sexes, with

46

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

their wagons, amounting in all to one hundred and
twenty-six ; six hundred and ninety- four oxen and seven
hundred and seventy-three loose cattle.
Your familiarity with the government's policy, du
ties and interests, render it unnecessary for me to more
than hint at the several objects intended by the enclosed
bill, and any enlargements upon the topics here sug
gested as inducements to its adoption would be quite
superfluous, if not impertinent. The very existence of
-such a system as the one above recommended suggests
the utility of postoffices and mail arrangements, which
it is the wish of all who now live in Oregon to have
granted them, and I need only add that the contracts
for this purpose will be readily taken at reasonable
rates for transporting the mail across from Missouri
to the mouth of the Columbia in forty days, with fresh
horses at each of the contemplated posts. The ruling
policy proposed regards the Indians as the police of the
country, who are to be relied upon to keep the peace,
not only for themselves, but to repel lawless white men
and prevent banditti, under the solitary guidance of the
superintendents of the several posts, aided by a well-
directed system to induce the punishment of crimes.
It will only be after the failure of these means to pro
cure the delivery of or punishment of violent, lawless
and savage acts of aggression, that a band or tribe
should be regarded as conspirators against the peace,
or punished accordingly by force of arms.
Hoping that these suggestions may met your ap
probation and conduce to the future interests of our
growing country, I have the honor to be, honorable sir,
your obedient servant, Marcus Whitman.
Certainly it is reasoning from slender, unsub
stantial premises to assert that the great influ
ence exerted on President Tyler and Secretary
Webster by Whitman was founded on so slight
a pretext as saving to him, personally, the hum
ble mission at Waiilatpu. Whitman must have
been a man with "an idea" larger than that to
"have commanded respect from the ablest states
men of the day; to have crystalized public sen
timent into a desire for the whole of Oregon ; to
have smelted patriotism into the heraldic proc
lamation of defiance to all England, "Fifty-four
forty or fight."
Had Whitman been purely selfish, why should
he have announced his intention, in 1843, of per
sonally conducting a large train across the moun-
"tains? Security of his mission did not depend
on this. On the contrary the advance of civili
zation, with attendant churches, would tend to
¦do away entirely with missions for the Indians.
As we approach the melancholy close of Dr.
Whitman's varied career as explorer, mission
ary and patriotic statesman, one can not fail to
be impressed with a feeling that less devotion to
a patriotic sense of duty would have conduced

to his personal safety. Two antagonists were
arrayed against him and his political as well as
his spiritual plans; primarily the Hudson's Bay
Company, and the Indians, indirectly influenced
by the same commercial corporation. The policy
of the company was to keep the country in the
condition of a vast game preserve for the purpose
of breeding fur-bearing animals. Naturally this
pleased the Indians. It was directly in line with.
their hereditary mode of life. The policy of
American colonization was symbolized by the axe
and the plow ; complete demolition of profitable
hunting grounds. And -of this latter policy Dr.
Whitman was high priest and propogandist.
Since the discovery of America Indian wars
have been like —
"Freedom's battle, once begun,
Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son."
In a letter written by Washington to Jay, in
1794, the first president says: "There does not
remain a doubt in the mind of any well-informed
person in this country, not shut against convic
tion, that all the difficulties we encounter with
the Indians, their hostilities, the murders of help
less women and innocent children along our
frontiers, result from the conduct of the agents
of Great Britain in this country." Historical
justice demands, however, that we assign the
primary cause of the Whitman massacre to the
entangling circumstances of the Indians on the
Columbia, under two rival peoples and conflict
ing policies. Also the general character of the
Indians as uncivilized and superstitious, must be
duly considered. Before the tragedy, as since,
many Americans were cruel, deceitful and ag
gressive in their treatment of the unsophisticated
savage. Those who have philosophically watched
the trend of current events in the past twenty-
five years need not be told that more than one
Indian outbreak can be directly traced to low
cupidity and peculation among our government
officials. To a certain extent this cruelty and
deception had been practiced upon the Indians
by lawless white men prior to the Whitman
massacre. Today we cannot come into court with
clean hands for the purpose of accusing the Eng
lish pioneers of Oregon. If their policy was one
designed to check the march of western civili
zation it was certainly devoid of the sometimes
Satanic cruelty shown by Americans toward the
Indians. We now come to the savage details of the
Whitman tragedy and the immediate cause of
the outbreak. Undoubtedly this will be found to
lie in the innate superstition of the savage, edu
cated or uneducated. Following the return of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

47

Whitman from Washington, in 1843, the Indians
in the vicinity of the mission of Waiilatpu were
restless and insurbordinate. There is evidence
that at this period Whitman scented danger. He
contemplated removal to The Dalles for safety,
and had even gone so far as to arrange for the
purchase of the Methodist Mission at that point.
Two personal enemies were arrayed against him ;
Tamsuky, a Cayuse chief, and Joe Lewis. The
latter was a sullen, revengeful half-breed, one who
had wandered to the mission, been befriended by
the doctor, and secretly became the headcenter
of a murderous plot.
Measles became epidemic among the Indians
during the summer of 1847, introduced among
the Cayuse tribe by immigrants. It was Indian
medical practice to treat all fevers by placing
the patient in a sweat house, followed by a
bath in ice-cold water. Under such ignorant
ministrations many of the patients, of course,
expired. They died, too, under the medical at
tendance of Dr. Whitman, whose utmost
vigilance could not save his patients from the
sweat-house and the fatal douche. It was at
this critical period that the treacherous Lewis
circulated reports that the. doctor was poisoning
instead of healing his patients. Lewis affirmed
that he had overheard Whitman and Rev. Henry
Harmen Spalding plotting to obtain possession
of the country. It was finally decided by some
of the influential chiefs of the tribe to demand
of Dr. Whitman a test case of his professional
skill. An Indian woman afflicted with the
measles was given in his charge. The terrible
alternative, secretly decided upon, was this :
Should the woman recover, all would be peace ;
should she die the Indians were to kill all the
missionaries. Of this direful plot Whitman was apprised
by Istikus, a Umatilla friend. The doctor treated
the story with levity. Not so Mrs. Whitman. With
the sensitive intuition of woman, she fully com
prehended the dread significance of Istikus' story,
and though intrepid by nature, the heroine of a
dangerous pioneer journey across the continent,
she became alarmed, and was in tears for the
first time since the death of her child, eight years
before. Dr. Whitman reassured her the best he
could, and renewed his promise to move down
the river. It was too late. On the fatal 29th of
November, 1847, great numbers of Tamsuky 's
adherents were in the vicinity of Waiilatpu.
Their sinister presence added to the alarm of
Mrs. Whitman. Survivors of the massacre said
that the hills were black with Indians looking
down upon the scene. About one o'clock in the
afternoon of the 29th, while Dr. Whitman was

reading, a number of Indians entered his room
and, having attracted his attention, one of them,
said to have been Tamchas, buried his hatchet
in the head of his benefactor. Another savage,
Telaukait, one who had received nothing but kind
ness, beat his face to a pulp. Bloody work thus
began was speedily followed with relentless bru
tality. None of the white men, scattered and un
suspecting, could offer adequate assistance. They
were quickly shot down with the exception of
such as were remote. Five men escaped. After
increditable suffering they finally reached a place
of safety. Mrs. Whitman was the only woman
who suffered death. Other women were out
raged, and children, boys and girls held in cap
tivity several days. William McBean, the Hud
son's Bay Company's agent at Fort Walla Walla,
refused to harbor Mr. Hall, who had escaped
as far as the fort, and he subsequently perished.
A courier was dispatched by McBean to Vancou
ver, but this man did not even warn the people
at The Dalles of danger. Happily they were un
molested. So soon as James Douglas, then chief
factor in the place of Dr. McLaughlin, heard of
the massacre, he sent Peter Skeen Ogden, with a
force, to reach the survivors. Ogden exhibited
a commendable zeal and efficiency and by the
expenditure of several hundred dollars, ransomed
forty-seven women and children.
Following are the names of the victims of
this outbreak; the people slaughtered during the
eight days of murderous riot : Marcus Whitman,
Narcissa Whitman, John Sager, Francis Sager,
Crockett Bewley, Isaac Gillen, James Young and
Rogers, Kimball, Sales, Marsh, Saunders, Hoff
man and Hall. Afterward there was found on
the site of the massacre a lock of long, fair hair,
which was, undoubtedly, taken from the head
of Mrs. Whitman. Among the relics of this
tragedy, in Whitman College, it is now preserved.
An account of the escape of Mr. Osborne was
published a number of years ago. It is a graphic
description of the horrors of the event and from
it we take the following extracts :
As the guns fired and the yells commenced, I
leaned my head upon the bed and committed myself
and family to my Maker. My wife removed the loose
floor. I dropped under the floor, with my sick family
in their night clothes, taking only two woolen sheets,
a piece of bread and some cold mush, and pulled the
floor over us. In five minutes the room was full of
Indians, but they did not discover us. The roar of
guns, the yells of the savages and the crash of clubs
and knives, and the groans of the dying continued until
dark. We distinctly heard the dying groans of Mrs.
Whitman, Mr. Rogers and Francis, till they died away,

48

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

one after the other. We heard the last words of Mr.
Rogers in a slow voice, calling, "Come, Lord Jesus,
come quickly."
Soon after this I removed the floor and we went
out. We saw the white face of Francis by the door.
It was warm as we laid our hand upon it, but he was
dead. I carried my two youngest children, who were
sick, and my wife held on to my clothes in her great
weakness. We had all been sick with measles. Two
infants had died. She had not left her bed for six
weeks till that day, when she stood up a few minutes.
The naked, painted Indians were dancing a scalp dance
around a large fire at a little distance. There seemed
no hope for us and we knew not which way to go, but
bent our steps toward Fort Walla Walla. A dense,
cold fog shut out every star and the darkness was
complete. We could see no trail and not even the
hand before the face. We had to feel out the trail
with our feet. My wife almost fainted, but staggered
along. Mill Creek, which we had to wade, was high
with late rains and came up to the waist. My wife in
her great weakness came nigh washing down, but held on
to my clothes. I braced myself with a stick, holding a
child in one arm. I had to cross five times for the
children. The water was icy cold and the air freezing
some. Staggering along about two miles Mrs. Osborne
fainted and could go no further, and we hid ourselves
in the brush of the Walla Walla river, not far below
the lodges of Tamsuky, a chief who was very active
at the commencement of the butchery. We were thor
oughly wet, and the cold, fog-like snow was about us.
The cold mud was partially frozen as we crawled, feel-
, ing our way into the dark brush. We could see nothing,
the darkness was so extreme. I spread out one wet
sheet on the frozen ground ; wife and children crouched
upon it. I covered the other over them. I thought
they must soon perish, as they were shaking and their
teeth rattling with cold. I kneeled down and com
mended us to our Maker. The day finally dawned and
I could see Indians riding furiously up and down the
trail. Sometimes they would come close to the brush,
and our blood would warm and the shaking would
stop from fear 'for a moment. The day seemed a
week. I expected every moment my wife would breathe
her last. Tuesday night we felt our way to the trail
and staggered along to Sutucks Nima (Dog Creek),
which we waded as we did the other creek and kept
on about two miles when my wife fainted and could go
no farther. Crawled into the brush and frozen mud to
shake and suffer on from hunger and cold and without
sleep. The children, too, wet and cold, called incessantly
for food, but the shock of groans and yells at first so
frightened them that they did not speak loud.
Wednesday night wife was too weak to stand. I took
our second child and started for Walla Walla; had to
wade the Touchet ; stopped frequently in the brush
from weakness ; had not recovered from measles.
Heard a horseman pass and repass as I lay concealed in

the willows. Have since learned it was Mr. Spalding.
Reached Fort Walla Walla after daylight; begged Mr.
McBean for horses to go to my family, for food,
blankets and clothing to take to them, and to take care
of my child till I could bring my family in should I live-
to find them alive. Mr. McBean told me I could not
bring my family to his fort. Mr. Hall came in on Mon
day night, but he could not have' an American in his
fort, and he had him put over the Columbia river ; that
he could not let me have horses or anything for my
wife or children, and I must go on to Umatilla. I insisted
on bringing my family to the fort, but he refused;
said he would not let us in. I next begged the priest
to show pity, as my wife and children must perish and
the Indians, undoubtedly, kill me, but with no success.
There were many priests at the fort. Mr. McBean
gave me breakfast, but I saved most of it for my family.
Providentially, Mr. Stanley, an artist, came in from
Colville; and narrowly escaped the Indians by telling
them he was "Alain," H. B., meaning that his name
was Alain and that he was a Hudson's Bay Company
employe. He let me have his two horses, some food
he had left from Revs. Ellis and Walker's missions ;
also a cap, a pair of socks, a shirt and handkerchief,
and Mr. McBean furnished an Indian who proved most
faithful, and Thursday night we started back, taking my
child, but with a sad heart that I could not find mercy
at the hands of God. The Indian guided me in the
thick darkness to where I supposed I had left my dear
wife and children. We could see nothing and dared not
call aloud. Daylight came and I was exposed to
Indians, but we continued to search till I was about to
give up in despair, when the Indian discovered one of
the twigs I had broken as a guide in coming out to
the trail. Following this he soon found my wife and
children still alive. I distributed what little food and
clothing I had and we started for the Umatilla, the
guide leading the way to a ford.
Mr. Osborne and family went to Willamette
Valley where they lived many years, as honored
members of the community, though Mrs. Os
borne never entirely regained her health from the
dreadful experiences incident to the massacre and
escape. The most ingenious casuistry will fail to palli
ate the utter heartlessness of Mr. McBean. The
Indian guide exhibited more humanity to Mr. Os
borne. At the present day when charity, chiv
alry, nay, self-sacrifice to aid the suffering meet
with heartiest approval from nearly all civilized
nations, it is difficult to conceive of such base
motives as appear to have actuated him. That
he reflected the baser qualities of the Hudson's
Bay Company's policy, no one can reasonably
deny. It seemed necessary to him to show the
Indians that so far from reproving their conduct
the representative of the company was in sym-

flco-a-hco-a-n cotes-Min, no horns on his head

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

49

pathy, if not in actual collusion, with the savage
conspirators. McBean's attitude on this occa
sion stands forth as one of the darkest chapters
in the history of the Hudson's Bay Company's
"joint occupancy" with Americans, of the terri
tory of Oregon.
If further proof were wanted of the apparent
understanding between the Indians and the com
pany the case of the artist who gave his name as
Alain, representing himself as connected with
the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company is
before us — most damning testimony of the com
pany's secret alliance with the hostile red-skins.
Refusal of assistance to Mr. Osborne by the
priests at Fort Walla Walla is readily understood.
Their tenure of spiritual office was dependent on
the company. Their heartless action was not
based on theological antagonism. No difference
of creed entered into the matter. They were
guided simply by personal interest ; they were
but another form of the abject creatures to which
the Hudson's Bay Company sought to reduce all
of their dependents. But in the annals of Ameri
can history there is no more pathetic recital than
the story of Osborne's and Hall's rejection at the
English fort to which they had fled for shelter.
On the day following the massacre McBean
sent a messenger to Fort Vancouver, as has been
stated, to apprise the chief factor, James Doug
las, of what had transpired. This messenger
stopped at The Dalles and procured a boat from
Mr. Alanson Hinman, missionary at that place,
with which to continue his journey. But, carry
ing out the policy of the Hudson's Bay Company,
of which McBean had set him an example, this
treacherous messenger neglected to inform Mr.
Hinman of the massacre and the danger in which
they were. December 4th he reached Vancouver
and Chief Factor Douglas sent, on the morning
of the second day thereafter, a letter to Governor
Abernethy at Oregon City, informing him of
what had taken place at the Whitman mission.
December 7th Peter Skeen Ogden, of the Hud
son's Bay Company, started from Vancouver
with a force of men to the scene of the tragedy,
and on leaving The Dalles advised the Americans
— Americans, let the reader note — at that place
to abandon the mission and seek safety in the
Willamette Valley. This they did.
The following day Governor Abernethy in
formed the legislature of the catastrophe and
called for volunteers to rescue the prisoners and
punish the Indians. A company of soldiers was
immediately organized and sent to The Dalles
at as outpost in case the Indians had hostile in
tentions against the Willamette settlements.
The legislature pledged the credit of the pro
visional government to pay the expenses for the

outfit of the company, and appointed a committee
to visit Vancouver and negotiate for the same
from the Hudson's Bay Company ; but they were
compelled to become personally responsible for
the amount involved. It was evident that the1
company did not believe, at that time, that the-'
provisional government would stand long. De--
cember 10th the company reached Vancouver, re
ceived their supplies and pushed on to The Dalles>
where they arrived December 21st.
In the meantime the legislature entered with
great energy on a series of resolutions and enact
ments, with a view to organizing a sufficient mili-
tary force to punish the Indians ; and the citizens,.
by private subscription and enlistments warmly
seconded the efforts of the provisional govern-
ment. Many of the more ardent were for push
ing forward into the Indian country at once:
with a formidable force ; but more prudent coun
sels prevailed, and nothing was done likely to1
prevent the Indians from surrendering their"
captives to Mr. Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay
Company, who had gone among them for that
purpose. Ogden reached Fort Walla Walla December
19th, called a council of the chiefs at the Catholic
mission on the Umatilla river, just above Pendle
ton, in which the Indians signed the following
declaration of their wishes :
First — That the Americans may not go ta
war with the Cayuses.
Second — That they may forget the lately
committed murders, as the Cayuses will forget
the murder of the son of the great chief of Walla
Walla, committed in California.
Third — That two or three great men may
come up to conclude peace.
Fourth — That as soon as these great men
have arrived and concluded peace, they may take
with them all the women and children.
Fifth — Thev give assurance that they will
not harm the Americans , before the arrival of
these two or three great men.
Sixth — They ask that Americans may not:
travel anv more through their country, as their'
young men might do them harm.
This document was signed, "Place of Tawa-
towe, Youmatilla, twentieth of December, 1847.
(Signed.) Tilokaikt, Camaspelo,
Tawatowe,Achekaia.
On the 23d of December the chiefs assembled
at the Fort to hear what the Hudson's Bay
factor had to say to them, and the following'
speeches by Factor Ogden and three of the
Indian chiefs, made on the occasion, explain the
situation. Mr. Ogden said :

50

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

I regret to observe that all the chiefs whom I asked
for are not present — two being absent. I expect the
words I am about to address you to be repeated to them
and to your young men on your return to your camps.
It is now thirty years since we have been among you.
During this long period we have never had any instance
of blood being spilt, until the inhuman massacre, which
has so recently taken place. We are traders, and a
different nation from the Americans. But recollect, we
supply you with ammunition not to kill the Americans.
They are of the same color as ourselves, speak the same
language, are children of the same God, and humanity
makes our hearts bleed when we behold you using them
so cruelly. Besides this revolting butchery, have not
the Indians pillaged, ill-treated the Americans, insulted
their women, when peacefully making their way to the
Willamette ? As chiefs, ought you to have connived
at such conduct on the part of your young men ? You
tell me your young men committed the deeds without
your knowledge. Why do we make you chiefs, if you
have no control over your young men? You are a set
of hermaphrodites and unworthy of the appellation of
men as chiefs. You young, hot-headed men, I
know that you pride yourselves upon your bravery,
and think no one can match you. Do not de
ceive yourselves. If you get the American to
commence once, you will repent it, and war will
not end until every one of you are cut off from the
face of the earth. I am aware that a good many of
your friends and relatives have died through sickness.
The Indians of other places have shared the same fate.
It is not Dr. Whitman that poisoned them, but God has
commanded that they should die. We are weak mortals
and must submit, and I trust you will avail yourselves
of the opportunity. By so doing it may be advan
tageous to you, but at the same time remember that you
alone will be responsible for the consequences. It is
merely advice that I give you. We have nothing to do
with it. I have not come here to make promises or hold
out assistance. We have nothing to do with your quar
rels ; we remain neutral. On my return, if you wish it,
I shall do all I can for you, but I do not promise you
to prevent war.
If you deliver me up all the prisoners I shall pay
you for them on their being delivered, but let it not be
said among you afterward that I deceived you. I and
Mr. Douglas represent the company, but I tell yon
once more we promise you nothing. We sympathize
with these poor people and wish to return them to their
friends and relations by paying you for them. My
request in behalf of the families concerns you ; so de
cide for the best.
To this the young chief, Tawatowe, re
plied :
I arise to thank you for your words. You white
chiefs command obedience with those that have to' do

with you. It is not so with us. Our young men are
strong-headed and foolish. Formerly we had experi
enced, good chiefs. These are laid in the dust. The
descendants of my father were the only good chiefs.
Though we made war with the other tribes, yet we
always looked, and ever will look, upon the whites as
our brothers. Our blood is mixed with yours. My
heart bleeds for so many good chiefs I had known.
For the demand made by you the old chief, Tilokaikt,
is here. Speak to him. As regards myself, I am willing
to give up the families.
Then upspoke Tilokaikt.
I have listened to your words. Young men do not
forget them. As for war, we have seen little of it. We
know the whites to be our best friends, who have all
along prevented us from killing each other. That is the
reason why we avoid getting into war with them, and
why we do not wish to be separated from them. Be
sides the tie of blood, the whites have shown us con
vincing proofs of their attachment to us by burying their
dead alongside with ours. Chief, your words are
weighty. Your hairs are gray. We have known you
a long time. You have had an unpleasant trip to this
place. I can not, therefore, keep these families back. I
make them over to you, which I would not do to
another younger than yourself.
Yellow Serpent (Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox) spoke
as follows :
I have nothing to say. I know the Americans to
be changeable. Still, I am of the opinion of the young
chief. The whites are our friends and we follow your
advice. I consent to your taking the families.
Mr. Ogden then addressed two Nez Perce
chiefs at length in behalf of the Rev. H. H.
Spalding and party, promising he would pay for
their safe delivery to him. The result was that
both chiefs, James and Itimimipelp, promised to
bring them, provided they were willing to come,
and immediately started to Clearwater with that
purpose, bearing a letter from Chief Factor
Ogden to Mr. Spaulding. The result of this
conference was the delivery, on the 29th of
December, to Mr. Ogden (for which he paid
to the Cayuse Indians five blankets, fifty shirts,
ten fathoms of tobacco, ten handkerchiefs, ten
guns and one hundred rounds of ammunition),
the following captives :
Missionary children adopted bv Dr. Whit
man—Miss Mary A. Bridger; Catherine Sager,
aged thirteen years ; Elizabeth Sager, ten ; Mar
tha J. Sager, eight ;* Henrietta N. Sager, four;
Helen M. Meek.
From Du Page county, Illinois — Mr. Joseph
Smith, Mrs. Hannah Smith; Mary Smith, aged

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

5*

-fifteen years ; Edwin Smith, thirteen ; Charles
Smith, eleven ; Nelson Smith, six ; Mortimer
Smith, four.
From Fulton county, Illinois — Mrs. Eliza
Hall ; Jane Hall, aged ten years ; Mary C. Hall,
-eight; Ann E. Hall, six; Rebecca Hall, three;
Rachel M. Hall, one.
From Osage county, Mississippi — Mr. Elam
Young; Mrs. Irene Young; Daniel Young, aged
twenty-one years ; John Young, nineteen.
From La Porte county, Indiana — Mrs. Har
riet Kimball; Susan M. Kimball, aged sixteen
years ; Nathan M. Kimball, thirteen ; Byron M.
Kimball, eight; Sarah S. Kimball, six; Mince
A. Kimball, one.
From Iowa — Mrs. Mary Sanders; Helen M.
Sanders, aged fourteen years ; Phebe L. San
ders, ten; Alfred W. Sanders, six; Nancy L.
Sanders, four; Mary A. Sanders, two; Mrs.
Sally A. Canfield ; Ellen Canfield, sixteen ; Oscar
Canfield, nine ; Clarissa Canfield, seven ; Sylvia
A. Canfield, five; Albert Canfield, three.
From Illinois — Mrs. Rebecca Hays ; Henry
<C. Hays, aged four years; Eliza Spalding,
Nancy E. Marsh ; Lorrinda Bewley.
On New Year's Day, 1848, Rev. H. H.
Spalding, with ten others, being all the Amer
icans from his mission, arrived at Fort Walla
Walla under escort of fifty Nez Perce Indians,
to whom Mr. Ogden paid for their safe delivery
-twelve blankets, twelve shirts, twelve handker
chiefs, five fathoms of tobacco, two guns, two
hundred rounds of ammunition and some knives.
Three days later Mr. Ogden started for Van
couver with the captives in boats. Shortly after
he had left the fort at Walla Walla fifty Cayuse
warriors dashed up to the place to demand the
surrender of Mr. Spalding, to be killed, as
word had reached them of the arrival of Amer
ican soldiers at The Dalles, to make war upon
them, and they held him responsible for that
fact. We have described the Whitman Mission,
Whitman's mid-winter journey, his work for
Oregon and the massacre. It remains to speak
-of the Cayuse war which followed as a natural
sequence. But before entering into the details
of this act of retributive justice on the part of
the Americans, it might be well to glance at the
leading members of the sparse Oregon popula
tion at that period. In his "History of Oregon"
W. H. Gray says:
At this point, perhaps, a statement of all the names
-of persons I have been able to collect and recollect, and
the year they arrived in the country, will not be unin
teresting to the reader.

In the year 1834 Rev. Jason Lee, Rev. Daniel Lee,
Cyrus Shepard and P. L. Edwards, connected with the
Methodist mission ; Captain N. Wyth, American fur
trader, and of his party in 1832, S. H. Smith, Burdet
Greeley, Sergeant, Bull, St. Clair and Whittier (who
was helped to or given a passage to the Sandwich
Islands by the Hudson's Bay Company), Brock, a
gunsmith ; Tibbets, a stonecutter ; Moore, killed by the
Blackfeet Indians; Turnbull, who killed himself by
over-eating at Vancouver. There was also in the
country a man by the name of Felix Hathaway, saved
from the wreck of the William and Ann. Of this num
ber Smith, Sergeant, Tibbets and Hathaway remained.
Of the party in 1834, James A. O'Neil, T. J. Hubbard
and Courtney M. Walker remained in the country,
making six of Wyth's men and one sailor. C. M.
Walker came with Lee's company. With Ewing Young,
from California, came, in this year, John McCarty,
Carmichael, John Hauxhurst, Joseph Gale, John How
ard, Kilborn, Brandywins and George Winslow, a col
ored man. By the brig Maryland, Captain J. H. Couch,
G. W. Le Breton, John McCadan and William Johnson.
An English sailor by the name of Richard McCary
found his way into the settlement from the Rocky
mountains. In the year 1835 it does not appear that any settlers
arrived in the country. Rev. Samuel Parker visited
it and explored it under the direction of the American
Board of Foreign Missions.
In the year 1836 Rev. H. H. Spalding, Dr. Marcus
Whitman, W. H. Gray, Mrs. Eliza Spalding and Mrs.
Narcissa Whitman, missionaries of the American Board,
and Rev. Mr. Beaver, Episcopal chaplain at Vancouver,
and Mrs. Beaver. There appear to have been no settlers
this year ; at least, none known to us. In 1837 Mrs.
A. M. Lee, Mrs. S. Shepard, Dr. E. White, Mrs. M.
White, A. Beers, Mrs. R. Beers, Miss E. Johnson, W.
H. Wilson, Mr. J. Whitcomb, members of the Methodist
Episcopal Mission. Second reinforcement this year :
Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, Rev. David Leslie, Mrs. Leslie,
Misses Satira, Mary and Sarah Leslie, Miss Margaret
Smith, Dr. J. Bailey, an Englishman, George Gay and
John Turner.
In 1838 Rev. Elkanah Walker, Mrs. Mary Walker,
Rev. Cushing Eells, Mrs. Elvira Eells, Rev. A. B. Smith,
Mrs. E. Smith and Mrs. Mary A. Gray, missionaries
of the American Board. As laborers under special
contract not to trade in furs or interfere with the
Hudson's Bay Company's trade, James Connor, native
wife and one child, and Richard Williams, both from
the Rocky mountains. Jesuit priests : Rev. F. N.
Blanchet, Rev. Demerse, located at Vancouver and
French Prairie.
In 1839 Rev. J. S. Griffin, Mrs. Griffin, Asael Hun
ger, Mrs. Mary Munger, Independent Protestant
Mission; Robert Shortess, J. Farnam, Sidney Smith, Mr.

52

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Lawson, Rev. Benjamin Wright (Independent Metho
dist), William Geiger, Mr. Keiser, John Edmund Pick-
ernel, a sailor.
In 1840 Mrs. Lee, second wife of Rev. Jason Lee ;
Rev. J. H. Frost and wife; Rev. A. F. Waller, wife and
two children; Rev. W. W. Kone and wife; Rev. G.
Hines, wife and sister ; Rev. L. H. Judson, wife and
two children; Rev. J. L. Parish, wife and three chil
dren ; Rev. G. P. Richards, wife and three children ;
Rev. A. P. Olley and wife. Laymen : Mr. George Aber
nethy, wife and two children ; Mr. H. Campbell, wife
and one child; Mr. W. W. Raymond and wife; Mr. H.
B. Brewer and wife ; Dr. J. L. Babcock, wife and child ;
Rev. Mrs. Daniel Lee; Mrs. David Carter; Mrs. Joseph
Holman ; Miss E. Phillips, Methodist Episcopal
Protestant Mission ; Rev. Henry Clark and wife ; P. B.
Littlejohn and wife, Independent Protestant Mission;
Robert Moore, James Cook and James Fletcher, set
tlers ; Jesuit .priest : P. G. De Smet ; Flathead Mission.
Rocky mountain settlers with native wives : Wil
liam Craig, -Robert and Dr. Newell, J. L. Meek, James

Ebbets, William M. Dougherty, John Larison, George
Wilkinson, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Algear and William
Johnson, the latter the author of the novel. "LenE
Leoti, or The Prairie Flower." The subject of this-
work was first written and read before the Lyceum,.
at Oregon City, in 1843.
In the above list I have given the names of all the
American settlers as near as I can remember them,
the list of names I once collected having been lost.
I never was fully informed of the different occupa
tions of all these men. It will be seen that we had"
in the country in the fall of 1840 thirty-six American
settlers, twenty-five of them with native wives; thirty-
three American women ; thirty-two children ; thirteen^
lay members of the Protestant missions ; nineteen min
isters (thirteen Methodist; six Congregational), four
physicians (three American and one English), three
Jesuit priests and sixty Canadian-French — making, out
side of the Hudson's Bay Company, one hundred and"
thirty-seven Americans and sixty-three Canadians,.
counting the three priests as Canadians.

CHAPTER VI

THE CAYUSE WAR.

Friends of Mr. McBean have come forward
with an explanation of his treatment of the
refugees from the Waiilatpu massacre. It was
claimed that his reluctance to do any act which
might have appeared like befriending Americans
was through fear of the Cayuse Indians and a
belief that they were about to begin a war of
extermination upon Americans, their friends and
allies. Therefore it would be dangerous to as
sist such Americans as were then seeking refuge
from massacre, outrage and torture.
Such reasoning is pitiful and contemptible
enough to excite the scorn of the whole world.
But it was reserved for the Americans, however,
to take the initiative in this war. News of the
Whitman massacre stirred the hearts of genuine
men ; men in whose veins ran the milk of human
kindness instead of ice-water. On the day fol
lowing the massacre Vicar General Brouillet
visited Waiilatpu mission. He found the bodies
of the victims unburied ; he left them with such
hasty interment as was possible, and soon after
he met Mr. Spalding Whom he warned against
attempting to visit the mission. This was, in

deed, a friendly act on the part of the Vicar
General, for the horrors of this tragedy did not
come to a close on the first day. While it was
safe for Brouillet, in close touch with the Hud
son's Bay Company, to repair to that sad scene-
of desolution, it was not considered safe for any
Americans to visit the spot. On Tuesday Mr.
Kimball, who had remained with a broken arm
in Dr. Whitman's house, was shot and killed.
Driven desperate by his own and the suffering of
three sick children with him, he had attempted
to procure water from a stream near the house.
The same week Mr. Young and Mr. Bulee were
killed. Saturday the savages completed their
fiendish work by carrying away the young women
for wives.
December 7, 1847. from Fort Vancouver,
James Douglas sent the following letter to Gov
ernor Abernethy:
Sir— Having received intelligence last night by
special express from Walla Walla, of the destruction
of the missionary settlement at Waiilatpu, by the Cayuse
Indians, of that place, we hasten to communicate the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

53

particulars of that dreadful event, one of the most
atrocious which darkens the annals of Indian crime.
Our lamented friend, Dr. Whitman, his amiable and
¦ accomplished lady, with nine other persons, have fallen
victims to the fury of these remorseless savages, who
appear to have been instigated to this appalling crime
by a horrible suspicion which had taken possession of
their superstitious minds, in consequence of the number
of deaths from dysentery and measles, that Dr. Whit
man was silently working the destruction of their tribes
by administering poisonous drugs under the semblance
of salutary medicines.
With a goodness of heart and a benevolence truly
his own, Dr. Whitman had been laboring incessantly
since the appearance of the measles and dysentery among
his Indian converts to relieve their sufferings ; and such
has been the reward of his generous labors.
A copy of Mr. McBean's letter herewith trans
mitted will give you all the particulars known to us
•of this indescribably painful event. Mr. Ogden with a
•strong party will leave this place as soon as possible
for Walla Walla to endeavor to prevent further evil ;
and we beg to suggest to you the propriety of taking
immediate measures for the protection of the Rev.
Mr. Spalding who, for the sake of his family, ought
to abandon the Clearwater mission without delay, and
retire to a place of safety, as he cannot remain at the
isolated station without imminent risk in the present
excited and irritable state of the Indian population.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient
•servant, JAMES DOUGLAS.
The reception of this letter was followed by
intense excitement among people in the Willa
mette settlement. The governor was authorized
to mobilize a company of riflemen not exceeding
fifty in number, the objective point being The
Dalles, which they were instructed to garrison
and hold until such time as they could be rein
forced. Three commissioners were chosen to
carry out such provisions. The commissioners
addressed a circular letter to the superintendent
¦of the Methodist Mission, the "merchants and
citizens" of Oregon and the Hudson's Bay Com
pany. This document is valuable as explaining
conditions in Oregon at that date, December
17, 1847:
Gentlemen — You are aware that the undersigned
have been charged by the legislature of our provisional
government with , the difficult duty of obtaining the
necessary means to obtain full satisfaction of the Cayuse
Indians for the late massacre at Waiilatpu, and to
protect the white population of our common country
from further aggression. In furtherance of this object
they have deemed it their duty to make immediate
application to the merchants and citizens of the country
for the requisite assistance.

Though clothed with the power to pledge to the
fullest extent the faith and means of the present gov
ernment of Oregon, they do not consider this pledge
the only security to those who, in this distressing
emergency, may extend to the people of this country
the means of protection and redress.
Without claiming any special authority from the
government of the United States to contract a debt
to be liquidated by that power, yet from all precedents
of like character in the history of our country, the
undersigned feel confident that the United States gov
ernment will regard the murder of the late Dr. Whit
man and his lady as a national wrong, and will fully
justify the people of Oregon in taking such active meas
ures to obtain redress for that outrage, and for their
protection from further aggression.
The right of self defense is tacitly acknowledged
to every body politic in the confederacy to which we
claim to belong, and in every case similar to our own,
within our knowledge, the general government has
assumed the payment of all liabilities growing out of
the measures taken by the constituted authorities to
protect the lives and property of those who reside
within the limits of their districts. If the citizens of
the States and Territories east of the Rocky moun
tains are justified in promptly acting in such emer
gencies, who are under the immediate protection of
the general government, there appears no room for
doubt that the lawful acts of the Oregon government
will receive a like approval.
Though the Indians of the Columbia have committed
a great outrage upon our fellow citizens passing through
the country, and residing among them, and their pun
ishment for these murders may, and ought to be, a
prime duty with every citizen of Oregon, yet as that
duty more particularly devolves upon the government
of the United States, we do not make this the strongest
ground upon which to found our earnest appeal to
you for pecuniary assistance. It is a fact well known
to every person acquainted with the Indian character,
that by passing silently over their repeated thefts,
robberies and murders of our fellow citizens, they
have been emboldened to the commission of the ap
palling massacre at Waiilatpu. They call us women,
destitute of the hearts and courage of men, and if we
allow this wholesale murder to pass by as former ag
gressions, who can tell how long either life or prop
erty will be secure in any part of the country, or what
moment the Willamette will be the scene of blood
and carnage.
The officers of our provisional government have
nobly performed their duty. None can doubt the
readiness of the patriotic sons of the west to offer
their personal services in defense of a cause so righteous.
So it now rests with you, gentlemen, to say whether our
rights and our firesides shall be defended or not.
Hoping that none will be found to falter in so

54

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

high and so sacred a duty, we beg leave, gentlemen,
to subscribe ourselves,
Your servants and fellow citizens,
JESSE APPLEGATE,
A. J. LOVEJOY,
GEO. L. CURRY, Commissioners.
This patriotic communication produced a cer
tain effect, though not, perhaps, financially com
mensurate with the hopes of its authors. The
amount secured was less than five thousand dol
lars, but this sufficed to arm and equip the first
regiment of Oregon riflemen.
The ransomed prisoners from Waiilatpu,
Lapwai and Tchimakain reached the Willamette
Valley in safety. Concerning those from Lapwai
and Tchimakain, it may be said here to the
credit of certain Indians that though one band,
the Cayuses, were murderers, two bands, the
Nez Perces and Spokanes, were saviors. Few
things more thrilling ever came under human
eye than the narration by Fathers Eells and
Walker of the council of the Spokanes at
Tchimakain to decide whether or not to join the
Cayuses. The lives of the missionaries hung
on the decision. Imagine their emotions as they
waited with bated breath in their mission house
to know the result. After hours of excited dis
cussion with the Cayuse emissaries the Spokanes
announced their conclusion : "Go and tell the
Cayuses that the missionaries are our friends
and we will defend them with our lives." The
- Nez Perces made the same decision. Bold though
those Cayuses were — the fiercest warriors of the
inland empire — their hearts must have sunk
within them as they saw that the Umatillas, the
Nez Perces and the Spokanes, and even the
Hudson's Bay Company were all against them
and that they must meet the infuriated whites
from the Willamette. For as soon as tidings
reached there the provincial government had at
once entered upon the .work of equipping fourteen
companies of volunteers by an act of December
9th. These volunteers mainly provided their own
horses, arms and ammunition, without a thought
of pecuniary gain or even reimbursement.
Cornelius Gilliam, father of W. S. Gilliam, of
Walla Walla, was chosen colonel of the regiment,
and with great energy pushing all necessary ar
rangements, he set forth from the rendezvous
at The Dalles on February 27, 1848. Several
battles occurred on the way, the most severe
at Sand Hollows in the Umatilla country.
The battle of Sand Hollows began on a plain
where depressions in the sand made convenient
natural rifle pits. These were occupied by the
Indians in force. The baggage train, protected

by the company of Captain Lawrence Hall,
formed the center of the white forces. The left
flank consisting of the companies of Captain
Philip F. Thompson and Captain H. J. G. Maxon,
were on the north side of .the road, and the com
panies of Captain Levi N. English and Captain
Thomas McKay constituted the right of the
command. The first onset of the Indians fell
upon McKay's company which was at the ex
treme right.
The forces of the Indians were composed of
Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla braves, who
were in arms, not so much for the protection of
the Whitman murderers as for the defense of
their country from a general white invasion.
They feared,' and with reason, that if they per
mitted a regiment of white soldiers to invade
their territory severe reprisals would be made
and the innocent suffer with the guilty. Their
principal leaders were Five Crows, the general
chief of all three tribes and a recent Protestant
convert, and War Eagle, also a Cayuse. Five
Crows flamboyantly claimed that by his wizard
powers he could stop all bullets, while War
Eagle's gasconade was couched in the boastful
statement that he would agree to swallow all
missies fired at him. This same spirit of brag
gadocio has, throughout all historical times, ani
mated pagan soldiers. During the war with the
Filipinos the natives were solemnly told by their
priests that all bullets fired by American soldiers
would turn to water before reaching them.
Mark the result of the engagement between
the avengers of Dr. Whitman and the super
stitious Cayuses. At the first onset the "Swallow
Ball" was killed, and the "wizard" was so
seriously wounded that he was compelled to re
tire from tne war.
This unexpected disaster and the accompany
ing disillusion of the Indians as to their chiefs'
invulnerability operated as a wet blanket on the
ardor of the Indians, though they contested the
advance of the troops stubbornly until evening
put an end to the engagement. Once during the
afternoon Captain Maxon's company advanced
beyond supporting distance and being sur
rounded, was extricated with great difficulty,
eight of his men being wounded. Eleven soldiers
were wounded in the battle, but no one was
killed. The Indian loss was severe though, as
usual, they carried off most of their dead and
wounded. Ihe next day the troops continued
their advance, reaching the Whitman mission
the third day after the engagement. The scene
of this battle was on the emigrant road, eight
miles west of the Well Springs.
At the mission the troops paused several days
to recuperate and give a reverent burial to the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

oo

remains of the martyrs, which had been hastily
covered with earth when Ogden ransomed the
captives, but were afterward partially exhumed
by coyotes.
The Indians had now fallen back to Snake
river. Following them thither the whites were
somewhat outgeneraled. They surprised and
captured a camp of Indians, among whom were,
as was afterward discovered, some of the mur
derers themselves. But the wily Cayuses pro
fessed great friendship and pointing to a large
band of horses on the hill, said that the hostiles
had abandoned them and crossed the river.
Completely deluded the whites surrendered the
camp and rounding up the horses, started on
the return. And now the released captives,
mounting at once, began a furious attack which
proved so harrassing that the volunteers were
obliged to retreat to the Touchet, and finally, al
though they repelled the Indians, they turned
loose the captured horses. These the Indians
seized, vanishing with them over the plains.
In the struggle on the Touchet, when the re
tiring volunteers reached its banks, William Tay
lor was fatally shot by an Indian who sprang
up in the bushes near by. Nathan Olney, who
was afterward agent of the Umatilla Indian
reservation, avenged the deed by rushing upon
Taylor's assailant, snatching from his hand a war
club in which was fastened a piece of iron, and
dealing him such a blow on the head as to cause
the iron to split the club, and yet without killing
him. In the hand-to-hand struggle which then
ensued Olney finally succeeded in finishing the
Indian with a knife.
But the Indians in general had no wish to
fight, and finding that the whites insisted on a
surrender of the murderers, the tribe scattered
in various directions ; Tamsuky with his friends
going to the headwaters of the John Day. There
they remained for two years. In 1850 a band of
Umatillas undertook to capture them and after a
severe fight killed Tamsuky and captured a num
ber. Of the captives five were hanged at Ore
gon City, June 3, 1850. Just previous to their
execution they signed the following declarations
of innocence :
Kilokite — I am innocent of the crime of which I
am charged. Those who committed it are dead, some
killed, some died ; they were ten, two were my sons ;
they were killed by the Cayuses. Tamsuky, before
the massacre, came to my lodge; he told me they were
go;ng to hold a council to kill Dr. Whitman. I told
him not to do so ; that it was bad. One night seven
Indians died near the house of Dr. Whitman, to whom
he had given medicines. Tamsuky's family were sick;
he gave them roots and leaves ; they got well. Other

Indians died. Tamsuky came often. I talked to him,
but his ears were shut ; he would not hear ; he and
others went away. After a while some children came
into my lodge and told me what was going on. I
had told Tamsuky over and over to let them alone ;
my talk was nothing; I shut my mouth. When I left
my people the young chief told me to come and
talk with the big white chief and tell him who it was
that did kill Dr. Whitman and others, my heart was
big; 'tis small now. The priest tells me I must die
tomorrow. I know not for what. They tell me that
I have made a confession to the marshal that I struck
Dr. Whitman. 'Tis false. You ask me if the priests
did not encourage me to kill Dr. Whitman? I answer,
no. no. I am innocent, but my heart is weak since I
have been in chains, but since I must die I forgive
them all. Those who brought me here and take care
of me, I take them all in my arms ; my heart is
opened. Quiahmarsum (Panther-Skin.) — I was up the river
at the time of the massacre, and did not arrive until
the next day. I was riding on horseback ; a white
woman came running from the house. She held out
her hand and told me not to kill her. I put my hand
upon her head and told her not to be afraid. There
were plenty of Indians all about. She, with the other
women ana^ children went to Walla Walla to Mr.
Ogden's. I was not present at the murder, nor was I
in any way concerned in it. I am innocent. It
hurts me to talk about dying for nothing. Our chief
told us to come down and tell all about it. Those
who committed the murder are killed and dead. The
priest says I must die tomorrow. If they kill me,
I am innocent. I was sent here by my chief to de
clare who the guilty persons were; the white chief
would then shake hands with me ; we would have a
good heart. My young chief told me I was to come
here to tell what I know concerning the murderers,
I did not come as one of the murderers for I am
innocent. I never made any declaration to any one
that I was guilty. This is the last time that I may
speak. Kloakamus — I was there at the time; but I had
no hand in the murder. I saw them when they were
killed, but did not touch or strike any one. I looked
on. There were plenty of Indians. My heart was
sorry. Our chief told us to come down and tell who
the murderers were. There were ten; they are all
killed. They say I am guilty, but it is not so ; I am
innocent. The people do not understand me. I can't
talk to them. They tell me I must die by being hung
by the neck. If they do kill me I am innocent, and
God will give me a big heart. I have no reason to
die for things I did not do. My time is short. I tell
the truth. I know that I am close to the grave; but
my heart is open and I tell the truth. I love every
one in this world. I know that God will give me a
big heart. I never confessed to the marshal that I

56

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

was guilty, or to any other person ; I am innocent.
The priests did not tell us to do what the Indians
have done. This is my last talk.
Siahsaluchus (Wet Wolf) — I say the same as the
others ; the murderers are killed, some by the whites,
some by the Cayuses and some by others. They were
ten in number. I have nothing more to say; I thank
God and forgive all men ; I love them. The priest did
not tell us to do this.
Temahas — I did not know that I came here to die.
Our chief told us to come and see the white chief and
tell him all about it. The white chief would then tell
us all what was right and what was wrong; learn us
how to live when we returned home. Why should
I have a bad heart after I am showed and taught
how to live? My eyes were shut when I came here.
I did not see but now they are opened. I have been
taught ; I have been showed what was good and what
was bad. I do not want to die ; I know now that
we are all brothers. They tell me the same Spirit
made us all. Tamahas joined with Kilokite. My
heart cries my brother was guilty, but he is dead. I
am innocent. I know I am going to die for things
I am not guilty of, but I forgive them. I love all
men now. My hope, the priest tells me, is in Christ.
My heart shall be big with good.
The Cayuse Indians, however, admit that one
of those condemned was really guilty, namely,
Tamahas, who struck Dr. Whitman the first
blow. Their claim that the others were inno
cent is very likely true and if so is but another
instance of the lamentable failure to apply either
punishment or mercy accurately, which has char
acterized all Indian wars on both sides. The
innocent have borne the sins of the guilty in more
ways than one.
Many men afterward famous in Oregon and
Washington history took part in the Cayuse wars.
Among them we may name James W Nesmith,
afterward United States senator from Oregon,
and father of the wife of Levi Ankeny, present
United States senator from Washington ; Joel
Palmer, late speaker of the house of representa
tives of Oregon ; Captain William, who was
sheriff and county judge of Umatilla county for
sixteen years, and who died full of years and
honors at Pendleton, in 1899 ; Captain Thomas
McKay, First Lieutenant Charles McKay and
Second Lieutenant Alexander McKay, all of
whom were conspicuous for their important
services during the campaign. The last three
named were the sturdy sons of that Alexander
McKay, partner of Astor, who was murdered
on the ill-fated ship Tonquin in 1812. As before
related, when Jason Lee crossed the continent,
in 1834, he traveled from Fort Hall with Thomas
McKav and his band of hunters. The two men

became close friends, and when Lee returned
to the states in 1838 he was accompanied by
McKay as far as Bear river, where the latter's
infant son, Donald was baptized by Mr. Lee.
This infant was the same Donald McKay who
afterward gained fame as an Indian scout, and
was, at the time of his death, several years ago,
the government interpreter on the Umatilla reser
vation. As Thomas McKay was unable to go
all the way east, he turned three of his sons
over to Mr. Lee to take to the states to be edu
cated. Mr. Lee entered the boys in the Wesleyan
Academy, at Wilbraham, Massachusetts. One of
them, the late Dr. William C. McKay, of Pendle
ton, afterward finished his studies at the Wes
leyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut.
Colonel Gilliam, who had shown himself a
brave and capable commander, was accidentally
killed on the return trip, a most melancholy end
of a career which was full of promise to this
section of the country.
In taking leave of this stirring historical
epoch, the pursuit, capture and punishment of the
principals and instigators of the murder of Dr.
Whitman and his associates in missionary work,
it may be said in the way of retrospection that,
grevious as was the end of Whitman's career, no
doubt it will ultimately be seen to have produced
greater results for this region of the world than
if he had survived to have enjoyed a well-merited
rest from his labors. Subsequent development
of this section, the founding of Whitman Col
lege, and the whole train of circumstances aris
ing from American occupation of Oregon may be
seen, in some measure, to have grown out of
the tragedy at Waiilatpu. Here, as elsewhere,
martyrdom appears a necessary accompanyment
to the most brilliant progress in civilization.
While the offense of these Indians cannot be
condoned, charitv and justice compel the ad
mission that the ignorant creatures were scarcely
more responsible than the wild beasts who, also,
disputed the territory with civilized man. The
very superstition which it should be the duty of
every missionary to eradicate from pagan minds
as speedily as possible, is primarily to blame for
the undoing of Dr. Whitman. Steeped in this
barbaric superstition, pampered by the Hudson's
Bay Company, treacherously deceived by agents
and emissaries of the great octopus of the North
west Coast, we cannot hold these savages to a
higher degree of responsibility than the source
from which they drew their grewsome inspira
tion. But in 1848 the progress of western civi
lization demanded their suppression, if not ulti
mate removal, along with the coyote and rattle
snake. We cannot close this chapter more consis-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

57

tently than by giving an account of the various
Indian tribes and their condition a few years
previous to the Whitman tragedy and the war
immediately following. For this purpose we ap
pend an extract from "Ten Years in Oregon,"
written by Missionaries Daniel Lee and J. H.
Frost in 1844. These gentlemen lived among the
Indians in different parts of the Northwest for a
number of years and enjoyed ample opportunity
to study the Indian character. The extract re
lates to the Indians, giving the number in Ore
gon at that time ; the different tribes, their places
of residence, occupations, modes of living, dress,
superstitions, etc.
We now proceed to give as accurately as possible
the number of Indians in the Oregon territory, their
character, manners and customs.
The Rev. Samuel Parker, whose "Journal of an
Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains" is now
before us, estimates the number of Indians in that
territory in the lower country, between California and
the forty-seventh degree of north latitude, at 50,000;
and those of the upper country at 32,585, and then
observes that ''we might more than double this (the
last number and probably still come below the popu
lation of the upper country."
Dr. Bangs, in his "History of Methodism'' sup
poses their number to amount to probably 150,000.
And Mr. Thomas J. Farnham, professedly, gives an
extract from the report of Lieutenant Wilkes to the
secretary of the navy, in which the numbers of the
Indians in the Oregon territory are estimated at
19,199. What a contrast. And yet this last number
is the most accurate, being, as the writer believes,
not many hundreds wide of the mark ; but in this
estimate there are, to his certain knowledge, two errors.
He passed through the Killamook country, while the
exploring squadron, under the command of Lieutenant
Wilkes was in the Columbia, and ascertained the
number of the Killamook clan to amount to no more
than 200, whereas in this "extract" it is estimated at
400. And the numbers of The Dalles Indians are
underated at least one-half. This last statement the
writer makes upon the authority of a gentleman who
resided there for the space of five years, which em
braced the time when the above mentioned squadron
made their surveys in the country.
And now, with these very different and contra
dictory statements, the writer will leave the world
to guess at the exact number of Indians in that terri
tory, while he will proceed to give a brief description
of their character, manners and customs, and in so
¦doing he will have occasion to refer once more to
the journal of the Rev. Mr. Parker. When speaking
of the character of "the Indians of the plains of the
upper country," this gentleman states that "they are
scrupulously honest in all their dealings and lying is

scarcely known," and says, "They fear to sin against
the Great Spirit and, therefore, have but one heart,
and their tongue is straight and not forked." He further
adds, "And so correctly does the law written upon
their hearts accord with the written law of God, that
every infraction of the seventh commandment of the
decalogue," that is, the commandment which prohibits
the commission of adultry, "is punished with severity."
I know not how to apologize for these mis-state
ments only by stating, which is no doubt the fact,
that this gentleman was not in the country a suf
ficient length of time to become acquainted with the
Indian character. With reference to their honesty
and integrity our readers may judge when we assure
them from personal observation, and from informa
tion received from gentlemen and ladies who have
resided among these Indians, that they are both thieves
and liars; and they will also judge their virtuous dis
positions when they learn that in two instances at
tempts were made upon white ladies who resided
among them. Surely, these were virtuous Indians !
The gentleman further states, "The Indians west of
the great chain of mountains have no wars among
themselves, and appear to be adverse to them, and
do not enter into battle except in self-defense, and then
only in the last extremity." See Journal, page 236.
Now the facts in the premises lie upon the opposite
side of this "rail." There are perpetual feuds existing
between the different clans. They do not often come
forth in battle array, as did the armies of the Kings
of Israel and Philistia ; but whenever they get a sly
chance they pounce upon their foe like the panther
upon his prey, and as many of their enemies as do
not fall before the arrow, the rifle ball or the knife,
are driven away and sold into perpetual slavery.
The Chinooks, who reside on the north side of the
Columbia, in plain sight and hearing of the writer
while he resided on the south side of the river, during
the summer of 1842, were at war among themselves,
and they were not at peace when he left the country.
During the summer referred to one could hear the
muskets and rifles firing, some days, from morning
till night ; and that clan will soon be in the condition
of the Killkenny cats of whom it is reported that they
continued to fight until they devoured each other all
but their tails.
This dispute and consequent war arose among them
in precisely the same way that most irreconcilable dis
putes and exterminating wars have arisen in other
hereditary monarchies among their Christian neigh
bors. Chenamus, their chief, was called upon by death
to abdicate the ancient throne upon which Comcomly
once sat in dignity and pomp when his white son-
in-law bore rule at Astoria ; and now, as it generally
goes, his son, the "heir apparent," would needs ascend
the seat of honor ; but in this he found a rival, for
another salmon-eater, who perhaps felt a drop of "royal
blood" running through his veins, would be chief,

5S

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

also, which was, of course, a sufficient cause for war.
After enumerating a number of vices to which
these Indians are addicted, such as gambling, etc., he
adds : "It is not to be supposed that their virtue,
any more than that of other tribes, would be invul
nerable if exposed to temptation.'' No, for actual ex
perience has long since proved to a demonstration that
the slightest temptation has completely overcome their
long-cherished virtuous principles. But still, the writer
is very much inclined to join with his Christian brother
in saying: "The moral disposition," that is, the natural
disposition, "of these Indians is very commendable,
certainly as much as any people," in their natural
state, "that can be named." For since he had reached
his own Christian nation, he finds it important and
absolutely necessary to keep things under lock and key
to prevent them from taking to themselves legs and
walking away.
Perhaps, before dismissing these Indians it should
be observed that in general appearance they resemble
each other from The Dalles to the Rocky Mountains.
The men are generally above the middling in size,
and the women are of common stature and both are
well formed. Their complexion may be a little lighter
than that of other Indians. Their hair and eyes are
black, their cheekbones high, and very frequently they
have aquiline noses. Their hands, feet and ankles
are small and well-formed, and their movements are
easy, if not graceful. They wear their hair long, part
it upon their foreheads and let it hang in tresses down
behind. Their dress is much the same throughout the
different clans, which consists of a shirt worn long,
close leggins, with moccasins. There are of dressed
skins of the deer, antelope, mountain goat and sheep.
They use many ornaments, such as feathers, beads
buttons and painted porcupine quills. The dress of
the women and men is much the same, except, instead
of the shirt the women wear a kind of frock, which
comes nearly to the feet. Many of them wear a large
cap made of dressed skins, ornamented with beads.
They have an abundance of horses and are excellent
riders. Their arms consist of the bow and arrow,
musket, rifle and knife.
We will now dismiss the Indians of the upper
country, and when we come to speak of the missionary
operations at The Dalles, we will exhibit some more
particular traits in their character. The character of
those who inhabit the lower country, between The
Dalles and the coast, now demands our attention.
The Chinooks inhabit the north side of the Colum
bia, their summer residence being immediately on the
banks of the river during salmon season, and upon
the Chinook river, a few miles to the north, where
they take a second run of salmon, which are of an in
ferior quality. These are preserved for their winter
food. To the north of the Chinooks we meet with
the Checaldish clan, who also reside on the Columbia
during summer and times of peace. To the north of

these is another clan called the Quinintles. These
sometimes visit the Columbia, but not generally. The
Cowlitz are the next to be met with on the north-
side of he river and between them and The Dalles
the country is inhabited by scattering bands of Chinooks
and Klickitats. The south side of the Columbia, immed
iately on the coast is inhabited by the Clatsops, and to
the south of them is the Killamook country. A clan
called the Claskanios lived upon the streams which empty
into the head of Young's Bay, which clan is very nearly
extinct. Further up the river we meet with a remnant
of a clan called Ne Coniaks. From this to The Dalles
again we meet with only a few wandering bands of
Klickitats and Chinooks.
The natives of the Willamette Valley consist
principally of the Calapooyas ; and here we are under
the necessity of correcting another mistake recorded
in the journal of Rev. Mr. Parker : This gentleman
represents the Calapooyas as "being divided into seven
teen different tribes, and number about 8,780 persons,
who speak the same language, radically with only a
little difference in dialect," etc. See page 262, third
edition. Now the fact is this : There never was but
one tribe of Calapooyas, and of that tribe there are
only a few most miserable remnants left (which is
the condition of all the tribes in the lower country),
and are scattered over the most part of the Willamette
Valley, and they will not number more than from
500 to 800. To prevent mistake I will here observe
the Yamhills, of whom previous mention has been
made, are a remnant of this nation ; which band con
sists of two or three families, and is, perhaps, one of
Mr. Parker's tribes.
As regards the Umpquahas, of whom Mr. Parker
says, "they are divided into six tribes," it will be well
for the reader to understand that in the year 1840*
Revs. Jason Lee and G. Hines made a tour through
their country for the purpose of selecting a location'
for a missionary post among these supposed "six.
tribes," but after passing through their country from the
Willamette country through deep, dark ravines and
over high, rugged and precipitous mountains, and
finally down the whirling Umpqua river to the coast,
they found a few miserable fish-eaters who were as
savage of the bears, their neighbors, from among whom,
as they were informed by their guide and guardian,
an Indian woman, the wife of the man who had charge
of the company's trading post in that region, they did
well to escape with their lives for, while there, she had
watched the movements all night, while the mis
sionaries slept, and had expected an attack from them-
before morning. The brethren decided that it was
"not expedient to establish a missionary post there,"
in which decision the writer most heartily concurred.
These Indians of the lower country resemble each-
other in person and manners and, with some slight
exceptions in dress also, and the exceptions must be
very slight, unless it be this, that some have very

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

59'

little covering and some none at all, and the best have
but three changes, as it is said, that is, to put on,
take off and go without, and the latter change is fre
quently preferred. The writer does not attempt a
particular description of their wardrobe, but he will
venture to say that the men wear a shirt, and when it
is cold a blanket— if they can get it; but there are a
few immediately on the river who dress as Europeans
sometimes, which clothes they obtain from trading
vessels and the Hudson's Bay Company for salmon
and furs. The dresses of the females are entirely in
expressible except that" they sometimes wear a blanket
over their shoulders made of small skins sewed to
gether with sinews of elk or deer, or such as they ob
tain from the traders.
They are very fond of ornaments, such as beads,
rings, bracelets, feathers and shells. One kind of shells
in use among them is obtained on the Northwest Coast,
which is a small, white, spiral shell called by them
the "ta-cope-to-cope," or "Hiaqua." A fathom of these,
when strung upon a string, are worth a good, three-
point blanket, and these are their currency. It is not
unfrequently the case that one may meet with an Indian
with a bunch of these, say ten or fifteen tied together
and hung in each ear, and one sticking through a hole
in the ligament which divides the nostrils, with the face
and parts of the body daubed with a kind of red
clay, and a rude cap adorned with feathers upon his
pancake-shaped head, with long hair queued up be
hind, upon which must be suspended a bunch of shells
and some feathers, and a short, dirty shirt. After
spending much time in thus richly and genteely attiring
himself, he comes out a "perfect beau." And it can
be easily ascertained when their young ladies are
considered fit for market by the profusion of the like
ornaments with which their persons are adorned. And
yet it is with them as with other nations, ornaments
do not constitute beauty, for neither sex can boast of
this gift of nature. Their noses are generally broad
and rather flat at the top, and fleshy at the end, with
large nostrils. They have wide mouths, thin lips, and
very good teeth. They are frequently, however, in aged
persons, worn away to the gums by eating so much
sand with their food. The men carefully eradicate
every vestige of beard, which they consider a deformity,
except a few individuals who have what is called a
"goatee" under the chin. Their hair is black and
course and both sexes wear it at full length. In size
they are generally below five feet, five inches, with
crooked legs and thick ankles, a deformity caused by
their passing so much of their time sitting or squatting
upon their heels in the bottom of their canoes, a
favorite position which they retain even when on shore.
The women increase the deformity by wearing tight
bandages around the ankles, which prevents the circu
lation of the blood and causes a swelling in the muscles
of the leg.
While in infancy their heads are flattened by com

pression from the eyebrows to the crown, and the flatter
they can be made the more beautiful they are in their
own estimation. One of the females came into the
house of the writer one day with a child, the head of"
which was exquisitely flat. On being asked how she
succeeded in making it so flat the woman said that
she had put a bag of sand on it in the first instance,-
but as that proved too light she removed it and put
the axe in its place, which effected the work to per
fection. The slaves, .however, are not allowed to en
joy the benefits of this deformity, consequently their
heads are left in their natural state.
The following anecdote will show that they are not-
wanting in intellect, or at least shrewdness. When
the Rev. Jason Lee visited the United States in 1839,
he brought with him two boys of the Chinook nation.
One of them being asked by a gentleman of the states
the reason why their people flattened their heads, asked"
in return : "Why do your ladies made themselves so
small about the waist?" And now, having committed
myself by mentioning "slaves," I shall be under the-
necessity of saying something more on the subject.
Their slaves and their women constitute the greatest
part of their property. What 1 Their women ? Yes,
but hold, I must speak of slavery first. Their slaves
are such as are taken prisoners in time of war, or per
haps, more properly speaking, such as are stolen from
other tribes. For instance, a band of Kollamooks go
to the south, and falling in with a weaker clan of
their southern neighbors, they make no further adoo,
but fall on them, gun and knife in hand ; some they
kill, the remainder they take prisoners and convey
them to the north and sell them to their Clatsop,
Chinook and Checallish neighbors, when they and their
children become slaves for life. What they call a-
"good man" slave is worth as much as a horse ; that is,
from ten to twelve blankets, and so on, according to
the size and qualifications. The female slaves are
worth less, from the fact that they are not able to
perform much drudgery.
But in what sense are their women their property?'
Why, the more wives a man has the more work he
can have done ; and every man has a right, according to
their view of things, to have as many wives as he is
able to purchase. And do parents sell their daughters?'
Yes, in the following manner. When a young beau,
or an old beau — and the latter circumstance is just
as likely to happen there as in the civilized world—
makes overtures for the hand of one of his neighbor's--
daughters, he approaches the parents, or in case the
girl has no parents, the proposal is made to the nearest-
relative. The parent or relative then breaks the sub
ject to the girl, and if the suit proves favorable, the-
terms are settled, which may require the swain to pro
duce so many canoes, horses, blankets, kiaquas, or other
articles of property upon the day the nuptials are to be
celebrated. This property is divided among the rela
tives of the bride; and after the ceremony — marriage-

-6o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ceremonies, however, have become nearly obselete in
the lower country — the bridegroom receives the bride's
dowery, which is generally of much less value than
the goods paid down by him.
One girl in the Clatsop clan refused to tender her
much desired hand to a Chinook of some rank, alleging
as a reason for her denial that her parents would
require a high price for her, and as but little would
be given in return if she acceeded to the proposition,
she would be obliged to work very hard to make her
husband's heart good; so, embracing a favorable op
portunity, she hid herself in the woods until this storm
of love had measurably subsided when she returned
to enjoy the bliss of a single squaw's life. In respect
to their moral character I cannot, in justice to them,
and to myself, say that it is blacker than that of
thousands and tens of thousands' of their white brethren
in the civilized world. And for a full description of
both I will refer the reader to the first chapter of
Paul's Epistle to the Romans, from the 19th verse
to the close of the chapter.

Their superstitions are almost endless and very
deeply rooted, and are manifested more and more as we
become acquainted with them. To enumerate and
describe them would require considerable labor, and
such a description would necessarily take up a number
of our pages, and when done the benefit derived there
from would not quit cost ; consequently we deem it our
duty to pass this subject by, and proceed to notice those
things in connection with the history which will be
calculated to render this work more valuable. These
Indians are the most degraded human beings that we
have met with in all our journeyings, taking them as
a whole. There is not one among them that can be
considered virtuous. And in consequence of disease,
which cleaves to them from their birth, and the many
murders committed among them, they are rapidly wast
ing away, and the time is not far distant when the
last death-wail will proclaim their universal extinc
tion. It is truly heartrending to see, as we have, how
the "last enemy" chases them "from the cradle to the
grave."

CHAPTER VII

THE INDIAN WARS OF THE 'FIFTIES.

In a previous chapter we have read of the
-struggle for possession with England. America
won. Her home-builders outmatched the fur
traders. But there was, as there always has
been in our national history, another inevitable
struggle for possession. This was with the
Indians. The so-called Christian nations have
never stopped to consider the rights of the na
tive claimants of the land. The thing greatly to
be deplored in all Indian wars, however, has been
the general practice on both sides of inflicting
punishment upon any innocent persons who
might happen along. Some drunken and
ferocious savages, as devoid of humanity as the
wild beasts about them, would plunder, outrage
and kill some family of immigrants or settlers,
and forthwith a band of the brave, manly, yet
harsh and intolerant frontiersmen who have
made our early history, would rush forth im
petuously and kill some poor Indian wretches
who had never heard of the outrage and had not
the remotest conception of having committed any
•offense. In like manner when some avaricious
white had swindled the ignorant Indians out of
land or some other valuable property, or some

lustful and conscienceless white desperado had
outraged Indian women or murdered unoffend
ing braves, a band of Indians, inflamed with
whiskey purchased of some post trader, and
armed with weapons from the same source,
would go on the war-path and torture, mutilate
and murder some innocent helpless women and
children who had never thought of injuring a
living thing. No one who has ever lived on the
frontier can wonder at the bitter and intolerant
hatred of the whites for the Indians. But if we,
the civilized and victors, could put ourselves in
the place of the natives and view life with their
eyes, none of us would wonder that they had
hated us with the fury and frenzy of wild beasts.
For it is safe to sa)- that for every pang suffered
by whites a score have been suffered by Indians.
And we, the higher race, must admit that we
know better than they, and have less excuse for,
inhumanity and intolerance.
Yet in the final summary there can be no other
conclusion than that the extermination of the ma
jority of the Indians and the total destruction of
their claims as owners of this country was "writ
down in the book of fate." It was a part of the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

61

irrepressible conflict of life. Moreover by reason
of the necessities of existence the early settlers
could not wait to argue abstract questions of
right. They had obeyed the fundamental law to
subdue and replenish the earth, and in pursuance
of that condition of all progress they could not
stop to philosophize on the principles of human
brotherhood. They had to live, and with a tom
ahawk over their heads they were obliged to re
pel. And if the right to repel existed, the right
to counter attack followed as a matter of course ;
extermination of their enemies was, generally
speaking, the only effectual means of repelling.
It was sad, but inevitable. And though we have
lived a "Century of Dishonor," it is much easier
now to condemn than it would have been then to
improve. And so, by reason of these conditions we find
the history of our Indian wars the subject of bit
ter controversy. Hardly any two writers or wit
nesses give the same version of supposed facts.
One has a bias in favor of the pioneers and ex
ploits his statements according to his opinions.
Hence he represents the pioneers as always jus
tifiable and the Indians as always to blame. An
other gives the reverse impression. Nor are
pioneers generally much disposed to blame or
smooth either their opinions or expressions. It
is apt to be all one, thing or all the other with
them. Compromise does not, for it cannot, flour
ish in pioneer conditions.
After the Cayuse war had ended in 1850, by
the execution of the supposed murderers of Dr.
Whitman, there was a lull along the bunch grass
plains and sage-brush banks of the Columbia and
Snake rivers. A few adventurous explorers and
ranchers began to seek locations on the streams
hallowed by martyrdoms. The most consider
able settlement was at Frenchtown, ten miles
below Walla Walla. According to the best in
formation obtainable there were eighty-five per
sons, the men entirely of French origin, and
former Hudson's Bay Company employes, with
Indian wives and a good stock of half-breed chil
dren, living in the vicinity. Among these were
the following :  Pacquette, Indian wife and
two children ;  Poirer, and Indian wife ;
Tellier, Indian wife and six children ; E.

Beauchemir, Indian wife and six children ; A.
La Course, Indian wife and three children ; Nar-
cises Remond, Indian wife and two children;
Lewis Dauny, Indian wife and three children ;
L. Rocque, Indian wife and three children; T.
Morisette, Indian wife and three children ; 
Brancheau, Indian wife and four children ; Oliver
Brisbois, Indian wife and one child : A. D. Pam-
brun; William H. McBean, Indian wife and
eleven children; J. B. Ignace, Indian wife and

one child ; Mignan Findlay, Indian wife and three
children ;  Etteyne, Indian wife and one
child ; Father Chirouse, and two brothers ; Father
Pondosa, temporarily.
Frank T. Gilbert says : "To the foregoing add
James Sinclair with several employes, who had
charge of the Hudson's Bay fort at Wallula, and
it includes the inhabitants living within the re
gion already hostile or liable to immediately be
come so."
Besides the miners, there were living east of
the Cascades at that time the following persons,.
whose lives would be endangered by a general
outbreak :
Henry M. Chase, who came in the latter part
of 185 1, with William McKay to Umatilla river,.
where he wintered. The next summer he joined
William Craig in the Nez Perce country, win
tered in 1852 at The Dalles, returned to the Nez
Perce country in 1853, where he remained with
his stock, purchased from immigrants, until
1855, when he became a resident of what is now
Dayton, in Columbia county, Washington.
Louis Raboin, an American of French extrac
tion, who had been living in the country east of
the Cascades since 185 1.
P. M. Lafontain, a neighbor of Mr. Chase in
1855, adjoining whom he had taken up a claim.
Lloyd Brooke, George C. Bumford and John
F. Noble were partners and had occupied the
.Whitman mission since 1853. They had come to>
the country and selected that point for headquar
ters in the fall of 1852, intending to make it the
center of a grazing region over which their stock
could range; they still' occupied the place in 1855.
A. P. Woodward first came to the region east
of the Cascades in 1852, and though temporarily
absent, was a resident of the Walla Walla valley
in 1855. W. A. Tallman was working for Brooke,
Bumford and Noble in 1855.
William Craig, an old mountaineer, had been
living at Lapwai among the Nez Perces since
1845, and the friendship of that tribe for the
Americans was largely due to his influence
among them. He died there in October, 1869.
John Owens, also a mountaineer, had been liv
ing in what is now Montana, since 1850.
Dr. William McKay had been living on the
Umatilla river since 1851.
There were three transient men working for
H. M. Chase, and some for Brooke, Bumford &
Noble. March 3, 1853, Washington was taken from
"Oregon" and made a separate territory. Major
Isaac I. Stevens was appointed governor, and in
the following summer he set out for his domain.
Gold had been discovered in the Colville country

62

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and there were many adventurers moving across
the plains in that direction. The Indians were
very restive. These explorations they regarded
with well-grounded suspicion as the entering
¦ wedge of the establishment of white sovereignty.
There were at that time two remarkable In-
- dian chiefs, chiefs who belonged to that line of
; remarkable red men of which Philip, Pontiac,
Red Jacket and Tecumseh were more illustrious
specimens ; whose qualities of mind and char-
. acter contain a hint of what Indians might have
been had they had any wide or long continued
opportunity. These two Columbia Valley chiefs
were Kamiakin, of the Yakimas, and Peu-Peu-
Mox-Mox, of the Walla Wallas. Like all the In-
- dian chiefs they perceived the handwriting on the
wall revealed by the entrance of the whites, and
thev determined to make a desperate effort to
burst their tightening bonds while there was yet
a chance of success.
There was a general outburst of all the tribes
¦ of Oregon and Washington in 1853 and 1854
which led up to the great war centering in Walla
Walla in 1855. This series of troubles began in
the summer of 1853 in the Rogue river valley in
southern Oregon. The usual bitter controversy
raged as to who was to blame for this. It ap
pears as though whites and Indians were equally
so. In 1854 occurred the horrible "Snake River
Massacre," in which a number of immigrants
who had offered no provocation whatever, were
butchered in the most fiendish manner. Norman
"Ward, of Pendleton, then a boy of thirteen, was
.the only survivor. That massacre occurred on
the Boise a few miles above Fort Boise. Great
excitement ensued in the Willamette Valley when
'this atrocity became known, and Major Haller
was sent by General Wool, then commanding the
department of the Pacific, to the scene. Having
partially* punished the supposed perpetrators of
.the outrage, the command returned to The
Dalles. All these incidents, with many other
smouldering causes of discontent, prepared the
Indians for war.
The great war of 1855 comprised three fields
of operation; one was southern Oregon, another
Puget Sound, a third Yakima and Walla Walla
valleys. In all there were probably four thou
sand Indians under arms, and many have believed
that nothing but lack of intelligent co-operation
among these prevented the annihilation of all
the smaller settlements. But the various petty
"feuds and conflicting purposes invariably char
acteristic of barbaric wars, prevented such co
operation. Indian fought against Indian; the
whites profited thereby.
In May, 1855 Governor Stevens and General
Joel Palmer met the representatives of seventeen

tribes at Walla Walla, in an endeavor to make
treaties for the cession of their lands. The coun
cil ground was on and around the identical spot
now occupied by Whitman College. The im
memorial council ground of the Walla Walla and
other tribes of this country lay between the col
lege brook and the one north of it, and around
the place now known as Council Grove. The
tents of the great chiefs were pitched, as nearly
as can be ascertained, on the spot now occupied
by the house of Mrs. E. H. Baker.
The treaties negotiated at Walla Walla, June
12, (though dated June 9th), provided for the
surrender by the Yakimas of the vast area of
29,000 square miles, being substantially Chelan,
Yakima, Kittitas, Franklin, Adams and the most
of Douglas and Klickitat counties. The Yakimas,
it may be said, constituted a "nation" composed
of fourteen tribes extending from the Cascade
summits to the Palouse river. The Nez Perces
agreed to relinquish almost as large an area, em
bracing what is now a good part of Whitman,
Garfield, Columbia and Asotin counties, in Wash
ington ; Union and Wallowa counties in Oregon ;'
and Washington, Idaho and Nez Perce counties
in Idaho. A very large reservation was provided
by the treaty for the Nez Perces ; being, in addi
tion to that now embraced in the Nez Perces res
ervation, large tracts between the Alpowa and
Snake rivers and the Wallowa valley. The re
tention of the Wallowa was insisted on by Chief
Joseph and seems to have been the key to the rati
fication of the entire plan ; and it is the more to
be deplored that the modification of the treaty in
1863, afterward precipitated the Nez Perce war
of 1877. That change in 1863 involved the sur
render of the Wallowa and the reduction of the
Nez Perce reservation to what it was prior to its
recent opening. But few Indians appear to have
been consulted. Young Joseph, son of the Joseph
who took part in the treaty of 1855, insisted on
their claim to the country, and this difficulty led
to the memorable war of 1877.
The Umatillas, Cayuses and -Walla Wallas,
under the termr of this treaty relinquished their
right to another magnificent territory, embraced
substantially in the present limits of Walla Walla
county in Washington, and Umatilla, Morrow
and part of Union and Gilliam counties in Ore
gon. Their reservation was essentially that now
known as the Umatilla reservation. Which of
these superb domains was the best would puzzle
a good judge to decide. Any one of them is
larger than most of the Atlantic states, and in
point of opulence of natural resources surpasses
equal areas in most parts of the world.
For their concession the Indians were to re
ceive what seems a just and even liberal com-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

63

pensation, though to the mind of civilized man,
ridiculously small ; for the whole vast area of
probably 30,000,000 acres outside of reservations
was relinquished for about $650,000; in all, per
haps, roughly estimated, two cents per acre. It
is, probably, worth today, with its improvements
nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
The compensation of the Yakima nation was
$200,000, paid in annuities, with salaries for the
head chiefs of $500 for twenty years, also some
special agreement concerning houses, tools, etc.
The compensation of the Nez Perces was the
same. The Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas
were to receive $100,000 ; each of the head chiefs
to have an annuity of five hundred dollars for
twenty years, and also to have the usual special
donations for houses, tools, etc. Peu-Peu-Mox-
Mox, whose favor was especially courted, was
•granted the unique privilege of beginning to draw
his salary at once, without waiting for the formal
ratification by congress. His remaining son was
to receive an annuity of $100 a year, a house and
five acres of land, plowed and enclosed. Peu-
peu-Mox-Mox was also to be given three yoke of
¦oxen, three yokes and chains, one wagon, two
plows, twelve hoes, twelve axes, two shovels, a
saddle and bridle, a set of wagon harness and one
set of plow harness.
Having completed this great work, Governor
Stevens passed on to the north and east to con
tinue the same line of negotiations with the In
dians there. We may say in brief that he suc
ceeded in making a treaty with the Blackfeet,
but was unsuccessful with the Spokanes. Mean
while, during his absence, the great Walla Walla
and Yakima war had burst with the suddenness
¦of a cyclone upon the Columbia plains. And not
only here but throughout the Sound country the
¦storm of war had burst on all sides.
That the outbreak of hostilities should have
•occurred almost simultaneously at places so re
mote from each other as Walla Walla, Puget
Sound and Rogue river, has led many to suppose
that there was a definite and widespread con
spiracy. Others have believed that there was
simply an identity of causes and that these pro
duced like results at like times. While it is alto
gether likely that there may have been hints of
outbreak in the air which spread from tribe to
tribe, it is more likely that the second is the true
solution. Kamiakin, the Yakima chief, and Peu-Peu-
Mox-Mox, the Walla Walla chief, were the an
imating force of the movement on this side of the
mountains. Kamiakin was a natural general and
diplomat. He appears to have signed the treaty
at Walla Walla onlv under great pressure and
with mental reservation that he would break it at

the first opportunity. Hardly had the ink dried
on the treaty when he was rounding up the war
riors over the wide domain of the Yakima nation.
These chiefs seem to have seen, as did Philip
and Pontiac, that the coming of the whites, if not
checked, meant the destruction of Indian rule. If
they were to struggle against fate at all they
must do it then. From their viewpoint they were
adopting the only possible policy. As some of
the Nez Perces told Governor Stevens, they were
not afraid of explorers or trappers, or soldiers,
but they were afraid of men with wagons and
axes. They had now been watching for fifteen
years a steady stream of immigrants passing
down to the Willamette. Steamboats were run
ning on the Columbia and Willamette rivers.
Towns were springing up. For them it was now
or never. One Indian only, and that was Lawyer,
the Nez Perce, perceived the impossibility of the
Indians ever coping with the whites, and that
therefore the only wise course for them was to
yield to the inevitable as easily as possible and
adopt the white man's mode of life and live on
terms of amity with him. Though Looking
Glass and Eagle-From-the-Light had dissented
very strongly from the first, they had finally
yielded to Lawyer's powerful influence and the
treaty resulted. Now in the midst of the fury of
war they remained true to their agreement. Ka
miakin had gathered a great council of the dis
affected at a point north of Snake river. The
fierce and intractable Cayuses were the most ac
tive in the movement of any except Kamiakin
himself and his immediate friends. Young Chief
and Five Crows were the Cayuse chiefs leading
the war. Stechus alone, with a very small fol
lowing, holding aloof.
The war broke out rather prematurely in Sep
tember by the murder of miners traversing the
Yakima valley. Agent Bolon, having gone cour
ageously into the valley to investigate the matter,
was murdered and burned to ashes on September
23d. It is said that Quelchen, son of Owhi and
nephew of Kamiakin, committed this crime.
Tidings of the outbreak of hostilities having
reached The Dalles, Major Haller with a hun
dred men at once started north and Lieutenant
Slaughter went from Steilacoom across the
Natchez pass to the Yakima to co-operate with
Haller. But on October 6th the Indians burst
upon Haller with such energy that he was obliged
to retreat with a loss of a fourth of his men, be
sides his howitzer and baggage. At this stage
of affairs Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox fell upon old Fort
Walla Walla, now Wallula, and as it had no gar
rison the Indians plundered the fort of a consid
erable quantity of stores. The Walla Walla valley
was swept of settlers. The regions bordering

64

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Puget Sound were also ravaged by the Indians.
At this period General Wool was commander of
the Department of the Pacific. It is not pos
sible here to enter into any examination of the
bitter and rancorous dispute that has arisen as
to General Wool's conduct of this war. It was
intensely unsatisfactory to the settlers. Wool
seems to have decided that the whites in southern
Oregon were more to blame than the Indians and
he felt disposed, in consequence, to allow them to
meet the results of their own acts.
Discovering from experience that there was
little to be hoped for from the regulars, Governor
Curry and the Oregon legislature speedily
equipped a strong force under Colonel J. W. Ne-
smith. The latter having gone to the Yakima
country with four companies under general
charge of Major Raines, of the regulars, on what
proved to be a fruitless expedition, Lieutenant-
Colonel J. K. Kelly, in command of five hundred
men, marched to Walla Walla.
There occurred the famous battle of Walla
Walla, on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of December,
1855. The force of Oregon volunteers having
reached Wallula December 2d, found that the In
dians whom they had hoped to meet there had
eluded them, leaving the fort in ruins. Setting
forth in two divisions on December 5th, the vol
unteers proceeded up the Walla Walla river to
the Touchet. Turning up the latter stream they
had proceeded about ten miles when there sud
denly appeared with a flag of truce no less a per
sonage than Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox himself. Cap
tain Cornoyer, who was in the vanguard, entered
into a parley with the Walla Walla chieftian in
which the chief stated that he and his people were
anxious to make peace. He told Nathan Olney,
the Indian agent with whom he conversed, that
he had at first intended to make war on the
whites, but on reflection had decided that it would
not be good policy. While the conference was
in progress the troops as well as the Indians had
gradually gathered around in considerable num
bers .and filially passed on in the direction of an
Indian village near at hand. Perceiving that they
were approaching a dangerous canyon, Colonel
Kelly became suspicious that the Indians were
meditating treachery, and he determined to re
turn a short distance back upon the trail and
camp without supper for the night. It was a
cold, wretched night. Snow began to fall. Col
onel Kelly in his anxiety to make a forced march,
had given orders to travel light and they were so
very light that they had no supplies. Much dif
ference of opinion developed as to the wisdom of
pausing and camping on the trail. Captain Corn
oyer held the opinion, which he afterward stated
to Colonel Gilbert, that Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox was

acting in good faith and that if the army had
gone on with him, he being entirely in their
power, they would have reached the village in
safety and would have found plenty of food,
passed a comfortable night, and that the war
would have ended then and there. Colonel Kelly
believed otherwise and has left on record the
following reasons for his opinion. He writes
that Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox
* * * Stated that he did not wish to fight and
that on the following day he would come and have
a talk and make a treaty of peace. On consultation with
Hon. Nathan Olney, Indian agent, we concluded that
this was simply a ruse to gain time for removing his
village and preparing for battle. I stated to him that
we had come to chastise him for the wrongs he had
done to our people, and that we would not defer mak
ing an attack on his people unless he and his five
followers would consent to accompany and remain
with us until all difficulties were settled. I told him
that he might go away under his flag of truce if he
chose, but that if he did so we would forthwith attack
his village. The alternative was distinctly made known
to him, and to save his people he chose to remain
with us a hostage for the fulfillment of his promises,
as did also those who accompanied him. He at the
same time said that on the following day he would ac
company us to his village; that he would then assemble
his people and make them deliver up their arms and
ammunition, and restore the property which had been
taken from the white settlers, or pay the full value
of that which could not be restored, and that he would
furnish fresh horses to remount my command and cattle
to supply them with provisions to enable us to wage
war against other hostile tribes who were leagued
with him. Having made these promises we refrained
from making the attack, thinking we had him in our
power; that the next day his promise would be ful
filled. I also permitted him to send one of the men who
accompanied him to his village to apprise the tribes
of the terms of the expected treaty, so that they might
be prepared to fulfill it.
I have since learned from a Nez Perce boy who was
taken at the same time with Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, that
instead of sending word to his people to make a
treaty of peace he sent an order for them to remove
their women and children and prepare for battle. From
all I have since learned I am well persuaded that he
was acting with duplicity and that he expected to en
trap my command in the deep ravine in which his camp-
was situated, and make his escape from us.
This singular move of the "Yellow Serpent"'
was hard to explain logically. Strange it ap
peared that he should place himself in the hands.
of his enemies unless he really meant to act in
good faith. Moreover, it is not easy to see how

Hee-on ks-te-K.in, tne Rabbit s Skin Leggms

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

he could have expected to gain anything by lead
ing the whites into a trap so long as his own life
was certain to be the instant forfeit of any treach
ery. On the other hand it is passing strange that,
were he perfectly honest, the Indians should have
made an attack on the following day. However
it may have been it was plain that things were
not going just according to program; during the
night Indians had gathered in great numbers
about on the hills, and were evidently watching
in great anxiety to see what might be the fate of
Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox. Subsequent events proved
that the Indians had made a change of policy dur
ing the night. They shouted words in the Cay
use language evidently intended for the ears of
the captive chief alone.
Morning dawned of a bleak, December day.
Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox was anxious to obtain a stay
of proceedings. He said that his people required
time to prepare provisions, etc., in order to give
the whites a fitting reception. It was nearly noon
before the cold, hungry, disgusted command
started, and after passing through the canyon in
safety they reached the Indian village. Alas, no
warmth or food or welcome awaited them. The
village was deserted. Scouts were seen on the
surrounding hills and finally, after much shout
ing and gesticulating, one Indian was induced
to come to the camp. He proved to be the son
of Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox. Having entered into
conversation with his son, the old chief directed
him to notify the people to come in and make
peace. The son told they were only awaiting the
arrival of Five Crows to do so. But they waited
a long time ; the famished and exhausted vol
unteers saw that they must return to the mouth
of the Touchet and join those who had been left
with provisions and baggage. Night found them
on the banks of that stream.
Earlv in the morning the force was on the
march with baggage and all available resources.
They moved toward Whitman mission, where
Colonel Kelly planned to make a winter camp.
Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, with several companions,
still remained with them. Soon after the volun
teers crossed the Touchet the ball opened. Who
fired first is still a matter of dispute. Mr. Gil
bert quotes A. P Woodward as asserting that the
whites fired the first shot, this being done by a
member of Company B, named Jont. Then en
sued a running fight up the Walla Walla valley.
• At the mouth of Dry creek, near the present Lou
don place, the Indians made a brief stand, but
being forced from their position they broke again
and pressed on hastily toward Frenchtown.
There, spreading across the valley, they made a
determined stand. Here Lieutenant J. M. Bur
rows, of Company H, was killed and a number of
5

men were wounded. Giving way again the sav
ages retreated to the location of the Tillier ranch,
and there, near the present site of the French-
town church the fight was renewed. There Cap
tain Bennett, of Company F, and Private Kelso,
of Company A, were killed.
The soldiers had found an abandoned how
itzer at Wallula, and this, under charge of Cap
tain Wilson, was now brought to bear on the
enemy. At the fourth discharge the piece burst,
severely wounding Captain Wilson. And now,
again, the Indians broke and fled. The fight was
over for the time and the soldiers camped that
night on the field of battle. The spot where the
severest contest occurred was marked a few
years ago by a gathering with appropriate exer
cises and the raising of a flag provided by Mrs.-
Levi Ankeny, — a deeply interesting occasion, in
which veterans of that war took great joy. Prom
inent among them were General McAuliff, Will
iam Painter, Lewis McMorris and A. G. Lloyd.
During the first day's battle, at about the hot
test part of the action, occurred a sensational
event concerning which there has since been con
siderable discussion. Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox and
his companions in captivity, with one exception,
were killed by the guards and volunteers sur
rounding them. Eye witnesses of this affair are
not in accord as to the facts. Probably no one
of them is able to give an absolutely correct and
detailed statement of all that transpired, such
was the confusion and excitement prevailing at
the time. Of this affair Frank T. Gilbert says :
The following is an account of it as given to the
writer by Lewis McMorris, who was present at the
time and saw what he narrated. The hospital supplies
were packed on mules in charge of McMorris, and had
just reached the LaRocque cabin, where the first en
gagement had taken place. The surgeon in charge
had decided to use it as a hospital in which to place
those wounded in the battle and McMorris was un
packing the mules. Near it the unfortunate J. M.
Burrows lay dead, and several wounded were being
attended to. The combatants had passed on up the-
valley, and the distant detonations of their guns couldl
be heard. The flag of truce prisoners were there under
guard, and everyone seemed electrified with suppressed!
excitement. A wounded man came in with his shattered-
arm dangling at his side and reported Captain Bennett-
killed at the front. This added to the excitement and.
the attention of all was more or less attracted to the
wounded man, when someone said, "Look out, or the
Indians will get away! At this seemingly everyone
yelled, "Shoot 'em ! Shoot 'em !" and on the instant
there was a rattle of musketry on all sides.
What followed was so quick, and there were so many
acting, that McMorris could not see it in detail, though,

66

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

all was transpiring within a few yards around him.
It was over in a minute, and three of the five prisoners
were dead ; another was wounded, knocked senseless
and supposed to be dead, but who afterward re
covered consciousness, and was shot to put him out
of his misery, while the fifth was spared because he
was a Nez Perce. McMorris remembers some of the
events that marked this tragedy, however, such as an
impression on his mind of an attempt of the prisoners
to escape, that started the shooting; that everybody was
firing because they were excited and the target was an
Indian ; that he saw no evidence of an attempt to escape,
except to keep from being murdered; that they were
killed while surrounded by and mingling with the
whites ; and that but one Indian offered to defend his
life. The prisoner offering resistance was a powerful
Willamette Indian called "Jim" or "Wolf Skin," who
having a knife secreted upon his person, drew it and
fought desperately. "I could hear that knife whistle
in the air," said McMorris, "as he brandished it, or
struck at the soldier with whom he was struggling.'
It lasted but a moment, when another soldier approach
ing from behind dealt him a blow on the head with a
gun that broke his skull and stretched him apparently
lifeless upon the ground. All were scalped in a few
minutes, and later the body of Yellow Serpent, the great
Walla Walla chief, was mutilated.
Frank T. Gilbert, also states that McMorris'
account was confirmed by G. W. Miller and
William Nixon, both of whom were present. But
the writer of this work has secured from Mr.
Miller a personal narrative of this historical
event, over his own signature, and it will be
found in full in the appendix to this volume.
A. P. Woodward, who was nearby when the
ehief was killed, states that, briefly, the facts were
these : When asked what should be done with the
prisoners Colonel Kelly had told the guard, "I
don't care a damn." The prisoners were neither
tied nor in any way confined, but were mingled
with the volunteers. When the firing became
warm and several wounded had been brought
back to where the guard and prisoners were,
some of the troops became very much excited
and called out, "Shoot the damned Indians and
kill them !" Several shots were fired and two or
three of the Indians fell, though they were not
attempting to escape. Then Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox
sprang off his horse, and walking toward those
who were firing said, "You don't need to kill me.
— I am not Jesus Christ," and with these words,
fell. The biting sarcasm of the dying words of
Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, if these were his words, can
only be appreciated when we remember that he
was a savage and could not be made to under
stand why the white men had, according to their
own account, killed their own God.

Such is the fanciful tale related by Mr. Wood
ward. It is obvious, and corroborated by all
other witnesses, that the Walla Walla chief was
not mounted on a horse at that time, but was
struggling with the guards in, or around the
cabin, and on his feet. It may, also, be stated that
in answer to a direct question as to whether any
such language was used, Samuel Warfield, the
slayer of Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, said that the only
foundation for this story was something that
occurred on the evening previous. Wolf Skin,
he says, attempted to escape. He was immedi
ately recaptured and while being tied to prevent
a repetition of his attempt, he said: "That's as
much as could be expected of you ; Christ died
for his people and I can die for mine," where
upon one of the volunteers rejoined, "Christ did
not run," raising a general laugh. Let us here
add the account of the killing as given by Mr.
Warfield in a personal letter written to the author
of this woi k. He said :
Amos Underwood and I were guards over the six
Indian prisoners, Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, Klickitat Jimmy,
or Wolf Skin, Nez Perce Billy and three others.
About 4 o'clock in the evening there were a number of
soldiers around the guard and prisoners. Word was
sent two or three times for those soldiers to come to
the front ; but they did not go. Finally Colonel Kelly
came and ordered them to the front. I said to the
colonel, "I want to go to the front ; what will we do
with these prisoners?" He replied, "Tie them and
put them in the house, if they will submit to you ; if
not put them in anyhow." Major Miller was there
present among the wounded, having been shot in the
arm. Just at that time Wolf Skin pulled his knife
from his legging and struck at Major Miller, cutting
his arm as it was thrown up to ward off the blow.
In an instant some one broke a musket over the
Indian's head, killing him. Then the fight began. Five
of the Indian prisoners were killed, being either shot
or struck over the heads with guns. Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox
being the last one. I showed him how to cross his
hands so that I could tie him and put him in the house
as- the colonel had told us, when he grabbed my gun
and tried to wrench it around so as to shoot me. I
jumped back and grabbed him by the collar and threw
him down, still keeping hold of my gun. I also shot at
him but missed, he being too close. He caught me by
the breeches leg and tried to regain his feet. I again
jumped back from him as he tried to get up, and
struck him over the head with my gun, settling him for
all time. While speaking of Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox it is
only fair to give the explanation of Major Lee
Moorhouse, of Pendleton, Oregon, concerning a
correct translation of his name. The major, who

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

67

has given much attention to the history of the
aborigines of this- region, says that the name
Peopeomoxmox (as he says it should be spelled
in English) means Yellow Bird and not Yellow
Serpent, as a malicious French half-breed inter
preter, who had a grudge against the chief, trans
lated it to the whites.
A. P. Woodward describes the chief as a man
¦of middle age, six feet two inches tall, straight
as an arrow, with piercing eyes and a nose like
a hawk — hence his name of Yellow Bird, or
Hawk.
On the following day the battle was renewed.
Colonel Kelly thus describes the events of the
next two days, and inasmuch as his official report
thus embraces the essential features of the case
we quote it at length :
Early in the morning of the 8th the Indians ap
peared with increased forces, amounting to fully six
"hundred warriors. They were posted as usual in the
thick brush by the river — among the sage bushes and
¦sand knolls, and on the surrounding hills. This day
Lieutenant Pillow, with Company A, and Lieutenant
Hannon, with Company H, were ordered to take and
"hold the brush skirting the river and the sage bushes
on the plain. Lieutenant Fellows, with Company F,
was directed to take and keep possession of the point
at the foot of the hill. Lieutenant Jeffries with Com
pany B, Lieutenant Hand, with Company I, and Captain
Cornoyer, with Company K, were posted on three sev
eral points on the hills, with orders to maintain them
and assail the enemy on other points of the same hills.
As, usual the Indians were driven from their position,
although they fought with skill and bravery.
On the 9th they did not make their appearance until
about 10 o'clock in the morning and then in somewhat
diminished numbers. As I had sent to Fort Henrietta
for Companies D and E, and expected them on the 10th
I thought it best to act on the defensive and hold our
positions which were the same as on the 8th, until
we could get an accession to our forces sufficient to
•enable us to assail their rear and cut off their retreat.
An attack was made during the day on Companies
A and H, in the brushwood, and upon B, on the hill,
both of which were repulsed with great gallantry by
these companies with considerable loss to the enemy.
¦Companies F, I and K also did great honor to them
selves in repelling all approaches to their positions,
although in doing so one man in Company F and one
in Company I were severly wounded. Darkness as
usual closed the combat, by the enemy withdrawing from
the field. Owing to the inclemency of the night the
companies on the hill were withdrawn from their sev
eral positions, Company B ( abandoning its rifle pits
which were made by the men of that company for its
protection. At early dawn of the next day the Indians
•were observed from our camp to be in possession of all

points held by us on the preceding day. Upon seeing
them Lieutenant McAuliff, of Company B, gallantly
observed that his company had dug those holes, and
after breakfast they would have them again; and well
was his declaration fulfilled, for in less than an hour
the enemy was driven from the pits and fled to an
adjoining hill which they had occupied the day before.
This position was at once assailed. Captain Cornoyer
with Company K and a portion of Company I, being
mounted, gallantly charged the enemy on his right flank,
while Lieutenant McAuliff with Company B dismounted,
rushed up the hill in face of a heavy fire and scattered
them in all directions. They at once fled to return to
this battle field no more, and thus ended our long con
tested fight.
In making my report I cannot say too much in
praise of the conduct of the officers of the several com
panies, and most of the soldiers under their command.
They did their duty bravely and well during those
four days of battle! To Second Major Chirm, who took
charge of the companies in the bush by the river, credit
is due for bravery and skill; also to Assistant Adjutant
Monroe Atkinson, for his efficiency and zeal as well
in the field as in the camp. And here, while giving
to the officers and men of the regiment the praise that
is justly due, I cannot omit the name of Hon. Nathan
Olney, although he is not one of the volunteers. Having
accompanied me in the capacity of Indian agent, I
requested him to act as my aid on account of his
admitted skill in Indian warfare; and to his wisdom in
council and daring on the battlefield, I am much in
debted and I shall ever appreciate his worth.
Companies D and E having arrived from Fort
Henrietta on the evening of the 10th, the next morn
ing I followed with all the available troops along the
Nez Perce's trail in pursuit of the Indians. On Mill
creek, about twelve miles from here, we passed through
their village, numbering one hundred and ninety-six
fires, which had been deserted the night before. Much
of their provisions were scattered by the wayside, in
dicating that they had fled in great haste to the north.
We pursued them until it was too dark to follow the
track of their horses, when we camped on Coppei
creek. On the twelfth we continued the pursuit until
we passed some distance beyond the stations of Brooke,
Noble and Bumford, on the Touchet, when we found
the chase was in vain as many of our horses were
completely broken down and the men on foot. We
therefore returned and arrived in camp on yesterday
evening with about one hundred head of cattle which
the Indians had left scattered along the trail in their
flight. On the nth while in pursuit of the enemy, I re
ceived a letter from Narcisse Raymond by the hand
of Tintinmetzy, a friendly chief (which I enclose),
asking our protection of the French and friendly
Indians under his charge.
On the morning of the 12th I dispatched Captain

68

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Cornoyer with his command to their relief. Mr. Olney,
who accompanied them, returned to camp this even
ing, and reports that Captain Cornoyer will return to
morrow with Mr. Raymond and his people, who now
feel greatly relieved from their critical situation.' Mr.
Olney learned from these friendly Indians what we
before strongly believed, that the Palouses, Walla
Wallas, Umatillas, Cayuses and Stock Whitley's band of
Des Chutes Indians were all engaged in the battle on
the Walla Walla. These 'Indians also informed Mr.
Olney that after the battles the Palouses, Walla Wallas,
and Umatillas have gone partly to the Grande Ronde
and partly to he country of the Nez Perces ; and that
Stock Whitley, disgusted with the manner in which
the Cayuses fought in the battle, has abandoned them
and gone to the Yakima country to join his forces with
those of Kamiakin. We have now the undisputed pos
session of the country south of Snake river, and I
would suggest the propriety of retaining this possession
until such time as it can be occupied by the regular
troops. The Indians have left much of their stock
behind which will doubtless be lost to us if we go
away. The troops here will not be in a situation for
some time to go to the Palouse country, as our horses
at present are too much jaded to endure the journey,
and we have no boats to cross Snake river, no timber
to make them nearer than this place ; but I would sug
gest the propriety of following up the Indians with all
possible speed, now that their hopes are blighted and
their spirits broken. Unless this is done they will,
perhaps, rally again.
Today (December 14, 1853) I received a letter from
Governor Stevens, dated yesterday, which I enclose. You
will perceive that he is in favor of a vigorous prose
cution of the war. With his views I fully concur.
I must earnestly ask that supplies be sent forward
to us without delay. For the last three days none
of the volunteers, except the two companies from Fort
Henrietta, have had any flour. None is here and but
little at that post. We are now living on beef and
potatoes which are found en cache, and the men are
becoming much discontented with this mode of living.
Clothing for the men is much needed as the winter
approaches. Tomorrow we will remove to a more
suitable point, where grass can be obtained in greater
abundance for our worn-out horses. A place has been
selected about two miles above Whitman station, on
the same (north) side of the Walla Walla, consequently
I will abandon this fort, named in honor of Captain
Bennett, of Company F, who now sleeps beneath its
stockade, and whose career of usefulness and bravery
was here so sadly but nobly closed.
Very respectfully your obedient servant,
JAMES K. KELLY,
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Left Column.
W. H. Farrar,
Adjutant of Regiment, O. M. V.

The winter following the battle of Walla
Walla was one of the coldest and most trying
ever known in this country. The veterans among
the volunteers have left on record accounts of
the sufferings which show that war in an Indian
country was not a picnic in those times. The late
W. C. Painter describes vividly the experience of
sleeping, or trying to, with scarcely any covering
and the mercury at twenty below zero. Mean
time while these events were occurring in the
Walla Walla and Yakima countries, what was
Governor Stevens doing? As already noted,.
after having negotiated the treaty at Walla Walla
in June, 1855, he passed on to the Blackfeet
country, where he also negotiated a successful
treaty. Having reached Hellgate, in the present
Montana, on his return he was met by a detach
ment of Nez Perce Indians, who informed him
of the war and of the fact that he was thus cut
off from any direct communication with his gov
ernment. His own official report to the secretary
of war gives so clear and vivid an account of what
followed 'that we reproduce it here:
The result of our conference was most satisfactory.
The whole party, numbering fourteen men, among
whom were Spotted Eagle, Looking Glass and Three
Feathers, principal chiefs among the Nez Perces, ex
pressed their determination to accompany me and share
any danger to be encountered. They expressed a desire
that after crossing the mountains I should go to their
country, where a large force of their young men would
accompany me to The Dalles and protect us with their
lives against any enemy.
Having replenished my train with all the animals to-
be had, on November 14th we pushed forward, crossed'
the Bitter Root mountains the 20th, taking the Coeur
d'Alenes entirely by surprise. They had not thought
it possible that we could cross the mountains so late
in the season.
With the Coeur d'Alenes I held a council and found
them much excited, on a balance for peace or war,
and a chance word might turn them either way. Rumors
of all kinds met us here; that the troops had fought
a battle with the Yakimas and drove them across the
Columbia toward the Spokane, and that the Walla
Wallas, Cayuses and Umatillas were in arms, and that
they had been joined by a party of Nez Perces. The
accounts were of so contradictory a nature that noth
ing certain could be ascertained from them excepting
that the several tribes below were in arms, blocking
up our road, and had threatened to cut off my party
in any event. However, I determined to push on to
the Spokane.
The Spokanes were even more surprised than the
Coeur d'Alenes on seeing us. Three hours before my
arrival they had heard that I was going to the settle-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

69

•ments by way of New York. I immediately called a
¦council ; sent to Fort Colville for Mr. McDonald, in
¦charge of that post for the Hudson's Bay Company; and
also for the Jesuit fathers at that point. They arrived.
A council was held at which the whole Spokane
nation was represented. The Coeur d'Alenes and Col
ville Indians also were present.
The Spokane and Colville Indians evinced ex
treme hospitality of feeling ; spoke of the war
below ; wanted it stopped ; said the whites were
wrong. The belief was current that Peu-Peu-
Mox-Mox would cut off my party, as he had
-repeatedly threatened. They had not joined in the
war, but yet would make no promise to remain neutral.
If the Indians now at war were driven into their coun
try they would not answer for the consequences ; prob
ably many of the Spokanes would join them. After
a stormy council of several days, the Spokanes, Coeur
d'Alenes and Colvilles were entirely conciliated and
promised they would reject all overtures of the hostile
Indians and continue the firm friends of the whites.
Having added to my party and reorganized, etc.,
we thence made a forced march to the Nez Perce
country. Mr. Craig had received letters which informed
tne that the whole Walla Walla valley was blocked
up with hostile Indians, and the Nez Perces said it
would be impossible to go through.
I called a council and proposed to them that one
"hundred and fifty of their young men should accom
pany me to The Dalles. Without hesitation they agreed
to go. Whilst in the council making arrangements for
our movements, news came that a force of gallant
Oregon volunteers, four hundred strong, had met the
Indians in the Walla Walla valley and after four days
hard fighting, having a number of officers and men
"killed and wounded, had completely routed the enemy,
¦driving them across Snake river and toward the Nez
Perce country. The next day I pushed forward, ac
companied by sixty-nine Nez Perces, well armed, and
reached Walla Walla without encountering any hostile
Indians. They had all been driven across Snake river
¦below us by the Oregon troops.
It is now proper to inquire what would have been
the condition of my party had not the Oregon troops
vigorously pushed into the field and gallantly defeated
the enemy.
The country between the Blue mountains and the
Columbia was overrun with Indians, numbering one
thousand to twelve hundred warriors, including the
force as Priest Rapids under Kamiakin, who had sworn
to cut me off; it was completely blocked up. One ef
fect of the campaign of the regulars and volunteers
in the Yakima country under Brigadier General
Raines was to drive Kamiakin and his people on our
side of the river, and thus endanger our movement
from the Spokane to the Nez Perce country. Thus
¦we had been hemmed in by a body of hostile Indians
rthrough whom we could only force our way with ex

treme difficulty and at great loss of life. We might
all have been sacrificed in the attempt. For the open
ing of the way to my party I am solely indebted to
the Oregon volunteers. Peu-Peu-Mox-Mox, the cele
brated chief of the Walla Wallas, entertained an ex
treme hostility toward myself and party, owing to
imaginary wrongs he supposed to have been inflicted
upon him in the treaty concluded with the Cayuses and
Walla Wallas last June, and had been known re
peatedly to threaten that I never should reach The
Dalles. He was the first to commence hostilities by
plundering Fort Walla Walla and destroying a large
amount of property belonging to the United States
Indian Department. * * * fc * *
At Walla Walla I found some twenty-five settlers —
the remainder having fled to The Dalles for protection.
With these were one hundred friendly Indians. Special
Indian Agent B. F. Shaw, colonel in the Washington
Territorial militia, was on the ground, and I at once
organized the district, placed him in command and
directed him, if necessary, to fortify, at all events to
maintain his ground should the Oregon troops be
disbanded before another force could taken the field.
The Nez Perce auxiliaries were disbanded and re
turned home.
Thus we had reached a place of safety unaided,
except by the fortunate movements of the Oregon
troops. Not a single man had been pushed forward
to meet us, although it was well known we should cross
the mountains about a certain time, and arrive at Walla
Walla about the time we did. Why was this ? Arrange
ments had been made with Major Raines by Acting
Governor Mason to push forward a force under Colonel
Shaw to meet me at Spokane about the time of my
arrival there. A company had been enlisted, organized
and marched to Fort Vancouver to obtain equipments,
rations and transportation, which Major Raines had
promised both Governor Mason and Colonel Shaw
should be promptly furnished them. Some little delay
ensued, and in the meantime Major General Wool ar
rived, who immediately declined equipping the company,
as promised by Major Raines, and stated that he could
not in any manner recognize volunteers or furnish
them equipments or transportation, and declined to
supply their places with regular troops, of whom, ¦ at
Vancouver alone, there were some three hundred and
fifty men.
Following this description of his journey
Governor Stevens went on to prefer charges of
gross negligence on the part of General Wool.
All history abounds in instances of intense per
sonal feuds and disagreements, and our Pacific
coast history appears to have been especially
fruitful in them. The same antagonism between
regulars and volunteers cropped out in the Chief
Joseph uprising of 1877. That between General

70

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Wool with some of the officers who echoed his
opinions, the regulars, in short, on one side, and
Governor Stevens, supported by the volunteers
and the nearly united people of the Territory on
the other, was peculiarly acrimonious. We in
sert the following extract from the report by
Governor Stevens to the secretary of war :
When remonstrated with by Captain William Mc
Kay, in command of the company, to push forward to
my assistance, when informed of the object for which
the company was enlisted, and that if it was not pushed
forward at once, or some other force was not sent,
Governor Stevens and his party would be in the most
imminent danger, the general replied that in his opinion
the danger was greatly exaggerated; that probably
Governor Stevens would be able to protect himself,
but if he could not, then Governor Stevens could ob
tain an escort from General Harney.
What reply was that! A moiety of the Indians
now in arms had defeated a detachment of one hundred
United States regulars. Major Raines had placed on
record his opinion that an insufficient force would be
defeated by these Indians, and my party was supposed
to number no more than twenty-five men. Yet Major
General Wool very cooly says, "Governor Stevens
can take care of himself." So, too, in the remark that
I could obtain aid from General Harney. Did General

Wool know that the distance from Fort Benton to the
supposed position of General Harney was greater than
the distance from Fort Benton to The Dalles, and that
to obtain aid from him would require not less than-
six months, and that an express to reach him must
pass through the entire breadth of the Sioux? Suchb
ignorance shows great incapacity and is inexcusable.
Mr. Secretary, Major General Wool, commanding
the Pacific division, neglected and refused to send a
force to the relief of myself and party when known to
be in imminent danger, and believed by those who
were less capable of judging, to be coining on to cer
tain death, and this when he had at his command an-
efficient force of regular troops. He refused to sanc
tion the agreement made between Governor Mason
and Major Raines for troops to be sent to my as
sistance, and ordered them to disband. It was re
served for the Oregon troops to rescue us.
The only demonstration made by Major Raines
resulted in showing his utter incapacity to command'
in the field. As has heretofore been said, his expedi
tion against the Yakimas effected nothing but driv
ing the Indians into the very country through which.
I must pass to reach the settlements.
I therefore prefer charges against General Wool.
I accuse him of utter and signal incapacity, of crim
inal neglect of my safety. I ask for an investigation-
into the matter and for his removal from command..

CHAPTER VIII

INDIAN WARS OF THE 'FIFTIES— Continued.

It was in the spring of 1850 that the first
cloud arose foreshadowing the Rogue River war.
That season a party of miners who had collected
a considerale sum in gold dust in the California
placers, were returning home. Reaching the
Rogue river, they were encamped, at Rock Point.
Here they were attacked by Indians and plundered
of everything of value, including the bags of gold
dust. It was to settle with these "rogues" that
General Joseph Lane set out in May, (or June),
to visit south Oregon. The party comprised
fifteen white men and the same number of Klick
itats under their chief, Quatley, the determined
enemy of the Rogue river Indians. Quatley was
not asked to fight, but to assist in the making of
a treaty. Arriving at Rogue river, Lane's party en
camped, and he sent word to the principal chiefs

that he had come to talk with them and, if possi
ble, effect a treaty. Two chiefs, accompanied by
about seventy-five warriors, responded. A cir
cle was formed and Lane and the chiefs placed
themselves in its center. But previous to the
opening of the conference a second band of war
riors, as large as the first, and fully armed with
bows and arrows, made their appearance and be
gan descending the neighboring hill upon the
camp. Quatley was ordered by Lane to come
inside the circle and stand, with two or three
Indians, beside the head Rogue River chief-
Then the new-comers, apparently hostiles — were
commanded to lay down their arms and be
seated. The council proceeded. To them was
explained the occasion of this visit; they were
reminded of their uniform conduct toward the
white men; of their murders and robberies and'

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

7i

were given to understand emphatically, that white
people were to be permitted to travel unmolested.
The Rogue River chief, at the conclusion of
Lane's speech, addressed his people in loud
tones ; in response they raised the war-cry and
made a threatening display of their arms. Seeing
this, Lane directed Quatley to hold the head
chief. The latter was now a prisoner and Quat
ley held a knife at his throat. The sullen war
riors laid down their arms. Upon this prompt
action on the part of Lane the captured chief had
not counted. He then ordered his men to retire
and not return for two days. A treaty was con
cluded and Lane gave the Indians slips of paper
stating the fact and warning white men to do
them no injury.
During the gold discoveries of 1850 in the
Klamath valley, there was an hegira of Ore-
gonians thither. Despite General Lane's treaty
with Chief Jo, eternal vigilance was required to
prevent hostile encounters with his tribe as well
as with the Umpqua Valley tribes, south of the
canyon. A young man named Dilley was treach
erously murdered, some time in May, by two
Rogue River Indians. Learing this thirty men
of Shasta formed a company, headed by one
Long, marched across the Siskiyou, and coming
upon a band at the crossing of Rogue River,
killed a sub-chief and one other Indian, took two
warriors and two daughters of another chief
prisoners, holding them as hostages for the deliv
ery of the murderers of Dilley. The chief re
fused to give up the guilty parties. Moreover, he
threatened to send a strong force to destroy
Long's command, which remained at the cross
ing awaiting events. They were not, however,
molested, but an alarm became general through
out the southern valleys, and a petition was for
warded to Governor Gaines from the settlers in
the Umpqua for permission to recruit a company
of volunteers to proceed against the Indians.
Then the governor took the matter under con
sideration, but repaired in person to the scene of
the reported hostilities.
June ist Major Kearney began a march
southward with two skeleton companies of artil
lerymen, to take charge of government property
at Steilacoom, Astoria, Vancouver and The
Dalles. Arriving at Yoncalla, he consulted with
James Applegate, whom he prevailed upon to
assist in the exploration of the country east of
the canyon, in which they were engaged when
the Indian war in Rogue River valley broke out.
Of this episode in his "History of Oregon,"
Hubert Bancroft says :
Captain James Stuart came upon the Indians June
18th. They were prepared for battle. Dismounting J

his men, who in their haste left their sabres tied to their
saddles, Stuart made a dash for the enemy. They met
him with equal courage. A brief struggle took place
in which eleven Indians were killed and several
wounded. Stuart, himself, was matched against a
powerful warrior, who had been struck more than
once without meeting his death. As the captain ap
proached the savage, though prostrate, let fly an ar
row which pierced him through, lodging in his kid
neys, of which wound he died the day after the battle.
Captain Peck was, also, wounded severely, and one
of his troop slightly. * * * While these events
were in progress, both Gaines nad Lane were on their
way to the scene of action.
Early on the 25th the command moved back down
the river to overtake' the Indians who had escaped dur
ing the night, and crossing the river seven miles above
the ferry found the trail leading up Sardine creek,
which being followed brought them up with the fugi
tives, one of whom was killed, while the others scattered
through the woods like a covey of quail in the grass.
Two days were spent in pursuing and taking prison
ers the women and children, the men escaping. On the
27th the army scoured the country from the Ferry to
Table Rock, retiring in the evening to Camp Stuart,
when the campaign was considered as closed.
At the first these Indians had been proudly
defiant. It was the boast of Chief Jo that his
thousand warriors could keep a thousand arrows
in the air continuously. Their pride suffered a
fall ; they were humbled and humiliated. On the
arrival of Gaines at Rogue River he found Kear
ney gone and the Indians scattered. Succeeding
in an attempt to collect them in council, a treaty
was effected, eleven head men of the Indians
agreeing on terms of peace. By this treaty the
Indians placed themselves under the jurisdiction
and protection of the United States. They also
agreed to restore all the property stolen at any
time from white persons. Then their wives and
children were given back to them.
In January, 1856, Governor Stevens returned
to Olympia. On his arrival he found that the
storm of war was in full blast from east to west.
Many settlers had been murdered by the sound
Indians, aided by the Yakimas. The disheart
ened pioneers were aroused by the governor,
who was full of courage and resourceful ; he set
on foot measures for saving the territory ;
equipping an army of one thousand volunteers,
organized forces of friendly Indians, issued scrip
for meeting expenses and seized necessary stores
and implements. The settlers were in need of
seed to plant their crops ; he dispatched Secre
tary Mason to Washington to acquaint the gov
ernment with their plight and needs.
But in the midst of these benevolent efforts

72

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the Indians, by a sudden attack, seized Seattle
and destroyed the most of it. The Washington
volunteers were equipped, and the second regi
ment under the command of Colonel B. F. Shaw,
started for Walla Walla. This was in the summer
of 1856. Meanwhile the Oregon volunteers had passed
that dismal winter and spring at Walla Walla
and vicinity. In the spring Colonel Kelly re
turned to Portland, leaving Colonel T. R. Cor
nelius in command. The detachment set forth
from their camp on Mill Creek March 10th, and
proceeded to the Yakima country, meeting and
dispersing the Indians whom they there encoun
tered and then, passing on to the Columbia, they
returned to Oregon and disbanded.
There were still in the air Indian wars and
rumors of Indians wars. Governor Curry, of
Oregon, and Governor Stevens, of Washington
Territory, were in entire harmony, believing alike
in a vigorous prosecution of the war ; but the
United States regulars were entirely aloof from
them in sympathy of aim or action. Of the
battle of Grande Ronde, July 17, 1856, Colonel
Shaw says, in part :
We arrived in the Grande Ronde valley on the even
ing of the 16th, and encamped on a branch of the
Grande Ronde river in the timber, sending spies in
advance who returned and reported no fresh signs.
On the morning of the 17th, after proceeding about
five miles, we ascended a knoll in the valley, from which
we discovered dust rising along the timber of the
river. I sent Major Maxon and Captain John for
ward to reconnoitre and returned to hurry up the
command which was not far distant. * * * The
whole command moved on quietly until within half a
mile of the Indian village, when we discovered that the
pack train had moved to the left, down the Grande
Ronde river. At this moment a large body of war
riors came forward singing and whooping, and one
of them waving a white man's scalp on a pole. They
desired a parley, and I sent Captain John ahead to hold
it. As he approached the Indians cried out to each
other, "shoot him," when he retreated to the com
mand and I ordered the four companies to charge.
The design of the enemy evidently was to draw
us into the brush along the river, where from our ex
posed position they would have the advantage, they no
doubt having placed an ambush there. To avoid this
I charged down the river toward the pack train.
Then occurred a sharp, running fight, and
when Colonel Shaw's command gained the pack
traifi, he found the guard and reserve camped
on a small creek not far from the crossing, as
he had previously ordered them to do. In the
charge several of Colonel Shaw's men had

been wounded. Here he learned that Major
Maxon had crossed the river with a small party,
was engaged with the enemy and needed assist
ance. Shaw dispatched assistance. They re
turned after dark and reported that they had not
discovered the Major, but they brought in one
of his men whom they had found in the brush.
He stated that one of the Major's men had been
killed and that the last he had seen of them they
were fighting the Indians. Finally Major Maxon
returned to the camp of Colonel Shaw. Contin
uing the latter says of this fight:
The whole command, officers and men, behaved
well. The enemy was run on the gallop fifteen miles,
and mqst of those who fell were shot with the revolver.
It is impossible to state how many of the enemy were
killed. Twenty-seven bodies were counted by one in
dividual, and many others were known to have fallen
and been left, but were so scattered about that it was
impossible to get count of them. When to these we
add those killed by Major Maxon's command on the
other side of the river, we may safely conclude that
at least forty of the enemy were slain and many went
off wounded. When we left the valley there was not
an Indian in it, and all the signs went to show that
they had gone a great distance from it.
Space does not permit us to give minute de
tails of the second great Walla Walla council,
and this episode is really more closely identified
with the history of Washington than it is with
that of Oregon Territory. This council preceded
the memorable defeat of Colonel E. J. Steptoe, in
r858. The issue of this council was, compara
tively, null and void. Half the Nez Perces deter
mined to stand by the treaty; the other half re
fused. All other tribes were hostile. Governor
Stevens repeated the terms of peace alone pos
sible : "They must throw aside their guns and sub
mit to the justice and mercy of the government,
but as they were invited under safe conduct they
were safe in coming, safe in council and safe in
going." Governor Stevens naturally felt disappointed
at the failure of his hopes, but having done all
that man could do, he had no cause to reproach
himself. Whatever impediments had fallen in
his way were due to the position of General Wool
and the officers who felt compelled to echo his
opinions. It may be very properly said here that
Wright and Stepto discovered their errors soon
and modified their policy. Wool never did, and
in the early part of 1857 he was relieved of his
command, and was succeeded by General N. G.
Clarke, who gave a "new deal" to the impatient
pioneers of the Inland Empire.
In May, 1858, Colonel Steptoe set out with

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

73

two hundred cavalrymen to the Spokane country.
This was in the face of the fact that those power
ful and independent Indians had warned troops
to keep away, alleging that they were neutral, and
would not allow either Yakimas or whites in their
territory. Colonel Steptoe began to make egre
gious and incomprehensible blunders before he
left Walla Walla. On account of the great weight
of provisions and baggage a brilliant quarter
master conceived the idea of leaving behind the
greater part of the ammunition, by way of light
ening the load. As Joseph McEvoy expresses
it, the force was beaten before it left Walla Walla.
Suffice it to say that Steptoe suffered an ignomin
ious defeat at the hands of the Indians, with the
loss of several prominent officers.
THE BANNOCK AND PIUTE WAR OF 1878.
One of the most sensational episodes in the
history of Oregon was its invasion in the summer
of 1878 by the Bannocks and Piutes under the
leadership of Chiefs Buffalo Horn and Egan. The
causes underlying this invasion have been
strangely overlooked. Gilbert, in his "Historic
Sketches of Oregon," says :
Buffalo Horn was a celebrated warrior, who had
the year before aided the government against Chief
Joseph and his band of hostile Nez Perces. His reward
for such services was not in keeping with his estimate
of their value and importance. He saw Chief Joseph
honored and made the recipient of presents and flatter
ing attention, while the great Buffalo Horn was, prac
tically, ignored. His philosophical mind at once led
him to the conclusion that more favors could be wrung
from the government by hostility than by fighting its
battles. With the exception of the Utes, the Ban
nocks are the meanest, most treacherous, most
¦savage and most blood-thirsty of all the Indians
west of the Missouri river. The Bannocks, with
whom were many Shoshones, and all comprised
under the general name of "Snake" Indians, were
joined by a large number of Piutes, under the
lead of Egan, their great war chief. They then
numbered about five hundred warriors, women
and children, swelling the force to about 2,000.
Colonel Orlando Robbins, with a party of scouts
and a portion of the first cavalry, under Colonel
Bernard, overtook the Indians at Silver Creek,
Idaho, and made such a fierce assault that the In
dians were badly demoralized. In this engage
ment Colonel Robbins and Chief Egan had a per
sonal duel, in which Egan was twice shot, his left
arm being crippled and his well-known buckskin

war-horse captured. Egan was dragged from the
field by his young warriors, but the severe wounds
icceived made Egan's subsequent capture on the
Umatilla reservation comparatively easy.
The first definite information of the approach
of the Indians was brought in by Major Nar-
c'sse A. Cornoyer on the second day of July. He
reported that while out on the John Day river
with a hunting party, he had struck the hostiles.
The consternation attending this news can hardly
be described. On horseback, in wagons and on
foot the settlers hastened to the nearest town for
protection. Pendleton, Heppner, Umatilla, Wal-
lula, Weston, Milton and Walla Walla were
ciowded with refugees. Homes were abandoned
so hastily that neither provisions nor extra cloth
ing were provided. All settlements within reach
of a warning voice were deserted in a day. Cattle
and sheep men in the mountains were in a pre
carious situation. Many were killed before they
could gain places, of safety.
Pendleton was to receive the first assault.
That the result would be its complete destruction
and its outlying settlements was believed by
many, while the most sanguine had but little con
fidence. Pendleton had not more than one hun
dred and fifty inhabitants, but with the refugees
it probably totaled three hundred. In one of the
several skirmishes before the Indians reached the
Blue mountains, Buffalo Horn, the Bannock
chief, had been killed, and the command of the
allied forces of Snakes and Piutes devolved upon
Egan. For so heavy a responsibility he was
totally unfit, and was, also, greatly incapacitated
by wounds. His army arrived in and had posses
sion of Camas prairie on July 4th, and had he
marched at once upon Pendleton he would have
met no effective resistence ; could have followed
the Umatilla down to the Columbia, and in spite
of the two or three armed steamers patrolling the
river, made a successful crossing. But instead
of striking a decisive blow and falling upon Pen
dleton before the troops from Vancouver and
Walla Walla, and the volunteers from Weston,
Milton and other points could concentrate, he
frittered away the time in killing a few straggling
sheep-herders and skirmishing with Captain Wil
son's handful of thirty men which had met the
Indians near Alba, and finding the enemy in
force, had retreated to Pendleton.
At that time Pendleton consisted of about
thirty or forty houses, mostly one-story shacks,
scattered along Court and Main streets from the
Golden Rule hotel to the Pendleton Savings Bank
Building. The houses were in a sort of a quad
rangle by no means compact. The first defense
erected by .the panic-stricken inhabitants was a
row of wagons stretched across Main street from

74

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the Savings Bank building to where the Odd Fel
lows building now stands. Women, and children
were hustled into Byers' mill, and a number of
men went there to guard them. Frank Vincent,
a dentist, and brother of Dr. F. A. Vincent, re
cently mayor of Pendleton, was made captain of
the company organized for the defense of the
town. At Umatilla City similar precautions were
taken. J. H. Kunzie was appointed assistant ad
jutant general by Governor Stephen F. Chad-
wick, who hurried there and made it his head
quarters. That point was selected because it had
the nearest telegraph office, and because supplies
for troops and volunteers were landed there. Vol
unteers were organized and armed by Kunzie and
the town was closely guarded. At that time it
had a population of about one hundred and fifty.
The stone warehouse of J. R. Foster & Company
was fitted up for a fort. Like preparations were
made at Heppner, Weston, Milton and other
places which were supposed to be in danger.
So soon as Captain Wilson's company had
straggled in from Camas prairie with the infor
mation that the hostiles were in force in that re
gion and that some of their number and some
sheep-herders had been killed another company
was organized by Sheriff J. L. Sperry, which
started July 5th for the front, with a company
from Weston under Dr. W. W. Oglesby and
another under M. Kirk. At Pilot Rock they re
ceived recruits and were then consolidated into
a single command, constituted as follows : Cap
tain, J. L. Sperry; lieutenants, M. Kirk, William
M. Blakely ; sergeants, William Lamar, T. S.
Ferguson, J. C. Coleman, William Ellis, R. East
land ; privates, W. W. Oglesby, T. C. McKay,
George Bishop, S. L. Lansdon, Andrew Sulli
van, A. Scott, A. Acton, C. R. Henderson, B. E.
Daugherty, J. H. Wilson, H. Rockfellow, B. L.
Manning, F. D. Ferguson, M. P. Gerking, C. P.
Woodward, F. Hannah, S. I. Gerking, G. W.
Titsworth, S. W. Smith, J. M. Stone, H. H.
Howell, W. M. Metzger, W. P. Grubb, W. L.
Donaldson, J. L. Smith, S. Rothschild, R. F.
Warren, J. W. Salisbury, H. A. Salisbury, Har
rison Hale, L. Blanchard, J. B. Perkins, A. Cris-
field, B. F. Ogle, C. C. Townsend, J. Frazier,
W. R. Reed, Thomas Ogle, Joseph Ogle, "Doc"
Odeer, Walter Harrison, George Graves, P. J.
Ryan and A. R. Kellogg.
Marching from Pilot Rock for Camas prairie
the next day they stopped at Wilson Springs for
dinner. Here they were attacked in force by the
Indians. At the first alarm thirteen of the vol
unteers sprang on their horses and struck out for
Pendleton. Making a virtue of necessity the
others tied their horses in a sheep corral and took
refuge in a shed. Absolutely indefensible was

this position, commanded, as it was, by surround
ing hills and rocks. But during all the after
noon the remnant of this company made a stout
resistance, but at last they began to suffer se
verely for water. One of the men refused to
stand it, took a pail, and against the protestations
of his comrades, left the shed, walked through the
zone of Indian fire, filled his bucket and returned
unscathed. The shed was riddled with bullets
and a number of casualties resulted. William
Lamar, a school teacher, who was engaged to be
married to a daughter of Dr. W. C. McKay, was-
killed and S. I. Lansdon, A. Crisfield, afterward
a prominent merchant of Pendleton, G. W. Tits-
worth, C. R. Henderson, Frank Hannah, Jacob
Frazer, J. W. Salisbury and H. H. Howell were
wounded, Salisbury twice and Hannah seven.
times. A horrible feature of the affair was the
mutilation of the remains of Lamar. The In
dians cut out his heart and roasted it over a slow
fire, and it was found in this condition on the
retreat of the Indians.
During the night the volunteers decided to
abandon their position and endeavor to reach
Pendleton. Loading the wounded on a wagon
(it was a curious thing that all of them were
shot in the leg), they started, the men being in
structed to fall prostrate the instant a gun was-
fired. They were fired upon three times, how
ever, and Harrison and Hale were shot dead.-
The rest of the company returned the fire, and
after a few scattering shots the savages gave-
way. Upon the arrival at Pendleton of the thir
teen men who had fled from Willow Springs at
the beginning of the action, Throckmorton in
stantly started to the relief of the party under
Sheriff Sperry, and they* met the retreating vol
unteers soon after daylight about four miles-
north of Pilot Rock. They were escorted back
to Pendleton where they all arrived . safely. And
now the real defense of Pendleton began. Rifle-
pits were constructed, and manned bv the
regulars, and all the soldiers were supplied with
plenty of ammunition. The women and children
were concentrated in Byers' mill. At this stage
of affairs James H. Turner, a lawyer, suggested
the idea that the non-combatants in the mill were
at the mercy of the Indians should the latter at
tempt to fire that building. Thereupon Lot
Livermore, Turner and James A. Drake, who
had seen service in the Civil war, organized a
company of twelve men, who, under Drake, as
captain, took possession of a fence east of the
Byers' mill and held it.
Sunday, July 7th, Howard's forces coming
from the east, united with Throckmorton's reg
ulars at Pilot Rock, and the next morning as-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

75

sailed the Indian camp at the heads of Butter
and Birch creeks. This combined force was
much more than a match for the Indians and
Egan's chances for victory were gone. Accord
ing to Frank T. Gilbert :
The command moved in two columns, two com
panies of artillery, one of infantry and a few volunteers
under Throckmorton, seven companies of cavalry and
twenty of Robbins scouts, under Captain Bernard ac
companied by General Howard in person. The Indians
were encountered and driven with considerable loss
from their strong positions, and finally fled in the
direction of Grande Ronde valley.
Meanwhile events were happening along the Colum
bia. Governor Ferry hastened to Walla Walla on the
7th and raised a company of forty volunteers under
Captain W. C. Painter, that proceeded to Wallula and
embarked the next morning on the steamer Spokane
under command of Major Kress.
Captain Wilkinson had the Northwest with twelve
soldiers and twenty volunteers. These boats, armed
with howitzers and Gatling guns, patrolled the river.
This was the day that Howard drove the Indians
back into the mountains, thus heading them off if they
had any designs of crossing the river. .
There were several hundred Indians that had never
lived on the reservation and were considered non-
treaty Indians. They belonged chiefly to the Umatilla
'and Walla Walla tribes, lived in the vicinity of Wallula
and Umatilla and were known as Columbia River
Indians. When Major Cornoyer gathered in the scat
tered bands, many of these refused to go, and were
looked upon as sympathizing with the hostiles and were
supposed to have joined them. The morning of the
day Howard had his fight on Butter and Birch creeks
a number of these attempted to cross the river with a
quantity of stock. They were interrupted at three
points by the Spokanes and, being fired upon, several
Indians and a few horses were wounded and killed.
All canoes from Celilo to Wallula were destroyed.
Captain Wilkinson on the Northwest fired into a small
party in the act of crossing a few miles above Umatilla.
Two braves and a squaw were killed.
The death of State Senator C. L. Jewell was ascribed
to Columbias by many. He had a large band of sheep
on Camas prairie, and went there with Morrisey to
look after them. They encountered a number of
Indians, but succeeded in eluding them and reaching
the herder's cabin in safety. Leaving Morrissey there
he returned to Pendleton to secure arms for his men
who had decided to remain and defend themselves.
The morning of the 5th he left Pendleton with several
needle guns, contrary to the advice of many friends.
He was expected at the hut that night but did not
come. The 8th Morrissey started to see if he could be
found. Near Nelson's he met Captain Frank Mad-

dock with a company of volunteers from Heppner,
who informed him that two men had been killed there.
A search revealed the bodies of Nelson and N. Scully.
Morrissey went around Nelson's house, when he saw
a piece of shake sticking up in the road, upon which
was written the information that Jewell was lying-
wounded in the brush. Morrissey called out, "Charlie !"
He received a faint response, and the injured man
was found with a severe wound in his left side and his
left arm broken.
When Jewell had approached Nelson's place on the
night of the 5th he had been fired upon and fell from
his horse ; but while the Indians were killing those
at the house, he had crawled into the bushes. In the
morning he worked his way out into the road, wrote
his notice on the shake, and crawled back again. For
three days he had lain there without food and unable
to help himself, when he was found by Morrissey.
He was conveyed to Pendleton and carefully nursed,
but died the next Friday.
Meanwhile all was confusion at Pendleton and
the agency. The citizens were suspicious of the reser
vation Indians, fearing they intended to unite with the
hostiles. Consequently volunteers would not go to
the agency to defend it. Forty families of Columbias
slipped out and went to the enemy's camp, and a few
young Umatillas started off without permission, prob
ably with a similar intention.
Two of these saw George Coggan, Fred Foster and
Al Bunker coming down from Cayuse station on a
course that took them in dangerous proximity to the
hostiles. They rode toward the men with the in
tention of warning them, so they said afterward, and
at the same time a third Indian rode up from another
direction. The men had seen some deserted wagons
a few miles back, where Olney J. P. McCoy, Charles
McLaughlin, Thomas Smith and James Myers had been
killed. They had also passed a band of Columbias on
their way to the hostile camp.
When they saw the Indians dashing toward them
from different directions they supposed them to be
the ones they had passed, and concluding that their
time had come, began firing upon them. The Uma
tillas suddenly changed their pacific intentions and
commenced shooting. Coggan was killed and Bunker
wounded. Foster who had every reason to believe
that he was assailed by at least a score of savages,
took the wounded man upon his horse and carried him
two miles when Bunker could go no farther. Foster
was then compelled to leave him, and hastened to
Pendleton, where his arrival created a panic. Besides
killing the teamsters, the Indians burned Cayuse sta
tion that day.
At this time news was received that Colonel Miles
had been informed of Egan's movements, and had
determined to take the responsibility of marching to-
the agency for his protection. To the exertions of
Major Cornoyer and those accompanying him that

76

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

night is due the fact that Colonel Miles arrived in time
to defend the agency and avert the evils that would
have followed its capture, including the murder of many
people, and a possible union of reservation Indians with
the hostiles.
The troops, upon reaching their destination, pro
ceeded at once to eat breakfast, but before they were
through the Snakes, Bannocks and Piutes, four hundred
strong, were seen riding down from their camp. A line
was quickly formed across the flat, and up the hill, and
before the soldiers were all in position the Indians began
to fire upon them. Nearly all day a battle was main
tained with the soldiers lying in holes they had scooped
in the ground to protect themselves.
Finally Miles decided to charge his assailants, al
though he had but one company of cavalry and would
not be able to pursue them. The Cayuses requested
permission to join in the fight, and were allowed to do
so on condition that they would keep with the soldiers
and not get in advance of them. The command to
charge was given, and the soldiers sprang from their
-rifle pits and rushed upon the enemy, vieing with theii
Cayuse allies in the onslaught. The hostiles, fleeing
to the mountains, returned no more, and that night
found them eighteen miles from the agency, after hav
ing finished the destruction of Cayuse station by burn
ing the barn, and the soldiers returned and went into
¦camp. There were no casualties on the side of the
troops and the volunteers.
Before the fight Umapine started out to do a little
work on his own account. His father had been killed
years before by Egan, who was in command of the
'hostiles, and he wanted revenge. When the battle was
over he told Egan the Cayuses would join him, and
persuaded the chief to accompany him the next night
to a point twelve miles from the agency to meet the
Cayuse chiefs and arrange matters. He then sent word
to Major Cornoyer to have forty soldiers stationed at
the appointed place to capture or kill Egan when he
appeared. Colonel Miles held the same opinion of Umapine's
loyalty that the citizens did, and refused to send sol
diers on such an errand. The Cayuses expressed their
disappointment to the agent and complained of these
suspicions. He told them the best way to convince the
whites of their loyalty was to go out themselves and
-capture Egan.
On this suggestion Hom-e-li, chief of the
Walla Wallas, and Peo, sub-chief of the Umatil
las, acted. Forty young braves were selected and
they repaired to the rendezvous between Meach
am and Cayuse station. Umapine and Five
Crows went to Egan's camp, and requested his
presence at a conference. Into this trap Egan
walked. All were mounted. Arriving in the
•vicinity of the proposed rendezvous Egan be
came suspicious, leaped from his horse and closed

with Five Crows. Then ensued a struggle ; but
Egan was a cripple from his wounds; he soon
fell, stabbed to the heart by Five Crows. The
latter deliberately scalped his dead enemy, and
as one of Egan's sub-chiefs started to ride away,
shot him and added his scalp to his collection.
Flushed with victory the Umatillas returned.
A trimphal procession of all Indians on the res
ervation was formed and passed in review before
the troops drawn up in line by General Wheaton,
that officer having arrived from Walla Walla and
taken command. Ya-tin-i-ow-its was chief of
the Cayuses, and bearing the scalp of Egan on
a pole, arrived in front of the commanding offi
cer, and pointing to his bloody trophy said :
"Egan, Egan, we give you." "No, no, keep it,
you brave man !" exclaimed the disgusted officer.
Defeat on the reservation, death of their
leader, return of the cavalry and knowledge that
the Columbia river could not be crossed, so dis
heartened the hostiles that they began to break
up and return to their own country. Chief Hom-
e-li with eighty picked warriors of the Umatillas,
Cayuses and Walla Wallas joined the troops in
pursuit and kept them constantly on the move.
Hom-e-li reached their front the 17th, on Camas
creek, and when the retreating bands came along,
charged into their midst and killed thirty of them
without losing a man. He, also, captured twen
ty-seven women and children, and a number of
horses. From this time the seat of war was removed
from Umatilla county. The hostiles retreated to
the Blue mountains. Howard, with ten small
columns, pursued them energetically, overtook
them and finally cornered them in Harney county,
forced their surrender and inarched them across
from Harney to Yakima. The 18th of Julv Gov
ernor Chadwick addressed a letter to Sheriff
Sperry instructing him to arrest all Indians guilty
of murder or robbery, to be tried by civil author
ities. This was a matter of great difficulty ow
ing to lack of witnesses. By appointment a great
council was held on the reservation August 26th,
at which General Howard, Governor Chadwick
and others were present. The chiefs were made
to understand that the only way to clear them
selves and their tribes from blame was to sur
render all that had been guilty of wrongful acts,
and hostages were taken to insure their doing so.
Some of the Columbia river Indians were ar
rested, but were afterward released for want of
evidence. At last by the persistent investigation of
Major Cornoyer, the murderers of George Cog
gan were discovered. Four young Umatillas
were arrested. One of them gave evidence at
the trial in November and was discharged. White

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

IT

Owl, Qupit-a-Tumps and Aps were convicted
and sentenced to be hanged. The first two were
executed in the jail-yard at Pendleton, January

10, 1879, a company of cavalry and one of mil
itia being present as a guard. A week later Aps-
was hanged at the same place.

CHAPTER IX

OREGON: PHYSICAL FEATURES AND EVOLUTION.

The most northwesterly state in the union,
previous to the admission of Washington, was
Oregon. It is bounded on the south by Nevada
and California; on the east by Idaho; on the
north by Washington and on the west by the Pa
cific ocean. From east to west the average width
of the state is 350 miles; north and south, 275
miles. Its area is 96,030 square miles, or 61,-
459,200 acres. It is as large as all of the New
England states with Indiana added, and greater
in extent than New York and Pennsylvania com
bined. The census of 1900 accredited Oregon
with a population of 413,536; the secretary of
the Exposition Board of 1905 claimed the popu
lation of the state, by counties, in 1903, to have
been 595,700. It is situated between the paral
lels of 42 degrees and 46 degrees, 18 minutes,
north latitude; the climate and physical charac
teristics are not unlike those of Virginia or Ten
nessee. Into two unequal parts the state is divided by
the Cascade mountains. In topography, soil and
climate these two parts widely differ from each
other. Along its western border the Coast Range
also traverses it from north to south, while along
its eastern boundary the Blue Montain range,
with its various spurs, covers probably a fifth of
the total area of the state. Other lesser ranges,
generally spurs of those named, jut. into the in
termediate regions, lending to the entire coun
try an extraordinary diversity of feature.
The western division is about one-fourth of
the state, but it contains at least one-half of the
arable land, including the matchless valley of the
Willamette, which is one hundred and forty by
fifty miles in extent. Scarcely less important
than the Willamette valley is the coast district of
Western Oregon, which borders the ocean for
about one hundred and fifty miles. Between
these arable districts lie broad ranges of forest,
affording a supply of timber practically inex
haustible. No country in the world is more bounti
fully watered than western Oregon. It is a land
of rivers. Clear and pure water gushes from

every hillside, and it is rare that a square mile
is found through which a crystal stream does not
flow. What is called southern Oregon includes-
about one-fifth of the superficial area of the state..
A small portion of this, lying next to the ocean,.
has physical characteristics and climate similar
to western Oregon, while the remainder, com
passed about with mountains, and being more
elevated has a climate of its own, dryer than.
western Oregon, yet not so dry as the climate of
eastern Oregon. In summer these districts lie-
under a warmer sun than their northerly neigh
bors. Eastern Oregon is a general designation
given to all that part of the state east of the Cas
cade mountains, excepting the much smaller-
southern portion last above described. This di
vision embraces two-thirds of the area of the-
state. In its general characteristics this region.
may be described as high and dry, warm in sum
mer, cool in winter, rich in soil and fairly well-
supplied with timber. In a country so vast there
are many local variations -from this general state
ment. The average elevation of eastern Oregon
is about 2,500 feet. The southwestern portion.
of this section, notably all that lying south of
Malheur river, is so dry that it requires irriga
tion for the maturing of almost all crops. The
northern central portion of this eastern Oregon-
country is much broken by minor ranges of moun
tains, which afford fine pasturage ; and here and
there are narrow valleys unsurpassed for fertil
ity. The southern central section is known as
the Harney Lake region, which has long been
celebrated as one of the main grazing regions of
the state. This may be described as a vast, roll
ing table land, interspersed with valleys of con
siderable extent, which are natural meadows of
luxuriant and nutritious grasses.
RIVERS, WATERCOURSES AND SPRINGS.
For the number, size and economical distri
bution of its watercourses Oregon has, probably,
no equal in the union. With the greatest rivers;

78

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in the world ranks the Columbia. From its
birth, among the most magnificent scenes of the
earth, in the far north, and in the heart of the
Yellowstone National Park, down through its
2,500 miles of irresistible sweep to the western sea,
it is an avenue of wealth and wonder. Inland.
for three hundred miles from the Pacific, it aver
ages about two miles in breadth, reaching over
six miles near its mouth. Engineers estimate
that it carries off a volume of water but little,
if any less than does the Mississippi. Its im
mense drainage of 395,000 square miles may be
imagined from the fact that during the melting
of the snows in the northwestern mountain
ranges, its daily increase, for days at a time, has
been equal to the entire volume-of the Hudson.
The Willamette river is next in size and may be
navigated by the largest ocean steamships and
sailing vessels so far as Portland, 112 miles from
the sea, and by river steamers a distance of 138
miles beyond. It gathers up the waters of forty-
two streams, some of which are navigable for
light-draft steamers. The Snake river is next
in importance, being, in fact, the main fork of the
Columbia. It has been navigated by light draft
steamers to a point within 125 miles of Salt Lake
City, almost under the shadows of the Wahsatch
range. Among other navigable streams are Rogue
river and Umpqua river in southwestern Oregon.
Flowing from south to north in central Oregon
and emptying into the Columbia are the Des
Chutes and John Day rivers, each about three
hundred miles long. In southeastern Oregon-
are the Owyhee and Malheur rivers, the former
rising five hundred miles southward, in Nevada,
and emptying into the Snake where the latter
stream strikes the eastern Oregon boundary line.
In northeastern Oregon are the Powder, Grande
Ronde and Umatilla rivers, all swift, strong
streams, watering large areas of fertile valley
lands. There are several commodious harbors for
vessels of light draft on the coast line, exclusive
of those found at the mouths of the several rivers.
At these places a thriving business is carried on
in lumbering, coal mining, fishing, oystering,
dairying and agricultural products.
CLIMATOLOGY AND HEALTHFULNESS.
Each of the three natural divisions of Oregon
has a climate peculiar to itself. That of western
Oregon is mild and equable. The average spring
temperature is 52 degrees ; summer, 67 degrees ;
autumn, 53 degrees; or an average of 52.75 de
grees for the whole year. The mercury seldom
rises above 90 degrees in the hottest days in the

summer, and rarely falls below 20 degrees in the
winter ; so that out-door labor may be performed
at all times of the year, and at all hours of the
day. Considering the mercury's limited range
during the four seasons, and the other conditions
peculiar to the locality, a year would be more
properly divided into two seasons — the wet and
dry, the former lasting from the middle of No
vember until May, during which period the rain
fall is copious and regular, insuring certain crops
and good pasture. In the Willamette valley the
annual rainfall is forty-four inches — about the
same as at Davenport, Memphis and Philadel
phia, while in all other valleys it is sufficient to
prevent any drouth. The rain never comes in
torrents, but gently and without atmospheric dis
turbance. Thunder storms are rare.
EVOLTJTTION OF GOVERNMENT.
So early as 1838 some of the functions of
government were exercised by members of the
Methodist mission in "Oregon." Persons were
chosen by that body to officiate as magistrates
and judges and their findings were generally ac
quiesced in by persons independent of the Hud
son's Bay Company because of the unorganized
condition of the community, though there was,
doubtless, a strong sentiment among the inde
pendent settlers in favor of trusting to the gen
eral morality and disposition to do right rather
than to any political organization. The most im
portant act of the mission officers was the trial
of T. J. Hubbard for the killing of a man who
attempted to enter his house at night with crim
inal and burglarious intent. Rev. David Leslie
presided as judge during this noteworthy judi
cial proceeding, which resulted in the acquittal
of the defendant on the ground that the act was
justifiable. A petition was drafted in 1840,
signed by David Leslie and others, and forwarded
to Congress. It is not entirely free from mis
statements and inaccuracies, but is nevertheless
an able and important state paper. It reads as
follows :
To the Honorable, the Senate and House of Repre
sentatives of the United States of America in Con
gress Assembled :
Your petitioners represent to your honorable bod
ies that they are residents in the Oregon Territory, and
citizens of the United States, or persons desirous of
becoming such.
They further represent to your honorable bodies
that they have settled themselves in said territory un
der the belief that it was a portion of the public domain
of said sates, and that they might rely upon the govern
ment thereof for the blessings of free institutions and
the protection of its arms.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

79

But your petitioners further represent that they
are uninformed of any acts of said government by
which its institutions and protection are extended to
them ; in consequence whereof, themselves and families
are exposed to be destroyed by the savages around
them, and OTHERS THAT WOULD DO THEM
HARM.
And your petitioners would further represent that
they have no means of protecting their own and the
lives of their families, other than self-constituted
tribunals, originated and sustained by the power of an
ill-constructed public opinion, and the resort to force
and arms. And your petitioners represent these means
of safety to be an insufficient safe-guard of life and
property, and that the crimes of theft, murder, infan
ticide, etc., are increasing among them to an alarming
extent ; and your petitioners declare themselves unable
to arrest this progress of crime and its terrible conse
quences without the aid of the law and tribunals to
administer it.
Your petitioners therefore pray the Congress of
the United States of America to establish, so soon as
may be, a Territorial government in the Oregon Terri
tory. And if reasons other than those above presented
were needed to induce your honorable bodies to grant
the prayer of the undersigned, your petitioners, they
would be found in the value of this territory to the na
tion, and the alarming circumstances that portend its
loss. Your petitioners, in view of these last considera
tions, would represent that the English government has
had a surveying squadron on the Oregon coast for the
last two years, employed in making accurate surveys of
all its rivers, bays and harbors ; and that, recently, the
said government is said to have made a grant to the
Hudson's Bay Company of all lands lyjng between the
Columbia river and Puget Sound ; and that said com
pany is actually exercising unequivocal acts of owner
ship over said lands thus granted, and opening exten
sive farms upon the same.
And your petitioners represent that these circum
stances, connected with other acts of said company to
the same effect, and their declarations that the English
government own and will hold, as its own soil, that
portion of Oregon Territory situated north of the Col
umbia river, together with the important fact that the
said company are cutting and sawing into lumber, and
shipping to foreign ports, vast quantities of the finest
pine trees upon the navigable waters of the Columbia,
have led your petitioners to apprehend that the English
government do intend, at all events, to hold that por
tion of this territory lying north of the Columbia river.
And your petitioners represent that the said terri
tory, north of the Columbia, is an invaluable possession
to the American Union ; that in and about Puget Sound
are the only harbors of easy access, and commodious
and safe, upon the whole coast of the territory ; and that
a great part of this said northern portion of the Ore

gon Territory is rich in timber, water-power and valu
able minerals. For these and other reasons your peti
tioners pray that Congress will establish its sovereignty
over said territory.
Your petitioners would further represent that the
country south of the Columbia river, and north of the
Mexican line, and extending from the Pacific ocean to
one hundred and twenty miles into the interior, is of
unqualified beauty and fertility. Its mountains, cov
ered with perpetual snow, pouring into the prairies
around their bases transparent streams of the purest
water ; the white and black oak, pine, cedar and fir
forests that divide the prairies into sections convenient
for farming purposes ; the rich mines of coal in its
hills; the salt springs in its valleys; its quarries of
limestone, sandstone, chalk and marble ; the salmon of
its rivers, and the various blessings of the delightful
and healthful climate, are known to us, and impress
your petitioners with the belief that this is one of the
most favored portions of the globe.
Indeed the deserts of the interior have their wealth
of pasturage, and their lakes, evaporating in summer,
leave in their basins hundreds of bushels of the purest
soda. Many other circumstances could be named, show
ing the importance of the territory in a national, com
mercial and agricultural point of view. And although
your petitioners would not under value considerations
of this kind, yet they beg leave especially to call the
attention of Congress to their own condition as an in
fant colony, without military force or civil institutions
to protect their lives and property and children, sanc
tuaries and tombs, from the hands of uncivilized and
merciless savages around them. We respectfully ask
for the civil institutions of the American Republic.
We pray for the high privilege of American citizen
ship; the peaceful enjoyment of life; the right of ac
quiring, possessing and using property; and the uni
versal, unrestrained pursuit of rational happiness. And
for this your petitioners will ever pray.
DAVID LESLIE (and others.)
This petition will be found in the Senate
Document, Twenty-sixth Congress, No. 514. In
asmuch as the population of Oregon, including
children, did not exceed two hundred at this
time, the prayer of the petitioners, it need hardly
be said, was not granted. But it must not be
supposed that the document was therefore with
out effect. It did its part toward opening the
eyes of the people of the east and of congress to
the importance and value of Oregon and toward
directing public attention to the domain west of
the Rocky mountains. Notwithstanding the pau
city of the white people of Oregon, the various
motives which impelled them thither had divided
them into four classes, the Hudson's Bay Corn-
pan)', the Catholic clergy and their following, the
Methodist missions, and the settlers. The Cath-

So

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

olics and the Company were, practically, a unit
politically. The settlers favored the missions
only in so far as they served the purpose of help
ing to settle the country, caring little about their
religious influence and opposing their ambitions.
The would-be organizers of a government
found their opportunity in the conditions pre
sented by the death of Ewing Young. This
audacious pioneer left considerable property and
no legal representatives, and the question was
what should be done with his belongings. Had
he been a Hudson's Bay man or a Catholic, the
company or the church would have taken care
of his property. Had he been a missionary his
coadjutors might have administered, but being
a plain American citizen there was no function
ary possessed of even a colorable right to exercise
jurisdiction over his estate. In the face of this
emergency, the occasion of Young's funeral,
which occurred February 17th, was seized upon
for attempting the organization of some kind of a
government. At an impromptu meeting it was
decided that a committee should perform the leg
islative functions and that the other officers of
the new government should be a governor, a
supreme judge with probate jurisdiction, three
justices of the peace, three constables, three road
commissioners, an attorney general, a clerk of
the court and public recorder, a treasurer and
two overseers of the poor. Nominations were
made for all these offices' and the meeting ad
journed until next day, when it was hoped a large
representation of the citizens of the valley would
assemble at the mission house.
The time specified saw the various factions
in full force at the place of meeting. A legisla
tive committee was appointed as follows : Revs.
F. N. Blanchet, Jason Lee, Gustavus Hines and
Josiah L. Parish, also Messrs. D. Donpierre, M.
Charlevo, Robert Moore, E. Lucier and William
Johnson. No governor was chosen; the Metho
dists secured the judgeship and the Catholics the
clerk and recorder. Had the friends of the or
ganization been more fortunate .in their choice
of a chairman of the legislative committee the
result of the movement might have been differ
ent, but Rev. Blanchet never called a meeting of
his committee and the people who assembled on
June ist to hear and vote upon proposed laws
discovered that their congregating had been in
vain. Blanchet resigned. Dr. Bailey was chosen
to fill the vancancy and the meeting adjourned
until October. First, however, it ordered the
committee to confer with Commodore Wilkes of
the American squadron and John McLoughlin,
chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, with
regard to forming a constitution and code of
laws. Wilkes considered it unnecessary and im

politic to organize a government at that time,
giving as his reasons :
First — On account of their want of right, as those
wishing for laws were, in fact, a small' minority of
the settlers. Second — That these were not yet necessary even
by their own account.
Third — That any laws they might establish would
be a poor substitute for the moral code they all now
followed, and that evil doers would not be disposed
to settle near a community entirely opposed to their
practices. Fourth — The great difficulty they would have in
enforcing any laws, and defining the limits over which
they had control, and the discord this might occasion
in their small community.
Fifth — That not being the majority, and the larger
portion of the population Catholics, the latter would
elect officers of their party, and they would thus place
themselves entirely under the control of others.
Sixth — The unfavorable impressions it would pro
duce at home, from the belief that the missionaries had
admitted that in a community brought together by them
selves they had not enough of moral force to control
it and prevent crime, and therefore must have recourse
to a criminal code.
The friends of the movement could not deny
the cogency of this reasoning, and it appears they
concluded to let the matter drop. The October
meeting was never held and thus the first at
tempt at forming a government was brought to
an unsuccessful conclusion. However, the judge
elected made a satisfactory disposition of the
Young estate.
But the question of forming an independent
or provisional government continued to agitate
the public mind. During the winter of 1842-3
a lyceum was organized as Williamette Falls,
now Oregon City, at which the propriety of tak
ing steps in that direction was warmly debated.
One evening the subject for discussion was,
"Resolved, That it is expedient for the settlers-
on this coast to establish an independent govern
ment." McLoughlin favored the resolution and
is carried. Mr. Abernethy, defeated in this de
bate, skillfully saved the day by introducing as
the topic of the next discussion, "Resolved, That
if the United States extends its jurisdiction over
this country within four years, it will not be ex
pedient to form an independent government."
This resolution was also carried after a spirited
discussion, destroying the effect of the first reso
lution. Meanwhile the settlers in the vicinity of the
Oregon Institute were skillfully working out a
plan whereby a provisional government might be-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

81

formed. They knew the sentiment of their con
freres at the Falls, the result of the deliberations
at that place having been reported to them by
Mr. Le Breton; they knew also that their de
signs would meet with opposition from both the
Hudson's Bay Company and the mission people.
The problem to be solved was how to accomplish
their ends without stirring up an opposition
whi^ch would overwhelm them at the very out
set. Their solution of this problem is a lasting
testimony to their astuteness and finesse.
As a result of the formation of the Willamette
Cattle Company and its success in importing
stock from California, almost every settler was
the owner of at least a few head, and, of course,
the Hudson's Bay Company and the missions
also had their herds. The fact that wolves, bears
and panthers were destructive to the cattle of all
alike furnished one bond of common interest unit
ing the diverse population of Oregon, and this
circumstance furnished one bond of common in
terest uniting the diverse population of Oregon,
and this circumstance furnished the conspirators
their opportunity. Their idea was that having
got an object before the people upon which all
could unite, they might advance from the osten
sible object, protection for domestic animals to
the more important, though hidden object, "pres
ervation both for property and person." The
"wolf meeting," as it is called, convened on the
2d of February, 1843, and was fully attended.
It was feared that Dr. I. L. Babcock, the chair
man, might suspect the main object, but in this
instance he was even less astute than some others.
The utmost harmony prevailed. It was moved
that a committee of six should be appointed by
the chair to devise a plan and report at a future
meeting, to convene, it was decided, on the first
Monday in March next, at 10 o'clock a. m.
After the meeting pursuant to adjournment
had completed its business by organizing a cam
paign against wolves, bears and panthers, and
adopting rules and regulations for the govern
ment of all in their united warfare upon pests,
one gentleman arose and addressed the assembly,
complimenting it upon the justice and propriety
of the action taken for the protection of domestic
animals, but, "How is it, fellow citizens," said
he, "with you and me and our children and wives?
Have we any organization upon which we can
rely for mutual protection ? Is there any power
or influence in the country sufficient to protect
us and all we hold dear on earth from the worse
than wild beats that threaten and occasionally
destroy our cattle ? Who in our midst is author
ized at this moment to call us together to protect
our own and the lives of our families? True,
the alarm may be given, as in a recent case, and
6

we may run who feel alarmed, and shoot off our
guns, whilst our enemy may be robbing our
property, ravishing our wives and burning the
houses over our defenseless families. Common
sense, prudence and justice to ourselves demand
that we act consistent with the principles we
have commenced. We have mutually and uni
tedly agreed to defend and protect our cattle and
domestic animals ; now, fellow citizens, I submit
and move the adoption of the two following reso
lutions, that we may have protection for our
persons and our lives, as well as our cattle and
herds :
" 'Resolved, That a committee be appointed
to take into consideration the propriety of taking
measures for the civil and military protection of
this colony.
" 'Resolved, That said committee consist of
twelve persons.' "
If an oratorical effort is to be judged by the
effect produced upon the audience, this one de
serves a place among the world's masterpieces.
The resolutions were carried unanimously. The
committee appointed consisted of I. L. .Babcock,
Elijah White, James O'Neil, Robert Shortess,
Ro1"" t Newell, Etienne Lucier, Joseph Gervais,
Thomas Hubbard, C. McRoy, W. H. Gray, Sid
ney Smith and George Gay. Its first meeting was
held before a month had elapsed, the place being
Willamette Falls. Jason Lee and George Abertie-
thy appeared and argued against the movement as
premature. When the office of governor was
stricken from the list the committee unanimously
decided to call another meeting on the ensuing
2d of Alay. W. H. Gray, in his "History of
Oregon," describes this decisive occasion with
such graphic power that it would be a great de
privation to the reader to fail to give it in his
own language. He says :
The second of May, the day fixed by the committee
of twelve to organize a settlers' government, was close
at hand. The Indians had all learned that the "Bos
tons" were going to have a big meeting, and they also
knew that the English and French were going to meet
with them to oppose what the "Bostons" were going to
do. The Hudson's Bay Company had drilled and
trained their voters for the occasion, under Rev. F. N.
Blanchet and his priests, and they were promptly on the
ground in an open field near a small house, and, to the-
amusement of every American present, trained to vote
"No" to every motion put; no matter if to carry their
point they should have voted "Yes," it was "No."
Le Breton had informed the committee and the Ameri
cans generally, that this would be the course pursued,
according to instructions, hence our motions were made
to test their knowledge of what they were doing, and
we found just what we expected was the case. The

82

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

priest was not prepared for our manner of meeting them,
and as the record shows, considerable confusion was
existing in consequence. By this time we had counted
¦ votes. Says Le Breton, "We can risk it; let us divide
and count." "I second that motion," says Gray. "Who's
for a divide?" sang out old Joe Meek, as he stepped
out ; "all for the report of the committee and an organi
zation follow me."
This was so sudden and unexpected that the priest
and his voters did not know what to do, but every
American was soon in line. Le Breton and Gray
passed the line and counted fifty-two Americans and
but fifty French and Hudson's Bay men. They an
nounced the count — fifty-two for, and fifty against.
"Three cheers for our side!" sang out old Joe Meek.
Not one of those old veteran mountain voices was lack
ing in that shout for liberty. They were given with a
will, and in a few seconds the chairman, Judge I. L.
Babcock, called the meeting to order, when the priest
and his band slunk away into the corners of the fences,
and in a short time mounted their horses and left.
After the withdrawal of the opponents of
this measure the meeting became harmonious, of
course. Its minutes show that A. E. Wilson
was chosen supreme judge ; G. W. Le Breton,
clerk of the court and recorder ; J. L. Meek, sher
iff ; W. H. Wilson, treasurer ; Messrs. Hill, Shor-
tess, Newell, Beers, Hubbard, Gray, O'Neil,
Moore and Dougherty, legislative committee ; and
that constables, a major and captains were also
chosen. The salary of the legislative committee
was fixed at $1.25 per day, and it was in
structed to prepare a code of laws to be sub
mitted to the people at Champoeg on the 5th day
of July. On the day preceding this date the anniver
sary of America's birth was duly celebrated,
Rev. Gustavus Hines delivering the oration.
Quite a number who had opposed organization
at the previous meeting were present on the 5th
and announced their determination to acquiesce
in the acts of the majority and yield obedience
to any government which might be formed, but
representatives of the Hudson's Bay Company
even went so far in their opposition as to address
a letter to the leaders of the movement asserting
their ability to defend both themselves and their
political rights.
A review of the "Organic laws" adopted at
this meeting would be interesting, but such is
beyond the scope of our volume. Yet they were
so liberal and just, so complete and comprehen
sive that it has been a source of surprise to stu
dents ever since that untrained mountaineers and
settlers, without experience in legislative halls,
could conceive a system so well adapted to the
needs and conditions of the country. The pre

amble runs : "We, the people of Oregon Terri
tory, for purposes of mutual protection, and to
secure peace and prosperity among ourselves,
agree to adopt the following laws and regula
tions, until such time as the United States of
America extend their jurisdiction over us." The
two weaknesses which were soonest felt, were
the result of the opposition to the creation of the
office of governor and to the levying of taxes.
The former difficulty was overcome by substitut
ing in 1844, a gubernatorial executive for the
triumvirate which had theretofore discharged the
executive functions, and the latter by raising the
necessary funds by popular subscription. In
1844, also, a legislature was substituted for the
legislative committee.
Inasmuch as the first election resulted favor
able to some who owed allegiance to the British
government as well as to others who were citi
zens of the United States, the oath of office was
indited as follows : "I do solemnly swear that I
will support the organic laws of the provisional
government of Oregon so far as the said organic
laws are consistent with my duties as a citizen of
the United States, or a subject of Great Britain,
and faithfully demean myself in office. So help
me God."
Despite the opposition to the provisional gov
ernment, the diverse peoples over whom it exer
cised authority, and the weakness in it resulting
from the spirit of compromise of its authors, it
continued to exist and discharge all the necessary
functions of sovereignty until on August 14th,
1848, in answer to the numerous memorials and
petitions and the urgent appeals of Messrs.
Thornton and Meek, congress at last decided to
give Oregon a territorial form of government
with all the rights and privileges usually accorded
to territories of the United States. Joseph Lane,
of Indiana, whose subsequent career presents so
many brilliant and so many sad chapters, was
appointed Territorial Governor.
The limits and province of this work preclude
further narration of the history of Oregon in
general. By the act of March 3, 1853, the coun
try north of the Columbia was organized into a
a separate territory, bearing the name of the
great father of his country. At later dates the
area of Oregon was further curtailed by the
formation of Montana and Idaho territories, but
in 1859, notwithstanding this curtailment, the
country had so far advanced in population and
general development that it was admitted to the,
union. The provisional system had originally divided
the territory governed by its provisions into three
districts. The development and settlement of
the country necessitated an. increase in the num-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

8s

ter from time to time and soon the name county
Ws substituted for district. When eastern Ore
gon became sufficiently populous to gain recogni
tion in the councils of the state it was organized
into Wasco county, with its seat of local govern
ment at The Dalles. The discovery of gold in
•eastern Oregon and Idaho soon populated the

wilderness to such an extent that the inconveni
ence of this ponderous and unwieldly empire
county began to be oppressive, and in 1862 two
new counties, Umatilla and Baker, were organ
ized. T_,ater this was followed by the organization
of other counties with which the rest of this his
tory has to deal.

WILLIAM C LAUGHLI

PART II
HISTORY OF WASCO COUNTY

CHAPTER I

TRADITIONAL, LEGENDARY AND AUTHENTIC.

In all the noble state of Oregon, with its
thirty-three counties teeming . with a variety of
distinctively western (industries, the echoes of
the hum of sawmills and Yof threshers mingling
in a symphony of prosperity, there is no county
Ticher in historical records than Wasco. Despite
successive curtailments of her once vast terri
tory to form other political divisions of the state,
Wasco still remains one of the larger counties,
with a population of more than fifteen thousand.
It is bounded on the north by the state of Wash
ington, on the east by Sherman and Wheeler, on
the west by Multnomah, Clackamas and Marion,
and on the south by Crook, counties.
The original Wasco county was one of the
earliest settled portions of the northwest, as it
was one of the earliest formed counties in Ore
gon. It is so styled after the tribe of Indians
of the same name which, in the early days, was
one of the strongest numerically and otherwise
of all the tribes then scattered along the Colum
bia river. Of these Indians the "Century Dic
tionary and Cyclopedia" says :
"Wasco (PI., also Wascos, Wascoes), a collec
tive name for the tribes of the Upper Chinook
-division of North American Indians nearest The
Dalles. It may have been equivalent to, or in
clusive of, the Watlala. There are 288 on the
Warm Springs reservation, Oregon, and 150
on the Yakima reservation, Washington."
A literal translation of the word Wasco is a
horn basin, and the name was conferred upon

the tribe because of their ability displayed in the
manufacture of rude basins. The following
legend concerning the origin of the name is taken
from an article descriptive of The Dalles pub
lished in the West Shore, from the pen of Mr.
S. L. Brooks :
Wasco, like all our original names, has its peculiar
origin. Tradition tells us that once upon a time a young
man's wife died, leaving two bright, helpless little chil
dren, whose only care and succor was found in the love
of their grief-stricken father; their continued cries for
their forever departed mother caused the children's re
maining parent to try all manner of means for the
quieting of their grief; so one day he, with a heart full
of sadness, while out with his little ones on a hillside
for a walk, found a piece of an elk-horn, and with his
flint knife cut the string from one of his moccasins and
tied a broken flint to it, and after quenching his thirst
at a beautiful spring of sparkling cold water (this spring
is known as Wasco spring today), sat down beside it
on a large rock and began pecking small holes in it,
which so amused his loved ones he concluded to make
three in a row, making the center one as large as a
basin, which represented to them three alone in the
world. His relatives, observing the devotion and attach
ment for these helpless ones, estranged themselves from
him, as it was not in accord with their old traditions,
and cut him off from their associations, which, with
their barbarous habits, forced him to seek refuge away
from the home of his childhood. So he took his skin
robes, made them in a roll, tied up his war clubs and

86

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

spears, and set his face with his little darlings toward
the Shin-ni-na-klath — mountain of the setting sun —
"So he journeyed westward, westward,
Passed the mountains of the prairie
To the kingdom of the west wind,"
Where he found himself in a land he called Win-quatt,
because the new home was walled in by high, rocky
cliffs. This is the original which we now call "The
Dalles." Such was the origin from whence sprang into
•existence the once powerful tribe of Indians known
today as the Wascos, signifying makers of basins, or
more literally, "horn basins." This, like all other tribes
that have sounded the war whoop with its savage glory,
have faded and are still fading, as the paleface makes
the warpath the highway for the iron horse, and his
hunting ground the source from which supplies are sent
abroad to marts of the world to satisfy the wants of the
millions. Before entering upon the history of early ex
plorers who visited what is now Wasco county,
or of the pioneer settlers to the new country, we
purpose to give a brief history of the Indians
-who inhabit the locality around The Dalles of
the Columbia, their mode of living, physical re
sources, etc.
And yet there is certainly a history that is
older than even the shadowy Indian legends and
traditions. It has never been written ; it may
never be penned. And only dim suggestions
dotting a wide field of speculation are found in
the faint traces left by the ancient progenitors of
those Indians found by the first settlers of Ore
gon. Such Indians who were then on the ground
never possessed the skill, aptitude and intelligence
necessary to perform such work as was required
to shape the delicate and beautiful arrowheads
and spear points ; ornaments and ingenious imple
ments fashioned in flint, obsidian, opal and car-
nelian; such as have been found amid drifting
sands along the banks of the Columbia river,
and are offered for sale in the streets of The
Dalles by modern Indians who pick up the elab-
-orate specimens of the ornate handicraft of their
pre-historic ancestors. These are in design and
workmanship not unlike those of the Aztecs of
Mexico and Pueblos of Arizona. Paintings on
the rock cliffs in the vicinity of The Dalles, and
carvings and sculptures that have been discov
ered, all of unquestioned antiquity, exhibiting
many Aztec characteristics, indicate that at some
remote period the country was occupied by a
race of people far superior, intellectually, and
otherwise, to the Indian of today in his normal
condition. Here is a wide and profitable field
for the antiquarian. While ^his most patient re
searches will, probably, never reveal a satisfac

tory history of the peoples who at one period,
aeons ago, inhabited the Columbia basin, much
will doubtless be discovered that may shed light
on their origin and fate. Such being the condi
tions confronting us, we must rest content in
treating of those Indians whom the explorers-
and early missionaries and pioneer settlers found
existing here in squalor and tribal decay in the
dawn of the Nineteenth Century.
Dr. William C. McKay was an educated half-
breed ; a reliable writer and his words are author-
itive in all that he has written concerning In
dians. The following extract is from an article
read by him before the Ladies' Aid Society of
the Congregational church at The Dalles, Tues
day, May 18, 1869, and published in the Moun
taineer on the 28th :
Long before the Indian had any knowledge of the
white men this place (the present location of The
Dalles), was called Win-quatt, signifying a place encir
cled or surrounded by a bold cliff of rocks. Within this
circle there are many points which have significant
names attached to them by the aborigines. The island-
now occupied by the Oregon Steam Navigation shops
was called Ka-pooks. Tradition tells of a beautiful-
grove of iron-wood trees standing somewhere near the
present site of the machine shop. It was a place much
resorted to by the young folks and many tales are told"
respecting it. The mouth of Mill creek had the name
of Will-look-it, meaning looking through an opening
or gap. The mouth of Three-Mile creek was We-galth,
signifying a place of danger. Tradition says the Snake-
Indians, inhabiting at that time Ffteen-Mile creek, Tygh
valley and Des Chutes, often made raids on the Wascos-
here at Win-quatt and The. Dalles fishery, by the way
of Three Mile creek, by following it down to its mouth,
and often bloody strife was the result.
The mouth of Five Mile creek was I-gal-li-matic.
Tradition gives an account of a Wasco Indian being
pursued by the Snakes — his hereditary enemies — and he,
knowing of a pole lying across the gulf or canyon, and'
his only means of escape being to cross it, succeeded in
walking over on the pole, hence the derivation of the
name. The government, or Mission Springs, was called'
Amotan, meaning the Indian or wild hemp which grew
in abundance at that place and was a staple article of
trade. The garrison Point, Qua-qual-Chal means Squir
rel Point. The spring at Logan's house, Gai-galt-whe-
la-leth means Alone in Its Beauty. The mountain
southeast of the Logan house, Shinni-na-kalth, means
the mountain that tells of the sun's travel. The moun
tain back of Irvine's place, Molock Oaihut, means the
Elk's trail. The rocky point west of Irvine's farm,.
Ethno-a- Chalk, signifies the vulture's rest. The Catho
lic mission' Tayas-whe-yam, means storm upon storm.
Irvine's farm, or spring, Shelooks-thla-gipt, means the-
wolf spring. There is a long legend in connection with

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

87

this place, but it is too long to be given here. Cheno-
weth creek, Thlemit, means caving, or constant washing
away. The mountain back of Crait's, Kat-ka-Talth,
means flint mountain. Crait's Point, Thle-yap-Kanoon,
means fresh water muscles. Tradition tells of a certain
time and season when there was a general turn out in
fishing after the muscles, when a great feast and a good
time in general was had. Three Mile creek, at Mr.
Whitney's, Thle-gam-Yan, means beautiful prairie.
There is a cold, living spring at The Dalles, near
the fishery called the Wasco Springs. The tradition tells
of a young man's wife having died, and left him with
two helpless children in his charge, who gave him
much trouble and great anxiety. He would often try
by all manner of means to quiet their cries, but to no
avail. But at last he amused them by picking three
holes in a rock, the largest one being in the center.
These holes in the rock are still represented at the
above mentioned spring. The father becoming dissatis
fied with his relatives on account of their mistreating
his children, he concluded to leave them and come
down and settle at Win-quatt, which soon got to be a
large village. The inhabitants were known as the
Wasco people, signifying the makers of basins. The
literal meaning of the word Wasco is a horn basin.
Some of these can still be seen at their camps, fantasti
cally carved with certain hieroglyphics.
There is a pond in the rocks near the fishery called
Te-kai-kayots — the poleway pond. On the Washing
ton Territory side the village of Wish-Kam, opposite
The Dalles fishery, was called Nech-loi-deth — station
ary people that never move. Rockville, Quallachin —
the spotted rock. Opposite Crate's Point there used to
be a large village called Kill-ka-hat. The Klickitat
mountain, opposite here, Thle-ge-neuche-teche, signifies
resembling persons looking or peeping over.
I have given the names of most of the prominent
points, and still there are others which I would like to
give if they could be procured at present. * * *
The Wasco tribe were the owners of this country,
and the village of Win-quatt was their headquarters.
They were considered by the early voyagers and traders
as the most numerous and strongest of the bands living
on the Columbia. They extended from The Dalles
fishery down to the Wind mountains. Their influence
with the other tribes was great ; their place was the
central point for all the adjacent tribes, who resorted
here in the summer during the fishing seasons from all
quarters for the purpose of trafficking, gambling and
indulging in sports of various kinds. The Indians from
the north and east brought for traffic horses, buffalo
robes, pauerfleshes, furs of all descriptions, dressed
skins of several qualities, ropes, dried buffalo mea,t,
etc. The southern tribes brought Modoc, Pitt River,
Chasty and California Indians — to sell as slaves — elk,
deer, mountain sheep and antelope skins, dressed, dried
meats, furs of all qualities, ropes, hemp, dried and pre
pared roots — such as looks, kouse, saweet, nonas, camas,

peyahe, guiya, semame, itallo, and wocas — all very
nutritious and part of their subsistence; all kinds of
berries, such as mountain whortle, blue, savies, rasp,
salal, salmon and straw ; currents, cherries, etc., which
will keep for a long time when properly dried. The
western tribes — those from the Cascades and around
Vancouver, Portland, Oregon City and Sauvil's island-
brought prisoners from the coast, guns, ammunition,
clothing, blankets, utensils, axes, knives, traps, fish
hooks, files, tobacco and whatever else they could pro
cure from the fur traders at Vancouver. The tribes
that congregated here yearly for trading purposes and
sporting in general, such as gambling, foot-races,
wrestling, horse races, etc., were the Klickitats, Wana-
chapams, Illdepiers, Okanogans, Spokanes, Colvilles,
Palouses, Walla Wallas, Yakimas, Umatillas, - Long
Islands, Kamilth, Dockspurs, Winwawe, Teninos, Til-
chines, Tyghs, Klamaths, Cayuses, Nez Perces, Coeur
d'Alenes, Pend D'Oreilles and Flatheads from above.
Those from below were the Cascades, Multnomahs,
Thalawelas, Clackamas and Molalas. The Wascos gave
in exchange, aside from what has been enumerated,
dried and pounded salmon. I could still go on and give
a long account of their mode of living and passing away,
but my intention was merely to show what our town
was in early days while under the supervision of the
Indians. There is at the present period abundant tes
timony that the Indians of the days of Oregon's
first settlement availed themselves of every ad
vantage which their location gave them, invaria
bly making exhorbitant demands and charges
for all privileges granted or services rendered.
Quite often they deliberately robbed weak and
unprotected parties. When Lewis and Clark
passed through the vicinity of Wasco county ac
companied by a well-armed and disciplined force,
they were unmolested; five years later the half-
starved and worn out company headed by Wil
son P. Hunt were treated by these same savages
with insolence and cruelty. Of the Wascos
Washington Irving has written : "These Indians
were shrewder and more intelligent than other
Indians. Trade had sharpened their wits, but
had not improved their honesty, for they were a
community of arrant rogues and freebooters."
One of the penalties of greatness is illustra
ted by the Indian nation on which has been con
ferred the name of "Flatheads." Among the
Indians of the' coast and the lower Columbia
only such as are of noble birth are allowed to
flatten their skulls. This is accomplished by
placing an infant on a board corresponding to
its length and breadth ; the papoose being con
fined in a stout sack to hold its limbs and body
in one position. The head is confined with strings
and lashings, which permit hardly any motion

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of the head. From the top of the rack upon
which the child is pinioned a small piece of board
extends down nearly covering the eyes. T° this
strings are attached to prevent the forehead from
extending beyond the eyes, giving the entire head
and face a broad and flat shape. From three to
four months, or longer, the native infants of the
blood royal — those born in the purple — were re
tained in these presses to such an extent as the
infants could bear, or the aspirations of the
pagan parents prompt. In 1870 it was the testi
mony of W. H. Gray that "For the last fifteen
years I have not seen a native infant promoted
to these royal honors."
The narrative of the LTnited States explor
ing expedition of 1841, in charge of Commander
Charles Wilkes, furnishes a clear and concise
account of such Indians as were then at the
Cascades and The Dalles, their occupations, life
methods, dress, etc., together with an excellent
description of the country in their immediate
vicinity. We present several excerpts from this
report, published in 1845 :
At the Cascades during the fishing season there
are about three hundred Indians, only about one-tenth
of whom are residents ; they occupy three lodges ; but
there was formerly a large town here. Great quantities
of fish are taken by them, and the manner of doing this
resembles that at Willamette Falls. They also con
struct canals on a line parallel with the shore, with
rocks and stones, for about fifty feet in length, through
which the fish pass in order to avoid the strong current,
and are here taken in great numbers. There are two
portages here under the names of the "new" and the
"old." At the first only half of the load is landed, and
the boats are tracked for half a mile further, when the
load is again shipped. The boats are then tracked to the
old portage. A strong eddy occurs at this place, which
runs in an opposite direction ; and here it is necessary to
land the whole of the cargo; after which the empty
boats are again tracked three-quarters of a mile beyond.
To a stranger unacquainted with the navigation of
this river the management of these boatmen becomes a
source of wonder ; for it is surprising hmv they can
succeed in surmounting such rapids at all, as the Cas
cades. The mode of transporting the goods, and the
facilities with which they do it, are equally novel. The
load is secured on the back of a voyageur by a band
which passes around the forehead and under and rver
the bale; he squats down, adjusts his load, and rises
with ninety pounds on his back ; another places ninety
pounds more on the top. and off he trots, half bent, to
the end of the portage. One of the gentlemen of the
company informed me that he had seen a voyageur carry
six packages of ninety pounds each (540 pounds) on
his back ; but it was for a wager, and the distance was

not more than 100 yards. The voyageurs in general
have not the appearance of being very strong men. At
these portages the Indians assist for a small present of
tobacco. * * *
A short distance above the Cascades they passed
the locality of the sunken forest, which was at that time
entirely submerged. Mr. Dayton on his return visited
the place, and the water had fallen so much as to expose
the stumps to view. They were of pine and quite rotten,
so much so that they broke when they were taken hold
of. He is of the opinion that the point on which the pine
forest stands has been undermined by the great currents
during the freshets; and that it has sunk bodily down
until the trees were entirely submerged. The whole
mass appears to be so matted together by the roots as
to prevent their separation. Changes by the same under
mining process were observed to be going on contin
ually in other parts of the river. On the 30th of June
they had a favorable wind, but it blew so hard that they
were obliged to reef their sail, and afterward found the
waves and wind too heavy for them to run without great
danger ; they, in consequence, put on shore to wait until
it abated. In these forty miles of the river it usually
blows a gale from the westward ; in the summer time
almost daily. In the evening they reached within seven
miles of The Dalles, and four below the mission. Here
the roar of the water at The Dalles was heard distinctly.
The country had now assumed a different aspect;
the trees began to decrease in number, and the land to
look dry and burned up. * * * The diversity of
dress among the men was greater than even in the
crowds of natives I have described as seen in the Polyn
esian Islands ; but they lack the decency and care of
their persons which the islanders exhibit. The women,
also, go nearly naked, for they wear little else than
what may be termed a breech-cloth of buckskin. Some
have a part of a blanket. The children go entirely
naked ; the boys wear nothing but a small string around
the body. It is only necessary to say that some forty
or fifty live in a temporary hut, 20 by 12 feet in
size, constructed of poles, mats and cedar bark, to convey
an idea of their civilization.
The men are engaged in fishing and do nothing
else. On the women falls all the work of skinning,
cleaning and drying the fish for their winter stores. So
soon as the fish are. caught they are laid for a few hours
on the rocks, in the hot sun, which permits the skins to
be taken off with greater ease ; the flesh is then stripped
off the bones, mashed and pounded as fine as possible ;
it is then spread out on mats and placed upon frames
to dry in the sun and wind, which effectually cures it.
Indeed, it is said that meat of any kind cured in this
climate never become putrid. Three of four days are
sufficient to dry a large matful, four inches deep. The
cured fish is then pounded into a large basket, which will
contain about eighty pounds : put up in this way, if kept
dry, it will keep for three years. During the fishing

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

89

season the Indians live entirely on the heads, hearts and
offal of the salmon, which they string on sticks and
roast over a small fire,
The fishing here is much after the manner of that
at Willamette Falls, except that there is no necessity for
planks to stand on, as there are greater conveniences
at The Dalles for pursuing this fishery. They use hooks
and spears attached to long poles ; both the hook and
the spear are made to unship readily, and are attached
to the pole by a ljne four or five feet below its upper
end. If the hook were made permanently fast to the
end of the pole it would be likely to break, and the large
fish would be much more difficult to take. The Indians
are seen standing along the walls of the canal in great
numbers, fishing, and it is not uncommon for them to
take twenty or twenty-five salmon in an hour. When
the river is at its greatest height the water in the canals
is about three feet below the top of the bank.
The Dalles is one of the most remarkable places
upon the Columbia. The river is here compressed into
a narrow channel, three hundred feet wide, and half a
mile long; the walls 'are perpendicular, flat on the top,
and composed of basalt; the river forms an elbow, being
situated in an amphitheatre extending several miles to
the northwest and closed in by a high basaltic wall.
From appearances one is led to conclude that in former
times the river made a straight course over the whole ;
but having the channel deeper, is now confined within
the present limits. Mr. Dayton on inquiring of an old
Indian, through Ogden, learned that in the time of his
forefathers they went straight up in their canoes. * * *
The river falls about fifty feet in the distance of
two miles, and the greatest rise between high and low
water mark is sixty-two feet. This great rise is caused
by the accumulation of water in the river above, which
is dammed by this narrow pass, and is constantly in
creasing until it backs the waters, and overflows many
low grounds and islands above. The tremendous roar
arising from the rushing of the river through this outlet.
with the many whirlpools and eddies which it causes,
may be more readily imagined than described. * * *
The number of Indians within The Dalles mission is
reckoned at about two thousand ; in but few of these,
however, has any symptom of reform shown itself.
They frequent the three great salmon fisheries of the
Columbia, The Dalles, Cascades and Chutes, and a few
were found at a salmon fishery about twenty- five miles
up the Des Chutes river. The season for fish
ing salmon, which is the chief article of food,
in this country, lasts during five months, from May
to September. The country also furnishes quantities of
berries, nuts, roots and game, consisting of bear, elk
and deer; but owing to the improvidence of the natives
they are, notwithstanding this ample supply of articles
of food, oftentimes on the verge of starvation.
After the fishing and trading season is over, they
retire to their villages, and pass the rest of the year in
inactivity, consuming the food supplied by the labors of

the preceding summer, and as the season for fishing
comes around they again resort to the fisheries. This is
the ordinary course of life among these Indians. * * *
The country about The Dalles is broken and the
missionaries report that this is the case for some miles
around. There are, however, also some plains and table
lands which are considered very valuable, being well
watered with springs and small streams; excellent for
grazing, and well supplied with timber — oak and pine.
The soil varies in quality and portions of it are very
rich. Garden vegetables succeed, but require irrigation.
Potatoes also must be watered, by which mode of culture
they succeed well. Corn and peas can be raised in
sufficient quantities. Wheat produces about twenty-
five bushels to the acre ; this is not, however, on the best
land. They sow in October and March, and harvest
begins toward the end of June.
The climate is considered healthful ; the atmosphere
is dry, and there are no dews. From May till November
little rain falls, but in winter they have much rain and
snow. The cold is seldom great, although during the
winter preceding our arrival the thermometer fell to
— 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The greatest heat experienced
in summer was 100 degrees in the shade; but even after
the hottest days the nights are cool and pleasant.
During the early '6o's traces of what might
now be termed a pre-historic race, well-defined
traces of aboriginal occupancy, were easily dis-
cernable in the country round and about The
Dallas and throughout- Wasco county. To the
unexperienced eye these signs are without signi
ficance today. Well nigh gone forever are the
rude implements, grotesque carvings, the far-
reaching trails, stone mounds and un'symmetric
paintings upon basaltic bluff-walls. In the '6o's
these deep-worn parallel paths mentioned, those
primitive thoroughfares along which traveled
Indians on their annual trips between winter
abodes and the great fisheries above The Dalles,
were entirely free from the intricate mesh of farm
and field ; no obstructive fences, rail or wire,
barred their way. Humming their legendary bal
lads or singing their low, rude melodies of moth
erhood, dusky princesses followed each a tall,
stoical chieftain or warrior brave, in the same
pathway trod by their ancestors centuries agone.
When on these periodical fishing expeditions
Indians were invariably accompanied by a drove
of parti-colored "cayuses" ; returning these ani
mals were loaded with heavy packs of dried sal
mon. Trails were worn deep into the arable
soil by these horses driven loose. To the earlier
settlers these trails became of great service while
on their way to town. And even after the first
primitive official roadways were established
Oregon pioneers continued the use of these high
ways. It was along one of these aboriginal trails

9o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

leading in from the Tygh that a detail from the
travelworn expedition of Meek rolled into The
Dalles making their last encampment under the
overhanging boughs of a lone pine tree which
formerly stood on the farm owned, in 1889, by
Mr. John Southwell, on Eight Mile creek, ten
miles south of The Dalles. Sixteen years ago
traces of this now forgotten roadway were yet
to be found. To W. S. Campbell, in 1889, Hugh
McNary, a member of the luckless Meek party,
pointed out the old road and the campground.
He told graphically of the subsequent fruitless
search for the "blue bucket" diggings, and he
related many stirring incidents of those days
that "tried men's souls." Mr. McNary settled in
the vicinity of the campground, where for a
number of years he continued to reside, and was
for a number of years identified with the pioneer
freighting venture of Boise, Canyon City and
other interior points.
It was, indeed, a populous, dusky nation that,
long years ago, inhabited the little sequestered
valleys along the mountain streams, some of
which are to-day known as Three, Five, Eight
and Fifteen Mile creeks, on the south; Mill and
Chenoweth on the west; Five and Eight really
being the lower portion of Fifteen Mile. The
first bunch-grass sod of the Inland Empire — at
least in a large portion of it — was broken not
one hundred yards from Meek's last camp on
Eight Mile. At that time the circular depres
sions — not unlike miniature circus rings long
abandoned by the sawdust troupe — where form
erly stood the picturesque tepees of the Wascos
were encountered ; the plow-point dulled on the
round broiling stones in the long forgotten
hearths. Often the deadly arrow-jhead,, fash
ioned from flint, was picked up, curiously in
spected, or perhaps, taken to the hardy settler's
cabin and placed among his rude and strangely
assorted bric-a-brac. Here, when the summer
sun shone brightly, in the long-ago, and the light,
fleecy clouds floated lazily athwart the azure sky,
the tribal youths rounded up their fleetest steeds
and tested their endurance before matching them
against the champions of rival bands. And under
the pine the hides of deer and shaggy coats of
bear were beaten by strong-armed squaws until
the finest of buckskins and most luxurious of
robes were made for their lords and masters.
The frames of their wickiups were alder
poles ; the roofs were cedar bark brought clown
from near the sources of the streams. As evi
dence of this naked trunks still stand there, musty
and old, among the firs and hackmetacks of the
swamps. Of this locality Mr. W. S. Campbell
wrote in the Times-Mountaineer, January 1,
1"

Once, when engaged in the exploration of a cedar
swamp near the head of Five Mile, we were startled by
suddenly beholding the counterpart of an Indian woman,
natural as life, almost, standing in the bog alone, the
very picture of desertion and rigidity. Though on closer
inspection it proved to be but a partially decayed stump,
at the proper distance the likeness was wonderful, in
deed. And, as we came away, she still seemed to be
looking toward the coming night in the east with the
same hopeless attitude of desertion, making us half be
lieve we were turning our back on a stricken being
whom cruel fate had decreed to remain in solitude to
the end of time.
The well-known stone figures of the Indian woman
and child, to be seen from the deck of the Cascades boat
as she runs near the Oregon shore a few miles below
The Dalles, may be more enduring, but never more life
like than the wooden image of the swamp mentioned.
Odd, it is, the number of singularly truthful statues
formed by chance that are to be found in this vicinity.
Near Mr. Sherar's toll bridge, on the left-hand side of"
the canyon, up which the Grass Valley road winds and
turns toward its destination, half way up the canyon
and hillside as well, is the stone figure of another Indian
woman, sitting with her elbows on her knees and her
averted face clasped in her hands as though weary,
weary, weary, long weary! And still further up the
gorge, on the opposite hillside, the majestic figure of a
noble chieftain stands out in bold relief against the
eastern sky, perfect in attitude and outline, even to the
regal war bonnet, once so familiar to the first settlers.
In the days gone by Mount Hood was the center
of a vast natural park, wherein the choicest game and'
the most delicious wild fruits were plentiful. Agile-
limbed hunters, armed with bows and arrows, stealthily
searched sylvan dells and brought to bay the monarchs
of the forest beneath the very shadow of the grand old'
mountain. Now the timbered slopes are desolated by
the roving bands of sheep which are driven there for
pasturages every summer.
Beginning with the year 1838 Rev. Daniel'
Lee passed a number of years as a missionary at
The Dalles, the mission which Dr. Marcus Whit
man, a short time previous to his assassination,
purchased. From a work entitled "Ten Years in
Oregon," by Rev. D. Lee and J. H. Frost, pub
lished in 1844, we make the following extracts:
The nights among The Dalles Indians were spent
in singing and dancing, and thier carousals could be
heard a mile. One, and then another of the medicine
men, would open his house for dance, where it was gen
erally kept up five nights in succession; men. women and'
children engaged in the chant, while a man, a woman,
or both, danced on a large elk skin spread down on one
side of the fire that blazed in the center of the group,.
keeping time to the loud-measured knocking of a long.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

91

pole suspended horizontally, and struck endwise against
a white cedar board — the dancer jumping and invoking
his "tam-an-a-was," or familiar spirit, until exhausted he
falls as one dead, by the overpowering influence of his
"familiar." To arouse him from this deep slumber required
the skill of a medicine man, or "mesmeriser," who, go
ing around him, peeps and mutters, and whoops, and
hoots at his toes, fingers and ears, and wakes his tam-
an-a-was ; when he shudders, groans, opens his eyes and
lives again. With these dancers the feat of fire-eating
is also connected. The writer going one night to witness
a dance was told that a medicine man present could eat
fire ; at first he seemed not a little ashamed, and denied
he could do it. "Let me see you eat fire," said the writer ;
"you dare not do it; you can not do it." This was
calling his courage and- power into question before
many who had seen him devour the blazing torch, as
they believed, again and again. This was too much;
his reputation was in danger, and his friends were
urgent, confident that the doubter would be convinced.
"Al-ta-nan-ich ! Now see the doctor eat fire 1"
Having a bundle of small sticks of wood about two
inches in diameter, and several inches long, he lighted
one end, and while it blazed well, thrust it into his
mouth, instantly closing his lips and extinguishing the
flames. At this a smile of triumph rested on every face.
"Give me a bundle of sticks," said the writer.
The sticks being given were lighted and put into
the hands of an Indian who was near. "Now, see, all
of you ! He, only keeping the wind away from it, made
it go out. He does not eat it. Putting my hands around
this will do the same; there, it is out, you see. My
hands did not eat it; only shut the air out. Fire can not
live without wind."
All were mute. Speaking to the doctor, he said :
"You deceive the people."
"Oh, now-it-kah, certainly," he replied. The people
appeared to be convinced ; but probably thinking the
writer was a very great medicine man, being more than
a match for the fire-eater.
Formerly it was a prevailing custom for the medi
cine men at the dancing festivals to lacerate their flesh
with sharp sontes, or knives, making deep cuts, and
while the blood was gushing out, scoop it up in their
hands to drink it and appease their blood-thirsty tam-
an-a-was that raged within. Probably it was pretended
by these deceivers that their "familiar" delighted in
blood in order to inspire the poor dupes of their black
art with an abiding dread of their displeasure, who
could command the service of such malicious agents.
The limbs and bodies of many exhibit scars which origi
nated in this diabolical practice.
During the winter a circumstance came under the
writer's notice, which may be related here, which is in
keeping with the known character of The Dalles Indians
since the whites first knew them. Several Indians from
Wisham called one day at the mission, and being left

alone in the room where they used to sit to converse,
or came to get medicine, one of them when an oppor
tunity served went into an adjoining room and found
a market under his blanket for two shirts and a vest, on
which he and his party soon left, having lost their in
clination to remain there any longer. The next Sabbath
he came to meeting wearing the vest which he carefully
covered with his blanket, so that it was not seen until
service closed, when he forgot to keep it hidden, and
thus the thief revealed himself and proved that previous-
suspicions were well founded. The vest and one of the
shirts only were recovered.
Difficulties often arise about property on the de
cease of relatives. A case of this kind took place at
The Dalles station this winter. Tah-lac-eow-it, the
Indian mentioned before, was living there and at work
for the mission. He occupied a small house with his
family, consisting of his wife and her mother, which
house belonged to the mission. After a time his wife;.
who had long been a consumptive, died. The writer was
present at the time, and was engaged in prayer when
her spirit took its flight: As he arose the watchful
mother caught with her eye the last gasp, and was in
stantly overwhelmed with loud and frantic grief. When
the burial and mourning had ended the brother of the
deceased began to annoy the bereft husband about the
property, and made his visits so frequent and urged his
unreasonable claims so madly that a quarrel ensued
and a battle of pulling hair, and after this a strife to
wrench an axe from each other's grasp, that one might
have it to fight the other to some purpose. At this ¦
stage of the affray the writer entered the little house
where they were, seized the weapon and wrested it from
them ; and then laying hold of the aggressor's long hair,
showed him the way out into the yard in a hurry, and'
there the war ended. It is seldom that their engage
ments can be depended on. One was paid for ten deer
skins, and when he brought them five were poor ones ;
and besides this cheat he wanted to get other property
worth at least half the skins. Agree to give one a shirt
for his services, and when he has done he will often
want a vest or half a dozen small presents. * * *
Before the revival among the Indians at The Dalles,
and in the vicinity, which took place in the
fall and winter of 1839 and 1840, and which
in order of time has its place here, is treated of,
let me introduce the reader to a more particular
acquaintance with the Indians in these parts and"
with their character. Ten miles above the station
at the shoots are two villages, Tekin and Wiam. These
are, Walla Wallas. At the long narrows on the north
side is Wisham. Here we first met with the
Chinooks. Next, three miles below, is Ka-clas-ko, near-
which the mission houses stand (improperly called
Wasco-pum). Ten miles you come to Clat-a-cut on the
north side. Fifteen miles further down is Kle-miak-sac
and Kow-il-a-mow-an. Three miles more Ne-nooth-
tect, then Scal-talpe and Wah-he at the head of the_-

_ b_a

'92

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Cascades. Besides on the north side of the river, a
short distance inland, were the Chick-atat Indians, and
on the south, twenty-five miles, the village of Til-han-ne,
inhabited by the Walla Wallas. The villages named
along the river from The Dalles down to The Cascades
are the winter residences of many who pass their sum
mer at or near the other of these fisheries. All these
number less than 2,000 of all ages. From The Dalles
Indians the Kinse used formerly to take an annual
tribute of salmon, alleging that the fishery belonged to
them. Whether or not their claims were well-founded,
their superior power in war kept their stipendiaries in
abject submission. These exactions were formerly more
-rigorous than now; at present they are concealed under
rthe show of traffic. They buy at their own price, com
pelling them to sell even their own stock of provisions
so as to have little left to subsist on themselves. An
other cause, nearly as oppressive, which occurs almost
-every year, and makes a draft on their salmon stores, is
the aggression of some of their poorer neighbors of
the nearer inland tribes. These came to the fisheries
after the end of the salmon season, while the fishermen
-are gone into the mountains to gather their yearly stock
of berries, and rob their salmon caches. These are
¦ cellars which they dig in the sand where they deposit
with much care and secrecy the fruits of their summer's
toil and their winter's hope. Thus pillaged, every re
turning spring finds many of them in abject want.
Formerly they had wars with the Clam-aths and the
Zwan-hi-ooks, who inhabit the country far to the south
and southeast. Some of the former tribe they hold in
-slavery. Many years ago the rich hunting ground of the
Willamette valley attracted the Kinse thither in chase
of 'deer. On their return they were waylaid in the
wilderness, when within about twenty-five miles of The
'Dalles, by a party of the Chinook race residing between
-this place and the Cascades, and nearly, if not entirely,
cut off. This bloody conduct soon brought a war party
of the Kinse upon the aggressors, when a battle ensued,
and the avengers of their brothers' blood were con
querors. A disposition to take every advantage of white men
in their power by force or fraud, has been more manifest
in the Indians here than in any other part of the terri
tory ; from the first introduction of the traders among
them. Such was their determination to plunder that for
many years the Hudson's Bay Company was compelled
' to pass them with a large force, and restrain them by
the dread of their arms. So late as the year 1826, as
Mr. M'Leod, a gentleman of the company, and Mr.
Douglas, the naturalist, were passing tbere, they mani
fested hostile intentions. Mr. McLeod, being apprised
of his danger, ordered his men to put their boats into
-the water, on which the Indians interfered, and as Mr.
M'Leod was pushing one of them away from the boat,
another drew a bow to shoot him. Mr. Douglas, seeing
-this, uncovered his piece and aimed it at the Indian.

At this moment a Kinse chief and three of his young
men arrived, and set the matter at rest. When one
of these Indians is detected in stealing, or with stolen
property, and it is restored or taken from him, it is often
the case among themselves that the thief receives some
article of less value for which he has the boldness to
stipulate with the owner of the stolen property. * * *
Let the reader now be introduced to the most influ
ential persons among this people. These are the "medi
cine men," or conjurers, who can, it is believed, set the
evil spirit of disease at defiance ; cast it out where it
has dared to enter, and make it seize with an unyielding,
deadly grasp the object of their displeasure. The people
believe that they hold intercourse with spirits; that
they can see the disease, which is some extraneous thing,
as a small shell, or a pipe, or a piece of tobacco, or
some other material substance which they (the doctors)
describe. It is firmly believed that they can send a bad
"tam-an-a-was" into a person and make him die, unless
it can be cast out by some other "medicine man." If
a threat is made, or it is intimated by one of them that
a certain person will not live long, no sooner does he
hear of it than he is alarmed and feels himself a dead
man. For their services they are paid in advance, and
often their demands are high, and their practice is lucra
tive. When their patients die they restore the fees.
This is necessary for their own security, for otherwise
they might be charged with having caused his death,
which would render them marks of revenge. If one of
the order is his rival or enemy, and he wishes the
obstacle to his- own advancement removed, the affirma
tion that he caused the death of some person will
probably be followed by his death by the relatives of the
deceased. Several deaths from this cause took place
at The Dalles the first year after the station was occu
pied, and this is a common occurrence among many of
the surrounding tribes. Sometimes it happens that the
doctor takes all the patient has, not leaving a dying
man his last, perhaps his only garment or covering.
A case of this kind occurred at The Dalles. A young
man was in consumption and was in the writer's care.
He was frightened away to the doctor by some one who
saw he had a shirt and trousers, shoes and a light
blanket, which he had received in part from me ; and it
was not long before he had stripped him of the whole,
and then left him to die, or hastened his death. The
poor man had no friends and the doctor was safe.
During the years 1839 and 1840 considerable
religious excitement prevailed among the Wascos
in the vicinity of The Dalles. It permeated nearly
the whole tribe, and about a thousand of them
professed to be converted, were baptized and re
ceived into the Christian church. But in 1850
such of these converts as were then alive had,
nearly all, relapsed into their former state. Their
religion, according to Mr. G. Hines, appeared
to be more of the head than of the heart.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

93 ¦•

May 4, 1843, Mr- Hines and Dr. White came
to the house of a Mr. Brewer, at The Dalles,
where they found assembled about twenty In
dians. And these savages were congregated
there for a purpose, which was subsequently re
vealed. At the time Dr. White was in the vicin
ity, the previous winter, he had prevailed on the
Indians to organize themselves into a kind of
civil government. One high chief and three sub
ordinates had been elected ; laws had been pro
mulgated and the penalties 'for transgression of
the same were whippings, more or less severe,
according to the character of the crime or mis
demeanor committed. In the enforcement of
these laws the chiefs had found much difficulty.
Taken altogether this whole scheme of govern
ment devised by the well-meaning Dr. White ap
pears to have been most chimerical, visionary and
impracticable. The chiefs said that on punishing
some of the recalcitrant Indians, according to the
"white man's law," they had resisted strenuously,
even to the point of the knife.
And now these chiefs who had been appointed
through the influence of Dr. White, and upon
whom rested the responsibility of executing the
laws, were desirous that the new "government"
should continue, but too evidently solely because
it placed the "governed" under their absolute
control and gave them the power to regulate all
their intercourse with the whites and with other
Indian tribes. But there were others, and influ
ential men, too, who, not being in office, revolted
against the corporeal punishment, and boldly de
sired to be informed what particular benefit this
whipping system might confer on them. These
men ingeniously said that they were willing it
should continue provided they were to receive
blankets, shirts and trousers as a reward for
being whipped. No modern politician of the
Twentieth Century ever sought more diligently
for "graft" than did these Wasco Indians of 1840.
They said they had been whipped a good many
times, but had received nothing for it ; it had done
them no good. Should this unsatisfactory condi
tion of "government" continue it was all (cultus)
good for nothing, and they earnestly desired to
do away with the entire system.
Dr. White replied that he and Mr. Hines
could not then be detained to adjust any pending
difficulties; that they were going farther into
the interior, and were in something of a hurry,
and that on his return he would endeavor to oil
the wheels of government, but not exactly in
the manner proposed, bestowing bribes on the
whipees by the whippers. There would be no
pay coming to them for being flogged whenever
they deserved it. The assembled Indians laughed
heartily and' good-naturedly dispersed, but from

that day the backbone of self-government, accord
ing to Dr. White's idea, was broken.
In 1850 the Indian villages at The Dalles
were separated. One was clustered around the
Catholic mission; the other was in the vicinity
of Nathan Olney's store. Mrs. Elizabeth Lord,.
writing of early times, says : "Caskilla lived near -
the store, and Mark, his brother, at the mission.
Both were chiefs, though Caskilla was higher -
in authority. He was a fine type of Indian, tall,
straight, dignified and an interesting talker.
Mark was fat and coarse."
C. W. Denton, who was one of the pioneers
of Wasco county and who took an active part in
the Indian wars, has written as follows concern
ing the different tribes of Indians and their chiefs
at the time of the first white settlements in the-
early '50's :
The Indians were very numerous and powerful.
The following are the names of the tribes, their chiefs
and locations; Indian Chenowith was chief of the Cas
cade Falls Indians; Old Col wash of the Dog River and'
White Salmon Indians ; Caskilla of the Indians at The
Dalles and in the vicinity; Stock Whitley of the Des-
Chutes (or Won Woyas). At one time Cimetestas was
their chief. Stock Whitley, at the time of our earliest
recollection was quite a youngster, and to give an idea
of his manly qualities, I will relate a little incident.
During the summer of 1857 a party of Des Chutes-
Indians visited the garrison (at The Dalles). As their
first thought is of something to eat, they turned their
steps to the house of the only family in the place and
asked for bread, which was given them. The man of"
the house had been lying across the bed, reading, but
now stepped out to look at the horses. The noble
Stock Whitley gracefully reclined his fat body in the
place vacated, and after arranging the pillows to suit
his august head, picked up the book and seemed to be
deeply engrossed in its pages, while he munched a crust
of bread. The lady of the house who sat sewing, viewed
these proceedings with disgust. Seizing a slipper which
lay beside her she gave his majesty a blow which sent
the crust flying into the yard. The savage with a yell
and a bound landed beside it. He picked up the bread,
vowing that he would be revenged. He went at once-
to the Indian agent (a specimen of wax work) with
his complaint and said she must be sent away immedi
ately. The agent gave him some "taffy" and half a-.
plug of tobacco to overlook the insult, which he read
ily did. Yoice was chief of the John Days and renegades;
Camiackan of the Yakimas, Simcoes and Klickitats -
(some of the most powerful tribes in the northwest) ;
Simowe and White Owl of the Cayuses and Umatillas ;
Peo-Peo-Mox-Mox of the Walla Wallas ; Snow-hollow,
of the Priest Rapids and White Bluffs Indians ; Lawer
and Nez Perce Dick, of the Nez Perces; Wa-wa-wa, of7

'94

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the Snake tribes on the Weiser and Payette; Mowhigh,
of the Malheurs ; Paulina, of the Ochocos and those on
th"e upper John Day; Winnemucca, of the Piutes (whose
principal hunting grounds then were within the limits
•of what is now the state of Nevada).
I wish to say, in justice to the Wasco Indians, that
as a tribe they never have taken up arms against the
whites, but a few renegades have at times joined the
hostiles. While they, nominally, have always had a
¦ chief, since the return of Billy Chinook in 1851 from his
visit to the eastern states and California, with John C.
Fremont, he has controlled the Indians more than any
chief. He, being an intelligent and honest Indian, was
worthy of the confidence the tribe placed in him.
To this favorable comment on the character
of Billy Chinook Mrs. Elizabeth Lord adds the
following testimony :
"In H. K. Hines' latest work he speaks of
William Hendry. I had known Billy Chinook
since 1851 and had never heard of him as any
thing else, so I was very much amused, but that,
I suppose, was his Methodist name. He had in
troduced himself to father as Billy Chinook when
he arrived at The Dalles in 185 1, as we supposed
returning from his trip east with Fremont. He
came by way of California, bringing a California
Indian wife, and quite a large band of Texas and
Mexican cattle. He moved into a cabin across
Mill creek from where we then lived. He was as
good and honest a man as could be found any
where. Father always had a warm place in his
heart for Billy. He removed with the other
Indians to the Warm Springs reservation and
ended his days there."
Of the Hudson's Bay Company's post at The
Dalles there is only meagre information concern
ing details available. Certain it is, however, that
this gigantic fur trust and syndicate of specula
tive English capitalists established a post, or "fac
tory" at this point in 1820, and that James Bir-
nie, a Scotchman and native of Aberdeen, was
in charge of the same. Dr. William McKay, an
authority on Indian and Hudson's Bay Company
history, states conclusively that such a post was
-established in the year mentioned. But it re
mained in existence only a short time and cut no
important figure in the history of the territory
to which this history is confined. It is, today,
problematical if ever a building intended for per
manency was erected.
In the early days of the Nineteenth Century
perigrinating traders of the Hudson's Bay and
American companies, with headquarters at As
toria, frequently passed the falls of the Colum
bia and mention of the place occurs at intervals
in the journals of these companies. It is true
that at this period (1820) the Hudson's Bay

Company was intent upon extending its trade
and territorial sovereignty throughout the coun
try east of the Northwest Coast. Therefore it
would have been natural for them to project a
post, fort or stockade at The Dalles, really a most
eligible location. Still, the place was isolated;
Indian tribes were hostile, and it is quite prob
able that the post, temporarily located, was soon
abandoned. It is known, however, that the canny
Scotchman, Birnte, subsequently had charge of
Fort George, Astoria, and, also, Fort Simpson.
James Birnie, who has been designated the "first
inhabitant of The Dalles," died at Cathlamet,
December 21, 1864, aged sixty-nine years.
From 1844 to 1846 the increase of immigra
tion, all of which trended in the direction of the
Willamette settlement, and the terrors inspired
by rafting their lares et penates down the Colum
bia from The Dalles, led a few of the more enter
prising pioneers to seek for a more feasible route
over the mountains. The result was the "Barlow
Road," connecting eastern and western Oregon.
In 1847 this highway was declared open to trav
elers. A large proportion of the 7,000 emigrants
of that year, being more accustomed to land, than
water travel, preferred to risk the hardships of
logs and canyons to the dangerous and treacher
ous currents of the Columbia. At that period the
superior qualities of Wasco soil had been tested
neither by scientific analysis or practical agri
cultural experiment. Here the pioneer, with his
eyes fixed on the seductive valley of the Willa
mette, of which most attractive tales had floated
eastward on the wings of rumor, saw no value
in the meadows and bunch grass hillsides of
Wasco save to feed his starving stock that they
might be able to cross the last great divide sepa
rating him from the Willamette. The beautiful
valleys of Wasco, with their pure streams, had no
names to the pioneer; to him they simply inda-
cated so many miles less to travel. Thus the names
Three Mile, Five Mile, Eight Mile, and Fifteen
Mile creeks, referred to the distance from The
Dalles, to the crossing of those streams now his
toric in the annals of Wasco county, on the road
across the Cascades. From the year of the open
ing of the Barlow road, 1847, the valley of "Fif
teen Mile creek" became famous as a resting
place to the emigrant. Its wild hay gave strength
to many a foot-sore horse and ox that, otherwise,
would never have passed their declining years in
Oregon. It was in 1845 that the first effort was made to
open a road over the Cascade mountains, near
the base of Mount Hood, on the south side. It
was the freely expressed sentiment of S. K. Bar
low that "God never made a mountain without
some place for man to go over it, or under it."

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

95

Assured by this philosophical reflection Mr. Bar
low, with eighteen men and women, besides chil
dren, struck out from The Dalles with thirteen
wagons, sixteen yoke of cattle and seven horses.
December 23d the party emerged from the moun
tains and arrived at Foster's farm — the welcome
haven of later emigrants. The wagons' had been
abandoned — cached on the summit of the divide.
Those accompanying Barlow and his family were
William Rector, J. C. Caplinger and Mr. Gessner,
and their respective wives; John and William
Bacon. Subsequently Rector returned to The
Dalles. The following season this road, or trail,
was cut through. So steep was it on the western
passes that it was necessary to lower wagons
by ropes passed around stout trunks of trees.
Only a few years since some of these trees still
bore the marks of the cords and chains that cut
through their bark. This was the last stage of
the all-wagon route to the Willamette, and was
in constant use by later arrivals. Of this com
mendable enterprise Mr. S. L. Brooks has writ
ten: Previous to the building of the Barlow road in
1847 the immigrants, after reaching The Dalles, pro
ceeded by boat down the Columbia river to the Willa
mette valley. Their route through eastern Oregon to
The Dalles was via the emigrant road. This highway
entered the present confines of the state through the Blue
Mountains. It passed through Pendleton, crossed the
Umatilla river above the mouth of Butter creek, then
followed a southwestern course to Willow creek, cross
ing that stream near the present station of Cecils ; thence
west across the present Gilliam county to Rock creek;
followed Rock creek and crossed the John Day river
below the mouth of Rock creek ; thence it crossed Sher
man county, passing through what is now the town of
Wasco, to the mouth of the Des Chutes river; crossed
that stream at the mouth and followed the Columbia
to The Dalles.
The Barlow road extended south from The Dalles
to Fifteen Mile Crossing (Dufur) ; thence to Tygh
valley; thence south and west, keeping to the north of
White river, to the pass through the Cascades, between
Mounts Hood and Wilson, and thence to Oregon City
and other points in the Willamette.
In its issue of January 1, 1898, the Times-
Mountaineer said :
"The Klinger family, consisting of father,
mother and six children, were among the first
to cross the Cascades on the Barlow road, which
was completed that year (1847), and en route
cooked of their scant supply of rice (which with
a smaller allowance of bread comprised their sole
provisions) on the spot where Dufur now stands.
The year 1847 was a hard one on the enllgra"ts
to Oregon; 7,000 is the estimate of those who

started; hundreds died on the road, and were
buried between the wagon tracks that the sav
ages might not find and dig up the bodies, and
hundreds that reached eastern Oregon were in a
destitute and starving condition. For instance,
one of the Klinger party traded a shirt for a sal
mon at Tygh valley, and was so starved that he
ate so much that it killed him."
In the introductory chapters of this volume
we have related the incidents of the Indian war
of 1847-8; the aftermath of the horrible Whit
man massacre at Waiilatpu. It is not our inten
tion to here repeat the story. But there are cer
tain details of that campaign which come di
rectly into the warp and woof of this history of
Wasco county and these should, consequently,
be noted. In 1847, after the massacre, Oregon
volunteers took the field determined to punish the
treacherous redskins guilty of the inhuman enor
mity perpetrated at the Whitman mission. Gen
eral Gilliam promptly proceeded to the front with
his command. In the course of this campaign
in the Walla Walla country the old mission
where is now The Dalles was converted into
barracks; a military depot and base of supplies
during the entire war extending over a period of
eight months. Of the Oregon City volunteers
Captain H. A. G. Lee was in command. They
were stationed at The Dalles post until the death
of General Gilliam, when Lee assumed command
of operations against the hostiles. But the discov
ery of the gold fields of California in the spring
of 1848 so greatly demoralized this little army
that the soldiers could not be induced to remain
in the field, and again the country fell into the
hands of the war party who held sway until 1850.
During the occupancy by the troops of the
old mission building at Wasco-pum (The Dalles)
— the place was known first as Wasco-pum ; later
as Fort Lee, in honor of its commander. In
April, 1848, we find Captain H. J. G. Maxon
commanding, and in August Lieutenant A. T.
Rogers. Following is the resolution passed by
the legislative assembly of the Oregon Territorial
government :
"That the governor is hereby required to
raise, arm and equip a company of riflemen, not
to exceed fifty men with their captain and subal
tern officers, and dispatch them forthwith to
occupy the mission station at The Dalles, on the
Columbia river, and to hold the same until re
inforcements can arrive at that point or other
means be taken as the government may think
desirable." These are the names of the volunteers, in the
field and at the mission: Joseph B. Proctor, H.
A. G. Lee, J. S. Rinearson, Thomas Purvis, J.
Magoon, C. Richardson, J. E. Ross, Isaac Wal-

96

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

gamoults, John G. Gibson, B. B. Rogers, Benja
min Bratton, Samuel K. Barlow, William Berry,
John Bolton, Henry W. Coe, William Buckman,
S. A. Jackson, Jacob Witchey, John Fleming,
A. C. Little, A. J. Thomas, George Westby, Ed
ward Robson, Andrew Wise, D. Averson, J. H.
McMillen, John C. Danford, W. M. Carpenter,
Lucius Marsh, Joel McKee, H. Levalley, J. W.
Morgan, O. Tupper, R. S. Tupper, C. H. Daven-
dorf, John Hiner, C. W. Savage, G. H. Bos
worth, Jacob Johnson, Stephen Cummings,
George Weston.
These men organized themselves into a com
pany and selected their officers as follows :
Captain, H. A. G. Lee; first lieutenant, J.
Magoon ; second lieutenant, J. E. Ross ; com
missary, C. H. Davendorf ; surgeon, W. M. Car
penter, M. D. ; first sergeant, J. S. Rinearson ;
second sergeant, W. Savage ; third sergeant, Wil
liam Berry ; first corporal, Stephen Cummings ;
second corporal, J. H. McMillen.
The following letter was written by Major H.
A. G. Lee to Governor Abernethy, of Oregon,
December 26, 1847, shortly after his arrival at
The Dalles (then known as Wasco-puml :
To Governor Abernethy : Sir — I reached this place
on the evening of the 21st instant, with ten men, in
cluding Mr. Hinman (who had been in charge of the
mission at Wasco-pum), whom I met on his way to
Wallamet at Wind River Mountain, thirty miles below.
The boats being wind-bound, and hearing from Mr.
Hinman that a party of the Cayuses and river Indians
had been down and driyen off some horses from the
mission, and that he had left with his family soon after,
thinking it unsafe to remain longer, I was induced to
lead the few men that were with me (for we had been
separated by the wind and could not get together), and
press to this place by land, with all dispatch, to save
the houses from destruction ; and I am very happy to
inform you that we have arrived just in time, and that
all is now safe. The natives immediately about this
place are friendly and hailed our arrival with much
joy. Seletsa professes friendship, but I shall keep an
eye on him ; his men have been killing cattle, and I sus
pect with his consent, though he promises to make
them pay for them. We have been collecting the cattle
and placing them below in order to stop the slaughtering
that has been carried on above. We have not yet learned
the amount of mischief done at this place, but are getting
things under way quite as well as I could have antici
pated. Mr. Hinman has been of great service to me here;

he leaves today to join his family whom he left on the
river * * * While writing the above one horse
which had been stolen from the immigrants has been
brought in, and others are reported on the way. I think
most of the property stolen near this place will be re
turned ; that above Des Chutes will probably be con
tended for. The Indians about this place are evidently
terrified, and I shall avail myself of that fact, as far as
possible,, in furthering the object of our trip. I have
no fears of an attack on this place, yet I shall be as
vigilant as though an attack were certain. The boats
which were wind-bound eight days arrived this morning
all safe and well.
I remain your most obedient, humbled servant,
H. A. G. LEE.
The forces under General Gilliam were rap
idly mobilized and on January 12, 1848, some of
them left Portland, arriving at The Dalles on the
23d. This force numbered fifty men. On the
25th the remainder of the command came in,
making a total force of about two hundred and
fifty soldiers. Previous to the arrival of Gil
liam, Captain Lee engaged in a light skirmish
with the Des Chutes Indians, capturing a num
ber of horses which proved serviceable as riding
animals. These Indians, it was said, had been
urged on by the Cayaises and Lee was sent for
ward to find them. He came up with them and a
sharp skirmish resulted. At night this fact was
reported to Gilliam by a scout.
The following day, with about thirty men,
Gilliam moved forward and found the hostiles in
force on the hills above a point described as
Meek's Crossing. On the morning of the 30th
Gilliam ordered an attack. The Indians were
quickly dislodged, and abandoned their horses,
some forty of which were collected ; also a few
cattle. The only loss inflicted upon the volun
teers was by some Cayuses who attacked the ex
posed camp, killing two soldiers, Packwood and
Jackson, who were guarding the horses. Finally
the Des Chutes Indians were induced to give up
the struggle, and they made a truce with the
commissioner, saying that they had been forced
into the difficulty through fear of the Cayuses.
A forward movement was then commenced by
Gilliam, February 15th, and subsequently the
war was carried on in the northern country, now
the state of Washington. Only a few soldiers
remained at The Dalles post during the whole
campaign.

The Dalles Hospital

CHAPTER II

PASSING EVENTS— 1805 TO 1853.

While these fines are being penned the city
of Portland, Oregon, is making elaborate ar
rangements for the opening, June I, 1905, of the
Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, com
memorative of the enterprise and daring of these
two famous explorers, whose thrilling adven
tures, daring exploits and wonderful executive
ability are thrown into bold relief in the history
of the United States. In the opening chapters
of this work a synopsis of the motive, plans and
execution of their arduous labors has been given.
It is only as their command impinged upon the
history of Wasco county that we now have to
deal. Just one hundred years ago the county at
present embraced within the boundaries of
Wasco county was first visited by white men of
whom there is authoritative data. We find the
earliest mention of the localities of which this
volume treats in the journals of that party, "first,
across the continent," while on their exploring
expedition of 1805. They then went into camp at
the mouth of Mill creek, where now stands a city
known as The Dalles, at once the metropolis and
capital of Wasco county. And here they found
the Indian village of Win-quatt, the chief town
of the Wasco Indians. Of these explorers' first
view of The Dalles of the Columbia, and the
course of their voyage through this section of the
Territory, a full account is given in Chapter II,
Part I, of this volume.
It should be recorded to the credit of the na
tives of these then unbroken wilds that among the
multitude of Indians encountered by Lewis and
Clark they found none unfriendly. They even
persuaded the Nez Perce guides to visit the vil
lage below the great falls of Celilo, which at first
the guides were unwilling to do, as they were at
that time enemies. But a peace was arranged
and no one was molested. Lewis and Clark
reached Celilo October 22d, and the Cascades
November 1, 1805.
In 1892 there was found in an Indian grave
near The Dalles a most curious and interesting
7

relic of the Lewis and Clark expedition. It is
supposed to be a branding iron owned by Captain
Clark, and used by him for the purpose of brand
ing the property belonging to the expedition. We
here produce a representation of the same :

u

CAP. M. LEWIS

— j

A few years since Mr. George H. Himes,
assistant secretary of the Oregon Historical So
ciety, addressed to the Morning Oregonian, pub
lished at Portland, a letter giving a short account
of its discovery, and also accompanying his com
munication with the iron relic itself. The letter
states :
To the Editor : A very unique and interesting relic
was discovered by the writer at Hood river a few weeks-
ago, in the possession of Mr. W. R. Winans. Mr.
Winans found it in an Indian grave, on an island in the
Columbia river, three and one-half miles above The'
Dalles, in 1892, after a freshet. It was attached to parts
of a human skeleton, presumably of an Indian. It is
thought to be a branding iron belonging to the Lewis
and Clark exploring expedition of 1804-6, as indicated
by the lettering, "U. S. Capt. M. Lewis," Captain Lewis
having been the leader of that Jeffersonian expansionist
expedition.

98

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The space below the lettering is one and one-quarter
inches deep, and was used, doubtless, to hold movable
iron letters or lines, as the construction of the iron
indicates that there were thumb-screws at each end to
hold such letters or lines rigidly in place. The imple
ment was probably used to mark the "parfleche," or
rawhide bags used by the explorers to pack their stores
in, and also to mark their camping places ; and perhaps,
too, it may have been burned into thin pieces of wood
and distributed among Indians from time to time.
The brand was constructed on lines of strength,
rather than beauty, although the iron lettering evinces
much skill on the part of the maker, notwithstanding
the ravages of time since it was made, and it weighs
two and three-eighths pounds. The purpose of its ust
as above set forth is purely conjecture, and in the ab
sence of better information is as good a theory as can
be set up. The implement belongs to Mr. Winans, who
has kindly placed it in the custody of the Oregon His
torical Society for safe keeping.
GEORGE H. HIMES,
Assistant Secretary.
The denominational missions at The Dalles
have proved important factors in the early devel
opment of this country. The pioneer attempt to
establish a mission in this vicinity was made by a
party comprising P. C. Pambrun, of the Hud
son's Bay post at Walla Walla, Dr. Marcus Whit
man, H. H. Spalding and W. H. Gray. The last
three, it should be remarked, were the only ones
deeply interested in the mission project. This
was in 1836. They did not then locate at he
Dalles, but proceeded up the Columbia river and
established the Whitman mission at Waiilatpu,
then in the territory now comprising the state of
Washington. Of this venture W. H. Gray in his
"History of Oregon" says :
"Our mission party, with Captain Pambrun,
his two boats loaded, two-thirds of the goods for
the mission, on their way up the Columbia river,
arrived all safe at The Dalles. Gray took a de
cided stand in favor of the first location at that
point on account of its accessibility and the gen
eral inclination of all the Indians in the country
to gather at these salmon fisheries ; Spalding and
Pambrun opposed ; Whitman was undecided ;
Pambrun would not wait to give time to explore
nor assist in getting horses for the doctor and
Gray to look at the country in view of a location."
The second and successful attempt was made
in 1838. The Dalles was considered a most prom
ising field for missionary effort, and it was de
termined by the members of the Oregon Mission
Board to begin a new station at that place, about
eighty miles above Fort Vancouver. Accord
ingly Revs. Daniel Lee and H. K. W. Perkins
were appointed to proceed there for that purpose.

In March, 1901, Mr. H. K. Hines, in an impres
sive address said :
We are assembled today, my friends, on a historic
spot to commemorate an important event in the thrill
ing story of Old Oregon. Sixty-three years ago (1838),
on the 226 day of this present month of March, Rev.
Daniel Lee and Rev. H. K. W. Perkins, who had been
selected for that service by Rev. Jason Lee, super
intendent of the missions of the Methodist Episcopal
church among the Indians of Oregon, arrived at this
place, then known as "Wasco-pum," and on the Sun
day following formally opened their mission among the
the Indians. The tribe of Indians then resident here
was known as the Wascos. When Jason Lee, accom
panied by Daniel Lee, had entered the country, in
September, 1834, the first missionaries, by two full
years to enter the vast region west of the Rocky
mountains, his statesmanlike mind had selected this as
the proper place for the establishment of a mission east
of the Cascade mountains. On arriving at the Willa
mette valley it was evident to him that that was the
point for the central station for his missionary work,
and it was accordingly located among the Calapooia
Indians, near where the capital of Oregon now stands.
The force of the mission was so small that it was not
possible to occupy more than one point at the begin
ning, but it was the full and avowed purpose of Mr.
Lee to occupy this place whenever enlargement could
be undertaken. That time did not come until the spring
of 1838 when, as before indicated, that purpose was
put into execution, and the persons appointed to carry
it into effect.
At the Walamet station the missionaries em
barked, March 14th, in two canoes, with a small
store of supplies. They passed down the river
and then ascended the Columbia, arriving at their
destination "Wednesday, March 22d. Mr. Perkins
had left his wife at the central mission in the
Willamette valley. Early in April, with the as
sistance of Indians, they had so far completed a
log building for a residence, that Mr. Perkins
returned to the Willamette for his wife. Mr.
Lee remained on the ground carrying forward
the work. In May Mr. Perkins returned with
his wife ; affairs at the new mission settled down
into regular routine work.
A valuable spring -of water was found three
miles below the narrows and one-half mile from
the shore of the river. The land was rich ; there
was a plentiful supply of timber, oak and pine,
and an elevated and pleasant location for a house.
Hilly and broken was the background and thinly
wooded. It was on this favored spot that a house
was begun and completed.
Meantime Rev. Jason Lee, on his wav to the
United States, arrived on the scene. He was ac-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

99

companied by Mr. Edwards and another gentle
man, Mr. Ewing, of Missouri, W. M. Brooks
and Thomas Adams, two Indian boys of the
Chinook tribe who had been attending- the mis
sion school at the Walamet station. And they
were there with an object. It was to secure addi
tional facilities to more extensively carry on mis
sionary work in the Oregon territory. April 9th
Jason Lee hired horses of the Indians and, with
-those who accompanied him, set out for Walla
Walla. There he intended to purchase horses
needed to make the tour of the mountains. This
was on the same day that Mr. Perkins left in a
canoe for the Walamet station for his wife. On
his return his family occupied the new house
long before it was roofed. During the ensuing
year a number of trips were made to the Walamet
and Vancouver for supplies. Another journey
was made to Walla Walla after horses ; another
overland to the Walamet station to procure
¦cattle. Meetings with rthe Indians were commenced
immediately following the arrival of these mis
sionaries. They were addressed through the
services of an interpreter in the "jargon," now
termed "Chinook," an important medium of com
munication with all tribes. This patois was de
veloped through the necessities of traffic between
the whites and the natives ; it embraces some Eng
lish, some French and many Indian words, Chin
ook, Walla Walla and those of other tribes.
These religious meetings were held among the
oaks or under a pine tree. Scattered stones af
forded seats for some ; others squatted upon the
bare ground. An American named Anderson,
who had been hired by the year, supplied lumber
for the mission, overseeing the natives. Farming
utensils were required for the ensuing spring ;
also bridles, collars, traces and full equipment for
the horses, all of which were made at the mission.
The scriptures were read and expounded to the
Indians morning and evening. Sabbath services
were continued ; the attendance increased.
In the spring of 1839 about twenty acres of
land were sowed and planted. One field was
worked on shares by Indians, who assisted in
fencing and plowing it. Returns were small as
the ground was new, and a portion of these were
stolen. Discouragements like these, combined
with the plentitude of salmon, roots and berries,
rather disgusted the savages with agricultural
pursuits — the vaunted fruits of husbandry were
treated as a joke. Still, the soil being irrigated
from the spring, a few garden vegetables and a
fine crop of potatoes were secured the first sea
son. Some of the potatoes were stolen by the
Indians. Another house was under way and,
-nearing completion; it was utilized for meeting

purposes during the winter. Writing in 190 1 of
this colony Mr. H. K. Hines said :
The appointment of Messrs. Daniel Lee and Per
kins was, in itself, a most judicious one. Daniel Lee
was the nephew of the superintendent, and had been his
chosen companion in his journey across the plains, four
years before. He was a plain, practical man, of solid
rather than brilliant gifts, of undoubted integrity, and
well calculated to gain and hold a strong influence over
the minds of the Indians. His early life had familiar
ized him with toil and schooled him to brave and de
termined deeds. Mr. Perkins was a younger man, well
educated and trained in the higher amenities of the
best New England life. While Lee's piety was of that
practical, business kind that passes, properly, for so
much with the plain toiling multitudes around us, that
of Perkins was rather of that lofty, mystical character
that appeals so strongly to the cultured and sentimental.
His spirituality was intense. While in some respects
these men were the opposite of each other, they were,
also, the complements of each other in such a work as
they were to undertake at this place.
In June, 1840, this mission at The Dalles was
reinforced by the arrival of Dr. J. L. Babcock,
H. B. Brewer and J. H. Frost and families, and
Mrs. Daniel Lee, who was formerly Miss Maria
T. Ware. This outpost of civilization was main-
tianed by the Methodists for a trifle less than ten
years. Rev. Daniel Lee continued as superin
tendent of the mission until 1844 when he left for
the United States accompanied by his wife. Lee
was succeeded by Rev. George Gary. The lattef
remained in charge until 1847. That year Rev.
William Roberts assumed control. For nearly an
entire decade the Methodist mission constituted
the sole settlement of white people at The Dalles ;
it was the first permanent settlement made. This
was during the period when the territory was
claimed by both England and the United States,
as has been shown in our chapter on "The Ore
gon Controversy" in Part I, of this work. It was
a project dear to the hearts of Lee and his asso
ciates, particularly Dr. Whitman, to hold the
country for the LTnited States. These mission
aries, while disseminating the truth of the Gos
pel among the Indians, did not overlook the value
of the country to our government ; in fact they
fully realized it long before the politicians at
Washington awoke to the significance of the real
worth of the Inland Empire. The Dalles was the
key to the Northwest Coast. Lee realized this
fact. His best efforts were thrown forward to
establish a permanent American settlement.
The Methodists transferred the mission to
Dr. Marcus Whitman in August, 1847. Whit
man was a propagandist of the Presbyterian Mis-

IOO

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sionary Society ; better known as the American
Board. To Whitman and his associates The
Dalles was an important station. They were at
this time doing the greater portion of the mis
sionary work east of the Cascade mountains. In
the Willamette valley the Methodists found a re
ligious field large enough to occupy all their
talents and forces. At the period of the transfer
it was mutually understood that the missionary
work would be continued on such general lines as
were then followed throughout the northwest.
After the transfer Whitman returned to Waii
latpu leaving The Dalles station in charge of his
nephew, Perrin B. Whitman, at that time a youth
seventeen years of age. Until December, 1847,
the latter remained in charge. Then he received
news of the massacre at Whitman's Waiilatpu
mission, and fled down the Columbia leaving the
buildings in charge of some friendly Wascos.
Soon after the houses were occupied by a mili
tary company in command of Captain H. A. G.
Lee. It was never used subsequently as a mis
sionary station.
Throughout the entire field of Indian regen
eration at The Dalles, during the winter of 1839-
40, a wave of religious enthusiasm swept for
ward. This revival was under charge of Revs.
Lee and Perkins. Business was laid aside ; the
largest rooms were crowded ; great congregations
assembled in the open air. The culmination of
this revival came at a camp-meeting held near the
mission house early in April, 1840. The place
where the camp meeting was held was a point
about six miles below The Dalles and three miles
from the mission house. The place was called
by the Indians Cow-e-laps. This point was in the
vicinity of the Geo. Snipes brick residence below
town. Nearly 1,200 Indians were in attendance,
many of whom made a profession of religion ;
one hundred and fifty were baptized ; four or five
hundred partook of the sacrament. Of this
awakening Mr. H. K. Hines says: "I believe
they were mostly sincere, and their expressions
real. Notwithstanding within ten years the In
dians were dispersed and the mission itself given
up, the causes are easy to find outside of the oft
asserted superficiality of the work itself."
In October, 1840, Mr. Jason Lee visited the
mission and another camp meeting was held.
This was attended by not one-third or one-
fourth as many as at the spring meeting.
Rev. J. S. Griffin, in the winter of 1839, at
tempted to pass the Salmon river mountains to
Payette river, for the purpose of establishing a
mission among the Snake Indians. He failed and
went into the Willamette valley as a settler. While
at The Dalles, as related by W. H. Gray, in his
"History of Oregon," these three clergymen suc

ceeded "in converting, as they supposed, a large
number of Indians. While this Indian revival
was in progress the writer had occasion to visit
Vancouver. On his way he called on the mis
sionaries at The Dalles and, in speaking of the
revival among the Indians we remarked that, in
our opinion, most of the religious professions of
the natives were from selfish motives. Mr. Per--
kins thought not; he named one Indian that, he
felt certain, was really converted, if there ever
was a true conversion. In a short time Daniel
Lee, his associate, came in and remarked, 'What
kind of a proposition do you think  ,.
(naming Mr. Perkins' truly converted Indian)
has made to me ?' Perkins replied : 'Perhaps he
will perform the work we wished him to do.'
'No,' says Lee, 'he says he will pray a whole year
if I will give him a shirt and a capote [coat].'
This fact shows that the natives who were sup
posed to be converted to Christianity were mak
ing these professions to gain, presents from the
missionaries." On the other hand we have the following tes
timony of Dr. McLoughlin, given to Rev. Jason
Lee : "Before you came and began your mission
ary work here, we had to guard every boatload
that passed The Dalles by forty armed men.
Now our boats come and go alone and unguarded
with safety."
Concerning this mission, and its condition in
1 84 1 we have some reliable and unbiased testi
mony. In the summer of that year a United
States exploring expedition under command of
Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., made a trip up the
Columbia river, accompanied by Peter Ogden,
chief factor for the northern district of the Hud
son's Bay Company. The following in regard
to the mission is taken from the report of Com
mander Wilkes, published in 1845. It gives an
accurate idea of the mission as it was at that time,.
as well as the surroundings : I
In the morning they were again on their route and
reached Little river, from which the station of the
Methodist mission is three-fourths of a mile distant.
Here they were met by Mr. Perkins, who was wait
ing for his letters and some packages of goods which
the brigade had brought. Mr. Drayton accompanied"
Mr. Perkins to the mission, while the brigade moved
on towards The Dalles. Mr. Daniel Lee, the principal
of the mission, was found near the house, reaping his
wheat. At this station there were three families, those of
the Rev. Mr. Lee, Mr. Perkins and a lay member,
who is a farmer. The reception of Mr. Drayton was
exceedingly kind. The mission consists of two log-
and board houses, hewn, sawed and built by themselves,.
with a small barn and several outhouses. The build-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

IOI

ings are situated on high ground, among -scattered
oaks, and immediately in the rear is an extensive wood
of oaks and pines with numerous sharp and jagged
knolls and obelisk-looking pillars of conglomerate, in
terspersed among basaltic rocks ; in front is an alluvial
plane, having a gradual descent toward the river, and
extending to the right and left. This contains about
two thousand acres of good land, well supplied with
springs, with Little river, and other smaller streams
passing through it. The soil is of decomposed con
glomerate and in places shows a deep black loam.
Around this tract the land is high, devoid of moisture,
and covered with basaltic rocks or sand.
They here raise wheat and potatoes by irrigation ;
the latter grow in great perfection and wheat yields
twenty to thirty bushels to the acre. They had just
¦gathered a crop of two hundred bushels from land
which they irrigate by means of several fine streams
near their houses. They might raise much more if they
were disposed. The summers here are much hotter
than at Vancouver and consequently drier, the spring
rains cease here earlier and the people harvest in
June. There are only a few Indians residing near the
mission during the winter, and these are a very miser
able set. They live in holes in the ground, not unlike
¦clay ovens, in order to keep warm. They are too
lazy to cut wood for their fires. The number that visit
The Dalles during the fishing season is about fifteen
hundred ; these are from all the country round, and are
generally the outlawed of the different villages. The
missionaries complain much of the insolent behavior
and of their thieving habits, both of the visitors and
those who reside permanently at the falls. They are,
therefore, very desirous of having a few settlers near,
that they may have some protection from this annoy
ance, as they are frequently under apprehension that
their lives may be taken.
It is not to be expected that the missionaries could
te able to make much progress with such a set, and
they, of course, feel somewhat discouraged, though
they have succeeded in obtaining a moral influence over
a few. The missionaries have been stationed at The
Dalles since 1838. The primary object of this mission
is to give the gospel to the Indians ; next to teach them
such arts of civilization as shall enable them to improve
their condition, and by degrees to become an enlightened
community. There are many difficulties that the mis
sionary has to contend with, in first coming among
these people, none of which are greater than the want
of knowledge of their true character. The missionaries,
after a full opportunity of knowing these Indians, con
sider covetousness as their prevailing sin, which is
exhibited in lying, dishonest traffic, gambling and horse-
racing. Of the latter they are extremely fond, and are
continually desirous of engaging in it. This sport
frequently produces contentions, which often end in
bloodshed. Stealing prevails to an alarming extent ;
scarcely anything that can be removed is safe. The

missionaries have several times had their houses broken
open, and their property more or less damaged. The
stealing of horses in particular is very common, but
after being broken down the animals are sometimes re
turned. There are but few chiefs to whom an appeal
for redress can be made, and they can exercise but
little control over such a lawless crew. Those who
gather here are generally the very worst of the tribes
around. This is an extract from a decision of the
United States District Court in the case of Dalles
City and others against the Missionary Society
of the Methodist Episcopal church, for the pos
session of The Dalles townsite, handed down De
cember 3, 1879:
In regard to the abandonment of the mission :
It is claimed by the defendant that in August, 1847,
it agreed to turn over the missionary station at The
Dalles with the improvements thereon to Marcus Whit
man, the agent of the American Board of Commissioners
for foreign missions, and then engaged as a lay mis
sionary of said board at a place called Waiilatpu, about
one hundred and forty miles, east, northeast of The
Dalles, upon the understanding that said board would
maintain a mission there among the Indians, and that
said Whitman would pay $600 .for certain personal
property belonging to tjie mission ; that in pursuance
of said agreement said Whitman gave the defendant
a draft upon said board for said $600, and the de
fendant's agents and missionaries between September 1
and 10, 1847, surrendered the station to said Whit
man ; that owing to the death of said Whitman on
November 29, 1847, said agreement was canceled in
1849, by the surrender of said draft to the agent of
said board and the "retransfer" of said station to the
defendant, who thereupon resumed control of the same.
* * * Defendant substantially admits that from the
delivery of said station to Whitman as aforesaid it
never actually occupied the same for mission purposes
or otherwise, and claims that it was prevented from
so doing by the danger from Indian hostilities grow
ing out of what was known as the Cayuse war.
This decision, in effect, denied the claims of
the missionaries, and sustained the contention "of
the city of The Dalles.
At the conclusion of the Indian war of 1847-8,
culminating in the subjugation of the Cayuse
tribe and other northern hostiles, another mis
sion was established at, or near, The Dalles. This
was by the Catholic church. May 16, 1848, they,
formally began their work which, at this point,
has been uninterrupted until the present day.
Rev. L. Rosseau was the first father in charge,
and in fact the actual founder of the mission.
Father Rosseau crossed the plains with Rev. A.

io:

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

M. A. Blanchet, Bishop of Walla Walla, and
others of their order late in 1847. They estab
lished missions in various parts of the country.
Father Rosseau, an Italian, was an eloquent an'd
impressive preacher, possessing great personal
magnetism and he had much influence with the
Indians. The mission was established near the
Catholic cemetery, west of the city.
Father Rosseau was succeeded by Father
Mesplie, in 185 1, under whose supervision the
mission buildings were erected. This mission,
which has proved an important factor in the
growth and development of the town, has become
a flourishing society with handsome structures.
John Peter Mesplie, a brother of Father
Mesplie, was an early worker at the mission. He
came direct from France to 'the Catholic mis
sion at The Dalles. From that time he remained
a resident of Wasco county, until his death, Jan
uary 22, 1905. At the time of his decease he
was a pioneer of pioneers, having made his home
in the county for fiftv-two vears. Writing in The
Danes Times of March 2,'i88i, "An Early Set
tler" says :
* * * The Catholic mission was here in 1850 and I
think it had ben here some time before : for soon after
that date the priest in charge told a friend of ours that
he was discouraged and should leave ; as he had
worked to instill sentiments of religion in the minds
of the Indians, and yet, when he asked them to per
form the slightest religious duty, they invariably asked,
"What will you pay me?" And this reminds us of an
incident : A party attended the church one Sunday-
morning, and were quite highly entertained by hear
ing the priest preach to the Indians in Chinook, tell
ing them Bible stories — among others the ascension of
Elijah — Copa Lah-alie illchcc copa piah chick-chick
copa yaka — well, very highly dressed, trying to make
them understand by these miracles the magnitude of
the power of God. But he had to pay them to believe
these things, so the good father left, and was replaced
by Father Mesplie.
In 1851 the mission building was burned down, but
was immediately rebuilt, as before, of logs. Father
Mesplie built the old frame church which stands at the
Catholic cemetery, as well as the St. Peter's edifice
in town. The Catholic mission, as originally built, con
sisted of two log cabins, one the church and the
other the home of the priest. The frame building
built by Father Mesplie was put up in the late
fifties and was near the old site. It supported a
belfry and was a much more pretentious build
ing than the log structures that had preceded it.
Before continuing the story of the early set
tlement of Wasco county let us consider the occu

pancy of the country around The Dalles by mili
tary forces ; the building of Fort Dalles and es
tablishment of the military reservation. In 1849
the rifle regiment recruited in Missouri for serv
ice in Oregon, completed their journey overland,
and tarried a short time at The Dalles on their
route to Vancouver. These troops were bare
foot and scarcely able to walk ; their horses too
weak to carry them. Remaining here a short
period to recuperate they then extended their
journey down the Columbia. Their means of
conveyance were three Makinaw boats, one yawl,
four canoes and one whaleboat. A raft was also
constructed to carry four or five tons. This was
loaded with goods, eight men being on board to
navigate the awkward craft. Attempting to run
the treacherous Cascades six of the crew were
drowned ; according to the Spectator, of October
18, 1849. A portion of this command with
wagons, teams and riding horses, crossed the
Cascade mountains via the Mount Hood road,
losing nearly three-fourths of their exhausted
horses on the way. The total loss on this disas
trous journey amounted to forty-five wagons, one
ambulance, thirty horses and two hundred and
thirty-five mules.
May 13, 1850, Colonel Loring dispatched
Major Tucker from Vancouver with two com
panies of this rifle regiment to establish a supply
post at The Dalles. The officers detailed for this
duty were Captain Clairborne and Lieutenants
Lindsay, May and Ervine, and Surgeon C. H.
Smith. These companies located the present site
of the military garrison at The Dalles ; their tents
were pitched under some trees near a sand bed.
Four sides of one of the trees were blazed and
branded "U. S." This represented the center of
the military reservation, five miles each way ;
thus warning everybody within a radius of ten
miles to "keep off the grass" — which they didn't
do to any apparent extent.
In 185 t the rifle regiment was ordered to Cal
ifornia. Therefore the two companies at The
Dalles were relieved by two companies of the
First Artillery, commanded by Lieutenant
Woods. In the fall of 1852 two companies, K.
and I, of the famous Fourth United States In
fantry arrived, in command of Captain Benjamin
Alvord, and relieved the artillery. He was ac
companied by Captain Montgomery, chief quar
termaster. These troops came via the Isthmus of
Darien. Major Rains and Captain Mallony sub
sequently relieved them, and the former made
two separate surveys of the reservation under
authority of the United States government.
Major Granville O. Haller and Quartermaster
Forsythe relieved Rains and Mallony. In the
spring of 1853 the reservation, which until that

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

103

time had been ten miles square, was ordered cut
down to five, thus affording an opportunity to
settlers to occupy lands nearer the post. The
following is from the Wasco County Abstract
Index :
In the summer of 1853 Lieutenant Montgomery,
then at Fort Dalles, commenced to survey a military
reservation, "not exceeding 640 acres," in accordance
with section 9 of act of congress of February 14,
1850. Montgomery commenced at the lower end of
Washington street, about 150 feet north of Main street,
and ran one mile southerly (south 32 degrees, 30 minutes
w), thence westerly one mile; northerly one mile; then
to beginning, thus making a reservation one mile
square. But this survey was never approved, if ever
sent on to Washington.
In 1854 Major Rains, being in command at Fort
Dalles, disapproved of Montgomery's survey, as he
wanted the reservation to take in Mill creek, and also
wanted to throw out a piece of ground on which set
tlers might establish a town and trading post.
* * * In 1854 Rains, in laying out his reservation,
abandoned Montgomery's beginning point, and started
his survey at a large rock at the mouth of Mill creek, and
running southerly to Sugar Loaf rock, thus leaving
the triangular piece of land known as Dalles City at
the east of his survey and thus lying between the east
line of the Rains reservation and the west boundary
line of Bigelow's claim taken with reference to the
Montgomery survey. This was for the purpose of
establishing a town under the townsite act just ex
tended to Oregon under act of congress of July 17,
1854, being the original act of May 23, 1844.
Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, in her book, "Remin-
escences of Eastern Oregon," has the following
to say of the garrison at The Dalles, as it was
upon the arrival of the Laughlin family, October
4,1850: "The only houses in the garrison at that time
were the long, low barracks with six or eight
rooms used for so many years as officers' quar
ters * * * ancj (-ne commissary and guard
house which was more like an outdoor cellar
than anything else I can think of, the upper part
being of logs. The soldiers were in tents until
after the mill was built and sawed lumber could
be procured. Over one hundred civilians, immi
grants, were employed during the winter to build
the mill and quarters for the men ; a barn for the
horses and cottage for the commanding officer."
The original garrison buildings were erected
in 1850, and remained in about the same condi
tion until the arrival of Captain Jordan, in 1856.
This military officer was quite luxurious in his
tastes — considerably of a sabarite — and he ex

pended large sums of the government's money in
the erection in 1858, of showy and ornate houses
and in laying out elaborate grounds and lawns.
The Dalles Chronicle lately said :
In recent dispatches was announced the death of
Captain Thomas Jordan, at one time in the regular
army, and later in the Confederate service. Captain
Jordan was stationed at The Dalles at the time the
millitary post was there, and his death has caused a
friend of the Chronicle to write the following
reminiscent article which will be of interest to those
who wish to learn of the early history of The Dalles :
The death of Captain Jordan should be of more
than passing interest to us in this vicinity, he having
been quartermaster at the post of Fort Dalles during
the erection of the buildings which succeeded the first
log huts put up. It was he who sowed over the bluff
around the government spring the seed of white clover,
the sods of which have helped to start many a lawn in
our city, and some of which still flourish where they
have not been extirpated by the spade of improve
ment. Along with this, the horses of the cavalry regi
ment turned the sward of the native grass growing
on their exercise ground into a desert which increases
yearly. But this was not the fault of Captain Jordan,
nor was he to blame for the charge of extravagant
expenditure which was often brought against him.
It is not easy to build well and inexpensively when
carpenters are paid ten dollars a day in gold and when
planing mills are not, but every stroke in the con
struction has to be made by the strong hand of the
builder unaided by mechanical invention. It is not
easy to build posts for frontier protection, as Fort
Dalles was built, and at the same time take advantage
of the cheapening facilities of densely populated cities.
Captain Jordan had fine taste in building, and
Uncle Sam is supposed to have a long purse, and so it
was that we boasted of as picturesque a collection of
officers' quarters as could be found the world over.
The customary tradition of "two rooms and kitchen"
received its usual generous interpretation in army quar
ters. A room is but a room, though it may be sub
divided by any number of sliding doors, and any por
tion of the upper stories, the upper angle of which
is cut off by the roof to ever so small a degree, does
not count. It will be long before our city has another
$100,000 building in its residence quarters. We had
our little pride in the commandant's house. It went
out in a blaze of glory. But one of Captain Jordan's
buildings is still standing, called, we believe, the Cap
tain's quarters.
The buildings are about through with their use
fulness; the builder is at rest; the parade ground is
cut up into town lots, and grows roses and chrysanthe
mums. We do not forget that he raised his hand against

104

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the government; but we would "be to his virtues very
kind," and remember his faithfulness wherein he was
faithful. In her entertaining reminiscences Mrs. Lord
says :
"In March, 1851, the rifle regiment was or
dered away. At this time the headquarters for
the military for the northwest was at Oregon
City, but the part of the regiment which had gone
through the preceding year had lost a great many
from desertion, as the men were simply wild to
go to the recently discovered gold mines in Cali
fornia. Officers had pursued and returned sev
enty in one bunch, but many others had eluded
them and were never heard of, probably perish
ing, either from starvation or being murdered by-
Indians. For this reason the government made
The Dalles a stopping place for the late portion
(those of the rifle regiment who came west in
1850), because of its not being so easy to desert.
Their leaving threw the two hundred men out of
employment (those who were engaged in putting
up the garrison buildings), as the buildings
which had been completed were ample for the
company of sixteen privates, two non-commis
sioned officers and one lieutenant, who were to
take their place. Consequently there was a grand
exodus of both soldiers and civilians, leaving
quite a number of cabins vacant, although some
of the people for different reasons did not make
haste to leave."
Major Granville O. Haller was stationed at
Fort Dalles from 1853 to 1856. From this point,
and under command of Major Haller, was the
campaign of 1855 carried on against the hostile
Yakima Indians. In May, 1855, Colonel Law
rence Kip, U. S. A., paid a visit to the post on
his way to Walla Walla to participate in the great
council which established the white race in full
possession of eastern Oregon. In his journal he
has this to say of the post at The Dalles :
"This post possesses none of the outward at
tractions of scenery which distinguished that of
Vancouver. Its principal recommendation is its
healthfulness. The buildings are badly arranged,
having been planned and erected years ago by the
mounted rifles when they were stationed in Ore
gon. The officers' quarters are on the top of a
hill and the barracks for the men some distance
further down, as if the officers intended to get
as far from them as possible. There is a want
of compactness, as there is no stockade — nothing
in the shape of a fortification ; in case of ap out
break by any of the hostile tribes of Indians, the
post might easily be surprised. At this time two
companies of the Fourth Infantry were stationed
there under command of Major Rains."

In September, 1904, The Dalles was revisited
by Mr. Louis Scholl, who at that time was mak
ing his home in Walla Walla. So early as 1856
Mr. Scholl came to The Dalles with Captain Jor
dan, and was the architect who prepared the plans
for the buildings erected by that officer for gar
rison purposes. At one time an idea obtained
that the lumber for these edifices was brought
around the Horn. Mr. Scholl is authority for
the statement that it was sawed at the mills on
Fifteen Mile, at Mosier, on the site of the Urqu-
hart place, on Mill creek, where stood a mill
owned by Scholl & Noble, and, also, at the gov
ernment mill. At the period of Mr. Scholl's
visit, in 1904, the local Sorosis at The Dalles was
fitting up a museum in the old garrison building,
and he presented to the ladies a number of in
teresting relics of pioneer days ; a lamp, an old
dictionary used by Captain Allen, and presented
to him by his clerk, Mr. Inman ; an old ledger
once used in W. D. Bigelow's store, and the orig
inal plans of the garrison buildings. It is need
less to say that these valuable relics were greatly
appreciated. May 1, 1904, a dispatch from The
Dalles recorded the following:
Through the efforts of the Sorosis Club, of this
city, a recent act of congress has been passed by which
one of the last remaining buildings of old Fort Dalles
has come into the liands of the Oregon Historical
Society for the purpose of preserving it as a landmark
and relic of the pioneer settlement of this historic
spot, with which some of our country's most famous
soldiers and historians were identified.
Although now falling into decay and rapidly meet
ing the same fate of rack and ruin which has over
taken the other old barracks, the building is still in a
reasonable state of preservation, its present condition
evidencing the excellent workmanship, material and
care used in its construction.
The house, which was built in 1858, was one of the
row of officers' quarters, and was originally intended for
the residence of the post surgeon. Its finishing lumber,
window cases, mantle pieces, stair rails, window panes,
etc., were brought around Cape Horn from New York,
its dimension lumber and rough material being sawed
out at the two government saw mills on Mill creek;
one at the falls near the old Catholic mission ; the
other four miles up the stream.
This latter statement appears to contradict
that of Mr. Scholl. When we consider the im
mense cost of these buildings, we are forced to
the conclusion that Mr. Scholl is correct and that,
with the exception of the window glass men
tioned, the various finishing materials were the
result of the handicraft of the workman employed
at The Dalles on these once ornate edifices.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

105

The chimneys were worked out of the sandstone
•quarries east of the fort, all the work being done
by the soldiers of the post, with what little help could
be secured from itinerant workmen picked up as they
came and went on their way to the Willamette valley.
Under the direction of Captain Thomas Jordan, the
buildings were commenced, Louis Scholl, of Walla
Walla, drafting the designs and architectural models ;
Rev. P. S. Knight, of Salem, and Colonel N. H. Gates,
now deceased, of this city, both being employed in their
-erection. Standing on the highest point of the old garrison
enclosure in the southeast corner of the post, the old
house faces northward across the abandoned parade
-ground and commands a magnificent view of the Colum
bia and its valley from the sharp turn in the river above
the city to the gorge below Crate's Point. Although
the history of its early occupancy is somewhat con
flicting, Captain Black, of Company G, Ninth United
States Infantry, who came with his company to the
fort in 1852, was probably its first tenant.
According to the subsequent survey of The Dalles
City, the old house occupies a peculiar location, being
situated on the intersection of four city lots and directly
across an alley. As the land upon which it is located
was included in the bill donating it to the Historical
Society, its old age will probably never be disturbed by
the encroachment of modern homes, which have now al
most taken possession of the old military reservation.
In years past the question of preserving this old
building has been agitated without especial effort or
result, until April, 1903, when Register J. P. Lucas, of
The Dalles Land Office, at the request of the local
board of the Woman's Federation of Clubs, took up the
matter with the secretary of the interior with a view
1 -of securing the building to this society. In response
to this correspondence and upon his representation of
the dilapidated condition of the house, the local land
¦officers were authorized by the secretary to sell the
building, which had previously been appraised at a
value of $1,100, for the sum of $100, if sold without
the ground on which it stood, or for $140 including the
site. This amount not being available in the local
-club, a conference was had with the officers of the

Historical Society, at which it was determined to re
quest our delegation in congress to secure the passage
of a bill prepared by that society donating the prop
erty to their corporation. * * * With proper re
pairs this landmark can be made to last for many years
to come, the sole survivor of this once famous fort,
where passing immigrants and settlers could look for
military protection in the upper Columbia country.
A picture of this historic edifice will be found
in this work. An idea of the expense incurred in
maintaining Fort Dalles may be gleaned from the
fact that a quantity of hay purchased at San Fran
cisco for use at the post cost the government $77
per ton laid down at The Dalles. The post was
abandoned in 18667 Of this historic place the
Times-Mountaineer of a comparatively recent
date says :
"The old garrison buildings, the first erected
at The Dalles, presents a picture of desolation
sad to behold. Some of these were built at a
great expense to the government, as material
and labor commanded high prices. Many of
them were elegant structures, but not having been
repaired for many years, present the appearance
of decay. The old guard-house in which many
of the first soldiers on this frontier spent a re
pentant night, is almost a mass of ruins. Large
stones have been dug out of the wall, and the
building is gradually going to ruin. Several
families are living in the houses, but the shiftless
manner in which they leave the old historic land
marks to go to wreck is deplorable. Now that
General Grant is nearing the end of his life's
journey, very many will look upon this is a hal
lowed spot, as among its earliest associations
was when Lieutenant U. S. Grant, then lately
graduated from West Point, was stationed at
this post."
This last statement is incorrect. General
Grant, when a lieutenant, passed two weeks only
here, while on a tour of inspection. General
Grant, when on a later trip to Oregon, told S. L.
Brooks this, which is, undoubtedly authentic.

CHAPTER III

PASSING EVENTS— 1846 TO 1862.

Thus far this History of Wasco County has
been devoted to Indian affairs, the Hudson's Bay
Company, Lewis and Clark, the missions, the
military post at The Dalles and the short cam
paign against Indians of the Oregon volunteers.
Previous to 1846 no actual settler had come into
this portion of the Territory to build himself a
home and blaze a trail for others. A few trap
pers had penetrated the country, and in a few
localities east of the Cascade mountains missions
had been established to teach and regenerate the
savages ; later immigrants slowly won their way
on a weary march to the Willamette valley, the
ultima Thule of the earliest overlanders to
Oregon. But the year 1846 witnessed the appearance
of the first settler, Joseph Lavendure, a French
trapper. Contrary to the character of the aver
age fur hunter, Lavendure established a land
claim, built a log cabin, and fenced a few acres
on what later became the Logan estate. But the
discovery of auriferous deposits in California in
the spring of 1848 induced him to abandon every
thing and he melted into oblivion, never to be
afterward heard from by his successors in that
locality. Later the military forces took posses
sion of his personal property. Mrs. Lord is au
thority for the statement that Lavendure's claim
later became known as the "Chrisman place."
He built two log cabins ; in the early '50's one
of them was for a time occupied by a Frenchman
named Narcisse Ramon.
It has been authentically settled that Nathan
Olney was the second settler in Wasco county.
In 1847 ne "took up" a claim which was subse
quently known as the "John Irvine place." Like
Lavendure Olney went to the California gold
fields ; was financially successful, returned and
retained his claim until 1853. He then sold it to
Dr. Shaug, and secured another on Ten Mile
creek for the purpose of raising stock. He dis
posed of this holding to James Bird and entered
property subsequently known as the "Booth
farm," on Five Mile. Mr. Olney had the repu

tation of having been the first "permanent" set
tler in fhis locality. Of his personality Mrs.
Lord writes :
I have frequently mentioned Nathan Olney, who
came to The Dalles in 1847. He was a prominent
man in the country at that time, handsome, intelligent,
genial, and a general favorite with men; but owing.
to his domestic relations he was not usually sought
by women. (He was a squaw man.) * * * (In the
middle fifties) Mr. Olney came to the conclusion that
he was fitted to live a better life than he was then
living. Times were changing. The country was set
tling up, and he craved the society of white women as
well as white men. So he sent Annette to the 1 reser
vation. They had two children at this time. He kept
the elder and let her keep the babe.
This man had left home at fifteen years of age
and grown up on the frontier, respected and well
treated by men, never realizing the light in which he
stood with refined women. After he had, as it were,
swept and garnished his home, he set about finding a
wife. After several refusals he discovered a lady
who accepted him, and after one week they were mar
ried, on the first day of April, 1856. They were separated
within less than a month. A divorce followed, and the
Indian woman returned to a place in his home. After
passing the following winter in the , Sandwich Islands
(a law having in the meantime been enacted by con
gress that men should not be allowed to live with
Indian women without being married to them), in the
spring Nathan Olney and his two younger brothers
took their squaws down to a justice of the peace, and
were married.
To Mr. Olney is accorded quite a prominent
part in the early history of the county. Follow
ing the organization of Wasco county he was
elected to a number of offices within its juris
diction. September 27, 1850, what was commonly
called the Oregon Donation Claim law was
passed by congress. This act granted to a mar
ried man and his wife who were in Oregon-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

107

previous to the passage of the bill 640 acres of
land, on the condition that they should cultivate
and live on it four years, each receiving a title
to 320 acres. It was under this law that the
early settlers of Wasco county acquired homes.
The donation law expired by limitation Decem
ber 1, 1855.
Mr. J. W. Coventon has graphically described
the country in the vicinity of The Dalles in 1850.
That year he crossed the plains and in September
camped near the mouth of Mill creek. This was
a point where immigrants abandoned their horses
and wagons and proceeded by the way of the
Columbia river to the settlements in the Willa
mette valley. There were no steamboats ; pio
neers were compelled to utilize almost every con
ceivable kind of craft in which to float down
stream. Invariably some difficulty was experi
enced in making a portage at the Cascades ; but
usually the sturdy pioneers were successful in
getting their boats around the rapids. There is
a chapter of hardships in this portion of the toil
some journey ; it may never be fully written.
It is the testimony of Mr. Coventon that there
were above one hundred old wagons in every
stage of dilapidation scattered about the place
where now stands The Dalles. Crippled and half-
starved cows and oxen were seen on the hillsides.
Too weak and emaciated to be driven further
they had been turned loose to die or recuperate
as fate might determine. On Mill creek there
was one cabin, near the rock pile, and here a
few articles of merchandise were kept for sale.
On the bluffs were camped a company of soldiers,
near where now stands the academy; they then
lived in tents.
At this period the only residence house, aside
from the mission, was owned by Nathan Olney.
It was this house, doubtless, that Mr. Coventon
referred to. The same year Judge William C.
Laughlin built a cabin at Crate's Point, but hav
ing been notified by the military authorities that
he was on the reservation, he promptly aban
doned it. Mr. Laughlin and Dr. Farnsworth
settled at Hood River in 1852, built houses and
there passed one winter. The season proved
unusually severe ; nearly all their stock died, and
they abandoned their claims. In the spring of
1853 Judge Laughlin returned to The Dalles.
Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, daughter of Judge
Laughlin, in her "Reminiscences of Eastern Or
egon," thus tells of the building of their first
home here : j
Father, while hunting along the rivers and sloughs
for ducks and geese, had frequently noticed Crate's
Point, and thought it must be five miles from the
post, and would 'be a place where he could raise stock

if he concluded to stay; at any rate he would stay for
the winter and try, so he moved the camp down there
and set it up in front of a rock which was in the
shape of a fireplace and served that purpose very well.
He then began cutting trees and shaping logs for a
house. He cut small ones, so with what assistance
mother could give him, as there was no man he could
get to help him, the work went on. It was interferred
with by hours of hunting for game with which to sup
ply the table and an occasional trip to Olney's store
for supplies which we were obliged to have. * * *
-After the cabin had been laid up ready to put the
rafters on, we were notified that we were within the
limits of the reservation, so of course the work ceased. -
After abandoning the partially prepared home ¦
at Crate's Point, the family lived in tents, making
camp at different places in the vicinity of The
Dalles. It was after this that in company with
Dr. Farnsworth that they removed to Hood.
River. Crate's Point was named in honor of Edward'
Crate, at one time employed by the Hudson's.
Bay Company. Early in 1850 he located on the
point that now bears his name. The Dalles
Times-Mountaineer, of July, 1891, places the
date in the year 1848. These dates, however,
refer to his location at The Dalles. While in the
employment of the Hudson's Bay Company he
had passed through the Indian village of Win-
quatt, on the present site of The Dalles, so early
as 1837. Mr. Justin Chenoweth was engaged in carry
ing the United States mail and lived in a sort
of cave on the banks of the river in 185 1-2, be
low a residence site later occuped by Mr. Klindt,
at the mouth of a creek which now bears his name.
In the fall of 1852 he erected a large, substantial
building there, married and took a donation
claim. For a number of years he strove to create
a town in that vicinity, but realizing that his
efforts would not prove successful he moved to
where Mr. Vanbibber subsequently lived.
Although he had come to the country some
time previous Mr. Charles W. Denton, the pio
neer fruit raiser of this section, set out his first
orchard on Mill Creek in 1854. In 1853 D. Bol
ton had located on Fifteen Mile, where he began
farming on quite an extensive scale ; he is said
to have been the first farmer to raise a crop of
wheat in Oregon east of the Cascade mountains.
These men mentioned were the pioneer agricult
urists of Wasco county, and to them is due great
credit for having developed the agricultural re
sources of what has become one of the most pro
ductive grain sections of the northwest.
In June, 185 1, the Herbert family, who had
been living at The Dalles, removed across the

io8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Cascade mountains. With the departure of Mrs.
Herbert, Mrs. Laughlin remained the only white
woman in eastern Oregon ; until immigration
began there was none other. In 1852 George
.Snipes first settled on what was later known as
his "lower place," seven miles below The Dalles.
L. C. Coe, James Jenkins and J. M. Benson set
tled at Hood River in 1854. The same year
John A. Simms filed a donation claim on the
"Chrisman place," long known as the "Logan
-estate." William Logan was the father of Dr.
Logan. Early in the '50's James Mosier built
a house on the bank of the creek which now bears
his name ; Messrs. John Dyer and Green Arnold
settled upon Three Mile; R. R. Thompson, In
dian agent, filed east of the Logan estate, which
property later became known as Thompson's
addition, and O. Humason also came about this
time. After 1852, and for a number of years during
the '50's, the country which is now Wasco county,
was settled quite rapidly. It would be impos
sible to mention all who came at that period to
The Dalles and vicinity. With the gradual un
folding of important local events in the course of
this history, many of their names will appear.
During these earliest years of settlement and
founding of the town of The Dalles — the first
in eastern Oregon — there was gradually coming
into existence on the Columbia river quite a fleet
of steamers. These have entered into the history
of Wasco county ; it is our purpose to briefly
sketch the story of the early steamboating up to
the formation of the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company, which event will be reserved to a more
appropriate place in its chronological order.
From so reliable an authority as Mr. P. W.
Gillette it is learned that the first steamboat built
above the Cascades was the James R. Flint.
The promoters and constructors of this pioneer
river craft were the Bradfords, J. O. Vanbergen
and James R. Flint, of San Francisco. She is
described by Mr. Gillette as "a small, side-wheel
boat, with single engine geared to the shafts, and
when in motion sounded more like a threshing
machine than a steamboat." Dr. Newell was a
passenger on her first trip clown from The Dalles.
It is related that for some time he appeared
nervous and somewhat disturbed. At length he
ventured to ask one of the crew the cause of
"that rattling sound."
"Oh," replied the fresh-water sailor man,
"that's only the cook grinding coffee."
The Flint was conveyed over the Cascades in
the autumn of 1861 and traded between Portland
and Oregon City. Eventually she was bisected,
"lengthened, the machinery of the old Columbia

(the first steamer on the river to run as far in
land as the Cascades) placed within her, and re
named the Fashion.
The Mary was the second boat navigated by
steam to ply between the Cascades and The
Dalles. She was, also, constructed by the Brad-
fords. Soon after the completion of the Mary
the Bradfords built the Hassalo to make the
Cascades and Dalles run. ' In the meantime R. R.
Thompson, L. W. Coe and others were not neg
lecting the opportunities offered in the way of
steam navigation. A small craft was built by
them at the upper Cascades to be taken to the
upper Columbia beyond Celilo. When ready for
her maiden trip, by some error of judgment her
lines were cast off before she had aquired suf
ficient head of steam, and she drifted over the
falls. Yet so little was she injured that she was
run down to Portland, refitted and sold for the
Fraser river trade.
At Celilo, in 1859, tne same parties construct
ed the Wright, the first steam craft that ever
lashed the waters of the Columbia bcyc nd Celilo.
This boat was a money-maker. Prior to the
appearance of the Wright all freight was trans
ported on schooner-rigged barges. During a
portion of each year there prevailed a stiff breeze
on that reach of the river, which often enabled
these hermaphrodite craft to make good time.
They continued in commission as late as 1862,
when steam-power crowded them off the river.
Captain Dick Williams, S. G. Reed and others
built the Belle, the first boat to run regularly
between the Cascades and Portland. There were
few, if any settlers, in these days east of the
Cascades. Consequently all transportation was
for the government ; soldiers, guns, military sup
plies, etc. The Mountain Buck, built by Ruckles
& Olmstead, was put into commission between
Portland and the Cascades. Soon after these
parties built the little steamer JVasco, for trade
between the Cascades and The Dalles, which
with their "portage road," gave them a through
line to The Dalles. This was about 1859 or i860.
By this line much business was deflected from the
portage road on the north side of the river and
the boats running in connection with it.
The steamers Belle, Scnorita and Multnomah,
one of which ran down as far as Astoria, were
owned by Benjamin Stark, S. G. Reed, R. Wil
liams, Hoyt and Wells. The portage road from
Dalles City, around The Dalles to Celilo, fifteen
miles, was owned by O. Humason. This was a
road traversed by immense freight wagons drawn
by oxen and mules, for transportation of freight,
and stages to carry passengers, until the con
struction of the portage railroad in 1862. The

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

109

\ \

steamer Allen, built by the Hudson's Bay Com
pany in 1852, was commanded by Captain
Thomas Glad well. In 1854 she was wrecked
near Mitchell's point. The Idaho, built by Colonel
Ruckles in i860, was subsequently sold to the
Oregon Steam Navigation Company. This com
pany also built the Oneonta in 1863, and she was
commanded by Captain McNulty.
In the introductory portion of this work, Part
I, has been related the story of the evolution of
the government of Oregon. Under what was
termed the "Provisional Government" (which
continued in force until August 14, 1848, when
congress was, figuratively, whipped into granting
a regular territorial form of government) there
were no regular "county organizations." Instead
Oregon was divided into four "districts," Tua
latin, Yamhill, Clackamas and Champoeg. The
Clackamas district comprised what is now east
ern Oregon, all of Montana west of the Rocky
mountains, and all of the present states of Idaho
and Washington. These districts and their boun
daries as recommended by the executive commit
tee and approved by the people July 5, 1843,
were as follows :
First district to be called Tualatin District, com
prising all the country south of the northern boundary
line of the United States ; west of the Wallamet, or
Multnomah river ; north of the Yamhill river, and east
of the Pacific ocean.
Second district, to be called the Yamhill District,
embracing all the country west of the Wallamet or
Multnomah river, and a supposed line running north
and south from said river; south of the Yamhill river,
to the parallel of forty-two degrees north latitude,
or the boundary line of the United States and Cali
fornia, and east of the Pacific ocean.
Third district, to be called the Clackamas District,
comprehending all territory not included in the other
three districts.
Fourth district, to be called the Champoeg District,
and bounded on the north by a supposed line down from
the mouth of the Haunchauke river, running due east
to the Rocky mountains ; west of the Wallamet or Mult
nomah river, and a supposed line running due south
from said river to the parallel of forty-two degrees
north . latitude, south of the boundary line of the
United States and California, and east of the summit
of the Rocky mountains.
By this it will be seen that the original Wasco
county was formed from what had been the
Clackamas and Champoeg districts. Apparently
the second, or Yamhill district, did not come into
existence although authorized by the first legis
lative bodv.

WASCO THE MOTHER OF COUNTIES.
It was created by the Oregon Territorial leg
islature January 11, 1854. It was then the larg
est county in the United States arid included that
part of Oregon territory lying east of the Cas
cade range to the Rocky mountains, and from
the Columbia river and the 46th parallel south to<
the 42CI parallel. Its area of about 130,000 square
miles, embraced more territory than the British
Isles, or than any present state of the union with
the exception of Texas or California, and more
than twice the area of New England. During the
passing years since then the county has been sliced
into a fraction of Wyoming, most of Idaho, and
the counties of Baker, Umatilla, Union, Grant,
Crook, Gilliam, Wheeler, Sherman, Morrow,
Lake, Klamath, Harney and Malheur, in Oregon,
until its present area is only 2,962 square miles,
of which 324 square miles are in the Warm
Springs Indian Reservation.
In more detailed recapitulation it may be said
that a part of Silver Bow and Ravalli counties,
Montana, were once a part of Wasco — and of
Idaho the southern part of the Nez Perce, all of
Idaho, Lemhi, Washington, Boise, Custer, Fre
mont Canyon, Ada, Elmore, Blaine, Bingham,.
Owyhee, Lincoln, Bannock, Bear Lake, Oneida
and Cassia, eighteen, and a fraction of another.
Of the present Wyoming it contained Vinta, Fre
mont and Sweetwater counties, and, in addition
to other territory heretofore described, the south
western corner of Yellowstone Park. January
19, 1905, Mrs. C. J. Crandall, writing in The
Dalles Daily Chronicle, said :
"It is interesting to follow the metes and'
bounds of this county of such gigantic propor
tions. East on the Columbia river and the 46th
degree near Wallula, crossing the Snake river-
near the mouth of Salmon river, on through the
state of Idaho, with Grangeville and Mount
Idaho on the Oregon side, crossing the Bitter
Root mountains into Montana in the region of
Silver Bow county, perhaps near Butte, which
city stands on the crest of the Rocky mountains
near the 46th parallel. Thence southerly along
the summits of the Rockies, cutting off the south
western corner of the Yellowstone Park, and
quite a chunk out of the western side of Wyo
ming, intersecting the 42d degree near the South
Pass, through which was the old emigrant road ;
thence west on the 42d degree to the Cascade
mountains, having for southern boundary parts
of Wyoming, LTah Nevada, and the eastern half
of northern California."
In its chronological order the loss of territory
from the original Wasco county will be told as.

J 10

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

this work progresses. It is, however, proper to
say here that by an act of March 3, 1853, the
country north of the Columbia and the 46th par
allel was organized into a separate Territory and
named Washington. In all this vast area known
as Wasco county, there were not at the time of
its organization to exceed three hundred white
citizens, most of whom were tr,appers in the em
ployment of the Hudson's Bay, and American
Fur companies. Less than half a hundred were
actual settlers, and Mrs. Crandall records that
Major Rains, of the Fourth Infantry, stationed
during the winter of 1853-4 at The Dalles, op
posed the organization of the county, not only
on account of its mammoth and unwieldly pro
portions, but for the further fact that, as esti
mated by himself, there were only thirty-five
white inhabitants in the whole proposed county.
Yet this little handful of patriots was composed
of sturdy pioneers who carved from this tenant-
less wilderness a mighty empire. They were in
the main true and law-abiding citizens, who
sought county government as a protection to their
property and as a safeguard against the ravages
of the lawless element that then, throughout the
northwest, held sway.
Following is the complete text of the organic
act creating this historical political division :
An Act to create and organize Wasco county :
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assem
bly of the Territory of Oregon — that so much of said
Territory of Oregon as is bounded as follows, to-wit :
Commencing at the Cascades of the Columbia river,
thence running up said river to the point where the
southern shore of said river is intersected by the
Southern boundary of Washington Territory, thence
east along said boundary to the eastern boundary of
Oregon Territory, thence southernly along the eastern
boundary of said Territory to the southern boundary
of the same ; thence west along said southern boundary
to the Cascade mountains ; thence northerly along said
range of mountains to the place of beginning ; be and
the same is hereby created and organized into a
separate county, to be called Wasco county, with the
same organization, rights, powers and duties as apper
tain to other counties in this Territory.
Sec. 2. That county officers, justices of the peace,
and constables shall be chosen at the next ^general
election on the first Monday of June, eighteen hundred
and fifty-four, and until they shall be elected and
qualified ; W. C. Laughlin, Warren Keith and John
Tompkins be and they are hereby constituted and ap
pointed a board of commissioners in and for the said
county of Wasco ; and that J. A. Simms be, and he
hereby is constituted and appointed sheriff, and that
Justin Chenoweth be and he is hereby appointed Judge
of Probate, and that  Chase be and he is

hereby constituted and appointed clerk in and for said
county of Wasco ; all of whom shall continue to hold
their respective offices until their successors are duly
elected and qualified.
Sec. 3. The persons hereby constituted and ap
pointed officers by the second section of this act, shall
before entering upon the duties of their respective
offices, qualify in the same manner and with like
restrictions, as those elected at an annual or general
election. Sec. 4. The commissioners hereinbefore mentioned
shall be, and they are hereby empowered to locate
the county seat of Wasco at or near the Grand Dalles
of the Columbia river.
Sec. 5. The said county of Wasco shall constitute
a part of the second Judicial District, and until other
wise provided, the court shall be held at such times
as the Judge shall appoint, not less than once in each
year. Sec. 6. That until other provisions shall be made
for the confinement of persons charged with, or con
victed of crimes, or committed to prison for other law
ful cause, the guard house of any military post within
said county may, with the consent of the commanding
officer of such post, be used as a jail or place for
such confinement.
Sec. 7. That this act shall take effect from the
time of its passage. Z. C. BISHOP,
Speaker of the House of Rep's.
R. WILCOX, President of Council.
Passed House of Representatives, Jan. 7, 1854.
Passed Council, Jan. 11, 1854.
(ENDORSED.)
H. B. No. 28. An act to create and organize Wasco
county. Originated in House of Representatives. John
McCraken, clerk. Enrolled January 11, 1854.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
State of Oregon— Office of the Secretary of State:
I, F. I. Dunbar, Secretary of the State of Oregon,
and Custodian of the Seal of said State, do hereby
certify that the foregoing is a full, true and complete
copy of "An Act to create and organize Wasco County,"
together with the endorsements thereon, as filed in my
office and custody.
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand
and affixed hereto the seal of the State of Oregon.
Done at the Capitol, at Salem, Oregon, this 24th
day of February, A. D., 1905.
F. I. DUNBAR,
Secretary of State.
The first meeting of the Wasco county board
of commissioners, of which there is any record,
was held April 3, 1854. Undoubtedly one or

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in

more previous meetings had been held, following
the approval of the organic act, January n,
1854, and before April 3d. The gentlemen named
in the enabling act as commissioners qualified
and were present during the proceedings which
follow. But little business was transacted at the
meeting of April 3d. Precinct officers were ap
pointed, an account of which will be found in the
political chapter relating to Wasco county. An
other meeting was held April 24th, but this was,
practically, without result.
Two days later, April 26th, the commissioners
again assembled, and this time they were more
fortunate in finding some official material upon
which they could work. William C. Laughlin
was elected chairman of the board. Following
are the proceedings as they appear on the com
missioners' journal :
Granted license to Orlando Humason to keep a ferry
on Snake river at any point within a distance of three
miles above or below Fort Boise, said ferry only required
to be kept in time of the emigration passing ; assessed
the tax for license at fifty dollars per annum for the
term of two years ; rate of ferrying to be for a wagon
and persons belonging thereto, four dollars ; for cattle
and horses, one dollar per head ; for sheep twenty-five
cents per head.
Granted to Richard Marshall license to keep a ferry
at or near Salmon Falls, on Snake river, for the term
of two years with the same tax rates and provisions as
to O. Humason.
Granted to C. E. Irvine license to keep a ferry on
Green river, at a point on said river eighty miles above
the boundary line between Utah and Oregon Terri
tories, with the same tax rates, provisions, and the
same term of years as before.
Granted license to J. L. Henderson to keep a
grocery at The Dalles for six months at the rate of
fifty dollars tax per annum, commencing on the first
day of April, A. D., 1854.
The proceedings of July 3d were, in part, as
follows :
License was granted to Justin Chenoweth to keep
a ferry across the Columbia river at or near The Dalles
for the term of two years ; assessed the tax at five
dollars, the rate of ferriage to be as follows : For each
loose animal one dollar ; for horses with rider one
dollar and fifty cents; horse with pack, sheep or hog,
twenty-five cents; for a man fifty cents.
License was granted to Matthew Finlay to keep a
ferry across the Columbia river at or near Wind
mountain for the term of two years ; assessed the tax
at eight dollars with the foregoing rates.
O. Humason's tax to keep a ferry on Boise river
was reduced from fifty to twelve dollars.

It also appears that the commissioners ap
pointed a place of voting at the house of Mr.
Forsythe. At a subsequent meeting of the board
held December 4, 1854, Wasco county was di
vided into three commissioners' districts, the
boundaries being described as follows :
"The first district beginning at the Falls of
the Cascades, running east to Dog (Hood) river;
south to the boundary line of the county. The
second district commencing at Dog river, run
ning east to Five Mile creek; the center of that
stream being the divide between that district and
the third district, which shall include the east
ern balance of the county ; the southern and north
ern line of each district being the established
county line."
This division into commissioners' districts is
rather vague and indefinite. Hood river and Five
Mile creek run only a comparatively short distance
into the interior of the immense territory then
embraced by Wasco county. Of course the only
settlements at that period were in the northern
part of the county in the vicinity of The Dalles.
These commissioners' districts were, also, the
road districts, having the same boundaries and
being numbered one, two and three. At the
meeting of December 4, the commissioners au
thorized the levying of a tax of seventeen mills
upon each dollar of taxable property in the
county (and it is certain that at that period this
tax could raise but little revenue, military prop
erty being exempt). This was in addition to the
Territorial tax of one mill upon each dollar and
two mills upon each dollar for school purposes.
This brought the total tax up to two per cent.
The first session of district court held in
Wasco county convened at The Dalles August
14, 1854. Judge Cyrus Olney, one of the jus
tices of the Oregon Territorial supreme court
presided. Other officers of this court were William
R. Gibson, clerk; B. M. Reynolds, sheriff; and
N. Huber, prosecuting attorney. The court or
ganized by the selection of the following named
gentlemen empaneled as a grand jury : W. C.
Laughlin, foreman ;, John A. Sims, John Tomp
kins, R. Marshall, L. P. Henderson, J. A. Stolev,
W. C. Keith, M. M. Cushing, J. H. Mosier, S.
S. Moore, Charles E. Evelyn, John Irvin, Thomas
Martin, Justin Chenoweth, John Wamsley and
John Matthias. The initial cause given to the
petit jury was an action at law ; Roger G. Atwell
z's. Felix J. Imans. The plaintiff was represented
by Mr. Chenoweth; the defendant by Mr. Camp
bell. The jury summoned to try this cause con
sisted of L. W. Coe, William Jenkins, John
Whitebread, George Cannon, Mark Cole, L. J.
Kimberland, Matthew Duffa, Hiram Russell,

112

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

William H. Robinson, John D. Woodward and
Charles Bellman.
This jury found for the plaintiff granting a
judgment of $i. The grand jury found true
bills against Felix Imans, larceny; George Tur
ner, larceny; ancl Stephen Lewis, larceny. The
jury also investigated charges against Ebenezer
Hardy and William P. Thomasson, but found
"not true bills." Benjamin M. Reynolds and
George R. Snipes were court criers and Henry
Humphreys and Luke G. Torrence officiated as
bailiffs. Jacob Juker came into court, made proofs,
took the oath required by law and was admitted
to citizenship of the United States — the first one
in Wasco county. October 17, 1855, it was noted
by The Dalles Times-Mountaineer that "The
time is still remembered by some of our oldest
residents when the only courts between the Willa
mette valley and the Rocky mountains were held
at this point, and a justice of the peace's juris
diction extended from the Cascades to Fort Hall."
During the succeeding four years Wasco
county's population was largely increased by an
influx of enterprising and wide-awake settlers.
The Dalles grew in proportion and quite a flour
ishing business was transacted therein. But not
all these incomers remained to locate in this im
mediate vicinity. Discovery of gold near the
old Hudson's Bay Company's post at Kettle Falls
— near Fort Colville — brought many miners and
prospectors here to outfit for their far-away trip
northward. From the records of the commissioners' pro
ceedings of September 17, 1855, we learn that
for the assessment of that year a tax of one per
cent, was levied on all taxable property in Wasco
county. It was apportioned as follows : county
tax, eight mills ; Territorial tax, one mill ; school
tax, one mill. For 1856 the tax levy was one
cent and three mills on the dollar. For 1857 ten
mills on the dollar for county purposes.
The question of building a jail had been be
fore the county commissioners several times pre
viously, but with no favorable action. However,
in the minutes of the meeting, of July 6, 1858,
we find the following :
"A petition having been received with a large
number of signers praying the commissioners to
erect a jail, whereupon it was ordered that one
should be built at a cost not to exceed $2,500, as
near as possible to a plan now before us. And
that N. H. Gates and W. C. Moody be appointed
as commissioners to plan, lay out and contract
for the erection of said jail and court room, etc.,
according to law, and to have full power to do
the same as they deem best."
August 2d a special meeting was held and

arangements made for accepting the bid of W. C.
Wallace "to the extent of $2,500 if necessary."
April 8, 1859, the court house and jail were ac
cepted from W. C. Wallace by the commissioners.
Many and varied have been the tales related
of peculiar methods of meting out justice in the
pioneer days of what was once — but no more
to be "the wild and woolly west." Here is a
story told of an early day justice court at The
Dalles. It fell to the lot of one of the first magis
trates to try a person for a minor offense. The
justice fixed the penalty at $20 and costs. To
"liquidate" this fine the defendant was unable
and the justice promptly remanded the prisoner
to Vancouver for incarceration. But at Vancou
ver the authorities refused to receive him. There
was but one other horn to this dilemma — in the
eyes of the trial magistrate ; he accepted the
prisoner's promissory note for the amount, "pay
able six months after date," and gave the man
his liberty. Up to the present writing of this
history the note has not been paid. Small won
der that the citizens of Wasco county wanted a
jail! The Wasco county court proceedings record
another interesting example of early day "jus
tice." This was in August, 1863, and the fol
lowing is an order in the court journal :
"In the matter of the imprisonment of Charles
McKay. "This day comes  , and presents
the report of the sheriff touching the imprison
ment of Charles McKay for $200 fine and costs,,
and the court having examined said McKay under
oath, and it appearing that said McKay is unable
to pay said fine and costs, it is ordered that he
be discharged from jail according to law."
Another interesting official record is an item
appearing in the commissioners' journal report
ing the meeting of December 12, 1859, which is
as follows :
"Bill of A. J. Crabb, sheriff, was presented
ancl rejected, for board of prisoner, Negro Jim, or
James Taylor, $39. The above bill was rejected
by the clerk and judge on the ground that the
said Taylor had not been kept in jail, but has run
at large." In the Times-Mountaineer, in 1898, the fol
lowing appears :
In those days resorting to courts -as arbitrators
was an infrequent occurrence, except between parties
living convenient to the seat of government, and even
criminal matters were often settled outside the court
room. An idea of the inconvenience of dispensing justice
during the early history of eastern Oregon may be
gained from the account given of the execution of
Berry Way at Canyon City, in 1863.

Cascade Locks

White River Falls

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

"3

The gold mines at that place had been discovered
the year previous, and hundreds of desperate char
acters had flocked thither. Way was among the num
ber. His avarice induced him to murder a companion
named Gallagher, and appropriate his money and horses.
Gallagher's death soon became known to the miners,
and the crime of his murder was then fastened upon
Way. The deputy sheriff was the only peace officer
in that section, and Way was taken in custody by that
official. Jails were then unknown, and miners' wages
being $5 a day, while the deputy's was only $2, he could
not affol d to stand guard over the prisoner or hire
an assistant, so Way was tied to a log for safe keep
ing. One night he escaped, but was recaptured at
Boise and brought back to Canyon City. Having been
put to considerable trouble in recapturing the murderer,
the deputy sheriff refused to further inconvenience
himself by bringing the prisoner to The Dalles to be
tried. It was a journey of 200 miles through an Indian
country, with savages who were no respectors of even
high officials, 'urking behind every wayside hiding
place. The deputy sheriff determined to be put to no
more trouble by Way, and calling to his assistance
a number of trusted friends, proceeded to serve in the
capacity of judge, jury and executioner, and Berry Way
expiated his crime on the gallows.
The beginning of the gradual reduction in
size of Wasco county was in 1859. February
14th of that year Oregon was admitted to state
hood ; its bounds were defined as we now know
them. This act of congress took from Wasco
county fully one-third of its territory. To Wash
ington territory was annexed that portion of
Wasco county east of the Snake river; west of
the Rocky mountains aid between the 46th and
42d degrees of north latitude. Five years later
this tract became southern Idaho. Later in this
work will be recorded the history of additional
slicing from Wasco territory.
But now it is eminently fitting that the_ Ore
gon Steam Navigation Company, which, in its
day, proved so important a factor in the history,
not only of Wasco county, but of the entire north
west, should be briefly notice 1. We have previ
ously told of the earliest na\ :gation of the Co
lumbia river; by canoes, bstteaux, schooner-
rigged barges and pioneer steamboats. It is ours
now to describe the formation of all the water
transportation interests into one of the greatest
and most oppressive monopolies of the new north
west. We quote from the Daily Astorian of Feb
ruary, 1892:
But it was the Oregon Steam Navigation Company
that made the money. Probably no steamboat cor
poration ever run business on so liberal a scale or ever
made so much money in a very thinly settled com-
8

munity. An old purser of one of the steamers told
an Astorian reporter that one year the profits on the
boat that he was on were over $65,000. The company
gave considerable latitude to its employes. It got
good men, gave them big wages, and so long as the
boats made money didn't look after them very closely.
The Oregon Steam Navigation Company came from
small beginnings. Captain J. C. Ainsworth was the"
prime mover. With him were R. R. Thompson, S. G.
Reed and W. S. Ladd. When Jay Cooke was building
the Northern Pacific railroad he bought out the Ore
gon Steam Navigation Company. When Cooke went
broke in 1873 the original owners bought their former
property back for one-third of what they had received
for it from the great Northern Pacific financier, and
then made more money than ever.
The Dixie Thompson was built at Portland in 1871.
The Emma Hayivard in Portland in 1878. She is
still making money and was recently brought back
from the Sound. The Bonita was built at Portland in
i87£ ; she is still making money for her owners. The
Welcome was built at Portland in 1874; the Wide
West, the company's finest boat, at the same city in
1877. She was worth $150,000, and was broken up
three years ago. The S. G. Reed was constructed at
Portland in 1878; the R. R. Thompson, now plying be
tween Astoria and Portland, was built at The Dalles,
the same year. The Mountain Queen was built at The
Dalles in 1877. The Annie Faxon, now running to
Lewiston, was built at Celilo in 1877, and the John
Gates at the same place in 1878. The Harvest Queen,
one of the Union Pacific boats, plying between Astoria
and Portland, was built at the latter place the same
year. In 1878 Henry Villard was appointed to represent
the German creditors of American railways. At that
time some of those parties had an interest in the Ore
gon Steam Navigation Company, and Villard managed' .
his trust in such a way that it was found convenient
to compromise with him. He relinquished his hold1
upon the railway and secured an interest in the steam
ship business. At that time the Oregon Steamship
Company had two vessels, the George W. Elder and
the City of Chester. It is said that while managing
this business for his principals he aided in placing the
Great Republic in opposition. This vessel was wrecked
at Sand Island in 1879. While that vessel was mak
ing inroads upon the ocean business of the pro-rating'
companies, experts were busy acquiring information
as to the precise amount and character of business done-
by river steamers. On every steamer was placed an
expert, whose business it was, pencil and book in hand,-
to note all freight received and discharged; the num
ber of cabin fares and the number of passengers carried
on the lower deck. From such information furnished
daily for several weeks, a pretty accurate idea of the.
value of the traffic was obtained and calculations made,
to determine the strength of the company and the

H4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

probable cost of successful competition and the re
sultant gain.
Villard had begun the scheme for the reorganization
of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, and
worked on it for some time. He gave up the idea of
competition and concluded he would supplant the old
company and made overtures for its purchase. He had
no money himself, but relied on his ability to show
capitalists an opportunity to make considerable. He
¦talked with Ainsworth, Ladd and Reed for several
months, but at last they told him he must put up some
money or quit talking. But while he was talking he
was getting others interested, and at last he got an
option on the Oregon Steam & Navigation Company
for one year by paying $100,000. This option was
dated May 23, 1879.
With considerable effort Villard got the $100,000,
paid it to Ladd and Reed, and with his bonds, option
and stock, started east. He had been in correspondence
with Jay Gould, and tried hard to make that wily
wizard take hold, but there wasn't enough in it for
him, and he refused. Then Villard took his option and
script to Germany, but couldn't make it work and
came back to New York considerably discouraged.
But he went to Boston and succeeded in getting Endi-
cott and Pullman interested in the scheme. They put
up the money, and twelve years ago he bought the
Oregon Steamship Company. On the 31st of the fol
lowing March he bought the Oregon Steam Navigation
Compnay, for which he paid $2,300,000.
The stock and bonds were sold at a heavy discount
to Boston capitalists, and with what was left after
buying the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, a rail
road was built from Celilo to connect with the Walla
Walla & Columbia River Railroad. The stock went to
a very high figure and all concerned made big money,
Villard and his friends retaining control of the stock.
This was soon worth twice what it had cost, and the
- stock was watered and watered again, until finally it
represented $15,000,000.
Mr. P. W. Gillette, from whom we have pre
viously quoted, contributed the following histor
ical sketch of the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company, October 24, 1900 :
By 1859 the transportation business had greatly
increased, and there being two complete through lines
between Portland and The Dalles, produced strained
relations between the two opposing companies, and a
rate war seemed imminent. Several efforts had already
been made to combine all the different interests under
one management, but all had failed. At length an ar
rangement was reached. The portage roads at the
Cascades ; all the steamboats, wharfboats and property
belonging with them, were appraised each at its cost
value, the whole amounting to $175,000. On the 27th
day of December, i860, articles of incorporation were

signed, and filed at Vancouver, Clark county, Wash
ington Territory, incorporating the Oregon Steam Navi
gation Company, shares, $500 each. There were sixteen
shareholders, the largest being R. R. Thompson, with
120 shares; Ladd & Tilton, 80 shares; T. M. Lyles, 76
shares ; J. Kamm, 57 shares ; J. C. Ainsworth, 40
shares ; and so on down, the smallest share-holder
having but three shares.
In October, 1862, the company filed new articles of
incorporation with the secretary of state at Salem, and
also with the county clerk of Multnomah county, Ore
gon, with a capital stock of $2,000,000, represented by
twenty-five shareholders, at $500 a share. Bradford
& Company were the largest shareholders, having 758
shares, R. R. Thompson, 672; Harrison Olmstead,
558; Jacob Kamm, 354; and so on, the smallest share
holder having but eight shares. This corporation put
both portage roads and the gorge of the Columbia into
the hands of a corporation, giving it perfect control of
all transportation to and from every point beyond the
Cascades. Thus owning both portages and all the
steamboats, it is needless to say that the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company found it unnecessary to consult
any one as to what prices they should charge. Such
an opportunity, with such unlimited power seldom ever
falls into the hands of men. It made them the abso
lute owners of every dollar's worth of freight and
passage, going up or down the great valley on the
second largest river in America.
In 1855 there were no settlers living beyond the
Des Chutes river, but after that date they began to
spread out over the country pretty fast. Previous to
that date, the government had given transportation
companies nearly all the carrying they had. But by
i860 the natural growth of the country was making
considerable business. In 1861 the discovery of gold
on Orofino awakened new life in the valley of the
Columbia. As if by magic the tardy wheels of com
merce were unfettered; human thought and energy
unshackled and turned loose with determined purpose
to meet the great emergency and reap the golden
harvest. From Portland to "Powder River, Orofino and
Florence City" mines the country resounded with the
busy whir of trade. All the steamboats and portage
roads were taxed to their greatest capacity. So great
was the demand for transportation the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company had to build new steamboats and
improve their roads at the Cascades. The old portage
wagon road at The Dalles was entirely inadequate
to do the immense business, and the company was
obliged to build a railroad from Dalles City to Celilo,
fifteen miles. So enormous were the charges for freight
and passage, I am creditably informed, that the steamer
Okanogan paid the entire cost of herself on her first
trip. It makes my head swim now, as memory carries
me back to those wonderful rushing days, when the con
stant fall of chinking coin into the coffers of the com-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

H5

-pany was almost like the flow of a dashing torrent.
The Oregon Steam Navigation Company had become
a millionaire-making machine.
The price of freight from Portland to The Dalles,
about one hundred miles, was $40 per ton; from The
Dalles to Celilo, fifteen miles, $15 per ton; from The
Dalles to Wallula, $55 per ton; and from Port
land to Lewiston, $120 per ton. All freights, ex-
•cepting solids, such as lead, nails, etc, were estimated
by measurement; forty cubic feet making a ton. Pass
age from Portland to The Dalles was $8, and seventy-
five cents extra for meals. From Portland to Lewis-
ton passage was $60, and meals and beds were $1 each.
* * * H. D. Sanborn, a merchant of Lewiston,
in 1862 informed me that among a lot of freight con
signed to him was a case of miner's shovels. The
freight, $120 per ton, made the freight on each shovel
:$i. A merchant at Hood River said that, always, be
fore the railroad was built, freight from Portland to
Hood River, 85 miles, on a dozen brooms was $1.
To better illustrate the method of measurement, I will
liave to relate an anecdote:
When O. B. Gibson was in the employment of the
company at The Dalles, he was down to get the meas
urement of a small mounted cannon that had to be
shipped for the government. After measuring several
ways and figuring up the amount, he seemed so much
.perplexed that he attracted the attention of two soldiers
who were lying in the shade of a pine tree near by.
One of them finally called out, "What's the trouble,
Cap?" "I am trying to take the measurement of this
blamed gun, but somehow I can't get it right," replied
Mr. Gibson.
"Oh, I'll show you," said the soldier, leading up a
pair of harnessed mules that stood near, and hitching
them to the gun, "try it now, Cap.'' "Thanks; that
makes it all right. I see now why I could not get
-the correct measurement." (Evidently he measured the
mules, too, as would seem from the following:)
In measuring a wagon or any piece of freight, the
full length, heighth and thickness were taken and
carried out full size, the largest way of the piece.
To make the method of tonnage clearer, I will give you
one more illustration. "Old Captain" T. W. Lyles, of
San Francisco, was a large stockholder in the com
pany, and frequently visited Portland to look after his
interests. Once while here he attended a meeting of
the board of directors. After the principal part of the
business had been transacted, Captain Lyles arose and
-said :
"Mr. Chairman, I move that Eph. Day, a purser on
one of our boats, be discharged from the service of
this company."
Now Eph. Day was one of the favorite pursers, and
•everybody sprang up to know what was the matter
with Eph. Day. After quiet had been restored Captain
Lyles said :

"I see, gentlemen, that Eph. Day is purser on a
boat of only 150 tons register, yet I find that he comes
in at the end of every trip with a report of having
carried from 250 to 300 tons of freight, and, gentlemen,
he substantiates his report by bringing in the cash for
those amounts of freights. Now while I do not claim
to be much of a steamboat man, yet I can see, gentle
men, that if you allow our boats to be overladen in this
manner and made to carry twice as much as they are
designed to carry, they will soon be worn out and we
will have no boats."
The meeting adjourned amidst roars of laughter and
Eph. Day kept his place and still measured up big
loads of freight.
The Florence gold excitement of 1862 brought the
Oregon Steam Navigation Company a flood of pros
perity. They could not possibly take all the business
offered. At Portland the rush of freight to the docks
of the company was so great that drays and trucks had
to form in line to get their turn in delivering their
goods. Their lines were kept unbroken day and night
for weeks and months. Shippers were obliged to use
the greatest vigilance and take every advantage to
get their goods away. Often a merchant would place
a large truck in line early in the morning, then fill- it
by dray loads during the day. That great rush con
tinued for months. * * *
Unquestionably the Oregon Steam Navigation Com
pany held in check and kept back the growth of the
country east of the Cascade mountains for years, though
perhaps unintentionally on its part. It had so long
been accustomed to receive such exceedingly liberal
compensation for its service, that I have no doubt that
they believed farm products could not be carried to
Portland at rates that would leave anything to the
farmer. Captafci James W. Troup, who commanded
one of the boats on the upper river, said to me that he
had so many applications to bring wheat to Port
land, which he had no authority to do, that
he finally went to the president of the com
pany and asked for permission to do so, but he
was informed that it was impossible ; that wheat was not
worth its transportation. The next season the people
fairly begged him to carry their wheat to market, and
he made another appeal. This time the company
yielded, and President J. C. Ainsworth said : "Well,
Captain Troup, you may try it ; do the best you can."
Wheat has been pouring down the Columbia ever since,
and the Inland Empire is one vast wheat field. * * *
In reviewing the career of this most interesting cor
poration one can but view with wonder and amazement
the ease and rapidity with which colossal fortunes were
made. And I can but regret, on their own account,
that not one of that company has left any little token
of good will, or any memento of kindness to the place
or people where they were so splendidly favored by
fortune, and so liberally patronized by. the business
public. Had they even erected a small drinking foun-

n6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

tain, where the faithful dray and truck horses that
indirectly carted millions of dollars into their pockets
could have slaked their thirst, that would have some
what served to ameliorate and soften the memory of
them. But they seemed to be remembered only as mem
bers of a corporation that took every possible advan
tage of one of the most extraordinary opportunities that
ever fell into the hands of men to amass fortunes for
themselves. * * *
The Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company grew
out of 'the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, con
tinuing its business, and almost immediately began the
construction of a railroad up the Columbia from Port
land (1880). * * * The Oregon Steam Navigation
Company's property was sold for $5,000,000, a small
sum for property possessing such wonderful advantages,
and that was then paying fifteen per cent, net on the
purchase price, with the most flattering prospect of a
rapid and constant increase. For the year ending
November 30, 1879, which was the last year the Oregon
Steam Navigation Company owned and operated their
-property, the income of the company was $1,600,000,
while the expense, repairs, etc., amounted to $850,000,
leaving a profit of $750,000. * * * They received
about $3,000,000 more than the actual cost of the
property. The $175,000 put in when the company was
first organized in i860, was about all the cash ever put
up. That small sum was the prolific nest egg from which
so many fortunes and millionaires were hatched.
The People's Transportation Company was
organized in 1862. Three boats for the Colum
bia river trade were constructed soon after the
formation of the company — the E. D. Baker,
from Portland to the Cascades ; the Iris, from the
Cascades to The Dalles ; and the Cayuse, above
The Dalles to Lewiston, Idaho. Of this com
pany Stephen Coffin was president ; Mr. Kings-
ley, vice president, and David and Asa McCully
and E. N. Cook, directors. Other stockholders
resided at Eugene, Albany, Salem, Portland, and
many other points on the two rivers reached by
its boats— in all sixty-five stock-holders. In 1858
David McCully had moved to Salem. To the
People's Transportation Company stiff opposi
tion was offered by the Oregon Steam Naviga
tion Company, on the Columbia and Snake rivers.
The secretary of the People's Transportation
Company reported that it was in debt $50,000.
It was proposed by Asa and David McCully, E.
N. Cook, and Mr. Church, to raise $50,000, pay
up the liabilities and secure themselves by a mort
gage on the company's property. When this
proposition had been accepted it was discovered
that the debts were $65,000. Three weeks sub
sequently W. S. Ladd called on David McCully
and proposed a deal whereby the People's Trans
portation Company and the Oregon Steam Navi

gation Company would cease cutting one an
other's throats, as the latter company was losing
some money and was in debt. In June, 1863,
the People's Transportation Company traded the
Iris and Cayuse for the Ormand and two other
of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company's
boats, and received in addition $10,000.
The winter of 1861-62 was, without doubt,
the most severe ever experienced in the north
west by white men up to that date. Nearly all the
stock in the country perisffed and many were the
hardships endured by settlers. Fortunately we
are enabled to procure data relative to meteoro
logical conditions during this memorable season.
The following are extracts from the diary of
Judge W. C. Laughlin, deceased, then a resident
of The Dalles. The weather record for the
winter was arranged from the diary kept by
Samuel L. Brooks, also of The Dalles:
November, 1861 — Very wet month; first snow
on the 25th; on the 30th the snow nearly all
gone. Very muddy.
December 1 — -Rain; mild. 2d — Rain heavy.
3d — Light rain; mild. 4th — Clear; fair; mild.
5th — Clear ; p. m. cloudy ; mild ; river rising rap
idly. 6th — a. m., two inches of fresh snow;
river higher than I ever saw it before. Steamers
land at foot of Front street, at Fitzgerald's store.
7th — Snow hard; everything afloat. 8th — Snow
hard ; weather mild. 9th — Clear and frosty.
10th — Clear and pleasant, nth — Cloudy. 12th
— Cloudy; mild. 13th — Cloudy; mild. 14th —
Foggy. 15th — Cloudy ; pleasant. 16th — Cloudy;
warm. 17th — Cloudy; warm. 18th — Cloudy;
warm. 19th — Clear; frosty a. m. 20th — Clear;
frosty a. m. 21st — Clear; frosty a. m. 22d —
Cloudy; cold. 23d — Snow four inches deep.
24th — Light snow. 25th — Clear; cold. 26th —
Frosty; cold. 27th — Frosty; cold. 28th —
Warmer. 29th — Variable. 30th — Heavy snow
eight or nine inches deep ; cold today and to
night ; about thirty inches of snow fallen so far.
January 1, 1862 — Cold; snow eight inches
deep. 2d — Pleasant day. 3d — Very cold ; ther
mometer 10 degrees. 4th — Bitter cold; river
blockaded with ice ; thermometer 5 degrees. 5th
— Bitter cold ; river frozen over ; Indians cross
ing over on ice. 6th — Bitter cold ; thermometer
3^ degrees. 7th — Bitter cold; two inches fresh
snow ; thermometer zero. 8th — Bitter cold ;
growing milder. 9th — Fresh fall of snow, eight
inches ; is 18 inches on a level. 10th — Snow
again ; 12 inches, nth — Not very cold ; 10 inches
more snow. 12th — Cold, dry weather. 13th —
Very cold; thermometer 7 degrees below. 14th
— Very cold ; thermometer 12 degrees below.
15th — Milder today; thermometer, zero. 16th —
Extremely cold ; thermometer 24 degrees below.

the Methodist Mission Building, erected in 1838,
building put up in eastern Oregon. The ridge
the location or the foundation can he seen in the

Guard House of old Fort Dalles, erected in 1858.

t County's First Courthouse — the first courthouse
:tween the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains.

Surgeon s Quarters of old Fort Dalles. Now the propert
of the Oregon Historical Society.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

117

I7th — Violently cold; thermometer 30 degrees
below. 18th — Cold; thermometer 12 degrees be
low. 19th — Cold; thermometer -4 degrees below.
20th — Pleasant; thermometer zero. 21st — Snow
ing ; 8 inches ; snow about three feet deep. 22d —
Snow fell 2 inches ; rain ancl sleet. 23d — Thaw
ing all day. 24th — Thawing all day. 25th —
Thawing all day. 26th — Colder ; thermometer 10
degrees. 27th — Bitter cold; thermometer 13 de-
grees_ below. 28th — Bitter cold ; thermometer
10 degrees below. 29th — New snow, four inches ;
thermometer zero. 30th — Very cold ; thermom
eter 24 degrees below. 31st — Moderate; snow
54 inches deep ; thermometer 2 degrees below.
February 1 — Milder ; thermometer 10 de
grees. 2d — Milder ; thermometer 10 degrees.
3d — Two inches more snow ; thermometer 2 de
grees. 4th — Milder; thermometer 16 degrees.
5th — Colder; thermometer 16 degrees below. 6th
— Cold ; thermometer 3 degrees below. 7th —
Cold ; thermometer zero. 8th — Cold ; thermome
ter 13 degrees. 9th — Same. 10th— Same, nth
— Same. 12th — Milder. 13th — Snow disap
pearing. 14th — Snow disappearing. 15th — Up
stream wind. 16th — Thawing and sloppy. 17th
— Cooler. 18th — Snow today. 19th — Cold.
20th — Cold; thermometer zero. 21st — Snowed
nearly all day, nine inches. 22d — Warm ; mer
cury up to 50 degrees. 23d — Two inches more
snow. 24th — New snow, 1^4 inches; thermometer
52 degrees. 25th — Snow melting fast. 26th —
Four inches more snow this a. m. 27th — Rain
ing, wet and sloppy. 28th — Warm ; mercury 55
degrees ; snow 30^ inches deep.
March 17 — The first boat came up to the
landing today ; ice all out.
From the diary of N. Coe, deceased, kept at
Hood River during the winter we take the follow
ing extracts relating to the weather:

-December, 1861 — Lowest thermometer, 14
degrees ; general mean, 32.96 degrees ; deepest
snow, 19 inches.
January 1862 — Lowest thermometer, 25 de
grees ; general mean, 10.45 degrees ; deepest
snow 4^ feet.
February, 1862 — Lowest thermometer, 2 de
grees below ; general mean, 37.82 degrees.
March, 1862 — Thirty inches snow fell in
March. The discovery of gold in what is now Idaho,
and the subsequent rush to the upper country,
was a means of bringing Wasco county to the
fore. The Dalles, then the only town, evolved
into a city ; much of the county's history of the
Dalles. The increased activity at this town also
'6o's will be told in the chapter devoted to The
had the effect of settling the adjacent portion of
the county. The mining rush created a lucrative
market for stock ; the stock interests of Wasco
county began to attract attention abroad; The
Dalles became a center of this important indus
try. New settlers scattered themselves among
the bunch-grass hills ; cattlemen drove their herds
into Wasco county, where the abundance of feed
and mild climate were favorable to the interests
of stockmen. Before many years had elapsed
the products of the ranges contributed as much
wealth as did the mines of the northern and east
ern sections. True, lack of facilities for trans
portation to the markets of the east proved a
serious drawback, but adventurous spirits were
soon driving large bands of beef cattle across the
plains and mountains to railroad connections at
Cheyenne. The entire summer season was re
quired to complete the drive. The sheep industry
received an impetus, and has since proved a lu
crative resource.

CHAPTER IV

PASSING EVENTS— 1862 TO 1905.

Previous to the discovery of mines in eastern
Oregon and Idaho, in the early '6o's, the greater
part of the population of the mammoth county
-of Wasco was at, or near, The Dalles. But with
the ' influx of miners to the camps in the John
Dav, Birch Creek and Powder river regions, it
became almost an impossibility for new settlers

to transact official business with a county seat so
far removed from their neighborhood. Peti
tions were therefore presented to the legislature
in 1862 asking for the establishment of two new
counties ; one to include the Powder river re
gions ; the other the settlements on John Day and
Umatilla rivers. The legislature passed two' bills,

n8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

one of which created Baker, the other Umatilla,
county. In the compiled session laws of Oregon,
1862, will be found the following :
Boundaries of original Baker county : All that
' portion of Wasco county, commencing at a point where
the 46th parallel of latitude crosses the summit of
the Blue Mountains ; thence east along said line to its
intersection with Snake river ; thence up the middle of
the channel of said river to the mouth of the Owyhee
river; thence south to the 426. parallel of latitude;
thence west along said line to its intersection with the
118th parallel of west longitude; thence north, along
said line to the summit of the Blue Mountains ; thence
along the summit of said mountains, between the waters
of Burnt and Powder rivers, and the waters of John
Day's river to the place of beginning.
This act was approved September 22, 1862.
The same year Baker county was amputated
from Wasco county. It then embraced the terri
tory in the present counties of Baker, Union,
Wallowa and Malheur counties. The session
laws of 1862 also thus describe the boundaries of
the original Umatilla county :
All that portion of Wasco county, beginning in the
middle of the channel of the Columbia river opposite
the mouth of Willow creek ; thence up the middle of
the channel of said river to the point where the 46th
parallel of latitude crosses said river ; thence east
along said parallel to the summit of the Blue Mountains ;
thence southwest along the summit of said mountains
to the divide between the middle and south fork of
John Day's river ; thence northwest along said divide
to its intersection with the south fork of John Day's
river ; thence down the channel o'f said river to its
junction with the north fork of said river; and from
thence northerly along the ridge dividing the waters
of John Day's and Willow creek to the place of be
ginning. This act was approved September 27, 1862.
The boundaries of Umatilla county included the
present counties of Union, Grant and Mor
row. By act of the Oregon legislature of
October 14, 1864, Grant county was cut off from
Wasco and November 7th, of the same year the
new political division was organized. The terri
tory at that time cut off as Grant county, em
braced the territory now comprising Grant, Har
ney, Lake and Klamath counties. But a small
portion of this territory, it will be remembered,
had already been separated from Wasco county,
the upper part of the present Grant county hav
ing been set off as a part of Umatilla in 1862.
In 1865 the population of the territory then
included in Wasco county, according to a state

census, was 1,898. The United States census of
1870 accorded it a population of 2,509. Until this
latter year little attention had been given to agri
culture. When the whites first settled in this
section the entire country was covered with a
luxurious growth of natural grasses ; this fact
suggested to the husbandman its adaptability to-
stock-raising. Wasco county was one vast cattle
range, only so much land being cultivated as was-
necessary to supply home demand with flour and
hay ; nothing was raised for export and, as has
been shown in our story of early steam trans
portation on the Columbia and Snake rivers,
freight rates left no profit to the shipper. Wasco
county agriculture was — for a period — smothered'
at its birth by transportation monopolies. From
the period of its earliest settlement to 1870 this
county was the range of the "cowboy ;" but grad
ually cattle ranches gave way to wheat farms ; the
bunch grass hills were converted into fields of
golden grain.
At first this agricultural industry was con
fined to the verdant valleys through which
coursed the sparkling streams. The pioneer hill
farmer — the typical western Highlander — was
Mr. Edward ("Dutch") Mahn, of Fifteen Mile-
creek. In 1864 he planted a wheat field on the
summit of the hills surrounding that creek.
While his experiment was unqualifiedly success^
ful, for a number of years thereafter only a few
followed his example. But in 1875 hill farming-
became general ; large tracts of bunch grass land
were sown to wheat and heavy harvests were
reaped. It was simply a duplicate of the agri
cultural history of Oregon's neighboring Terri
tory to the north, Washington. Not until late in
the '6o's was the hill country of Wasco county
considered fit for agricultural purposes. Janu
ary 1, 1898, The Dalles Times-Mountaineer said:
"Up to late in the '6o's the hill lands of Wasco
were considered worthless for agricultural pur
poses, and were valuable only as pasture lands for
countless herds of stock ; but some time in this de
cade 'Dutch' Mahn, a settler some four miles east
of the present site of Dufur, planted, unknown
to himself a few grains of wheat that had acci
dentally become mixed with other seeds; to his-
astonishment the grain produced well and ma
tured ; the experiment was successfully repeated
and soon small fields began to appear on the
higher lands. Strange to say the first settlers
were the last to take advantage of the wonderful
adaptability of the soil to grain, and to this day
many of the old timers hold that before the land'
had been trampled and packed by stock it would
not produce a crop of wheat."
And now, in addition to being an important
point for the outfitting of miners, the city of The-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

119

Dalles became the center of an extensive farming
community, and fully enjoyed that substantial
prosperity which is only attained through the
development of natural resources.
In 1875 tne taxable property of Wasco county
amounted to $1,622,515; the levy being 19 mills
for state and county purposes. The same year
the population of the county, according to the
state census, was 3,853. By 1879 the county's
property had increased to a valuation of $2,496,-
894; the levy was i8>4 mills. The United States
census of 1880 showed gratifying increase in
population, it being that year 10,228, an increase
of 7,719 over the census of 1870; over 307 per
cent. With the exception of Clatsop, Wasco
county had made the heaviest gains per cent, of
any county in the state. And in 1880 it ranked
fourth in size in the state. August 31st, of this
year, the Dalles Times acknowledged obligations
to Mr. S. J. Newsome for the following statistics
of his last assessment, turned over to the board
of equalization August 30th :
Number of acres deeded land, 62,839; value  $414,090
City property  405,517
Improvements  168,248
Merchandise, etc  107790
Money, notes, etc  673,025
Household furniture  107,790
Horses  14,987 ^ Value  459,199
Cattle  73,090 Value  522,567
Sheep  294,070 Value  560,028
Swine  2,074 Value  3,313
Gross valuation  3,484,410
Indebtedness  382,548
Household exemptions  238,500
Total taxable property  2,863,362
Another severe winter was experienced in
1880-81, nearly as memorable as the boreal sea
son of 1861-2. Again there were heavy losses
in stock. Accustomed as were the ranchers to
usually mild winters, they had not provided suffi
cient feed ; because of heavy snow cattle and
horses, especially cattle, could not pick their feed
on the ranges. The county of Wasco, even then,
included a wide scope of country in eastern Ore
gon. In March the editor of The Dalles Times
conversed with a number of stockmen who
said :
"The snow belt has been confined to the region
of country along the Columbia river ; in other
portions of the county the snow has not fallen
to any great depth, and not lying on the ground
any great length of time. For instance, from
Antelope, seventy miles southeast of The Dalles,
to Canyon City, a distance of 130 miles, the win- '

ter has not been severe, and the loss of stock is
not so large as last year.
"From Mr. A. Scherneckau, of Cross Hol
low, we learn that the loss may average about fif
teen per cent of cattle and sheep ; not any more.
One man in his neighborhood had kept exact fig
ures of the loss in his flocks and it will amount to
fifteen per cent, of the whole. Others in that
section have not lost over five per cent. He thinks
the average will be about fifteen per cent. West
and south of Cross Hollow the loss has been
slight, the snow not having been over three inches
deep at any time, and soon disappearing from the
effects of chiriook winds. North and east (along
the Columbia) the snow was much deeper and
consequently stock suffered much more. In
Grass Valley, for instance, he averages the loss
of cattle and sheep at fully fifty per cent. Horses
have not, as a general rule, suffered much, and
the percentage of the loss of these will be mucli
less than that of cattle and sheep.
"Mr. Charles Schutz, from Rock creek, came
in town and from him we learn the winter has'
been very severe in that neighborhood. A great
many cattle and sheep have died. The loss, he
says, will be fearful among these. Strange to re
late, those which were fed in the first part of the
season suffered the most when the severe weather
came. These did not struggle to find feed like
those which had none at all. This section is sit
uated in the 'snow belt' meM^ioned above.
"Messrs. Nickelsen & Fredden have received
a letter from Mr. W. H. Colwell, of Lone Rock,
in which he says that only 175 head of sheep have
died in that section out of 8,600. In Hay Creek,
Mr. Colwell writes, the losses have been fearful.
Out of 18,000 head of sheep there are only about
8,000 left. Cattle, he says, will average a loss of
80 per cent.
"This winter is now an event of the past. The
hills are covered with green grass, furnishing
good sustenance for stock. It has been, without
doubt the longest winter experienced in eastern
Oregon for over twenty years. The pioneers of
1861-2 say the snow lasted on the ground longer
this year than that. In the common course of
events we may not expect another such winter
for a long number* of years. The weather has
not been as cold as many years previous, but the
great detriment was the length of time the snow
laid on the ground. The last winter the lowest
range of the mercury at The Dalles was not at
zero. We cannot believe, in the mind of any in
telligent man, this year will be taken as an aver
age one in Wasco county. We still claim to have
the finest grazing section in the state and feel
fully assured time will prove the truth of this
assertion."

120

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

A correspondent of The Dalles Times writing
from Wapinitia, under date of February 13, 1881,
says :
"* * * * The late thaw caused very high
water in the streams in this section, so as to stop
all travel on the roads. The mail from The
Dalles to Prineville could not make regular trips
for ten days. The bridge over White river is
partly washed away, so that it cannot be used
until repaired.
"Since the beginning of December to the pres
ent, the loss of sheep has been heavy in this sec
tions. The losses are as follows : William Lewis,
1,500 out of 3,000; J. Curtis, 1,000 out of 2,000;
J. Abbott, 400 out of 3,500; Jerry Young, 1,000
out of 2,500 ; J. Kelly, 220 out of 300. The loss
¦of cattle is not yet ascertained. One lot of 18
head were found dead in Oak Grove creek, under
some rim rock where they had sought shelter dur
ing the deepest snow. Probably 100 dead cattle
have been found in the settlement so far. Horses
have not suffered extremely yet, and I learn of
none having died."
Railroad building through Wasco county
commenced in 1880 and resulted in great activ
ity and an inflow of many who became per
manent settlers. Previous to this golden era of
railroad development in eastern Oregon The
Dalles was the one rich trading center of all that
portion of the state lying east of the Cascade
mountains. The en®rmous steamboat traffic on the
Columbia river was transferred at The Dalles ;
from that point freight teams departed for their
heavy trips into the interior of the country as far
distant as Yakima and Ellensburg, in Washing
ton Territory ; Prineville and Canyon City, Ore
gon. Completion of the line of the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company to The Dalles, and
subsequent construction of the Northern Pacific
across the Cascade range to Puget Sound, de
flected much of the trade formerly controlled by
The Dalles. However, rapid settlement of the
country directly tributary in a great measure
compensated for the loss of the trade which rail
roads diverted to other points.
Undoubtedly The Dalles was, during the first
era of northwest development, a rather more im
portant factor than it is at present. But, as the
Times-Mountaineer said, in January, 1895 : "its
glory has not departed, although its citizens have
never manifested the spirit of public enterprise
commensurate with the natural advantages of the
place. Since the completion of the Northern
Pacific railroad, the trade of Yakima and Ellens
burg has been attracted to the Sound ; but Canyon
City, Prineville, and even the Silver Lake coun
try, 225 miles distant, have The Dalles as their
market. Every season wool and produce from

these portions of the state are brought to this
city, and our wholesale merchants send the coun
try dealers in these regions their supply of
goods." In May, 1880, work on the first railroad was
progressing rapidly. The track was laid a mile
beyond Celilo ; grading had been done seven miles
beyond the mouth of the John Day river. In June
a portion of the right of way of the line of the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company had
been purchased as far as Hood River, the com
pany paying from $1 to $100. This was for the
line from The Dalles to Portland. Some of the
farmers were highly pleased to have a railway
pass through their lands ; others strenuously op
posed it, and demanded heavy damages. Thurs
day, March 16, 1882, the last of the iron was laid
between The Dalles and the Cascades ; the day
following two locomotives and a number of flat
cars were sent to the Cascades.
In September, 1881, the returns of Wasco
county's assessor showed the following :
Number of horses and mules, 15,295; last
year, 17,000.
Number cattle, 30,745; last year, 71,000.
Number sheep, 98,842 ; last year 280,000.
Number swine, 1,223.
A large proportion of this loss of stock may
be accounted for by the fact that much of it had
been driven to eastern markets ; still a certain
percentage had, undoubtedly, been killed by the
unusually severe winter of 1880-81. Despite this
loss the assessor stated that the assessable prop
erty of 1 88 1 would approximate somewhere in
the neighborhood of $3,250,000 in comparison
with $2,800,000 in 1880. As a matter of fact the
total taxable property of 1881 amounted to
$3,221,200. Thursday, May 5, 1881, bids were opened at
The Dalles applying for the contract for the erec
tion of a new court house. Following were the
amounts of each bid: J. R. Addison, $25,895;
W. R. Ransome, $25,868; A. R. McPhee, $24,-
'500; C. Kron and W. S. A. Johns, $23,719; C. A.
Stowell, $22,933.50; R. W. Crandall, $22,200;
H. Glenn, $22,162; N. J. Blagen, $22,000.
Mr. Blagen being the lowest bidder was
awarded the contract. For this commendable
„ purpose the levy of an 8-mill tax was made. And
yet there was, as is usual in such cases, opposi
tion to the project. Saturday, June 4, 1881, a
bill in equity was filed with the county clerk,
praying for a temporary injunction against the
county judge, clerk, commissioners and Mr.
Blagen, the successful bidder, until a judicial
hearing could be had at the next term of
circuit court, when a permanent injunction
would be prayed for. Upon this bill in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

121

equity appeared the names of thirty-five of the
heaviest taxpayers in the county. Among the
numerous allegations was one to the effect that
Wasco county was already in debt above the
amount of $5,000, the constitutional limit, and
therefore the special tax levy illegal.
It appears from such fragmentary data as
can be obtained concerning this court house that
the legal obstacles were swept aside and new bids
received as follows: W. E .Sylvester, $24,400;
C. A. Stowell, $24,000; R. W. Crandall, $21,700;
N. J. Blagen, $23,000. The contract was awarded
Mr. Blagen, although his bid was $1,300 above
that of Mr. Crandall. In 1883 the building was
completed and it is the structure now used for
county purposes.
In 1882 the assessed valuation of Wasco
county was $3,221,200.
Another large slice of territory was lost to
this county by the legislative act of October 24,
1882. She gave up what is now Crook county
and that portion of Wheeler county lying south
of the John Day river. To Wasco county was
then left the territory now embraced in Wasco,
Sherman, Gilliam and the northern part of
Wheeler counties. The new Crook county con
tained over 8,000 square miles.
During the early '80's the sheep industry
greatly increased in importance. Large bands of
sheep were driven on to the range and wool be
came one of the principal exports and revenue.
The assessor's rolls for 1883 show a valuation of
$3,160,170; and the rate of taxation 17 mills,
producing a revenue for state and county of
$53,983. At this period Wasco county was free
from debt. There were at this time in the county
13,022 horses, valued at $419,000, and the num-
her of men engaged in breeding these animals
was 698. There were 531 persons and firms en
gaged in cattle raising ; the number of cattle was
12,725 and their valuation $252,726. The num
ber of sheep was 172,148, the property of 124
men or firms. The total valuation was assessed
at $400,259 ; an average value of sheep of $1.70.
From these animals the total value of wool de
rived was $123,947.28, the average clip being
four pounds per sheep ; the average price per
poung being estimated at 18 cents.
We copy the following from the assessment
roll of 1884: Deeded lands 178,391 acres; value
$775,991 ; value of town property, $553,430; im
provements on railroad and government lands,
$327,964; value of merchandise and implements,
$521,965; money, notes and accounts, $796,746;
furniture, etc., $189,198; horses 18,763, valued
at $619,179: cattle, 16,523, valued at $330,540;
-sheep, 270,386, valued at $540,772; swine. 4,409,
valued at $13,227; Oregon Railroad & Naviga

tion Company, $665,000. Gross value of all
property $5,334,021. Indebtedness, $1,246,956;
exemptions, $297,000. Net value of property,
$3,790,056. At this period the estimated population of
the county was 14,000. It must be remembered
that about one-half of Wasco county had been
lost in 1882, consequently the gain was a large
one during the past four years.
February 16, 1885, Morrow county, as it is
today, was formed. Of its territory the greater
portion was taken from Umatilla county, but a
part was, also, sliced from Wasco, and thus the
"Mother of Counties" suffered another curtail
ment. In this year, also, Gilliam county was or
ganized by legislative act, and more territory was
"abstracted" from Wasco, although a portion of
Gilliam, came from Umatilla county. The Ore
gon state census of 1885 gave Wasco a popula
tion of 7,757. In 1886 the total valuation of tax
able property was $2,281,015, and in 1887 it had
increased to $3,085,360. In 1888 it rose to
$3,246,700. Although nothing materialized there was
some talk in 1889, of dividing Wasco county, and
converting the town of Antelope into a county
seat. Another mutilation of Wasco county oc
curred February 25, 1889, when by act of the
Oregon legislature Sherman county was created
and 684 square miles of land diverted from
Wasco. County division was still in the air, and
a meeting was called for November 15, 1890, to
take up the matter of petitioning the legislature
for a new county comprising portions of Wasco
ancl Crook counties. But this movement failed
of fruition, ancl the proposed meeting did not as
semble. A short time previous to the convening of the
legislative assembly in January, 1891, an at
tempt was made to set off the Hood River coun
try into a new and distinct county division. To
the legislature a petition to this effect, quite
numerously signed, was presented, asking that
the western portion of Wasco county to the
amount of 525 square miles be set off and organ
ized into Cascade county. Thus it was seriously
proposed to reduce what had once been the lar
gest county in the United States to a position
among the smallest in the state of Oregon. It
was alleged in the petition that within the terri
tory asked for there were about 1 ,900 people, and
that the assessment rolls of 1889 showed the
taxable property to be about $415,000. Hood
River coyly admitted that she would consent to
become the county seat. Of this project the
Times-Mountaineer, January 3, 1891, said:
"The movement did not have the solid sup
port of even that part of the country proposed to

122

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

be made into a new county, and a remonstrance
petition was at once put in circulation."
On the ioth the same journal added :
"The effort being made to create a new county
out of the west portion of Wasco is premature,
and should receive no support from our senators
or representatives. There is not sufficient tax
able property in the proposed new county to war
rant action by the legislature, and it would be a
hardship upon taxpayers to saddle upon them
new burdens. We understand that the petition
for division has not received many names in the
proposed county limits, and that a remonstrance
has already received numerous signatures."
This "remonstrance"' petition, dated at Falls
Precinct, January i, 1891, signed by over one
hundred tax-payers, respectfully represented
"that we are not in favor of a new county as
prayed for by the petitioners. That we do not
believe that the interests of this part of the county
would be subserved thereby, and we respectfully,
but earnestly remonstrate against the said divis
ion or formation of a new county embracing this
precinct." Organization of a county to be named Cas
cades was opposed by the residents of The Dalles.
The Dalles board of trade passed a resolution
condemning the attempt and worked against it.
February 4, 1893, the Times-Mountaineer said :
The legislative air is full of county division schemes
and proposals to create new counties. The divisionists
of Wasco county undeterred by emphatic protests,
are seeking to almost obliterate that division of the
state from the map of Oregon. The proposed new
county of Stockman cuts out a large slice from the
southern portion; Tygh county appropriates a big sec
tion out of the heart of the old county, and the pro
jectors of Cascade county, commencing at the eastern
boundary of Multnomah, takes in Cascades, Hood
River and Mosier, . even running its eastern line
within sight of The Dalles, but graciously leaving
the city itself and the cemetery to the old regime.
The only property within the proposed new county
that will pay any considerable amount of taxes, is
the railway line of the Union Pacific Company, thirty
odd miles of which is to be taken in. There really
doesn't seem much chance for the lines of Wasco to
be disturbed. The delegation from there is divided
on the question, and the protests against any kind of
a division contain the names of all the prominent tax
payers of the county. Not satisfied with thus cutting
up the mother of all eastern Oregon counties, the Sutton
county boomers propose also to take four townships
from the remaining portions being appropriated from
Crook and Grant.
This lot of bills for the formation of new
counties were all killed. By January, 1893, the

bill to create Stockman county had reached the
second reading in the Oregon assembly. It was
noted on the 28th inst. that no remonstrance had
appeared, and it was urged that if the friends of
the old county did not wish to see it still further
dissected in a "most unseemly manner," it was
high time that something was being contributed
to the legislature in the way of information, as
there were a number of citizens who were not
favorable to the proposed division. This direct
appeal was, evidently, followed by a remon
strance, and the division was not consummated.
What is now universally recognized as the
"Hard times era" of the United States, from
1893 to 1897 was, of course, prevalent through
out Wasco county, and will be more particularly
referred to in the chapters of this work relating
to The Dalles. The gross valuation of Wasco's
taxable property in 1894 was $3,194,477; net,
$2,974,183. The population of 1895 was found
by the assessor to be 10,354, and from July 1,
1894, until July 1, 1897, 188,207 acres of govern
ment land was entered by actual settlers.
The principal event of the year 1896, within
the confines of Wasco county, was the opening of
the "Locks of the Cascades." Millions of dollars
and more than a score of years were required to
construct this magnificent boatway around a for
midable obstacle to navigation. Colonel W. E.
McArthur, writing in the East Oregonian in
1884, is authority for the statement that in 1872
the importance of constructing a canal at the
Cascades was brought to the attention of con
gress, but that it was not until 1877 surveys were
made by the army engineers. Careful examin
ation of each side of the Columbia river deter
mined them to locate this canal on the Oregon
shore. By July 1, 1884, congress had appropri
ated for this purpose a total amount of $955,000;
of this $826,000 had been expended.
Illustrative of the deep and absorbing inter
est manifested in this enterprise by Oregonians
it should be noted that in the legislature, October
20, 1876, a law was passed with only one dis
senting vote, authorizing the United States to
take proceedings for condemnation of all land
required for canal purposes, provided such prop
erty could not be purchased. Ultimately forty-
three acres were bought from the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, with a perpetual right of
way across the company's land to the county
road, and the use of its houses so long- as work
on the canal was in progress.
It has been stated by a Portland journal that
a proposition to build a canal around the obstruc
tions in the Columbia river at the Cascades was
first broached in congress so late as 1875. How
ever, in 1876 a government appropriation of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

123;

$90,000 was made for the commencement of the
undertaking. In 1878 the original contractors,
Bell & Piatt, of New York, undertook for the
sum of $340,000 to excavate for the locks and a
portion of the prisms. Various sums were subse
quently appropriated by congress for continuing
the work, and in 1892 J. G. and I. N. Day con
tracted, for the sum of $1,521,265, to complete
the canal according to the plans and specifica
tions then at hand. The work was sufficiently
advanced by November, 1896, to permit the
passage of boats engaged in regular river service.
In 1899 another appropriation of $100,000 was
made. This was to complete the walls of the
locks. When these were finished the grand total
of expenditures to date had been $3,733,187.80.
October 30, 1896, Captain W. S. Fisk, of the
United States Engineer corps, issued the follow
ing bulletin :
"The Cascade Canal and Locks will be opened
to navigation at 2 o'clock p. m., Thursday, No
vember 5, 1896. For the present they will be
operated for the passage of boats during the
hours of daylight, and it may be necessary to
still further limit their use to certain hours of
the day in order not to interfere too much with
work still in progress."
On the arrival of this eventful day numerous
excursions from all river points were made by
rail and steamer. Thousands of people assem
bled ; The Dalles brass band enlivened the occa
sion with strains of stirring melody ; Battery A,
Oregon National Guard, fired salutes. The Reg
ulator, from The Dalles, with full complement of
passengers ; the Water Witch, Sadie B. and
Maria, working boats for the contractors, floated
in the basin, while below were the Dalles City,
Sarah Dixon and Harvest Queen, from Portland.
The craft from above steamed into the locks at
2:30 p. m., greeted by the sternutation of
whistles ; fanfare of horns and pealing of bells.
The boats from below, forming a nautical proces
sion of seven steamers, entered the locks and
passed through one at a time. On to The Dalles
steamed the Dixon, Regulator and Dalles City.
Here the citizens had erected two handsome
arches, brilliantly illuminated by electricity;
through these marched one of the largest and
most imposing parades ever before witnessed in
the Inland Empire.
The first boat to make the round trip between
The Dalles and Portland was the Regulator, but
the honor of the first trip from Portland to The
Dalles belongs to the Sarah Dixon.
Some idea of the immensity of this work
at the Cascades may be gleaned from the follow
ing : Width of lock-chambers, 90 feet ; length of
lock chambers, 400 feet ; depth of lower lock, 46

feet ; depth of upper lock, 40 feet. Difference in
level at upper and lower ends of canal: high
water, 13 feet; low water, 24 feet. The fourteen
upper gates weigh 325 tons and are 55 feet 2
inches high, and 52J/2 feet long on the curve —
each leaf. The middle gates weigh 250 tons ; are
41 feet two inches high, and 52^4 feet long. The
lower gates weigh 305 tons, and are 47 feet two
inches high. The lower guard gate weighs 252
tons; is 37 feet two inches high. It is only to be
used when the lower lock is to be pumped dry for
repairs. The total length of the canal is 2,900 feet.
The gate engine cylinders are 18 inches in diam
eter with a thirteen-foot stroke. One foot travel
of the engine moves the gate four feet. The cul
vert-valve engine cylinders are fifteen inches in.
diameter and have a six-foot stroke.
The locks are filled and emptied through large
culverts built in the walls and the flow is regu
lated by vulvert valves. These engines are sup
plied from a ten-inch pipe line, 1 J4 miles long,
with a head of 500 feet, making a pressure of 217
pounds to the square inch.
Two 12-inch centrifugal pumps are placed in
the pit near the lower gates and run by a 70-
horse power turbine water wheel, which is sup
plied with water from a 13 to 24- foot head
through a culvert built in the south wall. The
high water of 1894 was (at the lower end of the
canal) 60 feet above the low-water mark. The
high water of 1894 would be four feet above the
present upper guard gates.
By the opening of the river to The Dalles the
farmers of Wasco and Klickitat counties have an
nually reaped thousands of dollars on wheat
alone. This does not include wool, live stock
and other freights shipped out, or goods of all'
kinds brought in. In 1888 a bill was passed by
the legislature appropriating $60,000 for a port
age road around the Cascades, although at that
period the canal was in process of construction.
Prior to the opening of this road freightage on
wheat from The Dalles to Portland was $4.50-
per ton ; passenger rates $5. Following the
opening of the locks the rate to Portland was
$1.50 per ton, and the passenger rate has ruled
as low as twenty-five cents. Of the portage rail
way at The Cascades Mr. P. W. Gillette wrote hr
1900: F. A. Chenoweth, afterward Judge Chenoweth, of
Corvallis, settled at the Cascades, and in 1850 built
the first portage road on the line of the old Indian-
trail, which had been in use so long "that the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary.'' His road was a-
railway built entirely of wood, and the car was drawn
by one lone mule. The road was on the north side o£
the Columbia, at that time in Oregon.

124

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Then there were no settlers east of the Cascade
mountains, and no immediate prospect of any ; so he
sold his road to D. T. and P. F. Bradford, who were
either more hopeful of the future or had better fore
sight than Judge Chenoweth. They rebuilt the road
in 1856, making many improvements. The Indian massa
cre at the Cascades occurred while this improvement
was being made. The men were attacked while at work
and fled in all directions, one or two of them being
killed. This road was rebuilt in 1861, with iron rails,
and had steam locomotives. It was the first railroad
of the kind built in Oregon and though small was the
beginning of railroading in the northwest.
Sometime later in the '50's, Colonel Ruckel and H.
Olmstead built and operated a portage road on the
south bank of the Columbia. Before the portage roads
ancl steamboats combined their interests, the portage
company received half the freight charges on all freights
to their destination. If the price was $40 per ton from
Portland to The Dalles, and that was the regular price
for many years, the portage men got $20 per ton for
-carrying it around the falls, six miles.
Mr. Lyman, in his Oregon work says that the
Oregon Steam Navigation Company, in 1859, es
tablished the first railroads with iron rails, over
which ran steam engines. These were portage
roads on the Washington Territory side of the
'Columbia, from the lower to the upper Cascades,
and from The Dalles to Celilo.
For the year 1897 the assessed valuation of
Wasco county property was $3,013,386. For the
year 1898 the tax rolls showed an increase of
'$59463 over 1897. The average of deeded land
increased 9,019 acres and the value of improve
ments on town lots totaled $41,085.
Among the varied Wasco county resources of
1897 wheat took the lead, 500,000 bushels being
•exported and 100,000 retained for home con
sumption and seed. The average price ruled at
seventy-five cents a bushel, making the crop of
1897 worth $450,000. Aside from this generous
cereal return there were raised 90,000 bushels of
¦oats and 70,000 bushels of rye, valued at about
$60,000; also 15,000 tons of hay worth $150,000.
There were exported no oats, barley, rye or hay,
all having been retained for home consumption.
Among Wasco's resources sheep come next in
importance. The 123,529 sheep in the county
yielded an average of nine pounds of wool per
head, or 1,200,000 pounds, which at an average
price of 1 1 cents brought into the county some
$132,000, to which may be added $30,000 for
mutton exported, totaling the receipts for the
sheep industry alone $162,000.
Third in importance was the fruit industry.
In the county about 6,000 acres were set to or-
¦chard, and some 300 acres in grapes. Fruit sales

were bandied by so many different parties, and
fruit was shipped to so many points, that it is im
possible to furnish an accurate estimate of re
ceipts. But during the season of 1897 there were
shipped from The Dalles, Hood River and Mosier
sixty car-loads of green fruit. These were the
principal fruit shipping points in the county.
Half of the above amounts was, also, shipped in
less than car-load lots. The leading market for
these fruit exports was Chicago, yet a number of
carloads went through direct to New York, while
Butte, Montana, received a number of cars and
some went to Texas. Aside from the fruit mar
keted green, six carloads of dried prunes went
from The Dalles, and quite an amount of dried
peaches and pears. The "kitchen garden" had
become a resource of considerable importance
among farmers located near transportation lines.
Large quantities of vegetables, cabbage, beans,
peas, tomatoes, celery, mellon and egg-plant were
this year shipped to Sound cities. It is needless
to say that this industry has since largely in
creased. Throught the world the Columbia river is rec
ognized as an important fish-food producer.
Along its banks in Wasco county has been built
up a great source of wealth. Yet the seasons of
1896 and 1897 were not profitable, the salmon run
having been extremely light. The two species of
fish caught in this stream for market are salmon
and sturgeon. Fish wheels capture the former;
the latter are taken on hooks sunk to the bottom
of the river.
For the year 1899 the tax valuation of Wasco
county was $3,367,607, an increase of $72,153
over that of the year previous. By 1901 it had
risen to $4,077,405, and in 1902 to $4,302,535 ; in
1903 it was $4,640,800.
There was a serious attempt in 1901 to make
the Columbia an open river. An address deliv
ered by Civil Engineer Ernest McCullough be
fore the Lewiston (Idaho) Commercial Club that
year is so lucid and clearly explanatory of the de
tails which it exploits, that we cannot resist the
temptation to here reproduce a portion of it, as
follows :
To secure the open river and free competition, the
obstruction between The Dalles and Celilo must be
overcome. Then at high water a boat can go clear
throught from Lewiston to Portland laden with the
products of the country. * * * This twelve miles
of rocky river retards the complete development of a
country with an estimated area of 104,000 square miles,
and if we would liken the Snake river to a bottle we
would say that a little bit of cork twelve miles long
stops a bottle nine hundred miles away.
The project for making an open river consists of the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

125;

canalization of a portion of the river between The
Dalles and Celilo, and the construction of several locks.
The estimated cost is about $4,000,000. In the dis
tance of twelve miles we have Three-Mile rapids,
1,500 feet long, narrow crooked and full of rocks ;
then Five-Mile rapids (The Dalles), where for a mile
and a half the river rushes with great velocity between
steep basalt walls; 'then Ten-Mile rapids, a similar gorge
half a mile long; and lastly Celilo Falls, with a sheer
drop of twenty feet. In these twelve miles the total
fall of the river at low water is 80 feet.
Many examinations and surveys have been made and
the reports at various times fill many books. But there
is one little sentence ever recurring in all the reports
and that is to the effect "that further improvements
to give an open river to the sea would not involve any
insurmountable difficulties from an engineering point
of view."In 1874 and in 1879 examinations were made and
projects proposed for widening and straightening the
river. They were made at a time when little was
known regarding the physics of the Columbia river and
its tributaries. The estimated cost was $7,645,495.51 to
provide for navigation during high water stages and a
supplementary estimate to make the river navigable at
all stages brought the estimate up to $10,517,343.17.
But this was a lot of money, and in 1888 a board of
engineers recommended a boat railway to cost nearly
$3,000,000. Boats were to be lifted at one place to a
height of 77 feet and placed on a cradle, in a car, on
a broad gauge track. The road was to be nine miles
long and at the other end the boats were to be lowered
62 feet into the water. A free portage road was recom
mended to be constructed to serve until the require
ments of navigation demanded the boat railway.
In 1892 another board of engineers was appointed
and the majority report condemned the boat railway
and recommended a canal and locks as being better
adapted to the needs of the country and a more perma
nent improvement. The idea of the free portage road
until the canal and locks were constructed was advised.
The minority report opposed the boat railway project
and said nothing about the free portage road. Con
gress made two appropriations aggregating $250,000 to
commence the construction of the boat railway. Sur
veys were made and very complete plans prepared in
1892, 1893 and 1894. Nearly all the land was obtained
that was necessary for the right of way, and it looked
as though the thing would be a go. The estimated cost-
was $2,264,467.
But there were grave objections to be urged against
the boat railway. In the first place it would be, prac
tically, an experiment, the only other boat railway
which is know to be operating successfully being used
to convey boats which navigate the ocean near the
coast and are built to withstand all kinds of strains.
The river boats here are of extremely shallow draft

and might be seriously damaged if lifted out of their
natural element and placed in cradles on cars. It would
render necessary a complete change in naval architecture
on the Columbia and Snake rivers, and increased cost
in building and operating boats. The owners of boats;
did not like the idea, and it was urged by many people
that the men who principally favored the construction of
the boat railway were those whose interests were best
served by the presence of the obstruction in the river.
It was urged that these men believed congress would
never listen to any other project if the boat railway
was built and proved a failure.
Congress was besieged and the boat railway scheme
was dropped, and the people hoped the canal and
locks would be built. Then Mr. Mohr jumped in and
commenced building a private portage railway. It was
thought that this would stop the clamor if the people
saw that the obstructions were to be overcome. But
it only made matters worse and the people became
vociferous in their attempt to make congress see that
it was a free open river that was wanted; not one
where a man stood at the neck of the bottle and charged
corkage. So the Mohr company quit work and it now
looks as if the open river project will consist of a
canal and locks between The Dalles and Celilo, a
sensible way of doing the business.
Saturday, May 24, 1902, what was known as
the Paul Mohr portage road, on the Washington
side of the Columbia, was sold at sheriff's sale at
Goldendale. This forced sale was to satisfy out
standing claims held by contractors who had built
it, and the road was bid in for $36,592. But there
was destined to be a more extensive field for
portage road construction. In 1903 an act of
the Oregon legislature appropriated $165,000 for
a portage railroad around the obstructions to nav
igation of the Columbia between The Dalles and
Celilo. Governor Chamberlain approved the bill'
February 19th, and it became a law. Following-
the enactment of this measure difficulties were
encountered in securing the right of way, it being
necessary to purchase land owned by the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company. The project
was vigorously fought by that corporation, and
the matter carried into the courts.
December 23d, both houses of the legislature,
in special session, passed a bill appropriating
$100,000 more for securing the right of way for
the "Celilo canal," it being then understood that
congress would appropriate sufficient money to
construct the canal provided the state of Oregon
would furnish the right of way. In the early days
of 1905, congress did make a small appropriation,
despite the hysterical efforts of the scandalous
railroad lobby which continually haunts the
corridors of the nation's capitol, for commencing-

126

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

this mammoth and invaluable undertaking. It is
probable that at some distant time in the future
it will be completed.
The right of way for the canal had been given
by the state of Oregon. Construction on the
portage road, funds for which had, also, been
provided by the legislature, lagged for a time ; the
permanent improvement partly promised by a
lobby-ridden congress, seemingly having the ef
fect of indefinitely postponing the temporary re
lief of the portage road. At last work was be
gun and at this writing is nearly completed.
During a period comprising many years
Wasco county labored under the handicap of an
enormous public debt. Upon this was paid
thousands of dollars in interest, and at an exor
bitant rate. This financial condition retarded de
velopment ; drove away capital that might other
wise have been invested in this locality ; prevented
homesteaders from locating, as no one feels dis
posed to settle in a county where extremely high
taxes prevail. It was the testimony of the Times-
Mountaineer, May 6, 1904, that at that date
Wasco county was out of debt. It, also, invited
capitalists to invest in new enterprises. The fol
lowing statement of Wasco's fiscal condition in
1904 will prove of interest for future compari- Value.
Acres of tillable land, 116,805  $ 186,830
Acres of non-tillable, 382,107  861,345
Improvements on deeded lands  327,240
Town and city lots  545,875
Miles railroad bed, 69,75  360,475
Improvements on city lots  584,110
Improvements on lands not deeded  16,600
Miles telephone and telegraph, 225  34,050
Rolling stock  52,575
Steamboats, sail boats, stationary engines
and manufacturing machinery  140,725
Merchandise and stock in trade  261,335
Farm implements, wagons, carriages, etc .... 69,837
Money  100,160
Notes and accounts  ¦ 43,430
Shares of stock  48,350
Household furniture, watches, jewelry, etc. . 119,770
Horses and mules, 4,993  125,625
•Cattle, 10,035  103,590
Sheep, 94,060  144,750
' Swine, 5,040  10,560
Gross value of all property  $4,737,220
An attempt was made in the 1903 session of
the Oregon legislature to form a new county
from that part of Wasco east of the Des Chutes
river, and a portion of Crook county. This pro
posed new political division was to be known as
Stockman county. By an almost unanimous vote
the bill passed the house, but it was defeated in

the senate. It was introduced January 15th by
Representative Burgess, and located the tem
porary county seat at Antelope. February 10th
it went down in the senate by a vote of 16 to 7.
So far the last attempt to sequester Wasco
county territory, and convert the same into new-
political divisions, was made in 1905. A bill for
the creation of Cascade county, embracing the
rich Hood River valley, was presented in the
house of the Oregon legislature by Representa
tive Jayne, in January. This measure proposed
to carve the new county out of the western por
tion of Wasco.
Representative Burgess came forward with
another bill for the creation of Jefferson county,
by which it was proposed to take a part from
Wasco, and another portion of territory from
Crook county. This last measure was similar to
one introduced by the same gentleman in 1903,
at that time the proposed name of the new county
— anticipated — was "Stockman." Anent this mat
ter the Oregon Journal, of Portland, said, Jan
uary 19th :
"Popular sentiment in The Dalles is for the
most part strongly opposed to the proposed se
cession of the Hood River valley from Wasco
county, and Burgess is the exponent of this sentV
ment. But while opposed to the creation of Cas
cade county the people of The Dalles are more
than willing to part with the territory which
Wasco would contribute to Jefferson county. The
territory that would be lost to Wasco by the
creation of Jefferson county is sparsely settled
and by no means so rich as the Hood River val
ley. Burgess is, therefore, opposed to the bill
introduced by his colleague, Jayne, to create Cas
cade county, and is working industriously for the
enactment of his own measure, creating Jefferson
county. "As it is practically impossible that both bills
should pass, Jayne is of necessity forced into a
position more or less antagonistic to that taken
by Burgess. The latter has, however, the hearty
co-operation of Senator Whealdon of Wasco,
whose home is at The Dalles and who shares the
popular sentiment there as to the two measures."
The bill for the formation of Cascade county
and locating the county seat at Hood River,
passed the house January 30th. Little, if any
opposition was anticipated in the senate. Febru
ary 3d it was the opinion of the Salem corre
spondent of the Morning Oregonian that the Cas
cade bill would "surely pass the senate." He
even went so far as to say in his special to the
Oregonian that "The senate committee on coun
ties has practically decided to report favorably
on the house bill for the creation of Cascade
county."

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

127

And yet this same paper on February 16th
was forced to announce in its head-lines that the
Cascade bill had been "Slain in the Senate." And
even this news had been forstalled by The
Dalles Chronicle on the 15th by the fol
lowing item :
"A late message from Senator Whealdon
says : 'Senate committee this afternoon recom
mended that Cascade county bill pass with
amendments to keep it in the fourth judicial dis
trict, but that no interference be made with pres

ent laws of Multnomah county. Senator Wheal
don moved that the bill be indefinitely postponed
for further consideration and finally succeeded
in getting a standing vote which was as follows :
Sixteen for postponement; one absent; twelve
against postponement. So it will be seen Cas
cade county is virtually settled for this term.
Good for Senator Whealdon and old Wasco."
All the county division fighting was now
ended; Jefferson surrendered; Hot Lake was
killed in the house and Cascade in the senate.

CHAPTER V

THE HISTORIC CITY OF THE DALLES.

In the previous four chapters concerning
Wasco county, we have avoided such details as
were more exclusively connected with The Dalles.
Such historic facts and their corollaries have
been reserved for these chapters bearing more
particularly on the fortunes of Wasco county.
The citizens of The Dalles have made a sub
stantial portion of the history of Oregon. It is
ours now to chronicle the stirring events of its
half century and odd years of life — the first his
tory of the city ever written — in as complete and
reliable form as is possible with available data.
Perhaps it is within the limits of conservatism
to say that in sensational happenings The Dalles
remains unsurpassed by any place within the
boundaries of Oregon. At one period, being the
key to the entire Columbia basin, its possession
was eagerly desired. During the earlier Indian
wars it was the seat of military operations ; it
was the point where the immigrants of 1847, and
later years, assembled and transferred themselves,
their lares et penates, to boats and rudely con
structed rafts to proceed down the Columbia to
the Willamette valley. During the years of immi
gration following the passage of the donation
land laws — the avant courcur , of the Home
stead Act of 1862 — the bench lands above The
Dalles were oft-times twinkling with the camp-
fires of those .who had won their toilsome way
"across the plains" with ox teams from the Mis
souri river. Today many a grizzled pioneer of
Oregon can relate thrilling stories, replete with
historical interest of their experiences while en
camped at The Dalles, and of their subsequent
journey down the Columbia.

The geographical location of The Dalles —
always the county seat of Wasco — is latitude N.
45 degrees 36 minutes 18 seconds ; longitude west
from Greenwich, 122 degrees 12 minutes ; west
from Washington, D. C, 44 degrees 20 minutes.
Its elevation at the court house is 103 feet above
sea level. Colloquially The Dalles is "on the
Columbia river, at the mouth of Mill creek, in
the northeastern part of Wasco county." By an
amended charter granted Dalles City, February
17, 1899, the boundaries of the city were de
scribed as follows :
"Commencing in the middle channel of the
Columbia river, at a point due north of the north
east corner of lot 4 of section 2, township one,
north of range 13, east of the Willamette meri
dian, in Wasco county, Oregon; thence south to
the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of
the southwest quarter of section 2, in said town
ship and range ; thence southwesterly to the
southwest corner of The' Dalles City grant;
thence north eighty and thirty-eight hun
dredths chains to the southwest corner of
The Dalles military reservation ; thence north
erly along the westerly boundary of The
Dalles military reservation to the line between
The Dalles military reservation and the Method
ist mission claim ; thence north sixteen and sev
enty-nine hundredths chains to the northeasterly
line of the Catholic mission claim ; thence north,
fifty-two degrees east, to the center of the main
channel of the Columbia river to the place of be
ginning." According to the last United States census
The Dalles was the sixth city in size in Oregon,

128

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

those having a larger population at the time the
census was taken ( 1900) being Portland, Astoria,
Baker City, Pendleton and Salem. On that date
the population was given as 3,542. Since this,
however, the growth has been rapid and The
Dalles today undoubtedly has a population of
over 5,000. This is a conservative estimate. A
census at the present time would probably show
a population of nearly six thousand.
The Dalles is an attractive city. This can be
said without the least tinge of exaggeration.
Situated on the hills it presents a decidedly pic
turesque appearance. To the southwest is Mount
Hood, crowned with ¦ the snows of centuries ;
beyond the wooded hills of the state of Washing
ton Mount Adams looks down with fatherly be
nignity. These imposing heights saw the vastly
superior race that antedated the Indian tribes ;
they witnessed the rise and fall of the painted
redskins of today ; they were regarded with si
lent or exultant admiration by the earliest pio
neers from Lewis and Clark to the hardy settlers
of the '50's ; they now stand in bold relief against
a background of sombre scenery, all that is left
to remind us of the days before civilization had
hewed its way into the "forests primeval."
But years previous to the building of the
white man's town that portion of the present city
between the bluffs and the river — about half a
mile in width — was the favorite camping ground
of Indians and an oasis for weary voyageurs
making the trip up or down the Columbia. Here
the Lewis and Clark expedition paused to light
their camp fires and smoke a friendly pipe with
the savages ; and in future years their example
was followed by thousands.
In the current history chapters in re Wasco
county, we have told of the Indian village, Win-
quatt, which stood on the spot that later blos
somed into The Dalles. And were data avail
able what an interest-compelling history could be
thrown into type concerning Win-quatt alone.
There has been some confusion in the use of the
names Win-quatt and Wish-ram, and the two
have often been used as though they were one
and the same place. Wish-ram was the Indian
village at or near Celilo, ten or eleven miles
east of The Dalles. It was always distinct and
separate from Win-quatt. Lewis and Clark, in
their journal, speak of Wish-ram, as also does
Capt. Bonneville in the report of his expedition.
By the Methodist missionaries the site of the In
dian village Win-quatt was denominated Was-
copum. It was a central point and was dominated
by the ancient and powerful tribe of Wascos, a
remnant of whom are yet to be seen about the
streets of The Dalles, and whose shanties and
rude wickiups fringe the western bank of Mill

creek. "Win-quatt" signifies a place encircled,
or surrounded, by a bold circumvallation of rocks.
The following is an extract from a poem written
by Ruth Gatch :
"By Columbia where the wild elk roams
The Indians grouped their rude, rough homes;
Where laughter from the Indian child
Mixed with songs and music wild,
Flowed out the wigwam's open door
To greet the wind's and water's roar.
The town the Indians loved the best
Was Win-quatt, place of peace and rest;
For mountains high, with rugged cliff
Kept from the village war and strife,
And the Wasco tribe through all the land
Was known a fearless, war-like band.
"Now on Columbia's yellow sands
The Dalles, a busy city stands ;
But yet how great has been the change,
Since clothed with beauty wild and strange,
The Indians' homes alone were here,
Mid rugged cliffs and pine groves drear.
Now houses rise at every place,
Where Indians came from far to race.
And where the wild war-dance was held,
Large stores and happy homes they build.
Schools and churches crown the land,
And good will flows from every hand."
But we must, perforce, confine ourselves to
the story of this town as builded by the white
man. And this brings us to the comparatively
recent year of 1850. A person hearing for the
first time the name of The Dalles would be struck
by its oddity; more particularly so were he to
see it in print. He would be disposed to ask
"What is the 'The' there for?" and if it would
not be in better literary taste to omit the article.
Certainly it would not, and should he desire to
retain the good will of the good people of The
Dalles, he must invariably refer to the town as
such. The official' name of the town is "Dalles
City," but it is only known thus in official pro-
ceedure. The town is "The Dalles" and, prob
ably, always will be. The following in regard
to the origin of the name is an extract from an
address delivered by Dr. William C. McKay, an
authority on the subject of names, at a festival
given by the Ladies' Aid Society of the Congre
gational church in The Dalles, Tuesday, May 18,
1869: "The early French vayogeurs knew the falls
of the Columbia at the Indian fishery, six miles
above this place, as Ic Dalle, from the French
word Dalle, signifying a trough — literally the
trough of the Columbia. It has always been re-

Wasco Indian Dancers

Fish Wheel on the Columbia and Cascade Locks

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

129

garded by them as the most dangerous point in
navigating the Columbia, and it was customary
at the proper stage of the river to run their boats
down the rapids, which always required great
courage, dexterity and experience. But often,
with all these accomplishments, many a poor
voyageur found a watery grave in the whirlpools,
and none can tell of his resting place. Within
my own recollection many have perished in its
turbulent waters. It is a noted point and much
dreaded by them ;. consequently they gave it the
name of Le Grande Dalle de la Columbia — The
Great Trough of the Columbia."
When a town first began to appear where The
Dalles now stands it was, for a short period, re
ferred to as "The Landing," but was later christ
ened The Dalles, taking the name from the old
French designation of the falls some distance up
the river. In 1889 the Times-Mountaineer said:
Frequent inquires are made by settlers why this city
is named The Dalles. The postoffice was known for
many years as Dalles City; but a somewhat similar name
in Polk county — Dallas — caused considerable annoy
ance, and on the postal register it was changed to
"The Dalles." The municipality, in the charter, is still
called Dalles City.
It will be entirely unnecessary to repeat here
the events described in the current history chap
ters leading up to the founding of a town on this
historic spot. Let it suffice that in 1820 a post
of the Hudson's Bay Company was here estab
lished, but did not long remain ; in 1838 a Meth
odist mission was founded ; in 1848 a Catholic
mission; in 1847-8 volunteer troops made this
headquarters during the Cayuse war ; from the
days of pioneer immigration it was the point of
embarkation for the down-river trip to the Willa
mette settlement; in 1850 a company of United
States troops was stationed here to protect these
emigrants from the predatory Indians.
This last named event led to the founding' of
The Dalles. In all the surrounding country there
were only two or three settlers. First came, as
an avaut coureur the sutler's store ; then others,
attracted by the possibilities of this point as a
trading place, opened stores, "grocery stores,"
and bowling alleys, all of which were institutions
to be found in the vicinities of all government
posts on the frontier.
The first "merchant" was John C. Bell. He
came from Salem and opened a sutler's store at
the garrison in 1850. In 185 1 he disposed of his
enterprise to William Gibson, and during the
same year Allen McKindlay & Company, having
obtained permission from the military authorities
of the post, erected a frame building at a point
9

near the intersection of what are now Main and
Court streets, and stocked it with goods. They
placed it in charge of Perrin B. Whitman and
the following year built a more commodious
structure. Possibly the purist or stickler for
technicalities would not term this the inception
of The Dalles, as Bell's sutler store was located
on the bluff with the garrison, while the town
proper is situated on the "flat." In fact Bell's
store was rather more like an army canteen than
the nucleus of a city. "An Early Settler" in The
Dalles Times of March 2, 1881, says :
"In 185 1 the first house was built in the town
of The Dalles (then called The Landing), by
Messrs. Allen, McKindlay & Company. They
built a shanty and used it for a store, which was
kept by Mr. Nugent the first year, and the next
by Mr. Henry M. Chase ; but was afterward taken
charge of by Mr. John A. Simms, and I think
Mr. O. Humason was in their employ at one
time." In her "Reminiscences of Oregon" Mrs. Lord
says :
"In 185 1 we had a mail route established:
The carrier ad a boat which he sailed when there
was wind, and when there was none he rowed.
Remembering him as I do, I think he must have
whistled up a breeze most of the time, even if he
had to force it with a dollar to an Indian to row
for him. The mail carrier was Justin Chenoweth.'
William R. Gibson was garrison sutler in
1852, but moved his log store down to "The
Landing," to a point now the foot of Union
street. This business was subsequently pur-
chased by Victor Trevitt. The same year Mr,
William C. Laughlin secured a land claim and
built a small frame house in the "town." W. D.
Bigelow came up in 1852 with a small stock of
goods, groceries and liquors, and "squatted,"
pitching a canvas house. Here, until 1853 ne
conducted quite a lucrative trade, then building
a conventional store with lumber. There was a
hotel built in the summer of 1852. This was a
primitive affair and conducted by a man named
John Tompkins, one of the commissioners named
in the act organizing Wasco county. He had a
family of several grown sons and one daughter,
Minerva. Origen Thomson arrived at The
Dalles early in September of that year. He de
scribed the town as "a dirty hamlet of a few
mirerable huts giving no promise of the lively
city of today," in a work published in recent
years devoted to an account of his trip across the
plains to Oregon.
There were several houses in the new town
in 1853. Mrs. Lord says that in Allen & Mc-
Kindlay's store, Perrin Whitman clerked for a
time; also a man named Nugent, and a "young

130

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

man named Chase." This explains the omission
of \v hitman's name by "An Early Settler" from
whom we have quoted. Concerning the building
of W. C. Laughlin's house, and the difficulties
encountered in its construction, Mrs. Lord says:
I started to show that with the increased number of
people resident and the large military post, there was
a great demand for freight facilities, and but poor
service, so it was a long time before father got any
lumber to begin the house, and we did not get into it
until August (1853). We had three tents, one for the
kitchen, one for the sitting room and one for sleeping.
The sitting room was floored and made as comfortable
as such a tent would permit, but it was fearfully hot,
without even a bush for shade. As soon as the house
had the roof and sheathing on the outside and inside,
we moved in all but the kitchen. The weatherboarding,
windows and shingles did not arrive until long after.
Father had drawn poles from up the creek and fenced
the garden and a small field south of our home, where
he had cut grass for hay the first season, and the next
season raised the finest oats I ever saw in my
By September all the material had come for the
house. The' doors and windows were put in (father
made the doors) and the kitchen built with a rough
stone fireplace. Father did not feel equal to building
a chimney and fireplace in the main house from the
material at hand, and wanted to have the comfort of
one so much that he gathered up the loose stones lying
about and built it on the low side of the long shed-room
he ha3 built for a kitchen and living room, and many a
pleasant evening was spent around that wide, cheerful
old fireplace. * * *
The house set up off the ground and contained two
large rooms, but was ceiled up with rough lumber and
lined and ceiled overhead with cotton domestic. There
were two steps down into the kitchen, and that opened
up into a large woodshed which I think was not built
the first year. In the fall the yard was fenced in with
poles to keep the Indians from riding over us, for they
would ride up to the very doors and leave their horses
stand there, and could see no reason why they should
not. They made a great fuss about our fences, anyway.
They claimed the right to ride anywhere they pleased,
and after father fenced the field in the valley above town,
which he did in the winter of 1853-4, they would very
often throw down the fence and ride through. The fence
' was of rails and easily taken down.
Among those at The Dalles in 1853 were
Messrs. Simms, Cushing, Humason, Low, Dr.
Shaug, James Mosier, L. J. Henderson, W. C.
Laughlin, Mr. Forman, and C. W. Denton. The
same year there arrived a Methodist minister,
Rev. James Gerrish. The latter preached the first
sermon on the "flat," or "The Landing," now

known as The Dalles. The Methodist and Cath
olic missions were some distance from this point.
L. J. Henderson and Dr. Shaug had a store in a
canvas house near the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company's bridge. In 1854 they replaced this
with a log structure. In 1853 Mr. Forman had .
erected a blacksmith shop. At this period Lieu
tenant Forsythe began a two-story frame house
which he completed the following year. It was
opened as The Dalles Hotel by Colonel Gates,
and later was purchased by Moody & Company.
In the '6o's Cushing & Son completed a log store.
Many immigrants located in the fall of 1853.
Others came back from the Willamette valley to
trade with these new comers, and the place as
sumed a business, bustling air. Although a city
of tents with all descriptions of signs, those of
restaurants predominated. Stores and cattle
buyers were plentiful. Later some of these im
migrants took up land, some erected houses and
permanently established themselves.
The even of momentous import during the
year 1854 was the creation of Wasco county and
consequent elevation of The Dalles to the dignity
of a county capital. At this period The Dalles
remained the only town between the' Cascades
and Rocky mountains. There was none other to
contest for county seat honors, nor has this posi
tion occupied by The Dalles ever been assailed
except through the schemes of county division,
some of which fructified ; others failing. During
the fifty odd years of Wasco county's existence
no one has hinted at a proposal to remove the
county seat from The Dalles.
Mr. W. C. Laughlin, as has been recorded,
took up his land claim in 1853. At that period
the military reservation had been reduced to pro
portions considerably smaller than those origin
ally laid out. W. D. Bigelow, who had opened a
store, also took a land claim which at present
forms Bigelow's addition to the city. In 1854 H.
P. Isaacs opened a saloon and bowling alley in
the Cushing & Low building, the latter having
erected a two-story board house, the upper part
of which was used for living apartments. Subse
quently it evolved into the Western Hotel. That
year Dr. Craig built a house ; James McAuliff a
log store.
During the first years of the history of The
Dalles, prior to 1855 — me place remained with
out a platted townsite and with no official organ
ization. The few business houses erected were
located wherever fancy dictated, and with little
regard to uniformity. Possibly the earliest resi
dents did not believe that a townsite or town
government would ever be necessary. However,
organization of the county, combined with sub
sequent settlement of the town rendered requisite

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

131

.a townsite and some form of municipal govern
ment. Details of The Dalles townsite troubles
would fill a good-sized volume ; involving the
various suits at law between contesting claimants.
For these a brief synopsis must suffice.
Quieting of title to lands embraced within
the corporate limits of The Dalles begins with the
history of the Methodist mission established
thereon in 1836, and claimed under the act of
congress approved August 14, 1848, entitled "An
Act to establish the Territorial government of
•Oregon." In this act, among other things, it
was provided that title to the land, not exceeding
-640 acres, then occupied as a missionary station
among the Indian tribes in said territory, to
gether with improvements thereon, be confirmed
and established in the several religious societies
to which said mission stations respectively be
longed. Under the provisions of this organic act
the Methodist Missionary Society claimed at The
Dalles title to the tract of land as set forth in this
patent, together with 353 acres, one rood and
twenty-eight poles, which had been appropriated
by Major Rains for the Fort Dalles military reser
vation, making in all 643.37 acres claimed by the
Methodist mission. <
By act of congress approved June 16, i860,
there was appropriated the sum of $20,000 to be
paid the missionary society of the Methodist
Episcopal church for their release to the United
States of all, claim to the lands embraced within
¦said military reservation as established by Major
Rains, and this patent was thereupon issued for
the remainder of the said 643.37 acres lying out
side of Rains' military reservation. But with this
proviso; "That the patent shall only operate as
a relinquishment of title on the part of the United
States and shall in no manner interfere with any
valid adverse right to the same land, nor be con
strued to preclude a legal investigation and de
cision by the proper judicial tribunal between ad
verse claimants to the same land."
Dalles City having been laid out upon the
fractional northwest quarter of section 3, town
ship 1, north 13 east, outside of the Rains military
reservation under the "townsite act" upon that
portion of the said Methodist mission claim which
falls within the said fractional northwest quarter
of section 3, thus became an adverse claimant and
brought suit as a municipal corporation to set
aside so much of the patent of the said Method
ist mission as was within the fractional north
west quarter of said section 3, upon which said
Dalles City was laid out, and for which land the
said Dalle? City had applied for the purchase of
at the United States land office April 18, i860,
for townsite purposes, the said fractional north-
¦west quarter containing 112 acres.

This case was tried in the United States dis
trict court of the district of Oregon and the de
cree of the court was that so much of the premises
described in the patent as was claimed by Dalles
City, being the fractional northwest quarter of
said section 3, containing 112 acres, be released
from the operation of the said patent and the
title thereto to vest in Dalles City in trust for the
several use and benefit of the occupants thereof.
An appeal was taken to the supreme court of the
United States by the said Methodist Missionary
Society, and upon hearing thereof the decree of
the circuit court was affirmed, thus establishing
the legal title to such land and the lots and blocks
laid out thereon in Dalles City in trust as afore
said. Wasco county was established by an act of
the Oregon legislature, January 11, 1854, and a
board of commissioners selected who, acting un
der the act of congress May 23, 1844, "as judges
of the county court," proceeded to enter the land
embraced in the triangular tract, as the "fractional
northwest quarter of section 3, township 1, north
range 13 east," in the land office at Oregon city.
Inasmuch as the United States surveys were
not extended over the land until February, i860,
no action was had in the land office until April 19,
i860, when the corporate authorities of Dalles
City made application to enter at the United
States land office the fractional northwest quar
ter mentioned, containing 112 acres more or less.
before this, however, the commissioners, acting
under the act of May 23, 1844, employed Lieu
tenant B. M. Forsythe, Fourth Infantry, to lay
off into blocks and lots, streets and alleys, as
they now exist the town plat of Dalles City. The
commissioners' journal of April 2, 1855, con
tains the following entry :
"Located county seat at The Dalles and or
dered the clerk of the board of county commis
sioners to take immediate steps to survey a tract
of 160 acres of land, or as much as can be ob
tained without trespassing on private rights, the
ground to comprise all the center of the town,
running back to the hill."
These blocks and lots were settled upon under
the township act of May 23, 1844, and the respect
ive settlements were recorded in the Dalles City
archives, by order of the board of town trustees,
and they thus became the first record of title and
the basis of title to Dalles City lots. But the clear
and complete title was not until after the decree
of the federal supreme court, in 1883, when the
Methodist mission title thereto under their pat
ent was overthrown.
In pursuance of the act of the legislative as
sembly of Oregon, approved February 25, 1885,
(special laws, 1885, pp. 406, 407), the council

132

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of Dalles City proceeded, in the spring or sum
mer, of 1885, to convey to settlers their lots un
der the new townsite law, which was re-enacted
in place of the act of 1844, repealed (See United
States Revised Statutes, Sec. 2387), and it was
under this last act of congress that the titles were
thus made to the original settlers or to those who
had succeeded them by purchase. This act of
1885 was passed the next session of the legisla
ture of Oregon, after the Methodist mission title
was declared by the United Supreme court to be
invalid. No title could be procured by them be
fore that time. By the terms of section 2387,
Revised Statutes of .the United States, the legis
lative authority of the state had the right to make
regulations for the disposal of lots under the
townsite law, and this regulation of the disposal
of lots as aforesaid the Oregon legislature thus
provided for by act of February 25, 1885, special
laws, page 406, 407.
In the proceedings of the board of Commis
sioners for Wasco county, of August 4, 1855, we
find that the county auditor was authorized to
advise with counsel as to the necessary steps to
be taken to secure to the county the amount of
land donated by the government for a townsite
and other purposes, and they also authorized the
auditor to procure a competent surveyor to lay
out and survey a townsite at the present county
seat. December 3, 1855, the commissioners au
thorized the payment to R. D. Forsythe, the sum
of $150 for surveying the county seat at The
Dalles. Let us return to the Alpha — or beginning — of
the municipal existence of The Dalles; to Sep
tember 15, 1855, which existence was largely
brought about through townsite difficulties. On
the date mentioned the residents of the village
assembled in mass meeting and formulated rules
for the division of property and for the govern
ment of the city. A Set of resolutions was adopt
ed and a board of trustees elected who should by
common consent be the executive officers of the
settlement. The members of this board were W.
C. Laughlin, president; R. D. Forsythe, J. C.
Geere, W. H. Fauntleroy and O. Humason.
These gentlemen served until their successors
were elected and qualified the following spring.
At this meeting it had been mutually agreed that
the first election should be held April 7, 1856.
The following is taken from the minutes of the
first meeting of the citizens of The Dalles to take
action in municipal matters :
Pursuant to previous notice a meeting of the citi
zens of The Dalles was held September 15, 1855. On
motion N. H. Gates was called to the chair, and J. A.
Simms appointed secretary.

On motion a committe of five, Messrs. W. C.
Laughlin, R. D. Forsythe, J. C. Geere, W. H. Fauntle
roy and O. Humason was appointed to draft resolutions
for the government and security of the citizens in hold
ing their town property in this place. On motion of
Captain Fauntleroy, it was resolved that no person
should pre-empt on lots or parcels of ground until the
contemplated town site of 160 acres be disposed of. On
motion the meeting adjourned to meet again Monday
morning at ten o'clock, to hear the report of the com
mittee. PREAMBLE.
That, whereas, the title of the land now occupied
as a town site at The Dalles of the Columbia is believed
to be vested in the citizens thereon in so much as it is
known to have been a portion of the United States
reservation and entirely unoccupied by any other claim
ant and that after a village was built thereon by permis
sion of the United States government officers command
ing at Fort Dalles, the land was released by said author
ity for the benefit of the citizens of said village. We,
the citizens, in public meeting assembled, after due
notice, do therefore resolve :
1. That all persons are hereby warned from tres
passing upon the public property of this village, which
we declare and give notice to be all that certain property
released by the United States government officers (Ma
jor Rains, U. S. A.) to'the citizens of this village lying
west of and being adjacent to the present east line of
the United States government reserve, and embracing
the survey made by order of the commissioners of
Wasco county, for citizens of this village.
2. That there shall be on the first day of April,
three trustees elected whose duty it shall be to hold
monthly meetings and carry into effect the resolutions
now and hereafter enacted. They shall be guardians of
the public interests; shall determine all local disputes
regarding town property before described; to prevent
nuisance; to call meetings of the citizens. They may
adopt a seal or seals and to superintend and direct the
morality of the village; whose services shall be gratui
tous; two of whom shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business.
3. That there shall be a clerk of record elected who
shall be clerk to the board of trustees; that it shall be
his duty to record all. local titles and claims in a book
kept for that purpose alone and who may receive for
each and every record the sum of one dollar, which
record shall be liable to approval monthly by the trus
tees. For each lot of land recorded the clerk shall-
charge and receive five dollars additional to his fee,
which five dollars he shall pay to the trustees to be used
by them for the benefit of the village, and that the serv
ices of the clerk to the board be gratuitous.
4. That all property shall be recorded and no title
shall be valid unless recorded within ten days after
this date.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

133

5. That in all cases of dispute the rightful owners
shall be placed in exclusive possession by the trustees.
6. That all persons that have improved or enclosed
property in the limits of the village shall be confirmed
in the same, and that in case such enclosure does not
correspond with the survey as ordered by the county
commissioners (which the committee recommends for
adoption) that they shall be entitled to the same area
contiguously after the removal of the lines so as to
correspond to said survey, and that in all cases privi
lege of improvements shall have precedence.
7. That in case of unimproved lots the occupant
shall be entitled, if a citizen, to two lots each upon
recording the same as specified, provided, he shall fence
the same within six months and build upon one of the
two within twelve months, and in the meantime notice
in writing on the property as the record shall be suffi
cient to hold possession.
8. That every free white citizen of the age of
twenty-One years and upward, and no others, shall be
entitled to the provisions of these resolutions.
9. That all persons entitled under the provisions
of resolution sixth to two or more lots, shall not be
entitled to the benefit of resolution 7th.
10. That the citizens of The Dalles hereby pledge
their support to each other and the trustees to protect
these resolutions.
11. That nothing in these resolutions shall be so
construed as to interfere in any way with the laws of
Oregon Territory or the United States government.
12. That notice shall be given by posting these
resolutions in some conspicuous place within the limits
of this village and by publishing the same in one or
more papers of Portland, Oregon.
13. The privileges of resolution 8th are hereby
extended to unmarried women.
After which we elected trustees and clerk.
O. HUMASON,
R. W. HALE,
W. C. LAUGHLIN,
Trustees of the Village of Dalles.
J. P. Booth, Clerk.

Local events at The Dalles were accentuated
by the excitement attending gold discoveries near
Fort Colville. Tnousands were attracted to this
portion of the northwest as The Dalles was, for
many of these gold hunters, on the line of march
to the country now known as Stevens county,
Washington. The Dalles was at the head of
navigation; merchants flocked thither; it became
an important outfitting and shipping point.
Anterior to the Indian war of 1855-56, an
account of which appears in a previous chapter,
there was manifested considerable fear of In
dians. Mrs. Lord writes of this period as fol
lows:

Father kept us children so closely at home that
when the Indians broke out and people were forced to
seek refuge in town, we children enjoyed it, even though
we suffered more or less with fear. Every house was
full for weeks and many who could went below. Father
had made up his mind that he ought to take us all -to
Portland for safety, as the severe frights we had re
ceived had rather unnerved mother, and the work was
enormous, keeping open house as we did; but before
we got started there came the massacre at the Cascades
and by the time we could have passed there he concluded
the worst was over.
As is always the case in any military movements,
there was so much red tape that at times the towns
people felt they might all be killed before the soldiers
would get down to protect them. There was a com
pany for home protection organized on the quiet. One
night some one rode furiously into town, saying the
Indians were coming, and fifty men were on the move
to meet them within a very short time, but when they
got to Three Mile they met something; I can't be sure
whether it was loose stock, a pack train, or just what,
but it was something perfectly harmless.
After Major Haller made his unlucky reconnoitre
through the Yakima country, The Dalles people felt very
anxious. They would meet in gatherings on the cor
ner of the street or in their houses and talk the situa
tion over, speculating on what might happen until they
were afraid for night to come. * * * In the spring
of 1856, when the Cascades was attacked and the steamer
came up after help, The Dalles went wild.
The town election provided for by the citi
zens' meeting of September 15, 1855, was held
April 7, 1856. Those who were elected and
served until the charter was granted by the leg
islature of 1856-7, were H. B. Isaacs, chairman;
N. H. Gates and James McAuliff, board of trus
tees ; J. P. Booth, recorder ; O. Humason, treas
urer. There were more than 300 people at The
Dalles in 1857, and they were nearly unanimous
for a city organization. Colonel N. H. Gates
was sent to the legislature, where he introduced
a bill for the incorporation of "Fort Dalles." The
measure was passed and signed by Governor
Curry and Speaker Grover, and in 1857 the vil
lage was incorporated as a city ; a charter was
written by Colonel Gates and a board of trustees
elected. In the conclusion of the chapter relating
to The Dalles will be found a list of all the execu
tive officers of this municipality since its organ
ization. June 26, 1857, the charter was granted
to Dalles City, and from that time it is entitled
to date its municipal birth. New charters were
granted, or old ones amended in 1859, 1862, 1868,
1870, 1880 and one or two since. The first
officers elected under the new charter were N. H.
Gates, president of the board ; E. G. Cowne, R.

134

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Hall, B. F. McCormick and P. Craig, members
of the board of trustees ; C. R. Meigs, recorder ;
O. Humason, treasurer.
During the earlier years of the town's history
the business portion was confined solely to Main
street. Later Union street was utilized for a
distance of one block from Main. And later yet,
an effort was made to build up Washington
street and a few business houses were constructed
there. At present the principal business thor
oughfare is Second street, and commercial enter
prise has extended to the east quite a distance be
yond the original business center of the town.
It is recorded by Mrs. Lord that for nearly a de
cade a decidedly low state of morality existed at
The Dalles. The town was under domination
of gamblers and other representatives of the
"tougn" element. There were a number of mur
ders and numerous cutting and shooting
"scrapes." From an old resident we learn that
in 1858 there were the following business houses
at Tne Dalles :
Umatilla House, A. J. Nixon ; Cushing Hotel
and store ; Restaurant and lodging house, N. H.
Gates; Wasco Hotel, A. H. Curtiss ; Bradford &
Company's steamboat office; grocery, W. D.
Bigelow ; Mount Hood saloon, B. F. McCor-
mack; saddle and harness shop, Powell & Com
pany ; saloon, Trevitt ,& Cowne ; grocery store,
James McAuliff; assay office, W. C. Moody;
drug store, P. Craig; general merchandise, H. P.
Isaacs ; warehouse, R. R. Thompson & Company ;
cigar store, J. Juker; bakery, W. L. DeMoss.
A picture of The Dalles as it appeared in 1858-
will be found in this volume.
A new charter was granted in 1859. It was
written by Mr. O. •Humason, and, among other
provisions it changed the limits of the city from
the first to the second bluff, and allowed the elec
tion of regular city officials instead of trustees.
The discoveries of auriferous deposits in
Idaho and eastern Oregon in 1862 resulted in
bringing The Dalles into considerable promin
ence as a business center and point for outfitting.
For many years, and until the completion of the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's line
of railroad in 1881, it was the principal shipping
point of the interior. With freight and passen
gers the boats of the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company were constantly loaded, when en route
to the new discoveries. For the entire country
east of the Cascade range The Dalles was the cen
ter of trade. Long lines of freight trains and
pack animals thronged the streets. At this period
quartz mining was attracting but little attention.
Placers were prime favorites and those of Can
yon City and Salmon City drew thousands, many
of whom would return to The Dalles to winter.

Coin was scarce; paper money almost unknown,
or but faintly remembered as a species of cur
rency which some of the older miners had seen in
a far distant period of their lives. Gold dust was
the circulating medium and everything was,
literally, on a gold basis. There was, too, plenty
of it, and it was possessed by men who possessed
little idea of economical expenditures. They
squandered their dust lavishly on whatever caught
their fleeting fancy; verily The 'Dalles was lively.
And during that Golcondian period ample for
tunes were rapidly made.
Through the teeming streets of The Dalles
passed prospecting miners, from California,
Mexico, the eastern states and British Columbia,
on to Orofino and Florence. While on the creek
bottoms alone farming was prosecuted, all de
scriptions of produce were disposed of at fabulous
prices. At one time The Dalles almost monopo
lized the trade of all the vast territory now com
prising the states of Idaho, Montana and a por
tion of eastern Washington. Merchants from
Boise, Missoula, Walla Walla and Colville —
from all towns within a radius of a thousand
miles assembled in the streets of The Dalles and
freely canvassed financial conditions of the times.
During the days of the Salmon river excitement
it was not unusual for The Dalles to have within
its limits an army of prospectors and miners
numbering not less than 10,000. Its merchants
ranked among the most enterprising and wealth
iest on the coast. To a municipality located like
The Dalles a mining fever was in those days a
sincerely appreciated boon ; it was the main stay
of the city's prosperity. Later, however, other
supply points sprang up, farther within the upper
country ; there was a decline in the industry of
placer mining ; The Dalles lost a certain pro
portion of its former glorious prestige. For sev-
years it was permeated by an air of dullness
and business depression. This, however, was
merely a transition period. It soon exhibited
renewed activity ; a new and more substantial
cause for prosperity had been discovered; The
Dalles was surrounded by one of the most arable
and productive agricultural districts of the north
west. The once despised "hills" were cut up into
fertile farms ; the produce was marketed at The
Dalles ; the town again became a scene of activ
ity — but this is throwing us quite a distance
ahead of our story.
February 25, 1862, to James S. Reynolds a
right of way was granted to lay water pipes
through the streets and alleys of Dalles City.
September 6th, of the same year the franchise
was transferred to R. Pentland. The latter im
mediately commenced, and soon thereafter com
pleted the work. About November 1, water was

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

135

piped into the city. It was in July, 1862, that
Mr. Pentland had first come to The Dalles. He
made a careful survey of the ground and decided
that the city was ripe for a system of water
works. In 1877 Mr. Pentland disposed of the
system to S. L. Brooks and the O. Humason es
tate. In 1883 the plant was sold to The Dalles
Milling & Water Company. The present water
system is owned by Dalles City, and was mainly
constructed in 1891. Although a matter of small
moment, the fact is a curiosity, May 25, 1862, a
right of way was granted to James S. Reynolds to
lay a plank walk from Union street to low water
mark on the Columbia river, and the right to
collect toll on the same "plank walk."
The melting of the snow in the mountains
during the early part of summer greatly increases
the volume of water in the Columbia and its
tributaries ; in exceptional years the river over
flows its banks and at times works considerable
damage to property at The Dalles. The first of
these flood years is remembered as in 1862. Front
and Second streets were submerged and water
even reached as hig"h as Third street. The highest
stage of water was 48 feet ten inches above low
water mark.
To J. K. Kelly belongs the distinction of be
ing the first mayor of The Dalles. This was in
1863. Previous to that period the board of alder
men — or common council — were known as trus
tees. Mayor Kelly drafted a compendium of
rules for the city which were promptly adopted
by the new councilmen for their guidance. The
"boom" days of the early '6o's were accelerated
by the establishment of many new enterprises —
or new projects, rather, as some of them missed
fruition. Among these latter was a gas plant.
A franchise for such a plant at The Dalles was
issued to H. D. Green, February 5, 1863. He
commenced the work; abandoned it, and the
plant was never completed. On oil lamps the
town depended until the completion of the elec
tric light plant in 1882. The erection of the shops
of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company was
an important event of the important year of 1863.
Those first in charge of these operations were
John Torrence, foreman ; Thomas Smith, James
M. Smith, John Wait, machinists ; William Har-
man, blacksmith; William Marshall, boiler-
maker. James M. Smith became foreman in
1866 and so continued until 1877, when the posi
tion was filled by J. F. Curtis, as master me
chanic. In 1882 Mr. C. C. Hobart became master
mechanic. The nearest The Dalles ever came to possess
ing a United States Mint was in 1865, when a
somewhat cloudy-minded and spasmodic con

gress appropriated $100,000 for that purpose.
Work on the building was commenced by quar
rying rock from about five miles up Mill creek.
The enterprise gave employment to a large num
ber of men. By the second summer the first
story was completed. Then congress "threw
another fit" and decided that it didn't want a
mint at The Dalles. No further appropriation
was made.
Several conflicting stories are told concern
ing a portion of this congressional mint appro
priation. Some people have gone so far as to
assert that a portion of the money was deflected
into political channels, and used to defray cam
paign expenses of a certain place-hunter and cor
rupt politician of the sunset years of the '90's. It
is claimed that the campaign was sharp, short
and decisive, and that the candidate running on
the "mint" appropriation was defeated by the
narrow margin of one vote.
The second experience of The Dalles with
high water was during the flood of 1866, when
the Columbia again overflowed the lower part
of the city. Again in 1871 occurred another
"flood" year, in which considerable damage was
wrought. The same year fully half of the city
was swept out of existence by fire, and a number
of citizens left penniless. Yet the town soon
regained its activity ; merchants and mechanics
were again on their feet. The fire of August 17,
1871, broke out in the old Globe Hotel, corner
of Second and Washington streets, destroying
all the east portion of the town as far as Rev.
Thomas Condon's residence on the corner of
Third and Laughlin streets. This edifice was
saved only by strenuous efforts of the citizens.
The rows of handsome poplar trees surrounding
the house were killed by the flames. The total
loss by this conflagration was estimated at $100,-
000. The first flouring mill to be erected in The
Dalles was built by Robert Penthnd in 1866.
It was located in the west end of town and ran
by water power from Mill Creek. It was of
small capacity and used old-fashioned burrs of
which it had two sets.
In 1867, a company was organized at The
Dalles called The Dalles Woolen Mills Company.
The incorporators were Zelek Donnell, Henry
Marlin, and W. P. Abrams. The capital stock
was $20,000. This mill was built in 1867 and
was run by water power taken from Mill Creek.
A knitting machine was installed and cloth,
blankets, socks, etc., were made here and put on
the market, but owing to the poor finish of the
articles manufactured they became a drug on the
market. The company fell behind and borrowed

136

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

$17,000 from Benjamin Snipes. The property
was turned over to him. During the 70's he sold
the machinery and in 1880 with J. A. Smith con
verted it into a flouring mill of fifty barrel a day
capacity. They continued to operate this mill
until 1879.
In 1876 the population of The Dalles was
given as 900. The same year the annual flood
reached the highest point in the history of the
town. June 23d the Columbia, at 4 o'clock a. m.,
was 51 feet three inches above low water mark.
Following this instructive episode the business
houses which before the flood had been on Front
were rebuilt on Second street, and the latter thor
oughfare became the principal street.
With the decline of gold production in Idaho
and Montana, in 1868, combined with the estab
lishment of other routes to the "diggings," The
Dalles lost some prestige and for a number of
years wore an air of depression and business
stagnation. But this was the turning point of its
civic existence. Heretofore it had depended
solely upon the product of mines ; now the time
had arrived when it must look to other resources
for prosperity. Happily they were all around
them in the valleys ancl on the hills — thousands
of acres of as fertile land as ever warmed to
generous fecundity beneath the rays of a kindly
sun. What may be termed permanent develop
ment of The Dalles may be dated from 1877.
From a mining outfitting "station" the city evol
ved into a center of substantial, permanent and
continuous trade. Immigrants poured in from all
sections of the United States and from beyond
its shores so soon as the railroad was an estab
lished fact.
October 27, 1878, another blaze licked up con
siderable property in The Dalles. It originated
in Corumis' saddler shop on Second street, burn
ing Wingate's' store and residences and all the
property between Federal and Washington streets
below Fourth. At this fire H. J. Waldron re
ceived injuries from over exertion which caused
his death. Mr. Waldron was a pioneer and at
the time of the conflagration was proprietor of a
drug store in the old stone building adjoining
the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
May 21, 1879, The Dalles was afflicted by the
most disastrous fire in her history, up to that
date. The property loss was not so heavy as in
the subsequent fire of 1891, but considering the
size of the city in 1879 it was, really, more dis
astrous. Entire blocks melted away before the
onward rush of the destroying element ; within
three hours the business portion of The Dalles
was laid waste — a mass of black and smoulder
ing ruins. It broke out in the Pioneer Hotel,
Second street, about two o'clock p. m. East,

west, north and south the flames spread
from the hotel. Even the atmosphere joined
in this fiery conspiracy, and the wind shifted
so often that a large radius was swept
over, the advance of which nothing in the way of
fire-fighting appliances in the possession of The
Dalles could check. The total loss was estimated
at $500,000, a large portion of which was covered
by insurance. However, the Times-Mountaineer
of 1889, says that the loss was only $100,000,
while The Dalles Chronicle asserts that this fire
originated in the Kiss hotel, at that time located
just west of Snipes & Kinnersly's drug store.
But this fire was followed by a "boom." The
latter portion of 1879 and the whole of 1880 were
lively periods. About that time the extension of
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's
lines to Walla Walla and Portland was under way.
This gave employment to a large number of
workmen ; The Dalles again became a depot of
supplies ; merchants were rewarded by a brisk
trade. April 7, 1880, the Dalles Times said, "Im
migration is pouring so fast into our city that
our hotels appear to be crowded to their utmost
capacity." June 8th it added : "The increase of
our vote yesterday shows the growth of our city
in the last few years. Not long ago the popula
tion of The Dalles was not over 900, and now we
poll 838 votes. Averaging three inhabitants to a
vote (which we think quite small), and our
population is over 2,500." The census of 1880
gave the number of residents in the city proper at
2,250 ; in the entire township, including The
Dalles, there were 3,250. And now The Dalles
ranked among Oregon cities fifth in size, the four
larger being respectively Portland, East Port
land, Salem and Astoria. The number of persons
residing within the city limits in 1880 should be
added to those on the military reservation, 350;
totalling 2,600. In 1876 the population claimed
was only 900 at The Dalles, including those on
the military reservation, showing a gain in four
years of 1,700.
Meanwhile The Dalles was building into a
handsome and attractive city. Sills were planted
one clay to blossom into rafters the next. In
places where a few. years past not a building
stood, were now clusters of dwellings and busi
ness blocks. There was not a sufficient number
of carpenters and other workmen to supply the
demand. Machine shops, car shops and round
houses were established in the town. January 4,
1881, The Dalles Times said:
The growth of our city in the last three years has
far exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine and
this growth has been substantial in every particular.
Not such as in years past followed a new mining ex-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

137

citement when box houses would be built as if by magic,
but such as will last. What is the cause of this? Dur
ing the last few years a vast immigration has settled
upon our lands, and the bunch grass hills have been
made to produce abundantly. This has made The Dalles
a market for a large agricultural population and is one
reason for our prosperity. Another, and perhaps a more
direct reason, is the great activity in railroads evinced
hy the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. This
has made The Dalles a railroad center for eastern Ore
gon — not as regards location, but on account of. con
venience. Agriculture and the railroads have been the
two principal factors in our present business importance.
Descriptive of these railroad buildings the
Times-Mountaineer of January 1, 1889, said :
The works are located upon a peninsula jutting into
the Columbia, containing about eighteen acres, but not
more, perhaps, than ten acres are occupied upon which
to operate the company's interests, comprising offices,
tin shops, car-repairing shops, carpenter and machine
shops, upholstering rooms, round-houses, blacksmith
shops, drafting rooms, casting shops, pumping works and
innumerable sheds, tanks and storage rooms. One
would naturally conclude that great confusion would
exist and that a chaotic condition would obtain ; but
such is not the case ; the entire premises are kept
scrupulously clean, the yards are swept regularly, a man
being kept permanently employed for the work. Not the
merest scrap of iron or splinter of wood will be found
•out .of place — the system, the discipline, the , mutual
-agreeability to do and perform can only be equalled by
that upon shipboard, and a ship, it is said, has no better
model upon earth for order and exactness.
As is the condition of most towns during rail
road building, The Dalles in 1880, gained notori
ety as being a "tough town." The undesired ele
ment flocked to the city and the result was any
thing but satisfactory to the law-abiding citizens.
Robberies and homicides became pf frequent oc
currence and for a period almost a reign of terroi
existed. June 18, 1880, The Dalles was again visited
by a fire which, but for the efficient work of the
city's department would have proved fully as
disastrous as the one of the year previous. It
was the diabolical work of an incendiary. To the
amount of several thousand dollars property was
destroyed, and .the principal losses were Emile
Schanno, building, $2,500, insurance, $1,500;
H. Groeninger,- liquors, $600, insurance, $1,500;
Gerson & Liebes, stock in store, $3,000, insur
ance, $2,000; Fred Drews, barber shop, $600, in
surance $500. Aside from this much property
was destroyed in moving stocks, etc.
The July flood of 1880 fully warranted the
alarm previously felt among the citizens of The

Dalles. For two weeks the waters of the Colum
bia lapped the front portion of the town, and drove
business back to other streets. So excellent was
the description of this casualty published in the
Times of June 29, that we reproduce it :
For many weeks past we have watched the river
anxiously, fearing a flood at this place. All reports
from the upper country left it beyond doubt that vast
quantities of snow had fallen in the mountains dur
ing the winter, which had to melt and flow away
through the Columbia. Until within the last 'three
weeks the season had been propitious. The cold
weather had kept the snow from melting and we
had hoped a gradual thaw would take place, and the
surplus water would flow off without doing any ma
terial damage. Last week in the Times we told our
readers we thought the highest stage of water had
been reached, for it began to recede at that time.
The first part of last week the weather became in
tensely warm and all said if there was much snow
in the mountains we should soon see the effect of
its melting. Friday, June 25, the water began to
raise, and kept gradually creeping over the surface
of the town. On that evening it commenced to
crawl over the street between the postoffice and the
new Umatilla house. Friday night the river raised
considerably and Saturday morning found it coming
up Court street, between First and Second, and east
through the alley to Moody's store. Early on that
morning the machinists were awakened from their
slumbers and hurried to their shop. They removed
their lathe and some other machinery to the car-
shop, some three of four feet higher. The machine
shop was flooded during the day and the machinists
had to stop work.
All day Saturday the water increased and at
night the company's grounds were overflown with,
the exception of the raised track and the buildings
raised to the new level. Mr. Moody's store was
completely surrounded and all day Saturday he was
busy removing his goods to a new building which
he had in course of construction on Third street,
beyond Mr. Michell's planing mill. Sunday the
river assumed gigantic proportions, and verily the
flood was upon us. It was a day of intense activity
throughout our city. The Front street merchants
were removing their goods to other parts of the
city, and drays and wagons were constantly em
ployed. Snipes & Kenersley, of the drug store,
completed removing their stock. The building
stands on the old level, and on Sunday morning
there were some five or six inches of water over the
floor. By means of gum boots they worked faith
fully in getting their goods out of the store. The
drays in going to the drug store and to Moody's
store had to go through water up to the hubs of the
wheels.

138

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The water had filled up Union street nearly to
Third ; up Court it covered the streets to near the
intersection of Second, and on Washington it had
come up to the alley between Front and Second.
The railroad track was covered in a few places near
the corner of Front and Court. In the afternoon
the company removed their wharf-boat to the east
end of Front street, and moored her in front of Mr.
Fitzgerald's store.
Sunday night was an anxious night to all on
Front street. The Columbia had become a torrenf,
and to look across, with the miniature white caps,
it appeared like a raging inland sea. The dull roar
and tumble of The Dalles could be heard and sounded
like Niagara. To add to the dreariness of this, the
waves of a swollen, angry river were washing and
beating into spray at the doors of the occupants on
Front street. Another hour might see them sub
merged Messrs. Handley & Sinnott were deter
mined to stand at their post and at II o'clock Sun
day night, when the water of the river was up to
the floor of the Umatilla house, we inquired of them
whether they would move: "No," they said, "we
shall have a false floor raised about two or three
feet and try to weather it through." The sight on
Front street at that hour was dismal in the extreme.
The water covered the entire length of the street
from Washington to Union. The river was the
constant scene of attraction all day Sunday. Crowds
of people thronged the sidewalks, anxious to get a
sight of the swollen stream. They crowded the
sidewalks where the water had not covered them and
stood gazing at the angry flood.
On Monday morning the river had submerged
the lower part of town to a considerable distance.
A clear sheet of water extended down Front street
from the Columbia hotel. Mr. Nicholas maintained
his position by making a raised walk to and from his
hotel. The sidewalk of the Cosmopolitan hotel was
even with the water's edge, and the proprietor
moved his kitchen, etc. Six inches of water was on
the floor of the Umatilla house and boats were go
ing through Front street. Second street, between
Union and Court, was covered with water. The
sidewalks along Front street and the cross streets
had been covered with stones which kept them in
their places, and those who still remained had
raised the contents of their store up on counters.
Early in the day Freeman Brothers had occupied
the building formerly used by Henry Groeninger,
and Snipes & Kinersly had quietly ensconced them
selves on Second street in the brick store under the
opera house.
Everybody was anxiously watching the flood,
not knowing where it would end. It had already
surpassed the high water mark of 1871, and was
fast approaching that of 1876. Looking down Front
street at noon of that day nothing could be seen

above the water but the buildings and a portion of
the railroad bridge over Mill creek. That stream
is truly at flood tide. It presents fully the appear-
nace of a river, and has increased considerably on
its banks. Mr. Baum, occupying the building formerly
occupied by Mr. Alex. Smith, moved his household
furniture, and we fear that the other residents on
the bank of that stream will be forced to find other
quarters. The amount of damage done by the flood
cannot at present be ascertained. The cost of mov
ing heavy stocks of goods will be considerable, and
the necessary cessation from business will be a
great loss. It will be some time before our city will
again assume its former activity, as business has
been interfered with by the flood. It comes unusually
hard so soon after the conflagration of 1879, but
we have great faith in the resuscitating power of
our city. If she could raise, Phoenix-like, from the
conflagration of 1879, she can raise herself from the
loss by the flood of 1880. At 12 o'clock noon, yes
terday, June 28th, the water lacked four feet two-
inches of the 1876 high water mark. The stage of
water up to 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon was 47
feet two inches above low water mark.
July 2, 1880, the water reached 48 feet 734
inches above low water mark. This was the-
highest point gained during the flood of this year.
July 6, 1880, the Times said : <
The present week will be known in The Dalles
as "flood week." For eight or ten days a great por
tion of the business part of our city has been sub
merged. For nearly a week all business houses on
Front street have been removed to other parts of
our city and that active thoroughfare has been cov
ered by a sheet of water. The waves of the Colum
bia for seven days past have washed Court street
within fifteen feet of the court house; Union street
to an equal distance from Third; Washington the
same. Anxious faces have watched the water con
stantly, and the inquiry has eagerly passed, "Is the
river rising or falling?" Boats have passed up and
down Front street every hour in the day for a week
past, passing business houses which only a little
while ago were busy marts of trade. An air of
desolation and destruction prevails that portion of
our beautiful city. The river is king and we have
bowed to its mandate. The Columbia has wedded
The Dalles, and the nuptials were performed by hot,.
sweltering weather and swollen tides. We are not
rejoicing over the bridal scene, but acquiesce. Our
beautiful rivulet, Mill creek, generally not of suffi
cient proportions to be denominated a creek, has
stretched out over its banks and fairly won the name
of river. Buildings and bridges have been sub
merged by its outpouring waters, and orchards and
gardens swept over by its angry floods. Second!

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

139

street has become the thoroughfare of the city and
is thronged every hour of the day. This street can
only be traveled in some places by means of raised
walks, and it is here that that venerable individual
so often mentioned by the press, takes his stand,
and points to the raging, seething flood with his
ominous finger and says, "I told you so."
Some of our citizens on Front street amuse
themselves from the upper doors and windows fish
ing. Quite a number of salmon have been caught
with a dip-net. We don't know that the parties had
a license for salmon fishing, and we don't think
they thought of anything except the novelty and
fun of pulling up the silvery salmon over the place
where the tread of business formerly sounded. The

salmon unwittingly cavort up our streets with
naught to fear save a stray fisherman.
Up to the hour of going to press the river has
fallen about a foot from its highest stage. We hope
the river will not rise any higher, but the present
warm weather may swell the volume of water
again. Saturday morning, July 10th, the water be
gan to recede, and by the following day the whole
of Front street could be traversed. A little later
the business firms moved back to their former lo
cations. This flood reached the- highest mark of
any in previous history (white man's), except
the one of 1876.

CHAPTER VI

THE DALLES— Continued.

The Oregon legislature convened in Septem
ber, 1880. During this session H. B. No. 3, to
amend the city charter of The Dalles, was intro
duced. Monday, September 20th, the house
passed the measure by a vote of 50 to o ; the vote
in the senate was, also, unanimously in favor of
it. Shortly afterward it went into effect ancl be
came a law. This bill was drafted by Judge Mc
Arthur. It conferred on The Dalles sufficient
corporate powers to check the vicious element
which, for a period, had everything their own
way and, colloquially speaking, "ran the town."
To a former resident, who had not visited the
town for three years, the improvements on exhi
bition in June, 1881, might have awakened no
small wonder and astonishment. But a few years
prior some of the finest and most attractive streets
had been occupied by rows of dilapidated
"shacks" and "shanties." The fire of 1879
wrought great destruction within a few hours ;
a trifle over two vears elapsed and the burnt
district was adorned by many substantial struc-
ures. The voice of the chronic croaker had been
drowned by the din of hammer and saw. Only
a few years prior to 1881 the Gates addition was
a wheat field and garden patch. The latter year
this space was occupied by lines of pleasant,
comfortable homes and well-kept streets. Above
them, on another bench, stood the Wasco Inde
pendent Academy ; an edifice pronounced by

many the prettiest educational institution at that
period in the state. On nearly every corner new
residences were being built; vacant lots were
being utilized ; and The Dalles assumed a more
definite and compact appearance, with evidences
on every hand of taste and culture. Still, follow
ing the completion of the railroad to Portland,
there was noticeable a certain reaction in busi
ness activity, and minor towns along the line ap
propriated considerable business — piecemeal —
that formerly went to The Dalles.
June floods in the Columbia have come al
most as regularly as annual holidays. The flood
of 1882 was a replica of many preceding ones,
with the difference that citizens were, perhaps,
better prepared to resist its devastations.
Waters of the river rose to the level of the floor
of the Umatilla house and adjoining sidewalks;
those in the west end of the city were covered to
a depth of several inches. Portions of the track
over the old railway bridge were entirely sub
merged and it was not considered safe for engines
to cross. A hurricane wind whipped the water of
the river and from Front street across to the
northern bank it presented a sea of white capsv
Again Mill creek assumed the proportions of a
river. Gum boots again became stylish articles
of wearing apparel ; raised sidewalks became 'a
necessity to business transactions. The highest
stage reached by the flood of 1882, 48 feet two

140

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

inches above low water mark, was reached Julie
14, at 5 o'clock p. m. The great flood years had
been 1866, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880 and 1882.
In the spring of 1883 fish packing became a
leading industry of the city. Two fish wheels
were placed in operation in the river above The
Dalles in 1884; thousands of salmon were thus
taken each week. They were packed in ice and
shipped in refrigerating cars to many points in
the east.
A $53,000 fire by which half a block of build
ings was consumed occurred January 23, 1884.
Soon after midnight the fire alarm was sounded,
and it was discovered that the flames had orig
inated in S. Baden's building. From the lower
corner of Second and Court streets the fire de
partment laid a well-directed stream on the burn
ing buildings, but the flames spread with remark
able rapidity. At once the owners and renters
of business houses in the doomed blocks bent
their energies toward saving such of their
stocks of goods as was possible. Finally
the brick building of Snipes & Kinersley
stayed further progress of the flames to
the east, and men were stationed on the
roofs of buildings on the south, and by
means of wet blankets and buckets of water kept
the shingles thoroughly soaked. Fortunately
only a slight breeze prevailed, and the fire de
partment did excellent work. Following were the
losses : Emile Shanno, buildings, $6,000 ; Hand-
lay & Sinnot, $4,000 ; Dickerson & Neitz,
$10,000; Wasco Sun, damages to presses and
material, $500 ; Dumdi & Company, $300 ; Wal
dron & Covilland, $7,000; H. Gerson, $10,000;
S. Baden, $3,000 ; D. A. Whitman, $2,500 ; M. T.
Nolan, $7,000; R. Fulton, $2,000; W. E. Ganet-
son, $800; W. S. Myers, law office, $200. In
surance on buildings and stock amounted to about
one-third of the total loss.
So rapid was the growth of The Dalles dur
ing the early '80's that at the close of 1884 the
Times-Mountaineer estimated the population at
3,500. This was an increase of 1,250 over the
census of 1880. During the years of 1884-5
there was a steady and marked improvement in
the appearance of the city. Blocks destroyed by
fire had been rebuilt in a most substantial man
ner, brick, in many cases replacing wooden struc-
ures. The suburbs were adorned by handsome
dwellings greatly adding to the city's appearance,
all contributing evidence to the patriotic enter
prise of the wealthiest citizens of The Dalles.
It is a fact, notably attested in the series of
wars participated in by the American nation, that
the citizen soldier is far superior to members of
the regular army. While the latter may be the
better drilled machines, they are, almost invaria

bly devoid of patriotism and weak of heart. The
same truth applies to other nations as well as our
own. January 1, 1889, the Times-Mountaineer
said :
It is a source of gratification to know that the
people of Oregon, while sleepy and sluggish in
many other ways,, are not without the old military
ardor of the nation to which they belong, and that in
forming militia corps for the protection of public peace
and safety, they have done a laudable service. * * *
It was in November, 1886, that Company C, of the
Third Infantry, Oregon National Guard, was formed
in- this town by Charles E. Morgan, then captain of
E company, First Regiment in Portland. At that
time the gentleman issued a circular calling upon
the citizens of The Dalles to meet him and aid in
organizing a company to be attached to the Oregon
National Guards. At the meeting a general re
sponse was made and some fifty men signed the
muster roll for the purpose of forming the company.
Immediately after the formation of the company
an election of officers was held which resulted in
the choice of Charles E. Morgan as captain, and
William H. Sharp and George H. Bennett as first
and second lieutenants.
At first, and for sometime after, inspired by
the action of Colonel Morgan, much interest was
shown to make the thing a success. As in all other
small towns in a new country the uniform soon lost
its attraction to some, and while the number of men
was kept up, the spirit of the soldier deteriorated.
Such, indeed, it may be regretted, is the case today
and the condition of the company, in different ways, not
all that could be desired. * * * At present the com
pany is under the command of Edward M. Williams,
second lieutenant, owing to the resignation of the
late captain and first lieutenant. This is as it should
be. It is never known when the services of the mili
tia may be required. Since its organization there
has always been a company of the National Guard
in this city.
The Dalles was visited by another serious
fire Sunday morning, September 2, 1888. Nearly
two blocks between Second and Fourth streets
were consumed. It originated about 2 :30 and it
was after 4 o'clock before the flames were under
control. Losses amounted to about $42,500, and
the insurance carried was about $22,500. This
fire broke out in the rear of the furniture and
auction store of Samuel Klein, on Washington
street, and spread rapidly. It had a clear range
along the alley between Washington and Federal
streets, with the exception of the rear portions
of the brick blocks on Second street. The flames
then found their way to Third street, and al
though strenuous efforts were made, they de-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

14L

stroyed the entire block with the exception of
a blacksmith shop, the brick buildings and I. C.
Nickelson's book store. So soon as the old Bap
tist church and the red barn were afire it was
known the block between Third and Fourth and
Washington and Federal streets was doomed.
Strong efforts were made to confine the fire to
this block, but they proved unavailing. Cross
ing Third street the fire licked up Dietzel's cor
ner, Mrs. Hutchinson's millinery store, Edward's
store, Doherty's residence and justice office, Con
gregational church, Tenino Packing Company's
store, Johnson's residence and Miller Brothers'
butcher shop. Up Washington street the fire
swept everything clear to, and including, one of
the cottages of Mr. P. J. Nichols. Fears were
entertained that the flames would cross Federal
street ancl in that emergency the whole eastern
portion of this city would have been doomed.
At last the flames were under control. There
was but little breeze stirring or, with the pro
gress the fire had attained, a much more serious
conflagration would have resulted. Following are
a few of the heaviest losses :
Max Vogt, $9,000; Mrs. Nichols, $1,800;
French & Company, $1,350; George A. Liebe,
$2,000; H. Glenn, $1,300; Mrs. A. Gray, $1,500;
John Brookhouse, $1,500; W. Y. Wolf, $1,500;
O. D. Taylor, $1,900; L. G. Sanders, $3,100; D.
W. Edwards, $2,500; Dietzel Brothers, $3,000;
A. H. Coy, $2,500; McFarland & French, $1,100.
The Times-Mountaineer of January 1, 1889,
concerns the "building boom" of 1888 :
When a town goes on increasing in its build
ings, public and private, unobserved, as it were,
from the force of local factors, position, surround
ings, resources and railroad facilities, it may be
taken for granted that town has a future which
cannot be checked, and that when the day of prog
ress comes its growth will be as rapid as it has been
certain in the past. Such is The Dalles today. Few
people have a correct idea of the number of build
ings erected in the town during the year now clos
ing. The following table speaks for itself and ought
to convince the most skeptical of the future of the
town:
Electric light plant  $20,000
Max Vogt, two buildings  5,000
Max Vogt, two stores  3,000
Max Vogt, two brick buildings in course of
construction ($70,000) spent  20,000
J: C. Baldwin, four stores  5,000
S. L. Brooks, brick store  17,000
Lord & Laughlin, Armory Hall  2,000
A. Buchler, bottling house  6d"o
Larsen & Saltmarsh, stockyards  600

George 'A. Liebe, barn  $250--
Handley & Sinnott, ice house  590
A. R. Thompson, dwelling  ,  2,000
Congregational Church  6,000 ¦
Barrels  3,000
Other items  2,000.

$87,040

The stockyards, stables, fences and other work
were improved by Messrs. Larsen & Saltmarsh,.
$1,500. Mr. McCrum & Company also erected three
new buildings — two private residences and one.
store, aggregating $3,600. The precise work done
by other builders and contractors could not be ascer
tained, but taking it in all kinds of buildings, public
and private, a leading contractor in town puts the.
total of this work at $50,000. These figures in the
aggregate give a grand total of $142,140; quite a
respectable showing. It is quite safe to say that.
next year the amount will be doubled.
The year 1889 was, also, one of unusual activ
ity in The Dalles, about $500,000 having been
expended that year in buildings, among them a
roller mill, four stories high; an elegant brick
opera house second to none other in the state..
A resume of the combined enterprises of the '80's
is found in the following from the same issue of
the Times-Mountaineer.
The city now numbers over 4,000 population and
boasts of many modern improvements. Within the
last few years solid brick blocks have been erected
and places which were once grain fields embraced
within the city limits. A good system of sidewalks
has been constructed, streets have been graded,.
.fire limits established and other strides made in the
direction of municipal growth. The industrial de
velopment has not been entirely neglected, and two
large brick warehouses have been erected for the-
storage of grain and wool. Every season of the
year large quantities of the rich products of the
surrounding country find their way to these build
ings, and create quite a stir in business life and
send a large amount of money in circulation. Then
the long established shops of the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation Company give employment to several
hundred men, and the monthly pay-roll adds very
largely to the amount of the circulating medium.
These are all factors of development, and add very
materially to the prosperity of the city. The elec
tric light system has been lately kitroduced and we
have no doubt that when the arrangement is per
fected it will add brilliancy to our stores and streets.
There no doubt has been a healthy growth, in the
last few years (but nothing commensurate with the
advantages offered. * * * Capital is not want-

142

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ing. On a rough estimate there is $7,000,000 now
the same as lying dormant, which might be invested
in enterprises tending to increase the population and
wealth. But a fatal lethargy appears to possess our
business men. * * * There are exceptions, we are
glad to state, to this class of citizens, but they are the
exceptions to a very general rule.
Saturday, January 11, 1890, was the date, and
9 :30 p. m., the hour of another destructive blaze
at The Dalles. Flames could be seen shooting
up from the Chapman block, corner of Washing
ton and Second streets, and soon a steady stream
of water was being piped on to the fiery element.
A defective flue was supposed to have been the
cause of this conflagration. Flames soon gained
the wooden partitions and closets, and here the
water appeared to have little effect. Three inches
of snow on the roof prevented danger to other
localities from the flight of sparks. About 1 :30
a. m. the flames were under control ; the people
breathed more freely. The ladies of The Dalles
were complimented by the hard-working fire de
partment and volunteer assistants for their
thoughtful contributions of coffee and other re
freshments of a substantial character. The militia
company was on the ground and afforded ample
protection to goods on the sidewalks outside the
fire zone. These were the principal losses :
Max Vogt, building, $12,000; W. H. Moody
& Company, $30,000; L. Rorden & Company,
$10,000; H. Solomon, $5,000; D. L. Cates, $200;
Dr. Waters, $100; John Cocker, $100; Dr. Boyd,
$200; Dr. Rinehart, $100; Dufur & Watkins,
$5,000; James Webster, $200; S. F. Boyer^ $250.
In 1890 the federal census enumerators found
in The Dalles 3,500 people.
So far back as 1887 the electors of The Dalles
municipality had voted in favor of a new water
supply. During the following session of the leg
islature an amended charter was grafted permit
ting Dalles City to bond itself in the sum of
$100,000 for an adequate, healthful water supply.
In April, 1890, the bonds were advertised for sale
and purchased. But this action proved eventu
ally, a trouble-breeder. The city council passed
an ordinance enabling the city" to purchase the
old plant of The Dalles Mill .& Water Company
for $50,000. On this question opinion was divided
as to the better plan to secure a practical water
system. The ordinance was vetoed by Mayor
Moody and over this attempted nullification of
the ordinance the city council passed the measure.
A warrant for $50,000 for the payment of the
plant was presented to the mayor for his signa
ture. He declined to sign it. At the behest of
an interested party the city was enjoined from
paying $50,000 or any other sum for the old

plant. For some time matters remained in statu
quo. Mayor Moody was impeached on charges
of malfeasance, negligence and incompetency and
reprimanded. At length the injunction was dissolved and
November 29, 1890, the council passed a resolu
tion authorizing the purchase of the plant of the
mill and water company, and it was, accordingly
secured. The water works are owned by the
city, a most excellent system — one of the best in
Oregon — providing good water for domestic use
ancl an adequate supply with strong pressure in
case of fires. Although a trifle out of chrono
logical order the following from the Times-Moun
taineer of September 6, 1904, is interesting:
Last Friday (September 2), the water commis
sioners, accompanied by a number of invited guests,
made an inspection of the new water system that
has just been completed from the Wicks place, eight
miles up Mill Creek, to the city, and all were well
pleased with the work that has been done by Con
tractor Wakefield.
The new system consists of a reservoir at the
Wicks place into which the water is fed from a
flume that reaches from the Johns mill, receiving the
water from the sources of Mill creek and Dog river,
which are fed by mountain springs and melting
snow, hence is perfectly pure, From the Wicks
place it is led through a twelve-inch steel pipe, hav
ing a fall of some 500 feet in six miles, to a new
reservoir at the Mesplie place, three miles from
town, thence it is carried in a 14-inch main to the
new reservoir on the bluff about 100 feet above the
old reservoir. Thus it will be seen that the water
is conveyed directly from the mountains into the
supply reservoir without coming into contact with
anything to impregnate it with impurities.
By a special arrangement of the reservoir at
Wicks the overflow is turned into the creek below
and may be used for irrigating purposes along the
farms, but none of the water thus used can find its
way back into the mains that feed the supply reser
voir. This reservoir to which the mains that lead
into the city are attached is constructed of concrete
and is supplied with a contrivance that keeps the
water in circulation, causing it to retain its purity.
The new reservoir is connected with the old in
which a stand-pipe is constructed so that only over
flow finds its way into it, thus keeping the new as
well as the old reservoir full all the time. The lat
ter is to be used as a storage for water that may be
utilized in case of fire.
Those familiar with water works estimate that
The Dalles now has a sufficient amount of water to
supply a city of 20,000 inhabitants, and besides the
volume being large the quality is the best, it being
as pure as water can be. The improvements to the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

H3

system have cost the city $50,000, but unquestion
ably the outlay has been judicious, since nothing is
of greater benefit to a city than an abundant supply
of pure, fresh water.
The most destructive fire ever experienced at
The Dalles occurred September 2, 1891. Alore
than twenty blocks were burned to the ground;
many of the finest business structures were de
stroyed. This disastrous blaze originated in
Skibbe's house. It was quickly carried onward
by a light wind from the east ; within the space
on an hour the flames were feeding on three
streets at once, making a clean sweep of every
thing below the bluff. The flames ate their way
to Pease & May's corner, consuming the city's
best block, the ornate and attractive Vogt build
ing. On Third street to Joshua French's ; on
Fourth street to George Ruch's, the flames swept,
and on Fifth street many fine residences were de
stroyed, and beautiful trees and attractive gar
dens laid waste.
In the course of this fire two lives were sacri
ficed. Michael Diamond was burned to death,
his body being entirely consumed; Joseph Fitz
gerald died from the effect of burns received in
the conflagration. It began with an incipient
kitchen blaze ; it developed into the most destruct
ive holocaust ever experienced by the citizens of
The Dalles. Assisted by a stiff gale the fiery
element leveled everything in its pathway. The
loss was estimated at $1,000,000.
From the dwelling house of Mr. Skibbe the
flames shot across to the frame building occupied
by Mr. Jones ancl the Eureka restaurant. These
were soon wrapped in flames, and the saddlery
shop of H. Kuck ancl Skibbe's saloon in the brick
building were destroyed. The flames then ran
along Main and Third streets, lapping up the
frame buildings on the corner and Neabach's
granger feed yard. On down Third street the
flames rushed, leaving destruction in their wake.
One by one the following edifices fell victims to
the fire : Residences of Messrs. Sylvester and Allo-
way, the dwelling houses west of Madison street,
Mitchell's planing mill ; the dwellings on Third
street and the buildings on Second, between Fed
eral and Laughlin streets. During this time de
struction was raging from Second street south
to the bluff. The handsome Fitzgerald building
was soon gutted, ancl Gibbons, McAllister &
Company's hardware store was wiped out of
existence. The two-story stable of William
Wiley followed, and then the building on the
corner of Third ancl Federal streets was engulfed
by flames. The three-story Vogt block and the
opera house were soon a mass of ruins. The
Vogt building was occupied by Mays & Crowe,

hardware dealers; George Anderson, gunsmith;
L. Rorden & Company, notions, cutlery, etc.,
exhibits of the board of immigration; Eastern
Oregon Co-operative Association, and Charles
J. Strutting, saloon. The upper story depart
ments were rented to lawyers, physicians and in
dividuals, the latter for sleeping rooms. Resi
dences fell in rows, leaving blackened trails in
side the sidewalks, away up toward the bluff.
Among them were the dwellings of Mr. Roscoe,
Mrs. Clark E. Griffith and William Mitchell. The
butcher shop of Chrisman Brothers and the gro
cery of Chrisman & Corson disappeared; the
residence of J. Doherty and Adams' shoe shop
rolled away in smoke and ashes. Then followed
the grocery store of A. A. Brown and the First
Baptist church. This was followed by the burn
ing of the Methodist Episcopal church and the
cottage of F. P. Mays.
Another long line of handsome residences were
snuffed out after the destruction of the Metho
dist church, concluding with the old building
known as The Dalles brewery. Down Court
street tongues of flame were leaping from the
roofs and soon the residences of Messrs. Corson,
Fitzgerald, Sellers and Grey were laid in ruins.
The block south of the old brewery was wiped
away, comprising the dwellings of William Mc
Coy, Mr. Glasius and P. Willig. To the west
of Court street another block was sacrificed. Re
solved into smoke and ashes were the homes of
D. W. Vanse, Mrs. Juker, Mrs. Knaggs, W.
Weggerman and O. Kinersly, and the handsome
edifice of the Congregational Society. Mean
while the block between Washington and Court
streets, on the south side of Third street, was in
flames. These buildings comprised the residences
of Thomas Kelley, Mrs. Lacy, Frank Hill, A.
A. Bonney, the engine house and the extensive
building of the Columbia Packing Company. On
Second street the McDonald Brothers' saloon,
lodging house adjoining, and Mr. White's res
taurant, B. Wolff's residence, Max Vogt's tene
ment block, Wingate's brick block and D. W.
Edward's art gallery, Mr. Berger's residence, also
Mr. Cathcart's and Mr. Crowe's and the Pacific
Fence Works were simply piles of coals. Then
followed Filloon Brothers' implement warehouse ;
residence of Mrs. Laughlin on the north ; Hood's
livery stable and residence ; Jackson House, occu
pied by lodgers; Mrs. Ruch's tenement house;
Mrs. Mitchell's and Mrs. Blakeney's residences ;
Brown's fruit store and lodging house. At
George Ruch's residence the flames fought for
supremacy, but by herculean efforts it was saved
from destruction. The list of personal casualties
was small. There were a number of minor acci
dents and several prostrations from exhaustion.

144

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Michael Diamond, a carpenter, was missing;
a search among the ruins of the Fitzgerald build
ing where he was last seen, disclosed his charred
remains. Joseph P. Fitzgerald, attempting to
save goods belonging to his father and sister, fell
into the flames. Wild with pain he ran out, was
caught by bystanders, wet blankets thrown
around him and the flames extinguished. Taken
to the Sisters' Academy he died from the effects
of his terrible burns. To Portland telegrams
were sent for help. But the special train with
a fire engine on board arrived too late to be of
anv assistance. The losses as reported in the
Times-Mountaineer of September 5, 1891, were:
Loss. . Insurance.
W. S. Graham  $1,000 None
L. Rorden  (  8,000 Insured
William Neabach  500 None
I. C. Nickelsen ..'  38,000 $12,000
George Rowland  5,000 5,000
James Blakeney  4»°oo None
¦Gibbons, McAllister & Co. . . 50,000 , 8,000
Mrs. A. P. Brooks  1,500 1,000
Congregational Church  10,000 Partially
W. T. Jones  2,000 None
Ben Wilson  2,600 1,500
Chrisman & Corson  3,500 2,000
Chrisman & Brothers  600 300
French & Company  2,000 Insured
Clough & Larsen  1,500 Partially
Peter Nichols  4,000 2,400
Snipes & Kinersly  4,000 l,4°o
. S. Kinersly .'  2,500 ^ 750
W. H. Lockhead  1,000 None
Eastern Oregon Co'tg Assn. 9,000 3,000
Mrs. Laughlin  2,000 1,200
Lord & Laughlin  9,000 4,500
Mrs. T. Dehm  1,500 800
W. Lord  6,000 Insured
Mrs. Bolton  S°° None
Charles Dehm  1,200 None
B. Wolff  ¦  6,000 2,200
N. B. Whyers  3,ooo None
R. A. Roscoe  3,°°o 1,500
J. P. Mclnery  4-500 2,500
H. Wentz  2,000 None
Mays & Crowe  20,000 Partially
W. C. Alloway  2,000 None
Mrs. Juker  i,5°o Insured
Mrs. Krause  3,ooo None
F. P. Mays  3,ooo 2,000
William Mitchell  20,000 Partially
W. Weggerman  2,000 None
E. B. McFarland  13,000 7,500
Mrs. S. Pease  2,400 1,800
Mrs. Davis  2,000 None
Max Vogt  225,000 Partially

Loss. Insurance.
George Ruch  $2,000 $800
Hugh Glenn  1,000 500
Glenn & Handley  2,000 1,000
N. Harris  2,000 1,600
G. Williams  2,000 600
E. B. Dufur  4,000 1,500
George Watkins  2,500 Partially
Joles Brothers  15,000 .7,500
McEachrans & McLeod  2,500 Insured
Odd Fellows  6,000 2,000
W. N. Wiley  5,000 2,500
Baptist church and parsonage 2,500 Insured
R. B. Hood  8,000 4,000
James White  1,000 None
F. W. L. Skibbe  10,000 None
Mrs. J. M. Wingate  40,000 Insured
G. J. Farley  2,500 Insured
W. E. Sylvester  2,500 Insured
O. Sylvester  5,000 Insured
Mrs. T. W. Miller  4,000 Insured
Mrs. A. M. Williams  12,000 8,000
S. L. Young  3,000 Partially
J. B. Condon  3,000 Insured
Mrs. Berger ....__  600 None
McDonald Brothers  5,000 ' None
George P. Morgan  1,000 450
E. P. Fitzgerald  40,000 None
The damages awarded by insurance adjusters
totalled over $200,000. September 3d Mayor
Mays issued a call for the formation of a relief
committee and a number of the leading citizens
of The Dalles met and organized for this pur
pose. Sub-committees were appointed to ascer
tain where aid was necessary, and for receiving'
and distributing contributions.
The investigating committee reported that 38
families had been found by diligent search, who
needed, and who were deserving of help. But
sixteen of these left The Dalles, or declined to
receive help. Eleven others were families of men
who were at work, and needed clothing for
women and children, and household furniture for
a short time only. Five were placed in the hands
of different religious societies of which they were
members, and were cared for. Six were families
of widows and received assistance. With these
facts at hand a committee was appointed to
solicit subscriptions in The Dalles. Many vol
untary subscriptions had been paid in; many
offers from outside cities were received, but the
citizens patriotically decided that The Dalles peo
ple could amply provide for their destitute. Still,
the cities of Astoria, Salem, Seattle, Wasco,
Hood River, Walla Walla and several others had
sent in voluntary subscriptions, and for these ex
pressions of good will hearty thanks were re-

,-¦ :'¦ * AC—-*--.

Metbodist Episcopal Mission, established Marcli 22nd, 1838, by Lee & Perkins
known by Indians as "Perkins House." As it looked in 1849

Salmon Fishing; on tne Columbia

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

145

turned. The city council appropriated $1,000 for
relief of the needy sufferers.
What was colloquially known as "the hard
times" of 1893 fell upon The Dalles as upon the
rest of the state and country. Up to this period
there had been a steady and marked improvement
in the appearance of the city. Many new busi
ness structures and handsome residences had
been built. The growth of the town had been
slow but steady. Values had not been over in
flated during the ''boom'' times of a few years
previous and, as a result, what was known as the
"financial crash of 1893" affected The Dalles but
little. There were comparatively few business
failures during the dark times when other locali
ties were "hard hit" by the prevailing panic.
January 22, 1898, the Times-Mountaineer said :
Of all the towns in the Inland Empire The
Dalles has withstood the hard times better and came
out with fewer business failures than any other
city. * * * It is simply because The Dalles is
more favorably located for doing business than any
other city east of the mountain and because of the
low freight rates it has enjoyed during the times
when the prices prevailing in places located further
interior, for the products of the country, would little
more than pay the expense of getting them to
market. Just before the hard times began steam
boat connection was established between here and
Portland, made possible by the construction of the
state portage at the Cascades, and while the produc
ers surrounding other trade centers were paying
out nearly the price of their products to get them to
market, those here were getting lower rates and no
matter how low the price, still had a little profit
left for their labor; hence, as a rule were able to
meet their obligations. The merchants also derived
a benefit from these low freight rates, not alone in
the matter of dollars saved on their freight acco'unts
but by being able to offer prices that drew trade
from all quarters.
At Tlie Dalles the high water of May and
June, 1894, is known as the "big flood." Early
in April the Columbia river had commenced ris
ing, ancl for six successive weeks was unusually
high. The steady encroachment of the river was
anxiously- watched by hundreds daily and by
many self-constituted sentinels at night.
611 the morning of May 27th, about 11
o'clock, Frank Seufert arrived in the city after
a furious drive, and sought to procure help to
save from destruction his fish wheel which had
been washed from its moorings. He secured the
little steamer Inland Star, and steamed down the
turbulent river, but was unsuccessful in saving
the wreckage of his machinery. Later in the day
10

a fish wheel owned by Winans Brothers was
washed down stream by the angry current. This
was the second one they had lost during the
week, and their total lost was $10,000, not includ
ing the prospective catch of salmon which would
have netted a considerable amount. Other wheels
were in great danger and the fishermen passed the
whole of one Sunday in securing their property.
There were no arrivals of trains on time ; the
track between The Dalles and Hood River was
in a dangerous condition and became, eventu
ally, impassable.
Second street merchants who had goods
stored in cellars moved them out, and later those
on higher ground did the same. May 28th water
had reached the stage of 49 feet; a report from
Umatilla indicated a rise of one foot four inches
that morning. Riparia reported a rise of one
foot one inch. The high water mark of 1876
was eventually surpassed, and the flood stood at
53 feet 6 inches above low water mark. The
water encroached on the floor of the Times
Mountaineer building to the depth of three inches,
Saturday, May 29th, it was impossible to work
in the office, the water being \~y2 feet deep: no
paper was issued. There was hardly a business
firm in the city who was not forced to move
goods or erect elevated platforms. Front street
was submerged its entire length from east to
west. There was a small plot of dry ground on
Second street near the block west of the Colum
bia brewery. Third street was washed by the
river, with the exception of the block between
Court and Washington streets, to the corner of
Federal street, and on Fourth street the water
covered considerable ground at the east and west
ends. The night of June 3d the river rose about
six inches and continued rising through the day
of the 4th, when it stood 5 1 feet ten inches above
low water mark.
At 3 o'clock p. m., June 6th, the river gained
a stage of 59 feet 7 inches above low water mark.
The night of June 10th the water receded suffi
ciently to permit some of the business men to
clear their store rooms of accumulated mud and
debris. June 12th The Dalles was once more
in touch with the outside world. Mail from both
east and west arrived. During the night of June
nth the river fell six inches, and on the follow
ing morning more houses were cleared of the
accumulated sediment.
On the 13th the river fell seven inches and
more land appeared above the surface. The debris
left by this inundation was fearfully noisesome
and offensive, and disinfectants were used freely.
Preparations were rapidly made by the Union
Pacific Railroad Company for rebuilding such
portions of their roadbed as had been washed

146

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

away. This required a vast amount of work and
heavy expenditure of money. One railway
bridge half a mile in length, with the rails still
adhering to the upper part of the timbers, while
floating down the river, was salvaged above the
locks, and saved. June 20, 1894, the Times-
Mountaineer said:
Although some days have elapsed since the
streets of the city have appeared above the surface
pf the water, incidents connected with the flood are
Still the principal topics of conversation. Last
evening in company with some gentlemen this sub
ject was again discussed, and also the high water
of 1876. Mr. Ed Crate Sr., one of the Canadian
voyageurs, who came to this state with the Hud
son's Bay Company, says in 1842 he landed batteaux
at the foot of the bluff near the Methodist church.
This has been doubted until this year when, taking
into consideration that there were no buildings here
to furnish distinctive marks regarding particular lo
calities, and that the contour of the bluff is much
the same for a long distance, the feat was not only
possible, but probable. The bluff was reached in
places this season, and may have been in former
years; but there is evidence that the highest water
known for a long time was experienced in 1894. In
the Columbia river are several islands which the
Indians have used for the sepulture of their dead
for ages past, and these have been washed over
during this flood. If this had happened previously
the bleached bones of chiefs and warriors could not
have been found — as they have been ever since
white men inhabited this region — to show the action
of the elements for many decades. All former high
water marks are obliterated, and the one for 1894
will stand out prominently in the future.
Some idea of the volume of business trans
acted at The Dalles in 1897, and the importance
of the shipping may be gained from statements
then furnished by the O. R. & N. Co., and the
D. P. & A. N. Co., of the amount of traffic
handled by each during a portion of 1897. The
statement of the O. R. & N. Co. is for the months
of January, February, August, September, Oc
tober and November, and is as follows :

Merchandise

Carloads

Received Pounds

Forward Pounds

>

O

cn

IS)

January.... 1,075,825 2.276,675 37 14 — 2 — 1
February ...1.058.690 1,271.116 — 13 — — 15 —
Aueust  1.375,292 4.297,608 5 — — — 31 2
September.. 3,233,320 6,597,660 86 11 25 — 53 29
October  2,591,505 9,239,482 118 42 59 6 5 5
November.. 2,679,715 4,816,367 67 17 — 4 3 8
During the six months above quoted there were,
also, shipped 24 carloads of horses ancl four car

loads of prunes. The traffic handled during this
period was about an average of that handled the
entire year, and approximately there were
22,000,000 pounds of freight brought in and
60,000,000 pounds shipped out over this railroad
each year. These imports, however, were not all
consumed at The Dalles, as perhaps one-third of
them was reshipped by wagons to interior points.
The D. P. & A. N. Co. made the following state
ment of the aggregate amount of traffic handled
for eleven months of 1897. The figures show the
amount both shipped into and out of The Dalles,
from January ist to December ist, 1897: Cattle
and horses, 2,181; sheep, $10,000; flour, tons,
180; lumber, tons, 220; merchandise, tons, 4,197.
The extension of the Columbia Southern rail
road south from Wasco, in 1898, was, finan
cially, a severe blow to The Dalles. Prior to
that event the city had derived trade from a vast
scope of territory throughout Sherman and Crook
counties, but which was 'not deflected to other
points on the new railroad.
Company G, Oregon National Guard, of The
Dalles, departed from that city Saturday morn
ing, May 14, 1898. They went to Portland
where they were mustered into the United States
service. This company left The Dalles sixty
men strong. Reaching Portland much dissatis
faction was manifested in the manner of forming
the regiment. Company G was annihilated. The
men were distributed among other companies,
and no fitting recognition was accorded the offi
cers. It was claimed, with most excellent proof
of authenticity, that "peanut" politics played no
unimportant part in the organization of the Sec
ond Oregon Volunteers. However, the members
of the disorganized Company G went to the Phil
ippines where they performed duties assigned
them in a soldier-like manner.
Saturday evening, January 14, 1899, Com
pany D, Oregon National Guards, at The Dalles,
was mustered in by Colonel J. M. Patterson,
numbering 41 members. Captain O. C. Hollis
ter acted as examining surgeon. This -company
was composed of active, hearty young men, capa
ble of making excellent soldiers. The officers
elected took a deep interest in the welfare of the
company and greatly increased its efficiency.
These officers were G. E. Bartell, captain ; R. A.
Spivey, first lieutenant; David Johns, second
lieutenant. This company was organized to re
place the one whose members had crossed the
ocean to the seat of war. It is still in existence.
The federal census of 1900 gave The Dalles
a population of 3,542. For several years pre
ceding March 15, 1901, the city had been, com
paratively, at a standstill in a business sense;
perhaps it had a trifle retrograded. But at the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

147

¦date above mentioned there was a decidedly more
favorable outlook. One of the causes of this
anticipated prosperity was the establishing of a
wool-scouring plant. June 14th. twenty men
were to be seen sorting wool and dividing it into
four different grades preparatory to placing it
.in vats for scouring. Steam was raised in the
boilers, machinery started and every appliance
was found to work smoothly. In the store rooms
were several hundred thousand pounds of wool,
sufficient to supply the plant for a long period.,
Mr. Russell announced that he would keep the
mill steadily in operation during the season, em
ploying about fifty hands. This enterprise
brought much wool to The Dalles that else would
have gone to other points. The Times-Moun
taineer said, March 15, 1901 : "Another feature
¦ of importance to The Dalles is the proposed new
flouring mill that the Wasco Warehouse Com
pany intends building this season, that will be
to the wheat market what the scouring mill has
been to the wool market."
Building steadily increased. Some forty new
residences were constructed in 1901, and one of
the largest flouring mills in Oregon was rap
idly nearing completion. Aside from these sev
eral substantial business blocks were constructed.
January 7, 1902, the Times-Mountaineer pub
lished the following :
The Wasco Warehouse & Milling Company's
plant at White river, just completed, is the most
modern and complete on the coast. It consists of
a concrete dam across White river above the falls,
with the necessary intakes and headgates, with a
54-inch pipe line to convey water down the canyon
to the power house below the falls, which is of
masonry, with a steel roof, and in which are two
impulse-turbine water-wheels of 650-horse power
each. These wheels are directly connected with
two large generators of the revolving-field type,
with a total capacity of about 1,500 horse power,
furnishing 2,300 volts to the transformers by which
the current is stepped up to 22,500 volts, for trans
mission here. This voltage is received in the sub
station in this city, where it is stepped down to a
voltage suitable for lighting and other purposes.
It is the company that today supplies illumination
to The Dalles.
In 1903 the total assessed valuation of the
city was $1,218,804. Almost from its earliest set
tlement The Dalles has been recognized as the
commercial center of Eastern Oregon. Before
the building of the Oregon Railroad & Naviga
tion Company's line it was the distributing point
for the entire Inland Empire, freights for all
•of Eastern Oregon and Washington passing

through or being forwarded from this point.
Since the completion of the railroad in 1882 it
has lost some of its former business, still it re
tains a vast amount in this line. The large ware
houses and banking interests of The Dalles natur
ally draw a large trade to this point, because it
can be taken better care of than at any interior
place. And the extreme low freight rates prevail
ing, and not obtainable at any other point in
Eastern Oregon, induces a vast volume of trade
to center here that would go elsewhere. Having
competing transportation lines The Dalles not
only secures very low freight rates to and from
Portland, but also gets terminal rates on all
transcontinental traffic. Since the opening of
the canal and locks at the Cascades, The Dalles
has obtained the very lowest possible freight
rates. Besides its shipping interests The Dalles
is well represented in the mercantile line. So
close "is competition that this city has the repu
tation abroad of competing with Portland on the
price of all classes of merchandise. This fact,
naturally, draws trade from a large scope of
country, and farmers from Klickitat county,
Washington, and Sherman, Gilliam, Grant and
Crook counties, Oregon, some of them 250 miles
away, are attracted here to purchase their sup
plies. The DaJles, too, enjoys the reputation of
being the best wool market on the coast, and also
the best wheat market in Eastern Oregon. Wool
centers here from half a dozen different counties,
and in consequence wool buyers from Boston,
New York, and San Francisco visit The Dalles
each year during the months of July, August and
September and make purchases direct from pro
ducers of from 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 pounds.
In view of the many sensational fire episodes
through which The Dalles has passed, a brief
history of its fire department may not be out of
place here. May 3, 1859, an ordinance was
passed organizing Hook and Ladder Company
No. 1. January 6, i860, this was disbanded.
June 14th of the same year an engine house was
ordered built, and it was completed and accepted
October 28th. January 15, 1862, Dalles Diligent
Hook and Ladder Company was formed. At its
primary organization this company comprised as
members: R. E. Miller, William De Moss, A.
Loch, J. Elfelt, G. A. Liebe, William Logan, H.
Wilmer, M. Reinig, W. Moabus, J. Kaufman,
C. F. Mansfield, A. Shellworth, F. Bolter, F. C.
Brown, F. Wyckman, T. B. Kelly, A. Langdon,
J. Michelbach, A. Wintermier, J. Eppinger, O.
S. Savage, L. Brown, C. B. Koegel, G. Erkskine,
R. Lusher, P. Mask, A. Stangler, H. Wentz.
January 15, 1863, Diligent Hook and Ladder
Company tendered its resignation to the city coun
cil, which was accepted and on petition of A.

148

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Lauer and nineteen others, Jackson Engine Com
pany No. i, was organized. The members were:
A. Lauer, J. Eppinger, J. Michelbach, A. W.
Buchanan, R. Lusher, F. C. Brown, M. Reinig,
T. Kenny, F. Wyckman, G. A. Stangler, J.
Elfelt, William Moabus, C. B. Koegel, F. Bolter,
O. S. Savage, H. Gardiner, P. Mark, H. W.
Headrick, L. Brown, F. C. Brown.
Grant Hook and Ladder Company was or
ganized June 19, 1865, and the truck, etc., of
Diligent Hook and Ladder Company turned over
to them. Relief Hose Company No. 1 was
organized September 28, 1865, and disbanded in
1868. Columbia Hose Company was organized
May 8, 1875. Wasco Engine Company No. 2
was organized September 18, 1879, and dis
banded in April, 1882. In 1880 a new steam fire
engine was purchased by the city and given to
Jackson Engine Company. In 1882 a commodi
ous engine house was completed and turned* over
to the fire department. At present The Dalles
has one of the best volunteer fire dapartments and
apparatus of any town in the state. The appa
ratus consists of a steam engine, chemical engine,
hand engine, five hose companies and one hook
and ladder company, all thoroughly equipped
with the latest improved appliances for fighting
fires. In a previous chapter we have told of the
establishment of the two missions at the point
where subsequently was built The Dalles. In
1854 Rev. James Gerrish, a Methodist minister,
preached at The Dalles. In 1856 Rev. H. K.
Hines was appointed to the charge, and through
his exertions a church was organized.
The Congregational society was organized in
September, 1859, under the ministrations of Rev.
W. A. Tenny. Their church edifice was erected
in 1863. Rev. Thomas Condon was pastor. A
Catholic church was built in i860 by Father
Vermeersh. In August, 1869, the Baptist society
was formed, Rev. Ezra Fisher being pastor in
charge. This building was dedicated to religious
services in 1874.
In September, 1873, services were begun by
the Protestant Episcopal denomination, by Rev.
Dr. Nevius, who held occasional services until
the completion of the church building. The
corner stone was laid May 28, 1875, and the
edifice was opened for services Christmas Day,
1875. August 1, 1879, Rev. W. L. MacEwan as
sumed charge, becoming thus the first permanent
minister. All debts having been liquidated the
church was formally consecrated Sunday, No
vember 23, 1879. It is our purpose to present a
brief, yet concise history of the organization and
progress of each church in The Dalles.
The Methodist Episcopal Church is, probably,

the largest and most influential religious organi
zation in Wasco county. We shall not recapit
ulate the very earliest history of Methodist
church work at The Dalles, or rather where1
the city now stands, as it has been treated
in extenso in the current history chapter
of Wasco county. We shall here consider
its progress from the abandonment of the
Methodist mission in 1847, or rather, from
the first church work here after the town
of Dalles City was founded. There was no
stated religious work done by any church at The
Dalles for nearly ten years after the abandonment
of the mission. In 1856 the Methodist Episcopal
Conference in Oregon sent to this place Rev. H.
K. Hines, a young man of 27 years. He or
ganized into a class the few Methodists then re
siding in the vicinity. Rev. Hines purchased a
beautiful quarter block of land on the opposite
side of the street on which the church now stands,.
and one block nearer the river, paying for it
$175, and donated it to the church. This was
afterwards exchanged for the lot on which the
church now stands, and some cash. A little
chapel, costing about $200, was built two years.
later by Rev. A. Kelly, who was then in charge
of the church here.
In 1 86 1 and 1862 Rev. J. F. De Vore was
pastor, and under his administration a good
church for the time was erected on the lot where
the present edifice stands. This remained un
changed until 1879-80 when H. K. Hines was.
again pastor, when the church was thoroughly
remodeled and a fine parsonage erected at a cost
of about $3,500. In the great fire of September,
1891, when a large portion of The Dalles was
destroyed, both church and parsonage were con
sumed. With great recuperative vigor the mem
bers and friends of the church built, on the same
ground, a larger, handsomer, building. In 1893.
it was completed. The membership of the first
church over which Rev. Hines presided com
prised : Dr. Shaug and wife ; George Herbert and
wife ; William Connell and wife ; George Ban-
burger ; Mrs. Eliza McFarland ; Mrs. Hall ; Mrs.
White; Mrs. Martin; Mrs. Cantrell.
The position which this organization has held
among the churches of this, coast is evidenced by
the list of pastors who have been called to serve
it since its organization, now nearly fifty vears.
They are as follows : H. K. Hines, J. W. Miller,
A. Kelly, John Flinn, J. F. De Vore, B. C
Lippincott, I. D. Driver, J. T. Wolf, G. Hines,.
N. Doane, S. Van Dersol, J. C. Kirkman, E. J.
Hawn, L. J. Whitcomb, J. D. Flenner, W. C.
Gray, W. G. Simpson, John Whistler and J. H.
Wood. In a report of a meeting of the Methodists of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

149

The Dalles, published April 12, 1882, the Times
¦said, in part:
* * * Short speeches were made by Grandma
McFarland, J. B. Dickerson, A. M. Walker and William
Mitchell. Grandma recollected well the first sermon
-ever preached in The Dalles. It was at her house in
r855 by Rev. G. M. Berry, to a small congregation, a;
which time a Methodist class was organized. * * *
J. B. Dickerson named the pastors — eighteen in all —
who had served the church here since its organization,
and said few could realize the struggle he and his class
mates had in those early days to pay the preacher and
build the church. He remembered that the first par
sonage property cost $750, and that the main part of the
present building was commenced and completed by J.
F. DeVore, of the Oregon Conference.
Writing to the Times April 19, 1882, a gentle
man signing himself "History," says :
As history should be accurate, if written at all,
will you permit one of the olden times to give you an
item or two about the M. E. church at The Dalles. In
1853 Rev. James Gerrish supplied the Vancouver and
The Dalles circuit from the annual conference, in the
spring of that year until October, when G. Hines took
¦charge of it. Both of these men visited The Dalles before
December, 1853, in the work of their ministry, but I
am not aware that any class was organized. G. M.
Berry followed them and probably organized the first
-class. H. K. Hines was the first pastor who ever re
sided at The Dalles, he removing there in the fall of
1856, and organized the first Sunday-school, with
¦Grandma McFarland, her daughter and Mrs. Hines as
teachers. Mr. Hines bought the first property for the
M. E. church, paying $175 out of his own pocket for it
and donating it to the church. * * * Mrs. Hines
taught a private school to enable them to live. * * *
The first quarterly conference was organized by Mr.
Hines. The church was removed and remodeled into its
present form, and the parsonage — the best in the state —
built under the second administration of Mr. Hines as
pastor, in 1880 — twenty-three years after his first pas
torate. The Methodist Episcopal church at The
Dalles at the present time has a strong member^
ship, and an influential constituency, ' taking in
many of the most substantial and influential citi
zens of the place.
The foundation of St. Peter's Catholic Church
was the mission established May 16, 1848, by Rev.
L. Rosseau. The first church edifice was built at
the rear of what is now the Catholic cemetery.
February 26, 1855, this church and all that be
longed to it was totally destroyed by fire. The
¦church records, also, perished. But according to

an estimate made by Rev. Mesplie about 500
persons had been baptized, 30 confirmed and
nearly 20 couples married in the old mission
chapel. In 1851 Rev. Mesplie was appointed
parish priest ; he continued in this capacity until
1863. The charge of St. Peter's church was then
given successively to Rev. Fathers Vermeesh,
Dielman, Thibau, Mackin, Demers, Gaudon, and
in the year 1881 to Rev. A. Brongeest. During
this last administration a new brick sisters' con
vent and an addition to the priest's residence were
built. Mrs. Lord says :
"About ten years after the founding of the
Catholic mission (which was in 1848), and after
Father Mesplie came, Bishop Blanchett came up
and they decided to build a church in town. They
were quite in favor of a site between Fourth and
Fifth, Laughlin and Federal streets. I don't re
member why they decided on their present loca
tion." The following historical record of the
Congregational church was contributed to The
Dalles Chronical by S. L. Brooks, September, 23,
1899: The Dalles — formerly called Wasco-pum — forty
years ago (1859) was an infantile town of scarce 400
inhabitants, when Rev. W. A. Tenny, the pioneer
preacher of Congregationalism, stepped ashore from off
the little steamer Hassalo, at the "Gate City" of the
Inland Empire — to be. After a few days' survey of the
place and its surroundings, he found that the religion
of the day, for the majority, was everybody for himself.
Being a frontier town the revolver and bowie knife were
the seat of justice outside of the courts. The roughs
were in the ascendency so far as court justice was con
cerned. Need I say that His Satanic Majesty reigned
in what today is our beautiful city, with its church
spires pointing heavenward ?
A brave man was Mr. Tenny to face such a condi
tion of affairs. He saw, after his arrival, the awaiting
opportunity for active work in this Godless field. The
better class hailed this herald of the cross with favor.
The Master had called him to "Go and preach the
gospel." With this command he came to bring good
tidings to the people. Tact, patience, perserevance and
forbearance were requisites he possessed. Zealous work
was commenced at once in the mission on which he was
called. Days, weeks, months passed. Evidences of his
labor were unseen. He thought —
"We do not know it, but there lies
Somewhere, veiled under evening skies,
A garden all must sometime see —
Somewhere lies our Gethsemene."
Mr. Tenny had secured from the county court the
privilege of using the court room for church purposes
until such time as circumstances would allow a better

ISO

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

place. Underneath the audience room was the jail,
which was filled most of the time with criminals of
various classes. I am told that during religious worship,
vaporings of profanity and villainous songs mingled
with the sacred exhortations from the minister's desk,
and during the season of prayer the mocking "amens"
would be heard from the inmates below.
With all these discouraging features Mr. Tenny
pressed on in the work. As time passed on he con
cluded that steps must be taken toward the formation
of a church society. After consulting with Messrs. E.
S. Joslyn and E. S. Penfield in regard to the matter,
it was decided to move in that direction at once. This
encouraging conference resulted in Mr. Tenny making
a call for a meeting of all those interested at the next
Sabbath's morning service. At the stated time the acting
pastor prefaced his invitation with a prayer, and asked
that all those connected with the church assemble at his
home on the evening of the 17th of September (present
month) and formulate and complete an organization of
the First Congregational Church of The Dalles. The
following members appeared and signed the compact :
Erastus S. Joslyn, E. S. Penfield, William B. Stillwell,
Rev. W. A. Tenny, and Mrs. Tenny. This perfected the
organization. Mr. Zelek, Mrs. Camilla Donnell and
Mrs. Mary Joslyn not being in town at this time, were
received into fellowship at a meeting a very short time
afterward as charter members of this, the First Congre
gational Church of The Dalles.
* * * "p^e church shed a fresh influence upon
the people after its organization, and an interest showed
itself in the small community, from which some eight
or ten were added to the record prior to the close of the
pastorate of Mr. Tenny. From the first, church financial
support was an unknown quantity. Popularity did not
prove a barrier against the needed want for proper sup
port. In other words, to keep the wolf from the door.
Providentially a call from the Forest Grove church came
to him, and after due and prayerful consideration, he
accepted the call and bade the little church farewell, late
in the summer of 1861.
The little flock was left without a leader until the
early spring of 1862, when Rev. Thomas Condon, of
Albany, having heard of the vacancy, came and took up
the work left by its founder. Mr. Condon, after a short
sojourn in the embryo city, found it absolutely neces
sary that a house of worship other than the old court
room over the jail should be provided. On the 12th day
of July, 1862, Rev. Condon called a meeting of the
church people to meet him at his residence to discuss the
subject of erecting a church edifice at an early day.
Mr. H. P. Isaacs, a prominent citizen of the town, was
very enthusiastic, as were, also, Messrs. Andrew Clark,
and J. M. McKee, in the matter. Although the popula
tion was then hardly 700 souls, they conceded that $1,000
could be raised from the people for that purpose. They
felt that the people would be generous and do the right
thing. They were not disappointed. After some dis

cussion and deliberation, Messrs. H P. Isaacs, Andrew-
Clark and J. M. McKee were appointed a building com
mittee with authority to purchase grounds and begin
work as soon as practicable. They found it difficult to
secure material to prosecute the work with rapidity.
However, a building 30 by 50 feet was begun and en
closed so that in the early part of January, 1863, with a
rough floor thrown down, improvised benches, and an
old box stove to warm the building, the church people
were gathered under their own roof. The summer and
winter of 1863 and 1864 saw the building finished inside
and out ; the seating was done by Messrs. Hogue and
Abrams. The seats were made of cedar, covered with
shellac varnish ; the pulpit was an elaborate piece of
workmanship and was presented to the church by Col
onel J. S. Rickel. a prominent personage of transporta
tion fame. The colonel was not strictly a religious man,
yet was a warm friend of the church and pastor, Mr.
Condon. In 1867 an addition was put on the front of the
building; on the northeast corner was a tower in which
a large 800-pound bell was placed. This addition was
built by volunteer work. I well remember Mr. Zelek
Donnell saying that his stock were fattening on the bunch
grass and he could put in time for the Lord while his
flock increased. * * *
In the spring of 1867 Messrs. Robert Pentland,
Zelek Donnell and Erastus S. Joslyn filed articles of
incorporation incorporating the First Congregational
Church of The Dalles. The capital was fixed at $2,000.
After incorporation the following trustees were elected:
Messrs. E. S. Joslyn, W. P. Abrams, H. J. Waldron,
Z. F. Moody and Zelek Donnell. Prior to the incorpora
tion Messrs. E. S. Joslyn, E. S. Penfield, Z. Donnell, W.
B. Stillwell and Rev. Thomas Condon were elected and
served as trustees up to the time of incorporation. Each
year following the first general election, the vacancies
have been filled by the following persons :
E. B. Comfort, Zelek Donnell, H. J. Waldron, Rob
ert Pentland, Orlando Humason, John P. Booth, James
B. Condon, Mrs. Camilla Donnell, Joshua W. French,
Samuel Brooks, William R. Abrams, Eben B. McFar
land, Fred A. McDonald and R. A. Roscoe. The church
clerks have been as follows : E. S. Penfield, Rev.
Thomas Condon (acting), Rev. W. R. Butcher (ex-
officio), S. L. Brooks, Mrs. E. E. Pentland, W. R.
Abrams, Mrs. N. J. Simons, O. Sylvester, Mrs. E. J.
Robinson, W. J. Strong, R. A. Roscoe, A. R. Thomp
son, B. S. Huntington and A. R. Thompson. * * *
Mr. Condon was a very popular man and minister;
his labor was a witness of it. At the close of his min
istry in the summer of 1873 the church roll numbered
97 members, or communicants. On his retirement Rev.
W. R. Butcher, of Albany, accepted a call to fill the
vacant pulpit and began his ministry in the early
autumn of the same year. During his ministry the
church forged ahead as usual in additions to the
roll. The fore part of June, 1876, he tendered his-
resignation.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

151

This church was without a pastor from the pe
riod of Mr. Butcher's departure until the summer
of 1877, when Rev. J. W. Harris, of Evansville,
Wisconsin, was called to fill the vacancy. In the
early fall of 1878 Rev. D. B. Gray came and
commenced work in the church. He remained
until July, 1887. November 7, 1887, Rev. R. V.
Hoyt accepted a call from this church and re
mained one year. In 1888 Rev. W. C. Curtis
accepted the pastorate. On September 2, 1888,
fire destroyed the old church building. Then the
society, being left roofless, fell back on first
principals and worshipped in the court room — not
the old one, but the new. In this room the church
conducted services until January 27, 1889, at
which time the new and beautiful church edifice,
erected upon property purchased of Judge O. S.
Savage, was dedicated. The total cost of this
building, grounds, furnishings, etc., was about
$13,000. September 3, 1872, the First Baptist Church
of The Dalles was organized. Articles of incor
poration were filed with the county clerk Janu
ary 8, 1873. Until 1881 the church was served
by various pastors. In December of that year
Rev. O. D. Taylor came from Orange, New Jer
sey, where he had been associated with Edward
Judson, D. D., ancl assumed the pastorate of the
church. In 1883 their property on the corner of
Third and Washington streets was sold, and a
new church and parsonage were erected at the
corner of Washington and Fifth streets. In 1889
it was considered one of the best church prop
erties on the coast. In May, 1887, Rev. J. C.
Baker was called to the pastorate, which he
held for one year, when he resigned and Rev.
O. D. Taylor again entered into active charge
of the church. Like all others on the coast the
First Baptist Church of The Dalles has encoun
tered prosperity and adversity, but it is now on
a firm foundation and its future most encourag
ing. April 20, 1889, articles of incorporation were
filed with the clerk of Wasco county by the Sec
ond Baptist Church of The Dalles. The incor
porators were John Harper, M. J. and L. L.
Hill. The capital stock was placed at $2,000.
Calvary Baptist Church was dedicated at
The Dalles January 27, 1901. The cost of the
edifice was $2,508.97, and when dedicated it was
nearly free from debt. The building is a credit
to the city and the funds for this handsome edi
fice were secured from a congregation of only
about forty people.
A concise and excellent history of St. Paul's
Episcopal Church was published in the Times-
Mountaineer of January 1, 1898, and we are
highly favored in being able to reproduce it :

Very little is known of the early history of this
church in The Dalles. Some of the oldest residents re
member visits from the Right Rev. Thomas F. Scott,
D. D„ Rev. H. M. Fackler, D. D., Dr. McCarthy,
Dr. Stoye, Dr. Nevius and others. A child of the
Hon. J. K. Kelly was baptized by Dr. Fackler, D.
D., in 1866, and in 1871 Rev. R. D. Nevius held two
services in the Congregational church, through the
courtesy of Rev. T. Condon, the pastor. From
1871 to 1873 four services were held by Rev. R. D.
Nevius, one by Bishop Morris, and one or two
others by Rev. L. H. Wells.
At this time there were found ten communi
cants of the church, and Dr. Nevius baptized four
adult persons in the Congregational church. With
this as a nucleus a congregation was established
and an effort made to build a church. In 1874 Rt.
Rev. Bishop Morris gave $500 towards it on con
dition that a like sum should be raised in The
Dalles. This work was undertaken by Mrs. G. H.
Knaggs, and successfully accomplished by her, the
sum of $655 having been raised. In addition to this
$105 was realized from a strawberry festival. A
chancel window was then given by General Joseph
Eaton, in memorial of his son, and an east window
was, also, given by the Hon. L. L. McArthur. May
28, 1875, Bishop Morris laid the corner stone of
the present church, and deposited in it a copy of the
Holy Bible, a book of Common Prayer, a copy of
the Oregon Churchman of May 25th, and a copy of
The Dalles Mountaineer, and copies of the Portland
dailies, the Oregonian, Bulletin and Evening Journal.
January nth the church received its furniture,
leaving an indebtedness of about $800. On the day
the church was consecrated a draft on New York
was received for $100 from St. Luke's Chapel, Mid
dletown, Connecticut, and a like amount was re
ceived from the Rev. John Bonney, from the east, a
frierfd of Mr. William Beall. Bishop Morris also
gave $100, and the balance of the indebtedness was
provided for by the congregation. In 1877 a paten
and chalice of solid silver was received from St.
Mark's church, Augusta, Maine. From January 11,
1876, to July 7, 1879, sixty-three services were held
by the Rev. Dr. Nevius, when he was succeeded by
the Rev. Mr. McEwen, who took charge of the
church, having been sent by Bishop Morris. In
September, 1880, through a subscription circulated
by Miss Anna Thornbury and Mrs. Stansbury, an
addition of the vestry room was made to the church,
and about November, 1885, the present rectory was
built. The bell was purchased in 1883, and was on the
Queen of the Pacific when she struck on the Col
umbia bar, and the framework of which was throwri
overboard. The present mountings were made by
Mr. John Clayton. About April, 1886, Miss Mary

I5-1

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Wall, a communicant of the church, died and left
a bequest of $500. The Rev. W. L. McEwon offi
ciated as rector from 1870 to 1880, when he was suc
ceeded by the Rev. John C. Fair, about April 1,
1887. From 1870 to 1880 there were four confirma
tion classes under Rev. Mr. McKwcn. numberini;
seventeen persons in all, and from 188(1 to 1887, un
der the Rev. John C. Fair, there were two confirma
tion classes, numbering eight persons. In the spring
of 18S9 Rev. Eli D. Sutcliffe took charge of the work
and remained live years. Rev. Joshua N. T. Goss
was rector for the year ending Easter 1897.
The Dalles Presbyterian Church was organ
ized July S, 1888, in the hall of the Young Men's
Christian Association. This was at the ter
mination of several weeks' diligent work by Rev.
George A. Hutchison, of San Francisco. Mem
bership of this initial organization comprised six
teen persons. Mr. J. M. Patterson and Mr. G.
W. Filloon were elected ruling elders; Mr. G. W.
Swank and Mr. W. J. Strong, deacons. Immedi
ately afterward a Sunday -school was organized
with the pastor. Rev. George A. Hutchison, as
superintendent: Mr. J. M. Patterson, assistant.
Of both the church and Sunday school W. J.
Strong was elected treasurer. Miss Sadie Whit
man was named as secretary of the Sunday
school. January 5, 1889, the Times-Mountaineer
said :
"The Presbyterian society was one of the
first to occupy the great northwestern country
ancl has already become strong in all our larger
towns and in all our cities. On account of an
agreement for many years with the Congrega
tional body she did not occupy this field. About
two years ago the synod of Columbia, which
covers Oregon and Washington Territory, felt
free to enter upon work here and so determined ;
as a result the present minister was sent."
The Lutheran Church was dedicated Sunday,
April 17, 1898. The building complete cost about
$5,000. Prior to this the Lutherans had no
church edifice and held services only when they
could procure the use of a room. The pastor,
L. Grey, should be credited with the work of
raising the money to bring about the erection of
the building. Rev. James F Beates, of Seattle,
delivered the dedicatory sermon. Rev. M. L.
Zwizig, of Portland, conducted the dedicatory
services, assisted bv Revs. A. C. Anda, of Ta
coma; W. Ecllund, of .Astoria, and L. Grev, of
The Dalles.
Fraternal societies are well represented at
The Dalles. There are many of them and by
far the greater number are in a prosperous con
dition socially and financially.
The first order instituted in the city was the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows. It came into
being as a distinct organization November 1,
1850. H. W. Davis, deputy grand master, or
ganized Columbia Lodge Xo. 5. the warrant for
organization being issued by E. M. Barnum,
grand master, and it was attested by Chester X.
Terry, grand secretary. Petitioners for the char
ter were C. X. Shaug, E. G. Towne, I. M. Blos
som, F. Harbaugh, L. Colwell and M. R. Hath
away. During the great fire of 1S01 the records
of this lodge were destroyed, depriving us of the
privilege of giving a complete history of this
pioneer fraternal organization of The Dalles.
From other sources, however, it is known that
during the first term the membership increased
to the number of twenty-five. Officers of this
lodge, so far as known, were C. W. Shaug, noble
grand ; E. C. Cowuc, vice grand ; Charles R.
Meigs, secretary.
The second order to come into the local
perspective of The Dalles was the A. F. & A. M. ;
name ancl number Wasco Lodge Xo. 15. This
lodge was instituted March 28, 1857, a dispensa
tion having been granted by A, M. P.elt, grand
master of the grand lodge of Oregon. A char
ter was issued June 8th, following; the dispen
sation having been granted to R. R. Thompson,
M. J. Kelly" John P Booth, Nathan Olney, A.
G. Tripp, IT. J. Pope and J. Whitney, of whom
R. R. Thompson was named as W. M.: M. J.
Kelly, S. W. and J. P. Booth. J. W. Two other
charter members were present, H. 1' Isaacs and
J. R. Bates and the visiting brothers were Myers,
Perrin and Geer.
At this meeting steps were taken to perfect
the organization of a lodge by the appointment
of a full list of officers and committees to draft
by-laws, provide a place of meeting and purchase
jewels and needed paraphernalia. The first home
of the lodge was in the second story of a stone
building occupied as a merchandise store by H.
P- Isaacs, situated near the present site of the
Columbia hotel. Some years after the lodge
moved into (rates' hall in the second story of a
building located at the corner of Second and
Court streets. Both of these two homes were
jointly occupied hy the Masonic and Odd Fel
low societies. Finally the Masons fitted up a hall
in the upper story of the stone building on First
street, occupied by II. J. Waldron as a drug
store. In 1880 the lodge room was on the cor
ner of Third and Court streets.
The Dalles Chapter No. 0. Royal Arch Ma-
son«, was instituted under a charter granted
June 17, 18(14, with A. W. Ferguson,. O. S. Sav
age and James K. Kelly as its officers.
Columbia Chapter Eastern Star No. 33, was
instituted February 7, 181)5, by John If. Bridge-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

153

ford, worthy grand patron, O. E. S., of Oregon,
assisted by Mrs. Margaret E. Kellogg, associate
grand matron; Mrs. Emily McLean, past worthy
matron of Myrtle Chapter No. 15 ; and Mrs. Jen
nie G. Muckle, worthy matron of Mizpah Chap
ter, No. 30. The chapter organized with the fol
lowing officers :
Mrs. Mary S. Myers, worthy matron ; Henry
A. Baker, worthy patron ; Mrs. Ella Garretson,
associate matron ; Mrs. Eleanor Crossen, secre
tary ; Mrs. Esther Harris, treasurer; Miss
Maude Burke, conductress ; Miss Edna Errhart,
Adah; Mrs. Alice Crossen, Ruth; Mrs. Evelyn
Eshelman, Esther ; Miss Nettie McNeal, Martha ;
Mrs. B. J. Russell, Electra ; Mrs. Elmira Burget,
warder; Mrs. M. Biggs, chaplain; Mrs. Sadie
Clark, marshal: Miss Salina Phirman, organist:
H. Clough, sentinel. The order was organized'
with thirty-one charter members.
The Ancient Order of United Workmen was
instituted at The Dalles March 8, 1880. The
name and number is Temple Lodge No. 3. Its
charter officers were: W. M. Hurd, past master
workman ; H. L. Waters, master workman ; T.
A. Hudson, foreman ; D. A. Bunnell, overseer ;
H. F. Comfort, recorder ; A. S. McAllister, finan
cier : Emanuel Beck, receiver ; John D. Turner,
¦guide ; George Anderson, inside watchman ; Peter
Baluim, outer watchman. The present officers
are : F. T. Mulliken, P. M. W. ; C. O. Bunker,
M. W. ; F. W. Halfpapp-, foreman ; J. A. Douthit,
recorder ; W. S. Myers, financier ; F. Lemke, re
ceiver ; C. J. Crandall, guide ; W. IT. Groat, I.
W.; Hans Hansen, O. W.
The order of the Degree of Honor was insti
tuted April 7, 1894, by Mrs. Kate J. Young, of
Portland. The order was organized with eighty
members, and christened Fern Lodge No. 25,
D. of H.
Friendship Lodge No. 9, Knights of Pythias,
was instituted September 24, 1881, by Ward S.
Stevens, of Portland. The charter officers were :
T. A. Hudson, C. C. ; S. E. Fancy, V. C. ; C. Y.
Sanders, P.; O. Mangold, K. of R. S. ; D. L.
Cates, M. of F. ; R. E. Williams, M. of E. ; H. C.
Hammond, M. at A.; E. W. Garretson I. G. ;
M. Sylvester, O. G.
Harmony Temple No. 12, Rathbone Sisters,
was organized January 22, 1895, by Mrs. Ella
Houston, grand chief, of Roseburg, Oregon. The
charter list numbered sixty-five members. Mrs.
Alice Crossen was the first M. E. C. of Harmony
Temple: Mrs. Susie Phillips, E. S. ; Mrs. Lizzie
Lytle, E. J.; Mrs. Belle Berger, M. T. ; Miss
Annie Newman, M. of R. and C. ; Mrs. Edith
Menefee, M. of F. ; Mrs. Carrie Genning, P. of
"T. ; Mrs. H. Chrisman, G. of O. T. ; Mrs. Ella
Michell, P. C.

The order of Woodmen of the World was or
ganized in November, 1890, by Neighbor Ram-
plin ancl the young camp was christened Mount
Hood No. 59. Its charter officers were : Consul,
J. G. Farely ; adviser, J. M. Huntington ; clerk,
W. H. Michell ; banker, W. C. Allaway.
Cedar Circle, Women of Woodcraft, No. 8,
is the auxiliary to the Woodmen of the World,
and was organized at The Dalles January 24,
1895. ^ began its career with twenty-nine mem
bers, and its charter officers were Inez Filloon,
guardian neighbor ; Georgia Weber, adviser ;
Sallie Clark, great magician ; Elizabeth Joles,
banker ; Delia Phirman, clerk.
The Independent Order of Red Men was in
stituted July 24, 1894, by A. A. Ellis, great
sachem. The charter list numbered about forty
prominent business and professional men. The
first officers were : Sachem, John Michell ; senior
sagamore, A. M. Kelsav ; junior sagamore, T. J.
Driver ; prophet, C. C. Hollister ; chief of records,
D. S. Dufur : keeper of wampum, Frank Menefee.
The Knights of Maccabees was organized
May 27, 1895, by N. S. Boynton, and was chris
tened Dalles Tent, No. 20, K. O. T. M. Its
charter membership numbered about 45, and its
officers were : John Michell, P. Sr. Kt. Com. ;
William Tackman, Sr. Kt. Com. ; H. H. Riddell,
Sr. Kt. Lieut. : J. F. Hampshire, Sr. Kt. R. K. ;
W. G. Kerns, Sr. Kt. F. K. ; R. E. Williams, Sr.
Kt. Chaplain ; Gus Brown, Sr. K. Sergeant ;
James Sutherland, Sr. Kt. Physician ; W. I.
Johns, Sr. Kt. M. ; R. H. Lonsdale, Sr. Kt. ist
M. of G. ; L. L. Lane, Jr. Kt. 2d M. of G. ; J.
Zimmerman, Sr. Kt. Sent. ; J. Nitschke, Sr. Kt.
Picket. Cascade Lodge No. 303, B. P. O. Elks, was
instituted at Cascade Locks July 11, 1895, and in
March, 1896, was removed to The Dalles. The
charter officers of the lodge were as follows :
T. W. Lewis, Exalted Ruler ; Charles C. Fields,
Esteemed Leading Knight ; A. B. Andrews, Es
teemed Loyal Knight ; P. B. Burns, Esteemed
Lecturing Knight : V. C. Lewis, secretary ; D. L.
Cates, treasurer ; J. B. Wood, chaplain ; L. Win-
ther. Esquire ; W. A. Calvin, Inner Sentinel ; A.
A. Stuart, Tvler. The present officers are : Ex
alted Ruler, A. E. Lake ; esteemed leading knight,
W. A. Johnston ; esteemed loyal knight, A. E.
Crosby ; esteemed lecturing knight, Glenn O.
Allen ; secretary, John Michell ; esquire, P J.
Sullivan ; inner guard. H. S. Harkness ; tyler,
R. C. Robertson ; trustees, A. Bittengen, W. H.
Moody, Frank Menefee ; treasurer, George C.
Blakeley ; chaplain, P. W. DeHalff.
Dalles Lodge No. 2, Independent Order of
Good Templars, was instituted July 12, 1893, and
the charter officers were C. T., William Michell;

154

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

V. T, Mrs. C. D. Nickelsen ; chaplain, John Par-
rott ; secretary, C. D. Nickelsen ; treasurer, E. C.
Martin. Court The Dalles No. 12, Foresters of Amer
ica, was instituted September 12, 1895, by Dep
uty Grand Chief Ranger, Samuel Kafka. Twen
ty-two names were enrolled on the charter list
and the organization began its existence under
most favorable circumstances with W. E. Gar
retson as presiding officer ; Charles Frazer, S. C.
R. ; W. F. Grunow, secretary ; F. W. L. Skibbe,
treasurer; A. B. Estebennet, senior warden;
James Fisher, junior warden; M. J. Manning,
Sr. B. ; David King, Jr. B.
A branch of the Catholic Knights of Amer
ica, a fraternal insurance, was organized March
21, 1886, the charter members being Rev. A.
Bongeest, W. Chambers, F. J. Hadelman, Mau
rice Fitzgerald, Michael Fitzgerald, Con Howe,
A. Floyd, David Burke, H. Tolty, W. Horan, F.
Vogt, J. P. Benton, P. E. Farrelly and T. J.
Thompson. The Artisans of The Dalles was instituted
February 20, 1896, with forty-eight charter mem
bers. Its charter officers were: T. A. Hudson,
M. A. ; N. Whealdon, supt. ; D. H. Roberts, sec
retary. Following is the list of fraternal societies now
existing in The Dalles with their auxiliary lodges :
Wasco Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A. M. ; Dalles
Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons ; Columbia
Lodge No. 5, I. O. O. F. ; Cascade Lodge No.
303, B. P. O. E. ; Friendship Lodge No. 9, K. of
P.; Mount Hood Camp No. 59, W. O. W. ;
Temple Lodge No. 3, A. O. U. W. ; Dalles Aerie,
F. O. E. ; G. W. Nesmith Post G. A. R. ; Dalles
Tent No. 20, K. O. T. M. ; Dalles Lodge No. 2,
I. O. G. T. ; Court The Dalles No. 12, Foresters
of America ; United Artisans ; Order of Wash
ington ; Modern Woodmen of America ; Frater
nal Brotherhood of America ; Modern Brother
hood of America.
Auxiliaries : Eastern Star ; Rebekahs ; Cedar
Circle Ladies of Woodcraft ; Degree of Honor ;
Women's Relief Corps ; Ladies of Maccabees ;
Royal Neighbors ; Rathbone Sisters.
Aside from what might be termed the "old
line" fraternal societies, there are a number of
women's societies, or "clubs." in The Dalles.
From the excellent Women's Edition of the
Times-Mountaineer, issued May 17, 1898, we
are permitted to give brief outlines of these or
ganizations devoted to culture and social im
provement :
In September, 1893, a few ladies assembled
for the purpose of forming a literary society. As
"Taine's History of English Literature" was de
cided upon for the text book for the year, the

assembly assumed the name of "The Taine
Class." For the two ensuing years the study of
English literature was pursued, and in the third
year Guizot's "History of Civilization in Europe"
was adopted as the text book. After that fol
lowed Draper's "Intellectual Development of
Europe." Women's work in St. Paul's church began
with an offer from General Eaton, of Portland,
of $500 on condition that a like amount be con
tributed by the people of The Dalles. The ef
forts of Mrs. Knaggs in realizing $655 has been
mentioned in our history of the churches, and
this was the nucleus of the present St. Paul's
Guild. Organization was effected in 1876. The-
life of the church at times has languished, but
was revived by the able assistance of this faith
ful band of workers.
The Ladies' Aid Society of the Congrega
tional Church was organized in 1863. Mrs. E.
M. Wilson was president; Mrs. C. Z. Donnell,
secretary. The Ladies' Aid Society of the First Chris
tian Church of The Dalles was organized Oc
tober 1, 1892, under the name of the Christian-
Church Ladies. It began with eight members
and has steadily increased in numerical strength.
The Lutheran Ladies' Society was organized
under the constitution and charter of Zion Evan
gelical Lutheran Church, May 20, 1896. On this
day a number of ladies met at the residence of
Mrs. Stubling in response to a call from Rev. L.
Grey, who presided at the meeting.
The Women's Mission Circle was organized
September 16, 1896, its aim being to raise funds
for home, foreign and convention missions.
The Willing Workers Society of the Calvary
Baptist Church was organized October 19, 1894,
with ten charter members and the following of
ficers : Mrs. E. K. Russell, president; Mrs. W. C.
Allaway, ist vice-president; Mrs. S. P. M..
Briggs, 2d vice president ; Mrs. H. H. Campbell,
secretary; Mrs. M. Hill, treasurer.
The Good Intent is the title by which the la
dies' aid society of the Methodist church is
called. The organization was effected in 1879,
the first president being Mrs. Eliza McFarland;
vice president, Mrs. Sarah Michell. These two
efficient officers served continuously for a num
ber of years, being succeeded by Mrs. J. D. Lee,
as president, in 1886.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union
of The Dalles was organized in October, 1881,
by the first state president, Mrs. E. J. Hines, in
the Third street Congregational church, with
Mrs. Smith French, president, and Mrs. Louisa
A. Stowell, secretary. The earlier years of their
work were principally juvenile.. A Band of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

155

Hope was organized in 1882. At one time it
numbered 150 members. A free reading room
was established in 1882, and was maintained con
tinuously for thirteen years, when it was discon
tinued. Mrs. Henry Villard made the reading
room a present of $100.
The Woman's Relief Corps is the auxiliary
to the Grand Army of the Republic and was in
stituted April 17, 1889, its name and number be
ing J. W. Nesmith Corps, No. 17.
Azalea Rebekah Lodge No. 99, auxiliary to
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was in
stituted April 9, 1898, with 39 charter members.
The instituting officer was Mrs. Ida Foster, pres
ident of the Rebekah Assembly of Oregon, as
sisted by Mrs. Grace Swank-Laurie and Mrs. A.
B. Manley, all of Portland. The following of
ficers were elected and installed : N. G., Mrs. Lulu
D. Crandall; V. G., Rebecca Wilson; secretary,
Alice Lyle ; treasurer, Elvira Neilsen ; W., Anna
Rawson; C, Almira Burget; I. G., Mary Ward;
O. G, Anna Blakeney; R. S. to N. G., O. D.
Doane ; L. S. to N. G., Emma Doane ; R. S. to
V. G., Belle Cooper Rinehart ; L. S. to V. G.,
Georgia Sampson ; chaplain, Mrs. Mary Learned.
Several visitors from Star-Rebekah, of Dufur,
were present and assisted very materially in the
instituting and installing ceremonies.
The German Ladies' Aid Society was organ
ized in 1893. It has accomplished much good
and it may be safely predicted that its sphere of
usefulness will be greatly extended.
The ladies of The King's Daughters have ac
complished much good, their object being to
make clothing for the poor, mostly children, and
their charitable deeds will not be forgotten by
those whom these kind ladies have aided.
St. Vincent's Charitable Society of the Cath
olic church was established in 1885. Its aim is
to help the deserving poor of the city and sur
rounding country.
One of the private institutions of The Dalles
which is deserving of especial mention is The
Dalles Hospital, which was opened to the public
in Mav, 1901. This hospital building is beauti
fully situated on the bluff overlooking the busi
ness portion of the town. It is a two-story build
ing. There are thirty beds, three physicians and
from eight to ten nurses are employed. It is a
private institution for the treatment of all sur
gical and medical cases, and is provided with an
X-Ray bacteriological laboratory. In fact, it has
one of the best, modern equipped surgery's in
Oregon. In connection with the hospital is
conducted a nurses' training school. From its
inception this institution has been a pronounced
success. Previous to its establishment there
was no hospital of the kind nearer than Port

land, and plans are now being made for its en
largement in the near future. A picture of the
building will be found in this work.
In concluding this chapter concerning espe
cially, The Dalles we deem it appropriate to ap
pend a list of the city officers since the initial
movement in planting a city. The member of the ¦
council whose name appears first was selected
president of the board. This, however, refers
only to that part of the roster prior to 1863, at
which time the charter was amended and a mayor
took the place of president.
1855 — Councilmen, W. C. Laughlin, R. D. For
sythe, J. C. Geere, W. H. Fauntleroy, O. Humason;
recorder, J. P. Booth.
1856 — Councilmen, H. B. Isaacs, N. H. Gates,
J. McAuliff; recorder, J! P. Booth; treasurer, O.
Humason. 1857. — Councilmen, N. H. Gates, E. G. Cowne,
R. Hall, B. F. McCormick, P. Craig; recorder, C.
R. Meigs; treasurer, O. Humason.
1858. — Councilmen, N. H. Gates, H. P. Isaacs,.
C. McFarland, E. G. Cowne, O. Humason; recorder,
W. C. Moody; marshal, A. Y. Crabb; treasurer, T.
Baldwin,* J. Juker.*
1859. — Councilmen, L. W. Coe, Victor Trewitt,*
L. Miller/ F. C. Brown, M. Cushing,* A. P. Dennison,*
I. W. D. Gillett,* A. J. Price, O. S. Savage; recorder,
E. R. Button,* G. E. Graves ;* marshal, H. Hedrick,*
A. J. Crabb,* G. Barrington ;* treasurer, N. H.
Gates. i860 — Councilmen, L. W. Coe, F. C. Brown, W. D.
Bigelow, O. S. Savage, R. E. Miller; recorder, J. Mc
Auliff,* J. Murphy,* W. C. Moody.
1861.— Councilmen, R. E. Miller, C. F. Mans
field, P. Craig, E. P. Fitzgerald, Fred Botler; re
corder, W. C. Moody,111 J. S. Reynolds ;* marshal, H.
Headrick; treasurer, O. S. Savage.
1862-^Councilmen, R. E. Miller, E. P. Fitzger
ald, F. Bolter,* L. Brown,* T. Gordon,* A. Clark, B.
F. Drew; recorder J. S. Reynolds; marshal, H. W.
Headrick ; treasurer, P. Craig.
1863 — Mayor, J. K. Kelly; councilmen, W. C.
Laughlin,* J. A. Odell,* J. Eppinger, A. Lauer,* F .C.
Brown, Racy Biven ; recorder, T. Tallifero,* J. Rey
nolds ;* marshal, H. Headrick,* C. White ;* treasurer,
P. Craig,* A. Buchanan.*
1864 — Mayor, C. P. Meigs; councilmen, L
Brown, R. C. Munger, W. Harman, A. Clark, L
Coffin,* L. Lyon ;* recorder, J. S. Reynolds,* \V. A
Loring;* marshal, Nathan Olney; treasurer, H. J
Waldron. 1865 — Mayor, N. H. Gates; councilmen, E. R
Welch, H. A. Hogue, C. Miller* J. Guthrie* J. M
Bird, A. W. Buchanan; recorder, F. S. Holland;

* Served only part of term.

i56

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

marshal, Chas. Keeler; treasurer, O. S. Savage,* W.
P. Miller.* 1866 — Mayor, G. B.  ; councilmen, I.
McFarland, E. Wingate, R. H. Wood, G. A. Liebe,
D. Handley; recorder, H. Catley,* J. A. B. Stimson ;*
marshal, Chas. Keeler; treasurer, C. S. Miller.
1867 — Mayor, O. Humason; councilmen, N. H.
Gates, E. Wingate, H. Waldron, G. Thatcher; re
corder, T. J.' Callaway; marshal Chas. Keeler; treas
urer, F. Dehm.
1868 — Mayor, E. Wingate; councilmen, H.
Waldron, G. Thatcher, J. K. Kelly,* R. B. Reed,* \Y.
Moabus, J. M. Bird; recorder, J. A. Campbell; mar
shal, Peter Ruffner; treasurer, F. Dehm.
1869 — Mayor, E. Wingate; councilmen, N. H.
Gates, Z. Donnell, Z. F. Moody, W. M. Hand; re.
¦corder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, Peter Ruffner;
treasurer, F. Dehm.
1870 — Mayor, William Harman; councilmen, J.
T. Storrs, J. P. Booth, T. W. Miller, R. W. Cran
dall, W. Michell; recorder, E. B. Comfort, R. W.
Crandall; marshal, Ed Roth; treasurer, Fred Liebe.
1871 — Mayor, N. H. Gates; councilmen, E.
Wingate, N. Wallace, J. B. Condon, V. Trevitt, R.
Grant; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S. Klein;
treasvirer, L. Newman.
1872 — Mayor, J. M. Bird; councilmen, R. W.
Crandall, H. Waldron, G. A. Liebe, J. W. French,
E. Wingate; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S.
Klein; treasurer L. Newman.
1873 — Mayor, R. Grant; councilmen, F. Dehm,
J. W. French, G. A. Liebe, N. H. Gates ;|| recorder,
J. A. Campbell; marshal, S. Klein; treasurer, E.
Wingate. 1874 — Mayor, G. A. Liebe; councilmen. J. W.
French, P. Adams, Fred Liebe, A. Bettingen, J. C.
Cartwright; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S.
Klein; treasurer, E. Wingate.
1875 — Mayor, G. A. Liebe ; councilmen, C. Schultz,
P. Adams, F. Liebe, A. Bettingen, J. C. Cartwright ;
recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S. Klein; treas
urer, L. Coffin.
1876 — Mayor, E. P. Fitzgerald; councilmen, W.
M. Hand, N. B. Sinnott, J. French, T. Miller, G. A.
Liebe; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S. Klein;
treasurer L. Coffin.
1877 — Mayor, N. H. Gates; councilmen, G. A.
Liebe, T. Gordon, N. W. Chapman, A. Bettingen,
•G. Williams; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S.
Klein; treasurer L. Coffin.
1878 — Mayor, N. H. Gates; councilmen, G. A.
Liebe, A. Bettingen, G. Williams, N. B. Sinnott,
F. Dehm; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, S.
Klein; treasurer, L. Coffin.
1879 — Mayor, J. B. Condon; councilmen, G. A.
Liebe, F. Dehm, B. Korten, J. A. Richardson, G. E.
Williams; recorder, J. A. Campbell; marshal, J. W.
Hain; treasurer L. Coffin.

1880 — Mayor, J. B. Condon; councilmen, E.
Schanno, Geo. Williams, S. French, W. L. Hill* R.
Mays* T. Baldwin, Z. F. Moody; recorder, J. A.
Campbell; marshal, C. P. Jones; treasurer, E. Win
gate. 1881 — Mayor, G. A. Liebe; councilmen, F. Dehm,
A. Wintermier, A. Gray, G. Williams, D. Handley,
A. Bunnell ; recorder, J. A. Campbell,* E. E. Calhoun ;*
marshal, A. Crossman; treasurer, E. Wingate.
1882 — Mayor, G. A. Liebe; councilmen, D.
Handley, T. Smith, J. Crossen, A. S. Macallister, R.
Mays, S. B. Adams; recorder T. A. Hudson; mar-
shall, S. Klein; treasurer, G. Allen,* J. Fredden,* L.
Rorden.* 1883 — Mayor, G. A. Liebe; councilmen, D. Hand-
ley, T. Smith,* B. Blumauer,* J. B. Crossen, W. N.
Wiley, A. Wintermier, H. C. Neilson; recorder, T.
A. Hudson; marshal, G. F. Beers; treasurer, L.
Rorden. 1884 — Mayor, O. S. Savage; councilmen, G.
Williams, E. P. Fitzgerald, F. Dehm, A. Winter
mier, R. F. Gibons, J. H. Jackson; recorder, G. H,
Knaggs; marshal, G. F. Beers; treasurer, L. Rorden.
1885 — Mayor, R. F. Gibons; councilmen, E. B.
Fitzgerald, G. Williams, J. S. Schenck, M. A. Moody,
W. J. Jeffers, A. Bettinger; recorder, G. H. Knaggs;
marshal, L. Rorden; treasurer G. F. Beers.
1886 — Mayor, N. H. Gates; councilmen, J. S.
Schenck, W. A. Moody, G. Williams, W. J. Jeffries,
C. N. Thornbery, L. P. Ostlund; recorder, G. H.
Knaggs; marshal, L. Rorden; treasurer, Bert  .
1887 — Mayor, J. S. Storey; councilmen, G. W.
Miller, J. S. Schenck, C. Thornbury, L. P. Ostlund,
F. Dehm, W. A. Moody; recorder, G. H. Knaggs;
marshal, L. Rorden; treasurer, B. Thurston.
1888 — Mayor, J. S. Storey; councilmen, C. W.
Thornbury, T. A. Ward, L. P. Ostlund, John Lind,
F. Dehm*, John Lewis*, G. W. Miller; recorder, G. H.
Knaggs ; marshal, L. Rorden ; treasurer, B. Thurs
ton. 1889 — Mayor, M. A. Moody; councilmen, C. W.
Thornbury, T. A. Ward, F. Dehm, H. Hanson, John
Lewis, G. W. Miller; recorder, G. H. Knaggs; mar
shal, L. Rorden ; treasurer, Ralph Gibons.
1890 — Mayor, M. A. Moody; councilmen, C. W.
Thornbury, Hans Hansen, E. B. Dufur, J. Farley,
J. T. Peters, J. Lewis, Paul Kreft; recorder, G. H.
Knaggs; marshal, L. Rordan; treasurer, Ralph
Gibons. 1891— Mayor, Robert Mays; councilmen, C. W.
Thornbury, Hans Hansen, E. B. Dufur, H. J. Maier,
C. E. Haight, Paul Kreft; recorder, F. Menefee;
marshal, O. Kinersly; treasurer, R. Gibons.

* Served only part of term.
1 1 Tie vote cast for N. H. Gates, A. C. Phelps,
L. Newman and J. M. Beal. N. H. Gates elected by
the council.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

157

1892 — Mayor, Robert Mays; councilmen, C. E.
Haight, H. J. Maier, C. F. Lauer, E. B. Dufur, Paul
Kreft, I. N. Joles; recorder, F. Menefee; marshal,
D. Maloney; treasurer, L. Rorden.
1893 — Mayor, W. C. Rhinehart; councilmen, T.
N. Joles, C. F. Lauer, Paul Kreft, G. C. Eshelman,
T. A. Hudson, W. H. Butts; recorder, D. S. Dufur;
marshal, D. Maloney; treasurer, I. I. Burget.
1894 — Mayor, G. V. Bolton; councilmen, W. H.
Butts, T. N. Joles, S. S. Johns, G. C. Eshelman, M.
T. Nolan, C. F. Lauer; recorder, D. S. Dufur; mar
shal, J. H. Blakeney.
1895 — Mayor, F. Menefee; councilmen, S. S.
Johns, M. T. Nolan, S. E. Crowe, T. F. Wood, G.
C. Eshelman, R. C. Saltmarsh, George Ross; re
corder, G. W. Phelps; marshal, J. H. Blakeney.
1896 — Mayor, F. Menefee; councilmen, M. T.
Nolan, S. S. Johns, J. F. Wood, C. V. Champlin, R.
E. Saltmarsh, Geo. Ross, Harry Clough, Henry
Kuch; recorder, G. W. Phelps; marshal, J. H.
Blakeney. 1897 — Mayor, M. T. Nolan; councilmen, A. R.
Thompson, T. F. Wood, R. E. Saltmarsh, S. S.
Johns, Harry Clough, C. V. Champlin, Henry Kuch,
Charles Stephens, W. A. Johnson; recorder, R. B.
Sinnott; marshal, C. Lauer.
1898 — Mayor, M. T. Nolan; councilmen, W. A.
Johnson, H. Clough, A. Keller, C. F. Stephens, G.
Barnett, S. S. Johns, W. H. Butts, F. S. Gunning;

recorder, R. B. Sinnott; marshal, C. F. Lauer.
1899 — Mayor, H. L. Kuch; councilmen, Andrew
Keller, Harry Clough, F. Gunning, Charles Stephens,
Charles Michelbach, W. A. Johnson, William
Schackleford, James Kelly, Samuel Johns; recorder,
N. H. Gates; marshal, N. D. Hughes.
1900 — Mayor, E. B. Dufur; councilmen, W. A.
Johnson, F. Gunning, F. W. Wilson, H. C. Liebe,
F. Lemke, James Kelley, William Schackleford,
Andrew Keller, A. A. Jayne; recorder, N. H. Gates;
marshal, T. J. Driver.
1901 — Mayor, G. J. Farley; councilmen, C. W.
Deitzel, M. Z. Donnell, F. Lemke, J. M. Toomey,
F. H. Wakefield; William Schackleford, F. W. Wil
son, J. H. Worsley, C. E. Deitzel; recorder, J. Do-
herty; marshal, C. V. Champlain,* E. B. Wood.*
1902-1903 — Mayor, F. S. Gunning; councilmen,
F. W. Wilson, H. S. Wilson, J. H. Worsley, G. J.
Farley, C. W. Deitzel, J. L. Kelley, J. P. Thompson,
J. F. Peters, William Schackleford; recorder, Earl
Sanders,* J. M. Filloon;* marshal, E. B. Wood.
1904-1905 — Mayor, Frank A. Seufert; council-
men, J. H. Worsley, P. Fagan, F. W. Wilson, J. L.
Kelley, F. H. Wakefield, W. E. Walther, William
Shackelford, S. W. Chjldres, P. J. Stadelman ; re
corder, J. M. Filloon; marshal, E. B. Wood; treas
urer, Ed Kurtz.*

* Served only part of term.

CHAPTER VII

HOOD RIVER AND DUFUR.

Hood River, the second city of Wasco county
in size, prominence and importance, is most elig
ibly located on the south bank of the Columbia
river twenty-two miles from The Dalles and six
ty-six miles from Portland, on the line of the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. At
present it has a population of 2,000 and this is
steadily increasing. Very much alive are the
citizens of Hood River; a class of cultured, re
fined and eminently business-like people. The
year round the climate in this vicinity is ideal;
the rigors of winter and the extremes of sum
mers are unknown.
Few towns in the northwest equal Rood River
— and none surpasses it — in the way of scenic
attractions ; rapidly is it forging to the front as
the most popular summer resort of the Middle Co

lumbia river; it offers the happy combination of
rest and quiet — "the sweetness and light" — and
pure, exhilarating mountain air. Here, in the
foreground, winds the majestic Columbia; across
this historic stream, in the state of Washington,
towering high over its neighboring peaks, is
Mount Adams, crowned centuries since with a
"diadem of snow," 12,224 feet above the level of
the sea ; in the opposite direction — to the south
27 miles — Mount Hood rears its lofty head 11,-
225 feet, its torso clothed in a raiment of cloud
lets ; its peak like a crystal zone set into a back
ground of etherial azure, the eternal symbol of
the heavens of every creed on earth. On the east
and west are the forest-clad foothills of the Cas
cades. Hood River is, par excellence, the hustling

158

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

town of Eastern Oregon. It is provided with an
excellent gravity system of water works ; good
electric plant, a number of substantial and or
nate brick business blocks, with more in pro
cess of construction, and many beautiful resi
dence houses, surrounded by handsome shade
trees and well groomed lawns. A contract has
recently been let for a complete system of per
fect sewerage for the principal portion of the
city. There are two elegant and commodious
.hotels — the Mount Hood, recently enlarged and
refurnished, and the Waucoma, a new, three-
story brick edifice, and a number of superior res-
- taurants. All lines of business are well repre
sented. Among the more prominent manufac
turing interests are a large grist mill ; the saw
mill of the Oregon Lumber Company with a
capacity of 1000,000 feet per day, and an exten
sive cannery. The altitude of Hood River is 243
feet. One year ago (May 4, 1904,) The Hood
River Glacier said of this city :
The city of Hood River is a picturesque little town
of 1,400 inhabitants. It lies nestled along the south
bank of the matchless Columbia river on the line of
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, 66 miles
east of Portland, at a point on the west bank of Hood
river, where that turbulent stream empties its waters
into the Columbia. The river itself is a marvel of
wonder and beauty from its source to where it min
gles its crystal waters with those of the Columbia, and
together they flow peacefully on to the sea.
The city is regularly laid out ; has wide streets that
are lined with oak trees — a species of that tree peculiar
to the Pacific coast — with their wide, spreading branches
under whose ample and inviting foliage restful mo
ments may be enjoyed on a summer day. On the
south is a rise Of 200 feet. Fringed along the gently
sloping sides of this hill and facing the city and Colum
bia, are groves of small oaks and pines, and hidden
away among these are some of Hood River's beautiful
homes. The town has been called by the editor of The
Dalles Times-Mountaineer "a spot of Arcadian
beauty," and none will gainsay it who has ever
lingered here for ever so brief a period. The stream
upon which the city stands, and from which it took
its name, was called "Labieshe's river" by mem
bers of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805.
Prior to 1854 it was known as Dog river, as
will be noticed in the current history chapters of
Wasco county. In the year mentioned Nathaniel
Coe, with his wife and four sons, settled on this
place which had been abandoned by W. C. Laugh
lin. To the Coes the name Dog, was repugnant,
and they rechristened it Hood River.
Anterior to all this, however, is another pa

tronymic bestowed upon the stream by the In
dians. This was Waucoma, and means cotton-
wood timber. It was so called by the natives by
reason of the large groves of cottonwood trees
on the flat below the present site of the town. On
the authority of The Glacier the earliest settle
ment of the place was made by W. C. Laughlin
in 1852. As has been related the following win
ter was a most severe one, and both Mr. Laugh
lin and a companion, Dr. Farnsworth, lost all
their cattle, subsequently removing to The Dalles.
The eldest son of Nathaniel Coe, L. W., became
one of the organizers and principals of the Ore
gon Steam Navigation Company. The three other
sons were Charles, who died in 1872; E. F. and
Captain H. C. Coe. With the Coe family came
William Jenkins, who was drowned at the mouth
of Hood River in the Columbia, together with
his son and James Laughlin, in 1865. With Jen
kins came, also, James Benson and wife and A.
C. Phelps. They settled at this point.
During these pioneer days when the Colum
bia river was, practically, the only route between
Portland and Walla Walla, Hood River was the
ever welcome halting place. The Coe donation
land claim on which the town is built is one of
the oldest east of the Cascade mountains. For
many years the influx of settlers was slow. In
1861 there were only eight permanent locators
and a meagre floating population of transients.
In 1875 Dr. Parkhurst journeyed to Pennsyl
vania where he induced thirty families to come to.
this section of the northwest. This colony ar
rived in November ; some were dissatisfied, but a
majority of them remained and permanently lo
cated. So near as can be ascertained the follow
ing is a list of the earliest settlers in the Hood
River country :
Nathaniel Coe and family in 1854; they built
the first permanent residence at Hood River in
1858. William Jenkins, brother-in-law of Mr.
Coe, and N. S. Benson, came in June, 1854.
W. C. Laughlin and wife, and Dr. Farnsworth
came in 1852 ; James Benson came in November,
1854 ; Arthur Gordon and his cousin Henry came
in 1858; Mr. Stadden, 1858; S. B. Ives and fam
ily and A. C. Phelps moved in from the Cas
cades in the summer of 1858. Others who came
in 1858 were Cowperthwaite, Amos Underwood,
John AL Marden and Mr. Wilson. Mr. and Mrs.
Butler and Mr. ancl Mrs. Whiting came in March,
1859 ; Peter Neal in i860 and in 1861 his son-in-
law, Jerome Winchell arrived. William Moss
also came in i860. George P. Roberts came in
1857 or 1858, and Hardin Corum in 1861. D. A.
Turner, AYilliam Odell, Laban Stilwell and Jo
seph Wilkins arrived in 1861 and located on
farms. Daves Divers arrived in 1862 and Dr.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

159

B. W. Mitchell and M. C. Nye came about 1863.
In the fall of 1864 S. M. Baldwin and Harry
Tieman settled here. The Parkhurst colony of
Pennsylvanians arrived in November, 1875, and
did much to assist in the development of the
valley. Available records are silent concerning, the
first postmaster of Hood River, but the date was
probably in 1859. In his "Hood River Fifty
Years Ago" Mr. H. C. Coe says that Mrs. Martha
Benson was postmistress at that period, and that
the office was at the place of N. S. Benson. Prev
ious to that time mail had come by way of the
pursers of the steamboats, was frequently delayed
and sometimes lost. Following is a list of post-
office officials at Hood River since 1859:
Mrs. Martha Benson, Charles Coe, H. C.
Coe, W. P. Watson, Mrs. Delia Stranahan, R. J.
Rodgers, George T. Prather, Mrs. Jennie Champ
lin, L. E. Morse ancl William M. Yates, present
postmaster. Practically the first venture in the mercantile
line was made by Mr. Allen in 1877. Having
conducted it a short time he failed ancl the stock
was purchased by the veteran Hood River mer
chant, Mr. E. L. Smith. Later he removed his
stock to*Frankton. Dr. W. L. Adams erected a
drug store and in addition to his pharmaceutical
stock he carried a small line of dry goods. This
building was erected in 1880, a short distance
west of what was afterward the original town-
site of Hood River ; but this location is now
within the enlarged city limits. The first build
ing erected within the original limits was by John
Parker in July, 1881 ; it was utilized by him as a
general merchandise store. The second edifice
was the Mount Hood hotel, built by T. J. Hos-
ford in August, 1881. The third was by G. M.
Champlin in September of the same year, and he
carried within a general stock of merchandise.
During the fall of this year and the spring of
1882, a number of dwellings were erected. E. L.
Smith removed to Hood River in the spring of
1882, where he purchased a block of H. C.
Coe for $250. On this he erected a two-story
building and occupied it with a stock of general
merchandise. This piece of ground is now valued
at $15,000. Previous to this a grist mill had
been built. In 1881, near the sanitarium of W.
L. Adams a store building was erected by parties
to whom Mr. Adams leased the ground on which
it stood. The townsite of Hood River was platted in
1881 by H. C. and E. F. Coe. It was a portion
of the original Nathaniel Coe donation claim and
consisted of four blocks. To any one who would
erect buildings on them lots were given ; those
not desiring to build immediately could purchase

lots for $50 and $75 apiece, and a prohibitory
whiskey clause was inserted in every deed. After
the division of the townsite by Messrs. Coe, Mr.
E. F. Coe disposed of his half and abandoned
the whiskey clause previously inserted in con
veyance. May 25, 1881, he Dalles Times said:
"We learn from parties who arrived in this city
yesterday that a new town has been laid out on
Hood river. The lines are just inside of Mr.
H. C. Coe's farm, one of the most delightful
spots in that section. The blocks, lots and streets
will be surveyed this week, and the plat placed in
the clerk's office for record. Mr. Hallet has lo
cated the switch, thus giving the residents an idea
of where the principal business will be done in
that locality."
Following the platting of the townsite set
tlers flocked in in greater numbers. Still the
healthy, rapid growth of the town did not com
mence until 1899. In 1900 Hood River had a
population of 622, and at the opening of 1904 it
contained 1,402 inhabitants. A newspaper cen
sus taken by the Hood River Glacier in Janu
ary, 1905, showed over 1,800 people within the
city's limits, thus revealing a gain of 400 since
the year previous. More rapid than this, even,
was the business growth. A decade since Hood
River was unknown, geographically, otherwise
than a brisk little stream losing its identity in the
Columbia at this point. Today its horticultural
reputation is world wide ; its apples find a market
as far as Europe. In London in the early part of
February, 1905, Hood River apples sold for
$5.40 a box.
But we have dropped out of our chronologi
cal line of march. May 28, 1881, a Hood River
correspondent of The Dalles Times said : "Mr.
E. L. Smith, our obliging merchant, contem
plates building a new store in the new town sit
uated at Captain H. C. Coe's place, which is a
most beautiful location. All honor and thanks to
Dr. Littlefield, the surgeon of the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company, for defeating the
onlv prospective saloon of our place."
Railroad rumors were in the air — rumors
based on a solid sub-stratum of fact. The Dalles
Times correspondent from Hood River October
16, 1881, said:
We have heard with much pleasure the rumble and
turmoil which is the precursor of railroad communica
tion with the rest of the world. We are to be favored
with a depot, and a little town has commenced to grow
under very favorable conditions. The proprietors, the
Captains Coe, as we are informed, refuse to give a deed
to any one who will not agree to the clause, "no liquor
sold thereon." * * * There are now four stores in
the settlement, all seeming to flourish, as you will be-

i6o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGQN.

Heve when I tell you that one of these four sold in one
day the amount of $300 worth of goods in the first part
of this month. We have three flourishing schools,
averaging about fifty pupils, recipients of public money.
Two preachers have settled among us and are not idle
in dispensing the truths of the gospel.
In 1885 if was admitted by the Times-Moun
taineer that Hood River was surrounded by one
of the best, perhaps the best, ''fruit growing sec
tions of the northwest." At that early day many
of the solid business and professional men of
Portland hied themselves to Hood River during
the heated term to enjoy their otium cum digni-
tate under the luxuriance of its shady groves ancl
beside its pellucid mountain streams. May 11,
1889, it was modestly claimed by the Times-
Mountaineer that "Hood River is rapidly im
proving. Several immigrants have settled there
during the spring and the resources of the town
are being fully developed." Following is the text
of articles of incorporation filed February 21,
1890, in the office of the secretary of state,
Salem, Oregon :
"Hood River Townsite Company ; duration
perpetual ; principal place of business, Hood
River, Wasco county ; capital stock, $10,000 ; di
vided into 100 shares of $100 each ; incorporators,
E. L. Smith, M. Y. Harrison, J. A. Wilson and
L. E. Crowe; object, to purchase unsold por
tions of the townsite of Hood River and adja
cent tract or tracts of land in Wasco county."
February 5, 1891, Company G, of the Oregon
National Guard, was mustered into service at
Hood River, including forty-eight members. The
commissioned officers elected were : A. I. Blow
ers, captain ; A. D. Stranahan, first lieutenant ; A.
Winans, second lieutenant.
During this year the progress of building im
provement was satisfactory. Considerable real
estate changed hands ; cozy cottages clotted the
hillsides in all directions ; manufactories were
breaking into the business scheme, and many ot
the rich, natural resources of the vicinity were
being developed.
The first city election following the incor
poration of the townsite company was held De
cember 4, 1894, with this result: Mayor, C. M.
Wolfard ; recorder, C. P. Heald ; marshal, E. S.
Olinger ; treasurer, M. H. Nicholson ; council-
men, S. E. Bartmess, F. H. Button, J. E. Rand.
J. F. Watt, O. B. Hartley and S. E. Morse. The
vote for incorporation stood 49 for, and 35
against. A full list of the city's officials from the
date of incorporation until the present will be
found later in this chapter. The incorporation
of the town in 1894 was, however, superseded in
1901 by a new corporation under a charter

granted by the state in February. In December,
1895, the foundation of a public library was
laid, and about 1,000 volumes accumulated. These
were donated to the public schools in September,
1904. In 1903 the total assessed valuation of Hood
River was $208,927. A fair idea of the growth
of this town may be gleaned from a statement
published in the Glacier of August 20, 1903,
which claimed that since June 1, of that year,
there had been built, and were then in course of
erection, twenty-five residences within the cor
porate limits, the aggregate cost of which would
be, when completed, $40,000. In addition to this
residence property business buildings had been
erected the same year at a cost of $20,000.
Tuesday evening, June 19, 1904, the Hood
River Commercial, or Hassalo Club, was reorgan
ized at the Hassalo club rooms. Thirty-five rep
resentative business men of the city were in at
tendance. These were elected as officers : Truman
Butler, president ; A. W. Outhank, vice president ;
A. S. Moe, secretary. The organization of the
Hood River Fire Department is thus reported,
November 24, 1904, in the Glacier :
The Hood River Volunteer Fire Department is
now ready to combat whatever fire should dare show
itself within the city limits. While the boys have only
the chemical engine as apparatus at present, the de
partment expects to organize a hose company as soon
as the fire hydrants are placed in, and a hook and
ladder department will also be formed. The organiza
tion of the fire department has been officially recognized
by the city council, and the care of the chemical engine
has been turned over to the boys. An engine house
is being erected next to the city hall, where the chemi
cal will be stored. Room will also have to be made
here for hose carts and a hook and ladder truck. The
officers of the fire department elected last week are :
W. B. McGuire, president; Lou Morgan, vice-
president ; Earl Bartmess, secretary ; Percy Cross,
treasurer; W. E. Sheets, chief of department; S. J.
Frank, assistant ; W. J. Gadwa. chief engineer ; Clar
ence Shaw, second assistant engineer ; Winn Olinger,
third assistant engineer. Many of the boys of the fire
department have seen service in other towns and are
'tried veterans in the work. Sherman Frank, the
assistant chief, held the same position at The Dalles.
W. I. Gadwa, the chief engineer, was formerly a mem
ber of the Pendleton department. Will Sheets has
won a number of medals for services with the Lari-
more, North Dakota, team. This team came to be the
champions of the state. Mr. Sheets has belonged to
fire companies since he was eight years old. Will '
Morgan was at one time a member of the Brookfield,
Missouri, team. Walter McGuire saw service at Mc-
Minnville. The boys are arranging to give a Fire-

Scene on the Columbia

y ¦ 3 a

i/-^

"¦wt ^Wm ^§: ijli» ^SJ1 ^&

iprr^iw,

BBBW

... J :.'¦,..)

rM::a^:r7Brra*^iiHUBsaa^8n»ar- -M[||| - - .«»
— i  **^ ---j - -,

HP-

Tlie Dalles, Oregon, in 1858

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

161

men's benefit ball on New Year night. Of course any
thing like this will be a great success. No one will
refuse to buy tickets, and it is intended to make it one
of the most popular social events of the season.
The members of the Hood River Volunteer Fire
Department are : W. E. Sheets, S. J. Frank, W. I.
Gadwa, W. A. Morgan, Bert Stranahan, L. G. Mor
gan, A. Whitehead, Theo. Koppe, T. Osborn, Clarence
Shaw, A. G. Dobney, R. J. Woicka, Joe Vogt, Winn
Olinger, Percy Cross, Emmet Tompkins, W. I. Dickey,
W. B. McGuire, E. C. Wright, C. S. Jones, William
Shipman, Arthur Cole, Earl Bartmess, Webster Kent,
Mel Foley, Edwin Henderson.
The Hood River Signal Station was estab
lished in September, 1889, by Dr. E. J. Thomas.
However, a previous record of the rainfall had
been kept by Dr. P. G. Barrett, who became the
observer when Dr. Thomas resigned in 1891.
Dr. Barrett continued the observation to within
a few days of his death, which occurred January
7, 1900. Joseph Hengst was then appointed ob
server, keeping the records until May, 1904. He
was succeeded by D. N. Byerlee. Until May 7,
1904, the station was situated about five miles
from the town, but on that date Mr. Byerlee re
moved the instruments to Oakdale, his country
home. The present station is in latitude 42 de
grees 42 minutes N. ; longtitude 121 degrees 30
minutes W. ; elevation 243 feet. The maximum
and minumum thermometers are exposed in a
standard shelter located 120 feet south of the
observer's house, a one and one-half story frame
dwelling; the bulbs of the thermometers are
seven feet from the ground. The rain gauge is 46
feet west of the shelter and 108 south of the
house; the top of the gauge is three feet above
the ground.
The highest recorded temperature at Hood
River was 103 degrees, on August 15, 1901 ; the
lowest was 10 degrees below zero on January 31st
ancl February 1, 1893. The average number of
davs each year with the temperature above 90
degrees is 9, and the average number of days
with the temperature below the freezing point is
74. Average date of first killing frost in autumn,
October 17th; average date of last killing frost
in the spring, April 17th. The mean annual pre
cipitation is 38.38 inches, and it is heaviest dur
ing the winter and spring months, and least in
midsummer. The number of rainy days average
129, and the yearly snowfall is 77.8 inches. The
prevailing winds are from the west.
The first school house erected in this vicinity
was located two miles south of the present site
of the town of Hood River, in 1863. The initial
teacher was Mr. B. A. Lilly, and the school had
an attendance of about fifteen pupils. Until 1881
11

this was the only school. That year a two-story
school house was built at Frankton by subscrip
tion. During the fall of 1882 a subscription was
headed by H. C. Coe, O. L. Stranahan and Dr.
W. L. Adams for the purpose of raising funds
to build another school house within the limits of
the town of Hood River. About $800 was se
cured and a school house erected which was
donated to the district clear of debt. The first
teacher was Miss Nettie Cook, of Salem, and
there were about twenty-five pupils. This build
ing was enlarged in 1888 and another teacher en
gaged. It is still utilized for the primary grade'
of the preeent city system.
In 1897 the Park Street schoolhouse, con
taining six rooms, was built at a cost of $9,000.
June 18, 1904, the total enrollment of the Hood
River city schools was about 450 ; twelve teachers
were employed. Ten grades were taught and
the schools were then considered the best in the
country. In the spring of 1905 a census of the
Hood River school district showed a total of
629 children of school age ; divided — 297 boys ;
332 girls. This was an increase of 90 over the
census of 1904.
It is proper to here append a list of the city
officials of Hood River since 1895, the year when
incorporation of the town was consummated :
1895 — Mayor, C. M. Wolfard ; council, F. H. Button,
S. E. Bartmess, O. B. Hartley, L. E. Morse, J. C. Rand,
J. F. Watt; recorder, C. P. Heald ; treasurer, M. H.
Nickelson; marshal, E. S. Olinger.
1896 — Mayor, L. N. Blowers; council, S. E. Bart
mess. H. F. Davidson, J. H. Dukes, L. Henry, L. E.
Morse, J. P. Watson ; recorder, G. F. Prather ;
treasurer, M. H. Nickelson ; marshal, E. S. Olinger.
1897 — Mayor, L. N. Blowers ; council, J. H. Dukes,
F. E. Jackson, W. N. West, C. A. Bell, L. Henry,
J. P. Watson; recorder, G. F. Prather; treasurer,
M. H. Nickelson ; marshal, R. O. Evans.
1898 — Mayor, E. L. Smith; council, C. A. Bell,
B. F. Bradford, F. E. Jackson, J. H. Furguson, J. H.
Dukes, G. F. Prather ; recorder, J. R. Nickelson ;
treasurer, M. H. Nickelson; marshal, E. S. Olinger.
1899 — Mayor. E. L. Smith ; council, J. H. Dukes,-
C. A. Bell, G. D. Woodwath, Wm. Yates,* A. S.
Blowers,* C. T. Bonney,* J. H. Ferguson, B. F.
Bradford; recorder, J. R. Nickelson; treasurer, M. H.
Nickelson,* G. P. Crowell ;* marshal, E. S. Olinger.
1900 — Mayor, F. C. Brosius ; council, C. A. Bell,
A. S. Blowers, A. S. Davidson, J. J. Luckey, J. H.
Dukes, D. McDonald; recorder, J. R. Nickelson;
treasurer, G. P. Crowell ;' marshal, E. S. Olinger.
1901 — Mayor, F. C. Brosius ; council, M. F. Shaw,
D. McDonald, C. A. Bell, A. S. Blowers, A. S. David-

* Did not serve out term.

1 62

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

son, J. J. Lucky; 1 1 recorder, J. R. Nickelson; treasurer,
G. T. Prather ; marshal. E. S. Olinger.
1902 — Mayor, F. C. Brosius ; council, A. S. Blowers,
C. N. Clark, H. F. Davidson, P. S. Davidson, J. C.
Rand, D. McDonald ; recorder, J. R. Nickelson ;
treasurer, T. Butler; marshal, E. S. Olinger.
1903 — Mayor, T. R. Coon; council, A. S. Blowers.
P. S. Davidson, J. G. Gesling. Ed Mays, G. T. Prather,
H. F. Davidson ; recorder, J. R. Nickelson ; treasurer,
T. Butler; marshal, J. H. Dukes.
1904 — Mayor, T. R. Coon ; council, Ed Mays, J. E.
Rand, C. T. Early, H. H. Bailey, Sr., D. McDonald,
G. T. Prather; recorder, J. R. Nickelson; treasurer,
T. Butler ; marshal, D. J. Triber.
1905 — Mayor, A. S. Blowers; council, J. E. Rand,
Ed Mays, H. H. Bailey, A. D. Moe, D. McDonald,
C. T. Early; recorder, J. R. Nickelson; treasurer,
E. L. Smith ; marshal, E. S. Olinger.
The social side of life in Hood River is well
represented by all the leading religious denom
inations and societies, and by numerous lodges,
courts, camps, clubs and auxiliaries. Within the
city limits are fine church buildings in which serv
ices are held by the following denominations :
Congregational, Methodist, United Brethren,
Unitarian and Episcopalian, while the Baptists
will have completed a beautiful and ornate church
edifice before the publication of this volume. In
"the valley" are Christian, Methodist, Latter Day
Saints. Congregational, Seventh Day Adventists
and Union Churches. The Catholics and Luth
erans have organized congregations and church
buildings will soon be completed. The churches,
it is stated, are free from debt.
Following is a complete list of the fraternal
societies of Hood River :
Hood River Lodge No. 105. A. F. & A. M.
Truman Butler, W. M. ; A. D. Moe, secretary.
Hood River Chapter No. 27, R. A. M. F
Chandler, H. P. ; A. D. Moe, secretary.
Flood River Chapter No. 25, O. E. S. Mrs.
J. L. Hershner, W M. ; Mrs Theresa Castner,
secretary. Idlewilde Lodge No. 107, I. O. O. F. William
Ganger, N. G. ; H. C. Smith, secretary.
Eden Encampment No. 48, I. O. 6. F. L. E.
Morse, C. P. ; H. R. Entrican, scribe.
Laurel Rebekah Degree Lodge No. 81, I. O.
O. F. Mrs. E. W. Udell, N. G. ; Mrs: Dora
Thomson, secretary.
Waucoma Lodge No. 30, K. of P. V. C.
Brock, C. C. ; H. f. DeWitt, K. of R. and S.
Hood River Camp No. 7,702, M. W. A.
Charles Jones, Y. C. ; C. U. Dakin, clerk.
Hood River Camp No. 770, W. O. W. F. H.
Blagg, C. C. ; H. W. Wait, clerk.

Appointed.

Hood River Circle, No. 524, Women of Wood
craft, Lenora Stuhr, G. N. ; Nellie Hollowell,
clerk. Riverside Lodge No. 68, A. O. U. W. C. L.
Copple, M. A. ; E. R. Bradley, financier ; Chester
Shute, recorder.
Riverside Lodge No. 40, Degree of Honor,
A. O. U. W. Miss Cora Copple, C. of H. ; Miss
Carrie Copple, recorder.
Order of Washington, Hood River Union No.
142. E. L. Rood, president ; C. U. Dakin, secre
tary. Oleta Assembly No. 103, United Artisans.
J. H. Koberg, M. A. ; C. D. Henrich, secretary.
Court Hood River No. 42, Foresters of Amer
ica. George E. Songer, C. R. ; F. C. Brosius, F. C.
Canby Post No. 16, G. A. R. A. L. Phelps
commander; Thomas Goss, adjutant.
Canby W. R. C. No. 18. Ellen Blowers, pres
ident ; Lizzie Gee, secretary.
Mountain Home Camp No. 3469, R. N. A.
Mrs. Carrie Brosius, O. ; Mrs. Ella Dakin, re
corder. Wauna Temple No. 6, Rathbone Sisters.
Amanda Whitehead, M. E. C. ; Stella Richard
son, M. of R. and C.
In the matter of transportation Hood River
is highly favored. The Oregon Railroad & Nav
igation Company, the western division of a great
transcontinental system, furnishes six daily pas
senger trains, while competing boat lines reduce
freight rates to a minimum, whereas in so many
other sections they are nearly prohibitive. The'
rail ancl water service is first-class and all that
could be reasonably asked by the traveling and
shipping public.
Concerning telephone service the manager of
the Pacific States Telephone Company recently
stated that the city of Hood River utilized more
telephones, in proportion to its population, than
any other city on the Pacific coast. With tele
phone lines the beautiful valley of the Hood
river is netted, and within the city limits there
are over five hundred instruments in daily use.
The service is in continuous operation and re
quires three daily operators. Long distance wires
afford connection with all telephone towns on the
coast. With a daily mail two rural delivery routes
supply the farmers of the valley. Competent, in
telligent men are the carriers and faithful in the
performance of their duties. Daily mail, tele
phone and electric light services afford the neigh
boring farmers with the most important conven
iences of modern city homes.
The postal receipts of the Hood River office
show conclusively the steady increase of popu
lation. For the quarter ending September 30,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

163

1904, the receipts were only a few dollars short
•of the requirements to bring Hood River into the
•second class of offices. The total receipts for the
year were $6,298.75, an increase over the prev
ious twelve months of $1,046.68. Postmaster
Yates has recently secured new quarters in a fine
brick building.
Hood River supports two banking institutions,
Butler & Company's bank, and the First Na
tional Bank. Both institutions are firmly estab
lished ancl enjoy the confidence of the business
men and farmers. Reports from both houses in
dicate a healthy financial condition in the com
munity. Three large sawmills and lumbering
camps, a flour mill, box factory and cordwood
camps furnish employment to a large number of
men. For manufacturing establishments Hood
River offers exceptional advantages. An en
gineer's measurement of the stream shows 10,-
000 horse-power every mile for ten miles, which
is a total of 100,000 horsepower, or sufficient
motor force when converted into electrical en
ergy to operate the machinery of the state. So
far but little use has been made of this superior
power. With exceptional transportation facili
ties at hand, the opportunities for investment of
capital in industrial enterprises cannot be
equalled in the state. The lumber industry brings
to the valley over $350,000 annually. At the
headwaters of Hood River there are millions of
feet of standing timber, an amount sufficient to
keep the big mills cutting 200,000 feet a day in
operation for fifty years to come. Of the su
perior fruit resources the reader is directed to the
Descriptive Chapter of Wasco county, pub
lished in this part of the volume.
DUFUR.
South of The- Dalles, fifteen miles, is situated
the town of Dufur, the third in size and import
ance within the limits of Wasco county. With
The Dalles it is connected by two daily stage
lines. At present the population of Dufur is be
tween 400 and 500 ; the United States census of
1900 gave its number of inhabitants as 336.
It is a picturesque town and most eligibly'
located on the north bank of Fifteen Mile creek ;
that is, the larger portion of the town is thus sit
uated. ' Above the level of the stream the town-
site varies in height between twenty and seventy
feet at the highest water mark. It is well wa
tered by an irrigating ditch brought from the
stream above the town, along the hillside to the
north. This fluid is as pure and healthful as
could be desired and at present the supply is
¦ample. No one need travel afar from Dufur in

quest of the most picturesque scenery. To the
west is Mount Hood, one of Nature's grandest
sentinels, whose snow-white poll is so familiar
a sight from all portions of a large section of
country. To the north and south lie the lesser
heights of the great range commanded by Mount
Hood, and yet in view are Mounts Jefferson,
Adams, St. Helens and Ranier. They mav all
be seen, like commanding generals in grand re
view, from the hills immediately surrounding
Dufur. A healthful town is Dufur, and the
climate all that could be desired.
And what of the history of this thriving town
in the northeast corner of "the Mother of
Counties?" It is related that so early as 1847 —
the year of the Whitman massacre — Dufur be
came quite a noted place. That year the "Barlow
Road" was opened ; the famous route crossed
Fifteen Mile creek at the present site of the town,
and during that and the succeeding year many
thousands of immigrants passed the place, yet
none of them at that period entertained a serious
thought of stopping in Eastern Oregon ; the
Willamette Valley was the bonne bouche of their
pioneer aspirations. But Fifteen Mile Crossing
was an eminently favorite camping place for
these travel-worn and travel-stained argonauts of
1847; the industrial pilgrims who antedated the
Calif ornian pioneers of 1849. The location of
this camping spot is still fresh in the memories
of all who came to Oregon that year ancl for
many succeeding seasons.
In writing the history of Dufur it is neces
sary to hark back many years to the pioneer
settlement of the country surrounding it. It
was in 1852 that the first settler took up his
abode on Fifteen Mile creek. L. P. Henderson
was his name and he played an important part
in the early annals of Wasco county. During
the succeeding few years he was followed by
 Reynolds, John Marsh and J. P. Brown,
all stock raisers, who located on Fifteen Mile v
within a small radius of the present Dufur. Up
to the autumn of 1855 these were the only resi
dents in the vicinity. In the latter year this
slender colonv was reinforced by ten families.
The cause of their locating comprises one de
tail of the many in the historical annals of
Indian outrages in Oregon. In 1855 many im
migrants were wending their way to the "Upper
Country" — the Walla Walla oasis. Some of
these migrators to the Walla Walla country
came from the Willamette Valley, as was the
case with the ten families mentioned who set
tled on Fifteen Mile. The party arrived at The
Dalles the very day word was received that
Indian hostilities had begun in the Walla Walla

164

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

country. They dared not face the grave dangers
confronting them should they proceed to the
vicinity of these Indian depredations. So they
decided to build themselves homes on Fifteen
Mile, and accordingly the ten families located
here. At this period, it should be remembered,
the entire country was seriously alarmed at the
probability of a general Indian outbreak and,
while they built homes, they, also, wisely con
structed a fort. This defense was located about
two miles up Fifteen Mile creek, from the pres
ent site of. Dufur. Within this rude stockade they
passed the winter of 1855-6, and a portion of
the following spring.
During the '50's several more settlers lo
cated in the vicinity and their first thought was
a school house for the education of their chil
dren. With indomitable will they began work,
erected a building, and in time secured the forma
tion of a school district. This pioneer institu
tion was situated only one-half mile from the
present site of Dufur. In the educational chap
ter of Wasco county the history of this school
is given. It may be said here, however, that
owing to dissensions among the patrons of the
school it was abandoned in the late '6o's.
The initial business enterprise on the site of
the present Dufur was the Fifteen Mile House,
erected in 1863 by David Imbler. While it was
simply a farm house, accommodations might
be obtained there for man and beast, and Fifteen
Mile house became known far and wide. This
primitive hotel is still conducted as such. It is
located on the south side of the creek. While
this may be claimed as Dufur's first "business
house" it remains a fact that it began operations
l®ng before the idea of a town in this locality
had entered the brain of man.*
What was the inducement offered to early
settlers to lopate near what subsequently became
Dufur? Primarily the several hundred acres of
valley, or meadow land, lying on both sides of
the stream, and extending to the west for a dis
tance of six or seven miles. The same old song
was sung to the reverberating hills ; "Land that
Cannot be Irrigated is Not the Land for Us !"
Immigrants then believed — as did thousands
of others in other sections of the country — that
the hillsides were unfit for the production of any
thing but sage brush and bunch grass. So, of
course, the valley of Fifteen Mile was chosen
for homes, and all those taking them up plunged
immediately into the business of stock-raising ;
some making a specialty of horses, others cattle
and not a few sheep. For years this latter was

*In 1883, after the town sprang into existence, the old Fifteen Mile
House was opened in modern style by Sylvester C Simmons.

the prominent industry of nearly the entire popT
ulation. But the range, being overstocked, was.
soon eaten out. Then came, providentially, the
discovery that grain could be grown with profit;.
farming came into vogue; each successive year
is likely to witness its increase.
For several years following the downfall of.
the "school" there was scanty settlement in the
neighborhood of Fifteen Mile Crossing. Affairs
remained thus at a standstill until 1872, when A..
J. and E. B. Dufur purchased a farm there and
engaged in sheep-raising on an extensive scale.
They secured adjoining lands, imported a large
number of thoroughbred sheep and engaged in
this prominent industry along extended lines.
Gradually the rich fertility of the "Highlands"
became known and appreciated — their sheep
range became more and more contracted.
We have spoken, perhaps too previously, con
cerning the first "business house" of Dufur — the
hotel. In 1878 opportunities in this section at
tracted the attention of a Michigan merchant, C.
A. Williams. That year he came to Fifteen Mile,
fcuilt a house and engaged in general merchan
dising. Shortly after this event the government
was induced to grant a postoffice to the settlers
on Fifteen Mile. It was named Dufur ; Mr. Wil
liams became the first postmaster. About this
period the school house, of which we have spoken,
was removed to the present location of the town,
near Williams' store. Shortly after these im
portant events in the town's history Edward
Bohna built a blacksmith shop, and this added
materially to the encouragement of the industries
at, and surrounding, the place. Then Mr. Bohna.
erected a residence ; by the time the townsite was
platted there was quite a little settlement.
July 11, 1 89 1, a correspondent of The Dalles
Tunes-Mountaineer wrote :
A few years ago the traveler along the old military
road would stop and rest his horses on the banks
of Fifteen Mile, and while smoking his pipe after
luncheon would remark: "What an elegant place
for a town," but not until the Dufur brothers, A. J.
and E. B., came into possession of the property was
any effort made in that direction. They did no
"booming," employed no real estate agents to photo
graph the Garden of Eden and pass it on an unsus
pecting public as the townsite of Dufur, but con
fident, of the superior advantages of their property,
surveyed off a small plat and soon wide awake busi
ness men and others, desiring pleasant homes, pur
chased lots and the town was started.
December 1, 1880, the townsite of Dufur was
platted by E. B. and A. J. Dufur, Jr. The patent
to the land which comprised the original town-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

165

site was issued by the United States to C. W.
Broback, September 16, 1872, and at once came
into possession of Joseph Beezley. A few days
later it was purchased by E. B. and A. J. Dufur
who retained possession until the platting in
1880. Connected with the material advancement
of Dufur will be remembered the names of Hon.
A. J. Dufur, his three sons, Dr. L. Vanderpool,
E. D. Bohna, William Heisler, A. J. Brigham,
the pioneer merchant, C. W. Williams, D. E.
Thomas, J. A. Guleford, A. J. Brigham, W. R.
Menefee, George Nedrow, Johnston Brothers,
(T. H. and G. W., who purchased the business
interests of C. A. Williams.)
August 21, 1881, there were visible signs of
permanent improvement in Dufur. The same
year Ridgley Lodge, I. O. O. F., was organized
and a commodious two-stpry hall and lodge room
erected. It was the first "large building in the
place, and as such, commanded a great deal of
interest. In 1883 another business enterprise was es
tablished. This was a general store opened by
William Heisler who conducted the business until
1887, when it was disposed of to W. R. Menefee
and A. J. Brigham. Describing the town ot
Dufur in 1885 The Dalles Times-Mountaineer
said : "Dufur is the market for a large stock
and farming country. Tri-weekly stages arrive
at this point carrying the United States Mail and
passengers. This is one of the oldest settled por
tions of the county and is constantly increasing
in population ancl wealth. The merchants are
very enterprising, and the town presents every
indication of thrift ancl growth."
In 1885 T. H. Johnston and George Johnston
came to the little town and bought out the store
of C. A. Williams. T. H. Johnston became post
master and retained the office for about ten years.
The Johnston Brothers enlarged the business
and have become largely identified with Dufur's
progress. In 1888 Dr. Whitcomb opened a drug
store. The actual building up of this town was
brought about largely through the desire of the
people living in the valley of Fifteen Mile creek
to secure educational advantages for their chil
dren. The school building erected in the town
in 1888 induced many farmers to purchase lots
and build houses in the neighborhood of this
school, which they, or a part of their families,
would occupy during the school term.
In 1889 Dufur consisted of two drug stores,
two hotels, two livery stables, one good school
house, used also as a church at that period, a shoe
shop, two general merchandise stores, one res
taurant, a blacksmith and wagon shop combined,
a roller mill, commodious hall and another for

the use of the Odd Fellows. Many new buildings
were in process of construction. This year and
in 1 890- 1 a number of the suburban additions to
Dufur were laid out and platted into lots. It
appeared to have been the aim of the Dufur
Brothers to sell property to those only who would
improve the same.
Dufur was incorporated as a town by a char
ter granted by the Oregon legislature and filed
in the office of the secretary of state February 10,
1893. An amended charter was granted Febru
ary 17, 1899, and another in 1903. April 5,
1893, the first city election was held and the fol
lowing were named for civic official positions :
A. J. Dufur, mayor; W. L. Vanderpool, T. H.
Johnston, L. J. Klinger, William Heisler, coun
cilmen ; A. J. Brigham, recorder ; C. P. Balch,
treasurer. During the "hard times" of 1893-7 Dufur
remained at a standstill. There was scarely a
building erected in town. But with the passing
of the great financial depression the place quickly
recuperated from its temporary stagnation and
once more resumed its old time activity. Within
the past decade Dufur has been, practically, built
up and many are the improvements that have
been made. January 1, 1898, The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer said :
Without any attempt to boom but by legitimate
advertising of the natural resources of the surround
ing country, Dufur has shown a more rapid growth
than ever before. In the past year there has been
an increase of over 50 per cent, in the population.
Twenty substantial residences and business houses
have been erected and many old ones improved. An
excellent water system sufficient for a city five times
the size has been provided, showing the confidence in
its growth. A large cemented reservoir on a hill some
two hundred feet above the town, gives abundant
pressure to the hydrants in nearly every residence, and
with the large mains makes an ordinary conflagration
easily controlled, thus making insurance rates reason
able. Dufur has a population of about 500. While her
growth in the past has not been abnormal, it has
been steady and healthy. * * * Aside from the
improvement in the town, over a million feet of lum
ber have been consumed in improvements in adjacent
communities; over 600,000 bushels of wheat has been
raised within a radius of twelve miles this season.

April 8, 1899, the Times-Mountaineer added
the following :
"Two years ago Messrs. W. L. Vanderpool
and T. H. Johnston bought a tract of land adja
cent to Dufur and laid out 34 blocks of 200 feet
square and placed them on the market. So rapid

1 66

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

has been the sale of this property that they have
found it necessary to plat another addition of 34
blocks to be known as the Fifth Addition to Du
fur. In the sale of this property they have made
it a rule to never dispose of any ground for spec
ulative purposes, only selling to such persons as
would agree to build homes on the land, hence it
will be seen that Dufur has enjoyed a substantial
growth of late."
The total assessed valuation of Dufur in 1903
was $68,450. Considerable improvement was
made in the way of municipal progress in 1904.
Two large, handsome brick business houses were
erected and, altogether, the town took long strides
in the line of material and industrial improvement.
In the air there was for many years agitation
for the construction of a railroad to Dufur. Early
in 1898 The Dalles, Dufur & Des Chutes Rail
road Company was incorporated, with the object
to build railway lines into the interior. One of
these projects was a road from The Dalles to
Dufur. The incorporators were E. E. Lytle, D.
C. O'Rielly and W. H. Moore. The capital stock
was $300,000. So far nothing has materialized,
although the survey was completed September
15, 1903-
But at last this railroad "talk" which has kept
the residents of this town on anxious seats for

many years gives promise of something tangible.
In the spring of 1904 the Great Southern rail
road began active preparations to construct a
road from The Dalles to Dufur. Grading was
commenced, representatives of the company ap
peared at Dufur for the purpose of securing de
pot location, right of way, etc. At this writing
(April, 1905), the grading of the Great Southern
to Dufur is completed ; the prospect is fair for
finishing the line in time to move the crop of
1905. Needless it is to say that this road will
wonderfully benefit the town, and more especially
so provided Dufur remains the terminus.
Concisely speaking Dufur has an excellent
water supply, fire department, electric lights, good
schools, etc., and is universally up to date in al
most every particular. The buildings of the town
are substantial — there are no "shacks." The-
churches comprise the United Brethren ; Rev. W.
N. Blodgett, pastor; Methodist Episcopal, G.
R. Moorhead, pastor, and the Christian Church
P. P. Underwood, pastor.
Of fraternal societies there are Ridgley
Lodge, No. 71, I. O. O. F. ; Star Rebekah Lodge
No 23 ; Nicholson Encampment No. 44 ; Dufur
Camp No. 215 ; United Artisans, Dufur Assem
bly No. 112, and Mt. Hood Lodge No. 1331, M.
B.A.

CHAPTER VIII

OTHER TOWNS.

ANTELOPE.
In size Antelope ranks fourth among the mu
nicipalities of Wasco county. It is situated in the
heart of a great producing country, and at one
time was the headquarters of the most extensive
sheep and stock ranges in the United States.
Prior to the extension of the Columbia South
ern road, this section furnished to the market
more sheep ancl wool than any other country
having double its area in the Northw-est. Until
Shaniko became a railroad town Antelope en
joyed all the wool prestige, but it yet remains the
business center of a grand section of country.
The city of Antelope is situated seven miles
southeast of Shaniko, the present terminus of the
Columbia Southern Railway ; beautifully located
in a rich valley ; surrounded by hills on every

side ; an ideal residence locality. From The
Dalles it is 97 miles southeast. It is surrounded
by cool, living springs and there are innumer
able wells. Than Antelope a prettier townsite
could not have been chosen. Green meadows
stretch down to the west, and gradually sloping
hills on either side render it a pleasant, desirable
location. At present the population of the town
is 300. Antelope derives its name from the once vast
herds of these animals that browsed upon the
hills surrounding the townsite. In early days
bands of hundreds of antelope could be counted
on the hillsides any day and in any direction
from the town. But at present these "'pert and
piquant" little animals have entirely disappeared,
and it is many miles to the nearest antelope

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

167

Howard Maupin was the earliest settler in the
Antelope country. In the '6o's he located on the
site of the old Antelope, later moving to another
place in the valley. This was about two miles
from the present site of Antelope. At the time
he settled there The Dalles-Canyon City road
had not been built, but the place was on the pack-
trail leading from The Dalles to the Canyon City
mines. This trail crossed the Des Chutes river
about four miles above Sherar's Bridge, or Mau-
pin's ferry. August 12, 1872, "a correspondent of
the Antelope Herald said :
"What changes have been brought to bear on
Antelope since the time when Chief Paulina
roamed over the Antelope hills, stealing and com
mitting all kinds of crimes, until one of the old
pioneers, M. H. Maupin, caught him at one of
his bold tricks on the hill just opposite the town
of Antelope, to the northeast, and laid the chief
low with a well aimed bullet from his Win
chester, thus putting an end to the war-whoop
of Chief Paulina and his braves. Then Mr.
Maupin could look for and wide over the vast
prairie, with nothing to disturb the monotony of
the surroundings save the sight of his own hut.
Those days are now gone, and look at the lovely
valley and the beautiful town of Antelope today."
On the old Antelope location, two miles east
of the present town, Nathan W. Wallace settled
in 1870. And it was in 1873 tnat tne °ld town
of Antelope came into existence. It was on the
place first tenanted by Maupin that Wallace lo
cated, and about the year 1873 he officiated as
host at the stage station which he there estab
lished. He, also, secured a postoffice which was
named Antelope, and of which Wallace became
postmaster. The town had that pioneer estab
lishment of all new western settlements, a black
smith shop. In 1879 the business of this hamlet
was increased by a store conducted by Nate
Baird, who later became postmaster. These
primitive business enterprises constituted the
town of Antelope until its migration, in 1881, to
its present location. The site of this "Hazard of
New Fortunes" was then owned by N. R. Baird
and B. F. Laughlin.
During the earlier days of the '70's hostile
tribes of Indians made frequent incursions into
this section of country, and the old Wallace
home, built on Stockade plan, with loop holes
through the heavy hewn logs, was a frequent ren
dezvous for the scattered settlers of the country.
Mr. Wallace continued to live in Antelope until
his death, September 10, 1904.
In 1 88 1 the stage route was changed; no
longer it passed the Wallace place. It was at this
period that the town of Antelope changed its lo

cation. On the present site of Antelope a stage
station was built by Dr. Owsley, and was
shortly afterward purchased by • Mr. Wallace,
who moved it to the new location, and brought
the postoffice with him. Nathan Baird also
moved his store down, and a man by the name of
Carter erected in the new town a building which
is now known as Tammany Hall.
The patent to the land upon which Antelope
is located was issued to Nathan Baird and B. F.
Laughlin — that is the town was laid out upon
land which had been homesteaded by these per
sons, the line separating their claims running
through the town. September 14, 1882, the town-
site was platted by Baird and Laughlin. But the
official procedure did not, immediately, cause a
stampede to the new place, nor did active build
ing operations immediately begin. Not until 1887
was there much to show in the way of a town at
Antelope. That year a store was moved down
from Cross Hollow, one or two stores estab
lished, and, as Mr. R. C. Rooper said : "There
was enough of a town so that you could see it
with the naked eye." As an eye-witness of the
town's sudden impetus in 1892 we quote from
the Antelope Herald of September 2d :
"Antelope is at present witnessing a great
boom. Lumber is being hauled from the mills
and piled up here every day only awaiting the
action of the carpenters to convert it into busi
ness houses, residences, etc. Everyone is im
proving his property and erecting new additions
thereto. Town lots are selling at a rapid rate and
at good prices. Outsiders are beginning to real
ize the superior advantages of living at Antelope
and are investing in lots here in order to build
residences thereon so as to send their children to
school when the new school house is completed."
January 6, 1893, the Herald added this :
"The town of Antelope, during the past year,
has undergone a greater change ancl has wit
nessed greater prosperity than during any prev
ious year in the history of her existence. Prior to
the above year the town neither improved very
rapidly nor did it retrograde, but with the advent
of 1892 the superior advantages and opportuni
ties which the town of Antelope furnishes, be
came established to the outside world, and the
consequence was that the people from nearly
every county in the state pulled up and settled
here." Among other improvements this year, notable
at the time, were the establishment of a general
merchandise store by E. M. Wingate and Frank
Irvine; the Antelope Herald; drugstore by Dr.
Franke and J. Silvertooth ; remodeling of the
Laughlin Hotel ; warehouse by W. Bolton ; new

1 68

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

school house ; barber and shoemaker shops ; or
ganization of A. O. U. W. and W. C. T. U.
societies, and a large number of residences.
Of course the "hard times" of 1893 were ex
perienced in Antelope — as the epidemic was uni
versal — but in proportion to her size Antelope
.did not suffer so much as hundreds of other com
munities in the state. The town improved con
siderably during the early days of 1893.
At last came the time when "incorporation"
was in the air. It was in the summer of 1896
that the citizens of Antelope petitioned the
Wasco county court for the privilege of voting
upon the question of incorporation. They alleged
that there were 170 inhabitants within the pro
posed boundaries, and the petition was signed by
51 electors. This movement was decided upon
.at a mass meeting held August 7th, at which
were present nearly every male citizen in the
town, and all there were solid for incorporation.
At the September session of the county court
the petition was granted and October 19th named
as the day of election, and to select the first city
officials. Judges of election named were T. J.
Harper, P. A. Kirchheiner ancl W. Bolton;
clerks, M. E. Miller and E. M. Shutt.
October 23, 1896, a canvass of the votes cast
showed the following : For incorporation, 33 ;
against, 14. These were elected : Mayor, John
L. Hollingshead ; Aldermen — S. W. Patterson,
John McLennon, W. Bolton, N. R. Baird, W. H.
Silvertooth, N. W. Wallace; recorder, (tie vote),
Peter A. Kirchheiner and M. E. Miller, (Miller
qualified): marshal, F. T. Cook; treasurer,
Frank Irvine. This election was to name officers
to serve only until the annual city election which
was to occur December 8th. At this last election
all the same officials were returned. The first
meeting of the council was held November 18th,
and from 1896 Antelope dates her existence as a
city. Highly prosperous was the year 1897 for
Antelope. The sluggish effects of "hard times"
were thrown off ; the new blood of activity and
business enterprise filled her veins. That year
Antelope saw real prosperity ; the greatest in her
history up to that date. At the close of 1897 the
present town had two large general merchandise
stores owned by Bolton & Company and Frank
Irvine ; a commodious and complete drug store
by Dr. R. J. Pilkington, who was, also, a suc
cessful surgeon ancl physician ; two blacksmith
shops by Peter A. Kirchheiner and Antone Nel
son ; three saloons by F. W. Silvertooth, McLen
nan & McBeth and McKay & Tunny ; four large
and well furnished hotels conducted by W. J. Ash-
by, W. Wallace, McLennan & McBeth and Mrs.
M. E. Perrin ; a barber shop and confectionery

store owned by G. E. Patterson ; two large livery
stables conducted by W. J. Ashby and Henry
Dyce ; a harness and saddlery establishment by
C. F. Perrin ; a meat market by G. E. Patterson ;
the Antelope Herald printing office with M. E.
Miller as editor and proprietor ; a furniture and
undertaking store by E. J. Glisan ; also E. C.
Dickerson had under construction a bowling al-
-ley and J. T. Bennett was erecting a new sta
tionery store and post office building. Besides
these were the A. F. & A. M., the A. O. U. W.,
the Woodmen and the D. of H. lodges all in a
flourishing condition.
After many happy escapes from disastrous
fire the town suffered by quite a serious con
flagration. Monday, July 11, 1898, at 2:30
o'clock, a. m. Citizens were aroused from their
slumbers by the cry of "fire ;" in less than one
hour and thirty minutes the business portion of
Antelope was a mass of wreck and ruin. Only
an apparently special act of Providence at an
opportune moment, the changing of the wind,
combined with the heroic efforts of the people,
saved the town from destruction. This fire orig
inated in the Condon bowling alley.
Within a few minutes the flames had spread
so that this building was beyond saving. ' So rap
idly raced the flames that before people were
thoroughly aroused the Antelope hotel was
ablaze. Without clothing or personal property
the guests ancl other inmates managed to save
their lives. From the south side the flames
spread to the livery stable ; thence onward down
the street to Kirchheiner's blacksmith shop, Dr.
Pilkington's drug store, the postoffice and store,
Gilsan & Brown's furniture, McBeth's saloon and
hotel and the Scott building. While the black
smith shop was burning Silvertooth's saloon.
caught ; Patterson's store and W. Bolton & Com
pany's big store were the last aflame.
On the north side of Main street all the build
ings between Kirchheiner's residence and Riley's
little house were destroyed. On the south side of
Main street between the Union House and Silver-
tooth's residence next to the Herald office. Very
little was saved from any of the burned buildings.
A conservative estimate places the loss at about
$70,000, with insurance of $25,000, divided as
follows : Masonic Lodge, $4,000, insurance,
$1,400; Condon & Powne, $900; T. G. Condon,
$250; W. J. Ashby, $2,000; W. D. Jones, $5,000;
P. A. Kirchheiner, $2,500, insurance, $500; R.
J. Pilkington, $2,000, insurance, $800 ; J. T. Ben
nett, $1,000, insurance, $250; Gilsan & Brown,
$1,200, insurance, $300; F. McBeth, $6,000, in
surance, $1,500; D. Scott, $500; F. W. Silver
tooth, $1,250, insurance, $500; W. Bolton, $50,-
000, insurance, $20,000; N. W. Wallace, $500;

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

169

H. W. Gamble, $100; G. E. Patterson, $2,000,
insurance, $800; F. M. Dial, $2,000, insurance,
$1,500; John Ogle, $100; M. E. Miller, $100.
By September the town of Antelope was in a
fair way of recovery from the terrible disaster
that had overtaken it. The new store ^buildings
which were rapidly rebuilt, were much better
structures than had been the old ones, in every
way. And the new Antelope bid fair to become
one of the handsomest towns in the interior and,
for its size, one of the best. A splendid gravity
system of water works was constructed in 1898,
and supplies the city with pure water from the
hills a mile and one-half distant. This system
together with 500 feet of hose, hose-carts, lad
ders, hooks, buckets and a set of resolute fire
fighters, makes the town comparatively safe from
a repetition of a similar disaster. March 31,
1899, the Antelope Herald said :
"The $4,000 of city bonds will be sold to
morrow. This will place the city's finances in
fine condition, as there will be no other indebted
ness except the bonded debt, and the city is well
able to take care of that. To. show for this debt
we have a splendid system of waterworks, a good
reservoir and well-equipped fire company. How
many other towns of the size of Antelope can
make so good a showing?"
By certain pessimistic "gloomists" it had been
predicted that when the Columbia Southern rail
road was extended and the town of Shaniko came
into existence, which it did in the spring of 1900,
Antelope would fade away from the surface of
the earth. However, this was not the case ; if
anything Antelope became more prosperous than
ever. The philosophical editor of the Morning
•Oregonian said, July 7, 1900:
"The theory that location of the town of
Shaniko, at the terminus of the Columbia South
ern railroad within six miles of Antelope would
kill the place has been practically exploded.
Trains have been running into that point now for
about two months, and if there is any difference
in the prosperity of Antelope, it is in Antelope's
favor. While Antelope is, comparatively an old
town, it is just as live and always has been as a
new town."
The total assessed valuation of Antelope in
1903 was $48,600. The fraternal societies of the
town now comprise: Antelope Lodge No. 116,
A. F. & A. M. ; Madeline Lodge No. 59, O. E. S. ;
Antelope Lodge No. 44, A. O. U. W. ; Purity
Lodge No. 39, Degree of Honor ; Virtue Lodge
No 146. I. O. O" F., Sheep Camp, No. 367,
W. of W.
The religious societies are represented by the
Methodist Episcopal and Episcopalian churches.
The town is supplied with splendid schools.

SHANIKO.
This town is the fifth in size in the county of
Wasco, the youngest in age and among the first
in business transactions. It is located some sixty
miles south of the Columbia river ; 2,500 feet
above sea level. The views of the Cascade range
of mountains ; the snow-crowned peaks of the
Three Feathers, Mounts Hood, Jefferson, Adams,
St. Helens and Rainer (or Tacoma), cannot be
surpassed from any other point in the entire
state of Washington. Its location has been
graphically described by the Morning Oregonian
of January 1, 1900:
"The site is on a plain that slopes gently
toward the northeast, in line with the prevailing
winds. It is about 2,500 feet above sea level and
commands an extensive view, in all directions.
From any part of the town eight perpetual snow
peaks are visible. * * * No accurate data of
the climate and temperature are available, but
old settlers assure the writer that the mercury
seldom touches zero, and the winters are usually
short, and on account of exposure to the warm
Chinook winds snow seldom lies on the ground
for more than a few days at a time. The mod
erate elevation of the townsite secures it against
oppressive heat in summer, and with abundance
of pure air, the best facilities in the world for
drainage, and abundance of cool, living water,
Shaniko ought to make an ideally healthful
town." As might be readily supposed from the sound,
the name of this new metropolis is not of Indian
derviation. It is an Americanized patronymic of
a former honest German resident named Scher-
neckau, whom his neighbors in proud defiance
or all Teutonic orthography, persisted in calling
by the name of the new town. Thus the honest
German became, practically, named after the
town instead of the town being named after him^
vhich was the intention.
The earlier history of Shaniko, paradoxical
as it may appear, begins long before there existed
such a place. At present it is located near what
was long an important station on the main wagon
road between The Dalles and Canyon City,
known as Cross Hollow. In no sense was Shan-
ico a boom town ; rather a child of necessity. To
any one acquainted with the topography of
Eastern Oregon it is unnecessary to state that
lines of communication whether by rail or
wagon, almost invariably followed well defined
routes. Thus, for many years the bulk of all the
traffic between the interior of Eastern Oregon
and the head of navigation on the Middle Colum
bia was conveyed over two wagon roads that con
verged at Bakeoven, a few miles west of the

170

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

present Shaniko. From thence to The Dalles one
single expensive toll road carried the greater por
tion of all the traffic of a territory nearly as large
as the states of Vermont and New Hampshire.
It was at once seen that Shanico must eventually
become a shipping point with railway facilities ;
the prediction has been verified. All roads from
the great stock ranges of the interior lead to
Shaniko. While the history of the town of Shaniko
does not begin until the spring of 1900, the site
upon which it is built is an old one with an inter
esting history. Here, in 1878, A. Scherneckau
built a place which he operated as a stopping
point on the stage line, it being one day's jour
ney from The Dalles. In addition to his inn he
conducted a small store, a preponderance of his
goods being of an alcoholic character. He was,
also, the proprietor of a blacksmith shop. In
1882, the country having considerably developed
by settlement, Scherneckau erected a separate
building for his store besides making other im
provements. He opened an extensive stock of
goods and for several years conducted an im
mense business — some have estimated it as high
as $50,000 a year. This place was known as
Cross Hollow. But finally the "Hollow" began
to wane. The place ceased to be a stage station.
Mr. Scherneckau disposed of his property to
William Farr who, for awhile, conducted the
business and in 1887, considering the new town
of Antelope a more favorable location, moved his
stock, store building and all to the new town.
Cross Hollow was no more.
Thus the site remained, a place in memory
only, until the fall of 1899, when it became known
that the Cross Hollow site had been selected as
the terminus of the railway. In August, 1899,
the surveyors, having laid out a site for the new
town, returned to Moro. Moore Brothers, bank
ers, purchased the site and prepared to back the
enterprise with hard cash. A bank, warehouse,
hotel, general store with the terminal buildings
of the Columbia Southern Railroad were antic
ipated as the nucleus of a thriving western city
and the key to a vast region hitherto handi
capped by a long haul to a railroad point. Antici
pating the future of this town The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer, September 20, 1899, said:
There is no longer any doubt that the Colum
bia Southern will be pushed on south from Moro to
the town of Shaniko (Cross Hollow), as rapidly as
possible, and that the latter place will for years to
come be the terminus of the road, for when the road
is completed to that place there will be little reason
for building it farther, as it will be in a position to
handle all the freight traffic for many miles south.

And so long as Shaniko is the southern terminus of
the road it will be a lively and thriving place.
Recognizing this fact a number of Dalles peo
ple have interested themselves in the place and will
endeavor to make what they can out of it. Messrs.
Lord -and Laughlin have taken stock in the Shaniko-
Warehouse Company, which proposes to erect a.
large wool and grain warehouse at that place and
do a general forwarding, storage and commission'
business. They have, also, with other Dalles peo
ple, taken an interest in the Shaniko Townsite Com
pany, incorporated yesterday with a capital stock
of $48,000, the purpose of which is to acquire title
to realty, build waterworks, electric light plants,-
etc. The incorporators are B. F. Laughlin, E. C.
Pease, D. M. French, W. Lord and J. W. French,
of The Dalles; W. H. and H. A. Moore, of Moro.
The fact that these gentlemen have interested them
selves in these enterprises is evidence that there
is money back of the town of Shaniko, which is one
of the principal things to put it going.
The plat of the Shaniko townsite was filed in
the office of the county clerk September 8, 1899.
It was platted on the property of W. H. and
Laura Moore. The first building erected was by
G. G. Wiley, in March, 1900; this was followed
by the Shaniko Townsite Company, who built a
fine two-story house. In laying out the town-
site the company established grades for streets
and sidewalks, planned a magnificent system of
water-works and a complete sewer system. The
original site comprised thirty blocks of 12 lots
each, 50x100 feet in size. The business streets
are 100, and the residence thoroughfares, 80 feet
in width. The Shaniko Warehouse Company was in
corporated the latter part of September, 1899,.
with a capital of 842,000. The incorporators
were W. Lord, B. F. Laughlin and W. H. Moore.
In January, 1900, the officials of the Shaniko-
Townsite Company advertised in the Morning
Oregonian, a liewsoaner printed at Portland, that
the Columbia Southern Railway would be com
pleted to Shaniko by April 1, 1901. In this ad
vertisement the company stated that Shaniko
was destined to become the largest wool market
in the world. In March, 1900, more than one
hundred persons were employed in various works
in progress in the new town. All of these boarded"
and slept in tents. At that period there was only
one wooden building erected ; a mere temporary
shack utilized as a saloon. Men were then flock
ing into town daily ; material was coming in fast.
But not until April 20, 1900, did Shaniko enjoy
the privilege of a postoffice.
May 13, 1900, a railroad construction train-
rolled into the municipal boundaries of the town-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

171

of Shaniko. Two days subsequently regular
passenger and freight trains arrived and de
parted daily. On the 16th from The Dalles, went
J. W. and D. M. French, E. C. Pease and W.
Lord, of the Shaniko Townsite Company, to look
over their new possessions. With them went
William Henry for the purpose of establishing a
drug store. The federal census of June 1, 1900,
gave Shaniko a population of 172 permanent res
idents ; the fifth town in size in the county. The
water which supplies Shaniko is obtained from
springs, pure and clear as crystal, gushing forth
from the hillsides. These were cleaned out, ce
mented up and piped to a large receiving reser
voir holding 120,000 gallons, and from that the
water is pumped into the auxiliary reservoir
which stands high above all the buildings and
holds 60,000 gallons. The water system was
completed and mains laid over the city and con
nections made in July, 1900. It is owned by the
Townsite Company and cost $20,000.
Shaniko experienced its first fire October 2,
1900, when the Pease & Mays store, an iron
structure, 100 feet square, was destroyed, to
gether with Pease & Mays' general merchandise
stock and Houghton & Henry's drug stock, which
were located in the building. The fire, which
was supposed to have originated from a defec
tive flue, was discovered about 8 :30 a. m., in
the drug store, but had gained such headway that
it was impossible to save either the stock or
building. The latter was constructed a year
ago at a cost of $6,000. Pease & Mays carried
a $20,000 stock of merchandise and their store
fixtures were valued at $2,000. Houghton &
Henry's stock and fixtures were valued at $5,000,
making a total value of $33,000. All was well
insured. This was, of course, a serious loss to
the town, since the stores burned were the lead
ing mercantile establishments of the place. Since
then they have all been rebuilt.
The election deciding the question of incor
poration of Shaniko was held February 9, 1901.
It resulted in the election of the following city
officials: Mayor, F. T. Hurlbert; recorder, E.
Lewis ; marshal, Dell Howell ; treasurer, Don
Rae ; councilmen, C. C. Cooper, N. M. Lane, Fen
Batty, George Ross, H. Brunner, F. Lucas.
January T, 1902, Shaniko was a populous,
growing community. Besides the railroad shops
it contains the most extensive wool warehouse in
the state, from which 4,000,000 pounds were mar
keted in 1901. Throughout the country was a
great cattle raising section, and for the _ fiscal
year ending June 30, 400 car-loads were shipped.
The total assessment valuation in 1903 was
$72,435. June 14, 1904, there were sold in
Shaniko 1,250,000 pounds of wool at prices

ranging from 14 to 17 cents. June 2d, prev
iously, 1,000,000 pounds changed hands. It was
estimated that the total wool sales for that year
ran close into the 5,000,000 mark. Shaniko, being
the distributing point for an immense scope of
country, is supplied with stages to all parts of the
interior off the lines of railway. It is the present
terminus of the Columbia Southern Railway, and
the point of arrival and departure of Prineville
and Bend stage companies.
The fraternal societies of Shaniko are repre
sented by Shaniko Lodge No. 67, A. O. U. W. ;
Shaniko camp No. 1012, M. W. A., and Ollie
Lodge No. 79, Degree of Honor.
The Methodist Episcopal Church is the only
one in Shaniko. CASCADE LOCKS.
This is a village on the Columbia river and
tlie line of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation
Company, forty-five miles east of Portland, and
forty-three miles west of The Dalles. The re
ligious element is represented by Methodist and
Catholic Churches ; it has a population of about
300, a saw mill and a number of business houses.
The town of Cascade Locks has grown into
prominence since the building of the "Locks" in
1880. At the time the government commenced
the work was a matter of necessity, buildings were
erected and a few business houses opened. For
many years the existence of this town depended
upon the locks, but with development of the fish
ing industry quite a number of wheels were
placed in operation. The location is picturesque.
The river, an angry current at this point, sweeps
along a grass and moss-covered bank, and on
either side giant mountains rear their summits
often above the clouds. Groves of pine, fir, cedar
and hemlock cluster in pleasant groups in the vi
cinity, affording a cooling shade in the summer
and a pleasant resort for tourists. In the neigh
boring streams are many active yet sagacious
trout; in the forests and on the mountain sides
elk and deer. This locality has been called the
Switzerland of the Northwest, and it is certain
that no Alpine scene excels in grandeur and
beauty the Cascades of the Columbia. The gov
ernment work at this place was, practically, com
pleted in 1896, but there have been appropria
tions since. As a summer resort Cascade Locks
has acquired prominence; with the certain in
crease of Oregon population these picturesque
hillsides will be dotted with the summer cottages
of wealthy citizens, who will here resort for
temporary seclusion from active business life.
July 19, 1901, The Dalles Times-Mountaineer
said:

¦172

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Few Oregonians realize all the attractive feat
ures of Cascade Locks as a summer resort, else the
"white city" there would be counted by the hun
dreds instead of being a few score of pleasure
seekers who have learned of its comforts and are
selfish enough to enjoy them without letting the rest
of the world know what a paradise there is. With
in a quarter of a mile of the depot is located the
camp grounds, a romantic dell in the mountains,
shaded so perfectly that the sun scarcely kisses mother
¦ earth during the entire day. The purest mountain
water is led to the grounds by a pipe line, and the
- air is as perfect and exhilarating as could be en-
cour.tered on the summit of Mount Hood.
Besides all these advantages of the mountains one
is still within civilization and within reach of every
comfort to be had in the cities. The stores ancl mar
kets in the town of Cascade Locks are supplied with
everything, and prices are as reasonable as in Port
land or The Dalles. Six trains and four boats pass
there daily, hence the camper is not removed from the
outside world ; in fact business men spending the
summer there can superintend their business about
as well from there as if they were at home, since
they are an hour and one-half by rail from either
Portland or The Dalles, and the place is also con
nected by telegraph and telephone with both these
cities. True, Cascade Locks has not the attraction of
mineral springs or anything to renew life except the
pure water, mountain air and magnificent scenery, but
it is only an half hour's ride by boat to either the
Collins or Moffit springs.
But in May, 1880, conditions were somewhat
different. There were then two stores, three
"hotels (one quite commodious,) a restaurant, two
saloons, another devoted exclusively to the sale
of beer, a shoe shop, butcher shop, and a num
ber of private residences. A commodious school
house was in process of erection. There were
about one hundred residents exclusive of the
employes on the locks who then numbered 350.
Occasionally services were held by the Catholics.
It was in 1880 that Cascade Locks was the
victim of a great flood in common with many
other river towns at that period. At certain
times the inhabitants were compelled to seek
higher ground for safety. However, no great
damage was experienced. Bv autumn, 1880,
'Cascade Locks had arrived at the following pro
portions : stores, shops and dwellings, 10; sa
loons, including a building soon to be opened, 12.
By July 20, 1881, there were 80 men at work
on the locks. The town exhibited some signs of
improvement, but business activity depended
greatlv on the government work. There was a
line of coaches under charge of Mr. Bothwick,
which conveyed passengers betwfeen the boat

landings. In 1885 the population was transitory,
numbering about 200, nearly all of whom were in
government employment. The exceptions were
those attending fish wheels. Up to the time the
boats went through these locks the government
had expended $3,000,000 in their construction
to overcome the rapids in the river, a more ex
tended description of this being given in the cur
rent chapters of the history of Wasco county. In
March, 1905, the government appropriated $30,-
000 for improvements pn the locks. The census
of 1900 gave Cascade Locks a population of 248.
During the early history of the town Cascade
Locks held its place on the map simply because
of the government works. It now stands on its
own business reputation ; the fishing industry ;
its sawmills and general attractions as a summer
resort. TYGH VALLEY.
This village has a population of about 150. It
is situated 30 miles south of The Dalles. Con
cisely speaking it has telephone connections ;
daily stage to Kingsley, Dufur and The Dalles ;
a newspaper, general store, blacksmith shop, etc.
The religious element is represented by the
United Brethren Church. The town is pictur
esquely located on the bank of Tygh Creek, a
tributary of White River, amid groves of pop
lars and cottonwoods, forming an agreeable con
trast to the bare and rugged hills of the vicinity.
The postoffice was established in 1885.
"Tygh" is an Indian name, and Indians of
the present day pronounce it with an accent diffi
cult to imitate by speakers of English. At a
time when there were few settlers in the neigh
borhood H. Staley built a store and conducted a
thriving business with whites and Indians from
Warm Springs reservation. Later he disposed
of this store to J. M. ancl C. J. Van Duyne. The
town was platted June 13, 1892, by Charles J.
Van Duyne. MOSIER.
So much has been written concerning the
pioneer towns of Wasco county that present de
scriptions are necessarily abbreviated. The vil
lage of Mosier is located on the line of the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company, fourteen
miles west of The Dalles and six miles east of
Hood River. It is theologically represented by
the Methodist, Christian and Catholic churches.
It has a saw mill, two general stores, a box fac
tory, blacksmith shop. etc. Mosier is. compara
tively, a new town, but is named after one of
Wasco county's prominent pioneers, of whom

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

173-

much will be found in the current chapters of
Wasco county history. The Times-Mountaineer
said, June 21, 1904: "J. N. Mosier, who was in
the city today, said that the town of Mosier is
showing a good and healthy growth this year.
During the coming summer there will be a num
ber of buildings erected, including a hotel, store,
hall and several residences." KINGSLEY.
This town is located seven miles south of
Dufur, ancl is the center of a large farming set
tlement. It contains a store, blacksmith shop,
saloon, etc. Three times a week the place is
visited by a stage to and from Dufur. The town-
site was platted May 16, 1893. ' Kingsley is one
of the oldest settlements of Wasco county, in a
rich farming country in the eastern portion. It is
distant twenty-four miles south of The Dalles.
There is located here a Catholic church.
WAPINITIA.
Lies forty-five miles south of The Dalles, with
a daily stage and mail between the two points ;
has two stores ; hotel ; saloon and a blacksmith
shop. H. T. Corum opened a store at this point
in 1883 and became postmaster. It is one of the
older towns of the county and in 1885 the Times-
Mountaineer said of it:
"Oak Grove takes its name from the settle
ment. A stage line runs three times a week, and
it is about fifty miles from The Dalles. This is
on the Tygh route and has a tri-weekly stage.
The name of the postoffice is Wapinitia."
WAMIC.
This place is located on Three Mile creek, a
tributary of White River, thirty-seven miles south
of The Dalles, from which it has a daily stage.
It contains a store, saw mill, hotel and blacksmith
shop.- It is six miles southeast of Tygh, on both
banks of the stream, and on the very edge of
Mount Hood's timbered foothills. It is a decid
edly pleasant and healthful location. Wamic
came into existence in the early '80's, and for
several vears did business under the pseudonym
of Prattsville, in honor of Mr. Jason Pratt, an
old settler who owned most of the land where
Wamic now stands ; Mr. Pratt came to the place
from the east some forty-six years ago. He came
to Wamic with ox teams and assisted many an
earlv immigrant to take his wagons over the
bluffs of Tvgh before there was any sign of a
wagon road in the vicinity. Although in poor
health at that period he lived and raised sons to

plow and reap above the old time wagon trails.
Wamic is surrounded by a good belt of farming
country. In the summer of 1889 Wamic con
sisted of a general merchandise store and post-
office, millinery store, brickyard, and two saw
mills in the vicinity. It is now a thriving vil- -
lage of about 100 population. BOYD
Is on Fifteen Mile creek, eleven miles south
of The Dalles and three miles northeast of Dufur.
It has two churches, Methodist and Adventists,
and two general stores. It is situated in the
midst of a rich agricultural country, and sup
ports one store, church, school, etc. The post-
office was established in April, 1894, ancl J. E.
Barnett became postmaster. It is, evidently, a
prosperous little city. BAKEOVEN.
On Bakeoven Creek, is just south of the
Sherman county line ; 50 miles southeast of The
Dalles and eight northwest of Shaniko. It has
a postoffice, general merchandise store, a hotel
and blacksmith shop. The elevation above sea
level of Bakeoven is 2,200 feet.
Those who have seen the name "Bakeoven"
on the map, or heard it pronounced, would be in
clined to believe that it was a decidedly warm
locality. Such, however, is not the case. Here is
the story of its christening :
In the very early days when the settlers be
tween The Dalles and the Canyon City mines
could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and
the Indians were inclined to be saucy, a French
man started from The Dalles with a cargo of
flour for the mines. When he reached the point
now known as Bakeoven he went into camp.
During the night the Indians ran off with his
mules. He was in a grave predicament, but did
not despair. Gathering some rocks he built a
stone oven, and then and there baked his cargo
of flour into bread. This is the story related by
old timers. But some links to this tale must be
left to the imagination ; for instance ; he must .
have water and other ingredients with which to
make bread that would not choke a mule. The
story ends with the statement that the French
man sold the bread to the miners and realized a
much greater profit than he would with the raw
product. Old timers, to this day, will point out
the blackened stones which were a part of the
Frenchman's oven. Ever since this spot has been
known as Bakeoven, becoming one of the early
day postofficcs of Wasco county.
Of this place Mr. H. C. Rooper says :

174

HISTORY Ob" CFNTRAI. ORFGON.

"In the early '70's Andy Swift located on the
present site of Hake-oven, the meeting place of the
Prineville and Canyon City stage roads, which
here united into the road to The Dalles. He
here built a stage house, opened a small store and
secured the establishment of a postoffice which
was named Bakeoven. This business was pur
chased by Burgess & Taylor in the early '70's.
About 1877 Burgess bought his partner's interest
and conducted the business there until recent
years, disposing of it a few years ago."

With the construction of the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company's lines, in 1880, Ce
lilo came into existence. It is located at the la-
mous Celilo Falls of the Columbia, in the ex
treme northeastern portion of the county. Celilo
is twelve miles east of The Dalles and consists
mainly of a postoffice and fish-canncrv. Novem
ber 23. 1S80, The Dalles Times said': "Though
Rlalock's is now the landing, ancl the up-river
boats are moored there, yet the old town of Celilo
still remains, and the long wharf-boat is still at
tached to the bank."
November 30th the Times added :
"Celilo not deserted — At present there arc at
this point 25 carloads of car material; 11,000
iron rails and about 1,400 kegs of spikes and bolts
for the N. P. R. P., awaiting shipment. Tho
car castings arc now being transferred to Ains
worth, where employees of the N. 1'. R. R. are
busily at work constructing flat and box cars.
This material will all be shipped to Ainsworth
so soon as the track is completed."
In 18S5 The Dalles Times-Mountaiueer said:
"Celilo is a historic point, but since the com
pletion of the railroad it is a wayside station of
no importance. All freight destined for the up
per country had to be transferred from the cars
to the boat, as this was the terminus of the por
tage around the dalles of the Columbia. For
many \ears it has boon used as a 'bono yard'
for boats of the company."
Wrentham, named from an old town in Mass
achusetts, is a postoffice in the northeastern por

tion of Wasco county, a short distance cast of
I'.oyd. It is twelve miles southeast of The Hallos,
with a semi-weekly stage from that point.
Wyeth is a station ami postotlico on the line
of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company,
between Cascade Locks and Hood River. It is
30 miles west of Tho Dalles and thirteen west of
1 lood River.
Mount Hood is tho name of a postotlico mid
way between llood River and tho mountains.
Tho postoffice was established in July, 1S05,
when Oscar FridenboYg became postmaster. All
that remain arc the store and postofliee, black
smith shop and lumber yard. It lies about fifteen
miles south of llood River.
Yionto lies tw cut \ -nine miles west of Tho
Dalles; a station on the lino of the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company, and the Columbia
river. It has a saw and planing mill, ono store
and is accommodated with daily boats to Port
land and The Hallos.
Victor is a small village thirt \ -seven miles
south of The Hallos with a semi-weekly mail
service. It is in tho White River country, at tho
foothills ol tho Cascades.
On tho Warm Springs Indian reservation is
Simnasho postofliee, sixty miles south of The
Hallos. It has a tri-weekly stage to Wapinitia
and Tho Hallos. Sherar 1 '.ridge is a postollice
on the Dos Chutes, at tho mouth of White river.
It lies thirty-one miles southeast oi The Hallos.
Ridgewav consists of a postofliee located in a
farm house and is fifteen miles southwest of
Shaniko. Friend is a postoffice in central Wasco county,
west of Kingsley. It is thirty miles southwest
of Tho Dalles. It has a United Urethral church,
a blacksmith shop and there arc several saw
mills in tho vicinity.
West of Dufur ami eleven miles south of Tho
Dalles is the little village of Endorsloy, with a
general store.
Menominee is a postofliee formerly known
as Nioolai. on tho line of the Oregon Railroad i\
Navigation Company ami tho Columbia river,'
thirty miles west of Tho Dalles, and a few miles
west of 1 lood River.

CHAPTER IX

DESCRIPTIVE.

The boundaries of Wasco county, together
with a full description of its once vast territory
and subsequent frequent divisions, have been
fully treated in the current history of this"Mother
of Counties." It remains for us to detail its pres
ent condition, topographically, geologically ancl
¦otherwise. As has been shown, Wasco county, in the
year of our Lord, 1905, is only a remnant of a
once mammoth territory. It is situated on the
northern boundary of the state of Oregon, a
trifle west of midway between the eastern and
western portions of the commonwealth. The
area of the county is 2,962 square miles ; it ranks
eleventh in size among its sister counties ; its
general elevation above sea level is 1,500 feet.
These are the elevations of different points with
in its limits: The Dalles (at the court house)
103 feet; Bake Oven, 2,200 feet; Cascade Locks,
125 feet; five miles south of the town of Hood
River, 920 feet ; Cloud Cap Inn ( slope of Mount
Hood), 7,000 feet. January 1, 1898, The Dalles
Times-Mountaineer said: "Could one be sus
pended in mid-air above the broad expanse of
country, he would view stretched before him a
picture of exquisite beauty ancl peculiar diver
sification of scenery. On the west he would see
the heavily timbered Cascades, with their snow
capped peaks reaching to the clouds ; on the
north the rolling hills ancl deep canyons, gradu
ally losing themselves ancl terminating at the
bank of the mighty Columbia ; to the east a
broad expanse of rolling hills ancl level valleys
would present themselves to view, while to the
south he would view an elevated plateau covered
with a luxuriant growth of bunch grass and oc-
cassionally intersected by deep canyons and sharp
defiles, marking the course of the Des Chutes and
other streams. The picture would be grand and
would inspire the one viewing it with awe."
It is no more than justice to say here that
the railroad passing through eastern Oregon, and
especiallv Wasco county, skirts along some of
the worst lands — principally sand dunes and mas
sive blocks of basaltic rock. The farming land

lies a few miles to the south, where one can pass
for days through cultivated fields, in the early
fall ripe for the harvest and in the spring green
with growing grain. The surface of the country
that includes Wasco county slopes east from the
Cascade range. From the summits of these
mountains sweep long ridges covered with heavy
growths of timber, gradually giving place to high
rolling prairies peculiar to the topography of
Eastern Oregon. The northern portion of the
county dips toward the Columbia, where it meets
the gradual slope from the other side of that
stream, in Washington. This northward slope
of Wasco county affords good drainage, for it
is indented with numerous creeks which convert
this portion of the county into the greatest nat
urally irrigated (the best kind) section in the
United States. Each side of these beautiful
streams is lined with productive farms suscepti
ble of the highest state of cultivation and capa
ble of the production of any crop indigenous to
this latitude. The southern and eastern portions
of the county are drained by the Des Chutes
and John Day rivers, and their numerous tribu
taries. The general topography of this part of
Wasco county comprises high plateaus sloping
toward the water courses, terminating in beauti
ful valleys along these streams. Fully seventy-
five per cent, of this section is susceptible of reve
nue-producing cultivation, especially in the line
of cereals. The western portion of the county from the
summit of the Cascades range to the base is,
as we have noted, covered with a heavy growth
of yellow and white fir, hemlock, cedar, juniper,
larch, oak and pine. The quality is fine ; the
quantity sufficient to supply the lumber industry
for years to come. As one journeys eastward
from the mountains this timber growth dimin
ishes until it can only be found along the banks
of streams ; mainly cottonwood and willow. In
1902 an estimate by an expert of the amount of
standing timber in Wasco county placed it at
7,100,000,000 feet. In 1904 Henry E. Reed, sec
retary and director of exploitation of the Lewis

176

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and Clark Centennial Exposition, gave the esti
mate of feet of standing timber of Wasco county
as 5,988,000,000. Concerning the soil of this county Mr. B.
S. Pague, in The Dalles Times-Mountaineer, of
January 1, 1898, wrote as follows: "The soil is,
as a rule, of very fine texture. It is a light gray
soil, which darkens slightly on moistening. It
is abundantly supplied with potash, but phos
phoric acid is , deficient. To one unacquainted
with its peculiarities the soil would not be con
sidered especially favorable, but when the pres
ent production is considered and its possible pro
ductive capacity based on its present production,
it is seen that the soil possesses constituents that
produce unusual, and almost phenomenal crops of
cereals, fruits, hay and vegetables, and when irri
gation is practiced the productive capacity is al
most doubled. The soil is of such a nature as
to allow of the subsoil moisture to rise to the
surface, and on this fact rests the production of
the wonderful crops, that with an annual pre
cipitation of less than twenty inches would be
impossible. The soil contains some lime, and
humus is also found in some sections in consider
able quantities."
An analysis of any agricultural section em
braces three distinct lines of inquiry : the geolo
gist tells us from what source the soil was de
rived ; the chemist deposes as to its composition ;
the chief of the weather bureau exhibits the rec
ords of temperature, precipitation and average
climate. It is now satisfactorily ascertained that
this northwest territory at one period was sub
merged by tremendous overflows of lava. On
every hand we see the effects of such ravages ;
mountain ranges composed principally of basalt;
plateaus and prairies, superlatively fertile on the
surface ; underlaid with the same foundation. It
is conceded by most eminent geologists that sub
sequent to the lava inundation a vast inland sea
occupied the region between the Cascade range
ancl the Rocky mountains. This sea disappeared ;
there remained a rich, alluvial, sedimentary soil
largely consisting of decomposed basalt, ple
thoric in plant foods ancl colloquially known as
"volcanic ash." Geologists affirm that this is
the greatest mass of basalt in the world. The
superior qualities of the soil warrant the asser
tion that it will sustain recropping to cereals
longer than any other soil outside of certain local
ities in China which have been cropped for cen
turies. Wasco county soil yields generously even
with the careless methods of cultivation pursued,
ancl while not every season a full crop is har
vested, such a thing as a total failure is, so far,
unknown. Professor G. W. Shaw, of the Ore
gon State Agricultural College, furnishes some

data of the component parts of the soil of Ore
gon which shows that of the eastern part of the
state to be superior to that west of the Cascade
range, and equal, in material required to make it
productive and durable, to the soil of any other
locality in the United States. Following is an
extract from his writings :
The soil of Oregon, like all soils of volcanic origin,
is of unsurpassed fertility. The greater portion of it
is derived from a basalt which differs from most
rocks in that it contains the fertilizing ingredients of
a combination of rocks. This basalt is a complex
mineral, very dark in color, exceedingly hard and quite
heavy. Mineralogically it is made up of a plagioclase,
augite. and olivenite. It nearly always contains more
or less magnetic iron ore and other minerals. Chem
ically it contains silica, lime, potash, soda, magnesia
and alumnia. The augite not infrequently carries
phosphoric anhydrite occurring in a crystalline form
as apatite.The chemical composition of the basalt explains
the transformation which a little more moisture affects
in the apparently barren soil of the eastern portion of
the state. In that section land seemingly worthless
becomes very productive when supplied with the neces
sary water. Analysis of two typical soils of the state
will serve to show the component physical parts. Soil
1 is from The Dalles in Eastern Oregon and repre
sents a large extent of territory. Soil 2 is very common
in the Willamette Valley in Western Oregon, taken
from foot hills south of Eugene :
Soil No. 1. No. 2.
Coarse sand  30.4 80.2
Sand  ,  24.0 2.5,
Fine sand  12.2 3.0-
Silt, or clay  33.4 , I4.b
The remainder of the mineral matter m the soil,
not amounting to more than five pounds in 100 of soil,
consists of chemical compound of lime, potash, soda,
Magnesia, iron, albuminum, chloride, salicic acid, phos
phoric acid, sulphuric acid, nitric acid and carbonic acid
and water in varying proportions. It is the compound of
these substances that constitutes the plant food in the
soil. The acids are united with the bases to form the
salts, which occur as chlorides and silicates of potas
sium and sodium, calcium, magnesia and ammonium
and, probably, salts of soda, potash and lime, and cer
tain vegetable acids. There are only three of these —
lime, phosphoric acid and potash — which, as a rule,
require attention, so far as deficiency of plant food is
concerned, for the other mineral substances are furn
ished in abundance by natural agencies. The soluble
portion only of the material being used by the plant
for food. It is these substances that invite attention.
What constitutes a sufficiency of these materials for

Celilo Falls, Columbia River

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

177

successfully growing a crop will differ with the nature
of the crop and the physical condition of the soil.
The minimum per centage for the growth of general
crops is given by Professor Hilgard, than whom no
one is more competent to judge, as follows:
"Lime — 0.10 per cent in the highest sandy soil ;
- 0.25 per cent in clay loams ; 0.30 per cent in heavy clay
soil ; and it may rise with advantage to I or 2 per cent.
The indication is that 0.80 per cent is a fair average
for soil of the Willamette Valley.
"Phosphoric acid — In sandy loams, 0.10 per cent,
when accompanied by a good supply of lime. The
maximum found in the best Mississippi table lands
was 0.25 per cent ; in the best bottom land of the same
region 0.30 per cent. This ingredient is, according to
the California Experiment Station report for 1888,
more abundant in the soils of Oregon than in the
soils of California. In the basaltic soils it may run
as high as 0.30 per cent or more.
"Potash — The per centage of heavy clay upland
soil and clay loams ranges from about 0.8 to 0.5;
lighter loams from 0.45 to 0.30; sandy loams below
0.10, consistent with good productiveness and durability.
Virgin soil with a less per centage than 0.6 is deficient,
and virgin soil having 0.50 per cent or over will not
warrant first on that side of mineral plant food, and
much less will suffice in the presence of much lime and
humus. "Sulphuric acid— In the best soils this ingredient
is slight; 0.02 per cent is adequate, but it frequently
rises to 0.10 per cent.
"Iron— Professor Hilgard put 1.5 to 4.0 as the
ordinary per centage of ferric oxide in soils but
little tinted; ordinary loams from 3.5 to 7-°; highly
colored red lands, 7 to 12 and sometimes upwards of 20.
"Humus— This is the storehouse of nitrogen supply,
and its determination serves as a measure of the
nitrogen. In oak uplands of the cotton states the
range is usually between 0.70 per cent and 0.80 per
cent; in the poorer sandy soils from 0.40 per cent to
0.50 per cent; in black calcareous soils _ 1.02 to 2.80
per cent."
The appearance of soils in Eastern Oregon is al
together different from those of the western portion
of the state. By far the larger part is of a gray,
ashy appearance, and one coming from the darker
soils of the eastern states would be unfavorably im
pressed. Experience, however, teaches that these soils
are abundantly supplied with plant food, and analysis
shows that they are probably the most fertile soils
of the state. The wonderful fertility of these soils
is shown in their enormous yields of crops from year
to year. The soil is exceedingly deep in most localities
and of such a texture as to be easily worked. The
difference in composition between the soil of eastern
and western Oregon is well shown by the follow
ing table, giving the averages of a considerable number
of analyses : 12

Willamette Valley.
Insoluble matter,  65.18
Soluble silica,  5.02
Potash,  23
Soda,  18
Lime  83
Magnesia,  79
Iron,  16.45
Aluminum,  16.45
Sulphuric acid,  03
Phosphoric acid,  21
Water and organic matter  10.77
Humus  1.63
Manganese,  08
Total  117.85

Eastern
Oregon. 66.69 13-12 ¦43 .22
1.22' •75
10.69-
10.69' .04.14
6.21 1.44 .10

1 1 1.74

An examination of this table in the light of the
principles laid down above, will be of interest. It will
be noted that the soils of Eastern Oregon are very
rich in potash, richer than those of the Willamette
Valley, but poorer in phosphoric acid. The lime con
tent of the soil east of the mountains is nearly three
times that of the western area. In view of the ex
ceptionally good supply of potash, augmented by an
abundance of lime, it appears that these soils will not
wear out first on the side of potash. The humus per
centage seems to be a little lower than in the humid
part of the state, as would be expected, but recent in
vestigations indicate that the humus of the arid re
gions carry nearly three times as much nitrogen as
those of humid areas. If this be true of the soils of
this state as of other localities of limited rainfall,
and it doubtless is, there is certainly more nitrogen
present in the Eastern Oregon soils than in those of
Western Oregon.
The soil of Eastern Oregon is quite uniform ;
what applies to the entire country applies with
equal weight to each section. Professor Shaw's
description of Eastern Oregon applies appropri
ately to Wasco county.
It may, also, be added that what may be truth
fully said of the climate of Eastern Oregon applies
with equal significance to Wasco. The mean
temperature of Wasco and Sherman counties is
49 to 52 degrees. As a rule the mean tempera
ture decreases with distance from the Columbia
river and with elevation. The mean winter tem
perature, December-February, is from 31 to 36
degrees ; the summer, June-August, is from 58-
to 73 degrees. The mean of the highest tempera
ture during the year ranges from 56 to 62 de
grees, and of the lowest from 40 to 42 degrees.
The mean of the lowest temperature is below the
freezing point (32 degrees) during December,
January and February ; during the heat of sum-

178

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

mer the lowest temperature which occurs, as a
rule about sunrise, ranges from 55 to 58 degrees
along the rivers and lower, dependent upon the
elevation. The highest temperature during the heat of
summer is from 98 to 105 degrees, extending
from May to October ; during the winter the
lowest temperatures are from 1 to 19 degrees
below zero, extending from December to March,
inclusive. With the exceptions of the higher ele
vations temperature below zero does not occur
every season. The maximum temperature dur
ing the winter season always, for a month, aver
ages above the freezing point. The climate of
Wasco county is not rigorous as might be hastily
concluded from the wide range of maximum and
minimum temperatures. Of exceeding short du
ration is any "cold spell" of winter weather; the
heat of summer is not oppressive ; seldom uncom
fortable. Sunstrokes — -termed in the eastern
states "prostrations" — are unknown. There is
little humidity in the air, especially during the
warmer portions of the year. Rapid evaporation
is produced by the dryness of the atmosphere.
Comparatively cool are the nights during the
summer months, or growing season. Yet they
are, along the Columbia river, the warmest in
the Pacific Northwest. Winters are short and
not unusually severe.
The precipitation of Eastern Oregon occurs
principally between October and April, and the
same is true of Wasco and Sherman counties.
At Cascade Locks, over an area of a few miles,
the annual precipitation is 80 inches. Local
causes produce this large quantity of rainfall ;
to the eastward it decreases mile by mile ; at Hood
River 38 inches annually occurs, while at The
Dalles, only 45 miles from the locks, the annual
amount is' 15 inches. Thus the precipitation
steadily decreases from the Cascades through
Wasco and Sherman counties, and on to Arling
ton, Gilliam county, where but 9 inches annually
occur. An annual rainfall of less than 20 inches
occurs over the greater portion of Wasco and
Sherman counties from November ist to April
1st. But there is an increase of rainfall in Sher
man county as compared with the amount at
The Dalles. The cause of this local increase is
the topography of the country east of Sherman
county. Showers occur from April to July, the
total for any one month seldom exceeding one
inch. During July and August an occasional
thunder storm prevails ; otherwise this is a rare
phenomenon, and there is seldom sufficient rain
fall to lav the dust ; the average for July and Au
gust combined is only 0.29 of an inch over the
greater portions of both counties. In varying
depths snow falls from November 15th to March
15th. During exceptional winters the total will

amount to several feet. In the southern and
western portions of Wasco county the snow fall
is heavier than in any other part of the county.
Snow, owing to the prevalence of Chinook winds,
seldom remains on the ground for a long period.
These warm winds occur at various intervals,
usually following a cold period ; they quickly re
duce the snow and clear the range for cattle feed.
Wasco county has one of the largest,
most complete and accurate weather re
ports ever made in the state of Ore
gon. The first record was made by the
United States Hospital Corps at old Fort Dalles,
commencing in 1850 and continuing quite regu
larly until 1867. In 1874 Mr. Samuel L. Brooks,
of The Dalles, began making meteorological rec
ords which he yet continues. Without his valu
able record but little information could be given
concerning the climate of these counties. From
the report of the hospital corps we shall give only
the averages of mean temperature and precipita
tion for the years from 1853 to 1865, following
this with Mr. Brooks' report from 1876 to 1904:
Year. Mean Temp. Precip.
1853  53-4 14-48
1854  52-0 12.39
1855  55-4 ii-90
1856, four months  41.8 3.25
1857  S4-I 29.34
1858  53-3 43-65
1859  5i-3 35-96
i860  54-3 24.32
1861  54-0 28.85
1862  49-7 16.29
1863  55-0 14-00
1864  54-0 
1865  52.4 22.18
1866, three months  35-0 4-91
We follow with Mr. Brooks' report from
1875 to 1904, taken at The Dalles:

t_,
Year— Month s
1875-
January  54
February  63
March  58
April  84
May  74
June  92
July  101
August  98
September  94
— Below zero.

s

*** V)
> <D
I*

2 <f>
S S

-9

3154

4.17

8

Va

•31

30

—

2.13

26

—

¦59

32

—

.81

48

—

1.63

54

—

• 14

57

—

.12

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

179

Year— Month H M M
s
•October  88
November  59
December  66
1876—
January  55
February  65
March  60
April  69
May  83
June  103
July  100
August  90
September  91
October  86
November  58
December  55
1877-
January  60
February  60
March  66
April  80
May  84
June  93
July  99
August  105
September  83
October  75
November  61
December  49
1878—
January  54
February  58
March  78
April  80
May  92
June  98
July  94
August  96
September  88
October  74
November  69
December  56
1879-
January  47
February  63
March  75
April  78
May  82
June  86
July  100
August  98
September  91
October  69
November  58
December  60

S
32 19
27
— I
2828 3236
48
52 51
44 24
23 20

20 18
30
34 50 585636
242423 18
28
30 26
31 50
52 4638
22 24 14 6
14
25
3034
46 4446
40 20 17
-14

15^1554IOJ4

Va V2
sy2

Wa
*Va

Wa
2c,y4 2

14

.2ja 0 H
sS
4.80 6.18
4.80 2.76 1-39
2.20 1.09 .20
¦34
.07 .02
•13
2.374-3i .46¦78
1.68
3-66 1. 21
1.03 •15 .28.10
1.24 1.66
4.16 1.S6
2.96
2.32 1.99 .20
.26 .02
.08 ¦ 13
1.01
1-53 1.42
1 .61
1-43
6.323-15 1-34
2.94 .11 ¦31.48¦79.88
1.24
2-57

Year— Month i~l M
s
1880—
lanuary  59
February  52
March  68
April  86
May  86
June  97
July  100
August  94
September  87
October  83
November  67
December  50
1881—
January  48
February  58
March  78
April  80
May  85
June  88
July  100
August  94
September  86
October  66
November  64
December  55
1882—
January  50
February  57
March  74
April  88
May  92
June  98
July  98
August  96
September  88
October  66
November  53
December  61
1883—
January  50
February  52
March  76
April  76
May  83
June  92
July  100
August  89
September  86
October  70
November  65
December  56

a
S

G a

t-
*j a,
0 u
S5

22

9

2.04

38

7

1-33

14

V2

.16

25

—

1.03

35

—

•94

40

—

.02

47

—

.02

47

—

¦43

34

—

.08

25

—

.12

11

—

.69

6

57

6-75

15

48

6-37

14

29^

6.23

26

—

.38

34

—

1.29

32

—

•14

44

—

1.82

44

—

.11

43

—

¦23

38

—

.26

23

—

2.67

22

V2

-75

20

HVa

1.67

6V2

Wa

1.49

8

zVa

2.96

22

—

¦23

26

—

-53

32

—

.27

45

—

.60

47

—

.12

41

—

.72

34

—

¦43

32

—

2.30

15

—

•75

10

2

5-14

-2V2

17

4-83

-ISV2

6

.61

28

4

2.32

30

—

1. 21

37

—

•54

43

—

.01

48

—

—

42

—

—

36

'—

.01

26

—

.46

24

3V2

2.19

12

V2

1.77

— Below zero.

i8o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Year — Month

January  50
February  55
March  64
April  76
May  93
June  98
July  94
August  I02yi
September  80
October  70
November  59
December  50

1885— Max. Ther.
January  52
February  58
March  75
April  80
May  90
June  89
July  100
August  98
September  88
October  81
November  57
December  52
1886—
January  52
February  64
March  72
April  72
May  90
June  95
July  98
August  95
September  89
October  75
November  63
December  60
1887—
January  55
February  55
March  68
April  78
May  98
June  96
July  97
August  90
September  82
October  72
November  67
December  54

13

AV2

1-33

—19

36

310

22

5/2

¦74

32

—

1-33

40

—

.04

44

—

¦93

47

—

•44

47

—

.12

40

—

¦65

31

—

1.27

28

—

.82

—18

105/

7.04

ter. Min. Ther.

Precip.

0

1. 10

26

2.88

26

.14

30
¦3i
39
.81
45
I.OI
52
.00
46
.00
40
¦87
27
.28
28
1.78
24
2.64
—4
545
25
¦53
19
¦95
32
¦30
32
.11
45
.07
44
.00
49
.02
33
¦14
27
.70
15
.21
28
506
24
4.01
—6
I-I3
22
¦79
27
.46
30
¦32
40
¦67
43
.00
47
.18
33
•36
22
•15
H
1.06
17
3-oi
1888— Max. Ther.
January  45
February  64
March  70
April  83
May  96
June  88
July  98
August  96
September  96
October  75
November  76
December  52
1889—
January  46
February  63
March  72
April  83
May  87
June  95
July  98
August  93
September  86
October  76
November  60
December  50
189P —
January  48
February  55
March  62
April  83
May  86
June  Q8
July  98
August  94
September  87
October  66
November  64
December  61
1891—
January  55
February  47
March  62
April  76
May  92
June  89
July  99
August  ¦  98
September  88
October  80
November  67
December  53
1892 —
January  51
February  60
March  '  7I
Min. Ther. Precip.
—13
3-36-
27
.41
19
•94
31
.05
37
.70
46
.92
44
•29
48
.00
40
.02
30
¦95
23
2-34
21
2.71
15
~5i
16
.04.
26
1.26
31
.42
34
.66
48
.29
48
Trace
44
Trace
35
.26
32
•94
21
1.27
14
2.00
—12
2.97
— 2
4-33
16
1.79
30
.21
41
.04
43
¦27
46
.06
47
.04
36
.11
32
1.16
22
.00
26
i.ig
20
I-I3
10
2-47
— 1
¦53
27
.01
42
¦33-
40
¦51
43
•24
49
.11
39
¦13
33
1.14-
26 '
1-39
23
4.14
18
i-35
22
.68
31
.70.
— Below zero.
HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

181

Max. Ther.
April  73
May  89
June  101
July  95
August  90
September  93
-October  82
November  69
December  52
1893—
January  52
February  55
.March  70
April  72
May  82
June  90
July  102
August  97
September  101
October  6g
November  64
December  62
1894—
January  54
February  55
March  70
April  79
May  93
June  91
July  •.  97
August  89
September  84
'October  76
November  72
December  51
1895—
January  48
February  61
March  68
April  84
May  89
June  101
July  97
August  98
September  83
October  80
November  68
December  57
1896—
January  52
February  63
March  70
April  72
May  87
June  98
July  104
August  95

Min. Ther. Precip.

30

1. 00

38

.67

40

.06

49

¦27

52

Trace

41

•14

32

.90

28

1.16

2

5-04

0

69

—6

1.84

28

.96

32

1.69

42

.69

42

.06

47

¦30

47

.00

37

1.21

30

4.40

21

4-36

26

1.77

16

4.84

3

1.83

28

3-73

32

.64

32

¦47

40

115

48

.10

5i

Trace

39

1.02

34

2.08

22

¦51

18

1.65

8

4.72

21

¦47

19

-65

20

•24

38

¦94

40

.00

47

•32

48

¦05

35

1. 14

27

.00

17

1 -23

18

4-iS

19

3-45

26

¦72

16

1. 00

28

•95

38

.63

42

.10

56

Trace

46

.28

Max. Ther.
September  92
October  79
November  62
December  53
1897-
January  65
February  63
March  62
April  88
May  95
June  90
July  98
August  108
September  89
October  82
November  72
December  56
1898—
January  52
February  65
March  65
April  82
May  87
June  97
July  103
August  103
September  91
October  68
November  67
December  57
1899—
January  62 .
February  62
March  66
April  74
May  82
June  90
July  99
August  92
September  93
October  78
November  58
December  59
1900 —
January  55
February  62
March  72
April  86
May  88
June  96
July  100
August  84
September  87
October  75
November  59
December  59
— Below zero.

Min. Ther.

Precip.

35

.42

35

.60

—2

5-87

14

2.74

9

1.09

17

2.98

23

1.94

34

¦23

38

•27

42

1.07

48

.24

46

.08

39

-54

29

.24

22

3-84

22

+03

21

.82

28

.98

26

•30

30

.11

37

•03

42

.90

49

17

51

.02

42

¦57

31

¦ 13

27

213

7

113

9

2.82

— 1

2.19

28

¦94

31

•95

34

•45

40

-24

45

.00

45

.86

42

.8r

29

1-56

34

3-57

22

2.29

20

1.90

18

1.92

30

1.62

29

-42

40

•03

43

47

47

Trace

45

¦55

34

1.09

31

2.02

3

2.05

23

1-33

1 82

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Min. Ther. Precip.

1901 — Max. Ther.
January  51
February  69
March  69
April  75
May  90
June  93
July  94
August  102
September  .85
October  77
November  71
December  60
1902 —
January  57
February  58
March  65
April  78
May  92
June  92
July  101
August  101
September  92
October  79
November  55
December  49
1903—
January  58
February  58
March  70
April   76
May  92
June  99
July  100
August  95
September  85
October  71
November  66
December  56
1904—
January  59
February  52
March  65
April  83
May  88
June  99
July  100
August  101
September  92
October  84
November  64
December  60

In recapitulation of the above Mr. Brooks
presents the following record for the period be
tween January, 1875, and April, 1904, at The
Dalles :
Mean annual temperature, 52 degrees; mean

20

346

17

4-15

28

.68

28

.09

36

¦39

40

.20

44

.00

48

.16

37

1.84

37

•13

3°

1.69

22

3-04

—2

1-52

16

3-79

26

¦52

31

1.82

36

¦63

40

¦ 13

43

.10

46

.00

36

¦36

35

.78

26

3-47

16

4.00

16

2.87

19

47

25

¦56

28

¦23

36

•05

42

2.11

45

.12

49

.11

35

•15

31

1. 00

26

444

23

¦56

25

1-52

21

450

28

3.10

31

.98

36

.09

40

.46

46

.40

46

.04

39

.61

34

1.44

30

I.OI

14

1.79

maximum, 62 degrees; absolute, 1.08 degrees.
Mean annual precipitation, -15.4 inches, divided
into seasons as follows : Spring, 2.6 ; summer,
0.9 ; fall, 4.1 ; winter, 7.8. Average number of
days with fog, 3 ; average number with hail, 2 ;
average number with snow, 12 ; average number
with thunderstorms, 4. In January, 1905, Mr.
Brooks figured the mean annual temperature for
the past thirty years, and found it to be 53.3
degrees. Following is a record of the winter weather
at Hood River from 1854 to 1872, inclusive, from
a diary kept by Nathaniel Coe, deceased. There
is a difference of about five degrees in the ther-
momter between Hood River and The Dalles,
the latter place being that much colder. As
a general rule there is more snow at Rood
River :
Year-Month g gg § g |
Sh 2h Q in 3
1854 — December  21 35-6o ....
1855 — January  21 40.51 4.5
February  19 40-47 1
December  — I 26.95 5
1856— January  12 35.01 3.5
February  21 39.98 3
December  16 30.94 48
1857 — January  — 18 26.00 60
February  21 39#3 12
December  .... ....
1858 — December  — 11 29.05 3
1859 — January  8 30.08 4
February  18 38.00 6
i860 — January  18 3341 10
February  24 42.17 o
December  25 34-8o 4
1861 — January  15 34-66 10
February  26 4241 o
December  14 32.06 19
1862 — January  — 25 10.45 54
February  — 2 37-82 ....
March  **  30
December  10 37-82 7
1863 — January  25 37.69 18
February  17 37.72 20
December  31 38.29 13
1864 — January  4 36.55 8
February  23 44.22 o
December  9 33.01 2
1865— January  4 31-47 8
February  11 33.46 3
December  — 3 28.00 13.5
— Below zero.
**Broke thermometer this month and could not re
place it. This winter rather mild.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

183

Year— Month £ g
¦- o
Sh
1866 — January  7
February  1
December  27
1867 — January  27
February  22
December  22
1868 — January  — 2
February  1
December  24
1869 — January  26
February  17
December  19
1870 — January  7
February  22
December  10
1871 — January  21
February  24
December  5
1872 — January  5
February  6
December  24

c 9

q£5

24-57

48

36.67

*3

36.82

20.5

36.04

20

39-20

*II

37-31

6

16.52

5

31-07

*i

38.40

V2

37-35

5

42.09

*i

39.10

2

33-69

*7.8

40.89

0

3I-I5

m

36.82

*I2

40.40

0

31.64

25

27.00

*33

35-17

*ig3/4

34.62

24

— Below zero.
*Total fall.
Unlike other portions of Eastern Oregon
Wasco is not a county of big farms, not as "big
farms" are understood west of the Missouri.
True, it has a few ranches covering from 1,000
to 5,000 acres; as a rule land is owned in tracts
from 20 to 160 acres. The familiar bit of melody,
"A little farm well tilled,
A little barn well filled,
Give me,"
is peculiarly appropriate to the agriculturists of
Wasco count)-. And in sections convenient to
transportation lines it has been demonstrated that
the small farm well cultivated is far more profit
able than the large one poorly tilled. Especially
is this true in the vicinity of The Dalles and Hood
River. Small farming is remunerative because
both climate and soil is especially adapted to
growing fruits and vegetables. For all descrip
tions of vegetables and small fruits Portland sup
plies a ready market. So important has become
the industries of fruit and market gardening that
the larger tracts are being subdivided into 10,
20 and 40 acre lots. Places of 160 acres on which
a few years ago only one family subsisted at
present support from four to eight thrifty fam
ilies. Under proper and judicious cultivation every

thing that can be grown in the temperate zone
can be successfully raised here. Wheat, oats,
rye, barley, potatoes and vegetables yield abund
ant crops on the high lands without irrigation;
the creek bottoms or valley lands are especially
adapted to the production of timothy, clover and
alfalfa. Y\ 'heat, however, is the staple crop of
the country and the average annual yield is about
15 bushels per acre, although fifty bushels have
been harvested in some localities. Throughout
the northern portion of the county the soil and
climate are especially adapted to the cultivation
of fruit and vegetables. For the export market
the farmers raise large quantities of cabbages
potatoes, egg plant, celery and tomatoes. The
best of these markets are Seattle, Tacoma, Port
land and Spokane ; some of this produce goes as
far distant as Butte, Montana. Fruits that have
proved the most profitable in Wasco county are
apples, pears, prunes, plums, grapes and cher
ries ; a majority of the hill land sloping toward
the north has been found especially healthy and1
yields abundant crops of the choicest fruits. No
little attention has been given to the cultivation
of strawberries, especially in the Hood River val
ley. The fame of the "Oregon seedling," the
favorite fruit in eastern markets is world-wide.
These berries are two weeks earlier from the
time of blossoming than any others produced in
the United States. Aside from being a vast
orchard for other kinds of fruits the Hood River
valley is noted for its bounteous production of
strawberries. The business first assumed im
portance in 1893, when 4,000 crates were mar
keted. Each year since then there has been a
gradual increase in production until 1902 when
60,000 crates, or over 100 carloads were gath
ered from about 450 acres of land. The net yield
to the growers for this crop was $125,000. The
season's crop of 1904 fully assured the perma^
nency of the strawberry business, as the quan
tity grown fell far short of supplying the demand.
This impossibility to meet the increasing eastern
demand for the fruit has been the case each year
since the beginning of the industry. An average
acre of strawberries yields 150 crates each year
for from four to seven consecutive seasons, which
at an average net income of $2 a crate, gives the
grower an income of $300 an acre. The cost of
picking and packing is sixty-five cents a crate,
of $97.50 per acre of berries, leaving $202.50
for the land and cost of cultivation. The aver
age price for strawberries for the past three years
has been about $2 a crate.
Strawberries need no mulching here as the
ground never freezes enough to do them any
harm. No spot in Hood River valley has ever been

1 84

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

treated which, will not produce fine strawberries,
and the shipping season lasts more than two
months with but one variety. Quite a number of
carloads are shipped to Winnipeg, Duluth, Min
neapolis, St. Paul, Fargo, North Dakota, Sioux
City, Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City, Denver,
Lincoln, Helena, Butte and Great Falls, and
orders have been received from many other cities
which could not be supplied.
Ideal conditions for the growth of peaches
are found along the Columbia, Des Chutes and
John Day Rivers, and while these sections are
now taking rank as the first peach-growing locali
ties of Oregon, it will be only a few years until
these two counties, Wasco and Sherman, will
hold a leading place in the markets o.f the Pacific
coast. On the slopes of Mount Hood almost to
the snow line, apples grow to perfection and an
excellent champagne grape can be profitably pro
duced. In the valley immense crops of hay are
cut, especially on irrigated lands. Wasco is noted
for the diversity of its crops, while Sherman
county is almost an exclusively wheat producing
locality. In the Woman's Edition of The Dalles
Times-Mountaineer of May 17, 1898, the follow
ing description of general fruit cultivation in
Wasco county was written by Charlotte F.
Roberts :
The history of the first trees planted is a leaf from
the annals of these pioneers. With the exception of
the orchard planted in the Walla Walla Valley, the
trees planted at The Dalles and vicinity were the
forerunners of all the orchards that were subsequently
planted from the Cascades to the Mississippi valley.
The government owned a military reservation five
miles square along the Columbia at The Dalles, Indians
were hostile and the early comers did not make perma
nent settlements of land until after the reservation
was cut down. Judge Laughlin after making futile
attempts at building a home at Crate's Point and Hood
River, leased land from the' military reservation the
spring of 1853, but in a few days the military reserva
tion was cut down when he filed upon it as his dona
tion. Here he began his permanent home, planted
a garden and the next spring set out his fruit trees.
By 1857 the trees had grown remarkably, so that one
of Justin Chenowith's small boys thought one tree
of right size to fell and chopped it down.
The place two miles west of The Dalles, now owned
by George Snipes, was planted in trees in 1854 by Dr.
Shaug, of the military reservation. A locust tree
planted there still lives. Also some of these first
apple and cherry trees still bear. While Mr. Snipes
was away in the Indian war a man who had been in
his employ and held some grudge against him chopped
down rows of this valuable orchard. John Marden
tells of eating apples from it in 1858. At the forks

of Five-Mile and Eight-Mile creeks another permanent
donation was begun by Nathan Olney in 1854. He
planted apple trees of only the best varieties bought
from the Walling nursery in Portland.
On Mill creek Charles W. Denton settled in the
fall of 1853. He ordered trees from Knapp & Dwight,
of Brooklyn, New York. When they arrived most of
them were dead, the effects of their long journey via
the Isthmus. From the live ones he planted a few
apple trees and grape vines. He shows today an
immense grape vine, a souvenir of those then planted.
The next year he set out several hundred grafts from
a nursery. His place was a favorite camping ground
for the Indians. When the war broke out he went
as a government scout. On his return in 1857 he found
only a few trees from his nursery left to tell the tale.
Each of these, places boast of owning the oldest trees
in Wasco county but they must give precedence to an
apple tree in the government gardens, the Academy
grounds, which was planted from a seed in 1850,
brought by one of the soldiers from the east. The
apples would never get ripe because the boys would
steal them while green. It was here, too, that Judge
Laughlin raised the first water melons in 185 1.
Mrs. Lord tells the following of the first apples
she saw in Oregon; "In the spring of 1854 Mr. Mc-
Cormack, a brother of Mrs. Henry Cates, went to
Portland and brought back two small apples for the
three Laughlin children. In lieu of the third apple
he gave the third child one dollar. The child's grief
and jealousy over the loss of those wonderful apples
was such that the mother cut the two apples equally
' among the five members of the family and the child's
heart was soothed." Nothing since has ever tasted so
good. When an apple was given away it was in this
manner : "I will give you an apple if you will give
me back the seeds." The apples bought in Portland
were twenty-five cents a piece. When the first fruit began
to be raised here it sold from fifteen to twenty cents
a pound. On Three-Mile creek Green Arnold owned
a donation claim, now the Whitney place, and in 1857
planted trees from A. W. Denton's nursery. These
first orchards were apple, pear and cherry ; it was not
then certain that peach trees would live.
The first farm on Fifteen-Mile creek was owned
by Mr. Alsuph in 1850. In June of that year the frost
cut down his melons and corn and he abandoned it.
In 1852 Mr. Lou Henderson entered it as a donation.
It proved valuable as a hay ranch but several years
passed by before trees were planted. In 1856 Mr.
Crooks bought out Woodward and Reynolds just above
Dufur and in 1856 he planted the first orchard on
Ffteen-Mile creek. The same year Mr. Herbert bought
Mr. Marsh's right where Dufur now stands and the
next year planted his young orchard. Mr. Mays bought
his first place — The Mountain Ranch — from an old
bachelor who had planted apple seeds as a start for
his orchard. From this seedling orchard Mr. Mays

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

185

saved a few of the best for his future use and planted
others better. In 1862 they bought a place at the Tygh
from Mr. Herbert, who had already planted another
orchard. At the Tygh a Frenchman of the Hudson's
Bay Company, Jondreaux by name, planted trees in
1858. These came from the Denton nursery. This
was .afterward the Jeffries place. Also a Mr. McDuffy
planted trees in 1859. On the Des Chutes a Mr. Wil
liam Nixon, in 1859, planted an orchard afterward
the Gordon place.
The oldest orchard at the Cascades was planted by
Colonel N. H. Gates. At Hood River Hon. Nathaniel
Coe was the pioneer orchardist in 1853. He was an
educated horticulturist. A delicious plum, "Coe's
golden drop," attested his ability to produce new^ varie
ties. Few orchards today are laid out with greater
care or beauty. When they came into bearing fruit
was so scarce that they had to net their trees to keep
the fruit away from the birds. This history would be
incomplete if we left out the old pioneers — the Joslyns —
who settled at White Salmon, Washington, in 1853.
They immediately began the beautiful home, which is
¦crowded so full of happy memories in the minds of
old timers. In 1856 they were obliged to leave theii
home on account of the Indian war and when they
returned in 1859 it was to find their home burned and
their orchard entirely destroyed. They reset from the
Coe nursery and many are the boxes of apples, pears,
cherries and plums sent to The Dalles friends and
market. The close of the Indian war marks a change in
donation claims. Many new farms were taken and
new ones planted in orchards. Thus we find the Bol-
tons, Menefees, Logans, Rices, Walkers, Ruddos on
Fifteen Mile; Theodore Mesplie, Lafayette Caldwell,
M. M. Cushing, John Moran on Mill Creek ; Captain
Danragh on Three Mile ; where Elder Fisher after
ward bought; Brownlees at Three Mile crossing; Bush-
tree on the Floyd place; Brown and Marshbank at
the R. S. Thompson place; Talbot Low on the Frizzell
place ; George Snipes on his lower ranch at Rowena ;
John Irvine at Chenowith creek; Mr. Curtis across
the river ; Jim and Nate Benson and John Marden at
Hood River ; J. H. Mosier at Mosier Creek ; Colonel
Fulton and Z. Donnell at Ten Mile creek, Butlers and
Shamrocks at the Tygh.
In 1862 The Dalles had the following homes with
bearing fruit trees and small fruits in their yards.
The Lawrence Coe place, now the George Ruch and
Congregational church property; Mr. Graves in the
same block, now the William Condon and McGee
property, and the Juker place, between the two ; the
Humason home, now the residence of William P.
Lord ; the Vic Trevitt place, now E. Shanno's ; the
Laughlin home and the Buchanan place ; the lot now
occupied by Colonel Lang's family had a few trees and
a vine-covered house. In 1861 Elder Fisher bought
out Captain Derrah and the following spring began

the orchard and nursery which held so prominent a
place in The Dalles markets for a number of years.
He, too, was an educated horticulturist and florist.
It was a rich treat to be a guest in that home and
enjoy the fruit and flowers. It was his purpose to
have the finest pear orchard in the state.
It will be noticed that up to this time the orchards
were planted on Creek bottoms or springy lands. Elder
Fisher held the belief that fruit would do as well on
dry land as on moist, and planted a few trees and vines
as an experiment. The most desirable creek farms
had been taken. People wanted homes. Miles upon
miles of rich, fertile government land lay untouched
because "fruits and vegetables will not grow without
water," said the old timers. In 1854 Caleb Brooks
settled on dry land, one mile south of The Dalles in
Dry Hollow — renamed Amberdale. He planted a few
trees in the valley, thinking to protect them from the
winds and cold, thus making practical what Elder
Fisher had before experimented upon. As men rode
over the hills for their stock they reasoned thus : The
natural growth of vegetation on these hills is as lux
uriant as on the creek bottoms; cold and heat are not
so intense ; frost is seen earlier and oftener on the
creek bottoms than on these hills. Why should not
cereals, vegetables and trees do as well ? Especially
when under cultivation. The fall of 1868 Rev. E. P.
Roberts settled in Amberdale and the following year
Robert Cooper came as a pioneer in the same under
taking, making homes and raising fruit on dry, up
hill lands. The spring of 1872 saw the first trees planted
on top of a hill by Mr. Roberts. It afterward proved the
orchard most secure against frost. It bore peaches one
year when the entire peach crop grown elsewhere in
the region was destroyed by frost. As is the case when
men try something before considered impracticable,
these men we're the butt of many a jest and sarcasm.
H. J. Waldron, a prominent citizen of The Dalles,
said : "Roberts, I will have a large bust cast of you
for your grandchildren if you succeed in making a liv
ing on that dry land." Not only were trees planted
on top of the hill, but corn, potatoes and watermelons,
also. This was going farther than any one had dared
to think, for "watermelons must be irrigated."
To raise fruits for the home market was all that
any farmer attempted. The Columbia river steamers
with their high freights, and the pack animals to the
mines were the only means of transportation. When
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's line of
road was completed, an impetus was given to the fruit
industry and the population of The Dalles increased
for home consumption, and a market opened to Port
land and the east. To the Seufert Brothers belongs
the honor of making fruit shipment a possibility to the
farmers. Here begins a new chapter in the history of
fruit raising. The few orchards that had been previously
planted gave such evidences of good results that many
were induced to set more largely. Red winter apples

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and strawberries were especially planted in the Hood
River valley. When the Indian owned the country and
hunted, fished and gathered "olallies," the Hood River
valley was his finest strawberry patch, and when the
white man came he, too, gathered them in their wild
luxuriance. At first only sufficient quantity was planted
for the household and local markets. Before i88g
berries had been shipped to The Dalles and Portland
markets, but in that year shipments were made to
Montana points as an experiment. The returns were
so flattering that larger patches were planted, and in
1890 a few hundred crates, of 24 pounds each were
shipped. When the shipments reached 2,000 crates,
growers began to fear the market would be over
stocked and hesitated about enlarging their patches.
They could not understand where all the berries went,
nor that their berries would stand shipment to such
markets as now take them. This accounts for the com
paratively slow rate of increase in shipments, but in 1894,
when 16,000 crates were shipped, and as much as two
carloads were being sent every day, and telegrams from
Omaha, Kansas City, St. Paul and Chicago were de
manding them in carload lots, the possibilities of the
market began to be realized. At the Columbian Ex
position at Chicago the Clark's Seedling, grown here,
took the premium over all other strawberries, even
though they had been in the express car four days
and had traveled 2,000 miles. While the cultivation of
strawberries could be carried on to the base of Mount
Hood, since they are found here in their native state,
the farmers have found that at present distance must
be taken into consideration in hauling the berries for
shipment. But the apple crop in the upper valley is
as satisfactory as the strawberry crop in the lower
valley. At the district fairs, the Mechanic's fair, the
Columbian Exposition, the fruit of Wasco county —
Hood River apples in particular — have taken the* high
est rewards. Their size, splendid coloring, rich flavor,
freedom from the fruit moth, and unsurpassed keeping
and shipping qualities can not be excelled in any other
known locality of the civilized world. In June, 1894,
as an experiment, Mr. Shanno sent a few boxes of
yellow Newton pippins to London, via Cape Horn.
After their eight months' storage before shipping, and
five months en route, they arrived in good condition.
The sandy soil along the Columbia requires fertil
izers and irrigation, but are somewhat earlier with their
crops. One of the most notable of the orchards of this
class of soil is that owned by the Seufert Brothers, two
miles east of The Dalles. It consists of cherries, prunes,
pears and peaches and contains about forty acres. Ten
years ago it was a tract of drifting sand dunes, but for
six years it has been bearing abundantly, and yielding
handsome returns. The cherries are particularly fine,
the peaches will equal in size anything California ever
produced, and in flavor rival those of New Jersey and
Delaware. Bartlett pears have not proved a success in shipping.

They ripen as the California crop is closing and the
eastern markets are full. No finer fruit for canning is
raised than the Bartlett pear, and to meet this emer
gency as well as to dispose of the many tons of other
fruits just right to can, but too ripe to ship, the fruit
raisers of Wasco county are in sore need of two can
neries ; one at Hood River to meet any strawberry
emergency and other fruits, and another at The Dalles-.
The geologist, the chemist, the reports from the
weather bureau, the pioneer orchardist, the progressive
fruit-raiser of today, and prices quoted in eastern mar
kets for Wasco county fruits, have all proven that from
the Cascade Mountains eastward along the Columbia
river, from the base of Mount Hood to the Des Chutes
and Columbia rivers, is a country unsurpassed in fertility
and climate for successful "raising and shipping of all
kinds of large and small fruits — black-cap raspberries,
apples, pears, prunes, plums, cherries and peaches.
In a recent issue of the Hood River Glacier
the following appeared :
"Truman Butler, of Butler & Company, bank
ers, tells a good story that is significant of the
world-wide fame Hood River apples have at
tained. The tale was told to Mr. Butler by Fred
erick Fisher, of the Fisher-Thorsen Paint Com
pany. Mr. Fisher is just home from Europe
where he studied under some of the best por
trait artists of the land.
"One day last winter Fisher was walking the
streets of Hamburg, and desiring some fruit
stepped into a stand and asked the dealer to give
him some good apples — the best he had in stock.
'Here are some of the best apples in .the world,'
replied the fruit dealer, as he handed out a sam
ple of the big, red Spitzenbergs, so familiar to-
an Oregonian. 'These apples were raised in
America,' went on the fruit man. 'They call.
them Hood River apples, and I can truthfully
say that they are the best apples to be found in
Europe.' "
Well-deserved mention should be made of the
wild flowers in the vicinity of The Dalles and
throughout Wasco county. First to make its
appearance is the little Erigenia, or Irish potatoe,
as the children call it, which peeps out of the
ground so early as January, if wooed by a few
warm days. It has a delicate, heliotrope odor.
The Golden Stars, fitly named, come next, and
they fleck the hillsides with paths of sunshine;
then Purple-eyed Grass (the sisysincgrium) with
i its purple companion, the little Fritillearia, pro
claims that spring has really burst the bonds of
winter. Then follow a constant succession of
wild flowers until Jack Frost again resumes his
sway over the flowery kingdom. Golden Esy-
throniums (Rock Lillies), Crow's Foot (low-
growing buttercups), Larkspurs, Peonies andi

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

187

Lupins of all shades, varying through the blues
from deepest purple to white, also pink and yel
low ones, while underneath all is an infinite vari
ety of smaller flowers, too small to attract atten
tion of the casual passer by, yet when examined
show a wonderful beauty. Among the shrubs
come first the Oregon Grape, Service Berry,
Wild Cherry, Yellow Currant Springe, the Ocean
Spray and its near cousin with the Indian name
of Shushula, bearing long successions of delicate,
lilac-colored blossoms. The two last are spir-
ceas, and well deserve a place in the flower cata
logues, as they are far superior to many of the
shrubs sold. On the creeks are the lovely wild
roses and White Clematis. These are all found
in a short walk around The Dalles or Hood
River. Midsummer brings up Painted Cup in
fiery glow ; Penstemons and many others of the
Lebriate family, with crowds of the Compositae
family, headed by the sweet-scented prairie sun
flower. Stock raising was the sole industry during the
early settlement of Wasco county. It yet re
mains an important resource. South of the Des
Chutes river nearly the entire section is devoted
to sheep and cattle raising. Animals were past
ured the year round for many seasons, the luxu
riant growth of natural grass being amply suffi
cient to provide them feed both winter and sum
mer. But as the flocks increased in size it became
necessary to provide artificial feed for the winter
months. Therefore thousands of tons of hay
are annually put up in the stock country as a safe
guard against severe storms and deep snows.
While at present wheat raising is the leading in
dustry, sheep and cattle come next; the source
of vast amounts of money coming each year into
the country.
Concerning the fish industry of Wasco coun
ty the Times Mountaineer in 1898 said: "The
Dalles has always been noted for its superb sal
mon fisheries. Little attention was paid to them
until 1883, when considerable capital was .in
vested in developing them. The industry has
flourished. Several canneries have been con
structed at different points along the river, and
numbers of fish wheels are operated, catching
large quantities each season. The business
has grown to great proportions, and now
constitutes one of the most important indus
tries." The next year the same paper added the fol
lowing :
The run of salmon in the middle river — from
the upper Cascades to The Dalles — has always been
enormous. ' During the visit of George Francis
Train, in 1868, he wired to eastern papers that, at

the rapids above the city he saw "a million salmon
within a stone's throw." This may appear some
what Munchausen-like, but it will not sound extrav
agant to any who visited the place a few years ago,
before fishing .wheels had been introduced. The
treaty with the Indians did not expire until recently,
and since that time this industry has wonderfully
developed. The salmon export has been very lucra
tive during the past few years, both in cans and in
bulk. The Rockfield Canning Company, about three
miles east, employs nearly a hundred men. during
the season, and ships large quantities of canned sal
mon to eastern points. These fish are of excellent
flavor and command ready sale. On both banks of
the Columbia, near this point, are a number of fish
ing wheels whose season's catch is usually sold to
the canning company, but a large quantity is shipped
in refrigerating cars by local merchants to eastern
markets. Salmon caught near The Dalles form a
savory dish for epicureans in New York, Chicago
and other cities. The industry will yet admit of
further development and one or more canneries
could receive a supply of fish from these and neigh
boring waters. The number of salmon does not
appear to be at all diminished notwithstanding the
quantity taken from the river each year. The sal
mon find their way into the upper waters of all our
great streams and have been caught as far in the
interior as the Clearwater in the Bitter Root Moun
tains!. The salmon trout which are found in the
mountain streams are, evidently, from spawn left
there by the parent fish. These make most delicious
eating and would furnish a princely banquet. Stur
geon abound in the Columbia and these are sold in
the local markets and elsewhere.
Hood River is unique among the lesser val
leys of Oregon. It stretches away from the base
of Mount Hood to the Columbia river, on the
north, a distance of some twenty-five miles. A
range of partly open and partly timbered hills
forms a barrier to those winds which sweep the
plains of the interior, dry and consuming in sum
mer; correspondingly cold in winter. On the
west the rugged flanks of the Cascade mountains
rise by successive ridges — rude, gigantic ter
races — to the crest of the range. An unlimited
supply of the purest water is drawn from these
mountain enclosures ; they contribute to the pro
duction of the equitable temperature for which
this valley is noted.
Simply an impetuous, vociferous mountain-.
stream is Hood River. It receives all the drain
age of the east and north slopes of Mount Hood ;
at all seasons it carries a large volume of water.
As the average descent of this river is not less-
than fifty feet to the mile its available water-
power is, practically, unlimited. It is a beauti--

1 88

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ful valley, that of Hood River. From the heart
of the Cascades it sweeps through the undulat
ing slopes to lose itself in the voracious maw of
the Columbia — that mighty reservoir of count
less streams and runlets. Where it mingles its
contribution to this river it is only fifty feet above
tide water. From three to five miles wide is its
valley proper. In the Woman's edition of the
Times-Mountaineer of May 17, 1898, Mrs. J.
H. Cradlebangh graphically wrote:
The gentle slopes that bound it rise, at first al
most imperceptibly, growing gradually more and
more inclined until the line of demarkation between
valley and mountain can not be determined. Start
ing from the Columbia, almost at tide-water, one
can drive for twenty odd miles due south and then
only realize that the valley has been left behind
when the snow-line of Mount Hood is but a half
-dozen miles away. Nature was in her happiest
mood when she designed it, and evidently intended
it as the especial property of her lovely daughters,
Flora and Pomona.
To the north Mount Adams, distant thirty
miles, lifts its snowy dome to the skies, while the
Columbia pours its cerulean tide ever past on its
way to the Pacific. To the south Hood pierces the
summer sky with its snowy minaret, while on the
east and west the evergreen forests lift terrace on
terrace until the green shades into a purple, and
'then a misty blue, that meets and blends with the
azure of the sky. Hood River, a typical mountain
stream, winds its way from the glaciers of Mount
Hood to the noisy Columbia, with its message from
mountain to river. Majestic oaks, each fit abiding
place for a laughing Dryad, gnarled of bole, rugged
limbed and glossy leaved, dot the hillsides and send
their long branches protectingly over trail and road.
The grassy slopes show a brighter green by com
parison with the thousand wild flowers scattered
by nature's hand in patterns too intricate for mortal
ken. The violet peeps demurely through the green
curtains of the sward, buttercup and spring beauties
lift their yellow and pink blossoms from the long
grass, the wild rose, bolder, flirts with butterfly
and bee, blushing anon at her deceitfulness, and
the wanton honeysuckle twines her tendrils caress
ingly on anything within reach, and pours from all
her gold-lined chalices intoxicating perfumes on the
wing of every vagrant breeze. The dog-wood opens
its green-white petals, a delight to the eye, and on
the hillsides the rhododendron flashes a crimson
flame, as bright as that in the bush which Moses
saw as he herded the flocks of the Midian priest in
Egypt. * * * The roads are perfect; the wheel
man's paradise. But why attempt to describe it?
Some future Goldsmith may do it in flowing verse.
Some painter, yet unknown to fame, may here find

inspiration, but the unpoetic pencil can but conceal
the beauties it most would show. To be appreciated
it must be seen, ¦ and just now it is at its loveliest.
Spend a day there in May or June, see, feel, realize,
and then tell if you can.
A distance of twenty odd miles down the Colum
bia is the region of country known as Hood River.
Steep and rugged are the banks until they termin
ate in elevated tabic lands. With handsome farms
and residences these are dotted. As a superior
health resort Hood River has gained an enviable
reputation. The atmosphere is invigorating, the
water crystaline and pure. The soil on the table
lands is of a gravelly, sandy character; with irriga
tion it produces the finest crops. On the flats near
the river the soil is rich and loamy, susceptible of
any stage of cultivation. The principal settlement
is four miles from the river, on a semi-circle plat
eau fringed on all sides by hills.
South and west of the valley the mountains
are covered with a heavy growth of timber. A
company has been formed to clear the channel
of Hood River of obstructions, thus rendering
it possible to drive logs and timber from the
forests that line its banks, and those of its tribu
taries, to the mouth, where they may be availa
ble for the mills and for transportation. There
are, in the valley, three large lumbering mills.
This lumber is flumed to a point on the Colum
bia river, three miles west of town, where ship
ping facilities are had, and where a planing mill
is kept in operation, furnishing labor to a large
number of men. There are, also, three other
sawmills which operate in the valley for local
trade ; one at Tucker, five miles south of town ;
the Harbison Brothers' mill, on Neal creek, five
miles southeast of town, and the other, known
as the Tomlinson Brothers' mill, located in the
Mount Hood settlement.
Hood River visitors in search of pleasure as
well as health, will find little difficulty in passing
their allotted time most agreeably. Any part of
the country is easily accessible by means of ex
isting routes of travel, by boat, railway or well-
traveled roads over which driving is a favorite
recreation. The sportsman will find abundant
material upon which to practice his skill. For
the angler fishing affords unrivaled sport. Sail
ing, driving, horseback riding and other out
door forms of exercise are feasible during a
greater part of the year. Proverbially excellent
is the climate of Hood River. Even in the
"heated term" the nights are deliriously cool, in
suring sleep and rest. Neither long nor severe
are the winters.
The receipts for Hood River crops for the
year 1904 were about $275,000. It may be proper

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

189

to remark here that Hood River received at the
St. Louis Exposition two gold medals for their
fruit exhibit, and that Wasco is the only county
in the United States that received a grand prize
for a fruit exhibit. The strawberry crop of Hood
River valley for 1903 sold for $148,500. There
were shipped 90,000 crates and they were sold
at' an average price of $1.65 per crate.
What is known as Lower Fifteen Mile creek
embraces some of the choicest localities in Wasco
county. Its natural advantages are a finely
watered country, near and easy access to timber
and a fine fruit producing country. It is, also-,
in close proximity to The Dalles. The surface
of this part of the county is quite broken, yet
by far the larger portion of it can be cultivated
to advantage. Tygh Ridge is a high tract of prairie land
lying north of Tygh valley at an elevation above
the valley of about a thousand feet. Its northern
boundary is about twenty miles south of The
Dalles. It stretches from the timber line of the
Cascade mountains on the west to the Des Chutes
river on the east, a distance of about twelve
miles. Its breadth may be roughly estimated at
about seven miles. A like estimate will give
about 30,000 acres in cultivation. The Tygh
ridge, beyond all question comprises the richest
section of bunch grass land in all eastern Ore
gon. The soil is a rich clay loam, varying in
color from a reddish brown to nearly black, and
in depth from six to fifteen feet. Like the soil
of all that great region lying between the Cas
cades and the Rocky mountains, it is the produce
of decayed volcanic rock; but the soil of Tygh
ridge differs from much of the surrounding
neighborhood. It is darker in color, is of a more
clayey texture, and has less the appearance and
character of volcanic ashes. The subsoil is of
like character, and varies little in color through
all its depth, and the whole rests upon a bed of
solid basalt rock. Hence the most remarkable
property of this soil, next to its amazing fertil
ity, is its power of retaining moisture.
The deep canyon of White River on the south
separates Warnic settlement from Juniper Flat,
a flat country as its name would indicate, lying
between White river on the north, and the Mut
ton mountains and Des Chutes on the east and
south. This flat contains about 60,000 acres, and
is in the form of a triangle with the timbered
foothills at the base and. the junction of the
rivers forming the apex. On the southern por
tion of it are the settlements of Oak Grove and
the village of Wapinitia. Juniper Flat has* been
since the very early days of Oregon famous as
a stock country.
Tygh vailey, thirty miles south of The Dalles,

is a deep valley about eight miles longt and from.
one to three miles wide, through which flows a
large stream of clear, cold water. The admirer
of nature cannot look unmoved on the valley of
Tygh, with its timbered mountains at the west,.
its high rolling hills with their wave worn appear
ance, on the north, with its majestic cliffs on the
south, its level valley lands made more beautifuL
by cultivation; with Mount Hood looking coldly
down, apparently from the very head of the val
ley, like a sentry guarding all this beauty. All.
things seem to feel the grandeur. Even the quiet
stream which flows through the valley as though
not content with the part it has taken in flowing
tranquilly along joins the White river about two
miles below the village, and with the water from
that stream makes White river falls (186 feet
high). The water spreads out like a fan, and is
dashed into foam and mist at the foot of the first
and higher precipice, and then gathers into one
deep, narrow channel, moves forward a few yards
and makes a second leap into a large, round.
basin worn in the solid rock during past centur
ies ; from this basin it moves sullenly on toward
the Des Chutes, as though reluctantly leaving the
beautiful valley through which it has wandered
for several miles, and to which it has added
beauty. The many streams of Wasco county are no
unimportant features of the territory. A glance
at the map will reveal this fact. The numeral
creeks are so named from the distance between
their crossings on the old "Barlow Road" route
from The Dalles. On the authority of F. H.
Balch it may be said : "The Indians had no gen
eral name for the Columbia, but each tribe had
a special name, if any, for it. Some had no
name for it at all. It was simply 'the big water,r
'tlie river,' 'the big salmon water.' What Wauna,
the Klickitat name, or Wemath, the Wasco name,
signify, the author has been unable to learn, even*
from the Indians who gave him the names. They
do not know ; they say their fathers knew, but it
is forgotten now."
One of William Cullen Bryant's most beauti
ful passages in "Thanatopsis" is this :
"Where rolls the Oregon and bears no sound
Save his own lashings — yet the dead are there,
And millions in these solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid them down
In their last sleep — the dead reign there alone."' \
Certain traditions tell us that Jonathan Carver
first named this stream the "Oregon," but this
is mythical. It is quite probable that Carver
never saw it in its majesty, or even- at its source,
as his explorations extended only a little west-

190

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

?yard of the headwaters of the Mississippi river.
The mouth of the Columbia was discovered by
Robert Gray in 1792; he named it the Columbia.
That portion of the Columbia forming the
northern boundary of Wasco county is one of
the most interesting in its whole course. In the
current history of earlier days in Wasco it has
been described. In May, 1855, Colonel Lawrence
Kip, U. S. A., made a trip up this river to Tne
Dalles, and from this point to the great council
held at Walla Walla between Governor Isaac
Ingalls Stevens and several tribes of Indians.
From his journal of that period we extract the
following account of a small portion of his trip :
About noon, after a morning of almost inces
sant rain, we reached the Cascades, the head of
navigation. Here a portage has been made as the
river for more than two miles flows over rocks,
whirling and boiling in a succession of rapids similar
to those in the river St. Lawrence. Here is the
great salmon fishery of the Columbia river, the
season for which commences in the month of May,
when the fish ascend the river in great numbers.
The banks are inhabited by the remains of some of
the Indian tribes who display their skill in catching
the salmon, which they dry for exportation. As
we passed up we found them scattered along the
: shore employed in this work. Little bridges are
thrown out over the rocks, on which the Indians
post themselves, with nets and hoops to which long
handles are attached. With these they scoop up
the fish and throw them on the shore. They are
then pounded fine between two stones, cured and
tightly packed in bales of grass matting lined with
dried fish-skins, in which state they will keep for
years. The process i-s precisely the same as it was
described by Lewis and Clark. The aboriginal vil
lage of Wish-ram, at the head of the narrows,
which they mention as being the place of resort for
the tribes from the interior, is yet in existence.
One of the Indian names which has been cor
rupted by the tongue of the white man is that
now commonly known as Wish-ram, the Indian
village spoken of by Lieutenant Kip. The proper
pronunciation of this word is Wish-ham and the
word is so spelled in the early prints. Just how
the pronunciation and spelling became changed
is not known, as no Indian ever pronounced the
word that way, it being physically impossible for
them to pronounce the letter "R." We resume
the diary of Lieutenant Kip :
We still notice, too, the difference which the
early explorers observed between these Indians and
those of the plains. The latter, living on horse
back, are finely developed and look like warriors;

the former, engaged only in their canoes or stoop
ing over the banks, are low in stature and seem to
have been dwarfed out of all manhood. In every
thing noble they are several degrees below \he wild
tribes of the plains.
We walked for about five miles until we had
passed the Cascades, and then took another little
steamer which was to carry us to The Dalles. The
scenery above is similar to that which we had al
ready passed. In one place the mountains seem to
come down to the river, ending in a huge rock, per
fectly steep, which has received the name of Cape
Horn. Above the precipices are covered with fir
and white cedar; two small cascades, like silver
lines, leap from point to point for a distance of 150
feet, while below, in the dark shadows the water
seems to sweep around the rocks with a sullen
sound. At ten o'clock at night we reached the end
of our journey, The Dalles.
Unsurpassed is. the scenery between the Cas
cades and The Dalles. General Benjamin Al
vord, in his contribution to Harper's Magazine in
February, 1884, "The Doctor Killing Oregon,"
writes : r
The scenes to which I invite your attention are
in the dalles of the Columbia, a region remarkable
for its wild and weird character. The Columbia
river is there throttled or compressed into "dalles,"
or long, narrow and broken troughs, bordered by
rocky, misshapen ridges of volcanic rocks called
by the Spaniards pedrcgal, thrown around in the
most grotesque manner. And rightly did Theo
dore Winthrop (in his Canoe and Saddle,) there
locate his war of demons, whose weapons were huge
rocks hurled at each other and left up and down for
several miles scattered and in the most fantastic
manner. In that most delicious book, Irving's
"Astoria," we find the following description:
"The falls of the Columbia river are situated
about 180 miles above the mouth of the river. The
first is a perpendicular cascade of twenty-feet, after
which there is a swift descent of a mile between,
islands of hard, black rock to another pitch of eight
feet, divided by two rocks. About two and one-
half miles below this the river expands into a wide
basin, seemingly, dammed up by a perpendicular
ridge of black rocks. A current, however, sits diag
onally to the left of this rocky barrier, where there
is a chasm of forty-five yards in width. Through
this the whole body of the river roars along swell
ing and whirling and boiling for some distance in
the wildest confusion. Through this tremendous
channel the intrepid explorers of the river, Lewis
and Clark, passed safely in their boats ; the danger
not being from the rocks- but from the snags and
whirlpools. At the distance of a mile and a half

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

191

from the foot of this narrow channel is a rapid
formed by two rocky islands, and two miles beyond
is a second fall over a ledge of rocks twenty feet
high extending nearly from shore to shore.
"The river is again compressed into a channel
from fifty to one hundred feet wide, worn through
a rough bed of hard, black rock, along which it boils
and roars with great fury for a distance of three
miles. This is called Long Narrows. Here is the
great fishing place of the Columbia."
Lest you should think that Irving, who had
never seen the Columbia, wrote without knowledge,
drawing solely upon imagination, it is well to call
the attention to the fact that he credits the descrip
tion to a work seldom seen, that published under the
names of Captains Lewis and Clark, giving an ac
count of their explorations.
In the preface of that delightful romance of
Indian Oregon, "The Bridge of the Gods," by
F. H. Balch, the author says regarding the prob
ability of there having been at one time a natural
bridge across the Columbia at the Cascades :
"It may be asked if there ever was a great-
natural bridge over the Columbia — 'Bridge of
the Gods,' such as the legend describes. The an
swer is emphatically, 'yes.' Everywhere along
the ¦ mid-Columbia the Indians tell of a great
bridge that once spanned the river where the
Cascades now are, but where at that time the
placid current flowed under an arch of stone;
that this bridge was tomanowos, built by the
gods.; that the great spirit shook the earth, and
the bridge crashed down into the river, forming
the present obstruction of the cascades. All of
the Columbia tribes tell this story, in different
versions and in different dialects, but all agreeing
upon its essential features as one of the great
facts of their past history. 'Ancutta, long time
back,' say the Tumwater Indians, 'the salmon he
no pass Tumwater falls. It too much big leap.
Snake Indian he no catch um fish above falls.
By and by great tomanowos bridge at cascades
he fall in, dam up water, make river higher all
way to Tumwater ; then salmon he get over.
Then Snake Indian all time catch um plenty.'
" 'My father talk one time,' said an old Klick
itat to a pioneer at White Salmon, Washington,
' long time ago' liddle boy, him in canoe, his
mother paddle, paddle up Columbian then come
to tomanowos bridge. Squaw paddle canoe
under ; all dark under bridge. He look up, all
like one big roof, shut out sky, no see um sun.
Indian afraid, paddle quick, get past soon, no
good. Liddle boy no forget how bridge look.'
"Local proof, ateo, is not found wanting. In
the fall, when the freshets are over and the waters
of the Columbia are clear, one going out in a

small boat just above the cascades and looking
down into the transparent depths can see sub
merged forest trees beneath him, still standing
upright as they stood before the bridge fell in
and the river was raised above them. It is a
strange, weird sight, this forest beneath the river ;
the waters wash over the broken tree-tops, fish
swim among the leafless branches; it is desolate,
spectre-like, beyond all words. Scientific men
who have examined the field with a view to de
termining the credibility of the legend about the
bridge are convinced that it is essentially true.
Believed in by many tribes, attested by the ap
pearance of the locality, and confirmed by geo
logical investigations, it is surely entitled to be
received as a historic fact."
Gustavus Hines' History of Oregon (1850)
says of the Indian tradition of the Bridge of the
Gods at the cascades :
"The probability is true that the tradition is
true only in part. Doubtless the time was when
there were no cascades here, and they were
probably formed by the mountains sliding into
the river in tremendous avalanches, and thus
filling up the channel."
Mrs. Lord in her "Reminiscences of Oregon,"
says :
"The Indians told father a great many leg
ends. The only one which I recall now is the
oft-told tale of 'The Bridge of the Gods,' though
they told it a little differently. They said there
was formerly a natural bridge at the Cascades ;
that long ago the Indians said Mount Hood and
Mount Adams were alive and moved about at
will ; that at one time they quarreled and became
so angry they first spit, upon each other; then
sent out fire, stones, smoke and ashes ; that the
ashes covered the ground here very thickly and
some stones fell, too. Then Mount Hood got
so angry that she started to go over to fight
Mount Adams, but she was so heavy that she
crushed the bridge and could not cross, so she
went back and settled down and stayed at home
ever since, and while she has spit at Mount
Adams some times since, she has not moved any
more." One of the principal streams emptying into
the Des Chutes is White river. Within only a
few miles of its source it is a roaring torrent;
sand and water shooting along in a direct line
on a convex surface. The main body of this
stream emerges from a spring on the eastern
slope of Mount Hood. The White river is, how
ever, but one of a number of streams having
their sources in or near the base of this majestic
mountain. There are few mountain peaks shed
ding such enormous volumes of water. Mount
Shasta, California, is a notable exception.

ig2

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Winthrop Falls are about ten miles from The
Dalles on Mill creek. For four or five hundred
yards the trail lies along the side of a shell-rock
declivity ; at each step loose stones slip from
under one's feet. Soon this rocky road is left
behind ; its place is taken by slippery, moss grown
rocks in close proximity to a thunderous cataract.
Crouching through a shower of spray one passes
over a little creek, finding himself on the rocky
bed of an island with the falls of Mill creek fifty
feet distant. Here the water has a perpendicular
fall of 125 feet. Below is a perfect basin with
bluffs of basaltic rock on two sides. The only
means of an entrance or exit is a steep declivity of
shelving rock. With thunderous sound the water
plunges into the pool below ; a portion of it rises
in misty spray. The spirit of romantic adven
ture entices one behind the glittering sheet of
water, but this romantic ardor is singularly damp
ened by a sensation of moistened limpness taken
on by one's wearing apparel. He finds his gar
ments thoroughly saturated with Aqua pura.
Below The Dalles surrounded by a strong
current, is a little island used by Indians as a
place of sepulture. In this manner of burial
there is something peculiar, if not grewsome.
The dead are taken to a small house erected for
this purpose; laid in piles around the walls of
the structure, the heads to the wall, the feet
toward the center of the edifice. Hundreds of
bodies have been piled here forming a heap to
the height of several feet.
There are a number of these small structures
erected about ten feet apart each way. How
many generations have here mingled their dust?
Who can tell? This place is called Menaloose
Island, in the Columbia river. This islet belongs
to Oregon, and is situated about sixteen miles
from the Dalles. Here have the Wascos and
Klickitats buried their dead since time immemo
rial. Here are the bones of Melatowack and
Powhensha, once famous Indian chiefs and war
riors brave.
The elevation of Mount Hood, the loftiest
peak in Oregon, is 11,225 feet. This mountain
was named in 1792 by Lieutenant B rough ton, an
English explorer, in honor of Lord Hood. From
a point near the juncture of the Willamette and
Columbia rivers, named Belle Vue, many years
ago, the peak of a large, conical mountain was
observed a trifle south of due east. At sight of
this wonderful natural structure Broughton was
induced to believe that the mountain was the
source of the Columbia. Little he dreamed that
the river extended 2,000 miles above. The pow
erful current combines? with a strong east wind
made rowing slow and toilsome; his men com
plained bitterly of fatigue. At a point on the

north shore, above a great sand bar, he arrived,
and here Lieutenant Broughton estimated the
stream as about one-quarter of a mile wide. This
was in latitude 45 degrees, 27 minutes ; longitude
257 degrees, 50 minutes east of Greenwich. This
is a little above the Sandy, near the present point
of Washhougal. With the magnificance of this
scenery Broughton was quite impressed ; the pyr
amidal snow peak now bearing southeast. It
was the same remarkable mountain that had been
seen from Belle Vue Point S. 67 degrees east,
and though the party were now nearer to it by
seven leagues, yet the lofty summit was scarcely
more distinct across the intervening land. Ac
cording to The Dalles Times-Mountaineer this
mountain was, in 1846-7, in a state of eruption —
thus agreeing' with the Indian legend — and was
then called Mount Washington. It was ascended
in 1854 by Mr. Belden. Mount Hood has been
the study of the artist's pencil, and the theme
of story and song, but no pen or pencil is ade
quate to represent the weird, fantastic pictures-
queness of its glaciers and tremendous canyons.
Situated about one mile below the Cascades,
on the line of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation
Company, is the famous moving mountain of
Wasco county. This phenomenon has been ob
served for many years; the entire mountain
stretching back for a distance of six or seven
miles, and about one mile in width, is gradually
slipping down into the Columbia and being car
ried away to the sea. This sliding is not regular ; .
some years it makes more progress than others.
In 1894 the most remarkable slide occurred, when
it moved about 40 feet, pushing over a mile of
the O. R. & N. track into the Columbia river.
At present the company keeps employed at this
point a large number of men shoveling away the
accumulating earth. The scientific theory is that
this mountain rests upon a substructure of con
glomerate, or soft sandstone, and as it is washed
away by the waters of the Columbia on its lower
side, the immense weight of this pile of earth
and rocks is gradually forced toward the river.
High above Lake Chelan, in Washington,
pictured rocks are to be seen above The Dalles,
indicative of the rude art of native tribes. They
are also painted on an abrupt bluff four miles
up the banks of the Columbia from The Dalles.
They are of a peculiar pigment somewhat similar
to a Venetian red and are quite dissimilar in
shape and indications of artistic ability. Some
are half-circles with a border of painted darts ;
others are crescent-shaped, and a number of cir
cles may be discerned, one withi* the other. High
up on one of the projecting jocks is a rudely
shaped face; close beside it something like a
Greek cross surrounded by a distinct line. Below

The Dalles, County Seat of Wasco County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

193

these are outlines of clubs and arrow heads. The
most reliable information to be elicited from In
dians leads one to believe that these pictures com
memorate battles with contending tribes in which
the Wascos were victorious. But they still re
main hieroglyphics which Indian tradition, itself,
has failed to translate into a reasonable hypoth
esis. For the descriptive chapter of this history
we have left the Warm Springs Indian Reserva
tion for the last, although the greater portion
of it is historical. In 1887 the reservation con
sisted of an area 30 by 40 miles in extent ; a total
of 768,000 acres. Four townships, 91,190 acres,
were afterward added. The Times-Mountaineer
said, July 9, 1887, that the new survey would in
crease the limits 49,600 acres, making a grand
total of 908,760 acres to be divided between 763
Indians — men, women and children. This gave
every single individual nearly 1,500 acres, or
allowing five to each family, 7,500 a family. The
Tiuies-Mountainecr continues :
"If this is not a waste of the public domain
there can be no such thing. According to the
old treaty limits (1855) there are 708,000 acres
of land in the Warm Springs Reservation, and
this is amply sufficient for 763 Indians. There
never was any reason for the addition of the
four townships, and to perpetuate a further
wrong by taking away from the settlers some
of their best portions of timber and grazing lands
is an outrage that should not be patiently borne.
What irnpels Agent Wheeler in this action can
not be conjectured. The secretary of the inte
rior should be informed of The facts in this mat
ter, and a thorough investigation should be had."
October 6, 1888, "Otweis," in the Times-
Mountaineer describes a visit he made to the
reservation in that year as follows :
My first visit to the Warm Springs Reservation
occurred at that impressionable age of childhood
when anything unusual, strange or romantic leaves
so vivid an impression upon the mind that time fails
to erase it. We left the W. V. & C. M. road at
Willow Creek, and without anything to guide us
except the points of the compass and one solitary
and almost obliterated wagon-track — which had
been left there several years before by the first set
tlers of Ochoco when escaping the ravaging Ban
nock Indians they fled to the protection of the
friendly Warm Springs — traveled all day over bunch
grass hills and scorching plains, finding ourselves
at last upon the high rock-rimmed bank of Des
Chutes river. Looking down hundreds of feet we
could see the foaming and rushing water forcing its
way between sage brush and boulder lined shores.
We children and the ladies of our party found
13

a broken place in the rimrock, the only entrance
through this otherwise impenetrable natural wall,
and leaving the gentlemen to follow with the horses
and wagons as best they could, walked, scrambled
and tumbled on down the hill — no, mountain — for
it seemed to me, indeed, a vast elevation of land. I
do not remember whether they took the wagons
down by pieces or not, but looking up now at the
most impossible trail it seems to me it were im
possible to drag them down whole. Some Indians
— the first I had ever seen, and whojaughed when
I drew back when they offered to shake hands — ¦
rowed us over the river in a sort of rude flat boat;
and I am sure the wagons were ferried across on
this boat in pieces, and the horses were compelled
to swim. This river forms the eastern boundary-
line of the reservation; and two miles more travel
ing up a narrow, fertile valley, dotted occasionally
with Indian lodges and wigwams, brought us to the
agency. Here were a half dozen houses or so, the
homes of the agent and his employes.
During our visit which was of several weeks'
duration, there occurred an Indian war dance last
ing eight days, which Captain Smith, the agent, in
formed us was the celebration of the anniversary
of their victory over their bitter and life-long
enemies, the Snakes, or Bannocks. Several hundred
warriors would march on horseback to the brow of
the slight eminence above the parade ground, where
they would all stand abreast and sing, whoop and
beat hideous sounding drums; then with a yell that
would almost curdle one's blood, would dash down
the hill and circle round the flag pole in the center
of the square. Here they were joined by the women
who formed in a circle, and joining hands danced
round and round the flag. But the most Horrible:
sight of all was to see the slaves whom they had
captured in battle compelled to dance inside the
ring holding aloft the scalps of their fathers, moth
ers, sisters and brothers.
It was this savage and cruel people that Cap
tain Smith and his little band were endeavoring to
civilize, perhaps I should say, humanize, for they
were little more than beasts in human form. Poly
gamy was a part of their religion, and vice and
superstition the ruling elements of their govern
ment. They would steal and lie naturally, and be
lieved it something commendable to murder an
enemy, white or Indian, whenever the opportunity
presented itself. Do you think the lives of Captain
Smith, his noble wife, and those of his faithful em
ployes in those days were without trial or hardship?
If so it is because you are unacquainted with the
perils and dangers that surround them. I say all
honor is due to Captain Smith and his faithful few
who gradually won the confidence of this much de
ceived people, and little by little, one thing at a
time, compelled them to throw aside one vice after

194

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

another. Is it any wonder that he was over fifteen
years accomplishing his work of humanizing this
people? Missionaries have been thrice that length
of time struggling with other savage nations, and
have they accomplished more? And yet I hear a
great many complaints made concerning the non-
civilization of the Warm Springs. Yes, my friends,
it was so easy for us to sit by our comfortable fire
sides and talk about what might have been done.
But the question remains, would we have done bet
ter? Would we have given up comforts of society
and civilization and have spent the best part of our
lives with, and for a people who, like the Children.
of Israel, constantly yearned to go back?
Visiting the agency now (1888), I see every
tillable acre of land under cultivation. Instead of
lodges and wigwams I see neat residences. Instead
of the hideous scalp dance I attend church and listen
to the gospel among well-dressed and well-behaved
Indians, men and women, and yet you tell me they
are not civilized.
During 1887 John A. McQuinn was employed
three months in surveying the boundaries of the
Warm Springs reservation, and subdividing it

into farms. Having completed his work he re
turned to The Dalles. He declared that he had
run about 900 miles of lines and seen the entire
area of the reservation. Mr. McQuinn said that
there were about 850 Indians on the reservation,
Wascos, Warm Springs and Piutes, of which
there were only about fifty of the latter. These
were not given to agriculture or, in fact, to any
other civilized habits. Of the three tribes the
Wascos were the most highly civilized and intel
lectual. During the past three or four preced
ing years the Indians had slightly increased and
there were enough of them to occupy all the good
land on the reservation.
The springs which give this government tract
its name are about 40 in number ; the water,
which is charged with sulphur and other min
erals, is of a temperature high enough to cook
an egg within six minutes. These springs well
up from seams in the rocks and form a stream as
large as Johnson's creek. The original boun
daries were run where the Indians claimed they
should be ; the persons who remonstrated being
only two or three stockmen and a few others who
had no interest in the matter.

CHAPTER X

POLITICAL.

The political history of Wasco county covers
a period of half a century. At the time the
county was organized, 1854, two election pre
cincts were deemed amply sufficient to accom
modate the voters. June 6, 1904, there was held
a general county election — just fifty years to a
day after the first battle of the ballots at the polls
in the county — aud twenty-seven voting precincts
were required. And this, too, after the limits of
the county had been materially curtailed ; for the
whole territory that fifty years before needed only
two precincts now had several hundred, and the
county which at the first election polled not to
exceed one hundred, now cast many thousand,
votes. In no other way has the steady advance
ment of this county made itself so apparent as in
its political history.
During the earlier period of the county's an
nals the Democratic party was supreme. With
only an occasional exception the pioneers were

Democrats. True, now and then an "old line
Whig" was found among those whose business
it was to safeguard the county's interests in an
official capacity, but they did not gain their posi
tions because of their party affiliations, but in
spite of them. They were, perhaps, more popu
lar, personally, than their Democratic competi
tors. But such instances were rare. Politics at
that time was looked at from a far different view
point than it is at the present day ; a day when it
has become a "leading industry" if not an ac
knowledged profession. The paltry salaries
grudgingly set apart for official emoluments did
not stimulate men to struggle very strenuously
for political preferment. At that period, fabu
lous as it may appear, to the reader of the Twen
tieth Century, acceptance of a county office was
regarded in the light of a personal sacrifice; a
patriotic devotion to political duty and a self-
abnegating interest in the community's welfare

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

'95

_ i
instead of the prize-package feature so common
-nowadays in the bitter struggle for place, pap,
patronage, suspicious perquisites and downright
criminal "graft." The fact that many evaded
these onerous duties was shown by the numer
ous resignations and difficulties experienced in
finding men willing to fill the positions. Emphat
ically the place sought the man in those early
primitive times, and not the man the place. Prior
to the first shot in the Civil War party lines in
Oregon were not of any appreciable tension.
There were not a sufficient number of the Whig,
or Republican party, as it was beginning to be
known, to make a respectable contest; the vital
question at issue in county affairs was, "Which
Democrat shall we select?"
With the opening of the Civil War there came
a decided change. Party lines were then drawn
closely. Despite numerous accessions to Repub
lican ranks, the Democrats still retained a large
majority; that element of the party which sup
ported John C. Breckenridge carried Wasco
county at the first presidential election in which
it was allowed to participate. And since that
time the Republican and Democratic parties have
contended for honors in the political field of
Wasco county. Up to the early 80s the Demo
crats were the stronger party, and were, as a
rule, successful in presidential, state, congres
sional and county elections. Following that
period honors were about evenly divided be
tween the two dominant political elements. But
commencing with the year 1888 the Republicans
can claim political supremacy, gradually increas
ing their hold until the county is now conceded
to be strongly Republican ; at the election of 1904
seating every candidate on their ticket.
Occasionally the Prohibition party has a por
tion of a ticket in the field, but numerically it is
not strong. Neither have the Socialists much of
a following. During the days when Populism
reached high water mark the Socialists gained
some strength, vet not nearly so much as in
other portions of the west.
Among the notable men who came from
Wasco county ancl served their country with dis
tinction were James K. Kelly, United States
senator; O. N. Denny and George L. Woods,
both having served as county judge. O. N.
Denny represented our government in China and
subsequently became adviser to the king of
Korea. George L. Woods was Wasco county's
first governor of Oregon ; Z. F. Moody, second.
It is now ours to trace the political history of
the county from the date of its organization, giv
ing the result of each election in so far as is pos
sible with the data available. Wasco county was
organized by act of the Oregon Territorial leg

islature in 1854, which act became a law, by be
ing enrolled January nth, of the same year. The
original officers of the new county were named
in the bill ; they were to serve until their suc
cessors, to be elected on the first Monday in
June, 1854, should qualify. Apparently the leg
islator who introduced the bill did not consider it
necessary to name a complete quota of county
officials, as we find that those who were named
were : commissioners, W. C. Laughlin, Warren
Keith and John Tompkins : sheriff, John Simms ;
judge of probate, Justin Chenowith; clerk 
Chase. Evidently the Christian name of Mr.
Chase was unknown to the sapient legislator who
fathered the bill, but subsequent delving in his
toric annals reveals the fact that it was Henri M.
The gentlemen named as commissioners' met and
duly organized the county of Wasco. Mr. Laugh
lin was selected as chairman of the board. Prior
to the election in June precinct officers were ap
pointed by the board ; the appointments were
made April 3d. They were : Nathan Olney and
M. M. Cushing, justices of the peace, and David
Butler, constable, for Dalles precinct ; G. Atwell,
justice of the peace, and John Chipman, con
stable, for Falls precinct. These were the first
and only officials in Wasco county prior to the
initial election of June 6, 1854.
Then the county, as has been stated, was di
vided into two precincts — Dalles and Falls. At
the meeting of the county board, April 3, 1854,
judges of these precincts were appointed as fol
lows : Dalles precinct, W. D. Bigelow, M. M.
Cushing and William R. Gibson. Falls precinct,
James Human, G. Atwell and John Chipman. The
minutes ,of this meeting contain the following
entry: "Appointed the place of holding elections
to be at the house of Mr. Forsythe." This was
for Dalles precinct, the other voting place not
being mentioned.
At this initial election Richard -Marshall,
Charles E. Evelyn, later made chairman, and L.
P. Henderson were elected county commission
ers, and June 10th they qualified, their election
being certified to by J. A. Simms, county auditor.
At this meeting the county commissioners de
cided by lot the length of their respective terms.
Charles E. Evelyn drew the short end and it was
his misfortune (or fortune) to witness the ex
piration of his term at the next general election
in June, 1855. R. Marshall's term was to ex
pire in two years from date of his election, and
L. P Henderson's in three years. By this plan
•the commissioners' term of office was fixed at
three years ; one to be elected each successive
year. The county records do not state definitely
What other officers were elected. O. Humason
was elected sheriff, but failing to qualify, Benj a-

196

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

min M. Reynolds was appointed July 3d to fill
the vacancy. In 'addition to those mentioned
above the following were elected: O. Humason,
representative ; Nathan Olney, county (probate)
judge; D. W. Dauthitt, prosecuting attorney;
John A. Simms, clerk ; John Irvine, assessor ; J.
Chenowith, school superintendent and surveyor;
C. W. Denton, coroner.
W. C. Laughlin was also elected justice of
the peace, but failing to qualify, W. D. Bigelow
was appointed to fill the vacancy. There appears
to have been more or less trouble in retaining a
justice of the peace, as we find that on September
27th O. Humason and C. W. Shaug were ap
pointed justices in place of Nathan Olney and
W. D. Bigelow, resigned. S. S. Moore was ap
pointed contable at the same time. From the
commissioners' record it, therefore, appears, that
in 1854 there were only three justices of the peace
and three constables in all of Oregon between the
Cascade and Rocky mountains. They were lo
cated at The Dalles and Falls (now Cascade
Locks). Prior to the admission of Oregon as a state
in 1859, county elections were held annually.
From the proceedings of the county commis
sioners of April 2, 1855, we learn that the two
election precincts then existing were described as
follows : "Second precinct, commencing at Dog
(Hood) River, thence running east." and "First
precinct — Commencing at Dog River, thence
west." The voting place for precinct number 2
was at Simms & Humasons store at The Dalles,
and for precinct number 1 at N. Coe's house on
Dog River. The judges of election for number
2 were William C. Laughlin, N. H. Gates and
W. D. Bigelow; for number 1, Rodger B. At
well, John Chipman and William Jenkins.
At the June election of 1855 William Jenkins
was selected commissioner and his hold-over col
leagues were L. P. Henderson and R. Marshall.
Mr. Jenkins resigned July 22, 1856, and R. Mar
shall was appointed in his place. Although the
commissioners had provided for only two elec
tion precincts, we find that three precincts had
cast votes, the third being known as Umatilla.
Among the election returns in the county arch
ives are those for this precinct, but it is doubtful
if they were permitted to count in the result. Our
belief is based on the termination of the contest
between the two candidates for sheriff, which
was decided by the district court July 10, 1855.
Had the Umatilla vote been counted Jerry G.
Dennis would have been elected. In the returns
for this election, however, we include the Uma
tilla vote.
The records show the returns from three pre
cincts for this election — Dalles, Falls and Uma

tilla. Sixty-four votes were cast at The Dalles;:
sixteen at Umatilla and twenty-nine at Falls.
Following: is the result:

O d, D H
Delegate to Congress —
Joseph Lane (Dem.)  59 28 16 103.
John P. Gains (Whig.)  5 2 . . 7
Member Legislative House —
N. H. Gates (Dem.)  49 23 8 80
W. C. Laughlin (Wnig.) . . 12 .6 . . 18
Nathaniel Coe  3 . . . . 3
Judge of Probate —
W. C. Laughlin (Whig.) ... 42 21 8 71
C. Humason (Dem.)  16 7 .. 23.
Sheriff— C. W. Shaug (Dem.)  35 13 .. 48
J.G.Dennis (Whig.)  27 16 9 52
Assessor — ¦
Josiah Marsh  36 13 9 58
County Commissioner —
William Jenkins  38 17 8 63:
Coroner —
Thomas Martin (Whig) ... 28 16 . . 44
C. W. Shaug (Dem.)  7 .. .. 7
C. W. Denton (Dem.)  2 1 .. 3
Surveyor —
Justin Chenowith (Dem.) . . 2 2 . . 4
A. Shumway  1 . . 1
Prosecuting Attorney —
 Branden  . . 13 13.
P. A. Marquam  1 . . . . 1
Following is the opinion of the district
court in the proceedings instituted by Jerry G.
Dennis to contest the election of Sheriff C. W.
Shaug :
Jerry G. Dennis vs. C. W. Shaug.
Contested Election.
The contestant, Dennis, by Logan, his attorney, and
the incumbent, Shaug, by Campbell, his attorney, came
and the court having heard the proofs and allegations
of the parties, it is considered that the said Shaug was
duly elected to the said office of sheriff for the said
county of Wasco at the said election of the first Mon
day of June, 1855, and is entitled to hold the same as
against the said contestant, Dennis, and that he recover
of the said Jerry G. Dennis his costs.
For the election of June, 1856, four election-
precincts were created. Their names and boun
daries were as follows : First, or Portage pre
cinct — Commencing at the southwestern boun
dary of Wasco county, thence east to a point of
rocks opposite Wind Mountain..

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

197

Second, or Dog River precinct — Commenc
ing at the point of rocks opposite Wind Moun
tain ; thence east to Dog River.
Third, or Dalles precinct — Commencing at
Dog River and thence east to dividing ridge, be
tween Five and Ten Mile creeks.
Fourth — Commencing at the divide between
Five and Ten Mile creek; thence east and south
to Burton's gate; thence east to the Des Chutes
river, and south to the California line.
The judges of election were : Portage pre
cinct — Messrs. Atwell, Chipman and Allen. Dog
River precinct — Messrs. Coe, Benson and Jen
kins. Dalles precinct — Messrs. Laughlin, Bige
low and  . Fourth precinct — Messrs.
Combs, Crooks and Shumway. Apparently the
election judges did not fully endorse the action
of the county commissioners in naming these
precincts, for we find the returns certified to
from Dalles, Cascade and Fifteen Mile precincts.
Therefore returns are available only from these
so-called precincts, and there may, or may not
have been more votes cast at this election. Here
it is : i
5 rt 5 O
O o s, H
-Representative —
W. H. Fountleroy (Dem.) . . 83 2 1 86
W. C. Laughlin (Whig) ... 54 11 4 69
W. D. Bigelow (Dem.)  26 1 1 28
Auditor —
J.R.Bates....  85 12 11 108
Treasurer —
J.T.Jeffries (Dem.)  47 .. 7 54
M. M. Cushing (Dem.) .... 39 13 .. 52
Assessor —
William Logan (Dem.)  41 13 8 62
John Todd (Dem.)  36 .. 2 38
•School Superintendent —
John H. Stephens  58 13 4 75
County Coroner —
James McAuliffe (Dem.) ..93 .. 8 101
Surveyor —
William Logan (Dem.)  28 .. 8 36
Public Administrator —
N. H. Gates (Dem.)  19 .. .. i9
For location of the capital of the Territory —
Corvallis, 1 ; Portland, 2 ; Dayton, 1 ; Salem, 20 ;
Eugene City, 7; The Dalles, 5.
Another election, evidently a special one,
was held November 17, 1856, to select a repre
sentative for Wasco county to the legislature.
Apparently Dalles and Falls precincts were the
only ones in which an election was held. N.-H.
Gates received 130 votes and. Colonel A. G. Tripp

30, in Dalles. The judges of election were Ezra
Craven, B. F. McCormack and J. G. Dennis.
Clerks of election : A. P. Price and Robert W.
Hale. Falls precinct's vote at this election was,
Gates, 13.
But little excitement appears to have material
ized at the general election of June, 1857. There
was only one ticket. For joint councilman Wasco
county gave its vote to 0. Humason. The fol
lowing were elected county officers :
Representative — N. H. Gates; county com
missioner, John Crooks; sheriff, A. Shumway;
coroner, James McAuliff ; assessor, L. P. Linsey ;
school superintendent, H. K. Hines; public ad
ministrator, N. H. Gates. With the exception of
Linsey all these candidates were Democrats.
But on November 9th, of the same year quite
an interesting election was held, and one that in
volved a number of issues of grave importance.
In one respect it was the preliminary to the final
admission of Oregon as a state into the union,
and this question brought before the people the
adoption of a state constitution. We give the
result in Dalles and what was erroneously called
"Fifteen Mile" precinct. The vote in both pre
cincts was against the proposed constitution and
slavery. And this vote, it should be remembered,
was taken in a locality where the Democrats were,
for the time being, the dominant party. The vote
"for" and "against" negroes is, too, singularly
significant. Although the vote in Fifteen Mile
precinct was much smaller, the same political
sentiment prevailed in about the same propor
tion. The result : >
Dalles. Fifteen Mile.
For Constitution  55 3
Against Constitution  89 5
For Slavery  58 1
Against Slavery  85 8
For Negroes  18 1
Against Negroes  122 7
For the election of June 7, 1858, three new-
precincts were established — No. 4 at the cross
ing of the Des Chutes ; No. 5 at the Tygh, and
No. 6 at the Walla Walla, fhe judges of elec
tion were: Precinct No. 1, Messrs, Allen, Chip-
man and Atwell ; No. 2, Laughlin, Cowen, Jukes ;
No. 3, Crooks, Henderson, Logan ; No. 4, Trev-
itt, Kingsbury, Martin; No. 5, Bishop, Palmer,
Flett. The following were elected :
For senator, J. S. Ruckles ; representative,
Victor Trewlitt, Dem. ; county judge, O. Huma
son, Dem. ; prosecuting attorney, D. W. Douthitt ;
county commissioner, R. G. Atwell ; sheriff, A.
Shumway ; clerk, W. C. Moody, Dem. ; treas
urer, James McAuliff, Dem. ; assessor, H. P^

198

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Isaacs, Dem. ; school superintendent, C. R. Meigs,
Whig ; surveyor, A. Fairfield ; coroner, W.
De Moss.
Of these officials elected, Shumway, Meigs,
Fairfield and De Moss served only a portion of
their respective terms.
June 27, 1859, an election was held in Wasco
county in which only two county offices were
represented by candidates. Candidates voted
for at this election were representative to con
gress, school superintendent and assessor. The
result :

cflcfl 0)0) utn« Si'3 —
— ~ (d« b*£ %*, « « ,52 «
SS »§ q.6 a£ « a -3 ro
SS u, « o Q D d, h
CONGRESS: D. Logan, R  1 13 8 4 84 — 4 IH
L. Stout, D  24 10 4 24 143 18 18 241
SUPERINTENDENT :
W. Logan, D  — 20 — 26  — — 46
Fitz, D  — — — — 126 — — 12«
McCoy  — — — — — 18—18
ASSESSOR: C. White, D  — 20 — 27 201 18 16 282
In this election Tygh precinct cast one vote
for Logan, fourteen for Stout and fifteen for
White, not counted in above table.
June 4, i860, another election was held with
the following result :
For Congressman — George K. Sheil, Dem.,
342 ; David Logan, Rep., 218.
For Joint Senator — James K. Kelly, Dem.,
210; William Logan, Dem., 210; W. C. Laugh
lin, Rep. 77.
For Representative — Robert Mays, Dem.,
322 ; J. G. Sparks, 170.
For Prosecuting Attorney — C. W. Douthitt,
Dem., 251; W. L. McEwen, 116.
For Sheriff — C. White, Dem., 414; J. Dar-
raugh, Rep., 102.
For Treasurer — J. McAuliff, Dem., 342 ; O.
S. Savage, Dem., 158.
For Clerk — W. C. Moody, Dem., 214; G. E.
Graves, 90; E. F. Smith, 187.
For Assessor — James Bird, Dem., 338 ; B. B.
Bishopp, Dem., 149.
For Surveyor — J. Chenowith, Dem., 147; H.
H. Hill, 159.
For School Superintendent — E. P. Fitzger
ald, Dem., 274; H. P. Isaacs, Dem., 5; E. S.
Penfield, Rep., 5.
For Coroner — W. D. Bigelow, Dem., 155;
A. J. Hogg, 327.
The general election of November 6, i860,
afforded the citizens of Oregon their first oppor
tunity to vote for president, as residents of the
Web-Foot State. Following this date general
elections were held every, two years. In Wasco

county John C. Breckenridge secured a hand
some majority over the other Democratic com
petitor, Stephen A. Douglas, the vote for Abra
ham Lincoln exceeding that for Douglas by a
small majority. Only two other officials were-
voted for at this election. The result :
For Presidential Electors, Stephen A. Doug
las — W. H. Farrar, 148; B. Hayden, 145; James.
Bruce, 147.
For Presidential Electors, John C. Brecken
ridge — D. Smith, 255; D. W. Douthitt, 253;.
James O'Meara, 255.
For Presidential Electors, Abraham Lincoln
— T. J. Dryer, 168 ; B. J. Pingree, 168 ; William
H. Watkins, 168.
For County Commissioners — W. C. Laugh
lin, Rep., 205; J. M. Crooks, Dem., 113; N. Ol
ney, Dem., 81 ; R. Marshall, 180; C. Richardson,.
172. For Prosecuting Attorney — G. B. Curry,
Rep., 204 ; C. R. Meigs, Dem., 220 ; A. J. Thuyler,
104. At the general election of June 2, 1862, a
full ticket from governor to county coroner was
in the field. Result :
For Congressman — J. R. McBride, Rep.,
677 ; A. E. Wait, Dem., 304.
For State Representative — O. Humason,.
Dem., 445 ; N. H. Gates, Dem., 166.
For Clerk — W. D. Bigelow, Dem., 445; L.
B. Hodgdon, 132.
For Sheriff— C. White, Dem., 448; R. E..
Miller, 158.
For Treasurer — H. G. Waldron, Rep., 422;
P. Craig, Dem., 156.
For County Judge — G. E. Graves, 424; N.
Olney, Dem., 120.
For Prosecuting Attorney — C. R. Meigs,.
Rep. 458 ; W. L. McEwan, Dem., 11.
For Coroner — J. N. Bell, 447; J. W. Hunter,.
9- For Assessor — M. M. Chipman, 415 ; M. M,
Cushing, 134.
For Surveyor — L. F. Carter, 538.
For School Superintendent — E. P. Fitzger
ald, Dem., 466; H. P Isaacs, Dem., 115.
For County Commissioner — W. C. Laughlin,
Rep., 410 ; J. M. Crooks, Dem., 413 ; R. Marshall,.
112. Before proceeding further with our record ol
the successive elections held in Wasco county, it
is considered best to invite the attention of the-
reader to a resume of the personality of the pio
neer political officials of the county. As we have-
stated the first county officers were appointed by
the Territorial legislature — W. C. Laughlin,.
Whig ; William Keith and John Tompson, Dem-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

199

ocrats, commissioners ; John A. Simms, Demo
crat, sheriff, and Justin Chenowith, Democrat,
county judge. Of the first list of elective officers
only one is still a resident of Wasco county (Jan
uary 19, 1905), and as far as known the only
one living, the coroner, C. W. Denton. O. Hu
mason, Democrat, was first representative in
1854; N. H. Gates in 1856, and Vic Trevitt, Dem
ocrat, in 1858. D. W. Douthitt was prosecuting
attorney for three terms. There was no treasurer
until 1856 when Mr. Cushing was elected. J.
McAuliff was elected in 1858, and is still living
in Walla Walla, Washington. The asessors for
three terms successively were John Irvine, Will
iam Logan and H. P. Isaacs. William Logan
and wife were lost off Crescent City, in 1865, in
the steamer Brother Jonathan. H. P. Isaacs, one
of the most prominent of Walla Walla's business
men, recently died. The county clerks were John
A. Simms, J. R. Bates and W. C. Moody. R. R.
Thompson was school superintendent in 1858,
and was succeeded by E. P. Fitzgerald for two
terms. Colonel J. S. Ruckles, one of the earliest
men in the Oregon Steam Navigation Company,
was senator in 1858.
It was a Republican year in 1864 in Oregon.
The wave swept over Wasco county and pro
duced a marked uniformity in the vote for the
various state, district and county candidates for
offices. Patriotism was at floodtide. Yet by the
time the next election rolled around Democrats
were again in the saddle. In the June election of
1864 Republicans had been .successful in every
instance. But the following presidential election
of November 8th, of the same year, showed the
Democratic candidate for president, McClellan,
ahead by less than 75 votes of his competitor,
Abraham Lincoln. Result of the election of June
6, 1864: For location of the state capital of Oregon —
Salem, 370; Portland, 54; Dalles City, 27; Eu
gene City, 16; Mount Hood, 2: Cornvalis,
(Corvallis), 1.
For Congressman — J. N. D. Henderson, Rep.,
883 ; James K. Kelly, Dem., 583.
For State Senator — Z. Donnell, Rep., 720;
D. D. Stephenson, Dem., 486.
For Representative — A. G. Bertand, Rep.,
726; Thomas E. Gray, Dem., 483.
For County Judge — O. N. Denny, Rep., 718 ;
J. IT. Neyce, Dem., 486.
For County Commissioners — John Irvine,
Rep., 727; Horace Rice, Rep., 729; George Will
iams, Dem., 479 ; P. Roster, Dem., 479.
For Clerk— R. B. Reed, Rep, 742 ; F. S. Hol
land, Dem, 478.
For Sheriff — Charles White, Rep, 753 ;
Thomas Howard, Dem, 479.

For Coroner — A. H. Steele, Rep, 524.
For Treasurer — H. J. Waldron, Rep, 731 ;
A. W. Buchanan, Dem, 481.
For Assessor — C. E. Chrisman, Rep, 731 ; T.
M. Ward, Dem, 475.
For Surveyor — William Logan, Rep, 736;
J. Kinseley, Dem, 470.
For School Superintendent — J. D. Robb,
Rep, 729; M. Fitzgerald, Dem, 483.
For Judge Fifth Judicial District — J. G. Wil
son, Rep, 736 ; J. N. Slater, Dem, 520.
For Prosecuting Attorney — C. R. Meigs,
Rep, 734; N. H. Gates, Dem, 542.
The presidential election of November 8,
1864, resulted, in Wasco county, in the following
vote, slightly favoring General George B. Mc
Clellan :
Abraham Lincoln, Republican electors —
George L. Woods, 1146; H. N. George, 1148; J.
F. Gagley, 1148.
George B. McClellan, Democratic electors —
A. E. Wait, 1207; S. F. Chadwick, 1208; Benja
min Hayden, 1208.
November 20, 1865, there was held a special
election in Wasco county for the election of a
state representative with the following result:
H. A. Hogue, Rep, 238; N. H. Gates, Dem,
281. Spring election of June 4, 1866:
For Congressman — Rufus Mallory, Rep,
364; James D. Fay, Dem, 398.
For Governor — George L. Woods, Rep,
355 ; James K. Kelly, Dem, 413.
For State Representative — H. A. Hogue,'
Rep., 293 ; C. B. Keogh, Rep, 275 ; O. Humason,
Dem, 346; F. T. Dodge, Dem, 350.
For Prosecuting Attorney, Fifth District —
C. R. Meigs, Rep, 302; James H. Slater, Dem.,

For Sheriff— N. W. Crandall, Rep, 278; A.
W. Ferguson, Dem, 349.
For Clerk— R. B. Reed, Rep, 307 ; F. S. Hol
land, Dem, 323.
For Treasurer — G. W. Waldron, Rep, 283 ;
A. W. Buchanan, Dem, 344.
For County Commissioners — R. Mays, Rep.,
288; R. H. Wood, rep, 287; John Williams,
Dem, 333 ; G. F. Hurbert, Dem, 326.
For Assessor — L. L. Noland, Rep, 287; Har
rison Corum, Dem, 336.
For School Superintendent — Thomas Cob-
don, Rep, 300; E.-P. Fitzgerald, Dem, 325.
For Surveyor — W B. Campbell, Rep, 291 ;
W. T. Newcomb, Dem, 322.
For Coroner — W. B. Warner, Rep, 280; C.
B. Brooks, Dem, 347.
The spring election of 1868, held June 1, re
sulted as follows :

900

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Congressman — Joseph S. Smith, Dem,
451 ; David Logan, Rep, 282.
For State Senator — Victor Trevitt, Dem,
332; C. M. Lockwood, Rep, 331.
For State Representatives — D. W. Butler,
Dem, 338; George J. Ryan, Dem, 336; H. A.
Hogue, Rep, 328; J. N. Moad, Rep, 322.
For Prosecuting Attorney, Fifth Judicial Dis
trict — W. B. Laswell, Rep, 445; C. M. Foster,
Dem, 254.
For County Commissioners — John M. Mar
den, Dem, 350; J. H. Phillips, Dem, 339; Rob
ert Mays, Rep, 316; D. A. Turner, Rep, 310.
For Sheriff — A. W. Ferguson, Dem, 351 ; W.
P. Miller,' Rep, 310.
For Clerk— N. R. Packard, Dem, 364 ; J. W.
Going, Rep, 299.
For Treasurer — A. W. Buchanan, Dem, 332 ;
G. W. Waldron, Rep, 332.
For School Superintendent — E. P. Fitzger
ald, Dem, 337; E. P. Roberts, Rep. 319.
For Assessor — Jeremiah Doherty, Dem, 344 ;
T. M. Ward, Rep, 308.
For Surveyor — C. M. Walker, Dem, 332 ;
W. B. Campbell, Rep, 326.
For Coroner — P. Craig, Dem, 355 ; William
Miller, Rep, 305.
For County Judge — E. L. Perham, Dem,
339; O. N. Denny, Rep, 325.
Wasco county, at the presidential election of
1868, gave its vote to Horatio Seymour, as
against U. S. Grant.
A state and general election was held in Ore
gon June 6, 1870. The vote of Wasco county
was as follows :
For Governor — L. F. Grover, Dem, 349 ; Joel
Palmer, Rep, 341.
For Congressman — J. G. Wilson, Rep, 344;
J. H. Slater, Dem, 342.
For District Attorney — W. B. Laswell, Rep,
337 ; D. W. Leichenthaler, Dem, 332.
For State Representatives — James Fulton,
Dem, 315 ; O. S. Savage, Dem, 320; L. L. Row
land, Rep, 300; G. W. Waldron, Rep, 314.
For County Commissioners — E. ' Wingate,
Dem, 313; E. P. Fitzgerald, Dem, 316; E.
Wood, Rep, 311 ; R. Mays, Rep, 303.
For Sheriff— J. M. Bird, Dem, 329; John
Daraah, Rep, 295.
For Clerk— A. Holland, Dem, 319; C. Mc
Farlin, Rep, 303.
For Treasurer — R. Grant, Dem, 311 ; George
Ruch, Rep, 311. At this election the two can
didates for county treasurer having received an
equal number of votes, on June 18th they drew
lots, and Mi". Ruch won.
For School Superintendent — D. D. Steph
enson, Dem, 328; W. M. Hand, Rep, 291.

For Assessor — E. Schultz, Dem, 333 ; A. B.
Moore, Rep, 289.
For Surveyor — N. S. Brawley, Dem, 298;
W. B. Campbell, Rep, 318.
For, Coroner — P. Craig, Dem, 283 ; B. JST.
Mitchell, Rep, 57-
Spring election June 3, 1872 :
For Congressman — John Burnett, Dem, 500;
J. G. Wilson, Rep., 468.
For District Attorney — W. B. Laswell, 509.
For County Commissioners — B. C. McAtee,
Dem, 451; E. Wingate, Dem, 483; E. Wood,
Rep, 430 ; Thomas Lester, Rep, 402.
For Sheriff— E. Shultz, Dem., 465; J. T.
Storrs, Rep, 412.
For Clerk— A. Holland, Dem, 503 ; L. Cof
fin, Rep, 388.
For Treasurer — J. Doherty, Dem, 464;
George Ruch, Rep, 418.
For School Superintendent — Thomas Smith,
Dem, 452 ; Thomas Condon, Rep, 430.
For Assessor — John Cates, Dem, 484; H.
Helm, Rep, 398.
For Surveyor — T. Slusher, Dem, 465 ; W. B.
Campbell, Rep, 407.
For County Judge — N. H. Gates, Dem, 491 ;
Thomas Gordon, Rep, 378.
For Coroner — C. W. Womack, 10; A. Sav
age, 6 ; A. Kelly, 12.
The presidential election of the same year,
November 5th, resulted as follows :
Thomas A. Hendricks, Democratic electors —
N. H. Gates, 313; George R. Helm, 314; E. D.
Shattock, 314.
Ulysses S. Grant, Republican electors — A. B.
Muchari, 392; W. D. Hare, 392; James Gagley,
392. t
Horace Greeley, Independent electors — H. K.
Hanner, 28; A. W. Ferguson, 28; Benjamin
Hayden, 28.
There was held a special election, October 13,
1873, for congressman. The vote of Wasco
county was as follows : James W. Nesmith, Rep,
293 ; Hiram Smith, Dem, 140.
Spring election of June 1, 1874:
For Governor — L. F. Grover, Dem, 347; J.
C. Tolman, Rep, 202 ; F. F. Campbell, 355.
For Congressman — George A. La Dow, Dem,
364; Richard Williams, Rep, 244; T. W. Dav
enport, Rep, 309.
For State Senator — J. K. Roe, Rep, 380;
Elisha Barnes, Dem, 470.
For State Representatives — James M. Bird,
Dem, 348; S. G. Thompson, Dem, 384; E. B.
Dufur, Rep, 475.
For Prosecuting Attorney — W. B. Laswell,
392; J. C. Cartwright, Rep, 212; O. Humason,
Dem, 287.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

201

For County Commissioners — J. H. Mosier,
Dem, 373 ; Joseph Martin, Dem, 403 ; Albert
Savage, Rep, 465 ; John Chipman, Rep, 467.
For Sheriff — E. Shutz, Dem, 366; George
W. Burford, Rep, 184; George F. Sampson,
Rep, 313.
For Clerk — A. W. Ferguson, Dem, 408; R.
F. Gibons, Dem, 443.
For Treasurer — H. M. Beall, Dem, 333; F.
Dehm, Dem, 506.
For School Superintendent — James M. Ben
son, Dem, 414; E. Fisher, Rep, 426.
For Assessor — H. Staley, Dem, 414; A. H.
Breyman, Rep, 441.
For Surveyor — Thomas Slusher, Dem, 399;
"W. E. Campbell, Rep, 339.
Special election, October 25, 1875 :
For Member of Congress — L. F. Lane, Dem,
355; Henry Warren, Rep, 209; G. M. Whitney,
35 ; G. W. Dimmick, 6.
Spring election June 5, 1876:
For Judge of the Fifth Judicial District — L.
L. McArthur, Dem, 800.
For Prosecuting Attorney — L. B. Ison, Rep,
.548 ; Robert Eakin, Dem, 338.
For Joint State Senator — S. G. Thompson,
Dem, 519; E. Barnes, Rep, 446.
For State Representatives — D. W. Butler,
Dem, 500; J. H. Mosier, Dem, 522; P. G. Bar
rett, Rep, 453 ; William Bingham, Rep, 429.
For County Judge — O. S. Savage, Dem,
485; H. J. Waldron, Rep, 481.
For County Commissioners — S. M. Baldwin,
Dem, 539 ; J. H. Chastain, Dem, 525 ; John Ir
vine, Rep, 474; Horace Rice, Rep, 374.
For Sheriff — J. B. Crossen, Dem, 527; John
Darrah, Rep, 419.
For Clerk — M. M. Cushing, Dem, 428; R.
F. Gibons, Dem, 544.
For Treasurer — E. Wingate, Dem, 628; F.
Dehm, Dem, 316.
For School Superintendent — M. H. Abbott,
Dem, 506; Troy Shelley, Rep, 453.
For Assessor — J. M. Garrison, Dem, 528;
Thomas Lister, Rep, 420.
For Surveyor — Thomas Slusher, Dem, 525 ;
W. B. Campbell, Rep, 436.
For Coroner — J. A. Robbins, Dem, 491 ;
Thomas Woodcock, Rep, 453.
The November presidential election of the
7th, 1876, showed the following result in Wasco
county :
Samuel J. Tilden, Democratic electors — H.
Klippel, 621 ; E. H. Cronin, 621 ; W. B. Las
well, 619 .
Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican electors —
Wr. H. Odell, 491 ; J. W. Watts, 491 ; J. C. Cart
wright, 493.

Spring election June 3, 1878:
For Governor — W. W. Thayer, Dem, 863
C. C. Beckman, Rep, 623 ; M. Wilkins, 7.
For Congressman — John Whiteaker, Dem.
851 ; H. K. Hines, Rep, 618; T. F. Campbell, 4,
For State Representatives — N. H. Gates
Dem, 793; A. B. Webdell, Dem, 812; A. Allen
Rep, 528; E. C. Wyatt, Rep, 532.
For Prosecuting Attorney, Fifth District —
Luther B. Ison, Rep, 880 ; C. W. Parish, Dem,
544- For County Commissioners — Thomas Bur
gess, Dem, 834 ; M. D. Harpole, Dem, 703 ;
George E. Watkins, Rep, 538; J. A. Gulliford,
Rep, 563.
For Sheriff — James B. Crossen, Dem, 814;
John Luckey, Rep, 511.
For Clerk— R. F. Gibons, 938; C. F. Back
us, Rep, 384.
For Treasurer — E. Wingate, Dem, 886; W.
M. Hand, Rep, 24.
For School Superintendent — A. S. Bennett,
Dem, 794; G. H. Barnett, Rep, 528.
For Assessor— S. G. Newsome, Dem, 726;
George H. Churchill, Rep, 564.
For Surveyor — J. H. Bird, Dem, 803 ; E. W.
Sanderson, Rep, 501.
For Coroner — R. B. Hood, Dem, 782; Henry
Schnider, Rep, 525.
The spring election of 1880 was held on June
7th. Of this election The Dalles Times of June
8, 1880, said:
"The present campaign which has just ended
has been one of the fairest in the history of our
county. Both parties have evinced their usual
interest in the success of their particular candi
dates, yet it has lacked that detestable feature of
politics generally, and which has been indulged
in by both parties to a certain extent. We have
reference to that indecent practice of exposing
all, however insignificant they may be, of the im
moral acts of opposing candidates during their
lives, and in which the people take but little
interest." On the 15th the Times added the following:
At the first opening of the campaign we predicted
that when the vote of this county was counted, even
the unterrified would be surprised. And our prediction
has come true, though we claim neither to be a prophet
nor the son of a prophet. We were fully assured that
a good, earnest campaign in this county would show
that even the democracy of Wasco might be defeated,
though for several years past a Democratic nomination
has been considered equivalent to an election. This will
be considered so no longer. The result of the election
shows that Wasco county is very little, if any, Demo
cratic. There has been a vast increase in our population,

202

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and that has helped to lessen the Democratic majority.
Other causes have been at work which have tended in
the same direction. * * *
The Republicans of Wasco county have gained a
substantial victory over a vigilant and determined op
ponent. Messrs. Z. F. Moody, representative; John T.
Storrs, sheriff; and O. D. Doane, school superintendent,
have been elected on the Republican ticket by handsome
majorities. This is the first time for years that a Re
publican has been elected in this county and we feel like
crowing. At the state and county election held on Tues
day, June 8, 1880, there were 2,272 votes cast for
the head of the ticket — congressman — a large
increase over any election ever before held in the
county. Following is the official count of the
votes :
For Congressman — M. C. George, Rep,
I'I39i John Whitaker, Dem, 1,133 — George's
majority, 6.
For supreme court judges the county was .car
ried by the Democratic candidates. The candi
dates were : J. B. Waldo, Rep. ; W. P. Lord, Rep. ;
E. B. Watson, Rep.; J. K. Kelly, Dem.; P. P
Prim, Dem. ; J. Burnett, Dem. The Democrats
were elected hy majorities of 104, 134 and 165
respectively. For state printer T. B. Merry,
Dem, carried the county over W. H. Odell, Rep,
by a majority of 239.
For District Judge — M. L. Olmstead, Rep,
1,072 ; L. L. McArthur, Dem, 1,038 — Ohnstead's
majority 34.
For Prosecuting Attorney — D. W. Bailey,
Dem, 1,141; Robert Eakin, (not a candidate),
Rep, 53.
For Joint Senator — N. B. Sinnott, Rep,
1,020; N. H. Gates, Dem, 1,082 — Gates' ma
jority, 62.
For State Representatives — Z. F Moody,
Rep, 1,125; J- L. Luckey, Rep, 963; J. B. La-
follet, Dem, 985; J. H. Bird, Dem, 1,018.
For County Judge — R. Mays, Rep, 989 ; O. S.
Savage, Dem, 1,092 — majority for Savage, 103.
For County Commissioners — N. Clark, Rep,
970; A. A. Bonney, Rep, 1,024; Thomas Bur
gess, Dem, 1,103 • J- M. Benson, Dem, 1,075.
For Sheriff — J. T. Storrs, Rep, 1,142; G. A.
F. Hill, Dem, 953 — majority for Storrs, 189.
For County Clerk — G. E. Robinson, Rep,
776; R. F Gibons, Dem, 1,311 — majority for
Gibons, 535.
For Treasurer — G. E. Williams, Rep, 927;
Benjamin Korten, Dem, 1,166 — Korten's major
ity, 239.
For Assessor — A. M. Allen, Rep., 1,005;
Charles Schutz, Dem, 1,073 — majority for
Schutz, 68.

For School Superintendent — O. D. Doane,
Rep, 1,079; J- McCown, Dem, 985 — Doane's
majority, 94.
For Surveyor — E. Sanderson, Rep, 952 ; J.
Fulton, Dem, 1,142 — Fulton's majority, 190.
For Coroner — Joseph Beezley, Rep, 963 ; Dr.
Robbins, Dem, 1,108 — majority for Robbins, 145.
At the presidential election held November 2,
1880, Wasco county was found still in the Dem
ocratic column, though by a reduced majority.
The official count gave Garfield and Arthur 1,330
votes and Hancock and English 1,510.
Spring election June 5, 1882 :
For Congress — M. C. George, Rep. ; W. D.
Fenton, Dem. — majority for George, 221.
For Governor — G. F. Wood, Rep. ; Joseph S.
Smith, Dem. — majority for Smith, 54.
For State Representatives — B. F. Nichols,
Rep, 1,288; Newton Clark, Rep, 1,131; A. S.
Bennett, Dem, 1,246; W. McD. Lewis, Dem.,
1,106. For County Commissioners — L. Tinel Rep.,
1,139; Jonn Irvine, Rep, 1,222; B. C. McAlee,
Dem, 1,181 ; Low Smith, Dem, 1,213.
For Sheriff — J. T. Storrs, Rep, 1,494! Joseph
Hinkle, Dem, 851 — majority for Storrs, 643.
County Clerk — A. A. Bonney, Rep, 1,171;
R. F. Gibons, Dem, 1,209 — Gibons' majority,
38. For Treasurer — I. C. Nickelson, Rep, 1,240;
A. Betringer, Dem, 1,137 — Nickelson's majority,
103. For Assessor — J. R. Ladd, Rep, 1,276; J.
Madden, Dem, 997 — majority for Ladd, 279.
For School Superintendent — O. D. Doane,.
Rep, 1,276; H. Hackett, Dem, 1,078 — Doane's
majority, 198.
For Surveyor — W. E. Campbell, Rep, 1,193;.
John Fulton, Dem, 1,201 — Fulton's majority, 8.
For Coroner — E. L. Grimes, Rep, 1,285 > ]¦
W. Blackeny, Dem, 1,091 — Grimes' majority,.
194. Spring election June 2, 1884:
For Congressman — Binger Herman, Rep,.
1,324; John Meyers, Dem, 1,232 — Herman's ma
jority, 92.
For Judge Fifth Judicial District — F. J. Tay
lor, Rep, 1,311; A. S. Bennett, Dem, 1,243 —
Taylor's majority, 68.
For Prosecuting Attorney, Fifth District — T.
A. McBride, Rep, 1,357; W. B. Dillard, 1,186—
McBride's majority, 171.
For Joint State Senator — C. M. Cartwright,.
Rep, 1,356; S. G. Thompson, Dem, 1,250 —
Cartwright's majority, 106.
For Joint Representatives — W. H. H. Dufur,
Rep, 1,172; A. R. Lyle, Rep, 1,338; J. B. Con
don, Dem, 1,246; W. McD. Lewis, Dem, 1,211.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

203:

For County Judge — W. S. A. Johns, Rep,
1,011; George A. Liebe, Dem, 1,458 — majority
for Liebe, 447.
For County Commissioners — C. F. Backus,
Rep, 1,199; J- D. Gibson, Rep, 1,282; D. A.
Turner, Dem, 1,250; A. Weatherford, 1,311.
For County Clerk — George H. Thompson,
Rep, 1,256; George H. Knaggs, Dem, 1,249 —
majority for Thompson, 7.
For Sheriff — S. C. Simmons, Rep, 1,211 ; J.
B. Crossen, Dem, 1,267 — Crossen's majority, 56.
For Assessor — E. N. Chandler, Rep, 1,371 ;
S. W. Emerson, Dem, 1,145 — Chandler's ma
jority, 226.
For Treasurer — I. C. Nickelson, Rep, 1,341 ;
L. D. Frank, Dem, 1,160 — majority for Nickel
son, 181.
For School Superintendent — W. H. Wilson,
Rep, 1,159; E. C. Herron, Dem, 1,215 — Her-
ron's majority, 56.
For Surveyor — W. E. Campbell, Rep, 1,374;
L. W. Darling, Dem, 1,125 — majority for Camp
bell, 249.
For Coroner — C. L. Phillips, Rep, 1,315; J.
A. Robbins, Dem, 1,159 — majority for Phillips,
156. James G. Blaine carried Wasco county at the
fall election of November 4, 1884. Following is
the official vote :
Blaine, Republican electors — D. P. Thompson,
1,646; Warren Truitt, 1,633 > J- C. Leasure, 1,634.
Cleveland, Democratic electors — L. B. Ison,
i,3S9 : w- D- Fenton, 1,360; A. C. Jones, 1,346.
• Wasco county spring election, June 7, 1886:
For Congressman — Binger Herman, Rep,
1,171; N. L. Butler, Dem, 940; G. M. Miller,
Pro, 118 — plurality for Herman, 231.
For Governor — Thomas R. Cornelius, Rep,
988; Sylvester Pennoyer, Dem, 1,105; J- F.
Houston, Pro, 134 — plurality for Pennoyer, 117.
For Judge, Seventh Judicial District — George
Watkins, Rep, 1,104; J-'H. Bird, Dem, 1,037 —
majority for Watkins, 67.
For Representatives — A. R. Lyle, Rep, 992 ;
A. D. McDonald, Rep, 1,025; W. H. Biggs,
Dem, 997; W. L. Wilcox, Dem, 1,021 ; W. H.
Taylor, Pro, 148; A. T. Zumwalt, Pro, 124.
For Sheriff — A. G. Johnson, Rep, 729;
George Herbert, Dem, 1,125 J S. B. Adams, Pro,
219 — plurality for Herbert, 396.
For Clerk — George H. Thompson, Rep,
1,243; Jonn Fulton, Dem, 704; Samuel L.
Brooks, Pro, 129 — plurality for Thompson, 539.
For County Commissioners — George H.
Chandler, Rep, 1,039; H. Rice, Rep, 864; H.
Steers, Dem, 1,013; W. Odell, Dem, 938; Will
iam Heisler, Pro. 164; Martin Myers, Pro^ 114.
For Assessor — O. L. Paquet, Rep, 996; F.

G. Boyd, Dem, 937; M. G. Wiggins, Pro, 130 —
plurality for Paquet, 59.
For Treasurer — I. C. Nickelson, Rep, 1,069 >
A. S. McAllister, Dem, 858 ; Leslie Butler, Pro,.
151 — plurality for Nickelson, 211.
For School Superintendent — A. C. Connely,.
Rep, 927 ; J. R. N. Bell, Dem, 929 ; P. P. Under
wood, Pro, 151 — plurality for Bell, 2.
For Surveyor — E. F. Sharp, Rep, 1,042;
 Morrison, Dem, 938 — Sharp's majority,
104., For Coroner— C. L. Philips, Rep, 956; H.
Wentz, Dem, 976; T. G. Bagley, Pro, 139 —
plurality for Wentz, 20,
Spring election, June 4, 1888 :
For Congressman — Binger Herman, Rep,
1,493 ; J- M. Gearin, Dem, 1,002 — Herman's ma
jority, 491.
For Prosecuting Attorney, Seventh District
— W. R. Ellis, Rep, 1,441 ; J. L. Story, Dem,
1,054 — majority for Ellis, 387.
For Senator, Seventeenth District — George
Watkins, Rep, 1,418; J. B. Condon, Dem, 1,055
— majority for Watkins, 368.
For Senator, Eighteenth District — Charles
Hilton, Rep, 1,447; W. H. Biggs, Dem,- 1,028 —
Hilton's majority, 419.
For Representatives, Eighteenth District — E.
L. Smith, Rep, 1,462 ; E. O. McCoy, Rep, 1,485 ;
W. McD. Lewis, Dem, 1,000; B. F. Medler,
Dem, 1005.
For County Judge — C. N. Thornbury, Rep,
1,322; G. A.. Liebe, Dem, 1,121 — Thornbury's
majority, 201.
For Clerk — George H. Thompson, Rep,.
1,477; J- B. Scott, Dem, 971 — Thompson's ma
jority, 506.
For Sheriff — C. W. Moore, Rep, 1,143;
George Herbert, Dem, 1,315 — Herbert's major
ity, 172.
For County Commissioners — George A.
Young, Republican, 1,402; H. A. Leavius, Rep,
1,119; Hugh Lacy, Dem, 996; W. L. Ward,
Dem, 1,057.
For Assessor — Hugh Gourlay, Rep, 1,340;
 Glavey, Dem, 1,094 — Gourlay's majority,
i,340. For Surveyor — E. F.. Sharp, Rep, 1,418 ; A.
F Brown, Dem, 997 — Sharp's majority, 421.
For Coroner — William Michell, Rep, 1,477;
H. Wentz, Dem, 1,078 — Michell's majority, 399.
For School Superintendent — A. C. Con
nelly, Rep, 1,262; Aaron Frazer, Dem, 1,178 —
Connelly's majority, 84.
For Treasurer — George Ruch, Rep, 1,395 !
H. M. Beall, Dem, 1,065 — majority for Ruch,
330. The presidental election of November 6,.

-204

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

i, showed the following result in Wasco
county: Republican electors: Harrison, 1,595;
Democratic electors, Cleveland, 1,054; Prohibi
tion electors, Fisk, 72 ; Labor electors, Streeter,
4 — Total 2,725.
Spring election, June 5, 1890:
For Congressman — Binger Herman, Rep,
1,044; Robert A. Miller, Dem, 824; James A.
Bruce, Union, 323 — plurality for Herman, 220.
For Governor — David P. Thompson, Rep,
'893; Sylvester Pennoyer, . Dem, 1,257 — Pen-
¦noyer's majority, 364.
For Prosecuting Attornev, Seventh District
— W. H. Wilson, Rep, 1,643; E. B. Dufur,
Dem., 1,016 — majority for Wilson, 27.
For Joint Representatives — George W. John
ston, Rep, 1,099 ! E. O. McCoy, Rep, 992 ; A. S.
Bennett, Dem, 882; R. H. Guthrie, Dem, 754;
John Medler, Union, 335 ; E. C. Darnell, Union,
260. For Clerk — Hugh Gourlay, Rep, 830; J. B.
Crossen, Dem, 919; J. A. Keeley, Union, 357 —
Crossen's plurality, 89.
For Sheriff — Theodore Cartwright, Rep,
848 ; D. L. Gates, Dem, 872 ; J. E. McCormick,
Union, .397 — plurality for Gates, 24.
For Treasurer — George Ruch, Rep, 1,178;
H. C. Neilson, Dem, 844 — majority for Ruch,
.334- For Assessor — John E. Barnett, Rep, 904;
H. M. Pitman, Dem, 895; P. P. Underwood,
union, 323 — plurality for Barnett, 9.
For School Superintendent — Troy Shelley,
Rep, 1,043; Aaron Frazer, Dem, 844; W. A.
Allen, Union, 248 — plurality for Shelley, 199.
For Surveyor — E. F. Sharp, Rep, 1,143 '¦> A.
F Brown, Dem, 854 — Sharp's majority, 289.
For County Commissioner — Frank Kincaid,
"Rep, 904 ; I. D. Driver, Dem, 892 ; W. L. Ward,
Union, 328 — plurality for Kincaid, 12.
For Coroner — William Michell, Rep, 1,138;
H. Wentz, Dem, 854 — majority for Michell,
284. Spring election June 6, 1892 :
For Congressman — W. R. Ellis, Rep, 1,087;
James H. Slater, Dem, 804; John C. Luce, Pop,
114; C. T- Bright, Pro, 84 — plurality for Ellis,
283. For Judge, Seventh District — George Wat
kins, Rep, 1,172; W. L. Bradshaw, Dem, 988 —
^majority for Watkins, 184.
For Prosecuting Attorney, Seventh District
— W. H. Wilson, Rep, 1,265 '< J- F. Moore, Dem,
896 — Wilson's majority, 369.
For Senator, Eighteenth District — W. W.
Steiwer, Rep, 1,174: G. W. Rhinehart, Dem,
¦964 — majority for Steiwer, 210.
For Senator, Seventeenth District — Hibbard

S. McDanel, Rep, 1,059; J- A- Smith, Dem,
1,077 — majority for Smith, 18.
For Representatives, Eighteenth District — E.
N. Chandler, Rep, 1,154; Thomas R. Coon, Rep,
1,016; S. F. Blythe, Dem, 903; H. E. Moore,
Dem, 982.
For County Judge — C. N. Thornburg, Rep,
885 ; G. C. Blakeley, Dem, 1,135 — majority for
Blakeley, 250.
For County Clerk— J. M: Huntington, Rep,
1,066; J. B. Crossen, Dem, 1,083 — majority for
Crossen 17.
For 'Sheriff— C. P. Balch, Rep, 947 ; T. A.
Ward, Dem, 1,189 — Ward's majority, 242.
For Treasurer— William Michell, Rep, 1,074;
W. K. Carson, Dem, 1,051 — majority for Mi
chell, 23.
For County Commissioners — H. A. Seavins,
Rep, 988; J. M. Damielle, Dem, 1,092 — major
ity for Damielle, 104.
For Assessor — J. W. Koontz, Rep, 1,151;
George W. Prather, Dem, 971 — majority for
Koontz, 180.
For School Superintendent — Troy Shelley,
Rep, 1,284: E. P. Fitzgerald, Dem, 798 — Shel
ley's majority, 486.
For Coroner — N. W. Eastwood, Rep, 1,155 '>
J. W. Moore, Dem, 954 — Eastwood's majority,
201. For Surveyor — E. F. Sharp, Rep, 1,254; P.
P. Underwood, Dem, 899 — Sharp's majority,
355- In the presidential election of November 8,
1892, Wasco county was carried by the Republi
cans. Following is the official vote :
Republican electors, Harrison — F. Caples,
1,059; D. M. Dunne, 1,065; George M. Irwin,
1,067; H. B. Miller, 1,068.
Democratic electors, Cleveland — W. F.
Butcher, 497; William M. Colvig, 512; George
Noland, 512.
People's Party electors, Weaver — N. Pierce*,
857; W. G. Burleigh, 507; W. H. . Galvanni,
499; S. H. Holt, 502.
Prohibition electors — George W. Black, 66;
N. R. Norton, 65 ; A. W. Lucas, 61 ; G. Parker,
67. Spring election June 4, 1894:
Although the Populists had entered the politi
cal field in Wasco county in the preceding elec
tion, ancl, also, made a respectable showing in
this one, they did not here develop the strength
that they did in so many of the other counties in
the west. At this election of 1894 the Republican
ticket was generally successful ; every Republican

*One democratic elector resigned and Pierce was appointed to
fill the vacancy, and he was, also, a people's party elector.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

205

on the Wasco county ticket was elected. The
total number of votes cast was 2,337. The of
ficial count :
For Governor — W. P. Lord, Rep, 1,277;
William Galloway, Dem, 575 ; Nathan Pierce,
Peo, 439 ; James Kennedy, Pro, 46.
For Congressman, Second District — W. R.
Ellis, Rep, 1,357; James H. Raley, Dem, 573;
Joseph Waldrop, Peo, 410.
For District Attorney, Seventh District — A.
A. Jayne, Rep, 1,075; E. B. Dufur, Dem, 940;
E. P. Sine, Peo, 293 — Jayne's plurality, 135.
For Member State Board of Equalization,
Seventh Judicial District — W. C. Wills, Repub
lican, 1,258; T. A. Lafollette, Dem, 583; B. K.
Searcy, Peo, 424— Wills' plurality, 675.
For Joint Representatives — T. R. Coon, Rep,
1,153; T. H. McGreer, Rep, 1,104; V. C. Brock,
Dem, 461 ; M. V. Harrison, Dem, 443 ; Lucas
Henry, Peo, 379 ; W. J. Peddicord, Peo, 335 ;
E. G. Tozier, Peo, 33 ; O. W. Axtell, Pro, 53.
For County Clerk — A. M. Kelsay, Rep,
1,144; Edwin Martin, Dem, 788; John A. Tay
lor Peo, 358 — Kelsay's plurality, 356.
For Sheriff — T. J. Driver, Rep, 1,172; L. E.
Morse, Dem, 319; John W. Elton, Peo, 303—
Driver's plurality, 853.
For County Treasurer — William Michell,
Rep, 1,291; R. E. Williams, Dem, 639; G. W.
Johnston, Peo, 350 — Michell's plurality, 652.
For County Commissioner — A. S. Blowers.,
Rep, 1,370; J. G. Wingfield, Dem, 564; W. J.
Harriman, Peo, 360 — Blowers' plurality, 806.
For Assessor — F. H. -Wakefield, Rep, 1,152;
H. M. Pitman, Dem, 659; C. L. Morse, Peo,
455 — Wakefield's plurality, 493.
For School Superintendent — Troy Shelley,
Rep, 1,180; Aaron Frazier, Dem, 666; H. L.
Howe, Peo, 357 — Shelley's plurality, 514.
For Coroner — W. H. Butts, Rep, 1,245;
John Cates, Dem, 630; John Applegate, Peo,
410 — plurality for Butts, 615.
In the elections of 1894 the people's party
just about held their strength. The elections of
1896 was the last one in which they appeared as
a separate organization. At the next election they
"fused" with the democracy, and finally passed
out of the political field.
Spring election of 1896:
For Congressman — A. S. Bennett, Dem, 998 ;
W. R. Ellis, Rep, 947 ; F. McKercher, Pro, 29 ;
H. H. Northrup, Ind, sound money, 287 ; Martin
Quinn, Peo, 447 — Bennett's plurality, 51.
For Supreme Judge— Robert S. Bean, Rep,
1,444; Jonn Barnett, Dem, 689; Joseph Gaston,
Peo, 541 — Bean's plurality, 755.
For District Attorney, Seventh District —

John H. Cradlebaugh, Dem, 1,177; A. A. Jayne,.
Rep, 1,452 — Jayne's majority, 275.
For Joint Senator, Wasco and Sherman coun
ties — J. W. Armsworthy, Dem, 1,014; John-
Michell, Rep, 1,553 — Michell's majority, 539.
For Joint Senator, Wasco, Sherman and Gil
liam counties — E. B. Dufur, Dem, 1,316; W. H.
Moore, Rep, 1,251 — Dufur's majority, 65.
For Joint Representatives, Wasco and Sher
man counties — B. S. Huntington, Rep, 1,355 ;
F. N. Jones, Rep, 1,242; L. Henry, Peo, 914;
John W. Messinger, Peo, 828; Thomas R. Coon,,
Ind, 228.
For County Judge — George C. Blakely, Dem,
1,008; Robert Mays, Rep, 1,195; Frank P. Tay
lor, Peo, 411 — Mays' plurality, 187.
For Sheriff — T. J. Driver, Rep, 1,253; John
M. Roth, Ind. silver, 38; W. H. Taylor, Peo,
450 ; H. F. Woodcock, Dem, 875 — Driver's plur
ality, 378.
For Clerk — D. L. Cates, Dem, 859; H. L.
Howe, Peo, 327; A. M. Kelsay, Rep, 1,421 —
Kelsay's plurality, 562.
For Treasurer — George A. Liebe, Dem, 834 ; .
William Michell, Ind. Rep, 513; Seth Morgan,
Peo, 302; C. L. Phillips, Rep, 913 — plurality for-
Phillips, 79.
For Assessor — George P. Morgan, Dem,
1,035 : D. R. McCoy, Peo, 363; W. H. Whipple,
Rep, 1,170 — Whipple's plurality, 135.
For School Superintendent — Aaron Frazier,
Dem, 769; C. L. Gilbert, Rep, 1,476; Josie Hans-
bury, Peo, 273 — Gilbert's plurality, 707.
For Surveyor — J. B. Goit, Rep, 1,452;
Charles Schutz, Dem, 942 — Goit's majority, 510.
For Coroner — G. F. Arnold, Peo, 426 ; W. H.
Butts, Rep, 1,454; W. H. Williams, Dem, 665
— Butts' plurality, 789.
For County Commissioner — John R. Doyle,,
Dem, 775 ; D. S. Kinsey, Rep, 1,267 i George W.
Patterson, Peo, 509' — Kinsey's plurality, 492.
In the presidential election of 1896 the Re
publican candidate for the chief executive of the -
nation, William McKinley, carried Wasco county
by an average majority of 329 over his opponent,
William Jennings Bryan. The official count:
Republican electors, McKinley — John F.
Caples, 1,698; T. T. Geer, 1,701; E. L. Smith,
1,680; S. M. Yoran, 1,688.
Democratic electors, Bryan — N. L. Butler, .
1,367; E. Hofer, 1,363; W. H. Spaugh, 1,361;
Harry Watkins, 1,361.
Prohibition electors — D. Bowerman, 33 ; C. J.
Bright, 34 : Leslie Butler, 35 ; C. E. Hoskins, 32.
National Democratic electors, Palmer — Lewis -
B. Cox, 28; Alex M. Holmes, 22; Frank A. Seu--
fert, 25 ; Curtis J. Trenchard, 20.

:2o6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

About 2,400 votes were cast at the state and
county election held June 6, 1898. Despite the
fact that the silver forces were united and had
only one ticket in the field, the Republican party
was successful at the polls and carried the
county by large pluralities for every candidate
on the state ticket, and elected the whole county
ticket. On the district ticket one fusion candi
date was elected — the candidate for circuit judge.
Following is the official vote :
For Governor — T. G. Geer, Rep, 1,360; Will
R. King, Fus, 933 ; H. M. Clinton, Pro, 58 ; John
C. Luce, Regular pp., 41 — Geer's plurality, 427.
For Congressman — Malcolm A. Moody, Rep,
1,410 ; C. M. Donaldson, fusion, 859 ; G. W. Du-
gall, Pro, 62 ; H. E.. Courtney, regular pp., 69 —
Moody's plurality, 551.
For Circuit Judge — H. S. Wilson, Rep,
1,033; W- L. Bradshaw, fusion, 1,307 — Brad-
shaw's majority, 274.
For Prosecuting Attorney — A. A. Jayne,
Rep, 1,314; N. H. Gates, fusion, 1,010 — Jayne's
majority, 304.
For Member of the Board of Equalization —
C. C. Kuney, Rep, 1,233; O. P. King, fusion,
1,020 — Kuney's majority, 213.
For Joint Representatives — J. W. Morton,
Rep, 1,070; Albert S. Roberts, Rep, 1,031; A.
J. Grigham, fusion, 952 ; C. L. Morse, fusion,
879 — Morton's plurality, 39-
For Sheriff — I. D. Driver, fusion, 911 ; Robert
Kelly, Rep, 1,390 — Kelly's majority, 479.
For Clerk — M. J. Anderson, fusion, 1,022; A.
M- Kelsay, Rep, 1,271 — Kelsay's majority, 249.
For Treasurer — W. H. Arbuckle, fusion,
897: C. L. Phillips, Rep, 1,349 — majority for
Phillips, 452.
For School Superintendent — P. P. Under
wood, fusion, 731 ; C. L. Gilbert, Rep, 1,504 —
Gilbert's majority, 773.
For Assessor — J. H. Aldrich, fusion, 1,027;
"W. H. Whipple, Rep, 1,235 — Whipple's major
ity, 208.
For Surveyor — H. L. Howe, fusion, 972; J.
B. Goit, Rep, 1,260 — Goit's majority, 288.
For Coroner — J. H. Jackson, fusion, 848 ; W.
H. Butts, Rep, 1,392 — majority for Butts, 544.
For County Commissioner — F. M. Jackson,
fusion, 1,050; N. C. Evans, Rep, 1,184 — major
ity for Evans, 134.
Spring election of June 4, 1900:
For Congressman — Leslie Butler, Pro, 187;
Malcolm Moody, Rep, 1,611; J. E. Simmons,
Ind. Dem, 338; William Smith, fusion, 498 — '
plurality for Moody, 1,113.
For District Attorney — Frank Menefee, Rep,
1,620; James F. Moore, Dem, 950 — majority for
Menefee, 670.

For Joint Senator for Ninth District — A. S.
Bennett, fusion, 1,348; J. N. Williamson, Rep,
1,263 — majority for Bennett, 85.
For Joint Senator, Twentieth District — E. B.
Dufur, fusion, 1,224; T. H. Johnston, Rep,
1,355 — majority for Johnston, 131.
For Joint Senator, Twenty-first District — V.
G. Cozad, fusion, 1,005 i W. W. Steiwer, Rep,
1,468 — majority for Steiwer, 463.
For Joint Representatives, Twenty-first Dis
trict — George T. Baldwin, fusion, 693 ; Josiah
Burlingame, Pro, 126; R. A. Emmitt, Rep,
1,233; Harry C. Liebe, fusion, 1,112; T. H. Mc-
Greer, Rep, 1,292; A. S. Roberts, Rep, 1,290;
G. Springer, fusion, 807; O. V. White, Pro,
122. For Joint Representatives, Twenty-eighth
District — George J. Barrett, Rep, 1,293 > George
H. Cattanach, Rep, 1,256; T. R. Coon, fusion,
1,028; W. J. Edwards, fusion, 839; George
Miler, Rep, 1,324; R. E. Misener, fusion, 839.
For County Judge — George C. Blakely, Dem,
1,472; A. S. Blowers, Rep, 1,105; Edgar M.
Collins, Pro, 54 — Blakely's plurality, 317.
For Sheriff — Robert Kelly, Rep, 1,360;
Thomas A. Ward, 1,182; George Parsons, Pro,
78 — Kelly's plurality, 178.
For County Clerk — J. M. Filloon, Dem,
1,135; A. E. Lake, Rep, 1,414; Danton Taylor,
Pro, 73 — Lake's plurality, 279.
For Treasurer — John F. Hampshire, Dem,
1,324; W. Heisler, Pro, 133 ; C. L. Phillips, Rep,
1,168 — Hampshire's plurality, 156.
For School Superintendent — T. M. B. Chas-
tain, Dem, 987; C. L. Gilbert, Rep, 1,608 — Gil
bert's majority, 629.
For Assessor — Charles L. Copple, Dem,
1,046; C. L. Schmidt, Rep, 1,273; ^- W. Ouinn,
Pro, 148 — Schmidt's plurality, 227.
For Surveyor — W. E. Campbell, Dem-Pro,
1,016; J. B. Goit, Rep, 1,38c) — Goit's majority,
373- For County Commissioner — W. J. Harriman,
Dem, 1,170: P. A. Kirchheiner, Rep, 1,114; W.
D. Richards, Pro, 167 — Harriman's plurality, 56.
For Coroner-^W. H. Butts, Rep, 1,647;
George H. Williams, 817 — Butts' majority, 830.
Again in the presidential election of 1900 Mr.
McKinley carried Wasco county by a majority-
over Mr. Bryan of 532, McKinley receiving 1,552
votes; Mr. Bryan, 1,020; John G. Woolley, the
Prohibition candidate, received 80 ; Debs 37 and
Barker, 8 votes.
Spring election, June 2, 1902:
For Congressman — W. F. Butcher, Dem.,
960 ; D. T. Gerdes, Soc, 145 ; F. R. Spalding,
Pro, 215 ; J. N. Williamson, Rep, 1,507 — plur
ality for Williamson, 547.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

207

For United States Senator — T. T. Geer, Rep,
1,326; C. E. S. Wood, Dem, 951 — majority for
Geer, 375*.
For Representatives, Twenty-first District —
J. N. Burgess, Rep, 1,569; R. A. Emmitt, Rep,
1,346; N. Whealdon, Rep, 1,403; P. B. Doak,
Dem, 851 ; L. E. Morse, Dem, 1,074; Earl San
ders, Dem, 1,172.
For Representatives Twenty-eight District —
C. A. Denneman, Rep, 1,395 • R- J- Ginn, Rep,
1,386; C. P. Johnson, 1,393 '< C G. Hansen, Dem,
975 ; C. G. Stevenson, Dem, 796 ; E. P. Weir,
Dem, 795 ; L. J. Gates, Pro, 171 ; N. P Hansen,
Pro, 181 ; H. C. Schaffer, Pro, 234.
For Sheriff — J. M. Filloon, Dem, 1,040; J.
E. Hanna, Pro, 171 ; F. C. Sexton, Rep, 1,547 —
Sexton's plurality, 507.
For County Clerk — D. S. Dufur, Dem., 873;
A. E. Lake, Rep, 1,753 — Lake's plurality, 880.
For Treasurer — J. F. Hampshire, Dem,
1,428 ; William Heisler, Pro, 203 ; James Kelly,
Rep, 1,057 — plurality for Hampshire, 371.
For Assessor — C. L. Schmidt, Rep, 1,261 ;
H. F.. Woodcock, Dem, 1,366 — majority for
Woodcock, 105.
For County Commissioner — H. J. Hibbard,
Rep, 1,438; F. M. Jackson, Dem, 1,097 — ma"
jority for Hibbard, 341.
For Surveyor — F. S. Gordon, Rep, 1,416;
A. C. Stubling, Dem, 1,024 — majority for Gor
don, 392.
For Coroner — W. H. Butts, Ind, 779 ; C. N.
Burget, Rep, 1,227: J. N. Lauer, Dem, 587 —
plurality for Burget, 448.
Spring election of June 6, 1904: At this
contest at the polls every Republican on the
ticket with the exception of W. L. Bradshaw,
was elected by pluralities of from 48 to 1,853. It
decided beyond a doubt that Wasco county was
Republican by an enormous majority. The Dem
ocrats had hoped to elect two or three candidates,
especially A. S. Bennett to the state legislature.
The heaviest vote was for the office of sheriff,
there being 3,132 votes cast. Compare this with
the vote of 1855 when no more than 103 votes
were cast in a territory many times larger than
the present Wasco county. By precincts this vote
for sheriff- in 1904 was divided as follows :
East Dalles, 308; Bigelow, 249; Trivitt, 213;
West Dalles, 255; Antelope, 107; Tygh, 117;
Bakeoven, 56 ; Eight Mile, 47 ; Mountain, 35 ;
Mosier, 98; Dufur, 112; Boyd, 37; Kingsley, 96;
Columbia, 65 ; East Hood River, 314 ; West Hood
River, 248 ; Shaniko, 89 ; South Hood River, 150 ;
* This election was held under a law similar to one in Nebraska
allowing the people to give expression to their choice for United
States Senator at the polls. The result of the vote was in nowise
binding upon the legislature.

Baldwin, 82 ; Falls, 100 ; Nansene, 45 ; Ramsey,
78 ; Wapinitia, 34 ; Wamic, 100 ; Viento, 6 ; Des
Chutes, 29; Oak Grove, 95 — Total 3,132.
The official count of this election showed the
following result :
For Congressman — George R. Cook, Social
ist, 208 ; J. E. Simmons, Dem, 845 ; H. W. Stone,
Pro, 234; J. N. Williamson, Rep, 1,791 — plur
ality for Williamson, 946.
For Circuit Judge — W. L. Bradshaw, Dem,
1,863; J- A. Collier, Rep, 1,148 — majority for
Bradshaw, 715.
For District Attorney — Frank Menefee, Rep,
2,120; Daniel P. Smythe, Dem, 749 — majority
for Menefee, 1,371.
For State Senator — A. S. Bennett, Dem,
i,375; J- W. Elton, Spc, 166; W. D. Richards,
Pro, 162; N. Whealdon, Rep, 1,423 — plur
ality for Whealdon, 48.
For Representatives — J. N.. Burgess, Rep,
1,671; A. A. Jayne, Rep, 1,706; I. D. Driver,
Dem, 904 ; J. H. Dunlop, Dem, 741 ; C. W. Bar-
zee, Soc, 225; Frank Lieblein, Soc, 153; L. C.
Stephenson, Pro, 181 — plurality for Burgess,
619; plurality for Jayne, 1,102.
For County Judge — George C. Blakeley,
Dem, 1,096; Thomas F. Gray, Soc, 152; A. E.
Lake, Rep, 1,879 — Lake's plurality, 783.
For County Clerk — Simeon Bolton, Rep,
1.916; H. E. Brown, Soc, 192; M. D. Odell,
Pro, 149; E. M... Wingate, Dem, 829 — Bolton's
plurality, 1,047.
For' Sheriff— A. J. McHaley, Soc, 157— F.
C. Sexton, Rep, 2,022; Jjames H. Wood, Dem,
791 ; H. M. Wood, Pro, 162 — Sexton's plurality,
1,231- For Assessor — George H. Riddell, Pro, 166;
A. M. Roop, Soc, 195 ; Asa G. Stogsdill, Rep,
1,468; H. F. Woodcock, Dem, 1,151 — plurality
for Stogsdill, 317.
For Treasurer — G. F. Arnold, Soc, 206; M.
Z. Donnell, Rep, 1,624; H. C. Liebe, Dem, 933;
A. W. Ouinn, Pro, 203 — plurality for Donnell,
691. For School Superintendent — John Gavin,
Dem, 983 ; Justus T. Neff, Rep, 1,718 — major
ity for Neff, 735.
For County Commissioner — W. J. Harriman,
Dem, 1,135; Charles H. Stoughton, Rep, 1,606;
J. S. Taylor, Soc, 177 — plurality for Stoughton,
471. For Surveyor — F. G. Buskuhl, Soc, 222 ; F.
S. Gordon, Rep, 1,606; A. W. Mohr, Dem, 1,065
— Gordon's plurality, 541.
For Coroner — C. N. Burget, Rep, 2,144; A.
D. Galloway, Pro, 282 ; J. B. Palmer, Soc, 291 —
plurality for Burget, 1,853.

208

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

At the presidential election of 1904, Novem
ber 8th, Roosevelt carried Wasco county by a
majority of 1,074 over all competitors. The offi

cial count : Roosevelt electors, 2,095 '< Democratic,
536; Prohibition, 222; Socialist, 234; People's
Party, 29.

CHAPTER XI

EDUCATIONAL.

The first schools in the vast territory at one
time known as Wasco county were those of the
early missionaries and of the soldiers stationed
at The Dalles. This military post erected a log
school house in 1854, a trifle southwest of the
point where now stands the Academy Park school
building. Presiding over this school were a num
ber of teachers successively. Of the first in
structors in this primitive educational institution
Miss Harriet Marden, under date Washington,
D. C, February 9, 1898, writes to The Times-
Mountaineer, at The Dalles : "In your souvenir
number of January ist, on page 4, you express
a wish to know the name of the United States
soldier who first taught school in your town. His
name was Peter Fair, sergeant of Company E,
Ninth Regular Infantry. He died in San Fran
cisco about eight years ago (1890)."
In the same building Charles R. Meigs taught
a private school a portion of the summer of
1855. But in the autumn of that year the patri
otic pedagogue abandoned the school to join a
company of volunteers organized by Nathan Ol
ney to fight Indians.
Another pioneer school was presided over by
Miss Sconce, a sister of Mrs. Put Bradford, and
later the wife of Colonel Ebey. The sessions of
this school were held in a private house on what
is now Fourth, between Court and Union streets.
January 1, 1899, the Times-Mountaineer said:
The early Christian missionaries who first settled
at The Dalles were educators in the fullest sense of the
word. Besides their little churches, schools were erect
ed for teaching the aborigines the rudiments of the
English language, and as the town partook of the least
degree of permanency that great adjunct of free gov
ernment — the public school — found its proper position
in the community. As the village grew by immigration
these schools were improved and enlarged until the
present status was attained. The primitive log struc

ture gave place to a more pretentious one of lumber;
finally to the stately edifice of brick. There is no safer
criterion by which to judge of the advancement of a
nation, community or individual than in the structures
which are used and the systems employed in imparting
instruction. If a country is found which pays little or
no attention to its schools, it can be placed in the un
enviable category of lacking the elements of progres
sion, and the same is true of the community or the in
dividual. * * * * The pioneers of this vicinity
were fully imbued with the American spirit, and their
progress in this regard has been commensurate with the
development of the surrounding country.
It must be admitted that we are seriously
handicapped in compiling the details of the edu
cational history of Wasco county by the fact
that the earlier school records have been de
stroyed. But it is reasonably certain that the
first school district was formed at The Dalles
November 1, 1856,* although no records of its
boundaries exist. In i860 the original public
school building was erected, the log structure
built in 1854 having housed simply a kind of
subscription school supported entirely by indi
vidual effort. In 1898 the Times-Mountaineer
stated that this ancient building had been several
times remodeled and several times removed, but
that it still continued at that date to do service.
Still, unless the proof-reader is at sea, Me
lissa Hill, writing in the Woman's Edition of the
Times-Mountaineer of May 17, 1898, says that
this school district was organized in 1859. She
says :
In November, 1859, the school district was organ
ized, and this foundation of the public schools of The
Dalles was strengthened by building a public school
house, or rather, a public school-room, as the school

* W. C, Laughlin's diary says Nov. 1856.

Mount Hood from Lost Lake

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

2ogr

house which was erected on the site now occupied by
Dr. Siddall's cottages on Fourth and Laughlin streets,
had .'Ui one room ; another was added a few years later,
and in 1863 two more rooms were built, giving to the
whole the form of a T. The desks of the first two
rooms gave sad proof of the fact that Young America
is anxious to make his mark in the world; profiting by
experience the directors furnished one of the new rooms
with desks two inches thick to give the boys sufficient
material to whittle 1 In 1888 it was removed to Union
street, and is now called the Union Street Annex.
Union Street school was erected in 1873. It
first stood in the street, just below the "cut,"
the main entrance being from the north. The,
grounds were ample, and boys and girls found
room for out-door games. Many flowers and
beautiful mosses grew on the bluff near the building less
than fifteen years ago, and great was the children's de
light when they were allowed to decorate their desks
with the mosses. The little blue school house was not
used for a time ; by 1880, however, the attendance of the
schools had increased so that every room had to be used,
and then not all of the pupils were accommodated. In
the lower grades half-day sessions were maintained, and
a room in the Methodist church was rented to provide
for s primary class. Such were the conditions when the
citizens voted a tax to erect a brick building of four
rooms. This was completed in 1882 and is now occu
pied by the eighth grade and the high school pupils.
A building of two rooms was erected at Eleventh
and Union streets in 1889. This building was known
as the East Hill Primary, and was moved to its present
site in 1894. In the same year the Wasco Independent
Academy, with all the property of the Academy Asso
ciation, was purchased by the school district. Academy
Park School has replaced the term Wasco Independent
Academy. Today the school district owns ten acres of
land and five school buildings, the whole valued at
$53,000, and a high school building is now being erected
in the Academy Park grounds at a cost of $19,000.
Little debt has been allowed to accumulate; the liabili
ties being $7,000 in February, 1897. At that time the
tax-payers voted to bond the district for $20,000 to pro
vide funds for the building now under erection. * * *
H. J. Waldron was a pioneer teacher. We are not able
to find just when he took charge of the schools, but the
fact that a man of so much ability shaped the destinies
of our early schools is worth more to us than any mere
date. He was the last person who taught school alone.
Other principals of the school were J. D. Robb, E. P.
Roberts, J. W. Miller, Dr. O. D. Doane, Levi Walker
Patton, S. P. Barrett, F. W. Grubbs, W. L. Worthing
ton, J. S. Browne, Charles Davidson, Nap. Davis, Price,
and M. W. Smith.
There were no grades, no examination, no "pass
ing," no graduation in the early schools. The
modern system was worked out slowly, and sometimes
painfully. But shall we say that the pioneer schools were
14

not efficient because they lacked all the modern ma
chinery? By no means. All work must be judged from'
its results. The boys and girls of the '60s who attended'
these schools, are the active men and women of today,.
and many of them are most successful. Indeed the very
crudeness of the time enforced many lessons of sturdy
independence. Mistakes were made then as mistakes are-
made now, but we find more to commend than to critiL
cize. The pioneer school lost much by making arith
metic the test of a child's ability. It was a mistake of
the time and not limited to The Dalles. "Your grades
and methods serve you well," says a successful teacher
of our early schools, "but we older teachers do not regret-
our lack of the present system; but could we have given
more time to language our work would have been'
stronger." It was impossible to grade the school successfully
when there were but few teachers, and as late as 18801
there were but five teachers employed. Instead of the
written examination of the present time, the teacher
promoted the pupil when he thought best. No pupil
asked, "Did you pass?" It was, instead, "Can you do
these sums?" We are told that the first examinations
were used in the schools in the early '70s, and from that
time they were employed as best suited the teachers. The
plam now used of monthly examinations in every grade
has been followed since Charles Davidson took charge of
schools in September, 1884.
In 1 87 1 a large frame building was completed
at The Dalles, and in 1882 the brick edifice now
used as a high school. In 1881 the Wasco Inde
pendent Academy was incorporated, and in 1889
was created a State Normal School by an act
of the Oregon legislature. "The "new" Catholic
academy was completed in 1884. But this edu
cational institution was founded twenty years
previously — in- 1864. In Oregon the Catholic
church has not only furnished the pioneer mis
sionaries, but the pioneer educators, as well.
With teaching the Indians the principles of
Christianity they combined commendable energy
in building up institutions of learning. In the
early history of the state the Catholic academy —
under the fostering care of the Sisters of Charity
— stood side by side with the Catholic church.
In 1864 the Catholic pioneers at The Dalles-
erected an academy under charge of the Sisters
of the Holy Name, from Montreal, Province of
Quebec, Canada. The present brick building,
built in 1884, is supplied with all modern im
provements, and the friends of that institution
came forward with generous contributions toward
its erection. This academy is incorporated and
authorized by the State of Oregon to confer
academic honors. At present it is the only pri
vate school in Wasco county. Of this institution
the Times-Mountaineer said, January 1, 1898*

210

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

There is no institution of which The Dalles is more
proud than St. Mary's Academy, conducted by the Sis
ters of the Holy Names of lesus and Mary. It is today
one of the most complete among the educational institu
tions of the Inland Empire, and its patronage is by no
means confined to The Dalles and Wasco county, but
extends over the neighboring counties ; also into Wash
ington. A visit to this seat of learning some days ago
elicited some facts regarding the institution and its
work, which may be of interest to those who have not
been there. Situated in the suburban portion of the city,
on a large tract of land owned by the Sisters, the pupils
have quiet and a sense of being at home in the very
environs of this rapidly growing city. The Sisters are
enabled to have large playgrounds for the various diver
sions of the students. A tour of inspection through the
building shows how orderly, neat, and well arranged
are the different rooms and places of the academy.
Entering the institution by high steps in front, you
are, really, in what is the second story of the building.
On the ground floor is the kitchen, dining room and large
recreation room used by the children in bad weather, or
when it is not desirable for them to play outside. On
the floor above are the parlors, office, two music rooms,
three class rooms, community room and library. The
sutdio, infirmary and dormitories are on the upper
floor. The building is heated throughout by hot water,
and special attention is given to ventilation, so that
at all times there is an abundance of fresh air. The
course of studies seems as complete and comprehensive as
thirty-four years' experience in teaching and an efficient
corps can make them, and no pains are spared to give
the pupils at St. Mary's all the advantages of a first-
class education. The classes in the academy are divided
into thirteen grades, three primary, three intermediate,
three preparatory, three senior and the graduating. Be
sides the ordinary studies the languages, general vocal
music and needlework are taught throughout the course.
Private lessons in instrumental music, including
-piano, organ, banjo, violin, mandolin, zither and guitar';
.also in pastelle, oil, metallic, mineral and water-colors,
and in crayon, are given by competent instructors. The
instruction given at St. Mary's is of the most thorough
and practical character, as it trains the heart as well as
the mind, and intends to form noble women who will go
forth in the world loving only that which is beautiful,
pure and good and fitted for whatever life may impose.
From the records of the clerk of the school
district at The Dalles, June 18, 1872, it is learned
that the city leased to School District No. 1, two
and one-half acres of land on Union street, to
be used for school purposes exclusively. This
lease was signed by N. H. Gates, mayor, and
James A. Campbell, recorder of The Dalles.
The second school in Wasco county (and
therefore in eastern Oregon), was established in
the '50's at the point where the Barlow road

crossed Fifteen Mile creek, just above the pres
ent site of Dufur. The founding and early his
tory of this school was graphically exploited in
the illustrated edition of The Dalles Times-Moun
taineer of January 1, 1898. The following is an
extract from the article :
In the '50s men were neighbors though miles of dis
tance separated their cabins and, their animal wants
provided for, with true American instinct they began to
talk of schools. Wasco county then reached south ,to
the California line ; there was a school at The Dalles,
but it was unsatisfactory to the settlers of Tygh, Fifteen
Mile and Eight Mile creeks, and they discussed the
advisability of having a school district struck off and
a school house erected at some more convenient point,
At a settlers' meeting called for that purpose it was
decided unanimously that "Fifteen Mile Crossing" had
more natural advantages as a school center than any
other place in the county (a judgment that stands to
day as it did forty years ago — undisputed).
The law of that period provided that it was necessary
to have a school in session in the proposed district before
it could be set aside, but the settlers were equal to the
occasion, and on the Herbert place, a half mile above
the present town of Dufur, a double line of poles was
driven into the ground, planks placed between them for
walls, a covering placed over the rude structure, rough
benches provided, and the school building was com
plete. A gentleman named Hill was secured as -teacher,
and with some eight or ten pupils in attendance the first
school of Wasco county outside of The Dalles was in
session. The law provisions were fulfilled and School Dis
trict No. 2 (The Dalles was No. 1) was established.
Upon the granting of the new district a permanent site
for a more pretentious school house was selected within
the present corporate limits of Dufur, near the large
pine tree opposite the present elegant cottage of Mrs.
A. K. Dufur, and here Mr. W. R. Menefee, still an
honored resident of Dufur, erected a 16 by 20 school
building — the first regular school house of District No.
2, a district that was bounded on the north by the divid
ing ridge between Five Mile and Eight Mile creeks, and
on the south by an unexplored region from which several
wealthy counties have been carved. The difficulties of
maintaining a school in those days can be well im
agined when it is explained that according to law it
was necessary to have at least six persons present at the
annual meeting to legally conduct business, and it was
impossible, owing to the sparse settlement, to get the
necessary six together at a meeting — just how they held
a legal organization is not the duty of your historian to
find out. Sufficient is it that the 16 by 20 school house
on the creek was a nucleus around which has formed
one of the handsomest . and most prosperous towns of
Oregon. Forty years takes us back to the time when all, the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

211

settlers of eastern Oregon were along the streams —
when the famous bunch grass waved on the hills and
-table lands undisturbed by the farmer's plow; when the
whirr of the header or the hum of the threshing machine
had never been in Wasco county, and it is with pleasure
I chronicle the fact that even at that remote date the
¦ settlers of the beautiful valley of Fifteen Mile were
willing to make sacrifices that it should be an educa
tional center. In order to maintain a good school, chil-
- dren residing at too great distance to attend from home
were boarded free by the settlers more favorably situated,.
and School District No. 2 prospered for a number of
^years, but dark days were in store for it.
War time came on and the war-clouds of the east
spread their darkening shadows between homes that
miles had failed to separate — war news that brought a
bright, proud smile to the face of one was reflected in
a second on the face of his neighbor. The hearty hand
shake gave place to the cold nod of recognition. During
these troublesome times the school at Fifteen Mile
crossing was kept alive only by great effort ; but when
at last peace was declared and old friendships patched,
¦ all went' in again with a will and the 16 by 20 school
house by the big pine tree was once more their pride,
-and so it might have remained indefinitely had it not
been for one of those unlooked for incidents, those trifles
¦ in themselves that tear asunder nations as well as school
districts. About the year 1866 the school house on the
¦ creek burned down, and the germs of enmity planted in
each breast during war times grew rapidly and blos
somed into a spirit of contrariness as to where the school
' house should be rebuilt, each patron of the school being
afraid the other might reap some benefit by location.
The usual result followed, and it was erected a mile
• south of its former location, on Pine Hollow, in the most
inconvenient place possible to select. Again the bad
-part of man's nature had triumphed, and all interested
-were dissatisfied, but even then matters might have
quieted down had it not been for a strange combination
¦ of circumstances. It seems that in times like these the
devil gets in his work (such is not a matter of history,
"but simply the opinion of your historian) and this
occasion was no exception. Mr. Herbert and Mr. Chris
man were prominent patrons of the school, but differed
widely on the slavery question. Mr. Herbert had a half-
breed Indian girl, and she was a pupil of the school.
Mr. Cushman had a negro boy whom he was bent
on proving the equal of any in intelligence. This boy,
also, attended school. About this time the directors
employed as teacher John Michell or his brother, Phil,
"I am not positive which, but my readers in Wasco county
will agree with me that it must have been John, for he
seated the Indian girl and the negro boy together on
the same bench.
Mr. Herbert was terribly angry over the insult to
'his Indian girl, and Mr. Cushman thought -the insult
¦on the other side. The community which had grown
• considerably in ten years, divided on the question, as

they always do on trifling things that don't concern
them, and war was declared. Result — School District
No. 2 was cut in two with the negro boy in one district
and the Indian girl in the other, and no school in either.
As to what became of the three parties, the direct cause
of the trouble, your historian has failed to trace the
negro boy or the Indian girl, but John Michell, as might
have been expected, went from bad to worse, and was
for years proprietor and editor of The Times-Mountain
eer, but thirty years after was captured and sent to the
Oregon legislature for four years. After the town of
Dufur was founded the old school house was moved in
from Pine Hollow and once more there was a school on
Fifteen Mile. In 1884 the old school building that was
so grand in 1867 became too small to accommodate the
pupils. Mr. Bohna having built a large hall with lodge
rooms above, the I. O. O. F. lodge removed to new
quarters, and their first building was sold to the district
for a school house, with two rooms 25 by 40, and the
school question seemed settled for an indefinite period.
In 1888 Professor Aaron Frazier, whose reputation
as an educator was second to none in the state, was
engaged as principal of the Dufur school ; the directors
having confidence in his ability gave him full control,
and the tax-payers backed him with funds when the state
money was insufficient. Under his system the school was
graded and so successful was his management that pupils
were attracted from all parts of Wasco and adjoining
counties ; the large building that was thought large
enough to accommodate the increase of pupils for many
years, was in less than five years crowded beyond com
fort. A new and handsome school building, modern in
style and convenience, has been built, with accommoda
tions for 250 pupils, and Professor Frazier, spoken of
above, is in charge.
From the records ol the clerk of School Dis
trict No. 12 (The Dalles), it is gleaned that
Albertine H. Tackman and William Tackman,
her husband, of Wasco county, June 8, 1894,
sold to the directors of District No. 12, for $400,
lots 8, 9 and 10, in block 4, Tackman's addition
to Dalles City. This became the East Hill Pri-
marv. A suitable building was moved on to this
property and school opened in September of the
same year.
It is in order now to give a short history of
the Wasco Independent Academy which, aside
from St. Mary's Academy, was the only private
institution of any educational importance that was
ever in Wasco county. In 1879 some of the citi
zens of The Dalles, believing that their home town
should afford better educational facilities than
those possessed, began an animated and enthusias
tic discussion of the propriety of building a "high"
school or "academy." In May, 1881, the West
Shore published the following concerning this
institution :

212

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

It is only a year since the project of building at
The Dalles an institution of learning was seriously enter
tained. Half a dozen residents of the place meeting cas
ually, the practicability of such an enterprise was dis
cussed in a general way, and it was agreed to hold a
meeting of the people and" ascertain whether there was
a reliable basis in the sentiments of the community on
which to attempt the raising of funds for building. The
meeting was held at the circuit court room and was well
attended ; the spirit of the meeting was so favorable to
the project that its active promoters resolved to make a
determined effort to carry it through to success. A com
mittee, headed by Circuit Judge McArthur, was ap
pointed to report a plan for organization which would
avoid the legal difficulties and dangers and the inherent
evils of a mere voluntary association, and at the same
time secure the institution against all temptations to get
control of it for personal gain. This was admirably
accomplished by the simple device of an ordinary in
corporation under the general corporation laws of the
state, with a provision and fundamental condition in the
articles of the corporation and in the contract for sub
scription to the stock, that no dividend should ever be
allowed upon the stock, but all income of the corporation,
no matter from what source, shall go into a fund to
build up and maintain the institution. Upon this basis
the corporation was organized in May, 1880, and before
January 1, 1881, the splendid edifice was. completed.
Another account in detail gives, substantially,
the following particulars : Soon after the organ
ization of the stock company for the erection of
this building, in March, 1880, articles of incor
poration of the Wasco Independent Academy
were filed. The object of the incorporation was
stated as follows in article 2d:
"The purpose for which said corporation is
to be organized is to establish and maintain at
The Dalles, Wasco county, Oregon, an academy
at which shall be taught all of the branches of
learning usually taught in grammar schools and
academies ; the course of studies to be arranged
and designated by the board of directors annu
ally, and not oftener, and the academy to be
strictly and perpetually a non-sectarian institu
tion." The capital stock of this incorporation was
placed at $20,000 ; in 400 shares of $50 each. To
this a liberal response was made and all the stock
was soon subscribed. The subscribers were:
Five hundred dollars each : Samuel L.
Brooks, Robert Mays, J. W. French, D. W.
French, E. B. McFarland, Wentworth Lord, B.
E. Snipes, Mary Laughlin, A. Rogers, D. J.
Cooper, J. H. Sherar, Hugh Frazier.
Two hundred and fifty dollars each : Thomas
W. Miller, Z. F. Moody, Smith French, George
Ruch, N. H. Gates, W. M. Hand, G. E. Williams,

George A. Liebe, J. B. Dickerson, James Fulton,.
O. S. Savage, August Buchler, Vogt & Chap
man, W. Lair Hill.
Two hundred dollars each: J. B. Condon, D..
E. Thompson, L. L. McArthur, George Allen, A.
Bunnell. One hundred and fifty dollars each : Louis-
Davenport, A. B. Moore, I. C. Nickelson, P. T.
Sharp, Blumaner & Son.
One hundred dollars each : A. Baltimore,.
William Floyd, L. P. Henderson, T. Moore,.
Hugh Logan, J. A. Richardson, B. F. Laughlin,
R. F. Gibons, Emile Schanno, J. B. Crossen, Ben
jamin Korten, R. B. Hood, A. Wintermeier, W.
Michell, W. H. Van Bibber, Hugh Glenn, R.
Lusher, O. Kinersly, F. Drew, Daniel Handley,
N. B. Sinnot, A. H. Curtis, C. E. Chrisman,.
Joseph Beegley, T. B. Hoover, Daniel Bolton,.
J. E. Atwater, J. A. Gulliford, William Grant.
Fifty dollars each : F. P. Mays, J. H. Bird, D.
Siddall, N. C. Long, O. Sylvester, L. D. Frank,.
Samuel Klien, George H. Holbrook, C. E. Dun
ham, E. Beck, G. W. Rowland, J. G. Fredden,.
J. W. Lansing, W. R. Abrams, W. S. A. Johns,
Arictor Trevitt, John M. Marden, H. L. Waters,.
F. Irvine, H. C. Neilson, C. J. Crandall, E. C.
Price, H. E. Groenninger, J. B. Huntington, H.
Callenbury, Peter Gotfries, T. J. Gehres, W. S.
Myers, John Moran, H. Klindt, Tim Baldwin,.
Thomas Smith, F. Dehm, John Michell, J. H..
Jackson, J. L. Thompson, G. C. Munger, W.
Wigle, A. Volarde, B. Wolf, J. M. Benson, Louis-
Klinger, George B. Halvor.
May 10, 1880, a meeting was held at the
county court house for the purpose of electing a
board of directors. Messrs. N. H. Gates, S. L..
Brooks, E. B. McFarland, W. Lord, Robert
Mays, L. L. McArthur and W. Lair Hill received
a majority of votes and were declared elected.
At an adjourned meeting held the following day
Hon. W. Lair Hill was elected president, and Dr..
Hugh Logan, secretary. (D. M. French suc
ceeded N. H. Gates as director in 1881 ; G. A..
Liebe succeeded L. L. McArthur in 1886; F. A_
McDonald was elected president to succeed W..
Lair Hill, in 1887, and B. F. Laughlin succeeded
G. A. Liebe in 1889).
August 21, 1880, Judge McArthur was au
thorized to advertise for bids for the erection of
the academy building; September 1, 1880, the-
contract was awarded to W. E. Sylvester for
$9,423.75, he being the lowest bidder. January
5, 1 88 1, the academy was formally opened with
T. M. Gatch as principal, assisted by a corps of
proficient instructors. Professor Gatch was suc
ceeded by Professor R. H. Willis, as principal,
in August, 1887. Attached to the faculty at the-
opening were Mrs. S. A. Stowell, preceptress,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

213

and Miss Marie Smith in charge of the primary
¦department. January 12, 1881, The DailesTimes
said: Last Saturday morning (January 5), according t6
previous announcement in these columns, the first term
•of the academy commenced, Prof. T. M. Gatch, principal,
.Mrs. S. A. Stowell, preceptress, and Miss Marie E.
Smith in charge of the primary department. The num-
"ber of scholars in attendance were about sixty.
The structure is beautiful in design and finish, and
¦is quite an ornament to the city. It is the largest edu
cational building east of Portland, and was built with the
•design of establishing at The Dalles an institution of
learning which should offer to those seeking a classical
education an opportunity nearer than Portland or the
State University at Eugene City. The present corps of
-teachers are thoroughly competent ; Prof. Gatch stands
-at the head of the fraternity in this state, having had
supervision of some of the best institutions in the state.
Mrs. Stowell is very highly spoken of where she has
-resided as a thorough scholar and a competent teacher.
Miss Marie E. Smith is an alumnus of that pioneer
;institution of learning in the state, and which hats pro
duced some of the leading professional men, the Willa
mette University. She is a young lady of ability, and a
hetter selection could not have been made.
The academy starts under the brightest auspices,
-and we have no doubt that ere long The Dalles will be
the educational center east of the Cascades as it is now
the commercial center. The board of directors are men
•of active business habits, and they will leave nothing
undone to make the Wasco Independent Academy the
crowning institution of eastern Oregon and eastern
Washington. It is owing to their indefatigable exer
tions that the institution has' progressed thus far, and
we feel assured that encouraged by the present bright
prospects, they will still continue their efforts in the
-future. In 1889 by an act of the legislature this acad
emy was made a branch normal institute of Ore
gon. In May, 1889, David Torbet, A. M., was
selected as principal to succeed Professor Willis,
who had resigned. Following is a complete list
-of the graduates up to the year 1889 :
1882 : Cora L. Allen, Annie M. Lang, Elnora
Mays. 1883: Wilber Bolton, Bessie L. Lang, Gert
rude French, Minnie U. Michell, Leigh Gatch,
Laura E. Rogers, Nettie G. Williams.
1884: J. W. Condon, Eve M. Lord, E. C.
Hill, Eunice Mays, Minnie L. Wigle.
1885 : Nannie P. Cooper, Ruth Gatch, Grace
~M. French, Anna L. Moore, Anna L. Turner,
.Avis M. Smith.
1886: Lulu D. Bird, Maud E. French, C. J.

Bright, Ethel W. Grubbs, Mary E. Frazier,
Amanda Hildebrandt, Perry G. Rothrock.
1887: Mamie Cooper, Fannie C. Robinson,
Hettie E. Goldstein, Sula S. Ruch, Mattie A.
Johns, John A. Taylor, Jessie Kinsey, Jessie M.
Welch, Edwin Mays, Laura H. Welch, Nettie
Michell, Lee Wigle.
1888: Nicholas Sinnott.
In June, 1893, the Wasco Independent Acad
emy held its last commencement exercises, and
soon afterward the directors, finding that the
financial support was insufficient; that they were
compelled to meet running expenses from their
private purses, made an assignment and deeded
the property, or rather a majority of the stock
of the corporation, to The Dalles School District
No. 12. The amount of the indebtedness, $2,800,
was assumed by the directors of the district,
June 12, 1894. At that time Robert Mays was
president and H. H. Riddell, secretary, of the
association. Following is the text of the assign
ment as taken from the records of the clerk of
the city schools :
"We, the undersigned, stockholders in the
W. I. A., a corporation, for and in consideration
of the sum of $1 to each of us in hand paid, and
for other good and valuable considerations, here
by sell, assign, transfer and set over unto the
directors of School District No. 12, in Wasco
county, Oregon, and unto their successors in
office, to be held in trust by said directors and
their successors in office for the use and benefit
of said School District No. 12, the number of
shares of stock in said W. I. A., set opposite our
respective names."
Other branches of educational affairs indi
cated renewed vitality in 1880 within the confines
of Wasco county. It may be said that they kept
pace with the academy project, and all those in
terested in schools seemed determined not to
permit interest to flag for a moment. At the
closing exercises of The Dalles public schools,
Friday, April 16, 1880, Professor L. J. Powell,
state superintendent of schools for Oregon, was
present, and delivered a stirring address. In the
course of his remarks he strenuously advocated
the organization of a teachers' institute at The
Dalles. Following the dismissal of the pupils
an impromptu meeting was held at which it was
decided to hold an institute in the city commenc
ing May 6th and continuing through the 7th
and 8th. To that effect preliminary arrange
ments were made and the following committees
appointed :
Executive Committee — A. S. Bennett, E. H.
Grubbs, P. P. Underwood, Mrs. L. Sampson, W.
Lair Hill.

214

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Reception Committee — F. Pierce Mays, Mrs.
Smith French, and Mrs. E. C. Benedict.
Music Committee — Dr. O. D. Doane, Miss
Wall, Professor James, Mrs. P. L. Price and
Mrs. James.
According to this arrangement the first teach
ers' institute ever held in Wasco county con
vened at The Dalles Thursday, May 6th, 1880,
continuing in session three days. It was attended
by a large number of educators and friends of
education, and quite enthusiastic and interesting
sessions were held. Prof. L. J. Powell presided ;
Dr. O. D. Doane was secretary and Mrs. N. J.
A. Simons was assistant secretary.
The following gentlemen have held the office
of county superintendent of schools in Wasco
county since 1854: J. Chenowith, John H. Ste
phens, R. R. Thompson, H. K. Hines, C. R.
Meigs, Thomas Gordon, William Logan, Thomas
Condon, E. P. Fitzgerald, J. D. Robb, D. D.
Stephenson, Captain John Darrah, Thomas
Smith, E. Fisher, M. H. Abbott, A. S. Bennett,
O. D. Doane, W. L. McEwan, A. C. Connelly,
Aaron Frazier, Troy Shelley, C. L. Gilbert and
Justice T. Neff.
In March, 1891, articles of incorporation of
the Wamic Academy were filed with the clerk
of Wasco county. The capital stock was divided
into 300 shares of $5 a share each ; the incorpora
tors were Martin Wing, Henry Driver and H.
F. Woodcock. This institution, however, re
mained on paper and never materialized. The
following is from the report of County Superin
tendent Neff, issued in February, 1905 :
Owing to adverse circumstances only three local
meetings were held in this county during the past year.
In order that these meetings may be made more effective,
a fund should be provided which would enable the
county superintendent to procure the services of com
petent instructors.
The number of pupils taking eighth grade examina
tions in this county is constantly increasing. It is no
longer possible for the county superintendent to examine
and grade the papers within a reasonable time after the
examination. As this work should not be left to teach
ers, if uniformity of grading is desired, the suggestion
that the County Superintendent be empowered to call
to his assistance the other members of the board of
county examiners is, it would seem, a good one.
There has been a scarcity of teachers in this county.
In several instances school boards were unable to pro
cure teachers until long after the time when it was de
sired '.'.lit school should begin. There has been little
opportunity for choice in the selection of teachers, and,
as a result, good teachers have not always been secured.
Nearly every school in this county has a good library.
During the year ending June 12, 1903, there were 530

volumes purchased. Many more have been bought dur
ing the present year. Most schools were insufficiently
supplied with supplementary reading matter.
Five new school houses have been erected since my
last report. Hood River district will put up one or-
two additional buildings this summer in order to accom
modate the increased school population. Thirty-eight •
districts this year voted a special tax of from one to •
twenty-two mills, the average rate being seven mills.
The county court levied 6Yz mills for school purposes,.
an increase of one and one-half mills over last year.
Number of persons of school age: Male, 2,633;
female, 2,609; total, 5,242. Number of persons of
school age not attending any school — male, 500;
female, 458; total, 958. Number attending schools
outside the district — males, 63 ; females, 86 ; total,
149. Number of districts in county, 73; number -
of school houses, 76 ; number of school houses built
during the year, 7. Total number of library books on
hand, 4,722 ; number of books purchased during the year,
786. Private schools, 1 ; number of teachers in private
schools, 7; number of pupils enrolled in private schools,.
male, 78; female, 102; total, 180. Value of school
houses' and grounds, $135,360. Value of school furniture
and fixtures, $18,896.15. Average salary of male teach
ers, $59.20; average salary of female teachers, $44. In
the whole county of Wasco there is only one deaf mute
and one blind scholar. Number of teachers employed
during the year — males, 20; females, 134. Paid for
teachers' wages, $36,677.16.
The following is a register of resident teachers -
in Wasco county, Oregon, with postoffice ad
dress, on and after February 20, 1905 :
The Dalles— J. S. Landers, J. H. Orcutt,.
Blanche Brigham, A. May Sechler, Effie A. Tay
lor, Mrs. E. D. Baldwin, Louise Rintoul, Ida-
Omeg, Mrs. Kate Roche, Maggie Flinn, Martha.
Baldwin, Grace L. Tillard, Kate Davenport, Tena •
Rintoul, Anna B. Thompson, Etta E. Wrenn,
Dora Nielson, Hester Kent, Mary N. Campbell,
Beatrice Burkhead, Lettie Burns, Bertha M.
Hammond, Anna C. Godbersen, Bess Isenberg,
Elanor Loomis, Frank Fagan, Maud E. Michell,
Mrs. Belle B. Brown, Bertha Henry, S. C. Ross-
man, Martha Bartell.
Mount Hood — Nan Cooper, Daisy E. .
Thomas. Shaniko — Lillie Verdt.
Cascade Locks — F. H. Isenberg, Maude
Noble, Bertina Cramer, Elizabeth Neidigh, Han
nah L. Simpson.
Antelope — Mabie Crofutt, Ida Priday, Edna
Hamilton. Endersly — George E. Walston.
Hood River — L. A. Wiley, C. Crouse, Mary
Mathews, Carrie Copple, Cora I. Copple, Mary
E. Groves, Helen M. Deitz, Erma Benson, Amy

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

215

L. Gove, Ethel Robards, Carrie M. Burlingame,
Mrs. Lura Campbell, George W. Brown, Anna
E. Shea, Stella Brown, Carrie Byerlee, C. D.
Thompson, Ashley B. Cash, Ola B. Norman,
Mabel Riddell, Nettie Gleason, Mara E. Smith,
V. V. Willis, Blanche R. Wilson, Ida Stranahan,
• George A. Massey, Lizzie Elder, Pearl Eby, Ida
M. Wright, Nora M. Sanborn, Hulda Hinrichs,
Ella M. Evans.
Dufur— H. H. White, Ella M. Wall, Lexie
Strachan, Rebecca Wilson, Lottie Covey, Cor
delia Stevens.

Wamic — Lelah Driver, Bessie Stakeley,
Margaret Raz, Mattie Walton.
Kingsley — Jessie McLeod, Susie Ward, Ce
celia LeDuc, Victoria McVey.
Boyd — Marian E. Hetrick, Bertha Leader,
Lucile Risch, Maud Bethun.
Nansene — Ben Wilson.
Wapinitia — Louis H. Arneson.
Tygh Valley— E. A. Sayer, T. M. B. Chas-
tain, Sarah E. McVey.
Mosier — Agnes Gulovson, lone B. Splawn.
Bake Oven — Bessie Blodgett, Leo Fleming,

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
WASCO COUNTY

WILLIAM CATESBY LAUGHLIN, de
ceased. (Born December 27, 1814; died Septem
ber 7, 1864.) The memory of no man is held
-in higher respect by the little band of pioneers
now living, who took part in the early history
¦making period of eastern Oregon, than that of
County Judge William C. Laughlin. Coming to
that part of Oregon, where now stands the thriv
ing city of The Dalles, in 1850, preceded by only
two or three settlers, he at once began carving out
-a home for himself and family. And there he
resided until his death in 1864, taking a most
.prominent ' part in developing the country and
building up the city of The Dalles. The few sur
viving neighbors of Judge Laughlin, those who
were co-workers with him in the first fourteen
.years' history of The Dalles, never tire of telling
•of his sterling worth, of his kindness to his less
fortunate neighbors, of his influence for good in
¦the community. It is indeed a fitting tribute that
his likeness should be a frontispiece of the his-
"tory of Wasco county.
Judge Laughlin's ancestry can be traced only
to early in the eighteenth century. At that time
"his grandfather, Thomas Laughlin, came to
America from England. Tradition says that he
was of scotch descent, if not a native of Scotland.
No record of data can be found in Thomas
Laughlin's genealogy earlier than his marriage on
November 27, 1755, to Sarah Madison, a cousin
-of President James Madison. Eleven children
were born to them, as follows: Richard (1757-
1759), Joanah (1758- 1758), Thomas (1759 — date
-of death unknown), Robert (1762-1788), James
(1764 — date of death unknown), George (1766-
1801), John (1769 — date of death unknown),
Roger (177 1- 1 845), Edmund (1773 — date of
death unknown), Simon (1776— date of death
unknown), Hill (1782-1788). Thomas Laugh

lin died December 13, 1801. Sarah Laughlin
died October 31, 1901.
The seventh son, Roger, was our subject's
father. He was married to Elizabeth Woodford
in 1800 and their children were Richard, Mary,
Nancy, Sarah, George, Lucy, Simon, Elizabeth,
William Catesby, Mark Woodford, Thomas
Catesby. Roger Laughlin died January 5, 1845,
and Elizabeth Laughlin died in April, 1853.
Shortly after their marriage, which occurred in
1800, they moved to Kentucky, where they lived
until 1832.
It was during his parents' residence in Ken
tucky that William Laughlin was born, the date
of his birth being December 27, 1814. Here he
spent his boyhood days, moving with his parents
at the age of eighteen to Illinois, locating near
Quincy. He worked on a farm until he gained his
majority. On April 8, 1840, he was united in
marriage to Mary Jane Yeargain, at the resi
dence of her father, James Yeargain, in Illinois.
This union was an exceptionally happy one, albeit
the parties were destined to suffer the hardships
known only to the pioneers of a new country.
William Laughlin and his bride at once took up
their residence in a little log cabin on a ridge run
ning down to Mill creek, in Gilmer township,
about six miles from Quincy. It was their inten
tion to remain in Illinois only until arrangements
could be made for a trip to a new home. The
place they selected was Scotland county, Mis
souri, and after only a short residence in their first
home, they loaded all their possessions onto a
two-wheeled cart drawn by a yoke of oxen, and
set out to seek their fortune in the west. They
were brave young hearts, but with little except
hope and self-reliance. Arriving at their destina
tion after a long and toilsome journey,. they built
themselves a modest little home and went to work

2l8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

with a will that they might accumulate enough
to allow them to return to Illinois. The labors
and struggles of the first few years in their Mis
souri home were those of pioneers to a new
country. They worked hard and after the first
few years the fruits of their labors were appar
ent. They become more prosperous and a fairly
good house took the place of the little one. They
were held in high esteem in the community in
which they lived and Mr. Laughlin for a number
of years served in the capacity of justice of the
peace. During their residence in Missouri their
three children were born : Elizabeth, on April
29, 1841, married to Wentworth Lord January
15, 1861, now living at The Dalles, Oregon;
James born February 17, 1843, died May 14,
1864; Benjamin Franklin, born January 4, 1849,
married to Sarah C. Adams, March 2, 1875, now
living at The Dalles.
The discovery of gold in California and the
subsequent rush to the land of promise, in 1849,
affected Mr. Laughlin as it did so many others
who had tasted pioneer life, and arrangements
were made for the long trip overland. The farm
was sold and most of the personal property was
sold or traded for provisions and the necessary
equipment. On April 20, 1850, the family started
out on their long journey across the plains, their
possessions loaded into one wagon, drawn bv a
team of oxen. Lack of space forbids an extended
account of their trip across the continent. About
three weeks were consumed in crossing the state
of Missouri. After crossing the river at old Fort
Kearney, they were joined by three other parties
and the westward trip was resumed in company.
A few days later, they overtook a large train,
fully organized, which had a commander and
which was divided into squads for guard duty.
To this, the Laughlin party did not align itself,
preferring to travel in a smaller company. Fort
Kearney, a little over two hundred miles from the
Missouri river, was reached about Mav 25, and
about June 1, the Platte river was crossed. Early
in July they reached South Pass and twenty miles
further was reached the forks of the emigrant
road, one branch leading to California, the other
to Oregon. Mr. Laughlin had originallv intended
going to California but the immigration to that
country was so heavy that he decided that Oregon
would offer greater advantages. So when the
main party took what was known as "Sublet's i
cutoff," he proceeded on the road to Oregon, and
the decision was never afterward regretted. A few
others were bound for the same place and there
was company all the way. Fort Hall was reached
about the middle of August. The Grand Ronde
valley was traversed for a distance and then came
the Blue Mountains, which were crossed and the

Umatilla river reached. At Willow creek, a gov
ernment wagon, drawn by a mule team, was met,
sent out to relieve the suffering immigrants. Next
came the John Day river, the Deschutes, and
October 4, 1850, they arrived at the military post, -
where now stands The Dalles.
It had been the intention to proceed by flat
boat down the Columbia river from this point to
the Willamette valley, there to make their future
home, but it was not to be. When it came time
to load their possessions on the boat, Mr. Laugh
lin found that the boats were already overloaded
and they were obliged to remain behind. It was
then decided to make a home in the vicinity of the
post. A cabin was partly constructed on Crate's
Point, where it was found to be on the military
reservation, and had to be abandoned. The fam
ily lived in tents while Mr. Laughlin worked in
the mountains making shingles for the post. Late -
in December, their tent was pitched on Mill creek,
where the Bennett place is now. A little money
having been saved from his work, Mr. Laughlin
purchased a few cows and yearlings. In the-
spring a house was secured at the post in which
to live, and board was supplied a few of the army
officers. Immigration again setting in that fall, .
some of the stock were butchered and quite a start
was made by the sale of it to the half- famished '
new arrivals.
In 1852 the Laughlin family and the family
of Dr. Farnsworth, old time friends in Missouri,
decided to go to Hood River and engage in the -
stock business. Each family here built a cabin.
This venture was a disastrous one. The severe-
winter of 1852-53 killed nearly all their stock.
Provisions ran short, and, isolated as they were,
they had a miserable time, part of the time living
on venison and potatoes only. In the spring of"
1853, tnev returned to The Dalles. In May the
government reservation was cut down and Mr.
Laughlin secured a donation claim, upon which -
they lived in tents until a house could be erected,
which "-ps not until August. The house was re
placed by a much more pretentious one in 1857.
Mr. Laughlin ?t once took an active part in
the building up of the little town which sprang"
up at The Dalles and later in the organization
of Wasco county. When the county was organ
ized, he was named as one of the county com
missioners. In 1856 he was elected county judge,
and in i860 and 1862 county commissioner. He
was a member of the first board of trustees for~
The Dalles and was elected president of that
body in 1855. He also served as a member of the
board in 1863.
Judge Laughlin died September 7, 1864. and
his wife on January 17, 1898.
We know of nothing more appropriate with:-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

219*

which to close this sketch than a eulogy by his
daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Lord, in her "Remi
niscence of Eastern Oregon," recently published.
"His was a life untarnished, his honor unques
tioned, truthful, honest, upright and just. A good
son, a kind husband, a loving father, a generous
neighbor and warm friend, naturally of an amia
ble and cheerful disposition, a quick temper, but
unsuspicious, and slow to recognize insult ; never
seeking a quarrel, but once convinced that insult
was meant, seldom forgiving. He embodied
within himself a code of morals and high sense
of right and courtesy which would stamp him in
any position he might have been called to occupy
as a fine type of gentleman. Rather reserved,
unassuming, and yet with a dignified and gracious
manner, he was always winning ancl attractive.
His sense of humor was very keen ; this, coupled
with a talent for mimicry and ready wit, made
him a very entertaining and amusing companion
when he was in the mood to draw upon those
resources."

WILLIAM R. MENEFEE, one of the old
est settlers in the country now comprising Wasco
county, and a retired farmer, resides at Dufur.
He was born December 5, 1823, in Rappahan
nock county, Virginia, at the time of his birth
known as Culpeper county. He is the son of
John M. and Lucy M. (Partlow) Menefee, na
tives of Virginia. In 1837 John L. Partlow, the
brother of Lucy M. Menefee was sheriff of Rap
pahannock county.
In a subscription school in Virginia William
R. Menefee, our subject, received his education,
and in 1835 his parents removed to Henry county,
Iowa. To reach this place they were obliged to
travel overland with horse teams. It was in
1852 that our subject came to Oregon, and lo
cated on a donation claim in Yamhill county, but
it being not entirely satisfactory he secured an
other claim in the Walla Walla country, Wash
ington, and in 1855 started for that locality with
his wife and two children. At The Dalles he
learned of the horrible atrocities connected with
the massacre of Dr. Marcus Whitman, and de
cided to postpone his advent into that territory.
On the repeal of the donation law he came to
this vicinity accompanied by seven other fami
lies. They concluded to build a fort and take up
land on Fifteen Mile Creek. There were in the
colony the Combs, Crooks, Bolton, Zachery,
Flett, Walker and two other families. They ran
up part of a stockade, but as there was no im
mediate trouble with the Indians completion of
the stockade was abandoned. It is true that some
stock was stolen, but they were not fully con

vinced that this was not the work of white men
instead of Indians.
Until quite recently our subject has been a
Republican. At present he is a Prohibitionist.,
For eight years he was justice of the peace, and
has been school director, and was the first clerk
of school district No. 2 upon its organization. He-
has never been an office seeker, but has always
taken an active interest in party politics. For
many years he followed the business of farm
ing and stock raising, but in 1885 he disposed of
his land, of which he at one time had six hundred
and eighty acres, and removed into the town of
Dufur. During one year he was in the hotel bus
iness, conducting the old Fifteen Mile House,.
and one year he was engaged in improving his
town property. In company with two partners-
he erected a windmill and built waterworks,
drawing water from the creek. These were
the pioneer water works of Dufur. Later a com
pany of eight was -organized, including Mr. Men
efee, and they enlarged the system, and of this
plant he is now the superintendent. Since 1889
he has been a notary public. Our subject's wife
owns residence lots in Dufur, and a house on
Main street. Mr. Menefee had one brother,
Elijah L., who died in 1875. Four sisters are de
ceased, Clarinda, Lucy, Sarah and Catherine.
February 8, 1849, Mr Menefee, at Grand
View, Louisa county, Iowa, was united in mar
riage to Nancy J. Benefiel. She has one brother
living, William, in Spokane, Washington. She-
had three sisters, Susan, widow of Robert Ire
land ; Louisa and Hester, deceased. Mr. Mene
fee has seven children living, Henry, of Dufur ;
Frank ; William R., a druggist in Gaston, Ore
gon ; Mary, wife of F. M. Gilliam, of Fossil r
Carrie, married to E. B. Dufur, of Goldhill, Ore
gon ; Hannah, widow of Warren Emmerson and'
Evaline, widow of Hugh Moorehead. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Menefee are members of the Christian.
church.

AUGUST DECKERT claims the distinction
of having been born in Wasco county and he is a
man who has shown commendable industry and
integrity during the years of his career. He is
the son of Gabriel and Mary (Berninger) Deck-
ert, whose farm adjoins that of our subject and
is the homestead where he first saw the light, the
date being November 14, 1869. The parents are
both living on the old homestead and are both
natives of Germany. The father was born near
Frankfort and came to the United States in 1862.
After a few months spent in San Francisco, he
came on to Wasco county and took the home
stead which is the family place now. He added'

,220

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

•as much more by purchase and has a good place,
where he has labored all the intervening years
-with display of great industry and thrift. Mr.
Deckert has so lived that he has the approbation
•-and respect of all and the results of his labor
show him to have been wise and far-seeing. Our
subject was educated in the district schools and
in the academy in The Dalles. Then he married
and purchased six hundred acres where he now
resides. Half of this is cropped to wheat an
nually and he receives abundant returns. He also
Taises some barley and other crops. Mr. Deckert
^remained with his parents until the date of his
marriage which occurred on February 7, 1901.
Then he removed to his present place and here
he has bestowed his labors since. His wife was
formerly Miss Vera Simpson, and was born in
Albany, Oregon. Her father, Charles D. Simp
son, now dwells in Woodland, California. Mr.
Deckert has one brother. Charles, with his pa
rents; and three sisters, Mrs. Emma Odell, Mrs;
-Lena Hettman, and Miss Nellie. Mrs. Deckert
has four half brothers, Charles, William, Nor-
-man, and four sisters, Mrs. Ethel Hunt, a
-widow, Mrs. Zuma Cramer, Mrs. Elva Yosburg,
¦ and Carmel. One child has come to gladden the
home of Mr. and Mrs. Deckert, Ivan, aged three
¦months. Mr. Deckert is a member of the M. W.
A. and of the Red Men.

JOSEPH T. PETERS was born in Balti
more, Maryland, on June 21, 1856. His father,
George H. Peters, was born in the same city and
his father, the grandfather of our immediate
subject, was also a native of that city, and fol
lowed contracting and building. The father
married Sarah Cordray, a native of Baltimore,
as were her ancestors for several generations
¦back. Both ancestral families were prominent
Americans, and were well represented in the colo
nial struggles and the war of independence. Con
cerning the youth of our subject, we are not
specially informed, but as his later life shows, he
was the recipient of splendid training and im
bibed the stanch business principles that have
won so well in the commercial realm since. He
was married on November 27, 1890, at The
Dalles, Oregon, to Lucy P. Wilson, whose par
ents, Joseph G. and Elizabeth (Miller) Wilson,
are especially mentioned in another portion of
this work. The children born to this marriage,
"are Helen A., Grace G., Elizabeth W., and Janet
B. Mr. Peters has the following named brothers
and sisters : Winfield, a broker in Baltimore ;
Helen, the wife of Ernest Nosworthy, a commer
cial traveller residing in Denver, Colorado ; and
Mary, the wife of Elijah J. Bond, an attorney in

Washington, D. C. He is active for the welfare,
advancement and improvement of the town and
county in which he resides, has held many posi
tions connected with public matters and is char
acterized by upright principles, by good business
ability, and by integrity.
Mr. Peters is numbered with the leading citi
zens of the thriving town of The Dalles, and is a
man who has left his imprint for good on the
business and social world where he moves, and
as a man and good citizen is respected by his
many friends and associates.
More especially regarding his business ca
reer, we riote that Mr. Peters came from Balti
more, Maryland, to The Dalles, in 1878. He left
a position of five years standing with a large
house and in The Dalles accepted a place in a
lumber yard, to which new enterprise he adapted
himself so well that he was soon given entire
charge of the business. Less than two years later
he bought out the interests of his employer and
began handling lumber on commission, which
was the start of his present large lumber commis
sion business, the largest of its kind in this sec
tion. He employs at present twenty men. He
is also director of The Dalles & Rockland Steam
Ferry Company, being also part owner, owns
and operates several wood schooners plying on
the Columbia, a planing mill and box factory at
The Dalles, with his lumber yard, and deals in
all kinds of building material and hardware, util
ized in this community. Mr. Peters personally
directs all these enterprises besides caring for
his other property interests he has accumulated.
He is sold owner of the business although the
firm name is Jos. T. Peters & Co. Having begun
without capital or friends, his success but shows
what an industrious and upright young man can
do in Wasco county.

C. ERNEST HEMMAN, who is a man of
business ability and worth, is also a leader in
social lines and stands with the best people of
Hood River. His present position, secretary and
treasurer of the Prather Investment Company,
places him in touch with the leading interests of
the county and he has shown himself a man of
mature judgment and wisdom in discharge of
its duties. He was born in Milwaukee, Wiscon
sin, on January 17, 1875, tne son of Frederick
and Louise (Wall) Hemman, natives of New
England. They were of German ancestry, and
the father died when our subject was four vears
of age. The mother died on September 21, 1901,
at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After completing the
course in the Milwaukee public schools, Mr.
Hemman took a special course in surveying and

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

221'

civil engineering. Then he was engaged with the
Miller Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee,
as chief accountant for seven years. After this
extended service, he spent one year in Denver,
Colorado, for his health. Then he returned to
Milwaukee and eight months later journeyed
thence to Oregon, where he fully recovered his
health. He had endured a severe attack of pneu
monia and the results of it were hard to eradi
cate. However, in this salubrious climate He is
benefitted, therefore it was a strong reason to
induce him to locate permanently here. Also
the magnificent opportunities presented here led
young Hemman to cast his lot with the Webfoot
state. He was soon installed with Captain Charles
Wanzer, assistant engineer for the O. R. & N.
railroad, and for three years he wrought in that
capacity. Then he accepted the position which
he now fills and has given his attention to this
since that time. He is a good business man, a
keen financier and a trustworthy investor.
At Hood River, Oregon, on July 25, 1901,
Mr. Hemman married Miss Bertha Prather, and
to them one child has been born, Nellie L. Mr.
Hemman is a member of the K. P. and holds the
office of keeper of the records and seal of the
order. Politically, he is a Republican and active
in the interests of his party. He is clerk of the
school board, and was treasurer of the Hood
River Commercial Club. In the summer of 1903,
Mr. Hemman was secretary and treasurer of the
Hood River base ball team. Mr. Hemman is an
active factor in the community for progress and
improvement and has done much good labor to
this worthy end.

HON. JOSEPH G. WILSON was born at
Acworth, New Hampshire, on December 13,
1826. He was the youngest of eight children
and was descended from Scotch Presbyterian
ancestors, who were part of the colony of one
hundred families of Scotch Calvinists that set
tled in the town of Londonderry, New Hamp
shire, as earl)' as 1719. His parents, Samuel and
Sallie Wilson, with their family removed to Cin
cinnati in 1828 and later settled on a farm near
Reading in Hamilton county. Joseph G. at
tended district school until fourteen years of age,
when he became a student in Cary's academy
where he remained until sixteen, in which year
he entered the sophomore class in Marietta col
lege. This was in the autumn of 1843. In 1846
he graduated from that institution, the event
being marked by a beautiful and brilliant oration,
one of the best gems ever pronounced from the
college platform. Three years later he returned

to his alma mater and received his second de
gree, and in 1865 it conferred upon him the de
gree of Doctor of Laws. Following his gradu
ation, Mr. Wilson was a professor in Farmer's
college, near Cincinnati, where his labors re
ceived high commendation. In 1850 he left his
birth place and traveled through the New Eng
land states. In 1852 he graduated at the Cin
cinnati Law School and was admitted to the bar.
In the same year he went to Oregon where he
commenced the practice of law and soon took
rank as an able advocate and advanced to vari
ous positions until he was judge of the highest
court in the state and served in that capacity
eight years. He was a man of keen and penetrat
ing mind, never swerved from dispensing abso
lute justice, by either political or other influ
ences, and the result was that he held the position
in the hearts of the people never shadowed by
any other incumbent of the supreme bench. In
1870 he made a race for congress and came near
being elected. At the next election he gained it
by a handsome majority and was installed as the-
representative from Oregon in the forty-third
congress. Hon. Joseph G. Wilson was elected by the-
alumni of Marietta college to deliver the annual
oration in July, 1873. On tlle second of July he
was struck suddenly with paralysis and died in
the city of Marietta, Ohio, before his oration was
delivered. As a most untimely stroke, viewed
from the human side, came this sudden death of
one of the most brilliant men ever graduated
from Marietta College and one of the most
stanch and worthy statesmen that the west had
produced. It was one of those events in human
existence which reason can never compass and
to which faith bids us bow in silent acquiescence.
From the rude pioneer hamlets amid the hills of
Oregon to the halls of the chief legislative body
of the United States, came cries of sorrow at
this great and good man's demise and sincere
weeping and mourning were prevalent with every
class who knew him. He was laid to rest with
becoming honors, surrounded by representatives
from every station in life, on July 3, 1873, m tne
college town of Marietta, Ohio. Of him one-
said, "His memory and the memory of his deeds
'will outlive eulogies and survive monuments.' "
"He has outsoared the shadow of our night ;
Envy and calumny, and hate and pain,
And that unrest which men miscall delight,
Can touch him not and torture not again."
Mr. Wilson left a wife and four children.
The children are Genevieve, the wife of F. P.
Mays, an attorney residing in Portland, Oregon ;¦

.222

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Grace G., the wife of Charles W. Taylor, a rail
road man in Grenville, Wyoming; Lucy P., the
wife of Joseph T. Peters, a lumber merchant at
The Dalles ; Frederick W., an attorney living
with his mother at The Dalles. He graduated
.first from Whitman College at Walla Walla and
in 1893 from Johns Hopkins University. The
widow of Hon. Joseph G. Wilson was, in maiden
life, Elizabeth Miller. She was born at South
Argyle, New York, on June 8, 1830. Her father,
James O. Miller, was born in Western Pennsyl
vania and was a Presbyterian preacher. He also
took a great interest in the west, having become
enthused by the reports of Lewis and Clark and
as early as 1851, came via the isthmus of Pan
ama to the Willamette valley, where he settled,
He was soon installed the pastor of a church,
.and proclaimed the gospel faithfully until April,
1854, when he was killed by the explosion of the
'Gazelle. He had married Amanda Davisson,
who was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, and
'came to Oregon with her husband. After his
death she removed to Washington, D. C, and
resided with her daughter, Mrs. Kelley, until her
death. The Davissons are an old American fam
ily of Welsh descent, distinguished through many
generations. Mrs. Welsh's paternal grandfather
was a native of Ireland and followed the avoca
tion of farming.
Mrs. Wilson received her education in New
York and there remained until 1851, when she
came to Oregon as one of the teachers sent out
by the national board of public instructions. She
followed the work of the educator until 1854,
when she married Joseph G. Wilson, whose life
has been mentioned in the earlier part of this
article. After her husband's death, Mrs. Wilson
returned to The Dalles, Oregon, where she has
made her home since. During the years since,
.she has been occupied in educational and literary
work and is one of the most prominent ladies
of the state of Oregon. Mrs. Wilson has one
brother, James Franklin, who was killed by the
Apache Indians in Arizona; and two sisters,
Ella, the widow of General Cuvier Groner, living
in Rome, Italy ; and Mary, widow of the late
Senator James K. Kelley, of Washington, D. C.

GRIFFITH E. WILLIAMS, deceased. The
subject of the following memoir, late of The
Dalles, Oregon, was a prosperous and progres
sive merchant of that city. He was born in
Wales about 1835, the son of Evan and Phoebe
(Roberts) Williams. Both of the parents died
when our subject was nine years of age, and he
-came to the United States with his brothers and

sisters, arriving at the port of New Orleans.
The father of our subject was a farmer near
Bedd-Gelert, of an ancient and distinguished fam
ily in Wales. The father was a life-long student,
and possessed considerable literary ability. On
the death of the parents of our subject the estate
was sold and the proceeds divided among the
children, of whom there were nine. The share
of Griffith E. Williams supported and educated
him until he- was thirteen years of age. At that
period he left his brother and learned the trade
of a cabinet-maker, which he successfully fol
lowed in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, until 1852, when
he crossed the plains with a brcther, Robert B.,
who died en route.
Our subject continued on to Portland, Ore
gon, where he found employment in a sawmill,
remaining two years, at which period the mill
was destroyed by fire. He had drawn but little
of his two years' earnings, and he lost it all. He
then purchased a cayuse and outfit and went to
Yreka, California, where he was employed two
years building cabins for the miners in that local
ity. Returning to Oregon he was employed in
different mills in that state, and in 1862 went to
The Dalles, accompanied by his wife, and for
many years subsequently was in the employment
of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company,
engaged in car building. At the same period
he was associated with Mr. Edward Wingate in
the hardware business, the latter conducting the
enterprise while our subject remained in the
employment of the company. The business,
however, soon increased to an extent warranting
the attention of both gentlemen, and he assumed
an active management of the affairs of the hard
ware firm. On the death of Mr. Wingate he
continued the business for himself and widow
of his former partner. Gradually the hardware
store was merged into a general merchandise
business. Mr. Williams died March 6, 1886. He
was a member of the city council and through
out life was a stanch Republican.
At Beaver Creek, near Oregon City, May 26,
i860, Mr. Williams was married to Anna M.
Marshall, born in London, England, March 26,
1846. She was the daughter of George and Mary
Spencer Marshall, the father a native of Staf
fordshire, and the mother of Hull, England. The
father died at Southampton, England, when Mrs.
Williams was six years of age. Her maternal
grandfather was a gentleman farmer, and his
daughter, the mother of Mrs. Williams, passed
many years in Paris. There she married and
lived four years longer, then returned to Eng
land with her husband. He died in Southamp
ton, England, when subject was about six years
old. They came to the United States, the widow

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

223

and children, settled in Chicago, remaining until
1852 when the mother married William Harmon.
They then crossed the plains, the party consist
ing of subject, three brothers, mother and step
father. The journey to The Dalles occupied six
months and ten days. Indians stole their horses
and their cattle died for want of water. The
party wearily walked the last six hundred miles,
having only one yoke of cattle left. The mother,
being crippled, rode with a two year old step
child in the one remaining wagon. They were
scantily provided with provisions, had endured
many hardships, yet withal they arrived at The
Dalles in comparatively good health. Pushing,
on to Portland they remained two weeks, and
then located at Oregon City. Here the step
father, who was a skilled mechanic, procured
employment in a foundry and blacksmith shop.
He was a distinguished temperance worker, and
was known- as "Father Harmon*' throughout the
northwest. He died in 1890. Mrs. Williams
has two brothers living, John Marshall, former
¦ chief engineer of the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company, now retired, engaged in the
real estate business in Portland ; and Edward T.,
of Sturgis City, North Dakota. Our subject left
nine surviving children,' Jeanette, wife of Arthur
G. Dunn, of the firm of Ainsworth & Dunn,
Seattle; Edward M., mentioned elsewhere; Grif
fith C, of Spokane ; Mary E., married to Rus
sell E. Sewell, an attorney at Portland ; Annie
G., wife of H. W. French, of Wapinitia; Pearl
E., wife of Dr. George Marshall ; Carl P., of The
Dalles ; Robert A., a student at the college of
Physicians and Surgeons, New York City ; Flor
ence J., living at home; Grace (deceased). Mrs.
Williams has one sister, Mary E., widow of Web
ster A. Clark, of Chicago.

ALBERT WHITEHEAD is proprietor of
the popular and well patronized cigar store in
Hood River. He was born in Canton, Illinois,
on June 1, 1870, the son of Savill and Hannah
(Ogden) Whitehead, natives of Oldham, Lanca
shire, England. The father came to the United
States in 1850 and settled in Canton, Illinois,
where he followed his trade as mechanic. Dur
ing the Civil War he was assistant engineer in the
United States Navy. He died at Canton, Illi
nois, in 1898, aged seventy-four. The mother
still lives at Canton, Illinois. Our subject studied
in the public schools until twelve years of age
then entered the employ of Parlin and Oren-
dorff, Plow Company. One year later, he began
to learn the cigar maker's trade and attended the
-commercial college in the evenings. For about

fourteen years, he continued cigar making, then
spent one year in market gardening. He also
traveled on the road for a produce house for some
time. In February, 1900, he came to Hood River
and entered the employ of the Davidson Fruit
Company. Then he opened a cigar store and
restaurant. A month later he sold the restaurant
and kept the cigar store which he has handled
since. Mr. Whitehead is a genial and generous
man who has hosts of friends and stands well in
the community.
In March, 1897, at Canton, Illinois, Mr.
Whitehead married Miss Amanda B. Davidson,
a native of Ohio and sister of Horatio F. David
son, president of the Davidson Fruit Company,
named elsewhere. Mr. Whitehead has two
brothers : Joseph E., at Colorado Springs ; ana
Elmer E., at Fairview, Illinois, editor of the
Fairview Bee; and two sisters : Mary, the wife of
B. R. Bogle, a real estate man of Chicago, and Ida
M., the wife of Charles Chaffee, a railroad con
tractor in Canton, Illinois. One child has been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead, Mariwhitmer.
Mr. Whitehead is a member of the K. P. and
the United Artisans.
Recently Mr. Whitehead sold his cigar store
and has become a member of the Davidson Fruit
Company, being vice president of the same.

FRANK MENEFEE, District Attorney of
the Seventh Judicial District of Oregon, of the
firm of Menefee & Wilson, resides at The Dalles,
where he was born January 31, 1866. He is the
son of William R. and Nancy J. (Benefiel) Men
efee, the father a native of Virginia and the
mother of Indiana, who are mentioned also in this
volume. William R. Menefee is from an old and
distinguished Virginia family. Jonas Menefee,
one of the ancestors, was a lieutenant in the Brit
ish army, under Captain John Smith, whose life
was saved by the Indian maiden, Pocahontas. He
married Captain Smith's sister, Hannah. The
Menefees were, a majority of them, planters. At
the present day the members of the later genera
tion are prominent in judicial circles and in com
mercial life, throughout Virginia and elsewhere.
Frank Menefee, our subject, was reared in
Wasco county on his father's stock ranch. He
was educated at the Wasco Independent Acad
emy, at The Dalles, read law with E. B. Dufur,
commencing in 1887, and in 1889 was admitted
to practice. He was elected city recorder in 1891,
served two years, and then formed a law part
nership with E. B. Dufur, which was continued
until 1900. At that period he was elected dis
trict attorney and entered into a law partnership

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

with Fred W. Wilson. Mr. Menefee has served
two terms as mayor of The Dalles, in 1895 and
1896. Politically he is a staunch and influential
member of the Republican party, has frequently
been a delegate to county conventions, and was
two years chairman of the McKinley Club, and
two years a member of the county Republican
central committee.
January 6, 1903, at St. Paul, Minnesota, our
subject was united in marriage to Mabel C.
Cowles, born in Chardon, Ohio. Her father, Clif
ford S. Cowles, is general agent of the Royal In
surance Company, residing at St. Paul, Minne
sota. The mother, Eliza B. (Canfield) Cowles, a
native of Chardon, . Ohio, is with her husband.
Mrs. Menefee has one sister, Mary, wife of
Harry B. Humason, assistant cashier of the
American National Bank, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Mr. Menefee is a member of Friendship Lodge,
No. 9, K. of P., of which he is Past C. C, and
also a member of the grand lodge ; Cascade Lodge
No. 303, B. P. O. E., at The Dalles; Wasco
Tribe No. 16, I. O. R. M., of which he is Past
Sachem, and has been Keeper of Wampum since
its organization ; the W. O. T. W. ; the K. O.
T. M. and the Rathbone Sisters.

NATHANIEL W. WALLACE, deceased.
No man had a better claim to be classed as a
pioneer and builder of Wasco county, if honest
efforts 'and continuity are to be reckoned, than
Nathaniel W. Wallace. His memory is cherished
by the old timers of central Oregon and he was
one of the stanch men of the country, whose life
is wound up in and interwoven with the history
of this part of the state. He was born in Miami
county, Ohio, on May 23, 1832, the son of
Ephriam and Elizabeth Wallace, natives of Ohio.
The father's parents were also born in Ohio and
came from Scotch ancestry. When Nathaniel was
a child the family came to Illinois, and a few years
later they all journeyed to Iowa, where the
father died. The mother then married John
Smales. Our subject remained at home until
twenty, then came across the plains with ox teams
to the Willamette valley. After a short stop in
Portland, he located in' Yamhill county whence
he removed to Washington county, later. On
February 21, 1856, he married Miss Sarah
Naught,' a native of Schuyler county, Illinois,
being born on March 5, 1836. Her parents, John
and Elizabeth (Gholston) Naught, natives of
Kentucky and Virginia, respectively, married in
Illinois, and crossed the plains to Yamhill county
in 1853. The ancestors of both parents were
born in Virginia for some generations back, and

were stanch Americans. Our subject and hus
wife dwelt a short time in Washington county
then returned to Yamhill county. In 1864, they
came to The Dalles and for four years Mr. Wal
lace conducted a blacksmith shop there. Then they
lived two and one half years on Current creek in
Crook count)-, still continuing blacksmithing, and
also handling stock. After that they returned to
The Dalles for three years and in 1872, came ¦
hither. They were in The Dalles in the early
sixties when the smallpox raged, and Mr. Wal
lace was occupied much of the time in carry
ing patients to the hospital and his wife in nurs
ing them. The}- took up land near where Ante
lope now stands, and raised' cattle, farmed, did
blacksmithing, and conducted a road house. He
was active until 1897, handling cattle and horses
and doing blacksmithing, then retired from busi
ness. Mr. Wallace kept the first postoffice here -
and had it named Antelope long before the town
was started. N. R. Baird moved his store to the
town site he had platted and Mr. Wallace brought
his blacksmith shop to the same place, and so the -
town started. Mr. Wallace saw the need of a
hotel and so erected the Union house, which they
conducted for nearly twenty years.
Finally, on September 11, 1904, Mr. Wallace -
responded to the summons of death and departed
after an illness of four- months. He had one sister,
Temperance, the widow of T. C. Rice, of Hood
River: Mrs. Wallace has two brothers: Francis
M., retired in Oregon City; and Benjamin, in
Whitman county, Washington ; and three sisters .
Cynthia, the wife of Elmer Knight at St. John,
Oregon; Martha; and Jane, the wife of James.
Turner, a mining-man of Kendrick, Idaho. Mr.
and Mrs. Wallace had 'six children: Frederick N.,
a bookkeeper in Hay Creek, for the Hay Creek
Company : Charles H, near Antelope ; Olivia, .
wife of Jay P. Lucas, a merchant of Goldendale,
Washington ; Minnie L., the wife of George A.
Herbert, a mining man and hotel keeper in
Cornucopia, Oregon; Jessie, the wife of James
H. Oakes, a merchant and sheep raiser, in Wheel
er county; and~ Annie L., the -wife of Charles
Winnek, a druggist in Prineville. Mr. Wallace
was a member of the A. F. & A. M. many years
in The Dalles, and at'Ahtelope. He-and his wife
were both active members of the O. E. S., while •
in political matters, he was a Democrat. They
both belongedT to the Methodist church and he ¦
was an active worker -in -fraternal and general
matters. Mr: Wallace was five months in service
in the Yakima war with the Indians, under-
Captain Hayden and 'Colonel Armstrong. Just
before his death he secured his pension. For
many years Mr. Wallace was an intimate friend
of Samuel" Brook's;- and 'was. '-a -great -worker for-

Mrs. Nathaniel W. Wallace

Natnaniel W. Wallace

Mrs. Edwin T. Glisan

Edwin T. Glisan

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

22$

the Masonic order. He had hosts of friends and
his demise was mourned far and near. Mrs.
Wallace is a lady of graces and has done a noble
work in the many years she has lived here, assist
ing to build up and improve the country, besides
raising an interesting family.

EDWIN T. GLISAN, who has the dis
tinction of being one of the earliest pioneers to
many sections in the west, and now residing on
his estate of one half section, one and one fourth
miles southeast from Antelope, was born in Erie
county, New York, on July 12, 1835. His father,
Solomon Glisan, was born in Maryland, as were
his parents, and their parents were also Ameri
can born. The mother of our subject, Mary
(Taylor) Glisan, was also born in Maryland as
were her parents. Our subject's parents came to
Iowa in 1844 and the father traded his New
York home for a place in Henry county, Iowa,
near Hillsboro. For eight years they lived there
and Edward was educated in the public schools
and the West Point school in Lee county, that
state, which was taught by his brother, James.
After that he was on the farm with his parents
who removed to Missouri in 1852. In the spring
of 1853, ne fitted out and came west to Oregon.
He had two brothers precede him in that journey,
they going in 1850. One came back from Cali
fornia and the other returned from Oregon. In
1854, Frank took a drove of cattle, while his elder
brother, John, remained in Missouri. Our sub
ject was with a party of neighbors and wended
his way with ox teams to Salem, then went to the
mines near Jacksonville, where he spent a few
months in seeking the riches of the earth. Then
he went to Cottonwood just south of the Oregon
line in California. After wintering there he sold
his interests to the other members of the party
and came to Scottsburg, Oregon. A year was
spent on the steamer for Allen McKinley & Com
pany, then went to Salem, joining his brother,
Frank. In the fall they went to Barker's Bay,
mouth of the Columbia, with James D. Holman,
the father of the Holman Brothers, of Portland.
Returning to Salem the following September, he
enlisted in Company F, First Oregon Mounted
Volunteers, Captain Charles Bennett, and Colonel
J. W. Nesmith, and served eight months. He
now draws a pension for this service. Returning
to Salem after the war, he handled stock for a
year, then spent four years with his brother,
Frank, conducting the old Union House in Salem.
On June 17, i860, he married Miss Minnie
Starkey, who was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on
May 15, 1844. Her father, John Starkey, was
15

born in Pennsylvania, coming from old Dutch
stock, and his ancestors were prominent in the
colonial wars, in the Revolution and in the War
of 181 2. All of the Starkeys in the United States
come from this same family. John Starkey mar
ried Miss Jane Scott, a native of Ohio, where her
parents were also born. They were related to
General Winfield Scott. Mrs. Glisan's father'
came to Oregon in 1845, returned to Iowa,-
whither the family had removed when this daugh
ter was an infant. In 1849 ne returned to Cali
fornia and in 1852 sent for his family and met
them at The Grande Ronde with fresh teams,-
returning to Salem. He built the first large frame
house in Salem ; in partnership with Joseph Hol
man, built and opened the first store there and
later built a brick structure, still standing in
Salem, and known as the Starkey block. He was
a prominent ancl influential citizen and took great
interest in building up and improving the court-
try. His health failed and on November 3, 1872,-
he died from consumption. His widow died
January 29, 1878. Mrs. Glisan had one brother,
Winfield Scott Starkey, who- died in Iowa, and
also has one sister, Ella, the widow of Robert
Bybee, who was one of the first settlers in East
Portland, ancl a prominent man there. He was
associated with Plen Halliday. She also had two
sisters, deceased, Nettie, who died from injuries-
received in a railroad accident at Salem, in the
Lake Lobish wreck, on November 7, 1893 ; and
Mary, tha wife of James Fisher, who died at The
Dalles, March 26, 1880, from consumption. Mr.
Glisan had three brothers : Frank, a mining mart
at Sumpter, Oregon ; Albert, who died in Sump-
ter, being caught in a mine cave in; and John,
who lives in Missouri, a plow manufacturer. Mr,
and Mrs. Glisart have ten children, named as fol
lows : Edward, a painter and undertaker in Ante
lope ; William, a blacksmith at Hay Creek ; Al
bert, a restaurant keeper in Weaverville, Cali
fornia ; Benjamin, a sheepman in Lake county,
this state ; Eugene, a warehouseman in Shaniko ;
Robert, who runs the home ranch; Mabl*, wife1
of James Warren, at Prosser, Washington ; Net
tie, wife of William Kemp, a contractor and
builder in Pendleton; Bessie, at home, aged
eighteen; Inez, formerly the wife of Horace
Gamble, and now single. Glisan street, Portland,
is named after our subject's first cousin, Dr. R.'
Glisan. After marriage Mr. Glisan went to the Flor
ence and Orofino mining districts and in 1862"
returned to Salem and conducted a farm owned
by his father-in-law. After the death of that
gentleman, Mrs. Glisan inherited the place and
they remained there until 1881, then came to
Antelope. Mr. Glisan went into the sheep busi-

r226

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ness with Sol Durbin two years and then removed
to the vicinity of Shaniko and raised sheep until
he came to this place in 1886. This estate con
sists of one-half section and produces good grain
and hay. Mrs. Glisan is a member »f the Episco
palian church and her father, when in Salem, was
in business with David McCully, the father of the
McCullys in Wallowa county, this state ; and also
with E. N. Cook, Walter Smith, and Charles
Cartwright, all old pioneers. Mr. Glisan is a
Republican, and although stanch, is not especially
active. He took a more prominent part in this
line in Salem than here. He and his wife are
kindly and genial people and have many friends.
They have walked the way of life for many years
and may look back with pride on the work they
have achieved.

HON. JOHN N. WILLIAMSON, congress
man from the second district, Oregon, and a
prominent stock-raiser of Crook county, resides
at The Dalles. He is a native of Oregon, having
been born in Lane county, November 8, 1855, the
son of Joseph and Minerva A. (Wilson) Will
iamson. The father, a native of Ohio, traversed
the plains with ox teams so early as 1852, and
settled on a half section of donation land in Lane
county. His parents were Pennsylvanians, of
an old and distinguished American family of
Scotch descent. Joseph Williamson died in 1869
at Salem, Oregon. The mother was a native of
Indiana, was married in Iowa, and one week
later began the perilous journey across the plains
with her husband. She died in Portland, in
190 1, at the age of seventy-three.
The Willamette valley was the scene of our
subject's youthful exploits, and when he was
eight years old his family removed to Salem.
His education began in the graded schools, and
this was supplemented by a classical course in
Willamette University at Salem. In 1876 he
removed to Prineville, then in Wasco county,
where he engaged in stock-raising and farming.
From 1893 to 1896 he owned and edited the
Prineville Review*, which he disposed of and re
turned to the stock business. Mr. Williamson
and his business partner, Dr. Van Gesner, own
a stock farm in Crook county, and winter from
seven thousand five hundred to ten thousand head
of sheep. In 1886 he was elected sheriff of Crook
county, serving one term. In the spring of 1888
he was elected to the lower house of the state leg
islature, served one term, and retired from the
political field until* 1898, when he was returned
to the legislative house of representatives, and in
1900 elected joint senator from the counties of
Wasco, Crook, Lake and Klamath. In the

spring of 1902 Mr. Williamson was elected to
congress from the second Oregon district. He
has been prominently identified with the Republi
can party since he cast his first vote.
For the purpose of educating his children our
subject and his family reside temporarily at The
Dalles. He has one half brother, Jefferson F., a
stock-raiser in Malheur county ; one sister, Anna,
wife of S. E. Starr, a farmer residing near
Wasco ; and one half sister, Sarah, widow of Dr.
Jay W. Shipley, of Morrow county. January 16,
1882, Mr. Williamson was married to Sarah V.
Forrest, born in Polk county, Oregon. The cere
mony was solemnized at Albany, Oregon. Mrs.
Williamson's father, Moses Forrest, came to Ore
gon about 1852, crossing the plains with ox teams,
and taking a donation claim. He died a few ,
months before she was born. Her mother, Ma-
delia (Neeley) Forrest, accompanied her husband
across the plains, and now resides at The Dalles,
the wife of F. H. Wakefield. Mrs. Williamson
has one brother, Frank, a farmer and stock-raiser
near Prineville, and two half brothers, Edwin and
Erwin, twins, Crook county stock raisers. She
has three sisters; Hettie, wife of J. L. Kelly, a
farmer residing near The Dalles ; Ida and Erne,
residing with their parents at The Dalles.
Three children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Williamson, Jennie F., Katie Z. and Edra
E., aged nineteen, seventeen and fourteen, re
spectively. They are living at home. Our sub
ject is a Scottish rite mason, of the thirty-second
degree, a member of Portland Consistory ; Prine
ville Lodge, No. 76, -A. F. & A. M., Al-Kader
Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Port
land ; Prineville Lodge K. of P., of which he is
past C. C; the A. O. U. W., and O. E. S.,
Prineville Chapter, of which he is past patron.
Mr. Williamson is one of the best known men in
Oregon, and has led an eventful and useful life,
being a progressive, broad-minded citizen, and
patriotically interested in all that makes for the
welfare of his native state.

CHARLES BERNARD is one of the wealthy
farmers and stockmen of Wasco county and re
sides about four miles out from The Dalles at the
forks of Eight Mile and Ten Mile creeks. He
was born in France, on January 5, 1866, the son
of Charles and Josephus (Rons) Bernard, both
natives of France. The former died in 1889 and
the latter in 1881. The father followed carpen
tering and farming. Our subject was brought up
in his native country and there received his edu
cation. In the spring of 1883, he came to Los
Angeles, California, via New York and there

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

12J

began herding sheep, continuing until 1886, when
he went to Kern county, California, and did the
same business. After that, we find him two
years in Reno, Nevada, herding sheep and then
he began sheep raising for himself. A year later,
he sold out there and came to Crook county, Ore
gon, and embarked in the sheep industry which
he continued steadily until the time he came to
Wasco county and purchased a farm where he
now resides. The deal was closed for this prop
erty in 1902. It consists of two thousand six
hundred acres, three hundred of which are choice
tillable land. The balance is used for pasture
and gardening. Mr. Bernard has something
over two thousand head of sheep in Crook county
now where he also owns eight hundred acres of
land. He has one place well improved and
handles from sixty to one hundred head of cattle
and is one of the most; successful stockmen of the
¦ country. At Prineville, Oregon, on October 1, 1891,
Mr. Bernard married Miss Rosa Delore, who
was born at Wapinitia, Wasco county, Oregon.
Her father, Peter Delore, was born in Oregon.
His father came from Canada to this country in
very early day and was a trapper and hunter for
the Hudson Bay Company. He was one of the
first settlers in the Willamette valley and there
remained until his death. Mrs. Bernard's father
married Miss Coyce, who died at Wapinitia when
this daughter was four years of age. The father
still lives in Grant county and although about
ninety years of age, he is still vigorous and
hearty. During the early days, he was prom
inent in the Indian wars and was a noted trapper
and hunter. Mr. Bernard has the following
named brothers and sisters, Joseph, Peter, Au
gust, Baptiste, Alexander, Bazil, and Mrs. Mary
Senecal. To our subject and his wife the fol
lowing children have been born, Andrew, Henry,
Naomi, and Ivy.
Mr. Bernard is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the W. W. and the Order of Washington. He
is an active Republican and at the present time
is school director in his district. Mr. and Mrs.
Bernard are members of the Roman Catholic
church and are good substantial people. He is a
man of marked thrift and energy and has shown
his ability in the accumulation of the vast prop-
• erty that he now owns.

J. FRANKLIN FULTON is a native born
son of Wasco county, and one, too, that brings
credit on his birthplace. He is a young man of
industrious habits and sound principles and has
dwelt in the place of his birth since. He has

achieved a good success here and now owns a
fine estate of one section of land about fifteen
miles east from the Dalles, on Fifteenmile
creek. The place is well improved, has five hun
dred acres of wheat land and is laid under trib
ute to produce bounteous crops each year. Mr.
Fulton has usually about thirty hogs, some
twenty or more horses and as many cattle, and he
usually raises considerable wheat, although he
is a diversified farmer.
• On the old Cooper place, 'on Tenmile, J.
Franklin Fulton was born, on November 28,
1867. Mr. Cooper was grandfather to the little
Oregonian and the parents of the lad were James
^nd Georgeann (Foss) Fulton. He was reared
in this vicinity and his education was begun in
the schoolin district No. 16, and finished in the
schools in The Dalles, both public and private.
The interims between periods of study were spent
on the farm and in riding the range, both in Ore
gon and in Washington, and he remained with his
parents thus until twenty-five years of age. In
1900, Mr. Fulton had been so prospered that he
was justified in purchasing the farm where he
now dwells. It consists of one-half section of
land and he settled on the same the following
year. In that year he bought another half sec
tion which corners the first one and they now
constitute his estate. Mr. Fulton brings an in
dustry and mature judgment to combine in the
good work of improving this estate and making
it one of the choice and valuable homes of the
county and he is meeting with the success that
these virtues deserve.
October 30, 1898, was the glad day when Mr.
Fulton took to himself a wife, Miss Lillian Hurl
burt being the lady of his choice. The wedding
occurred in The Dalles. Mrs. Fulton was born
in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on April 26, 1876, the
daughter of Daniel R. and Catherine (Miller)
Hurlburt. The father was born fn Michigan and
his father was a pioneer of that territory and was
killed by a falling tree when this son was twelve
years old. When Daniel R. grew up he mar
ried and his family now dwell in Portland. He
has for the past twelve years been keeper of the
light house at the mouth of the Willamette river.
His wife was born in Germany and came to the
United States with her parents when three years
old. In 1852 her parents came to Kansas and
later settled in Iowa, and at Burlington, that
state she was married. Mrs. Fulton has the fol
lowing named brothers and sisters, Walter B.,
Elmer A., Leon L., Arthur P., .Mrs. Flora Bunn,
Mrs. Ida M. Shaw, Katie and Rosie M. Two
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fulton,
Glenn, aged three, and an infant unnamed. Mr.
Fulton is a Democrat but not especially active.

228'

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

He takes a keen interest in the affairs of edu
cation and in all movements for the progress and
upbuilding of the country.

Captain henry c. coe, a capitalist of
Hood River and Portland, Oregon, is one of the
best known men in the state of Oregon. From
the earliest days until the present time, he has
been closely identified with the upbuilding of the
whole northwest and has been an active and
aggressive worker along lines which have re
sulted in the most important improvements and
upbuilding in the entire northwest. His labors
and those of his brothers can not be separated
from the opening and upbuilding of the country
because they are a part and parcel of the history
of the country itself and in the volume that treats
of the Inland Empire and of the Pacific coast,
mention is sure to be made of the large enterprises
that they inaugurated and conducted.
Henry C. Coe was born in Livingston county,
New York, On August n, 1844. His father,
Nathaniel Coe, was a native of New Jersey, born
in 1788, and his parents were natives of England.
He was captain of a company in the War of 1812
and a well known patriot. In 185 1 he came to
Oregon as a representative of the postoffice de
partment, being special postal agent, embracing
the territory from California to British Columbia.
He continued in this capacity for four years, or
until the election of Pierce. After that, he came
from Portland to Hood River with his family.
Later, he filed on a donation claim which was
the family home for many years. In 1868 he
died. He had married Miss Mary White, who
was born in New York city in 1801. Her father
was a native of England and her mother of New
York city. Our subject was educated in the
university at Forest Grove, entering when he
was nineteen years of age, and after completing
his course he went to work on the river from deck
hand to master of the craft, and has filled every
position on board the river boat and knows the
business thoroughly. He took out master's
papers in 1877 ancl has been on the river more or
less since the time he first started. In 1869 he
inaugurated a side venture of cattle raising in the
Yakima county, Washington, and continued the
same for five years. During this long period of
active business life, a man of Captain Coe's
energy and wisdom could but amass a large for
tune which has been the gratifying result of his
labors. He owns a cosy and beautiful home in
Portland, where the family remain most of the
time, besides a large amount of property at Hood
River and in other places. Owing to his extensive

property interests in various sections, Captain Coe
spends considerable time in their oversight and"
therefore is away from home a great deal.
On March 17, 1869, Captain Coe married
Miss Kittie Catton, born in Independence, Iowa.
She was the daughter of Benjamin and Ellen'
(Chandler) Catton, natives of New York, and
from old and prominent families of the Empire
State. The mother came here, via the isthmus,.
in 1867, her daughter and brother accompanying
her. The father enlisted to fight in the Civil'
war and was killed in battle shortly after his en
listment. To Captain Coe and his wife, five chil
dren have been born : Katherine, wife of Lindsley
Hoyt, a marine engineer at Portland, Oregon ;
Irma, a music teacher, living at home in Portland ;
Nell, a school girl in Portland ; Mollie L. and'
Charles E., deceased. Captain Coe had one-
brother, Lawrence W., who died in San Fran
cisco in 1899. He was one of the leading river
men in Oregon, and with Captain R. R. Thomp
son built the first steamer on the upper rivers, and
with Thompson, Reed and Ainsworth, organized
the Oregon Steamship and Navigation Company,
which did more to assist in the settlement of the-
country tributary to the upper Columbia and'
Snake than any one other enterprise in the Inland'
Empire. Lawrence W. Coe was the chief owner.
One brother of our subject was Charles Coe, who^
died in 1870. He was chief clerk in the Oregon
Steamship and Navigation Company's office at
The Dalles. Still another brother was Eugene
F., who died at Portland in 1893. He was for
many years captain with the Oregon Steamship
and Navigation Company, commencing in 1861.-
When that company sold out to the Oregon Rail
road and Navigation Company he remained in
their employ for some years., then entered the-
employ of the government on river work.
Captain Coe is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the K. of P., and the A. O. U. W. He has passed'
through the chairs in these orders and is popular
and influential.
Politically, he is a Republican and although
never anxious for personal preferment, he has
been active in the conventions and is known as-
a man of prominence and prestige in political
matters. He assisted to organize the Hood River
school district. Upon his father's death, the old"
homestead was left to his widow and our subject
and his brother, Eugene, bought it from her. He
built the city of Hood River on this land and from
time to time added various tracts until he has
now but fourteen acres of the original farm left.
Captain Coe is a man of indomitable will and de
termination/yet kind and genial, and possessed of"
that excellent judgment and oversight which have
made him the successful person he is today. He-

Henry C. Coe

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

229

is well known to every one in this portion of the
country, is a familiar figure and can be seen active
in the business today as in the years gone by,
when he assisted so materially to build up the
country. His labors have never abated and in
addition to gaining the magnificent property that
he owns today, he has intrenched himself in the
hearts and love of the people, so that he js the
recipient of their admiration, good will and affec
tion.

THEODORE C. DALLAS was a well
known business man of Hood River and oper
ated a tinning and plumbing shdp there. He did
a nice business and stood well throughout the
community. He was a genial, public spirited,
generous man and had hosts of friends. For
many years, he dwelt at Hood River and was
really one of the builders of the country. He was
horn in Lagrange county, Indiana, on February -
5, 1854. His father, Joseph S. Dalles, was born
in Preble county, Ohio, and his father, the grand
father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania.
That gentleman's father, the great-grandfather
•of our subject, came from England and amassed
a large fortune in the Carolinas but later in life
lost it all. His son, the grandfather of our sub
ject, was an Indiana pioneer and located in the
wilds, seventy-five miles out from where Fort
Wayne is now, which was their nearest postoffice.
He erected a sawmill and did a large business
and a good work in opening up the country. Our
.subject's father was a farmer in Lagrange
-county, Indiana and there died in 1884. He was
a first cousin to the Mr. Dalles, who was vice-
president in Polk's administration. Our subject's
mother was Emily (Clark) Dallas, a native of
New York. She died on the old homestead in
Lagrange county, Indiana, in 1861. For twelve
years, our subject lived in Indiana, then went to
'Michigan where he remained until twenty-three.
He was educated in the district schools in these
two states, then went to Iowa, where he worked
for wages. After that, he returned to the old home
place in the east and was with his father and
¦stepmother until 1886 when he came to Cali-
'fornia. Various enterprises employed him for
sometime, when he journeyed north to Hood
River in 1888. He was occupied in different call
ings until 1893, when he opened a tinning shop.
NTot being master of the business himself, it re
quired considerable ingenuity and pluck on the
-part of Mr. Dallas to start in this business. How
ever, he hired skilled operators and learned, from
-them until he became master of the tinning and
-plumbing trades. Since that time, he has contin

ued uninterruptedly in the prosecution of these
allied occupations and is doing a good business
today. Mr. Dallas was never married. He had
one sister, Osola, the widow of George W. Burke
and one half sister, Charlotte, wife of George W.
Cone, a farmer in Middle valley, Illinois.
Mr. Dallas was a member of the K. O. T. M.
and the United Artisans. He was a stanch Re
publican but not especially active.
In May, 1904, Mr. Dallas was called hence by
death.

PETER STOLLER lives near the forks of
Five and Ten Mile creeks and is one of the pros
perous men of Wasco county. His thrift and en
terprise have accumulated the property that he
now owns as he started without capital. He was
born in Switzerland, on November 27, 1862. His
father, Peter Stoller, was born in the same
country and came to the United States in 1865.
He resided in Illinois and Iowa until 1877, when
he brought his family to Klickitat county, Wash
ington, and lived there near Trout Lake until
1890 when he moved to Marion county, Oregon,
where he resides at the present time. He mar
ried Miss Margaret Ritter, a native of Switzer
land, who now resides with her husband. She is
eighty years of age and her husband is seventy-
five. Our subject was educated in Iowa, Illinois,
and Klickitat county, Washington, and did farm
work during the early days of his life. When
about twenty-four, he began raising cattle, having
saved his earnings to buy a band of heifers with.
He was being prospered nicely at this business
until the hard winter swept away his stock leav
ing him almost penniless. Then he went to work
on the farm again, this time in Polk county, until
he saved money enough to get another start.
Then he came to Wasco county and took a home
stead. Later, he traded that for the place where
he now resides, having now two hundred and six
ty-four acres. He handles some stock, cultivates
one hundred acres of land and is a prosperous
man. He expects soon to increase the acreage as
he wishes the range more exclusively in both
farming and stock raising. Mr. Stoller is raising
some very nice O. I. C. hogs.
On April 21, 1892, at Portland, Mr. Stoller
married Louise Mayer, a native of Germany and
the daughter of John Mayer, who died in Ger
many. Mrs. Stoller's mother also died in Ger
many, when this daughter was but six years of
age. Mrs. Stoller has the following named
brothers, John, Ludwig and Carl. Mr. Stoller
has three sisters, Mrs. Marguerite Stadelman,
Mrs. Susan Pearson and Mrs. Lyddia Stoller. To
our subject and his wife, two children have heen

230

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

born, Ludwig and Lena. Mr. Stoller is a mem
ber of the M. W. A. and they both belong to the
Baptist church. He is an active Republican and
has served both as school director and road su
pervisor. Mr. Stoller Js a genial man, well spoken
of and possessed of integrity and public spirit.
The improvements upon his place are tasty and
neat and everything indicates a man of thrift and
enterprise.

WILLIAM BROOKHOUSE was born in
Wasco county, on February 22, 1864. The place
was the farm owned by his parents on Tenmile
creek, which is in the family now. His father,
Richard Brookhouse, married' Miss Ann J. Clark,
and they were both natives of Ireland. The
father came to the United States in the fifties,
worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania for
four years, then came to the mines in the west and
in i860 came to the vicinity of The Dalles, and
that winter is said to have been the coldest since
the white men lived here. He took a homestead
on Tygh ridge which he relinquished to his
brother, and then bought out James and Thomas
Woolery on Tenmile creek, the place being three
hundred and twenty acres. Here our subject
was born and reared. When fifteen he was called
to mourn the death of his father and then he was
brought face to face with the responsibilities of
assisting to make a living for the family. The
mother came to Oregon shortly after her hus
band did and her marriage occurred at The
Dalles, where she now dwells. William re
mained on the place except two years in stock
raising in the Big Bend country, Washington,
where he lost all by a hard winter, returning to
the home place with no money and thirty dollars
of debts. With his brothers he operated the
home place until recently and then purchased his
present place, a half section near by. This is
well improved and is one of the good farms of
the county. Mr. Brookhouse is a thrifty and re
spected farmer and is making a good success of
his labors. He has two brothers, John and
Richard. On March 17, 1900, at The Dalles, Mr.
Brookhouse married Miss Johanna Shelly, a na
tive of county Tipperary, Ireland. Her father,
John Shelly, married Miss Anastasia Harney
and did a large implement business in Thurles,
Ireland until his death. His widow resides there
now. Mrs. Brookhouse has two brothers arid
two sisters, James, Hugh, Margaret and Mary A.
To our subject and his wife, two children have
been born, Mary M. and Kate. Mr. and Mrs.
Brookhouse are members of the Roman Catholic

church. He is a Democrat, has been delegate to--
the county conventions, is now serving his sec
ond term as justice of the peace, and has been:
school director. He is a man of force and is in
terested in the upbuilding of the county. He and
his wife are popular and well known, and mani
fest a public spirit and geniality that win them
many friends.

ARTHUR M. HARRIMAN, a prosperous-
and well to do agriculturist of Wasco county, re
sides on the Steel road about seven miles east:
from The Dalles. He was born in England, on
May 17, 1857, the son of John and Elizabeth
(Hanford) Harriman, both natives of England.
The father died there in 1867 and the mother died'
at The Dalles in 1889. They had followed farm
ing. After spending the first eighteen years of
his life in his native country acquiring an educa
tion, Mr. Harriman came to the United States in
1875, making the first settlement in Missouri
where he bought a farm and there remained un
til he came to Wasco county in 1898. Here he-
purchased the farm where he now resides, a very
valuable property, well improved and consisting-
of three hundred and eighty-six acres. In addi
tion to this, Mr. Harriman owns one hundred
and sixty acres taken as a homestead in the tim
ber near by. He is a very thrifty and enterpris
ing farmer and has received due reward for his
industry in bounteous returns in harvests each-
year from his estate.
At Green Ridge, Missouri, on March 3, 1880,-
Mr. Harriman married Miss Helen Morris, a na
tive of Missouri. Her father, Chastine L. Mor
ris, was born in Tennessee and came from old and
prominent colonial families. He married Jane
Summers, a native of Virginia, whose ancestors
were prominent in colonial affairs from their
first settlement in the New World. On June 2,.
1890, Mrs. Harriman died at Green Ridge, Mis
souri, leaving two children. In November, 1891,
at Nevada, Missouri, Mr. Harriman married
Miss Emma Fuller, who was born at that place..
Her parents were Sylvester and Frances (Caton)
Fuller, natives of West Virginia and Missouri,
respectively. The father's parents were born in
Ohio and came from old American families. He
died in Missouri, on February 21, 1895. The
mother's parents were pioneers to Missouri from
Tennessee and in the early days, the father was a
pioneer to Oregon but he afterward returned to
Missouri and died near Nevada in that state in
1874. Mrs. Harriman has two full brothers,.
Chester and George, one half brother, Hutler,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

231

one sister, Mrs. Ella Craig, and one half sister,
Mrs. Cornelia Current. Mr. Harriman has
three brothers, John, William J., and Edward M.
Mr. Harriman has the following named children :
Constance, wife of Oscar Johnson, in business in
The Dalles ; Arthur. These two children were by
his first wife. To the second marriage, five chil
dren have been born, Homer, Herbert, Lovena,
Glendo, ancl Rosie.
Mr. Harriman is a member of the M. W. A.,
a stanch Democrat and a zealous laborer for good
schools, roads and government. He and his wife
belong to the Methodist denomination.

GEORGE W. JOHNSTON, of "Johnstons"
successors to the firm of Johnston Brothers, deal
ers in general merchandise, Dufur, Wasco
county, was born in Centreville, New Bruns
wick, January 11, 1859, tne son °f James and
Amy (Coggswell) Johnston, who are now living
on the old farm near Centreville. The parents of
James Johnston were natives of Ireland. The
mother was born in Nova Scotia, a descendant of
an old and prominent Canadian family, many of
whom are now in the United States and distin
guished in judicial and commercial circles.
George W. Johnston, our subject, attended
the public schools of New Brunswick, where he
was reared, until he was nineteen years of age.
He then came west ancl passed one year in Kan
sas, going thence to The Dalles, Oregon, where
he joined his brother, T. H. Johnston, and of
whom mention is made elsewhere. For five years
he was in the employment of the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation Company, and following that per
iod he went to Dufur, Wasco county, and en
gaged in the mercantile business with his brother.
They carry a heavy stock, and their trade extends
far into the rich and productive surrounding
country. Aside from their mercantile enterprise
they are largely interested in farming and stock-
raising, wintering about five hundred head of
cattle, and our subject is personally interested in
the Wasco Warehouse and Milling Company,
and is one of the board of directors. He has five
brothers ancl five sisters, mention of whom will
be found in another portion of this work.
September 23, 1888, at Salem, Oregon, Mr.
Johnston was married to Miss Kittie Reed, born
at The Dalles, the daughter of Robert B. and
Mary J. (Davis) Reed, both natives of Michi
gan. In the earlier days of the California excite
ment the father came to the coast by way of the
Isthmus of Panama. Subsequently he was agent
for the Wells-Fargo Express Company at The
Dalles, and was clerk of Wasco county during

its early days. He died in 1888, and was fol
lowed by his devoted wife one year later.
Mrs. Johnston has one brother, Charles H.
Reed, an attorney at Dufur. She has one child,.
Lucile, aged five years. Mr. Johnston is a mem
ber of Wasco Lodge No. 15, A. F. & A. M., the
R. A. M., Friendship Lodge K. of P., and the-
W. O. T. W. He is a Republican, politically, and
was a member of the Oregon state legislature of
1890. He has been frequently delegate to county
and state conventions, and has always exhibited
a patriotic interest in the welfare of the com
munity in which he resides, and the state at large.
He is progressive, broad-minded and one of the
energetic, influential business men of Wasco
county, and a highly respected citizen.

ORVILLE WINGFIELD was born in fair
Oregon, a son of a native Oregonian. The birth
of our subject occurred in Clackamas county, on
December 20, 1874. His father, Joseph C. Wing
field, was born in Oregon and his parents, the
grandparents of our subject, crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1844. He now lives in Thomp
son's addition in The Dalles. The mother of our'
subject, Alice G. (Ramsby) Wingfield, was also,-
born in Clackamas county. Her parents were
natives of Ohio and crossed the plains with ox
teams also. A more extended mention of these
worthy pioneers is made elsewhere in this vol
ume, however, we are constrained to and that
our subject came from that stanch and worthy
blood which supplied the soldiers and made the'
desert blossom as the rose. He was educated
principally at Dufur where the family moved
when he was about eight years of age. When
three, the family had gone from Clackamas county
to Grant county, Oregon whence they removed to
Dufur. He remained with his parents until
about twenty-one years of age then started in life
for himself. For three years, he was occupied in
working for wages at various places and then he
¦purchased two hundred and forty acres of land
where he now resides. To this he has added until
he now has seven hundred and twenty acres, one
of the fine farms of the country. Nearly five
hundred acres are placed under tribute to pro
duce wheat and he harvests annually about thir
ty-five bushels to the acre. He also handles from
twenty to thirty head of horses. It then is seen
that Mr. Wingfield is a man of energy and ag
gressiveness, that he is possessed of skill and
wisdom, all of which have opened to him the fine
abundance that he now possesses. He has one
brother, Elton, a mining man of Baker City, Ore
gon, and two sisters, Cora A., living at Baker

232

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

City, Oregon, who graduated from The Dalles
high school in 1893, and Iva L., living with our
subject. Politically, Mr. Wingfield is indepen
dent. He is a well informed man on the issues
and questions of the day, keeps abreast of the
times and is an energetic and enterprising citizen.

ANDREW J. DUFUR. Jr., the founder of
the town of Dufur, Wasco county, is recognized
as one of the most enterprising and progressive
citizens of the county. His interests at present
are confined chiefly to stock-raising, in which he
has been eminently successful. He was born
in Williamstown, Vermont, August 29, 1847.
His father, Andrew J., Sr., was a native of New
Hampshire, as were his parents. His father
served through the entire War of 1812 and drew
a pension for a partial disability. The great
grandfather of our subject was a French Hugue
not, a refugee from France at the time of the his
toric French revolution. Thev were of the aris
tocratic element whose lives were forfeited
through the edict of the leaders of the Sans Cul-
lottes, Marat and Robspierre. Andrew J. Dufur,
Sr., crossed the plains to California, in 1859. His
wife, Lois (Burnham) Dufur, was a native of
Williamstown, Vermont, descendant of an old and
distinguished New England family. She passed
from earth at Dufur in 1895. She and her son,
the subject of this article, went to Portland, Ore
gon, via the Isthmus of Panama, arriving in
April, i860. They had been preceded by the
father, Andrew J., Sr. For twelve years the fam
ily resided six miles out from Portland, on a farm
owned jointly by father and sons, comprising
eight hundred acres. This property they dis
posed of in 1 87 1. The father of our subject died
at Dufur, in June, 1897.
The education of our subject was received
principally in district schools, supplemented by
a term at the Pacific LTniversity, Forest Grove. In
1872 our subject and his brother, Enoch B., came
to the vicinity of where is now the town of Dufur,
and jointly purchased between five and six hun
dred acres. They were pioneers ; only one settler
was there before them, Joseph Beasley, deceased.
The brothers platted the townsite in 1880. Our
subject and his wife at present own about 2,300
acres of land. With his son-in-law, Charles P.
Balch, of whom a sketch is elsewhere published
in this work, he is engaged profitably in stock-
raising. Mr. Dufur has two brothers, Enoch
B., a practicing attorney at Portland, Oregon.
William H. H, a farmer near Dufur, and one
sister, Arabelle, wife of William Staats, a farmer
residing three miles from Dufur.

May 2, 1869, at Portland, Mr. Dufur was
united in marriage to Mary M.Stansbury, of Indi
ana, daughter of John E. and Ann M. (Hughes)
Stansbury. The father came to Oregon in 1862,
settling on Columbia Slough, where he lived until
the time of his death, in 1889. The mother lives
at East Portland. Mrs. Dufur has three broth
ers and five sisters ; John E. and Stephen E., at
Woodlawn, Oregon ; William G., on the Yukon
river, in Alaska ; Elizabeth, married to Milton
M. Sunderland, a Portland capitalist; Susan, wife
of James Wendell, of Portland : Lucetta, widow
of John Foster, late of Hood River, Oregon;
Rosabelle, married to Daniel Zeller, a builder and
contractor at Dawson, Alaska : and Frances, wife
of Morgan A. Zeller, of Portland.
Mr. and Mrs. Dufur have two children living,-
Lois, wife of Charles P. Balch, and Anna, married
to H. A. May, a merchant at Portland. Frater
nally Mr. Dufur is a member of Ridgelv Lodge,
No. 71, I. O. O. F., of which he is Past Grand;
of the grand lodge and Nicholson Encampment,
all of Dufur. He is a Democrat and has fre
quently served his party at county and state con
ventions, and although not particularly active, nor
a partisan, is stanch and patriotic, taking a deep
interest in the public welfare of the community
in which he resides, the county of Wasco and the
state.

JOSEPH C. WINGFIELD, a prosperous
fruit grower of Wasco county, resides in Thomp
son's Addition in The Dalles. He was born in
Clackamas county, on January 16, 1848, the son
of Joseph T. and Hannah (Knapp) Wingfield,
natives of Virginia. The father's ancestors were
among the very earliest settlers in the New
World, some of the family being on the May
flower and others having settled in Virginia be
fore that. They were prominent in all the colo
nial struggles ancl were a strong family. The
mother's people were also a very prominent col
onial family and many of them engaged in a pro
fessional life. The parents crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1846 and settled on a donation
claim in the Willamette valley. Our subject had
scanty opportunity to gain an education from the
frontier schools but made the best of his chances
and when fifteen, started out for himself. He
worked out in the vicinity two years, then came
to eastern Oregon and rode the bell horse on a
pack train from Umatilla to Bear gulch, Mon
tana. After this, he was engaged in sawmilling
in Grant county, then did mining. Later,, he was
in the Williamette valley for six vears then re
turned to Grant county and did stock raising until
1883, when he moved to Eightmile creek in

Andrew J. Dufur

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

233

Wasco county. He bought one hundred and
ninety acres which was the family home for sev
enteen years or until 1900, when he removed to
the place where he now lives. It is a fine piece
of land and consists of nine acres, well improved,
with fruit trees, buildings and so forth and is a
valuable place. Mr. Wingfield recently sold his
farm on Eightmile creek and purchased another
which he rents to his son, Orville.
In Clackamas county, Mr. Wingfield mar
ried Miss Alice G., the daughter of Max
well and Eliza (Smith) Ramsby, natives of
Ohio. The father crossed the plains in 1846 with
a pack train and outfit and now lives with our
subject, aged eighty-three. His father was born
in Germany and his mother in Pennsylvania of
Welsh parentage. His wife's parents were born
in Wales and his marriage occurred in Marion
county, Oregon. He was for many years a
fanner in the Willamette valley and was second
lieutenant in the Cayuse war under Colonel Cor
nelius Gilliam. After Colonel Gilliam's death, he
was under the command of Colonel Waters. In
1862, he was a member of the Oregon legislature,
has been justice of the peace for twelve years,
was once assessor in Clackamas county and fre
quently was delegate to the state and county con
ventions. Once, he was a delegate to the national
convention, Grant's first nomination, and assisted
to organize the Republican party in Oregon. Mr.
Ramsby had very limited opportunity for an edu
cation but hired a teacher for his children and
studied with them, thus showing the energy and
spirit of the man. He has been a very careful
and close reader and the result is, that he is one
of the best informed men in this section. Our
subject has one brother, George W., and two
sisters, Mrs. Lucy Worsham, ancl Mrs. Hannah
Graham. Mrs. Wingfield has one brother, Hor
ace S.. and one sister, Mrs. Alwilda Dickey. To
our subject and his wife, the following named
children have been born : Orville, on Eightmile
creek; Elton E.. in Baker county. Oregon; Cora
A., a school teacher in Baker City; and Iva L.,
with her brother. Orville.
Mr. Wingfield is a member of the W. W. It
is of interest to note that the first Cayuse war

pension was 1
law.

ssued to Mr. Wingfield's father-in-

CHARLES H. REED, an attorney of Dufur
of recognized ability is also editor of the Dufur
Dispatch, a bright and newsy sheet, which cham
pions every cause for the upbuilding of central
Oregon, and is a lucid and convincing exponent
of the Republican party.
Charles H. Reed was born in Fentonville,

Michigan, on June 9, 1856. His father, Robert
B. Reed, a native of New York city, and a pioneer
of Michigan, where he was married, followed the
mercantile business several years in the Wolver
ine State and then came to Oregon via the isth
mus in 1859. He was in the internal revenue
service for some years and later was one of the
trusted employes of Wells Fargo & Company.
He remained with them fifteen years, until his
death. He came direct to The Dalles from San
Francisco and there resided until his death in
1890. He was a man of unquestioned integrity
and stamina and had the respect and admiration
of all good people. He was a member of the
Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities. Our sub
ject's mother, Sarah J. (Davis) Reed, was born
in Michigan and died about two years after her
husband, and they both lie buried in The Dalles
cemetery. Mrs. Reed's father was a native of
Ireland. Our subject completed his educational
training in The Dalles high school and then stud
ied law with L. L. McArthur, now deceased.
After he had practiced law for several years in
Idaho, he removed to Portland and there prac
ticed for one year. From that point he came to
Dufur and bought the Dufur Dispatch and has
been manager and editor of the same since, in
connection with his law practice. Mr. Reed was
chairman of the Republican central committee of
Ada county, Idaho for five years and was there
prominently identified in Republican politics.
In September, 1884, at Boise, Idaho, Mr.
Reed married Ella Carter, a native of Salem,
Oregon. Her father, Lafayette F. Carter, was a
native of Pennsylvania and a well known pio
neer of Oregon. He built the old portage road
from The Dalles to Celilo and was surveyor gen
eral of Idaho for many years. He is now de
ceased. Mrs. Reed's mother was Mary Bell Car
ter, a native of Pennsylvania and also deceased.
Our subject and his wife have one child, Snow-
den M., a young lady of eighteen years, still at
home. Mr. Reed is a member of the K. P. and the
W. O. W., being past C. C. of the former order.

CHARLES P. BALCH, farmer, druggist
and prominent business man of Dufur. Wasco
county, and one of the leading citizens of the
community, was born in Wisconsin, April 21,
i860. His parents were John A. and Caroline
(Stevenson) Balch. the father a native of Ver
mont and the mother of the state of New York.
The father was, by trade, a millwright. The
Balch family is one of the most distinguished in
the United States, and its members have contrib-

234

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

uted much to the history of the country. Mem
bers of the family were participants in the Revo
lution and the War of 1812. Captain Batch was
with General Knox during the former war. He
died in June, at Iola, Wisconsin. The father of
Caroline (Stevenson) Balch, mother of our sub
ject, was a native of England ; her mother of
Scotland. She died in 1878 at Iola.
In the latter town our subject was reared until
he had reached the age of eleven, and the family
then removed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he
attended graded and high schools. He followed
various employments after leaving the educa
tional institutions, and in 1883 came to Oregon.
He located in Wasco county, on the Des Chutes
river and filed on a claim which he improved and
sold later. He then removed to Dufur and en
gaged in the drug business, continuing in the
same ten years. He disposed of this property,
but three years later purchased a half interest
in this business which he still retains, but taking
no active part in its conduct. Principally he is
engaged in stock raising in company with A. J.
Dufur. They winter between three and four
hundred head of cattle. Mr. Balch has four sis
ters; Jennie, wife of J. W. Bishop, of Wausau,
Wisconsin, a prominent mining man ; Clara, wife
of E. J. Goodrick, an attorney, residing in Wis
consin ; Elizabeth E., wife of A. K. Dufur, of
California ; and Kittie, married to George Rock, a
railroad engineer, living at Spooner, Wisconsin.
At Dufur, June 28, 1889, Mr. Balch was
united in marriage to Lois Dufur, born in Port
land, Oregon, the daughter of Andrew J., Jr., and
Mary M. (Stansbury) Dufur. The father is a
native of Vermont, mentioned elsewhere, and
the mother of Indiana. Mrs. Balch has one
sister. Fraternally Mr. Balch is a member of
Wasco Lodge No. 15, A. F. & A. M., at The
Dalles; R. A. M., Ridgeley Lodge No. 71, I. O.
O. F., A. O. U W., W. O. T. W., and the United
Artisans, all of Dufur. He is a stanch Republi
can, and has frequently served his party as dele
gate to county conventions.

JOHN H. HARRIS, an industrious and sub
stantial farmer of Wasco county, resides about
two miles north from Endersly, where he handles
a rented estate, farming it to wheat, mostly. He
is an enterprising man, well spoken of and es
teemed by all. His birth occurred in Missouri,
on June 21, 1849, tne son °f William and Sarah
(Beaver) Harris, natives of Ohio and Pennsyl
vania, respectively. The father came from Dutch
stock and the mother was from an old colonial
family that was prominent in the Revolution and

also in all the colonial struggles. They both died
in the vicinity of The Dalles. Our subject accom
panied his parents across the plains with ox
teams in 1865. It was an easy trip aside from
one fight with the Indians on Rock creek in the
Black Hills, where they killed one renegade white
man, who was with the Indians, but received no
injury to the train. The train was a large one,
numbering one hundred and nineteen wagons,
when it left the Missouri. Our subject's parents
settled in Idaho and a year later came to Sca-
poose bay, where they remained until 1883. Then
came a move to this section and here the mother
died in 1884 and the father in 1895. Our sub
ject took up a homestead here and in 1889 sold
the same. Then he removed to St. Helens and
rented land there until 1895, when he came to
his present place which he has rented since. It
is his old homestead and he is quite at home in
handling this estate. It is owned by W. J. Har
riman. At The Dalles, in 1887, Mr. Harris married
Miss Hester Williams, who was born on Eight-
mile, on February 16, 1868. Her parents are
Henry and Amanda (Abbott) Williams, now liv
ing on Eightmile and mentioned in this work in
another place. Mr. Harris has two brothers and
one sister, George, Joseph and Jane, the widow of
Robert Hayes. Six children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Harris, Frederick L., Cora L.,
John W., Willard, Letha and Martha. They also-
had one child who died, February 14, 1902, Burly,
aged at the time of death, seven years, eight
months and thirteen davs.

JACOB A. GULLIFORD, a pioneer of Ore
gon in its territorial days, and a prominent
farmer and stock raiser of Wasco county, resides
at Dufur. He was born in Sangamon county,
Illinois, near Springfield, September 7, 1834. the
son of William and Eliza (Shoup) Gulliford.
The father was a native of Pennsylvania ; the
latter of Ohio. The mother, descended from a
prominent Dutch family, accompanied her hus
band to Oregon, coming across the plains with
ox teams. They settled in Lane county, secured
a donation claim and remained there all their
lives, the father dving in 1865, the mother in
I857- Jacob A. Gulliford, the subject of this sketch,
was educated in the public schools, and in 1859
went to Klickitat county, Washington, and there
engaged in stock-raising, continuing the same
with good success until 1864. That year he and
his brother went to Oak Grove, with a band of
three hundred cattle. The spring of 1867 he

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

235

drove the second band of cattle into the Prine
ville country, Oregon, and squatted on land eight
miles north of the present site of Prineville. The
country at the time was just beginning to be set
tled. In 1878 he removed with his family to a
point near Dufur, and purchased a farm two
miles west of the present site of Dufur, on Fif
teen Mile Creek. Later he disposed of his Prine
ville property interests. Six years afterward he
bought land six miles below Dufur which he still
owns, eight hundred and forty acres in all. Mr.
Gulliford owns a handsome house in Dufur in
which his family reside. In 1899 he purchased a
flouring mill at Boyd, of twenty-five barrel
capacity. In 1855 our subject was for six months in
the Rogue River Indian war. He has one brother
and four sisters : Jasper N., a merchant at Pen
dleton, Oregon ; Sarah, wife of William R.
Cooper, of Whitman county, Washington ; Em
ma, married to William M. Allen, a capitalist of
Halsey, Linn county ; Anne, widow of J. M.
Probst, late of Whitman county ; and Mary M.,
wife of J. D. Butler, of Portland, Oregon.
June 16, 1872, Mr. Gulliford was married to
Martha E. Vanderpool, born in Missouri. The
ceremony was solemnized at Prineville. She is
the daughter of Kinman and Dulcina (Tomlin
son) Vanderpool, both natives of Missouri. They
crossed the plains in 1852, enduring many hard
ships and encountering many dangers. The same
year the father died in Oregon. The mother still
lives at Dufur. Mrs. Gulliford has one brother,
three half brothers ancl two half sisters : Mead
ows Vanderpool, a Prineville farmer ; Silas, Alec
and Sherman Hodges, of Prineville ; Ollie, wife
of Horace Dillard ; and Mary, married to Charles
H. Stoughton, of Dufur. Our subject has one
child, William C, aged nineteen, a student of
Hill's Academy, Portland.
Mr. Gulliford is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
ancl his wife of the Rebekahs and the Women of
Woodcraft. Both are members of the Christian
church.

JOSEPH HAYNES, a highly respected cit
izen of Wasco county, a patriotic soldier in the
Union Army, ancl at present a retired farmer re
siding at Dufur, was born in Worcester, Massa
chusetts, December 24, 1826, the son of Joseph
and Sallie (Chapin) Haynes, both natives of
Massachusetts. They both were descended from
old American families dating back several cen
turies. Our subject was reared and educated in Wor
cester, Massachusetts, attending the graded
schools in that city, and he then learned the trade

of a shoemaker, in which he continued until he
was twenty-five years of age. At that period he
went to Rock Island county, Illinois, remaining a
few months, going thence to Jackson, Michigan.
Here he passed four years, but returned to Illi
nois and enlisted, August 5, 1862, in Company
A, Ninety-third Illinois Infantry, Captain Ash-
baugh, Colonel Holden Putnam commanding.
The latter was a lineal descendant of General
Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Colonel
Putnam was killed at the battle of Missionary
Ridge, and our subject and comrades carried the
body three miles from the battle field to the di
vision surgeon's headquarters. Mr. Haynes
participated in the battles of Fort Gibson, Ray
mond, Jackson, Mississippi, and Champion Hills.
During the last engagement one hundred and"
sixty men in our subject's regiment were killed
and wounded within the space of one hour. He
was also engaged in a number of other heavy bat
tles in the Vicksburg campaign. He was with
General Tecumseh Sherman "From Atlanta to
the Sea," and participated in the terrible battle of
Altoona pass, which raged for thirteen hours.
After the fall of Atlanta, he went on to Sav
annah, thence into the Carolinas, being at the
battle of Bentonville. After Lee's surrender his
command marched from Raleigh, to Washington,
D. C. Mr. Haynes served three years and was
mustered out with the rank of corporal June 25,
1865. He resumed work at his trade at Milan, Illi
nois, and in 1869 he removed to Kansas, where
he was four years, engaged in shoemaking and
farming. In 1879 he came to Oregon, crosssing
the plains with horse teams, and settled in Wasco
county. Here he filed on land twelve miles from
the present site of Dufur, owned and cultivated'
a half section for nineteen years, and then moved'
into the town of Dufur, built a residence and has
since lived there with his family. February 25,
1853, at Jackson, Michigan, Mr. Haynes was-
married to Lucinda Freeman, born in New York,
who went to Michigan with her parents when a
small child. Her parents were descendants of
old American families in New York. Mrs.
Haynes has one brother and two sisters : Marvin,
of Shasta county, California ; Lorain, widow of
Colonel Samuel S. Everson ; and Mrs. Jane Hath
away. Four children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Haynes: William R., of Wasco; Austin F.,
carpenter and builder, of Dufur ; Ellsworth A., a
Wasco county farmer ; and Burt H., also of
Wasco county. Our subject is a Republican, hav
ing cast his first vote during the original cam
paign of that party when John C. Fremont was
the candidate, and since the party was formed he
has never deserted its colors. Although he never

236

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

aspires to office he always manifests a lively and
patriotic interest in the successive campaigns of
his party. In all educational affairs he has ever
taken a deep interest; has been a member of the
school board and headed generously a subscrip
tion for the first school house built in his district.
Mr. Haynes has eighteen grand-children, of
whom he is justly proud.

CHARLES F. WILLIAMS, who was born
in Oregon City, on September 20, 1861, was
brought when eighteen months of age east of the
Cascades and in this part of the state he has re
mained since. His parents, William H. and
Amanda A. (Abbott) Williams, are mentioned
elsewhere in this volume. Charles was educated
in the district schools of Wasco county and be
tween terms was occupied with his father in
freighting. When fifteen he took charge of a
freight outfit from The Dalles to Canyon City
and all other interior points of Oregon. In those
days the freighter took his life in his hands when
ever he turned the teams on an outward trip as
the Indians were constantly on the watch, not
only when on the war path, but at all times
were seeking to waylay and murder and secure
plunder. So, were we to detail all the thrilling
incidents of our subject's life, we would have a
volume in itself. During the Snake Indian out
break, he was forced to lay one entire summer in
Canyon City to avoid the savages. His brother
was out scouting at this time and was in a battle
on Murder creek, which is the headwater of the
John Day river. One white man was killed and
several reds bit the dust. The white man killed
was Mr. Aldridge. When twenty-one, Mr. Will
iams determined to cease from this arduous work
and accordingly engaged with The Dalles Lum
ber Company, where he remained for four years.
Then he did draying until 1899, when he bought
a quarter section about nine miles south from The
Dalles, where he now resides. Since that time
he has been improving his place and has a good
property. He raises considerable poultry and
does general farming.
On June 29, 1888, at the residence of the
bride's parents in Fairview, Mr. Williams mar
ried Miss Katherine Teague, a native of Ala
bama. Her parents, Elias and Elizabeth (Bur
ton) Teague, were also natives of Alabama. The
father's parents were born in the same state and
came from Scotch extraction, being among the
early colonists. He served in the confederate
army under Lee, and now dwells at Goldendale,
Washington. The mother of our subject was de
scended from colonial stock and her parents were

born in Virginia. Mr. Williams' brothers and
sisters are mentioned in another portion of this
work. His wife has three brothers, Henry,
Thomas, Robert, and two sisters, Mrs. Wilma
Nelson, and Mamie. Three children have been
born to our subject and his wife, Lloyd, aged
ten, Harold, aged four, and Carl, ten. months
old. Mr. Williams is a member of the W. W.,
while he and his wife belong to the circle. He
is a Democrat and is interested in the questions of
the day.

GEORGE I. SLOCOM is conducting a book
ancl stationery store, in the new brick block
owned by his uncle, E. L. Smith. He is a young
man and gives his attention strictly to business
and is working up a fine business. He was born
in Illinois, on September 19, 1878, the son of
Charles and Eva (Hartman) Slocom, natives of
Woodstock, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, respective
ly. The Slocoms came right from New York and
are a very old and prominent family, John Slocom
of the Civil war, being a member of that family.
The mother's people were Pennsylvania Dutch.
The father died in 1884 and the mother in the
same year. This occurred in Illinois and our sub
ject was left an orphan when five years of age.
His aunt brought him and his brother, Charles
L., aged three, to Oregon to live. They were in
the care of their uncle, E. L. Smith. Fate had
given them a very excellent home and they re
ceived as kind care and treatment as though chil
dren of that family. George I. studied in the
graded schools of Hood River then spent some
time in Pacific university at Forest Grove. After
that, he was occupied with his uncle on the fruit
farm for three years then he entered the employ
of the American Steel and Wire Company of
Portland. That continued for three years. At
the end of that time he was appointed on the
exhibit corps for the Buffalo and Charleston
World's Fairs in the department of horticulture
for the state of Oregon. This occupied him for
two years, then in June, 1902, he returned to
Hood River. His father was a newspaper editor
and our subject imbibed naturally, a liking for
books ancl the business which he is now following
appealed strongly to him, consequently he opened
a shop in Hood River. He has a neat, attractive
place, supplied with everything carried in this
kind of a store. His genially and deferential
treatment of all have brought him a nice patron
age and his business is growing rapidly.
Mr. Slocom is a member of the order of
Pendo. Politically, he is a strong Republican
and was secretary of the Roosevelt league. He
has two brothers and one sister: L. Leroy now

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

237-

employed in the American Wire and Steel Com
pany in San Francisco ; James B., a school boy
in Chicago; and Elinor, wife of Fred Greiner, a
bookkeeper in the Illinois Terra Cotta Lumber
Company, of Chicago.

WILLIAM H. WILLIAMS is known far
and near in Wasco county as one of the earliest
settlers on Eightmile creek, where he lives to this
day. His estate is about ten miles south from
The Dalles and is one of the choice places in the
community. He was born in Terre Haute, Indi
ana, on November 18, 1838, the son of Washing
ton and Hester (Stevens) Williams, both natives
of Indiana. Their ancestors were among the
hardy pioneers of the then wilderness of the east
ern part of the United States. In 1842, our sub
ject came with his parents to Cincinnati, Ohio,
ancl in 1845 to Iowa. On April 8, 1850, they all
started from Ottumwa, Iowa for Oregon, and
arrived on November 8, the same year, after a
journey accompanied with much suffering. Sam
uel Brooks, well known here, was in (the same
party. The father took a donation claim and in
1858 returned to Chicago, where his death oc
curred in 1861. The mother died at The Dalles,
in 1886. William H. was educated in the various
places where the family dwelt and grew up amid
frontier surroundings. He was in the Indian
wars of 1855-6, being in Company C, under Cap
tain Stafford, Lieutenant Colonel Kelley, and Col
onel Naismeth. After the war he went to Yreka,
California and wrought in the mines until the
spring of 1858. Then ne joined the rush to
Fraser river and at Okanogan river in Washing
ton, his party was attacked by Indians and for
twelve hours they fought the savages with the
loss of two men and then the battle ceased. A
Mr. Robinson was in charge of the party. After
a few months in the Fraser country he returned
to Oregon City and married. In March, 1863, he
came thence to his present place. His marriage
occurred on August 11, 1859 and Amanda Ab
bott was the lady who became his wife. She was
born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, the daughter of John
and Catherine Abbott. Mr. Williams has one
brother, Taylor S., and two sisters, Lettie Hol
land, and Mary Graham. Mrs. Williams has two
brothers and two sisters, John, Robert, Mrs.
Catherine Kelley and Mrs. Tillie Hatch. To Mr.
and Mrs. Williams the following named children
have been born : Richard H.,at Goldendale, Wash
ington ; Charles F., farming near by ; Frank, at
Macy, Washington; Jerry M., at home; Harry,
also at home ; Lew, in the stock business in Wash
ington ; Clyde, a railroad man at Macy, Washing

ton ; Kate, the wife of Clarence Garrison, at St.
Helens, Oregon ; Hester, wife of John Harris,
mentioned in this volume ; Nellie, the wife of John
W. Harris, a stock man and liveryman in Macy,
Washington ; Hazel, the wife of Charles Creigh-
ton, on Threemile creek; Fay, wife of Andrew
Dufur, Jr,. a farmer on Fifteenmile; and Clara,
single at hame. Mr. Williams is an independent
Democrat and well informed on the topics of the
day, being also interested in school matters. He
was road supervisor for many years, and has
labored for over forty years in building up this
country and is a highly esteemed man.

CHRISTIAN DETHMAN is one of the
leading orchardists of Wasco county and through.
his individual efforts to a large extent has Hood
River gained her extended and enviable reputa
tion for choice apples. Skilled in horticulture
and seeing here the conditions that would bring;
the best results, he has demonstrated with a mag
nificent orchard the skill and the conditions that.
produce fruit of the choicest kind.
Christian Dethman was born in Germany, oni
January 1, 1859, the son of Henry and Weibke
(Peters) Dethman, both natives of Germany. The
father was a farmer and fought in the war of
1848. He died in his native country. The mother
lives in Crawford county, Iowa. After studying-
in the schools of his country until 1872, our sub
ject came to the United States and lived with a
cousin in Iowa. He attended district school for
two years and then went to Jones county and
worked for another cousin for three years. Then
he joined his brother and mother who had come
to Crawford county, Iowa and with his brother
John, came one year later to Hood River. April
17, 1879 was the date of his arrival here and he
soon went to the Willamette valley but later re
turned to The Dalles, arriving there just after the-
fire. He wrought for Henry Klingt for six
months and then came with his brother to Hood"
River where they filed on claims. Since that
time Mr. Dethman has given his attention to hor
ticulture and also does some general farming.
He has won a remarkable success, thus dem
onstrating his skill and ability, while his large
forty acre orchard, judging from the results ob
tained, is one of the very best in the United"
States. It has largely assisted to give Hood
River her famous reputation for apples and she
stands one of the choicest apple producers in
the world at this day.
At The Dalles, on November 20, 1886, Mr.
Dethman married Miss Emma Jetter, of Hood
River and a native of Iowa. Her father, John-.

.238

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Jetter, was born in Germany and married a
maiden of his country and came to the United
States. He followed mason work and stone cut
ting and now resides in Jones county, Iowa. Mr.
Dethman has the following brothers and sisters,
Andrew, John, Claus, Hanna Bolster, Katy, and
Weibke Sacho. Mrs. Dethman has one sister.
Eight children have been the fruit of the mar
riage mentioned: Frank C, Herman, Anna, Al
fred, Laura, William McKinley, Jessie and Fred
T. Mr. Dethman is a member of the A. O. U. W.,
and the Foresters. He is a good substantial
citizen and has done a splendid work here. His
place is improved with fine residence and all the
accessories and is one of the choicest m this
country.

J. HENRY JOHNSTON, of the Dufur Drug
Company, a public-spirited citizen and progres
sive business man, and well known throughout
Wasco county, resides at Dufur. He was born
at Centreville, Carlton county, New Brunswick,
and his parents are mentioned elsewhere in this
work, with their ancestry.
Our subject was reared and educated in Cen
treville. His grandfather was the first settler in
that district, and the founder of the town. In
1885 J. Henry Johnston went to Colorado, where
he engaged in various employments, and thence
came to Oregon, having remained but one year
in Colorado. He was three years with Gilman,
"French & Company, near Fossil, Wheeler county,
- engaged in the stock business. Two and one-half
years later he came to Wasco county, where he
worked a short period for his brothers and also
engaged in farming on his own account. He pur
chased and rented land and cultivated the same
three vears, and then disposed of all his farming
interests to his brother, Samuel. He then entered
the store of Johnston Brothers, in Dufur, and
was, also, on the road one year traveling for a
-medicine house. In 1899 Mr. Johnston pur
chased an interest in a drug store from C. P.
Balch, which he has since successfully conducted.
He has four brothers and five sisters, mentioned
" in another portion of this work.
November 12, 1898, at Dufur, Mr. Johnston
was married to Maud Peabody, a native of Iowa.
Her parents were Frank and Celia (Hewitt)
Peabody, her father a native of Salem, Massa
chusetts, and a descendant of the old and distin
guished American family of Peabodys, whose
eventful biographies are closely identified with
the history of this country. Her parents both
reside at Dufur. She has one brother and one
sister. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have three chil

dren, James H, Genevieve E., and Gwendoline C.
He is a member of the I. O. O. F., W. O. W.,
and politically a Republican. In November, 1904,
the Dufur Drug Company was organized by our
subject, C. P. Balch and Dr. Dodds.

HIRAM C. DODDS, M. D., physician and
surgeon, Dufur, Wasco county, Oregon, was born
in Lapeer county, Michigan, at North Branch
Postoffice, July 18, 1867. His parents were Arch
ibald and Maria (Baker) Dodds, the father a na
tive of Scotland and the mother of New York.
In the early '50's Archibald Dodds came to the
United States and located in Michigan, having
previously lived a short period in Ohio. He died
in 1888. The mother still lives at North Branch,
Michigan. Hiram C. Dodds, our subject, was reared in
Michigan, receiving the elements of an excellent
education in the public schools, and graduating
with honors from the high school at North
Branch. Then he taught school two years in
Lapeer county and subsequently he was matri
culated in the State Normal School at Ypsilanti,
Michigan. In 1893 he commenced the study of
medicine, entering the Detroit College of Medi
cine, the oldest and most famous medical institu
tion in Michigan. Dr. Dodds was graduated in
May, 1897, and began practice in Honey Creek,
Wisconsin, where he continued one year, going
thence to Dufur, in 1898, where he has since re
sided and where his practice has been eminently
successful. Dr. Dodds has three brothers, Rob
ert, Albert and Edwin, Michigan farmers, living
near North Branch, and one sister, Alice M., a
school teacher in Michigan, and a graduate of
the state normal school at Ypsilanti.
November 10, 1898, at The Dalles, Dr. Dodds
was united in marriage to Elena M. Henry, born
in East Troy, Wisconsin, the daughter of Will
iam Henry, a native of Germany, now living in
Wisconsin. She has four brothers and one sister :
Charles, of Townsend, Montana; Frank, a mer
chant in Colby, Wisconsin ; William, of East
Troy, Wisconsin ; John, of Milwaukee ; and
Louise, wife of George H. Babcock, a farmer and
stockman of Honey Creek, Wisconsin. Dr. and
Mrs. Dodds have two children, Mildred E. and
an infant unnamed.
Our subject is a member of Ridgely Lodge,
No. 71, I. O. O. F., and Nicholson encampment,
Dufur, the W. O. W., and K. O. T. M., Silver
Creek Tent, No. 15, Michigan. Mrs. Dodds is a
member of the Rebekahs, and the Women of
Woodcraft. During the Civil war the father of
our subject, Archibald Dodds, served thirteen

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

239

months in Company K., Twelfth Michigan Vol
unteer Infantry.
Dr. Dodds is the only physician in Dufur, and
he has an extensive practice throughout Wasco
and adjoining counties. He is a broad-minded
and progressive citizen, and has the confidence of
the entire community in which he resides. He is
interested in the Dufur Drug Company and is
mayor of Dufur. For several years he was a
member of the city council.

ALFRED FERGUSON, who resides on the
Eightmile road about eight miles out from The
Dalles, was born in Broome county, New York,
on June 24, 1842, the son of Elijah and Clarinda
(Blair) Ferguson. The father was born in Chen
ango county, New York. His parents were na
tives of Scotland. His father, the grandfather of
our subject, was a participant in the War of
1812. The mother was born in Broome county,
New York and came from an old family. In
1851T our subject was brought by his parents to
California via the isthmus. Settlement was made
in Tuolumne county and the father did mining
and farming for many years. He died there in
1887. Alfred was educated in the frontier
schools and in 1868, started in for himself. He
soon came to Portland and for eight years was a
resident of that city. Then he came to the place
where he now lives, and to the quarter he pur
chased, he has added as much more by pre
emption right. He does general farming and
raises some stock. His labors have been blessed
with prosperity and he is one of the well to do
men of the county. In his career, he has not
been so sordid as to believe that money is the only
thing for man, and consequently has so con
ducted himself that he has merited and today-
receives generously the confidence and esteem of
his fellows.
At Portland, in 1869, Mr. Ferguson married
Miss Martha J. Robertson, who was born in Cass
county, Missouri. Her parents were John and
Emily D. (Pinnill) Robertson, natives of Mis
souri and Kentucky, respectively. The father
died when Mrs. Ferguson was an infant and she
came here with her mother who had married
again. The trip was made via the isthmus in
1862. They are now both dead. Mr. Ferguson.
has one brother living, James, and one deceased,
John, who died in Sonora, California, in 1903.
He was a prominent man and owned the city
water works, and also did mining. Mr. Ferguson
has two sisters, Mrs. Jane Pease, a widow, and
Mrs. Frances Booker. Mrs. Ferguson has one
brother, Joseph and several half brothers and

half sisters. Three children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson : John E., Ashford, and
Miles. The last named is at home and the others
are millmen in The Dalles. Mr. Ferguson is a
member of the A. F. & A. M., and politically is
allied with the Democrats. He is zealous in
building up the community and is a citizen who is
looked up to and is possessed of excellent wisdom
and integrity.

JOHN C. JOHNSTON, another member of
the firm of "Johnstons," an enterprising and
prominent citizen of Dufur, Wasco county, was
horn in Centreville, New Brunswick, March 21,
1854. His parents and their distinguished ances
try are mentioned elsewhere in this work.
While living at home with his parents our sub
ject attended the public schools in his vicinity,
where he secured a liberal business education, and
in 1876 he went to San Francisco, California,
and thence to Sonoma county, same state, re
maining there two years, one year of which he was
employed in a hotel and one year on a ranch. He
then came to The Dalles, Oregon, with his
brother, Thomas H., and subsequently was with
the firm of French & Gilman, stock-raisers, in
Wheeler count}-. He remained with them nine
years, during which period he raised cattle for
himself, and quite successfully. He disposed of
his stock to the firm in 1887, and the following
two years traveled in the vicinity of Portland and
the Puget Sound country, engaged in various
employments. He came to Dufur in 1890, and
purchased an interest in the business being con
ducted by his brothers, George and T. H. He
at present has charge of the hardware depart
ment. Our subject is one of the five Johnstons
who are mentioned in sketches elsewhere.
Politically Mr. Johnston is the only Democrat
in the family. He has frequently been delegate
to state and county conventions, and has served
one term as mayor of Dufur, one term as coun
cilman, and one as school director. With his
brothers he is interested in the Wasco Ware
house & Milling Company, farm lands and stock.
He was united in marriage, May 31, 1888, at
Dufur, to Josie I. Laing, of Portland, Oregon,
born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father,
Colonel John K. Laing, was a native of Wood
stock, New Brunswick, in the same county in
which our subject was born. During the Civil
War Colonel Laing commanded the Fourteenth
Maine Volunteer Infantry, having enlisted as a
private and risen from the ranks. He was in
active service four years, and was frequently pro
moted for bravery on the field. He lives in Port
land, Oregon. Her mother, Frances (Hayward)

240

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Laing, was a native of Maine, born near Ban
gor. She died in Portland, Oregon, in 18S7.
Mrs. Johnston has two brothers and one sister:
Edward, a Southern Pacific railway engineer, of
Roseberv, Oregon ; Everett, a school boy, at
home, in Portland, and Elizabeth, at home with
her father in Portland. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston
have three children living, Hazel, Lucile and
Helen, aged thirteen and five years, and eleven
months, respectively. Our subject is a member
of the I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand, the
Rebeckah Lodge and Nicholson encampment, at
Dufur.

ANDY M. ALLEN, proprietor of a feed yard
at The Dalles, Wasco county, is a native Ore
gonian, having been born in Polk county, January
23, 1848. He is the son of James M. and Han
nah J. (Riggs) Allen, the father a native of Mis
souri, the mother of Illinois. The father was a
descendant of the old colonial family of Aliens, of
Revolutionary fame, a prominent member of the
family having been Ethan Allen, commander of
the "Green Mountain Boys." The parents of our
subject came to Oregon in what was known as
the "Meeks Cut-Off Train." Losing their way
they suffered many hardships, but were, fortu
nately, well provisioned. Following various loca
tions in the territory of Oregon the family finally
removed to what was then Wasco county, set
tling near Prineville, where James M. Allen built
a flouring mill, the first in what is now Crook
county, with the exception of the Indian Agency
mili. Disposing of this property later he removed
to Fifteen Mile, erected another mill, which is
now owned by J. A. Guilliford, mentioned else
where, and resided in Boyd until his death. The
mother of our subject died on the old home farm
in Polk county, in i860.
In the district schools of his neighborhood our
subject was prepared for Monmouth College, but
owing to an illness covering three years he did
not enter that educational institution. At the age
of twenty-five years he married and began life
for himself. He taught school, was engaged in
farming and stock raising in Crook county, and
purchased an interest from his father in the mill
at Prineville. In the latter town he taught the
first school. Mr. Allen is an expert accountant,
ancl was, at different times, bookkeeper for sev
eral firms successively. Father and son disposed
of the mill at Boyd about 1882, and our subject
then purchased a farm on lower Fifteen Mile
Creek, four miles below Boyd, comprising one
hundred and sixty acres, also filing on an adjoin
ing quarter section. Here he remained nine
years, sold the property and in 1890 came to The
Dalles, where for ten years he was employed' in

clerking. Subsequently he became interested in
horses, began training them, and followed the
circuit over the northwest, and is at present the
best known horse trainer in the state. In March,
1902, our subject, with a partner, purchased the
old Brooks and Beers feed yard, and now have-
the oldest established institution of this kind in
The Dalles. In May, 1904, our subject purchased
the interest owned by his partner.
Our subject was married in June, 1871, at
Prineville, to Cynthia A. Butler, born in Illinois,,
the daughter of Elijah and Sarah E. (Lucas)
Butler, both deceased. The wife of our subject
died February 27, 1876, at Prineville. The sec
ond marriage of our subject took place at Boyd,
when he was united to Lucy A. Smith, a native of
Lane county, Oregon. She is the daughter of
Henry and Sophia (Cook) Smith, the father a
native of Iowa, the mother of Oregon. The
father is deceased, the mother lives in Oregon
City. Mr. Allen has four brothers: Albert, of
Crook county; John, the same; Isaac M., a glass-
manufacturer in Indiana ; and Elam, in the stock
business in Wallowa county; and three sisters —
Ellen, wife of Hardy Holman, of Dallas, Oregon,.
justice of the peace and ex-county sheriff; Nancy,
married to James Crawford, of Pendleton, Ore
gon : and Pauline, wife of James A. Bradley,.
Anatone, Washington. Our subject has ten chil
dren : Sylba, wife of D. D. Bolton, and Glenn O.,
by his first wife ; and Mabie, wife of John Miller ;
Owen, Edith, Mernie. Wayne, Delta, Gladys, and
LJarda, by his second marriage.
Fraternally Mr. Allen is a member of the I. O.
O. F., having been an Odd Fellow thirty-five-
years, past grand of Ocheco Lodge, No. 46, Prine
ville, and many times a delegate to the grand
lodge. He is a Republican, and has been delegate-
to county conventions and clerk of election. Mrs..
Allen has three brothers, C. Sumner, Henry G.,
and William L., and one sister, Cornelia, a widow
living at Oregon City.

HIRAM CHITTENDEN, deceased'. Al
though Mr. Chittenden has gone to the rest pro
vided for the faithful, still the work that he did
in Wasco county may not be overlooked by any
one who would write a correct history of the peo
ple and of the place. Therefore it is very proper
that a memoir of his life should be granted space
here at this time. He was a noble, Christian
man, well known and highly esteemed by alh In
dustrious and substantial, the long- time he spent
in Wasco county could but bring forth results,
not only in temporal things but in moral and other
ways which result in much good".
Hiram Chittenden was born in- Ohio and' died

Andy M. Allen

Hiram Chittenden

Mrs. Hiram Chittenden

James Fulton

Mrs. James Fulton

Riley V. Drake

Mrs. Riley V. Drake

William M. McCorkle

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

241

at the old homestead at Dutch Flat in June, 1902,
aged seventy years. His father died before he
was born and his mother very shortly afterward
so he never knew the kind care and love of fond
parents. He was reared by his father's brother
and gained his education in the frontier schools
and then followed steamboating with his head
quarters in New York state. About ten years
were spent thus and then he did warehouse work
for five years. After that, he bought land in
Michigan and farmed for some years. Finally
he determined to come west and accordingly
went to San Francisco, whence in the spring of
1880, he journeyed to Wasco county. After look
ing the county over, he decided to take the place
that is now the old homestead and accordingly
filed on it. It was one solid mass of timber and
brush and Mr. Chittenden had a great work be
fore him in clearing it for farm purposes. How
ever, little by little he did so and began raising
diversified crops and the result is that now the
place is a very valuable farm.
On March 17, 1888, at The Dalles, Oregon,
Mr. Chittenden married Katherine Overmyer,
who was born in Fulton county, Indiana. Her
father, Jacob Overmyer, was a native of Lindseyi
Ohio, and came from a Pennsylvania-Dutch fam
ily. For many years they had resided in the col
onies and the states and are a very numerous
family. They are well represented in all the
learned professions and many prominent minis
ters, lawyers, physicians and merchants are found
in the family, especially in central United States.
Mrs. Chittenden's paternal grandfather was a
wealthy merchant in Ohio. Her father married
Susan Jones, both natives of Pennsylvania and of
Dutch stock. Mrs. Chittenden resided in Fulton
county, Indiana, until she came west and mar
ried Mr. Chittenden whom she had known for
many years. They lived very happily until he
was called to the world beyond. They were both
members of .the Methodist church and active in
Sunday-school work as is also the widow at this
time. Mrs. Chittenden has taken up the added
burdens of life with fortitude and courage and is
overseeing the estate and attending to the prop
erty that was left. She is a noble Christian
woman highly esteemed in the community and
has many friends. Mr. Chittenden belonged to
no denomination, but was a stanch supporter of
the faith of the Bible and showed by his walk
his Christian character and his sterling integ
rity and honesty.

JAMES FULTON is one of the wealthy pio
neers of the Pacific slope. He was born in Mis
souri, on February 17, 1847, and now lives about
16

eleven miles east from The Dalles on Tenmile
creek. His parents were James and Priscilla
(Wells) Fulton, natives of Missouri and Indiana,
respectively. They both died in Sherman coun
ty. They crossed the plains when our subject
was an infant and settled first in the Willamette
valley where the father took a donation claim
which he farmed for ten years. This was in
Yamhill county, then later he sold out and came
to Wasco county, settling about a mile and one
half below the place where our subject now re
sides. A number of years were spent there and
in 1870, they went to The Dalles, the father hav
ing sold his farm. For a time he was retiredj
then he invested considerable money in the east
ern part of Wasco county, which is now Sher
man county, building a warehouse and engaging
in general merchandise at Des Chutes station.
Here he was burned out and then he resumed
farming on his Sherman county estates, where he
continued until the time of his death, owning at
that time, several sections of fine wheat land.
Our subject was educated in the district schools
and in the public schools in The Dalles and re
mained with his parents until his marriage on
February 23, 1867, which occurred at The Dal
les. Georgiana Foss, who was born in Illinois, on
March 11, 1848, then became his wife. Her fa
ther, George S. Foss, married Joanna Johnson.
He was a native of Maine, coming from an old
colonial family, which was prominent there for
many generations. His death occurred in Gold
endale, Washington, in 1882. He had come to the
coast with horse teams across the plains in 1862,
and made settlement first on Temmile creek.
Later, we find him in the Willamette valley,
after which he resided in Klickitat county, Wash
ington, and did farming and stock raising. The
mother was also born in Maine and came from
an old and prominent family. She died in the
Palouse country, in 1884. Mrs. Fulton was edu
cated in the public schools and has two brothers,
Jessie and Frank, and one sister, Mrs. Susan
Hoeye. Mr. Fulton has three brothers, John,
David and Frank, and three sisters, Mrs. Lucinda
Isaacs, Mrs. Elizabeth Seholl, and Anna. To
our subject and his wife, six children have been
born ; J. Frank, mentioned elsewhere in this
work; Nellie, wife of William W. Floyd, at
Prosser, Yakima county, Washington, a farmer
and stockman; William, a farmer near The'
Dalles; Ada, the wife of Fred Stone, a farmer
and sawmill man of Okanogan county, Washing
ton ; Mace C, at home; and Bessie P., who died
March 14, 1891, aged six years and eleven
months. Mr. Fulton is a good strong Democrat
and is very active in the conventions and cam
paigns. He has been elected judge at various

242

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

times and also school director and road super
visor. His brother, John, has been judge of
Sherman county for years. His son, Mace, is at
the present time road supervisor of this district.
Mr. Fulton is a prominent and substantial citi
zen and one of the real builders of this county
as was his father before him.

RILEY V DRAKE, a respected and vener
able resident of Wasco county, is now dwelling
at the family home, seven miles out from The
Dalles, on the Canyon City road. He was born
in Chautauqua county. New York, on February
15, 1833, the son of Riley and Betsey (Matteson)
Drake, both natives of the same county as our
¦subject. The father's parents were also natives
of that county. The Drake family is an old and
prominent English family and one of the illus
trious ancestors is the well known Francis Drake,
of historic fame. The mother died when our
subject was three weeks of age and he was reared
by Linus Sutliff. When twenty-three, his father
died. In 1853, our subject crossed the plains
with an ox team train and they experienced much
suffering, being for four days without food and
three days without water. Much of the road
they had to construct, as they were on the new
route. They started on the Meek's cut-off, but
got lost, which entailed this suffering.
However, they eventually reached Marion
county, and there he remained until 1879. He
participated in the early Indian wars of the fifties
and now draws a pension from the government
for those services. He was in Company F, First
Oregon regiment, under Captain Charles Ben
nett, who was killed. Later he was under Cap
tain William Cason. About 1879, or 1880, he
took a homestead on Eightmile and then bought
-the place where he now resides.
On February 12, i860, near Jefferson, Mr.
Drake married Miss Sarah J. Johnson, who was
'born near Bowling Green, Kentucky. Her fa
ther, George Johnson, was born in the same place
and came from a prominent southern family. He
married Miss Emily E. Dyer, a native of Ken
tucky and from one of the leading southern fam
ilies. Miss Dyer's grandfather was in the Revo
lution and was terribly tortured by the British
soldiers by having his feet burned to force him to
confess where his money was. Her brother was
killed in the Mexican war. Many members of
the family participated in all the wars and strug
gles in the colonial and later times. Mrs. Drake
crossed the plains with an ox team train in the
same year as her husband. Her father was a
Baptist ancl took much interest in church work.

He died in Marion county in September, 1869,
his wife having preceded him across the river,
the date of her death being February 12, 1859.
To Mr. and Mrs. Drake the following named
children have been born ; Linus, a carpenter in
Spokane ; Fred, with his parents ; Monroe, who
married Jessie L. Quinn, on January 1, 1905,
born in Wasco county, the daughter of A. W.
Quinn; Ettie, the wife of James Ferguson, a
drayman in The Dalles ; Mary, wife of John Fer
guson, of The Dalles ; Alzora, wife of Charles
Thompson, at Dufur ; Arlie married to Teel Ottis,
of The Dalles, August 31, 1904; Joseph, who died
on March 31, 1890, aged twenty- four years and
ten months ; George, who died April 14, 1894,
aged twenty-one ; Mary E., who was burned to
death in Marion county, in October, 1868 ; and
one infant, unnamed, who died in Wasco county.
Mr. and Mrs. Drake are members of the Chris
tian church. He is a Republican and has always
taken a keen interest in educational and public
matters. He is a well educated man, has kept
himself abreast of the times and is a man of ex
cellent principles. Mr. and Mrs. Drake have
shown themselves worthy pioneers, noble and up
right people and have done a worthy work in
opening farms, in raising a fine family of children
and in always so conducting themselves that they
merited and received the esteem and good will
of all.  *-"•"• 
WILLIAM M. McCORKLE, one of the pio
neers of Oregon, as well as California, is now
dwelling in a comfortable home two miles west
from Tygh valley, where he has been a resident
for some time. He owns various property and
has been prospered financially so that he is
justified now in retiring from the arduous labors
which have occupied him all his davs. He is a
man of sound principles and has so lived in his
long career that he has won and still retains the
friendship and approval of all good people, with
whom he has been associated. He is a valued
member of society here and is looked up to by all.
William M. McCorkle was born in Indiana,
on February 25, 1829. His father, Richard B.
McCorkle, was the son of one of three brothers
who came from the north of Ireland to the
colonies before the Revolution. He settled in
North Carolina and with his brothers partici
pated in the Revolution. His son, Richard B.
McCorkle, was the father of our subject, and was
born in North Carolina and died in Illinois, in
1863. He married Miss Isabella Campbell, a
native of Kentucky and descended from an old
colonial family. She died in Illinois in 1867.
The family had removed to Illinois when our

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

243

.subject was only three years old. There he grew
up and was educated, remaining on his father's
farm until 1850, in which year he went thence to
California. For a year he washed the golden
.sands of that Utopia and gained a comfortable
fortune with which he wended his way back to
the states. In 1852, he crossed the plains a
second time, on this occasion to Oregon. Mule
.and horse teams were used both times for trans
portation. He first settled on a' donation claim
in Linn county and sixteen years later sold it
ancl moved to the Indian agency, taking a gov
ernment position as miller. Four years later he
resigned from that post and bought land on Fif-
teenmile creek in this county, which was two
miles above the present site of Dufur. The farm
is now owned by William Vanderpool. An in
corporated company began the erection of a mill
in Tygh Valley, and sent for our subject to in
stall the machinery ancl operate the plant. He
did so and later the company b'ecame insolvent
and the sheriff sold the plant. As Mr. McCorkle
had not been paid wages for some time, he had
a claim and bought in the property and has oper
ated it since. He is now retired from the active
work of the mill, but rents it. He owns a fine
home adjoining, which is beautifully situated in
an ideal spot for a home.
On May 15, 1851, in Illinois, Mr. McCorkle
married Miss Mary A. Smith, a native of Ohio.
She was the daughter of Captain John Smith,
a native of Kentucky and captain in the Black-
hawk war. He accompanied our subject to Ore
gon and was twice sheriff of Linn county, this
state. Then he was appointed Indian agent at
Warm Springs agency by A. Lincoln, ancl for
nineteen years he held the position. He^was the
most popular and best liked man ever in that
position. His death occurred while in that ser
vice. He married Miss Jane Ruggles, a native of
Kentucky. She was married in Ohio and came
with the family to this state. Her death occurred
at the home of our subject, in 1877. Mr. Mc-
Corkle's wife died at the farm near Dufur, on
.April 27, 1877, leaving a family of small children.
Then Mr. McCorkle contracted a second mar
riage, Mrs. Abbie Zumwalt becoming his wife.
Her parents died in Illinois and she came here
with a sister and kept house for a brother until
she married Mr. Zumwalt, who died soon after,
leaving no issue. To Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle
two sons have been born ; Philip S., living three
miles north from his father's place; Ernest V.,
near the Des Chutes. By his former marriage,
Mr. McCorkle has six children; Frank E., a
farmer on Tygh creek; Chester, a stockman in
'Crook county ; John and Rufus, on Juniper flat ;
Amanda, wife of Dr. M. A. Flinn, in Portland ;

and Annie, the wife of R. L. Willoughby, a den
tist in Eugene. Mr. McCorkle is a stanch Re
publican and never voted but for one Democrat,
a neighbor, for justice of the peace. He has at
tended every county convention of his party in
cluding the first one and has been to the state
conventions. He is a prominent man and influ
ential. For thirty-two years he has been school
director and has always given his influence for
the advancement of educational facilities. He is
a member of the Presbyterian church, while his
wife belongs to the Methodist. They are both
prominent in church work and he has been super
intendent of the Sunday school for some time.
Mr. and Mrs. McCorkle are among the most
highly esteemed people of this part of the county,
ancl are certainly worthy of this pleasant distinc
tion.

HANS LAGE. There is no more substan
tial class of people under the stars -and stripes
than those who have come to our shores from the
fatherland. They are people of industry and
thrifty habits, with good ideas of government, in
dustrious and loyal and they are representative
Americans in every respect, and much of the
brilliant success of this great nation is due to the
wise and devoted efforts of her German citizens.
Among these people we are constrained to men
tion the gentleman, whose name appears above,
who has performed a work in Wasco county that
entitles him to the position of pioneer builder of
the country. He is well known and is consid
ered one of the leading and influential men of
Hood river valley. He resides on the east side
of the river, about four miles south from Hood
River, where he has a fine large estate, productive
and valuable. He was born in Holstein, Ger
many, on March 18, 1847. His father, Joachim,
was a native of the same place and died there in
1875. He married Miss Abel Weise, also a native
of the same locality where she is now living,
aged eighty-seven. For a score of years, Hans
Lage lived in Germany and gained his education
there and learned well the way of the farmer
and husbandmen, then it being 1867, he jour
neyed to the United States and settled in the vi
cinity of Davenport, Iowa, where he did farm
ing. He rented until 1875, when he came to
Hood River and after clue investigation, selected
the place where he is now residing and took it as
a homestead. One hundred and ten acres are
under cultivation and his crops are diversified.
His farm is a model of neatness, thrift and wis
dom and for thirty years he has not only done
a good work in this line but has stimulated scores
of others to worthy efforts.

244

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

At Davenport, Iowa, in 1871, Mr. Lage mar
ried Miss Lena Hock, a native of Germany. Her
father, Claus Hock, came from Germany to the
United States in 1854, this daughter then being
two years of age. He farmed in Iowa for many
years and in 1875, came to Hood River and took
a homestead near where our subject now lives.
His death occurred in 1887. His wife is a native
of Germany and died at Davenport, Iowa. He
served for nine months in the Civil War and was
discharged on account of injuries. After his
wife's death, in 1874, he married Miss Bertha
Miller, who died in Hood River in 1886. Mr.
Lage has two brothers in Davenport, Iowa, Claus
and Ferdinand ; two brothers in Germany, Hein-
rich and Peter; and two sisters, Trena, wife of
Henry Viedal and Marguerite, wife of Dilloff
Haas, both natives pf Germany. Mrs. Lage has
one half brother, Julius C. and one half sister,
Minnie, wife of Carl Jenson. To our subject and
his wife, the following named children have been
born : Henry F., manager of the Moody farm, and
mentioned elsewhere in this work ; Bernhardt, in
Hood River ; Edward E. and Charles, at home ;
Meta A., wife of W. P. Scobey, Hood River, a
farmer ; Emma, wife of John Koberg, at Hood
River ; Laura, wife of Alex. J. Henderson, Big-
ham, Washington ; Alfred, William and Celia,
deceased. Mr. Lage is a member of the K. O. T. M. and
in politics, he is a stanch and active Republican.
He is frequently at the conventions, where he is
an influential and active figure. At the present
time, he is road overseer of his district and a
school director. Mr. Lage is one of the whole
souled, genial and generous men who look on the
bright side of life and takes his joy as he goes
along. Consequently, he has won very many
friends and is admired and beloved by all.

WILLARD L. VANDERPOOL, one of the
earlier settlers ancl pioneers of Crook county, is
a native of the present state, having been born in
the territorial days, December . 24, 1856. His
parents, Larkin and Mary (Turnidge) Vander
pool, were natives of Missouri, the father a de
scendant of an old Dutch Pennsylvania family.
They crossed the plains in 1852 and settled in
Benton county, Oregon, where Dr. Larkin Van
derpool practiced medicine, in 1869 migrating to
Prineville, Crook county, where he continued the
practice of his profession. In 1884, the family
removed to Dufur, Wasco county, where he died
ten years later. The mother was married in Mis
souri, and accompanied her husband in the peril
ous journey across the plains in 1852. Her pa

rents were natives of the North of Ireland. She
died in Dufur.
Until the period of his marriage our subject,
Willard L., continued to reside with his parents,.
attending the district schools and working on the
homestead. His wife was Miss Mary Heisler,.
also a native of Oregon, born in Lane county..
Her parents were William and Martha (McCon
nell) Heisler, mentioned elsewhere. Mrs. Van
derpool has four brothers and five sisters,.
sketches of whom appear in other portions of
this book. Our subject and his wife are parents
of one child, John K., aged seven years. They
have lost one little girl, Ada, who died at the age
of five. The fraternal affiliations of Mr. Vanderpool.
are with the A. F. & A .M., Wasco Lodge, No.
15; The Dalles Chapter, R. A. M. ; Ridgely
Lodge, No. 71, I. O. O. F. ; Nicholson Encamp
ment ; Star Rebekah Lodge, No. 23, all of Dufur ;
of the Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F., the A. O. U. W.,.
and W. W. His political affiliations are with the
Republican party, and he has frequently been a
delegate to county conventions. At present he is-
mayor of Dufur, serving his second term. In
partnership with Hon. T. H. Johnston he owns
eight hundred acres of land, six hundred acres
of which are devoted to the production of wheat.
He is recognized as an active, enterprising citi
zen, with the best interests of the community at
heart, and he has won the confidence of all of his
acquaintances by his social characteristics and un
impeachable integrity.

LOUIS J. KLINGER, a retired farmer re
siding at Dufur, Wasco county, is one of the
earliest of Oregon pioneers, having come into the-
country in 1847. He was born in Warren county,
Missouri, October 19, 1837, the son of John and
Mary Klinger, natives of Germany. The father
was born on the River Rhine, and came to the
United States in the early 30's, settling in War
ren county. He came west and died in Clacka
mas county in the fall of 1862. The mother died1
when our subject was six years of age in War
ren county, Missouri. When Louis was ten
years of age he came across the plains accom
panied by his father and five other members of
the family, and they were among the first to
cross the Cascades with ox teams on the Barlow
road, which was completed that year, in 1847. A
scanty supply of rice with a small allowance of
bread made up their sdle provisions, towards the
last of the trip. The journey to the spot where
now stands the town of Dufur, a distance of three-
thousand miles, was fraught with hardships and>i

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

245

-peril. At The Dalles our subject saw a house,
-and shouted, "A house, a house !" this being the
first building they had seen, with the exception
of Forts Laramie, Hall and Boise, since leaving
Independence, Missouri. Mr. Klinger remem
bers seeing many campers along the road who
had killed their last ox for food. It is estimated
that seven thousand immigrants started that year
for Oregon, hundreds of whom died en route,
and other hundreds reached Oregon in a starv
ing condition. When the Klinger family arrived
in Oregon City the father had only twenty-five
cents in money, and wheat was worth six dollars
a bushel. Dr. McLaughlin, for many years with
the Hudson's Bay Company, sold him grain, tak
ing his note. They settled on Mollala Prairie,
ten miles above Oregon City, taking a donation
claim, where our subject grew to manhood, being
educated in a "subscription" school. Mr. Klinger
has one half brother, Frank, and of his five full
brothers and sisters, Christina, wife of Clifton
Callahan, died in 1897; Therese, died in 1893 in
Inyo county, California; William in 1867 and
Frederick in 1901, both in Clackamas county. He
has one sister living, Mrs. Matilda Clock, whose
husband is a farmer living in Modoc county,
California. March 17, 1861, Mr. Klinger was married to
Melissa J. Woodcock, born on the plains in 1844
-while her parents were en route for Oregon.
Her parents were Wilson D. and Keziah (Bun-
ton) Woodcock. She has four half brothers,
Wilson D., Thomas P., William and Abner, and
one full sister, Mary, married to Ephraim Rams
by, of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
In 1863 our subject came to Wasco county,
¦settling on Eightmile creek, four miles northeast
¦of Dufur, where he engaged in farming and
stock raising. While teaming in this country he
crossed the creek one hundred and nineteen times
while en route to Boise, Idaho, in five miles on
-one trip. In company with John R. Doyle, Jack
McHaley and Robert Clark he purchased the first
separator ever brought into Wasco county. In
1889 our subject had amassed a modest com
petence and, selling his farm, he removed to the
town of Dufur, where he owns a cosy story and
a half house in a city block in the center of the
town. He also owns another choice block which
he utilizes for the purpose of a pasture. Mr.
Klinger is an enthusiastic hunter, and fisherman,
passing a large portion of the summer in the
-mountains. He is a member of Ridgely Lodge
No. 71, I. O. O. F., and is recognized as a pro
gressive, broad-minded and influential citizen. He
has served two terms as mayor of Dufur, but
cares more for his superior camping outfit than
"he does for political honors. He is a Democrat,

although not at all partisan. On several inven
tions our subject has taken out patents, one of
them, a weeding machine, being of inestimable
value. He has also invented a baling press and
hand hay press, which he never patented although
it is conceded to be of great value.

CHARLES W. JOHNSTON, deceased.—
The subject of the following memoir came to The
Dalles from his home, in Centreville, New Bruns
wick, about 1882. For thirteen years he was in
the employment of the Oregon Railroad & Nav
igation Company in various capacities, having
been an engineer nearly seven years. He was
injured in an accident; his engine being capsized
in a sand drift, and he was crushed and bruised,
surviving the fatali,ty only one hour. He was
buried at The Dalles, the funeral being under the
auspices of Wasco Lodge, A. F. & A. M. Mr.
Johnston was a Knight Templar and a popular
member of the K. P., being in the V. C. chair at
time of death. He was highly esteemed by his
friends and business associates, and one who had
won the highest confidence of the officials of the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company.

JAMES W. DICKSON is an example of one
who has seen sorrow and much of the hard side
of life in his younger years, but who, in spite of
all adversity and trying times, has fought his own
way to a successful position in the community
today ancl has won from the shy maid of fortune a
goodly competence which is a justly bestowed re
ward for his industry and faithfulness. He re
sides about a mile south from Endersly post-
office where he owns two hundred acres of choice
land, which produces, an abundance of general
crops each year. He uses half for pasture and
half for crops. In addition to handling his farm,
Mr. Dickson does considerable freighting and
teaming and is well known all through the coun
try. Wherever he is known he has friends as his
walk has been such as to win the esteem of good
people. James W. Dickson was born in England, on
December 16, 1856. When three months of age,
his parents embarked for the United States and
while on the voyage, the father was lost over
board, and our subject does not even know his
Christian name. The mother died soon after
landing in Illinois, while James was still an in
fant. Then he was taken by a brother of his
mother, who lived in the province of Quebec,
Canada, and with this man he remained until thir-

246

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

teen. During those years of service, he had
things rather severe, and his education was sadly
neglected by the man who should have looked
after it. However, young Dickson was made of
the stuff that would not down and at the age
mentioned stepped forth from this position to
start in life for himself. He then applied him
self at all opportunities and learned readily and
stored his mind with a good fund of knowledge
for life's battle. He went from Canada to New
York upon leaving his uncle and from that day
to this, he has always supported himself. He
worked in the lumber woods and on the farms
and in May, 1878, landed in Oregon City. He
was in various places in the Willamette valley
for three years and then came to Wasco county.
After this he spent a year in sawmilling on Puget
sound" and late in the eighties he took his present
place as a homestead. He added a railroad iorty
by purchase and since then has bestowed his
labors here with the happy result that he has a
choice place. On January 2, 1888, Mr. Dickson
married Miss Mary Fligg, the wedding occurring
at the home of the bride's sister. Her father is
George Fligg and he is mentioned elsewhere in
this volume with the other members of his fam
ily. Mr. Dickson had one brother, William, who
was killed in the battle of Fredericksburg, in the
Rebellion. Four children have been born to our
subject's household, Wilbur, Ernest, Ruth and
Delbert. Mrs. Dickson is a member of the Chris
tian church. Mr. Dickson is a Republican, chair
man of the school board and a member of the
A. F. & A. M. ,

MRS. ALMA L. HOWE is too well known
in the Hood River country to need an introduc
tion but on account of what she has been and
what she is, a review of her life will be very in
teresting to all. She is the proprietor of the
Cottage Farm which lies a mile and one-half
from the town of Hood River and is one of the
ideal spots in the great Columbia valley. She
was born in Marion county, Oregon, on June
7, i860, the daughter of Isaac N. and Harriet
(Millsap) Lawrence, natives of Missouri. The
father died in 1886 in Knappton, Washington,
and the mother died in Marion county, Oregon.
The father crossed the plains in 1854 and the
mother in 1855. He was one of the well known
mill men of Oregon, building the first sawmill in
East Portland. He did more than can be writ
ten to place the sawmilling industry upon its
feet in Washington and Oregon in pioneer days.
He was a man of great energy and stamina.
When our subject was nine years of age the
father moved to Portland and she was educated

in the Portland schools. On September 8, 1878,
at Portland, she married Samuel T. Howe, a
native of Indiana. One child was born to this
union, Hester A., a lady of culture and refine
ment. While still very young, Mrs. Howe-
learned the profession of a nurse and has fol
lowed it more or less since. Owing to adverse
circumstances, she was obliged to support her
self and daughter continuously. Owing to her
courage and spirit, she accepted her lot with
graciousness and has done a noble work as will
be seen. In 1885, she bought forty acres where
she now resides near Hood River. The place
was only slightly improved, but as she was able-
a little each year she added improvements and
today it is one of the model homes in the state
of Oregon. In 1897, she sold twenty acres and
since then has given her entire attention to the-
management of the twenty acres remaining. Fif
teen acres of this are devoted to strawberries,
while the other five produce clover, vegetables-
and orchard. The farm is beautifully ' laid out
and no better kept place can be found in the
west. At first she did diversified farming, but
as soon as the water for irrigation was provided
she had the place planted as mentioned above..
In 1894, Mrs. Howe erected a large house for
the accommodation of summer boarders. The
popularity of her place is well shown in that she
since erected four cottages for the 'same purpose
and now accommodates about thirty-five board
ers during the summer months. Her place is
most beautifully situated, overlooking the coun
try' for miles, is supplied with plenty of pure
water and in every respect is as choice a place
as can be found. The climate is healthful and
invigorating and no word need be said in refer
ence to the kindly care that Mrs. Howe takes of
all her guests. In all the labors of the farm she
has attended to the details and the direction en
tirely alone, having no male relatives to assist
her. It speaks very highly of her ability and
courage to undertake to carry on this great
work and she certainly deserves the most un
bounded success which she has earned. Mrs..
Howe has one half-brother, Chester, deceased,
and three sisters, Mrs. Mary L. Parmenter, Mrs.
Alice J. Darling, and Mrs. Ella F. Baird. Mrs,
Howe is a devoted member of the Methodist
church and a liberal supporter of the faith. It
is very interesting to know that Mrs. Howe has
in her family a woman known as Indian Nellie,
who is aged seventy and now entirely helpless
on account of rheumatism. She is caring for
this poor aged woman and expects to until her
death, which is a true Christian work. Indian
Nellie is the last of her family and is indeed a;
very pathetic creature.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

247

Mrs. Howe is highly esteemed by every per
son who knows her and receives the unbounded
admiration and commendation of the entire Hood
River country.

EDWARD M. HARRIMAN is one of the
leading farmers and stockmen in Wasco county.
His estate lies just west from Endersly, where
he has five hundred and forty acres, about half
of which is cultivated. The balance is utilized
for pasture. He has all the improvements needed
on a first class estate and his residence, which has
recently been remodeled and added to, is a -com
fortable and tasty structure. In addition to his
farming, he handles blooded stock and has choice
specimens, both of horses and cattle. He winters
about thirty head of each kind. Mr. Harriman
has displayed an energy and sagacity in the con
duct of his business and in the acquirement of his
property which commend him as one of the lead
ing men of the community and his sound prin
ciples and integrity have given him an unsullied
reputation. Edward M. Harriman was born in England,
on September 16, 1855, the son of John ancl
Elizabeth (Hanford) Harriman, both natives of
England. The father died there in 1876 and was
of the seventh generation of his family that had
been born in Leicestershire. The mother died at
The Dalles in 1889. In the National school in
Sielby parish, Leicestershire, our subject re
ceived a splendid education and then for two
years worked in a hardware store. When eigh
teen years of age, he landed in the United States,
and after a few weeks spent in New York and
six months in New Jersey, he came on to Illi
nois, landing there in May, 1874. The next
March, he went to Marysville, California and in
that vicinity and various other places in the
Golden State, including San Francisco, he
worked at different employments and during the
four years there he took a trip of four months to
Oregon. In 1879, ne was again in the Willam
ette valley and in 1880 he came to The Dalles.
He worked for the O. R. & N., and for farmers
for a couple of years, and then bought school
land where he now lives. He has since that time
given his attention to the improvement and cul
tivation of his estate and has made a good suc
cess, as his possessions indicate.
At The Dalles, on February 17, 1886, Mr.
Harriman married Miss Ada E., the daughter
of Williston D. and Alazanna (Cornelius)
Woodcock. She was born in Clackamas county,
twelve hides out from Oregon City, on February
7, 1868. Her father was born in New York,
crossed the plains with ox teams, having a very

hard trip. He died when this daughter was two
years old. The mother, who was her husband's
second wife, was born in Ohio, crossed the plains"
with her parents and died in the Willamette
valley. Mr. Harriman has two brothers, who1
are mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mrs,-
Harriman has the following named brothers andi
sisters, Williston D., Thomas P., William, Absa
lom C, Newton and Jasper, twins, Francis M.,-
died in 1884, Mrs. Sophia Ramsby, and two sis
ters who are deceased. - She also has one half-
brother, Alonzo, deceased, two half-sisters living,
Mrs. Melissa Klinger and Mrs. Mary A. Mc-
Haley, and two half-sisters deceased, Eliza and
Sarah. To Mr. and Mrs. Harriman five chil-
ren have been born : Nellie H, aged seventeen ;
Edna C, aged fifteen ; Arthur A., aged thirteen ;
Fred E., aged eleven ; and Dickson L., aged
eight. Mr. Harriman is an independent Repub
lican and is frequently at the different conven
tions. He has been school director ancl road
supervisor and has always manifested a lively in
terest in the advancement and upbuilding of the
country.

GEORGE W. FLIGG, the popular and genial
postmaster at Endersly, Oregon, is one of the
capable men who have labored for the advance
ment of Wasco county and is now one of its rep
resentative citizens. He was born on October
10, 1833, in Morgan county, Illinois, the son of/
John and Martha H. Fligg, natives of England,
where they were married. A few years previous
to the birth of our subject, they came to the
United States and settled in Morgan county, Illi
nois. When George was four years of age, his
father died and he early learned the hardships of
life, being obliged to work hard as soon as . he
was able to do even a boy's work. When ten,
he went to Iowa, and from that time he was
practically for himself in this world. He was
with a brother-in-law and other relatives until
his marriage, on October 15, 1855, to Mary F.,
the daughter of Jackson and Parthemia (Mer
rill) Gregory. The father was born in Alabama
and his parents in North Carolina, being de
scended from colonial settlers. The mother was
also born in North Carolina and her ancestors
were among the earliest settlers in the colonies.
Mrs. Fligg was born in Alabama. Forty years-
after his marriage were spent by our subject in
Fairfield doing carpentering and building. Then
he went to Omaha, Nebraska, and in 1895 came
to Oregon and took a homestead which he in
creased by the purchase of eighty acres. About
1899, he sold this property and removed on the
small farm where the postoffice of Endersly is-

248

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

now located. When in the east, Mr. Fligg had
an interest in a coal mine and was possessed of
town property besides. In addition to the post-
office, he handles a store and is patronized well
from the surrounding country. Mr. Fligg has
one sister, Mrs. Sarah Rowland. To Mr. and
Mrs. Fligg, the following named children have
been born ; Charles, in Fairfield, Iowa ; Allen, a
farmer near by ; Sarah E., the wife of George
W. Covert, on Pleasant ridge ; Louisa, the wife
of Frank Still ; Belle, the wife of J. C. Bailey, a
carpenter in Fairfield, Iowa ; Cora, wife of Will
iam Endersby ; Mary, the wife of James Dick
son, mentioned elsewhere; Edwin, died April
24, 1872, William, died August 24, 1876; Minnie,
died December 18, 1876; Franklin, died January
18, 1878; and Martha E., died October 19, 1880.
Mr. Fligg is a stanch Republican, used to be a
Whig, and has voted for every Republican candi
date for president since the party was organized.
He has been road supervisor and is now serving
his third term as justice of the peace. He and his
wife belong to the Christian church and are high
ly esteemed people.

MILO M. CUSHING is one of the earliest
pioneers of the territory now occupied by Wasco
county, and having weathered the storms of half
a century here, is now permitted to see the coun
try developed which was a wilderness when he
came. He resides about three miles east from
The Dalles and there owns a good farm. He is
well known all over this part of the country and
has the good will and esteem of everyone who
knows him.
Milo M. Cushing was born in Truxton, New
York, on July 3, 1820. His father, Charles Cush
ing, was born on January 3, 1793, and died at
Hillsdale, Michigan. His father, Asaph L., the
grandfather of our subject, was born in 1767,
while this venerable gentleman's father, Nathan
Cushing, which would be the great-grandfather
of our subject, was born in 1730. The family
were of old colonial stock and prominent both as
pioneers of the country and as patriots in the
various wars. The. mother of our subject, Han
nah (Morris) Cushing, was a native of New
York and died on October 18, 1824. The Morris
family is one well known in the early history of
this country. Asaph L. Cushing was a musician
in the war of 1812. When Milo M. was five years
old his mother died and he was reared by his
grandparents, on his father's side, until the fa
ther married Mrs. Harriet Maxon. When four
teen, our subject began life for himself and
wrought variously, attending school in winters

until eighteen. He then went into the grocery
business in Shawnee and was deputy postmaster
of the town. Two years later he sold out and
soon went to Michigan, where his grandfather
Morris was. Then we find him operating in a
hotel in Armada and also he handled a grocery
store. Two years later he opened a grocery in
Hillsdale, but was taken ill in two years. Upon
his recovery he bartered dry goods to the In
dians for furs for a year, then, on June 6, 1845,
he married Miss Mary A. Burlingham, in Wash
ington, Michigan, who was born in Warsaw, New
York, on March 30, 1822. In December, 1848,
he enlisted in the regular army and handled the
officers' mess at fort Gratiot, Michigan. On Sep
tember 9, 1849, his wife died and then he gave
up that position and took up the regular duty of
a soldier from which he was promoted to ser
geant. In 1852, he came to Oregon, being under
Captain Alvord, Colonel Bonneville, Grant being
regimental quartermaster. He was in regular
quartermaster service and in the discharge of
other duties until December, 1853, when he re
ceived his discharge at The Dalles. He then ob
tained permission to erect a building on the gov
ernment reserve, which is now the ground oc
cupied by The Dalles. He soon had a good block
house made of hewn logs on the river front. Later'
he erected a hotel and also a merchandise estab
lishment. His were the first business buildings
in the now prosperous town of The Dalles. His
hotel was known as the Cushing House, and the
rates were seventy-five cents per meal and fifty
cents for a bed. After operating the hotel for a
year, Mr. Cushing rented it but continued with
the mercantile business for five years then took a
homestead on Millcreek. Mr. Cushing owned a
quarter interest in the steamboat "Wasco," which
plied between The Dalles and the Cascades. He
held this interest for three years. This was the
first boat built east of the Cascades for this run.
Later he sold all his town property ancl did farm
ing on Mill creek.
On April 6, 1854, he married Miss Mary Pig
gott, a native of Ireland. Later he engaged in
business in The Dalles until 1876, when he sold
out and retired to the farm where he now re
sides. He bought state land here and for many
years handled the poor farm. Mrs. Cushing
came here in 1853. She is the daughter of Will
iam and Catherine (Noonon) Piggott, natives of
Ireland, where they remained until their death.
Mrs. Cushing has no near relatives in the United
States. Mr. Cushing has one sister, Mary E.
Evans, a widow, and one half brother, James N.,
and one half sister, Jane E. By his first marriage,
Mr. Cushing had one child, Charles B., a mer
chant in Tacoma, also one deceased, Mary A.,

Milo M. Cushing

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

249

who died in McComb county, Michigan. To Mr.
Cushing and his present wife, the following
named children have been born ; Eliza E., Frank
L., Caleb, Joseph M., Morris A., all dead; Milo
M., Jr., in Mayville, Oregon; and William H.,
who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr.
Cushing succeeded the suttler as postmaster of
The Dalles and was elected the first justice of
the peace but did not qualify. He was, also, the
first treasurer of the county, being elected on the
Democratic ticket. Mr. Cushing's name is in-
dellibly written in the history of Wasco county
and the labors he has done are far reaching and
excellent. He and his wife are among the most
highly esteemed people in the county at this day,
and these venerable Christian people, dwelling
in security in the country they assisted to wrest
from the wilderness, is one of the beautiful sights
of the west.

WILLIAM H. CUSHING is a native son of
Wasco county and has showed himself one in
which the qualities of worth and substantiality
together with wisdom and geniality are happily
blended. He was educated in the public schools
of The Dalles and during the hours when not at
his books was helping his father in the latter's
store. This life continued until the lad had
reached fourteen when the father sold his town
property and repaired to the country, purchasing
land where our subject now resides, three miles
east from town. Since then, Mr. Cushing has
devoted himself to farming and now is handling
his father's farm and one of his own, which ad
joins his father's land. He has a choice place of
eighty acres and another of two hundred and
forty acres and is one of the thrifty farmers of
Wasco county.
William H. Cushing was born in The Dalles,
¦on June 4, 1862, the son of Milo and Mary (Pig
gott) Cushing, natives of Lockport, New York,
and Ireland, respectively. They both now dwell
on the farm near our subject. The father de
scends from a prominent family which has al
ways been influential in American politics eyen
before the time of the Declaration of Independ
ence. On November 30, 1884, Mr. Cushing mar
ried Miss Josephine, the daughter of Thomas
-and Mary (Gates) Knebel, and a native of Iowa.
Her father came from Germany, his native coun
try, to the United States when six years old.
The family settled in Iowa and in 1868, he came
to Oregon, settling near Eugene. Later he came
to W'asco county and died on his farm, near that
of our subject. The mother now lives in The
Dalles. Mr. Cushing has two brothers who are

mentioned in this work. Mrs. Cushing has two
brothers, Joseph and Daniel, ancl five sisters,
Mrs. Theresa Anlauf, Mrs. Thomas Denton, Mrs.
Odelia Harvey, Mrs. Ida Jackel, and Mrs. Kate
Nowak. The following named children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cushing, Frank, Katie,
Olive, Benie, Esther, Sybil, and Morris. Mr.
Cushing is a member of the M. W. A. and is a
well informed Democrat. He has often been to
the conventions and is now on the school board,
having served five consecutive terms. He has
also been road supervisor for two terms. Both
Mr. and Mrs. Cushing are members of the Roman
Catholic church. They are well respected people
and have shown a progressive spirit in their ca

reers.

MILTON J. ANDERSON, second ranger
of the United States Forest Reserve, residing at
The Dalles, Wasco county, was born in Sacra
mento county, California, October 11, i860. His
father, Hartford Anderson, was a native of Scot
land, coming to the United States and locating
in Pennsylvania with his parents when a child.
He was a ship carpenter, ancl died in Sacra
mento, California. The mother, a native of the
North of Ireland, died in 1874.
Folsom, California, was the scene of our sub
ject's youth ancl early manhood. He was edu
cated in the public schools of that town, attended
the high school and acquired an excellent busi
ness education. He remained in California until
he was twenty years of age, was four years a
drug clerk, and four years in the Pacific Carri
age Works in Sacramento, ancl became a car
riage ironer. In 1884 he came to Wasco county
ancl opened a blacksmith shop, manufacturing
all descriptions of carriage iron. He organized
the Summer Fallow Machine Company in 1889,
and began the manufacture of cultivators. The
company discontinued business in 1902, and
shortly afterward he was appointed to his present
position with the forest reserve. For many years
Mr. Anderson has been an enthusiastic advocate
of forestry and forest protection, and was a mem
ber and prime mover in the first Forest Protec
tion Association, organized in Oregon. He was
secretary of the association four years, and his
efforts in that line were cordially recognized by
the government. On being appointed to the
position of ranger he removed to The Dalles
from Dufur, disposing of his home in the latter
town. Politically he is a Republican and has served
as delegate to nearly every state and county con
vention since 1883. He has served two terms as
mayor of Dufur, E*nd one term as chairman of

250

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the board of school directors. Mr. Anderson
drafted the original charter of the city of Dufur,
and in 1893 proceeded with it to Salem and se
cured its adoption. He is a member of the W.
O. T. W., No. 215 ; charter member of the Coun
cil and was commander the first three years of
its existence. He has four brothers and one sis
ter : Levi H, a miner of Sacramento, California :
Charles A. and Edward H, in the employment of
the Central Pacific Railway, in California ; Will
iam A., an attorney and ex-member of the Cali
fornia legislature, now probate judge in Sacra
mento ; and Maggie, single, a teacher in the
grammer school of Sacramento. June 27, 1886,
at Wamic, Wasco county, Oregon, Mr. Ander
son was married to Ella M. Rodman, born in
Utah. Her parents are William R. and Louisa
Rodman, living at Wamic. She has one brother
and four sisters : Hugh, a farmer near Walla
Walla, Washington ; Ruth, wife of Daniel Crow
ley, of Antelope ; Laura, married to James Pal
mer, of Portland, Oregon; Belle, wife of Joseph
H. Prout, a forest ranger living at Wamic ; and
Elsie, wife of David Campbell, a farmer near
Wamic. Mr. and Airs. Anderson have four
children, Alvis M., H. Vernon, Malcolm and
Irene, aged sixteen, thirteen, eleven and one
years, respectively. Our subject has been clerk
of the house or senate of the Oregon legisla
ture every session since 1891. He is a member
of the American Forestrv Association, Washing
ton, D. C.

ELI T. HINMAN, contractor and builder,
residing at Dufur, Wasco county, was born at
Augusta, Oneida county, New York, January
23, 1834, the son of Eli and Ann (Foote) Hin
man. The father was born in Oneida county,
and his parents were descendants of A. Hinman,
who came from England early in the seventeenth
century. Many of this family still live in New
England and New York, and are distinguished
members of the bench and bar and commercial
circles. The mother of our subject was born in
Madison county, New York, a descendant of the
old Foote family of England, members of which
have been eminent in literary, military, naval
and dramatic circles for several centuries.
Eli T. Hinman, our subject, was reared prin
cipally in the Empire state, where he attended the
public schools and the Munnsville (Madison
county) high school. When twenty-three years
of age, he removed to Illinois where he was en
gaged in farm work, remaining there twenty-
five years. He came to Oregon in 1881 and en
gaged in sheep raising on tlie Des Chutes river,

Wasco county. Six years thereafter, in 1887,
he disposed of his interests in this business and
located in Dufur, or what is now Dufur, for at
that period there was but one house in the vicin
ity. Here Mr. Hinman engaged in building and
contracting. In company with his partner, Mon
roe Heisler, he built the Methodist and United
Brethren churches, the city school and many
residences and business blocks. Mr. Hinman
has one brother and one sister, Orin W., in Mc-
Donough county, Illinois, and Zerlina, wife of
S. B. Black, of Henderson county, Illinois.
Our subject was married May 13, 1857, at
Horseheads, Chemung county, New York, to
Mary E. Reynolds, a native of that county. Her
father, Henry, and mother, Melinda (Corning)
Reynolds, were, also, natives of the Emprie
State. Mrs. Hinman has one sister, Esther,
widow of Barney Stryker, of Elmira, New York.
Mr. and Mrs. Hinman are the parents of three
children: Henry, in the United States army;
Esther, wife of Thomas Robison, a blacksmith,
living in Dufur ; and Edwin, of The Dalles. Mr.
Hinman is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and
the church of the United Brethren in Christ.
For many years he has been a devoted and con
scientious class leader. His wife is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he
is a Prohibitionist, though not particularly active,
and for two years was city marshal of Dufur.
In 1864 a recruiting officer visited the home
of our subject in Illinois, and the latter assisted
him in organizing the Farnsworth Light Bri
gade. Mr. Hinman was to have been a First
Lieutenant, but before the company was com
pleted news was received of the death of Captain
Farnsworth, at Gettysburg, and the scheme fell
through. Our subject was busily engaged in an
endeavor to raise a new regiment at the close of
the war. He could not conscientiously enlist at
the commencement of the Rebellion, as he had
a voting family, but during the last year he ex
pended his time ancl money, and through nO'
fault of his own, he was not at the front.

AUGUST W. LONGREN, who is one of the
well-to-do farmers and stockmen of Wasco coun
ty, has gained his property holdings by virtue of
his industry and his careful management. He
has the satisfaction of knowing that he has paid
value received for everything that he owns and
although he started with his bare hands he has
now a fine property. Where he dwells, one half
mile west from Endersly, he has a body of two
hundred and forty acres, and eighty more across
the road. In addition he owns two lots and a

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

251

residence in The Dalles, and considerable blooded
stock. His place is a valuable one and is well
improved. August W. Longren was born in Sweden, on
January 8, 1853, the son of Gustav and Mar-
greta (Peterson) Longren, natives of Sweden,
where they also died, on June 1, 1894, and in
1886, respectively. The ancestors were farmers
in the old country for many generations. After
gaining his education, Mr. Longren left his na
tive country for the United States in 1873. He
came direct to Rockford, Illinois, and two years
later went to Jamestown, New York. Returning
to Rockford, he came thence in 1876, to the Wil
lamette valley, and the next fall to The Dalles.
He was employed by the O. R. & N. and ran a
scow on the Columbia until 1882, when he took
a portion of his present place as a homestead.
Since that time he has continued here laboring
in that which occupies him now. He has good
success, raises hay and potatoes and other crops
and breeds stock.
At The Dalles, on October 2, 1886, Mr. Long
ren married Miss Madama Fleming, who was
born in Indiana, Grant county. She came to
Oregon for her health in 1884 an.d dwelt with
her cousins, Ephraim and Thomas Badger, Mr.
Longren has one brother, Charles F., and two
sisters, Sophie Johnson and Mrs. Christine Nill-
son, a widow. Three children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Longren: Matilda, aged sixteen;
Minna, aged fourteen, and Charles A., aged
twelve. Mrs. Longren is a member of the Christ
ian church. Mr. Longren is a Republican, but
not especially active, although he is always ready
to give his influence for the support of his party.
He has always refused to hold any office, al
though he has frequently been importuned to do
so. Mr. Longren has one of the best places on
Eightmile creek ancl he well knows how to skill
fully handle it. He is a great reader and spends
much time in informing himself on the subjects
of the day. He and his wife are popular and
esteemed people.

ALBERT G. DOYLE, deceased. In giving
a memoir of the esteemed gentleman, whose name
is at the head of this page, we feel that it is quite
in place with the object of this work, which is
to make mention of the leading men and women
of Wasco county, since he was a man of excel
lent Christian character, possessed of abilities
and worth that stamped him a leader among men
and one who won friends wherever he was.
Albert G. Doyle was born in Illinois, on
March 7, 1832, the son of Daniel Doyle. He was
a native of Virginia, of Swiss ancestry. The

name was probably anglicised after the family
came to America, in the early colonial days. He
married Miss Godfrey, the mother of our subject.
She died when Albert was an infant and then the
father married Mary Lowe. They were both
from prominent Virginia families. Our subject
was reared in Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri,
and after the high schools were completed, he en
tered Lebanon college and received a fine clas
sical training. Then he matriculated in the med
ical college of Cincinnati, Ohio, but owing to
a failure of his health he was obliged to abandon
the study of medicine, which was his life's ambi
tion. However, he gave it up cheerfully and
went to teaching, which he had followed before.
Then he did farming until his marriage in Illi
nois. In 1865 in company with his father and the
entire family, our subject fitted out horse and
mule teams and made the trip across the plains
to the Willamette valley. After three years there
he found the climate did not agree with him and
accordingly came to this side of the mountains.
He spent a winter on Fifteenmile and then came
and purchased the right of Louis Klinger and
preempted the place where his widow now resides
about three miles west from Endersly. Here he
lived until the time of his death, on January 23,
1880. He was then aged forty-eight. He was
a man of prominence among his fellows ancl bore
the best of reputation, being a faithful Christian.
He and his wife were zealous members of the
Methodist church. Mrs. Doyle has remained on
the home place since and is a woman of many
graces and virtues. She is most highly esteemed
by all and is spending the golden years of her
life secure in the faith that has cheered and sus
tained her all the journey up to this time.
On April 5, 1857, at Highland, Illinois, the
marriage of Mr. Doyle and Sarah Hines oc
curred. She was born in Illinois, on November
17, 1837, tne daughter of William and Sarah
(Robbins) Hines. The mother died when she
was five months old ancl the father when she had
arrived to the age of twelve. Her childhoood
life was spent with foster parents, William and
Susanna (Hormsby) Husong. Mr. Doyle had"
no full brothers or sisters, but had two half broth
ers, John and Charles, and two half sisters, Mary
F. Fouts, and Rosie Hemmingway. Five child
ren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Doyle : Mary
F., the wife of Benjamin Southwell, and now de
ceased ; Joseph, who died when aged seventeen ;
Bessie, the wife of Charles Wagonblast, who died "
in July, 1894 ; Edwin, the eldest son, who died
on May 31, 1900, aged thirty-eight years and"
four months ; and William, single and living with
his mother. The children were men and women
of fine character and were well esteemed.

252

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

MICHAEL M. GLAVEY, of the firm of
Glavey Brothers, stock-raisers and farmers, re
siding five miles south of Dufur, Wasco county,
is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, born March
31, 1863. His parents, Thomas and Honor
(Welch) Glavey, natives of County Mayo, Ire
land, are mentioned elsewhere.
Newton county, Missouri, was the field of our
¦subject's earlier days, and there he was reared
and partially educated in the graded schools, at
tending school also in Newton county, and also
in Portland, Oregon, whither his family removed
about 1875. When he was thirteen years of age
he came with his parents to Wasco county, set
tling in his present location and here he has since
resided. On the home farm, in 1895, November 23,
Mr. Glavey was united in marriage to Annie A.
Bolton, born in Petaluma, Sonoma county Cali
fornia. Her parents were Patrick and Bridget
(O'Neil) Bolton, natives of Ireland. They at
-present reside on a farm near Dufur. Mrs. Glavey
has six brothers and two sisters : Henry, John and
Edward, Wasco county farmers and stock rais
ers ; William, a druggist, in Portland ; Mary, wife
of George Thompson, a farmer residing in Sher
man county ; and Nellie, single, living at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Glavey have four children living,
Irene and William, aged five and three years,
¦respectively, and Thomas and Marie, twins, one
year old.
Politically Mr. Glavey is a Democrat, and
for years has been a delegate, annually, to county
conventions. In 1870 he served as a delegate to
the Democratic state convention. Two terms he
was clerk of the school board, and has been as
active in politics as his business would permit.
John Glavey is the third member of the firm
of Glavey Brothers. He was born in St. Louis,
Missouri, on September 9, 1854, and dwells on
the ranch with his brothers. He is still enjoying
the freedom of the celibatarian and is highly
¦esteemed.

THOMAS W. GLAVEY, of the firm of
Glavey Brothers, extensive farmers and stock-
-raisers, residing five miles from Dufur, Wasco
county, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, April
17, i860. He is the son of Thomas and Honor
(Welch) Glavey, natives of County Mayo, Ire
land. About 1848 the father came to the United
States and located in New Orleans, and for many
years worked on Mississippi river steamers. He
died January 6, 1888, on the Wasco county ranch.
The mother passed away March 18, 1897.
Until he was nine years of age our subject

was reared in the city of St. Louis, and the family
then removed to Franklin county, Missouri, three
years later to Newton county, coming to Oregon
in 1875. Mr. Glavey was educated in the graded
schools of St. Louis, and other district schools
in Missouri. The family remained one year in
Portland, Oregon, and then came to the locality
where the brothers now reside. The father set
tled on a quarter section of land five miles south
of the present site of Dufur. This land was
claimed by both the railroad and the government,
and, consequently he never secured a title to. the
same, but following his death our subject, Thomas
W. Glavey, succeeded in getting a clear title from
the government. Later he filed on a homestead.
He remained with his parents until their death,
since when he and his brothers, "Michael M. and
John, who are mentioned elsewhere, have added
to the original farm and now reside there. To
gether they own about fifteen hundred acres,
raise considerable stock, but devote their atten
tion mainly to the cultivation of wheat.

RICHARD SIGMAN is one of the best
known men of Dufur, and a veteran of the terrible
conflict which raged to preserve to us the rights
and privileges of freedom when base treason
would have trodden under foot the stars and
stripes and rent asunder the land of our fore
fathers. He has achieved a good success in the
financial world and has thus far passed a career
which is unblemished and filled with industry and
good deeds.
Richard Sigman was born in Ohio, on July
26, 1844, the son of James and Ruth A. (Lucas)
Sigman, natives of Ohio. The mother died in
the spring of 1865. The father came to Cali
fornia in 1849 and about eighteen months later
returned to Ohio where he died in 1903. His
father, the grandfather of our subject, was in the
War of 1812, and the father of that veteran, which
is the great-grandfather of Richard Sigman,
fought in the Revolution. His wife was the
mother of twenty-two boys. Our subject was
reared and educated in Ohio and in 1862 enlisted
in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-second
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, captained by Mr. Gor
don under Colonel Ball. He was soon sent to
the front and paticipated in the Oak Grove and
the Winchester engagements. Then he was taken
prisoner at the battle of the Wilderness and for
weary months was detained in the Andersonville,
Libby, and Florence prisons. He weighed one
hundred and eighty when he entered those death
pits, but scarcely tipped the beam at one hundred
when he was finally released. A living death,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

253.

although the people of the land know well what
those horrible places were and something of what
the poor boys in blue suffered, still never can it
be written the horrors that becloud the per
petrators of that cruelty nor can the anguish of
the poor victims ever be adequately told. Living
in the midst of the awfullest death, and dying by
inches, Mr. Sigman eked out the days until the
glad news of his deliverance came and a drawn
skeleton, he staggered out to welcome it. After
that he returned home and for eighteen years was
farming in Illinois. 1884 was the year in which
Mr. Sigman came to- The Dalles and made settle
ment in Dry Hollow. This was near Dufur and
he took railroad land which afterward reverted
to the government. Then he took government
claims and also purchased land until he had an
estate of nearly one section. Since the years of
prosperity have come to Mr. Sigman, he has sold
a greater portion of this land to his son and in
1901, he came to Dufur to spend the remaining
days of his life in quiet retirement from the bustle
of active business.
At Pana, Illinois, in 1870, Mr. Sigman mar
ried Miss Ward, a native of Ohio. She died on
the home farm here in Wasco county, on March
6, 1890. Her parents were John and Martha
(Griffith) Ward, natives of Ohio. The father's
parents were born in Ireland. Mr. Sigman has
eight sisters, all in the east. His wife had three
brothers and two sisters in Illinois. To Mr. and
Mrs. Sigman seven children have been born :
Melvin and Alvin, farmers near Dufur; Alberta,
the wife of Neil O'Leary, a farmer in Sherman
county; Jessie, the wife of Darius Smith, on
Eightmile creek; Maud, the wife of Milton
O'Brien, in the employ of Johnson Brothers;
Margareta, teacher in Sherman county; Nettie,
a girl of seventeen and now with her father. Mr.
Sigman is a member of the G. A. R. and is often
at the county conventions. He is a prominent and
highly esteemed man and is looked up to by all.

GEORGE W. VANDERPOOL, who resides
about a mile up the creek from Dufur, was born
in Prineville, Oregon, on May 12, 1873. He is
the son of William T. and Susan (Heisler) Van
derpool, who is mentioned in another portion of
this work. The first ten years of his life were
spent in his native place, then he came with the
family to Fifteenmile creek ancl his education was
completed at Dufur. He remained with his father
on the farm until 1901, when the latter removed
to Dufur and he rented the estate. Since that
time, he has been handling the same with good
success, displaying energy and skill in his labors.

At Dufur, on January 1, 1900, Mr. Vander
pool married Miss Lillie Temple, who was born.
in Nevada, on February 24, 1874. Her parents
were William B. A. and Lavina (Watson)
Temple, natives of Indiana and now living retired
at Dufur. Mrs. Vanderpool has three brothers,
Edward, Harry and Pearl, and two sisters, Mrs.
Lottie Mulkins and Erma.
Fraternally, our subject is affiliated with the
I. U. O. F. and he and his wife belong to the
Rebekahs. He adheres to the Republican party
but is not especially active. One child has been.
born to Mr. and Mrs. Vanderpool, Fern. Mr.
Vanderpool has taken up the work of handling
his father's estate when the latter retired and
owing to his natural ability and the careful train
ing he received at the hands of his father, he has
been enabled to make an excellent success. The
Vanderpool estates are some of the best in the
county and the father has been known for years
as one of the leading stockmen in this part of the
state. Presaging the future by the past, one is
safe in asserting that our subject is destined to be
one of the leading citizens of the county and one-
of its worthy and substantial men.

LYMAN SMITH, a genial and benevolent
gentleman, who has spent many years in the Web-
foot State, and is now dwelling in the vicinity of
Hood River, is conducting a choice fruit farm
and is one of the well known and esteemed men
of this part of the county. He was born in Brad
ford county, Pennsylvania, on September 29,.
1834, the son of William and Jane (Blanvelt)
Smith, natives of Pennsylvania. The father came
from an old colonial family and the mother's
people came from Holland in the generation pre
ceding her. Our subject was educated im
Chemung county, New York, and when eight
was called to mourn the death of his father. Then
he lived with a neighbor for five years, after
which he was with his brother-in-law until sixteen.
He labored hard and saved what money he could'
and studied as the opportunities presented them
selves. He remained in that county until twenty-
lour when he married and rented land. Three
years later he bought a farm. After two years
on that he removed to Michigan and bought land.
He became homesick after a year, however, and
returned to New York and bought another farm
there. Ten years were spent in tilling that and'
again the adventurous spirit of our subject led'
him west, this time clear across the mountains
to Oregon. This was in 1875, and he located rail
road land which later reverted to the government.
He purchased the same from the government and"

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

since then he has remained here. He owns eighty-
five acres and cultivates about thirty. The same
is well set in the fruit producing trees of this sec
tion and other things and is a source of a good
income. Mr. Smith married in 1858, November
2d, while in Chemung county, the lady of his
choice being Helen Jackson, a native of Chemung
county. Her death occurred in 1892 at Hood
River. Her parents were William and Elizabeth
Jackson, natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Smith has
three sisters, Mary A. Baldwin, Adeline, widow
of John Lyons, and Henrietta Doney. Mrs.
Smith had two brothers, Lyman and Jahiel. To
Mr. Smith three children have been born :
Eleanor L., the wife of S. J. LaFrance, in Port
land ; William J., traveling salesman for Tatrum
& Bowen, of Portland ; and Charles D., engineer
on a tug at Cascade Locks. Mr. Smith is a mem
ber of the A. O. U. W. He is a strong Republi
can and voted for John C. Fremont the first Re
publican candidate for president. Since that
time, Mr. Smith has never cut his ticket and he
is well posted in all the issues that have been
before the people for the last fifty years. He has
held various minor offices, but never allowed his
name presented for public positions, as he prefers
the retirement of private industrial life.

WILLIAM T. VANDERPOOL is one of the
wealthy farmers and stockmen of Wasco county
and has met with such abundant success in his
labors that retirement from active business life
is justified. He resides in Dufur, where he has a
cosy, one and one-half story dwelling, provided
with all modern conveniences. He owns two
ranches, aggregating something over one section
of land which he is handling at the present time.
He also has considerable other property.
William T. Vanderpool was born in Polk
county, Oregon, on December 8, 1852, the son of
Larkin and Mary (Turnage) Vanderpool. He
was reared in Benton county until thirteen, then
the family went to Marion county and in 1869,
they moved into the Prineville country, where he
remained until 1883. His education was received
in the various places where he lived and in the
last year mentioned, he came to the vicinity of
Dufur. He bought a ranch from Jacob Gulliford,
which was the family home for ten years, then
he bought the Henderson donation claim which
was taken up in 1852, the first one taken in this
vicinity. Mr. Vanderpool has given especial at
tention to stock raising, doing also diversified
farming. He has some well bred cattle and some
choice Poll Angus bulls. He usually winters
about four hundred head of stock and is one of

the most successful handlers of stock in this part
of the country.
On June 24, 1872, at Prineville, Mr. Vander
pool married Miss Susan Heisler, who was born
in Lane county, Oregon. Her parents and
brothers and sisters are mentioned in another
portion of this work. To this union, six children
have been born : George and William C, operat
ing their father's farm ; Floyd and Charles, school
boys at home ; Eva, the wife of Melvin Sigman, a
farmer, two miles north from Dufur ; Olivia, wife
of Archie Moad,. a blacksmith at Tygh.
Mr. Vanderpool is a member of the A. O.
U. W. and of the I. O. O. F. He is a good
strong Republican, has filled the office of road
supervisor and school director and is frequently
a delegate to the conventions. He is one of the
substantial and leading citizens of the county.

MONROE HEISLER, a native of Oregon,
born in Marion county, September 27, 1852, now
resides at Dufur, Wasco county, engaged in build
ing and contracting. He is the son of William
(Grandpa) and Martha (McConnell) Heisler.
Our subject lived with his parents and at
tended district school in Lane and Linn counties,
Oregon, and removed to what is now Crook
county. He also worked at teaming and black
smithing, and for ten years was in the business of
raising sheep in company with his father-in-law,
E. N. White, in Crook county. He came to
Wasco county about 1885, locating at Dufur,
where he was engaged in the general merchandise
business with his father. For two vears they con
ducted the first store in the place. They disposed
of the property and our subject returned to Crook
county and went into the mercantile business in
Prineville, removing thence to Dufur where he
was employed two years in carpenter work. Go
ing to Lagrande he remained one year, where he
purchased an interest with Crandall, the jeweler,
returning to Dufur. He then went onto a ranch
for which he and his father had traded the store,
and was for eight years engaged in farming.
They had in all six hundred and forty acres, in
cluding railroad land which they had purchased.
In 1897 the oldest son of our subject, Charles M.,
purchased "Grandpa" Heisler's interest in the
ranch, on which he now lives. Since that time our
subject has resided in Dufur engaged in building
and contracting. In company with E. T. Hinman
he built the Dufur school house. Mr. Heisler
has served as school director several years and
has been road supervisor for a term of two years.
He is politically independent, although not an
active partisan, and he has been a member of the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

255

city council of Dufur. He is a member of
Ridgely Lodge, No. 71, I. O. O. F., of which
he is past grand ; Nicholson Encampment ; A. O.
U. W. ; W. O. W., and he and wife are members
of Star Lodge, No. 23, Rebekahs, and the
Christian church.
At Prineville, June 4, 1876, Mr. Heisler was
united in marriage to Cynthia L. White, born in
Linn county, Oregon. Her parents Edward N.
and Catherine (Burkhart) White, were natives of
Iowa. The father, a prominent western pioneer,
crossed the plains so early as 1840, and is now
living near Prineville. The mother is dead. Mrs.
Heisler has three half brothers living ; Grant, en
gaged in mining in Canada ; Aaron and Edward,
at Prineville ; one full sister, Abbie, wife of T.
C. Baker, a stockman near Corvallis; and three
half sisters ; Jennie, married to J. L. McCully,
of Prineville ; Docia, of Boise City, Idaho ; and
Ella, wife of James Cram, of Prineville. Mr. and
Mrs. Heisler have five children, Charles, Claud,
Clarence, Harold, and Minnie, wife of Park Bol
ton, a farmer residing near Wrentham, Oregon.

WILLIAM HEISLER, better known as
"Grandpa Heisler" is one of the pioneers of the
Pacific coast and a detailed account of his career
is very interesting in a work of this character,
therefore, for the benefit of all, we append the
same. William Heisler was born in Schuylkill county,
Pennsylvania, on April 13, 1828, the son of John
and Catherine (Yost) Heisler, also natives of the
Keystone State. They were both descended from
prominent and old Dutch families. The father's
father was a patriot in the Revolution. Our sub
ject was reared and educated in his native county
ancl when 1846 came he went to Pittsburg and
wrought at his trade of tobacconist and cigar
maker. Then he traveled to Adelphia, Ohio,
thence to Louisville, Kentucky, later to Bethlehem,
Indiana, and thence to St. Louis, where he en
listed in Colonel Powell's Battalion, being en
rolled in Company A, under Captain Sublett. His
service was for eighteen months or until peace
was declared with Mexico. When they got as far
as Fort Leavenworth, word came of the Whit
man massacre, and his command was ordered to
that section. The following winter was spent
near the present site of Omaha and in the spring
thev made their way to Grand Island in the Platte.
As peace was declared, they were discharged, but
at that time the government built Fort Kearney
and they remained until the regulars relieved them
in the fall of 1848, and they were formally dis
charged at Fort Leavenworth. In the spring of

the following year, Mr. Heisler with four friends
came with ox teams to California and soon was
working in the mines, first at Weavertown, sixty
miles northeast from Sacramento and then in
other places with moderate success and then re
turned to Missouri via Panama. From June 22,
1851, to March 12, 1852, he remained in Missouri,
then came overland with his wife, having married.
His brother-in-law and others accompanied them
and they arrived at Foster's ranch in Clackamas
county on August 16, 1852. Soon he took a do
nation claim nine miles south from Salem and
later sold it to Gaines, who was the second gover-r
nor of Oregon. Then he took another claim in
Lane county and there made his home until 1868.
Next he bought a forty acre tract near Browns
ville, and in 1870 sold it and came to Prineville.
There were but thirteen settler^ in that part of the
country upon his arrival and he contracted to have
lumber brought over from Linn county at three
cents per pound for freighting, with which he built
the first store in Prineville. He remained in busi
ness there until 1880, when he sold one half inter
est to Arthur Breyman, and later the balance to
John Summerville, and removed to The Dalles.
In September, 1882, Mr. Heisler opened a store
in Dufur, there being but five houses and a black
smith shop there then. For four years Mr. Heis
ler continued there and then he sold to A. J. Brig
ham, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Next we see our subject in the cattle business
with his sons, they handling the stock in Crook
county, which continued until 1897. Then he sold
his cattle and land in Crook county and purchased
a flour mill in the edge of Dufur which he oper
ated until the spring of 1903. At the present time
Mr. Heisler is dwelling in Dufur and has a com
fortable cottage in the centre of town, which is
situated in a block well set to trees and ornamental
shrubs. He is widely known and is as highly es
teemed as he is known and is one of the true his
toric characters of this part of the state. Mr.
Heisler has one sister, Mrs. Catherine Lyser, a
widow at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Mrs.
Heisler has one sister, Susan Cheshire, a widow in
Sodaville, this state.
The marriage of Mr. Heisler and Martha, the
daughter of John and Polly (Hill) McConnell,
natives of Kentucky and South Carolina, respect
ively, occurred in Cedar county, Missouri, at the
home of the bride, on December 4, 1851. Mrs.
Heisler was born in Missouri, on August 8, 1834.
The children born to this worthy couple, are;
Munroe, a carpenter in Dufur ; Alexander, a farm
er near Dufur; Jefferson D., with his father;
William H, a miller in Portland ; Louisa, wife of
George Cary, a groceryman in North Yakima ;
Susannah, wife of W. T. Vanderpool, a farmer of

256

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Dufur : Mary, wife of W. L. Vanderpool a farmer
of Dufur; Catherine, wife of Andrew Howie, a
fanner four miles out from Dufur ; and Annie.
the wife of John McAtee. a clerk in Dufur. Mr.
and Mrs. Heisler are members of the United
Brethern church and have always been devout and
worthy people. For twenty-two years they have
favored the prohibitionist movements and are
stanch supporters of all that tends to build up the
community. The descendants of these venerable
people are nine children, twenty-one grandchil
dren, and eleven great-grandchildren, only two
of the entire number being deceased.

JOSEPH H. SHERAR. There is not a
community in eastern Oregon where Sherar's
Bridge is not known. For nearly thirty-five
years it has been a prominent point in the map of
the state and the almost ceaseless travel that
wends its way across the bridge comes and goes
to all points of the northwest. The roaring Des
Chutes, a greater obstacle to the early travel dian
the Cascades, themselves, refused to allow pas
sage of its precipitous banks or any traveler to
pass in safety over its waters, unless the tribute
of great labor was performed to make a place of
descent and a bridge to span it. No ferry could
live in its wild flood. Like the water of Lodore
it comes down in a maddening rush, roaring.
booming, foaming, and fighting, like a wild ty
rant, furious at any restraint, never quiet until its
bewitched waters are held in the firm grasp of
old Columbia, in whose mighty arms they find
their way to ocean's expanse. Beautiful and wild
in a high degreee, the waters of a heaven blue that
beggars description, everything connected with
the stream bespeaks a decisiveness in nature that
finds expression with no tamed spirit or mellowed
lines. The very rocks rise in sheer precipices
that defy intrusion or hang in beetling cliffs where
only the eagle*s aery may be found. Through
countless ages the busy waters have eroded these
stalwarts until naked and bare they stretch hun
dreds of feet from the blue, galloping waters at
their feet towards the clouds above. Only at re
mote intervals, even in this day of advanced
civilization's skilled engineering, do the wise at
tempt to make a crossing of the untamed Des
Chutes. Nature saw the wildness of the scheme
and in a determination to assist the man who was
to come, jutted out two huge abuttments of flinty
rock and bade the river pour its torrents between.
There on their flat tops forty feet across the
chasm and hundreds of feet below the surround
ing country, she invited man to span the mad
waters, and to aid his efforts in expediting com-

f

merce. she cast a canon, tortuous and rough, up
on either side. Four of the tough gnarled pines
which cling here and tliere to tlie rocks, were
brought up, hewed and two huge capital A's
were planted across the chasm, their prongs rest
ing on either rocky wall and their obtuse angles
meeting in mid air. These served for side sup-
1 ports and the bridge was swung. A more com-
| plete account of the opening of this important
! thoroughfare is given elsewhere in this work.
j Many thousands of money were expended before
a safe road could be hewed up the canons, but
since it was first opened it has been one of the
great arteries of travel in eastern Oregon, and
the toll bridge is famous in the history of this
part of the state. Mr. Sherar has had charge
of the property for many years and his name is
indelibly connected with the enterprise.
Since he is thus one of the promoters of set
tlement and traffic in this part of the state, and
since he is a pioneer and one of the leading men
of this county, we are pleased to speak more par
ticularly of Mr. Sherar's life. He was born in
Vermont, on November 16, 1833, and his father
John Sherar. was a native of Ireland. He mar
ried an Irish maiden and a few years before the
birth of our subject came to the United States
with his wife and three children. He settled to
farming in the Green Mountain State and there
our subject passed the first two years of his life.
Then the family came on west to St. Lawrence
county. New York, and there he gained his edu
cation and was reared. He remained with his
parents until 1855. when he was led by an ad
venturous spirit and the glow of a strong con
stitution to push out into the west in search of
that which lures the true pioneer to the wilder
portions of Nature's domain. Fortune glim
mered in the west and beckoned him, while a
taste for the wild and adventurous also impelled
him and soon he had decided to come by the isth
mus to the sunny land of California. Alining and
packing attracted him and these occupations kept
him busy until 1802, with also a short time spent
in fanning on the Klamath river in the north
part of the state. Then he sold all his property
and came on to Oregon. He soon had an outfit
and was packing out from The Dalles to the vari
ous mining camps of eastern Oregon and Idaho.
There were no roads then, only trails in most
places, and the business was attended with great
danger. For two years, however, he followed the
business with good success and then he sold to
Robert Heppner for six thousand dollars. The
second trip of that man was attended bv the loss
of the entire outfit from Indians. Mr. Sherar
had experienced no difficulty with the savages.
After that, Mr. Sherar devoted himself to stock

Josepk H. Ske

Mrs. Josepk H. Skerar

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

257

raising on a farm he secured near the present site
of Dufur. Two years later he removed to Tygh
Valley and took a preemption and continued
stock raising until 1871. On October 3, of that
year, Mr. Sherar came to his present location and
since then he has done a world of good to this
country by opening and keeping in excellent re
pair this crossing of the Des Chutes. At immense
cost he made a proper grade from the plateau
above to the bridge and thence to the heights on
the opposite side of the river. He has maintained
the same continuously since then and is known
as one of the best ancl most careful road makers
of this part of the state. He constructed a hotel
when he settled here and has operated the same
since. In 1893, on the west bank of the river,
he erected a fine hotel of thirty-three rooms and
furnished it with all the modern conveniences.
It is supplied with the purest spring water and
nestles under the protection of the rolling heights
on that side of the river and is an ideal retreat
for one who wishes to enjoy the quiet and wild-
ness of a summer outing with the comforts of
a home. The scenery is beyond description and a
little nook of land made fruitful with the spring
water, produces all the fruits found anywhere in
the country. Mr. Sherar has been guided with
excellent wisdom in the planning and construc
tion of his hotel, as the rooms are all commodious
and pleasantly arranged both for comfort and
view. Mrs. Sherar, a lady of refinement and in
telligence, spares no pains in making the place so
comfortable and inviting that it is a most popular
resort for summer tourists and the traveling pub
lic. Under her skillful supervision, the Sherar
Bridge Hotel has won a wide and enviable fame.
In addition to the other beauties mentioned, the
Des Chutes makes a leap of many feet here, pre
senting a scenic effect that is inspiring.
On April 26, 1863, Mr. Sherar married Miss
Jane A. Herbert, the wedding occurring on the
ranch on Fifteenmile creek. She was born in
Joe Daviess county, Illinois, on October 11,
1848. Her father, George F. Herbert, was born
in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and his ancestors
were an old and prominent Virginia family. His
grandfather was a patriot in the Revolution.
George Herbert married Miss Elizabeth McCor-
mick, a native of the same place as her husband
and descended from Scotch ancestry. In 1850,
he crossed the plains with ox teams, landing in
The Dalles the day Mrs. Sherar was two years
old. The trip occupied six months and was no
more eventful than the ordinary one. Mr. Her
bert took a donation claim near Eugene and in
1856 bought land on a portion of which Dufur
now stands. Later he sold to Mr. Imbler and re
moved to Tygh Valley. After that he purchased
17

another place near Dufur and there his death
occurred on February 6, 1866. His widow died
at The Dalles, on July 12, 1899. Mrs. Sherar
has one brother, George, a hotel man in Cornu
copia, Oregon. Mr. Sherar has no brothers or
sisters. In political matters, Mr. Sherar is in
fluential, but will never accept office, although
importuned frequently so to do. He is a Re
publican and can give a good reason for his
stand. In addition to the enterprises mentioned,
Mr. Sherar handles much land which he owns in
this and Sherman counties and also raises many
sheep and cattle.

ALVIN SIGMAN. On August 5, 1872, it
was announced to Richard Sigman that a son was
born to him. He was living with his wife at that
time in Christian county, Illinois, and there they
remained until 1883. The son born on that day
was christened Alvin and he grew up as the youth
of the Prairie State, gaining educational training
from the district school and spending the times
between on his father's farm. He made good
progress and in 1883, when the father decided to
try the west, he came with them, landing in Du
fur, where he continued his educational training,
as also in the Starve-out hollow school, where the
father located and secured land. The journey
west was a time of anticipation to all the members
of the family and so well were they pleased with
the country and its opportunities that they decided
to remain and the good things of the west have
been showered upon them in profusion, owing to
the wise industry that the father practiced and
taught his children. In good time, our subject
began the duties of life for himself and finally the
father sold him the farm where he now dwells^
about two miles up Fifteenmile creek from Dufur.
He has the estate nearly all paid for and is pros
pering in his labors. He was well trained by a
skilled father and is exemplifying the wise and
good principles instilled in earlier life. He has a
good place, has shown himself a careful and good
farmer and stockman and is among the popular
young men of this part of the county.
On January 7, 1902, Mr. Sigman married Miss
Margaret E. Thomas, who was born in Clacka
mas county, Oregon, the daughter of Alvin A.
and Mary J. Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Sigman
started out in life with bright prospects and with
every indication that they will achieve the success
that is so gratifying to all who win their way in
this world. They are kind, genial people, have
many friends, and are worthy of the confidence
and esteem which is generously bestowed.
It is interesting to note that the place some-

:258

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

times called Dry Hollow, was originally known as
Starve-out Hollow, so named because the first
settler there was literally starved out.

CHARLES M. HEISLER, one of the enter
prising, public-spirited young men of Wasco coun
ty, is a farmer living one mile southwest of Dufur.
He is a native Oregonian, having been born in
Prineville, June 3, 1879. His parents, sketches of
whom will be found elsewhere in this work, were
Monroe and Cynthia L. (White) Heisler.
Our subject attended district school two years
in Prineville, and also the Dufur and Lagrande
graded schools, and this education was supple
mented by a year at Albany College, Albany, Ore
gon. Returning home he remained with his par
ents engaged in farm work and stock-raising,
which business he has since followed successfully.
In 1897 he purchased an interest in the property
from "Grandpa" Heisler, and later purchased two
hundred acres adjoining his land. They culti
vate four hundred acres of wheat and barley,
which averages forty bushels to the acre. They
winter about one hundred head of cattle, and the
same number of hogs. Our subject has a substan
tial story and a half frame house, supplied with
the first barb-wire telephone in Wasco county,
connecting at Dufur with long distance telephone.
Mr. Heisler was married August 26, 1900, to
Eva L. Powell, born near Dufur, July 13, 1883,
the daughter of Isaac J. and Adelia E. (Colver)
Powell, the father a native of Illinois and the
mother of Marshfield, Coos county, Oregon. Her
father came to Oregon when a small boy, and is
now a farmer at Tygh Valley. Mrs. Heisler has
three brothers and four sisters. Our subject and
¦ his estimable wife have lost one daughter, Blanch
Agatha, who died August 26, 1903, at the home,
aged two years, one month and two days.
Fraternally Mr. Heisler is a member of Ridge-
ly Lodge, No. 71, I. O. O. F., and W. O. W.
Both are members of Star Lodge No. 23, Re-
bekahs, and Mrs. Heisler is a devoted member of
.the United Brethren church.

MELVIN SIGMAN, one of the industrious
young men of Wasco county, who devotes his
energies to tilling the soil, is also one of the
popular and genial dwellers near Dufur. He is
owner of the old Sigman estate, which lies about
two miles up Fifteenmile creek from the town of
Dufur and this he purchased from his father, who
is mentioned elsewhere in this work. He was
born in Illinois, on May 17, 1871, and there he re-'

mained for the first fourteen years of his life.
Then he came with his parents to Oregon, and
here he completed the education begun in the
Prairie State. He remained with his father and
learned well the industries of stock raising and
farming. In 1901, he purchased the estate men
tioned and since that time has been handling it
for himself. In addition to this, he rents a farm
from William T. Vanderpool and the two are pro
ducing fine crops of grain. Mr. Sigman's plan is
to summer fallow one farm and raise grain on the
other, alternating each season. In this manner,
he secures the best results and his yields are up
to the best in the country. His places are kept in
order and an air of thrift and industry pervades
everything. At the residence of the bride's father, on De
cember 18, 1897, Mr. Sigman married Miss Eva
M. Vanderpool, whose parents and brothers and
sisters are given space elsewhere in this work.
To this marriage one child has been born, George
R. Mr. Sigman is a member of the United Arti
sans and in political matters is allied with the
Republicans. He is a bright and popular voung
man, and he and his wife have the good will and
esteem of all who know them. They both come
from good families, well known in this county
and all have labored wisely and well in the de
velopment and advancement of Wasco county.

JAMES H. GILLMORE, an eminently suc
cessful business man of Wamic, Wasco county,
is engaged in the blacksmith and wagonmaking
enterprise, and general woodworking. He was
born near Marion, Linn county, Iowa, December
24, 1858, the son of James and Emily (Pardee)
Gillmore, the former a native of New York, the
latter of Vermont. The parents of James Gill-
more were, also, natives of the Empire State, their
ancestors coming from Ireland. They were farm
ers for many generations. The father of our sub
ject was a cooper. He died in Clackamas county,
Oregon, in 1895. The mother passed from earth
in 1868. It was in 1876 that our subject, accompanied
by his father, came to Oregon, arriving July 3.
When he was five years of age his family had" re
moved from Iowa to Missouri, where he received
a fairly good practical education in the public
schools. James Gillmore, the father, purchased
land in Clackamas county, and with him our sub
ject remained until he was twenty-three years of
age. He then came to the vicinity of Wamic, re
maining one summer, and going thence to Ellens-
burg. A year later he came to the neighborhood
of Wamic, where he has since continuously re-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

259

sided. He conducted a saw mill near Kingsley,
where he was burned out. One winter he worked
in a cooper shop, and at different periods for ten
years herded sheep. Accumulating one thousand
three 'hundred sheep of his own he disposed of
them to a firm which failed, and could not pay for
them. For the second time our subject found
himself "broke," but he energetically went to
work, and purchased a ranch on credit, near the
town of Wamic, and engaged successfully in
farming two years. This he sold and bought a
blacksmith shop at Tygh, which he conducted
thirteen months, disposing of the same and pur
chasing a ranch on the hill overlooking Wamic,
and this property he still owns. In April, 1900,
he purchased a shop in Wamic where he at pres
ent carries on a successful blacksmith business.
Mr. Gillmore is an expert mechanic, and although
he never served a day at his trade, he can shoe
a horse, build a wagon or house or barn, and, in
fact, can efficiently turn his hand to almost every
thing in the mechanical line. With the exception
of the fire which consumed his first sawmill ven
ture and the loss of his sheep, our subject has
prospered greatly, and is at present recognized as
one of the most substantial and progressive citi
zens of Wasco county. He has four sisters ;
Effie, wife of John Churchill, of Clackamas
county; Ida, married to S. E. Phillips, a farmer
of Cresswell, Lane county, Oregon; Emily, wife
of S. L. Dart, of Mollala, Clackamas county ; and
Elsie, wife of William White, of San Francisco,
California. August 3, 1897, at The Dalles, Mr. Gillmore
was married to Mrs. Minerva A. Chamberlain,
daughter of R. B. and Nancy B. (Corum) San
ford. She has one brother and one sister, Alfred
C, and Mary, wife of Eugene Pratt, of Wamic.
Mrs. Gillmore has one child by her first marriage,
Burrell S., Chamberlain, residing at Wamic.
Mr. Gillmore is a member of Assembly No.
122, United Artisans, being Master Artisan. Po
litically he is a member of none of the parties, be
ing independent. In 1876, accompanied by his
father, our subject came to San Francisco, in
March, and thence coasted up from Point Arena
to Humboldt Bay. They returned to Point Arena
and took passage on the steamer Great Republic
for Portland.

JOHN B. MAGILL, who is one of the most
prominent ancl enterprising farmers in Wasco
county, resides three-quarters of a mile east of
Wamic. He was born March 10, 1837, in St.
Clairsville, Belmont county, Ohio, the son of Ar
chibald G. and Sarah A. (Bailey) Magill, both na
tives of Virginia. The parents of the paternal

grandfather of our subject were, also, natives of
Virginia, springing from an old and distinguished
family. In 18 16 they emigrated to Ohio over
land. He was a wagonmaker by trade, dying in
Nebraska in 1899. The mother of our subject
died when he was a lad ten years of age. The
paternal grandfather of our subject participated
in the war of 1812.
Until he was twenty years of age John B.
Magill remained in Ohio where he attended dis
trict schools, one of them being under the tuition
of Judge Matthew Deady, deceased, once a prom
inent citizen of Portland, Oregon. The aunt of
our subject taught in one of the rooms of this
school ; Judge Matthew Deady in the other. In
1857 our subject went to Iowa and for eighteen
months worked there burning brick used in the
construction of the State insane aslyum. Thence
he removed to Iron Mountain, Missouri, where he
was employed burning charcoal and farming,
about three years. At the opening of the war of
the Rebellion he was in the state militia four
months, "participating in several skirmishes ana
guarding bridges, etc. At the expiration of his
term of service he went to Iowa that he might
again enlist, but the enlistment of his brothers
William and Thomas in the First Iowa Cavalry,
compelled our subject, patriotic though he was, to
remain at home for the purpose of caring for his
father and the homestead. Thomas was killed at
the assault on Little Rock, Arkansas, and William
died from disease contracted during the war. In
1874 Mr. Magill went to San Francisco and
thence to Portland, Oregon, where he remained
two months treating his children who had con
tracted the measles en route. At the time of his
arival in Portland he had one thousand dollars,
but after purchasing an outfit he had remaining
the sum of twelve dollars when the family left ovei
the old Barlow road for Spokane Falls, Washing
ton. On his arrival in the vicinity of where Wamic
now is he was warned that it would not be safe to
continue his. journey as the Indians were quite
hostile. He then camped on his present home
stead the first night and decided to remain. Since
that period it has been his home. He at first filed
on eighty acres, and later purchased eighty acres
of railroad land, adding thereto from time to time
until he at present has, all told, five hundred and
sixty acres. Air. Alagill was among the first to
engage in sheep breeding, and at this he has been
eminently successful. Owing to his wife's ill
health he has been compelled to suspend personal
active operations on the ranch. For eight years
she has been confined to her bed and is a great
sufferer. Mr. Alagill has four half brothers liv
ing, Franklin and James, in Nebraska, and Sam
uel and Wesley in Indiana, all farmers.

260

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Our subject was married July 4, i860, at
Farmington, Missouri, to Emily J. Gardner, born
in Indiana and reared near Burlington, Iowa. Her
parents were William and Rachel (Banta) Gard
ner, the father a native of New York ; the mother
of Kentucky. Mrs. Magill has three brothers liv
ing; Julius and James, living at Nevada, Mis
souri ; and William, an Indiana farmer. Her
brother Adolphus, who was a member of the
Twentyninth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, was
at the siege of Vicksburg, and died shortly after
ward. Air. and Mrs. Magill have seven children ;
William F., in Wasco county ; Fred G., at Wamic ;
George G. ; Annie, wife of Elmer Remington, of
Grass Valley, Sherman county, Oregon ; Edith,
married to John Eubanks, of Wamic; and Jessie,
wife of Rufus McCorkle, of Wapinitia ; and May,
married to Charles Crofoot, of Wamic, who as
sists his father-in-law in conducting the exten
sive farm. Mr. Magill is a Republican, but not
active.

ARTHUR W. FARGHER. In the Irish sea,
midway between Ireland and England, and seven
teen miles south from Scotland, lies the well-
known Isle of Man, the ancient Eubonia, and
sometimes called Manx Mannin, or Manx Van-
nin. It is a small country, thirty odd miles long
and one-third as wide, but supports a population
of over fifty thousand souls. At no point in this
little kingdom can one get so far inland that the
sighing of the sea is not heard. Here, where his
ancestors had lived for generations, dating back
far beyond a connected record, and evidenced by
the moss-grown headstones that bear dates cen
turies ago, the subject of this sketch was permit
ted to first see the light. A genuine Manxman,
he inherited the sturdiness and independence of
his country and his family and from the date of
his birth, December 10, 1855, until the present,
he has shown a spirit and worth that characterize
the true man in any country. His parents,
Thomas C. and Susan (Christian) Fargher, were
born in the Isle and the mother's family, as well
as the Farghers, was one of the old and prominent
ones of the land. On both sides they were Quak
ers for many generations back but now are allied
with various denominations. The father was a
prominent real estate owner there and had much
land, which he left to his children. The parents
both died in that country. The spirit of advent
ure overcame the love for home land and in 1870
our subject accompanied his father to the United
States to search for new locations and attain
greater success. They came direct to San Fran
cisco and there remained with an elder brother,
Thomas, who is mentioned elsewhere in this

work. Another brother, Horatio, had also come
with our subject. Arthur learned the blacksmith
trade from his brother Thomas, and wrought
there for eight years. During that time, Thomas
had come to Oregon and thither Arthur came in
1878, and for a time was employed with the O. R.
& N. After that he took land near Bakeoven,
but for five years remained in The Dalles, having
previously spent one year in Portland. Then he
drifted into the sheep business as his brothers
were both engaged in that industry. He did well
from the start, owing to his care and industry, and
now he owns nearly six thousand of these profit
able animals. He has four thousand acres of
deeded land and leases much besides. He is one
of the heavy sheep owners of The Dalles and
while his property is located in Bakeoven, he
makes his home in The Dalles, his residence being
at 804 east Third street.
On July 2, 1885, Mr. Fargher married Miss
Alaria Baker, the wedding occurring at The
Dalles. She was born in Nanaimo, British Co
lumbia, on February 11, 1865. Her father,
George Baker, was employed by the Hudson's
Bay Company and came from his birthplace, Bir
mingham, England, to America in 1852. He is
now a capitalist in Nanaimo. For many years he
was foreman for the company in their large mine
of coal. He was associated with Mr. Dunsmuir,
who after located the famous Wellington mines.
Mrs. Fargher's mother was born in the same place
as her husband and was married just before their
trip which consumed five months around the
"Horn" in a sailing vessel. She lives in Na
naimo. Mrs. Fargher's brothers and sisters are
named as follows, Benjamin, Joseph, James, Dan
iel, Mrs. Esther Nichols, and Mrs. Mary A.
Shaw. Air. Fargher's brothers are alredy men
tioned. To this worthy couple the following
named children have been bora; Clarence, aged
eighteen; Frederic, aged five; Arthur, aged
twelve ; Mona, aged fifteen ; and Ellen, seven
years old. Mrs. Fargher is a member of the
Methodist church and also of the relief corps.
She is an active worker in church lines. Mr.
Fargher is a Republican, well informed and active,
but never an aspirant to office. He stands well in
the county, is a man whose judgment and advice
are sought and is of influence and prominence in
the community.

ALVIN A. THOMAS, deceased. Among
the worthy pioneers of the great state of Oregon,
the name of Alvin A. Thomas appears well up in
the roll of honor. He was a man of stanch Chris
tian character and lived the faith that makes
faithful and manifested in his career the principles.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

261

of Christianity in every day life. He was born in
Michigan on October 6, 1837, the son of Laren L.
and Mary A. (Mathews) Thomas, natives of the
eastern part of the United States. The mother
died when this son was small. The father died
in Marion county, Oregon. Our subject was edu
cated in Michigan and Oregon whither he same
with his father, who had married Eliza Spoors.
Settlement was made in Marion county and they
took a donation claim, where the father remained
until his death. His widow still resides there.
The date of this journey across the plains was
the forties. Our subject was reared principally
in the Wallamette valley and there on April 12,
i860, he married Miss Mary J. Quinn, the wed
ding occurring in Clackamas county. Mrs.
Thomas' parents were Joseph and Polly
(Walker) Quinn. They were married in the east
.and crossed the plains in 1852. The father suf
fered terribly from the cholera, but survived.
The mother was born in Orange county, Indiana,
on November 10, 1822, and died in Clackamas
county, on August 7, 1888. Mrs. Thomas was
born in Indiana and well remembers the trip
-across the plains. After her marriage in Clack
amas county she and her husband resided there
until 1900, July 4, when they came east of the
mountains and since then she has resided with her
daughter, Mrs. Sigman. At Dufur, on Alarch 22,
1904, Mr. Thomas was called to depart from the
scenes of his earthly labors and enter into the
-realities of the world beyond this wilderness way.
He died as he had lived, a true Christian, and all
knew that a good man had that day been taken
from among them. He was buried with becom
ing ceremonies and his remains rest in the Dufur
cemetery. He had for many years been a member
of the Christian church as his widow is now and
they supported the faith with zeal. To Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas six children have been born ; Mar
garet E., the wife of Alvin Sigman, who is men
tioned elsewhere in this work ; Polly A., the wife
of Cyrus Covey, on a farm nearby ; Walter A., a
teamster at Boyd ; Lorenzo M., a farmer near
Prineville; Charles K., at Dufur; and William
H, who died March 1, 1884, aged eighteen. Mrs.
Thomas' mother bore sixteen children ; she was a
woman of whom it may be said, because of her
Christian life, that she was a real "mother in
Israel."

THOMAS STACKPOLE LANG, deceased,
•one of the old-time settlers, was well and
favorably known throughout Wasco county. A
memoir of him is fittingly placed in a history of
Central Oregon, since he had much to do with
business and political events in that section.

Thomas S. Lang was born in North Berwick,
Maine, on June 16, 1826, and was the eldest son
of John Damon and Anne (Stackpole) Lang.
His father was a native of Gardiner, Alaine,
whose ancestors were among the early settlers of
Massachusetts ; his mother was born and reared
at North Berwick. John D. Lang was promi
nently identified with many large enterprises in
his native state. He built the first steamboat on
the Kennebec river, was one of the promoters of
the Maine Central Railroad, was an extensive
woolen manufacturer, and one of the most promi
nent Quakers of New England.
Thomas Lang was educated principally at the
Friends' boarding school in Providence, R. I.,
which is now Brown University, and while a lad
removed with his parents to Vassalboro, Kennebc
county. After his days of school life were over
he was associated with his father many years in
charge of the Vassalboro woolen mills, in which
they were both deeply interested. On December
4, 1856, he was married to Miss Mary M. Var-
ney, of Brooks, Maine, the eldest daughter of
Moses and Margaret McClure Varney, who were
both natives of Sandwich, N. H. He was also
interested in lumbering, owning large tracts of
timber lands in the north of Maine and operating
an extensive lumber business on the Kennebec
river and at Bath, where his mills were situated.
He was also intensely interested in and owned
much fine blooded stock, horses and cattle, at
times owning the finest herds of Jersey, Hereford
and Alderney cattle in New England.
In 1867 Mr. Lang was appointed commis
sioner from the United States to the Paris Expo
sition, and, retiring from business for the time,
traveled for about two years in Europe. After
his return he resided in Augusta. For two terms
he was in the State Senate and for one term in the
House of Representatives. He was a very promi
nent man in his state ancl was marked hy those
sterling virtues of integrity and uprightness
which characterized him through life. His politi
cal colleagues were Reed, Dingley, Blaine, Frye
and others.
Owing to ill health he determined to try the
west, and in 1875 came to Oregon, spending the
winter in the Willamette valley at Rickreal. The
following year he went to The Dalles, investing
in sheep and ranches near Heppner. For twenty
years before his death he had resided in The
Dalles, at one time being part owner and editor
of the Wasco Sun, and also edited the Times-
Mountaineer. From 1890 to 1894 he was receiver
of the U. S. land office at The Dalles. His death
occurred on#June 18, 1896. Mr. Lang had lived
a good life, had shown himself a man of patriot
ism, ability and faithfulness, and was sincerely

262

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

mourned in^many places. His widow and two
daughters, Anne AL and Elizabeth L. Lang,
survive him, his eldest child, a son, having died
shortly after the family's arrival at Rickreal.
Mrs. Lang and her daughters reside at The
Dalles. Mr. Lang's only brother, the one sur
viving member of the Lang family, John Alton
Lang, is still living at Waterville, Maine.

JOHN L. ELWOOD, M. D., physician and
surgeon, residing at Tygh Valley, Wasco county,
was born at Leesburgh, Highland county, Ohio,
September 8, 1868. His parents, Clark and Char
lotte. (Hisky) Elwood, were natives of the same
state, as were the parents of Clark Elwood. The
latter was a druggist, and he died January 13,
1904. The mother comes from Pennsylvania
Dutch ancestry, her father having been a pioneer
of the states of Ohio and Iowa, and is now living
at the advanced age of ninety-two in Iowa. The
mother of our subject resides at Ellensburgh.
John L. Elwood was reared in the state of
Ohio until he reached the age of seventeen years,
receiving his elementary education in the graded
and high schools. Subsquently he was matricu
lated in the Presbyterian seminary, Oakdale, Ne
braska, taking a preparatory course comprising
eighteen months. He then entered the Missouri
Medical College, St. Louis, from which he was
graduated in 1890 with honors. This course was
supplemented by a term at the Ainsworth Medical
College, St. Joseph, Alissouri, from which he
was graduated in 1891. He began practice with
his uncle, Robert P. Elwood, at Oakdale, Ne
braska, who was one of the oldest practitioners in
the state, his practice covering a period of fifty
years. With his uncle, Dr. Elwood, he remained
eight months. Coming to Oregon afterward he
appeared before the state board of medical exam
iners, and subsequently was appointed state
health officer of Oregon, at Gardiner, and began
practice at Gardiner, where he remained five
years. He was, also, assistant United States
marine surgeon. In 1898 Dr. Elwood disposed
of his practice and came to Tygh valley, where
he bought out Dr. N. G. Pown, and has since
remained here. He owns a six hundred acre
ranch, one-half mile from Tygh valley, which is
stocked with one hundred and fifty head of hogs.
Dr. Elwood recently sold one hundred head of
cattle, having at present twenty head of graded
stock. He has two standard bred horses, two
thoroughbreds, and three Percheron mares, each
of them weighing about sixteen hundred pounds.
Altogether Dr. Elwood has twenty-one head of
horses.

Dr. Elwood has two brothers, Harry S., a
prominent citizen of Ellensburgh, Washington,
in the drug business, and Robert, a farmer and
dairyman, living near Ellensburgh. Three uncles
of our subject are physicians, as are seven of his
first ' cousins. During thirty-eight years the
father of our subject was the leading druggist
in Leesburgh, Ohio. The political affiliations of
Dr. Elwood are with the Republican party, he
was a delegate to the last county and state con
vention, and he takes as active a part in the cam
paign issues of his party as his practice will per
mit. He was a school director at Gardiner, and
fills the same office at Tygh valley.
At Ellensburgh, Washington, January 10,
1893, Dr. Elwood was united in marriage to Ora
F. Hatfield, born near Ellensburg. Her father,
John Hatfield, was one of the early pioneers of
Kittitas valley. Mrs. Elwood has four brothers:
John, at Northpbrt, Washington ; Henry, of
North Yakima, Washington; Herman, a drug
clerk in Spokane; and Lloyd, a school boy. Dr.
Elwood is a member of the A. F. & A. M. ; R. A.
M. ; Gardiner Lodge, No. 21, I. O. O. F. ; A. O.
U. W., of which he is past master workman ; In
dependent Order of Foresters ; K. O. T. M. ;
Degree of Honor, of which Mrs. Elwood is, also,
a member ; and the M. W. of A., of Tygh valley.
Mrs. Elwood's people, the Hatfields, are pio
neers of Washington, and are prominent and
esteemed people. She has three sisters ; Mrs.
Ella Conner, in Seattle ; Prudence, an accom
plished vocalist now living in Wilbur, Washing
ton ; and Geneva, a school girl at home.

CHARLES W. WING, the popular proprie
tor of the Tygh valley hotel, in Tygh valley,
Wasco county, was born April 20, 1856, in Port
land, Oregon, the son of Martin and Margaret
(Cleggett) Wing. The father is a native of Wis
consin, who came to Oregon in 1852 with ox
teams, striking first, The Dalles, after which he
went by boat to Portland. The mother of our
subject was born in Missouri, crossing the plains
with her parents. ^At present she resides at Wa
mic, Wasco county.
Twelve miles east of Portland our subject,
Charles W. Wing, was reared on a farm, attend
ing "district school" in a log building. When he
was eighteen years of age his family removed to
the Wamic country, Oregon, and in 1885 he pre
empted and homesteaded land, also purchasing
other tracts until he now owns five hundred acres,
three hundred acres of which he cultivates. He
winters from thirty-five to forty head of cattle,
mainly graded stock. October 15, 1902, he pur-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

263*,

chased the hotel from Samuel Broyles, which has
a commodious feed barn in connection. Mr.
Wing has made this hotel a most popular re
sort for the traveling public, and it is conducted
in a highly satisfactory manner. Mr. Wing has
seven 'brothers and six sisters; Milton I. R.,
Alonzo, Stephen, Frank, Henry, Joseph, ancl Ed
ward, of Wamic ; Ella, wife of Fred Chandler, of
Yakima county, Washington ; Emma, married to
Charles Hayward, of Hood River, Wasco county ;
Mollie, wife of Orrin Britton, a farmer living
near Wamic ; Hattie, widow of John Johnson, of
Wamic ; Dollie, wife of Andrew Knissner, of
North Yakima, Washington ; and Martha.
Mr. Wing was married January 18, 1886, at
The Dalles, to Aliss Perly Hayward, born in
Iowa, daughter of Horace and Susan (Russell)
Hayward, natives of the Empire State. The pa
ternal grandparents were natives of Massachu
setts, of an old New England family. The mother
was born in Livingston county, New York, as
was her father, who was a descendant of promi
nent New York and New England families, the
Russell family having been distinguished for
many generations in political, legal and commer
cial circles, one of whom has been governor of
Massachusetts, and prominently mentioned as a
candidate for president of the United States. Her
mother was a Blanchard, another distinguished
family in the New England states. Mrs. Wing
has two brothers and three sisters : Charles, of
Hood River ; Horace, of Wamic ; Amelia, de
ceased, the wife of William Alagill ; and Essie
M., deceased. To Mr. ancl Mrs. Wing four chil
dren have been born : Grace, wife of James Whit
man, with our subject; Ivy, Louis, and Martin,
boys. Politically Mr. Wing is independent. Mrs.
Wing is a devoted member of the United Breth
ren church. Martha, a sister of Mr. Wing, was
married to Timothy Brownhill, a prominent attor
ney of The Dalles. She died in November, 1894,
at Portland.

JOHN W. WATERMAN, a well known
stockman of influence and wealth, resides at 1107
Lewis street, in The Dalles, Oregon. He was
born on April 10, 1845, 'n Missouri, the son of
Ezekiel H. and Alary A. (Stroud) Waterman,
natives of New York and Ohio, respectively.
Thev are mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
The mother died in Marion county, Oregon, in
1866 and the father then married Nancy Smith.
Our subject came to California with his parents
in 1852. and six years later journeyed with them
to the Willamette valley, where he grew uo and
was educated in the district schools and Jefferson

institute. In 1862 he came to eastern Oregon
with cattle, accompanied by his father, ancl was
also interested with his father in the mercantile
business at Jefferson, Marion county, whither
they returned in 1864. When twenty-one he en
tered the drug business for himself and continued
at that for two years. After that, he came east-
of the mountains, settling in Grant county, that
portion which is now Wheeler county. His exact
location was about twenty miles east from Mitch
ell. There he did a large stock business and for
six years gave his entire attention to it, then again
he removed to the Willamette valley and took up
sawmilling. He was occupied by that for four
years, then Opened a general merchandise store
at Caleb postoffice, in Grant county. In the spring
of 1882 he had again taken up stock raising in
Grant county. In 1895, Mr. Waterman turned
the various business interests which he possessed
over to his sons and they are handling the stock
and operating the general merchandise store at
the present time, with excellent success, having
recently removed the business to Mitchell. Mr.
Waterman retired from active business entirely
in 1903 and removed to The Dalles where he
purchased his present residence.
On February 13, I867, at Jefferson, Oregon,.
Mr. Waterman married Miss Mary E., daughter
of Absolam and Sarah (Cullison) Smith, natives
also of Illinois where also they were married. The
father was accidentally drowned in the Willa
mette valley and the mother still lives at Jeffer
son. Mrs. Waterman was born in Illinois, crossed
the plains with her parents with ox teams, and
died in 1882 at the ranch near Caleb.
On April 15, 1895, Mr. Waterman married
Mrs. Angie Al. Laswell, the daughter of Enoch
and Eliza (Mundy) Bamford, and a native of
Canada. Mr. Waterman has one half brother and
one half sister. Fie also has seven children ;
Hanley A., a merchant at Mitchell; Everett O.,
who is handling his father's stock; William, in
the livery business at Moro ; Virgil, with his-
father; Mattie M., the wife of Everett Knox, a
merchant at Antone, Wheeler county ; Veva, wife
of V. E. Boardman, a graduate of the Washing
ton University, and taking a post-graduate course
at Chicago University ; Mary, single and with her
grandmother in Jefferson. By her former hus
band, Airs. Waterman has four children ; James
E., in Montana ; Lulu, wife of C. P. Johnson, a
merchant at Tohn Day, Oregon ; Anna, wife of
Frank McCallum. a merchant at John Day ; and
Rena, wife of Hanley Waterman, our subject's
son. Ernest V., eldest son of our subject, died"
at Caleb in 1897, aged thirty. He was asso
ciated in business with his brother, Hanley, and'
his father.

264

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Politically, Mr. Waterman is a Republican
and is active at the county and state conventions.
He has been justice of the peace for many years
and is a refined, gentlemanly citizen, progressive
and highly esteemed.

OSCAR L. STRANAHAN, a successful and
retired business man of Hood River, Wasco
county, Oregon, was born in St. Lawrence coun
ty, New York, March 6, 1838. His father, James
K. Stranahan, a native of Essex county, New
York, was a carpenter. His parents were natives
of the Empire State, but his grandparents came
to this country from Scotland. An uncle of James
K. Stranahan presented the city of Brooklyn, New
York, with his homestead for park purposes,
and it is now a portion of the beautiful Prospect
Park, of that city. Stranahan Avenue is named in
his honor, and his statute is in the park. James
K. Stranahan died at Hood River, in 1897, at
the age of eighty-eight years. The mother, Paer-
melia (Reynolds) Stranahan, a native of Ver
mont, was a descendant of the prominent old col
onial family of Reynolds, who contributed much
to the early history of the United States. She
passed from earth at Hood River in 1895, at the
age of seventy-five years.
In July, 1855, there arrived in Cannon Falls,
Aiinnesota, a party of immigrants from Michigan,
which might have been called the Stranahan
colony, as a majority of its members bore that
family name. James K. Stranahan, the head of
one of the families, being a carpenter accepted
opportunities to ply his trade in Cannon Falls
and vicinity. He was in charge of the construc
tion of the first flour mill in that city, which was
completed in 1857, while Aiinnesota was yet a
territory. He was known among the settlers as
"J. K." and remained there about ten years, re
moving to Northfield, Aiinnesota, where he
worked at his trade.
Until he was sixteen years of age Oscar L.
Stranahan, our subject, remained in New York
state, attended the public schools and learned the
carpenter's trade. With his family he became one
of the "Cannon Falls," Minnesota, "colony,"
going thence to Northfield, same state, where he
conducted a foundry and machine shop fifteen
years. In 1877 he came to Oregon, and was em
ployed three or four years by the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, making his home in Hood
River. He filed on a claim adjoining Captain C.
H- Coe's, who was the first settler in that vicinity.
At the initial election in that district only fifteen
votes were cast. The city of Hood River is now
built on land once belonging to Messrs. Coe and

Stranahan. In 1881 our subject, who had been
engaged in building steamers, cars, etc., for the
O. S. N. Company, now the Oregon Railroad &
Navigation Company, settled on his farm of one
hundred and forty-six acres, which he continued
to cultivate for twenty years. He then platted
sixty lots which he called "Stranahan's First
Addition" to Hood River. In 1896, entering into
partnership with Captain Coe, they installed a
sash and door factory, disposing of the same in
1901. In December, 1859, our subject was united
in marriage to Adelia Berdan, born in Lake coun
ty, Ohio. The ceremony was performed at Can
non Falls, Minnesota. Her father, Albert, was a
native of Canada; her mother, Statira (Conley)
Berdan, was born in Elmira, New York, as were
her parents. Her grandparents were natives of
Ireland. Our subject has three brothers and two
sisters living; Henry AL, of Northfield, Aiinne
sota; C. Horace, manager of the Wasco Ware
house, at Hood River; William G., of Minne
apolis, Minnesota; Ann E., wife of Charles
Hayes, of Hood River, a surveyor ; and Alary B.,
wife of George Crowell, dealer in generad mer
chandise, Hood River. Airs. Sarah J. Sheets
died at Larimore, North Dakota. Our subject
has three children; Albert K., mentioned else
where ; Mary, wife of S. AL Baldwin ; and Jessie,
wife of Charles C. Alooney, who died August 3,
1904. Air. Stranahan is past commander of
Canby Post, G. A. R., No. 16. He enlisted Janu
ary 2, 1862, in Company A, Fifth Aiinnesota In
fantry, Colonel B. Roder, remaining with that
regiment one year, when he was transferred to
the United States Signal Corps, serving three
years in the same. He was with Gen. Sherman
in the historic "Alarch to the Sea." He received
wounds at the battles of Corinth and Shiloh.
Mrs. Stranahan taught school when young,
in Goodhue county, Aiinnesota, and has been a
member of the Methodist church since she was
twelve years of age. She was superintendent of the
Sunday school here for three years and has taken
an active interest in Sunday school work all her
life. She was postmistress of Hood River for
seven years. Mr. Stranahan is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he is a
Republican, and has been a delegate to county
conventions. . Throughout Wasco county, Air.
Stranahan is highly esteemed and is an influential,
progressive citizen.

CHARLES HORACE STRANAHAN,
manager of the Wasco Warehouse & Milling
Company's warehouse in Hood River, and the
first Stranahan to come to the coast, is a man of

Mrs. Oscar L. Stranakan

Oscar L. Stranakan

Ckarles H. Stranakan

Mrs. Ckarles H. Stranaks

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

265

"broad experience in the business field and has ac
quired a fair amount of this world's goods as a
result of his honest endeavors and industry. He
was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, on
February 12, 1845, the son of James K. and
Permelia (Reynolds) Stranahan, mentioned else
where in this work. Our subject was reared
principally in Minnesota, whither the family went
when he was small, four years of age. He re
mained on the farm with his parents during the
summers and attended school in the winters. In
September, 1862, Mr. Stranahan enlisted in Com
pany C, Sixth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry un
der Captain H. F. Bailey and Colonel William
Crooks. He served until May 31, 1865 and then
received his honorable discharge in Montgomery,
Alabama. The first eighteen months were spent
in fighting the Indians and then his command
went south where he participated in much heavy
fighting. He was active at Fort Blakely and
Spanish Fort and in many other engagements.
After the war he returned to Aiinnesota and there
did farming until 1875, when, with his wife and
three children, he came overland to Oregon, set
tling in Clackamas county. Two years later, in
company with his brother, Oscar, who is spoken
of in this volume, he came with pack horses over
the trail from Portland to Hood River and
squatted on railroad land. He farmed the same
until 1897, when he purchased a section of choice
wheat land in Sherman county, about- the largest
wheat farm there, ancl tilled it for two years. He
then sold and returned to Hood River, his sons
having handled his farm here in the meantime.
In 1902, Mr. Stranahan sold this property and
-purchased other property and accepted a position
where we find him at the present time. He has.
made a good success in his business ventures,
is a prosperous man, and like his brother, Oscar,
is a leading and influential citizen here.
On November 11, 1869, Mr. Stranahan mar
ried Miss Alargaret McKinley, a native of Balti
more, Maryland. The wedding occurred in Good
hue county, Aiinnesota. Mrs. Stranahan's pa
rents, John and Alary (Dunns) McKinley, were
natives of Scotland. The father came to the
United States with his parents when a child and
the family is a very old and prominent one.
President McKinley was from the same family.
Mrs. Stranahan's uncle, William AIcKinley, was
known as the "Fighting parson" and was chaplain
•of the Eighth Wisconsin Infantry during the
Civil War. Following that struggle he was for
many years president of the Hamlin College in
Alinneapolis. Air. Stranahan has three brothers
and two sisters, who are mentioned elsewhere in
-this volume. Airs. Stranahan has two brothers,
Alexander and George, and two sisters, Airs.

Mary McCorkle, and Mrs. Kate Sumner. In
political matters, our subject is a stanch Republi
can and is frequently at the county conventions,
and is a careful and enterprising man. Fratern
ally, he is affiliated with the A. F. & A. M., and
the R. A. M., while in church matters he is allied
with the Unitarians. Mrs. Stranahan belongs to
the Methodist church.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Stranahan
are named as follows : James A., mentioned else
where in this work ; George F., a contractor and
builder; Charles H, a farmer; John L., also a
farmer; Maud M., a teacher; Ida E., also a
teacher; and Eva B., a bookkeeper. All are in
Hood River. Maggie A., died in 1898, aged
eleven. Bessie P. and Oscar E., are school chil
dren. Misses Maud and Ida are very popular
and thorough educators, the former having
charge of the school in the Crapper district, the
largest single room school in the county, having
more than fifty pupils, while the latter is now
teaching in Sherman county. They maintain a
very high standing and enjoy a well merited
popularity.

SAMUEL S. JOHNS, who resides at the
corner of Bridge and Eighteenth streets, in The
Dalles, is one of the best known and most pro
gressive stockmen of the state of Oregon. He has
not excelled in raising large numbers of stock,
but he has certainly excelled in bringing in and
raising some of the finest horses and cattle to
be found. This, in realty, is one of the greatest
works for the upbuilding of Oregon that one
could do. It is eminently a stock state and one
that makes such strides in getting good breeds
into the country is bringing the entire standard
to a higher point, and the value of it can scarcely
be overestimated. Mr. Johns has, also, made a
first-class success in financial matters ancl has a
holding in valuable property, both personal and
real, that does credit to his business ability. He
owns a fine stock ranch ten miles out on Mill
creek, which is well improved and where he has
a choice herd of on€ hundred and fifty thorough
bred Shorthorns. A part of the herd are regis
tered animals and are among the choicest to be
found in the west. In addition to these, Mr.
Johns owns some fine horses, among which we
may mention Vespasian, a Suffolk Punch draught
stallion, registered in 1898, number 2498. He
has one of the best records of any stallion and is
one of the choicest ever imported to the United
States. He weighs two thousand and ten pounds
ancl is making the seasons at The Dalles. Air.
Johns also owns a three year old colt of A'espa-
sian, which seems to be-in every point equal to

266

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

• his famous sire. These two animals cost three
thousand dollars. Mr. Johns is making a record
of excellence in stock breeding and is one of the
most skilled men in this line in this part of the
country. Samuel S. Johns was born in Wales, on No
vember 14, 1863, the son of Thomas and Bessie
(Pritchard) Johns, also natives of Wales. The
father comes from an old Welsh family which has
resided in the vicinity of Cardiff for many gen
erations. He followed stock breeding and dairy
ing. His death occurred in The Dalles, in July,
1902. The mother's father, Captain Pritchard,
was an Englishman and was drowned in the
wreck of his vessel on the Loochoo or Liu Kiu
islands, before the birth of this daughter. She
died at Spokane, in 1897, aged fifty-eight. The
family came to the United States in 1868 and
settled in Kansas, two of the father's brothers,
John and Henry, coming with them. For thirty
years they did railroad work there, the father
being master mechanic on the Kansas City &
Southern railroad. In 1880, the family came to
Wasco county and the father entered the employ
of the O. R. & N. Six years later he engaged
in the sawmill business. While in this business
he erected a flume from Mill creek to The Dalles,
a distance of sixteen miles, and later sold that
flume to The Dalles. It is utilized today for the
city water supply. After a good high school edu
cation in Ottawa, Kansas, our subject learned
the machinist trade and wrought at it five years
with the O. R. & N. Then he was with his father
in the mill business until they sold the flume.
He had purchased the land on Mill creek for
stock purposes and gave his attention to that ex
clusively as soon as released from the mill propo
sition. He owns twelve hundred acres and all
the improvements required on a first-class stock
farm, besides a good residence and property in
The Dalles.
On December 22, 1887, at The Dalles, Mr.
Johns married Miss Alice Walker, who was born
near St. Helens, Oregon, and died in June, 1882,
at The Dalles. Her parents, Robert and Julia
(Hull) Walker, were early pioneers of Oregon.
The mother died in The Dalles, on March 5,
1902, and the father a few days before Mrs.
Johns. On November 14, 1895, at The Dalles,
Mr. Johns married Mary Zable, a native of Kan
sas. Her parents, Frederick ancl Louisa Zable,
were natives of Germany, and are now both de
ceased. They dwelt many years in Wisconsin and
Kansas. Mrs. Johns has the following named
brothers and sisters, William, Frederick, Ferdi
nand, Mrs. Christina Rabensdorf, Mrs. Dora
Martin, Mrs. Louisa Mayer, Mrs. Lena Geyer,
and Mrs. Amelia Stenber. Mr. Johns has two

brothers, Walter I. and David P., .and three sis
ters, Mrs. Mary O'Neill, Mrs. Martha Campbell,
and Bessie. Mr. Johns has two children by his
first wife, Dora, aged fifteen, and Alice, aged
twelve. He is a member of the United Artisans,
while he and his wife belong to the Baptist church.
He is deacon of that institution and also superin
tendent of the Sunday school. He is active in
church work as also in all lines of enterprise for
upbuilding and betterment of the community and
is considered one of the best men of the commu
nity. In politics, Mr. Johns is a strong Republi
can and has been city councilman for six years..

AUSTIN C. RICE, who resides on Jackson
street in The Dalles, was born on Fifteen Mile
creek on October 29, 1865, the son of Horace and
Eliza J. (Bolton) Rice, natives of Ohio and West
Virginia, respectively. They are mentioned else
where in this work. The district schools of this
county supplied the educational training of our
subject and in studying and working on the farm
with his father, he spent the days of his youth.
In early manhood he was with his father on the
ranch and in raising cattle and was well trained.
When twenty-four, he purchased land from the
military road grant and farmed it for six years.
Then he sold his entire property and engaged
in the grocery business at Ashland. Two years
later he sold that business and came again to
Wasco county and took up stock raising and
farming. He purchased a farm from his brother,
three miles from the old home estate, and after
handling it for three years, he sold it and came
to The Dalles, where he resides at the present
time. In all his career, Mr. Rice has been an
active and wide awake business man and has
shown marked financial ability and thus has se
cured for himself a fine competence.
At The Dalles, on November 11, 1890, Air.
Rice married Miss Ada A. Waller, who was born
in Polk county, on August 11, i860. Her par
ents, George T. and Mary J. (Doty) Waller, were
born near Quincy, Illinois. The father's father
died when that son was an infant and then the
mother brought her children across sthe plains
with ox teams in 1849. Airs. Rice has three
brothers, Oliver, Lorin W., Alton J., and three
sisters, Emily C. Fell, Alinnie Winters, and Lulu
Henritt. Mr. and Airs. Rice have three children :
Darrell L., aged eight ; Verl W., aged four ; and
Dale G.
Politically, our subject is a good Republican
and displays an interest in all matters both pub
lic and educational. His wife belongs to the Chris
tian church. She is a graduate of tlie Monmouth.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

267

college and for thirteen years previous to her
marriage she was one of the educators of Ore
gon, teaching both in the Willamette valley and
in Dufur.

ARCHIBALD C. MOAD, one of the pro
gressive and popular citizens of Tygh valley,
Wasco county, is a general blacksmith and wagon
maker. He is a native Oregonian, having been
born in Boyd, Oregon, June 19, 1874. He is the
son of John N. and Mary E. (Flett) Moad, the
father a native of Missouri, the mother of Quebec
Province, Canada. In 1848 the father came
alone across the plains to California, where for
a few years he was engaged in mining. He went
thence to Oregon and engaged in packing from
The Dalles to Canyon City, in which business he
remained for eight or ten years. He then located
on Lower Fifteen Mile creek, eight miles from
the present site of Dufur, where for twenty years
he resided, with occasional visits to other locali
ties. He came to Tygh valley in 1886, purchased
a farm on the creek, one and one-half miles from
Dufur, where he died in 1899. The mother came
to Oregon in 1841, accompanied by her father,
one of the earliest pioneers of the country. He
was in the employment of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and stationed at Oregon City. He
died and she was adopted by Archie McKinley,
another attache of the Hudson's Bay Company,
who conducted a store for the company at Cham
poeg in the vicinity of the present Oregon City.
At the age of twenty-two she was married, and at
present resides with our subject's brother, Ed
ward, on White river, one and one-half miles
from Tygh.
Mr. Moad was reared and has lived all his
life in Wasco county, attending the public schools,
in youth, being nine months in Tacoma. On
completing his education he was on the ranch
with his father, and rode the range. In 1898 he
worked through the winter in a blacksmith shop,
in Dufur, and during two years was a member of
the forest rangers. In the autumn of 1900 Mr.
Moad purchased the blacksmith shop of James
Gillmore, mention of whom is made elsewhere,
and has since conducted the same. Mr. Aload
has two brothers and three sisters : Adolphus and
Edward, the former of Wapinitia, and the latter
residing one mile and a half from Tygh valley,
on the White river ; Frankie, wife of Alark
Painter, residing three miles west of Dufur ; Net
tie, married to James Easton, four miles from
Boyd; and Tillie, wife of Edward Henderson,
of Wapinitia. Mr. Moad was married at the residence of
the bride, near Dufur, May 5, 1897, to Levie

Vanderpool, born near Prineville, Crook county,
the daughter of William and Susan (Heisler)
Vanderpool, both of which families are mentioned
in another portion of this work. Fraternally, our
subject is a member of Ridgely Lodge, No. 71,
I. O. O. F., the Rebekahs, of which Mrs. Moad is
also a member; and the M. W. of A., of Tygh,
of which organization he is banker. He is a Re
publican.

KATHLEEN D. LINTON, who resides at
1 107 Elm street, The Dalles, was born in Ashta
bula, Ohio, on November 28, 1844. Her father,
Stephen Shuart, was a native of New York and
his ancestors were prominent and among the early
colonial families. The descendants have a re
union every year in August, and at the last time
one hundred and thirty-seven sat down at the
table. He married Mary M. Beckwith, a native
of Vermont. The Beckwith family is one of the
old colonial families that dates their ancestry far
back before the settlement of the colonies. The
Beckwiths were very prominent in the early his
tory in the new world and pumished many rep
resentatives to the colonial struggles and the wars
since. Of Mrs. Linton's family it is stated that
every male representative who was eligible was
in the Civil war and fought for the stars and
stripes. From these families came many promi
nent educators both in the classics and mathe
matics and many professional men. Mrs. Linton
was well educated and followed school teaching,
as did her mother. September 28, 1861, at Gi-
rard, Pennsylvania, she was married to George
S. Roberts. He had served three months in the
Civil war and in 1864, enlisted again and died of
a fever in New Orleans. Mrs. Roberts had two
small children, one six weeks old ancl the other
less than two years of age, when he enlisted the
second time. Robert Calder was with Mr. Rob
erts at the time of his death and later became ac
quainted with Mrs. Roberts, the widow, and on
May 22, 1866, they were married. They remained
in Pennsylvania seven years, when he was called
away by death, leaving one son. He was a tan
ner by occupation and had served through the
entire Civil war in the Independent Battery B,
of the Ohio Volunteers, being in active service
at Vicksburg, Shiloh, Pea Ridge, and in other
large battles. He was clerk for his company
during the war and was promoted to first lieu
tenant iust before the war closed. After his
death, Mrs. Calder taught school in Girard until
1875. On May 10, of that year, she arrived in
Nevada, in response to a telegram from her sis
ter, who was sick. Her two oldest children were
left in the soldiers' orphan school in Pennsylva-

.268

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

:nia, and the youngest she brought with her.. She
attended her sister and taught school and was
there married to Joseph Kerr, a mining man and
a native of St. Johns, New Brunswick. To this
union two children were born. On November
n, 1878, he was shot by an intoxicated man
shooting into a crowd, and this resulted in his
death. After that, Mrs. Kerr taught school for
five years and then married Andrew J. Linton,
on September 11, 1883, the nuptials occurring
at Salt Lake City. Andrew J. Linton was born
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on December 19, 1838.
His parents were natives of Glasgow, Scotland,
where they were married. Their death occurred
at Fort Wayne. Andrew J. was educated in the
public schools and then started to learn the ma
chinists' trade, but owing to the death of his
father, which brought responsibility to him, he
was obliged to take more remunerative employ
ment. At the time of the breaking out of the
Civil war, he promptly enlisted and served three
years then was honorably discharged and re
turned home. A relative offered him fifteen hun
dred dollars to enlist as a substitute and he took
the money and again faced the enemy. This nice
sum of money was sufficient to meet all the needs
of his mother and the children, but while Mr.
Linton was serving this last time, his mother died.
He was in Company A, under Captain Kellogg,
Sixteenth Army Corps, and was in the heat of
the fiercest battles throughout the entire war.
After the surrender of Lee, he was honorably
discharged and came direct to Utah where he
did mining. He later operated in various places
in the west and discovered the placer camp at
Osceola, White Pine county, Nevada. Owing to
ill health, he sold his property and came to
Wasco county, purchasing a farm on Ten Mile
creek. He made a specialty of raising prunes and
built the first dryer in the county. Eor twenty
years the farm was his home, and on November
27, 1903, he was called hence by death. Mrs.
Linton's children are named as follows : Ida M.
Roberts, the wife of Frank Jeanney, who is a
blacksmith at Wells, Nevada ; Wesley S. Roberts,
a stockman, whose death occurred at Baker City,
Oregon, on November 5, 1902 ; Gerald M. Calder,
a popular mining man of Baker City; Florence J.
Kerr, now the wife of D. F. Cruise, in Seattle;
Joseph Kerr, Jr., who lives at home with his
mother. Mrs. Linton has just rented her farm for
five years and is living a retired life in The Dalles.
She has a goodly competence that is sufficient for
all the needs of life and is entitled to the enjoy
ment of the same owing to her faithful labors
in the years gone by. She is a highly esteemed
and popular lady and active in all labors of
charity.

THOMAS F. MORRIS, farmer and stock-
raiser, residing one-half mile west of Kingsley,
Wasco county, was born in Wyandotte, Kansas,
July 4, 1 86 1. His parents, William R. and Cath
erine (Fox) Morris, were natives of Ireland, the
father of Tipperary and the mother of County
Carlow, Village of Nurney. When a small child
William R. came to the United States with his
parents, and they lived in New York, New Jer
sey and Ohio. At the age of six years Catherine
Fox came, accompanied by her parents, to the
United States. She died April 5, 1902, on our
subject's place. During the Mexican war our
subject's father enlisted in the Sixth Ohio Volun
teer Infantry, serving one year and nine months.
He was shot twice in the right leg, and almost in
the same place on the limb. Following the close
of the war he came to Kansas, where he found
employment as a cabinet maker, going thence to
Calaveras county, California, where he engaged
in the sawmill business and mining. He drifted
to Sonoma county, remained two years, and in
1869 came to this location in Wasco county, pre
empted land and lived here until his death in
1882. On the death of his mother, Thomas F.
Morris inherited the ranch.
During his boyhood days he had attended
the public schools in California. At present he
has a handsome fourteen-acre orchard, the largest
in that neighborhood. He cultivates mainly win
ter apples, having four hundred "Ben Davis,"
one hundred Springdale, one hundred Mammoth,
Black Twig, Stayman Winesap, Arkansas Sena
tor trees, and thirty other varieties. He owns
about six hundred and eighty acres of land, his
principal business being hog raising. He has
recently erected a handsome story and a half
cottage. His brother, John, died a short time
after the family came to Wasco county, aged
four years. Annie, a sister, died at the age of six,
two weeks previous to the death of her brother.
Mr. Morris never married. While he is, politi
cally, a Republican, he is by no means a partisan,
and not active in the various campaigns. He is
a whole-souled, genial and popular man, broad-
minded ancl progressive, and his devoted atten
tion to his invalid mother for many years won the
respect of the entire neighborhood in which he
resides.

SAMUEL B. JOHNSTON, one of five broth
ers, progressive men and leading citizens of
Wasco county, sketches of whom appear in other
portions of this work, resides two and one-half
miles west of Dufur. He was born in Centre
ville, New Brunswick, April 20, 1870. Biograph
ical articles concerning his ancestry appear else
where.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

269

Mr. Johnston came to the Pacific coast in 1891,
the last of the family to remove thither. On leav
ing school he conducted the old home farm in
Centreville, New Brunswick. In Wasco county
he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of
land and began the cultivation of the same. The
extensive farming operations of the family are
described in other sketches. At present the sub
ject of this article is in charge of all the farming
lands of the five brothers.
July 27, 1896, Mr. Johnston was united in
marriage, at Dufur, to Miss Annie Neal, born at
Hood River, the daughter of Milton and Marga
ret J. (Ward) Neal. Mrs. Johnston has one
brother and one sister, Richard, a farmer, near
Boyd, Wasco county, and Clem, wife of Charles
Acker, of Portland, Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs.
Johnston two children have been born, Kate and
George, aged seven and two years respectively.
Politically the affiliations of Mr. Johnston are
with the Republican party, although he takes no
very active part in the various campaigns, and is
by no means a partisan. Personally, he is
a public-spirited citizen, liberal minded and pro
gressive, and one who has won the confidence of
a host of friends.

S. I. EVERETT, proprietor of the Central
Hotel, at Dufur, Wasco county, Oregon, was
born in Ohio, March 27, 1858. His father, Isaac
Everett, a native of Ohio, was a descendant of an
old and distinguished American family, running
down through many generations. He died in
Iowa when our subject was eight years of age.
The mother, Amelia (Cosgrove) Everett, born in
Pennsylvania, was a descendant of a prominent
family of the Keystone state.
The parents of our subject remained in Ohio
until he was four years of age, removing thence
to Iowa. Here the father purchased a farm, upon
which young Eeverett worked, alternately attend
ing district school. On the death of his father,
he remained with his mother on the farm, in com
pany with two elder brothers, until he was twenty.
He then came to Dayton, the county seat of Co
lumbia county, Washington, passed one winter
there and after that came to what is now Sher
man, then Wasco, county. He settled seven miles
northeast of Wasco, filed on a homestead, and
purchased an adjoining quarter section of land
and upon which ranch he remained fifteen years.
This property he rented and came to Dufur,
bought the hotel and liverystable attached to the
same, occupying half a block, the stable facing
on Main street. The Central Hotel is the lead
ing one in the town of Dufur and is exceedingly

popular with commercial travelers and tourists..
Mr. Everett has two brothers and six sisters liv
ing, viz : John, a merchant and farmer, of Glen-
wood, Iowa ; Edward, of Sherman county ; Mary,
widow of Harrison Dolley, residing near Nelson-
ville, Ohio; Mrs. Sarah Connor, near Nelsonville;
Priscilla, widow of James Carson, in Morrow
county; Nancy, widow of Samuel Ornduff, of
Sherman county; Ida, married to William Flee-
nor, a dealer in horses at Abington, Iowa; and
Clara, wife of John Connor, a farmer residing'
near Beulah, Kansas.
At The Dalles, October 19, 1890, Mr. Everett
was married to Minnie Frazier, born in Nor
mandy, Indiana, December 31, 1863, the daugh
ter of Aaron Frazier, of Dufur. Before mar
riage, Mrs. Everett had been engaged in teaching
school and so popular was she throughout the
county that she came very near being elected as
county school superintendent although her party
was more than two to one in the minority. She-
came of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Mr. and Mrs.
Everett have the following named children, Olga,
Hazel Esther, Arerne Frazier, and Gladys. The-
first three were born on the farm in Sherman
county and the last one at Dufur in Wasco county.
Hazel E. died at Dufur, February 28, 1904.
Mr. Everett is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and the Encampment at Dufur.

ALEXANDER HEISLER, who is now op
erating a meat market in Dufur, is one of the
industrious and enterprising business men and
land owners of Wasco county. He has been in
this part of the county only a few years, but he
has dwelt in Oregon all his life and is
entitled to the honor of the pioneer for
many sections of this great state. He was
born in Lane county, on December 12, 1857, the
son of William and Martha (McConnell) Heis
ler, who have mention in another portion of this
work. Alexander was educated in the district
schools and remained with his parents until eigh
teen years of age. Then he took up the cattle-
business with his brother, Monroe, who, also, is
sketched in this work. Two years later he leased
his father's farm on Wilson creek, Crook county,
and a year later engaged in the stock business
again, this time, with another brother. For four
teen years they were thus associated, and then
our subject bought the entire business and con
ducted it for six years more. This was all in
Crook county, then Mr. Heisler sold out his in
terests there and came to Dufur. He soon pur
chased a choice farm of fertile bottom land on-
Fifteen Mile and after conducting it for a time,

270

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

rented it to his son-in-law and opened the meat
market where he is at present engaged in a lucra
tive business. He is a man of good business abil
ity and integrity and stands well in the com
munity. Air. Heisler's first marriage was celebrated in
Canyon City, Oregon, in 1882. At Dufur, on
September 11, 1892, he married Mrs. Agnes Gil-
more, the daughter of Benjamin F. and Elizabeth
(Lantzenhizer) Saunders, natives of Akron,
Ohio, and England, respectively. Mrs. Heisler
was born in Indiana. Her mother's father was
adopted by a German family and hence the Ger
man name. Mrs. Heisler was married first to
Harry Bradshaw, who died before she was
twenty. By this marriage she had two children :
Byron H., at Twisp, Washington ; and Richard
H., a telegraph operator in Oklahoma. In 1887,
she was married to Professor Herbert Gilmore,
a professor in the Iowa Agricultural college.
Three years after his marriage, he died. To Mr.
and Mrs. Heisler four children have been born :
Ada, wife of Cossie Woodford, now renting his
father-in-law's farm; Eva, Bruce, and John, all
at home. Mr. Heisler is a member of the I. O.
O. F., and the Encampment and has passed all
the chairs, having also been representative to both
grand lodges. Mrs. Heisler belongs to the United
Brethren church,, also to the Alaccabees, the Fra
ternal Union, the Rebekahs, and the B. O. A.
She was well educated, graduating from the Pris
cilla Academy in Ohio, in 1877. Mr. Heisler is a
well informed Democrat.

JAMES M. NOLIN, a prosperous farmer liv
ing two miles up Fifteen Mile creek from Dufur,
was born in Ontario, Canada, on July 18, 1856.
His father, William Nolin, was born in the Prov
ince of Quebec and his parents in the same place.
His grandparents, the great-grandparents of our
subject, came from France. William Nolin mar
ried Isabel Laird, a native of Ireland, who died
here in Wasco county, in 1896. William Nolin
had come here with his wife in 1886, and since
her death he has resided with our subject. He is
a man eighty-six years of age, remarkably well
preserved, both physically ancl mentally, one of
the best for his age that one will find in searching
the state oyer. This indicates, a wisdom ancl care
on the part of Mr. Nolin that are very commend
able for during the long years of his life he has
so conducted himself as to preserve intact his
powers. Our subject was raised principally in northern
New York near the Canadian line and for many
vears worked on the St. Lawrence river on a

logging. With his brothers, he owned also a
large farm in that country. In 1877, Mr. Nolin
determined to explore the west and accordingly
made his way to California where he followed
dairying for two years in Gilroy. In the fall of
1879, he came north to Oregon and for a few
years worked out in this vicinity, then rented the
place upon which he now lives, also handling the
Cales farm with it for nine years. Then he went
to the Willamette valley and bought the farm
which was his home for four years. After that,
he sold out ancl came back to Wasco county and
purchased the place where he now lives. For a
few years before going to the Willamette valley,
he was in the employ of the Staver and Walker
agriculture firm of Portland and traveled for
them extensively, during this employment, then
moved to the valley and purchased the farm men
tioned before. It was 1900 when he bought the
place that he now lives upon, from Mrs. Louisa
E. Turner. It consists of one hundred and sixty
acres of as fine wheat land as can be found in
this part of Oregon, and averages forty bushels
to the acre and last year produced forty-seven
bushels. All improvements neccessary have been
provided and Air. Nolin is considered one of the
first class farmers of the county.
On October 25, 1885, in Clackamas county,
Mr. Nolin married Miss Flora E. Frost, a native
of Illinois. Her father, Elam Frost, was also
born in Illinois and is now deceased. He came
to the coast with his family in 1869, settling in the
Willamette valley where he died. His father
died at Hood River. Mr. Nolin has three broth
ers, George E., Edward and David. His wife
has one brother, Walter, and three sisters, Airs.
Mary Stevens, Mrs. Laura Turner and Airs.
Luella Shank. Air. Nolin has been a school di
rector for a 'number of years, has filled other
offices and is active in the interests of the com
munity and for general improvements. He be
longs in the Democratic harness and is often seen
at the conventions. Altogether, he is a man of
stability, intelligence, genialty and kindness and
enjoys an' excellent standiing in the community.

CLAUDE E. AtARKHAM resides on the
west side of Hood River about five miles south
from the town, where he has a choice farm of
fifty-seven acres. Three acres of this are devoted
to strawberries, about fifteen to apples and the
balance to general crops. He is one of the prosper
ous men of this section of Wasco county and has
labored here for nearly fifteen years, in the good
work of fruit growing in which he has gained a
first class success.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

271

Claude E. Markham was born in Dane coun
ty, Wisconsin, on September 28, 1866, the son of
John W. and Agnes E. (Blount) Markham, na
tives of New York and Wisconsin, respectively.
The father died in 1889, January 24, and the
mother is now married to T. J. Cummings, a re
tired capitalist in Hood River. The first twelve
years of our subject were spent near Madison,
Wisconsin, then the family went to Kansas, where
they engaged in the loaning business at Clay
Center and there remained sometime. After com
pleting the graded and high schools, Mr. Mark
ham finished his education in the Lawrence busi
ness college. Returning to his home, he was em
ployed in an insurance office for three years. It
was 1890, when he came to Puget Sound and
labored one year in the vicinity of Tacoma at
various occupations then came in the spring of
1891, to Hood River where he bought eighty
acres of land. He at once gave his attention to
the cultivation of the same and its improvements
and has labored continuously at that since. The
place is well laid out and improved with good
buildings, fences and so forth "and is one of the
nicest farms in the valley.
On July 28, 1891, at The Dalles, Mr. Mark
ham married Miss Mattie A. Morton, a native of
Sparta, Illinois! Her father came from Ireland
and died in Sparta, Illinois, in 1901. Her mother,
Catherine (Stewart) Morton was a native of Ire
land and died on January 27, 1904, on the old
homestead in Illinois. Mrs. Markham was en
gaged in teaching school some years before her
marriage, being employed in Kansas ancl Illinois.
She has eight brothers and two sisters living and
one sister deceased. Air. Markham has no broth
ers or sisters living. Three children have been
born to our subject and his wife, Wesley, Agnes
and Edward.
Mr. Markham is a member of the K. of P.
and served three terms as C. C, and has also
been a delegate to the grand lodge several times.
He is a strong Republican and active in the cam
paigns and attends the conventions.

JOHN J. GIBBONS, who resides about four
miles southwest from Hood River, is one of the
substantial ancl industrious fruit raisers of the
valley. He was born in Ireland, on May 21,
1846^ the son of Martin and Annie (King) Gib
bons, natives also of Ireland. The father died in
Mayo county ancl the mother lives there at the
present time. He was a civil engineer and a
farmer. Our subject came to the United States
when nine years of age with his older brothers
and sisters. Thev settled in New York city and

John obtained work as an errand boy in a large
store where he continued two years. Then he
went to St. Louis and joined relatives there and
spent two years in learning the carpenter's trade
after which he entered the car shops and was
employed in that capacity for ten years in St.
Louis and St. Joe. About 1878, Mr. Gibbons
came to San Francisco and took a place in the
Southern Pacific shops. In 1881, we find him
in The Dalles, operating for the O. R. & N. In
1892, he decided to quit the railroad and retire
to the farm, where he now lives, which he had
bought during his service in the shops. Then
he settled down to the cultivation of his farm and
to raising fruit. He has about eleven hundred
fine apple trees, Spitzenberg mainly, and sold
many hundreds of boxes last year. He also
raises grapes, pears and berries but apples are
his main crop.
On October 9, 1870, at St. Joseph, Missouri,
Mr. Gibbons married Miss Sarah McSherry, who
was born in Maryland, opposite Alexandria,
Virginia, whence her parents moved when she
was an infant. Her father, Richard M., was a
native of north Ireland and came to the United
States when a young man. He served in the Con
federate army and died in Kansas in 1899. Airs.
Gibbons' mother was also a native of Ireland
and there was married. She died in Kansas. Mr.
Gibbons has six brothers, Edward, Peter, Mich
ael, Patrick, David, deceased, and James. The
latter died in India as a member of the British
Heavy Artillery. Mrs. Gibbons has two broth
ers, James ancl Thomas, and four sisters, Alice
Goldsberry, Alary Magney, Theresa Dever, and
Maggie Gurry. Mr. Gibbons has five children
living, Frank, Charles, Albert, Willis and Emma,
and three deceased; David M., who served in
Company D, Second Oregon infantry in the
Philippines where he died from disease con
tracted in the army ; John, who died at Hood
River when eighteen ; and Richard, who died at
Hood River, on September 18, 1898, aged twenty.
On October 29, 1898, Mrs. Gibbons was
killed by a runaway horse. Mr. Gibbons is a
member of the A. F. & A. M. and also belongs
to the Christian church. He is a Republican
and has been delegate to the conventions although
he is not especially active. In all school matters,
Mr. Gibbons manifests a marked zeal and interest.
He has held the office of director a long time and
with John Wilson, succeeded in establishing the
Barrett district school which is a fine property of
three rooms and one of the largest of its kind
in the county. Mr. Gibbons spent a great real
of time in bringing the matter before the people
and raising funds for the enterprise and finally
was successful and it is a monument to his wis-

272

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

dom and labor in which he may well take pride.
Mr. Gibbons is a good man, highly respected by
all, and has shown marked industry in the labors
he has performed in this valley.

MRS. ELEANOR POTTER, a prominent
and influential lady of Hood River valley is well
known as a church worker and a zealous laborer
for all enterprises that tend to benefit and upbuild
the community. She resides about three mile's
south from the town of Hood River and the
estate is known as Wild Rose farm. It is one
of the largest in the valley.
Mrs. Potter was born in Bradford county,
Pennsylvania, on January 10, 1843. Her father,
William C. Burgess, was a native of Chenango
county, New York and came from an old and
prominent family. His mother was Eleanor Cleve
land of the house of Cleveland of whom ex-Presi
dent Cleveland is a member. The mother of Mrs.
Potter was Mariette Burgess not a relative of
her husband although bearing the same name.
She was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania
where also she was married, and is a lineal de
scendant of William Burgess, who came over in
the Mayflower.
The subject of this sketch completed her edu
cation in the high school at Troy, Pennsylvania
and when nineteen was married in that county
to Miles Potter, a native of the same place and
born in September, 1841. His father, Elisha
Potter, was a native of Pennsylvania, descended
from an old colonial family. Seven brothers of
the family came from England in the early days
to New England and were among the very first
settlers in Pennsylvania. The mother of Mr.
Potter was Minerva Moore, also a native of
Pennsylvania and from an old and prominent
family. Mr. Potter is a cabinet maker by trade.
At the time of the Civil war, he enlisted in
Company C, Seventh Pennsylvania Cavalry, and
served three years. S'nce tnat ^m^, he has been
broken in health and has been unable to work
at his trade only at intervals. He followed the
same in Pennsylvania as he could until 1875
and then came with his family as a member of the
Pacific colony to Hood River. They bought
their present home of one hundred and fifty acres,
built a large three-story, eighteen room house
and made other important improvements. They
have now about ten acres to strawberries, six
acres to orchard and the balance to general crops.
The estate is one of the very best to be found
in this part of the country and is valued at
over thirty thousand dollars.
Mrs. Potter has no brothers and sisters living.

Mr. Potter has one brother and one sister liv
ing. Four children have been born to this
couple : Ida, the wife of Frank McFarland, an
insurance man at Portland ; William B., a mer
chant at Spray, Oregon; Happy D., wife of
Homer McFarland, who died at Los Angeles,
on May 11, 1897, aged twenty-five; Edith P.,
wife of B. L. Davison, who died at Hood River,
on March 21, 1900, aged twenty-one. Mr. Davi
son is a Methodist preacher and now a student
at the Willamette University at Salem, Oregon.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter are both active members
of the Methodist church. Mrs. Potter has been
especially active in church work and she and her
husband with others were the builders of the
Methodist church which is opposite their home,
known as the Belmont M. E. church. They are
highly respected people and are well known
throughout the valley.
The Belmont church was the first to be or
ganized in the Hood River valley. Mrs. Potter
was a prime mover in the organization, there
being but six charter members. Mr. Potter spent
the greater part of a year in the erection of the
church building, and was obliged to secure a hand
to attend to his farm work while he wrought on
the church. Frank Sherrieb hauled the lumber
and assisted Mr. Potter all he could in the erec
tion of the building.

CAREY H. JENKINS, D. M. D., is one of
the younger professional men of Hood River,
who has achieved a worthy success and bids fair
to be one of the leading dentists of the entire
northwest. He is a careful and conscientious
student, tireless in his research and thorough in
every detail of his important professsion. His
endowments by nature have especially fitted him
for this line of work and the careful and extended
training in the best institutions of the west have
so fortified him that he is master of dentistry and
dental surgery in a high degree.
Carey H. Jenkins was born in The Dalles,
Oregon, on October 2, 1874, the son of James H.
and Hattie (Bolton) Jenkins, natives of Mis
souri and Iowa, respectively. The father was a
heavy stockman and died at Columbus, Washing
ton, when our subject was thirteen. The mother
came with her parents across the plains in 1849
ancl was married in The Dalles. Her family
settled on Fifteenmile creek when The Dalles
was but a post for government soldiers and Grant
and Sherman were there. Carey's father first
came to California in the forties with his parents.
His grandfather was engaged in mining and in
in the fifties they moved to southern Oregon.

Mrs. Eleanor Potter

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

m

Later they came to Klickitat county, Washington,
being pioneers there and our subject's father's
father bought the old block house on Spring
creek. His mother died when he was twelve years
old and later he went to live with an uncle, Simeon
Bolton, now clerk of Wasco county. Carey
H. Jenkins was educated in the schools of Klick
itat county and then entered the Portland Uni
versity, completing a three years' course. He
entered the North Pacific Dental College in Oc
tober, 1898, graduated in 1901, and commenced
practice in Portland. In November, 1901, he
came to Hood River and since then has secured a
fine practice and has made a success in which he
may well take pride.
At The Dalles, on October 10, 1899, Mr.
Jenkins married Miss Ethel Riddell, who was
born near Corvallis, Oregon. Her father, George
H. Riddell, was born in Brooklyn and came west
around the Horn, in 1852. He settled in Salem
and spent the greater part of his life as a con
tractor and builder. According to the family
record, Mr. Riddell's ancestors came from Scot
land to Holland in 1608, and the next year mi
grated to the New World, settling where Brook
lyn now stands. The Brewers were, also, in the
company. George H. Riddell's great-great
grandfather, on his mother's side, was a Brewer
and married a daughter of Anaca Jens. Angeline
(Hamilton) Riddell, Airs. Jenkins' mother, was
born in 1847, while her parents were crossing the
plains. Her people were southerners and her
father held slaves before the war. Dr. Jenkins
has one brother, Coke, and one sister, Josephine.
Mrs. Jenkins has three brothers, Havward, Clyde
ancl Xenophen, and three sisters, Grace Parish,
Maybel, and Bessie. To Dr. ancl Mrs. Jenkins
two children have been born, Boyd, aged three,
and Louise, one year old. Dr. Jenkins is a mem
ber of the K. P., and is very popular in fraternal
circles. He and his wife belong to the United
Presbvterian church. Politically, he is a stanch
Republican, but not active.

MARTIN H. NICKELSEN owns and oper
ates a fruit farm on Belmont street about two
miles out from Hood River. It is one of the
finest places on the street and has been brought
by Mr. Nickelsen to a high state of cultivation
and is very productive.
In the little Island of Fohr in the North Sea,
on March 8, 1848, occurred the birth of Martin
H. Nickelsen. At that time the island was owned
half by Denmark and half by Germany. It is but
a small piece of land containing from thirty to
fifty square miles and has a population of over
18

five thousand. Our subject's father was Peter
Nichelsen, a native of Schleswig. Martin was
educated in the public schools and then learned
the blacksmith trade which he followed until
1871, the year in which he came to the United
States. He first settled in California and oper
ated a shop for five years then came to The
Dalles in 1879, and worked for the O. R. & N.
railway. In 1884 he bought twenty acres on
Belmont street where his family resided and he
opened a shop. Later he gave up work in his-
shop and came to his farm which he cultivated
for two years and then sold. The place is now
owned by Robert Jones. Air. Nickelsen then-
moved into town and engaged in the mercantile
business for six years after which he sold out
and bought his present place of fifteen acres. He-
raises the usual varieties of fruit and has made
a good success of his labors.
On October 22, 1867, in Germany, Mr. Nick
elsen married Aliss Inge Rorden, who was born
in the same island as her husband. It is interest
ing to note that the island contains eighteen vil
lages and is very busy and full of enterprise.
Mrs. Nickelsen's father, Nickels Rorden, was
born in the island as also was her mother, Re
gina (Olufs) Rorden. They are both now de
ceased. Air. Nickelsen has one brother, Ingwert-
C, and three sisters, Marie Wyss, Dorethea, and
Catherine. Mrs. Nickelsen has two brothers,
Frederick and George and one sister, Nandina
Bruhn. Mr. Nickelsen is a member of the K.
of P. and of the A. O. U. W. He has held the
chairs in these lodges and has been a delegate to
the grand lodge. Politically, he is a good stanch
Republican and has been school director for
years. He was the first treasurer of Hood River.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Nickelsen, namely; John R., a blacksmith of
Hood River ; Christian D., a farmer near
Hood River; Rosa S., wife of Ua Nealiegh, one
mile south from our subject; Ida, wife of An-
toine Frohrn, one mile west and foreman in a
lumber yard ; and Margaret, a school girl, at-
home. Mr. and Mrs. Nickelsen are very genial and
kindly people, having hosts of friends through
out the country. They have labored wisely and
well here, have a nice place and have raised a
very interesting family.

JOHN A. WILSON was born in Indiana, on
May 21. 1841, and now resides about three miles
southwest from Hood River where he has one of
the fine farms of the valley. He is known as a
substantial and good citizen and has manifested

274

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

real worth and industry since coming to this
country. His father, Samuel Wilson, was born in
South Carolina, as were also his parents, and was
a pioneer settler in Indiana, being sixteen years
of age when he came with his parents to that
country. He died in Missouri, in 1875. He had
married Dinah Martin, also a native of South
Carolina, the wedding occurring in Indiana. Her
parents were pioneers to Indiana, coming thither
on horseback, and the mother, who was a Smith
before marriage, carried Dinah in her arms. They
came from an old and prominent family. Our
subject was educated in the district schools where
he lived, and on April 23, 1861, in response to the
first call for men, enlisted in Company H, Eighth
Indiana Infantry, and served ninety days then re-
enlisted in the Forty-sixth Indiana, the date
being October, 1861. His entire service in the
war being one month over four years. His first
battle was at Rich Mountain, West Virginia, and
the next at New Madrid, Alissouri. Later, he
was in the battles at Biddies Point, Missouri,
Fort Pemberton, Alississippi, Fort Gibson, Cham
pion Hill, Siege of Vicksburg, Jackson and at
Grand Chaton and Mansfield, Louisiana. At the
latter place he was taken prisoner and spent four
months at Camp Ford, Texas and four months at
Camp Gross, Texas. On December 8, 1864, he
was exchanged and continued in the service un
til September 4, 1865, when he was discharged
at Louisville. Air. Wilson has great reason to
take pride in his service as a soldier for his coun
try as he endured all the hardships incident to
that life and showed a fortitude and bravery
which commend him to every patriotic citizen.
After the war, he returned to Illinois whence his
parents had moved and remained there six years
then he married and moved to Missouri and
bought a farm in Caldwell county. Four years
later, he moved to Oregon and purchased the land
right from a squatter, where he now lives, and
since that time, he has continued here. He has five
acres into strawberries and the balance of the
land is devoted to general crops.
The marriage of Air. Wilson occurred on Feb
ruary 4, 1869, at Ancona, Illinois. Nancy Cham
berlain a native of Ohio, then becoming his bride.
Her father, Washington Chamberlin, was born
in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and his fa
ther in New Jersey, and his mother probably in
that state also. Mrs. Wilson's mother, Eliza
beth (Eggy) Chamberlin, was also born in Wash
ington county, Pennsylvania, and is now living
with our subject. She came from a Pennsylvania
Dutch family. Mr. Wilson has one brother,
William L., and one sister, Mrs. Caroline Martin.
Mrs. Wilson has three brothers, Leander, John,
and Newton. Seven children have been born to

our subject and his wife; Austin at Mullan,
Idaho ; Laura in The Dalles ; George, Lee, Grace,
Flora and Viola, all at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are members of the
Christian church and are liberal supporters of
the faith. Politically he is a Republican and act
ive. In school matters, Mr. Wilson has shown a
marked zeal and activity and with Mr. Gibbons
was instrumental in establishing the Barrett
school. He worked very hard for this fine enter
prise and deserves much commendation from the
community for his aggressiveness and zeal in
bringing about this desired end.

HON. W. H. HARRISON DUFUR is a
man well known by his labors, both in business
life and in the political arena. He has achieved
remarkable success as the owner of a magnificent
estate, five miles up from Dufur on Fifteenmile
creek. He is one of the leading men of this part
of the state and has made a brilliant success in
every line in which fee has operated and without
doubt is to be classed as one of the builders of
this prosperous section. His influence has been
felt far and near and his work bears the stamp
of sagacity and executive ability. He was born
in Williamstown, Vermont, on February 22,
1854. His parents and the balance of the family
are named in the biography of Andrew J. Dufur,
Jr., which appears in another portion of this
work. Our subject came to Oregon with the
rest of the family in i860 and for many years
they all remained together. He received his
educational training in the district schools in and
about Portland, in the high school under Pro
fessor Johnson and in the Portland Academy
under Professor T. M. Gatch. After this, he was
in the employ of Bradley, Marsh and Company
and other large firms, then second assistant man
ager of the Northwest Storage Shipping Com
pany, two years. In 1876, he moved to Fifteen-
mile creek with his brother for a time and rented
ranches. Two years later, he bought two hun
dred and ninety-four acres ancl kept adding to
it until he had nearly fifteen hundred acres. He
has sold considerable and still owns over one
thousand acres, six hundred of which are tillable.
He does general farming, raises cattle and horses
and Poland China hogs. He has been very suc
cessful in his labors here and has accumulated a
fine fortune. On November 11, 1902, Air. Dufur
leased the Columbia hotel in The Dalles and fur
nished the same at an expense of over four thou
sand dollars and on October 22, 1903, the same
burned to the ground.
The political career of Air. Dufur is worthy

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

275

of especial mention and it is with pleasure that
we are privileged to append a review. He has
been a life long Republican and one of the prom
inent men of his party in this part of the state.
He is one of those unswerving, progressive men,
who have made Republican politics what it is to
day, the most powerful influence in the grandest
nation on earth. In 1882, he was chosen a mem
ber of the state legislature at a special election at
the Dolph Mitchell contest, he belonging to the
Mitchell faction. Under Harrison's administra
tion, Air. Dufur was commissioner and disburs
ing agent for the Warm Springs and Colville In
dian commission. The object of this commission
was to settle the disputed line between Indians of
the Warm Springs agency and the white settlers
and to purchase lands from the confederated
tribes of the Colville Indians. Mark A. Fuller-
ton of the supreme bench of Washington was
•chairman of the committee and Hon. James F.
Paine of North Carolina was the other member.
In 1898, he was appointed forest supervisor of
the northern division of the Cascade reserve and
of the Bull Run reserve, which supplies Port
land with water. For four years he did excellent
service in that capacity. He is always at the
county and state conventions where he is an in
fluential and leading figure.
On July 16, 1876, at Portland, Mr. Dufur
married Mary L. Alexander, who was born in
Topson, Maine. Her parents were both natives
of that state ancl came from old colonial families.
The father died some time since and the mother
married Richard H. Holmes and they are now
dwelling with our subject. They came to Ore
gon in the early fifties and for many years he was
a contractor and builder in Portland. He is a
veteran of the Rogue river and Cayuse and other
Indian wars of the fifties. Mrs. Dufur has one
sister, Nellie, the wife of William Humbert, in the
government employ at Los Angeles, California.
Two children have been born to our subject and
his wife, Blanche, the wife of R. E. Batty of
Grangeville, Idaho, and Andrew B. at home. He
was married on July 9, 1903. to Iva Williams
who was born on Eightmile. Her father, W H.
Williams, is mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Dufur is a member of the A. O. V. W.,
the W. W. and the United Artisans. He is a
sturdy up-to-date man dominated by sound prin
ciples and guided by a keen foresight and wisdom
that stamp him as a leading figure in the county.

JOHN CHAPMAN PEABODY.— The sub
ject of the following article, better known as
"Frank," who has led an eventful life, encount

ering its vicissitudes as well as the smiles of for
tune, is now comfortably located at Dufur,
Wasco county, Oregon. His avocation is that of
a painter, grainer and paper hanger. He is the
son of Daniel H. and Levina (Cummings) Pea
body, the former a native of New Hampshire ;
the latter of Vermont. It is claimed that the fam
ily of Peabody is of kingly descent, and that it
springs from Boadicia, famed in history as the
Bristish Queen who so valiantly resisted the Ro
mans when they invaded Britain. Her own name
and that of her kinsman, Boadie, is considered to
be the origin of the name Peabody, Pabodie,
etc. Our subject's father, Daniel Harris Peabody,
is of the family of Isaac Peabody, one of a num
ber of brothers. Isaac Peabody was born Novem
ber 28, 1775, and was married in January, 1799, to
Mary Dodge. He died January 23, 1832, and his
wife January 9, 1846. Their children were Nancy
who died in infancy, in August, 1802, and John,
born June 10, 1803. December 3, 1809, he mar
ried Mary Llopkins, and died August 21, 1865.
Their children were John Dalton, born July 31,
1831, and died May 9, 1869. December 17, 1856,
he was married to Ann Greene. Their children
were Ada Satira. born November 12, 1857, and
Miles, born February 24, 1862. Nancy Jane,
daughter of John Dalton, was born May 1, 1833,
and December 18, 1S56. was married to Josiah
Loveren, to whom were born John Edward Lov-
eren, February 2, 1858, and George Miles Lov
eren, born August 14. 1866, and Satira Wad-
leigh, born November 18, 1836, dying in Novem
ber, 1869. May 12. 1858, she was marrried to
John F. Burnham. Their children were Herbert
Byron, born April 7, 1859 ; Susie W., born May
15, 1861 ; Addie Leona, born December 19, 1863;
Mary Ella, born October 22. 1866.
Isaac Peabody's second child, Hannah Bach-
elder (Mrs. Coggins) resided in Medford, New
Hampshire. Her son, Charles H., also lived
there. The other son, Isaac C, is a miner and
farmer in California. Isaac's fifth child, Eliza
beth (Mrs. Hersey), resided in Meriden, New
Hampshire. She also lived in Croydon, Sharon,
Vermont ancl in North Grantham, New Hamp
shire. Her third child, John F. served in the Fifth
New Hampshire Volunteers and was killed at
Fair Oakes, June 1, 1862. Emily C. was her
fourth child. She was a young woman of marked
literary ability, some of her compositions having
been published in the Boston Transcript.
Daniel Harris, the father of our subject, was
Isaac's sixth child. He was married in New
Hampshire, dying in Hooksett ; his wife passing
awav in Lowell. Massachusetts. Their second
son, John Chapman, left home at an early age to

276

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

seek his fortune. Lydia, the seventh child of
Isaac, was an invalid most of her life, and never
married. Isaac and Jacob were twin children.
Isaac's first wife was born in Lebanon and died
in Lowell, Massachusetts, during his absence in
the army. Jacob lived in Bridgeport, Connecti
cut, and at one time was a member of the police
force in that city. Ezra, Isaac's youngest child,
lived in Medford, New Hampshire. He served
in the Third New Hampshire Volunteers and
was greviously wounded in a skirmish in South
Carolina. He was a man of great natural ability
and force of character. His daughter, Celia,
married Benjamin F. Foster.
John Chapman Peabody, our subject, was
reared in New Hampshire. He was- born in Lo
well, Massachusetts, from which city his parents
removed when he was three years of age. When
he was fifteen years old he returned to Lowell and
worked in the cotton mills up to the time they
were closed by a financial panic. At Boston he
shipped before the mast on the Flying Fish, for
a voyage around the world, but deserted in San
Francisco. He was penniless, and while in this
condition was drugged and "shanghaied" aboard
a Danish vessel, but the effects of the drug wore
off and he escaped. Following many exciting
and perilous adventures in California he enlisted
in Company C, Seventh California Infantry,
Colonel Lewis commanding. Our subject's com
pany was sent to Fort Mojave, where it remained
fifteen months. Having been mustered out of the
army he returned to the Atlantic coast via the
Isthmus, and while en route was robbed of six
hundred dollars. He returned to Lowell and se
cured employment in the mills, and also worked
in the laboratory of Dr. J. C. Ayer. In 1881,
with his family, our subject went to Oregon, 1©^
eating at The Dalles, where he was employed two
years in the car shops, and then opened a paint
shop on his own account. In 1884 he located a
ranch thirteen miles southeast of Dufur, where he
resided with his family five years. In 1895 he
disposed of the ranch and purchased property in
the town of Dufur, and erected a fine, two-story
residence in which he now lives, owning another
which he rents.
September 14, 1871, at Rock Island,
Illinois, Mr. Peabody was married to Celia
L. Hewitt, a native of Michigan, having
been born at Jackson. , Mrs. Peabody has
one half brother, Frank Hathaway, a
painter at St. Johns. To Mr. and Mrs. Peabody
have been born three children ; Edith M., wife of
Andrew J. Douglas ; Maud M., wife of James H.
Johnston, one of five Johnston brothers; and
Roy H, born October 10, 1880, at Juniata, Ne
braska. Air. Peabody is a member of Ridgeley

Lodge, No. 71, I. O. O. F., of which he is past
grand; Nicholson Encampment, of which he is
chief patriarch, and James Nasmith Post, G. A.
R., The Dalles, of which he was a charter mem
ber. He has been a delegate to the grand lodge
of Odd Fellows, and is universally esteemed by
all his numerous acquaintances. It is important
to notice that our subject's father was a first
cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne's wife. Eliza
beth Peabody, a second cousin to our subject, was
the first to introduce the famous kindergarten-
system from Germany into the United States.
She was a well known educator and famous over
the civilized world. Horace Mann, the famous-
educator, and one time superintendent of educa
tion for the state of Massachusetts, married a
sister to Elizabeth Peabody. Elizabeth Peabody
never married. Julian Hawthorne is now com
piling a record of the Peabody family.

EDWIN M. HILL, of the firm of Hill &
Robinson, blacksmiths and wagon makers, resides.
at Dufur, Wasco county. He is a native son
of this grand state, having been born in Malheur
county, April 22, 1872. The house in which he
was born stood on the Idaho and Oregon state
line, one-half of the edifice in Oregon, the other
half in Idaho. The family postoffice was at Silver
City, Idaho. His father, Marshall Hill, is a na
tive of Tennessee, his parents being descended
from a prominent Pennsylvania Dutch family.
His mother, Prudence (Thomas) Hill, was born
in Linn county, Oregon, her ancestry being, also,.
of Dutch extraction. Her parents crossed the
plains so early as 1849. Marshall Hill, father of
our subject, accompanied hi« parents on the
perilous journey over the plains, in 1852. He was
an active participant in the Indian war of Rogue
River, in 1855 and 1856, and in the Piute war in
Idaho. He is a fruit grower, residing one mile
south of The Dalles, on a farm, with his wife,.
the mother of our subject.
With his parents young Hill moved to Gilliam
county when he was about six years of age. Two-
years afterward they moved to The Dalles, and
our subject attended public schools and worked
on the farm. He received the benefit of a course
at the high school at The Dalles. In 1897 he-
went with the Lane brothers of The Dalles where
he learned the trade of a blacksmith. With them
he remained until March, 1902, when he located'
at Dufur, and purchased his present shop from
the Summer Fallow Machine Company. Later
he associated himself with Mr. Robinson as a
partner. They have one of the best equipped
shops of the kind in the country, doing all deserip-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

277

tions appertaining to the trade. They employ
one man the year round, and the greater portion
of the time they have two helpers. Mr. Hill
has one brother and three sisters ; Roy, with his
parents at The Dalles ; Melissa, who taught school
at The Dalles twelve years, and is now one of the
faculty of McMinnville College ; Julia, who has
taught ten years ; and Bertha, wife of J. B. Spite,
.a Bajtist minister at Hood River, Oregon.
Mr. Hill was married at The Dalles, Septem
ber 6, 1898, to Lulu J. Berrian, born at Golden
dale, Washington, the ' daughter of James and
Leona (Wendell) Berrian. Her father died when
Mrs. Hill was nine years of age. At present her
mother resides at Hood River. Mrs. Hill has
three brothers and one sister; James, in the em
ployment of the government fish hatchery at Rose-
burg, Oregon ; George, with a mercantile firm, at
Portland ; Howard, at Portland ; and Ada, wife
of Lucius Clark. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have two
children, Lois ancl Howard. Our subject is a
member of the United Artisans, the I. O. O. F.,
and politically is a prohibitionist. Personally he
is a fine, progressive gentleman, and an influential
citizen.

AARON FRAZIER, a most efficient and
¦cultured school teacher at Dufur, Wasco county,
was born in Kenton county, Ohio, October 22,
1834. He is the son of Abraham Frazier, a native
of North Carolina, whose parents were born in
¦the same state. The paternal grandfather of our
subject was born in 1748. During the War of
the Revolution the Fraziers owned a' mill oft Deep
River. They were a Quaker family and remained
neutral during the conflict, although the old
Scotch Fraziers had been" valiant fighters for over
six hundred years, or longer. At the historical
battle of Colloden Field the Clan Frazier fought
fiercely and many of them were killed in the
engager ent, some of them having been tortured
to death by the English soldiery.
Abraham Frazier, our subject's father, was a
farmer, and on his place young Frazier grew to
manhood, having attended a Quaker school at
Martinsville, Ohio. Here he perfected himself
in mathematics. He thence went to New Vienna,
Ohio, where he was matriculated in the academy
at that place, studied the languages and was there
four vears. Later he entered Yellow Springs Col
lege, at Antioch, Ohio, remaining only one year
owing to illness. One year later he entered the
Southwestern Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio,
where he studied industriously two terms. Fol
lowing this thorough course of study he began
teaching, which he since continued most success
fully, until 1902. He taught six years at Frank

fort, Indiana ; three years at Berlin, Wisconsin ;
seven years at Leon, Iowa; three years at Mc
Minnville, Oregon; nine years in Dufur, besides
a short period in Sherman county and other places,
aggregating four hundred and fifty-two months
of teaching.In 1883 Mr. Frazier filed on a claim in Sher
man county. Seven years thereafter he sold it.
He owns property in Dufur. At present he is
not teaching, but devoting his attention to fire
insurance and newspaper work. He also holds
the office of justice of the peace. Our subject
is the youngest of seven brothers : William C,
of Clinton county, Indiana ; Madison, a farmer in
Kansas ; Lewis, of Ohio ; John, Aloses and Abra
ham, deceased. He has two sisters, Eliza, wife
of Jacob Quigley, of Ohio, and Margery A.,
married to Abraham Skein, of Clinton county,
Indiana. August 15, i860, Mr. Frazier was married,
at Blanchester, Ohio, to Jennie Williams, a native
of that city, the daughter of Walter and Huldah
Williams. Mrs. Frazier died October 20, 1872,
at Farmers Station, Ohio, where she was visit
ing. The second marriage of our subject took
place in Leon, Iowa, November 5, 1873, when he
was united to Huldah H. Ham, born near Cleve
land, Ohio. Mrs. Frazier has one brother and
four sisters. Mr. Frazier is a member of the
A. F. & A. M., and past master ; of the R. A. M.,
ancl past high priest, and a K. T. of Osceola Com-
mandery, Iowa ; the I. O. O. F., being past grand ;
and he and his wife are members of the Christian
church. Our subject is a Democrat and has been a
delegate to county and state conventions, ever
active and stanch ; has served as county superin
tendent of schools in Oregon and Indiana; has
been county surveyor in Yamhill county six
years ; city recorder in various places including
Dufur ; nine years principal of Dufur school, and
was principal of high schools in Frankfort, Indi
ana, Berlin, Wisconsin, Leon, Iowa and McMinn
ville, Oregon. He assisted in the framing of a
legislative bill, and was instrumental in the or
ganization of the present excellent school system
in Iowa. Mr. Frazier has two children by his
first marriage; Minnie A., wife of S. I. Everett,
mentioned elsewhere ; and Guy L., in the United
States army, stationed in Alaska. By his second
marriage he has Frederick D., of Dufur, and
Annie, wife of James Adamson, of Mitchell,
Oregon.

CHARLES N. BURGET, coroner of Wasco
county and associated with C. J. Crandall, under
taker and embalmer, resides at The Dalles. He

278

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

was born in Little Rock, Lyon county, Iowa,
Alarch 4. 1875, the son of Isiah I. and Nannie
(Fisher) Burget, natives of Michigan. The pa
rents of Isiah I. died when he was three years of
age. He was engaged in the undertaking and
furniture business in Iowa many vears, coming
to the Pacific coast in 1875. He returned to Iowa,
remaining- until 1883, when he removed his fam
ily to The Dalles and worked four years as a
carpenter. Associating himself with C. J. Cran
dall he engaged in the undertaking and furniture
business, dying September 1, 1895.
Up to the time of the death of Isiah I. Bur
get, he was city treasurer of The Dalles and past
master of The Dalles Lodge A. F. & A. M. The
mother of our subject died at his birth. She was
the daughter of Charles A. and Rebecca Fisher,
natives of the Empire State, descended from an
old an distinguished New York family.
Our subject was educated at The Dalles
graded schools and- the high school. He is a
member of Columbia Lodge, No. 5, I. O O. F
the A. O. U. W.. ancl The' Dalles Aerie, No. 156,
Eagles. In June, 1902, he was elected coroner
of Wasco county as a Republican, running far
ahead of his ticket. There were three tickets in
the field, and he lacked but eight votes of tying
the other two opposition tickets.
January 1, 1900, at The Dalles, Mr. Burget
was married to Aliss Jennie Young, born in
Wasco county, November 17, 1878, the daughter
of William and Julia (Clark) Young. The father
is a native of Pennsylvania, a blacksmith, at pres
ent residing at Prineville, Crook county. The
mother is a native of Cottage Grove, Oregon.
Mr. and Mrs. Burget have one child living,
Viva Elizabeth, born July 11, 1901. Mr. Burget
has two half brothers, Guy, aged twenty, ancl
Roy, aged eighteen, now living with their mother,
the subject's step-mother, at The Dalles. Mrs.
Burget has one brother, Grover, living at Prine
ville with his parents, and four sisters, viz : Carrie,
wife of Will J. Van Dorn, engaged in the livery
business at Mountain View, California ; Elnora,
married to William C. Palamountain, of Palo
Alto, California; Bessie, with our subject; and
Estella, residing with her parents at Prineville.

MRS. ELIZABETH L. LORD, a most cul
tured and estimable lady of The Dalles, Wasco
county, was born in Scotland county, Missouri,
April 29, 1841. Her parents, William C. ana
Mary (Yeargain) Laughlin, were natives of Ken
tucky. An extended mention of her father ap
pears in this volume.
For our subject, the foundation of her educa

tion was laid in the public schools of The Dalles,,
which was continued at the Convent at Van
couver. In those early pioneer days school.
facilities were meagre, so Judge Laughlin de
voted considerable time, personally, to educating:
his children.
January 15, 1861, at The Dalles, our subject
was united in marriage to Mr. Wentworth Lord.
Mr. Lord is a native of Denmark, Alaine, and the
date of his birth is May 4, 1832. His parents,
Job C. and Evelyn (Ingalls) Lord, were resi
dents of the Pine Tree State, and the mother
died when Wentworth was an infant. Air. Lord
was reared and educated in Maine ancl remained
there until 1857, when he came to California by
water. After a short time spent in work at camp
Angels, he came to Portland in 1858. Late in the
same year, he made his way to The Dalles and
engaged in mercantile business and followed it
for years. He has always been identified with the-
business interests of The Dalles, but is now re
tired, although he is still president of the Wasco-
Warehouse and Milling Company. He has shown
himself a capable and good business man and
stands well in the county. Two children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Lord, one dying when one-
year old. The other, Evelyn, is the wife of Fred
L. Houghton, of The Dalles, engaged in the hay
and feed business. Mrs. Lord is a member of the
Christian Science church, of The Dalles, of which
she is First Reader, and also a distinguished mem
ber of the Sorosis Club. She has one brother
living, Frank Laughlin, a wheat dealer and
capitalist at The Dalles. Airs. Lord is a lady of
marked literary taste and ability, and the author
of a number of interesting articles and books.

JOSHUA W. FRENCH, of French & Com
pany, bankers in The Dalles, is one of the fore
most financiers in eastern Oregon. He was born
in Holland, Vermont, on September 13, 1830..
His brothers, Daniel and Smith French, are men
tioned elsewhere in this work. Joshua W. was
educated in the district schools and by personal
investigation and reading. Until twenty-one, he-
labored on the farm between school terms and
knows well the rugged life of the agriculturist.
In 1852, he journeyed via the isthmus to the-
Mecca of the west, California, and for two years.
was industriously engaged in panning the golden
sands of that favored region. With his brothers,
Daniel and Joseph, he was also engaged in oper
ating a ferry on the Stanislaus river and also
handled a roofing business in San Francisco. As.
early as 1864, Mr. French landed in The Dalles,
joining his brother, Daniel, who had preceded'

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

279

him to this location. They established the first
bank in The Dalles and since the day it opened
its doors it has taken and held the position of
one of the sound moneyed institutions of the
land. Its policy has been dictated by men of
marked financial ability and there is no more
thoroughly established banking house on this
coast. Our subject has had a great part in form
ing the policy and conducting this business, being
always associated with his brother, Daniel, who
has since passed away. Since the death of his
brother, Mr. French assumed charge of the bank
and has stood at its head maintaining the most
excellent reputation the institution has always
borne and conducting its affairs with an aggres
siveness, yet always tempered with a wise con
servatism, sagacity, and breadth of grasp, that
have added still greater triumphs to the bank and
demonstrated, as well, the manner of man at the
helm. In addition to this responsible position,
Mr. French is associated with various other enter
prises of importance and is sought after in coun
sel by all who may have the good fortune to ob
tain his ear ancl receive his expressed judgment.
His personal attention is given to the bank and
other enterprises are secondary when compared
with this. He is president of the Arlington Na
tional Bank ancl also director in several com
panies with which he is associated.
Like his brothers, Daniel and Smith French,
Johsua W. French is a man of strong individual
ity and with them has been an important factor in
the development and growth of eastern Oregon.
Mr. French married Miss Ellen Burke, a na
tive of Maine, the wedding occurring in Cali
fornia. The children born to this happy union
are: Mrs. Nellie J. Bolton, of The Dalles; Ed
ward H, paying teller in French & Company
Bank ; and Vivian H. assistant manager of the
Wasco Warehouse and Milling Company. Mr.
French is a leading member of the A. F. &
A. M. and in politics is Republican, but not active.

JOHN W. NOLIN, deceased. In the per
son of Mr. Nolin, Wasco county lost one of her
respected and substantial citizens, a good man, a
patriotic citizen and a kind father and husband.
His brother, James AL Nolin, is mentioned else
where in this work. Like his brother, James, he
was reared on the St. Lawrence river in New
York and for several years engaged in the fish
ing business, which was very profitable. The same
being prohibited by law, they then turned their
attention to farming in 1882, after which they
came to Oregon. Our subject purchased two
hundred and eighty-six acres about four miles

up Fifteen-mile creek from Dufur, where his
widow resides at the present time. He gave his
attention to the cultivation and improvement of
the same continuously until his death, on Febru
ary 1, 1903, he being then aged fifty-two years
and ten months. Had he lived until April 11,
he would have been fifty-three years of age. In
Canada, Mr. Nolin was a prominent member of
the Orangemen and after removing to New York
was a stanch Democrat. He also took an active
interest in politics both in New York and here'
in Oregon. He was clerk in Jefferson county,
New York and was offered the nomination the
second time, but owing to the fact that he had
decided to come to Oregon, he refused it. Here
for nineteen successive years, he was clerk of the
Remsey district and no one was more zealous for
good schools and general upbuilding than Mr.
Nolin. He was frequently judge of the election
and even delegate to the conventions. His educa
tion had been carefully looked after in his younger
days as he had received a thorough high school
course from the famous Kingston schools in
Ontario. Fraternally, he was a member of the United
Artisans at Dufur and in church affiliations of
the Episcopal denomination. He was a good man,-
intelligent and kind, and was deeply mourned
at his death.
On June 8, 1875, at Gahanoque, Ontario, Mr.
Nolin married Miss Cora Potter, who was born'
in that place on September 1, 1858. Her"
fathre, Augustus Potter, was a native of
Rhode Island and came from the old Pot
ter family, which was prominent on the At
lantic seaboard all through the early days. His
great-grandfather fought for independence in the
Revolution and many of the Potter's fought in
the War of 1812, and the Mexican and Civil
Wars, they were prominent in governmental
affairs, were represented liberally at the
bar and are large manufacturers through
out New York and in New England. The pro
genitor who first landed in this country, came on
the Mayflower. Augustus Potter's father, the
grandfather of Mrs. Nolin, was one of the first
school teachers in western New York and later
became a very successful physician. With Mrs.
Nolin's father and another son, he was later
engaged in the woolen manufacturing business.
After heavy loss by fire, in this business, Mr.
Potter began farming in 1868. His death oc
curred in Clayton county, New York, on January
6, 1894 at'liis son's home, being aged seventy-
nine. He had married Mary McCuen, a native
of Glasgow, Scotland and from an old lowland
family. She lives with Mrs. Nolin's sister in
New York state. The children of this family be-

a8o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sides Mrs. Nolin, are Albert, Ulysses, Nelson,
Ernest and Mrs. Elizabeth Murdick. To Mr.
and Mrs. Nolin, three children were born ; Ella,
the wife of Charles Magee, a retired farmer at
Dufur; Wilbur and Earl. Mrs. Nolin, like her
husband, was well educated and was a graduate
of the Lewiston seminary at Gananoqua, Canada.
Since the death of her husband she has taken up
the management of affairs with a display of cour
age and wisdom and receives the respect and ap
probation of all.

HENRY KLINDT resides about two miles
west from The Dalles, where he has a valuable
farm and one of the most beautiful locations for
a residence in the country. His house is so situ
ated that it overlooks the river for miles, and
commands a view of The Dalles, and the foot
' hills of Klickitat county, Washington, across the
Columbia. It is an ideal location and one of the
most beautiful in this part of the country. His
land produces two crops each year, in this respect
being better than any around. Before the high
water comes he sows wheat and cuts it for hay
and then the land overflows from the Columbia.
When the water has subsided, he plants vege
tables, and in the fall he harvests abundant crops.
His potatoes are known far and near as the finest
in the entire country. Altogether he is one of the
most successful and thrifty tillers of the soil in
the country.
Henry Klindt was born in Schleswig-Hol-
stein, Germany, on February 22, 1830, the son
of Goris and Viebke (Stuhr) Klindt, also natives
of the same province as our subject. The father
served in the Danish army when that nation had
cnarge of the Schleswig province. The parents
both died in their native country. Our subject
'was educated in the public schools and learned
the trade of the mason in his native land. In
the spring of 1851, he came to the United States
and after a few days in New York, he came on to
Connecticut, whence he went to Cumberland,
Virginia and later journeyed on to Iowa. There
he followed his trade until 1859, when he started
for Pikes Peak, but owing to unfavorable reports,
he turned aside to California. There he spent
two years and in 1862, he returned to Iowa, via
the isthmus. His family had been left in Com-
manche and a tornado swept away all his prop
erty. The family were in a stone building, which
was blown to the ground, but none of the inmates
were killed. Selling his property, he brought his
family across the plains .with ox tearh.s and since
then has remained in Wasco county.1 The first
six years were spent in town, doirtg building
and contracting. Three buildings still stand in

The Dalles, which he erected, while many of the
bricks went down before fire and flood. In 1868,
Mr. Klindt bought his present place and since
that time he has continued steadily in producing
the fruits of the field.
At Davenport, Iowa, on November 16, 1854,
Mr. Klindt married Miss Doris Stottenberg, a
native of Germany. When eleven she came to
the United States in 1847 with her parents, Hans
and Angie (Mundt) Stottenberg. The father died
the year he landed in Iowa, and the mother passed
away when Mrs. Klindt _was an infant. Mr.
Klindt has one brother, Hans, now deceased, and
formerly a sea captain. He has the following
named sisters, Annie Niehs, Trina, Viebke, Abel
and Gretchen. Airs. Klindt has the following
named brothers and sisters, Hans, Claus, Lenke,
Trina, Silke, Beke, Abel and Angie. All the
family are very wealthy. To Mr. and Mrs.
Klindt five children have been born, who are .
living ; George E., in the Horseheaven country ;
Charles A., at home ; Alvina, wife of Hans C.
Nielsen, a merchant in The Dalles ; Amalie, with
her father's sister on Puget Sound ; and, Walter
in the Horseheaven country. Air. Klindt has ac
cumulated a handsome fortune by his wise ef
forts and skill and has also won the esteem and
confidence of all who know him.

HENRY PRIGGE, deceased, was one of the
substantial men of the Hood River valley and
labored long and assiduously for the improve
ment and upbuilding of the country. He was
born on January 28, 1850, near Hanover, Ger
many and died on September 10, 1903 at his home
in Hood River. His parents, John and Laura
Prigge, were natives of Germany where they re
mained until their death. He came to the United
States in 1872, having received a liberal ed no
tion in the latter country. Settlement was ma J:
at Winona, Minnesota first, and two years later,
he went to San Francisco. After spending s.- me
time in various employments, he engaged" in the
saloon business and there remained until 1880.
Then caine the journey to Oregon and they Wily
selected the place which is the family home <oday.
Mr. Prigge bought a settler's right and filed on
a homestead cf one hundred and sixty acres.
It is especially fine soil, well improved and shows
the marks of his long and wise labors bestowed
here. Mr. Prigge was a zealous advocate of good
roads, excellent schools and general advance
ment and labored here to attain these ends. He
served as school director and road supervisor at
various times and did excellent work in these
public capacities. During the last five or six

Henry Klindt

Henry Prigge

William J. Harriman

William H. Davis

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

281

years of his life, Mr. Prigge was ill much of the
time, being afflicted with cancer of the stomach.
Finally, at the time mentioned, death claimed him
•and he passed from the scenes of his labors here
to the world beyond. He was well known and
highly respected and was deeply mourned at the
time of his decease.
At San Francisco, on March 12, 1880, Air.
•Prigge married Miss Wilhelmine Hillman, who
was born in Saxony, Germany, on September 27,
1850, the daughter of Carl A. and Laura
(Petculd) Hillman, natives of Saxony. The
father was a tailor and musician and died there
in 1890. The mother still lives there aged
seventy-five. Mr. Prigge had the following
named brothers and sisters, Lewis, John, Heinrich
and Claus. Mrs. Prigge had three brothers,
Clemence, Emil and F. Henry and two sisters,
Augusta and Emma. To Mr. and Mrs. Prigge,
six children have been born, Herman, Louis,
Freda, Emma, Annie, and Laura, all at home.
Mr. Prigge was a member of the A. O. U. W.,
while he and his wife were members of the
Lutheran church. Miss Freda attended school
at Napa, California, after attending the district
schools in this place. Mrs. Prigge is a woman
of many virtues and has many warm friends in
this part of the country. She has a very fine
family of children and is taking up the added
burdens of life since the death of her husband
with a fortitude and wisdom that are com
mendable.

WILLIAM J. HARRIMAN is at the pres
ent time one of the commissioners of Wasco
county. He is one of the- leading farmers in
this portion of the state and now resides at
1 103 Elm street, The Dalles. He was born
in Leicestershire, England, on November 11,
1854. His father, John Harriman, who is given
mention elsewhere in this volume, was a native
•of the same place. For many generations back,
the family has lived there and our subject's
¦cousin now owns the old Harriman estate. He
'married Miss Elizabeth M. Hanford, also a na
tive of that shire. Her father was a noted imple
ment manufacturer for many years and took a
fine prize of a ten guinea gold cup for the best
plow manufactured in the realm. Mrs. Han-
"ford's brother succeeded to the business and after
his death, the factory passed out of the liands
of the family. Both the Hanford and the Harri
man families were very prominent and influential
people in Leicestershire. Our subject was well
-educated in the public and private schools and
after fourteen remained on the farm with his
father until twenty-six. After that, he was em

ployed on the street railway in Nottingham, then
traveled for Robinson and Company, brewers of
Burton. After that he was distributing agent
for a large newspaper and in May, 1882, came
to the United States, locating in Wasco county.
Although he had been active at various labors
in the old country, he had not amassed sufficient
funds for the trip and so was supplied by his
mother. Upon arriving here, he immediately
took a preemption and went to work for A. J.
McHaley. His wages were used to make im
provements upon the farm and he labored along
gradually improving the place until he had a fine
farm with capital enough to buy another quarter
section, which he did from J. H. Harris. He
soon bought another quarter from J. H. Harris.
He has in this farm now, five hundred and two
acres. He owns another farm on Eightmile creek,
near Endersly postoffice, of four hundred and
forty acres, a portion of which is very rich bottom
land. It is one of the finest places in the county.
Both of the farms he handles through tenants and
hired overseers and he is thus largely retired
from active business. In the fall of 1903, Mr.
Harriman retired from the farm and moved to
The Dalles, purchasing the property where he
lives at the present time.
At The Dalles, on March 20, 1888, Mr. Harri
man married Miss Jane M. Nelson, who was born
in Glasserton, Wigtonshire, Scotland, on Decem
ber 6, 1865. Her parents are James and Eliza
beth (McKeand) Nelson, natives of that same
country. The father died in 1902 on our sub
ject's ranch near Endersly. The mother died at
the home of her son-in-law, William Hastings.
Mrs. Harriman has two brothers, Thomas H.
and David, and three sisters, Jessie, single, Mrs.
Agnes Hastings, and Mrs. Elizabeth Nicholson.
Mr. Harriman's brothers, Edward M. and Arthur
M. are mentioned elsewhere in this work. To our
subject and his wife, seven children have been
born: William T., December 17, 1888; Charles
N., March 23, 1890; George E., November 30,
1892; John H., November 21, 1894; Florence
M., June 10, 1896; Lizzie M., June 18, 1899; and
Jane C, April 20, 1903.
Mr. Harriman is a good stirring Democrat
- and has always been very active in the cam
paigns and for the interest of his party. He
is frequently at the county conventions, has been
justice of the peace and in 1900 was elected
commissioner of Wasco county, running two hun
dred and seventy-five votes ahead of his ticket.
At the time he was installed in office, the county
owed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
On May 1, 1904, it owed a little over eleven
thousand dollars. This speaks well of the
financial ability and sound wisdom of our sub-

282

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ject and his associates. Mr. Harriman has given
considerable personal attention to building good
roads and is a strong advocate of the best in
every line. Fie has the reputation throughout the
country of being one of the best farmers and
stockmen to be found. In the fall of 1903, at
The Dalles, he took the prize for the best team
of carriage horses, first prize for roadsters, first
prize for mare and colt, first prize for plow team
under fourteen hundred pounds, first prize for
Shorthorn yearling, first prize for yearling Here
ford and won the farmer's team and buggy race.
In 1902, he took four first prizes on fruit but in
1903, he did not enter fruit.
Mr. Harriman is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and was raised in the Episcopalian church. His
wife was a member of the Congregational church.
On April 2, 1904, after a continued illness of
typhoid fever, which was succeeded by pneu
monia, Airs. Harriman was called to pass the
river of death. She was a noble Christian woman
and left a record unsullied.
Since the above was written, Mr. Harriman
again entered the race for county commissioner,
but as the Republicans were in the majority he
lost, but by a small majority.

WILLIAAI H. DAVIS is a man of kindness,
affability and geniality, always ruled by a sense
of honor and justice and guided by unswerving
integrity. His birth occurred in Linn county,
Missouri, on August 28, 1843. The parents,
James and Nancy (Johnson) Davis, were na
tives of Ireland and Kentucky, respectively, and
died when our subject was a small boy. The
father preceded his wife, some time over the
river of death, and when this lad was about
seven, he awoke to the sad fate of being an
orphan. He was bound out and lived the life oi
an ordinary boy, but had little opportunity in
those early days to attend school. But young
Davis was not made of the stuff that wilts at one
adverse blast, for he picked his way along with
the training to be had and became fitted for
life's duties. About twenty-one, or a little before,
he departed from his guardian and in 1862 en
listed in Company F, Forty-second Alissouri In
fantry, and served throughout the entire struggle
with distinction, being called on to do much heavy
fighting and the arduous duty of the soldier. He
acted as a scout and a spy ancl would often be
called to headquarters to doff his uniform for
citizen's clothes to undertake some hazardous
mission where his life would pay the forfeit
should his identity become known. Frequently

he made his way into the rebel lines, fraternized.
with them and always left without exciting sus
picion, his successful plan being to act the part.
of a green, gawky boy. His services were highly
appreciated and he was intrusted with many very
important enterprises. When the war ended
and the time came to lay down his musket and
take again the plow, he had the satisfaction of
knowing that he had done what he could for his
country. While he participated in none of the
large battles he had a life of the most trying
danger during the entire service. Being mustered
out in 1865, he returned to Linn county and there
engaged in farming until 1877, when he came
to Oregon and settled on Wapinitia flat. He
landed here in July and since that time he has
continued in the business of stock raising and
farming. He owns eleven hundred and 'sixty
acres of land, the beginning of the estate being
secured through the homestead act. Half of this
is cultivatable, and he reaped this year three hun-
dren acres of good grain. Last winter, Air. Davis
fed nearly two hundred head of cattle. He
started with Shorthorn breeds but is now hand
ling Hereford, almost exclusively. He has some
fine registered animals and ships as far as Mis
souri. His stock is of the best and the thrift,
care, and wisdom manifested in all his enter
prises, show a man of ability and one who could
but be crowned with success.
In Linn county, Alissouri, on December 12,
1865, Mr. Davis married Miss Eliza H. Wood
ruff, a native of Linneus, Alissouri. Her parents,
David and Frances (Alexander) Woodruff, were
born in Kentucky and are now deceased. On.
March 19, 1904, after many years of faithful life,
Mrs. Davis was called hence by death. She had
many friends, being, like her husband, popular
and highly esteemed. No children have been
born to this marriage. Owing to the fact that
Mr. Davis had little opportunity to gain an edu
cation, and his knowledge of books being cir
cumscribed, he relied more especially on his faith
ful wife to assist him in his business relations.
She was a woman of refined and gentle nature,
possessed of excellent business qualifications, and-.
her loss was most keenly felt bv her husband as
well as by all who knew her. Air. Davis is one
of the active Republicans of the county and
is almost always at the conventions, where he is
an influential participant. He never seeks office
for himself, but is greatly interested in putting ¦
good men into the places of importance.
Mr. Davis is justly entitled to credit for im
proving the cattle stock of Wapinitia flat, and
also of this section of Oregon, as he was the first
settler to bring Shorthorns to the flat. Some-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

283

time since he returned to Missouri and brought
back eleven cows and five bulls, all fine registered
stock. He has devoted his entire time to cattle
raising and his enthusiasm along that line has
resulted in his nick name, "Cow Davis," by which
he is known all over central Oregon.

JONATHAN N. PATTERSON, deceased.
For many years, the subject of this memoir was
identified with the growth and the upbuilding of
Wasco county. He was one of the best known
pioneers throughout the west and was engaged in
arduous duties that required much fortitude and
genuine grit, for many years. He was born on
July 11, 1835, the son of Jonathan and Teena
(Foster) Patterson, natives of Kentucky and
North Carolina, respectively. Both families came
from Tennessee to Illinois thence to California.
The father died en route in Bear Valley, Nevada,
while the mother with nine children came on
through to California where she was married six
years later to Mr. Robinson. Our subject was
thirteen years old when they crossed the plains
with ox teams, it being' then 1848, and he mined
and drove stage in California, making two good
fortunes. After that, he engaged in the livery
business. Burning out in that, he turned his at
tention to mining in Nevada, Idaho and Montana.
He made frequent trips to Oregon with stock
and in 1867, he drove stage from The Dalles to
Boise City. In 1875, he drove stage from The
Dalles to Canyon City. About this time, he filed
on a homestead in Rail Hollow and after five
years sold it ancl took railroad land near by.
Abandoning this, he came to his present place
which Airs. Patterson bought. He was then
broken in health and suffered much. Mr. Patter
son had served in the Rogue river and other
Indian wars of the fifties and participated in the
Kern creek Indian struggle at which place he
received a hernia as the result of heavy lifting.
From this, after a short illness, his death occurred
on March 18, 1901.
In February, 1874, Air. Patterson married
Miss Jane Hurst, who was born in Linn county,
Oregon, on March 17, 1857. Her father, James
Hurst, was a native of Kentucky and his ances
tors were born in Virginia and England, and were
early pioneers to Tennessee, Kentucky and Mis
souri. He married Alelinda Davis, a native of
Illinois, whose father was born in Germany. They
crossed the plains with ox teams and in 185 1,
settled in Linn county on a donation claim and
now live on Ten-mile creek near the free bridge
in Wasco county. Mr. Patterson had three broth
ers, George, Daniel and William, and one sister,

Mrs. Carrie Zekehouse. Mrs. Patterson has the-
following named brothers and sisters, Benjamin,
Marion, James, William, Uriah, Mrs. Susie Gray,
Mrs. Emily Love, Mrs. Melissa Evans, Mrs. Sina
Brown, Mrs. Nancy Brown, Alinerva and Mrs.
Millie Boles.
Mrs. Patterson has managed her estate with
becoming wisdom and is a lady whose labors are
worthy and whose life has been such as to win the
confidence and esteem of all who know her. She
has had much to endure and to try her during
her life, owing to the illness of her husband, but
she has borne all pntientlv, manifesting a wisdom
that has enabled them to pass successfully along
and it has won a good competence for her to en
joy in these later years of her life.

ANDREW J. HOWIE, one of the industrious
and thrifty agriculturists of Wasco county, is
residing about four miles up Pine Hollow from
Dufur. His place consists of one section of
choice land and has been secured as the result
of his own labors and sagacity. He took a home
stead here first and later purchased adjoining
land until he has now six hundred and eighty
acres, three hundred of which are annually
cropped to wheat. The place bears the marks of
a man of intelligence and care in his labors and
it is one of the profitable estates of the county.
Recently Mr. Howie erected a fine two-story eight
room dwelling, where his wife presides with the
graciousness of which she is so well possessed.
Their home is a beautiful place and they are
dispensers of excellent hospitality. They are sub
stantial, intelligent and leading citizens of this
part of the county and are real Oregonians with
the true patriotism of the genuine American.
Andrew Howie was born in Scotland, on Alay
12, 1866, the son of Robert and Marion
(Stevenson) Howie, both natives of Scotland
and farmers. They remained in their country
until death. In 1886, Mr. Howie, having gained
a good education in his home place, determined
to try his fortune in the land of the free, and
accordingly set his face westward. His journeys
landed him first in Essex county, Ontario, where
he wrought for wages for about four years. Then
he came hither and went to work on the farms.
In 1889, he filed his homestead right on the land
where he now lives and continued his labors. He
soon began to improve and subdue the place and
as the time went by added by purchase as stated
above until the place is now one of the large ones
of the county. In addition to general farming,
Mr. Howie winters about thirty-five head of cattle,
raises a great many Poland China hogs and has

.284

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

some fine thoroughbred animals. He has all the
improvements needed on the farm and it is well
.kept. On November 28, 1895, at Dufur, Oregon,
Mr. Howie married Miss Katherine Heisler. She
was born in Lane county, Oregon, on September
¦24, 1864, the daughter of William and Martha
(McConnell) Heisler, who are mentioned else
where and are better known all over the country
as "Grandpa and Grandma Heisler." Mrs.
Howie's brothers and sisters are all mentioned in
this work. Mr. Howie has two brothers, James
and John, and two sisters, Mrs. Marion Gray
and Mrs. Mary. Welsh. Fraternally, the subject
of this article is affiliated with the I. O. O. F.
and the W. W., while he and his wife belong to
the Rebekahs. They are also members of the
United Brethren church, and in politics, Mr.
Howie is a good Republican.

HON. ZELEK M. DONNELL, deceased.
The following memoir is devoted to one of the
earliest pioneers of Oregon, a worthy man, and,
-in life, a most excellent citizen. His occupation
was that of a stock raiser. He was born in
Indiana, May 5, 1829, the son of James Donnell,
of Scotch-Irish ancestry, who came to America
early in the eighteenth century. The youth of our
subject was passed on a farm with his father,
sixty miles south of Indianapolis, in Decatur
county. February 3, 1852, our subject was married,
and March ist, of the same year he left with his
bride by steamer from Cincinnati, Ohio, for St.
Joseph. Here he outfitted, and with ox teams
began the long journey across the plains. This
trip was uneventful, and in September, 1852, they
arrived at The Dalles. As the company was
•mostly made up of young couples they walked the
-greater portion of the way, the train being known
as Dr. Crawford's company. Leaving The Dalles
our subject and his young wife went down the
Columbia river to Portland. During this trip
Mrs. Donnell went through the Cascade Rapids —
with a sick child whose mother died en route — in
-an Indian bateau. The Donnells finally located
near Brownville, on donation land. Here they
lived until November, 1858, and then disposed of
the claim to Captain James Blakeley, father of
Judge George Blakeley, of The Dalles, elsewhere
-mentioned in this work, and engaged in the cattle
business and was among the first to range cattle
between the Des Chutes and John Day rivers.
In this business he continued until his death, No
vember 28, 1873, at the age of forty-four years.
In 1866 Mr. Donnell and his family removed to

The Dalles in order to provide his children with
educational advantages. June 4, 1864, he was
elected Territorial senator from Wasco county,
serving one term each in two regular sessions, and
one special session held for the purpose of ratify
ing the Thirteenth Constitutional Amendment.
At this period he was a prominent and leading
Republican. Mr. Donnell was a charter member
of the first Congregational church organized in
The Dalles, in 1859.
The marriage of Air. Donnell took place at
Greensburg, Indiana, the bride being Camilla
Thomson, a native of Indiana, born April 3, 1827,
in Decatur county. Her parents, John and Spicy
(Hamilton) Thomson, were natives of Kentucky
and pioneers of Indiana. Air. Donnell left four
children, Lulu, wife of Charles J. Crandall, else
where mentioned ; Orvilla, living in Montana, and
Martin Z., a druggist at The Dalles. At present
Mrs. Donnell resides at The Dalles with her son,
Martin.

SMITH FRENCH, a retired merchant in The
Dalles, has been one of the heaviest operators in
commercial lines in this portion of Oregon. Dur
ing a long career in active business life here, he
manifested ability and energy, coupled with in
dustry and uprightness that won both success
liberally and for him a standing that is certainly
enviable. A well outlined account of his life
will be interesting and we append the same.
Smith French was born in Holland, Vermont
on March 26, 1837. His father, Joshua French,
a native of New Hampshire, was born in 1803,
went to Vermont when a young man, became a
successful farmer, and died in April, 1857. The
mother, Polly (Mead) French, was born in New
Hampshire, the year being 1801, and died August,
1850. In 1875, Air. Smith French came to The
Dalles to visit his brothers and see the country.
After a month spent here, he returned to the
east and one year later went to California, whence
he j ourneyed to The Dalles arriving there Febru
ary, 1877, and bought the interest of Air. Samuel
Brooks, in a mercantile establishment owned by
Brooks and McFarland. Mr. Brooks is mentioned
elsewhere in this volume. The title of the firm
was changed to McFarland and French. They
did, a large and successful business for fifteen
years, then sold out and Air. French retired from
the very active duties of business life. At the
present time he is president of the Gilman French
Land and Live Stock Company, one of the largest
cattle raising companies in the state of Oregon.
He is a member of the firm of Bolton and Com
pany, general merchants, at Antelope. He is a
large stockholder in the Wasco Warehouse Mill-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

285-

ing Company. He is a stockholder and director
in the Arlington National Bank at Arlington,
Oregon. In addition to which, he has minor in
terests in different parts of the state.
Politically, Mr. French has always belonged
to the ranks of the Republican party until recently,
being now a Prohibitionist.
On September 18, 1861,'at Stanstead, province
of Quebec, Canada, Mr. French married Miss
Esther B., daughter of James F. and Sallie
(Brown) Magee. The father was born in Leb
anon, New York and was a carpenter. , He went
to California in 1854, via the Isthmus, and fol
lowed his trade and mill work there for twelve
years. After that, he returned to Canada and in
1877, came to Oregon with the subject of this
article. He remained here until his death, on
June 23, 1894, being aged eighty-three years.
The mother of Mrs, French was born at Andover,
New Hampshire, on February 19, 1812. Her
parents moved to Canada in 1821. Airs. French
was born in Stanstead, Quebec, Canada, on De
cember 5, 1838 and has one brother, Wilham B.
Mr. and Mrs. French are the parents of three
children : C. Gertrude, a doctor of medicine, and
practicing in Portland, Oregon ; Grace Maude,
who married J. W. Condon, in November, 1889
and died on November 20, 1898, leaving her hus
band and one son, Clifton French Condon ; Frank
Arthur, who is the manager of the New York
Cash Store, a mercantile house in The Dalles.
Daniel M. French, eldest of the three French
brothers of The Dalles, came to The Dalles in
1862, and for many years was a leading business
man here. A sketch of his life with that of his
widow are found elsewhere in this work. Joshua
W. French, brother of our subject, came to The
Dalles in 1864 and for many years was engaged
in the mercantile business with his brother Daniel.
In 1877, they established the first banking house
in The Dalles, and the same is now owned by
Mr. Joshua French and the estate of Daniel AL
French. Our subject is one of the executors of
the estate of his brother, Daniel M. deceased.
Joseph M. French, the eldest one of the broth
ers, went to California from Massachusetts, in
1849, and died in the Golden State in 1889, a
retired merchant. Marsh French, the youngest
brother, came to the coast about 1863 and now
lives at Port Townsend, Washington.
Mr. and Mrs. French are members of the
Methodist church and for twe«ty years, he has
been a trustee. Mrs. French was superintendent
of the M. E. Sunday school for more than twenty
years, is now president of the W. C. T. U, and is
closely identified with the social functions of the
city. She was appointed chairman of a committee

by the Columbia River Conference of the M. E.
church to formulate plans for the removal from.
Stanstead, province of Quebec, Canada, the re--
mains of the late Rev. Jason Lee, the first
Protestant missionary sent across the Rockies, to
be interred by the side of his wife and child in
the Lee Mission cemetery, at Salem, Oregon. .
From early life Mrs. French has been an aggres
sive worker in the church and for the cause -
of temperance.

LUTHER E. CROWE, of the firm of Mays
& Crowe, dealers in hardware, implements and-
groceries, and having a magnificent store at The -
Dalles, was born in Nova Scotia, March 22, 1858.
His parents were Jacob and Maria (Fletcher)
Crowe, the father a native of Massachusetts, ot
an old New England family, the ancestors of
whom came from the North of Ireland. The
mother was born in Nova Scotia. Both parents
are deceased.
In the spring of 1868 our subject came to-
California accompanied by his mother and step
father, D. A. Faulkner. They located in San.
Jose valley, Alameda county, where he attended
school at Centreville until he was sixteen years
of age, when he entered the service of the Cen
tral Pacific Railroad Company. He removed to-
Oregon in 1880 and obtained ' employment with
John L. Hallett, superintendent of construction
of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's
road, as operator and electrician. Later he was
with Julius Thielsen, in the construction depart
ment of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Subse
quently he returned to the Oregon Railroad &
Navigation Company, and was station agent at:
Hood River five years. He came to The Dalles
in 1890 and associated himself with his father-in-
law, Robert Mays, and purchased the hardware
business from Abrams & Stewart. During the
autumn of the same year they were burned out
and they then took over the hardware business of
Fish & Bardon, and erected a building on the
corner of Second and Federal streets. In 1897
they were again burned out, and until they had
completed the present handsome brick building
they occupied a store room across the street.
Their store is a two-story -edifice, one hundred
feet square, containing two stores and a commo
dious basement, affording them about twenty-five
thousand square feet of flooring. Their plumb
ing shop is in a separate building, of corrugated'
iron, in the rear of the main store. They have-
also, stables, warehouses, implement sheds, etc.,.
covering four lots, extending from Second to
Third streets, and one other lot which they lease..

-286

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

They carry a stock of from $30,000 to $50,000.
From fourteen to twenty clerks and artisans are
employed in the establishment.
At The Dalles, in September, Mr. Crowe
was united in marriage to Eunice Mays, born in
Tygh valley, Wasco county. Our subject has two
half brothers and one half sister : Fletcher Faulk
ner, of Ogden, Utah ; George A. Faulkner, of
Oakland, California ; and Letitia, wife of Fred
A. White, of San Francisco, California. Air.
Crowe is a Republican, though far from being a
partisan, and he has been a member of the city
council. Fraternally, he is a member of Cascade
Lodge No. 303, B. P. O. E., of which he is past
¦ exalted ruler, and a member of the grand lodge ;
Friendship Lodge No. 9, K. of P., past C. C.

JOHN F. HAMPSHIRE, ex-treasurer of
Wasco County, residing at The Dalles, and one
of the popular and influential citizens of that
progressive town, was born in Marysville, Cali
fornia, October 6, 1872. His parents were John
A. and Kate (Sweeney) Hampshire, the father a
native of Pennsylvania, the mother of New York
state. John A. Hampshire was descended from
¦old English ancestry. He was a machinist and
blacksmith, and went to California in the early
50's, and for many years he was interested in the
Marysville foundry. He came to The Dalles in
1877 and was connected with the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company, with which corpora
tion he remained until his death, June 3, 1887.
The mother, born in Binghampton, New York,
of Irish ancestry, now lives in San Francisco,
California. John F. , Hampshire was educated in Wasco
county, attending the Wasco Independent Acad
emy, until the death of his father. He then entered
the employment of the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company as errand boy in the office of
the master mechanic; was subsequently in the
ticket office and various other positions seven
years. He was then with The Dalles, Portland
& Astoria Navigation Company in the office, and
as purser, two years, and subsequently with Mays
& Crowe as bookkeeper. Air. Hampshire pur
chased an interest in the firm, in 1903. In June,
1900 he was elected county treasurer on the Demo
cratic ticket, receiving at his first election a ma
jority of one hundred and fifty-six, and at his
second election about four hundred. Mr. Hamp
shire was the first Democratic county treasurer
elected in twenty-four years.
He is a member of The Dalles Athletic Club,
of which he was directer two years ; of Cascade
Lodge B. P. O. Elks, No. 303; K. O. T. AL,
The Dalles Tent, No. 20, of which he is past

commander. He is a member of the Roman
Catholic church. Mr. Hampshire has never mar
ried. He has one brother, D. Harry Hampshire,
residing at The Dalles. Our subject is eminently
popular with all classes and is an influential citi
zen who is highly esteemed and respected
throughout Wasco county and eastern Oregon.

GREGOIRE TRUDELL, who dwells on Fif
teenmile, about five miles up from Dufur,
in what is known as Rail hollow, is one of the
thrifty and intelligent residents of Wasco county.
He owns a good farm, raises much grain, as bar
ley, oats, wheat, besides brome grass and other
farm productions. He handles some stock and is
a man of energy and push.
Gregoire Trudell was born in Ontario, Can
ada, on February 20, 1859, the son of Benjamin
and Argon (Lovloewy) Trudell, natives of Essex
county, Ontario. The father's father came from
Paris. The mother's parents came from France
and dwelt many years in Alichigan. After com
pleting a good education in the public schools of
his native county, our subject followed various
occupations and then came to Alichigan, where he
wrought in the logging camps. Later he did the
same work in Wisconsin ancl Aiinnesota. He had
served his first lessons in the lumber business in
Canada. Finally, in 1891, Air. Trudell deter
mined to seek what could be found in the west
and accordingly, he came hither. He purchased
a half section of land where he now lives, being
pleased with this country, and since then he has
devoted himself to farming and stockraising. He
has won good success in his labors and is rated as
one of the well-to-do men of the county now.
Recently Air. Trudell purchased one hundred and
twenty acres more land.
Mr. Trudell has the following named brothers
?nd sisters: Benjamin, Frank, and Anthony,
farmers in Canada ; Alfred, a farmer at Kingsley
in this county ; Nellie, the wife of Alexander Co-
chois, in Massachusetts ; Annie, the wife of Paul
Pasnote, of Ontario ; Argon, the wife of Dennis
Mayhew, in Alassachusetts. Air. Trudell is a
member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Encamp
ment. He is a Republican in politics and intelli
gent in the issues that interest the people.
His father died in Canada in 1888. leaving
a farm valued at ten thousand dollars besides a
large property in Stony Point, which town he
had promoted. Fie gave first a portion of land
for a Catholic church ancl then the place grew
to a thrifty village. He was always interested
in public affairs and was a man of genial ways
?nd goofl spirit. He never would hold office but
sought other good men to fill all places. He
was an influential ancl upright man. His wife

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

287

died in 1870, at the same place. The name of
the postoffice was Chevalier. Our subject has
never seen fit to take a wife, but contents him
self with the more quiet joys of the bachelor's
life. His standing is first class and he has many
friends.

GILFORD D. WOODWORTH owns real
estate in various places in the Hood River val
ley and is one of the heavy fruit producers of
the section. His home place is about three miles
southwest from town. He was born in Berwick,
Nova Scotia, on December 25, 1853, the son of
Gilford D. and Salina (Corbett) Woodworth,
-also natives of Nova Scotia. Two brothers,
Woodworms, came to the New World on the
Alayflower and from one of them descended the
family of our subject. Part of them were loyal
ists during the struggle for independence and
part of them were patriots. Our subject studied
until eleven and then went to sea and obtained
a good t education from various places. In 1869,
he went to San Francisco and shipped from there
on the bark, Helen Snow, for the Arctic regions.
They were obliged to abandon her in the ice
and with the balance of the crew Mr. Woodworth
was twenty-one days in open boats. They finally
reached Point Barrow, by sea and by land, where
they were all taken in by the ship, Josephine.
Two weeks later the Helen Snow drifted out of
the ice and our subject, with three boats' crews
and six men from the vessel that picked her up,
brought her to San Francisco, where she was soli
to the Russian government. Mr. Woodworth
again shipped for the Arctic regions, this time
on the bark, Alaska, and was gone seven months.
Their vessel was crushed in the ice and our sub
ject came back to San Francisco on the bark
Minerva. For about two years after that he was
coasting out of San Francisco. Then he went
to Contra Costa county where he remained until
1880, when he came to what is now Sherman
county ancl took land to which he added by pur
chase until he had thirteen hundred and fifty
acres, which was known as the Locust Grove
wheat farm. Air. Woodworth was a pioneer in
the Sherman county country and was one of the
first wheat raisers in that favored section. There
were only twenty-five or thirty families in what
is now Sherman county, and those pioneer days
brought their hardships and trying times to Air.
Woodworth as they did to the other pathfinders.
In 1894 he raised the largest crop of wheat ever
produced by any one individual in that section, it
amounting to forty thousand bushels. In 1899,
he sold his estate to William Barzee. Three years
before that Mr. Woodworth had brought his

family to this place, and on November 26th, of
that year, bought fifteen acres. Now he has
thirty-five acres in this piece. He has another
orchard of five acres near by, one of twenty acres
on the east side and eighty acres one mile east.
He handles twenty acres of strawberries, has two
thousand trees, Newtown and Spitzenberg apples,
besides other fruits, and the balance of the land
raises diversified crops. Last year he cleared
three hundred and sixty dollars on Newtown
apples from three-fourths of an acre.
On December 18, 1878, Mr. Woodworth mar
ried Miss Rose Benton, at Martinez, California.
She was born in Noble, Michigan, the daughter
of Clark N. and Marietta (Gillett) Benton. The
father was born on Lake Superior ancl was named
from the captain of the craft. His parents were
of Scotch descent. The mother was born in
New York. Both are now deceased. Mrs.
Woodworth came to California with friends in
1874. Mr. Woodworth has two sisters : Mrs.
Amanda Pineo, and Ermina, single. Mrs. Wood-
worth has three sisters, Mrs. Esther Andrews,
Mrs. Myrta Catelle, and Lulu, single. She
also has three half brothers, Dudley, Ora,
ancl C. N. Four children have been born
to this worthy couple : Roy N. and Guy, farmers
in the Hood River valley ; Ethel, in Sacramento
county, California ; and Idell, at home. Mr. and
Mrs. Woodworth are members of the United
Brethren church and are zealous workers for
the faith. They are prosperous and industrious
people and have many friends.

RICHARD J. GORMAN, of the firm of R. J.
Gorman & Company, engaged in the real estate,
loans and insurance business, and one of the
active, progressive citizens of The Dalles, Wasco
county, was born in Kingsley, this county, Novem
ber 22, 1878. His parents are Patrick and Sarah
(Brookhouse) Gorman, natives of Ireland. They
now reside at The Dalles. Patrick Gorman came
to the United States in 1861, locating at Chicago
where he engaged in the tanning business. He
migrated to Oregon in 1876, and in this state he
filed on a homestead near Kingsley, devoting his
energies- to farming and stock raising until 1900.
At this period he retired from active business and
came to The Dalles to reside.
The public schools of Kingsley, the Wasco In
dependent Academy and a literary and commercial
course at Alount Angel College, Marion county,
contributed each to the really excellent education
of our subject. From the latter institution he
was graduated with honors in 1897, and he then
began the study of law with Judge Bennett. Sub-

288

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sequently for eighteen months he was editor of
the Chronicle, and was with the Times-Moun
taineer two years as city editor. In April, 1903,
he commenced his present business in company
with silent partners, and it is but just to say that
he has been eminently successful. Our subject
is a member of the Y. M. I. and the Roman
Catholic church. He is a Republican, but not
particularly active and not at all partisan. He
still remains a bachelor, and has one sister, Mary,
wife of T. J. Senfert, of The Dalles. His two
half brothers are John, a mining man in Mexico,
and Patrick, now on the home ranch at Kingsley,
their names being McGrail. Mr. Gorman is an
estimable gentleman, and one who has won the
confidence of a large community.

DAVID A. TURNER is one of the oldest
living pioneers of the Hood River valley and has
done a labor here that commends him to sub
stantial and good citizens. He was born in Ran
dolph county, Missouri, on September 21, 1836,
the son of David and Jane (Cloyd) Turner. The
father was a native of Virginia, and his father
was born in England. The grandfather of our
subject came to the New World and made a
settlement in Virginia, where he died. The
widow then married again and the family
moved to Kentucky, our subject's father being
then a child two years of age. David Turner
grew to manhood in Kentucky, then learned the
carpenter's trade, then went to Missouri. His
mother lived to be ninety-nine years and seven
months of age. The mother of our subject was
born in Kentucky and her parents in Virginia.
She died in 1836, David A. being Mien two years
of age. The father married again. In 1857, our
subject came to San Francisco via the isthmus
and clerked in a store in Eldorado county. In
1861, he invaded the wilds of the Hood River
valley and bought a squatter's right to land. Soon
after, however, he went to Baker county and
worked in the mines near Auburn. A year later,
he returned to this valley and bought another
squatter's right and since then has remained here.
His farm was five miles south from Hood River
and he continued in his labors until 1902, when he
sold out and removed to Hood River and pur
chased town property which he now rents. He
and his wife have six dwellings and these with
his other property, give them a good income.
On March 19, 1866, Mr. Turner married Miss
Amanda J. Neal, who was born in the Willa
mette valley in 1850. Her father, Peter Neal,
was a native of Virginia and a pioneer of Alis
souri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas and Oregon.

He crossed the plains in 1844 and settled at
Oregon City, where he was a mill man and
blacksmith for the Hudson's Bay Company. He
came to Hood River in 1861 and built the first
mill in this vicinity. His death occurred in Rose-
burg, in 1901. Mrs. Turner died on the ranch,
on November 25, 1887. In June, 1897, Mr.
Turner married Miss Laura E. Frost, a native of
Illinois, the wedding occurring at The Dalles.
Her parents were Elam and Samantha Frost,
now deceased. Mr. Turner has the following
named children by his first marriage: Luella, the
wife of Ed Rand, city marshal of Sumpter, Ore
gon ; William W., Roswell Q., and Arthur M.,
all deceased. The sons were aged twenty-eight,
twenty-four, and twenty-two, respectively, at the
time of their death. Two died in one week, and
the other two years later. Air. Turner is a non
affiliated Mason, while he and his wife belong to
the Methodist church. In politics, he is a stanch
Republican, but not especially active.
Air. Turner had six brothers all older than
himself and two are now living, Richard B., in
San Luis Obispo county, California ; and Samuel,
at St. Joseph, Missouri. He also had one sister
who died recently. Mrs. Turner has two broth
ers, Edward, who died September 22, 1886; and
Walter H. Frost, living near Mohler, Idaho. She
also has three sisters ; Mrs. Mary E. Stevens, of
Portland ; Airs. Flora E. Nolin of Dufur, Ore
gon, and Airs. Luella M. Shank, of Canby,
Oregon.

JESSE W. RIGBY is now retired in Hood
River, after a long life of service as a minister
of the gospel for the Methodist church. He was
born in Alorrow county, Ohio, on January 10,
1843. His father, Caleb P. Rigby, was a native
of Washington, Virginia, and his parents were
Titus and Elizabeth (Pumphrey) Rigby, natives
of Alaryland. The mother's father, John
Pumphrey, was born in Wales and her mother
was a Cromwell of England. Our subject's father
was a tanner by trade, learning the same in Bel-
ville, Ohio. Later he did farming and his death
occurred on August 5, 1871 at Mechanicsville,
Iowa. He married Miss Christiana Fait, who
was born in Utica, Ohio. Her father, Martin
Fait, was a prominent Methodist preacher and
weJl known all over the state of Ohio. His parents
came from Holland. The mother's father was a
native of England and her mother, Jane Watson,
was born in Ireland. Our subject spent his
boyhood days in Cedar county, Towa, where the
family moved in 1846. His first education was
obtained in the district schools and then he en
listed on July 25, 1862, at Mechanicsville, Iowa,

David A. Turner

Jesse W. Rigby

William L. Clark

Thomas R. Coon

Mrs. Thomas R. Coon

Alexander Stewart

Benjamin F. Belie u

Larkin Lamb

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

289

in Company B, Twenty-fourth Iowa Volunteer
Infantry, under Captain R. S. Rathbun and
Colonel E. C. Byam. He was in active service
until August 5, 1865, being mustered out at
Davenport, Iowa. He was confined for four hun-
dren and fourteen days at Camp Ford prison in
Texas. He participated in the siege of Grand
Gulf, battles of Fort Gibson and Champion Hills,
in the siege of Vicksburg — forty-seven days under
fire — and with his company was on provost duty
at Vicksburg. He was also in the siege of Jack
son. Then he fought at the battle of Carrion
Crow Bayou and next at Sabine Cross Roads
where he was kept a prisoner until the close of
the war. He returned home in August, and the
following September he entered Cornell college,
Mt. Vernon, Iowa, six years later graduating
with the degree of Master of Arts. He then
entered the ministry and in 1871 was ordained
at Webster City, Iowa by Bishop £. S. Andrews.
Then he preached two years at Sargent Bluffs,
Iowa and was later stationed at Smithland, Sib
ley, and in 1879, came to Lewiston, Idaho. He
was prominent in the work there, organizing the
Methodist church at that point and at Asotin,
Juliaetta, Kendrick and other places, plodding
steadily along all the years in this vicinity until
1892 when he came to Hood River and took
charge of the Belmont church. Two years later,
he organized the Asbury church and was in that
church for two years. Then he went to Fossil,
Wheeler county, thence to Bickleton, Washington,
after which he was placed on the superanuated
list in 1896, and returned to Hood River where
he still resides. Although relieved of churches
in the ministry, Mr. Rigby is still active in the
Master's work and is one of the highly esteemed
men of this part of the country.
Oh August 17, 1871 at Mount Vernon, Iowa,
Mr. Rigby married Miss Julia A. Case, who was
born in Mount Morris, New York. Her parents
were David and Mary (Bassett )Case. She died
at Bickleton, Washington, in 1894. Mr. Rigby
married again on May 22, 1901 at East Pitts
burg, Pennsylvania, to Martha R. Weaver, who
was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Rigby has the following brothers and sisters,
Elmer C, Martin F., Thomas H., Washington
H, deceased, Joshua C, deceased, Eliza J. de
ceased, and Mrs. Alelissa D. Todd. Mrs. Rigby
has four brothers, Hon. Frank Weaver, James R.,
Stewart, Homer, and several sisters.
Mr. Rigby is a member of the G. A. R. and
prominent in that organization. Four children
were born to Mr. Rigby and his first wife ; Ethel
J., wife of Rev. G. R. Archer, pastor of the
Methodist church at John Day, Oregon; Ruth
E., at home ; Gertrude M., wife of Rev. C. D.
19

Nickelsen, she died June 6, 1898, and Nellie J.,
wife of Claude E. Weatherell and now deceased.
Mr. Rigby has been a very faithful and con
scientious preacher and has wrought well in the
vineyard. He is a man whose faith has made
him upright and careful in his walk to show forth
the principles that he taught. Ke and his first
wife endured many hardships and together they
labored both in church work and Sunday school
for the upbuilding of the faith. He and his
family now .have the satisfaction of seeing much
good result from these labors, while they are se
cure in the love and esteem of hosts of friends.

WILLIAM L. CLARK, resident engineer for
the United States government at the Cascade
Locks and a man of a vast fund of practical ex
perience, is one of the leading civil engineers in
this part of the country. He has gained every
part of this instruction while he followed work
ing, by careful study after hours. While in
some respects the college man has the advantage
of trained professors, still there is nothing that
can take the place of practical field work and the
man who studies principles out at night and puts
them into practical execution the next day, is
more thoroughly drilled and equipped in his
profession than can be done by any other method
William L. Clark is thoroughly conversant with
every part of his profession and has mastered
it as few men have. He was born on May 19,
1867, in Sauk county, Wisconsin. His father,
Newton Clark, was a native of Illinois and a civil
engineer of great experience through Wisconsin.
He is now residing in Portland. Our subject's
parents moved to Hood River when he was about
eleven years of age and there he completed his
literary education in the public schools and the
private school of T. R. Coons. He soon took
a position under his father who was in the
government employ and by him was thoroughly
trained in civil engineering and remained with
him until nineteen. Then he entered the employ
of the Northern Pacific railroad under John Q.
Jamison, assistant engineer of the Northern
Pacific railroad. He was then in charge of the
construction of Stampeded tunnel and our sub
ject worked there until that enterprise was com
pleted, being associated with various leading en
gineers during that time. Then Mr. Clark en
gaged on the Southern Pacific Railroad in
various engineering enterprises until 1893, when
he was appointed to the important work at the
Cascade Locks under G. W. Brown. In July,
1900, he resigned that position and accepted the
position of district city engineer in Portland. In

.39°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

May, 1903, he was appointed to his present posi
tion and is discharging the duties encumbent upon
him in a very efficient manner.
At Middleton, Idaho, Mr. Clark married Aliss
Mary E. Alabee, on November 6, 1898. She was
.born in Dade county, Missouri, the daughter of
,S. P. and Jane Mabee, natives of Indiana. The
.father enlisted in the Civil war when very young
and served four years. He is now living in
Missouri. Mr. Clark has two sisters, Grace
Dwinnell and Jeanette.
Mrs. Clark has five brothers, George, Frank,
John, Joseph and Jacob H, and two sisters, Ada
Pyle and Cora Polly. Mr. Clark has one son,
Newton, Jr., four years of age. Our subject is
.affiliated with the A. O. U. W., while his wife is
. a member of the Christian church.
In political belief, he holds with the Republi-
¦ cans and is an active worker for the interests
¦ of his party. He is a young man of promise and
scholarly attainments and stands exceptionally
vwell with the people in his profession.

HON. THOMAS R. COON is the present
efficient mayor of Hood River and a prominent
fruit grower of the valley. Formerly he was
occupied in the work of the educator and made
an excellent record in the same. He was born
in Marion county, Oregon, on March 4, 1854,
the son of Thomas L. and Polly L. (Crandall)
Cnon. The father was born in Allegany county,
"New York and followed school teaching. . He died
• on January 10, 1854, before cur subject was
iborn. He came from an old colonial family of
; Scotch and English ancestry. The mother was a
:• native of New York and died in Salem, Oregon,
t the widow of Stephen Price. The Crandall fam-
' ily descended from John Crandall, who came to
Massachusetts in 1636 and married Elizabeth
Gorton, daughter of Samuel Gorton, a noted
leader in the colonies. Crandall was very
; prominent among the promoters of the con-
: stitutional guarantee for religious toleration in
."Rhode Island. He was five times chosen to
represent his town, Newport, as a commis
sioner of the general court of Rhode Island.
He was appointed by this court a member of a
committee to draft a letter that should be pre-
-sented to "His Highness and Council" of Eng
land asking for protection against the hostile ef
forts of the other colonies of New England in
sisting that Rhode Island should prevent the
¦Quakers from having "theire liberty amongst us,
as entertavned into our houses or into any of
our assemblies." The idea of full religious toler
ation which this colony always maintained toward

each of its inhabitants was auaintly expressed in
this letter as follows : "Plead our case in such
sorte as wee may not be compelled to exercise
any civill power over men's consciences soe longe
as humane orders in poynt of civility are not
corrupted and voyalated."
Speaking of the descendants of John Crandall
one writer says : "The peculiar features in the
character of the Crandall family are seen to have
been patient industry, unvarying independence,
firmness in adhering to principle, soberness of
mind and unflinching support of high moral and
religious views and movements, though some
times very unpopular."
Our subject's parents came to Oregon in 1850
and settled on a donation claim where Silverton
now stands. Mrs. Coon laid out the town of
Silverton and lived there until 1861. Our subject
was educated in the public schools of Salem, and
in the Willamette University and commenced
teaching when twenty. He took a teacher's life
diploma at the earliest age possible and was the
first native teacher of Oregon to secure a
diploma by examination. He helped organize.
the first state teacher's association jn Oregon and
also the first territorial teacher's association in
Washington. He was principal of the Mt. Tabor
school and the Central -school in Portland, of
one of the Seattle schools and of the city schools
in Astoria. In 1883, he came to Hood River,
bought state land near town and was one of the
first strawberry raisers of the country. He was
first to discover the value of the Clarke's Seed
ling strawberry, an Oregon variety, now known
all over the United States as "The Hood River
Strawberry." He shipped the first berries from
Hood River and helped to organize the Hood
River's Fruit Growers Union and wrote articles
of incorporation. On April 12, 1874, at Tacoma, Washington,
Mr. Coon married Aliss Delia AIcNeal, who was
born on Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 12,
1854. The Tacoma Ledger claims that they were
the first couple married in Tacoma. Mrs. Coon's
father, Abraham AIcNeal, married Miss Beebe.
Mr. Coon has one half-brother, Eugene Price.
Mrs. Coon has three sisters, Sarah Orchard,
Jennie Cooper and Annie Coad. Our subject and
his wife- are members of the United Brethren
church ancl are prominent people of Hood River.
In politics, he is independent and was for many
years identified with the Republican party. He
has held various prominent offices and is a man of
ability and energy. He served two terms as joint
representative, in the sessions of 1893 and 1895.
He was elected mayor of Hood River on the ticket
called the Majority Rule but recently resigned
the position. In 1894 Mr. Coon representing the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

29 i

Hood River Fruit Growers Union was one of
four delegates from Oregon who took part in or
ganizing the Northwestern Fruit Growers Asso
ciation at Spokane, Washington. Mr. Coon has
labored zealously for the advancement of the fruit
.growing industry throughout the northwest, and |
has accomplished more than can be written in j
promoting the same, and it is with pleasure that ;
we have the privilege of mentioning these items j
wherein he has done so much labor, beneficial to
the Hood River country.
Mr. Coon, assisted by his two sons, now owns
and operates a large orchard and fruit ranch
overlooking the Columbia just below Lyle, Wash.
Here and at the old home on Hood River Heights
Mr. Coon, a pioneer, will follow the bent derived
from his ancestors, many of whom in their
later years engaged in literarv and reformatory
pursuits.

the owner of the ferry at White Salmon ; William
L., a farmer near hy ; and Myra, the wife of
Orrin Depee. Mr. Stewart is a member of the
A. F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F. and the M. W. A.
He is a Republican and is frequently a delegate
to the conventions'. He is clerk of the school
board, and was postmaster for four years. Airs.
Stewart now holds that office.

ALEXANDER STEWART, a merchant of
Mosier, is a man of large experience in the
business world and is now handling a thriving
trade. He carries a five thousand dollar stock of
well assorted general merchandise and is the
-recipient of a generous patronage. He was born
in Wisconsin, on March 2, 1856, the son of Alex
ander and Elizabeth (Clark) Stewart, natives
of Pennsylvania and descended from prominent
Scotch and American families, respectively. They
are now deceased. When Alexander was five I
years of age he went with his parents to Illinois, j
and later to Iowa, where he finished his education j
in the Brighton high school. Following that,
he taught for a term and then clerked in a gen
eral store for a time. After that he was engaged
in mining in California for seven years. Then
he turned his attention to railroading, and for a \
series of years was clerk in the road master's i
office on different lines in Kansas, Alissouri,
Colorado, Arkansas, and Wyoming. Also he had
charge of sections at different times. He came
to Oregon in 1893, and accepted a position as
section foreman at Alosier. Three years were
spent thus, ancl then Mr. Stewart bought the
store which he is now operating. R. A. Powers
was the former owner. He has shown himself
an enterprising and competent business man and
is doing well.
At Mosier, in 1898, Mr. Stewart married
Miss Rachel Roland, nee Warren, a native of
Portland, Oregon. Mr. Stewart has two brothers ,
ancl two sisters, James, Joseph L., Airs. Lizzie
Arnold, and Hannah. No children have been j
born to Mr. ancl Mrs.' Stewart, but by her former
"husband Mrs. Stewart has three : Ira W. Roland, ;

BENJAMIN F. BELIEU, a prominent con
tractor and builder in Hood River, Oregon, was
born in Grundy county, Alissouri, on July 26,
'1851. His father, Jesse Belieu, was a native of
Tennessee and his father, the grandfather of our
subject, was born in Massachusetts. That vener
able gentleman's father came from France and
the name was originally Ballou and many of the
family still retain that spelling'. Some of the
Ballou's of Boston were well known publishers.
Many of the family are preachers and professional
men and pur subject's grandfather and three of
his father's brothers were preachers. The father
died in 1862, in Grundy county, Alissouri. Our
subject's grandfather was sheriff fourteen years
in Tennessee, then resigned that office and com
menced preaching. When eleven years of age,
Mr. Belieu was left an orphan and soon there
after came to Iowa and remained until twenty
years of age, receiving his education in the pub
lic schools. In 1877, he went to California and a
year later to Oregon where he did saw milling at
Salem. He was employed in various other por
tions of the state and in 1883, landed in Hood
River and was occupied with sawmilling at Lost
Lake for three years. Then he took up carpenter
work and wrought for the O. R. & N. building
tanks and cars for several years. After that, he
was occupied in Portland in general building and
contract work and in 1899, came to Hood River
and built a home. He traded the ,same for a
twenty acre fruit farm. Then bought more land
and built another home. He has completed many
residences here ancl with S. W. Arnold, built the
Knights of Pythias hall.
On August 27. 1871, Mr. Belieu married Miss
Sarah I. Cox, a native of Decatur county, Iowa,
where the wedding occurred. Her parents, Mar
tin A. and Eliza (Sutherland) Cox, were natives
of Indiana, her father springing from a Ten
nessee family ancl her mether from an old south
ern family. Mr. Belieu has three full brothers,
William H, Arch, and Richard R. and one
half brother, John H. Drinkard. and one sister,
Mrs. Rachel Starkey. He also had one brother,
Columbus Belieu, and one half brother, A.
Drinkard, who died in the Civil war. Mr. Belieu

292

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

is a member of the K. P. and the Order of
Washington. He and his wife have four children,
Nancy, wife of John Nasmythe ; Albert M., Perry
G., and Eva B.
Mrs. Belieu is a member of the Seventh Day
Adventist church. Mr. Belieu is a relative of the
Gilliams of eastern Oregon. One of his uncles,
Leander Belieu, came to Oregon in 1843, cross
ing the plains with ox teams. Michael Belieu
came in 1845, James, two years later, and John
in 1864. Michael Belieu took the first stock of
goods south of Oregon City in what is now Polk
county and opened a store there in 1849. Eliza
Belieu, our subject's grandfather's sister, was
the mother of President Garfield.

LARKIN LAMB is one of the pioneers of
Wasco county. At present, he resides in Mosier.
He recently sold a fine farm that was taken as a
homestead many years ago. He was born in
Iowa, on September 30, 1841 and his parents, Wil
liam and Fanny (Garr) Lamb, were natives of
Virginia. The father's father was born in Scot
land and his mother in Virginia. The Garr family
have been written up and found to extend back
for many years. John C. of Jacksonville, Florida,
has been compiling their history which is very
interesting. Lorenz G. came to America on the
ship Royal Judith when sixteen, sailing from
Dinkels Buehl, Bavaria over two hundred years
ago. He settled in Virginia and from him de
scended the Garr family of America. They spell
their name, Gar, Gaar and Garr. Many of the
family fought in the various Indian wars of
colonial days, in the Revolution, in the War of
1812, and in the Civil war. Through the middle
west and the south, they are prominent in the
manufacturing circles and so forth and are a very
thrifty and enterprising family. The men are
usually all large in stature and the women espec
ially thrifty housewives. Our subject was raised
and educated in Iowa and when twenty-two, came
to Wasco county, landing at The Dalles, on Octo
ber 16, 1864. Since then, he has given his at
tention to farming in this part of the country.
In 1879, he homesteaded the place which he just
sold. Mr. Lamb is a carpenter and works at
his trade some, but is practically retired now.
At The Dalles, in 1869, Mr. Lamb married Mary
J. Marsh, who was born in the vicinity of The
Dalles. Her parents are Josiah and Bell Alarsh,
natives of Tennessee. They crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1850 and settled near The Dalles.
Sometime since, Mr. and Mrs. Lamb secured a
divorce and she now resides at Colfax, Wash
ington. Mr. Lamb has three brothers, Wallace,

Smith and Jackson and four sisters, Katherine,.
Mrs. Martha Cooper, Mrs. Rosanna Newcomer,
and Mrs. Elizabeth Young. To Mr. and Mrs..
Lamb two children have been born, Lizzie, the
wife of Andrew J. Knight at Wardner, Idaho and
Katie, wife of George W. Millson, of Kalispel,.
Montana. Air. Lamb is a member of the M. W. A. and a
strong Democrat. For the past ten years, he has
always been in the conventions yet never aspires-
to office himself. By way of reminiscence, it is
interesting to note that Mr. Lamb's paternal
grandfather was one of Daniel Boone's party of
Scotch Highlanders that were ambushed by the-
Indians in Kentucky when Daniel Boone lost two-
sons.

WILLIAM E. WALTHER, of the enter
prising and progressive firm of Sexton & Wal-
ther, dealers in hardware, farming implements,
wagons, carriages, etc., at The Dalles, was born
in Saxony, Germany, January 28, 1862, the son
of Gustav and Wilhelmina (Traetner), natives
of Germany. The mother died in San Diego,.
California, in 1894; the father is now engaged
in the hotel business in Redding, California.
In May, 1881, accompanied by his brother,
Adolph, our subject came to the United States,.
locating at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he was
employed in a trunk factory. One year later the
brothers were joined by their parents, and in the
spring of 1885 the entire family migrated to
San Diego, California. Our subject, his father
and two brothers each purchased ten acres of
wild land fifteen miles from San Diego, and
planted vineyards. There Mr. Walther remained
until the spring of 1888, when he came to The-
Dalles, following a short visit east. Ten years
he was in the employment of Alays & Crowe, as-
manager and buyer, and his abilities won de
served recognition, not only from his employer,
but from all with whom he was thrown in busi
ness relations. In 1901 Mr. Walther engaged
in his present business in partnership with Felix
C. Sexton. They occupy a substantial and com
modious building on the corner of East Second
and Jefferson streets, utilizing a space 100x150-
feet square, including their plumbing, locksmith-
ing, gun and tin shop. They do an extensive-
business in dynamite, blasting powders, etc., and
are agents for the California Powder Works,
Mitchell & Lewis Company, Racine, Wisconsin,.
wagons, Champion harvesting machinery, J. I.
Case farming implements, Hancock disk plows,
Mitchell, Lewis & Staver & Company, Portland,
buggies and spring wagons, and Flint & Walling-
windmills. Commencing with a limited capital!

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

293

the firm has increased to large proportions, em
ploying not less than fourteen people, and doing
an approximate business annually of $100,000.
At Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in September, 1883,
Mr. Walther was united in marriage to Susan
A. Heitz, born in New York state, the daughter
of Gregory and Carolina (Oldfield) Heitz. The
father, deceased, was a native of Germany ; the
mother of Rome, New York. Her parents were
New Englanders, and she now resides at Wa
pinitia. Our subject has two brothers, Adolph
with Mays & Crowe, and Theodore, at El Cajon,
California, employed on the vineyards which the
brothers purchased in 1883. He now has thirty
acres in grapes and peaches. Mrs. Walther has
two brothers and two sisters ; Gregor J., of Spo
kane, Washington ; George, with his mother at
Wapinitia; Aulousia, wife of M. Speischinger,
of The Dalles, a farmer; and Tinney, married
to B. Tapp, a farmer residing near Susanville,
Oregon. Three children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Walther ; Harry E., aged sixteen ; May Z.,
aged fourteen ; and Gertrude, eleven years of age.
Mr. Walther is a member of Friendship Lodge
No. 9, K. of P., of which he has been master of
exchequer for the past twelve years ; Cascade
Lodge No. 303, B. P. O. E. ; and the W. O. W.
He and his estimable wife are members of the
Rathbone Sisters, of which she is mistress of
finance. Our subject is a Republican and has,
although not persistently active, been a member
of county conventions. He at present carries life
insurance to the amount of $22,000 ; $10,000 of
which is co-partnership insurance.

JOSHUA T. ADKISSON has shown what
a man can do in Wasco county, by taking hold
with his hands ancl attending strictly to business.
He came here with only ten dollars and five
horse*, having a wife ancl five children to support.
He immediately rented land of J. A. Gulliford,
who is mentioned in this work, and commenced
the good work of carving out for himself a home
and "a fortune. The place which he first rented,
he still rents, which shows his continuity. During
the intervening years, he has purchased two
farms, one of four hundred ancl fifty-three acres,
which lies about one mile southeast from Boyd,
and is the family home, and another of two hun
dred ancl twenty-three acres. This shows that
Mr. Adkisson has achieved the best of success
in his labors. He raises about three hundred
-acres of wheat annually, and has bred and handled
a great many horses. Recently he has commenced

raising mules and he finds a ready sale for all
his animals in this county, especially, as he raises
the choicest that are to be found here. After a
review of these facts, it is needless to say that
Air. Adkisson is a man of enterprise, energy,
wisdom, and industry. He has shown it well in
the successes he has achieved.
Joshua T. Adkisson was born in Franklin
county, Virginia, on May 10, 1861, when the
dark clouds of the Rebellion were settling in
their horror on the land. His father, Thomas
Adkisson, was a native of the same place, as were
also his parents, the grandparents of our subject.
The great-grandfather of our subject was one of
the earliest pioneers in the Virginia wilds and his
descendants were large planters there. They lived
and died in the old Virginia colony. The mother
of Joshua T. was Cynthia E. (Richardson) Ad
kisson. She was also born in Virginia and her
parents and grandparents were natives of that
colony. Tlie original Richardson family was
prominent in colonial affairs ancl fought in the
early wars including the Revolution and that of
1812. Our subject's father fought in the Con
federate army, and died during the war. His
mother died in Davies county, Missouri, in 1896.
She married Air. Faulkner when our subject was
twenty-one. Joshua was reared and educated
principally in Davies county, Alissouri. Owing
to poor health, he came to Oregon in 1882 and
located a claim in Washington county, Oregon,
where he spent twelve years in trying to clear
land, which was heavily timbered. He had thirty-
five acres clear in that time and finally closing
out he got to The Dalles on the boat with five
head of horses ancl the ten dollars mentioned.
Since then, he has clone well, as we have outlined
above. In Davies county, Alissouri, on August 16,
1882, Air. Adkisson married Martha J. Snyder,
the daughter of Samuel C. Snyder, a native of
Indiana and of German ancestry. He married
Miss Nancy Stevens. Air. Adkisson has two
brothers, Reuben ancl Eli, and one sister, Mrs.
Alary A. Wise. His wife has the following
named sisters: Airs. Frances Ritchardson, Mr?.
Adeline Joy, Airs. Alice Elliott, Mrs. Ella Horner,
Airs. Belle Bauer, and Mrs. Susan Coarth. Seven
children have been born to Mr. ancl Airs. Adkis
son : Willard E., Elwood, Raymond, Alva, Flos
sie A., the wife of Gus Underhill, living near
our subject; Elsie and Agnes, at home. Mr. Ad
kisson is a member of the W. W., and is a strong
Republican. For twenty years he has been a
school director ?nd is zealous in labors for edu
cational advancement. He and his wife belong
to the United Brethren church and are liberal
supporters of the faith.

294

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

JOSEPH H. AIcCOY, a native of the
Occident, is one of Wasco county's enterpris
ing young farmers and stockmen. He resides
near Boyd, adjoining the old McCoy estate, which
is owned by his mother. In fact, his farm is a
part of the. original estate. He is enterprising,
energetic and wide awake, is well known through
this part of the country and is a man whose ac
tions and achievements indicate good ability. He
was born in Tulare county, California, on April
15, 1871, the son of Henson and Clarissa
(Rusher) AlcCoy, who are named elsewhere in
this volume. The district schools of Tulare
county furnished the educational training of our
subject then he came with the family to Wasco
county where he continued his studies in the
public schools. He remained with his parents
until the death of his father, being occupied on
the farm and in handling stock. In the latter
business, he became especially skillful in break
ing and taming wild horses both for 'riding and
driving, and he has never met the animal yet
which he has not been able to subdue to quietness
and docility.
At The Dalles, on January 28, 1895, Mr.
McCoy married Aliss Lillian AL Phipps, who
was born in Ballston, Oregon, on October 28,
18,77. Her father, John S. Phipps, was a native
of Missouri, where also his parents were born.
He came from an old American family and his
mother was a Boone, related to Daniel Boone.
He crossed the plains with ox teams with his
parents in 1855 and now lives with his family
near Boyd postoffice. Airs. AlcCoy's mother,
Amanda (Davidson) Phipps, was born in Polk
county, Oregon. Her father was a native of
Tennessee and her mother of Indiana. Mrs. Alc
Coy has one brother, Clarence, and three sisters,
Inez M., Lois B. and Wanda S. Her brothtr
is only four years of age. To Mr. and Mrs.
McCoy four children have been born : Frances,
aged nine ; Ernest, aged seven ; Dora, aged four ;
and Joseph, thirteen months old. Air. AlcCoy is
serving his second term as president of the Uto
pian Literary Society, is deputy stock inspector
of Wasco county, and is an active man in political
matters and school affairs. For three years he
was a member of Company C, of {he Oregon Na
tional Guards, under Captain Crisman. He is a
member of the M. W. A., and has filled all the
chairs.

JOHN H. STIRNWEIS is one of the sub
stantial and thrifty farmers in the vicinity of
Boyd. He was born in Germany on October 20,
1837, the son of Frederick ancl Kunigunda (Wal
ters) Stirnweis, both natives of Germany. The

father came to the United States in 185 1, settling
first in Baltimore where he remained until 1855,.
then he went to Westminster in that state and
there he remained until the time of his death
in 1859. He practically retired from busi
ness after coming to the United States having;
made a goodly competence before. The mother
died in Baltimore, in 1863. Our subject learned
the shoemaker trade in Baltimore, after having;
received a good education, and worked at the
same for many years. On April 20, 1863, he came
via Nicaragua to San Francisco, and in various
places in California worked at his trade, finally
settling in Tulare county. There he bought land
and raised sheep for twenty years. On January
1, 1886, he landed in The Dalles and shortly after-
bought two hundred and forty acres of land'
where he resides at present near Boyd. He is-
giving his attention to general farming, and raises
horses, cattle and hogs. He is thrifty, prosper
ous and a leading farmer.
On January 4, 1870, at the residence of the
bride's parents, in Tulare county, California, Mr.
Stirnweis married Miss Mary A. McCoy, who-
was born in Missouri, on April 24, 1854, the-
daughter of Henson and Clarissa (Rusher) Alc
Coy, who are mentioned elsewhere in this, work.
Mr. Stirnweis has no brothers and two sisters,
Mrs. Margaret Bachman, a widow, and Mrs..
Mary Gabriel. To Air. and Airs. Stirnweis the
following named children have been born : Wil
liam, who resides on the farm two miles distant
from the home place ; George, at Nansene post-
office ; Washington, at home ; Omer, a school
boy ; Annie, ¦ the wife of Frank Hathaway, of
Portland ; Maggie, the wife of James Underhill,
in Tygh valley ; Hattie, the wife of Marshall
Poppleton, in Portland.
Mr. Stirnweis is a member of the A. O. U.
W. and also belongs to the Lutheran church. Po
litically, he is a Democrat and always takes a
lively interest in the affairs of the county and'
state. He has been director in district number
thirty-one since coming here and is a zealous
advocate of good schools.

JOHN S. PHIPPS resides on Center Ridge-
eight miles southeast from Boyd, where he owns
a half section of land, two-thirds of which are-
cropped. He was born in Missouri, on August
18, 1851, the son of William and Sarah (Boone)
Phipps, natives of Indiana and Missouri, respec
tively. The father's parents were also born in
Indiana and died when he was a small child.
They were of Scotch-English extraction. The-
mother's parents were born in Alissouri. Her

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

295

grandfather was a brother of Daniel Boone. Our
subject's parents now live in Yakima county,
Washington. The father is aged nearly eighty
and the mother is past seventy. They crossed the
plains to Oregon in 1853 settling on a donation
claim in Washington county, where they remained
sixteen years, then journeyed to Yamhill county
and eight years later went thence to Polk county.
John S. was educated in' the various places where
the family lived during his youth and when twen
ty-two started out in life for himself. He first
rented land ancl about 1879, went to Klickitat
county, 'Washington and spent four years near
Bickleton, then we find him teaming in Portland
for ten months after which he was in Polk county
for two years. Then he came to the east side
of the mountains and filed on the claim where he
now lives and also purchased railroad land. Since
then, he has given his time and attention to
the improvement and cultivation of this place
ancl he has a good farm which pays good annual
dividends. On January 1, 1877 in Polk county, Mr.
Phipps married Miss Arminda Davidson, the
daughter of Andrew and Rachel (Goodrich)
Davidson. Her marriage occurred near Ballston,
Oregon. She was born in Polk county on No
vember 24, 1858. The father and his parents
were born in Tennessee from an old colonial fam
ily of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He died in 1884.
The mother was born in Indiana and died in Au
gust, 1 901. Both were on the old Polk county
donation claim at the time of their death. They
crossed the plains with ox teams in 1846 and set
tled on the donation claim where they remained
the balance of their lives. The trip was fraught
with great hardship and suffering. At the point
where the Applegate cut off branched from the
old road, one-half of the train took that and the
balance came on the usual route. Mrs. Phipp's
grandfather came to Oregon in 1844 and when
word was brought him that his son-in-law and
family would come by the Applegate cut off, he
immediately with all speed fitted out a supply
train to meet them as he well knew what they
would have to encounter. Hurrying to the rescue,
he arrived just in time as they were nearly starved
to death and sick besides. Their cattle were dead
and he was obliged to leave the wagons and all
their luggage. He finally transferred them to the
valley ancl they arrived in Dayton in a condition
well expressed by the homely phrase "more dead
than alive." To add to the trouble, the mother
had broken her arm and her husband was down
with mountain fever and two small children were
to be cared for. However, they were nursed back
to health in the Willamette valley and there lived
for many years. Mr. Phipps has one brother,

Ellis, and five sisters, Mrs. Eliza Goldie, Mrs.-
Annie McLean, Mrs. Wilmina Hayden, Mrs.
Mary Godaberg, deceased and Cassandra, who-
died when fifteen years of age.
Mr. Phipps is a good active Democrat and has
been school director for twelve years. To our
subject and his wife, the following children have
been born, Lillian, Inez, Blanche, Wanda, and:
Clarence.

AUGUST BUCHLER, proprietor of the
Columbia Brewery, The Dalles, Oregon, a popu
lar and influential citizen of Wasco county, was
born in the Canton of Appenzell, Switzerland,
August 8, 1841, the son of Anton and Francisca-
(Neff) Buchler. They were, also, natives of
Switzerland, where the father died in 1853, tne
mother in 1871. For many years Anton Buchler
was proprietor of a summer resort which was-
freely patronized by tourists and others.
Our subject was sixteen years of age when he
left school, and entered a wholesale grocery and'
wine house for the purpose of thoroughly learn
ing the business. Later he traveled for the same •
firm, successfully selling goods in Switzerland,
Germany, Italy, Sicily and France. It was in
1864 that he came to the United States, going
directly to Montana, where for seven years he-
was engaged in mining. In November,' 1871, he
migrated to Portland, Oregon, and for seven more-
years was in the employment of the Weinhardt
brewery. He arrived at The Dalles April 16,.
1877, where he purchased a brewery and eleven
and one-half lots from Emil Schanno, which he
has since prosperously conducted. Throughout
the counties adjacent to Wasco his beer is freely
sold, and Mr. Buchler employs from five to seven ¦
men in its manufacture.
He was united in marriage, October 8, 1875,.
at Portland, Oregon, to Sarah Buckhalter, a na
tive of Pennsylvania, the daughter of Stephen and"
Susan (Jacoby) Buckhalter, both of whom were
born in the Keystone State, and descendants,
each, of old Dutch families. The paternal great
grandfather of our subject's wife came from
Switzerland. Stephen Buckhalter died in Hills-
boro, Oregon, November 26, 1903. His widow
still lives at Hillsboro, where she came with her
husband in 1874. Mr. Buchler has one brother
and two sisters : Albert, a retired merchant, pass
ing the sunset of life amid the picturesque scenes -
of Switzerland ; Paulina, widow of Jacob Breiten-
moser, of Switzerland ; and Amanda, wife of Ed
ward Grass, also of Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs.
Buchler have seven children : Dollie, wife of
Charles Tibbetts in the dairy business, Monterey,
California ; Bertha, married to Ernest Gerichtenr

296

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

bookkeeper in our subj ect's brewery ; Rosie, wife
of James Shim, of Baker City, Oregon; Mamie,
wife of Claude Martin, a miller in The Dalles;
and Herbert, Adolph and Jennie, school children.
Mr. Buchler affiliates with the B. P. O. E., and
the A. O. U. W. He is, politically, independent,
and for many years was water commissioner of
The Dalles. • Mrs. Buchler has two brothers and
three sisters.

JOHN L. HENDERSON, who came to
Hood River with a capital of two hundred and
fifty dollars, has property now valued at over
twenty-five thousand dollars. He is a prominent
citizen, an attorney at law and also a practical
surveyor. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts,
on September 11, 1851. His father, John Hen
derson, was a native of Indiana and his father,
also John Henderson, the grandfather of our sub
ject, was born in Scotland and came to the United
States when young, settling finally in Mississippi.
The grandfather was admitted to the practice of
law in Cincinnati. He was prominent in state
and national affairs, being the only Whig ever
elected to the United States senate from Missis
sippi, and was a colleague with Webster, Clay and
Calhoun in the senate, receiving from Daniel
Webster the commendation of being the best land
lawyer in the United States. In 1850, he was
impeached for assisting in a fillibustering scheme,
known as the "Lopez Expedition," connected
with Cuba's struggles. The officers of that expe
dition had their headquarters in his office in New
Orleans. He defended himself in the senatorial
trial and was acquitted. At one time, he took
several Spanish claims against the United States
for a large tract of land, of over twenty miles
frontage on the Gulf of Mexico and gained his
case after seventeen years of fighting. He received
as fee, a portion of the land, part of which he
sold later for one hundred thousand dollars. His
son, our subject's father, was also an attorney at
law and one of the principal leaders of the Re
publican party in New Orleans right after the
war. He was shot in a riot there, in July, 1866,
and died soon after. Our subject's mother, Cath
erine Leland, was born in Boston and commenced
teaching school when fifteen years of age and
taught until seventy-five, thus spending sixty
years in that worthy work. She is now eighty-
six, being born in 18 18, and has traveled all over
the civilized world and spent three years abroad,
after being seventy years of age. She is a
linguist of rare ability and speaks French, Span
ish, Italian and German, besides her native tongue
and is thoroughly educated. For many years, she
fitted students for Cornell University and was

known as one of the best educators of the day.
Her home is at Hood River but she spends much
time in the east. Our subject's father was con
scripted in the confererate army, but deserted at
the first opportunity and joined the union army,
fighting under General Banks.
John L. first attended school at North Fork,
Arkansas and when six years of age, went to
Boston, with his mother, where he attended six
months in a private institution. Later, he re
ceived instruction in a private school his mother
conducted in Mississippi then studied in the Jesuit
college, and high school in New Orleans.' After
ward, he took a course in a military school at
Brattleboro, A'ermont and until 1869, in Cornell
University. He came west during his sophomore
year and finally, on August 4, 1870, arrived in
Portland. For eight years he was teaching in the
Willamette valley, holding the principalship of
several schools. Later, he taught in a military
academy in Oakland, California. Then he was
principal of the public schools in Helsboro and
Olympia, Washington for two and one years re
spectively, and was head of the Olympia collegiate
institute in the same city for six years. Next we
find him in charge of the Chehalis Indian reser
vation, after which he took up real estate and ab
stract business in Olympia and made considerable
money. In January, 189 1, Mr. Henderson went
to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in the same line
of business and was there admitted to the practice
of law, which he has followed since. In Febru
ary, 1898, he opened an office in Hood River and
since that time has continued here in the practice
of his profession. Up to the time of the Spanish
war, Mr. Henderson was a stanch Democrat but
is now a Republican, having imbibed the doctrines
of expansion from his grandfather, Senator Hen
derson. He holds a prominent position in politics
in his county and is a very active and influential
man. In 1873, Mr. Henderson married Miss Har
riett E. Humphrey, at Harrisburg, Oregon, her
native place. Her father, Alfred Humphrey, a
native of Ohio and a graduate of Oberlin Col
lege, crossed the plains in 1851. Mr. Humphrey
married Aliss Polly Loomis, a native of New
York, and descended from an old and respected
family of noted ancestors. Air. Henderson cele
brated his second marriage, July 29, 1897. Alarian
I. Grimes, a native of Rapides Parish, Louisiana,
then becoming his bride. The father, John C.
Grimes, came from an old Scotch family, the
name being originally called Graeme. He mar
ried Mary White, a native of Louisiana and of a
very prominent southern family. Mr. Hender
son has one brother, Louis F. Henderson, for ten
years a professor in the state university at Mos-

Jobn L. Henderson

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

297

cow, Idaho. Air. Henderson has the following
named children : Leland, at New Orleans,
Louisiana, in the real estate business ; Louis A.,
a student at the state university at Eugene, Ore
gon ; Edwin A., at Hood River, Oregon ; Sidney
E., in the high school at Olympia ; and Mrs. Faith
F. Lott. To the second marriage two children
have been born, Lynn R. and William E., aged
about six and two years, respectively.
Mr. Henderson is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
of the Encampment and the K. P. He has passed
through nearly all the chairs in these orders and
has frequently been a delegate to the grand lodge.
Mrs. Henderson is a member of the Congrega
tional church.
They are respected people, whose kindly and
genial ways have won the admiration and esteem
of all who have had the pleasure of their acquaint
ance. Mr. Henderson has won a splendid success
during his interesting career and has fully merited
the many encomiums which have been generously
bestowed upon him.
We desire to state in this connection that
Mr. Henderson is a man of great physical en
durance and powers. Among other feats he has
performed, we would mention that of swimming,
in which art, he is very expert and skillful. He
has made many long and difficult tests, and one
was to swim from Cat Island lighthouse to Bay
Saint Louis, in the Gulf of Alexico, and another
was to swim from Hood River to Cascade Locks.
The former was a distance of sixteen miles and
the latter was a stretch of twenty-two miles.

DENNIS R. McCOY is a well known mem
ber of the McCoy family which has been promi
nent in Wasco county for many years. He was
born in Tulare county, California, on March 31,
1873, the son of Henson and Clarissa (Rusher)
McCoy, who are mentioned elsewhere in this
work. He remained with his parents during his
youthful days and was educated in the public
schools. In 1896, he went to The Dalles and
learned the barber trade from his brother,
Thomas, who was then running the O. K. shop,
the leading tonsorial parlors in The Dalles. His
brother, William, who is now a prominent phy
sician in Salt Lake City, had first opened this
shop. After one year there, our subject went to
Heppner, then to Portland, Salem ancl other
places. After this, he spent two years prospect
ing in British Columbia ancl in the fall of 1901,
returned to Wasco county and leased the home
place from his mother, where he is at the present
time. He has shown himself an industrious and
thrifty farmer and is one of the substantial men

of the community. In political matters, Mr. Mc
Coy has been very prominent and is deeply in
terested in the welfare and success of his party.
He is frequently at the county conventions, is
clerk of the school board, and supports at all
times the Democratic ticket. For three years he
was a member of Company C, of the Oregon
National Guards under Captain Crisman and is
now constable of his precinct, which is Nansene,
and he is serving nis second term.
On October 6, 1904, Air. AlcCoy married Aliss
Myrtle Markham, the daughter of James F. and
Minnie (Page) Markham, who are mentioned
elsewhere in this work.

JOHN H. KOBERG is one of Hood River's
able business men and has achieved a first class
success here in various enterprises. At the pres
ent time he is to be found in the office of the
Hood River Electric Light, Power and Water
Company, where he holds the position of manager.
He is efficient and reliable ancl has the confidence
and esteem of all. His birth occurred in
Schleswig Holstein, Germany, on August 26,
1865. His father and mother were natives of the
same section and are living there now retired.
The father was an engineer and machinist. Our
subject received a good normal school education
ancl has been a close reader since. He learned
the dry goods business and followed it seven
years in his country. Then, it being 1887, he
came to the UJnited States and joined his uncle,
Hans Lage, who is mentioned elsewhere in this
work. He was unable to speak a word of Eng
lish but soon secured a job in a sawmill, but owing
to its burning, he lost all his wages. Then he
engaged with Tackman & Company, grocers at
The Dalles and one year later went to the red
wood country of California. Returning thence
to Oregon he was car inspector for the O. R. &
N. at Albina until 1892, when he went to Walla
Walla ancl took charge of a wrecking crew for
this company. In 1895, he came thence to Hood
River and purchased the old Stanley estate about
two miles east from town. It consists of one
hundred ancl eighty acres and he cultivates about
thirty acres, raising mostly alfalfa and some
corn. In addition, Air. Koberg operates a small
dairy and handles a large hennery, having about
five hundred of these fowls. It is the largest es
tablishment of its kind in the county. On January
1, 1904, Mr. Koberg accepted his present position
ancl oversees his estate in addition to this work.
On Alarch 21, 1894, Air. Koberg married Aliss
Emma Lage, the wedding occurring in Hood
River. Mrs. Koberg was born in Iowa and is

298

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the daughter of Hans and Lena (Hoek) Lage,
who are mentioned in this work. Our subject
has two brothers, William and Christian and two
sisters, Tina Dolfs and Clara Ehmsen. Two
children have come to bless the home of our sub
ject and his wife, Lena, aged nine and Earl, aged
seven. Air. Koberg is a member of the A. F. &
A. Al. and the United Artisans. He is a Demo
crat and quite active. Mr. Koberg has mastered
the English language since coming to this coun
try and is a close reader.
Since the above was written Mr. Koberg has
sold his holdings in the electric light company
and has retired from the management of the
same to give his entire attention to handling his
fine farm, which is known as "Gibralter."

JAAIES F. AIARKHAM, who resides about
seven miles southwest from Dufur in Rail hollow,
was born in Alissouri, on January 24, 1844. His
father, Thomas B. Alarkham, was born in Vir
ginia, in 1800 and his parents were also natives
of the colonies. His father fought in the Black
Hawk war and one of the progenitors of the
family was sent to Pennsylvania by William
Penn. The Markham family is very large and
well scattered. Thomas B. died on April 1, 1855.
He was a Methodist preacher of note and a
pioneer in Alissouri. He married Sarah Jones,
a native of Kentucky, who died October 9, 1875.
Our subject was raised in Missouri until 1857,
when the family moved to Kansas and in the
latter place, he completed his education in the
public schools. In 1863, he enlisted in Company
I, Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry under Captain S.
W. Greer and Colonel C. R. Jamison and served
a little over two years, mostly in scouting and
provost duty. Afterward he returned to the farm
and in the spring of 1866, moved to Missouri,
where he spent thirteen years. After his mother's
death in 1875, he returned to Kansas with his
family and followed the dairying business for a
short time after which he went back to Missouri
and in December, 1882, came to Oregon. He has
owned several places, at Prineville, at Mitchell
and finally in 1895, filed on the homestead where
he now resides. He has purchased a quarter
section additional and does diversified farming.
On October 27, 1870, at Pleasant Hill, Alis
souri, Mr. Alarkham married Miss Minnie Page,
who was born in Marion, Ohio, on August 18,
1845. Her parents were Jay and Mary (Young)
Page, natives of Virginia and Ohio, respectively.
The father's parents were pioneers to Marion
county, Ohio when he was an infant. He died
in 1898 in Bates county, Missouri. The mother

died at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, on October 1,
1875. Mr. Markham has two brothers, John S.
and Thomas F. and one sister, Mrs. Margaret
V Colville. Mrs. Markham has two brothers,
Jacob and John. Five children have been born to
our subject and his wife: Bernard P., who has a
farm adjoining his father; Alinnie C, wife of
Charles F. Douglas, a farmer near Boyd ; Myrtle
A., a teacher in Wasco county; Teresa G. and
Harriet A. both at home. Mr. Alarkham is. a
stanch Republican.

ROSWELL SHELLEY is an enterprising
merchant ancl fruit raiser in the Odell district,
seven miles out from Hood River on the east
side. He was born in Jefferson county, Iowa,
on September 26, 1846, the son of Michael and
Sena (Mays) Shelley, natives of Kentucky and
Tennessee, respectively. The father's ancestors
came from Holland and the mother was from a
prominent southern family. In 1848, the father
with his family and our subject's grandparents
started in early spring from Monmouth, Illinois,
for the Pacific coast, using ox teams and milch
cows. At the Platte river the grandfather was
stricken with cholera and he was buried on the
dreary plains. After great hardship and suffer
ing, besides much trouble with the hostile sav
ages, they arrived in Oregon City in September.
The father's uncle, Elijah Bristow, was at Pleas
ant Hill, having settled there in 1845, and thither
the family went. That was the home, the father
having taken a donation claim, until 1857, when
he came to Monmouth and assisted to found the
Christian College, now the state normal. The
mother died there in 1859. Then the old place
was sold and a farm bought near Independence,
which the father sold in 1870, to accompany our
subject to Antelope where they started a stock
ranch. Two years later he sold to this son and.
returned to the valley west of the mountains.
He died in Yamhill county, in 1894, aged eighty.
He was a good and highly respected man and had
done much for the cause of education and for the
church. In 1874, our subject sold his stock and
removed back to Independence and entered the-
employ of Isaac Van Duyn, a general merchant.
Later he was elected county clerk on the Repub
lican ticket, the first one on that ticket in twenty-
four years. Following his service, Mr. Shelley
bought a third interest in the mercantile estab
lishment where he had worked and continued
there until 1886. Then he sold to his partners-
and for five years was variously employed. In-
1897, he was appointed receiver of the land office
in Sitka, Alaska, but after two years, he was so-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

299-

dissatisfied with the climate and the lonesomeness
that h'e resigned. He promoted some enterprises
until 1902, when he came to Hood River to visit
his brother, and being taken with the country,
he located where we find him now. With his son,
he owns twenty acres of land near by and this
is being put into fruit. Mr. Shelley is also doing
a real estate business.
At Independence, in 1878, Mr. Shelley mar
ried Aliss Mary L., daughter of James Tatum,
and a native of Jackson county, Oregon. The fa
ther was born in Missouri ancl came to Oregon in
1850. He married Aliss Berry. Mrs. Shelley
died in 1891, August 26, at Independence. On
September 24, 1902, Mr. Shelley married Mrs.
Rose McCoy, nee Sherrieb, and a native of Ger
many. Mr. Shelley has the following brothers
and sisters, Hon. James M., Troy, Rolandes L.,
Mary M. Silton, who died June 30, 1904; Ellen
E. Sommerville, Lodema Huston, Henry, de
ceased, Ransom, deceased, ancl Martha, deceased.
To our subject three children have been born,
Ralph D., a partner with his father ; Hugh T., in
Independence; and Fay S., who died in 1901,
aged fourteen. Mrs. Shelley is a member of the
Congregational church and is very influential and
active in labors for the same.

JAMES B. CROSSEN, superintendent of the
city water works of The Dalles, Wasco county,
was born in County Donegal, Ireland, August 11,
1838, the son of Anthony and Ellen (Baxter)
Crossen, natives of Ireland. In 1839 or 1840, the
father came to the United States with his family
ancl settled in New York city, where he died in
1897. He was engaged in the furniture business
many years. The mother died in Ireland.
Our subject passed through the graded
schools of New York, and later, was clerk in his
father's store until May 20, 1859, when he came
west, passing the first four years in California,
mining on the south fork of Scott's. River, Sis
kiyou county. For several years he was con
stable of South Township, and also served as de
puty foreign tax collector under M. Sleeper. In
February, 1863, he passed through The Dalles
en route for Placerville, Idaho. December 7,
1863, he returned to The Dalles where he has
since resided. Following a few days' work on the
Cascade railroad he was connected with the Uma
tilla hotel several months, and then engaged in
draying, which business he conducted profitably
for five years, disposing of the same to Bulger
Brothers. In 1876 Mr. Crossen was elected sher
iff of Wasco county, on the Democratic ticket,
by a majority of one hundred and eight. He was

re-elected in 1878 by a majority of three hun
dred. While he was in office the Klamath Indian
outbreak occurred. Mr. Crossen retired from
office in 1880, and engaged in the furniture busi
ness at The Dalles two years, when he disposed
of the same and followed the occupation of an
auctioneer. In 1880 he was re-elected sheriff,
serving two years, and then he received the ap
pointment of postmaster of The Dalles, by Presi
dent Cleveland. He served four years, and was
elected county clerk, serving two terms. Mr.
Crossen was eighteen months in the grocery busi
ness, and when he disposed of the same he was
appointed superintendent of the city water works
which position he still efficiently fills. Our sub
ject has one sister, Delia, widow of John AIc-
Bride, now living in New York city.
At Callahan ranch, California, February 11,
1863, Mr. Crossen was married to Frances C.
Gray, who died at The Dalles in February, 1870.
The second marriage of our subject took place
at The Dalles, August 21, 1872, when he was
united to Laura A. Marlin, born near Astoria,
Oregon, the daughter of Henry and Emily (Ol
ney) Marlin, the father a native of Pennsylvania,
the mother of Ohio. Henry Marlin was a pio
neer of the Pacific coast, coming west in 1845. He
was engaged in the lumber business, owning
mills at Tongue Point, and several schooners. He
died in Seattle about 1889. The mother accom
panied her husband west. She is a first cousin
of Richard Olney, attorney' general under the ad
ministration of President Cleveland. She now
lives with our subject at the age of eighty years.
Mr. ancl Mrs. Crossen have four children; James
A., in California, with the Southern Pacific rail
road ; Grace, wife of John Dexter, Vallejo, Cali
fornia, an engineer in the United States Navy
Yard; G. William, with the Oregon Railroad &
Navigation Company, residing at The Dalles ;
and Emily, at home. Fraternally Mr. Crossen is-
a member of the A. F. & A. M., R. A. M., B. P.
O. E., K. of P., A. O. U. W., and O. E. S., his-
wife ancl daughter belonging to the latter. Po
litically he is a Democrat. Ellen Olney Kirk,.
the celebrated authoress of Chestnut Hill, Massa
chusetts, is Airs. Crossen's first cousin.

JEREMIAH M. PATTERSON, the effi
cient and popular postmaster of The Dalles,
Wasco countv, was born in Guernsey county,
Ohio. November 26, 1845, me son OI John and
Eliza (Glenn) Patterson, the father a native
of Ohio and the mother of Pennsylvania. John
Patterson died in Salem, Oregon, in 1873, an(i
the mother in 1880.

.300

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In the graded schools of Ohio, most excellent
institutions, our subject received a good busi
ness education. He was a patriotic youth, and,
fully realizing the duty owed to his country, he
enlisted before he had reached the age of sixteen
years, in Company A., Fifteenth Ohio Infantry,
and served gallantly three years during the prog
ress of the Civil war. He participated in the
heavy battles of Shiloh, Pittsburgh Landing, Cor
inth, Stone River, Perryville, Chickamauga and
many other minor engagements and skirmishes.
Air. Patterson was in the signal service, during
the latter portion of his enlistment, and was,
also, telegraph operator. At the breaking out of
the war he had just learned telegraphy, with the
valuable assistance of his father, who had charge
of the railway station at New Concord, Ohio.
Following his discharge he went home on a visit
and then entered the government employment in
the capacity of a telegraph operator, in which he
continued until Alay, 1865. Although not yet
sixteen years of age at the time of his enlistment
young Patterson carried a musket and saw active
service during the first eighteen months. For
tunately he was not wounded, with the exception
of a slight scratch on the finger. He emerged
from the war none the worse for his hardships
and exposures, and in perfect health. The family
-removed to Iowa where our subject engaged in
the mercantile business with his father in Des
Aioines, one year, and then they disposed of the
property and our subject found employment with
the Northwestern Railway Company until 1868,
as telegrapher. January 9, 1869, he left New York
for Oregon via the isthmus, whither he had been
preceded by his father a short time previous.
Our subject and the rest of the family arrived at
Salem, Oregon, February 11, 1869. He lived
there sixteen years. During two years Mr. Pat
terson was assistant postmaster, and the follow
ing ten years he was engaged in the real estate
business. He conducted a machine shop and
foundry three years, was burned out and the fol
lowing year again became assistant postmaster.
In April, 1885, he went to the Warm Springs In
dian Agency in the capacity of clerk, remained
one year and then came to The Dalles to become
bookkeeper for A. Al. Williams and Company,
with whom he remained eight years. He then be
came cashier of the First National Bank, at The
Dalles, during a period of three years, ancl after
ward was engaged in various enterprises until
1900 when he received the appointment of post
master of The Dalles. During his incumbency
the system of free delivery has been installed, ancl
the office is well equipped with verything neces
sary for a proper and convenient conduct of the
business, including a Doremus cancelling ma

chine and other labor saving devices. The office
is served by an assistant postmaster, two carriers,
for city work, two clerks, and one rural delivery
carrier. December 18, 1872, at Salem, Oregon, Mr.
Patterson was married to Blanche Gray, born in
Iowa, who came to Oregon via the isthmus in
1865. She is the daughter of George W. and
Alinerva (Berry) Gray, the father a native of
Pennsylvania, the mother of Iowa. George W.
Gray died in August, 1900, and his wife in De
cember, 1903, at Salem. Airs. Patterson has three
brothers and two sisters living: William T. and
George B., engaged in the hardware business at
Seattle ; Charles A., a contractor, living at Salem;
Mrs. G. G. Lownsdale, of Portland; and Jennie
G. Kyle, of Salem. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson have
four -children : Edward G., a merchant at Water
ville, Washington ; Beulah G., Prudence Al., and
William G., living at home. Our subject is a
member of J. W. Nesmith Post G. A. R., at The
Dalles, and for the past five years he has been
commander. He also belongs to the W. O. W.,
and Order of Washington. He and his wife are
members of the Congregational church. He is
a Republican and has frequently been delegate
to county conventions, and was two terms chair
man of central committee, Wasco county. ' While
in the real estate business in Salem he served two
terms as city recorder.

JESSE W. BLAKENEY, engaged in the
transfer and draying business, at The Dalles,
Wasco county, was born at Georgetown, Dan
ville county, Illinois, November 21, 1850, the
son of John W. and Nancy J. (Phelps) Blake
ney, the father a native of Kentucky ; the mother
of Illinois. John W. Blakeney died at The Dalles,
in 1900. The mother at present resides twelve
miles from The Dalles, with her daughter, Mrs.
Emma J. McClure. The parents of our subject
crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852. Starting
from Georgetown, Illinois, they were nine months
on the road, and though amply provisioned at
the inception of their long journey they ran short
of food before gaining their destination, through
dividing with others less fortunate. They paid
as high as one dollar apiece for biscuits with
which to feed our subject and the other children.
Following great hardships they arrived in the
Cowlitz country, where the father of our subject
filed on a donation claim. In 1862 they came to
The Dalles, bringing their furniture and house
hold effects ancl twenty-five head of cattle on a
scow, from the Cowlitz river, to the Lower Cas
cades. Above the Cascades, they took a river

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

301

steamer to The Dalles. Our subject had attended
school three months in the Cowlitz country, and
when he came to The Dalles he continued his
studies in the public schools. His first employ
ment was driving a yoke of oxen in the brick
yards. He, also, went to North Yakima and
worked in the hay fields. Following this he was
engaged in a variety of employments, and for
twelve years he was in the shops of the Oregon
Steam Navigation Company and for six years on
the boats. He began teaming in The Dalles in
1889 and has continued it ever since.
In March, 1883, at The Dalles, he was married
to Ianthe A. Jones, born in Lane county, Ore
gon. She died fifteen months later. His second
marriage took place at Antelope, Wasco county,
when he was united to Laura F. Smith, born in
California. Her father, Milton Smith, is a native
of Pennsylvania, of Dutch ancestry, and now
resides in the Puget Sound country. Mr.
Blakeney has three brothers and two sisters :
Hugh T., of Baker City, Oregon ; James Henry,
a dealer in horses, at Portland and The Dalles ;
Decatur A., a mining man at Baker City ; Mary
A., wife of Frank Thompson, of Baker City ; and
Emma J., married to William T. McClure, a
farmer living near Mosier, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs.
Blakeney have three children, Jessie F., Thomas
W. and Cedric A. Mr. Blakeney is a member of
Friendship Lodge, No. 9, K. of P., of which he
has served two terms as C. C, the I. O. O. F.,
and the W. O. W. He and his wife are members
of the Rathbone Sisters.

ABIEL S. MacALLISTER, one of the lead
ing business men of The Dalles and prominent
stock raiser of Wheeler county, resides at The
Dalles. He was born in Maine, November 1,
1841, the son of Abiel and Lucinda (Atkinson)
MacAllister, natives of the Pine Tree State. The
parents and grandparents of our subject's father
were natives of Maine, the great-grandparents
coming from Scotland. The maternal grand
father of our subject served in the Revolution
ary war and for many years he was High Sheriff
of the state of Maine. The Atkinson family, from
which came the mother of our subject, were early
New England settlers, coming from the parent
country, England.
Mr. MacAllister came to Portland, Oregon,
in 1877 and to The Dalles, in 1878.
January 1, 1867, Mr. MacAllister was married,
at South Jefferson, Maine, to Sarah T. Peaslee,
a native of Maine. She is the daughter of Mer
rill and Mary (Curtis) Peaslee, both descendants
of old colonial families, representatives of whom

were prominent in the Revolutionary war. For-
many generations the Curtis family has been dis
tinguished in literary, commercial and legal cir
cles. Mrs. MacAllister has one brother, Frank
W., a farmer, residing near Salem, Oregon.

JOHN B. McATEE is a native of Wasco
county and the energy ancl enterprise he has mani
fested in his life here show him to be made of
the metal that wins success. He has chosen
thus far to cast his lot in the county where
he was born, and to such young and energetic
men as he are the almost boundless resources of
fertile Wasco county opening, and they are carry
ing on to a commendable consummation the noble
work commenced by their forefathers, who lab
ored here when the Indians were the main inhabi- -
tants, and who braved the storms of life in a new
country, suffering the hardships and doing the ¦
arduous labor incident to opening a country for-
the ingress of civilization's accompaniments. Our
subject was born at Tygh Valley, on April 14,
1876. His parents are mentioned in the article ¦
relating to Mrs. McAtee, found in another por
tion of this work. His early life was spent on.
the farm and his primary education was gained
from the district schools near his birthplace.
Later he attended school in Dufur and made the
best of his opportunities. After the days of school
books were past, he wrought for four years in the
flour mills of Dufur, then engaged with Johns
ton Brothers, a well known business firm in
Dufur. Since that time, he has been actively oc
cupied here and is well and favorable known. He
is a young man of promise and has shown an-
ability that presages a bright future.
At Dufur, Oregon, on April 12, 1898, Mr..
McAtee married Miss Anna Heisler, the youngest
daughter of Grandpa and Grandma Heisler. To
this marriage, one child has been born, John L.
In political matters, Mr. McAtee is a Democrat
and evinces an interest that is becoming the ¦
American citizen. He has held various offices,
as city marshal and city judge. In fraternal cir
cles Mr. McAtee is popular and belongs to the ¦
I. O. O. F., the W. W., and the Rebekahs. His
wife also belongs to the last named order. She
is also a member of the United Brethren church.
Mr. and Mrs. McAtee are popular young people •
and have many admiring friends.

LINDSEY B. THOMAS, who is well and~
favorably known in Wasco county and through
out the adjacent country, is now dwelling hr
Dufur. He was born in Prineville, Oregon, on-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

October 7, 1874, the son of Daniel E. and Can-
dace (Smith) Thomas, who are mentioned in this
work elsewhere. After commencing his educa
tion in the schools of his native place, our sub
ject came with his parents to Dufur, where he
studied in the graded schools. Then he took
a course in a Portland business college and fol
lowing that taught for several years in this county.
He next embarked in the typographical work and
on the Dufur Despatch and the Times-Moun
taineer learned the art of the printer and type
setter. He followed the same for some time and
then took up merchandising. Owing to his health
he was forced to abandon this in one year and
was for one year in Portland under the doctor's
care. Then he returned to Dufur and entered the
¦ employ of Johnston Brothers as bookkeeper, and
upon the opening of their bank, February 5,
1905, he became cashier of the same.
Air. Thomas is a member of Ridgely Lodge,
No. 71, of the I. O. O. F. and is prominent in
fraternal circles. He has filled the chairs of this
order and is also a member of the Nicholson En
campment, of which he is scribe. He has been
delegate to the grand lodge and takes a great
interest in the welfare of his orders.
In political matters, Air. Thomas evinces a
keen interest and he is well posted on the ques
tions that are before the people. He has been
justice of the peace at different times and for
several terms was citv recorder.

I

JACOB CRAFT, well known as "Grandpa
Craft," is a venerable citizen of Wasco county.
He spends much of his time is Dufur and The
Dalles, but his home is at Nansene. Everyone
who knows of him, and there are hosts, will be
greatlv pleased to read about his career. He is
a benevolent gentleman, always cheerful ancl
kind, and the result is that everyone loves Grand
pa Craft.
Jacob Craft was born in Botetourt county,
A'irginia, on June 25, 1819. His father, Daniel
Craft, was born in Pennsylvania, of native Ger
man parents and was bugle major in the War
of 1812, in General Breckenridge's command.
He was in the entire conflict and his old bugle
is now owned by John Craft, a son, if he is still
living, in Atrginia. That venerable gentleman
married Mary Hamilton in his youth. She was
a native of Botetourt county, A'irginia, and her
parents were natives of Scotland. He moved
to A'irginia shortly after the war and there re
mained until his death. During those days he
would not hold slaves, being opposed to the
principles. When our subject was nineteen, hav

ing previously secured a fair education, he came
west to visit his uncle, George Craft, who lived
in onio. His mother had died just previous to
his journey. In Ohio he learned the molder's
trade at Leffel's foundry in Springfield and con
tinued there seven years. Then he went to Cincin
nati, and for seventeen years followed his trade
there, his home being across the river in New
port, Kentucky. During this time, he enlisted in
Company I, of the mounted Riflemen, under Cap
tain Ruff and Colonel Harney, afterward General
Harney, and fought through the entire Alexican
war. He was in the battles of Cerro-Gordo, San
Antonio, Contreres, Terrebustoo, Melina-Del-Rev,
Tepultepec, and entered with the balance of the
victorious army through St. George's gate into
the City of Mexico, after fighting two days and
nights without cessation. Air. Craft was shot
in the forehead at the battle of Alelina-Del-Rev,
and also had a shoulder broken by the fall of his
horse. After the war was closed he was honor
ably discharged and he has been of late years re
ceiving a pension for his services. At the break
ing out of the Civil war, he bought a farm near
Coldsprings, Kentucky and thither moved his
family, there being a United States camp there.
Here he gave his time freely to drill recruits,
being too crippled to go to the front himself. For
this service he received no pay, doing it for his
friend and neighbor, Colonel Murnann. In 1867,
he sold his property and removed to Shelbyville,
Illinois ancl for two years did stone mason work
ancl prospected for coal. He discovered a two
foot vein but the expense crippled him financially.
Cholera broke out there and he went to Nevada,
Missouri, ancl there he did building and contract
ing until 18S3, when he crossed the plains with
a party of ten families. They came direct to
Wasco county and here he selected land on Cen
tral Ridge and settled to farming. Since then he
has followed that business until his retirement
from active life. He still owns four hundred
acres of good land and the income of this is suf
ficient to make his years comfortable in this the
golden period of his life.
On October 22. 1852, Air. Craft married
Aliss Rossana Decker, the wedding occurring in
Cincinnati. Airs. Craft was born in Alissouri
ancl her parents died of cholera in Cincinnati.
She was then reared by a wealthy maiden lady.
On September 12, 1899, after a long life in
the Christian faith, she fell asleep, amid many
friends and relatives. She was comforted and
sustained by her faith to the last and her memory
is fragrant with the virtues of Christianity. To
Mr. ancl Airs. Craft, the following named chil
dren have been born : William, a farmer near
Dufur ancl ex-citv marshal of that town ; Edwin,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3°3

farming near his father's place ; Joseph, a farmer
near Nansene ; Walter, a blacksmith in the rail
road shops in Sacramento; Alice J., the wife of
Charles Edmonds, a drayman in Nevada, Mis
souri ; Katurah, the wife of William R. Haynes,
a farmer near Nansene ; Emma, the wife of Ells
worth Haynes, a farmer near Nansene ; and Edith
J., the wife of Thomas Harris, a sheepman at
Payette, Idaho. Mr. Craft had six brothers and
two sisters, John, George, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel,
David, Margaret and Annie. These were all liv
ing in Virginia before the war and since then
Mr. Craft has never been able to ascertain the
whereabouts of any of them, although he has
frequently attempted so to do, except he ascer
tained that his brother, Daniel, was a captain in
the confederate army and was killed at the battle
of the Wilderness, having been pressed into it
contrary to his will. Mr. Craft joined the I. O.
O. F. in Springfield, Illinois, when twenty-one
years of age, passed the chairs, was demitted
when he came here, but has never affiliated since.
He also belonged to the K. P. and passed all the
chairs in that order in the east, but is not active
here. When he was sixteen years of age he was
baptized in the Missionary Baptist church, was
deacon when twenty-two and in 1862 transferred
his membership from that denomination to the
Christian church, in which capacity he is at this
clay. He has traveled along the pilgrim way
for many years in the power of the faith that
sustains him now and his life has been such that
he has been a bright testimony for the truth.
He is honored by all and holds a warm place in the
love ancl esteem of everyone.

TROY SHELLEY, a farmer residing about
seven miles south from Hood River, has also
spent a considerable portion of his life in preach
ing the gospel. In addition to this, for nearly
forty years, he has been prominently identified
with educational work. He was born on Janu
ary. 6, 1845, in Jefferson county, Iowa and crossed
the plains with his parents, as mentioned else
where in this volume. He completed his educa
tion in the normal school at San Francisco and
then taught two years there before coming to
Wasco county, in 1870. He taught school all
over Wasco county for thirty years, during which
time he has given considerable attention to
preaching as well, being an ordained minister in
the Christian church. He has the distinction of
teaching the first school in Tygh valley when he
was only nineteen years of age. He came to
Hood Kiver in 1885. In June 1890, Mr. Shelley
was elected county superintendent of schools for

Wasco county on the Republican ticket and was
twice reelected ; thus serving six years. For a
part of this time he lived in The Dalles. Later, he
removed to the place where we now find him and
is devoting his attention to general farming and
preaching. On June 20, 1871, in Polk county, Oregon,
Mr. bhelley married Miss Annie Lewis, who was
born in Massachusetts, on February 15, 185 1.
The fruit of this union has been eight children :
Marguerite, now teaching in the school of elocu
tion in Portland ; Ralph S., a student at the state
university in Eugene ; Percy T., in the street rail
road business, in Portland ; Pauline, wife of Guy
Talmage, a manufacturer at Houston, Texas ;
Albert B., in Portland; Annie H., Jolly AL, and
Ellen K, all at home.
Mr. Shelley has always taken an active interest
in political matters and educational affairs and is
a good and upright man.
In his work in the ministry, Air. Shelley has
always labored to get all Christians to work to
gether, believing it the right plan, and as a happy
result of this method, there has been erected in his
neighborhood a union church.

WILLIAM EHRCK is one of the substantial
men of Wasco county, and he has shown himself
possessed of those qualities which win, for he
came here with limited means. He located his
family on the homestead where now is the family
home, and went to The Dalles to work at his trade
of mason to procure means for the improvement
of his place. He spent the winters here and
gradually improved the place until he now has
seventy acres in cultivation and all the buildings,
fences, and other things needed. He is a man of
thrift and energy and has labored faithfully here.
He has a good home and his wife, who is a woman
of many virtues, has been a good helpmeet to him
in all the years that have passed. They have
reared an interesting family and all are highly
respected people in the various walks of life. Air.
Ehrck lives about seven miles up the river from
town, on the east side. He was born in Germany,
on January 1, 1845, tne son of Hans and Minnie
Ehrck, both natives of the Fatherland and both
deceased. From his father, our subject learned
the art of the mason and was also educated in the
public schools of his native country. In 1872,
he bade farewell to all the dear ones at home and
sailed to America. He stopped first in Chicago
and two years later came on to Iowa, whence in
1879, he journeyed to Oregon, having spent the
intervening years at his trade. He followed the
same in Portland and The Dalles and then took

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the land where he now lives. He has one of the
finest places in the valley, thirty acres being into
apple orchard and the balance in general crops.
His labbr has wrought all of this, for it was a
wild when he came here.
In Germany, in 187 1, Air. Ehrck married
Miss Caroline, the daughter of Christian and An
nie (Kroeger) Wilkins, both natives of Germany
and now deceased. The wife accompanied Mr.
Ehrck on his journeys westward and they are
the parents of the following named children ,
Otto and Willie, at home and popular young men
of the community ; Lizzie, the wife of James
Eggirt, a farmer dwelling near ; Emma, the wife
of Harry Imlay, a hotel steward in San Francisco ;
Marie, wife of Claud McCoy, in Portland. Air.
Ehrck has one brother, Henry, a hotel keeper in
Hamburg, Germany, and one sister, Hennie, the
wife of William Stoeck, a potter in Germany. Mrs.
Ehrck has no brothers nor sisters. Both are con
sistent members of the Lutheran church and are
well to do and esteemed people. Mr. Ehrck is a
Republican but is not active, although stanch.

EZEKIEL H. WATERMAN, deceased. No
one who has dwelt in Wasco county needs an in
troduction to Ezekiel Waterman. He was known
as one of the bright and enterprising business
men of this part of the state, and indeed, he
operated all over the state, and withal, he was
better known as a man of uprightness and gen
erosity, having always bestowed the abundance of
wealth which his labors brought him, in a manner
to benefit and assist all needy ones, who came
within the range of his personal acquaintance.
His death was universally mourned 'and he left
a place in the hearts of his fellow citizens where
fond memories of a good man will remain for
' many years to come.
Ezekiel H. Waterman was born in Cayuga
county, New York, on February 24, 1812, and
died at his farm residence just southeast from
The Dalles, on December 3, 1903, aged ninety-
one. His father, John W. Waterman, was born
in New York ancl came from Dutch and Scotch
extraction. The mother died when our subject
was small. He was reared and educated in his
native state and in 1852 came thence to Cali
fornia. Four vears later he made his way from
the Golden State to Oregon and bought land
near Jefferson. He opened a mercantile establish
ment there and also handled a pork packing house.
Later he sold his interests there and came to the
vicinity of Fort Watson iri Grant countv where
he spent six years in raising stock. Then he
sold his property there and repaired to The Dalles,

where he did a loaning business for ten years. It
was in this latter capacity where the true gen
erosity of Mr. Waterman shone out most. It is
well known that human nature as a rule takes ad
vantage of this business to show its greed, but
with Air. Waterman it was used to assist and help
others. In any case where he was forced to take
a piece of property on a loan, he never hesitated
to pay in addition cash to its full value to the
unfortunate party and many have given him sin
cere blessings for these kind and truly benevolent
acts. During the time he was loaning money he
purchased three farms and after his son, as men
tioned in connection with that young man, had
operated them successfully for a year, Mr. Water
man removed to the place where his widow now
resides. There he spent the remaining years of
his life esteemed and beloved by all. At the
advanced age of ninety-one, nearly'ninety-two, the
angel summoned him and he quietly lay down
to sleep to awake in the better world where the
scenes of time fraught with sorrow never more
arise. He was a devout Christian all his life and
a liberal supporter not only of the denomination
to which he belonged, which was the Methodist,
but of all worthy causes.
On September 18, 1866, Mr. Waterman mar
ried Airs. Nancy Aliller, the daughter of Martin
and Eliza J. (Mitchell) Smith. The wedding
occurred in Alarion county, near Jefferson, and
Airs. Waterman was born in Iowa. Her father
was a native of Ohio and comes from an old
colonial family. His father, the grandfather of
Airs. Waterman, fought in the Revolution under
the noted general "Mad Anthony Wayne," and it
was his lot to endure great hardship and suffer
ing. Still he was of the true patriotic blood and
fought through to the end and assisted materially
to achieve the victories that gave to the American
people the heritage of a free country. Mrs.
Waterman's maternal grandfather fought with
Perry when he gained his brilliant victory on
Lake Erie. To Air. and Airs. Waterman,' one-
son, Martin, ancl one daughter Jennie, were born.
The former is mentioned elsewhere in this work
and the latter is the wife of Howard Percy, a
farmer on Eightmile creek. When Mr. Water
man was nineteen he married and this wife lived
for thirty years. By her he had two sons,
John W., retired in The Dalles, and Oscar, killed
in a mine cave-in, in California. Mr. Waterman
was a well informed Democrat and a public-
minded man as well as patriotic citizen. Mrs.
Waterman is a member of the Methodist church
and she has taken up the added burdens of hand
ling her husband's large property, in which
capacity she shows marked wisdom and excel
lent judgment. She is a woman of many virtues

Mrs. Ezekiel H. Waterman

Ezekiel H. Waterman

Ingwert C. Nickelsen

'.'

m wm

\

¦r >

¦ *f*|^^^Bk

Mrs. Walter Henderson
Walter Henderson
¦
o
Horace Rice
Mrs. Horace Rice
Absalom D. Bolton
HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON,

3<%

and stands well in the community. Her father
is ninety-one ancl her mother ninety, and they are
both in good health for that advanced age. She
is sixty-seven and the years of her life sit lightly
as she is of a long lived family and is now in
excellent health.

INGWERT C. NICKELSEN, a leading bus
iness man of The Dalles, is located at 315 East
Second street, where he handles a fine art, music
and stationery store. He is skilled in his business
and does a large ancl profitable trade. His goods
are the best and up-to-date in every particular and
Mr. Nickelsen is well known as a man of in
tegrity ancl good principles, thus having gained
the confidence of the public.
In giving a detailed account of his life, we
would note first that he was born in the island
of Fohr, which belongs to the province of
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on January 20,
1842. His parents, Peter and Christina (Peter
sen) Nickelsen, were natives of the same place
and are mentioned more fully elsewhere in this
work. The first seventeen years of his life were
spent in his native land and there he gained a
good education. In the year, 1859, we find him in
New York city engaged in the restaurant busi
ness and for eight years he followed it faithfully.
Then he came to San Francisco via the Nicaragua
route and two weeks later shipped on the
steamer California, for Portland. After a rough
passage and just escaping a total wreck at the
Columbia bar, he landed in safety and came on
to The Dalles. Here he wrought in the Umatilla
house for two and one-half years and then opened
his present business. He was burned out in the
big fire, but started from the ashes a better busi
ness than he' had before and is now located in a
fine store, twenty-five by seventy-five feet, where
he has a choice stock of about seven thou
sand dollars worth of the best goods, well selected.
He carries Kranich & Bach pianos, is agent for
the Hamburg-American steamship line and has a
fine stock of music, instruments and stationery, as
well as books. Air. Nickelsen has, also, a full line
of art supplies and goods.
On August 30, 1872, in Germany, Mr. Nickel
sen married' Miss Josine Fredden, a native of
that country and the daughter of Jorgen and
Gardina (Nagel) Fredden, also natives of Ger
many. The father was a seafaring man ancl was
lost on the ocean in 1857. To this union three
children have been born : Christina, the wife of
Harry Grubb, with the O. R. & N., in The Dalles ;
Julia, at home; Clara T., a graduate of the
Holmes Business College in Portland and now
20

stenographer for Bennett & Sinnott, in The
Dalles. On October 18, 1883, Mrs. Nickelsen was
called from the duties of life and tier family to
enter upon the realities of another world. She
was an active and prominent member of the
German Lutheran church and a devoted Christian!
She was deeply mourned and was known as a
good Christian woman. Air. Nickelsen has one-
brother, Martin H, and three sisters, Mrs.
Dorethea Brothersen, Mrs. Catherine Salzer and'
Mrs. Maria Wyss. Mr. Nickelsen is a member'
of the I. O. O. F. and has been for thirty-four
years, and is past grand. He has represented .his
lodge in the grand lodge several times. Politic
ally, he is a Republican and was county treasurer
from 1882 to 1888. He was water commissioner
one term and in 1870, was member of the fire-
department. He is frequently a delegate to the
county conventions but does not take the part in
politics he sustained in years past, preferring to
devote more time to his business. Mr. Nickelsen'
is an active member of the English Lutheran
church and is a man of excellent standing in the
community.

WALTER HENDERSON is a man of in
dustry who has labored for many years in agri
culture in Wasco county and has today a nice
farm about one mile northwest from Kingsley.
Fie was born in Washington county, Oregon, on
September 6, 1862, the son of Aaron ancl Sarah
(Butts) Henderson. They crossed the plains with
ox teams in early days and settled in Oregon
when the hardships of the pioneer were not light
to bear. Their donation claim was about five
miles from Portland ancl there the father labored
some years then went to Douglas county where
he died when our subject was a small boy. Later
the widow gathered her substance together and
came east of the mountains. Walter had gained'
his education from Forest Grove and Hillsboro-
schools and came with his mother to Wasco-
county. He labored on the homestead she took
and for the farmers near by and in 1895, took the
place where he now lives as a homestead. Mrs.
Henderson married William Nichols, who lived
but a short time. She remained on the home
stead with our subject until her death which oc
curred on August 13, 1890. Mr. Henderson has
continued in his chosen occupation since coming'
here and is a man whose life testifies of his-
sound principles of honesty and uprightness.
At the home place, on October 26, 1884, Mr.
Henderson married Aliss Alice Brown, who was
born in Butte county, California. Her father,
John Brown, followed farming- and died at Rose-
burg, Oregon in 1902. He had married Aliss Cath-

3o6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

erine Higgins, a native of Iowa, and now lives
in Modoc county, California. Mr. Henderson
-has two brothers, John F., and Silvio, and one
sister, Airs. Laura Hutchison. Mrs. Henderson
has the following named brothers and sisters,
George, Milton, Airs. Susan Cole, Mrs. Sarah
Wamac. To Mr. and Mrs. Henderson ten chil
dren have been born, whose names and ages are
given below, Perry, eighteen, John, seventeen,
:Mary, fifteen, Authur, thirteen, Rena, eleven,
Lillie, nine, Arlie, seven, Louis, five, Willie, three,
and Orville, an infant. Air. Henderson is a
Republican and evinces a lively interest both in
politics and educational affairs.

HORACE RICE has so labored in Wasco
county ancl the Willamette valley that he is en
titled to be classed both as one of the builders
Of the country an,d one of its most substantial
citizens at this time. He was born in Portage
county, Ohio, on May 20, 1829, and now lives
on Jackson street in The Dalles. His father,
William K. Rice, was born on December 30, 1793,
in Connecticut and came from an old colonial
family, the progenitors of which on this side of
the ocean were brought hither on the Alayflower.
Members of the family participated in all of the
struggles of the colonies and down until the late
¦war and have been prominent as professional men
and commercial operators for many generations.
Mr. Rice's father went from Connecticut to New
York and was there married and later journeyed
to Portage county, Ohio. There he followed
his trade of cooper and finally died in Illinois,
on December 29, 1839, where the family had
stopped temporarily, while enroute to Iowa. He
and his wife were members of the Methodist
'church. Before marriage, she was known as Alary
'Pettingill and was born in Maine, from an old
colonial family, some of which came to this coun
try in the Alayflower. She was born on February
5, 1790 and died on February 5, 1874, the latter
event occurring in Polk county, Oregon. When
our subject was nine years of age, he went with
-the balance of the family to Illinois and there
his father died near Ottawa. The mother took her
five children and moved on to Iowa in the spring
of 1840, ancl there married Beckwith Cook, a
miller. Horace was with the family most of the
time until his marriage. In 1851, with his own
family, with his mother, stepfather, and other
relatives, he made the trip across the plains to
Oregon. Thev used ox teams until arriving at
Bridger, Wyoming, "when they traded them for
horses. The trip was continued with much hard
ship and suffering. Their food was exhausted

and at Fort Boise, they traded a portion of their
bedding for dried salmon skins prepared by the
Indians. They were obliged to dig roots, eat
hazel brush ancl roseballs to keep themselves alive
until thev arrived in The Dalles. At Umatilla
our subject assisted some Indians to butcher and
dress a steer which gave them a feast, as the
Indians gave them meat enough to last several
days. At The Dalles, there was a trading post
and a tent. From The Dalles to the Cascades
the trip was made on the steamer Flint and from
there to the mouth of the Big Sandy in a bateau
and Judge Taylor drove them Irom that point
to Alilwaukee. Airs. Rice soon obtained em
ployment at one dollar per day, cooking in a
boarding house and her husband at two dollars
and fifty cents per day, in a sawmill. Later, he
made excellent wages, from ten to forty-five dol
lars per day in handling wood and timber.
Typhoid fever attacked his family and much suf
fering ensued and finally they journeyed on to
Lane county and took a donation claim where they
remained twelve years then sold out and came to
what is now Wasco county. Fie took a home
stead on Fifteenmile creek and bought railroad
land until the estate was one of one thousand
acres. He was the first man to plant grain on the
upland of Fifteenmile creek. The neighbors
laughed at him and he was the butt of ridicule
until they saw the excellent crops which he raised
when they too took up land and commenced to
raise wheat. Thus Air. Rice may be noted as the
leader in opening up the hills of Fifteenmile
creek. They continued on their ranch, one of the
best in the county, with an ideal residence loca
tion, until 1901, when they moved to The Dalles,
then he sold out to his oldest son, George W.,
and since has been enjoying the well earned re
tirement of his life.
On February 19, 1849, in Cedar county,
Iowa, Air. Rice married Aliss Eliza J. Bolton,
who was born on June 8, 1830 in Giles county,
West Virginia. Her father, George Bolton, was
born in Virginia, on December 25, 1802 and
died on Alarch 6, 1848. His father was stolen
by a press gang and brought to the United States
from Holland. Daniel Bolton, George Bolton's
brother, is well known. The mother of Mrs. Rice
was Margaret Duncan, born in Wrginia, on July
10, 1800 and died at the age of eighty. She
came from a prominent Virginia family. Mr. Rice
has one brother, Cyrenius, deceased; and four
sisters, Nancy, Mary, Lucinda and Ruth, de
ceased. Airs. Rice has one brother, Charles H,
and four sisters, Alargaret, the widow of A.
Smith ancl Elizabeth A., Alary F. and Louisa,
all deceased. To Mr. ancl Airs. Rice the follow
ing named children have been born : George W.,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3°7

•on the old home place; Austin C, a farmer in
The Dalles ; Emma, wife of Charles H. Southern,
mentioned elsewhere in this work ; Nellie D., wife
of Daniel W. Mann near Collins, Washington;
Ettie M., wife of M. M. Waterman mentioned
elsewhere in this work ; Charles W., who died in
Riverside county, California, on February 10,
1899, aged forty-five; and Amelia A., the wife
•of Lemuel Gassaway, who died on Fifteenmile
creek, on January 4, 1885. Mr. Rice is a good
stanch Republican, has been county commis
sioner, justice of the peace and held various
offices both here and in the valley. He and his
wife are estimable people, having labored long
and faithfully to build up and improve the coun
try and are highly deserving of the retirement
they are now enjoying and the admiration of a
large circle of friends.

ABSALOM D. BOLTON, deceased. Among
the pioneers of Wasco county and the state of
Oregon, it is fitting that we should make mention
of the gentleman whose name appears above,
since he was one of the sturdy men who labored
-assiduously to open up the country and brave
-the dangers and hardships incident to such a life.
He was a good citizen and an industrious man,
capable and upright and won hosts of friends
wherever he dwelt.
Absalom D. Bolton was born in Virginia and
died at the family home just east of Boyd, on
February 18, 1903, aged eighty-two years. His
parents were Jacob and Elizabeth (Inksell) Bol
ton, natives of Virginia. The father's father was
kidnapped from Germany when a boy and
-brought to Virginia and forced to work on a
plantation seven years to pay for his passage.
During the Revolution, he was a teamster in the
•army. His son, our subject's father, served in
the War of 1812. The mother of our subject died
in Iowa where she went during the Civil war.
Mr. Bolton married in the east and in 1852,
with ox teams, crossed the plains to Lane county,
Oregon. Later he sold his property there and
came to the vicinity of Boyd, bought the rights
of a settler and began farming. He was prospered
in his labors and became a well to do and prom
inent citizen. Upon his death, he left to his wife
the old home place of seven hundred acres and a
half section to each son besides. His marriage
occurred on March 4, 1852 and Oliva Bolton, his
half cousin, became his bride. Mrs. Bolton's
parents were William and Sallie (Southern) Bol
ton, both natives of Virginia. Mrs. Sallie
(Southern) Bolton is an aunt of Charles H.
•Southern, mentioned elsewhere in this volume.

She died in Iowa in 1884. Her husband died in
Iowa during the war. Mr. Bolton had two broth
ers, Daniel and George. His widow has two
brothers, John and George, and three sisters, Mrs.
Virginia Van Meter, Mrs. Agnes. Pierce and Mrs.
Condace Emmons. To Mr. and Mrs. Bolton six
children have been born : Lee and Park, farmers
in Wasco county near by their mother's place ;
George, a druggist at Moro; Dean, a harness
maker in The Dalles; Addie, wife of Lewis Bol
ton, a farmer in' Wasco county; und A. Grant,
at home with his mother.

JOHN M. MARDEN, who came to The Dal
les, Wasco county, about the time of the admis
sion of the state of Oregon into the union, is now
retired from active business. He was born in
Georgetown. D. C, November 30, 1838, the son
of Nathaniel M. and Alary A. (Lutz) Marden,
the father a native of Virginia, of an old southern
family, the mother having been born in George
town. The father died in the eighties, aged sixty-
four, the mother passed away in 1853 at the age
of fifty-six years.
In his youth our subject attended priv
ate schools and a preparatory school con
nected with Columbia College, Washington, D. C.
Later he learned the carpenter trade, and April 2,
1849, he joined a party of sixty-four men, known
as the Washington City & California Mining As
sociation, and crossed the plains with mule teams.
He arrived at Lassen's ranch, California, October
13, 1849, and here he mined on Bidwell's Bar
until January 1, 1850, going thence to Sacramento
in the hope of receiving letters frorn home. In
February he went to Alarysville and assisted in
building the first frame edifices in that town. He
soon went to Shasta with a pack train, thence to
Scott's Bar, Weaverville, and back to Marysville.
Here he disposed of his mules, in the spring of
1856, returned to Shasta and filed on a placer
claim on the headwaters of Whiskey Creek, where
he panned out considerable coarse gold and many
large nuggets, one of which, was worth eight hun
dred dollars. That fall he left for Marysville,
and thence north up the Yuba river, to Trask Bar,
where for six years he remained mining success
fully. In July, 1858, he went to Fraser river, dur-
jng the excitement incident to that period, with
three other men in an Indian log canoe, from Vic
toria, up as far as Fort Langley, B. C. Finding
nothing there worth their time they paddled down
into the Sound to Olympia, and from there he
went to MonticeUo, Oregon, at the mouth of the
Cowlitz river, where he took a steamer for Port
land, and thence to the Cascades. The following

3o8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

March he came to The Dalles since which time he
has lived in Wasco county. In the autumn of
1859 he filed on a pre-emption claim, where for
thirteen years he made his home. During the
Snake Indian uprising he had some experience in
savage warfare, when buildings were burned at
the Warm Springs Agency, and Briggs and his
sons were massacred, at Barlow's Gate, in i860.
With his family Mr. Alarden came to The Dalles
in 1883, where he engaged in the mercantile busi
ness with R. F. Gibbons and A". S. AlacAllister,
mentioned in another portion of this book. When
they were burned out in 1891, our subject and
Mr. Gibbons settled up the affairs of the com
pany and engaged in the real estate and insurance
business which was continued until July, 1902,
when they dissolved partnership. Mr. Alarden
has two brothers, Henry F. and Thomas S., the
former a farmer in Prince George county, Mary
land, the latter a machinist in Washington, D. C.
At The Dalles, February 13, 1869, Mr. Alarden
was married to Harriet A. Reed, daughter of Cal
vin Reed. Her parents came to Oregon in 1850
and located near the present site of Troutdale,
Multnomah county. Air. Marden is a member of
the California Pioneer Association, of San Fran
cisco; the A. F. & A. AL, and is a Royal Arch
Mason. Politically he is a Democrat and has
served one term as county commissioner of Wasco
county and delegate to county conventions.

DANIEL E. THOA1AS, deceased. To the
memory of him whose name appears above, this
brief review is given, as he was a man closely al
lied with the pioneer life of Oregon and did many
worthy things during his career as a frontiers
man, and also assisted materially to build up the
country and bring to its present prosperous state
this great section.
Daniel E. Thomas was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on November 29, 1826. His par
ents were born in Germany. He studied in the
public schools until ten years of age and was then
apprenticed to learn the carpenter trade. For
four years he wrought at that ancl then journeyed
west to Indiana and Illinois. He traveled to
various other middle states ancl enlisted in an Illi
nois regiment to fight in the Mexican war. He
was a non-commissioned officer ancl after the war
came back to the middle states whence he crossed
the plains with ox teams to the Willamette valley
in 1859. Later he was identified with the Granite
creek mines in eastern Oregon ancl followed min
ing for some years. Then he returned to the
Willamette valley and followed his trade there
until 1869, when he went to the country around

Prineville. He did carpentering for a time then
started a mercantile establishment. He was ap
pointed the first postmaster of Prineville and for
a time conducted the office in Heisler's store, then.
formed a partnership with Mr. Pickett and did.
merchandising for ten years. Then he brought
his family to Dufur and here followed his trade
until about two years previous to his death. That.
event occurred in Dufur, on August 30, 1895.
In 1869, at Beuna Vista, Oregon, Mr. Thomas
married Aliss Candace Smith, who was born in
Utah while her parents were en route to Oregon.
She died at Prineville, in 1876. Three children-
were born to this union ; Agnes, the wife of Wil
liam Wright, a farmer near Dufur ; Lindsey B.,
mentioned elsewhere in this book ; and Freeman,
who died in infancy. In 1879, Mr. Thomas mar
ried a second time, Aliss Alary A. Batty becom
ing his wife, and to them three children have been
born ; Inez, the wife of F. B. St. Martin, of Boise,.
Idaho ; Amy, living with her mother ; and Essie-
E., deceased.

VICTOR MARDEN, harnessmaker and sad
dler, residing at The Dalles, Wasco county, is a
native of the county, born September 20, 1874, the
son of John M., mentioned elsewhere, and Har
riet ( Harn) Alarden, the former a native of Mary
land, born in Baltimore, and the latter of Indiana.
Young Alarden attended the public schools at
The Dalles, the Bishop Scott Academy, Portland,
and the Pacific LJniversity, Forest Grove. He be
gan learning the harnessmaker's trade in 1892,
with Farley & Trout, with whom and others, he
remained until 1900, when he commenced business
on his own account. In September, 1903, he
moved into his present quarters, corner of Second
ancl Laughlin streets, where he has a handsome
store 30x100 feet in dimensions. It is by no
means flattery to assert that our subject produces
some of the most artistic work in his line in the
entire state of Oregon, including Alexican leather
work saddles, and everything in the way of
stamped goods. At the county fair of 1903 he
took the prize for a double harness made for Gif-
ford, the photographer. This is, generally, con
ceded to be the handsomest piece of harness work
ever made in the state. He employs four men,
ancl his business is eminently successful.
Air. Marden is a member of the A. F. & A.
AL, being past master of Wasco Lodge, No. 15,
and a member of Chapter, No. 6, R. A. M. Po
litically he is a Democrat. He manufactures
many high-priced saddles" but one which he re
cently delivered to a customer in Harney county,
Oregon, is probably the handsomest and most-
costly of any in the northwest. The price was

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3°9

three hundred dollars and there was used in its
construction one hundred and fifty dollars worth
of gold ancl silver in trimmings. The leather was
¦exquisitely embossed and the workmanship could
not be excelled.

JAMES A. NICHOLSON is the son of John
and Nancy (Frew) Nicholson, worthy pioneers
of Washington county, Pennsylvania, who are
mentioned more in detail in the sketch of C. J.
Nicholson. Our subject was born in Washing
ton county, Pennsylvania, on October 15, 1847,
and was there reared and educated. He did vari
ous work after arriving to manhood and remained
in his native county until 1875. Then he deter
mined to see the great west and accordingly de
cided on California as the objective point to his
first journey. He arrived there in good time ancl
soon found employment on a farm. For three and
one half years he continued at that labor and in
that time had the best of opportunity to see the
country ancl try the climate. In 1878, he decided
to explore the Pacific coast more and so left the
Golden State and turned his face to the north.
¦Marion county, Oregon, was the first place to at
tract him and there he remained one month look
ing over the country. After this he traveled about
some and finally, in July, 1879, ne concluded the
best place to locate was in Wasco county, and he
then took a pre-emption in the vicinity of Boyd.
While he did improvement work on this, he also
wrought in the sawmills and thus spent some time.
Later he was engaged by the O. R. & N. company
and continued four years as night watchman ans.
four years in the repair department. Then he re
turned to the farm and devoted himself to its cul
tivation and improvement. This continued until
1899, when he rented his lands ancl gave himself
more to a life of retirement. This gave him
leisure to investigate other enterprises and he has
busied himself variously since that time. He has
secured two farms, one here ancl the other in
Sherman county, both of which are rented. In
addition to this he owns a house and eight lots in
Boyd, besides other property. He has been pros
pered, owing to his careful industry and his wise
management of the resources placed in his hands.
He is a good business man, a kind ancl accommo
dating neighbor, and a patriotic ancl well informed
citizen. He is a supporter of Republican prin
ciples ancl also affiliates with the Methodist
church. Mr. Nicholson, like his brother, is a
careful and extensive reader and few men of the
country are better posted than he on the questions
of the day ancl general items.
Air. Nicholson acknowledges his prosperity as

due to the kind hand of Providence which has
marked his way with plenty and blessed him in
basket ancl store, and he remarks that he has al
ways had sufficient cash on hand to accomplish
the purposes of life. He has taken three trips
east. One was in 1887, after having been in the
west thirteen years. He visited parents, and re
latives with friends remaining four months.
Again, this time it being 1895, he journeyed to
the home scenes, remaining nine months. On De
cember 1, 1904, Mr. Nicholson received a tele
gram that his brother, H. J. Nicholson, was lying
at the point of death. He took the first flyer and
sped as fast as the mighty train could carry him,
but death would not stay, and he was only in
time for the funeral of the loved one. He re
mained sometime in the east, nearly a year, but
arrived in Oregon in time to visit the Lewis &
Clark Exposition. Although the east has many
attractions for him, still the beauty and re
sourcefulness of the west come first, and while
on his visits he always quotes the words of the
grand old abolitionist, Horace Greeley, "Go west,
young man, go west."

CHARLES N. GILAIAN, of the firm of Gil
man & Son, resides at The Dalles, Wasco county,
engaged in the real estate business. He was born
January 20, 1863, in Kent county, Michigan. His
parents, Nathan and Emma (Rose) Gilman, were
natives of New York state. The father is a de
scendant of the old and distinguished Gilman
family, early settlers in New England and of Eng
lish ancestry. The mother's family were equally
eminent, her grandfather coming from Germany.
Nathan Gilman served a year in the Civil war,
in Company D, Twenty-second Indiana Cavalry,
and was killed in a skirmish with guerrillas. The
mother lives with her son, Charles N. Gilman, as
does his stepfather, A. B. Fairchild.
Young Gilman was reared on a farm, at
tending district and high schools at Cedar
Springs, Michigan, graduating with honors at the
age of eighteen. While employed in a lumber and
shingle mill he found time to apply himself dili
gently to the stud}- of steam engineering, in which
he perfected himself. For six years he was in
charge of the company store and lumber yard.
He located in Sherman county and filed on a tim
ber culture claim, and purchased railroad land.
He lived there eleven years, during which time
he was a clerk with Scott & Company four vears,
and the rest of the time was on the farm. In
April, 1901, he disposed of his land, four hundred
and eighty acres, and removed to The Dalles,
where he was in the employment of Joseph Peters,

3io

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in a planing mill, one year. He then engaged in
his present business, in which he handles consider
able farm and city property.
Our subject was married Alay 31, 1883, at
Cedar Springs, Alichigan, to Estella Smith, born
in Michigan, the daughter of Peter K. and Ar-
minda (Evans) Smith. Her father, a native of
New York state, served with distinction during
the Civil war, and now lives in Michigan. Mrs.
Gilman has two brothers, Eugene D. and Meno
C, masons, contractors and farmers, living at
Cedar Springs, Michigan. Air. and Mrs. Gilman
have two children, Earl D., in the real estate busi
ness with his father, and Verta E., a girl of nine
years of age. Politically Air. Gilman is independ
ent. He is a member of the AL W. A. at The
Dalles.

C. JOHANN STUBLING, proprietor of a
wholesale liquor, wine and cigar house, The
Dalles, Wasco county, was born October 21, 1846,
in Saxony, Germany, the son of Thielman and
Margreta ( Sharfenberg) Stubling, natives of
Saxony. The mother died in 1869 and the father
in 1884. In the public schools of Saxony our subject
received his education, and then served four years
in the army. During his third year a war broke
out and he saw much active service. He parti
cipated in the battle of Noasville, where he was
wounded, and was in the battle of Aletz and a
number of others. With his father he learned the
trade of a blacksmith, and in 1872 came to the
United States, going to Canada and subsequently
to St. Paul, Aiinnesota, where he followed his
trade two years, thence going to Belleplaine, Aiin
nesota, for one year. After this he was seven
years in Hudson, Wisconsin, going from there to
Pembina county, North Dakota, he conducted a
blacksmith ship and in 1883 came to The Dalles.
Finding no opportunity to work at his trade he
opened a saloon which he conducted until 1889,
when he disposed of the same, and now conducts
a wholesale liquor house on the corner of Federal
and Second streets. Mr. Stubling enjoys a large
and constantly increasing trade in Wasco and
adjoining counties.
Our subject was married at Belleplaine, in
April, 1877, to Anna Bernau, born in Germany,
the daughter of Carl Bernau.
Mr. and Mrs. Stubling have two children, Ar
thur C, at home, and Anna A. Fraternally our
subject is a member of the K. of P., being vice-
chancellor ; B. P. O. E. ; F. O. E., and the Rath
bone Sisters, and his wife and daughter are mem
bers of the Relief Corps. Arthur C. Stubling, son

of our subject, is a veteran of the Spanish-Amer
ican war, having been quartermaster sergeant of
Company F, Second Oregon Infantry. He served
six months in the Philippines, and was discharged
on account of illness. He is the chancellor com
mander of Friendship Lodge, No. 9, K. of P. ; be
longs to The Dalles Aerie, F. O. E., of which he
is Conductor ; and to the Cascade Lodge, No. 303,
B. P. O. E. Young Stubling is a genial gentle
man, very popular and highly esteemed for his
many social qualities.

CHARLES J. NICHOLSON is one of the
industrious and up-to-date farmers of Wasco-
county and his residence is four miles east from
Boyd. He owns a choice farm there and so-
handles it that it is one of the productive ones and
brings in annually a fine dividend. It is a place
of neatness and thrift, and good taste and wisdom-
are everywhere evident in the premises.
Charles J. Nicholson was born in Washington
county, Pennsylvania, on June 22, 1859. His fa
ther, John Nicholson, was also born in that coun
ty and came from Scotch-Irish ancestry. His an
cestors followed farming and were prominent and
substantial people. He was well educated, settled
in the county where he was born, took a prom
inent part in affairs there, was school director for
twenty-seven years, often was appointed admin
istrator for estates, and was very prominent in the
Methodist church there. He was a respected and
influential man and died in the county where he
was born, in 1891. He had married Miss Nancy
Frew, a native of the same county, and descended"
from parents who were born in Pennsylvania.
They, too, were Scotch-Irish people and the family
was one of prominence. Her father was influ
ential in church circles and was a member of the
Alethodist denomination. He rode the circuit for
years and preached the gospel. He opened his
house and later his large brick barn, when it was
new, for gospel services. His stone house was
erected in 1799, and the services held there in the
early days were, so far as is known, the only ones
held regular west of the Allegheny mountains.
Our subject was reared and educated in Wash
ington county and there remained until 1896.,
when he came to Wasco county, bought a farm
and homesteaded eighty acres adjoining. Here
he has bestowed his labors since and is one of the
substantial citizens of the county.
On July 5, 1889, Mr. Nicholson married Miss
Lizzie Johnston, who was born in Ireland, on De
cember 8, 1869. , Her father, Thomas
Johnston, was born in Ireland of Scotch-
Irish ancestors and lived near Dublin.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3H

For many years he was an enthusiastic Orange
man. He married ^viiss Mary Allen, a Scotch-
Irish maiden born and reared near Dublin. They
were both members of the Episcopal church, came
to the United States in 1875, and settled in Wash
ington county, Pennsylvania, where the father
bought a farm. He died there in 1901, ancl his
widow followed the way of all the earth on April
24, 1904. Our subject and his wife were both
educated in the public schools there. He has two
brothers, James A., ancl Homer J., who died in
November, 1904, and four sisters, Sarah D., Mrs.
Nellie J. Gregg, Mrs. Annie Carroll, and Mrs.
Mary R. Sprowls. Mrs. Nicholson has one
brother, Robert A. and two sisters, Mrs. Emily F.
Baker, and Mrs. Margaret Holmes, who died
March 4, 1899. Four children have been born to
Mr. and Airs. Nicholson, Mary B., John C, Rus
sell W., and Romaine, aged fourteen, nine, six,
and two, respectively. Mrs. Nicholson is a mem
ber of the Methodist church. Mr. Nicholson is
a good Republican, is school director and a pro
gressive man.

LEWIS P. BOLTON was born in Cedar
county, Iowa, on October 17, 1855, and now re
sides about four miles east from Boyd, in Wasco
county. He is one of the leading farmers of the
county, is also interested in stock raising and is
known as one of the substantial and capable men
of the section. His parents, Charles H. and Louisa
(Bolton) Bolton, were born in Virginia and the
father now lives at Macedonia, Iowa. The mother
died in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, in October,
1886. Our subject was reared in Cedar county
until seventeen, then went with the family to Pot
tawattamie county, where he remained until 1886.
In these two places he gained his education and at
the date last mentioned put into execution the de
sire long cherished, to see the west. We find him
shortly after in Wasco county where he resides
and in this county and southern Washington he
remained until 1883, when he returned to Iowa.
Three years later he came back to Oregon and
since that time, he has remained in this county.
For several years after returning he rented land
and in the spring of 1898 bought three fourths of
a section near his present home. He continued to
hold that land until 1903, when he sold it and pur
chased the estate upon which he resides now. It
consists of nine hundred and sixty acres, half of
which is tillable. He owns another half section
nearby, making two entire sections of land. He
raises grain on about four hundred acres annually
and is a prosperous, well-to-do farmer. He hand
les some cattle and horses and has his place well

supplied with all implements and improvements
necessary for a good farm.
On April 13, 1885, at Council Bluffs, Iowa,
Mr. Bolton married Miss Adda L. Bolton, who1
was born near Boyd, on September 25, 1859. Her
parents,, Absolam and Oliva Bolton, are men
tioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Bolton has
one brother, George A. and one sister, Airs. Cora
Pettit. Seven children have been born to this
marriage ; Esta, aged eighteen at school in Tip
ton, Iowa ; Roy; aged seventeen ; Erma, fifteen ;
Clyde, thirteen ; Gail, eleven ; Elma, eight ; and
Clair, four.
Mr. Bolton is a well informed Republican and
is often at the county conventions ; takes keen in
terest in school matters and labors for the success
of his party. He and his wife are both membersj
of the Advent Christian church and. are people
governed by sound principles and unswerving in
tegrity.

SIMPSON COPPLE, who resides about
seven miles south from Hood River,- is one of the
prosperous farmers of this valley and a skillful
fruit raiser. He was born in Marion county,
Illinois, on July 12, 1842, the son of Andrew and
Christina (Fine) Copple, natives of North Caro
lina and from German extraction. The father
died in Illinois, in 1881. While our subject was
studying in the public schools, the Civil war broke
out and he enlisted in Company C, Eleventh Illi
nois Infantry, under Captain George C. McKee
and Colonel W. H. L. Wallace, and fought
through the most of the war. His regiment is
well known in history as one of the hardest fight
ers in the army and it was so depleted by service
that it absorbed the one hundred and ninth to fill
its ranks. Our subject participated in the fight
at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing, and
through Grant's campaign and the capture of
Vicksburg. He was wounded at Pittsburg Land
ing where his regiment lost heavily. His regi
ment was among the very first to occupy Vicks
burg. On August 15, 1864, he was honorably
discharged at Vicksburg and went to Indianapolis
where he attended school then looked after his
brother's family and farm until the latter was
through with his service in the war. After that
our subject studied and taught in various places
until he married and settled to farming in Illinois.
There he remained until 1886, when he sold and
came to Hood River, landing here on October 10.
He bought the right of a squatter to his present
place and when it reverted to the government
from the railroad he homesteaded it. Since then he
has given his attention to farming and fruit rais
ing and is one of the successful men of the valley.

3ri

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

He has twenty acres of choice winter apples and
has taken prizes many times at the county and
district fairs.
On June 15, 1868, at Centralia, Illinois, Mr.
Copple married Miss Alice F. Williamson, who
was born in Vermilion county, that state. Her
parents, Robert E. and Lydia (Aladden) William
son, were natives of Kentucky and North Caro
lina, and of Irish ancl Welsh extraction, respect
ively. The father's father was born in Ireland
and was a riverman for many years. Mr. Copple
has one brother, Jacob and one sister, Mrs. Mary
E. Sanders, while his wife has four brothers,
Thomas J., Lina H, John P. and James E. Ten
•children have been born to Air. and Mrs. Copple;
Claud E., of the Davenport Lumber Company ;
Robert A., a merchant and preacher in Pendle
ton ; Clarence, on his father's farm ; Hugh W., a
school boy ; Cora L., a teacher in Hood River ;
Bertha, wife of J. W. Taylor, a captain on the
Columbia ; Lillie B., wife of George W. Fisher,
in the postoffice in Portland ; Carrie C, teaching
in the flood River graded schools ; Edith, a school
girl ; and Hugh, also in school. Politically Mr.
Copple is a Democrat, or rather has been until re
cently he joined the ranks of the Prohibitionists.
He has held various offices in the east but since
coming west has not been active in these matters.
His first vote was cast for Lincoln. It is interest
ing to know that Air. Copple was discharged as
sergeant ancl never missed an engagement while
with his regiment. He was in many hard and
trying places but showed the true stuff of a sol
dier ancl made a first class record. He and his
wife belong to the Christian church and he is an
.elder in that denomination.
Misses Cora and Carrie Copple are very pop
ular educators of Wasco county. The former has
taught six years and the latter has taught three
years. Both hold first class certificates and have
won their present enviable positions by real merit
;and constant attention to the business in hand.

JOHN J. WOOLERY, who resides about
•twelve miles southeast from The Dalle;, is one
of the leading and substantial farmers of the
county. He was born in Cooper county, Missouri,
on September 25, 1830, the son of Henry and
Lettitia (Beatty) Woolery, natives of Pennsyl
vania and Missouri, respectively. The father's
people were of German ancestry. The mother
died in this county. Missouri was the home of
our subject until 1852, and during that time
he became an excellent farmer and received a
good education from the common schools. In
<the vear last mentioned he crossed the plains,

his mother accompanying him, and they used ox
teams for the trip. The journey was completed
without incident other than is customary on such
a trip, and they settled first in Yamhill county.
Here Mr. Woolery took a claim and after six
months abandoned it. After that he was em
ployed in the valley for wages until 1856, when
he joined the Oregon rangers, Company B, under
Captain Hiram Wilber. They were out for two
months after the redskins ancl had one pitched
battle. In the following spring he came to this
side of the mountains and settled on Tenmile
creek, some ten miles below where he now re
sides. After eight years there, he sold his im
provements and located near where his home is
now. He preempted, homesteaded and bought
other land until he has nine hundred and six
acres. He cultivates five hundred and pastures
the balance.
Mr. Woolery's marriage occurred in Wasco
county, when Mrs. Ada Wilson became his
bride. She was born in Clatsop county,
Oregon, and her death occurred in this
county, on September 5, 1881. Air. Woolery has
two children, Ina A., and Floyd, both born in
Wasco county. In politics we find our' subject
a stanch Republican, and his interest in matters
of educational import and general enterprises is
lively and worthy. Airs. Woolery's parents
crossed the plains in the early forties. Her father
was Francis Drake Shane, a Kentuckian and de
scended from a prominent southern family. The
Shanes were related to the Drakes and Mrs.
Woolery's father was named from the great
navigator, Drake.

HEZEKIAH C. CROCKETT is one of the
prosperous farmers in the Odell district, south of
Hood River, where he has a quarter section of
land. He was born in Maine, on January 16,
1854, the son of James ancl Man- S. (Spofford)
Crockett, natives of Maine. The father came
from an old American family, who were ship
owners. He died at Rockland, Maine. The
mother's family was very prominent in the seven
teenth century in the colonies and also in the
Revolutionary war and the War of 1812. They
are a very large family and now hold annual re
unions. Our subject was raised in Maine and
there educated. In the fall of 1875. he came to
Oregon and filed on a quarter section, sixteen
miles southeast from The Dalles. He bought an
other quarter of railroad land and farmed the
same until 1893, when he went to Troutdale and
raised hay ancl did dairying. He had rented his
wheat farm in Wasco county and continued at

Jonn J. Woolery

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3r3

Troutdale for six years, then he came to Hood
River and traded a part of his wheat farm for a
quarter section he now owns here. He has four
acres in fruit and is clearing the balance of the
land which, is quite fertile and valuable, a portion
now being in hay. Air. Crockett has improved the
place and by his own industry and thrift has made
it one of the valuable farms of the county.
At the bride's residence, in the vicinity of The
Dalles, Mr. Crockett married Aliss Hattie E.
Chapman, a native of Illinois and the daughter of
George D. and Mary A. (Roberts) Chapman, now
deceased. Mr. Crockett has three brothers,
Charles S., John T. and George A., all masons
and builders, and three sisters, Mrs. Ada Free
man, Airs. Ellen S. Johnston and Mrs. Anna AL
S. Weeks, deceased. He also has three other sis
ters, deceased, Frances H, Flora McL, and Lucy
S. Airs. Crockett has three brothers, Arthur M.,
John ancl Leroy, and two sisters, Alice Fridley and
Gertrude Taylor.
Air. Crockett is a member of the Foresters
and is a good stanch Republican. He holds the
position of read overseer ancl school director and
has shown himself an enterprising and progressive
man. To our subject and his wife, eight children
have been born, Claire C, Mabie G., Fred P., Ada
M., Veva G., Margie Helene, Hildred Marie, and
Kenneth M., who is deceased.

LUCIUS E. CLARK, who resides five miles
southeast from Hood River, is one of the leading
fruit raisers of the valley ancl is a man of energy
ancl ability as his excellent success testifies. His
residence is one of the choicest in the county and
about the finest in this valley. It is a modern
structure of tasty architectural design and pro
vided with all conveniences known. It has seven
rooms, commodious and supplied with pantry,
closets, bath, and so forth, while a full basement
is provided with fine furnace and throughout it is
equipped with the best of the market. Mr. Clark
manifests wisdom and thrift and has one of the
choicest orchards of the county. It is of the best
winter apples and embraces twenty acres. His
farm consists of one hundred and twenty-six
acres. Lucius E. Clark was born in Peoria county,
Illinois, on January 9, i860, the son of Willard
ancl Mary (Berrian) Clark, natives of New Eng
land and New York, respectively. The father
died when Lucius was an infant ancl the mother
married Enos Mack, and she died eighteen years
later. The district schools furnished the edu
cational training of our subject ancl when seven
teen he went to Kansas to search employment.

After renting a farm for a time he engaged on the
construction of the railroad until 1887. Then he
entered the lumber business at Wasco and Biggs,
locating in the former place when the railroad
came through there. In April, 1902, he removed
from that place, having sold his property there
except a one-fourth interest in the Wasco Milling-
Company's mill, at that point. Then he came to
this valley and built his present residence and is
now giving his attention to raising fruit. In
politics, Mr. Clark votes for Republican leaders
hut still adheres to Prohibitionist principles. He
has one brother, Walter, and two half brothers,
Fred and Edward Mack.
On September 6, 1883, Air. Clark married
Miss Ada Berrian, who was born in Boltonville,
Wisconsin, on October 21, 1866. The wedding
occurred in The Dalles. Mrs. Clark's father,
James A. Berrian, was born in New York, Bing-
hampton, ancl died May, 1883, at Columbus,
Washington. He comes from an old and prom
inent family and was a pioneer on the coast in
1849. He married Miss Imilda Wendell, a native
of New York ancl now dwelling in Hood River.
Airs. Clark has three brothers, James W., George,
and Howard, and one sister, Lulu, wife of Ed
ward Hill. Five children have been born to Mr.
and Mrs. Clark, Nellie Bliss, Willie, Gladys, and
Florence, aged nineteen, fifteen, thirteen, eight,
and four, respectively. Our subject ancl his es
timable wife are members of the Methodist church
ancl faithful workers in the cause. They take a
great interest in this work as well as educational
matters and strive for the upbuilding of the com
munity and the betterment of all.

HENRY J. HIBBARD, one of the prominent
men of Wasco county, is now living a retired life
at Hood River. He has been very active in labor
ing for the benefit of the country and was for a
time one of the most skillful and successful fruit
raisers of the section. He was born in Vermont,
on July 19, 1846. His father, Joseph B. Hibbard,
was a native of Vermont as were also his parents
and their parents so far as is known were of Eng
lish descent. The Hibbard family have been lead
ing people for many generations and were well
known in business circles, at the bench and in
other professional lines. Especially in the medi
cal profession were they prominent in Alassachu-
setts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The mother
of our subject. Olive H. (Pratt) Hibbard, was
also born in Vermont. The Pratt familv is well
known as one of the colonial families of patriot
ism and spirit. They were especially prominent
in manufacturing lines, having some very large

314

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

establishments in Connecticut, and also through
out New England. When Henry J. was four
years of age, his parents came to Wisconsin which
was then a pioneer country. He did freighting
and various work after arriving at manhood's es
tate and in 1877, as stated above, came west. He
located in Klickitat county, Washington, and
gave his attention to stock and grain raising and
took up government land. In 1891, he closed out
the stock business and came to Oregon, settling in
Hood River. Here he purchased forty acres of
first class fruit land, four miles out from town
and planted an orchard. He displayed marked
skill and care in this labor and when he sold the
property in 1902, it was considered one of the
, best orchards in the entire valley. The place was
in every respect, a model. After that, Mr. Hib
bard purchased land in Hood River and erected
a residence where he dwells at the present time.
In political matters, we find Mr. Hibbard a strong
Republican and he has participated in campaigns
for years. He attends most of the conventions
and is a prominent figure there. In 1902, he was
elected commissioner of Wasco county and is giv
ing excellent satisfaction in that important office.
On November 1, 1866, in Wisconsin, Mr. Hib
bard maried Miss Emma Axtell, a native of Maine
and descended from an old and prominent family.
Her mother, Nancy Judkins, was also a native of
Maine as were her ancestors for many genera
tions. The father of Mrs. Hibbard was Thomas
Axtell, born in Massachusetts and an agricult
urist. Mr. Hibbard has no brothers or sisters,
living and his wife has one brother Alvin, re
tired at Fairview, Oregon, and two sisters, Ellen,
the widow of Peter Damon at Sumas, Washing
ton and Mary, widow of Judson Owen, in Dodge
Center, Minnesota. Air. and Airs. Hibbard have
one child, Edwin T., a carpenter of Hood River.
Our subject is a member of the A. F. & A. AL,
of the I. O. O. F., and the Encampment, while he
and his wife both belong to the O. E. S. and the
Rebekahs. Mr. Hibbard assisted in organizing
the I. O. O. F. lodge here and is a director and
charter member of the same and was the first
noble grand. He has frequently been delegate to
the grand lodge and is prominent in political cir
cles. Edwin T. Hibbard has married and has three
children. Florence M., Mary L., and Fred H,
aged seven, five and two years, respectively.

FREDERICK CLAUSEN, who resides about
ten miles east from Dufur on one of the finest es
tates in this part of Wasco county, was born on
February 1, 1858, in Denmark. His father, Nico-

lai Clausen, was born in the same place and mar
ried Karen Dinsen, a native of Denmark, and there
remained until his death. His widow is still liv
ing in that country. Our subject was well edu
cated in his native country and in 1874, came to
the United States and finally landed in Sacra
mento county, California, where he labored for
seven years. Then he came to Oregon and in
April, 1878, filed on the homestead where he now
lives. He also took a timber culture claim and be
gan the good work of improving and making a
choice farm. From that time, which was a quar
ter of a century ago until the present, he has con
tinued steadily in the labors of building up and
improving his farm and in stock raising. From
time to time, he has bought land adjoining until
he now owns one thousand six hundred and ten
acres, half of which is under cultivation. From
that in cultivation, he raises most bounteous crops
of wheat every year and is one of the heaviest
wheat producers in this part of the country. He
also raises much stock, wintering generally about
one hundred and twenty head of cattle and o»e
third as many horses. He has some fine thorough
bred animals, among which is a choice Hereford.
bull, which is registered. About a year ago, Mr;
Clausen erected a fine nine room modern resi
dence, complete in every detail and one of the best
places in the county. It is supplied with pure
spring water which is forced all over the house
by a windmill, has all the conveniences known to-
modern architecture and is a most comfortable
place. Other improvements commensurate there
with are on the farm and the entire estate bears
marks of a thrifty and wise proprietor.
On August 31, 1 88 1, in Sacramento, Cali
fornia, Air. Clausen married Christine Peterson,
a native of Sweden and an emigrant to the United
States in the same year that our subject came.
Airs. Clausen had one sister, Airs. Carrie Liken.
Mr. Clausen has three brothers, Erik, James and
Jorg:n. To Mr. ancl Mrs. Clausen, eight children
have been born, Arthur Nicolai, deceased ; James,
aged twenty-one ; Otto, aged sixteen ; Arnold,
aged fourteen ; Cora, aged nineteen ; Edna, aged.
seventeen ; Emmie, aged ten ; and Clara, aged
eight. They are all living at home at present.
James is taking a course in the Portland Business
College and will graduate in the winter of 1904-
1905. On October 17, 1902, at The Dalles, Oregon,
after a year's illness, Airs. Clausen was called to
cross the river of death. She was a good Chris
tian woman, had been a faithful wife and a kind
mother and had assisted very materially to accu
mulate the fortune which Air. Clausen now owns.
It was with great grief that she was at this time
taken from her home and family. She had many

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

315

friends and was for years a devout member of
the Lutheran church.
Mr. Clausen is a member of the A. F. & A. M.
and the W. W. He is. an active Republican, is
usually a delegate to the county conventions, has
been a school director for nineteen years and is
central committeeman of his precinct. He was
one of the very first settlers in this vicinity where
he now resides and has done very much to open
up and build up the country.
Mr. Clausen and his wife had a very unique
wedding journey, which was commenced the day
after their wedding, with a team and continued
overland through northern California and Oregon
to The Dalles. They had a very pleasant trip and
many sweet memories are attached to it.
Mr. Clausen is one of the highly respected
men of the county and is looked up to and advised
with because of his wisdom, integrity and sound
judgment.

WILLIAM L. BRADSHAW, judge of the
Seventh Judicial District of Oregon, residing at
The Dalles, was born in Putnam county, Missouri,
September 28, 1858. His parents, Edward C,
and Elizabeth (Lindsey) Bradshaw, were natives
of Kentucky ancl Mississippi, respectively. The
family of Bradshaws is of English ancestry, and
many generations of them were prominent in Ken
tucky as farmers, planters and in professional cir
cles. The mother, a descendant of an old and dis
tinguished southern family, crossed the plains
with her husband so early as 1864, when William
Bradshaw, our subject, was only six years of age.
The family arrived at Boise City, Idaho, in Octo
ber of the same year, and the following summer
came to The Dalles. Here they disposed of their
oxen and embarked on a steamer for Portland, lo
cating in Lafayette, Yamhill county. Edward C.
Bradshaw opened an office and there he contin
ued in the practice of law until 1886, when he re
moved to The Dalles. The mother of our subject
died the year before. At The Dalles the father
associated himself in the practice of law with
Colonel N. H. Gates, until 1888, when death
suddenly called him while in his office. Politically
Edward C. Bradshaw was always active, taking
a lively and patriotic interest in the campaigning
issues of the Democratic party. He represented
Yamhill county in the senate and house of repre
sentatives, was an eloquent speaker and a persist
ent and indefatigable worker in the interests of
his party. He was a man of great force of char
acter, broad minded, progressive and influential,
and his sudden death was a sad blow to his son,
to whom he was a comrade as well as a father.
The foundation of our subject's education was

laid in the public schools of Yamhill county. He
attended the State Agricultural College at Cor-
vallis from 1878 until 1879, going thence to St.
Louis where he entered the law department of the
Washington University, from which he was grad
uated with honors in 1881. Returning immedi
ately to Lafayette, he formed a law partnership
with his father, and practiced until 1886. He re
moved to The Dalles in 1889, where he associated
himself with J. L. Story, the partnership contin
uing successfully until 1891. On the death of
Judge J. H. Bird, our subject was appointed by
Governor Pennoyer to fill out the unexpired term.
as judge of the district. To this office he was
elected in 1892, on the Democratic ticket, his Re
publican opponent being George Watkins, at pres
ent residing in Spokane, Washington. He re
ceived a majority of two hundred and in 1898
was reelected by eight hundred majority.
October 9, 1883, Judge Bradshaw was united
in marriage, at Lafayette, to Sarah E. Littlefield,
born in Chicago, daughter of Horace R. Little-
field, a physician and native of Illinois, and now
practicing in Portland. Mrs. Bradshaw died at
The Dalles April 19, 1900. The second marriage
of our subject took place at Portland, June 25,
1902, when he was united to Agnes Cooke, born
at Lafayette, the daughter of Amos and Mary
Fanny (Scott) Cooke, sister of Harvey W. Scott,
editor of the Portland Oregonian.
Judge Bradshaw has one child, Robert C,
aged fourteen years, living at home. Judge Brad
shaw has one sister, Harvey E., widow of Westley
B. Carey, living at Lafayette. Fraternally Judge
Bradshaw is a member of Friendship Lodge, No.
9, K. of P., is past and grand C, and at the last
session of the grand lodge he was elected supreme
representative. He is, also, a member of the Rath
bone Sisters, the B. P. O. E., the W. O. W., Royal
Artisans and the Commercial Club, of which he
was the second president. Judge Bradshaw en
joys wide popularity, and numbers hosts of friends
regardless of social or political lines. This was
especially evidenced in June, 1904, by his re-elec
tion with a majority of twelve hundred and'
eighty-five.

BERNARD E. SELLECK is one of the
younger agriculturists of Wasco county and has
gained a good success in his chosen calling. He
resides about six miles east from Boyd, where, in
partnership with his father, he owns one half
section of land.
His birth occurred in Pulaski, Oswego county,
New York, on May 28, 1876, and his parents are
Alenzo C. and Nettie (Parker) Selleck, who are

.3l6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Our sub
ject has practically spent his life in this portion
of Oregon for when he was five years of age his
parents came here ancl took a preemption, one
mile south of the present town of Moro, in Wasco
county. Our subject's uncle had selected the pres-
¦ ent site of Moro as a town site but was three clays
too late to get it at the time the land was opened.
After a year's residence on the pre-emption, the
family moved to The Dalles, where for nine years,
the father was employed in the O. R. & N. shops
as a carpenter. During that time, Bernard E. was
busily engaged in gaining a good education from
the schools in The Dalles ancl when that was com
pleted, he entered the office of the Times-Moun
taineer ancl under the instruction of John Mitchell,
spent one year in learning the printing business.
After that, he was eighteen months as a typo
on the Wasco Sun. About that time, the family
moved to the place where they now reside and Mr.
Selleck came here and joined his father in stock
raising ancl farming. They have half of the es
tate producing grain, have good improvements, a
nice orchard and are doing well. The soil is es
pecially adapted for fruit ancl Air. Selleck expects
to plant large orchards in the near future. Mr.
Selleck also owns a fine threshing outfit ancl does
work each year throughout the neighborhood. He
.is an enterprising, energetic and industrious young
man ancl has won the esteem and respect of all
who know him.
In political matters, he is a Republican but
never seeks office. He is a member of the Meth
odist church and also of the order of jolly bachel
ors. Mr. Selleck has three brothers and three
sisters : Royal, at the agricultural college in Cor-
vallis; James A., a clerk for Mr. Butler at Bovd;
Howard V., Alarcia M., Myrtle B., and Ruby'R.,
who are at home.

FRANK G. CHURCH resides three miles
from town on Belmont street, where he owns a
-choice fruit farm ancl a beautiful residence.
Everything about his premises shows thrift, good
taste, ancl neatness, ancl his is one of the choice
and happy homes of the valley. Air. Church has
a bright and interesting family ancl thev are all
popular people in society and in church work.
Frank G. Church was born in Lacrosse, Wis
consin, on June 10, 1858, the son of Archibald L.
and Susan (Cheney) Church, natives of Pennsyl
vania. The father followed carpentering ancl died
at Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1897, Septem
ber 26. His ancestors were of English, Scotch and
Welsh extraction and were prominent people in
colonial days ancl since. The mother's grand

father, who was a noble Christian worker, was
one of the organizers of the First Baptist church
in Wisconsin, and preached without pay. The
Cheney family is prominent not only in Wiscon
sin, but also on the Atlantic coast. There are
many professional men among them and states
men as well as commercial operators and bankers.
Farther east, they are engaged in manufacturing,
and are people of ability and enterprise. Our
subject was educated principally in Alichigan,
whither the family had moved when he was ten
years old and when fifteen, he started to assume
the responsibilities of life for himself, first fol
lowing working for wages a few years. When
eighteen he went to Iowa and four years later
went to Wisconsin again, engaging in a flour mill,
and in a store. Later we see him in Minnesota
where he resided for twenty years, seventeen of
which were spent on the farm and the balance in
mercantile pursuits. He lived just across the line
in Aiinnesota from Grand Forks and was em
ployed in a store in that city. In 1900, Mr.
Church came to the Hood River valley and bought
twenty acres where he now resides. He has the
estate well planted to berries and fruits and is one
of the prosperous fruit raisers of this section.
The place is called the Ideal Fruit Farm, and is
certainly a choice spot.
On January 5, 1881, Air. Church married Aliss
Sarah S. Sproat, the daughter of William C. and
Ann (Hoover) Sproat, natives of Vermont ana
New York, respectively, and both descended from
prominent New England families. Mr. Church
has one brother, Daniel, while his wife has two
brothers, Charles ancl Boyd, and one sister, Mrs.
Jessie Gleason. Air. Church is a member of the
A. O. U. W., while he and his wife belong to the
Methodist church, being associated with the Bel
mont class, of which Mr. Church is a trustee.
Two children have come to gladden the home of
Mr. and Airs. Church, Alice and Ethel, both at
home and the latter organist at the Belmont
church, and a music teacher.

THOMAS BISHOP has one of the choice
farms of the Hood River valley and although not
as large as some is exceptionally well tilled and
from it Mr. Bishop produced apples ancl potatoes
which took the prize at The Dalles fair. He lives
about four miles southwest from Hood River near
the Christian church in the Barrett school district
and is a director of the same.
Thomas Bishop was born in Guelph, Ontario,
on October 6, 1847, the son of Thomas and Sarah
\. (Burns) Bishop, natives of England and Dub
lin, respectively. Their marriage occurred in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3*7'

Manchester and the mother died in Guelph in
i86(>. The father came to Canada in 1841 and
died in 1881 on his farm near Guelph. Our sub
ject was educated in the district schools and grew
up on a farm which he rented when twenty-two,
for ten years. Then he came to Umatilla county,
Oregon, it being 1882, and located ten miles out
from Pendleton where he purchased a half section.
For eleven years he was numbered among the
progressive wheat growers in that country and in
1893 he came to Hood River ancl purchased eighty
acres near where he now lives. He sold his place
in 1 90 1 ancl bought ten acres which he has im
proved in good shape and it is his home now.
Nine acres of this land are producing fruit and
vegetables while on the other acre is a most beau
tiful fir grove and a number of choice springs.
Ine soil is equal to any other place in the valley
ancl Air. Bishop's thrift ancl industry have made
the place both a valuable producer and beautiful.
On June 18, 1871, at Fergus, Ontario, Mr.
Bishop married Miss Jane A. Kerr, born near
Montreal, Canada. Her father, Robert Kerr, was
born in Ireland and died in Ontario in 1884. Mr.
Bishop has no brothers nor sisters but his wife has
those, named as follows, George, Robert, Alar-
guerite, Till, Matilda ancl Elizabeth. Five chil
dren have been born to our subject and his wife ;
Sarah A., wife of Christopher Simpson in Port
land, Oregon; Maggie J., wife of Edgar Miller,
near Moro, Oregon; Thomas G., at home; Laura
11., a student in the business college at Portland ;
and Lloyd, at home. Mr. Bishop and his wife are
both members of the Christian church and as
sisted in the organization of the same. He is now-
one of the trustees. Politically, Mr. Bishop is a
Republican and while not especially active in the
campaigns, he has always taken a deep interest in
educational matters and has served on many occa
sions as director. He has also been road super
visor for a long time and was director of the
Water Supply Company in Hood River valley,
being a stockholder in that company. He is a
good substantial man and is known as a thrifty
ancl stanch citizen.

MEXZO C. SELLECK. Many pioneers have
toiled in the territory now occupied by Wasco
county for many years to make it the prosperous
section that it is today. Perhaps the most import
ant ones of this large number are the farmers
ancl among them we are constrained to mention
the subject of this sketch, who resides about six
miles cast from Boyd where, in partnership with
his son, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work,
he has a nice farm. He has shown those stanch

qualities possessed by the pioneer, has achieved.
results in the building up of the county affairs-
ancl the work that he has clone speaks for itself.
He first came to this country in about 1882 and
settled on a preemption in Sherman county. A
year later, he abandoned that and entered the
employ of the O. R. & N., where he was occupied
in building bridges, stations and so forth one year,
then entered the shops at The Dalles, remaining
nine years. Later, he settled on a place which is
now the family home and since then has given
his entire attention to general farming.
Menzo C. Selleck was born in Richland, New
York, on December 17, 1848, the son of Hinman
and Lucy J. (Philbrick) Selleck, natives of New
York and New Hampshire, respectively. The-
father's parents came from England and the
mother descended from an old New England
family. Our subject was raised ancl educated
in New York ancl there remained until 1878, when
he journeyed west to Iowa. For three years he
followed his trade, that of carpenter, there,.
which he had learned in New York, and then
came on to Oregon as stated above.
On July 4,  , at Carthage. New York,
Mr. Selleck married Miss Nettie I. Parker, who
was born near North Adams, Massachusetts. Her
parents were natives of the same place. Mr. Sel
leck has the following brothers ancl sisters :
Charles H., in Wright county, Iowa ; Edgar A.,
at Willapa, Washington ; Wilfred F., in Wright
county, Iowa ; Ellen A., wife of Charles Parkis,
in Rome, New York ; Frances and Emma, de
ceased ; and Gertrude, deceased, the wife of John-
Grant. Mr. Selleck's children are mentioned in the
sketch with his son. He and his wife are mem
bers of the Methodist church and have been for
mally years. He is a school director, supports
the principles of the Republican party ancl is a
progressive and up-to-date citizen.

SAMUEL COCHRAN is a stanch and patri
otic citizen of Wasco county where he has
wrought for some time, and is now retired, en
joying the fruits of his former labor. He resides
about three miles south from town on the Alt..
Hood road, where he has an estate of seven acres,
which is devoted largely to hav.
Samuel Cochran was bom in Iowa, on A [ay
17, 1S46. the son of Artemus and Alary (Whit
more) Cochran, natives of Ohio. The father's
people were pioneers of that country ancl the
mothers ancestors came from Pennsylvania-
Dutch stock. Our subject was reared ancl edu
cated in Iowa, his youthful days being spent on-

.3i8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the farm with his father. On November 29,
1866, he married Miss Louisa J. Ruckman, a
.native of Iowa and the daughter of William and
Alary (Miller) Ruckman, natives respectively of
Pennsylvania and Ohio. The father was of
Dutch ancestrage and was born in 1804. The
mother came from Scotch and Irish extraction.
After marriage Mr. Cochran bought a farm and
dwelt in his native place until 1872, when he sold
out and assayed the journey to Union county,
¦ Oregon. Arriving there in good time, he selected
state land and purchased seven hundred acres,
which he tilled until 1900, when he sold all but
three hundred and forty acres of that estate and
moved to the Hood River valley. Here he pur
chased the place mentioned above and since that
time has continued here in quiet retirement. The
Union county estate is rented and produces a fine
income annually.
Air. Cochran has three brothers, William J.,
Rufus, and Milton D., and one sister, Rachel F.
Johnson. He also has the following named
brothers and sisters deceased : Charles, Airs.
Sarah Elizabeth Collins, Airs. Rebecca Ellen
Kah, and Mrs. Lucy Catherine Rae. Airs. Coch
ran has three brothers, William H, George W.,
and Thomas M., and one sister, Elizabeth Con
nelly, and two brothers deceased, John N. ancl
Robert D. Three children have been born to Mr.
and Mrs. Cochran : Mary M., the wife of Charles
L. Copple, whose farm adjoins that of our sub
ject ; Charles E., a prominent attorney in Union
county and a graduate of the Ann Arbor Uni
versity; and George T., a graduate of Leland
Stanford University, and in the employ of the
¦government in Manila, being in the forestry
bureau. Mr. Cochran is an elder of the Christian
church while he and his wife are faithful mem
bers of this denomination, and have labored for
the advancement of the faith for many years.
They are very genial and affable people and are
worthy of the esteem in which they are held by all.

BOYD N. SPROAT, one of the prominent
horticulturists of Wasco county, resides about
five miles south from Hood River, where he has
an orchard of thirty-three acres, of the choicest
varieties of fruit. He has forty acres in the
farm, but devotes the balance to general crops.
He and his brother, who has a farm adjoining,
raise fruit which has frequently taken the pre
mium at the fairs.
Boyd N. Sproat was born in Racine county,
"Wisconsin, on August 10, 1867, the son of Wil
liam C. ancl Phoebe A. (Hoover) Sproat, men
tioned elsewhere in this work. He was raised in

Aiinnesota, principally, whither the family moved
when he was eleven. His life was spent on the
farm and in the district schools until grown to
manhood, then he studied in the North Dakota
Cniversity. After that he engaged in farming
and dairying, and also handled thoroughbred
Jerseys and raised many fine specimens. He was
town supervisor and school clerk for many years.
His father was the first school clerk in his dis
trict. On October 8, 1890, Air. Sproat married
Aliss Agnes C. Cameron, at Grand Forks, North
Dakota. She was born in Lanark county, On
tario, the daughter of James and Margaret
(Geary) Cameron, natives of Canada, and de
scended from Sctoch and Irish ancestors, re
spectively. Air. Sproat's brothers and sisters are
mentioned elsewhere in this work. His wife has
three brothers, James, George A., and Richard
•E., and four sisters, Elizabeth Love, Mary Mc-
Callum, Theresa Slater, and Annie AlcCullough.
The children born to Air. and Airs. Sproat are
William L., aged eleven, Edna, aged five, .and
Norman, aged four months. Politically, Mr.
Sproat is a Republican, but he is not a politician
in the common sense of the word, although he is
keenly alive to the interests of his party and the
welfare of the community. He owns a timber
claim in Crook county and has other property.
His farm produces about fifteen hundred boxes
of fancy apples per year, besides a great quantity
of seconds, and when all is in bearing, it will pro
duce tons more of the choicest fruit. Our sub
ject's father was a Mason for fifty years and held
all the chairs of his lodge.

HENRY O. SIEVERKROPP, who resides
south from Hood River, in the Pine Grove dis
trict, is one of the leading horticulturists of this
well known fruit region. He has a farm of eighty
acres, which his labor has improved in fine shape.
He took the place as a homestead and with his
wife went to work to make a first-class fruit farm
out of it. However, owing to lack of capital,
they were forced to labor most arduously and
he was away from home earning money for the
improvements, much of the time in early years.
Finally, by dint of economy and wise manage
ment, they succeeded in getting a portion of the
land to producing ancl since then they have been
adding more each year until now they have six
teen acres planted to apple orchard and seven
acres are bearing. The farm is located in one
of the most beautiful spots of the valley and is a
choice and excellent place. Recently Air. Siever-
kropp has erected a large modern dwelling and
the same is tastily set ancl amid beautiful sur-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

319

roundings, makes one of the finest rural abodes
of this entire valley.
Henry O. Sieverkropp was born in Germany,
about five miles out from Kiel, in Schleswig, on
August 16, 1853. His parents, Claus ancl Chris
tina (Jasper) Sieverkropp, were both natives of
that section and are now deceased. The father
was a shoemaker, and died when Henry was three
years old. In the public schools of the Father
land, our subject studied ancl also in his youth
learned to do good hard work. He continued
there until 1886 when he came to the United
States, ancl via the Northern Pacific to Portland.
He wrought on a dairy farm for a time then came
to what is now Bingham and worked for C.
Hise, for whom he had worked twelve years in
Cermany. One year after that he took the land
where he lives now and here he has resided
since. On November 9, 1879, while in Germany, Mr.
Sieverkropp married Aliss Christina Anderson, a
¦native of Sweden ancl the daughter of Andrew
S. ancl Christina (Nillson) Peterson, farmers
in Sweden. Mrs. Sieverkropp had gone to Ger
many to work in a large dairy where they em
ployed twelve young women, ancl there she
wrought for nine years before her marriage. She
has labored faithfully with her husband in the
improvement of their home and the building of
the same and it is pleasant to see them now en
joying the fruits of this toil. Our subject has
two brothers, Johann and Henry, while Airs.
Sieverkropp . has one brother, August. Seven
¦children have been born to this household : Henry,
at home ; Herman, a school boy ; Sophie, in Hood
River ; Susie, Amanda, Huldah and Emma, all
at home. Before coming to this country Air.
Sieverkropp had the name Heinrich, but preferr
ing the English he spells it now, Henry. He
and his wife are members of the Lutheran church
and are good, thrifty people and stand well in this
community. Air. Sieverkropp was three years
in the German army. ' •

VENZ BAUER, a pleasant, genial gentle
man, ancl one of Wasco county's foremost farm
ers and stockmen, resides in the vicinity of Boyd,
where he has a choice and large estate. He was
born in Austria, on June 19, 1873, the son of
Jacob ancl Johanna (Schandal) Bauer, both na
tives of Austria, also. The father died at the
home of our subject on Alarch 13, 1896, ancl the
mother still lives with him. Air. Bauer came to
the United States in 1889, after having secured
a good education in his native country. He came1
direct through to Wasco county to join his

brother, Antone, who had been here for several
years. He was unable to discourse in English
at all, and faced the problem to master an intri
cate tongue in a new land and make for himself
a home and name. He has succeeded admirably.
He handles the English well, has so conducted
himself that he has won the admiration and re
spect of all good people who know him, while
in financial matters, the characteristic thrift of
his family, and wisdom in handling means, have
been so well exemplified in him that he is pos
sessed of a fine property, sufficient to make him
one of the wealthy men of the county and to pro
vide for his needs and of those dependent on him
for all their lives. All this has been accumulated
by his careful industry and he stands at the head
of a valuable estate, which is managed in every
detail with a cate and sagacity that could but
win the success which crowns his efforts. When
Air. Bauer landed here he was a lad of sixteen
and he at once went to work for his brother, and
then later wrought for other parties until he had
means sufficient to justify him in taking a home
stead. This he did and improved the same and
began the good work of making a home. He
purchased adjoining pieces until he now has
seven hundred and twenty acres of good land,
four hundred of which he cultivates and upon
which he raises bounteous crops of wheat. He
winters from fifty to sixty head of cattle, has a
nice lot of choice Percheron and Clydesdale
horses, ancl raises many Poland China hogs. He
has a registered boar which is a choice animal.
Good improvements are in evidence and all this
is the result of the careful industry of the lad
who came here with neither means nor friends.
He purchased, among other pieces, the farm his
brother had when he came. He has also bought
and sold some land. His brother is now in Ne
braska. Air. Bauer became aware of the fact that to
have a first-class home he needed a helpmeet and
accordingly he sought one, a charming young
lady, who was born in the vicinity of Glencoe,
Oregon, Aliss Annie Neabeack. The date of
her birth was September 25, 1880, and her wed
ding occurred at The Dalles on January 19,
1898. Her father, William Neabeack, was born
in Germany and left an orphan when nine years
of age. He then came to the United States with
an uncle, a sea captain, who was to raise the
child. But as the sea did not suit the lad, he
ran away and was reared by benevolent people
with whom he became acquainted. He dwelt in
many places of the United States, including
Arizona, California, Oregon and so forth. He
finally married Aliss Emma Haddicks, who was
born in the Willamette valley. Her parents were'

320

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

early pioneers there and came thither across the
plains with ox teams. Her father is deceased,
but her mother, who would be the grandmother
of Airs. Bauer, dwells in Portland. Airs. Bauer
has four brothers, Edward, William, Benjamin
H, and George W., and one sister, Mrs. Effie
Craft. To Mr. and Mrs. Bauer one child has
been born, Fred, on June 24, 1901. He is a
bright and very attractive child and the happy
home circle of Air. Bauer is complete with the
dear old grandmother, a refined lady of excellent
virtues, his thrifty, and kind wife, and then the
father who has demonstrated his ability and love
in securing and providing for his dear ones. It
is a happy, pleasant Oregon home and from such
as that come the men and the principles of true
freedom.

THOMAS W. S. SLUSHER, deceased. In
giving a memorial of the distinguished gentle
man whose name appears above, we are aware
that he was a man of ability and unswerving in
tegrity and held a leading place in Wasco county
where he was so well known. His birth occurred
in Washington county, Pennsylvania, the post-
office being Scenery Hill. The date of this event
was 1847, and his death occurred at The Dalles
in this county, on April 2, 1890. His parents
were Christopher and Pamelia (Reese) Slusher,
natives of Pennsylvania and descended from
Dutch and Irish ancestors, respectively. When
still a lad of thirteen, Thomas Slusher enlisted
in Company F, Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cav
alry and was in active service until the close of
the war. He was a noncommissioned officer and
did gallant service with display of remarkable
faithfulness. Following the war he attended col
lege and then, upon graduating, took up the
teacher's work. He followed this in the Willa
mette valley, having come west, and in Wasco
county. Then he took a homestead, which is
a part of the present Slusher estate. He gave
his attention to farming and stockraising and so
well did he succeed in these ventures that when
he died he left an estate of eight hundred ancl fifty
acres embracing one of the finest and most
fertile tracts of bottom land on Fifteenmile
creek. He also had much other property which
left his family in excellent shape, besides which
Mrs. Slusher had in her own personal right a
large farm. In 1872, Mr. Slusher was elected
county surveyor a*d in 1876, he was reelected to
the same position. During Cleveland's adminis
tration, Air. Slusher was appointed receiver of
the United States land office in The Dalles, and
he proved to be a most efficient and faithful
officer. Fraternally, he was a member of the

G. A. R. and was popular in those circles, as
he was in all his relations.
On October 28, 1878, Mr. Slusher married
Miss Arabelle H. Dufur, who was born in Iola,
Wisconsin, on July 13, 1856. Her parents, An
drew J. and Lois (Burnham) Dufur, are men
tioned elsewhere in this work. To this union
Twenty-two — P Wasco N . .
the following named children were born : Thomas
R., at home; Eva L., the wife of C. N. Clark;
Harvey D., Roy S., Ruby A., Grover C, Aleda
P., who died when two years of age; and an in
fant unnamed. Air. Slusher had three brothers,
William, James, Simeon, the last two deceased;
two sisters, Ray Hazlett, and Elizabeth Tom-
bough ; and one half sister, Mary Cox. Mr.
Slusher died as he had lived, a brave and con
scientious man, buoyed and sustained by an un
faltering hope which lighted his last journey
over the river. Another has said of him, "He
was a brave soldier, good citizen, faithful public
officer, and kind husband and father." Laid to
rest amid a great concourse of mourning friends
who had ministered as far as human could do
in the last trying ordeal, the remains of the noble
man rest awaiting that great day's animation for
the world to come.
Air. Slusher was a man who would attract
attention among men, being handsome, athletic
and the picture of health and good spirits, and
he won friends from all classes. He left a very
interesting family. The children all have ex
cellent musical, talent and for years were in the
band organization and are accomplished on var
ious instruments.

WILLIAAI H. STAATS, who was born
in Champoeg, Alarion county, Oregon, now
dwells near Dufur, Oregon, where he is
handling an estate of one and one half sec
tions of fine wheat land. He and his wife own
also one and one-half sections besides this, lo
cated near Victor all told, making three sections
of wheat land, all in Wasco county.
Our subject's father, John G. Staats, was born
in Scotland, in 1832 and came with his parents
to Paris, Canada, when still a boy, receiving there
his education. About 1857, he migrated to Marion
county, Oregon territory and engaged in the mer
cantile business in a small place known as St.
Paul. He continued there until 1870, when he
removed thence with his family to the vicinity
of Dufur, Wasco county. He did general farm
ing, but paid most attention to raising stock.
In this he continued uninterruptedly until his
death, February 19,. 1889. In 1866, he had mar
ried Alary A. Toupin, a native of Portland, Ore-

Thomas W. S. Slusber

Mrs. William H. Staats

William H. Staats

Daniel O. Davis

Mrs. Daniel O. Davis

Mrs. Mattbew A. Tborburn

Mattbew A. Tborbi

Oliver M. Bourland

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3T2I'

gon, who died on the farm in Wasco county. Her
parents had come to Oregon in early days and
were among the sturdy pioneers who assisted to
open up this fertile and resourceful country. Mr.
John G. Staats was well known as was, also,
his wife, both being substantial and highly re
spected people.
William H. received his early education in
the schools of his adopted county and when grown
to manhood, followed the occupations of general
farming and stock-raising as his father had done
before him. He has made a splendid success in
his labors and has a choice and valuable holding
of property in the county at this time.
In political matters, Mr. Staats is a Republi
can, and although not a politician, in the sense
of the word as often used, he is very active in
the campaigns of his party and takes the interest
that becomes every good and loyal citizen of this
country. He is often at the conventions and has
served at the congressional convention of the
state. In fraternal matters, Mr. Staats is popular
and is affiliated with the A. O. U. W., W. W.,
United Artisans, the Foresters, and the Redmen.
In religious persuasion he is an adherent of the
Presbyterian faith and has always liberally sup
ported church matters. Mr. Staats is a great lover
of music, and was a charter member of the Dufur
band. On February 14, 1900, Air. Staats married
Mrs. Arabella H. Slusher, who is mentioned
particularly in the sketch of Thomas Slusher, de
ceased. Air. Staats has two brothers living, John
W. and James W., one in government employ, and
one employed with the railroad. He also has a
sister, single, also one sister and one brother
deceased. Mr.- and Airs. Staats are popular people, have
many friends and are esteemed leading people of
the county.

DANIEL O. DAVIS, a hospitable and genial
man, is one of Wasco county's leading citizens,
and resides about one mile southeast from Wrent-
ham. He owns a fine estate there ancl has shown
skill and sagacity in the culture of the same as
in all his career. He was born in Dutchess county,
New York, on January 28, 1848, the son of Daniel
O. and Hannah J. (Rogers) Davis, also natives
of New York. The father died when this son
was ten years old. The mother's father was in
the Revolution and was for many years a boot
and shoe merchant in Wassaic, New York. Our
subject's paternal grandfather also was a patriot
in the struggle for freedom of the colonies. The
Davis family are largely mechanics and builders.
Daniel was reared and educated in New York
2 1

and when fourteen enlisted in Company E, One
Hundred and Fifth New York Infantry, under
Captain Abe Moore and Colonel Thomas. He
participated in the battles of Thoroughfare's Gap,
Second Bull Run, Cedar Mountain and on the
way to Antietam he was taken sick and languished -
in the hospital for three months. Being then hon-
orably discharged, he went home and at that time--
his weight with boots and overcoat was ninety-six-
pounds. On August 10, 1863, ne enlisted in the
Twenty-first New Y0I"k Cavalry, Company G,
under Captain J. B. Root, and Colonel Wm. B.
Tibbits. He was in the Shenandoah valley and in
West Virginia till the close of the war. Besides
many skirmishes, he fought in the battle of Win
chester. After the war his regiment was sent to
Dakota and he was at Fort Collins some time and
then was mustered out at Denver, Colorado. For
eleven years after that he farmed and teamed
there, then came to Baker county, Oregon, in
1877, ancl a year later settled- in Union county.
In 1885, he came hither and filed a homestead and
since then he has acquired land by purchase until
he has eight hundred and eighty acres, six hun
dred of which are tillable. He has considerable
stock and does general farming. He is one of the
successful and substantial citizens of this county.
At Fort Collins, on October 27, 1872, Mr.
Davis married Miss Helen C. Remington, a na
tive of Livingston county, New York. Her father,-
John E. Remington, was born in Troy, New York,
was a well known artist, went to Pikes Peak in
1859, and at Dixon, Illinois, enlisted in the Seven
ty-first Illinois_Yolunteers. He was at once ap
pointed assistant quartermaster with the rank of
captain, the date being October 13, 1863. On
March 13, 1864, he was made lieutenant colonel.
He was mustered in September 22, 1862, and re
ceived his honorable discharge on March 13, 1866.
On March 13, 1865, he was given the rank of
major. He was closely associated with the lead
ing men and one of his commissions bears the"
signature of Abraham Lincoln. After the war
he engaged in farming in Illinois, in 1871, went to-
Fort Collins and was there postmaster for four
years and in 1877, came on to Oregon with our
subject. Here he took land and farmed until'
his death on October 7, 1900, being then aged"
eighty-four. He had married Electa S. Morse,-
a native of Connecticut and descended from the
well known Alorse family. She died here on
November 24, 1891, aged seventy-three. The-
paternal great-grandfather of Airs. Davis was a
captain in the Revolution. Mr. and Airs. Davis
are members of the Congregational church and'
liberal supporters of the faith. To this house
hold seven children have been born : Edward O.,
at home; Cora C, the wife' of Charles Fagan, a

322

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

farmer near The Dalles ; Leon L., a farmer near
The Dalles ; Lulu B., the wife of Fred Chapman,
in Valley county, Montana; Grace I., the wife of
Edgar A. Johnson, of Portland ; Wilfred E., a
student in a business college in Portland ; and
Nellie G., at home. Charles Remington, first
cousin to Airs. Davis, was one of the first two
men killed by the fire on Ft. Sumter. His
brother, Edward, piloted Burnside's expedition.
Mr. and Airs. Davis are highly esteemed people
and have done much to build up Wasco county
and to forward all enterprises for the good of the
people. On January 6, 1905, at the family residence,
Mrs. Davis was called hence by the angel of
death. She was a noble woman and greatly be
loved because of her kindness and good works.

MATTHEW A. THORBURN is a native
son of Wasco county and a citizen of excellent
standing here today. He was born at Kingsley,
on April 29, 1879, tne son °f Matthew and Alar-
garet (Fay) Thorburn. The father was born
in Scotland and for many years lived in Australia
and New Zealand, whither he went by himself
when young. He was educated in the school of
experience and followed farming and mining for
many years in New Zealand and Australia. In
1873, he found his way to the Golden State, and
for some time mined there, then he came to Ore
gon, settling in Wasco county where he has been
since. He is a very popular man, well respected
and influential. The mother was born in Ross-
common, Ireland, and is living on the old home
place in this county. It was 1876, the centennial
year, when they first settled on Tygh ridge. They
secured land in small quantities at first but have
added by purchase since until they have now six
teen hundred acres of excellent land adapted to
wheat raising and pasture. They are prosperous
and substantial people.
Matthew A. was educated in St. James col
lege in Vancouver, and then graduated from Alt.
Angel college in 1897. After that he spent some
time in Armstrong's business college in Portland,
completing a course there. After that, Air. Thor
burn returned home and since that time he has
given his attention to farming and stock raising.
The first year after his studies were completed,
he spent on the farm with his father, then he
purchased a quarter section and since has added
enough to make it a complete section, and here
he has bestowed his labors. He tills about half
of the section and is rewarded with bounteous
crops. Air. Thorburn is a model farmer and
owing to his industry is being prospered. His

land adjoins his father's estate, and his sister also
owns four hundred and eighty acres contiguous.
Mr. Thorburn has one sister, Catherine, who
graduated from St. Mary's' college at The Dalles.
Mr. Thorburn is a member of the Maccabees,
and is a Republican, but not especially active in
politics. On August 28, 1904, Mr. Thorburn married
Aliss Frances M. Easton, at the M. E. church in
Dufur. Airs. Thorburn was born in Wasco county
and was reared here, and has hosts of warm
friends. Her parents were John and Elizabeth
(Limmeroth) Easton, pioneers of this county.
The father is deceased. Air. and Mrs. Thor
burn are young people of good standing and have
the good will and admiration of a large circle of
friends as they start on matrimonial journey.

OLIVER Al. BOURLAND was born in
Illinois, on February 27, 1858, the son of
Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Carnahan) Bourland.
The father was born in Indiana, and came from
German ancestry. He died in Illinois, in 1902.
The mother was born in Kentucky and now lives
in Illinois. Oliver was educated in the public
school of Illinois and was reared on a farm. He
was trained by a skillful and thrifty father who
made a fine success of stock breeding and the art
of agriculture. Until twenty-four he remained
with his father and then, it being 1882, he determ
ined to come west, and selected Oregon as the
objective point. He reached the Willamette val
ley in due time and there spent some months in
various employments. Then he came to this
county and for a time wrought for wages on the
farms. Then he rented, and later he took a home
stead, to which he added a preemption and a
timber culture. Desiring more land, he pur
chased until his estate is of the generous propor
tions of eight hundred acres, a large proportion
of which is tillable. He reaped this year over
four hundred acres of grain, mostly wheat, and
his entire estate shows the marks of a skillful and
wise farmer and business man. In addition to
grain raising, he raises much stock, and he pos
sesses some of the finest specimens in the county.
He owns a fine registered Poland China boar, and
has about one hundred other hogs. Of cattle,
he has twenty choice Shorthorn animals and some
other grades. Among this herd is a thorough
bred, registered, Shorthorn bull, a splendid ani
mal. Mr. Bourland also has twenty-five or more
well bred horses, all Percheron and Clydesdale.
In all the animals on the place is exemplified the
skill and care of Mr. Bourland, for he believes and
puts into practice the principle that it is just as

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

323

easy to raise a good animal as a poor one. He
knows the business, is a careful and sagacious
man and has won the success he enjoys by virtue
of his own worth and ability.
At The Dalles, Mr. Bourland married Miss
Mary Hanna, a native of the Willamette valley.
She was called hence by death on October 4,
1894, after an illness of eight days, wherein she
.suffered from diphtheria. She was a noble woman
and had won the hearts of all who knew her.
Mr. Bourland was greatly stricken and his chil
dren mourn a beloved mother who dwells now
only in sweet memories in their midst. The chil
dren of the family are Ebenezer F., George L.,
Jasper B., Jud F., and Lillie J. Mr. Bourland
has two brothers living, James E. and Francis
A., in Illinois, and one dead, William W., who
met his death during the Civil war. He also has
three sisters, Hulda, the widow of G. Mitchell,
Mrs. Phoebe Watson, and Mrs. Rachel Hardy.
In politics, Mr. Bourland is independent. He is a
man of means and is one of the leading men of
this part of the county..

ROBERT E. HARBISON, proprietor of a
fine eighty acre fruit and hay ranch, known as
Meadow Farm ancl located some five miles south
from Hood River, is one of the leading citizens of
the valley. He was born in Warren county, Iowa,
on September 30, 1861, the son of Matthew H.
and' Mary L. (Weir) Harbison, natives of South
Carolina. His parents' ancestors were of Scotch-
Irish lineage, who came from north Ireland to
the colonies prior to the Revolution and were
stanch American patriots. Our subject's father
was born on May 18, 1833, and his wife was
born on August 3, 1833. When they were two
years old the two families moved to Indiana, and
at Bloomington, in that state, they were married
on September 28, 1854. They soon moved to
Iowa and when the war broke out the father
•enlisted in Company C, Thirty-fourth Iowa Vol
unteer Infantry, on August 13, 1862, under Col
onel Clark, and Captain Dan Lyons, and died in
service, on January 20, 1863. He is buried in
an unknown grave in the national cemetery near
Memphis. The mother, still a widow, resides at
Tangent, Oregon, with a son. Our subject was
-raised principally in La Crosse county, Wiscon
sin, and received a good education from the
graded and high schools. When twenty-two he
went to California and did various work for two
years, then came to the Big Bend country, Wash
ington, where, in 1885, he and his brother, J. S.,
and Charles Davis, started the town of Almira,

then called Davisine. A year later he came
thence to Hood River, where his mother bought a
quarter section on the east side of the valley.
Later she sold one hundred ancl twenty acres and
deeded the remaining forty to our subject and
his brother, John S. They erected a saw and
grist mill in 1889 and operated the same until
1901 when the brother sold to Air. Harbison,
and he continued the operation of the mill until
February, 1903, then sold out to Wilson Fike.
Immediately afterward Air. Harbison purchased
the eighty where he now lives, which was a part
of what his mother had sold. Mr. Harbison has
thirty acres of apple orchard, mostly young trees
just beginning to bear, and he has frequently
taken prizes at the fairs. He has the famous
banana apples, of which there are very few in
the state. He has an elegant thirty acre meadow
which produces about four tons of hay to the
acre annually, it being irrigated from Neal creek.
On January 1, 1887, at Hood River, Mr. Har
bison married Aliss Lucy Rand, a native of La
Crosse county, Wisconsin, and the daughter of1
Martin V. and Elizabeth (Feak) Rand, natives
of Virginia and New York, respectively. The
father enlisted in Company E, Second Wisconsin
Infantry and served four years in the Civil war,
and is now retired, living in University Park,
Portland. Mr. Harbison has two brothers, John
S., of Tangent, Oregon, and Luther J. at Vaca-
ville, California. Airs. Harbison has the follow
ing brothers and sisters : Jason, Bert, Harvey,
Minnie Clelland and Lulu Horning, all of Port
land. To Mr. and Airs. Harbison four children
have been born, Blanche, Hester, Ruth and Mary.
Politically, Air. Harbison is a stanch Repub
lican, although not very active. He and his wife
belong to the Congregational church, and Mrs.
Harbison is a member of the Women's Relief
Corps. They are highly esteemed people and
Mr. Harbison is looked up to as one of the enter
prising and successful farmers and fruit raisers
of the valley.
Every genuine American loves to read ac
counts of patriotism ancl brave acts in defense of
country. Among other incidents occurring in
the Harbison family of earlier generations, we
mention the following, which is taken from Eliza
beth E. Ellet's "Women of Revolution," now out
of print. William Strong, relative on the mother's
side to our subject, was a stanch patriot in the
time of the Revolution and did all in his power
to forward the cause of the struggling colonists.
On June 11, 1780, on his own farm, in South
Carolina, he was faced by a detachment of Brit
ish, led by one Huck, and refusing to renounce
his loyalty to the colonists and the cause they
all loved, he was shot in cold blood.

324

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

FRANCIS M. JACKSON, a well known
and highly respected horticulturist and farmer of
the Hood River valley, resides about seven miles
south from the town of Hood River, and was
born in Athens, Tennessee, on December 13,
1836. His parents, John B. and Dorcas (Cox)
Jackson, were pioneers in Tennessee. The father
was born in North Carolina, as were also his
parents, and when sixteen he went alone to Ken
tucky, where he married and whence he returned
later to Tennessee. He was a man of refinement
and education, being especially skilled in math
ematics and music. He was professor in Monti-
cello academy, Kentucky, and later taught music.
He finally published a musical work that netted
him a nice profit. He was clerk of AIcAlinn
county, Tennessee, for many years and died in
Morristown, that state, in 1858. His wife died
in the same town in 1853. She was descended
from an old southern family. Our subject lived
in Morristown from the age of six to seventeen
and received an academic education there. Then
he traveled with ox teams to Missouri, and in the
spring of 1856 continued his journey on to Cali
fornia, where he wrought for two years and six
months at mining. Owing to his father's death he
then returned to the east and remained on the old
place for some time and bought a farm and some
slaves. Owing to rumors of war, Mr. Jackson
did not return to California as he originally in
tended to do, and in June, 1861, enlisted in the
Fourth Battalion of Tennessee Cavalry, his com
mand being known as Peck's Light Dragoons.
He had served only two months as private when
he was promoted to a lieutenancy. Previous to
enlistment, he had assisted to organize another
company, but as there was not a probability of
their being allowed to go to the front, they were
disbanded. His regiment was mostly in Kentucky
and upper Tennessee, and he served as first lieu
tenant until the Wild Cat fight, General Nelson
federal commander and General Zollicoffer con
federate. The captain of Lieutenant Jackson's
company resigned and he was unanimously elected
to' the position by acclamation. He was in Fisher
Creek battle, near his father's old home, in which
conflict General Zollicoffer lost his life ; our sub
ject's regiment was defeated and fell back into
Tennessee. Captain Jackson was in two fights
near Vicksburg, but did not participate in the
siege. He was captured in the Black River bat
tle and suffered eighteen months at the war
prison in Johnson's island near Sandusky, Ohio.
Being exchanged, he visited at his old home and
then returned to his regiment and was acting
colonel until the close of the war. His commis
sion was on its way for a colonelcy when the
war closed. Captain Jackson fought hard and

long for the cause he thought to be right and
after the war returned to his old home only to
find the war feeling so strong that his life was.
in danger. His finances were ruined by the war
and what little he could recover he promtly used
to liquidate debts he owed for slaves bought on
credit. When his debts were all paid, he had
little left and so started life anew. For the last
two years in his town, Morristown, he was city
recorder and was nominated for mayor when he-
had decided to some west again. He came to
The Dalles via San Francisco and Portland, and
soon after arriving took the place where he re
sides at this time. Since then, the Captain has.
bestowed his labors here with a good measure of
success. He is skilled in horticulture and also
does some general farming. Captain Jackson
is a man of integrity and honor and his keen
sense of justice and uprightness are known to
all bv virtue of a worthy and commendable life*
On June 8, 1859, at Alorristown, Air. Jack
son married Aliss Elizabeth L. Thurman, the
daughter of William Al. and Alary (Bibb) Thur
man. The mother of Alary Bibb was Elizabeth
Lewis, related to Captain Lewis of Lewis and
Clark fame. Airs. Jackson was a member of the
well known Thurman family, one of whom was
candidate for vicg president with Cleveland. Her
mother's mother was a member of the Suther
land family, prominent in the south, of Scotch
extraction, members of which served in the Rev
olution, among which was Airs. Jackson's grand
father. Our subject has two brothers, David
C, a captain in the confederate army, for many
years postmaster at Summitville, Tennessee, and
now farming; George W., a preacher in Denton
county, Texas. Also, he has one sister, Elizabeth
S., wife of S. AL Sawyers, a civil engineer of
DeSoto, Kansas. Airs. Jackson had one brother,
Preston C, an attorney in Bonham, Texas. She
had four sisters : Alartha C, who dwells with
our subject ; Alary J., widow of J. B. Jones, of
Fannin county, Texas ; Lucy V., single, in Texas ;
and Josephine, wife of Air. Wood, in Fannin
county, Texas. Captain Jackson has five chil
dren living: Carrie L., wife of John H. Gerdes,
proprietor of Gerdes house in Hood River ; Wil
liam F., a farmer near Aloro, this state ; John B.,
living with his father and owner of the adjoining
farm; David AL, with his father; and Francis
R., living on a homestead near his father's home.
It is of interest in this connection to state that
our subject was a member of the escort of Jef
ferson Davis up to the time of the capture. Air.
Davis left the escort the dav before the capture
to visit his family. Our subject is a Democrat in
politics and for twenty-nine years he has been
director of the district school where he lives.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

325

He was the prime mover in the organization of
the Pine Grove district and has shown commend
able interest in the building up of the country.
He has twice been nominated for county com
missioner, and, although running far ahead of his
ticket, still suffered defeat.

ISAAC N. SARGENT, a retired farmer ancl
merchant, living in a beautiful one story cottage
on Liberty street, is one of the venerable pioneers
of the northwest and stands to-day, high in the
admiration ancl esteem of every person who
knows him. Fie was born in 1817, on September
25, at Chester, Vermont. His father, Isaac Sar
gent, was also a native of Vermont ancl married
Miss Sallie Pratt, who came from a prominent
colonial family and was a native of Vermont.
She died in Wisconsin about ten years after her
husband who passed away in Vermont, on June
12, 1834 at the old homestead. William Sargent
sailed from Northampton, England with his
family to Charleston, Alassachusetts, in 1638 ancl
since then, the Sargent family has been prom
inent in business at the bench ancl bar and in pro
fessional life. They are well known throughout
New England and elsewhere and are amongst the
oldest families in the United States. Four of the
William Sargent descendants fought in the Rev
olution. Samuel Sargent was a member of Cap
tain Seth Washburn's Company of Minute men
and his wife, in 1875, melted the weights of the
clock and moulded them into bullets for her hus
band's use in the army. Such acts ancl many
others that could be mentioned, demonstrate the
patriotism ancl spirit of this influential ancl prom
inent family. Our subject possesses a history of
the Sargent family which dates back many cen
turies in England, before Willliam Sargent came
to the Colonies. A later edition of the same has
been compiled by Aaron Sargent, who is a prom
inent attorney in New York. Our subject has
great reason to take pride in his ancestors and
their achievements, which indeed has been a great
stimulus to mold the success he has reached in a
long ancl useful career.
Isaac N. Sargent was educated in the private
schools of his native place and the academy and
upon his fathers death, went to work in the store,
continuing the same until he was of age. In
1838, he went to Wisconsin and there taught
school ancl did farming until 1862, when he came
to Oregon with horse teams. Being pleased with
The Dalles and the outlook of this country, he
settled here, ancl in The Dalles and eastern Ore
gon, has been ever since. After farming for
some time in this vicinity, he moved to Grant

county and filed on a homestead. Four years
later, he came thence to Mitchell, Crook county
ancl engaged in the mercantile business for eight
years, then sold owt and moved to The Dalles,
since which time he has been largely retired, liv
ing upon the income his industry ancl wisdom pro
vided. In addition to the home place, he owns
other residence property in The Dalles and is one
of the substantial men of the country.
On August 4, 1838, at Lowell, Massachusetts,
Air. Sargent married Aliss Hannah H. Brown
who was born in Springfield, Vermont, on Au
gust 19, 1817, the daughter of George and Anna
(Bemis) Brown, natives of Vermont. Both are
old colonial families and are well known in New
England circles. Air. Sargent has no living
brothers or sisters but his wife has one sister,
Martha, widow of William , Honey in Omaha,
Nebraska. Five children have been born to Mr.
and Airs. Sargent: Frederick A., a farmer on
Five Mile Creek near The Dalles ; Chester C, a
farmer in the vicinity of The Dalles ; Frank, a
mining man at Baker City ; Fanny, wife of Frank
Hunsaker, now deceased ; and Hattie, the wife of
Edward Wilson, of Portland. They have also
raised one adopted daughter, Katherine, who was
their grand daughter.
Mrs. Sargent is a member of the Methodist
church. Air. Sargent is a stanch Republican and
held these principles long before the Republican
party was organized. Mr. and Mrs. Sargent
have traveled together in their wedded life for
sixty-six years, a most remarkable and pleasant
fact. Although both are nearly four score and
ten years, still they are active and hearty, with
all their faculties unimpaired and are excellent
citizens of The Dalles. It is pleasant indeed to
be enabled to chronicle the fact that this aged
ancl highly respected couple, who have been pio
neers in various sections, are now enabled to en
joy the fruits of their labor in this populous coun
try, where thev assisted to open the wilds and
bring in civilization.
Since the above was written, the reaper,, death,
visited Air. Sargents home and took hence his
beloved and faithful wife. Like the ripened
grain, she was ready for the sickle, and having
completed life's duties well, she has stepped for
ward to the rewards awaiting the faithful. The
day of departure was December 8, 1904.

PEREZ A. CON lives about five miles south
from Hood River in the Odell district, where he
has a choice and well improved farm. He was
born in Illinois, on October 17, 1854. the son of
Abner and Nancy (Barker) Cox, natives of

326

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Pennsylvania and Alassachusetts, respectively.
The father was of Dutch extraction and the
mother came from an old colonial family prom
inent in the Revolutionary War. She died when
our subject was twenty-eight years of age and
the father aged eighty-eight lives with Air. Cox
at the present time. While Air. Cox was small,
the family moved to Iowa and in Wright county-
he received his education and was reared. When
twenty-one, he started out in life for himself and
did various kinds of work for a time and then
went to Kansas and took up a homestead. For
twelve years, he devoted himself to its improve
ment and cultivation and in 1S89, came thence
to Hood River. He bought forty acres and re
mained on the same until 1904, when he traded
it for the place where he now lives. Twenty
acres of this have been sold and the balance. Air.
Cox is making into a very choice fruit farm. He
has recently erected a story and a half cottage, a
large barn and outbuildings. A special air of
thrift and neatness is evident everywhere and the
place is one of the most tasty and valuable in
this part of the valley. He has put out seven
acres to apples and expects to handle considerable
more ground to this profitable fruit. Air. Cox is
still a single man. He has two brothers, Seaman
and Judson, both farmers, the former in Hood
River and the latter in Kansas.
Politically, our subject is independent, yet
he is always active in local affairs and in the
campaigns. He is well posted on the questions
of the clay and is an energetic man.

ELLSWORTH A. HAYNES, who is bet
ter known as "Smith" Haynes (the reason for
the bestowal of this sobriquet we are not told),
is an industrious and leading farmer and stock
man of Wasco county. His residence is located
on the fertile soil about ten miles east from Boyd,
where he has a fine large estate. He was born
in Rock Island county, Illinois, on January 9,
1862, the son of Joseph Haynes, who is more
especially mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Wnen this son was a small boy, the family went
to Alissouri and there and in Kansas he attended
the district schools, completing his education in
these important institutions. About two years
after his father had come west, or in 1882, our
subject was stricken with the western fever and
the only hope of recovery was a trip to the Pa
cific slope. This remedy was speedily adminis
tered, ancl the result is that Wasco county has
another of the hustling men of the east a perma
nent resident of her fertile domain. The same
year he filed on a homestead where he now re

sides and since then he has made this his head
quarters. He was soon taken with the great
sheep industry of the west and learned sheep
shearing. He has wrought at this for twenty
years in all parts of the west and is today one
of the most expert at the business. He handles
readily from one hundred to one hundred and
twenty-five animals in a day, relieving them of
their valuable coats with a dexterity and agility
that is marvelous in the eyes of those not sophis
ticated in this art. Air. Haynes has made a rec
ord of one hundred and fifty-six sheep in one"
day. Even in the eyes of those accustomed to
shearing, this is a wonderful physical feat, and
truly it is one which should take its place among
the most difficult physical accomplishments that
humans have achieved. Air. Haynes has about
one section of land and cultivates to the cereals
about three hundred acres. He has excellent
crops and in addition to this handles considerable
stock. He winters usually about sixty head of
cattle, thirty horses and seventy hogs. He has
some fine animals and among his hogs he owns
one boar, thoroughbred Poland China, of regis
tered stock. Air. Haynes makes a splendid suc
cess of his enterprises and is one of the prosper
ous men of the county- today.
On October 16, 1886, at his father's house,
on the ranch, Air. Haynes married Aliss Emily
Al. Craft, the daughter of Jacob Craft, who is
mentioned in this work elsewhere. To this union
five children have been born, Albert W., Omer
K., Pearl, Ruby, and Thomas. Air. Haynes is a
member of the I. O. O. F., the Encampment, and
the AL W. A. He is a good strong Republican
and is often at the conventions, while he serves
as road supervisor and school director. He and
his wife are highly esteemed people, they both
come from prominent families and have hosts of
friends.

WILLIAAI R. HAYNES. Wasco county
is not wanting in progressive and intelligent
farmers ancl among that number, well up in the
roll, we are constrained to mention the gentle
man whose name heads this article. He is a man
of ability and integrity and has displayed this in
a many years' residence here. A detailed account
of his career will be interesting to the citizens of
this county ancl we append the same with
pleasure. William R. Haynes was born in Alichigan,
near Jackson, on December 26, 1853, the son of
Joseph Haynes, of whom we have already writ
ten. When this boy was two years of age, the
family went to Rock Island, Illinois, and there in
the First ward schools, William received his ed-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

32;

ucation. When sixteen, he went with his father
and the balance of the family to Garnet, Kansas,
and there he engaged in teaming. Later he
rented four acres of garden land near town and
to teaming, and farming this he gave his time.
One winter he spent in hunting buffalo and many
a fine animal has he taken. When the family re
moved to Nevada, Missouri, he rented land with
his father and in that Missouri town, he met the
lady who afterward became his wife. In 1879,
he came with his father to the Pacific coast and
he took railroad land on Centre ridge. This he
abandoned a year later and sold his improvements
to his father. Then he went to California and
spent one year in logging among the giant red
wood forests of the Golden State. Then he
returned to Kansas and there married the lady
who had captured his heart before he left Ne
vada, Missouri. The wedding occurred at the
home of the bride's father, Jacob Craft, who is
mentioned in this work. The lady was Alary K.
Craft, who was born in Newport, Kentucky, on
March 7, i860. Then, accompanied by his father-
in-law and others, Mr. Haynes made the trip
overland to Oregon, which was a unique wed
ding journey and one which possessed many
charms of its own. He filed a homestead on land
where he now lives and since then he has pur
chased seven forties from his father, and a
quarter section from his brother. Altogether he
has six hundred ancl eighty acres of good land.
He raises wheat, barley and other crops and de
votes much attention to handling stock. Mr.
Haynes believes in the right theory that it is as
easy to raise a good animal as a poor one, and the
returns are much better, so he has choice breeds
of all kinds of stock that he handles. He owns a
registered three year old Hereford bull, Pa
tience, No. 124099 which is a choice animal,
sired by Premiere Dam Arminta Second, and
raised hy the well known breeder, O. Harris of
Harris, Missouri. With this animal he has also
many other well bred ones and his herd is about
sixty. He also owns Lafayette, the well known
Clyde- Percheron stallion and twenty other horses.
Besides this he has two hundred hogs, well bred,
and a choice Poland China registered boar. He
owns the Hereford animal in partnership with his
brother, Ellsworth. Air. Haynes is a skilled man
in stock breeding and has some of the best ani
mals to be 'found in this part of the country. He
is prosperous and a leading man of the county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Haynes the following named
children have been born : Lee, aged twenty ;
Floyd, aged eighteen ; Hallie, aged fourteen ;
Paul J., two months old ; Rosanna, sixteen ;
Gladys, thirteen, and Edith J., two years old. In
politics, Air. Haynes is independent and always

takes an intelligent interest in the affairs of the
county and state. He is school director and has
been off ancl on, for many years. He and his
wife are well known and popular people and win
niany friends by their many excellent qualities.

TFIEODORE J. SEUFERT, of the firm of
Seufert Brothers, is one of the leading business
men in The Dalles. He has been closely identi
fied with commercial interests here for a good
many years and has shown himself to be a man
of ability and integrity and has so wisely man
aged his business enterprises that he has won a
remarkable success in the same. He was born in
Queen's county, New York, on January 3, 1859.
His father, John Seufert, was a native of Ger
many and came to the United States when nine
teen years old locating first in New York city,
where he followed his trade of tailoring for many
years. Then he moved to Long Island and oper
ated a summer resort hotel and did farming until
his death in 1870. Our subject was educated in
the public schools of New York city then em
ployed in a gents furnishing and dry goods busi
ness. In 1878, he came to San Francisco and
learned the butcher trade and in 1882, came to
The Dalles to join his brother, Frank A., who
had come west previous to our subject's journey.
They went into partnership in The Dalles in the
meat business but after one year they found it
unprofitable and engaged in buying fruit from
local raisers to ship to Montana, Idaho and other
eastern points. They shipped the first carload of
fruit ever sent out of the state over the Northern
Pacific and probably the first ever shipped over
that road. Soon after that, they began to pur
chase salmon and can them. In 1885, they leased
the Whitcomb fishery and the next year sub
leased a part of the plant for canning to parties in
Portland for ten years and furnished them fish
for canning. In 1896, the Seufert brothers pur
chased the whole establishment and since then
have conducted it themselves. Thev have a ca
pacity of fifteen hundred cases daily and in the
season employ one hundred and twenty-five
people. The business has been a success from
the time they first began it and is one of the large
enterprises of the coast.
On June 20, 1886, at Kingsley, Air. Seufert
married Aliss Alary A. AicGrail, a native of Phil
adelphia. Her father was accidentally killed
when she was small. The mother, Sarah
(Brookhouse) AicGrail, a native of Ireland, then
married Patrick J. Gorman and they now live on
Ninth street in The Dalles. Our subject has one
brother, his partner and four sisters, Louisa A.

32S

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Wenner, Mary Walter, Katie Hoffman, and
Theresa A. Kudicker. Mrs. Seufert has two
brothers, John and Patrick J. ancl one half
brother, Richard J. Gorman. Four children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Seufert, J. Roger,
Theodore J., Jr., Leland and Mildred M.
Air. Seufert is a member of the K. P. and the
Elks.

FRANK R. STRATTON, a genial and popu
lar young man of Wasco county, is, also, one
of its leading farmers and business men. He is
in charge of three to four thousand acres of
land, part situated on the Des Chutes, and part
on the fertile upland five miles south from Dufur.
¦ On the former ranch he cultivates five hundred
acres, and at the latter place he handles one
thousand. The estates are the property of Hon.
M. A. A'loody, one of Wasco county's heaviest
land owners. The Des Chutes ranch is a fine
peach producing place and the orchard there
shipped twelve hundred boxes of fruit last year.
It is a valuable place and in the hands of Mr.
Stratton, has been made one of the most pro
ductive and profitable ranches in this part of
the county. When Mr. Stratton took charge of
these two farms, they were not in a thrifty condi
tion, but were run down and not paying well.
He has brought to bear, not only energy and
enterprise, but a wealth of sagacity and skill
that have secured the happy results that now they
are two of the finest farms in the county. They
are both paying well and show a master hand
in their conduct. Air. Strattsn is a thorough
-man and allows no detail to escape his attention.
He has had the best of training in farming, and
consequently the management of two such large
properties is exactly in line with his ability and
liking. The excellent order, the thrift evident,
• and the annual returns of good dividends all
combine to manifest the ability and up-to-date
ways of Mr. Stratton. He is popular and liked
by all and stands one of the leading young men
of this part of the county. Frequently he is at
-the county conventions and strongly supports his
• partv, the Republican.
Frank R. Stratton was born in Queens
county, New Brunswick, on February 8, 1869,
the son of Samuel and Rebecca (Parkhill) Strat
ton. The father was born in New Brunswick, and
followed farming. Flis ancestors were Scotch-
Irish people. The mother was a native of Ire
land and owns county Kerry as her native place.
Our subject was reared and educated mostly in
his native land, then completed his training here
on the Pacific coast, having come to Pacific
count}-, Washington with his parents about 1880.

His father bought land in the Willapa valley and
for several summers operated a summer hotel
resort. He and his wife are now dwelling in that
valley with their son, J. Thomas. Our subject
followed various callings in Pacific county, then
bought thirty-two acres of bottom land which he
tilled two or three years. Then he sold it and
migrated to Wasco county and wrought on the
farms for several years, after which he took
charge of the estates mentioned and since that
time has been successfully conducting them. His
brothers and sisters are J. Thomas and Ever-
mond, loggers in Willapa valley ; Stephen L.,
a farmer there ; Corressa A., wife of John Gil
bert, a preacher in the Methodist church in
Clarke county, Washington ; Lovicia, the wife of
John Morgan, a logger in Pacific county ; Evedna,
wife of Mr. Finch, in Dawson, Alaska ; and Mrs.
Amelia Sperrill, in Seattle. Mr. Stratton is a
member of the I. O. O. F., and the Encampment,
and is a highly respected citizen.

F. LEROY GRIMES, of the firm of Parkins,
Grimes & Company, who have a large and beau
tiful book ancl music store at 314 E. Second
street, The Dalles, was born on Fifteenmile
Creek, eight miles out from Dufur, on October
24, 1881. His parents are mentioned in another
portion of this work. Being thus a native son of
Wasco county, Mr. Grimes is doubly entitled to
representation in any work that purports to
speak of the leading men of the country. His
early educational training was received at The
Dalles graded schools and then he completed the
same at Pacific University at Forest Grove, Ore
gon. In 1900, he completed his studies then re
turned home to take up the cattle business. After
a few months in the same, however, he found it
not congenial to his tastes, consequently, he dis
posed of his property to his father and accepted a
position as bookkeeper with J. H. Smith & Com
pany, hardware merchants of Grass Valley, Sher
man county, Oregon. For nine months he la
bored in this capacity then resigned his position
to take up the business that he is now following.
He entered into partnership with Herby D. Par
kins ancl from that time until the present they
have been attending strictly to the building up of
a fine trade. They have a choice stock of all the
late books, artworks and literature, carrying all
kinds of musical supplies and handle all the lead
ing brands of pianos, organs and other musical
instruments. Owing to their ability, their push
and their integrity, they have secured both the
confidence of the people and a large patronage
and are making their store one of the best in Ore-

Frank R. Stratton

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

329

gon. They are both respected business men and
are highly esteemed in this county.
Mr. Grimes has never seen fit to retire from
the quiet joys of bachelorhood, although a very
popular young man.
Fraternally, he is affiliated with the K. P. and
the I. O. O. F. In politics, he is a strong Repub
lican but not particularly active. He is a product
of Wasco county in which the county may well
take pride, and bids fair to become a leading
business man of the country.

ELMER E. FERGUSON, M. D., one of
Oregon's leading physicians, is handling a large
practice in The Dalles in connection with Dr.
Reuter, who is also mentioned in this work. He
was born in Missouri, on December 3, 1869, the
son of James M. and Mary M. (Marquis) Fer
guson, natives of Alissouri ancl Indiana, respec
tively. The father's ancestors came of strong
Scotch blood and were among the earliest set
tlers in Jamestown, Virginia. They have been a
prominent ancl leading family in America since
the clays of colonial times. The parents now
dwell in Pendleton, Oregon. The mother's father
was a preacher of the United Brethren denomin
ation and died in Indiana. Our subject studied
in the graded schools in Alissouri until 1878,
when he came west with the family ancl com
pleted the high school course in Pendleton. After
that he graduated from the commercial college
and the same year matriculated in the Willamette
University. After completing his course there
he entered the Rush Aledical College in Chicago
and graduated with distinction in 1897. Then he
returned home ancl after a visit spent consider
able time in traveling to different portions of the
•globe. He was as far north as the Arctic circle
and finally went to New York ancl took an ex
tended post graduate course in the Polyclinic of
New York city. He returned to Oregon and es
tablished himself in practice in The Dalles. Here,
in 1900, Dr. Ferguson married Dr. Belle Rine
hart ancl together they continued in practice.
Their wedding occurred on February 24, 1900,
and the following fall they began the erection of
a hospital, which was completed in the spring.
They operated it together one year and then Dr.
Reuter was taken into partnership. He was an
old room ancl classmate of Dr. Ferguson and they
had studied together for vears. Since his com
ing here he has been actively engaged in prac
tice with our subject and they are considered
physicians of great ability and skill. The hospital
mentioned is one of the best equipped institu
tions in the west. It is built according to the

latest approved plans and having been recently
erected has had the advantage of every point
known to medical science in the entire world. The
appliances are the best and most perfect made
ancl The Dalles is to be congratulated in secur
ing a modern institution like this.
Dr. Ferguson has one brother, William S.,
and three sisters, Ida Peringer, Laura Lieuallen,
and Mrs. May Adams. One child has been born
to Dr. ancl Airs. Ferguson, Ruth, on November
12, 1901. Dr. Ferguson is a member of the I. O.
O. F., of the Elks, of the W. W, of the Al. W.
A., and of the K. O. T. M.

JOHN A. REUTER, AL D., who, with Dr.
Ferguson mentioned in another portion of this
work, is handling the hospital in The Dalles, is a
skillful surgeon ancl a physician of marked
ability. He has had the finest training to be
found in the civilized world ancl this added to a
native ability of generous endowment, makes Dr.
Reuter one of the men sought after over a large
scope of country, ancl especially so as he stands
high with his colleagues. He was born in Kau
kauna, Wisconsin, on January 2, 1876, the son of
Alexander L. and Christina Reuter, natives of
Germany. The father came to this country with
his parents when three years of age. They set
tled near Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the father
followed farming and mason work. Alexander
was well educated and soon became of prom
inence in the commercial and manufacturing
world, ancl later was a prominent banker. He
died in 1893, at Jacksonville, Oregon. The
mother was brought by her parents to this coun
try when an infant of two years. They settled
near the Reuters in Wisconsin ancl she grew up
and was educated there. John A. came with his
parents to Jacksonville, Oregon, in 1884. There
the father took up the real estate business and
this son was placed in the best schools. After
studying in the grades, he went to Saint Alarys
in Oakland, California, and later was a student
in the Willamette University. From that institu
tion he went direct to the well known Rush Aled
ical College, in Chicago, and received his degree
in 1897. Returning to Oregon, he was interne
in the St. Vincent hospital in Portland for one
year and then came to the eastern part of the
state and took charge of the hospital for the
Snake river railroad, where they were employ
ing four thousand men, for one year. After
that service was completed with distinction, Dr.
Renter went to Europe ancl spent eighteen months
in the leading medical institutions at London,
Vienna ancl Berlin. Then he established himself

33°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in practice in Portland and a year later joined his
old classmate, Dr. Ferguson at The Dalles, where
they have been associated for the time since and-
are handling a large practice, besides operating-
one of the most complete hospitals on the coast.
Dr. Reuter is a member of the Elks, of the Red
Men, of the A. O. U. W., and of the United Ar
tisans. He is known far and near as one of the
most skillful surgeons in the northwest and has
certainly demonstrated his ability in many deli
cate and trying cases.

CLAYTON Al. GRIMES, a prominent stock
raiser of eastern Oregon, who resides at The
Dalles, was born in Scio, Lane county, Oregon,
on May 24, 1849. His parents reside at North
Yakima, Washington. The district schools of his
native country and eastern Oregon furnished the
educational training of our subject and at the age
of seventeen, he began to ride the range. For a
while he worked for Colonel Nye then was in the
employ of other prominent stockmen until twen
ty-six years of age, when he engaged in the stock
business for himself at Grass Valley. From that
time until the present, he has continued in this
important enterprise and has achieved a marked
success in the same. In addition to various other
interests throughout the country, he owns an
eleven hundred acre stock ranch in Malheur
county, Oregon. He is a worthy and substantial
citizen and has labored wisely and assiduously
both in his private enterprises and for the general
welfare of the country.
At The Dalles, in 1880, Mr. Grimes married
Miss Susan E. Shearer, a native of Colorado.
She is an adopted daughter of Joseph H. Shearer
of Shearar Bridge, Sherman county. Her own
father is A. W. Turner, who lives in Alalheur
county, Oregon. Her mother died when she was
an infant. Two children have been born to Air.
and Airs. Grimes, F. Leroy, of the firm of Par
kins and Grimes, mentioned elsewhere in this
volume ; Pearl, a music teacher at home. Air.
Grimes has one brother, Clamon, mining at Daw
son City, and four sisters, Cornelia, Amelia,
Clara and Nettie. Mrs. Grimes has one brother,
John Turner, a butcher in Malheur county. Air.
Grimes belongs to the K. P. and is a good
stanch Republican.

GUSTAV E. BARTELL, a mechanic of ex
cellent ability, is one of The Dalles' leading busi
ness men, and has demonstrated his worth and
integrity here for years. He is owner and oper
ator of a large shop where he handles an extended

trade as blacksmith, wagon maker, and painter.
He employs three men all the time and more in
the busy seasons. Air. Bartell has his shop fitted
for all kinds of work and is a master in handling
tools and directing intricate jobs of all kinds. He
has gained a fine reputation as a builder of first
class stage coaches and his vehicles are used all
over this western country. He takes great pride
in his work and operates on the motto that what
is worth doing is worth well doing. No job ever
leaves his shops that is not completed in first
class shape and in the best style of the art.
Gustav E. Bartell was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on June 29, 1875. His father, Gus-
lav P. Bartell, was born in Germany, came to the
United States in 1874 and followed harness mak
ing and saddlery until his death in The Dalles, on
January 14, 1894. He had married Miss Julianna
Loux, a native of Germany, also, and now living
in The Dalles. In 1888, the family came to Ore
gon and settled in Pendleton, where two years
were spent. Then came the move to The Dalles,
ancl here our subject has remained since. He
graduated from the high school here in 1895 and
then completed his trade, which he had been
learning during the vacations for three years
previous. He wrought for George T. Thompson
and also for L. L. Lane. In 1899, Mr. Bartell
purchased the shops and business of St. Arnold
and Schoren, and since that time has conducted
the business, adding to it as the patronage in
creased, until he has one of the best equipped
shops in this part of the state. He does all kinds
of wagon and carriage building and blacksmith
ing and vehicle painting. Air. Bartell is a genial
and social man and has many friends. He lives
with his mother and two brothers. He has three
brothers : Max J., studying at Leland Stanford
University ; Henry, in the high school in The
Dalles ; Albert, in school ; and five sisters ; Lena,
wife of Ben Buschke, a farmer of Sherman
county ; Emma, wife of Charles Koehler, a
stockman in Dufur : Louisa, wife of John O. Con
ner; Alinnie, a milliner in The Dalles; and
Alartha, a teacher in Wasco county. Air. Bartell
is a member of the K. P. and past C. C. He is-
captain of Company D, Third Oregon National
Guards. He organized this company from the
members of the defunct Company G, during the
Spanish war and has been captain for five years.
His zeal ancl labors have accomplished much for
the organization and he is well posted in military
tactics. His brother, Alax, enlisted in Company
L, Second Oregon \rolunteers at the first call
and was in the twenty-eight engagements of his
regiment in the Philippines. Our subject's reg
iment was the first to enter Alanilla and he par
ticipated in the event. He was sergeant and

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

331

served for seventeen months. Our subject de
serves great credit for the zeal and spirit dis
played in the organization of his company and
for the manner in which he has enthused the
minds of all to keep it in good shape to the
present.

AUGUSTUS A. BONNEY, a well known
dairy man and cattle raiser of Tygh valley, was
born in Marion county, Oregon on April 14,
1849. His father, Bradford S. Bonney, is a na
tive of Ohio and comes from an old American
family. His father, the grandfather of our sub
ject, was a pioneer in Ohio, Illinois, California
ancl Oregon. The mother, Alzina (Dimick)
Bonney, was a native of Ohio and came across
the plains with her father and stepmother in
1847, settlement being made near Woodburn,
Oregon. Her father died there in 1863. Her
mother had died when she was two weeks old and
her step mother died in i860. Our subject's
grandfather died in 1868, having been a physician
of the old school. The father and mother of our
subject died July 22, 1904, and April 2, 1897, re
spectively. The district schools furnished his
education until he entered the Willamette Uni
versity whence he graduated in 1871. Then he
taught at Buena Vista and other points until
March 1, 1875, when he bought a flock of six
hundred sheep ancl filed on a government claim
where he now resides in Tygh valley. He has
purchased railroad land and other until he has
an estate of fifteen hundred acres, half of which
is tillable. He irrigates one hundred and sixty
acres. This is especially rich bottom land and
produces from five to six tons of alfalfa per acre
annually. Mr. Bonney continued in sheep rais
ing for twenty-five years ancl as the range began
gradually to be used up, he sold his sheep and
began the above business. He has seventy-five
fine dairy cows and expects soon to handle one
hundred. He has some of the finest stock in the
state, among which may be mentioned, one bull,
Linour, which took first prize at The Dalles fair
ancl one cow, Moma B., which also took first
prize. These are Jersey stock. He has several
others that took first prize in the Oregon and
Washington state fairs. Mr. Bonney has been
very successful in handling stock and is one of
the well-to-do and prominent dairy men of east
ern Oregon.
On October 1. 1871, at Gervais, Oregon, Mr.
Bonney married Aliss Elizabeth Jones, a native
of Indiana and the daughter of Silas W. R. and
Elizabeth (Allen) Jones, natives of Indiana. The
father lives in Indiana but the mother died some
time since. They crossed the plains in 1852 and

settled in Marion county. On February 26, 1888,
Airs. Bonney was taken hence by death. On De
cember 22, 1889, at The Dalles, Mr. Bonney mar
ried Aliss Emma Reavis, a native of San Fran
cisco. Her father, William Reavis, came to the
coast in the early days and was a confectioner
in San Francisco for many years. In 1885, he
moved to Oregon ancl now lives with his daughter
in Portland. Air. Bonney has three brothers,
George, Charles and Wisewell, and five sisters,
Mrs. Sarah Hall, Mrs. Carrie M. Young, Airs.
Esther Hall, Airs. Laura W. Shaw and Ina. Airs.
Bonney has two brothers, Arthur, in Australia,
Walter H. and one sister, Mrs. Lillian Blue. Mr.
Bonney has four children by his first wife : Clyde
T., a dairyman in Alarion county; Emma E., a
bookkeeper for Alays Brothers in Hood River;
Georgia, a teacher in the graded schools at Wood-
burn ; and Arthur, at home. By his second wife,.
ATr. Bonney has four children: Bessie, aged thir
teen ; Dale, eleven ; Loris, four ; and Verl, six
teen months.
Politically, our subject is an active Republi
can and has frequently been delegate to the
county and state conventions. Since being of
age, he has been school director most of the time
and is very active in promoting the welfare of the
community. His wife is a member of the Con
gregational church ancl they are substantial and
exemplary people.

DR. BELLE (RINEHART) FERGUSON
needs no introduction to the people of Wasco
county or the surrounding country, for her pro
fessional services and her high standing as a
ladv of refinement and culture have won for her
hosts of admirers from every quarter and she is
rightly considered one of the leading physicians
of central Oregon. Her birth occurred in Kan
sas and when still an infant she was brought by
her parents, Daniel J. ancl Arvazena (Spillman)
Cooper, who are mentioned in another portion of
this work, to The Dalles. After completing a
thorough public and high school education, Aliss
Cooper entered St. Helens Hall, in Portland and
pursued literary studies farther. Then she mat
riculated at the state university medical depart
ment and graduated at Portland in 1897. For
two years subsequent to that event, we find'
Dr. Rinehart practicing in The Dalles, and then
seeing the vast fields of erudition to be had, and
well knowing the need of especial skill and knowl
edge in the all important profession of medicine,
we find the doctor in the famous Polyclinic insti
tution in New York where she took a thorough-
post graduate course. Returning to The Dalles,,

33-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

she was married to Dr. Ferguson, of whom men
tion is made in another place of this work.
Formerly, Aliss Cooper married Dr. Willard
E. Rinehart, who was born near Albany, Oregon.
He was a member of the well known Rinehart
family of Oregon, representatives of which are
in various portions of the state. The doctor was
for some time professor of anatomy in the Will
amette University, Oregon. He was a skilled
ancl leading physician, having been graduated
from the Jefferson Aledical College of Philadel
phia, and the Bellevue Aledical College of New
York city. The marriage of Dr. Rinehart and
Aliss Cooper occurred in The Dalles, in 1881, and
to them four children were born, named as fol
lows : Willard S., in the United States naval
service ; J. Carl and H. Earl, twins, the former a
graduate of the Agricultural College at Cor-
vallis, and the latter now studying; ancl Phillip
C, at college in Corvallis.
Airs. Rinehart commenced the study of med
icine under the direction of her former husband
and then completed as mentioned above. Dr.
Rinehart died in 1893.
Airs. Dr. Ferguson is connected with her hus
band and Dr. Reuter in the management of the
fine hospital which they have erected in The
Dalles, a cut of which appears elsewhere in this
work.

DAVID C. WILSON is a well known
farmer residing on Center Ridge. He was born
in Adams county, Illinois, on December 15, 1844.
His parents, David and Amanda (Hiler) Wilson,
were natives of Bourbon county, Kentucky and
died in 1869 and 1895, respectively. The father's
parents were born in Virginia and pioneered to
Kentucky. David C. was reared principally in
Illinois, and there, too, received his education,
the district schools supplying that important for
tification for the battles of life. He 'remained
under the parental roof until the year of his ma
jority ancl then he began working out for the
nearby farmers, and also for his father. Then, in
1868, he went to Nevada, Alissouri, and in 1870,
returned thence to the home place in Illinois and
purchased a portion of the old homestead. After
cultivating that some time, he went to Texas,
then returned to Nevada and in 1888, came thence
to Oregon. He wrought at the carpenter trade
in The" Dalles, which he had learned in earlier
years ancl made his home in that city until 1900,
when he came to his present place and filed a
homestead. Since that time, he has devoted him
self to farming and is one of the men whose
labors have been bestowed with an industry ancl
•energy that bring good results.

On April 28, 1869, Mr. Wilson married Miss
Susan A., daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Wil
son) Hinkson, natives of Kentucky. The mother
was a distant relative of Mr. Wilson. Airs. Wil
son was born in Lewis county, Missouri. She has
two sisters, Airs. Elmira Wilson, and Mrs.
Alartha Wilson. Air. Wilson has four brothers,
James H, John A., Daniel, and Joseph, and
three sisters, Airs. Delilah H. Yates, Airs. Fanny
Cummings, and Airs. Alargaret Horney. To Air.
and Mrs. Wilson, twelve children have been born,
named as follows : Elmer O., Thomas, Floyd,
near their father and dwelling on farms ; Everett
ancl Charles, at home ; Alice A., wife of Ebon
Butser, a farmer near Nansene ; Effie, the wife of
Bert H. Haynes, mentioned in this work ; Hattie,
the wife of David Reardan, in The Dalles ; Rosie,
Minnie, and Nellie, single; and Ethel Pearl, the
twin sister of Everett ; she died at The Dalles
when fourteen. Airs. Wilson owns land in addi
tion to the quarter section which her husband
owns. They are good substantial people and
have labored long and well to build up the
country.

VIRGIL WINCHELL has the distinction of
having been born in the Hood River valley. This
event occurred on August 31, 1865 on his father's
homestead, a part of which he rents and resides
upon at the present time, and which lies a short
distance from the town of Hood River. The
father, Jerome W., was a native of Calais, Alaine
and came from an old colonial family of prom
inence. Governor Winchell of Massachusetts
and other leading men were members of this fam
ily. Jerome W. Winchell married Julia Neal,
who was born while her parents were crossing
the plains. Her father, Peter Neal, was a prom
inent settler of the east side of the Hood River
valley. Our subject's father came to Oregon in
1857, via the isthmus and was married at The
Dalles in i860 and came to the Hood River val-
lev one vear later, where he took up land and re
sided six years. Owing to his illness, he re
turned to The Dalles and there died in 1870. His
widow returned to the farm with her four chil
dren and there lived until 1888, the year of her
death. In 1873, she was married to John Divers.
Our subject has made his home here all of the
time and on April 2, 1887 at Hood River was
married to ATaggie Knapp, a native of California,
whose parents, George and (Vealy) Knapp, were
natives of New York and Alichigan, respec
tively. The father was a wealthy railroad con
tractor and the mother died when Mrs. Winchell
was eleven years of age. Mr. Winchell had one
brother, Markham, who died in 1899 ; five half

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

333:

brothers, Divers, James, Perry, John and New
ton; two full sisters, Josephine Ditmer and Ara
bella Hoffman ; and three half sisters, Dollie Eng
lish, Mary Sellinger and Julia Estes. Mrs.
Winchell has one brother, Clarence, and one sis
ter, Minnie Sorenson. Mr. and Mrs. Winchell
are the parents of seven children, Arline, Edith,
George, Grace, Joseph W., Maude, and Lena.
Fraternally, Mr. Winchell is allied with the
W. W., the United Artisans and the Foresters.
He is a stanch Democrat ancl takes a keen inter
est in the campaign. He has served for many
years on the school board and is a zealous advo
cate of better educational facilities. He and his
wife are both members of the Union church and
are substantial people.

ALBERT I. MASON, a leading horticul
turist of the Hood River valley, lives about four
miles south from town. He has a good place
and has bestowed much labor in improving the
same. His birth occurred on April 26, i860, and
his parents are Jerome B. ancl Harriett (Rum-
baugh) Mason, natives of Ohio and Pennsyl
vania, respectively. Both are now living. Our
subject was educated in the public and normal
schools of Alissouri and began teaching soon
after his graduation. Later, he went to Kansas
and filed on a preemption upon which he proved
up then returned to Missouri ancl taught school
one winter in his home district. The next year,
he went to Kansas and filed on a piece of land for
the relinquishment of which he paid seven hun
dred dollars. After commuting on the same, he
went to work as a carpenter in building depots
for the Rock Island railroad. This trade he had
learned in his younger days. Later, we see him
in Kansas City laboring at the same trade. Then
he left his family with relatives in the east and
came to Portland, landing in that metropolis with
two dollars. He followed the carpenter trade
until 1893, when he passed the civil service ex
amination for a letter carrier. In that capacity,
he worked in the Portland office for nine years.
In 1896, he purchased eighty acres in the Hood
River country which was - covered with heavy
pine timber, paying nine dollars and twenty-five
cents per acre. His family resided here and he
remained in the Portland office for six years
longer. Mrs. Mason took charge of the im
provements of the farm while her husband was
away and wisely expended the money in getting
a nice orchard started and had a three years
orchard growing when he arrived. They now
have five hundred bearing trees and sixteen acres
that will soon be bearing. Owing to a fraudulent

nurseryman who sold him trees different from
the kind he ordered, Air. Mason has been set.
back some in the fruit industry and was com
pelled to cut down a great many acres and graft
them to the proper varieties otherwise he would.
have a great many more trees bearing. They ex
pect to plant about seventeen acres more to apples
which will make one of the largest orchards in
the valley.
Mr. Mason has one brother, Thomas O., and.
one half brother, James Swindler, and two half
sisters, Maude Meyers and Lula Swindley.
At Nescatunga, Kansas, on September 9,
1889, Air. Mason married Aliss Ollie Magill, a
native of Tennessee ands the daughter of John W.
and Jennie L. (Taylor) Magill, also natives of
Tennessee. Her father died in Indian Territory,
in June, 1892, and the mother is living at Okla
homa City. Mrs. Mason has one brother, Will
iam F., and three sisters, Mrs. Dora Foster, Aliss
Orva, and Mrs. Allie Russell. The last was-
born on April 6, 1873 and died in Indian Terri
tory in 1898. Air. Alason is serving his second
term as president of the Hood River Apple-
Growers' union, having been the only incumbent
of that office. He was one of the organizers of
the union and has labored zealously for its pros
perity. Air. and Airs. Alason have two children,.
Thomas Floyd, born on the farm, on August 27,
1900, and Hattie Joy, born September 13, 1891,.
at Portland. Air. Alason is a member of the Let
ter Carrier's Mutual Benefit Association of Port
land and was president of that branch when he-
left the service. Formerly, Mrs. Mason followed
dressmaking and was in that capacity when she
met Air. Alason. Our subject's father was in the
Civil War, Company D, Second Missouri Cav
alry, and came west with the G. A. R. excursion
last fall. Airs. Alason's father enlisted in Com
pany K, First Tennessee Infantry and later was-
promoted to the office of captain, the former cap
tain being forced to resign owing to the mutiny
of the company. Mr. Mason enlisted for three
years which continued for nine months longer
after his term of enlistment and was mustered out
during the battle of Atlanta. He was in very
active service during all the time.

EBER R. BRADLEY, a stirring business
man of Hood River, owns and operates a first
class job printing office. He is an expert in his
business and turns out excellent work. He was
born in the vicinity of Coburg, Northumberland
county, Ontario, on March 18, 1862, and when
thirteen went with his parents to Sault Ste-

334

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Alarie, where he remained until twenty-two. His
parents, George W. and Julia M. (Carter) Brad-
lev, were natives of Canada. The maternal
grandfather was born in Ireland and his wife was
a native of England. He died in Canada, on
August 19, 1886 and the widow passed away in
Tacoma, in 1898. Our subject entered the print
ing office when fourteen and learned the trade
thoroughly. Later he spent two years on a farm,
then sold the property and went to Nebraska,
where he took a homestead. Later he sold this
ancl established the Litchfield Monitor, an inde
pendent Republican organ, which he operated
with a job office for seven years. Then he sold
out and went to Texas, where he launched the
Deepwater Enterprise, which suspended after a
year in the field. Then Mr. Bradley raised cot
ton and finally went to the printing business again
in Houston. It was October, 1899, that he sold
out and came to Hood River, where he leased the
.Sun, which was discontinued a few months later.
Since then, Mr. Bradley has given his attention
to the job printing business and is doing well.
He handled the stationery business with this but
sold the same recently to George I. Slocum.
On Alay 24, 1882, at Sault Ste. Alarie, Alich
igan, Mr. Bradley married Miss Sarah A. Lamo,
who was born in Woodstock, Ontario, in 1865,
September 27. Her parents and brothers and
sisters are mentioned elsewhere in this work,
Mr. Bradley has one brother, George Willis, and
five sisters, Mr*. Esther AL Hubbert, Mrs. Sally
M. Christner, Mrs. Samantha A. Stephenson,
Mrs. Rebecca S. Perry, and Mrs. Martha L.
Irvine. Two children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Bradley, Pearl E., on November 30, 1889,
and Eldon R., on April 20, 1892. Mr. Bradley
is a member of the I. O. O. F., the K. P., the A.
-O. U. W., the M. W. A., and the Order of Pendo.
He is prominent in fraternal associations. Polit
ically, he is a Prohibitionist and is influential and
prominent in the party and its conventions. He
and his wife belong to the Methodist church and
Mr. Bradley is a Bible class teacher. He is a
member of the Hood River Commercial Club,
and during his life has held various offices as
postmaster, justice of the peace, city councilman
and others. He is a popular young man and has
many friends, who esteem him for his worth aad
his integrity.

POLK BUTLER is to be classed as one of
the builders of Wasco county for he has labored
"here steadily for a quarter of a century and has
so bestowed his industry and conducted himself
that he has won a good holding of property and
-the esteem of his fellows.

Polk Butler was born in Indiana, on Septem
ber 25, 1845, the son of Isaac and Ann L. (Jones)
Butler, the former a native of Virginia, descended
from old colonial settlers, and the latter born in
Ohio. The father died in Warren county, Illi
nois, in 1875. The mother lives in Illinois, aged
ninety-five. In his native place our subject was
reared and educated, attending the district
schools a part of each year and the remainder of
the time being spent on the farm with his father.
When eighteen, he went with the balance of the
family to Illinois and in Monmouth of that state
he married Miss Dell Coy. She was -born in
Indiana, the daughter of Hiram and Phoebe
(Alindenhall) Coy, natives of North and South
Carolina, respectively. The father died when
Airs. Butler was six years of age. Her mother
later married Mr. Shelby and now is a widow liv
ing in California. Mrs. Butler's parents were
among the early pioneers of Indiana, and her
mother and Mrs. Shelby were pioneers to Ore
gon. In 1879, Mr. Butler came to Oregon and
sought out a homestead, where he now lives. The
place lies about one and one half miles southeast
from Nansene. To the original homestead Air.
Butler has added by purchase until he has an
estate of four hundred and eighty acres, two
hundred of which he is cultivating to- grain at
this time. He has improved his place well and
is one of the substantial men of the community.
He has two brothers, Daniel W., Isaiah, and two
sisters, Airs. Nellie Bridenthall, Mrs. Eliza Gay-
nor. Airs. Butler has two brothers, Elihu and
Arthur, and one sister, Mrs. Roxanna Hale. To
Mr. and Mrs. Butler, four children have been
born : A'laud, the wife of Edward Griffin, at The
Dalles ; Omer, a preacher in Idaho ; Roy D., a
merchant at Boyd, and mentioned elsewhere in
this work ; ancl Earl C, at home. Mr. Butler is
a member of the I. O. O. F., the Rebekahs, and
the Encampment. He has passed the chairs and
has been delegate to the grand lodge. Politically,
he is a stanch Jeffersonian Democrat. Mrs. But
ler is a member of the Christian church. For
twenty year^ Mr. Butler has been school direc
tor and is considered one of the leading and sub
stantial men of this community.

THOMAS J. CUNNING is a retired citi
zen of Hood River. He and his wife have a very
lovely residence on the top of the hill from which
they have a surpassing view. They are well to
do and popular people and have hosts of friends.
Thomas J. was born in Ohio, on November
8, 1838, the son of Edward and Jane (Officer)
Cunning, natives of Maryland and Ohio, respec
tively. The father followed carpentering and

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

335

his parents came from Ireland. The mother de
scended from Scotch-Irish people, who were na
tives of Pennsylvania. Our subject was raised
and educated in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and
after completing the high school course, learned
the miller's trade. In 1861, he enlisted in Com
pany K, Twenty-fourth Ohio Infantry, and served
until June, 1865, when he was honorably dis
charged at Washington, D. C. For eight months
he was detailed to handle stock in the quarter
master's department. Fie was under almost con
stant fire for the years of his service, and honor
ably did the part of the brave defender of the
nation's flag. He participated in the battles of
Green Brier, Cheat Mountain, Murfreesboro,
Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, all of the
engagements before Corinth, ancl in all of those
participated in by the Army of the Cumberland.
He was at Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain
and many others, with skirmishes too numerous
to mention. In many of these, Mr. Cunning was
in imminent clanger ancl once his clothing was
riddled with bullets but he never suffered a
wound and was active from the time of his enlist
ment to the day he was mustered out. After the
Rebellion was put down, he returned to milling
in Ohio, and in 1869 moved to Missouri where
he lived for twenty-five years and followed mill
ing. He was postmaster for four years at Mt.
Moriah, Harrison county, Missouri, ancl owned
a mill for six years. During the whole twenty-
five years of his residence in Missouri, he was
school director and prominent in politics ancl edu
cational matters. In 1895, he came to Hood
River, and since coming here has been mostly re
tired although devoting some attention to buying
and selling real estate ancl loaning money.
In October, 1865, in Tuscarawas county, Ohio,
Mr. Cunning married Mary Kinsey, who was
born in Baden, Germany, and the daughter of
John Kinsey, a native of Switzerland. She died
on October 4, 1889, at Mt. Moriah, Missouri.
On February 24, 1894, in Mt. Moriah, Mr. Cun
ning married Mrs. Agnes Markham, the daugh
ter of Piatt and Amanda C. (Lathrop) Blount,
natives of New York and descended from old
New England families. The father's father is a
patriot of the Revolution. Mrs. Cunning's par
ents settled in Wisconsin before it was a state
and did much excellent pioneer work there. Mr.
Cunning has two brothers, John D., Captain of
Company G, Fifty-first Ohio in the Civil war, and
William E. Mrs. Cunning has two brothers,
Luke D., a veteran of Company D, Seventh Wis
consin, in the Civil war, and Jerold L., and one
sister, Amelia Green. Air. Cunning has the fol
lowing named children: Thomas O., a railroad
man in Texas ; Rosa, wife of Charles Linthicus,

Boise, Idaho; H. Alton, living in Hood River;
Emma, wife of Frank Butler, a stockman at
Boise, Idaho; and Arthur, at home. Mrs. Cun
ning has one son, Claude E. Markham, living on
the west side. Mr. Cunning's mother's brother,
David Officer, while attending a free soil meet
ing in Ohio was killed by a man whom he was
ejecting from a church building on account of
creating a disturbance. One of the Officer family
was a preacher and missionary to Africa. Mr.
Cunning is a member of the G. A. R., and one
of the substantial and affable men of the town.

HENRY F. LAGE is overseer and manager
of the farm owned by Hon. M. Moody, which is
located south from the town in Hood River val
ley. He was born in Davenport, Iowa, on Feb
ruary 24, 1875, the son of Hans and Lena (Hoek)
Lage, who have a biography in this work. Henry
F. was one year old when his parents came here
and so his life has practically been spent here,
and his education gained in the schools of the
valley. After school days were over he gave his
entire attention to the work of the farm, where,
also, he had wrought during his youth. For the
six years, last past, he has been in his present po
sition and is considered one of the substantial
and upright men of this county. The farm pro
duces hay, principally, and under the skillful care
of our subject is made one of the best about.
At Hood River, on January 1, 1902, Mr. Lage
married Miss Violet George Frances Rose Etta
Grace Lamon, who was born in Sault Ste. Marie,
Ontario, Canada, on February 11, 1882, the
daughter of Henry and Matilda J. (Thompson)
Lamon, natives respectively of Woodstock, On
tario, and county Tyrone, Ireland, 'and now dwell
ing on a farm near the birthplace of Mrs. Lage.
Air. Lage's brothers and sisters are mentioned in
another portion of this work. His wife has one
brother, William H. and three sisters, Mrs.
Sarah A. Bradley, Mrs. Mary E. Magill, and
Airs. Alatilda L. Prescotte. Two children have
been born to our subject and his wife, Florence
Beatrice, aged eighteen months ; and an infant
girl unnamed, born May 25, 1905. Mr. Lage is
a member of the United Artisans and his wife
belongs to that order and the Ladies Degree of
Honor of the A. O. U. W., while they both are
members of the Congregational church.
Airs. Lage's paternal grandfather, Douglas
Lamon, was born in Glasgow, Scotland and mar
ried Rebecca Watson, a native of Dublin, Ireland.
He was a soldier all his life and won many
medals. He was a member of the Fortyninth
Highlanders in the battle of Waterloo. He was

336

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

drowned in Woodstock, Ontario, in 1837. Mrs.
Lage's maternal grandfather was a native born
Highlander and followed school teaching and
linen weaving. He married Sarah J. Curtis, a
native of Tyrone, Ireland, and still living. She
was born just two years previous to the birth of
Queen Victoria, to a day, and is now ninety-
three. Air. Lage's grandmother is now ninety-
three and is living in Schleswig, Germany. Mrs.
Lage's father is of Scotch ancestry and was a
pioneer where he now lives near Sault Ste. Alarie,
and has been there for forty years. His children
who are dead are John J., died May 18, 1899,.
aged thirty-seven ; Margaret R., died February
7, 1888, aged eighteen ; Martha J., died in 1885,
aged eleven ; George F., died when seven. An
other named George F. was born in 1884 and died
one year and a half later. All passed away in
Sault Ste. Marie.

HON. EZRA LEONARD SMITH was born
in Vermont, on September 17, 1837, the son of
Ezra and Avis (Barker) Smith, natives of Con
necticut and Haverhill, New Hampshire, respec
tively. The father came from a prominent Amer
ican family, the first .of whom, Richard Smith,
came to Alassachusetts in 1630.
Ezra L. Smith was educated in the Orleans
Liberal Institute of Glover, Vermont and at Lom
bard University of Galesburg, Illinois. On March
4, 1 86 1, he was married at Woodstock, Illinois to
Georgiana Slocum, second daughter of Ira and
Al arietta (Sheldon) Slocum.
Going to California in 1861, he lived six years
in that state, most of the time in Eldosado county,
where he was interested in mining. In 1865-66,
he was a member of the California legislature
and during his whole residence in California,
was an enthusiastic Republican. In 1867, he was
appointed secretary of Washington territory, upon
the recommendation of William H. Seward, by
President Johnson. A portion of the time he
served as secretary, he also acted as governor
of the territory, owing to the illness and enforced
absence of Governor Marshall. Moore.
Mr. Smith with George A. Barnes and Wil
liam H. Avery established the first bank in Olym
pia, under the name of George A. Barnes & Co.
Mr. Smith also served as a member of the terri
torial council.
After a residence of nine years in Olympia,
on account of failing health, he moved to Hood
River, Oregon, in 1876, where he engaged in
farming and also had a general merchandise store.
He was appointed register , of The Dalles land
office in 1883 and after his term of office expired,

he returned to Hood River, where he has resided
continuously since 1886. In 1888 he was elected
to the Oregon Legislature and he was made speak-
er of the House of Representatives. He was three
times president of the Columbia River Waterway
Association. For three years, he has been presi
dent of the State Horticultural Society and is
serving his fourth year as president of the State
Board of Horticulture. Mr. Smith is an en
thusiastic horticulturist and devoted to the up
building of his home town.
Mr. Smith's family consists of his wife and
four married daughters ; Jessie, wife of Dr. J. F.
Watt; Avis, wife of William M. Stewart;
Georgiana, wife of J. E. Rand ; and Anne C, wife
of Rev. O. J. Nelson.

FRANK C. SHERRIEB, deserves to be es
pecially ranked as one of the pioneers of this
portion of Wasco county, since he was the first
one to settle in his vicinity and since he did much
to open the country then and has labored faith
fully since in building it up and developing the
same. He was born in Wurtemberg, Germany,
July 14, 1845, tne son °f Ignatius and Elizabeth
(Miller) Sherrieb, also natives of the same place
as this son. They came to Pennsylvania and
and there the father died in 1874 and the mother
in 1878. Frank was nine years old when he came
with his parents to Erie county, Pennsylvania
and he remained with them until twenty-two. He
was well educated in the district schools afid then
went to Michigan and labored two years. After
that he engaged with the Union Pacific on con
struction and labored all along the line from
Wyoming west. In 1871, he landed in Portland,
Oregon and three months later came to the Hood
River and homesteaded the place where he now
resides about four miles southwest from the town.
During all the intervening years he has labored
steadily and has made a clean and excellent repu
tation for himself. Of the original quarter sec
tion that he homesteaded, he still owns one hun
dred and thirty-five acres. Mr. Sherrieb does
diversified farming and in addition raises fruit
and operates a dairy.
At Hood River, on May 1, 1887, Mr. Sherrieb
married Mrs. Isabel Rohrabach, nee Boorman,
and a native of Trumbull county, Wisconsin. Her
father, William Boorman, was born in England
and married Miss Lucy Rand, a native of West
Virginia. They both are retired and living in
Hood River. Mr. Sherrieb has one brother,
Robert, and three sisters, Mrs. Rose Shelly, Mrs.
Victoria Baskerville, and Mrs. Sophia Fogle-
baugh. Mrs. Sherrieb has one brother, Alfred

Ezra L. Smith

Frank C. Sberneb

George Perkins

Mrs. George Perkins

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

W

A., and one half brother, Scott Boorman, and four
sisters: Ellen A., the wife of J. H. Ackennan,
superintendent of public instruction of the state
of Oregon ; Mrs. Emma Ellis, Mrs. Minnie Caddy,
and Mrs. Alice Miller. Six children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Sherrieb, Lora, Grace,
Caroline, Leslie, and Ralph, all school children,
Mildred, an infant. Our subject and his wife are
members of the Belmont Methodist church. He
is one of the official board and assisted to organize
the church. Mr. Sherrieb was a moving spirit
in the construction of the present tasty building
belonging to this class and has labored zealously
for the prosperity of the church. He also assisted
to organize ancl build the first Methodist church
of Ogden, Utah, where he lived about two years.
Mr. Sherrieb assisted to organize the first irriga
tion company in the Hood river valley, The Water
Supply Company, and is now president of the
same. He has held some important office in the
organization for twenty-seven years, having been
president for the past six years. He is serving
his tenth year as director of the Barrett district
and helped to organize the same. Fie has been
an enthusiastic and hard laborer for the advance
ment of the school interest of this district from
the beginning and its present prosperous and ad
vanced condition has been brought about by his
wise labors together with others. Politically, Mr.
Sherrieb is a Prohibitionist ancl a stanch man of
principle. He stands excellently in the com
munity.

GEORGE PERKINS, a well known and in
dustrious agriculturist of Mount Hood, was born
in Gloucestershire, England, on December 14,
1 84 1. His parents were John and Sarah (Gibbs)
Perkins, natives of the same place and now de
ceased. Until 1882, our subject labored in his
native land and then went direct from England
to New Zealand and after one year in that coun
try, came to San Francisco, whence he made his
way to Oregon and settled in the Antelope valley
for one year. After that, he resided in the Hood
River country and remained there a short time,
near where the town of Hood River is now lo
cated. After that, he spent a little while at
Mosier, then he came to the place where we now
find him. The land was in dispute between the
government and the railroad and he settled on a
quarter section which reverted to the government
and upon which he proved up. Mr. Perkins took
out his citizenship papers at The Dalles one year
after arriving here.
He has bestowed his labors upon the farm
since settlement and has now a good portion under

cultivation and owns eighty acres, having sold
eighty. He is a man of good standing in the
community, industrious and enterprising and has
many friends.
On March 1, 1895, at Alount Hood, Mr. Per
kins married Mrs. Ann Demmic, a sister of the
well known pioneer, David R. Cooper. By her
former marriage, Airs. Perkins has the following
named children, Joseph, George, John, Zibe, James
and Belle, the wife of Charles Schmidt. Mrs.
Perkins was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on
March 3, 1839. She came to Oregon in Alay,
i860 and remained in the Umpqua valley until
June, 1862, when she came thence to The Dalles.
In i860, she married Hezekiah Russel Demmic.
She remained in The Dalles until 1884, when she
came to Mt. Hood. Air. Perkins has a fine apple-
orchard of four and one half acres, all bearing,
and an acre and one-half of prunes. He also has
five acres of clover, and cultivates fifteen acres.'
His place is well improved with house ancl barn,
and so forth. He took nearly five hundred boxes
of apples from his orchard ancl cut fifty-eight tons
of clover from the five acres.

WILLIAM H. TAYLOR, one of the earliest
pioneers to Oregon, and now one of the largest
orchardists in Wasco county, residing about one
mile south of The Dalles, was born in Knox
county, Illinois, on September 11, 1844. His
parents, James and Elizabeth (Smelser) Taylor,
came from prominent families, the father's of
New England birth and the mother's natives
of the southern part of the United States. The
paternal grandfather of our subject was a wagon
boy in the Revolution and died aged ninety-seven.
Our subject's parents were pioneers in Illinois,
Indiana and Oregon. The father died on March
14, 1888, and the mother on March 27, 1889,
both in Baker county, Oregon. They crossed
the plains in 1852 with their children and, al
though the trip was hard, they were fortunate
not to lose any life by Indians. Still some stock
was stolen and some died. They started with
four yoke of oxen and two horses and arrived at
The Dalles with three oxen. One was traded fot
a trip down the Columbia and they finally reached
the Willamette with one pair of oxen. Settle
ment was made in Linn county, and in 1883 they
came to Umatilla county where our subject had
preceded them three years. William H. had very'
little opportunity to gain an education, being com
pelled to work on the farm then having to walk
three miles each way to school. They came to
Umatilla county and raised stock for eight years'

22

33«

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in that portion which is known as Morrow
county. In 1878, he came to the place where he
now resides and together with his children, owns
nine hundred acres of choice land. He has an
orchard of forty acres, mostly prunes, ancl pro
duces many thousands of boxes of fruit. He
also raises melons and other vegetables. The
place is a valuable one, excellently improved,
while his residence is a large two story white
house, situated in a beautiful lawn with good
shade trees and ornamental shrubbery. An air
of thrift and neatnesss pervades the entire premi
ses and Air. Taylor is known as one of the lead
ing men of this part of the country.
On December 20, 1865, in Linn county, Air.
Taylor married Aliss Alary E. Wigle, a native
of Illinois. Her parents, John and Katherine
(Hunsaker) Wigle, crossed the plains to Ore
gon in 1852. They were of German descent, and
Mrs. Wigle died in Wasco county. Airs. Taylor
died on June 10, 1900.
On October 16, 1901, in Linn county, Air.
Taylor married Nancy E. Kizer, born in Linn
county and the daughter of Alarion and Alary
(Wigle) Kizer. The father came to Oregon in
1853 and dwells on the farm his father bought
after selling his donation claim. The mother was
born in Illinois and came to Linn county with
her people in 1852. They both reside there at
the present time. Air. Taylor has the following
brothers and sisters : Isaiah T„ Susan J. Hearing,
Malinda A. Savage, Julia A. Long, Alary E.
Simon, Lizonia Burnside, and John ]., who died
in Umatilla county, in 1870, aged nineteen. The
rest all reside in Baker county, Oregon. Air.
Taylor's present wife has six brothers ancl two
sisters, all but one living in the Willamette val
ley. His first wife had three brothers. Air.
Taylor's children are named as follows : John
A., a native of Linn county, now at Riverside,
California; James E., born in Linn county and
associated with his father in fruit growing; Al
bert R., born in Wasco county, at home; Wil
liam R., born in Wasco county, a school boy;
Otis J., born in Umatilla county and died when
an infant ; Archie T., born in AVasco county, and
died when an infant; Alartha E., wife of James
Clark, in North Yakima, Washington; Rettie,
the wife of Earl Livenspire, born in LTmatilla
countv and living with her father ; Alice ancl Car
rie, born in LTmatilla county, both deceased, the
former at twentv-six ancl the other at three years
of age. Alice had married Perry Alorgan, and
had two children, Yelma A., living with our sub
ject, and Cecil C, deceased.
Mr. Taylor is an active Democrat, an enter
prising man and one of the best orchardists in
Wasco county.

Since the above was written, Air. Taylor has
erected a fine house at 822 Elm street, The Dalles,
where he resides with his family. One child,
Byron K., in addition to those mentioned, was
born to him and his wife on May 7, 1904.

ARTHUR A. AIARVEL, who resides at
Boyd, is one of the wealthy and solid men of
Wasco county, and has for the years of his resi
dence here manifested great industry and sagac
ity in the conduct of his business. He has won
the success that these qualities deserve, and has
also esconced himself in the good will and esteem
of every one who knows him. The birth of Air.
Alarvel occurred in Dewitt county, Illinois, on
September 8, 1870, and his parents were George
W. and Samantha (Lever) Alarvel, natives of
Indiana. The father's father was born in Alary-
land, descended from an old colonial family. He
now lives in Gilliam county. The mother of our
subject died when he was seven years of age.
In Pottawatomie county, Kansas, Arthur was
reared principally, and there received his educa
tion. The family had come thither when
he was three years of age. In 1887 they all
came overland to Gilliam county and there
Arthur wrought until 1898, when he went
to Alorrow county, in this state, and there
purchased a thousand acres where the town of
Douglas now stands. He sold some lots for the
town, then farmed the balance of the land until
1902, when he sold the entire property and pur
chased a section of land which he recently sold.
Of this he placed over two hundred acres in cul
tivation, and improved it in excellent shape. He
was thrifty as a farmer and cared for all details
of the estate with the same untiring care that is
displayed in the larger matters of the business.
After selling his farm Air. Alarvel purchased the
mill at Boyd, where he now resides.
At Heppner, on October 31, 1900, Air. Alar
vel married Aliss Alillie D. Wilson, a native of
Clackamas county, Oregon. Her father, George
W. Wilson, was born in Alaine and came from
English and Scotch ancestry. He came west to
California, then to Clackamas county in 1878,
where he died in July, 1902. He had married
Alice Garrison, a native of Iowa, who came
across the plains with her parents with ox teams
when a child about eleven years old. She died
in Clackamas county in September, 1883. Mr.
Alarvel has two brothers, George F. and Charles
B. ; one sister, Airs. Mary E. Atkinson ; one half
brother, Wilev R. ; and five half sisters, Florence
G„ Nellie E.,' Ruth G., Lottie L„ and Lillie E.
Mrs. Marvel has one brother, Samuel S. On

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

339

October 13, 1901, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs.
Marvel, whose name is George A. They also
have an infant son unnamed. Mr. Marvel is a
stanch Republican, has been school director and
coroner, but while intelligent in politics, he does
not press for personal preferment. He is affil
iated with theW. W. He and his wife are esti
mable people, good patriotic and substantial citi
zens, and are among the most popular people of
the community.

RALPH E. BUTLER, an enterprising and
-genial young man, whose residence is in the
vicinity of Nansene, was born in Tygh valley,
Wasco county, on February 23, 1879. His
father, Jonathan Butler, was born in Indiana and
came to California in 1849, crossing the plains
with ox teams. Later he mined in the Rogue
river country and then settled in the Willamette
valley. After that he came to Wasco county and
in 1879 was living in the Tygh valley where our
subject was born. After holding land there by
squatter's right for several years, he came to the
place now owned by our subject and remained
until his death. He had married Mary A. Fos
ter, who came to Oregon with her parents in
1849, crossing the plains with ox teams also.
The first settlement of the Fosters was in the
Rogue river valley. After Mr. Butler's death,
his widow homesteaded the land where they
lived and also bought more. She handled the
•estate until her death, which occurred on July
16, 1901. Our subject purchased from the heirs
three hundred ancl forty acres of the estate and
since then has given his attention to the cultiva
tion and improvement of the same. He has also
taken a homestead near by where he resides at
this time. He is one of the well known young
men of the community and has shown commenda
ble industry and thrift in his labors and in hand
ling his property. His education was received
from the public schools here, and he is a product
of which Wasco county may well be proud. As
yet, he has chosen to take the path of single
blessedness' and is a bachelor, jolly and genial.
Mr. Butler has four brothers ; William H, a
mining man in the Greenhorn district in Baker
county, this state; Robert L., with his elder
brother ; Ebon P., at Nansene ; Miron S., also
at Nansene ; he also his two sisters, Leonore
the wife of Avisson F. Haynes, at Dufur ; Nellie
M., the wife of Walter J. Jones, in Crescent City,
California. Mr. Butler is an active and well informed
Democrat and gives of his time to serve on the %
school board.

HON. NEWTON CLARK, who is grand
recorder for the A. O. U. W. at Portland, Ore
gon, having office at 203 Commercial block, and
a residence at 400 Broadway, in that city, is
entitled to representation in this volume since he
has lived for many years at Hood River and did
much to open up and build up this portion of
Wasco county. He was born in Illinois, on May
27, 1838, the son of Thomas L. and Delilah
(Saddoris) Clark, natives of Indiana and Ohio,
respectively. The mother's parents were Ger
man and she is now living with our subject, aged
ninety. The father came to Wisconsin as a
pioneer in the early forties. In 1877, accom
panied by his wife and our subject, he drove
across the plains to Oregon. Our subject's wife
and children came a year later. Our subject was
a small child when the journey to Wisconsin
was made, and he remained in the Badger state
until grown to manhood, receiving there his edu
cation from the district schools and the Point
Bluffs institute, graduating from the latter with
honors. After that, Mr. Clark followed farming
and the mercantile business for some time. After
that, he journeyed to Oregon in 1877 and did
farming and surveying in Wasco county. He
bought state land at Hood River and resided
here eleven years. He also owns property here
at the present time. After that period had
elapsed, he was appointed to his present position
and still retains the same.
On October 14, i860, at North Freedom, Wis
consin, Mr. Clark married Mary A. Hill, a native
of Scotland and the daughter of William Hill,
who was born in the same country and followed
milling. Mr. Clark has no brothers or sisters,
and Mrs. Clark has the following named brothers
and sisters : William, James, Douglas, Mrs. Eliz
abeth Lehmer, Jeanette Petteys.
Politically, Air. Clark is an active and influ
ential Republican. In South Dakota he was a
member of the territorial legislature and made
an excellent record in that body. He was chair
man of the board of county commissioners in
Minnehaha county for many years and Clark
county was named in his honor. He has been
active in the conventions since coming to Ore
gon, but has aspired to no political office.
Fraternally, he is allied with the G. A. R.
and the A. O. U. W. In September, 1861, Mr.
Clark enlisted in the Fourteenth Volunteer In
fantry, Company K, as private, and was mustered
out in October, 1865, as regular quartermaster.
He was in fourteen of the principle battles under
Grant and was all through the western campaign.
He participated in the Red River campaign under
General Canbyr and was under him at the siege
of Mobile when peace was declared. Mr. Clark

34Q

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

furnished the flag put up on the Vicksburg court
house when the war was ended. He has been
a prominent and progressive citizen in the various
places where he has resided and is remembered
in Wasco county as a man of bright mind and
public spirit.

HEWITT RING is well known, not only
in Wasco county, but all through this part of
Oregon. Since 1875 he has handled the well
known stage station located at Nansene where
he has demonstrated himself a genial and capa
ble host to the traveling public. His place is well
known and greatly appreciated. In addition to
this, he owns a fine farm besides other property.
Hewitt Ring was born in Missouri, on Sep
tember 12, 1850, the son of Thomas and Mar
garet (Hewitt) Ring. The father was a native
of Virginia and his parents came from old col
onial stock. He died in Benton county, Oregon,
on November 19, 1865. His father was born m
Pennsylvania and her father came thither from
Germany. Her mother was a native of the Em
erald Isles. She died on November 10, 1885,
at Salem, Oregon. They had crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1852 when our subject was an
infant. When their train reached the Clearwater
Mr. Ring was taken with cholera and suffered
from that dread disease while they traveled four
hundred miles. He was the only member of
the train that had the disease, and finally recov
ered. They settled in Polk county and then went
to Benton county, where they took a donation
claim. Our subject was educated in that county
and when sixteen went to the mines at Canyon
City. Three years later, he went to Nebraska
and rented land for three years. Then he re
turned to Oregon and was married on March
7, 1877, at Jefferson, Marion county, to Amanda
Montgomery, who was born in Georgia, on Au
gust 20, 1857. Her father, King Montgomery,
was also a native of Georgia and his parents of
the same state. The Montgomery family is an
old and influential one there. He married Mary
Hemphill, a native of North Carolina. Her par
ents were of colonial stock and she and her hus
band came to Oregon in 1875, settling near Mar
ion county. Mrs. Ring has two brothers, John
and George, and two sisters, Mrs. Mary Shelton
and Mrs. Sophronia Taylor. Mr. Ring has two
brothers, Jesse and Rufus, and one sister, Mrs.
Virginia Wagner. Following his marriage, our
subject rented a farm in Marion county and re
mained in the Willamette valley until September
4, 1875, when he arrived in Wasco county, where
he filed on a homestead near Nasene postoffice.
After farming it for seven years, he sold out

and bought the place where he now resides,.
which was known as the John Adams estate. It
has been a stage station ever since 1874 and also
a postoffice, Airs. Ring being postmistress. Five
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ring:
Winfred, at home; Cora, wife of George Stirn
weis at Nansene; Caledonia, wife of William.
Taylor, a farmer at Dufur ; Lelia, the wife of
Paul Maxwell in Yamhill county; and Maude at
home. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have two children,.
Helen G. and Malcolm.

DANIEL L. CATES is a popular man in
Wasco county and has been prominent for years
in business circles and political life. He was
born in Lane county, Oregon, on May 7, 1857,
the son of John and Sarah E. (Grice) Cates. The
mother was born in Maryland and died in i860,
our subject being a small boy. The father was
born in Kentucky, in 1825, and came from a
family of early pioneers. He crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1849, then returned east the-
next year via the isthmus. After that he thread
ed the dreary plains again and settled in Lane-
county. In 1859, ne came to Wasco county
and raised stock until 1872 when he moved to
The Dalles and now resides there. Daniel L.
was educated in the district schools and then
completed in the high school at The Dalles.
Following those days he did sawmilling until
1886, when he entered the sheriff's office as
deputy and continued until 1890. Then he was
nominated on the Democratic ticket for sheriff
of Wasco county and was elected by a good ma
jority, being one of two Democrats chosen in the
county. After a term of excellent service Mr.
Cates turned his attention to other business and
soon came to Cascade Locks, where he resides at
the present time. He purchased a large quantity
of timber land and has given his attention to
lumbering largely since that time. He also is
interested in salmon fishing and has two wheels..
He owns a farm across the Columbia in Wash
ington, and other property. Mr. Cates was con
ducting a merchandise business for some time
here. On October 9, 1889, at The Dalles, Mr.
Cates married Miss Alice DeHuff, a native of
Portland. Her parents, Peter and Mary F.
(Stryker) DeHuff, reside in The Dalles and
were born in York, Pennsylvania, and Kenosha,
Wisconsin, respectively. The father is engaged
on the O. R. & N. as a mechanic. Our subject
has one brother, William A., and two sisters,
Sarah E. Frizzell, and Susan C. Wilson. Mrs..
Cates has two sisters, Mary F. AlcCornack and.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

34i

Katrina Morris. To Mr. and Mrs. Cates three
children have been born, Harold DeH, Ruth,
and Albert L. Mr. Cates is a member of the
K. P., the A. F. & A. AL, the R. A. AL, the W.
O. W., and the Elks. He and his wife belong
to the Circle of the W. W. Air. Cates has passed
through the chairs of the K. P. Lodge, and has
been prominent in organizing different lodges.
He is a popular fraternal man ancl well known.
His wife was the first guardian neighbor of the
W. W. Circle, No. 232. Politically, Air. Cates
is an active and well informed Democrat of much
influence and well liked throughout the county.
He is secretary and stockholder of the Cascade
Locks Water Company. Airs. Cates belongs to
the Episcopal church and is an active worker.

A1ARTIN JAKSHA has achieved in Wasco
county a success in which ' any man might take
¦great pride. Many things happened to defeat
bim and would have overcome a less resolute
and determined man. The obstacles in his path
way only developed in him a corresponding deter
mination to overcome them and make himself
master of the situation. A public spirited, gen
erous man, industrious ancl upright, he has won
his way through from a position in which he
possessed no property until he is now one of the
well-to-do citizens of Wasco county.
Air. Jaksha was born in Austria, on October
17, 1848, the son of John and Anna (Golovich)
Jaksha, natives of the same country, where also
they remained until their death. In 1878, we find
our subject in Chicago. After a few days in that
metropolis he came on to Joliet, Illinois, and
worked out for six months. His next move was
to Iowa, and, after working on a farm for some
time there, he landed in Portland, in 1879. He
worked for one month in the city and then six
months in Washington county, and in the spring
of 1880 came to Wasco county with scarcely
enough money to file on a homestead. His place
"is situated near the free bridge road ten miles
out from The Dalles. He at once started to work
to improve the homestead and make of it a choice
farm. Although his progress was very slow still
he has succeeded admirably and now has an estate
of over five hundred acres, four hundred acres
of which are choice tillable soil. This year sees
two hundred and seventy acres of this estate
bearing excellent crops of wheat, and the im
provements on the farm show Air. Jaksha's taste
and sagacity. In addition to all this, he pur
chased a fine farm which cost him two thousand
five hundred dollars and presented it to his step
daughter.

On January 31, 1884, at The Dalles, Air.
Jaksha married Airs. Albina Pashek, who was
born in Bohemia. She has five brothers and two
sisters, Carl, Frank, Wentzel, John, Anton, Airs.
Anna Divokey, and Airs. Alary Schuster. Air.
Jaksha has two brothers, John and Peter, and two
sisters, Airs. Anna Pasich and Apolona. To
Mr. and Mrs. Jaksha two children have been
born, Andrew, a student at Alount Angel, and
Joseph, at home. By her first marriage in Bohe
mia, Airs. Jaksha has one daughter, Anna, the
wife of George Jacobson. She is the daughter
to whom Air. Jaksha presented the farm. In
addition to this, he purchased the right of a
homestead adjoining that farm and she ancl Air.
Jacobson reside there at this time.
Mr. Jaksha has been prominent in political
matters and has held various offices. He and his
wife are both members of the Roman Catholic
church. In addition to the property mentioned,
he owns two lots in The Dalles. Air. Jaksha
was not favored with a good opportunity to
secure an education, but owing to his inquiring
mind ancl a determination to master all obstacles,
he can read and write and speak the English
language fluently, and in addition thereto, can
read and write four other languages. This indi
cates the manner of man Air. Jaksha is, and he
is to be greatly commended upon his achieve
ments.

GEORGE A. HARTH has made a record
in Wasco count}- that speaks very plainly of his
ability and sagacity. A brief epitome of his life
can hut prove interesting and with pleasure we
append the same.
George A. Harth was born in Wisconsin on
September 7, 1848, the son of Frederick and
Teresse (Best) Harth, natives of Germany. The
father came to the United States, settling in
Milwaukee, then a small village, in 1834, then
took a homestead in the heavy timber twenty-
three miles from that town and spent twenty
years in clearing up the land and improving it.
Later, he sold and moved to Trempealeau county,
Wisconsin, and bought government land where
he remained until his death in 1887, being then
aged seventy-seven. He was a very active and
enthusiastic Republican, was prominent ancl in
fluential in early days in Wisconsin, held various
offices ancl was an excellent man. His wife came
with him from Germany, where thev were mar
ried, ancl died in 18S9. aged^ seventy-two. Her
parents came from a very prominent family and
are related to the famous brewer. Best. Our
subject remained with his parents until twenty-
six, having received, in the meantime, ' a pood

342

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

public education. Then he went to Dakota and
took land and remained until 1891.
On December 25, 1875, at Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, Mr. Harth married Miss Phebe J. Sims,
who was born in Iowa. Her father was born
in New York and married Miss Sarah Josslyn.
The Sims family is a very prominent and influ
ential one in all professions and commercial life.
The noted Dr. Marion Sims is one of tnis family.
The Josslyns were promoters of a very large
land grant in the early days of the colonies and
many of them were in the Revolution. Many of
Mrs. Harth's immediate ancestors were among
the brave minute men in those days of trouble.
Mr. Harth has three brothers, Philip, John W.,
and Fred, and the following named sisters : Mrs.
Effie Uhl, Mrs. Christian Uhl, Mrs. Kate Boul-
ing, Mrs. Rachel Jacobus, Mrs. Mary Adams,
and Mrs. Rosie Neely. Mrs. Harth has two
brothers, Thomas ^L. and Charles A., and one
sister, Airs. Adeline Park. Four children have
been born to our subject and his wife: Charles
A., a stockman at Canyon City; Rosie, Mabel
and George, at home.
Airs. Harth is a member of the Evangelical
church. In politics, Mr. Harth is independent,
well informed and active. In 1891, Mr. Harth
was forced out of Dakota by the drouth and
came to Multnomah county, Oregon. Three
years later, he landed in Wasco county with
eighty-five dollars and four horses, that being
the only property that he owned. He was be
friended by Mr. J. A. Gulliford, who rented him
land, and since that time he has prospered ex
ceedingly. Mr. Gulliford, by the way, has taken
great pleasure in assisting many men in the same
position in which Mr. Harth found himself, and
owing to these kind and manly deeds many a
man has come from a place of poverty to com
petence. Mr. Harth has bought land at different
times until now he has nine hundred acres, all
tillable soil, one half section of which is said
to be as fine as is found in northern Oregon. He
is a man of thrift and industry and his estate
shows it. When all the improvements, that he
is contemplating, are made, he will have one
of the finest places to be found in the west, and
Mr. Harth Is to be congratulated upon the brill
iant success he has achieved.

GEORGE W. RICE is practically a product
of Oregon, having crossed the plains with his
parents when only a year old. He was born in
Iowa, on January 7, 1850, the son of Horace
and Eliza J. (Bolton) Rice, who are mentioned
specifically in another portion of the volume.

The journey across the plains was fraught with
great suffering and trial, but our subject was too
young to remember these incidents, and his
earliest recollections are of the Web-foot state
and with it his fortune has been linked since.
When the weary immigrants arrived in the Wil
lamette valley the}' were all recuperated and
found work and our subject was reared and edu
cated until about thirteen, the old donation claim
in Lane county being the home place. Then he
came east of the mountain with his father and in
this section completed the education he had begun.
in the west. He labored under the direction of a
skillful father, one of the most prominent men
of the county, and was well trained in the art
of farming and stock raising. Until he was
twenty-seven, he remained with his father and
then he took a homestead for himself, about three
miles southeast from his present home. This
was the scene of his labors and successes until
1902, when he sold it and purchased the old
home place from his father, — the place where
so much of his life had been spent and around
which so many pleasant memories cluster. Here
Mr. Rice is established and is manifesting the
same sagacity that made his father successful.
It will be remembered that this estate is the one
where the first orchard of any size was raised
in this county, where the elder Rice demonstrated
that the up land will produce the best of grain,
and with it are thus connected some of the most
important items of Wasco history. It consists
of one thousand acres, six hundred of which are
tillable. Mr. Rice cultivates this year about
four hundred acres, and the entire estate shows
his care and thrift.
At The Dalles, in 1880, Mr. Rice married
Miss Ella Southern, the sister of Charles H.
Southern, who is mentioned elsewhere in this
work. She was born in Delaware county, Iowa,
on July 3, 1863. To this marriage one child has
been born, Naomi, who first saw the light on
February 15, 1901, in The Dalles. Mr. Rice
is a Republican, but not especially active although
he is often at the conventions. He is a man of
stability and influence as his father before him,
and stands well in the community. His wife is
a well known lady and comes from an excellent
family. They are popular and good people and
have done much to assist in making Wasco-
county prosperous as it is today.

ENOCH E. ANDERSON has achieved a
good success in Wasco county and is to be num
bered among its prosperous and enterprising agri
culturists at this day. He was born in Sweden,
on January 3, 1866, the son of Carl E. and Ka-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

343

trina (Broman) Anderson, both natives of Swe
den. The father was a graduate of a prominent
Stockholm college and devoted his life to preach
ing the gospel in the Lutheran church. He was a
powerful preacher and held some of the best
churches in the kingdom. For some years he also
preached in Christiana. His home place ad
joined a village and there our subject studied as
well as in other places where the family lived
during the father's life work. The elder Ander
son was a great worker for education and used
to give much of the fruit of his farm for presents
to the young for incentive to better study. He
died in Sweden in 1894. The mother still lives
there. She was a faithful helpmeet to her hus
band in his work and for years was an active
Sunday school worker and teacher. About 1884,
Enoch E. came to the United States and for two
years wrought in Nebraska. Then he spent six
years in California in railroad work, and after
that came to Coos bay, Oregon, and there and in
various other places west of the mountains, he
wrought for a number of years, and finally came
to this county. He worked for one year for Mr.
Callaghan and then he took a homestead which
he later sold. In 1901, Mr. Anderson bought
the place where he now resides, and since that
time he has continued here in the cultivation and
improvement of it. The estate consists of four
hundred acres, three-fourths of which are tilla
ble. It is one of the best medium sized farms in
the county and is being brought to a high state
of cultivation by the care and skill of Mr. An
derson. At The Dalles, in 1891, Mr. Anderson mar
ried Miss Julia Ryan. She was born in Califor
nia, and her parents, Thomas F. and Catherine
(Morrissey) Ryan, who are natives of Ireland,
are mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Mr.
Anderson has one brother, Carl, and two sisters,
Lydia Johnson and Elizabeth Lundquist. To
our subject and his wife five children have been
born, Carl, Gust P., Kate, Lucille, and Selma.
Mr. Anderson is a member of the W. W., and in
politics is a strong Republican. He is a member
of the Lutheran church and his wife belongs to
the Roman Catholic church. They are good sub
stantial people ancl have made a good record.

MARSHALL HILL, who resides about one
mile south from The Dalles, is one of the earliest
pioneers of Oregon and has passed a thrilling
and eventful career. He is one of the highly
esteemed men of Wasco county and is respected
by all. His birth occurred in Knoxville, Ten
nessee, on April 17, 1836, being the son of Clai

borne and Polly (Cates) Hill, both natives of
eastern Tennessee. The father's ancestors were
natives of Virginia and of English extraction,
while the mother's people were a prominent
southern family. Our subject came to Iowa
with his parents in 1839, where the father bought
a large quantity of land from the government.
Being a sickly man, he depended on his sons to
handle the extensive farm, and our subject
learned to handle the plow when a lad of twelve
years. The schooling was three months in the
winter, and as the opportunity was limited, young
Hill was forced to rely largely on his own per
sonal research for his training. In 1852, the
father sold his Iowa land and purchased two
hundred cattle and twenty horses and mules and
came west to Oregon. Upon arriving here he
had fifty cattle, three horses and two mules.
They settled near Brownsville, and the father
died in 1855. Alarshall enlisted in Captain
Blakeley 's company to fight in the Rogue river
war and served until peace was restored. Fol
lowing that he joined his uncle in care of his
cattle at Suisun, California, and remained until
the stock was destroyed in a flood. Then they
both went to mining on the Colo river in Arizona.
They organized a company with Judge Watson
and other prominent Californians as stockholders,
and went to developing the claims. All was pro--
gressing smoothly until the Apache- Indians at^
tacked them and they fled for their lives. Thev
hurried across Death valley and only by the
friendly occurrence of a terrible simoon were
they saved from the murderous savages. Several
of their party were killed by the storm. Mr.
Hill and his uncle were not to be thwarted and
later, as they had done before, they dealt telling
blows to the savages and many an one bit the
dust in mortal combat with these successful In
dian fighters. Mr. Hill eventually made his way
back to Oregon, and then to Idaho, near Silver
City, and finally he came to the vicinity of The
Dalles, where he has been since. His time has
been devoted to stock raising and he has suc
ceeded well in a financial point of view. Mr.
Hill has done much excellent labor for the church
to which he belongs as well as. for the cause in
general, ancl he is known far and near as an
enthusiastic worker in this line, as well as in
political matters, being a zealous Prohibitionist.
At Albany, Oregon, on Alarch 29, 1868, Mr.
Hill married Afiss P. Belinda Thomas, who was
born in Illinois, the daughter of Argalous and
Julia Thomas, natives of New York. To Air.
and Airs. Hill the following named children have
been born : Edwin M., operating a blacksmith
shop in Dufur ; Roy, with his parents ; Melissa,
a member of the faculty of the McMinnville col-

344

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

lege ; Julia, a teacher of experience ; and Bertha,
wife of J. B. Sprite, a Baptist minister at Har
rington, Washington. Mr. and Airs. Hill are
zealous and faithful members of the Baptist
church in The Dalles and are great workers in
the cause of the gospel and prohibition. Air.
Hill is vice-president of the Prohibition League
of The Dalles.
Mr. Hill was one of the most fearless Indian
fighters on the frontier, and was in many engage
ments in various places. He was in charge of the
scouts under General Crook, in Idaho, in 1867.

HON. THOMAS H. JOHNSTON, of the
mercantile firm of "Johnstons," Dufur, Oregon,
was born at Centreville, New Brunswick. Can
ada, on November 30, 1852.
Sketches of his parents appear elsewhere in
this work. Until 1876 our subject was reared and
educated in Canada, in that year going to Cali
fornia where he settled in Sonoma county, remain
ing three years. He then came to The Dalles,
Oregon, and for one year was employed as purser
on the river steamers. Mr. Johnston then en
gaged in the fruit, fish and vegetable business and
a year subsequently was in the employment of
Wingate & Company. With that firm he re
mained two years, going thence to Dufur, where
he purchased the general merchandise business
of C. A. Williams, in company with his brother,
George, as a partner. In the fall of 1904, our
subject, with his brother, George, ancl his brother
John, and W. A. Johnston of The Dalles, organ
ized a company, incorporating under the laws of
the state, the name being "Johnstons," with a
capital of $50,000. They have erected a hand
some, two story edifice of brick, eightv by ninety-
four feet, with electric elevator, the only one in
the town, and electric lights, with other modern
conveniences. They carry on an extensive busi
ness and are one of the leading establishments in
this part of the state. Air. Johnston has for
years worked assiduously to secure a railroad to
Dufur from the main line, and has at last gained
the proper concessions. He is also interested in
the Wasco Warehouse & Milling Company,
Johnstons Stock & Land Company, Johnstons
Bank, ancl is the real promoter of the Great
Southern Railroad, being also director of it.
Our subject has four brothers ancl five sisters,
viz. : George W. and John C. partners ; J. Henry,
a druggist at Dufur; Samuel B.. a farmer resid
ing near Dufur ; ATary E., wife of George Briggs,
cattle man and butcher ; Annie, married to George
McClintock, a contractor and builder : Sophia,
wife of Horace Estebrooks, a farmer ; Clara, wife

of Samuel Gallagher, a farmer ; and Rose, mar
ried to Harry Clark, a farmer and machinist.
December 6, 1882, at The Dalles, Air. John
ston was married to Laura E. Krause, born at
The Dalles, the daughter of George and Emma
(Murhard) Krause,- both natives of Germany.
In 1853 her father came to the United States,
settling first in California. In 1862 he came to
The Dalles, and for years he was engaged in the
wholesale and general merchandise business. He
erected the first brewery in The Dalles. He died
in 1876. The mother, who was married in Ger
many, accompanied her husband to Oregon, where
she passed from earth in 1897. Airs. Johnston
has one brother, George, a farmer and fruit raiser,
residing near The Dalles ; and two sisters, Ida,
wife of David Creighton, farmer and fruit raiser,
near The Dalles ; and Caroline, widow of Benja
min Korten, late of Portland, Oregon. Air. and
Mrs. Johnston have two children, Amy L., aged
twenty, a student in Portland Academy, and Edna
V., aged twelve years, living at home with her
parents. The fraternal affiliations of our subject are
with the K. of P., of which he is Past -C. C, and
member of the grand lodge ; B. P O. E., and
A. O. U. W., being past noble grand. He is a
Republican and was elected state senator from the
Twenty-first senatorial district of Oregon in 1900.
He has been chairman of the county central
committee and is a member of the Republican
state central committee, and always active in
campaigns, taking a patriotic interest in all politi
cal issues.

F. HOWARD ISENBERG, the present pop
ular and efficient priricipal of the Cascade Locks
school, was born in Huntington county, Penn
sylvania, on July 25, 1874, the son of Miles P.
and Tillie A. (Jones) Isenberg, natives of Penn
sylvania, and mentioned elsewhere in this vol
ume. When Howard was an infant, the family
came to Iowa, settling in Grinnell county, thence
they went to Hastings, Nebraska, and a short
time later, settled in Kansas. After that, the
father entered the employ of the government, and
came to the Hood River in 1892. Our subject
had attended public school in the various places
where he had lived ancl began teaching near
Boyd. He also taught at many other places
throughout this portion of the state and studied
at the same time. He was a member of the Ore
gon State Militia Hospital Corps and was called
to go to the Philippines while teaching. He
went with the Second Oregon, and when he ar
rived at Cavite he was transferred to the regular
armv First Corps, reporting to Major Herbert

Thomas H. Jobnston

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

345

W. Cardwell. He acted as clerk of this office
-and then was made acting hospital steward until
his discharge. During action he was orderly to
John Lawton, and when he came home he was
noncommissioned officer on the staff of Colonel
Victor Duboce. He was mustered out at Pre
sidio on September 13, 1899. Then he returned
home, entering the university at Portland. After
that, he again began teaching and on January 2,
1 90 1, took the position that he now occupies,
having held the same continuously since. He
has shown himself to be a capable ancl faithful
educator and his work is among the best in the
state. On April 28, 1901, Mr. Isenberg married
Miss Zelda F. Steel, a native of Michigan, the
wedding occurring in Cascade Locks. Her
father, Frank W. Steel, was a native of Penn
sylvania and died at Cascade Locks on January
12, 1904. He was a veteran of the Civil war
having been in the naval department during the
entire struggle. By trade, he was an engineer.
He married Miss Margaret Downey, a native of
Ireland, who came to the United States when
eight years of age. She died at Macosta, Alich
igan, in 1894. Mrs. Isenberg has three brothers,
Frank W., George R., and James, and four sis
ters, Hannah Simpson, Lydia, Eunice, and Nellie.
Mr. Isenberg is a member of the K. P., while he
and his wife belong to the Rathbone Sisters.
She is also a member of the circle of the W. W.
Mr. Isenberg was a delegate to the last three
Republican county conventions and secretary of
the last two. He is prominent and influential in
politics and has always taken a keen interest in
the affairs of the county ancl state. For the
past four years, during vacation, he has acted as
bookkeeper for the Hood River Fruit Growers'
Union. He is a man of ability and integrity ancl
stands especially well in this county.

CHARLES H. SWETT is a native son of
Oregon and has spent the major portion of his
life in the state. He was born in Douglas countv,
on March 21, 1867, the son of James B. and Julia
E. (Potter) Swett, natives of Illinois and Ore
gon, respectively, and now dwelling near Ellens-
burg. Washington. The mother's parents crossed
the plains with ox teams in 1849, and her father,
William Potter, filed on a donation claim six
miles out from Oregon City. The parents of
our subject lived in various places in Oregon,
ancl his education was gained in Jackson, Doug
las ancl Crook counties, Oregon, and in Kittitas
countv, Washington. About 1886, he came to
Wasco countv ancl filed a homestead on an eighty

where he now lives. In addition to this, Mrs.
Swett owns a half section here which makes a
nice estate of four hundred acres. Mr. Swett
devotes himself to general farming and also
raises some stock. He was married in The
Dalles, on Alay 28, 1894, to Mrs. Alice J. Potter,
who was born in Lane county, Oregon,, on Au
gust 3, 1867, the daughter of John and Lucinda
(Aloore) Hanna, natives of Indiana and Illi
nois, respectively. The father crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1852, ancl the mother came
across with her parents in 185 1. Settlement was
made in the Willamette valley and in 1870 they
came to this county ancl now' reside near Boyd
Air. Swett has the following named brothers and
sisters: Cornelius C, Lord M., Frank E., Wil
liam A., Harry, James R., Mrs. Mary E. Roland,
Airs. Eveline N. Fowler, Mrs. Elmira DeWese,
ancl Sadie AL, single. Airs. Swett has brothers
ancl sisters as named below : George, Henry, Jo
seph, John, Fred, Stephen, ancl Airs. Lucy Swett.
The last one named is the wife of Mr. Cornelius
Swett, our subject's brother. To our subject
and his wife four children' have been born. Elmer
J., Annie Al., Ernest E., and Thomas L. In
political matters, Mr. Swett is independent, and
is intelligently posted on the issues and questions
of the day. He is a man who has continued
steadily along in the work of farming and has
done his share to build up the county.

MILES P. ISENBERG is one of the well
known men of Wasco county. He was born on
September 1, 1843, in Huntington county, Penn
sylvania. His father, William, was a native of
the same place ancl was born in 1797, and his
parents came from Afaryland, in 1761. They
were natives of Germany who were brought to
America when children, bv their parents. The
name was originally Von Isenberg, ancl they are
one of the old German families which dates back
for many centuries. Arnold Von Isenberg was
archbishop of Treves during the time of King
Rudolph of the fourteenth century. He had
charge of the fictitious holy coat of Christ, and
the family still hold important positions in the
German government. Prince Karl Isenberg is
today a member of the Prussian house of lords.
Robert Barr, in his historical novel, Tekla, gives
a history of Arnold \ron Isenberg ancl his times.
They were a race of warriors, priests, preachers
ancl patriots. In this country, the Isenbergs have
been prominent in every American struggle and
on October 11, 1861, our subject enlisted in Com
pany E, Fifth Pennsylvania AYilunteer Infantry,
and first saw action in Drainsville, fighting under

346

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

McClellan. He was in the battles under that
general and was wounded in the battle of Cat-
lett Station, by a saber cut on the arm. In
August, 1865, Mr. Isenberg was mustered out
of service, having participated in nearly all the
battles of the Army of the Potomac. After the
war, he prospected for some years and in 1876,
went to Iowa, later to Nebraska, then to Kansas^
where he lived fourteen years. He was twice
sheriff of Rooks county, Kansas, and then was
appointed special agent for the general land
office. Afterward he came to Hood River, in
that office, and, liking the country, resigned his
position and bought property here. He was later
appointed supervisor of the Cascade Forest Re
serve with division headquarters at Hood River.
He owns a farm on Belmont place and raises
strawberries and apples.
On October 9, 1866, at Alexander, Pennsyl
vania, Mr. Isenberg married Aliss Tillie A. Jones.
who was born in Franklin Forge, Pennsylvania.
Her parents, Isaac ancl Tillie A. (AIcMutrie)
Jones were natives of Pennsylvania. Mr. Isen
berg has the following named brothers and sisters :
Three pairs of twins, who died in infancy ; Ben
jamin, Rebecca, Sarah, Alfred K, Susannah,
Rosanna, Marie, Louisa, and Marshall. Mrs.
Isenberg's brothers and sisters are named as fol
lows: Arthur, Henry, Ella, Katie, Marietta,
Fanny, and Jane. To our subject and his wife
ten children have been born ; Lydia E., wife of
S. W. Arnold, contractor and builder at Hood
River ; Bess, a teacher in the Hood River valley ;
William, now in the employ of William Steward,
of Hood River ; Howard, principal of the schools
at Cascade Locks; Marshall H., at home; Walter
-A., a merchant in Hood River ; Ellie E., Elmer
W., Pearl I. and Lena L., at home.
Mr. Isenberg is a member of the G. A. R.,
and has been very prominent in these circles, hold
ing many important official positions. He is a
strong Republican and a man of ability and influ
ence. He has, at this writing, just completed a
term as sergeant-at-arms of the twenty-third ses
sion of the Oregon legislature, having the record
of being a very efficient officer.

FRANK CHANDLER is a very active and
progressive business man as will be noticed in
perusing a review of his life. He is one of the
wealthy and leading land owners of Wasco
county and resides at Hood River. He was born
in Iowa, on September 23, 1850. His father,
David Al. Chandler, was born at St. Catherines,
Canada, whither his parents moved from New
York, where they were born. His father, the

grandfather of our subject, was a wagonmaker
by trade. He had several hundred acres of land
in Canada and also was engaged in flour milling
and various other enterprises. During the re
bellion there he was colonel of the militia on the
side of the British, later he joined the rebels. He
was taken prisoner by the government officers
and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Owing to Masonic influence, his sentence was-
afterward commuted to banishment to Van Die-
men's land. Through the influence of a brother
Alason, who was a captain of a vessel, he was
taken thence and afterwards brought to the
United States and lived the balance of his days
in Jackson county, Iowa. His name was Samuel
C. Chandler. Our subject's father was fourteen
years of age then and was put in prison, but the
government later decided he was too young to
have criminally participated in the rebellion and
was released and ordered out of the country.
With his mother and the rest of the children,.
eleven, they all came to Iowa where the father
joined them. There he was reared ancl educated
and lived. His brother, Samuel C, was for many
years professor of Geology in Columbia College
and presented the famous Chandler collection to
that institution. He was a prominent writer on
geological and theological questions. Our sub
ject's father died in 1884. He had married Eliza
Goodenough, a native of New York and from a
very prominent colonial family. The Chandler-
family as well as the Goodenough family were
all very prominent people during colonial days
and participated in all the wars connected with
the colonies and the United States. Some of the
ancestors came to this country on the Alayflower.
The mother of our subj ect died when he was three
vears of age and then he was raised by his step
mother and received a good education from the
district schools, the academy and the business
college. After that, he worked on his uncle's
farm then took a position as steamboat agent in
Lyons, Iowa, and two years later, kept books m
various places then went on the road as traveling
salesman for Durands ancl Company, wholesale
grocers of Chicago. Later, we find him in a gen
eral merchandise business in western Iowa,
whence he moved to Bancroft, Nebraska ancl sold
out. After that, he was in the drug business in
Omaha and finally sold to M. B. Howell and went
on the road for D. Al. Steel, a wholesale grocer
of Omaha. Finally, at 2 p. m. one October day,
he resigned his position for this house ancl at 6
p. m., on the same clay took the train for Oregon.
He was engaged with Wadhams & Company of
Portland then located a farm in the Hood River-
valley and a year later resigned the same ancl went
on the road again for Liggitt and Aleyers a-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

347'

large tobacco house. He was division manager
later, for the Wetmore Tobacco Company, hand
ling Alontana, Wyoming, New Alexico, Washing
ton, Arizona and Colorado. Finally, in 1902, Mr.
Chandler retired from the road and settled down
in Hood River and purchased a fine home on the
hill. He sold his farm for eleven thousand dol
lars and had in the meantime, purchased four
hundred acres more of very fine fruit and grain
land. One hundred acres are in cultivation and
the balance is all tillable. He has three separate
farms and has a bearing orchard of over twenty-
five acres. He personally supervises the places
he owns and is a very active and energetic man.
On April 13, 1880, at Jefferson, Iowa, Air.
Chandler married Airs. Alary E., the daughter of
Arza T. Lyons. She was born in Whithall, New
York, and her father was a native of the same
state. The family was a prominent American one
and the father at the time of his death in 1905
was a large paint manufacturer. Air. Chandler
has one brother living, Delos B. Mrs. Chandler
has one sister, Eliza Davis. To Air. and Mrs.
Chandler, one child has been born, William O.
Our subject is a member of the A. F & A. AL,
and a good substantial Republican.

WILLIAAI S. CRAPPER, whose father
founded Crapper district, is one of the industrious
farmers of the Hood River valley and lives about
six miles south from town. He was born in
Clayton county, Iowa, on January 24, 1865, the
son of Dorsey S. and Elizabeth (Cottrell) Crap
per. The father was born in Kentucky, and his
father was a native of Scotland and a ship owner.
Our subject's great-grandfather was a patriot in
the 'Revolution and served four years in the field
and three chained to the deck of a prison ship.
He was a companion to Daniel Boone and with
that wortny man fought the Indians. He died
in Indiana aged one hundred and seven. Our
subject's grandfather was drowned at sea, and
many of the family were killed by Indians in Ken
tucky. Our subject's mother was born in Alich
igan and her people are prominent railroad men.
Her mother was of Irish extraction. Her father
was a prominent railroad builder. She died at
the home of this son, October 31, 1897. and her
husband died in Portland, on Alarch 11, 1903.
Our subject was with his father in Webster City,
Iowa, where the latter operated a drug store. He
was a pioneer of the town, and a prominent man
there. His education was secured from the pub
lic schools and he tried to enlist in the Civil war
but was rejected on account of poor teeth. In
1877, me family came west overland and after

five years of residence in Portland came to Hood
River, landing here in March, 1884. They took
land and our subject now owns eighty acres of
his father's original homestead. He devotes his
land_ to general crops and is a substantial resident .
and leading citizen.
On September 4, 1890, in the house where he
now lives, Air. Crapper married Miss Rosa M.
York, and Air. Crapper's sister, Mrs. AlcCurdy
was married at the same time. The parents of
Airs. Crapper, Frank and Johana (Writer) York,
are natives of Switzerland and Germany, respect
ively, and now live in Bellingham Bay, Washing
ton. Airs. Crapper was born in Iowa and has
two brothers, Henry A. and Frank N., and one-
sister, Flora Hennis. Air. Crapper has two sis
ters. Belle AlcCurdy and Nettie Hackett. Three
children have been born to Air. and Airs. Crapper,
Nettie B., Viola, and Aiildred, aged twelve, nine,
ancl four, respectively.
By way of reminiscence we note that in the
winter of 1856-7 our subject's father started with
his family and equipage from Spirit Lake, Iowa,
to Hamilton county, but were caught in a bliz
zard and lost all stock except one horse. Finally
they got in only to find the people mourning their
death, and one man stoutly maintaining he had.
buried them. The next spring they went back to
pick up their stuff and found nearly all the old
neighbors murdered by the Indians. Mr. Crap
per is a pioneer and comes from a race of stanch
pioneers and they have all done much to open up
various sections from the colonial days to the
present.

JOHN I. AIILLER, one of the good and sub
stantial citizens of the Hood River valley, dwells
on the west side about seven miles up from the
town. He has a choice place and is engaged in
horticulture and general farming. Last year his
shipment of berries was eight hundred crates,
while also he has a great many apples. He was
born in Illinois, on November 6, 1856, the son of
William AL and Susan E. (Stephens) Aliller, na
tives of Indiana. The father died in Alissouri,
and the mother in Sherman county. The father-
settled in southeastern Kansas in 1866, and there
our subject was educated and in Alissouri, and
when arrived at manhood's estate, he farmed un
til 1886 when the entire family came to Oregon
and settled in Sherman county. They farmed
there on the government land they took until
1895, when Air. Aliller traded that property for
the place where he now resides and since then he-
has made this his home. He is a man of thrift
and industry and has made a fine showing here in
the last eight vears.

.348

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

At Alt. Vernon, Missouri, on October 21,
1881, Air. Aliller married Miss Hannah Badger,
a native of Indiana, and the daughter of George
and Margaret (Mars) Badger. -The father was
born in Indiana on August 7, 1821, .and died
January 12, 1888. The mother was born in Penn
sylvania, Alay 24, 1821, and died September 15,
1877. Airs. Miller has the following named
brothers and sisters; Daniel, born May 25, 1847;
Philip, born Alay 27, 1849, and died January 17,
1874; Alargaret, born September 18, 1851 ; Alary
Catherine, born September 18, 1856; Ebenezer,
born January 20, 1859 '> and George R., born Feb
ruary 16, 1862. Mr. Miller has two brothers,
Abraham H. and Edgar B. and three sisters,
Clara H. Roark, Alice S. Brock, and Ida AL
Strong. Airs. Aliller has three brothers, Daniel,
Eben and George R., and two sisters, Alargaret
Stephens, and Katherine Canady. Six children
have been born to Mr. and Airs. Miller, William
A., Ephraim A., Ivan J. and Irma, twins, Vir
ginia B., wife of Thomas A. Van Ausdal, and
Maud M. Mr. Miller is a Republican, but not
especially active in this realm. He is clerk of the
school board and has been for many years in dif
ferent places and is now serving his fourth term
in the Crapper district.

JOSEPH PURSER resides about two miles
out from Hood River, on Belmont street and is
one of the leading and thrifty horticulturists of
the valley. He was born in England on Novem
ber 20, 1848, the son of Thomas and Martha
(Wast) Purser, natives of England. The father
was a brick maker ancl came to the United States
with his family in 185 1, settling. in Danville, Illi
nois. He followed his trade until 1872, when he
sold his property and came to Oregon. For two
years he lived in Portland, then removed to Hood
River where he died in 1861. The mother died
here in 1897. Their marriage occurred in Eng
land, in May, 1841. The father was a very skill
ful brick maker and manufactured all the brick
used in the capitol building at Springfield, Illi
nois. Our subject was raised and educated in
Danville and labored with his father until they
came to Oregon. He was employed for a couple
of years in Portland, then came to Hood River
and' homesteaded eighty acres, where he has since
lived. He is one of the early settlers here ancl has
labored continuously for the building up of the
country. His land is unexcelled in quality ancl
owing to his nearness to town, he has advantage
ously sold all of it except eighteen and one half
acres. He has six acres of strawberries and the
balance to other fruit and general crops.

At Danville, Illinois, in 187 1, the day of the
Chicago fire, Mr. Purser married. He was a
member of the Danville fire department and just
after the ceremony as he was accompanying his
bride down the street the fire alarm sounded and
he hurried to headquarters just in time to be
rushed away on the train to Chicago and did not
see his wife again for four days.
In Portland, in 1874, Airs.' Purser died. A sec
ond marriage was contracted by Mr. Purser, the
same being in 1880, when Ellen Swan, a native of
England and the daughter of George and Alary
Swan, became his wife. She came to the United
States in 1869. Her parents lived at White Sal
mon. Mr. Purser has two brothers, David and
John and two sisters, Mrs. Phoebe Foss and Mrs.
Alary Noble. Mr. Purser is the father of six
children ; Nora, wife of R. A. Phelps in the val
ley ; Hattie, wife of John Tyler, also in the valley ;
David J., Rena P., Winnie D. and Ira D., all at
home. Politically, our subject is independent. He
has served as road supervisor here in the valley
and made a record for himself in building the first
gravel road in this section. It was an excellent
piece of work and has stimulated good road build
ing, one of the most important factors of a civil
ized country. In Illinois, Mr. Purser was road
supervisor for seven years and he is skilled in
the way of building good roads cheap. He has
made a study of the matter and is one of the best
posted men on roads in the county. He is very
enthusiastic in the improvement of the country
in every line and a progressive and good man.

JOHN M. ROTH is one of the wealthy and
leading citizens of Wasco county. His farm of
one thousand acres lies five miles east from Kings-
ley and has seven hundred acres under cultivation.
In addition to this, he owns about five thousand
acres of land near Rock Island, Chelan county,
Washington. His home place is well improved
ancl provided with all equipment needed on a first
class Oregon grain farm.
John M. Roth was born in Germany, on May
18, 1838, the son of Johann M. and Sophia
(Klaenfaller) Roth, both natives of the Father
land. The father followed blacksmithing and
farming, as did his ancestors and his death oc
curred in Germany on February 22, 1848. The
mother died in Ohio. In 1856, his education hav
ing been completed in his native country, our sub
ject came to the United States, settling in Wis
consin. There he labored for wages and rented
land until 1861, in which year he enlisted in Com
pany C, Eleventh Wisconsin Regulars, under

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

349

Captain Perry and Colonel Harris. For three
years he did faithful service and then on account
of disability was honorably discharged. He was
in active service all the time ancl saw much hard
fighting in Arkansas and Missouri. Following
the war he returned to Wisconsin and shortly
went to Minnesota. In 1867, he went thence to
Kansas, and in 1875, he came to Oregon. On
June 8, of that year he arrived in Albany and on
November 5, he located on land in Wasco county.
Since that time he has been assiduously following
the occupation of the agriculturist and stockman.
He has accumulated considerable property and
has wisely bestowed his labors all these years and
is to be classed as one of the pioneers and sub
stantial citizens.
While in Wisconsin, in August, 1864, Mr.
Roth married Aliss Margaret Unselt, a native of
Germany and an immigrant to this country with
her parents in her infancy. Eight children have
been born to this union ; Emma, wife of Horatio
Fargher, a wool grower, mentioned elsewhere in
this volume; Sophia, wife of Orwen Jones, a
farmer near Nansene ; John, living near our sub
ject; Ella, at home; William and Victor, living
on the estate near Rock Island; Carl, at home;
and Lena, a school girl. Air. Roth is a member
of the order of Washington. Politically he is
one of the active men of the county and is a
strong Democrat. He was put in nomination for
sheriff, but suffered defeat with his ticket. Mr.
Roth has reared a very bright and interesting
family, and they are good members of society and
all being highly respected.

THOMAS C. FARGHER, a sturdy Alanx-
man, and now one of Wasco county's citizens, is
located about seven miles southeast from Dufur.
At this point he owns an estate of sixteen hun
dred acres. In addition, he owns much other
land in various parts of the county. He does an
extensive business in sheep raising and is a pros
pered man in this enterprise. He handles about
thirty-five hundred sheep. His flocks are ranged
in various parts of the country and he also owns
several rendezvous as headquarters for sheep
raising. Air. Fargher directs his business in per
son, and his skill is such that he has been blessed
with continued success. He is a genial man,
kindly disposed to all, and very optimistic in his
views and beliefs. He thoroughly puts into prac
tice the principles of enjoying today's sweets in
today, and taking from each occasion its charms
and pleasures when presented. No less is he
careful to execute in the day the business and

duties that belong to that day and the result is
that he is a man of today, living, thinking, and
doing in the present, not, however, without a keen
foresight ancl prudence for the future.
Thomas C. Fargher was born in the Isle of
Alan, as would be gathered from the foregoing,
and the date of that event was October 18, 1841.
His parents and brothers are mentioned else
where in this volume therefore we will not give
details of them here. Suffice it to say, our sub
ject spent his boyhood days with his father on
the farm. When sixteen he went to Manchester,
England, and there for six years toiled at the
carriage maker's trade. He became master of
the art of skillfully handling wood and after five
years in the business, he came to the conclusion.
that the colonies presented greater opportunities
for him than the mother country, and so he went
to Melbourne, Australia. He wrought there in
his business until 1868, when he came to San
Francisco and thence to Sacramento where he
did carriage making for wages and then for him
self until he sold his shop to his partner in 1874.
After that, he was with his brother, Horatio, one
winter on the Stickeen river in Alaska, and the
following spring he came to Wasco county. Here
he took land and for ten years operated with his
brother in the sheep business. Then he went for
himself and since then, he has continued one of
the leading citizens of this county. He purchased
his present home place in 1886. He has recently
erected a handsome and comfortable residence
and all the other improvements are commen
surate therewith.
At Vancouver, on September 12, 1895, Mr..
Fargher married Aliss Ollie E., the daughter of
Frank E. and Jane (Crate) Huott. The father
was born in Canada and now dwells on Eight-
mile creek. The mother is living there also. She
was born in Walla Walla, the year of the Whit
man massacre, 1847. Her father had come to the
west for the Hudson's Bay Company and was
in the territory now occupied by Wasco county
when no white man lived here. He took a dona
tion claim on what is known as Crate's point,
where he expected the town of The Dalles to be.
He remained on that place until his death, which
occurred in The Dalles, in 1894. Mrs. Fargher
has two brothers, Frank and Alfred, and three
sisters, Airs. Josephine Barter, Mrs. Mollie Bul
ger, and Mrs. Charles Zigler. To our subject
and his wife, one son has been born, Thomas C,
on February 14, 1897. Mr. Fargher is a Repub
lican but never seeks office, although he takes an
intelligent interest in the matters of politics and
educational affairs. He is popular, and he and
his estimable wife are among the substantial peo-
pie of the county.

.35°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

WILLIS A. HENDRIX has the distinction
¦ of having been born in the Web-Foot State,
where also, he has passed the years of his life,
mostly. He is a son of Oregon in which the state
may take pride, being one of those substantial
producers, who make the strength and the sta
bility of any good country. He was born in
Yamhill county, on May 8, 1861, and his parents,
.Abijah and Mary J. (Dickerson) Hendrix, were
worthy pioneers to this state when it was a wil
derness, and when they had to endure all the
hardships known on the frontier and battle with
the trying opposition found so plentiful in those
days and conditions. The father came to Ore
gon in 1843, thus being one of the first few white
men who planted the stars and strips in this flow
great and rich territory. He was a native of
Georgia and came from an old and respected
American family. The trip across the plains was
made with ox teams and some trouble was ex
perienced with the Indians. The mother came
across the plains with her parents in 1845, being
then sixteen years of age. The Indians attacked
them and they had great trials. Their stock was
stolen and some died and they finally reached The
Dalles with a couple of cows, having suffered
from Indians, from shortage of provisions, and
from cholera. She was born in Virginia, and her
mother was also a native of that state. Her fa
ther was born in Kentucky. Mrs. Hendrix is
now living with the son, who is the immediate
subject of this article. Her husband died on the
-old donation claim in Yamhill county where they
spent so many days of pioneer life, and the date
of that sad event was July 29, 1872. It is of in
terest to note that when Mrs. Hendrix's parents
got to The Dalles in 1845, they were not able to
get over the mountains, but lashed two canoes
together and thus transported what they had left
to Portland. Our subject was reared and edu
cated in the native county and on November 9,
1876 landed in Wasco county, the balance of the
family coming at that time, also. He has labored
here since and he now has to show a fine farm of
seven hundred and twenty acres, six hundred of
which are tillable, and he cut this year four hun
dred and fifty acres of grain. The improve
ments are in good taste and plenty and Mr. Hen
drix is considered one of the leading farmers of
this section.
On December 8, 1883, at the house on the
farm, Mr. Hendrix married Miss Amy F. Grif
fin, who was born in Lane county, Oregon, on
September 1, 1861. Her father, Joseph Griffin,
was one of the early pioneers to Oregon, cross
ing the plains with ox teams in 1852. He took
a donation claim in Yamhill county and upon a
trip to the east side of the mountains, his team

backed off the grade and killed him on August
13, 1884. He had married Alary Mayhew, who
crossed the plains with her parents in early days.
Her wedding occurred in this territory and she
died when Mrs. Hendrix was an infant, she be
ing an only child. Air. Hendrix has five brothers,
Wilbur, his twin, Edward, Campbell, John, and
James. To our subject and his wife three chil
dren have been born, Claud, Guy, and Harry, all
at home. Mr. Hendrix is a member of the United
Artisans, to which order his wife and sons
Claud and Roy also belong. He is an active
Republican and is frequently at the county con
ventions. To various offices he has given his
time, but he is never reaching for the emoluments
of office. Mr. Hendrix owns a cozy home in
Dufur, where the family dwells about half of the
time.

GEORGE R. CASTNER, who resides about
four miles out from Hood River, just off Belmont
street, is one of the most progressive and pros
perous horticulturists of the Hood River valley.
Last year was a banner year for him and his place
netted him many dollars. The farm is known as
Stony Fell and is one of the most productive and
best handled places here. He has an elegant two
story residence, barns, outbuildings, fences and
everything to make it comfortable and valuable.
Mr. Castner is one of the up-to-date men well in
formed and progressive. He was born in Milo,
New York, on January 6, 1846. His father,
George R. Castner, was a native of New Jersey,
and died in Michigan in 1901, aged eighty-six.
He had married Julia Baker, a native of Dutchess
county, New York, of the old Baker family, prom
inent in America. She was of Dutch stock. The
great-great-great-grandfather of our subject on
his father's side, and two brothers, came from
Germany in the seventeenth century and settled
in New York and New Jersey. They became very
prominent and members of the family have been
identified with every American war. One of them
was a currier under Washington in the Revolu
tion. Our subject was raised and educated in New
York until seventeen and then moved with his fa
ther to Michigan. In 1865, he enlisted in Com
pany H, Twelfth Michigan Infantry, under Cap
tain James H. Follets and Colonel Dwight C.
Alay. He was discharged on account of illness
and returned to Michigan, remaining on, the farm
until 1870. Then he married and moved to Jack
son, Michigan, where he was brakeman and con
ductor on the Michigan Central Railroad, until
1880. In that year, he was promoted to the posi
tion of trainmaster and held the same until 1894,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

351

then he resigned his position and removed to Hood
River, purchasing forty-two acres where he now
lives. He gave his attention largely to the produc
tion of strawberries and apples and has one of the
largest places in the state of Oregon.
On January 9, 1870, at Kirkland, Ohio, Mr.
Castner married Aliss Florence L. Gildersleeve, a
native of that town. Her father, Samuel L. Gil
dersleeve, married Miss Burnette. They were
both natives of New England. Mr. Castner has the
following named brothers and sisters, James B.,
Charles W., John B., of the Fifth Mich
igan Cavalry, who died at Andersonville
prison, Mary E. Longcor, Amanda M., de
ceased, Julia A., deceased, and one who died in
infancy. Mrs. Castner has one brother, Wilbur
F. and three sisters, Alary E. Galligan, Helen M.
Traver and Carrie M. Ayer. To Mr. and Mrs.
Castner two sons have been born, John B. and
Charles; the former at home and the latter em
ployed with the Davidson Fruit Company. Mr.
Castner is an active Republican and chairman of
the precinct committee. He ancl his wife are both
devout members of the Congregational church and
he has served as deacon for a great many years.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the A. F. & A. Al.
and R. A. M. -
Mr. Castner comes from the same family as
Captain Castner of the United States army who
made such a wonderful record in enduring hard
ships ancl privations on the government expedi
tion to Alaska some time since.

JOSEPH A. WILSON, a substantial and
enterprising business man of Hood River, is at
present the owner of a fruit warehouse and a
waterpower plant. He was born in Indiana
county, Pennsylvania, on October 17, 1854. His
father was William Wilson, a native of the north
of Ireland and of English parentage. His mother,
Letitia (Alac-Dugh) Wilson, was born in Wash
ington county, Pennsylvania. The father came
to the United States in 1828 and died in Pennsyl
vania, in 1883. The mother's parents were from
old Highland Scotch stock and descended from
the Cameron clan. Joseph A. was reared and
educated in Pennsylvania, ancl when thirty came
to Oregon. He was graduated from the state
normal school at Millersville, Lamerton county,
Pennsylvania, and taught thereafter until he went
to Oregon. The well known Brooks, the author
of a series of mathematical text books, was prin
cipal of the normal and Air. Wilson received ex
ceptionally good instruction. He followed the
lumber business ancl in the spring of 1884, took
the journey west. He engaged on the govern

ment survey here after the winter of 1884, well
remembered on account of its deep snow, which
accumulated to the depth of five feet, and worked
all the following summer on the survey. The
next year he bought land and has followed farm
ing and surveying considerably since.
Mr. Wilson's mother died in 1871 and his fa
ther passed away in 1883. On September 20,
1893, occurred the marriage of our subject and
Gertrude AL Kinports, a native of Pennsylvania
and the daughter of Porter and Margaret B.
(Mahaffey) Kinports, natives of Pennsylvania.
The father followed merchandising for fifty years
and is now president of the First National Bank
in Cherrytree, Pennsylvania, where the mother
was born. They are 'highly respected people.
The wedding of Air. and Airs. Wilson occurred
in Cherrytree and they have one son, Porter K.,
with his grandparents in Pennsylvania. Mr.
Wilson has one brother, Thomas S. and one sis
ter, Mary C. Airs. Wilson died in Pennsylvania,
on February 21, 1898. Air. Wilson is independ
ent in political matters and is free and untram-
meled to view all issues and questions without
party bias.
He is greatly interested in the fruit business
and packed the fruit that took the grand prize for
the state of Oregon and Wasco county at the
World's Fair in St. Louis. 1
In the fall of 1904, Mr. Wilson built a million
gallon reservoir on the hill above town and
brought water in from the Indian creek. Water
is piped to the city for power purposes. He is
also interested in the formation of a milling com
pany, being a stockholder. They have erected a
fine flour mill plant with a daily output capacity
of one hundred barrels.

THOAIAS F. RYAN, deceased. When the
clods cover deep the familiar forms of our loved
ones, and we hear their voices no more, memory
loves to dwell in the past where cluster the things
they did and said. It is very fitting to gratify
this desire, and to aid in it we often times resort
to the written page to outline there somewhat of
the careers of those gone on before, where we
shall all, soon enough, travel. It is our purpose
to grant here, as much as may be from the in
formation furnished, an epitome of the life of the
esteemed gentleman whose name stands at the
head of this article. He was a man of kindly ways
and geniality and won the hearts of all. He
passed a life in which he manifested true worth
and integrity and had a deep appreciation of the
stewardship entrusted to him. His death occurred
on the ranch, where resides his widow at this

3£2

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

time, six miles west from Dufur. The last illness
of Mr. Ryan steadily became more and more seri
ous until it was evident death had marked him for
departure. All was done that mortals could do,
but on December 17, 1 891, he fell asleep and thus
closed a life in which his record had been good,
and in which true principles of uprightness and
honesty had guided his ways.
The birth of Air. Ryan occurred in Tipperary,
Ireland, on May 1, 1826. He received in his
younger days a fine education, and was always a
student and great reader. Mr. Ryan had a de
cided gift in composition and wrote many fine
poems, and we regret that we have none at hand
for this article. Those acquainted with him
were all familiar with this gift and many times
it was displayed with marked effect.
On April 16, 1865, at Alaryville, Uba county,
California, Mr. Ryan married Aliss Catherine A.
Morrisey, who was bom in Cork, Ireland, April
19, 1841. Her parents were Patrick and Cath
erine (O'Brien) Morrisey, the former born in
Carrick and the latter in county Waterford, Ire
land. The father was a dyer and presser by
trade. Mr. Ryan enlisted in the Civil war and
fought with distinction in that struggle.

HENSON McCOY, deceased. Among the
most honored citizens of Wasco county is to be
placed the gentleman whose name heads this
memoir. He was born in Illinois, on Novem
ber 17, 1833, and died in Wasco county, at Dufur,
on October 27, 1898. His parents, James AL and
Alary A. (Moore) McCoy, were natives of Ken
tucky. The father's people had been pioneers for
several generations previous. They were fron
tiersmen in Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky and Alis
souri. He died in Texas. The mother's family
also were pioneers for generations. Our sub
ject was but four years of age when they came to
Missouri, where he grew to manhood and mar
ried, and thence he, with his wife and father,
went on to Texas, his mother having died in
Missouri. In 1858 they made the trip across the
plains -with ox teams to California, subject and
wife, and had a hard time, losing much of their
stock. Although others were very sick, still they
were not sick, themselves. Two years were spent
in Los Angeles and there he lost eight hundred
dollars in buying a bogus Spanish grant piece of
land. With low funds they started north and
finally landed in Yamhill county, Oregon. They
bought and sold land, and rented some then re
turned to California, settling in Tulare county,
where they purchased seven hundred acres of

land. After eleven years of labor there they sold
that property and came back to Oregon in 1878.
Here Mr. McCoy bought school land, took a tim
ber culture and so forth until he had an estate
of five hundred and sixty acres a little way out
from Boyd, where the widow resides at this time.
Just before his death sold eighty to one son.
Here he bestowed his labors until the time came
for him to lay down the burdens of life. This
he did with the same assurance of the faith which
had buoyed him through a long Christian life.
Formerly, he was a member of the Methodist
church but in later years was with the Baptist
denomination. Un January 29, 1853, in Linn county, Missouri,
Air. AlcCoy married Miss Clarissa Rusher, who
was born in Chariton county, Missouri, on No
vember 5, 1832. Her father, William Rusher, was
born in Kentucky from an old Virginia family,
which came in early colonial days. He married
Alary A. Sportsman, a native of Kentucky. Her
mother was born in Virginia and her father in
Ireland, whence he was brought to the United
States when seven, being an orphan. Airs. Mc
Coy's father died when she was four and her
mother died in Los Angeles, having crossed the
plains with them. Mr. AlcCoy • had four half,
brothers, Benjamin F., Joseph, Francis Al. and
Abner, and one sister, Mrs. Mary A. Fogle. Mrs.
AlcCoy has one half sister, Mrs. Ellen Neal, one
sister, Mrs. Sarah A. Shakely, and one half
brother, William L. Barnes. To Mr. and Mrs.
AlcCoy, ten children were born : Thomas, a barber
in Seattle ; William, a physician in Salt Lake City ;
John, at Cripple Creek, Colorado; Joseph H„,
near by on a farm; Dennis R., with his mother;
Alary A., the wife of John H. Sternweis, near
by ; Ellen, the wife of Abraham Mowery, in Port
land; Sarah J., the wife of Isaac Fowler, a car
penter in Portland ; Nancy, the wife of Herbert
Powell, at Rockland, Washington ; Zoodie B., the
wife of Albert Connelly. Her death occurred
at The Dalles, in 1892. Mr. McCoy was for forty
years a member of the I. O. O. F., had passed
all the chairs, was at the grand lodge many times,
and took a prominent part in fraternal circles.
He was a prominent man in the community, had
always taken an active part in politics, public
matters, and educational affairs, had held various
offices and was greatly respected and beloved. He
was a man of marked integrity, and his influence
was always for good. He did much, both in
person and by example, for the building up of
the community in every way, and hfs death was
a great loss. His widow resides on the farm,
and is a devout Christian lady, whose life has
been a light to many.

Henson McCoy

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

353

SERAPHINE NACE, who resides about
three miles southeast from Kingsley, was born
in Wisconsin, on February 17, 1866. His father,
Joseph Nace, was born in Belgium, June 29,
1829, and died October 31, 1904, on his farm in
Marion county, Oregon. He married Miss Flor
ence Garraux, who was born in France. She is
still living and is at the home in Alarion county.
She and her husband both were brought to Wis
consin when children, by their parents, who .were
pioneers of the Green Bay country. There they
hewed out homes in the forest and there these
children were married. The mother's father
died there and her mother came on to the Willa
mette valley where she died. Our subject came
to the valley with his parents in 1876 and there
attended school until his education was com
pleted. He continued on the farm with his father
until 1887, then he worked for other farmers
there until 1896. Then he came to Wasco coun
ty and here he filed on a homestead and then
worked for A. A. Bonney. Fie gradually im
proved his land and has gathered a good stock
of cattle and horses about him, also adding to
his estate betimes until he has five hundred and
twenty acres. He cultivates three hundred acres,
and has forty fine cattle. At the head of the herd
is a choice thoroughbred bull, three-fourths Here
ford and one fourth Shorthorn. Of horses, he
owns about forty, all good animals. Mr. Nace
is a dealer in horses as well as a breeder and
handles many head each year. He has been pros
perous in his labors, owing to his energy, indus
try ancl skill, and is one of the good, substantial
citizens of this part of the county. Mr. Nace has
the following named brothers and sisters ;
Adolph, on a farm near by; Bernard, Joseph,
Polyte, and Albert, in the Willamette valley;
Carrie, the wife of John Fisher, in Salem ; Rea-
gin, married to Benjamin Brown, at Woodburn,
Oregon; Cynda, the wife of John Stuart, in
Marion county, farming ; Alary, the wife of Ellis
Stevens, in Marion county ; and Alaggie, the wife
of Albert Klane, also in Alarion county.
Thus far on life's journey, Air. Nace has
seen fit to travel as a bachelor, preferring the
quiet enjoyments and freedom of that life to the
cares and responsibilities of matrimonial exist
ence.

1
ISAIAH J. BUTLER is one of Wasco coun
ty's good men and his labors here for many years
testify that he is possessed of industry and has
accomplished a great deal for the improvement
and upbuilding of the country. He is a man of
good principles and is guided by integrity. At
the present time, Mr. Butler resides on his farm
23

about two miles east from Kingsley. In addi
tion to this he has some timber land. He does
general -farming and is a good substantial
farmer. Isaiah J. Butler was born in Wayne county,
Ohio, on February 26, 1835. His parents are men
tioned in the sketch of his brother's life, Polk
•Butler. In his native country, our subject was
educated and reared and gave his attention to
farming. He had traveled some before he turned
his face to the west and finally located in Oregon,
whither his brother, Daniel W., who is now in
Coleville, California, had come in 1852. It was
in the spring of 1877, that our subject landed
here and in the fall of the same year, his brother*
Polk Butler, came on. The three brothers estab
lished a saw mill and operated it for some time;
But the enterprise proved disastrous and they
lost nearly all the capital they possessed. Then
they gave that up and our subject filed on a home
stead of disputed railroad land which he later
secured and where he lives now. The balance'
of his land he secured by preemption and by pur
chase. In Illinois, Air. Butler married Miss Em-
meline Riggs, who was born in Warren county,
Illinois, and whose parents, David C. and Eliza
beth (Smith) Riggs, were natives of Missouri.
The father was one of an old southern family of
distinction and the mother's ancestors were prom
inent colonial people. Airs. Butler has the follow
ing named brothers and sisters, John, Reuben>
Alahlon, Douglass, Airs. Nancy Galbraith, Mrs.
Angeline Henderson, Mary, deceased, and Mrs.
Kate Wickery. To Mr. and Mrs. Butler two
children have been born, D. Clyde, and Stella,
who died July 30, 1904. At the first call for
troops to defend the flag, our subject promptly
enlisted in an Illinois regiment and served three
months. In political matters he is independent.
He is a man who has the esteem of all and he and
his wife have traveled the pilgrim journey many
years together and are faithful and good people.

HON. JOSEPH W. MORTON is a prom
inent and wealthy citizen of Wasco county, living
three miles out from Hood River on the State
road. He owns the Riverside farm which lies
south of the Columbia and consists of four hun
dred acres. Three acres are planted to straw
berries and the balance of the land produces other
fruit and general crops. The place is valuable
ancl one of the best in this part of the county.
Mr. Alorton has it well improved and manages
the estate with a display of wisdom and thrift.
Joseph W. Alorton was born in Henry county,

354

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Iowa, the son of Charles R. and Caroline (Wal
lace) Morton, natives of Ohio. The mother's
family is allied with the old Scotch Wallace fam
ily, well known in Scottish history. The father
came from the Morton family which has been
identified with America long before there was a
United States. They came on the good ship,
Ann, soon after the Mayflower landed, and are
well known in various portions of this country.
Levi P. Morton, at one time vice president, was
. a member of the family. The father died at
...Salem, in 1894. He crossed the plains jn 1852
;.and returned east and came west again in 1875.
"•Our subject was raised principally in Oregon.
The family came here when he was ten years of
age. After completing his studies in the dis
trict school, he graduated from the business col
lege in Portland then remained with his father
ton the farm until he came to this place in 1889.
On February 14, 1886, at Hood River, Air.
_' Morton married Miss Annie M. Haynes, a
native of Portland and the daughter of Charles
PL and Elizabeth J. (Quick) Haynes. She
died in June, 1889, at Portland. On Alay 1, 1902,
-.at Hood River, Mr. Morton married Aliss
Pearl Groshong, a native of Kansas and the
daughter of Peter and Malinda (Aliller) Gro
shong, natives of Ohio. Mr. Alorton has one
brother, Elijah, and two sisters, Airs. Carrie E.
Haynes and Nellie G. Mrs. Alorton has four
.brothers, Frank, Abraham B., Hood, and Joseph
P., and four sisters, Mrs. Clara E. Jones, Mrs.
.¦Grace Elliott, Airs. Jennie Hixon, and Airs.
Mary Gordon.
Politically, Mr. Morton is a very active Re-
- publican. He has been a delegate to many of the
v conventions and in 1898, was elected to repre-
i sent this district in the state legislature. He was
active and influential in that capacity and en
dorsed the bill, which afterward became a law,
that provides for the especial care of trees and
shrubbery in the state, ancl has done a great deal
in keeping the state clean from various pests
. which are detrimental to horticultural interests.
Mr. Morton is a member of the I. O. O. F., and
^ a popular and influential man.

ALFRED TRUDELL, of the firm of True-
dell & Deni, is a man of good standing in Wasco
county, where he has labored for nearly twenty
years in the related occupations of farming and
stock raising. He is a man of ability in these
lines, having gained a good success in his labors,
and having, also, discharged the responsibilities
of a patriotic citizen ancl a leading man in the
community. In partnership with Mr. Deni, Mr.

Trudell owns seventeen hundred and ninety-five
acres of land about six miles east from Kingsley.
It was secured through the homestead right and
by purchase from the railroad and is one of the
large estates of the county. It is utilized both
for pasture and for raising grain. This year, they
cut five hundred acres of wheat and the same
made a handsome return. The farm is supplied
with all the improvements needed and is one
which shows skill and thrift in the management.
In addition to what is mentioned, Mr. Trudell
handles a large number of cattle each year, win
tering usually about eighty to one hundred head.
They buy and sell stock and always have fat cat
tle on hand for the markets.
In the matters of the county and state, Mr.
Trudell akes a lively interest and is always on the
side of the Democratic ticket in national politics,
while in other questions, he decides according to
the merits of the question and the standing of
the candidate, as he deems best for the interests
of all. In school matters, he takes a keen inter
est ancl has given of his time to serve as director.
Air. Trudell is still in single blessedness and
takes great pleasure in the freedom and quiet
ness of the bachelor's life.
Alfred Trudell was born in Ontario, Canada,
on August 17, 1867, near Stony Point." His
parents are mentioned in the biography of his
brother, which is in this volume. He was edu
cated in the famous schools of Ontario and re
mained at the home place until 1887, in which
year he came hither. Since then he has remained
here a steady and enterprising young man.

JAMES C. BOGGS is a farmer and fruit
raiser of the Hood River valley, residing about
three miles south from Hood River. He was
born in North Carolina, on Alarch 3, 1849, me
son of Joseph ancl Alary (Wyant) Boggs. The
father was born in North Carolina and his pa
rents were natives of Virginia, coming from old
colonial families. Various members of the fam
ily were in the Revolutionary War, among which
was our subject's grandfather. His great grand
father bought a Bible in South Carolina which is
now owned by our subject and is probably over
two hundred years old. There is no date on it.
The family were all planters. The father died in
Alarion county, Illinois, in 1884. The mother of
our subject was born in Pennsylvania and de
scended from a Dutch family. She now lives in
Alarion county, Illinois. There James C. com
pleted his education and remained with his father
until twenty-five years of age. Then he wofked
at various occupations until 1889, when he came

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

355

to the Hood River valley and bought fifteen acres
of fine fruit land. Since then he has sold seven
acres and still handles the place, three acres to
strawberries ancl the rest to various crops.
On December 10, 1874, in Marion county,
Illinois, Mr. Boggs married Miss Martha Mcin
tosh, a native of Marion county, Illinois. Her
father, Tilton Mcintosh, was born in Tennessee
and married Lucy A. Mercer, a native of Illinois.
He died soon after marriage and his widow then
married Andrew Copple in Marion county, whose
father, Simpson Copple, lives in the Hood River
valley and is mentioned in this volume.
On June 10, 1888, in Marion county, Illinois,
Mrs. Boggs was called away by death. She left a
family of three children, the oldest Grace, ten
years of age. Mr. Boggs took up the burdens
of life bravely after the departure of his wife
and has raised his family and made a good show
ing with his labors. He has now three children
living: Grace, wife of Arthur Getchell in the
Hood River valley ; Rosie, keeping house for her
father; and Harvey.
Mr. Boggs is a member of the Christian
church of which also his wife was a devoted
member for sixteen years. They have three chil
dren who died in infancy, Ivy, Scott and an in
fant unnamed.

DAVID CREIGHTON resides three miles
south of The Dalles ancl for over forty years has
continued in this same place. He has shown
himself a man of most excellent qualities and in
these long years has so conducted himself that
he is the recipient of the good will ancl deep re
spect of all who have known him. His place is
- a valuable one and is wisely and beautifully im
proved. His residence is a commodious struc
ture tasty and beautifully surrounded by pleas
ant grounds, while his entire farm is a model of
good husbandry. His labors have been constant,
and wisely bestowed and his prosperity is but
the due reward for such industry and thrift.
David Creighton was born in Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, on January 8, 1835, the son of
James and Maria (Hart) Creighton, natives of
Ireland and Delaware, respectively. The father
came with his parents when fifteen and settled
in Pennsylvania. He became a marine engineer
and followed river steamboating for many years.
The mother died in Ohio, in 1858. When David
was four years of age he was brought by his
parents to the frontier of Ohio and there he was
reared and educated. He was of studious habits
and acquired a good education, even though on
the frontier, and soon began the important work
of teaching school. In 1855, his father and older

brother came west to Oregon, via the isthmus
and California. They settled in Clackamas coun
ty and took a donation claim. The mother re
mained with our subject until her death in 1858,
when he came on to Oregon, arriving here in the
spring of 1859. He immediately went to teach
ing school in Clackamas county. After that he
went to the mining regions of Idaho and dug the
golden sands on the Salmon river. In 1862, he
came to The Dalles and bought the land where
he now resides, and since then has been one of
the leading and substantial men of the county.
He has shown excellent wisdom and has wrought
with a determination and stability that have
stimulated much worthy effort in this country
for its development.
At The Dalles, on May 27, 1876, Mr. Creigh
ton married Miss Ida Krauss, a native of Port
land. Her parents were natives of Germany.
Mr. Creighton has one brother, Samuel, retired
in The Dalles, and his wife has one brother,
George, a fruit grower near by, and two sisters,
Caroline, widow of Berhard Rorten, of Portland,
and Laura, wife of J. H. Johnston, of Dufur.
To this worthy couple six children have been
born; Elva M., at home; James G., a druggist in
San Francisco ; Emma L., Lola A., Leland, and
Vera, all at home. Air. Creighton is a Repub
lican and as much as his business allows takes an
active part in the political campaigns. He is
very stanch and well informed and is a man of
benevolence and integrity and has hosts of
friends.

FREDERIC H. HILLGEN is one of the
leading farmers of the Tygh ridge. He is a
member of the family of flillgens, all of whom
have made excellent success in farming and
stock raising in this county. The father is one
of the heaviest land owners in Wasco county and
is a man of remarkable ability in his chosen en
terprise. Our subject dwells about nine miles
south from Dufur, and owns a nice estate of five
hundred and forty acres, half of which is under
cultivation. The place shows marks of thrift and
enterprise and its annual returns are very grati
fying. The improvements on the farm are of the
best and the residence is a two story, tasty and
elegant building. Mr. Hillgen has labored since
childhood ' in this county and on this place for
about five or six years. He is well acquainted
with Wasco county and many of its citizens and
is himself numbered with the leading young men.
Frederic H. Hillgen was born in San Fran
cisco, California, on February 14, 1872, the son
of Henry and Louise (Hagan) Hillgen. The
father came from Germany, where he was born

356

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and reared. Then he dwelt some time in Cali
fornia and later came on to Wasco county where
he took a timber, culture, a homestead, and a pre
emption on Tygh ridge. Since those days, he
has been one of the leading farmers of the county
and each year he has added more land by purchase
until he has now between three and four thou
sand acres of fine wheat and grazing land. He
resides in The Dalles and on the farm, and de
votes himself to the oversight of his various prop
erties. The mother of our subject was born in
Canada. When Frederic H. was four years of age, he
came with the rest of the family to Wasco coun
ty, and here he was educated in the district
schools and in the Wasco Independent Academy.
Following the days of school books, he went to
work on the farm and remained with his father
until 1898, when he purchased railroad land and
settled down to make a home for himself. In
this he has succeeded admirably and has a choice
place on the ridge. He is one of the most thrifty
and careful farmers and receives good rewards
for his labors.
On July 1, 1901, at The Dalles, Mr. Hillgen
married Miss Agnes LeDuc. To this union two
children have been born, Alarcella, on September
12, 1902, and J. Hugh, November 8, 1904. Air.
Hillgen has five brothers, George, Arthur, Wal
ter, Frank, and Cleveland, and three sisters, Vir
ginia, at home, Nellie, the wife of Ferd Deitzel,
and Alice, at home. In political matters, Air.
Hillgen is a Democrat, but is not a politician in
the usual sense of that word, although he is well
posted and active.

ROBERT RAND, owner and operator of the
Wau-Guinn-Guinn hotel, one of the most beauti
ful summer resorts in Oregon, is well known in
Wasco county and is a man of enterprise and
ability. He was born in Jefferson county, Ohio,
on August 28, 1836, the son of William and Mar
garet (Winters) Rand, natives of Vermont and
Jefferson county, Ohio, respectively. They both
came from prominent New England families.
Reed, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, was a relative of the Rands. Rob
ert was reared in Virginia, whither the family
had moved when he was small. He gained his
education by hard labor, having to walk three
miles to the district school, and working between
times on the farm. When seventeen, he came
with the family to Wisconsin and then he started
for himself. Lumber work occupied him some
ancl in 1859 he came to Amador county, Califor
nia, where he mined for two years. He returned
to Wisconsin via the isthmus, having come over

land to the coast. He farmed five years in Wis
consin and then married and came west to Iowa.
In 1884, the winter of the deep snow, Mr. Rand
came hither, and bought fifty acres on the Mt.
Hood road and other land later. Also he was
in Flood River in the hotel business, having
boiight the Alt. Hood hotel in the fall of 1885.
This he conducted eight years and sold it to
Charles Bell. During this time he sold his Mt.
Hood land and bought one hundred and sixty
acres on the east side. He took up merchandis
ing with his son, J. E., after selling the Mt. Hood
hotel. After five years in business with the son
they sold to A. S. Blowers & Son. In 1904, he
erected his present hotel, and, considering his
late start, had a very successful season the first
year. The hotel is situated in full view of the
falls, which take a leap of two hundred and fifty
feet, and is where the scenery of Mt. Hood, the
other mountains, and the broad Columbia are in
full view, all of which combine to make it one
of the most entrancing spots in the country. The
building itself is commodious and well supplied
with all modern conveniences including the latest
sanitary plumbing, and is conducted on strictly
up-to-date principles. The grounds are choice,
having rustic seats, minature lake, beautiful shade
and flowers. Mr. Rand is a business man and
understands the way to cater to the comfort ot
guests. He has a farm of thirty-five acres and
oversees that in addition to his present business.
On September 16, 1857, Mr. Rand married
Aliss Cristiana Gillespie, a native of New York,
and a daughter of John and Charlotte Gillespie,
natives of Scotland and New York, respectively.
Air. Rand has three brothers, Martin, James B.,
and Thomas B., and one sister, Mrs. Lucy Boor
man. To Air. and Airs. Rand five children have
been born, J. Elmer, William F., Delbert E.,
Ernest C, and Mrs. Henrietta Rham. Mr. Rand
is a member of the A. F. & A. M., having joined"
in 1866. He has a choice collection of Indian
curios and is a student of these things. On Janu
ary 29, 1899, at Hood River, Mrs. Rand was
called away by death.

CHARLES CHANDLER is the owner of
one of the choicest farms in Wasco county. It
consists of two hundred acres of excellent land
and is situated in the Hood River valley. He has
recently sold about two hundred and eighty acres
ancl still owns the amount mentioned. Excellent
house, good barns, and all other improvements-
needed are in evidence and the thrift and good
taste of Mr. Chandler make the place not only
profitable, but a delightful rural abode. He was

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

357

born in Maine, on April 28, 1856. His father,
Jesse Chandler, was also born. in Alaine, as were
his parents, and the family is an old and prom
inent one. Many members were in the Revolu
tion and Moses Chandler was an officer in that
war. Our subject's father was a farmer and
died in Greenville, Texas, in 1888. He had mar
ried Mary Wright, who was born in Farmington,
Maine, and descended from a leading family.
When Charles was a year old, the family went to
Wisconsin, ancl a year later they went to Kansas
where the mother died in i860. He lived eleven
years in Kansas ancl gained his education from
the common schools. He had a farm bought and
paid for in Texas before twenty years old. It
consisted of one hundred and twenty acres and
there he remained until twenty-eight, when he
sold and journeyed west to Oregon, selecting the
Flood river valley as his objective point. He took
a government claim, which he now dwells on, and
since those clays has given his undivided attention
to general farming and fruit raising. About nine
acres are devoted to apples, and the balance of
the land to general crops.
At Greenville, Texas, on September 17, 1876,
Mr. Chandler married Miss Arabella Fox, who
was born in Holden, Missouri. Her death oc
curred in February, 1888. On February 2, 1892,
Mr. Chandler married a second time, Alary B.
Millner becoming his wife at this time, and the
nuptials occurring in Steveson, Washington. Her
parents are Alexander ancl Mary (Thrasher)
Millner. Mr. Chandler has three children, Fred,
Ruby, ancl Ollie M. The last named married
Robert L. Neves and died at Hood River, on
June 28, 1902. Air. Chandler has one brother,
George, one half sister, Mary Mcintosh, and one
half brother, John F. Airs. Chandler has neither
brothers nor sisters. Our subject has always
evinced an interest in political matters and is an
upholder of Republican principles. He has served
as school director for many years and always
takes a great interest in every measure that is for
improvement in any line or betterment of the
conditions of the country.

JOSEPH DENI is one of the substantial men
of Wasco county, the kind who do things and
materially assist to build up the county and
augment its wealth. He is an industrious man,
well liked ancl always attentive to the business
in hand. Flis labors here have been faithful, and
it is interesting to note that when he came here
he was without funds, but with a determination
to win his way to wealth and prominence, he took
hold with his hands, working on the farms for

wages, and the result is that today he is one of
the wealthy men of the community. Air. Deni
came to AA'asco county in 1887, with Air. Tru
dell. who is now his partner, and they both
worked out on the farms. After a time at that,
they had saved enough money to warrant them
taking land and starting for themselves. This
they did, securing homesteads where the estate is
now located, about six miles east from Kingsley.
With characteristic pluck ancl stability, Mr. Deni
began the improvements on his homestead and
little by little made the place valuable, besides
laying by enough money to purchase more land.
Step by step the two men have toiled along until
their estate is now of the mammoth proportions
of seventeen hundred and ninety-five acres. A
portion of this is used for pasture and a part is
laid under tribute to produce grain. This year
they had five hundred acres of wheat and there is
much more of the estate that can be broken up
and tilled. Messrs. Trudell and Deni are enter
prising and thrifty men and are making money
in their labors. In addition to the farming, they
handle a good many cattle and winter about
eighty to one hundred.
Joseph Deni was born at Stony Point, On
tario, on September 3, 1864, the son of Peter and
Jadik (Trudell) Deni. His father was born in
Alontreal and now is farming in Ontario. His
mother was born at Stony Point, the aunt of his
partner, on the father's side. She is still living
in the old home place. Our subject was reared
and educated at his home place and in 1887, as
stated before, came west with his partner. Since
then they have continued here together. Air.
Deni has five brothers, Frank, Daniel, Ernest,
Alexander, ancl Ralph, all in Stony Point, except
Ralph, who rents land in Wasco county. He also
has three sisters, Cecilia, Adele, and Adeline. In
politics. Air. Deni is a Democrat and is always
keenly interested in public matters and educa
tional affairs.

P, H. MARTIN resides about six miles south
from Hood River in the Crapper district, where
he has a nice farm and gives attention to fruit
raising largely. He was born in Alissouri, in
1862, the son of William and Alartha (AIc-
Quown) Alartin, natives of Missouri and Vir
ginia, respectively. The father resides near our
subject ancl his father was born in Kentucky. The
mother was descended from Irish ancestry.
Henry was raised in Alissouri and Iowa and re
ceived his education from the common schools.
The family moved to Iowa in 1865 and returned
to Alissouri in 1856. In 1883, Mr. Alartin came
to Washington and there conducted Dr. Blalock's

358

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

fruit ranch for seven years. After that, he was
eighteen months at Yaquina Bay, Oregon, and
then went to Prineville, where he was in the stock
business for seven years. He sold out that and
came to the Hood River valley in 1899. He
finally purchased the place he now owns from
Captain A. S. Blowers and has given his atten
tion to its cultivation and improvement since. He
has an eight acre orchard and handles some fruit
besides other crops.
In 1895, at Prineville, Oregon, Air. Alartin
married Miss Emma Lister, who was born in
Crook county, Oregon. Previous to her coming
to the Hood River valley, she had lived in Crook
and Wasco counties, this state. Her father,
Thomas Lister, was born in England and came to
the United States when two years of age, in
1828. He enlisted in the Alexican War and
crossed the plains in 1852 with ox teams, set
tling near Eugene. After that, he came east of
the mountains and did stock raising at Prineville.
His death occurred there in 1898. He was a
very prominent man, especially in politics and
was always identified with the Republican party
but never sought office for himself. He married
Miss Alary E. Jeter, a native of Kentucky and
descended from an old southern family. Air.
Martin has one brother. K. Duncan and four
sisters : Sue, wife of William L. Purdin ; Celeste :
Mary, wife of Fred W. Webber ; and Inez V.
Mrs. Alartin has the following named brothers
and sisters, Charles AL, Joseph, Hugh J., Cathe
rine. Florence E. Holbrook, Alarie Pond. Anna
F. 'Belknap, and Ida Al. AIcEwen. Air. Alartin
is a member of the A. O. U. W. and a good
strong Republican. He and his wife belong to
the A'lethodist church and she is steward in the
same. They have two children, Helen D. and
Alary L. Air. Alartin is director in his district
and is a prominent and substantial man. Be
fore marriage, Airs. Alartin taught school for
several years in Crook county. They are highly
respected people.

LEON RONDEAL7. a man of stability ancl
enterprise, has demonstrated his ability to make a
first class success in Wasco county, where he
has been a leading farmer for many years. He
resides about six miles east from Kingsley and
is one of the best known ancl most popular men
on the ridge. He has bought and sold consider
able land, handling twelve or fifteen sections, and
now owns eleven hundred ancl twenty acres of
land including three-fourths of a section of tim
ber land. This year he harvested five hundred
acres of wheat, all first class, and in addition to

that he handled, as he does each year, a steam
thresher. Air. Rondeau has a choice farm, and
it is provided with all the improvements that
could be suggested for a first class Oregon
wheat farm and everything indicates him a man
of thrift and sagacity. He is a leader in the com
munity and numbers his friends from every
quarter. Leon Rondeau was born in Alontreal, Can
ada, on June 11, i860, the son of Elzeard and
Seraphine (Gilbeau) Rondeau, both natives of
the place where our subject was born. In fact,
the ancestors on both sides of the house were born
in that vicinity for generations back, the first
ones there being among the earliest settlers of
the section. The father was a mechanic and
later removed to Vermont. The mother died in
that state. Our subject was twelve when the
family made that move and until 1878, he worked
in the factories of Vermont. Then he came with
his father to Wasco county, coming via San
Francisco. The father took a homestead near
Kingsley and remained here until his death,
which occurred in the house where our subject
now lives. The last years of the father's life were
spent in the home of his son. He was a man of
many virtues and had many friends. Our sub
ject lived here continuously since coming and has
labored steadily with the result that he is now
possessed of a very valuable property. For twelve
successive years he sheared sheep and his record
is one hundred and fifty-five in one day. This
seems marvelous and is worthy of a position
along side of some of the wonderful feats of the
land. In fact, it far surpasses those which are
made simply for pastime or for the sake of the
record alone. Physical effort placed in a call
ing of commercial value like this is much more
worthy than that simply for the name.
At AIcAIinnville, Oregon, occurred the wed
ding of Air. Rondeau and Aliss Elizabeth Touzin,
and the date was October 28. 1889. Airs. Ron
deau was born near Alontreal, the daughter of
Alexis and Amedile (Boucher) Touzin. The
parents were both natives of Alontreal and their
ancestors for generations back were also born
there. The}- were among the old and prominent
French families there. Air. Rondeau has the fol
lowing named brothers and sisters, Reme. Jo
seph. Edward. Airs. Delia Pattenaude, Airs.
Celia Williams and Airs. Louisa Perrault. Airs.
Rondeau has one sister. Airs. Cordelia Poulette.
To Air. and Airs. Rondeau the following named
children have been born : Alexis, a student in
Rigaud College, in Canada : Cordelia, studying
in a sisters college in Quebec ; Alfred E. and
Rosaline, both at home : Dona, deceased ; and Jus
tine. Air. Rondeau is a member of the W. W.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

359

and the Aiaccabees. He and his wife belong to
the Roman Catholic church and are devout sup
porters of the faith. They are people of prom
inence in this part of the county and have won
the admiration and good will of all.

ASENATH L. PARKER owns one of the
best fruit farms in the Hood River valley. It
lies about three miles out from Hood River on
the Mt. Hood road and is an ideal spot. Her
tasty twelve room residence is modern and com
plete in every respect and one of the most beauti
ful houses in Wasco county. She has been here
many years and is well and favorably known
throughout the valley.
Mrs. Parker was born in Illinois, on Febru
ary iS. 1854 the daughter of Hugh W. Aloore,
who was born in Nova Scotia. His father was a
Scotchman and his mother an Englishwoman.
The former died in 1899, in Indiana. Airs.
Parker's mother, Tryphena (Edmonds) Aloore,
was born in Canada and died in Indiana, in 1882.
After completing the high school course at
Lowell. Indiana, Aliss Aloore married John
Parker, a native of Yorkshire, England, born on
July 12. 1845. The wedding occurrred Alay 27.
1S72, at Crown Point, Indiana. Air. Parker had
come to the United States when nineteen years
of age and thereafter farmed and raised stock.
After the marriage they remained seven years in
Illinois and finally came to Oregon in the fall of
1879. After remaining five months in Portland,
they journeyed to Cascade Locks where he did
carpentering one year and then started the town
of Hood River. He located a business building
on the lot donated by Captain H. C. Coe and put
in a stock of general merchandise. This was the
beginning of the town. He handled the stock for
five years and then sold out to John Middleton
and soon after bought Roger's sawmill which he
operated for seven years, then sold to the Oregon
Lumber Company. While in the store. Air.
Parker had purchased the place where Airs.
Parker now resides and after disposing of his
mill, he lived on the place. In 1803. he erected a
beautiful residence, located in an ideal spot which
commanded a view of the river, and since then
that has been the family home. For some years,
Airs. Parker kept summer boarders and in 1900,
owing to failing health, she desisted from that
enterprise. She has three brthers. Enoch, James
W. and Charles W. and the following named sis
ters, Ursula Brandon, Alehetable W. Smith, and
Ruby D. Hayner. Air. Parker has four broth
ers. Jonas. Jobe, James, Thomas. James was a
member of the King's guard in the English army.

To Air. and Airs. Parker four children have been
born : James W., a merchant in Elgin, Oregon ;
Frank E., at home ; Alaude, the wife of N. C.
Sears in Winlock, Washington ; Walter Ray, de
ceased. Air. Parker was a member of the A. O. LT.
W. and the Episcopal church while Airs. Parker;
belongs to the Alethodist church.
On August 27, 1897, at the family home, Mr.
Parker died after an illness of eight months,
from cancer of. the stomach. He was a substan
tial and popular man and had labored with much
zeal and influence for the building up of the
country. Airs. Parker is an educated and refined
lady, and has managed the estate in a very be
coming- manner.

AIANUEL D. ADAAIS lives five miles south
of The Dalles on Three Alile creek. He was born
in Alarion countv, Oregon, on July 2, 1855, the
son of Stephen B. and Nancy (Cox) Adams,
mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The high
school of Salem gave Air. Adams his education
and in 187 1, he engaged in the sheep, cattle and
horse business in Grant county, Oregon. For
eighteen years, he continued that, then moved
to Sherman county, purchasing a half section of
land in the vicinity of Aloro. In 1896, he sold
out ancl came to his present location where he
purchased two hundred acres of land. Later,
a forty of this was sold and the balance he de
votes to fruit raising and pasture. He has about
forty-five acres in fruit, producing as fine as
there is in the countv.
On September 6. 1881, Air. Adams married
Aliss Laura Peppers, the wedding occurring in
Canyon City. She was born in Polk county, Ore
gon, the daughter of John and A. AL (Prather)
Peppers, natives of Pennsylvania and Polk
county, Oregon, respectively, and early pioneers
to Oregon. The father died when Airs. Adams
was seven years of age. Her parents were among
the earliest settlers in Oregon and are widely
known. To this marriage, one child was born,
Effie. the wife of Ashford Ferguson, in The
Dalles. On February 19, 1887, Air. Adams was
called to mourn the death of his wife. On No
vember 6. 1803. at The Dalles, he married Aliss
Leela Hendricson. a native of Linn county and
the daughter of Alarion and Laura (Bennett)
Hendricson, natives of Illinois and Linn countv,
Oregon, respectively. The father came to Ore
gon in 1853, and now resides in Wasco countv on
the Des Chutes. To this marriage, four children
have been born. Pearl, Ruby, Earl and Delia.
Airs. Adams has three sisters. Eva Blaker, Cora -
Haskell and Grace Steward.

360

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Fraternally, Air. Adams is affiliated with the
I. O. O. F. and is past grand. In politics, he
adheres to the Democratic principles. His wife is
a member of the Christian church and they are
highly esteemed people.

LOUIS L. LANE, a resident of The Dalles,
Wasco county, is one of the most expert me
chanics in his line in the entire northwest. He
is a blacksmith and wagon maker, making heavy
coach work a specialty. He was born in Linn
county, Oregon, July 24, 1861, the son of An
drew W and Indiana (Smith) Lane, natives of
Indiana. The father comes from the old and dis
tinguished Lane family of Kentucky and Indiana,
and he crossed the plains in 1853, locating in
Linn county, where he followed the business of
wagon making. He is now retired from busi
ness and lives with his son at The Dalles. The
mother preceded her husband in Oregon a few
years, and they were united in marriage in Linn
county, where she died in 1876.
When he was eighteen years old our subject
left Linn county and removed to Tygh valley,
with his parents. They remained there but two
years, going thence to Susanville, Lassen county,
California. During his nine years' residence in
that locality our subject attended the district
schools, and learned his trade from his father.
From Susanville he went to Seattle, and two
years subsequently came to The Dalles where he
opened a blacksmith shop at the corner of Third
and Jefferson streets. Mr. Lane employs from
four to eight men. He has built many stage
coaches that have been satisfactorily in commis
sion all over the state of Oregon. He made the
handsome photograph wagon, owned by Gifford,
which captured a prize at the last Wasco county
fair. Mr. Lane was married at Alilford, California,
October 8, 1884, to Hattie E. Aliller. born in
Pennsylvania. Her father, Elisha Aliller, was
killed during the Civil war by bushwhackers.
Later the widow married Henry Washburn. Air.
Lane has two brothers and three sisters: Alorris
M-, of Shaniko, a wagon maker ancl blacksmith;
Andrew W., in Nevada ; Belle, wife of Isaac N.
Williams, of Portland ; Hattie, married to G. E.
Stewart, of Portland ; and Agnes, single and re
siding at Portland. Airs. Lane has three half
brothers and one half sister : Charles, at Mount
Vernon, Washington ; Ray, at San Francisco ;
Vernon H, at Big Lake, Washington : and Ida
Alay, wife of A. H. Brunsing. of Calgary, Al
berta. Air. ancl Airs. Lane have one child,

Gladys, aged five years. Fraternally he is a
member of the A. F. & A. M., K. of P., I. O.
O. F. and W. O. W. Although a stanch Republi
can he is not particularly active and by" no means
a rabid partisan. They are both members of the
Methodist Episcopal church.

ANDREW W. LANE, now retired from
active business, resides with his son, L. L. Lane,
in The Dalles, Oregon. He was born in Fountain
county, Indiana, on February 11, 1830. His
father, David Lane, was a native of Virginia
and his parents came from England. His father,
the grandfather of our subject, was in the Revolu
tionary war and David Lane was in the War of
1812. David Lane's mother was of Scotch de
scent and died aged ninety-seven, her husband
having died at the same age. The mother of our
subject was born in Kentucky and her maiden
name was Drusilla Swearingen. Her parents
were natives of Virginia and Kentucky and came
from German ancestry. Her father was a re
markably strong man and could carry two bushels
of wheat into his grist mill at the age of one
hundred. He died, aged one hundred and two.
Our subject grew up on his father's farm in
Indiana and when sixteen came with his parents
to Alissouri. Two years later, he returned to
Indiana, where his mother died. Then he started
out in life for himself, taking up the patent right
business, having a fine ditching machine that he
handled. For four years he traveled through the
middle states with that, then farmed with his
brother. Afterward, they decided to come west
and in 1853 a train captained by our subject's
brother wended its way from Benton county,
Indiana to the Willamette valley. The journey
was uneventful, save that our subject was de
tained in the Grande Ronde valley, Oregon ten
days, by mountain fever. No hostilities of the
Indians were experienced except on one occa
sion one drew his bow quickly to kill our subject,
but he observing the action covered him with his
revolver so much quicker that the Indian dropped
hostilities and said "How do. How do." Re
covering from his fever in the Grande Ronde val
ley. Air. Lane started for the Willamette valley
and the first house he came to, twenty miles east
from ( )regon City, was Foster's. Later, he passed
on to Salem where he was confined eighty-four
days by typhoid fever. Then he removed to
Harrisburg, where he began wagon making with
Air. Macy, a pioneer blacksmith.
There, on January 10, 1858, Air. Lane married
Miss Indiana Smith, a native of Illinois. Her

»«•* ..

Louis L. Lane

Andrew W. Lane

Tbomas A. Ward

Horatio A. Fargber

Mrs. Horatio A. Fargber

Morvin Hendricson

Mrs. Morvin Hendricson

A. Ad Kelle

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

361

father, Abraham Smith, was born in Tennessee
from agricultural stock and died when one hun
dred years of age. He married a second time
when ninety-eight years of age and in 1852, had
crossed the plains with ox teams. Mr. Lane
and his wife lived in Harrisburg eighteen years,
where he followed wagon making and did a good
business. He never used his land rights but later
moved to Springfield, Linn county and put up a
wagon shop, where he could utilize water power.
There his wife died on October 6, 1876. Soon
thereafter, our subject's health failed and he was
practically an invalid for twenty-five years. For
nine years of his life he was in California and
assisted by his three boys conducted a cooper
shop. He also patented a windmill, which netted
him considerable money. At various times, he
had hemorrhage of the lungs but constantly
fought off death until at the present time, in the
riper years of his life, his health is splendid,
practically no trace of his former sickness re
maining. Air. Lane is a natural mechanic and
has invented many useful appliances. He is the
thirteenth of a family of fourteen children.
Mr. Lane is a venerable ancl esteemed pioneer
and it is with pleasure that we are permitted to
give this epitome of his interesting career.

THOAf AS A. WARD, deceased. The birth
•of Mr. Ward occurred in Wisconsin on October
17, 1846 and he died at The Dalles oil April 6,
1903, aged fifty-seven years. His father before
him had been one of the prominent men in Ore
gon and one of the most intrepid of pioneers.
He was associated with him in various capacities
and came to be one of the leading citizens of the
state of Oregon. His death occurring in the
prime of life, snatched away one beloved and
esteemed and he was widely known and recog
nized as a leader. His father, John H. Ward,
was born in New York state and went to Wiscon
sin in the early days and there followed mining.
Afterwards he lived in Alissouri then came on
west to California and later to Virginia City, Ne
vada, ancl mined in both places. His family joined
him in California after he had mined seven years.
Five years later, they came to Oregon and about
1864 took land in the Cross Hollow country, the
present site of Shaniko. The family home was
there for many years and stock raising occupied
them. They also kept hotel ancl our subject
drove stage for many years. The Wards were
among the first settlers and were the most promi
nent people in this part of the countr}-. All over
western Oregon they were well known ancl about
1874, the father sold out his property and re

moved to The Dalles. Some three years later,
he was called away by death. He was a man
of the most unswerving integrity and sterling
worth. Our subject continued to drive stage
until the winter of 1876, operating on the Canyon
City line. In the following spring, he • took a
claim in Long Hollow and conducted a stopping
station for the stage in addition to raising grain
and stock. For nine years, he dwelt there and
then sold the property and moved to The Dalles.
Here he was engaged in the hotel business for a
few months and then took up the livery business
with Jim Eglin. Eglin sold later to Mrs. Ward's
brother. In 1892 Mr. Ward was elected sheriff
of Wasco county on the Democratic ticket and
after serving for one term, he again engaged in
the livery business. He continued in this until
the time of his death, the firm being known as
"Ward and Robertson. After his demise, his son
succeeded as his mother's agent and is conducting
the business with Air. Robertson at this time.
In political matters, Air. Ward was a strong
Democrat ancl held many important offices, as
member of the city council, water commissioner,
president of the fire department, and so forth.
In Grant county, in Spanish Gulch, on August
27, 1876, Mr. Ward married Aliss Mary L. Kerns,
who was born near Alt. Tabor. Her father, Wil
liam Kerns, crossed the plains in 1852 and took
land near Mt. Tabor. He died in 1878. He fol
lowed mining for many years and was killed at
Spanish Gulch by a cave-in from a mine. He
had married Aliss Lois Allen, a native of Maine
and a member of .the old colonial Allen family.
The marriage occurred in Indiana and Mrs.
Kerns died in Oregon City, in 1894. Mr. Ward's
mother is now eighty-eight years of age and lives
with his widow. He had one brother, John, who
was killed accidentally in traveling from Nevada
to Oregon. He has two sisters, Mary J., the
widow of Robert Alilligan, ancl Bercia A., widow
of William Saltzman. Airs. Ward has two broth
ers, Wilbur G. and Elmer B., and one sister,
Lulu Westervelt. Three children were born to
our subject and his wife, T. Elmer, attending to
the stable, Rex A., employed in the stable and
Lulu L. at home.
Air. Ward was a prominent member of fra
ternal circles, assisting in organizing Ridgeley
Lodge, I. O. O F., of Dufur, of which he was
the first noble grand and also a representative to
the grand lodge and encampment. He ancl his
wife were members of the Rebekahs and the
Women of Woodcraft. He belonged also to the
W. W., being a charter member in The Dalles.
His life speaks for itself and he is cherished
in the hearts ancl memories of those who knew
him. Fearless and brave, yet guided by a keen

362

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sense of honor and a due appreciation of his
stewardship, he conducted himself both in public
and private so that his reputation was flawless
and unsullied. In discharging the trying duties
of sheriff of Wasco county, he was always known
as humane yet strictly executing the wish of the
law. His friends are numbered by legion in all
parts of Oregon, and no man was more highly
esteemed or widely known than Thomas A.
Ward.

HORATIO A. FARGHER, a prominent and
extensive stockman of Wasco county, resides in
The Dalles. He was born on the Isle of Man,
on November 14, 1849. His father, Thomas C.
Fargher, a native of the same place, came from
an old Manx family that dates back for many
centuries. He came to the United States in 1870,
returned to his native home, in 1888, and died six
years later. The mother of our subject was Susan
(Christian) Fargher, a native of the Isle of Man,
where she died when Horatio was about thirteen
years of age. After receiving his education in a
private school, the subject of this article came to
the United States in 1867, apprenticed on the
ship, Cairnsmore. In 1868, he came on another
trip and deciding that he had seen enough of sea
faring life, severed his connection with the vessel
at San Francisco, having been two years on the
ocean. For a time, he wrought on the bay
schooners then went to Alaska on the ship Czaro-
vitch. Six months later, he signed articles on the
ship Favorite, from San Francisco to Liverpool
then visited his old home and in 1870, his father
returned with him to the United States. * After
a short visit in Sacramento, they came to Port
land and there our subject wrought on the river
steamers for two years. Then he took a trip to
Fort Wrangel, Alaska and after arduous travel
ing over ice and overcoming great difficulties ancl
finding but little gold in the ground they thawed
out, they returned to Puget sound. In 1875, Mr.
Fargher came to Wasco county with his brother,
Thomas C, Jr., and bought out a man's rights
on railroad land three miles from Dufur. Later,
he sold his interest in the farm to his brother and
purchased his present estate which consists of
twenty-six hundred acres. A portion of it is
grain land and the balance is used for pasture.
He handles a large quantity of stock and is one
of the prosperous men of the community.
On February 7, 1889, at The Dalles, Mr.
Fargher married Miss Emma Roth, born in
Minnesota, on September 18, 1865, the daughter
of John M. and Margaret (Unselt) Roth, na
tives of Germany, and mentioned elsewhere in
this volume. Air. Fargher has the following

brothers and sisters, Arthur W., Thomas C, Jr.,
Frederick D., Walter A., Alexander, and Susan
nah. The last four mentioned are deceased. The
names and dates of the births of our subject's
children are given as follows : Susannah, July 5,
1890; Albert, October 23, 1891 ; Margaret, No
vember 23, 1893 ; Walter, December 27, 1895 ;
Stanley, March 5, 1898 ; Cecil, May 12, 1902.
Airs. Fargher is a member of the Women of
Woodcraft. Mr. and Mrs. Fargher are well
known and highly esteemed people and have so
conducted themselves that they have an unsullied
reputation.

MORVIN HENDRICSON, who resides some
eighteen miles east of The Dalles, on Tenmile
creek was born in Albany, Oregon, on September
22, 1852. His father, William F. Hendricson,
married Miss Sarah Jackson, who died at Albany,
Oregon, in 1892. The father now lives there. He
crossed the plains first in 1845, having been form
erly a farmer in Indiana and Iowa. He returned
to his residence in 1847 and then recrossed the
plains to the west. In the fall of 1852, he took
a donation claim in Linn county and for the past
thirty years has resided in Albany, renting the
donation claim, which he still owns. Our sub
ject was educated in the district schools and in
Monmouth college, spending two winters in the
last named institution. Then he rented his father's
farm for two years after which he bought two
hundred and forty acres near Harrisburg which
was his home for nine years. Then he came to
Wasco county and filed on a homestead and pre
emption, which he still owns. In addition he is
farming seven hundred and eighty acres, which
belongs to his brother-in-law, Mr. Belshaw, a
capitalist of Spokane, Washington. Mr. Hendric
son raises about five hundred acres of wheat each
year and handles many cattle and horses. He
has fine well bred stock and also owns a threshing
outfit. He has two brothers, Omar P. and Wil
liam, and two sisters, Mrs. Leona Huston and
Mrs. Mary Belshaw.
On May 3, 1874, Mr. Hendricson married
Mrs. Alvira Bennett, a native of Linn county.
The wedding occurred at Lebanon, Oregon. Mrs.
Hendricson was the daughter of William and
Laura (Rexford) Bennett, who crossed the plains
to the Willamette valley in the early forties. To
this union four children have been born : Lela,
the wife of Manuel D. Adams, who is also men
tioned in this work ; Eva, the wife of Frank
Blaker in East Portland ; Cora, the wife of George-
Haskell, a farmer residing in The Dalles, Oregon ;
and Grace, the wife of Charles Stewart. Owing
to incompatibility Mr. and Mrs. Hendricson

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

3°3-

finally separated and secured a divorce. After
that, occurred the marriage of Mr. Hendricson
and Mrs. Mabel Gannon, who was born in Polk
county, Oregon, on July 22, 1861, the daughter of
Daniel C. and Mary (Abbott) Dougherty, natives
of Pennsylvania and Iowa, respectively. The
father died in 1903, and the mother in 1901. The
mother's brother was Dr. John Abbott, a well
known physician of Iowa. By her former mar
riage, Mrs. Hendricson had one child, Charles
Stewart, who died on February 3, 1904, after an
illness of two ancl one-half years. He was a very
popular young man and highly respected. His
Christian life was exemplary and the church to
which he belonged, the Baptist, possessed in him
one of his choicest members. He left a wife,
Grace, who was the daughter' of Mr. Hendricson
by his former marriage, and one child, Eileen.
Airs. Hendricson has also had one other child
by her former marriage, Birdie, the wife of Pro
fessor Messenger, who is an instructor in a col
lege in Quebec, Canada. Mr. Hendricson be
longs to the Christian church and his wife is a
member of the Baptist church. They are good
substantial people, well esteemed, upright and
thrifty. Since the above was written Mr. Hendricson
has sold his farm and is erecting a neat two-story
house on Third street, 7063/2, The Dalles.

A. AD. KELLER, who conducts a real estate,
insurance and employment agency at The Dalles,
No. 317 East Second street, was born in Switz
erland, April 28, 185 1, the son of Nicholas and
Susanne ( Schwendiman) Keller, natives of
Switzerland. The father was a butcher and stock
raiser. Both parents are deceased, the mother
dying in 1877.
Our subject was educated in the Swiss public
schools in Berne, supplemented by a course in the
"Realschule," a college in the same city. Mr.
Keller was graduated from the literary depart
ment, in 1867. He then assisted his father in
business until 1878, entering the Swiss army and
serving until 1878, on leave of absence, with the
rank of First Lieutenant, during all of which
time he, also, attended to his duties in his father's
meat market, and working his way upward in the
army, a task that involved much hard study and
work. He came to the United States in 1878,
going direct to Portland, Oregon, where until
1883 he was employed in the butchering business.
That year he came to The Dalles and was book
keeper in the Columbia Brewery two and one-half
years, subsequently engaging in the saloon busi

ness, until 1902, when he sold out and has con
ducted his present enterprise since.
October 10, 1886, Mr. Keller, at The Dalles,
was married to A. Louise Strasser, born in Swit
zerland in the same Canton as her husband, the
daughter of Johann and Anna (Lewenburger)
Strasser, natives of Switzerland, the father dying
in that country in 1871, the mother passing away
at The Dalles, in 1887. Mrs. Keller came here
with her mother and three brothers; Henry, who
is now a practicing physician in Minneapolis;.
Emil, a farmer on Fivemile creek, Wasco county ;
and another brother who died in 1882. Air. Kellei
has one brother living, Edward, and one sister,
Mary, both residing in Berne, Switzerland. Mr.
and Mrs. Keller have six children, Albert, aged
sixteen; Louisa, Marie, Grover, Julius, and
Henry, aged respectively, fourteen, thirteen,
eleven, ten ancl four years. Politically Mr.
Keller is independent. Fraternally he is a mem
ber of Wasco tribe, I. O. R. M., of which he is
chief of records and Past Sachem; of Friendship-
Lodge, No. 9, K. of P., being past (,,'. C, and
The Dalles Aerie, No. 156, F. O. E. For thir
teen years he has served in the Oregon National
Guard as Inspector of small arm practice, with
rank of captain. He was a notary public eight
years, is a member of the fire depaitmcnt and is
ex-president and secretary of Jackson Engine
Company, No. 1, but is at present exempt from
service. In June, 1904, Mr. Keller was chosen
justice of the peace for The Dalles district, run
ning well ahead of his ticket, the Republican.

ALEXANDER J. ANDFKSON resides.
three miles west from The Dalles, where he owns
a choice farm with his brother. It is especial]
adapted to the culture of fruit and he is one of
the leading orchardists and general farmers in
this part of the country. His place is known far
and wide as a land mark iw-ar the Columbia
river and personally he is respected and esteemer
He was born in Delaware county, New York,
on September 19, 1836, the son of John and Mar
garet (Sims) Anderson, natives of Scotland..
They both died in Illinois, (he father in 1896
aged eighty-two, the motlu-i was aged eighty.
They had come to the United States when chil
dren and were married in Delaware county, New
York. The father followed farming and did
millwright work. He was a prominent citizen
and for thirty years was justice of the peace in
Illinois, holding that office until the time of his
death. They had moved lo that state in 1845,.
our subject being then nine years of age and had

364

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

settled about one hundred miles west from where
Chicago now stands. Alexander remained with
his parents until twenty-four years of age and
then enlisted in 1 86 1 in the first United States
Regiment, Alechanics and Fusileers, and served
three months. Being mustered out, he reenlisted
in the cavalry but was not sent to the front. Then
he offered his services on the gunboat but was
not accepted on account of no more men being
needed. In 1864, he came to Idaho then visited
the Boise Basin in Idaho and the next year
landed in Eugene, Oregon. Three years were
spent there in carpentering then we find Mr. An
derson in Portland in the sash and door factory.
Two years later, he took up cabinet work and
followed the same until 1879, when he came to
The Dalles and took charge of the furniture store
for J. F. Rowers. In the year of 1884, he sold
out and our subject and his brother purchased
three hundred and twenty acres of land on the
-river below The Dalles. Part of it is devoted to
pasture and eighty acres of it are especially
adapted to fruit. He has a very large orchard
and produces some of the most excellent fruit
in the valley. In addition to this, Air. Anderson
raises a great deal of Wyandotte poultry and
other fowls, as peacocks, turkeys, geese and so
forth. He produces abundance of vegetables
-each year and handles some stock.
In 1867, at Eugene, Mr. Anderson married
Miss Sarah J. Powers, a native of Illinois and
the daughter of Benjamin Powers, born in Ver
mont and descended from an old and prominent
colonial family. In 1852, Mr. Powers started
across the plains and while en route, his wife was
taken away by death. Air. Anderson has three
"brothers, George, James and John and three sis
ters, Jane Monroe, Nettie Pierce and Margaret
Gibbs. Airs. Anderson has four biothets, Ben
jamin F., John, William and Albert. Three chil
dren came to bless the home of Mi. Anderson,
Minnie, the wife of Henry L. Kuck, a harness
manufacturer of The Dalles, Nellie, a music
teacher in Portland, and Albert who died.

RUSSELL PEALER is a reliicd fanner, re
siding about four miles up from Hood River on
the west side. He was born in Knox county,
Ohio, on March 18, 1833, the son of John ancl
Rachel (Bright) Pealer, natives of Pennsyl
vania and descended from Dutch ancestry. Our
subject was reared ancl educated in his native
country and there married. 'I brer years after
that event, he went to Iowa ami in 1862, enlisted
in the Twenty-ninth Iowa Volunteer Infantry,
Company G, under Captain A / lluggins ancl

1 dlonel Benton of Council Bluffs. For two years
and nine months, Air. Pealer was on the White
River expedition and was discharged on account
of disability. After the war, he remained in Iowa
until 1869, then went to San Francisco by rail.
lie took a steamer from there to Portland and
later we find him at Camas Prairie, near Mt.
Adams, Washington. In 1875, he came to Hood
River and bought eighty acres of land where he
resides. He has cleared sixty acres from timber
and has made it a very valuable and beautiful
farm. The place is handled by his son and pro
duces diversified crops.
On January 1, 1854, at Mt. Vernon, Knox
county, Ohio, Air. Pealer married Miss Louisa
J. Nichols, who was born in the same neighbor
hood as her husband. They were playmates to
gether. Her father, Amos Nichols, was a native
of Virginia and came to Ohio with his parents
when twelve years of age. His father was in the
War of 1812 and his great grandfather was in
the Revolution. They all followed farming. He
married Sarah Davis, who was born at Hagers-
town, Alaryland and came from an old southern
family. Mr. and Airs. Pealer have one child, Mil
ton W, who was born in Knox county, Ohio on
March 10, 1855. He has been with his parents
the past three years and has two children, How
ard W. and Guy. The latter is in Seattle and the
former is married and has one child. He is liv
ing on the old home here, which makes four gen
erations on this farm. The men are Republicans
but not active and Milton W. belongs to the
A. O. U. W. Howard W. belongs to the M. W.
A. In 1884, Air. and Airs. Pealer lost one son,
Alvin R., who was eighteen years of age. Our
subject ancl has wife have labored long and
faithfully in this valley and are deserving of
credit as substantial people and real builders of
this part of Wasco county.

CARL F. A1EHL was born in Germany, on
February 6, 1840, the son of Godfried and Eliza
( Fischer) Alehl, natives of Germany where they
remained until their death. In 1863, having se
cured a good education in the fatherland and an
excellent training from his parents, our subject
bade farewell to home ancl friends and sailed
away for America. The first four years here, he
spent in Wisconsin, then he lived eight years in
Aiinnesota, following farming and the meat bus
iness. He also devoted some time to railroad
contracting. In 1876, he came to The Dalles and
opened a meat market. Later, he was employed
on the O. R. & N. for six years, then he bought
land in Klickitat countv, across the Columbia

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

365

river, and farmed for thirteen years. Then he
sold his property and retired to The Dalles, where
he and his wife have lived since.
In 1866, while in Minnesota, Mr. Mehl mar
ried Miss Eustina Zeigenhagen, a native of Ger
many. Her parents were natives also of the same
country and her father is now living with one
of her ' brothers, aged eighty-eight. Mr. Mehl
has one brother, August and one sister, Eustina
Tetzloff. Mrs. Mehl has one brother, Herman.
To our subject and his wife, seven children have
been born : Emily, in Coos Bay, Oregon ; Rudolph
at Heppner, with railroad company ; Helena, wife
of Julius Pankonin, a builder and contractor ;
Fred in The Dalles, lailroading, and Eustina,
Amalia and Frank at home.
Mr. Mehl is a good strong Republican and a
well informed man. He also belongs to the A. O.
U. W. while he and his wife are members of the
Lutheran church. They are highly respected
people and have won the confidence of all who
know them.

¦» »»

WILLIAM A. HUNTER is a man of good
standing, is possessed of much property, and is a
leading citizen in Wasco county. lie resides
about seven miles east from Kingsley, and there
owns an estate of about one thousand acres. The
same is well improved, has all the marks of being
handled by a thrifty and skillful owner, and is
one of the choicest ones of the county. This past
year, Mr. Hunter reaped about four hundred
acres of good grain, which is the average of his
farming. He raises considerable stock, has some
fine cattle and many hogs. Among the swine, he
owns one registered Poland China boar, which
is a choice animal. Air. Hunter has been pros
pered in all lines and the secret is not hard to find,
as his wisdom, industry, and skill are evident in
all his ways.
William A. Hunter was born in Ontario,
Canada, on December 28, 1869. His father, Mur
doch Hunter, was born in Canada and his parents
were natives of Scotland. He died in 1884. He
married Ann Finlayson, a native of Scotland,
who died at Kingsley, in 1901. In the world fa
mous schools of Ontario, Air. Hunter received
his education and remained with his father until
eighteen, then came to Oregon, and spent four
years on the farms for wages. Later he took a
homestead and preemption and bought another
quarter, all in Sherman county. This was the
scene of his labors until recently when he sold it
and purchased a section and a half where he now
resides. Here he has been occupied since and his
life domonstrates him a man of tenacity, stabil
ity and uprightness.

Mr. Hunter took unto himself a life partner
on July 4, 1899, the nuptials being celebrated at
The Dalles, and the lady was Miss Gertrude
Badger, a native of Michigan. Her father,.
George Badger, is a builder and architect in Port
land. He was born in Alichigan and his father
was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and came-
from an old and prominent American family of
the colonial days. George Badger served through
the Civil War in the Sixth and First Michigan
Cavalry. He has erected some fine edifices, as
the state insane asylum in Ionia, Michigan, the
first capitol at Lansing, and others, being a prom
inent contractor. He married Miss Sarah A.
Raymond, a native of Connecticut. Her father,
Russell G. Raymond, was a native of the same
state. He married Asenath Hoyt. The first
Raymonds came to the Colonies from England.
in 1625 and settled where Salem, Massachusetts
is now. Their names were Richard, William, and
John. Richard was a seafaring man and from him
descended that branch of the family to which
Airs. Hunter belongs. The family tree is com
plete back for many generations previous to evem
the early dates given. They were prominent
people for centuries past. Mr. Hunter has three
brothers, John, David and James, and three sis
ters, Airs. Alargaret AIcLeod, Airs. Betsey AIc-
Leod, and Mrs. Catherine Longhurst. Airs.
Hunter has two brothers, Frank and George and
two sisters, Airs. Jennie Vassal, and Sarah. Airs..
Hunter was well educated, in the graded school
of Ionia and the Portland University. Following
her clay of graduation, she taught school for
four years. Mr. Hunter is a Democrat, and a
man of influence in the community. He is well
posted on all questions of the day and is a great
reader.

GEORGE COOPER, one of Wasco county's
popular and rising young men who has shown'
marked thrift and industry in his labors, which
presage a bright future for him, resides about a*
mile south from The Dalles and has spent his
entire life in this section.
He was born in The Dalles, on March 25,
1868. His father, Robert Cooper, was a native-
of Aberdeenshire, Scotland and came to Canada
when nineteen years of age. After six years' res
idence there, he came to Douglas county, Oregon
in i860 and two years later, removed to The
Dalles and engaged in teaming. In 1870, he filed
on a homestead just south from The Dalles,
where he now lives. He married a native Scotch
girl who is still living with him. The high schools
of The Dalles and a business college of Portland
completed the education of our subject, then he-

366

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

took up commercial work for a short time. After
that, he bought forty acres of land from the
Alarshall Hill estate and is devoting the same
almost entirely to orchard. He also raises melons
and other vegetables and has a very beautiful
and valuable place.
On June 15, 1898, at The Dalles, Air. Cooper
married Aliss Frances E. Rowe, who was born
in that part of Wasco county which now forms
Wheeler county. Her father, Joseph K. Rowe,
was a native of Baltimore, Alaryland, and his
father, of England. He came to the United
States with his parents when an infant, and
served in the Civil War, confederate army, For
tieth Missouri Infantry, under Captain George
B. Clark. During the latter part of the war, he
was engaged in the repair shops ancl in 1866,
came to Oregon. He settled in the John Day
country, which was then almost uninhabited, and
there remained until 1881, then moved to The
Dalle.s and took a position in the Oregon Rail
road and Navigation shops and later, went to
Portland. In June, 1903, at St. Vincent hospital,
Portland, he was called away by death. He was
a member of the Congregational church, the
A. F. & A. AL and a highly respected citizen.
"The mother of Airs. Cooper was Martha V
(Dedman) Rowe, a native of Tennessee ancl de
scended from an old and prominent southern
family. Her father had extensive machine shops
and foundries at Camden, Arkansas when the
Civil \Arar broke out. They were confiscated by
the confederate army and he was pressed into
service. After the war, he secured three thous
and dollars for his entire property for which he
"had been offered thirty thousand dollars pre
viously. His death occurred in Idaho, on July
13, 1902 ancl he was a Alason of sixty-two years'
standing. After the war, he settled in Texas,
traveling later to Oregon. Air. Cooper has one
brother, John Cooper and three sisters, Ella Tay
lor, Annie, Katie and Lura. Airs. Cooper has one
brother, Walter C, ancl two sisters, Nona, wife
of Henry Readel, in The Dalles, and Lulu C.
Air. Cooper is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the Artisans and the Alethodist church. Airs.
'Cooper is a member of the Congregational
church. They have two children, Helen, born
May 7, 1901 and Glen R., born October 3, 1903.
Air. Cooper is a Republican, has attended the
conventions but is not very active in this work
although stanch.

STEPHEN B. ADAAIS. deceased. The his
tory of Wasco county and in fact a large portion
of Oregon, could not be thoroughly written with
out especial mention of Air. Adams. He was born

in Pennsylvania, near the Ohio line, on Alay 9,
1829, the son of Abner and Zeruiah (Griswold)
Adams. The father is a close relative of the
noted John and John Quincy Adams and the
family is too well known in American history to
need further comment. The Griswolds were old
ancl prominent people and Airs. Adams, the
widow of our subject, has a property deed made
to the Griswold family prior to the Revolution.
Our subject was reared and educated in the east
ern part of the United States and in 1853, with
his wife and one child joined a train for Alarion
county, Oregon. In due time^the horse and ox
teams brought them safely through and then they
took a donation claim near the present site of
Jefferson. However, previous to that, they
moved to town ancl later bought other land near
by. Owing to the asthma of his wife. Air. Adams
removed to Grant county, Oregon, in 1871 and
engaged in stock raising. He did very well and
soon had large bands of cattle, sheep and horses.
In 1880, he came to The Dalles and engaged as
a wool buyer for the Oregon City mills. Later,
he bought wheat. During his residence in The
Dalles for nearly a quarter of a century, he was
one of the leading figures in its improvement and
progress. For nine years, he held the director
ship of The Dalles public schools and was most
prominent in bringing them to their present ex
cellent condition. He was a moving spirit in se
curing the high school building and was tire
less in his efforts in any line where he could bring
improvement and betterment. In 1898, Air.
Adams retired from active business life and on
Alarch 27, 1903, came the summons of the death
angel to depart from this scene. He was beloved
by all ancl widely known throughout this state
where he had made a reputation for himself as
an honorable, noble and capable man.
On December 31, 1849, at Knoxville, Illinois
whither the Adams family had moved when our
subject was fifteen years of age, he married Aliss
Nancv C. Cox, who was born in Indiana, on
January 24, 183 1. Her parents, Benjamin B. and
Elizabeth (Yangilder) Cox, were natives of
Ohio ancl from German and Dutch extraction,
respectively. The}- married in Ohio and came to
Oregon with Air. Adams ancl his family, bring
ing with them a family of two sons and three
daughters. ATr. Cox died in 1878 at Camp Wat
son, Grant county. His wife had died at Oregon
Citv, in 1853. Air. Adams has no brothers or
sisters living but his widow has one sister,
Louisa, widow of Willis Osborn of Milton, Ore
gon. To Air. ancl Airs. Adams two children
were born, M. D., mentioned elsewhere in this
work ancl Elizabeth, the widow of C. Al. Brown
and now living with her mother. Her son, the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

367

grandson of our subject, Harry E., is a young
man of promise ancl well known as a carpenter
and builder in The Dalles.
For many years, Mr. Adams was a member
of the I. O. O. F. and was prime mover in the
establishment of the Oddfellow cemetery at The
Dalles. Politically, he was a Democrat hut never
active, preferring always to asssist his friends to
public positions than to take them for himself.

DANIEL L. ZACHARY, who resides about
four miles south of The Dalles on Three Mile
creek, is one of the venerable citizens ancl sturdy
pioneers of Oregon. He gives his attention to
farming ancl fruit raising, overseeing his place
and is now largely retired* from active life. Flis
father, Alexander Zachary, was born in Arkan
sas ancl descended from a very prominent fam
ily. His father, the grandfather of our subject,
was a patriot of the Revolution. Alexander
Zachary died in Oregon in 1859. He came among
the very first who made their way across the
plains, his train arriving in 1843. Settlement was
made just east from the present site of Portland.
He was born in 1804. Alexander Zachary mar
ried Miss Sarah Luster, a native of Kentucky and
from a prominent southern family. She died in
Dayton, Washington, in 1894. Our subject was
reared in Arkansas and attended the school there
ancl in Oregon until 1853 when he started in life
for himself. His first venture was stock raising
in Linn county, where he took a half section as a
donation claim. For fourteen years, he labored
assiduously there, then came to Gilliam county,
taking a homestead, preemption and timber cul
ture claim. He was for sixteen years one of the
leading stockmen of Gilliam county. It was
1897, when he came to his present location and
purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land
which is the home place. Ten acres of this are
devoted to orchard which produces Italian
prunes, grapes and so forth, and the balance to
general farming.
On July 16, 1862, Mr. D. L. Zachary married
Miss Alartha Dinwiddie. The wedding occurred
in Linn county and the bride was born in Indiana.
Her father, David Dinwiddie, was born in Ohio
and descended from the old ancl prominent Din
widdie family, well known in colonial days, mem
bers of which held important offices as governor
and so forth. Mr. Dinwiddie married Miss Elsie
Hildreth, a native of Indiana in which state the
marriage occurred. The Hildreth family was also
connected with the inception of colonial history
and were prominent for many generations. Mr.
Dinwiddie brought his family to Oregon in 1853.

Mr. Zachary has'no brothers living but three sis
ters, Katherine Davis, Jane Bowen and Nancy.
Mrs. Zachary has two brothers Joseph and
James and two sisters, Alary and Harriet. To
Mr. and Airs. Zachary the following children
have been born : Elmer, a farmer in Linn county ;
Ellsworth, a farmer near Dayton, Washington ;
Albert, a stockman in the Yakima country ; Ira
with his father ; Daniel, also at home ; Elsie, wife
of Wilfred Cecil, a farmer in Morrow county;
Maggie, who died on July 16, 1903, aged four
teen years ancl five months ; and Wills W.
Politically, Air. Zachary is a stanch Democrat
while in local affairs, he is active and well posted.
Flis standing in the community is of the best
while he and his wife are known far and near
as hospitable people.

O.WEN JONES, who is one of the leading
farmers of the Tygh Ridge country, is a man of
stability and industry, as is evidenced by the fact
that when he came here he was not possessed of
any earthly goods, but went to work with his
hands ancl is now the owner of twenty-two hun
dred acres of good land, farm and pasture, be
sides having much stock. The place has been
improved from time to time as he has found the
need, and is today a valuable estate. Mr. Jones
is a man of sagacity and plans carefully in his
enterprises ancl then with a sure hand executes
his plans to the line. This, with his untiring care
of details insures him the best of success and
his business could but prosper under his guid
ance. Owen Jones was born in Wales, on June 9,
1869, the son of Robert and Sarah (Jones)
Jones, both natives of Wales. The father died in
his native place, but the mother is still living
there. Our subject was well educated in the
public schools, and in 1888, came to the new
world to find the fortune that was awaiting him
here. He spent the first eighteen months in
Utica, New York, then came to the land of
promise, Oregon, where he soon decided to try
his fortune in Wasco county. After looking over
the country, he decided on the place where he
now dwells as a homestead and filed. Since then
he has transformed the prairie claim into a valu
able farm ancl has added betimes by purchase
until he owns now the magnificent estate we
have already mentioned. It is no small task to
start on the raw prairie with one's bare hands
ancl in a few years have a fine farm, plenty of
stock and all improvements needed, as any one
will testify who has tried the scheme. But Air.
Jones was equal to the task ancl he has now to
show a handsome property. He winters many

368

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

cattle and sells annually about seventy-five hogs,
all being the fine Poland China breed. His cattle
number usually about one hundred head, some
times more. His place is neat and thrifty, and
he is making the wealth that his labors deserve.
At The Dalles, on July 10, 1899, Air. Jones
married Miss Sophia Roth, who was born in
Kansas, on September 21, 1872. Her parents,
John and Margaret (Nunselt) Roth, are men
tioned elsewhere in this work. Air. Jones has
the following named brothers and sisters : John,
William, David, Robert, Ellis, Thomas, Mrs.
Sarah Pritchard, Airs. Elizabeth Seufert, and
Catherine.

FELIX C. SEXTON, sheriff of Wasco coun
ty, and member of the firm of Sexton & Walther,
dealers in hardware and implements, at The
Dalles, was born in Henry county, Tennessee,
April 13, 1854. His parents were James and
Alilberry (Ellis) Sexton, natives of Tennessee.
The father's father was born in Ireland. The
father, who was a farmer, died about 1873, and
the mother passed away in September, 1900, in
Kansas, at the age of seventy-eight. Her mother
lived to be ninety-eight years old.
Until 1859 our subject was reared in Tennes
see, and the family then moved to Illinois where
he received his education in the district schools in
his locality. At the time he was working on a farm
with his father he split the log seats for the log
school house at which he received his elementary
education. The Sexton family moved to Kansas,
and when our subject was eighteen years of age
his father died. Young Sexton and his brother
purchased a farm and they cultivated the same
until 1880, when, in common with their neigh
bors, they suffered greatly from drought and the
grasshopper pest. Then our subject and his wife
came to Oregon, she remaining in Portland visit
ing while he came to The Dalles arriving April
16, 1880, with a cash capital of five dollars. He
immediately went to work on a ranch, remained
through harvest, and then went into the timber
where he split rails and chopped cord wood, and
for three years followed various employments,
and saved money sufficient to purchase a ranch
about two miles from Kingsley postoffice, and
here the family resided for thirteen years. Dis
posing of this property they came to The Dalles,
and prepared to return to Kansas. Owing to high
water in the Columbia they could not get away,
and when they attempted to leave by the rail
road the strike on the line prevented them from
doing so. It was the wish of Mrs. Sexton to
remain, and in the various obstacles thrown in
their way she could see the hand of fate, and the

eastern trip was abandoned. Mr. Sexton then
engaged in the feed business three years and
when he disposed of the same he was appointed
deputy sheriff by Robert Kelly, now living in
Spokane. In June, 1902, our subject was elected
to the office of sheriff of A\rasco county, receiving
a majority of five hundred and seven on the Re
publican ticket, running ahead of his ticket two
hundred votes. He has served nearly every sea
son as delegate to county conventions and has
always taken as active an interest in politics as
his business would permit. In January, '1901,
he entered into partnership with W. E. Walther
in his present business. Our subject, however,
is justly proud of being a successful farmer, and
holds to the opinion that that is the ideal life
for one to lead.
February 12, 1879, Air. Sexton was married,
at Abilene, Kansas, to Vinelda V. Bradfield, a
native of Kansas, born in Dickinson county. Her
father, Erasmus W., and Alary (Bell) Bradfield,
are both dead. Air. Sexton has six brothers and
two sisters living: William H, of Kansas ; George
\Ar ., of Sherman county, Oregon ; James T., Jo
seph AL. Isaac A., and Henry, all of Kansas -r
Jerline H., wife of Samuel W. Scoggins, of Den
ver, Colorado ; Alartha J., married to J. H. Dunn,
a farmer, living in Kansas. Airs. Sexton has
three brothers and three sisters : Benton P., min
ing in Alaska ; Jesse J., a contractor and builder
in Kansas ; Ellis E., an Oklahoma farmer ; Dora
D., wife of David Sommers, of Kansas; Annie
A.' married to William Swartz, of Kansas; and
Montie AL, single, residing in Kansas. Our sub
ject has nine children living, having lost oner
Francis AL, bookkeeper in the hardware store;
Alillie AL, Dora AL, Guy A., Leona, Felix N.,
Harold, Nello, and Theodore D.
Mr. Sexton is a member of the B. P. O. E.,
I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand and repre
sentative to the grand lodge, and the W. O. W.
In June, 1904, Mr. Sexton was reelected
sheriff by a majority of over twelve hundred.

DANIEL J. COOPER resides on Tenmile
creek about ten miles up from The Dalles. He
was born in Bradley county, Tennessee, on
August 23, 1836. His father, Elbert E. Cooper,
was a native of Kentucky. His parents were also
born in Kentucky. The mother's father, the great
grandfather of our subject was George Frederick
Cooper, a native of Germany. During the Revolu
tion such was the intense feeling against King
George that he dropped the name George and it
was never used by him afterward, he always being
known as Frederick. He fought during- the Revo-

Felix C. Sexton

Mrs. Felix C. Sexton

Daniel J. Cooper

Mrs. Daniel J. Cooper

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

369

lution and was finally married in North Carolina
to Dorothy Call, who came from a prominent and
influential colonial family, which is still a lead
ing family in the south. He made several trips
to Kentucky with Boone and finally settled there
where he died. It is stated that his little log
cabin is standing there to this day. Our sub
ject's father was reared in Kentucky until six
teen years of age when his father died and he
went to Tennessee where he was married to
Nancy Wann, a native of Meigs county, Ten
nessee. Her parents were natives of Virginia
and their ancestors originally came from Wales,
among the early settlers of the Virginia colony.
Nancy (Wann) Cooper's mother, our subject's
grandmother, was Lydia Stockton before her mar
riage to Air. Wann. Her father, Clayton Stock
ton, married Nancy Patton. Clayton and Nancy
(Patton) Stockton were born Quakers, but later
became Baptists. They migrated from Virginia
to Tennessee. Clayton Stockton served in the
War of 1812. Our subject was raised principally
in Missouri where his parents moved when he
was two years of age. He was well educated
in the district schools and the high school and
when twenty left home for California with his
uncle, Michael W. Buster. They crossed the
plains with ox teams to Santa Rosa and vicinity.
He did well cutting wood for the Santa Rosa
mills, then went to Fraser river and finally came
back to San Francisco broke and disgusted. He
spent two years in charge of a cattle ranch and
then took steamship to New York, finally landing
in Alissouri, in 1861. He tried several times to
enlist but the company every time was disbanded
or broken up. Finally, he was enlisted in Com
pany D, Seventy-sixth Alissouri, on August 30,
1862, and was in several battles and skirmishes
and was then discharged honorably as second
sergeant. Then with his wife and one child, and
his parents, he turned his face westward with no
definite place in view except to get out of the
unsettled and uncertain state of affairs in Alis
souri and Kansas. When they came to the forks
of the road on the Platte river, they finally decided
to come to Oregon and in the fall of 1863, reached
Polk county where they remained fourteen years.
After following farming and stock raising for this
time, our subject was in the mercantile business
for three or four years, having purchased a ware
house on the river in company with his brother.
In 1876, he sold out this property and went to
Alarion county, near the Silverton mills. He
did well in business there for a couple of years
then came to eastern Oregon and bought a por
tion of the place which he now owns. He has in
this estate now twenty-nine hundred acres of
land, sixteen hundred of which are tillable. This
24

year he has seven hundred acres of grain and
rents the balance. Air. Cooper is one of the lead
ing farmers of eastern Oregon and has made a
nne success in his labors.
On Alay 9, 1861, in Lawrence county, Mis
souri, Air. Cooper married Arvazena Spillman,
who was born in Allen county, Kentucky on
April 13, 1845. Her parents, Nathan and Emily
(Prewett) Spillman, were natives of Kentucky.
Mr. Cooper has six brothers, William H., James-
S., Jacob C, Riley D., John E. and Albert and
three sisters, Airs. Sarah Gildow, Patience, single,
and Airs. Elizabeth Alann, deceased. Airs. Cooper
has the following named brothers and sisters,
Lewis, Brownlow, John, William, Luther, Mrs.
Parilee Cooper, the wife of our subject's brother,
Jacob C, and Airs. Julia Alize. To Air. and Mrs.-
Cooper the following named children have been
born : Charles C, a harness maker in Dufur ; El
bert N., a stockman at Billings, Montana ; Cyrus,.
with his father ; Daniel J., in Wyoming ; Avery
J., a lieutenant in the regular army at Fort
Stevens; James A., at home; Kenneth L., at the
agricultural college at Corvallis ; Belle, the wife
of Dr. Elmer E. Ferguson, who is mentioned
elsewhere in this work, and who, with her hus
band and Dr. Reuter owns The Dalles hospital
and is one of the most successful physicians in
this part of the state ; Alary, wife of James F.
Thompson, a flour mill owner at Lewiston, Idaho;
Nancy, a teacher in The Dalles public school ;
Prudence, the wife of Fred W. Bailey, in charge
of the grocery department of Pease and Mays
establishment; Ruth, a trained nurse at Portland;
Bingilia, the wife of Harry E. Northrup, an at
torney of Portland ; and Alildred, a school girl.
Air. and Airs. Cooper are members of the
Congregational church. He belongs to the G. A.
R. and his wife to the Relief Corps. In political
matters, Air. Cooper is a Republican and is fre
quently delegate to the state and county conven
tions. After coming to Oregon our subject was
a special agent in the land office with his head
quarters in Washington, D. C, for some time.
Air. Cooper's father was a Baptist preacher and
for forty years preached the gospel, never ac
cepting any pay for this service. He was well
known in the AA'illamette valley, where he labored
for many years.

FRANK CADDY is one of the most progres
sive ancl successful farmers in the Hood River
valley. He resides near Frankton school and was
born in Dubuque, Iowa, on July 5, 1854. His
father, Thomas Caddy, was born in Stafford^
shire, England and the family were farmers and
blacksmiths for many generations back, thev hav-

37°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ing lived in the same house since the reign of
Queen Ann. The father came to the United
States when twenty-one and settled in Dubuque
and followed his trade. In 1877, he moved to
Fayette county and in 1883, went to Nebraska,
where he followed blacksmithing and in the win
ter of 1883, was caught in a blizzard and froze
to death in Wheeler county. He was an en
thusiastic Republican and a school director for
twelve years in Centergrove, Iowa and the sub
urbs of Dubuque. He married Lucy E. Day, a
native of New York. For many generations, her
ancestors lived in Day Hollow, near Binghamp-
ton. Several of the family fought in the Revolu
tion and her grandfather came from an old
Scotch family that dates back to the time of
King James. Our subject remained with his
parents until he came west in 1885 and rode the
range for many years. His favorite trip was to
go to the P'ecos valley in New Alexico, purchase
horses and drive them to Iowa where they were
sold to advantage. He made the trip each year
Until he came to the Hood River valley. On No-
¦ vember 10, 1890, he took a homestead which he
still owns. For seven months he worked for
William Slingerland when he first came, and in
March, 1896, he bought five acres where he re
sides at present. Later, he added ten more by
purchase and here he has bestowed his labors
since. On April 30, 1891, at the Belmont church,
Mr. Caddy married Miss Minnie E. Boorman,
the daughter of William and Lucy (Rand)
Boorman. To this union the following children
have been born, Leon, Dorothy, and three who
died in infancy. Mr. Caddy has four brothers,
Charles, Thomas, Wilbur A. and Joseph, and two
sisters, Mrs. Hannah Older and Alice E., besides
¦three sisters dead, Ella, Neva, and Blanche.
Mrs. Caddy belongs to the Alethodist church.
Mr. Caddy's father was an Oddfellow of many
years' standing and very influential, having
•passed all the chairs of the order and was dele
gate to the grand lodge. Mr. Caddy has an ex
cellent place and well improved. From about
four acres, he has sold five hundred ancl sixty-
two dollars worth of strawberries. He cuts as
high as twenty-two tons of hay from four acres.
On one acre, he cut seven tons at the first mow
ing, a record which is hard to beat.

HENRY L. MAYHEW is a man of large
experience in the industrial world ancl has passed
through many hardships and much arduous work
to attain the position he now occupies. He re
sides about eight miles east from Kingsley, where

he has an estate of four hundred acres, over half
of which is now under the plow. He took the first
part of it as a homestead and after improving
that, purchased the balance. He raises grain and
stock and is one of the thrifty and leading men
of this section. Air. Alayhew is a man of wide
information and keeps himself well posted in the
literature of the world and its progress. He was
well educated in the French schools of his youth,
but when he came to- the United States he took
up the task of mastering 'the English language,
so as to speak, read and write it correctly.
He has accomplished this task, which is no small
one, and entirely without instruction, which
shows his tenacity and ability.
Henry L. Alayhew was born near Stony
Point, Ontario, on April 16, 1863, the son of
Jacob and Lucy (Brunnett) Alayhew, both na
tives of Stony Point. The father came from a
French colonial family ancl remained in his native
place until his death, which occurred when our
subject was seven. The mother also descended
from a French colonial family and now dwells at
Stony Point. After being educated, Henry L.,
went to Alichigan, being then seventeen. Two
years later he returned to Ontario and then entered
the employ of the Canadian Pacific. Later he
contracted on the construction of that line in Brit
ish Columbia and following that he- took a trip
overland, with his blankets and provisions on his
back, to Sandpoint, Idaho. Two companions ac
companied him and they had a hard time. Then
Air. Alayhew did contract work on the Northern
Pacific, and after that did logging at Chehalis.
Two years later he came to Wasco county and
took the homestead mentioned. He went to work
with a will to make a home and gain a fortune
and he has succeeded well. He started without
means, but has prospered exceedingly in his work
since. At The Dalles, on November 25, 1895, Mr.
Alayhew married Airs. Lulu Wildrick, the daugh
ter of Harvey ancl Jennie (Brown) Smith. The
father died in the east, but the mother lives with
this daughter. The former was born in Ver
mont, and the latter in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Alay
hew was born in Alichigan. By her former mar
riage she has one son, Willie, who is a student
in Holme's business college in Portland. To
Air. and Airs. Alayhew one son has been born,
Arthur. Airs. Mayhew is an only child. Mr.
Alayhew has the following named brothers and
sisters : Patrick, Napoleon, Mrs. Emily Bully,
ATrs. Delama DeAlarrais, and Mrs. Selema De-
Marrais. Air. Mayhew was the first one to come
here from Stony Point, and now several of his
early associates are here and prosperous men.
In politics, he is a Republican and active in the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

371

interests of his party. He is school director and
has been for a long time. Fraternally, he is
affiliated with the W. W., and is also chairman
of the precinct committee.

HENRY H. TOMLINSON, surveyor and
farmer, resides about a mile out from Mount
Hood. He is one of the pioneers of this country
and has been very active in many lines of devel
opment work throughout the state. He was born
in England, on January 22, 1855, the son of Sam
uel and Harriett (Hindley) Tomlinson, natives
also of England, where they were married. The
wedding occurred in Lincolnshire. They came
to the United States in 1857 and settled in Gene
see county, Michigan, where the father now lives
retired. The mother died on June 4, 1902, aged
seventy-two. _ Our subject was raised and edu
cated in Alichigan, and in 1874 went to Nebraska
and engaged in overseeing a crew on the railroad.
Later, he returned to Michigan and came to Ohio,
after which he went to Michigan and learned the
carpenter trade. In 1883 we find him in Hood
River, Oregon, and he filed on a preemption a
little south from where he lives at the ' present
time. In 1884 he worked for H. C. Coe, on the
Mt. Hood stage line. The next year he relin
quished his preemption and went to Douglas
county, Oregon. The same year he returned to
Hood River, then went to Washington and
worked for Lyman Smith as engineer in sawmill.
In 1890, we find him working for the Southern
Pacific railroad at Woodburn. Soon thereafter,
he came to the valley to clear his homestead,
which he had taken up in 1878. Since that time
he has farmed here. In the spring of 1893, Mr.
Tomlinson bought the Baldwin sawmill and oper
ated the same for nine years. In May, 1902, he
sold his property to John Koontz. Ever since
learning the art in younger years, Mr. Tomlinson
has given more or less attention to surveying
and has operated in various sections of the coun
try. He has sold one hundred and twenty acres
of his quarter section and is improving the other
forty in an excellent manner. He has a very
tasty cottage together with other improvements
and is making an ideal home of his place. He
has a fine apple orchard ancl expects to plant
more. On February 20, 1877, at the residence of the
bride at Mount Hood, Mr. Tomlinson married
Miss Emily E. Edick, who was born in Illinois,
on August 7, 1859. Her father, Henry Edick,
was a native of New York, and his father, Henry
Edick, lived to be one hundred and four years
of age. He was born in Deerfield, Oneida county,

New York, on June 28, 1770, and was a pioneer
there and in various sections of the country. He
married Miss Amelia Edick. He was the father
of ten children and at the time of his death, six
were living, the eldest being seventy-four and the
youngest forty.
Mrs. Tomlinson's mother was Alice (Sey
mour) Edick, a native of McHenry county, Illi
nois, where she was married. She now resides
in Mount Hood, the widow of Oscar Sandman.
Our subject has two brothers, Lewis W. ancl
Franklin, and five sisters, Mary E. Allen, Sarah,
Hattie Montague, Ida and Lucy Meyers. Mrs.
Tomlinson has one brother, William H, and
one half brother, Delbert Sandman. Mr. Tom
linson is a member of the A. F. & A. M., ancl
a good strong Republican. The children born
to this worthy couple are Myrtle E., Delbert V.,
and Ivy, aged fourteen, eleven and two respec
tively. Air. Tomlinson has had two severe acci
dents, each of which nearly cost him his life.
While piloting a number of tourists to Mount
Hood, on one occasion, he stooped to drink water
from a spring ancl a falling rock struck him in
the forehead, fracturing his skull. After recov
ering, he was one day in his mill when the emery
wheel burst and a portion of it struck him in
the same place, again fracturing his skull. He
is one of the enterprising and progressive men
of this valley, has a broad acquaintance and many
friends, »

CHARLES FRALEY resides at 922 Ninth
street, The Dalles. He was born -on April 29,
1849, in I°wa, the son of Daniel A. and Jincey
C. (Goslin) Fraley, natives of Ohio and Indiana,
respectively. The father's ancestors were promi
nent American people in colonial days, and he
was brought up on the farm. He died at Rosco,
Missouri, on November 20, 1887. The mother's
ancestors were also settlers on American soil
long before there was a United States, and she
died at Rosco, Missouri, on February 6, 1872.
Our subject was reared principally in Indiana,
Montgomery county, where he was taken when
six years of age. The graded schools of Linden
furnished his educational training and he re
mained with his father until twenty-two years of
age, then he began farming for himself continu
ing in the same until 1889, when he came to Ore
gon. Wasco county appealed to him more
strongly than any other place and he selected
land near Kingsley, securing a half section, half
of which he still owns, the balance having been
deeded to his son. During the winters he resides
in his home in town, but spends most of the sum
mers on the farm, having been prospered in his

372

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

labors since coming here and having secured a
sufficient fortune to warrant his retiring from the
arduous labors of life, and it is pleasant that he
is enabled to enj oy the fruits of his toil.
On March 31, 1871, at Rosco, Missouri, Mr.
Fraley married Miss Margaret J. Pugh, a native
of Columbus, Ohio. Her father, Andrew J.
Pugh, was also born in Ohio, being descended
from Welsh parents. His father, the grandfather
of our subject, was born in Wales. The mother
was Christina Wolf, a native of Ohio and from a
Virginia family. The parents of our subject are
now both deceased. Air. Fraley has two
brothers, Horace G. and Oliver AL, and two sis
ters, Jincy C. Leslie, and Lizzie Lasley. Mrs.
Fraley has three brothers, James AL, Archibald
and Jacob, and two sisters, Frances Hobkins and
Aiartha Evick.
Politically, we find Air. Fraley allied with the
Republican party where he is considered a stanch
wheel horse. He is a member of the A. F. & A.
M. To our subject and his wife seven children
have been born : Athel V., who owns a ranch
adjoining our subject's and is a partner with him ;
John, on the home place; Nettie, wife of Ernest
Mayhew, at Victor, Oregon ; and Nannie, Ellen,
Alay and Stella at home.

WILLIAM S. GRIBBLE, a prominent and
popular citizen of Wasco county, is located at Mt.
Hood, where he handles a general merchandise
establishment and also is postmaster. He has a
choice stock of well selected goods and is doing
a fine business. His birth occurred in Clackamas
county, Oregon, on November 28, 1862, and he
carries the distinction of being a native of the
Web-Foot state and is a son of whom Oregon
may be proud. His father, Joseph B. Gribble,
was born in Missouri and crosed the plairjs with
his parents in 1846, with ox teams, being then
twelve years of age. They had an uneventful
joitrney, as the Indians were quiet; but they
broke out the next year. Our subject's father
took a donation claim and also traded for unsur-
veyed land, giving a gun and pony for a large
tract. The grandfather died on the old donation
claim. The father also died in the Willamette
valley. He had married Miss Eunice Fish, a
native of Clackamas county, and her parents were
early pioneers of that country. William was edu
cated and reared in the Willamette valley ,_ and,
excepting a trip of six months to California, he
remained there until 1892. In that year he came
to this section and filed on a homestead, which
lies one mile north from the store. He cultivated
that for several years, and in 1902 decided to

embark in the mercantile business. He accord
ingly erected a commodious two story structure
and selected a stock of goods and opened for
business. He had a good patronage from the
start and is a man of good ability in this enter
prise. He possesses a geniality and affability that
wins friends and he has the confidence and esteem
of the people. In January, 1904, he was ap
pointed postmaster and is giving the best of satis
faction in this capacity.
While in Clackamas county Air. Gribble mar
ried Aliss Hattie E. Hodges, a native of Iowa,.
and to them two children were born, Alta G. and
Hazel B., who are with their mother in Los An
geles county, California. Owing to sufficient
reason, Air. Gribble secured a divorce from this
woman, and, at The Dalles, on March 18, 1903,
he married Airs. Nettie M. Booth, a native of
Alaine, and the daughter of Charles Hobart, who
is now in Massachusetts, but he was for many
years master mechanic for the O. R. & N. at
The Dalles. Air. Gribble has the following-
named brothers and sisters: Raymond N., Wal
ter J., Elmer W., Martin J., Clarissa E. Cooper,
and Kate E. Cooper, and one half brother, Bruce
O. Billings, our subject's step-father being Amos
Billings. By her former marriage, Mrs. Gribble-
has two children, Hobart and Leah Booth, both
living with our subject and his wife. Mr; Grib
ble is a member of the United Artisans, and is
an influential and active Republican. Mrs. Grib
ble belongs to the Congregational church, while
her husband is a member of the Methodist.

REMI RONDEAU is well known in the
country adjacent to Kingsley and is a highly
esteemed and popular man. He is one of those-
substantial men who form the boast and strength
of any well regulated community and is a man
whose labors have always been bestowed wisely
and for the upbuilding and improvement of the-
country and his property. He is a native of the
province of Quebec, Canada, and was born on
June 11, 1850. His parents are mentioned in
the sketch of his brother's life, which appears
in this work. In the French schools of his native-
country, Air. Rondeau acquired a good education
ancl in 1872, he came to Wasco county, whither
his father, his brothers, Leon, Joseph, Edward
and his sisters, Delia Celia and Louisa, came
five years later. The mother had died in Ver
mont where the family dwelt for some time.
Mr. Rondeau immediately took up land upon
reaching this place ancl soon thereafter purchased
railroad land and now has an estate of four hun
dred and forty acres. It is good land ancl half

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

373

of it is bearing bounteous crops of wheat and
other cereals. A portion of the land was dis
puted between the railroad and the government
and finally the title became settled. Air. Ron
deau has given his attention to the cultivation of
his farm and has succeeded well, having now a
choice farm, well improved with fine new dwell
ing and other accessories needful on a first class
place. He has always shown a marked interest
in the affairs of the county, state ancl nation, as
well as laboring untiringly for the betterment
of educational facilities. He gave freely of his
time for this good end ancl progress in all lines
is his motto. In 1888, Air. Rondeau suffered a
stroke of paralysis in his lower limbs ancl of late
it has grown so that he is confined to a wheel
chair. It is one of those things in life which
reason cannot compass, but to which the heart
can only bow in submission. Air. Rondeau has
manifested a spirit of resignation ancl his life
has endeared him to all.
At The Dalles, on July 3, 1882, Air. Rondeau
married Aliss Jessie AIcLeod, who was born in
Michigan. Her father and mother, Alexander
ancl Ellen AIcLeod, were born in Ontario, and
Wales, respectively. The father is descended
from Scotch ancestry. They now live at Ash
land, Oregon. Airs. Rondeau has two half sis
ters, Airs. Allie Bessoni ancl Airs. Annie Herbert.
To Air. and Airs. Rondeau four children have
been born : Remon, aged twenty-one, ancl now
on the farm at home ; Nellie, Alinnie, and Annie,
aged respectively, six. twelve, and ten, and all
now deceased. Air. Rondeau is a Republican
and has always labored for the success of his
party. He is a great reader and has acquired
a mastery of the English language, both in speak
ing and writing, that shows an attention and stu-
diousness commendable.

CAPTAIN AAIBY S. BLOWERS, well
known and highly respected, is one of the lead
ing business men ancl the mayor of Hood River.
He is a merchant of experience and ability ancl
has enjoyed a large patronage in his business in
the years that have gone by, but at present he is
not personally active in these relations, although
interested in the Hayness Hardware Company of
this town. He stands as one of the prominent
men of Wasco county and has displayed integ
rity and stamina that commend him to all good
people. Amby S. Blowers was born in East Otto.
Cattaraugus county, New York, on December
31, 1845, a"d is tne son °f Asa S. and Charlotte
(Hetl."l Blowers, natives respectively of Ben

nington, Vermont, ancl Washington countv, New
York. The first Blowers who is recorded as visiting
the New World is Thomas, who landed at Bos
ton, in 1635, having sailed in the ship, Truelove
from England. This patriarch's son, Thomas
Blowers, Jr., was a ship master, ancl in partner
ship with his brother-in-law, Andrew Belcher.
owned the ship, Adventure. Thomas Blowers.
Jr., purchased a house and four and one-half
acres of land at the corner of Brattle ancl Alason
streets, in Cambridge, Alassachusetts, in 1672.
There he died in June, 1709. His son, the third
Thomas, graduated from Harvard in 1695 an('
was the second preacher at Beverly, Alassa
chusetts. John Blowers, the son of this last
named man, died at the siege of Louisburg, a
lieutenant in the British army. Lientenan'
Blowers' son, Sampson S.. graduated from Har
vard in 1763 ancl was for thirty-six years chief
justice of Nova Scotia. His death occurred in
Halifax, in 1842, being aged one hundred and
one vears. Six of this venerable jurist's brother-
and cousins were patriots in Washington's armb
and displayed that true zeal and love of country
which assisted so to win the day. One of thes -¦
cousins, William by name, had a son named
Solomon, who fought with eleven others of the
Blowers family from New York state, in the wa"
of 1812. Solomon Blowers married and raised
a family, among which was Andrew Blowers
who in turn begat Asa S. Blowers, the father o'
our subject. Andrew Blowers was a native of
Cambridge, Alassachusetts, and Asa S. Blowers
his son, was a prominent merchant ancl died
when thirty-one. Our subject well remembers
sitting on the knee of his great-grandfather.
Solomon Blowers, when that patriot related the
thrilling times of 1812 and subsequent years.
Thus is traced a chain of patriots, pioneers, pro
fessional men, scholars and artisans, in whose
breasts burned that love of country which in
spired the action leading to independence and
this great nation, that is calculated to stir the
hearts of descendants, now remote, with true
pride for their forefathers ancl a determination
to achieve also, things worthy to be remembered
bv those yet to come. The full record of ttv
familv is given in Savage's Genealogical
Dictionary of New England Families, ancl
thev were among the prominent ones of col
onial days.
Captain Blowers' maternal grandfather. Jacob
Heth, came from a prominent old southern fam
ilv, which traces its early ancestrage to the rugged
hills of Sotia. His daughter, the mother of our
subject, is still living in Aiinnesota, advanced in
age.

374

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

At Preston, Aiinnesota, on April 18, 1866,
Mr. Blowers married Miss Ellen L. Damon, a
native of Vermont. She comes from a prominent
New England family and has one sister living,
Lucinda, the widow of David Reed, at Granger,
Minnesota. She also has one brother, Alonzo M.,
at Hebron, Illinois. Mr. Blowers has one sister,
Anis, the wife of Joseph Fountain. Eight chil
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Blowers :
Lawrence, mentioned elsewhere in this work ;
Laura M., the wife of William Yates, the post
master of Hood River ; Charlotte E., wife of
Charles Early, manager of the Mt. Hood Lum
ber Company, at Hood River; Amelia E., the
wife of John R. Nickelsen, a blacksmith ; Eva B.,
wife of William Haynes, a hardware merchant
in Hood River ; Samuel AL, the partner of Mr.
Haynes, in Hood River ; Blanche and Aubry S.,
at home. Mr. Blowers is a member of the A. F. & A.
M., the R. A. M., and the G. A. R., being officer
of the day in the latter order.
In December, 1862, Mr. Blowers enlisted in
the Sixteenth United States regulars and served
for four months. On October 19, 1863, he en
listed in Company A, Second Aiinnesota Cavalry,
under Captain R. A. Fields. His honorable dis
charge occurred on April 3, 1866. He had par
ticipated in the heat of the great Civil War, and
for one year after ;ts close, he was detailed to
fight Indians on the frontier and participated in
the Black Hills struggle, being much of the time
on scout duty. He was also at times in his career
associated with the noted Buffalo Bill, Alajor
William F. Cody.
For twelve years in Aiinnesota, Mr. Blowers
was county commissioner, and for four years he
filled that important position in Wasco county.
He is school director at this time and has been
in that office since he was twenty-one. In De
cember, 1904, Captain Blowers was chosen mayor
of Hood River. He was mayor of New York
Mills, Minnesota, and has been city councilman
six years In Hood River. He is a stanch Repub
lican, serves in both countv and state conventions,
and is an influential and active man.
Captain Blowers organized Company D, Ore
gon National Guards, and held the office of cap
tain for three years. In April, 1904, with his
son, Samuel, and his son-in-law, William Haynes,
he organized the Haynes Hardware Company
and purchased the hardware business of E. E.
Savage & Sons. They enlarged the business and
are now handling a fine patronage. They expect
in the near future to still further enlarge their
business and will have one of the most complete
stocks in this part of the state. Captain Blowers
has a good interest in the business, but is not

personally active in its operations. The splendid
success he has achieved in the business world
and the enviable standing he now enjoys indi
cate the manner of man and place him as one
of the leading men of Wasco county.

JOHN D. WHITTEN, a progressive and
substantial citizen of Wasco county, dwells about
one mile north 'from Kingsley. He owns a
choice farm there and does general farming and
stock raising. He has been quite successful owing
to his industry and sagacity, being a man of abil
ity and energy. He handles about a section of
land, much of it to grain and hay, and raises con
siderable stock, all graded and thoroughbred.
His horses, Cleveland Bays, are among the best
to be found in this part of the country. At the
head of the band was a choice Cleveland Bay
stallion, imported by Ladd & Reed, of Portland,
Duke of Wenlock, and whose get are among the
best horses of this part of the county. Recently
this valuable animal died. Mr. Whitten also
handles some cattle, and raises a great many hogs.
He breeds the Poland China, having a choice
registered boar of that blood. The improve
ments of the place show thrift and up-to-date
methods, while Mr. Whitten is considered one
of the best farmers of this part of the county.
John D. Whitten was born in county Armagh,
Ireland, on August 29, 1845, the son of John and
Jane (Douglass) -Whitten. The father was born
in the same county as our subject, as were his
ancestors for many generations back. The family
originally came from Holland. The father had
one brother, a clergyman in the English church,
but the balance of the family was Presbyterian
in faith. The mother of John D. was born in
county Monaghan, Ireland, and her ancestors
were natives of that county for many generat-
tions back. Our subject was educated in public
and private schools and was trained by his father
on the farm. When twenty-six, he came to the
United States and settled in Philadelphia, where
he was city salesman to the trade for a wholesale
house for five years. Then he went to New York,
and travelled in the south and west as salesman
for M. Lineau & Co. After eighteen months in
that business, he went to Edgar, Nebraska, and
opened a lumber yard, where he was occupied
until 1884, the year he came to this county. For
a time after coming here he wrought manufact
uring furniture for the farmers, then rented a
farm, ancl later bought the place where he now
resides. To this he has added^by purchase until
he has one half section, and in addition he rents
some land. He cultivates about four hundred
acres of grain land.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

375

In Philadelphia, on January 16, 1876, Mr.
Whitten married Miss Isabella, daughter of
Thomas and Emily (Geary) Whitten, and a
native of county Derry, Ireland. Her father was
born in county Armagh and there remained until
his death. The mother was born in Market Hill,
Ireland, and died at the home of our subject, aged
ninety-three. Mr. Whitten has brothers and sis
ters, named as follows : William J., George,
Mrs. Martha J. McCormick, Mrs. Eliza
beth Scott, Mrs. Mary Scott. Mrs. Sarah
A. Rantin, and Mrs. Isablla Edgar. Mrs.
Whitten was one of four children. To our
subject and his wife four children have been
born : Andrew, a student at Philomath college,
Oregon ; John A. and Edith I., twins, the former
at home and the latter a student in college widi
her elder brother ; Harry, at home. Mr. Whitten
and his wife belong to the United Brethren
church, as do Andrew and Edith. He is a class
leader and is a prominent and influential man
both in this capacity and in the neighborhood.
In political matters, he is a Republican ancl is
often at the conventions, and has held various
offices. He is a well read man and keeps well
abreast of the advancing times.

HORACE S. RICHMOND, who resides at
Mt. Hood, is one of the prosperous and enter
prising farmers of this valley, and owns and oper
ates a place which is valuable and highly produc
tive. He was born in Springfield, Ohio, on May
12, 1855. His father, Shephard W. Richmond,
was born at Sherburne Falls, Massachusetts, ancl
his parents were natives of the same place and
from a prominent New England family. He
married Miss Lucretia Patch, a native of Wake
field, Massachusetts. The Patch family dates
back to colonial days and Johnson Patch, the
father of Mrs. Richmond, fought under Ethan
Allen. The ancestors of our subject are all de
ceased, as are his brothers and sisters. He was
married in New Hampshire, on September 11,
1879, to Martha A. Bailey, a native of Brookline,
New Hampshire. The Bailey family came from
Great Britain in 1635, and were of Scotch-Irish
extraction. Our subject was educated in the
public schools of Ohio and New Hampshire.
whither the father removed. He was a skilled
cabinetmaker ancl carpenter. During the Civil
war he enlisted in an Ohio regiment ancl served
with distinction in that struggle. Horace S. re
mained with his father until the latter's death in
Brookline, then went to Reading, Alassachusetts,
ancl wrought at cabinetmaking. This was in

1886, and three years later, he came to Spokane,
it being just after the fire, and followed various
occupations until he journeyed to Whatcom, one
year later. Laundry work engaged him a year
and next we find him in Portland, city salesman
for Beach & Company, paint merchants. He re
mained with them until 1893, when he came to
Hood River valley ancl filed on the place where
he now resides. He has cleared twenty acres
and raises diversified crops. Mr. Richmond has
been in partnership with Willard W. Nason, and
together they owned half a section. They have
sold one quarter and are now giving their atten
tion to the development and cultivation of the
other one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Nason is
a native of Alaine and is an industrious agricult- _
urist of the valley. Politically, our subject is a
Republican and stanch, but not especially active
in the campaigns.
Since the above was written, Air. Richmond
sold his farm to B. F. Gray, and will make his
home in Hood River. He contemplates entering
the mercantile world, and his sterling business
ability will insure success in his ventures.

JOHN H. FITZPATRICK, who is at pres
ent head bookkeeper for Van Duyn & AdamS)
was born in Tygh valley, Oregon, where he is
now engaged. He has been practically reared
here and his education was received from the
public schools and from the business college of
Portland. The date of his birth is November 26,
1879. His father, Edward C. Fitzpatrick, came
across the plains with his parents to California
when a young lad. His father, the grandfather
of our subject, was accidentally killed while cross
ing the plains to California, after a visit to the
east. Edward C. came on to Oregon with an
uncle ancl for a time rode the range for Pete
French, in Harney county and vicinity. Then he
married Miss Alalinda Steers and they settled in
the Bakeoven country and engaged in stock rais
ing. When his mother was on a visit to her
mother, Mrs. A. H. McAtee, here in Tygh val
ley, our subject was born, but the family did not
come here until the early eighties. Then the fa
ther bought land here and raised stock. The fam
ily home was here until recently. The father sold
all his interests and removed to Klamath county
where he is now freighting. John H. was asso
ciated with his father in stock raising, mostly
sheep, for the last few years ancl they made their
sale of all the property on November 1, 1903.
Previous to that time, our subject had been en
gaged w'th the firm where he is now, occasionally,
but last November he accepted a permanent po-

376

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sition with the house ancl there is engaged at
this time. His mother was born in Illinois and
crossed the plains with her parents in early days.
Her mother, now Airs. AIcAtee, resides in Tygh
valley. Air. Fitzpatrick has two sisters, Maud
and Lois, both with their parents in Klamath
county. In political matters, Air. Fitzpatrick is
a Democrat and is well posted in the issues of the
day and takes an intelligent part in the cam
paigns. He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., the
XVi. W. A., ancl the Royal Neighbors. He is a
popular citizen and has many friends.

LUCERN B. KELLY. On December 28,
1865, it was announced to Hampton and Margaret
(Fitch) Kelly that a son was born to them, ancl
that individual is the gentleman whose name is at
the head of this sketch. Alultnomah county was
the native place of Lucern B. ancl his education
was received from the schools of Portland, the
Clinton Kelly school, which was situated on his
grandfather's donation claim, being the place
where the major portion of the training was re
ceived. After he had arrived at man's estate,
Mr. Kelly came east of the mountains with his
father and took land, a homestead, a timber cul
ture claim and later bought railroad land until he
owns at this writing sixteen hundred acres of
good soil. It is located on Juniper flat, and is
utilized both for grain raising and for handling
stock. Mr. Kelly is a man of enterprise and in
telligence and has made a first class success in his
labors. He stands well in the community and is
a respected citizen. In stock raising Mr. Kelly
has been prosperous and each year he turns off
lots of hogs, Poland China, ancl also winters many
cattle. This year he had about one hundred and
twenty-five, and among them are three registered
Hereford bulls, all excellent animals. He also
owns a fine Percheron stallion, a beauty, one of
the finest horses in the county. He has a band
of horses, grades, and all his stock is of the best.
Mr. Kelly cultivates about two hundred acres of
land each year, and has good returns from the
same. On December 28, 1893, Air. Kelly married
Miss Zilpha Snodgrass, a native of Wasco, Ore
gon. To this marriage one son, Floyd, aged ten,
has been born. Airs. Kelly's parents, Joseph P.
and Arvesta A. (Stearns) Snodgrass, crossed the
plains with ox teams and now dwell on Juniper
flat four miles distant from her home. She has
the following named brothers ancl sisters ; Aler-
ton J., Elmer, Clyde, Ralph, Fay, Tina,- and Lena.
Mr. Kelly has three brothers and one sister,

Plympton J., Linus, Lestei and Airs. Helen Man-
ley. In politics, Air. Kelly is Republican and al
ways active. He has held various offices and is
frequently at the conventions.

HAMPTON KELLY, deceased. A fitting
tribute to the memory of Hampton Kelly is Galled
for in a work of this character, since he was a
pioneer of this country, since he was a man of
integrity and uprightness and since the people
had learned to love him as a good ancl kind man,
as he was. He was born on April 16, 1830, in
Kentucky. His father, Clinton Kelly, was also
born in Kentucky, and his father, the grandfa
ther of our subject, was a patriot in the Revolu
tion. They all came across the plains to Oregon
in 1848 and the father and son both took dona
tion claims in what is now East Portland. Later
Clinton Kelly donated an acre of this claim for
the school now known as the Clinton Kelly grad
ed school of Portland. The father and son were
both prominent and influential people in Port
land and were very progressive, public spirited
and enterprising. They were always the ones to
head any general improvement or movement for
the good of the city and the people. Both were
generous men and were very liberal in support
ing and founding churches, being true blue Meth
odists, ancl also in supporting every measure that
had for its end the betterment of the people and
the community. In 1875, Clinton Kelly was
called to the world beyond. He died as he had
always lived, a devout and trusting Christian,
and the time of his demise was a day of sincere
mourning far and near, for by his kindness and
generosity, Clinton Kelly had endeared himself
to all, and everyone was aware that a true, noble,
and good man had that day gone from their midst.
On account of the asthma, our subject came
east of the mountains in 1879, and from that time
¦until 1 88 1, he was back and forth between Juniper
flat ancl Portland. Finally, on August 7, 1881, he
brought all of his family hither and settled down.
He became the proprietor of about sixteen hun
dred acres of good land and made his headquar
ters here until the clay of his death. It was on
October 16, 1898, that the summons came for
Hampton Kelly to resign the duties of life and
come to a better world. He was willing to go and
passed quietly into the realities of the world that
is to be. Like his father, his life had been filled
with good deeds, ancl he had won the hearts of
all who knew him. He left a widow and the chil
dren mentioned in L. B. Kelly's sketch to mourn
his demise.
On March 22, 1827, in Coshocton county,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

377

Ohio, Alargaret Fitch was born to David and
Sarah (, Wiggins) Fitch, natives of Pennsylvania
and Virginia, respectively. In 1844, the family
came on to Illinois, where the father died two
years later and the mother in 1847. Being thus
left without a home, Margaret decided to accom
pany a brother ancl some friends to California.
Accordingly they all set out on the trip, but upon
arriving at the point where the Oregon trail
branched from the old California road, they were
confronted with rumors of great sickness in Cali
fornia, and so they turned aside to Oregon. At
the crossing of the Snake, the brother was per
suaded to try and float down the Snake with
calked wagon beds, but owing to many portages,
he was forced to abandon the scheme. However,
he arrived in The Dalles before his sister ancl
friends, and together they came down the Colum
bia in scows. This was in the year 1852. Aliss
Fitch began to cast about for employment and
met Clinton Kelly, who wished to hire her ser
vices. She wrought for them some time and then
occurred the marriage of Flampton Kelly and
Miss Margaret Fitch, the date being January 30,
1853. The nuptials were celebrated in the old
Clinton Kelly log house on the donation claim.
The date of Miss Fitch's arrival in Portland,
which was then a town of six hundred people,
was November 11, 1852. She was a faithful help
meet to her husband until the day of his death
and since then has conducted the estate in a be
coming manner. She is highly esteemed in the
neighborhood and is a faithful Christian woman.

TEFFERSON N. MOSIER, a real estate
dealer at Mosier, Oregon, is a man whose life
has practically been spent in Wasco county. He
was born here on September 28, i860, the son of
Jonah H. and Jane (Rollins) Mosier. who are
mentioned elsewhere in this work. The father
hired George J. Rvan, a well educated Irish gen
tleman, as tutor of his children for twelve years.
Jefferson was with his father until 1876, then
went to Walla Walla and worked in a furniture
store for one vear and in a meat market for two
years, learning thoroughly meat cutting. When
the O. R. & N. came through here he returned to
Wasco county and was engaged with the en
gineer corns as a helper until the road was com
pleted. Then he accepted a position with Du
bois & Kine. handling all their meat supplies for
their boarding houses on the Northern Pacific.
After that, he was emploved in a market in The
Dalles for two years and finally retired to a farm
of one hundred and seventy acres which his father
had given him. He improved the same and also

did stock raising. Recently Air. Mosier sold this
property and moved to Alosier station where he
had purchased one hundred ancl twenty acres
of the old Mosier estate from the heirs a few
years before. This he has platted and recorded
as the Town of Mosier. Air. Alosier devotes his
attention to disposing of this property and the
upbuilding of the town where he has cast his
lot. He is still interested in stock raising and
has sixty head of cattle. Alosier is beautifully
situated on a sloping rise overlooking the Colum
bia and is starting with good promise of being
one of the lively centers of prosperous Wasco
county. Air. Alosier has recently erected an or
nate Queen Anne cottage near the old Alosier
home and is taking steps to beautify ancl make
popular the town of Mosier.
On February 16, 1889, Air. Alosier married
Aliss Alary A. Sivener, who was born in St.
Louis, Alissouri. The ceremony was per
formed bv Father Bronsgeest. Mrs. Alosier's
father, John Sivener, was born in Paris, France,
followed cabinet making until November, 1903,
when he retired from active business ancl now
resides in Portland. He married Miss Alary A.
McNamee, a native of Missouri, of Scotch-Irish
ancestry ancl now dwelling in Portland. Mr.
Alosier has the following named brothers and
sisters: Airs. Alice S. Faucette, Airs. Alary S.
Adams, Lydia S., Benjamin F., deceased, Mrs.
Emily A. Mansfield, deceased, and Airs. Jose
phine E. Willoughby, deceased. Mrs. Alosier has
one brother and four sisters, who are now living,
Joseph P., Airs. Jennie T. Glenn, Airs. Kate M.
Bradley, Airs. Nellie E. Eber, and Airs. Agnes
R. Zander. Mr. ancl Mrs. Mosier have no chil
dren of their own but have adopted one, Alice K.,
the daughter of Airs. Alosier's sister, Mrs. Lizzie
A. Kaege. who is deceased. Mr. Alosier is a
member of the K. P.. the I. O. O. F., the Al. W.
A., ancl the United Artisans. Mr. Mosier re
members well the trying ancl dangerous times
of early days.

DAVID R. COOPER, who resides at A fount
Hood, is one of the largest land owners in that
section and has the distinction of being a pioneer
farmer and settler in this portion of the valley.
He was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on De
cember 9, 1845, fhe son of George and Eliza
(Kid) Cooper, both natives of Scotland, where
thev remained until their death. The father came
from an old Highland family that had dwelt in
.Aberdeenshire for over three hundred years. Af
ter rereiving a good education in his own country
and remaining there until 1872. our subject came

378

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

to the United States, landing in Oakland, Ore
gon, where he joined his brother, James T., who
had crossed the plains with burros and jacks in
1849. He took his citizen papers out at Rose-
burg, in 1873, then bought a farm near his brother
and remained on it for ten years. In 1882, he
came over the mountains from The Dalles to the
place where the settlement of Mount Hood is now
located. There were then no roads and no set
tlers except Jwo bachelors, Sam Baldwin and
Harry Teimen, the latter now deceased. Mr.
Cooper selected a quarter section and filed on the
same. A few months thereafter, he made the
acquaintance of Captain H. C. Coe, and made ar
rangements to build a road from this settlement
to Mount Hood. They completed it and then sold
to William Ladd, of Portland. They soon
brought settlers here in great numbers and tour
ists constantly and Mr. Cooper is justly entitled
to the credit of opening up and building up of this
country. A few months later, Mr. Cooper's wife
and six children joined him and they were the
first family to settle in this wilderness. He now,
has a large orchard in the upper settlement, hav
ing over three thousand bearing trees. He also
has a large pear orchard. He still owns a rich
quarter, which he homesteaded, except for a half
acre, which was donated for school purposes. He
was a leading spirit in the organization of district
number six, and started the school and since has
been director almost constantly. In political mat
ters, Mr. Cooper is independent, reserving for his
own decision all the questions of the day without
being trammeled by party lines. He has been a
delegate to the various conventions and is an
influential man.
At Glasgow, Scotland, on September 13, 1870,
Mr. Cooper married Miss Marion Porteous, who
was born in Hollytown, Scotland. Her father,
John Porteous, was a native of the same place as
also were his ancestors for many generations
back. He died there in 1901 and his widow still
lives there. Air. Cooper has the following named
brothers and sisters, James T., John, Robert, Ann
Perkins and Isabella, in Scotland. Mrs. Cooper's
brothers and sisters are John, James, Alexander,
Daniel, Alary, Christina, Jessie and Margaret, all
in Scotland. To our subject and his wife, ten
children have been born ; James T., in Scotland,
and now a sheep man at The Dalles; Warren,
John, George and David, at home ; Wyoming, the
wife of James A. Cook, a farmer at Hood River ;
Christina, married to Elmer Gribble, a farmer at
Mount Hood ; Lizzie, May and Hattie, at home.
For six years after the road was opened, Mr.
Cooper followed the business of guiding parties
to Mount Hood and also operated a tent hotel
for tourists. He has labored faithfully during

the years of his residence here and has secured a
fine competence as the result of his industry. He
is a leading man in the community and deserves
the esteem and confidence of the people which
are generously given.

JAMES J. LEWIS is a farmer at Mosier,
Oregon. He was born near Harrisburg, in Linn
county, Oregon, on September 11, 1857. His
father, John Lewis, was born near Gallipolis,
Ohio, and his father, the grandfather of our sub
ject, owned a large grist mill there. He was a
native of Pennsylvania and came from a prom
inent American family. Our subject's father
came to Oregon in 1847 and settled first in Port
land, where he had a donation claim in what is
called Goose Hollow and is now a choice resi
dence part of Portland. He sold out later and
bought a pack train and transported goods from
Portland to Yreka, California, and from The
Dalles to the Salmon river country and to many
other points. In 1852, he was ambushed by In
dians who destroyed his train and killed two of
his men. He was forced to flee for his life and
after great destitution found his way to General
Joe Hooker's headquarters, who gave him succor
and finally secured a contract for him to build the
Cow creek canyon road. He made thirty-five
hundred dollars on this enterprise and with that,
started in the stock business in which he contin
ued until his death. In 1864, he was engaged in
the steamboat business on the Willamette with
Church, McCully and others. He was a member
of the A. F. & A. M. He married Martha W.
Howard, a native of Harrisburg, Oregon, and
the daughter of James Howard, who crossed the
plains with his family in 1844, and was a gun and
blacksmith at Whitman station. The Indians,
who killed Dr. Whitman, guided Mr. Howard
and his family to Portland. The guide and other
Indians considered Air. Howard a supernatural
being, owing to his skill in working metals and
this accounted for his act of guiding them to
safety. His name was Telokite or Teloket and
he said Dr. Whitman was cultus. The family
were afraid of him and were glad when they
reached civilization. When crossing the streams,,
he would carry Airs. Lewis, who was then a
girl, on his shoulders. They came past where-
Mosier and other settlements are now located in
this vicinity. Our subject's father married in
1856 and after his death his widow married Jonah
H. Mosier, in 1865. She died at The Dalles, on
September 25, 1903, after an illness of nine years.
She was a consistent member of the Alethodist
church, a woman of strong character and highly

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

379-

esteemed. Our subject was educated in the public
schools in the various places where he lived and
now resides with his half sister, Dollie C. Mosier,
on the old Mosier estate. He has two sisters,
Mrs. Emma Taylor and Mrs. Ida Cook, one step
brother, Jefferson N. Mosier, and three step
sisters, who are mentioned elsewhere. Mr. Lewis
is a member of the M. W. A. and the United Arti
sans. He is a Democrat in political belief but not
especially active. After completing his education
in The Dalles high school, he engaged in stock
raising and owned thirteen hundred acres in the
Klickitat county. After that, he came to the place
where he now resides and has continued here
since. It it an estate of thirteen hundred acres
ancl is owned by our subject, his half-sister and
three other heirs, Lewis and Alosier's children.
Miss Dollie C. Mosier was born in the original
house on this estate, which later burned, and was
educated in the convent at The Dalles. She be
gan teaching when sixteen years of age at Bake
oven and other places, then completed her educa
tion and after graduation, taught in various sec
tions. She keeps the inn and is a highly esteemed
lady.

CLINTON L. GILBERT is one of the most
enterprising ancl successful educators in the state
of Oregon. Should he do no more in this im
portant field, he has already accomplished suffi
cient to place his name indelibly on the records in
the state of Oregon as one of the leading men of
his day. At present he is proprietor of the
Mount Flood hotel at Hood River, which is under
the management of his son and doing a good
business. Clinton L. Gilbert was born in Mount Blanch
ard, Ohio, on January 26, 1859, the son of James
H. ancl Phcebe A. (Wingate) Gilbert, natives of
Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. The father ¦
was a contractor and enlisted in 1862, in Com
pany B, Ninety-ninth Ohio Volunteers, as sec
ond lieutenant. He served for ten months and
then was killed at the battle of Murfreesboro.
His father came from England and is a well
known builder and contractor. Our subject
studied in the common schools of Mount Blanch
ard and when less than sixteen years of age be
gan teaching, having secured a county certificate.
Later, he spent three years at a normal school at
Lebanon, Ohio, then studied medicine at the
Miami Aledical College. After this, he taught
again in Ohio and Kansas until 1887 then went
to Los Angeles and took a position in the faculty
of the Los Angeles Business College, the train
ing school. Later, he was principal of the same

and irt 1889 came to Oregon and immediately
took up teaching. He was for two years the-
principal in the public schools in Hood River
and in 1894, was appointed deputy county as
sessor and assistant county school examiner and
in this latter position, he served for five years.
In 1895, he was deputy county clerk and in 1896-
was elected school superintendent of Wasco
county, holding the same for eight years, being
reelected twice. He has been instrumental in es
tablishing libraries in every district school in
Wasco county. Mr. Gilbert was appointed sec
retary of the Oregon State Teacher's Association^
and in this capacity formulated a plan of holding
uniform examinations for the eighth grade-
throughout the state. The practicability and ben
efit of the same was immediately seen and the-
plan was adopted and under the efficient direc
tion of state school superintendent, Ackerman, it
was carried out successfully throughout the en
tire state. The benefit derived from this will be
readily seen when it is understood that pupils
having completed the eighth grade receive diplo
mas which will entitle them to higher instructions-
in any part of the state, this being a great stim
ulus for the youth to complete the grades. It is
working admirably throughout the state. At the
present time, Wasco couny is leading the entire ¦
state, as shown in the school exhibit at the world's
fair at St. Louis.
In 1900, Mr. Gilbert bought the hotel which
his son now operates.
On December 14, 1878, Mr. Gilbert married
Miss Alay A. Wells, who was born December 10,
1861 in Henry county, Ohio, where her wedding-
occurred. Her parents, James and Clara (Scrib-
ner) Wells, were natives of Ohio. The father
was killed in the Civil War when this daughter
was two years old. The mother is a member of
the well known Scribner family. Mr. Gilbert has
three brothers, Melville S., J. AL, and Zealand T.
The latter died in 1895. Mrs. Gilbert has two-
brothers, Clarence E. and Frank W. Our sub
ject and his wife have two children, Maude F., '
the wife of Fred H. Shoemaker, manager of the
Washington Life Insurance Company at Pendle
ton, Oregon, and Clarence F.
Mr. Gilbert is a member of the A. F. & A. M.,
the K. P. and the A. O. U. W. He is a stanch
Republican and influential in the conventions,
besides being a very active laborer for educa
tional affairs.

HON. JONAH H. MOSIER, deceased. The
records of the Alosier (Mozer) family have been
twice destroyed by fire, therefore but little, com
paratively, can now be obtained. Some time in

38o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the seventeenth century members of the family
came from Germany and landed on Chesapeake
Bay, Aiaryland. Some time before their emi
gration eighteen million dollars left by early an
cestors was givein to the Catholic church instead
of being divided among the heirs, as they would
not conform to some requirements of the be
quest. This points out to what church the Mo-
sier's originally adhered. Our subject was prob
ably married in Maryland and had a family of
six children. They had five sons and one daugh
ter, Jonah H, born Alarch 10, 1821, being the
youngest. The mother died when he was an in
fant and the family moved to Fayette county,
Pennsylvania and some years later came to Ohio,
settling in what is now Crestline Crossing. In
1839, we find our subject's father in Platte
county. Alissouri, he having in the meantime
married a widow, with two sons, whose name
was Leveridge. Two sons of the family re
mained in Ohio and one died there. Jonah served
an apprenticeship with a cabinet maker and
later, they moved to Gentry, Misouri, the date
of this, being about 1844. Our subject followed
carpentering there and also clerked in a dry goods
store. He later became one of the proprietors of
the store and soon afterwards went to Clay
county, where he met Miss Jane Rollins, whom
he married on May 14, 1846. In 1849, a party
of six or seven young men, among them, J. H.
Mosier, formed a partnership and equipped them
selves for the gold fields of California. After a
hard trip they arrived at their destination and
for some time, made and sold hay. The partners
refused to assist him and he did all by his own
personal efforts, making a good stake for him
self. Eighteen months later, he returned home
by way of Panama. In the early months of
1851, his father died, probably in Nodaway
county. In April, 1853, Mr. Mosier joined an
emigrant train then fitting for Oregon and in
company with a friend, Hiram Smith, made the
long trip with his wife ancl children to the Pa
cific slope. He arrived at The Dalles with one
dollar and seventy-five cents in cash ancl three
head of oxen, three having died while on the
wav, one cow and an old, worn out wagon. Noth
ing daunted, however, he cast about for some
occupation. The Dalles was a military post ancl
the onlv store was kept in a large tent with a
hewed log for a counter. Only two dwellings
were in evidence ancl some tents completed the
entire settlement. ATr. Mosier took hold as a
builder erecting a store for W. D. Bigelow ancl
another for AT. At. Cushing and Lowe. After
that, he put up several dwellings and with Col.
N. H. Gates and Judge Laughlin laid out a
town. Owing to a scarcity of building material,

Mr. Mosier saw the opportunity of supplying
the same and early in 1855, sought out a mill site
which he found sixteen miles below The Dalles
on a stream tributary to the Columbia. Here he
took a donation claim and this was the head
quarters for the remainder of his life and here
he lies buried beside his faithful wife who pre
ceded him to the grave twenty-nine years. His
death occurred in 1894, when he was aged sev
enty-four. He erected a mill in 1855 in part
nership with Thomas Davis. There was money
in the lumber business and also there was very
much hardship ancl trial and labor connected with
the same. His family increased, expenses were
high, the Indians troubled him and all these
things had to be overcome. Mr. Mosier never
used a gun or a knife upon the savages and never
knew fear. When they were committing their
depredations he would appear in their midst and
with telling blows from his first or club scatter
them. Owing to this and also to his just and fair
treatment of them, they learned to respect him.
The firm took another partner, Mr. Noah Mull.
Later, Air. Alosier bought Air. Davis' interest
and finally purchased the interest of Air. Mull.
A freshet carried away the mill, which however
was soon rebuilt. In those days, lumber sold for
fifty dollars per thousand but it was an expen
sive proposition to produce it. However, little
by little, Mr. Mosier improved his place and
good buildings replaced the log cabins. His
home was headquarters for travelers and many
were entertained in those days. His better build
ings were burned and later he erected a fine, mod
ern, two story structure, which still stands. In
the spring of 1862, Air. Alosier went into tlie
Caribou country, with cattle, being accompanied
bv a partner, who died at Deep Cfeek, British
Columbia, in that year. Our subject realized
a handsome profit in this venture, and in 1865 he
again gathered a herd of cattle and went to the
Kootenai mines where he established butcher
shops in the various camps, where he made a
small fortune with his partner, E. D. Warbass.
Late in the fall, he learned that his wife had died
during the summer and he hastened to collect
what he could of the outstanding indebtedness
ancl placing the balance in the hands of his part
ner hurried home in December. He never re
ceived any further returns from the business
he had left. However, in the next year he gath
ered another herd of cattle, going to the Willa-
mett valley to purchase the same. There, he
met his old friend, Hiram Smith, who introduced
him to a fascinating young widow, Airs. Lewis,
who had three children and to whom he was mar
ried on December 16, 1866. His seven children
at home ancl these three, with two more that were

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

381:

born made an even dozen for Mr. Mosier to
look after. In 1867, he drove his cattle to Mon
tana but did not realize so well on the venture.
In 1868, he drove another bunch to that terri
tory. Mr. Mosier was chosen representative to
the territorial legislature and in politics, he was a
stanch Democrat. His death occurred on Oc
tober 5, 1894. Jane (Rollins) Mosier was the
daughter of Lee and Susan (Penn) Rollins, be
ing the second child in a family of fourteen and
was born February 14, 1824, near Paris, Ken
tucky. Her paternal grandfather, Joshua Rol
lins, married Sophia Kennedy, who came from
old Virginia ancl Pennsylvania families. John
Kennedy, the father of Sophia, fought in the
Revolution and with a neighbor was taken pris
oner at Guilford courthouse and held on the old
Jersey prisonship until his death, then being bur
ied by the British in the sand of the seashore. Lee
Rollins and Susan Penn were married in Paris,
Kentucky. In 1830, they removed to Clay
county, Missouri where they remained until their
death. All of their fourteen children, except one,
who was accidentally poisoned, lived to become
the honored heads of large and respected fami
lies. The material grandparents of Jane (Rol
lins) Mosier, were Joseph and Charlotte (Aker)
Penn, natives of Pennsylvania, Joseph being a
direct descendant of the noted William Penn,
Thus in the union of Jonah Mosier and Jane Rol
lins, two long lines of pioneers joined their for
tunes to form another pioneer family. While the
greater part of Oregon was yet an unbroken wil
derness, teeming with hostile savages, Air. ancl
Airs. Mosier pushed their way into the untrod
den wilderness ancl made a home amid the craigs
of the Cascade mountains. Their first dwelling
was situated on the banks of the broad Columbia,
ancl these twO faithful pioneers toiled steadily on
until called to rest. From a family of seven chil
dren, four are still living, three daughters and
one son. Two daughters by the second marriage
also reside in Oregon. At the time of the Indian
massacre at the Cascades when so many pioneers
were killed, the Alosier family fled in the middle
of the night on horseback over the almost impass
able roads, to the fort at The Dalles. Air. Alosier
was shot at man}- times ancl although the bullets
grazed his body,' he was never seriously injured.
Much 'rest ancl peace were enjoyed when finally
the cruelties of the savages were put down and
people were assured that they would not_ be
driven from their homes' in the midst of the night
by murderous redskins. Mr. Alosier was a faith
ful man and did his work well. He was a mem
ber of the A. F. & A. AL, a zealous laborer for
educational advantages, a genuine path finder and
a noble man. Although he made several fortunes

during his life time, he died in only reasonable
circumstances. The estate of one thousand acres
was largely wild land, which has been improved
by his son since. At the present time, a town is
growing up on the old donation claim, called
Mosier, the same being promoted by his only liv
ing son.

LEWIS E. MORSE stands at the head of a.
prosperous livery and transfer businesss in Hood
River. His ability as a business was is well known
and his stirring and energetic qualities have won
for him a lucrative business. He was born in
Otisco county, Michigan, on August 5, 1858.
His father, Charles F. Alorse, was born in New
York and followed farming. Three brothers of"
the Alorse family came to the colonies in 1704.
ancl from them descended the present large fam
ily of Morses, who have been prominent in all
the struggles from colonial days down to the-
present. They have produced many men of note,
and one, known all over the world, is Prof. S. F.
B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph. Alany
men of prominence in the professions and the
leading walks of life have been numbered in this
family. Charles F. Morse married Anabel Beld
ing, a native of Massachusetts and from a prom
inent colonial family of New England. Her
mother was an Ellis, also a leading family. Both
of these families, whose genealogy our subject
possesses, were prominent in all the wars on
American soil and always on the side of
the rising nation, now so great. Our sub
ject was reared in Alichigan until sixteen,.
when he went to Kansas, whence in 1889,
he came to Hood River. His education
was secured in the public schools and he was
well trained in business ways. He took a timber
claim here and two years later opened up a liv
ery business in Hood River. Two years after
this he sold this and accepted the postmaslfrship
under Cleveland, holding the same for four years.
Then came two years in general merchandising in-
White Salmon, Washington. After that venture,.
he sold out and bought the business where he is
operating today. He does a good business and'
also owns other property besides a good resi
dence and three lots.
On August 3. 1879, Air. Alorse married Aliss
Dora Alarkley, the wedding occurring at Beloit,
Kansas. Mrs. Alorse was born in Illinois, and'
died in September, 1890, leaving two children.
In 1893, Air. Alorse married Frances AlcCoy, at
Hood River, who was born in Texas, the daugh
ter of Isaac and Mary AlcCoy, natives of Vir
ginia. The father is now living with our sub-
I ject. Air. Morse has two brothers, Charles L.,,

.382

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

¦ and Fred, and one sister, Mrs. Nellie D. Raines.
Airs. Morse has one brother George, and two
sisters, .Mrs. California Wolford and Mrs. Re-
.becca Taylor. Air. Morse has two children,
Theresa, the wife of Charles Castner, of Hood
River, who is mentioned elsewhere; and Charles
with his father. Mr. Morse is postmaster of
Hood River, No. 105, A. F. & A. M. ; is past
grand Idlewild, No. 107, I. O. O. F. ; high priest
•of the Encampment; and past patron of the O.
E. S. Airs. Morse is past noble grand of Laurel
:,lodge of the Rebekahs.

LAURENCE N. BLOWERS was a prom
inent business man of Hood River for fifteen
years, but tiring of the exacting and arduous life
-of a merchant, sold his business here in March,
1904, and was appointed Deputy United States
Marshall upon the recommendation of United
States Senator Charles W. Fulton and Represen
tative J. N. Williamson. He is therefore resid
ing temporarily at Portland. His birth occurred
-in Iowa, on April 18, 1867, his parents being
Amby S. and Ellen (Damon) Blowers, who are
-particularly mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
When an infant, our subject was taken by his
parents to Minnesota and thence, with the fam
ily, which consisted of his parents and eight chil
dren, he came to Oregon. His education was re
ceived from the schools in the various places
-where he had resided and when fifteen years of
age, he embarked in business with his father. In
1889, they came to Hood River, and soon there-
-after, they bought out E. L. Smith, a leading mer
chant, and since that time they have continued at
the head of a large business. However, our sub
ject has spent one year in Sumpter, Oregon,
where he was in the mercantile business and
while in that town, he was elected mayor. He
was also, the second mayor of Hood River, and
in these public capacities, as in private life, the
same care and faithfulness characterized his acts.
For three years, Mr. Blowers served as lieuten
ant of Company D, Oregon National Guards, his
"father being captain.
At Hood River, on August 29, 1891, Air.
Blowers married Miss Bertha Mifflin, a native
of Washington, D. C. Her father, Charles H.
Mifflin, was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,'
coming from a family well known in history for
worth and prominence. One of the family, Major
General Thomas Mifflin, was president of the
¦ Continental Congress and later, first governor of
Pennsylvania. The county and town of Mifflin,
Pennsylvania were named from this family.
' Charles H Alifflin married Miss Alice Lipscomb,

a native of Washington, D. C, and descended
from a leading Virginia family. Mrs. Blowers
has one sister, Elizabeth, wife of W. J. Parker,
a merchant in Denver, Colorado. Four children
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Blowers, namely
Paul Mifflin, Loyd Mifflin, Ellen and Ruth. Mr.
Blowers is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and a
man of excellent standing and prestige in the
community.

ASA G. STOGSDILL, who at the present
time is assessor of Wasco county, is one of the
leading and substantial men of the county and is
well and favorably known to nearly every inhabi
tant of this part of the state. He is a man of
integrity, has inspired in the people a confidence
in his ability and worth and has so conducted
himself that he is eminently worthy of this le
gacy. Asa G. Stodsdill was born in Illinois, on Sep
tember 17, 1862, the son of Asa G. and Keziah
(Collins) Stogsdill. The father was born in
Indiana, his parents in the same state, and his
grandparents were among the earliest settlers in
that country. They were Scotch people and fol
lowed farming. For three years the father fought
for the stars and strips in Company B, Second
Illinois Light Artillery. He was a prominent and
influential Republican and in 1876 brought his
family to Oregon. He purchased land in Clack
amas county and his death occurred at Canby, in
1898. The mother of our subject was born in
Ohio and her parents were natives of Virginia.
Her marriage occurred in Illinois. Our subject
completed his education in the Monmouth Nor
mal and then taught school for ten years, two in
Clackamas county and the balance in Wasco
county. He was five terms the teacher in the first
school on Juniper flat. In 1881, Mr. Stogsdill
took land on this flat, which is his home at this
time, the same being two miles from Victor. The
farm consists of three hundred and sixty acres,
and a third rof this is producing grain. Mr.
Stogsdill has paid considerable attention to rais
ing cattle and also until this year, has annually
turned off many hogs. He has always taken an
active and intelligent interest in political and ed
ucational affairs and is a man of ability and wide
research. At, the residence of the bride's parents, on
Juniper flat, Mr. Stogsdill married Miss Kate J.
Gordon, on December 25, 1888. Mrs. Stogsdill
was born in Wasco county, her parents being
Thomas M. and Mary (Foreman) Gordon, na
tive* of Scotland and Illinois, respectively. The
father came to Oregon in early days, there being
but two houses at The Dalles when he arrived.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

383

He had previously been in California and his
trade was shoemaking. His death occurred in
California, in 1893. The mother died in Port
land the next year. Mr. Stogsdill has two broth
ers, Hezekiah K., Don, and one sister, Mrs. Mary
A. Cassidy. Mrs. Stogsdill has two brothers,
William, George, and three sisters, Mrs. Maggie
A. Gordon, Mrs. Susan Bickford, and Mrs. Mary
Gibson. Six children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Stogsdill, Viva, Frances, Willis, Guy, Ruby,
and Eula. Mr. Stogsdill is a member of the
I. O. O. F. He and his wife are progressive and
popular people and have hosts of friends.

FRANK GINGER, an industrious fruit
raiser and farmer, resides at Mosier, where he
handles a half section of land. One quarter of
this is his own property and the balance is owned
by his mother. He was born in Indiana, on
April 14, 1867, and was there reared until twelve.
Then he came with his mother and stepfather to
the Black Hills, Dakota. His stepfather, Thomas
Harlan, was timber agent for the government.
Three years later the family went to Nebraska
where they bought land. Frank remained with
his parents until twenty-two; then they all re
moved to Jackson county, Oregon, and he there
proved up on a preemption, which he still owns.
After that he went to Lagrande, Oregon and fol
lowed various callings until 1892, when he came
hither. His stepfather and brother had claims
near the depot and in 1901, he purchased the one
owned by the former and since then has given
his attention to the cultivation and improvement
of the same. He has a nice cherry orchard and
various other fruits growing and his place is a
good farm.
Fraternally, Air. Ginger is affiliated with the
A. F. & A. M., the I. O. O. F., the Encampment,
and is politically, with the Socialists, but is not
active in the promulgation of these political doc
trines, although he is well informed on these
questions.  +-—* 
ALVIRA McATEE, who resides one mile
west from Tygh valley, is one of the pioneers of
this section and is a lady whose life has been
such that she is the recipient of great respect and
esteem from all. She was born in Logan county,
Illinois, on March 4, 1836. Her father, James
Hieronymus, a native of Kentucky, came from an
old and prominent family of great renown. _ The
first record of the family is .from Syrian history
where we see General Hieronymus, who operated
some three hundred vears before Christ. The

next important one we mention, is the saint fa
miliarly known as Jerome, who was Eusebius
Hieronymus, and who is one of the most learned
men known to those times. He was private sec
retary to Pope Damasus and later translated
from the original tongues the version of the
Scriptures commonly known as the Vulgate,
from which comes the Douay Bible, the one now
used by the English speaking portion of the great
Roman Catholic church. The family came on
down through the ages and in 1765, Henry Hier
onymus migrated to the American colonies from
Germany and became the founder of the Ameri
can branch of the family, many members of
which have been prominent in various offices and
leading positions. Airs. McAtee's father married
Aliss Melinda Thompson, a native of Tennessee,
where also her parents were born. Her father
fought in the War of 18 12. The family is a
large one and mostly given to agriculture, being
wealthy. Mrs. McAtee was educated in the
public schools in the start, but has been a care
ful reader and student all her life and is now
well informed and abreast of the questions of
the day. When eighteen she married James F.
M. Steers, a native of Kentucky, and the son of
Hugh and Elizabeth (Darnell) Steers. She
came west with her husband across the plains
with horse teams in 1865. They experienced
great trouble with the Indians, had much sick
ness and several deaths in the train. They spent
the first winter in the Willamette valley and the
next year came over to Wapinitia flat, where they
spent a year. Then they settled in Tygh valley,
being the first white settlers there. Mr. Steers
was ill when he settled here and shortly after
ward, he died Airs. Steers was called upon to
meet great hardship with a family and in a new
country with slight means. In the fall of 1867,
she married Benjamin C. McAtee, a native of
Illinois and from Scotch ancestry. He had
crossed the plains with ox teams in 1852, accom
panied by his mother. He took the homestead
where Mrs. AIcAtee now resides, it being a very
rich and valuable piece of land. In October,
1893, Air. AIcAtee went to the Grande Ronde
country to collect a large sum of money on his
brother's estate, and it is supposed he was mur
dered for his money, as he has not been heard of
since. Mrs. AIcAtee has three brothers, Benja
min R., John P., and Thomas H. Air. Steers had
one brother, Henry P. Mr. McAtee had one
sister, Mrs. Drusilla Robinson. By her first
marriage, Mrs. AIcAtee has the following named
children : Alson W., a preacher of the Adventist
church in Vancouver, British Columbia ; Vincent
P., a farmer near Tygh valley; Marion L., a
stockman in Grant county, Oregon, and Alelinda,

384

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the wife of Edward C. Fitzpatrick, who is men
tioned in this work. By her second husband,
Airs. AIcAtee has two children; William H, with
his mother; and John B., with Johnston Brothers
in Dufur, Oregon.

HORATIO F. DAVIDSON stands at the
head of the Davidson Fruit Company, one of the
important enterprises of the Hood River country.
He is president and manager of the- same and
owing to his genius and energy it is making an
unbounded success. He is one of the most suc
cessful young business men of the county and
has demonstrated his ability in many ways. The
company handles fruit, owns sixty acres of fruit
producing grounds, twenty-five of which are de
voted to strawberries and the balance to apples,
peaches, and so forth. The company does a
general manufacturing business in fruit lines,
making vinegar, jams, jellies, and so forth, be
sides canning- much fruit for export. They manu
facture and sell to the trade, fruit boxes of all
kinds, besides handling all kinds of farm imple
ments in the line of Studebaker wagons, Parin
plows, cultivators, and in fact all articles needed
in the fruit culture business. In addition to this,
Air. Davidson has made a special study of the
chemistry of the soil in this part of the country
and ascertaining the salts lacking, has supplied
a complete line of fertilizers to make up the var
ious deficiencies. In all these lines mentioned,
he has shown a spirit of progression which has
done more good than can be told in upbuilding
and improving the country and bettering the con
ditions to make fruit raising remunerative. _
Horatio F. Davidson was born in Ohio, on
July 20, 1868, the son of Charles and Elizabeth
(Rice) Davidson, natives of Knox county, Ohio.
The mother died at Canton, Illinois, in 1900. The
father followed carriage painting for many years
and is now secretary of the Davidson Fruit Com
pany. He comes from an old American family
of Scotch extraction. The first thirteen years of
our subject's life were spent in Ohio and then
he went with the balance of the family to Can
ton, Illinois. After completing the high school
course, he entered the employ of the Parlin &
Orendorff Plow Company. For three years he
wrought and it is of interest that Mr. Davidson
is 'now selling the same brand of plows that he
used to paint and handle at that time in the shop-.
After leaving this company he came west and
spent two years in traveling about. In the spring
of 1 89 1, he selected Hood River as a proper lo
cation and settled down, and gave his attention
to carpentering. Three years later he assisted

to organize the fruit growers' union and was
installed secretary and manager. It is inter
esting to note the increase in values, that at that
time he purchased forty acres of land for thirty
dollars per acre, which was sold the other day
for three hundred dollars per acre.
Air. Davidson was one of the prime movers
in the formation of the Valley Improvement
Company, which does irrigation, and has been
responsible for much of the increase of values
in this country. He has bought and sold much
land in the vicinity of Hood River and has al
ways been active in the establishment of proper
values. At Canton, Illinois, on September 14, 1893,
Air. Davidson married Miss Alary Brewin, who
was born near Canton. Her father, William
Brewin, was a native of England and died when
she was small. Her mother, Julia (AVinegar)
Brewin, was a native of Virginia and lives with
her daughter. To Air. and Mrs. Davidson three
children have been born, Helen, Harry, and Aier-
rill, the last two having died in infancy. Mr.
Davidson is a member of the A. F. & A. M., of
the R. A. AL, of the O. E. S., and of the A. O.
U. W. He has passed the chairs of these orders
and his wife is past matron of the O. . S. Airs.
Davidson has one brother, William and the fol
lowing named sisters, Jennie Miner, Emily Sosey,
and Minnie King. Politically, Mr. Davidson is
independent and reserves for his own decision the
questions of the day. He has frequently been a
member of the city council.
In August, 1904, the cannery and warehouse
were consumed by fire. Owing to subject's many
and varied interests, in business lines, he will
probably not rebuild. He is erecting a cold
storage plant and will continue the manufacture
of fruit boxes and the handling- of fresh fruits.
Mr. Davidson is president of the Hood River
Electric Light Company and the Hood River
Water Company, which he recently reorganized,
being a heavy stockholder in these enterprises.

CLARRENCE L. AlORRIS is a representa
tive citizen of Wasco county and is one of the
earliest pioneers to the section where he now re
sides, Juniper flat. His labors here and in other
portions of the state have made him well to do,
and as he is now in the golden time of his life,
he is entitled to the retirement that is so becoming
to those who have toiled so hard for years prev
ious. The home place is about five miles east
from Victor and there Air. Morris resides on
the old homestead, having sold the balance of the
large estate that he used to handle.

Horatio F. Davidson

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

385

Clarrence L. Morris was born in Illinois, on
January 6, 1837, the son of Preston and Adaliza
(Miller) Morris, natives of Kentucky, as also
were the father's parents, Bourbon county being
the home place. The parents were married in
Quincy, Illinois and the mother died when our
subject was a lad of eight. He attended the
district schools until 1850, when the father with
his family, he having married in the meantime,
started across the plains with horse teams to Ore
gon. They were in the same train with Samuel
Brooks, Henry Williams, and others who are
mentioned in this volume. In due time they
landed in Linn county and there the father took
a donation claim, where he remained until his
death, which occurred in 1863. Clarrence L. fin
ished his schooling in Linn county and then
started in life for himself. He rented land in
the valley for three years, then came to this flat,
where he remained three years and then returned
to the valley for some time. Few settlers were
here when he first came. "In 1886, he came back
ancl took as a homestead the place where he now
resides and since then he has given his attention
to farming and stock raising, and has been pros
perous in his labors.
On December 27, 1857, Mr. Morris mar
ried Miss Catherine Thomas, who was born in
Nodaway county, Missouri. The wedding oc
curred at the home of her parents, Turpine T.
and Nancy (Curl) Thomas, natives of Virginia
and Indiana, respectively. They crossed the
plains with ox teams in 185 1, and had great hard
ship, owing to the hostility of the savages, who
stole all their cattle and harrassed them contin
ually. When the cattle were stolen, all the
wagons were abandoned but one or two to each
famiiy and the company had to walk. There
were twenty or more young ladies in the camp
and on one occasion an Indian chief came asking
to purchase one of them. A would-be smart
young man told him to take his pick and he could
have her for twenty horses. The chief not doubt
ing soon appeared with the twenty horses, and
of course a row was precipitated, which resulted
in all the cattle being stolen. The young man
was banished from the train, which made its way
amid the most trying hardships and deprivation
to the end of their journey. Mrs. Morris was
nine years of age at that time and well remembers
how she used to cry from hunger and fatigue
almost every day. Her father settled in the
valley and in 1857 came to Eightmile creek. He
died in Los Angeles, in 1872. The mother died
ih'Waitsburg, Washington, in 1870. Air. Alorris
has the following named brothers and sisters,
Andrew B., Sarah J„ Catherine, Nathaniel, Mrs.
Josephine B. Marshall, and Mrs. Mary A. Powell
25

who died in 1903. They all crossed the plains.
Airs. Alorris has brothers and sisters, named be
low : Airs. Caroline Shelton, Perry, Jasper, de
ceased ; Alarion, Newton. William, Airs. Susan
Bateman and Airs. Lou Bilopps. The children
born to our subject and his wife are mentioned
below : Preston G., Milton M., William G., Har
vey L., all on the flat; Callie, the wife of C. Big-
bee, in Linn county; Mary E., wife of George
Young, in Wasco county ; Leonora, wife of John
Nowlin, superintendent of schools in Pendleton;
Marcia, wife of George Woodruff, on the flat;
and Hattie A., the wife of James Davidson, also
on the flat.

BENJAMIN L. FORAIAN, who resides
about two miles west from Wapinitia, is one of
the representative and leading men of Juniper flat,
and has one of the choice places to be found in
that fertile region. He was born in Linn county,
Alissouri, on November 17, 1859, the son of
Alajor Luther T. and Arminta (Brown) Forman,
natives of Kentucky. The father was a native
of Bourbon county and his parents, who were
Scotch, were born in the same place. He fought
all through the Civil war and held the rank of
major when he was mustered out. He was a
prominent stockman and merchant and died in
Linn county, Alissouri, in 1902. The mother's
parents were born in Kentucky and she died when
our subject was four years old. Benjamin L.
grew up on the farm, gained his education from
the district schools and assisted his father in the
stock business, being closely associated with him
in shipping stock from Texas. He remained at
the home place until Alarch, 1889, when he came
to this county and took land where he now re
sides. He now owns twelve hundred acres,
which is well provided with water, both living
and that pumped from various wells with wind
mills. He has improvements of the best, a large
story and one-half white residence, commodious
barns and outbuildings and all the paraphernalia
needed on a first-class farm. Air. Forman win
ters about one hundred and fifty cattle, raises
lots of horses and sells many hogs each year.
He is one of the most successful men of the
county and is a leading figure in the conventions
and in public matters generally.
On July 4, 1890, at the Davis ranch, Wapini
tia, Air. Forman married Aliss Eliza Abbott, who
was born in Miami county, Ohio. Her parents,
Curtis G. and Catherine (Dils) Abbott, were
born in Ohio, the mother in Alontgomery county.
The father died here on June 29. 1901. The
mother's father was native to Miami county,
Ohio, and her mother was born in Virginia. Mr.

386

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Forman has two brothers, Charles, John ; two
half brothers, Joseph, William, and five half sis
ters, Mrs. Kate Stanley, Lida, Airs. Virginia Den-
boe, Stella, and Mrs. Maggie Hill. To Air. ancl
Mrs. Forman one child has been born, William,
aged fourteen. Mrs. Forman's people removed
to Indian in 1848, settling in St. Joseph county.
In 1857, her father went to California ancl after
mining some, raised hogs in Humboldt county.
He brought the first sheep to this county and to
Prineville and was one of the earliest settlers on
the flat. He remained here until his death. He
-was a very prominent man and was one of the
leading stock breeders in Oregon. He was known
as a liberal, enterprising ancl good man. Airs.
Forman has two brothers, Joseph C, James P.
and two sisters, Airs. Alary Brown, Airs. Sarah
Washburn. Air. Forman is a member of the
Christian church, and he and his wife are highly
respected people.

CHARLES N. CLARKE, one of the
-younger business men of the Hood River, is at
the head of a prosperous drug trade which he
owns and operates. He is a genial, upright and
popular man, wide awake to the interests of the
state and is to be classed among the substantial
men of Wasco county. He was born in Kansas,
on April 5, 1874, the son of Levi and Mary J.
(Keys) Clarke. The mother was a native of
Vermont and her parents were born in Ireland
.and Wales, respectively. The father was a native
of New York and his father of England, while
his mother was born in Pennsylvania, of old
English Quaker stock. He was a tinner, gas
fitter and plumber by trade ancl came to The
;Dalles about 1889 where he opened a shop and
^conducted it for eight years. After that, he sold
'his shop and came to Hood River where he is
retired and living with our subject. Charles N.
was educated in the graded schools of Eldorado,
Kansas, and at The Dalles. In 1890, he came
from Texas, where he had been one year with
,his sister. His oldest brother had come to Wasco
-county in 1888 and for seven years was in the
employ of Snipes ancl Kinersly, druggists at The
Dalles. Then he opened a store for himself and
later moved to Aberdeen, Washington, engaging
in the business where he was burned out in the
fall of 1903. After finishing his education at
The Dalles our subject entered the employ of
Snipes & Kinersly. With them, ancl his brother
later, he spent seven years in learning and fol
lowing the drug business. In August, 1898, he
came to Hood River and bought the business of
J. H. Cradlebaugh and has since conducted the
«ame. He has since increased his stock and busi

ness materially and is handling a large trade at
the present time. Air. Clarke is an up-to-date
business man ancl carries a very fine stock of
goods to supply his increasing- trade. His
genialty and faithfulness have won him an ex
tensive trade besides hosts of friends. He is
well known as a careful ' and accurate man.
At Dufur, Oregon, in 1890, Air. Clarke mar
ried Miss Eva L. Slusher, a native of Portland.
Her parents, Thomas and Arabel (Dufur)
Slusher, were natives of Pennsylvania and Ore
gon, respectively. Her father is now deceased
and her mother is married to William Staats, a
farmer residing four miles west from Dufur.
Air. Clarke has three brothers : Frank J., a drug
gist in Portland ; Frederick W., a jeweler and
watchmaker in Hood River; and G. Arthur, the
manager of a large cigar store at Portland ; and
one sister, Alinnie, wife of W. O. Hadley, a jew
eler, at Moro, Oregon. Air. and Airs. Clarke
have two children, Beryl A. and Charles E., de
ceased. Our subject is affiliated, fraternally, with
the A. O. U. W., the United Artisans, and the
A. F. & A. M.

ROBERT A. LAUGHLIN is certainly en
titled to be classed as one of the earliest pioneers
of this country ancl also as one of the most sub
stantial builders of it. He is now residing three
miles west, some south, from Wapinitia, and
there owns a fine estate of eight hundred acres of
choice land. The same is well provided with
improvements ancl Air. Laughlin devotes his at
tention to general farming and stock raising. He
is a man of influence in the community, has an
excellent standing and is entitled to the enco
miums and respect which he is accorded by all
who know him.
Robert A. Laughlin was born in Lincoln
county, Alissouri, on April 19, 1846, the son of
Alfred and Lucy (Kent) Laughlin, natives of
Alissouri. The father's parents were born in
Virginia and descended from Scotch ancestry.
The mother was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock
and died in Alissouri, in 1864. In Missouri our
subject secured his education and there remained
until 1865, when acompanied by his father,
step-mother and the balance of the family, he
came west, with ox teams, encountering much
hardship en route. Settlement was made in
Yamhill county and there he remained until 1872,
when he came to Juniper flat and took land. He
is the only one of the few settlers of that time
who now remains. He took land by the govern
ment rights and then bought until his estate is
of the proportions mentioned. Air. Laughlin is
now handling the farm and stock largely in part-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

387

nership with his son, Fred G., who is one of the
¦capable and leading young men of the vicinity.
They winter about seventy-five cattle each year,
.sell about forty to fifty hogs and have some
horses. The place is well handled and is one of
the valuable estates of the county.
Here on the farm, on December 5, 1876, Mr.
Laughlin married Aliss Sallie J. Magill, a native
¦of Missouri. Her parents were also born in that
state. The father, Caleb Magill, died in Califor
nia, on July 4, 1902, ancl is buried here. On Oc
tober 12, 1887, here at the family home, Airs.
Laughlin was called away by death. She had
been a good and noble woman ancl left many
friends. The following named children were
left with the devoted husband to mourn the de
parture of the beloved mother and wife : Fred
G., on the farm with his father; Claud W., with
W. H. Davis; Ralph R., at The Dalles; Kate
M., wife of Alonzo Amen, at Wapinitia ; Alay,
wife of Henry Trowbridge, a stockman in Grant
county ; ancl Gertrude, unmarried and at home.
Mr. Laughlin has one brother, John S., and two
sisters, Mrs. Catherine Wright, and Mrs. Ellen
¦Clark. Airs. Laughlin had one brother, David.

JOHN I. WEST, a prosperous farmer ancl
stockman, residing at Wapinitia, came to Juniper
flat when a young man of eighteen. He was
without means ancl had the capital of a riding
cayuse and a saddle when he landed one clay in
Tygh valley. That was twenty-five years since.
Perceiving the opportunities offered the industri
ous here, he took hold with his hands and thor
oughly made up his mind to win the smiles of
dame fortune. He has done it, and in a becoming
manner, too, as the following sketch will testify.
Having been a great benefactor to this country,
ancl now being a leading citizen, it is with great
pleasure we embrace the opportunity to epitomize
his career.
John I. West was born in Yamhill county,
Oregon, on January 6, 1861. His father, William
M. West, was born in Alissouri, Dade county,
and when fourteen years of age crossed the plains.
it being 1847, accompanying an elder brother.
He made settlement in Yamhill county and his
death occurred at Tygh Valley on December 15,
1902. He had married Aliss Eliza Harris, a
native of Dade county, Alissouri, who crossed
the plains with her parents when four years of
age. She was in the same train with Airs. Dr.
Elwood's father and mother. She died when our
subject was a lad of four years. Then he was
bound out bv his father to Air. and Airs. Johnson
Basket, in Polk county, where he remained, re
ceiving his education and working on the farm

until he was eighteen. Then he started out for
himself ancl in due time with his riding cayuse
landed in this flat, as stated above. He soon
went to work and for ten years he saved his
wages until he was justified in starting into the
stock business for himself. Fie secured land by
homestead right and went to work. He now
owns an estate of eighteen hundred acres, well
improved and supplied with all the things neces
sary for a first-class stock and farm place. Air.
West associated with Mr. Davis, sent east for
the best strains of Shorthorn and Hereford cat
tle and they introduced them into this neighbor
hood, which has resulted in great benefit to the
people. He has been an enterprising stock
breeder and has always the best. He winters
about two hundred head, and also sells some
hogs. Mr. West had one brother, James, who
died in infancy, and no sisters.
On September 15, 1902, Air. West married
Miss Anna N. Horton, who was born in Indiana,
on April 4, 1873. The wedding occurred at The
Dalles. Mrs. West's father, Jeremiah Horton,
was born in Indiana, and his parents came from
Yorkshire, England. He married Aliss Nancv
Wallace, an Indiana maiden, whose parents were
natives of Tennessee. Her father, William Wal
lace, was first cousin of General Lew Wallace,
the famous writer. Air. Horton dwells in Ness
county, Kansas, and follows dairying. He is a
veteran of the Civil war, having served in Com
pany C, Twenty-sixth Indiana Volunteer In
fantry, and was in many of the most hotly con
tested battles of the war, including the siege of
Vicksburg, Shiloh, ancl others. He lost ono
brother and one brother-in-law in the siege of
Vicksburg, one brother at Shiloh, ancl ore
brother-in-law at Corinth. He is a prominent
and influential citizen. He carries a ball in hi ;
breast received at Vicksburg. Airs. West It1 3
the following named brothers and sisters : Fran
cis J., William J., Samuel G., Charles B., Mrs.
Emma Zickefoose, Airs. Elizabeth Schapher,
Lenna A., and Airs. Alinnie Collins. Airs. West
is a normal graduate and an experienced teacher.
She also did dressmaking and wrought as sales
lady in a dry goods store. She belongs to the
Rebekahs and the Women of Woodcraft. Air.
and Airs. West are popular and genial people,
ancl are valued members of society here.
To Air. and Mrs. West one son has been born,
Isham H, on August 3, 1903.

THOAIAS J. AlcCLURE is one of the
earliest pioneers of this section and he now i~
a heavy real estate owner in Was^o county. The
old home place is situated about four miles east

;88

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

from Mosier, where he with his brother and sis
ter own seven quarter sections and one eighty,
making a total acreage of twelve hundred acres.
Thomas J. McClure was born in Buchanan
county, Missouri, on November 20, 1846. In 1852,
his parents, William C. and Amelia H. (Sulli
van) McClure, who were married May 26, 1842,
crossed the plains with ox teams. They started
out from Missouri with twelve ox teams, making
three outfits. When they arrived in the Willa
mette valley they had one ox and one cow, the
latter having been bought en route. The father
was born in Tennessee, of Scotch-Irish stock.
His father, the grandfather of our immediate
subject, participated in the War of 1812, his
captain being James Bennett, and he drew a pen
sion until his death, which occurred where our
subject now lives, on December 31, 1878, he
being aged eighty-two. He had crossed the
plains with the son and was a pioneer of this
country. William C. McClure died here at the
old homestead on May 21, 1895. His widow,
also of Scotch-Irish ancestry, died here on Sep
tember 29, 1896. Thomas J. was reared ancl edu
cated principally in Yamhill county, where the
family settled first. In 1864, they sold out there
and removed to The Dalles. They rented a place
on Threemile creek until the fall of 1865, then
removed to town and on May 12, 1866, they came
to the place where our subject now lives and took
a homestead. The grandfather took a claim also
and when our subject was old enough, he took an
adjoining quarter. He and his brother have
bought since until they have the magnificent estate
mentioned already. Mr. McClure gives attention
to raising hay mostly, and also does some general
farming. His brother, William T., lives near.
His sister, Mrs. Amanda A., widow of Andrew
Alarsh, keeps house for Mr. AlcClure. She has
one son, William A., who dwells with them. Mr.
AlcClure is a Democrat and a man well posted
in the questions of the day, and also well posted
in the history of the country, having seen it
developed from the wild state, in which it was
when they came, to its present prosperous con
dition. He has done a good part in this work
and is to be classed with the leading men of the
county.

AMOS ROOT, a substantial farmer and
-fruit raiser, who resides about two miles east
from Mosier, was born in Ohio. His parents, John
and Sarah (Hurst) Root, were natives of Penn
sylvania and from Dutch stock. They both died in
Ohio. Our subject was raised in Ohio until twen
ty-one where he received his education, then jour
neyed west to Iowa. After four or five years'

residence there he went to Colorado and worked
in the mines about six years. Returning home,.
he spent two years in the Buckeye State and two
in Indiana and in 1875, he came to Oregon.
He spent several years in the Willamette valley,
ranching and then came west of the mountains
and raised sheep but was driven out of that busi
ness owing to the uprising of the Indians. In
1878, he bought the place where he now resides-
and since then has made it his home. The farm
consists of one hundred and sixty acres, forty
of which are under cultivation. Thirty acres-
of the forty are planted to apples, cherries,
peaches, prunes and so forth. Mr. Root is a
skillful and thrifty horticulturist and turns off
many boxes of fruit each year.
In Indiana, Mr. Root married Aliss Hannah
Holderman, a native of that state. Her parents,.
Samuel and Sarah (Boyer) Holderman were-
born in Ohio and died in Indiana. Mrs. Root
has several brothers and sisters and Mr. Root
has the following named brothers and sisters,
Henry, Samuel, William, and Elizabeth Zaner.
To our subject and his esteemed wife eight
children have been born ; Elmer R., a farmer
near The Dalles ; Leo, with him ; Leslie and
Clyde, school boys ; Alice, wife of Wallace A.
Husband, living four miles east of Mr. Root's
place; Zilla, the widow of Mr. Jones, residing
with her' father ; Nora and Edna, at home.
Politically, Mr. Root has formerly been a
Democrat ancl attends many of the conventions,
but recently- he has embraced the Socialist faith
which he believes to contain the right principles
for the settlement of the political questions. He
takes a lively interest in school affairs and has
been a director for many years.

LEANDER EVANS, one of the prominent
fruit raisers of Wasco county, resides about a
mile southeast from Mosier. He owns one hun
dred and seventy five acres on the home place,
most of which is tillable and he has an orchard
of about thirty acres. Last year, he shipped
something over three thousand boxes of fruit
and this year will probably dispose of over five
thousand. In addition, Mr. Evans has a fine
fruit drier with a capacity of five thousand
pounds per day and he ships many tons of
dried prunes and apples.
Leander Evans was born in Bloomington,
Illinois, on November 6, 1849. His father,
Samuel Evans, was a native of Ohio and was
brought by his parents to Illinois when three
years of age. They were also born in Licking-
county, Ohio. His father, the grandfather of our

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

389

subject, laid out the city of Bloomington on his
homestead and died there in 1869. He was a
man of strong character and noted for his charity
and public spirit. For many years, he was
very wealthy but met with reverses late in life.
'He died when ninety-three years of age. The
father of our subject came to this vicinity in
1898 and died in 1900. He had married Eva-
line King, a native of Illinois. Her father was
born in Wales and her mother in England. She
died here in 1901. After completing the high
school in Bloomington, our subject was about
to enter the normal school but was deterred on
account of ill health. He went with his parents
to Missouri and farmed for seven years, then
he moved to Kansas where the parents remained
until they joined our subject here in the west.
He came with his family and one brother here
about 1887 and homesteaded the place where he
now resides.
On May 16, 1875, in Cowley county, Kan
sas, Mr. Evans married Miss Mary E. Swasey,
who was born in Clark county, Missouri. Her
father, George C. Swasey, was born in New York
and his family was prominent for many years
there. Mr. Evans has .five brothers, William H.,*Ira
D., George E., Samuel E. and Oscar. He also
has four sisters, Calista Depew, Mary E. Hunter,
Louisa Graham, and Lillie E. Johnson. Airs.
Evans has one child. Two children have been
born to our subject and his wife, Frederic E., a
graduate of the Philomath college in 1903 and
married to Carrie Gray, the daughter of H. J.
Gray; George C, who received his education in
the high school at Hood River and married Elva
Coyle, mentioned elsewhere in this work. He is
now living on the farm adjoining that of our
subject. Mr. and Mrs. Evans are members of the
Methodist church as are also their sons. Polit
ically, Air. Evans is a Democrat but not active.
He is well informed on the issues and questions
of the clay and keenly alive to the interests of
education. Air. Evans is one of the wealthy
men of the country, having secured a fine holding
by virtue of his skill and industry while also he
has stimulated many to meritorious labor which
has resulted in great good to this part of the
state.

GEORGE D. CULBERTSON, of the firm
of George D. Culbertson & Company, is one of
the leading business men of Wasco county. He
is established at Hood River as his headquarters
and does a large business all over Wasco county,
southwestern Washington and other portions of

the country. The firm handles real estate and
also does insuring and loaning.
George D. Culbertson was born in Denton
county, Texas, on March 1, 1868, the son of Eli
jah H. and Helen H. (Curtner) Culbertson. The
motner was born in Galatin, Alissouri and her
parents were natives of Crab Orchard, Kentucky.
Her uncle, James Gerrard Curtner, was the sec
ond governor of Kentucky. The family were of
Scotch descent and were early pioneers to Vir
ginia. The father of our subject was born in In
diana, on December 28, 1824, and died on Febru
ary 18, 1902, in Savanna, Indian Teritory. Fie
founded the village of Stringtow, Indian Ter
ritory, and was a merchant and mill owner there
before railroads came. He also lived in Texas
and raised stock and did contracting and building,
when Tarrant, Denton and Wise counties were on
the frontier. He built the first court house at
Fort Worth and was there when it was a mere
army post. In addition to his business career,
the father was a noted Indian missionary, having
for many years labored faithfully among the In
dians and the whites and was instrumental in
founding many Methodist churches. He was a
man of power and eloquence and was known far
and near in central United States. Being fearless
and brave, he won the admiration of the savages
and was enabled to reach them and on many oc
casions quiet them. At a good ripe age, having
performed a noble work, he went to the reward
that was waiting for him, sustained by the faith
which had buoyed him over life's seas. The
mother of our subject still lives at Savanna, In
dian Territory. Her father was a pioneer of Wise
county, Texas, and died there in 1878. George
D. was educated in the district schools of Indian
Territory and in an academy in north Texas.
After graduating, he taught school in Choctaw
and other nations for three years, having as pu
pils, Indian and white children. After that, we
find him engaged as secretary and one of the fac
ulty in the Fort Worth Business College, at Fort
: AA'orth, Texas, and later he engaged in the gen
eral merchandise business with his brother, at
Savanna, Indian Territory. For three years, the}
did a nice business, then burned out. Next we
see him in Oregon, where he resided for tv\ o
years as head accountant of a dry goods house at
Salem. After this, he returned home to attend
to some personal business and remained there for
; several months, then he journeyed west to Port
land. Here he accepted a position as chief ac
countant for a large wholesale boot and shoe
house but finding the position too confining, he
resigned and came to Hood River. He at once
opened a real estate office, the year being 1901,
and since that time has continued actively in busi-

390

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ness here. He handles property all over the coun
try for hundreds of miles in every direction and
does a large business. They confine their efforts
to no particular line but handle farm, fruit, tim
ber, grazing land and town property and in fact
every kind of property in the business world. In
February, 1905, Mr. Culbertson was chosen vice-
president for Oregon of the National Real Estate
Association at Des Aloines, Iowa.
On November 26, 1903, at Hood River, Mr.
Culbertson married Aliss Caroline Booth, a native
of The Dalles. Her parents, John P. and Mary
L. (-K-iggs) Booth, were natives of Michigan and
are mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Mr.
Culbertson has four brothers, William T., Charles
E., Jesse W., and John M., who is partner with
our subject ; and four sisters, Mrs. Frances Robin
son, Mrs. Dora J. Smith, Mrs. Anna Collard, and
Airs. Alice M. Ingram. Mrs. Culbertson has one
brother and two sisters who are mentioned in an
other portion of this work. Our subject is a
member of the AL W. A. and in politics is a
stanch Democrat, and takes an active interest in
party politics.
Mrs. Culberston is a member of the Episcopal
church. Air. Culbertson's grandfather, Andrew
J. Culbertson, went to Oregon in 1852 with ox
reams and remained in Powell valley, Multno
mah countv, until his death.

JAAIES AIcHARGUE, who is proprietor of
the Hotel Shaniko at Shaniko, Oregon, was born
in Linn county, this state, on February 5, i85"i,
being the son of James and Sarah J. (Montgom
ery) McHargue, natives of Kentucky and Alis
souri, respectively. The father's parents and
grandparents were of Scotch ancestry and were
rmong the early pioneers of the Blue Grass State,
The mother's parents were born in Alissouri and
the Alontgomerys were an old and prominent
southern family. Our subject's parents were mar
ried in Missouri and in 1847 crossed the plains
with ox teams to Linn county, Oregon, where
they took donation claims. Our subject was born
there and also was raised on the old home place,
receiving his education from the public schools.
The father died at Brownsville, Oregon, on Octo
ber 18, 1897, aged seventy-five. The mother died
at the old home place, on Alay 12, 1897, aged
seventy-four. Our subject had followed farming
on the old home place most of the time and con
tinued there until 1902, when he sold out and
came east of the mountains. Previous to that,
however, he had been engaged in the Albany
Woolen Alills for four years. After arriving east
of the Cascades, he selected Shaniko as the place

to invest and purchased equipments for the Sha
niko hotel, leasing the building. Since that time,
he has been conducting a first class hostelry and
is favored with a very fine patronage. His house
is made attractive and is very popular with the
traveling public.
At Brownsville, Oregon, on Alarch 25, 1874,
Mr. AIcHargue married Mary E. Keeny, who was
born in Linn county, on October 12, 1858, the
daughter of Elias and Alargaret J. (Hyatt)
Keeny, natives of Alissouri. The father crossed
the plains in 1846 with ox teams, being accom
panied by his brother. They selected donation
claims in the Willamette valley and then returned
to Missouri, married and in 1848, crossed the
plains again. The mother died in the Willamette
valley in 1861. Mr. McHargue has two brothers,
living, George W. and Robert H, in Washing
ton ; and three sisters, Ida, wife of George Han
sen, a mining man at Grant's Pass, Oregon ; Cath
erine, the wife of Joseph Hume, a hop raiser at
Brownville ; and Elizabeth, wife of James A.
AlcPheron, a custom house employee in Portland.
Our subject and his wife have become parents of
five children; William C, in Arizona; Lillie, the
wife of William E. Reese, manager of Aloody's
Warehouse in Shaniko ; John, with his father ;
Alargaret J., the wife of Angus A. Shaw ; and
Flora, at home.
Mr. McHargue is a member 'of the W. W.
and in politics is a Democrat. He and his wife
both belong to the Alethodist church and are
highly esteemed people.

JOHN W. BROWN, a native son of the
AVebfoot State, has labored in Oregon for many
years and is now living on his fine fruit farm
about six miles southeast from Mosier. He has a
very choice place of one quarter section, one hun
dred acres of which are fine fruit land. He has
ten acres of this cleared and into orchard and
various other improvements upon the place.
John W Brown was born in Portland, Ore
gon, on October 30, 1856, the son of James and
Sarah J. (Stanley) Brown, natives of Tennes
see and Texas, respectively. The father's par
ents and grandparents were also born in Tennes
see. He served in the Alexican war and now lives
in Jefferson county, Washington and does farm
ing. The mother of our subject died in 1884.
In 1853 our subject's father went from Missouri
to California and was all through the various In
dian wars in Oregon and lost all he had at the
Cow Creek Massacre, all his household goods be
ing taken from him with his entire outfit. He was

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

39 *

left entirely destitute with a wife ancl one child.
In 1855, they came to Oregon and later took a do
nation claim about fifteen miles up the Columbia
from Portland where our subject resided. In
1 87 1 the family went to Umatilla county and two
years later, moved to Southern California. After
two years there, they went back to southern Ore
gon and then went to Nevada, where our subject
started for himself. Mr. Brown was accompan
ied by his wife, who was not afraid of the In
dians, having had much experience with them in
Texas. Her father was all through the Black
Hawk war and lost a hand in the struggle. After
our subject began operations for himself in Ne
vada, he remained one year and then came back
to Portland. After that, he went to Umatilla
county and did wheat farming until 1894. He
has taken a preemption there, which he sold and
homesteaded the one hundred and sixty acres
where he now resides.
On January 18, 1892, at The Dalles, Mr.
Brown married Miss Martha E. Hurst, who was
born in Idaho. Her parents, Joseph and Nancy
J. (Cowsert) Hurst, were born in Oregon. Mr.
Brown has one brother, George W., but no sis
ters. His father has no brothers, but one
sister residing in Independence, Oregon. He is
an active Socialist, an industrious and enterpris
ing man and is making a very fine place where he
now lives.

SAMUEL E. BARTMESS, a leading busi
ness man of Hood River, is one of the respected
and highly esteemed citizens of Wasco county.
He stands at the head of a large furniture and un
dertaking establishment and also deals in all kinds
of building material. His trade is far reaching
and has been gained by his careful and upright
business methods and constant attention to the in
terests of his patrons.
Samuel E. Bartmess was born in Dayton, In
diana, on September 15, 1853, the son of Oliver
Cromwell and Sarah (Clark) Bartmess. The
father was born in Preble county, Ohio, in 1819
and his father, Jacob Bartmess, the grandfather
of our subject, was born in Maryland. He mar
ried Sophia Riser. In 1829, they moved to
Indiana, being pioneer farmers of that country.
Their ancestors came from Germany. The
father is now living with our subject. The
mother of our subject, was born in Butler
county, Ohio, in 1823 of English parentage and
is now deceased. Samuel E. grew up on a farm
and after completing the graded schools, took a
course in the Otterbein university at Westerville.
Ohio, graduating in 1879. After that he
turned his attention to farming near Dayton, In

diana until 1890 when he moved to Hood River.
A few months later, he bought out Hanna and
Zeigler, who were handling a furniture busi
ness. Since that time, Mr. Bartmess has given
his attention to his business, which is increasing
and has closely identified himself with this coun
try. He is an energetic worker in all lines of
building and progress and has done a lion's share
in building up Hood River.
On January 27, 1880, at Dayton, Indiana, Mr.
Bartmess married Aliss Elda E. Crouse, a na
tive of that town. Her father was born at Ger
mantown, Pennsylvania, in 1812, and came of
German ancestry. He was a physician and about
the first one in Tippecanoe county, Indiana,
where he practiced for forty years. He was a
very prominent man and for two terms repre
sented his county in the state legislature, his
name appearing on the Republican ticket. He
married Miss Rachel Baker, a native of Indiana
and of English parents. They are both now de
ceased. Mrs. Bartmess is finely educated, having
graduated from the Logansport academy in Indi
ana. Mr. Bartmess is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
while he and his wife belong to the United
Brethren church. He is a trustee of that denomi
nation and was one of the organizers of the
church in Hood River and has been a devout and
zealous worker in it since. Mr. and Mrs. Bart
mess are very active Sunday school workers and
are esteemed and highly respected people. Their
son, Earl K., is superintendent of the Sunday
school. They have four children ; Earl K., at
home ; Meigs, a graduate from the agricultural
college at Corvallis, now a member of the faculty
of Hill's Military Academy, Portland ; Sallie A.,
a school girl, aged ten ; and Marie Louise, six
years of age, who shows marked talent in music.
Politically, Air. Bartmess is a zealous Pro
hibitionist. He is a genial, bright minded man,
always interested in public enterprises and one
who lives out his faith in daily life, consequently,
he has hosts of friends and stands exceptionally
well in the community.

TRUAIAN BUTLER, the junior member of
the banking house of Butler & Company, at Hood
River, is a careful and capable young business
man, who is considered one of the rising men of
Wasco county. He is associated with his father
in the banking business and has shown himself
possessed of ability that presages for him a bright
future. He enjoys the confidence of the public,
and his careful attention to the banking business,
his courtesy, geniality, and integrity have made

392

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

him one of the most popular young men of the
county. Truman Butler was born in Ottawa, Kansas,
on January 4, 1872, the son of Leslie and Carrie
(Bixler) Butler, who are especially mentioned
in another portion of this volume. When ten
years of age he came to The Dalles with his
father and after attending the public schools
entered the Wasco Independent academy. Later
he graduated from the Lane University, at
Lecompton, Kansas. He immediately returned
to The Dalles, it being 1891, and for seven years
subsequently, he was purser on the Regulator
line of steamers. In 1900, he came to Hood
River and was associated with his father in the
banking business where he has remained since.
On October 23, 1895, Mr. Butler married
Miss Ella Learner, a native of Kansas. The
nuptials were celebrated at Lecompton, Kansas.
Mrs. Butler's father, William Learner, was born
in Pennsylvania, coming from the old Pennsylva
nia Dutch stock. He was a pioneer in Kansas, and
for fifty years was a merchant in Lecompton,
being one of the leading men of that part of the
state and well and favorably known all over it.
He married Miss Emma McCormick, a native of
Pennsylvania. They are both living in Lecomp
ton. Mrs. Butler has the following brothers and
sisters, Edward B., Coates W., Henry G., and
Mrs. Alary Snyder. Air. Butler is amember of
the A. F.-& A. M. and the A. O. U. W., being
worshipful master of the former and receiver of
the other.

LESLIE BUTLER, senior member of the
firm of Butler & Company's bank, is one of the
leading business men in northern Oregon. He
has a wide and varied experience in many lines
of enterprise and has accumulated a fund of
wisdom and experience, which, added to his na
tive talent, makes him strong, capable and up
right in the financial field. The bank is estab
lished at Hood River and does a large business.
Leslie Butler was born in Randolph county,
Indiana, on November 10, 1847, the son of
Robert H. and Ann M. (Thompson) Butler, na
tives of Campbell county, Virginia, and Center
county, Pennsylvania, respectively. The family
is an old and prominent one and the grandfather
of our subject, Jonathan Butler, was a patriot in
the Revolutionary War. Robert H. Butler died
in Kansas in 1869. His widow died at The
Dalles in 1898. She was of Pennsylvania Dutch
stock. AAHien Leslie was seventeen years of age,
the family moved to Kansas, where the father
died soon after. Our subject being the only son,
responsibilities of the family devolved upon him

and he attended to matters until twenty-two when
he went to work in a grocery store in Ottawa.
He had been well educated in the schools where
he had lived until his father's death and for eight
years he continued in the store, gaining a large
fund of experience and thoroughly mastering the
details of the business. The last year in this
service was spent on the road as commercial
salesman. After that, he was three years in rail
road work and in 1881, came to The Dalles and
opened a grocery store. For twelve vears he
continued in that, and at the time of the big fire
was very fortunate in that his property was not
destroyed. He sold out at that time and opened a
large grocery and wholesale establishment which
he conducted for five years, then he closed out
and became credit man, with Wadhams and Keer
Brothers, one year at Portland. Then in com
pany with his son, he opened a banking business
at Hood River in April, 1900, and since that
time they have done a fine business.
On November 10, 1867, at Peoria, Kansas,
Mr. Butler married Aliss Carrie Bixler, a native
of Illinois. Her father, Noah Bixler, was a na
tive of Peoria and from Dutch stock. He was a
pioneer to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois and married
Nancy Brown. They both died at Ottawa,
Kansas. Mr. Butler had three sisters, Mrs.
Lydia Raglan, Sarah and Martha. The last two
are deceased. Six children have been born to
Mr. and Mrs. Butler; Cora, wife of Hon. George
Dysart, an attorney at Centralia, Washington;
Truman, with his father in the bank ; Nellie, wife
of Dr. E. L. Kniskern, at Centralia, Washington ;
Carrie, wife of C. H. Vaughn, bookkeeper of the
bank ; Pearl and Jessie, deceased.
Politically, Mr. Butler is a stanch Prohibi
tionist. He is not a member of any church de
nomination but a liberal supporter of them all and
a bright minded and public spirited citizen. Mr.
Butler is a man that impresses one as being
possessed of much wisdom and business ability,
while his genialty and kindness are evident to
every one. The result is that he is looked up to
and advised with by all and his example and wise
principles have clone much to build up and assist
him in this section.

GEORGE A. YOUNG is one of the lead
ing stockmen of the state of Oregon. . He has
operated very extensively in the country ad
joining Shaniko and is known both far and near
as a successful stock breeder. At the present
time, he is not so actively engaged as hereto
fore but is takino- the deserved retirement that
he has earned. He was born in Aliddlesex vil-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

393

lage, Massachusetts, on November 25, 1833.
John H. Young, his father, was a native of New
York state and his parents ot the same place.
They were of Welsh ancestry and early settlers
in the colonies. John H. Young died at West-
ford, Massachusetts. He was a mechanic ancl
also followed merchandising and hotel keeping.
He married Nancy Nutting, whose father, Dan
iel Nutting, was the maternal grandfather of
our subject. He had his thumb shot off while
serving with the patriots in the battle of Bunker-
hill. He fought all through the Revolution, be
ing in action for eight years, ancl our subject
has a detailed record of the same, together
with his discharge which was signed by General
Bancroft. Our subject's mother died in 1866
at Westford, Massachusetts. George A. was
educated in the public schools of Lowell and
then learned the carpenter trade. Afterwards
he learned the butcher business and remained in
Massachusetts until 1857. Then he came to
Oregon in company with L. E. Pratt, journey
ing via the isthmus. Mr. Pratt had come out to
take charge of erecting and operating the first
woolen mill on the Pacific coast and Mr. Young
assisted in constructing the same. It was com
pleted ancl began operations in 1857. Then
Mr. Koung wrought for the government in
building the barracks at Fort Yamhill. Later, he
was in charge of a hotel in Salem but burned out
there in 1863. After that, he journeyed to
Idaho City and mined for one season. In 1864,
we find him at Boise, where he built the Over
land hotel in partnership with B. M. Du Rell
and Thomas Alallony. In 1866, Air. Young
sold his interests to his partners and prospected
and mined until 1870. In that year he returned
to Portland and took a meat contract on the
Northern Pacific railroad where he was engaged
until 1874, when he took up the sheep business
with a partner here at Shaniko. While the part
ner attended the stock, Mr. Young conducted
the Clarenden hotel in Portland. Later, he was
proprietor of the Occidental there in company
with Sam Smith. In 1880, Air. Young came
to this section to visit nis sheep ranch and was
so taken up with the country and prospects that
he decided to locate. Accordingly he made
arrangements for the same and in the spring
of 188 1, purchased his partner's interest and
since that has been one of the leading stockmen
in the state of Oregon. His son, Fred, was in
partnership with him much of the time until
1904, when they sold their entire stock interests.
At that time, thev disposed of seven thousand
acres of land, sixteen thousand sheep, fifty
borses ancl about one hundred ancl fifty cattle.
:Since he sold, Air. Young has been devoting his

attention to investments and believes that this
portion of Oregon is about to make some of the
greatest strides of the entire western country.
While in the stock business, the firm was known
as George A. Koung and Son.
On June 12, 1859, at Brighton, Massachus
etts, Mr. Young married Lydia B. Heald, who
was born in Anson, Maine, on November 25,
1841, being just eight years younger than her
husband, to a day. Her father, Andrew Heald,
was a native of Maine and descended from an
old and prominent colonial family. He married
Mary Houghton, also a native of Maine and
from an old an prominent family. Mr. Young
has one sister, N. Jane, the wife of Henry S.
Bemis, a general merchant at Graniteville, Alas
sachusetts. Mrs. Young has two brothers,
Llewellyn and Fred, in Wheeler county, this
state, and three sisters, Dorcas, the wife of
Joseph W. Twinkham, a farmer in Columbia
county, Oregon, and Philena, the wife of John
Raulett, a mining man in Oakland, California,
and Elizabeth, wife of Charles Hilton, a stock
man in Wheeler county and now residing in
Portland.. Mr. and Airs. Young have three
children : Fred A., for many years in partnership
with his father; Agnes, wife of Sheridan W.
Soule, a real estate man in Billings, Montana;
and Georgie, wife of F. D. Shepherd, residing in
Portland, Oregon. Air. Young is a demitted
member of the A. F. & A. M. and the R. A. AL
Four generations previous have been members
of the same order and at one time, three genera
tions sat in the same lodge. He is also a member
of the Elks, the A. O. U. W., the Sons of the
Revolution, and the Oregon Pioneers. Politi
cally, Mr. Young is a strong and influential
Republican. He takes an active part, has been
delegate to the conventions and commissioner of
Wasco county. He was a member of the board
of pilot commissioners in Portland. For many
years, Mr. Young was president of the Oregon
Wool Growers' Association and was one of the
leading members in promoting the same. He
is a man of stamina ancl wealth and the splendid
success he has achieved in Wasco county in the
stock business shows him a man of ability in
business relations. He has labored faithfully for
the improvement and building up of the country
and many good things have been traced as the
result of his labor ancl wisdom.

CHARLES A'. CHAAIPLIN resides tl^ee
miles west from The Dalles, where he has a fine
fruit farm. He is one of the thrifty and leading
horticulturists of the county ancl his estate shows

394

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

good taste and neatness in every detail. He
handles twenty-five acres to bearing orchard and
contemplates setting out more. Each year he
ships about thirty tons of prunes, besides much
other fruit. He also raises hay and some stock.
His place consists of one hundred ancl fifty acres
and he secured the same by purchase.
Charles V. Champlin was born in Illinois, on
December 25, 185 1 the son of John and Rachel
(Wilcox) Champlin, natives of New York. The
Champlin family is an old and prominent one in
American affairs and hold leading interests in the
commercial world in Illinois. The father died in
Illinois, in 1868. The Wilcox family are from
colonial days ancl were leading people in the pro
fessions ancl in the business world. Charles V.
lived in Illinois until 1877, there securing his
education. Then he went to California ancl for
one year was engineer in a large mill, having
learned that trade in Illinois. Later he went from
Petaluma to New Orleans where he was with an
uncle, who was a large planter there, for seven
years. Mr. Champlin came here from California
on a visit, not expecting to stay. But being
pleased with the country, he engaged in the O. R.
& N. shops and wrought for twelve years. Then
he purchased the place where he now dwells and
since then has been a leading fruit raiser of
Wasco county.
On December 25, 1882, Mr. Champlin mar
ried Miss Lizzie Agnew, a native of Sonoma,
California, where the wedding occurred. Her
parents, Samuel and Emma (Champlin) Agnew,
were born in Virginia and Illinois, respectively.
The father comes from an old and prominent
southern family. He has a brother of noted
character, Jim Agnew, the well known sheriff
of Ada county, Idaho, in early days. His son,
Jim Agnew, is now sheriff of the same county.
Mrs. Champlin has two brothers, Newton,
Asahel, ancl four sisters, Ida Dunbar. Mollie
Weyl, Ella Cooper, ancl Sadie. Mr. Champlin
has three brothers, William, Horace, Frank, ancl
one half brother, Orlando. Mrs. Champlin's pa
rents are still residing at Petaluma, California.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Champlin, Leroy ancl Eddie, both at home. Mr.
Champlin is a member of the W. W. He is a
man of integrity and uprightness and has the
confidence of all who may have the pleasure of
his acquaintance.

FRAMTON C. BROSIUS, M. D., is too
well known in Hood River and vicinity to need
any introduction by us. He is a man of ability
and has gained an extensive practice of medicine,
wherein he has shown remarkable ability and

achieved excellent success. His education was
thorough and in one of the best institutions of
the land and since his graduation he has kept well
abreast of the advancing science of medicine by
careful reading. He is a close student and a
great devotee of his profession.
Framton C. Brosius was born in Beloit,
Ohio, on August 26, 1859. ^is father, Amos P.
Brosius, was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, and
came to the United States in 1840. In 1863, he
enlisted in the Fourteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry
and served until captured at Cedar Creek, West
Virginia, on the morning of Sheridan's famous
raid. Fie was taken to Salisbury, North Carolina,
and incarcerated in a war prison. The North Car
olina records show that he mysteriously disap
peared and no trace of him could be found. In
1884, our subject desired to sift the matter more
carefully and through the efforts of the adjutant
general at Washington, it was ascertained that
he died at Andersonville prison. Thus it is sup
posed he made his escape ancl was retaken and
died later. He had married Miss Mary A. E.
Core, a native of Churchville, Pennsylvania. She
died here in Wasco county, on November 19, 1893,
Her father was a pioneer physician in Pennsylva
nia, and his father was a Church of England
clergyman. Dr. Brosius has one half brother,
Arkley Lindsay, and one sister, Mathalie Gordon.
On November 19, 1889, at Kenesaw, Nebraska,
Dr. Brosius married Miss Emma Williams, a
native of Iowa. She has one brother, George E.
After his father's death, our subject moved
with his mother to Tipton, Iowa, where he at
tended the high school. Then he took a course
at the Millville academy, Pennsylvania. When
seventeen he taught school ancl when nineteen
he entered Rush Medical College, Chicago,
whence on February 19, 1883, he was graduated
with honors. Fie immediately began the practice
of his profession in Omaha, Nebraska, then went
to Kenesaw, the same state, ancl continued in
practice until 1891. On November 16, of that
year, he came to Hood River ancl since that time
has continued uninterruptedly in his profession,
with the exception of the time spent in the service
of his country in the Spanish war. Fie enlisted
in the Second Oregon United States Volunteer
Infantry as chief hospital steward with the rank
of captain and artillery surgeon. He served the
full time ancl was mustered out at San Francisco,
on August 7, 1899, having been fifteen and one-
half months in active service in the Philippines.
The doctor is now captain and artillery surgeon
of the Oregon National Guards. He is a member
of the A. F. & A. AL, being past master; of the
R. A. M., being past high priest; of the O. E. S.,
being past patron; of the I. O. O. F. ; of the-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

395-

United Artisans, having been eight successive
terms master ; of the Order of Pendo, being past
master; of the W. W., being past council com
mander; of the Women of Woodcraft; of the
K. O. T. M., being past sir knight commander;
of the A. O. U. W. ; of the Fraternal Brother
hood ; and of the Foresters of America, being
president and financial secretary and past chief
ranger. To Dr. Brosius and his estimable wife
three children have been born, Ed Este, Florence
A., and Frampton Williams. The first one was
born in Nebraska, and the last two in Hood
River.

ABEL Y. MARSH, . who resides about four
miles west from The Dalles where he owns an
estate of four hundred acres, is one of the heav
iest fruit producers in Wasco county. He has a
model ranch which is made a place of beautv and
value by his thrift and wisdom. Last year, he
shipped over seven thousand boxes of fruit and
tomatoes, being one of the heaviest shippers in
the entire valley. In addition to his large fruit
interests, he raises general crops and handles
cattle and horses.
Abel Y. Marsh was born in Wapello county,
Iowa, on March 12, 1849. His father, Josiah
Marsh, was also a native of Iowa and crossed the
plains in 1854, making settlement clown the
Columbia from The Dalles, where he took a dona
tion claim. He married Elizabeth Bell, a native
of Wapello county, Iowa, who is deceased. Our
subject remained with his parents until twenty-
five years of age, gaining a good education and a
first class training as a farmer, stockman ancl
fruit raiser. Then he rented a farm for himself
until 1889, when he purchased the place where
he now resides. It is a magnificent estate and Air.
Marsh is making it still more valuable. Our sub
ject well remembers that in the early days the
family had very much trouble with the Indians
and manv nights were forced to stay in the
woods. The neighbors also suffered very much
from their depredations but our subject's father
was a man of courage and stability ancl weathered
those days and assisted materially in building
up the country.
On December 7. 1871, at The Dalles, Air.
Marsh married Miss Sally Lyle. who was born
in Iowa andis now deceased. On Alav 19, 1891,
Air. ATarsh contracted a second marriage. Alary
E. Dovle, a native of Iowa then becoming his
wife. Her father, Michael Doyle, was born in
Illinois, came to Oregon in 1874 via the Isthmus
and now resides on Chenoweth creek a few
miles awav. He married Selinda Beers, who re
sides with her husband. The other children of

the family besides Mrs. Marsh are Ralph,
Charles, Edna Kauffman, and Ina. By his first
marriage, Mr. Marsh has four children ; Effie, the
wife of Michael Thornton a farmer in Klickitat
county, Washington; Ina, the wife of E. C.
Fitzgerald, who lives with our subject; Josiah,
deceased ; and Minnie, deceased. To the second
marriage, two children have been born, Willie
and Harold.
Mr. Marsh is a member of the W. W. and a
good strong Democrat, though not particularly
active. His farm requires from three to ten
hands all the time besides many more during cer
tain seasons. Air. Alarsh has shown his ability
in making a fine success in fruit and stock rais
ing and his labors have resulted in much good,
both in building up the country and stimulating
others to worthy efforts.

NORRIS Al. LANE, a blacksmith ancl
wagonmaker at Shaniko, Oregon, has one of the
finest establishments in this part of the city and
is known as a master mechanic. He was born
in Eugene, Oregon, on August 26, 1866, being
the son of Andrew W. and Indiana (Smith)
Lane, who are mentioned elsewhere in this
volume. Until ten years of age, our subject at
tended the public schools at Springfield, a little
place three miles east from Eugene and studied
there until eighteen, when the family moved to
California. Then he learned wagonmaking and
the blacksmith trade. After that, he wrought
as a cooper making butter kegs at Buntingville
for three years. He remained in Lassen county
until twenty-four, then returned to the Willa
mette valley and worked a few weeks at Port
land. It was 1891, when he landed at Bakeoven
without a cent in his pocket, and an entire
stranger. After looking the country over for
three days, he bought a small shop, giving his
note payable in one year for the property. The
following June, he sent for his brother, Lewis,
who was then in The Dalles for his health. Lewis
joined our subject and together thev wrought
until fall, then they began partnership and for
nine years they conducted a business both in
Bakeoven and at The Dalles. They sold out at
Bakeoven in 1894. When the railroad came to
Shaniko, the Lane brothers dissolved partner
ship and our subject came here in Alarch, 1900.
He erected a little shop eighteen bv twenty and
the first job he did was on April first for the
townsite company. Lewis remained in The
Dalles, and our subject began at once to build up
a good trade here at Shaniko. By June first, he
commenced to erect a commodious building thirty

396

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

by sixty feet, with an addition twenty by forty
feet to be used as a harness shop. Mr. Lane
employs three men all the time and sometimes has
five. He is a splendid mechanic, having the
reputation of being one of the best workmen in
the country. The result is, that he is handling
a large trade and is known as one of the sub
stantial business men of the town.
On November I, 1896, at the residence of the
bride's parents, in Lane county, Oregon, Mr.
Lane married Elizabeth , A. Whitsett, who was
born near Eugene, the daughter of George W.
and Betty (Harlow) Whitsett. The brothers
and sister of our subject are named in the
biography of his father found in this volume.
Mr. Lane is a member of the K. P. and in
politics, is Republican. He has been two years
school director and councilman, since the town
was incorporated.
Mr. and Mrs. Lane have one child, Floyd M.

GEORGE E. WILLIAMS, who is one of
the busy men of affairs in Hood River, is at
the head of a nice drug trade, which he owns.
He is a man of experience in various walks of
life and has shown himself worthy of the con
fidence of the people, which is generously be
stowed. He was born in West Irving, Iowa, on
October 23, 1871, the son of Josephus and
Malceena (Conger) Williams, natives of Ohio
and Illinois, respectively, and now dwelling in
Kenesaw, Nebraska. They both came from old
and prominent families. When our subject was
seven, the family removed to Kenesaw, Ne
braska, where he attended the public schools.
When fifteen, he learned telegraphy ancl followed
the 'same for several years. He was in the em
ploy of the Burlington and the Santa Fe, princi
pally as train dispatcher,' until 1894, when he re
signed his position and came west. Hood River
attracted him and he soon bought- an interest in
the drug business owned by Dr. Brosius, which
he had established two years previous. In 1896.
Mr. Williams went to San Francisco ancl entered
the University of California, taking the Pharma
ceutical course, and graduated with distinction
in 1898. Immediately upon graduation, he re
turned to Hood River and took up his business
in the drug store. He continued as partner with
Dr. Brosius until 1902, when he bought the
doctor out ancl since that time has been handling
the business alone. His carefulness and accu
racy have commended him to the people, while
his geniality ancl good principles have won him
hosts of friends. Air. Williams has a nice busi
ness ancl is well esteemed in the community.

At Hood River, on August 15, 1900, Mr.
Williams married Miss Alice Graham, a native of
Chicago, and a charming lady of refinement and
culture. Her father, James Graham, was born
in the Isle of Guernsey and came to the United
States when a young man and married Miss
Margaret Tostiven. They both dwell in Hood
River, retired from active business. For many
years he was an extensive contractor and builder
in Chicago. Mrs. Williams has two brothers and
two sisters, Albert, William, Carrie Pitch, and
Grace Bartch. Mr. Williams is a member of the
A. F. & A. M., the K. O. T. M., and the For
esters. Politically, he is a Republican, but is
not active. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are excel
lent people and are among the leading citizens of
Hood River.

EDWARD S. MAYES, of the firm of May
Brothers, who handle an extensive meat business
in Hood River, is one of the younger business
men there, who have achieved an excellent suc
cess. He is a bright, energetic and up-to-date,
and with his brother is handling a good business.
He was born in Kansas on September 9, 1*870,
the son of Benjamin F. and Annis (Calvin)
Mayes, natives of Illinois. The mother now lives
at Hood River. The father's parents were born
in New York and came from an old American
family. The father and his father, served in the
Civil War in Company E, Fortieth Illinois In
fantry, also two of the father's brothers were in
the same regiment. Benjamin F. Mayes served
three years, and participated in some of the heav
iest battles of the war, among which are Shiloh,
Missionary Ridge, Lookout, Mountain and vari
ous others. His time expired during the battle
of Lookout Mountain. He was wounded at
Shiloh, but not severely, ancl there his father was
killed. Oitr subject's parents moved to Portland
when he was eight years of age and his father
was engaged in farming and stock raising for
several years. In 1888, he was killed in the
vicinity of Portland, bv a falling tree.
Edward S. attended the graded schools in
Portland until seventeen years of age and then
engaged in the stock business and has been iden
tified with that ancl in other business for himself
ever since. In July, 1899, he located perma
nently in Hood River where he had had business
relations for several years before, then he en
gaged in the meat business with his brother,
Joseph W., who had, with their mother, came
to Hood River previously. Thev bought out a
shop and since then, have conducted a thriving
business. At Portland, on December 28, 1891, Mr.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

397

Mayes married Miss Susannah Cummings, a
native of Nebraska. Her father, Robert Cum
mings, was a native of Canada and lives at St.
Helens, Oregon. Mr. Mayes has the following
named brothers and sisters : Esther J., the wife
of James Watson, a railroad man at San Jose,
California; Fanny, the wife of John E. Ross, in
Portland; Lizzie, the wife of David Gee, at
Portland ; Mattie C, the wife of Clyde T. Bonny,
of Brooks, Oregon ; and Cora B., wife of Ben
Theyson, at Hood River, Oregon. Our subject's
partner is his only living brother and he is men
tioned elsewhere in this work. To Mr. and Mrs.
Mayes three children have been born, Vera M.
I., Olive I. Z., and Annis S.
Fraternally, our subject is affiliated with the
I. O. O. F., and the Order of Washington. He
and his wife belong to the Methodist church and
are consistent Christians, who believe in the faith
that makes faithful and that is good for every
day. Politically, he is a good strong Republican
and takes a keen interest in all matters of public
import. Being genial and generous, he has won
hosts of friends and his real integrity and worth
hold them. Mr. Mayes deserves to be ranked
with the most substantial of Hood River's busi
ness men and her best citizens.

HOWARD L. DUMBLE, M. D., has not
Spent so many years in Hood River as some of the
pioneer men, yet he has so thoroughly identified
himself with the country and its interests, that
he deserves to be mentioned among its leading
citizens. He stands at the head of a lucrative
practice and is an energetic and progressive man,
skilled in his profession, capable and up-to-date.
Howard L. Dumble was born in Ohio, on June
i, i860. His father, Samuel Dumble, was a
native of Pennsylvania and his parents came
from Cornwall, England. For thirty years, the
father was a newspaper man and editor of the
Marion Independent at Marion, Ohio. In 1861,
he enlisted in the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer
Infantry and served for three years with distinc
tion and bravery. Then he was honorably dis
charged and returned to Marion and resumed
his editorial work. He died at Marion, in 1895.
Politically, he was one of the stanchest and best
informed Republicans in his city and did much
for the success of the party in manv hotly con
tested campaigns. He married Miss Elizabeth
Corn, a native of Ohio and descended from an
old Maryland colonial family. She now lives
at Marion. Our subject completed the high
school course in 1878, then matriculated at the
Weslyan University at Delaware, Ohio. So

thoroughly was he occupied with the spirit of his
studies that in two years he successfully com
pleted a three year course. After graduating, he
taught for several years, then was appointed
examiner for the pension bureau at Washington,
D. C. In this capacity he served until 1890,
when he entered the medical department in the
National University, at Washington, D. C, and
graduated therefrom in 1893, with the title of
Doctor of Medicine. He continued some time
as medical examiner in the pension bureau then
accepted the position as physician in the Indian
service at Fort Hall reservation, Idaho. He also
served at Crow Creek, South Dakota, and Fort
Yates, North Dakota, and Pendleton, Oregon,.
resigning from government service in 1901. In
that year, Dr. Dumble was attracted to the beau
tiful town of Hood River and located at this
point. He immediately opened an office and took
up the practice of medicine, wherein he had be
come exceptionally skillful through long years
of experience in active service. Since that time,
the doctor has been favored with a fine practice-
and has won for himself hosts of friends through
out the country. His office is fitted up in a be
coming manner. Owing to the doctor's studious
habits, he has kept fully abreast of the science of
medicine besides doing much original investiga
tion. At Marion, Ohio, on October 10, 1883, Dr.
Dumble married Miss Kate C. Idleman, a native
of that town. Her father, Silas Idleman, was a
native of the same country, and his family had'
been pioneers in various sections of the United
States and the colonies. He married Miss Cath
erine Poutens, a native of Ohio, descended from
an old American family. Dr. Dumble has two
brothers, Marion M. and Martin L., and one-
sister, Bessie. Mrs. Dumble has nine brothers
and sisters, one of whom, C. N., was formerly
attorney general of the state of Oregon.
Dr. Dumble is a member of the A. F. & A.
M., the R. A. M., the O. E. S., the Order of
Washington, the W. O. W., and the M. W. A.
Mrs. Dumble belongs to the O. E. S. Mr. Dum
ble belongs to the Methodist church while Mrs.
Dumble is a member of the Episcopal denomina
tion. He is a good strong Republican, a well*
informed and an up-to-date man.

ALFRED C. SANFORD of the firm of San
ford & Sill, general merchants of Shaniko, is one
of the leading business men in this part of Wasco
county and has been active for many years in
building up the country. He was born in Leaven
worth, Kansas, on April 1, 1864, the son of
Richard B. and Nancy B. (Corum) Sanford'.

.398

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The father was born in Kentucky and his father,
.the grandfather of our subject, was a native of
Scotland and died of yellow fever in the Mexican
war. Richard B. Sanford followed tailoring in
the east and now lives retired at Wamic, Wasco
county. The mother of our subject was born in
Missouri and there they were married. Later,
the family moved to Kansas, and in 1862 the
father tried to enlist but he was not accepted.
They remained in Kansas all through the border
struggles and were much harrassed by guerrilla
forces. Once the father was held prisoner by
the confederates two days. The mother had two
brothers in the confederate army. Her father
was a Kansas slave owner at the outbreak of the
war and had a very large farm near Leavenworth.
¦In 1876, our subject being about twelve years of
age, the entire family came by rail to San Fran
cisco, then by boat to Portland and the first
winter was spent near Olex on Rock creek. The
following spring they moved to Grass Valley
canyon, near the present town of Moro. At that
time, the families of Price, Eaton, Harrington,
Miller, Pearson, Gordon, and Fulton were the
only people living in what is now Sherman coun
ty. The elder Sanford took a homestead and
engaged in raising stock. He had some capital
and bought land and cattle and remained there
eighteen months. He was very successful in his
ventures and then removed the family to Wamic,
to give his children school advantages. He pur
chased a quarter section there which was the
family home until 1903, but now they live on a
four acre tract in Wamic, retired. Our subject
received the balance of his education in the
Wamic schools, and assisted his father until six
teen years of age, when he started out for himself.
He herded sheep two seasons, then sheared sheep
and also worked at sawmilling and rode the range.
He bought and sold horses, operated a stage line
for three years and was in very many enterprises.
His stage line was from The Dalles to Wapinitia
and he took it from 1882 to 1885. Then he sold
out ancl for two years he followed different em
ployments. Following that he took the position
of salesman for Fillon Brothers in The Dalles
and remained with them five years or until they
were burned out. Then he continued with the
house of French & Co., bankers, for a year in
settling up the affairs of his old employers. He
was engaged in various other employments first,
and then was on the road in Washington, Ore
gon, and Idaho for a large eastern hardware
firm. After that, he was a year with M. Wil
liams & Co., of The Dalles and went thence to
Wasco, in Sherman county, being there one of
the incorporators of the O. T. Company. He
sold his interests there in a few months and went

to Moro, during the building of the railroad and
opened up a general merchandise store. When
the road came, in 1900, to Shaniko, he opened
the first store here and in May, 1903, he sold
a one-half interest to Henry B. Sill and they now
do a large business. They carry a stock of about
twelve thousand dollars.
On October 11, 1888, Air. Sanford married
Effie Batty, who was born in Douglas county,
Oregon. The wedding occurred at The Dalles.
Mrs. Sanford 's parents are Thomas and Alice
Batty. Mr. Sanford has four brothers deceased,
three who died in infancy, and James W. who
was killed by the O. R. & N. cars at Deschutes
Station in 1886, he being then twenty-four. He
has two sisters living, Minerva, wife of James H.
Gilmore, a blacksmith at Wamic; and Mary E.,
wife of Eugene Pratt, also of Wamic. He also
has one sister, who died in infancy. To Air. and
Mrs. Sanford four children have been born,
Gladys, Ulla, Ailene, and Fenda L.
Mr. Sanford is a member of the A. O. U. W.,
of the United Artisans. He is a Republican in
politics, has been delegate to several county con
ventions and has served two terms as city council
man. He takes a great interest in school mat
ters and was the first school director elected in
Shaniko, which office he still holds. He has done
much for the upbuilding of the cause of educa
tion and is an ardent supporter of everything that
tends to forward these interests. On November
12, 1902, Air. Sanford was appointed postmaster
at Shaniko and has discharged the duties since
with efficiency and to the satisfaction of all.
By way of reminiscences, we wish to note
that during the days when Air. Sarlford rode the
range, he was considered one of the best men in
that business in the country. He was especially
successful in subduing fractious horses, and on
one occasion in company with another deputy
sheriff, rode four hundred ancl twenty miles in
four days and three nights in pursuit of the mur
derer Hawkins, whom they captured eighty miles
south of Prineville. Air. Sanford is a man well
known and highly esteemed for his worth and
integrity and is considered one of the leading
citizens of this part of Wasco county.

HON. ANDREW A. JAYNE is well known
through central Oregon as a man of ability and
influence. He is one of the prominent attor
neys of this portion of the^state and has made a
record for himself both enviable and brilliant.
At the present time, he is residing at Hood
River and is giving attention to the oversight of
his property, and the practice of law.- He was
born in Washington, Iowa, on January 29, 186L

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

399

His father, Daniel Jayne, was born in Pennsyl
vania and the family, of English extraction,
dates far back before the colonies. He enlisted
in Company A, Twenty-fifth Iowa Volunteer In
fantry, in 1862 and served for six months to de
fend the flag of the nation. Then he was taken
by disease and died at Napoleon, Arkansas, on
January 18, 1863, a martyr to the cause of free
dom. He had married Martha A. Young, a na
tive of Fleming county, Kentucky, who was
born on May 1, 1822 ancl died on June 6, 1901.
Our subject spent the first twenty-five years of
his life in Iowa, gaining a fine academic educa
tion, after which he went to Chicago and read
law for two years in the office of his cousin, Ed
gar L. Jayne, being admitted to the bar at the
expiration of that time. Next we see him in
Colorado, located at Ouray. From that point, he
moved to Arlington, Oregon ancl commenced the
practice of law. In the spring of 1897; he went
to The Dalles and had a private practice there for
three and one half years. In June, 1894, he was
¦elected prosecuting attorney for the Seventh Ju
dicial district, which embraces Wasco, Sherman,
Gilliam ancl Crook counties. In 1896, he was re
elected and in 1898, the people chose him the
third time for the same position. This demon
strates beyond a doubt the popularity of Air.
Jayne who in such an important office could only
be sustained by integrity and ability. In the
fall of 1900, Mr. Jayne retired from public life
and gave himself to the practice of law ancl
farming. In that year, he removed to Hood
River, which is his home at the present time. He
owns one hundred ancl thirty-seven acres of very
valuable land about seven miles southwest from
Hood River and has there fifteen acres of orchard
and two acres of strawberries. One hundred
acres of land are tillable ancl the estate is being
rapidly made by Air. Jayne a very valuable piece
of property. On February 13, 1890, at Portland, Oregon,
Mr. Jayne married Miss Minnie M. Sperry, who
was born in Brownsville, Oregon, on July 18,
1868. Her father, John L. Sperry, came to Ore
gon in 1852 by ox teams and now lives at Port
land. He is a mining man. Mr. Jayne has one
brother, Robert A., a physician in Lane county,
Oregon. Mrs. Jayne has three sisters, Mrs.
Dollie Halvor, Mrs. Ettie I. Burke, ancl Mrs. Lou
Lempke. The home of Mr. Jayne has been glad
dened by the advent of three children : Alaurice
R., born on February 13, 1891, in East Portland ;
Burton H, born on December 26, 1893, at Ar
lington, Oregon, and Andrew A., born on Janu
ary 9, 1903, at The Dalles. They are very bright
and interesting children and Air. Jayne has a
very happy home.

He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and his
wife belongs to the Episcopal church. Air.
Jayne is a man of education and ability and is one
of the leading men of central Oregon. His wife
is a lady of refinement and many virtues and they
are exceptionally popular people.
In 1904, Mr. Jayne again determined to enter
the political arena, being repeatedly solicited by
his friends, ancl so allowed his name to appear
on the Republican ticket for representative to
the state legislature, and in June he was promptly
elected at the polls, by a good strong party vote.
His services in the halls of legislation are highly-
appreciated and his influence has always been
on the side of such legislation as the interests
and the best wisdom of the state dictate.

JAAIES W. AIARQUISS. The Edict of
Nantes secured by Henry IV of France insured
to the Huguenots of France political and civil
liberty. In 1685 this precious law was repealed
by Louis XIV of France and the resulting perse
cution drove those good people to all parts of
the world. Many found refuge in the colonies
and especially did they settle in South Carolina.
Among these were the Alarquiss families from
whom comes the subject of this article. He was
born in Alissouri, on December 26, 1841, the son
of Jacob and Esther (Ellis) Alarquiss, natives
of North Carolina. The father died when our
subject was a year old. The mother then came
across the plains with her sons in 1847, using ox
teams. Her people were prominent in the early
colonial days and fought in the Revolution and
the other wars of those times. One of her pro
genitors came over in the Alayflower. Shortly
after arriving in the Willamette valley, Airs. Mar-
quiss married Air. George Jeffry, who had
crossed the plains in 1846. They took a donation
claim and our subject was reared on the same.
In November, 1861, Air. Alarquiss enlisted in
Company C, First Oregon Cavalry and served for
three years. He was stationed in southern Ore
gon and was a non-commissioned officer. Fol
lowing the war he located in what is now Morrow
county, Oregon, then Umatilla, and farmed and
raised stock from 1865 t0 I879, having a home
stead. He sold his homestead in 1879 and
bought the place where he now dwells. He has
two hundred and forty acres and tills about thir
ty-five acres. He has an orchard of seven acres
and raises much stock.
In 1866, Mr. Alarquiss married Aliss Adeline
Adams, a native of Germany. She died in
1901. On November 12, 1901, Air. Marquiss
married Mrs. Clara M. Allison, a native of Penn-

400

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sylvania. Her father, James D. Shaw, was a na
tive of Scotland, and came to the United States
in 1840. He married a Scotch lass, who came to
the United States in the early forties, the wed
ding occurring in 1845. Mr. Marquiss has no
brothers living, but has three half sisters, Ellen
Kuney, Jennie Stanley and Annie Alaxfield. By
his first wife, Mr. Marquiss has three children:
Frank, a farmer near Goldendale, Washington;
Lester, at home ; and Ada, the widow of A. A.
Urquhart, and living in The Dalles. Mrs. Alar
quiss has one child by her former marriage,
Frank, an oil operator in West Virginia. Mr.
Marquiss is a Republican and displays a zeal and
activity commendable in the interests of his party.
Mrs. Marquiss has the following named brothers
and sisters, William A., Elmer, .Howard, Ira C,
Robert H, Ella Anderson, Sarah Kennedy, and
Addie Kneedler. Mrs. Marquiss is a member of
the O. E. S. Mr. Marquiss is a man of excellent
standing and has wrought with industry and wis
dom here for the general progress.

SAMUEL L. BROOKS, one of the earliest
and most enterprising of the west coast pioneers
of Oregon, is at present a retired merchant re
siding at The Dalles, Oregon. He was bora
November 8, 1830, at Burton, Geauga county,
Ohio, the son of Linus and Eliza (Humiston)
Brooks. The father was a native of the same
town and county, and his father, Jonathan, came
from Cheshire, Connecticut, with the first survey
ing party in 1798. - With him he brought a
quantity of apple seeds and raised the first apples
in that county. The preserved genealogy of the
Brooks family dates back more than two centuries.
Henry and John Brooks, brothers, came from
Cheshire, England, in 1660, to New Haven
county, Connecticut, where they located on lands
given them by the Crown. Laying out a town-
site on the tract they conferred upon it the name
of Cheshire in honor of their old home. It is
presumed that these brothers were unmarried on
their arrival in the new world. Henry was united
in marriage to Miss Martha Hotchkiss, and to
them a son was born in 1679 to whom they gave
the name of Thomas. Thomas Brooks, Jr., son
of Thomas Brooks, Sr., was born in 1706. He
married a Miss Desire  , and to them were
born Joshua, in 1730; Deborah, February 5,
1732; Thomas, December 2, 1733; David, July
7, 1736; Samuel, April 4, 1738; Desire, Febru
ary 9, 1740; Jonathan, Sr., August 25, 1743;
Isaac, August 24, 1745 ; Gideon, August 29, 1747.
Jonathan Brooks, son of Thomas and Desire
Brooks was married, and to them were born

Gideon, Joshua, Jonathan, Ichabod and Amadeas.
Jonathan was born July 25, 1777. These of the
Brooks family were born in the old home town
of Cheshire, Connecticut. Jonathan Brooks, Jr.,
was married to Miss Rachael Clark, in Burton,
Ohio, who was born July 22, 1789; their mar
riage took place in 1802. Their family consisted
of three sons and one daughter; Selden, born
April 2, 1803 ; Linus, born April 25, 1805, and
married Aliss Eliza Humiston, April 19, 1827;
Lovira, born August 13, 1809, and died in 1891.
Jonathan was born October 7, 1820. Miss
Rachael Clark Brooks was the daughter of Cap
tain Ephraim Clark, of Revolutionary fame, and
died September 4, 1852.
The children born to Linus and Eliza
Brooks were: Samuel Linus, on November 8,
1830, who is the immediate subject of this sketch;
Eliza Maria, on February 20, 1835 ; Edgar Sel
den, on January 31, 1838; and Henry Jonathan,
on March 7, 1842. Samuel Linus was married to
Miss Anna Pentland, on August 7, 1872, and they
have no children. Eliza Maria was married to
William E. Brainard and they have two sons,
Sherman Humiston and Linus Brooks. Edgar
Selden, who died on July 26, 1900, married Miss
Emma Perkins, on May 5, 1870, and to them were
born two daughters ; Iva C, on August 18, 1873,
now the wife of Eugene J, Collins, of Dufur,
Oregon ; and Emma Seldena, on July 26, 1877,
now deceased, having been the wife of William
Hillis. Henry Jonathan married Miss Mary
Rhodes, in 1870, and they were the parents of
three children, named as follows : Wilson Henry
Linus, born April 6, 1871, and died September
30, 1897; Lavina, deceased; and Esther Eliza,
born June 20, 1882. Henry Jonathan Brooks
died January 18, 1901. His wife, Mary, who was
born October 8, 1854, died May 15, 1888.
The mother of our subject, Eliza (Humiston)
Brooks, was born at Wallingford, Connecticut,
and died October 11, 1888, at the age of eighty-
four years. At different times, she journeyed
from New Haven, Connecticut, by team, to the
Pacific slope. Until he was seven years old
Samuel L. Brooks was reared in Ohio, going
thence with his parents to Illinois. With his
parents, he crossed the plains in 1850 with ox
teams, being six months on the road. Locating
on the south part of French prairie, Oregon, the
father filed on a section of land, and they were
the second white family to settle in that vicinity.
The town of Brooks, named in honor of our sub
ject's father, stands today where their first house
was built. Until 1863 our subject remained with
his parents, with the exception of about a year
passed in California, mining. Mr. Brooks was
revenue collector for eastern Oregon of the dis-

Samuel L. Brooks

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

401

trict of Oregon, from March, 1866, to August,
1870. He then entered into a partnership with
E. B. McFarland, now of Portland, engaging
in the general merchandise business, which part
nership was continued until about 1877. Owing
to the failure of his health he sold out and with
a partner purchased The Dalles city water works,
later selling the same to the city. He has always
taken a deep interest in educational affairs, and
was one of the incorporators of the Wasco Inde
pendent Academy and a director during the
twelve years of its existence. He was, also, the
incorporator of the Wasco Warehouse Company
and was interested in the same for several years.
Between 1890 and 1892 he was prominently
identified with the Portland & Astoria Naviga
tion Company. At present Mr. Brooks is retired
from active business life.
August 7, 1872, our subject was married, at
The Dalles, to Anna Pentland, a native of Eng
land, born May 26, 1842. When eight years of
age she came to the United States with her pa
rents. Her father, Robert, was a native of Eng
land, who crossed the plains in 1845. He installed
the first water works in the city of Portland,
Oregon, and later, in 1862, removed to The
Dalles, where he put in the original water sys
tem. He removed to the Willamette valley where
he died July 5, 1887. Our subject and his wife
are members of the Congregational church, and
reside in a handsome, two-story residence at the
corner of Third and Union streets.

JOSEPH W. WARD is to be numbered with
the oldest pioneers of the Wasco country, and he
is descended from a family of pioneers. He is at
present handling a thriving business in Dufur,
where he does undertaking and deals in building
material. He is also interested in sawmilling,
and owns seven hundred and sixty acres of choice
wheat land besides two hundred, and forty acres
of timber land. He has a choice cottage resi
dence in Dufur and a large one story business
block, where he has his headquarters. Mr. Ward
is a successful business man, as well as a sub
stantial citizen and valuable member of society.
He was born in Noble county, Ohio, on February
25, 1852, the son of William L. and Hannah
(Potts) Ward. The father was born in Ohio,
his parents was also natives of that state, and his
grandparents were born in Ireland. The mother
descends frm an old and prominent Pennsylvania
Dutch family. Pottsville, of that state, was
named from Mr. Pott, who came from Germany
and was a blacksmith for General Washington at
Valley Forge, in Revolutionary days. The first
26

coal in Pennsylvania was discovered on the old
Pott homestead. Mrs. Ward was born in Ohio.
Our subject was brought by his parents across
the plains with ox teams in 1859. Settlement
was made near where Dufur now stands, on Fif
teenmile creek. Later they rented a farm on
Eightmile, then they went to The Dalles. After
that they spent some time in Vancouver, Wash
ington, and later dwelt for seven years in the
Hood River valley. The old homestead there is
now owned by Mr. Button. Our subject at
tended the schools which his father helped to
establish, assisting also to erect the buildings,
both on Eightmile and Hood Rivers. Then the
father took land ten miles out from The Dalles
and there died, December 28, 1897. He was
born on March 26, 1826. The mother now lives
in The Dalles. In 1870, our subject started for
himself and assisted to construct the telegraph
line from Umatilla to Walla Walla, the first one
in this part of the country. In 1873, he was one
of six who took up land out from Dufur on the
ridge. The stockmen laughed at them, but they
soon demonstrated that the land would produce
the best of wheat and the result is that Mr. Ward
has continued in the enterprise, until he is today
one of the well-to-do men of the county. In
September, 1899, he took up his present business
in Dufur ancl since then has resided here.
At The Dalles, on March 21, 1887, Mr. Ward
married Mrs. Josephine E. Endersby, who was
born in Iowa, on March 30, 1862, the daughter
of Hamlin Starkey, a native of Pennsylvania and
descended from an old and prominent American
family. He died in Iowa, in 1898. He had mar
ried Sophia Fee, a native of Pennsylvania and
descended from French Huguenots. She died in
Oklahoma, in 1901. Mr. Ward has four broth
ers, Frederick fl., John C, Samuel P., and Vic
tor T., and two sisters, Mrs. Alice Kelly and
Mrs. Margaret J. Neal, deceased. Mrs. Ward
has four brothers and one sister, John L., Wili-
iam B., Grant F., George W., and Mrs. Anna
Truitt. Mr. Ward is a member of the I. O. O.
F. and the A. O. U. W., while his wife belongs
to the LTnited Artisans and the Women of Wood
craft. To Mr. and Mrs. Ward, four children
have been born, Joseph W., Edward L., John S.,
and Violet AL By her former marriage Mrs.
Ward has one child, Alary, the wife of James
Robbins, who lives in Iowa.

WILL FITZPATRICK, a young and enter
prising man of Shaniko, was born in San Joa-
cmin county. California, on September 30, 1872.
His father, William Fitzpatrick, a native of Illi-

402

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

nois, came to California in 1850, crossing the
plains with ox teams. He did mining a short
time, then took up farming in Calaveras county,
where he remained until 1887, and there our
subject received the beginning of his education,
the same being completed in Oregon. After
leaving California at the date last mentioned, the
family came to Douglas county, Oregon ancl did
stock raising for two years. Then he came to
the vicinity of Shaniko and engaged in sheep
raising, renting land near Sherar's bridge. Later,
they drove their flocks to Wallowa county where
they bought land and continued until 1892. In
1899 they journeyed to Lewis county, Washing
ton, and there the father lives on a ranch owned
by our subject. The father married Sophronia
Gaines, a native of New York, and living in Ill
inois at the time of her marriage. After finish
ing his school work, Will Fitzpatrick attended
lcamp for his father for four years. In the same
'capacity he worked for George Young & Son
about four years, ancl then rented sheep from H.
'C. Rooper of Antelope. A year later he took his
share of the sheep to Washington and sold the
same. In 1899 he bought a ranch of sixty acres
in Lewis county and since that time, his father
has been conducting that place. He was there
one year himself and in the spring of 1904, came
to Shaniko and bought a one fourth interest in
the business Air. Sanford owned. He had worked
for Mr. Sanford some years previous. Later Mr.
Fitzpatrick disposed of his interest in the estab
lishment with Mr. Sanford.
On March 19, 1903, at Shaniko, Air. Fitz
patrick married Alargaret C. Aloocly, a native of
North Carolina, whose father was born in North
Carolina and mother in Tennessee. Air. Fitz
patrick has one brother, George S., a farmer in
Wallowa county, Oregon. Airs. Fitzpatrick has
three brothers, Frank, John and Grant in Ten
nessee. One child has been born to our subject
ancl his wife, Elmer G.
Mr. Fitzpatrick is a member of the A. O.
U. W. and the Degree of Honor. He is a Repub
lican in politics ancl is a progressive, public spir
ited man.

ROY D. BUTLER is the present postmaster
at Boyd, Oregon, where also he is doing a good
business as a general merchant. He is one of
the younger business men of Wasco county, who
have achieved a good success here ancl he has
shown a stamina and reliability that commend
him to all. He was born in Warren countv, Illi
nois, on January 10, 1874, the son of Polk and
Dell (Coy) Butler, natives of Indiana. The
father's parents were born in Ohio and came as

early pioneers to Indiana. Our subject's parents
now live at Dufur and own a fine farm a few
miles southeast from that town. The family
came to Wasco countv when our subject was
three years of age ancl he was educated in the
graded schools of Dufur. After that, he taught
in the Boyd district one year and then pui-
chased an interest in a store which he now owns,
from C. H. Southern. Later he bought out his
partner entirely ancl since that time has been con
ducting a good store here. He has a well as
sorted stock of general merchandise and is an
accommodating ancl substantial business man.
On November 14, 1902, Air. Butler married
Aliss Ethel Southern, who was born in Wasco
county, the daughter of C. H. and Emma (Rice)
Southern, mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
Air. Butler has the following named brothers and
sisters, Omer, Earl and Airs. Maude Griffin. One
child has been born to our subject and his wife,
Agnes. Air. Butler is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and his wife belongs to the Methodist church. He
is a Democrat in politics and is frequently found
at the conventions. He is now serving as clerk
of the Boyd school board ancl is a progressive ancl
public minded citizen.

CHARLES H. SOUTHERN is one of the
pioneers of the Boyd country where he has dwelt
constantly since coming to Oregon. He is a well
known business man and property owner and one
of the prominent citizens of the place. He was
born in Iowa, on Alay 14, 1855, the son of Mar
tin ancl Elizabeth (Bolton) Southern, natives of
Wrginia. The father's parents were also born in
Virginia. The mother came from an old Vir
ginia family. In the fall of 1871, the family
came to Oregon and settled in Wasco countv,
near Boyd. The father died on November 8,
1877, in the house where our subject dwells at the
present time. The mother died on Alay 5, 1900.
Our subject always lived with his parents and
upon his father's death he purchased the old
homestead from his mother, which is a residence
and eighty acres where he now lives, and four
hundred acres of choice wheat land adjoining.
Charles H. was educated in the place where the
family lived in his early clays and was married
on November 4, 1878, at The Dalles. The lady
of his choice was Aliss Emma Rice, who was
born in Lane count}-, Oregon. Her father, Hor
ace Rice, was a native of Ohio and his father died
when he was a small lad. He came to Oregon
with his mother and brothers and sisters in 185 1.
His mother had married Beckwith Cook. She

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

403

died in Polk county, Oregon, in 1874. Air.
Southern has no full brothers living, one half
brother, William, two sisters, Mrs. Ella Rice and
Airs. Lenna Seeley, ancl two half sisters, Mrs.
Jane Mann ancl Airs. Minerva Wanamaker. Air.
and Mrs. Southern have two children, Ethel, wife
¦of Roy D. Butler, a merchant at Boyd ancl men
tioned elsewhere in this work, and Harry dwell
ing at home. Mrs. Southern has the following
named brothers and sisters, George, Austin C,
Mrs. Etta Waterman ancl Mrs. Nellie Mann.
Mr. and Airs. Southern are both devout mem
bers of the Alethodist church while he holds the
office of trustee. He also belongs to the W. W.
Politically, he is a Republican and active in the
¦support of the principles of his party, being fre
quently at the conventions and also taking a keen
interest in the campaigns. He has been school
director many terms ancl is a zealous supporter
of educational advancement. Mr. Southern laid
out the townsight of Boyd in 1895 but he had
been in business there since 1889 as a general
merchant. About 1899, he sold his store to his
son-in-law and now gives his attention to the
oversight of his property interests.

JOSEPH W. MAYES is a popular young
business man of Hood River, where he, with his
brother, mentioned elsewhere in this work, is at
the head of a nice butcher and meat market bus
iness. He is a man of excellent standing, ancl
has won his position by virtue of his uprightness,
his geniality and his integrity. In business, he is
careful ancl a zealous worker and the wisdom of
his methods is evident by the success he is win
ning. He was born in Kansas, on March 27,
1873 and came to Oregon with his parents, who
are mentioned elsewhere in this work. His educa
tion was completed by a course in a Portland bus
iness college and he has since given close atten
tion to business operations for himself. In 1893
he came to Hood River with his mother but did
not take up permanent residence here until later.
The meat business which he owns now with his
brother, was started by Clyde Bonney, who sold
to his father, A. A. Bonney. He, in turn, sold to
the Alayes Brothers, in May, 1903 and since then
they have personally operated the same. Pre
vious to that, our subject had charge of the
Byrkett dairy ranch at White Salmon, Wash
ington. On December 31, 1892, Air. Alayes married
Aliss Myrtle Horner, the wedding occurring at
Hood River. She was born in Heppner, Oregon,
the daughter of Daniel and Alice (Baker) Hor
ner, natives of Iowa, and now dwelling in Hepp

ner, where the father conducts a saddle store.
Mrs. Horner's father was for many years a
Methodist preacher, but he and his wife have
both gone to their rewards in the world beyond.
They were faithful and devout Christians and
were instrumental in doing much good in their
pilgrim journey. Airs. Alayes has two brothers,
Charles and John, and three sisters, Mrs. Maggie
Emmerson, Airs. Belle Parsons, and Nellie. Mr.
Mayes is a member of the M. W. A., while he
and his wife both belong to the Methodist
church. He is a local preacher in the work ancl
a fervent exhorter. Air. Mayes is a man of the
true ring and believes in a religion that is for
week days as well as Sunday, in fact the faith that
makes faithful. He has hosts of friends and is a
hard worker both in business and in church mat
ters, while in public matters and educational af
fairs, he is progressive and always allied on the
side of right and principle.

WILLIAM D. RICHARDS, a substantial
and progressive farmer of Wasco county, resides
about nine miles southeast from The Dalles on
Ferry Canyon road. He was born in Easton,
Pennsylvania, on August 8, 1844, the son of Dan
iel and Mary S. (Raub) Richards, natives of the
same country as our subject. The father's fam
ily were of English extraction and the mother
descends from Pennsylvania Dutch. She now
lives in Kansas and her husband died in Kansas,
in 1878, near Silver Lake. William D. was edu
cated and reared in Pennsylvania and there re
mained until thirty-four years of age, having
learned the carpenter trade in the meantime. He
followed that craft and teaming and farming until
he left Pennsylvania in 1879 f°r Kansas, where
he operated his mother's farm for two years.
Then he spent two years at carpentering and in
1883, came thence to Oregon, settling in The
Dalles, where he worked at carpentering for five
years. In the meantime, he had taken a govern
ment claim upon which the family resided. He
gradually improved the same while he was con
tinuing in town, until 1888 when he gave up car
penter work and came out to the ranch. Since
that time, he has given his attention entirely to
farming and has made a marked success of the
same. He has purchased two farms adjoining
the home place and owns altogether seven hun
dred and thirty-five acres, five hundred of which
are good wheat land. The entire estate bears the
marks of thrift and enterprise and in all the im
provements, good taste is manifested. His resi
dence is a tasty story and a half cottage in neat
surroundings and everything comports with the
same in neatness and good taste.

404

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In 1867, while in Pennsylvania, Air. Richards
married Aliss Abbie Hummel, a native of New
Jersey. She died on May 30, 1879, in Kansas.
Her father was Elijah Hummel, a native of Penn
sylvania. On January 26, 1882, at Topeka, Kan
sas, Mr. Richards married Aliss Abbie J. Adams,
who was born in Loudon, new Hampshire, the
daughter of Jonas Jefferson and Betsey K. (Fos
ter) Adams. The father was a native of Carl
isle, Massachusetts, and came from the old colo
nial Adams family, well known in American his
tory. The mother was born in Tewksbury, Mass
achusetts, and came from an old and prominent
colonial family of English extraction. Air. Rich
ards has two brothers, Jacob T. and Robert A.,
and one sister,, Mary S. Frost. Airs. Richards
has three brothers, George F., Samuel F., and
Daniel J. and three sisters, Julia A. Hayward,
Mary A. Warren, and Emma E. Cutler. By his
first marriage, Mr. Richards has five children ;
Mary C, wife of Clarence Al. Sisson, a school
teacher at Palouse, Washington ; Susan E., wife
of John Al. Alann, a farmer in Wasco county;
Lillie A., wife of Richard E. Howarth, at Uni
versity Park, Portland ; Harry R., who operates
his father's farm; and Edith A., the wife of J.
Frank Howarth, a printer at The Dalles.
Mr. and Mrs. Richards are both zealous and
active members of the Methodist church and he is
a steward and trustee for the past ten years in
that denomination. Politically, Mr. Richards is
a stanch Prohibitionist and ran for state senator
in 1904.

PETER A. KIRCHHEINER is now hand
ling a furmiture business at Antelope, Oregon.
He also handles general house furnishing goods
and is doing a very nice business. He was born
nT Denmark, on September 25, 1862, the son of
Alexis and Marie (Peterson) Kirchheiner, both
natives of Denmark. The mother is still living
there but the father died in 1901, aged seventy-
one. He was a graduate of a teacher's seminary
and followed the wo.rk of the educator during
his life. After completing the public schools, our
subject took a course in the Handelskole, a com
mercial college in Aalberg, Denmark, after which
he served five years in the grocery business. Then
he came to the United States in 1883 and jour
neyed from New York to California direct. Soon
after, he came to Sherman county and took a pre
emption and timber culture at the head of Fin-
negan Canyon. Having no capital whatever, it
was a time of much hardship and labor. Nine
years later, he sold out and came to Antelope and
engaged in the blacksmithing and wagonmaking
business with his brother, Alexis M. F., who is

now living in Prairie City. They were together
two and one half years when he purchased the.
business and conducted it until 1902, in which
year he sold out and engaged in his present busi
ness. On December 15, 1895, at Portland, Air.
Kirchheiner married Mrs. Florence I. Glenn, who
was born in the Willamette valley, the daughter
of John and Diona (Strickland) Howell, natives
of Oregon. The mother died at Wamic. Our
subject has two brothers, Carl, a bookbinder in
Chicago and Alexis M. F., an attorney at law in
Prairie City. He also has four sisters ; Agnetha,.
the wife of Nicolai Stalhr, a merchant in Forest
Grove ; Emma, wife of Jems Clausen, a farmer
in Denmark ; Gurli, a trained nurse in Denmark,
and Vitta, with her mother in the old home. Mrs.
Kirchheiner has four brothers and one sister ;
Delmar, who owns a livery stable at Shaniko ;
Sylvester, in Nome, Alaska; William, a farmer
in Crook county ; Alfred, a sheep man ; Lizzie,
wife of John Nester, Portland-Albina, O R. &
N. railroad conductor. Mr. and Airs. Kirchheiner
have no children by this marriage but by her
former marriage she has one, Guy S., who is at
home. Our subject is a member of the A. F. & A. M.,
being junior warden and was secretary several
years. He also belongs to the O. E. S. and is
secretary. His wife is past matron of the same.
In politics, Air. Kirchheiner is a Republican and
quite active. He takes keen interest in everything
that is for the improvement and advancement of
the country and is a good substantial citizen. He
and his wife are both members of the Lutheran
church.

AIARTIN M. WATERMAN, who resides
about seven miles southeast from The Dalles, is
one of the most prominent and successful agri
culturists, stockmen, and business men of Wasco*
county. Few men have made as brilliant a rec
ord as he has and an epitome of his career will be
very interesting to the residents of this county.
Alartin Af. Waterman was born in Jefferson,
Marion county, Oregon, on July 24, 1870, the
son of Ezekiel and Nancy (Smith) Waterman,
who are mentioned elsewhere in this volume. He
was educated in the public schools in The Dalles,
and then completed this important part of his life's
training in the Wasco Academy and a Portland
business college. At the early age of sixteen, he-
was permitted by his father to take charge of two
farms on Eightmile creek, and such was his
success in handling them that the father came
from The Dalles to join him in the enterprise the
next year. That venture marked the beginning-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

405

of young Waterman's successful career and from
that time until the present he has been known as
one of the brightest and most successful of busi
ness operators in Wasco county. His tact, his
ability, his energy and his untiring care of all en
terprises under his hand account for this achieve
ment which he has won so plainly, and it is not
in any measure the result of 'luck" or favorable
circumstances as the idler would fondly dream.
The next year after his success on the two farms
¦of his , father, young Waterman used the first
thousand dollars which he had saved from his
labors to purchase an estate of seven hundred
.acres, assuming an indebtedness for the balance
of the purchase price. Thus at the age of seven
teen, he started out as a farmer and land owner
and he has added by purchase until he has now
¦one thousand ancl mty acres of choice land. The
next year Air. Waterman married Miss Etta
Rice, who was born on Fifteenmile creek, on July
26, 1868, the sister of Mrs. C. H. Southern, who
is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Two chil
dren have been born to this union, Ira L. and
Lelah. Together Mr. ancl Mrs. Waterman took
hold of the enterprises at hand and they have
wrought a work that deserves the best of credit.
Air. Waterman raises diversified crops and gives
especial attention to the industry of hog raising
and breeding. He captured every prize on swine
in classes entered at the Oregon state fair at Sa
lem in 1903, much to the discomfort of many of
the older hog breeders in various sections of the
state. He breeds the O. I. C. hogs and has the
boar, Ohio, which weighs eight hundred and
sixty pounds, ancl is' one of the finest animals in
the west. He markets about three hundred hogs
each year. He also raises fine thoroughbred Jer
seys and has a choice herd of thirty head. In the
spring of 1903, Air. Waterman started a cream
ery on the ranch ancl now has a fine plant turning
out about two hundred pounds per week. Un
like many, and indeed most, of the youth of the
land, Air. Waterman would not receive from his
father any money besides what he earned, ancl the
result is that he has a choice estate, all made by
his own efforts ancl which is producing annual
dividends that make him a goodly competence.
His standing in the community is of the best and
he is looked up to by all as a man of unusual
ability ancl wisdom.

HON. J. NEWTON BURGESS, a popular
and well known man in the state legislature of
Oregon wherein he has made a splendid record,
is no less favorably known and appreciated in
business circles, being one of the heaviest stock
"handlers in eastern Oregon. He resides at An

telope and was born in Douglas county, Oregon,
on March 5, 1872, his parents being Thomas and
Ellen (Smith) Burgess, natives of Columbus,
Ohio, and Douglas county, Oregon, respectively.
They now dwell at The Dalles and are mentioned
elsewhere in this volume. The father came to
California via the isthmus in 1859 and followed
mining several years in the Golden State, after
which he journeyed to Idaho and Oregon, and
engaged in the same business. Later, he settled
in Douglas county and became interested in stock
dealing. He married in 1871, and shortly after
our subject was born came to eastern Oregon. In
1873 he settled at Bakeoven and there remained
until 1902, conducting a wayside inn for travel
ers and handling stock. In the year last men
tioned he sold out his interests there and moved
to The Dalles. Our subject grew up on the farm
and was educated in the Wasco Independent
Academy and the Portland Business College.
When seventeen, he became a partner with his
father and they conducted the business under the
firm name of T. Burgess & Son, handling on the
average, a thousand head of cattle each year. Our
subject looked after the books and the outside
business, while the father conducted the home
ranch ancl the inn which is known far and near
as one of the choicest places to give entertain
ment to travelers in this part of the state. On
account of that, it enjoyed an exceedingly large
patronage. In 1895 our subject bought a section
of land six miles west of Antelope creek and has
been operating there largely. They milk at pres
ent sixty cows and it is a profitable enterprise.
Air. Burgess lives in Antelope and in addition to
his stock business, conducts a meat market. Air.
Burgess simply oversees these various interests
ancl gives a good portion of his time to buying
and selling stock. In the first part of last year he
shipped over twenty-five thousand sheep, be
sides much other stuff and is known as one of
the most active stock buyers in eastern Oregon.
On Alay 10, 1897, at Salem, Oregon, Air.
Burgess married Miss Alary M. Ashby, who was
born in Walla Walla, the daughter of William
and Nancy A I. Ashby, who now live in Califor
nia. The father crossed the plains with ox teams
in early days and was engaged in stock raising
for many years. Air. Burgess has one sister,
Laura, the wife of Hon. Dan J. Alalarkey, an at
torney in Portland and state senator. Air. ancl
Airs. Burgess have two children, Ralph and
Aladeline. Air. Burgess is a member of the A. F. & A.
AL, having been past master for two terms. He
also belongs to the R. A. Al. Politically he is a
Republican, and yen- prominent and influential.
He was elected representative to the state senate

406

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

from Crook, Klamath, Lake and Wasco counties
:n 1902. Since then, this territory has been re-
districted and in June, 1904, he was returned to
the legislature from Wasco county. He has
shown himself a man of force ancl ability in the
halls of legislation and has fostered some very
important measures. Mr. Burgess is president
of the Wasco Southern Telephone Company,
which has its headquarters at Antelope and he
has been a moving spirit in this enterprise.
Personally, Air. Burgess is a generous minded
man and has won the esteem and confidence of
all who know him and he is as widely known as
any man in this part of Oregon. He is generous,
public minded and ever on the alert to foster any
movement which is for the welfare of the country.
In business, he is aggressive, yet careful and has
the executive ability to put through any enter
prise that he takes up.

FRANK IRVINE is one of the leading busi
ness men of Wasco county and now stands at the
head of a large general merchandise establish
ment at Antelope, which his skill and progres-
siveness have made one of the best in this part
of the county. He has an extensive town and
country trade which is growing very rapidly. Air.
Irvine is known as a man of stamina and prin
ciple and his business is conducted in such a man
ner that he wins and retains the friendship of all
who come in contact with him.
Frank Irvine was born on his father's farm
two miles northwest from The Dalles, on October
24, i860, his parents being John and Catherine
(Keith) Irvine, the father a native of Indiana
and the mother descended from an old southern
family. The father's parents came from Scotland
and he died at The Dalles in 1902. The mother
died at The Dalles, in 1898. She and her husband
both came to Oregon in 1852. He came alone,
being sixteen years of age, and she made the
journey in company with her parents. They set
tled near The Dalles and later moved to southern
Oregon. Our subject's father remained near
The Dalles and later took a donation claim which
is now owned by a man named Allen. Mr. Irvine
lived on the place some years and was there dur
ing the Indian troubles. He spent one year at
-the Cascades and also was occupied in the Snake
war. About 1895, he sold his farm to Ed Kel
say and Joles Brothers. Kelsay soon sold the
place to Mr. Allen. The elder Mr. Irvine had
poor health the latter part of his life ancl went to
California, Klamath county, Oregon, and other
] daces to recuperate. Our subject was educated
in the district schools and in the Wasco Independ

ent Academy, after which he entered the employ
ment of the O. R. & N. Following that, we find
him engaged with Wingate & Company, and
French & McFarland. In 1891 he came to Ante
lope and worked for Bolton & Company two
months. Then he entered into business with Ed
ward Wingate, the firm being known as Wingate
& Company. Later, Mr. Irvine purchased his.
partner's interest and has conducted the business
alone since. He carries a fifteen thousand dollar
stock of well selected general merchandise and
caters so thoroughly to the interests and wants
of the people of the town and surrounding coun
try that he has a very extensive and substantial
patronage. He is a business man of ability ancl is
also public spirited and broad minded so that he
gives generously of his time and attention to every
enterprise that is for the building up of the
country. In February, 1882, at The Dalles, Mr. Irvine
married Lydia Al. Walker, a native of California
and the daughter of William H. and Julia Walker,
both now deceased. The father was a native of
Missouri and came to California in early days.
Mr. Irvine has one sister, Alice, the wife of Henry
Lorenzen, who lives near The Dalles. Mrs. Ir
vine has one brother, Jeptha, who lives at St.
Helens, Oregon, and three half brothers, Orville,
Clarence and Preston, near Portland. Air. and
Mrs. Irvine have one child, Bertha E.
Mr. Irvine is a member of the A. F. & A. M.,
the I. O. O. F., the A. O. U. W. ancl the W. W.
He is past grand of Virtue lodge, No. 40, of the
I. O. O. F. and has twice been representative to
the grand lodge of that order. Politically he is a
Republican and takes especial interest in school
matters. He has also served considerable time
as city treasurer and is now a member of the
council. In addition to the business above men
tioned, Mr. Irvine has a half interest in a store
at Ashwood, Crook county, known as the Irvine
& Hamilton Mercantile House.

MICHAEL DOYLE, one of the popular and
intelligent farmers and stockmen of Wasco coun
ty, dwells about seven miles out from The Dalles,
on Chenoweth creek, where he has a fine estate
and a large band of cattle. He was born in
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1842,
the son of Patrick and Eleanor (Graham) Doyle.
The father was born in Pennsylvania and his fa
ther was a native of Ireland, while his mother
was a Welsh woman. The mother of our subject
was also born in Pennsylvania, she, her husband,
ancl Michael, our subject, were all natives of
Franklin county. Her parents came from Scot-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

407

land and her father fought in the Revolution. He
was David N, Graham, from the old Highland
clan of Graham. Our subject's father and mother
died in Illinois, in 1879 and 1883, respectively.
In Alarch, 1878, Michael Doyle landed in Ore
gon. When eleven he had migrated from his na
tive state to Illinois with his parents. There he
obtained a good education and for several years
he taught school. When he came to Oregon, he
gave his attention to farming, taking a homestead
where he now resides. He operated a dairy 01
forty cows until recently, and now he devotes his
entire attention to raising cattle. He winters
about one hundred ancl fifty head usually.
In October, 1867, at Geneseo, Illinois, Mr.
Doyle married Miss Sylinda Beers. Her father,
George F. Beers, was born in New Jersey, Octo
ber 11, 1824, married Miss Mary E. Roberts, on
April 16, 1846, and in 1878 came to The Dalles.
He was a substantial man, held many positions
of trust, and died in The Dalles, in 1893. He was
universally mourned, and the entire business of
The Dalles was closed during the afternoon of his
funeral. He was prominent in church circles and
in Sunday school work and did a world of good
by his faithful and conscientious labors. His
widow resides in The Dalles. Her father, John
Roberts, died November 18, 1878, aged seventy-
nine. He had married Susanna Gates, and dur
ing his life had labored faithfully in the Alaster's
work, and went to rest sustained and soothed by
the faith of the true Christian. He had pre
viously commended his children to his heavenly
Father, and his only regret was to leave his be
loved companion.
Mr. Doyle has the following named brothers
and sisters; John, who died in Andersonville
prison, a member of Company I, One Hundred
and Twelfth Illinois Infantry; William; Mrs.
Nellie VanWinkle; Airs. Evaline Lewis, Alary
and Rebecca, deceased. Mrs. Doyle has one
brother, David, and two sisters, Permelia Thomas
and Elizabeth Joles, deceased. Mrs. Doyle's par
ents came to this country with the Joles family
and were pioneers. Her father was with Sam
uel Brooks for ten years, the firm being Brooks
& Beers, general merchants, and they conducted
the feed yard now owned by Smith & Allen. He
was for many years city marshall of The Dalles
and was a prominent citizen until his death. Air.
ancl Mrs. Doyle have five children, named as fol
lows ; Ralph E. and Charles H, both at home;
Alary E., the wife of A. Y. Alarsh, mentioned in
this work; Edna AL, the wife of Adam Kauff-
man, of The Dalles ; and Ina.
Mr. Doyle is a stanch Democrat and frequent
ly in the conventions. He and Air. Alarquiss cut
the logs and built the little log school house in

district, No. 10. He has always shown a marked
interest in building up the country and advancing
educational interests. He was road supervisor
for ten years.

JOHN W. ELTON, who resides six miles
out from The Dalles, is one of the prosperous
farmers of Wasco county. He was born in Mont
gomery county, Missouri, on August 27, 1848,
the son of John W. and Louisa J. (Pennington)
Elton. The father was born in Missouri, ancl his
parents in Maryland. His grandfather was a na
tive of France and came to America with the
French troops and fought in the Revolution for
the independence of the colonies. Our subject's
father died when this son was eight. The mother
was born in Kentucky and now lives in Missouri,
the wife of William Jasper Skinner. John W.
was reared and educated in Alissouri and Wis
consin, to which latter state he went in 1865. in
1870 he came west to Oregon, settling in Wash
ington county. For five years he did farming
there and also wrought in the logging camps. In
1876, he came to Wasco county and then went to
Klickitat county, Washington, where he lived for
eight years. Then he sold his homestead there
and bought the place where he now lives. It con
sists of one hundred and twenty acres, ten of
which are bearing orchard. As the soil is es
pecially adapted for cherries, he is planning to
plant many more trees of the best varieties. He
also raises prunes ancl peaches and berries. Last
year he sold one thousand boxes of fruit besides
much dried. He also raises fine blooded Jerseys
and some hogs, and is a prosperous man.
On Alay 19, 1875, at Cornelius, Oregon, Mr.
Elton married Miss Alary J. Davis, who was born
on "Five Oaks Farm," in Washington county,
Oregon, on August 30, 1856. The farm was
taken by her mother's father in 1843. Mrs. El
ton's parents were Andrew J. and Catherine
(Zachary) Davis. The father was born in Illi
nois and came from an old American family. His
father was in the war of 1812, and some members
of the family have been in all the struggles from
the earliest colonial days until the war in the Phil
ippines. The mother was a native of Texas and
came to Oregon with her parents in 1843. Her
father took a donation claim called the "Five
Oaks" and there she was married. Air. Elton
has the following named brothers, Thomas J.,
Samuel H., W. Albert, Robert T., and James A.,
and two half brothers, David L. and John W.
Heebner, and two sisters, Rebecca Holder, and
Jane Alounts. Mrs. Elton has three brothers,
Ralph A., James, Albert, and one sister, Zillah
Aletsdorff. To Air. and Airs. Elton, the follow-

408

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ing named children have been born; Mary E.,
superintendent of the telephone office in The
Dalles ; Alinnie J., a teacher in the primary de
partment of the schools in The Dalles, ancl the
possessor of a life diploma from the state of Ore
gon ; James, graduate of the Pullman college and
now civil engineer at Mace, Idaho, and formerly
a noted athlete in college circles, and a veteran
of the Philippine war of Company L, Second Ore
gon Infantry; Albert J., a student at the state
university at Eugene ; Eugene R., a mining man
in Baker City; Ruby C, aged nine; and Ruth,
aged six. Mrs. Elton's grandmother on her
mother's side was Zillah Grant, a cousin of the
late U. S. Grant. Air. Elton is a member of the
A. F. & A. M., of the I. O. O. F., and of the W.
W. Politically he is a socialist and nominee of
his party for state senator.
In 1904, Air. Elton went to the World's Fair
at St. Louis as a representative to the National
Good Roads Convention, he being an enthusiastic
promoter of good roads. Also, he wished to study
concerning building and architecture, being a
building contractor, and he had the pleasure ot
meeting many noted men in that line, from whom
he received much profit. To make the journey
more enjoyable, Mr. Elton visited his mother at
Jonesburg, Missouri, and the occasion was utilized
for a family reunion and four generations were
represented, there being forty-eight relatives at the
meeting. Air. Elton was much gratified to find
all of the voters of the family on both sides ardent
Socialists, and good expounders of the doctrines
of that growing party. However, he returned to
his pleasant western home, more than ever satis
fied with the bountiful resources and good things
Nature has strewed here with a lavish hand.

AUGUSTUS HIXSON, who is owner and
operator of the Antelope livery stable at Ante
lope, Oregon, was born in Clinton county, Ohio,
on August 10, 1867. His parents, Albert and
Elizabeth (Lane) Hixson, were natives of Ohio
and Indiana, respectively. The father's parents
were born in Ohio also ancl followed farming and
stock raising. He died in Illinois when our sub
ject was six years old. The mother, after her
first husband's death, married Isaac Robinson,
who died two years later. Then she married Wil
liam Borthwick and they now reside on a farm in
Pike county, Illinois. Our subject began life for
himself early, being but thirteen years of age
when he went out to work. He was thus em
ployed until twenty, then rented land for himself
in Illinois. Eleven years later, he came to this
country ancl took a homestead two miles south

from Antelope, that being in January, 1899. In
August, 1900, he bought out William Ashby 's
stable in Antelope and since has given his per
sonal attention to the same. He still owns his
farm, which is devoted largely to the production
of hay. Mr. Hixson owns twenty head of horses
and in addition to doing general livery business,
operates the stage from Shaniko to Antelope. He
is a careful and skillful horseman and is doing a
good business.
In 1888, Mr. Hixson married Nellie Spencer,
in Pike county, Illinois. Mrs. Hixson was born
in Indiana, the daughter of John and Emily
(Biggs) Spencer, natives of Indiana and Ohio,
respectively, and now residing in Wasco county,
Oregon. Our subject has two brothers, Charles
and Isaac, who are farmers near Antelope ancl
two half brothers, Fred Robinson, a farmer in
Illinois and Omar Borthwick, living near Ante
lope. Mrs. Hixson has two brothers, Ralph, in
Antelope, and William in Oklahoma territory.
She also has four sisters ; Inez, wife of Bert Fox,
in Kansas ; Mamie, wife of Charles Hixson, of
Antelope ; Leona, the wife of Harry Coleman ;
and Lela, single, with her parents. Air. and Airs.
Hixson have six children, Albert, Fern, Iva, Au
gustus, Arthur, and Nellie. Our subject's father
served several years in the Civil war. Air. Hix
son is a member of the I. O. O. F., of which he
is past grand of his home lodge and a lodge in Il
linois. He has also been delegate to the grand
lodge of the Rebekahs and his wife is noble grand
of that order at the present time, both being mem
bers. He belongs to the A. O. U. W. and is past
Al. W. of the order, having also been a delegate
to the grand lodge. Politically, he is a stanch
Democrat, though not especially active. Mrs.
Hixson was delegate to the grand lodge of the
degree of honor in 1904. He and his wife are
members of the Alethodist church.

OSMER W. COOK, who resides on Thre:-
mile creek seven miles south from The Dalles,
was born in Iowa, on October 30, 1847. His
parents were Seeley AL ancl Nancy (Rice) Cook,
natives of New York. The father's father was
born in Connecticut and his mother in Alaine.
He now lives in Jefferson, Oregon. His father,
the grandfather of our subject, was a patriot of
the war of 1812. Osmer W. was raised princip
ally in the Willamette valley whither he came with
his parents in 1852, crossing the plains with ox
teams. The father selected a donation claim there
and this son remained with him until twenty-five
years of age when he crossed the mountains to
Wasco county. Two years later, he filed on the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

409

place where he now resides and since that time,
has resided here. He has shown industry and
substantiality during his life and now has a very
fine property. It consists of a half section of land
in the home place and eighty acres more a mile
and a half distant. The farms are well improved
and productive and Mr. Cook is one of the lead
ing agriculturists in the county.
At the residence of the bride's parents, on Oc
tober 12, 1873, Mr. Cook married Mary Gilliam,
who was born in Polk county, on January 9,
1854. Her father, M. Porter Gilliam, was born 'in
Missouri, Andrew county and came to the Willa
mette valley with ox teams across the plains in
1844. Fie took a donation claim in Polk county
and his death occurred in Klickitat county, Wash
ington, in March, 1888. During the Civil war,
he was lieutenant in the Home Guards Company
at The Dalles but was never called to the front.
He was a veteran of the Cayuse Indian war and
for many years was justice of the peace and
school director at The Dalles. He was a prom
inent and influential man and in political matters
was a strong Republican. He married Sarah C.
Hagey, a native of Iowa, who dwells near our
subject. Mr. Cook has one brother, Edward, and
four sisters, Airs. Chloe Laird, Mrs. Martha
Longsworth, Mrs. Eliza Connett, and Airs. Har
riett Connett. Mrs. Cook has three brothers and
one sister, William A., Homer, Samuel, and Mrs.
Jennie Bly. To our subject and his wife, eight
children have been born ; Jennie, wife of Frank
Moore, at Boyd ; Nettie M., wife of George Mann,
at The Dalles ; Grace, wife of Frank B. Friedley
in Hood River valley; Charles E., a farmer ad
jacent; Ehrman, at Hood River; William M., in
The Dalles ; Annie M., at home, aged twenty ; and
Florence, at home, aged thirteen.
Politically Mr. Cook is a good strong Repub-,
lican ancl interested in the questions of the day.
His wife belongs to the Methodist church and is
superintendent of the Sunday school. It is said
that Gilliam county is named from Airs. Cook's
father's uncle and a more extended account of the
matter is made in the historical portion of this
work.

ALEXANDER FRASER. True it is that
no one can travel through, the civilized world
without meeting in every portion the sturdy sons
of Caledonia. True also, that the bravest soldiers,
the brightest scholars and the most zealous pio
neers come from the stanch race who have, with
every race of people, ancl on their native hills,
made history for the world. America owes much
in many ways to Scotland's sons ancl many of our
"best citizens are descended from these people. It

is our pleasant task at this time to be permitted to
outline the career of one closely connected with
the leading clans of Scotland.
Alexander Fraser was born in Scotland, on
October 23, 1852. His father, John Fraser, was
a direct descendant of the old Frasier clan and
married Jane Holmes, also a native of Scotland.
Both are now deceased, having passed away from
the old home estate in Scotland. In 1872, after
having received a good education, our subject
came to Ottawa, Canada, and thence six years
later, went to Manitoba. In this latter place, he
served three years on the mounted police under
Colonel J. F. McLeod. In May, 1881, he re
turned to Scotland and spent one year in the old
familiar scenes and in visiting his friends. Then
he came to the United States and located in Colo
rado where he was engaged in the smelting work
for sometime. It was in the spring of 1884, that
Mr. Fraser came on to Oregon and was in busi
ness in Portland for five years. Then he came to
The Dalles country and bought the rights of a
settler and homesteaded the place where he now
resides about seven miles out from town on Three-
mile creek. Since then, he has purchased other
land and now has one hundred and seventy-five
acres in cultivation. The principal crops are
wheat and potatoes although he has a fine three
acre orchard. He is a prosperous and thrifty
man, and is well known through this portion of
the county and is one of the most substantial men
here. He is progressive and public minded ancl
always takes a keen interest in every question of
public import.
At Portland, Oregon, on October 14, 1884,
Mr. Fraser married Miss Jessie AicDonald, who
was born in Victoria county, Cape Breton, Can
ada, on August 10, 1854. Her father, Angus
McDonald, was born in Scotland, and descended
from the old McDonald clan of the Highlands.
He was an overseer on a large estate for many
years. He married Isabella Stewart who was a
member of another one of Scotland's most noted
families. They are now both deceased, the
mother passed away in Cape Breton, on Decem
ber 16, 1882, and the father at Portland, Ore
gon, on April 12, 1884. Air. Fraser has one
brother, Thomas, and one sister, Mrs. H. Adams.
Mrs. Fraser has also one brother, Alurdoc D.,
and one sister, Airs. Alary Carrel. Two children
have been born to this marriage, John A., on
September 30, 1885, and Jessie J., on January 4,
1887. Air. and Mrs. Frasier are prominent ancl
devoted members of the Alethodist church and
take a very lively interest in church matters. He
is assistant superintendent of the Sunday school,
and teaches a Bible class.
Politically Air. Fraser is a Prohibitionist and

4io

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

an influential figure in his party. He was school
director and road supervisor for many years.
Three years previous to coining to the United
States, Air. Fraser followed the sea as fireman on
the Anchor Line of steamers that plied from Glas
gow to New York and from Glasgow to the
Alediterranean ports. Our subject and his wife
are genial and kind people, having many friends
and by their wisdom, industry and wise manage
ment have made themselves well to do. They
are progressive people and have labored well for
the advancement of the community along every
line, being especially interested in school matters
and church work.
It should also be stated that Air. Fraser se-
sured the rural mail delivery for his district.

A1AX LUEDDEAIANN. The Antelope
Herald, a bright and newsy sheet, well known in
central Oregon, is now edited by the subject of
this article. He also conducts the Aladras
Pioneer and owns a half interest in the Bend
Bulletin. Air. Lueddemann is a thorough and
capable newspaper man and a very worthy citi
zen. He was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on
September 29, 1873. His father, Guido Luedde
mann, was born in Germany and came to the
United States when seven years old with his
parents, it being then 1848. His father, the
grandfather of our subject, was an officer in the
German army and settled on Lake Alichigan, in
Wisconsin, where he cleared a place out in the
timber. AA'hen eighteen, our subject's father
went to New York and enlisted to serve in the
Civil War, continuing there for three years.
After the war, he located in Tuscumbia, Ala
bama and engaged in the mercantile business,
which occupied him there for thirty-six years.
Then he retired from business and moved to Los
Gatos, California, where he now resides. He
married Joanna Chisholm, also a native of Tus
cumbia. She was the granddaughter of John
Seveir, the first governor of Tennessee. She is
still living in Los Gatos, California. Our sub
ject began studying in the graded schools of his
native town and then completed a course in the
Alabama University. After this, he graduated
from the law department of the Cumberland Un
iversity at Lebanon, Tennessee, and took up the
practice of law at Tuscumbia for two years. Then
he came west and bought the Antelope Herald.
Later, he sent for his old friend, E. C. Goodwin,
of Tuscumbia, who came here and took an inter
est in the business. They were together one
year and since that time, Air. Lueddemann has
been conducting the business alone. In April,

1899, Mr. Lueddemann was appointed United
States commissioner and was reappointed in
1903. He is also city recorder of Antelope.
On October 7. 1903, at AIoscow, Idaho, Air.
Lueddemann married Aliss Ollie AlcConnell, a
native of Oregon, the wedding occurring at the
home of the bride's parents, Hon. William J. and
Louise (Brown) AlcConnell, natives of Ohio.
Air. Lueddemann has two brothers, Fred, at San
Jose, California, and Ernest L., assistant cashier
in French and Company's bank at The Dalles.
He also has one sister, Freda, living with her
parents. Airs. Lueddemann has the following
named brothers and sisters, Benjamin, William,
Alamie, the wife of W. E. Borah, an attorney in
Boise, Idaho, and Carrie, dwelling with her pa
rents at AIoscow. Air. Lueddemann is a Repub
lican in politics and has been delegate to the state
and county conventions. He is very active and
is well informed in political matters. Frater
nally, he belongs to the A. F. & A. AL He and
his wife are members of the Presbyterian church
and are highly respected people.

J. ELA1ER RAND, a genial and pleasant
business man of Hood River, who is conducting-
one of the leading mercantile establishments of
the city, was born in Wisconsin, on Alay 16,
1865. His father, Robert Rand, mentioned else
where in this work, is a native of Ohio and mar
ried Aliss Christina Glispie, a native of New
York, who died in Portland, in 1900. Our sub
ject lived in Wisconsin until sixteen, being em
ployed on his father's farm, which adjoined West
Salem, and in attending school. In 1880, he came
with the balance of the family to Iowa, where he
was engaged in agricultural work with his father
for four years, when they all moved to Hood
River. The father purchased a farm near town
and was assisted bv J. Elmer one year in tilling
the same. Then our subject went to Portland
and took a course in the business college. After
that he clerked in the Alerchants hotel, in Port
land about one year, then he returned to Hood
River and with his father opened a hardware
store. The following year, they put in a large
stock of general merchandise and conducted the
business successfully until the sale to A. S.
Blowers ancl Sons, which has already been men
tioned in this volume. Upon being released from
the store, Air. Rand made a trip to the east in the
interests of the Davidson Fruit Company, which
occupied some months. Then he returned to-
Hood River and purchased the stock and busi
ness of G. D. Woodworth, a general merchant.
Since that time, Air. Rand has conducted the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

411

store and has a fine business at this time. He
carries a very complete stock and is up-to-date
in every respect. Air. Rand is a stirring business
man and has shown excellent ability in handling
the enterprises which have been placed in his
hands. He has the confidence of the people and
is a public minded and progressive man. On No
vember 1, 1904, Air. Rand moved into E. L.
Smith's handsome new brick building.
At Hood River, on September 12, 1892, oc
curred the marriage of Air. Rand and Miss Geor
giana Smith, the daughter of Ezra L. and Geor
giana (Slocom) Smith, who are mentioned else
where in this work. Two children have been the
fruit of this union, Everett L., and Anna L. Mr.
Rand has three brothers, AArilliam F., Delbert E.,
and Ernest C. ancl one sister, Airs. Henrietta
Rahm. Mr. Rand is a member of the A. O. U
W., the K. O. T. M. and the K. P. He by
passed the chairs in each of these orders and is
popular and influential in fraternal circles. Mr.
Rand and his wife are members of the Unitarian
church, having assisted to organize the society
here. He is serving his third term in the city
council and is now president of the same.

ALBERT K. STRANAHAN, one of the
proprietors of the Fashion Livery & Dray Com
pany, of Hood River, Wasco county, was born in
Northfield, Aiinnesota. the son of Oscar L. and
Adelia (Berdan) Stranahan, who are mentioned
elsewhere. The date of his birth is August 22,
1871. Albert K. attended the public schools at
Hood River, Wasco countv, to which city his
parents removed from Aiinnesota when he was
ciuite a young lad, and worked on his father's
farm. At the age of fourteen years he left
school ancl subsequently engaged in teaching,
and at three different periods he was interested
in the livery business. Two years and six
months he was in the employment of the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company, at one time
being foreman of a pile-driving crew. Alarch 1,
1903, he entered into partnership with J. T. Bag-
lev ancl his cousin, James Stranahan, and they
began the livery ancl draying business under the
style of the Fashion Livery & Dray Company.
They have a well equipped stable.
On February 22, 1905, at Rufus. Oregon,
Mr. Stranahan married Aliss Cora Fowler, the
daughter of William and Lettie (Schautleaur)
Fowler, who are agriculturists of Sherman
county, this state. Mrs. Stranahan is a talented
and refined young lady, very popular and the
centre of a large circle of admiring friends.
Fraternally Air. Stranahan is a member of

Waucoma Lodge, No. 30, K. of P. Politically
he is a Republican, but is not actively interested
in politics. He is an eminently popular young -
man throughout Wasco county, highly esteemed
and respected.

DOCTOR S. KIMSEY resides eighty miles
southwest from Antelope where he owns a sec
tion of land and devotes his attention to stock
raising. He was born in Polk county, Oregon,
on September 6, 1848. His father, Duff Kimsey,
was born in Howard county, Alissouri ancl his
parents, the paternal grandparents of our subject,
were born in A^irginia and Kentucky. They were
descended from an old American family that
dwelt in the colonies about the time of the Revo
lution and participated in the struggles to brins"
forth this great nation ancl also suffered much
from Indian depredations during the War of
1812. They were pioneers to Alissouri and were
substantial people. The father of our subject-
married Mandana Smith, born in the same
place as her husband ancl her father was born in
North Carolina and her mother in Virginia. Our
subject's parents crossed the plains with ox
teams in 1847 and settled in Polk county. Two
years later, they journeyed thence to Marion
county and took a donation claim where they re
mained until our subject was eleven years old.
Then he went with his mother to Thurston
county. Washington, his father having died the
year before. Then the mother married W. O.
Bush and our subject remained with them off
and on until 187 1, when he went to Salem and in
the spring worked on his uncle's farm near by.
In the spring of 1872, he came to the vicinity of
Antelope and after renting for four or five vears
bought a man's right to a piece of lieu land where
he now resides. He took a homestead and pre
emption, then bought a half section of land and
since that time he has given his attention to cul
tivating this and raising stock. He winters about
one hundred and fifty head of cattle and utilizes
the alfalfa and rye, which he raises, for hay, not
threshing any grain. In September, 1874, in the
Antelope valley. Air. Kimsey married Catherine
Ashby, who was born in Hllinois, the daughter
of Joseph and Alary (Savage) Ashby. The
father was a native of Canada and came to Cali
fornia in the fifties, where he mined for some
time. He returned east in 1853 and in 1865
crossed the plains to the Willamette valley. He
came east of the mountains in 1872, and died in
1 894- His wife was born in Vermont, and died
in 1894. Air. Kimsey has two brothers, James
D., near Olympia, Washington and Franklin P..
a farmer near Antelope. He also has a half

-412

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

brother, John S. Bush, living near Olympia,
Washington, and two sisters, Hannah J., single,
living near Olympia ancl Viola, wife of David
L. Burntrager, who lives nine miles southeast of
Olympia. He also has one half sister, Isabel,
wife of George Gaston, dwelling near Olympia.
Airs. Kimsey has four brothers : William J., near
Cottonwood, California; Joseph B., in the vicin
ity of Salem, Oregon ; Grant, living near Ore
gon City ; and George W. at Weiser, Idaho. She
also has three sisters ; Alary, wife of Henry-
Steers, a retired stockman at The Dalles ; Hattie
R., wife of William Plumphrey, near Salem ; and
¦ Grace, wife of Orange D. Glover, a bookkeeper in
Portland. Air. and Mrs. Kimsey have three chil
dren: Ernest J., on a farm which his mother in
herited from her father's estate ; Ray U, a tenant
on Indian creek ; Grace E., single, and living at
home. Mr. Kimsey is a good active Republican and
is frequently- at the conventions. He served four
years as county commissioner from 1896, to 1900
and was justice of the peace in the eighties. He
has been twelve years school director and has
: served as road supervisor. Air. and Mrs. Kim
sey are enterprising and substantial people and
have labored long and faithfully for the upbuild
ing of this portion of Wasco county.

FINLAY McBETH, the proprietor of the
¦Occidental hotel at Antelope, is a well known
and popular citizen in this portion of Wasco
county. He is a generous, public spirited man,
always looking on the bright side of life and
"lending cheer and sunshine to those about him.
He was born amid Scotia's rugged hills, Perth
shire being his native heath, on February 8, 1845
and inherited from stanch and prominent ances
tors much of that stability and worth, which have
made his race noted the world over. His father,
John ATcBeth, was born in Perthshire and his
father, the grandfather of our subject, came from
north Scotland and settled in Perthshire. John
McBeth married Elizabeth AIcBeth, a native of
the same place but not related. They were sub
stantial and worthy residents of Perthshire where
thev remained until death called them to the
world bevond. Our subject was educated ancl
reared in his native place and there remained
until hurried by the western fever, to the New
World. He landed on American soil on Alay 2,
and went direct to Colorado where he en

gaged in sheep herding for three months. Then
he migrated to Idaho and started in the sheep
business where he owned a flock for himself. Sev
eral years later, we see him in Alontana, engaged

in the same business and prosperity seemed to
follow him all the way, owing to his care for his
business and the thrift with which he continued
with the enterprises in hand. Later, he jour
neyed west to Oregon and still prosecuted the
sheep business until his attention was called to
the fact that Antelope needed a good hotel. Then
he erected the Occidental which has twenty-five
well equipped sleeping apartments, good office,
dining room, parlor, kitchen and so forth and is
a very popular stopping place for the traveling
public. Air. McBeth attends to everything that
can contribute to the comfort and happiness of
his guests and is very widely known and popular.
Thus far in life, Mr. McBeth has never seen fit
to take to himself a partner of his joys and suc
cesses but is content with the quieter joys of the
celibatarian. Fraternally, he is connected with the Elks at
The Dalles, while in political matters, he is a
good strong Republican. - He is frequently seen
at the county conventions where he is an influ
ential figure and has been several years a mem
ber of the city council. Mr. AIcBeth has hosts of
friends and is considered one of the substantial
and leading business men of the town.

JACOB OBRIST has labored long and well
in Wasco county and the result is that he has a
fine farm about ten miles south from The Dalles
on Fairview, formerly known as Dutch Flat. He
was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on No
vember 9, 1833, the son of John and Annie
(Clawges) Obrist, natives of Switzerland and
Philadelphia, respectively. The father came to
the United States in 1818 and settled in Phila
delphia. He died in Brooklyn, Illinois in 1879.
The mother's ancestors were German and lived in
Pennsylvania for several generations. Her pa
rents were Daniel and Anna AL Clawges and
were born August 11, 1760 and September 16,
1864, respectively. Daniel Clawges was the first
sheriff of Philadelphia county after the Revolu
tionary War. Our subject was brought by his
parents to northern Illinois when he was three
years of age and remained on the farm with his
father until twenty-one. Then he worked out
and later rented land. After this, we find him in
St. Louis county, Alissouri, where he farmed
rented land for ten years. Then he removed to
Henry county in the same state and in 1883, came
to Oregon and took the place where he now lives,
as a homestead. He was one of the first actual
settlers here. Two others, Nelson and Chitten-
don, had taken claims before Mr. Obrist. The
land was all covered with heavy timber and

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

413-

brush and Mr. Obrist had no small task to open
it up. However, he has one hundred acres all
cleared and raises wheat, hay, potatoes and so
forth and has a fine nine acre orchard.
On April 4, 1861, at St. Louis, Missouri, Mr.
Obrist married Miss Ellen Kirkman, who was
born in New Orleans, on July 20, 1841. Her
parents were George and Alary (McBride)
Kirkman. The father is a native of Wheeling,
West Virginia and his parents of Scotland, while
the mother was born in Pennsylvania. Her
father, Alexander AL, was a patriot in the Rev-
lutionary War. Mr. Obrist has the following
named brothers and sisters, Mrs. Mary A.
Weygh, Mrs. Harriett Williams, Amanda, Mar
guerite, Charles and John, deceased. Mrs.
Obrist has one sister, Mrs. Anna Smith, living,
ancl three sisters and one brother deceased, Eliza
beth, Mary, Caroline, ancl Alexander. To Mr.
and Mrs. Obrist the following children have
been born, William G., Frances A., Harry F.,
John E. ancl Charles, ancl two deceased, Mary
E. and Jacob.
Mr. ¦ and Mrs. Obrist are members of the
United Brethren church and he has been school
director for many years. He assisted very ma
terially in erecting the first school house here and
has always labored for the advancement of edu
cational interest. He is a" Democrat but not ac
tive. Mrs. Obrist is a lady who has shown
marked virtues and although a great sufferer
from rheumatism, is a patient and kind Christian
woman.

ORRE L. WALTER, one of the industrious
and exemplary young men of Wasco county, re
sides on his father's farm some nine miles west
from The Dalles. He has a fine estate of his
own adjoining his father's, which comprises two
hundred and forty acres of good land. He is
handling his father's farm together with his
own, and is showing a marked industry and wis
dom. Mr. Walter has shown as a' young man,
fine characteristics which presage a bright and
successful future. He has won the respect and
esteem of all who know him and his habits are
of the best. Mr. Walter has always been a care
ful reader and at the present time is carrying
several courses of special studies from corre
spondence schools, which is very praiseworthy
indeed. Orre L. Walter was born at Machias, New
York, on July 9, 1874. There he received the
beginning of his education and later studied at
The Dalles. His life was spent largely on the
farm and when he arrived at manhood's estate,
he was well skilled in farming and stock raising

and he is abundantly able to be classed with the
leading farmers of the country. In politics, he is
an active Republican and committeeman for the
mountain precinct. Mr. Walter is a man pf en
ergy and is a careful weigher of all questions of
public import, reading carefully both sides of
the issue that he may in a proper manner, make
his decision. He is deeply- interested in the ad
vancement of educational interests, always striv
ing for better roads and general progress and up
building. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the I. O. O.
F. and the Rebekahs. In the former order, he has
passed all the chairs and is very popular.

ALBERT A. WALTER, who resides about
nine miles southwest from The Dalles on the
John, Mill road, was born in Germany, on Feb
ruary 27, 1845. His father, Andrew Walter, was
a native of Germany and died when our subject
was a child. He had married Caroline Schlick, a
native of Germany where also she remained until
her death. Our subject was educated in his na
tive country and learned the tinner's trade. After
that, he served three years in the German army
and three years in the navy. This time having
expired, he entered the merchant marine and vis
ited nearly all the principal ports of the world.
Then he came to the United States in 1869 and
worked at his trade in Machias, New York for
twelve years. It was 1883, when he came to
Oregon and settled in The Dalles. A few weeks
later, he took a homestead where he now lives
and shortly afterwards added another quarter
section by purchase. He improved the farm and
also worked at his trade at various times and
places until he came to be one of the well-to-do
citizens of the country. He has shown integrity
and uprightness in his walk and has the entire ¦
confidence and esteem of the people.
On September 14, 1873, at Machias, New
York, Air. Walter married Miss Melissa Lamor
eaux, who was born in Ontario, Canada, on July
x3> x857- Her father, Andrew Lamoreaux was
also a native of Canada. His father was a native
of France. His mother was born in New York
and his grandfather on his father's side came to
the United States when a child with his parents,
after having fled from France during the terrible
massacre. They settled in New England and
when the grandfather grew to manhood, he mar
ried and moved to Canada near Toronto and
from him and two brothers, the Lamoreaux set
tlement was made. The grandfather of Mrs.
Walter died at the age of one hundred and four
teen years, at Pickering, Ontario. Mrs. Walter's

4i-4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

mother was Rebecca (Stoner) Lamoreaux, a na
tive of Scarborough, Ontario. She died in 1901.
Mr. Walter has one brother, Robert. His wife
has one brother, James, and three sisters, Mrs.
Alartha Patton, Airs. Mary Eaton and Mrs. Hat
tie Fair. To Mr. and Mrs. Walter, the follow
ing named children have been born : Orre L., who
is mentioned elsewhere in this work ; Robert J., a
mining man in British Columbia; William P.,
George M., Harold A., and Frederick T., the last
four are living at home. Two girls died in in
fancy. Mr. Walter is a member of the W. W. and
is a good strong Democrat, though not particu
larly active.

GEORGE BUNN is one of the thrifty and
successful agriculturists of Oregon. He was
born in Germany, on November 28, 1849 and
now resides at number 1906 Alt. Hood street, The
Dalles, where he has a fine large property, well
improved and valuable. He also owns eighty acres
just a little south from The Dalles and consider
able wheat land in Sherman county. He comes
of the good substantial German stock that has
made its march the world around and Mr. Bunn
is characterized by those qualities of substan
tiality and continuity which are so prominent in
his race. His father was George Bunn and he
married Katerina Boxheimer ; both were born in
the same place as our subject and there they re
mained until their death. Their birthplace was
Hessen-Darmstadt. George Bunn was well edu
cated in the public schools and by private tutors
and then learned the baker's trade. For eight
months in time of peace and eleven months in
war, he served in the Franco-Prussian war as
corporal and was wounded slightly at the battle
of Gravellotte. He was in nine hard fought en
gagements ancl proved himself a soldier of brav
ery and faithfulness. After the war, he engaged
at his trade in Germany until 1879, then came to
the United States. He was in fhe Puget sound
country and settled in Lewis county later, where
he remained four years, doing farm work and
mail carrying. In 1884, he came to Sherman
county and filed on a homestead. Later, he
bought a half section ancl gave his attention to
raising horses and wheat. He was very skillful
in this enterprise and later gave up horse breed
ing and confined himself entirely to the produc
tion of wheat. In 1896, he removed his family
to The Dalles that they might have the oppor
tunity of a thorough education, being a strong
believer in good education. He purchased the
place where he now lives which consists of four
teen lots planted nicely to orchard, good buildings

and so forth. Mr. Bunn has given his attention
to overseeing his various properties, since coming
to The Dalles and he is now living a more re
tired life than formerly.
In Germany, on December 29, 1874, Air.
Bunn married Opolonia Brant, who was born in
the same vicinity as her husband. Her parents
were Philip and Eliza (Adrian) Brant, natives
of the same place where she was born and where
also they died. Air. Bunn has five brothers and
one sister, all in Germany, John, William, Len-
hardt, Jacob, Nicholas, and Lena Keifer. Mrs.
Bunn has one brother, Peter, who is also in Ger
many. To our subject and his wife, seven chil
dren have been born : Charles, a graduate of the
high school and now farming in Sherman county ;
George, John, Alma and Alary, at home; Clara,
at home and in high school ; Barbara, a milliner
in Portland. Air. and Airs. Bunn are members
of the Roman Catholic church and are consistant
representatives of their faith. In political mat
ters, he is independent. For nine years, he was
school director in Sherman county and he takes a
zealous interest in educational and political mat
ters. Mr. Bunn has the good will and esteem of
all who know him and he is considered one of the
best citizens of our county.

JULIUS and GEORGE C. CAAIPBELL,
well known as Campbell Brothers, leading fruit
men in the vicinity of The Dalles, have shown
commendable zeal and industry in their labors in
AVasco county. Julius was born on January 11,
1859 at York, Wisconsin, while George was born
on April 2, 1867, in Waterloo, Wisconsin. The
father of Henry Campbell was a native of Rut
land, Vermont, as were also his ancestors for four
generations back, all descendants of Colonel
Campbell of Revolutionary fame. The great-
great-grandfather of our subjects was a very
wealthy Scotchman and owned the land where
Rutland now stands. His estate consisted of one
entire township and some of the land is still
owned by the Campbell family. They are a fam
ily of stockmen and farmers, being especially
noted in the farming line of business. Henry
Campbell married Chrissie A. Stone, a native of
Newbury, New York. She now lives with her
sons and is aged seventy-six. Her mother, Sarah
Williams, was a lineal descendant of Roger Will
iams, of the sixth generation. Airs. Campbell's
father was born at Stonington, Connecticut,
founded by his ancestors. Caleb Williams, the
great-grandfather of Airs. Campbell, was in the
Revolution. She was born in Orange county,
New York. The grandparents had migrated

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

415

from Rhode Island into the trackless forests of
New York state ancl there hunted out an estate.
Noah Stone, a brother of Mrs. Campbell, is en
gaged in the steamboat businesss at Santiago,
California where he has been for twenty-five
years. Another brother, William Stone, is re
tired at Rutland, Vermont and still another
brother, Asa, is deceased. She has three sisters,
all deceased, Sarah, Eliza, who was the wife of
Leeds Billings, a cousin of the Billings who was
instrumental in founding the Northern Pacific
railroad, and Harriett. The last one named was
killed at the famous Ashtabula railroad accident
and was the widow of Horatio Hutchinson, who
was for many years an attorney in the office of
Rufus Choate in Boston. Our subjects' father
died in 1871 in Dane county, Wisconsin. There
the boys received their education and remained
until Julius was about thirty years of age, then
they came to Oregon City. There they pur
chased a farm of three hundred ancl twenty acres
and spent nine years in hard labor upon it, only
to learn that the entire property was worthless.
Then they journeyed to Tygh valley, and found
themselves practically penniless. However, they
went to work with a will and secured a section of
land and Julius did carpentering while George
handled the farm. The result was that in a
short time they made it one of the finest wheat
producing estates in the county and continued
there until recently, when they sold out that
property and purchased the place where they now
reside, which consists of eighty-six acres. It
contains twenty-eight hundred bearing fruit
trees, fifteen acres of vegetables ancl melons, a
thousand vined vineyard and considerable general
crops. The Campbell brothers are very thrifty
men, good managers and upright. They are re
ceiving the due reward of their labor and have a
very fine property besides considerable security.
They are still both single men. George is a mem
ber of the United Brethren church and they are
both progressive members of society and liberal
supporters of churches, schools, and so forth.

JAAIES Al. SA1ITH has a choice estate of
three hundred ancl twenty-five acres about one
mile out from The Dalles, on Mill creek, which
is his home at the present time. He is a repre
sentative of the intelligent agriculturists and
stockmen of Wasco county and has shown marked
ability and thrift in his labors here.
James AL Smith was born in Douglas
county, Oregon, on May 2, 1867. His father, Jas
per N. Smith, was born in Alissouri, ancl crossed
the plains with ox teams in the early forties. He

was one of the first settlers in Douglas county,
where he took a donation claim, and is now resid
ing- near Spray, Wheeler county. He married
Miss Catherine Hewitt, a native of Illinois, and
descended from English people. Her parents died
in Ireland. When our subject was three years
of age, the family came to the place where he now
dwells, and here he was reared and educated.
The father bought the farm, it being then one
hundred and fifty-eight acres. Since, Mr. Smith
has added by purchase until he owns the large
estate mentioned. He raises diversified crops,
has a fine dairy, produces much fruit and turns
off considerable stock. He is progressive and
well posted in the various lines which he pur
sues, and is a man of sound principles.
The marriage of Air. Smith occurred on Feb
ruary 10, 1901, at his residence, Aliss Amy Burns
becoming his wife at that time. She was born at
Drain, Douglas count}-, Oregon, and her father,
Albert Burns, was a native of Ohio, crossed the
plains with ox teams in 1863, and died here in
1903. He married Aliss Clara Bean, a native of
Oregon, whose parents had crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1843 and made settlement in
Douglas county. They now dwell in Coos
county. Airs. Smith has one brother, Timothy
G., and one sister, Effie. Mr. Smith has the fol
lowing named brothers and sisters, William H,
George, Thomas R., C. Edward, Airs. Ellen Bur
gess, Mrs. Olive Burgess, and Airs. Eva Alorgan.
Air. Smith is a member of the W. W. and is a
well informed Republican. He does not take an
especially active part in the campaigns but is
always ready to cast his influence and vote for
the principles he believes to be right.

HERBERT C. ROOPER, one of the leading
wool growers of central Oregon, now residing
at Antelope, was born in England, on Alay 22,
1852. John Rooper, his father, was a native of
Huntingdonshire," England, and a captain in the
British army, being in the Prince Consort's own
rifle brigade. His brother Edward, the uncle of
our subject, was major in the same regiment and
was killed at the battle of Inkerman in the Cri
mean War. Air. Rooper's family were landed
gentry and were very prominent in the army and
Church of England. Our subject's paternal
grandfather was a clergyman in that church. In
1630, George Rooper compiled a genealogy of
the family, reaching back for many generations.
One of the ancestors was keeper of the Enfield
Chase and Hyde and Alary-le-bone park and was
a pensioner of Kings Henry VII and VIII. For
many years thus it is seen the Roopers have

4i6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

done much in the various places where they have
lived to support good government and to bring
about the progress of the race. Our subject's
father married Charlotte Nethercote, a native of
Northamptonshire, England, whose ancestors
were also landed gentry and prominent in the
army and church. The parents of our subject
are both now deceased. Herbert C. finished the
grammar school course at Uppingham, then en
tered the Royal Agricultural College at Circes-
ter, graduating in 1870. The following spring
found him in the United States and for five years
he dwelt in Iowa, renting land. In the spring
of 1876, he came to Wasco county and being
desirous of understanding the sheep business
thoroughly, took a position as herder for two
years. Then he engaged in partnership with
Chandler brothers in the sheep business and they
were together for seven years handling about six
thousand sheep annually and several hundred
head of horses. In 1885 this partnership was dis
solved and our subject has since continued rais
ing sheep. He now has four thousand of these
profitable animals, twenty-two hundred acres of
land, two hundred head of cattle and sufficient
horses to handle his business. He also owns a
fine two story residence in Antelope, which is the
family dwelling place at present.
On November 26, 1886, at Astoria, Oregon,
Mr. Rooper married Elizabeth Pohl, who was
born in Denmark, the daughter of Ferdinand and
Fredricka (Bochan) Pohl, natives of Denmark
and Germany, respectively. The father was a"
seafaring man in the English merchant marine
and died at Copenhagen, Denmark. His widow
resides at Bay Center, Washington. Mrs. Rooper
has two brothers, William and Max, undertakers
at Astoria; and two sisters, Alma, the wife of
Henry Clark, a merchant ih Seattle, and Olga,
single, dwelling in Seattle. Mr. Rooper has four
brothers, Maximilian, a solicitor in London, Eng
land ; Walter, an electrical engineer at Stafford,
England; Edward, a school director in Devon
shire, England ; and Percy, manager of a shipping
line — large company at Liverpool, which leases
vessels to the O. R. & N. He also has four sisters :
Charlotte, wife of Walter Earle, a retired clergy
man in England ; Constance, the widow of Col.
Henry Dakeyene, of Leamington, England;
Blanche, and Lucy, both single and at Leaming
ton, England. Mr. and Mrs. Rooper are par
ents of nine children : Henry and John, students
of the agricultural college at Corvalis; Edna,
Bonfoy, Alma, Margaret, William, Isolda and
Frederick. Mr. Rooper is a member of. the Elks and the
W. W. He and his wife both belong to the
Episcopal church. In politics, he is a stirring

and active Republican, and is often found at the
county and state conventions. He was the first
stock inspector of Wasco county and is now serv
ing his second term as mayor of Antelope. Mr.
Rooper and his family are highly respected peo
ple and they have reason to be proud of the fine
record, — priceless legacy — left by a long line
of prominent ancestors.

BERT H. HAYNES, a popular and enter
prising citizen of Wasco county, resides about
ten miles northeast from Boyd, where he owns
a farm of two hundred acres. He is a man of
energy and has made a good record thus far in
life. He is still a young man, and the holdings
he now has are the result of his labor and careful
management of what he earned. Hr. Haynes is
possessed of determination and stability coupled
with an integrity and uprightness that can but
achieve success in life and make him an honored
and valuable member of society.
Bert H. Haynes was born in Rock Island
county, Illinois, on April 28, 1868, the son of
Joseph Haynes, who is sketched in detail in this
work. He was educated in Missouri and Kansas,
whither his parents went when he was young.
In 1879, he came west with his father, and since
that time he has continued in Oregon, assured
that he has here some of Nature's choicest be
stowals in the way of resources. As soon as our
subject had reached the age of twenty-one, he
commenced shearing sheep with his brother, who
is mentioned in that connection in this work,
and he has followed that arduous occupation for
many years. He is an expert at the business and
while he does not quite equal his brother on a
test record, his being one hundred and forty and
his brother's one hundred and fifty-six in one
day, still he is a master hand at the art and the
physical endurance needed to handle the work
has been shown by Mr. Haynes. He is a man
of strong constitution and is possessed of a
tenacious spirit. During the time he has been
shearing, Mr. Haynes has purchased railroad land
and this is now his home place. He is improv
ing it and is raising grain and stock. He has
wisely handled the finances with which he has
been blessed and the result is he is prosperous.
He makes a specialty of raising hogs and is doing
well. At his father's ranch, in November, 1895,
Mr. Haynes married Miss Effie Wilson, the
daughter of David and Susan (Hixon) Wilson,
who live near Nansene. Mrs. Haynes was born
in Quincy. Illinois. To this marriage two chil
dren have been born, Joseph and Alice. In politi-

Bert H. Haynes

Mrs. Bert H. Haynes

William Odell

Mrs. William Odell

Paulus Limeroth

Mrs. Paulus Limeroth

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

4-i 7-

cal matters, Mr. Haynes is a Republican and is a.
man who always takes an interest in public mat
ters and in all that is for the improvement and
upbuilding of the county. He and his wife are
popular young people and have showed .them
selves capable, upright, and possessed of those
qualities of intrinsic worth that make the worthy
American citizens.

WILLIAA1 ODELL, an enterprising and
popular citizen of Wasco county, follows farming
and stock raising, with his headquarters on his
estate about nine miles east from Boyd post-
office. The place consists of one-half section, is
well improved, and about one hundred acres are
devoted to wheat. In addition to this, he gives
attention to raising stock and has been more or
less engaged in this enterprise for many years.
William Odell was born in Missouri, on April
25, 1864. His parents are Griffith and Jessie
(Harriott) Odell, natives of Michigan and Cin
cinnati, Ohio, respectively, and now dwelling in
Clackamas county, Oregon. The mother's pa
rents were born in New England. When our
subject was an infant, his parents came to Iowa
and thence shortly to California, settling in Butte
county, where William received the initial educa
tional training of his life. In the fall of 1880,
they came to Klickitat county, Washington and
remained one year. Next they made a move to
Clackamas county, where the parents reside at
the present time. In the spring of 1882, our
subject started out for himself. He first made a
trip to The Dalles and soon found employment
in the railroad shops where he worked for two
years. Then he engaged in stock raising and
since that time, he has continued in that business.
In the fall of 1893, he filed on a homestead where
he now resides and in 1897 bought a quarter sec
tion. Later he purchased another quarter, hav
ing now an estate of four hundred and eighty
acres. On November 1, 1893, at The Dalles, Oregon,
Mr. Odell married Miss Emma Deckert, whose
parents are mentioned in another article in this
book. Air. Odell has the following named broth
ers and sisters, Irving, Emmett, Thomas, Walter,
Edward, Mrs. Lena Ellingham, Mrs. Emma
Godfrey, and Mrs. Fanny Nitzche.
He is a member of the M. W. A. and in
¦politics is independent. He has frequently been
on the school board and is a man who thoroughly
appreciates matters along all lines. He is pro
gressive and public spirited and one of our best
citizens. Mr. and Airs. Odell have five children, Hattie,
Albert, Alinnie, Ada, and Elmer.
27

PAULUS LIMEROTH, the pioneer settler
of Christman Hollow, Wasco county, resides six,
miles southeast of Dufur. He was born in Hesse-
Cassel, Prussia, January 8, 1843, die son of John
and Martha (Voland) Limeroth, both natives of
Germany. Our subject received an excellent education
in the graded schools of Hesse-Cassel, and then
made a special study of gardening in an exten
sive nursery, where he obtained a thorough
knowledge of horticulture, floriculture and gen
eral gardening, plain and ornamental. When he
was twenty-four years of age he came to the
United States, having previously served three.
years in the German army, seeing two months of
active service in the Austro-Prussian war. Ar
riving in New York city he found employment as
gardner at College Point, where he planted over
four thousand trees, and interested himself in
other work that contributed toward making Col
lege Point one of the most beautiful surburban
towns of Gotham. In 1868 our subject for a
short period worked as a florist in New York
city, and following that he was foreman in a new
nursery near Hemstead, Long Island. July 4,
1868, he embarked for California, via the Isthmus.
Remaining there about one year he went to Cen
tral America in the capacity of botanist for dif
ferent European governments. In Germany he
had studed botany under an eminent professor,
and in this science he is, doubtless, the peer of any
one in the United States. Returning to San
Francisco in 1870 he found employment with
various florists, and one year thence he went to
Portland where he installed a floral nursery on
Morrison street. This business he disposed of
in the spring of 1876. The previous year Mr.
Limeroth had laid out the grounds around the
Portland postoffice, making a handsome and at
tractive park from an unsightly rock-pile. He
then came to Wasco county, locating near his
present place, and with George Wells engaged in
the sheep business. Later he was alone in the
business five years. He secured a half section
of railroad land upon which he at pres
ent resides. He owns one thousand seven
hundred and forty acres, seven hundred
acres of which are tillable, and one hun
dred and sixty acres timber land. He has a sub
stantial two-story residence, surrounded by fruit
and shade trees. At present he has seventy-five
head of Poland China hogs, and winters about
one hundred head of cattle. In 1893 the trees
surrounding the" court house at The Dalles were
in a shocking condition, and he succeeded in con
verting the place into one of the handsomest
spots in the city.
Air. Limeroth has one brother, Ernest, a tailor

4i8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in New York city. He had one sister, Katherine,
who died in New York. At San Francisco, Jan
uary 6, 1871, Air. Limeroth was married to Airs.
Eliza Feld, born October 29, 1838, at Rinda-
Hesse, Prussia. Her parents were Helvig and
Alice (Siechner) Bott, of Germany. Airs. Lime
roth has two brothers living, John, a silk weaver
in Germany, and Philip, a baker in London, Eng
land. Three other brothers are deceased, George,
John and Louis. Air. ancl Airs. Limeroth have
two children, Edward and Albert, Wasco county
farmers. By her first husband Mrs. Limeroth
has two children living, Lizzie, widow of John
Easton, and Frances, wife of Benjamin Pratt, of
Wasco county, living twelve miles southeast of
Dufur. Politically Mr. Limeroth is independent.
While he was in Columbia, Central America, he
made a number of valuable botanical discoveries,
attracting the attention of eminent scientists in
Europe.

JOHN S. BOOTH, a leading merchant in
Hood River, was born in The Dalles, Oregon,
on August 26, 1870, thus being a native son of
Wasco county, as well as one of its most popu
lar citizens. His father, John P. Booth, born in
Oakland county, Alichigan, was a harnessmaker
and a saddler and died at The Dalles, in 1876.
He married Miss Alary L. Riggs, a native of
Michigan, and descended from an old and promi
nent southern family. She had grown up in
Michigan with her husband ancl her marriage
occurred there. Her husband's father was a
Baptist preacher and her father was one of the
most eminent jurists that the state of Alichgan
ever produced. He was one of the framers of
the constitution, was appointed by the first gov
ernor of the territory, Louis Cass, agent to take
charge of all the Indians within the boundary of
the territory. He had been commissary officer on
the staff of Colonel James B. Ballis all through
the War of 1812. Later he was supreme judge
in the state of Alichigan ancl his decisions are
quoted and followed to this day. He was a man
of deep erudition and possessed of a keenness
and acumen that especially fitted him for that
responsible position. His father, Jeremiah C.
Riggs, was an aide-de-camp to General Washing
ton in the Revolution, and served throughout that
struggle. The grandfather of Jeremiah Riggs
served with distinction in the Pequot Indian war
about 1636, and on one occasion was the means
of saving his entire command from annihilation
by the savages, by an act of personal bravery and
daring. Our subject's parents came to Oregon via the

isthmus in 185 1 and located at The Dalles. The
father brought the first set of harness and saddle
tools to the country east of the Cascades. They
came on the boat that followed him the next clay.
The craft sank and Mr. Booth hired an Indian
to dive for the tools. He opened a harness and
saddle store and shop at once and continued the
same for twenty years. He was active in gov
ernmental affairs and was the first justice of the
peace in Wasco county, and performed the first
marriage ceremony. After retiring from the
shop, he attended to the oversight of his farm,
on Five Alile creek, and was the first man to
foster market gardening. After his death, the
family remained in The Dalles until 1898 then
went to Portland and in 1901 they came to Hood
River. Our subject received a good education
in the schools of The Dalles and then turned his
attention to the fish and produce business, as a
commission merchant in The Dalles. Ten years
later he sold this business and engaged as agent
with the first line of steamers plying from Port
land to The Dalles after the opening of the locks.
One year later he assumed charge of the Portland
office for the Regulator line of steamers and in
that capacity served for two years. Then he re
signed and opened his present mercantile busi
ness in Hood River.
At the time of the Spanish war, Mr. Booth
was captain of Company G, Oregon National
Guards, and with his company of sixty men went
to camp McKinley, at Portland. Captain Booth's
company was absorbed by the Second Oregon
Volunteers, and he was appointed second lieu
tenant of Company L. The changes resulting
from the absorption of the state militia by the reg
ulars practically disorganized the Oregon militia
and at the suggestion of General Beebe, our sub
ject took up the arduous task of reorganizing
and establishing anew the Oreeon Alilitia. Upon
the abandonment of camp McKinley and the sail
ing of the regulars for the seat of war, Mayor
Booth commenced his labors, which finally, after
two years of persistent, patient, and skillfully
disposed effort, resulted in placing on a better
basis than ever before the Oregon State Militia,
reorganized, newly equipped, and standing in
commendable relatiori to the other guards of the
nation. To the efforts of Brigade Quartermaster
Booth ancl his associate officers this happy ulti
matum is due, and the fact that from raw material
he has helped to bring out the excellently trained
and finely uniformed Guards in Oregon reflects
great credit upon him.
Previous to his service, Mr. Booth had an
extensive military record. On December 15,
1886, he enlisted in Company C, at The Dalles,
it being the first company organized in eastern

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

419

Oregon, and captained by Charles E. Morgan,
now of Portland. Upon the organization of the
Third regiment of the Oregon National Guards,
our subject was appointed signal officer on the
staff of Colonel Houghton and served four years.
Then he was elected major of the same regiment
and was assigned to command the first battalion,
serving thus four years. Then he resigned, but
upon the earnest solicitation of his commanding
officer, accepted the position of commissary offi
cer on his staff and remained in that capacity
until chosen captain of Company G. All told
this makes fourteen years of service for Major
Booth, and in it all there have been that trust
worthiness and faithful execution of duty that
have warmly commended him to both men and
higher officers.
Fraternally, A la j or Booth belongs to the Arti
sans. His father was a thirty-third degree Scot
tish rite Mason and was instrumental in getting
the charter for Wasco Lodge, No. 15, A. F. & A.
M., of The Dalles. He and his wife were char
ter members of the first Congregational church
at The Dalles, and their son, our subject, is a
consistent member of the same denomination,
being also clerk of his church. Alajor Booth
had one brother, Latimer, a popular young busi
ness man of The Dalles, bookkeeper for J. T.
Peters, who died on April 5, 1897, leaving a wife
and two children. He was thirty-six years of age
when his demise occurred.
On June 9, 1904, at Hood River, occurred
the marriage of Major Booth and Miss Loretta
F. Edmunds, a native of Petrolea, Ontario. Ala
jor Booth has made a splendid success of business
life, starting in the mercantile field at The Dalles
with a small capital and now having a fine estab
lishment. His store is one of the neat, attractive
places of Hood River, and is a credit to the town.
He handles a full line of such goods as are usu
ally found in a variety store, and his genialty
and deferential treatment of all have won for
him an excellent patronage and given him a wide
circle of friends wherever he is known.

River. His education was obtained in the dis
trict, graded, and private schools in this part of
the country and after finishing the same, he
turned his attention to the lumber business. After
that, he did farming for several years. Off and on
for ten years, he was in Sherman county where
he filed on a homestead of eighty acres and
bought a quarter section in 1895. He continued
the owner of this until 1903, when he sold out
the same ancl returned to Hood River to engage
in business, that occupying him at the present
time. He is an active and stirring young man,
with good business ability and fine address. Ow
ing to his genialty and kindness, he is very popu
lar and has a great many friends. The business
is a prosperous one and is being handled profit
ably with a display of wisdom and excellent judg
ment. Fraternally, Air. Stranahan is a member of
the K. P. and the W. W. In political affairs, he
is a Republican, and is especially active in the
campaigns, ancl a stanch party man. As yet
Mr. Stranahan has never seen fit to embark upon
matrimony's uncertain seas but is contented with
the quieter joys of the jolly bachelor. He is one
of the good citizens of Hood River ancl is a man
of worth.

JAMES A. STRANAHAN, a young man of
integrity and good habits, resides at Hood River,
where, in partnership with Albert Stranahan and
J. F. Bagley, he is conducting the business of the
Fashion Livery and Dray Company. He was
born in Goodhue county, Minnesota, on August
4, 1871, the son of Horace C. and Maggie (Mc
Kinley) Stranahan, who are mentioned elsewhere
in this volume. When he was six years old, he
came with the family to the Willamette valley,
Oregon, and two years later moved to Hood

FRANK J. STARK, a progressive and sub
stantial agriculturist dwelling two miles east from
Antelope, Wasco county, was born in Osceola.
Iowa, on Alarch 10, 1870, being descended from
the family which furnished one of the greatest
generals of the Revolution. General John Stark1,
the famous American patriot, who won so many
battles against so heavy odds, was the brother of
our subject's great-grandfather. It was this Gen
eral Stark who rode before his men at the battle
of Bennington and uttered, the statement since
chronicled indelibly in American history, "Boys,
we must win this fight, or Mollie Stark is a widow
tonight." Julius Stark, the father of Frank J.,
was born in Ohio, and his father was a native of
Vermont. Julius Stark now dwells near Shan
iko. He married Carrie Haltomyers, a lady of
German ancestry, and who died on Alarch 14,
1885. Our subject was six years of age when the
family went to Texas, whence thev journeyed
to Kansas, and then back to Ohio. In Welling
ton, that state, he secured his educational train
ing and after school days he was strongly in
clined to come west. In December, 1888, he made
the trip to Centralia, Washington, and there
worked in a sawmill until he cama to Wasco
countv, in 1895. He took a homestead and
bought a half section adjoining, which is his
estate today. He handles about one hundred

42 o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

acres to grain and has twenty head of cattle and
fifteen horses. He has labored diligently since
coming here and is in comfortable circumstances
as the result of his industry.
The -marriage of Air. Stark and Nellie Hanna
occurred at Dufur, on September 23, 1900. She
was born near The Dalles, on July 24, 1882, the
daughter of William and Elsie (Lewis) Hanna.
Her father, a native of the Willamette valley,
died in October, 1903, at Reno, Nevada. His
father died in December, 1904, at Boyd, Oregon,
one of the early pioneers of the territory. Mrs.
Stark's mother lives at Tygh ridge. She was
born in Iowa. Air. Stark has three sisters ; Hat
tie, the wife of William Blanchard, of Welling
ton, Ohio; Delia, the wife of Warner Peet, a
machinist in Cleveland, Ohio; and Mollie, the
wife of Wade Canfield, of Litchfield, Ohio. Mol
lie was named after the wife of General Stark.
Airs. Stark has two brothers, Archie and Walter,
near Nansene, and one sister, Lottie, the wife of
Archie Bully, a farmer, also near Nansene. Air.
Stark is a member of the A. F. & A. AL, being
past master of Antelope Lodge, No. 116. He is
a Republican in politics, and a man of stamina
and good standing.

PAYTON S. DAVIDSON, secretary and
treasurer of the Lost Lake Lumber Company at
Hood River, is one of the leading business men
of this part of Oregon. He is an active business
man and has acquired wealth and prominence
through his own endeavors. He was born at
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in December, 1867, the son
of Payton S. and Addie E. (Johnston) David
son, natives of Ohio. The father was born on
September 27, 1837, and died at Hood River, in
1901. The mother was born in 1837 and died
in 1887. The Johnston family is an old and
prominent one in American affairs, especially in
Wisconsin. Airs. Davidson's father was judge
of Lawrence county for many years and a man
of excellent education. Our subject's father was
raised at Southpaw, Ohio, and with his brother,
William F. Davidson, for many years was promi
nent as a steamboat man on the Ohio and upper
Mississippi. In 1890, they sold their interests
and the year previous our subject's father came
on to Oregon, where he was engaged in lumber
ing, boat building ancl so forth. After complet
ing' the high school at LaCrosse, the subject of
this article was associated with his brothers and
father in the steamboat business until they moved
to Oregon. After arriving here, he erected one
of the finest sawmills in the west, it being located
at Hood River, and having a capacity of one

hundred and fifty feet of lumber for each ten
hours. In Alarch, 1903, they sold the entire plant
to the Alt. Hood Lumber Company. Now Air.
Davidson, with his brother, owns eighty acres
of fine orchard which they are putting in a high
state of cultivation. They also own very much
city property and other real estate.
On April 8, 1897, at LaCrosse, Mr. Davidson
married Aliss Alena Price, a native of California
and a daughter of Jacob and Augusta (Bennette)
Price. Mr. Davidson has four brothers, William-
F., Arthur J., Frank L. and Barton G. Airs. Dav
idson has two brothers, Lester F. and William B.
In fraternal affiliations, Air. Davidson is allied
with the A. F. & A. M. and the R. A. Al. He
is a good stanch Republican and takes a lively in
terest in campaign work. For four years he was
a member of the city council and is one of the
reliable, capable and popular men of this part of
the city.

WILBUR BOLTON, who stands at the head
of the mercantile firm under the style of Bolton-
& Company, in Antelope, has in charge the
largest general mercantile establishment in the
town. His trade is extended, and he does a large
business each year. His stock is always kept up
to date with a fine assortment and he has con
stantly on hand about fifteen thousand dollars
worth of goods. Air. Bolton is an enterprising-
and substantial business man and a very influen
tial citizen, whose labors are constantly for the
improvement and betterment of the country.
Wilbur Bolton was born in Wasco county,
Oregon, on October 29, i860, the son of Daniel
and Elizabeth (Fullweider) Bolton, natives of
Virginia. The father died in The Dalles, in
1887. His father was a native of England. The
mother's parents were of Irish extraction. She-
died in The Dalles. The parents were married
in Iowa and came across the plains with ox teams
in 1854, settling first in the Willamette valley.
Shortly thereafter they came to The Dalles, and
later took land on Fifteen Mile creek, securing"
a donation claim and a homestead. He did stock-
raising and farming and dwelt many years in
The Dalles with his family. Our subject was
educated in the Wasco Independent Academy,
under the tuition of Prof. Gatch, now president
of the Oregon Agricultural College at Corval-
lis. After school days, Wilbur was on the ranch
with his father several years, then spent a year
with the Wasco Warehouse Company at The
Dalles, and in 1887 came to Antelope and en
gaged in the general merchandise business with
his brother, Virgil, and AIcFarland & French of
The Dalles. In 1891 the firm dissolved and re-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

421

organized without Air. McFarland. In 1893, Vir
gil Bolton died leaving his interest to his widow,
Nellie French Bolton, who is the daughter of J.
W. French, of The Dalles. Thus the firm is
comprised today.
On December 25, 1883, at The Dalles, Air.
Bolton married Aliss Jennie Gilmore, a native
of the Willamette valley, and sister of Airs.
Judge Fulton. Mr. Bolton has the following
named brothers and sisters : Zenas, a farmer in
Yakima county, Washington ; Simeon, county
clerk in Wasco county ; Virgil, deceased ;
Mitchell, deceased ; Ella, wife of W. A. McFar
land, of Seattle. The children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Bolton are : Vivian Gatch and Vernon, stu
dents at Corvallis ; and Virgil and Wilbur, Jr.,
at home. Mr. Bolton is a member of the A. F.
& A. AL, while he and his wife both belong to
the O. E. S. She has served several terms as
¦matron ancl has also been delegate to the grand
lodge several times. They are both members of
the Methodist church, and are progressive peo
ple, highly esteemed and of excellent standing.

ANDREW URQUHART is one of the lead
ing farmers ancl fruit men in the northern part
of Wasco county. His- place is situated about
three miles out from The Dalles on Mill creek,
and is one of the good estates of the community.
He has one hundred ancl sixty acres and it is well
improved and produces abundant returns in diver
sified crops and fruits, of which" latter he has
a seven acre bearing orchard. Air. Urquhart
bought this place with his brother and together
they tilled it for some years ancl then he pur
chased the interest of the brother ancl since then
has handled it alone. He is an exemplary man,
a patriotic citizen, and a good neighbor. His
standing in the community is of the best ancl he
has hosts of friends.
Andrew LTrquhart was born in Linlithgow,
Scotland, on March 30, 1848. His father, James
Urquhart, was born in Aberdeen, that country,
and followed farming until he came to the LTnited
States in 1852. He was of an adventurous spirit
and soon made the weary journey across the
plains to try his fortune in the wild west. He
settled at Oak Point, a logging camp on the
Columbia ancl later settled in Napavine, Wash
ington, where he followed merchandising. He
was several times commissioner of Lewis county,
in that state, and represented his district in the
state legislature. Flis death occurred in 1901.
He had married Aliss Ellen Muir, a native of
Linlithgow, Scotland. She died in 1891 at Nap
avine. Our subject came west with his mother

in 1855, the father having come before and pre
pared a place for them. Andrew was educated in
the public schools at Napavine, ancl in 1867,
started in life for himself. He came to The
Dalles and did work in a dairy after which he
took a homestead in Lewis county, Washington.
Six years later he came thence to The Dalles
again and wrought for four years at Rockland,
across the river from that city. He was in the
employ of Thomas Connell. Then he and his
brother bought the farm • as mentioned before.
Mr. Urquhart has the following named broth
ers and sisters : James, a farmer ; Robert, a mer
chant ; and Noble, a farmer, all three being at
Napavine ; William, a merchant at Chehalis,
Washington ; David, Henry, sheriff of Lewis
county, Washington ; Ellen, in California ; Mar
garet, the wife of J. W. Alexander, who died in
1893 ; John died at Chehalis, a pioneer merchant
there and postmaster ; Alexander A., died at The
Dalles, in November, 1903. Sometime before he
was postmaster ancl merchant at Rufus, Oregon,
and David, a merchant at Chehalis, Washington.
Our subject's father was many years on the
school board and a veteran of the Indian wars
of 1855-6. Air. Urquhart has also served much
on the school board ancl is zealous for the ad
vancement of these interests.

CHARLES DAVIDSON, secretary of the
Davidson Fruit Company, and a genial man of
sixty odd years, is one of the well known busi
ness men of Hood River. He was born in Knox
county, Ohio, on June 21, 1840. His father,
William C. Davidson, commonly called Casper,
was a native of Maryland and died in 1884, aged
sixty-seven. He came to Ohio with his parents
when three years of age. His grandfather, the
great-grandfather of our subject, was a sailor
and died at the advanced age of ninety-six. This
venerable gentleman's son, Samuel Davidson,
was a patriot in the War of 1812, and partici
pated in the battle of Bladensburg, and others.
William Davidson married Aliss Louisa Arnold,
a native of Harrison county, Ohio. She is resid
ing in Knox county, aged eighty-four. Pier par
ents were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock and came
from Susquehanna county. Her mother died in
Alissouri, aged eighty-seven, in 1884. Her fa
ther died in 1857, aged sixty-one. Our subject
was educated in the public schools and in 1857
commenced to learn carriage painting. For
three years he served as apprentice, and in this
line he has shown himself an artist, as his wr-rk
is some of the best to be obtained. He has charge
of the vehicle department of the company at

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Hood River and renders valuable service toward
the success of the company in his line. Mr.
Davidson followed painting of carriages in vari
ous sections until 1901, when he came west to
join his son and since that time has continued
in the business with him.
Mr. Davidson has four children ; Amanda B.,
the wife of Albert Whitehead, in the employ of
the company ; Horatio F., mentioned elsewhere
in this work; Ella M., in Hood River; and Alaud
K., the -wife of William H. Chipping, assistant
superintendent of the Electric Light and Water
Company. Politically, Mr. Davidson is an inde
pendent thinker and leans toward socialism. He
was formerly a member of the Greenback party
and is well posted in all political subjects.

ARTHUR J. DAVIDSON, a member of the
Lost Lake Lumber Company at Hood River and
a leading and wealthy business man, was born at
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, on April 26, 1870. His
parents were Payton S. and Addie E. (Johnston)
Davidson. The high school course at LaCrosse
completed the education of our subject, then he
was engaged in the lumber and steamboat busi
ness with his father, uncle and brothers until
the family came to Oregon, in 1889. Since then
he has been associated with his brother, Payton
Davidson, in various enterprises and together
they own much valuable city and country real
estate, besides the lumber business which they
conduct. On December 31, 1903, at Hood River, Air.
Davidson married Miss Clara Mosley, a native
of Chicago. In fraternal circles, Air. Davidson belongs
to the B. P. O. E. and the A. F. & A. AL He is
a good stanch Republican and a well informed
man. He and his wife are popular in the social
circles of Hood River and are highly esteemed
people.

CHARLES E. SANDOZ dwells on Mill
creek, five miles out from The Dalles, where he
owns ninety acres of choice land ancl does gen
eral gardening and fruit raising. He was born
in Switzerland, on September 14, 185 1, the son
of Frederick L. and Julia (Fry) Sandoz, both
natives of Switzerland, where they remained until
their death. The father was a shoemaker in early
life and later followed gardening. In his native
country, our subject received a good education,
learned well the -art of horticulture ancl in 1870,
came to the United States, making settlement in
Kansas. For four and one-half years he oper

ated on rented land there and then came to Cali
fornia, making his headquarters in Los Angeles.
For four years he did landscape gardening in
the city and vicinity and in 1879 came on to The
Dalles in company with his brother. They pur
chased adjoining ranches which were a part of
the old Caldwell donation claim and since that
time our subject has given his entire attention to
the industries mentioned. He is a prosperous
man, well skilled in gardening and a good sub
stantial citizen.
On November 30, 1885, Mr. Sandoz marrried
Miss Laura Heroux, who was born in Chicago,
Illinois, on January 16, 1870. Her parents were
Daniel and Alartha (Bailergeon) Heroux, natives
of Three Rivers, Canada. They were French
people and had dwelt in that country for many
generations. Both are now deceased. Mrs.
Sandoz has the following named brothers and
sisters : Joseph, Arthur, Charles, Alfred, Alma,
Annie, Isabelle and Florence. To our subject
and his wife two children have been born, Julius,
aged eighteen and Emily, aged fifteen. Mr.
Sandoz is a member of the Foresters, and in poli
tics he is an active Republican. He has been
school director for several terms and takes a
lively interest in all affairs of a public nature.
Mrs. Sandoz belongs to the Roman Catholic
church. Mr. Sandoz is a very skillful and talented
landscape gardener. He has done some very
handsome pieces of work, especially in southern
California and is considered one of the best in
this part of the country.

LOUIS A. SANDOZ, who resides on Mill-
creek, a few miles out from The Dalles, was born
in Switzerland, on May 24, 1850. His parents
are Frederick L. and Julienne (Fry) Sandoz.
After receiving his education and an especially
fine training in landscape gardening in his native
country, he came to the United States, and on
January 2, 1868, landed in New York, then went
to Illinois. He did gardening there for six years,
then went to California and in Alenloo Park and
various other places followed his profession. He
did some very choice work, especially in private
gardens of millionaires in that country, and he
was known as a most skillful ancl talented artist
in his line. In 1879, a few months after his
brother, who is mentioned in another portion of
this work, Mr. Sandoz came to Wasco county.
He purchased ninety-eight acres of the old Cald
well donation claim and since that time has given
his attention to fruit raising and gardening. He-
has a very beautiful place and is a thrifty and
progressive man.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

423

On January 2, 1888, Mr. Sandoz married
Mrs. Kate Hunter, who was born in New Jersey,
the daughter of Edward and Kate (Nilligan)
Murphy, natives of Ireland. The mother is de
ceased and the father dwells in New Jersey. Be
sides the brother mentioned, our subject has two
brothers, Henry and August, in California, and
one sister, Airs. Emily Marre, in Switzerland.
Airs. Sandoz has four sisters residing in New
Jersey. To our subject and his wife the follow
ing named children have been born : Eileen, Isa-
belle, Catherine, Arnold, Edward and Rollen. In
politics, Mr. Sandoz is Democratic, and in edu
cational matters he is active and progressive. He
has served three terms as school director and
gave universal satisfaction in that capacity.

HANS HANSEN, of the firm of Hansen
& Thomsen at The Dalles, is a well known busi
ness man of energy and good reputation. The
firm does a large business and is operating a fine
planing mill ancl a saw mill. The planing mill is
at 410 Third street and is one of the best equipped
plants in this part of the country. .They make a
specialty of manufacturing all kinds of fruit
boxes, crates ancl so forth, and in addition do all
kinds of shop carpentering, together with turn
ing and so forth. Their saw mill is located on
Chenoweth creek and has a capacity of fifteen
thousand feet per clay. Their pay rool includes
from twenty-six to forty men.
Hans Hansen was born in Schleswig-Hol-
stein, Germany, on Alarch 4, 1855, the son of
Hans and Alaria (Iversen) Hansen, natives of
the same place. The father came from an old
German family who had dwelt there for many
generations. They both died in their native land,
the father in the early sixties and the mother
twenty-one years later. After receiving his edu
cation in the public schools, our subject learned
the carpenter trade and in 1878, came to Clinton
county, Iowa. Two years later, he journeyed
thence via San Francisco to the Hood River
country and for one year labored there with
Carl Jensen, clearing land. The latter had filed
on a property now owned by Chris Dethman,
mentioned elsewhere in this work. They be
came discouraged, as there were few settlers and
no markets, and left the claim. Mr. Hansen
then secured employment on the O. R. & N.
until 1888, being foreman in their repair shops.
At the date last mentioned, he quit the railroad
shops ancl began general contracting and build
ing, then was employed by Hugh Glenn, until
he opened his present establishment in iP"'

partnership with John P. Thomsen. Their plan
ing mill and factory are a large two story struct
ure, fifty by one hundred feet, supplied with all
the latest machinery known to that business.
They have a thirty horse power electric motor
which is operated to its full capacity almost all
of the time. Mr. Hansen is a very skillful and
enterprising man and is a master of the various
departments in their business.
On November 21, 1881, at The Dalles, Ore
gon, Air. Hansen married Caroline A., the
daughter of Carsten and Anna M. Friederichsen.
a native of Schleswig-Holstein. She came to
the United States in 1881 direct to The Dalles,
where she married our subject on the clay men
tioned. Her parents came from old and promi
nent German families and are now living in that
country. Mr. Hansen has the following named
brothers and sisters : Hans M., Thomas, de
ceased, Jens C, deceased, Johannes, deceased,
and Margretha, the wife of B. Hansen. Thomas
served during the Franco-Prussian war and died
at Weisenberg. He was three years in that war.
In fact all of Air. Hansen's brothers were in the
same war. To Air. and Airs. Hansen four chil
dren have been born, Carl, now in Allegheny,
Pennsylvania ; Fred, in the mill, and Anna and
Ella at school.
Mr. Flansen is a member of the A. O. U.
W., and the W. W., and has pased all the chairs
of both orders. He has represented the former
lodge three times at the grand lodge.
Politically, Air. Hansen is independent. He
has been twice city councilman, twice water com
missioner and is a member of the same now, and
is often at the Democratic county conventions.
In 1902, Air. Hansen, accompanied by his wife
ancl two daughters, spent four months at the old
home in Germany. They enjoyed the trip im
mensely, especially as Mrs. Hansen's mother is
still living on the old home place, being now
aged ninety. Still, after visiting the various
places to be seen in that journey, they were quite
content to return to the good old Wasco county
country, assured it was the best after all.

CHARLES T. POWNE, well known in and
about Antelope, is at the head of a flourishing
grocery store at Antelope and is rated
as one of the leading and substantial bus
iness men of the town. He was born in
Lincolnshire, England, on December 25,
1867, the son of William and Marion
(Groves) Powne, natives of Cornwall and Dor
setshire, England, respectively. The father was
a physician and died at Cornwall, England, in

424

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

I9°4, June 20. The mother's people were an old
Dorset family. She died in 1896. Our subject
was educated in the Swindon high school in Wilt
shire, ancl under private tutors. In 1888 he came
to the vicinity of Lennox, Ontario, and worked
on a farm. Thence he went to Manitoba and
raised wheat for four years, buying land from
the railroad there. From that point he came to
Wasco county and entered the employ of Van
Duyn Adams & Company, at Tygh Valley. In
1896 he came to Antelope and was with Bolton
•& Company until 1902, when he opened his pres
ent store. This has occupied his attention since
and he has now a fine business.
On June 1, 1898, Mr. Powne married Aliss
Willetta Ashby, at Antelope. She was born in
Washington, the daughter of William J. Ashby.
Mr. Powne has the following named brothers and
sisters ; Leslie, a physician at Crediton, Devon
shire, England; Arthur L. and William A., cattle
man in Alberta ; Harold and Cecil, wheat raisers
in Manitoba; Bernard O., in New Mexico; Kate,
wife of Harry Granger, a capitalist of London,
England; Winifred, wife of T. Wood Robinson,
of his majesty's steamship, Excellent; Agnes,
wife of Mr. Langlon, a physician in Hartford-
shire, England; and Olive, single, and in Eng
land. Mr. and Mrs. Powne have one child,
Nonnan S. G. Air. Powne is a member of the A.
F. & A. M., the A. O. U. W„ and in politics is
an active Republican. He is now city treasurer,
and he and his wife belong to the Episcopalian
-church. They are popular young people and
have many friends, being upright, worthy, and
progressive. Air. Powne is closing out his business at An
telope and, with E. A. Priday, has purchased
the interests of J. J. Alonroe, of Adel, Lake
county, this state. They have incorporated, the
style of the business being the Warner Valley
Mercantile Company.

HENRY WAKERLIG has demonstrated
his grit and pluck in his endeavors in Wasco
and adjoining counties, for his path has been
beset with many losses and hardships which he
has overcome only by sheer force of will ancl de
termination. At present he is dwelling at Bake
oven, being the postmaster there. He was born
in Switzerland, August 1, 1853, the son of John
and Regla (Frei) Wakerlig, also natives of
Switzerland. The father served from twenty-
one to forty-five in the Swiss army, two weeks
and one clay each alternate year. Our subject
grew up on his father's farm, received his edu
cation from the parochial schools ancl in 1883
¦came to the United States. He came direct to

Oregon, and herded sheep for Solomon Hauser,
deceased, for eight months. Then he located his
family in the vicinity of where Shaniko now
stands and herded sheep for three years, being in
the employ of Al Porter, E. AL Gilsay, ancl Wil
liam Jones. In 1886 he bought four hundred
sheep and started in for himself. He went to
Crook county and took a pre-emption in the Pau
lina valley that fall, and the hard winter took
half of his sheep. In the fall of 1887 he sold his
place there and returned to the vicinity of Shan
iko. He rented the same place where he had
first left his family and the next year took a home
stead and timber culture on Ocheco creek, a mile
a half from Bakeoven, where he lived until 1889.
He purchased eleven hundred sheep which he
added to his others now increased to twenty-
seven hundred. That winter he lost all but three
hundred of his sheep. He placed that remnant
with another man's sheep ancl commenced to
herd again, as he was in debt and forced to raise
money. Two years were thus occupied and he
finally made another start. And since that time
he has had better success. In January, 1902, he
purchased the place where he now resides, having
moved there two years previously. He had be
tween nine and ten thousand sheep, but now
handles about six thousand. He owns three
thousand nine hundred acres of land, ancl culti
vates three hundred to grain and hay. There are
seventeen hundred acres of good tillable land in
the estate. He also owns fifty cattle and as many
horses, and is one of the wealthy men of the
county, all of which is the result of his determi
nation to make a success, which he has done.
In Switzerland, on December 12, 1876, Air.
Wakerlig married Miss Alary, the daughter of
Jacob and Katherine Wittweiler, both natives of
Switzerland. Mr. Wakerlig has one brother,
Frederick, a sculptor in his native land, and one
sister, Barbara, the wife of Donathe Wittmer, a
wagonmaker in New Haven, Connecticut. The
wife has no brothers but two half sisters, Airs.
Katherine Alyer, and Annie. Our subject ancl his
wife have ten children, Henry, Edwin, Ernest,
Walter, Mary, Bertha, Rosie, Julia, Annie and
Minnie. Alary is the wife of Albert AIcKinlev,
three miles south from our subject's home, and
Bertha is the wife of Roy Logan, living near,
and the balance of the children are all at home.
ATr. Wakerlig is a Republican, ancl is active in
school matters, having been director for many
years.

HON. JOHN AIICHELL, residing in The
Dalles, is a pioneer citizen of that city and of
Wasco county, also. He was born in England,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

425

the son of William and Ursula Michell, and came
to America with his mother when an infant. They
went direct to Dodgeville, Wisconsin, and there
he resided during his early youth, receiving some
training in the common schools. After that
he worked at the printer's trade, and in due time
the tales of the wonderful west aroused the de
sires of liis mother to see the country west of the
Rockies, ancl she made the pilgrimage, landing
in The Dalles, January 7, 1865, having with her
her son, John, ancl daughter, Ursula. In 1875,
Air. Michell went to the University of Alichigan,
at Ann Arbor, ancl in 1877, he graduated from
the law department of that institution, standing
high in his class. Mr. Michell has practiced law
very little, but has mainly devoted his energies
and ability to newspaper work. Fie entered part
nership with R. J. Marsh on April 27, 1880, and
began the publication of The Dalles Weekly
Times. Later he purchased his partner's interest
and m 1882 bought the Mountaineer, consolidat
ing it with the Times, as the Times-Mountaineer,
over which he presided as owner and editor un
til 1895, in which year he sold to J. A. Douthit.
As a journalist, Mr. Michell enjoyed the repu
tation of being "A fearless and able writer, al
ways possesssing the courage of his convictions."
Under his management the Times-Mountaineer
was one of the leading Republican papers in the
entire state of Oregon, and although a strong par
tisan, Mr. Michell was strongly opposed to boss-
ism ancl clique rule in the party. Being a resident
of The Dalles since 1865, ne is intimately ac
quainted with the history and development of the
country, has won for himself the unstinted ap
proval of the people, ancl enjoys an excellent repu
tation both as a business man, editor and public
speaker. As stated before, Air. Alichell is a strong Re
publican, made the campaign for that party in
Klickitat county, Washington, and Wasco coun
ty, Oregon, for the fall of 1896, and showed him
self a fearless, convincing ancl talented public
speaker. In June, 1896, Air. Michell's name ap
peared on the Republican ticket for state senator
from Sherman and Wasco counties, and he was
promptly elected by the largest majority on the
ticket. He made a first class representative ot
this section ancl won many plaudits. During the
vears of 1901-3, Mr. Alichell was in government
service in Washington, D. C.
Although not privileged to receive the ad
vantages of a classical college, he, nevertheless,
owing to studious habits, has made himself famil
iar with the classics, ancl is a man of broad range
of important information in the sciences ancl liter
ature. Air. Alichell is a member of several frat rnd

societies, having passed- the chairs in the Odd
Fellows, Knights of Pythias, the Elks, Red Alen,
and Maccabees.
In 1880, Mr. Michell married Miss Ella Bui-,
ger, the wedding occurring at The Dalles. One
child has been born, Maud Elaine, 1883, being the
year of her nativity.

DANIEL M. FRENCH, deceased. It is
quite impossible to compile a work of this charac
ter on Central Oregon without giving especial
mention to the esteemed gentleman whose name
is mentioned at the head of this article, and it is
with great pleasure that we grasp this opportunity
to grant to his memory this tribute of a review of
the salient features of his active and important
career. Daniel M. French was born in Holland, Ver
mont, on June 16, 1828. His parents, Joshua and
Polly (Mead) French, were born in New Hamp
shire, in 1803 and in 1801, respectively, and fol
lowed farming. Young French was reared on
the farm and attended the district schools until
he entered Brownington Academy where he com
pleted his education. Then he spent two years
in Massachusetts and later two years in Louis
iana. After that he went with the western tide,
traveling via the isthmus to California. For eight
years he was a resident of the Golden State and
for a portion of the time was engaged in the allur
ing employment of mining. Afterward he oper
ated a ferry across the Stanislaus river in com
pany with his brothers, then went to San Fran
cisco and in partnership with his brother, Joshua
W., conducted a roofing business until 1862. In
that year, Mr. French journeyed to the north and
finally selected The Dalles, then but a trading
post, as his location. He soon opened a large gen
eral merchandise store, being in company with
Granville B. Gilman, and the firm was known as
Gilman, French & Company. Joshua W. and Jo
seph M. French, brothers of our subject, were also
interested in the business, although at that time
they were not residents of The Dalles. However,
Joshua W. joined Daniel at The Dalles in 1864.
The firm did business for some years and then our
subject and his brother, Joshua W., purchased the
interests of the others, the style of the firm being
then, French & Company. This firm continued
in the mercantile business, being leaders in that
line, until 187; when they sold out to Brooks &
AlcFarland. For two years succeeding this sale,
the French Brothers conducted a money broker
age business, handling loans, and so forth. In
1877, tney formed the banking house French &
Company, which has continued the leading finan-

426

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

cial institution of Central Oregon from that date
to the present. Air. French was a natural born
financier, and added to this he had received a
thorough schooling in business and he brought
to bear in his labors all these • qualifications with
the telling result that he placed himself at the head
of this strong banking house, making it what it
has been and is to this day. His policy was al
ways the wisest and best and his integrity, pro
bity and unquestioned ability to handle financial
problems gave his institution a standing second to
none on the Pacific coast. Together with this,
Mr. French was an ardent laborer for the growth
and upbuilding of The Dalles and the state in gen
eral. His sagacity and his keen foresight were
of "inestimable benefit in these important lines and
the name of Daniel AL French is indelibly stamp
ed on the city of The Dalles and this part of Ore
gon. His popularity was as extended as his ac
quaintance and he was genial, kind and generous,
which placed him in great esteem among the peo
ple. One point in the life of Mr. French, which
we would not omit, was his kindly generosity that
never turned away an unfortunate individual with
out ministering to him. He was always assisting
his fellows in times of depression and many an
one cherishes his memory on account of these
good deeds. While Mr. French gave his personal
attention to the bank mentioned, he was also asso
ciated with numerous important enterprises, be
ing president of the Gilman French Land & Live
Stock Company, and of the Arlington National
Bank, director of the old Wasco Warehouse
Company and the Wasco Warehouse and Milling
Company, besides holding leading positions in
various other ventures.
While Mr. French took the part in politics
that becomes every loyal citizen, he never as
pired to office during his long and important busi
ness career, but untiringly labored for his friends
content to have others fill public places. He was
a strong Republican and was able to give good
reasons for his political belief. Altogether, Mr.
French was a leading citizen, a sturdy pioneer, a
stanch business man, and a true and faithful
friend and he stood one of the most popular resi
dents of this part of the state.
In 1865, Mr. French married Miss Allie M.
Gee, of Vermont, and to them were born two chil
dren ; Herbert Bancroft, who died at the age of
seven years ; and Elsie Maude, now Mrs. Charles

J. Pease, of Marin county, California. Mrs.
French died in January, 1875.
In September, 1876, Mr. French married Miss
Samantha A. Carter and to them the following
named children were born ; Elizabeth E., the wife
of Ernst L. Lueddemann, of The Dalles ; Ruth
Constance ; and Paul M., in the bank with his
uncle, Joshua W. French. Also they had two
children who are now deceased.
Finally, on January 12, 1902, the summons
came for Air. French to lay down the things of
time where he had wrought well and long and to
enter upon the realities of the world to come. His
funeral was a season of sincere and widespread
mourning and grief, for all knew that a great
man and a benefactor had passed from their
midst. Mrs. French is now residing in The Dalles
and nas a wide circle of admiring friends. She
was born in Iowa, on August 8, 1850. Her pa
rents, Robert and Eleanor (Howard) Carter,
started across the plains in early days. The fa
ther died en route, but the mother lived to com
plete the journey and remained in the western
country assisting in its upbuilding until her death
at The Dalles, in 1897. Mrs. French was but
eighteen months of age when the journey across
the plains started. Cholera was the dread scourge
that swept away the father, and the widowed
mother with four children, two sons and two
daughters, the girls being twins, "made her way to
Oregon City. The teams were oxen and the
journey was attended with great hardship and
suffering. Later Mrs. Carter married Charles
Adams and they located on a donation claim near
Oregon City. Four years later they removed to-
Albany an dthence to Salem. In 1871, they came~
across the mountains, locating in the vicinity of
Antelope. Mr. Adams, stepfather of Mrs. French,
was a man of influence and prominence and was
riosely identified with church work where he re
sided. He was engaged much in raising stock
but of later years retired from active business.
Mrs. French is an official member and active,.
earnest worker of the Methodist Episcopal
church ; she is also a member of the W. C. T. U.
and the Sorosis club and is one of the leading
ladies of The Dalles. She is a charming hostess.
and presides over her home with a gracious hos
pitality that renders it the center of refinement
and comfort.

PART III

HISTORY OF SHERMAN COUNTY

CHAPTER I

CURRENT EVENTS— 1805 TO 1905.

Sherman, the second county to be considered
in this History of Central Oregon, is the small
est in Eastern Oregon, although there are five
smaller west of the Cascades. Sherman was taken
from Wasco and was the last formed from the
"Mother of Counties," having been set aside in
1889. To glance at it on the map one might
reach a point in imagination when one could
believe that a six or ten-horse wheat team could
not be turned around without upsetting the
wagon into the John Day or Des Chutes river.
Our analysis of its resources will show that it is
"the biggest little county" on the Pacific Coast.
During the early days explorers and trap
pers of the Hudson's Bay and other companies
many times passed through or by, the territory
now designated as Sherman county. Quite fre
quently they voyaged up and down the Columbia,
its northern boundary, on their way between in
terior posts and Fort ATancouver. Undoubtedly
the Lewis and Clark party were the first white
men to gaze upon its limits. The several explor
ing parties who passed along the Columbia in
the early part of the Nineteenth Century, must,
certainly, have obtained an inadequate idea of
the country, as along th*e banks of the Columbia
at this point there is not an inviting prospect.
In the '40's when the tide of immigration set
in toward the Willamette Valley, the route lay
through what is now Sherman countv and pene
trated further into its interior than had the trap
pers and explorers. The "old emigrant road" en
tered Sherman county over the John Day river a

short distance below the mouth of Rock creek, .
crossed the county, passing through one and one-
half mile north of the site of the present town of
Wasco and crossing the Des Chutes at its mouth.
The road led to The Dalles, where the immi
grants either embarked in canoes for the trip
down the Columbia or, after 1846, proceeded by
way of the "Barlow Road" over the Cascade
mountains. The "old emigrant road" alluded to
was constructed abut 1847. If entered the county
one mile below Leonard's bridge, climbed the hill
in a southwesterly direction, paralleled Grass
Valley canyon until near the present site of Grass
Valley, where it entered the canyon and contin
ued southwesterly to Buck Hollow. The immi
grants ferried themselves across the Des Chutes
on wagon boxes one mile north of Sherar's
bridge. When Dr. Marcus Whitman journeyed west
ward with the first settlers of Oregon, in 1843, it
is said that the soldiers who were sent from the
coast met them at the point where De Moss
Springs is now located, owned by Professor J.
Al. De Moss. Here camped the soldiers and im
migrants together for several days under the
high, though beautiful bluff of rocks known to
many who have passed along that route since
Whitman's decease. These springs are about a
dozen in number, ancl all on this immigrant route.
This was the original road across Sherman
county. Describing this locality January 1, 1898,
The Dalles Times-Mountaineer said: "Here is
found a body of land seemingly set aside for the-

423

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

use of a favored class. A tract almost forty miles
square, bounded on the east, west and north by
the John Day, Des Chutes and Columbia rivers,'
and on the south by a deep gorge so abrupt that
with the others it makes a vast section of land
set apart from all others. A typical prairie
country it supported a heavy growth of prairie
grass, differing only from the great plains in the
fact that it is rolling and intersected with can
yons. These canyons, however, are not rocky
and are easily accessible. All along the horizon
loom majestic mountains, covered with timber,
and occasionally the towering summit of a snow
peak rises high above all else, a thing of grandeur
to be admired. On the east are the Blue Moun
tains ; on the west the Cascades and most im
portant of all Mount Hood — the pride of Ore
gon — shows itself so all may look ancl admire.
"Here, on this rolling table land the weary
immigrant lingered to rest his tired teams, and
nature's treatment soon rejuvenated not only the
beasts of burden, but tired man as well that he
might travel onward to his destination. An occa-
-sional band of antelopes, always fat, as a result
•of the superior quality of feed furnished by the
country of their nativity, always fleet of foot,
served to relieve the monotony as well as furnish
ing many a toothsome morsel for the simple meal.
And no less important were the festive coyote and
the ungainly jack rabbit."
Although in these early days thousands of
immigrants passed through Sherman county on
their way to the Willamette Valley, not one
stopped off, or even thought of the country be
tween the John Day and Des Chutes as a place of
residence. It was not until 1859 that the first
settler came and made his home here. As is al
most invariably the case accurate data relating to
the first settlers of any county is difficult to ob
tain. Two or three drove stock into this country
in 1859. During the next decade several more
came, all engaging in the stock business. Quite a
number came during the '70's. But it was not
until 1878 and the few years following that the
country between the John Day and Des Chutes
rivers received any number of settlers. It was
then that the countr}- was found to be capable of
producing crops. After that the settlement was
rapid. We shall endeavor to give the story of
the early settlement of the countv in as compre
hensive a manner as the available data will allow.
Perhaps the first person to settle between the
John Day ancl Des Chutes rivers was William
Graham. He came some time about 1858 ancl lo
cated at a place now known as Thomas Miller
fruit farm on the Des Chutes. Air. Graham is
said to have grazed the first horses on the range.
Soon he was followed by others until the number

of horses and cattle in this county alone ran up
into the hundreds of thousands. We have used
the word "perhaps" advisedly, for the question
concerning the date of his settlement is still prob
lematical. In the early days Barnum worked for The
Dalles Alilitary Wagon Road Company. At the
time he located here he placed scrip on the land,
but this title not being considered good he after
wards homesteaded the place. It is now a por
tion of the present town of Aloro.
Of this "hard winter" predicted with such
surprising accuracy, by Air. Barnum, it may be
said that during several weeks in February and
March of 1862, the temperature indicated 40
degrees below zero at the express station between
Des Chutes and John Day rivers. Several Flor
ence miners perished in the snow between Walla
Walla and The Dalles. Nothing but the peri
phery of the hills remain about the old stage road
below what is now Wasco by which the visitor
of 1861-2 can today fix the location. The bunk
room in which tons of gold dust were stored, as
at the Alaska trail inns now ; the grouty old
keeper ; the nimble drivers and the dogs are miss
ing; also the weather — 40 degrees below zero
for six weeks' duration, with a travel record of
fifty-seven miles from Walla Walla to The Dalles,
and several good men frozen to death. In her
"Reminiscences of Oregon" Mrs. Lord says :
A party of men who had been at the Colville
mines were on their way down to The Dalles ; on reach
ing the John Day river the stage, or whatever con
veyance they were using could come no further, so
seven men decided to walk. They were Jager, Mulkey,
Galliger, Gay, Moody and two others. Galliger was an
Irishman, very poorly clothed, tall and muscular. Jager
was of medium size, or under, wore two suits of
clothes and an overcoat. They tried to dissuade him
from attempting the trip, but he was very anxious
to get home to Portland. Mulkey was a heavy set,
rather large man, past middle age, heavily dressed and
with a heavy belt of gold around his waist under his
clothing. The others I do not know much about.
The snow was two feet deep on the level and
badly drifted. They took turns in going ahead and
breaking the road. Some of them unwisely used stimu
lants to counteract the cold, but the reaction left
them in worse condition than before. The big Irish
man never flagged and finally had to break the trail all
the time. He came in without a blemish ; Jager gave
out and wanted to give up long before the others.
They did everything in their power to bring him
through, but he would not try, so they were forced to
leave him unconscious. Galliger got through to the
Des Chutes and sent out help for the others.
When they got to the fire no one knew better than

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

429,

to let them thaw, and none of them knew what their
real condition was. Mulkey was dreadfully frozen and
went to bed with most of his clothes on. For days
he would not allow them to be taken off. When he
was finally forced to let them be removed the gold belt
was found; they supposed he was afraid of being
robbed. His condition was something dreadful, and he
soon died. The two young men were brought in, taken
to the garrison, and 'had to have parts of their toes
and feet amputated. The body o'f Jager was brought
in and put into a metallic coffin filled with alcohol,
and placed in a storeroom until the ice went out of the
Columbia and they were enabled to send it home.
Two other men were frozen the same winter in at
tempting to make the same trip. One wandered off
toward the Columbia and his remains were not found
until the next spring.
D. G. Leonard settled on the John Day river
in 1861. He conducted a road house ancl ferry
and subsequently erected a bridge across the
John Day which for many years was used by-
stages. The place is now known as Leonard's
Bridge. In 1862  Alasiker came ancl lo
cated on Military Road Land. Shortly afterward
he died and his widow married Samuel Price
who had been working for Alasiker. Jesse Eaton
settled one ancl one-half miles northwest of what
is now Wasco, in 1864. Here he conducted a
road house, and also took up a claim in the Wasco
settlement, which was then known as Spanish
Hollow. To Air. Eaton should be given the credit
of growing the first grain in what is now Sher
man county. This was not wheat, but rye, which
he raised for hay ancl, with horses, trampled out
sufficient seed for the following season.
The stage road, built in 1864, between The
Dalles and Walla Walla, ran up from the mouth
of the Des Chutes through what is now known as
Fulton's canyon ; passed by Samuel Price's stage
station, now Poplar Grove ; thence to Locust
Grove and on to Jesse Eaton's place ; thence to
what is now Wasco to Klondyke and by Webfoot
Springs to Leonard's Bridge on the John Day
River. It was in use until 1881. By the con
struction of this road travel to the Idaho mines
was deflected to Walla Walla. Traffic over this
highway was enormous and travelers had again
an opportunity to see, as had the earlier immi
grants, the bunch grass hills of Sherman county.
Mr. A. J. Price settled in the county about
1865. The Finnegan Brothers located six miles
south of Grass Valley in 1867 and engaged in
stock growing. In 1869 John Gilland came to
the C. E. Jones place about one mile from De
Moss Springs and engaged in the same business.
Shortly following Mr. Gould settled on a claim
near Rosebush, five miles east of Grass Valley, on

a farm that still bears his name. Practically he
became the first settler in southern Sherman
county. Air. Gould was followed by James Pier-
son, who located in Grass Valley, about six miles
from Leonard's Bridge. This was in 1870. He,
too, engaged in stock raising. About this time-
Alr. James Jenkins came into the country with
a large band of horses. He settled near what is
now Alurray Springs where, aside from plant
ing the first fruit orchard, he engaged exten
sively in raising stock. Air. Jenkins was, un
doubtedly, the pioneer in fruit culture, and was
the first to demonstrate that lands along the riv
ers would produce excellent fruit (which has
since been well attested, and in addition that the
uplands as well, grow as fine fruit as was ever-
placed on the market.) Air. Jenkins', with other-
orchards adjoining, has become a very valuable
piece of property.
In 1870, five miles south of Grass Valley,
Alat Ingleman located and engaged in stock rais
ing. James Alackin, in 187 1, settled near what:
is now Kent, but at that period known as Buck
Hollow. He engaged in stock raising. John
Harrington came to Sherman county in 1872 and
was among the first to engage in the since won
derfully developed sheep industry. The reader -
will bear in mind that in speaking of the advent
of these early pioneers we refer to the territory
now comprised in Sherman county as distinct
from Wasco county. Sherman county had not
then evolved. Ten miles south of what is now
Grass Valley Tilford Aloore settled in 1872, and1
began raising stock. In 1864 Air. Cornwall lo
cated on what is known as Alackin place in Buck
Hollow, with cattle, and in 1878 a man known as
"French Pete" settled on "Jack Knife." With the
exception of John Harrington his advent marked'
the beginning of the sheep era. J. H. Smith
came all the way from New Brunswick to Sher
man countv in 1876 ; he embarked in the busi
ness of rearing sheep. Air. James Frazier was
not long in discovering the advantages of Sher
man countv, and soon had under way a most
profitable business. Judge John Fulton move
to the present Sherman county in 1878, and set
tled about nine miles west of what is now Wasco.
He engaged in stock raising and general farm
ing, being, in- fact, one of the first agriculturists
in Sherman county. In 1880 Judge Fulton and
William Walker brought a threshing machine
from another locality and threshed their grain.
William Walker, in company with his brother
lames, came in 1878 and located west of Wasco,
where they successfully engaged in general
farming. Settlement on the present site of Grass Val
ley was enlarged during the year 1879 by the ar--

430

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

rival of George W. Bates and Adam Keast. It is
said by Dr. E. R. Rollins that this year of 1879
he raised and threshed the first wheat ever
threshed in what is now Sherman county. At
the beginning of the year 1878 there were living
in that portion of Wasco, that is now Sherman
county, only forty-two white people. The first
settlers in that portion of the county where is now
the site of Grass Valley were Dr. C. R. 'Rollins,
John W. Dow, Frank Richie and a Mr. Locks.
They came in 1878. The first postoffice within
the present limits of the county was at Spanish
Hollow, two miles northwest of the present site
of the town of Wasco. Jesse Eaton was the
primal postmaster. Henry Barnum was the first
justice of the peace and John Fulton the first con
stable within present county boundaries. They
were elected in 1878 ; the entire territory now
comprising the county was known as Eaton's
precinct. It must be born in mind that they were
then officials of Wasco county, Eaton's being one
of Wasco county's precincts.
During the year '1880 that part of Sherman,
once a portion of Wasco, county was rapidly set
tled. In its issue of May 4. 1880, the Weekly
Times of The Dalles said: "In our own county,
between the John Day and Des Chutes rivers,
the bunch grass hills are dotted with cabins of
settlers some of whom came from the far-off
states, and others from the Palouse and other sec
tions of the country in Washington. We have
no desire to be boastful, but there is no doubt
that eastern Oregon is fast filling up with an ag
ricultural population."
Among others who came in 1880 were : W. H.
Biggs, W. A. Alurchie, W. AL Barnett, Abil Ers-
kine, Henry Root, Rufus, John, Captain, W. H,
Henry, C. W. and Lawrence Moore, George C.
Vinton, Sr., and George C, Jr., and Air. Cush
man. A correspondent of The Dalles Times
writing from Spanish Hollow under date of No
vember 4, 1880, said :
As a result of settling up these bunch grass plains
there were 62 votes cast at Eaton's on election day,
besides there were ten or fifteen who absented themselves.
A majority of them have settled here within the last
year. As I ride over the hills I meet on every hand
new houses and improvements. Many of the dwellings
would do credit to older settlements. They have just
-completed a school house; had church services in it
last Sunday, when 50 settlers assembled with lunch
baskets, etc., and spent the day in getting acquainted
with each other.
A thief marred their pleasure by "going through"
the houses of Messrs. Biggs and Love while the inmates
were at church, robbing the former of $600 and the
latter of a pistol. He did the job like an experienced

hand at the business. The theft has created consider
able excitement and the settlers have formed a vigilance
committee and all future thieves will be found dangling
from the end of a rope, labeled with their occupation,
by a "court and jury" of vigilantes.
December 20th the correspondent added the
following :
I hear the vigilantes have perfected a plan by
which they can catch any thief that travels this road
by a code of signals. It seems there is a class of men
who can't pass a thing lying around loose along the
road without packing it off, to the great annoyance of
the owners. A few of this reckless class of thieves
will swing shortly, no doubt; and right here let me
pray the county court to appoint us a justice of the
peace, as there is not one within twenty-five miles of us.
February 20th he wrote :
The winter has been long and the stock is dying
fast. Cattle and sheep are faring poorly. I think
fully one-half of these have died. Horses are, also,
very poor and some have died. If some of your mer
chants would come out here and start a store I think
it would pay them. There is no store that amounts
to anything on this side of the_ Des Chutes river where
we can get goods by the wholesale. * * * There
is a movement in the direction of getting a post route
from Grant's Landing to Bakeoven, with offices along
the road. This will be of great benefit to the settlers
in this section. The man who starts the first store
will "hit the nail on the head."
Bruno F. Aiedler located at Wasco in 1881.
He has the distinction of having owned the first
header brought into Sherman county. A Grass
A^aliey correspondent of The Dalles Times said
December 25, 1881 : "This part of Wasco county
is fast settling up, and where one year ago there
were but two or three settlers, there are now from
25 to 30 families. The crops this year were
splendid ancl the country seems to be in a pros
perous condition and bids fair to become an agri
cultural instead of the grazing region which it
has been."
The first "woman farmer" in Sherman
county was, undoubtedly, Aliss Annie Fulton,
sister of Judge Fulton. She secured land near
AVasco in 1882, which she owned ancl operated
successfully. Other pioneers of 1882 were: W.
J. Armsworthy, George L. Doyle, Del Porter,
Clark Dunlap, John Fortius ancl H. O. Corsan.
Air. Biggs was the first farmer to use a gang
plow. Of Sherman county, as it was in 1882,
Mr. George L. Doyle says :

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

431

It was in the month of August, 1882, that I first
beheld what is now known as Sherman county. It
was at that time an almost unbroken bunch grass
prairie from the Des Chutes to the John Day rivers ; the
stockman's paradise where vast herds of horses, cattle
and sheep grazed to their knees in bunch grass — one
of the finest and most succulent grasses that grows —
and where the antelope and frisky jack- rabbit roamed
at their own sweet will, and the Siwash was monarch
of all he surveyed. * * * The first place I saw
was Grass Valley, then occupied by Dr. Rollins, the
only physician between the two rivers. There were
a few small places between Grass Valley and the
present site of Moro. After passing Gordon ridge the
small patches of plowing became more frequent. The
road at that time followed the top of the ridges and
easiest grades until it reached Spanish Hollow near
the Eaton stock ranch. It was near here that I saw
the first and only header at that time in Sherman
county. It was at the Pugh place and was owned by
B. F. Medler. The Dunlap and Chapman stock farms
came next and there was our pioneer merchant, William
Barnett, who had a store and was postmaster at Spanish
Hollow — the only postoffice between Des Chutes and
John Day rivers.
The present site of Wasco was at that time pasture
land owned by Messrs. Dunlap, Biggs, MacPherson and
Armsworthy. The amount of land under cultivation
in the county in 1882 could not have exceeded 1,000
acres, being in patches of from ten to twenty acres.
The ground cut could not have been over 500 acres.
The only 28-inch thresher run by horse-power was owned
by B. F. Medler and Julius Wiesick, and was the first
one in the county. It was a very crude outfit. Con
sidering distance between farms there was a great
loss of time moving from setting to setting. It was not
uncommon to move from four to six miles for settings
that yielded only from 200 to 500 bushels. The farmers
paid for the settings, but not by the bushel. There was
not a bushel of grain sold outside of the county, as
it was needed for bread and feed for the fall and
winter of 1882 and 1883. In the fall of 1882 after
the crops were in the next consideration was wood for
winter use. We concluded to go to Jack Knife and
Pine Hollow for juniper wood. We took the road that
crossed Grass Valley canyon at the place now known
as McDonald's bridge, thence south following the ridges,
and camping wherever we could find water, which was
generally at the bottoms of the canyons. Water was our
first consideration, so if we happened to make a dry
camp at night, we always aimed to give the stock a
chance to feed and make up for lost time when we
got to where there was water. We would drive as
near as we could get to the wood and leaving our
wagons, we went down into the canyons, chopping our
wood and after snaking it to the wagons, loaded and
started back home. Possibly some reader may think
we got cheap wood, and had a snap getting it, but I

can say from experience, and all who have been there
will agree with me, that we earned the wood.
To commence farming in the territory now
known as Sherman county, required no great
amount of capital — a good span of horses, a plow,
willingness to work, a fair constitution — these
were about all the requirements necessary to
found a home and enter upon prosperity. The
government fee for entering land was only a few
dollars. If one did his share nature kindly com
pleted the task. And during the early '80's the
country was rapidly settled ; agriculture crowded
stock-raising for the honor of being the leading
industry. To illustrate the progress made in
1885, Sherman county produced 1,654,210 bush
els of wheat.
The Dalles, being the head of navigation on
the Columbia river was, naturally, the supply
point for all this vast country. The usual trans
portation was by freight wagons, until the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company's lines were
built along the northern boundary of the county.
In the early '80's this road was constructed. Then
it was that Sherman county began to develop pre
eminence as a wheat-growing section. Prob
ably the first men to come to Sherman county in
search of wheat land were Alessrs. O. AL and
Hugh Scott. They came from a magnificent
wheat belt the soil of which was not dissimilar
to that they purposed to till. Thus, it was not a
slow, steady, growth, but the grain enterprise
appeared almost spontaneous. Aletaphorically
speaking Sherman county had been transformed
in one night. For the poor man it became a para
dise. Hundreds came ; hundreds founded homes.
The carpenter plied his vocation building houses ;
the blacksmith came with his tools ; the merchant
saw ancl Appreciated the advantages offered to do
business. Shortly afterward the golden cereal
was being transferred from what was to
be Sherman county by the trainload. It
was the largest wheat belt in the world not in
tersected by a railroad. Year after year wagon
load after wagon load was hauled to the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company's stations
at Rufus and Biggs. Wood, coal, lumber and
other supplies were hauled back ; the farmer
prospered. With such magnificent prospects in view it
was only natural that the citizens of the territory
between the Des Chutes and John Day rivers
should desire to be set aside as a county by
themselves. The reasons for this were thus set
forth by Air. George L. Doyle :
"Like all new communities in America, about
this time we began to think we had some say in
governing our destinies, and began to bud and

432

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

bloom into full fledged politicians. Although a
part of Wasco county, we were so far removed
from the county seat that we were merely figure
heads ; all county business requiring a trip of
thirty miles and more which was a great expense
and loss of time. The topographical lay of the
present county seemed, as we thought, to call for
the forming of a new county between the Des
Chutes and the John Day rivers. That we were
right has been proven beyond doubt, and we have
at present one of the richest and best governed
counties in the state, if not in the United States.
To think of forming a new county with us was
to act. Although it was a hard fight it was suc
cessful." In December, 1888, when a plan was pro
posed to annex a portion of Wasco to Gilliam
county, talk of forming a new county was heard
quite frequently. Two petitions were at once
placed in circulation in eastern Wasco county ;
one asking that the territory be not annexed to
Gilliam county, and the other asking that a new
county be formed from that part of Wasco lying
between the Des Chutes and John Day rivers. The
proposed new county was to be about twenty
miles wide and over sixty miles in length. Each
petition was signed by many, particularly the one
protesting against being annexed to Gilliam
county. Certain ones did not sign the other on
the grounds that the movement was premature ;
that the proposed new county would be too small
and that there was not sufficient taxable property
in the limits to warrant the action.
Of course there was strong and vigilant oppo
sition to the project. Wasco county, for so many
years the prey of all who desired to form new
county governments, was called upon early in
1889 for another small slice of territory for the
formation of Sherman county. As they had,
many times in the past, the residents of Wasco
county again protested against further dis
memberment of their territory. December 22,
1888, when agitation was begun, the Times-
Mountaineer, of The Dalles, said:
"We see no reason for the formation of a
new county between the Des Chutes and John
Day rivers. It would increase the burden of
taxation on the citizens and would be no real
benefit to the people. The Dalles is not such a
long distance from this portion of Wasco that
they need a new political division and a county
seat all to themselves. The town that would re
ceive the honor of being the county seat might be
benefited in business, but the people generally, we
believe, are satisfied with the county town as it
is now." The bill to create the county of Fulton, with
the town of Moro as the county seat, was in

troduced in the house by Representative E. O.
McCoy, of Wasco county, residing in that part
which became Sherman county, in January,
1889, at the session of the Oregon legislature
which convened January 14th. The bill passed
the house Friday, February 15th. The name
was changed from Fulton to Sherman, and the
southern boundary line removed further north.
February 23d the Times-Mountaineer said:
"Sherman county with much diminished boun
daries, passed the senate last Thursday, Febru
ary 21st. The new county is very small in
extent, and as it is, it is well that it should be
formed. The value of county buildings and other
items have been amended so that Wasco is not
much injured by the division."
As has been shown, this was only a portion of
the territory asked for in the original bill, owing
to the strenuous fight made in the legislature by
Wasco county. Hon. E. O. McCoy, the author
of the measure, saw that there was no hope of
securing the passage of the bill in its original
shape. He compromised with its opponents ; the
bill was then amended ancl passed. A cor
respondent of The Dalles Times-Mountaineer,
writing from Emigrant Springs, February 3,
1 89 1, thus summarizes the campaign ending in
the organization of Sherman county.
* * * All the action taken by the citizens of the
proposed county in their various meetings, in circulat
ing petitions in writing up the move — "booming it, so
to speak — in raising funds to prosecute the work to
final consummation, was taken by persons residing north
of Buck Hollow. Notwithstanding the citizens south
of Buck Hollow never co-operated with us in any of
this work done prior to the meeting of the legislature,
the only original bill, as presented by Mr. McCoy,
proposed to make the north line of Crook the south
line of Sherman, or Fulton, as it was then named.
It was generally known, however, before the legislature
convened that Ae citizens around Antelope would un
compromisingly oppose any measure that would set
them off into the new county. And to no well-informed
person's surprise, when Air. AlcCoy's bill went before
the house committee on counties, he was there con
fronted by a party from Antelope with a remonstrance
bearing a thousand signatures, backed by The Dalles
board of trade, and championed by the speaker of the
house, Hon. E. L. Smith. With our senators opposed
these obstacles were rendered absolutely insurmountable.
And, as was expected by the friends of the bill, Buck
Hollow 'was agreed upon as the line before leaving
the committee room. The Antelope men went home;
The Dalles opposition withdrew, and, said Speaker
Smith to Mr. McCoy, "Now I want 3'ou to have a
county.'' And, as above stated, the bill so passed the-
house without a single "'no.''

Combined Harvester at work in Sherman County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

433

Everything appeared to be satisfactorily set
tled at that time, but before the bill was to be
come a law the territory was to be further re
stricted. Just prior to the adjournment of the
legislature a strenuous opposition suddenly
sprung up and a remonstrance was hurriedly
sent to Salem. The result was that the southern
boundary of the county was moved still further
north, and in that form the bill became a law.
Sherman county was named in honor of Gen
eral William Tecumseh Sherman. The bill
originally introduced for creating the new divi
sion named the county proposed Fulton, in honor
of Colonel James Fulton, a prominent resi
dent of the new county ; before it became a
law the name of Sherman was substituted for
that of Fulton. Following is the text of the
Enabling Act :
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the
State of Oregon :
Section I. That all that portion of the State of
Oregon embraced within the following boundary lines
be, and the same is hereby created, and organized into
a separate county by the name of Sherman, to- wit:
Beginning at a point in the center of the main channel
of the Columbia river, opposite the mouth of the John
Day river ; thence up the middle of the main channel
of the said John Day river to the south line of town
ship number 2, south where it crosses the John Day
river; thence west along the said south line of town
ship 2 south to the middle of the Des Chutes river;
tfience down the center of the main channel of said river
to a point in the center of the main channel of the
Columbia river opposite the mouth of the Des Chutes
river; thence up the middle of the main channel of the
Columbia river to the place of beginning.
Section 2. That the territory embraced within the
said boundary lines shall compose a county for all civil
and military purposes, and shall be subject to the same
laws and restrictions and be entitled to elect the same
officers as other counties of this state; provided that it
shall be the duty of the governor as soon as con
venient after this Act shall become a law, to appoint
for Sherman county and from its citizens the several
county officers allowed by law to other counties in
this State ; which said officers, after duly qualifying ac
cording to law, shall be entitled to hold their respective
offices until their successors are duly elected at the
general election of 1890, and have duly qualified accord
ing to law.
Section 3. The temporary county seat of Sherman
county shall be located at Wasco in said county until
a permanent location shall be adopted. At the next
general election the question shall be submitted to the
legal voters of said county, and the place, if any, which
shall receive a majority of all the votes cast at said
election shall be the permanent county seat of said
28

county; but if no place shall receive a majority of all
the votes cast, the question shall again be submitted to
the legal voters of said county at the next general
election, between the two points having the highest num
ber of votes at said election, and the place receiving
the highest number of votes at such last election shall
be the permanent county seat of said county.
Section 4. Said county of Sherman shall for repre
sentative purposes, be annexed to the 18th representa
tive district, and for senatorial purposes said county shall
be annexed to the 17th senatorial district.
Section 5. The county clerk of Wasco county shall,
within thirty days after this Act shall have gone into
operation, make out and deliver to the county clerk
of Sherman county a transcript of all taxes assessed
upon persons and property within said county, and which
were previously included within the limits of Wasco
county, and all taxes which shall remain unpaid upon
the day this Act shall become a law shall be paid to
the proper officer of Sherman county. The said clerk
of Wasco county shall, also, make out and deliver to
the county clerk of Sherman county within the time
above limited, a transcript of all cases pending in the
circuit and county courts of Wasco county between per
sons residing in Sherman county, and transfer all original
papers in said cases to be tried in Sherman county.
Section 6. The county court of -Sherman county
shall be held at the county seat on the first Monday
in April, July, October and January of each year.
Section 7. The said county of Sherman is hereby
attached to the 7th judicial district for judicial pur
poses, and the terms of the , circuit court for said
county shall he held at the county seat of said county
on the second Monday in March and the first Monday
in October of each year.
Section 8. Until otherwise provided for the county
judge of Sherman county shall receive an annual salary
of $300, and the county treasurer of said county shall
receive an annual salary of $100, and the county stock
inspector of said county shall receive an annual salary
of $300. The sheriff and county clerk of said county
shall receive the same fees as are now allowed by law
to the sheriff and clerk of Wasco county.
Section 9. The county treasurer of Sherman county
shall, out of the first money collected for taxes, pay
over to the treasurer of Wasco county the full amount
of state tax on the assessment of 1888 due from the
citizens of Sherman county, and within one year after
its organization, by the appointment of its officers as
hereinbefore provided, shall assume and pay to the
county of Wasco a pro rata proportion of the remaining
indebtedness of Wasco county, after deducting there
from the amount of money that has been collected in
taxes from the property of the territory to be embraced
in the county of Sherman and expended by Wasco county
for public buildings situated within Dalles City, and that
George H. Thompson, R. F. Gibons, of Wasco county,
and C. Al. Scott, of Sherman county, are hereby ap-

434

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

pointed to determine the value of such property and the
amount of indebtedness to be assumed by said Sher
man county. Said persons shall meet at the county seat
of Wasco county on the ist day of May, 1889, or within
ten days thereafter and take and subscribe to an oath
before the county judge of Wasco county faithfully
to discharge their duties ; thereupon said board shall
proceed with said work, and when completed file a
report of thier conclusions in duplicate with the clerks
of Wasco and Sherman counties. Within thirty days
after the filing of such report in Sherman county either
county may appeal from the decision of said board to
the circuit court of Wasco county by serving notice of
appeal upon the clerk of the other county. Upon
perfecting the issues in the said circuit court, either
county may demand a change of venue to any other
county in the 7th judicial district of the state of
Oregon, which may be agreed upon by said counties,
or, in the event of their disagreement, which may be
designated by the judge of said district. The trial may
be by jury, and the judgment rendered may be en
forced as other judgments against counties. If the
county appealing fails to receive a more favorable judg
ment than the finding of said board, by at least $500,
-it shall pay the cost of appeal. If no appeal be taken by
either county within the thirty days above provided, the
finding of said board shall be conclusive. The said
board shall receive $3 per day for each day actually
employed and mileage. The expense incurred by the
above mentioned board shall be borne equally by
Wasco and Sherman counties.
Section 10. The county judge of Sherman county
•shall "let by contract, to the lowest responsible and
efficient bidder, the work of transcribing all the records
of Wasco county affecting real estate situated in Sher
man county, and when concluded they shall be examined
and certified to by the clerk of Sherman county, and
shall thereafter be recognized and acknowledged as the
official records of Sherman county; provided the clerk
of Sherman county shall be allowed to bid on such
. work. Section II. It shall be the duty of the superin
tendent of schools for Wasco county, within sixty days
after the appointment of a superintendent of schools
in Sherman county,- to make out and forward to said
superintendent of schools in Sherman county a true
¦and correct transcript or abstract of the annual reports
of the clerks of the various school districts embraced
within the said Sherman county; and he shall, also, at
the time of making the apportionments of the school
fund for the year 1888, apportion to the various school
•districts within Sherman county their pro rata pro
portion of said school fund, the same as if said county
bad not been created and organized.
Section 12. The county court at its first regular
session shall appoint a stock inspector whose salary shall
be $100 per annum to be paid quarterly,
Section 13. Inasmuch as the early formation of

Sherman county is much desired, this Act shall take
effect and be in force from and after its approval
by the Governor and the appointment of the proper
officers as herein provided.
Approved February 25, 1889.
When the bill finally became a law with the
restricted dimensions for the new county, the
people of the Grass Valley country were far
from being pleased. l!y the terms of the law
the south boundary of Sherman county passed
through the middle of their country, which, of
course, was not to their liking. Some who were
included in the new division were dissatisfied at
being placed in such a small county ; those to the
south who were left out were no better off than
they were before. On the town of Wasco was
laid the blame for cutting, clown the originally
proposed boundaries of the county.- The charge
against Wasco, condensed, was that it had in
fluenced this change in the boundary to better
its chances of becoming and remaining the capi
tal of the new county. With a county extending
to the Crook county line the chance that in
time some other town would secure the prize
was plainly apparent ; with narrow limits
Wasco's location would not be so far from the
center of the countv as to endanger its location
as capital. Therefore the residents of Grass
Valley naturally opposed the organization of
Sherman county when it was proposed to con
centrate its limits as they were finally adopted.
A mass meeting was called ; resolutions were
passed protesting against the cut ; nothing
availed. A correspondent at Emigrant Springs
writing to The Dalles Times-Mountaineer under
date of February 3, 1891, said:
Ever since the fact became known to the citizens of
Oregon residing between the Des Chutes and John Day
rivers, and north of Buck Hollow, that on February
25, 1889, Governor Pennoyer signed the bill creating
Sherman county there has been general dissatisfaction.
Nearly five-sixths of these people were dissatisfied
because of the diminutive size of the new county, and
the other sixth because they were not included within
its limits. This statement cannot be gainsaid. It is
true a few persons could be found who wanted the
south boundary to extend to Crook county. It is true
there were some who even wanted to remain a few
years longer in Wasco county, and I believe it is like
wise true that few counties have ever been created in
Oregon that gave more dissatisfaction to their citizens
than Sherman county would have given with its south
boundary as fixed in McCoy's bill, which he succeeded
in passing the house on February 15, 1889, without a dis
senting vote.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

435

Concisely stated the population of the new
•county was 1,400, ancl it assumed as its share
¦of Wasco county's indebtedness about $15,000.
Tuesday, March 12, 1889, Sherman county be
gan as a separate political division. Then the
several county officials-to-be met at the Oska-
loosa hotel in Wasco ancl took their oaths of
office. The political chapter of Part II of this
work will summarize the election and acts of
these pioneer officials. It may be said here
that the commissioners at first rented a building
at Wasco for court house purposes. The county's
rate of taxation at the assessment of 1889 was
fixed at 18 mills on the dollar. It was not long
before Sherman's large share of Wasco county's
debt was fully paid. Exclusive of wheat reserved
for home consumption there were exported in
1889 from Sherman county 20,000 bushels.
Of course it was destined that the new county
.should become involved in "county seat fights."
The country south of Gordon Ridge had been
rapidly settled up. The town of Moro was
founded ; the question of a permanent county
.seat was in the air ; each section had its favorite
location. As the election drew nearer the fight
for county seat honors narrowed down to three
places, Wasco, Moro and Kenneth. It was
claimed that the last named was, geographically,
nearest the center of the county. Kenneth was
merely a "stopping place" a few miles east of
Moro. It never attained to the importance of
a "town," but was quite well known as a road
station. The result of this election, when the
votes were counted, showed that none of the
three places named had received a majority of
all votes cast. Under the law it became necessary
for Moro and Wasco, the two highest, to again
compete two years later. Wasco, of course, re
mained the county seat until a permanent loca
tion should be selected.
It will be remembered that the enabling act
creating Sherman county, authorized a board of
three commissioners to appraise the amount of
Wasco county's indebtedness due from Sher
man. The following is the report of the board
to the court :
To the Honorable, the County Courts of Wasco
and of Sherman Counties of the State of Oregon :
The undersigned commission appointed to determine
the value of the public buildings belonging to Wasco
county and situated within Dalles City, and to ascer
tain the pro rata valuation of the indebtedness of said
county to be assumed by the county of Sherman, created
under an act of the legislative assembly of the state
of Oregon and approved February 25, 1889, find that
the indebtedness of Wasco county at the date of the
approval of said act was $63,243-35- That the pro

rata proportion of the same which should be
assumed by the county of Sherman is $10,208.14.
from which last sum should be deducted the
amount of money collected in taxes from the
property of the territory embraced, in the county of
Sherman and expended in public buildings in Dalles
City, the sum of $1,587; remaining pro rata proportion
of indebtedness due from Sherman county, $8,621. 74.
We further find that the sheriff of Wasco county had
collected from the taxpayers of Sherman county on the
tax roll of 1888 and paid the same to the treasurer of
Wasco county the sum of $4,708.94, from which sum
should be deducted both state and school taxes due
thereon from the county of Sherman $2,354.47; leaving
amount to be deducted from the indebtedness to be
assumed by Sherman county of the sum of $2,354.47.
Amount due Wasco from Sherman county $6,266.67,
to which last sum should be added interest from Febru
ary 25, 1890, assuming that Sherman county under the
act creating the same, had one year within which to
settle its indebtedness, $341.19. Whole amount due
$6,606.80. Respectfully submitted. Done at The Dalles, Ore
gon, October 30, 1890. O. M. SCOTT,
R. F. GIBONS,
GEORGE H. THOMPSON.
In a subsequent report submitted to the com
missioners of Wasco county, dated November
8th, A. G. Johnson claimed that there was due
W'asco, from Sherman county, $9,711.97. How
ever, the following is from the report of the
proceedings of the county court of Sherman
county January 7, 1891 :
Now on this day is presented to the court the
written reports of commissioners appointed by the bill
creating Sherman county to adjust its debt to Wasco
county : And it appearing to the court that the amended
report of said commission bearing date November 25,
1890, showing the total amount of indebtedness due
Wasco county from Sherman county to be ($8,364.96)
eight thousand three hundred and sixty-four and 96-100
dollars, had been accepted as an equitable adjustment of
said debt by the county court of Wasco county, and this
court believing that the same is just and correct:
It is hereby considered, ordered and adjudged that
said amended report be accepted and the clerk author
ized to draw warrants on the county treasurer in favor
of Wasco county in amounts not exceeding $500 each
for the said sum of $8,364.96.
This, it appears, was the final settlement be
tween the two counties. There are no records
concerning the amended report above mentioned,
but the amount agreed upon by the adjusters
is given. There is the same absence of informa-

436

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

tion regarding the sum necessary to make up the
$15,000 mentioned as having been Sherman
county's expenses in the separation.
The United States census of 1890 showed that
Sherman county had a population of 1,792 people.
But this was anterior to a subsequent enlarge
ment of its boundaries as will be shown later
Inrthe legislature of 1891 the boundaries of Sher
man county were changed ; that is, so far as con
cerned its southern limitations. The original
boundary provided in the bill of 1880, as passed,
was only to the southern line of township 2,
south; just south of the village of Grass Valley.
The new boundaries of 1891 were as follows:
Beginning at a point in the center of the main
channel of the Columbia river opposite the mouth of
the John Day river; thence up the middle of the main
channel of said John Day river to the south line of
township 5 south ; where it crosses the said John Day
river; thence west along the said south line of town
ship 5 to the middle of the hollow known as "Buck
Hollow ;'' thence down the middle of the said "Buck
Hollow" to a point in the middle of the Des Chutes
river directly opposite the mouth of said "Buck Hollow ;"
thence down the center of the main channel of said
river to a point in the center of the main channel of the
Columbia river opposite the mouth of the Des Chutes
river ; thence up the middle of the main channel of said
Columbia river to the place of beginning. (Session
Laws 1889, p. 82, sec. 1 ; Session Laws 1891, p. 68,
sec. 1.) 1
In 189 1 the taxable property of Sherman
county had increased to $892,718. The year
1892 witnessed the settlement of the county seat
controversy. Immediately following the election
of 1890 the towns of Moro and Wasco began
organizing and mobilizing their forces for the
great "battle of the ballots" two years later ; an
engagement that was to decide which of these
contesting towns should remain the permanent
capital of Sherman county. The result of this
election was a majority for Moro of 113 votes,
divided among the precincts as follows :
Precincts. Moro. Wasco.
Bigelow  II 32
Grant  38 39
Wasco  23 * 183
Monkland  61 30
Moro  117 2
Grass Valley  74 5
Rutledge  51 5
Kent  29 5

414

301

July 7, 1892, the county court of Sherman-
county spread upon their records the following-
order :
"Now on this day it is ordered by the court
that all county records be kept in their present
offices until a suitable place be secured at Moro-
to receive them. When notified by the court-
that such place has been prepared the officers-
will remove said records to Moro."
The same day the county court decided to-
build a vault and temporary building at Moro,
and on the 8th spread upon the records the fol
lowing order:
"Now on this day it is ordered by the court
that a contract be let to H. C. Jackson to build
vault and temporary offices for clerk and sheriff"
at Moro." The same day a block of land was purchased
at Moro, the new countv seat, for court house-
purposes. The records were moved shortly after
this and the court held its first session at Moro
on October 5, 1892. The taxable property in
Sherman county for 1892 was $1,026,645.
In May, 1893, the county court accepted the-
jail from the contractors. Its cost was $2,100.
It was at this period that Sherman county, in'
company with the whole United States, entered*
upon the "hard times, hard luck" epoch. It is-
only just to say that the county suffered no more
in proportion than the other counties in the state,.
and not so much as many of her sisters. In
April, 1894, the Grant Gazette reported that
Sherman county was, practically, out of debt;
the payment of taxes then due would liquidate-
all indebtedness. The assessed valuation was:
gross, $1,115,371 ; net, $973,146.
Although the great flood of 1894 is fully-
treated in the chapter devoted to towns and cit
ies, it is fitting that something should be said'
here concerning it. During the month of May
railway traffic was interrupted to so great am
extent as to, practically, prohibit rail communi
cation between Portland and Umatilla; shutting-
off the mails and suspending freight shipments.
Points along the river adjacent to Wasco suf
fered in full proportion with the rest; at Grant
business was completely demoralized. By the
Milling & Distillery Company work of every de
scription was suspended, only so far as rendering-
the property more secure against wreck. Colum
bus, across the Columbia river, in the state of
Washington, was submerged from the Presby
warehouse, in which the water gained consid
erable depth, down to the Hickinbotham home
stead. It was stated by the Moro Observer June-
7th that the losses at Rufus, Grant, Biggs, Col
umbus, Des Chutes and Celilo were fully eighty-
per cent, of actual values.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

437

In 1895 tne population of Sherman county,
.gauged by the Oregon State census was 2,511.
There were 921 legal voters. The same year
the county produced 1,617,790 bushels of wheat.
In January, 1896, the gain in population since
1895 was 698. The aggregate taxable property
valuation had been reduced to $902,152. Until
the year 1897 Sherman county had no railroad
extending into its interior. The line of the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company had trav
ersed its northern boundary, along the Columbia
river since the date of its construction in 1881.
This, however, was scanty accommodation to the
farmers and merchants of the interior. Long
hauls were required either to some shipping point
on the railway in Sherman county, or to The
Dalles, for the purposes of marketing wheat and
securing supplies. The best lands of the county
lie back from the river a considerable distance ¦
this is where the bulk of the population lived. A
railway through the county north and south was
a great desideratum. Anterior to the construc
tion of the Columbia Southern Railway in 1897,
a single two-horse stage line sufficed for the
transportation of all passengers, express and
mail in Sherman county. In 1902 the company
had in service two daily trains — one each way.
Within the limits of one year it carried 29,080
passengers, 414 tons of express matter and 1 18
tons of mail.
Articles of incorporation of the Columbia
Southern Railway were filed March 4, 1897, for
the purpose of constructing and operating a rail
road from Biggs to Prineville, traversing the fer
tile wheat fields of Sherman, and the stock and
wool districts in Wasco and Crook counties. The
capital stock was fixed at $100,000. The incor
porators were E. E. Lytle, J. M. Murchie and
D. C. O'Riellv. March 23d surveying was com
menced ancl construction on June 19th. October
'6th the new road was completed to Wasco. The
line as constructed was first-class ancl standard
gauge, being laid with 56-pound rails and 7x8
ties, the ties being laid 3,000 to the mile. In
every respect the equipment was complete. At
Biggs connection is made with the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company line. January 2,
1902, the Shaniko Leader said :
On the 29th day of June, 1897, four months after
the incorporation papers were filed, active work was
commenced at Biggs, the junction of the road with
the line of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company.
To the average man the task of building a railroad with
out means would have seemed a hopeless one, even
though the task was without opposition; what would
he think of, besides the task of building the road and
raising the money for that purpose, had he to meet

powerful and energetic enemies at every turn and at
every move? Did he want right of way, they were
there, like Mephistopheles, whispering, plotting against
him. Did he try to sell bonds, there were the same
dismal whisperings of failure, gloomy predictions of
utter collapse. He could never pay his men ; the first
pay day would settle it ; but the first pay day came and
passed, the money raised and the work went on. Steadily
the grade stretched along the canyon ; slowly but surely
the rails followed ; until after a struggle, the strain and
tiresomeness of which no one but he who bore the
brunt will ever know, the road reached Wasco, ten
miles from its starting point ; three months and twenty
days from the time work was commenced. The hill
had been climbed, the road was in the wheat belt
of Sherman county, the best of its size in the state,
and traffic as well as tonnage was in sight.
* * * It was just such a victory, just such a fight
made by E. E. Lytle when he conceived the idea of the
Columbia Southern Railway. Possessing no means, at
least none that would be considered adequate to even
dream about such an undertaking by any ordinary
man, he yet dared fate, fought the good fight and today
the Columbia Southern Railway, with its shops and
depots, daily trains and 70 odd miles of well-ballasted
track, is a visible and perpetual evidence of what un
failing purpose, indomitable will and tireless energy
can accomplish. January 1, 1898, The Dalles Timcs-
Mountainccr said :
"And the projectors of this line deserve especial
credit for the persistent manner in which they prose
cuted their project until they saw success crown their
efforts and began to transport freight to and from
Wasco. This road is, without doubt, the best paying
piece of railroad property in Oregon. * * * Its of
ficials have interested themselves in Sherman county,
and business-like, have left nothing undone that will
help the development of the country."
This was written at the period when Wasco
was the terminus of the road ; it has since been
extended to Shaniko, Wasco county.
The population of Sherman county in 1897
was 3,051. This was a notable year in the history
of the county's almost continuous prosperity. The
entire state was then emerging from a series of
depressing years, financially, and Sherman
county was among the first to experience the re
bound. An area of 160,000 acres produced
3,700,000 bushels of wheat, oats, barley and rye,
an average of over 23 busels an acre ; 8,000 tons
of hay ; 650 bushels of corn ; 70,000 pounds of but
ter ancl cheese ; 35,000 bushels of potatoes ;
5,000 bushels of prunes and plums ; 200,000
pounds of wool. The live stock in evidence was
as follows: sheep, 39,670; hogs, 1,825; horses
ancl mules, 5,613; cattle, 1,000.
In 1898 no county organization in the state

43§

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

had made a better record. Starting with a debt
assumed pro rata from Wasco county, together
with obligations naturally incurred in its incep
tion of, approximately, $25,000, the county offic
ials had, by careful, though liberal management,
succeeded in wiping everything out. The cost
of conducting the county had never caused ex
orbitant taxation. No expensive buildings had
been erected, although the officials were com
fortably housed. The greater portion of the
money had been judiciously expended in im
proving roads.
Early in the spring of 1898 the project of ex
tending the Columbia Southern Railway south
from Wasco was taken under consideration by
its officials and citizens of Sherman county. Jan
uary 15th a public meeting was held at Moro.
This was attended by a number of railway offic
ers and most of the people of Moro. Within two
hours a cash subsidy of $5,000 was pledged,
aside from a tract of about eight acres of land
for depot purpses. On the 17th a similar meet
ing convened at Grass Valley ; this resulted in a
substantial donation and a cash subsidy of $1,000.
Yet this extension was not accomplished with
out opposition. There was an element called
"obstructionists'' whose interests, it was claimed,
would be best subserved by delay in the proposed
extension. There was trouble in securing the
right of way ; citizens of Sherman county looked
after this ; it was largely owing to their sagac
ious efforts that the extension was secured. Fol
lowing is the report of the "Right of Way Com
mittee" appointed to dispel the Wasco taboo :
Wasco, Oregon, April 28, 1898— We, the under
signed committee, in behalf of the people of Monkland,
Moro and Grass Valley, beg leave to submit the follow
ing resolution, to wit :
"Whereas, the Columbia Southern Railway is now
constructed to the town of Wasco, and
"Whereas, the extension of the same will be of
untold benefit to the people of Sherman county, living
south of Gordon Ridge, and
"Whereas, it is the intention and desire of said
railway to immediately continue the construction of
the same, but on account of the unreasonable position
taken by parties in granting right of way, the said
railway company is experiencing great trouble and de
lay, therefore, be it
"Resolved, that we, the members of the above com
mittee, most emphatically condemn the opposition to
the extension of the said railway."
These resolutions were signed by: A. Dill-
inger, Al. Wright, P. McDonald, M. Hansen and
Hugh Mclntyre, for Monkland ; C. A. Heath,
J. V. O'Leary, B. S. Kelsay, Fred Krusow and

C. W. Moore, for Grass Valley ; E. Sayres, Carl
Peets, M. Damon, D. W. Howard and W. J.
Martin, for Moro.
May 9, 1898, work on the extension of the
road was commenced. At 5 :30 o'clock p. m.,
Wednesday, December 14th, rails were laid to
the depot grounds in Moro. This was done amid
considerable excitement, ringing of bells, fan
fare of whistles, firing of anvils and voicing of
cheers. Engine No. 1, with the construction train
ran into the city ; Moro became the terminus of
the Columbia Southern Railway. Thus it con
tinued until the spring of J900 when the road
reached its present terminal point Shaniko,
Wasco county.
In 1899 the valuation of taxable property in
Sherman county was $1,231,655. In less than
ten years of its existence, and within two years
following the construction of the interior railroad,
the county had liquidated its indebtedness, erected
at Moro a well-appointed two-story brick court
house and, at this writing, 1905, has discharged:
all its obligations and has a balance of from

$15,000 to $20,000 in its treasury. April 7, ic
the grand jury of Sherman county included in
its report the following :
"On account of the lack of room and the
great danger of fire in the present cramped offices
of the clerk, sheriff and treasurer, and the incon
venience of holding county and circuit courts, we
believe that the county should build a court house.
We therefore recommend that a court house be
built as soon as the necessary plans and contracts
therefor can be made. Said court house not to
cost more than $6,000."
The contracts for the erection of this edifice
was let, July 1, 1899, to A. F. Peterson, of Cor-
vallis. His bid was $6,665. Warrants for
$6,000 were issued by the county court; Moro-
subscribed the balance ; work at once commenced.
November 18th the handsome building was
turned over to, and accepted by, the county court.
According to the United States census of
1900 the population of Sherman county was
3,477. From 1,100 farms the yield of wheat was
4,000,000 bushels. It was said of the crop of
1901 that it required for transportation 4,300 cars
of 25 tons capacity each, which, if coupled to
gether would reach from the north to the south
line of the county. It was said by the Morning
Oregonian of January 2, 1905, that "During the
past eight years the relative increase in the value
of Sherman county land is from $2.50 to $7.50-
per acre to $25 to $45 per acre and the aggregate-
value of products from $450,000 to $2,225,000,
increasing its population from less than 1,500 to
5,500." This was preceded January 1, 1898, by
the Times-Mountaineer as follows: "In conclu-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

439

sion Sherman county greets the business world
simply, candidly, with the assurance that she can
not be excelled. Her people are happy, con
tented and prosperous. The good angel of
plenty has been kind to her and her people; she
welcomes all who may come within her confines
for legitimate benefit. Peopled as she is by a
highly desirable class of citizens', she still has
room for more."
There appears a trail of fraud running de
viously through the greater portion of all Ore
gon land transactions in which the United States
government has been interested. At the present
writing, April, 1905, the legal ability of Uncle
Sam is pitted against the slimy, subterranean
artifices of adepts in scientific swindling on ex
tensive scales ; yet men in high official positions
have won the confidence of trusting politi
cal constituencies only to betray this trust
in the most scandalous manner. We allude to the
timber land thieves of Oregon, ancl several other
northwestern states. A large number of them
have already suffered the ignominy of indictment
by a grand jury, and their cases are pending be
fore the federal courts.
But these later crimes are only repetitions of
a number of previous land frauds, perpetrated by
politicians ancl railway magnates ; bold in their
conception ; unscrupulous in their execution, and
which in the eyes of all honest men "shine and
stink like a rotten mackerel in the moonlight."
One of the most glaring frauds in the annals of
Oregon criminality was what is colloquially
known as "The Dalles Military Wagon Road
Land Grab." At least the fraud originated with
this corrupt and unscrupulous syndicate, although
it has been juggled into the hands of another
combination known as the Eastern Oregon Land
Company. Its history is that of a crime against
the United States government ; the good name of
Oregon ancl thousands of western homeseekers
who have discovered that even the courts are ar
rayed against their honest dues, ancl that the oft
boasted "equality before the law" is a myth ; a
baseless illusion ; a ' glittering generality for the
astigmatism of credulous dupes. While it has
affected the whole body politic of Eastern Ore
gon, its tyrannical curse has been to the people of
Sherman county a veritable "whip of scorpions."
Let us lay bare 'its entire historical career, calmly,
conscientiously and without the least exagger
ation. By act of congress passed February 25, 1867,
there Was granted to the state of Oregon by the
United States, to aid in the construction of a mil
itary wagon road from The Dalles to Fort Boise,
on the Snake river, each alternating section of the
public lands designated by odd numbers, to the

extent of three sections in width on each side
of the said road. By the terms of the act of con
gress the state of Oregon was authorized to dis
pose of said lands for the purpose of aiding in
the construction of the said military road ; and
in pursuance of this authority the legislature
passed an act which was approved by the gov
ernor October 20, 1868, granting to The Dalles
Military Road Company, a corporation duly or
ganized for the purpose of constructing this road,
all of the lands aforesaid.
The act of congress further provided that the
land should be disposed of in the following man
ner, to wit : "That when the governor of said
state shall certify to the secretary of the interior
that ten contiguous miles of said road are com
pleted, then the quantity of land hereby granted,
not to exceed thirtv sections, may be sold, and
so from time to time until said road shall be
completed. June 23, 1869, Governor Woods filed
the following acceptance, which is such an im
portant document that we deem it worth pub
lishing : Executive Office,
Salem, Oregon, June 23, 1869.
I, George L. Woods, Governor of the State of"
Oregon, do hereby certify that this plat or map of The
Dalles Military Road has been duly filed in my office-
by The Dalles Miltary Road Company and shows in
connection with the public surveys, as far as said public
surveys are completed, the location of the line of route
as actually surveyed and upon which their road was
constructed in accordance with the requirements of an ¦
act of congress approved February 25, 1867, entitled
"An Act granting lands to the State of Oregon to aid
in the construction of a military wagon road from
Dalles City, on the Columbia river, to Fort Boise on
Snake river," and with the act of the legislative assembly
of the State of Oregon approved October 20, 1868,
entitled "An Act donating certain lands to The Dalles
Military Road Company." I further certify that I have
made a careful examination of said road since its
completion and that the same is built in all respects as
required by the said above recited acts and that said
road is accepted.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand
and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of
Oregon. Done at Salem, Oregon, June 23, 1869.
GEORGE L. WOODS.
(Seal of the State of Oregon.)
SAMUEL E. -MAY.
Secretary of State.
January 12, 1870, the governor issued a
further certificate in like terms and effect as that
of June 23, 1869, certifying to the secretary q$

440

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the interior the completion of the military road
through its entire length b\r The Dalles Military-
Road Company. December 18. 1874, the com
missioner of the general land office of the United
States withdrew from sale the odd numbered sec
tions of land within three miles on either side of
the road in favor of The Dalles Military Road
Company. June 18, 1874. congress passed an act author
izing the issuance of patents for lands granted to
the state of Oregon in certain cases, which act
of congress, after reciting that congress had
granted to the state of Oregon certain lands to
aid in the construction of certain military wagon
roads in said state, and that there existed no law
providing for the issuing of formal patents for
said lands, provided "that in all cases when the
roads, In the aid of construction of which said
lands were granted, are shown by the certificate
of the governor of the state of Oregon, as in said
act provided, to have been constructed and com
pleted, patents to said lands shall issue in due
form to the state of Oregon as fast as the same
shall under said grant be selected and certified,
unless the state of Oregn shall by public acts
have transferred its interests in said lands to any
corporations, in which case patents shall issue
from the general land office to such corporation
or corporations." Under the provisions of this act the road
company selected lands, and May 31. 1876. con
veyed the title to such 'lands to Edward Martin.
the consideration being given as S125.000. Then
by sundry mesne conveyances the title became
?ested in the Eastern Oregon Land Company.
Such was the status in 1885. when public
opinion, calling for an investigation into the
fraud that had been practiced upon the govern
ment by this road company, became so strong that
at the session of the legislature that year a mem
orial was passed by both houses asking congress
to look into the matter and commence suit for
the recovery of the lands. March 2. 1880. con
gress responded to this appeal, passing an act
authorizing the attorney general of the United
States to bring suit to procure a decree of for
feiture of all lands granted bv the act of congress
of February 25. 1867. on the ground that the
terms of the grant had not been complied with.
This act also sought a cancellation of all patents
therefor, issued by the United States under the
act. and all conveyances to purchasers tinder said
patents, and under the act. as well as a forfeiture
of the lands still unpatented. The bill filed by the
attomev genera! alleged in substance, "That the
road was never constructed in whole or in part;
that through the fraudulent representations of the
officers, stockholders and agents of the co-rpora-

i

tion, the governor of Oregon was deceived and
induced to issue a certificate in pursuance of the
provisions of the act. declaring that he had ex
amined the road throughout its entire length, and
that it had been constructed and completed in all
respects in accordance with the statute : and that,
relying on this certificate, the patents to portions
of the lands had been issued bv the United
States." Suit was immediately begun in the circuit
court, district of Oregon, before Judge Sawyer,
L. L. McArthur appearing as United States at
torney, and James K Kelley and Dolph. Bell
inger, Mallory & Simpson for the defendants,
The Dalles Military Road Company, et al. The
case came up for argument February 18. 1890,
the defendants filing two pleas, as follows : That
the governor's certificate was made without
fraud ; that the defendants were bona Ude pur
chasers from The Dalles Military Road Com
pany, without notice of any fraud or defect in the
title. In an opinion rendered February 2. 1890,
Judge Sawyer sustained the defendants* pleas and
dismissed the case.
From such decision the case was appealed to
the United States Circuit court, Ninth district.
Judge Blatehford banding down the opinion. Mav
25. 1891, which reversed the decision of the dis
trict court and remanded the case for further hear
ing. The conclusion reached was that the district
court erred in not permitting the United States
to reply to the pleas and dismissing the bill ab
solutely. After the mandate had been filed in the
district court issue was joined on these two pleas,
testimony taken from settlers and others, and
December 7, 1891, a decree was again entered
sustaining the second plea. From this decree an
appeal was taken to the circuit court of appeals,
by which court on March 10. 1892, that decree
was affirmed, and from this decree of affirmance
the United States appealed to the supreme court
of the United States. Assistant Attorney Gen
eral Parker appeared for the United States, and
James K. Kelly, for The Dalles Military Road
Company. Justice Brewer handed down an opin
ion from the supreme court bench, March 6.
1893, which affirmed the decision of the district
court and the court of appeals. Thus the orig
inal title of the road company to these lands was
made absolute. Several other military road
grants, including that of the Willamette Yalley
and Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Company.
whose road passed through what is now Harney,
then Grant county, were, also, in litigation at
this time, and as the basic facts in all were the
same as in the case against The Dalles Road Com-
panv, this case was made a test case and the cases
against the others dropped when negative de-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

441

cision was rendered against this company. The
main point upon which the defendants rested their
case was that by the act of 1867 congress pro
vided that the only proof of construction required
to obtain possession of the lands was the gov
ernor's certificate, ancl when that was given, and
proven to have been bona fide, the title to the land
was absolute.
It will be gleaned by the reader that in these
numerous trials, appeals, remands ancl affirm
ances that the United States government com
pletely ignored the basic fraud in this outrageous
proceedings — the granting to the Military Road
Company a certificate to the effect that the gov
ernor had made a careful examination of said
road since its completion ancl that the same is
built as required by the act of congress. Such
was far from being the fact. Little if anything
was ever clone in the way of making a highway.
The entire unscrupulous scheme bore the offen
sive taint of so many later clay government, state
and municipal scandals which reek through the
columns of the daily press, and plunge once hon
ored citizens into the law courts ancl finally dump
them into the sewer of political oblivion. The
government was in possession of all facts neces
sary to lay bare this scandalous conspiracy and
convict the conspirators. There was a voluminous
oral and written testimony in the shape of affi
davits in support of such an action. But the fed
eral supreme court virtually said that two wrongs
would make a right ; that because congress had
passed an unwise and ill-digested act, which im
prudence was taken advantage of by an unscrup
ulous executive, the honest, hoitieseeking pio
neers must suffer the penalty of combined per
nicious legislation and executive truculency. It
is idle to say that it is the business of the supreme
court to construe congressional laws, not make
them. Whenever it pleases this highest legal
tribunal in the land to declare a law unconstitu-
tinal, it brushes it aside as lightly as the down is
blown from the thistle top. "Fraud vitiates all
contracts." A plainer case never existed than the
corrupt machinations carried by this land grab
bing syndicate to a successful conclusion. Today
it would be called in colloquial parlance "graft."
Some nearer contemporary history of this episode
is given by The- Dalles Times of date March 16,
1 881: The 39th congress passed an act granting certain
lands to the state of Oregan for the construction of a
-military wagon road from Dalles City, on the Columbia,
to a point opposite Fort Boise, on the Snake river.
The grant included alternate sections of public lands,
designated by odd numbers, to the extent of three sec
tions in width, on each side of proposed road. The

act provided that the lands should be exclusively ap
plied to the constrction of said road and to no other
purpose; and should be disposed of as the work pro
gresses. It further enacted that this should be a public
highway for the use of the government of the United
States, free, and that it should be constructed with such
width, graduation, and bridges as to permit of its
regular use for wagons and in such other special manner
as the state may prescribe. The manner of the sale
of the lands was prescribed in this manner : When the
governor shall certify to the secretary of the interior
that ten continuous miles of said road shall be com
pleted, a sale of the land may be effected, not to exceed
thirty sections.
The legislative assembly in October, 1868, passed an
act conformable to the one cited above, but contain
ing no provision specifying the kind of road that should
be constructed. It was literally giving into the hands
of the company all the lands mentioned in the act of
congress. The history of this road is marked by fruad
at every step. The object of congress was to grant a
sufficient subsidy to the incorporators to aid them
in building a highway to the interior of the eastern por
tion of this state and a part of Idaho. The fact is, no
road was built, but the line of an old one followed,
and settlers along the route for a number of years past
have had to do their own grading and build their
own bridges. It is only a short time since that a
United States sub-mail contractor recovered a judg
ment in the circuit court of this county, because he had
to perform the service on a different route.
The company incorporated for this purpose laid
their hands upon the choicest parcels of the public do
main within the grant, without fulfilling any of the
conditions prescribed. That was not necessary, for a
governor was at Salem at that time who approved
all their acts, and that was satisfactory. Perhaps no
one thing has tendered to retard the development of
Eastern Oregon more than this "land grab." The pub
lic domain which should be used alone for settlement,
has been taken out of the market, and the settler had to
apply to the road magnates to effect a purchase. If the
road had been built as congress provided, then it would
have opened a means of ingress or egress into and out
of the more sparsely settled portions of Grant and
Wasco counties ; but as it is, the settler had to construct
his own road if he needed one.
From all along the line of this route we have heard
the same complaint. There can be no doubt that the
provisions as regards a public highway were never
complied with or, perhaps, were never intended to be
carried out by the recipients of the bounty of the gov
ernment. The road is at present owned by the widow
and heirs of E. Martin, deceased, who are residents of
San Francisco. The estate cannot be disposed of until
the minor heirs are of age. The "powers that be" at
Washington should make a thorough investigation of
this swindle, and if the conditions in the original act

442

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

were "conditions precedent," then see that justice is done
to the settlers of Eastern Oregon. Other frauds have
been exposed ; why not this one ?
In her "Reminescences of Eastern Oregon"
Mrs. Elizabeth Lord has written:
"In 1 86 1 a company was incorporated called
The Dalles and Canyon City Military Road Com
pany, under an act passed by congress granting
to such companies lands adjacent to such roads.
The road was necessary to facilitate the moving
of troops and stores and to establish posts and
render it possible for the government to punish
and control the renegade Indians who made
themselves a terror to whites passing over the
trails. My father (Judge W. C. Laughlin),
was an active member of this company. I can
not name all of the members, but William Logan
and O. Humason were among them. After my
father's death the company underwent some sort
of sleight-of-hand performance by which the un
sophisticated were left out. We were of that
class." March 29, 1882, The Dalles Times said:
"Some time since we published the rumor that
the owners of the road intended to sell the same
to an English company who intended to bring out
a colony to occupy the lands. We take the fol
lowing from the Grant County Xcws:
" 'An agreement on the part of the present
owners of the lands of The Dalles Military Road
Company to sell to Leigh, Payne & Company.
Chicago, has been filed for record in the clerk's
office of this county. The number of acres to be
transferred is 562,577.89. The price to be paid
is $600,000; Sioo,ooo by April ist, and the bal
ance in bimonthly payments of $140,000 each, be
ginning with July 1st. It is provided that if
Leigh, Payne & Company transfer the lands to
an incorporated company of London, England,
the bonds of such company to the amount of
$420,000 shall be accepted in lieu of the three
last three cash payments. The above lands are
situated in the counties of Grant, Baker and
Wasco.' "
It should be borne in mind by the reader that
the countv of Wasco then contained several coun
ties that have since been sliced off, including
Sherman. January 17, 1902. The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer said :
"There is much justice in the claim of the
people of Sherman county that they be repaid
for the land that was taken from them by the
decision of the federal court sustaining the title
of the Eastern Oregon Land Company. The
government invited settlers to take up and im
prove lands inside the grant of the company. In
manv instances it issued patents thereto, and

certainly the government could do nothing less
than repay such settlers for their improvements
and repay the amount they had expended in per
fecting title to the land."
We now come to the only defense of this
rapacious and venal land-grabbing syndicate, ad
dressed to the secretary of the interior by the
president of the Eastern Oregon Land Company :
San Francisco, October 4. 1904 — Sir : The company
will accept $60 per acre in quarter section lots for such
of its lands in Sherman count}-, Oregon, as may be re
quired by the government agreeing to take not less-
than 10,000 acres. The company will agree to transfer
all its right, title and interest, including improvements,
together with an abstract of title of each quarter sec
tion subdivision. In case of purchase the present tenants
of the land are to hold possession under their leases
and not to be disturbed in the possession of such por
tions of the land as have been seeded for the next crop
until the growing crop, if any, has been harvested. The
payments are to be made in San Francisco, California,
the company's home office. Agreements concerning the
prorating of taxes and rents will be made hereafter.
The above price is based on the value of the land'
itself, its relation to other portions of the grant, and
on the damage sustained by the company through the-
litigation involved in the overlap case". * * * The
rest of the land belonging to the Eastern Oregon Land
Company, while of value at the present time, does not
pay its share of the taxes and other expenses. It has
been the policy of the company to hold its Sherman
county lands in order to profitably carry on the rest of
the grant, and it is its intention not to sell these until
the whole grant can be disposed of. Many offers for
these lands have been made and are refused in all
cases except as stated above. * * *
To recapitulate: The company is by no means
anxious to sell these lands, which are the best of its
property, producing all its revenue and giving its value-
to the rest of its property. The price it has made
it deems reasonable on the present purchase value
and market price, adding to this some consideration for
its losses and expenses, which have exceeded $325,000,
and the cost of improvements, fencing, etc., which have-
aggregated over $20,000. The company does not care-
to consider the question of exchange for scrip on any
terms. The above is not to be considered as a contract or
agreement, and the company does not bind itself not to-
sell or dispose of its holdings in consequence.
WALLER S. MARTIX.
President Eastern Oregon Land Company.
The Secretary of the Interior,
Washington, D. C.
So far we have traced the sinuous history of
one celebrated Oregon Land grabbing scheme.

Moro, County Seat of Sherman County

i ¦0

ock tor lienr)
rere ; Mr. Rags-
¦n Grass Valley
^ Mrs.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

443

There are others. They do not at this juncture
tome into the province of our work. They are
one and all redolent of political foulness and mal

feasance in high office. W eare only too glad
to leave them in the most competent hands of the
magazine specialists.

CHAPTER II

CITIES AND TOWNS.

Within the boundaries of Sherman county are
three towns of importance, nearly of a
size and each the center of a rich agri
cultural section. These are Moro, the county
seat, Grass Valley and Wasco, all on the line of
the Columbia Southern Railroad. Aside from
these are several other towns which are important
shipping points for the millions of bushels of
grain annually produced in the county. These
are all prosperous communities. There are in the
county fourteen postoffices. MORO.
The capital of Sherman county is located
twenty-seven miles south of the Columbia river.
Since 1899 its population has increased from
250 to about 800. It has electric lights, excellent
water and sewerage systems, well-equipped fire
department, a weekly newspaper, two hotels, a
graded public school, three churches and a
number of general stores and shops. It has, also,
one flouring mill, with a capacity of 200 barrels
per day, a feed mill, one lumber yard, one wood
working mill, and four grain warehouses with a
combined capacity of 425,000 bushels. Its fav
orable -location contributes to Moro an immense
trading population.
The "community of interest" among the res
idents of Moro is highly commendable. Their
divisions on religious, political or other lines in
nowise conflict with their concerted action when
confronted with any Question bearing upon the
interests r r whole. The elevation
^p^iu^ci ¦/, lcVfg [> 6 about 1,400 feet; it is
"Since the s(; g gradually to the
the first isssue ,, , aveler a most pleas-
lished, .th : ' ' aches the city from
..tiospective vein the Timcs-
..._!. "The county seat of Sherman
county is pleasantly situated between the John
Day river on the east and the boisterous Des
Chutes on the west, in a picturesque valley that

winds" its way southerly through the county..
Located near the center of the county, where-
" 'The lofty hill, the humble lawn, with count
less beauties shine,' the town possesses especial
advantages as a commercial point."
While the history of Moro as a municipality
does not begin until the '80's, let us hark back a
trifle to the spot upon which the capital of Sher
man county is builded. Here it was, in 1868, that
Henry Barnum located. Here he erected a house,
founded a home and became Moro's first resi
dent. About 1879 Mr. Barnum established, in a
small way, a store, or more properly speaking, a
trading post, utilizing one of the rooms of his
house for that purpose. Practically this was
Moro's first business house, although the name
Moro as applied to any place in Oregon did not
then exist, nor was there then even an indistinct
impression that ever a town would be named
Moro. The second building erected, following Mr..
Barnum's, was one that in 1898 was used as a
printing office by the Moro Observer. But at
the time it was built, in 1883, it was occupied by
Fox, Scott & Company as a general merchandise-
store. The original location was where is now
situated the Wasco Warehouse Company's bank.
This firm was succeeded by Scott & McCoy, Fox
retiring from the firm. Eventually the Moore-
Brothers purchased the business of Scott & Mc
Coy. December 22, 1897, the Moro Observer
said :
"When Scott & McCoy, our stalwart and
worthy E. O. (McCoy), who still sticks to Sher
man county, the best in the world, erected this
building, now the home of the Observer, there-
was no Sherman county, no Moro here ; only the
rolling hills covered with native grasses, the
world-best bunch grass predominating, upon
which were feeding herds of cattle and bunches
of wild cayuses. The virgin soil had only been
broken in patches to demonstrate the fact that
this region was a wealth-producer in other re-

444

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

spects than grazing nomadic herds for the mar
ket. Scott & McCoy brought in a big stock of
merchandise for general business, including a
limited supply of farming implements."
On the authority of The Dalles Times-Moun
taineer of January i, 1898, it may be said: "The
original townsite was purchased by Scott & Com
pany in 1882 from Mrs. Hunter, who afterward
became Mrs. Fox, her husband of the firm of
Fox & Scott, then the leading merchants of Sher
man county, and consisted of six blocks of ten
lots each."
Of the naming of the town of Moro there
have been many versions. Here is the story of the
selection of a cognomen as told to the writer by
one' of the participants in the selection, L. Bar
num, then a boy six or seven years of age. It
was anterior to the establishment of a postoffice.
.A number of ladies met at the warehouse which
at that period stood on the principal street of the
present town, to discuss the matter of a name for
the postoffice. They were of many minds, each
one suggesting a name ; consolidation on any one
name appeared impossible. It was finally agreed
that each one should write the name she, or he,
desired, on a slip of paper ; throw the slips into a
hat ; shake them up ; draw out one and the name
thereon should become the name of the future
town. This was done ; the name of Moro, like
Abou ben Adhem's, led all the rest. It had been
selected by Miss Melisa Hampden, and, inci
dentally, that lady drew the slip. Those present
at the christening of Moro were: Mrs. Henry
Barnum, Mrs. Scott, Miss Melisa Hampden,
Mrs. Ragsdale, Mrs. Julius Martin, Hugh Scott,
John Scott and L. Barnum. Where Miss Hamp
den found the name is, today, problematical.
There are six towns in the United States named
Moro, viz : Moro, Arkansas ; Moro, Illinois ;
Moro, Maine; Moro, Pennsylvania; Moro, Texas
and Moro, Oregon. But there is another ver
sion ; The Dalles Times-Mountaineer of January
1898, says :
"The name 'Moro' is not of local origin, hav
ing been given to the town by Judge O. M.
Scott, one of the earliest settlers here, who form
erly lived in Moro, Illinois, and desired to per
petuate the name by christening this town after
it." And here is still another from the Observer of
December 22, 1897:
"After the postoffice was established in the
spring of 1884, John Scott was postmaster ; it
became necessary to have the office in the store
of Scott & McCoy, to facilitate trade and accom
modate settlers who were becoming quite numer
ous. For convenience the firm wished the name
to be a short one as their correspondence was

voluminous and they did not care to waste time
in writing words of many syllables. * * * *
Name after name was suggested but laid aside.
Finally a clerk in the establishment by the name
of Truelove, a native of Scotland, produced the
name Moro, which was adopted."
This suggestion, however, may have been
only the foundation of the actual selection of the
name, ancl the word "Moro," written by Miss
Hampden may have been merely in the line of
"seconding the motion" of Mr. Truelove. Cer
tainly there is not, necessarily, any insurmount
able difference, or conflict of facts, between the
story related by L. Barnum and the version pub
lished by the Moro Observer.
"Moro" is a Spanish word signifying Moor
ish ; belonging to the Moors. There is, also,
another reason. Attoni Moro, otherwise known
as Sir Anthony More, an eminent portrait painter
born at Utrecht, in 15 12 was, in 1552, invited by
Charles V., king of Spain, to paint the portrait
of Prince Philip. So satisfactory was his work
and so highly appreciated that he was greatly
honored in Spain, granted many presents and an
annuity. Moro lived there for several years, dy
ing in 1581. It is thought that his name has
been thus honored by Spain. The English word
moro signifies the vinous grosbeak, stone-bird or
desert trumpter, Carpodacus (Bucanetes) githa-
gineits, a small fringilline bird. It also means
the mulberry.
From the date of the establishment of the
Moro postoffice in 1884, the following have offic
iated as postal officials : John Scott, W. H. Will
iams, Mrs. Dbra Williams and John M. Parry.
The townsite was platted by Scott & McCoy,
recorded at The Dalles, and sales of lots began.
Main and First streets were the principal ones,
and the streets were numbered First, Second,
Third, Fourth, etc. West from Main were
Scott, McCoy and Jewett streets. During its
early history there was no "boom" in Moro ; no
mushroom growth — in fact its growth was quite
slow following the establishment of the store and
postoffice by Scott & McCoy. John Scott built a
residence which was the third building erected
on the present site of Moro. Following this the
progress of the town was about as follows : Moro
Hotel, by E. J. Rollins ; J. B. Mowry and O. E.
Leet came to this place, ran stock for Henry
Barnum and made their home here ; Mr. Rags
dale, Sr., moved his house from Grass Valley
canyon to Moro ; Henry McBride and Mrs.
Bounds, brother ancl sister, built a home within
the present limits of the town ; Zumalt family
moved here ; Somers & McKenzie erected a large
blacksmith shop ; John Landrie, an employe of
Somers & McKenzie, built a small house. The

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

445-

Dalles Times-Mountaineer devoted this much
space in 1885 to a description of the present cap
ital of Sherman county: "Moro is situated in
what is known as the Grass Valley country, the
best belt of farming land in Wasco county. A
stage leaves Grant three times a week for this
place, from which it is seventeen miles distant."
But it was not until 1887 that Moro began to
assume the proportions of a village, when the
townsite passed into the hands of Moore Broth
ers. Shortly -afterward a well-equipped hard
ware store, with R. J. Ginn as proprietor, proved
a welcome accession to the town.
The selection of Moro as the capital of Sher
man county in 1892 was, of course, an important
event in its history. This has been fully treated
in the preceding chapter. In July, 1893, the citi
zens of Moro took the preliminary steps toward
organizing a fire company. W. H. Moore was
elected captain ; he appointed ten members to
serve as pipemen, making R. J. Ginn the leader.
He then named the members of a hook and lad
der corps. During its earlier days Moro was
supplied with a water system constructed by
private capital at a cost of 2,700. This answered
every purpose during the infantile period of the
town's history, but its place was taken in the
late '90's by the splendid system now in use.
An attempt at incorporation was made in
1897. In the state senate a bill to grant a city
charter to the town of Moro was introduced,
but nothing eventuated that session. December
22, 1897 the Moro Observer said : "Fifty-five
new buildings have been erected and the old ones
— every one of them — more or less improved
since June, 1894." Rapid strides were taken by
Moro in the year 1897. There was most encour
aging development ; many new enterprises were
put on foot during this year, including a number
of business houses. Municipal improvement was
continued through 1898, the year of the arrival
of the railroad, and 600,000 feet of lumber had
been put into the Moro buildings up to June 15th.
The new water company, of which we have
spoken, was organized this year. It absorbed the
old one ; the capital stock was increased to $7,000.
It was completed in August. A second weekly
newspaper was another new enterprise that ac
centuated the steady improvement of the town.
September 7, 1898, the Moro Leader said :
"Since the second day of March last, when
the first isssue of the Moro Leader was pub
lished, there has been a large increase in popula
tion in Moro. Not only this, but building and
other improvements have nearly kept pace with
the increased needs. During the past six months
there have been begun about seventeen residences,
and most of them completed. Of business places,

such as hotels, stores, etc., there are twelve
erected and under way."
In 1899 Moro secured from the legislature a
city charter. It was approved February 17th.
The last section reads : "Inasmuch as there is
great need of local municipal government in the
city of Moro, this act shall take effect and be in
force from and after its approval by the gov
ernor." While this bill was pending the Moro
Observer said : "If passed as prepared the Moro
city charter provides for selling $10,000 worth
of bonds for water, electricity and sewerage. The
government is to consist of one mayor and six
councilmen to be elected in April for two years ; a
recorder, marshal and city attorney, annually ap
pointed by the council. The city boundaries take
in 160 acres of Moore Brothers' land ; 80 acres
of the Mowery tract and a 40-rod strip of the
Barnum-Ragsdale tract."
The new boundaries provided by the charter
were as follows : Commencing at the northeast
corner of section 18, 1 south, range 17 east;
thence J4 mile due west to the northwest corner
of the I. O. O. F. cemetery ; thence south Ya of a
mile ; thence east 200 rods, which would be 40 ¦
rods east of the southeast corner of the north
east quarter of the southeast quarter of section
18 ; thence due north Y\ miles ; thence west 40
rods to place of beginning.
The Moro Commercial Club was organized in
May, 1899, with F. E. Brown, president; E. E.
Lytle, vice-president ; A. C. Sanford, treasurer ;
I. J. Keffer, secretary. The membership was
limited to thirty. Rooms were fitted up in the
basement of the opera house. The taxable prop
erty of Moro for 1901 was $110,525; leading all
other towns in the county. January 1, 1898, The
Dalles Times-Mountaineer paid the following -
handsome compliment to the town :
It is safe to predict that Moro will continue to
retain its preeminence as a commercial center. Geo
graphical position is favorable to it. Nature has sur
rounded it on all sides with rich and fertile agricultural'
lands, whose golden harvests are year by year, in the -
usual course of trade, poured into the lap of its com
mercial population. A wide-awake and progressive citi
zenship proclaims the fact that here is a town which -
contains all the elements of success — honesty, fair deal
ing, courtesy and the desire and ability to attract within
its borders trade from every quarter. But a few miles -
west of the town is the lordly Des Chutes, leaping with
giant strides to the Columbia, and containing within
itself almost unlimited wealth in the water power that
has hitherto been permitted to waste itself with lavish
prodigality, but which the genius and industry of Moro's
citizens will ere long harness to the mill and loom;.

446

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

. and for a reward snatching from its broad bosom the
wealth that now floats there "unhonored and unsung."
Theologically the city is represented by the First
Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist churches. Follow
ing are the fraternal societies : Eureka Lodge No. 121,
A. F. & A. M.; Bethlehem Chapter, No. 78, O. E. S.;
Moro Lodge, No. 113, I. O. O. F. ; Lupine Rebekah
Lodge, No. 116, I. O. O. F. ; Moro Camp, No. 3Sr,
~W. O. W. ; Moro Circle, No. 56, Women of Woodcraft;
Moro Lodge, No. 64, A. O. U. W. ; Herrin Lodge, No.
82, D. of H. ; Moro Council, No. 962, Knights and
Ladies of Security ; Moro Camp, No. 9285, M. W. A.
In 1899 a city charter was granted to Moro.
We append a list of the city officials since that
period :
1899 — Mayor, W. H. Moore; council, S. S. Hayes,
G W. Brock, A. C. Sanford, W. Holder, H. A. Moore,
J. M. Parry,* I. M. Smith;* recorder, W. Henricks*
J. M. Parry;* treasurer, F. H. Meader; marshal, N. W.
Thompson. 1900 — Mayor, W. H. Moore; council, G. W. Brock,
J. O. Elrod, R. J. Ginn, H. A. Moore, W. Holder, S.
McDonald ; recorder, J. M. Parry,* M. Fitzmaurice ;*
treasurer, E. R. Hickson; marshal, W. Hoggard.
1901 — Mayor, W. H. Moore; council, R. J. Ginn,
H. A. Moore, W. J. Martin, E. W. Elrod, J. O. Elrod, S.
McDonald; recorder, J. M. Parry; treasurer, E. R.
Hickson; marshal, W. Hoggard.
1902 — Mayor, W. H. Moore; council, R. J. Ginn,
M. Fitzmaurice, G W. Brock, J. O. Elrod, H. A.
Moore, W. J. Martin; recorder, J-. M. Parry,* G. M.
Frost ;* treasurer, E. R. Hickson ; marshal, W. Hoggard.
1903 — Mayor, W. H. Moore; council, J. O. Elrod,
H. A. Moore, I. D. Pike, G. W. Brock, M. Fitzmaurice,
R. J. Ginn; recorder, G M. Frost; treasurer, E. R.
Hickson; marshal, W. Hoggard.
1904 — Mayor, W. H. Moore,* L. Barnum;* council,
W. H. Ragsdale, J. F. Foss, G. W. Brock, B. F. Pike,*
O. A. Ramsey, J. O. Elrod,* J. M. Dunahoo, H. A.
Page; recorder, G. M. Frost,* M. Fitzmaurice; treasurer,
E. R. Hickson,* S. S. Hayes;* marshal, W. Hoggard,*
J. P. Strahl,* E. L. Sells .*
1905 — Mayor, J. O. Elrod ; council, W. H. Ragsdale,
L. Barnum, O. J. Goffin, E. H. Moore, O. A. Ramsey,
G. W. Brock; recorder, W. C. Bryant; treasurer, E. R.
Hickson; marshal, E. L. Sells.
WASCO.
This lively town is located ten miles south of
the Columbia river on the line of the Columbia
Southern Railway. From 300 to more than
twice that number the population has increased
since 1897. In every respect it is a modern city.

* Served part of term.

It possesses a well-equipped fire department, ex
cellent water system, one weekly newspaper, two
hotels, one graded public school, three churches,
two flouring mills with a capacity of 400 barrels
per day, two banks, numerous general stores and
shops, two livery stables and five grain ware
houses with a combined storage of 450,000 bush
els. Of a splendid agricultural region it is the
financial center. Wasco is noted for having
been the first town in Oregon to resort to the
use of crude petroleum on its streets for the pur
pose of "laying the dust," and shedding water in
winter. The system has proved successful in
every particular.
While the growth of Wasco has never been
what might be termed in western parlance
"swift," it has been steady and healthy. The
town will never recede ; with" the development of
the surrounding country it must, certainly, keep
pace, and continue the supply point of a large
territory. A conservative estimate of Wasco's
population places it at 700. In a variety of ways
the town of Wasco is a pretty place ; one that
nestles in rural simplicity which charms the eye
and gratifies the senses. A more eligible site for
a town could scarcely have been chosen. Situated
near the head of Spanish Hollow, it is compara
tively level, yet sloping sufficiently to allow ex
cellent drainage. The general topography of the
country is such that all roads easily and natur
ally trend toward it. The sloping hills surround
ing the townsite are covered with wheat farms.
Wasco was so named from the county in which
it was located at the time it was founded. The
significance of this Indian word — a maker of
horn basins — is explained in the chapter con
cerning Wasco county. The name Wascos was
applied to a tribe of Indians who for many years
made their homes, or head center, at The Dalles.
In the pioneer days ('40's and '50's) when
thousands of immigrants crossed the plains to
Oregon, their trail bisected the ground where is
now located this thriving little city. Before it
took final, definite shape the act of locating the
present site of Wasco was agitated for some
time. W. M. Barnett was the first to build. He
erected a two-story edifice, the lower portion be
ing utilized for his mercantile business ; the up
per story was used primarily for meetings of
every description. Mr. Barnett was closely fol
lowed by Messrs. MacKenzie & Somer, with a
machine shop. Mr. MacKenzie's mother was the
first white woman to live in the city. These
people were followed the succeeding year by
Messrs. Tozier & Holland, blacksmiths. The
same year, 1883, the Methodist Episcopal church
was built. This building was located on the
west side of "the creek," and was an edifice of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

447

considerable importance, being the only one de
voted exclusively to religious services between
the John Day ancl Des Chutes rivers. July 16,
1883, Wasco townsite was platted by Clark Dun
lap ; the southeast corner of southwest half of
section 4, township 1, north range 17 E. W. M.
Anterior to removing to Wasco Mr. Barnett had
been engaged in mercantile business sirtce 1880
near "Eaton's ranch," one and one-half miles
northwest of Wasco. The second store building
in town was, also, erected by Mr. Barnett. This
was in 1885, a drug store, rented to Josiah
Marsh. In 1885 The Dalles Times-Mountaineer
had this to say of the town : "Wasco, ten miles
distant from Grant, on the Grass Valley stage
route, is in the midst of a fine belt of land.
Within the last four years over 1,000 settlers have
made homes in this section, and Wasco has a
promising future."
In 1887 Levi Armsworthy built the Oskaloosa
Hotel, the first hostelry on the original plat of the
town. Later came Dr. S. E. Koontz ancl James
Haas, a contractor, followed by quite a large
contingent of people, many of whom are yet
Wasco's best ancl most honored residents.
In 1888 the first school house was erected. .It
was a one-story building; in commission two
years. In 1890 the present four-room edifice was
built at a cost of $4,000. The first year only
two rooms were found necessary for accommo
dation of the pupils; three were used the third
year; in 1903 all were utilized and another
teacher employed. It was in 1889 that E. O. E.
Webber built the second general merchandise
store in the town of Wasco. This place, it will
be remembered by readers of the preceding chap
ter, was made the temporary capital of Sherman
county, remaining so until 1892 when it was re
moved to Moro. A stock company was organ
ized in Wasco in 1891 for the purpose of trans
acting a general banking business, and the Sher
man county bank was placed in the financial
field. Subsequently it was sold to J. M. Patter
son and V. C. Brock, who failed in 1899. After
1892 "hard times" left their melancholy results
throughout the land, still, compared with other
localities Wasco suffered but little.
Prosperity in 1897 was marked. Not only
were crops munificent but the financial atmos
phere was clarified. Wasco more than doubled
her population; business marvellously increased.
The basis of this spontaneous revival was the
commencement of the Columbia Southern Rail
way ancl the certainty that Wasco was to be on
"the line." The first extensive warehouse was
constructed bv a stock company called the
Farmers' Co-operative Warehouse Company. As
such it was conducted two years and then dis

posed of to the Union Warehouse Company. One
year subsequently it was merged with the Wasco
Warehouse &., Milling Company. H. P. Isaacs
erected the first flouring mill in Wasco. This
was in 1897, coincident with the advent of the
railroad. January 1, 1898, the following description of
Wasco was published in The Dalles Times-Moun
taineer :
Again the clarion tones of the whistle are heard,
and houses begin to flash in sight. The bell clangs,
the train slows up, and after having traveled ten miles,
Wasco is reached. Looking about the visitor is im
pressed with the amount of business apparent. On
every hand are new houses both business and dwelling.
Many are finished; others under construction. It is
harvest field for mechanics. The sound of the hammer
is incessant. Looking about the railroad yards the
immense volume of business is more apparent than ever.
The tracks extend along one side of the town for
nearly a mile, and every available foot of this space is
taken up by warehouses, woodyards and business features
of different sorts. Huge ricks of wheat amounting to
over a million and a half bushels are stored here during
the year for shipment. During all of the autumn months
and far into the winter heavy wheat trains, four, six,
eight and ten horses, with two or three heavy wagons,
come in, bringing in thousands of sacks daily. Indeed,
four hundred of these teams have been counted in one
day. It takes almost an army of men to handle all
this produce, to say nothing of the large quantity of
other freight that goes out as well as comes in. The
Columbia Southern Railway hauls all the freight into the
county, and it amounts yearly to considerably better than
half a million dollars. Daily heavy freight teams leave
their depot with loads of supplies for other portions of
Sherman county.
At the January, 1898, meeting of the county
court a petition signed by 55 residents of Wasco
was presented asking the commissioners to grant
them the privilege of voting on the question of
incorporation. It was alleged in the petition that
there were about 300 people resident within the
boundaries of the proposed incorporation. The
petition was granted ; an election was called for
January 31st for the purpose of voting upon the
question and selecting city officials should the
proposition carry at the polls. Friends of incor
poration were successful by a majority of 13
votes. Close and exciting was this election ; vig
ilant were the watchdogs at the polls and many
a man was compelled to swear in his vote. The
vote for city officials was equally close, with the
following result:
For mayor — W. M. Barnett, 44 ; G. N. Cros-
field, 55.

448

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For councilmen — The six first named elected
— L. Clark, 76; J. E. McPherson, 55; W. M.
Booth, 55; P. L. Kretzer, 54; W. A. Murchie,
57 ; W. M. Reynolds, 77 ; W. H. Biggs, 52 ; W.
S. Barzee, 50; W. S. Clayton, 42; H. Krause,
49 ; J. M. Hoag, 50.
For recorder— W. F. Johnson, 62; E. E.
Lyon, 42.
For marshal — Angus Cameron, 6; W. H.
Walker, 42.
For treasurer — V. C. Brock, 98.
The first meeting of the city council was held
Wednesday, April 18th. The two tickets in the
field were named People's and Citizens'. In the
main the People's ticket was successful, although
some of the councilmen's names appeared on both
tickets. For some reason or other it was affirmed by
certain pessimists that with the extension south
of the railroad Wasco would retrograde. _ In this
gloomy prognostication they were grievously
mistaken. Per contra Wasco continued to wax
prosperous and happy. In 1901 her taxable
property was $90,520.
On the morning of November 17, 1903,
Wasco suffered from a most disastrous fire. At
2:15 a. m., flames were discovered issuing from
the basement of an addition, under process of
construction, to the Oregon Trading Company's
store. The main building was soon a mass of
flames and smoke; the fire ran to the adjacent
opera house and this, too, was a total loss, as was
the residence of John Venable.
The Oregon Trading Company's store, the
property of E. O. McCoy and George N. Cros-
field, was a large concern, the building and stock
being valued at $100,000. They carried an in
surance of $60,000 on the building and stock. The
opera house was owned by a joint stock company
and was valued at $40,000, on which there was
only $2,000 insurance. Mr. Venable's residence
was worth $1,500 and he carried no insurance.
Saturday, , July 16, 1904, the citizens, by an
almost unanimous vote, decided to bond the town
for an amount sufficient to meet the expense of a
complete system of fire protection and sewerage.
But the people were not yet out of the woods. A
committee, commissioned by the city council,
went to Portland to negotiate the sale of $12,000
worth of municipal bonds. The attorney of the
loan company to whom the bonds were offered
examined the Wasco city charter and discovered
an amendment to the effect that the city could
not be bonded for more than five per cent, of its
taxable property. The citizens had voted a tax
of ten per cent. But, although available records
are a trifle obscure, this difficulty was subse

quently overcome and the money found for the
greatly needed improvements.
As has been stated the Methodist Episcopal
church is the pioneer in the town of Wasco ; hav
ing been one of the first buildings erected on the
original plat of the town. This was in the fall
of 1883. In 1902 the present building was
erected at a cost of $5,000 and was dedicated
January 11, 1903. The church has .a membership-
of more than sixty.
The Christian, is the second church in the
town of Wasco ; the foundation of the present
building having been laid in 1888. Owing to
financial obstacles, however, the building was not
completed until 1890, at a total cost of about
$2,500. The edifice of the Catholic denomination was.
begun in 1904, and completed the following year,
the cost being $3,000. It is the first Catholic
church in Sherman county, and, with the excep
tion of The Dalles, 30 miles distant, there is no-
other Catholic church within a radius of 100
miles. The fraternal societies of Wasco are
represented as follows :
Wasco Lodge No. 965, Knights and Ladies
of Security ; Aurora Lodge No. 54, K. of P. ;
Wasco Assembly No. 78, United Artisans ; Taylor
Lodge No. 99, A. F. & A. M. ; Lillian Temple
No. 17, Rathbone Sisters ; Alanthus Circle No..
 , Women of Woodcraft ; Wasco Camp No..
350, W. O. W. ; Wasco Lodge No. 88, A. O..
U. W. ; Gentlemen's Social and Business Club of
Wasco ; W. T. Sherman Post No. 4, Department
of Oregon, G. A. R. ; I. O. O. F. ; Modern For
esters ; O. E. S., Golden Sheaf Chapter No. 64;-
Degree of Honor.
The city officials of Wasco since its organiza
tion under a charter have been as follows :
1898— Mayor, G. N. Crosfield* C. E. Jones;* coun
cil, J. W. Booth, P. L. Kretzer, W. M. Reynolds, L. Clark,
J. McPherson,* W. A. Murchie,* A. B. Wooley, T. L.
Lawrence ; treasurer, V. C. Brock ; recorder, W. F.
Johnson ; marshal, Angus Cameron.
1899 — Mayor, C. E. Jones ; council, Levi Arms-
worthy, H. Krause, J. G. Potter, E. Siscel, L. Clark,
W. M. Reynolds, N. Draper ; treasurer, V. C. Brock ;
recorder, W. F. Johnson,* E. S. Hinman;* marshal,
Angus Cameron,* C. A. Akers.*
1900 — Mayor, E. S. Cattron ; council, H. Krause,
J. G. Potter, R. C. Atwood, L. Armsworthy, N. Draper,
V. Workman ; treasurer, V. C. Brock ; recorder, J. F.
Potter ; marshal, H. E. Vaughn.
1901 — Mayor, E. S. Cattron ; council, R. C. Atwood,
N. Draper, J. W. Booth, W. Campbell, V. Workman,*
J. G. Booth, W. S. Barzee; treasurer, V. C. Brock*

* Served part of term.

Wheat Scene in Sherman County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

449

F. H. Meader; recorder, J. F. Potter; marshal H. E.
Vaughn. 1902 — Mayor, E. S. Cattron; council, W. M. Rey
nolds, J. W. Booth, R. C. Atwood, B. R. Whitney, W.
Campbell, J. G. Potter; treasurer, F. H. Meader,* W. M.
Barnett;* recorder, A. S. McDonald,* L. Clark,* W. S.
Barzee,* F. H. Meader;* marshal, E. G. Tozier,* J. H.
Trent.* 1903 — Mayor, E. S. Cattron; council, J. W. Booth,
C. E. Jones, E. S. Buffum, J. A. Ellis, C. Gollier;
treasurer, W. M. Barnett; recorder, F. H. Meader;
marshal, B. D. Garlock.
1904 — Mayor, E. S. Cattron; council, W. H. Biggs,
J. W. Booth, E. D. McKee, C. Gollier, J. W. Allen,
C. E. Jones ; treasurer, W. M. Barnett ; recorder, F. H.
Meader; marshal, J. W. Nixon,* G. T. Andrews.*
The city administration of 1905 was the same in
personnel as that of 1904.
The following ladies and gentlemen have
served Wasco as postmasters and postmistresses
since the establishment of the office : W. M. Bar
nett, Miss Jeannette Murchie, Mrs. Mary Jory,
William Henrichs, Clark Dunlap and W. E.
Tate. GRASS VALLEY.
is located 39 miles south of the Columbia river
on the line of the Columbia Southern Railway.
As has been the case with her sister towns, Moro
and Wasco, Grass Valley has nearly quadrupled
her population within the past four years. It has
electric lights, good water and sewerage systems,
a fine graded public school, two churches, a num
ber of general and department stores, a livery
stable, hotel and four grain warehouses with a
storage capacity of 450,000 bushels. Grass Val
ley is the one city in Sherman county that is situ
ated, practically, on level ground, with an abun
dance of water close to the surface and quickly
and- easily secured by digging. At the present
writing the population is between 450 and 500'.
It is, certainly, an eligibly located town, attrac
tive to the eye and possessing several handsome
brick buildings which would be a credit to a city
many times its size — a town of comfortable, cosy
homes. Grass Valley, while in the heart of one of the
finest wheat belts in Eastern Oregon, is, also, in
close proximity to fine grazing grounds, where
thousands of sheep, cattle and horses are kept the
year round.
May 3, 1878, Dr. C. R. Rollins in company
with a number of others, camped where is now
situated the town of Grass Valley. The members

*Served part of term.
29

of this little exploring expedition, aside from Dr.
Rollins and his son, were John W. Dow and wife,
Frank Richie and a Mr. Locke. They were San-
Franciscans, and they were attempting to spy
out land suitable for stock growing purposes..
Dr.. Rollins located a homestead on the quarter-
section upon which they were camped. Others of
the party secured homesteads adjoining thereto.
There were, at this period, only forty-two white
people in what is now known as Sherman county ;
during the summer and fall several of these left:.
Tt should be remembered that at this period the'
whole country was considered fit only for the
purpose of grazing stock. True, there were
some who possessed different ideas, and among
them were the few who settled in the vicinity of
what is now Grass Valley. They at once turned
their attention to growing both cereals and vege
tables; harvest time proved them in the right and
fully justified their judgment. The country
around Grass Valley began to fill up with set
tlers and its celebrity as a rich agricultural and
stock-raising center extended far and wide.
Dr. Rollins built here a small store, prac
ticed medicine and for a number of years was the
sole physician from Antelope on the south to the
Columbia river on the north.
Concerning the name "Grass Valley" the pio
neers of the section in which it is located will tell
you that the place of the town's location was cov
ered by an exceptionally luxuriant growth of rye
grass, so heavy and tall that old timers, without
changing countenance, will say that it was im
possible to see a horseman riding through it only
a short distance away. To Dr. Rollins belongs
the credit of giving the town its name.
The house built by Dr. Rollins to which we
have alluded as a "stope," was, in realty, utilized
as a hotel, or more properly speaking, an inn, and
also a home aside from being a store. Here
were accommodated for many years immigrants
coming in to the country, and stockmen having
their flocks and bands of cattle in the vicinity.
Provision was made for man and beast and the
small stock of geaeral merchandise supplied the
needs of, the new settlers. Until about 1885 Dr.
Rollins conducted this commercial combination.
In the fall of 1878 J. C. Dow ran up, on the
present townsite of Grass Valley, a little house,
and these two structures for many years were
the only ones on the site.
C. W. Moore, who came in the fall of 1881
states that there were on the present townsite,.'
or in the immediate vicinity, the "Grass Valley
House," of Dr. Rollins, and farm houses of F. E.
Clark, James Harney, G. W. Bates and Charles-
Taylor. Not yet had the settlement grown to
sufficient proportions to warrant the establish-

45°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ment of a postoffice ; settlers received their mail
either from the Sherar's Bridge office, or the one
at Grant, in the extreme northern part of the
county. Dr. Rollins secured a patent for his
Grass Valley homestead in 1883. In a special
edition published in 1885 The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer said of the town of Grass Valley :
, "Grass Valley is the name of a postoffice, con
sisting of a store, hotel and other buildings in the
¦ center of the fertile settlement bearing that ap
pellation. Dr. C. R. Rollins is the proprietor of
the store and postoffice. There are other post-
offices in this Grass Valley section, one named
Erskineville, but Moro, Wasco and Grass Valley
are the principal business points."
1 ¦ Following the discontinuance of Dr. Rollins'
Store, C. A. Williams, in 1885, entered the field
with a stock of general merchandise. This enter
prise he conducted three years, disposing of the
same to Hamilton & Adams. They, in turn, were
succeeded in the business by Scott & Hamilton,
Scott & Company, Scott & Heath Company and
the last by the Citizens Commercial Company,
which today is one of the leading general mer-
•chandise stores in Sherman county. Soon after
the establishment of the Williams store a post-
office was secured, named Grass Valley, and was
located at Charles Taylor's residence about one
mile from the present business center of the town.
Charles Taylor was made postmaster. Since
then the officials who have succeeded Taylor in
this position have been E. Olds, E. Hamilton,
'George Hamilton, Alexander Scott, James H.
Marquiss, Minnie Smith and H. W. Wilcox, the
present incumbent.
In the year 1888 C. W. Moore and Dr. Rol
lins entered into partnership and opened a small
Stock of general goods. Another business enter
prise was a blacksmith shop on the ranch of one
At Coon, on the fringe of the town ; this was
about 1889. In the early '80's a shop was opened
in town by A. Holder. April 16, 1889, the pres
ent townsite was surveyed by John Fulton ancl
platted, although the plat was not filed until June
27',: 1891. In the course of business transactions
Mr; C. W. Moore became owner of most of the
lots in the original townsite of Grass Valley. As
an' ' inducement to settlement he presented sev
eral lots to certain parties who built houses upon
them. So great was the demand for town lots
that Dr. Rollins soon had a "First Addition" to
Grass Valley laid out. Recently a "Second Ad
dition" was placed on the market. Sherman's
and Clement's additions are both situated on the
flat. The boundaries of the original site are as
follows : Commencing at the southeast corner of
said Grass Valley which point is 72 rods east of
the southwest corner of section 26, township 2,

south range 16, E. W. M., and which point is
also 30 south 20 degrees, 40 minutes west of the
east corner of lot 1, block 1, in said Grass Valley.
From this time on through several years the
growth of the town was not rapid. It was merely
the trading point for a rich but sparsely settled
country. The commercial needs of the people in
the vicinity were supplied ; Grass Valley re
mained a country village. It was not until 1897-8
that attention was turned toward this part of the
country; for then it was that the Columbia
Southern Railway was commenced. While it was
not extended to Grass Valley until a few years
later it was "headed this way ;" a new impetus
was given to the little village. A newspaper, the
Grassville Journal, was launched in 1897.
October 18, 1898, a fire company was organ
ized, and arrangements made for securing appa-
atus, engine house, etc. The first officers were:
C. W. Moore, president; Dr. J. W. Cole, vice-
president; J. H. Berger, treasurer; Hollis Wil
cox, secretary ; W. I. Westerfield, foreman ; Will
I. Ewing, first assistant foreman ; Charles H. Jen
kins, second assistant foreman.
During the five months preceding August 26,
1898, eight houses were erected in town and
lumber ordered for another large business house.
The railroad reached Grass Valley in the spring
of 1900. From this period dates, practically the
continued progress and steady growth of the
town. At a meeting of the Sherman county com
missioners, July 2, 1900, there was presented to
them a petition signed by 45 residents asking for
the privilege of voting on the question of incor
poration. It was claimed that there were within
the proposed limits of incorporation about 180
residents. The United States census taken that
year gave the town a population of 196. Mon
day, September 10, 1900, was the date set by the
commissioners for the purpose of voting on the
proposition, ancl to select the first city officials.
Incorporation carried by a vote of 37 to 15, and
the successful candidates for city officers were:
Mayor, C. W. Moore; aldermen, J. D. Wilcox,
J. H. Smith, A. Scott, R. H. King, G. B. Bour-
hill and J. O. Elrod. Recorder,' W. I. Wester
field ; treasurer, A. B. Craft; marshall, Charles'
French. On the authority of the Grass Valley Journal
during the four years, 1898-1902, eighty resi
dences and business houses were erected in the
town. Perhaps the year 1903 was the most pros
perous in the history of Grass Valley. There
were erected two large two-story brick buildings,
a flouring mill, a number of substantial dwellings
and a banking institution was opened. The prev
ious year one large brick building had been com-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

45i

pleted. The fraternal societies of the town are
as follows :
Surprise Lodge No. 87, D. of H., Grass
Valley Lodge No. 650, W. of W. ; Modoc Camp
No. 39, I. O. O. F. ; Grass Valley Lodge No. 131,
I. O. O. F.; Grass Valley Rebekah Lodge No.
118 ; Grass Valley Lodge No. 65, A. O. U. W.
The Grass Valley churches are represented by
the Baptist and Methodist denominations.
KENT
is the fourth town in size and importance in
Sherman county. It is located 53 miles south of
the Columbia river on the line of the Columbia
Southern Railway. Two years ago (March,
1903), naught but a station platform marked
its location. At the present writing, May, 1905,
it has a population of 250 which is increasing.
There are, here, a number of stores and shops, a
newspaper and two grain warehouses with a
capacity of 275,000 bushels. For many years
there has been at this point a postoffice named
Kent; no town appeared until recently.
In anticipation of the coming of the railroad
the townsite was surveyed in 1899 by John Don
ahue, and on his land. According to the town-
site plat it is situated in the northeast quarter of
section 28, township 4, south range 17, E. W.
M. ; the initial point being the southeast corner
•of block 10, which is 40 feet north and 1,066.7
feet west of the one quarter section corner be
tween sections 27 and 28, township 4, south
range 17, E. W. M.
The fraternal societies 9f Kent are limited to
the camp of the Modern Woodmen of America
and Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
GRANT.
This is the name of a postoffice on the line of
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, in
the northern portion of Sherman county, and on
the Columbia river 23 miles east of The Dalles.
The railway station is called, however, Grant's.
Grant, or Grant's, is the remnant of a once most
prosperous village. "Grant's station" came into
existence with the building of the Oregon Rail
road & Navigation Company's line, and for sev
eral years was an important shipping point,
freight being distributed from this place through
out a large territory. Alluding to this point No
vember 30, 1880, The Dalles Times said :
"Grant's Station — This is the name of a side
track about seven miles beyond Celilo, where
freight is discharged for Columbus whence it is
ferried over the river. At present there are no
buildings at this place, but it being contiguous to

the large tract of country beyond the Des Chutes,
it is not presumptuous to think that a small town
will be started here at an early day."
In the spring of 1881 a town began to evolve
at "Grant's Landing." J. W. Fox opened a gen
eral merchandise store in March, and here John
McDonald conducted a blacksmith shop. But
there is an anterior history of Grant's. With the
construction of a railway and the construction of
a town, a postoffice was established and given the
name of Villard in honor of the builder of the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's line,
Henry Villard. The name of this office was sub
sequently changed to Grant, while the station still
retains its original name of Grant's. When the
townsite was platted, in 1883, it was named •
Grant. It is undeniably true that the growth of
"Villard" for a period was rapid, and within a
year or two after the founding of the town quite
a little city appeared, and the amount of business,
especially traffic, was considerable. Following is
the Times-Mountaineers account of a fire at
Grant, Grant's or Villard, June 18, 1883 :
A very destructive fire occurred here at II o'clock
last night. The Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com
pany's depot, Cooper's Hotel, William Grant's ware
house; also the stores of Fox, Scott & Company, a
large amount of wool and miscellaneous freight and
numerous outbuildings were consumed. The loss is
estimated at from $150,000 to $200,000, and only partially
insured. The losses are as follows :
John Cooper, hotel and furniture, $5,000; Fox,
Scott & Company, $25,000; William Grant, buildings and
lumber, $15,000; Murray Brothers, wool and mer
chandise, $15,000; A. Schwernicken, $2,000; Lowengart
& Sichel, merchandise, $2,000; Cummings & Dixon, mer
chandise, $4,000; Harvey & Clark, wool, $5,000; Coch
ran & Dowling, wool ; William Burnett, merchandise,
$1,000; wool awaiting shipment, owners unknown, $25,-
000; Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, $5,000.
There were a large number of consignments
of freight burned, the value of which was never
correctly obtained, and which was difficult to
estimate. Grant townsite was platted in Novem
ber, 1883, by William Murray, Isabella Murray,
his wife, W. Lair Hill and Julia Chandler Hill,
his wife, and is situated in section 2, township 2,
north range 16, E. W. M.
Grant remained the shipping point for a large
scope of country, but did not improve greatlv
during the '80's. In 1892 new impetus was given
to the town. In August of that year about 26
acres to the west were donated to a company that
contemplated building a flouring mill and dis
tillery. But this did not eventuate. In 1894
Grant was visited by a destructive flood. Vast

452

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

volumes of water washed through the town and
citizens were forced to seek the hillsides for per
sonal safety. September 7th the Antelope
Herald said : "The old station house is still stand
ing on one end, and like two-thirds of the other
standing buildings at that place, is in a sorrow
ful looking condition. We would never have
recognized the location of Grant had we not
known that it was really the place. There are a
few houses yet standing, but they are located
amongst sand dunes, near deep washouts, and
outside of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, it is the most
dilapidated place we have ever seen."
Erom the effects of this flood the town never
_ recovered. The construction of the Columbia
Southern Railway into the interior of the county
sounded its death knell ; the only tangible excuse
for Grant's existence had been its advantage as a
practical shipping point for the interioY.
DE MOSS SPRINGS.
This is a pleasant little village consisting of a
postoffice, store, blacksmith shop, two churches,
Baptist and United Brethren, two warehouses,
mill and telephone service. It still remains the
summer home of the De Moss family, concertists,
who pass "the season" playing throughout the
country. The town is located on the Columbia
Southern Railway, between Moro and Wasco.
Within half a mile of the present De Moss
Springs was located one of the first postoffices in
Sherman county. It was called Badger and was
supplanted by the De Moss springs office.
In 1883 the De Moss family left San Fran
cisco by railway, proceeded to Ogden, purchased
hacks and toured the country in this manner for
the benefit of the health of Mrs. De Moss. At
this point, Grass Valley creek, they pitched their
tents. To Professor De Moss his wife expressed
a desire to make this their future home. To this
proposition the family agreed provided they
could purchase the ranch then claimed by Cou
ture (known as Pierre Gordon). Professor De
Moss and sons secured 840 acres of land. In
1885 C. W. Dickman came and desired to obtain
possession of a portion of the townsite which was
granted him. There were, however, two men
before him ; they, too, wished to engage in busi
ness, but were not willing to agree to sell no
liquor, and also refused to donate every other
lot to "moral men." But Dickman acquiesced in
the restrictions imposed by De Moss, and this it
became a temperance town. Professor De Moss
had promised his influence in the establishment
of a seminary. The board was organized in 1887,
consisting of thirteen members. Professor De

Moss was president; C. W. Dickman, secretary;:
Reverends Davis and Treseuriter, soliciting-
agents. The board of trustees were: W. H.
Biggs, A. McDonald, Robert Ginn, H. S. De
Moss, James Belske, Thomas Cochran, and Rev
erends Holgate and Pratt. The school opened
under the direction of Miss A. A. Coffin. In-
1889 Henry S. De Moss published the following.
historical sketch of the town in The Dalles
Times-Mountaineer of January 1st:
The townsite was selected by Mrs. J. M. De Moss.
more than five years ago last September, the land then
being claimed by Pierre Couture, and named after the
family. It is a beautiful townsite, well watered, and'
is the junction of eight county roads. The seminary
board of directors was organized in June, 1888, there-
being thirteen good men appointed. The school has a
bright prospect before it.
The business men consist of T. J. Cocking, as post
master, notary public and merchant ; H. A. Rawson,.
barber and merchant; George Miclke, blacksmith; T.
Brown, wagon maker; C. W. Dickman, hotel and feed'
stable ; T. Calvert, butcher, who has good slaughter pens-
near the town, where all the beeves are killed to furnish
beef for the entire portion we write about; H. H.
Hahn, photographer; De Moss family, teachers of music;
Rev. C. B. Davis, pastor of United Brethren church,
that being the only church organization, though the-
Christian and Baptist churches have been holding meet
ings here.
Town lots are now given to persons on which
to build and start any business except the liquor traffic.
We claim to have the healthiest location for a large
city in the entire Grass Valley country, because of the
rolling hills near by furnishing an elevation in almost
every direction where reservoirs may be built and the-
beautiful waters carried from the many springs and con
ducted by pipes into every building whose owners may
desire to have such.
True, we have a stage line and the junctions of"
mall routes, but we want a railroad here, and this we
believe we will have soon, so that tourists may step
off the cars and be escorted by carriage a few hundred
yards to an , eminence from which they can view the
snowy glacirs of Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount
Tacoma, Mount St. Helens and Mount Jefferson, also-
the great timber and pineries of the famous Cascade-
range. It is not understood that the seminary men
tioned by Mr. De Moss ever developed into the
success contemplated by its founders. The town
plat was filed for record in the county clerk's-
office in February, 1898. The streets were named'
easterly and westerly for noted musicians ; north
erly and southerly for famous poets.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

453

RUFUS.
This place was formerly known as Wallis
station, eight miles north of Wasco, but on the
line of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com
pany. It has a postoffice, two stores, two ware
houses, saloon, hotel, livery barn and feed stable.
The townsite of Rufus was platted by R. C. and
M. E. Wallis, June 22, 1892.
BIGGS. i
This is a postoffice and station at the junction
of the lines of the Oregon Railroad & Naviga
tion, and the Columbia Southern Railway, com
panies. It is on the Columbia river, 20 miles east
¦of The Dalles, and 26 miles north of Moro. It
has a hotel, store, saloon and eating house. The
town came into being with the construction of
the Columbia Southern Railway, in 1897, of
which it is the northern terminus. It is not an
inviting locality owing to huge mountains of
sand surrounding it. Of this place the Occi
dental Magazine said, in March, 1905 :
To the traveler and homeseeker who is not ac-
•quainted with the natural conditions of the northwest,
particularly that section of Oregon and Washington
through which courses the Columbia river, the little
town of Biggs — the junction of the Columbia Southern
and O. R. & N. railroads — affords nothing but a cold
bath to the hopes of the prospective settler; nor does
that sand-duned, rock-ribbed town offer the slightest
suggestion of the half million and more fertile acres
and the many progressive towns lying above and to the
south of its rocky walls. KLONDIKE.
This town is thirteen miles northeast of Moro
and five miles southeast of Wasco. It maintains a
general merchandise store and a warehouse.
According to the Moro Leader, of August 24,
1898: "The name Klondike was given to the
place nearly a year ago when the immense output
of golden wheat was just beginning to be placed
on the market and was netting the people far
more than the gold of the then newly discovered,
heralded Klondike of the frozen north. The
name already in use was given to the railroad
¦station." In 1899 a postoffice was established at
Klondike and Antone B. Potter was the first
postmaster, ancl still retains the position. Of
the town in March, 1905, Miss Laurance Potter
writes :
It was named after the discovery of the Klondike
gold region, so it was decided that it should be called

Klondyke. You will notice this Klondyke is spelled with
a "y" instead of "i"' When the postoffice was estab
lished it was decided for some reason unknown to me
to be spelled that way, and in the postoffice certificate
it is spelled Klondyke. It is of no consequence, any
way. The first business house was established in 1897
by Moore Brothers, and two years later was sold to
A. B. Potter. The first residents were Josiah Wilder,
Miss Irene Smith and Mrs. Jones. Josiah Wilder built
the first blacksmith shop and was the first blacksmith.
The first telephone line was a barbed wire system,
and was completed May 1, 1899. A. P. Potter was the
first person who discovered that talking by 'phone
could be done over barbed wire, that is, the first one
in this country.
Regardless to the postoffice certificate men
tioned by Miss Potter, it is certain that the
United States Postal Guide spells the name of
the postoffice referred to, Klondike.
MURRAY SPRINGS.
This was one of the earlier Sherman county
towns, now defunct. It was located on the line
of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company,
between Grant and Rufus. The town was named
after W. M. Murray who for many years re
sided there and owned one of the most productive
orchards in the Inland Empire.
OTHER LOCALITIES.
Erskineville is a postoffice on the Columbia
Southern Railway and Spring Creek, three miles
north of Moro. About 1884 or 1885 C. A. Will
iams opened a store at this place, which he con
ducted for awhile, subsequently removing to
Grass Valley. In these early pioneer days Ers
kineville was classed as one of the "towns" of the
future Sherman county. It was named in honor
of Mr. A. Erskine, an early settler in the place.
With the exception of a postoffice nothing now
remains. Fultonville was one of the first postoffices es
tablished in Sherman county ; its primal postmas
ter was Colonel Fulton. At present it receives
mail only once a week. In 1885 the Times-
Mountaineer said: "Three miles east of Celilo is
Fultonville. It is named after Colonel James
Fulton. The town consists of his residence, store
and the company's warehouse. It is near the
mouth of the Des Chutes river, and is the ship
ping point for the section of country bordering
on that stream."
Earlv is a postoffice on John Day river, 12
miles west of Grant's station. This office sup-

454

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

planted the one at Bigelow, discontinued. The
Early postoffice was established in 1902, and so
named because fruits and vegetables at this point
are two weeks earlier than in any other locality,
even Hood River. The first postmaster was H.
K. Porter, who was succeeded by Mary E. Wall,
now acting in the official capacity of postmistress.
Mr. Harberi M. Cooper entered land along the
John Day river at this place twenty years ago.
He built a mill race and wing dam at a cost of
$15,000. This mill is at present owned by
George Wall, who has constructed a dam 250
feet in length and nine feet high, which will soon

be utilized for an electric light plant to supply
power to Wasco for mills and lighting the town.
About twelve families receive their mail at the
Early postoffice. Near this place are four fine
fruit orchards, mostly devoted to peaches and
grapes, all under irrigation, either by springs or
water from the John Day river.
Monkland is a postoffice seven miles east of
Moro- with daily mail and a general store.
Rutledge is a postoffice eight miles southeast
of Grass Valley, with a daily stage to the latter
point. It is named in honor of one of the pio
neers of Sherman county.

CHAPTER III

DESCRIPTIVE.

Sherman county, Oregon, is in latitude 45
degrees north, and longitude 121 degrees west
from Greenwich. It has an elevation of from
200 to several thousand feet, but the general ele
vation of the county is about 1,500 feet. It is
about ninety miles east of the Cascade mountains.
The Columbia forms its northern, the John Day
the eastern, and the Des Chutes river the western
boundary. On the south its frontier is the ist
Standard Parallel. To the north of Sherman is
Klickitat county, Washington; to the east Gil
liam, and to the south and west is Wasco county.
The total area of land surface is 481,500 acres.
As a whole the county is composed of what is
termed rolling land. There are but few wooded
districts, and the soil, which is of fine texture, is
light gray in color, darkening slightly when sub
jected to moisture.
As the traveler steps from the car at Grant's
station into the bracing air, supplied with its due
proportion of ozone, he stretches his limbs over
the gravelled walks constructed by nature. But
quite recently he has passed through a plentitude
of sand, reminding him of old time pictures in
old time geographies of the greta Sahara ; with a
cloud of dust just closing in on a troop of be
wildered Arabs and camels ; he imagines his stop
ping place to be in no respect an oasis, but a
repetition of past grievances. But at Grant there
have been, wisely, planted trees, sunflowers and
"creepers." which combine to hold the volum
inous sand in place. Above and beyond the Co

lumbia there is no sand. Once on the summit of
the frowning bluff that skirts the river, apparent
ly guarding the treasures beyond, the sand dis
appears ; the happy transition is a relief and
pleasure. As one leaves Grant behind and rises grad
ually to the top of the bluff through the Gherkin,.
or Scott, canyon, the grandeur of scenery is un
surpassed ; long, thin, misty, foggy vapors hang
over the Columbia's still waters; and the great
river itself appears but a silver spectrum motion
less until it breaks into the wildest turmoil at
Tumwater far below. Above and beyond, Mount
Adams, white and grand, begins to rise into view,
and on this side of the river Mount Hood looms
in spectral whiteness until, gaining Gordon ridge,
seven snow-clad peaks with azure backgrounds
tower heavenward. And right here, beneath one's
feet, is a roadway of which the stalwart Romans
might well have felt proud.
From Wasco, ten miles from Grant, we pass
through a country nearly all of which is carved
into productive farms, with roads and lanes on
section and township lines, more like portions of
Illinois or Iowa, than the greater part of Ore
gon. This particular section of the country is
level and admits of this artistic formation. Jour
neying onward the traveler wins his way to Des
Moss Springs. Here the country's contour is
flatter ; the soil deeper and blacker. At this local
ity one readily understands why the word
"Springs" is added. It is a veritable spring

Residence of John Simpson

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

455

throughout the country. From here one finds a
gradual slope, upward, which soon alternates to
the long decline through the gorge to Moro, the
capital of Sherman county. The vicinity of
Moro, from a farmer's viewpoint, is beautiful;
straight lanes, well-kept fences, whirring wind
mills and painted farm houses. From Grass
Valley on to Rutledge the country possesses the
same general characteristics which mark all coun
ties given over to agriculture. Beyond, and
south of Rutledge, the soil continues to deepen
and the soil is even richer than nearer the river,
although the climate is less mild. Toward the
south, through the open country, looking in the
direction of Bakeoven, Antelope ancl Prineville,
it appears like an unexplored district, ready made
for the family of the' homeseeker. A correspond
ent of The Dalles Times-Mountaineer travels the
same road from Biggs to Wasco as follows:
The route lays off up the Spanish Hollow Canyon.
Immediately on leaving the river, great, rocky bluffs
meet the gaze. The squeaking of the ponderous wheels
fills the air with unearthly voices, as the train rounds
a curve. A small stream tumbles over the rocks, occa
sionally lost to sight, as it seeks subterranean cavities,
only to reappear lower down. After all, the large,
imposing piles of stone and the lower surroundings are
not so inviting. It is something new with every turn;
and one is constantly interested until aroused by the
shrill whistle announcing that the first half of the
journey has been completed. The train is at Gibson's.
From this place the scene changes ; the transformation is
most complete. The track still continues along the bot
tom of the canyon ; but it is scarcely a canyon now. It
is not nearly so steep; the hills are not so high. Every
vestige of rock has disappeared. Farm houses stand
here and there, giving a solid appearance to the country
that is just now attracting so much attention. Spread
ing out over the hills are the broad acres that produce all
the immense volume of wheat that Sherman county
boasts of. A band of horses, some cattle or othei
live stock may be seen at a distance — another great evi
dence of the wealth of this country.
Concerning the climate of Sherman county it
may be said in addition to what has been detailed
in the descriptive chapter of Wasco county that
the prevailing winds are from the west, and con
vey a moisture that in later years has proved to be
fully equal to the dews of the low valley lands,
ancl invigorating. Not only are these winds need
ful to growing vegetation, but health is borne on
every breeze. Naturally fresh and bracing these
western winds purify the atmosphere. The aver
age rainfall is light.
The soil of Sherman county is abundantly
supplied with potash, but phosphoric acid is de
ficient. To one unacquainted with its peculiarities

this soil would not be considered especially favor
able, but when its present productiveness is con
sidered, and its possible productive capacity,
.based on present status, it will be recognized that
the soil possesses constituents that produce almost
phenomenal crops of cereals, fruit, hay and vege
tables ; when irrigation is available the productive
capacity is almost doubled. Such is the nature
of this soil that the subsoil moisture percolates
through it upward ; to this fact is owing the pro
duction of millions of bushels of wheat that,
otherwise, with the small and poorly distributed
annual distribution would be impossible. In the
extreme northern portion of the county, along1 the
Columbia and along portions of the John Day
and Des Chutes rivers, the soil is sandy, but un
der irrigation, wonderfully fertile.
Wheat is the principal revenue crop. This is
due to the character of the soil and distribution of
precipitation throughout the year. An examina
tion of statistics favors the opinion that Sherman
county produces more wheat per capita than does
any other county in the United States. Along
the Columbia, and for a portion of the John Day
and Des Chutes, rivers, soil and climatic condi
tions are peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of
peaches, although irrigation is indispensible.
In a well-written and comprehensive article
published in The Dalles Times-Mountaineer of
January i, 1898, has been told the resources of
Sherman, as a wheat-growing county. With
this is combined an excellent description of the
farming community :
In the year just ended the output of wheat alone
was 2,742,876 bushels — by far the largest crop yet raised,
and about one-fourth of the entire crop of Oregorl.
Yet this amount seems small when we figure on the
amount that can and will be put on the market, now
that the Columbia Southern Railway has made it possible
for the markets to be easily reached. It is safe to say
that Sherman county will very soon be exporting 4,000,-
000 bushels of wheat, and that in the coming year-
she will double her population.
Not only is this immense business constantly going
out, but no section consumes more ; for wood, lumber;
everything the farmer needs, must be shipped in. And he
uses great quantities of supplies. He is of no small
consequence; he does not farm on a small scale; a!
walking plow and a single team would insult a SherJ
man county farmer. He drives from four to ten horses '
and uses several plows at one time — that is unless he is
on the road ; then it's two wagons. One man thinks notic
ing of farming less than a half section, and a majority
of them have more. Then, when he harvests he turns
out with a header or two, or mayhap a combined har
vester, works several weeks, and if he has a small crop
he markets a thousand sacks or, if a larger, sells from.

456

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

three to four thousand. These are the average ; yet
several go considerably higher. No person has an
easier time raising wheat than the Sherman county
farmer. Through being able to do so much work
in such limited time, he can farm cheaper than in any
country in the world — except those that deal in slavery.
And, perhaps, there is no better evidence of the
prosperity of these same farmers than their home sur
roundings. Not one man in the county — except the
indolent, a class that afflicts every county more or less —
but has an elegant home and comfortable appointments.
A splendid buggy, a pair of roadsters, a piano in the
house, are all evidences that Sherman county is kind
to those who delve into her bosom for sustenance.
Sherman county, long before it was capable of doing
business for itself, -was settled by the best class of
people. After all, the back bone of the country is the
farmer. Intelligent, shrewd, hard-working and honest,
he produces the wealth that makes Sherman county
famous. And he does it easily; he owns from 360 to
4,000 acres, and machinery plenty to farm it. The con
dition of the soil and the climatic influences are favor
able, so that he may labor while the sun shines. The
farmer is the man who develops every industry to be
used; his surplus money is to be found in various in
stitutions. He nearly always has a bank account, and
through this means Sherman county handsomely sup
ports two banking institutions — not small ones, such as
may be found in small country towns — but the amount
of business done reminds one of the class of business
done by metropolitan institutions. No place on earth
is the farmer more independent than in this little Ore
gon Klondike. He dictates the volume of business.
The social features, the educational doings, the business
of the county — everything that pertains to the welfare
of himself and his neighbor.
The amount of government land open to set
tlement in Sherman county January 1, 1905, was
44,206 acres. Throughout the entire county the
roads are excellent, and this, too, where light,
sandy soil predominates. Not easily worked into
mud, during the rainy season the roads are nearly
at their best. Practically unlimited is the electric
power that may be wired from the Des Chutes
river. It is said to equal the falls of the Willa
mette at Oregon City. This river, the Des Chutes,
is a splendid mountain stream which comes
bounding down from its source in the Cascades
mountains ; nearly its entire length abounds in
miniature waterfalls and sparkling rapids. The
stream, not navigable, contains many salmon and

rainbow trout. January 1, 1902, George B. Hol
lister, Resident Hydrographer, United States
Geological Survey, Washington, D. C, writes as
follows concerning the stream in the Morning
Oregonian :
The United States Geological Survey has started
investigations among the streams of Oregon as part of
its general study of the water resources of the whole
country. The work in Oregon, however, is but a be
ginning of what it is hoped and expected will be later
undertaken. Thus far the investigation has been con
fined to a few streams draining from the Cascade range ;
Umatilla river, which flows through an important sec
tion, in the northeast, and the Des Chutes river, one of
the largest streams in the interior of the state.
Des Chutes river is, in some respects, one of the
most remarkable streams in the United States, from the
fact that its volume of flow is nearly constant through
out the year. Almost universally the streams run full
in the spring, or wet season, and are much diminished
in volume in the summer and fall ; but Des Chutes river
has almost no fluctuation between its summer and winter
volumes. This feature is of great importance and makes
the river of much more value than ordinary streams
for irrigation and water power, as absolute dependence
can be placed upon it to supply definite amounts of water
for these purposes.
The reason for this remarkable uniform flow of Des
Chutes river is not fully determined, but it is thought
to be due to the large storage capacity of the layers of
lava of which the surface of that part of the state
is composed. The water percolates through the lava,
and generally finds its way to the stream. The river
contains a number of rapids which form admirable water
powers. A gauging station is maintained by the Geological
Survey on Des Chutes river, and the measurements show
the discharge of the river to be about 5,000 cubit feet
per second for the summer season, with but little addi
tional increase during the spring and winter months.
The river at its mouth will generate approximately 570
horse-power per foot of fall and, with the 25-foot
fall which is said to exist there, 14,250 horse-power
gross would be available.
One of the finest streams in Eastern Oregon
is the John Day river, skirting Sherman countv
on the east. It rises in the Blue mountains, trends
west and north, forming a confluence with the
Columbia river some forty miles above The
Dalles. In a previous chapter we have given the
melancholy origin of the name this river.

CHAPTER IV

POLITICAL.

The enabling act creating Sherman county
provided that the governor should appoint the
first county officials to serve until their succes
sors were elected in June, 1890, and qualified.
These appointments were made by the governor
March 4, 1889. James Fulton was named, as
•county judge ; he did not qualify and was replaced
by O. M. Scott. The other officers named were
John Medler, Dayton Elliott, county commis
sioners; V. C. Brock, clerk; E. M. Leslie, sheriff;
Levi Armsworthy, treasurer; C. C. Myers, as
sessor ; J. A. Smith, surveyor ; C. J. Bright, school
superintendent. March 12, 1889, these officials took up their
line of duties. The first meeting of the board
was held in the Oskaloosa hotel, Wasco, when the
officials took the oaths of office. At a meeting of
the board April 1, 1889, the new county was di
vided into four election precincts — Grant, Wasco,
Moro and Grass Valley. Before an election was
held, however, two more precincts were added—
Bigelow ancl Monkland. For the first gen
eral election in which Sherman county as
a political division participated, held June
2, 1890, the following were the election
officials :
Bigelow precinct, F. W. Van Patten, H. E.
Everett and Charles Hill, judges; W. C. Fuller
and W. J. Peddicord, clerks. Grant precinct, R.
C. Vv allis, S. Carson and A. M. Cooper, judges;
J. W. Blackburne and M. A. Phelps, clerks.
Wasco precinct, R. H. Armsworthy, Del Porter
and J. A. Elder, judges; J. M. Murchie and
Warren Myers, clerks. Monkland precinct, J. J.
McDonald, James Gray and J. F. Miller, judges ;
J. A. Smith and W. V. Johnson, clerks. Moro
precinct, Rufus Moore, J. J. Schaeffer and Frank
Pike, judges; H. A. Thompson and S. B. Walter,
¦clerks. These were the voting places in the different
precincts : Grant, Grant school house ; Bigelow,
Bigelow school house ; Wasco, town of Wasco ;
Moro, town of Moro ; Monkland, Monkland post-
office ; Grass Valley, Moore & Rollins' hall. Com
plete returns for this election are not in existence.

We are, however, enabled to give a portion of the
result :
For Congressman — Herman, 301 ; Miller, 131 ;
Bruce, 61.
For Governor — Thompson, 211; Pennoyer,
272. A portion of the county officers elected were:
O. M. Scott, county judge ; John A. Moore, John
Graham, county commissioners; E. M. Leslie,
sheriff; V. C. Brock, clerk; Levi Arpisworthy,
treasurer ; C. F. McCarthy, school superintendent ;
Mr. McCarthy resigned, January 8, 1891, and J.
B. Hosford was appointed. J. W. Blackburne be
came county judge, also in 1891. John Graham
did not qualify and October 8, 1890, R. J. Ginn
was appointed. Following is the result of the
election of June 6, 1892 :
For Congress, Second District — C. J. Bright,
Pro., 82 ; W. R. Ellis, Rep., 354 ; J. C. Luce, Peo.,
83 ; J. H. Slater, Dem., 190.
For State Senator 18th district — W. L. Rine
hart, Dem., 289 ; W. W. Steiwer, Rep., 434.
For State Senator, 17th district — H. S. Mc-
Daniel, Rep., 367 ; J. A. Smith, Dem., 368.
For Toint Representative, 18th district — S. F.
Blythe, Dem., 258; E. N. Chandler, Rep., 387;
T. R. Coon, Rep., 407 ; H. E. Moore, Dem., 337.
For County Judge — John Fulton, Dem., 415;
R. J. Ginn, Rep., 283.
For County Clerk — V. C. Brock, Dem., 326;
S. S. Hayes, Rep., 404.
For Sheriff — E. M. Leslie, Dem., 410; E.
Olds, Rep., 328.
For Treasurer — J. Marsh, Dem., 280; H. A.
Thompson, Rep., 440.
For County Commissioner — D. H. Leech,
Dem., 368 ; J. D. Wilcox, Rep. 358.
For Assessor — William Henrichs, Rep., 501 ;
Louis Schadewitz, Dem., 224.
For School Superintendent — W. J. Peddi
cord, Rep., 319 ; Hiram Tyree, Dem., 417.
For Coroner — W. H. Moore, Rep., 643.
For Surveyor — J. R. Belshe, Rep., 691.
Vote on permanent county seat — Moro, 414;
Wasco, 301.

453

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

January 4, 1893, J. R. Belshe resigned. The
result of the presidential election in November
of the same year was as follows :
Harrison electors, 286 ; Cleveland electors,
109 ; Weaver electors, 208 ; Prohibition electors,
3i- Results of election June 4, 1894:
For Congressman, second district — W. R.
Ellis, Rep., 264; A. F. Miller, Pro., 75; James H.
Raley, Dem., 102 ; Joseph Waldrop, Peo., 173.
For Governor — William Galloway, Dem.,
108; James Kennedy, Pro., 96; William P. Lord,
Rep., 301 ; Nathan Pierce, ^Peo., 203.
For Joint Representatives — O. W. Axtell,
Pro., 98 ; V. C. Brock, Dem., 148 ; T. R. Coon,
Rep., 260; M. V. Harrison, Dem., 97; L. Henry,
Peo., 186 ; T. H. McGreer, Rep., 260 ; W. J. Ped-
dicord, Peo., 209; E. A. Tozier, Pro., '81. "
For County Clerk — A. B. Craft, Peo., 203 ; S.
S. Hayes, Rep., 319; Albert Porter, Pro., 87; G.
E. Thompson, Dem., 91.
For Sheriff — William Holder, Rep., 231; E.
M. Leslie, Dem., 173; Delbert Porter, Peo., 208;
G. D. Woodworth, Pro., 100.
For Treasurer — J. B. Florer, Peo., 180; D.
W. Howard, Dem., 96; E. Peoples, Pro., 133;
H. A. Thompson, Rep., 304.
For County Commissioner — William Elliott,
Pro., 157; J. H. Johnson, Peo., 165; R. P. Orr,
Rep., 251 ; R. C. Wallis, Dem., 132.
For School Superintendent — C. E. Brown,
Rep., 232; W. K. Dunn, Pro., 87; C. J. Herrin,
Peo., 164; Hiram Tyree, Dem., 222.
For Surveyor — Willie Powell, Peo., 289;
George W. White, Pro., 333.
For Assessor — S. M. Carson, Pro., 136; C.
C. Kuney, Rep., 256; P. M. Ruggles, Peo., 221 ;
W. C. Rutledge, Dem., 93.
For Coroner — Jesse Edginton, Dem., 133; T.
S. Hill, Pea, 185 ; C. R. Rollins, Rep., 247 ; I. M.
Smith, Pro., 142.
General election June 1, 1896;
For Congressman — A. S. Bennett, Dem., 21 t ;
W R. Ellis, Rep., 281 ; H. H. Northrup, Ind.,
31; Martin Quinn, Peo., 194; F. McKercher,
Pro., 41.
For Joint Senator, 18th district — E. B. Dufur,
Dem., 388; W. H. Moore, Rep., 330.
For Joint Senator, 17th district — J. W. Arms-
worthy, Dem., 357; John Michell, Rep., 341.
For Joint Representative, 17th district — B. S.
Huntington, Rep., 334; F. N. Jones, Rep., 294;
L. Henry, Peo., 313; John W. Messinger, Peo.,
356 ;T. R. Coon, Ind., 35.
For County Judge — John Fulton, Dem., 516;
J. J. Thompson, Rep., 228.
For County Clerk — Roy C. Atwood, Peo.,
370; William Henrichs, Rep., 376.

For Sheriff— J. D. Gibson, Pro., 171 ; William
Holder, Rep., 355 ; George Meader, Peo., 240.
For Treasurer — George N. Bolton, Rep., 308 ;.
E. Peoples, Pro., 302; Joab M. Powell, Peo.,
125- For Assessor — M. F. S. Henton, Pro., 85 ;
B. F. Pike, Rep., 341 ; M. A. Van Gilder, Peo.,
For Surveyor — John T. Johnson, Peo., 3591
Thomas Peugh, Rep., 354.
For School Superintendent — C. E. Brown,
Rep., 350; W. J. Peddicord, Peo., 391.
For Coroner — F. E. Brown, Rep., 363 ; J. B.
Mowry, Pro., 313.
For County Commissioner — William Elliott,
Pro., 170; Rufus H. King, Peo., 317; Elwood
Thompson, Rep., 261.
Sherman county cast at the presidential elec
tion, November 3, 1896, 835 votes, a gain of 114
votes over those cast at the June election. The
campaign was very exciting between the gold and
silver forces, and the result was close. Follow
ing was the vote: McKinley electors, Rep., 426:
Bryan electors, Dem., 418 ; Prohibition candidate,
38 ; Palmer electors, Gold Democrats, 7.
There were three tickets in the county field
at the general election of June 6, 1898 — Repub
lican, Prohibition and a union ticket composed
of Democrats and Populists. Following was the
vote: For Governor— H. M. Clinton, Pro., 67; T.
T. Geer, Rep., 478 ; William R. King, union, 285 ;
John C. Luce, Peo., 41.
For Congressman — H. E. Courtney, Peo., 64;
C. M. Donaldson, union, 241 ; G. W. Ingalls,
Pro., 64; M. A. Moody, Rep., 485.
For Joint Representatives, 18th district — J.
W. Morton, Rep., 438; Albert S. Roberts, Rep.,
429; A. J. Brigham, union, 326; C. L. Morse,
union, 294.
For Circuit Judge, 7th district — W. L. Brad
shaw, union, 536; H. S. Wilson, Republican,
293. For District Attorney, 7th district — N. H.
Gates, Dem., 283; A. A. Jayne, Rep., 400.
For County Clerk — William Henrichs, Rep.,
507 ; P. M. Ruggles, Peo., 308.
For Sheriff— William Holder, Rep., 440; N.
W. Thompson, Peo., 369.
For County Commissioner — J. D. Gibson,
Pro., 115; R. P. Orr, Rep., 449; J. M. Powell,
Peo., 258.
For Treasurer — Henry Krause, Pro., 172; T.
R. McGinnis, Peo., 235 ; Walter Stanley, Rep.,
421. For School Superintendent — Richard Har-
greaves, union, 209; W H. Ragsdale, Rep., 484;
F. R. Spaulding, Pro., 132.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

459

For Assessor — W. C. Fuller, Pro., 92 ; B. F.
Pike, Rep., 484; M. A. Van Gilder, Peo., 249.
For Surveyor — J. W. Kerns, Rep., 520; A.
V. Underwood, Peo., 278.
For Coroner — J. B. Mowry, Pro., 184; Dr.
I. M. Smith, Rep., 584.
General election June 4, 1900 :
For Congressman — M. A. Moody, Rep., 439;
Leslie Butler, Pro., 106; J. E. Simmons, Ind.
Dem., 83 ; William Smith, Dem. -Peo., 243.
For Joint Senator, 20th district — T. H.
Johnston, Rep., 437; E. B. Dufur, Dem. -Peo.,
439- For Joint Senator, 21st district — W. W.
Steiner, Rep., 467 ; Y. G. Cozard, Dem. -Peo.,
382. For Representative, 28th district — George
Cattamach, Rep., 398 ; G. J. Barnett, Rep., 441 ;
George Miller, Rep., 421 ; Robert Messener,
Dem. -Peo., 341 ; T. R. Conn, Dem. -Peo., 382 ;
W. J. Edwards, Dem. -Peo., 328.
For County Judge — C. C. Kuney, Rep., 320 ;
John Fulton, Dem., 546.
For County Commissioner — Joseph A. Mor
rissey, Rep., 372 ; N. P. Hansen, Peo., 198 ; R.
H. King, Peo., 317.
For County Clerk— H. S. McDanel, Rep.,
435 ; R. P. Dean, Dem., 352 ; A. S. Porter, Pro.,
109. For Sheriff— F. E. Brown, Rep., 397; T. R.
McGinnis, Peo., 483.
For Treasurer — Walter Stanley, Rep., 505 ;
E. Peoples, Pro., 342.
For School Superintendent — W. H. Rags
dale, Rep., 503; H. H. White, Dem., 394.
For Assessor — B. F. Pike, Rep., 527; J. T.
Johnson, Peo., 260 ; J. B. Mowry, Pro., 102.
For Coroner — Lloyd D. Idleman, Rep., 573 ;
Olive Hartley, 68.
For Surveyor — A. H. Barnum, 24.
At the presidential election of November 6,
1900, the Sherman county vote was divided as
follows: Republican electors, McKinley, 451;
Democratic electors, Bryan, 385; Prohibition
electors, 86; Social Democrats, 8; People's
party, 1.
Election June 2, 1902 :
For Governor— George E. Chamberlain,
Dem., 311 ; William J. Furnish, Rep., 527; A. J.
Hunsaker, Pro., 97 ; R. R. Evan. Soc, 23.
For Congressman, Second District — W. F.
Butcher, Dem., 245; Diedrich T. Gerdes. Soc,
24; P. R. Spaulding, Pro., 121 ; G. N. William
son, Rep., 559.
For State Representative, 28th district — C. A.
Dermeman, Rep., 468; R. J. Ginn, Rep., 538;
C. P. Johnson, Rep., 454; C. G. Hansen, Dem.,
307; E. G. Stevenson. Dem., 210; E. P Weir.

Dem., 225 ; Louis J. Gates, Pro., 83 ; N. P. Han
son, Pro., 157; H. C. Shaffer, Pro., 92.
For County Commissioner — 4 year term — W.
S. Barzee, Rep., 285 ; John Medler, Dem., 189 ;
A. M. Wright, Pro., 479.
For County Commissioner, 2-year term — J.
K. Craig, Pro., 310; Fred Krusow, Rep., 682.
For Sheriff— T. R. McGinnis, Ind., 492;
Charles R. Porter, Rep., 390; A. S. Porter, Pro.,
82. For County Clerk— R. E. Haskinson, Pro.,
167 ; H. S. McDanel, Rep., 759.
For Assessor— O. W. 'Axtell, Pro., 113; R.
L. Campbell, Dem., 438 ; W. E. Tate, Rep., 407-
For Treasurer— E. Peoples, Pro., 237; W.
Stanley, Rep., 686.
For Surveyor— C. H. Skinner, Pro., 548.
For Coroner— J. M. Donahoo, Pro., 243; Dr.
R. W. Logan, Rep., 652.
For County High School, 315; against, 473.
General election June 7, 1904:
For Congressman — George R. Cook, Soc, 27 ;
J. E. Simmons, Dem., 201 ; H. W. Stone, Pro.,
105 • J. N. Williamson, Rep., 633.
For Toi'nt Senator, 21st district— Jay Bower
man, Rep., 574; Louis J. Gates, Pro, 148 ; W. L.
Wilcox, Dem., 233. _ .
For Toint Representative 28th district— R. JN .
Donnelly. Rep.. Soo ; C. C. Kuney, Rep, 542;
W. J. Kirkland, Dem., 212 ; A. S. Porter, Pro..
245 ; C. A. Shurte. Pro, 80.
For County Judge— George B. Bourhill, Rep,
508 ; John Fulton, Dem, 475.
" For sheriff— W. B. McCoy, Rep, 527 ; T. R.
McGinnis, Ind, 459.
For County Clerk— H. S. McDanel, Rep,
832: J. I. Mun'den, Pro., 131.
For Treasurer— E. Peoples, Pro, 232; W.
Stanley, Rep, 711.
For Assessor— R. L. Campbell, Dem, 377,
G A. Elder, Pro., 60; Otto Peetz, Rep, 559-
For School Superintendent— G. M. Frost,
For County Commissioner— J. W. Leonard,
Dem., 293; O.'H. Rich, Pro, 120; W. W. Wal
ker, Rep, 559.
For Surveyor— E. R. Hickson, Rep, 831.
For Coroner— Dr. R. W. Logan, Rep, 838.
For State Printer Amendment — yes, 468 ; no,
150. For local option— Yes, 450; no, 410.
For direct primary law — yes, 602; no, 154.
At thee presidential election, November 8,
1904, the vote of Sherman county was divided'
as follows :
Roosevelt. 704 : Parker, 163 : Prohibition,
Swallow, SO : Debs, Socialist, 34 ; Watson, Pop
ulist, 4.

-46o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Prohibition in Sherman county, 396;
against 517. The total vote of the county was
1,023. Erom the foregoing record of the political
-results of Sherman county it will be seen that,

normally, the county is Republican by a good
majority. Of course, party lines are not invari
ably strictly drawn in county elections, but as a
rule a Republican nomination is equivalent to an
election.

CHAPTER V

EDUCATIONAL.

The schools of Sherman county are excellent.
'Good, substantial school buildings have been
¦erected, and all the various districts are well sup
plied with necessary apparatus and educational
facilities. Careful selection of teachers has con
tributed greatly to place the school system upon
a solid basis. There are graded schools in a num
ber of towns in the county, all of which are in
charge of competent teachers.
The first school building in what is now Sher
man county, was located in China Hollow, about
two miles north of the present site of Wasco.
Miss Addie Thompson was the first teacher.
The second school house in the territory men
tioned was situated at the place now known as
Klondike. It was called "Jack school house" from
the name of the settler then living there. It will
be recalled that when Sherman county was or
ganized a transcript was taken from the Wasco
county records of all matters concerning the new
political division. The following is from the edu
cational data of this transcript:
District No. 1, of Sherman County — District No. 76,
of Wasco, which was afterward District No. 1 of Sher
man county, was organized February 6, 1886, with the
following boundaries : Bounded on the north by the
Columbia river ; on the east by John Day river ; running
south to the boundary of school district No. 60; thence
west to the southwest corner of section 25, township 2,
north range 17, E. W. M. ; thence north to the Columbia.
District No. 2 — District No. 53 of Wasco, afterward
District No. 2, of Sherman county, was formed March
16, 1886, with the following boundaries : Beginning at
a point in the middle of the main channel of the Colum
bia river, opposite the mouth of the John Day river;
thence down said Columbia river to the point where it
crosses the section line running north and south be
tween sections 28 and 29; 32 and 33, township 3,
north range 17, E. W. M. ; thence south on said section
line to the southwest corner of section 21, said town

ship and range; thence north one mile; thence east one
miles to the northeast corner of said section 24; thence
north on township line to the John Day river and down
said river to the place of beginning.
When Sherman county was organized in
1889, there were in the county 23 districts; at
the present writing there are 35. Following is
a list of the county superintendents of public in
struction since that period :
C. J. Bright, 1889-1890; J. B. Hosford, 1890-
1892; Hiram Tyree, 1892-1894; C. E. Brown,
1894-1896; W. J. Peddicord, 1896-1898; W. H.
Ragsdale, 1898-1904; G. M. Frost, 1904.
Following is the annual report of Superin
tendent Bright for the year 1890:
Number of persons between the ages of 4 and 20
years residing in the county: Male, 317; female, 280;
total, 597. Number of pupils enrolled : male, 252 ; female,
193 ; total, 445. Average daily attendance, males, 176 ;
females, 139; total, 315. Number of teachers employed,
male, 19; female, 10; total, 29. Number of children not
attending, male 87; female, 79; total, 166. Number of
teachers in private schools, male, 1 ; female, 2 ; total, 3.
Number of pupils in private schools, males, 41 ; females,
31 ; total, 72. Value of school houses and grounds,
$6,360; value of furniture and apparatus, $1,028.10;
average salary of male teachers, $41.25 ; average salary of
female teachers, $36.97 ; salary of school superintendent,,
$240. Number of organized districts in county, 25 ;
average number of months taught, 4.6 ; number of private
schools in county during the year, 4; number of school
houses built during the year, 3 ; number of school houses
in county, 21 ; number of legal voters in county for
school purposes, 438. \
The first teachers employed directly after the
formation of Sherman county were:
Miss Flora Golden, Goldendale; Charles Rit-
ter, Monkland; Julia A. Woods, DeMoss

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

46 r

Springs ; George L. Carroll, Erskineville ; W.
C. Herin, Wasco; C. J. Herin, De Moss
Springs; F. M. Anderson, Grant; M. A. Phelps,
Rufus ; P. W. Davis, De Moss Springs ; Mrs. A.
Lyon, Wasco; Mrs. M. A. Phelps, Rufus; Miss
Bertha Johnson, Monkland ; Perry A. Snyder,
Wasco ; Miss Minnie Wren, Monkland ; Mrs. M.
A. Chamberlin, Grant.
Annual report of the county superintendent
for 1892 :
Number of persons of school age in county, male,
417 ; female, 423 ; total, 840. Estimated value of grounds
and school houses, $14,705 ; estimated value of furni
ture and apparatus, $3,686; amount of superintendent's
salary $300; number of legal voters in county for school
purposes, 634 ; number of school districts, 27 ; number
of schools visited by superintendent, 24; number of
school houses in county, 33 ; number of graded schools,
2, Wasco and Moro ; teachers employed, 4 ; attend
ance, 176.
At present the number of children of school
age- in Sherman county is 840.
Annual report of the county superintendent
for 1894.
Number of persons of school age, male, 423; female,
420; total, 843; value of school houses and grounds,
$16,000; value of school furniture and apparatus, $6,010;
average salary of male teachers, $60; average salary of
female teachers, $42; salary of superintendent, $300;
number of graded schools, 3; number of teachers, 5;
number of pupils attending graded schools, 210; amount
paid in teachers' wages $6,328.51.
Annual report for 1904:
Number of pupils of school age, male, 711; female,
638; total, 1,349; number of pupils enrolled, male, 438;
female, 412; total, 850; average daily attendance, 604;
number of school houses in county, 35 ; number of school
houses built this year, 2; average number of months
taught, 6; number of legal voters for school purposes,
867; number of teachers employed in private schools,
male, 3; female, 7; pupils enrolled in private schools,
male, 36 ; female, 33 ; number of private schools, 6 ; paid
for teachers' wages, $14,123-39; paid for school houses
and sites, $1,392.50; total disbursements for year, $33,-
649.91; estimated value of school houses and grounds,
$39,125; estimated value of furniture and apparatus,
$7,205 ; average salary male teachers, $54 J average salary
female teachers, $42.80.
The apportionment of school money for April,
1005, was $7,517.20. There are at present no
private schools in Sherman county. For several
years the Middle Oregon Baptist Academy was
conducted at Grass Valley. This institution was

placed on its feet in 1895 by local capital, and- un
der the auspices of the Eastern Oregon Baptist
Society. A handsome frame structure was erected
and for a number of years the school was main
tained. Still, it was never in a satisfactory and
prosperous condition. For a short period it was
conducted in connection with the public schools,
but this arrangement was not successful, although
added advantages along educational lines were
thus secured. In 1904 the academy was closed.
In size the building was 48x48, two stories in
height, with a seven-foot basement. The cost
was $4,000. It contained eight rooms and was
heated by a hot air furnace. Of this educational
institution The Dalles Times-Mountaineer said,
January 1, 1898:
This noble institution of learning was founded by the
Middle Oregon Baptist Association, for the purpose of "
thoroughly preparing young people for college, business
life, or for the profession of teaching, and to do this
under Christian influences. Its location is a great ad
vantage, situated, as it is, in the midst of a town where
no saloon nor gambling is tolerated, nor are there any
of the alluring attractions, such as the theatre and'
kindred evils. It is two stories in height and also has
a large and commodious basement, and is surrounded by
a large campus. There are three courses of study, each
requiring three years to complete. The Normal is par
ticularly adapted to those intending to follow teaching -
as a profession. The classical presenting two years -
Latin gives thorough preparation for admission to col
lege, and a business course is offered which is adapted:
to fit students for the practical duties of business life.
Studies in elocution and vocal music will be given by T.
Clay Neece, it being a part of the regular course. Dur
ing the course lectures will also be given by C. A. .
Woddy, Claude Raboteau and Gilman Parker of Port
land; A. L. Boardman, of McMinnville, George W.
Barnes, of Prineville and C. P. Bailey, of Grass Val
ley. The principal, R. Hargreaves, is an able instructor,
and gives the affairs of the Academy his personal super
vision. He will gladly furnish any desired information -
regarding its advantages.
In September, 1902, a contract was let to W.
A. Raymond for an annex to the Moro High
School building, 22x33 feet, to cost $2,020.
The school at Wasco is composed of four de
partments, primary, intermediate, grammar and
high school. Of these the intermediate is the
largest department, having an enrollment for the
year 1904 and 1905 of 57. Next in size is the
primary with an enrollment of 47, followed by
the grammar department with 34, and the high
school with 26. This school is disciplined by
the "self-control" plan, and while the teachers
assist pupils in controlling themselves, the latter-

462

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

are making rapid progress along this line. As a
whole, the Wasco school has been in the past
quite fortunate in its selection of teachers, espe
cially in the "grade" teachers. Many have gone

from this school to the larger Portland schools.
In 1905 it carried full ninth, and part of the
tenth, grade work, and all classes completed their
work without great difficulty.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

SHERMAN COUNTY

EUGENE S. CATTRON, representative of
the Pacific Coast Elevator Company for Sher
man county, and mayor of Wasco, Sherman
county, was born in Monmouth, Oregon, July
14, 1864, the son of Jonathan and Alvira (Shel
ton) Cattron. The father was a native of Ken
tucky, a member of an old family of Holland de
scent. His parents moved to Missouri while he
was a small boy. The mother of our subject, a
native of Missouri, resides in Portland, Oregon.
It was in 1850 that the father of our subject came
to Oregon, overland with ox teams to Califor
nia, and by boat to Oregon from San Francisco.
The mother, with her parents, had preceded him
in 1846, locating in Yamhill county, where she
remained five years and where she was married
to the father of our subject. Following this he
removed to Polk county where he died in 1872.
He was a stanch Republican, active in campaigns,
hut never sought office. He was, also, one of the
promoters of the old Monmouth University, of
which he was secretary. This institution was
later known as Christian College, and at present
the State Normal school.
Our subject continued to live in Monmouth
until 1897 when he came to Sherman county,
having previously been graduated from Christian
College and the Monmouth State Normal school.
In 1885 he taught school six months and then
engaged in the grain business, conducting a ware
house eight years. This enterprise he disposed
of and took a trip east to attend the World's- Fair
at Chicago. Returning he again engaged in the
warehouse business two years, sold out and came
to Sherman county, August, 1897, as the county
representative of the Pacific Coast Elevator Com
pany. In 1899 he was elected mayor of Wasco
on a citizen's ticket and is now serving his third
term.

At the city of Wallace, Idaho, October 6,
1899, Mr. Cattron was united in marriage to
Miss Verne Lytle, a native of Missouri, the
daughter of Walter S. and Helen Lytle. Her
father, a native of Pennsylvania, is assistant audi
tor of the steamship lines of the Northern Pacific
Railroad Company at Seattle. Mrs. Cattron has
two sisters, Bertha, single, living with her father
at Seattle, and Helen, wife of Captain Charles
Smithers, instructor at the military college of
West Point. Our subject has one brother and
three sisters living; Edgar, of the hardware firm
of Jensen, King, Byrd Company, Spokane, Wash
ington ; Laura, single, residing at Eugene ; Alice,
wife of T. J. Craig, of Portland, a druggist ; and
Bertha, wife of C. E. Clodfelter, of the Browns
ville Woolen Company, of Portland. Mr. and
Mrs. Cattron have one child, Helen, aged four
years. The fraternal affiliations of ,our subject
are with the B. P. O. E, No. 303, The Dalles,
and the Knights of Pythias, of Wasco, of which
he is chancellor commander. He is a Republican
and quite frequently is called upon to serve as
delegate to county conventions and several times
he has acted in a like capacity at state conven
tions. Mr. Cattron is a gentleman of pleasing
address and marked executive and financial abil
ity, one who has won a host of friends in a wide
circle of acquaintances.

J. SHELBY FOWLER, a young, energetic
and sagacious Sherman county farmer, resides
two miles south of Rufus. He was born in Pettis
countv, Missouri, near Smithton, May 20, 1880,
the son of William and Lettie (Matthews) Fow
ler. The father was a native of Missouri ; the
mother of Ohio. The parents of William Fowler

464

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

were of German descent. The family of our
subject came to Sherman county when he was
four years of age. Here the father secured one-
half section of land and purchased more, al
though he had, at the time, only limited capital.
He now owns a section of land and our subject
has three hundred and seventy-five acres, a por
tion of which he homesteaded, purchasing the
balance. They farmed together until recently,
and our subject now rents his father's place. Four
hundred acres of the land are at present devoted
to wheat. William Fowler has an orchard of
fifteen acres which he, himself, conducts. He was
a soldier in the confederacy, in Company A, under
Captain Dill, Colonel Parsons, and General Par
sons. He is a Democrat, fairly active during the
successive campaigns, has served on several occa
sions as delegate to county conventions, and has
been school director a number of terms.
Our subject received a good business educa
tion in the public schools in his vicinity and in
the high school at The Dalles, to which was
added a course at the Portland Business College.
He has four sisters : Cora, a clerk at Hood River ;
Leila, wife of Charles Lamb, a farmer in Pettis
county, Missouri; Ha, wife of Correl Smith, of
Wasco; Zula, living at home.
Mr. Fowler is a member of the M. W. A, of
Rufus, of which order he is venerable counsel.
He is a popular young man, ambitious and pro
gressive, and one highly esteemed in his home
community.

ALEXANDER SCOTT, a capitalist and
farmer of Grass Valley, was born in Armagh
county, Ireland, on May 3, 1849. John Scott,
his father, was a native of the same county in
Ireland and married Susannah Henry, also a
native of the same place. The father died in Ire
land, and the mother now lives at Holly Beach,
New Jersey. Our subject attended the national
schools of Ireland until 1864, and came to the
United States in 1868 and settled in Orange
county, New York. He did farm work a year
there, then went to Philadelphia and clerked for
three' years, after which he took up the grocery
business for himself until 1877. In that year he
came to Portland and engaged in the flax indus
try in Jefferson City, having learned the business
in his father's flax mill in Ireland. Six months
later, he came to The Dalles for the winter and
the following spring, 1878, took land on Tygh
ridge, one mile north from Kingsley, being one
of the first settlers and wheat raisers in that sec
tion. For fourteen years he continued there then
sold his half section to John Whitten. In the

spring of 1888, Mr. Scott was forced to take
a business in Grass Valley, where he had en
dorsed some papers. It was the only store there
and he ran it as Scott & Company, for twelve
years. Then he entered into partnership with
the three Heaths and they continued three years
longer. Then the business was absorbed by the
C. C. Company, our subject becoming vice-pres
ident and director in that company. Our subject
had traded a half interest in his store to the
Heaths for eight hundred acres of land. This
land is now valued at twenty-five dollars per
acre and raises twenty-five bushels per acre on
summer fallow and fifteen bushels spring wheat.
Mr. Scott owns a combined harvester and is one
of the leading grain producers of the county.
He is also director and secretary of the Citizens'
Bank. Mr. Scott also owns Sherman addition
to Grass Valley, originally forty acres, over half
of which has been built up. It is the very best
part of the town. He also owns a fine two-story
dwelling besides considerable other property.
With A. B. Craft, he erected the first warehouse
and they later sold out to the W. W. & M. Com
pany. They also built one at Kent and sold to
the same company. Mr. Scott bought the Sher
man addition from the E. O. L. Company for a
thousand dollars. He had previously bought a
quarter section from the government and had a
government title for five years while here in
business and built various buildings. Then the
E. O. L. claimed the land and won it in the
supreme court, so our subject purchased back
forty acres for a thousand dollars and they kept
one hundred and twenty acres. The government
returned the two hundred dollars he had paid
and he has now a claim pending against the com
pany for nine thousand six hundred dollars for
improvements. On November 3, 1874, at Philadelphia, Mr.
Scott married Elizabeth Whitten, who was born
in Armagh county, Ireland, a sister of John D.
Whitten, who is mentioned in this work. Mr.
Scott has one brother, John, one of the largest
wholesale grocers in Philadelphia and one of
twenty-five who handle the entire product of the
American Sugar Refinery. He also has a brother
in St. Louis, William H, engaged in the mill
wright business, and Nathan, at Columbia Falls,
Montana, and one sister with his mother in New
Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Scott have three children
living, Ethel J, Anna E, and Linden D, aged
seventeen, fifteen, and thirteen, respectively. They
also have five children who are now deceased,
whose names and ages at the time of their death
are given below : John A, two and one-half
years ; William H, six years and eleven months;
George D, aged four and one-half years ; Annie,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

465

eighteen months ; and William J, fourteen years.
John M. and Annie died in the same week of that
dread disease, diphtheria. Mr. and Mrs. Scott
and their children are all members of the Baptist
church. Politically, he is a Republican and as
active as his business will permit. Mr. Scott is
one of the substantial, heavyweight business men
of Sherman county. He has achieved marked
success in his endeavors and has also maintained
a reputation for integrity, uprightness and fair
dealing, which have won for him confidence and
esteem from all who know him.
Since the above was written, Mr. Scott has
sold some of his property in Grass Valley and
has invested in Portland. He has purchased a
fine residence at 692 East Ash street in that city
and is transferring his property from Sherman
county to Portland.

CHARLES H. TOM, a prosperous Sherman
county farmer, resides one-half mile from Grant
on the hill. . He was born in Stark county, Ohio,
February 7, 1855, the son of David A. and Mary
F. (Bartholomew) Tom. The father was a native
of Ohio ; his parents of Ireland. David A. Tom
was a member of Company F, in an Ohio In
fantry regiment, in which he served in the Civil
war. Two years previous to his enlistment he
was in the employment of the government, pur
chasing horses for the use of the army. On the
Ohio canal he ran boats for many years. The
mother of our subject was a native of Pennsylva
nia, of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry.
Until 1869 our sujbject lived in Ohio, in
Indiana until 1871, and in Illinois until 1881.
Thence he went to Dayton, Washington, remain
ing a few months and then he came to Sherman
county. He filed on timber culture and home
stead claims, and purchased more land later. Oc
casionally he worked for -the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation Company, in all about four years.
and at other periods devoting his attention to
improving his ranch. This was a noted rendez
vous for stockmen, with good water, etc, and a
lake which Mr. Tom has drained and utilizes for
irrigation purposes. He has now about seven
hundred acres, nearly all of which is cultivated.
October 25, 1877, our subject was married to
Mary C. Montgomery, born in Menard county,
where the marriage ceremony was performed.
Her father, William Montgomery, a native of
Illinois, was born in the same house in which his
daughter, Mrs. Tom, first saw the light. His
parents, Thomas Jefferson and Sarah (Stone)
Montgomery, were born in Kentucky, in 1805,
and in Owensville, Indiana, in 1812, respectively,
so

and went to Illinois in 1849. William Montgom
ery was a second cousin of President Jefferson
Davis, of the Southern Confederacy. Three of
William's brothers fought in the Civil war.
Ritchey, the eldest, was born in Gibson county,
Indiana, in 183 1, and in 1862 enlisted in the
Seventy-third Illinois Infantry. Samuel, born in
Indiana, in 1839, enlisted in Company A, Tenth
Illinois Cavalry, in 1861. James, still living in
Atlanta, Logan county, Illinois, was born in In
diana, in 1837, and enlisted in Company G,
Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry. These brothers
were in the union army. William endeavored
to enlist but failed to pass the necessary examina
tion. He was born in Gibson county, Indiana,
in 1833, and died in 1880.
Our subject has three brothers and three sis
ters : Anson S, of Grant, in the service of the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company ; Homer,
in Indiana; S. Fremont, a farmer living with
his mother in Indiana ; Mary, wife of John Smith,
a capitalist in Cadillac, Michigan ; Emma, wife of
Henry Hurd, a farmer near Friend, Nebraska ;
and Ella, single and at home in Indiana. Mrs.
Tom has six brothers and one sister living:
James R, of Menard county, Illinois; Samuel
D, of Oklahoma; Charles L, of Moro, Sherman
county ; Harvey E, foreman in a newspaper
office in Clinton, Illinois ; Homer, of Weldon,
Illinois ; J. Henry, a printer near Weldon, Illi
nois ; Ellen, wife of Charles Parkhurst, a preacher
in Oklahoma, of the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. Thomas J, aged four, died at the home
place in Menard county, Illinois; M. Jane, wife
of Rev. Willis Patchen, died in Illinois, aged
twenty-one. Mr. and Mrs. Tom have four childern ; Edith,
wife of Charles Hoggard, a merchant in Rufus ;
Curtis A, at home ; Sarah E, aged seventeen ;
Leah, aged eleven, at home. The fraternal affili
ations of Mr. Tom are with Cascade Lodge, No.
303, B. P. O. E, of The Dalles, and the A. O.
U. W, of Moro. He is a progressive citizen,
broad-minded and liberal, and one who nas won a
host of friends in the community in which he
resides.

WILLIAM H. FAIRFIELD, proprietor of
the Kent Hotel at Kent, Oregon, was born in
California, on August 6, 187 1. His parents,
William and Ella (Rawson) Fairfield, are natives
of Michigan, and now reside in California. They
moved to Clackamas county, Oregon, when he
was three years old and there cleared a farm
from heavy timber. Twelve years later, they
sold the place and moved to Douglas county, and
two years after that our subject, having com-

466

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

pleted his education in the common schools,
struck out for himself. He did various work
until his people went to California, then he came
to this part of Oregon. He herded sheep for a
time, then spent two years or so in farm work.
Following that, he raised wheat on rented land
for four years, then bought three-fourths of a
section and also took up a homestead. He later
sold the land he had bought and in December,
1903, purchased the place he now conducts at
Kent. Since that time Mr. Fairfield has given
his attention to handling the hotel and livery
barn and is doing a nice business.
On December 7, 1898, at Grass Valley, Mr.
Fairfield married Minnie Smith, whose parents
dwell in Grass Valley. To this union one child
has been born, Kenneth. Mr. Fairfield has three
brothers, Edward, Harry and Wallace, in Cali
fornia, and one sister, Minnie, wife of Bud Lewis,
Roseburg, Oregon.
Politically, Mr. Fairfield is a Republican. He
is also a man of good standing and takes an in
terest in everything that is for the building up
and the welfare of the country.

WILLIAM H. TURNER is one of Sherman
county's progressive, energetic and skillful farm
ers. He resides two miles west from Rutledge
postoffice and has a fine estate. He was born in
New York, March 21, 1866, the son of George
and Louisa (Seeley) Turner. The father was
born in Hartford, Connecticut and died when our
subject was nine years of age. He came from an
old American family. The mother's parents
were born in New York and their parents were
natives of England. The Seeley family is well
known as one of the prominent families in New
York and New England and many professional
and educational men were among them. The
mother's father, lost his eyesight when forty
years of age, through overwork while clearing
land for his home in Cortland county, New York.
He was a pioneer settler and had taken land there
and when his eyesight was nearly gone, he
suffered the aditional trouble of having to resist
unprincipled men who tried to drive him from
his property. They even went so far as to fire
shot guns at him. Still he persevered and after
ward bought peace and was left alone. Oui
subject still today owns the old place of sixty six
acres where he resided until nine years of age.
His uncle helped till the place until he entered the
State Normal school. The uncle is Professor
Felix E. Seeley who taught in the high schools
in Michigan, Wisconsin and New York and in
later years came west and farmed near DeMoss

Springs for ten years. He is now engaged in
real estate and loaning in San Francisco, being
a prominent ancl worthy citizen. After his
father's death, he assisted his mother in work
ing out to pay for the little home place and he
continued at the same until fifteen, when he de
termined to come west and seek his fortune. He
gave his mother all his money, except enough
for his fare and he landed in Wasco county with
just six cents in his pocket. He was on the sec
ond train that had come over the Northern Paci
fic. Scott and McCoy ran a store in Grant and
when our subject was trying to purchase a
nickel's worth of crackers and cheese, Mr. Scott
gruffly asked him if he had no more money. Mr.
Turner replied, "No." Scott then said, "Go to
the hotel and I will stand good." Mr. Turner
feeling independent, said he would not, as he had
one cent left. Scott insisted and took him to the
hotel with instructions for the hotel man to keep
him until he could find work. Our subject went
to work cutting wood for the hotel keeper and
while thus employed Michael King, a Scotchman
with a broad brogue and a throat disease, came
along and addressed Mr. Turner with the idea
of hiring him ; but owing to the difficulties men
tioned, our subject could understand nothing ex
cept the man's profanity. However, a bargain
was finally made and he went to work tending
camp for forty-five dollars per month, which
monev he sent to his mother as soon as he earned
it. Then he' went to work at eighty-five dollars
per month and remarks to this day that he felt
nearly frightened to death to receive that much
money for one month's labor when he had only
gotten thirteen and one-half dollars for his work
in the east. Mr. Turner staved two years with
Mr. King and during that time he sent for his
mother, who married William Currie a year after
she came here. After his mother came, our sub
ject went to freighting and prospered exceed
ingly, but like the other freighters, he spent his
monev freely but was careful to take a preemp
tion, homestead and timber culture, which forms
his estate at the present time. Mr. Turner owns
the lead mare which he used for fifteen years,
she now being twenty-one years old. Her intel
ligence is almost human and he would not part
with her under any circumstances. In additim
to doing- freightine and handling his estate, our
subject worked with his step-father on a thresh
ing outfit which he later owned and they con
ducted fhe business until the present time. Mr.
Turner is a prosperous man, has many friends
and is one of the leading citizens of the county.
On October 12, 1903, Mr. Turner married
Jennetta Leonard. She was born in Ontario,
Canada, on April 12, 1887, the daughter of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

467

Charles and Jennetta (Bain) Leonard, natives of
Canada and Scotland, respectively, and now
dwelling in Sherman county, their home at the
head of Sherar's grade, seven miles up from the
bridge. Mr. Turner is an only child ; his wife
has one brother, Allen, and four sisters, Lizzie,
Carrie, Georgia and Nora.

JOHN R. VENABLE was born in Marion
county, Oregon, March 26, 1865, the son of
Francis M. and Jane (Hubbard) Venable. Fran
cis M, the father, is a native of Missouri, the
mother of Illinois. At present they both reside
on a farm near Rufus. With ox teams the father
crossed the plains in 1852 or 1853, accompanied
hy his wife.
In the beautiful and arable Willamette Val
ley our subject was reared until he attained the
age of eleven years. At that period his family
removed to Klickitat county, Washington, where
the father purchased land on the Columbia, op-
pbsite the mouth of the John Day river. They
remained there until 1888. thence coming to
Sherman county. Our subject found employ
ment in a variety of occupations, living much of
the time at home.
March 11, 1891, at Pendleton, Oregon, Mr.
Venable was united in marriage to Miss Elvena
McCullough, a native of Ohio and the daughter
of William McCullough, the latter at present
living in Wallowa county, Oregon. Our subject
has three brothers living. Mr. and Mrs. Vena
ble have six children living, W. Frances, Chester
R, Marie, Paul, Mack, and Manuel, an infant.
Politically, he is a Democrat, and although
not an active partisan he served as a delegate to
the last county convention in the interest of the
Democratic party.
During four years Mr. Venable was engaged
in the barber business, and was for nearly three
years at Adams, Umatilla county. He is quite
a popular man in the community in which he re
sides and numbers many friends in a wide circle
of acquaintances.

JAMES W. HARVEY, proprietor of the
Rufus Hotel, Rufus, Sherman county, was born
in Polk county, Oregon, May 3, 1856, the son of
Job and Ellen (Perry) Harvey. The father was
a native of Pennsylvania, his parents the same,
and his grandfather was English; his grand
mother Scotch. The mother of our subject was
a native of Maine, a member of the old and dis
tinguished Perry family. Of these Commodore

Perry, the historically celebrated naval officer —
Oliver Hazard Perry — who fought the battle of
Lake Erie, ancl others who became distinguished
in American history, were members.
The father of our subject came to Oregon
with his parents, with ox teams, in 1850. His
father, Amos, secured a donation claim which is
now the present site of a portion of the city of
Portland. The Multnomah county court house
stands on part of it ancl the entire quarter section
extends down to the Willamette river. The locator
remained on this land nine months and then dis
posed of the improvements for a ranch in Yam
hill county, which he later exchanged for Polk
county property where he died. Our subject's
father owned a half section adjoining upon which
James W. Harvey was born. The latter's father
died when he was seventeen years of age ; his
mother when he was eleven months old. He has
no remembrance of either of his parents, the
father having died in Montana. Our subject
lived with his grandfather and uncles until he
was nine years old, and then he ran away to The
Dalles. Here he worked for Mr. Grimes, men
tioned elsewhere. He passed eighteen months
at The Dalles and was eighteen months
with Henry Barnum, mentioned in another por
tion of this work, on the present site of Moro.
Returning to the Willamette valley he found em
ployment in a livery stable in Albany. Here he
remained two years and then he went east of the
mountains as general manager for Robert Salt
marsh, a sheep grower. Three years subse
quently he went to Heppner where he filled a sim
ilar position in the cattle business for William
Taylor. He then purchased beef for a Portland
house four years and the two years subsequently
he traveled about, engaging in no business. Mr.
Harvey returned to Umatilla county in 1876, and
at the breaking out of the Indian war joined the
company of Frank Mattoc's with which he re
mained one month. Then the United States gov
ernment employed him as a scout for a period of
three months when the war closed. Subsequently
for two years he bought and sold horses on his
own account, going to Grass Valley, Sherman
county, in 1879. There were then only two
houses in the place ; one belonging to "Doc"
Rollins, who is mentioned elsewhere ; and one
owned by a man named Hough. Our subject
located a claim near "Dot" Rollins', which he
disposed of to Mr. Van Winkle, mentioned in
another portion of this work. On this be resided
seventeen years, going, in 1887, to Ellensbnrg,
Washington, where he passed a few months.
After this during a portion of eight years he re
mained in Portland engaged in contracting on
street grading. During that period he took a

468

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

contract for railroad work near Winlock, Wash
ington, in which he lost all his funds owing to
the fact that the principal contractor failed to
pay the sub-contractors. This loss was a severe
one amounting to about $16,000. After this he
completed a small contract near Olympia and
returned to Portland. In 1893 Mr. Harvey lo
cated in Peoria, Linn county, Oregon, where he
worked for H. F. Fisher in a mill and warehouse
for six years. Going to Viento, Wasco county,
he was in the employment of the Oregon Lum
ber Company five months. Thence he migrated
to The Dalles where for a short period he con
ducted a shooting gallery, and the following sum
mer he was in Centerville, Washington, one
year, in the confectionery and ice cream busi
ness. He continued the same line of business
ten months in Wasco, but August 1, 1904, he
rented the Rufus Hotel. He still owns a farm
on the edge of Peoria which he rents.
March 15, 1884, at Grass Valley, our subject
was united in marriage to Margaret Emma
Shanklin, born in Burlington, Linn county, Ore
gon, the daughter of Robert and Martha (Mc
Cartney) Shanklin. Her father was born in
Fleming county, Kentucky. His ancestors were
Scotch pioneers. Her mother was a native of
Indiana, and her father of Tennessee. Her
grandparents were Scotch and Irish. Our sub
scriber has one brother living, Daniel P. ; another
brother, Charles C, is dead. Mrs. Harvey has
three sisters living; Edna; Edith (in Idaho);
Effie, wife of Walter Barber, of Peoria, Linn
county, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have
four children, Clinton, Clyde, Robert and Edith,
living at home. Mrs. Harvey is a member of
the Methodist (South) church. Politically,
Mr. Harvey is a Republican although not par
ticularly active. Our subject is a popular man
throughout the county and numbers a wide cir
cle of friends and acquaintances.

GEORGE W. RAMEY, dealer in hardware
and a blacksmith, resides at Rufus, Sherman
county. He was born in St. Louis county, Mis
souri, the son of William H. and Virginia (Ball)
Ramey, both natives of Missouri. The ancestry
of William Ramey were an old and prominent
southern family of Holland descent. His father
was a pioneer settler in Missouri and California.
Virginia Ball was born in Boone county, a de
scendant of the old Ball family, the members of
which were distinguished soldiers in the wars of
the Revolution and 181 2. Their ancestry were
English. Ephraim Ball, born at Greentown,
Ohio, August 12, 1812, dying at Canton, Ohio,

January 1, 1872, was an inventor and manufact
urer of plows, mowers (the Buckeye machine),
and harvesters. Thomas Ball, a native of Mas
sachusetts, born July 3, 1819, was a distinguished
American sculptor. Among his works are a
statue of Daniel Webster (New York), "Eman
cipation," (Washington), statue and busts of Ev
erett, Choate, etc.
Until he was eleven years of age our subject
remained in Missouri. He then, with his parents,
went to Tulare county, California. This was
in 1870. Here he attended the district schools
and worked on the farm. His family left Cali
fornia in 1882 and came to Sherman county,
where he and his father took up land on the hill
overlooking the Columbia river. They disposed
of these claims later and purchased other land.
Our subject at present owns forty acres of fine
fruit and vegetable land near the town of Rufus.
It was in 1903 that he engaged in his present
business. His parents own a section of land on
the hill four miles from town.
Mr. Ramey is a single man, living with his
parents in Rufus. They rent the land on the
"hill." Politically, Mr. Ramey is independent.
He has one brother and two sisters ; Charles T,
a stock-raiser in Yolo county, California ; Cora,
wife of Frank Bartholomew, who rents the ranch
on the "hill;" and Agnes, wife of Benjamin L.
Andrews, a farmer residing four and one-half
miles from Rufus.

WILLIAM H. McGRATH, a skillful
mechanic, who does blacksmithing and wagon
making at Grass Valley, Oregon, is one of the
leading business men of this part of Sherman
county. He handles the largest business south
of Wasco and as large as any mechanical busi
ness in the county. He was born in Mendocino
county, California, on May 19, 1875, the son of
John B. and Mary (Black) McGrath, natives of
Delaware, New Jersey, and Illinois, respectively.
The father's father was a native of Ireland and
came to the United States in his youth and set
tled in New Jersey. John B. McGrath died at
The Dalles in the fall of 1900. Our subject's
maternal grandparents were natives of Illinois,
and came of German extraction. William H.
grew up in California until six years of age
when the family came to Sherman, it being then
1 88 1. The father took a homestead in Grass
Valley and there were only six other families in
this part of the country. He bought more land
but sold, so at the time of his death he owned
one-half section. Our subject was educated in
the district schools and when twenty-one took

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

469

a homestead. Later, he sold this and purchased
town property. He has a residence in Grass
Valley and owns a commodious blacksmith and
wagon shop, besides some vacant lots. He is
doing a very extensive business, keeping con
stantly employed with three mechanics and some
times more. Mr. McGrath is a very skillful man
in mechanical lines and is able to turn out any
kind of work that is needed in the county. He
worked under a thoroughly competent instruc
tor when learning the trade and was master of
it when he opened the shop here in the fall of
1903. He does light ancl heavy blacksmithing
and all kinds of wagon and carriage work, builds
water tanks, in fact attends to any line of work
needed in an agricultural country.
In December, 1899, Mr. McGrath married
Mrs. Mamie B. McGreevy, a native of Mis
souri. By her former marriage, she had two
daughters, Lena and Maggie, and to Mr. and
Mrs. McGrath one child has been born, Jessie.
Our subject has one brother, living, John T,
at Aberdeen, Washington. One brother died
when an infant, and three sisters, Kate, Mary
and Catherine, aged nine, seven ancl six respec
tively. They all died in California.
Mr. McGrath is a member of the A. O. U.
W. In political matters he is a Republican, but
not especially active. He takes an interest in
school matters and general affairs, and is a pro
gressive and industrious man.

WILLIAM CURRIE resides about three
and one-half miles northeast from Rutledge,
Sherman county, and is well known here, having
been a pioneer of 1884. He was born in Scot
land, on March 19, 1844, the son of William ancl
Jeanette (Bosomwaith) Currie, natives of the
same country. The father died in Scotland ancl
the mother died in Canada. Our subject came to
Canada when five years old, with his mother ancl
other relatives and settlement was made in Huron
county, Ontario. There Mr. Currie was edu
cated and reared until twenty years of age. His
mother had taken land there ancl he assisted her
to improve it and make a home. When twenty
years of age, he came to Port Huron, Michigan,
and enlisted in Company B, Thirtieth Michigan
Infantry, under Captain Balles and Colonel John
son, and was busy at guard duty until the close
of the war, receiving his honorable discharge
in June, 1865. After being mustered out, he
came via Panama to San Francisco, and a short
time later went thence to Santa Cruz where he
labored two years getting out redwood bolts to
make powder kegs. Afterward, we find him in

Nevada, where he was variously engaged for a
year, then he went to Montana and did- packing.
Later, he operated a threshing machine there,
after which he went down the river to Kansas
City. Not finding anything there to suit him, he
journeyed on west to Arizona, and was variously
employed in that territory, Utah and Idaho until
1884, when he came to this part of Oregon. A
year later, he took up land, then bought railroad
land and since has been giving his attention to
farming. His wife also took land before her
marriage and they now own nine hundred and
sixty acres. Mr. Currie has a threshing outfit,
operated by a gasoline engine.
In 1886, Mr. Currie married Mrs. Louisa
Turner, who was born in New York, the daughter
of William and Ellen (Morse) Seeley, natives of
New York and descended from old American fam
ilies. The father died in New York, ancl he was
blind from forty until 1871, the time of his
death. Mr. Currie has no brothers living, but
has two half brothers, John and Robert Bos-
waith, in Canada. He also has one half sister,
Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. Main, in Ontario.
Mrs. Currie has two brothers, Felix E, in San
Francisco, and William H, who died from
cholera in the Civil war, and one sister, Diadama,
in New York.
Politically, Mr. Currie is independent, not
being trammeled by any party ties. Mrs. Currie
is a member of the Methodist church, while her
husband belongs to the Presbyterian denomina
tion. They are good substantial people and are
well and favorably known.

JOHN W. SMITH, an enterprising mer
chant and influential, progressive citizen of
Rufus, Sherman county, was born in Berrien
county, Michigan, March 19, 1848. He is the
son of John R. and Mary A. (Miller) Smith, the
former a native of Pennsylvania, the latter of
Indiana, but both descended from old Pennsyl
vania Dutch families.
It was in Michigan that our subject was
reared until he was three years old, when his
family removed to Iowa. Here he attended the
public schools where he obtained a good business
education, and worked on the farm with his par
ents until he was fifteen years old. Evidently
he was a very patriotic youth, for at that early
age he enlisted in Company F, Ninth Iowa In
fantry, Captain James W. Gwin. The colonel
of our subject's regiment was David Henderson,
who subsequently became speaker of the House
of Representatives at Washington. Mr. Smith
began his life as a soldier with the Chattanooga

470

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

campaign in the spring of 1864, with General
Sherman. He was in the Fifteenth Army Corps,
then commanded by General John A. Logan
(Black Jack), of Illinois, who was subsequently
candidate for vice president on the ticket with
James G. Blaine. For eighteen months our sub
ject remained with his regiment with the excep
tion of three months, which he passed in the
hospital owing to serious illness. July 25, 1865,
he was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky.
After the close of the war he was engaged
in farming in Missouri and Kansas, and also in
railroad work and various other employments.
In 1880 Mr. Smith went to Colorado where he
remained four years as clerk in a store and en
gaging in carpenter work. Thence he went to
Seattle, Washington, and worked at bridge-build
ing four years, and in the fall of 1888 he took
up general merchandising in Grant, Sherman
county. In 1894 a disastrous flood carried off
the building and much of the stock. He at once
erected another building twenty-eight by seventy
feet at Murray Springs and engaged in" the same
line of business, and in 1895 removed the build
ing, to Rufus. He carries about four thousand
five hundred dollars worth of stock and has a
good trade. Our subject is single. He has three
brothers and two sisters living; Benjamin F,
a farmer in Douglas county; Jacob R, in Fort
Scott, Kansas; Thurston S, proprietor of a
saloon in Wasco; Hattie, wife of Frank Ven-
num, of Coffeeville, Kansas ; and Emma, wife of
John Harris, also of Fort Scott.
Politically, he is affiliated with the Republi
can party, but is not what might be termed an
active partisan. In the community in which he
resides he is very popular and has won the es
teem of a wide circle of friends.

GEORGE E. THOMPSON is postmaster
at Rutledge where be also owns a section of
land and does general farming. He was born at
The Dalles, Oregon, on April 23, i860. His
father was descended from English and Irish
parentage and came to Oregon in the early
fifties. He was a soldier in the regular army and
died when our subject was two years of age.
The mother died just before that. George was
then legally adopted by John B. Dickerson ancl
was raised and educated at The Dalles. He re
ceived good training in the schools and assisted
his foster father in the meat business. Later,
he was engaged in that for himself, ancl about
1884 sold out and came to Sherman county. He
took a homestead, hotight railroad land ancl
^tirted practically without capital. He now
has the property above mentioned, which is well

improved, with a good Cosy frame house, barns,
outbuildings, fences and so forth and is one of
the good places of the county.
On May 3, 1881, at The Dalles, Mr. Thomp
son married Mary Bolton, who was born in Illi
nois, the daughter of Patrick Bolton, a native of
Ireland, and now living at Kingsley. Mr.
Thompson has one brother, William, at Wheat
land, Oregon, and one sister, Nettie, the wife of
George T. Thompson, an attorney at Walla
Walla. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson nine chil
dren have been born, named as follows : John,
Albert, Morris, Mabel, Nellie, Edith, Ruth, Alice,
Grace, all at home. Our subject is a member
of the A. O. U. W, and he and his wife belong-
to the Roman Catholic church. In politics, he is
a Democrat and is almost always found at the
county conventions and frequently in the state
conventions. He is a committeeman of his pre
cinct, and is also school clerk. Mr. Thompson
is a man of good standing, has shown splendid-
business ability in his efforts here, and is rated
as one of the substantial and leading men of this
part of the county.

CLARK DUNLAP, at the head of one of
the pioneer families of Oregon, is a prosperous
farmer living one mile north of Wasco. He was
born in Peoria, Illinois, October 25, 1844, the
son of Smith and Madeline Dunlap. Smith Dun
lap was a native of Connecticut, of Scotch and'
Irish ancestry. His parents came from the north
of Ireland. At the time our subject was about three years
of age the family crossed the plains with an ox
train. This was in 1847. While en route the
father was accidentally shot and killed. The-
mother died eighteen months after arriving at
Forest Grove, Oregon. Our subject grew up in
Salem, where he was reared in the family of F.
R. Smith, who were old pioneers in the country..
Here young Clark Dunlap obtained a good busi
ness education in the public schools of Salem
and worked on the farm of Mr. Smith, which was
located on the outskirts of the town. In 1868,
when our subject was twenty-four years of age,
he struck out for himself and engaged in the-
stock business in which he was fairly successful.
He passed about one year in Klickitat county,
Washington, thence going to Grant county, Ore
gon, where he raised cattle. In this enterprise-
he continued until 1882 when he came to Sher
man county and took up half a section of very
fine land, where he now resides.
May 20, 1874, at Bridge Creek, Wheeler
county, Oregon, our subject was married to Jane
Chapman, born in Polk county, Oregon. She-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

471

is the daughter of Joseph R. Chapman, a native
of Connecticut, who came to Oregon with an ox
train in 1852. He located a donation claim in
Polk county, and later went to Klickitat county,
Washington. This was about i860. Here he
remained several years thence moving into1 the
John Day country, where he engaged in stock-
raising. He died in Sherman county January
12, 1883; the mother now lives in Wheeler
county. Our subject has one brother and one sister;
William; and Harriet, wife of Henry Trimble!
residing near Lewiston, Idaho. He is colloquially
known as "Hank," and is a prominent pioneer
of North Idaho. Mrs. Dunlap has three brothers
and two half-sisters; George W. and Isaac M,
stockmen residing near Fossil ; Joseph A, a stock
man in Wheeler county ; Mary, wife of William
Waters, of Fossil; Sarah A, widow of Alby
Bunnell, late of Centerville, Washington.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap have four children;
Clifton, born October 25, 1886; Mary V, born
March 8, 1875, wife of Edward D. McKee, a
druggist in Wasco; Vleda, born December 21,
1876, wife of George Van Gassbec, a farmer of
Blalock, Oregon; and Veva, born September 13,
1893, now living at home. Mrs. Dunlap is a mem
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politi
cally, Mr. Dunlap is a Republican and frequently
a county delegate.

WILLIAM TATE, one of the prosperous
and solid citizen farmers of Sherman county,
after an extended tour in many of the states of
the union, has decided that his present location,
three miles south of Rufus, is one of the best
he has seen in all his journeyings. He was born
in Ireland, April 25, 1830, the son of John and
Elizabeth (Steele) Tate, both natives of Ire
land, where they died, in County Armagh. The
father was a farmer.
In 185 1 our subject came to the United States
and at first located in Chicago where he remained
two years engaged in the carpenter trade. In
1853 he crossed the plains to Plumas county,
California, thus becoming one of the early Argo
nauts to the Golden State. Here, for a period
of three years, he followed mining, prospecting
and farming, and then went back to Chicago. Be
tween 1856 and 1876 Mr. Tate divided his time
between Chicago and California, and was, also,
four months in the Willamette valley. In 1876
he was induced to settle in Nebraska, in York
county, but the immense and devastating swarms
of grasshoppers there drove him out of the coun
try, and he returned to Chicago. Remaining

there a few months he went back to California
¦and for three years Was in San Luis Obispo
county. Thence he came to Sherman county.
This was in 1886, and he located the place where
he and his son, Worth A, reside. Here he
secured half a section of land, and purchased
more from the railroad company. He had at the
time a small capital and with this he improved
the place, occasionally working out. He now
possesses a section of fine land, practically all
tillable. At Chicago, in 1859, our subject was united
in marriage to Elizabeth Steele, born in Joliet,
Illinois. She is the daughter of Hugh and Mary
A. (Cole) Steele, both natives of Ireland. They
emigrated at first to Canada, and later to Illinois.
Her father was a stone mason by trade.
Our subject, William Tate, has two brothers
and two sisters ; Alexander and Frank, in San
Luis Obispo, California ; Mary, widow of E. D.
Hosselkoss, late of Plumas county, California ;
ancl Elizabeth, widow of Wilson Reed, residing
near our subject. Mrs. Tate has one brother
and one sister living ; Charles Steele, of Chicago ;
and Jane, widow of Richard Thompson, also of
Chicago. Our subject has four boys and one
girl ; Walter, a carpenter in Wasco ; Ernest, post
master of Wasco ; Frank, in Chicago ; Worth A,
at home; and Mollie', single, living in Chicago.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Tate were reared in the
Presbyterian faith. Politically, he is a Republi
can, although by no means a strong partisan
worker.

CORNELIUS D. O'LEARY resides about
six miles east of Grass Valley, where he rents
an estate of sixteen hundred acres. He owns
about thirty head of horses and seven head of
mules, all good graded stock, and is one of the
leading wheat producers of the county. In addi
tion to this, Mr. O'Leary owns and operates a
large steam threshing outfit, being especially
skillful in that line of enterprise. 1 He was born
in Michigan, on May 2, 1866. Dennis O'Leary,
his father, was born in county Cork, Ireland.
He received a splendid education and then came
to the United States to seek his fortune. His
father, the grandfather of our subject, was a
large land owner and Dennis was a younger son
and began life for himself when he landed in
Michigan and took up logging^ He was more or
less engaged in that business until his death on
February 25, 1885, at Lapier, Michigan. He
was then aged fifty-six and met his death by
being crushed under a fallen tree. He had be
come influential and well-to-do and was known
far and near as a devout Catholic and an excel-

47-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

lent man. Upon his death, the estate dwindled
down and in 1888, his widow, Elizabeth (Wil
son) O'Leary, a native of New York, died. Our
subject began working for himself when sixteen
and followed lumbering until twenty-four. Then
he came to Oregon and remained in Portland and
Seattle, about two years. In 1891, he came to
Sherman county, without capital, and worked out
for several years. In 1896, he took a homestead
and bought a quarter section and remained on
the same for three years, raising sheep. Then
he sold the entire property and rents the estate
above mentioned.
On December 11, 1902, at The Dalles, Ore
gon, Mr. O'Leary married Bertha Sigman, the
daughter of Richard Sigman, who is mentioned
elsewhere in this work. Our subject has two
brothers ; William, near Boise, Idaho ; Frank, in
Lapier, Michigan; and one sister, Ellen, the wife
of John Conrad, in Flint, Michigan. Our sub
ject's mother was of Scotch ancestry and married
in Lapier, Michigan, where also she died. To
Mr. and Mrs. O'Leary one child has been born,
Margaret Ellen. Mr. O'Leary is a very active
man in political matters and is allied with the
Democratic party. He has been a delegate to
every county convention since coming here, and
for eight years was on the state central commit
tee. He has also been a delegate to three state
conventions, and is as active as his business will
permit. Although keenly interested in this realm,
he never aspires to office, but has labored con
stantly for others. Mr. O'Leary personally is a
genial, public-spirited man, generous and pro
gressive. His qualities have won him many
friends and he stands among the prominent
farmers of the community today.

WORTH A. TATE, the son of William
Tate, a biographical sketch of whom appears in
another column, resides on and .conducts his
father's ranch, which he rents. He is a native of
Illinois, having been born in Chicago, February
17, 1872. In the excellent graded schools of
Chicago and San Luis Obispo he received a sub
stantial education to which he has added by ex
tensive reading. He went to San Luis Obispo
at the age of eleven years, remained three years
and then came to Sherman county with his fam
ily. Continuing here until 1890 he sought em
ployment in the lumber woods of Hood River
where he was engaged three years. The follow
ing four years were passed in Chicago in the
organ-making business with his brother, Walter.
In the fall of 1897 Mr. Tate returned to Sherman
county and commenced earnestly the conduct of

his father's extensive ranch where he has re
mained since.
The fraternal affiliations of our subject are
with Sherman Lodge, No. 157, I. O. O. F, and the
K. O. T. M, of Chicago. Politically he is a
Republican, but not particularly active. He is a
young man of sterling principles and numbers
many friends in a wide circle of acquaintances.

ORSINIUS H. RICH, a prosperous Sher
man county farmer, residing one and one-half
miles north of Wasco, was born in Iowa, Sep
tember 5, i860. His father, Liberty J. Rich, was
a farmer and a native of Michigan. He died
when our subject was a child, and was a member
of the distinguished Rich family of the United
States who hold yearly reunions. His father,
Andrew Rich, served in the Revolutionary war.
Liberty J. Rich was, during the Civil war, a
member of the Thirteenth Iowa Infantry. He
enlisted three times before he was accepted. The
second year of his service in the army he was
taken ill, came home and died. The mother of
our subject died in 1901, at North Yakima,
Washington. Until he was seventeen years of age our sub
ject lived in Iowa., Thence he went to Kansas
where he learned the butcher's trade. In 1890
he went, with his family, to Washington, locat
ing at Centerville, Klickitat county. Here he
engaged in the meat business, remaining there six
years. He bought and sold cattle and land. He
had arrived with a capital of only five dollars,
but had been eminently successful financially.
Disposing of his interests he went to North
Yakima, again engaging in the meat business
for one year ; thence he came to Sherman county,
January, 1902, and purchased the old Jesse Eaton
ranch, one and one-half miles from Wasco, a
half section. This is the oldest piece of farming
property in the county, and was the first stage sta
tion. Mr. Rich was married in Smith county, Kan
sas, to Miss Ettie Barnes, a native of Iowa. She
is the daughter of Cheslev and Ruth (Blaine)
Barnes, both natives of Ohio. The father is a
descendant of the old Barnes family which for
many generations has been known in the United
States. The mother was a member of the dis
tinguished Blaine family of which Hon. James
G. Blaine was a brilliant light.
Our subject has one brother, Eles A, a fruit
grower near North Yakima. Mrs. Rich has six
brothers and three sisters ; Jackson, of Smith
Center, Kansas ; William H, of Medical Lake,
Washington ; Wilson M, living in Smith county,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

473

Kansas ; James M, a resident of Dewey county,
Oklahoma ; Burt ancl Elmer, of the same locality ;
Lucinda, wife of Frank Zimmerman, of Okla
homa ; Sylvia, wife of Michael Zimmerman, a
farmer near White Salmon, Washington ; Bessie,
wife of Angus Dennitt, of Oklahoma. Mr. and
Mrs. Rich have four children, Leroy, Opal, Zettie
ancl Pardee. Our subject is a member of Sherman
Lodge, No. 157, I. O. O. F, and the W. W, of
which he is past council commander. His politi
cal affiliations are with the Prohibition party of
which he is an active member. His home is rich
in historical interest, and finely shaded with a
stately row of poplars fifty years old. In early
pioneer days the United States mail was robbed
near the site of his residence. This was, prob
ably, the first frame house ever erected in the
county. Mr. Rich is a progressive, liberal-
spirited business man and an influential citizen.
He and his estimable wife are members of the
Christian church, and are highly esteemed in the
¦ community.

CHARLIE F. FRENCH resides at Grass
Valley ancl was born in Michigan, on July 21,
1864. His father was Ransome E. French, a
native of Essex county, New York, ancl he mar
ried Cordelia Heath. Our subject was raised in
Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky until eighteen, and
obtained his education in the district schools of
those various places. He assisted his father in
general merchandising and also learned the jew
eler's trade. When the family came west in
1884, he accompanied them ancl worked with bis
father on the land taken in this county. In
Wasco, when twenty-one years of age, Mr.
French married Catherine Clement, a native of
Iowa. Her father, Alfred E, was born in Eng
land, and came to Colorado when he was small.
He married Miss Hodges. After marriage, our
subject farmed for himself some and also took a
homestead. He bought railroad land ancl handled
the entire estate until 1903, when he sold it. He
now owns a house and six acres in Grass Valley
and gives his attention to the jewelry business a
portion of his time. In addition to this, he owns
and operates the largest steam threshing outfit
in Sherman county. It is a first-class outfit and
is operated by an engine of twenty horse power.
Mr. French has three brothers, Leroy R.. Frank,
and Johnnie. He also has two sisters. Lucy, the
wife of F. G. Howard, a nephew of General O.
O. Howard, of Civil war fame, ancl Eva. wife
of Frank Butz, of Ashtabula, Ohio. Mr. French
belongs to the I. O. O. F.. the Encampment and
the Elks. He is a Republican in politics, al
though not especially active, and is now serving

his second term as constable of district number
four. His ancestors on his father's side were
Welsh people, and on his mother's English.
They are both old American families. Mr.
French is a progressive, industrious man, and is
well known throughout the country.

HERMAN H. HUCK, whose parents are
mentioned elsewhere in this work with the family
history, was born in Solano county, California,
on July 29, 1880. His life was spent up to his
majority with his father and his education was
received in the various places where the family
lived. On June 15, 1903, Mr. Huck married
Nina R. Davis, a native of Nebraska and then
they began life for themselves, renting the farm
known as the Eaton place, where thev reside at
the present time. Mr. Huck is giving his at
tention to the conduct of this estate and is mani
festing himself a skillful and industrious farmer.
Mrs. Pluck's parents are Charles W. and Lizzie
Davis and now reside in Portland, the father be
ing a mechanic. The brothers and sisters of Mrs.
Huck are William, in California ; James, in Port
land ; John, at home ; Dean, in Nebraska ; Unita,
Ethel, Myrtle, Edna ancl Stella, all at home.
Politically, our subject is a well informed Re
publican and takes the interest that becomes
every good citizen in this realm. He is one of
the good men of Sherman county and bids fair
to make one of its leading and substantial citizens
and now has hosts of friends.

EVERETT SINK, one of the leading and
influential citizens of Sherman county, resides
on an extensive farm three miles northwest of
Wasco. He was born in Illinois, February 23,
1867. The parents of Mr. Sink are fully men
tioned in the biographical sketch of his brother,
George. When our subject was about the age of eight
vears the familv removed to the Wilamette val
ley, and here he attended district schools, acquir
ing a good business education, and worked on
the farm with his father. At the age of twenty
years he faced the world for himself ; located in
Sherman county ; worked out for a period and
finally took a homestead. He purchased ancl
rented more land and now owns 1,600 acres.
At The Dalles, May 20, 1901, our subject was
ioined in marriage to Hester Hardin, a native of
North Carolina, the daughter of Irdelle P. and
Mary E. (McGheyhey) Hardin. At present they
reside in Sherman county on the John Day

474

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

river. Mrs. Sink has four brothers, living and
four sisters : Sylvester, a merchant in Morrow
county ; Weldon, of Sherman county ; Millis, and
John, both of Sherman county ; Alice, Minnie,
Calender and Ida, all single and living at home.
Mr. Sink is a member of Wasco Lodge No. 83,
I. O. O. F, and the A. O. U. W, of. Wasco.
They have one child, Leota, an infant. Politi
cally, Mr. Sink is a Republican, although not
especially active in campaign work. He is a
progressive, broad-minded and liberal citizen,
and one who manifests a deep interest in the
welfare of the community in which he resides.
Numbering a wide circle of friends and ac
quaintances throughout the county and state he
is popular with all and the family is highly es
teemed. The parents of our subject were natives of
North Carolina where they grew to man and
womanhood, and were also married in that state.
Our subject's mother's maiden name was Lo-
zina Thomas, her parents were farmers and one
of the early American settlers of that state. Mr.
Sink has two brothers and two sisters, George
P, of Spokane, Washington; Thomas E, a suc
cessful farmer and neighbor of our subject;
Mary, wife of Charles Belcher, in California ;
Jennie, wife of Charles Chandler, of Portland,
Oregon.

HON. JOHN FULTON, a prominent agri
culturist and leading citizen of Sherman county,
resides some nine miles west of the town of
Wasco, where he owns a magnificent estate of
over two thousand acres and one of the most
beautiful rural abodes of the county. He is a
native Oregonian, having been born in Yamhill
county, on May 24, 1852. His parents were
Colonel James and Priscilla (Wells) Fulton, and
are mentioned in this volume.
In 1857 the family came east of the Cascades,
and since then John Fulton has spent his life
largely in this part of Oregon. After studying in
the country schools and at The Dalles, Mr. Ful
ton entered Whitman college, of Walla Walla,
Washington, the historic character, C. C. Eels,
being then principal of the college. The Rever
end Chamberlin, well known among the early
pioneers, was the first principal of the college.
After completing his education at Whitman Col
lege, our subject remained with his father until
1878, when he commenced farming, taking up
a timber culture and preemption, where he now
resides. Later, he bought land until he has the
amount mentioned, which is largely rented. Mr.
Fulton handles some stock, wintering about fifty
head of cattle, and raises some hogs. He is one

of the prosperous and thrifty men of the county,
and financially, has made a splendid success. In
his other lines of endeavor, he has not fallen one
whit behind this and he has certainly done a lion's
share in developing and forwarding the interests
of the county.
On November 12, 1878, at Rockland, Wash
ington, Mr. Fulton married Britania Gilmore,
who was born in Yamhill county, Oregon, on
July 16, 1855. Her father, Samuel W. Gilmore,
a native of Tennessee, comes from the old colo
nial family of Gilmores, and crossed the plains
with horses and mules in 1843. He settled on a
donation claim in Yamhill county and there gave
attention to farming and stock-raising. He was
one of the organizers of the territorial govern
ment and a man of influence and prominence both
in politics and business circles. He married Ann
Stevenson, a native of Kentucky and descended
from an old pioneer family. She lives at Rock
land, while her husband died in 1893, aged
seventy-eight and is buried at Wasco.
In 1880, our subject was elected county sur
veyor of Wasco county and served six years.
In 1892, he was elected judge of Sherman county
and served twelve years. Politically, he is a
Democrat and has been many times delegate ta
the state and county conventions. Mr. -Fulton
is a man of wisdom and sound judgment, has
labored assiduously not only for the success in
business life that he has achieved, but in every
department for the building up of the country and
making known and developing 'its resources. He
has hosts of friends throughout this part of the
state and is highly esteemed and respected by all.
Mr. Fulton has three sisters and three
brothers, named as follows: James, residing in
Wasco county; David and Frank, prominent
farmers of Sherman county ; Lucy, widow of H.
P. Isaacs, residing in Walla Walla, Washington ;
Elizabeth, wife of Louis Scholl, of Walla Walla,
Washington ; and Miss Annie, who is mentioned
elsewhere in this volume.

IRA F. HILL owns an estate of five hundred
and sixty acres about four miles north from
Wasco in Sherman county, which is improved in
splendid shape and annually produces excellent
dividends in crops. Mr. Hill is one of the thrifty
and energetic farmers of this part of the county,
has resided here steadily since coming and is
reaping the reward of his wise industry and in
tegrity. In addition to doing general farming,
he raises blooded horses, Clydes, and is meeting
with good success in this line as well. He was
born in Iowa, on March 31, 1862, the son of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

47?

George W. and Ruth (Orm) Hill, natives of
Ohio, where they were married. They were de
scended from old American families, and after
marriage, moved west to Kansas, where they now
reside on their farm of three hundred and twenty
acres. Our subject was raised in Iowa until
eight, then went with the family to Kansas and
completed his education in the district schools.
He remained with his father on the farm until
twenty-two, then bought eighty acres and did
diversified farming there for nine or ten years.
Then he determined to come west and selected
Sherman county as the objective point. He
bought a place near Klondyke and later sold it
and purchased his present farm. He is a man
who works on "the motto that, "What is worth
doing, is worth doing well," ancl the result is that
everything about his estate shows thrift and care.
In addition to this, Mr. and Mrs. Hill have so
conducted themselves in life that every one con
fides in them and esteems them for their integrity
and their stanch principles.
On November 16, 1885, in Lincoln county,
Kansas, Mr. Hill married Mary Vanderlinden,
a native of Kansas. Her parents, Luke ancl
Plulda Vanderlinden, were born in Holland and
there married. The father died in Iowa. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hill are Herbert,
Guy, Chester, Fay D, and Daisy, all at home.
Mr. Hill has the following named brothers and
sisters: John, in Oklahoma territory; Charles,
in Idaho ; George, in Colorado ; Frank, in Lin
coln, Kansas; N. Raymond, in Kendrick, Idaho;
Alice, wife of Stephen Knowles, in Kansas ; D.
Sophia, wife of Elmer Phillips, in Kansas. Mrs.
Hill has five brothers and two sisters : Luke, in
Kansas ; Henry, in Missouri ; Gove, in Lynden,
Washington ; William, in Minnesota ; John, de
ceased ; Lizzie, wife of William Von Steenbergen,
in Sioux county, Iowa ; and Dena, wife of E. C.
Cochran, in Sherman county, Oregon.
Mr. Hill is a member of the I. O. O. F, ancl
in political matters is independent. He and his
wife are members of the United Brethren church,
and in 1904 were delegates to ¦ the conference.
They are ardent laborers for the spreading of
the gospel and for the promotion of those prin
ciples of truth and uprightness for which they
stand.

DAVID S. YOUNG, one of the_ popular
agriculturists of Sherman county, resides two
miles south from Wasco and was born in Lafay
ette county, Missouri, on February 10, 1869. His
father, Theodore A. Young, was a native of
Tennessee and his parents of Massachusetts,
being descendants of the old colonial Young fam

ily, many of whom are prominent at the bench
and bar and in commercial lines in New England..
The father married Margaret Martin, a native
of Virginia and descended from an old colonial
family. Our subject was raised in Missouri until
nineteen, where also he received his education
from the common schools, remaining with his
parents on the farm. Then, with his brother,
John, and sister, Rose, he came to Arlington,
Oregon. Shortly afterwards, they settled west
of Bickleton, in Washington, ancl four months
later, David S. went to the Willamette valley.
He wrought for wages there for two years, then
came to Sherman county and engaged in the
same capacity for two years. After that, he
rented land and now is cultivating two sections.
In June, 1904, he bought five hundred and sixty-
acres, four miles from Dufur, on Fifteenmile
creek, which he rents. He expects to make his
home upon this when his lease expires where he
now resfdes. Mr. Young is a prosperous and'
thrifty farmer and is one of the leading grain
raisers of this part of the county.
On January 26, 1896, Mr. Young married
Jennie Madden at the residence of her grandpar
ents. She was born near Dixon, California, the
daughter of Benjamin and Augustine (Lam-
barn) Madden, both of whom are now deceased.
Our subject has one brother, John, at Elgin,
Oregon, and one sister, Rose, wife of William D.
Blair, a farmer of Elgin, Oregon. To Mr. and
Mrs. Young one child has been born, Theodore
R, aged seven.
Mr.. Young is a member of the K. P, being-
past C. C, and also having been a delegate three
times to the grand lodge. He belongs to the W.
W, and in politics is a Democrat. He is active
and is frequently a delegate to the county con
ventions. Mr. Young is a popular man, has mam-
friends and stands well in the community.

W. ALEXANDER MURCHIE, who resides
one mile west from Wasco and gives his atten
tion to farming, was born in Nevada county, Cal
ifornia, on August 27, 1858. Andrew Murchie,
his father, was a native of Maine -and his parents
of the same country, being of Scotch descent.
He came to California in 1854 and followed farm
ing and mining until 1880, when he came to Sher
man county. He married Mary Nesbitt, a native
of Maine, where also her parents were born,
being descendants of an old colonial family. Our
subject was reared in Nevada City, California,
and completed his education in the high school.
Then he went to work for his father in the quartz
mill and in the mines owned by his grandfather

476

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and two uncles until twenty-one. In 1880, he
came to this part of Oregon and took a preemp
tion and later a homestead. In 1881, he put forty
acres into wheat, being among the first to raise
that cereal here. Now he owns a section of fine
land, a handsome residence, beautified by shade
trees, with plenty of stock and improvements.
He came here without capital and his entire
property holdings are the result of his industry
in Sherman county.
On November 15, 1885, at The Dalles, Mr.
Murchie married Lilly M. Andrews and to them
one child has been born, Ruth B, on May 21,
1892. Mr. Murchie has the following named
brothers and sisters : John M, a liveryman ;
Harry T, a baker; Marcello A, a commercial
traveler ; Melvin, and Burt, liverymenj Frank, a
horse dealer in Coulee City, Washington ; Addie,
wife of Arthur Knight, a wheat buyer of Pen
dleton. Fraternally, Mr. Murchie is connected with
the A. O. U. W, and in politics is an active Re
publican. He has attended nearly every county
convention since coming here, and is a man who
labors hard for the forwarding of those principles
which he believes to be right. When our sub
ject's father came here, he took up land and also
hought more. He had previously met with re
verses in California, having lost his stamp mill by
fire, and four of his men being burned to death.
His death occurred on March 8, 1896. Our sub
jects uncles, Skeffington T. and William H, are
now part owners of the mine previously owned
by our subject's father, and are prominent and
influential men in California. Mr. and Mrs.
Murchie are popular and genial people and are
to be numbered among the most substantial resi
dents of this part of the state.

CARL PEETZ, a retired farmer of Sherman
county, is now living at Moro. He was born in
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, as were also his
parents, Otto and Lena (Lock) Peetz. The date
of his nativity was November 12, 1831. The
father followed farming and died in his native
place in 1807. The mother's death had occurred
there in 1863. Our subject was educated in the
public schools and remained on the farm with
his father until 1861, when he enlisted in the
Schleswig-Holstein army. During 1863-64, he
was in active service in the war with Denmark
ancl received a wound in his arm. He served in
all, three vears ancl two months. After his hon
orable discharge, he returned home and pur
chased a farm, conducting the same for five or

six years. In 1876, having sold his property,
he came to the VJnited States, and the first six
months were spent in Iowa. Then he took a
homestead in Massachusetts where he remained
for seven years. He did well until the grass
hoppers came, working winters on the railroad
ancl farming in the summers, but these nests
nearly ruined him financially. Selling his hold
ings for enough to bring the family west, he came
to Puget Sound where he lived for thirteen years.
Having procured land on the Snoqualmie river,
he suffered the loss of everything by two over
flows and he was left in much the same condition
as in Minnesota. Finally he landed in Sherman
county with two horses, a wagon and a plow and
a little cash. He purchased a half section of
land from the government, paying four hundred
dollars in cash. He improved the same with a
good residence, barns, outbuildings, orchard and
so forth, and then the military land company
claimed the property ancl took it from him. He
lost the land and the government still has his four
hundred dollars. Then he bought three-fourths
of a section again ancl made a new start. He
finally nurchased the half section place back again
from the land companv. paving ten dollars per
acre for it. Recently Mr. Peetz sold his farm to
his son Louie, who is mentioned elsewhere in this
volume. This move was induced both because
Mr. Peetz had acquired a fine competence for
use in the later years of his life and because he
was so afflicted with rheumatism as to render ac
tive life impracticable.
In October. 1865. while still in Germanv. our
subiect maried Katrina Schachtt. a native of
Schleswig-Holstein. Mr. Peetz has one brother,
Hans, living in the suburbs of Chicago, and three
sisters : Lottie, wife of George Goodchart ; Mar
guerite, wife of Carl Rath: and Christina, the
widow of Mr. Marquotz, all in Schleswig-Hol
stein. Germanv. To Mr. and Mrs. Peetz seven
r-hildren have been born, named as follows : Otto
H.. countv assessor and mentioned elsewhere in
this volume: Louie L.. a farmer, mentioned else
where : Fred, with I ouie on the farm ; Beniamin.
deputy sheriff of Sherman countv, mentioned
elsewhere ; T ena. wife of Mr. Messenger, of
Klondvke. Sherman ronntv : Emma, at home;
Annie, wife of Mr. Montgomery.
Mr, Peetz is a member of the I. O. O. F,
and in politics is a stanch and active Republican.
For four vears he was road supervisor. For
ten years he was on the election board, being
i"dge and chairman : for two terms he was school
director, and for eight vears he was constable in
King countv. Washington. Our subject and his
wife are both members of the Lutheran church.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

477

He owns a comfortable cottage in Moro, which
is the family home. Mr. Peetz has been a very
active and successful business man, despite the
reverses he has met, and deserves great credit for
the labors he has performed.

RUFUS C. WALLIS, promoter of the town
of Rufus and owner of the townsite and water
works, was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on
June II, 1837, the son of Allen and Ann (Sar
gent) Wallis, natives of Minnesota and early
pioneers in Missouri. The family, for several
generations back, were builders and people of
wealth. Our subject was reared in Missouri,
whence the family went when he was four years
of age. He came to Oregon in the fall of 1862
and settled in Klickitat county, Washington, en
gaging in the cattle ancl sheep business. He also
planted several ranches to fruit there. In 1884,
he moved to where Rufus now is and started a
ferry boat and warehouse. He was backed by
Finch & Company, of The Dalles, and com
menced buying wheat, which he continued at for
thirteen years. At one time, it was said he was
the second largest individual wheat shipper on
record. Then he sold his ferry and the ware
house, but still owns considerable other property
at Rufus. On February 21, 1866, Mr. Wallis married
Mary Bergin, who was born in Missouri, the
daughter of John Bergin, a native of Virginia.
She was born in 1849 and came west to The
Dalles with her parents in 1859. It is interesting
to note that at that time, owing to the scarcity
of provisions, flour was eighty dollars per sack.
Mr. Wallis has one brother, also one sister, Jane,
the wife of William H. Hale, retired, at Golden
dale, Washington. Mrs. Wallis has the follow
ing named brothers and sisters : William, resid
ing at Goldendale, and three times sheriff of
Klickitat county ; Thomas and Oscar, farmers in
the Big Bend country, Washington ; Newton, liv
ing with his mother in Klickitat county, having
the distinction of being the first white child born
in the Klickitat valley ; Jane, the wife of William
Thompson, living in Washington; Nancy, the
wife of John Graham, in Klickitat county ; Lydia,
the wife of Frank Branton, who operates Mrs.
Branton's farm of three hundred and eighty
acres ; Emmie, the wife of Mr. Baker, in Idaho ;
William A, a clerk in Portland; Rufus A. and
Harry E, in Gilliam county; Charles W, in
Dawson; George at Rufus; Ida M, the wife of
John A. Foister, at Rufus; and Josephine, the
wife of Robert Haley, of Rufus.
Politically, Mr. Wallis is a Democrat and has

served in the county and state conventions. He
was an ardent laborer for building up this west
ern country and is known far and near and has
many friends.

WILLIAM OEHMAN, who was born on
March 2, 1870, in Connersville, Indiana, is now
residing six miles southeast from Rufus, on the
magnificent estate of twelve hundred and eighty
acres, all of which he has cleared through his in
dustry and thrift since coming to Sherman
county. His parents, Frank and Rachel (Ricken-
heiser) Oehman, are natives of Baden, Germany,
and Kentucky, respectively. The father came
to the United States with his parents when eigh
teen years of age. They settled first in Ohio then
moved to Indiana, where he was married. The
mother is of German ancestry, and when our
subject was two years of age the family came
from Indiana to Wabaunsee county, Kansas,
where the father purchased land. The parents
still live there, the owner of a section of valuable
land and are influential and highly respected peo
ple. Our subject was educated in the common
schools and remained with his father until four
teen, when he started to work for himself, operat
ing on the railroad and levees in Missouri and
Mississippi. Four years later he went to Colo
rado, then to Wyoming and wrought at various
work, mostly at the stonemason's trade, which
he had acquired in his work previously. When
nineteen years of age he came to Portland and
worked in the logging camps of Oregon and
Washington for two years.
About 1 89 1 he came to Sherman county
and worked out in the harvest field and
at other employments for six months. Hav
ing saved up two hundred and fifty dol
lars in earnings, he finally decided to purchase
a quarter section and the relinquishment to a
homestead, which he did, paying four hundred
dollars therefor. It was a splendid half section,
but owing to the fact that he had no money to
improve it, he still had to work out until he could
get stock. He soon began to prosper and bought
other land until he now has the twelve hundred
and eighty acres mentioned. He has thirty head
of fine horses, graded Clydes, nearly all of which
he has raised, besides some other stock. His
place is well improved and is productive of excel
lent returns each year. Mr. Oehman is still out
side of the matrimonial bonds, yet he is a very
popular young man.
He has three brothers, John, Charles and
Frank, and two sisters, Annie, wife of Ralph
Thompson, a barber at Wamego, Kansas, and

A7S

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Lizzie, wife of Charles Kuypers, a barber at
Alma, Kansas.
Politically, Mr. Oehman is a Democrat and is
frequently delegate to the- conventions. At the
present time he is filling the office of constable.
He has certainly made a splendid success in his
efforts in the west and stands one of the leading
farmers of Sherman county today.

GEORGE A. MELOY, a well-known and
successful farmer of Sherman county, residing
one and one-half miles southeast of Monkland,
was borri in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, No
vember 24, 1862, the son of Everett O. and Polly
M. (Martz) Meloy, both natives of Pennsylvania.
The parents of the father were natives of the
Keystone State, but their ancestors were from
Ireland. Everett O. served in the home guards
during the entire Civil war. He is a contractor,
builder and farmer, now living in Callaway coun
ty, Missouri. He is a member of the United
Presbyterian church. The mother is of Pennsyl
vania Dutch stock, and now lives with the family
in Missouri. ,
Until he was seven years of age our subject
was reared in the state of Pennsylvania, edu
cated in the district schools, and when nineteen
years of age came to The Dalles, Oregon, re
maining there only a short period. He was then
for three months in Union county, and the fol
lowing four years were passed in the employ
ment of A. A. Bonney, of Tygh Valley, men
tioned elsewhere. Thence he came to Sherman
county, where he engaged in raising cattle and
horses, about two years. Returning to Tygh
Valley he conducted a blacksmith shop for four
years. Then he rented the old McAtee place
and purchased land adjoining Bonney's property,
four hundred acres, and attended both farms
industriously, at the same time running the
blacksmith shop. Disposing of his interests theYe
he came to Sherman county in the spring of 1899,
where he rented the Hugh Mclntyre place for a
period of five years. During this time he pur
chased land and at one period he owned five and
one-quarter sections. He disposed of some of
this and now has eight hundred acres. Mr. Meloy
has thirty head of horses, a commodious five-
room cottage with a fine water system from a
spring piped to his home and barn.
At the residence of the bride's parents. No
vember 24. 1894. our subject was married to Nel
lie M. Elliott, born in Benton county, Oregon.
She is the daughter of Joshua H. and Emma El
liott, the father a native of Illinois; the mother
of Iowa. Toshua H. Elliott came to Oregon about

the year 1876, and first settled in Benton county.
In 1886 he removed to Sherman county. At
present he is a prominent agriculturist, and owns
six hundred and forty acres of land. Emma El
liot, the mother of our subject, is a sister of Mrs.
Alexander Nish, mentioned elsewhere.
Our subject has two brothers and two sisters ;
Thomas T, of Missouri ; William, on the old
home place in that state ; Annie, wife of Thomas
Herring, a farmer and stock-raiser of Callaway
county, Missouri ; Sallie, wife of Benjamin Rice,
of the same county. Mr. and Mrs. Meloy have
three children living : George E, aged seven ;
Lulu, aged five; and Katie, aged four. Ruth,
their first child, born in November, 1895, died
February 26, 1896.
The fraternal affiliations of our subject are
with the I. O. O. F. Lodge, No. 113 and the A.
F. & A. M, both of Moro. He is a Republican
politically, and has frequently served as dele
gate to county conventions in Wasco and Sher
man counties, in both of which counties he has
been road supervisor. At present he is school
director. He and his estimable wife are both
members of the Methodist church.

GEORGE HENNAGIN, one of the success
ful Sherman county farmers, living six miles
southeast of Moro, was born May 19, 1875, in
Yolo county, California, the son of Henry and
Ruth Hennagin, the former a native of New
York; the latter of Canada. The mother died
when our subject was a small boy. The father
lives near his son in Sherman county.
Until the latter was five or six years old he
was reared in California, and then his family
removed to Crook county, Oregon. Here the
father worked out for three years, thence coming
to Sherman county. Our subject attended the
public schools of his neighborhood, and subse
quently worked for nine years for Milton Damon.
He then purchased the place on which he now
lives, one-quarter section, subsequently adding
another quarter. Mr. Hennagin owns a one-half
interest in a combined harvester in company with
John Chrlstensen.
October 25, 1897, at The Dalles, he was united
in marriage to Miss Daisy Fuller, born in Iowa
December 16, 1882. She is the daughter of Ben
jamin F. and Emma Fuller, the father a native
of Iowa, now living at Chenowith, Washington.
Our subject has two full brothers, three sisters,
two half-brothers, and one half-sister : Fred, in
Sherman countv : Albert, In Portland ; 'Daisy,
wife of John Christensen : Bessie, wife of John
Johnson ; Evie, wife of William Rudolph, mana-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

479

ger of a warehouse in Kent; Frank and Homer,
at home with their parents ; and Maggie, also
living at home. Mrs. Hennagin has two brothers
and six sisters : David, at Elgin, Oregon ; Alfred,
with his father at White Salmon; Delia, wife of
Charles Tubbs, of Chenowith, Washington ; Mat-
tie, wife of John Forbes, of Hood River ; Bertha,
wife of Abraham Mitchell, of Hood River ; Cora,
wife of Louis Isenberb ; Blanche, wife of Fred
erick Ka'utz, a sawmill man, of Hood River ;
Maude, single and living with her parents at
Chenowith, Washington.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Hennagin, Lotus, aged six, and Pearl, aged two.
Our subject, fraternally, is a member of the Ma
sons and the W. O. T. W. Politically, he is a
Republican.

GEORGE E. WALLIS, of the firm of Wallis
& Venable, proprietors of the "Little Brown Jug"
saloon at Rufus, Sherman county, is a Washing-
tonian by birth, having been born in Klickitat
county, June 2, 1882, the son of Rufus C. and
Mary (Bergin) Wallis, the former a native of
Tennessee ; the mother of Missouri, both of whom
are mentioned elsewhere in this work.
The parents of our subject came to Sherman
county when he was about five years of age.
Here he attended district school and assisted his
' father at home in Rufus. Practically he has re
sided here all his life, with the exception of a few
months in western Washington and Idaho. In
October, 1903, he engaged in his present business
enterprise, later selling a half interest to J. R.
Venable, mentioned elsewhere. He previously
conducted the Rufus Hotel a trifle over a year.
At Moro, in February, 1903- our subject was
united in marriage to Miss Minnie Blackburne,.
born at The Dalles. She is the daughter of Will-
Ham ancl Clara (Hill) Blackburne, the father a
native of Ireland ; the mother of England. They
now live at Grant, Sherman county. They were
married in England. The mother is a descendant
of a well-to-do family who afforded her every
opportunity for the acquirement of a superior edu
cation which she improved to the best advant
age. Her father was educated in the Scottish
high schools, and was graduated from the Uni
versity of Glasgow, ancl practiced law in Scot
land. ' The parents of our subject's wife came to
the United States, ancl, having ample means,
toured the country for a number of years. Fin
ally he located in San Francisco, where, for a
while, he conducted a hotel. In this unfortunate
enterprise he lost all his money, and subsequently
went to The Dalles. In 1874 he engaged in the
lumber business, ancl later was in the employment

of James Peters, elsewhere mentioned. He, also,
for some time, handled lumber at Cascade Locks,
Wasco county. A portion of ten years he was at
Grant on his homestead, where he made a special
ty of poultry raising. He was the first judge of
Sherman county, and for several years was jus
tice of the peace.
Our subject's maternal grandmother, Susanne
Bergin (Simpson), was born in Indianapolis,
Indiana. Her father, John, was a native of Vir
ginia; her mother, Sallie (Crabb), was, also, a
native of Virginia. Their fathers were in the
war of the Revolution, and Susanne Bergin has
a powder horn that was carried by one of them.
She married in Missouri, in 1844, John S. Ber
gin. They crossed the plains with ox teams in
1852, accompanied by three children. They lo
cated in the Willamette Valley, eight miles from
Salem. In December, 1859, they removed to
Klickitat county, Washington, and erected the
first house in Klickitat Valley ; it is still standing,
a log structure. They reared stock and later en
gaged in general farming. She now lives on the
same place. He died in December, 1900, on the
home place aged seventy-five years.
Mr. and Mrs. Wallis have one child, Lynn
R, born May 5, 1903. Mrs. Wallis has two broth
ers, George, living at Grant, and Albert E, with
his parents. Politically Mr. Wallis is a Demo
crat. He is a progressive and broad-minded
young man, patriotically interested in the welfare
of his home community and popular among a wide
circle of friends and acquaintances.

ALEXANDER NISH, one of the leading
farmers of Sherman county, resides one-half mile
east of Monkland. He was born in Scotland,
February 15, 1847, the son of William and Grace
(McKean) Nish, both natives of Scotland. The
family came to the United States in 1852, and lo
cated in New York, removing to McHenry coun
ty, Illinois, where the mother died in 1890. The
father passed from earth in 1898.
During the Civil war our subject enlisted in
Company I, Ninety-fifth Illinois Infantry, Cap
tain James Nish, brother of our subject's father.
The regiment was commanded by Colonel Hum
phrey. He saw two years and one month of act
ive service ; was in the Red River campaign, the
battle of Gunntown, Nashville, siege of Mobile,
and many skirmishes. At the close of the war he
went to Iowa where he purchased a farm. He
is a member of Sherman Post, of the G. A. R, of
W'asco. The name of our subject was, originally,
McNish or MacNish, an old Highland family,
but the uncle of our subject, who was a captain,

48o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

enlisted under the name of Nish, which name was
taken by Alexander and a brother, as their dis
charge from the army and our subject's natural
ization papers were made out in the name of
Nish. The father of Alexander took a deep in
terest in the war and was throughout a stanch
union man, although he never took out naturaliza
tion papers. He contributed one brother and two
sons to the war.
December 19, 1885, Alexander Nish was mar
ried, at Salem, Oregon, to Harriet Thompson,
born May 28, 1859. She is the daughter of
Charles W. Thompson, a native of Greene coun
ty, Illinois; his parents of Ohio. One of his
brothers died during the Civil war from a fever
contracted in the service. Charles W. could not
enlist on account of deafness. Her mother was
Delilah (Baxter) Thompson, a native of Penn
sylvania; her mother and father of New York,
descendants of an old American family. The par
ents removed to Iowa when she was about two
years of age, and when she was seventeen they
came to Oregon. For twelve years they resided
in the Willamette valley, thence coming to Sher
man county. Here the father secured land on
which the town of Monkland now stands. He
was a pioneer merchant and postmaster, and is
now living in Los Angeles county, California,
near Pasadena, a retired merchant. In 1883
Mrs. Nish came with her parents to Sherman
county. Our subject, Alexander Nish, purchased the
farm of his wife's father, in Willamette valley.
In December, 1895, she went back to Salem,
where she married our subject. There they re
mained until April, 1891, when they came to
Sherman county and subject filed on a homestead
adjoining her father's land, and subsequently ac
quired a section of government and railroad land.
Alexander Nish has three brothers and four sis
ters ; Nathan, and John, Iowa farmers ; David, in
the fire department of Elgin, Illinois ; Charlotte,
single; Jane, wife of Robert Johnson, of Lake
county, Illinois ; Mary, wife of William Mullis,
an Iowa farmer ; and May, widow of Dr. Charles
Cook, of Huntly, Illinois. Mrs. Nish has six
brothers and three sisters; Andrew C, of Port
land, who owns about one thousand two hundred
acres of land near Monkland ; James O, a farmer
near Grass Valley ; Nelson W, a farmer four and
one-half miles from Moro"; Ezra J, of Corvallis,
Oregon ; Owen, of Monkland ; Burton, a car
penter and photographer at Corvallis ; Emma,
wife of Joshua H. Elliott, Monkland postoffice;
Addie, wife of James Leslie, an Iowa farmer ;
Myra, widow of Milton Brown, of Monkland.
Two children have blessed the union of Mr. and
Mrs. Nish ; Charles, aged seventeen, and Delilah,

aged fourteen. The parents are both members
of the Presbyterian church, as are the children.
Mr. Nish is an elder and his estimable wife a
teacher in the Sunday school. The family is
highly esteemed in the community, and Mr. Nish
is a popular, energetic man of sound business
judgment, genial and courteous to all.

CORNELIUS J. BRIGHT, one of the most
successful and prominent attorneys of Eastern
Oregon, resides at Wasco, Sherman county. He
was born in Bath county, Virginia, September
27, 1862, the son of Thomas M. and Martha J.
(Anthony) Bright, both natives of Virginia. The
ancestors of the father were English and Ger
man; those of the mother English. Thomas M.
Bright was a farmer and carpenter, an influential
citizen serving as justice of the peace and con
stable at different times and financially successful
in life. He lives at Massillon, Cedar county,
Iowa, practically retired. The Bright family is
an old and distinguished one. Some of them
served in the war of the. Revolution. John Bright,
born at Greenbank, Lancashire, England, Novem
ber 16, 1811; died March 27, 1889. He was a
famous English liberal statesman and orator
and an author of world-wide repute. Richard
Bright was a distinguished medical practitioner
in England. In 1827 he published "Reports of
Medical Cases" in which he traced to its source
in the kidneys the morbid condition named for
him, "Bright's disease." Jesse D. Bright was a
Democratic United States senator from Indiana,
from 1845 until 1862. The father of our subject,
and an uncle served in the Civil war under Gen
eral Imbotan, of the confederate army.
The family removed to Ohio when our sub
ject was four years of age. Thence they went to
Iowa where they remained until 1883. He laid
the foundation of an excellent education in the
district and graded schools in Fontanelle, Iowa.
In 1883 Mr. Bright came to The Dalles where he
taught school one year. He was then matricu
lated in the Wasco Independent Academy, from
which he was graduated in 1886, with honors, and
and having earned sufficient money to carry
him through, with the strictest economy. Subse
quently he taught school two years in Wasco
county, Oregon. In the spring of 1888, he came
to Wasco, Sherman county, where he taught two
terms of school. In November, 1888, Mr. Bright
began publishing the JVasco Observer, the first
newspaper in what is now Sherman county. That
fall the question of county division became a vital
issue and our subject took an active and leading
part in tlie campaign. Of the new county he was

Cornelius J. Bright

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

481

appointed school superintendent and served with
ability until the July election of 1890.
Mr. Bright had commenced the study of law
immediately after graduation. In October, 1890,
he was admitted to the bar and established an
office at Wasco. The first marriage of Mr. Bright
occurred November 9, 1890, at Wasco, when he
was united to Jeanette Murchie, a native of Cali
fornia, the daughter of Andrew and Mary A.
Murchie. The father is dead ; the mother lives
in North Yakima, Washington. Mrs. Bright
died at Wasco, February 27, 1892, from con
sumption, after an illness of a year's duration.
March 14, 1896, at Wasco, Mr. Bright was
united in marriage to Jennie M. Larson, born at
Alcona, Michigan. She is the daughter of Charles
and Christina (Nelson) Larson, the father a na
tive of Norway ; the mother of Sweden. Charles
Larson and his wife at present live in Yamhill
county, Oregon.
Our subject has five brothers and one sister
living; Charles S, a farmer near Alexandria,
Nebraska; George W. ; Ira J, a teacher in Empo
ria, Kansas; Asa T, at Massillon, Iowa; William
T, of the same place, agent for the St. Paul &
Milwaukee Railway Company ; Clara B, wife of
Lewis C. Savage, a farmer and stock-raiser near
Little Falls, Minnesota. Five of his brothers
have passed away, John P, Harry, Harvey, Ar
thur N, and an infant unnamed. Mary E, an
other sister, is dead. Mrs. Bright has one sister,
Minnie, wife of Horace N. Aldrich, of Bridal
Veil, Oregon.
Mr. and Mrs. Bright have two children;
Lohren V. and Bernice. Fraternally he is a mem
ber of Aurora Lodge No. 54, K. of P, of which
he is past chancellor and has on several occasions
served as representative to the grand lodge ; W.
W, Wasco Camp, No. 350, of which he is past
consul commander; the Rathbone Sisters, Mrs.
Bright being a member of the same, and grand
chief in the grand lodge of Oregon ; past chief in
the local lodge Lillian Temple No. 17. Airs.
Bright is prominent in Methodist Episcopal
church work ; has been organist ever since com
ing to Wasco. Both are members of that church,
of which ne is recording steward, leader of the
choir and chorister in the Sunday school. He has
been city attorney and for the past three years
clerk of the school district. Politically he is a
prominent Prohibitionist; has been county chair
man for the last ten years ; delegate to county and
state conventions and was delegate from Oregon
to the last Prohibition national convention at In
dianapolis, Indiana. During several compaigns
Mr. Bright has been the Prohibition candidate
for congress, attorney general and supreme judge.
Mr. Bright is a man of pleasing personality,
ai

is a forceful and logical speaker, and an untiring
student. He is conscientious in his labors for
clients and is known as a man, to use the homely
but expressive phrase, "one can tie to." He main
tains an up-to-date and complete library, and
judging from his past achievements in his profes
sion, he has a bright and useful future before
him.

JOHN A. FOISTER. The subject of this
biographical sketch is an extensive stock-raiser,
successful farmer and proprietor of the Model
Saloon, in Rufus, Sherman county, Oregon, of
which state he is a native, having been born in
Linn county, November 17, 1867. His parents
were born, the father in Erance ; the mother in
Ohio. Josiah Foister, the father, came to the
United States while yet an infant, with his pa
rents. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri. The
mother, Mary (Ford) Foister, died when our
subject was three years of age. Her mother was
a native of Pennsylvania; her father of Ohio.
The father of the latter was an early pioneer of
Ohio and Illinois. At one period he owned an
extensive farm where now stands the city of Chi
cago. Our subject was reared by his maternal
grandmother until he was fifteen years old, at
which time she died in Polk county, Oregon. The
death of our subject's mother occurred in Scio,
Linn county. When sixteen years of age he be
gan railroad work and followed the same until
1894, when he came to Sherman county, locating
at Rufus and engaging in the saloon business.
In 1901 he purchased three-quarters of a section
of farming land which he rents. Annually he
winters about one hundred head of cattle. He
has two sisters living; Laura, wife of James
Leffler, Stayton postoffice, Linn county ; and
Arilla, wife of Reuben A. Titus, a farmer in Gil
liam count}-.
Politically our subject is a Republican, active
in the successive campaigns, and frequently dele
gate to the county conventions of his party. For
several years he has served as school director.
April 24, 1892, at Rufus, Mr. Foister was
married to Ida M. Wallis, the daughter of R. C.
and Mary Wallis, who are mentioned elsewhere
in this volume.
Mr. and Mrs. Foister have two children, Rob
ert P., aged ten years, and Maravine, a girl aged
six years.
Josian Foister, the father of our subject, was
for many years a prominent and influential citizen
of Linn and Marion counties. He was a builder
and contractor, and erected a number of fine build-

482

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ings and bridges. He participated in the Indian
wars of 1855 and 1856, and at present draws a
.pension as a non-commissioned officer. He lives
at Scio, Linn county, on his farm, four miles from
town. Our subject owns a fine house eligibly sit
uated, and is a popular man socially, and success
ful financially.

ALFRED DILLINGER, postmaster and
prominent business man of Monkland, Sherman
county, was born in Greene county, Iowa, May
21, 1857. His parents were William and Nancy
(Foster) Dillinger, both natives of Ohio. The
father died on the farm in Iowa, in 1896 ; the
mother in 1870. The paternal ancestors of Will
iam Dillinger were Dutch ; those of the mother
- Scotch. In Iowa our subject was reared and attended
the district schools and worked with his father
on the farm. At the age of eighteen years he
went to the state of Indiana where he worked for
farmers and rented land for three and one-half
years, when he returned to Iowa and conducted
his father's place four years. Thence he removed
to The Dalles where he found employment in
railroad shops and on the river for about three
years, and then took up a claim seven miles south
east of the present site of Monkland. This was
a quarter section. He had then small capital, but
he has since purchased more land and now owns
one thousand eight hundred acres in Sherman
county. The first six years he conducted a stock
ranch, and at present his land is all rented out.
In January, 1901, Mr. Dillinger entered into
partnership with P. W. McDonald, of Wasco,
and htans Thompson, a farmer, living three and
¦one-half mile east of Monkland. They purchased
the business of N. P. Hansen — a general mer-
. chandise store at Monkland — and in February,
1902, Mr. Dillinger was appointed postmaster.
May 1, 1878, at Battle Ground, Indiana, our
subject was united in marriage to Margaret Mil
ler, a native of Indiana, the daughter of Abra
ham and Mary (Smith) Miller. The father of
Mrs. Dillinger, a native of Ohio, died in Tippe
canoe county, Indiana, in 1873. The mother
passed away in Illinois, in 1881. Our subject has
four brothers and two sisters ; James W, an Iowa
farmer, who served in the Civil war ; William H,
of Greene county, Iowa; John W, residing at
The Dalles ; Daniel ; Eliza, wife of Norman
Orchard, of Marshall, Iowa ; and Rachel, wife of
William M. Morrison, living four miles south of
Monkland, a farmer. Mrs. Dillinger has one
brother and one sister ; William A, of Monkland;
and Alice, wife of John Lucas, near The Dalles,

a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Dillinger have one child,
Flora, wife of James R. Hunter, a farmer living
near Rutledge, Sherman county. Mr. Dillinger
is a member of the A. O. U. W. and his wife of
the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a Repub
lican and, although not active, has served as dele
gate to county conventions, and has been clerk
of his school district two terms. Mr. Dillinger
and his partners transact business under the name
of the Hay Canyon Commercial Company, and
carry a $10,000 stock of groceries, dry goods,
hardware and farming implements. He is a pop
ular man and influential citizen.

LEVI S. HINES, a large land owner and
successful farmer of Sherman county, resides in
the town of Wasco. He is a native Oregonian,
having been born in Benton county, October 6,
1874, the son of Shelton and Salina (Pyburn)
Hines, the father a native of Kentucky ; the
mother of Missouri. Shejton Hines died when
our subject was one year old. The mother now
lives eight miles east of Wasco, on her timber
culture claim. In 1852 the mother became one
of the early pioneers, crossing the plains with ox
teams with a party of friends, her father being
captain of the train. They were accompanied by
the father of our subject, then about eighteen
years of age. She was twelve. Oregon was at
that time a territory. The couple grew to man
hood and womanhood and were married in the
Willamette valley. His father did not make the
trip ; he was killed in the Civil war. Her father
died en route of the cholera. Salina Hines, our
subject's mother, remained a widow, and contin
ued to live on the home farm about seven years
following her husband's death. Then she, with
seven of her children, came to Sherman county.
Her oldest boy was twenty. The mother had
small capital when she came to Sherman countv,
in 1882. John Fulton was her nearest neighbor.
The boys cultivated the homestead after the old
est one had taken a claim adjoining, when he be
came of age. The oldest single girl took another
claim ; the oldest daughter having come a year
previous with her husband, John L. Burress, now
in Gilliam county.
Until he attained his majority our subject re
mained with his mother. He attended the district
schools in Sherman county, and was one year in
the public schools of Goldendale, Klickitat coun
ty, Washington. December 30, 1896, at Golden
dale, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary
D. Day, born near Scio, Linn county, Oregon,
December 2, 1877. She is the daughter of Jacob
and Henrietta (Richmond) Day, the father a na-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

483

Kive of Indiana; the mother of Illinois. At pres
ent her father and his wife reside two and one-
half miles from Goldendale, where he is a gard
ener. Her parents removed to Iowa while she
was a child and there she was reared.
Our subject has three brothers and five sisters
living; Alfred, a mechanic in Portland; Eli M, a
Sherman county farmer; William E, a Stock
man in Gilliam county ; Loretta, wife of John L.
Burress, who assisted in the government survey
of 1870, of a large portion of Wasco county, now
-residing near Condon, Gilliam county ; Nancy,
wife of Elias F. Truax, a farmer in Linn county ;
Ida, wife of William M- King, nine miles west of
Wasco; Mary E, wife of Edward McMillen, a
farmer near Wasco; and Katie, wife of Port
Mitchell, a farmer near North Yakima, Wash
ington. Mrs. Hines has two brothers and four
sisters ; John J, with his parents at Goldendale ;
Alonzo E, the same ; Ida, wife of Frank Fenton,
a farmer near Goldendale; Emma, wife of John
Chapman, of Wasco; Mabel and Cecil, at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Hines have three children, Or
ville E, born January 10, 1898; Howard C, born
September 29, 1900 ; and Llyod L, born Decem
ber 12, 1902. ' Mr. Hines is a member of Sher
man Lodge, No. 157, I .O. O. F, of Wasco. Po
litically he is a Republican. Mr. Hines owns a
section of excellent land six miles west of Wasco,
six town lots and two houses and barn in town.
He has, also, a one thousand two hundred acre
farm in Morrow county which property he rents.
All of these holdings he has acquired by his own
industry and business sagacity. He has twenty-
five head of horses, five of which are standard-
bred trotters. Altramont and Wilkes stock ; a
•one-year-old thoroughbred registered Altramont
mare, and one Hambletonian stallion. The rest
¦of his equine stock are Percheron and Clyde
draft horses.
In crossing the plains, our subject's father
came as the driver for the father of his
future wife. On the death of the lat-
ter's father, Shelton Hines, took charge
of the train in his place. He was a prom
inent farmer in the Willamette valley ; was indus
trious and prosperous. He had recently moved on
a new Homestead and lost nearly everything he
had in the world through a flood which occurred
just before his death, leaving his family with little
means. In county affairs he took an active ana
patriotic part. Our subject worked for Judge
Fulton when he was twelve years of age, and
from him received the first money he earned in
the county.
Since the above was written, Mr. Hines
has sold his Morrow county farm to Dan
iel Pattie, of Sherman county, the deal being

consummated January 31, 1905. Mr. Hines has
purchased an acre lot in St. Johns, Oregon, and
there he is erecting a fine, modern, ten-room resi
dence. On March 5, 1905, he purchased eighteen
hundred acres of land from Maley Brothers, of
Ajax, Gilliam county, Oregon, together with two
hundred and ninety head of cattle. The ranch is
a stock and farm place combined, and under Mr.
Hines' skillful management will return fine divi
dends.

JOSEPH F. BELSHEE, one of the leading
farmers and energetic business men of Sherman
county, resides three miles east of Monkland.
He was born April 16, 1856, in Hancock county,
Illinois, the son of Robert and Ellen (Smith)
Belshee, both natives of Virginia, as were their
parents. The parents of Robert Belshee were
David and Eleanor Belshee, their ancestors of
foreign birth, probably of Ireland. David lived
in Virginia until he was thirty-two years of age,
when he moved to Missouri, where he followed
farming as he had in Virginia. He came to
Oregon one year before his son. He, ninety-
years old June 1, 1905, is mentally bright, in
excellent health and makes his home with our
subject. The mother of our subject died in Han
cock county, Illinois, October 13, 1875.
Until 1878 our subject was reared in Illinois
where he attended the public schools and the
high school at Warsaw, at intervals working on
the farm with his father. The family came to
Oregon together and our subject took up land,
a quarter section, and purchased other land from
the railroad company. He had no capital at first
and rented land in the Willamette valley. He
and his wife are members of the Methodist Epis
copal church of which he is steward and trustee.
Politically he is a Prohibitionists.
October 26, 1875, in Hancock county, Illinois,
Mr. Belshee was united in marriage to Emma
Bledsoe, a native of that count}-, born January
T5' 1855. She is the daughter of Benjamin F.
ancl Millie (Breeden) Bledsoe, the former a
native of Indiana, the latter of Iowa. Benjamin
F. Bledsoe was an early Illinois pioneer and as
sisted in driving the Indians from the territory,
and, also, took an active part in the expulsion of
the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois. He was
the captain of the company, a farmer, dying
January 22. 1871, on his farm in Hancock
county. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Bel
shee was a pioneer Methodist Episcopal preacher
in Jackson county. The two brothers were min
isters in the Methodist ancl Baptist churches. One
of the brothers of the father of Mrs. Belshee was

484

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

a preacher; the other a captain in the confeder
ate army during the Civil war.
Our subject has one brother and one sister
living; Charles H, a farmer near Woodland,
California ; and Causby, wife of John B. Gilbert,
of Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs. Belshee, also, has one
brother and one sister: Richard O, an Arkan
sas farmer; and Clarrissa, wife of Washington
Golliher, a farmer in Hancock county, Illinois.
Mr. and Mrs. Belshee have the following named
children : Robert W, a farmer ; Wesley R,
living three miles south of our subject; Charles
R, a farmer; Howard B, Homer, a schoolboy,
living at home; Benjamin F, also at home; Rob
ert M, a grandchild, son of Robert W. and Jessie
(Thompson), died November io, 1901 ; Millie
E, single, living at home; Clarrissa E, Cassie
F, Jennie M, born in Sherman county, May 31,
1894, died June 4th, of the same year; Josie F,
born June 5, 1888, died July 8, 1889, and Boyd,
born February 22, 1897, died March 5th, of the
same year.

ALBERT S. PORTER, superintendent of
the Sandow Milling & Warehouse Company,
Wasco, Sherman county, was born in Livingstone
county, New York, February 19, 1855. He is a
twin brother of "Dell" Porter, a sketch of whom
appears in another portion of this work. His
parents were Derrick and Jane (Shephard) Por
ter, mentioned elsewhere.
Our subject was reared on his father's farm
in the county of his nativity, where he received
a good business education in the public schools
in his neighborhood. At the age of twenty-
eight he went to Buffalo, New York, where he
was in the employment of the Buffalo Lubricat
ing Oil Company four years, having charge of
the stills two years of this time. He was then
associated with the Barber Asphalt Paving Com
pany and three years subsequently with the Ball
Brothers Glass Works. It was in 1893 that he
came to Wasco where he has since resided. He
owns a pleasant home in the town, a story and a
half house surrounded by six acres of ground.
During the past seven years he has been associ
ated with the Sandow Flour Milling Company.
April 13, 1880, at Mount Morris, Living
stone county, New York, he was married to Miss
Jennie R. Brinkerhoff, a native of that county.
She is the daughter of Rev. J. G. and Maria
(Van Horn) Brinkerhoff, both natives of New
Jersey, the father a descendant of an old and
prominent Knickerbocker family. For many
years the father was a preacher in the Dutch Re
formed church. The mother was, also, a member
of a Knickerbocker family, and both families

were prominent in New York commercial and.
professional circles.
Mrs. Porter, the estimable wife of our sub
ject, has three sisters : Nettie, wife of Fayette
Frayer, a farmer in Iowa ; Mina, wife of Michael.
Clause, a broom manufacturer, near Schenec
tady, New York ; Ida, wife of Jacob Essler, fore
man of an extensive farm near Nunda, New
York. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have two children, girls,.
Grace, aged sixteen, and Alberta, aged twelve.
Both our subject and his wife are devout and
consistent members of the Methodist EpiscopaL
church, of which he is trustee and Sunday school
superintendent and his wife a teacher in the
same. Politically, he is a Prohibitionist and for
the past twelve, years has been a delegate to all.
the county conventions of that party. At every
election he has been a nominee for some office.
Mr. Porter is a good, clean-minded, liberal and
progressive citizen, popular with all and one
who always has a good word for his neighbors
and acquaintances.

ELWOOD THOMPSON, an enterprising,.
progressive farmer of Sherman county, Oregon,.
resides ten miles southeast of Moro. He was
born in Illinois, January 18, 1861, the son of Isaac
and Mary A. (Easley) Thompson, the father a
native of Ohio, the mother of Illinois. During
the entire Civil war Isaac Thompson, father of
our subject, served in an Illinois regiment.
While on the march near the close of the war he
was severely injured. At present he resides three
miles west of our subject. The parents of the
mother, Mary A. (Easley) Thompson, were na
tives of Ohio.
It was in Fulton county, Illinois, that our sub
ject was reared until he attained his majority.
In the public schools of his vicinity he obtained
a solid business education, and with his father
worked on the farm and in the butcher business in
Ipava, Fulton county. In 1882 he came to Ore
gon and at first located in the Willamette valley,
where he worked on a farm. In 1884 he came to.
Sherman county, having but limited capital, and
secured a quarter section of land, which he grad
ually but surely improved, at the same time work
ing for other farmers. At present Mr. Thomp
son owns six hundred and forty acres and rents
four hundred and eighty more.
At the residence of the bride's parents, at
Monkland, November 29, 1889, our subject was
united in marriage to Mary N. McDonald, a na
tive of Canada, born November 28, 1869. She is-
the daughter of Neil and Annie McDonald, both)

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

48;

natives of Canada, the father of Scotch ancestry.
The latter died about the year 1884. The brother
of Mrs. Thompson is mentioned elsewhere. Our
subject has four brothers ancl one sister; Jesse
B, with his parents in Sherman county; Richard,
at Hood River ; Vincent, in Malheur county, Ore
gon; Aaron, in Whitman county, Washington;
Bertha, wife of Neil McDonald, a farmer residing
near Monkland.
Fraternally our subject is affiliated with Moro
Lodge, No. 113, I. O. O. F, W. T. W, and the
A. O. U. W, of Moro. His political affiliations are
with the Republican party and he has frequently
been a delegate to county conventions and three
times delegate to state conventions. He is at
present central committeeman for his county and
precinct. In the way of pleasant surroundings he has a
fine six-acre orchard, bearing plums, cherries,
apricots ancl prunes, and commodious barns and
substantial dwelling. He raises stock, including
mules, for his own use. Throughout the com
munity in which he has cast his lot Mr. Thomp
son is very popular ancl numbers many warm
friends ancl acquaintances.

ALBERT M. WRIGHT, one of the prosper
ous farmers and solid business men of Sherman
county, resides five miles southeast of Monkland.
He was born at Zanesville, Muskingum county,
Ohio, March 26, i860, the son of John A. and
Eva (Vestal) Wright, both natives of Ohio. John
A. was born in Licking county ; his parents were
of Scotch ancestry, ancl his father served with
distinction as captain in the War of 181 2. The
mother, Mrs. John A. Wright, was born in Zanes
ville, Ohio ; her parents having been natives of
what is now West Virginia, and her father's par
ents of Pennsylvania. The parents of Mrs.
Wright are now living in Lane countv, Oregon.
In the excellent public schools of Zanesville
our subject received a sound business education.
His father was a contractor and builder and the
family removed to Harrison county, Ohio, in 1877.
Here John A. Wright engaged in the marble busi
ness and here our subject acquired the trade of
marble cutting. In 1884 they all came to Oregon,
locating in Sherman county. Here John A.
Wright ancl his son took up land, the father a
half, ancl the son a quarter of a section. They
had but limited capital, and worked out at times,
gradually improving their places. In the fall of
1903 the father and mother removed to Lane
county, twenty miles from Eugene. The father
rents his farm in Sherman county; our subject
now owns a half section of land, and rents four
hundred and fifty acres more.

Our subject was married at Cadiz, Ohio,
March 22, 1883, to Miss Jessie F. Adams, born
in that place, and the daughter of William and
Mary (Nichols) Adams, natives of Ohio. Her
father died at Cadiz, September 25, 1898. The
mother's father was a native of Maryland, ancl she
now lives at Cadiz, Ohio.
Albert M. Wright, our subject, has three sis
ters ; Fanny, wife of Rev. D. H. Leech, of Wood-
burn, Oregon, where he is established as a
preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church ; Lil
lian, wife of James H. Fraser, of North Yakima,
Washington, in the implement and harness busi
ness ; and Mamie, wife of John V. O'Leary, a
sheep-raiser in the Willamette valley. Mrs.
Wright has two brothers and four sisters living ;
Ernest and George, at Cadiz, Ohio; Catherine,
wife of Albert McConnell, also of Cadiz ; Annie,
wife of W. D. Ritchie, of the same city ; Carrie,
single, residing at Cadiz ; Mrs. Martha Cope, of
Mansfield, Illinois ; and Frank, deceased.
Two children have blessed the union of Mr.
ancl Mrs. Wright, Ethel M. and Eva V, and
they have one adopted son, Raymond A. Havnar,
the son of Mrs. Wright's sister, Mrs. Rettie Hav
nar, who died at Dennison, Ohio, October 11,
1895. Mr. Wright is a member of the A. O. U.
W, of Moro; politically, he is a Prohibitionist.
In 1 90 1 he was elected county commissioner on
the Prohibition ticket, ancl several times he has
been selected as delegate to Prohibition conven
tions. For a number of years he has been school
director. Both he and his wife are devout and
consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal
church, ancl he is superintendent of the Sunday
school.

WILLIAM F. JACKSON. The subject of
the following sketch is a prosperous and success
ful farmer in Sherman county, residing one and
one-half miles south of Moro. He was born in
Tennessee, April 22, 1868. He is the son of Cap
tain Francis M. Jackson, of Hood River, also a
native of Tennessee, his father being a Kentuck-
ian, and a member of the old and distinguished
Jackson family.
Our subject came to the state of Oregon with
his father, and now owns a quarter section of
land adjoining his father's place near Hood River.
In the fall of 1897 William F. Jackson came to
Sherman county ancl at first rented wheat land
from the Eastern Oregon Land Company. He
now owns a quarter section, and his wife eighty
acres, and he still rents five other quarters.
December 25, 1901, he was married to Carrie
Kaseberg, a native of Illinois. Her father, Theo
dore Kaseberg, was born in Germany, and now

486

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

lives three miles south of Grass Valley. Mrs.
Jackson has two brothers ; Robert W, seven miles
southwest of Grass Valley; and George, aged
seventeen years. Mr. Jackson is a member of the
W. W, of Moro. Mr. Jackson is a Democrat,
and active in the interests of the several cam
paigns of his party. He was a delegate to the
last Democratic state convention. In his home
community, thoughout the county and wherever
he is known, Mr. Jackson is quite popular and
highly esteemed for his many social qualities and.
good business ability.

ROBERT W. PINKERTON, one of the
leading agriculturists and prominent land-holders
of Sherman county, resides in a handsome and
eligibly located home three and one-half miles
north of Moro. He is a native of the Hawkeye
State, having been born in Page county, Iowa,
April 25. 1858. His parents are Samuel ancl Mar
garet (Smith) Pinkerton, natives of Ireland, both
of County Antrim, where the father was a farmer.
At present they live in Page county, Iowa, with a
daughter, Clarinda. Samuel Pinkerton came to
the United States in the 40's, settling in the state
of New York, near the Vermont line. Later the
family moved to Wisconsin where he bought a
farm, going thence to Iowa about 1856 or 1857,
where he purchased more land.
On this farm our subject was reared, and
from which he attended the public schools in his
vicinity, remaining there until he had attained
his majority. He then worked a portion of the
old home place until he came to Sherman county
in March, 1886. For three years he rented land,
and then filed on a claim near Kent, which he later
abandoned. In June, 1892. he purchased a quar
ter section — a timber-culture — and now owns a
half section. He has built a story and a half
house on the timber culture claim and this is sur
rounded with a fine small orchard and handsome
shade trees.
Mr. Pinkerton was married in Page countv,
Iowa, to Carrie J. Bennett, born in that state.
Her parents were James and Sarah (Daugherty)
Bennett, the father a native of Pennsylvania, and
the mother of Ohio, and both deceased.
Our subject has two brothers ancl three sis
ters living; Samuel J, at Kent, King county,
Washington; William A., a Presbyterian minis
ter of Sumner, Beaver county, Iowa ; Martha,
wife of William J. Bayles, a farmer in Page
county, Iowa ; Margaret J, wife of James Mc-
Keown, of Page county ; Rachel, wife of Alex
ander Duncan, of the same countv. Mrs. Pink
erton has one sister and three brothers ; Emma,

widow of Thomas Young, of Taylor county,.
Iowa ; Ellsworth, a farmer in Oklahoma territory ;.
William, in Colorado; and James, of Clarinda,
Page county, Iowa.
Four children have blessed the union of Mr.
and Mrs. Pinkerton; Wilma, wife of Charles
Poole, a farmer of Morrow county, Oregon ;
Emma, aged nineteen ; Margaret, aged fifteen :
and Harry, a boy of nine. Mr. Pinkerton and his-
wife are members of the Reformed Presbyterian
church. During the past two years the family
have made their home in Seattle in winters, where-
Mr. Pinkerton owns a residence at the corner of
Federal and Harrison avenues. During a por
tion of the past ten years Mr. Pinkerton has culti
vated about eight hundred acres in Sherman.
county, which he rents. In 1902 he purchased.
one thousand six hundred acres in Morrow
county, Oregon, one mile from the town of Doug
las. This place is conducted by his son-in-law,
Charles Poole, with whom he is a partner. So
cially and financially Mr. Pinkerton has scored a
pronounced success and he and his estimable wife-
are highly esteemed in the community in which
they reside.

JACOB B. WHEAT, a well-known pioneer
of Sherman county and a veteran of the Civil
war, is at present a farmer residing three miles
east of Moro. He was born in Jefferson county,
Indiana, May 1, 1836, the son of Nathaniel and'
Martha (McCloud'i Wheat, the former a native
of Virginia ; the latter of North Carolina, her
ancestry being Scottish. The parents of Na
thaniel Wheat were Virginians, but their ances
tors came from Holland. Nathaniel served with
distinction in the War of 1812 ; his father was in
the Revolutionary War. Nathaniel was a mem
ber of Colonel Johnson's Kentucky Mounted
Riflemen, and was with Johnson at the time the
great Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed. Fol
lowing the AYar of 1812 Nathaniel removed to-
Indiana. Jacob B. Wheat, our subject, lived in In
diana until he was thirteen years of age, when his-
parents removed to Missouri. They were farmers,
the father being quite a prominent man in Law
rence county. He was an old line Whig, a union
man during the Civil war, and, although often-
urged to accept office refrained from doing so.
All through the war he remained a stanch Repub
lican. He died in 1867. The mother had passed'
away in 1863.
In May, 1861, our subject enlisted in Captain-
Burrows' home guard company, Colonel Martin's
regiment. In October, 1862, he enlisted in Com
pany K, Captain Thomas Burgess, Colonel Johnr

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

487-

Allen. Fie was in the Price raid campaign, and
in a number of bushwhacker fights, until the close
of the war, his field of action having been con
fined to Missouri and Arkansas. After the war
he worked at various employments, farming, car
pentry and wagon making, continuing the same
for a period of about thirteen years. In 1880 he
came to Sherman county and in the spring of
1 88 1 located at his present home, but with limited
capital. He took up a half section of land, which
he now rents, but resides there with his wife.
In September, 1855, in Lawrence county, Alis
souri, Air. Wheat was married to Charlotte T.
Neece, a native of Tennessee. She is the daugh
ter of Ellis and Annie (Reese) Neece, both natives
of Tennessee, as were their parents. The ances
tors of the father were Virginians, of Norman
extraction ; those of the mother of Scotch lineage.
Our subject has one sister living, Rachel,
widow of Leroy Ayers, of Arkansas. Mrs.
Wheat has two brothers and six sisters living ;
Robert, of Canyon City, Oregon ; William, of
Colorado, both in the stock business ; Sophie,
widow of Daniel Jones, of Lawrence county, Mis
souri; Huldah, wife of William C. Elsey; Alcy,
wife of Levi G. Hillhouse, both of Lawrence
county, Missouri ; and Elizabeth, wife of John
Stuart, a farmer in Christian county, Alissouri ;
America, wife of T. C. Elsey ; Sarah, wife of
James Askins ; besides two sisters ancl three
brothers deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wheat have
four children ; Nathaniel P, a farmer living near
Oakland, Oregon ; Edwin B, an optician and
jeweler at Boise, Idaho ; Don C, a farmer living
two miles from Moro ; and Henrietta M, wife
of William H. Rose, a farmer near Roseburg,
Oregon. Both Air. Wheat and his estimable wife are
members of the Baptist church, and have been
since 1855. He is a Republican, politically, and
has frequently been delegate to county conven
tions since the organization of Sherman county.
He was precinct committeeman when the county
was cut off from other territory, and was chair
man of the first Republican county convention
held in the new political division. He has never
sought office, but has frequently served as school
director, ancl in Missouri as director ancl clerk.
A man of strict integrity ancl sound business
judgment, popular in social ancl business circles,
he is one highly esteemed by all who know him.

ELVIN E. BARNUAI, a member of the firm
of Barnum Brothers, resides six miles southeast
of Aloro, Sherman county, Oregon. He is a true
Oregonian, having been born on the "old Price

place," in Sherman county, August 21, 1874. His
parents were Plenry and Elmira M. (Massiker)
Barnum, mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Our subject attended the public schools in the
vicinity of his birthplace and secured a good, busi
ness education. November 28, 1897, at the resi
dence of the bride's parents, near Wasco, he was
united in marriage to Alary E. Medler, born near
Walla Walla, Washington, February 8, 1876.
Her father was Bruno F. and her mother Jane
Aledler, the father being a native of Germany ;
her mother of Pennsylvania. Bruno F. Medler is
an extensive farmer near Wasco.
Air. Barnum, politically, is a Republican, but
is not at all active in the various campaigns of
his party. He is a man of sound business prin
ciples, wide-awake, energetic and industrious.

JOHN C. KASEBERG, a retired farmer
living at 318 E. Rose street, Walla Walla, was
property in Sherman county, Oregon, where he
born in Germany, on June 13, 1832. He owns
labored for years and is now spending the golden
years of his life enjoying the competence that
his industry has provided, and has chosen Walla
Walla as the home place. His parents, John and
Cristina (Rumpf) Kaseberg, were natives Of
Hessen, Germany, and came from old and sub
stantial German families. The father was a me
chanic. Our subject received his education in
his native land and also thoroughly learned the
wagonmaker's trade. In 1853, he came to the
United States and settled in St. Louis. Although
he had no relatives there and could not speak the
English language, nevertheless he secured work
at his trade ancl later visited various places. He
was back in St. Louis at the time of the outbreak
of the Civil War and enlisted in Company K,
Fifth Missouri Infantry for three months and
served five months and ten days. Upon his hon
orable discharge, he again went to work at his
trade, and in 1864 we find him operating a shop
for himself. For a decade he continued this then
sold out and moved to southern Missouri, where
he remained two years. He owned a shop in
Salem, Alissouri, and continued in business until
1882, when he came west to Oregon. He spent
a few weeks in Walla Walla visiting his two
brothers, then took up land in what is now Sher
man county. His place lies about seven mile's
from the present town of Wasco, and consists of
about nine hundred and sixty acres. He con
ducted the farm until 1901 and then, owing to
failing health, gave up active work and came to
Walla Walla. His land is handled by his sons
and is a valuable property.

488

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In 1863, Mr. Kaseberg married Henrietta
(Sommerkamp), a native of Hanover, Germany.
Mr. Kaseberg has two brothers, Henry, at 318
South Second street, Walla Walla, and William,
who died in this city. To Mr. and Airs. Kaseberg
eight children have been born, Henry, in Walla
Walla ; John and Ed in Sherman county ; Albert,
at home ; William, who died in April, 1904 ; Au
gusta, wife of W. Copeland, in Walla Walla;
Lizzie, wife of W. Bennet, a retired farmer in
Walla Walla; and Amelia, at home. Air. Kase
berg is a member of the A. O. U. W, and in polit
ical matters is a Republican, although not espe
cially active at this time. Personally, he is a
genial, kind man and one of those substantial
citizens who have accomplished very much in gen
eral upbuilding for the country where he has
wrought. He has the esteem and good will of
all and has hosts of friends.

JOHN B. HOLMAN, one of the extensive
and substantial farmers of Sherman county, re
sides five miles southeast of Moro. He was born
in Sweden, October 25, 1856, the son of Gabriel
and Johanna (Barge) Holman, natives of Swe
den, where the mother now lives, and where the
father died in 1901 aged seventy-four years. Ga
briel Holman was a woolen weaver and his father
was a seafaring man trading out of Halmstad,
where our subject was educated in the public
schools. In 1871 he came to the United States,
remaining in New York city two years, where he
found employment in a car-spring factory.
Thence he went to Virginia City, Nevada, where
he worked at various employments one year, min
ing, etc. Then he went to Plumas county, Cali
fornia, where for the succeeding six months he
followed mining. Having spent a few months in
San Francisco he returned to Virginia City, but
six months afterward he was back in California
conducting a chicken and turkey ranch in Butte
county. Here he remained two years, and in 1882
came to Sherman county, Oregon, arriving with
no capital. Despite this handicap he took up a
half section of land and industriously began im
proving the same. His two brothers, also, secured
claims adjoining him, and while they continued
to work out for other farmers our subject devoted
his entire attention to improvement of the claims.
Mr. Holman now owns five hundred ancl seventy
acres- and rents eight hundred and eighty acres
more, mostly land belonging to his brothers. He
owns a threshing outfit in partnership with the
Barnum Brothers.
At the residence of the bride's parents, in
Sherman county, December 25, 1886, Mr. Holman

was united in marriage to Lizzie Alaxwell, born
in Arkansas, October 21, 1868. Her father, Da
vid Maxwell, a native of Alabama, now lives in
Washington county, Oregon. Our subscriber has
three brothers ; Martin, of Portland, who owns
a place adjoining him; Charles, a merchant in
Sweden ; and Axel, also of Sweden, where he is
a manufacturer and merchant.
To Mr. and Mrs. Holman three children have
been born ; Nellie, aged sixteen ; Martha, aged
fourteen ; ancl Lillian, aged three years.
Our subject, fraternally, is a member of the
A. O. U. W, of Moro. Politically, he is inde
pendent. In the community in which he resides
Mr. Holman is highly esteemed and popular
among a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

EDWARD E. KASEBERG, one of the
bright and popular young farmers of Sherman
county, resides on his father's place, which he
rents, five miles west and two miles south of
Wasco.- He was born in Summersville, Texas
county, Missouri, July 18, 1879, the son of John
C. and Henrietta (Sommerkamp) Kaseberg, both
natives of Germany. During the Civil war John
C. Kaseberg, the father, was employed by the
government as a wagon-maker. He had learned
the trade in Germany, coming to the United
States in 1853. At present he lives in Walla
Walla, Washington. The parents of our subject
were married in St. Louis, Missouri, and mi
grated to Walla Walla when our subject was two
years of age. In the spring of 1883 they came to
Sherman county, the father having preceded them
the year previous. He located a homestead and
here they continued to live until 1902, when the
parents returned to Walla Walla, having rented
the farm to our subject.
February 16, 1902, at Wasco, Sherman county,
the latter was married to Evelyn Morrow, born in
Illinois August 26, 1879, tne daughter of John
and Alary (Shoup) Morrow. For fifteen years
her father was a resident and landholder in Sher
man county. He was a veteran of the Civil War,
dying December 18, 1903. The mother still lives
at Wasco. Our subject has three brothers and three sis
ters living; John R, eight miles from the town
of Wasco ; Henry J, a farmer near Walla Walla ;
Albert C, aged sixteen, with his mother in Walla
Walla; Augusta, wife of Wallace R. Copeland,
of Walla Walla ; Lizzie, wife of William C. Ben
nett, of the same place ; and Amelia, single, and
living with her mother at Walla Walla. Mr. and
Airs. Kaseberg have one child, Lawrence E,
born April 3, 1903. He is, politically, a Republi-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

489

can, although by no means an active partisan.
In the community in which he resides he is quite
popular and he and his estimable wife are highly
esteemed in a wide circle of friends and acquaint
ances. In addition to handling the old home place,
ATr. Kaseberg is a member of the firm of Web
ber & Company, who operate a general merchan
dise store in Wasco. The firm consists of E. A.
E. Webber, H. P. Disher and E. E. Kaseberg.

C. MORTIMER ANDREWS, a successful
-and progressive Sherman county farmer, resid
ing two miles west of Wasco, is a native of the
Wolverine State, having been born at Kalamazoo,
Michigan, May 23, 1852. His parents were Sim
eon J. and Rachel A. (Wigley) Andrews, both
natives of New York. The father was a descend
ant of an old and distinguished American family.
The father of the mother of our subject was born
in Connecticut; her mother in New York, of an
old colonial family, some of the members of which
were prominent in the War of the Revolution.
Our subject was reared in Kalamazoo county,
Michigan, where he remained with his parents,
two miles from Kalamazoo, until he was nine
years of age. The family then moved to Wiscon
sin, remaining in that state until 1862, going
thence to Iowa. In these three states our subject
gained a good business education in the district
schools until he was nineteen years old. In 1874 he
began the world for himself, going to Nevada.
There he worked in the mines two years, at Vir
ginia City and Gold Hill. He then went to Cali
fornia and engaged in farm work for several
years. Coming to Oregon in 1882 he located
land and was back ancl forth for two years.
In 1884 he brought his family to Sherman
county where he had sixty acres of land
broken, together with other improvements. He
sowed his first wheat crop in 1885. At present he
owns three hundred and five acres lying opposite
his brother's place.
In 1876, at Dixon, California, he was married
to Hattie King, a native of the Golden State.
Her father, Simeon J. King, was a native of New
York, a descendant of an old American family.
Her mother, Rachel A. (Wibberly) King, was
also born in New York; her parents in England.
Airs. Andrews has one brother living; William,
residing eight miles west of Wasco. Susan, a
sister, is dead. Air. ancl Airs. Andrews have two
children, Claud K, at The Dalles, and Guy C,
at home. Our subject has a brother, Ernest A.
Andrews, a farmer, whose property adjoins that
•of our subject. He was born in Blackhawk

county, Iowa, July 20, 1868. He has always
been with his parents, with the exception of four
years on the Colorado Southern Railroad, as a
brakeman. He is single and lives with his mother.
The father of our subject was, in early days,
a Democrat. Shortly after the formation of the
Republican party he joined that political element.
He was sheriff of Otsego county, New York, two
terms. The Andrews family were influential and
well-to-do farmers in Connecticut and other por
tions of New England. C. Mortimer Andrews,
our subject, is a Republican. He is a member of
Aurora Lodge No. 54, K. of P, of which he is
past C. C.

ARTIMUS H. BARNUM, one pf the lead
ing farmers of Sherman county, resides four miles
south of Moro, a member of the firm of Barnum
Brothers. He was born on what Is known as the
"old Love place," eight miles north of Moro, June
2, 1878. His parents were Henry and Elmira
M. (Massiker) Barnum, whose lives and ances
try are detailed in the biographical sketch de
voted to Ladru Barnum, our subject's partner in
business. Our subject attended the public schools of
AToro, and, also, pursued a course in the Port
land Business College from which he was grad
uated in February, 1900. Since then he has con
tinued in company with his brother as described
in the sketch devoted to the latter.
February 3, 1903, at Moro, county seat of
Sherman county, Mr. Barnum was united in mar
riage to Maggie Al. Farra, born February 3. 1884.
Her father was a native of Alissouri, dying in
Alay, 1901, in Alberta county. He came to Cali
fornia, and at first worked in the mines. Thence
he migrated to the Willamette valley, Oregon,
where he was married to Elizabeth A. Porter, a
native of Iowa, who crossed the plains with her
parents in the 6o's. Mrs. Farra married again
and is now the wife of John W. Dunn, of Sher
man county.
Mrs. Barnum, the wife of our subject, has
three brothers and three sisters ; John, aged thir
teen, living with our subject; Samuel P, with his
mother and step-father in Sherman county ; Har-
ley T, at home with his mother ; Maud, wife of
M. Phillips, a farmer living in Gilliam county ;
Alva, wife of George V. Stanton, a lumber dealer
doing business in Grass Valley and mentioned
elsewhere ; and Frankie, wife of Ray Dunn, of
Gilliam county.
Mr. Barnum is a member of Aloro Lodge, No.
1 13, 1. O. O. F, and of the Rebekahs. Politically,
he is a Republican, but not by any means a radical

49°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

partisan. Air. and Mrs. Barnum have one boy,
Henry, born April 14, 1904. Mr. Barnum is a
popular, energetic and industrious business man
and a citizen of broad and progressive views. In
a wide circle of acquaintances he numbers a host
of warm personal friends.

JOHN AT HULERY, a retired Sherman
county farmer, now living with his son, resides
six miles northwest of Wasco. He was born in
Darke county, Ohio, October 17, 1827. His
father, Michael Hulery, was a native of the Key
stone State, a member of an old Pennsylvania
Dutch family. Alichael Hulery was a millwright.
He moved to Indiana when our subject was about
one year old, and purchased a farm eleven miles
from the old Tippecanoe battle ground, on the
Tippecanoe river. Here our subject was reared
on the farm with his parents and in the town of
Delphi, the county seat of Carroll county. When
nine years of age he began learning the trade of a
carpenter, with his father. At this period he was
so small that he was compelled to stand on a plat
form to reach the bench. During three months
of each winter he attended district schools, in log
buildings. At the age of sixteen he had finished
his apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, and
about this time his father died. John M. then
took full charge of the shop. The father had en
joyed a good business, having from fifteen to
twenty-five men at work at carpentry and coop
erage. At the age of twenty-two our subject began
the cooper business on his own account, and was
quite prosperous, employing on an average from
ten to twenty men, and sometimes forty or fifty.
In this enterprise he continued Until 1853. He
then came to Oregon with his wife and children.
They enjoyed a fine trip with the exception of
slight Indian troubles. They located a donation
claim six miles from Eugene, but abandoned' it the
following year. In the fall of 1855 he went to
Portland and once more engaged in the cooper
business. He manufactured the first whiskey bar
rel ever made in Oregon. During three years he
transacted a lucrative business and then he dis
posed of his interests and engaged in a dray and
trucking enterprise, buying and selling horses,
for ten or twelve years. Following this he was at
McMinneville, Yamhill county, Oregon, for
twelve years engaged in the saloon business. In
1886 he came to Sherman county and has since
lived with his son. At times he had acquired
considerable money, which he lost' through inju
dicious investments.
June 17, 1848, Mr. Hulery was married to

Martha Davidson, born in Carroll county, In
diana. For several years she was a great sufferer
from disease, and died August 17, 1873. She
was the daughter of John and Mary Davidson.
Her father came to Oregon the same time that
our subject did, and settled in the Willamette -val
ley, where he died. He was a farmer located on
a donation claim. The parents of Mary Davidson
were Indiana farmers, and quite prominent in
church work.
For many years our subject was a member of
the I. O. O. F, of which he is past noble grand.
He was a member of Samaritan Lodge, whicl.
he and four or five brothers who had cards, as
sisted in building up when it was nearly extinct.
When only twenty-one years of age he joined the
order in Indiana, and was ever an enthusiastic
member, having passed through all the chairs.
For the past six months he has been confined to-
his bed through ill health. At the age of seventy-
eight years our subject can look back upon a
long, eventful and useful life. He has ever been
a good husband and kind and indulgent father, a
man highly respected in all communities in which
he has cast his lot, and esteemed by all with whom
he has been thrown into intercourse.
Since the above was written, Mr. Hulery has
gone to his long rest. The death occurred at the
home of Mrs. E. J. Bray, in Oakland, California,.
on October 23, 1904.

GEORGE G. DeMOSS, an eminent musi
cian of national reputation, formerly a member of
the "Lyric Bards of America" .and later of the
"DeMoss Lyric Bards," was born at Cove, Union
county, Oregon, May 28, 1866. His parents were
James M. and Elizabeth A. (Bonebrake) De-
Moss. His father, James M, was a missionary
pioneer of Oregon, coming here in 1862, accompa
nied by his wife, the mother of our subj ect.
July 10, 1899, our subject was united in mar- '
riage to Aurelia Davis, a native of Iowa, born-
April 15, 1879. The nuptial rites were solemn
ized at Omaha, Nebraska. Her parents were
Charles B. and Elizabeth (DeMoss) Davis, .the
father a native of Virginia and the mother of In
diana. The father was a descendant of the old
southern Davis family, and he was a ' second
cousin of Jefferson Davis. At one period he was
a preacher in the United Brethren denomination,
and later in the Presbyterian. He died at Salem,
Oregon, November 30, 1902. The mother resides
at DeMoss Springs. To Mr. and Mrs. George
G. DeMoss has been born one child, an unnamed
infant at the present writing.
The townsite of De Moss Springs was laid!

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

491

out by James M, Henry S. and George G. De
Moss, as a prohibition town, in 1900. The family
represented Oregon at the Chicago Columbian
Exposition's Congress of Musicians. The family
composed a musical work of great merit, "The
Columbian Souvenir Songs," devoted to each
state. The sister of our subject, Lizzie DeMoss
(Davis), began singing with the company at the
age of four years, and up to the present time has
traveled every season. She is an accomplished
graduate of the Royal Academy, of London, Eng
land, in violin and voice, and of the Cincinnati
and Chicago Colleges of Music. Her elementary
instruction was received at the hands of her
father, James M. DeMoss.
Our subject, having been well grounded in
music, began teaching at the precocious age of
twelve years, composed ancl wrote music at the
age of thirteen and at fourteen was a professor
at a normal musical institute, where he taught
thorough bass and harmony. This was at Des
Moines, Iowa. At the age of sixteen he occupied
a chair of music at the Western College, and was
then with the "Lyric Bards of America" ancl the
"DeMoss Lyric Bards" for thirty-two years con
tinuously. Our subject and his estimable wife
have one child, Evelyn, born August 21, 1902.
The DeMoss Family was employed by the
directors of the World's Fair to give daily enter
tainments in Horticultural Hall, during each
afternoon, for which they composed songs, words
and music on special occasions. From the fair
officials they received forty certificates of merit,
and1 many of their songs have obtained world
wide popularity. During the six months of this
grand exposition the DeMoss family sang to sev
eral millions of people.

FRANK L. HULERY, a landholder of Sher
man county, and proprietor of the Phallmont
Livery Stable, Wasco, was born in Portland, Ore
gon, October 23, 1861. His father, John M.
Hulery, a native of Ohio, came to Oregon so
early as 1853. He is a cooper by trade and lives
with our subject. The mother, Martha (David
son) Hulery, died when our subject was about
twelve years of age, at Dayton, Yamhill county,
Oregon. The family located on a donation claim near
Harrisburg, Linn county, Oregon, and later
moved to Portland. Here the father worked at
the cooper trade and, also, conducted a livery
stable. Frank L, our subject, was reared in Portland
until ten years of age. Thence he accompanied
the family to Dayton, where he continued his

education in the public schools which had been
commenced in Portland. After his mother's
death he lived with Captain W. S. Powell, an old
soldier and Indian fighter, two years. He then
began the world on his own account, and found
employment in a fishery near Astoria. Thence
he went to Klickitat county, Washington, where-
he was employed by John Graham for whom he
rode the range in the stock business for five or
six years. In 1883 our subject went to Morrow
county and engaged in sheep and horse raising
with a brother. In this he continued two years,
with poor success, and then came to Sherman
county and began raising horses near Biggs, on
shares with his father-in-law, John Graham. He
had used his homestead rights in Morrow county
and disposed of his half section of land when he-
left that vicinity. Two years after his arrival
in Sherman county he moved to his present home,
six miles northwest of Wasco, and about two-
miles from Rufus. He now rents a place of four
hundred acres. He is, also, engaged in the livery
business in Wasco; the family live on the farm..
At Goldendale, Washington, July 6, 1882, Mr.
Hulery was united in marriage to Sarah A. Gra
ham, born near Hillsboro, Washington county,
Oregon. She is the daughter of John and Ma
tilda (White) Graham. Our subject has four-
brothers and two sisters ; John, a painter in Eu
gene, Oregon ; George, a stockman near Wallace,
Idaho; Edward, of Ontario, Malheur county;
Walter, of Tuscarora, Nevada ; Ida, single, liv
ing in Portland ; and Josephine, wife of Mr. Bray,
a commercial traveler residing at North Forks,
North Dakota. Mrs. Hulery has the following-
named brothers and sisters : Albert R, a specula
tor and trader of North Yakima, Washington ;
Carrie, wife of Luther Fletcher, of Yamhill coun
ty ; and Louisa, single, and residing at The Dalles
with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hulery have-
four children, Pearl W, Thomas F, Frank W,
and Minnie L. Our subject is a member of Sher
man Lodge No. 157, I. O. O. F, and Modoc En
campment, Grass Valley; and the A. O. U.-W,
of Wasco. Politically, he is a Republican and has
frequently served as delegate to county conven
tions. He is a school director and for many
years has been director and clerk of the school
district No. 6, Sherman county.

HENRY S. DeMOSS, a well known citizen
of DeA'Ioss Springs, Sherman county, was born
in Iowa, February 4, i860, the son of James M.
and Elizabeth A. (Bonebrake) DeAIoss, sketches
of whom appear in another portion of this work.
To Oregon he came in his infancy, and it may be-

.492

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

truthfully said that he was reared in eastern Ore
gon and Washington. He received an excellent
education, and for one year was a student in the
Des Moines, Iowa, high school. While still of
tender years he commenced the study of music,
his father being his instructor, and subsequently
he was with G. Lang, of Boston, who was a guest
of his parents, in Union county, Oregon. He
then continued this musical studies under Virgil
C. Taylor of Des Moines, and was matriculated
in the Chicago College of Music, under Prof. H.
S. Perkins. He also took an advanced course at
the College of Music, Cincinnati, Ohio. In addi
tion to this he received a thorough course of mu
sical instruction at the Royal Academy, of Lon
don. His brother, George, ancl sisters, Lizzie
and Minnie V, were there at the same time, ancl
all graduated with high honors. . Our subject
was graduated in musical composition and voice
culture. The family traveled together until 1893
when the subscriber's father and his second wife
- commenced conducting entertainments and Henry
DeMoss was at the head of a company known
as "DeAIoss Lyric Bards." This organization
has proved wonderfully successful since the close
of the World's Fair at Chicago, ancl has acquired
a well deserved reputation throughout the coun
try. Our subject owns several hundred acres of
land individually, and more in partnership with
his brother, George. They are the proprietors
of the townsite of DeAIoss Springs.
July 24, 1901, at DeAIoss Springs, our sub
ject was united in marriage to Julia R. Hall, a
native of Ohio, born in Bellevue, October 24,
1882. She is the daughter of John R. and Alary
E. (Livermore) Hall, natives of Massachusetts.
The father was born at Pittsfield, and during the
past three years has been a retired Methodist
Episcopal preacher. At one period he was ad
vance agent for the "DeMoss Lyric Bards," but
was disabled in a railway accident. The mother
is a member of the old Livermore family, one of
whom came to America in the Mayflower in
1620. The following is an extract from the preface
to "The Columbian Souvenir Songs:"
"For twenty-one years prior to the World's
Columbian Exposition, of which this folio con
tains illustrations, the authors of this work were
known to the American public as concertists.
Having traveled from the Pacific to the Atlantic
coasts, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, scarcely
a city, shore or mountain pass, of this vast nation
hut has resounded to the strains of the voices
and instruments of the DeMoss Family Lyric
Bards, of Oregon, as they have sung in praise of
-God and country."

HARLEIGH GLASS, a prosperous Sherman
county farmer and one of the rising young citi
zens of the state, resides in Gerking Canyon, four
miles north of Wasco. He was born in Cuming
county, Nebraska, September 1, 1874, the son of
William H. and Emma K. (Emgleit) Glass. The
father died at Dilley, Washington county, Ore
gon; the mother now lives at Pullman, Wash
ington. Our subject was reared in Nebraska until he
was eleven years of age. Then, with his parents,
he went to Portland, and from there direct to
Woodland, Cowlitz county, Washington, remain
ing eighteen months. Thence he migrated to Dil
ley where the family conducted a small dairy and
vegetable and fruit garden. During the succeed
ing five years our subject found employment in a
grist mill. In 1895 he went to Klickitat county,
Washington, secured a homestead, and for a few
years raised sheep. He then conducted a stage
line from Grant, Oregon, to Goldendale, Wash
ington, two years. This enterprise he disposed
of and purchased a quarter section of land in
Sherman county ; he also rents a half section.
At Goldendale, Washington, September 1,
1897, Mr. Glass was married to Bertha E. Wil
son, born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. She is the
daughter of Frank and Ella (Harvey) Wilson,
both natives of Iowa, and now residing at Port
land, Oregon, where the father is a painter and
contractor. Our subject has two brothers, Har
vey, a drayman at Pullman, Washington, and
Burt. He has one sister, Edith, wife of Clinton
Thompson, proprietor of a cigar store at Pull
man. Airs. Glass has one brother and one sister ;
Roy S, a merchant at Grant's Pass ; and Winnie,
aged thirteen.
The fraternal affiliations of our subject are
with the W. W. ; Sherman Lodge, No. 157, I. O.
O. F. ; and the Rebekahs, of which his wife is a
member. He is a Republican and served as a del
egate to the last Sherman county Republican con
vention. Mr. and Mrs. Glass have two children,
Raymond E, aged five, and Beauford R, aged
three.

PROF. JAMES M. DeAIOSS, for many
years at the head of "The Lyric Bards of Amer
ica," and residing at DeMoss Springs, Sherman
county, Oregon, was born in Indiana, May 15,
1837, the son of Peter and Elizabeth (Stewart)
DeMoss. The "Lyric Bards" have won a world
wide fame, ancl the term "world-wide" is used
advisedly, for their musical field has not been
confined to the United States, but has extended
over the greater portions of Europe. During the
Chicago World's Fair of 1893 they became the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

493:

official musical organization of that vast enter
prise. Peter DeMoss, the father of our subject, was
born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1787, and died
in Marion county, Iowa, in 1853. His father,
John DeMoss, was a native of Virginia, the son
of Louis, a French Huguenot. John served with
distinction in the Revolutionary War. Peter De-
Moss was an athlete, six feet one inch in height,
and at the age of twenty-two years he became a
professional pugilist, defeating many opponents,
though not for money, but finally retiring from
the ring, convinced that fighting was an unworthy
method of making a livelihood. Subsequently he
became a steamboat captain on the Ohio and Mis
sissippi rivers.
Elizabeth Stewart, who became the bride of
our subject's father, was a native of Ohio. Her
mother, Mollie Stewart, was a distinguished ac
tress and singer for many years. It may be said
that she was reared in the atmosphere of the
theatre and her histrionic career was eminently
successful. The "Stewart Family" for a number
of years toured the United States, appearing in
all the principal cities, making their home later
in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the War of 1812
her father enlisted. Having served through the
war he started for his home, but was killed on the
way by a limb falling from a tree. Until her
death his widow was in receipt of a pension from
the United States government. She and her
daughter were members of the dramatic profes
sion, but were subsequently converted at a camp
meeting and abandoned the boards to become
singing evangelists. Elizabeth Stewart joined the
United Brethren church and became a licensed
preacher. Alollie Stewart was burned to death
at the age of ninety-six years. September 7,
1893, Elizabeth Stewart DeMoss, the mother of
our subject, passed from earth in her ninetieth
year. The father of our subject, Peter DeMoss, was
a devout Christian in later life and becoming dis
gusted with slavery, removed to Indiana, and later
to Iowa. James M. DeMoss was reared in the
Hawkeye State. Here he received an excellent
education in a subscription school, and at Western
College, in Linn county, a United Brethren school.
He pursued scientific and musical courses. Sub
sequently he preached, conducting religious serv
ices and singing schools. At the age of sixteen
he taught music ; and really began singing at the
age of two years.
On attaining his majority our subject was uni
ted in married to Elizabeth A. Bonebrake, a
native of Indiana. She was the daughter of
Henry and Margaret (Wolf) Bonebrake, both
natives of Ohio, the father of German ancestry;

the mother of Dutch extraction. He became a
preacher in the United Brethren Church, a pio
neer evangelist and among the first bishops-
elected in the church. But he refused to accept
this office. He died in Iowa. Our subject was
married November 25, 1858, and in 1862, accom
panied by his wife, came to the Powder Valley,
Oregon, as a missionary — the pioneer missionary
of the United Brethren church east of the Cas
cade mountains.
"A preacher of the gospel, a missionary, a mu
sician, with his singing wife, who sang as they
started across the wilderness of mighty plains in
the year A. D. 1862, with an ox team, the best
mode of traveling in those early days, leaving
their homes and turning their faces westward to
the land of the setting sun, they plodded along-
day after day, through alkali dust and over rug
ged mountains, glad when a day's march was
done and their journey shortened eighteen or
twenty miles. This zealous Christian couple,
James M. DeMoss and Elizabeth Bonebrake De-
Moss, started their work with great success in
portions of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, gain
ing many souls to Christ. In due time they were
blessed with a little family of singers, who sang
at their father's meetings and singing classes."
They located in Sherman county, and in 1883
took up land, which they cultivated when not out
with his company. In 1873, while in Des Moines,
Iowa, with his concert company, he joined fhe
Baptist church, and is still a preacher of that de
nomination. His wife died, December 28, 1886,
at Roseburg, Oregon.
December 10, 1889, at Carlton, Illinois, our
subject was married to Julia E. Shatto, a native of
Iowa, born in Washington county, September 30,
1862, the daughter of Ralph and Julia (Plumb)
Shatto, both natives of Ohio. Julia and Martha
Plumb studied in Oberlin College, the latter grad
uating. Ralph Shatto was a newspaper man of"
national reputation, having begun his career as
publisher of a college paper (Western College),
the same attended by our subject. Subsequently,
for several years, he conducted the New Orleans
Republican. His last paper was the Tribune, of
Harvey, Illinois. He died August 21, 1899, at
Toledo, Iowa. The parents of Julia Plumb were
New York people, and Senator Plumb, of Kan
sas, was her first cousin. Her brother, Colonel
Ralph Plumb, was a noted Abolitionist who
served three months in jail at Oberlin, Ohio, for
rescuing a free negro who was to be taken to
Kentucky under the fugitive slave law. He be
came very wealthy, being a "coal baron"
of Illinois, and at one period owned the-
townsite of Streator, Illinois, of which
he was mayor for many years, and served'

494

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

two terms in congress. Her father served
three years in the Civil war, in Company C, Nine
teenth Iowa Volunteers.
Our subject, by his first wife, has three chil
dren living : Henry and George, Sherman county-
land owners, and members of the DeAIoss Con
cert Company ; Lizzie, wife of Peter W. Davis, a
Sherman county farmer, and member of the com
pany. Alinnie, another daughter, died in Wheat
land, California, December i, 1896, aged twenty-
seven. She was a most accomplished lady; bright,
intelligent, and a cultured and artistic contralto
singer. Alay, died in October, 1886, at Horn-
brook, California, aged fifteen years, but her brief
life gave promise of a most brilliant future. The
children by his second marriage are John Al, aged
eight years, and Ruth, aged six. who were juve
nile performers with their parents in their enter
tainments. At present our subject is a Prohi
bitionist, but for many years was a stanch Repub
lican, having cast his first vote for Abraham Lin
coln. He has one brother and three sisters ; Peter,
a retired farmer, living near Aloro, and an old
Indian fighter : Alary A., wife of George C. Davis,
deceased, of Lincoln, Nebraska ; Lucinda, widow
•of R. Shatto, deceased, of New Hampton, Iowa ;
Elizabeth S, widow of Rev. C. B. Davis, living at
DeMoss Springs. Rev. C. B. Davis died at
Salem, November 28, 1902, and is buried at De
AIoss Springs.
The second wife of our subject was reared
by the Plumb family, and educated at Western
College where, for many years she was a music
teacher. She has one half-brother. Rev. Charles
R. Shatto, of New Hampton, Iowa, pastor of the
Congregational church at that place. During the
state oratorical contest he secured the first prize.
Our subject located the townsite of North
Powder and built three toll bridges crossing both
Powder and Grande Ronde rivers ; he, also,
erected the first sawmill in the Grande Ronde
valley, and located and owned the town of Weiser,
Idaho. He has been largely interested in real
-estate and has been uniformly successful finan
cially. For his services as preacher he receives
-no salary, and is the pioneer missionary teacher
of eastern Oregon and Washington, having in
early days taught music in Walla Walla and
Grande Ronde valleys.
Prof. DeAIoss is author of the "Key to Mu-
sic," of the cantata "Joseph, the "Hebrew Gov
ernor of Egypt," which was published in Phila
delphia, in 1 89 1, of a number of patriotic and
sacred songs, ancl with his sons. Henry and
George, and daughters, Alinnie and Lizzie, com
posed the songs of the "Columbia Souvenir
songs," introduced during the Columbian Expo

sition in Chicago, in 1893. The family composed
and published the "Songs of Jesus."
In 1872, Prof. DeAIoss and family began giv
ing concerts, the initial entertainments being at
Cove. Oregon. The DeAIoss family are now in
their thirty-third year of touring, having given
three seasons in New England, three in the north
ern states, three in the southern states, seven in
the northwest and California, one in Europe, and
two in Canada. The children all received most
thorough instruction from their father and took
post-graduate courses in the Royal Academy of
London ; George in voice and cello, Alinnie and
Lizzie in voice and violin, Henry in voice, violin
and musical composition. Lillie was an actress
and a member of her father's troupe until her
death, having commenced composition of music
when thirteen.
The DeAIoss estate consists of twelve hun
dred acres traversed by the Columbia Southern
railroad. The town of DeAIoss Springs is located
about the center of the property.

BENJAMIN L. ANDREWS, a prosperous,
enterprising and progressive farmer, and popu
lar citizen, resides at Gerking Canyon, four miles
from Wasco, in Sherman county. He was born
in Alissouri. January 19, 1862. His parents were
Amos and Alartha (Andrews) Andrews, the lat
ter not even a second cousin of her husband, being
of an altogether different family. The mother
died when our subject was an infant. The par
ents of Amos Andrews were earlv settlers of Mis
souri, where he died.
Benjamin L. Andrews was reared in Alissouri
until he had attained the age of eighteen years.
He then came to Oregon alone, and located in
the Willamette valley where for about two vears
he was employed on farms. Thence he went to
Klickitat county, Washington, worked two vears
more on ranches and then for three years rode the
range. In 18S4 he came to Sherman county, filed
on land adjoining the place where he now resides,
and purchased railroad land. At present he owns
a- half section of exceptionally fine land ; has a
good orchard of four acres", devoted to apples,
pears and peaches, for which he finds a ready
market on the place.
Our subject was married in Wasco, Novem
ber 2, 1892, to Agnes R. Ramey, a native of Alis
souri. She is the daughter of William Ramey,
ancl the sister of George Ramey, mentioned else
where. Air. Andrews has one brother and three
sisters : James, a merchant in Denver, Colorado :
Luella, wife of Gustave Dredger, of Iowa ; Belle,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

495

wife of Newman Guilford, of Denver; and Mat-
tie, wife of William Carver, of the same city.
Three children have been born to our subject and
his wite, Cora, Willie and Belle. Mr. Andrews
is a member of Sherman Lodge, No. 157, I. O. O.
F. He is a Republican, politically, but not espe
cially active in the various campaigns. He and
his wife are members of the Christian church.
Amos Andrews, the father of our subject, served
three years in the Civil war. Our subject is a
man highly esteemed by a large circle of friends
and acquaintances.

EDWIN M. MEACH is well known in Moro
as a first-class painter and paper hanger, as well
as dealer in paints, oils, wall paper and so forth.
He was born in Vancouver, Washington, on Feb
ruary 21, 1877, the son of Henry M. and Mary
(Sheehan) Meach, natives of Jackson county,
Michigan, and Portland, Maine, respectively.
They now live in Portland, Oregon, where the
father does a general contracting and building
business. His father was born in the United
States, of Scotch parents, and his mother was a
native of England. Our subject's mother was of
Irish parentage. Edwin M. was educated in the
graded and high schools of Vancouver, and when
fifteen took up the painting business, which he
had learned while attending school, by working
mornings and evenings and Saturdays. All told,
he served about five years as an apprentice and
learned every department of the business, as
house painting, carriage painting, sign painting,
ancl so forth. In 1897, he went to Pendleton and
followed his trade for wages and also did con
tracting there and in Portland for a period
of five years. Then he came to Moro,
primarily to play baseball, and opened a
business here in which he has succeeded
splendidly. In addition to ordinary painting, he
has painted railway coaches and does much fine
work. Previous to coming to Moro, he had
played semi-professionallv for six years in various
teams, being mostly in demand as pitcher, having
also played as second baseman. He came to
Aloro as stated, and for the past two seasons has
been captain of the Moro team, and is one of the
best players in this part of the county. He has
traveled' to various portions of the state, was in
Burns ancl Canyon City ancl has made a good rec
ord for himself in this capacity.
On June 18, TQ02. at Portland, Oregon, Air.
Meach married Maude B. Carter, a native of
Alichigan, and the daughter of John Carter; also
a native of Michigan. He now lives in Portland
and does a general carpentering and millwright

business. He married Miss Bowen, who has
since died. Mr. Meach has the following named
brothers and sisters, Clyde and Debs, aged six
teen and eight, respectively, at the father's home
in Portland; Ethel, wife of William Feister, a
railroad man in Pomeroy, Washington; Daisy,
the wife of Dudley Evans, a deputy health officer
in. Portland; Minnie, Isabel, Blanche and Helen
at the father's home in Portland. Mr. and Mrs.
Meach have one child, Mearle, aged one and one-
half years.
Politically, Mr. Meach is a Democrat, but not
active in this capacity. He is an industrious man
and attends closely to business, being governed
by the motto that "What is worth doing at all is
worth doing well." This has brought him good
success and a splendid standing in the commu
nity.

ERNEST A. MEDLER, a prosperous farmer
residing four miles northeast of Wasco, Sherman
county, was born in Cooper county, Missouri,
February 22, 1867. His parents were John and
Eliza J. (Hull) Medler, mentioned in another por
tion of this work.
Until his parents came to Sherman county, in
1 88 1, our subject remained with them, and he
was with his father here when the family's house
in Walla Walla, Washington, was burned, in
volving the loss of his mother and two of her
children. He was educated in the district schools
of Willamette valley and Sherman county. A
few months before he attained his majority Mr.
Aledler began life for himself. He associated
himself with his brother Henry, under the firm
name of Medler Brothers, and they purchased
nine hundred and sixty acres of land and began
farming on an extensive scale ; principally stock-
raising. They had limited capital but plenty of
credit, ancl they bought nine thousand dollars
worth of land and stock on credit. For ten years
they continued in partnership; having paid all
indebtedness at the end of the third year. During
the hard times of 1893 and 1894 they received
something of a setback, but they gradually recu
perated after a hard pull of three or four years.
They owned a steam threshing machine and a
two thousand dollar pedigreed horse. In the fall
of 1899 they dissolved partnership and since then
each brother has worked separately. At present
our subject owns four hundred and eighty acres
of land, all but eighty acres of which is this year
in wheat. He has commercial interests in Wasco
and divides his time between that place and the
farm. Our subject was married at Wasco, November

496

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

II, 1894, to Marion H. Myers, of San Francisco,
California. Politically, he is a Republican, but not active.
Mr. and Mrs. Medler have four children, Eve
lyn, Norma, Elsie and Chester. The Chronicle
of San Francisco offered a silver cup to every
child born on Christmas day, 1895. Evelyn Med
ler was born that day and received one of the
cups.

CHARLES R. ROLLINS, M. D, an es
teemed citizen of Grass Valley, now retired from
active business, is also one of the builders of
Sherman county. He was born in New Hamp
shire, on June 2, 1829, the son of Joseph and
Mary (Russell) Rollins, natives of the same state.
The father came from an old colonial family of
English ancestry and died in 1874 in California,
being then aged eighty years. The mother came
from French ancestry and died in 1846 in New
Hampshire. The first six years of our subject's
life were spent in New Hampshire and then the
family moved to Vermont. When Charles was
fourteen, he went to Roxbury, Massachusetts, a
suburb of Boston, and there attended a night
school and learned the printing trade in the office
of the Uni-Vicelum, a communistic paper, edited
by Charles R. Dana, assisted by George Ripley.
Dana, as is well known, later became one of the
most prominent journalistic men of the English
speaking world, being for years editor of the New
York Sun. After three years the paper suspend
ed where our subject was learning his trade, then
he went to New York city and thence to New
Jersey, where he joined the North American
Phalanx ( a communistic community and was
occupied in driving the stage from Red Bank,
New Jersey, to the community and boarded at the
same house where Mr. Horace Greeley lived.
Later he went to Massachusetts and studied med
icine with Dr. Jerome Wilmoth, practicing during
a portion of the time. After four years in these
studies, the doctor returned to New Jersey and
took charge of the machinery part of a large
sash and door factory. Later, we find him in In
diana and in 1856, he took up land twenty-one
miles south from St. Paul upon which was after
wards built the town of Farmington, Minnesota,
where he lived and practiced medicine until about
1873, when he journeyed to California and passed
the examination of the state board to practice in
that state and then took a post graduate course in
the Columbia Medical College, graduating in
1877 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In
1878, he came to the vicinity of Grass Valley and
took up land. A portion of the town now stands

upon the land he took up. There were only forty-
two white people then in the precincts of what is
now Sherman county when the doctor landed
here. He erected a store building and operated
a mercantile establishment in addition to his prac
tice. His riding was very extensive as he was
the- only physician between Antelope and the Col
umbia river. Later, he was associated in the mer
cantile business with his son-in-law, Mr. Moore,
who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, the
doctor taking a personal supervision of the drug
department of the establishment. Dr. Rollins was
one of the organizers of the State Pharmaceutical
Board and the State Druggists Association and
has been a leading figure here for over a quarter
of a century. During this entire time, he has
steadily resided in Grass Valley with the excep
tion of two years that were spent in Portland. Of
late, he has retired from the practice of medicine
and also from all active business, being justified
by the success he has won in his life's labors.
In Massachusetts, when nineteen years of age,
Dr. Rollins married Sybil A. Lillie, who was
born in Alassachusetts in November, 1829, the
daughter of Henry and Charlotte F. Lillie, na
tives of Massachusetts. In 1886, Mrs. Rollins
died here in Grass Valley. Doctor Rollins has one
brother, Ira L, a farmer in Michigan. His fa
ther had one brother, Henry, an architect in Elsi-.
more, California.
To the Doctor and his wife, five children have
been born; George H, in Rye Valley, Oregon,
handling a mail contract; Edward, a barber in
Portland; Nena M., the wife of Charles G.
Staples, a confectioner of Spokane ; Eva L, wife
of Charles W. Moore, mentioned elsewhere in
this work; and Charles M, residing in Grass
Valley. The Doctor is a member of the A. F. & A. M.
and is a man of excellent standing and worth. In
August, 1 89 1, Dr. Rollins platted the town of
Grass Valley and still owns a goodly portion of
the townsite, as well as additions which he has
since platted. He was the first practicing physi
cian here, operated the first store and conducted
the first hotel, as well as raised and threshed the
first crop of wheat within the boundaries of the
present Sherman county.

WILLI AAI E. MILLER. The subject of the
following biographical sketch is one of the ener
getic and industrious farmers of Sherman coun
ty, residing four miles northwest of Wasco. He
is a true Oregonian, and was born in Sherman
county near his present home July 29, 1867. His

Dr. Charles R. Rollins

William E. Miller

William H. Biggs

James H. Smith

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

497

parents are Thomas Jefferson and Sarah (Ford)
Miller, mention of whom will be found in another
portion of this work.
Until he arrived at the age of sixteen years
our subject remained with his parents. He then
began life on his own account and when of age
filed on a homestead, purchasing a half section
later. At present Mr. Miller owns twenty-four
hundred acres of excellent wheat land. He win
ters from fifty to sixty head of cattle and has been
raising two hundred and twenty-five hogs yearly.
October n, 1890, at Goldendale, Klickitat
county, Washington, Mr. Aliller was united in
marriage to Mrs. Dora S. Harvey, born near
Taylorville, Illinois, the daughter of David
Fields. She died September 18, 1892, of
consumption after an illness of two years'
duration. She left two children by a former
marriage to James Harvey, Walter and
Myra. The second marriage of our sub
ject occurred July 6, 1895, to Belle Pyburn,
born in Benton county, Oregon. She is the daugh
ter of Jacob ancl Susan (Mulkey) Pyburn, the
former a native of Texas ; the latter of Alissouri.
The father crossed the plains in 1850 while an in
fant in arms. The mother came in 1847. He was
a prominent and influential farmer.
Our subject has two children living, by his
second marriage, Charles E. ancl Laura J. Two
are dead, Cassius N. ancl William W. Frater
nally, Mr. Miller is a member of Sherman Lodge,
No. 157, I. O. O. F, of Wasco, and the W. O.
W, of the same place, of which he is second man
ager. Politically ne is a Republican and has fre
quently served as delegate to county conventions.
For twelve years he has been school director of
his district, and three years school district clerk.
At present he is in partnership with his brother
in the meat business at Wasco.
Mr. Miller is an example of what pluck can
do, coupled with energy. Though still a young
man, he has made a signal success, financially in
this resourceful country of central Oregon. He
has an extended acquaintance throughout the
county and enjoys the respect and confidence of
the entire community.

HON. WILLIAM H. BIGGS, a retired farm
er and extensive land owner of Sherman county,
resides at Wasco, in a most picturesque residence,
surrounded by a spacious lawn and large and
beautiful shade trees. He was born in Belmont
county, Ohio, May 12, 1831, the son of John and
Charlotte (Coleman) Biggs. The father was a
native of Kentucky; his parents (probably) ot
Pennsylvania, and were early Kentucky pioneers.
32

The father of John Biggs participated in many
sanguinary battles with Indians, and was severely
wounded while defending the block-house which
stood on the present site of Wheeling, West Vir
ginia. John Biggs served in the war of 1812, and
like his father was a man of great courage. He
was born in 1791 and passed away at Canton,
Alissouri, in 1854. In his younger days he was
a shipbuilder and carpenter ; later a farmer.
The mother of our subject was a native of
Pennsylvania, descended from an old Pennsyl
vania Dutch family. Her father served through-
cut the Revolutionary War under General Fran
cis Alarion. She died at Canton, Missouri, two
years after the death of her husband.
The family of our subject moved to Missouri
when he was nine years of age. Here he was
reared on a farm and received his elementary edu
cation in a subscription school. When nineteen
vears old — in 1850 — he crossed the plains with
an ox train, to California, where he remained two
years engaged with varying success in mining.
He then returned to Alissouri, where he was fairly
successful, financially. Subsequently he engaged
in the forwarding and commission business at
Canton, Alissouri, on the Mississippi river, six
teen miles above Quincy, Illinois. Having re
mained there three years, he was, the following
three years, serving in the capacity of a pilot on
the Mississippi river. He then followed the liv
ery business at Canton three years, going thence
to Colorado during the Pike's Peak sensation.
He remained there only a short time, returning
disgusted, like so many others. Shortly after
this he was appointed sheriff of Lewis county,
Alissouri, by Governor Gamble. Two years after
ward he began trading in cattle, horses and
mules, continuing until 1871, when he went to
Deer Lodge, Alontana, returning in the fall. The
following spring he was back in Montana with a
drove of five hundred cattle. In 1873 we find
him in Alissouri engaged in a variety of business
enterprises, and in the spring of 1874
he took from Lexington, Kentucky, five
head of fine trotting horses to Deer Lodge,
Alontana. Subsequently he went to Cali
fornia where for three years he was in
the stock, ancl three years in the grocery
business, located at Dixon. In February, 1880,
he came to Sherman county and secured railroad
land where Wasco is now built — on a portion of
it — and seeded the first crop of wheat in the spring
of 1 88 1. He brought from California the first
gang plow ever introduced in this section of the
country. Although he possessed limited capital
he managed to push wheat growing along and
purchased more land. He now owns about eight
hundred acres of which he has rented out a portion

498

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

for ten years. He began renting this land at the
time he was appointed receiver of the land office
at The Dalles where he remained four years and
three months.
In 1886 Air. .Biggs was elected a member of
the Oregon Legislature and introduced the Alax-
imum Freight Bill which passed the house but
was defeated in the senate. After this he was
appointed a member of the railroad commission
by Governor Pennoyer, but owing to subsequent
legislation removing the appointive power from
the hands of the governor, he did not serve. In
1888 he was nominated for the Stjate
•senate, and was defeated. In 1885 Mr.
Biggs was at Salem, and was success
ful in securing the passage of a bill compelling
railroads to place sidings where needed. Two
of them were put in; one of these was named
Biggs, as a compliment to his successful efforts
in this direction; the other Rufus, after Rufus
Wallis, on whose land a town was built. Since
leaving the land office our subject has paid but
little attention to political affairs. During the
whole course of his busy and eventful life Air.
Biggs has ever remained a stanch Democrat.
March 10, 1859, at Canton, Missouri, our
subject was united in marriage to Alartha E.
Ellis, born in Lewis county, Missouri. She is the
daughter of Judge William Ellis, a native of Ken
tucky, born in Oldham county. His parents were
Virginians of Welsh ancestry. He died in 1879
at Canton, Missouri. He was a lumber merchant
and owned a farm on the edge of the town. For
many years he was a prominent merchant in
Louisville, Kentucky, and served several terms in
the Missouri Legislature. For sixteen years he
was judge of the county court; was an "old line
Whig," but after the war was not identified with
any political party. He was a trustee of the
Christian University, and the only member of an
other denomination on the board, being a pillar
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, deacon, trus
tee, steward, ancl foremost in every movement for
the benefit of the community and very public
spirited. At one period he was the second wealth
iest man in the county. The Civil war left him
much poorer in purse ; he lost all of his slaves,
but throughout the whole trend of the trouble be
tween the states he was always a union man and
did not favor the cause of the confederacy.
Her mother, Sarah (Cassady) Ellis, was a
native of Kentucky as were her parents. She died
in 1873. Our subject has one brother living,'
John H, of Canton, Missouri, a retired mer
chant. He had three other brothers who are
deceased, Leonard C, Joseph and James D.
They died in Alissouri. He had one sister, now
deceased, Lucinda C, wife of Thomas B. Jef

fries. Mrs. Biggs has lost two brothers, James
A, who died in California, and who served in
the union army until he was severely wounded.
Her brother William died in La Grange, Alis
souri. She has two sisters living, Elizabeth, wife
of Christopher Agee, of Solano county, Cali
fornia, and Laura, widow of Samuel J. Davis, of
San Francisco. Mary C, wife of John S. Pem
berton, died at Los Angeles, California.
Our subject has lost two children; Leonard
Al, who died in 1861, aged fourteen months; and
William E, who died in Missouri, in 1866, aged
two weeks. Mr. Biggs has been a member of
the A. F. & A. M. since 1852, and is a non
affiliated Royal Arch Mason. His wife is a mem
ber of the M. E. church and has been a Sunday
school teacher for many years. She is a member
of the official board and steward of the W. C.
T. U, of which she is corresponding secretary
and was for several years president. She is a
member of the O. E. S. and past matron of
Myrtle Chapter, Dixon, California.

JAMES H. SMITH is well known through
out Sherman and Wasco counties and is one of
the substantial citizens of Grass Valley at the
present time. He is practically retired from busi
ness, although he owns an interest in the firm
of E. E. Porter & Company, one of the success
ful mercantile houses of Grass Valley. James
H. Smith was born in New Brunswick, on No
vember 4, 1853. John B. Smith, his father, was
a native of Scotland and came to New Bruns
wick when fourteen years old, accompanying his
parents. He followed farming all his life and
died in New Brunswick, in 190 1. He married
Isabel Amos, who was born while her parents
were crossing the Atlantic ocean from Scotland
to New Brunswick. Our subject was reared in
his native place and there educated. On October
J9> I87S> he came west and finally selected a loca
tion between Dufur and Kingsley, where he com
muted on a preemption. Four years later, he
came across the Des Chutes and engaged in
sheepraising, following the same successfully for
twenty years. Then he homesteaded and bought
land about nine miles out from Grass Valley.
In 1895, he came to Grass Valley and engaged in
the hardware business with George BourhilL
Later, he was in partnership with W. F. Weigand.
In 1903, he sold out to his partner and since then
has been practically retired from business, al
though tie has an interest in the mercantile house
mentioned. Mr. Smith owns a residence right in
the center of town and several lots, besides other
property.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

499

In August, 1884, Mr. Smith married Mary E.
Offield, the wedding occurring near Kingsley.
In 1890, Mrs. Smith was called hence by death.
Two years later, August 6, 1892, Mr. Smith mar
ried Callle Offield, a sister of his former wife,
the wedding occurring in Lane county. She was
born near Salem, Oregon and her parents are
William H. ancl A. (Jones) Offield. Mr. Smith
has three brothers ; Thomas H, a sheep man in
North Yakima ; Robert, a merchant at Sisters,
Crook county, and Alexander, who also has a
mercantile house at Sisters, Crook county. He
also has one sister, Agnes, the wife of Mr.
Brownell, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs.
Smith has one sister, Nettie, married to Augus
tine Risdon, an insurance man in Seattle. To
onr subject and his wife three children have been
born, Mary B, Eltha and Leslie. Fraternally,
Mr. Smith is popularly connected, being affil
iated with the I. O. O. F, the Encampment and
the Elks. He is past grand and past C. P. of
the former order and has frequently been dele
gate to the grand lodges. He also is frequently
a delegate to the political conventions ancl is a
member of the city council at the present time.
Of Mr. Smith, it may be said that his life thus
far has always been spent in wise labors ever
striving to build up and assist both the country
and every one with whom he comes in contact.
Thus, he has won many friends and a standing
second to none in the community.

LOUIE L. PEETZ was born in Snohomish,
Washington, on January 30, 1877, and now re
sides about two and one-half miles west from
Moro, being one of the most extensive grain
raisers of Sherman county. His parents, Carl
and Catherine (Schott) Peetz, are mentined else
where in this volume Mr. Peetz owns in his
home estate, eight hundred acres of good wheat
land and rents twelve hundred acres besides of
military ancl other land. He has the entire amount
in cultivation and produces many thousands of
bushels of the cereals annually. He is a thrifty,
wise and, progressive farmer and manages his
large interests in an excellent manner. His edu
cation was received in the various places where
the family resided before they came to Sherman
county. And since that time, he has been closely
identified with the interests of the county, while
also laboring efficiently to gain his splendid hold
ing of property. Mr. Peetz has not only achieved
the success that was to be desired in both these
lines but has also so conducted himself that he
has won hosts of friends and is one of the popu
lar and leading young men of the county.

On December 31, 1901, at Moro, Oregon, Mr.
Peetz married Ora Barnum, a sister of the Bar
num brothers, mentioned elsewhere in this vol
ume. Politically, Mr. Peetz is a stanch and active
Republican, although he never aspires to office
for himself. He is well posted on the questions
of the day, progressive and public minded and
seeks diligently to bring about those ends ancl
measures which are for the best interests of the
county. He and his wife are popular people and
command the respect of an extended acquaint
ance.

JAMES B. VENABLE, the popular propri
etor of the "Wheat Exchange" saloon, Wasco,
Sherman county, Oregon, was born in Klickitat
county, Washington, November 23, 1869. His
father, Francis M. Venable, mentioned elsewhere,
was born in Pike county, Missouri; his mother,
was Jane (Hubbard) Venable.
Until he attained his majority our subject re
mained with his parents and rode the range for
his father. He received a good business educa
tion on Chamberlain Flat, and when twenty-one
years of age married and rented the "Dingle
place" near his father's present home. Two years
after he rented another, the "Hoss place," re
maining there one year. Then his father gave
him a quarter section of land, which he worked
four years, and then disposed of the property to
John Hull, mentioned elsewhere, and engaged in
the saloon business in Wasco.
November 13, 1890, at Silverton, Alarion
county, Oregon, our subject was united in mar
riage to Kate Woolen, a native of that place. She
was the daughter of William and Mary (Cooper)
Woolen. Mrs. Venable died on her husband's
farm, January 3, 1901, of consumption after an
illness of six months. She left four children,
Alva, Oral, Fanny and Harold.
September 23. 1903, at Wasco, Mr. Venable
was married to Ida Aiahar. She has two sisters,
Alinnie, wife of Charles Seeley, a farmer near The
Dalles ; and Nellie, wife of George Robinson, of
The Dalles, an engineer. Politically, Air. Vena
ble is a Democrat, although not particularly ac
tive. He is an energetic, liberal-minded citizen
ancl generous to a fault.

JOHN SIENKNECHT, a successful farmer
and stock-raiser of Sherman county, resides two
miles south of Rufus. He was born in Ftolstein,
Germany, November 6, 1858, the son of Christian
ancl Julia (Ruge) Sienknecht. Both parents died

5°o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in Germany, the mother when our subject was
only two years of age. The latter was reared by
his mother's brother, Joachim Ruge, an old sol
dier who participated in the Danish War of 1848.
He was a tailor by trade and died in Holstein.
Until 1874 our subject attended the public
school where he made excellent progress and ac
quired a superior education. At the age of twelve
he was qualified to pass examination for the gov
ernment school, but acting on the advice of his
uncle he did not do so. May 4, 1874, he came to
Solano county, California, where he remained
eleven years. Then he removed to Sherman
county, coming with Caesar C. Huck, mentioned
elsewhere in this work. He pre-empted a quarter,
later homesteaded the same ancl purchased a quar
ter section of railroad land, both quarters of ex
cellent quality and nearly all tillable. His atten
tion is mostly devoted to wheat, but he raises fine
vegetables and fruits, and rears stock, mainly for
home use.
July 3, 1898, at the residence of the bride's
parents, our subject was married to Lulu Gerk
ing, born in Umatilla county, Oregon. Her father,
William Gerking, a native of Missouri, was an
early pioneer, crossing the plains with an ox
train. Her mother, Montie (Stone) Gerking, is
a native of Illinois, and lives with her husband at
Tecoa, Washington.
Our subject has one brother and one sister ;
Henry, a farmer in Tama county, Iowa ; and
Annie, married and living in Germany. Mrs.
Sienknecht has one brother and three sisters ;
Guy, at Tekoa, Washington ; Myrtle, Grace and
Maud. Our subject and his estimable wife have
four children, Henry, Guy, Frank and Maud.
He and his wife are members of the Christian
church. Politically, he is independent. He has
been school director for many years and has
served as school clerk for about fifteen years. His
home is pleasantly located in Gerking Canyon,
named after his wife's father. In the community
in which he resides he is a popular and highly es
teemed citizen.
About one mile north of Mr. Sienknecht's
place is the historic battle ground where the In
dians and the Oregon Volunteers under Colonel
Cornelius fought in 1856. The old breastworks
and rifle pits are still in evidence.

IRWIN D. PIKE was born in Linn county,
Oregon, on December 28, 1873, the son of Ben
jamin F. and Mahala G. (Denny) Pike, a sketch
of whose lives appears in another portion of this
volume. Our subject is the only child living, of
his parents, and has removed with them in their

various travels during his life, and he was edu
cated in the district schools and in the agricult
ural college at Corvallis. The father was en
gaged in various enterprises in different parts of
the northwest and our subject was closely asso
ciated with him in these activities and when they
came to Sherman county, he went into partner
ship with his father. He secured land for him
self and now owns one-fourth of a section and
has an interest in four hundred and eighty acres
with his father. In adition to this he farms
twelve hundred and eighty acres of rented land
and is one of the heavy grain producers of Sher
man county. Mr. Pike is a progressive and
thrifty young man and is gaining the success that
his energy and skill merit.
On December 23, 1900, Mr. Pike married Nel
lie Z. Holder, a native of Linn county, Oregon.
Since marriage, they have labored together stead
ily in conducting the farm and are among the sub
stantial people of this part of the county. Fra
ternally, our subject is a member of the I. O. O.
F, and is present noble grand. He is a Republi
can in politics and, although not especially active,.
was deputy county clerk for one year. Mr. Pike
has labored with assiduity and display of wisdom
in his occupation in Sherman county and the suc
cess he has won is truly merited by display of
these qualities.

LEROY H. MARTIN was born in San
Bernardino county, California, on October 16,
1858, the son of John R. and Jane C. (Brown)
Martin, natives of New York and Pennsylvania,
respectively. The sketch of the parents appears
in another portion of this work. Our subject re
ceived his education during his minority and
dwelt with his parents in the various places
where they made their home. When twenty-one,
he left Umatilla county and went to Union county
and there on Alarch 11, 1882, at Island City, mar
ried Amanda E. Buchanan, who was born in
Tama county, Iowa, on January 11, 1864. Her
father, William D. Buchanan, was a native of
Trumbull county, Ohio, born October 9, 1829.
October 16, 1849, the father married Ellen J.
Buchanan, nee Cullen, his brother's widow and a
native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and born
on April 23, 1829. In 1865 they crossed the;
plains to Oregon, settling in Union county. They
now live in Harney county, Oregon. Mrs. Mar
tin's brothers and sisters are named as follows :
James A, in Montana ; Monroe, who died at
Boise, Idaho, on June 7, 1899; William T, of
Baker county ; Joseph W. and George L, in
Harney county ; Josephine, the wife of Joseph
Spencer, of Union county, Oregon ; Harriet J,,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

5°*

the wife of M. A. Harrison, the judge of Union
county, Oregon ; and Eliza E, the wife of W.
J. Martin, of Morrow county, Oregon. Mr. and
Mrs. Martin have two children, Aliles E, born on
February 26, 1887, ancl Lola B, born December
20, 1888, both being natives of Sherman county
ancl now dwelling with their parents. The fol
lowing week after our subject was married, he
and his wife came on to Sherman county, where
he had previously filed on land, a mile northeast
from his father's place. The country being new
and settled with poor people, they were compelled
to seek labor elsewhere through the summer.
They saw much hardship and adversity but had
good health and were thus enabled to pull
through. Being of cheerful and bright spirits,
they made the best of everything ancl soon began
to make headway. They now own one thousand
acres of fine land three and one-half miles from
Moro, the county seat. The estate has two
orchards, good well and spring and other im
provements. They also own a residence in town
and a third interest in a steam threshing outfit.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin are members of the
United Presbyterian church. Politically, Mr.
Martin is a good active Republican and has fre
quently been delegate to the county convention.
When Air. ancl Airs. Alartin first came here, the
•country looked uninviting and desolate but they
came for the purpose of making this their home
so they went to work with a will and the result
is that they have made a splendid success and not
only so but they have won the esteem, the confi
dence and the love of all who know them. Air.
Martin is a sturdy upright man of ability and
Mrs. Alartin is a genuine helpmeet and they are
among the leading people of this part of the
state.  •» • » 
FRANCIS AL VENABLE, pre-eminently a
pioneer of Oregon, a highly respected citizen and
a retired Sherman county fanner, resides three
miles south of Rufus. He was born in Pike coun
ty, Alissouri, October 25, 1825. His parents were
natives of North Carolina. John Venable, the
father, was a farmer and wheelwright, a stanch
Democrat and a prominent, well-to-do and influ
ential citizen. The mother of our subject was
Rachel (Pursley) Venable.
Until he was fifteen years of age our subject
lived with his parents in Alissouri. Then the
family removed to Illinois and remained there
until '1853. At that time Air. Venable had, for
four or five years, been conducting a farm on
rented land, for himself. Then with his wife, and
one child, Alary, he crossed the plains with an ox
train to Oregon City. When near Fort Hall his

wife's sister died. She was quite ill at the time
the party started. The first winter after their ar
rival, Mr, Venable worked for wages. In the
fall of 1854 the family removed to Douglas coun
ty, on the Umpqua river. Remaining there one
year they went to Alarion county, where our sub
ject rented land a few years. In 1859 they left
for Walla Walla, Washington, and got as far as
across the John Day, but owing to serious re
ports of Indian troubles, they returned to The
Dalles and shortly went thence to Klickitat coun
ty, Washington, where they remained until 1864.
Thence they returned to Marion county, Oregon,
and were there until 1874. Here our subject pur
chased a quarter section of land. Returning to
Klickitat county in 1874 he engaged in stock-rais
ing, ancl he remained there until 1888, and then
disposed of his property and came to Sherman
county. He purchased this place — five hundred
and seven acres — and the same is now conducted
by his youngest son, Perry.
March 6, 1850, at Pleasant Hill, Illinois, Air.
Venable was united in marriage to Jane Hubbard,
the daughter of David and Hannah (Morrow!
Hubbard, the father a native of Kentucky ; the
mother of Missouri. The ancestors of David
Hubbard were natives of Virginia. He was a
Baptist preacher, and a graduate of a Baptist
college in Missouri. He was one of the best
known preachers in Willamette valley, and high
ly respected by all with whom he was acquainted.
He came to Oregon in the same party as our sub
ject, and died in Polk county, Oregon, over
eighty years of age. The mother died in Pike
county, Illinois, in 1856. David Hubbard subse
quently married Alary Thurman, a member of
the distinguished Thurman family. Allan Gran-
bery Thurman was born at Lynchburg, Virginia,
November 13, 1813 ; died December 12, 1895. He
was an American statesman and jurist ; a Demo
cratic member of congress from Ohio from 1845
to 1847; became justice of the Ohio supreme
court in 185 1 ; was United States Senator from
1869 to 1881, and author of the famous "Thur
man Act," compelling the Pacific railroads to ful
fill their obligations, and was the unsuccessful
candidate for vice-president, on the ticket with
Grover Cleveland in 1888. Other members of the
family were prominent members of the bench ancl
bar and extensive farmers in Illinois.
Air. Venable, our subject, has no brothers
living; five being dead, James, Edward, Robert,
Newton and Andrew. He has two sisters, Mar
tha, wife of Preston Holman, of Illinois, and
Nancy, wife of Joshua Zumwalt, also of Illinois.
Four sisters are dead, Jaley E, Eliza, Sarah and
Mary. Airs. Venable has two brothers living:
Goalman. near Endicott, Washington, and Gid-

r,o:

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

eon, in Benton county, Oregon. Two, are dead,
j olin and 'Charles. She has six half-brothers and
three hali-sisters living; George, Frank, Joseph;
Perry, in Polk county; James and Edward B,
hop raisers in Polk county ; Lydia, wife of Will
iam Ford, of Polk county; Isephenia, wife of
Samuel Tetherough ; and Amanda, in Idaho.
Our subject has the following named chil
dren ; Andrew, a farmer at Columbus, Washing
ton ; John, at Rufus, mentioned elsewhere ; James,
at Wasco ; Perry, at home ; Mary, wife of Austin
Smith, at Silverton, Oregon; Laura, single, at
VVasco; Fanny, wife of Robert Payne, in San
Francisco; Addie, wife of Antone Courtway, in
Goldendale, Washington; Rose, wife of Ernest
Weld, of Klickitat county, Washington. Eva,
wife of Raymond Doane, at Rufus ; Coalman, a
son, died at Baker City, September 28,-1898, aged
forty-one years, Walter, aged four, was killed in
a runaway accident in Klickitat county. Martha,'
aged six months, and eight days, died in Silver-
ton. Mrs. Venable is a member of the United Bap
tist church. Politically our subject is a Demo
crat. He made two trips of six months each,
from The Dalles to Fort Colville, freighting gov
ernment supplies, without encountering any
trouble with Indians. And in 1865 he made one
trip with freight from Silverton to Canyon City.
Mr. and Mrs. Venable, considering their age and
the hardships that they have necessarily gone
through in their pioneer course, are well pre
served, and enjoy good health. They have a large
circle of warm friends, have labored faithfully
and have done much for the good of the country
and their fellowmen.

J. HENRY KRAUSE, a highly respected and
influential citizen of Wasco, Sherman county,
Oregon, conducts a saddler and harness making
establishment in that place. He was born in
Germany, near Ueipsic. His parents, J. Henry
and Crestina (Wendler) Krause, were natives of
Germany, where the father died in 1882. He was
a farmer. Our subject came to the United States, land
ing in New York, in 1879. Within a few days'
afterward he went to Florida where he remained
thirteen months employed in a store. Going to St.
Louis, Missouri, he worked at carriage trimming
for a while, a trade which he had learned in
Germany. One year afterward he went to Colo
rado where for two years he worked at his trade
ancl, to some extent, prospected for mineral.
Thence he went to Spokane, Washington, re
mained two years and one-half engaged in har

ness making, and from that city he went to Hepp-
ner, Oregon, where he followed the same line of
business in Noble's harness shop. He was two-
months in the Puget Sound country, and two
years in Snohomish county. In 1888 he came to
Sherman county and opened a harness shop in
Wasco. In 1890 Mr. Krause erected the con
venient and well-appointed building he now occu
pies and where he carries on an extensive and
lucrative business. He has recently proved up
on a homestead in Gilliam county, Oregon. Mr.
Krause is a single man. He has two brothers,
F. Wilhelm, a harness maker, and F. Herman, a
farmer in Germany, and one sister, Rosa, wife of
Bernard Fischer, a landowner and proprietor of a
blacksmith shop in Germany.
Mr. Krause, who is most highly esteemed in
Wasco for his many sterling qualities of char
acter, was two years in the city council. He is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church,, of
which he is trustee and treasurer. Fraternally
he is a member of Aurora Lodge, No. 54, K. of
P, of which he is a charter member and has been
in office ever since its organization. He is Past
C. C, and is at present Master of the Exchequer.

JOHN HULL, in every sense a progressive
and energetic Sherman county farmer, residing
six miles northwest of Wasco, is a native of the
Buckeye State, having been born in Ohio, Janu
ary 29, 1838. His father, Levin Hull, was born
in Virginia, as were his parents, descendants of
the distinguished American family of Hulls, who-
have won historical records as soldiers, naval
commanders and prominent southern planters.
The mother, Mary A. (Kaylor) Hull, was born
in Maryland ; her parents were natives of Ger
many. Our subject was reared in Ohio until he was
thirteen years of age, and there he first attended
the district schools in his vicinity. He was taken
to Illinois in 185 1, and seven years later, in 1858,
struck out into the world for himself. He rented
a farm in Illinois which he cultivated until 1888,.
when he came to Sherman county with his son;
one year later he was followed by the rest of the
family. In Pike county, Illinois, in 1858, he was joineu
in marriage with Mary F. Johnston, born in Illi
nois. Wnen she was quite a small child her fa
ther died. He was a member of the old Johnston
family, of Scotch ancestry, many of the members
of which became prominent in the Revolutionary
war and the war of 181 2. They were early pio
neers in Virginia.
Our subject has four brothers and four sisters ;.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

503

David, a farmer living in Adams county, Illinois ;
William, a Missouri farmer ; George and Thomas,
also of Adams county ; Rebecca, wife of George
Shearer, a farmer in Missouri ; Catherine, single,
residing in Adams county ; Caroline, wife of
Squire Mink, of Christian county, Illinois ; Mary,
wife of Henry Nebergall, a farmer in Missouri.
Mrs. Hull has two brothers and two sisters ;
Alexander, a physician, living in Missouri ; Ed
ward T, an Ohio farmer; Sarah A, widow of
Amos Emmerson, late of Texas ; Elizabeth E,
wife of George W. Pine, a farmer in Nebraska.
The fraternal affiliations of our subject are with
Griggsville Lodge, No. 45, A. F. & A. M, of
which- he has been a member since 1868. At
present he is unaffiliated with the I. O. O. F. and
M. v. . r\.. Politically he is a Democrat, and has
served as delegate to every Democratic county
convention for twelve years past. For twenty-
five years or more he was school director in Illi
nois and Oregon, for six years road commissioner
in Illinois, for four terms justice of the peace in
Sherman county, and for six years treasurer of the
commissioners. He came to Sherman county
with practically no capital, and has since accumu
lated a competence.

JOHN RUSCO MARTIN is one of the sub
stantial agriculturists of Sherman county and
has gained his present holding by virtue of his
industry and thrift since coming here. He re
sides now about three miles southeast from Moro,
where he has a fine estate of four hundred acres.
He has bought and sold much land since coming.
to the county and has largely given his attention
to farming and stock raising. He was born in
Chautauqua county, New York, on March 9,
183 1. John Allen Martin, his father, was a native
of Glasgow, Scotland and came to the United
States when sixteen years of age, being a drum
mer boy in the British Navy. He settled in
^..autauqua county, New York, and there mar
ried. Our subject was six years of age when the
family moved to Ohio and there engaged in farm
ing. Later, the father took up the woolen manu
facture business and about 1850, moved to Penn
sylvania and bought a woolen mill. Later he
sold out and started in near Waterford, Erie
county. Four years later, this property was de
stroyed by fire and then they moved to Wiscon
sin where he farmed until his death. In 1853, our
subject, being one of a company of eighteen
young men, crossed the plains with ox teams to
Hangtown, California. For eighteen months he
wrought in the mines, then bought a pack train
and went to Salt Lake City where he met his wife

and two children, who had come on from Penn
sylvania. After wintering- in Salt Lake City, they
journeyed on to San Bernardino, California,
where Mr. Martin farmed about three years and
operated a steam sawmill for a short time. Then
he went to Alameda co'unty and did diversified
farming. After that, he was in Los Angeles
county and did farming for fifteen years. He
operated a threshing outfit for a short time, but
owing to the fact that he lost three crops in suc
cession and to a defect in the title of his land, he
lost nearly his entire property. Selling as best
he could what little he had left, he came on to
Oregon, landing here in May, 1880. After spend
ing a year in Umatilla county, he took up the
place where he now lives and since then, this has
been ins headquarters for his operations.
In Waterford township, Erie county, Penn
sylvania, in 1851, Mr. Martin married Jane C.
Brown, who was born in Green township in the
same county. Her parents, Ezekiel and Cath
erine (blauson) Brown, were natives of Penn
sylvania and descended from Pennsylvania-Dutch
stock. Mr. Martin has one brother, James, liv
ing in Sherman county, and one sister, Hulda,
the widow of Dan Troops, in Geneva, Ohio. Mrs._
Martin has three sisters living; Eliza, wife of
George Rust, in Utah ; Amelia, wife of Andrew
McComb, in Utah; and Isadore, the wife of Mr.
Peck, in Utah. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have the
following named children; Dwight, near Marys
ville, California; Leroy H, near our subject, a
farmer ; Wilbert, in Morrow county, Oregon ;
Julius, in AIoscow, Idaho; Harvey U, a farmer
near Kent, Oregon ; Elwin, at home with subject ;
Etta, single, living in Moro.
Since the organization of the Republican
party, our subject has been a member of the same
although he has not been especially active in this
realm. For fifteen years, he has been school
director and has always labored for the welfare
of the country and community. Mr. and Mrs.
Martin are excellent people, highly esteemed and
among the best citizens of the county.

LADRU BARNUM, who is the assistant
manager of the W. W. & M. Company Bank and
warehouse at Moro, Oregon, is one of the most
successful young business men of this part of the
state. He has come to the front rapidly, owing to
his worth and stability and is being prospered in
his efforts excellently. Mr. Barnum is a native
Oregonian, being born in Moro, on May 17, 1877,
in the only house then standing in Moro. The
postoffice was not established here until some
thirteen years later. His father, Henry B, came

5°4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

to Oregon in the forties when a boy and settled in
Wasco county, in about 1857. He went away
once and came back in 1861 and took a squatter's
right, later purchasing a quarter section with
military script. He was one of the promoters of
the military road ancl died when our subject was
four years of age. fie married Elmira M. Mas-
siker, who was horn near Portland, ( )regon. After
Mr. Barnum's death, his widow married J. A.
West, and they now live in Tillamook county, this
state. Our subject was reared on the old home
stead with his brothers ancl sisters and received
his education from the public schools. In 1897,
he entered the employ of the Al. Al. Company,
having charge of a store, which they opened at
Klondyke in this county. After eight months of
service there, he came to their store in Moro and
two months later, entered the business college of
Portland, where he completed the commercial
course, receiving a full diploma. Then he re
turned to Moro and engaged in the same com
pany until 1900, when he entered his present
position and in this capacity, he has been operat
ing since. Mr. Barnum has shown himself to be
a keen financier, a man possessed of foresight
ancl excellent judgment, which have combined to
win and make the success that he now enjoys.
On June 30, 1900, Air. Barnum married Alay
Kunsman, who was born in Iowa where also her
parents, John W. and Alary (Thorne) Kunsman,
were born. The mother died in Aloro, in Febru
ary, 1904, and the father lives in W'asco county.
Mr. Barnum has two brothers, Elvin E. ancl Ar-
timus H, who live a few miles east from Aloro.
The three brothers own about three thousand
acres of land, half of which is under cultivation.
They feed from two to three hundred head of
cattle each winter, generally have about one hun
dred head of hogs, mostly Berkshires, ancl do a
general farming ancl stock raising business. They
have three registered bulls and also raise first
class mules. They use about thirty head of cat
tle ancl horses on their estate ancl are among the
heaviest and most substantial operators of the
county. Upon the father's death, the boys inher
ited three thousand dollars from the estate which
is invested in this large farm. Our subject has
a nice home in Aloro ancl is one of the leading
business men of the county. Pie has one sister,
Ora M, wife of Louie L. Peetz, who is men
tioned elsewhere in this volume. She was born
at The Dalles.
Mr. Barnum is a member of the A. F. & A.
M, being senior warden of the same ancl past
grand of the T. O. O. F. and belongs to the En
campment of the I. O. O. F. He is a member of
the Elks. Politically, he is allied with the Re
publican party and three times has been delegate

to the county conventions. He is as active in
this realm as his business will permit and takes
a deep interest in the improvement ancl building
up of the country for which he has always la
bored faithfully ancl wisely. Air. ancl Mrs. Bar
num are very highly respected people and are
leaders in society, while they have hosts of friends
in every part of the countr}-, being widely and
favorably known.

GEORGE W. BROCK, who stands at the
head of a nice furniture and house furnishing
business at Moro, Sherman county, is one of the
leading business men of the county and was born
in Illinois on October 25, 1857. Thomas Brock,
his father, was a native of Tennessee and his par
ents of Virginia. The paternal grandfather of
our subject fought in the Revolution and had one
heel shot away. He' endured all manner of hard
ships and afterward was frozen to death while
hunting, after the war was over. Our subject's
father served three years in Company K, One
Hundred ancl Twenty-second Regiment of Illi
nois Volunteer Infantry, fighting for the union
and his death occurred on January 15, 1888. He
had married Alargaret A. Etter, a native of Illi
nois, ancl now residing in Moro. Our subject
spent the first thirteen years of his life in Illinois
attending the district school and then the family
moved to Missouri, where they remained ten
years. During this time, he learned the miller's
trade, then went to Arkansas, later to Texas and
afteward returned to Illinois and in all these
places, was occupied at his trade. In 1888, Mr.
Brock arrived in Sherman county, having a fam
ily of a wife and two children ancl the capital of
eight dollars. He took government land, worked
at various employments and gradually improved
his place, later adding one-fourth of a section. He
also rented government land and farmed on an
extensive scale. In 1897, Mr. Brock came to
Moro ancl erected a building for a restaurant,
which he operated for a little over two years. In
February, 1901, he opened his present business
ancl has since given his entire attention to con
ducting the same, having met with splendid suc
cess in it.
In 1886, while in Missouri, Mr. Brock married
Alice Miller, who was born in Indiana whdre also
her parents were born. Her mother, Susan E.
(Stephens) Miller, died in Aloro in 1897. Mr.
Brock has four brothers ; Thomas R, a farmer in
Kansas; Isaac N, a railroad man in Missouri;
Samuel J, a farmer in Sherman county ; and
Charles W, a partner of our subject. Mrs.
Brock has three brothers; John I, in the Hood

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

O^O

River Valley ; Abraham H., in Idaho ; and Edgar
B, in Snerman county. She also has two sis
ters ; Clara, the wife of Wesley Roark, in Indian
Territory ; ancl Ida M, wife of Horace M. Strong,
who lives adjacent to Aloro and mentioned else
where in this work. Air. ancl Mrs. Brock have
four children, Edith P, aged eighteen; Alice J,
aged twelve ; George H, aged seven ; and Esther,
eight months of age.
Mr. Brock is a member of the I. O. O. F,
having been noble grand and delegate to the coun
ty lodge in 1903. He is also a member of the A.
O. U. W, and is past M. W. of that order. He
is a good strong Republican, has been delegate
to the conventions and since the incorporation of
Moro, has been a member of the city council. He
also is justice of the peace ancl is one of the sub
stantial and leading men of the town. Air. and
Mrs. Brock are both members of the United
Presbyterian church ancl he is a trustee of that
organization.

CHARLES E. HULL, the subject of this
sketch, is a successful ancl industrial farmer in
Sherman county, residing four miles northwest
of Wasco. He was born in Pike county, Illinois,
August 12, 1867. His father, John, a native of
Ohio, born January 29, 1838, was a Virginian,
and a member of the old ancl distinguished Hull
family, distinguished in American history as ex
tensive planters, military ancl naval officers. The
mother, Frances (Stafford) Hull, is a native of
Illinois. She lives in Sherman county with her
husband, ancl mention of both will be found in
another column.
In Illinois our subject grew up, attended the
public schools where he laid the foundation of a
good business education, until he was twenty
years of age. In 1888 he came to Sherman
county, accompanied by his father, the family
following one year later. Here the father filed
on a homestead and purchased a half section of
land later. Our subject bought four hundred and
eighty acres.
October 31, 1894, at Chico, California, Air.
Charles E. Hull was united in marriage to Aliss
Annie E. Gray, a native of Butte county, born
Alarch 21, 1874. She is the daughter of Jere
miah and Rachel (Aleeker) Gray, natives of Illi
nois. Jeremiah Gray was a descendant of an old
American family. He died in 1888. The mother
lives at Chico, California. Her parents were
well-to-do farmers in Illinois.
Our subject has five brothers and four sis
ters living: J. William, a miner at Taylorville,
Illinois ; Albert, a drayman at Goldendale, Wash
ington ; Frank ; Delphus, a barber in Wasco ;

Cecil, at home with his parents ; Kate, wife of
John C. Fields, living near our subject; Alary J,
single, at Aloro; Carrie, wife of Frank L. Mor
row, a blacksmith at Wasco ; Emma, wife of
William Al. Haggard, city marshal of Moro.
Air. Hull is a member of Sherman Lodge,
No. 157, I. O. O. F, of Wasco, of which he is at
present noble grand. In partnership with Ed
ward Miller he owns a steam thresher. Among
a large circle of acquaintances he is highly es
teemed ancl popular throughout the county.

ISAAC C. LARGE, proprietor of the Blue
Barn livery stable at Moro, Sherman county, was
born in Tennessee, July 9, 1864, the son of Perry
and Eliza (Spurgeon) Large, both natives of
Tennessee. The ancestry of Perry Large were
members of an old and distinguished southern
family, and several of his brothers served in the
Alexican War. Eliza (Spurgeon) Large de
scended from a noted Pennsylvania family num
bering many distinguished members through the
succeeding generations.
Until he was nineteen years old our subject
was reared in Tennessee, where he attended dis
trict schools ancl subsequently was a clerk in a
general merchandise store. On attaining his ma
jority he migrated to Oregon, locating first at
Heppner, Morrow county. For five years he was
in the employment of W H. Rush, an extensive
stock raiser, ancl he then purchased sheep and
devoted himself to that enterprise ten years in
Alorrow ancl Grant counties. He finally dis
posed of his sheep and for several years was en
gaged in buying and selling stock. After pass
ing a year in the Sumpter Alountain country, he
purchased an interest in the livery business in
Moro, associating himeslf with Will A. Water
man, a sketch of whom appears in another col
umn. June 30, 1903, at John Day, Grant county, our
subject was united in marriage to Mrs. Bernice
AIoss (Aloosier), born at John Day in 1869. Her
father, Alannel Aloosier, was a native of Con
necticut, the descendant of an old New England
family, and who crossed the plains with an ox
train. Our subject has two brothers: Robert L,
with the Palace Hotel, Heppner, and John, a
resident of Knoxville, Tennessee.
His fraternal affiliations are with Heppner
Lodge No. 69, A. F. & A. Al. Although he is a
Republican, he is not by any means an active
worker in the party ranks. He has, however,
patriotically served as delegate to county con
ventions. At the present writing he owns some
rich placer mining land in Grant county, which

5°6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

property he leases to the Empire Gold Dredging
Company. Air. Large is an excellent business
man, of sound judgment and one who has won
the confidence of the community in which he
is an influential and progressive citizen.
On November i, 1904, Mr. Large purchased
the interest of his partner, W. A. Waterman, in
the livery business and is now conducting it
alone. By his careful treatment of all custom
ers and his pains to secure their comfort and
safety, together with his strict business princi
ples, he is receiving a steadily increasing patron
age and his place of business is known as first
class.

FREDERIC MEDLER.' The subject of the
following biographical mention is the youngest
son of Bruno F and Alinerva J. Medler, and at
present he resides with his parents, three and one-
half miles northeast of Wasco, Sherman county.
He is a native Oregonian, having been born in
the county in which he now lives, July 25, 1883,
and is, at the present writing in his twenty-sec
ond year. He has secured a good business edu
cation in the public schools of Sherman county,
and assists his father and brothers in the multi
farious details of farm work on so extensive a
scale as they are conducted in this part of Ore
gon. Our subject has three brothers and four
sisters living, Julius, Albert, Walter, Fannie,
Mollie, Ida and May. One other sister, Henri
etta, who was the wife of William Herricks, ex-
county clerk and assessor of Sherman county,
died in 1902 at Moro. Mr. Medler is a popular
young man in the community in which he resides
and numbers a host of friends.
Our subject is in partnership with his brother,
Julius, and they operate their father's farm, rais
ing annually four hundred and fifty acres of
grain, mostly wheat. They have the best of stock
and machinery, and the farm is one of the land
marks of Sherman county, being one of the very
first improved here and producing one of the
first crops of wheat grown in what is now Sher
man county.

JOHN W. WATERMAN, of the firm of
Waterman & Large, proprietors of the leading
livery stable in Sherman county, resides at Moro,
where he numbers a wide circle of friends and
acquaintances. He is a true Oregonian, having
been born June 22, 1878, near Waterman post-
office, Wheeler county, named after his grand
father Waterman, who is mentioned elsewhere in

this work. His father, John W. Waterman, is
sketched biographically also in this volume. The
latter was proprietor of a stock ranch, and upon
this our subject was reared, and from which he
attended the public schools, acquiring a good,
business education.
Upon attaining his majority he secured land
near Antone, W'heeler county, and subsequently
purchased more until he at present owns three
hundred and twenty acres. During several years
he raised cattle and horses, and in October, 1903,
came to Moro and purchased a livery business
from George Eaton. June 1, 1904, he disposed
of a one-half interest in this enterprise to T. C.
Large. They have sixteen head of horses, ten
rigs and the most extensive business in this line
in the county.
At Caleb, Wheeler county, our subject
was married to Carrie Wolever, a native
of Indiana, born Alarch 10, 1876. Her father,
Sylvester Wolever, a native Indianian, lives at
.\ntone where he is extensively engaged in cattle
raising. Airs. Waterman has one brother and
two sisters ; W. Frank, with his father ; Hattie,
wife of George Hart, of Malheur county ; and
Letta, wife of Charles Crowder, an Indiana news
paper man. Air. and Airs. Waterman have one
child, Oscar L, born in November, 1903. Mr.
Waterman is a member of the M. W. A, of
Caleb. He is an active and staunch Republican
and has been delegate to county conventions in
Wheeler county, where he was quite active and
influential, as he has been since coming to Sher
man county.

WILL A. RAYAIOND, one of the energetic
and progressive citizens of Moro, Sherman
county, is a contractor, builder and photographer.
He was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, Oc
tober 13, 1864, the son of Charles and Caroline
(Golden) Raymond, both natives of the Wolver
ine State. The parents of Charles Raymond were
New Yorkers, of an old and distinguished Amer
ican family. The father of the mother of our
subject was a native of Ireland; her mother was
born in Michigan. Charles and Caroline Ray
mond are both deceased.
Until our subject was twenty-five years of age
he continued to reside in Michigan, the greater
portion of the time in Branch county. Here he
attended public schools, receiving a good busi
ness education, and learned the trade of a car
penter. Later he devoted his attention to farm
ing, and subsequently came to the Willamette
Valley where he remained four years engaged in
general carpenter work, contracting and build
ing. He was at The Dalles, Falls City, and vari-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

5°7

ous other localities, going thence to Yakima
county, Washington, where he still continued in
the line of his business. He, also, divided a por
tion of his time between Alontana and Califor
nia. It was in 1898 that he came to Sherman
county, locating at Moro, ancl one year after his
arrival he opened a fine and well appointed photo
graph gallery from which he turns out most ex
cellent work in that line.
Fraternally, he is a member of the W. W, of
Moro, and No. 113, I. O. O. F, and the Order
of Washington. Mr. Raymond has one brother,
Fred C, at Nampa, Idaho. In his line of busi
ness our subject built the Methodist Episcopal
church, the handsome residence of C. P. Rags
dale and many other buildings, the finest within
the limits of the city.

WALTER MEDLER. The subject of this
biographical article is one of the two youngest
sons of Bruno F. Medler, one of the leading citi
zens of Sherman county. The latter was born in
Germany, and his wife, the mother of our sub
ject, Mmerva J. (McLavey) Medler, is a na
tive of West Virginia. Walter Medler was born
in Walla Walla, Washington, in 1880. In part
nership with his brother, Albert, he handles two
sections of land belonging to his father, Bruno
Medler, which property they rent. They are suc
cessful agriculturists and are very prosperous
young men. Important details of our subject's
family will be found in the sketch devoted to
Bruno F. Medler.

GEORGE E. JAMES, deputy county clerk of
Sherman county, resides at Moro, the county
seat. He was born in Yamhill county, Oregon,
January 29, 1879, the son of George W. and
Mary E. (Bennington) James, both natives of
Illinois. The parents of the father were from
Ohiq or Indiana, and were descendants of the
old James family, early colonial settlers in Amer
ica. The first family came over in the May
flower, and were farmers. George W. James en
listed in 1862 in Company H, Seventy-seventh
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the
end of the war, participating in many battles and
skirmishes. He was captured at the first assault
on Vicksburg and paroled the same day. He
was a prominent member of the G. A. R, and our
subscriber is a member of the Sons of Veterans
at Eugene, Oregon, No. 78.
Until he was six years of age our subscriber
was reared in Yamhill county, Oregon, and then

the family removed to Sherman county. This
was in 1885. The parents, who had come to the
state in 1878, secured land nine miles southeast
of Moro. Young James received his early edu
cation in the district schools in his vicinity. In
1894 the family removed to Polk county, ancl he
entered the Monmouth State Normal School,
from which he was graduated in 1897. He then
entered the university at Eugene, where he pur
sued a thorough' course in electrical engineering,
ancl thence he went to Pennsylvania, where he-
enjoyed the benefits of a year's course in teleg
raphy in the Fisk Telegraph School at Lebanon.
Returning to Oregon he found lucrative employ
ment with the Wells-Fargo Express Company
ancl the Western Union Telegraph Company at
Eugene, and he was, also, six months with the
Southern Pacific Railway Company as assistant
night operator. At the termination of six months-
he rented his father's farm, and the latter moved
to Portland, where he died in 1901. At present
the mother resides at Moro with her son. The
farm is now conducted by our subject.
Tuly 5, 1904, he was appointed deputy county
clerk, under H. S. McDanel. October 17, 1900,
at Monkland, he was united in marriage to May
Axtell, born in Iowa, September 25. 1878, the
daughter of Oliver W. and Lizzie M. (Black)
Axtell, both natives of Pennsylvania, and now
living at Moro. The father is a retired farmer
who came to Sherman county in 1886. Our sub
ject has no brothers living; one, Arthur F, died
at the age of five years in Sherman county. Mr.
Tames has three sisters ; Luella L, wife of J. C.
Teale, a farmer near Monkland ; Metta G, wife
of Perry C. Axtell, of Monkland ; and Jerusha
C, wife of James W. Hollenback, of Moro. Mr.
and Mrs. James have one boy, Earl, born July
23, 1903. Mrs. James has four brothers and two-
sisters living: Perry C, at Monkland; Chester,
a school boy at Moro ; Herschel and Herbert,
twins and school boys ; Bertha V, wife of Rob
ert K. Hartsock, of Albany, Oregon ; and Nanna
C, a school girl. Another sisters, Nellie, died in
Iowa in childhood.

JULIUS MEDLER. The subject of this
sketch, one of the younger members of the Med
ler family, is a Sherman county farmer and gen-
eral business man. He was born in Cabell
county, West Virginia, September 30, 1869. His
father, Bruno F. Medler, who is mentioned fully
in another part of this volume, is one of the most
substantial ancl prominent citizens of Sherman
county. He was born in Germany, October 2,
1839. The mother of our subject, Minerva J-

5o8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

(AIcLavey) Aledler, was born in West Virginia.
Her ancestors were Pennsylvanians.
Julius Aledler, our subject, is a single man and
resides with his parents, taking an active part in
the cultivation of the farm. He was educated in
the public schools of Sherman county, and at
Walla Walla, Washington. Politically the prin
ciples of Air. Aledler are in line with those of the
Democratic party.
Air. Aledler is in partnership with his father
and brother, Frederic, in farming the old home
place of seven hundred acres. They handle about
four hundred and fifty acres to wheat annually,
and have the place fully equipped with all mod
ern conveniences and machinery, among which
may be mentioned the combined harvester which
requires thirty-two horses to operate and which
harvests and threshes thirty-five acres of wheat
in one dav.

PRESTON A. HAAIILTON, an energetic
young business man in Sherman county, is pro
prietor of the steam laundry at Aloro, Oregon,
of which state he is a native, having been born
at Prineville, Crook county, Alarch 10, 1879.
His father, George W. Hamilton, was a native
of Kansas City. Alissouri; his father of Scotland,
his mother of Wales. The father of our subject
died at Fossil, Wheeler county, Oregon, in the
fall of 1898. He came to the state in 1853 with
his parents, crossing the plains with an ox train,
via The Dalles. His father conducted a grist
mill at Salem, the capital, for a number of years.
He worked, also, for quite an extended period in
the Salem woolen mills, being a weaver by trade.
He was among the first weavers employed in
Oregon Citv. He was married in Salem. Our
subject's mother, Cynthia (Pugh) Hamilton, is a
native of Kansas ; her parents of Scotland. At
present she lives with the subject at Moro. She
crossed the plains in i860, going to Marysville,
California. In 1872, the family removed to Sa
lem, Oregon, and later went to Wheeler county,
where her father engaged in the stock business.
He died in Fossil in the spring of 1896.
In 1878 our subject's parents moved to Prine
ville where they engaged in the stock business. It
was at Prineville that he laid the foundation of an
excellent business education and was, also, three
years at the Northwestern University, at Salem.
He then learned the machinist's trade at Portland,
returning to Fossil in 1903. Here he assumed
charge of the electric plant for several months,
going thence to Condon, Gilliam county, where
he installed an electric plant and conducted the
same two months. Air. Hamilton then came to

Aloro, opened a fine steam laundry in which he
placed three thousand five hundred dollars worth
of the latest improved machinery, including a
ten-horse power steam engine. He has estab
lished agencies in Sherman, Wheeler and Crook
counties, and is doing as good work as can be
found anywhere on the northwestern coast.
Our subject is single. Fraternally his affilia
tions are with Fossil Lodge, No. no, I. O. O. F,
and the W. W. Politically he is in line with the
principles of the Republican party, although by
no means an active politician. It should be here
remarked that the father of our subject was a
very successful cattle raiser, an influential citi
zen and one who was highly respected by all. Our
subject is an only child.

CHARLES K. COCHRAN is one of the
largest landholders and most extensive farmers
in the northern portion of Sherman county. He
is a southerner by birth, the place of his nativity
being Alacon county. North Carolina, and the
date June 29, 1869. He is the son of Washing
ton and Amanda (Davis) Cochran, the father a
native North Carolinian ; the mother a native of
Scotland. The ancestry of the father were Irish.
The latter was a farmer, but served four years in
the confederate army during the Civil War. Fol
lowing the close of the trouble he returned to his
farm and remained a staunch Republican until
the day of his death, in 1899. He was' a highly
esteemed and respected citizen throughout his
life. The mother of our subject passed away
-when he was about seven years of age.
The subject of this sketch, Charles K. Coch
ran, was educated in the public schools and
worked with his father on the farm until he was
twenty-two years old. He then went to Cripple
Creek, Colorado, and visited other mining towns,
and worked at various employments for eighteen
years. After that he came to The Dalles, Ore
gon, where he found employment on the sheep
ranch of H. W. Wells, near Bakeoven, Wasco
county. Here he remained two years and then
engaged in the same business for himself two
years, and was eminently successful. Purchasing
a section of land four miles south of Aloro he
began raising cattle, having at present two hun
dred and seventy-five head on his place. He
has the present season (spring of 1905) one
thousand four hundred acres in wheat, and for a
range he rents seven sections of land. In June,
1904, Air. Cochran opened a meat market in
Aloro. May 10, 1896, at the residence of the bride's
parents, our subject was united in marriage to

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

509*

Mary O. Powell, born in Prineville, Crook
county, Oregon. She is the daughter of J. Mar
ion and Elza (Barr) Powell, who crossed the
plains with ox teams and were married in the
Willamette Valley. Our subject has one brother,
three half-brothers, three sisters and three half-
sisters, viz. : James, of Grass Valley ; William,
on subject's ranch; Edward and Harley, both at
home in North Carolina ; Jennie, wife of Ransom
Brown, a blacksmith and wagon maker, of High
lands, North Carolina ; Emma, wife of Robert
Bethel, of Crescent City, Florida ; Sarah, wife of
Jesse Dewese, a farmer near Hewitts, North
Carolina ; Hattie, Carrie, and Ollie, all single
and at the old home in North Carolina.
To Mr. and Airs. Cochran have been born
four boys, Loy, Lorin, Clarence and Norval.
Our subject is a member of Eureka Lodge, No.
121, A. F. & A. M, of Moro, and No. 113, I. O.
O. F. His political affiliations are with the Re
publican party. He is a man of sterling char
acter, honest and upright in his dealings, and of
superior business sagacity ancl sound judgment.
Socially and in a business way he has won, and
retains the confidence of his acquaintances and
numbers a wide circle of friends.

ALBERT MEDLER, who, with his brother,
Walter, rents two sections of his father's land,
which they cultivate together, is a native of West
Virginia. He was born in Cabell county, Oc
tober 26, 1875. His parents were Bruno and
Minerva J. (McLavey) Medler, the father a na
tive of Germany; the mother of West Virginia,
and who are mentioned prominently in another
portion of this work. Our subject came to Sher
man county with his parents at a very early age
and it may be said that his life has been passed
in this vicinity. Here he received the education
offered by the public schools of Oregon, and here
he worked with his father and brothers on the
home farm. He is an industrious young man
of most exemplary habits, and numbers many
friends in a wide circle of acquaintances.

FRANK MEDLER. The subject of our
biographical sketch is one of the enterprising
family of Medlers who have accomplished so
much in the settlement and upbuilding of Sher
man county, and who reside six miles northeast
of Rufus. He was born in Cabell county. West
Virginia, the son of John and Eliza J. (Hull)
Medler, mentioned elsewhere.
In the public schools of West Virginia and in

Sherman county our subject received a good bus
iness education, worked on his father's farm and
at various other pursuits. February 9, 1895,
near Grant, he was united in marriage to Aliss
Hattie M. Lovelace, born in Alarion county, Ore
gon. She is the daughter of Almanson and Allie
(White) Lovelace. The father is living in Van
couver, Washington; the mother is now the wife-
of Mr. Peter Fleck, of Rufus. Mrs. Medler has
three half-brothers, James and Joseph Brady,
and Roy Fleck, all farmers and residents of Gil
liam county, Oregon. Mr. and Airs. Aledler
have two children living: Francis J, born March
24, 1898 ; Delia M, born November 8, 1903. They
have lost two little girls, Idabel, born September
17, 1900, and died February 1, 1904; Winnie M,
born January 3, 1896, died January 10, the same-
month. Mr. Medler is a member of the M. W. A, of
Klondike. Politically he is independent.

PERRY A. VENABLE, who resides with his .
father, Francis A. Venable, and whose farm he
conducts, three miles south of Rufus, Sherman
county, was born in Klickitat county, Washing
ton, September 7, 1875. The mother of our sub
ject, previous to her marriage, was Jane Hub
bard. It was in Klickitat county that our subject
attended district and graded schools and here he-
acquired a good business education. He, also,
added to his by terms in the schools of Silverton,
and Sherman county, Oregon. Mr. Venable has
always resided with his parents and at present is
the chief factor on his father's farm, comprising -
about five hundred acres of land. He has been
thus occupied for the past seven years. Our sub
ject is a single man, energetic and industrious..
Politically he is a Democrat, but is by no means
an active partisan in the successive campaigns.

BENJAMIN F. PEETZ, deputy sheriff of
Sherman county, and one of the most popular
young citizens, resides at Moro. He is a Wash-
ingtonian by birth, the place of his nativity being
on his father's ranch, on the Snoqualmie river,
Novelty, King county, eighteen miles east of
Seattle. His father, Carl Peetz, mentioned else
where, was a native of Germany ; his mother,..
Christina (Schact) Peetz, the same. At present
she resides in Sherman county.
Our subject is a brother of Otto Peetz, asses
sor of Sherman county, a sketch of whom appears.
in another column of this work. Benjamin F.,

;io

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Peetz came to the county with his family when
he was about four years of age. He received a
good business education in the public schools of
Erskineville, and subsequently took a profitable
course in the Portland Business College. He
then engaged in the general mercantile business
with R. W. Montgomery, who is mentioned else
where, at Kent. Two years later they disposed
-of the business to Balfour, Guthrie & Company,
and returned to Moro, where our subject entered
the employment of the Moro Implement Company
which position he retained until he received the
.appointment of deputy sheriff, in July, 1904. He
is a Republican, although not an active politician.
Fraternally, he is a member of Lodge No. 131,
I. O. O. F, of Grass Valley; and Cascade Lodge
No. 303, B. P. O. E, of The Dalles. Mr. Peetz
is a man of sterling integrity and of superior busi
ness capacity, and one who is highly esteemed in
the community in which he resides, both socially
and in a business sense.
At the home of the bride's parents, on April
9, 1905, Mr. Peetz was united in marriage to Miss
Ethel Norcross, the daughter of W. A. and Rose
Norcross, prominent farmers of Sherman county
dwelling near Moro.

HENRY A. MEDLER, a progressive ancl
prosperous Sherman county farmer, living two
and one-half miles from Wasco, was born in West
Virginia, June 24, 1864. His father, John Med
ler, mentioned in another portion of this work,
is a native of Germany. His mother, Eliza J.
(Hull) Medler, was a native of West Virginia.
In the latter state our subject was reared until
1881. He then came with the family to Sherman
county. His education up to that period had been
gained in the district schools of West Virginia.
Until 1888 he remained with his father, and then
purchased a section of land of the East Oregon
Land Company. Upon attaining his majority
he had taken a homestead, and he now owns an
entire section, having sold one quarter to a
brother. Three-quarters of his land he rents.
He has built a handsome story and a half house,
a commodious barn and other outbuildings ; has
a windmill ancl an orchard of three hundred
trees. It is a model place in every particular.
April 9, 1897, at Aloro, Air. Aledler was mar
ried to Miss Annie Miners, born in Illinois, April
22, 1874. She is the daughter of Everett and
Alargretta (Bose) Miners. Her father is a na
tive of Germany, and is an extensive farmer in
Umatilla countv, where he cultivates a section and
a half of land. Mrs. Medler has four brothers and
five sisters ; Henry ancl William, of Umatilla

county; Martin, of Nez Perces county, Idaho;
Cornelius M, deceased; Hannah, wife of John
Hendricks, of Nez Perces county, Idaho ; Minnie,
wife of A. B. McMillan, of Auburn, Washington ;
Grace, wife of Gustave Rohel, also of Auburn ;
Elizabeth Pafley, who died in Juneau, Alaska,
June n, 1898; and Eva, the wife of Wallace Car-
gil, a farmer of Umatilla county, Oregon.
Mr. and Mrs. Aledler have two children,
Henry Arthur and Leona. He is a member of
the A. O. U. W, and, politically, a Democrat, al
though not an active partisan. In the community
in which he resides he is quite popular and num
bers many warm personal friends.
Mr. Medler has three brothers living : Ernest
A. and Frank, mentioned elsewhere in this vol
ume; John G, an extensive farmer dwelling near
our subject. He also had one sister and one
brother who were burned to death with their
mother when our subject's uncle's dwelling
burned in Walla Walla, Washington, in January,
1882.

HARRY ORNDUFF, one of the prosperous
and energetic agriculturists of Sherman county,
residing four miles east and two and one-half
miles north of Wasco, was born in Missouri,
September 16, 1879. His parents were Samuel
and Nancy M. (Everett) Ornduff, both natives
of Ohio. When our subject was three years of age his
parents removed to Iowa where they remained
nearly three years. Thence, in 1885, they came
to Sherman county, and the father filed on a
homestead and purchased another quarter section
of land. On this place he died in February,
1900, aged sixty-four years. The mother is now
the wife of John Medler, elsewhere mentioned
in this work. Young Harry attended the Bige
low district school and worked on the farm with
his parents until the fall of 1902. He then went
to McCook, Nebraska, where he remained about
one year, returning and renting the old home
place, one-half section, from his mother.
March 25, 1903, at AlcCook, Nebraska, Mr.
Ornduff was united in mariage to Miss Eva L.
Carson, a native of Iowa, and the daughter of
William and Annie T. (Everett) Carson. Her
father is dead ; her mother lives at lone, Oregon,
with her sons. Air. Ornduff has three brothers
and one sister ; Joseph, a Sherman county
farmer, at Emigrant Springs, eight miles from
Wasco; Pearl, on his uncle's place, Sherman
county ; Ross, clerk for the Wasco Commercial
Company, at Wasco ; and Addie, wife of Charles
Harper, a farmer in Wasco.
Mr. and Mrs. Ornduff have one child, Au-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

5"

gusta, born June 26, 1904. Politically, he is in
dependent. The mother of our subject is a sis
ter of S. J. Everett, popularly known as "Vene"
Everett, proprietor of the hotel and livery stable
at Dufur, mentioned elsewhere. Mr. Ornduff is
a young man of progressive views and of ex
cellent business ability.

BENJAMIN F. PIKE is a retired farmer
residing at Moro, but a distinguished soldier of
the Civil War, and one who has experienced
many adventures and vicissitudes in his career.
He was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts,
November 24, 1840. His father, Benjamin S.
Pike, was a native of New Hampshire, a farmer
and mechanic. For many years he was foreman
in a shipyard. He passed from earth in 1852.
The distinguished Pike family first settled on
Ring's Island, across the river from Newbury
port, about 1648. Nathan Pike, the great-grand
father of our subject, was a captain during the
Revolutionary War, in the Massachusetts Line
Infantry. Zebulon Pike, an uncle of our sub
ject's father, was a lieutenant colonel, and was
killed at Fort George during the War of 1812.
As is well known the Pike family hold an annual
reunion in New England.
Benjamin F. Pike was reared in Massachu
setts until the opening of the Civil War, when
he patriotically enlisted in Company B, Fortieth
New York Infantry, in June, 1861, and was mus
tered into service on the fourteenth of the same
month. He served until January 13, 1866, when
he was mustered out at Richmond, Virginia. He
participated in the battle of Williamsburg, and
he first saw active service during McClellan's
Peninsular campaign. He was in Pope's cam
paign in Virginia; Chancellorsville and Gettys
burg. He then accompanied the Army of the
James to Richmond where his command became
a part of the Twenty-fourth corps, and took part
in the capture of Petersburg and the surrender
at Appomattox. Subsequently he served in the
military police and provost guard in Richmond
until mustered out. He returned to Massachu
setts for a short visit, and then accompanied Col
onel Morrison's New York Battalion to Mexico,
joining Colonel Cortma's regiment in the Mexican
army. The next year saw the end of the war
and 'he returned to the United States, arriving
at San Francisco in April, 1867. He came to
Portland, Oregon, from San Francisco, going to
Linn county. Thence he went to Umatilla coun
ty, where he located a sawmill on Butter creek,
and then returned to Linn county where he mar
ried and remained about eight years, returning

to Umatilla county, where he became one of the
first settlers in the Cold Springs country. Here
he secured land, remaining five years, going
thence to The Dalles where for two years he was
engaged in freighting. In 1883 Mr. Pike lo
cated in Sherman county, three miles from Moro,
where he purchased land and has continued to
add more ever since. He owns at present one
thousand acres which is conducted by his son,
Irwin D, his only living child.
May 7, 1871, our subscriber, at Lebanon, Linn
county, was united in marriage to Mahala G.
Denny, a native of Unio, born October 30, 1842.
she is the daughter of Christen and Eliza ( Nick
erson) Denny, the former a native of Virginia ;
the latter of Alassachusetts. The father was a
descendant of a distinguished Virginia family,
the mother of Cape Cod colonial people. Mrs.
Pike, the wife of our subject, has one brother
living, John F, a retired farmer living at Albany,
Oregon. Judge Owen N. Denny, who became
prominent in Oregon affairs, died at Portland,
in 1900. Another brother, Presley, died at Salt
Lake City, Utah, in 1900. He was a leading
attorney in that state. She has one sister, Sarah
E, wife of William H. Goltra, of Albany, Ore
gon. Our subject is a member of William T. Sher
man Post, G. A. R, of Wasco, of which he is
commander. He is also commander of the De
partment of Oregon, G. A. R.
Airs. Pike was about eight years old when
her family crossed the plains in 1852 with fifty-
two wagons in the train. The party was con
stantly annoyed by Indians, who ran off their
stock and committed other depreciations. They,
also, captured two men of the party, who escaped
three weeks later. While on this perilous trip
her father contracted typhoid fever, dying one
,week after their arrival in Linn county. Judge
Owen Denny, her deceased brother, was a min
ister to Corea.
Air. Pike was elected assessor of Sherman
county in 1896, and re-elected in 1898, and again
in 1900, serying three terms in the office.

WILLIAAI H. RAGSDALE. attorney at law
and member of the law firm of Hosford & Rags
dale. Aloro, Sherman county, was, born in Mis
souri, January 25, 1872, the son of Christopher
C. and Alary L. (Hampton) Ragsdale, who are
mentioned in this volume in the biographical
sketch of Commodore P. Ragsdale. At present the
mother resides in the house adjoining that of
our subject.
The latter was reared in Sherman county

5"

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

since attaining the age of ten years. Here he at
tended the public schools, laying the foundation
of an excellent education, and subsequently was
matriculated in the State Normal School at Mon-
moutn, from which he graduated in 1896. Until
June, 1898, he taught school, and was then
elected by the Republicans county superintend
ent of instruction, and re-elected in 1900, re
ceiving handsome majorities at each election. In
1899 he began reading law with J. B. Hosford,
who had practiced in Aloro for a number of
years. December 23, 1898, he formed a partial
partnership with Air. Hosford, and in 1901 they
were full partners. Air. Hosford opened an
office in Portland in 1904.
At the residence of the bride's parents, Sher
man county, October 20, 1900, our subject was
united in marriage to Lida H. Belchel, a native
of Oregon, born at McAIinneville, Yamhill coun
ty. Her parents were Charles H. and Mary
(Sink) Belchel. Her mother is a sister of
George Sink, mentioned elsewhere. Mrs. Rags
dale has one brother and six sisters ; George, liv
ing at Woodland, California, where his parents
also reside ; Ella, wife of Warren Aiyers, of
Woodland ; Jennie, wife of J. B. Alorrison, also
of Woodland ; Maud, wife of Thomas Collins, of
Collins, California ; Evalyn, Vera and Alary, all
single. Air. and Airs. Ragsdale have one child,
Evalyn R, aged twenty months.
The fraternal affiliations of our subject are
with Aloro Lodge No. 113, I. O. O. F, and A.
O. U. W, No. 64, of Aloro, of which he is past
master workman. Airs. Ragsdale is a member
of the United Presbyterian church.
Air. Ragsdale is a member of the city council,
and was a delegate to the last county Republican
convention. During the Civil war his father en
listed in the Second Kansas Cavalry, in 1862,
serving until the close of the war. He was must-
tered out at New Orleans, having been in active'
service from the date of his enlistment. Our
subject is one of the promising and rising young
men of the state. He has recently completed a
handsome two-story and a half house, Queen
Anne style of architecture, on an eligible site
overlooking the town of Moro.

COLONEL JAMES FULTON was one of
the best known men of Sherman and Wasco
counties, being a forceful and leading character
in all good work of forwarding the interests of
the country, as well as in pioneer efforts. He
was born in Indiana while his father and mother
were natives of Virginia and North Carolina,
respectively, being of Irish ancl German extrac

tion and were married in 1793. He was reared
in his native haunts until the time of his marriage,
which, also, was celebrated in Indiana. His
chosen bride, Priscilla Wells in maiden life, was
born in Kentucky, her parents being natives of
North Carolina or Virginia. The family of Wells
came on to the territory now embraced in Ken
tucky in very early clays and, in fact, Mrs. Ful
ton's father was a scout for Daniel Boone, which
celebrity was a relative of the Fulton family.
The Wells family was one of the strong Amer
ican families of early colonial days and was well
known, possessing many members who were per
sonages of note. General Wells, a noted Indian
fighter and pioneer of Indiana, was a member of
this family. The Fulton family, also, was one
of those strong ones which furnished patriots
for the various struggles that fell to the lot of
the colonists and the rising young republic des
tined to throw its shadow around the globe. Our
subject partook of the strong pioneer spirit that
was so developed in his family, and sought fields
to explore, and determined to take forward in its
onward course the star of empire that was shin
ing westward. Soon after his marriage he took
his bride and together they traveled to Missouri
where they opened a place and remained for seven
years. Then, it being 1847, his spirit burned to
try the fortune of the westmost west, and, ac
cordingly, he prepared ox teams and with his
young family started across the plains toward the
"mecca of the west," the Willamette valley. They
threaded the unknown regions with the help of
the light trail so recently marked out and in due
time, after innumerable hardships, they came to
the Cascades, having utilized their wagon boxes
for ferries, as occasions required, especially hav
ing a hard time at Buck Hollow on the Des
Chutes, where they had thus used the improvised
boat. They made their way over the new Barlow
trail across the Cascades and in the end landed,
weary and worn, in the Willamette valley. After
search, Air. Fulton made settlement in what is
now Yamhill county, and at once set to work
to improve and subdue the donation claim he had
taken. The next year, 1848, he went to Cali
fornia to mine, was successful and then returned
in a Spanish sailing vessel to Astoria. He was
a prominent man in all lines of worthy endeavor
there from the start and was soon elected
colonel of the militia. Later, in 1855-6, he served
in the Indian wars, being private and quarter
master. During his business life Colonel Fulton was
engaged in general fanning, stock raising and
speculating in land and on stock drives. He used
to drive stock to the mines and as early as 1857,
he located a stock ranch east of the Cascades,.

Col. James Fulton

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

513

his home being on Tenmile creek, but the stock
being placed mostly east of the Des Chutes. The
winter of 1861 was a hard one and his losses
aggregated one thousand head. From the time
of this move until his death the colonel was a
resident of Wasco and Sherman counties.
On March 16, 1896 the summons came for
him to lay down the cares of life and enter upon
the realities of another world. He lacked then
but one day of being eighty years of age. He had
hosts of friends and many evidences of sincere
mourning, widespread and universal, were to be
seen on every hand. In January, 1902, the widow,
aged eighty-six, was taken by death, being at the
time in St. Vincent hospital in Portland.
Colonel Fulton always took an active part in
political matters and held many responsible posi
tions. In 1870 he represented the county of
Wasco in the state legislature. In 1880 he was
presidential elector for eastern Oregon. From
Paoli, Orange county, Indiana, his birth place,
he traveled by wagon to the coast and was a
sturdy and progressive man. His mother Cath
erine (Lynch) Fulton, a native of North Caro
lina was a cousin of Thomas Lynch who signed
the Declaration of Independence. She was, also,
the granddaughter of Mollie Souther, who loaned
the Continental Congress two hundred thousand
dollars of Dutch money to assist in the prosecu
tion of the war of independence. The families
on both sides have not- been wanting in that
patriotism and stamina which marks the real
American citizen, and before the United. States
existed they showed that same commendable
spirit, and Colonel Fulton, a worthy descendant
of such ancestors, lived and died a man of honor,
uprightness and wisdom.

CAESAR C. HUCK, one of the solid, sub
stantial German agriculturists of Sherman
county, residing two and one-half miles northeast
of Wasco, was born in Hamburg, Germany, De
cember 24, 1847. His parents, John and Maria
(Brunkhorst) Huck, were German born. The
father died in 1861 ; the mother in 1856. For many
years John Huck was engaged in market gar
dening on the outskirts of Hamburg on his own
land, about ten acres which had descended from
his father and several generations.
Our subject came to the United States in
1872 and remained nine months in Iowa. Thence
he went to California where he purchased land
in Solano county, near Dixon. In 1884 he dis
posed of this place to advantage and removed to
Sherman county. Here he purchased four hun
dred acres and also filed on a homestead adjoin

ing. Later he purchased more land and he now
owns eight hundred acres nearly all of which js
tillable. Our subject was married June 10, 1877, at
Dixon, California, to Louisa Hanke, born near
Dixon. Her parents, Herman and Sophy Hanke,
came to Dixon in 1857. They had been married
in St. Louis, Missouri.
Our subject has one brother and one sister,1
John, a bookkeeper in San Francisco, and BerT
tha, wife of Richard Peterson, of Hamburg, Ger
many. Another sister, Ida, is deceased. Mrs.
Huck has four brothers and three sisters ; Henry,
of Sanger, California ; William, the same ; Louis,
of Dixon ; and Charles, of Sanger, all farmers ;
Carrie, wife of Victor Thompson; Annie, wife
of Woodford Ward ; Minnie, wife of Harry Gal-
agher, all farmers near Sanger, California. Mr.
and Mrs. Huck have seven children ; Herman, a
farmer near Wasco ; Charles, aged nineteen, #t.
home ; William AIcK, aged seven, at home ;
Mary, wife of Isaac Ross, a lumberman of Kelso,
Washington ; Annie, aged seventeen ; Bertha,
aged fifteen ; Hazel, aged ten, all at home.
Politically, our subject is a Republican, not
active, but stanch enough to name one of his sons
William McKinley. Both himself and wife are
members of the Lutheran church. Our subject's
parents were well-to-do people in Germany.
There he received an excellent public school edu
cation. He served three years in the German
army and passed through the Franco-Prussian
War. Air. Huck was apprenticed to learn farm
ing and served two years. He paid his board
the first year and the second received his board
for his work. He was then fitted to assume
charge of large farms and was foreman of an
extensive plantation with from fifty to one hun
dred men under him, for two and one-half years.
He then entered the army. At the expiration of
his term of service he came to the United States.

OSCAR P. HULSE, who is one of the lead
ing and influential citizens of Sherman county,
and a heavy dealer in groceries and farming im
plements at Moro, is an Ohioan, having been
born in Clinton county, July 10, 1855. His
father, Paul Hulse, was a native of the Buckeye
State ; his parents of Kentucky. The -family is
of German ancestry. Paul Hulse was for many
years one of the leading stock-dealers in Ohio,
a stanch Republican and prominently identified
with state politics. At various times he held
every ofnce within the gift of his county, and
was closely connected with the anti-slavery move
ment and one of the leading spirits of the "under-

33

5*4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ground railway" in Ohio. He spent much of his
time and money freely in aid of escaping slaves.
With the opening of the war he was so closely
tied up with the movement for the liberation of
slaves that it was impossible for him to go to
tne front without seriously hampering the work.
Throughout the whole course of the war he was
in close touch with the principal leader of the
cause. He died in Ohio, in 1868, on the place
Where lie was born and reared, and was sincerely
mourned by all who knew him ; a man of strict
integrity and honesty of purpose. The mother,
Mary (Lyon) Hulse, was a native of the same
state and county. Her family came from Ire
land with the forebears of the Blaine family,
one of them the grandfather of Hon. James G.
Blaine, ancl a firm and unalterable friendship has
always existed from generation to generation be
tween them. General Lyon, killed at the battle
of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, during the Civil
war, was her first cousin, and a life-long friend
of James G. Blaine. At present she lives at As
toria, aged seventy-six years.
Until he attained the age of twenty-five our
subject lived in Ohio. He was educated in Sa-
bina, graduating from the high school. Subse
quently he learned the drug business and studied
medicine three years. He then opened a drug
store, disposed of it later and went to Lafayette
county, Kansas, where for nine years he dealt in
stock. He was then located for a year in Ray
county, Missouri, in the same line of business,
coming to Sherman county in 1890. He pur
chased land and farmed until 1902, when he dis
posed of his property, a section, and engaged in
the real estate and loan business. Disposing of
this enterprise he took up his present business
in March, 1904. Politically, Mr. Hulse is a Re
publican, but not active.
He has five brothers and four sisters; John;
Squire, a Misouri farmer; Richard, in the insur
ance business ; Charles, in Oregon ; and Reed, a
larmer of Sherman county; Sally, wife of Wil
liam Reed, of Royerton ; Martha, wife of Alilton
E. Hunt, of Clinton county, Ohio ; Lillie, wife of
William Taylor, of Washington, Iowa ; and Jen
nie, a teacher in the high school at Astoria.
At Wilmington, Ohio, December 16, 1876,
our subject was married to Mary A. Howard,
born in Ohio, the daughter of Cornelius and
Maria (Lytle) Howard, the father a native of
Ohio ; the mother of Pennsylvania. The latter
now lives in Ohio ; the father died in that state
in 1904. Mrs. Hulse has five brothers and four
sisters; William, James, George, Elmer ancl
Grant, all Ohio farmers ; Elizabeth, wife of Wil
liam Clara ; Ellen, wife of Thomas West ; Diana,
wife of Daniel Baker, and Minerva, wife of Cary

Clark. To our subscriber and his estimable wife
have been born three children ; Roy, in partner
ship with his father ; Guy and Ray, in attendance
at the Astoria high school. Our subscriber's ma
ternal grandmother (Roberts) was a first cousin
of Elizabeth Meeks, famous in the pioneer his
tory of Kentucky. At the time her house was
attacked by Indians, who cut a hole through the
door, she killed them and dragged them in
tnrough the aperture. She was not molested
herself, but her family had many narrow escapes ;
the barn was burned, stock stolen, etc.
In conclusion let us say that Mr. Hulse is a
man of sterling worth, popular in both social and
business circles, and highly esteemed by all.

THOMAS R. McGINNIS, a retired farmer,
now residing at Moro, Sherman county, is a
native of the Buckeye state, having been born in
Carroll county, Ohio, December 2, 1855. His
father, James McGinnis, was a native of Penn
sylvania, Allegheny county ; his parents the same.
His grandfather came from Scotland. James
McGinnis was a farmer, and was prominently
identified with the United Presbyterian church.
The mother of our subject, Mary (Ramsey) Mc
Ginnis, was a native of Ohio ; her grandparents
of Scotch and German descent.
The subject of our sketch was reared princi
pally in the states of Indiana and Illinois. His
parents removed west when he was an infant,
subsequently going as far as Iowa, where he com
pleted his education in Amity College, College
Springs, Iowa. The twelve following years he
was engaged in farming for himself in Iowa and
Nebraska, where he secured land. These agri
cultural enterprises did not prove successful and
he decided to cast his fortunes with the com
paratively new state of Oregon, and, accord
ingly, in the spring of 1895, he came to Sherman.
county, without capital, and entered the employ
ment of the Hon. R. J. Ginn, serving as clerk in
the latter's store. At the termination of three
years lie purchased a farm containing three hun
dred and twenty acres, later selling the same,
and still later buying more land. At present he
owns four hundred and eighty acres, all superior,
arable ancl tillable land, and , one of the best
ranches in Sherman county.
At College Springs, Iowa, January 30, 1883,
our subject was united in marriage to Maggie
Coleman, a native of Bremer county, Iowa. Her
father, William Coleman, mentioned elsewhere
in this work, was a native of Pennsylvania. Her
mother, Mary (Woods) Coleman, also a native
of the Keystone State, was descended from old

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

515

Pennsylvania stock, of Irish ancestry. At present
she lives with our subject at Moro. The latter
has two brothers, John M. and William, both
farmers in Iowa, and two sisters, Anna E, wife of
John George, of Carroll county, Ohio, and Emma,
wife of David McAfee, a Page county, Iowa,
farmer. Mr. and Mrs. McGinnis have been
blessed with five interesting children, who are
living; Leroy, now at home and recently gradu
ated from the Capital Business College, of Salem ;
Alice, aged sixteen ; Forrest, aged fourteen ; Iva
B, a beautiful girl of eleven years of age; and
J. Lewis, aged eight. Jessie, another girl, died
April 21, 1 90 1, aged sixteen, at the Lidgerwood
Sanitarium, Spokane, Washington.
Mr. McGinnis, the subject of this brief sketch,
is a genial broad-minded and progressive citizen,
enjoying wide popularity and esteem throughout
the community. He has won the confidence of
all in his circle of acquaintances, and is a man
with a clean record. He has been a stanch Repub
lican throughout his life, with the exception of a
temporary affiliation with the People's party in
Nebraska, where he was a member of the state
central committee. In 1900 Mr. McGinnis was
nominated by the people's independent party in
Sherman county for the office of sheriff, and
elected, running ahead of his ticket, by a majority
of eighty-six. In 1902 he announced himself as
an independent candidate for the same office,
Was endorsed by the Democratic party, and
elected by a majority of one hundred and ten.

BRUNO F. MEDLER, one of the most sub
stantial farmers and prominent citizens of Sher
man county, lives three and one-half miles north
east of Wasco. He was born in Germany, Oc
tober 2, 1839, the son of Henry and Doris (Sense)
Medler, Germans. Henry, who was born in
Brunswick, Prussia, was for many years engaged
in the manufacture of jewelry in Magdeburg,
near Berlin. He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, where
he was employed in jewelry work for many years.
At this trade he was very expert doing the finest
kind of diamond setting, enameling, etc. The
mother, born at Magdeburg, died in Sherman
county in 1883. The couple came to the United
States in 1847 when our subject was nearly six
years old. They lived in New York city two
years. Here our subject attended the public
schools. When sixteen years of age he, with his
brother, John, were apprenticed to G. R. Down
ing & Sons, manufacturers of jewelry on Maiden
Lane. Our subject only served one, while the
brother served two, years. Close confinement
undermined their health and physicians advised

the father to place them on a farm. He purchased
one in West Virginia. The father, who had rented
this land three years previously, returned to New-
York city and remained three years, going back
to West Virginia. Until 1876 Bruno remained
on the farm, going thence to Walla Walla, Wash
ington, accompanied by his half brother who had
settled in the Walla Walla country in 1861. Our
subject brought his family with him and they
lived with the half-brother, Julius Wiesick, four
years. From Walla Walla Mr. Medler came to
Sherman county in 1880. He filed on a pre-emp
tion claim, purchased three quarter sections of
railroad land ancl engaged in the business of rais
ing wheat. He harvested his first crop in 1881 —
sixty acres. Although he had, practically, no
capital, he gradually increased his holdings. The
half-brother came to Sherman county ancl, also
secured land, which he sold to C. C. Huck, a
sketch of whom appears in another column. Julius
Weisick died at Grant, Sherman, county.
At present our subject owns two thousand
six hundred and twenty acres which is, mostly,
devoted to wheat. Some of this land he rents,
but the greater portion of it is farmed by his sons.
His residence is a comfortable two-story house,
surrounded with many shade trees and four acres
of orchard. He is now retired, passing most of
the summer months in his garden in which he
takes especial pride. It is freely irrigated, ancl
he grows the finest quality of fruit and vege
tables. He is a partner with J. Marsh, firm of
Marsh & Medler, in Wasco, and he has other
commercial interests in town.
Near Huntington, West Virginia, November
26, 1864, our subject was united in marriage to
Minerva J. McLavey, born in West Virginia.
Her parents, originally from Pennsylvania, were
born in America. She is the daughter of David
and Mary McLavey, the mother a native of Penn
sylvania. They both died in West Virginia on
the old home place. Our subject has one brother,
John, mentioned elsewhere. Mr. and Mrs. Aled
ler have eight children living ; Julius with sub
ject ; Albert and Walter, renting two sections
of subject's land; Frederick, at home; Fannie E,
wife of John Hood, near Walla Walla, Washing
ton, a member of the Hood family historically
prominent in the annals of Walla Walla county ;
Mollie, wife of Elvin Barnum, mentioned in
another column; Ida, wife of Howard Woolen,
who rents one-half section of land from our sub
ject ; Alay, single, and residing at home. Hen
rietta died in 1902 at Moro. She was the wife
of William Herricks, ex-county clerk and asses
sor of Sherman county.
Politically, Mr. Aledler is a Democrat, ancl
takes an active part in the campaigns of his party.

5*6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

He has frequently been delegate to Democratic
county conventions and has served one term as
county commissioner before the cutting off of
Sherman county. He at one time was a candi
date for the legislature but was defeated. Of late
years he has given little attention to politics.
The paternal ancestors of Air. Medler came
of a race of skilled mechanics. His great-grand
father was a saddler to the Duke of Brunswick.
Personally he is a popular man and a progressive,
influential citizen.
Mr. Medler operated the first header and
thresher in the territory now embraced in Sher
man county. In 1881 he cut and threshed all the
wheat and other small grain grown between the
John Day and the Des Chutes rivers.

DE WITT C. IRELAND, senior member of
the firm of Ireland & Son, printers and publish
ers of the Sherman County Observer, at Moro, is
a veteran journalist whose career has embraced
a most extensive field in the great newspaper
world. He comes of good old New England
stock, having been born at Rutland, Vermont,
July 4, 1836, the son of William and Mar inda
(Ellsworth) Ireland.
The family of our subject migrated to Indiana
when he was about three or four years of age,
and he received an excellent education in an
Episcopal school, the pastor of which, in addi
tion to a judiciously selected curriculum, taught
him the printing trade, at which he became ex
ceedingly expert. This was in Mishawaka, Indi
ana. His subsequent career in the newspaper
field is full of interest. Removing to South Bend,
Indiana, when he was fifteen years old, he worked
on a journal edited by Schuyler Colfax, who be
came vice-president of the United States under
President U. S. Grant, three years later he re
turned to Mishawaka and projected the Free
Press. This was on July 14, 1855, and the paper
was conducted a year or two. Disposing of this
property he went to Detriot, Michigan, where he
was engaged by Wilbur F. Story, of the Detroit
Free Press, as a reporter. From here he went
to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was connected
with the Pioneer Press. At one period he was
superintendent of the penitentiary printing office,
at Jackson, Michigan. While there he invented
a scientific gear for printing presses, and later
worked for the eminent old-time journalist,
Horace Greeley, on the 'New York Tribune, in
the mechanical and editorial departments. Mr.
Ireland was, also, for a time connected with the
mechanical department of the great publishing
house of Harper & Brothers, New York city.

Returning west as a secretary of the Egbert
Commission of Congress, he visited New Ulm,.
Fort Ridgely, and so forth, in the effort to settle
timber stealing and liquor selling on the Sioux
reservation. He conveyed machinery for the-
steamer Anson Northrup, overland, to Red River
— the first steamboat in the country. In the early
part of the Civil war our subject enlisted for
three months, but on reaching St. Louis the com
pany was disbanded, and its officers tried to in
duce its members to join the ranks for threer
years or during the war. Returning to St. Paul
he outfitted for Oregon, and with a mule train he
crossed the plains in the fall of 1861, bringing,
with him the famous stallion, "Emigrant." While
at The Dalles Mr. Ireland set up the first job
press — a Gordon — ever put into commission east
of the Cascades in the Oregon country.' It came.
west via the "Horn" and was sent out to W. H.
Newell of The Dajlles Mountaineer. During five
or six years he was more or less in gold mining.
In 1870 he entered the employment of the famous
Ben Holliday, assisting in securing the right of
way for the O. & C. railway from Oregon City
to Salem on the east side of the Willamette
river. He then became editor of the Portland.
Bulletin, Holliday's paper, was previously city
editor of the Portland Oregonian, during which
time he employed Harvey Scott, its present pro
prietor, as editorial writer and as custodian of the
Portland library. Going to Oregon City Mr. Ire
land established the Enterprise in 1866 and subse
quently the Astorian, in 1873; disposing of the
property in 1880. Going to the Fraser river in,
1882 he became interested in salmon canning, and
afterwards he established a job printing office in
company with F. W. Baltes in Portland at the in
stance of Henry Villard. Going to The Dalles
he became editor of the Chronicle, and later for a
few months he was editor of the Wasco County
Sun. The flood of 1894 ruined the plant, and in.
May, of that year, he came to Sherman county
and purchased the Moro Observer, subsequently
changing the name to the Sherman County Ob
server. Our subject has, by his first wife, one child
living: Alba, a Chicago painter; by his second
wife, Lillie, wife of Grant L. Rohr, an orchardist,
of Moro; De Witt L, of Sidney, Australia;.
C. Leonard. The latter was born February 22,
1875, at Astoria, at present he is in partnership-
in the printing business with his father. C.
Leonard Ireland was united in marriage, October
z5> I9°3» at Randall, Minnesota, to Laura
Thomas, a native of Canada, the daughter of
Samuel Thomas, also of the Old Dominion.
Another son of our subject is Francis C, at
present in the De Moss Springs Printing office..

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

517

C. Leonard grew up in the printing business
and has been a partner of his father since 1885,
with the exception of two years passed in Port-
.land. Our subject is, fraternally, a member of the
A. F. & A. M, the I. O. O. F. and the K. P.
He is a member of the Episcopal church and
politically a Republican. In 1880 he was elected
a delegate to the Republican national conven
tion, at Chicago, which nominated President Gar
field, and was Garfield's private secretary during
the convention. Mr. Ireland is a broad-minded
and progressive citizen, and one who has won
-the confidence of the community in which he
resides.

HORACE STRONG, one of the leading cit
izens and successful agriculturists of Sherman
county, resides at Moro, Oregon, the state of his
nativity. He was born at Myrtlecreek, Douglas
county, January 2, 1869.
His father, John Strong, a native of Missouri,
was a descendant of an old American family, who
originally spelled the name "Armstrong." The
mother, Margaret (Badger) Strong, was a na
tive of Arkansas ; her parents, members of a dis
tinguished American family, were born in Mis
souri. Both families were pioneers in new
states, each generation assisting energetically in
building up numerous commonwealths.
In 1852 the subscriber's parents, then young
children, made the trip across the plains with
their parents. These families came from Mis
souri and located near each other in Linn county,
Oregon. But up to that time they were not ac
quainted with each other. They acquired land by
purchase, and here the parents of our subject
¦grew to manhood and womanhood and were mar
ried. When our subject was thirteen years of
age his parents came to Sherman county, where
his father filed on land. In the fall of 1881 he
harvested some wheat. But his attention was
devoted principally to the rearing of stock. Grad
ually he grew more ancl more wheat until he had
one hundred and sixty acres devoted to that cer
eal. At one period he owned three-fourths of a
section of land, but he never cultivated wheat on
a large scale. He died on the home place near
Moro in 1891. The mother of our subject now
lives at Newberg, Oregon.
The year following the death of his father
Mr. Strong began life on his own account. He
first rented the place where he at present lives, in
1897. It comprised five hundred and twenty
acres, and was owned by three different parties.
At different periods he bought out each of these
partners. This handsome property is eligibly lo

cated three-quarters of a mile from the Sher
man county court house, at Moro.
June 6, 1892, at Aloro, Mr. Strong was mar
ried to Ida Al. Miller, born in Kansas September
21, 1867. Her father, William, was a native of
Indiana, and died when Airs. Strong was four
years of age. He was a member of an old Amer
ican family. Her mother, Susan E. (Stephens)
Aliller, was born in Tennessee. Her brother
served in the Mexican War and died from the
effects of hardship and exposure on his way
home. His name was Hiram, and he was de
scended from the old American family of Steph
ens, distinguished in war, literature and law.
Mr. Strong, our subject, has three brothers
and one sister : George E, of Sherwood, Oregon ;
Ephraim, of Wilcox, Sherman county ; Harvey,
with our subject; Ella, wife of A. B. Walford, in
the employment of the railroad at Shaniko,
Wasco countv. Airs. Strong has three brothers
and two sisters : John J, mentioned elsewhere, of
Hood River ; Abraham H. ; Edgar, of Moro ;
Alice, wife of G. W. Brock, a merchant of Moro,
who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume ;
Clara, wife of Wesley R. Roark, of the Indian
Territory. Our subscriber ancl wife have three
children: Leon, born March 13, 1893; Trueman,
born Alarch 16, 1895 ; and Alable V, born Oc
tober 30, 1898. Air. Strong is a member of
Aloro Lodge, I. O. O. F. Mrs. Strqng is a
member of the Baptist church. Politically he is
a Democrat, ancl although not particularly active,
has frequently been a member of county con
ventions. He aspires to no office. He owns a
substantial story ancl one-half house, pleasantly
situated. In the community in which he resides
Air. Strong and his estimable wife are highly
esteemed.

HON. ROBERT J. GINN, manager of the
Aloro Implement Company, of Moro, Sherman
county, is a Canadian, having been born in Stor-
mont county. Eastern Ontario, December 15,
1857. His father, Richard Ginn, was a native
of Scotland, dying at Walla Walla, Washington,
in 1899. His mother, Catherine (Kinnere) Ginn
is a native of Canada, of Irish descent, and at
present resides at Walla Walla. The family re
moved to Minnesota when our subject was nearly
three years of age. in the fall of i860, arriving
there on the day Abraham Lincoln was elected
president of the United States. There they re
mained ten years, and in the fall of 1870 came
to Oregon, via the railroad to Kelton, Utah.
Here the father, who had preceded them in the
spring, met them with teams, and they all took
their way thence to Umatilla county, Oregon.

-,ii

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

They located one mile from Weston where they
lived until 1897 and then moved to Walla Walla,
Washington. In the public schools of Weston our subject
received his education, remaining with his pa
rents until 1880. He then migrated to Sherman
county, then Wasco county, and located a pre
emption claim, Alay 17, 1880. Alexander D.
AlcDonald, now of Spokane, Washington, came
with him and they were the only settlers one
mile east of what is now DeAIoss Springs. At
that period no claims had been taken up south
of them and but a few north, in the county. He
sowed one hundred and eighty acres to wheat
in the fall of 1881 ; harvested it in 1882 and
hauled it to Grants, the first load ever taken out
of the county. He purchased more land, orgin-
ally railroad land, but later reverted to the gov
ernment and school. He had one thousand two
hundred and twenty-eight acres m one tract, and
tracts of four hundred and eighty and one thou
sand and forty acres, which he purchased since,
nearly all of which is tillable. Of this land Air.
Ginn cultivates one thousand two hundred and
twenty-eight acres and rents the rest. In Feb
ruary, 1888, he left the farm and repairing to
Biggs, where he conducted a warehouse and
sold farm machinery for Stayer & Walker, of
Portland until May, 1892. Then he came to Moro
and engaged in the hardware and agricultural
machinery business. Subsequently he was one
of the incorporators of the Moro Mercantile Com
pany which was afterward sold to the Sherman
Trading Company. In June, 1904, Mr. Ginn and
Aloore Brothers purchased the hardware and
farming implement stock of the Aloro Implement
Company and they carry a stock of from $16,000
to $18,000 worth of implements and hardware
In October, 1882, Mr. Ginn was united in
marriage to Jeanette McDonald, sister of Dixon
AlcDonald, subscriber's partner at Biggs, in the
warehouse business. She died at Biggs, Decem
ber 29, 1889. November 22, 1894, at The Dalles,
Air. Ginn was married to Carrie B. Coleman,
a native of Iowa. She is the daughter of William
and Alary (Woods) Coleman. Her father died
when she was about four years of age, from an
accident while operating a threshing machine.
Her mother, a native of Pennsylvania, lives at
Aloro. Our subject has five sisters living; Ellen,
wife of John R. Alorrison, of British Columbia,
near Fort Langley; Annie, wife of William El
liott, a Umatilla county farmer; Caroline, wife
of Thomas Thompson, a farmer near Pendleton,
Oregon ; Maggie, wife of Alexander Brady, of
Alarysville, Washington, a Congregational min
ister; and Minnie, wife of Howard Haley, a rail
road man of Walla Walla. Mrs. Ginn has two

half-brothers, James and Leslie, farmers in Ne
braska ; Leslie was treasurer of his county two
terms. She also has one half sister, widow of
Robert McKeown, of Kansas. She has three full
sisters, Agnes, wife of Archie Smiley, of Col
lege Springs, Iowa; Alaggie, wife of Thomas R.
AlcGinnis, ex-sheriff of Sherman county; and
Alary L, widow of R. E. Hoskenson, of Moro.
Air. Ginn has two brothers, Walter and George,
farmers near Walla Walla.
Our subject has six children; by his first
wife, Arthur, Ellwood and Jennie, and by his
second wife, Harold, Faith and Richard. Both
he and wife are members of the Alethodist Epis
copal church. During the past seven years he
has been superintendent of that Sunday school,
and in Alay, 1904, he was delegate from the
Columbia River Conference to the Alethodist
General Conference at Los Angeles, California.
Fraternally he is a member of the W. W, of
Aloro, and Mrs. Ginn is president of the W. C.
T. U, of Sherman county. His political affilia
tions are with the Republican party and in 1902
he was elected member of the state legislature,
running far ahead of his ticket. During his
term he introduced and secured the passage of
the Portage railroad bill, from The Dalles to-
Celilo. He has served two terms in the city
council and is serving his third term as school
director.

WILLIAAI W WALKER, one of the com
missioners of Sherman county and a substantial
business man, resides at Wasco. He is an Ore
gonian, having been born near Dufur, Wasco
county, Jul}- 6, i860. His father, Washington
P Walker, died at Wasco, in 1894. The mother,
Polly (Thompson) Walker, passed awav at
Wasco, in 1900. So early as 1852 the parents
of our subject crossed the plains with ox teams,
locating in Linn county, Oregon, where they
remained until 1858. Thence thev removed to a
place near Dufur. Our subject was reared prin
cipally at The Dalles, where he laid the founda
tion of an excellent business education in the
graded schools of that city. While the family
was at The Dalles the brothers of Air. Walker
conducted the farm. At the age of twenty our
subject went to Montana where he remained four
years. Returning to Sherman county he filed
on a preemption, to which he added other lands
until he, at present, owns one thousand and sev
enty acres, most excellent wheat land. He owns
a three-fourths interest in a combination har
vester and a half-interest in a thresher.
Mr. Walker was married, March 25, 1889, to-
A label Love, a native of California and the-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

519

daughter of John R. and Ellen (McBride) Love.
Her father was a native of Canada, who came to
Sherman county in 1880 with W. H. Biggs, men
tioned elsewhere.
Mrs. Mabel Walker, the first wife of our sub
ject, passed from earth December 25, 1891. Oc
tober 26, 1896, Mr. Walker was united in mar
riage to Lottie A. Haskell, born in Klickitat
county, Washington, the daughter of John Has
kell. The marriage was solemnized at The
Dalles. Air. Walker has four brothers and one
sister living; Arthur M, of Shedd, Linn county,
Oregon ; Joseph P, of Pendleton ; James G, a
Sherman county farmer ; Harry H. ; and Tempy
J, widow of John Robinett, of Wasco. Mr.
Walker has the following named children ;
Arthur, Samuel, and Walter, Lura and Frankie.
Our subject is a member of the W. O. T. W,
and is, politically, a Republican and has served
frequently as delegate to county conventions.
Throughout the community he is highly re
spected as a man of excellent business judgment,
a patriotic citizen and a broad-minded, progres
sive man.
In 1880, Mr. Walker and Judge Fulton raised
their first crop of wheat in Sherman county,
which is supposed to be the first produced in the
territory now embraced in this county.

SETH S. HAYES, a leading and influential
citizen of Sherman county, and one of the best
known and highly esteemed, is at present man
ager of W. A. Gordon & Company's Bank, at
Moro. He is the son of Seth W. and Polly A.
(Stillwell) Hayes, both natives of Ohio. The
paternal grandparents of our subject were early
pioneers in the Buckeye State. The family came
to Linn county, Oregon, in 1853, having made the
perilous trip across the plains with ox teams.
A sister of the father died while crossing the
Blue Alountains. Seth W. Hayes located a dona
tion claim where now stands the town of Halsey,
Linn county. It was a sad tragedy that ended
the life of the worthy father of a worthy son.
November 1, 1876, the elder Hayes was killed
by an illicit liquor seller. For this foul crime
the murdered was executed. The assassin first
accused him of criticizing his business and then
deliberately stabbed him. Seth W. Hayes was
a stanch Republican, but never was an aspirant
for official position. In life he had made a
financial success and was a. highly respected citi
zen. To the entire community his wanton, cold
blooded murder was a great shock.
The subject of this biographical sketch re
ceived the rudiments of a solid business educa

tion in the district schools of his neighborhood.
He was then matriculated in the Portland Busi
ness College where he took a full course in book
keeping and commercial law, subsequently keep
ing books one year for the Grange store in Hal
sey. He then served as administrator of his
father's estate, which included the townsite of
Halsey. The elder Hayes donated forty acres of
land to the railroad. The mother of our subject
died on the old farm.
For the two succeeding years our subject
engaged in the drug business, and then disposed
of the property owing to the illness of his wife,
remaining entirely out of business nearly two
years, and taking her to various climates in the
hope of regaining her health. Their marriage
occurred in June, 1880, at Halsey. The bride's
name was Almira Stevenson, a native of Michi
gan. She died October 10, 1881. In June, 1882,
Air. Hayes came to Sherman county where he
secured land and engaged in stock raising for a
number of years. In 1892 he was elected county
clerk, succeeding V. C. Brock, the first clerk of
Sherman county. He served two terms, ancl a
few months after his last term, with a number
of associates, he organized the Moro Mercantile
Company, of which he was secretary until 1900,
when he disposed of his interest and became
connected with the Columbia Southern Ware
house Company and has charge of the three
warehouse at Aloro, De Moss and Hay Canyon.
March 20, 1903, the W. A. Gordon Company,
of Portland established a bank at Moro of which
our subject assumed the management. He also
buys grain for them.
At Halsey, Mr. Hayes was united in mar
riage to Ella E. Porter, born in Linn county,
Oregon. She is the daughter of James T. and
Nancy (Knott) Porter, the father a native Of
Virginia. The latter died at Harrisburg, Linn
county, Oregon, in 1880. He came to Oregon
in 1853, crossing the plains with ox teams, and
secured donation land in the county in which he
died. Our subscriber has one brother, Daniel J, in
Halsey; one half brother, Frank, at Hoquiam,
Washington ; and one half sister, Gertrude, wife
of Edwin C. Pentland, a newspaper man of
Eureka, California. Mrs. Hayeshas one brother,
James C, a farmer near Halsey, and two sisters,
Elizabeth, wife of James McCartney, a retired-
farmer and carpenter, residing at Portland, and
Alelinda, widow of John McCartney, a brother of
the above, living at Harrisburg.
Our subject has three children ; Dean H,
born July 7, 1888; Beulah, born November 12,
1893 ; and Seth Seymour, born January 5, 1897.
Fraternally he is a member of Eureka Lodge,

520

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

No. 121, A. F. & A. M, and Moro Lodge, No.
113, I. O. O. F, of which he is past grand, both
fraternities of Moro. He has been delegate to
the grand lodges. Mrs. Hayes is a member of
the Presbyterian church. Politically our subject
is a Republican, but not active. He owns one
of the finest residences in MorO, a two-story
edifice surrounded by spacious grounds, and shade
trees, orchard, etc, situated at the upper end
of the principal street and but one block beyond
the business portion of the town.

WILLIAM H. ANDREWS, a progressive
citizen, sound business man and leading farmer
of Sherman county, resides two miles west of
Wasco. He was born in Kalamazoo county,
Michigan, October 23, 1854. His parents, Simeon
J. and Rachael A. (Wigley) Andrews, were na
tives of the Empire State, the father having been
born in Herkimer, the mother in Otsego county.
The ancestors of the father were members of an
Old American family; those of the mother came
from England.
Until he was six years of age our subject
was reared in Michigan. At that period his
family removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, where
the father purchased a farm two and one-half
miles from town. Here our subject attended
district school, but this was interrupted four
years later by the removal of his family to Cedar
Falls, Iowa. There he remained until he was
about twenty-two years old, when he faced the
world on his own account, going to Minneapolis,
Minnesota, where he found work in various lines
of employment. In the fall of 1884 he returned
to Iowa, subsequently going to New Alexico, re
maining there until the following summer en
gaged in mining. In August, 1885, he came to
Oregon where he located his present home in
Sherman county. He purchased railroad land,
to which he has since added, ancl at present is
in litigation with the Eastern Oregon Land Com
pany over some landed interests. He owns a half
section, and rents fifty-one acres from the Eastern
Oregon Land Company. Recently Mr. Andrews
erected a handsome and substantial Queen Anne
cottage containing eleven rooms, bathrooms,
store rooms, etc.
' February 22, 1889, at the residence of the
bride's sister, Sherman county, our subject was
married to Miss Hester A. Benton, a native of
Michigan, and the daughter of Clark and Mary
F. Benton.
v Mr. Andrews has two brothers and two sis
ters' ; Charles M, Ernest A, the former a farmer

opposite the residence of subject, the latter liv
ing five miles west of Wasco; Augusta C, de
ceased, wife of Joseph B. McHenry, of Monett,
Barry county, Missouri; Lillie M, wife of Al
bert Murchie, a farmer living one mile west of
Wasco. Mrs. Andrews has four half brothers,
one full sister, and three half sisters ; Rose, wife
of Gilbert Woodworth, of Hood River, men
tioned elsewhere; Millie, wife of Lawrence Jones,'
a Alichigan farm; and Myrtie, wife of Harry
Cattell, also of Michigan.
Mr. Andrews is a member of the W. O. W,
of Wasco. His wife is a member of the Christian
church. Politically he is a Republican, one of the
solid, energetic business men of Sherman county;
popular with all and whose many social qualities
have won a host of friends throughout the county
and state.

WALTER C. RUTLEDGE, proprietor of the
Moro House, one of the best hotels west of Pen
dleton and east of Portland, and one of the pro
gressive business men of Sherman county, was
born in Audrain county, Missouri, June 3, 1859.
He is the son of Joseph H. and Margaret
(Brown) Rutledge, the former a native of Vir
ginia ; the latter of Kentucky. His parents were
natives of the same state, and among his an
cestors were pioneers of the Jamestown settle
ment, and the family was represented with dis
tinction by several members in the Revolution, the
War of 1812 and the Civil war. Edward Rut
ledge, born at Charleston, South Carolina, was
one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde
pendence ; was member of congress and governor
of South Carolina from 1798 until 1800. His
brother, John, was a member of the Stamp Act
Congress of 1765, and was, also, governor of
that state. He was, from 1789 to 1791 associate
justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Joseph H. Rutledge, the father of our subject,
died in Sherman county. The mother is a de
scendant of an old and prominent southern fam
ily, and at present lives in Ellensburg, Wash
ington. Until he was three years old our subject was
reared in Missouri, crossing the plains with his
parents, in ox teams, in 1862. They settled in
Amador county, California, where the father was
engaged in copper mining near lone. Here the
family remained five years, going thence to Wood-
bridge, San Joaquin county, where they remained
another five years. Here our subject attended
the public schools and alternately worked with
his father on the farm. Subsequently he was
two years with a carpenter in Stockton, California,
going thence to Butte county. Here Joseph H.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

52i

Rutledge purchased a farm upon which they
remained eleven years, removing thence to Sher
man county, Oregon, where more land was se
cured fourteen miles south of Moro. Plere the
father died. The Rutledge ancl Ruggles fam
ilies were the first settlers in that vicinity. Grass
Valley, eight miles distant, at that period con
sisted of a small store and a hotel. With the
incoming of settlers the need of a postoffice was
experienced, and one was established in Joseph
H. Rutledge's house, and he was appointed post
master which office he continued until the time
of his death.
Following the death of his father our subject
continued farming on rented land, but May 1,
1904, he purchased the old Moro Hotel ancl, mak
ing extensive alterations, adding much new and
modern furniture, he has made it one of the
best hostelries in the state, as well as one of
the most popular. In the satisfactory conduct
of the hotel Airs. Rutledge is a most important
factor and contributes her personal attention to
the dining room, kitchen ancl other details.
Mr. Rutledge has one sister living, Eliza
beth, wife of C. H. Steward, engaged in the real
estate business at Ellensburg, Washington. Mrs.
Rutledge has four brothers ancl four sisters who
receive personal mention elsewhere. She is a
sister of Mrs. Jacob Rinearson, of the Vinton
Hotel, Grass Valley, who holds a teacher's life
certificate. Mr. ancl M rs. Rutledge have four chil
dren, and all living with their parents ; Joseph V,
aged thirteen ; W. Clarence, aged eleven ; Jean-
ette. aged nine ; and Francis, seven years old.
Our subject was married to Maggie V. Vin-
tin, born in Butte county, California. Politically
Mr. "Rutledge is a Democrat, and has served sev
eral terms as school director.

FRED H. AIEADER, engaged in the real
estate and loan business, ancl a prominent wheat
buyer of Wasco, Sherman county, was born in
Albion, Maine, August 25, 1872. His parents
were, also, natives of the Pine Tree State.
George Meader, his father, is a descendant of an
¦old and distinguished New England colonial fam
ily. He served eleven months during the Civil
war in Company G, Twenty-fourth Alaine Volun
teer Infantry. At present he lives at Wasco with
our subject. The mother of the latter, Julia
(Hanson) Meacler, is of an old Maine family.
Her father was a farmer ancl school teacher.
Our subject was seven years old when the
family moved to Dixon, California, where they
remained five years. Thence they went to Peta
luma, remaining eighteen months. In September,
1886, they came to Sherman count}-, ancl home

steaded land near Moro. With them our subject
remained, attending the public schools and as
sisting on the farm until 1893. George Meacler,
the father, had one-half section which, it trans
pired, was Dalles Military land, and in 1898 the
company took possession of it after our subject
had purchased it from his father and sold h
in 1897 to F. R. Messinger. Our subject brought
suit against the company for the value of the
improvements and secured a judgment ancl lien
on the property for two thousand dollars. He
paid Messinger back his money, and the com
pany now has possession of land for which our
subject has a patent issued by the United States
government. December 6, 1893, at the residence of the
bride's parents, Sherman county, Mr. Aleader was
united in marriage to Mabie Peabody, born ir;
Saybrook, McLean county, Illinois. She is a
lineal descendant of the old and distinguished
Peabody family, well known in American his
tory for many generations. Nathaniel Peabody
was born at Topsfield, Massachusetts, March 1,
1741, ancl died at Exeter, New Hampshire, June
27, 1823. He was an officer in the American
Revolutionary war and a delegate to the Con
tinental Congress. George Peabody, the eminent
philanthropist, was a native of Massachusetts,
born at Beverly, February 18, 1795. He was an
American merchant and banker and justly cele
brated for his practical benevolence. He died
in London, November 4, 1869. The mother of
Airs. Aleader, Elizabeth Peabody, died at Wasco,
in December, 1902. Her father now lives with
our subject at Wasco. He was one of the first
settlers of Sherman county, and for a time con
ducted the John Day bridge by virtue of a lease.
He secured a homestead and other lands, ancl
recently sold eight hundred acres. He feeds as
high as five hundred head of cattle.
Our subject has one brother and one sister;
Ernest, of Sherman county ; and Lillian, wife of
Harry A. Page, of Aloro. Mrs. Aleader has two
half brothers!" Edward and William Froebe, both
in New Alexico, and one sister, Callie, wife of
Sidney Blakeman, a farmer in Kansas. Mr. and
Mrs. Meader have three children, boys ; Harland,
aged nine; Harold, aged seven and Glenn, a
little fellow one year old.
Our subject is a member of Sherman Lodge,
No. 157, I. O. O. F, of Moro, and the W. O..W,
of Wasco. Politically he is independent. From
1897 until 1901 he was engaged in the mercantile
business in Moro, where he erected the first
brick building. Mr. Meader is a bright, young
business man, liberal and progressive and num
bers many friends throughout the county and
state.

522

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

HIBBARD S. McDANEL, one of the prom
inent farmers and influential citizens of Sher
man county, resides at Moro. He is a native of
Delaware, having been born at Stanton, January
22, 1858. His father, Thomas McDanel, was a
native of Pennsylvania, as were his ancestors,
descendants of an old and distinguished Ameri
can family. The father of our subject died in
California, January 1, 1869. The mother, Mar
garet (Haring) McDanel, was born in New
York city. Her parents came from Holland.
At the present writing she resides at Oakland,
California. When our subject was but six months of age
his family removed to Butte county, California,
where the father was engaged in mining and
the mercantile business. Until 1873 he lived
with the family, at which period they removed
to Oakland. He received a four years' course
in the excellent public schools in his neighbor
hood ; was subsequently in the graded schools
of Oakland, and also profited by a course in the
Oakland Business College. During three years
he served in the capacity of clerk in a large busi
ness house in that city. It was in January, 1882,
that he came to Sherman county where he se
cured land four and one-half miles from Moro.
To this holding he has since added until he now
owns five hundred sixty acres which he rents out.
Mr. McDanel was married at a short dis
tance from Moro, February 15, 1891, to Mary
Cushman, a native of California. Her father,
Obed Cushman, was a native of Pennsylvania,
and an early pioneer in California. He came to
Sherman county in 1882, dying at Moro in 1901.
The mother, Elizabeth (Hufford) Cushman, was
born in Iowa and at present resides at Moro.
Our subject has one sister, Kate, single, liv
ing at Oakland. Mrs. McDanel has one brother,
Eugene A, a farmer living six miles south of
Moro; and three sisters ; Laura H, wife of Walter
H. Moore, a Moro merchant ; America, wife of
Henry A. Moore, of Moro; and Cora, wife of
David Vintin, a farmer living near Grass Valley.
The fraternal affiliations of Mr. McDanel
include Eureka Lodge, No. 121, A. F. & A. M,
of which he is secretary, at Moro; Moro Lodge,
No. 113, I. O. O. F, of which he is past grand,
and he has, also, been delegate to the Grand
Lodge. He is a member of the A. O. U. W,
past master workman, and he has served as
delegate to the grand lodge. Politically he is a
Republican, and frequently a delegate to county
conventions ; once a delegate to the state con
vention. At present he is serving his third term
as clerk of Sherman county, and has been deputy
clerk six years. Mrs. McDanel is a member of
the Presbyterian church. Both socially and in

a business way our subject is a popular, wide
awake and progressive man, and both he and
his wife are highly esteemed throughout the com
munity.

CHARLES BUHMAN, a prosperous Sher
man county farmer, resides at Wasco. He is a
native of the Golden State, having been born in
Solano county, California, June 18, 1861. His
parents, Detlef and Annie (Jahn) Buhman, were
born in Germany. The father came to the United
States in 1859, settled in Solano county, returned
to Germany, and returned to California in 1861.
He died in Dixon, California, in 1874. The
mother still lives there.
It was in Dixon that our subject, Charles
Buhman, was reared and educated until he was-
twenty-two years of age. He then came to Uma
tilla county, Oregon, where he worked a few
months and then returned home, remaining
eighteen months. In the fall of 1884 he came
to Sherman county and located land four miles
from Wasco, ancl purchased more later. He
now owns four hundred acres of excellent wheat
land, and a ten-acre tract on the outskirts of the
town of Wasco where he resides, most comfort
ably situated and surrounded by many literary
works of high merit and of which he is very fond.
He rents his farm property. He is a single
man, having three brothers ; Arnold, a farmer,
residing four and one-half miles from Wasco ;
William, at the home place in California; and
Reinhard, at Dixon. He has no sisters. Poli
tically our subject is a Prohibitionist. He is a
popular citizen in the community in which he
resides and numbers many warm personal
friends.

MILON A. VAN GILDER. The subject
of this biographical sketch is a prosperous and
successful farmer living three miles west of
Wasco. He was born in Livingston county,
New York, November 4, 1854. His father,
Hiram Van Gilder, also a native of the Empire
State, born in Washington county, was a de
scendant of an old and distinguished Holland
family. Three brothers formed what was known
as the "Van Gilder Settlement." The father
of Hiram was in the War of 1812 ; two of our
subject's brothers were killed in the Civil war;
Thomas and Eli. The mother of our subject,
Juliet (Russell) Van Gilder, also a native of New
York, born in Hartford, Washington county, is
a descendant of one of the oldest New England
families, a family that furnished two governors
of Massachusetts. Hiram Van Gilder, the father

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

523

of our subject, died in Nunda, New York, in
1897. The mother still lives at Perry, Wyoming-
county, New York.
It was in the old Empire State that our sub
ject was reared until 1889. He became a farmer
and carpenter, but came to Sherman county
finally and purchased four hundred acres of land.
In 1904 he increased the estate to six hundred
acres. On this he erected a handsome, two-story
house and large, well-appointed barn. This was
in 1897. March 26, 1884, at Nunda, Mr. Van Gilder
was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Porter, a
native of New York, born February 15, 1864.
Her parents, Richard and Jane (Shephard) Por
ter, were also natives of New York state. Her
father was a descendant of the old Porter family
distinguished for many years in American his
tory. David Porter was an American naval of
ficer, born at Chester, Boston, Massachusetts,
February 1, 1780, dying at Washington, March
3, 1843 ; David Dixon Porter was an American
Admiral, son of the preceding, born at Chester,
Pennsylvania, June 8, 1813, and dying at Wash
ington, D. C, February 13, 1891. Fitz- John Por
ter, distinguished in the Civil war, and a cousin
of D. D. Porter, was born at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, August 31, 1822. He was a grad
uate of West Point and served as police commis
sioner of New York city from 1884 to 1888.
Milon A. Van Gilder, our subject, has three
brothers and one sister ; Charles, in the ice busi
ness in New York city ; Frank, a farmer at Nunda,
New York ; Elmer, a cement manufacturer, at
the same place ; Julia, wife of Herbert Kenyon,
of Perry, Wyoming county, New York. Mrs.
Van Gilder has three brothers and three sisters ;
James, a Pennsylvania lumberman ; Albert, and
Delbert, farmers in Sherman county; Othelia,
wife of George Knox, an attorney in Los Angeles,
California; Julia, wife of William Clark, a car
penter at Mount Morris, New York; and Inez,
wife of Morris Nash, of Sherman county- Mr.
and Mrs. Van Gilder have five children, Inez,
Harry, Vernon, Bryan, and Darwin.
It should not escape mention rhat Fort Porter,
at Buffalo, New York, was named after Commo
dore Porter, distinguished in the War of 1812.
Fraternally Mr. Van Gilder is a member of
Taylor Lodge, No. 99, of Wasco, of which he is
past master, the first master of the lodge, a
charter member and at present master. He has
served as delegate to the grand lodge of the
state. Politically he is a Prohibitionist and as
such has frequently served as delegate to the
county conventions of that party. He and his
wife are members of the United Brethren church.
Our subject has a fine, though small orchard,

and he owns several three-quarter blood Per-
cheron horses. He is one of the solid, substantial
business men of Sherman county, a broad-minded
and liberal citizen in every respect. His resi
dence is built in a very desirable and eligible
location, surrounded by a spacious lawn which
will, in the future, be irrigated.

COMMODORE P. RAGSDALE, the lead
ing agriculturalist and stock raiser in the south
ern portion of Sherman county, resides four and
one-half miles northeast of Kent. He was born
in Missouri, December 7, 1869, the son of Chris
topher and Mary L. (Hampton) Ragsdale, both
natives of Missouri. The father was born while
his parents were moving to Missouri, just over
the state line. He died in 1894, in Portland,
Oregon. The mother, a native of Missouri, is a
descendant of an old Virginia family, her father
having been a resident of that state. She at
present lives at Aloro, Sherman county.
The parents of our subject came to the Willa
mette valley from Missouri when he was four
years of age. In Polk county, near Sheridan,
the father secured land, but when our subject
was twelve years of age his parents removed to
Sherman county, and here he attended the public
schools, where he laid the foundation of an ex
cellent business education, and began the world
for himself. When sixteen years old he worked
at farming and freighting, and when only
eighteen purchased land near Moro, a half a sec
tion, and this he farmed successfully until he
was married. He then disposed of this property
and migrated to Benton county, Oregon, where .
he engaged in hop raising, purchasing three hun
dred and ninety acres of land, paying eight thou
sand dollars for the same ; four thousand dollars
in cash. At the termination of three years he
became insolvent and returned to Sherman county
where he engaged in the sheep business. He pur
chased his stock on time and was eminently suc
cessful in this enterprise. In November, 1900,
he purchased a section and a half of land, leased
six and a quarter sections more, and at present
cultivates two thousand acres. The remainder
of this land is devoted to pasture. He has now a
band of four thousand sheep, twenty head of
cattle and seventy head of horses. In the prose
cution of his extensive farm work he employs:
forty head of horses. He owns a combined har
vester and all other modern implements neces
sary for large-scale farming in the west.
February 29, 1892, at Wasco, our subject was
married to Junia E. Rigdon, a native of Nebraska,
the daughter of Charles and Lida Rigdon. Her

"524

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

father was a native of Ohio and now lives in
Lincoln county, Oregon. Air. Ragsdale has three
brothers and one sister ; William H, an attorney
at Moro, and a graduate of the State Normal
School at Alonmouth ; Charles, residing in Idaho ;
Ray, living at Aloro with his parents ; Elsie,
single, also living at home. Four children have
been born to Air. and Airs. Ragsdale ; Edna, aged
•eleven ; Cordon, aged nine, and a babe, Allegra,
aged nine months. These are all living. Vera
died February 10, 1900, aged two years and six
months. The fraternal affiliations of Air. Ragsdale are
with the A. O. U. W, of Aloro, and the M. W.
A, of Kent. Politically he is a Republican,
quite active in the interests of his party. He has
twice been elected a delegate to county conven
tions and last year was a delegate to the Republi
can state convention at Portland. He is, also,
a leading and influential member of the Wool
Growers' Association, of Wasco county. He
is a young man of fine executive ability and su
perior business talents, popular with all classes
and highly esteemed by all.

HENRY ROOT, one of the early settlers
-of Sherman county and a leading and influential
citizen, resides three miles west of Wasco. He
was born in Wisconsin, April 7, 1842, the son
of William and Catherine (Cook) Root, the
former a native of Vermont ; the latter of Ohio.
The parents of William Root were of Scotch-
Welsh ancestry, an old and distinguished family.
His brothers were participants in the War of
1812. Austin served during the entire war and
was at the battle of Plattsburg and others. He
died later from disease contracted in the service.
His three younger brothers, mere boys, ventured
out to get a view of the battle of Plattsburg, and
were given guns and compelled to stand guard
over the baggage train. William Root was too
small to accompany them, but living twelve miles
away he heard the roar of the cannon and of
this he told our subject frequently. He died at
Healdsburg, Sonoma county, California, aged
eighty-one years. For many years he was a sailor
on the great lakes and later mate on a Mississippi
steamboat trading up from New Orleans, and also
a deep water sailor from the Crescent City to
Liverpool. In 1835 he enlisted in the regular
army and was sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
Here he was discharged on account of a broken
arm. He was present at the treaty following the
historical Black Hawk war.
Thence William Root went to Ohio where he
married Catherine Cook, the mother of our sub

ject. She was the descendant of an old and
prominent family, merchants, steamboat men,
western pioneers, etc. The newly married couple
removed to Indiana where they conducted a farm,
going thence to Wisconsin, and from there to
Iowa. When our subject was ten years of age
they all went to California, crossing the plains
with ox teams and being six months on the
route. They at first settled in Placerville, and
there our subject attended school two winters.
In 1854 they went to Iowa Hill, Placer county,
and engaged in mining. Here William Root
owned good, paying placer claims and our sub
ject frequently washed out twenty dollars a day
by himself. In the fall of 1858 they moved into
the redwoods, in Sonoma county. Here the fa
ther and an uncle of our subject built a sawmill,
sold it later and purchased a farm three miles
west of Santa Rosa. About this period our sub
ject began herding stock on Tulare Plains; two
years, 1862 and 1863, and elsewhere until 1869.
He then worked on several extensive stock
ranches. In 1870 he took a band of one thou
sand cattle to Nevada for Hildreth & Dumphy ;
returned to San Francisco and then went to Hum
boldt county. In 1 871 he took a band of fourteen
hundred cattle from there to Harney Valley;
returned and remained until 1881, and where he
farmed and kept a stage station. He then came
to Sherman county, overland, and took up the
place where he now resides. His nearest neigh
bors were G. D. Woodworth, now of Hood River,
who lived one mile away, and Mr. Barnum, at
Moro, and Air. Eaton, at Wasco.
December 21, 1873, in Humboldt county, Cali
fornia, our subject was united in marriage to
Harriet A. Goodyear, a native of Wisconsin. She
is the daughter of Joseph D. and Sophina Good
year. Her father was a native of New York, a
member of the old Goodyear family, one of whom
was the inventer of the Goodyear rubber process.
Our subject has four brothers and one sister;
Austin, a farmer living ten miles east of Eugene,
Oregon ; John C, a stockman of Weiser, Idaho :
Washington T, of Idaho; Albert E., living near
Weiser, in the stock business ; Keziah E, wife of
G. S. Pitts, of California.
Mrs. Root has three brothers and one sister;
Eugene, a mining man in Weaver sville, Cali
fornia; William E, an extensive bean raiser in
Ventura county, California ; Edward, of the same
place ; and Fanny, wife of Lee Ferguson, an
orchardist near Ventura. Three children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Root; William D, a
graduate of the University of California, and
who taught school six years in Sherman county,
and is now in Tokio, Japan, teaching English in
the government high school; George H, at home,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

525:

a student in the Oregon Agricultural College, at
Corvallis, a famous foot-ball player a^nd athlete,
captain of the O. A. C. foot-ball team, and took
a medal in 1903 for the best drill in the manual
at arms; he also took a silver medal in 1903
for putting the shot at a track meet in Portland ;
Nora F, wife of Harry E. Morrow, an extensive
Sherman county farmer on the John Day river.
Hon. Elihu Root, late Secretary of War, is a
grandson of our subject's father's brother. His
name was Dudley Root.
For ten years Mr. Root has been~road super
visor of his district, the largest in Sherman coun
ty. For thirty years our subject was a Republi
can. In 1896 he supported Bryan and now he is,
politically, independent. Mr. Root is a very
estimable and highly respected citizen, influential
and progressive in his views.

JAMES W. LEONARD, residing three miles
east of Kent, Sherman county, was born in Sheri
dan, Worth county, Missouri, February 9, 1853,
the son of James M. and Martha (Coy) Leonard.
The parents of the father were descended from
an old Southern family, of Kentucky. James M.
Leonard, the father of our subject, served three
years in the confederate army under General
Price, and later in a guerrilla regiment where he
was killed. The ancestry of the mother were
members of an old southern family. She died
in 1855 when our subject was an Infant.
Until attaining his majority the latter lived
with his maternal grandparents, attending the
public schools and working on the farm with
his grandfather. He then migrated to California
where he remained nearly a year, and thence to
Oregon where he arrived July first, 1875, locating
in Polk county. Here, for a few years he rented
land, and then purchased a place on which he re
mained two years, following which he was en
gaged in the harness business, conducting the
same two years, in Independence, Polk county.
His failing health, caused by indoor life, induced
him to dispose of his business and return to the
occupation of farming. During two years he
rented a place and then came to Crook county
where he engaged in the stock business three
years. The severe winter of 1889-90 killed all
of his stock, and he returned to the valley where
he continued farming for eight years. It was
in 1898 that he came to Sherman county, pur
chased a half section and, also, rented a section
and a quarter of other land, of which he culti
vates about eight hundred acres. He owns a
comfortable one-story five-room frame cottage,
and has a small orchard ; a large barn thirty-six

by fifty-two feet in size, with necessary out
buildings and a windmill with a six thousand gal
lon reservoir, water piped for domestic, stock and
irrigation purposes.
September 20, 1876, at Monmouth, Polk
county, Oregon, our subject was united in mar
riage to Jennie M. Ireland, born in Iowa in
December, 1853. Her parents, David and Jane-
(Sanderson) Ireland, were natives of Indiana..
They are both dead. Our subject has one half
brother and two half sisters: Edward, a farmer
in Kansas; Laura, wife of Frank Slote, a Color
ado stockman; and Kate, wife of Charles Wilson,.
of Colorado. Mrs. Leonard has three brothers,
Theron A, William P. and James S, farmers -
in Polk county, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard
have no children living, but have an adopted son,.
Ralph. Politically our subject is a Democrat,
and has served as delegate to the county conven
tions. He was the Democratic nominee for county
commissioner ; he is a school director and has been
such ever since the organization of the district..
He, also, served one year as road supervisor..
Fraternally he is a member of the W. O. T. W, .
of Kent. In the community in which he resides
he is highly esteemed and regarded as one of"
the leading citizens of the county.

DAVID FULTON, one of the earliest set
tlers in Sherman county and a prominent and
influential citizen, resides six miles northwest of~
Wasco. He was born in Yamhill county, March.
r7> I855- His parents are mentioned in an
other portion of this work.
Our subject was reared principally in Wasco-
and Sherman counties, and for many years was
associated with his father and brothers in the-
business of stock-raising. Mr. Fulton is a man
of superior education, having attended the best:
schools in The Dalles, Oregon, Walla Walla,.
Washington, Boise City, Idaho, St. Paul's Episco
pal School at Walla Walla, Whitman College, and
St. Michael's Parish School at Boise City. Since-
the period of his school days he has resided here-
almost constantly, with the exception of one or
two years elsewhere. In 1879 he filed on a tim
ber culture, homestead and later secured rail
road land. At present he owns between two-
thousand five hundred and three thousand acres,
of which he has rented some at different periods.
On the "home place" he cultivates about seven
hundred acres, raising some cattle, horses and'
hogs. At Kansas City, Missouri, February 7, 1899,
Air. Fulton was married to Miss Lulu Bussey,
a native of Versailles, Missouri. She is the-

526

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

daughter of Gettis and Sarah A. (Gibson) Bus-
sey, the former a native of Pennsylvania, the lat
ter of Indiana. Gettis Bussey lives at Rich
Hill, Alissouri, where he is a stone mason, con
tractor and builder.
Politically Mr. Fulton is a Democrat, and has
frequently served as delegate to Democratic
countv conventions. He is a member of Cascade
Lodge, No. 303, B. P. O. E, of The Dalles.
They have one child, David J. Mrs. Fulton has
three brothers and four sisters : Bertram and
Earl, at Rich Hill, Missouri, with their parents ;
Frank, living with our subject; Cora, single, with
her parents ; Myrtle, wife of William Jones ; Ella,
with subject ; and Ota, single and living with her
parents. Mr. Fulton is a liberal minded, progressive
gentleman, a good citizen, sagacious business man
and one who has made a deep impress on the
welfare and interests of Sherman county in which
vicinity he has so long resided.

ANNIE L. FULTON, the subject of the
following biographical sketch was born in Wasco
county, Oregon, and educated in the excellent
high school at The Dalles. In 1881, she accom
panied her parents to what is now Sherman
county, but then a portion of Wasco county.
In securing possession of public lands Miss
Fulton shared equal advantages with her brothers
under the preemption and timber culture laws.
At present she owns over one thousand acres,
six hundred and forty of which she cultivates.
She resided with her parents until their death.
Following a long visit to the southern states she
returned and made her home at Shade Land
Farm, the former home of her parents, which she
inherited as her portion of the estate. She has
been uniformly successful in her farming opera
tions and raises a number of fine cattle and
horses. So closely was Aliss Fulton associated
with her father in his business, for years, that
she has as thorough knowledge of the details
of farming as the average man.
Fraternally she is a member of the Order of
the Eastern Star and at all time manifests an
active interest in the schools and public enter
prises of the country.

JOHN RECKMANN, a popular and progres
sive Sherman county farmer, was born in Ger
many, August 25, 1865, the son of Hermann
and Cathrina (Kilkel) Reckmann, both natives of
Germany, where the mother died when our sub

ject was twelve years of age. At present the
father, a farmer, lives three miles from Grass
Valley. Our subject was educated at the public schools
and in the gymnasium in the old country. His
father was a carpenter and from him he learned
that trade. The Reckmann family came from
Germany to the United States in 1881, and went
directly to Aiinnesota, where they remained four
years, but results not being satisfactory, the sub
ject's father sent his son, John, to Oregon. In
Sherman county the latter secured land and re
turned to Aiinnesota for his father and brought
him here. They had some capital and improved
their places. In the line of carpenter work they
constructed only two school houses. At present
our subject owns half a section of fine land, de
voted to grain culture, and he rents a section of
military land. His father owns a quarter-sec
tion and with his son, Diedrich, who, also, owns
a quarter section of land, rents a section of mili
tary land.
June 23, 1888, on his place near Kent, Mr.
Reckmann, was married to Mary Stilling, a na
tive of Germany, daughter of Henry and Lena
Stilling, who died in Germany. Our subject has
only one brother living, Diedrich, living witfTliis.
father, and one sister, Jessie, wife of John Ditjen,
of The Dalles. He rents his Sherman county
farm, of a section in extent.
The wife of our subject has two brothers;
Deiderich and Claus, both of whom are Aiinne
sota farmers. Fraternally, Mr. Reckmann is a
member of Grass Valley Lodge, No. 131, I. O.
O. F, and Modoc Encampment, No. 39, of Grass
Valley, and the Modern Woodmen of America,
of Kent. His political affiliations are with the
Democratic party, but he can be correctly termed
an administration (Roosevelt) man. Both he and
his wife are members of the Lutheran church.
They have no children.
In 1897 their house, a fine frame residence,
was burned to the ground. The contents of the
house were destroyed as well as their clothing;
they escaped with their lives in their night clothes
and were compelled to sleep the rest of the night
in a hay stack. At that time our subject was
completely out of debt, but owing to this disaster,
he was compelled to incur a new indebtedness for
lumber with which to build a new house. His
fine, young orchard was, also, destroyed by this
fire. In 1905, Mr. Reckmann has just completed a
well three hundred, ancl four feet in depth, which
furnishes abundance of water, good and pure.
It was dug at a cost of one thousand six hundred
ancl fifty dollars. When they were down one
hundred and fifty-two feet, they encountered a

Thomas E. Sink

Mr. and Mrs. Adelbert Porter

Charles A. Buckley

John Medler

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

5^9

rick was a Pennsylvanian ; his mother was born
in IVermont, the former being a member of the
old American family of Porters, early settlers of
the Mohawk valley. Derrick Porter died in Liv
ingstone county, New York, in 1894.
In the state of New York our subject lived
until he was twenty years of age. Thence he
migrated to California where he remained five
years in Solano county and the Sacramento val
ley. Here he joined an uncle and was with him
until 1882, coming thence to Sherman county
where he secured some land, a portion of his
present holdings. At present he owns one thou
sand and sixty acres, all joining. He has a fine
orchard of two hundred trees, and rears stock
for his own use, having several graded Clyde
and Percheron horses.
At Livonia Center, Livingstone county, New
York, December 25, 1875, Mr. Porter was united
in marriage to Miss Harriet Proctor, a native of
Kingston, Canada. Her father, William Proc
ter, also born in Canada, was a hardware mer
chant and a tin and copper smith by trade and
well and favorably known. He died in Canada
about 1869. Her mother was Ann McGorman,
whose death occurred in New York, in 1873.
Mrs. Porter's great-grandfather, General John
Proctor, was a general in the English army. His
son, James Proctor, was captain in the Royal
Artillery, and married Miss Sarah Marion, the
grand niece of General Marion, of Revolutionary
fame. Mrs. Porter's great uncle, Alexander
Proctor, was an admiral in the English navy.
The Proctors were a strong and prominent
family. Our subject has two brothers and four sis
ters ; Albert, foreman in the flour mill at Wasco ;
James, a farmer in Pennsylvania ; Jennie, wife of
M. A. Van Gilder, mentioned in another portion
of this work; Inez, wife of J. M. Nash, of
Wasco; Athalia, wife of George W. Knox, for
twenty years a prominent attorney in Los
Angeles, California; and Julia, wife of William
Clark, a millwright at Mount Morris, Living
stone county, New York. Mrs. Porter has one
sister living, Maggie J, wife of John Carty, a
farmer near Livonia Center, New York.
Mr. Porter is a member of Aurora Lodge,
No. 54, K. of P. Although formerly a Republi
can he is, at present, a Prohibitionist, and has
been elected delegate to county conventions but
has never acted. He has frequently served as
delegate to Republican conventions ; and has been
school director for fifteen years and is such at
present. Mrs. Porter is a devout and consistent
member of the Roman Catholic church. They
have three children: George, born May 31, 1879,
near Dixon, Solano county, California, and who
84

was married at The Dalles, in 1901, to Alice
Frazier, daughter of William Frazier, of Hood
River; Albert R, born in California, April 7,
1881, and married March 3, 1905, to Maud Hear
ing of Sweet Home, Oregon ; Laverne, born in
bnerman county, May 3, 1889.
Mr. Porter is a gentleman of culture and re
finement, and one of the enterprising and in
fluential citizens of the county.

CHARLES A. BUCKLEY, one of the
heaviest real estate owners of Sherman county,
resides in Grass Valley. He has about five thou
sand acres of land, three thousand of which -"are
tillable. He has about one thousand into grain
and the entire estate is one of the best in the
country. Mr. Buckley is a man of recognized
business ability, which is thoroughly attested by
the exceptional success which he has won in
his career. Everybody will be pleased to see an
account of his life which will be both beneficial
and inspiring. Charles A. Buckley was born in
Sag Harbor, New York, on September 29, 1858.
"Hia father, Abel C. Buckley, was also a native
of New York, descended from English and Irish
ancestry. He was a tanner by trade and died in
Brooklyn, New York, in 1887. He had married
Ann E. Penney, a native of Long Island, who died
in Brooklyn, New York, on July 30, 1903. Our
subject lived in his birthplace until ten years
of age, when he accompanied the family to
Brooklyn, New York, where he received a liberal
education in the public schools and private in
stitutions. Afterwards, he took a commercial
course and also learned the sole cutting trade in
New York City. He followed this for five years,
then came to Wasco county, having been induced
there by reading literature descriptive of the
state. Four days after landing in The Dalles, he
entered into partnership with William J. Kerr
and Edward Williams, who came west with him.
In November, 1883, they bought the Tilford
Moore ranch, fifteen miles southwest of Grass
Valley. Mr. Kerr was a practical farmer and the
other two were not. Finally our subject and Mr.
Kerr purchased the interest of Williams and
operated together until 1899, when Mr. Buckley
bought his partner's interest and Mr. Kerr re
turned east. Mr. Buckley has since conducted
the business with splendid success and generally
winters about five thousand sheep although at
the present time he owns eight thousand. He has
about sixty head of choice graded and registered
cattle and has one registered Shorthorn bull.
He also owns a Belgian stallion imported and
takes great pride in breeding excellent stock.

530

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

On November 24, 1888, at Portland, Oregon,
Mr. Buckley married Alinnie F. Patterson, a
native of Connecticut and niece of Air. Kerr, our
subject's former partner. She had come to Ore
gon with her mother some time previous to the
marriage. Air. Buckley has one brother, William
C, in the leather business in Brooklyn, New York,
and three sisters, Mary, wife of A. G. Bassett;
Carrie, wife of E. H. Osborne and Annie L,
wife of A. S. French, all of Brooklyn, New
York. Mrs. Buckley is an only child. To our
subject and his wife, two children have been
born, A. Conklin, and William H. Air. Buckley
is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the En-
-campment, while he and his wife both belong to
the Rebekahs. Politically, he is a good strong
Republican and is frequently in the conventions.
He is a progressive, wide awake business man
and does not forget to labor continuously for the
betterment of school facilities, the building up of
the country and the general advancement of the
county and state He has many friends and is
considered one of the leading men of this part
•of the state.

' JOHN MEDLER, one of the first commis
sioners of Sherman county, and a leading and in
fluential citizen, residing at Wasco, was born
at Magdeburg, Germany, October 9, 1837. His
parents were Henry and Doris (Sense) Medler,
who are mentioned elsewhere. The family came
to the United States in August, 1847, and the
father, an expert jeweler, went to work for
Frank & Pheiffer, manufacturing jewelers, No.
39 Courtland street, New York city. He re
mained in their employment until the spring of
1849. But he had come to this country with the
intention of buying a farm, and he, consequently,
went to Cabell county, West Virginia and made
the purchase. Until 1852 the family continued
to live there and then moved back to New York
in order to afford their children the advantages
of schooling. Up to that period our subject had
enjoyed only three months at school, as the West
Virginia facilities were very poor. In New York
he attended a graded school which accommodated
•one thousand pupils. He remained there two
years which completed his education.
Mr. John Medler and his brother, Bruno,
then began to learn the jeweler's trade, at which
our subject worked two years. The health of
the boys failed and the physician declared that
they must seek out of door employment. In
1865 they removed to Missouri. Meantime the
father died. In 1869 our subject returned to as
sume charge of the family. His brother was
engaged in saw milling. In 1881 he sold the farm

for his mother and then came to Oregon. In
Sherman county he took up a homestead and pur
chased more land. On his arrival he had very
little money left. He brought his wife and six
children with him. February 1, 1882, during the
absence of Mr. Aledler, his half-brother's house
was destroyed by fire and our subject's wife
and two children were burned to death. Follow
ing this terrible disaster Air. Aledler preempted
land, built a fine, commodious house, prospered
financially and remained single until December
6, 1903, when he was united in marriage to Mrs.
Nancy Ornduff, a native of Ohio.
The first marriage of our subject occurred
in West Virginia, September 19, 1861, when he
was united to Eliza J. Hull, a native of Cabell
County, West Virginia. Her parents were Mar
tin and Nancy (Morgan) Hull, the father a na
tive of Virginia; the mother of the same state.
The Hull family has been a distinguished one
in American history, as planters, jurists and sol
diers in the Revolutionary war and the War of
1812. William Hull, born at Derby, Connecticut,
June 24, 1753, served as an American general
through the Revolutionary war and was governor
of Michigan Territory from 1805 until 1814. He
died at Newton, \AIassachusetts, November 29,
1825. Isaac Hull, born at Derby, Connecticut,
March 9, 1773, died at Philadelphia, February
13, 1843. He was an American commodore and
commanded the Constitution, which defeated and
captured the Guerriere, August 19, 1812.
Martin Hull was noted as an athlete, being
endowed with great physical powers. He was
married three times and was the father of twenty-
five children. When quite young he could easily
shoulder a three-bushel sack of wheat, with feet
standing in a half bushel measure. He served in
the War of 1812. Our subject has four children
living; Henry, living two and one-half miles
north-east of Wasco; Ernest A, a farmer and
saloon keeper, at Wasco ; John G, now conduct
ing our subject's two ranches; Frank, who rents
the "Cooper place" on the John Day river. Emma
Isadore, aged twenty, and her brother, Arthur M,
aged six, two other children, were burned to
death with their mother February 1, 1882.
At present Mr. Aledler owns two thousand
ancl forty acres of land all devoted to wheat. In
1 89 1 he became president of the Farmers Co
operative Warehouse Association, which enter
prise he organized and continued president until
he disposed of his interest. He, also, engaged in
the banking business, but later sold out. He was
instrumental in the organization of the Wasco
Union Lumber Company, of which he was treas
urer. For two years he was president of the
Union Warehouse Company and- was one of the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

531

organizers. March 4, 1903, he purchased an in
terest in the Wasco Commercial Company and
to this he devotes his attention. He owns a hand
some cottage home in town. Politically he is in
line with the Democratic party, and Governor
Pennoyer appointed him a county commissioner
on the organization of Sherman county. We
also wish to mention that Mr. Medler has taken
a very active and prominent part in promoting
the State Grange of Oregon, having spent much
money and time in this important enterprise. He
has the distinction of being the overseer for this
order for the state of Oregon, and is considered
one of the most thorough and up-to-date parlia
mentarians in the state.

ROBERT W. MONTGOMERY, manager
of the Interior Warehouse Company, of Kent,
Sherman county, is a native Oregonian, having
been born in Umatilla county, August 30, 1881,
the son of Benjamin and Mary A. (Peck) Mont
gomery. The father of our subject was a na
tive of Ireland, coming to Canada about the year
1865. He at first located in Montreal, where he
remained until 1879, engaged in railroading.
Thence he removed to Albany, in the Willamette
valley, where he farmed on rented land for a
period of two years, when he went to Umatilla
county and secured land. Here he died in 1883.
The mother of our subject was a native of Prince
Edward Island, Canada ; her parents were Eng
lish. At present she resides in the town of
Helix, Umatilla county, renting the farm to her
son. Our subject was reared in Umatilla county
until he reached the age of twenty years, where
he received an excellent education in the public
schools; attended the Pendleton Academy one
year ; was one year at the Willamette University,
at Salem, and, also, prosecuted a course in the
Portland Business College. In 1901 he came
to Kent. Here he accepted his present responsible
position. June 28, of the same year, at Moro, he was
united in marriage to Miss Annie Peetz, born in
Tacoma, Washington, November 24, 1886. The
bride's parents were Carl and Catherine
(Schoot) Peetz, the formes being a retired farmer
living near Moro.
Our subject has three brothers and three sis
ters; Thomas, manager of the Puget Sound
Warehouse, at Pendleton; Alexander, a lumber
dealer and manager of the Puget Sound Ware
house, at Helix, Oregon; John, a farmer and
manager of the Balfour-Guthrie Warehouse, at
Warren, Umatilla county ; Lydia, wife of William

Alby, a Franklin county, Oregon, farmer ; Sarah,
single, residing with her mother, and Lucy, single,
a twin sister of our subject.
Fraternally Mr. Montgomery is a member
of Cascade Lodge, No. 303, B. P. O. E, at The
Dalles. Politically his affiliations are with the
Republican party, of which he is committeeman
for his precinct. He is, also, constable and
deputy sheriff. Mr. Montgomery has won the
confidence of all in the community in which he
resides, and is a broad-minded, progressive and
sagacious business young man of marked ability.

GEORGE P. SINK, a very extensive general
farmer and stockraiser, of Sherman county, re
sides three miles east and two miles north of
Kent. He is a native of Illinois, born June 2,
1847. His parents were natives of North Caro
line, descendants of old and distinguished Amer
ican families. The father, Thomas W, was born
in 1819. The mother, Luzina (Thomas) Sink,
was born in 1824. Her ancestors, of the old
colonial period, were originally from Virginia.
Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of
our subject served with distinction in the Revo
lutionary war and the War of 181 2. The broth
ers of the parents of our subject were engaged
in the Civil war, serving on both sides of the con
troversy. At present these parents, living at a
graceful and green old age, reside three miles
northwest of Wasco, Sherman county. The
family came to Oregon in 1876, locating in Yam
hill county.
Until the year 1867 our subject was reared
in Illinois, from whence the family removed to
Clark county, Missouri. In early youth the lad
lived in town and attended the public schools
until he had reached the age of fourteen years.
At that period his parents were proprietors of a
boarding house; subsequently they followed
farming. In 1870, at the age of twenty-three years,
our subject struck out to face the world ancl
from it wrest a living for himself and, perchance
a handsome competence. He followed various
occupations in various states, such as riding the
ranges, attending a surveying party, acting as
usher for Barnum & Bailey's circus, etc, and in
1876 he came west. His father and family, had
gone to California and met our subject there,
and they all went to Oregon. The father pur
chased land in Yamhill county, upon which he
remained one year. In 1882 the subject of this
sketch secured a homestead three miles below
Wasco, Sherman county, in Spanish Hollow. It
was on this farm that his wife died, March 9,

53^

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1883. Our subject remained there until the
financial panic of 1893 when he went fo Port
land, where he was enabled to give his children
the advantages of superior educational facilities.
Here he engaged in various employments, includ
ing teaming and contracting, until the develop
ment of the Klondyke sensation, when he went
to Alaska, remaining two seasons, the first on the
trail ; the second at Dawson. Here he was fairly
successful, but returned and passed about two
years in search of a suitable location for business.
It was in 1900 that Mr. Sink came to Sherman
county, where he purchased land to the extent
of five quarter sections, and subsequently added
more. He now owns one thousand four hundred
acres, and cultivates one thousand acres of grain.
He raises some stock, and during the winter of
1903-4 he fed four thousand head of sheep. Mr.
Sink is the possessor of one of the best and most
eligible ranches in the southern portion of Sher
man county. He extensively cultivates small
fruits and vegetables.
In October, 1877, at Newberg, Yamhill county,
he was united in marriage to Henrietta Everest,
born in the same county. She was the daughter
of David and Irene (Jones) Everest. The father
was a native of England, and came to Oregon
overland, with an ox train, in 1846, from Iowa,
accompanied by his parents. Mrs. Everest had
preceded him, with her parents, in 1845, emi
grating from Missouri.
Our subject has two brothers and two sisters ;
Thomas E. and Everett, both farmers living near
Wasco ; Alary, wife of Charles D. Belcher, a
farmer near Woodland, Yolo county, California ;
Jennie, wife of Charles Chandler, of Clackamas
county, Oregon. Seven brothers and sisters sur
vive the wife of our subject, nearly all of them
living in Yamhill county.
Mr. Sink has three daughters, Georgetta,
wife of Horace Cuthill, living with subject; Char-
letta, at Los Angeles, California, and Henrietta.
The fraternal affiliations of Mr. Sink are with
the A. F. & A. AL, having been demitted from
another lodge. Politically he is a stanch Republi
can, but has never aspired to office, with the ex
ception of school director. Mr. Sink is a pro
gressive, liberal spirited citizen, popular and in
fluential in the community in which he resides.

WILLIAM E. TATE, postmaster of Wasco,
Sherman county, Oregon, was born in Chicago,
Illinois, June 18, 1865. His parents and their
lineage are mentioned elsewhere in this work.
At Chicago our subject attained the graded
and high schools, where he laid the foundation

of an excellent education. He then came to»
California and thence to Sherman county. He
secured a homestead near his father's place, culti
vated the same for some time, and later sold the
property and passed eight years near Hood River_
It was in 1893 that he returned to Sherman
county where he resumed farming, rented land
and, also, conducted his father's ranch, two years.
Recently he sold his farm. In April, 1903, he was
appointed postmaster of Wasco.
September 10, 1890, Mr. Tate was united in
marriage to Aliss Louisa Hansen, born near Alt-
house, Josephine county, Oregon. Her parents
were Germans. Mr. and Mrs. Tate have six
children, Florence, Bessie, Mary, Frances, Ailerie
and Gladys.
The fraternal affiliations of our subject are
with Cascade Lodge, No. 303, B. P. O. E, Taylor
Lodge, No. 99, A. F. & A. M, Sherman Lodge,
No. 157, I. O. O. F, of Wasco, Modoc Encamp
ment, Grass Valley ; the A. O. U. W, of which he
is past master workman and has served as dele
gate to the grand lodge. Politically Mr. Tate-
is an active and patriotic Republican and was
delegate to state and congressional conventions
during the past spring, and frequently delegate
to county conventions. He has, also, served as
school director. In the community in which he
resides Air. Tate is quite popular, and he num
bers many friends in a wide circle of acquaint
ances throughout the county and state.

FRED BLAU, a prominent, progressive and
prosperous farmer of Sherman county, resides-
five miles northwest of Wasco. He was born
in Saxony, Germany, December 5, 1867, the son
of George and Katherina (Kratzmer) Blau, na
tives of Germany, where they died. George Blau,
the father was a tailor.
In 1885 Fred Blau, our subject, came to the
United States, and the first two years were
passed in Iowa. In 1887 he came to Sherman
county and purchased a squatter's rights on dis
puted railroad land. He had no capital, but
worked out for wages and gradually improved
his holdings and now he owns one thousand
two hundred acres, over one thousand acres of
which are cultivated. He owns, also, a combina
tion harvester and thresher.
Mr. Blau was married at Moro, Sherman
county, November 28, 1897, to Minnie Gibson,
born in Oregon, the daughter of James Gibson,
a native of Pennsylvania. Our subject has two-
brothers and one sister ; August, a wagon-maker
in Germany ; Wilhelm, a tailor, in the old coun
try ; and Freda, who is married and living in>

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

533

¦Germany. Julius, another brother, died in San
Francisco. Mr. and Mrs. Blau have one child,
Walter. Fraternally Mr. Blau is a member of
Sherman Lodge, No. 137, I. O. O. F, of Wasco,
-and the A. O. U. W. Mrs. Blau has five broth
ers and two sisters ; Ellsworth, Omar and Ly
man, of Walla Walla ; Will, in Wasco ; Charles,
living with his father in Crook county ; Belle,
wife of Harold Stanil, of La Grande ; and Maud,
single, and living with her father. Politically
Mr. Blau is a Democrat, although not particu
larly active. He is an energetic and industrious
business man ancl one highly esteemed by all.

HENRY RICHELDERFER, a retired
farmer of Sherman county, resides two miles
northwest of Wasco. March 8, 1846, he was
born at Port Clinton, Schuylkill county, Penn
sylvania. His father, Nathan, was, also, a na
tive of the Keystone State, as was ljis mother,
Matilda (Mengle) Richelderfer, both descend
ants of old ancl prominent Pennsylvania Dutch
families. The father was for many years a rail
way engineer running on the Philadelphia &
Reading road. He died at Port Clinton, in 1870.
The mother died when our subject was one year
•old. At the public schools of Port Clinton he ac
quired a good business education, and in the
spring of 1865 enlisted in Two Hundred and
Fourteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry,
Colonel McGibbons, commanding. The company
in which our subject served was commanded by
Captain Kauffman. He participated in a num
ber of skirmishes but was engaged in no im
portant battles. The greater portion of his time
was passed in Virginia ancl at Washington, D. C,
at which latter place he was mustered out. He
then returned home and engaged in railroad
work which he followed until 1877, as brakeman
and conductor, on the Philadelphia & Reading,
Morris & Essex and New York Central lines.
In 1877 he migrated to Kansas where he passed
•one year engaged in farming, thence going to the
Willamette valley. He came to Sherman county
in the fall of 1880. At that period Eaton ancl
Love were the only settlers living near Mr.
Richelderfer. He took up a homestead and pur
chased other land. Here he left, for a time,
his family and became a conductor on the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company's road,
nearly three years, at the same time gradually
improving his place.
Our subject was married April 29, 1870, at
l\Tew York city, to Miss Mary Evans, born in
Berks county, Pennsylvania. She was the daugh

ter of James Evans, also a native of the Key
stone State.
Our subject has one sister, Isabella, wife of
Joseph Mengle, of Port Clinton, Pennsylvania,
formerly a railroad man but now retired. Mr.
ancl Airs. Richelderfer have five children living;
Harry N, at home; Asa D. and Earl H, con
ducting the farm; Laura N, wife of W. Robert
Foryce, of White Salmon, Washington ; Emma
E, at home. Their parents are both members
of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The parents of James Evans, father of our
subject's wife, were Irish ; his grandparents Eng
lish. Mrs. Richelderfer's mother, Annie
(Breisch) Evans, was a native of Pennsylvania,
of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. She died when
our subject's wife was about nine years of age.
The latter's great-grandfather — father's maternal
grandfather — Glace, was in the War of the
Revolution. James Evans served in the Civil
war, in Captain Nangle's company. He was
wounded in battle. He died in 1874, ancl is
buried at Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
The farm of our subject comprises two sec
tions which are conducted by his sons. With the
exception of about one hundred acres it is all
under cultivation. He owns a steam threshing
outfit. In 1902 he erected a handsome and sub
stantial two-story, sixteen-room house, including
two bath-rooms, pantry and store-room, costing
about three thousand dollars. It is provided with
an excellent water system piped into the house.
The political principles of Mr. Richelderfer are
in line with those of the Republican party. He is
a sagacious business man, of sound judgment
and highly esteemed in both social and financial
circles.

ARTHUR K. HALL, the leading druggist
of Kent, Sherman county, and one of the pros
perous and popular business men of the commun
ity, was born in Iowa, November 22, 1866. His
father, Dr. David M. Hall, was a native of Ohio,
as was his father. The paternal great-grand
father of our subject was a pioneer of the coun
try now embraced by West Virginia, and also of
Ohio. He was a hunter and trapper and served
with distinction in the War of 1812. Dr. David
Hall, the father of our subject, was for many
years a practicing physician and a pioneer in
Western Iowa — the only physician in practice
there for several years, and continued practice
for a period of thirty years, in that locality. He
died in June, 1887, in Harrison county, Iowa.
The mother. Sarah (Kennedy) Hall, is a na
tive of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ; her parents
were born in Ireland. At present she resides on

534

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

her homestead, three and one-half miles from
Kent. In the state of Iowa our subject was reared
where he attended district and high schools, at
Logan, Harrison county. In July, 1890, he came
to Vancouver, Washington, where he was em
ployed by A. L. Ross, a prominent druggist of
that place. Here he remained eighteen months,
and the following four years he was engaged
in logging. It was in 1896 that he went to The
Dalles where he passed one winter ; thence to
Sherman county, where he rented a quarter sec
tion of land, and, also, secured another quarter
section under the homestead laws, which he still
owns. It is located three miles northwest of
Kent, and for which he receives a fair rental. In
April, 1903, Mr. Hall erected a building in Kent
and opened a fine drug store, in which he con
ducts a profitable trade.
September 20, 1899, our subject, at Ante
lope, Wasco county, was united in marriage to
Cora C. Elkin, a native of Missouri. Her father,
Edward E. Elkin, was born in the same state
"nd his parents were natives of Virginia. The
father of Edward E. Elkin served with distinction
on the union side during the Civil war, in a
Missouri regiment. At present Edward E. El
kin lives in Crook county, Oregon, near Ashwood,
engaged in the stock business. Airs. Hall's
mother, Margaret (Marrs) Elkin, is a native
of West Virginia, as were her parents, although
at their period the state was known as Virginia.
Her father and brothers served in the Civil war,
in the army of the Confederacy. At present
she lives at Ashwood, Crook county, with her
family; her mother resides in Missouri.
Our subject, Arthur K. Hall, has two broth
ers, Marshall, living in Iowa, and Willard, a
farmer living one and one-half miles from Kent.
He has, also, two half brothers, John, residing
at Woodbine, Iowa, and a member of the board
of supervisors of Harrison county, and Charles,
living in Michigan. Mrs. Hall has five broth
ers and two sisters ; Marvin, in Crook county,
Oregon ; Milo, Roy, Arthur and Charles, living at
home. Her sisters are Eunice and Ruby, also
living at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall have one child, Grace,
born November 15, 1902. Our subject, fratern
ally, is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the
Modern '"•Woodmen of America, and both he and
his estimable wife are members of the Ladies'
auxiliary of the latter order, the Royal Neigh
bors. Politically he is a Republican, although
not particularly active in the successive cam-
raigns. He has, at different times served as
ro-M supervisor and school director of his dis
trict.

In September, 1904, Mr. Hall received his
commission as postmaster of Kent, the office be
ing located in his drug store. He was appointed
justice of the peace for Kent precinct by the
county commissioners and at the following elec
tion he refused to allow his name to come up
for balloting. He is one of the promoters and
stockholders of the Kent Telephone Company,
which maintains lines to Grass Valley and to
other local points.

JOHN H. BOTTEAIILLER, the principal
lumber dealer of Kent, Sherman county, Ore
gon, was born in Minnesota, December 2, 1867,
the son of Henry and Mary (Mahlman) Botte-
miller, both natives of Germany. When fourteen
years of age the father came to the United States
with his parents. They located first in Missouri,
and engaged in the industry of tobacco raising.
Later they removed to Minnesota where they-
devoted their attention to general farming. The
father died in 1898 at Courtney, eight miles from
Portland. When twelve years of age the mother of our
subject came to the United States with her pa
rents, and at present resides on the old homestead,
near Portland.
Until he was sixteen years of age our subject
was reared in Minnesota, living with the family
and dividing his attention between the farm and
the public schools in his neighborhood. The
family then removed to Santa Rosa, Sonoma
county, California, where they purchased prop
erty two and one-half miles northwest of Santa
Rosa. Here they remained three years, and then
disposed of the place, including a vineyard and
orchard, and migrated to Oregon, where they
bought a farm of sixty-nine acres, near Port
land, a portion of which was devoted to an or
chard and vegetable garden. Following the death
of his father our subject conducted the place until
1902, when he came to Sherman county and se
cured a homestead. On this he remained three
months, then relinquished to the government-
He then removed to Kent where he engaged in
the lumber business. He still owns fourteen acres
of his father's old place ; this he receives a rental
for. July 20, 1897, at the old home, our subject was
united in marriage to Minnie Thun, a native of
Minnesota, the daughter of Charles and Cristina.
Thun, both born in Germany. At present they
reside at Courtney on property adjoining the sub
ject's place. They were married in Germany,
and came to the United States about the year
1876, locating first in Minnesota. At that time

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

535

the father was a carpenter; later he turned his
attention to farming. At present he is retired,
although he owns a farm of eighty acres at Logan
which his sons conduct.
Our subject, John H. Bottemiller, has five
brothers and seven sisters ; August, a farmer near
Richfield, Washington ; Charles, a merchant, saw
ancl planing mill man, residing at Bertha, Minne
sota ; William, a farmer at Clarks, Oregon, twenty
miles southeast of Portland ; Edward, a gardener
near Portland; Emil, a shipping clerk for the
Oregon Casket Company, of Portland; Louisa,
wife of Jacob Kohlhase, of Bertha, Minnesota;
Amelia, wife of Adam Leyh, of Bertha, Minne
sota; Mary, wife of Ralph Ganyard, a commer
cial traveler, residing at Sellwood ; Emma, single,
living at Oregon City; Lena, wife of Gottleib
Keller, in the Milwaukee, Oregon, car shops;
Lydia, a trained nurse in The Dalles hospital;
and Augusta, a cook in The Dalles hospital.
To our subject and his estimable wife four
children have been born, Laura, Leslie, William,
and an infant unnamed. The parents are both
members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Politically Mr. Bottemiller is a Republican, al
though not active. He is a progressive and
broad-minded citizen of Kent, and highly popu
lar with all classes of society in the community
in which he resides.
In connection with his lumber yard Mr. Botte
miller operates a feed mill, having a gasoline en
gine to run the mill and also to handle a wood
saw. He carries a full line of building materials,
as sash, doors, builders hardware, and so forth,
has a complete stock of mill feed and hay, besides
wood.

JOSEPH J. MILLER, of the firm of Miller
Brothers, proprietors of a meat market and exten
sive stock-raisers and farmers of Sherman county,
resides at Wasco. He was born at Aliller Bridge,
on the Sherman county side of the Des Chutes
river, October 3, 1871, the son of T. Jefferson and
Sarah (Ford) Miller, the former a native of In
diana, the latter of Iowa.
Our subject was reared in Klickitat county,
Washington, until he was thirteen years of age.
His parents had moved there when he was two
years old. They came back to Sherman county,
where he attended district schools, the graded
schools of Oregon City and to this education he
added a course at the Portland Business College.
Until 1901 he remained with his father the most
of the time. He then engaged in stock-raising,
wheat buying and steamboating, etc. He is
largely interested in the Columbia & Okanogan
Steamboat Company, with headquarters at Wen-

atchee, Washington. For two years our subject'
was in active service, 1902 and 1903, at the head
office of the upper district. Then, with his broth
ers, Thomas J. and Edward E, he bought out
O. H. Rich, mentioned elsewhere, a meat busi
ness, and which they have conducted ever since.1
Shortly after purchasing this interest our sub
ject discovered that it demanded his attention per
sonally and accordingly he resigned his position
with the steamboat company and came to Sher
man county. Here he owns about one thousand
seven hundred acres of land, and in Klickitat
county, Washington, six hundred acres more. He
has about six acres of orchard and winters about1
one hundred and fifty head of cattle. He also
raises a few hogs.
April 19, 1902, at, The Dalles, our subject was
united in marriage to Miss Rosa Klimt, born at
The Dalles and reared in Portland. Her father
is dead; her mother resides at The Dalles. She
has two brothers, George and Frank, now with
their mother.
Mr. and Airs. Miller have one child, Jenna
M, born in Wenatchee, Washington, September
8, 1903. Fraternally, our subject is a member
of the W. O. T. W. Politically, he is a Republi- ;
can, although far from being a partisan.

JOHN J. SCHAEFFER. a member of the
Eastern Oregon Trading Company, at Kent,
Sherman county, was born in Milan township,'
Erie county, Ohio, June 16, 1845. His father,
Michael Schaeffer, was a native of Pennsylva
nia, as were his parents. In Milan township
Michael Schaeffer was, for a period of fifty years;
a well-to-do and highly respected farmer. He '
passed away on his homestead in Erie county
in 1884. The mother of our subject, Mary E.1
(Ganby) Schaeffer, was a native of Seneca coun
ty, New York, a descendant of an old and dis
tinguished American family. She died on the old
Ohio homestead.
It was in the Buckeye State that our subject'
was reared until 1887, where he attended the pub
lic schools and assisted his parents on the farm.
He then came to Sherman county, Oregon, and
purchased a timber claim right one-half mile
south of Moro, and also a quarter section of land
of^Samuel L. Brooks, of The Dalles, mentioned
elsewhere, which adjoined his timber culture
claim. This property he cultivated for about
fourteen years, and disposing of it, engaged in ¦
the mercantile business in Moro. . This he con
tinued one year, sold out and removed to Kent,
where he opened another store in a new building
which he erected. At the same period he was

536

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

proprietor of another mercantile establishment at
Moro, having at the time a partner in both these
enterprises, P. G. Hickenbotham. These gentle
men disposed of their business to the commer
cial company, at Kent, and also the Moro busi
ness. This was in 1901. The following year
Mr. Schaeffer built another edifice ancl com
menced business alone. At the organization of
the Eastern Oregon Trading Company he turned
in his mercantile stock for shares in the new
company, and also purchased the building which
has since been enlarged.
At the residence of the bride's parents,
in Crook county, Oregon, five miles from
Prineville, our subject was united in mar
riage to Mary E. Snoderley, born in Linn
county, Oregon. Her father, James H. Snod
erley, a native of Tennessee, was an early Ore
gon pioneer, crossing the plains in 1852 with an
ox train, and settling in Linn county. He died
in May, 1898, on the old homestead, near Prine
ville. Her mother, Eliza (Curl) Snoderley, a
native of Missouri, with ox teams, crossed the
plains in 1853, and located in Linn county. At
present she resides at Prineville.
Mrs. Schaeffer, the wife of our subject, has
four brothers and one sister ; Walter and William,
at Prineville ; Joseph, in California ; and Fred,
residing in Crook county, Oregon. The sister is
America, wife of Jacob Boone, of Prineville, the
latter a member of the old distinguished Boone
family, of which Daniel Boone was a prominent
character. Another sister, Ellen, is dead. Mr.
and Mrs. Schaeffer have one child, Lois E, aged
eight years.
Our subject has six brothers living ancl three
sisters ; Jacob, a millwright, at Decatur, Illinois ;
George, of Milan, Ohio ; William, a farmer, near
Milan, Ohio; Benjamin, a farmer near Moro,
Oregon ; Reuben, Frank, in the insurance busi
ness at Bellevue, Ohio. Joseph, another brother,
is dead. The sisters are : Elizabeth, wife of Or
lando Bassett, a retired farmer of Milan, Ohio ;
Rebecca, wife of James McLean, a farmer in
Huron county, Ohio ; Susannah, single, living
with her brother, William. Sarah, wife of Peter
Williams, and Mandana, wife of Charles Mixter,
are dead. Mary C, died in infancv, aged two
and one-half years.
The political principles of our subject are in
line with those of the Democratic party. He has
frequently been a delegate to county conventions,
ancl at present is school director in his district.
He and wife are members of the Baptist church.
Socially and in a business sense Mr. Schaeffer
is a popular and influential citizen.
In March, 1864, Mr. Schaeffer enlisted in
Company F, One Hundred ancl Forty-fifth Ohio

Infantry, together with his brothers, George Wil
liam ancl Benjamin, all being in the same com
pany. They served until honorably discharged at
camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, having been in
much active contest.

SARAH TROTTER, the mother of Airs.
Milton H. Bennett, mentioned elsewhere in this
work, was born in North Carolina, July 10, 1851.
She is now a resident of Kent, Sherman county,
Oregon. Her father, Jonathan Wheeler, was
also a native of North Carolina, and the descend
ant of an old and distinguished American family.
His grandfather, as well as other members of the
family, served with distinction in the Revolution
ary War. The mother of our subject, Esther
(Stephens) Wheeler, was, also, born in North
Garolina, and was a cousin of the late Hon.
Alexander H. Stephens, vice president of the
Southern Confederacy from 1861 to 1865. He
was born near Crawfordville, Georgia, February
11, 1812; died at Atlanta, Georgia, March 4,
1883. He graduated at the University of Geor
gia in 1832 ; studied law ; was chosen member of
the state legislature in 1836 ; was member of
congress from Georgia from 1843 to 1859 ; op
posed secession in i860; was Democratic member
of congress from Georgia from 1873 to 1882, and
was governor of Georgia in 1883. He was the
author of "The War Between the States," and a
"History of the United States."
Our subject was married, in Missouri, lan-
uary 26, 1868, to James A. Trotter, a native of
Missouri. His father, Allen S. Trotter, was a
native of Indiana, and claimed to be the first
white child born on that side of the Ohio river,
in Indiana, near Vincennes. He was reared in
Boone county. His parents, of Irish descent,
came from Virginia. He was one of twelve chil
dren descended from an old, distinguished and
wealthy Irish family.
Our subject and her husband lived in Mis
souri nearly six years ; thence they came to Clarke
county, Washington, locating near Vancouver.
He secured a homestead in the timber, and worked
hard and industriously in clearing this land, for
twelve years ; he then sold it for eight hundred
dollars. They lived in Vancouver about two
years. In 1894 they came to Sherman county,
principally on account of the ill health of Air.
Trotter ; thence they returned to Vancouver
where he passed away Alay 14, 1899. After his
death our subject returned to Sherman county
and took a homestead on which the town of Kent
was subsequently built. In 190 1 she platted the
townsite and has since disposed of a number of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

537

lots. Mrs. Trotter has two brothers ; Julius, at
Carthage, Missouri ; and David, at Eureka
Springs, Arkansas. They are both veterans of
the Civil war, having served in the union army.
She has one sister, Mary, the wife of Henry
Barnes, of Arkansas. Her husband had one
brother, Joseph W, living at Vancouver. He
served in the First Washington Volunteer Regi
ment during the Philippine war. He had, also,
one half-sister, Airs. Hattie Culton, of Portland,
Oregon. Our subject has five children living;
William F, a blacksmith in Okanogan county,
Washington; Maggie, wife of Milton Bennett,
mentioned ' elsewhere ; James S, a farmer of
Sherman county ; Mamie, living at home ; and
Iva, widow of Ned Lane, of Kent. Mrs. Trotter
is a member of the United Presbyterian church,
and a lady who is highly esteemed throughout
the community.

HENRY SCHADEWITZ, a prominent and
influential business man of Kent, Sherman county,
president of the Eastern Oregon Trading Com
pany, and postmaster, is a native of the Empire
State, having been born at Rochester, New York,
September 16, 1856.
His father, Carl H. Schadewitz, a native of
Berlin, Germany, was a wagonmaker by trade.
At the age of eighteen years he came to the
United States, where he completed learning his
trade, and then traveled throughout the country,
working in a number of states, and finally reach
ing California via the Isthmus of Panama, and
was engaged in the business of minning for sev
eral years. In 1852 he returned to New York.
Later he was married at Rochester, returning to
California shortly after the birth of our subject,
and subsequenth' he was in the wagonmaking
business at Stockton, California. He sold out
this business when our subject was about seven
years of age, and purchased a farm in San Joa
quin county, California, where the family re
mained until they came to Oregon, overland, in
the fall of 1887. Here he joined his sons, who
had preceded him as early as 1884. He died in
Sherman county, near Kent, in December, 1892.
The mother, also a native of Germany, passed
away in California in 1874.
Our subject, accompanied by two brothers,
arrived in Sherman county in 1884, and secured
land about three miles from the town of Kent.
Mr. Schadewitz owns nearly one thousand acres
of excellent farming land. In 1901 he bought
out the business of Benjamin Brown, the pio
neer merchant of Kent. Later he was associated
with Milton Bennett, whose biographical sketch
¦appears in another portion of this work.

February 13, 1891, at Acampo, San Joaquin
county, California, our subject was married to
Emma May Parks, a native of California. Her
father, John Parks, a native of Missouri, came to
California in the days of the early Argonauts,
where he died in 1892. Her mother, Olive H.
(Walston) Parks, is a native of Illinois. At the
age of sixteen she came to California with friends,
and now survives her husband at Acampo.
Our subscriber has two brothers, Charles, en
gaged in the stock business at Mitchell, Oregon,
and Louis, a farmer living in Kent, where he con
ducts a meat market. Mrs. Schadewitz has two
brothers and five sisters : John and Adelbert,
farmers, in Sherman county ; Annie, wife of a
brother of our subject, Louis Schadewitz; Cyn
thia, wife of Adolph Phrenn, of San Joaquin
county, California ; Mattie, in California ; Louisa,
wife of Elmer Needham, a Sherman county
farmer; Alzada, single, and residing with her
mother in California. Mr. and Mrs. Schadewitz
have six children living, Carl H, Olive M, Lola,
Melvin, Louis M, and Theodore. John, one of
the sons, is dead.
Our subject is a member of Kent Lodge No.
185, I. O. O. F. Politically, he is a Republican ;
has been a notary public, justice of the peace,
school director, road supervisor, etc. His wife
is a devout and consistent member of the Chris
tian church. Mr. Schadewitz is a man of ex
cellent business judgment and sagacity, is wideb
and favorably known, and an influential and pop
ular citizen.

BYRON W. ANSON, at present a farmer
in Sherman county, residing one-half mile east
and one mile south, of Klondike, has enjoyed an
eventful and distinguished career. He was born
in New York city, April 25, 1854, the son of
John and Julia (Derby) Anson, the latter a na
tive of Indiana and now living at Hastings, Ne
braska. The father is dead.
When only seven years of age our subject ran
away from home and wandered to Lexington,
Missouri, where for several years he resided with
an old bachelor, attending district schools and
working at various employments. When twelve
years old he entered the service of the United
States government as a messenger and was thus
employed three years. Subsequently he served
seven . years as a government scout in Kansas,
Colorado, Montana and the Black Hills. At the
time of the Custer massacre on the Little Big
Horn he was away after reinforcements and thus
escaped with his life. In 1872 Air. Anson went
to San Francisco with a car-load of horses for
Colonel Potter, U. S. A, and there left the em-

538

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ployment of the government. He then went to
Colusa county, California, where he rented land
and engaged in farming. In 1887 he came to
Sherman county, filed on a claim and purchased
other land, although he had but moderate capi
tal, and now owns four hundred and eighty acres.
In 1898 he erected a handsome six-room Queen
Anne cottage, which is well supphed with water
piped into the house. He has twenty-five head
of stock, horses and cows ; -five head of thorough
bred trotting horses of Phalmont stock, sired by
Phalmont Boy, with a record of 2:1834; eight
head of thoroughbred Clydesdales and two
Shires. He has two cows, full Durham and
eligible to register.
Mr. Anson was married, September 13, 1887,
at Wheatland, California, to Miss Josephine C.
Hilderbrand, sister of George W. Hilderbrand,
a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. Mr. Anson
has one brother, Augustine, a plumber and gas-
fitter, living at Hastings, Nebraska. Captain An
son, the famous base-ball player of the Chicago
"White Stockings," known as "Baby Anson,"
and now a candidate for city clerk of Chicago,
is a first cousin of our subscriber. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Anson are members of the United Brethren
church. He is a Democrat, and although not
active, has served two years as road supervisor.
Mr. Anson is a thorough gentleman, genial, pop
ular and of excellent business principles. He
bears a striking resemblance to the celebrated
ball player. He and his wife are highly esteemed
in their home community.

LOUIS SCHADEWITZ, a leading business
man,- general farmer and proprietor of the meat
market, in Kent, Sherman county, was born in
Liberty township, San Joaquin county, Califor
nia, April 12, 1863. He is a brother of Henry
Schadewitz, mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
His parents, Carl H. and Maria (Washer)
Schadewitz, were natives of Germany, who came
to the United States at an early age. In Decem
ber, 1892, the father died at Kent, Sherman
county; the mother passed away in 1874, in Cali
fornia. With his brothers our subject came to Ore
gon in 1884, and secured a homestead which he
now cultivates successfully. At present he owns
two sections of land, and rents another section.
Four-fifths of all his land is tillable. He raises
some cattle, usually wintering about seventy-five
head, and has now thirty horses and sixty hogs.
It was only recently that he commenced the
meat business, and he is running a supply wagon
and erecting a two-story frame building, 30x60

feet, with 20-foot studding. A portion of the
lower floor witll be utilized for meat market pur
poses, and the rest for a residence. The upper
floor is devoted to a commodious hall.
February 13, 1895, Air. Schadewitz was
united in marriage to Aliss Alary A. Parks, a na
tive Californian, born September 3, 1869. She
is the daughter of John Al. and Olive (Walston)
Parks. The father was born in Missouri ; the
mother in Iowa. In 1850 the father, with an ox
train, crossed the plains, and in the Golden State-
became an industrious and fairly successful
miner. He died in California. The mother still
lives at Acampo, California. Mrs. Schadewitz,
the wife of our subject, is a sister of the wife of
Henry Schadewitz, our subject's brother. Three
children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs.
Schadewitz: Oliver E, aged nine; Edna G, aged
seven, and Olive M, aged two years. Mr.
Schadewitz is an active member of the M, W. A.
Royal Neighbors, and is vice noble grand of the
I. O. O. F, all of Kent. Politically he is a Re
publican, but not an active participant in the
campaigns of that party. For three successive
terms he has been elected clerk of the school dis
trict in which he resides. Socially, and in a
business sense, Mr. Schadewitz is a broad-
minded, progressive and liberal man, popular with
all and a highly respected member of the com
munity in which he resides.

FREDERIC W. MATTHIAS, one of the
most successful and prosperous farmers in Sher
man county, lives three miles southeast of Klon
dike. He was born in Prussia, Germany, De
cember 29, 1855. His parents were Christ and
Elizabeth (Peeper) Matthias. The father served
in the Prussian army in the war of 1848, and- died
in Kansas in 1891. At present the mother lives-
with her son and the subject of this sketch.
The latter came to the United States in May,
1884. In October of the same year he was fol
lowed by his parents, ancl the family settled in
Kansas. In 1890 our subject came to Sherman
county with his family and mother. He had, at
this time, no capital and worked out for wages
among the neighboring farmers. During five
years he herded sheep, the family at that period
living at De Moss Springs. Subsequently Mr.
Matthias took a homestead and has purchased
more land since until he now owns one thousand
seven hundred and fifty acres. He also owns a
combined harvester and thresher. In 1901 he
build a two thousand five hundred dollar house.
He has sixty-five head of cattle ; eighty head of
horses, Clydesdale and Percherons, the cattle be-
ing in the main graded Short-horn stock.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

539

Mr. Matthias was married in Germany to.
Dora Hillem, a native of Germany, as were her
parents. Our subject has two brothers and three
sisters ; Christ, a brick mason in Germany ; Will
iam, in Kansas ; Dora, wife of Willie Gieg, of
Iowa; Minnie, wife of William Schaeffer, of
Oklahoma ; and Lizzie, wife of John Gieg. Mrs.
Matthias has one sister, Mary, wife of Thomas
Colbert, of Cheney, Washington. Mr. and Mrs.
Matthias have four children, Fred, John, Alvina,
wife of George Robinson, and Amelia. Our sub
ject is a member of the M. W. A, of which he is
venerable consul. Politically he is a Democrat,
although not active. By industry combined with
excellent business sagacity Mr. Matthias has built
up a fine property and has, also, won the respect
and esteem of the community in which he re
sides.

MILTON H. BENNETT, manager of the
Eastern Oregon Trading Company, ancl one of
the prominent and influential citizens of Kent,
Sherman county, was born in Jones county, Iowa,
October 13, 1863. His father, Craig Bennett,
was a native of Guernsey county, Ohio. He died
in 1890, in Sherman county, Oregon. His pa
rents were natives of Ireland.
The mother of our subject, Isabel (Com
stock) Bennett, is a native of New York, and at
present resides with her son, Milton.
Until he was twenty-one years of age the
latter was reared in Iowa, where he attended the
public schools in his neighborhood, and worked
on his father's farm. In 1874 the family re
moved to Kansas, but at the age of seventeen he
returned to Iowa remaining there until 1886.
Thence he moved to Oregon, whither his parents
had preceded him by two years. His father took
up land under the homestead laws, in Sherman
county. This was in 1886 after the arrival of
our subject. For two years the family had re
sided near Goldendale, Washington. The same
year our subject secured land in Sherman county,
two miles from the town of Kent. In 1890 he
secured another place under the homestead laws,
selling the preemption he had first located. He
still owns the homestead which adjoins the town
of Kent. In 1900 he erected a warehouse at Kent
which was the first building in the town. This
he conducted one season, and then sold out to the
W. W. Company, but continued to conduct it for
them one season. January 1, 1902, he engaged in
the general merchandise business in company
with Henry Schadewitz under the firm name of
Schadewitz & Company. This firm was contin
ued fourteen months when our subject disposed
of his interest to his partner. August 1, 1903, he

purchased the interest of Schadewitz & Com
pany, and organized the Eastern Oregon Trad
ing Company with a capital of $15,000. The
officers are Henry Schadewitz, president ; our
subject secretary, treasurer and manager. The
subject's brother, Walter H. Bennett, and John-
J. Schaeffer are, also, stockholders.
June 25, 1895, our subject was united in mar
riage to Maggie Trotter, a native of Vancouver,
Washington. The nuptial ceremony was solem
nized at Kent. The bride's parents were James
A. and Sarah (Wheeler) Trotter. The mother,
of whom - a biographical sketch appears else
where, was born in North Carolina, July 10,
1851. Our subject has four brothers : Abel C, of
Everett, Washington ; Ralph C, living near
Grass Valley, a farmer ; Walter H, a member of
the Eastern Oregon Trading Company, residing-
at Kent ; and Frank L, a Sherman county
farmer on the John Day river. He has two sis
ters : Jennie, wife of Joseph Patterson, a farmer
residing three and one-half miles southwest of
Kent ; and Belle, wife of Ormond C. Hogue, a
farmer living near Kent. Fraternally our subject
is a member of M. W. A, of Kent, and politically
he is a Prohibitionist. Mrs. Bennett is a member
of the United Presbyterian church. They are
the parents of four children : Bessie, Earl, Cecil,
and Ross.
Mr. Bennett has served several terms as'
school director. In 1887 the postoffice of Kent
was established in his farm house and he was ap
pointed postmaster, in which responsible position-
he remained ten years. At present he is deputy-
postmaster, the office being in the Eastern Ore
gon Trading Company's store. Mr. Bennett is
a citizen of whom any community might be justly
proud ; energetic, public spirited, influential and'
locally patriotic to the core. Both himself ancl
estimable wife are popular in social circles and
highly esteemed by all.

WALTER H. BENNETT, a younger brother
of Milton H. Bennett, a sketch of whom appears
in this work, is, also, a member of the Eastern
Oregon Trading Company, at Kent, Sherman
county, Oregon. He was born in Iowa, April
25, 1868, the son of Craig and Isabel (Com
stock) Bennett. The father was a native of
Guernsey county, Ohio, and died in Sherman
county, Oregon. The mother is a native of New
York and at present resides at Kent with her
son, Milton H. Bennett.
Our subject attended the public schools in his
vicinity, acquiring a good business education, and

540

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

worked on the farm with his parents, with whom
he came west. When he arrived at man's estate
he secured a fine tract of land adjoining that of
his brother's and parents', and then he engaged
in farming ancl freighting until August, 1903,
when he became a member of the Eastern Oregon
Trading Company, of which his brother, Milton,
is manager, secretary and treasurer.
November 28, 1900, at Aloro, Sherman
county, our subject was married to Ella Craig, a
native of Kansas. Her father, Thomas Craig, is
a native of Ireland, and is at present engaged in
truck farming at Buck Hollow, five miles from
Kent. Her mother, Jennie Craig, was a native of
Ireland, and died in Kansas. Mrs. Benriett had
five brothers, three sisters ancl two half-sisters ;
John K, a Methodist Episcopal preacher, of
Richmond, Wheeler county, Oregon ; James, a
plasterer ancl mason, at Fort Collins, Colorado ;
Thomas R, a plasterer and mason at Tillamook,
Oregon ; Ted, a mason and plasterer of Iola,
Kansas ; Hugh, of Red Cloud, Nebraska. The
-sisters are Alary, wife of Sylvester P. Small, a
farmer and stockman, of North Branch, Kansas ;
Margaret, wife of Charles Gates, a butcher of
Iola, Kansas ; ancl Jennie, wife of George Neill, a
farmer, living seven miles south of Kent. The
two half-sisters are Lois and Pearl, living at
home. Mr. Bennett is, fraternally, a member of the
M. W. A, and the Royal Neighbors. Politically
he is a Prohibitionist. He and his estimable wife
are devout and consistent members of the United
Presbyterian church. He is director of the
school district and has served as clerk of the
same. During a period of fourteen years our subject
and his brother, Milton, were engaged in freight
ing from The Dalles into the interior. Walter H.
Bennett served as special deputy sheriff and con
stable for several years, and is popular and
highly esteemed in the community both socially
and in a business way.

JOHN SCHASSEN, one of the most exten
sive and prosperous farmers of Sherman county,
Oregon, resides in a most eligible location six
miles northwest of Kent. He was born in Ger
many, June 4, 1862, in the province of Hanover,
the son of John and Margaret (Witte) Schassen.
Both parents are natives of the province of Han
over, where they at present reside, on a farm.
Having received a good education in the dis
trict schools of his neighborhood our subject
came to the United States in 1884, ancl at once
went to Sherman county, Oregon, where he

joined a friend who had gone there some time
before. The same year Mr. Schassen took up
land under the homestead laws, and being almost
entirely without capital, worked for wages, but
continued to gradually improve his land, and,
from time to time purchasing more, until he now
owns one thousand four hundred and forty acres.
One thousand acres of this he cultivates and
raises some stock, usually wintering some fifty
or sixty head of cattle and a few horses.
In 1901 he suffered the loss of his residence
which was burned. Soon after this he erected in
its place a large two-story, "L" house in which
at present he resides. At The Dalles, in 1886,
our subject was married to Margaret Patjeus, a
native of Germany, born in Hanover province.
She was the daughter of Andrew and Lizzie
Patjeus. John Schassen, our subject, has one
brother and three sisters ; Henry, a hotel-keeper,
in Assel, Hanover ; Trinchen, wife of Deiderich
Wilkins, of Germany, who is a pilot ; Annie, wife
of Johannes Stomberg, a merchant of Kiel, Ger
many ; Emma, at home in Germany.
Air. and Mrs. Schassen have five children:
John, Emma, Annie, Lillie and Minnie, all at
home with their parents. Fraternally our subject
is a member of the A. O. U. W, of which he is
G. V. Politically he is a Democrat, though in no
sense an active politician. He was school direc
tor for a period of ten years. He is a man of ex
cellent business ability and has acquired a good
competence in the way of this world's goods, is
industrious, energetic and influential in the com
munity in which he resides.

HENRY FROCK, an extensive and prom
inent farmer of Sherman county, three and one-
half miles north of Grass Valley, was born in
Germany, March 28, 1865. His parents, Marx
and Katherine (Hass) Frock, were both natives
of Germany, where they died, the father in 1893
and the mother in 1903.
In the fall of 1885, our subject, Henry Frock,
came to the United States, landing October first.
He had learned the stone cutting trade in Ger
many, and at this business he worked in various
places in this country, going first to Arkansas,
one year ; thence to Missouri, one year ; then to
Colorado, Utah, California and many other
states and territories, twenty-eight in all, finally
arriving in Portland in 1893, where he worked at
his trade for some time, going thence to Umatilla
county, where he found employment on a farm
for about two years. In 1894 he came to Sher
man county, filed on land, for which he was com-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

541'

pelled to borrow money to pay the fees, and as
he was without capital, he worked at his trade on
a railroad and, also, did some grading, mean
while improving his land to the best of his abil
ity. He now owns a section of land, well stocked
and supplied with all necessary conveniences for
practical farming.
October 13, 1895, Mr. Frock was married to
Alberta Hembree, born at Santa Rosa, Califor
nia. Her parents were Albert and Josephine
(Stone) Hembree, both natives of California, the
father now living at Grass Valley, Sherman
county. Her mother died near Portland, Ore
gon. Our subject has three brothers and one sister,
Marx, Claus, John and Christina, widow of
Henry Harmeister, of Van Buren, Arkansas.
Mr. and Mrs. Frock have three children living,
Neta, Marx and Clarence ; one, Harold, is dead.
Fraternally our .subject is a member of the
A. O. U. W, of which he is grand vice. Po
litically he is a Democrat, but not active in cam
paigns. Mr. Frock came to Arkansas with a sister and
her husband. He is an excellent workman and
earned good wages, and was for three years a
foreman in Colorado and earned seven dollars
and fifty cents a day. He came to Sherman
county in embarrassed circumstances and, as has
been stated, was compelled to borrow money in
order to pay for his filing. Here he found plenty
of work and commenced to save money. He is
now one of the respected farmers of the vicinity,
very energetic and thoroughly Americanized,
and a popular citizen.

SAMUEL B. HOLMES, one of the exten
sive farmers of Sherman county, where he re
sides, ten miles south of Grass Valley, was born
in Nova Scotia, December 25, 1857. He is the
son of William and Deborah (Roberts) Holmes,
both natives of Nova Scotia, and the parents of
both were English. William Holmes was by
trade a cooper, and he died in Nova Scotia, May
26, 1903. The mother at present resides in Nova
Scotia. It was in Nova Scotia that our subject was
reared until 1880, receiving a fair education in
the neighboring district schools, and assisting his
parents on the farm. That year he migrated to
Leadville, Colorado, during the mining excite
ment which that season stampeded so many from
the east. Here Mr. Holmes engaged in general
teaming until the spring of 1883, when he started
across the country, his destination being Puget
Sound. Two years were passed in Tacoma in

teaming and in the summer of 1885 he came to
his present location in Sherman county, and in
October secured some land under the homestead
law, purchased more until he had increased his
holdings to one thousand two hundred acres, to-
which he added by rental three hundred and
twenty acres. At the present writing he cultivates
about seven hundred acres, wintering seventy-
five head of cattle and some horses and hogs.
August 15, 1889, at Nicholville, New York,
our subject was married to Carrie Sherar, niece
of Joseph H. Sherar, of Sherar Bridge, Wasco
county, Oregon, mentioned elsewhere. Her
father, James Sherar, was a native of Ireland,.
ancl died in 1881 at Nicholville, New York. The-
mother, Elizabeth (Wright) Sherar, also a na
tive of Ireland, died at Nicholville in 1892. James
Sherar was engaged in the general merchandise -
business and'was a well-to-do, highly respected
and prominent citizen.
Our subject has eight brothers: Henry, an-
Alaska mining man ; Charles, engaged in the iron
business in Nova Scotia ; Thomas, a physician ¦
practicing in Oakland, California; Isaac, a civil
engineer in Laramie, Wyoming; Alfred, of Reno,.
Nevada ; Sovereign ; Harvey, at home in Nova
Scotia ; and Weymouth, a carpenter of Oakland,
California. He has one sister, Sadie A, single,
who has been a trained nurse for fourteen years,.
now living in Boston, Massachusetts. Mrs..
Holmes has one brother, Henry, a drayman, re
siding at Nicholville, New York.
Our subject is a member of the A. O. U. W,
and the M. W. A, of Kent, Sherman county..
Politically he is a Republican ancl frequently a
delegate to county conventions ; fairly active, but
is not an aspirant for political preferment. At
present he is clerk of school district No. 25, Sher
man county. To Mr. and Mrs. Holmes have been
born five children: Mabel, aged fourteen; Cassie,,
twelve ; Millie, ten ; Lela, eight, and Willie, four.
Mr. Holmes is quite an extensive farmer and
a sagacious business man ; popular with all while
he and his estimable wife are highly esteemed in
the community in which they have made their
home.  #-•-* 
JOHN A. WALTER, a Sherman county-
farmer, resides at Klondike, opposite the post-
office. He was born in Illinois, August 14, 1868,
the son of William and Elizabeth (Bailey) Wal
ter, the former a native of Pennsylvania; the
latter of Indiana. The ancestry of the father
were Pennsylvania Dutch. He now lives at
Dallas City, Illinois, where he follows the trade
of a blacksmith. The mother of our subject died'
when he was eleven months old. John A. Walter

.542

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

was reared in Illinois by his grandparents until
he was ninteen years of age. Here he attended
the district schools and secured a good business
education. In 1887 he went to Yuba county,
California, where he remained nine months and
thence came to Sherman county, where he work
ed out and rented land for fdur years. He then,
in 1891, filed on land and subsequently purchased^
more. At present he owns a section on which
he raises stock for his own use. He has twenty
head of graded Hambeltonian and Clydesdaie
horses. Our subject was married January 19, 1893,
to Fanny M. Hilderbrand, born in Colusa, Illi
nois, sister of George W. Hilderbrand, mention
ed in another portion of this work. The mar
riage ceremony was solemnized at Colusa.
Our subject has two half-sisters, Jessie, wife
of William McKee, of Chicago, and Mamie, wife
of Edward Hubner, a merchant of Dallas, Illi
nois. Three children have been born to Mr. and
Airs. Walter: William M, aged twelve; Alta
M, aged five; John A, aged three.
Politically, Mr. Walter is an independent and
is now serving his second term as school direc
tor. He is a member of the United Brethren
church, and has been Sunday school superintend
ent for a number of years. He is at present class
leader, a most exemplary citizen and one who
has won and retains the confidence and respect
of the community in which he has cast his lot.
In his immediate vicinity, Mr. Walter is one
of the pioneers, for when he first came only a
portion of the country was settled. He has seen
the virgin prairie transformed to one of the
greatest wheat producing sections of Oregon,
for Sherman county, one of the smallest of the
entire state, is rated as producing one fifth of the
entire wheat crop raised in Oregon.

TIRPIN HILL is recognized as one of the
prosperous and enterprising farmers and general
business men of Sherman county, residing nine
and one-half miles southeast of Grass Valley.
The date of his birth was August 25, 1858, and
the place of his nativity Wapello county, Iowa.
The father of our subject, William T. Hill,
was born in Illinois, but his parents were Ken-
tuckians. He died June 7, 1903, in Umatilla
countv, Oregon, near Athena. The mother,
Delilah (Coleman) Hill, was, also, a native of
Illinois, and at present resides at the old home
about six miles northeast of Athena.
Until he reached the age of fourteen years
our subject was reared ancl received a common
school education in Iowa. Thence, accompanied

by his parents, he removed to Oregon, where the
family settled in Umatilla county. This was in
1872. Tirpin Hill remained with his famiF until
1883, when he removed to Sherman county, Ore
gon, and filed on his present homestead of one-
half section of fine agricultural land, which is
mostly devoted to the raising of grain.
July 1, 1884, he was united in marriage to
Mina E. Dennison. The marriage was solemn
ized near the town of Eugene, Oregon, the birth
place of the bride. Her father was Fay Denni
son, a native of Vermont. Her mother, Mary A.
(Hite) Dennison, came to Oregon, overland,
from the east with her parents when she was
twelve years of age. Fay Dennison was an
orphan boy, and came west to Oregon in 1853,
crossing the plains with an ox train. He died
December 11, 1875. At present the mother of
Mrs. Hill lives in Grant county.
The subject of this sketch has five brothers
and thi^ee sisters ; Heaton, of Antelope ; Oscar,
a farmer in Umatilla county; Perry, of Hartline,
Douglas county, Washington ; Jerome, living with
his mother on the old homestead ; Reed, of
Athena ; Mary T, single ; Ida M, wife of Charles
Downing, a farmer near Athena ; and Carrie, wife
of Frank O. Rogers, of Athens. Mrs. Hill has
three brothers, Charles, a resident of California ;
and Percy and Frank, both living near Spray,
Wheeler county, Oregon. She has, also, two half-
sisters, Effie, wife of Melvin Conger, a Grant
county stockman, and Edna, wife of Charles Bay-
less, of Grant county, Oregon.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been born two
children, Elsie and Fay, girls. Politically, Mr.
Hill is a Democrat, although by no means an
active worker in the ranks of that element. So
cially he is one of the most popular and highly
esteemed residents of his community, and through
years of industry, combined with excellent busi
ness sagacity, he has acquired a competence in
the way of worldly possessions, thus ensuring a
life free from anxiety and forebodings.

HUGH E. SMITH, a prominent and pros
perous Sherman county farmer, resides three-
quarters of a mile east of Klondike. He was born
in Canada, in Ontario province, near Ottawa,
January 14, 1850, the son of John and Alary
(McHugh) Smith, the father a native of Can
ada ; the mother of Ireland. The paternal grand
father of our subject was born in County Cavan,
Ireland, and was at the battle of Lundy's Lane,
July 25, 1814 ; the grandmother was born in
Perthshire, Scotland. Her husband was a lum
berman and farmer.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

543

The parents of our subject's mother, Mary
(McHugh) Smith, were members of an old Irish
family. John Smith and his wife went to Solano
county, California, in 1856. The father now lives
at Oakland; the mother died in Solano county
in 1887. For many years her husband was a
prominent stockman there, but is now retired.
Here our subject was reared and attended the
public schools in his vicinity. When about twenty
years of age he faced the world on his own ac
count. He first went to Stanislaus county with a
brother, Michael, and engaged in wheat raising.
He was there four years when he disposed of his
property interests and returned to Solano county
where he remained two years running a threshing
machine the most of the time. Thence, in 1883,
he came to Sherman county, Oregon, secured
three-quarters of a section of land and purchased
more later. He now owns two thousand two hun
dred and forty acres, all of which is under cultiva
tion. He owns a combination harvester, headers,
etc, and raises horses and mules, of which he has
one hundred head. Mr. Smith also owns the cele
brated registered jack, "Governor Goble," reared
in Colusa county, California, and which captured
the first prize at The Dalles fair in 1902. His
horses are graded Hambletonians.
May 3, 1876, at Hill's Ferry, Stanislaus
county, California, at the residence of the bride's
parents, Mr. Smith was married to Georgia A.
Spriggs, born in Yolo county, California, the
daughter of John M. and Sarah (Carroll)
Spriggs, the father a native of North Carolina ;
the mother of Georgia. John M. Spriggs was
born near Greensville, a descendant of an old
southern family of planters. He settled in Yolo
county in 1852, but was also engaged in the mer
cantile business in St. Helena, Napa county, for
some time, ancl where he was an influential and
prominent citizen.
The mother of Mrs. Smith is a descendant
of the' old Carroll family, famous in southern his
tory. Charles Carroll, "of Carrollton," was born
at Annapolis, Alaryland, September 20, 1737, and
died at Baltimore, November 14, 1832. He was a
distinguished American patriot, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence and United States
Senator from Maryland from 1789 for some
years. John Carroll was born at Upper Marl
borough, Alaryland, January 8, 1735, and died
at Georgetown, D. C, December 3, 1815. He
was an American archbishop of the Roman Cath
olic church. He founded Georgetown College in
1788. With Charles Carroll. Samuel Chase and
Benjamin Franklin he was sent by the Continental
Congress on a political mission to Canada in
1776. Hugh E. Smith, our subject, has four brothers

and two sisters; James, a justice of the peace at
Elmira, Solano county, California; Michael L,
a capitalist in Oakland, California; Matthias P,
a farmer near Monkland, Sherman county ; John
A, who owns jointly with his brother nine thous
and acres of land in Gilliam and Sherman coun
ties; Elizabeth, wife of J. William Martin, of
Woodville, Tulare county, California, a farmer,
county supervisor and prominent Democrat;
Mary J, single, living with her father. Kate,
Nannie and Lucy, three other sisters, are dead.
Mrs. Smith has two sisters; Florida A, wife of
T. D. Griffin, a farmer near Williams, Colusa
county, California ; Mary J, wife of Henry Gen
try, of the same place.
Both Mr. Smith and his estimable wife are
members of the Roman Catholic church. Polit
ically, he is a Democrat, and was delegate to
county conventions previous to the organization
of Sherman county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have
nine children ; John L, a Gilliam county farmer ;
Carl E, of Wasco; Clarence, Lawrence H, Leo
A, George McHugh, all at home ; Irene, wife of
Earl D. Griffin, a hotel proprietor at Cacheville,
Yolo county, California ; Inez P and Zela.

RICHMOND L. CAMPBELL, who resides
at Grass Valley, Oregon, was born in Elliott,
California, on July 28, 1865. His father, Wash
ington L. Campbell, was born in Virginia and his
ancestors were among the earliest Jamestown set
tlers. In the early forties of the last century, he
came to Tennessee, and in 1849 crossed the plains
with ox teams to California, consuming eleven
months in the trip. After mining until 1852, he
took a homestead where our subject was born
and there resided until 1883. Then he journeyed
to Oregon, settling near Mitchell, where the
father bought a section of land and engaged in
stockraising, and there he now resides. Our
subject was educated in the district schools of Cal
ifornia and remained with his father until 1887.
Then he engaged in the stock business for him
self near Mitchell but, owing to the hard winter,
lost his cattle. Next we see him in Ellensburg,
Washington, where he spent two years in the
wood business. In 1891, he returned to Mitchell
and remained three years. After that, he opened
a restaurant in Moro, and six months later took
charge of the old Grass Valley Hotel. After two
years in this business, he was occupied variously
and for six years was road supervisor. In June,
1902, he was elected assessor of Sherman county
and made an excellent record in the office. In
politics, he is a Democrat, and, as the county is
Republican, at the next election he suffered de-

544

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

feat with his ticket. On August 4, 1887, at
Anatone, Grant county, now Wheeler county,
Mr. Campbell married Maude L. Buker, who was
born in The Dalles, on November 8, 1869. Her
father, John H. Buker, lives in Grass Valley. He
married Annie Benjamin. Airs. Campbell's par
ents both descended from early colonial families.
On the father's side, the ancestors fought in the
Revolution and were stanch patriots. Her father
followed the sea for many years in various capaci
ties and afterwards entered business in Grass
Valley as a merchant, where he is at the present
time. Her mother was the daughter of Richard
and Elmira Benjamin, who crossed the plains with
ox teams in 1852. Air. Benjamin at one time
owned much of the land where Spokane, Wash
ington, is now situated. He operated the first
sawmill there and was one of the earliest pioileers.
Air. Campbell has four brothers, Winslow A,
Washington L, Abdiel R, and Walter. He also
has four sisters, Airs. Sallie E. Eaton, Mrs. Cora
E. Cannon, Mrs. Lena F. Sigfrit. To Air. and
Airs. Campbell two children have been born,
Richmond L, aged eight, and Guy R, who died
at Ellensburg, Washington, on June 2, 1891,
being two years of age. Air. Campbell is a mem
ber of the I. O. O. F, while he and his wife be
long to the Rebekahs. He is past grand of the
order and has been delegate to the grand lodge,
and also Belongs to the W. W. In political mat
ters, Air. Campbell is a Democrat and a stanch
supporter of his party. Mrs. Campbell has the
following named brothers and sisters : John,
Harry, Bert, Paul, Airs. Dollie Hart, Mrs. Grace
Bourhill and Mrs. Stella Ottman, and Echo
Buker.

JOHN SIMPSON, a prominent and influen
tial citizen of Sherman county, resides five miles
west of Wasco. He was born in Ohio, June 23,
1859, the son of William and Margaret (Taylor)
Simpson. William Simpson was a native of
Scotland, born near Aberdeen, where he followed
the avocation of a farmer until his death. At
present the mother lives in Ohio with other chil
dren. It was in the Buckeye State that our subject
was reared until 1881, when he came direct to
his present location in Sherman county. He took
up a homestead near his present residence and
has since purchased more land. Some of this
he has sold but he still owns one (thousand acres,
eight hundred and fifty of which he cultivates.
Air. Simpson has lived here continuously with the
exception of eighteen months at The Dalles and
six months in California.
October 6, 1884, at The Dalles, our subject

was married to Lenora Ritchey, born in Ohio,
April 12, 1863. Her parents were Emanuel and
Rebecca (Zimmerman) Ritchey. The mother
was a descendant of an old Pennsylvania Dutch
family of distinguished lineage. Emanuel
Ritchey, the father of our subject's wife, served
in the Civil war. Air. Simpson has three
brothers and six sisters ; James, at Salt Lake,
Utah; David, a merchant in Oak Shade, Ohio;
George, in Wyoming; Annie, wife of William
Bath, of Sandhill, Erie county, Ohio; Maggie,
wife of William Cook, a merchant in Huron,
Ohio; Mary, wife of Charles Cleveland, a car
penter in Huron ; Jennie, wife of Christopher
Cleveland, of Marion, Ohio ; Lizzie, wife of Dud
ley Alorrill, a merchant in Stockton, California;
and Clara, wife of John McQuillan, of Delta,
Fulton county, Ohio. Airs. Simpson has two
brothers and two sisters ; John and Burt, the lat
ter living in Spokane; Bertha, wife of Eugene
Sindel, of San Juan, California; and Estella,
who is single.
Mr. and Airs. Simpson have two children;
Fay, a girl of sixteen, and Linn, a boy aged eleven
years. Politically, Air. Simpson is a Republican,
but is not particularly active in the campaigns.
He has been school director of his district. He
is a man of sterling integrity and one who has
been very successful in financial circles.
Mr. Simpson has, without doubt, one of the
most handsome farm residences in Sherman
county. It is a strictly modern, eight-room
structure, finished throughout in hard oil, and is
of exceptionally beautiful architectural design.
All his other buildings are in keeping with his
residence, and his is one of the choice and beauti
ful places of this prosperous country. Mr. Simp
son, also, has the distinction of bringing the first
automobile to Sherman county. Being of a me
chanical turn of mind, he is adding a machine
shop to the other improvements of the estate,
not, however, for commercial purposes, but that
he may have at hand the necessities for the pur
suit of his desires as his inclinations have always
been in the direction of inventions and mechani
cal investigations.

GEORGE W. HILDERBRAND, a prosper
ous and successful farmer of Sherman county,
resides three and one-half miles east of Wasco.
He was born in Hancock county, Illinois, Feb
ruary 19, 1865. His father, Michael, was a na
tive of the Keystone State, of Pennsylvania Dutch
descent. He died in Illinois, April 28, 1876. The
mother, Rebecca (Royce) Hilberbrand, was born
in McDonough county, Illinois ; her father in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

545

Indiana, and her mother in Tobias county, North
Carolina. At present she lives near Klondike,
Sherman county, with the family of her son-in-
law, John A. Walter.
Until he had attained his majority, our sub
ject was reared in Illinois on the home farm,
where he attended the public schools. In 1886 he
migrated to Yuba county, California, where he
remained one year near Marysville. Thence, with
slender capital, he came to Sherman county where
he purchased land on credit. At present he owns
one thousand or more acres of land, a fine, two-
story brick house, good outbuildings, threshing
outfit, etc.
He was married May 17, 1897, at The Dalles,
to Rebecca Chamberlain, a native of Missouri,
the daughter of Joseph and Ruth (Corell) Cham
berlain. Her father was a native of England, and
died at Lyle, Washington, in June, 1902. Her
mother, a native of Missouri, now lives at Lyle,
on the homestead. They moved from Mis
souri to Lyle about 1889 and secured a home
stead where the mother now lives.
Our subject has one brother and five sisters ;
Douglass, a farmer living ten miles east of Wasco ;
Ellen, widow of John Bailey ; Lillie, wife of Wil
liam Lyons, a farmer in Illinois ; Josephine, wife
of Byron W. Anson, living near Klondike, and
mentioned elsewhere ; Lutherie, wife of Cyrus
Lofton, of Tygh Valley, Wasco county, and
Fannie, wife of John A. Walters, a farmer near
Klondike postoffice. He had three sisters, now
deceased": Annie E, wife of George Strand, died
October 6, 1902, aged thirty-five yearsj Laura,
wife of William Harding, died in Yuba county,
California, February 6, 1880; Martha J, died in
Hancock county, Illinois, aged two years. Mrs.
Hilderbrand has two brothers and five sisters:
Robert and Fred, at Lyle, Washington; Nettie,
wife of Clark McCarty; Fanny, wife of John
Spitzenberger, of Salem, Oregon ; Emma, single,
living with our subject; Neta, aged sixteen, and
Minnie, aged twelve, with her mother at Lyle.
Mr. | Hilderbrand is a member of the M. W. of A,
of Klondike, and politically is a Democrat, and
serving his fourth term as clerk of his school dis
trict. Mr. and Mrs. Hilderbrand have four chil
dren, Vestia, Ormond, Joseph, and Roscoe. Mr.
Hilderbrand is a genial and popular member of
his community, and one who has won and retains
the confidence of a wide circle of friends and ac
quaintances.  +—-* 
WILLIAM I. WESTERFIELD is the pro
prietor of the Grass Valley Journal, a bright and
newsy sheet of Sherman county, the product of
his skill and brain. He was born in Lafayette,
35

Oregon, on December 13, 1863, the son of Alex
ander B. and Rebecca A. (Chrisman) Westerfield,
who were married in the east and came to Ore
gon in the forties. The father died when oirr
subject was six years of age and the mother died
on July 4, 1895. The father was a physician and
surgeon in the Mexican War and practiced many
years in Yamhill county, Oregon. Our subject
spent his life until 1898 in the county of his
birth. He received his education in the Lafayette
public schools and when ten years of age entered
the office of the old Lafayette Courier. For five
or six years he labored there and became master
of every portion of the printer's trade. Then he
spent two years in a drug store. After that, in
company with his brother, Alexander B, he
bought the Lafayette Register and job office,
which they operated for three or four years. At
about that time, the county seat was removed
from Lafayette to McMinnville, and six months
previous to that Mr. Westerfield sold the Regis
ter. The plant was removed later to McMinnville.
Our subject then took up the printing and under
taking business and conducted it, together with
a store, for three and one-half years, then he
worked at various employments through the hard
times, and in 1898 he came to Grass Valley. For
a few months he was in the employ of the Journal
Publishing Company, and then leased the Grass
Valley Journal. In February, 1902, he bought
the newspaper and printing plant and since then
has handled it in person. He has made the Jour
nal a very attractive and good paper, which is
highly prized throughout this part of the state.
In addition to his printing establishment, he owns
a residence and two lots in Grass Valley, besides
other property.
In 1890, at Lafayette, Oregon, Mr. Wester
field married Anna B. Gardiner, who was born
near Kalama, Washington. Her father, William
A. Gardiner, was born in Scotland and died in
Portland, in 1902. He married Clara B. Martin,
who died at Portland, in 1898. Our subject has
three brothers ; George, in Dayton ; Alexander
B, in McMinnville, Oregon ; Cornelius, deceased.
To Mr. and Mrs. Westerfield four children have
been born, Floyd C, Elvena, and Veda and Vera,
twins. Mr. Westerfield is past grand of the I. O. O.
F, and present chief patriarch of the Encamp
ment. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W, and
he and his wife are members of the Degree of
Honor. For five years Mr. Westerfield has been
city recorder and in this capacity has given ex
cellent satisfaction. Personally, he is a man well
informed, retiring and with little ostentation, and
the success he has made of his paper indicates
his ability.

546

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

GEORGE V. STANTON, one of the young
and progressive business men of Grass Valley, is
occupied in the lumber business. He handles a
'thriving trade and is well known in this part of
' the country. He was born in Kent county, Mich
igan, on April 4, 1877, the son of George H. and
Etha (Bell) Stanton, a native of Oswego county,
New York, and now living a retired life in Grass
Valley. The family came here when our subject
was fourteen years of age, and he completed his
•education in the public schools of this town. The
father took a homestead and bought other land
some seven miles southwest from Grass Valley
and our subject was reared on the farm. When
twenty-one years of age, he took a quarter section
Of land by government right, and bought a half
section more. After conducting the place for a
couple of years, he sold out and in 1903 bought
out the lumber yard owned in Grass Valley by
Porter Brothers. Since then he has given his
entire attention to the handling of this business
and carries a nice stock of lumber and all kinds of
building material.
On October 9, 1898, Mr. Stanton married Miss
Alva E. Farra, a native of Benton county, Ore
gon, the daughter of Thomas J. and Lizzie (Por
ter) Farra, natives of Missouri and Benton coun
ty, respectively. The father crossed the plains
in very early days and met his death in 1901 by
drowning in the Red river in the northwest ter
ritory. Our subject has two brothers, Charles
A. and Edwin D, the former in Grass Valley and
the latter in Marysville, Washington. He also
has four sisters ; Ella, the wife of Frank M.
French, a stockman in Heppner, Oregon ; Lo-
rinda, wife of Hollis W. Wilcox ; Edna M, wife
of Howard C. Coon ; Carrie, at home. Mrs. Stan
ton has three brothers, John, Samuel and Harley,
school boys ; and three sisters, Maude, the wife
Of Brack Wiseman, of this county ; Maggie, wife
of Artimus Barnum, a farmer near Moro ; and
Frankie, at home.
Mr. Stanton is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and the W. W. He is a stanch Republican
though not especially active. To our subject and
his wife one child, Floyd, has been born, aged
three. Mr. Stanton is an industrious man, attends
closely to business and is esteemed by all who
know him.

JAMES L. VAN WINKLE, who stands at
the head of a furniture and shoe house in Grass
Valley, Oregon, is one of the substantial and
popular men of this part of Sherman county. He
was born in Morgan county, Illinois, on Novem

ber 6, 1849, his parents being Thomas ancl Orpha
A. (Barlow) Van Winkle, natives of Illinois.
The father's parents were natives of Kentucky
and came from Dutch ancestry. He had three
brothers in the Civil war, Alexander E, Edward
and John. The first two were wounded. The
family crossed the plains with ox and' horse teams
in 1854 and settled in Petaluma, California. Later
they came to Sacramento, where the mother died.
The father was occupied in freighting from Sac
ramento to various points in Nevada, and our
subject assisted him in this business when not
attending school. Later the father came to Wash
ington and died in Yakima county in 1889. Our
subject bought a farm on Grand Island, about
twelve miles below Colusa, which he sold later
and removed to Stanislaus county. There he
lived nine years then went to Alameda county.
For five years he was occupied in breaking and
training horses, and in 1883 took a homestead,
preemption and timber claim. It was about 1898
when he came to Grass Valley and engaged in
his present business which he has conducted suc
cessfully since.
On November 6, 1877, in Graysonville, Cali
fornia, Mr. Van Winkle marrried Jennie E. Mc-
Reynold, a native of Sonoma county, California.
Later they were divorced and on May 30, 1895,
Mr. Van Winkle married Myrtle Shintaffer, a
native of Hixton, Wisconsin. Her father, Cor
nelius D. Hinman, was born in New York and his
father participated in the War of 1812. The Hin
man family was one of the old colonial families,
well known in history and prominent in the pro
fessions and commercial life. Many of them are
in New England, New York and other portions
of the country. Our subject has no brothers liv
ing, and has one sister, Fannie, the wife of R.
Sisk, in Yakima county, Washington. Mrs. Van
Winkle has one brother, George E. Hinman,
a musician, in Tacoma. By his first marriage,
our subject has the following named children:
Wesley, of Stockton, California, who recently
invented a friction clutch for automobiles that
transfers the pulling power to the front as well
as the rear wheels, for the American patents for
which he has refused fifty thousand dollars;
Archie, of Farmington, California; May, wife
of Edward McReynolds, in Umatilla, Oregon ;
and Daisy, the wife of Ray McReynolds, at
Ukiah, Oregon. To our subject and his wife two
children have been born, E. Guy, and Thomas A,
the latter March 10, 1905. By her first marriage
Mrs. Van Winkle has one child, Ella, who is "at
home. Politically, Mr. Van Winkle is a Repub
lican and is a member of the city council. His
wife belongs to the Women of Woodcraft, and is

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

547

also organist of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Winkle are popular people
and among the substantial and leading citizens
of this part of the county.

EDWARD D. McKEE, the leading druggist
of Sherman county, has a fine store and stock in
Wasco, in every respect an up-to-date emporium.
He is a native Oregonian, having been born in
Marion county, June 20, 1873, the son of David
A. and Caroline (Hall) McKee, the father a
native of Kentucky ; the mother of Illinois. The
ancestry of David McKee were members of an old
southern family. Both the parents of our sub
ject came to Oregon in 1852, with their parents,
David A. at the age of fifteen; Caroline, four
years old. The parents located in the Willamette
valley. The family of our subject remained in
Oregon City two years, where the father's father
conducted the first blacksmith shop in town.
Thence he migrated to Marion county where he
secured a donation claim which land he retained
until his death. Nearly all of it still remains in
the McKee family. David A. McKee, the father
of our subject, lives in Woodburn with his second
wife ; he is retired from active business. The
mother of our subject died in February, 1897, on
the old donation claim.
On this same place our subject was reared
until he was nineteen years of age. He attended
various public schools, and also pursued a course
in pharmacy at the Willamette University, in the
pharmaceutical department. He was graduated
in 1895 and began work in a drug drug
store at Portland, where he remained five
years. Following a six months' visit home
and a six months' trip east, Mr. McKee came to
Wasco, Sherman county, August 1, 1899, and
•opened a drug store in which he was eminently
successful. May 5, 1904, he moved into a one-
story brick building, which he had erected, twenty-
six by sixty feet in size ; the largest drug store in
the county. He carries stock and fixtures to an
amount of over four thousand dollars.
February 20, 1901, at the residence of the
bride's parents in Wasco, Mr. McKee was united
in marriage to Miss Virginia Dunlap, daughter
of Clark Dunlap, mentioned elsewhere. Our sub
ject has four brothers and four sisters living:
Charles, a Marion county farmer; Leonard, a
druggist in Goldendale, Klickitat county, Wash
ington; Wiley, a bookkeeper in Portland: Her
man, a druggist in Goldendale; Ada, wife of
Charles B. Hill, a member of the Portland police
force ; Emma, wife of William Owen, a merchant
of Monitor, Oregon ; Ivy and Minnie, single, liv
ing at Woodburn.

Mr. and Mrs. McKee have one child, Marion,
aged ten months. He is a member of Cascade
Lodge, No. 303, B. P. O. E, of The Dalles,
Aurora Lodge, No. 54, K. of P, of Wasco, the
A. O. U. W, of which he is past master work
man, and the M. W. A. Mrs. McKee is a mem
ber of the Methodist church. He and his wife
are highly esteemed and popular in the commu
nity in which they reside.

JAMES DENNIS, a retired stockman, is now
residing at Grass Valley, Oregon. He was born
at Stockton,i California on January 27, 1859, be
ing the son of Robert and Mary T. (Wheatley)
Dennis, natives of Connecticut. The father came
to Stockton, California, in 1847 and for years
was in the employ of the Fish and Dooley Stage
and Steamboat Company. His death occurred
in 1882. The mother died when our subject was
four years old. The next year his father sent
him to a private school in San Rafael, where he
studied two years. Then he left the school, being
desirous of more freedom, and worked at farm
ing and other occupations until he was twenty-
two years of age. In 1882, he came to Oregon
and f°r sixteen years, altogether, was in the em
ploy of J. H. Sherar. He labored one year for
Mr. Sherar, then took a claim on Summitt prairie
and with a partner started stock raising, begin
ning with one hundred head of cattle. One year
later, Mr. Sherar wrote him to return and he did
so and remained with him for fifteen years. Then
he came to Grass Valley and purchased one ancl
one half acres in the edge of town and erected a
house. After that, he went to Portland and re
sided three years, whence he returned to his
home in Grass Valley where he has remained
ever since.
In February, 1901, at The Dalles, Oregon,
Mr. Dennis married Margaret Scott, a native of
New Brunswick and the daughter of Adam and
Jeannette (Amos) Scott, natives of Scotland and
New Brunswick, respectively, and now living on
the old place. Mr. Dennis has the following
named brothers and sisters, Robert, Thomas,
John, James, all farming in New Brunswick ;
Ellen, the wife of Andrew Brant ; Elizabeth, the
wife of Robert Walton ; Jessie, single ; Barbara,
the wife of Thomas Walton ; Agnes, the wife of
Fred Krusow, mentioned elsewhere in this work ;
and Annie, wife of George Swartz, a farmer
near Grass Valley. Airs. Dennis had come with
her sister Annie, to visit their sister, Mrs.
Krusow, in 1900.
Our subject is a member of the I. O. O. F
and in politics is a Republican, though not espec-

548

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ially active. During his association with Air.
Sherar, Mr. Dennis was in charge of the well
known Finnegan ranch, which was owned by
Mr. Sherar. This was a large estate of three
sections and Mr. Dennis made an excellent rec
ord in the management of the same. His stock
interests have been continued all these years and
he has now a nice holding of property.

EDMOND HANNAFIN of the firm of
Hannafin and Wiley, proprietors of the Bank
Saloon, Grass Valley and of the Abbey, in Kent,
was born in Ireland, on November n, 1856. His
parents, Michael and Margaret (Dowling) Han
nafin were also natives of County Kerry, of the
Emerald Isle. The father followed farming and
contracting. Our subject was educated in the
public schools and with the Christian brothers
and remained there with his father until nearly
twenty years of age. In 1874, he went to New
Zealand and followed sheep shearing for some
years. Also he owned some city property there
and did mining, being there and in Australia for
ten years. In 1884, he came to San Francisco
and then came to Oregon. For three years he
followed sheep shearing in California, Oregon
and Montana and in 1887, took up land in Sher
man county and engaged in sheep raising for
some time. He handled from two to three
thousand but during Cleveland's administration
gave up sheep business for a time. Upon Mr.
AIcKinley's election, he again took up sheep rais
ing and followed it until 1902. Then he pur
chased a saloon in Grass Valley and the next year
erected a two story brick building and opened
his present establishment. He entered into part
nership with Mr. Wiley and they have contin
ued thus since. Mr. Hannafin has never seen fit
to take to himself a wife and is one of the most
popular men in Grass Valley. He has one
brother, Dennis, a farmer in Ireland and two
sisters, Mary and Katherine, in Ireland. He is a
member of the I. O. O. F. and the Elks. In poli
tics, he is a Republican and shows a keen interest
in this realm. He is frequently delegate to the
county conventions and always labors for the
measures that he deems best for the country.

HOLLIS W. WILCOX, one of the younger
business men of Grass Valley, has also the dis
tinction of being postmaster of the town ; and it
may be stated that the business of the United
States postoffice was never conducted better in
the history of Grass Valley than it is under his

management. He is careful, prompt, obliging,
and well informed and the result is, he gives the
people a service second to none. Owing to the
carefulness mentioned, Air. Wilcox has scores of
friends and is known as a kind, upright and sub-:
stantial man. He was born in Marion county
this state, on August 6, 1875, his parents being
John D. ancl Ella S. (Van Nuys) Wilcox, who-
are especially mentioned in this work elsewhere.
He grew up in the various places where his pa
rents lived, working on the farm and attending
the district schools. After completing the train
ing to be gained there, he entered the Baptist
academy at Grass Valley and studied some time.
In 1898', he was appointed deputy postmaster and
on June 20 of the following year, he received the
appointment of postmaster with the office in his
store. He handles cigars, tobacco, ice cream,
confectionery and so forth and has a very pop
ular place.
On Alay 20, 1897, Mr. Wilcox married Loxie
J. Stanton, a native of Alichigan. The wedding
ocurred at the home of the bride's parents and
our subject and his wife are parents of two chil
dren : Willard, born December 22, 1900, and
Bernard, born February 4, 1904. Mrs. Wilcox's
parents are George H. and Ethel (Bell) Stan
ton, esteemed residents of this section, and are
mentioned in this volume.
Air. Wilcox is a member of the I. O. O. F,
being past grand of the order, while he and his-
wife belong to the Rebekahs. In politics, he ad
heres to the principles of the Republican party
and is especially active in that realm. He is a
thorough business man and gentleman and a
popular citizen.

FRED KRUSOW, who was born in Wiscon
sin on June 24, 1858, now resides four miles
southwest of Grass Valley. He is one of the
leading men of Sherman county and is also one-
of the heaviest property owners. His parents,
Henry and Elizabeth (Stoneman) Krusow, were
natives of Germany, where they married. About
1843 they came to the United States and settled'
in Wisconsin. Later, they moved to Minnesota
where the father died on February 12, 1902. The
day that he was buried he would have been eighty-
four years of age. The mother died in Minne
sota when ninety-two. When our subject was
six years of age a move was made from Wiscon
sin to Minnesota where the father bought land.
The public schools of this latter place furnished
the educational training for our subject and he
remained there until 1884. Being then desirous ;
of exploring the west, he turned his face toward
the setting sun and visited various portions until

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

549

-he arrived in what is now Sherman county. On
April 3, 1884, he filed on a homestead which was
the nucleus of his estate. Being without capital
he was forced to work out on the adjoining farms
and, as he was able, improved the place ancl from
time to time purchased more land until he has
now the magnificent estate of eighteen hundred
and forty acres. Fourteen hundred acres of this
-are in a high state of cultivation. His principal
crops are wheat and barley. He raises some
horses and cattle, and is known far and near as
one of the largest grain growers of Sherman
county. He recently purchased a fine residence
in Grass Valley, and eighty acres more of land.
Mr. Krusow's thrift, industry ancl business abil
ity have been amply testified by the success he has
won and he is deserving of the position which he
holds, having earned it bv virtue of merit.
On July 16, 1898, Mr. Krusow married Agne*
-Scott, a native of New Brunswick and a sister of
Mrs. George W. Schwartz ancl Mrs. James W.
Dennis, who are mentioned elsewhere in this
volume. Mr. Krusow has three brothers, Robert,
William and Henry, farmers in Aiinnesota ; and
-one sister, Minnie, wife of Ernest Lange, a
farmer in Aiinnesota.
Mr. Krusow is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and the Encampment. In political matters he is
a Republican but not especially active. He has
served four years as county commissioner, being
appointed once and once elected. In this capac
ity he made a splendid record and is a very pop
ular man throughout the county. Personally,
Mr. Krusow is a genial, public spirited man ancl
makes many friends. He and his wife are leading
people and are very favorably known.

DAN W. MYERS, one of the farmers of
Sherman county, living six miles south from
Grass Valley, was born in Ohio on July 8, 1867,
the son of John W. and Alargaret (Stratton)
Myers. The mother was a native of Ohio and
died there when our subject was six years old.
Our subject was reared in Ohio until six then
after his mother's death came to Iowa with his
father, where they remained six years and he
attended the public schools. When our subject
was twelve, the family came on to Oregon and
the father purchased three hundred acres in Linn
county, where he remained until his death, a very
successful and highly respected man. Upon the
¦death of his father, our subject being seventeen
years of age, he started out for himself and
worked on the farm and at various other em
ployments for a long time. For eight years of

this time, he was foreman in the finishing depart
ment in a large furniture factory in Linn county.
In 1898, he left his family in Albany and came
on to Sherman county and sought out a location.
After cruising about for some time in the sum
mer and doing some work on the ranches, he
rented land for a year, and brought his family to
Sherman county. Then in 190 1, he purchased a
place about six miles south from Grass Valley,
his estate being one section of good land. He
rents more and has about ten hundred and eighty-
eight acres in cultivation. Air. Alyers gives atten
tion almost exclusively to farming and raising
stock sufficient for use on the estate.
On Alarch 29, 1891, Air. Myers married Aliss
Nellie Rhoades, the wedding occurring at Al
bany, Oregon. To Air. and Mrs. Alyers, the fol
lowing named children have been born : Frances,
Helen, Hallie, and Lyndon.
Air. Alyers is a member of the W. W. and the
and his wife belong to the Christian church. He
takes great interest in building up school facili
ties and gives of his time to serve upon the
board. He and his wife are people of excellent
standing and they are achieving a good success
here in their labors.

EMA1ITT OLDS is one of the highly re
spected and worthy citizens of Sherman county
and he and his estimable wife have labored to
gether here for years in worthy effort to build
up the country and to improve the morals of the
people and better the conditions of every one.
They have shown thrift and wisdom in their la
bors and are reaping the deserved success.
Emmitt Olds was born in Yamhill county,
Oregon, on September 13, 1846. His father,
Ruel Olds, was a native of New York and
crossed the plains with ox teams in 1844, settling
on a donation claim in Yamhill county. There he
remained until his death in 1883. He married
Elmina Perkins, also a native of New York, the
wedding occurring in Chicago. The father's
parents died when he was a lad and he grew up
to manhood in Illinois. He did farm work there
and also learned to make brick and wrought at
that trade in Chicago for some years. Later, he
established a brick manufactory in Yamhill
county and burned the only brick made there for
years. Our subject remained under the parental
roof until his father's death then came to Sher
man county and engaged in sheep raising. He
took the place where he now resides, a mile and
one-half northeast from Grass Valley, as a
homestead and since then has bought other land
in various portions of the county. He owns four

550

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

hundred and eighty acres of good land, has thirty
head of horses and as many well bred cattle. His
efforts principally, however, are confined to grain
raising, in which he has made a good success.
On November 23, 1873, in Yamhill county,
near Lafayette, Mr. Olds married Miss Elizabeth
Messinger, who was born in Guthrie county,
Iowa, on October 22, 1857. Her father, Solo
mon Messinger died in 1862 at Burnt River,
Idaho, while he was crossing the plains. His
wife, Elizabeth (Brown) Messinger, was accom
panying him and was forced to make the balance
of the journey alone. The trip was a very se
vere one owing to trouble with the Indians, sick
ness in the family and the death of her husband.
She bought land in Yamhill county and there re
mained, a widow, until her death in 1867. Mr.
Olds has three brothers and three sisters, Elzina,
vvidow of James L. Steward, at McMinnville,
Oregon ; Burzilda, wife of John W Messinger,
at Moro, Oregon ; May, wife of Charles B. Tay
lor, who died in 1885 ; Eli, in Tillamook county ;
Nelson, in Yamhill county; D. J, South Bend,
Washington. Mrs. Olds has the following
named brothers and sisters : Michael, a farmer
in Idaho ; Monroe, a miner ; Annie, widow of
Taylor Morris, in Phcenix, Arizona ; Phcebe, wife
of George Cornwall ; and Mary, wife of John W.
Dunn. The last two named are deceased.
Our subject is a member of the A. O. U. W.
and takes an active interest in political matters.
He has been delegate to nearly every county con
vention since he was twenty-one and has held
such offices as constable, school director and so
forth. He was the second postmaster of Grass
Valley and is now serving his fifth term as stock
inspector of this county. In this capacity, Air.
Olds has shown a faithfulness and wisdom that
commend him to his constituents.
The children born to our subject and his wife
are named as follows : Lewis, living three miles
southeast of his father's place, a farmer ; Charles
B, Willie R, Frank, Dell, A. Dean, Chester E,
all at home; Lela, wife of M. Brittam, Tygh
Valley ; Bertie wife of George L. Brown, of
Tygh Valley; Myrtle I, at home.

JOHN D. WILCOX, a retired farmer, re
siding in Grass Valley, Oregon, is one of the
leading business men and citizens of Sherman
county. He was born in Marion county, Ore
gon, on August 18, 1853. Thomas J. Wilcox, his
father, was a native of Kentucky and came from
an old American family of English ancestry. His
death occurred at Monmouth, Oregon in 1894.
He married Elizabeth Johnson, a native of Ten

nessee and of German parentage. She died in
Marion county, in 1873. They were married in
Alissouri and crossed the plains with ox teams
in 1853, arriving at Silverton, three weeks before
the birth of our subject. They took a donation
claim three miles out from Silverton and lived
there until 1865, when Air. Wilcox sold and
moved to Mill Creek, Marion county. Later, he
sold the property there and came to Monmouth,
where he died. He was a stanch Republican, a
leading man and a very successful stockraiser
and farmer. Our subject grew up on the farm,
received his education from the district schools
and when twenty years old went to Walla Walla,
where he wrought on the farm as teamster and
breaking horses for some time. Then he returned
to the Willamette valley and farmed for some
years and afterwards wrought in a shingle and
lumber mill in Clackamas county. In the
spring of 1882, he returned to Walla Walla and
the fall of the next year, came to Sherman
county, locating at what is now Wilcox station
on the Columbia & Southern Railroad. First he
took land there and farmed until 1898 then he
rented and in the fall of 1903, sold his estate of
one-half section. In 1898, he had come to Grass
Valley and here opened a feed store and also
bought and sold grain. A year later, he retired,
although he still owns an interest in the mer
cantile firm of E. E. Porter & Company which
is a large dry goods and gents furnishing estab
lishment. On October 4, 1874, Mr. Wilcox married
Ella S. Van Nuys, the wedding occurring at the
residence of the bride's parents, ten miles east
from Salem. Mrs. Wilcox was born in Marion
county and her parents crossed the plains from
tlie east in 1852. Air. Wilcox has one brother,
Alva R, a stockman in Wasco county and two
sisters, Margaret, the widow of Sidney Black-
erby of Tygh Valley and Emma, the wife of Al
bert Stewart of Wathena, Kansas. Mrs. Wilcox
has two brothers, Ralph W. and Charles, both in
Marion county, and one sister, Ada, wife of John
H. Porter, also in Marion county. Mr. and Mrs.
Wilcox have one child, Hollis, who is mentioned'
elsewhere in this work.
Mr. Wilcox is a member of the I. O. O. F,
being past noble grand, and of the Encampment,
being past C. P. He has been delegate to the
grand lodge several times. He and his wife
also belong to the Rebekahs. Mr. Wilcox is a
stanch Republican, is often delegate to the county
and state conventions and for eight consecutive-
years was a leading figure in the state conven
tions. He takes an active interest in politics but
never aspires to office himself. He has labored
assiduously not only to gain a good competence

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

55i

but to build up the county, to advance educational
\ interests, and to forward every movement for the
general good of the people. Personally, Mr.
Wilcox is a genial, public spirited and generous
man who has hosts of friends and is looked up
to by all.

JACOB H. RINEARSON, the popular host
of the Vintin hotel, at Grass Valley, is a native
Oregonian, his birthplace being Oregon City and
the date of that event, July 23, 1875. Peter
Rinearson, his father, was a native of Ohio where
also his parents were born. Their parents came
from England. In 1845, Peter Rinearson came
with ox teams to Oregon City and took a dona
tion claim just north of the Clackamas river and
resided for four years and there died in 1885. He
was a very influential man and was not only a
leader among the pioneers but a very prominent
citizen until his death. He did more perhaps than
any one man to get the state fairs started and to
make them popular institutions. The first one was
held on his farm. He spent much time and labor
in raising well bred stock and his animals took
the prizes on many occasions. He was a gener
ous, public spirited man and made many friends
and did a vast amount of good in opening up and
building up Oregon. He married Isabella Mc
Donald, a' native of Scotland, who came to Ore
gon with her aunt. Her parents died in Scotland
and she came first to California, in the United
States, that being in 1849 and dwelt with her
aunt in Stockton for some time. Then she came
to Portland, where she met Mr. Rinearson and
the wedding occurred either in that city or Ore
gon City. . This worthy lady died in 1890, at
Oregon City. Our subject was reared and edu
cated in Oregon City and later studied in the
State University, entering that institution in
1891. After that, we find him in British Colum
bia weighing ore for the LeRoi mine one year.
Then he returned to Oregon City and in 1897,
came to Grass Valley, looking after the stock
which belonged to his father's estate. The next
year, he purchased the hotel which he now owns,
from George Vintin, who erected the same.
Since that time, Mr. Rinearson has given his un
divided attention to conducting the hotel which
he has made very popular with the traveling
public. On February 14, 1900, at Grass Valley, oc
curred the marriage of Air. Rinearson and Lottie
A. Vintin, who was born in Butte county, Cali
fornia, in 1875. Mrs. Rinearson is the daughter
of George C. and Martha (Evans) Vintin, who
are mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr.
Rinearson has two brothers, George, an attorney

at Baker City, Oregon and Edward, in Portland,
Our subject is a member of the I. O. O. F^
the Elks and the Red Men. He and his wife are
well known throughout this part of the state
ancl have hosts of friends. Their genialty and
hospitality are well known and they have striven,
not only to build up their business in a becoming
manner, but to assist in the improvement of the
country and have certainly done a commendable
work.

HARVEY U. MARTIN is a young, indus-.
trious and energetic farmer, living four miles
east of Kent, Sherman county, Oregon. He
was born May 15, 1867 in Los Angeles county,
California, the son of John R. and Jane (Brown)
Martin, the father a native of Ohio ; his parents
of Scottish ancestry. John R. Martin, the father,
was kidnapped, or rather, "shanghaied" as the
sea term is, and taken aboard a vessel and
brought to the United States and here
held in bondage. From his captors he
managed to escape and for awhile worked
in a, mill. He was one of the early pioneers of
Ohio, in a sparsely settled portion of the state. At
present he is a successful farmer in Sherman
county, three miles east of Moro.
Our subject lived at Los Ane-eles until 1879,
when he came, to Oregon with his parents. The
family located at Athena, Umatilla county, where
they remained one year, thence coming to Sher
man county. Here our subject's parents secured
land. On attaining his majority Harvey U. Mar
tin filed on a preemption claim, which he after-1
ward sold, having proved up on the same. Dur- .
ing the four years following he was engaged in
the cattle business, with gratifying success. This
business enterprise he disposed of and purchas
ing horses, shipped them to California. The horse
market broke and our subject lost the entire
amount of his investment. He then went to
Palouse City, Washington, where he was en
gaged two years working in a machine shop.
Returning to Sherman county he located a
homestead, purchased more land, a quarter sec
tion, later, all of which is tillable.
December 27, 1894, at Palouse City the mar
riage contract was solemnized between himself
ancl Lilah Rowe, a native of Nebraska, born Au
gust 31, 1876. Her father, James P. Rowe, a
native of Pennsylvania, was a blacksmith and
farmer. He died July 4, 1902, in Jackson county,
Oregon. The mother was a native of Ohio, and
now resides in Jackson county, Oregon. Mrs.
Alartin's parents, James P. and Margaret (Cald
well) Lowe, were mraried in Iowa and then
journey to the southwest part of Nebraska.

552

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In 1890 they went to Idaho, and five years later
removed to Jackson county, Oregon.
Our subject has five brothers who are men
tioned in sketches of the parents to be found
in. another portion of this volume, and one sister.
Mrs. Martin has one brother, Burt, a resident of
Redding, Shasta county, California, and four
sisters ; May, and Ina ; Blanche, wife of George
Robertson, a farmer of Josephine county, Ore
gon, a cattleman ; Edith, wife of Ralph Moon, a
cattleman of Klamath county, Oregon. To Air.
and Mrs. Martin two children have been born,
Netah Okel, on November 19, 1895, and Telra
May, on February 15, 1900. Both are natives
of Sherman county.
The fraternal affiliations of Mr. Martin are
with Moro Lodge, No. 31, I. O. O. F. Although
a patriotic Republican he is not especially active
in political affairs, although he has served four
terms as clerk of his school district, and one year
as road supervisor. Personally he is a liberal-
minded, progressive man, a good citizen and
highly esteemed in his home community.

GEORGE W. SCHWARTZ, of the firm of
Schwartz Brothers, a farmer and stock raiser,
living two and one-half miles south from Grass
Valley, was born in Hennepin county, Minnesota,
on October 2, i860. His parents, William and
Elizabeth (Browand) Schwartz, were natives of
Germany and Switzerland, respectively. The
father came to the United States when a boy
alone and settled first near Rochester, New
York. Later, he journeyed to Iowa and then to
Minnesota. His death occurred in May, 1904, on
the old homestead where the mother still resides.
Our subject was reared and educated in Minne
sota and when twenty-three, came thence to
Oregon. For a month he was occupied in farm
ing on Tygh Ridge then came to his present lo
cation ancl took up a homestead. His brother,
Charles H, had come to Oregon with him, took a
homestead and timberculture claim near the land
taken by our subject and since, they have been
more or less in partnership and have purchased
a good many hundred acres of land. Our sub
ject owns eight hundred acres in his own right
and handles that in connection with a quarter
section owned by his sisters. He has about two
hundred head of fine graded Percheron horses
besides considerable other property. He is a
thrifty, well-to-do man, has gained a splendid
success in farming and stock raising and stands
well in the community. He is a man of business
ability and has demonstrated the same in his
career. On May 13, 1904, Mr. Schwartz mar

ried Annie AL Scott, a sister of Mrs. James Den
nis, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
Our subject's brother, Charles H, resides with
him and besides that he has two brothers de
ceased, William V, and Fred R, the former
died in Aiinnesota and the latter here in 1898.
Mr. Schwartz has two sisters, Mary, the wife of
Otto Bucholz in Hennepin county, Minnesota,
and Annie F, who lives with our subject. Fra
ternally, Mr. Schwartz is connected with the
I. O. O. F, while in political life, he stands for
the principles of the Republican party, though
not especially active. He and his wife are estim
able people and have won hosts of friends and
labor together always for the general welfare and
upbuilding of the community.

CALEB W. CURL, a retired farmer living
in Grass Valley, Oregon, was born in Carroll
county, Missouri, on October 31, 1829. He is to
be mentioned among the leading pioneers of the
state of Oregon and his life has been fraught
with great hardships and extensive labors. His
parents James and Anna (Elliott) Curl, were
natives of Kentucky and Virginia, respectively.
The father's father was born in England and
married a native German lady. The mother's an
cestors were old colonial people and early set
tlers in the New World. Our subject remained
in northwest Missouri until 1847, when he came
across the plains with ox teams to the William-
ette Valley, accompanied by his parents. They
took a donation claim in Linn county and there
remained until the father's death on January 7,
1864. When nineteen, our subject began to work
for the neighboring farmers and continued in
that occupation until he was married, when he
took a donation claim in Linn county, also. After
proving up on the property, he sold it and pur
chased another and sold and bought several farms
until December, 1884, when he came to Sherman
county and took a homestead and preemption.
Later, he added a timber culture claim and in all
secured twelve hundred and eighty acres about
six miles east from Grass Vallev" For nearly
twenty years, Air. Curl resided there, doing gen
eral farming and stock raising and in 1902, he
sold the entire property ancl purchased a half block
in Grass Valley, where he erected his present
dwelling. It is a comfortable two-story, six room
house. Mr. Curl is living a retired life, enjoying
the competence that his labors and skill have pro
vided. He is a man respected ancl esteemed by
all and has clone a lion's share in the development
of the country and deserves well the esteem which
is generously accorded him.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

553

On March 21, 1850, in Polk county, Mr. Curl
married Margaret E. Fulkerson, who was born
in Cole county, Alissouri, on June 4, 1831. Her
father, James M. Fulkerson, was born in Vir
ginia and came from an old colonial family. His
father served in the Revolution. The mother of
Mrs. Cole was Mary R. (Miller) Fulkerson, a
native of Virginia and also descended from an old
colonial family. The Fulkersons remained in
Missouri until 1847, when they crossed the plains
with ox teams to the Willamette valley. They
were in the same train with Mr. Curl, and as
nearly all the people of the train were members
of the Baptist church, they organized a class on
the road and had their services every Sunday.
Mrs. Fulkerson died at the crossing of the Green
river, having suffered from a severe attack of
mountain fever. There was very much sickness
in the train and Several deaths occurred. Mrs.
Curl's brother, Frederick R, took the fever,
and and Mr. Fulkerson, with two other families,
remained while the others went on. After nine
days the young man, being then aged eighteen,
died near Devil's Gate, on the Sweetwater. The
mother died a month later. Airs. Curl's uncle,
William Hines, died at the first crossing of the
Snake river. Then her sister's husband died in
the Cascades. So much sickness had delayed
them until they were very late and their cattle
had become so enfeebled that they were- unable
to pull the wagons. Mrs. Curl unyoked nine
in one day, that had given out. Finally, they
were about to give up in despair when a company,
headed by Mr. Snelling, the son of Vincent Snell-
ing, a Baptist preacher, arrived with wagons and
provisions. Mr. Fulkerson had been carrying
his daughter, who was ill, who was a large woman
weighing one hundred and seventy pounds, and
was nearly exhausted, as were the rest of the
party. The end of these hardships occurred on
the Barlow road over the Cascades and just as
they were descending the Laurel hill, succor came.
Upon arriving in the Willamette valley Mr. Ful
kerson took a donation claim and gave his atten
tion to farming. Mr. Curl, the subject of our
sketch, has three brothers living, James Al, near
Lisle, Washington ; John, in Oregon ; and Thomas
R, deceased, Alalheur county, Oregon. He also
has three sisters ; Samirah, the widow of Lewis
Paine, of Dayton, Washington; Parthana J, the
widow of Joel Calavan, of Linn county, Oregon ;
and Alartha, the widow of Robert Aloorehead, of
Oakland. Oregon. Airs. Curl has one brother,
W. Holt, a retired farmer in Polk county, and
three sisters ; Sarah A., the widow of Ambrose
Cain, of Alonmouth, Oregon; Virginia A., wife
of Joshua AIcDaniel. a retired farmer in Polk
county; and Hannah R, the wife of Solomon

Crowley, of Polk county. To Mr. and Mrs. Curl
seven children have been born, named as follows :
James W, a farmer at Spangle, Washington ; Dr.
Riley H, a dentist, at Albany, Oregon ; David
H, at Lebanon, Oregon ; Dr. Ambrose M, a den
tist, at Weiser, Idaho; Laughlin M, at Albany,
Oregon ; Sarah A, widow of Harry Gliesing,
Grass Valley; Maggie, wife of Elmer F. Heath,
a merchant in Grass Valley.
Mr. and Mrs. Curl are both members of the
Baptist church and stanch supporters of their
faith. He has served at various times as road
supervisor and school trustee, and in politics he
is a Democrat.
In 1848 Mr. Curl enlisted in the Oregon State
Militia and saw service in the Indian wars of
that time. In 1856 he again enlisted and fought
all through the Cayuse wars until the savages
were subdued. For this service he now receives
a pension from the government.

GEORGE B. BOURHILL is well known in
Sherman county and needs no introduction to the
people of this part of Oregon. A sufficient ac
count of his labors is the best encomium to grant
Mr. Bourhill according to the old proverb, "Let
their works praise them in the gates."
George B. Bourhill was born in North Ber
wick, Scotland, on October 9, 1864, and came
from the stanch blood that has made that race
renowned the world over. His father, George
Bourhill, was also a native of Scotland and re
mained there until his death. He married Jane
M. Wright, a native of Edinburgh. They re
sided on the farm and died in their native land.
Our subject was educated in private schools in
his native town and when fourteen went to Edin
burgh and accepted a clerkship in a large print
ing establishment. He wrought two and one-
half years, then spent a year at home, and in 1882
started for the United States. He landed in Iowa
and took a position at farm work, continuing
eighteen months. Next we see him in Yamhill
county, Oregon, where he spent two years in till
ing the soil. It was 1886 that he came to Sher
man county and took land some six miles east of
Grass Valley. For ten years he was one of the
enterprising agriculturists of the county and then
came to Grass Valley and engaged in the hard
ware business with Alilton Damon. A few
months later Mr. Bourhill purchased his part
ner's interest and with various changes in owner
ship, the business has continued until the present
time. He still owns one-fourth interest in the
mercantile house and gives his attention to the
W. A. Gordon & Company bank at Grass Valley,

554

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of which he is manager. In 1902 the style of the
firm name of the hardware business was changed
to Weigand & Company, which continues until
the present. I Mr. Bourhill has been more or less
engaged in grain buying and other enterprises
during his residence in Grass Valley, and in
1903, W. A. Gordon & Company, of Portland,
established the Bank of Grass Valley and Mr.
Bourhill has conducted it since. He also is presi
dent and general manager of the Columbia South
ern Warehouse Company, the owners being him
self, W. A. Gordon & Company, S. S. Hays, of
Moro, and George Vintin. Our subject owns a
nice residence and also a choice farm of one-half
section near Grass Valley.
On August 23, 1897, Air. Bourhill married
Grace Buker at Grass Valley. To them have been
born two children, Bessie and Clarence G., the
former six years of age and the latter an infant.
Mr. Bourhill has one brother, Frank W, at
Johannesburg, South Africa, and three sisters,
Frances, in North Berwick, Scotland ; Margaret
G, at Durham, South Africa; and Isabella C,
who has ably assisted her brother in conducting
the business in the bank, she being assistant
cashier. Politically, Mr. Bourhill is a Republican and
in June, 1904, was elected judge of Sherman
county. He is not especially active in the polit
ical world yet has frequently attended the county
conventions and is a man who makes his presence
felt in these places. He is past noble grand of
the I. O. O. F, and past C. P. in the Encamp
ment, and" has also been delegate to the grand
lodge. Mrs. Bourhill is a member of the Metho
dist church. They are highly respected people
and have shown a substantialty and integrity that
commend them to the confidence and esteem of
every one.

TALMON NEWCOMB, who owns three-
fourths of a section of land eight miles south
from Grass Valley, was born in Ohio on Novem
ber 13, 1850. His parents, Shepherd and Sarah
A. (Crim) Newcomb, are natives of Ohio and
Virginia, respectively. The former lived with
our subject and the latter died at our subject's
home on December 25, 1903. Mr. Newcomb was
raised in Ohio and there received his education.
In 1870 he came with the balance of the family to
California where he and his father leased land
in Colusa county. They continued laboring there
together until 1883 and then came to Sherman
county. The father and son both took land and
our subject now owns the entire estate, three
hundred acres of which are in cultivation, and it
is one of the good places of the country. Since

coming Mr. Newcomb has given his attention to
general farming, and has displayed integrity and
stability. On November 12, 1874, in Marysville, Cali
fornia, Air. Newcomb married Julia E. Cum
mings, a native of New York. To them have
been born seven children, Bertie E, Elvin R,
Joseph, William, Arthur, Jessie and May. All
are at home, except the oldest, who is in Port
land. Mr. Newcomb has three brothers, Daniel,
Joseph and Albert. All three reside in Califor
nia ; the first two mentioned being carpenters and
the last one a painter.
Mr. Newcomb is a member of the I. O. O. F,
and politically is a good, strong Democrat. He-
has held the office of school director for some
time and has frequently been delegate to the
county conventions. Mr. Newcomb takes an
interest in public affairs, the progress of the coun
try and has ever shown a disposition to labor for
and support every measure that is for the gen
eral good.

CHARLES W. MOORE, who has been
mayor of Grass Valley since its incorporation, is
also one of the leading business men in north
central Oregon. He is president and general'
manager of the Citizens' Commercial Company,.
one of the leading mercantile institutions of this
part of the county.
Charles W. Moore was born in Indiana, on
July 22, 1858, the son of Rufus A. and Sarah J.
(Brown) Moore, natives of Londonderry, N'ew
Hampshire, and Indiana, respectively. The
father's ancestors were an old English family of
colonial days and prominent in those times. The-
mother's parents were also early settlers in the
new world. The family left Illinois about 1859'
for Kansas and dwelt there six years. Then they
journeyed to Idaho, settling on Indian creek,
about twenty- four miles from Boise, where they
remained two years. Then came a trip to Cher
okee, Butte county, California, where they rented
until 1882, they then came to Sherman county,
Oregon, and our subject, his brother and the-
father all took government land about five miles
north from Grass Valley. The father remained
on the farm until his death in 1893. The mother -
died in August, 1898, at Moro, Oregon. Our
subject was educated in the various places where
the family lived, completing this important part
of life's training in the Pacific Business College
at San Francisco. He was with his parents until
coming to Oregon when he and his brother,
Henry, preceded them to the fertile region now-
embraced In Sherman county. In 1889 Mr.
Moore rented his land and came to Grass Valley,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

555

where he engaged in the general merchandise
business with Dr. C. R. Rollins. For several
years they did business together and then our
subject's brother, L. K, bought the doctor's in
terest. Two years later the brother resold to the
doctor again, and later John Karlin bought Dr.
Rollin's interest. Five years later Karlin sold
his interest to the Citizens' Commercial Com
pany, which Mr. Moore and his associates organ
ized. They started with a capital of seventy-five
thousand dollars, incorporating under the laws
of Oregon. They purchased considerable prop
erty and erected a fine, two-story brick building,
eighty-eight feet square. They carry a stock of
merchandise of fifty thousand dollars or more and
they own the most complete mercantile establish
ment to be found in Oregon. They are the gen
eral agents for the John Deering implements,
Daniel Best combined harvesters, Moline wagons
and carriages, and also handle a full line of agri
cultural implements besides. They have a large
stock of groceries, clothing, boots and shoes, dry
goods, hardware, crockery, and so forth. L. R.
French is secretary; Samuel H. Baker is treas
urer, and as stated before, our subject is president
and general manager.
On November 21, 1886, at Portland, Oregon,
Mr. Moore married Eva L. Rollins, who was born
in Minnesota, the daughter of Dr. Charles R.
Rollins, who is now retired and dwells in Grass
Valley. Mr. Moore has three brothers, Walter
H, a real estate man at Moro; Henry A, retired
in Portland ; and Lawrence K, a real estate man
at Moro. Mrs. Moore has three brothers and one
sister. To our subject and his wife two children
have been born, Mabel and Ray, aged fourteen
and twelve, respectively.
Fraternally, Mr. Moore is quite prominent,
being past grand of the I. O. O. F, past M. W. of
the A. O. U". W, past C. P. of the Encampment,
and a member of the Foresters. He has several
times been delegate of the grand lodge of the
Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are members
of the degree of honor of the A. 0. U. W.
Politically, Mr. Moore is a Republican and
has frequently been delegate to the county con
ventions. He is a sterling and progressive busi
ness man and one of the leading citizens of Sher
man county.

ELMER F. HEATH, of the firm of C. A.
Heath & Sons, real estate and loans, is one of the
stirring young business men of Grass Valley. He
was born on March 12, 1867, in Kent county,
Michigan, the son of Chancy A. and Elizabeth J.
(Rose) Heath, who are mentioned elsewhere in
this work. Elmer F. was educated in the district

schools and in 1884 came with the family to Ore
gon. He has been associated with his father and
brothers since 1891. At first they did farming
and stock raising, and in 1900 they engaged in the
general merchandise business with Alexander
Scott. This was conducted until the formation
of the Citizens' Commercial Company, with which
they merged, taking stock in that concern. Our
subject and his brothers are directors of that
company, in addition to handling the real estate
business above mentioned.
On November 10, 1891, at Wasco, Mr. Heath
married Maggie M. Curl, who was born in Linn
county, Oregon, on April 15, 1874. Her parents,
Caleb and Margaret (Fulkerson) Curl, are men
tioned elsewhere in this volume. The children
born to this union are Arlie and Loyal, aged
twelve and seven respectively.
Politically, Mr. Heath is interested and active,
is a man of excellent standing, is genial and up
right in business and has won hosts of friends in
this country.

GEORGE C. VINTIN, Jr., the foreman of
the Columbia Southern Warehouse Company at
Grass Valley, is one of the leading business men
of that prosperous town and has shown himself
a man of stability and worth. He was born in
Butte county, California, on February 10, 1863.
His father, George C. Vintin, a native of Wis
consin, came to California in 1849. After mining
for a few years he purchased a farm in Butte
county where he lived until June 27, 1882. At
that time he started to Grass Valley and on Au
gust 5, of the same year, he took land three miles
east from town. He gave his attention to culti
vating the same until 1900, then rented the estate,
it being half a section, when he came to town and
on November, 1903, finished the erection of the
Vintin Hotel. He also has erected a fine resi
dence, and now lives in Portland, being retired.
In 1902, he sold the hotel to Jacob Rinearson.
Air. Vintin had married a native Scotch lady who
died when our subject was four years old. Then
the father married Martha Evans, it being 1870, in
Butte county, California. Our subject was reared
in his native county and remained with his people
until they came to Sherman county. His edu
cation was received in the public schools, and in
1883 he took a homestead adjoining his brother's,
whose land was contiguous to his father's land.
After farming for some years he rented the land
ancl in 1901 engaged in stock-raising, and is still
prosecuting that business. The next year, how
ever, he accepted his present position and is now-
conducting the increasing business of the ware
house.

356

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Fraternally, Mr. Vinton is a member of the
I. O. O. F, being past noble grand of the En
campment and of the Rebekahs. Politically, he
is a Republican and active in that field. Air.
Vintin has one brother living, David E, who re
sides about two miles east from Grass Valley.
He also has two half-brothers, Edwin and Roy,
the former with his parents and the latter rent
ing his father's farm. He also has four half-
sisters ; Sadie, single ; Stella, the wife of Dr.
W. H. Snooks, of Crook county ; Mrs. Rinear
son and Mrs. Rutledge, in Sherman county. Mr.
Vintin has one full sister, Alamie, the wife of
Edward J. Rollin. Air. Vintin is an enterprising
young man and is one of the progressive citizens
•of the county.

JAMES H. MILLER, a farmer, living aboirt
one-half mile northeast from Rutledge, in Sher
man county, was born in Indiana, on November
-9, 1840. His father, Hillings Miller, was of
Quaker ancestrage, and his father, the grand
father of our subject, enlisted under General Har
rison, of Tippecanoe fame, of Indiana, to repel
'the savages, and was accidentally killed while
helping to construct a fort at Cincinnati, Ohio.
His mother, the paternal grandmother of our
subject, was a Miss Ball before marriage to Mr.
Miller. Our subject's mother was born in the
Carolinas, and is now residing with her son,
Joaquin Miller, the "poet of the Sierras," at Oak
land Heights, California, aged eighty-eight. She
was descended from a Dutch family in the Ogle
thorpe colony, which were among the first settlers
In Georgia. The family moved to the Carolinas
later, where Airs. Miller was raised. Our sub
ject's parents left Indiana in February, 1852, and
started across the plains with horses and ox
teams. The family consisted of the father and
mother, three sons and one daughter. They had a
pleasant trip ancl, although they saw many who
had died from the ravages of small-pox and
cholera, they had no particular sickness and suf
fered no attacks from the Indians. The first
winter on the coast was spent at Parish Gap, near
Salem, Oregon, ancl in the spring they moved
to Lane county, where the father took a donation
claim. He was killed in a runaway accident,
concerning which, it is believed to this day, there
was foul play. He lived about a month after the
alleged accident. Our subject lived with his
parents nine years in the Willamette valley ancl
there completed his educational training. Then
he came to The Dalles ancl worked at the carpen
ter trade for a few months, which he had learned
previously. Being of an adventurous spirit, he
sought to the mines of the west ancl we next find

hifn in Pierce, Idaho. After a year there he re
turned home, and about that time was stricken
with the measles which were terribly epidemic at
that time in the Willamette valley. So fierce was
the disease that he never fully recovered from the
effects. Later he went to eastern Orgon and was
occupied at packing and freighting for three
years. Then he spent a winter in the Willamette
valley after which he went to Crook county, which
was then Wasco county, and remained there
thirty years, stock-raising and farming, and there
also he was married on July 25, 1877, to Kate
Pringle, who was born near Salem, Oregon, on
September 20, 1852. Her father, Clark S. Prin
gle, was a native of Missouri and crossed the
plains, with ox teams, in 1846. He had a very
trying time as a portion of his stock died and the
Indians stole some and they were beset with many
other hardships. He came by the Klamath Lake
route, being among the very first over that road,
and the train nearly starved to death. They
reached Salem on Christmas day, 1846. His
father took a donation claim and he remained with
him for two years, then being twenty-one, struck
out for himself. He married Katherine Sager
and they now live in Spokane. She was born in
Ohio and crossed the plains with her parents,
with ox teams, in 1844. At least she started across
the plains with her parents, but on the road her
father and mother died, leaving a family of seven
children, the eldest being fourteen and the young
est an infant in arms. A young German physi
cian took charge of the children and cared for
them until they reached Walla Walla. Captain
Shaw was in charge of the train and when they
reached Walla Walla, the children were given to
Dr. Whitman to care for for the winter. He was
appointed legal guardian of them all and they
were with him at the time of the massacre. Fol
lowing that, they were raised in the Willamette
valley, where homes were found for them. It
must be remembered that on this occasion these
girls were captured by the Indians and to the
great credit of Peter Steen Ogden it should be
stated that he, the chief factor of the Hudson's
Bay Company, at Vancouver, Washington, ran
somed them with his own private means at the
risk of losing his position with the company.
The twTo boys, John and Frances, were killed.
The girls were Catherine, Elizabeth, Martha,
Louise and Henrietta. Louise died shortly after
from the shock ancl exposure. Catherine, who
is Mrs. Aliller's mother, was brought up by Re
verend William Roberts at Salem.
In 1897, Mr. Miller removed to Sherman
county and he owned two different farms of one
half section each, in the county. For five years
he lived on a leased place near DeMoss Springs.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

557"

Now he is dwelling on a farm of four hundred
and forty acres, owned by his son. He has sold
all his own property in the county. To Mr. and
Mrs. Miller nine children have been born : Ella,
who married John Grimes, and died in 1900, in
Crook county, aged twenty-three ; James R,
living in this county ; Perry P, who owns Jhe
place where his father resides ; Warren S, Mel-
vin G, Ola P, Phernie N, Eugene H, and Earl
K, all at home. Mr. Miller has two brothers
living, Cinnatus Hiner, the "poet of the Sierras,"
who writes under the nom de plume of "Joaquin
Miller," living at Oakland Heights, California ;
and George M, an attorney in Eugene, Oregon.
Mr. Miller also has one brother and one sister de
ceased, John B. and Ella. Mrs. Miller has one
brother, Sanford S, deceased, and two sisters
living, Annie, wife of John D. Bentley, of Col
fax, Washington, and Lucie, wife of D. Collins,
trainmaster in Spokane. She has three other
brothers deceased, Frank F, Marcus W, and
Orva C, and one sister deceased, Emma.
Mr. Miller is a Republican and while in Crook
county was quite active in political affairs and was
county surveyor there for some time. Mr. Miller
is a man who gained his educational training by
his own efforts and is deserving of much credit
in that he fitted himself for the important posi
tion of surveyor.
In 1852, Mr. Miller passed by the territory
now embraced in Sherman county, and then there
was not a solitary white settler in it. He and
his wife have spent their lives in developing and
building up Oregon, especially that portion now
embraced in this work. He enlisted to fight in
the Rogue River Indian war, but owing to his
youth, he was placed with the wagon train, and
there served till the close of the war. He joined
the Oregon Militia in 1861, expecting to see ser
vice in the Civil war, but, owing to the continued
outbreaks of the savages, his command was de
tained here to quell the Indians.

CHANCY A. HEATH, of the firm of C.
A. Heath & Sons, real estate and loans, Grass
Valley, Oregon, was born in Andover, Ohio, on
October 6, 1842. His father, Albert Heath, born
in Massachusetts, came from an old colonial fam
ily and died when ninety years and two months
of age. Three brothers of the Heath family came
to the United States long before the Revolution
and their descendants are scattered well over the
continent. In the Heath reunions in Ohio the at
tendance is four hundred and more each year.
Eleazer Heath, the paternal grandfather of our
subject, was a Baptist preacher in New York and

Ohio, and an early pioneer of the latter state. His.
father, the great-grandfather of our subject died.
at ninety-seven, and Eleazer Heath died when
eighty-four years of age. Our subject's father
was a mill wright and farmer. Our subject's.
great-grandfather had the following named chil
dren: David, Ebenezer, Eleazer, Joshua, Job.
Timothy, Dorcas, who died aged ninety, Anna,
and Polly, all early Ohio pioneers. The later
generations of the family have many members.
who are prominent at the bench and bar and in
every professional line. Many of the family
served in the Revolution and the War of 1812,
and in the Civil war. The brothers of our sub
ject's father were William, Warren, Joseph, Phy-
letus and James. His sisters were Marinda, Em-
meline, Phydelia, Caroline and Phoebs. This lat
ter woman was the mother of triplets, two boys
and one girl, being named Clarence W, Claren-
den W, and Caroline W. Ttheir father was a
Mr. Spaulding. Our subject's mother was Lucy
(Cook) Heath, a native of New England and
from a prominent colonial family. She was born,
in 1806. Our subject remained in Ohio until
twenty-one years of age, being educated in the-
district schools. He was preparing for college
when taken with a severe attack of western fever
and he journeyed out west to Michigan and hired
in the woods for sixteen dollars a month. When
his first month was up, it was the only month he
ever worked for wages, he began contracting for
himself and remained until 1883. His health
being broken, he came west and settled on land
some five miles southwest of Grass Valley. He
took a homestead and timber culture, and bought
school land and, together with his sons, owns
twenty-four hundred acres, twenty-one hundred
of which are under cultivation. Mr. Heath and
his two sons and their wives own nine hundred
and sixty acres in Klamath county. They own
in addition, some mining property in Crook
county, and are prosperous people.
On January 1, 1865, in Kent county, Michi
gan, Mr. Heath married Eliza J. Rhodes, a native-
of Schuyler county, New York. Her father,
Erasmus W. Rose, was a native of England and
in early life was master on a canal. He died in
Michigan, on September 29, 1880. He had mar
ried Susan Simmons, a native of Catskill county,
New York, who died in Michigan, on December
3, 1896. Our subject has three brothers living;
Herman L, a farmer in Ohio, who has been blind
since eighteen years of age; Adinoram J, a
farmer in Ashtabula county, Ohio; William H,
also a farmer, in Andover, Ohio. Mr. Heath
also has three sisters, Clarissa P, the widow of
R. E. French, of. Grass Valley; Betsey E, the
wife of N. S. Butler, in Ashtabula county,.

558

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Ohio; Josephine L, the wife of B. F.
Downing, in Lincoln county, Washington.
He also has two brothers who died in
infancy, Joseph L, and Luke W. Mrs.
Heath has two brothers, Albert G, a mer
chant in St. Louis, and Elmer S, of Cedar
Springs, Michigan, also a merchant. She also
has the following named sisters : Emma A, the
wife of A. B. Fairchild, a retired farmer of The
Dalles ; Viola S, the wife of Henry Carner, of
Redfields, South Dakota; Almira, who died in

infancy; and Elizabeth, who died when eleven.
Mr. and Mrs. Heath are members of the Bap
tist church. He is a Republican and an active,
energetic business man. He is also director of
the Grass Valley Academy. Mr. Heath's two
sons who are living are named elsewhere in this
work, and he also has three who died in infancy,
Arthur C, Milo M. and Ona L. Mr. Heath was
very much broken in health when coming to this
country, but is now strong and hearty and is one
of the leading citizens of Sherman county.

Plowing Scene in Gilliam County

/ /

Freighting Team between Arlington and Condon, Gilliam County

PART IV

HISTORY OF GILLIAM COUNTY

CHAPTER I

PASSING EVENTS— 1860 TO 1905.

The old immigrant road through Gilliam
county crossed the John Day river one half mile
below where now stands Leonard's bridge, and
ran in an easterly and westerly direction over the
prairie to a point in Alkali canyon about seven
miles south of what is now Arlington ; here there
was a stage station afterwards known as the
"Junction House;" thence easterly to Willow
creek, about twelve miles south of the Columbia
river, and crossed Willow creek and the Sissel
ranch. The old Utah, Idaho and Oregon stage road
was established in the fifties, crossed Leonard's
bridge on the John Day river, and ran almost
due east to a point about seven miles south of
what is now Arlington, in Alkali canyon, where
there was a stage station, thence easterly to the
old Umatilla Landing.
In the earlier history of Gilliam county, even
prior to its subdivision, stock-raising was the
principal industry. While this business still oc
cupies an important place it can, however, no
longer be considered paramount. And this was
the truth so early as 1900. As the wave of im
migration rolled westward from the sun-baked
plains beynod the Great Divide, the grassy slopes
and fertile valleys of Gilliam county arrested the
attention of the travel-worn farmers. It was still
a far cry to the Willamette Valley, and here was
arable land all around them. "Prairie schooners"
were suddenly brought up "all standing," by the
sharp application of the brake; mules were un
hitched, or "ouspanned" as Rider Haggard would

describe an episode in African travel, and turned
loose to graze ; wives, children and scanty house
hold goods were unloaded; tents were pitched
and foundations of future homes were laid.
There is, at present, every indication throughout
Gilliam county that these settlers have been
eminently successful. There are hundreds of
comfortable homes ; the "head-centers" of bound
less wheat fields and handsome orchards, and
these homes are surrounded by fertile garden
spots. Here dwell a happy, contented, self-re
liant and self-supporting people.
The first men to graze cattle on the bunch
grass prairies of what is now Gilliam county,
were Thomas Richmond and J. W. Whitley.
They came here in 1862. In 1865 there were
only five settlers in the country now embraced
within the limits of Gilliam county. All of them
were located on Rock creek. Their exclusive
attention was devoted to stock breeding. Their
names were Conrad Shott,  Shalliday,
Josephus Martin, D. F. Strickland and Charles
Pincense, colloquially known as "French
Charlie." In 1866 James Richardson and

Staggs moved into the county. They located on
Rock creek and engaged in stock raising.
The first grain raised for hay on the creek
bottoms, in the district of which we write, was
produced, the same year, by Conrad Shott, Jo
sephus Alartin, J. R. Phillips, Cyrus Butler, D. F.
Strickland and "French Charlie." This was on
Rock creek. In 1877 John Edden raised grain
crops, but this was on "hill land." Mr. Edden

560

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sowed wheat but his first crop burned out. The
succeeding year he again sowed wheat and thus
raised the first wheat hay on hill land.
In 1870 John Maddon, R. G. Robinson, Al
Henshaw, A. Crawford, T. M. Ward and John
McCurdy, all located on Lone Rock creek. Alex
ander Smith, Tip Mobley, Thomas Woodland,
J. R. Phillips, George Flett, Henry Moore, Silas
Brown, James Bennett and Hendrix Brothers
settled the same year on Rock creek.
The settlers of 1872 comprised Flynn & Sul
livan, on Sniptia Flat ; George Boone, Lone Rock
creek ; William Keyes on Keyes Flat ; George
Evans settled where Mayville now stands ; Rob
ert Watson and H. C. Matney on Matney Flat.
Stevens Brothers came to this locality in 1873
and founded their homes on Lone Rock creek.
It was in 1874 that Charles Richmond and Hugh
Strickland came, and at once directed their at
tention to stock-raising.
The first sawmill in this vicinity was erected
by Edward Wineland in 1874. The power was
an old time water wheel and the capacity of the
mill was about 1,500 feet per day. All of the
pioneer buildings in Gilliam county were con
structed of lumber sawed at this mill. In 188 1
Mr. Wineland substituted steam power — the
first in the county — and removed the mill from
Lone Rock creek into the Blue Mountains. Mr.
Lowe Smith built the second steam sawmill on
Trailfork creek in 1883. Brown Brothers set
tled on Sniptia creek, near Thirty-Mile creek,
in 1874, where they engaged in the stock busi
ness. In 1875 William Edden came to what is
at present Edden canyon, two miles south of Con
don. C. O. Portwood in the Pacific Homestead
of November 4, 1904, said :
On March 30, 1876, William E. Campbell, then
county surveyor of Wasco county, Oregon, under the
direction of James R. Alfrey, Pitt A. Eddy and M.
Fisk, made the survey of the first channel through
which the commerce of the territory now within the
boundaries of Gilliam county might flow, and reported
their actions to the county court of Wasco county in
the following words :
"The proposed county road passes through one of
the richest valleys in Eastern Oregon and in direct line
with the southern portion of Umatilla county, and we
consider the road to be of great importance to The
Dalles, as it will secure a large amount of trade for
said town. We further advise that Rock creek is fast
settling up; many new settlers having located along the
creek within the last year. We would, therefore, recom
mend that said road be adopted at the next term of the
county court and that the same be ordered opened by
the supervisor as soon as practicable.''

Agreeable to the suggestion of this board of viewers-
the county court, at its regular May term, in the year
1876, ordered the county road opened along this line of
survey, and a few years later vast quantities of wool
loaded on heavy wagons, drawri by teams consisting of
six and eight horses, could have been seen wending,
their way along this county road to The Dalles, ninety
miles distant, to be loaded in boats for shipment. Great
herds of horses, cattle and sheep were also driven along
this road or directly across the county to this market.
The first store in what is now Gilliam county
was conducted by R. G. Robinson. This was in
1876. It was situated on Lone Rock creek. The
settlers of 1877 were George Coffin, on Thirty-
Mile creek, near John Day river; James and
George Ladd, on Thirty-Mile ; Lowe Smith and
William Sanders on Trailfork creek, and J. H.
Downing near what is now the capital of Gill
iam county, Condon. The second store was es
tablished by John Maddon at Lone Rock, in 1877,
The first postoffice within the limits of the
present Gilliam county was in the store of R. G.
Robinson, and that gentleman officiated as post
master. D. F. Strickland was appointed the sec
ond postmaster. The office was situated on Rock
creek, about five miles east of the present site of
Olex. The inhabitants of the territory comprising
Gilliam county were the victims, of an "Indian
scare" in 1878. When the Warm Springs tribe-
went to Umatilla county to assist other tribes in
their uprising against the whites, known as the
Nez Perce war, they passed directly through the
center of the county. The few scattered set
tlers heard of the approach of the savages and
became greatly excited. Many of them aban
doned their homes and sought the protection of
their neighbors' houses. As a rule they gath
ered at centralized places and prepared to defend
themselves if necessary. This anticipated neces
sity, however, did not arise, and within a few
days they all returned to their homes.
In 1880, on Rock creek, was established the
third store by Mr. Varney. Among those who
came to the country in 1879 were J°hn Davis, A.
Henderson and John Aladdock, all locators on
Thirty-Mile creek. Mr. Varney was postmaster-
William and Al Weatherford raised the first crop
of wheat that was threshed in Gilliam county..
This was in 1881. The machine employed for
this purpose was owned by Charles Richmond
and Fred Smith. It was one of the old time
tread-power implements ; it threshed the grain
but did not separate it from the chaff. Having
run their grain through this primitive machine
the farmers waited for a breezy day ; threw the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

561

grain into the air with shovels ; the chaff disap
peared and the clean grain fell upon large sheets
spread for that purpose.
Shuttler Flat, which was the, first hill land
settled and utilized for agricultural purposes, was
so named because of the fact that on the old im
migrant road passing through the place a "Shut-
tier" wagon had broken down and been left there.
What is remembered as the "double winter"
of 1 88 1-2 was, without doubt, the most severe
winter ever experienced by the residents of the
present Gilliam county. Thousands of cattle,
horses and sheep were frozen and starved to
death. A conservative estimate places the loss
at from 90 to 95 per cent. During the spring of
1882 stockmen gathered the pelts of the dead ani
mals and from their sales realized sufficiently to
enable them to live through the coming summer.
It was not until the summer of 1884 that the
people of the territory now embraced in Gilliam
county realized the need of closer relationship
for the transaction of civil business, and accord
ingly they took up "the matter of the organiza
tion of Gilliam county, which was created by an <
act of the Oregon legislature, approved Febru
ary 25, 1885, with the temporary county seat at
Alkali. It was the thirty-second county formed
in the state. Following is the organic act :
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the State
of Oregon :
Section 1. That all that portion of the State of
Oregon embraced within the following boundaries be,
and the same is, hereby created and organized into a
separate county by the name of Gilliam, to wit : Be
ginning at a point in the middle of the Columbia river,
where the east line of range 22 east of Willamette
meridian crosses said river; thence south across said
east line to the south line of township three, south ;
from thence east along said south line to the east line
of range 23 east; thence south along said range line to
the south line of township four south ; thence east to
the east line of range 24 east; thence south to the
Grant county line ; thence west to the east line of range
22 east; thence south to the John Day river; thence
down the center of the main channel of the said river
to a point in the middle of the Columbia river opposite
the mouth of the John Day river; thence up the center
of the main channel of the Columbia river to the place
of beginning. Section 2. The territory embraced within said
county lines shall compose a county for all civil and
military purposes, and shall be subject to the same laws
and restrictions, and be entitled to elect the same offi
cers as other counties of the state; Provided, That it
shall be the duty of the Governor, as soon as convenient
after this act shall become a law, to appoint for Gilliam
county, and from her resident citizens the several county
36

officers allowed by law to other counties of this State;
which said officers, after duly qualifying according to
law, shall be entitled to hold their respective offices until
their successors shall be duly elected at the general elec
tion of 1886, and shall have duly qualified as required by
law. Section 3. The temporary county seat of Gilliam
county shall be located at Alkali, in said county, until a
permanent location shall be adopted. At the next gen
eral election the question shall be submitted to the legal
voters of said county, and the place, if any, which shall
receive a majority of all the votes cast at said election
shall be the permanent county seat of said county; but
if no place shall receive a majority of all the votes cast,
the question shall again be submitted to the legal voters
of said county at the next general election between the
two points having the highest number of votes at said
election; and the place receiving the highest number c#
votes at such election shall be the permanent county
seat of said county.
Section 4. Said county of Gilliam shall, for repre
sentative purposes, be annexed to the seventeenth repre
sentative district ; and for senatorial purposes said
county shall be annexed to the sixteenth senatorial
district. Section 5. The county clerks of Wasco and Uma
tilla counties shall, within thirty days after this act
shall have gone into operation, make out and deliver
to the county clerk of Gilliam county transcripts of all
taxes assessed upon persons and property within the.
said county, and which were previously included within
the limits of their respective counties, and all taxes
which shall remain unpaid on the day when this act
shall become a law, shall be paid to the proper officers
of Gilliam county The said county clerks of Wasco
and Umatilla counties shall also make and deliver to
the county clerk of Gilliam county, within the time
above limited, a transcript of all cases pending in the
circuit and county courts of their respective counties
between parties residing in Gilliam county, and transfer
all original papers in such cases to be tried in Gilliam
county. Secton 6. The said county of Gilliam is hereby
attached to the fifth judicial district for judicial pur
poses; and the term of the circuit court for said county
shall be held at the county seat of said county on the
third Monday in February and the first Monday of
September of each year.
Section 7. The county court of Gilliam county
shall be held at the county seat of said county on the
first Monday of every alternate month beginning on the
first Monday of the month next after the appointment
by the Governor of county officers as provided by this
act. Section 8. Until otherwise provided for the county
judge of Gilliam county shall receive an annual salary of
four hundred dollars, and the county treasurer of said
county shall receive an annual salary of two hundred

562

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and fifty dollars; the clerk and sheriff of said county
shall receive the same fees as are now allowed by law
to the sheriff and county clerk of Wasco county.
Section 9. As the citizens living within the boun
daries of the proposed county of Gilliam labor under a
great inconvenience in the transaction of their business
at their present respective county seats, this act shall
take effect and be in force from and after its approval
by the Governor.
Approved February 25, 1885.
Among those who were responsible for the
'creation of Gilliam county may be mentioned :
T. B. Hoover, L. W. Darling, W. W. Steiwer,
Thomas Cartwright, C. W. Sanderson, Coffin
¦Brothers & McFarland, and J. W. Smith. W. W.
¦Steiwer and Thomas Cartwright were sent to
Salem to lobby for the bill. W. L. Wilcox, who
"was then representative from this part of Wasco
county, introduced the measure and was largely
responsible for its passage. The new county was
named after Colonel Gilliam who commanded the
•Oregon Volunteers during the Cayuse war of
1847. Colonel Gilliam was accidentally killed by
one of his own soldiers who carelessly drew a
sgun from a wagon while in camp near Wells
Springs the same year. In 1885 the population
of the county was about 2,500. The first meet
ing of the new county officers was held at Alkali,
April 6, 1885. The following officials who had
Ibeen appointed by the governor were present
and took the oath of office : Hon. J. W. Smith,
county judge ; A. H. Weatherford, W. . W.
Steiwer, county commissioners ; J. A. Blakely,
sheriff ; H. C. Condon, treasurer ; T. J. Cart
wright, assessor ; H. H. Hendricks, school su
perintendent ; J. P. Lucas, county clerk.
At a meeting of the Gilliam county court held
April 6, 1885, the following order was spread
lupon the records :
"Now, it appearing to the court that there
have been taxes paid to Wasco county, Oregon,
which rightfully belong, and should have been
paid to, Gilliam county :
"Thereupon it is ordered that H. C. Condon,
'treasurer of said Gilliam county, be instructed
and ordered to demand said money from the
county court of Wasco county, Oregon."
The next day the following additional order
was recorded :
"Now, it appearing to the court that there
are taxes due Gilliam county from Umatilla
county, Oregon :
"Therefore it is ordered by the court that the
-county clerk shall request of the county clerk of
Umatilla county to make a transcript of such
taxes and forward to the clerk of Gilliam county,
:and also request the county clerk of said Umatilla

county to order such money paid to the treas
urer of said Gilliam county."
At the time of the organization of Gilliam
county it was a portion of that vast, if somewhat
indefinite region known as the "cow country," fit
only, in popular belief, for the raising of range
stock. Wonderful changes were soon wrought
in business methods. Where, at that period the
long-horned cow and the "watch-eyed" cayuse
roamed at will amid a rich luxuriance of waving
bunch grass are now found rich farms, thriving
towns, spired churches and good schools. In
1885 the population, according to the state cen
sus, was 2,520.
Prior to the date of the creation of the county
the idea was prevalent that grain and fruit could
be grown only along the streams, and very little
farming was done on the uplands until it became
absolutely necessary to raise hay to feed stock
through the winter months. The discovery was
made that the highest hill lands produced fair
crops. Gradually this fertile soil became broken
up ancl cropped with various grains ; the plows
of the farmer began to drive away the stock to
other ranges. No longer was farming merely an
experiment. When the organic act creating Gilliam
county was framed, that document, also, adver
tised the inevitable county seat contest of the
future. And the expected happened. It will be
recalled that the act provided for the selection of
a permanent county seat at the general election to
be held in June, 1886, with the proviso that the
town of Alkali was to remain the capital of the
county until another selection should be made at
the polls. Should any one town receive a two-
thirds majority of all votes cast that town was
to become the countv seat. In case no town re
ceived such a majority the question was to be
again submitted at the general election of 1888,
the contestants being limited to the two points
receiving the highest number of votes in 1886.
This contest in Gilliam county developed into
one most remarkable. It was not finally settled
until the general election of 1890. This delay
was brought about by a singular coincidence — a
tie vote between two towns which had received
the highest vote in 1886.
The Gilliam county seat fight was one of the
most bitter ancl exciting contests in the history
of Eastern Oregon. At the first election follow
ing the location of the temporary county capital
at Alkali, five towns in the county entered the
lists. They were Arlington (which had changed
its name from Alkali), Condon, Fossil, Olex and
Mayville. The journals of Eastern Oregon were
warm, nay, blistering, with columns of "mud-
slinging," which lurid literary pabulum was pre-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

' 563

pared by champions of the different villages in
line for county seat "honors." Personalities were
sharp and truculent. Those favoring one of the
interior towns were vociferous in their accusa
tion that Arlington was nothing more than a bed
¦of alkali with surrounding grounds of arid sand
dunes. People favorable to Arlington urged
their claims in a most forcible manner and de
fended their location in vigorous English. A cor
respondent of The Dalles Times-Mountaineer
said that "any person who has sense enough to
keep out of the fire would rather pass a week in
Olex, Condon or Fossil, without even tents, barns
¦or attics, than to spend a week in the alkali dust
and sand of Arlington, with the best hotel ac
commodations that it can or ever will afford."
In the same paper, of April 24, 1886, the friends
ot Fossil advanced the following claims :
The reason that we claim that the county seat
should be at Fossil is that it is the most suitable place
in the county — that is, it is the most convenient to the
majority of the people, as there are already five county
roads leading to Fossil, and there is now a petition in
¦circulation for another. Another reason that the^county
seat should be at Fossil is that it would keep thousands
of dollars in the county that would be sent out if the
county seat was at Arlington, as all the material for
•county buildings would come from some other locality ;
consequently the money is sent out of the county ; and
the material can be laid down in Fossil for fifty per
•cent, less than it can be laid down in Arlington. The
Gilliam county officers and jail bugs would be fed on
on Gilliam county produce, but if the county seat is at
Arlington a large portion of the provisions would be
shipped from Washington Territory and the Willamette
Valley, such as bacon, fruit, flour and vegetables ; be
sides if we get the county seat at Fossil we would, also,
get the Bridge Creek and Haystack country attached to
our county, which would make it nearly one-third
larger, and Fossil would be almost in the center of the
county. As for the people of Fossil being compelled to
go to Arlington to trade, that is all bosh, for where
is the stockman or farmer who can afford to leave his
family and spend five or six days with his team for a
thousand pounds or so of produce, when freight is only
three-fourths of a cent a pound? What Gilliam county
wants is opposition, and if the county seat is at Fossil
that we will have, for it will bring more business men
into our county; but if it is at Arlington the chances
are that we will lose the Mitchell trade.
In behalf of Arlington it was said that it was
the only town with railroad facilities ; was the
largest place and, from a business viewpoint the
really only available site for a county seat in Gil
liam county. Condon, although considerably

smaller, declared that she was the most centrally
located of any of the contestants.
The election of 1886 showed Arlington with
260; Condon 260; Fossil 373 and Olex, with 92
votes, Mayville having, apparently, abandoned
the field. Following is the vote by precincts :
Precincts. Fossil. Arlington. Condon. Olex.
Arlington  4 201 2 11
Blalock  34 18 ... 4
Ferry Canyon ... 7 2 22
Condon  2 1 96
Mayville  95 1 22
Trail Fork  7 ... 62
Lone Rock  11 7 45 8
Butte Creek  161 2 3
Crown Rock .... 27
Rowe Creek  23
Rock Creek  2 28 8 69
Totals  373 260 260 92
Of course the result of this poll produced
complications, thus causing a postponement of
final adjustment. No one town had received a
two-thirds majority and, in compliance with the
terms of the enabling act, "the question shall
again be submitted to the legal voters of said
county at the next general election between the
two points having the highest number of votes
at said election." But there were three points
having the highest number of votes, and at the
election of 1888 we find these three principal
towns again contesting, Olex, of course, having
retired from the lists. The final result of this
long drawn-out contest will be found farther on
in its chronological order.
In 1886 there were in Gilliam county only
443 taxpayers. In December of this year an
effort was made by some of the citizens of the
county to include portions of Cook and Wasco
within its boundaries. For that purpose a bill
was introduced in the succeeding legislature. It
was the expressed opinion of The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer that "Dividing and subdividing
counties, except where the population and
wealth are sufficient to warrant the increased bur
den of taxation made necessary in the creation
of the new political division, is not for the best
interests of the citizens. It makes little or no
difference how large the area of a county may be,
this same argument will apply against division.
For this reason we consider the late formation of
Gilliam county as an ill-advised measure and leg
islation not calculated to benefit those directly in
terested. This new project of cutting a generous
slice from Crook and another one from Wasco
and splicing them on to Gilliam is, apparently,

564

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

an effort to benefit the latter at the expense of the
former. The portion of Crook will include the
precinct of Mitchell, and will leave the old county
with less wealth and less population, and there
fore, with increased taxation upon the individual.
If the conveniences to be derived are greater than
the disadvantages suffered, then the matter read
justs itself. We will very gladly hear any argu
ment of this patching on to Gilliam county cer
tain portions of Crook and Wasco ; but until such
time shall oppose any such action as detrimental
to the majority of those concerned."
This effort, it appears, was a signal failure.
But in 1887 another measure was introduced. It
was "To annex the northern portions of Crook
and Grant counties to Gilliam. There were no
results and a month later, in February, 1887, an
other bill was framed and presented to the sen
ate with the intent to cut off the northwestern
part of Grant, and add it to Gilliam county, mak
ing the north fork of the John Day river the
boundary between the two counties. This
measure was defeated by a majority of four.
According to the assessor's roll for 1887 the
gross value of Gilliam county property was
$1,858,813. With the approach of the general election of
1888 the county seat question again reached a
simmering point and from that increased to a
boiling temperature. Again were the three prin
cipal towns in the county pitted against each
other and it became a battle royal. Again there
was no choice between Arlington, Condon and
Fossil. We give the vote by precincts :
Precincts. Arlington. Condon. Fossil.
Trail Fork,  8 46 n
Arlington,  342 9 4
Blalock,  39 2 12
Rock Creek,  66 47 2
Condon,  3 133 —
Mayville,  1 43 78
Ferry Canyon,  — 56
Butte Creek,  1 5 185
Idea,  7 20 1
Lone Rock,  15 46 4
Crown Rock,  — — 26
Rowe Creek,  — — 27
Totals,  482 407 350
The solons who had framed the enabling act
had not anticipated so close a contest; they had
not provided for an election later than 1888.
Alore legislative action was demanded; this was
had at the session of 1889. Another bill was
provided for the selection of a permanent county
seat of Gilliam county to be decided at the regu

lar election on the first Monday in June, 1890.
Arlington and Condon were the towns named in
the bill to be voted for. This eliminated the
town of Fossil which had received only a small
number of votes less than the other participants..
In the 1890 election Condon came out a winner
by a majority of 171. The official vote by pre
cincts :
Precincts Arlington. Condon.
Arlington  214 6
Blalock  40 4
Rock Creek  43 S3
Condon  1 83
Ferry Canyon  1 51
Matney  — 40
Idea  I 17
Lone Rock  4 53
Trail Fork  1 56-
Mayville  10 101
Butte Creek  64 94
Crown Rock  10 16
Rowe Creek  19 5
Totals  408 579
Commenting on this result the Condon Globe-
magnanimously said :
From the start the town of Condon was a candidate
for county seat honors. It took three elections twO'
years apart to settle the vexed question, which resulted
finally in a victory for Condon. She now reaches out
her arms to Arlington and Fossil and asks her late
rivals in the county seat warfare — now that it is ended —
to grasp in fellowship and wish her God speed while-
she tries to further interests which she honestly believes
to be for the common good.
Following the settlement of this vexatious
question the central and southern portions of the
county immediately began to settle up with col
onies of progressive and industrial people. Home
steads were rapidly taken up; comfortable and
substantial houses were built and permanent
homes established ; orchards were planted, which
thrived and bore luscious fruit; the productive
capacity and value of lands were no longer
doubted. Within a few years conditions under
went wonderful changes; cow trails and pack
trains were abandoned; postoffices and mail
routes were established ; small towns sprang into
existence ; good roads were constructed and till
able lands were fenced, plowed and farmed;
throughout the county was heard the hum of
threshing machines. In any direction that the-
traveler passed through the county his way lay-
along good roads between fields of waving grain-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

565

and he found a comfortable and hospitable haven
in any one of the towns and cities.
Following the adjustment of the count}- seat
contention some time elapsed before official
buildings could be completed. Therefore the
county records were not moved immediately and
•Condon did not become, de facto, the county
seat until September 17, 1890.
In 189 1 the total taxable property of the
county was $987,883. The number of.acres of
deeded land was 129,806, valued at $335,279.
May 25, 1891, Rock Creek was visited by a
decidedly vicious and destructive water spout
and hurricane. Roads ancl bridges were swept
away by the torrents of water ; huge boulders
were thrown out into the fields ancl meadows,
demolishing much grain ancl grass.
In December, 1894, the assessed valuation of
the county was: gross, $1,657,782; net,
$1,500,786. Meanwhile business throughout Gilliam
county was suffering from the general stagnation
incident to the financial crisis of 1893. Prices for
farm products were extremely low, as well as for
wool, sheep ancl cattle, creating distress among
the agricultural ancl stock raising communities
which could not but react upon the towns, result
ing in a condition of business depression and un
certainty hard to be borne. Gilliam county suf
fered as little, perhaps, as any other in the state
from these depressing conditions, Still, it must
be admitted that for a few years succeeding 1893
retrogression ancl not progress was the experi
ence of the county. Throughout the whole of the
years 1894 ancl 1895 the darkness of financial
eclipse continued. Before 1896 had passed, how
ever, it became evident that the intervening body
which was obscuring the light was slowly pass
ing from the disk of the financial sun, and by the
fall of 1897 prosperity was beaming in all its
former glory. With the return of "good times"
Gilliam count}' took up the forward march in
earnest ancl signs of business revival were appar
ent on every hand. Good prices ancl crops
brought wealth to the farmers, enabling them to
pay off the indebtedness which had oppressed
them during the years of darkness ; to inaugurate
improvements, buy needed machinery and in
dulge more liberally in the conveniences of civil
ized life.
The population of Gilliam county, by the state
census of 1895, was 3,016.
During the closing days of the year 1897 there
was, probably, not another county in the state
more prosperous than Gilliam, with its popula
tion of slightly over 3,000 and its income of over
$1,200,000 — an. average of $400 for every man,
woman and child within its borders — all de

rived from the soil. This amount of $1,200,000
was divided among the different industries as
follows: grain, $850,000; wool, $150,000; cattle,
$120,000; mutton sheep, $75,000; hogs, $8,000;
miscellaneous products, $34,000. January 1,
1898, Air. James S. Stewart said that "The
county is a mixed stock and farming county, but
principally farming. Not many years ago stock-
raising overshadowed farming, but then it was
thought that very little of the land was adapted
to cultivation, but during the last few years a
great change has taken place, and now the farmer
is king, and the stockman is second in im
portance." This year, 1898, the total taxable property of
the county was $1,254,691.
The irony of fate is well illustrated in the
history of Gilliam county as regards the question
of territory. It will be recalled that a number of
abortive attempts had been made to secure por
tions of other counties contiguous to Gilliam.
But early in the year 1899 Gilliam was called
upon for a generous slice of her own territory.
This was for the creation of the county of
Wheeler. The territory demanded was a nearly
square piece extending from about the south line
of township 5 to the John Day river on the
south, ancl from the east line of range 22 to the
John Day river on the west. This was not
yielded to with the best of grace possible ; citi
zens of Gilliam considered the cutting off of the
county to be the work of a few designing gentle
men residing in Fossil. The bill, as originally
introduced, proposed to take from Gilliam county
nearly all of Mayville, Trail Fork and Lone
Rock precincts, three of the best communities
in the county. Before the bill was passed, how
ever, the boundary was moved farther to the
south, as a compromise; the line being fixed at
one section south of the present standard par
allel. While this was not entirely agreeable to
the people of Gilliam county, it was far more
satisfactory than was the line first proposed. How
ever, the story of this "territorial amputation"
will be found more amplified in the History of
Wheeler county.
September 20, 1899, there was effected a
temporary organization of a Pioneers' Associa
tion, with Reverend Hurlburt as chairman and
George Tatom, secretary. Following are the
names of those present with the date of their ar
rival in Oregon: Rev. Hurlburt, 1851 ; George
Tatom, 1853 ; G. W. Rinehart, 1853 ; R. H. Ram
sey, 1852 ; J. W. Elbert, 1852 ; W. C. Caldwell,
1853 ; John Palmer, 1852 ; Dr. Dodson, 18=53 :
Airs. Young, 1844; Mrs. Hurlburt, 1853. The
membership of this association was open to all
who came to the state of Oregon before 1878.

566

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In 1899 f°e amount of taxable property in the
county was $1,005,264. The same year wit
nessed a large increase in settlement, especially in
the section known as Ferry Canyon. It was
estimated that it received ninety per cent, of the
immigration of that year. The same year there
was a county seat "scare," and although nothing
eventuated the editor of the Morning Oregonian,
a newspaper published at Portland, was moved
to revel in imagination, in September, as follows :
I
Condon, the county seat of Gilliam county, will
have to look to its laurels, according to Representative
S. G. Hawson, who hails from Arlington, the original
county seat of Gilliam, and an important railroad town,
whose citizens have never lost faith in one day regain
ing the seat of the county government. Mr. Hawson, who
was seen at the Perkins yesterday, said that Arlington
business men propose to ask the next legislature to pass
an act enabling Gilliam county citizens to reconsider
the question of county seat, and the candidate for legis
lative honors who asks Arlington citizens for votes
must declare himself in favor of the enabling act.
Condon, which is forty miles south of Arlington,
was very near the geographical center of Gilliam county,
until Wheeler county was cut off the south end last
winter, taking the Fossil country along with it, and as
Arlington has a larger population than Condon, its
citizens now see their chance to bring the court house
records back again to the town on the line of the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company.
Condon, Mr. Hawson says, is situated high up on
the open prairie, in a rich agricultural and stock coun
try, but the railroads penetrating that portion of Eastern
Oregon have thus far left Condon to one side. No
court house has yet been built at Condon on account
of the opposition in the northern end of the county,
and so the seat of county government has not been
anchored at Condon in any way. * * *
Arlington citizens have always disliked the 40-mile
stage ride into the interior of Gilliam county when of
ficial business compelled their presence at the county
seat. Lately a telephone line has shown itself quite a
convenience between Arlington and Condon, but still
the Arlingtonians continue to yearn for the presence of
the sheriff, the treasurer and the semi-annual visit of
the circuit judge, with a train of witnesses, jurors and
litigants, who fill the hotels and drop lots of silver in
the retail stores. It is only natural, Mr. Hawson says,
that Condon people should oppose the passage of the
proposed enabling act.
The year of 1901 was one of progress
and prosperity in the county of Gilliam. Still, it
was unacompanied by any sensational boom, but
it was a period of steady, healthy growth which,
since the early days has been characteristic of
Oregon. New settlers came into the county by

scores. And each one appeared to be doing his
best to develop the latent resources of one of the
richest sections of the state of Oregon. But when
a movement was on foot to erect a new court
house at Condon, the proposition was lost at the
general election by a vote of 350 to 345.
Monday, January 19, 1903, articles incor
porating the Arlington & Pacific Coast Railroad
Company were filed in the office of the Multno
mah county clerk, at Portland, by J. P. Findlay,
J. R. Smails and J. E. Simmons. The authorized
capital stock was $1,500,000. The object an
nounced in the articles of incorporation was to
construct and operate a railroad from Arlington
to the Pacific ocean. The route proposed at the
eastern terminus was from Arlington south to
Fossil. Of course, a court, house and other county
buildings were imperatively necessary to Gilliam
county. The apparent reluctance of the citizens
to build them is difficult to appreciate in the pres
ent era of progressive ideas and up-to-date meth
ods. At last the town of Condon came forward
with an offer of $1,000 toward the proposed
structures. At the June election, 1902, Gilliam
county citizens had voted against any tax for
court house purposes. But the county court at a
meeting in January, 1903, decided to go ahead
and appropriate $10,000. The contract for
building the court house was let, March 21st, to-
A. F Peterson, of Corvallis, his bid being
$: 3.440. Mr. Peterson was the same contractor
who had erected the Sherman county court house.
December 17th the Condon Globe said:
"The court house is now the actual property
of Gilliam county, the building having been in
spected and accepted by the board of county com
missioners on Monday, December 14, 1903.
* * * The county offices are being moved
this week from the old shack which has for so
many years been honored with the title of court
house." In the way of ringing out the old and ring
ing in the new, to paraphrase from Tennyson,
the Globe in its issue of December 31, 1903, said:
"The year which closes tonight has been
marked by the greatest degree of progress of
any twelve months in the historv of Gilliam
county. A large area of fertile farm land has
been brought under cultivation, and many im
provements of every description have been the
order of the clay. Farm houses and barns have
been erected, miles of fencing built, orchards have
been planted and flocks and herds are being con
stantly improved."
With the opening of the new year of 1904 the
total value of taxable property in Gilliam county
was $2,315,164. The grain crop of this year

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

56/

was an exceptionally good one. At a conserva
tive estimate the wheat yielded 750,000 bushels,
and there was besides a large yield of oats, bar
ley, rye, etc., the total being 1,500,000 bushels.
To hark back to railroad matters it was an
nounced in April, 1903, that Within sixty days
work on the Arlington & Pacific Railroad would
begin ; from Arlington to Condon. Surveyors
were at once put on the work. But there was
"another Richmond in the field." Saturday, Au
gust 22, 1903, the Columbia River & Central
Oregon Railroad Company filed articles of incor
poration at Portland. The authorized capital
stock was $500,000. The avowed purpose of this
company was to 'build, equip ancl operate a rail
road from Arlington to Condon. The incorpora
tors were John C. Ainsworth, Henry F. Conner
ancl Lewis Gerlinger, residents of Portland. They
claimed that the company was financed by east
ern men of ample capital, who had other exten
sive railroad ancl manufacturing interests on the
coast, ancl that construction work would be com
menced at once.
The Arlington & Pacific Railway Company
had already clone considerable preliminary work.
Right of way had been secured from the county,
city and individuals. Preliminary surveys had
been made ancl a general outline of the route had
been, practically, determined upon. A repre
sentative of. the company had recently returned
from New York and reported that no trouble
would be experienced in that quarter. He af
firmed that he had the assurance of capitalists
there that ample funds were available for the pur
pose. Upon his return to Portland an effort was
made to make the customary traffic arrangement
with the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com
pany. And right there came the "sticking
point." The older company desired time in which
to consider the matter. When they were later
called upon for a definite answer, the Arlington
& Pacific officials claimed, that the O. R. & N.
Company announced that another company was
preparing to build through the same territory
ancl that it already had assurance of satisfactory
traffic arrangements with the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation Company. Apparently this indi
cated that the latter company was, in realty, be
hind the new project, and the fact that Mr. Ains
worth would not positively deny that they were
interested lent some color to the belief.
Meanwhile the Arlington & Pacific people an
nounced that they expected to commence work
on their road in about thirty days, regardless of
competing lines or the lack of traffic arrange
ments, and that if the coming winter did not
prove too severe they expected to have it com
pleted to Olex by the following spring, and on

into Condon the succeeding summer. August
27, 1903, the Condon Globe said :
"It is well known that the Oregon Railroad
& Navigation Company has always looked upon
the Condon country as its own particular terri
tory, and that it resents the efforts of any inde
pendent concern to give the people here the trans
portation facilities which are so much needed,
preferring to have the country await the pleasure
of the Harriman interests in the matter."
In October, 1903, indications of the early com
pletion of a railroad into Gilliam county were
promising. With three companies in the field,
each declaring that they would surely build a
road from Arlington to Condon, and that they
would commence work in the immediate future,
the outlook was, certainly, favorable. Appar
ently the question of most interest to the people-
was, "which road shall it be?" Assuming that
all three of the companies were acting in good
faith and that each expected to build the road, it
may here be interesting to briefly consider their
status at that period, so far as known ; what they
had accomplished ancl their apparent ability to
prosecute the work to a successful issue.
The company then represented by Mr. Morris
and his associates, then in Condon, had secured
the survey and right of way acquired by Elrod &
Aloore, two years previous. They admitted their
inability to build the road without the support
and assistance of the people of Gilliam county,
but they did not ask for a subsidy or a donation.
They did ask the people of the county, however,
to subscribe for a certain amount of the com
pany's bonds, agreeing to redeem the same within
five years with six per cent interest added. They
had no traffic arrangements with the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company.
The incorporation of which Messrs. Findlay
and Simmons were at the head had been or
ganized about a year previous. They had made
a partial preliminary survey of the route, with
some estimates of cost of construction. Their
representative had visited New York and the
report was current that the project had been sat
isfactorily financed by New York capitalists, and
that all that was then restraining them from
work on the line was lack of satisfactory traffic
arrangement with the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company. The Findlay organization had
not yet indicated what concessions, if any, they
would demand from the people of Gilliam
county. The organization of the third company, that
of which John C. Ainsworth, of Portland, was
oresident, had occurred only two months prev
ious. As has been stated, associated with him
were Lewis Gerlinger and Henry F. Conner, all

563

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

gentlemen standing high in financial circles in
Portland. They had done no work in the field,
but the fact that they had satisfactory traffic ar
rangements with the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company gave them some advantage.
These gentlemen declared that they would build,
and that they would do so without one dollar
from the county in subsidies.
In October, 1903 three surveying parties, rep
resenting as many different railroad companies,
were at work running lines between Arlington
and Condon. Mr. Simmons put his surveyors to
Work at Arlington ; the company represented by
Mr. Morris sent out a crew of stake drivers and
the third party commenced work at the William
Head ranch, on Rock Creek, a short distance be
low the "French Charlie" place. They were
working toward Condon. They were employed
by the company of which John C. Ainsworth, of
Portland, was president.
During the fall of 1903 there were exceed
ingly warm times in the railroad business. Strife
between the different companies was, appar
ently, bitter. There were wordy clashes between
the different interests at council meetings at Ar
lington, excited by attempts to secure franchises
and rights of way through the city.

It was not until the latter part of July, 1904,
that a statement was made which meant busi
ness. E. E. Calvin, general manager of the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation Company, accom
panied by other officials, came to Gilliam county
and announced that construction would be im
mediately commenced. Mr. Calvin stated dis
tinctly, according to the Globe, that Arlington
and Condon would be the termini of the road.
But previous to this, and after the excitement
attendant upon the struggle for possession of
three roads, there had been very little done in the
way of building a road. The contract for grad
ing was let in August; the first dirt was thrown
Tuesday, September 13th. Work was some
what retarded by severe weather in February.
During the latter part of this month track-laying
was commenced south of Arlington. But the
year T905 witnessed the completion of the road,
and at the present writing, (May, 1905), con
struction trains are running and the road will
soon be open for service, passenger and freight.
Following is the list of postoffices in Gilliam
county at the present date: Ajax, Alville, Arling
ton, Blalock, Clem, Condon, Croy, Lone Rock,
Mayville, Olex, Quinton, Trail Fork and
Willows.

CHAPTER II

CITIES AND TOWNS.

CONDON.
The capital of Gilliam county lies forty miles
south of Arlington. Previous to the organiza
tion of Wheeler, Condon was within a mile of the
geographical center of Gilliam county. "A city
that is built on a hill cannot be hid." Truly a
trite saying, but one that is appropriate to Con
don. The town is located on a high, rolling
prairie, in the heart of the most productive mixed
agricultural and stock-raising countries in East
ern Oregon. The elevation above sea level is
3,025 feet. Although it is located on a high
plateau the climatic conditions are quite uniform,
the temperature rarely going below the zero
mark in winter or 80 degrees in summer. Snow
sufficient for sleighing is a treat seldom experi
enced. Condon is known as the "Summit City."
On every side the town is fringed with wheat

fields stretching away, fan-life, for miles in
golden, graceful waves.
That all roads lead to Condon is, practically,
true. This is, perhaps, owing to the peculiar
topographical features surrounding it, placing
the county seat almost at the confluence of all the
principal highways. To the east lies the produc
tive body of land known as Matney Flat. A
little further are the rich, alluvial foot-hills, in
the midst of which are the fertile valleys in
which are situated Lone Rock, Lost Valley and
Trail Fork. To the south lies the beautiful and
extensive table lands of the Mayville country,
stretching away for fifteen miles ; while on the
west the Ferry Canyon country contains some of
the finest lands in the county. In short, the
country immediately adjacent is distinctively ag
ricultural ; for 35 miles east and west by 30 north
and south is one mammoth grain field, broken

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

569

only by a few narrow canyons and water courses.
Before a town came into existence at this lo
cality a strong stream of pure, crystal water
flowing from a bed of black, basaltic rock, with
grass knee-deep in every direction, made this
spot the halting place of peregrinating Indian
tribes on the trail from the "Wauna chuck," (Col
umbia river) to the western spurs of the Blue
mountains. Here the pioneer stockmen rounded
up fat steers ancl "Summit Springs" became
known far and wide. The inevitable herder, with
his corral and cabin followed.
The first house built on the site of Condon
was erected by William F. Potter, in 1879, when
he filed on this quarter section of land as a home
stead. About the year 1884 a postoffice was es
tablished at Summit Springs on the claim of Air.
Trimble. Around this governmental center Con
don sprang up ancl, ultimately, entered the race
for the county seat. David B. Trimble was the
pioneer merchant of Condon, or rather, the lo
cality of Condon. He opened a small store about
one-half mile from the original site of the town.
This office was in Mr. Trimble's store ancl he be
came the postmaster.
At the time Trimble made application for a
postoffice he went to Alkali (now Arlington)
where he secured the services of a young lawyer,
named Harry Condon, in drawing up the neces
sary papers. They completed everything with the
exception of naming the proposed postoffice.
Without having settled upon a name Mr. Trimble
left for home. On his way he 'made up his mind
that, inasmuch as Mr. Condon had drawn up the
papers without asking any pay for his services,
he would name the new postoffice Condon. He
at once filled in the papers to that effect, for
warded them to the postoffice department at
Washington, D. C, ancl Condon was born.
There is another version concerning the nam
ing of this town to the effect that the postoffice
was named after a Professor Condon, but the
story vouched for by Mr. Trimble is correct.
The original house built in Condon by Mr.
Potter was erected by the side of the famous
"Summit Springs," on what is now lot 7, block
3, of Condon. In April, 1885, the town was
platted by Mr. Potter on section 10, township 4,
south range 21. While Mr. Trimble might be
claimed as the original merchant in Condon's
vicinitv, his store was located one-half mile from
the present site of Condon. The distinction of
having been Condon's first merchants belongs to
T. H. AIcBride ancl John Miller, who established
the initial general merchandise store in the pres
ent county seat. This was in 1885. Thomas
Strickland built the first saloon and the first liv
ery barn in 1885, ancl Air. Vining, the same year

erected the first hotel, soon afterward selling out
to Pliter Brothers, who conducted it. The store
building occupied by Miller & McBride was
erected, also, by Mr. Vining. In 1886 Thomas
Hall built and occupied a blacksmith shop, and
the following year L. W. Darling erected a build
ing in which he opened a drug store. The same
year the postoffice was removed from Mr. Trim
ble's to Mr. Darling's drug store, and the latter
was appointed deputy postmaster. In 1888 J. H.
Downing became the third merchant within the
platted limits of Condon.
The first fire of any importance in Condon
occurred Sunday, September 27, 1891. About 8
o'clock p. m., the large livery stable of John Glas
gow was discovered to be on fire. Within
twenty minutes this structure, the fine residence
of George W. Rhinehart, F. Ward's new hotel,
William Dunlap's blacksmith shop, the large tent
and entire outfit belonging to the Western Photo
graph Association, and C. C. Shaw's barber shop,
were a seething mass of flames. Previous to its
discovery the fire had gained considerable head
way. There prevailed at this time a brisk wind
from the northeast. The Rhinehart family had
retired and barely escaped with their lives in
their night clothes. The citizens of the town
were wild with excitement. Every man, woman
and child and a squad of Indians were on the
scene working as if their lives were at stake. By
heroic efforts the rest of the town was saved from
destruction. The roofs of surrounding buildings
were covered with blankets and large quantities
of water were dashed against them, and on the
burning coals as they fell throughout the town.
The loss was estimated at $10,000, divided about
as follows : Western Photograph Association,
$5,000; no insurance; C. Glasgow, $1,600, no in
surance; G. W. Rhinehart, $1,000, no insurance;
F. H. Ward, $2,000, insurance $1,300; G. H.
Nelson, $250, no insurance ; damage to moving
property, $300. It was supposed that the fire was
of incendiary origin.
January 1, 1892, a tri- weekly mail service
was established between Condon and Heppner. In
July, 1892, an Armory Hall company was incor
porated at Condon by members of H Company,
Oregon National Guard. Arrangements were
at once perfected to build a hall 30x70 feet in
size. The estimated cost was $1,300, and this
was readily subscribed. In 1893 a bill incorpo
rating the city of Condon passed both houses of
the legislature. In Alarch the population of the
town was about 400. During 1898 improvements
in Condon amounted to $iOiOOO, although rapid
growth had been made during the two years prev
ious. September 3, 1898, by a vote of 24 to 1
Condon decided to issue bonds for water works.

570

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In the spring of 1899 they were completed. The
first test of the new system was highly satisfac
tory. Water was easily thrown over the highest
buildings in the city. ,
In June, 1899, a permanent organization was
effected of the Condon Fire Department. These
officers were elected : Chief Engineer, W. L. Wil
cox; Assistant Chief, C. S. Palmer; Secretary,
John Jackson. In September, 1899, a telephone
fine was in operation between Condon and out
side points. During the year previous the city
had made many substantial improvements. A
number of new business enterprises were under
taken, prominent among which was the new
water works system, supplying an inexhaustible
flow of pure, sparkling water for all domestic
purposes, irrigation and fire protection. Two
cnurch edifices, also, were erected.
Early in 1901 an act was passed by the Ore
gon legislature amending the charter of the city
of Condon. There were only two changes of im
portance ; one making the office of city marshal
elective instead of appointive, and the other pro
viding that the city recorder should be, ex officio,
justice of the peace. December 25, 1902, the
Condon Globe said :
"The year which is about to close has been
marked, in Condon, as the banner year in the
town's history in the way of substantial and per
manent improvements. Twenty-eight business
houses and dwellings have been completed dur
ing the year at an aggregate cost of $40,000."
The progress of 1903 was accentuated by the
building of a brick court house, four brick busi
ness blocks, a school house, a store, eleven frame
business houses, about twenty residences and
the establishment of an electric lighting system.
The latter was an enterprise of the Condon Mill
ing Company, and was in operation in December.
October 13, 1904, the Globe said :
"Condon is growing livelier every day. The
demand for city property is increasing and every
stage comes in loaded with people seeking busi
ness locations in what is surely destined to be
come the most important business center in this
section of Eastern Oregon."
This condition was the result of the com
mencement of the railway toward Condon. Oc
tober 26, 1904, the Condon Commercial Club
was organized with the following 38 members:
N. Farnsworth, C. O. Portwood, secretary; W.
A. Campbell, J. E. Lancaster, G. A. Berry, J. W.
Snover, R. W. Cooke, George B. Dudeck, J. Q.
Jarvis, C. F. Armstrong, John F. Reisacher,
president; A. S. Hollen, J. H. Downing, J. M.
Cameron, B. F. Butler, E. W. Moore, John Stew
art, D. R. Parker, John Jackson, Edward Dum,
Pearl Jarvis, R. M. Rogers, C. A. Devens, A. J.

Shelton, E. T. Hollenbeck, S. A. Pattisson, Ed
ward Curran, R. McKinney, Jay Bowerman,
"Condon Pharmacy," E. G. Merrifield, Frank
Wilson, F. M. Pliter, J. K. Fitzwater, M. H.
Abbey, P H. Stevenson, J. A. McMorris and
M. O. Clarke.
The commendable object of this organiza
tion was to advance the substantial commercial
interests of Condon and Gilliam county. This
club was largely instrumental in securing a line
of railway to this point, and the water works, the
latter costing $23,000, for which the town was
bonded. It should be remarked that the citizens
of Condon have always manifested a patriotic
interest in municipal affairs with the gratifying
result that the city has excellent fire apparatus,
first-class sidewalks and a very moderate debt.
In the closing days of 1904 the city had, dur
ing the four preceding years, more than quad
rupled in assessed valuation and population. A
$17,000 court house and a $7,000 public school
building had been erected, also a 75-barrel flour
ing mill, aside from more than 100 dwelling
houses. Trade conditions fully justified all of
these investments, for nearly one-third of the
county transacted its merchandise and banking
business in Condon. The range of delivery from
the local postoffice covered a territory larger in
area than were some of the other counties in
the state.
In February, 1905, the Condon city charter
was again amended by the legislature. Appar
ently the election of city marshal had not proved
satisfactory, for we find that the amendments
provided that this office should revert to an ap
pointive one, by the city council, and that the 'city
be authorized to bond itself for $50,000.
The fraternal societies of Condon are repre
sented as follows: A. F. & A. M., Mt. Moriah
No. 95 ; O. E. S., Condon Chapter, No. 23 ; I. O.
O. F., Summit Lodge No. 130, Rebekahs, Minne
haha No. 109; W. O. W., No. 58, Condon Camp;
Women of Woodcraft, Wallula Circle No. 282;
K. of P., Endymion Lodge No.  ; Foresters-
of America, Court Condon No. 54. At one
period there were lodges of the A. O. U. W.
and Degree of Honor, but they have disbanded.
The following have officiated as postmasters
in the Condon office since its (establishment:
David B. Trimble, L. W. Darling, John Lyons
and J. F. Reisacher.
The Roman Catholic Church was organized
and built in 1889, the edifice costing $400. The
present membership is sixty. In. 1890 the Con
gregational church was organized and erected at
a cost of $900. It now has a membership of 52.
It was in 1898 that the Latter Day Saints erected
a house of worship at a dost of $400, the present

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

57r

membership being eighty. At a cost of $900 the
Baptist Church was erected in 1900. Its present
membership is thirty-five. The Church of Christ,
organized in 1901, and in 1905 erected an edifice
at a cost of $600. The present membership is
twenty. All of the churches mentioned have reg
ular services.
Following are the city officials who have
served Condon since its incorporation in 1893 :
x8o,3 — Mayor, Geo. Tatom; council, J. Maddock, S.
P. Shutt, J. H. Downing, D. M. Rhinehart. J. P. Lucas,
A. Henshaw, J. W. Barr; recorder, H. N. Frazer;
treasurer, G. W. Rhinehart;' marshal, E. E. Smith, W.
F. Thurnagle. 1894 — Mayor, J. P. Lucas; council, S. B. Barker.
J. W. Barr, J. H. Aliller, J. Maddock; recorder, H. N.
Frazer; treasurer, G. W. Rhinehart;' marshal, E. E.
Smith. 1895— Alayor, S. B. Barker; council, J. W. Barr,
A. Henshaw, E. W. Moore, E. E. Smith ; recorder.
Edward Dunn; treasurer, G. W. Rhinehart; marshal,
W. F. Thurnagle.
1896— Mayor, J. W. Barr; council, S. B. Barker,
P. H. Stephenson, W. L. Wilcox, A. Henshaw; recorder,
Edward Dunn; treasurer, J. H. Hudson; marshal,
W. C. Caldwell.
1897— Mayor, S. B. Barker; council, W. L. Wilcox,
C. C. Wilson, A. Henshaw, P. H. Stephenson ; recorder.
H. B. Hendricks; treasurer, J. H. Hudson; marshal,
E. E. Smith.
1898 — Mayor, Edward Dunn; council, T. G. John
son, Chas. Fix, G. W. Rhinehart, S. V. Aloore ; recorder,
W. A. Darling; treasurer, Wm. Dunlap; marshal, A.
Anderson. 1899 — Mayor, Edward Dunn : council, T. G. John
son, S. B. Barker, S. V. Aloore, G. W. Rhinehart ;
recorder, Geo. Tatom; treasurer, J. H. Hudson; mar
shal, R. H. Pattison.
1900 — Mayor, Edward Dunn; council, Chas. Fix, F.
M. Springston, Fred Wilson, W. L. Wilcox ; recorder,
E. A. Alay; treasurer, P. H. Stephenson; marshal,
R. Pattison. 1901 — Mayor, P. H. Stephenson; council, F. Al.
Springston, Fred Wilson, John Portwood, W. O. Clark :
recorder, E. A. May; treasurer, Edgar Moore; marshal,
Mauley Downing.
1902 — Mayor, W. O. Clark; council, A. S. Hollen,
S. B. Barker, F. M. Pliter, T. G. Johnson; recorder.
E. A. May; treasurer, E. W. Moore; marshal, W. M.
Dunlap. ,
1903— Mayor, F. M. Pliter; council, James Kiser,
A. S. Hollen, S. B. Barker, Al Moore; recorder, W. A.
Darling; treasurer, E. W. Aloore; marshal, E. Arm
strong. ig04 — Mayor, W. L. Wilcox, J. F. Reisacher;
council, J. Q. Jarvis, J. Jackson, D. McBain, E. Merri-

field ; recorder, W. A. Goodwin ; treasurer, E. W.
Moore; marshal, Bert Ramsey.
1905 — Mayor, J. W. Snover; council, Edward Dunn,
S. A. Pattison, J. Jackson, N. Farnsworth, C. O. Port-
wood, S. B. Barker; recorder, W. A. Goodwin;.
treasurer, A. Schilling; marshal, Frank Macy.
ARLINGTON.
The Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com
pany, in the summer of 1880, built a line of road.
from Portland to Huntington, passing along the
south bank of the Columbia river. In the year
1881 the town of Alkali, now Arlington, was lo
cated by James W. Smith. The site selected was
at the mouth of the sand canyon of uniform grade
leading to the Columbia river. This place at
once became the distributing point of the pro
ducts of the entire country for 100 miles south,
and within a few years became one of the prin
cipal shipping points along the line of the Oregon'
Railroad & Navigation Company.
In 1880 Elijah Ray erected the first house in
Arlington. The first mercantile business was es
tablished in 1881 by T. L. Bradbury and E. B.
Comfort, and the postoffice was in their store.
Air. Comfort was postmaster. Its business at
this period was extremely limited. Since the
establishment of the Arlington office the follow
ing have served as postmasters : E. B. Comfort,
T, L. Bradbury, Joseph Keeney, F. T. Hurl
burt, Cal Ardrey, W. O. Ziegler, Charles W.
Shurte, J. M. Johns, E. B. Trum and R. H.
Robinson. In the month of April, 1882, the townsite of
Alkali was platted by J. W. Smith. Its location
was in section 28, township 3, north range 21,
E. W. M. The same year J. W. Smith, who had
previously conducted a store at "The Willows,"
erected a building at Alkali and moved in with a
stock of goods. But he was destined to experi
ence no little difficulty in making a settlement.
He had collected a considerable quantity of drift
wood and timber, and he conceived the idea of
floating his goods down the Columbia on a raft.
This rude craft was constructed, loaded with
about $2,000 worth of merchandise and began the
voyage. Air. Smith passed Alkali in the dark ;
could not effect a landing at that point, and
drifted down stream about four miles, and found
his raft hung up on a rock. The following day
a number of people from Alkali came to Mr.
Smith's assistance. They succeeded in salvaging
all the goods and hauled the raft back to Alkali.
Mr. Smith's was the second store. A little
later the same year Henry Heppner, "Father of
the town of Heppner," erected the third store and

:572

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

opened out with a stock of general merchandise.
It was Elijah Ray who built the first hotel and
lodging house in Alkali in 1882. Of this locality
The Dalles Times of March 29, 1882, said:
This little town, about 54 miles east of The Dalles,
•on the line of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com
pany, displays considerable business activity and has
bright hopes for the future. There is a good agricul
tural country^-adjacent, some of the best portions of the
county, which will make it their shipping point. There
are four mercantile establishments, two restaurants,
hotel, blacksmith and butcher shops, large livery stable,
drug store, school house and four saloons. Strange
to say there are no doctors or lawyers, but these neces
sary adjuncts to civilization will soon make their ap
pearance. City property is quite high, and some of the
most sanguine have already picked out a location for
.a court house.
In 1885 The Dalles Times-Mountaineer had
this to say of Alkali :
Alkali is the most important point, outside of The
Dalles, in Wasco county. It is fifty-four miles east
tiy railroad from this city. The population numbers
about 400 and there are dry goods, hardware and drug
stores, and commodious hotels for the traveling public.
Roads lead from this town into the interior, and quite
a brisk trade is done by merchants with the farmers of
the adjacent country. A stage runs from here every
week to Fossil.
In 1888 an excellent gravity system of water
works was established by John and D. Parrot.
The water pressure in the business sections was
•95 pounds. Tuesday afternoon, May 25, 1891, at 2 o'clock
p. m., Arlington was visited by a terrific cyclone.
With an ominous roar the storm suddenly burst
upon the town, and within a few seconds the
large merchandise store of D. S. Sprinkle was
lifted into the air and splintered into a thousand
pieces. The same fate befel the skating rink and
many other buildings were more or less damaged.
It was, seemingly, miraculous that Mr. and Mrs.
Sprinkle and Nathan Baird, who were in the
store building at the time were not instantly
killed. Mrs. Sprinkle was injured, but not
seriously. In 1895 the city of Arlington purchased a
portion of the stock of the Arlington Water
Works Company, and in- 1897 the city bought
in the rest of the stock and became sole owner
of the system.
Fortunately the fire history of Arlington has
not been very disastrous. In August, 1885, the
town was sufficiently large to suffer some con
siderable loss by fire. Friday morning, August

10th, flames were discovered in a building occu
pied by the agents of a lottery company. The fire
spread with great rapidity and soon Linder's sa
loon, Hendrick's butcher shop and a building
owned by J. Service and W. A. Rodney's gen
eral merchandise store were destroyed. The loss
was about $10,000.
In 1886 the population was estimated at 300.
By an act of the Oregon legislature passed the
winter of 1886-7 tne town of Arlington (Alkali)
was incorporated. The new name of the town
was selected at a mass meeting of the citizens,
Tuesday, December 29, 1886, the following city
officials were elected : J. A. Thomas, mayor ; J.
E. Haskin, M. U. Harrison, Joseph Frizzell and
Nathan Baird, councilmen; Frank Hurlburt, re
corder ; Homer Comfort, treasurer.
In April, 1905, a railroad project which had
been long maturing began to assume definite
shape. The history of this line between Arling
ton and Condon, the county seat, has been given
in the story of the latter town. In this year the
population of Arlington was about 400. At pres
ent the city has two church organizations and
two handsome church buildings. The Methodists
were the first to erect an edifice in 1883. This
was enlarged in 1899. The latter year the Bap
tist church was completed at a cost of $2,500.
In 1883 a Congregational church had been erect
ed, but the organization of this denominational
society existed only five years ; the building was
sold and is now converted into a residence. :'

MAYVILLE.
When platted in June, 1884, by William and
Phoebe McConnell, this town was called Clyde.
It is located on the southwest corner of section
34, town 5, range 21 E. W. M. It is located six
miles north of Fossil, Wheeler county. May
ville is now a town of about 150 inhabitants, and
was so named in 1884 by Mrs. Samuel Thurston,
at the time of the establishment of the postoffice.
This town has the distinction of operating one
of the best flouring mills in the Inland Empire;
and while the capacity of the mill is not so great
as some others, the quality of the flour produced
is of the very best grade and is in demand through
out the surrounding country. Mayville is located
194 miles southeast of Portland, 12 miles south
of Condon and 52 miles south of Arlington.
There is at this point a union church, telephone
connections with all points and daily mail and
stages to Fossil. The town's business comprises
a general merchandise store, flouring mill, livery
stable, hotel, blacksmith shop and a millinery
and dressmaking establishment.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

573"

BLALOCK.
Blalock was platted in July, 1881, by the Bla
lock Wheat Growing Company, on section 31,
township 3, range 20, and section 36, township
19, range 20. The first buildings erected at Bla
lock were a railroad station house, 28x28, two
stories in height, and a commodious warehouse
for the storage of goods. These were built in
January, 1881, by A. J. McLellan, superintendent
of construction of bridges and buildings for the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. The
town derives its name from the immense Blalock
farm of several thousand acres which is adjacent.
In 1904 the town handled about 750,000 bushels
of wheat. It is surrounded by some of the most
picturesque scenery in eastern Oregon, and one
of the richest and most productive wheat grow
ing sections of Gilliam county. Aside from the
wheat growing industry there are annually
shipped many cattle, horses and hogs. It is, also,
a fine fruit country, there being scarcely a farm
in this section but has a good, thrifty orchard
of mixed fruits. At one period it was said with
considerable emphasis that fruit would not grow
in this locality. But successful experiment has
proved this idea erroneous. The town has two
grain warehouses, hotel, general merchandise
store, livery and stage stable, a real estate office
and an agricultural implement factory.
LONE ROCK.
The elevation above sea level of this place
is 3,000 feet. The town was founded in 1881 by
R. G. Robinson and Albert Henshaw, on the
headwaters of Rock creek, in a valley surrounded
by the foothills of the Blue Mountains, about
sixty miles southeast of Arlington. In the course
of time it became a typical western town, where
stockmen for miles around could get their mail
and supplies for their camps, which were usu-
ually transported by pack horses to the head
quarters of the various stock ranches.
February 22, 1882, the store of John Mad
den and his stock of general merchandise were
destroyed by fire. A house adjoining, belonging
to J. E. Parenta, was also burned. The latter's
loss was $4,000, while that of Mr. Madden
amounted to $6,000. The town was platted in
October, 1882, by R. G. Robinson, on section 36,
township 5, south range 23. In 1885 Lone Rock
was described as follows by The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer :
"Lone Rock is the trading point for the val
ley of the same name, and is about sixty miles
southeast from Alkali (Arlington). A stage
from Heppner reaches this place every week.

The residents are principally engaged in stock-
raising, and some of the finest cattle and sheep-
roam over the hills that can be seen in this .
county." In 1901 the city officials of Lone Rock were :
R. G. Robinson, mayor; H. Neal, W. T. Matlock,.
E. D. Vineland, D. Z. Robinette, councilmen ;
F. H. Robinson, recorder; P. L. Ham, treasurer.
In November, 1904, the People's Herald said :
Lone Rock is a small trading point in the south
eastern part of Gilliam county, twenty miles from Con
don, the county seat, and is connected with that city by
stage line, there being a postoffice at Lone Rock. The
townsite was laid out, and that not sold, is owned by
R. S. Robinson, the moving spirit of the town in a
business sense. There are now about one hundred in
habitants in the town, and the business houses include -
a general merchandise store, blacksmith shop and a
livery and feed barn. A good system of gravity water
works is owned by R. G. Robinson, with large reser
voirs, with sufficient storage capacity to afford protec
tion to the town from fire. There are two churches .
and a good school house.
Lone Rock received its name from a large,
picturesque rock which stands within the town limits,
near the creek, as an alert sentinel on the lookout for-
approaching danger. The town is surrounded by a large -
and rich farming and stock country, stock being the
principal industry, and large quantities of alfalfa are
raised each year, and the one store in Lone Rock does-
a large business.
At present there are two sawmills at Lone
Rock, a general merchandise store, hotel, black
smith shop, livery stable, one lawyer and a
saloon. OLEX.
This town was platted in April, 1903, by H.
S. and Ordelia Randall, at the corners of sec
tions 2, 3, 10 and 11, township 1, south range-
21. The elevation above sea level is 1,015 leef-
Articles of incorporation of the Olex Townsite-
Company were filed with the clerk of Gilliam
county in December, 1903. The incorporators
were W. C. Morris, H. S. Randall and Ordelia
Randall. It is situated eighteen miles south of
Arlington on the north bank of Rock creek. This
town, of about fifty inhabitants, is supported by
the extensive farming country surrounding it.
On the creek bottoms, above and below, are many
alfalfa fields which, on an average, are cut twice
each year and, occasionally three times, the yield
being from three and one-half to five tons an
acre. A quantity of fine fruits and vegetables.

574

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

are grown in the vicinity and marketed princi
pally in Olex, Condon and Arlington.
At the first election of the newly incorporated
city of Olex held Wednesday, March n, 1903,
the following officials were selected : W. L.
Tobey, mayor ; J. F. Thomas, marshal ; Charles
Martin, recorder; F. Little, Grant Wade and F.
Tobey, councilmen. CLEM.
This is simply a stage station and postoffice ;
of the latter Mr. Clem Danneman is' postmaster.
He has a well-improved place and a comfortable
house which is also used as a wayside inn for the
weary traveler. The elevation of the town of
Clem is 2,112 feet above sea level. Evidently the
town derives its name from Clem Danneman, its
original settler, as the neighboring ranchers in
variably spoke of "going to Clem's," and when
the postoffice was established it was named Clem.
In February, 1905, a townsite was platted here
by James Larch, between sections 4 and 9 town
ship 2, south range 21. The postoffice was es
tablished in 1880. It is situated 203 miles east of
Portland, 12 miles north of Condon and 26 miles
south of Arlington. It has a hotel, blacksmith
shop, telephone connections and stages. I
ALVILLE,
although not considered in the light of a city, is
quite a convenient trading post located about
14 miles west of Condon. It has a general store,
lodge hall, blacksmith shop, school house and a
church. It is a postoffice located 37 miles south
of Arlington and 12 miles from Condon. Mails
are semi-weeklv.

WILLOWS.
This is a postoffice and station on the line of
the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company and
the Columbia river 151 miles east of Portland.
Its principal shipments consists of wool ancl
wheat. It has a grocery store and daily mails.
TRAIL FORKS
has a population of about 25. It is a postoffice
16 miles southeast of Condon and was primarily
settled in 1880. It lies 200 miles east of Port
land and 50 miles almost due south of Arlington.
It has a daily stage to and from Condon, and
stock-raising is the principal industry in that
locality. quinn's
is the name of a station on the line of the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company, 127 miles east
of Portland, 15 miles west of Arlington and 5
miles west of Blalock. The name of the post-
office is Quinton. CROY,
a postoffice on the John Day river, is 120 miles
east of Portand, 12 miles south of Blalock, 31
miles northwest of Condon and 22 miles south
west of Arlington, its shipping point. It receives
its mail semi-weekly. WELSHONS
was platted in February, 1905, by George and
Ida Welshons in section 4, township 2, south
range 20. It lies just across the road from the
townsite of Clem, on the new railway between
Arlington and Condon.

CHAPTER III

DESCRIPTIVE.

During the past few years Oregon has been,
as it will continue to be, following the Lewis
and Clark Centennial Exposition at Portland,
the objective point of thousands from the eastern,
middle ancl middle western states, who are desir
ous of establishing new homes. Gilliam is one of
the best counties in Eastern Oregon, or that
country east of the Cascade mountains known as
the "Inland Empire." Increasing scarcity of good

lands that may be purchased at a low figure has
stimulated a desire on the part of many to come
to this portion of the country and improve their
condition. One figurative writer has said : "Na
ture modeled Oregon on plans furnished by the
Goddess of Plenty, who sought to form a land
where the tiller of the soil and the garner of
grain might live happily and peacefully, with
every want supplied."

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

575

The county is comprised of about 738,000
acres of land, of which over 600,000 acres are
tillable, the rest being better adapted to grazing
purposes. At the present writing there are be
tween 175,000 and 200,000 acres under cultiva
tion. Only a few years ago this county was re
garded as fit for nothing but stock-raising. A few
practical farmers came in and they proceeded to
demonstrate the fact that Gilliam was one of the
best agricultural counties in the state of Oregon.
The yield of wheat runs from 15 to 45 bushels per
acre ; a crop failure has never been known. Nor
is the cereal production of this county confined to
wheat ; there are grown quantities of rye, oats
and barley, aside from fruits and vegetables
along the numerous streams ; on the low lands
alfalfa is produced in abundance. The climate is
fully as satisfactory as can be found in any other
locality ; the winters being mild and the temper
ature seldom falling below zero. The summers
are not accompanied by hot sultry days, with an
atmosphere overflowing with oppressive humid
ity ; the nights are cool.
The contour of the country varies from the
alluvial bottom lands lying along the streams by
which the lands are watered, to the equally fer
tile, though differently constituted plateau, or
table lands of the higher altitudes. The first
named lands are particularly adapted to fruit cul
ture ancl vegetable gardening ; the latter lands
yield bountiful harvests of cereal crops in return
for the labor of the thorough and progressive
farmer. The elevation of Gilliam county ranges from
200 feet on the Columbia river, which skirts its
northern boundary, to 2,800 feet on the plateau
lands in the central and southern sections. The
general elevation is about 1,200 feet. Follow
ing are elevations in different points in the
county: Arlington, 212 feet; Shuttler Flat,
1,267; Olex, 1,015; Clem, 2,112; Keiztir Flat,
2,220; Condon, 3,025: Matney Flat, 2,700;
Lone Rock, 3,000. In the Morning Oregonian
of January 1, 1900, Air. S. A. Pattison waxes
alliterative as follows :
Although Gilliam county is one of the small coun
ties of Oregon, in point of area, it is a land of big
things in all other respects. Pigs, peaches and pota
toes, carrots, cattle and cucumbers, hay, horses and
hen fruit, beans, barley and babies, all attain the highest
degree of perfection in point of size and general ex
cellence, within her favored borders.
While many of our sister counties in Eastern Ore
gon are heralded far and wide as wonderful wealth pro
ducers in gold and silver, it must not be forgotten that
Gilliam county "ground" gives forth abundant wealth
in dazzling dollars. Ours are all surface "diggings,"

but we have passed the primitive period of the pioneer
prospector's pick and pan, and gather up our wealth
with eight-horse gang plows and 32-horse combined
harvesters and threshers.
A fair idea of climatic conditions prevailing
throughout Gilliam county may be gained from
the following table prepared from observations
by L. A. Miller and W. H. Colwell, at Lone Rock,
giving mean temperature and precipitation :
Year. Mean Temperature. Precipitation.
1886  * 9.13
1887  13.89
1888  10.88
1889  12.81
1890  463 13-72
1891  46-3 15-92
1892  46.4 12.31
* For 11 months.
By months the mean temperature and precip
itation for the period between 1886 and 1896
was :
Month. Mean Temperature. Precipitation.
January  29.2 1.26
February  31.0 1.27
March  36.5 1.37
April  43.6 1.39
May  50.2 2.06
June  53.6 1.60
July  60.5 .54
August  .62.8 .29
September  54.1 .73
October  46.4 1.03
November  40.0 .97
December  32.4 1.47
Annual mean temperature, 45.0; annual mean pre
cipitation, 13.98.
The land of Gilliam county is rolling, but
mainly lies in large bodies well adapted to the
use of modern farming machinery. The soil is a
dark, sandy loam, of fertility almost inexhaust
ible ; it does not require irrigation for cereals,
and is remarkable for the ease with which it is
cultivated. True, stock breeding is still an im
portant industry, but the palmy days of big cattle
and sheep kings are waning; the vearly en
croachments of the farmer making it more and
more difficult' for the stockman to travel back
and forth with their bands between summer and
winter ranges. In Gilliam county wheat is des
tined to become king ; its a wheat country par
excellence, and Nature's laws must be obeyed.
As illustrative of the peculiarity of Gilliam
county's climate, the following from the Condon
Globe of April 19, 1895, is apropos :

576

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

"It will surprise our eastern readers to learn
that D. C. Henry, whose excellent farm lies four
miles south of Condon, is cutting wheat this
week with a reaper. Mr. Henry did not get
through cutting last fall when the threshers quit
work, so he just left it until this spring. The
grain is in just as good condition now as it was
last fall and will yield just as much to the acre.
This speaks volumes for our mild climate and
fertility of soil."
The Arlington Record of January 5, 1905,
said: "Mankind has ever sought a land where his
material wants and necessities might be most
easily obtained. Diversified tastes and inclina
tions have led him to the furthermost parts of
the globe in quest of this ideal. The movement
has been on for many thousands of years and
seems destined never to end, although the earth
has been traversed from its tropic center to the
icebound barriers of the poles. Under the great
diversity of conditions therein the many achieve
ments of modern civilization are not the most
pronounced in either of the extremes of climatic
environment. The languor of perpetual summer
and the rigors of prolonged winter are in a great
degree avoided, and in the intermediate zones
are found the nations of the earth that lead in
intelligence, commerce and civilization. A
blessed land therefore is that which suffers
neither the extremes of winter's cold nor sum
mer heat. Such a land is found in Eastern Ore
gon. Winter is little more than a name in this
favored section while the summer is free from
sultry weather and the nights are always cool
and refreshing.
It is not our purpose to discuss fully the ad
vantages offered in Eastern Oregon, but to con
fine our remarks to Gilliam county. Gilliam
county comprises three-quarters of a million
acres and is rich in natural resources. About
eighty per cent, of the land is susceptible of cul
tivation and about fifteen per cent, is in actual
cultivation. The soil is a heavy loam, with just
enough sand to make it warm and responsive. It
is very fertile and the peculiarity of the soil is
the fact that the longer it is cultivated the better
crops it raises. The land is free from stone or
gravel and the soil on top of the highest hills is
deep and fully as productive as in the valleys.
Good water is found in plenty in all parts of the
county at a depth of from 15 to 40 feet. Wheat
is the principal crop and the chief article of ex
port from the county, although barley, oats, tame
grasses and fruits of all kinds grow to perfection
and are extensively cultivated. A mild climate,
plenty of good pasturage, pure water and good
shipping facilities combine to make it an ideal

stock country. Diversified farming, poultry
raising and dairying will prove quite profitable
in this county at no distant day."
Throughout Gilliam county there is an abun
dant supply of pure water. Almost everywhere
it is available for ranch purposes and is obtained
in a plentiful supply ; on many farms volumes of
water course down from springs on the high up
lands and hillsides.
On the flats of the Rock Creek country
stretching away for miles on either side of the
creek, are extensive wheat fields, some of them
reaching into several thousand acres. "Twenty-
five years ago," said an old cattleman, "if any
one had told me that my land would grow wheat
I would have thought him a fit subject for an in
sane asylum." In 1904 this same ex-stockman
was an extensive wheat grower. Nothing was
then lacking to more extended farming along
these same "cereal" lines" but suitable means of
transportation. What is known as the Mayville Flats cover
an area of about twelve miles square. The en
tire section of this country is almost level, being
slightly indented by a few ravines and gulches
leading from the eastern portion of the flats west
ward to the John Day river. Some sections of
land within this territory are as level as a floor.
It is not unusual to see a single field of wheat
covering 640 acres of land. This may appear
small to some prairie wheat growers who cul
tivate several thousand acres ; however, it is
large enough for southern Gilliam county. The
soil on this flat may be favorably compared with
the rich lands of Illinois Or Ohio, beink a dark
clay loam. Twenty-five years ago the Mayville
Flats were wholly undeveloped, there being at
that period very few residents within their bor
ders. Sixteen years ago, however, showed a
slight change; five or six individuals controlled
the entire region and utilized it for pasture.
Eleven years ago Mayville Flats began to be
more thickly populated with homesteaders and
homeseekers. About that time and shortly after,
the entire territory, affording the best of alluvial
soil, was filed on in homesteads of 160 acres each.
These homeseekers have faithfully cultivated this
land and produced the present conditions of
splendid development. True, for the first four
or five years they met with many discourage
ments ; but faithfully they labored on, improving
their holdings until the climatic change of about
six years ago occurred, since which period they
have been eminently successful. Each succeed
ing year has added to their credit. In Novem
ber, 1904, it was reported by the bank at Fossil
that, with the exception of a few out of some
sixty residents of Mayville Flats, every prop-

Birdseye View of Condo

unty Seat of Gilliam County, 1904

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

. 577

erty owner had a bank account. Of coruse, some
of these accounts were, comparatively, small, but
many of them were exceedingly large. How
ever, the average shows that the Mayville Flats
are, as a whole, very productive regions.
The country tributary to Alville is rich in the
production of cereals. Throughout that entire
locality, especially west to Alville, the wheat land
is divided into strips, varying from one-half to
four miles in width, by deep canyons which are
used for grazing purposes. At the bottoms of
these canyons are found numerous patches of
deep, fertile soil, which are noted for the produc
tion of fruit. That fruit may be successfully
grown in what is termed a "barren country"
may appear strange to the reader. Still, it re
mains an indesputable fact. Within certain lo
calities these canyons produce an abundance of
peaches, apricots, apples, pears, etc., supplying
the demands of the local market. On the level
land between these canyons lie the wheat produc
ing sections. Very prosperous are the ranchers
in the vicinity of Alville. During the last five or
six years crops have yielded far beyond the ex
pectations of the residents of this section.

It may be said, in conclusion, that Gilliam
county is in the center of the great wheat belt be-
tween the Cascade and Blue Mountains, Wasco
and Sherman counties being west, and Morrow
and Umatilla counties on the east. These five
counties produce about 10,000,000 bushels of
wheat annually, aside from other grains, fruits
and vegetables as well as a large number of
horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. The atmosphere
is pure and bracing with plenty of bright sun
shine and no malaria. The healthfulness of Gil
liam county is unexcelled. In fact the report of
the state health statistician is to the effect that
this political division of Oregon, with Condon
as a center, is decidedly the most healthful place
in the entire country.
It should not be overlooked by the reader that
a full description of the soil, climate, topography,
geology and aggregate resources of Gilliam
county has been given in the descriptive portions
devoted to Wasco county, of which Gilliam
county was once a part. In that descriptive chap
ter will be found an amplification of much that is
herein written, but which appropriately applies to
Gilliam.

CHAPTER IV

POLITICAL.

With the organization of Gilliam county the
organic act provided that the governor of Oregon
should name its primal county officials. Accord
ingly the chief executive of the commonwealth,
on the advice of certain prominent and influ
ential citizens of the new political division, se
lected the following:
J. W. Smith, county judge ; A. H. Weather-
ford, W. W. Steiwer, county commissioners; J.
A. Blakeley, sheriff ; H. C. Condon, treasurer ; T.
J. Cartwright, assessor; H. Hendricks, school
superintendent ; J. P. Lucas, county clerk. This
list is from the official record, although The
Dalles Times-Mountaineer of March 28th stated
that Charles Hilton was the county judge. In
December, of that year, County Commissioner
Weatherford resigned and Josephus Martin was
appointed to the position. Subsequently Mr.
Martin resigned and William P. West was, Feb
ruary 11, 1886, appointed by the county court.
The first election within the limits of Gilliam
37

county, following its organization, was held
June 7, 1886, when a complete set of county offic
ials was named and the new political division reg
istered its political predilections as follows :
For Governor — T. R. Cornelius, Rep., 476;
Sylvester Pennoyer, Dem., 533 ; J. E. Houston,
27;  Williams, 1.
For Member of Congress — Binger Herman,
Rep., 565 ; N. L. Butler, Dem., 459 ; G. M.
Miller, 10.
For Joint Representative, Wasco, Crook and
Gilliam county — A. R. Lyle, 356; A. D. McDon
ald, 454; W. L. Wilcox, 614; W. H. Biggs, 551.
For County Judge — W. W. Steiwer, Rep.,
590 ; James W. Smith, Dem., 401.
For County Commissioners — R. G. Robinson,
476; T. G. Woodland, 541; T- B. Hoover, 518 J
John Blake, 431.
For Sheriff — T. J. Cartwright, Rep., 438; J.
A. Blakeley, Dem., 538; T. J. Robinson, 1.

578

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For County Clerk — Jay P. Lucas, Rep., 616;
S. J. Thornton, Dem., 374.
For Treasurer — J. A. Thomas, Rep., 572 ; H.
C. Condon, Dem., 424.
For School Superintendent — H. H. Hen
dricks, Rep., 620; T. W. Sloan, Dem., 369.
For Assessor — C. S. Perrin, 483 ; W. J.
Mulkey, Dem., 508.
For Surveyor — Luther Ground, Rep., 536;
Charles Schutz, Dem., 452.
For Coroner — C. T. Bacon, Rep., 537 ; T. B.
Hall, Dem., 449.
For County Seat location — Fossil, 373 ; Ar
lington, 260; Condon, 260; Olex, 92.
It will be recalled by readers of the previous
chapters that at the time this election was held
Fossil was embraced within the limits of Gil
liam county. The tie vote between Arlington
and Condon carried the location of the county
capital into 1890.
The results of the election of June 4, 1888, re
sulted as follows :
For Member of Congress — John M. Gearin,
Dem., 504; Binger Herman, Rep., 791; G. M.
Miller, 10.
For Joint State Senator — W. H. Biggs, Dem.,
565 ; Charles Hilton, Rep., 721.
For Representative — M. V. Harrison, Dem.,
446; J. A. Thomas, Rep., 796.
For Sheriff— W. J. Mulkey, Dem., 587; E.
W. Sanderson, Rep., 661.
For County Clerk — W. L. Wilcox, Dem.,
433; J. P. Lucas, 819.
For County Commissioners — Morgan Ward,
Dem., 508 ; W. R. Baker, Dem., 561 ; T. G.
Woodland, Rep., 748 ; W. J. Mariner, Rep., 690.
For School Superintendent— J. A. McMor
ris, Dem., 565 ; W. W. Kennedy, Rep., 678.
For Assessor — W. E. Thornton, Dem., 496;
A. B. Ottman, Rep., 752.
For Surveyor — L. W. Darling, 5 ; L. Ground,
781. For Treasurer — J. H. Woods, Dem., 487 ;
George W. Couser, Rep., 766.
For Coroner — Dr. L. Palmer, Dem., 505 ; R.
R. Hankins, Rep., 730.
For County Seat location — Arlington, 482 ;
Condon, 407 ; Fossil, 350.
The vote of Gilliam county at the presidential
election of 1888 was as follows : Cleveland elec
tors, Dem., 440 ; Harrison electors. Rep., 601 ;
other parties, 14.
Election of June 2, 1890 :
For Governor — D. P. Thompson, Rep., 445 ;
Sylvester Pennoyer, Dem., 594.
For Member of Congress — Binger Herman,
Rep., 576; Robert A. Miller, Dem., 474; James
A. Bruce, 2.

For Representative — W. W. Steiwer, Rep.,
442 ; W. J. Mulkey, Dem., 566 ; J. A. Thomas, 2.
For County Judge — W. J. Mariner, Rep.,
528 ; L. W. Darling, Dem., 460.
For County Commissioner — W. J. Edwards,
Rep., 514; P. E. McQuinn, Dem., 487.
For Sheriff — E. W. Sanderson, Rep., 439 ; W.
L. Wilcox, Dem., 500.
For County Clerk — Jay P. Lucas, Rep., 577;
Joseph H. Keeney, Dem., 431.
For Treasurer — Isaiah Hunt, Rep., 465 ; H.
S. Ewing, Dem., 539.
For Assessor — David Mason, Rep., 524; Ed
ward Dunn, Dem., 479.
For School Superintendent — W. W. Ken
nedy, Rep., 444; L. Parker, Dem., 558.
For Surveyor — H. G. Hurlburt, Rep., 518;
Charles Wick, Dem., 483.
For Coroner — R. R. Hankins, Rep., 535 ; Dr.
Easton, Dem., 454; J. B. Hollingsworth, 5.
For County Seat location — Arlington, 408;
Condon, 579.
Election of June, 1902 :
For Member of Congress, Second District —
W. R. Ellis, Rep., 478 ; J. H. Slater, Dem., 354.
For Circuit Judge — W. L. Bradshaw, Dem.,
465 ; George Watkins, Rep., 441.
For District Attorney — J. F. Moore, Dem.,
334; W. H. Wilson, Rep., 573.
For Joint Senator — G. W. Rinehart, Dem.,
343 ; W. W. Steiwer, Rep'., 564.
For Representative — L. J. Goodrich, Rep.,
472 ; G. H. Wood, Dem., 427.
For County Commissioner — P. C. Martin,
Rep., 390 ; J. R. Ralston, Dem., 504.
For Sheriff— R. M. Johnson, Rep., 281 ; W.
L. Wilcox, Dem., 624.
For County Clerk — Jay P. Lucas, Rep., 556;
C. A. Shurte, Dem., 351.
For Assessor — H. C. Dodson, Rep., 417 ; Val
Wheeler, Dem., 480.
For Treasurer — Herbert Halstead, Rep.,
496 ; G. L. Neale, Dem., 396.
For School Superintendent — W. W. Ken
nedy, Rep., 450; L. Parker, Dem., 455.
In the presidential election of 1892 Gilliam
county was carried by the Republicans by a
heavy plurality; Harrison's majority over Cleve
land being 148. Official vote : Harrison electors,
Rep., 402; Cleveland electors, Dem., 254; Peo
ple's party, 185 ; Prohibitionists, 8.
General election of June 4, 1894:
For Member of Congress — W. R. Ellis, Rep.,
457; James H. Raley, Dem., 237; Joseph Wal-
drop, Peoples' party, 121.
For Governor — William Galloway, Dem.,
447 ; W. P. Lord, Rep., 249 ; N. Pierce, People's
party, 165.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

579

For District Attorney, Seventh District — E.
B. Dufur, Dem., 279; A. A. Jayne, Rep., 488;
E. P. Sine, People's party, in.
For Representative — J. E. David, Rep., 404;
H. C. Myers, Dem., 291 ; I. A. Henderson, Peo
ple's party, 170.
For County Judge — W. J. Mariner, Rep.,
493; D. B. Trimble, Dem., 216; G. W. Marvel,
People's party, 157.
For County Commissioner — E. M. Clymer,
Rep., 441; W. F. Dyer, Dem., 267; M. Ward,
People's party, 160.
For County Sheriff — W. L. Wilcox, Dem.,
447; J. D. Livingstone, Rep., 350; J. T. An
thony, People's party, 72.
For County Clerk — J. P. Lucas, Rep., 527 ;
M. R. Downing, Dem., 225 ; F. B. Moore, Peo
ple's party, 116.
For Treasurer — S. B. Barker, Rep., 499; G.
L. Neale, Dem., 228 ; J. R. Clark, People's party,
131- For Assessor — H. J. Nott, Dem., 333 ; M. O.
Clarke, Rep,, 408; H. Wilkins, People's party,
128. For Surveyor — J. H. Hill, Rep., 566 ; Charles
Fix, People's party, 203.
For School Superintendent — W. W. Ken
nedy, Rep., 430 ; C. Royse, Dem., 275 ; J. A.
McMorris, People's party, 154.
For Coroner — D. S. Brown, Dem., 343 ; W.
A. Goodwin, Rep., 392; G. W. Crawford, Peo
ple's party, 129.
General election, June 1, 1896:
For Member of Congress — W. R. Ellis, Rep.,
332; A. S. Bennett, Dem., 304; Martin Quinn,
People's party, 187; H. H. Northrup, Ind., 96.
For District Attorney, Seventh District — A.
A. Jayne, Rep., 461 ; J. H. Cradlebaugh, Dem.,
436. For Joint Senator— W. H. Moore, Rep., 495 ;
E. B. Dufur, Dem., 393.
For Representative — J. E. David, Rep., 341 ;
L. C. Edwards, Dem., 290 ; W. J. Edwards, Peo
ple's party, 277.
For County Commissioner — F. M. Pliter,
Rep., 419; M. E. Weatherford, Dem., 298; S.
Slater, People's party, 189.
For Sheriff— George Dudek, Rep., 271 ; W
L. Wilcox, Dem., 496 ; L. P. Davidson, People's
partv, 150.
For County Clerk— H. N. Frazer, Rep., 561 ;
C. W. Shurte^ Dem., 340.
For Treasurer— S. B. Barker, Rep., 420; P.
H. Stevenson. Dem., 242 ; G. W. Rinehart, Peo
ple's party, 201.
For Assessor — M. O. Clarke, Rep., 399; Ed
ward Horn, Dem., 298; L. A. Miller, People's
party, 166.

For School Superintendent — E. W. Daggett,
Rep., 532; C. G. Morey, Dem., 328.
For Surveyor — Jeddy Brown, Rep., 55 1 ;
Otho Ward, People's party, 262.
For Coroner — Arthur Marvel, People's
party, 505.
The presidential election of 1896 in Gilliam
county resulted in a Republican victory by a ma
jority of 80, the McKinley Republican electors
receiving 551 votes to 471 for the Bryan, Demo
cratic, electors.
General election June 6, 1898 : There were
only two tickets in the field this year, Republican
and Union. The latter political element was com
posed of Democrats, Populists and free silver Re
publicans. W. L. Wilcox, candidate for sheriff,
was the only one of the union ticket elected in
Gilliam county. The vote :
For Governor — T. T. Geer, Rep., 554; Will
R. King, Union, 332 ; Clinton, 28 ; Luce, 44.
For Member of Congress — M. A. Moody,
Rep., 494; C. M. Donaldson, Union, 382; Court
ney, 36; Ingalls, 19.
For Representative — S. G. Hawson, Rep.,
456 ; B. K. Searcy, union, 447.
For County Judge W. J. Mariner, Rep., 464;
E. P. Weir, union, 447.
For County Commissioner — James Dyer,
Rep., 609 ; Edward Palmer, union, 288.
For Sheriff — C. A. Danneman, Rep., 359 ; W.
L. Wilcox, Union, 571.
For Countv Clerk — H. N. Frazer, Rep., 668 ;
B. F. Nott, Union, 249.
For Treasurer — S. B. Barker, Rep., 517; Ed
ward Dunn, Union, 382.
For Assessor — M. O. Clarke, Rep., 596;
Lewis A. Miller, Union, 291.
For School Superintendent — W. W. Ken
nedy, Rep., 558 ; J. A. McMorris, Union, 326.
For Surveyor — T. L. Stewart, Rep., 566; Jo
seph Lieuallen, Union, 303.
. For Coroner — A. H. Ruedy, Rep., 548 ; W. A.
Darling, Union, 330.
General election, June, 1900 :
For Member of Congress — Leslie Butler,
Pro., 33; M. A. Moody, Rep., 366; J. E. Sim
mons, Ind. -Dem., 82 ; William Smith, Dem.,
280. For District Attorney, Seventh District —
Frank Menefee, Rep., 386; James F. Moore,
Dem., 390.
For Joint Senator — V. G. Cozad, Dem., 447;
W. W. Steiwer, Rep., 307.
For Joint Representative — George A. Bar
nett, Rep., 337; T. R. Coon, Dem., 332; George
Cattanach, Rep., 313; W. J. Edwards, Dem.,
391 ; R. E. Misener, Dem., 300 ; George Miller,
Rep., 394.

58o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For County Commissioner — W. R. Boyer,
Dem., 416; J. A. Ward, Rep., 382.
For Sheriff — Perry Ham, Rep., 249; W. L.
Wilcox, Dem., 562.
For County Clerk — H. N. Frazer, Rep., 430;
T. G. Johnson, Dem., 382.
For Treasurer — S. B. Barker, Rep., 360; P.
H. Stephenson, Dem., 444.
For Assessor — M. O. Clarke, Rep., 462 ; Will
iam Musgrove, Dem., 313.
For School Superintendent — Henry Crass,
Rep., 299 ; W. R. Neal, Dem., 488.
For County Surveyor — L. W. Darling, Dem.,
401 ; R. H. Wain, Rep., 387.
For Coroner — Dr. D. C. Lazier, Dem, 391 ;
Dr. A. H. Ruedy, 394.
At the presidential election of November,
1900, the McKinley electors received 419 votes in
Gilliam county to 341 for the Bryan electors.
General election, June, 1902 :
For Governor — George. E. Chamberlain,
Dem., 396 ; William J. Furnish, Rep., 464 ; A. J.
Hunsacker, Pro., 37 ; R. R. Ryan, Soc, 19.
For Member of Congress, Second District —
W. F. Butcher, Dem., 335 ; D. T. Gerdes, Soc,
25 ; F. R. Spaulding, Pro., 41 ; J. N. Williamson,
Rep., 464.
For Joint Representative — C. A. Danneman,
Rep., 475 ; R. J. Ginn, Rep., 373 ; C. G. Hausen,
Dem., 296 ;  Hausen, Pro., 33 ; S. E. Hor-
nibrooks, Pro., 44; C. P. Johnson, Rep., 350; H.
C. Shaffer, Pro., 70 ; E. G. Stevenson, Dem., 265 ;
E. P. Weir, Dem., 353.
For County Judge — Edward Dunn, ©em.,
555 5 W. J. Mariner, Rep., 301 ; C. A. Shurte,
Pro., 40.
For County Commissioner — Four Years — J.
W. Dyer, Rep., 451 ; G. S. Smith, Dem., 405.
For County Commissioner — Two Years — I.
B. Carter, Dem., 354; R. Froman, Rep., 482; J.
P. Thomas, Pro., 41.
For County Clerk— H. J. Nott, Pro., 30; C.
O. Portwood, Rep., 478; W. L. Wilcox, Dem.,
372. For Assessor— J. M. Beatty, Pro., 39; M. O.
Clarke, Rep., 339; A. J. Shelton, Dem., 501.
For Surveyor — L. W. Darling, Dem., 414;
R. H. Wain, Rep., 451.
For Coroner — D. C. Lazier, Dem., 559.
For Treasurer — P. H. Stevenson, Dem., 433 ;
F. Shanks, Pro., 43 ; F. M. Pliter, Rep., 372.
For Sheriff — T. G. Johnson, Dem., 504 ; Rev.
Edward Baker, Pro., 20;  Herren, Rep.,
373. For County High School, yes, 477; no, 178;
for court house, yes, 345 ; no, 350 ; initiative and
referrendum, yes, 592; no, 57. The total num-

' ber of votes cast in the county at this election was
938. General election, June, 1902 :
For Member of Congress — J. N. Williamson,.
Rep., 459 ; W. F. Butcher, Dem., 354.
For Governor — W. J. Furnish, Rep., 446;:
George E. Chamberlain, Dem., 395.
For County Judge — W. J. Mariner, Rep.,
309 ; Edward Dunn, Dem., 543.
For County Commissioners — J. W. Dyer,.
Rep., 456; G. S. Smith, Rep., 405; Ralph Fro
man, Dem., 482; I. B. Carter, Dem., 354.
For Sheriff— Willard Herren, Rep., 373; T.
G. Johnson, Dem., 494.
For County Clerk — C. O. Portwood, Rep.,.
478 ; W. L. Wilcox, Dem., 373.
For Treasurer— F. M. Pliter, Rep., 372; P.
H. Stephenson, Dem., 433.
For Assessor — M. O. Clarke, Rep., 339; A.
J. Shelton, Dem., 501.
For Surveyor— R. H. Wain, Rep., 461 ; L. W.
Darling, Dem., 412.
For Coroner — D. C. Lazier, Dem., 630.
General election June 6, 1904 :
For Member of Congress — George R.
Cooke, Soc, 35 ; J. E. Simmons, Dem., 263 ; W.
H. Stone, Pro., 43 ; J. N. Williamson, Rep. 484.
For District Attorney, Seventh' District —
Frank Menefee, Rep., 301 ; Daniel P. Smythe,.
Dem., 454.
For Joint Senator, Twenty-first District —
Jay Bowerman, Rep., 488; Louis J. Gates, Pro.,
37 ; W. L. Wilcox, Dem., 303.
For Representative Twenty-eighth District —
R. N. Donnelly, Rep., 421 ; W. J. Kirkland, Dem.,.
331; C. C. Kuney, Rep., 329; Albert S. Porter,.
Pro., 69 ; C. A. Shurte, Pro., 99.
For County Commissioner — James Larch,.
Dem., 308; B. T. Snell, Rep., 548; D. B. Thomas,.
Pro., 9.
For Sheriff— Pearl Jarvis, Rep., 308; T. G.
Johnson, Dem., 548.
For County Clerk — George A. Clough, Dem.,
193; F. C. Flowers, Pro., 26; C. O. Portwood,.
Rep., 613.
For Treasurer — W. L. Barker, Pro., 69; G.
H. Downing, Dem., 212; E. W. Moore, Rep.,
547- For Assessor — F. C. Cornett, Rep., 387;
George W. Lawrence, Pro., 24; A. J. Shelton,
Dem., 418.
For Surveyor — J. S. Barton, Rep., 399 ; J. A.
McMorris, Dem., 403.
For Coroner — D. C. Lazier, Dem., 353 ; S. K.
Luna, Rep., 381 ; F. M. Rinehart, Pro., 63.

Sheep Shearers at work in Gilliam County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

58i

For School Superintendent — G. T. Mc-
/ / Arthur, Rep., 483; H. F. Shanks, Dem, 313;
V. V. Willis, Pro., 25.
For local option, 420; against,- 251.
The result of the presidential election of No

vember 8, 1904, was as follows : Roosevelt elec
tors, Republican, 568; Parker electors, Demo
cratic, 195; Swallow, Prohibition, 28; Debs, So
cialist, 48 ; Watson, Pop, 4 ; for prohibition 364 ;
against, 344.

CHAPTER V

EDUCATIONAL.

In 1872, when O. D. Doane was superinten
dent of the schools of Wasco, ten years prior to
the organization of Gilliam county, that portion
•of the territory which is now Gilliam county was
one school district No. 24. During the incum
bency of Superintendent Doane this mammoth
district was divided into three.
School district No. 5 comprised the south
west quarter and west half of the southeast quar
ter of section 13, and that portion of section 14
owned by Josephus Martin ; also sections 23, 24,
25 and 36, in township 1, south range 21, E. W.
M, and sections 19, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33, in
township 1, south range 22, E. W. M, and sec
tion 1, in township 2, south range 21, E. W. M,
and sections 1 to 12 inclusive, in township 2,
vsouth range 22, E. W. M. It was established
February 23, 1874, No. 32, of Wasco county.
There was a district, No. 24, of Wasco
county, located in the vicinity of Lone Rock, but
there are no records showing boundaries or af
fording any other information.
The first school in what is now Gilliam
county was near the Conrad Shott ranch, on
Rock creek, about three mile,s east of what is
now Olex. Mrs. Emma Alderman was the first
teacher. This was in 1875. Prior to this period
there had been a number of private teachers, but
this was the first public school.
District No. 1, of Gilliam county, was Dis
trict No. 53 of Wasco county. It was estab
lished in November, 1881, by O. D. Doane, at
that period school superintendent of Wasco
county. The change to District No. 1, of Gil
liam county was made in May, 1885. It was de
scribed as 'follows : The fractional part of town
ship 3, north range 21, E. W. M, lying south of
the Columbia river, and township 2, north range
22, E. W. M, and township 2, north range 21,
E. W. M.
The first school house erected in the village

of Condon was in December, 1885. The enter
prising people of the neighborhood donated all
the material and labor. It was a one-room build
ing and Miss Mollie Carter, afterward Mrs. John
Portwood, was the first teacher. Following is an
excerpt of the county superintendent of public
instruction, H. H. Hendricks, for 1888 :
Male. Female. Total.
Number persons of school age
in county  764 696 1,460
Number persons enrolled  436 405 841
Average daily attendance  225 198 423
Number not attending school .... 324 276 600
Value of school houses and ....
grounds  $10,810
Value of furniture and apparatus 1,098
Average salary of male teachers. . 45
Average salary of female teachers 37
Salary of Superintendent  300
Number of districts in county.... 36
Number of districts reporting.... 34
Average number of months school 4^2
Number of school houses built
during the year  5
Number school houses in county 29
Receipts  $21,922.36
Disbursements  9,542-55
The above are the earliest school records that
can be found at the present day.
Condon's second school house was erected in
1891. It was a two-room building, but only one
teacher was employed the first year. In Novem
ber of the same year Mr. Charles Fix announced
in the Condon Globe that he would open a private
school, both day and evening, commencing No
vember 16, 1891, in Condon. In the public school
at Condon, for the terms of 1892, a second
teacher was employed.
The school apportionment of Gilliam countv
for the year 1893, was $4,513.30. From the Con-

582

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

don Globe of July 21, 1893, we learn that Miss
Susie Dunn opened a private school in that town,
Monday, July 17th, with an attendance of 14
scholars. Miss Dunn proved an excellent teacher
and became quite popular with both pupils and
patrons. The initial school in Arlington was held in a
small shack, which subsequently became part of
a dwelling. This was in 1882, and Mrs. Haskins
was the first teacher. In 1883 this primitive edu
cational institution was replaced by a one-room
school house. In 1885 two rooms were added to
this building. At present the public schools of
Arlington are excellent and will compare favor
ably with any in the state. Three teachers are
employed and nine grades are taught.
The report of Superintendent of Schools
Daggett for 1897 is as follows:
"Number of pupils, male, 690 ; female, 633 ;
total, 1,323. Number of teachers, six males and
twenty females. Average salary per month,
males $42 ; females, $25. The school tax levy
was 5^2 mills. The total receipts for the year
were $8,677.44; disbursements, $8,446.29.
In April, 1902, a school election was held in
Condon for the purpose of voting upon a propo
sition to issue school district bonds for the erec
tion of a new school house. Votes to the num
ber of 47 were cast; 46 for and one against the
proposition. In February, 1903, this building
was completed at a cost of $7,000. It is 45x53
feet in size, and contains four main rooms, aside
from the principal's and teacher's room, cloak
rooms, etc. Four teachers were employed and
the attendance at first was about 200 pupils.
In July, 1902, there were 1,188 children of
school age in Gilliam county ; 589 boys and 599
girls. Forty-two teachers were employed of
which 14 were males and 28 females. There were
36 organized districts of which 34 made reports
to the county superintendent. There were 33
school houses in the county, three of which were
built during the year, 1902. The total amount of
money received was $22,397.73, and the total dis
bursements were $18,955.76.
Report of County Superintendent W. R. Neal
for 1903 :

Male Female. Total.
Number persons of school age. .631 59° 1,221
Average daily attendance  310 285 595
Number not attending any school. .123 127 250
Number of teachers in county.... 15 41 56
Number of districts in county. ... 3&
Number of districts reporting .... 34'
Number of school houses 
in county  34
Number of school houses built..
during year  1
Average number of months taught 6]/2
Number of schools visited by....
superintendent  31
Receipts  $26,139.33
Disbursements  18,407.76
Value of school houses and 
grounds  I7.550.oo
Value of furniture and apparatus 4,224.00
Average salary male teachers.... 45-00
Average salary female teachers .... 40.00
Following is the report of County Superin
tendent G. T. McArthur for 1904:
Male. Female. Total
Number of persons of school age. .600 601 1,201
Number of persons not attending. .103 99 202
Number of teachers in county.... 17 39 56
Number of districts in county. ... 34
Number of districts reporting. ... 31
Number of legal voters for 
school purposes  , 663
Number of school .houses  2g
Number of school houses built. .
during year  2
Average number of months' school
in county  5;/
Number of schools visited by....
superintendent  i&
Number of library books  54
Receipts  $21,171.00
Disbursements  17,884.79
Value of school houses and 
grounds  23,545.00-
Value of furniture and apparatus. . 5,341.00-
Average salary male teachers  52.87
Average salary female teachers. . . . 43-30-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

GILLIAM COUNTY

F. H. ALLEN is one of Oregon's earliest pio
neers. He has traveled and wrought all over the
west and northwest and has constantly been on
the frontier. He has displayed those qualities that
make the true pioneer and is today one of the
substantial citizens of Gilliam county. He re
sides five miles east from Condon and gives his
attention to farming and stock raising. Mr.
Allen's birth occurred in Michigan in 1852. His
father, C. K. Allen, was born in Canada in 1810
and participated in the Mexican War, crossing
the plains with ox teams in i860. He died in
Phoenix, Oregon in 1882. He had married Mrs.
Wealthy Spencer, who was born in Condon on
March 23, 1814, ancl died March 12, 1901. Our
subject came with his parents from Michigan,
when only a year old, to Beloit, Wisconsin, where
they made their home for six years. Then they
moved to Missouri ancl in i860 crossed the plains
with ox teams. The parties that went by the
Landers' cut-off were attacked by Indians, who
stole a good portion of their stock. What was
left was divided among them all and they made
their way slowly to Goose Lake. Owing to the
steep grades to climb there the train was divided
and all the stock taken to pull up a part of it.
While engaged in this, the Indians took the part
that was left, plundered four wagons but no
lives were lost. For four days they labored
on without provisions, then fell in with some
soldiers where they received provisions and am
munition. Settlement was made at Phoenix, Ore
gon, and the next spring, the father went to Vir
ginia City, Nevada and labored in the silver
mines. Later our subject and his mother joined
him but owing to her ill health they removed to
Phcenix, where our subject remained until 1880.
Then he worked on the O. R. & N. Railroad for
two years and returned home, owing to his fath

er's sickness, ancl there remained until his death.
Then we find Mr. Allen in Portland and in 1884
he settled in Lost valley. He operated a black
smith shop there for eighteen months and finally
settled on the place that he now occupies. Here
he continued blacksmithing for twelve years, also
did general farming and stock raising. He now
has a section of land, some stock and is one of the
prosperous men of the county.
In 1888 Mr. Allen married Miss Johanna
Reed, who was born in Germany in 1852 and died
June 26, 1890. In 1892 Mr. Allen contracted a
second marriage, Mrs. Minnie Reed, a sister of
his first wife, then becoming his wife. She was
born in Germany on December 15, 1871, and died
in June, 1902. Mr. Allen has si* children,
Charlie, Welthie, Hattie, Spencer, Frank and
Elmer. Our subject is a good strong Republican and
is an enterprising citizen, a kind neighbor and a
man who enjoys the esteem and respect of his
fellow citizens.

S. A. D. HURT who is one of the enterpris
ing farmers of Gilliam county, now resides some
six miles south from Clem. He is a native of
Oregon, being born in Linn county on June 23,
1868. His father, Isa Hurt, was born in Indi
ana and came as an early pioneer to this city and
is now deceased. He married Sarah Miller who
is still living. When quite young our subject
was taken with the balance of the family to Linn
county and there he was reared and received his
education. At the age of twenty, he came west
of the mountains, seeking an opportunity to make
a fortune for himself. He soon engaged in sheep
raising in Umatilla county and spent two years
there. Then he took his sheep to Whitman

5«4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county, Washington, where he remained two
years. After that he came to what is now Gil
liam county and took a homestead and his wife
took a timber culture claim. They own now, all
told, three fourths of a section, have some stock
and are doing well.
In 1886, Mr. Hurt, married Miss Olive J.
Keizur. To this marriage two children have
been born, Irmma Bell and Georgie.
Mr. Hurt is a member of the A. O. U. W.
and is a good active Republican. He has two
brothers, J. F. and E. M. Mr. Hurt has always
shown himself to be a broad minded public spir
ited man, a good neighbor and a patriotic citizen.
The result is that he stands well in the commun
ity, has many friends and is to be classed as one
of the substantial citizens.

ROBERT L. MORRIS is one of the substan
tial farmers of Gilliam county and resides at
Mayville. He was born in Lafayette, Oregon, on
June 16, 1869. Clayburn Morris, his father, was
born in St. Joseph, Missouri, and crossed the
plains with ox teams in 1852, making settlement
near LaFayette, in the Willamette Valley. He
was among the very first to settle there and was a
prominent pioneer and leading citizen. In the fif
ties he removed to Tygh Valley and was one of
the first settlers in that region. He worked upon
the now well known Shearer's bridge. He erected
the first stone structure in Tygh Valley and fol
lowed merchandising, trading with the Indians.
He also raised stock until the winter of 1861-2,
the year of heavy snow and cold, which caused
him the total loss of his horses and cattle. He
returned to the Willamette valley in 1863 and
was there waylaid and murdered by a highway
man. He had participated in the Rogue river
Indian war and was a fearless and skillful Indian
fighter. He had married Miss Malinda Wal
ters, a native of Missouri, who crossed the plains
with him. She was a relative of W. J. Bryan,
the noted orator. In 1873, she married Captain
F. Withers and in 1881 they removed to east
ern Oregon and settled one mile east from where
Mayville now stands. There Captain Withers
died in 1889. Mrs. Withers survived him three
years. She was a member of the Christian
church, a noble woman, and beloved by all who
knew her. She leaves two children, our subject
and Mrs. F. E. Smith, of Fossil, Oregon. Our
subject was only a boy when he landed in Gil
liam county and here he gained his education and
grew up. His first employment was as a cow
boy and he rode the range all over this country
and in Colorado, Wyoming ancl Montana. Fi

nally he returned to this section and secured his
present estate of four hundred and eighty acres.
Since then he has devoted himself to general
farming and has met with good success.
In 1902, Mr. Morris married Miss Lainey
Herndon, a native of the Willamette valley and
who came to central Oregon when a child. Her
father, Clark Herndon, was a pioneer of Oregon.
Mr. Morris is a member of the I. O. O. F, and
is a progressive and industrious man. He always
takes a lively interest in educational matters and
politics and is a man of good standing. He has
won a good success and* has done the pioneer's
work in a land where his father was one of the
very first settlers and left a splendid record.

WILLIAM SMITH, residing some seven
miles southeast of Condon, was born in England,
on December 6, 183 1. His parents, William and
Susannah (Andrew) Smith, were natives of
Cheshire, England and the father wrought in the
cotton mills. This son was educated in his na
tive place and as soon as of the proper age went
to work in the cotton mills where he continued
until 1849. In that year, he came to Gloucester
City, New Jersey, and continued in the same
business for two years when he went to Lan
caster, Pennsylvania and wrought in the mills.
In 1861 he moved to Tuscola county, Michigan
and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land.
He had never become naturalized and did not
believe in war but was forced into the army.
When it became known, however, that he was an
alien, he was honorably discharged. From Tus
cola county, he moved to Bay county, Michigan
and there lived until 1887 when he came west
and settled at his present location. He took a
homestead which he still owns and has given his
attention to stock raising and farming since com
ing here. He has a bunch of cattle, some horses
and a good farm.
On July 3, i860, Mr. Smith married Miss Ad
aline M. Smith, who was born in Genesee county,
New York, on November 7, 1827. Her father,
Jonathan Smith, was born in New York state and
kept a hotel in East Aurora, New York, for twen
ty years. He married Rhoda Harmon, a native of
Springfield, Connecticut, Later the father moved
to Michigan and farmed there for twenty odd
years. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith the following
named children have been born : Lizzie, the wife
of E. A. May of Condon ; Mrs. Ida A. Goodwin
of Condon, deceased ; Mrs. Sadie Downer, wife
of H. F. Downer of Condon ; Sheldon, deceased ;
W. W, with his parents.
In politics, Mr. Smith is a good strong Re-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

585

publican. All through his life, he has been very
zealous in promoting educational matters and in
religious work. He is a member of the reor-
anized church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints. In 1900, he was ordained a teacher in
that denomination and one year later was or
dained a priest and in 1901 he was chosen presi
dent of the Condon branch. He has labored
faithfully and well in this capacity and is always
on the alert to promote the interests of his de
nomination.

ANDREW J. SHELTON is at the present
time holding the responsible position of assessor
for Gilliam county. In 1902, his name appeared
on the Democratic ticket for this office and he
was promptly elected by the people. His service
has been conscientious and faithful and has
given entire satisfaction to the property owners
of the county. He resides at Condon ancl is con
sidered one of the leading men of the county.
Andrew J. Shelton was born in Linn county,
Oregon, on December 31, 1857. His father,
William Shelton, was a native of Missouri and in
the exciting days of 1849, crossed the plains with
ox teams to the mines of California, where he
sought a fortune in the golden sands. A year"
later he returned to Missouri and in 185 1 fitted
out another outfit and crossed the plains with ox
teams to Linn county, Oregon. There-he took a
-donation claim ancl lived until the time of his
death. He was a leading citizen of the county
and did very much for its development and ad
vancement. He married in Missouri and his
wife accompanied him across the plains in
1851. The common schools of Linn county fur
nished the educational training of our subject
-during his younger days and then he completed a
course at the university in Salem. After that he
farmed for a year and then gave his attention to
merchandising at Jordan, Oregon. It was 1893
when Mr. Shelton came to Gilliam county and
settled on a farm in the vicinity of Mayville.
Later, we find him in charge of the Grand hotel
at Arlington, being in partnership with Mr. Mon
roe. Here he continued until his election to the
assessor's office in 1902 and since that time he has
devoted his attention to the duties of that office.
In 1876, Mr. Shelton married Miss Mary E.
Bryant, a native of Linn county. Her father,
Hon. John Bryant, was a pioneer of that county
and served several terms in the state legislature.
He was a very prominent and influential citizen.
He married Miss Lucinda Bel yew, a pioneer of
Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs. Shelton, three chil
dren have been born, A. Pearl, M. Iva and Will
iam Bryant.

Mr. Shelton is a member of the I. O. O. F,
of the K. P. and of the W. W. He is a public
minded man, very alert for the interests of his
county and well informed on the issues and ques
tions of the day. He owns various property in
the county and is considered a substantial and
good man.

EZRA A. MAY, one of the prominent citi
zens of Condon, was born in Brookfield, Wiscon
sin, on December 17, 1842, the son of Eli and
Elizabeth (Cheney) May, natives of New York
city. The father was a sailor on the lakes, start
ing when he was sixteen years of age. He was a
sailor on the first sailing vessel on Lake Superior.
He enlisted three times during the Rebellion ancl
served until the war closed. Our subject received
his education in his native county and when fif
teen years of age, began sailing on Lake Superior
where he continued for five seasons. In August,
1862, he enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Michigan
Infantry ancl served until November, 1863, when
he received a very severe wound in his leg at the
battle of Camel's Station, Tennessee. The wound
proved so serious that the limb was amputated
below the knee. Later, he farmed in Michigan
and during that time, cleared up a quarter sec
tion of timberland. In 1885, he came west and
finally sought out a location in Gilliam countv,
taking a half section of land which he still owns.
After getting the farm in good shape, he rented
it and moved to Condon where he has a beautiful
residence. In Detroit, Michigan, in 1864, Mr. May mar
ried Miss Sarah Truesdell. She was born in
Michigan and died there in 1880. Her father
was G. Truesdell, a real estate man in Michigan.
On May 11, 1881, Mr. May married Miss Lizzie
Smith, who was born at Lancaster, Pennsyl
vania, June 16, 1861. Her father, William Smith,
was born in England, in 1832, and is now
a farmer in Gilliam county. To our subject and
his first wife the following named children were
born : Ezra Bertrand. Lizzie Winters, Emma
Parker, Ida Tuttle, deceased, Florence Read,
W. W, Fred G., Ralph, Harry, Gertrude, Rufus,
deceased. In politics, Mr. May is a Republican and has
been twice city recorder in Condon. He is a
member of the Church of Christ and has always
taken a keen interest in religious works and has
always been very generous and liberal in these
things as well as a public minded man. At the
present time he has assisted materially in the
construction of a place of worship in Condon and
his efforts are highly appreciated. Mr. May
always takes an active part in conducting meet-

586

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ings and he is a leading citizen. At the time of
the erection of the court house, Mr. May gave
his influence and struggled hard for Condon and
much credit, is due him for the fact that the court
house was finally located here.

J. M. CARNINE resides about two miles east
from Condon and there does gardening. He is one
of the substantial men of the county and is also
one of those who, in the dark days of fratricidal
strife in this country, gave his services to retrieve
the stars and stripes from insult.
J. M. Carnine was born in Jefferson county,
Indiana, in 1837. His parents, Allen and Lydia
(McCarty) Carnine, were both born in Jeffer
son county, Indiana, the former in 1810 and the
latter in 1820. The father's father came from
Holland and settled in Indiana. When nine years
of age, our subject came with the balance of the
family to Iowa, where he received his education
and labored betimes upon his father's farm. At
the time of the gold excitement in California the
father wished to go thence but was dissuaded by
the pleadings of our subject. The parental roof
sheltered J. M. until he was twenty-two years of
age then he went to Missouri, in i860 and en
gaged in the nursery business. He had a fine
large business when the war broke out and con
tinued the same for some time thereafter but the
rebels threatened his execution and he was re
peatedly warned to get out. One night they
hanged three of his neighbors and threatened
to hang him so he unceremoniously went to his
old home in Indiana. The rebels destroyed the
entire nursery. In September, 1861, our subject
enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Indiana and served
three years in the army of the Cumberland. He
was in the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga,
Chattanooga, Atlanta, Kenesaw and manv
others. Mr. Carnine knows from sad experience
what the awful carnage of war is as well as the
rigorous service of the true soldier. He fought
faithfully and well and served his country as a
patriotic son should do and when the strife was
over was honorably discharged. He went back
to Van Buren county, Iowa and worked at his
trade of plastering, which he had learned in
younger years. Next we see him in Milton,
Iowa, where he farmed for some time then re
moved to Missouri and bought a large farm and
orchard. He had a beautiful place and contin
ued there for eight years after which he went to
Kansas and took a soldier's homestead. He ac
quired a fine property there, four hundred ancl
eighty acres of land and one hundred and thirty
head of cattle and much else. All this was the

result of his careful management, his industry
and his trade. Thence he journeyed to Cowlitz
county, Washington, in 1889 and engaged in gar
dening and fruit raising until 1901. Owing to
the ill health of his daughter, Mr. Carnine re
moved thence to Gilliam county, in 1901, and it
is pleasant to relate that Miss Carnine has fully
recovered her health in this salubrious climate.
In Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1865, Mr.
Carnine married Miss Sara C. Clarke. She was
born in that county, on August 7, 1846 and her
father was Samuel Clarke now deceased. To
this union, five children have been born : Ells
worth, a ticket agent on the Santa Fe road ;
Ulyssus, who has a homestead on Rock creek ;
Albert, who has a homestead near his brother,
and Lydia, who also owns a homestead on Rock
Creek. Mr. Carnine is a member of the G. A. R. and
a strong Republican. Since he was fifteen years
of age, he has been a member of the Methodist
church and has always taken an active part in
church work. He has often been class leader and
Sunday school superintendent and is deeply in
terested in these things. His brother, Robert
A. Carnine, is presiding elder of the Methodist
church of Denver, Colorado.

RALPH FROMAN, who resides seven miles -
west from Condon, was born in Linn county,
Oregon, on January 2, 1859. Since that time, he
has spent his entire life in the Webfoot State and
is a representative citizen of this great common
wealth. His industry, his stability and his suc
cess have made him one of the leading men and
now one of the wealthy residents of this part
of the state. His father, I. R. Froman, was
born in Illinois and crossed the plains in the
early fifties, settling on a donation claim in Linn
county, Oregon. He fought in all the early In
dian struggles in this territory and was a true and
typical pioneer. His labors brought him wealth
and he is still living. He married Eliza Hen
derson of Danville, Illinois, who accompanied
him across the plains and has been a faithful
helpmeet in all his labors here. Our subject was
educated in Albany and in 1882, came to The
Dalles. For some time he wrought for wages
ancl then selected a homestead where he now re
sides. This was in 1881. He added to that a
timber culture claim and preemption and set
about the task of making a fine home and in this
he has succeeded admirably. To the original
government claims, he has added more land by
purchase until his estate numbers over eleven
hundred acres. He raises considerable stock in-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

587

addition to general farming, and has so ordered
his business affairs that the best of success at
tends his labors. The farm is laid out with taste
and wisdom, the improvements are all good and
substantial and everything indicates a man of
ability and stamina. '
In 1882, Mr. Froman married Miss Harriett
Davis, the daughter of Caleb and Ann Marie
(Crisman) Davis, natives of Missouri and pio
neers to Oregon. It was in 1849 that they
threaded the plains with ox teams and settled in
Linn county on a donation claim. There they
became wealthy and prominent. Mrs. Froman
was born in Linn county, Oregon. To her and
her husband, two children have been born, B.
Earl and Carl E.
Mr. Froman is a member of the K. P. and
P. of H. He always takes an interest in politics
and has served one term as commissioner of Gil
liam county. Starting in this countr}- with no
means whatever, he has risen to be one of the
leading citizens and wealthy men, which speaks
much for his labors ancl wisdom. He nas shown
himself to be a man governed by principle and
integrity and stands well in the community.

WILLIAM KEYS is a prominent and lead
ing citizen of Gilliam county and is now dwelling
near Mayville. He is leading a retired life, hav
ing secured by industry and careful management
a goodly fortune for his use during the golden
years of his life. He is respected by all and
looked up to as a wise and influential man in his
community. William Keys was born in Tyrone county,
Ireland, on March 17, 1830, the son of William
and Bettie (Grimes) Keys, both natives of Ty
rone county. They were prominent and well to
do people there. Our subject was well educated
in Ireland and then turned his attention to farm
ing. In 1865, he put into execution a plan he
had long cherished of coming to America, and
when he landed in New York that year, he be
gan his career in the new world. Two years
later he came on west to Portland, Oregon, jour
neying via the isthmus. He went to work for
wages at once and since that time has made
every dollar he now possesses by dint of hard
labor and care in managing the funds he earned.
After working for wages for a time, he went to
farming in Douglas county, near Roseburg,
where he remained until 1874, when he came
east of the mountains. He selected some good
government claims and then purchased other land
from time to time, until he now possesses about
two thousand acres. He has given his close at

tention to business continuously since coming in
to this country and has made a splendid success
of his work. There were only about twelve set
tlers in this section when he came here and he
has witnessed the growth and increase of the
country to its present prosperous condition, and
during these years of growth, Mr. Keys has done
his part well in the progress of the state and
county. In 1854, Mr. Keys married Miss Jane Mc
Cullough, a native of Ireland. Her father, John
McCullough, was a native of the Emerald Isle
and died when Mrs. Keys was a young girl. Mr.
and Mrs. Keys have a nice family of children,
who are named as follows : John J, Eliza A,
William G, Mary J, and Margaret A. The first
and last named are deceased. Margaret A. was
a graduate of the Wasco Independent Academy
when eighteen and won the degree of Bachelor of
Science at that time.
When Mr. Keys arrived in the territory now
embraced in the county of Gilliam, there were
few white people here, but many Indians. The-
nearest neighbor was seven miles distant. Dur
ing those days of trial ancl hardships,1 many be
came discouraged and moved away. While they
did considerable labor, still to such as our sub
ject who stayed, is due the main credit of open
ing and developing this county.

WILLIAM WEHRLI, who resides about six
and one-half miles northwest from Mayville, was
born in Cook county, Illinois, on January 1,
1857. He is now one of the wealthy and prom
inent men of Gilliam county and has a first class
farm of eight hundred and forty acres where he
is living. It is handled skillfully and is improved
with all buildings and equipment that are needed
on a first class stock and wheat farm. Mr.
Wehrli has shown himself not only a substantial
man, a good citizen, but a skillful and successful
business operator and his fine holdings are proof
ample of this fact.
William Wehrli comes from German ances
try, his father, Peter Wehrli, being a native of
that empire. He came to Illinois when a young
man, worked there as a carpenter, then bought a
farm, being one of the pioneers of that now great
state. In 1867, he removed to Holt county, Mis
souri, and there became a large and leading-
farmer. He married Miss Mary Vogle, a na
tive of Germany, and they are now retired. Our
subject was educated in the common schools of"
Illinois and Missouri and when nineteen, it being
1876, he started in life for himself. We soon find
him in Nevada, where he engaged to ride the-

.588

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

range. In the fall of the same year, he assisted to
trail a band of cattle to the Sacramento valley, in
California. There he hired out on a farm and
later rented a farm for himself. In 1883, he
sold out in California and journeyed to the north.
He searched the country until he came to his
present location, where he secured -government
claims. To the original homestead, he added by
purchase until he has eight hundred and forty
acres of valuable land, and much other property.
In 1881, Mr. Wehrli married Miss Anna
Keegan, who was born in Nevada county, Cali
fornia. Her parents, Robert and Annie
(McAdams) Keegan, were born in Dublin and
county Cavan, Ireland, respectively, and came
to California in 1849. There were then but a
few cabins where the great city of San Fran
cisco now stands. To Mr. and Mrs. Wehrli, the
following named children have been born, Mary
M, Alice B, Robert P., William W, John M,
Rosana, and Ellen I. Mr. Wehrli started in life
without means and owing to his industry and
careful business ways, he has become one of the \
wealthy citizens of this county. He is established
in the esteem and confidence of the people and
he and his wife are worthy members of society, j
He has an interesting family and is to be classed j
with the leading people of Gilliam county.

W. G. FLETT, a farmer and stockman, eight
miles south from Olex, was born in Washington
county, Oregon, on September 25, 1842. His
father, David Flett, was born in Manitoba, in
1 8 18, and was employed by the Hudson's Bay
Company. Under their direction, in 1841, being
induced by the promises of Sir George Simpson,
one of the formers of the company, he came with
an expedition of emigrants to settle on the Pa
cific coast. The company consisted of eighty-
two persons which left Selkirk settlement, Mani
toba, on May 20, 1841. They traveled up the
Saskatchewan to its head, crossed the Rockies at
¦either Yellowhead or Arrowhead passes, thence
they came through the Kootenai country to Fort
Colville and from there, continued their journey
through the Spokane country to Fort Wallula
in time to see the fort burned by Cayuse Indians.
They journeyed thence to Vancouver, some of
the party going down the Columbia river and
the balance fetching the horses. When they
reached the Cascades, they were met by Sir
George Simpson saying that he could not comply
with his agreement to furnish a certain number
of cows, sheep and farming implements and a
year's provision but promised to furnish some
things if they settled north of the Columbia

river. They went to Puget sound and spent the
winter of '1841-42 at Fort Nesqually. In the
spring, a portion of them, including Mr. Flett,
moved to Tualitan plains where he died in 1843.
Mr. Flett had married Miss Letitia Cook, who
was born in the Selkirk Settlement, Manitoba,
in 1820. Her father, William H. Cook, was
born in England and came to the Selkirk settle
ment in 1810 and conducted a mercantile estab
lishment there for the Hudson's Bay Company
until 1846. He was chief factor of that post. Mr.
ancl Mrs. Flett were married in 1840 and she
died in 1857, at Newburg, ' Yamhill county. Our
subject's father died when this lad was but
three years old. The widowed mother then
moved to Wapato lake where she married J. B.
Rogers, in the spring of 1846. Then they moved
to where Newburg is now located and bought a
farm and there our subject grew up and was
educated. In 1857 the mother died and our sub
ject was made the ward of his uncle, John Flett,
who apprenticed him to John W. Cullins to learn
the harnessmaker's trade in Portland. Owing to
the failure of the firm he was released and ac
companied his uncle to Fort Nesqually where he
worked for the Hudson's Bay Company under
chief factor Huggins for a year. Then we see
him in the Willamette valley working at the sad
dler's trade for wages until 1861, after which he
came east of the Cascades and rode the range
for Senator Ankeny and later purchased Indian
ponies, running a pack train to Canyon City and
in March, 1863, the Indians stole the entire
train at Shaniko. He purchased more horses
and packed for another season to Boise, then re
turned to the Willamette valley and engaged in
the manufacture of saddles. In April, 1870, he
took a preemption near where he now resides.
Later he took other claims and bought more land
until he is now farming nearly three sections. He
has been farming and stock raising, handling cat
tle, until recently. Now he devotes his time to
raising hogs and general farming. He has a
couple of hundred head and expects to increase
the number soon. Mr. Flett is well known all
through the country and highly esteemed, both
as a pioneer and a substantial man.
In 1872, Mr. Flett married Miss Lydia
Doughty, who was born in Yamhill county,
Oregon, on December 23, 1853. Her father,
William Doughty, was born in Knoxville, Ten
nessee, in 1810. He came west in the employ of
the American Fur Company in 1837 and four
years later journeyed on to the Willamette val
ley where he died in 1871. He had married Miss
Mary Doughty, who was born in 1815. To Mr.
and Mrs. Flett the following children have been
born, Mrs. Dona Clark, Mrs. Stella Clark, Rube,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

589'

John, William, Fannie, Maude, Elda, Frank, Flor
ence, and Arthur McKinley, all living. Mr. Flett
has one half sister, Anna Rogers. In politics,
he is a strong Republican, having held these
principles all his life. He is narrowed to no
particular denomination but supports them all
liberally. He also labors zealously for the ad
vancement of educational interests and is a highly
esteemed citizen. Mr. Flett has done consider
able work for the government officers in locating
Indians on land and has won their confidence and
esteem. He is a genuine westerner, generous,
hospitable and brave.
It is of interest to know that when the Red
River expedition was at the Cascade fort, their
captain, James Sinclair, was killed by the In
dians. The fort was besieged by savages and
the first shot fired killed Captain Sinclair. Grant
and Sheridan were there at that time.

S. B. BARKER has won distinction in sev
eral lines of enterprise. Without doubt, Mr.
Barker is one of the real builders of Gilliam
county, is to be numbered with the earliest pio
neers and is today one of its most substantial and
respected citizens. He was born in Athens,
Maine, on October 8, 1863. Charles F. Barker,
his father, was born in Conville, Maine, on May
1, 1829..' He was a prominent farmer near Athens
and also a lumber dealer. He married Hannah
Bradbury, who was born in Athens, on October
4, 1837. They are both living there now. Our
subject completed his educational training in the
Somerset academy at Athens and remained at
home until October 18, 1886, when he put into
execution a plan he had long cherished, that of
seeing the west. Oregon attracted him and to
Oregon he came. From the many fertile places
in the state, he selected what is now Gilliam
county and began herding sheep for wages. He
gathered five hundred dollars together and
-bought sheep with it a«d continued herding and
increasing his flock by investing his wages as
fast as he earned them. Soon he was enabled to
go into business for himself and he has steadily
followed the same until the present time. He now
has twelve thousand head of these valuable ani
mals and about nine thousand acres of land. All
these princely holdings have been gained by him
since coming to this county. It demonstrates the
fact that Mr. Barker is one of the most skillful,
enterprising and sagacious business men in this
part of the state. In 1892, he started a small
mercantile establishment in Condon. It was an
unpretentious start in a little wooden building but
as the years went by he increased his business

until finally, in 1903, he built a magnificent brick
structure well fitted for the mercantile business
and stocked it with as fine a collection of goods
as can be found in this part of the state. He has
a fine line of general merchandise, has gained a
patronage that is very gratifying and is one of
the leading merchants of central Oregon. He
personally supervises his business as well as his
stock interests and the same wisdom that gave
him success in the former has made him ex
ceedingly prosperous in this. He is the oldest
merchant in Condon. While he has been gaining
this magnificent fortune in the business world,
Mr. Barker has not forgotten his obligations to
his fellow men and to his country. He has won-
the respect and the confidence of everybody who
knows him, by" his upright bearing and by his
manliness and by his unswerving integrity. He
has always been first and foremost in every en
terprise to build up the country and to advance
the interests of civilization.
On July 23, 1895, Mr. Barker married Miss
Anna L. Clarke, who was born at Charleston,
Vermont, on October 4, 1871. She came to Ore
gon about the same time as her husband, with
her parents and located at Lone Rock. She-
taught school in this county and in the graded
school for several years and is a cultivated, re
fined and well educated lady. Her father, B. D.
Clarke, was born in Chelsea, Vermont, on July
24, and brought his family to Gilliam county in
1887 and died on January 1, 1897. He had mar
ried Miss Laura Kendall, who was born in
Georgeville, Quebec, in September, 1850, and'
died January 10, 1897. To Mr. and Mrs. Barker
the following named children have been born :
Carroll, on June 20, 1896; Verna, on Mar«h 11,.
1898 ; Kenneth, on November 20, 1903.
Mr. Barker is a member of the Masonic fra
ternity and also of the K. P. He is a stanch and1
well informed Republican and takes a lively in
terest in the campaigns. For six years he was
treasurer of this county. Mrs. Barker is a mem
ber of the Congregational church. She and her
husband are among the leading people of this
part of the state and have always exerted an in
fluence for good and for progress, while their
lives. have been such that they enjoy an unsullied
reputation and are the center of a large circle of
admiring friends.

SAMUEL McGILVRAY resides some six
and one-half miles northwest from Mayville,
Oregon, where he owns a good home and a half"
section of choice wheat land. He has been a resi
dent here for more than twenty years and is en
titled to be classed as one of the pioneers of the-

.590

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county of Gilliam. He is an enterprising farmer
and also devoted some time to handling stock. In
addition to these enterprises, Mr. McGilvray has
been for six years road master of Gilliam
county. He has shown marked wisdom and skill
in this important position and has so operated the
office as to win the approval of all his constit
uents. In his labors, he shows industry and en
terprise and his efforts have done much to assist
in the opening of this county and its advancement.
Samuel McGilvray was born in New York,
¦ on April 2, 1855. Angus McGilvray was his
father, and he was born in Scotland. Believing
the opportunities of the new world were best, he
came hither with his family and made settlemerft
in New York. In 1862, he removed to Ontario,
where he did farming until his death. He be
came a wealthy and prominent man. He married
Miss Jessie Robertson, also a native of Scotland,
who accompanied her husband on his journeys
until her death in 1873. Our subject was edu
cated in New York and Ontario and at the early
age of fifteen started in life for himself. His
first work on his own resources was in Michigan,
whither he had gone, and for two years he
wrought there. Then he journeyed on west to
Nebraska and worked for a year. In 1876, Mr.
McGilvray made his way to the Sacramento val
ley, California, and there worked for wages.
Later he came to Washington, but soon returned
to California. It was 1882 that he came to his
present location and took a homestead, and pur
chased the other quarter and he has bestowed his
labors here since that time. Mr. McGilvray has
six brothers and sisters : Cornelius, Catherine,
Flora, Maggie, Mary and Daniel.
In 1881 occurred the marriage of Mr. Mc
Gilvray and Miss Helen Anderson, who was born
in California, the daughter of William and Dru-
cella (Sweeney) Anderson, natives of Missouri.
Mr. Anderson came to California in 1852, became
prominent and wealthy there and in 1883 re
moved to Gilliam county, where he remained un
til his death. Mrs. Anderson came to Califor
nia with her parents in 1849. Besides Mrs.
McGilvray, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson had the fol
lowing named children, Eliza, Emma, Plugh,
Ella, Fannie, John ancl Nettie. To Mr. and Mrs.
McGilvray, eight children have been born, named -
as follows : Nettie, Jessie, deceased, Edna, Clar
ence, Orville, deceased Mary, Edgar and Ruth.
Mr. McGilvray is a member of the I. O. O. F.

CHARLES L. LILLIE started in life with
out capital but owing to his wise industry is now
one of the wealthiest farmes and stockmen in the
county of Gilliam. This is a record of which he

may justly be proud and it is with pleasure we
are enabled to recount some of the salient points
in his career, since the proper history of this
county demands it and since it will be a stimu
lus to those who are entering on life's battle
without means, but with a willingness to take
hold and work. During his successful career,
Mr. Lillie has also been careful to so conduct him
self as to win the confidence and esteem of all
with whom he came in contact and he stands ex
ceptionally well in this community today.
Charles L. Lillie was born in St. Lawrence
county, New York, on August 3, 1849, and his
father, William Lillie, was born in the same
place. The Lillie family is one of the early ones
to settle in the colonies and they came from the
stanch Welsh stock and did very much to open
up various sections. The father married Han
nah Edwards, who came from Scotch ancestry
and died when our subject was small. When
Charles was seven, the family came on to Iowa
and in 1864, the father and son crossed the plains
with ox and mule teams to the mines in Idaho.
There they both worked for three years, and then
a move was made to the Sacramento valley, Cal
ifornia, where they settled on a farm and there
the father remained until his death. Charles L.
had received his education in Iowa and in the
other places where they had lived, gaining his
training from the primitive schools then in
vogue. He was with his father until 1882, when
he came to Oregon and began the search for a
suitable place to make a home. He finally selected
the country about Mayville and secured a home
stead and a timber culture claim. He has bought
land since until he has now nine hundred and
sixty acres, all choice land, and productive of
bounteous harvest.
In 1882, Mr. Lillie married Mrs. Josephine
Russel, a native of Missouri. Her father, Judge
John Llewellyn, was a prominent man in that
state, being circuit judge for many years. He was
a native of Kentucky ancl married Miss Jane E.
Trabue, whose mother was a cousin of Henry-
Clay. The Trabues were a very prominent fam
ily of Kentucky. Judge Llewellyn was a large
planter ancl a good man. Four children have
been born to Mr. ancl Mrs. Lillie: Charles L,
John W, Lonnie C, and Antonia T, the last
two being twins. Mr. Lillie has two brothers,
Joel, a veteran of the Civil War and now a re
tired farmer in Sioux City, Iowa, and George,
also a veteran of the Rebellion. He, also, has
four sisters, all residing in California: Mrs.
Lamira Reid, at St. Lucas ; Mrs. Mary A. King,
also of St. Lucas : Mrs. Eliza Buhrman, of Chico;
and Mrs. Elma Thompson, of Venado. Mrs.
Lillie had two brothers and seven sisters, all of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

591

whom are dead, except one brother and two sis
ters, namely : Samuel E, of Mayville, Oregon ;
Mrs. A. J. Johnson, of Bodie, California, and
Mrs. Robert Graham, of Mayville, Oregon. Mr.
and Mrs. Lillie are good people, enterprising cit
izens and fine neighbors. They are popular and
have many friends.

RODERICK F. MUNROE is well known
-as the host of the Hotel Grand in Arlington, a
popular resort and well patronized by the travel
ing public. The house is first class in every re
spect aiid under the skillful management of Mr.
Munroe is made an excellent place for the enter
tainment of the public.
Roderick F. Monroe was born in Aberdeen,
¦on January 4, 1855. His father, John Munroe,
was born in Scotland and was a well-to-do
farmer there. He had sold his property expect
ing to migrate to the United States but died be
fore that journey occurred. He married Ann
Glennie, a native of Scotland, who remained there
until 1855. In his native place, our subject was
well educated and worked on a farm until May
3, 1870 when he embarked at Glasgow for On
tario. He settled near Colburn and there began
to work for wages. In May, 1871, he came to
New York and wrought on a farm ancl in dig
ging iron ore for seven years. In 1878, he com
pleted the journey to the Willamette valley, hav
ing determined to try his fortune in the west. He
wrought for wages on a farm and also for the
Western Union Telegraph Company for three
years then he came to this section which was
then embraced in Wasco county, it being 1881,
and engaged in sheep herding. For three years,
he was occupied in that business and then he pur
chased a band of sheep for himself. For twelve
years after that, wool growing was the indus
try which Mr. Munroe followed with good suc
cess. At that time, he sold his property, sheep
and all, and went to Wyoming. Seven months
later he returned to Condon and in 1899, in com
pany with A. J. Shelton, purchased the Hotel
Grand at Arlington. For a year they operated it
together then Mr. Munroe bought Mr. Shelton's
interest and since that time has operated the
hotel himself. It is a first class house, complete
in all its arrangements and is a splendid place
for entertainment.
In April, 1899, Mr. Munroe married Mrs.
Luella McCurrv. who was born in Missouri, in
1859. Mr. Munroe is a member of the blue lodge
and the Royal Arch chapter of the Masons and
also belongs to the I. O. O. F. He is a good

strong Republican and a member of the Pres
byterian church. He is an enterprising citizen,
well esteemed, and always ready to assist in
everything that tends to build up the country.

THOMAS G. WOODLAND is one of the
wealthy pioneers of Gilliam county. He resides
six miles southeast of Olex and was born in
Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, on November 12,
1847. His parents, Thomas and Martha (Wood
ward) Woodland, were born in Chattam, county
of Kent, England, on May 10, 1802, and in Lon
don, England, on March 27, 1807 respectively.
The former died in 1872 and the latter on No
vember 4, 1884. Thomas G. received his educa
tion in the Wooster schools and at the early age
of fifteen, he enlisted in Company D, Eighty-
sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served under
Burnsides, assisted to capture Morgan and was
at the surrender of Cumberland Gap September
9, 1863. He did a great deal of Guerrilla war
fare and his honorable discharge was received at
Camp Cleveland, Ohio, February 10, 1864. He
immediately came west, landing in Portland
August 18, 1864. He engaged in farming in
Yamhill county until November, 1872 when he
journeyed on to Rock Creek and farmed and
raised stock ancl his farm of one thousand acres
has been the scene of his labors since. Our
subject's two brothers, W. H. and Charles E,
enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War and
served until its close. They were with Grant
and saw very hard service. Charles E. died after
his discharge, from the effects of the hardship of
the war. Mr. Woodland has two sisters, Mrs.
Rose W. Leidy in Wayne county, Ohio and Mrs.
Emma W Hartzel, at Barbertori, Ohio.
On February 16, 1876, Mr. Woodland mar
ried Miss Sarah E. Butler, who was born in Lane
county, Oregon on April 7, i860. She came with
her parents to Rock creek in 1870 and died on
November 2-,, 1898. Her father, J. H. Butler,
was born in Missouri in 1830 crossed the plains
to California, shortly after the discovery of gold.
Two years were spent mining and then he came
to Oregon and remained until his death, on Jan
uary 27. 188 1. He married Rachel Miller, who
was born in Iowa and crossed the plains with her
parents with ox teams in 1847. She is now liv
ing on Rock Creek, having married P. T. Cun
ningham. Mr. Woodland and his wife have the
following named children : Mattie M, born on
Rock creek, May 14. 1880 and now the wife of
L. W. Ward, a farmer in Gilliam county; Elda
May. born January 14, 1884.
Mr. Woodland is a member of the G. A. R.

592

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and is a strong Republican. He has held the
office of county commissioner for six years and
is one of the leading men of the county. Mr.
Woodland is a member of the Missionary Baptist
church. His parental ancestors have been Bap
tists as far back as they have any history. His
father devoted a large portion of his life to Sun
day school and church work.

ROBERT B. SPENCER has achieved a suc
cess in Gilliam county in which he may well take
pride. He resides twelve miles southeast of Olex
and gives his attention to farming and stock rais
ing. He was born in Vermilion county, Illinois,
on April 12, 1850. His father, Sheldon Spencer,
was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, and died Au
gust 14, 1877. He married Sarah Boyd, who
was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, on Octo
ber 14, 1829. She is still living at Springfield,
Oregon, well preserved for a woman of her age,
and has nobly done the work of a pioneer for half
a century or more. In 185 1 our subject's par
ents brought him across the plains and they set
tled on a donation claim on the north bank of the
McKenzie river some six miles northeast of Eu
gene, and there remained until December, 1866.
The family then returned to Illinois and stayed
there one year. After that they again came to
Oregon, and this time bought a farm one mile
north from Springfield, Lane county, which is the
home of our subject's mother at this time. There
Robert B. was reared and educated, remaining
until 1884 when he came east of the mountains
and selected a homestead where he resides at the
present time, made cash, entry on a section of
railroad land and began the work of opening
up a farm and raising cattle. He has added since
to his estate until he has about sixteen hundred
acres all told, eleven hundred acres of which are
in a high state of cultivation and producing crops
annually. The balance is utilized for pasture.
He has a small band of horses, fifty head of cat
tle and everything in the line of improvement and
equipage needed on the estate. Arriving here
with very little means, Mr. Spencer has labored
so wisely and well that he has been blessed with
the prosperity we have mentioned. This indicates
a man of ability and stamina.
At Springfield, Lane county, Oregon, on
March 14, 1875, Mr. Spencer married Miss Mary
Landes, who was born in Iowa on January 11,
1849. In J854 she crossed the plains with her
parents, Abraham and A. (Levell) Landes. The
father was born in Virginia and was a veteran of
the Black Hawk war and a pioneer to Oregon.
Mr. Spencer is a member of the I. 0.> O. F.

and very popular in fraternal relations. In poli
tics, he is a Republican and makes himself active
in all the campaigns. Mr. Spencer is a leading
man in this part of Gilliam county and has done
a good share in bringing the county to its present
state of prosperity and wealth.

HON. CLEMENS A. DANNEMAN was
one of the earliest pioneers of Gilliam county and
is today one of its worthiest and most prominent
citizens. He was born in Germany, on October
13, 1835, the son of Jacob and Agnes (Wassen-
berg) Danneman, natives of Germany. The
former was born in 1787 and the latter in 1795.
The father died in 1850, being a well to do farmer]
Our subject was well educated in his native
country and when nineteen years of age migrated
to the United States. He had but five dollars in
cash when he landed in New York and went to>
work for wages so low that he barely made his
board. Three months later we find him in In
diana where he worked for seven dollars per
month for three years. In Germany he had been
apprenticed to learn the mercantile business and
had to pay fifty dollars per year for the privi
lege. After leaving the farm in Indiana he spent
four years as bookkeeper in a mercantile estab
lishment for which he received sixteen dollars
per month. In 1861 Mr. Danneman enlisted in
the First Indiana Cavalry as private and was
soon promoted to first lieutenant. He was in the
scouting and bushwhacking service for some time
and fought in the battle of Pilot Knob, then at
Fredericksburg, after which he was sent to Jack-
sonport, Arkansas. Next we find him at Helena,.
in the same state, where he had had some very
hard fighting. During a scouting expedition two.
regiments of cavalry met the rear guard of Gen
eral Price, on his retreat, and a severe fight
ensued. Our subject received a canister shot
wound in the knee of his right leg. He was then
in command of a battery attached to the First
Indiana Cavalry. For nine months after this he
was confined in the hospital, before he could re
join his command. After this his command was.
transferred to White river, then to Little Rock,.
finally at Pine Bluffs, Arkansas, he was honor
ably discharged. Immediately following that, he-
went to his home in Spencer county, Indiana,.
and was promptly elected sheriff of the county,
serving in that capacity for four years. After
that, he was engaged in various lines of business
for six years, and finally in 1879 came west to>
Oregon. In the same year he settled in Gilliam
county, taking a homestead and timber culture-
about thirteen miles north from where Condom

L.

Mrs. Robert B. Spencer

Robert B. Spencer

Clemens A. Danneman

William W. Head

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

593

now stands. He devoted himself to farming and
stock-raising and has continued uninterruptedly
in this occupation since that time. In it all he
has made a splendid success and is -now one of
the wealthy men in this part of the state. He
owns one thousand acres of as fertile land as is
found and his timber culture claim is the best in
the county. He has one of the best modern resi
dences of the county and his entire estate is im
proved in a splendid manner. Mr, Danneman
has five thousand acres of land in the mountains
besides this estate, which he uses for summer
range. He has about two hundred and fifty head
of cattle besides other stock and property. Mr.
Danneman has one brother, Bernard, still living in
Germany, and one sister, Bernardina Boecker, in
Alsace. In 1878, Mr. Danneman married Miss Ella
Bashan, a native of Kentucky, and to them three
children have been born, Cary A, Bessie G,
and Mary C.
Mr. Danneman is a stanch Republican, having
cast his first vote for John C. Fremont. He was
recently elected to the state legislature of Ore
gon on the Republican ticket and served his dis
trict in a most creditable manner. In this, Mr.
Danneman demonstrated the fact that he was
capable in the halls of legislature as in the busi
ness world and earned many encomiums.
He is affiliated with the I. O. O. F. It is of
great interest to know that when Mr. Danneman
first came to this county he had no means at all.
He passed the hardships of pioneer life without
capital and has so conducted himself that he has
not only gained a large holding of wealth but
has also won the esteem and confidence of all
who know him, and has the pleasure of reviewing
a life well spent.

WILLIAM W. HEAD has labored in Gil
liam county for over a quarter of a century
during which time he has demonstrated beyond
peradventure that he is a man of industry and
enterprise, sagacity and sound principle. At the
present time he resides ten miles west from Olex
where he has eight hundred acres of land, a por
tion of which is a meadow. His improvements
upon the place are of the best and his home is
one of the finest residences in Gilliam county. He
has about two hundred head of Shorthorn cattle,
forty horses, besides other property. He is one
of the wealthy stockmen and farmers of the
county as well as one of the leading citizens.
William W. Head was born in Kentucky,
March 19, 1854, his parents being John M. and
Martha (Luckett) Head, natives of Franklin
38

county. The father was a veteran of the Civil
war. Our subject received a good education in
the public schools of the Blue Grass State, re
maining there with his father until 1878, then he
came direct to Oregon and to what is now Gil
liam county. Upon arriving here, he discovered
that he had no capital and consequently began to
work for wages. Shortly thereafter he took a
homestead and then a preemption and a timber
culture claim and continued working out until he
had means enough to start him in general farm
ing. He commenced in a very small way and
gradually increased his operations. As the sea
sons rolled by, he gained each year additional
land until he had two thousand acres of fine wheat
land besides some grazing land. This was made
to produce bounteous harvests annually until
1902, when he sold his entire estate purchasing
the farm where he now resides. Mr. Head is
expecting to give his attention largely to breeding
fine stock and in this enterprise he has shown
himself a skillful man. Mr. Head has the fol
lowing named brothers and sisters : R. G, James,
Benjamin, Mrs. Mattie Hamilton, Mrs. Susan
Foster, and Mrs. Marriett Matthews.
In political matters our subject is a Democrat,
and while he has achieved marked success in his
labors here he has also taken a keen interest in
political matters, in educational affairs, and what
ever is for the good of the community. His
standing is of the best and he has won hosts of
friends. As yet Mr. Head has never taken to himself
a wife, although he is a popular man.

SAMUEL A. THOMAS. In pioneer days
three brothers of the Thomas family came to the
United States, which was then a young country.
One of them settled in Canada later, and one
settled in New York. The other one, Andrew
Thomas, settled in Indiana. He was a sturdy
pioneer, came from the strong Welsh stock, and
did much to open up the territory of Indiana.
His son, James S. Thomas, is the father of the
gentleman whose name appears at the head of
this article. James S. Thomas was born in
Washington county, Indiana and was reared on
his father's homestead and received his education
in his native state. He married and settled in
Indiana, and our subject is his son. He had mar
ried Miss Mary A. McClanahan, who was born
in Clark county, Indiana, her parents also being
pioneers of that state. Samuel McClanahan, her
father, was a prominent man in public affairs and
one of the leaders of his section. In Salem, Indi
ana, Samuel A. received a good education and

594

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

when that was completed, he learned telegraphy.
. Some years were spent in this calling and then
we find him, in 1888, in South Dakota, where he
learned the printer's business. Next he was in
stalled editor of the Big Stone County Journal,
at Ortonville, Minnesota, which he conducted
creditably until 1900. Mr. Thomas had always
been desirous of coming to the west and in that
year, he put into action these desires. Portland
-was the objective point of these journeys and
there Mr. Thomas wrought at the printers' art
for two years. Then he discerned the opening in
Arlington for a good, live paper and here decided
to start a journal. In due time the Appeal was
launched, Mr. Thomas being proprietor and editor
of the sheet. It is a bright and taking paper, well
gotten up, full of local news and deals with the
issues of the day in an intelligent manner. While
it has been in existence but slightly over . two
years, still Mr. Thomas has secured a generous
support and his subscription list is large and ex
tensive for a country journal. It is the official
paper of the city. In political matters, Mr.
Thomas is an out and out Republican believing
that the principles of that party are for the best
interests of all.
In 1892, Mr. Thomas took unto himself a
wife, the lady being Miss Maud Purdy, who was
born in Iowa and educated in Ipswich, South
Dakota. Her parents, Charles B. and Mary
(McConnell) Purdy, we're born in Ontario and
Indiana, respectively, and. now dwell in Port
land, Oregon. Five children have come to bless
the home of our subject,' Charles P, S. Arvid,
Iva V, Mardie G, and William L. Mr. Thomas
Is a member of the A. F. & A. M. He is a young
man, has gained his present prosperous business
¦entirely by his own efforts, having started in
life without capital, and has won the esteem ancl
approval of all who know him. Mr. Thomas was
delegate from the seventh congressional district
in Minnesota to the convention that nominated
McKinley in 1900, ancl is always deeply interested
in politics.

EUGENE W. DAGGETT is one of the lead
ing business men of Gilliam county. At present
he is a member of an important mercantile firm
in Blalock and also holds the position of agent
for the Arlington Warehouse Company in Bla
lock. He is considered one of the substantial
and successful business men and has made a
clean and good record in his operations here.
Before becoming interested in business, Mr. Dag
gett was wholly occupied in educational work
and was one of the prominent ones of his profes
sion of this part of the state. After completing

the full high school course in Armada, Michi
gan, he at once began teaching, and in 1891, he
came to Chicago. He kept drifting west until
1892 found him in Blalock, where he soon was
installed as teacher of the town schools. Next
he was in Grant, this state, and for a short time
there was assistant postmaster and interested in
merchandising. He sold out his interest there in
1894 and repaired to Arlington where he was
chosen principal of the city schools. He at once
graded them in proper manner and added three
terms of high school work. By his skillful and
thorough work, Mr. Daggett raised the Arling
ton schools to a high position in the state and
laid a foundation for future work which is worthy
a master organizer. While serving as principal
of this school, he was chosen superintendent of
the schools of the county, his name appearing on
the Republican ticket. For two years he held the
office to his credit and to the good of the schools
of the county. In March, 1899, he again en
tered that office, being appointed to fill the va
cancy made by the resignation of W. W. Ken
nedy. In the meantime, Mr. Daggett had re
signed from the Arlington schools and accepted a
position as bookkeeper for J. W. Smith. He
remained with Mr. Smith and his successor until
1902 when he became bookkeeper for the Arling
ton Warehouse Company and served them in
Arlington until November, 1902, when he went
to Blalock and accepted the agency of their plant
there. Then he took up merchandising as stated
and has conducted a successful business since.
Eugene W. Daggett was born in Algona,.
Iowa, on May 17, 1870. Samuel Daggett was his
father, and he was born in Armada, Michigan. In
1867, he brought his family to Iowa, and in
1875, he removed them back to Michigan. He is
now a wealthy and prominent citizen in his na
tive state. He married Miss Sarah A. Mills,
who was born in Charmount, New York, of
Scotch ancestry and died when Eugene W. was
four years old. Her father, Robert Mills, was
born in New Hampshire and kept working west
on the frontier all his life until he landed in Ore
gon, where his death occurred.
In 1896, Mr. Daggett married Miss Kittie
M. Reecl, who was born near Arlington and re
ceived her education in the Arlington schools.
They have one child, Myra A. Mr. Daggett is
a member of the K. P, and he and his wife are
prominent people in Blalock.

HENRY D. RANDALL, who resides at
Olex. has one of the best places in Gilliam
county. His residence is an imposing structure
of modern architectural design,' is beautifully

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

59i

surrounded by handsome shade trees, while his
estate, consisting of eight hundred acres, is well
laid out and improved. About five hundred
acres are. under cultivation and the balance is
used for pasture.
Henry D. Randall was born in Ohio, on De
cember 26, 1848. His father, Abraham Randall,
was born in New York city, in 1814 and died in
Cove, Oregon, in 1899. He had settled there in
1863. He married Miss Lucinda Oliphant, a na
tive of Ohio, who died in Iowa, in i860. Our
subject left Ohio with his parents when a year
old and journeyed to Benton county, Indiana,
and thence in a short time to Marshall county.
Seven years later he moved to Iowa and in 1863,
the father and children came across the plains,
the mother having died. Upon arriving at Boise,
our subject engaged in government work while
the balance of the family came on to the Grande
Ronde valley and located. After being in the
government employ for a couple of months,
Henry D. engaged with C. Jacobs and Company,
general merchants, in Boise. In 1864, he went to
Corvallis and there attended school until he was
fitted for school teaching. The next two years
were spent in the educator's work ; then he went
to California and was in the employ of G. W.
Crook on a stock ranch until 1870. Returning
then to Corvallis, he taught school for a year
longer and then went to King's valley and in
1872, he went to Whitman county and took up a
homestead. In 1874 he came to his present loca
tion and purchased eight hundred acres of land.
This was used as headquarters for a fine stock
ranch until the winter of 1879-80 swept away ten
thousand dollars' worth of cattle and sheep. Then
Mr. Randall turned his attention to farming, prin-
pically, and in this he has been occupied since. He
Is one of the progressive and enterprising men of
the section, has labored with wisdom and has
shown himself a genuine good man. When Mr.
Randall landed in Boise he had neither money
nor education. To earn the money to secure an
education in a frontier country is fully under
stood by him but he accomplished it splendidly
and in a short time was doing the fine work of
the educator as well. Everything that he now
owns has been cleared by hard labor and good
management and he has , reason to take pride in
his achievements. During these years his ex
ample has stimulated many others to meritorious
effort. On February 22, 1872, Mr. Randall married
Miss Ordelia Chambers, who was born in
Benton' county, Oregon, on June 3, 1855. She
was educated in her native country. Her father,
Roland Chambers, was born in Ohio ancl crossed
the plains 'to; Benton county, Oregon, in 1845.

Mr. Randall has two brothers, John and Will
iam, farming in Union county, this state and
three sisters, Mrs. Margaret Vernon, Mrs. Sarah
Fulson and Mrs. Mary Thompson. The former
lives near Sprague, Washington and the latter
two are deceased. To our subject and his wife
eleven children have been born, named as fol
lows, Mrs. Effie Martin, John, Claude, Edgar,
Mabel, Hattie, Nott, Delia, Frank, Mildred ancl
Grace. Mr. Randall affiliates with the A. F. & A. M.
and always has been a strong Republican. He
takes an active interest in educational matters
and the affairs of the community in general and
is one of the leading and influential men of the
county.

THOMAS DEAN has the satisfaction of
knowing that he has made a splendid success in
financial matters during his career, for he started
in life without capital, and is now one of the
well to do farmers of Gilliam county. All his
property has been gathered by his own labors and
a review of his life shows him to have wrought
with display of industry and wisdom, which have
brought their due reward.
Thomas Dean was born in Sheridan county,
Missouri, on April 17, 1871, the son of Hazel
and Phoebe A. (Best) Dean, natives of Indiana
and Missouri respectively. The father went to
Missouri in early days, later removed to Arkan
sas and in 1884 journeyed on to eastern Oregon.
He settled near Pendleton, and two years later
came west to his present location. He owns a
fine body of land, about one thousand acres, in
Gilliam county, and that is his home today. He
is one of the wealthy and leading men of the
county. Our subject was with the balance of the
family until of age, having completed his edu
cation in Oregon, which he started in the east.
When he had reached manhood's estate, he took
a homestead and then bought another quarter
where he now lives, some eight miles west from
Dpuglas. This farm of one-half section is now
devoted to raising grain and is one of the valu
able ones of the county. It is well improved and
supplied with all conveniences and equipment that
are needed and Mr. Dean is to be commended in
his labors to build up the country.
The marriage of Thomas Dean and Miss
Anna League occurred in 1894 and two chil
dren have been born to them, Effie and Hazel.
Mrs. Dean was born in Missouri and came to
Oregon with her parents and the balance of the
family. Thomas J. League was born in Ohio,
then came to Indiana when a young man and at
the time of the breaking out of the Civil war, he

596

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

enlisted and fought through it to the end. Then he
moved west to Missouri and twelve years since
came on to Oregon. He is now dwelling on a
farm in Washington. He married Miss Olive
Stratton, a native of Ohio. She went to Iowa
with her parents and thence to Missouri when a
girl. Mr. and Mrs. Dean are prominent people
in this community and have won the esteem and
respect of all, and are to be classed as part of
the noble workers who have made Gilliam county
one of the prosperous sections of the great state
of Oregon.

MARION E. WEATHERFORD, one of
the younger men who have supplied brain and
brawn to make Gilliam county a prosperous and
leading section of Oregon, is located near Olex,
on Shuttler Flat, where he owns and farms two
sections of land. He has a splendid place. He
is a man of ability and excellent standing and has
won hosts of friends.
Marion E. Weatherford was born in Morrow
county, Oregon, and so has the advantage of be
ing well acquainted with these sections all his
life, as Morrow county is much the same section
as Gilliam. The date of his advent into life was
March 2, 1872. His parents are mentioned spec
ifically in another portion of this work. The
public schools of his native state furnished the
educational training of our subject and he finished
in the business department of the state institu
tion at Monmouth. He entered that institution in
1890, and graduated in the class of 1892. Im
mediately upon graduation he turned his atten
tion to farming and has steadily pursued that
course since that time. Mr. Weatherford is one
always interested in political matters and in
other things that build up the country and is
public minded and enterprising.
In November, 1893, occurred the marriage
of Miss Minnie C. Snell to Marion E. Weather
ford, and to this happy household two children
have been born, Frank M. and Horatio A. Mrs.
Weatherford was born in Nevada and her father,
B. T. Shell, brought his family hither in early
days, being one of the pioneers of Gilliam county.
He served at one time as commissioner of Gil
liam county and was a prominent citizen. Mr.
Weatherford is a member of the A. O. U. W.
and is a popular and influential man in society
and in fraternal circles.

J. A. CRUM, deceased. In speaking of those
who have made Gilliam county the prosperous
section that she is today, it is quite proper to
mention the gentleman whose name appears at

the head of this article. His labors have been
very productive of good development in this part
of the country, and he was one of the early set
tlers in the territory now embraced in Gilliam
county. He had been a pioneer to various sec
tions of the west and had seen very much hard
service for years. A brief account of his life will
certainly be interesting and instructive.
J. A. Crum was born in Schaefferstown, Penn
sylvania, on February 14, 1846. His father,
George Crum, was born in Schaefferstown,
Pennsylvania in 1818. He followed school teach
ing and later was a manufacturer of harness. He
died in 1875. Our subject received his early edu
cation in his native town and then attended
school in Philadelphia. When fourteen years of
age, he began working in a flour mill and re
mained until eighteen years of age and became a
skillful miller. He came to Illinois at that time
and remained in that state until 1861 when he
went with a train under the command of Cap
tain Sawyer, who was opening up a route to
Montana. They were corralled by the Indians
for fourteen days at one time. The Indians
agreed to let them go if they would deliver up
Captain Sawyer. This they refused to do and
stood the siege for fourteen days when they
finally purchased off the Indians by giving them
sugar and other provisions. Mr. Crum operated
the first mill at Virginia City, Montana, which
was the first in the territory. He continued
milling and mining there for six or seven years
and was there when the vigilants were in com
mand of the country. About 1867 or 1868 Mr.
Crum came on to Walla Walla and after spend
ing .one year there went to the mines, then re
turned to Summerville, Oregon where he oper
ated a mill for his wife's brother, J. H. Rine
hart, for five years. Next we see Mr. Crum in
the vicinity of Aurora, Clackamas county, Ore
gon, where he did farming until 1883. In that
year he removed to Gilliam county, settling near
Olex and remained until his death which oc
curred on October 8, 1898. Being one of the
old pioneers, he was well known throughout the
country and was also highly esteemed. He built
and operated a mill at Olex which was the first
mill in Gilliam county. There had been but one
crop of wheat raised here when Mr. Crum erected
it and his mill came in splendid time to assist the
pioneers. In Union county, Oregon, on July 7, 1871,
Mr. Crum married Sarah E. Rinehart, who was
born near Oskaloosa, Iowa, on March 6, 1853.
Her father, Lewis Pvinehart, was born in Ten
nessee, on September 5, 1801 and was also a
pioneer, keeping ahead of the railroad and his
death occurred at Summerville, in 1882. He

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

597

had married Elizabeth Ellis, who was born in
Tennessee, on February 19, 1805. She died at
Olex, on January 30, 1903, lacking but twenty
days of being ninety-five years of age. Mrs.
Crum crossed the plains with her parents in 1854
and settled in Lane county, ten miles south from
Eugene. She received her early education in the
common schools of that section and remained
until seventeen years of age, when the family
went to Summerville. She completed her edu
cation in the Lagrande schools and was then mar
ried. Since her husband's death, she has con
tinued to conduct the farm ancl does fruit raising
and gardening and also handles considerable hay.
She is the youngest of thirteen children, part of
whom are mentioned as follows : John, deceased,
G. W., J. H, F. M, H. H, L. B., W. E, and
J. N. To Mr. ancl Mrs. Crum the following
named children have been born : Mrs. Carrie Wil
kins, at Clem ; George L, living near Ajax ; Wil
lard, Eugene and Franklin, deceased. The death
of all these occurred in September, from typhoid
fever. The other children are Jessie W., Ora
A, and McKinley. These three are living with
their mother. Mr. and Mrs. Crum were active
members of the Methodist church and were al
ways laboring for the extending of the church,
for better educational facilities and for general
advancement.

CLAYTON SHANE, who is a substantial
farmer of Gilliam county, resides about twelve
miles southeast from Arlington, on Eightmile
creek. He owns four hundred and eighty acres
of good land ancl devotes himself almost exclu
sively to raising grain. He has some stock and
-often turns off a few head, but grain is his staple.
He is an industrious representative of the agri
cultural population and has wrought out a good
success in his labors here.
Clayton Shane was born in Michigan, on
March 5, 1850, the son of William ancl Esther
(Fry) Shane, natives of New York. The father
was a pioneer to Michigan ancl farmed there un
til his death. The mother came to Michigan
with her parents and is now living on the old
homestead of her husband. Our subject was well
educated in Michigan and Indiana, and then
wrought in a store in Michigan for five years. In
1878, he made up his mind to try the west, select
ing California as the objective point. For eight
years he farmed there, with reasonable success,
and then came north. It was 1886 when Mr.
Shane landed in Oregon and after due search he
selected a homestead where he now lives. Since
then he has added a half section by purchase and
has made it a choice wheat farm. He has added

improvements in good shape and has handled the
business with display of ability. Inasmuch as
Mr. Shane started in life without means and has
now a good property it speaks well of his indus
try and his wisdom in managing his business.
In 1892, Mr. Shane married Miss Jennie
Montague, who was born in Kansas and came to
Oregon with her parents. To this union five chil
dren have been born : Earl, Raymond, George,
Alvin, Milton.

WILLIAM SMITH, who is postmaster at
Croy, is one of the wealthiest residents of Gil
liam county, ancl is a man of no ordinary ability.
An account of his career will be both interesting
ancl beneficial ancl with pleasure we append the
same. William Smith was born in the parish of New
Abby, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, Scotland, on
November 19, 1854. His father, Joseph Smith.
died in July, 1855. He married Jane Beaffie in
1825. Our subject was born in the same county
as the historical Paul Jones. He received his ed
ucation in the public schools and after leaving his
books, worked in a railroad office for four years,
then was bookkeeper in a brewing and malt es
tablishment in Whiteharen, Cumberland, Eng
land for eight years. On January 19, 1883, he
left Glasgow for Portland, Oregon, coming via
San Francisco. In the spring of that year, we
find him about ten miles up from Grant in Sher
man county at work for forty dollars per month,
handling sheep. In June of the same year he
commenced business hy purchasing a small band
of sheep. He located at the mouth of Hay
creek in June, 1891, on the John Day river in
Gilliam county. He now has a residence in Ar
lington for school privileges. He had learned
the sheep business most thoroughly and from the
time he started for himself until the present he
has had perfect success. He is now the prosperous
possessor of six thousand acres of land and over
eight thousand sheep. The improvements upon
his domain are among the best in the county ancl
his residence is one of the best in this part of
Oregon. It is evident that Mr. Smith is a very
wise and capable man. He is also possessed of
that rare ability of tenacity and thoroughness
which always accompanies genuine prosperity. In
his career he is head of the line in every particu
lar. He did not work a few months here, dabble
in something else and then go to a third enter
prise but having secured a position, he remained
with it continuously until he had capital enough
to enter business. In everything he has em
barked upon his business care and ability have
pushed it with the best of wisdom and energy.

598

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Concentrating his whole attention to it, it has
brought him the success he now enjoys.
At The Dalles, Oregon, on December 3, 1889,
Mr. Smith married Miss Katherine E. Granville,
Justice Lang officiating. Mrs. Smith was born
in Freestone, Sonoma county, California, on Feb
ruary 2, 1870. Her parents, Richard and Kath
erine (Connor) Granville, moved to Glenwood,
Klickitat county, Washington, when she was fif
teen years old, and her education was received
there in the public schools. Her father was born
in England, came to the United States when
young, fought for the stars and stripes in the
Civil War and was an early pioneer to Cali
fornia. He died when only twenty-nine years
of age. Her mother was born in Ireland and
cnme to the United States with her parents when
seventeen years of age. Her marriage occurred
in i860. After Mrs. Smith's father died, his
widow married August Berg, a native of Ger
many, the wedding occurring in 1874. He was
in the United States navy during the Civil War
md was a pioneer to Klickitat county, Washing
ton. Mrs. Smith has the following named broth
ers and sisters : Thomas, born in California on
October 29, 1864; Richard, born in California, on
March 5, 1866; Mary, born in California, on
April 6, 1868. She had one half sister, Ellen
Perg, who was born in California, on July 8,
1876, and died on November 15, 1896. Mr.
Smith's sisters and brothers are Janet, Jane,
Elizabeth, Agnes and James all living in Scot-
hnd. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith the following
named children have been born : Mabel Beattie,
on September 23, 1890; Myrtle Eva, on May 5,
1893 : Hazel Edith, on January 3, 1895, who died
at Arlington, Oregon, on September 5, 1900; and
William Granville, on October 3, 1900.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Royal Arch
degree of masonry of Heppner Chapter 26, and
was exalted on May 23, 1903.
In politics, Mr. Smith is a strong and well
posted Republican. He and his wife are mem-
bets of the Presbyterian church. They are lead
ing and influential people in the county and have
clone a fine work here in upbuilding and bring
ing out its resources and have won for them
selves the esteem and friendship of all the people.

JOHN W. MATTHEWS is one of the in
dustrious and substantial farmers of Gilliam
county and resides about seven miles west from
Douglas on Eightmile creek. He was born in
Clay county, Missouri, on February 10, 1861.
Thomas D. Matthews, his father, came to cen
tral Oregon in 1882, then settled at Pendleton,

being one of the early settlers there. He devoted
himself to farming there a while, then went to
Baker City, where he is interested in mining. He:
also owns a quarter section of land near where
our subject lives. The mother of John W,
Margaret J. (McAdarns) Matthews, was born in
Missouri and died in this state in 1893. Her
parents were natives of North Carolina. _ In Clay
county, Missouri, our subject received his educa
tion and then came to Oregon with the balance of
the family, which consisted of his father, mother,
four brothers, and three sisters. After coming
here he wrought on the O. R. & N. railroad for
many years, and in fact, until six years since.
Then he settled on the farm where he now lives
and has one-half section of good wheat land. He
devotes himself to farming and has his place well
improved. In 1898, Mr. Matthews married Mrs. Nancy
M. Harshman, horn February 10, 1869, the
daughter of Hazel Dean, a well to do farmer of
this county. She was born in Chariton county,
Missouri, and came to Oregon in 1881, with her
parents. To Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, one child has
been born, Ada. By her former marriage Mrs.
Matthews has three children, Harvey, Oliver,
and Floyd. It is interesting to note that the-
property now possessed by Mr. Matthews has
all been earned by his own labors, as he started
in life without means. He, has a comfortable-
home and he and his wife are among the sub
stantial people of the county.

A. H. RUEDY, M. D. The people of Gil
liam county and of the adjoining country need
no introduction to Dr. Ruedy, nor does the medi
cal profession at large, as he is of high standing
among his colleagues and is known by his skill
in various portions of the United States. Ar
lington is greatly to be congratulated that she has
secured as a permanent resident this highly edu
cated and skillful physician ancl surgeon. He is
a deep student, a thorough gentleman, and a lead
ing and enterprising citizen. No compilation of
this character would be complete without an ac
count of his life and it is with pleasure that we
are able to append the same.
A. H. Ruedy was born in the world famous
republic of Switzerland, the date being Novem
ber 1, 1866. M. Ruedy was his father and he,
too, was a native of that country. When young-
he came to America, crossed the plains and mined
in California in the early fifties, then returned
east, and again went to the Golden State, that
time via Cape Horn. Later, we see him a cap-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

599*

tain of craft on Lake Erie. He is now retired in
Los Angeles, California. He married Miss Eliz
abeth Vogeli, who is descended from one of the
best families of Switzerland. Her father, John
Vogeli, was a prominent man in the republic,
being senator and judge. A. H. received his
early education in Switzerland and there became
master of the German and French languages:
Then he studied in a prominent Ohio university,
when he came to this country, and later gradu
ated from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.
This was in 1888, when he took his degree from
that institution, and he immediately entered upon
some post-graduate work in Los Angeles. After
this, he went to Chicago and spent some time
in research there. Next he matriculated at the
Oregon University, at Eugene, and there he
graduated in the class of 1897, winning the gold
medal. Before entering this university, the doc
tor had spent some time in Berlin, studying pre
paratory to the medical course. Upon his recep
tion of his degree of Doctor of Medicine, he re
ceived an appointment to the Good Samaritan
hospital in Portland ancl there he remained until
coming to Arlington in 1897. Aside from two
trips abroad since that time, he has spent his
time here in the practice of his profession. But
Dr. Ruedy was not content simply to master the
journals, he wished to have personal association
with the leading medical minds of the world and
so he went to Europe and spent a time in Paris.
After that, he returned to his work here ancl
gained a fine practice. Then he saw an oppor
tunity to associate with one of the great minds
of the world and went to Europe again. This time
he studied in Paris, Switzerland, Berlin, Vienna,
and in other places. Last summer he spent a
time in Vienna with the noted Dr. Hofrath Von
Mosetig, who is associated with the Allegemeines
Krankenhaus of Vienna. Dr. Von Mosetig is the
discoverer and originator of the new process of
surgery in bone work, which is the skillful appli
cation of a prepared bone substance which results
in the restoration to healthy bone the diseased
member. Dr. Ruedy performed an operation
where this valuable method could be used and he
applied it with the most happy results. So far
as known, this is the first time the work has been
done in the United States, ancl the doctor was
pressed to give a detailed account of the same
for the benefit of other physicians. This account
appeared in the Medical Sentinel and was highly
commended and placed Dr. Ruedy as a real
leader in this important line, it being demon
strated that he was a surgeon of the first ability.
Dr. Ruedy was surgeon and physician for the
O. R. & N. railroad at Arlington. The doctor
has found time to turn from his arduous and deep

studies to the participation in public matters-.
and in politics and he displays a keen
relish for the political campaign. This has
greatly endeared him to the people and
they have twice selected him for the im
portant position of county commissioner. He
is a Republican and can give a .good reason for
the hope he holds in political matters.

FRED ADLARD is a thrifty and industrious
farmer, residing at Ajax. He has one of the best
places here and his orchard and garden are
pointed to by all as the finest in the Ajax country.
His place is well improved and everything about
indicates a man who understands his business.
Fred Adjard was born in Lincolnshire, Eng
land, on January 29, 1836. His father, Tom Ad
lard, was born in the same place as our subject
ancl he married Mary Kime, a native of England.
When nine years of age, Fred was in a rope fac
tory to turn the wheels for the spinners. When
he was twelve, he was errand boy in the factory,
continuing in that business for three years at the
end of which time he did a man's work. Then
his mother apprenticed him to learn the brick
layer's trade for a period of five years.. Two
years after that his boss failed and he was set at
liberty. He spent six months working on the
Grimsby dock and with the money earned came
to the United States, landing at Castle Garden,.
on March 17, 1854. Not being able to secure-
work in the city, he went on to Albany, then to-
Schenectady and finally to Utica and Rome,
searching in vain for employment. In the latter
place he met a preacher who furnished him a pass.
to Canada where he failed in getting work, and a
railroad official gave him a pass to Detroit ; thence
he walked to Niles and spent a month cutting
cord wood and finally walked on to Chicago. In
this place he had failed to secure work and finally
he went on from Chicago and did harvest work-
Then he did railroad work, after which we find
him in Milan, Missouri. Then he was at St-
Katherine's, Missouri, and did teaming, and was-
employed on a farm in that, state until 1865, when
he came to Benton county, Oregon. In that
place he farmed until 1888, in which year he-
journeyed on to his present location and took
the same as a homestead. He has a splendid
orchard, good improvements and a fine farm.
In Benton county, Oregon, on May 27, 1875,
Mr. Adlard married Miss Katie Willbanks, who
was born in Mississippi on January 16, 1859.
Her father, William Willbanks, was born Au
gust 20, 1834, in North Carolina and was an
early pioneer to Oregon, Mr. and Mrs. Adlard,

6oo

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

have the following named children: William,
Mary, Walter, Stella, Lulu, Minnie, Fred, Ethel,
Alice, Charlie, Edith, and Helen.
In politics, Mr. Adlard is a Democrat, ancl a
good, substantial man.

OSCAR MALEY and EDGAR C. MA
LEY, although young men, have attained a suc
cess that would be gratifying even to those who
have labored for many years. They give their
attention to farming and stock raising and reside
twelve miles northwest of Alville. The former was
born in Linn County, Oregon, in 1874, the latter
in the same place in 1878, and they are the sons
of Samuel and Elizabeth (Smith) Maley. The
mother's first husband was William Farrar, and
to that marriage three children were born, Rob
ert H, Agnes and William K. Our subjects
lived on their grandparents' donation claim in
Linn County until 1886, receiving there their
earlier education in the public schools. In the
year last mentioned they came with their parents
to their present location where the father took a
homestead. Two years later, 1888, he died and
in partnership our subjects operated the farm.
They have bought sixteen hundred acres more
and handle the whole estate. They have over
three hundred head of cattle with horses suf
ficient to care for them and to operate the farm.
They are among the wealthy and most thrifty
farmers of the county and have displayed an in
dustry and success which are commendable.
On August 6, 1901, Oscar Maley married Miss
Elizabeth Shannon, who was born in Malheur
county, Oregon, on March 2, 1883. Her father,
F. M. Shannon, is specifically mentioned in an
other portion of this work. On July 6, 1902, one
child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Maley,
Margaret Liddy.
Our subjects are members of the Grange So
ciety and in politics are well posted socialists.
Their father, Samuel Maley, was born in Warren
county, Illinois, in 1838. His ancestors were
Scotch and Irish, and they came to America
prior to the Revolution. His father, W. B. Maley,
the grandfather of our subjects, was a physician
and a finely educated man. He was born in
Pennsylvania in 1809 and came to Illinois in early
day. In 1845 he crossed the plains to Oregon
and the next year settled in Linn county, taking
a donation claim where he lived until his death
in 1852. There were few schools in the country
then, but as our subjects' grandfather was well
educated and his wife a first class school teach* r
they educated their children well. In those clays
the Indians were troublesome and on one oc

casion they camped in great numbers about the
residence of Mr. Maley and made the nights and
days hideous with their horrible yells until Mr.
Maley consented to give them a steer as a peace
offering. The grandfather of our subjects was
a member of the territorial legislature in Oregon
in 1850 and was a very prominent and influential
man. In 1864 Samuel Maley enlisted in Com
pany F, First Oregon Infantry, to serve for three
years. At the expiration of eighteen months he
was honorably discharged and returned to his
home. In 1871 he married Miss Elizabeth Smith
who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1837, and
now lives in Gilliam county.
In politics Samuel Maley was a strong Repub
lican and like his father, was very influential
and prominent. His death in 1888 was deeply
mourned by all, as everyone knew that a good
man was taken from their midst.

GEORGE HANSEN. A residence of
twenty-six years in Gilliam county entitles the
subject of this article to representation as one of
its pioneers. At present he is living a retired
life, having accumulated a nice fortune through
his enterprising efforts here. His residence is
some eight miles west from Condon and in that
locality he owns a half section of choice wheat
land. He rents the same and gives his attention
to the general oversight of this and his other
properties. George Hansen was born in Denmark, August
4, 1839, being the day. His parents, Jacob and
Annie C. Hansen, were also natives of Denmark.
The mother died when this son was nine years
of age. The father was a miller, owning a nice
plant. After receiving a good education in his
own country, our subject determined to try the
sea and accordingly when seventeen years of age
shipped as a sailor before the mast, and for
twenty-two years thereafter he led a seafaring
life. He has visited every port of any size in
the world, has circumnavigated the globe three
times, is well acquainted with the ways and suc-
toms of every continent and has been a most ex
tensive traveler. Mr. Hansen is a man of energy
and ability and during his travels stored his mind
with a great fund of information. During these
years of life as a sailor he learned to speak five
different languages. Finally, Mr. Hansen began
to develop a longing for the land once more and
at Puget Sound, in 1878, he ended his seafaring
career. One season after that he spent in fishing
on the Columbia in the vicinity of Astoria, and
in 1878 he had made his way into the territory
now embraced by Gilliam county. He at once

George Hansen

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

60 1

engaged in herding sheep and followed that occu
pation for some little time. In 1880, Mr. Han.'
took a homestead and a timber culture, where he
now resides, the land being then unsyrveyed, and
from that time until the present, he has given
his attention steadily to farming. His estate is
well improved and skillfully cultivated ancl is a
generous producer of harvests. During the years
of his residence he has seen the country grow
from a wild prairie to its present well developed
to bring about this gratifying end. He has the es
teem of all who know him and is considered one
of the substantial ancl enterprising men of the
countv.

GEORGE L. CRUM, who resides about
three miles east of Ajax, is one of the substantial
farmers of Gilliam county ancl has the distinc
tion of having lived here for about twenty-five
years. He was born in the Williamette valley,
on September 7, 1875. His father, J. A. Crum,
was born in Pennsylvania in 1846 and was an
early pioneer of the west, coming to Walla Walla
in 1864. His death occurred in 1898. He had
married Sarah Rinehart, who was born in Iowa.
She crossed the plains in 1852 and is now living
at Olex, Oregon. Our subject attended school
first in the Williamette valley and came with his
parents to Gilliam county in 1881. He well re
members that when first they come here, there
were no fences, very few settlers ancl the country
was a wild place. He assisted his father to open
up a farm and labored with him until 1894, then
being nineteen years of age, he went to Corvallis
and attended the agriculture college for three
years. Returning to Gilliam county after that
he again took up farming, taking a homestead.
He relinquished this property and removed to
Arlington where he bought the Crown hotel.
For three years he successfully operated that,
then rented it and again took a homestead where
he now resides, some three miles east of Ajax.
He settled here in 1903 and since that time has
made good improvements on the property.
In 1898 Mr. Crum married Miss Grade Sand
ers, who was born in Goldendale, Washington.
Her father, Joseph Sanders, was born in Tennes
see, and is now living in Arlington. Two child
ren are the fruit of this marriage, Bryon and
Leonard. Mr. Crum is a member of the M. W. A, and
is a Republican.
In politics he is well informed ancl active, and
is a very enterprising man. When Mr. Crum's
father died three of his brothers died at the same
time. That broke up the family and farming

business very much. Mr. Crum is to be rated
as one of the early pioneers and one who has as
sisted materially in the upbuilding of the country.
He is of good standing and has won many friends
and deserves credit for the good labors he has
done.

O. P. LOW, M. D., is well known in Arl
ington and in the surrounding country as a phy
sician of high standing and excellent ability.
He is a gentleman with a high sense of honor,
is a patriotic and enterprising citizen and one
of the leaders in this county. In addition to
handling a good practice of medicine Dr. Low
fills his own prescriptions ancl is a thorough
business man.
O. P. Low was born in Wood county. West
Virginia, on March 10, 1862. Nathan B. Low, his
father, was a native also of West Virginia and
followed stone cutting. His ancestors were early
settlers in the colonies and in West Virginia.
He married Miss Mary Lent, who was born in
Ohio. She came with her parents to West Vir
ginia when a child and was well educated and
for some time taught school. In 1889 Mr. Low
came with his family to Portland, where his wid
ow is now residing. Our subject gained his
early education in his native state, and he knows
well what it is to work hard all day long at the
stone cutting trade and pore over the printed
page in the evening. Thus he gained his first
knowledge and a good share of later training.
After he came west in 1886 he studied one year
at Green's University in Kansas. Then he came
on to Oregon and in 1893 entered the Williamette
University. Here he pursued his medical stud
ies until his graduation in 1896, being in a class
of twenty-two. He received his diploma with
honors and had conferred on him the degree of
doctor of medicine. Immediately subsequent to
that Dr. Low opened an office in McCoy, Ore
gon, and for three years did a good business there.
Then he spent two years in Independence, Ore
gon, and finally, in 1901, he located in Arlington.
From the days when the doctor laid aside the
stone cutter's hammer to pursue and study the
volumes of science until the present he has al
ways practiced the policy of studying some every
day. The result is he is a well informed man,
ancl is fully abreast of the advancing art of medi
cine, being a skillful and successful practitioner.
In 1896 Dr. Low married Miss Grace Tucker,
a native of Wisconsin. Her father was a veteran
in the Civil War and died in the service. Dr.
Low is city recorder and is always interested in
public matters. He is a member of the K. P.

602

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and the W. W. Dr. Low is a strictly profes
sional man and devotes his time and energy to
the 'prosecution of his profession with the result
that he is at the head of a large and ever in
creasing patronage.

W. T. ADLARD is one of the younger farm
ers of Gilliam county, who is making a success
here in his chosen calling. He resides about
three miles east from Alville and has a good
place. He was born in Benton county, Oregon,
on April 19, 1876. His father, Fred Adlard,
was born in England in 1839, and came to the
United States when quite a young man. He was
one of the earlier pioneers of Oregon and a well
respected and substantial man. He married
Katie Willbanks, who was born in Mississippi in
1859, and is still living. The country schools
supplied the educational training of our subject
and he remained there on the farm with his father
until twelve years of age when he removed to
Gilliam county. He continued with his father ;n
opening up a farm in this county, until six years
since, when he started for himself. Since then
he has done splendidly and has shown himself to
be an industrious and enterprising young man.
On November 20, 1898, Mr. Adlard married
Miss Myrtle Stevenson, who was born in Indiana
on February 10, 1876. Her father, James G.
Stevenson, was born in October, 1846. He mar
ried Miss Eliza Dormer, who was born in Ohio
in 1848. They are now living in Gilliam county.
Mr. Adlard has the following named brothers
and sisters : Walter, Fred, Charles, Mollie, Stella,
Minnie, Lula, Ethel, Alice, Edith and Helen. Mr.
and Mrs. Adlard have two children, Lillian and
Florence. In political matters our subject is a Democrat
and' in everything that is for the building up of
the country he takes a keen interest. He and
his wife are respected people and have many
friends.

CHARLES E. RICKARD, who resides
about six miles north of Alville, has shown him
self to be one of the most enterprising and suc
cessful young farmers of the section. He was
born in Indiana in 1876, the son of Arsemas
Rickard, also a native of that state. He gained
his education during the first fourteen years of
his life in his native place and then started west.
Although of such young years, he was possessed
of enterprise and grit and soon made his way to
the Williamette valley where he labored for ten
yeats. Then he came to his present location

and took a homestead. At that time he was pos
sessed of a span of cayuses, which was practically
all he owned. He rented a section of land near
by and has labored so faithfully since that now
he has fifty fine hogs, twenty-four horses, eleven
cattle and good improvements upon .his place.
All this has been gained by his own labors in the
last few years and he is on the royal road to
wealth. In the meantime Mr. Rickard has so
conducted himself that he has won the esteem
and friendship of all who know him and his
standing in the community is of the best. In
June, 1897, Mr. Rickard married Miss Cully
Steele, who was born in the Willamette valley
in 1876. Her father, Robert Steele, was one of
of the earliest pioneers of the place and is now
deceased. Two children are the fruit of this
marriage, Forest and Goldie. Mr. Rickard is
a member of the Grange lodge and is also
insured in the New York Mutual for five
thousand dollars. He has shown splendid
wisdom not only in the conduct of his
business that he has at the present time, but also
in providing for his loved ones in case he should
pass the way of all earth before he has secured
a proper competence.
In political matters he manifests a keen in
terest and is an energetic and enterprising citizen.
Mr. and Mrs. Rickard are fine young people
and have made hosts of friends in this section.
Gilliam county is to be congratulated in securing
as permanent residents such enterprising and en
ergetic people. It is such as they who make the
country weajthy and prosperous.

ROBERT H. ROBINSON, who holds the
position of postmaster in Arlington, Oregon,
is one of the well known men throughout the
county, and is a prominent business man. He
was born in Pierce county, Washington, on De
cember 22, 1869, thus being a native of the
Occident. R. G. Robinson, his father, was born
in Pennsylvania, and came from an old and in^
fluential colonial family. Some members of the
family were in all the colonial wars and fought
for independence. He crossed the plains to Cali
fornia in the early forties and there engaged in
mining for a time. After that he came to the
Willamette valley and in 1872 settled at Lone
Rock in the territory now embraced in Gilliam
county. He took up the stock business and is
now one of the leading stock men in the county.
He married Miss Lucy A. Neal, who was born
the Williamette valley. Her people were among
the very earliest settlers in the territory of Ore
gon. Robert H. was well educated in this county

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

603-

and the Portland business colleges. In 1891
he started for himself ancl soon established a
general merchandise store at Lone Rock. Later
he sold out that property and opened a store in
Arlington. He has continued that business until
1900, when he was appointed postmaster of the
town and is the present incumbent. Mr. Robin
son is a man of excellent attainments and is one
of the younger and enterprising business opera
tors in this county. He has shown zeal in all
things for the upbuilding of the county and for
general progress and he is to be commended for
his efforts in these lines. His brothers and sisters
are Calvin D, Frank H, Mrs. Nettie A. Robin-
ette, Mrs. Alcy J. Pullen, Willis N. and Una G.
In 1895 Mr. Robinson married Miss Sadie
E. Dyer, who was born in the Williamette valley.
She came to this section when a child and was
reared and educated here. Her father is Wil
liam F. Dyer, a rancher and stockman near May
ville. Mr. Robinson is a member of the K. P.,
the A. F. & A. M, and also of the Chapter,
the Commandery and the Mystic Shrine. His
labors have resulted in the acquirement of a good
ly competence for him and while active in business
lines, he has not forgotten to so conduct himself
as to win the confidence of the people and the
respect of all.

JOSEPHUS MARTIN, who resides about
two miles up Rock Creek from Olex, is one of
the earliest settlers in' the territory now embraced
in Gilliam county. He has been one of the
leaders here in stock raising for years and is well
known all over this part of the state. His life
is intimately connected with the history of Gil
liam county and also he has been a pioneer to
various other sections.
Josephus Martin was born in Butler county,
Ohio, on November 16, 1829, the son of Roger
and Mary Martin. The former was born in
Scotland and came with his parents to Kentucky
when small, whence they removed later to Ohio.
The latter was born in Ireland and came to Ohio
when a young, girl. She died when our subject
was nine years ..oldv ¦ In his native place Josephus
was educated and when sixteen began to learn the
carpenter trade. This occupied him until 1852,
when he took the trip to California via the isth
mus. Until 1863 he was a resident of the Golden
State and then came to Oregon, spent the winter
of 1864-5 m Corvallis and in the spring in com
pany with Conrad Schott he went to the Idaho
mines. For two seasons he did well in the vicin
ity of Idaho City, being in partnership with John-
Son ancl Smith. Then he formed a partnership
with Conrad Schott and John Shellady, and be

fore the year of 1866 had passed away located on
Rock Creek, in what is now Gilliam county, and
began raising stock. In 1868 he and his partner,
John Shellady, were each married, the date being
February 8, 1868. Before marriage Mr. Martin's
wife was Miss Alice Johnson. She was born in
Missouri in 1850, the daughter of Charles and
Kesiah (Trapp) Johnson, natives of Kentucky
and Missouri respectively. • During early times
the Indians were very savage and on two oc
casions Mr. Martin was compelled to take his
family and flee to a place of safety. Once when
the Snakes were coming through a runner hurried
ahead and warned the settlers. The Indians in
tended to massacre all whites, but the soldiers
came on the scene and the savages took to the
timber. On Rock Creek near where Mr. Martin
is now living was their old camping ground and
he saw much of them. In those days the only-
settlers were Daniel Leonard, who kept the bridge-
on the John Day crossing, James Force, on
Rock Creek, Charley Pensim, better known as
French Charley, Nicholas Stagg, a stockman, who"
was known as the man who lived in the stone
house, and Mr. Adams. They all had to go to The-
Dalles for their mail, and all supplies came that
way. Mr. Martin continued in the stock busi
ness with wisdom and industry and soon became
a well-to-do man. He increased his holdings
from time to time until the home estate is now
fifteen hundred acres. Eight hundred acres of
this fine body of land are cropped to wheat this
year and bring a fine return. Mr. Martin is re
tired from the activities of his business and the
estate and stock are managed by his son, Charles.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Martin are
Mrs. Dora B. Wade, Charles, Gertrude and Ray..

D. CANTWELL is a carpenter and farmer
residing about three miles northwest from May
ville. He was born in Oregon in 1855, the son of
Mose and Mary (Fitzworth) Cantwell, natives
of Alabama and Arkansas respectively. The for
mer was born in 1824 and the latter in 1825. The
father died in 1889 and the mother in 1902. He
was a veteran of the Civil War. When our sub
ject was five years of age the family removed
from Arkansas to Texas and seventeen years
later returned to the home state. In these two
places this son was educated in the common
schools, and in 1875 came from the Mississippi
valley to Oregon. Settlement was made in Uma
tilla county and shortly thereafter our subject
moved to the Williamette valley. There he
learned the engineering trade with the Oregon
Iron and Steel Company and continued with

'604

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

them for five years. After this he bought an in
terest in a saw mill which he operated for a year.
Then he sold his part in that property and came
to Lost valley in Gilliam county where he erected
a saw mill. He continued the operation of that
until 1893 when he sold the property. For the
past ten years he has been engaged in various
occupations and is now doing contracting and
building. In 1879 ^r. Cantwell married Miss Martha
(Pioneer) Southworth. She was born on the
Pioneer reservation in 1852 while her parents
were crossing the plains. Her father, James B.
Southworth, was one of the early settlers in
southern Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs. Cantwell
one child has been born, Robert M, on February
15, 1887.
Mr. Cantwell is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and a man who takes a keen interest in political
matters and whatever is for the building up of
the country.

MANLY F KEIZUR is a native son of Ore
gon and has made this state his dwelling place
all his life. He is now residing about six miles
north from Condon, where he owns a choice
farm of two hundred and fcrty acres, which is
devoted to general crops. He also gives attention
to raising stock, and is a prosperous and well-to-
do farmer. He is a man of industry and enter
prise and in addition to handling the industries
¦mentioned has also bought and sold land and is
one of the substantial men of Gilliam county.
Manly F. Keizur was born in Lane county
-on November 30, 1857, the son of Thomas C.
and Sarah I. (Ramsey) Keizur, natives of Mis
souri. The son crossed the plains with his father
when ten years of age. The family settled on a
donation claim near Salem, the postoffice being
now known as Keizur, in honor of the father.
Later they came to Gilliam county, it being
1878, and made settlement on Rock Creek. In
1893 the father of our subject removed to Bo
hemian Mines in Lane county, Oregon, and there
is operating a boarding house. The mother of
our subject crossed the plains with her parents
when small and was reared in Salem, where her
father did blacksmithing. He was one of the
first settlers in Oregon. Manly F. was educated
in his native place and in 1878 came east of the
mountains having some ox teams and some horses.
He engaged in the sheep industry ancl in due
time became a well-to-do man. His path was not
without hardships and adversity, for in the heavy
winters he lost heavily and had to undergo
much arduous toil in gaining his way in those
-early days. He made the start with practically

no capital and all his holdings now represent
his labor and skill. In 1891 Mr. Keizur took a
homestead where he is now located and since
that time has continued steadily here. He has
his place well improved and he is a progressive
and thrifty man.
In 1886 Mr. Keizur married Miss Ida Chance,
a native of Iowa, Monroe county being her birth
place, and April 16, 1868 the date. She received
her education in Iowa and in her fifteenth year
came to Oregon. Her father, John Chance, was
born in Illinois and removed to Iowa when a
child. He became a wealthy and substantial
farmer there. He married Miss Lettie Finley, a
native of Tennessee. When she was six weeks
old her parents started by wagon to Iowa and
while on the journey her mother died. The
father completed the journey and became one of
the pioneers of the Hawkey e State. Mr. and
Mrs. Keizur have a very interesting family of
children who have displayed a precocity that is
gratifying. Lottie L, the eldest, is a graduate of
the grades and is a young lady of ability. The
others are Clarence O, Birdie D, Roy E. and
Lola M.

C. M. SMITH is one of the wealthy stockmen
of central Oregon. He resides six miles south of
Condon where he owns an estate of over two
thousand acres. The same is supplied with all
improvements needed in the stock business and
for. general farming. His farming, however, is
subservient to his stock interests. At the present
time he owns about one hundred head of cattle
and handles about four thousand sheep. The
success he has achieved in breeding stock indi
cates him to be a successful man in the business
and his herds and flocks are among the best
to be found. Mr. Smith is a native Oregonian,
having been born in Linn county on August 23,
1862. His father, Josiah Smith, was born "in
Illinois, came as one of the earliest settlers to
Oregon and was a veteran of the Cayuse War.
He died on June 15, 1891. The mother, who is
still living, is Nancy Ann (Maxwell) Smith, a
native of Ohio. In his native place our subject
received his educational training and there re
mained until nineteen years of age. In that year
he came to Lake county, Oregon, and for two
years was connected with the stock business
there. Then he returned to the Williamette val
ley and spent six months. After that we find him
in Umatilla county and for seven years he was
numbered among the leading citizens there.
After that he came to Gilliam county and settled
on a homestead and later he bought one thousand
nine hundred and twenty acres more. Since

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

605

settling here he has always been known as an en
terprising man, keenly alive to the interests of
the county and identified with every movement
for its upbuilding and development. He is a
Republican in politics, always displays a lively in
terest in campaign matters and is a well informed
and leading citizen. Mr. Smith has the following
named brothers and sisters : Frank M, Edward
B, George, Josiah B, A. M, L. B. and Mrs.
Alice May. The brothers are all in Linn county
except the last two mentioned. As yet Mr. Smith
has never seen fit to enter upon the joys of matri
monial relations, although he is a very popular
young man.

HENRY W. HARTMAN resides about five
miles northeast from Condon, where he owns a
homestead and is handling besides that a half
section of wheat land. He is an enterprising and
rustling Oregon farmer and has done a good
work in improvement and upbuilding in this
county. His birth occurred in Kerr county, Texas,
on October 29, 1868. His father, A. Hartman, is
mentioned elsewhere in this work. In 1873 our
subject went to California with his parents,
and in Wheatland of the Golden State, he re
ceived his education. In 1883 he accompanied his
parents to the vicinity of Ritzville, Washington,
but he did not remain there long. Later they
all went to Weston, Oregon, and a year after
that he came to this county. He and his father
engaged in the stock business and this relation
continued until 1899 when Mr. Hartman started
alone, taking the 'homestead where he now re
sides. He has given his attention to farming
largely since that time. His labors have ¦ been
properly rewarded, for he has good improvements
and is doing well.
The marriage of Mr. Hartman occurred in
California in April, 1892. Miss Mary J. Gillson
then became his bride. She was born in Pennsyl
vania and came to California when a young girl,
accompanying her parents. Her father is James
G. Gillson, a native of the Keystone State, and
married Miss Hannah Watson. Three children
have come to bless the household of Mr. and Mrs.
Hartman. Arthur H, Elsie and Amon G. Mr.
Hartman is a member of the I. O. O. F. and is a
man of good standing in the community.

FRANCIS MARION SHANNON is to be
classed as one of the early pioneers of the coun
try now embraced in Gilliam county and since his
advent here has been known as one of the stirring
and representative settlers. He was born in

Kentucky on October 18, 1861. His father, W.
L. Shannon, was born in Kentucky on November
7, 1822, ancl is still living in Wilson county,
Kansas. He married Mary E. Hill, who was
born on June 6, 1825, in the Blue Grass State
and died June 22, 1890. Our subject was edu
cated in the common schools of Kentucky and
there grew up to young manhood, during which
time, he labored with his father, who was a coal
dealer. On September 5, 1879, he went to Kansas
and worked for wages for about three years. In
1882, about June 17, he started across the plains
with mule teams, heading for Oregon. He had
been married three days previously and his young
wife accompanied him. The trip occupied six
months and they finally located in what is now
Malheur county. For one year they toiled there
and then decided to cast their lot in the Fossil
country. For eighteen months he wrought in a
saw mill there and then came to his present loca
tion, which is about one mile south from Condon.
He took a homestead and timber culture, bought
railroad and other land until he now owns seven
hundred and sixty acres, which has been im
proved in a splendid manner. He divides his
attention between stock raising and farming and
has gained wealth since coming here. His suc
cess is dtie to his careful and enterprising ways
and he is to be commended upon the fact that.
coming without capital he has won a good com
petence in this country. The place is supplied
with all the improvements needed, including a
fine large residence, one of the choicest ones of
the country.
On June 14, 1882, while in Kansas, Mr. Shan
non married Miss Ella Nora Myers, who was
born in Kansas on June 17, 1865. Her father
was W. S. Myers. Mr. Shannon has the fol
lowing named brothers and sisters : James, John,.
Thomas and Mrs. Sarah Clift. To this mar
riage the following named children have been
born: Sarah Elizabeth, on March 12, 1883;.
William Lee, October 11, 1884; Alargaret Ger
trude, December 8, 1887 ; George Henry, Feb
ruary 27, 1890; Lena May, June 17, 1892; Cora
Helen, September 13, 1894; Stella Pearly, Feb
ruary 18, 1897 and Walter F, August 11, 1900.
Mr. Shannon is a member of the W. W, a
good strong Democrat and a first class citizen
and neighbor.

LEWIS COUTURE resides about ten miles
west from Condon on a homestead which he has
improved in good shape. He was born in Michi
gan on January 4, 1862. His parents, Lewis and
Elizabeth (Nado) Couture, are mentioned more
specifically in the biography of our subject's-

6o6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

brother, Stephen, which appears in this work.
In the place of his birth Lewis was reared and
in Monroe county, Michigan, his education was
obtained. Early in life he was led by a mechanical
talent to associate himself with steam engineers
and was quick to pick up the art of running an
engine. This stood him in good hand and was
his occupation for several years in the country.
He also was engaged in this work on the lake
steamers. In 1894 he owned and operated the
first traction engine in Gilliam county. In 1892
he came to this country, being of an enterprising
and energetic spirit, and soon selected the quarter
section where he is now making his home. In
addition to handling the land he owns, Mr. Cou
ture rents land and this year had four hundred
and fifty acres planted to wheat. He is a good
farjner and is being prospered in his labors.
Thus far in life he has seen fit to adhere to the
jolly bachelor's path and content himself with its
environments. Mr. Couture's parents were of
French extraction and came to Canada in early
days. A branch of the family found its way to
Michigan and from this comes our subject.
Fraternally Mr. Couture is affiliated with the
K. P. He stands well in the community and has
many friends.

FREMONT WARD, one of the wealthy
farmers and stockmen of Gilliam county, resides
just one-half mile south from Condon, and was
born in Iowa on May 17, 1863. Coming from a
thrifty family he has displayed that virtue dur
ing his life which wins, and the result is that he
has a fine competence at this time. His parents,
Nelson and Minerva (Luzenaugh) Ward, were
born in Connecticut and Louisiana respectively.
The father died in July, 1902. The mother, who
was born in 1832, is still living. When our sub
ject was two years of age the family removed
from Iowa to Arkansas. There he received his
education and remained until he had grown to
manhood. In 1884 he decided to come west and
finally chose Oregon as the objective point, arriv
ing here in the same year. After due investiga
tion he selected a homestead where he now lives
and soon thereafter bought eight hundred and
forty acres of land that adjoined him. Since that
time he has given his entire attention to the
clutivation of this soil and to raising stock, in
both of which enterprises he has made a splendid
success. His residence is one of the choicest
ones of the county ancl stands about one hundred
and sixty rods from Condon. Other improve
ments of every kind are in evidence ancl his farm
is one of the best in the county. Everything pro
claims Mr. Ward a first-class citizen, a good

business man, a fine neighbor and a true friend.
In 1884, while still in Arkansas, Mr. Ward
married Miss Mary Knox, whose father, Robert
Knox, was a well-to-do agriculturist of that sec
tion. She was born in Arkansas on October 6,
1868. Soon after their wedding they came west
together seeking a home in this country. Mr.
Ward has two brothers, Daniel and Oliver, ancl
two sisters, Mrs. Phoebe Taeg and Mrs. Ma
tilda Taeg. One child, Edith, has been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Ward.
In fraternal affiliations Mr. Ward is connected
with the M. W. A. In politics he is a strong
Republican, and he is one of the representative
citizens of Gilliam county and is most deeply-
interested in its welfare and progress, and is de
serving of much credit for the good success he
has achieved here.

GEORGE W. SCHOTT is practically a pro
duct of Gilliam county, since he has spent all
his life here with the exception of two years.
His birth occurred in Corvallis, Oregon, on De
cember 19, 1866, and two years later, his father,
Conrad Schott, brought his family from the val
ley to the territory now embraced in Gilliam
county. He was one of the very first to settle
here and he has been a prominent man since those
days. He was born in Germany and came to St.
Louis, Missouri, when one year old. In 1852 he
crossed the plains with ox teams to the mines of
California. Thence he came with the prospector's
hope to the mines of Idaho and then returned to
the valley whither he came to this section in
1868. He settled on Rock Creek and it is to be
remembered that in those days there was some
thing to consider besides making a living, al
though that was a hard thing to do in these out-
of-the-way places. Mail was not to be had short
of The Dalles and the trading was also done there.
The greatest clanger was from the savages, who
would swoop down on the stock and sometimes
lie in wait for bloodshed. Twice Mr. Schott had
to take his family ancl flee from the onslaughts
of the Indians, and once he and his neighbors
built a fort for protection. He was one of the
first settlers here, was one of the largest cattle
men in this portion of the state and is still run
ning stock from the old home place on Rock
Creek. He also 'handled much stock in Malheur
county. Our subject's mother, Frances (Mob-
ley) Schott, was born in Missouri and crossed
the plains with her people in the early fifties.
Her marriage occurred at Corvallis, Oregon.
Our subject was educated in the district school
in his home vicinity ancl then completed his

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

607

education in The Dalles. From the time that he
could sit in the saddle, however, he was ap
prenticed to the stock business both from his
own choice and from the desire to assist his
father in the business. He has all the experi
ences known to the cowboy, has passed all the
phases of frontier life from fighting the Indians
to making home made furniture for the claim
shack, and he is well versed in the country east
of the mountains in Oregon. As soon as he was
of age he began to work for himself, although
continuing the stock business for his father and
Others. Gradually he came to have a band of
cattle for himself and the result is that today
he is one of the wealthy men of Gilliam county.
He possessed land where he now lives, two miles
north from Alville, for some time since, but only
removed his family thither in 1902. He is fitting
it as his permanent home. The place consists of
six hundred and eighty acres of choice land.
He has in addition land in other places.
In 1901 Mr. Scott married Miss Marie
Velter, the daughter of John and Christina
(Young) Velter, natives of Germany, where also
she was born. She came to Portland with her
parents when a small girl. After some time
spent in the primary schools she entered Mon
mouth college and graduated with the class of
1897, gaining good class honors. She is also
highly educated in the German and is one of the
leading ladies of culture in the county. Before
her marriage Mrs. Schott spent some time in
teaching. To Mr. and Mrs. Schott two children
have been born, Lenore and Grace. Mr. Schott
is a member of the A. F. & A. M. He is a
leading man and is counted one of the prominent
citizens of the county.

J. A. McMORRIS stands at the head of a
fine planing mill business in Condon. He has
a well equipped plant and does a large business
in all kinds of wood manufacturing for build
ing purposes. He was born in Cumberland
county, Illinois, on July 16, 1861, the son of E.
J. and Martha E. (Makenzie) McMorris. The
father was born in Henry county, Ohio, on April
2, 1839, and followed carpentering. The mother
was born in Indiana on May 30, 1842. They are
now both living in Washington. In 1871 the
family came to California and in 1879 to Wash
ington. Our subject's great-grandfather, David
McMorris, was a veteran of the Revolution and
fought under General George Washington. Gen
eral James B. McPherson was first cousin to our
subject's father. J. A. was with his parents on the
frontier and the result -was. that he had very

little opportunity to gain an education. When
he reached the age of twenty-two years he was
without education. Then he began studying and
soon was granted a permit to teach school. He
taught and studied continuously for fifteen years
at the end of which time he held a first grade
state certificate and had made a record as an
educator second to none in the realm covered by
such a diploma. He has been on the county
board of examiners for six years and has held
various other offices. He was superintendent of
a large flume in Dayton, Washington, and has
turned his attention to many occupations. In
June, 1904, he was elected to the office of county
surveyor on the Democratic ticket by a majority
of four. Gilliam county was one hundred and
eighty-six Republican, which showed his popu
larity. In 1903 Mr. McMorris built a planing
mill in Condon and has been successfully operat
ing it since. He has a good plant, well equipped
and a fine patronage. He owns a good residence
and is one of the leading citizens of the county.
On September 12, 1894, Mr. McMorris mar
ried Miss Laura E. Schilling, who was born in
Huron county, Michigan, on October 9, 1872.
She was a pupil of her husband and entered his
school when wrestling with fractions. In about
five terms she took the county examination for
teachers and passed a general average of eighty-
five. After that she taught for three years.
Her father, Godfrey Schilling, was born in
Michigan on August 6, 1843, and was one °^ me-
early pioneers of Condon. Her mother, Louisa
(Hess) Schilling, was born in New York on
June 25, 1852. Mr. McMorris has the following
named brothers ancl sisters : D. W, T. H,
William M, Loea L, Charles A, and Mrs. Laura
A. Miller. The children born to Mr. and Mrs.
McMorris are named as follows : Laura Edith,
Mabel Juanita, Gladys Vivian, John Donald,
Schilling McMorris.
Mr. McMorris and his family are members
of the Church of Christ and have always been
prominent in church work. It has always been
the aim of Mr. McMorris to build up and ad
vance church work and educational matters
whenever opportunity presents and he has been
very faithful and zealous in these lines. He and
his wife are valuable members of society in Con
don and are highly respected people.

4 » »

MARY BOWERMAN, M. D, is well
known in Condon and vicinity as a successful
physician and surgeon. She has not been long
in the practice, yet long enough to demonstrate
to an appreciative and discriminating public that

6o8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

she is possessed of ability and especially well
trained in her chosen profession. She was born
in Iowa, and her parents are named in the bio
graphy of Hon. Jay Bowerman, her brother.
In 1893 she came with the family to Salem,
Oregon, and there completed her literary educa
tion in the Willamette University. After this
she entered the medical department of that in
stitution, graduating therefrom with honors in
1903. She immediately took up the practice of
medicine in Condon and from the start was fav
ored with a very fine patronage. She has now
an extensive practice which is constantly increas
ing and is handled in a most becoming manner.
Dr. Bowerman has won the high regard and
esteem of everybody and her friends are as widely
numbered as is the circle of her acquaintances.

J. K. FITZWATER has spent a life, which,
if written in detail, would fill a volume and
make exceedingly interesting reading. He has
been constantly on the frontier and a great deal
of the time in the roughest portion of the west,
being exposed to all dangers incident to such
a life, and especially to savages, whom he has
fought many times. He was born in Jackson
county, Missouri, on February 8, 1845. His
father, John Fitzwater, was born in St. Louis
county, Missouri, and his ancestors were among
the earliest pioneers of that country. He died
in 1856. He had married Miss Mary Johnson,
who was also a native of Missouri, and who
died when our subject was an infant. When J.
K. was a small boy he went with his father to
Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he received his
education. In those early days the plains were
filled with buffaloes and it was rare sport to get
such large game. When twelve young Fitzwater
was obliged to make his own living and from
that time to the present he has maintained him
self and made his own fortune. In 1859 ne was
engaged in freighting from Kansas City to Mex
ico and also from Nebraska City and Fort
Leavenworth to other points on the frontier. He
had many wild and trying experiences in these
journeys and had many hand to hand fights with
the vicious savages. On one occasion they stole
all the stock of the train. This was on Pole
Creek. Mr. Fitzwater traveled all over the west,
having been in Texas, Mexico, Colorado, Wyo
ming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, California, Wash
ington and Oregon, besides many other states and
territories. After freighting for many years he
settled to sheep raising in Wyoming, having also
had some experience in mining. It was in 1880
when Mr. Fitzwater came to Oregon, and after

cruising about for some time selected a location
south from where Condon now stands. He
handled his sheep there until about eighteen
years since when he came to his present location,
which is twenty miles west from Condon. He
gave close attention to business, and has, there
fore, been prospered in his labors. He now has
two thousand acres of valuable land, a large band
of sheep and considerable other stock and prop
erty. All this magnificent holding is the result
of his labor and skill and Mr. Fitzwater has just
reason to be proud of his success. All his life
he has been on the frontier and has done nobly
the ardous labors of the pioneer.
In 1877 Mr. Fitzwater married Miss Fannie
Cornett, who was born in Jackson county, Mis
souri. Ed Cornett, her father, was a prominent
man and crossed the plains in 1852. He made a
great deal of monev in the mines of California.
To Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwater nine children have
been born, Blanche, Grace, Bessie, Pearl, Beulah,
Myrille, Robert, Hazel and Ruth.

JOHN C. SWEET resides at Arlington and
is the earliest pioneer in the territory embraced
in Gilliam county, now living. t He was born in
Bristol, Vermont, on February 12, 1836, his par
ents being Edward C. and Sylvia (Crane) Sweet,
also natives of Vermont. Our subject spent
twenty-one years in his native state, then came
west, working for wages in Iowa and Minnesota
for five years. In 1862 he crossed the plains with
horse team and at the John Day river he met
Leonard and Underwood, who were operating a
ferry. They were the only men on the river.
Our subject hired to them and worked for three
years, then in June, 1865, he journeyed up the
river to the mouth of Hay creek and took a home
stead where William Smith now lives. This was
the first homestead patented in the territory now
embraced in Gilliam county. Mr. Sweet entered
into partnership with David Gorman and. began
stock raising. They operated in a very modest
way and as the years went by increased their
herds until they owned four hundred cattle and a
large number of horses. A deep snow and severe
winter swept away three-fourths of these herds
and then Mr. Sweet sold his part of the cattle
to his partner. Mr. Gorman moved away and
our subject began farming. He raised three
crops, then sold his ranch to Layton Brothers,
still retaining his horses. For three years he was
occupied with the Layton Brothers, then he took
charge of the Graham Brothers' saloon, at Ar
lington, while they were in Canada on a visit.
In September, 1887, Mr. Sweet opened a saloon

John C. Sweet

Fred T. George

Mrs. Henry S. M

enry D. IVloore

Henry S. M

nry a. IVloore

George W. Moore

William P. West

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

609'

for himself, which he operated five years. Then
he rented the bar of the Hotel Grand and con
ducted it until 1897, in which year he was taken
sick. Owing to this illness he was obliged to
relinquish his lease, and later removed to the
Star saloon, where he has conducted business
since. His place is known as an orderly house
and he is one of the best known pioneers in Gil
liam county.
On October 23, 1892, Mr. Sweet married Mrs.
Rebecca French, nee Rice, who was born in Mis
souri in 1843. Mr Sweet has one sister, Har
riett C, wife of S. F. Everett. These two are the
only survivors of a family of twelve children. In
fraternal matters, Mr. Sweet is a member of the
Foresters, and in politics he is a strong Demo
crat. During the years of this pioneer life Mr.
Sweet has endured the hardships and depriva
tions that come in such a path, has assisted in
developing the country, and is entitled to the
credit history must give to those who opened
this now prosperous country.

FRED T. GEORGE has had a varied experi
ence in Oregon and has made a good record all
along the line. He is now the proprietor of the
only exclusive dry goods store in Arlington, and
is doing a good business. He is a keen and relia
ble business man and has demonstrated his abil
ity to make a success in his present capacity as he
did in other lines in this state.
Fred T. George was born in Knox county,
Ohio, on September 19, 1875. Thomas O.
George was his father, and he, too, was born in
the Buckeye State. His ancestors came to Ohio
when it was a territory and his" father, James
George, the grandfather of our subject, settled
where Columbus now stands. The family was a
prominent English one and were early immigrants
to the colonies. The mother of our subject's
father kept a hotel in colonial times and often
sheltered General Washington, and at times vari
ous ones of his officers and soldiers. Our sub
ject's mother was Dora Hardesty, a native of
Ohio. Fred T. was educated in his native state
and there remained until thirteen when he came
west, making the journey clear to Oregon. As
soon as he landed here he sought a position as a
cowboy and for eleven years practically lived in
the saddle. He rode the entire range adjacent
to this centre, and was well acquainted with all
the leading men and stock operators of the re
gions. Unlike many of those who take up this
life, Mr. George neither contracted bad habits
nor' did he spend his money recklessly. He was
economical and carefully husbanded the hard

earned wages and occasionally an opportunity
presented itself to buy a small band of stock andi
ship it, and he did so, until he was well known as
a stock shipper. He continued this with his cow
boy life until 1898, when he went into partnership
with another man and they opened a store in
Arlington. It was a long jump to go from the-
camp life and the saddle to the proprietorship'
of a store without having had any experience im
this business, but Mr. George did in this as he-
has done since and before, he began the study of.
the business and the methods and soon was mas
ter of the situation. In due time he bought the
interest of his partner and he is now sole owner
of the establishment which is a first-class dry
good store favored with a fine patronage. Mr.
George is well known and highly esteemed and
wins many friends.
In 1900, Mr. George married Miss Estella
F. Wood. Her father, John H. Wood, is a mer
chant in Arlington. He was born in Jackson
county, Missouri, came to Portland in 1875 and
in very early days came on to eastern Oregon..
He did contracting in the Heppner country and.
is now a prosperous merchant here. Mr. and!
Mrs. George are popular young people and have:
won a good position in society, being surrounded
with many warm friends.

HENRY S. MOORE resides some twelve
miles southeast of Olex and devotes his attention;
to farming and stock-raising. He was born im
Wabash county, Illinois, on May 4, 1838, the soni
of James and Margaret (Cummings) Moore. The-
former was born in Kentucky on March 16, 1808,.
and died November 16, 1897, in Wasco county,.
Oregon, aged eighty-nine years and eight months-
The latter was born in Tennessee, in 1805, and
died in 1872. They crossed the plains in 1853
and were pioneers to Oregon. Our subject
moved to Illinois, on March 22, 1853, being then-
fifteen years of age, and with his parents and six;
brothers and sisters, made a trip across the plains-
with ox teams. They arrived in the Willamette
valley on October 29, 1853, and there engaged
in stock raising and farming. Their trip across-
the plains was about the same as other such jour
neys, except that they ran out of provisions and!
were forced to slaughter some of their stock,.
which was very poor. For two weeks they sub
sisted on this fare, then met a party on the Cas
cades who supplied them with flour. At the*
breaking out of the Rogue River war, in 1855,
our subject and his father enlisted in Laben
Bouy's Company and served nine months, or until
the close of the war, being; honorably, discharged

39

•6io

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

on July 3, 1856. Returning to the farm, our
subject remained there until 1879, when he came
to Rock creek and took a preemption, timber
Gulture, and later a homestead. He still retains
this property and has been engaged in stock rais
ing and farming for twenty-five years. He has
done his share to build up the country, to estab
lish good government and to make it one of the
good counties of the great state of Oregon. He
has succeeded well in his labors and has also ac
cumulated a fine property.
On December 25, 1862, in Lane county, Ore
gon, Mr. Moore married Miss Hannah Jane
Miller, who was born in Indiana, on September
1, 1844. Her father, George Miller, was a pio
neer to Oregon, having crossed fhe plains with
his wife and children in 1847. He was born in
September, 1804. His wife was Elizabeth Hyatt,
who was born in 1807. Mrs. Miller was three
years of age when this journey was taken and
she remembers many of the incidents, especially
that The Dalles was then only a trading post.
Settlement was made near Albany, Oregon, and
then they removed to Lane county, where she
received her education, and in which place she
was married. The wedding occurred in the lit
tle log cabin built by her brothers when thev first
came to the country. When our subject was first
in Eugene it consisted of but two nouses. Mr.
Moore has the following named brothers and sis
ters : John, deceased ; Henry, George, William,
Alary J. Tilton, deceased, Lucinda, Hanna, Eliz
abeth Ann Park, and Hester C. Bryant.
In political matters Mr. Moore is a good,
strong Prohibitionist. He joined the Church of
Christ when he was eighteen years of age, and
from that time until the present he has always
labored for the spreading of the gospel and the
upbuilding of the church. He is a good man,
has many friends and has shown ability and en
terprise since coming here.

GEORGE W. MOORE is one of the pio
neers of Oregon and has seen a great deal of
frontier life, having been in different sections of
the northwest in various occupations.' He was
born in Illinois on January 5, 1842, and his par
ents are specifically mentioned in the biography
of his brother, Henry Moore. He was eleven
years of age when the family started across the
plains to the Willamette valley in which place he
completed his education, that was begun in Illi
nois. In 1862, in company with his brother,
Henry, he took pack horses and a saddle horse
between them and started for the Cariboo mines in
British Columbia. He went as far as Antler creek

and did considerable prospecting but met with no
very brilliant success. Food stuff was a dollar a
pound and meals two dollars and fifty cents each.
Finally they sold their horses and packed their
blankets and provisions back a distance of three
hundred miles, then to the end of the journey,
one hundred miles farther. On December 19,
1864, our subject enlisted in Company H, First
Oregon Infantry, and served most of the time
in Grant county. On January 19, 1866, he was
honorably discharged and returned to the Willa
mette valley where he made his home for eleven
years. Then he moved to, Umatilla county and
took up logging and sawmilling for six years.
After that he came to Rock creek and engaged
in stock raising and farming. In 1887, Mr.
Moore journeyed to Ohio, and the next year
came back to Rock creek. Then he went to Mis
souri, and again returned to Rock creek. After
that, he moved to Grant county, and two years
later took a homestead on Hay creek in Gilliam
county. Later he sold that and has made his
home where he now resides, since.
On January 14, 1872, Mr. Moore married
Amanda Jane Howard, who was born in Mis
souri, in 1856.
In politics, our subject is a strong Republi
can, and he is a member of the Church of God.

WILLIAM P. WEST has the distinction of
being one of the first men to settle in central
Oregon, and there are, perhaps, not more than
one or two now living in Gilliam county who
came here as early as he. He is following farm
ing and stock raising on a nice ranch some nine
miles west from Olex. In 1863, over forty years
since, Mr. West located a homestead on the place
where he now lives and there took a timber cult
ure claim. To this he has added by purchase
until he owns eleven hundred and twenty acres
of land. He also has a nice holding of cattle,
horses and hogs.
William P. West was born on the little island
of Bonholm, Denmark, on February 24, 1842.
His father, Nelson Pederson, was born in the
same place and married a maiden, who is also a
native of that island. After receiving his early
education in the place of his birth, our subject
continued there until eighteen years of age. In
the year 1859 he came to New York, and thence
by rail to St. Louis, where he took a trip to Ft.
Leavenworth. With twelve others, he there pur
chased a mule outfit and started for Pike's Peak,
but en route they changed their mind and went
to California. Mr. West worked at mining in
Sierra county, California, until 1861, when he

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

611

went to the South Fork of the Clearwater, in
Idaho, and there he mined for two years. In
1863 he came to the place where he now lives and,
as stated before, made location. From that time
until the present he has been known as one of
the progressive, substantial and capable men of
Gilliam county, and has earned well the success
he is enjoying at the present time. For many
years he lived in this country where there were
scarcely any comforts of civilization and with
stood the attacks of the savages and the hard
ships that fall to the lot of the pioneer, weather
ing them with a spirit and fortitude that bespeaks
the manner of man he is. Pie is well known all
over the cduntry, and as far as he is known is
highly respected.
On April 30, 1876, on Rock creek, Mr. West
married Miss Mary L. Mulkey, who was born
in Josephine county, Oregon, on March 6, i860.
Her parents, Thomas ancl Hester (Armquist)
Mulkey, were born in Illinois on April 6, 1825,
and in Missouri, on September 20, 1825, respec
tively. The latter died on September 1, 1888,
the former on August 27, 1892. Mr. Mulkey was
one of the oldest pioneers in southern Oregon.
well known all over that section. He participated
in the Rogue River war, and was a leading and
prominent man. His father, Philip Mulkey, was
born in Illinois, on October 27, 1802, crossing
the plains in 1852 and settling in Lane county.
near where Eugene now stands. His death oc
curred in 1890. For sixty-five years he was a
preacher of the gospel in the Christian denomi
nation. With his son he assisted to drive the
first stake in the town of Eugene, Oregon, and
also transported the first goods from Portland to
Eugene. To Mr. and Mrs. West the following
named children have been born : John N. West,
on May 1, 1878, and now he has two children,
Wilbur and Alvis; Mrs. Nettie C. Cables, No
vember 19, 1879, who has one child, Percy ; Mrs.
May Davis, on September 11, 1881, who has one
child, Linn ; Alice, on January 25, 1^83, who died
July 14, 1889; Clarence T, on August 1, 1884;
Nellie B, on November 11, 1885; Miles A, on
December 11, 1887; William L, on January 16,
1890; Ruby F, on November 14, 1892; Custer,
on May 5, 1894; Alma, on August 29, 1895;
Dewy, on February 20, 1898; Mary, on April
23, 1900; and Gladis, on July 17, 1902.
Mr. West is a Democrat ancl takes a keen in
terest in political matters. He is a member of
the Lutheran church. He ancl his wife are ex
cellent people and have hosts of friends all
through the country. Mr. West has done his
share in building up the country ancl is certainly
entitled to the fine competence which nis labor
-and skill wrought out in this section.

JOHN ALEXANDER RICHMOND has
not been so long in Gilliam county as some of the
older pioneers, still the enterprise he has mani
fested together with the interest taken in the
welfare of the county and its building up, entitle
him to a representation in any work that would
mention the leading citizens here. He resides
about eleven miles west from Condon on one of
the choicest estates to be found in the county.
It consists of three hundred and twenty acres of
the most fertile land and is improved in becoming
taste and with skill. Mr. Richmond is planning
much further improvement for his ranch and
under his skill this especially fertile spot will be
made one of the best in the state. He is a man
of enterprise ancl industry and labors assiduously
in his chosen calling.
John A. Richmond was born in Ontario,
Canada, on March 29, 1867, the son of Daniel ancl
Flora (McArthur) Richmond. The father was
born in the same locality as this son ancl was
one of the wealthy agriculturists of his county.
He possessed one of the best farms in the pro
vince. The mother was born in Scotland and
came from a strong Scotch family. She came
from the old country to Ontario when a girl and
her people were among the most prominent in
their locality. John A. was well trained by a wise
and skillful father and his education was care
fully looked after ,in his native place, Ontario,
having schools which are the envy of every place
where the English language is taught and being
surpassed by none. When the days with school
books were passed Mr. Richmond took up farm
ing and wrought in his native place until 1900
when he decided to try the west. Accordingly
he sought out the country which presented the
most attractions, it being Oregon, and he first
settled in Umatilla county. He purchased a
ranch there and continued until 1902 when he
came to his present place, he having previously
looked over the country. He bought the farm
where he now lives and to the cultivation and
improvement of this since he has given his time
ancl attention. Mr. Richmond takes great pride
in doing everything right and bringing out the
best from all his labors. This is one secret of
his success. Mr. Richmond has one brother and
three sisters, Mrs. Rebecca McDougall, in this
county; Mrs. Jane A. Tompkins, in Ontario;
Daniel' in Pendleton, Oregon, and Mrs. Libbie
Fletcher, in Marion county, Oregon.
In 1898 Mr. Richmond took to himself a
wife, the lady being Jessie McDonald, a native of
Ontario, but descended from stanch Scotch peo
ple. Her immediate parents, Neil and Mary
(McDonald) McDonald, were both born amid
the rugged hills of Scotia and came to Ontario

6l2

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

when young. In 1886 they came to Umatilla
county, Oregon, and there they are prominent
and wealthy people now. Mrs. Richmond has five
brothers and sisters, all in Umatilla county, Ore
gon ; Flora, Alexander, Duncan, Mrs. Katie
Hurd and Daniel. Two children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Richmond, John A. and Neil.
Mr. Richmond has a fine property, knows well
how to manage it, and is able to take advantage
of the resources of this favored county. The
result is he fast becoming one of the wealthy and
leading men of the county.

HON. JAY BOWERMAN is a young man
whose professional career has* already placed him
as a leading attorney of Gilliam and Wheeler
counties. He is at the head of a large law prac
tice and has shown himself a man of marked
ability in this line. Winneshiek county, Iowa, is
his native place and August 15, 1876, the date
of his birth. His parents, Daniel and Lydia
(Hoag) Bowerman, were born in Somerset
county, Maine, and Vermont respectively. The
former on September 22, 1835, and the latter on
November 12, 1845. Tnev now reside in Salem,
Oregon. The public schools of Iowa furnished
the earlier educational training of our subject
and then he came on to Salem, Oregon, in 1893
with his people. There he attended the Wil
liamette University, then entered the law depart
ment of the same institution, graduating in June,
1896. He passed the supreme court examina
tion in October of that year, but was unable to
get his diploma of admission to the bar until
August, 1897, because he had not reached his
majority until that time. He immediately entered
upon the practice of law in Salem and vicinity
and later associated himself with John McCourt
until 1899. On March of that year he trans
ferred his residence from the Williamette valley
to Gilliam county and soon formed a partner
ship with H. H. Hendricks, with offices at Con
don and Fossil. Since that time they have la
bored together and have gained a very large and
lucrative practice. They handle the largest cases
in these two counties and are among the leading
legal representatives in this part of the state.
Mr. Bowerman is a close student, possessed of
a keen perception, and is a fine forensic orator,
the result being that he has forged ahead in his
profession with strong indication that he will be
among the leading lawyers of the northwest.
On October 7, 1903, Mr. Bowerman mar
ried Miss Lizzie Hoover, a native of Wheeler
county, Oregon, and the daughter of T. B.
Hoover, one of the pioneer merchants of Fossil
and now deceased.

Politically Mr. Bowerman is a ' Republican
and very active. He has attended two state con
ventions and in June, 1904, was chosen from this
district to the state senate.
In fraternal circles he is associated with the
K. P, the Elks and the A. F. & A. M. Mr.
Bowerman is a man of unswerving integrity and
has won the esteem of all who know him, while
also he has demonstrated his ability in his pro
fession.

J. W. EBBERT. Some four miles northeast
from Condon, one comes to the home of J. W.
Ebbert, who settled here on the raw prairie six-
tee'n years since. The country was new then
and the settlers were scattering. Since that time,
he has continued here and has wrought well in
improving and building up his place, which in
its measure has augmented the wealth of the
county. Mr. Ebbert is a man past the prover
bial three score years and ten, but is hale and
hearty and has the vigor of many in middle life.
His birth occurred in the vicinity of Uniontown,
Pennsylvania, on August 21, 1832. James Eb
bert was his father, and he was born in Union-
town. His father, the grandfather of our im
mediate subject, came from Germany and settled
in Uniontown when it was small, being the first
merchant in the town. Our subject's mother,
Liza Devicman was born in Maryland, near the
Potomac, and was of Irish ancestry. The first
eighteen years of young Ebbert's life were spent
in Pennsylvania and there he received his educa
tion. Then, owing to his mother's ill health, the
family decided to come west. They took the trip
to Iowa in wagon and in that territory they re
mained until April 14, 1852, which day marks
the time of their starting for the great Pacific
slope. With ox teams they made the journey,
four months being the time occupied, and many
exciting and pleasurable things occurred. Hostile
Indians were seen hovering around much of the
time and although the keenest watch was kept,
still several times the stock was stampeded, but it
was recovered again. They saw much game and
had wild meat a great deal of the time. In due
time they arrived in the vicinity of Eugene and
there they settled to farming. That was the fam
ily home for all until seventeen years since, when
our subject went to the Palouse country in Wash
ington and farmed for a year. Then he came to
the place where his home now is and selected the
spot, taking it as a homestead. He succeeded in
getting a cabin built and the wood for the win
ter hauled, and so commenced his life in Gilliam
county. He took a timber culture in addition to
the homestead and since then Mr. Ebbert has

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

613

labored steadily in the cultivation of the farms.
He also handles stock ancl has a splendid place
.supplied with an abundance of water.
In 1859, Mr. Ebbert married Miss Unicy
Crabtree, who was born in Missouri, on March
20, 1840. Mrs. Ebbert's father, Zimri Crabtree,
was born in Kentucky, pioneered to Missouri
, and later to Oregon. Eight children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Ebbert: James E, Z. A,
Mason, Roy, W. I, Mrs. Margaret Powers, Mrs.
Eliza Winsonreed, and Lily May.

JESSE A. SIMMONS was born in the Wil
liamette valley. His parents are William and
Tryphena (Havisd) Simmons, and they are more
fully mentioned in the biography of Byron Sim
mons, which appears elsewhere in this work.
Our subject's education and youthful training
were received in the Williamette valley and there
he remained until 1899, when, in company with
his brother, whom we have mentioned, he came
across the mountains to seek a place in the fer
tile plains here spread abroad for the use of the
worthy farmers. He selected a homestead
twenty miles west from Condon, near his broth
er's place, and here he has deyoted himself to
farming and raising stock since the day of his
settlement. He is an industrious and exemplary
young man and has displayed the true grit that
wins in the battle of life. Since coming here
he has done well and is now one of the substan
tial men of the community.
As yet, however, Mr. Simmons has not seen
fit to take a life partner and is enjoying still the
quiet pleasures of the celibatarian while he is
carving out his fortune from a fertile Oregon
farm. He took it in the wild and has placed
the improvements on it which are needed and is
fast transforming it to be one of the valuable
places of the vicinity.
Mr. Simmons has the following named
brothers and sisters : Byron, who is mentioned
elsewhere in this work, Murat, Napoleon, Bije,
Eugene, Guy, Oscar, Hortense, Jophme and
Jennie. Mr. Simmons is an active participant in
the good labor of building up the county and al
ways manifests a lively interest in political mat
ters and educational affairs. He is progressive
and well informed and is an enterprising man.

BYRON SIMMONS is a native son of Ore-
-gon. His birth occurred in the vicinity of Salem
on September 10, 1872. His father, William
Simmons, was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana,

and crossed the plains with ox teams as early as
1845. I" J850, the next year after the memor
able discovery of gold in Calilornia, Mr. Simmons
went thither and did mining. Later he returned
to the Williamette valley and settled on a dona
tion claim near Salem where he remained until
his death. He took the claim in the early fifties.
He participated in the various Indian wars, in
cluding the Cayuse war, and was a stanch Indian
fighter. He married Miss Tryphene Havisd,
who was born in Pike county, Illinois. She
came across the plains with her father and the
balance of the family, except her mother, who
had died previously. The journey was made in
1853, and when they reached the last crossing
of the Snake river the father died leaving a
family of ten children. Mrs. Simmons was then
'a girl of fourteen and she had a trying time in
caring for her younger brothers and sisters.
However, they reached the Williamette valley in
clue time and there she grew to womanhood and
in 1855 was married to Mr. Simmons. Our
subject was educated in the Williamette valley
and there grew to manhood. He learned the art
of farming and also was skilled in breeding
stock. In 1899 he came to this side of the moun
tains and sought out the place where he now lives,
which lies about twenty miles west from Condon.
He took a homestead and since then has given his
attention to farming and raising stock.
In 1898 Mr. Simmons married Miss Jane
Brown, who was born in Lee county, Virginia,
in October, 1880. Her parents are Richard ancl
Sarah (Love) Brown, natives of North Caro
lina ancl Virginia respectively. They came to
the Williamette valley in 1890 and made settle
ment on a farm where they remained until the
death of the father in 1896. To Mr. and Mrs.
Simmons three children have been born, Sarah,
Clyde and Valentine.

SHERMAN JONES is one of the industrious
tillers of the soil in Gilliam county and is also
one of the enterprising citizens who is ever alert
to bring his county to the front in proper ways.
He was born in Henderson county, North Car
olina, on December 26, 1867, the son of James
and Caroline J. (Ward) Jones, natives of North
and South Carolina, respectively. The father
followed farming and participated in the Civil
War. In 1882, he went to Texas, taking his fam
ily, and ten years later he removed thence to the
Willamette valley ancl made settlement on a farm
in Yamhill county. His ancestors were from
Welsh ancestry and settled in North Carolina
among the very first colonists. The mother was
born of a prominent ancl old family and is still

614

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

living in the Willamette valley. Our subject ac
companied his parents in their various journeys
and received his education from the schools in
the places where he lived. He remained in the
Willamette valley until 1897, when he came east
of the mountains and sought out a homestead for
himself. This place is about eighteen miles west
from Condon, where Mr. Jones makes his home
at the present time. He gives his attention to
farming and stock raising and is doing well. His
brother, Burns Jones, is with him and they
have been associated together much of their life.
He was born in Henderson county, North Caro
lina, on February 22, 1868. In 1885, he married
Miss Annie Aliller, a native of Nebraska.
To them have been born four children, James and
Joey, twins, Martha, and Bryan. Besides the
brother, mentioned, our subject has four other
brothers, Webb, Butler, Alfred, and Hood, all liv
ing in the Willamette valley.

HON. W. L. WILCOX, of the firm of Steph
enson & Wilcox, is a leading business man of
Gilliam county. His firm is one of the represen
tative business houses of the county, they are en
gaged in general merchandising, in which line
they do a thriving trade.
W. L. Wilcox was born in Washington
county, Oregon, on January 16, 1857, the son of
C. D. and S. E. (Manning) Wilcox. The father
was born in New York, in 1829, crossed the
plains to Oregon in 1849, an<^> with his wife.
is living in Klickitat county, Washington. They
have been faithful pioneers and are worthy peo
ple. Our subject was educated in Portland and
later took a course in a business college in The
Dalles. He was employed by his uncle in the
stock business east of the mountains for some
time and in 1886, started in stock raising for him
self. He also did a good business in shipping
horses to the east and was one of the leading men
in these industries in the county. In 1888 Mr.
Wilcox was nominated by the Democratic party
for the state legislature from this district and
won the day by a handsome majority. He made
a commendable record in the house and when his
term was out there, it being 1890, he was chosen
for sheriff of Gilliam county. For twelve years
he held that office, which demonstrates both his
great popularity as well as his faithfulness in the
discharge of duties of trust. He was an efficient
officer in every point and has shown an unswerv
ing integrity and uprightness that commend him
to all lovers of good. On August 1, 1902, Mr.
Wilcox bought a share of the business conducted
then by his partner, Air. Stephenson, and to

gether since that date they have handled the bus-'
iness, which is increasing all the time and is in a
very prosperous condition. The firm is reliable
and substantial and dispenses goods to all parts
of the country adjacent to Condon.
On June 20, 1886, Mr. Wilcox married Miss
Minnie A. Caven, a native of Kansas. Her
father was J. J. Caven. Four children have
beeen born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox: William,
Alvin, Florence and Minnie.

JOHN SPENCER is a substantial farmer
and stockman of Gilliam county and resides about
eighteen miles west from Condon. He is a native
of Toronto, Canada, and the date of his birth is
November 27, 1848. His father was John Spen
cer, a native of Lancastershire, England, and his
birth occurred on January 11, 1806. When a boy
he was apprenticed to a farmer, but after toiling
at that labor until he was eighteen, he severed
his relations there and entered the British army.
For twenty-five years, four months, and three
days he was a faithful soldier, being stationed in
various portions of the globe and acquiring a
very extended experience. Then came his hon
orable discharge and he settled to farming in
Canada in the forties. He had married while in
the military service, Harriet Adams becoming his
bride. She was born in Yorkshire, England. The-
death of the elder Spencer occurred in Canada,
on August 6, 1885. Our subject was educated.
at Chatham, Ontario, receiving a splendid train
ing. Then he took up farming and continued at
it uninterruptedly until 1876, when he laid it
aside for railroading. After a time in that line of
enterprise, he joined the police force in Grand
Rapids, Michigan, and served six years and nine
months. Then he did farming again, this time,
in Michigan. Thence he came west, and in 1898,
he settled where he is now residing. He has a
good farm and his sons have a half section be
sides, there also. Mr. Spencer is handling the
entire estate and is one of the successful farmers
here. In 1 87 1 occurred the marriage of Mr. Spencer
and Mrs. Nina Dumford, who was born in
Toronto, Canada, on October 12, 1845. Her
parents were Charles and Mary A. (Hobbs) El-
ford. The mother was born in London, England.
The father was born in Wiltshire, England, on
May 3, 1806. He was a highly educated and
prominent man. To Mr. Spencer and his wife
five children have been born : William H, a chef
at the Warwick hotel in Grand Rapids, Michi
gan ; Walter E, a farmer in Oregon; Mrs. Mary
Randall, Charles E, and George T. By her

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

6i5

former marriage Mrs. Spencer has one son, Harry
D, a coach inspector on the Grand Trunk rail
road. Mr. Spencer inherited very little property
from his father, and so what he now possesses is
what he has acquired by his own labor and skill
ful management. He received as a more valu
able legacy, however,, an unsullied family name,
which he has kept clean and bright since, being
a man of unswerving integrity and uprightness.
He has a high sense of his stewardship in this
pilgrim way and a fine sense of honor. Mr. and
Mrs. Spencer are highly esteemed people and
have many friends.

JOHN ARTHUR RICHMOND, who is one
of Gilliam county's prosperous farmers residing
about fifteen miles west from Condon, is a na
tive of Ontario, Canada, his birth occurring on
November 10, 1853. Richard Richmond was his
father, and he, too, was born in Ontario. He was
a prominent and wealthy men and stood at the
head of important and numerous large enter
prises. He had started in life as a millwright
and so successful was he that at one time he
was the owner of a woolen mill, a flour mill, and
oat meal mill, and a saw mill. He also owned a
large and valuable farm. He had gone to On
tario with his father-in-law and received grants
of land from the government. Later in life, he
went to Iowa and there built a flour mill. He
remained in that state until his death. He was
of English ancestry and married Miss Laura
Bowerman, who was born at Picton, Ontario, of
German parents. She was an adherent of the
Quaker church. Her father was also a mill
owner and very wealthy. He sunk a large salt
well which cost a great deal of money. Our sub
ject was educated in his native place and after
his father's death, went with his mother to Illi
nois. This was in 1859. In 1862, he returned to
Ontario and there remained until 1885. In that
year, Mr. Richmond decided to come west and
accordingly we find him in Oregon soon. Pendle
ton was his first stopping place and there he
wrought until 1888. That was the year when he
took up his residence in Gilliam county, taking a
homestead. He went to work with a will to
make a good home, and as he was without capi
tal, he was forced to labor hard and carefully to
attain the end he had wished for. He soon was
in a position to purchase other land and he now
owns two sections of good land. He has devoted
himself to farming and stock raising since the
day of his settling here and in it all, while he has
met with much adversity and many obstacles to
overcome, he has achieved a splendid success.

He has a large number of cattle and horses. His
place is a fine one and the improvements show a
wisdom and thrift such as are required to build
up a country.
In 1875, Mr. Richmond married Miss Mary
J. Tompkins, who was born in Ontario. Her
parents were Henry and Eliza J. (Stinson)
Tompkins, natives of Ontario and Ireland, re
spectively. The father was very wealthy and
prominent in Ontario. Six children have been
born to this household, May, Mabel, Henrietta,
Henry, Annie Laura, and Henry deceased. Mr.
and Mrs. Richmond stand well in this commun
ity and are industrious and good people. Through
their personal efforts they have acquired their
wealth and their labors have stimulated others
to worthy effort.

WILLIAM M. CORNETT is a venerable
and highly esteemed citizen of Condon, where he
is dwelling in retirement from the more active en
terprises of life, after a long career of arduous
labor and well spent years. He is a pillar- in the
Christian church, of which he is a steward, and
during his life he has always shown forth those
graces of the Christian religion in walk and pre
cept, while also, he has labored wisely ancl well
for the advancement of -education in every way.
He is worthy of the generous bestowal of con
fidence which is accorded him and his friends are
numbered from every quarter.
William M. Cornett was born in Boone
county, Missouri, on October 29, 1821, the son
of John B. and Mary (Davis) Cornett. The
former was born in Lee county, Virginia, in 1797
and was a veteran of the War of 1812. He
fought with Jackson in the battle of New Or
leans, and his death occurred on January 7, 1840.
The mother was born in Warren county, Ken
tucky, and is now deceased. In the common
schools of Missouri, our subject received his
education and there grew to manhood. In 1853,
he was selected captain of a train of forty wagons
across the plains. The trip occupied five months
and was made without accident or misfortune.
He settled in P'olk county, Oregon, and there
farmed until 1880. Then he came to this county,
Condon was not then in existence, and took a
homestead near where Condon is now located.
Afterward he bought forty acres and to the cul
tivation of these two hundred acres he gave his
careful attention until 1901. In that year he sold
his property and removed to Condon to enjoy the
competence which his industry has provided.
On March 19, 1854, Mr. Cornett married
Miss Nancy J. McCarty, the wedding occurring

«6i6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in Polk county.. Mrs. Cornett was born in Jack
son county, Missouri, on January 22, 1832. With
her parents she crossed the plains in 1847. Their
stock was stampeded once and broke things ter
ribly, and while crossing the Snake, they were
nearly drowned. But they reached their destin
ation finally and she has done a noble part in the
pioneer work of assisting to open up a great
state. Her parents John and Rosanna (Wil-
"burn) McCarty, were natives of Kentucky. The
^former was born in T.798 and died on Alarch 24,
1 89 1, while the latter was born on March 11,
1806, and died October 10, 1868. Mr. and Mrs.
Cornett have the following named children, John
O, Alexander W, Edward R, Eugene B, Frank
D, Mrs. Emory P Knox, Fred C, and Mrs.
Annie Barker.
Air. and Mrs. Cornett have passed the fiftieth
milestone of their married life and during these
"long years they have shown forth a testimony for
"the faith that sustains them now and have done
untold good. They have many warm friends
and it is pleasant to see the old proverb exempli
fied in them, "The hoary head is a crown of glory
if found in the way of righteousness."

MARY A. (FOSTER) YOUNG is a native
of the great state of Oregon and has spent most
of her" life within its precincts. She is a daugh
ter who brings credit to her native land and is
•one of the leading ladies of our county. Oregon
City was her native heath and there she was
reared and educated. Her father, Phillip Foster,
was a native of Maine and came from a prom
inent family of that state. For years he was a
leading merchant in his native place and finally
¦decided to follow the Star of Empire to the west
and accordingly as early as 1843 ne embarked on
a vessel and doubled Cape Horn, arriving in clue
time in Oregon. He selected a donation claim
thirteen miles from the falls in the Willamette
river, where Oregon City is now located ancl at
once took up the pioneer's life. He continued in
this place, giving attention to managing his es
tate, until his death, which occurred in 1884. He
held various offices of public trust and was a
man of prominence and influence in the Willam
ette valley. He had married Miss Mary C. Pet-
tygrove, a native of Calais, Maine, and she ac
companied him in his journeys. She came from
an old and prominent family in Maine and was
a faithful helpmeet to her husband all of his days.
It required no small amount of courage and
¦stamina to leave the old home and try one's for
tune in the wilds of the great west. Oregon at
that time was but a dim unknown country on the

map and the savages were the masters. Still,
these worthy pioneers braved the dangers, en
dured the hardships, and did a noble work in this
western country.
Our subject remained at home during her
early life and received a good education in the
schools of the day. Then came her marriage to
Thomas Young, who had crossed the plains in
an early day and was one of the worthy pioneers
of this state. In 1883, she came east of the
mountains with her husband and they went to
work with a will to make a fortune and a home
for themselves. In this they succeeded well.
Stock raising occupied them and owing to the
skill and wisdom with which they prosecuted it,
they were rewarded with handsome returns in a
short time. They first lived in Heppner and
later removed to Ferry Canyon. After the death
of her husband, Airs. Young managed a large
ranch for a time and made a splendid success of
it. She is a woman of ability and many graces
and has won hosts of friends in this country.

JOHN R. WELLS is well known in Gilliam
county. The fact that he has held the block in
all the important auctions in the county for some
time, makes him better acquainted than the ordi
nary individual. He resides about a mile north
east from Condon, where he owns two hundred
acres of valuable land and also handles two and
one-half sections of land to crops in addition.
He raises considerable stock and is a thrifty and
well fixed man.
John R. Wells was born in Whiteside county,
Illinois, on February 16, 1871. His father, John
R. Wells, was born in Kentucky, and when
twenty-five years old removed to Illinois. There
he followed harness making. When the Civil
war broke out he enlisted in a company at Ster
ling, Illinois, and led a band all through the strug
gle, serving his country well. He became a
wealthy man before his death, which occurred
in March, 1883. He married Miss Anna H. Rey
nolds, a native of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, the wed
ding occurring in Illinois. She came to Oregon
in 1886, with her family, making settlement in
the Willamette valley, where she lived until 1900,
when she came to this part of the country. She
took a homestead and has given her attention to
supervising the improvements on it and to teach
ing, which occupation she has followed for twen
ty-two years. She is a highly educated lady and
has made a good record as a teacher. She was
superintendent of the Home of the Friendless in
Springfield, Illinois, for a number of years. Our
subject received his education in Sterling, Illinois,

Mrs. Jobn R. Wells

Jobn R. Wells

Frank B. Stevens

Mrs. Frank B. Stevens

Mrs. Matilda Witbers

Pemberton F. Cason

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

617

.and in 1886 came to the Willamette valley with
his mother. After he arrived at manhood's estate
he commenced farming and stock raising, and
that has been his business principally since that
time. Mr. Wells also learned the art of butter
making and was an expert at the business. In
his younger years he was a foot racer and won
many prizes. In 1897 he came to this vicinity
and took a homestead, and since then he has con
tinued here.
Mr. Wells married Aliss Susie Stevenson,
born June 29, 1882, in Indiana, and the daughter
of James G. and Eliza Stevenson, natives of
Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio, respectively. By
a former marriage Air. Wells has two children,
Bessie M. and Almond V Airs. Wells is a
highly educated lady ancl has taught school for
several years. Air. and Airs. Wells have the con
fidence of the people, and he has labored with
¦display of enterprise and industry here which have
been rewarded with a good possession of prop-
-erty. He and his wife are valued members of
society and have won many friends.

FRANK B. STEVENS, who was born in
Illinois, on December 6, 1855. is now one of the
leading citizens of Gilliam county, and resides
about fifteen miles southeast from' Condon. He
has a magnificent estate of over two thousand
acres and a fine herd of one hundred and fifty-
graded Shorthorns. The place is well improved
and supplied with everything to handle a good
farm and a first-class stock ranch. Air. Stevens
has shown an enterprise ancl skill in his labors
that are justly rewarded by the prosperity he en
joys. Osias C. Stevens, the father of our subject,
was born in New Hampshire, in 1809. He was a
carpenter and architect and in 1835 went to New-
York, whence he journeyed later to Illinois,
which was the family home until i860. Then he
went to Colorado county, Texas, until 1865, when
he moved to Marshall, Texas, ancl a year later
came via the isthmus to The Dalles. Oregon, ar
riving there on Alarch 18. 1867. For four years
he remained in that place then moved to Lone
Rock, and six years later returned to The Dalles,
which was his home until his death on Septem
ber 1, 1894. He was a devoted man and a great
worker in the church from the time he was four
teen years old until his death. For forty successive
years he read the Bible from Genesis to Revela
tion, each year. This made him a remarkably
well' posted man, and being of a missionary spirit
he did very much in spreading the gospel and
building up the churches. On Alay 2, 1849, he
married Miss Harriett N. Gould, who was born

in Zanesville, Ohio, on October 30, 1831. She
is living with our subject and is a remarkably
well preserved lady for her age. Frank B. was
educated largely after coming to The Dalles,
Oregon, owing to the fact that there was not
much chance for schooling in the south on account
of the war. On May 14, 1870, he began to work
for wages, continuing for six years. Then he
and his brother, Charles B, took cattle on shares
and continued steadily on in that business until
they owned four hundred head. On May 27,
1896, they dissolved partnership and our subject
retained the place where he now lives, and also
some of the stock. Since then he has given espe
cial attention to handling his herds and his
estate and the result is that he is one of the
wealthy men of Gilliam county.
On November 17, 1892, Air. Stevens married
Miss Lillian Rohrer, who was born in Alt. Ver
non, Illinois, on Alarch 28, 1861. Mrs. Lillian
R. Stevens taught five years in the public schools
of Illinois and in November, 1887, came west to
Oregon and in this state she has taken a leading
part in public school work. She assisted materi
ally to grade the schools of Grant and Gilliam
counties and has served ten years on the teachers'
examining board of Gilliam county. She also
enjoys the distinction of being the only woman
ever placed in nomination on the Republican
ticket for school superintendent of this county.
She holds a life diploma from the state of Ore
gon and has been a leading educator. Mrs. Ste
vens owns a half section of land in this county
which she leases. She also owns much suburban
property in Portland, including some three acre
tracts, and twenty-five lots. Politically she is a
strong Republican and has always been enthusi
astic in the campaigns. She belongs to the East
ern Star order, and is a prominent and highly
esteemed lady. Her father, John Rohrer, was
born in Shawneetown, Illinois, on October 22,
181 7. He was an extensive stock raiser and
land owner and died on December 5, 1885, in
Jefferson county. Illinois, on the home farm,
where all his children were born and reared.
He had married on May 2, 1848, Margaret War
ren, also a native of Shawneetown, Illinois, the
date of her birth being October 27, 1825, and
she died on October 30, 1894. Air. Stevens has
two brothers, Charles B, and Alonzo C, stock
men in this county. To Air. and Airs. Stevens
was born on December 10, 1894, John Caswell,
who died the same day. He was buried in the
family lot in Sunset cemetery, The Dalles, Ore
gon. Air. Stevens is a member of the W. W., the
Alaccabees and the A. F. & A. AL, belonging
both to the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch de-

6i8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

gree of the latter order. He is also a member of
the Eastern Star. In politics, Mr. Stevens is a
strong Republican and active. When he first
came here, there were but four families in this
region and the nearest postoffice was John Day
Bridge, sixty miles away. Their trading had to
be done at The Dalles, which was one hundred
miles distant. Those pioneer days saw much
hardship and much arduous labor, but our sub
ject was equal to the occasion and is to be classed
as one of the builders of the country.
Mr. Stevens is one of the best posted men in
the historical events of the country to be found
within the precincts of this county. His memory
of dates is especially accurate and he has taken
a great interest in these affairs and has per
fected himself in it to a marked degree.

PEMBERTON F. CASON is a pioneer of
many sections and has done the work of the fron
tiersman in a worthy manner. The result is that
today he is reaping the rewards of his labors and
is in possession of much property. He owns a
choice ranch of over five hundred acres of fertile
grain land about ten miles west from Condon,
besides much stock. He has his place well im
proved and is an enterprising and thrifty farmer.
Pemberton F. Cason was born in Morgan
county, Missouri, on February 16, 1843. Seth
Cason was his father and he came as a pioneer
to Missouri. His father, the grandfather of our
subject, had fought under General Jackson in
the War of 1812. His grandfather, the great
grandfather of our subject, was a patriot under
General Washington in the Revolution. He mar
ried Miss Sarah Woods, who was born near
Wheeling, Virginia. She went to Missouri with
her husband, who died soon after arriving there.
She remained a widow for some years and then
married Mr. John Hook, a native Kentuckian.
In 1864 the family came across the plains and
settlement was made in Marion county, Oregon.
There the parents remained until their death.
After he had seen the family well settled, our
subject started out for himself. His education
had been obtained in Missouri, but owing to the
short and poor schools on the frontier in Mis
souri, he had little chance to perfect himself.
This lack, however, he has well made up for in
careful observation and study in later years. As
stated, he assisted the family to get settled and
then he went to the Idaho mines. A year later
he came to Linn county, Oregon, and after that
he journeyed south to Arizona. There he
wrought as a government freighter for five years.
After this we find him in California. When Mr.

Cason crossed the plains he came through the
territory now embraced in Gilliam county and he
never could quite forget the fertile prairies and
magnificent opportunities here offered the indus
trious man. Consequently he gave way to the
impression and made his way back to this place
in 1 88 1. He settled first in a good location two
miles south from his present home. Then he
selected his present place and since that time has
given his attention to the work here. He has
now everything convenient and has prospered
well. In early days Mr. Cason had much experi
ence in fighting Indians, and it was necessary in
those days each man should always be on the
lookout for the treacherous savage. The nearest
supply point was The Dalles, nearly two hun
dred miles distant. But he weathered the storms,
braved the dangers and is now favored with a
competence for his earthly days.
In 1873, Mr. Cason married Miss Martha
Thompson, a native of Oregon. She died in
1874. Her parents were Joseph and Elizabeth
(Donohue) Thompson, early pioneers to Oregon,
and prominent and cultured people.

THOMAS DILLON is to be classed as one
of the leading men in Gilliam county, since he has
shown his ability in managing the resources of
the land in such a way as to win for himself a
fine fortune, since, also, it is evident' to all, he is
one of the men of wisdom and integrity. And
since, too, he has been a liberal donator to all
good causes and has labored for the upbuilding-
of the county in every way. He is a man of vast
experience in the west and has travelled over a
large portion of the Pacific slope. He came
when the country was new and knows by experi
ence what it is to be a frontiersman in one of
the wildest regions of the west.
Thomas Dillon was born in Ireland and
comes from a good Irish family, being a scion in
which have been exemplified the noble char
acteristics of his race. He is possessed of the
native generosity and kind heartedness of his
people and with true loyalty has shown himself
an American worthy of the Stars and Stripes.
His parents were Peter and Margaret (Hays),
Dillon, natives of Ireland and immigrants to the
United States in the early forties. Our subject
was imbued with the spirit of adventure and
was with the family when they came to this
county. Settlement was made in Kentucky,
where he remained until 1856, when he took the
western fever, which was only to be cured by an
extended trip hither, which has now grown into a
permanent residence. He landed in California

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

6 rem

and was soon in the midst of the humming min
ing camps. He followed that exciting life for
• some time and then, upon the discovery . of gold
on the Fraser river, went thither. For some time
he labored in those diggings and was successful
in a measure. Finally tiring of the hardships of
mining, Mr. Dillon determined to settle down in
life and began the search for a suitable place. He
finally lighted on the country embraced in Gil
liam county now. This was in 1878, and he at
once decided he had found the place he was
searching for, and settled down. He went to
work for wages and soon had sufficient money to
purchase a band of sheep and some land. He had
been occupied as a sheep herder and persisted in
that trying occupation until he Jiad gained the
money mentioned, when he started in to raise
stock for himself. He made a success of his first
venture and soon had purchased more land. He
continued that policy until he secured fourteen
hundred and forty acres of valuable land, which
is his home estate at this time. It is situated
about eight miles northwest from Condon, and
is a place of value. He has accumulated a good
fortune and while doing it has, also, won the re
spect of the people, being a man of strict hon
esty and integrity, always kindly disposed to his
fellow beings and ready to give a helping hand.
The success he has gained stamps Air. Dillon as
one of the best financiers of this county and it is
an achievement in which one may take a laudable
pride. He is public minded and labors for the
advancement of the community and the upbuild
ing of the country.

W. L. BARKER, who is at the head of a
large implement and hardware business in Con
don, is one of the early settlers in Gilliam
county and has done a lion's share in the develop
ment of its resources and in augmenting its
wealth. He is a man of stamina and keen busi
ness ability and if one good quality shows more
than another, it is his tenacity and determination
to hold to a line of enterprise until he makes it a
splendid success. This is the true spirit that wins
the laurels in life and it is well exemplified in
our subject.
W. L. Barker was born in Athens, Maine, on
January 8, 1858, the son of Charles F. and Sila
(Libby) Barker, both natives of Maine. The
mother died there on February 15, 1858, but the
father is still living in his native state. Our sub
ject was well educated in his home place and in
the great centennial year he started west with the
determination to do for himself and win the
smiles of the goddess of fortune. After a short

time in Iowa, Mr. Barker was filled with the idea
of seeing Oregon and soon he was in the cen
tral part of the state. In 1877 he landed in what
is Gilliam county, now, and at once took up the
stock business. The next year, 1878, the Indians
were on the warpath in many sections and all the
settlers, with the exception of four besides Mr.
Barker, went to The Dalles. These five brave
men watched with care for weeks and looked
after the stock left behind. For three weeks
they slept on their picket ropes, but the time
passed without the appearance of the savages
and they saved the stock. For fifteen years Mr.
Barker continued in raising stock and all the time
was winning good success. Then he turned his
attention to farming and for a decade followed
that with good prosperity. During his time he
handled three thousand acres. It required forty
head of horses to plow the land and other things
in proportion. However, Air. Barker was able
to manage the establishment with such wisdom
that he had good returns. He usually fed his
grain to stock, and especially hogs. On one oc
casion, he drove two hundred and forty hogs to
Arlington without the loss of an animal, a record
which is seldom equaled. In April, 1903, Mr.
Barker decided to embark in the mercantile bus
iness and accordingly opened his present busi
ness. He carries a stock from fifteen to twenty
thousand dollars worth and has the best the
market affords for the uses of this county. He is
well and favorably known all over the county and
the surrounding country and the result is that
he has a large and ever increasing trade.
In 1881, Mr. Barker married Miss Anna Cor
nett, who was born in the Willamette valley, the
daughter of William and Mary J. (McCarty)
Cornett, who are mentioned specifically in an
other portion of this work. Seven children have
come to bless the household, and they are named
as follows : Emma J, Cora, Frank, Mabel, Flor
ence, Josie and Beulah. Mr. Barker has two
brothers, S. B. and Lewis, who are engaged in
the stock business in Wyoming, and two, Austin
and Charles, who are farming in Maine. Fra
ternally, he is affiliated with the W. W, the A. O.
U. W, the circle, and the Degree of Honor. Mr.
Barker is spoken of everywhere as a good man, a
patriotic citizen and a kind and loving father ancl
husband. He has certainly made the best of pro
vision for his loved ones, for he carries twelve
thousand dollars of life insurance in various
lines. Six thousand of this is in the New York
Equitable. In financialy matters, Air. Barker has
won the best of success and his good example has
also stimulated many others to better effort. He
is one of the leading men of the county, is
always interested in what is for the welfare of

«620

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

• all, is broad minded and a genuine westerner, of
¦fhe generous, genial and open hearted kind, who
wins and holds your friendship, simply because
-of his worth and excellent qualities.

HUGH C. STRICKLAND devotes himself
to farming and raising stock. He resides about
five miles northwest from Condon, and there owns
an estate of fourteen hundred acres. It is a valu
able property and has been made much more so
by the wisdom and thrift of the owner. Eight
hundred acres were cropped to wheat this year
and the bounteous harvest demonstrated the skill
¦of Mr. Strickland. He is known as one of the
leading citizens of Gilliam county and has done
very much to build up the county and bring it to
its present prosperous condition. He is a stimu
lus to good labors, as he is always striving for
the best. He takes great pride in raising good
stock, in tilling the soil in the best manner, in im
proving in the best way and in fact, he is a man
with an ideal of the perfect and constantly strives
for the attainment of his ideal. This has stimu-
later others to good action and Mr. Strickland is
to be greatly commended for his efforts in these
lines. Hugh C. Strickland was born in Portland, Or
egon, on January 2, 1856, being thus both a native
of the Web-foot State and one of its earliest pio
neers. William Strickland, a native of Virginia,
was his father and he was a true frontiersman.
He removed from his native state to North Car
olina when a young man and thence he journeyed
to the territory of Iowa in the early thirties. After
nineteen years of life there, he came on across
the plains in the memorable forty-nine. He was
accompanied by Charles Denton and wintered the
first winter on Fifteenmile creek, now in Wasco
•county. The snow fell to a great depth that year
and they lost all their stock. In 1852, Mr. Strick
land determined to try the Willamette valley and
accordingly went to where Portland now stands
and took a donation claim. A portion of that
-great city now stands on this ground. Finding it
a terribly hard task to clear the heavily wooded
land and being obliged to raise food for his family
he abandoned the claim and went to Clackamas
county and took land. That was his home until
1872, when he sold and came back east of the
mountains, settling in Wasco countv. He pur
chased land and lived on it until called away by-
death in 1879. He was aged seventy-six at that
time and was a highly respected man. He had
undergone all the hardships known to the pioneer
and was a good man, a bold Indian fighter, and a
true blue frontiersman. He had married Aliss

Elizabeth Willis, a native of Des Moines county,
Iowa, and she crossed the plains with her husband
and participated in his life until his death. Her
first child was born while they were crossing the
plains. She died in 1889, aged sixty-three. Our
subject was educated in the Willamette valley and
in 1873 came to Wasco county and remained one
winter with his father at Barlow gate. The next
year he came where he now lives and took a home
stead, and since that time he has continued here.
This makes Mr. Strickland one of the earliest
pioneers of this county and one of the oldest set
tlers. In 1889, Mr. Strickland married Miss Jessie
Al. Becker, the wedding occurring in Aberdeen,
South Dakota. Mrs. Strickland's parents are
Joseph and Lucy Becker, natives of Toronto,
Canada. She also was born in Toronto, Canada,
and came thence with her parents when a small
girl to Dakota. Two children are the fruit of this
union, Hazel Al. and Genevieve. Mr. Strickland
is a member of the I. O. O. F. He started in life
without capital and is now the possessor of much
property, all accumulated by his own labors and
skill. He and his wife have a lovely home, sup
plied with spring water and all conveniences, and
they are leading people in the county and have a
great many friends.

JOSEPH F. WOOD, M. D. Condon is to
be congratulated in having in her midst an up-to-
date and skillful physician who has won prized
laurels in various specialties of his profession.
Dr. Wood's office is as well equipped as could be
found in this part of the state. He has everything
needful and known to the practice, including
static and X-ray electrical machines. He is a man
of enterprise and energy and keeps fully abreast
with the advancing science of medicine thus
bringing to his humblest patient the best that the
world produces in the art of curing. Dr. Wood
is very popular and rightly so and during the
years of his stay in Gilliam county, has won the
confidence of all who know him, besides a very
fine practice.
Joseph F. Wood was born in Monmouthshire,
Wales, on March 21, 1876. His father, William
Wood, was born in the same country on July 21,
1852, ancl emigrated to the United States in 1880.
He settled in Ohio ancl followed his trade, that of
machinist, for one year then came to Grant's Pass,
Oregon, where he resided for nine years. After
that, he moved to Portland and continued in the
prosecution of his business until his death in Oc
tober, 1898, which resulted from the explosion
of the boiler on a torpedo boat in the Columbia

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

621,

river. He had married Harriett Bazley, who was
born in England in 1853 and is now living in
Condon. Our subject was well educated, receiv
ing a diploma in due time from the Portland high
school. Immediately subsequent to that, he en
tered the medical department of the University
of Oregon, and in 1900 graduated thetefrom with
honors. For one year he was consulting physi
cian and surgeon of the Portland hospital and
then served as ship's physician one trip to China
and Japan. Upon his return in December, 1901,
Dr. Wood located in Condon. He immediately
received practice which has constantly grown
until he is now a busy man. The doctor is very
careful to keep himself thoroughly conversant
with medical lore and is a great student. He is
an original thinker, quick to act, and the result
is, he is becoming one of the most successful phy
sicians of the state.
On February 15, 1904, Dr. Wood married
Miss Mary C. Maddock, who was born in Gil
liam county, the daughter of John Maddock, one
of this county's earliest pioneers. In fraternal
affiliations, we find the doctor associated with the
Royal Arch Chapter of Masons, the K. P, the
W. W. and A. O. U. W. He is a genial ancl
popular man taking a keen interest in all matters
for the welfare of the town and county and gives
of his time, greatly to assist any enterprise that
is for the good of all.

CHARLES W. GROSS is one of Gilliam
county's representative citizens, and his home is
about two miles northwest from Condon. He pos
sesses an estate of three hundred and forty acres
of valuable land and has made it a productive and
good farm. All improvements needed have been
supplied and Mr. Gross is a skilled and successful
farmer. He was born in Hawkins county, Ohio,
on August 13, 1853, the son of Andrew and Sarah
Gross. The mother died when this son was a
small child. The father, who was born in Ohio,
now dwells in Brownsville, Oregon. When our
subject was very small, he accompanied his father
to Dallas county, Iowa, where they resided until
1863. Then they crossed the plains with teams to
California, and two years later they journeyed on
to Linn county, Oregon. The father followed
farming and mechanical work. Charles W. wa?
educated in the various places where they resided,
and in Brownsville he completed the training in
this line. He had very poor privileges to study
and secured his education only by virtue of deter
mination and especial study. In 1871, he came
with his father to Athena, Oregon, and remained
with him until of age. Then he started in life

for himself. His only capital was a pair of good
strong hands and an unswerving determination.
to find a place and make a good home. He
wrought on the farms around Athena for a time,
and in 1886, believing better opportunities
awaited him in the west, he came hither and lo
cated his present place as a homestead.. He has
added the balance of the estate by purchase since
and made it a choice place. Mr. Gross is widely
known in this part of the state and is a man in
whom all have confidence. He is worthy of this
distinction, owing to uprightness and uncompro
mising integrity, which characterize him. He
has the faculty of making friends and keeping
them, too, and his sagacity and excellent judg
ment give him a prestige in the community that
is enviable. Mr. Gross has three children, William, Bertha
and Minnie.
The pathway that Mr. Gross has trodden has
been a very rough one at times, but he has always
developed the sturdiness and stability requisite to
overcome, and the result is that he deserves com
mendation much more than one who has smooth
sailing. He started with hard work and has been
an industrious man since and the habits of self-
reliance and the resourcefulness developed by try
ing circumstances have rendered him a broad-
minded and deep thinking man. Withal, he has.
gained a good holding of property and is a lead
ing man in the community.

EDWARD DUNN, one of the leading busi
ness men of Condon, is also one of the early pio
neers of the country now embraced in Gilliam
county. He is owner and operator of the mercan
tile establishment which has been brought to its
present prosperity through his skillful and careful
efforts. He has a large well selected stock of
groceries, dry goods, clothing, gents' furnishings,
boots, shoes, hardware, farming implements and
so forth, and the goods from his warehouse and
shelves find their way to all parts of the country
adjacent to Condon. By fair dealing, by strict:
business methods and by a desire to please and
accommodate the people, he has secured a fine
patronage and won many friends besides.
Edward Dunn was born in Monroe county,.
Michigan, on April 14, 1865. His parents, John
and Mary (Cunningham) Dunn, were born in
Kings county and Monaghan county, Ireland, re
spectively. The date of the father's birth was
1825, and he emigrated to the United States in
1836. Settlement was made in Michigan where
he did farming until his death in 1885. The
mother came to the United States when eighteen

(¦622

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

years of age, was married on November 6, 1849,
in Michigan, and died in 1900.
The common schools of Michigan supplied
the educational training of our subject, and when
the time of his majority had arrived he had fully
decided to try the west and accordingly came on
to Oregon. He finally located in Gilliam county,
March, 1887, being the date. It was very wild
at that time and the settlers were few. Mr. Dunn
gave his attention to stock raising and teaching
school. He continued in this occupation for about
six or eight years, then opened business in Con
don. When he first came, Condon consisted of
four buildings. Mr. Dunn decided to try the
mercantile business but had small capital and con
sequently was obliged to start in very moderately.
He had not long to wait, however, for business
soon began to come and from that time until the
present it has constantly been increasing until he
now has one of the finest stores in the county.
On August 27, 1894, Mr. Dunn married Miss
Cordelia Keizur, who was born in Oregon and
raised in this county. Her father was one of the
earliest pioneers of Oregon, and is still living in
the Willamette valley. Four children have come
to bless this household, John, Mary, Edward and
Agnes. Mr. Dunn has always been a very progressive
and enterprising man, consequently has had much
to do with politics and other things in the county.
He is allied with the Democratic party and in
June, 1902, was elected judge of Gilliam county,
a majority of two hundred and fifty showing his
popularity.

AMON HARTMAN, who resides about
three miles northwest from Condon, is one of the
representative men of this county and is also one
of the wealthy farmers and stockmen who have
won their success here. He is to be commended
on the record which he made in fighting for his
country in the time of fratricidal strife, and espe
cially so, when we consider the great dangers he
had to undergo in getting to a place where he
could safely stand under the stars and stripes.
An account of his life will be read with interest
by all. Amon Hartman was born in Adams county,
Illinois, on March 20, 1849. Henry Hartman,
his father, was born in Ohio, and when fourteen
came to Illinois where he lived until he crossed
the plains in 1852, with his family, by team, set
tling in Oregon. There he took a donation claim
near Albany and for six years gave his attention
to farming. During this time he served in the
Indian war of 1856. Finally he sold out in Ore
gon ancl purchased a band of sheep which he took

to California and sold. After that he went to
Texas with a pack train, taking his family, and
made settlement in the western portion of that
great state. He gave his attention to stock rais
ing until the war broke out. Then he wished to
join the union army, but the only way to get to
union ground was to go through Mexico, which
he did, accompanied by our subject. They made
their way down through Mexico, found an Eng
lish schooner chartered by the United States
going to New, Orleans and embarked and there
enlisted in the First Texas Cavalry, Company A,
in 1863. The father was killed while serving as a
spy, but our subject served on through his time.
Following the war, he returned to the old home
in Texas. His mother was Eliza (Wells) Hart
man, and she was born and reared in Adams
county, Illinois. In 1873, Mr. Hartman removed
from Texas to Yuba county, California, whence
ten years later, he came to what is now Gilliam
county. Here he looked over the country and
that adjacent for two years and in 1885 took a
homestead where he is now located. Since then
he has purchased other land, having now about
five hundred acres. Mr. Hartman has always
lived on the frontier and is a man of stability and
endurance. In 1867, Mr. Hartman married Miss Laura
Dunn. She was born in Bossier parish, Louis
iana, and removed to Texas with her parents when
a girl. They are George and Alartha Dunn. The
father died when a young man. Air. and Mrs.
Hartman have three children, Henry W, farm
ing near by ; John E. and Ernest H. Air. Hart
man is a member of the I. O. O. F, -and evinces
a lively interest in political matters and educa
tional affairs.

HANS K. WEST is an example of what a
man can do in the fertile regions of Gilliam
county. He resides about three miles northwest
from Condon, where he has a fine farm, and which
has been gained, together with all his other prop
erty in this section, by his own unaided efforts
since coming to this state. He is a man'of energy
and wise judgment, as is evinced by his various
moves in the business world, and by the success
that has crowned his efforts.
Hans K. West was born in Waupaca county,
Wisconsin, on August 16, 1874. His father, Peter
N. West, was born in Denmark and came with
his family to Wisconsin in 1874. He settled on a
farm, and later brought the family to Dakota.
His death occurred in 1886, and his wife, Mary
(Davidson) West, died two years later. She was
also a native of Denmark. Hans K. was educated
in Kingston county, Kakota, mostly, although

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

623

he secured one year's training since he came to
this state. It was 1891 that he came to Oregon
and cast his lot in this resourceful region east
of the Cascades. With four brothers and one
sister, he settled in Sherman county and together
they wrought until 1898. In that year, Mr, West
came to the place where he now lives and took a
homestead, adding a half section by purchase. He
started without means and took hold with the
determination of making, from the raw land, a
good home and a valuable farm, which he has
accomplished in first-class shape. His property
is now worth much money ancl he has fitted it up
in good shape.
In 1901, Mr. West married Miss Emma F.
Moore, a native of Iowa. Her parents are men
tioned elsewhere in this work. To this union
two children have been born, Merle B, and Gladys
Muril. Mr. and Mrs. West are young people of
excellent standing in the county and have won the
esteem and confidence of all. They are enterpris
ing, well informed and progressive people, ancl
manifest intelligent interest in public affairs and
educational matters.

SAMUEL A. PATTISON, editor of the
Condon Globe, which voices the interests of Gil
liam county with no uncertain sound and is rec
ognized by the exchanges as a "live paper," is
one of the leading citizens of this part of Oregon.
He is a gentleman of culture and possessed of
that geniality which wins friends, while his fear
lessness in matters of principle, speaks of the
Puritan principles of our Atlantic seaboard.
Samuel A. Pattison was born in Ohio county,
West Virginia, on November 17, i860. His
father, Thomas Pattison, was born in the same
house as our subject, and the date of the event
was 1802. He was a well-to-do and prominent
farmer. Owing to his stanch union principles in
the time of the Rebellion, he deemed it best to
build on another portion of his farm, which lay
both in Pennsylvania ancl West Virginia, accord
ingly, he then became a citizen of the Keystone
State. His father, John Pattison, grandfather of
our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, and came
to that part of Virginia with the first settlers. He
was a minister of the gospel and an adherent of
the Presbyterian church. He also held a profes
sorship in one of the leading colleges of the
country. His father, the great-grandfather of
our subject, was the first of the Pattison family
that came to America. He owned the land where
St. John, New Brunswick, now stands. He later
sold his property there and came to Pennsylvania.
The mother of Samuel A. was Jane (Humphrey)

Pattison. She was born on the farm adjoining
the one where our subject was born, and her
father, Robert Humphrey, was a wealthy and
respected agriculturist of that county. His father,
John Humphrey, was among the first settlers of
Ohio county, and a famous Indian fighter. He
fought in the Revolution along with Lafayette,
and was personally acquainted with that gentle
man. Samuel A. was educated partly in West
Virginia and partly in Pennsylvania, and in 1885
moved west to Nebraska. He soon returned to
his native heath, and in 1889 came west again and
for a time was a commercial traveler in Nebraska.
In the fall of 1889 he came to Wyoming and into
Newcastle on the first passenger train coming in
there. In 1891, he journeyed on west to Idaho
and embarked in the newspaper business. In
1898, he sold his interests in that state and came
to Condon, where he bought the Condon Globe,
the oldest paper in the county. Since then he has
made interesting reading for the people of this
county and has shown them he is a loyal cham
pion for the county.
In 1894, Mr. Pattison married Miss Hattie
Stone, who was the first white child born in
Placerville, Idaho. She was highly educated and
for twelve years had been one of the leading edu
cators of the state. Two children have been born
to this union, Everett, and Catherine.
Mr. Pattison is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
and also belongs to the grand lodge.

G. G. PARAIAN is one of Gilliam county's
leading citizens. He is a heavy real estate owner
and divides his time between farming and stock
raising. His place lies just northwest from Con
don and is a splendid estate. To add to its value,
Air. Parman has provided all the improvements
that could be needed in the enterprises he is fol
lowing. It is one of the tasty and neat appearing
places in the county. The home residence is a
modern structure, perhaps exceeded by no other
dwelling in this county. Air. Parman is a man
who displays great taste and good judgment and
the success he has attained in life is not the blun-
derings happenings of "luck." but the sure out
come of a well defined policy which he has fol
lowed with a tenacity and sagacity that could but
woo and win the goddess of fortune.
G. G. Parman was born in Gentry county,
Alissouri, on November 22, 1849. His parents,
George ancl Liddie (Alyers) Parman, were
natives of Indiana and came to Missouri in early
days. They followed farming there until 1857,
when the father transferred his residence to the
vicinity of Lawrence, Kansas. When that coun-

624

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

try was raided by Quantrell, the father joined the
Ninth Kansas Cavalry and served until his death,
which was caused by exposure and trying hard
ships. Returning home, it was endeavored with
all the skill possible to nurse him back to health,
but the strain had been too great, and death
claimed him, a martyr to his country. The mother
died in 1861. Our subject was educated in Kan
sas and when of age selected a homestead one
hundred miles east from Wichita and there made
his home until 1882. That year saw him selling
his property in the east and preparing for a jour
ney to the west. His ideas were well defined for
Oregon, but the especial section was still in doubt.
He reached the Web-foot State in due time and
for two years looked over the country. Finally,
in 1884, he selected this place where he now re
sides and took steps to secure a home. He at
once began farming and raising stock, and to
these related occupations he has given his atten
tion since. From time to time Mr. Parman has
purchased land and now his estate is very large.
In 1874, Mr. Parman married and his wife
died here. In 1893, he married a second time.
He has five children, Mrs. Julia Myer, Mrs.
Ethlin E. Dennis, Mrs. Hellen Simson, George
and Lloyd. For the encouragement of those who
start life without means, it is well to remark that
Mr. Parman started out, bereft of his parents
when young, and embarked on life's uncertain
seas, a poor boy. He made a study of the things
that brought success and the result is he has won
that for which he labored and is one of the lead
ing men today in this county.

JAMES McLELLAN JOHNS, the editor
of the Arlington Record, is a leading man in
Gilliam county. His paper is a bright and newsy
sheet, bearing the marks of ability and devotion
to his county and principles while it has won its
way into the hearts of the people and has placed
its editor in an influential and enviable position.
In addition to handling his paper, Mr. Johns
gives attention to the practice of law, and is a
successful pleader at the bar. He is a man of
keen perception and not slow to take advantage
of the weight of reason and right and in all
his ways so conducts himself that he is highly
respected and esteemed.
James McLellan Johns was born in Wayne
county, Ohio, on August 9, 1834. His parents
were Jacob and Sarah (Adams) Johns. The
former was born in Pennsylvania on July 4, 1808,
and was descended from Welsh ancestry that came
to the colonies with William Penn. He was a
strict adherent of the Quaker church. The mother

of our subject was a cousin of the noted John
Quincy Adams. Her father, James Adams, was
a brother of President John Adams, so Mrs.
Johns' uncle and cousins were both presidents of
the United States. James Adams was a stanch
Presbyterian minister. He married Miss Mar
garet McClellan, an aunt of General George B.
McClellan. Thus it is seen that Mr. Johns comes
from strong and prominent families on both sides
of the house, and he has so kept the family name
in his career that untarnished he will hand it to
his descendants. James M. was educated in
public and private schools in Ohio, and in 1853,
he went with his parents to Indiana. The next
year we find him in Kansas, where he taught
school. Later he journeyed to Jackson county,
Missouri, continuing in the work of the educa
tor. There, in 1856, he was married to Miss
Elizabeth Darby, a native of Kentucky. Two
years later they came to Marion county, Oregon,
via the isthmus and there Mr. Johns took up
teaching again. After a while he started in the
mercantile business at Scio, Linn county. Later
he went to Marion, Oregon, and erected a large
grain warehouse. This was the first warehouse
in the Willamette valley, and Mr. Johns assisted
to purchase the first ship cargo of wheat that was
shipped from Portland to Liverpool, England.
While residing in the Willamette valley Mr.
Johns educated his children at the Williamette
University, and in 1884 he came thence to Gil
liam county. He took government land and en
gaged in farming until 1890. In that year his
wife was called away by death and the farm did
not appeal any more to Mr. Johns as a home, and
accordingly he removed to Arlington and took
up the practice of law, which he had been per
fecting himself in for some years previous, and
also began editing the journal where he is still
writing. In politics, Mr. Johns is a stanch Re
publican and a regular wheel horse in the cam
paigns. He is well informed in political lore, is
abreast of the questions and issues of the day,
is a good orator, and wields a ready pen. For
two years here he has been postmaster. Frater
nally, Mr. Johns is a member of the A. F.
& A. M.
In 1893, Mr. Johns contracted a second mar
riage, Mrs. Margaret Biggs, nee Baldwin, be
coming his wife. They were young folks to
gether in Indiana. Mrs. Johns has one son by
her former marriage, George Biggs, a leading
merchant in Arlington. By his first marriage
Mr. Johns has the following named children:
Charles A, a leading attorney in Baker City,
Oregon ; Cato J, a prominent merchant in Sump-
ter, Oregon; Mrs. Viola McKinney, in this
county; Mrs. Dorcas Neal, in Harney county,

James M. Jobns

Abram C. Hurr

William R. Bake

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

62:

Oregon; and Airs. Ada Ralston, in Portland.
Air. and Airs. Johns are well respected people,
hold a prominent position in society and are
valued citizens of our county. They are both
members of the Alethodist church.

ABRAAI C. HUFF, who lives four miles
north from Croy, is one of the enterprising stock
men of Gilliam county. He has recently taken a
homestead where he now resides 'and owns, be
sides, a half section of land, gained by purchase.
He was born in Alichigan, on June 29, 1838, the
son of David D. and Alaria (Young) Huff,
natives of New York. The first eighteen years
of our subject's life were spent in Alichigan,
where he received his education, and then he
came with his parents to Iowa, where he worked
for years with his father on the farm. Then he
began tilling the soil for himself and continued
in Iowa" for twenty-two years. After that he
journeyed to Aiinnesota where he remained five
years. It was 1877 when he came to Oregon,
landing in Douglas county, in which place he re
mained until 1886. After that lie crossed the
mountains to Sherman county and farmed there
for fifteen years. In 1901 he came to his present
location and took a homestead and purchased also
the other half section, mentioned above. He
owns a half section of good land in Sherman
county, besides other property. He has a fine
place, well improved, and is arranging his busi
ness to take up stock raising almost entirely. He
has bands of stock on the range ancl is doing well
in the enterprise.
On Alarch 22, i860, Air. Huff married Aliss
Sarah Ann Maricle. She was born in Pennsyl
vania, and her father was William Alaricle. Five
children are the fruit of this union, Abraham
Lincoln, Sherman, David W, Charles, and Alar
garet Ann.
In political matters Air. Huff is a free thinker
and is a deep reader on these lines.
On August 14, 1861, Air. Huff enlisted in the
Ninth Iowa Volunteers and served under Fre
mont until February 14, 1862, when he was hon
orably discharged. He is now a member of the
G. A. R, and one of the substantial men of the
county. He made an honorable record when in
the army and is a man worthy of distinction,
being one of tlie pioneers of Oregon, in which he
has done much for its advancement and upbuild
ing. Air. Huff is the first one to inaugurate an
irrigating enterprise on the John Day river in
Gilliam countv, and made the start under much
difficulty and discouragement, yet he has finally
40

seen his efforts fruitful of success and is now
reaping a good and satisfactory reward for his
enterprise and progressiveness.

WILLIAA1 R. BAKER is certainly one ot
the oldest pioneers of Oregon, and has passed an
eventful career in all those experiences incident
to earl}- life and the development of a great and
remote country. At the present time he is resid
ing about four miles soutii from Blalock, and!
while he oversees his interests in stock and land,
still he is more retired from active life and is
spending the golden years of his pilgrimage in
the enjoyment of the competence he possesses,
amid many warm friends who prize him for his
worth, his work and his virtues.
William R. Baker was born in Meigs county,
Tennessee, on December 14, 1837. His parents
were John and Elizabeth (Rector) Baker, natives
respectively of Virginia and Tennessee. The
former died on the old donation claim and the
latter lived to be exactly the same age of her
departed husband and she, too, passed away. The
father came to Tennessee when a young man,
accompanying his parents. He served in the
Creek Indian war under General Jackson, and
remained in Tennessee until 1843, then removed
to Alissouri, having previously married in the
Big-bend State. In the spring of 1846 Air.
Baker, having made extensive preparations for the
trip, started out to go by ox teams to the Pacific
coast. He had two hundred and forty head of
cattle, and the train formed at Independence.
He was chosen captain and all went well. On
the Platte the buffalos were so thick that men had
to be sent ahead to drive them away from the
watering places, lest they stampede the train and
destroy it. The train was heading for Oregon
over the established route and when in the vicin
ity of Fort Laramie they were met by a man
named Applegate. He persuaded them that he
could put them to their destination over a new
route with much less travel. They accepted his
proposition and he attempted to lead them by the
Humboldt river, the Rogue river valley and the
Umpqua valley to the Willamette valley. They
were die first to travel that route and it entailed
much hardship and labor in cutting a way
through the wooded portions of the mountains.
This "delayed them and the season was getting
late when it dawned on them that they were in a
trap. Applegate fled one night and left them to
shift as best the}- could. To add to the horrors,
the Indians were terribly hostile and their sneak
ing tactics brought untold suffering on the poor
emigrants. They would hide and shoot arrows

626

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

from their ambush ancl this constant harrassing
not only wore out the hearts of the travelers but
killed their stock and some of their numbers.
Then the provisions ran out and all were put on
short rations which were shortened as the days
went by. Finally almost every edible in the entire
train was gone and they depended on the beef
of their poor worn animals for subsistence. The
animals killed by the flying arrows of the In
dians were not eaten for fear of poison. The
men were worn out, the deaths had been frequent,
wagons had been abandoned, as the necessities
demanded on different occasions, and those
things, with the terrible harrassing of the sav
ages and the lack of provisions, had well mgh
extinguished the little train. To add to the hor
rors, winter came on and it seemed as if their
doom was surely sealed. They would never give
up and stolidly turned from each new made
grave with determination to continue until death
overtook them. The mud got so deep that they
were enabled to make no more than three miles
per . day. Where Roseburg now stands the In
dians killed a man named Newton and lest they
fall a prey to these awful fiends they nerved
themselves • to persevere. The mud grew worse,
and finally they were about to give up, when on
January first, a party of Frenchmen met them
having supplies and horses. Word had gone on
before of the terrible plight of the train. Aban
doning their wagons, they were transported by
the horses. Where Corvallis now stands the
weary pilgrims saw a cabin, the first one they
had seen after leaving the Missouri river. They
finally reached Colonel Nesmuth's place, which
was near where Dallas now stands, and there the
kind hearted colonel welcomed them, housing
and feeding the nearly dead pilgrims. Plenty
of boiled wheat and good fat beef was like a
king's table and they fared sumptuously until the
next spring when the elder Baker took a donation
claim six miles south from the present Corvallis.
There he remained until his death. He was a
very prominent man and won the hearts of all
who knew him. On one occasion when the set
tlers were fighting the Indians in 1856, he took
all his pork and flour and freely gave the volun
teers. Our subject was only nine' years old when this
memorable journey occurred but he well remem
bers it. In the summer of 1847 a little log school
house was built, the first in Polk county, and clad
in his little buckskin suit the lad began his studies.
He grew to manhood on the old donation claim
and gained what education he could from the
primitive schools. In 1858 he took eighteen hun
dred cattle to the Umpqua valley and remained
there in the stock business until 1865. During

that time he had made many drives to the mines
and the valleys, but a heavy winter came and he
finally landed back in Polk county with five hun
dred cattle. The next year he drove his stock
to the Prineville country and was one of the very
first to engage in cattle raising there. In 1869
he sold all his stock and went to the Willamette
valley and purchased two thousand sheep, which
he brought to what is now Morrow county. Two
years later he sold his stock and went back to
the Willamette valley where he had a lot of land.
In 1882, he came thence to Shuttler flat and
bought land and took a preemption. In 1889,
he sold his property there and invested in cattle
which he drove to the Big Bend country in Wash
ington, settling near where Coulee City is now.
The following winter was hard, and out of the
four hundred and eighty head he rounded up, the
next spring, one steer. In 1891, Mr. Baker came
to his present location. He has made a number
of good fortunes in his life and, notwithstanding
the wheel of fate has turned him down on each
occasion, he is still the winner and has a goodly
competence for his days.
On June 11, 1863, Mr. Baker married Miss
Sarah Hale, who was born in Indiana and crossed
the plains in 1852 with her parents. Her father,
Michael Hale, lives in Linn county. He married
Miss Gemima McKinley, who died while he was
crossing the plains. To Mr. and Mrs. Baker the
following named children have been born : Mrs.
Silva Hulbert, Mrs. Ella Sperry, George W,
Edward, Frank, Mrs. Allie Hulbert, and Milton.
Mr. and Mrs. Baker are among the most highly
esteemed people to be found in this county ancl
he is to be credited with an immense amount of
labor in opening up and building up various sec
tions of the west, for which he received the appro
bation of all, while, also, he is worthy of the
generous confidence bestowed because of his in
tegrity and uprightness.

D. M. RINEHART, who is the well known
proprietor of the Summit Hotel, the leading hos
telry of Condon, is a business man of good stand
ing in this county. He has been connected with the
development and growth of the county from the
inception and has always shown himself a public
spirited and enterprising citizen. He has the dis
tinction of being a native of Oregon, Lane county
being the place of his birth. The date of that
event was May 9, 1854. His parents were pio
neers of this country when it meant something to
exist among the wilds of a land practically un
known and beset with savages and much else to
threaten and discourage the hardy settlers. The

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

627

father, G. W. Rinehart, was born in Tennessee
and removed to Iowa when it was a territory. In
185 1, he crossed the plains with ox teams and
finally settled in Lane county where he took a
donation claim and became a prominent citizen.
He has served as county commissioner and is
now one of the highly respected people of this
populous county. He married Aliss Martha
Davis, a native of Tennessee. Her parents had
come from that state to Iowa in very early days
and there she was married. She accompanied
her husband on the eventful and arduous journey
across the plains and has been a faithful helpmeet
all the days since. She is still living with her
husband in Gilliam county, a beloved and
esteemed lady.
Our subject was reared in the county of his
birth and learned the art of tilling the soil on the
old donation claim with his father. He had lim
ited opportunity to secure training as the schools
were few and continued but short intervals of the
year. He walked three miles to attend and had it
not been for studious habits, he would have been
deprived of much of the training so useful in after
life. He has always been a man of observing and
investigating spirit ancl is well informed. He re
mained with his parents until of age and then
started for himself. He continued in the valley,
however, until 1887, when he came thence to his
present place. He had little or no capital, but
soon managed to start a livery stable, which he
operated with good success until he turned his
attention to fanning. Later he opened a hotel and
now he is the proprietor of the Summit House,
a pleasant and comfortable resort for travelers.
Air. Rinehart has secured a good patronage and
he has accumulated a good property, having be
sides this hotel business other valuable holdings.
To Air. Rinehart and his wife three children
have been born, Earl, Lloyd, and Alarion W„ all
attending sdiool. Air. Rinehart is a member of
the W. W, and is a leading and representative
citizen.

GEORGE W. RINEHART. a leading and
substantial citizen of Gilliam county, resides at
Condon, where he owns a good residence, besides
much other property. He comes from one of
the largest families on the coast and has lived
here for over a half century. Thus it is shown
that he lias passed through all those trying days
of pioneer existence and dangers, which were so
trying to the hearts of even the bravest pioneers
aiid to endure which required a strong body and
a brave heart. He has done his part well in all
these things and is now well entitled to the rest
while he spends the golden days of his life amid

the comforts which his labor for the years prev
ious has provided in abundance.
George W. Rinehart was born in Adams
county, Illinois, in 1830. In those days even the
now populous Illinois was a wild county and the
adversity and hardships attendant always on the
pioneer were to be borne there, too. His father,
Louis Rinehart, was born in Kentucky, of the
true frontier stock and was a man of excellent
standing and integrity. He crossed the plains
with teams to Lane county in 1852 and is one of
the history makers of the Willamette valley. He
married Miss Elizabeth Ellis, a native of Tennes
see, who accompanied her husband in all his
journeys and labors. For twenty-two years our
subject dwelt in Illinois ancl then, having re
ceived a good education and married, he deter
mined to try the west, believing it held good for
tune for him. In due time he finished the ardu
ous journey across the plains with his young wife
in 1852 and they selected a donation claim near
Eugene, Oregon, which was the family home
until 1886. During those days many tales of
hardship could be told, which would fill large-
volumes, but they weathered the hardships and
progressed in prosperity slowly. One instance
of the condition of things is seen when we hear
from Air. Rinehart of the scarcity of provisions.
which compelled them to live one winter on boiled
wheat. In 1886, Air. Rinehart came with his
family east of the mountains and selected a half
section near where Condon is now located. They
settled there and made a nice farm of it, and later
removed to town, where they now reside retired.
He still owns his property in the valley and the
fine farm near town here, besides other property.
In 185 1, in Iowa, Air. Rinehart married Aliss
Martha Davis, a native of Tennessee, and the
daughter of Harman and Martha (Shumate)
Davis, both natives of Tennessee and pioneers
across the plains in 1852. Air. Rinehart has
twelve brothers and sisters and his family is one
of the large and influential ones of the coast. He
is a wealthy and highly respected citizen, and
with his worthy wife, receives the good will ancl
admiration of all who know them.

FRANK AIOORE is to be numbered with
the prosperous and leading stockmen and agricul
turists of Gilliam county. He resides just north
west from Condon, where he has a half section
of good land and which he makes the headquar
ters for his operations. He is a man of energy
and thrift, as is evidenced by his holdings, which
have been acquired by his own labors and man
agement since coming to this country. The place

628

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

is provided with the necessary improvements and
his stock is found on the ranges adjacent.
Frank Aloore was born in Alameda county,
California, on January 22, 1862. His father,
A. B. Moore, was born in Georgetown, Ohio, and
crossed the plains with his wife in the early
forties. They settled in California and there he
gave his attention to freighting until after the
birth of our subject, when he removed to Utah
and settled to farming. Thence he took his fam
ily to Gallatin county, Montana, and there re
mained until 1880. In that year he removed to
Iowa, which was his home until 1899, when he
came out to Oregon, where this son lives. The
mother of our subject, Celia (Young) Moore,
accompanied her husband in all these journeys
mentioned. Frank was educated principally in
Gallatin county, Montana, and there learned the
art of stock-raising. His home there was but
seventy-five miles distant from the battle field
where the brave Custer met his fate. The
Moores were living there at the time of the battle.
The year of their journey to Montana was 1868.
Young Moore, as soon as he grew to manhood,
took up stockraising in Montana and there con
tinued at it until 1894. In that year he trans
ferred the base of his operations to Gilliam
county and here he has remained since, engaged
as stated above. He is one of the thriftiest farm
ers in the county and he is one of the most skill
ful stockmen to be found. Mr. Moore is one of
nine children, Mrs. Rebecca Hawes, Mrs. Nancy
Gellen, deceased, A. J, D. A, Mrs. Cloe Reese,
David A, Mrs. Dora Williams, and E. J.
In 1881, Mr. Moore married Miss Bettie
Cazier, a native of Utah. Her parents, John
and Frances Cazier, were pioneers of Utah. To
Mr. and Mrs. Aloore, five children have been
born: Mrs. Erma West, Mrs. Mabel Baker,
Frank A, Bartin W, and Mervin. In politics
and educational affairs, Mr. Moore is always in
terested and he is a man not afraid to voice the
principles he believes to be for the good of all.
He has so conducted himself that he has won the
good will of all and has the name of being one of
the most up-to-date and enterprising, farmers and
citizens of this portion of the county.

W. N. BROWN is one of the wealthiest men
of Gilliam county. The mere possession of
wealth, however, is not always a letter of recom
mendation, but when one starts in a new country
and by force of character and industry wins his
way to the head, it is a mark of signal ability.
When, too, this is attained with the good will and
the esteem of the people not sacrificed, thrice

blessed may such a man esteem himself. Mr.
Brown certainly is in this position and he has the
distinction of being one of the leading men of this
part of Oregon, while also, he never neglects the
business interests which his energy has gathered
for himself. He is at the head of the Condon
flour mills, which have a capacity of eighty bar
rels per day. They are a fine plant and are made
productive of excellent dividends by the business-
ability of Mr. Brown. In addition to this enter
prise, he is one of the leading stockmen of the-
country and also has one of the largest ranches
in this part of the county. Also, Mr. Brown has
won distinction as a fruit grower, as he has one
of the choice orchards of the county, it being-
situated on Thirtymile creek. In all these lines
of industry, Mr. Brown has always manifested
that same sagacity, wise planning, and thorough
execution that characterize him as a business man.
He certainly has gained success. It will be more
patent, as we proceed in recounting his career,
that this is the more to be commended.
W. N. Brown was born in Polk county, Ore
gon, on January 25, 1852. George Brown, his
father, was born in Kentucky and went as a
pioneer to Missouri. In 1847, he crossed the
plains to Oregon, and the next year went down
to California to seek gold. He mined a year
and then returned to Polk county and in 1850,
purchased one of the Applegate farms. That was
the family home until his death, which occurred
in 1903. He was a man of stamina and courage-
and his life was spent in such a way that when
the time of departure came, he was mourned by
all. He had been prominent and gained wealth.
He married Miss Martha A. Hinds, in YamhilF
county, Oregon, in 1850. She was born in Mis
souri, crossed the plains in 1847, being in the
same train as her husband, and is now dwelling-
in Polk county. Our subject was educated in
Polk county and remained with his father, until
January, 1874. Then he desired to try life for
himself and accordingly came east of the moun
tains. He arrived in Condon, or where Condon
is now, with a saddle and cayuse, twenty dollars
in his pocket and a six shooter in his belt. He-
immediately secured employment as a cowboy
and was known all over the country as "Snipkie
Bill," a sobriquet donated by the cowboys. He
rode the range and saved his money until he had"
enough to justify him in starting in for himself.
He secured some cattle on shares and went to
raising stock, having also bought some. From
that time on the prosperity of Mr. Brown was
more pronounced and he soon rose to the posi
tion of a leading stockman of the country. He
has continued in that business since and is hand
ling at the present time a large quantity of stock-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

629

His fruit industry has grown up on the head
quarters ranch and he has an excellent orchard.
In 1903, Mr. Brown purchased the milling prop
erty mentioned and since then he has been hand
ling that.
In 1882, Mr. Brown married Miss Maggie
Shorb. She was born in Maryland, and crossed
the plains with her parents, J. D. and Elizabeth
Shorb, in 1862. They settled in Washington
county, Oregon, and there reside at this time.
To Mr. ancl Mrs. Brown, two children have been
born: G. G. and Pearl. Mr. Brown is a member
of the A. F. & A. M, and is a leading and
prominent man.

JOHN J. BROWN, deceased. Although the
gentleman, whose name appears above, has ceased
to move in our midst, still his labors are every
where evident to the dweller in Gilliam county
and he is to be classed as one of the builders of
the county. As a pioneer, he was brave and
hardy and never quailed at the hardships of the
frontier. He was a loving ancl wise father and a
devoted husband. In the walks of life he so con
ducted himself that he won the unstinted praise
and esteem of his fellows ancl his wise counsels
were of much benefit to assist in the opening and
starting of this county and its progress.
John J. Brown was born in Missouri, on
Alarch 7, 1848, the son of Silas and Jane A.
(Blair) Brown, natives of Missouri and Ken
tucky, respectively. In 1852, the father brought
his family across the plains ancl settled on a don
ation claim in Lane county, this state. He was
an industrious and progressive man and labored
faithfully in his day for the opening of the coun
try and its advancement. Our subject was reared
ancl educated in Lane county ancl there remained
until 1874, when he came east of the mountains
to try his fortune in the new country where In
dians were about the sole inhabitants. They set
tled on Rock creek and he and his wife started to
make a home in the country where the wild ani
mals roamed at will ancl the Indians were many
and the white neighbors were but few. They
erected rude improvements to start with and
gathered some cattle about them. As the time
wore on, they builded better ancl the stock in
creased. The Dalles, one hundred miles distant,
was the nearest trading point ancl they had much
to contend with in establishing themselves here
and in continuing. Mr. Brown labored on faith
fully, meeting with the success that sagacity and
thrift deserve, until 1890, when he sickened and
later was called hence by death.
In 1870, Air. Brown married Miss Mary-

Sparks, who was born in Wells county, Indiana,
on April 16, 1851. Her parents, Abel and Eliza
beth (Douglas) Sparks who were born in Ken
tucky and Pennsylvania, respectively, crossed the
plains in 1852. The father died en route and the
mother came on to the Willamette valley which
was her home until 1870, when she came to this
vicinity. To our subject and his wife the follow
ing named children have been born : Frank M,
Charles A, Herbert G, W. Campbell, Elsie A,
and John J. They are all engaged in stock rais
ing ancl are among the prosperous people of this
section. They have considerable land and other
property and have carried on the business which
the father left to them. Mrs. Brown with her
family is to be commended on the success at
tained since the death of Mr. Brown in the busi
ness affairs.1 She and her children are highly re
spected people and are among the leading citizens
of this part of the county.

JAMES F COOKE has made a success in
Gilliam county in financial matters which mani
fests him a man of ability and judgment, far
above the average. He is one of the heaviest
land owners of the county and has devoted him
self so assiduously to his business in his stay in
this count}- that he has won success in every part.
He is a man of keen foresight, persevering ancl
careful. His standing in the county is of the best
and he has clone much to expedite and assist the
development of the country to its present pros
perous condition.
James F. Cooke was born in Eldorado county,
California. His father, James D. Cooke, was
born in England and made his way to the United
States in early life. In 1852, he crossed the
plains to California and there spent some time in
mining. Then he took a homestead in the
vicinity of Dixon, Solano county, the same state
and there devoted himself to farming until his
death, which occurred in 1886. He had married
Miss Alira Dudley. Our subject was reared ancl
educated in California and there remained with
his father until 1884, when he journeyed north.
He traveled over much country and finally
selected a homestead and timber culture near
where Condon is now located. He set about the
good work of improving the claims and remained
until he was satisfied that the country was what
he desired then returned to California to visit the
folks and to secure the company of his brother.
In 1887, with his brother, R. W. Cooke, he came
back to Oregon and they settled on the claims
and went to raising stock. They soon bought
more land and the estate has increased until thev

630

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

now have two thousand two hundred and forty
acres, one thousand of which are cropped an
nually to grain. In addition to handling this
mammoth acreage to the cereals, they raise large
numbers of horses and mules. Their stock is well
bred and they have so conducted their business
that they have become wealthy. When the Cooke
brothers started in this country, they had no
means save a few dollars for the present need of
their living. They have gained their magnificent
holding and wealth entirely by their own labors
and sagacity in the management of their business.
They have all the improvements and machinery
needed on a first class stock and grain ranch and
are thrifty and up to date business men.

JOHN DYSART. Among the men who have
won the best of success from fertile Oregon's
resources we are constrained to mention the gen
tleman whose name appears above, and who has
labored here with display of great industry- and
wisdom for nearly twenty years. He is a native
son of Scotia's rugged hills, and was well edu
cated and trained in the art of farming. A skill
ful and wise father taught him the art of breed
ing stock, and thrift and sagacity in the manage
ment of affairs. He was favored with the train
ing given in the public schools of his native land
and above all he came from the stanch Scotch
family, one point of whose history is, that they
are never known to brook defeat. Filled with
the native determination and hopefulness of his
race, he was led by an adventurous spirit in the
eighties to prepare for life in a more extended
country favored with greater opportunities for
the rising generation. Accordingly he searched
the books and finally decided that the United
States, rather than any of the colonies, was the
place for him to operate, and the year 1888 saw
him bidding his loving people good bye and em
barking for the untried country. Having been
born on May 11, 1866, he was but twenty-two
when this important change in his life occurred.
His parents, John and Grace (Carmichael) Dy
sart, were both natives of Scotland and there
they remained. After due search in the west, our
young immigrant finally determined to locate in
the territory now embraced in Wheeler county.
He went to work at once and for seven years
wrought with industry and close attention to
business. Then he had accumulated a band of
sheep for himself and he sought another location.
He finally came to the place where he now lives,
?bout eight miles northwest from Condon, and
there took a homestead, which was but a
nucleus of his estate. He continued to purchase

land as the time wore on until he has secured
two thousand acres of the best soil near him. He
is occupied in farming this land and in handling
his stock, of which he still has large bands. He
has achieved a splendid success in his labors and
is one of the leading men of this part of the state.
His place is well improved and the whole prem
ises proclaim a proprietor of wisdom and thrift.
At the close of 1902, our subject's father was
called to the world beyond. He was aged sev
enty-two, was still vigorous and hearty, and at the
precise moment was engaged in cutting a tree
down. While in this work he was suddenly
taken. In 1898 Mr. Dysart made a visit to
his native land and then deemed the time had
come for him to take to himself the chosen com
panion of his life, and accordingly he married
Miss Mary Clark, a Scotch lassie, who was born
and reared in the land of the Scotts. She has-
proved a true helpmeet to Mr. Dysart and to
gether they share the home and competence he
had so industriously acquired. Her parents were
David and Ann (Adam) Clark, both natives of
Scotland. To our subject and his wife, two chil
dren have been born, Charlie and Grace.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL is possessed of the
native thrift of his race and shows it in the excel
lent success he has attained in Gilliam county.
Born of sturdy Scotch people, reared amid the
surroundings of a Canadian home, he gathered
not only a fine education from books and the ex
cellent Ontario schools, but also a knowledge of
men and things that has enabled him to take ad
vantage of the good opportunities of this favored
region. He is a skilled farmer and stockman
and is one of the representative and leading men-.
of the county.
William Campbell was born in Bonnie Auld
Scotland, on August 17, 1853. His father, Peter
Campbell, was also born in the same land and.
came from one of the prominent families of the
Lowlands. His father, the grandfather of Wil
liam, was a leader of a clan. In 1864, Peter
Campbell came to Ontario, and after selecting-
a good farm, which he purchased, he entered the
employ of the Canadian Land Company, a large
concern, with which he remained until he retired
from business. He is now ninety-one years of
age and is dwelling on the estate he purchased
when he came to Canada. He married Miss
Isabella Heburn, a native Scotch lady and de
scended from a prominent and wealthy family.
Our subject remained in the Canadian home,
whither he had come with the family when eleven
years of age, gaining his education and laboring"

Mr. and Mrs. Jobn Dysart

William Campbell

Stepben B. Couture

William Twilley

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

631

on his father's farm until of age. Then he
handled the farm for his father until 1883, when
he made his way west. He had heard various
rumors of the great state of Oregon, and also,
he had made a study of the country and had de
termined to land in Umatilla county. He con
tinued there for three years and then the favor
able region where he now dwells appealed to him
ancl he became enticed thither. He purchased
land and engaged in stock raising. To this he
has added farming and now he owns eight hun
dred acres of choice land, has it well improved,
and also has a band of stock. He owns one hun
dred fine cattle besides other stock, and he has
been favored with the best of success, owing to
his skill and untiring care in his business.
In 1879, while in Ontario, Mr. Campbell mar- ¦
ried Miss Maggie R. Anderson, a native of
Scotland, born May 1, 1856. She came to Canada
with her parents when small. Mr. and Mrs.
Campbell have become the parents of four chil
dren, Jessie I, Lily, George S, and Sybill.
Mrs. Campbell's parents were Alexander and
Lillie (Walker) Anderson, natives of Scotland.
The former died in 1869, aged sixty-two, and the
latter died in 1904, aged eighty-four. Mrs. Camp
bell has the following named brothers and sisters :
Thomas, residing in Ontario; Mrs. Mary Fallie,
residing in Ontario ; Mrs. Agnes Wood, in Mich
igan; Annie, at the old home in Ontario; Mrs.
Jemina Roberts, also in Ontario,; William, in
Manitoba; and Mrs. Jessie Niles, in Ontario.
Mr. Campbell has the following named brothers
and sisters : Robert, residing in Ontario, Can
ada ; Mrs. Ann McGregor, deceased ; Mrs. Isa
bella Brady, deceased; Peter, deceased; Mrs.
Jane Christie, of Toronto, Canada; Mrs. Mary
Hilliar, of Toronto, Canada ; John, at the old
home in Ontario; James, deceased; Mrs. Lizzie
Barr, in Iowa ; and Jessie, at the old home.

STEPHEN B. COUTURE is a true repre
sentative of the prosperous Oregon farmer and
stockman. He dwells ten miles west from Con
don and has a place which his labor has carved
out and which is valuable and productive. He
is a man of enterprise and intelligence and keeps
himself abreast of the times, while in his business
labors he has always shown a diligence and thrift
coupled with true principles that have won both
the reward of a good competence and the esteem
of his fellows.
Stephen B. Couture was born in Monroe
countv, Michigan, on June 6, 1866, the son of
Louis and Elizabeth (Nado) Couture, both
natives of Alichigan and prominent and well to
do people there. Stephen B. received his edu

cation in his native place and there he was reared
by a wise father. When of proper age, he started
out in life for himself, and in 1887 he made his
way west. He deemed that this country pre
sented better opportunities for him than the east,
and also he desired to gratify an adventurous
spirit that led him to new things and other
achievements than the continuation of home life.
He first wrought here for wages and then took
a homestead where he is now located. He at
once began the good work of improvement and
in due time he was in shape to purchase other
land. He has done so from time to time until
his estate is now between seven and eight hun
dred acres. To the handling of this and raising
stock, Mr. Couture devotes his time and he is suc
cessful in a good degree.
In 1896 occurred the marriage of Mr. Cou
ture and Miss Clara Lamberson, who was born
in the Willamette valley. Her father, Samuel
Lamberson, was a native of Tuscarawas county,
Ohio, and crossed the plains with ox teams in
1845. He made settlement in the Willamette
valley, and when gold was discovered in Cali
fornia he went thither with a pack train and
mined for one year. Then he returned to the
Willamette valley and there lived until 1876, in
which year he journeyed to the vicinity of Fos
sil. He handled stock there until 1883, and then
settled in Ferry canyon, which was his home
until his death. He had married Miss Mary J.
Armstrong, a native of Illinois. She crossed the
plains with her parents in 1852. Her mother
died en route, and her father died at The Dalles
soon after arriving there. Mrs. Couture has
nine brothers and sisters named as follows : John
A, Timothy S, Abner M, Mrs. Sarah Smith,
Mrs. Nora Beardsley, Mrs. Mary E. Palmer,
Mrs. Lettie Downing, Mrs. Anna Shorb, and
Mrs. Lillie Portwood. John A. is a physician in
Lebanon, Oregon, and Timothy is in Arizona.
To Mr. and Mrs. Couture three children have
been born, Wilbur S, Vellnia, and John Henry.
Mr. Couture has seven brothers and sisters,
Louis and James, who are prosperous farmers in
this vicinity; John, Elwood, Henry, Mrs. Mary
Santttre, and Mrs. Julia Collins, Elizabeth. Mr.
Couture started in life without means and all he
now has accumulated is the result of his labor
an dhis wisdom. He and his wife are among
the highly respected and esteemed people of this
section.

WILLIAM TWILLEY has had an adven
turous and busy career. He was born in Flor
ida, in 1869, and now lives on the farm three
miles east from Ajax. His father was William

632

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Twilley. He died when our subject was very
s'mall, and the mother married again. When
twelve, William left his native place and came
west to Kansas. After herding sheep for a while
he began the life of a cowboy and became excep
tionally expert in breaking horses. After fol
lowing that business there for four years, he
went to Arizona and thence a year later to Walla
Walla. In this latter place he hired to a farmer
to work through the harvest and was sent one
morning to hitch the horses to the header. Hav
ing always lived in a country where no small
grain was raised, he had never seen the machinery
for its harvesting and the result was that he
hitched the horses to the header backwards,
which caused no small merriment among the
wheat farmers. After that harvest, Mr. Twilley
went to Lewiston and again rode on the range
around that point, Mt. Idaho and the Snake river.
Next we see him around Pendleton in the same
business. He also bought and sold horses and
took contracts for breaking them and gained the
name of being the most skillful ancl expert horse
man in this part of the country. Large shippers
from the east employed him in breaking the
horses and he handled hundreds of them. Later
he sold this business ancl went to North Yakima.
A short time thereafter he journeyed to the Wil
lamette valley and farmed there for three years.
Next we see him in Alaska, and six months later
he went back to the Willamette valley. Shortly
after that he moved to Shaniko and opened a
butcher shop, feed yard and dairy. His was the
second tent to be pitched in that town. He
handled large freighting outfits to various parts
of the country, then sold out and came to Ferry
canyon, where he leased four hundred and fortv
acres of land. The last year he threshed eleven
thousand bushels of wheat, feeding portions of
it to his -hogs, and hauled the rest sixty miles to
market. He has recently taken a homestead
where he dwells at the present time. ATr. Twilley
now owns twenty head of horses, nine head of
cattle and some hogs. Last year his hogs brought
him over eight hundred dollars.
_ On May 30, 1894, Mr. Twilley married AHss
Virtue Chandler, who was born in Aiinnesota,
on June 10, 1878. Her father, John Chandler,
was born in Maine, in 1840, ancl is now living in
Pendleton, Oregon. To our subject ancl his wife
five children have been born, Ola, Ora ancl Stella,
deceased, Grade and Archie. Air. Twiller car
ries a policy in the New York Afutual for five
thousand dollars. He is a thorough business man
ancl a good citizen, takes an active part in poli
tics, being a Republican, ancl is one of the sub
stantial men in this county.

MYRON O. CLARKE, a leading citizen and
pioneer of Gilliam county, is also one of the most
enterprising business men of Condon. He is at
the head of a large hardware ancl furniture estab
lishment, which is doing a mammoth business
and which has been built up by the skill and abil
ity of Mr. Clarke. He is justly entitled to be
classed with the builders of this county and an
epitome of his life will be found interesting to
all. Myron O. Clarke was born in Derby, Ver
mont, on September 5, 1859. His father, Barney
D. Clarke, was also born in Vermont and was a
skilled cabinet maker and prominent citizen. He
was in the employ of the government during the
Civil War ancl also held many offices of trust at
the hands of his fellow citizens in his native place,
where he remained until his death. He married
Miss Laura Kendall, who came from a prom
inent family. She was related to the Redfields,
Proctors, and Colbys ancl her father, Peleg R.
Kendall, was a very prominent attorney in Rut
land, Vermont.
Our subject was educated in the district
schools of his native place and in 1876 went to
California. Although young in life, still he pos
sessed that self reliance which is requisite to
meet and overcome the obstacles in the path to
success. He wrought on a ranch near Salinas,
then spent a year on Union island and in 1878,
came thence to Lone Rock, Gilliam county, where
he took a ranch and engaged in horse raising. At
that time Mr. Clarke had no means and started
in the pioneer's life with bare hands and a deter
mined spirit to win success. He prospered from
the start, owing to his sagacity and careful man
agement, ancl he was always interested in politics
and in the welfare of the community. In 1894,
he was elected assessor in his county and for
eight years he held the office to the satisfaction
of all concerned. In 1901, Mr. Clarke, in com
pany with H. N. Frazer, opened a hardware and
furniture store in Condon. They started in on a
small scale but soon enlarged and by their kindly
ways and business methods secured a fine patron
age. In July, 1903, Mr. Frazer sold his interest
and in the fellowing January, Mr. Clarke pur
chased it himself. Since that time he has contin
ued in the business with marked success. His
trade is constantly increasing ancl he is supplying
to the demand a full line of all kinds of goods
handled in his establishment. Mr. Clarke is a
leading business man of this part of the state and
he has many friends.
In 1884, Mr. Clarke married Miss Sadie Bald
ing. She was born in Iowa ancl came to this
country with her parents in 1876. They settled

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON:

633

in Lost Valley and although Mrs. Clarke had to
ride five or six miles to and from school, still she
secured a fine education and is a cultured lady.
Mrs. Clarke's father is Fredrick Balding, a pio
neer of Gilliam county. To our subject ancl his
wife, the following named children have been
born : Lilla M, who took a course in a Portland
business college and is now keeping books for
her father; Florence R, who has finished the
Condon schools ; Herbert and Katie, school chil
dren. Mr. Clarke is a member of the K. P. and
the W. W. He is a man of stability and enter
prise and has also shown an integrity ancl probity
that distinguish him as a leading citizen.

F. PI. DOUGLASS is a representative citizen
of Gilliam county. He landed here without cap
ital and is now one of the wealthiest men of the
county. His holding has been made by honest
labor and a proper handling of the resources
found here. He is a man of ability and stamina
and has done a noble work in assisting to build
up and advance the interests of the county and
is a man in whom all have confidence. '
F. H. Douglass was born in Nova Scotia, in
i860. His father, John Douglass, was born in
the same place as this son and married Alary
Young, a native of Nova Scotia. For twenty-one
years, Mr. Douglass remained with his parents,
receiving in that time a good education and a
splendid training from his father. Then he mi
grated to Minnesota determined to try his fortune
in that land. For one year he wrought on a farm
and then spent one year in a store working for
the railroad company. After that, he came to his
present location, landing here in October, 1883.
He took a homestead and while holding that,
worked for wages for five years. Then he be
gan farming and since that he has bought two
sections of land. He rents two sections in addi
tion to this, farming it all, two thousand seven
hundred and twenty acres of land. This mam
moth estate is producing annually, very large and
gratifying returns, owing to the skillful manage
ment of Mr. Douglass. He has shown himself
a man of ability in handling such large enter
prises ancl his farm is one of the largest in the
county. When we consider the fact that Air.
Douglass worked for wages for five years after
coming here, in order to get a start, and that he
has now a holding among the very choicest in
this wealth v county, we are enabled to see in
some respects how well he has wrought. He is a
man who concentrates his efforts and plans . in
doing well what he does at all. This is one of
the secrets of his success. Added to this, he is a

man of thrift and takes great care of every de
tail of his business. Since commencing farming
on this place, he has remained here steadily
handling the estate until the present time.
Mr. Douglass has two brothers, George, in
Nova Scotia, and William, in Seattle. He al
ways takes a keen interest in politics and is al
lied with the Republican party. He believes in
general and educational advancement thoroughly
and has devoted his efforts to these worthy ends
in no uncertain manner. He is entitled to the
respect ancl confidence of his people which he re
ceives generously ancl he holds an influential and
leading place in the community.
On January 10, 1905, Mr. Douglass married
Sophia J. Cook, of Harborville, Kings county,
Nova Scotia. This popular couple will make
their home on the estates Mr. Douglass has ac
quired ancl thev have the good will and esteem
of all.

JOHN HARRISON has shown what a man
can do in Gilliam county when he takes hold with
a determination to win the smiles of dame for
tune. This favored region is one of the best in
the west for those who are willing to display in
dustry and thrift ancl the magnificent resources
that have for years lain ready for the hand of man
are but beginning to open their treasures to the
enterprising ones. Ah-. Harrison is a man of de
cided worth and stability and his labors here for
the last twenty odd years have shown a wisdom
and continuity that could but produce the grati
fying results now in hand. He owns over twelve
hundred acres of choice grazing ancl grain land,
all well improved, has a good residence in Con
don, besides others through the country, has a
large number of sheep, together with other stock,
ancl is, withal, one of the most prosperous men
of the count}-. All this has been gained by the
wise efforts which he has made in the years gone
by- John Harrison was born in Lincolnshire,
England, on September 27, 1852, and there he
was reared and well educated. His father, James
B. Harrison, was born in the same place as this
son and was a prominent agriculturist and stock
man there. He married Miss Mary Hesnip, also a
native of the same locality. Thirty years were
spent bv our subject in the old country, then he
was led by an enterprising and adventurous spirit
to come to the west, choosing the United States as
the objective point of his journey. Just why he was
led to Gilliam county, we are not told, but in due
time he was in the territory that is now embraced
in this county. He was quick to discover the op
portunities offered to the industrious here and

634

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

he availed himself of them. Condon was not in
existence then, few settlers were found on the
broad prairies and when he settled on Thirtymile
creek and embarked in the sheep business, he was
fifty miles from the nearest supply point. Mr.
Harrison had no capital when he started and the
adversity and hardships he met with would have
discouraged a less resolute man than he. But he
was not made of material that fainted at adver
sity, he could journey with her and then gain
success, and he did, as is abundantly evidenced
by his holdings at this time. In due time the
country settled up and Mr. Harrison was al
ways a leader in the improvements that have
come and that are soon to be in this rich section.
To our subject and his wife the following
named children have been born: Mrs. Ethel
Weise, Mrs. Maud May, Mrs. Julia Thompson,
Mrs. Nellie Martin, Mrs. Sicily Palmer, John W,
Charlie, Fred and Francis.

S. S. GRIDER was born in Knox county,
Indiana, on August n, 1854, the son of James
and Martha (Bowman) Grider. The father was
born in the same place as this son, and his father,
the grandfather of our subject, was one of the
earliest settlers in the territory now embraced in
Indiana. The mother was born in Davies county,

Indiana. The family came across the plains to
California in 1874 and settled in Butte county.
Our subject received his education in his native
state and learned the carpenter trade when
young. In 1874 he accompanied his parents
across the plains and for a time wrought in the
Golden State. In 1881, he came thence to the
present site of' Condon and took a homestead
nearby. He erected improvements and also built
the first house in Condon. Since then, Mr.
Grider has divided his attention between farm
ing and stock raising on his estate near by, and
contracting and building in the town and the
surrounding country. He has prospered exceed
ingly well and is possessed of much property. His
estate is about five hundred acres and he has
gained all his property by the arduous labor he
has done.
The marriage of Mr. Grider and Miss Sarah
McCarty occurred in 1885 and they have been
blessed by the advent of two children, Walter Vv
and Maud L. Mrs. Grider was born in Douglas
county, Oregon, the daughter of W. R. and E. A.
(Lovelady) McCarty, natives of Missouri. They
crossed the plains with ox teams in 1847 and set"
tied in the Willamette valley. Later they re
moved to Douglas county. Mr. and Mrs. Grider
are well respected people, have a goodly com
petence, an interesting family, and have well'
earned the pleasant position they now occupy.

PART V
HISTORY OF WHEELER COUNTY

CHAPTER I

PASSING EVENTS— 1859 TO 1905.

Wheeler county lies in central Oregon, its
west line being very nearly the centre of the state,
from east to west, while its southern line is about
one-third of the distance from the northern
boundary of Oregon to the north line of Cali
fornia. What white man first looked upon the
face of the country now embraced in this politi
cal division, we have no means of ascertaining.
Doubtless some restless and energetic trapper
would have that honor, but who he was, whither
he went, and whence he came, are questions
probably never to be settled by this generation.
This we do know, however, that the general his
tory of eastern and central Oregon, as to early
days, is much the same for each county, in that
the discovery of gold in various portions of the
northwest led men from every quarter to
engage in mining. These incoming treasure-
seekers traversed various portions of Oregon on
their journeys to the "diggings" and there is no
doubt that very early in Oregon history some of
these pilgrimages led through the countr}- now
embraced in Wheeler county. WThen the cry
came that in the Boise basin, on the Salmon and
about Orofino, placer gold was discovered, large
numbers of men came not only from the east to
these different points, but every settlement on the
Pacific coast sent its quota of prospectors and
gold seekers. The large stream that came from
California found its way through the Klamath
country, generally, while the major portion of
that from the Willamette valley and other points
in this northwest country followed the old emi

grant road back towards the gold camps. How
ever, as early as the later fifties we find record
of parties making their way up the John Day
river and so across the country. These were oc
casional, only, and no definite record is left of
their routes until after General Harney took
charge of the Department of Oregon, with head
quarters at Vancouver, arriving there in October,
1858. Being a man of sound judgment and
knowing well the advantages to be derived from
opening the country by feasible roads, he dis
patched in the following April, Captain D. H.
Wallen, with a party to ascertain if it were
feasible to establish a road up the John Day val
ley and thence to the Alalheur valley and so to
the Snake. Captain Wallen pushed his explora
tions as far as the Harney valley, and, doubtless.
his way led through the central portion of what
is now Wheeler county. He met with no In
dians, it being shown later that they had avoided
him, and after his journey had progressed well
into the interior, they fell upon the friendly In
dians and whites on the Warm Springs reserva
tion. Bevond getting away with some stock, it is
not stated that they did further damage. Gen
eral Harney was called on for protection and he
sent rifles and ammunition. A company of
friendly Indians was organized and equipped by
the agent and under the command of Dr. Thomas
L. Fitch, thev pursued the marauders with the re
sult that some horses were recovered, a few wo
men and children were captured and several of
the thieving Indians were killed.

'636

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

In the spring of i860, General Harney sent
¦out another expedition to continue the explora
tions made the year before by Captain Wallen.
This was in charge of Major E. Stein, and one
accompanying it was commanded by Captain A.
J. Smith. They were resisted by the Indians
and called for reinforcements, which enabled
them to force the Redskins out of the way and
proceed with the explorations. Stein reached as
far as the mountains now called by his name.
These are the records of the first established
roads, or trails, more correctly speaking, for all
transportation was by pack animals then, pass
ing through our territory now under con
sideration. In 1861 an expedition passed
through central Oregon in search of the fa
mous "Blue Bucket" diggings, which they failed
to locate. Becoming discouraged, some returned
and others were instrumental in locating good-
ground in other parts of the state. Part of the
company- started down the John Day to return to
Portland, but some, at least, of them were mur
dered by the Indians. In 1862 came the discov
ery of gold in what is now Grant county, on
Canyon creek and others adjacent. This brought
more men from all quarters and many who were
on their way to the Idaho diggings remained to
work in these new found placers. Then parties
began to utilize the blazed out routes of Wallen
and Stein to make their way from The Dalles to
Canyon City, or "Upper town" as then called, the
new camp on Canyon creek. Immediately the
business of supplying the rapidly enlarging camp
with provisions sprang up, and the most feasible
route was from Canyon creek over the country to
The Dalles. The first party to make the journey
from Canyon creek to The Dalles with a pack
ing outfit for supplies, so far as known, was a
company made up of two or three from each
party of Califonians who had come to the new
camp. They reached The Dalles in safety and
coming back made some improvements on the
trail, straightening it, and so forth. The enter
prising people of The Dalles, in order to draw
the trade to themselves, being the natural supply
point for this region, sent out parties to select
the best route for the trail and improve it so that
travel would be facilitated. At a later date the
company known as The Dalles Military Wagon
Road Company, secured a grant of land and
made some improvements on this route. The
citizens of The Dalles and the packers had made
the road in fairly good shape, and freight teams
began in a measure to replace the pack trains.
However, the company improved it some. This
route entered the territory now embraced in
Wheeler county near where Burnt' Ranch post-
office now stands and followed the John Day river

to Bridge creek, thence up Bridge creek to
where Mitchell now stands, thence up the
east branch of Bridge creek to the north
branch of Badger creek, thence down
Badger creek to where Caleb now stands and
thence east along Mountain creek until it
reached the border of what is now Grant county,
about three miles west from the John Day river.
As a full history of this company appears in an
other portion of this volume, we need not en
large upon it here, but would say, that while
every one at all acquainted with the deal under
stands the fraud practiced upon the people and
the government, still, perhaps, we can say justly
that they did some good in aiding, at least in a
measure, the travel of those early days. We do
not say that they did, but, perhaps they did. But
now, the citizens of Wheeler county have to bear
the chagrin of knowing that this octopus owns
49,932 acres of valuable land within the pre
cincts of Wheeler county, the price of supposed
efforts put forth to build a road, which the enter
prising people of The Dalles and the hardy
prsopectors and miners in reality constructed.
But to return to the narative, the road was
the highway for great quantities of freight, both
on pack animals and in wagons, for all the early
years while the placer, diggings yielded rich re
turns to the miners. What a highway it was, in
those early days, that wound its way through our
county ! From the time the bell mare with her
tinkling music led the train up the hills from The
Dalles until they halted, dusty and worn, either
in "Lower Town" or "Upper Town," on Canyon
creek, the wary packer was ever alert to ward off
clangers both seen and unseen. And these dan
gers were of the most severe kind. Vicious Sav
ages were constantly harassing, seeking plunder
ancl scalps, more despicable "road agents," as
they were termed, dogged the steps of the trav
eller, and at opportune moments for his nefar
ious work, did not hesitate to murder, if his de
mands were not promptly met. Night and day,
every moment, called for the most painstaking
care ancl attention on the part of the parties who
wended their way over this route. Snake In
dians, Bannock Indians, Paiute Indians, rene
gade Indians, Lhnatilla Indians, and others, art
ful, vicious, cunning, and cruel to the native in
stinct of the savage ; white men, with black
hearts, plotters against the lives and property of
their fellows ; wild beasts ; rattlesnakes, and even
the sneaking coyote, all combined to levy tribute
on these hardy- and brave men who threaded this
frontier road, and could we collect the incidents
that have occurred on its length, surely the vol
ume would thrill all readers, — but the tales, most
of them, will never be recorded on the written

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

637

page. Many a happy heart left the fireside at
home, buoyant with the hope that he would find
the fortune that would minister to the needs of
his loved ones, only to read in the fiendish eyes
of a cruel savage the doom of his life, or
wounded, to crawl away in some hidden nook to
calmly wait the death watch, alone and unat
tended. But death, itself, would not deter such
men as found their way into central Oregon in
those days. A writer of the Oregonian in 1886
says: >
For several miles south of upper Currant creek, and
west of a small stream called the Muddy, which comes
from the south and strikes Currant creek at right
angles, is a large scope. of country of peculiar forma
tion. The appearance of the locality can be best un
derstood by the name "Potato Hills," given to it by
the first travelers along the route. These small grassy
knolls were clustered thickly over the expanse, inter
spersed with scrubby pines and clusters of Service-
berry, wild plum and greasewood bushes. These potato
hills increase in size, elevation and ruggedness to the
east, a distance of nearly five miles, till the little stream
of the Muddy is reached, when the hills give place to
bluffs of shelving and scale rocks.
In this locality the Snake Indians made their prin
cipal attacks upon trains and travelers in 1862, though
the whole distance from this point to Canyon City was
subject to their attacks. Down this creek filed a pack
train belonging to a man named Nelson, who was on
his return from The Dalles, with a load of goods.
Along the creek were numerous clusters of wild cur
rant bushes, from which the creek received its name,
affording excellent shelter for the skulking Indians. The
packers were gaily or otherwise urging their mules
along the gravelly path, and had possibly forgotten that
the locality was a dangerous one.
The train was strung out down the narrow trail, the
bell mare and rider far in the lead.' An abrupt, though
low, ledge of rocks was a few rods to the left of the
trail, the creek with its skirting of currant bushes close
to the right ; the packers were busy "fixing" the packs,
and the riding animals were loose on the trail. Sud
denly the rider of the bell mare shouted "Indians !"
to those behind, and, clapping spurs to his horse, clat
tered off down the trail at a keen run. Out from the
currant bushes, down from the ledge of rocks poured
the Indians. Some tried to catch the mules, others
opened fire on the packers with bows and arrows and
guns, and the only thing left for the packers was to
quickly mount their riding animals and hurry back
up the trail. The Indians were altogether too num
erous to be contended with by two men, who were only
armed with revolvers. Fifty well armed Indians were
too many to attack. The music of the fleeing bell,
far in the front, could be heard no more, and the only
thing left for the two rear riders was to watch from

an elevation while the Indianns chased their spoil. The
men all escaped unhurt, but the mules and cargoes
were lost.
Late in the fall of 1862, a party of five miners
was camped on what has since been named Mur
derer's creek. They had chosen as a camping
spot, a sheltered nook under a shelving rock. As
they were near the road, and no signs of Indians
had been seen, they deemed themselves safe. One
evening they retired as usual, and spent some
time conversing before going to sleep. Sud
denly the crack of four rifles rang out on the
quiet evening air and simultaneously a shower
of arrows sped in upon them from the neighbors
ing rocks. One man was killed outright and the
other four were seriously wounded. Two of
them struggled to the creek and down it for half
a mile, when one, who could go no further, being
mortally wounded with a rifle bullet, sank down.
Later he crawled to a clump of bushes and there
died. His companion painfully made his way to
Officers ranch and expired the next day in great
agony. The following summer a party of emi
grants, of whom G. I. Hazeltine was a member,
camped near the spot where the first man died,
and a couple of girls found a gold watch. Upon
search the skeleton of a man was found, supposed
to be the unfortunate miner.
The remaining two members of the party
escaped from their retreat through the bushes
and rocks and in a clump of friendly bushes
halted to stanch the blood from the wounds of the
younger man, who had been hit in the side by a
rifle bullet. He also had two less serious wounds
from arrows. The other one of the two was an
elderly man, and he was slightly wounded with
an arrow. After dressing their wounds as best
they could, they painfully and slowly made their
way over the rough country east towards Can
yon creek. They purposely avoided the road
fearing the redskins lurking there. Finally the
younger man gave out and he persuaded his com
panion to push on and leave him. The elder man
did so, but the wound which appeared slight, was
from a poisoned arrow and although he arrived
at the Canyon creek camp, he eventually died.
The younger man rested and then struggled on,
bathing his wounds at every opportunity and fi
nally reached the camp. He received all the
attention that could be given, but, although his
wounds healed, he never regained his wonted
vigor. These are but samples of incidents that were
constantly occurring on this road from Canyon
City to The Dalles and how many terrible battles
occurred in the country now embraced in Wheeler
county, we cannot tell,- but, could the accounts of

638

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

them be collected, they would form an interest
ing volume.
As the knowledge of the camp at Canyon
creek and adjacent places became better known,
men flocked there in large numbers and the road
through Wheeler county became a regular high
way, there constantly being packers, freighters,
and prospectors going to and fro. Mail came in
by way of The Dalles, by private parties, and
as early as 1864, we have record of an express
being established on the road. The men who
inaugurated this enterprise were Messrs. Edgar
and Jones and they transported express to ancl
from Canyon City and The Dalles. How exten
sive was their business we are not told. In the
same year, however, there was established the
first real stage line from The Dalles to Canyon
City. This important enterprise was opened by
the well known pioneer of Wheeler county, H.
H. Wheeler, who now resides at Mitchell. He
had come up to The Dalles from California and
seeing the need of a stage line on this road from
The Dalles to Canyon City, prepared an outfit
and in Alay, 1864, started with a fourhorse team,
a lever coach and eleven passengers from The
Dalles to Canyon City. This was the initial trip
and Mr. Wheeler handled this stage until 1868,
making three trips each week. He had eight
changes of horses, and each coach was supplied
with four horses. Mr. Wheeler drove the first
stage in person and had a full load of eleven pas
sengers, and also had as many on the return
trip. He handled the Wells Fargo Express
Co.'s business and also had a contract to carry
the United States mail. The first mail carried,
however, was not until the spring of 1865, and
this was the first contract over this route. Air.
Wheeler received twelve thousand dollars from
the government for transporting the mail each
year, and his fare for passengers was forty dol
lars each way. This was a moderate charge con
sidering the length of the road, and the dangers
encountered. Mr. Wheeler was not a man to be
deterred from an enterprise undertaken and he
managed it well for four years.
On the seventh day of September, 1866, Mr.
Wheeler was in person driving the stage and was
about three miles east from where the town of
Mitchell now stands, when he was suddenly at
tacked bv a band of fifteen or twenty murderous
Snake Indians. H. C. Paige, the Wells Fargo
messenger, was the only other person on the
coach. At the first onslaught, the Indians fired
a volley and Air. Wheeler was hit in the mouth,
the bullet going through both cheeks and knock
ing out some of his teeth and a portion of his
jaw. The road was too rough to drive the stage
awav from them in a race, and the only thing left

to do was to mount the leaders, which had never
been ridden, and scurry away as fast as possible,
leaving the stage and its cargo for spoil to the
savages. Immediately, upon the first approach
of the savages, Paige opened fire on them with a
thirty-eight caliber Colt's revolver, his only wea
pon, and so pluckily did he keep up his fight that
the savages were beaten off sufficiently to allow
the leaders to be detached and thus he and Air.
Wheeler escaped. The cargo contained ten
thousand dollars in greenbacks, three hundred
dollars in coin, diamond rings, besides other val
uables. The Indians cut open the mail sacks,
took what they liked, but overlooked the green
backs, or did not know their value, for they
were found later, took the leather of the stage
top, and all parts they desired and left. Air.
Wheeler ancl his companion made their way to
the road house of C. W. Myers and Frank He-
wot, the latter being known as "Alkali Frank,"
which was two miles farther east. Later they re
turned and gathered up what was to be found of
the valuables and the United States mail. Air.
Wheeler went back to The Dalles to receive
treatment for his wound. He lost heavily during
his time on the stage, by thieving and marauding
from the Indians. Eighty-nine horses in all were
stolen besides much other property. But one of
the strange things is that though Air. Wheeler
went over the road perhaps more than any one
man, and although murders were common on
every hand, still he escaped with the wound men
tioned, ancl lives to recount the stirring incidents
of those days.
In 1887, Secretary of State AIcBride pre
sented to the state of Oregon a long tin box,
which is still kept in the state archives. It con
tains a thirty-eight Colt's revolver, large and
heavy, a bowie knife, made from a butcher knife,
two pairs of bullet moulds, two ramrods, and a
belt. This is the accoutrement possessed by
Paige at the time of the terrible struggle men
tioned above. The revolver is the instrument he
used so tellingly against the Redskins and this
small arsenal is highly prized as a relic of those
days when Indians were on the warpath and the
real westy spirit pervaded the now quiet and
prosperous state of Oregon.
The first real settlers in the territory now em
braced in Wheeler count}-, so far as we have any
record, were brought in by the inducements of
fered to supply needed refreshments and food for
the freighters ancl prospectors who traveled the
dangerous road above mentioned. The persons
who so settled were C. A. Myers,- and Frank
Hewot, who was known as "Alkali Frank." They
located on Bridge creek, some five miles east
trom where Alitchell now stands in 1863. They

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

639

established themselves in as good quarters as they
could construct in those primitive days, enclosed
and broke up land, sowed crops, raised stock, and
also kept a stage station. Myers was born in
Germany in 1819, came to California during the
gold excitement in 1849 anc' later went with the
wave of migration that rolled northward into the
regions of Oregon as we have mentioned above
and in 1863 he located on Bridge creek. So far
as is known, Mr. Alyers was the first permanent
settler in what is now Wheeler county, and, also,
was the first one to locate permanently between
the Des Chutes and Canyon creek. On the place
selected, he erected a substantial house, proof
against the marauding Indians, which was a place
of refuge for many a weary and hard beset trav
eller. Mr. Myers was a typical frontiersman, and,
not only did he establish himself in the country,
but he set to with a will and soon had opened up
a producing farm. He planted the first garden,
raised the first grain, set out the first orchard
and through thrift and enterprise he built a
splendid home, ancl accumulated a competency.
He remained in this section until Alonday, Feb
ruary 3, 1903, when he was called to the realities
of the world beyond. In 1864 George Jones set
tled in Spanish gulch, about two and one-half
miles from the site of Antone postoffice, and en
gaged in farming and stock raising. He also
did mining and was one of the men who assisted
to open up the country. In 1865, E. B. Allen set
tled near where Caleb postoffice now is located
and gave his attention to stockraising. S. G.
Coleman came to the same locality in the same
year and also engaged in raising stock. In the
same year, J. N. Clark settled at the mouth of
Bridge creek and began to establish himself by
opening a farm and raising some stock. Clark
labored along as the pioneer is forced to do,
against many odds, until 1866 and then oc
curred what is well told by the Grant County
News of August 6, 1885 :
Over in Wasco, (now Wheeler), county, on the
main John Day river and near the mouth of Bridge
creek, is a ranch and postoffice called Burnt Ranch and
it came to be thus named from tlie following circum
stance :
In 1866 James Clark was occupying the position of a
pioneer settler there and had a very comfortable home.
Along in the early fall his wife departed to the Willa
mette valley to visit her people. One bright September
morning, Jim and his brother-in-law, George Master-
son, forded the John Day river and were cutting up
a lot of driftwood on the opposite bars. Suddenly they
discovered a band of Indians rushing down the lull
from the Ochoco country. The men had left their
rifles in the house and they thought there was a possi

ble show to reach them ahead of the Indians. They
unhitched the horses and climbing on bareback, raced
for the house. But when they say the Indians were
going to get there first, they swerved to the left and
struck up Bridge creek, with the enemy in hot pursuit.
It took but a few miles of hard riding to use up
Masterson's work horse and he told Clark to keep on
and save himself. Masterson then jumped from his
horse and struck into the brush. He jumped into the
creek and, swimming down stream a little distance,
found a deep hole, overhung with thick brush, where
he "camped." The Indians chased Clark a few miles
farther and then returned to finish Masterson. But he
confined himself to his covered haunt, and after hunt
ing all around him, the Indians gave up and returned
to the house, where they took everything they consid
ered of value. Clark kept on to the nearest ranch,
eight miles distant, where he found a number of pack
ers, with whom he returned to the scene of action.
They yelled for Masterson, and, at last taking chances
on their being friends, he came out of his hole of hid
ing almost chilled to death.
The party then went on to the house which was
found smouldering in ashes and the Indians gone. The
raiders had cut open featherbeds, taking the ticking and
scattering the feathers abroad, and also doing other
acts of destruction. What was a happy home a few
hours before was now a scene of desolation, but Provi
dence had ordered the safety of the occupants. Another
house was constructed, but ever since that time the
place had been called Burnt Ranch, and that is the
name of the postoffice there to this day.
As early as 1865 the government established a
military camp at a point just southeast from
where Caleb postoffice now stands, upon the old
military road. This camp was named in honor
of Lieutenant Watson, a bright officer who was
killed in an Indian fight in Crook county. Camp
Watson had quarters for two companies of infan
try and two companies of cavalry. It was in use
from the time of establishment until 1869, when
it was discontinued and the property sold. This
protection was of much benefit to the struggling
settlers who had to cope with a merciless and
savage foe, who sought not only their lives, but
also drove off their stock, burned their houses
and stole their goods upon every opportunity.
The presence of the soldiers put something of a
check on these depredations on the scattering
farmers and stockmen and upon the pilgrims on
the road. Settlers began to come in from differ
ent points and in 1866 Jerome Parsons settled
on the John Day near where Twickenham now
stands and engaged in stock raising. J. K. Rowe
settled on the John Day below where Twicken
ham now is and took up stock raising. Cal
AlcCracken settled on Rock creek where Antone

640

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

postoffice now is and engaged in stock raising.
Joseph Huntley and Andrew Clarno settled on
Pine creek, and they, too, engaged in stock rais
ing. In 1867 Mr. McNeil located where Caleb
now stands and began to raise stock. In 1867
three men located in this territory and began
stock raising. Robert Sedman located near
where Twickenham is now. Al Sutton settled on
what is now known as Sutton ranch, twelve
miles from Mitchell, on Bridge creek. And
Jake Smith settled on the John Day near Twick
enham, or what is now Twickenham. H. C. Hal
came in in 1868 and deciding this was a good
stock raising country began operations about
three miles east from where Mitchell is located.
Mr. Marshall came in the same year and settled
about two miles west of Mr. Hal's place. J. P.
Brown also came in 1868 and made settlement
about ten miles southeast from where Richmond
is now located. He, too, began stock raising
operations. Mr. Brown brought his family,
and, so far as we have record, this was one of the
very first, if not the first family to move in. His
place was located on Gird's creek. Others who
came in 1868 and engaged in stock raising are :
J. K. Rowe, on Rowe creek, twenty miles south
east from where Fossil now stands ; Wick Cu-
sick, on Bridge creek, nine miles below Mitchell ;
Wm. Saltman, on Burnt Ranch, where the pres
ent postoffice of Burnt Ranch is now located. In
1869 Mr. Moore, afterward state senator from
Crook county, this state, came to his location
about ten miles southeast from Richmond and
raised stock. In the same year the following
persons came in and made settlement and en
gaged in raising stock : Louis Manning, on
Butte creek; six miles above Fossil ; Jerome Par
sons, on John Day, near Twickenham ; Samuel
Snooks in about the same locality ; William Big-
ham settled where Fossil now stands ; Horace
Parker settled two miles west of Bigham's place ;
Al Straw, on Butte creek six miles above Big-
ham's place; J. W. Chambers, two miles north
west from Bigham's place ; and Ralph Fisk, in the
Haystack country along the John Day. In 1870
others came and among them we mention Jeff
Moore, son of Senator Moore, on Gird's creek ;
Henry Helm and Wm. 'Gilliam on the flat be
low Richmond, in the Shoofly country ; Lafayette
Scoggin, on the present site of Fossil ; P. E. and
George McQuinn, on Butte creek east from
Fossil four miles ; E. O. Fling, in Caleb basin ; T.
B. Hoover, on Hoover creek, three miles east
from Fossil; Joe and Rodney Tompkins, in the
Haystack country ; Charles Masiker, in the Hay
stack country; David Hamilton, about three
miles south from Fossil. The last named gen
tleman engaged in farming and sheepraising,

but all the others who came in this year were
occupied in raising stock alone. In 1872 other
stockmen found their way to the inviting fields
of Wheeler county, and among this number we
mention O. Fleming, on Service prairie, fifteen
miles east from Fossil; James and Doc Hughes,
in the Haystack country ; Joseph Frizzell, on Al
der creek, eighteen miles east from Fossil ; and
J. W. Gilman, twenty miles east from Fossil,
who was the founder of the Gilman French
Stock Company. In 1874 W. P. Putnam pur
chased an interest with O. Fleming on Service
prairie ; Carl and George Wagner came into the
Haystack country in the early seventies and, also
J: H. Putnam came about that time, who was
with the Gilman French Company for thirteen
years. During the centennial year when the
world was turning its eyes to the progress of
arts, sciences, and all civilization as manifested
in the exhibition at Philadelphia, the stockman
and the pioneer came for location in what is now
Wheeler county and among those who found
that they sought for are Levi Record and Joe
Laughauki, who came from distant Florida and
began the stock industry in the Haystack coun
try. Cal McConnel and Edward Saunderson
settled three miles east from Fossil this year
and went to raising sheep. In 1878, Ferd Hunt
located in the Haystack country.
It will be seen by the foregoing that the ter
ritory now embraced in Wheeler county was
well sprinkled with settlers when the year 1878
arrived, the year of the terrible Paiute and Ban
nock Indian war. More or less this struggle af
fected the entire country of Oregon east of the
Cascades, as well as southern Washington and
southern Idaho. The actual battles occurred
outside of Wheeler county, but marauding bands
of the savages scurried in various directions and
committed much depredation over a wide terri
tory. The Bannocks under the command of
Chief Buffalo Horn started in the spring of
1878 with several hundred braves and all their •
women and children from the vicinity of the
Fort Hall reservation in southern Idaho. Their
course lay west and they crossed into Oregon in
about the latitude of Silver City. Thence they
moved west and north, being constantly in
creased by the addition of the Paiutes and
different bands of renegade Indians and also by
various companies from tribes further north.
They followed the customary tactics of their
race, pillaging and murdering as they went,
driving off stock, burning settlers cabins and im
provements. The Paiutes were commanded by
Egan. At midnight on June 21st, soldiers un
der the command of Colonel Bernard left Camp
Harney to attack these Indians and the next

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

641

morning the battle was on. The Indians were
far more numerous than the soldiers, but much
damage was done them, Egan was wounded,
Buffalo Horn was killed, and the savages set
out for the north. Silver creek was the scene
of this battle and though it was not an over
whelming victory, still the killing of Buffalo Horn
left the command to Egan, who was wounded,
and this so materially weakened the expedition
that when General Wheaton met them in Uma
tilla county, they were broken entirely and re
treated south again. It was the intention of
Buffalo Horn to gather all the tribes of the
northwest, turn out the whites or murder them,
and then, if pushed too hard by the soldiers,
retreat into British Columbia. His scheme was
a bold and bright one, but he was not a man who
could carry it out, and then, too, fate decreed
that his career should cease. Egan was a fierce
man, but no general to execute so great a plan.
As stated, the Indians were defeated by the
soldiers in Umatilla county and General How
ard followed them south and captured the rem
nants of them near the California line. He
severely punished the participants in this great
raid, and those captured were brought to the
Yakima reservation and put under charge of the
military force there. Thus, one of the best plan
ned uprisings of the northwest was put down
quickly, and, considering their intent, with a
comparatively small loss of life. Many poor set
tlers lost all their property, a good many were
killed, and it put a check to immigration for
some time. All this, as to the general route of
the Indians and the vigorous battles, occurred
outside of the territory now embraced in Wheeler
county, but its effect was felt here as it was all
over eastern Oregon. Settlers lost stock, many
were led to flee, and things in general were de
moralized for a time. Then, too, Wheeler suf
fered with the balance of the country from the
check of immigration that this war caused. How
ever, in the end it was a good thing, for it gath
ered the marauders all up in one band and they
received the punishment they deserved. Egan
was killed as was Buffalo Horn, the Indians
were severely chastised, and the country had
rest from their thieving and murdering expedi
tions. Soon it became known that there was no
fear of another Indian outbreak and the immi
gration that had so seriously been checked, be
gan again to pour in, and the settlers were left
unmolested to carry forward their work of im
provement and subduing the wild country. Thus,
while it cost much valuable property, and many
lives, as well, the country paid no more dearly
than it would have done had such restless and
murderous bands been left to carry on their in-
41

dividual work for a longer period. Speaking of
this campaign, General Howard says
The Paiutes and Bannocks drew men and help
from the Umatillas, and many warriors from other
tribes, but we beat them in every battle, and kept on
that persistent course which meant never to stop until
the work was done. I am sure that neither of these
tribes ever wanted any more war after that rattling
campaign, which never stopped for canyon, mountain,
river or forest until the enemy was fully overcome.
There are many men who live in eastern Oregon, Wash
ington, and Idaho who remember this hard war of
1878, which has gone into history as the Paiute and
Bannock war.
Thus in brief is the story of the last great
Indian war that raged in eastern Oregon. The
general reinvigorating of business and immigra
tion after the real status of the Indian trouble
was properly known was felt in Wheeler county
as elsewhere through eastern Oregon, and set
tlers came in more rapidly to find homes in the
favored country, which has always been reck
oned, as now, one of the best stock regions in
the west. However, this very fact of Wheeler's
excellencies for stock raising made the settle
ments sparse as the interests of the stockman are
best conserved when he has elbow room. Sturdy
men were opening up farms, and some mining
was done, but no such find in Wheeler county as
Canyon creek has ever been opened and so min
ing, while exceedingly profitable sometimes to
single individuals, was not carried on extensively.
The country was found to be productive of those
fruits, grains and vegetables needed for the use
of man and the fertile sections of the county
were opened up from time to time as the years
went by, but stock raising was then, has con
tinued to be, and is now, the chief industry of
Wheeler county. The first settlers discovered
that fruit would thrive well and one, Alex
Fisher, as early as 1865 began to produce a
few varieties. For years he was the most ex
tensive fruit raiser in the country and supplied
the settlers for miles in every direction. Others
profited by his example and orchards are to be
found in all parts of the county at this time.
Ihe first postoffice established in the county
was at the Sutton ranch in 1867, Al Sutton be
ing the postmaster.
In another portion of this work the va
rious apportionments of the country of Central
Oregon into the counties now existing has been
thoroughly gone into, and, therefore, it is not
necessary to repeat here. However, Wheeler
county has been embraced in several, at dif
ferent times, and she passed through the va-

642

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

rious stages and changes of organization that
is usual to frontier territory. But, as the county
exists today, it was made up of portions of Gil
liam, Crook, and Grant counties. Fossil country
came from Gilliam ; the Alitchell section was
taken from Crook ; and Grant county was called
upon to give up the Haystack and Spanish
Gulch countries. Owing to the remoteness of
these sections from their respective county
seats, very early in the history of the country,
murmurings were heard because of the long and
expensive journeys to do business in the county
seat. As the country settled more thickly, this
dissatisfaction grew and was very generally dis
tributed among the people. Some began to talk
of a new county and various plans and methods
were proposed many years before they assumed
definite shape. That great sifter and disting-
uisher of American people, the free discussion
of topics by the people, slowly but steadily was
accomplishing its work. It, indeed, was very
slow, owing, perhaps, to the fact that the popu
lation was largely stockmen, and the settlement
not thick. Finally the desire began to assume
definite form but not till December 31, 1892, do
we hear it voiced in the papers. Then the An
telope Herald states that "We understand that
a petition is being circulated in the Mitchell
country, praying for the organization of a new
county out of a part of Crook and a portion of
Grant, thus entitling either Mitchell or Wal
dron to a county seat." So the matter was
launched. In January, 1895, an effort was made
to create the county of Sutton from parts of
Grant and Crook counties, with Mitchell as the
countv seat. The boundaries of this proposed
county were :
"Beginning at the northwest corner of town
ship 13, S, range 20, E, W. M, thence south
on the township line to the southwest corner of
township 14, S, range 20, E. ; thence east on the
township line between townships fourteen and
fifteen south to the southeast corner of section
33, township 14, S, range 26, E. ; thence north
to the north boundary of Grant county ; thence
east on said boundary line to the northwest cor
ner of Grant county ; thence south on the west
boundary line of Grant county to the centre
of the John Day river ; thence clown the middle
of said river to where the same crosses the line
running east and west through the center of
township 8, S, range 19, E. ; thence west on
said last named line to the summit of the moun
tains separating the waters of the John Day ancl
Des Chutes rivers ; thence along said summit
southeastward to the place of beginning."
The taxable property within the boundaries

of this proposed county, at the time the move
was made to establish it, was $432,431.00.
The matter was properly brought to the leg
islature of 1895 and Mitchell put up a strong
fight with others to assist, but the proposition
was destined to fall through, and so ended the
second definite attempt to get a new county es
tablished, embracing, at least, a portion of what
is now Wheeler county. This backset quieted
the matter for a time, but though it slumbered,
it did not die. The instigators of the move
ment took courage after due deliberation and
as the people were determined, new plans were
formed and the matter again was put forth. In
December, 1898, the Condon Globe announced
that an effort was being made to organize a
new county from portions of Crook, Grant,
and perhaps a piece of Gilliam. The people of
the territory embraced claimed that they were
remote from the county seat towns of Crook and
Grant and were obliged to undergo many hard
ships, much inconvenience, and great expense in
order to reach their county seats, especially in
the winter season. This movement took definite
shape in presenting to the legislature in Janu
ary, 1899, the following petition :
To the Honorable Legislative Assembly of the state
of Oregon : We, your petitioners, residents and taxpay
ers within the limits of Crook and Grant counties, in the
state of Oregon, and within those portions of the said
counties within the boundaries hereinafter named, re
spectively petition that a new county be created out of the
territory bounded as follows :
Beginning at the northwest corner of township 13
south, range 20 east of Willamette meridian ; thence
south on range line between ranges 19 and 20 east, to the
southwest corner of township 14 south, range 20 east;
thence east on the township line between township 14
and 15 south, to the center of township 14 south, range
26 east ; thence north throught the center of 14, 13, 12,
11, 10, 9, 8 and 7 south, range 26 east, to the Grant county
line ; thence west on north boundary line of Grant
county to the John Day river ; thence along the middle of
the channel of the said John Day river to the northern
line of township 9 south, range 20 east; thence west on
said last named line to the Des Chutes meridian, on the
summit of the divide separating the water shed of the
John Day and Des Chutes rivers : thence along the sum
mit of said divide to the place of beginning."
It was to be expected that opposition would
be aroused and when the enemies of the meas
ure learned that R. N. Donnelly, Grant county's
representative, had introduced on January 11,
1899, house bill, number 153, which was the
original draft as stated above, then definite

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

643

action commenced. This emanated largely from
Gilliam county, where the most intense opposi
tion was put forth. Wheeler was destined not
to be born without a struggle, and one, too, that
showed much intense action and considerable ac
rimony. This was not confined alone to the
territory concerned, but spread abroad through
surrounding country, but spread abroad through
terness was expressed. So soon, we stated, as
the bill was introduced, then a mass meeting was
hurriedly called in southern Gilliam county. The
date of it was Friday evening, January 13, 1899.
It was decided to circulate a remonstrance and
a committee was appointed to get the signa
tures of the people opposed to the bill. Gilliam
county was loath to give up any portion of her
territory to the new county. Those who took an
active part in securing the signatures to this pe
tition were William Hartman, Bud Rinehart, John
Gross, Arthur Foster, George Caven, Louis Cout
ure, Frank Maddock, R. A. McCully, and A. J.
Shelton. These gentlemen canvassed the county
thoroughly, circulating through that portion
to be cut off as well as in the other portions of
the county. After three days they returned with
646 names attached to the petition, all names of
voters. Of these it was alleged that 45 were
secured right in Fossil and in the territory just
south of it, while 150 were secured in the ter
ritory proposed to be cut off from Gilliam county.
This remonstrance was hurriedly sent to the leg
islature. Perhaps the general feeling in Gilliam
county was best shown by the Lone Rock cor
respondent, whose article appeaered in the Con
don Globe of January 19, 1899. We append it.
Everyone about here is kicking like a mule down
hill against the proposition to ctt off a slice of Gilliam
¦county for the purpose of benefitting a little two by
four locality and for their accommodation to thus spoil
our own county (Gilliam). We don't want any of it
¦and are willing to let good enough alone, and all hands
signed the remonstrance against it.
Whether this petition, or whether the con
tinued opposition and pressure brought to bear
in other lines, was the cause or not, nevertheless
when the contested bill came up in the house,
January 26, 1899, it was defeated. Eight mem
bers of the house were absent, leaving only fif-
ty-two to vote. Of these thirty favored the bill,
but as it required a majority^of the sixty to car
ry a measure, the bill was defeated. The en
tire opposition came from Gilliam county and
Gilliam was jubilant over the turn affairs had
taken. The matter was not yet to be downed,
though, and the friends of the measure brought
the bill up for reconsideration again with the

result that on Monday evening, January 30, it
easily passed the house. All eyes were then
turned to the senate and every effort that the
people from Gilliam county could put forth was
brought out and the fight waxed hot, and also,
to some considerable extent, bitter. Finally the
clay came on for the vote to be taken, Thurs
day, February 16, and the bill was passed. But,
in the senate, it had been amended, and the
house was to pass on that yet. This final act
was done and the bill became a law, the gov
ernor attaching his signature.
Commenting on this under date of Febru
ary 23, the Condon Globe said :
To the residents of Gilliam county, and of the
portions of Grant and Crook which are included in
the new county, the measure has aroused the most in
tense interest of any which was before the late legis
lature for consideraton. The contest has been waged
fiercely by both sides, and, at times, was rather acri
monious, both in this section of the country and at
Salem. But a compromise having been effected the
bill was allowed to pass and it is believed will give
pretty general satisfaction to the people of Gilliam
county and perhaps to the people of the new county.
The compromise, as embodied in an amendment to
the bill as it finally passed the senate, fixes the bound
ary line between Gilliam and Wheeler counties on the
section line one mile south of the first standard paral
lel south, which is just one mile south of the town
of Mayville, the line running straight from east to west
without a jog.
The Fossil Journal commenting on this new
bill said :
Donnely's bill creating Wheeler county passed the
senate on the sixteenth, with the northern line of the
county an average distance of two miles south of the
line established in the bill as it passed the house. This
brings the line one mile on this side of Mayville. It
is a compromise line. The Mayville delegation told
.the senate committee that they were absolutely opposed
to the new county taking an inch of Gilliam county
territory, but if it had to be divided, then they wanted
the northern line set southward an average distance of
four miles from the original line. The committee split
the difference, and placed the line two miles south.
This gives us twenty-five miles of Gilliam county in
stead of twenty-seven as first asked for.
Wheeler county is about fifty-four miles long and
over thirty wide, and is somewhat larger than Gilliam.
The Prineville Review of February 25 re-
manks concerning the new county : "The people
of that section have wanted a new county for
years. They have got their desire but it is a bit
ter dose for some to take."

644

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

It was in honor of the well known pioneer,
H. H. Wheeler that the new county was named,
ancl so well were all pleased with this, that it
aroused no opposition at all.
The Enabling Act creating Wheeler county
is given below in full.
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the
State of Oregon :
Sec. I. That all that portion of the state of Oregon
embraced within the following boundary lines be and
the same is hereby created and organized into a sepa
rate county by the name of Wheeler, to-wit :
i Beginning at the northwest corner of township 13
south, of range 20 east, Willamette Meridian, and run
ning thence south on range line, between ranges 19
and 20 east, three miles by government survey; thence
east on the section lines to the east boundary of range
22 east; thence south on said east boundary line three
miles to southeast corner of township 13 south of range
22 east ; thence east on the south boundary of town
ship 13 south to the east boundary of range 23 east;
thence south on said east boundary of range 23 east to
the south boundary of township 14 south ; thence east
on said south boundary to the east boundary of range
25 east; thence north on said range line between ranges
25 and 26 east to the north boundary of Grant county;
thence west on the nor^h boundary of Grant county to
-the east boundary of range 24 east; thence north on
said east boundary to a point which is one mile south
of the first standard parallel south; thence west along
the section line one mile south of said first standard
parallel south to the center of the main channel of the
John Day river; thence up the center of the main chan
nel of the said John Day river to the most southerly
point on said river where the center of said river is
crossed by the west boundary of range 20 east; thence
south on said west boundary of range 20 east to the
place of beginning.
Sec. 2. The territory embraced within the said
boundary line shall compose a county for all civil and
military purposes, and shall be subject to the same
laws and restrictions and be entitled to elect the same
officers as other counties of this state; provided, that
it shall be the duty of the governor, as soon as it shall
be convenient after this act shall have become a law,
to appoint for Wheeler county, and from its citizens,
the several county officers allowed by law to other
counties in this state, which said officers after duly
qualifying according to law, shall be entitled to hold
their respective offices until their successors are duly
elected at the general election of 1900 and have duly
qualified according to law.
Sec. 3. The temporary county seat of Wheeler
county shall be located at Fossil in said county until a
permanent location shall be adopted. At the next gen
eral election the question shall be submitted to the
legal voters of said county, and the place, if any,

which shall receive a majority of all the votes cast at
said election shall be the permanent county seat of
said county. But if no place shall receive a majority
of all the votes cast, the question shall again be submit
ted to the legal voters of said county at the next gen
eral election, between the two points having the high
est number of votes at said election, and the place re
ceiving the highest number of votes at such last election;
shall be the permanent county seat of said county.
Sec. 4. Said county of Wheeler shall, for repre
sentative purposes, be annexed to the 28th representa
tive district, and for senatorial purposes said county
shall be annexed to the 21st senatorial district.
Sec. 5. The county clerks of Crook, Grant, and
Gilliam counties, respectively, shall within thirty days-
after this act shall have gone into operation, make out
and deliver to the county clerk of Wheeler county ai
transcript of all taxes assessed upon all persons and
property within said Wheeler county and which were
previously included within the limits of Crook, Grant and
Gilliam counties, respectively, and all taxes which shall
remain unpaid the day this act shall become a law shall be
paid to the proper officer of Wheeler county. The said
clerks of said counties, Crook, Grant, and Gilliam, re
spectively, shall also make out and deliver to the clerk
of Wheeler county, within the time abovle limited,
a transcript of all cases pending in the circuit and county
courts of their respective counties between parties re
siding in Wheeler county, and transfer all original pa
pers in said cases to be. tried in Wheeler county.
Sec. 6. The county court of Wheeler county shall
be held' at the county seat on the first Monday ins
January and the first Monday in every alternate month
thereafter, of each year.
Sec. 7. The said county of Wheeler is hereby at
tached to the seventh judicial district .for judicial pur
poses, and the terms of the circuit court for said county
shall be held at the county seat of said county on the
fourth Monday in January, and the first Monday in.
September of each year.
Sec. 8. Until otherwise provided by law, the county
judge of Wheeler county shall receive an annual salary
of four hundred dollars, the county clerk of said
county shall receive an annual salary of twelve hundred
dollars ; the sheriff shall receive an annual salary of
sixteen hundred dollars ; and the treasurer shall re
ceive an annual salary of two hundred and fifty dol
lars. The county clerk of Wheeler county shall ap
point the stock inspector and fix his salary.
Sec. 9. The law relating to trespass of sheep and
other animals shall be the same throughout Wheeler
county as now maintains in Crook and Gilliam counties.
Sec. 10. The county judge of Wheeler' county shall
let by contract to the lowest responsible and efficient
bidder the work of transcribing all records of Crook,
Grant, and Gilliam counties, respectively, affecting real
estate situated in Wheeler county, and, when completed
they shall be examined and certified to by the clerk

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

645

•of Wheeler county, and shall thereafter be recognized
and acknowledged as the offical records of Wheeler
•county; provided the clerk of Wheeler county shall be
allowed to bid on such work.
Sec. n. It shall be the duty of the superintendent
•of schools of Crook, Grant, and Gilliam counties,
respectively, within sixty days after the appointment
of a superintendent of schools of Wheeler county,
to make out and forward to said superintendent of
schools of Wheeler county a true and correct
•transcript or abstract of the annnual reports
of ,the clerks of the various school districts em
braced within Wheeler county; and the said county
school superintendents of Crook, Grant and Gilliam
-counties, respectively, shall also at the time of making
the appointments of the school fund for the year 1899
apportion to the various school districts within Wheeler
county their pro rata proportion of said school fund,
the same as if said county had not been created and or
ganized. Sec. 12. The treasurer of Wheeler county shall,
within one year after its organization by the appoint
ment of its officers as hereinbefore provided, assume
and pay to the counties of Crook, Grant and Gilliam,
respectively, a pro rata proportion of the remaining in
debtedness, if any, of Crook, Grant, and Gilliam coun
ties, respectively, after deducting therefrom the amount
•of money that has been collected in taxes from the
property of the territory taken from said counties, re
spectively, by this Act, and included in the county of
Wheeler, and expended in said counties of Crook,
Grant, and Gilliam, respectively, for public buildings.
Sec. 13. The county judge of Gilliam county and
the county judge of Grant county and G. O. Butler of
Wheeler county are hereby appointed a board of com
missioners to determine the value of such property in
•Grant and Gilliam counties, and the amount of in
debtedness, if any, to be assumed by said Wheeler
county and paid to the counties of Grant and Gilliam,
respectively. Said board shall meet at the county seat
of Grant county on the tenth day of May, 1899, or within
ten days thereafter, and, after taking and subscribing an
oath faithfully to discharge their duties, shall proceed
with said work, and when it is completed, file reports
-of their conclusions in duplicate with the clerks of
Grant, Gilliam, and Wheeler counties.
Sec. 14. The county judge and the county clerk of
-Crook county and Engene Looney of Wheeler county
are hereby appointed a board of commissioners to de
termine the amount of indebtedness, if any, in the
manner hereinbefore provided, to be assumed by said
Wheeler county and paid to Crook county. Said board
shall meet at the county seat of Crook county on the
tenth day of May, 1899, or within ten days there
after, and, after taking and subscribing to an oath
'faithfully to discharge their duties, shall proceed with
said work, and when it is completed file report of
their conclusion in duplicate with the clerks of Crook

and Wheeler counties. In case of a vacancy occurring
in either of said boards, the same may be filled by the
appointment of the governor of the state of Oregon.
Sec. 15. Within thirty days after the filing of either
of such reports in Wheeler county, either county may
appeal from the decision of either of said boards to the
circuit court of Gilliam county, by serving notice of the
appeal upon the clerk of the other county interested.
Upon perfecting the issues in said circuit court either
county may demand a change of venue to any other
county in the seventh judicial district of the state of
Oregon, which may be agreed upon by said counties ;
or, in the^event of a disagreement, to any county which
may be designated by the judge of said district. The
trial may be by jury, and the judgment rendered may
be enforced as other judgments against counties. If
the county appealing fails to receive a more favorable
judgment than the finding of the board appealed from,
by at least five hundred dollars, it shall pay the costs
of appeal. If no appeal be taken by either party within
the thirty days above provided, the findings of said
board shall be conclusive. The members of said board
shall receive three dollars per day for each day actually
employed, and mileage. The expenses incurred by the
above mentioned boards shall be borne equally by the
counties interested.
Sec. 16. Inasmuch as the early formation of
Wheeler county is much desired, this act shall take ef
fect and be in force from and after its approval by
the governor and the appointment of the proper officers
herein provided.
Approved February 17, 1899.
In pursuance of the above, the boards met
and Wheeler was found indebtetd as follows : To
Grant county, $27,911.76; to Gilliam county,
$5,985.74; and to Crook county, $24.92. The
total resources estimated for the county at
starting were $16,392.25, thus leaving an in
debtedness of over twenty thousand dollars. At
this time it was estimated that her population
was two thousand five hundred, and her tax
able property one million dollars. The square
miles in Wheeler county are 1656, and there are
estimated to be forty-six townships within her
boundaries. The first grand jury to serve in Wheeler
ccunty was made up of the following named
persons : David Hamilton, Clark Herndon, G. J.
Caaven, Ed F. Horn, A. M. Andrews, William
Waters, ancl D. H. Smith. The first panel of
petit jurors was composed of David Hamilton,
W. S. Thompson, E. M. Clymer, Clark Hern-
'clon, G. J. Caven, Jerome Bridges, Ed F. Horn,
Samuel B. Davis, James Mansfield, Thos. L.
Woodward, James I. Jones, James E. Keyes,
lacob L. Bai-nhouse, J. W. Waterman, W. B.
Cowne, J. H Bucher, E. M. Andrus, Benj.

646

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Tremonger, Geo. McKay, Wm. Waters, Wm. H.
Gates, Warren Carsner, Archie Hunt, Jos. Triz-
zell, and D. H. Smith.
On June 4, 1900, was held the election that
decided the county seat question. Spray,
Twickenham and Fossil were the aspirants.
Earnest effort was put forth to establish a sen
timent for Twickenham, but the balance of
power was too strong against it, and the result
of the contest was as follows : Fossil, 436 ; Spray,
82, and Twickenham, 267. By precincts it ran
as follows: Fossil precinct, Fossil', 234; Spray,
5 ; Twickenham, 16 ; Mitchell, Fossil 35, Spray
7, and Twickenham 97; Waldron, Fossil 64,
Spray 8, and Twickenham 9; Spray, Fossil 8,
Spray 41, Twickenham 11; Rock Creek, Fossil
12, Spray 2, Twickenham 34; Mountain, Fossil
o, Spray 1, Twickenham 28; Waterman Fossil
10, Spray 2, Twickenham 1 1 ; Winlock, Fossil
19, Spray 13, Twickenham 4; Lost Valley, Fossil
21, Spray o, Twickenham 3; Ward, Fossil 7,
Spray 2, Twickenham 4; Clamo, Fossil 21,
Spray o, Twickenham 5 ; Twickenham, Fossil
3, Spray o, Twickenham 28 ; Bridge Creek, Fossil
2, Spray o, Twickenham 17. With the settle
ment of the location of the county seat, the peo
ple of the new county, though not altogether
satisfied, in a magnanimous manner laid aside
all sectional differences, and together labored for
the advancement and welfare of the new
political division. A strong fight had been
made to get the coveted prize at Twick
enham, but it was not to be and in a
commendable spirit of kindliness the Wheeler
County News, Twickenham's paper, edited
by E. M. Shutt, which had so loyally
championed the cause for Twickenham, said,
under issue of June 7 : "Twickenham has fought
and lost. So did Napoleon at Waterloo some
time ago. But, while Napoleon soon died over
it, the people of Twickenham still live, and, up
to the time of going to press, were enjoying the
best of health.
"Fossil won the county seat by a majority of
86 over all votes cast, which perma
nently decides the question. If it proves too
have been an honest vote, and an honest count,
let us be Americans enough to quietly abide by
the will of the majority, banish all bitter feel
ings against those who differed from us in
the general welfare of the county."
In 1900 the population of Wheeler county
was 2,443. I" that same year a water spout
occurred on June 30, which did considerable
damage, the worst destruction occurring on
Cherry creek. J. M. Connelly lost his entire
crop, estimated at seven thousand dollars. Oth
ers lost heavily, and especially so as stacking was

just done and in an hour's time the unfortunate
farmers saw a year's labor swept away.
In 1894 the John Day river was higher at
four o'clock, p. m, March 30, than it had ever
been known previous to that time. Much dam
age was done to property along the valleys. At
Burnt Ranch the water backed up into the or
chards and ran through the fields, tearing away
fences and washing out gardens. Vast quanti
ties of drift were in the stream, as logs, im
mense trees, haystacks, lumber, water wheels,,
bridge timbers, posts and rails, besides much else.
In January, 1901, bids were let for the con
struction of a court house for Wheeler county,
and A. F. Peterson was awarded the contract,
his bid being $9,025.00, the lowest one according-
to plans and specifications.
In 1902, James S. Stewart stated in the Ore
gonian as follows :
The wisdom of the formation of Wheeler county is
already notably apparent. In the two and one-half
years of her existence she has cut her thirty-five thous
and dollar debt, inherited from the three counties
from which she was carved, to twenty-six thousand,.
aside from the ordinary running expenses, thirteen
thousand dollars for a. nice new court house and three
thousand dollars for records and furniture, with a tax
levy not increased from what had been paid before, and'
in fact less than the levy on the surrounding counties.
Sentiment against a railroad entering into
Wheeler county was held by stockmen, they feel
ing that the range would be reduced, and their
increase materially decreased. This has been
giving way to a general feeling of progression,
as the farmer needs the railroad to market his
produce and then social and educational facili
ties will be greatly augmented. Gradually the
sentiment has turned to favor this ingress of
real civilization, but not yet has the iron horse
invaded the boundaries of the county. July 2,
1905, the first train made its way to Condon
over the line from Arlington, and doubtless in a
short time the same line will be advanced to tap
the resources of Wheeler county.
In the first days of June, 1904, John Day,
the noted pioneer, breathed his last in the city
hospital at Lewiston, Idaho. He left his native-
heath, Westchester county, New York, in 1852,
pioneered to California, dug gold all through the
early camps, assisted to develop and build up all
through the northwest, and was widely known.
The John Day river that flows through Wheeler
county was named in his honor, and a town in
Grant county bears his name.
Some one has said: "Wheeler county — the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

647

synonym for the greatest stock country in the
world." This may be rating it high, but, certain it
is, the conditions to raise stock successfully and
with fine financial returns exist well in Wheeler
county. Being thus favored so especially, it
seems doubly sad that the baser passions of men,
blessed with this magnificent country, should so
dominate them that they must seek revenge in
that dastardly method fit only for the savage.
We refer to the outrages of killing stock on the
range. What a sight, to see the fair ranges of
Wheeler county, stinking with the carcases of
fine animals slain in mere revenge, perhaps of a
fancied wrong ! But such is the case and this
blotch we are forced to chronicle, would we be
faithful in writing the history. The Wheeler
County News of May 27, 1904 says : "Poison was
deposited on the range eight miles east from
town, a short distance from the Canyon City
road and the result of this cowardly act is that
twelve head of range cattle belonging to Sig-
frit Bros, died last week. The motive for this
deed is unknown.
"Following the poisoning episode came the
news to town early Monday morning that about
three a. m. five men attacked a band of year
ling sheep in the corral on the place belonging to
Butler Bros, of Richmond. One hundred and six
sheep were killed and a greater number were
so wounded as to either die or have to be killed.
These sheep were being grazed on leased land,
and no motive can be found why this should
occur. It was thought, possibly, it might be the
breaking out of another war between the sheep
men ancl cattlemen, and that the latter were re
sponsible for the deed."
The same paper on September 23, 1904,
states that five men, about eleven p. m. Friday
previous to the issue, attacked a band of sheep
belonging to Thomas Fitzgerald, camped at the
side near the head of Westbranch. Thirty-eight
were killed outright and twelve more died later.
Two bullets passed through the herder's tent,
and he quit the scene at once. Every law abid
ing person of the county was stirred at this fresh
outbreak, and while there are grievances between
the cattlemen ancl the sheepmen, and many of
the law abiding citizens are on one side and
many are on the other side, still, the consensus
of opinion of all good men of sober judgment
was that the matters above referred to were out
rages of the worst kind and reflected great dis
credit on the fair name of Wheeler county, and
cast a cloud on all citizens as though the place
was filled with people not law abiding. But,
such is not the case. The people of Wheeler
county are law-abiding, and some day they will
ascertain the perpetrators of such uncalled for

deeds and mete out through the courts just pun
ishment. As stated, though men may differ in
opinion, still the law is open and all sober citi
zens of sound mind, are invariably in favor of
having all troubles settled without resort to such
untoward acts, such under-handed policy. So
thoroughly were the county officials stirred that
on June 23, 1904, a reward of one thousand dol
lars was offered for the arrest and conviction
of any person implicated in the outrage. Gover
nor Chamberlain was earnestly requested to aug
ment the reward by the offer of another thous
and dollars from the state.
The citizens of Fossil invited the pioneers of
eastern Oregon to assist in the celebration of the
Fourth of July, 1899, and seventy-five of these
worthy people assembled ancl were placed in the
van of the procession. At the conclusion of the
ceremonies the pioneers proceeded to form an
association, called H. H. Hendricks to the chair
and appointed J. D. McFarland secretary. The
president made a brief address, stating the ob
ject of the meeting and upon motion the
"Wheeler County Pioneer Association" was or
ganized. A constitution was adopted and arti
cles four we will reproduce in full. "The object
of this association shall be to gather statistical
and historical matter, both personal and general,
pertaining to the early settlement and develop
ment of eastern Oregon and especially of
Wheeler county, and to cultivate sociability with
each other, and to more fully fraternize with the
stranger who is coming among us for the pur
pose of farther developing the resources of east
ern Oregon." H. H. Wheeler was elected presi
dent, R. G. Robinson vice president, W. W. Stei
wer treasurer, ancl J. D. McFarland secretary
and historian. Thomas Watson, D. H. Hamil
ton, and P. E. McQuinn were elected directors
for one year. J. D. McFarland should be es
pecially mentioned as active for the consumption
of this excellent work.
On Saturday evening, December 9, 1899,
Airs. Edith Tozier Weatherred, grand secretary
of the N. D. O., instituted a cabin of native
daughters in Fossil. Much enthusiasm was
manifested by the ladies and County Judge, W.
W. Kennedy, and the well known Indian war
veteran, D. H. Smith, made appropriate ad
dresses. The Cabin was named the Mar}- Jane
Hoover, in honor of the first white lady settler
in this part of the country. The following
named ladies were selected to fill the various of
fices of the order: Mrs. W. S. Thompson, past
pres. ; Mrs. Jennie Cary, pres. ; Mrs. Geo. Knox,
first vice pres. ; Mrs. G. O. Butler, second vice
pres. ; Airs. W. W. Steiwer, third vice pres. ;
Aiiss Bessie Thompson, secretary ; Airs. Fred

648

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Ball, financial secretary; Mrs. J. T. Anthony,
treasurer; Miss Ora Jones, marshal; Mesdames
Jas. Stewart, J. B. VanHouten, L. C. Kelsey,
trustees ; Miss Lainey Herndon, inside sentinel ;
and Miss Laura Keys, outside sentinel.
The second annual meeting of the Wheeler
County Pioneer Association was held in Kel
say's grove, at Fossil, July 3, 1900. A most in
teresting and entertaining session was had, the
new officers were elected, and more than one
thousand people participated in the good
time. The annual meeting of the pioneers in 1901
was held at Richmond and it was a most enjoy
able affair. A large train of wagons, buggies,
hacks, and so forth started from Fossil and vi
cinity Monday morning and night found them
all camped on Sarvis creek near the mouth. The
next forenoon they went on to Richmond where
they were royally received, extensive prepara
tions having been made. From start to finish the
meeting was an enthusiastic one, many excellent
things being arranged for the entertainment of
all. New officers were elected and the meeting
broke up and one and all were convinced that
a most enjoyable time, as well as instructive
had been had.
The 1902 meeting of this important organiza
tion was held at Mitchell, and it seems that each
meeting is the best. Surely this occasion was one
long to be remembered and cherished by all, for
eloquence, recital, music, reminiscence, excellent
refreshments, and all things combined to refresh
the physical man and revivify his mind and
heart. The officers were made an executive

board, the association was to be incorporated, and
a- permanent meeting place was to be selected
by the executive board. Upon investigation, the
board decided to select forty acres at the junc
ture of the two branches of Sarvis creek. It is
an admirable location, equal distant from all
points, reached by excellent road, provided with
daily mail, telephone, plenty of fresh spring
water, abundance of shade, and all that could
be desired in an ideal camping and outing place.
The Wheeler association is the only one of the
kind to own a permanent meeting place, so far
as is known.
The new grounds were occupied the first
time on June 3, 1903, by the association and the
event was one that outdid all previous attempts
at* entertainment by the pioneers-.
In 1904 the meeting was held on the perma
nent grounds and officers were elected.
The last meeting of this accosiation we are
able to chronicle, was opened Tuesday after
noon, June 27, and the addresses, the music, the
recitations, the personal talks, the items of in
terest, and the general entertainment was all
that could be desired, a most enjoyable time was
had by all, and much valuable history is being
disseminated through the medium of these
meetings. How much refreshment and enjoy
ment is given to the various attendants from all
parts of the country, will never be known, but
it is known that many have spent some of the
most enjoyable days in these meetings and are
hearty in their enthusiasm regarding these im
portant methods of keeping alive that interest
so pleasant in the pioneer days and persons.

CHAPTER II

CITIES AND TOWNS.

FOSSIL.
One time a stranger going through this west
ern country met one of those characters, the
best American citizens produced to date, a genu
ine pioneer, and in conversation about the coun
try asked the name of the valley where the pio
neer resided. The latter replied that it was called
Cedar Canyon. The pilgrim responded that that
seemed strange as he could see no reason for
naming the place thus. The pioneer replied,

"We named the place Cedar Canyon because
there are no cedars here." Let every one keep
in mind the statement of the pioneer when he con
siders the county seat of Wheeler county. The
name of the town is Fossil, but the pilgrim will
be much surprised if he attempts to find a fossil
among the live inhabitants of this favored Ore
gon town.
It is well known to all leading scientists that
the region where this beautiful town is located
is rich in remains of ancient animals imbedded

Tjo

n o cB

cr*n no e 3

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

649

in the sedimentary rock, — one of the most inter
esting regions in the world.
On Hoover creek, about three miles north
from the town of Fossil, Hon. T. B. Hoover
located many years ago. He was one of those
stirring and worthy pioneers, of which class there
are many names in this western country, and on
February 28, 1876, he succeeded in getting a
p»stoffice established at his ranch, with himself
as postmaster. It was on the route from Hepp
ner to Antelope and at that time Marion Brown
was mail carrier. The Hoover home was a log
cabin, you never saw a pioneer seek anything
better than that for his first home, and just north
on the hillside, Mr. Hoover had seen so many pe
trified remains of different animals that he deemed
it well to name the new postoffice Fossil. It is
not strange that he did so, for he was in one of
the most intensely interesting sections of fossil -
remains in the world, and which has contributed
much knowledge to the searching scientist. In
later years when the town of Fossil was incor
porated many wished to have the name changed,
but it was not to be, and, perhaps, it is quite well,
for it is a case of letting the striking characteris
tics of the country name rather than the people.
And who is it that does not know that the sedi
mentary formation invariably results in produc
ing the most fertile regions on the face of the
globe ! The teeming life, of such a various and
interesting kind, which once found its home in
these sections, is mute forever now, save the
dumb language of form, and what more fitting
thing could be than that a live, pushing, progres
sive town should rise o'er these places of former
activity and contribute by its name a memory
board to this school room of the modern scien
tist as he pores over the lessons handed down
from the countless ages that halve swept over the
scene? The name speaks of the past, — and what
a past is here spread before the eye, — and, as
well, by its very antithesis points no less defi
nitely to the stirring energy of a happy, prosper
ous people who dwell in living activity, above
the very wave, which in opposition to its sweep
of death to the ancient life, brought the fertility
and productiveness to this present people. So
much for the name, it is a good one, and let no
fear creep into the heart that this generous re
membrance of the past will in any way militate
against the character of the people who are mak
ing Wheeler count}- one of the bright spots of
the west.
To Air. Hoover in early days, as it has to
many since then, the sequestered spot at the
juncture of Butte and Cottonwood creeks ap
pealed as an ideal town site. Here he estab
lished a store, in company with Air. Watson, in

1 88 1, and the postoffice was transferred to the
store. Thus the name of the office was bestowed
upon the embryonic town. Thompson Brothers
had conducted a small general merchandise es
tablishment about two miles west from this new
site since 1879, and in 1882, they removed to the
vicinity of Mr. Hoover's store. In the same
year, Messrs. George H. and W. S. Thompson
platted a townsite in the southwest one-fourth
of section thirty-three, township six south, range
twenty-one east Willamette Meridian, the day
being May 13. This was the beginning of our
present Fossil. About the first record we have
of this town is from the papers of The Dalles,
which mention it as having two stores, a livery
stable, a blacksmith shop, a public hall, and a
hotel. In 1884, A. B. Lamb opened a drug store,
which has continued to the present time. In
1885 the Times-Mountaineer spoke as follows of
Fossil : "Fossil is a town of about two hundred
inhabitants, situated about sixty miles south of
Alkali (now Arlington), in the valley of Butte
creek. This little place is rapidly growing in
importance and has doubled its population in the
last six months." In 1888, the Fossil Journal
speaks of marked improvement as to building,
the new church was going up, the school house
was being added to, and old buildings were being
remodeled. The Fossil Journal was established in the
town in October, 1886, and two years later it
gives a review of the business houses from which
we gather the following: W. W. Steiwer &
Company and Hoover & Watson were the two
leading general stores. Patrick Potterton was
handling a fine furniture store ; Barney Gaffney
had a harness and saddle store ; A. B. Lamb a
drug store ; L. M. Rhodes a hair dressing parlor
and notion store ; G. B. Tedlowe conducted a
saloon ; Sam Danaldson and Lyman Alorgan
each were proprietors of livery stables ; there
were a hotel and a restaurant; J. H. Bowen
handled a meat market ; Mr. Duncan had a black
smith shop; N. C. Engberg was a jeweler; and
among professional men were H. H. Hendricks,
an attorney ; H. S. Goddard, physician ; W. W.
Kennedy, civil engineer, and Prof. S. Goodnight
in charge of the town schools.
Monday preceding December 26, 1890, a mass
meeting was held in Fossil and all preliminary
work done for the incorporation of the town.
The bill passed the legislature of 1890-1 and the
town of Fossil was incorporated. The Journal
complained a little about the name, but found
comfort in the words "The rose, by any other
name, would smell as sweet."
In 1892 occurred the first fire of any size that
Fossil suffered. Alondav afternoon, about two

650

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

o'clock, August 1, William Cunningham discov
ered flames arising outside the livery stable occu
pied by Charles Branson, and immediately gave
the alarm. A strong breeze was blowing from
the northwest and the flames quickly spread. A
large number of strangers were in town and out
siders seeing the flames rode rapidly in and a
quickly organized effort was put forth to quench
the devourer. For a time it seemed that the
town would be entirely destroyed, but all hands
fought faithfully, and the entire town was alert.
Mayor Hoover mounted a fast horse and
searched out points where the cinders were ignit
ing and directed their extinguishment. Many
buildings caught fire, but were saved by this
prompt action, and even a haystack, which was
ignited several times, was saved by the alertness
of a bucket brigade standing right on the spot.
So quickly did the fire spread that all in its direct
path was ignited, and all efforts were then
directed to save further spread on either side
and around. By four o'clock in the afternoon the
danger was over, and it was ascertained that the
loss would be about three thousand five hundred
dollars without any insurance. All losers at once
rebuilt better than before and in a short time the
effects of the fire were obliterated.
In 1900 a stage was opened into Shaniko
from Fossil, which shortened the time to Port
land twelve hours, and was highly appreciated
by the people.
The total buildings erected at Fossil in 1901
aggregated a worth of $31,200.00. This showed
the enterprise and push of the people and was
partially due to the county seat having been
founded there.
The Fossil Water Company was organized
in August, 1889, and T. B. Hoover, A. B. Lamb,
P. Potterton, W. W. Steiwer and S. G. Hawson
were incorporators. This was the beginning of
the question of water supply for Fossil. In 1900
the town decided to install a gravity system of
waterworks, getting the supply from a splendid
spring about two and one-half miles southeast
from the town. The water is of the purest, and
after the twelve thousand dollar issue of bonds
was voted, the work began, and Fossil now has a
reservoir of one hundred and fifty thousand gal
lon capacity, supplied with a pure spring that
runs seventy-six gallons per minute, with a pres
sure of about one hundred and forty feet. This
gives the town a system that would be the pride
of any city. In fact, it is hard to find anywhere
a town provided so well with an abundance of
pure water. There is sufficient quantity so that
residents of the town not only have plenty for
family use, but can use it for irrigating gardens
and lawns, and Fossil has great reason to be

proud of this excellent improvement. The bonds
were issued for ten years drawing five per cent.
The system cost fifteen thousand dollars, and is
money as well spent as could possibly be. The
reservoir is situated on a hill near by and the
water is piped to all parts of the town.
In the fall of 1900 a fire department was
organized in Fossil with a membership of thirty-
four. They have a full equipment of fire fight
ing apparatus, including a hose cart, hooks, lad
ders, and so forth. The company has made a
good record, and have extinguished every fire
to which they have been called with damage only
to the building. This shows a promptness and
ability that cannot easily be surpassed. Although
the original membership was thirty-four, it has
now decreased by changes and removals until
but ten active members are in the department.
They are George M. Ray, foreman; J. L. Yantis,
assistant foreman ; O. Parker, secretary ; L. C.
Kelsay, treasurer; and Frank Prindle, B. Gaff-
ney, Claude Millet, Tom Young, J. B. McWillis,
and O. Kelsay.
Fossil of to-day is a happy, well located town,
the county seat of Wheeler county. The eleva
tion of the town is two thousand five hundred
feet, and Black Butte, a neighboring summit, is
three thousand four hundred feet above sea level.
The beautiful valleys of Cottonwood and Butte
creeks, at the juncture of which lies the town,
are as pleasant and attractive as can be found
in the country. The plat of the town is one mile
east and west and three-fourths of a mile north
and south. The plateau rises to the north, where
great grain fields are located. To the south
stand the mountains, the western extremity of
the Blue mountains. Thus Fossil is well shel
tered from all storms and winds. The surround
ing country is supplied with plenty of fuel and
building material, and is peopled with farmers
and stock raisers, who make Fossil their trad
ing center. The railroad is now at Condon,
twenty miles to the northeast, and so the long
drives to connect with the railroad to the west are
obviated. As to the location, Fossil is like a
gem in a comely setting, and the natural thrift
and taste of the residents have so added by beau
tiful shade trees ancl other good works an attract
iveness to the "art" of nature until no one fails
to remark of the beauty and charmingness of
this engaging and pleasant home center.
The population is now about eight hundred
people, and every branch of business needed in
the country is well represented by wide awake
and accommodating men, who have push and
energy. The town supports a fine water system, .
an electric plant for lighting, one bank,
eight stores and shops, two hotels, two livery

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

65 r

stables, two blacksmith shops, one harness and
saddler's shop, one millinery store, two saloons,
a jewelry store, drug store, furniture store, tailor
shop, meat market, flouring mill, two dentists,
two doctors, two lawyers, a sawmill, and a live,
weekly newspaper, the Journal. The Wheeler
County Telephone Company, with long distance
connections, has headquarters at Fossil. Seven
stages extend to all parts of the country, while
daily mail comes from Condon. The principal
shipments are lumber, grain, livestock, wool and
fruit. The county high school is located at Fos
sil, and in 1883 the Methodists organized a
church, and erected a building. Two years later
the Baptists erected a church, and the Catholics,
also. Services had been held some years pre
vious to the erection of the first church building.
A history of Fossil would be incomplete with
out a mention of the Caledonian Club, which was
organized December 26, 1900, for the purpose of
bringing the Scotch people in closer touch,
socially, and to perpetuate many of the interest
ing and familiar things of this people. The club
now has a membership of one hundred, and
although their headquarters are in Fossil, their
annual meetings are held at different points, and
this year at the Lewis & Clark exposition in
Portland. They always provide the best enter
tainment to be had, bringing talent from Port
land and other outside cities. Scotch sports are
made prominent on their programs and the result
is the people are becoming very familiar with
many of th^se excellent things. The present offi
cers are William Rettie, chief; John Dysart, first
chieftain ; J. D. McFarland, 2nd chieftain and
secretary; John Stewart, 3d chieftain and treas
urer ; George Stewart, standard bearer ; and
James S. Moore, piper. Mr. Moore was piper
in the Forty-second regiment, the noted Black
Watch, during the campaign in India and
Egypt. This regiment was one of the best in
the entire British army and caught the fiercest
fighting in these campaigns.
Fossil is well supplied with fraternal orders,
and among them we mention Fossil Lodge, No.
89, A. F. & A. M. ; Arcadia Chapter, No. 84,
O. E. S. ; Fossil Lodge, No. no, I. O. O. F. ;
Sioux Encampment, No. 41, I. O. O. F. ; Hoover
Lodge, No. 78, K. of P. ; Fossil Camp, No. 43,
W. O. W.; Willow Circle, No. 9, W. O. W. ;
Blue Mountain Lodge, No. 68, Rebekahs; and
Lorine Lodge, No. 56, Order of Washington.
All have regular meetings and a goodly mem
bership. Following we append a table showing the
various officers of Fossil since its incorporation:
1891— Mayor, T. B. Hoover ; council, W. W. Steiwer,
B. Kelsay, P. Potterton, C. W. Halsey ; recorder, C. W.

Hall,* Jas. Stewart; treasurer, J. H. Putnam; marshal,
F. M. Judd,* L. T. Morgan.
1892 — All the same as in 1891.
1893— Mayor, T. B. Hoover; council, J. H. Morris, B.
Kelsay, W. W. Steiwer, C. W. Halsey; recorder, B. F.
Nott,* James Stewart ; treasurer, J. H. Putnam ; mar
shal, L. T. Morgan.
1894 — Mayor, T. B. Hoover ; council, F. W. Royal,
B. Kelsay, W. W. Steiwer, J. H. Morris ; recorder,
James' Stewart ; treasurer, A. B. Lamb ; marshal, L. T.
Morgan,* W. J. Bault,* J. E. Fitzgerald.
1895 — Mayor, B. Gaffney; council, W. W. Steiwer,.
F. W. Royal, Silas Keeney, J. H. Putnam; recorder,.
Jas. Stewart; treasurer, A. B. Lamb; marshal, J. E.
Fitzgerald. 1896 — Mayor, W. W. Hoover; council, W. W.
Steiwer, H. H. Hendricks, J. H. Putnam, H. P How
ard; recorder, F. W. Royal; treasurer, A. B. Lamb;
marshal, J. E. Fitzgerald.
1897 — Mayor, T. J. Smith ; council, J. H. Putnam,
H. P. Howard,* W. W. Steiwer, H. H. Hendricks, B.
F. Prindle ;| | recorder, Jas. Stewart; treasurer, A. B.
Lamb ; marshal, S. P. Wattenburg.
1898— Mayor, T. J. Smith ; council, W. J. Kirkland,
W. W. Hoover, W. W. Steiwer, J. H. Putnam; re
corder, Jas. Stewart; treasurer, A. B. Lamb; marshal,.
S. P. Wattenburg.
1899 — Mayor, T. J. Smith ; council, W. W. Steiwer,
J. H. Putnam, L. W. Frieze, W. W. Hoover; recorder,
H. Stokes ; treasurer, A. B. Lamb ; marshal, L. H..
Morris. 1900 — Mayor, Jas. S. Stewart ; council, W. W..
Steiwer, J. H. Putnam, L. W. Frieze, L. C. Kelsay ;.
recorder, H. Stokes,* J. D. McFarland ; treasurer, A. B.
Lamb ; marshal, L. H. Morris.
1901 — Mayor, H. H. Hendricks ; council, W W..
Steiwer, L. C. Kelsay, A. B. Lamb, C. G. Millett; re
corder, J. D. McFarland ; treasurer, W. W. Hoover ;
marshal, Chas. McKenzie,* Harry Reed.
1902 — Mayor, H. H. Hendricks ; council, W. W..
Steiwer, A. B. Lamb, John Caven, C. G. Millett ; re
corder, R. Wattenburg ; treasurer, W. W. Hoover ;
marshal, Harry Reed,* M. H. Johnson,* L. T. Morgan.
1903 — Mayor, H. H. Hendricks ; council, L. C. Kel
say, Chas. Millett, W. W. Steiwer, John Caven ; re
corder, J. A. Collier; treasurer, W. W. Hoover; mar
shal, L. T. Morgan.
1904 — Mayor, J. W. Donnelly; council, W. W.
Steiwer, B. Gaffney, Chas. Millett, L. C. Kelsay ; re
corder. J. D. McFarland ; treasurer, W. W. Hoover ;.
marshal, Frank Patterson.
1905 — Mayor, J. O. Johnson ; council, W. W..
Steiwer, B. Gaffney, Geo. M. Ray, T. J. Smith ; re
corder, J. D. McFarland; treasurer, W. W. Hoover;.
marshal, A.. J. Quate.

*Resigned. | [Filled vacancies.

'652

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

MITCHELL. ¦*
Mitchell is the second largest town in Wheeler
county and is located on Bridge creek in the
southeast corner of township eleven south, range
twenty-one east, and in the northeast corner of
the township south. It is situated partially on
;the old Sargent homestead, Mr. Sargent first
•erecting a house there in 1867. The natural ad
vantages, summed up in three points, are direct
roads, plenty of water, and a good stock country
surrounding. The hills and eminences sur
rounding the town lay no claim to artistic beauty,
in fact, to some, they present a repulsive appear
ance. Polk Butler climbed to the top of one and
replied to a question as to how he liked the coun
try "This is hell with the fire put out." The fire
.has been out for a long time, for all things point
to the place being in ages past a sea bottom.
•Cemented gravel, hundreds of feet thick, broken
.here and there as the later convulsions of nature
thrust up the basalt, with uneven and rugged
bluffs, all combined make a spectacle seldom met
with and not especially marked with beauty and
graceful lines of attractiveness. But nature sel
dom does a thing like that without in some way
compensating, so, in her mysterious way, she has
carefully placed, here and' there, some of her
miost precious metal in this region, while the
country around is most excellently fitted for
stock raising. The old stage line from The
Dalles to Canyon City passed this point and as
.a station was needed that was the impetus that
.started the building of a stage station. Mitchell
no boom town, but has steadily grown since the
'days of '67, when Mr. Sargent first came and
established himself as a pioneer in this region.
"The principal business portion of the town is in
the close valley of the creek, while the residences
and school building are upon a bluff one hundred
feet above. For years it was but a frontier trad
ing post, but in the last decade it has grown to
.a thriving Oregon town and does an immense
business compared with its population.
Perhaps the first settler on the present town-
site was William Chranston. The first store was
established by R. E. Edmondson in 1875, it being
-a small enterprise. Two years later this gentle
man succeeded in getting a postoffice located,
with himself as postmaster. The outside world
was called to notice this springing town in 1881,
through a correspondent in the Times, who
-stated that Mitchell then had two stores, a black
smith shop, one hotel, and was taking steps to
secure a grist mill, the citizens having subscribed
•one thousand dollars towards that enterprise.
Flour was then ten dollars per barrel, but meat

was plenty as good fat venison could be had for
going after it, from one to four miles.
About four o'clock, Friday morning, Septem
ber 2, 1 88 1, Mr. Richards was awakened by the
smell of smoke and had barely time to arouse his
wife and a young girl sleeping in the house, be
fore the place was enveloped in flames. This was
a wing to his store, and rushing thither, he suc
ceeded in dragging out a case of goods, a mat
tress, some blankets, and he was then shut out
by the onward rush of the flames. The entire
structure, with its contents, was a total loss. Mr.
Richards had been laboring for years to get these
accumulations and had just gotten well started
in Mitchell. His loss was estimated at $7,500.00,
besides cash, notes and accounts amounting to
$3,800.00 more, while his insurance was only
$4,800.00. Mr. Richards pluckily went ahead
and started up in business again. Mr. I. C. Rich
ards' was the second store in Mitchell.
The firm of Campbell & Magee opened busi
ness in Mitchell in 1882.
In 1884 Mitchell experienced her first catas
trophe from water. A wave from six to nine
feet high rushed over the bluff above Mitchell,
filled the street in front of Howard & Thomp
son's store with boulders weighing from a ton
down to small cobble stones, deposited mud on
the floor of Chamberlain & Todd's saloon a foot
deep, carried away Fred Sargent's house, cut a
deep gulch through the livery barn, carried three
wagons away, and damaged property all along
down the creek.
On March 8, 1885, Mr. Sargent, I. N, platted
the townsite of Mitchell, it being located on the
southwest one-fourth of section thirty-six, town
ship eleven south, range twenty-one east, Willa
mette meridian.
In ithe spring of 1893, the Antelope Herald,
April 14, spoke as follows of Mitchell:
The town now contains about fifty inhabitants.
In addition to the residence houses occupied by Mr.
Osborn, Max Putz, J. T. Chamberlain, Geo. Collins,
Frank Allen, James H. Oakes, A. J. Shrum, John Allen,
Andy Howard, Al Campbell, R. E. Misner, W. H.
Sasser, T. Gage, and S. A. Chipman, besides three va
cant residences, the town is made up of the following
business establishments : Oakes & Wilson, general
merchants (these gentlemen are just completing a fine
thirty by seventy store building), W. H. Sasser's large
cash general merchandise store, Max Putz's flouring
mill, J. T. Chamberlain's blacksmith shop, George Col
lins' carpenter and cabinet shop, Dr. Houck's office, the
large Central hotel and feed stable owned and con
ducted by O. S. Boardman, Al Campbell's blacksmith
shop, Miss Stella Boardman's millinery and dressmak-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

653;

ing establishment, W. H. Sasser's hotel and livery stable,
R. E. Misner's saloon, Dr. Hunlock's office and drug
store, S. A. Chipman's boot and shoe shop, and the
calaboose. Owing to the fact that Mitchell was in the
center of a country peopled with miners and
stockmen, it was also the center of such lawless
characters as often times flock to such countries
taking advantage of the well known generosity
and geniality of these men who prospect and ride
the range. Thus, as the town had no corporate
authority and could only depend on the county
officials, many miles away, these reckless char
acters often disturbed the peace of law abiding
citizens, and, in fact, many crimes were com
mitted. Thus it seemed best, as early as 1893,
that Mitchell should be incorporated, whidi was
done, and the quietus placed by good substantial
officers of the peace had a very excellent effect on
the condition of the country. Go the west over
and it is well known that the real stockmen and
miners are not unruly or insubordinate men. On
the contrary they are the most strict enforcers
of humanity's laws, as is evidenced by various
vigilance committees, which have rescued more
than one section from a reign of terror from
criminals, which law was powerless to accom
plish. It is a fact, though, that the very occu
pations of riding the range and mining partake
of such a closeness with nature that there is an
unboundedness imbibed which a lawbreaker mis
takes for lawlessness. But it is not. At heart,
though, it is often found that these men are usu
ally summary, they are nearer justice than many
places where dilatory and weak tactics predomi
nate. Weakness is mistaken by some for wis
dom, while a vigorous enforcement of law is
supposed to be tyranny. Nothing could be more
out of the way in either case. It is, in fact, the
only way to insure safety to law abiding citizens,
that the law should be vigorously enforced, and
having a sense of justice, often frontier com
mittees have been obliged to take the law in
their 'own hands, we mean real humanitarianism,
the unwritten law of instinctive justice which
the Creator has implanted in each breast, and
enforce it vigorously. But, as there is a mis
taken idea that the freedom of action, that by
force of their very surroundings they are bound
to take up, of miners and prospectors and stock
men, is bordering onto lawlessness and is such,
it follows that the baser class of people seek these
places, to mix with the ones who are there for
real advancement. Also they come as the hand
of the law has not yet reached to these points.
These things combined to bring considerable dis
turbance in the early days of Mitchell, but the

incorporation was a good thing and it was soon
found by those who would disregard the law of
the land and trample on others to their own lik
ing, that the time of such actions had passed, and
all good people were glad.
The first Baptist church was built in 1895,
the class being organized that same year.
On Wednesday afternoon, March 25, 1896,.
Mitchell experienced another destructive fire.
It first broke out in the rooms of W. T. Palmer
in the lower story of the large new hall in lower
town. Two hours and twenty minutes from that
time nine buildings were in ashes, including the-
saloon buildings of R. E. Misener and Al Camp
bell, two residences of R. E. Misener, also his-
new hall building, Al Campbell's residence and.
blacksmith shop, Sam Bennan's residence, be
sides some others. There was no wind at the
time and shingles rose to a great height' and
floated four miles up creek. It seemed for a
time as if the entire town would go, but by
heroic efforts it was saved. It was a serious-
blow to Mitchell, but with true grit, they at
once began to rebuild.
On the fourth of August, 1899, a fire started
in Mitchell, accredited by some to children play
ing with matches, and by others to an incend
iary, which consumed sixteen thousand dollars
worth of property. It was thought at the time
that half of the town was consumed. The loss
was also estimated one-fourth more than we
have put it above. Among the places consumed
were one store, one hotel, one livery stable, one-
saloon, and in all ten buildings. This again
was a hard blow, but Mitchell was not to be
wiped off the map, and with the characteristic
grit of its residemts, again the new buildings
arose. In 1 90 1 the charter of Mitchell, as to its
boundaries was amended so as to be as follows:
"Commencing at the southeast corner of the-
northeast quarter of section one, township
twelve south, range twenty-one east, thence
north one and one-fourth miles, thence west
one mile, thence south one and one-fourth miles,.
thence east one mile to the place of beginning."
On July 22, 1901, the people of Mitchell
voted a bond issue for waterworks. The system
is now being installed, gaining the supply from
a spring about one-half mile above the town.
The fall is four hundred feet to the mile, thus
a pressure is insured sufficient to protect prop
erty in case of fire.
Late Monday afternoon, July 11, 1904, a
heavy storm arose in the Mitchell country. It
was accompanied by a marked electrical display
and when it broke rain fell heavily. It seems-
that the cloud burst on the head of Bridge Creek

'654

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

first, then passed over to Keyes Creek. This fact
lessened the terrible destruction materially, for
the Bridge Creek wave struck the town first and
was partly run down before the other joined it
from Keyes Creek. The juncture of the two
creeks is a short distance above town. At six
thirty p. m. a distant roar was distinctly heard
and the inhabitants, bearing in mind the terrible
• catastrophe that befell Heppner the year before,
began to escape to the sides of the canyon, and
were accelerated in this move by the roar grow
ing louder rapidly. In an incredibly short time
.a wall of yellow water, thirty feet high, swept
round the rocky point at the flour mill and
cleaned the ground ahead of it, tearing buildings
to pieces, smashing them, throwing some into
the air to drop into the torrent, and working
destruction generally. Everything in its path
was taken, and only that some of the town
was high enough to be out of its reach or every
building would have been demolished. As it was
twenty-eight buildings were taken with all
their contents. But two lives were lost, owing
to the fact that the people were warned, and,
too, that they had but to make a few steps to get
to the higher ground. Mrs. Agnes Bethune, a
lady aged eighty, was swept away with her hotel
building. It is not known whether she was ap
prised of the danger or not. Martin Smith, the
father of Mrs. M. E. Parrish, was the other
victim of the waters. He was aged ninety, and
had just retired for the night. Mrs. Parrish
had succeeded in getting her aged mother out of
harm's way, with the children, and returned to
get her father. Her son, George, shouted for
her to quit the house immediately, and she barely
escaped with her life. The building was danced
along on the crest of the wave for four hundred
yards like a chip, then dashed into kindling wood.
The sight on the hills was one never to be
forgotten. Men, women, children, many babies,
had hurriedly scurried to these places of safety
and were gathered in groups to console each
-other and before their eyes their homes and
property were taken away instantly. Scantily
clad, drenched to the skin in the downpour of
rain, shivering, the very heavens blazing with
blinding lightning, thunder crashing, the scene
was overpowering and too graphic for descrip
tion. Some were terrorized at the destruction
before them, some were nearly overcome with
present conditions of personal suffering, others
were given to joy that they had escaped with
their lives, but all were silent, in a great meas
ure. As soon as the flood began to subside,
the houses that were left were opened and the
poor unfortunates were given shelter and succor.
To those not acquainted with the awful power

of a mass of water, the destruction seemed
miraculous. Strange things happened. Fragile
things sometimes escaped, doubtless being borne
up on the water. The heaviest machinery was
twisted as one would twist a willow twig, cogs
were stripped from the wheels and they were
polished as by an emery wheel.
When the sun rose next day Mitchell pre
sented an awful sight, but, while men were
ruined financially, happy homes were gone never
to return, and a large portion of the town was
in a lamentable condition, still, through it all,
there was a strain of thankfulness that so few
had perished.
We give the estimate of property loss sus
tained :
W. L. Campbell, Sr  $300
John W. Carroll  2,000
O. V. Helms  500
W. L. Campbell, Jr  3,500
James Payne  500
A. R. Campbell  2,000
M. E. Parrish  1,500
E. T. Folston  2,000
H. A. Waterman  200
Mrs. O. S. Boardman  2,000
A. Helms, Jr  1,500
Looney Bros. & Co  1,000
Holmes & Hartwig  3,000
M. Pearson  50
G. E. Parrish  600
R. D. Cannon  400
R. H. Jenkins  500
Eugene Looney  -  1,200
S. F. Allen  500
T. J. Harper  500
M. Putz  2,500
R. W. Winebarger  400
S. A. Ross  325
Oakes Merc. Co  800
Gillenwater & Proffit  5,000
Carroll Ranch  500
A. C. Trent  I)S00
J. E. Adamson  150
Frank Forster  •  400
O. L. Hurt  IS0
A. W. Winebarger  ^500
David Osborn  1,000
Agnes Bethune  600
L. L. Jones  IiS00
J. A. Butterfield  ,  i,0oo
S- Unsworth  1,000
G. L. Frizzell  1,500
Miscellaneous  3,000
A rider well mounted dashed down the val
ley ahead of the flood warning people and the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

655

result was that none perished below Mitchell,
so far as known.
When the first account appeared in the daily
papers it was stated that Mitchell did not need
outside help, but later things were discovered
to be in such an appalling condition, many being
left penniless and without a change of clothing,
and the debris in the town menacing the health
and lives of the people unless speedily removed,
that a committee of citizens after a deliberation
published in the dailies that help would be ac
ceptable to the destitute and to assist in re
moving the debris which was threatening the
people. Generous minded people responded
readily and soon Mitchell began to show a dif
ferent aspect and with her characteristic energy
began again to rebuild.
On Sunday night, September 25, 1904, Mit
chell was visited by a second flood. The water
struck about eight o'clock in the evening, flowing
down Nelson street and coming from a gulch
south of town. It was not nearly so deep as the
flood two months previous, but as the night was
very dark, and the people not yet fully recov
ered from their fright of a few tveeks previous,
the excitement ran high. The channel of the
creek had been well cleaned by the larger flood
so this ran away more rapidly. The total dam
age was about one thousand dollars.
Burned out, washed out, beset at times with
desperadoes, meeting many misfortunes, Mit
chell has had a fight for existence, but she has
won the day nicely, her people are not soured
because of their misfortunes, but are enterpris
ing, and it is said the town does more business
for its size than any other town in the entire
state. Every business needed is well represented
by intelligent ancl up-to-date men and the out
look at this time is excellent. Mitchell has fine
schools, well supplied with apparatus and a good
library, a substantial town hall, and is planning
other valuable improvements. The inhabitants
number something over two hundred.
The men who have charge of the postoffice
in Mitchell in the order of their service are R.
E. Edmondson, I. N. Sargent, Miss Davis, J.
H. Oakes, A. C. Palmer, A. D. Looney and J.
E. Adamson, who is the present incumbent of
the office.
The names of the men who have held the
town offices of Mitchell since its incorporation
follow :
1903— Mayor, A. J. Shrum ; council, R. E. Misener,
W. H. Sasser, E. E. Allen: recorder. M Put?: treas
urer, F. Wilson ; marshal, A. C. McEachren.
1894— Mayor, R- E- Misener ; council, W. H. Sasser,

S. F. Allen; recorder, E. R. Hunlock; treasurer, F.
Wilson ; marshal, J. F. Mager.
1895— Mayor, R. E. Misener; council, S. I. Lester,
G. E. Houck, Geo. Strong; recorder, Jesse Allen; treas
urer, J. H. Oakes ; marshal, J. F. Mager.
1&96 — Mayor, S. F. Allen; council, R. E. Misener,
Geo. Houck, W. H. Puett; recorder, M. Putz; treas
urer, S. Brenrien ; marshal, John Flock.
1897— Mayor, R. E. Misener; council, S. F. Allen,
W. H. Sasser, Geo. Houck; recorder, E. M. Andrus;
'.reasurer, S. Brennen; marshal, W. H. Puett.
1898— Mayor, J. L. Keaton; council, J. H. Oakes,
J. T. Keaton, A. D. Looney; recorder, H.' J. Palmer;
treasurer, Fred N. Wallace ; marshal, W. H. Puett.
1899— Mayor, F. A. Van Ordstrand ; council, W. H.
Sasser, R. E. Misener, J. I. Jones ; recorder, A. Frazier ;
treasurer, I. A. Johnson ; marshal, W. S. Carroll.
1900— Mayor, J. W. Donnelly; council, A. R. Camp
bell, J. L. Hollingshead, Edwin Peterson; recorder, A.
S. Simons; treasurer, J. G. Fontaine; marshal, W. H.
Puett. 1 901— Mayor, J. W. Donnelly; council, H. A.
Waterman, Eugene Looney, J. L. Hollingshead, W. H.
Sasser, D. Osborne, I. P. Holman; recorder, M. Putz;
treasurer, J. G. Fontaine; marshal, E. J. Davis.
1902— Mayor, J. W. Donnelly; council, H. A.
Waterman, John Flock, Eugene Looney, W. H. Sasser,
J. L. Hollingshead, James Payne; recorder, M. Putz;
treasurer, J. G. Fontaine; marshal, Geo. P. Riley (re
signed and replaced by John Hice.)
1903— Mayor, J. L. Hollingshead; council, Wm.
Folston, James Payne, J. P. Province, A. S. Holmes,
H. A. Waterman, John Flock ; recorder, M. Putz ; treas
urer, J. G. Fontaine ; marshal, John Hice.
1904— Mayor, J. L. Hollingshead; council, H. A.
Waterman, Eugene Looney, A. S. Holmes, J. P. Prov
ince, Wm. Folston, James Payne; recorder, M. Putz;
treasurer, J. G. Fontaine; marshal, C. H. Nelson.
1905— Mayor, R. H. Jenkins; council, J. P. Prov
ince, W. F. Brown, H. W. Wheeler, J. M. Mansfield, H.
A. Waterman; treasurer, J. G. Fontaine; marshal, David
Osborn. Twickenham is one of the many small stage
towns of Wheeler county. It is situated just
west from the geographical center of the county,
in the fertile valley of the John Day river. At
present it has one store, a hotel and a postoffice.
sIn former years this town had considerable
prominence inasmuch as it was a close second
for the county seat at the time of choosing that.
The townsite of Twickenham was platted
by J. H. Parsons, May 14, 1896, it being located
on the southeast fourth of the northwest fourth
of section thirty-five, township nine south, range
twenty-one east Willamette meridian.
In the early sixties this section of the coun-

656

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

try was known as the Big Bottom. In 1862 Mr.
Biffel settled on the ranch now owned by J, A.
Chapman. He died soon thereafter, and, so far
as is known, he was the first white settler. The
next settler was J. S. Deadman, who took in
1868 the ranch now owned by A. S. McAllister.
In the same year Isaac Holmes laid claim to the
large level tract on the north bank of the river.
He soon abandoned it and in 1869 J. H. Parsons
came down from Umatilla county and squatted
on the same. J. K. Rowe took at the same time
the ranch now owned by the Gilman French
Company. Some ten years later the government
surveyed the country and these settlers secured
title to their lands.
The neighborhood of Spray was settled in
the sixties by W. A. Fisher, Or and Jim Hughes,
Enos O'Flying, Ralph Fisk, William Gates and
others. The town lies in the east central part
of Wheeler county, being located on the John
Day river and was platted March 5, 1900, by
Mary E. Spray, and is located on the southwest
fourth of section thirty-six, township eight
south, range twenty-four east Willamette meri
dian. The ferry was established in 1896 and
the real town began to grow in 1899. At the
present time Spray is a handsome and busy vil
lage with good schools, the general lines of
business well represented, a gravity water sys
tem and other improvements. The plan is to
construct a steel bridge across the John Day
at this point, and this will greatly encourage
travel through this section. John F. Spray has
been a moving spirit in the establishment and
advancement of this place and is one of the
heavy property owners of the town and sur
rounding country. The climate is delightful,
possessing those qualitites of health giving which
will in time to come as it is better known draw
many thither for its benefits. Productions of
fruits and general crops are heavy as the land is

fertile. The outlook for Spray is certainly
bright and encouraging.
Richmond is situated very nearly in the geo
graphical center of Wheeler county. It is the
business center of the Shoofly country and is one
of the new places of the county. One store is
there at present, a hotel, a livery barn, a few
residences, a good public school, and the people
are alive to the excellencies of the situation.
Richmond has a good surrounding country and
shows signs of prosperity that bespeak a good
future. Waterman is one of Wheeler county's bright
villages, being the business center of the country
immediately south of Richmond. Mr. George
McKay originally laid out the townsite and now
owns a hotel there. The village has a good
water system and is a pleasant place to live.
Eighteen miles northwest from Mitchell is
Burnt Ranch postoffice, Mrs. Fairly being post
mistress. This was formerly called Grade. The
story of how the place was named is found in
the earlier portion of Wheeler county his
tory. Caleb has a population of twenty-six and is
situated about fifty-one miles south from Fossil
on Badger Creek. It has a hotel, livery, black
smith shop and a general merchandise store.
Well toward the southeast corner of the
county is Barite, a country postoffice. Reuben
Fields is postmaster and also conducts a saw mill.
A semi-weekly stage with mail runs from this
point to Antone.
Antone is the name of a postoffice on Rock
Creek some sixty miles southeast from Fossil.
E. L. Knox is postmaster and has a general
store. The office is supplied with telephone con
nections. The only postoffice of Wheeler county not
already mentioned is Lost Valley in the northeast
portion of the county.

CHAPTER III

DESCRIPTIVE.

Wheeler county contains over one million
acres of land, largely rolling. Her resources
are varied and manifold, and her output of live
stock, especially, is enormous, considering the
limited population, which, at this writing, is not
to exceed thirty-five hundred, by the most care

ful estimates. The inhabitants are generally
well to do, thrifty and progressive. The popu
lation is iairly evenly distributed. The entire
surface of the county is rolling, and much
of it is rugged, even being mountainous.
It is said that Wheeler county is as rugged and

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

657

uneven in surface as any county in Oregon. The
northern part from Fossil north is spoken of
as a plateau, while south of Fossil the westmost
spur of the main Blue mountains traverses the
county from east to west. South of that is the
valley of the John Day river, also running from
east to west. Then comes the rugged, and in
places, gently rolling, portion of the county that
has a general slope north towards the John Day,
except the southeasternmost portion, which has
an easterly slope towards the John Day river.
The county is bounded on the north by Gilliam
and Morrow counties, on the east by Morrow
and Grant counties, on the south by Crook
county and on the west by Crook and Wasco
counties. The John Day river is the dividing
line between Wheeler county and Wasco county.
On the southern line of the county is another
spur of the Blue mountains, which extends be
yond the western boundary into Crook county.
The climate in general is mild ancl pleasant,
about one week in the midwinter usually being as
frigid weather as zero. The altitude of Fossil is
two thousand five hundred feet, and the snow
fall is light, stock running at large all winter.
However, it is usual to provide feed for them
for a few weeks in the coldest weather. Frosts
are quite common at Fossil. Mitchell is one
thousand feet lower in altitude than Fossil and
frosts are not common. The climate is milder
than the northern part of the county and all
vegetables and fruits do well there. Grain is
raised in all portions of the county, even on the
highest altitudes, which James S. Stewart says
is saying much for the climate when we remem
ber that the Blue mountains are on the south
ern line. Three-fourths of the year the weather
is dry and sunshine is almost continual in this
favored region. As is usual east of the Cascades,
the nights are always cool. Irrigation is being
used and various portions of the country, as
Spray, and other sections, produce much fine
alfalfa. Hardy fruits are raised in all portions
of the county. Peaches, apricots and grapes are
successfully grown on the river bottoms, along
creeks and in sheltered coves. Apples do ex
ceedingly well and many orchards of these trees
as well as others are being set out each year.
The flouring mill at Mitchell does not get enough
wheat to make a continuous run, and the one at
Fossil is obliged to draw on Gilliam county for
her supply. None of this cereal is exported
from the county, and thus it is seen that there
is abundant opportunity for the wheat farmer in
the county. However, Wheeler will never be
come a great wheat raising county. The land is
better utilized for other purposes, but it will
produce much more than now. It is estimated
42

that fully one-half of the land in Wheeler county
is still owned by the government, and of this
29,490 acres are open - for settlement. Aluch of
the land is covered with timber fit for fuel and
also building, while the Camp Watson spur of
the Blue mountains in the southern portion of
the county has a splendid growth of heavy yel
low pine, especially valuable. Like the fruit in
dustry the timber also awaits transportation fa
cilities, which will come surely in due time.
But Wheeler county's great source of wealth
is her stock. The entire county is well watered,
has abundance of natural bunch grass, plenty of
other grasses in the timbered sections, is favored
with a climate that allows stock to roam out all
winter, needing but little provided feed, ancl these
things insure a stock paradise. At the last esti
mate the county possessed two hundred thou
sand sheep, fifteen thousand cattle, eight thou
sand horses, and hogs enough to more than sup
ply the home demand. At the present writing
these numbers could be largely augmented, and
instead of the scrubby stock that is usually
found in the stock countries at first, Wheeler
county stockmen have bred up all animfeds by the
introduction of excellent thoroughbred males,
until they have choice animals almost universally.
Some large concerns have extensive land hold
ings in the county, as The Dalles Military Road
Company, now the Eastern Oregon Land Com
pany, with 63,290 acres, the Gilman & French
Company, with 38,120 acres; the Sophiana ranch
with 10,095 acres ; the Butte Creek Land, Live
stock & Lumber Company, with 8,634 acres.
Each farmer has a goodly holding of land and
all, in common, utilize the government land for
range purposes.
Game abounds on every hand. Wild geese,
ducks, grouse, rabbits and other varieties are
plentiful. Deer are stalked in all portions of the
county, while bear are found in the mountains.
Wheeler county presents for the sportsman an
attractive country.
Pine Creek Valley extends from nearly the
center of Wheeler county northwest to the John
Day river. The valley is a black loam, exceed
ingly rich, easily -irrigated, and produces abund
ant returns in alfalfa and fruit. Perhaps no por
tion of the county can surpass this as a fruit
growing section, and, in fact, it is stated that
the fruit is equal to that raised in the famous
Hood River Valley. Pears, peaches, apricots,
grapes, apples and all the smaller fruits are
grown. Along the John Day and creeks tributary to
it is found much level and fertile bottom land
which produces equally well with that mentioned
above.

658

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The Mountain Creek country is noted for its
timothy, large quantities being produced there,
the land being irrigated from the creek. With
out the irrigation the land produces wheat read-
ily. The Waterman country which is really in the
Mountain creek section, is especially well adapted
for wheat, but lack of facilities for transporting
to market has kept the culture of this profitable
cereal back. In the near future this offers a
great source of wealth to the inhabitants.
In the Mitchell country grain and all fruits
dp well along the streams where land is found
level enough for agricultural purposes.
Concerning the mines of Wheeler county,
James S. Stewart says in the Oregonian: "Our
mines consist of a large and ever increasing
number of partially developed quartz claims,
many of them of considrable promise, some
being owned by the leading capitalists of Ore
gon, and the well-known Spanish gulch placer
mines." One could not mention in detail these
various properties, but much attention is being-
directed to the Spanish gulch country,
where both quartz and placer properties are
showing well. Some of the latter yield to their
•owners from three thousand to twelve thousand
dollars returns for each year's run. Large de
posits of coal have been discovered in the vicin
ity of Mitchell, but as there is no transportation
the find has not been developed.
It is supposed that a great portion of Wheeler
•county was at one time the bottom of a large
body of water, probably fresh. This great sheet
of expanse, which we may well call John Day
lake, received the water from the various streams
which drained the country then, and they may
have been, yes, doubtless were of very different
location from what they are at present. In what
distant age this was is theorized upon, but to
number the years that have elapsed since then is
no easy task even to the skilled scientist. From
all that can be gathered at this time this vast
lake country was then of a milder climate than
now exists in central Oregon for the leaf beds
of Ridge Creek indicate this, as these leaves are
like those now found in semi-tropical countries.
The various streams carried their silt to the lake,
sweeping along also various animals that were
unfortunate enough to become entombed or were
killed. These animals were embedded in
this silt ancl generally petrified. Then, too,
came immense volcanic disturbances, com
pared with which the destruction of Pom
peii and Herculaneum were small affairs.
These disturbances shook the country, some
times raising it and sometimes lowering
the elevation, and accompanied these terrific vi

brations with untold quantities of ashes, cinders
and live lava. These being of such great extent
it was impossible for the animals to flee, and so
they were caught and buried, in many cases,
doubtless, alive, to die when they were blotted
out of sunlight as did the unfortunates in the
cities named above. Alternate layers of the silt.
brought by the streams, with the live lava to
gether with the scoriae of the fierce fiery mons
ters, piled up the covering of these unfortunate
animals layer upon layer and in time the bot
tom of the lake was hoisted in the air and the
country began to assume the aspects that now ap
pear. The tremendous bodies of water . sought
outlet and conformed themselves to the contour
of the country as they rushed to the sea. These
formed the natural streams' which in time cut
down through all these successive layers, the
sun, frost and erosion aiding in this work. So
that now these streams all lie deep down from
the general heighth of the country, some in
broad valleys, but many in deep narrow canyons,
where the sunshine only makes brief visits.
Thus are exposed on the walls of these canyons
the petrified remains of various animals. To
secure them it is necessary to climb the walls to
their location and chisel them from the sur
rounding rock, which is no easy undertaking.
Among the remains found are three-toed horses,
no larger than a donkey, rhinoceroses, camels,
peccaries, a great assemblage of large animals,
hosts of squirrel and rabbitlike creatures, besides
others. A general oriental character pervades
the entire list found and we are assured that the
climate was then milder than now.
In 1890 the University of Princeton sent an
exploring expedition into this region and many
scientists have explored it besides and much is
written concerning it. Surely Wheeler county
is not only rich in possibilities at the present,
but also is distinguished by the great wealth of.
lore that speaks like a book of the times that
have been.
Owing to the carving the atmospheric action
and the erosion of water have done, the John Day
like other streams in this section, runs at the
bottom of a deep channel. Sometimes this is
sloping on the sides, and there is level bottom
land a few feet above the stream. In other places
the sides are abrupt, rocky and lift their heads
two thousand feet above the flow of the river.
Many scenes of these canyons are beyond des
cription, but perhaps among them all none is
more striking than the John Day canyon trav
ersed somewhat in a stage ride from Fossil to
Antelope. On the plateau above the canyon as
the traveler approaches toward the river in the
bright light of sunrising, it appears as if one was

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

659

viewing a vast white sea somewhat below you
and in this sea were islands. Upon closer arriv
al the white sea is found to be clouds and the
islands are simply black peaks of the canyon's
craggy sides lifting their bare heads up through
these clouds. The descent begins and soon one is
in the midst of the white sea, and then after he
has dived through its depths he still descends
for three hours. The piercing morning sun
drives away the clouds, and every turn of the
road brings new and indescribable scenes to the
traveller's wondering eyes. How grand, won
derful are these mute witnesses of the past, dis
playing as they do, ages of untold history, and
standing silent, yet eloquent portrayers of the
mighty power that wrought in the days when
man's footsteps had not yet wandered in the
scene? What tales could they tell of the quiet
waters of John Day Lake, where abounded the
finny tribes in profusion, the semiaquatic ani
mals, and the lithesome creatures that dwelt in
the semi-tropical forests? O'er its silvered bos-
tossed the turbulent white caps as the waters
¦om the same pleasant moon reflected glory as it
does now to us in other bodies of water; there
rose in response to the fierce winds, and there,
too, in rippling murmurs it told its music on the
shores when the breezes toyed with light fond
ness ! How majestic, awe inspiring and over
powering became the moments when all this

calm scene was shaken by the convulsive hand
of nature's forces and fear filled the hearts and
lives of every living creature ? With what throes
the awful battle was fought when these forces
lifted high in the air the peaceful lake dashing
its waters to the sea, and piled in its place the
stupendous edifices of rock and debris we now
behold? All these things could the gigantic
columns tell now if they would speak. At their
birth the moment was most intense, but the force
of nature must have its way and the reconstruc
tion of the scene must progress. Man is to
come, these animals must give way to a higher
order, and Wheeler county was brought out for
habitation. As one descends the canyon's side he is
bewildered with the many forms taken by the
rocks. Tall slender pinacles, massive butments,
beetling cliffs, giant doorways, mammoth castles,
every conceivable form takes place, then gives
way to a never ending scene of new sights. Col
umns could be devoted to the description of
this wonderful scene and then half not be told,
but this is not the place for an extended and
minute word picture. In passing the description
of Wheeler county we could but spend a moment
in this craggy old treasure house of antiquity
and leave the local details for others. Various
sections have received names from the settlers
as "The Castle," "Church Nave," "The Giants'
Walk" and so forth.

CHAPTER IV

POLITICAL.

In accordance with the enabling act creat
ing Wheeler county, wherein the governor of
Oregon was empowered to appoint the first of
ficers of this county, on February 24, 1899, Gov
ernor Geer apponited the following named per
sons to fill the offices mentioned in connection
with their names:
W. W. Kennedy of Fossil, as county judge;
P. L. Keeton of Caleb, as sheriff ; G. O. Butler
of Waldron, as clerk ; Eugene Looney of Mitch
ell, commissioner; C. N. Wagner of Wagner,
commissioner ; O. B. Miles of Fossil, school sup
erintendent ; I. F. Shon of Waldron, assessor;
T. L. Stewart of Fossil, surveyor ; Dr. McCorkle
of Mitchell, coroner.
At the first general election held after Wheel
er became a county the question of the permanent

location of the county seat was settled, as given
in another chapter. The officers elected and the
votes for the respective candidates is given iti
the following table. The date of this election
was June 4, 1900.
For member of congress — Leslie Butler, 26;
Malcolm Moody, rep., 479 ; J. E. Simmons, 42 ;
William Smith, dem., 203.
For district attorney — Frank Menefee, rep.,
427; James F. Moore, dem., 343.
For joint senator — -V. G. Cozad, demo.-peo.,
231 ; W. W. Steiwer, rep., 530.
For joint representative — George J. Barrett,
Grant county, rep., 331 ; George H. Cattanach,
Grant county, rep., 377; T. R. Coon, Wasco
county, dem.-peo., 227; W. J. Edwards, Gilliam
county, dem.-peo., 257; George Miller, Gilliam

66o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county, rep., 369 ; R. E. Misner, Wheeler county,
dem.-peo., 491.
For sheriff— P. L. Keeton, dem., 569; J. P.
Province, rep., 212.
For clerk — George Butler, rep., 628.
For county judge — W. W. Hoover, dem.,
478; J. W. Waterman, rep., 310.
For treasurer — A. B. Lamb, rep., 611.
For assessor — Ed F. Horn, dem., 150; E. E.
Mathews, rep., 281 ; I. F. Shown, ind.-rep., 336.
For school superintendent — H. F. Mires, rep.,
309 ; Charles Royse, dem., 445.
For commissioners— J. J. Ahalt, dem., 294;
Joseph Frizzell, rep., 446 ; Eugene Looney, dem.,
532. For surveyor — W.- W. Kennedy, rep., 426;
P. B. Nelson, dem., 336.
For coroner — H. M. Shaw, rep., 619.
In the national election held November 6,
1900, the republican electors received 436, the
democratic 243, the prohibition 13, the populist
5 and the socialist 6.
In the election held June 2, 1902, we note
the following:
For governor — George E. Chamberlain,
dem., 282; William J. Furnish, rep., 437; A. J.
Hunsaker, 17; R. R. Ryan, 7.
For member of congress — W. F. Butcher,
dem., 284; D. F. Gerdes, 10; F. R. Spaulding,
23 ; J. N. Williamson, rep., 462.
For joint representatives — C. A. Danneman,
rep., 416 ; L. J. Gates, 35 ; R. J. Ginn, rep., 391 ;
N. P. Hansen, 25 ; C, G. Hansen, dem., 197 ;
C. P. Johnson, rep., 420; H. C. Shaffer, 18; E.
G. Stevenson, dem., 202 ; E. P. Weir, dem.,
207. For county commissioner — R. T. Brown,
dem., 376; Joseph Frizzell, rep., 314.
For clerk — George O. Butler, rep., 442; R.
E. Misner, dem., 305.
For sheriff— W. T. Johnson, rep., 277; P.
L. Keeton, dem., 460.
For treasurer — A. B. Lamb, rep., 456;
Charles J. Millet, dem., 270.
For assessor — J. F. Anthony, rep., 277; W.
H. Sasser, dem., 462.
For surveyor — W. W. Kennedy, rep., 562.
For coroner — R. H. Jenkins, rep., 556.

The election held June 6, 1904, resulted ac
cording to the figures given in the following.
table :
For member of congress — George R. Cook,
12; J. E. Simmons, dem., 225; H. W. Stone, 34^
J. N. Williamson, rep., 494.
For circuit judge — W. L. Bradshaw, dem.,
386; J. A. Collier, rep., 390.
For district attorney — Frank Menefee, rep.,
454; Dan P. Smyth, dem., 311.
For joint senator — Jay Bowerman, rep., 411 ;_
Louis J. Gates, 34; W. L. Wilcox, dem., 332.
For Joint representative — R. N. Donnelly,
rep., 453; W. K. Kirkland, dem., 297; C. C.
Kuney, rep., 352 ; A. S. Porter, 60 ; C. A. Shurte,.
54- For county judge — E. M. Clymer, rep., 343;
W. W. Hoover, dem., 427.
For commissioners — J. L. Barnhouse, rep.,.
459J John M. Brown, rep., 351; W. H. Gates,.
dern., ,253 ; James Wilson, dem., 297.
For sheriff — P. L. Keeton, dem., 403; E. E.
Mathews, rep., 382.
For clerk — J. O. Butler, rep., 421 ; H. Mc
Ginnis, dem., 356.
For treasurer — A. B. Lamb, rep., 489;
George Ray, dem., 281.
For assessor — R. J. Carsner, rep., 371 ; Ra
leigh Scott, dem., 407.
For school superintendent — W. W. Kennedy,.
rep., 588.
For surveyor. — H. F. C. Heidtman, rep., 427;
A. Helms, Jr., ind.-rep., 283.
For coroner — W. T. Whan, dem., 476.
For the high school, 365 ; against the high.
school, 192.
For the local option, 385 ; against the local-
option, 229.
For direct primary law, 422; against direct
primary law, 65.
In the national election held November 8,
1904, the vote stood as follows :
Republican electors, 462; democratic elec
tors, 162 ; prohibition, 14 ; socialist, 22 ; peoples,
7- On June 5, 1905, an election was held on the
question of local option which stood for it, 202;.
against it, 277.

CHAPTER V

EDUCATIONAL.

Owing to the fact that Wheeler county has
•existed as a separate political division but a
:short time, the school history of the county as
a whole is not very lengthy. The schools of the
•county are up to the standard of the state, the
people have shown a commendable zeal in pro
viding for the rising generation proper educa
tional facilities, and steps have been taken, as
will be apparent in what follows, to assist the
youth of the county to obtain good educations at
home. The first school in the territory now em
braced in this county was located about one-half
mile east from where Mitchell now stands. It
was established in 1872 and the school was held
in the proverbial log house. The second
;school was established in 1874, at Waldron near
where Richmond now stands. The first teacher of
this school was Samantha A. Adams, now Mrs.
Dan French of The Dalles, a well-known lady in
central Oregon.
Fossil's first school was opened in 1882 in a
two-story frame structure situated near where
the high school is now located. The upper story
was utilized for other purposes and the lower
.floor was the school room and Benton Myers
taught the first term. This school house was de
stroyed by fire in 1884, but another two-story
frame building was immediately erected. Fossil
was then a portion of Gilliam county and in 1891
we have mentioned that on March first of that
year the pupils belonging in district number
twenty-one (Fossil) were one hundred and thirty,
The number enrolled was ninety-four, ancl Fos
sil's school was the largest in Gilliam county.
The Fossil public schools always held a
foremost place in the county ancl the year 1891
appeared to be one of still greater progress. A
•school tax was levied which insured nine months
of school with two experienced teachers. Chil
dren from outside districts were allowed tuition
at reasonable rates and that drew numerous
families to the town for the school season. The
schools continued to increase in size and the
high standard maintained at this time was bet
tered in every way possible and for ten years
next following Fossil was known far and near

as a real center for excellent educational facili
ties. It was found necessary then that better
building facilitites should be provided and with
her characteristic progressiveness Fossil took up
the question and provided a substantial six-room
brick school house of modern design and pro
vided with all the apparatus and library needed
for excellent work.
The question of having the county high
school, which the state of Oregon wisely provides
for, had been upon the minds of the leading
citizens for some time and in 1904 the time was
lound to be ripe for this enterprise, and, accord
ingly, the matter was presented to the people
for their expression at the election held June 6,
1904. The vote stood 365 for and 192 against,
and the county court was empowered to make
the selection of the location of the school. This
was done, Fossil being chosen. The school house
there was ample as to size to allow rooms for
the high school. The county furnished the
rooms and the principal of the high school be
came the principal of the Fossil graded school.
The school opened September 11, 1904, having
three teachers, A. J. Garland, A. M., principal ;
Mrs. A. J. Garland, M. O., assistant; Miss So
phia E. Townsend, A. B., assistant. In the Fos
sil school four additional teachers were em
ployed. There was a total enrollment of two
hundred and thirty, sixty-four of whom were
high school pupils. Eleven grades were carried
and in 1905 twelve grades will be taught, thus
the high school pupils will be prepared for the
freshman class of the state university. The peo
ple are taking pride in this excellent school and
are planning to supply all equipment as needs
come. The first school in Alitchell proper was loca
ted there in 1876. It was held in a little log
structure that had been moved into town from
one-half mile east. Alitchell has taken pride in
her schools as Fossil has and in 1886 a one story-
frame was constructed to take the place of the
log building used before that. The school at
tendance of Alitchell grew betimes and in 1892
it was found that the new building was too small
to accommodate the pupils. Accordingly a large

662

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

frame building was put up at a cost of two thou
sand dollars. It is built on modern plans, well
lighted and ventilated, with three large rooms
and seating capacity for one hundred and twen
ty-five. The school demands three teachers and
is quite up to the grade of the high standard
maintained throughout the county.
We herewith submit for reference a detailed
report of the county superintendent of Wheeler
for the years from 1900, inclusive, to the present
time: — 1900. — Male. Female. Total.
Number of persons of school age. . 450 438 888
Number of persons enrolled  331 319 650
Average daily attendance  426
Number of teachers employed  12 '26 38
Number pupils not attending school ... ... 308
Number of teachers in private sch'ls 123
Number of pupils in private schools 8 9 17
Average salary of teachers  $42.80 $34.70
Amount paid superintendent  $200.00
Value of school property  $11,039.00
Number of districts in county (8 are joint) . . 32
Average number of months taught for year. . . 4
Number of months of private school taught. . . 8
Number of legal voters for school purposes. . 760
Number of teachers' institutes  1
Receipts  ,  $9,871.04
Disbursements  $7,232.34
O. B. Miles, Superintendent.
— 1901. — Male. Female. Total.
Number of persons of school age . . 475 438 914
Number enrolled  370 352 722
Number of teachers employed  15 25 40
Number children not attending sch'l 74 66 140
Average daily attendance  ... 475
Average number of months taught  ... 4x/i
Number of school houses in county. ... ... 28
Number of districts in county  ... 31
Number teachers in private schools 4 10 14
Number pupils in private schools... 71 67 138
Number months of private schools ... ... 7
Average salary for teachers  $43-37 $35-85 ....
Vale of school property  $12,001.00
Receipts  $9,994-45
Disbursements  $8,496.31
Chas. Royse, Superintendent.
— 1902. — Male. Female. Total.
Number of persons of school age . . 452 478 930
Number of persons enrolled  390 371 761
Number of persons not attending. . . 79 75 154
Number of teachers employed  13 28 41
Average daily attendance  ... 509

Male. Female

Total.

Average number of months taught  ... 6.
Number school houses in the county  28
Number organized districts in county .... ... 29
Number private schools  • • . 3>
Number months of private school  3
Number teachers in private school. .1 3 4
Number pupils in private school... 51 42 93
Average salaries to teachers  $46.00 $36.73
Value of school property  $13,876.00
Receipts  $15,430.00
Disbursements  $13,733-92
Chas. Royse, Superintendent.
—1903 — Male. Female. Total.
Number of persons of school age . . 544 436 980
Number of persons enrolled  401 352 753
Average salary of teachers  $47-50 $40.00
Receipts  $20,252.27
Disbursements  $18,274.48
Chas. Royse, Superintendent.
—1904.— Male. Female. Total.
Number of persons of school age . . 525 465 990
Number of persons enrolled  385 356 741
Number of teachers employed .... 14 26 40-
Number of pupils not attending . . 140 109 249-
Average daily attendance  ... 496-
Number legal voters for school pur
poses  ... 683
Number districts in county  ... 29
Number school houses in county  27
Average number of months taught. ... ... 5
Average salary of teachers  $5107 $40.02
Receipts  $12,584.95
Disbursements  $10,230.40
Chas. Royse, Superintendent.
—1905.— Male. Female. Total.
Number of persons of school age. . 507 455 962
Number of persons enrolled  375 342 717
Number of teachers employed  10 26 36
Number pipils not attending school 49 48 97
Average salary of teachers  $59-27 $39-93
Number private schools  ... 2
Number teachers in private schools. ... 2 2
Number pupils in private schools. . . 6 10 i6<
Number months taught in private
school  ... 9
Number voters for school purposes ... ... 690
Average daily attendance  ... 466
Number districts in county  ... 29
Number school houses in county  ... 27-
Value of school property  $21,056.00
Receipts  $12,786.67-
Disbursements  $11,668.24.
W. W. Kennedy, Superintendent.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

WHEELER COUNTY

HON. W. L. CAMPBELL, one of the vener
able citizens of Wheeler county, resides about
ten miles east from Mitchell. He is a member of
that intrepid band which made its way across the
plains in the first half of the last century, brav
ing all sorts of dangers and hardships for the pur
pose of opening the Pacific coast for settlement.
He has labored long and well and has the satis
faction of knowing that he materially assisted in
bringing about the gratifying prosperity of this
entire western region which has resulted from the
united labors of such men as Mr. Campbell. At
present, he is retired from active labors, having
spent a long and eventful career of industry and
progressiveness. W. L. Campbell was born in Petersburg, Vir
ginia, on September 29, 1824, being the son of
James Austin and Mary Massey (Vaughn)
Campbell. The former was born in Virginia in
1785 ancl died in New Orleans, in 1830. The lat
ter was born in Goochland county, Virginia, in
1795, and died in i860. The parents were de
scended from the most prominent farmers of
Virginia who date back to the early colonial days
and who were thoroughly American in principle
and in life. Our subject was educated in the
common schools in Richmond, Virginia, and
when seventeen years of age, went thence to
Tennessee where he remained until the begin
ning of the Mexican War. At Nashville, he en
listed in the First Tennesseee regiment, com
manded by Colonel H. C. Campbell, a relative
of his. His captain was Adrian Northcut. This
regiment was .the first to land in Mexico and
our subject participated in the heat of the strug
gle and did active service in the battle of Monte
rey ancl in many other places and finally received
his honorable discharge. Then he reurned to
Tennessee and crossed the plains to California in

1849, utilizing for the journey, ox teams. For
thirty-three years, M. Campbell was busily en
gaged in mining and farming in the Golden
State and then in 1882, he came north and se
lected eight hundred acres of land in what is
now Wheeler county. He purchased this and
engaged in raising cattle and horses. He ac
tively prosecuted these related occupations until
a few years since when the accumulated hold
ings, acquired by his industry and thrift, en
abled him to retire from further active life. He
has a splendid standing in the community and
has always shown himself a first class business
man and a broad minded citizen.
On October 25, 1854, Mr. Campbell married
Miss Charlotte Bower. Ten years later, April
15, 1864, Mr. Campbell married Miss Eliza Elli
son. The children born to him are named as
follows : Mary, deceased ; Winslow ; A. R. and
W. L., twins ; Richmond L. ; Sally ; James ; Cora ;
Lena, and Ida. Mr. Campbell has always been
a Democrat and in 1859 °is name appeared on
that ticket for the legislature in the state of Cali
fornia. He made a good record in the house,
and served his constituency well and retired to
business life with the consciousness that he had
fulfilled the trust that had been committed to
him. Mr. Campbell has one sister, Mrs. Vir
ginia A. Bradford, who was born in Richmond,
Virginia, on July 17, 1815. She was highly edu
cated in the best institutions of the day ancl in
1836 married Edward Bradford. He descended
from one of the leading families in the south.
Air. Campbell's family, as stated before, was one
of the leading and prominent ones of the Uni
ted States, but the war swept away all their
property. However, their ability and energy
since brought back to the various members fine
holdings.

664

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

SAMUEL UNSWORTH, one of the lead
ing stockmen of Wheeler county, is a man of en
terprise and good business ability. He resides
about two miles east from Burnt ranch, where
he owns one thousand acres of choice land and
does general farming and stock raising. He
handles some cattle and horses and pays atten
tion almost exclusively to sheep, of which profi-
able animals, he owns about three thousand.
He displays the thrift and thoroughness of his
race. Samuel Unsworth was born in England,
on May i, 1869. His father, James Unsworth, a
native of England, was the senior member of the
firm of Unsworth & Sons, of Bolton, Lancashire,
England. They were carriers of freight and did
a large and lucrative business. His ancestors
were a good and prominent family. His wife,
Elizabeth Unsworth, was a native of Dublin
and came from a good family. Our subject was
well trained in Bolton and when he arrived at the
proper age took an interest in the firm and
wrought there until 1894. Being desirous of
seeing the world and believing that opportuni
ties were more plentiful in the colonies than at
home, he finally decided to come to Manitoba.
For two years he farmed there and then came
on to the Pacific coast. After due exploration,
he decided upon the territory now embraced in
Wheeler county and finally purchased land
where he now resides. To this he added until
he has a thousand acres. He also purchased
sheep and has done wool growing, practically
ever since he came here.
In 1892, Mr. Unsworth married Miss Lillie
Carrington, who was born in England and de
scended from a prominent family. The Car-
ringtons were lawyers and magistrates, largely,
at Barnsley, England. Mrs. Unsworth's par
ents are Matthew ancl Mary A. Carrington. The
father was a merchant at Barnsley. To our sub
ject and his wife nine children have been born,
named as follows: Martha A., Lilian, James,
Samuel, Gertrude, deceased, Agnes, Mary, Flor
ence ancl Edith.
Mr. Unsworth has come from a very enter-
pising and thrifty family and he has in no way
fallen behind the high standard set for him by
a worthy ancestrage.

warmly by fostering a spirit of betterment and
industry. For many years Mr. Helm has dwelt
in the territory now occupied by Wheeler county.
Long before it was organized as a separate por
tion, he was here and has been closely identified
with every important movement in its history.
He is widely known throughout the country and
has made a record that bespeaks him a man of
stamina, of honor, and of integrity.
A. Helm was born in Missouri, on October 6,
1842, and was educated at the place of his birth.
When the war broke out, he enlisted in Bat
tery L, Second Missouri Light Artillery and
served until November 11, 1865, when he was
mustered out of service. Shortly after his dis
charge from the army, he was married, and in
1875 came to the Pacific coast. He established
Twickenham and Waldron postoffices and re
sided in the latter for twenty years, then spent
six years in Twickenham, after which he came to
Mitchell and has been conducting the Sentinel
since. Mr. Helm married Miss Mary Paul in 1865.
She was a native of Missouri and to this union
five children have been born, whose names are,
Charles A., of Ontario; W. E., of Independence;
P. C, of Fossil ; O. V., of Antelope, all in Ore
gon. J. H. is deceased.
Mr. Helm is rightly to be classed as one of
the builders of Wheeler county, one of the fore
most of the pioneers of this country, and one of
the leading men here today.

A. HELM, Jr., is editor ancl proprietor
of the Mitchell Sentinel, a bright ancl newsy pa
per that has for its business the exploiting of the
resources of Wheeler count}-, Oregon, in general
and the carying of the latest news of the world
to a goodly list of people, ancl good cheer to all.
He has made his paper attractive and welcomed

P. E. McQUIN was born on March 17, 1844
in Missouri ancl the same year was brought
across the plains by his parents to the Willamette
valley. Since that time has always been on the
frontier. He was one of the oldest pioneers, yet
one of the youngest emigrants to Oregon, and
in Oregon he has lived almost constantly since.
He has the distinction of being one of the lead
ing stockmen in Wheeler county and one of its
earliest settlers. He also is to be credited with
the fact that his entire fortune, which is gen
erous, has been gained by his own efforts since
coming to this then wild country. He landed
here in 1872, when there were no settlers in this
region. He took government land on the creek
about three miles up from where Fossil now
stands and was a settler in the valley. Being
then without means ancl many miles from the
nearest supply point or postoffice, Mr. McQuin
found it no small undertaking to make a living
much less to get started ; but being a man of
indomitable will, fine physical endurance and not
acquainted with the word surrender, he finally

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

665

made a start ancl since then his progress has been
very rapid and continued. He now owns seven
hundred and twenty acres of choice land and
large bands of stock. Mr. McQuin's father, A.
H. McQuin, was born in North Carolina, moved
to Missouri in early days as a pioneer and in
1844 crossed the plains with ox teams to the Wil
lamette valley, bringing his family with him. He
made location at Linton and there remained until
his death, having became a very wealthy and
prominent man in the valley. He had married
Rebecca Enyart, a native of Illinois, who was a
faithful helpmeet to him during his labors and
journeys. Our subject was educated in the Wil
lamette valley ancl, as stated before, in 1872
started out to seek his fortune, settling on a fer
tile claim.
In 1878 he married Miss Catherine Wilhelm,
who was born in Iowa and crossed the plains to
Oregon with her parents in i860. Her father,
William Wilhelm, was a native of Germany and
a pioneer in this state. To our subject and his
faithful wife, the following named children have
been born, Mrs. Ada T. Monroe, Annie, Mar
garet, Hattie, Elmer, John, William, Charles,
Bertha, Birdie.
Mr. and Mrs. McQuin are valuable members
of society in Wheeler county, are respected and
esteemed by all, ancl have done a noble share in
the development of this county.

C. T. SCOGGIN. About five miles up Butte
¦creek from Fossil, one comes to the estate of Mr.
Scoggin. It consists of four hundred and eighty
acres and is fitted up for a first class stock ranch.
To the industry of stock raising, Mr. Scoggin
devotes his entire attention, raising on the farm
such things as are needed to assist him in this
Dusiness. He has made a good success in his
labors here ancl is rated as one of the leading
stockmen of the county.
C. T. Scoggin was born on November 29,
1855, the son of W. G. ancl Mandy (Grubbs)
Scoggin, natives of Missouri. As early as 1845
the father, then a young man, crossed the plains
with ox teams to the Willamette valley, being one
of the first settlers there. In 1849 ne went to tne
mines of California and later returned to Oregon,
taking a donation claim. He gave his attention
to general farming ancl stock raising the balance
•of his life and became both wealthy ancl prom
inent. His wife crossed the plains with her
parents in 1846.
Our subject was educated in the primitive
schools of his native valley and as early as 1872
came to this vicinitv. He handled stock for his

father for one year, then went into business for
himself. He soon acquired land and has given
his undivided attention to handling stock since.
In 1883, Mr. Scoggin married Miss Mary E.
Buffington, who was born in Montana. When a
child she came with her parents to the Willam
ette valley, Oregon. Her father, P. C. Buffing-
ton, was one of the earliest pioneers to Montana.
To Mr. and Mrs. Scoggin six children have
been born : Thompie, Clara,, Eston, Woodson,
Shirley and Mary.
Mr. Scoggin has not labored in vain since
coming here, for he has accumulated a snug
fortune and secured the esteem of his fellow
men and has made himself one of the prominent
men of the county. He and his wife have done
the work of the pioneer in a noble manner and
during all these early days of trials and hardship
had much to suffer and undergo. He has always
taken an active part in public matters, educa
tional and political, and is a progressive and sub
stantial man.

SAMUEL D. LAUGHLIN, who was born
in Yamhill county, Oregon, in 1871. He had
in Lincoln county, Missouri, on May 13, 1835, is
now residing eight miles northwest of Anatone,
in Wheeler county, Oregon. His father, Samuel
Laughlin, was born in South Carolina ancl died
married Nancy Doughty, also a native of North
Carolina. She died in August, 1849. The fam
ily crossed the plains with ox teams to Yamhill
county, Oregon, in 1847 and our subject com
pleted his education on the frontier. He was
principally occupied in riding for stock and do
ing general work in opening up a farm and
finally, in 185 1, he went to the Yreka mines in
California. Three months were spent there, then
he returned to Yamhill county. The trip was
very dangerous, owing to the fact that the Rogue
river Indians were then hostile. In January,
1856, our subject enlisted in Company C, under
Captain Ankeny and served in the Yakima In
dian war. He participated in many battles, in
various hard marches and in much scouting. He
fought in the battle of Snake river near the
mouth of the Palouse and then with his com
mand crossed the Columbia and fought another
battle near the mouth of the Yakima river where
a good many of the Indians were killed. The
next dav they did some more skirmishing ancl
killed more Indians. Then they marched clown
the Columbia ancl went into camp on the Wash
ington side, some ten miles above The Dalles.
Being rather unsuspecting at this time, they were
surprised near morning by the Indians swooping
down upon them in an effort to stampede the

666

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

stock. The savages were successful in this and
drove off nearly all the horses belonging to the
soldiers. Then they made their way on down to
The Dalles and to Portland, where they were
mustered out of service and our subject returned
to Yamhill county and again took up stock rais
ing. He remained there until 1859, when he
came to Wasco county and spent two years.
Again he returned to Yamhill county and re
sided there until 1873 in which year he came back
to Wasco county and remained twelve years.
Then, it being 1885, he moved on down to Crook
county where he resided until 1903. In that
year he secured his present place and is now
numbered with the citizens of Wheeler county.
It is evident that Mr. Laughlin is well acquainted
with the various portions of the state of Oregon
and has done excellent pioneer work all through.
In Washington county, Oregon, in 1858, Mr.
Laughlin married Miss Amanda Minter, who
was born in Iowa, in 1842, the daughter of Jacob
Minter, a native of Tennessee. The family
crossed the plains to Oregon in 1852 and the
father was a well known pioneer here. To our
subject and his wife five children have been born,
named as follows : Emmett R., Edgar E., Ellis,
Nellie F. and Annie S., deceased. In politics,
Mr. Laughlin has always been a Republican and
in this realm, as in educational matters, he has
always manifested a keen interest and is one of
the progressive men of the country. In 1861 Mr.
Laughlin started out in November for the Flor
ence mines in Idaho. He did not arrive, how
ever, until March, 1862. He participated in the
excitement of the times and is well acquainted
with all those early adventurous days.

GEORGE McKAY is one of the leading
stock men of central Oregon and resides at
Waterman, in Wheeler county. He conies from
Scotch ancestry and was born amid the rugged
hills of Scotland, on January 14, 1847. His
father, Robert McKay, a native of Aberdeen
shire, Scotland, was a contractor and builder and
died when this son, George, was three years of
age. He had married Mary Forbes, also a native
of Aberdeen, Scotland. She died in Canada. In
1855, our subject came with his mother to Can
ada, crossing the ocean in a one hundred ton
sailing vessel. The trip consumed six weeks. A
few years after arriving in Canada, Mrs.
McKay married Alexander Calder. Our subject
was reared and educated in Canada, completing
his training in the commercial college. Then he
went to New York city intending to journey to
Brazil but changed his mind and went to Cali

fornia, via the isthmus. After arriving on the
Pacific slope he worked eighteen months on a
ranch, then went to the Willamette valley. He-
assisted in clearing the land where east Port
land now stands, during his first winter, then
went to Marion county and rented land. He
farmed for several years and finally, in 1877, the-
wet weather destroyed his entire crop and he lost
nearly all he had made. Then he came to The
Dalles and walked to his present location in what.
is now Wheeler county. Mr. McKay, although
having met with terrible reverses, was not dis
couraged and took hold with vigor and ambition-
and soon got another start. He now owns nearly
five thousand acres of land, winters usually from
five to six hundred head of cattle and has much
other property. Mr. McKay formerly gave his-
attention to raising horses with his cattle but he-
recently sold his brand, there being about five-
hundred animals in the band. Now he gives his;
entire attention to handling cattle and has some-
very fine specimens. He also leases about four
hundred acres of land to tenants for grain rais
ing. It is of interest to note, in this connection,.
that Mr. McKay raised the noted horse, Oregon
Beauty, and also Linus, two of the most famous
horses on record. He sold Oregon Beauty just
before he left the Willamette valley for a very
small sum, she being a colt and just weaned..
When developed, both of these horses had
manes and tails that swept the ground. The-
man who purchased Oregon Beauty from Mr.
McKay, sold her for fifteen hundred dollars, then:
she was sold for twelve thousand dollars and
some time after that her owner refused twenty
thousand dollars in cash for her. She came to
iler death in a fire on Long Island, New York. It
is said of Oregon Beauty, that she was the most
beautiful horse that we have a record of. Linus
is now owned by a large horse breeding estab
lishment in Ohio. In addition to the property
mentioned, we wish to note that Mr. McKay has:
erected a fine large hotel at Waterman, which
will doubtless become well patronized as soon as
its excellencies become known. There are many
attractions which will draw tourists and health
seekers and Mr. McKay is preparing in a wise
and proper manner to develop the country and
furnish everything that is needed.
In January, 1899, Mr. McKay married Miss
Leander Smith, a native of Missouri. Eight
months after her marriage, he was called to
mourn her death.
Politically, Mr. McKay is a Republican and
is a man of influence. He has been delegate to
the state conventions and in 1903 was a delegate
to the stockmen's convention at Portland. He is
a member of the National Stockman's Associa-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

667-

tion at Portland and is considered one of the
most successful and skillful stockmen of the
county. Mr. McKay has one sister, Mary, the wife of
James Howden, a retired farmer in Ontario.
When our subject came to this part of the coun
try, it was wild and unsettled and he knows well
the labors incident to a pioneer life. He has suc
ceeded not only in making a fortune for himself
and also in opening up the country but is to be
commended upon his public spirited labors and
the generosity that he has exhibited.

JACOB L. BARNHOUSE is one of the rep
resentative men of Wheeler county; his business
is stock raising, in which he has achieved a splen
did success. His ranch, consisting of four thou
sand acres, is one of the best in this part of the
state, is situated ten miles northwest of Antone
and is built up in the best of shape for handling
stock. He has at the present time some thirty-
five hundred head of sheep besides horses and
cattle and is considered one of the worthy men
of the county. All of this he has gained by his
own labors and he is justly entitled to the emolu
ments he has won. Jacob L. Barnhouse was
born in Darke county, Ohio in 1844. His pa-
ents, Peter and Sarah (Kester) Barnhouse,
were natives of Pennsylvania and Darke county,
Ohio, respectively. The father was of German
and Irish extraction and his forebears were early
settlers of Pennsylvania. His wife came from
German ancestry, who settled in Ohio in early
clays, her father being a wealthy farmer. Our
subject received his education in the Ohio and
Illinois schools whither he went in 1855. In
1864, he enlisted in Company G, One Hundred
and Forty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry and
was active in detached service until the close of
the war. Being honorably discharged he re
turned to Illinois and engaged in farming until
1870, when he removed to Missouri. That state
was his home for four years, then in 1875, he
journeyed to Marion county, Oregon. There he
farmed for four years. Finally, in 1879, he came
to his present location and took a homestead. To
this, he has added by purchase since until he has
the large estate that we have mentioned. Mr.
Barnhouse has shown commendable energy and
sagacity in his affairs in Wheeler county and the
fine holding that he now possesses evidences the
same. In Illinois, in September, 1869, Mr. Barnhouse
married Martha W. Conger, who was born in
Licking county, Ohio. To this union four chil
dren have been born : Mrs. Orral Laughlin, on

June 26, 1871, who is mentioned elsewhere in
this work; William A., on April 8, 1873, de
ceased ; Peter R. and Aaron R., twins, on August
31, 1876, the former a partner with his father
and the latter deceased. The parents of Mrs.
Barnhouse are Aaron and Mary (McVay) Con
ger, natives of Pennsylvania. She has the fol
lowing named brothers and sisters, Elizabeth A.,
Jacob E., David W., Carey McV., and Elias J.,
all deceased; Aaron, now living in McLean-
county, Illinois; Mary E., deceased; and Sarah
Pierson, in Kansas. Mr. Barnhouse has one
brother and six sisters, Mrs. Sabathna Owen,
Mrs. Maria C. Livengood, Mrs. Clara Ingram
and Mrs. Sarah Winkleplock, twins, Mrs. Fannie
Manson, Mrs. Emma Jordan and John N. Our
subject is one of the representative men and has
held various offices, among which is that of
commissioner of Wheeler county. He has shown
himself a man of principle, uprightness and
sturdy qualities and both in his private life and
public career has so conducted himself that he-
has won many friends.

JOSEPH FRANCIS HUBNER hails from
the land whence come so many of our most sub
stantial and thrifty citizens. His birth occurred
in the province of Silesia, Germany, on May 10,
1862, and there he received his educational train
ing, remaining until he was twenty years of age.
Then he journeyed to the United States and
spent one year in Dakota, but not finding that
country to his liking, he journeyed west and came
to Portland, Oregon, in the spring of 1884. After
a short stay there, he went to The Dalles and
worked for wages for one year. During this
time, he became acquainted with some stockmen,.
who urged him to try his luck at stock raising
but finding the opportunity for a beginner rather
limited in that section of the country, he con
cluded to travel further inland and came to his
present location in 1885 and for seven years gave
his attention to herding sheep. After that, he
purchased some sheep and a year later, sold the
entire band and returned to Europe where he re
mained about eight months. Not being able to-
locate successfully, he came to his present loca
tion, in 1892, and took up a homestead. At that
time, he secured a band of sheep on shares and
later sold his interest in that and rented sheep
for cash. For five years, he continued in that
business then sold out entirely his sheep interests.
He took up more land and purchased some-
until he has now an estate of five hundred acres.
After improving his place, he turned his atten
tion to raising cattle and horses. He has over

•663

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

one hundred head of cattle, mostly Durham,
about twenty horses and is a prosperous citizen.
During his stay in Germany, he became ac
quainted with Miss Anna Burke and the ac-
'quaintance later ripened into an engagement and
•one year after he arrived in the United States,
she came hither and their marriage was consum
mated at The Dalles, in 1892. Five children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Hubner : Elsie, Alice,
Henry, Adolph, and Frank.
Our subject is a man of good foresight and
sound judgment and displays a keen interest in
educational matters and all matters for the gen
eral advancement of the community. He has
•good reason to be proud of the success he has
attained as he started entirely without capital and
has made his property since coming to this sec
tion. He is classed among the most thrifty and
progressive men of the country.

_ GEORGE V. OWENS, who resides two
miles east of Antone and devotes his attention
to mining and stock raising, was born in Stock
holm, Sweden, on May 6, 1829. When fifteen
years of age, after completing his early educa
tional training, he shipped under the Swedish
flag as a sailor. He continued thus until 1847,
then was a sailor under the Norwegian flag.
After that we find him again on a Swedish ves
sel for a short time and in 1851 he went aboard
a German ship and later shipped on an Ameri
can vessel. In Liverpool he left this vessel and
sailed under the Union Jack for British Guiana.
Then he came back to Liverpool and shipped on
an American vessel bound for Boston, when he
took another trip to Malta. Returning to Bos
ton he sailed to California and left the ship at
Frisco in February, 1853. He has practically
visited all parts of the globe and is especially
well acquainted with the Black and Mediterran
ean seas. On July 15, 1853, he went to the
mines in Josephine county, Oregon, the sailor
diggings, and remained until the following spring
when he started out for Galice creek on Rogue
river. In the fall of the same year he left that
section and went to Yreka, California, where he
was made a United States citizen. We find him
there until the fall of i860, when he went to
Sterling, Oregon, and the next year was working
on Applegate creek. After that he mined on
Jackass creek, remaining there until the spring
of 1862. From there he went to Canyon creek,
¦ Oregon, and ten days later went on to Granite
creek. After that we find him on the North
Fork of the John Day until 1870, when he came
to his present location. Since then he has di

vided his attention between stock raising and
mining. On November 8, 1881, while in Wheeler
county, Mr. Owens married Frances P. Fancher,
who was born in Iowa. Her father, Joseph Fan
cher, was a native of Iowa and of French ex
traction and his father was born in France. The
children born to our subject are Victor Frances,
on December 15, 1883; Gustave Frederick, on
June 24, 1885 ; Norma Anna, born January 13,
1887; Paul Hoberger, born April 27, 1889;
George E., born March 25, 1891 and died Sep
tember 10, 1892.
Mr. Owens is a member of the A. F. & A.
M., Canyon City Lodge No. 34, and also of the
Blue Mountain Chapter No. 7. Politically he
is a Democrat and in religious persuasion Swe-
denborgian. He has had an extensive and varied
experience, both on sea and land and deserves to
be classed as one of the sturdy pioneers of the
Pacific coast. As a citizen, he is broad minded,
substantial and upright, and his labors have
done much for the improvement and upbuilding
of Wheeler county.

ROBERT A. GILLIAM comes from one of
the prominent families of Oregon and is one of
the representative men of the state. He re
sides now some eighteen miles out from Fossil
on Sarvice creek, where he has three-fourth of
a section and does general farming and stock
raising. His ancestors were sturdy pioneers
and their name is handed down in many ways,
and one of the adjoining counties to Wheeler
was named from them. Mr. Gilliam is widely
known and as highly respected as he is well
known. He was born in Polk county, Oregon,
on July 15, 1853. His father, Robert Gilliam,
was born in North Carolina and came to Mis
souri when a young man. There he married
Miss Julia A. Chance, a native of North Caro
lina, who became a faithful helpmeet to him in
his adventurous career. In the spring of 1846
they were part of a train that started across the
plains with ox teams for the Mecca of the west,
the Williamette valley. While on the way they
were attacked by Indians and all their cattle des
troyed or captured. This left Mr. Gilliam with
his wife ancl child ancl a small pony to make the
balance of the journey. His wife rode the pony
ancl carried the child ancl he walked. A party
was formed in The Dalles, when news of this
was made known, to meet them, and thus they
were brought finally to that place. Ultimately
Mr. Gilliam went on to Polk county and took
a donation claim. There he remained until 1858,

George V. Owens

Robert A. Gilliam

John B. Butler

Elzey M. Stephens

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

669*

when he went to the vicinity of San Francisco
and farmed. After that he was in Tulare county,
then in Kern county, and finally he returned in
1886 to Polk county. There he remained until
his death. He was a nephew of General Gilliam,
who was killed in eastern Oregon while fighting
with the Indians. Our subject had the oppor
tunity to attend school but six months, and to
supplement this lack- of schooling he undertook
the task of digging knowledge from the books
himself, and in this he has succeeded well.
When arrived to manhodd he worked for wages
until 1884, when he went to eastern Oregon and
finally located in the place where he now lives.
Part of this land was taken under government
act and the balance was secured by purchase.
He handles horses and cattle, but mostly the
former, and in this business he is making a good
success. In 1884 Mr. Gilliam married Miss Ellen Met
calfe, who is a native of the Williamette valley.
Her father, Robert R. Metcalfe, was a pioneer
of Oregon. Two children have been born to
our subject and his wife, Martha A. and Elsie
P. Mr. Gilliam had no capital when he started,
but he was possessed of the sterling worth that
was found in his ancestors and he has made his
way along splendidly, although beset with much
adversity and many hardships.

JOHN B. BUTLER is a wealthy stockman
of Wheeler county. With his brother he owns
a large tract of good land some three miles
south from Richmond. They do some farming,
but devote their attention almost exclusively to
stock raising. They are very prosperous and are
leading and representative men.
John B. Butler was born in Johnson county,
Tennessee, on August 16, 1854. His father,
Hon. Roderick R. Butler, was one of the best
representatives of a successful American states
men one finds in many years. He was born in
Virginia and left an orphan when very young.
Through his own struggles he gained a fair edu
cation, then learned the tailor's trade and while
still young came on west to Tennessee. While
working at his tailoring he studied law, burning
much midnight oil, and in due time was admitted
to the bar. He began the practice of his profes
sion in Taylorsville, now Mountain City, and
soon thereafter was elected to the state legisla
ture. Several times thereafter he was chosen by
his constituents for the same office and then was
sent to the United States congress. He was a
famous figure in the house and a man of well-
known ability and integrity. His death occurred

when he was serving a term in the state legisla
ture, thus being in the harness up to the last
moment. He was a prominent man, wealthy and
highly respected.
He had married Miss Emmeline J. Donnell}-,
who was born in Johnson county, Tennessee, and-
came from a very prominent and wealthy family.
Our subject was educated in Mountain City,.
Tennessee, early in life, then completed his train
ing in Emory and Henry college, Virginia. He
spent his life in the east until 1884, then jour
neyed west in company with his brother, G. O.
Butler. After due search and investigation they
came into this portion of Oregon and finally took-
government land where they reside at the present
time. After this they bought various pieces and
now, as stated above, own a large estate.
At Waldron, in this county, on December -
23, 1886, Mr. Butler married Miss Effie M. Brown
who was born in eastern Oregon. Her parents,.
Jonathan Perry and Sarah A. Brown, arrived
at The Dalles on August 15, 1854, and settled
near where Dufur now stands, their place being
on Fifteenmile creek. That was the home until
1868, when they removed to a place below The
Dalles where they remained three years. The
next journey was to the Bakeoven country where
they resided eighteen months. Mr. "Brown died
in 1890. His widow, now seventy-one years of
age, is as vigorous and hearty as a woman of
forty, and a highly respected citizen of Mitchell.
To Mr. and Mrs. Butler four children have
been born, Herbert H., deceased, Pansy B., Bes
sie V. and Random M.
Mr. Butler is a member of the A. O. U. W.,.
and he and his wife are very highly respected
people.  « ¦ » 
ELZEY M. STEPHENS is now living on
the old historical Burnt Ranch, one of the land
marks of central Oregon and so named because
in the early days a brave pioneeer penetrated thus
far and built a cabin which later the Indians des
troyed by fire, with all his improvements. Ever
after that calamity the place was known as the
Burnt ranch. For many years it was used as the
stage station and is now one of the taverns of
Wheeler county. Mr. Stephens is an enterpris
ing, up-to-date man, resolute and possessed of
good business ability. He does general farm
ing and stock raising.
Elzey M. Stephens was born in Clackamas
county, Oregon, on September 5, 1869, being the
son of Lovet and Milbray (Fisher) Stephens,
natives of Missouri and emigrants across the
plains in very early day. They settled on a do
nation claim in the Williamette valley and in

670

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1882 came to Gilliam county and settled near
Mayville. There they remained until their death.
• Our subject received his education in the Wil
liamette valley and was but fourteen years of age
when he came with his parents to what is now
Gilliam county. He started in the stock business
and has made a good success. He operated in
various capacities until 1898 when he took charge
of the Muddy ranch, where he remained until
1902. In that year he purchased the Burnt
ranch, one of the large ranches of the country,
and since then has been conducting business for
himself. In 1893 Mr. Stephens married Miss Mary
Pentecost, a native of Dakota, who came to Gil
liam county with her parents in 1882. Her
father, William Pentecost, was one of the earliest
settlers in Gilliam county. To our subject and
his estimable wife six children have been born,
William L., Thomas, Susan L., Ralph, Hazel
and Roy.
Mr. Stephens is a man who always takes an
interest in the development and growth of the
country and in the advancement of everything
for the public welfare. He is greatly interested
in politics, labors here for good schools and is
known as a good and substantial citizen.

MICHAEL MULVAHILL is well known
in Wheeler county and on various occasions he is
called on to make public orations, being gifted in
that line. He is one of the oldest pioneers of
the country now embraced in Wheeler county
and has wrought here with great industry and
display of stability. He is interested in politics
and is allied with the Democratic paty. In vari
ous lines he has shown himself to be possessed of
the true pioneer spirit and he may justly be
classed as one of the builders of this county and
section. Michael Mulvahill was born in Chicago, on
August 15, 1844. His parents, John and Nora
(Dillon) Mulvahill, were born in county Kerry,
Ireland. The father fought in the Mexican War
and his death occurred in 1852. The mother died
some later in Chicago. Being left without pa
rents when young, Michael was not favored as
other lads with an opportunity to gain an educa
tion. But, being aware of the importance of
such a training, he applied himself and by
painstaking and careful labor has made himself
a well informed and well educated man. When
he arrived of sufficient age he worked out on the
farms in Illinois and later farmed for himself. In
1875 he determined to try the great west, ancl
selected California as the place to start. In due

time he reached the Golden State and there re
mained for three years. It was 1878, when he
made his way north and finally located in the ter
ritory now occupied by Wheeler county, took
government land and engaged in raising stock.
That has occupied him since and he is one of the
prosperous and well-to-do men of the county.
In 1869 Mr. Mulvahill married Miss Abigal
Furgeson, who was born in Illinois. She accom
panied her husband on all his journeys and was
a faithful ancl loving wife. In 1900 she was
called from the labors of life to the world be
yond and left her husband and four children,
besides many warm friends to mourn her de
parture. The children are Nora, Michael, John,
and Rubie.
Mr. Mulvahill was very active in the work of
forming the new county of Wheeler, and was
appointed one of the acting committeee in that
important work. He has shown a loyalty to
country and an interest in the development of his
home county that commend him to all true
citizens.

ROBERT D. CANNON has every reason to
be proud of the success that he is favored with.
Starting in life with nothing and at a very ten
der age, he has won his way, by virtue of real
worth and activity in labors, to the front, gaining
meanwhile the reward of these virtues in such a
degree that he is now one of the men of wealth
in the county. His spirit of energy and enter
prise has always led him forward and he is a
man that brooks no defeat, being assured that
there is a way out of every difficulty. His life
of success illustrates this proposition and he is a
representative of the principle.
Robert D. Cannon was born in Meade county,
Kentucky, on July 18, i860. His father, John
P. Cannon, also a native of the Blue Grass State,
was a veteran of the Civil War and died soon
after its close from effects of his arduous serv
ice. He had married Miss Sophia Bringle, who
died when our subject was four years old. She,
too, was born in Kentucky. When eight, Rob
ert D. came west with an uncle and lived with
him in Linn county, this state, until 1876. Then
the lad was sixteen and that year he started for
himself, dissolving partnership with his uncle,
who kept the ranch and stock. Robert D. im
mediately came to this country and at once
started to work to get a foothold. For a time
he wrought for wages, but soon he got into busi
ness for himself and since that time he has stead
ily been climbing up the ladder. Mr. Cannon has
a choice ranch near Mitchell and also handles lots
of stock. Good improvements are in evidence

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

671

and the place is one of the fine ones of the
county. In 1898, Mr. Cannon secured posses
sion of the well known Palmyra-Trosper mining
property, which is a valuable one. It is in Miles
gulch and is a placer proposition. C. P. Johnson
is in partnership with Mr. Cannon, and they are
operating two hydraulics on the property. It nets
several thousand each year and on one occasion
they found a nugget that sold for four hundred
and sixty-eight dollars. Mr. Cannon is enter
prising and progressive and pushes his business
with an ability and wisdom that win success.
. In 1890, Mr. Cannon married Miss Cora E.
Campbell, whose parents are mentioned else
where in this volume. Four children have been
born to this union : Anthony O., James A.,
Eunice and Georgie L.

THOMAS M. PRICE, a stockman and
farmer of Wheeler county, resides ten miles
southeast of Richmond and was born in Tennes
see, in 1856. His parents were also natives of
that state. After receiving his education in his
native state, he continued there until 1884, farm
ing, and then in September of that year started
west. Pie arrived in western Oregon on October
3, following and settled in the Shoofly country.
After remaining there one year, he came to his
present location and he ancl his wife own here
•one-half section of land. In addition to doing
general farming, he has been raising stock and
now has about forty head of cattle, some horses,
¦and the place well improved.
In the Shoofly country, on December 25,
1890, Mr. Price married Minnie E. Parish, the
daughter of T. M. A. J. Parish. Mr. Parish
crossed the plains by ox teams in the early for
ties, being among the very first emigrants to this
country. Here he married Ellenor Beers, who
was one of the very first white women to come to
Oregon, having made the trip via Cape Horn.
To Mr. and Mrs. Price one child, Edwin Maple,
has been born. He is now thirteen years of age.
Mr. Price is a member of the A. O. U. W.,
the K. P. and the I. O. O. F.
In politics, he is a Republican and has always
manifested a lively interest in public and educa
tional matters.

EMIL STRAUBE is to be classed as one of
the pioneers of western Oregon and is now a
thrifty stockman residing five miles east from
Waterman. He was born in Grass valley, Ne
vada county, California, on June 24, 1861. His
father, John Straube, was a native of Saxony,

Germany and migrated to the United States when
quite young. He followed carpentering and
wrought in nearly every state in the union. He
came to California in the early fifties and there
engaged in mining until 1864, when he moved
to Canyon City, Oregon. After that, they took
a trip with freighting teams from there to Salem,
being accompanied by a Mr. Bonham. Near the
Keys ranch on the journey Mr. Bonham was shot
by the Indians and the same night the savages
burned the buildings on a ranch, which has been
known since as the Burnt Ranch. Our subject
well remembers this terrible occurrence, being
one of the party, though very young. The family
made their way to Salem and one year later, the
elder Straube moved his family to southern Ore
gon, where he died in 1884. He had married
Christina Star who was born in Germany, mi
grated to the United States when quite young,
and is now living in Central Point, Oregon. The
wedding occurred in Pennsylvania. The place
of our subject's birth was a little mining town
of California and he took all the various journeys
mentioned above with his parents and received
his education in Salem and southern Oregon. In
1877, he came back to western Oregon and for
three years wrought for wages in different loca
tions. Then he and his brother Adolph leased
some sheep which they handled for two years.
After that, they sold their interest in the sheep
and bought horses. They have now about four
teen hundred acres of land, about sixty head of
horses and two hundred and fifty cattle. They
are very prosperous and are known as indus
trious and capable men. Mr. Straube's brothers
are Charles, Adolph and Fred. The former is a
rancher in Washington, Adolph is a partner of
our subject and Fred owns a ranch in Oregon.
In 1 89 1, Mr. Straube married Miss Rosa
Quirolla, who was born in St. Louis. Her death
occurred in 1893, and one child, Frederick, sur
vives her. Mrs. Straube's surviving brother and
sisters are Mrs. Teresa McRay, at Riverside,
Oregon ; Katie and William, in Montana.
Mr. Straube is an active Democrat and a
very well posted man. He deserves to be classed
with the sturdy pioneers of Oregon and his
sterling worth and industry have done a great
deal to open up and build up the central part
of the state.

BENJAMIN IREMONGER resides some
eight miles east from Waterman and follows
stock raising. He was born in Lincolnshire,
England on January 20, i86|. His father,
Charles Iremonger, was also a native of Ene-

67:

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

land where he died. Our subject secured his
education in his native country and in 1883 took
passage to Philadelphia whence he came to The
Dalles and from there to Arlington. Then he
made his may to the Lost valley district, then in
Wasco county, now in Gilliam county and re
mained until 1884. Then he came to his pres
ent location and took a homestead. At that time,
he was one hundred and fifty dollars in debt,
having borrowed the money for his passage from
England. He began herding sheep and contin
ued at that for five and one-half years. He first
paid off the indebtedness then began to pur
chase sheep and after being through with the
herding days, entered the industry for him
self. He has been prospered and owns over a
section of land besides fourteen hundred and
fifty sheep. His place is well improved and
everything that he now owns has been gained
by hard labor and careful management since com
ing to his country. He is to be commended upon
his success and is one of the substantial and thor
ough men of the county.
In 1900, Mr. Iremonger married Alice Gray,
who was born in Lincolnshire, England, on Feb
ruary 22, 1866. Her father, Benjamin Gray, a
native of England is living there and a leading
citizen of his community. One child has been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Iremonger: Charles Will
iam, two years of age.
Mr. Iremonger has the following named
brothers and sisters: George, Charles W., Mary,
Robert, Walter and Nimrod, all in England.
George used to own land adjoining our subject,
but is now returned to England. Mrs. Iremon
ger has the following named brothers and sisters :
Thomas B., William, Maria, John, Fannie,
Bertha, Emma, Walter and Nellie.
Our subject is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and the K. P. In politics, he is" «n active and
well informed Republican and takes a lively in
terest in all political matters and educational af
fairs and everything that tends to upbuild and
improve the country.

JAMES WILSON was born in Columbia,
California, on August 2, 1862. He is now residing
at the Fopiano ranch which is located about a
mile south from Waterman. His parents were
James and Rosa Wilson, early immigrants to Cal
ifornia. .The former died when our subject was a
babe, but the latter is now living at Columbia,
California. Our subject remained in California
until 1886, receiving in the meantime his educa
tional training which included general mechanics.
In 1886 Mr. Wilson left California and jour

neyed north. After visiting various places he
finally came to what is now Wheeler county and
engaged on the Fopiano ranch. For one year
he was occupied here and then he went back to
California. The Golden State was then his home
place until 1891, when he returned to the Fopi
ano ranch.
John Fopiano was an early pioneer, coming
to what is now Wheeler county and locating the
property well known now as the Fopiano ranch.
He died in 189 1. Mr. Fopiano had married our
subject's sister, Mary. At the time Mr. Wilson
took charge of the ranch in the interest of his
sister it consisted of about three thousand cares.
By Mr. Wilson's judicious and wise management
it now consists of over ten thousand acres.
They handle large bands of stock and do
considerable general farming. The place is
equipped as a first class stock ranch and is being
provided with everything that could be utilized
in this occupation. Mr. Wilson has an interest
in the ranch and is one of the well to do and pros
perous men of the county. He has shown him
self especially successful in the stock business
and is ranked with the leading men in this occu
pation. Large interests are under his hands con
tinually and his executive ability, splendid prac
tical judgment and reliability especially fit him
for this important and responsible position. Mrs.
Fopiano resides in Alameda, California.
Mr. Wilson is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and the Elks, and enjoys the distinction of being
the center of a large circle of admiring friends
.and having the esteem and confidence of all who
are acquainted with him.

LUTHER D. GILLENWATER. Oregon
has many prosperous stockmen and that indus
try has brought many millions of wealth to tfie
Web-foot State. Among the prosperous and
wealthy ones, we are constrained to mention the
gentleman whose name is at the head of this
article. He is located about eleven miles west
from Mitchell, where his home ranch is situated..
It is one of the choicest and best improved in
the county and is conducted in a manner be
fitting a man of ability and business acumen. All
buildings needed ancl every improvement re
quired in his large business are at hand and Mr.
Gillenwater has a comfortable home as well as
this fine establishment. '
Luther D. Gillenwater was born in Hawkins
county, Tennessee, on December 16, .1861, the
son of Isaac S. and Sarah (Tarter) Gillenwater,
natives of Tennessee. The father was a prom
inent physician of Rodgersville, and an influen-

Wil

son

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

673

tial and leading citizen. Our subject's home
county was the scene of his early studies and
when he was of proper age, he went to work on
a farm. Later he was salesman in a store, and
finally, he decided to come west. This decision
was put into effect in 1889, when Mr. Gillen
water made his way into central Oregon. For
five years after arriving here he worked for
wages. This gave him the practical side of the
stock business and he knows every turn of the
work from the ground up. In clue time he was
in position to purchase a place for himself and
accordingly he selected a ranch on Crooked river
in Crook county and bought it. There he went
into the stock business for himself and followed
it successfully until 1901, when he purchased the
place where he now lives. Pie makes this his
headquarters, although he still owns the other
place. He has a large tract of land here and it is
fitted in capital shape for the stock business. Mr.
Gillenwater has many head of sheep and is one
of the most skillful men in the business about.
In 1888, Mr. Gillenwater married Miss Ida
M. Gillenwater, a native of Tennessee, and the
daughter of W. P. and Ellen (Sexton) Gillen
water, natives of Tennessee and Illinois, respec
tively. The father was a prominent lawyer in
Hawkins county, of his native state. One child
has been born to this union, Harry. Mr. Gillen
water is well posted in the questions of the day,
has labored incessantly for the improvement of
this section of the country, and is one of the
progressive and enterprising men of the county
today. He and his wife enjoy the. confidence and
esteem of their fellows and they are valued mem
bers of society.
Mr. Gillenwater has one brother, John F., liv
ing in San Francisco. Mrs. Gillenwater has
three brothers: John C, in Wheeler county;
Edward E., in Crook county, and William H., in
Albuquerque, New Mexico.

MIKE FITZGERALD has one of the
choicest stock ranches in Wheeler county. It is
situated four miles east from Burnt Ranch, and
consists of seven hundred acres of fertile soil.
It is well laid out, favorably located, and hand
somely improved. Everything required on a
first class stock ranch is in evidence and the
whole property reflects the skill and enterprise
of the proprietor.
Mike Fitzgerald was born in Tennessee, on
July 3, 1863, the son of William and Mary
(Flemming) Fitzgerald, natives of Ireland. The
father came to the United States when a small
boy and was reared and educated in Tennessee.
43

He learned the stone mason's trade and became
a well-to-do and prominent citizen. The mother
came to this country at the age of fourteen and
spent most of her life thereafter in Tennessee,
Our subject received his education in his native
state and as soon as he was of proper age to do
for himself went to farming there. In 1885, he
determined to try the west and after selecting
Oregon as the place for him was soon in the
central part of the state. For three years he
wrought for wages, and being of an economical
disposition, saved his money, which warranted
him in purchasing sheep and some land. From
that time to the present day, he has engaged in
the sheep business and has made a marked suc
cess of it. His estate has increased to seven hun
dred acres and his wealth has also been con
stantly accruing until now he is rated as one of
the most substantial men of this part of the
county. On September 24, 1900, Mr. Fitzgerald took
to himself a wife, the lady being Miss Evelyn
Maddron, a native of The Dalles, where also the
wedding occurred. Mrs. Fitzgerald was highly
educated and is a refined and cultured lady. Her
parents, William A. and Harriet Evelyn (Pen-
land) Maddron, were born in Tennessee. The
father was a participant in the Civil War, being
in the Thirteenth Tennessee. After the close of
hostilities, he removed to Texas and raised cot
ton. It was 1885, when he came to The Dalles,
where he is still living. Mrs. Maddron died in
1886. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald are well known
and highly respected people and have a great
many friends. They are leading people and are
always on the side of progression in all lines.

GEORGE J. McCOY has not been in
Wheeler county so long as some of the pioneers,
but he is a pioneer of the state and has wrought
with display of faithfulness and industry in vari
ous places, being on the frontier most of the time.
He was born in Warren county, Illinois, on May
4, 1837. His father, John McCoy, crossed the
plains with his wife and three children in 1845,
being among the very first to thread those weary
ways. They came through all right and he took
a donation claim nine miles southwest from
where Albany now stands. There he remained
until his death, becoming a prominent and
wealthy man. He was judge of his county and
held other offices. He had married Miss Sarah
Junkins, who shared his labors and successes,
being a faithful and kind helpmeet. Our sub
ject was educated in Linn county and when he
had grown up, he learned the carpenter trade.

674

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

He was in the Indian department in civil service
and was superintendent of farming and schools.
In 1882, with his wife, he established the first
Indian boarding school on the Warm Springs
reservation. Captain John Smith was the agent
then. In 1884, Mr. McCoy left this line of in
dustry and took government land in Wasco
county. There he continued in tilling the soil
until 1889, when he sold out his property and
again entered the civil service until 189 1 when he
removed to Hay creek, Crook county. There he
was in the stock business until his removal to
his present location in 1900. He resides about
seven miles east from Clarno and is engaged in
sheep raising. He has some fine bands and is
prospered. In 1858, Mr. McCoy married Miss Nancy J.
Fargay, the daughter of John and Matilda (Mil-
hollen) Fargay. She was born in Illinois and
crossed the plains with her parents to Oregon, in
1852. To this union the following named chil
dren have been born: James A., George E.,
Hanan R., Lena F., Laura M., Zella B., Sarah
J., Allie L., Ruby E., and John E. The last
named one is deceased. Mr. McCoy has taken
great pains to educate his children and the older
daughters have all taught school.

JOHN F. SPRAY, who resides at Spray,
Oregon, which place he was instrumental in es
tablishing, was born in Iowa, in 1859. John C.
Spray, his father, born in Indiana in 1820, was a
United Brethren minister for over thirty years.
His death occurred in 1894. In 1864 the fam
ily disposed of their interests , in the east and
with ox teams made the weary journey from Mis
souri valley to the Willamette valley. They
finally settled in Yamhill county, near Amity,
which was the home for seven years. Then they
•came to Umatilla county, settled near Weston
and one year later returned to Lane county,
where our subject remained until 1884. Then he
came to what is now Wheeler county and lo
cated first in Kaiter Basin, after which he moved
to the place now owned by Albert Cosner. Four
teen years were spent there and in 1900 Mr.
Spray located where he now resides. He was
instrumental in establishing the postoffice at
Spray, then built the ferry. After that, he laid
out the town of Spray, having erected the first
building there. He established a store and con
ducted the same for two years, until other par
ties were induced to locate there. Mr. Spray has
been very liberal and progressive in his labors
and has practically built the town to its present
proportions, having induced others to locate here,

having been instrumental in securing the county
road and the location of a fine school house. In
addition to this enterprise, he has been engaged
in stock raising and has now about seven thous
and sheep and twenty-five hundred acres of land.
His residence is a choice place in Spray and he
has shown himself one of the leading men of
Wheeler county.
In 1883 Mr. Spray married Mary E. Breed
ing, who was born in Lane county, Oregon. Her
father, B. C. Breeding, was a pioneeer to this
state in 1853 and served in the Rogue river war
in 1855-56. His death occurred in 1902. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Spray are Elvin
C, Eugene M., John R., Wilbur and Charles.
All are in this county.
Mr. Spray is a member of the K. P. and has
always supported the principles of the Republi
can party. He is a very enterprising, energetic
man and has the true spirit of building up and
improving and has done very much for Wheeler
county. He is one of the leading citizens, has an
excellent standing and is rightly classed among
the prominent men of this section.

FRED ANDREW HALE resides about
three miles northwest from Spray and is one of
the leading and substantial stockmen of the
county. His birth occurred in Maine, on April
13, 1861 and his father, Andree Hale, was also
born in the satne state. They came from an old
American family that has clone much toward de
veloping and building up the United States. The
first twelve years of our subject's life were spent
in his native state and then he journeyed to Illi
nois which was his home for six years. It was
1879 when he came west to California and
wrought at different occupations for two years.
Then he came to Wasco county and for twelve
vears was a resident of that section. After that,
he came to Wheeler county and purchased the
ranch where he now resides. It consists of two
hundred and fifty-five acres, all good land and
is one of the very best ranches in the entire
country. Mr. Hale has improved the place in a
splendid manner and everything about it speaks
his thrift, tois enterprise ancl his progressiveness.
The residence is a large structure, neatly painted
and tastefully arranged, while all the outbuild
ings and other improvements needed for a first
class ranch are now in evidence. Mr. Hale has
taken great pains to lay out the farm in a first
class shape and make everything of the best. He
has not only accomplished this in a first class-
manner but his labors have also stimulated others
in the same line of good work. At the present

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

675

time he has about one hundred head of cattle and
is a prosperous and thrifty man.
On Pine creek, in Wheeler county, on April
5, 1891, Mr. Hale married Mary Harder. Her
father, Mark Harder, was a pioneer of Oregon.
The children born to this union are Oscar and
Irle. Politically Mr. Hale is a Republican and
always takes an active interest in this realm. He
keeps himself well posted upon the questions and
issues of the day, is a public spirited and gener
ous man and has certainly done a commendable
labor in opening up this western country.

HENRY TRENT has spent about twenty
years in what is now Wheeler county, devoting
himself to general farming and stockraising. His
labors have been blessed with good success and
he- has a fine estate of one section two miles
south from Richmond. He is a man of stability
and industry and has assiduously continued in
his labors here for the time mentioned. He has,
.also, so conducted himself during this time that
he has won the esteem of the people and gained
for himself an excellent standing.
Henry Trent was born in Washington county,
Virginia, on February 22, 1862, the son of Louis
and Isabell (Thomas) Trent, both natives of
Virginia. They came from well-to-do and prom
inent families and the father fought through the
Civil War. Our subject was reared and edu
cated in his native place and when the years of
hudding manhood came, there came also, as
¦often to the American youth, a desire to try his
fortunes in the boundless west; and soon he
made preparations for the journey. From all he
could ascertain, he decided that Oregon was the
place to come to and accordingly in 1886 we find
him herding sheep in the vicinity of Mitchell.
Being of a thrifty and careful disposition it was
not long before he had saved money enough to
purchase some stock for himself. He also bought
some land and soon he was launched as an Ore
gon stockman, although, necessarily, at that time,
on a small scale. But small beginnings make
favorable endings, and so in this case, we soon
see Mr. Trent in possession of the fine estate he
now has and a band of stock. His care and skill
have been amply rewarded and he is today one
of the representative men of the county.
On October. 16, 1890, Mr. Trent decided to
take a helpmeet to himself, Miss Rebecca M.
Parish becoming his bride then. She was born
in the Willamette valley to T. M'. A. J. and
Elenor (Beers) Parish, early pioneers of Ore
gon. They have journeyed on the pilgrim way

of life since, sharing each other's successes and
trials and are now valued members of society
and have many friends. They have won good
success and are to be classed as the builders of
the county and as substantial citizens of today.
Mr. Trent is a member of the A. O. U. W., and
his wife of the auxiliary.
Some details of Trent's experiences might
be interesting and helpful to others who are
struggling to get a foothold. In 1889, he con
cluded to try the sheep' business and accordingly
rented a band of twelve hundred from Mr. A. J.
Parish. Owing to the scarcity of food, the hard
winter coming after, he was frozen out and lost
all but two hundred. Still having faith in sheep,
he had, in order to pursue that business, to go to
herding, which he did. To add to the burden, on
December 17, 1891, his house ancl nearly all his
goods were destroyed by fire. This was a hard
stroke, but applying the motto, "If at first you
do not succeed, try, try again," he went on and
has made a success. He is now, in addition to
handling his farm business, contractor for the
United States mail from Richmond to Mitchell,
which contract expires in July, 1906. He has
held it for seven years.
Mr. Trent has two brothers in Oregon, John
of Richmond, ancl A. C. of Antone ; and his
mother, five sisters, and two brothers, still re
side in Virginia.
Mrs. Trent's mother was the daughter pf A.
Beers, and she and her brother are believed to
be the only surviving members of the party which
came to Oregon in 1837, on the ship Lansanne,
around Cape Horn.

LLEWELLYN H. HALE is postmaster at
Spray, and has been since 1895. He was instru
mental in getting this office established and has
done very much for the promotion of the inter
ests of this section. Mr. Hale is also school
clerk and justice of the peace. He is of first
class standing in the community and is a man of
reliability and excellent judgment.
Llewellyn Hale was born in Somerset county,
Maine, on May 4, 1844, the son of Andrew and
Mary (Houghton) Hale, also natives of Somer
set county. The father was a man of prominence
in his county and came from a very old and influ
ential family. His ancestors first came to this
country in the Mayflower, and the family dated
back a long time before that. Many of the Hales
have been prominent and leading men. They.
were of English and Scotch ancestrage. Our
subject received a good education from the
schools of his native county and In i860 jour-

676

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

neyed west to Illinois, where he worked for
wages. In 1870 we find him in Page county,
Iowa, and there he was engaged in the mercantile
business at Reedsville, being, also, postmaster
for a number of years. In 1882 the western fever
again attacked him and he took the sure cure
of coming to the Pacific slope. Portland was the
scene of his labors for a time and then he sought
out another location, lighting on this place in
1884. He took government land and also bought
other and engaged in the stock business. He has
continued that since and has met with good suc
cess in his efforts. The fact that he has been in
responsible positions so long, both here and else
where, indicates him a man both of ability and
integrity and this is fully borne out in his life.
Mr. Hale descends from a strong and honorable
family and has reason to be proud of his fore
fathers, whose name, bequeathed unsullied and
prominent to him by those gone on, has been
kept as it was received and may be handed down
thus to those who will come after. Mr. Hale be
longs to the I. O. O. F. and is a social and genial
man.

JAMES S. HUNT is to be classed among
the leading and earliest pioneers of Wheeler
county. He resides now sixteen miles northeast
from Fossil and follows stock raising. His birth
occurred in Grant county, Indiana, on December
8, 1859. His father, David Hunt, was born in
Ohio in 1837 and served in the Sixty-third In
diana Volunteers for nine months during the
Civil War. After returning home he went on
the Wabash and Erie canal, where he operated a
canal boat until 1869 and then he went to Mis
souri, remaining some time when he came to Cal
ifornia and thence to Washington. After a year
in the Evergreen State, he came to Oregon and
died here in 1889. He had married Miss Robb,
who was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, on March
8, 1841 and is now living in Wheeler county.
Our subject came to central Oregon when twelve
years of age and as there were no schools near,
he had to content himself with the education he
received previous to that time. He was a good
rider and soon became very expert with the rope
and in a few years was one of the most skillful
horsemen and rope throwers in this part of the
state. When he was twenty years of age he
bought a half interest in his father's business and
continued with him until the latter's death. Then
he continued in partnership with his mother until
1893, in which year he went into sheep raising
for himself. He now has about two thousand
head of these animals and nearly a section of
land. He is being prospered in his labors and is

one of the well-to-do and substantial stockmen
of the county.
In 1893 Mr. Hunt married Miss Nettie Rob
ertson, who was born in the vicinity of Appo
mattox Court House, Virginia, on September
11, 1872. Her father, L. Robertson, was also a
native of Virginia. Owing to the fact that he
was a cripple he could not get in the army but his
brother fought for the confederacy as also did
two of his wife's brothers, one of whom was
killed at Gettysburg. Mr. Robertson married
Miss Day, a native of Virginia, who was a dis
tant relative of General Lee. To Mr. and Mrs.
nunt, two children have been born, Evrett and
Lilburn. Politically, Mr. Hunt is a Republican and in
church relationship he belongs to the Christian
Baptist denomination. He is a man who enjoys
the esteem and confidence of his fellows' and has
always been known as industrious, progressive
and ever ready to assist in the building up of the
country.

H. H. HENDRICKS, a leading attorney of
Wheeler county residing in Fossil, was born in
Polk county, Oregon on February 26, 1861. He
has gained good success in his profession and
made himself one of the substantial and capable
men of this part of the state and to his credit it
may be said that he has accomplished it all
through his own efforts, being entirely a self-
made man. His father, Robert J. Hendricks,
was born in Knox county, Illinois, in 1832 and
crossed the plains in 1852. After that, he re
sided in Yamhill county a time, then went to Polk
county, thence to Umatilla county, and died in
Douglas county in 1880. In Yamhill county in
1854, he married Mary J. Sherwood, who was
born in Fulton county, Illinois, in 1838 and
crossed the plains with her parents in 1850.
She is still living at Cottage Grove, Oregon. In
1868, the family came to what is now Olex, Gil
liam county- then a wilderness, and year later, set
tled in Umatilla county. In 1873, tney moved
to Douglas county and in these various places
our subject gained his primary education in the
public schools. When fourteen, he left home
and learned the printer's trade at Roseburg, Ore
gon. Two years later, he attended the Wilbur
Academy and the next year taught his first term
of school. Then following a year of newspaper
work, he entered the state university at Eugene
and graduated in 1883, receiving the degree of
B. S. He practically earned his way through,
working during the vacations as compassman for
the government survey in Lake county. After
graduation he took a position on the Daily States-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

677

man at Salem, Oregon, as city editor and busi
ness manager. This was to finish paying his col
lege expenses and to gain his support in the
.study of law. Then he entered the law office of
Ford and Kiser at Salem, where he was contin
uously for eighteen months. Then he removed to
Gilliam county continuing his law reading and
on the creation of that county in 1885 he was
appointed superintendent of the county schools.
At the next election he was chosen by the people
to fill that office; and in 1887 he was admitted
to the bar and began the practice of law at Fos
sil that same year. For several years he main
tained an office at Condon in partnership with
H. B. Hendricks ancl later in partnership with
Jay Bowerman. Mr. Hendricks is achieving a
splendid success in his profession and shows
himself a man of ability and integrity. His li
brary shows skill in selection and is up-to-date.
The brothers of our subject now alive are
Glen O., a stockman in Harney county ; H. B., an
attorney ancl real estate man at Grant's pass ;
R. J., Jr., manager of the Salem Daily States
man; John R., a stockman in Harney county;
David A., a newspaper man in Montana.
In 1885, Mr. Hendricks married Miss Glori-
unda Giesy, who was born in Marion county,
Oregon. She died at Fossil a year after her mar
riage, leaving an infant son, William Giesy Hen
dricks, who is now attending the Portland Acad
emy. At Fossil, on November 25, 1887 Mr.
Hendricks married Mary M. McKenzie. She
was born in Wisconsin and raised near Kansas
City, Kansas. The children of this union are :
Robert H., sixteen years old; Ford H., fifteen
years of age ; Carl H., aged thirteen ; Winlock
H., eleven years old ; and Mary E., nine years
¦old. Mr. Hendricks belongs to the Masonic fra
ternity, the K. P., the W. W., M. W. A. ancl the
Eastern Star. Politically, he is a Republican,
while in religious persuasion he is identified with
the Unitarians.

GEORGE W. CHAPMAN, who is a repre
sentative stockman of Wheeler county and one of
the earliest pioneers of this section, was born in
Indiana, on June 28, 1846. At present he resides
about one mile east from Richmond, where he
owns a good estate, part of which he gained
through government right and part by purchase.
Having passed through the trying times of pio
neer days, he is well fitted to be represented in a
work of this character and to be classed as one
of the builders of this great country. Many and
¦difficult were the hardships ancl labors of those
•days and they never can be fully written, but in

accord with the adage, "Honor to whom honor is
clue," is very fitting that the pioneers and frantirs-
men should be classed with the leaders of the
race. Our subject's father, Joseph R. Chapman,
was a native of Connecticut and reared on a farm.
When arrived at young manhood he moved to
Ohio, then to Indiana, and later to Iowa, being
a pioneer in these places. In 1852, he crossed
the plains with ox teams, bringing his family
with him, ancl made location in Polk county,
Oregon, there taking a donation claim. Seven
years were spent on that and then came the move
to what is now Klickitat county, Washington.
For a decade he lived in that territory and then
he came to the region now embraced in Wheeler
county. Here he remained, raising stock and
doing general farming until the time of his death.
Pie had married Mrs. Mary Mithchell, nee John
son, a native of Pennsylvania, who was a faith
ful helpmeet to him in all his labors and journeys
and is now living in Wheeler county.
Our subject made the best of his opportuni
ties to secure an education in the schools in Polk
and Klickitat counties and came with his father
to this section in 1869. They were among the
very first settlers ancl had to combat with the
Indians and wild animals and had the hardship
of transporting supplies many, many miles. They
weathered those days of hardship, however, and
our subject has given his attention steadily to
stock raising and general farming and the result
is that he has come to be a prosperous and sub
stantial citizen of the county.
In 1878, Mr. Chapman married Miss Mary E.
E. Armsworthy, who was born in Klickitat coun
ty, Washington, the daughter of Levi and Ellen
(Dunlap) Armsworthy. The former was a na
tive of North Carolina, crossing the plains in the
early fifties and settling first near Portland,
whence he removed to Klickitat county. The
mother started across the plains with her par
ents, both of whom died en route. She shared
the labors and successes of her husband and they
now reside in Klickitat county. To our subject
and his wife seven children have been born,
Archie, Hattie, Guy, Claude, Ray, Elmer, and
Mary A., deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Chapman are good substantial
people and for many years have done their share
in the development and upbuilding of this county.

WILLIAM SETH MOORE is a stockman
residing about six miles east from Fossil, where
he owns a quarter section of good land ancl han
dles about one hundred or more cattle. He was
born in Missouri, on July 16, 1847, tne son of

678

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Joshua and Elmira (Yale) Moore. The father
started to drive across the plains with ox teams
in 1852 and died before he reached his destina
tion. The mother, a native of Ohio, was a school
teacher before she 'was married, that event occurr
ing when she was twenty-five years of age. When
her husband died, she brought the family across
the plains to Oregon City and her death occurred
in 1894. Our subject was with the family when
they crossed the plains and, in addition to his
father dying, his brother also died at The Dalles.
From that point they went down the river to the
locks and then took steamer to Oregon City,
where they remained about a year. There the
mother married George Tillotson, a millwright.
The next move was to Linn county, and a year
later they went on to Polk county, where Mr.
Tillotson took a preemption. This was their home
for six years and then the family went to Dallas,
where our subject remained until he was twenty-
two years of age. He then purchased a farm in
Cooper Hollow, Polk county. He also made a
trip to the Palouse country, Washington. He
made a camp on the Touchet and took a trip over
to Tucanon and visited his step-brother. Return
ing to his camp he found that his horses had
strayed away and he was not able to find them
until the following spring which necessitated Tiis
remaining on the Touchet until that spring. His
camping ground was what is now Huntsville.
The next year he returned to Polk county, then
came over to eastern Oregon. A little later he
settled in Klickitat county, where he resided four
years, and then went to The Dalles. From there
he journeyed to the John Day river, settling in a
portion of what is now Wheeler county, and re
mained for one season. Then he came to his
present place and took a preemption and a home
stead, half of whih is nis home now. He has
given his attention to the improvement and culti
vation of it since and to stock raising.
In 1869 Mr. Moore married Miss Sarah E.
Wren, a native of Illinois. Her father, Thomas
Wren, was a veteran of the Civil war. To this
union the following named children have been
born, Mrs. Annie E. Horn, Mrs. Lela E. New
man, and Mrs. Sophia I. Meteer.

ing this time, he was taken prisoner and confined
eight months. He also participated in Sherman's
March to the Sea. Our subject went with his
parents to Missouri and there remained until
1882, when he went to Coos county, Oregon.
One year later, he came to his present location
by team. The balance of the family accompa
nied him. He took a homestead and since has
devoted himself to stock raising. His brother,
John William, resides with him, and he has two
other brothers, Edgar and Ulysses G., living in
Portland. His half sisters are Ella and Myrtle,
and his half brothers are James H. and Clyde.
On March 8, 1889, Mr. Dement married Ella-
J. Ellis, who was born in California, the daugh
ter of Thomas Ellis, a pioneer of that state. They
have two children, Daisy M. and Andrew
Thomas. Mr. Dement is a Republican and always man
ifests interest in the welfare of the community as
well as in educational and political matters.

SEDGEWICK STANTON DEMENT, a
stockman residing about four miles southeast
from Fossil, was born in Ohio, on December 29,
1869, ^e son of John C. and Maggie (Dillon)
Dement, natives of Ohio. The mother died in
1878, and the father is now living in Portland.
He is a veteran of the Civil war, having served
in the Fourth Ohio Cavalry for three years. Dur-

CHARLES McKENZIE is at the head of
the Hotel McKenzie in Fossil. The establish
ment is a first-class house, commodious and well.
furnished, and handled in a manner that makes
it very attractive to guests. Mr. McKenzie is the
recipient of a fine patronage, has the ability to
conduct things in a wise manner and is rated as
one of the substantial and leading business men.
of Fossil. He was born in Montello, Wisconsin,
on August 21, 1857. His father, W. L. McKen
zie, was born in Canada and removed from there
to Rochester, New York, and then in 1852, to'
the vicinity of Montello, Wisconsin. At that
place he enlisted in the Third Wisconsin Cav
alry, as first orderly sergeant, and served for
three years and four months in the Civil war.
After his discharge, he returned to his home in
Wisconsin, and then moved to Kansas, where he
still resides. He was a pioneer merchant at
Rochester, New York, and also did cabinet mak
ing. He conducted am undertaking business and
operated the first hearse in what is now the popu
lous city of Rochester. He is a man of influence
and excellent standing. H; married Elizabeth
Dixon, a native of Canada, and the aunt of Rev.
Dr. Dixon, of New York. She died in 1900, aged
seventy. Our subject came from Wisconsin to
Kansas with his parents when nine years of age
ancl there remained until April, 1878, during-
which time he received his education. In the
year last mentioned, we find him on his way to
Idaho and there he freighted for some time..
After this, he engaged in the livery business until
February, 1880, when he came to the vicinity of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

6fg

Fossil. Here he rode the range until the fall of
1884, when he built a livery barn in Fossil, which
he conducted until 1891. Then he rented the
establishment and engaged in lumbering. In
1892, his barn burned and he rebuilt and sold
later. He continued in the lumbering business,
owning a sawmill, for about thirteen years and
during this time he built the Hotel McKenzie
and now is giving his entire time and attention
to the operation of this house. It is the onlv
hotel in Fossil and is one that reflects credit on
the town.
On December 14, 1885, Mr. McKenzie mar
ried Miss Carry Brinkerhoff, who was born in
Walla Walla. Her father was one of the pioneers
to California, and married Fannie Maxon, who
was born near Walla Walla, and whose mother,
Mrs. Maxon, was the first white woman in Walla
Walla. Four children are the fruit of this union,
William, Bessie, Frank and Cnanes. Mr. Mc
Kenzie is a member of the Blue Lodge and Chap
ter of the Masonic order, and also belongs to the
M. W. A., and the W. O. W. Politically, he is a
Republican. He stands well in the community
and is a progressive man in every respect, and
assists in all matters of improvement and devel
opment.  r~-+ 
JULIA A. DOUSMAN was born in New
York state in 1825. Her father, Julius Chuyler,
was a native of New York city and came from
German ancestry. His father was also born in
Germany, but fled from that country at the time
the Hugenots were persecuted. Our subject came
with her parents to Michigan when she was an
infant, they being among the first settlers in that
country. They had to cut their roads through
the wild country and finally settled where Mon
roe is now and where she was raised. There, in
1843 sne married Henry Dousman, a native of
France. He came to the United States when
quite young. After their marriage, they re
mained in Michigan two years, then went to
Canada, where Mr. Dousman followed his trade
of milling. In 1850, they went to California,
via the Panama route, and while on the way
from Panama to San Francisco the machinery
of their ship broke and it was three months before
they made the harbor of the Golden Gate. Her
husband was very sick, her children were afflicted
with the scurvy and both water and provisions
became very scarce. Twenty-six of the passen
gers died from yellow fever, in fact every person
who took the fever died except Mr. Dousman.
They remained in Sacramento for one year, then
went to the mines for one year. In 1853 they
located in Astoria, which then consisted of two

or three houses, a mill and a store. Mrs. Dous
man did cooking for the mill crew for a year
while her husband worked in the mill. In 1854
they returned to California, Mrs. Dousmart
spending one year in Sacramento, while her hus
band worked in the mines. Then they bought a
claim which they were unable to secure, owing
to its being on the Spanish land grant. They
bought a second claim which resulted the same
way, then becoming discouraged they removed
to the mountains of Monterey county and re
mained two years. Later, they journeyed to
Sonoma county and bought seven hundred acres
of land and there lived for twenty-five years, then
they sold out and went to Spokane, spending two
years. They sold out their property there and
journeyed to the Rogue river valley, and a few
weeks later drove on to what is now Wheeler
county, locating here in 1882. Mrs. Dousman
now owns three hundred and forty acres of land.
Her husband died in the spring of 1900. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dousman are Mrs.' :
Henrietta Arnold, Mary Ann McCappin, and
Mrs. Ellis Sichel. Mrs. Dousman is now enjoy
ing splendid health and is very active for a
woman of her age. She is surrounded bv her
children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchil
dren and her great-great-grandchildren. She
is well known and highly esteemed because
of her excellent principles and untiring
industry. Her husband was very prominent in
many lines, especially in Masonic circles, having
become a Mason in 1844, in Muncie, Indiana. He
assisted to organize many lodges in the west,'
among which was one at Astoria. He was one
of the first Masons on the coast. Mrs. Dousman
has certainly seen a long life of pioneering and
in it all has shown a sturdiness and stability that
are commendable. It is very pleasant after a
life of activity, to see her surrounded by her
loved ones, enjoying the fruits of her labors.

ISAAC F. SHOWN follows the related occu
pations of farming and stock raising in Wheeler
county, his estate of four hundred acres being
located some six miles west of Richmond, on the
Fossil stage road. He was born in Johnson
county, Tennessee, on March 10, 1835. His
father, Joseph Shown, was also born in that
county, the date being February, 1803. He was
well-to-do and prominent man and his father,
Leonard Shown, the grandfather of our subject,
was born in Pennsylvania and fought in the
Revolution. The mother of our subject was
Mary (Wills) Shown, a native of Johnson
county, Tennessee, and descended from promi-

68o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

nent and wealthy people. After completing the
common school training, our subject studied in
the Taylorsville Academy, then worked on a farm
until the Civil war broke out, when he was de
tailed to work in the confederate iron works. He
continued in that capacity until he found an
opportunity to escape then hurried to the fed
eral lines and enlisted in Company D, Thirteenth
Tennessee Cavalry and served until September
5, 1865, fighting for the stars and stripes. Dur
ing that time he was in fourteen severe engage
ments and acquitted himself as a brave and faith
ful soldier. In March, 1866, Mr. Shown was
elected sheriff of Johnson county and served six
years. Then he served two years as trustee and
again was elected sheriff and continued for two
years. In 1884 he determined to change his res
idence and accordingly sold all his property in
the east and journeyed to the Pacific coast. He
finally selected government land where he now
resides and purchased there until he has four
hundred acres. He raises general crops and
handles stock. In 1896 Mr. Show,n was elected
assessor of Crook county, Oregon, and served
two years ; then he was re-elected, but as Wheeler
county was cut off about that time, he was ap
pointed assessor of Wheeler county, and upon
the expiration of his term was again elected to
that position. This makes Mr. Shown a service
of nearly twenty years in various county offices,
in all of which he has shown an uprightness and
efficiency that have commended him to the public.
In 1857, Mr. Shown married Mary I. Ellrod,
the daughter of Calaway and Fannie (Jones)
Ellrod, natives of North Carolina. The father
was a prominent man and was clerk of Johnson
county, Tennessee, when he died. Mrs. Shown
was born in North Carolina and moved with her
parents to Tennessee when a smah girl. To Mr.
and Mrs. Shown the following named children
have been born: Stacy, in 1868; T. Gordon, in
1870; Edward R., in 1872; Nathaniel D., on Jan
uary 10, 1874; and Hamilton C, on March 4,
1877. They are all well-to-do and respected
farmers in Wheeler county. Mr. Shown enjoys
a splendid reputation and is of first-class stand
ing in the community. He has merited the ap
proval and confidence of his fellows by his faith
fulness and reliability and he is one of the leading-
men of the county today.

WILLIAM W. KENNEDY is one of the
prominent men of Wheeler county and in fact is
well known all through his portion of the state.
He was born in Huntington, Quebec, on January
13, 1836, and now resides at Fossil, being the

superintendent of schools for Wheeler county.
James Kennedy, his father, was born in Dum
fries, Scotland, and came to Canada while young,
where he followed farming. In 1842 he went to
Illinois and took government land, thirty miles
north of Chicago. In 1852 he journeyed thence
across the plains to California. It was the year
of the great epidemic of cholera, but so skillful
was Mr. Kennedy in treating the cases in his
train that there was but one death. In California
he engaged in mining and freighting, then built a
toll road and for a while preached the gospel.-
He was a very influential man, taking a promin
ent part in public affairs and finally died at San
Jose, California, in 1885. He had married
Helen McDougal, the daughter of John Mc
Dougal of Grennoch, Scotland. Mrs. Kennedy
came from Grennoch, her native place, to Canada
when a girl, having received her education in
Scotland. She was married in Canada and
crossed the plains with her husband, participat
ing all the scenes of his life and dying a few
months after his departure. She was a very kind
and noble woman. Her father was a prominent
vessel owner on the Atlantic coast. Our sub
ject was educated in the public schools in Illinois,
then completed a course at the Gates academy
in San Jose, California, after which he took a
post graduate course at the state normal. He
had come to California with his parents across
the plains and after his education was completed
took up the work of teaching. He followed it in
California until 1877, when he came to Heppner,
Oregon, took government land and engaged in
stock raising. In 1884 Mr. 'Kennedy came to
Fossil and built the Kennedy hotel, which he
operated until 1888. Then he was elected su
perintendent of schools for the county and has
been in that or other county offices ever since.
He has been surveyor and judge of this county,
and his work for the success of the schools has
placed them in a very excellent condition.
In 1870 Mr. Kennedy married Miss Harriett
E. Hamilton, who was born in San Jose, Cali
fornia. Her parents, Zeri and Jane H. (Black
ford) Hamilton, had crossed the plains to Cali
fornia in 1849. They operated a hotel at George
town, Eldorado county, then did farming. The
father died in 1871. Mr. Kennedy has the fol
lowing named brothers ancl sisters : Walter,
who was lost on a vessel on Lake Michigan;
Robert D., who followed mining, then was n
public lecturer until his death in 1881 ; John M ,
a retired farmer at San Jose, California; James
G., who died in 1893, was then president of the
San Francisco normal school and a prominent
educator; Thomas E., who was a very prominent
educator and at the time of his death was head

William W. Kennedy

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

68 1

inspector for the schools of San Francisco;
Mary, Elizabeth, Mrs. Jeanette Malcom, and
Mrs. Margaret Wild, deceased. After the
death of James G. and Thomas E. the Franklin
school of San Francisco was named in honor of
them, being now known as the Kennedy school.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy four children have
been born, Mrs. Margaret J. Brown, in Cali
fornia; Mrs. Helen E. Yantis, Mrs. Birdie Bad
and Robert D., all in Fossil. Mr. Kennedy is
a prominent Republican and the fact that he has
continued in office at the hands of the people for
such a long period indicates and stamps him as a
man both of ability and unswerving integrity.
His standing in the county is of the very
best and he is looked up to and respected by
everybody.

HON. R. N. DONNELLY is properly called
the father of Wheeler county. He is a wealthy
and enterprising stockman residing at Richmond
and was born in Johnson county, Tennessee, on
October 3, 1855. His father, Richard H. Don
nelly, was a native of Johnson county, Tennessee,
also, and followed farming ancl merchandising.
He was prominent ancl wealthy and held many
offices of public trust in his native state. His
i"ather, Richard Donnell}-, the grandfather of our
-subject, was a veteran of the War of 18 12. Rich
ard H. Donnelly married Miss Eliza Moore, also
a native of Johnson county, Tennessee, and de
scended from a prominent and representative
family. After completing the common schools,
our subject finished his studies at the Finley high
.school of Lenore, North Carolina. Then he
turned his attention to the work of the educator
and for a number of years was a faithful laborer
in that field in the state of Tennessee. It was
1880 when Mr. Donnelly decided to come west,
making Oregon the objective point of his jour
neys. Upon arriving in this portion of the state
he began work for wages. Soon thereafter he
took government land and has added to it by
purchase at various times since until he has a
large and excellent estate. He has a beautiful
home, good improvements and much property.
He handles stock ancl is much on the range.
In November, 1881, Mr. Donnelly married
Miss Jane R. Keys, a native of Johnson county,
Tennessee. She had come to Oregon with her
parents in 1888. David L Keys/Mrs. Donnelly's
father, was also born in Tennessee and came to
Oregon by way of the isthmus and settled in
Benton countv. He married Susan J. Ward, also
a native of the Big Bend State. To Mr. and
Mrs. Donnellv. four children have been born.
William A.. Edgar W.. H. Revs and George.

Mr. Donnelly has always taken great interest
in the development and progress of the commu
nity, being an enterprising man, and in political
matters is influential and leading. In 1898 his
name appeared on the Republican ticket as can
didate for the state legislature and he was
promptly elected. This was from the Grant and
Harney county district and during that term he in
troduced the bill organizing Wheeler county ancl
proposed the name, Wheeler, on account of the
aged fronstiersman of whom mention has been
made in another portion of this work. Mr. Don
nelly was successful in piloting the bill to passage
and Wheeler county was formed. Perhaps to his
efforts, more than to any other one man, is due
the organization of this now prosperous division.
After his term expired Mr. Donnelly gave his
attention to stock raising and six years later was
elected again to represent his district in the state
legislature. Mr. Donnelly is a member of the I. O. O.
F., the K. P., and is popular in fraternal circles.
The Donnelly family in Tennessee were promi
nent union people during the war and had to
withstand much opposition, being so near the
confederate sympathizers. A. T. Donnelly, an
uncle of our subject, was a captain in the union
army. Mr. Donnelly has shown in all his long
public service a faithfulness to his constituents
that has endeared him to the people and bespeaks
him a man of sound principles and stability.

THOMAS J. MONROE is certainly one of
the earliest pioneers of central Oregon. In addi
tion to that, he has so labored with enterprise and
industry since those days, in building up the
country ancl bringing in the ways of civilization,
that he is to be classed as one of the builders of
Wheeler county, being, also, one of its repre
sentative citizens at this day. He now resides
about seven miles out from Mitchell on the Fos
sil stage road ancl there, with his family, owns a
magnificent estate of fourteen hundred acres of
choice land. He gives his attention to the over
sight of this and to raising stock, which latter
industrv he has followed here for over thirty
vears. In his labors Mr. Monroe has manifested
great enterprise and his care and thrift have
made him a splendid success. Coming and start
ing here without means, he has "won his way
steadilv on until he is classed as one of the
wealthy men of the county and every dollar of it
represents his toil and business abil'tv.
Thomas J. Monroe was born in Belmont
county, Ohio, on January 6, 1837. His father,
William Monroe, was a native of Pennsylvania,

682

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and came with his parents, when a lad, to Ohio,
which was then a wild country. The ancestors
were veterans of the Revolution and were promi
nent in colonial days, being farmers. He married
Miss Ann Mann, a native of Bedford county,
Pennsylvania, who came to Ohio with her parents
when a girl.
Our subject gained his education in Ohio
and in Iowa, and in 1865, accompanied by his
parents, two brothers and two sisters, crossed the
plains to Lane county, Oregon. In 1869, the
family came thence to the vicinity of Mitchell
and here the father died on May 11, 1873. After
his death, the boys, under the guiding direction
of their mother, operated the ranch. Thomas J.
was with his parents in all their journeys, and in
1872 took government land here. His attention
was turned to farming and stock raising and
now he is the possessor of nine hundred and
sixty acres, while his children own half as much
more. They are prosperous and substantial peo
ple. In i860 Mr. Monroe married Miss Mary A.
Snedeker. She was born in Ohio and came with
her husband to the Pacific coast: Her parents,
John and Pricilla (Hall) Snedeker, natives of
Ohio and Virginia, respectively, came from
Dutch stock. Her grandfather served in the War
of 1812. To Mr. and Mrs. Monroe four chil
dren have been born : Almira, deceased ; Daniel
B., Sarah P., and Martha E. It is to his credit
to note that when Mr. Monroe came here he had
no capital, all his property has been gained by
his industry and care here. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Monroe endured all the deprivations incident to
those early days, labored industriously, denying
themselves much, and have well earned their
competence.

E. W. HOWELL resides about six miles
south from Richmond, at the present time, and
was born in Jackson county, Oregon, on Decem
ber 27, i860. He is the owner and operator of
a fine saw mill and shingle mill, where he resides.
The former has a daily output capacity
of ten thousand feet and the latter is
a well equipped and first-class plant. Mr.
Howell does a good, large business in
lumbering and is known as one of the
progressive and substantial business men and citi
zens of Wheeler county. His fati.er, Maurice
Howell, was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and came
across the plains in 1852. He was a veteran of
the Rogue River war, and died in 1873. He had
married Catherine Clayton, who was born in
Ohio ancl crossed the plains with her parents from
Iowa, in 1852. She is now living in Ashland,

Oregon, in the same vicinity where she first set
tled. Our subject received his early education
from the public schools and then completed the
Ashland normal course. He labored industri
ously in the summers and spent the winters in
studying. In this way, he secured a good edu
cation through his own efforts, since his father
died when he was about ten years of age. In
June, 1884, Mr. Howell located permanently in
the territory now occupied by Wheeler county
and engaged in lumbering. At first he worked
for wages until he had the business well learned,
then in 1894 he leased a mill in the Winlock
neighborhood and operated the same for three-
years. In 1899, he came to his present location,
where he completed the mill which he still oper
ates. He has a good trade in lumber and has
assisted very materially in building up the coun
try by his manufacturing. At Eagle creek, in
Clackamas county, Oregon, on October 22, 1884,
Mr. Howell married Miss Maud M. Bates who
was born in Missouri, on November 19, 1866,
and reared in Clackamas and Multnomah coun
ties, Oregon. Her father, Edwin Bates, crossed
the plains in 1871, and is still living in Clackamas
county. Our subject's brother, Frank E. Howell,.
was a very bright and promising young man and
enlisted in Company L. Second Oregon Volun
teers to serve in the Philippine Islands. He was-
actively engaged in the campaign with his com
mand until the regiment was discharged from.
further service, when he entered into business
about sixty miles from Manila. He was later
taken sick there and returned home, but never
recovered, and his death occurred in Ashland on
November 30, 1900. Another brother our
subject, Maurice Howell, enlisted in Company
M, Second Oregon Volunteers, and served dur
ing the entire struggle in the islands. His honor
able discharge occurred at San Francisco, but he
had contracted disease in the service from which
he never recovered, his death afterward occurring
on August 17, 1903.
Mr. Howell is a member of the I. O. O. F..
the K. P. and the A. O. U. W., while in politics
he is a good, strong Republican and takes a
keen interest in the campaigns. Mr. Howell is an
Oregonian by birth as well as by choice, and be
lieves that his state has one of the greatest futures
of any part of the northwest. He has labored"
assiduously to develop and build up and is rightly
classed as one of the pioneers of this country.

SAMUEL S. NELSON, a stockman resid
ing about two miles southwest from Mitchell,
and one of the leading men of this part of the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

683:

county, was born in La Fayette county, Missouri,
on January 1, 1862. His father, Rufus K. Nel
son, was born in Kentucky, came to Missouri
when a young man, on to Nevada in 1874, and
finally landed in Lane county, Oregon, shortly
after. In 1877 he came to the vicinity of Mitchell
and engaged in stock raising. He was killed
while driving a band of horses to Nebraska, in
1889. He had married Miss Mary C. Neil, who
v/as born near Paris, Kentucky. She accom
panied her husband across the plains. Our sub
ject was educated in Oregon, and here, also, he
grew to manhood. When he had arrived to a
sufficient age, he entered into the stock business
for himself, and since that time has continued in
it. He accompanied his father to this section
and they were among the very first to settle here.
He is well acquainted with the country and has
handled stock all over it. Mr. Nelson now has a
section and a half of good land, which is a choice
stock ranch, and he handles it' and his stock busi
ness with skill and care. Mr. Nelson has four
brothers, Charles, W. F., P. B., and E. W. They
all came to this country together and have been
much associated in their business since. In the
early days, they had to endure much hardship
and were accustomed to the rugged life of the
frontiersmen, which they met with fortitude. Mail
and all supplies had to be brought from a dis
tant point and they had to be on the watch for
the depredations of the savages all the time.
However, they have weathered all of this and are
well-to-do men and representative citizens here
at this time. They each have ranches and large
bands of stock on the range.

DAVID E. BAXTER is one of the progres
sive young men of Wheeler county. At the pres
ent time he is owner and editor of the Spray
Courier, a bright and newsy sheet and the only
Republican periodical published in the county. He
was born in Salem, Oregon, on November 20,
1877, and has made Oregon his home ever since.
His father, William Baxter, was born in Toronto,
Canada, on February- 22, 1833, and twenty-six
years later came via Cape Horn to Oregon and
was one of the sturdy pioneers in this great state.
When there was but one store in Salem, Mr. Bax
ter was there, and has since assisted in the growtn
of the country. He married Margaret Evans,
who was born in Michigan, in 1838. Our subject
received his education in the country schools of
Oregon until 1896, when he began teaching. Dur
ing the winters after that, he attended the Willa
mette University and completed the commercial
and normal courses. His teaching continued each

summer, and in 1901 he came to eastern Oregon..
He taught in the Richmond, Waterman and Spray
schools, and in August, 1902, he bought the Spray
Courier, which he has conducted since. The paper
reflects the man and is known as a fearless, bright
and reliable paper.
In September, 1902, Mr. Baxter married Miss
Delia Osborn. She was born in Salem, Oregon,
on September 3, 1880, and received her education
in the Salem schools in this state. Her father,
William H. Osborn, was a merchant in Salem.
To our subject and his wife one child has been-
born, Glendon O., on August 22, 1903. Mr..
Baxter has the following named brothers and sis
ters: George T., William E., Peter A., Mrs. P.
L. Frazier, Mrs. Margaret Meadon, and C. Olive.
Mr. Baxter is a member of the K. P. and Masonic-
orders, and in politics is a well informed and.
stanch Republican, while in religious persuasions,
he belongs to the Christian church. Mr. Baxter-
may well take pride in the fact that he is an Ore
gonian, and his life has been spent to further im
prove and benefit the country where he was born
and raised, and is held in high esteem at this time..

CARL NICALUS WAGNER, who was born
in Camanche, Iowa, on July 1, 1857, is now living:
five miles northeast of Spray, Wheeler county,
where he does stock raising. His father, Detrick
Wagner, was born in Germany and became one-
of the pioneers of Iowa. He was a baker by trade
and was killed in a tornado in Camanche, Iowa, in-
1859. He had married Margurite Klinat, a na
tive of Germany, who died in 1900. After our
subject's father died, Mrs. Wagner married Au
gust Lille, who is now living at Mapleton, Iowa.
Carl N. received his education in the public
schools of Camanche, and on November 15, 1875,
left his native state for Portland, Oregon. After
a few days in that metropolis he came on to The
Dalles. On January 1, 1876, he came on to the
Corncob ranch, then owned by Gilman French,
Wheeler & Company, and there engaged for
wages until the following fall. Then he and his
brother, G. R., bought a squatter's right to ?.
quarter section of land in the Haystack country
for which they paid one thousand one hundred
dollars. Later our subject traded his half of the
land for one hundred and sixty head of cattle
and five horses and embarked in the stock busi
ness. He has followed this occupation since and
now has two hundred acres of land and one hun
dred head of cattle, besides some horses. Mr..
Wagner has one brother, George Robert, living at
Monument, Oregon, and two sisters, Levianna
A. and Katie, living with him, two half brothers,.

'684

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Willie and Albert Lille, and one half sister, Mrs.
Emma Harleton.
Politically Mr. Wagner is a republican and
served as assessor of Grant county in 1894 and
1895. During the Indian troubles of 1878 he and
his brother with three others fortified a house and
remained on their land the entire time. How
ever, they had no occasion to use their fortifica
tion as the Indians did not trouble them. Mr.
Wagner is a well known citizen, having done
worthy labors during the pioneer davs and is a
man of good standing.

JOHN F. ASHER is one of the leading-
stockmen of Wheeler county, and his estates lie
in the vicinity of Twickenham, where he makes
his home. He is a man of stamina and has shown
good ability in his labors here, being progressive
and up-to-date. He was born in Laurel countv,
Kentucky, on September 15, 1865, the son of
Martin and Sarah (Brown) Asher, natives of
Kentucky, the father's birthplace being the same
as this son's. Martin was a large stockman and
•drover, driving mules to the south and hogs and
cattle to the river markets. His parents, the
grandparents of our subject, came from England
to North Carolina and later settled in Kentucky.
Miss Brown whom he married, was the first
cousin of the famous John Brown, who seized
the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Her family was
prominent ancl influential. John F. was well
•educated in Kentucky and after completing his
training, he gave himself to the work of the
educator for three years, making a fine record.
He was not satisfied without traveling, and as
the west presented the greatest attractions to a
young progressive man, he came hither, selecting
Oregon as the objective point. He sought out
the various portions of the state that offered in
ducements for location and finally decided to cast
his lot with Wheeler county, selecting the estate
where he now dwells, which consists of seven
teen hundred acres of excellent land. It is one
of the choicest stock ranches in this county, and
is handled in fine shape. Mr. Asher gained title
by purchase and has added much improvement
since that time and is now handling a fine lot of
stock. He handles cattle and sheep almost ex
clusively. Mr. Asher has the following named brothers :
William G., Fred, G. M. ancl Tilford, all farmers
and stockmen in this county except Fred, who is
a farmer in Kentucky. Mr. Asher has done ex
ceedingly well since coming here ancl has rea
son to be proud of his achievements. He has
many friends, has gained a prominent place in

the county, has won a large amount property
and is a first class citizen. Mr. Asher has never
yet seen fit to barter away the quiet joys of
bachelordom for the responsibilities of matrimon
ial life, although he is popular.

EDWARD W. TAYLOR resides some ten
miles out from Mitchell on Taylor creek. He was
born in Iowa, on May 16, 1848, the son of Tarlton
and Elizabeth Taylor, natives of Iowa. They grew
up and were married in that state and in 1852
crossed the plains to Linn county, Oregon ; set
tling upon a donation claim there they became
prominent and wealthy citizens. Our subject
was but four years of age when this trip was
made, consequently remembers but little of it. He
received his education in Linn county and there
grew to manhood. He there engaged in farm
ing, continuing the same in that section until
1872. In that year he came to central Oregon,
being one of the earliest pioneers in this region.
He at once selected government land where he
now resides and began raising stock and doing
general farming. He has continued in this sec
tion uninterruptedly since and is now one of the
substantial men of the county. Mr. Taylor owns
three hundred and twenty acres of land and han
dles considerable stock. He has seen the coun
try grow up around him and has done his share
well in assisting in building up.
On December 3, 1869, Mr. Taylor married
Miss Caroline Carroll, whose father, Samuel Car
roll, wa"s a pioneer of Oregon. Four children
have been born to this union, Margaret F., Eliza
A„ Ella M., and Caroline A.
Mr. Taylor takes an active interest in poli
tics and other matters and has shown himself an
enterprising and good man.
Mr. Taylor has one brother, Isaac N., dwell
ing in Douglas county, Washington, and one sis
ter, Mrs. Catherine F. Tripp, in Linn county,
Oregon. Mrs. Taylor has the following named
brothers and sisters : Mrs. Mary Helms, in
Prineville, Oregon; Mrs. Nancy Wilson, de
ceased; Mrs. Sarah E. Marvin, deceased; John
W., at Mitchell ; Sylvester, Charles, and Samuel
S., all in Wheeler county, Oregon ; Joseph N.,
in Baker City, Oregon ; ancl Commodore and
Franklin, deceased.

GEORGE TROSPER has achieved the best
of success in his financial enterprises in Wheeler
county and he certainly has reason to take pride
in what he has accomplished here, not onlv for
himself but also in building up the country and

John F. Asher

Edward W. Taylor

^rf **3*

George Trosper

Grant W. Dakan

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

68S-

stimulating others to worthy enterprise. He re
sides about a mile and one-half from Antone and
is engaged in stock raising, principally. The
birth of our subject occurred in Daviess county,
Missouri, on August 9, 1862. His parents, Wil
liam and Palmyra (Bunch) Trosper, were na
tives of Missouri, and the father died in 1874.
It is pleasant to record that the mother is still
living having made her home with this son, and
during the years of our subject's struggles to
gain his present holdings, she has been his coun
sellor and adviser and it is with pride that Mr.
Trosper points to this fact. In 1888, having
secured his education from the common schools
of the country, our subject came on west, having
learned well how to do farm work in the east.
When he reached Oregon, he made up his mind
that this was the spot for him and he at once
went to work for wages. For a year, he contin
ued thus employed and then moved into a little
cabin and began handling sheep. Later, he took
a homestead where he now resides and continued
steadily in the sheep industry and now he has
nearly four thousand head of sheep, has about
one hundred and fifty cattle and four sections
of land, all paid for and clear. When we recog
nize the fact that Mr. Trosper started here as
late as 1888, without any capital whatever, ex
cept good strong hands and a willingness to
work we can see the excellency of the success
that he has won. His industry and tenacity have
been apparent to all and during his labors, he
has not forgotten to so conduct himself that he
has won the esteem and admiration of all who
know him. He has two sisters, Mrs. Margaret
Glover, and Mrs. Caroline Weatherby, deceased.
In politics he is a Republican and takes an
interest that becomes the good citizen in both
public and educational affairs.

GRANT W. DAKAN is a thorough fron
tiersman, having lived all his life in the pioneer
regions. He was born in Roseburg, Oregon, on
September 5, 1864, and now lives four miles
west from Burnt Ranch. His father, Henry
Dakan, was born in Ohio, crossed the plains to
California, in 1848, and two years later went to
Jackson county, Oregon, and did mining. Some
time later, he went to Douglas county and set
tled on a farm. Having done well in the west,
mining, and amassing a good fortune, in 1884,
he returned to Ohio where he is still living. Here
in the west he had married Mary Shaw, a native
of Illinois, who crossed the plains with her par
ents in 1850. She is still living in Ohio. Our
subject received a good education in Douglas

county, ancl in 1882, came to Eastern Oregon. .
Soon after landing here he engaged as a cow-boy
and followed that occupation a considerable time.
After that he drove stage for a long time and in
1900 he purchased what is known as the Grade
ranch, one of the finest stock places in this part of
the country. It consists of seven hundred ancl
forty acres and is well stocked and improved. In
addition to handling this, Mr. Dakan owns and
operates the stage line from Antelope to Mitchell.
It is a distance of fifty-five miles and requires.
eighteen horses for its operation. Mr. Dakan
started in this country without an}- means what
ever and now is one of the wealthy citizens of
Wheeler county. He has gained his entire hold
ing through his own efforts, has assisted mate
rially in building up the country and has made
for himself an excellent reputation among his
fellows. As stated before, he has been on the
frontier almost all of his life, and is regarded as a
keen and forceful man.

HON. ROBERT E. MISENER is well-
known all through Wheeler county and is at pres
ent in business in Mitchell. He has been identified
with the growth and development of this county
and town for a number of years and has always
manifested a liberal spirit and an enterprise in
building up that have done much good.
Robert E. Misener was born in Bates county, .
Missouri, on June 7, 1857, the son of Norman-
S. and Carrie E. (Wood) Misener, natives of In
diana and Michigan respectively. When a young
man the father came to Missouri and there fol
lowed wagon making until 1861, when he jour
neyed via the isthmus to California. He wrought
for a time in the Golden State and then returned
to Missouri by the same route he had gone out.
In 1867 he came again to the coast, this time set
tling in San Joaquin county, and there worked at-
his trade for about twenty years. Then he en
gaged in merchandising and in that business
continued until his death which occurred at
Stockton in 1902. He was a wealthy man. The
mother died in 1901. She came to California.
with her husband on his second trip, and our
subject was a mere lad at that time. He received'
the major portion of his education in the Golden
State and when he arrived to manhood's estate
entered into partnership with his father. He
operated the ranch and the father conducted the
store. In 1885 Mr. Misener came to the vicinity
of Mitchell and soon took up the saloon busi
ness. For five years he continued this and then
sold out and returned to California and there-
went into the hotel business at Lockford. Six

«686

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

months later he sold that business and returned
to Mitchell. He took up his old business again
and in 1897 he was chosen to represent his dis
trict in the state legislature. The following year
he sold his business and purchased a ranch and
stock. This was situated on Mountain creek and
in 1900 he rented the property and took a trip
to Alaska. In 1903 Mr. Misener sold this prop-
• erty and again embarked in the retail liquor busi
ness. In 1884 Mr. Misener married Miss Katie A.
Barton, a native of Missouri, who crossed the
plains in i860 with her parents. Her father,
James B. Barton, had come to the coast in 1849
and was well acquainted with pioneer days and
ways. To Mr. and Mrs. Misener four children
have been born, Delbert, R. Norman, Fred L. and
Samuel R.
In his legislative career Mr. Misener servecl
his constituents well and showed himself pos
sessed of good ability in this line. He is a public
spirited man and has always shown himself inter
ested in every measure for the general welfare.

•. SAMUEL B. DAVIS. Wheeler county con
tains many men who have made good success in
financial affairs since settling here. Among this
number we are constrained to mention the gentle.-
man whose name appears above, because he is a
prominent citizen, because he has achieved suc
cess, and because he is one of the builders of this
county. He resides about one mile east from
Twickenham and is well known throughout the
country. Samuel B. Davis was born in Johnson county,
Tennessee, on January 20, 1862. William Davis,
his father, was born in Montgomery county, Vir
ginia, and moved to Tennessee when a young
man. At the breaking out of the Rebellion he
enlisted with the Union army and perished fight
ing for his country. His father, William Davis,
the grandfather of our subject, was a wealthy
planter in Virginia and owned a great many
slaves. He was a veteran of the war of 1812.
Members of the Davis family came originally
from England to the Colonies making settlement
in Virginia. They were prominent and wealthy.
Our subject's mother was Matilda (Howard)
Davis, and she, too, was born in Johnson county,
Tennessee. She was left a widow when young
and knew the hardship of raising a family alone.
Her father, Samuel Howard, was a veteran of
the war of 1812. Although he owned slaves when
the Civil War broke out he took sides with the
north, and freed them all. Many of them, how
ever, remained with him, such was their appre

ciation of his kind treatment. Samuel B. was
educated in his native state and remained in the
east until 1884. Then he journeyed westward,
viewing the country in various sections until he
came to Oregon. Being pleased with this state,
he selected what is now Wheeler county as his
abiding place, and began to work for wages. He
saved his money, wrought industriously and
faithfully and soon was in a position to buy a
ranch. To this nest egg he has added betimes
until he has now a magnificent estate of fifteen
hundred acres that is one of the choice stock
ranches of the county. He has supplied it with
all the improvements needed, including an or
chard and so forth, and he has besides a valuable
estate, a very beautiful home. Mr. Davis gives
his attention to stock raising entirely, only farm
ing enough to raise forage for his stock. He has
between two and three thousand head .of sheep,
a great many cattle, and horses enough to handle
the business.
On December 18, 1899, Mr. Davis married
Miss Iris Smithpeter, who was born in the same
county as her husband. Her parents, David and
Sallie (Young) Smithpeter, are natives of John
son and Carter counties, Tennessee respectively.
The father was a prominent physician and is now
retired. To Mr. and Mrs. Davis one child has been
born, Robert W.
Mr. Davis is a charter member of the I. O.
O. F. at Mitchell and is a leading and substantial
man.

P. C. MARTIN is one of Wheeler county's
industrious and substantial citizens and resides
about three miles northwest from Spray where he
does general farming. His birthplace was St.
Joseph county, Indiana, and the date of that
event, 1833. His parents, Samuel and Damaris
(Rambo) Martin, were born in Kentucky in 1793
and in Indiana in 1796 respectively. The mother
died in Iowa in 1853. The father came from his
native state to Indiana when he was fourteen
years of age and was one of the pioneers of the
Hoosier State. He crossed the plains to Califor
nia in 1854 and there died in 1867. Our subject
received his education in the old log school house
in Iowa and there grew up to young manhood.
In 1854 he accompanied his father across the
plains with ox teams to California and settled
in Sonoma county, where he engaged in stock
raising until 1869. In that year he moved to
the Willamette valley ancl took up farming until
1874. Then he came to eastern Oregon; where
he has been engaged in farming and stock rais
ing ever since. He owns one hundred and sixty

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

687

acres of good soil, has considerable stock and has
prospered in his labors.
In 1862 Mr. Martin married Miss Phoebe
Davis, who was born in Missouri, the daughter
of Levi Davis, also a native of Missouri, who
crossed the plains in 1852. The children born to
this union are J. H., A. C, John V., Z. J., E. A.,
Amanda Olivia, Mary Elvi, Ella Viola and M.
H. Politically Mr. Martin is a republican and
always evinces a good interest in this realm as
well as in educational matters and is known as
a man always allied on the side of improvement
and development.

ROBERT W. JOHNSON has resided in the
territory now embraced in Wheeler county a suf
ficient length of time to entitle him to a repre
sentation as one of the pioneers. As a sturdy
frontiersman, capable and enterprising, he has
made a good record. He is a public minded and
progressive citizen, an upright man, and a fine
neighbor. Mr. Johnson descends from a family
that have been prominent for years in the east
and were among the early settlers of the new
world. Possessed of a high sense of integrity
and honor, they bequeathed to him an unsullied
name, which is a pride to hand to his posterity
as untarnished as it was received.
Robert W. Johnson was born in Johnson
county, Tennessee, on November 4, 1870. Al
bert F. Johnson was his father and he was born
in the same county. He was sheriff of that
county for six years and county clerk for twelve
years. During the Civil War he carried mail
from Taylorsville, now Mountain City, to Ab
ingdon, Virginia. He is now a very wealthy and
prominent man in that section. His ancestors
came to Tennessee when it was a wilderness and
their name was given to one of the counties. He
married Susan E. Shown, who also was born in
Johnson county, Tennessee, and is descended
from a very prominent and wealthy family. In
his native country our subject was educated and
there remained until he was nineteen years of
age. As budding manhood came into his life
he desired to see some of the west and to hunt
other fields -of operation. Consequently he pre
pared for the journey and viewed various sections
of the United States until finally he landed in
Oregon. It was his purpose to start in life with
out capital and he did so. Consequently when
he located in what is now Wheeler county he be
gan working for wages and continued the same
until he had saved sufficient money to purchase a
band of stock. Later he bought a ranch and as

the increased stock through his industry and care
brought him wealth, he added more to his estate.
He now possesses thirteen hundred and sixty
acres of choice land about eight miles north from
Mitchell. It is a good place, well improved and
everything in connection with it demonstrates
Mr. Johnson a man of enterprise, thrift and sta
bility. His labors have brought him wealth and
his integrity has given him an excellent standing
among his fellows.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the I. O. O.
F. and the K. P.
Although popular and surrounded by hosts
of friends Mr. Johnson has never seen fit to bar
ter the joys of the celibatarian for the responsi
bilities of matrimonial life. He is therefore num
bered with the jolly bachelors of Wheeler county.

WILLIAM H. GATES is, without doubt, to
be numbered among the earliest and most active
pioneers of Oregon. He is now a stockman, re
siding some eight rniles northwest of Spray. His
birth occurred in Gallia county, Ohio, on Decem
ber 27, 1836. N. H. Gates, his father, was born
in Virginia and crossed the plains to California
in 1850. Two years later he came to Oregon
and was appointed by the governor as a colonel
in the militia. He died on May 20, 1886. He had
married Mary Koontz, who was born in Virginia
and died in 1868. Our subject accompanied his
parents to Iowa in 1841, journeying thence in
1852 across the plains by ox teams to the Pacific
coast. The father was in California and our sub
ject with his mother and sisters made the journey
to Vancouver, Washington. They spent the win
ter in Portland then moved to the Cascades on
the Washington side, where they remained one
year. In 1854 they came on to The Dalles and
three years later our subject took up the stock
business. Aside from three years in which our
subject was occupied as will be mentioned later
he has continued uninterruptedly in the stock
business since 1857. He remained in the vicinity
of The Dalles until 1868 then moved to Trout
creek, which was in Wasco and is now in Crook
county. He remained nine years there and in
1877 came to his present location where he took a
preemption. To this he has added by purchase
since until he has now eleven hundred acres of
good soil. He handles about three hundred head
of cattle and some horses.
At The Dalles in 1864 Mr. Gates married
Miss Mary Koontz, who was born in Wapello
county, Iowa. Her father, John Koontz, was
one of the pioneers of that state. To this union
two children have been born, Jbhn and George

688

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

During the Indian wars in 1855-6 our subject
participated in the same with the volunteers, do
ing also much scouting. On one morning he was
sent out on a scouting expedition and just as he
was unhobbling his horse fifty Indians appeared.
He fired upon them and fled to the camp. He
was reprimanded by the commanding officer for
this firing and as punishment was appointed
herder of the stock. While in company with two
companions in this business the Indians appeared
again and fired upon them, then a battle was
launched, which continued for four days, the In
dians finally being defeated. During the three
years in which Mr. Gates was not occupied in
stock raising he was engaged in mining and
and packing to the mines of the northwest. He
took the first pack train to the noted Orofino in
1 86 1 and also the first train to the Salmon river
mines. Then he went to British Columbia and
stayed a year. Following that time he removed to
Idaho and the next spring contracted for a quartz
mill about to be put up in Idaho. Governor A.
C. Gibbs told Mr. Gates in discussing this sub
ject that it was the first quartz mill ever put out
in Oregon or Idaho. From 'his succinct ac
count of his career it will be noticed that Mr.
Gates has been closely identified with the pioneer
life of the northwest and with its development.
He has done a lion's share in the good work and
has also so conducted himself that he has won the
admiration and commendation of his fellows.
He stands well in the community and is a good
substantial citizen.

HENRY H. WHEELER is better known,
not only in Wheeler county but all through east
ern Oregon, to the early pioneers as well as of
the people of to-day than perhaps any other man
of the section. It is a matter of great regret that
space forbids a full account of his career, as in
itself it would be a magnificent history of this
section. Coming here at the beginning of the
days of the gold excitement in the eastern part
of what was then Oregon territory and remain
ing here constantly since, having been engaged
during this time in some of the leading enter
prises in vogue, all this has combined to make
Mr. Wheeler prominent, well posted, influential
and a leading character. The county of Wheeler
is named in his honor. Unanimously the people
favored it as he was known as no other man was
and was most intimately connected with its devel-
ment and the industries throughout the county.
A review of his life cannot fail to be intensely
interesting to the public in general.
Henry H. Wheeler was born in Erie county,

Pennsylvania, on September 7, 1826. He is now
living a retired life in Mitchell, Oregon, having
gained a goodly fortune to supply all things
needful for the golden years of his life. His
parents, James and Maggie Wheeler, were na
tives of Massachusetts and moved to Pennsyl
vania when young. There the father was en
gaged in farming and became a wealthy and
prominent man. The Keystone State furnished
the educational training of our subject and as
soon as he had arrived at manhood's estate, he
came west to Illinois, where he remained two
years. After that he returned home, then again
came west, this time to Union, Wisconsin, and
remained two years. In 1857 he crossed the
plains to Sacramento, California, and in the same
year cast his lot at Yreka. After mining some
time he turned his attention to sawmilling and
conducted the business for several years. In
1862, he came to The Dalles and went on to the
Salmon river mines in Idaho. Afterward he re
turned to California, then came back to Oregon
and put on a stage equipment from The Dalles
to Canyon City, a distance of one hundred and
eighty miles. Concerning this important item of
starting the stage line from The Dalles to Can
yon City, Mr. Wheeler says : "On the first of
May, 1864, I started from The Dalles with a load
of eleven passengers for Canyon City, driving
the stage myself. I had eleven passengers on
the return trip from Canyon City to The Dalles,
and the price for each person was forty dollars.
I made three trips each week, and got the first
mail contract on that route in the spring of 1865.
1 conducted this line until 1868, then sold it."
This was the first stage through the country and
one can well imagine that its operation was con
tinued with the most trying difficulties and hard
ships, while dangers from the savages beset him
on every hand. But Mr. Wheeler was not one
to put his hand to the plow and look back. He
was a man of fearlessness, carefulness, and
stamina and when he started staging from The
Dalles to Canyon City, it became an assured in
stitution. He personally drove it from 1864 to
1868, a period in which the Indians were con
stantly upon the warpath. A detailed account of
all the various fights and skirmishes that he had
with the savages would make a thrilling volume.
On the 7th of September, 1866, he was jogging
along with his four horses and concord accom
panied by one passenger, the Wells Fargo man
ager. They had the United States mail, ten
thousand dollars in greenbacks, diamond rings,
three hundred dollars in coin, and other valua
bles. Suddenly fifteen or twenty Indians ap
peared and the first shot struck Mr. Wheeler in
the face. Despite the shock from this, he was

Henry H. Wheeler

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

689

enabled to hold his own and he and the passen
ger succeeded in escaping with the leaders. These
horses had neither of them been ridden and in
the midst of the fight, they mounted them bare
back and scurried away. The Indians cut all
the top off the stage, ripping open the mail sack,
scattering the contents and throwing aside the
greenbacks, not knowing their value, cut up the
harness and made havoc generally before they
departed. Mr. Wheeler and H. C. Page, his
companion, made their way to Meyer's ranch
and then got back to The Dalles. This is one
instance of many similar ones. In all, Mr.
Wheeler lost eighty-nine horses besides much
other property from the Indians. Time and
again his life hung in the balance, but on each
occasion providence ordered otherwise and he
escaped. He came to be known as no other man
through the country was known. Not acquainted
with fear, upright and honorable, it seemed that
the Indians had a reverence for him or other
wise he would certainly have been killed. There
were scarcely any settlements from The Dalles
to Canyon City and every opportunity was pre
sented to the savages to have their own way.
Finally, in 1868, Mr. Wheeler sold the outfit
and engaged with the Holliday stage people.
They were then operating a line from Missouri
to the Pacific coast. For two years he was with
them, then he came to The Dalles and with Wood
Gillman, entered the stock business for French
Brothers in what is now Wheeler county. They
located on the John Day and for eight years
operated the ranch. Then Mr. Wheeler bought
property six miles northwest from where Mitchell
now stands and continued in the operation of
that estate until 1904, when he sold out and re
tired to Mitchell. He has lost several fortunes
through the depredations of the savages but has
been enabled to so conserve his interests that he
is still provided with a fine competence for the
remaining years of his life.
In 1873, Mr. Wheeler married Miss Dorcas
Monroe and to them one child has been born,
Clara Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler has four brothers,
Miles, in Pennsylvania ; George, deceased ; Phin
eas, a veteran of the Civil war ; and William, liv
ing in Ohio.
It is very pleasant for us to be able to chron
icle the fact that in the very section of the coun
try where Mr. Wheeler had innumerable fights
with the Indians, where he endured everything
that the frontiersman can endure, he is now en
joying life surrounded by comforts, many friends
and by all that wealth can give him. He is an
honored and respected citizen and fully deserves
the generous bestowal of confidence that is ac
corded him. 44

ALBERT G. CARSNER, who lives three
miles north from Spray, in Wheeler county and
does a general farming and stock raising, was
born in Iowa on April 5, 1849. Jonas Carsner,
his father, was born in Missouri, in 1827, and
came in 1862 as a pioneer to Oregon. The
mother of our subject was Sarah A. (Pardenson)
Carsner. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1829
and is still living in Grant county. The family
left Iowa when our subject was small and re
moved to Kansas, in which state he received his
early education. As before stated, in 1862 they
came across the plains to Oregon, being five
months in making the journey. They settled in
Lincoln county where two years were spent and
then in 1864 they came to Canyon City, Oregon,
and engaged in stock raising, continuing there
until 1886. Then our subject removed to his
present location and took a homestead in what is
now Wheeler county. He has purchased land
at different times since until he now has nine
hundred and sixty acres, well improved and util
ized as a stock farm. He handles about two
hundred and fifty head of cattle" besides some
horses and is one of the well known and well to
do stock men of the county. Mr. Carsner knows
well the hardships, the labors and the self de
nials of the pioneer life, having come to Oregon
when thirteen years of age, where he has been
on the frontier ever since. His labors ancl wise
management have brought him the good property
that he now holds while his life has been such that
he receives the commendation and esteem of his
fellows. In Wheeler county on August 4, 1903, Mr.
Carsner married Carrie Anderson, who was born
in Missouri and crossed the plains to California
when two years of age. She has lived in this
vicinity for twenty-five years. Her father, William
Robinson, was a pioneer to California. Our sub
ject has three brothers, Warren, John, deceased,
and Walter, and two sisters, Sarah Combs and
Minerva Reeves.
Mr. Carsner is a member of the K. P. and a
good active Republican.

COE DURLAND BARNARD, who resides
some three miles east from Fossil, where he de
votes himself to stock raising, is a native Oregon
ian and a son worthy of this great state. His
birth occurred in Douglas county, in 1873, and
his parents are Timothy and Margaret (Harper)
Barnard, natives of Illinois. The father was
born in 1832 and crossed the plains twenty years
later, being a pioneer in the state of Oregon.
His death occurred in 1893 and the mother is

690

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

still living in southern Oregon. Our subject re
ceived his early education frOm the public schools
of Douglas county, then took a course in the
Armstrong business college, graduating in 1893.
Upon the death of his father, that year, he was
appointed administrator of the estate, which is
located where he now resides. He immediately
engaged in the stock business and has continued
successfully in the same ever since. He now has
about eleven hundred and sixty acres of land, be
sides four hundred head of cattle and one hun
dred head of horses. He has been very success
ful in his labors and has also showed himself a
man of integrity and industry.
On February 22, 1894, Mr. Barnard married
Miss Nellie Rhea, who was born in Eugene,
Oregon, in 1875. Her father was one of the
pioneers of Oregon. The children born to this
union are Alves and Gordon.
Mr. Barnard is a member of the W. W., K.
P. and the Elks, while his wife is a prominent
member of the Eastern Star and Women of
.Woodcraft. Politically Mr. Barnard is a Republican and
has always labored for the advancement of his
party and its principles, being a man who takes
an interest, not only in political matters, but in
all public affairs and the development of the
country.

' ANCIL B. LAMB, the druggist in Fossil,
is one of the earliest pioneers of the country
now embraced in Wheeler county. He is at the
head of a good business and is known as a re
presentative citizen, well to do and progressive.
His birth occurred in Wayne county, Indiana,
on December 16, 1854, and his parents are Mar
tin and Sarah (Starbuck) Lamb. The' father
was born in Wayne county, Indiana, on August
18, 1818, and died in 1899. The mother was
also born in that county, on October 13, 1823, and
died June 23, 1863. Our subject received his
early education in the public schools of his native
county, then matriculated in the college at Hills
dale, Michigan. After completing his course he
taught school in his home county for a year, then
went to Kansas, where he taught for two years.
After that he read medicine with Dr. W. W.
Woods of Springdale, Kansas. It was 1880 that
he came to this country and entered the employ
of J. H. Parsons on the John Day river. Fol
lowing this he came to Fossil and taught school,
then bought the stage line from Fossil to Hepp
ner, continuing the same largely until 1882.
Then he began work for George Thompson, a
general merchant in this place, and continued in
his employ until Mr. Thompson sold out. Then

he again taught school in Fossil and in June,
1884, he engaged in the drug business in which
he still continues. His is the only drug store in
the town and he has given his attention to the
building up of the business in all the interven
ing years. In addition to this property Mr.
Lamh has twelve hundred acres of land adjoining
the town on the south, which is utilized for a
stock farm. He also owns about one hundred
head of cattle. He has been prospered splendidly
since coming here and is one of the well-to-do
men of the county.
On January 29, 1883, Mr. Lamb married
Anna Rose, who was born in California on De
cember 25, 1863. Her father, Thomas Rose,
was born in England on October, 1822. Two
children are the fruit of this union, Abie, aged
eighteen and Howard, twelve years old. Mr.
Lamb is a charter member of the I. O. O. F.
and the A. F. & A. M. of this place and also be
longs to the K. P. Politically he is a strong
republican, and for three terms has been county
treasurer. His career has been frought with
wisdom, thrift and uprightness and he has well
earned the esteem and confidence of the people,
which is generously bestowed.

HARRY REED, who is an enterprising ancl
up-to-date merchant of Twickenham, where he
has won a good success in his labors, is one of
the prominent men of Wheeler county and has
so conducted himself here that he is the recipient
of the confidence and respect of the people. He
was born in England on June 17, 1867, the son of
John and Mary A. (Ware) Reed, both natives
of that country. The mother is deceased. The
father is a prominent Methodist minister and is
now holding a church in Winkleigh parish. He
is a man of ability and is highly educated. In
his native country Harry gained a good education
and when eighteen, being led by a progressive
and adventurous spirit, he sought for other fields
than the congested centers of his birth place.
He decided finally to come to America, and soon
had made the trip, selecting Toledo, Ohio, as
the place for location. For three years he
wrought there and then he found the spirit of
the west was again impelling him to newer fields.
Oregon was enticing and after studying the re
sources of this great state, he decided to try it.
He was some time in selecting a location, but
Fossil appealed to him and here he came. Then
he wrought for three years more, this time on
a farm. After that he entered into partnership
with Albin Buckingham and purchased the Fos
sil livery stable, a ranch on the John Day, the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

691

Fossil and Arlington stage line and the Fossil
and Antelope stage line. They operated these
until the contracts were expired, then Mr. Reed
sold his interests and went to doing carpenter
work. For two years of this period he was city
marshall of Fossil. In 1902 Mr. Reed purchased
a store at Twickenham and since that time he
has continued doing business here. He is a man
of good address, is keen to see the needs of the
people and to supply the goods required, and
the result is he has a fine patronage. He is a
man of stability and has won the confidence of all.
In 1898 Mr. Reed married Mrs. Chambers
Low, nee Stewart, a native of Scotland. Her
parents were George and Mary Stewart, both na
tives of Scotia's rugged hills. Two children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Reed, Harry and
George. By her former marriage Mrs. Reed had
one son, John Low, now with Mr. Reed.

JEROME H. PARSONS has passed a ca
reer well worthy the pen of the historian, and in
it all he has displayed the same fortitude and
.bravery, coupled with wisdom, that characterized
his ancestors when they assisted to open the new
world for settlement and later fought its battles.
Starting in life when very young, thrown on his
own resources from the first, and having been on
the frontier all his life, he has acquired that
ruggedness and stability that characterize men
of force and strong nerve. He bears many scars
of battle with the Indians and on many a field
he has shown his true grit and bravery. When
young, he was not favored with an opportunity
to attend school, and consequently reached man
hood without being able to rea'd or write. See
ing the mistake, Mr. Parsons applied himself
and soon was well trained in these things. He is a
close observer and is a well informed man.
Jerome H. Parsons was born inRandolph
county, Virginia, on April 5, 1835, the son of
George and Susan (Harper) Parsons, both na
tives of that county, also, and descended from
prominent colonial families. The father brought
his family to the territory of Iowa in pioneer
days and located a farm near what is now the
prosperous town of Newton. His father, James
Newton, the grandfather of our subject, wa« a
veteran of the War of 1812 and his people were
"from a strong English family. The mother's
father, Adam Harper, was also a veteran of the
War of 1812 and all his sons fought in the Civil
War. In 1857, Jerome H. crossed the plains
to the Sacramento valley, landing there with five
cents in his pocket. He soon secured work as
an apprentice to a blacksmith (and the five cent
piece he still possesses) and for two years

wrought as a horseshoer. Being kicked by a
vicious brute, he lay thirteen months in the hos
pital and then he did a huckster business among
the miners. In 1861, he decided to try the
north and soon was in the Willamette valley. In
1869, he came east of the mountains and selected
a location where he now resides, which is just
west from Twickenham. The land was then un-
surveyed. Mr. Parsons engaged in cattle rais
ing and was favored with first class success and
became one of the largest stockmen in this part
of the state. He was one of the very first to locate
here and his industry and progressiveness have
done a large amount to develop the country. He
is a respected citizen, a well-to-do man, and one
of the builders of the county.
In 1870 Mr. Parsons married Miss Josephine
Writsman, who was born in Andrew county,
Missouri, on October 23, 1843. She crossed the
plains with her parents, Frank and Lucinda
(Officer) Writsman, in 1845. The father was
born in North Carolina and became a prominent
man in Oregon. The mother was born in Ten
nessee. Mr. ancl Mrs. Parsons have four chil
dren: Frankie, Stella, Guy H., and Cleve W.
Mr. Parsons was in the Rogue river Indian war
and participated in the Cow creek fight. He was
in an Indian war of 1846, and besides that, he has
had many fights in various places; with the sav
ages. Mr. Parsons has done well his work on
the frontier and has so wrought that he has won
the respect of the people, and is now passing the
golden years of his life amid plenty and with the
assurance of having spent a good life thus far.
He and his wife are well known and have a great
many friends.

CHARLES CARROLL, who resides about
fifteen miles southwest from Mitchell, was born
in Linn county, Oregon, on September 3, 1866.
He has always resided in this state and has been
on the frontier a good portion of his time. His
father, Samuel Carroll, was born in Peoria, Illi
nois, crossed the plains with ox teams to Linn
county in 1847 and there settled on a donation
claim. Twenty-seven years later, or in 1874, he
came to Wheeler county, Oregon, bought land
and engaged in the stock business. He married
Margaret Scott, also a native of Illinois, who
crossed the plains with her parents in 1852. They
are both dwelling now in this county. Our sub
ject was eight years of age when the family
crossed the mountains and since that time he has
continued in central Oregon. He received what
education the common schools offered and then
engaged in farming and handling stock. In 1892

692

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

he took government land where he is now living
and to the improvement of this, together with
stock raising, he has devoted himself since. He
is one of the well known citizens of this section
and has displayed substantialty and industry dur
ing his career here.
In 1894 Mr. Carroll married Miss Emma
Marvin, who was born in the Willamette valley,
the daughter of Joseph and Clara (White) Mar
vin, pioneers of that country. Five children are
the fruit of this marriage, Clara, Joseph, Ber
tha, Chester and Harry.
Mr. Carroll is a member of the M. W. A.
and a good, substantial citizen.

GEORGE O. BUTLER, at present the clerk
of Wheeler county, was appointed by Governor
Geer, at the organization of Wheeler county and
since has been kept in this position at the hands
of his fellow citizens. He is a very efficient of
ficer, a first class business man, and one of the
real progressive citizens of the county. George
O. Butler was born in Tennessee in 1852. His
father, Hon. R. R. Butler, who was born in Vir
ginia, in 1837, was one of the prominent men of
Tennessee. He was a skillful and leading attor
ney, having a large practice. When twenty-one
years of age, he was elected judge of Johnson
county ancl then was a member of the legislature
several times. At the beginning of the Civil
War, he enlisted, receiving the position of lieu
tenant-colonel and served for the stars and stripes
two years. Then, owing to poor health, he re
signed his commission. Immediately after the
war, he was appointed judge of his county and
in 1866, was elected to the United States con
gress, where he served eight years. Shortly
afterwards he was elected again, serving one
term. At the times he was not serving in the
United States congress, he was a member of the
Tennessee legislature, having been in both
branches of the house. At the time of his death,
on August 16, 1902, he was a member of the
state senate. Mr. Butler was widely known and
respected as a man of ability, honor and integrity.
He was very useful in the halls of legislature,
and ever labored for those measures which ben
efit and build up. Fraternally, he was a member
of the Masonic lodge, while in politics he was a
Republican, and in religious persuasion, he was
a Methodist. He had married Emmeline Don
nelley, a native of Johnson county, Tennessee,
the wedding occurring in 1833. Her people were
well to do farmers and one brother, Alfred, was
a captain in the federal army. Two of his broth
ers were physicians.

Our subject received his early education in
the public schools of his native county, then
studied in the Preston and Olan institute at
Blacksburg, Virginia, and afterwards completed.
in the preparatory school at Sing Sing, New
York. He engaged then in the iron manufact
ure business of Tennessee and also taught school
some. In 1884, accompanied by his brother, John
B., he came west to Grant county, locating in
that portion that now forms Wheeler county. He
immediately took up school teaching, while his
brother herded sheep. They husbanded their
wages carefully and began to purchase sheep
and then took up stockraising for themselves.
They have now over four thousand sheep and
three thousand acres of land and are doing a
very prosperous business.
In December, 1885, Mr. Butler married Miss-
Jessie Brown, who was born in Wasco county,
Oregon, on March 12, 1868. Her father, Jona
than P. Brown, was born in Tennessee, in 1840.
He was a pioneer to Oregon, crossing the plains
in 1852, and died in 1890. Our subject's broth
ers and sisters are named as follows : John B.,
a stockman of this county ; R. H., a business man
of Johnson county, where he has constantly
held some county office since he was twenty-one
years of age, being now chairman of the county
court ; James G., a physician and surgeon in the
home county ; W. R., a physician at Butler, Ten
nessee ; Samuel G., a farmer in Johnson county,
Tennessee ; Edward B., an attorney at law and
revenue collector of the second district of Ten
nessee ; Mrs. Virginia L. Church; and Mrs. Bes
sie Keys, whose husband, W. R. Keys, is post-
office inspector at Cleveland, Tennessee. To Mr.
and Mrs. Butler,' three children have been born ;
Samuel J., aged seventeen ; George Brown, aged
seven ; and Hollis, three years of age.
Fraternally, our subject is a member of the
K. P., the A. O. U. W. and the I. O. O. F. Po
litically, he is a stanch Republican and during:
his career in Wheeler county has manifested
ever those qualities of the upright man, the broad
minded and progressive citizen, and the gener
ous and faithful friend.

ISAAC BLANN was born in Missouri, in
1869, and now resides in the vicinity of Water
man, in Wheeler county, Oregon. He gives his
attention to stock raising and has achieved a good"
success in his labors. John W. Blann, his father,
was born in Missouri and there remained until
his death. It was 1886 when our subject left
Missouri, having secured his education previous.
to that time. He came direct fo Wasco county

Isaac Blann

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

693

and labored for wages for two years. In il
he came to his present location and commenced
raising cattle, which he still continues. Pie has
now two hundred head of cattle and about a
thousand acres of land. He has acquired the
entire holding through his own efforts and is
considered one of the prosperous men of the
country. Our subject's brothers are Robert, liv
ing in Baker ounty ; John D., and Richard P.,
in Missouri ; James P., in Canada and Mrs. Sarah
E. Hall, in Missouri.
At Mandeville, Missouri, on September 6,
1883, Mr. Blann married Mary G. Wooden, who
was born in Missouri. They have the following
named children, Frederick, Sarah B., Elta J.,
William L., Gertrude, Lilly May, Leah, Isaac
D., Robert R,, and Bessie.
In fraternal relations, our subject affiliates
with the A. O. U. W., the I. O. O. F., and the
Degree of Honor. In politics, he is a Democrat.
Mr. Blann has displayed good energy and
wisdom in the conduct of his business and the
land and stock which he now owns are all the
result of his own careful labors.
Mrs. Blann's parents were Isaac H. and Eliz
abeth J. (Sugg) Wooden, natives of Indiana
and Tennessee, respectively. She has two sis
ters and three brothers named as follows : Mrs.
Eliza Gilliland, Mrs. Martha E. Hayes, John F.,
James M., and William J.

J. W. DONNELLY, M. D., the present
mayor of Fossil, is a well known business man
of ability, who has a broad and extended ex
perience in various lines in his professional car
eer He was born in Mountain City, Tennessee,
on April 24, 1862, ancl was liberally educated in
the Masonic Institute at that place. Following
that, he entered the medical department in the
University of Tennessee and after some study,
commenced the practice of medicine, continu
ing that for four years. Then he returned to
the university in Tennessee and received his de
gree in March, 1889. After that, Dr. Donnelly
practiced in Tennessee until 1899, when he came
to Mitchell, Oregon, remaining there about four
vears. On September 1, 1902, he transferred
his residence to Fossil, where he has continued
since. He stands now at the head of a good
practice ancl is achieving the success that his
abilitv ancl skill deserve. During the Span-
assistant surgeon with the rank of lieutenant and
assistant surgeon with the rank of lieutenant and
served at Fort Mott, New Jersey, and Tampa,
Florida. He was also president of the United
States pension board situated at Mountain City,

Tennessee, for three years. Our subject's father,
J. D. Donnelly, M. D., was born in Mountain
City, on December 23, 1823 and at the time of
his death was the oldest physician of that coun
try. He practiced there continously for fifty-five
years until his death in 1903. He married Frances
Orr, who was born in Washington county, Vir
ginia, and died in 1901. The older Dr. Donnelly
was a very prominent man in Tennessee and
held many responsible offices and was highly es
teemed by all.
In 1890, Dr. Donnelly married Mary E.
Kiser, who was born in Mountain City, Ten
nessee, on August 25, 1870. P. M. Kiser, her
father, was born in North Carolina and was a
furniture merchant in Mountain City. He was a
prominent citizen of that place and held the
position of magistrate for fourteen .years and
was provost marshal of the county during the
war. Pie was very widely known and highly
esteemed. His death occurred in 1901. Mrs.
Donnelly's mother, Emily J. (Moore) Kiser,
was born in Mountain City ancl died in 1894.
Our subject has the following named brothers
ancl sisters ; Dr. Thomas R., a dentist ; A. R.,
a merchant, and W. W., a farmer at Mountain
City, Tennessee; Mrs. Sarah E. Wills, and Mrs.
Ida M. Mitchell, both living at Mountain City;
Mrs. Ada Hendrickson, whose husband, a
commercial traveler, resides at Roan Mountain,
Tennessee; and Mrs. Corda Shell, who also re
sides at Roan Mountain. To Doctor and Mrs.
Donnelly, two children have been born, James
Edgar, on October 25, 1890, and Nelly K., on
March 30, 1897. Dr. Donnelly is a member of
the K. P., the W. O. W., the I. O. O. F. and
the A. F. & A. M. He has held responsible po
sitions in all of these orders and is now noble
grand of the I. O. O. F Politically, he is a Re
publican and has always taken a keen interest in
the campaigns. He has been several times dele
gate to the congresssional conventions and in
1900, he was elected mayor of Mitchell. He was
reelected the next year and has also served as
school director ancl in March, 1904, -he was
chosen the mayor of Fossil, which position he
is filling with "credit to himself at the present
time.

GEORGE J. METTEER. For more than
thirty years the subject of this sketch has dwelt
and labored in the territory now embraced in
Wheeler county. This entitled him to be classed
rmong the very earliest pioneers as well as among
the representative men at the present time. His
home place, ten miles south from Fossil, is one
of the best ranches in the countv. He has it well

694

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

fenced and improved and enjoys a pleasant and
beautiful home. Mr. Metteer gives his attention
to stock raising, doing also some general farm
ing, and in this industry he has labored during
all the years in which he has resided here. He
has shown excellent skill and consequently has
been prospered. Like others during the hard win
ters, he has suffered losses but altogether he has
made a good success. He has shown himself
possessed of that sturdy quality which makes
the good pioneer and the labors and hardships
incident to this life have been borne with a for
titude commendable.
George J. Metteer was born in Wayne county,
Pennsylvania, on October 31, 1837. His par
ents were George and Phoebe (Whittaker) Met
teer, natives of New York. The father was
raised on the border of New York and Penn
sylvania and dwelt a part of the time in one
state and a part of the time in the other. His
father, Jonathan Metteer, the grandfather of our
subject, was a native of Scotland and a veteran
of the Revolutionary War. Both of our sub
ject's parents crossed the plains with the Oat
man family, who were massacred by the Indians
on Gila river, in Arizona. The Metteer's es
caped this dreadful calamity by stopping with a
Mexican family. Then in 1850, they continued
their journey to Tucson, Arizona, and the next
year came to California. During his residence
in California George J. followed mining and
also prosecuted the same calling in Idaho; In
the latter place he located the Healy creek mine,
having also been the discoverer of the same,
which proved to be a very valuable property,
netting over six thousand dollars in three
months. In 1858, they journeyed on north to
Marion county, Oregon, and there the parents
remained until their death. George J. was edu
cated in the various places where the family
resided during his younger days and after com
pleting his studies he began farming in Marion
county. This continued until 1873 when he came
to the territory now embraced in Wheeler
county. After selecting a good place, he en
gaged in the stock business and has followed it
continuously since. He has given his attention,
however, to various other industries, having
erected the first sawmill in this part of the
county. He has also owned a ferry on the John
Day river.
In those early days, Mr. Metteer was obliged
to go to The Dalles for mail and supplies and
the hardships and labors incident to live then,
required an iron constitution and firm will to
enable one to continue. He has seen the country
grow up around him, settlers coming in, the

county organized and all the improvements of
today completed and established. His labors
have done a good part and his life has been such
as to commend him to the esteem and confi
dence of his fellows.
In 1862, Mr. Metteer married Miss Mary
Smith, who was born in Iowa, in 1844. To them
the following named children have been born,
Mrs. Alice Steiner, Mrs. Jerusha Griffiths, Will
iam T., Mrs. Phania Wilks, George W., Mrs.
Mary McCrea, and Fred.
In 1872, Mr. Metteer joined the Masonic-
lodge and has since continued in affiliation with
that order.

EDWARD F. HORN is a representative-
stockman of Wheeler county and resides about
two miles west from Twickenham. He was
born in Marion county, Oregon, on December
23, 1855, and has spent most of his days in the
Webfoot State. His father, James M. Horn,
was born in Orange county, North Carolina, and'
was a veteran of the Mexican war. In 1849,
he came from Mexico to California and there
engaged as a mechanic for a year. In 1850, he-
journeyed to Benton county, Oregon, where he
married Miss Mary J. Writsman, who was born
in Missouri and crossed the plains with her par
ents in 1847. From Benton county, the parents
moved to Marion county and bought land where
they engaged in farming until 1864. In that
year they went to California and in 1881, they
journeyed to our subject's present location,
where they engaged in the stock business;
ihey now reside in Malheur county, Oregon.
Our subject was educated in California and the-
other places where the family lived and as soon
as he had come to the proper age, he began to
work for wages. In 1880, after having traveled
about considerable, he came to what is now
Wheeler county and spent one year in looking
over the country. Then he settled on the ranch
that he now occupies and which he has increased
to four hundred and twenty acres. It is a choice
piece of land, one of the best, and has been well
handled and improved by its owner. Mr. Horn
raises stock and has been very successful in his
labors for the past twenty-five years.
On September 1, 1900, Mr. Horn married
Miss Almira Moore, who was born in Polk
county, Oregon. Her father, William S. Moore,
was born in Missouri, crossed the plains when a
boy in 1852 and was raised in Polk county, Ore
gon, where he has been farming since. His fath
er died while they were crossing the plains. Mrs.
Horn's mother, Sarah (Wren) Moore, was born

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

695

In Illinois and crossed the plains with her par
ents in pioneer days.
Mr. Horn is a member of the I. O. O. F. and
the A. F. & A. M. He is popular in fraternal
circles and is a man of ability and excellent
standing.

J. H. PUTNAM, a prominent merchant and
wealthy stockman of Fossil, was born in Henry
county, Missouri in 1855. His father, Newton
Putnam, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and
was a veteran of the Civil War, having served
three years in the union army. He was in Mex
ico during the struggle with that country and
in 1872 crossed the plains with ox teams to Ore
gon. His death occurred twenty years later.
He was a prominent man and a sturdy pioneer.
He married Nancy Stockton, a native of Mis
souri, who is still living. Her father, Honor
able D. D. Stockton, was captain of a company
during the Civil War and was also a captain in
a company during the Rebellion. He was
wounded while in the service and died from the
effects of the same in 1872. For a number of
terms he served in the Missouri legislature and
was a man of prominence and ability. Our sub
ject rode a cayuse from Missouri to the Willa
mette valley in 1872 and there remained three
years. Then he came to Sarvis prairie where he
engaged in farming with Gillman French &
Company and operated for these people for thir
teen years. It was 1889 when Mr. Putnam came
to Fossil and engaged in the contracting busi
ness, being in partnership with A. B. Lamb. In
1894 this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Put
nam took up the general merchandising busi
ness for himself. He continued handling stock
ancl owns about fifteen hundred acres of land in
the Mayville country and two hundred ancl fifty
head of cattle. This large estate and holding
he manages from Fossil, in addition to conduct
ing his mercantile business. He carries a stock
of from seven to ten thousand dollars worth of
goods of all kinds demanded by the trade here
and he is known as a progressive and up to date
merchant. On October 12, 1891, Mr. Putnam married*
Ann L. Meek, who was born in Mound City,
Missouri, in May, 1869. Her father, Eli Meek,
emigrated to western Oregon in 1894 ancl died
five years later. Mr. Putnam has the following
named brothers and sisters ; William, in north
west Montana ; J. B., state librarian at Salem,
having held the position for twenty-two years;
W. W., a rancher in the Mayville country; Mar
ion, a farmer near Salem; Otis, deceased; and

Rosa D., who died in 1888. To Mr. and Mrs.
Putnam, three children have been born; Wyatt,
on August 15, 1892; Evangeline, on April 4,
1894 ; and Theodore, in August, 1899.
Mr. Putnam belongs to the Masonic fratern
ity, the M. W. A. and the Order of Eastern
Star. Politically he is a strong Republican and
always takes a keen interest in the cam
paigns.

PERRY LEWIS KEETON, who enjoys
the distinction of being the only sheriff that
Wheeler county ever had, is well known through
out the county and the adjoining country and is
an upright, fearless and capable man, who has
walked in the path of integrity, and is governed
by principles of honor. He was born in Texas;
in 1853, the son of Moses and Mary Elizabeth
(Adams) Keeton, natives of Missouri and Vir
ginia, respectively. In 1854, the family started
west across the plains with teams and when they
arrived at the Humboldt river, experienced the
terrible bereavement of Mr. Keeton's death. The
mother succeeded, however, in bringing the fam
ily the balance of the way with the train and lo
cated in Shasta, California, where she remained
until the spring of 1855. Then they moved to
Yreka, in the same state. They remained at
Yreka until 1864, when they moved to Grant
county, Oregon. Our subject received his edu^;
cation in the public schools and the Agricultural
college at Corvallis in 1869 and 1870. Following
that, the family moved to the vicinity of Mitch
ell, where our subject engaged in stock raising.
The mother has since died. Mr. Keeton contin-1
tied in the business of stock raising with success1
until 1898, when he was appointed by Governor
Geer as the sheriff of Wheeler county at the
creation of this political division. He has held
the office continuously since, being the choice of-
+he people at the expiration of each term of serv
ice. This alone establishes the fact that Mr. Kee
ton is a man worthy to be trusted and he is well
known throughout the county. It also speaks
very highly of him as, although the county is
Republican in politics, he is, and always has:
been a Democrat.
On April 20, 1884, Mr. Keeton married MisS'
Mattie Gage, a native of Douglas county, Ore
gon. Her father, Edward Gage, is one of the
pioneers of Oregon, was born in Missouri,
crossed the plains in early days and was a vet
eran of the Indian wars of this part of the coun
try. Mr. Keeton has the following named broth
ers and sisters : Thomas, who died in 1892 ; and
Mrs. Annie Cavanaugh, still living at Edgewood,

69.6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

California. Three children have been born to
cur subject, Elizabeth Lucile, George T., and
Jessie Pearl.
Mr. Keeton is a member of the A. O. U. W.
and the I. O. O. F. In his public life as well
as ir. private business, he has so conducted him
self as to win the esteem of all and has justly
earned the reputation for integrity and thorough-
r.efs which he enjoys.

W. W. HOOVER is well known as one of
the leading business men of Wheeler county. For
thirty-five years, he has been in this section and
during this long residence, has ever wrought as
a true pioneer and one deeply interested in the
improvement and development of the country. At
tbe present time, Mr. Hoover, in company with
L. C. Kelsay, is operating an extensive merchan
dise establishment in Fossil. They carry i large
stock of all kinds of goods that are used in this
section Of the country, including dry goods, gro
ceries, crockery, gents' furnishings, boots,
shoes, clothing, hardware, farm machinery and so
forth. W. W. Hoover, was born in Washington
county, Oregon, on February 5, 1869. His father,
Thomas B. Hoover, was born in Missouri and
also was the pioneer merchant of Fossil. He
married Mary J. Chambers, who was born in
Washington county, Oregon, and is now living
in Wheeler county, Oregon. She was the first
white woman in this section of the country and
knows well the pioneer's life, together with its
hardships and trials. As early as 1870, the fam
ily moved from Washington county to Wheeler
county and since that time, our subject has made
this his home. During the winter seasons in
his early life, he would go to The Dalles and
attend school then return to his home and work
in his father's store and on the farm. Upon
the death of his father, our subject was ap
pointed one of the executors of his will ancl suc
ceeded to the management of the merchandise
business, the firm style being then T. B. Hoover
& Son. He handled the business for two years
longer, then took in a partner, L. J. Gates, the
firm being known as Hoover & Gates. This part
nership was dissolved in 1900, by Mr. Gates sell
ing to L. C. Kelsay, who is now operating with
Mr. Hoover in the business. They are both well
known men, who have built an excellent reputa
tion in this country.
On March 10, 1895, occurred the marriage
of Mr. Hoover and Daisy Kelsay. Mrs. Hoover
was born in Lane county, Oregon, the daugh
ter of Burton Kelsay, a pioneer of Oregon and

now residing in Fossil. Mr. Hoover has one
brother, Thomas B., residing in Wheeler county.
He also has the following named sisters, Mrs.
Annie J. Steiwer, of Fossil; Harriet Lyons, of
Valdez, Alaska; Mary M. Reinacher of Condon;
Lizzie Bowerman of Condon ; and Maude, in
Fossil. To our subject and his wife, four chil
dren have been born, Dorothy, Glenn, Mary
Jane, ancl Thomas Burton.
Mr. Hoover is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the W. O. W. and the K. P. He is a Democrat
politically and has held the office of county judge
since 1900, being reelected last June for four
years more.

S. J. THOMPSON, a farmer and stockman
of Wheeler county and one who has labored
assiduously here for many years, is to be classed
among the substantial and leading citizens and
is entitled to representation in any volume that
purports to speak of the progressive men of
Oregon. He was born in Castle county, North
Carolina, on January 1, 1871. His parents,
Josiah and Minerva (Winstaird) Thompson,
were also born in North Carolina, where the
father followed merchandising. He was a vet
eran of the Civil War and in 1877, crossed the
plains to the Willamette valley by team. He set
tled on a farm in Clackamas county whence in
1881, he removed to what is now Wheeler county
ancl engaged in the stock business. He contin
ued here until his death in 1900. Mrs. Thomp
son is now living with the subject of this arti
cle. Our subject was but a young lad when he
first came to this portion of Oregon and a large
part of his education was gained at Fossil. He
has practically been reared here and conse
quently knows the country thoroughly. Being
impressed with its resources, he selected a home
stead where he now resides, some four miles
south from Fossil, and began the work of im
provement. He added various other pieces of land
from time to time until he now owns nine hun
dred acres ; a large portion of this is cropped and
general farming together with stock raising, oc
cupies Mr. Thompson's time and attention. He
has made a good showing for his labors here,
inasmuch as when he started he had no capital
whatever ancl is now one of the prosperous men
of the county. He has a faculty of managing his
business in such a way that he has a substantial
income and then his carefulness in expending
his funds for improvements ancl investment have
all combined to make him prosperous and well-
to-do. In 1894 Mr. Thompson married Miss Josie
Holman, the daughter of Andy Holman, who

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

697

crossed the plains from Illinois to Oregon in
¦early days. Mrs. Thompson was born in Linn
county, Oregon, and moved to the vicinity of
Fossil with her parents some twelve years since.
One child has been the fruit of this union, Sallie.
Mr. Thompson is a member of the I. O. O.
F. and stands well both in fraternal relations
and in the community. He takes a lively interest
in political and educational matters, is a good
neighbor, an upright man, and a first-class citizen.

LEONARD C. HOFFMAN, is a man of en
terprise and good business ability as is testi
fied to by the property he owns, which has been
gained by his own efforts entirely. He is at the
head of a prosperous butcher business in Fos-
.sil, also owns a good ranch in the immediate
vicinity and is well known throughout the sur
rounding country as a man of energy and ability.
Leonard C. Hoffman was born in Buffalo,
New York, on March 20, i860. His parents,
Leonard and Margaret (Deck) Hoffman, were
natives of Germany where they were married.
In 1852, they came to New York and the father
followed tailoring in Buffalo, where he became
.a wealthy ancl prominent man. Our subject was
-educated in the city schools of Buffalo and there
learned the butcher business. For three, years
he wrought at that trade in his native town and
finally in 1883, determined to try his fortune
in the. west. Being of an adventurous disposi
tion he explored various portions of California
and other sections. Finally in 1884, he came
north and being pleased with the country in the
vicinity of Fossil, took government land on Butte
creek. He at once made the necessary improve
ments to make it his home ancl then opened a
buther business in the town of Fossil. He is
now in partnership with T. S. Young in this
enterprise and they have a very fine business.
Mr. Hoffman has two hundred and ten acres of
land adjoining the city of Fossil which is a very-
valuable estate. He oversees this ancl his other
property in addition to attending to the butcher
business ancl so wisely has he managed this en
terprise that he has become well-to-do. When
he started here an invoice of his possessions
showed that he had very little capital so that
¦everything he possesses has been the result of
his own personal efforts.
In 1885 Mr. Hoffman married Miss Lillie
Rose, who was born in California. Her father,
Thomas Rose, was a native of England and
came to the United States ancl in 1850, crossed
the plains to California, where he ultimately
liecaine wealthy. To Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman

four children have been born, George L., Mar
garet R., Gertha, and Katie, deceased.
Mr. Hoffman is a member of the A. F. &
A. M., is popular among the business men of
i7ossil and is an enterprising and public spirted
man.

CHARLES L. PRINDLE, a representative
citizen of Wheeler county and one of the earliest
settlers in the territory now embraced in this
division, resides about three miles south from
Fossil. In the early days, he corralled sheep
where now stands the prosperous town of Fos
sil. In 1878, being then a young man of eigh
teen years, he made his way into eastern Ore
gon and after due research, he decided that this
part of the country was most suitable for his
business and he settled down. He immediately
took up sheep raising and made a success of it
for eleven years. Then he turned his attention
to raising blooded horses, ancl cattle, and now
has some of the finest specimens in the country.
He makes a specialty of breeding road horses
and his animals are well known throughout the
country. Mr. Prindle is very successful in stock
breeding and has clone very much to stimulate
this industry in Wheeler county. In addition to
his stock interests, he does some farming and
altogether is a very prosperous and thrifty man.
Charles L. Prindle was born in DeKalb
county, Illinois, on December 30, i860, the son
of M. G. and Eliza Prindle, natives of Penn
sylvania. In early days they pioneered to Illi
nois and shortly thereafter, traveled on to the
prairies of Iowa, the year of their landing there
being 1869. They were good substantial peo
ple and did a noble work of opening up and de
veloping the country. Our subject received his
primary education in Illinois and Iowa and com
pleted the same in Fossil, Oregon. Mr. Prin
dle has eight brothers and sisters, Emma, Addie,
deceased, Steven A., Frank B., Martha E.,
George A., Loyd B., and Lucinda, deceased.
In 1884 Mr. Prindle married Miss Annie T.
Hamilton and they have six children, Milo W.,
Orland, Lora M.,' Lester, Mary M., and Eliza
E. Mrs. Prindle is the daughter of David and
Mary C. Hamilton, now residents of Wheeler
county, and pioneers across the plains to Douglas
county in the early fifties.
In fraternal relations Mr. Prindle is affili
ated with the A. F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F.
There were very few settlers in this part of
Oregon when Mr. Prindle came here and one
had to travel many miles to get mail and supplies.
in the Bannock outbreak of 1878 Mr. Prindle

698

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

was with his, sheep and close to the- hostile In
dians, coming on a camp-fire just as they had
left it. He not only has seen the country de
velop from a wild prairie to one of the fertile
portions of the northwest but has very mater
ially assisted in this good work and he is to be
classed as one of the leading men of Wheeler
county. Mr. Prindle constructed the first tele

phone line in Wheeler county, the same being
from his house to Fossil.
In political matters, he evinces an interest
that is becoming to the patriotic citizen, while
also in all things pertaining to the development
of the county, he has been active. His standing-
among the people is of the best and he and his-
wife are valued members of society.

PART VI
HISTORY OF CROOK COUNTY

CHAPTER I

PASSING EVENTS— 1843 TO 1889.

Aside from Nomadic trappers it is quite pro
bable that the first white men to cross the ter
ritory now comprising Crook county were Gen
eral John C. Fremont and Kit Carson. They
explored a section of this country in 1843. The
route of this party was as follows: Entering
the county at the northwest corner, between
the Warm Springs and Shilike rivers, they pro
ceeded southward on the west side of the Des
Chutes river, crossing the Matoles about three
to six miles up from its mouth. Thence they
continued in a southerly direction, passing about
three miles east of the present town of Sisters,
crossed Tornello creek and came to the Des
Chuts river near the present site of Bend. They
still continued on the west side of this river in
their journey on south until reaching a point
about opposite the present postoffice of Lava,
when they crossed the Des Chutes and entered
the Big Meadows. Continuing their journey
southward they passed where Rosland now
stands and entered the territory now embraced in
Klamath county. About four miles above the
town of Bend can be found to this day evidences
of the visit of the Fremont party, where there
are logs they used in building a causeway.
The Warm Spring Indian Reservation was
made by a treaty between the United States and
the Indians in 1855. In this treaty the Indians
gave up all claim to the land between the Cas
cades and Blue mountains of Oregom They
also gave up their claims on the Columbia river.
Another treaty was entered into between them

in 1856 in which they gave up the fisheries on
the Columbia river. This reservation was es
tablished as a home for the different tribes of
Indians. By this the government could protect
them from the encroachment of the whites, while-
it secured an undisputed right to the rest of the
land claimed by the Indians. This reservation
covers 464,000 acres which lies along the Des-
Chutes river. Much of this is farming land and
already under cultivation while the balance is
suitable for stock raising. There are parts of
four different tribes living there, known as the
Warm Springs, Wascos, Piutes and Teninos.
The principal occupations of these Indians
are farming and stock raising while some go into
western and southern Oregon for the purpose of
picking fruit and hops. When the work is over
they often go into the Cascade mountains to
fish and hunt for their winter supply of meat.
When there is any work to be done, the men
direct it, while the women do most of the hard
work. All that the men are required to do is to
keep the family supplied with meat.
The population of the reservation is 855, in
cluding seven police officers and 116 school"
children. "While the school of this place is '^e
same as any public school, the children have dif
ferent games from the white children. The boys
enjoy the outdoor sports of fishing and hunting.
They use bows and arrows and some are as good
shots as the older ones. The religion of the In
dians is United Presbyterian, although one may
follow the old Indian religion known as the-

•700

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Shaker. Some of the people will not give up
their old Indian customs. The most important
buildings of the reservation are the one school
building and three churches. There are many fine
residences. Out in front of their houses they
have their old wigwams in which they lived.
These Indians are very patriotic. When the
Fourth of July comes along thev celebrate for a
week at a time instead of one da}- at a time as do
the white people.
Each year the government sets aside a sum
of money with which they purchase rations for
the Indians on the reservation. If the Indian fails
to be there when the agent divides the goods
he does not get his share. Many of the Indians
do not, however, depend on the government for
their clothing, but have taken up land and have
become citizens with. a right to vote. Some of
the older men have done good service in the In
dian wars when white soldiers have been un
able to fight hostile tribes. Therefore it is no
more than right that the government should
support these Indians.
In the early sixties while the Civil war was
in progress Major Stein of the United States
army, built a road from The Dalles to Fort Har
ney, which crossed the present Crook county, in
a northwesterly and southeasterly direction.
This road passed east of Pilot to Butte and left
the present Crook county and entered what is
now Harney county at Buck's creek. The sup
ply trains from The Dalles to Fort Harney
passed over the road in the early days.
The first settler in Crook county was Marion
Scott, who came here in 1863 and located on
Trout creek. Scott's party crossed the Cascade
mountains that year, carrying with them horses,
wagons and a band of cattle. They stopped at
Hay creek, and for a time lived in a cave, graz
ing their cattle on the surrounding hills. In
1867 Howard Maupin of Lane county, settled on
Trout creek. He had fought in the Mexican war
under Zachary Taylor, and became subsequently
a brave pioneer and faced many perils from the
Piute Indians. He was not allowed to enjoy his
home until he had slain Paulina, chief of the
tribes. In 1868 Henry Coleman, also of Lane county,
engaged in the cattle business in which he ac
quired quite a fortune and returned to his home.
In 1869 ancl 1870 John Luckey, John Toms, An
thony Webdell and E. G. Conant came later and
settled in Ochoco valley where is now the town
of Prineville. In 1871 Monroe Hodges removed
with his family from Benton county and laid off
the present town of Prineville. He built the
first hotel and engaged in the business five vears.
A historical sketch of the territory now form

ing Crook county from its earliest settlement up
to 1884 was published in the Crook County An
nual of 1 90 1 as follows :
The first white men who ever came to that part of
Oregon now known as Crook county were Felix and
Marion Scott, who crossed the Cascade mountains over
the McKenzie Pass in 1863, bringing with them their
teams, wagons and a drove of cattle. They located on
Hay creek and it is said lived in a cave in the cliffs
of the Hay creek canyon for a time, while they herded
their cattle on the surrounding hills.
A short time afterward Howard Maupin, of Lane
county, settled on Trout creek where he lived until
his death a few years since. Maupin encountered many
perils from the Piute Indians in those early days and
he was a man of great personal courage and held his
ground against the thieving and murderous savages.
He was not, however, permitted to enjoy his wilderness
home in peace until he slew Paulina, the war chief of
the Piutes. He was a veteran in the Mexican war, and
served under Zachary Taylor. He was at the storm
ing of Monterey, and the battle of Buena Vista.
Maupin was a typical western pioneer, brave- as a lion
and the soul of gentlemanly honor.
Some time in the latter part of the 'sixties Henry
Coleman, also of Lane count}', established himself on
Hay creek, near its junction with Trout creek, and en
gaged in the cattle business. After many years of pros
perity, through an unfortunate venture he lost his once
princely fortune and afterward went back to his own
home near Eugene where he still lives. In 1868 the first
settlement in the Ochoco valley was made by Wayne
Claypool, William Smith, Ewen Johnson and Lou
Daugherty, near the mouth of Mill Creek and by Elisha
Barnes, Thomas B. James and Abraham Zell, Ochoco
Creek. Barney Prine also settled on the Ochoco in
1868, on the present site of Prineville, and after him
Prineville took its name.
In 1869 John Luckey, John M. Toms, Anthony B.
Webdell, Edward G. Conant, J. W. McDowell and J.
H. Snodderly settled on the Ochoco. They were fol
lowed in 1870 by Alexander Hodges, James P. Coombs,
S. R. Slayton, William Heisler and Lake Vanderpool,
all of whom, with the exception of Coombs and Slayton,
located on the present site of Prineville. With the
advent of these people began the existence of Prine
ville. William Heisler was the pioneer merchant of the
Ochoco valley and Barney Prine the first saloon-keeper.
Heisler established his store in Prineville in 1871 and
continued in business for seven or eight years. In the
fall of 1871 Monroe Hodges removed his family from
Benton county and laid out the present townsite of
Prineville. Pie also built a hotel and engaged in that
business for five years. About 1873 a postoffice was
established in Prineville and Daniel E. Thomas was
appointed postmaster. Within a few years Prineville

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

701

became a thriving business town and increased rapidly
in population. It was then, as now, the center of trade
for almost a hundred miles around and in fact was the
only business point south of The Dalles in what was
then Wasco county.
Among the earliest settlers of this county may be
named Jerome LaFollette and Samuel M. W. Hind-
man, who took up claims on Squaw creek in about
1869. Hindman kept a station for several years and
still lives on the tract of land upon which he settled
over thirty years ago. Willow Creek was one of the
earliest settled portions of Crook county. James
Blakely, Perry Read, Can. Montgomery and S. G.
Wood were among the first settlers there. Blakely was
the first elected sheriff of Crook county, and served in
that capacity two years.
Williamson G. Allen, formerly of Lane county, set
tled on Hay creek on a tract of land which he afterward
sold to Dr. D. M. Baldwin, of Oakland, California,
who engaged in the sheep business on a large scale.
Dr. Baldwin sold his interests to the Cartwrights and
Van Houtens, who organized the Baldwin Sheep and
Land Company, now the most extensive concern of its
kind in the state. Among other early settlers on Hay
creek were S. G. Thompson, the first judge of Crook
county, and his two brothers William and Duorey
Thompson. William, or "Bud," as he was better known,
was once editor of the Roseburg Plaindealcr. and after
ward editor of the Salem Mercury. He was a promi
nent character in the early history of Crook county, and
was a colonel in the state militia in the Bannock war
of 1878. Some thirty years ago the first settlements were
made along McKay creek. Among these settlers were
David Templeton, Calvin Pell, B. F. Allen. J. A. Guili-
ford, George Mellican, John Latta, Daniel Hale, Joel
Long, James Mackey and Andrew Lytle. William Fos
ter, who came from Benton county, was also one of the
early settlers of this region. He became a wealthy
stockman and was known as Crook county's cattle king.
The Crooked river valley was settled first in the
latter part of the 'sixties. Among the first to locate
there were John Powell, who took up a claim immedi
ately west of Prineville, and Abe Kenkel, who settled
on what is now known as the A. J. Tethrow place.
The southern and southeastern portion of Crook
county was not settled until a few years after the set
tlements which have been mentioned. Among the pio
neers of this section are Abe Hackleman, John Davis,
John Jaggi, William Noble, James and Charles W.
Elkins, and William Adams. Among other noted pio
neers of Crook county was Dr. James R. Stites who
took up a piece of land at Lone Pine in the Haystack
country in 1875. He afterward lived at Prineville for
many years, and then returned to Dallas, his old home,
where he died. He was a veteran of the Mexican war
and was with Colonel Doniphan in his famous march

through New Mexico, known as the "Journey of
Death." Two young men who came to Crook county in 1878,
who have since been very prominent in the upbuilding
of the country were T. M. Baldwin and J. W. Howard.
The Dalles Times-Mountaineer of October 15,..
1898, said :
Christian Myer and wife, of Alkali Flat, Crook
county, were Saturday, on their way to visit their two
married daughters in Portland. Mr. Myer is a Cali
fornia pioneer of 1849. He settled on his present home
near Bridge creek in 1863, and for years had Frank
Hewot (Alkali) Frank, of Eight Mile, for partner. At
that time Myer & Hewot kept one of the only two
stopping places between The Dalles and Canyon City.
The other was Burnt Ranch on the John Day.
Every traveler over the long and wretched road
between here and Canyon City made it a point to stop ¦
with Myer & Hewot. They lived in an adobe mansioiv.
which was a marble palace compared with some of the
frontier residences of those days, and they had the
reputation and deserved it, too, of furnishing the best
meals to be had east of the Cascade mountains. Both
were bachelors and as the years rolled on ancl house
hold cares increased with increasing travel the hearts.
of the two bachelors felt an aching void for the touch
of a woman's hand and the companionship and ministry
that a woman alone can render. But which of them
should go wife hunting? That was the question, for
each was perfectly satisfied that the other should be
the matrimonial victim. At last the controversy was
settled by the two bachelors agreeing to play a game
of seven-up, the loser to go and hunt a wife. The game
was played and Mr. Hewot won and Mr. Myer a
short time afterward started for California, where he
found the woman that has shared the joys and sorrows
of Alkali Flat for more than thirty years.
The Willamette Valley and Cascade Moun
tain Wagon Road Company was formed in 1865^
This organization was conceived by A. Hackle-
mer and the organizers were Jason Wheeler, the-
first president of the company, Luther B. Ellis and
John Powell. This company was granted every
other section for a distance of six miles on either
side of the road across the state. This amounted
to about 400,000 acres in Crook county. The
company never attempted to build roads and the
road that was constructed was the work of immi
grants passing through the country. The road
company did not carry out their part of the
contract and it should never have been accepted
or the charter granted. The United States gov
ernment made the governor of the state receiv
ing agent, but through carelessness or wilful"

702

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

neglect he did not do his duty and accepted the
road as it was. In this manner the company
received their charter for the immense amount
of land which they have neither earned nor paid
for. It is considered one of the most brilliant
fakes ever perpetrated on the American public.
The road was sold later to T. Edgerton Hogg,
who in turn disposed of it to the present owners,
a Paris banking house, with Charles Alchul, the
nominal resident owner. They have a resident
owner at Prineville who attends to the business
of the company and sees that the road is main
tained in good repair. The route of the road was
. through what is now known as Crook county, and
was as follows : Entering Crook county about two
miles south and about four miles west of Black
Butte to Crooked river, it followed this stream
to Prineville, thence almost due east up to the
Ochoco Valley forty-eight miles to Paulina, thence
. south from Paulina thirty miles and leaving the
country in the extreme southeastern corner.
Of Indians and Indian warfare Miss Gertie
Sharp most interestingly writes :
Crook county's Indian history begins as early as
1867, when a band of Piutes raided the upper Ochoco,
under command of thier chief Paulina, and drove the
. inhabitants from the valley. With the sacking of this
district as a whet to the savage blood, Paulina led his
savage brothers to every white settlement to be found,
and for the space of twelve months after the first
plunder, lives were sacrificed, houses and barns burned,
- cattle stolen and driven away, and the country generally
laid waste to the fiendish desires of a brutal and
treacherous band of savages.
The memorable winter of 1867-8 has never been
- duplicated in Crook county so far as any authentic
reports record. Evidence of a fearful massacre in the
northeastern part of the county is found in Skull Hol
low, where many human skulls have been hauled away
at different times. But Paulina's record as a brutal
devastator has always held the foremost place in the
bloody annals of the county. Lest his name, which
once struck terror to old and young alike, be forgotten,
.a range of mountains, a valley and a stream in Crook
county are named for. him. Paulina was killed by
Howard Maupin, the year following the former's raid
in 1867. With his death came a time of comparative
peace and it was .not until the gold rush to Canyon
City several years later that any serious disturbances
occurred. At that time many packers, traveling over
land to the mines, were attacked and the parties killed.
But whether these murders were tin* work of whites or
Indians will never be known ; although it is more than
probable that the latter were as guilty, if not more so,
than the former.
Prior to the murderous attacks attending the gold
rush to Canyon City, a small detachment of the Hud

son's Bay Company was massacred at Powell's Buttes,
about eight miles southwest of the present site of the
county seat and during many years following, both
during and after the bloody career of Paulina, there
were occasional outbreaks of the savages at which times
the whites were mercilessly slaughtered. Such in brief
is the early Indian history of Crook county. Today
the former troublesome chiefs with their warriors are
under the watchful and painstaking eye of Uncle Sam
at the Warm Springs reservation. Here the major
part of the older ones live a life of indolence, the
younger ones attend the government schools for a short
time, then if nature's call, which is strong in the
breasts of many of them, does not take them back to
the tepees and blankets, they enter into any 'of the
various occupations for which the government endeav
ors to fit them.
But the old stock will never change. The deep
seated aboriginal ideas, the superstitions that rule their
lives, the implanted customs and rights handed down
to 'them since the first generation of their kind, all of
these fonn a pan of their lives of too much moment to
be entirely removed in a few decades of years by their
white-skinned guardians! But the governmental influence
of the whites, nevertheless, has had its effect and some of
the more barbarous customs of these first inhabitants
have been abolished through the enlightenment given
them. On the Warm Springs reservation among the
Piutes and Warm Springs, there is found no longer the
custom of buying and selling women, nor is it now
customary, as in earlier years, to kill the medicine men
who fail to effect cures. These are perhaps the two
most notworthy changes that have been brought about
in the ordinary lives of these savage races of people.
But neither time nor schooling can bring about a
change in the minor details of their every day life.
The ground is never too warm or too cold to squat
upon ; their faces are never so attractive as when
smeared with oil and paint; the heavy labor of the
camp is never done except by the hands of the squaws ;
the living still hire the howling, wailing mourners for
the dead ; the tiny papoose is better cared for strapped
to a board than in the mother's lap — all these and a
hundred more furnish food for the feeling that only
with the total extinction of the race itself will there
come an end to the primitive, and still barbarous meth
ods and customs that have lived for centuries with these
first inhabitants and are destined to exist as many more
if the life of this peculiar race shall endure to that end.
The first "Indian fight" in Crook county oc
curred in the summer of 1866 on Dry creek,
about thirteen miles from the present site
of the town of Prineville. Dr. McKay, a half
breed Indian, who afterward became quite noted
as a surgeon, was camped on what is now known
as McKay's creek, with a band of Warm Springs
Indians. With him was "Billy Chinook," who

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

7°3

had formerly served as a scout and guide for
General John C. Fremont and Kit Carson, when
they passed through this territory in 1843. Mc-
Kay ordered Billy Chinook to take twenty-five
men and reconnoiter for any other Indian bands.
The following day they discovered a band of
Piutes on Dry creek. After counting their fires
and wigwams they decided that there was not
more, so far as numbers were concerned, than
they had themselves. Their orders were not to
attack, but return and if Indians were found to
give the alarm. But the opportunity, however,
was too favorable and they disobeyed orders.
The first fire in the morning was to be the signal
for attack. Accordingly as the early fires ap
peared a rush was made. Although surprised
the Piutes made a gallant defense and the whole
.band numbering thirty-two, bucks, squaws and
¦children, were killed or captured.
The first house erected in Ochoco valley was
built by David Wayne Claypool. He was mar
ried to Miss Louisa Elkins October 8, 1857, re
maining in Linn county until 1867 when he re
moved to what is now Crook county. The In
dians burned his home and run off his stock
while he was out at work. But by indomitable
will power he stayed with his claim, and event
ually became one of Crook county's wealthiest
.and most respected citizens.
Paulina, a mongrel chief of the Piutes,
who had terrorized residents and freighters be
tween the Des Chutes and John Day rivers for
many years, was killed by Howard Maupin, the
•details of which killing will be found in the
"reminiscence" portion of this work. The trage
dy occurred near Paulina Butte, about four miles
northwest of what is now Ashwood, in 1867.
Henry Coleman, who settled on lower Trout
creek in 1868, was the first settler who raised
• cattle extensively in what is now Crook county.
In 1880, before the advent of the railroad, he
drove 2,000 head of cattle over the mountains to
Kansas and hired a man to winter them. During
the winter they all died and Mr. Coleman was
sued by the man who had charge of them for his
pay. The court gave the plaintiff a judgment for
$75,000 for wintering 2,000 head of cattle. This
¦completely bankrupted Mr. Coleman and he
abandoned the business.
Among the settlers on upper Trout creek in
1869 were Z. B. Offat, James M. Grater, John
Atterbury and James Cox. It may be said that
they were the first settlers on upper Trout creek.
In 1869 Lieutenant Watson with a party of
soldiers and Stokatlv, a Warm Springs Indian
chief, with a band of Indians, soldiers and In
dians numbering about 150, encountered a party
• of Piutes at what is now known as Watson's

Springs. The Piutes hid themselves in the rocks
on the hillside and Watson, finding he could get
at them in no other way, decided to charge the
whole band. In the preliminary encounter Wat
son was killed and his men retreated. Stokatly
was attached to Lieutenant Watson and would
not allow the Piutes to scalp him. Calling his
men to follow he again charged and rescued Wat
son's body, but was so badly wounded himself
that he died a few days later at the Warm Springs
reservation. • In the Prineville News of June, 1887, Mr.
George Barnes writes interestingly of the Ochoco
valley :
Settlement was first directed to this valley by the
report of a surveying party sent out by the S. V. &
C. M. road company in 1863 or 1864, though the coun
try had been visited by adventurous miners on prospect
ing tours, and Uncle Howard Maupin, the pioneer of
Antelope Valley, and his boys had passed through in
pursuit of the Snake Indians who, under the noted
Paulina, were waging relentless war upon the early
settlers of Wasco years before this. Major Stein, an
officer in the United States1 army, had even built a road
through the country connecting The Dalles by way of
Camp Harney with the government post in the northern
part of California, over which government supplies were
hauled and troops passed from one post to another.
Years before this the government, to keep the Indians
in check, had dotted the country east of the Cascade
mountains with military posts. One was located at
Black Butte at the place that bears its name — Camp
Polk; one near South Crooked river just above the
fords of that stream, called Maury; one on Silver creek,
called Curry, and one in the Harney Valley took its
name, and- many were the hard, bloody fights fought
with the Indians on the valleys and plains now dotted
with settlers' homes. In fact the country was well
known long before the road company's surveying party
passed through it; but the glowing report of this
party of the beauty of the country, of the inexhaustible
wealth of grass that covered it ; the richness of its soil.
and its pure, dry, healthful atmosphere first attracted
the attention of the people of the Willamette valley
who wanted homes and were willing to brave the
dangers of the Indian country to secure them.
The first attempt at settlement was made in the
fall of 1867 by D. Wayne Claypool, William Smith,
Captain White, Raymond Burkhart, George Burkhart
(then a boy), and Elisha Barnes, then residents of the
vicinity of Lebanon in Linn county, whb came to the
valley that fall and selected lands upon which they
ptoposed to build themselves future homes, and who re
mained here during the following winter. They occu
pied themselves in hewing house logs, making rails
and building houses on their claims. One house was
erected on Wayne Clajjpool's place near where his

704

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

present dwelling stands ; this was burned by the Indians
the next spring. One was built on William Smith's
place on Mill creek, and one in the timber where is
now the old Swarts' sawmill. These last two are still
standing, "Billy Smith's" doing service as a dwelling
house, or perhaps more properly as a "bachelors' roost."
It is historical as the oldest house in the county.
The Burkhart's selected the place where the Rev.
C. S. Pringle now lives. Wayne Claypool and William
Smith settled on their present homes; Captain White
the land now owned by Mrs. E. A. Freeland, and
Elisha Barnes the swamp land in the lower Ochoco.
Although cut off from all communication with the out
side world, and especially their families, these men
passed the winter cheerily enough, enlivened once or
twice by a visit from the Luckey boys — John and Jim —
who were then employes on the reservation at the
Warm Springs, and as the creek bottoms were swarm
ing with mule deer, one could more easily guess that
the sports of the chase were a part of their recreation
that believe the yarns they told to their neighbors on
their return home about the size of these deer. Burk
hart owned a Henry rifle, one of the first ever made,
and it had a surprising habit of "scattering." It was
liable to hit anything under the sun except the object
at which it was pointed, and its idiosyncrasy in this
respect was apt to throw the shooter into a state of mind
not altogether conducive to moral perfection. An
Indian stole the gun and I ever afterward felt perfectly
safe. He couldn't hit me with that gun if I were in
sight, and if I were not he would not be apt to shoot.
But the stories told of the surprising shots" made by this
gun, the size and number of the animals slain, are
embalmed in my memory alongside with the tales of
"Robinson Crusoe" and "Jack, the Giant Killer."
They broke some ground on the Claypool place,
planted a garden and in April, I think, moved their re
maining teams and personal property to Camp Polk,
which they left with Captain White and the rest of the
company. Returning to their families they crossed the
mountains on snow shoes.
The Burkharts had had enough of Ochoco, and on
their return home announced their intention of staying
there, but Claypool and Barnes commenced making
preparations to remove their families so soon as the
mountains were passable. The flattering reports they
gave of the country soon induced others to join them
in their intention to make a home here. Two weeks
after their arrival home, E. Johnson, William Elkins,
myself and another man, whose name I have forgotten,
started for this country bringing with us two horses.
We had to cross over snow twenty feet deep, but we
arrived at Camp Polk without any mishaps and found
Captain White in good spirits and the cattle safe.
The following day we loaded up and started for
Ochoco, arriving at Wayne Claypool's in two and a
half days. This was, certainly, as fine a country then
as a stock man could wish to see. The bottoms were

covered with wild rye, clover, pea vines, wild flax and
meadow grass that was waist high on horseback. The
hills were clothed with a mat of bunch grass that
seemed inexhaustible. It appeared a veritable paradise
for stock. E. Johnson located the place now known as
the James Elkins place, the little farm just across the
lane north of Wayne Claypool's farm. Elkins and the
other gentleman did not take places and after a stay
of four years they went home, taking all the horses our
little crowd had, leaving us afoot, in a manner, for we
had only ox teams. Johnson and I went to hauling
rails, and I have always believed that if untoward events
and the Indians had not interfered I would have reached
the top round of the ladder of fame as a bull whacker.
For even now I look back with feelings of pride and
longing regret to those bright sunny mornings when
we arose with the lark and sage tick and joyously
ambled down to the spring branch, bathed our expansive
brows, scoured our pitch-covered hands and with ap
petites that passed all understanding, did ample justice
to the ability of our cook, and blythly took our way to
the rail patch with an ox gad in one hand, a trusty
United States gun on one shoulder, and two Colt's
revolvers swung to our belts, and let our fine soprano
voices ring out on the morning air. Bull-whacking
is not work; it is only recreation. But that is all over
for me now ; I can never be a bull-whacker. And,
thinking of what I have missed, I can only moan, "It
might have been."
As before stated, four days after our arrival here
Elkins and the forgotten man left us, leaving three
people in all this country, Johnson, White and myself.
Johnson and myself were employed in making a trip
to the timber each day. We were stopping at the Clay
pool place. Captain White worked the garden and did
the cooking. On the sixth day as usual Johnson and
I went to the timber, and while loading the wagons
we noticed a huge smoke down the valley; but as the
captain was almost daily engaged in burning the heavy .
crops of wild rye that covered the bottom, we thought
but little of it. But when fifteen minutes later we saw
the captain coming up the bottom, hat off, and as if he
had half a notion of breaking into a run, we knew some
thing was wrong. When we got within yelling distance
he shouted, "Boys, the Indians have broke out and
killed every d  d one of us and burnt the house,"
we knew exactly what was the trouble. And when the
captain came up and gave us the particulars, how,
while he was absent from the house they had taken all
our guns, blankets and provisions, and what they could
not carry off they had burned, leaving us destitute, we
felt lonesome. That morning Johnson and I both,
contrary to our usual custom, had omitted to bring our
guns with us. We had only an old six-shooter of the
cap and ball style, and this we had emptied at a bunch
of sage hens, and as we had not brought any ammuni
tion, it was about as valuable as a knot-hole. We held a
council of war and then and there organized the first

Prineville, County Seat of Crook County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

705'

militia company ever organized in this county. We
each got us a willow stick six feet long, which we
shouldered as guns and marched down to where our
house had stood. In fact they had burned up every
thing we had which they did not carry away. We were
completely stripped and it looked to us that evening
that the next bite we would get to eat would be found
somewhere on the west side of the Cascade mountains.
As we were afoot and would have thirty or forty miles
of snow to wade through, the prospect did not seem
very cheerful ; in fact, to attempt to cross the mountains
seemed so hopeless that we finally concluded to attempt
to find the Canyon City road which we knew lay some
where to the north of us. How far it was we did not
know. In fact our ignorance was so dense that it seems
foolishness now. So we gathered together a few traps,
such as were not burned, hitched up our oxen and
started for "grub."
Not a drum was heard, not a bugle note,
As our course down stream we worried ;
But like a boy caught in a melon patch,
We whooped, and humped and hurried.
We perhaps looked very brave as we marched down
the valley with our make-believe guns on our shoul
ders, but as a truthful historian I am compelled to say
that we did not feel that way. Two days and a half
afterward we found the Warm Spring Agency by an
accident. There were no roads in the country then,
and our course was guided solely by canyons and
ridges. At the agency we were welcomed by one of the
best women even Oregon ever knew, Mrs. Captain John
Smith, wife, of the agent of the reservation at that time.
We were fed and made to feel at home. Two days
afterward Johnson and I started for home. Mrs. Smith
furnished us with enough provisions to run a small
Methodist camp-meeting at least a week. We hired an
Indian to guide us to Cache creek from whence we
proposed to "hoof it" home. At Cache creek the
Indian left -us and Johnson and I started across the
snow. Traveling was very slow and tiresome, and
every few hundred feet we would stop and eat. In
fact, we stopped and ate so often that the next morn
ing we had only enough left for a scanty breakfast.
That evening after a fatiguing day worrying over and
through the snow we were so fortunate as to meet
James M. Blakely who was camped on the Santiam at
what is known as "The Elephant" with a band of cat
tle, which he was taking to Wild Horse. Umatilla
county. Jim gave us our supper and breakfast, for
which I am certain the pack horse was ever after
thankful, for we certainly lightened his load. Next
day we arrived hdme, safe and sound and "hungry.
A few weeks later James McDowell, his two boys,
Bill and George, Haley Anderson, Billy Smith and
John Miller came here. The McDowells settled on the
upper place now owned By J. P. Combs; John Toms
45

and J. Miller taking claims up where C. S. Pringle
now lives. Shortly afterward they were followed by
James Slater, A. Zell, Uncle Jackay Rose, Harry
Smith, William Pickett, Charles Brotherhead and James
Mackey. A. Zell located on the place where he now
lives ; Harry Smith on the place that now bears his
name on Mill creek ; James McKay on McKay creek,
the Millican ranch, I believe, and A. C. Belieu on the
place Ewen Johnson now owns. Soon afterward Rea
son Hamlin moved here, bringing his family now with
him. Mrs. Hamlin was the first white woman in the
valley. They settled on the old James Bent place and-
built their house on the creek near the center of where
the Stroud boys have their field. In October, E. John-<
son, W. H. Marks and William Clark brought out their1
families, and they were followed a week or so later by
the families of Wayne Claypool, Lew Daugherty and
George H. Judy. Johnson moved his family into the
cabin in the timber; Marks onto the place just above
where John Claypool now lives, which he took up and
improved. W. Clark settled on what is now the Free-
land place — Captain White's old claim — Wayne Clay
pool into the house he had built in the place of the one
burnt; Lew Daugharty stopped in the timber above the
Jim Miller place and Judy took up what is now the
John Todd place, building his house on the creek.
About this time Barney Prine and I. N. Bostwick
came to the Valley bringing their families with them.
Barney settled on the present site of Prineville; Bost
wick took the place now owned by Dan Powell just
above town. Later John Crabtree and his family, ac
companied by John Claypool, moved here, and lived
during that winter in E. Barnes' house, Crabtree tak
ing up the place Webdell now owns.
That summer James McKay brought out a band of
cattle, and E. Barnes, E. Johnson and W. H. Marks
each a small band of sheep. These were the first stock
brought here, and I have a painful recollection that the
sheep had the doubtful honor of having the first case
of scab in the settlement, though at that time we did
not know what it was. We thought it was the mange;
the same disease that the hogs ha\je in the Willamette
valley, and we lost all our wool and nearly all our
sheep before we learned what ailed them. Greasing
the measly things with a bacon rind did not cure them,
and some of us retired from the business with disgtist.
Why, the scab is a native of this section. I have seen
the coyotes perfectly naked with it; the rim rocks had
it ; the sage brush had it ; it was in the grass, in the
rocks, in the air and our sheep caught it and' had' it'
bad. I think I omitted the names of Arthur Veazie, Joel"
Long and John Latta, who also came here during the-
summer of 1868. Veazie settled upon the place now-
owned by J. H. Miller; Joel Long upon the Powell'-
place on M«Kay creek, and Latta on what is now
known as the "old Millican ranch."
During the summer of 1868 the settlers were busy

706

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.,

in building their houses ; Johnson erecting the old
house that now stands just north of the old Claypool
school house ; William Clark a log cabin near where
now stands the Freeland residence; G. H. Judy on the
creek south of where now stands the John Todd house ;
W. H. Marks near the point of rocks that juts out to
the road on the place now claimed by John Claypool ;
Hamlin on the old Bent Jones place; the McDowells in
what is now J. P. Combs upper field; E. Barnes on his
meadow ranch ; H. Smith on his place ; Haley Anderson
on the place known as the John Davis place, now owned
by Billy Smith, and during the following winter John
Crabtree the old log house that now stands on A. B.
Webdell's place ; A. Zell on the place he now occupies.
During the summer J. Narcross and Vining located
and settled upon the place now owned by S. J. Newson,
now "Newson's Addition to Prineville," building two
houses on the creek just east of the lane leading north
from town. Vining did not long remain here, dispos
ing of his interests to Narcross and moving away. He
was afterward lost on the steamer General Wright
when she foundered off our coast several years ago.
During the winter of 1868 the Vining cabin was
occupied by M. B. Fry, now of Albany, whose chief
ambition was to get up a race between a thoroughbred
greyhound he brought out with him and one of the
' fleet-foted mule bucks that were then so numerous
on our valleys and plains. But before he succeeded in
this desire he made the grand mistake of turning his
slim-waisted, long-legged racer loose after a mangy
coyote that looked fully as hungry as his dog. There
was an exciting race for about a quarter of a mile and
the greyhound overtook the coyote who proceeded then
and there to give it the worst whipping a high-bred
town dog ever got. Then there was another quarter
race back to where Fry stood in open astonishment, the
greyhound in the lead, but the coyote a good second
and every few jumps he would nip a piece out of the
fleeing dog's hams. That race ruined the dog as a
hunter, for from that day on Fry could never induce it
to chase a jack- rabbit, and the howl of a coyote drove
it under the bed. After that it pined away and died.
That winter was a busy one to all of us ; making
rails, boards, hewing house logs and, surprising as it
may seem, I was inveigled into accepting the position
of pitman in a whip-saw mill, where we sawed lumber
for the floors of our cabins at the rate of fifty feet a
day, working sixteen hours. Sundays we washed and
patched our clothes, and right here I want to say that
along toward spring our wardrobes got to be very
threadbare ; we thought we had come with clothes
enough for a year, but three months' ranting around over
the rimrocks and through the juniper trees after the mule
deer had left us barefooted and naked. There were no
stores that we could possibly reach where we could
obtain a new supply anj toward spring we were the
nakedest lot of white men in Oregon. The makeshifts
we utilized to hide our skins from the biting winds—

we didn't care a cent for the public gaze — was but an
other illustration that "Necessity is the Mother of In
vention." Newt Bostwick capped the climax in the
footwear line by soling a pair of moccasins with a piece
of bacon rind. We all wore moccasins and before
spring buckskin breeches and shirts.
That winter Uncle Jim Slater who, with Abe Zell,
had been stopping with the McDowells, becoming tired
of bachelor's cooking and vension, went up and hired
out to W. H. Marks, stipulating that he was to have
beef once a day and a yard and a half of the first
cloth woven to patch the seat of his pantaloons, pro
vided the latter held together that long. The long win
ter evenings were passed in dressing buckskin, learning
the copper trade under A. Zell's tuition, and in solving
the most complex mathematical problem the fertile
brain of Uncle Jim Slater could conceive, using a shingle
for a slate. Once a week the settlers on lower Ochoco
would meet, first at one cabin and then another, turn
about, and have a debate. Even at that early day the
W. V. & C. M. road company's claim to the lands in this
section was questioned by the settlers, for we often
had the company and its "road" as the subject of de
bate. Many were the eloquent denunciations of their
staking out old Indian trails and calling them "wagon
roads," but little did we dream that these same old
Indian trails would become hy the venality of two of
Oregon's governors, a "Military Wagon Road," or that
the improvements on which some of the settlers were
working so hard that winter would be taken from
them and given to this company, or perhaps our speeches
might have rung with even yet more bitter denuncia
tion that they did.
The forepart of the winter the young people had
several "bussing bees" and dances. Along toward
spring we let up on them ; in fact we got skittish of the
girls. Not that we were naturally diffident or bashful,
but because our trousers were more conspicuous by what
was absent than by what remained.
James McDowell was an odd genius ; he went by the
name of "Governor of Canada," derived by having been
at one time the laziest man in that part of the Forks
of the Santiam known as "Canada." Though it was told
of "Bill," the Governor's oldest boy, married on the
strength of his being a son of the "Governor of Can
ada," the girl had never heard of the Forks or seen
the "Governor." If he could get enough to eat and
plenty* of tobacco, he did not care if he was ragged or
dirty. He was always happy, and during our ragged
period the Governor was in his element. He shaved
once a week with a butcher knife, and stood ready to
back his "mar" against any horse in the country for
fifteen buck hides.
Jim and A. H. Marks, Uncle Buford's boys, were
born hunters and this country was to them all that
could be desired. Deer were plenty everywhere; not
little, runty white tails like they have in the Willamette,
but big, mule deer, animals as large as an elk. Elk

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

707

and bear, could be found in the mountains; wild sheep
on the high, rocky buttes ; big grey wolves once in a
while and coyotes everywhere. And above all was a
conscious feeling that one might find an Indian; just
enough of this latter feeling to give a zest to a hunt
away from the settlement. One evening night caught
Jim and A. H. several miles from home, and the
darker it got the greater their anxiety to get home.
Finally it became so dark Jim could not see his way or
feel over a rim-rock. He stumbled over one and after
dropping some six or eight feet he caught on a narrow
ledge that projected from the wall some two feet, just
far enough for him to maintain a precarious footing.
He soon ascertained by experimenting that it was im
possible for him to climb back from where he had
fallen, and it was too dark to see how far it was to the
bottom, and how to climb down, his imagination con
jecturing that it was hundreds of feet down and the
wall perfectly smooth, that he would hold on to the
narrow ledge until his strength was gone and then fall
down and be dashed to pieces on the rocks below. He
felt that he was doomed ; he would hang there until
starvation would loosen his hold, or perhaps an Indian
would find him perched there, caught like a rat in a
trap, and from the ledge above take mean advantages of
him. Then he would think of home, and how they
would miss and hunt for him and never find him. Amid
such gloomy thoughts he passed the night and the first
streak of light showed him that the ledge upon which
he stood with within two feet of the bottom.
Charley Brotherhead was the son of a rich banker
in New York; he had enlisted in the army during the
war and after its close he had been discharged on this
coast and had drifted here, why, I could never im
agine. He did not need any of this country and it cer
tainly did not need any of him. He wouldn't work,
and could not if he had wanted to, but he could and did
raise a quarrel with Captain White, and the way these
two worthies laid for one another ; how they quarreled ;
how Captain White to avoid meeting Charley would go
across the mountains instead of traveling through the
valley when he wished to go from one point to another;
how Charley would lie on the old Captain and bluster
about what he would do if he could only lay hands on
him, gave evidence that even in frontier places where the
settlers were mutually dependent upon one another for
safety, they could be fools.
The winter of 1868 was a fine one ; no snow or rain
fall. The ground and streams of water froze hard, and
the settlers ran around over the country with only
moccasins and with, comparatively, dry feet. The few
stock in the valley kept fat, and the teams engaged in
hauling rails and timber with no better feed than to be
turned on the bottom at night kept in good working
order. If did not storm any that winter ; the days were
clear and warm and the nights clear and cold.
I find it necessary to add another name to the list of
-settlers in the year 1868 that I inadvertantly omitted in

its proper place; that is George Millican. He came here
in the spring of 1868 in company with John Latta and
Joel Long, and brought out the first band of cattle
driven here. He stopped awhile on Mill creek, the site
of Prineville, he being some three months ahead of
Barney Prine, but by the solicitation of Millican, he soon
abandoned the place, and he, Millican and Latta went
over on the McKay and took the place now owned by
Millican and Powell.
In i86q the little settlement here received quite an
addition to its numbers, the Gulliford boys, Jake, Will
iam and Jasper came, bringing with them quite a band
of cattle, and settled upon the head of the McKay, up
where William Gulliford now lives. Albert Allen also
that year settled on the McKay on the place B. F.
Allen now owns. Then came J. C. Davis, Bluford Marks
and, his two sons, Jim and Att, Dr. L. Vanderpool, A.
Hodges, Charley Hodges, the irrepressible "Bud"
Hodges, Lizzie Vanderpool, now Mrs. Jake Gulliford,
J. H. Snodderly and family, D. H. Hale and S. R.
Slayton and family, the two Foster boys. William and
"Jap," and their sister Mrs. Nancy Leach, A. B. Web
dell and E. G. Conant; A. Zell brought out his family;
Jake Narcross and wife ; Hardy Holman, John Holman,
John D. Lee, A. Hinkle, Bill Davis and Abbott.
John Davis moved on the place on Mill Creek that
Haley Anderson had been holding for him. Uncle Blu
ford Marks took up the place where John Claypool now
lives, and his two boys built the old log cabin that now
stands on that place; it was one that Alex Hodges took
up, and he and his boys went to improve the place he
now lives upon. Dr. Vanderpool brought out a band
of sheep and his first corral was about where Duncaa'^
law office now stands. He afterward took up the place
where he now lives. J. H. Snodderly took up the place
where he now lives ; the Foster boys the place now
owned by Dan Powell. A. B. Webdell bought John
Crabtree's right to the swamp land just above town
and thereby bought a nineteen years' fight with the
Road Company. He soon after left E. G. Conant in
charge of the place and went to the Willamette Valley
to buy horses, and while there married a Miss Wiley,
whom he brought out next summer. But their wedded
life was not destined to last long, for that dread dis
ease, consumption, had her in its clutches and she died,
May 6, 1871, I believe her death was the third in the
valley, R. Streithoff who died in December being the
first, and Emily Powell on March o, 1871, being the
second. R. S. Slayton settled in the lower Ochoco on the
meadow land he now owns ; he also brought out quite
a large band of cattle.
Jake Narcross settled upon the land just north of
town, embracing the claims of S. J. Newsome and Mrs.
Lafollette. Hardy and John Holman and John Lee and
Orange Morgan settled on the creek above Abe Zell's
place on the land now owned by E. N. White, and —
yes, I have almost forgotten a Mr. Smith who settled

708

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

somewhere near where Billy Tomlinson now lives. He
should not be forgotten, for his wife that summer gave
birth to the first child born in the new settlement.
Though this child should be to this county what Vir
ginia Dare is to America, I have forgotten whether it
was a boy or a girl.
The settlers were dependent upon the kindness of
John and Jim Luckey for an occasional letter from their
former homes, as there was no communication with any
mail routes, and the Luckeys, who were employes on
the Warm Springs reservation, would always kindly
gather and forward the mail that came by the way of
The Dalles, and a letter was an event in those days. I
remember that once the boys sent up a batch of mail,
which came to Barney Prine's — the place was not then
Prineville — and Joel Long who happened down that
way undertook to deliver the mail to the upper Ochoco
settlers and, on the way up he lost one for John Clay
pool and the whole settlement turned out to hunt for it.
The search was continued until the letter was found.
It contained the startling information that one of the
Smith family had obtained a divorce. I do not now
remember whether the divorcee wrote the letter or not.
In the spring of 1868, while these men were
busy with their work, they were rudely startled
by a raid made on them by the Snake Indians
who captured and carried off three yoke of cat
tle and Billy Smith's only horse. This action
was a rude reminder that their stay here would
not be unmixed with danger. As the whites were
few in number and without horses they, of course,
did not follow the Indians very far, leaving the
settlers to content themselves with keeping a
better lookout, and more carefully guarding
against a repetition of such a raid. At that per
iod, 1869, there were no roads connecting this
country with The Dalles, or in fact anywhere else.
During the summer of 1869 William Clark and
Lew Daugherty built a road from the valley of
Bakeoven.^ The road went direct to Cow Canyon
following the creek bed, and the reef of rocks
that obstruct the creek was overcome by a bridge.
These men were paid for their work by the mer
chants of The Dalles. At that time there were
no houses between the valley and Bakeoven, ex
cept one at the Coleman ranch, on Trout creek.
C. C. Mailing came to Crook county in 1877
and located on Willow creek, where he erected
a steam sawmill, the first-one in the county. In
1863 Bristow Brothers were taking a pack train
from Eugene to Canyon City, and they encamped
on Trout creek, where they were joined by an
other pack train returning from Canyon City.
At night they were raided by Indians and every
horse was stolen. Until the following afternoon
the freighters could do nothing when another

pack train came along. The men at once mounted.
and gave chase, finding the Indians on the bank
of the Ochoco, where now stands Prineville.
Seeing them the Indians hid themselves in the
tall rye grass and made no attempts to defend
themselves. The freighters gathered in their
horses and, naturally, those of the Indians, re*
turned to their camping grounds and eventually
gained their destination.
Camp Polk was named by Captain Charles
La Follette, who in the early sixties camped there
with a company of soldiers. It was located in
Squaw creek, about forty miles west of Prineville
and about four miles northwest of where Sisters is
now located. A few log huts were thrown to
gether to form a temporary camp.
The name "Ochoco," Indian for willow, was,.
in the days of the earliest settlement, given to
nearly all the territory within the boundaries of
Crook county. Present settlers limit it to the-
valley along the creek of that name. When the
whites first visited the stream it was called
Ochoco, pronounced O-chee-co, and such, since-
then it has remained.
Mr. Miller was a teacher at the Warm
Springs, and during a visit to the future Prine
ville he preached at the old Claypool school
house, about ten miles east of Prineville. It »s
considered highly probable that this was the first
sermon preached in the county.
J. P. Combs, D. Wayne Claypool, S. R.
Slayton and J. H. Snodderly were the first to-
raise grain in Crook county. This was in 1870.
It was grown for hay in the Ochoco valley. The
first notes of the "new county" symphony were
heard September 16, 1880, when a Prineville
correspondent of The Dalles Times wrote as fol
lows: The question of the division of Wasco county is-
being generally agitated here. This question was dis
cussed to some extent two years ago, but at that time
met with serious opposition, not only from your part of"
the county (The Dalles') but from many of the citizens
here. Now, however, there seems to be but one unan
imous opinion and that is, '"A new county of our own
we should have, and that immediately!" Citizens of
The Dalles hardly understand how little real protec
tion or advantage to this part of the county our pres
ent organization is. Were it not for our local officers-
crimes might be committed daily and the criminals-
escape long before the arm of justice could be stretched
across the 125 miles that intervene between us and the-
judgment seat at The Dalles. And as it is, -the few
cases that we are compelled to take to The Dalles for-
trial cost the county such enormous sums that we are
ashamed to make the balance against us any larger, and.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

709

many offenses are allowed to shock the moral sense of \
the community without any attempt to visit punishment
upon the heads of offenders.
In the fall of 1880 the conditions of the little
town of Prineville were considered prosperous.
Especially had it prospered during the two pre
ceding years. At that period the principal in-'
•dustry was stock raising. The large droves of
cattle which were driven from Crook county in
1879 greatly lessened the amount of horned cat
tle on the range, and since that time particular
attention has been paid to horses and sheep, of
which the farmers have the finest grades. So
•early as 1880 some of the best thoroughbred
horses for all purposes had been imported ; there
is no kind of a graded animal of that species but
can be found at, or near, Prineville. Large bands
of sheep ranged the neighboring hills and kept
fat the year round. The winter months were
.''•slightly more severe than at The Dalles, but the
snowfalls were usually light. Large accessions
to the population were made in 1879, and mainly
of a thrifty, industrious class which is always
acceptable to every community. Heretofore very
little agricultural projects had been entered upon.
Yet at that time it was popular opinion that the
valleys of the Ochoco and Crooked river could be
made quite productive. McKay creek, six miles
from Prineville, had been farmed for a unmber
of years and quite successfully. The quantity
and quailty of grain raised compared favorably
with any section of Crook county. Such were
the industrial conditions in 1880.
In the histories of other counties published
in this work we have told of the severe weather
prevailing in 1880-81, and of the hardships en
dured by settlers in caring for their stock. In
that portion of Wasco, which is now Crook
county, then known as the "Prineville country,"
this winter was not so severe as in the country
further to the north. Large herds of stock were
wintered on the Ochoco, beyond Prineville, and
there was very little loss.
ORGANIZATION OF CROOK COUNTY.
Crook was created out of the southern portion
of Wasco county in the fall of 1882. The bill
was introduced by Hon. B. F. .Nichols, then a
representative of Wasco county. Prineville was
made the temporary county seat. Following is
the enabling act :
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the
State of Oregon :
Section 1. That all that portion of the State of Ore
gon embraced within the following boundary lines be,

and the same is hereby created and organized into a
separate county by the name of Crook, to-wit : Begin
ning at a point on the western boundary line of Wasco
county where the same' is intersected by the line be
tween townships eight and nine south ; from thence east
on said line to the John Day river ; thence up the main
channel of said river to the west line of Grant county ;
thence on the line between Grant and Wasco counties
to the southeast corner of Wasco county; thence on the
line between Wasco and Lake counties . to the east
boundary line of Lane county ; thence on the line be
tween Lane, Linn and Wasco counties to the place of
beginning. Section 2. The territory embraced between said
boundary lines shall compose a county for all civil and
military purposes, and shall be subject to the same laws
ancl restrictions and be entitled to elect the same officers
as other counties of the State : Provided, that it shall
be the duty of the governor as soon as convenient after
this act shall become a law to appoint for Crook
county, and from her resident citizens, several of the
county officers allowed by law to other counties of
this state ; which said officers, after duly qualifying ac
cording to law. shall be entitled to bold their respec
tive offices until their successors shall be duly elected
at the general election of 1884, and shall have duly
qualified as required by law.
Section. 3. The temporary county seat of Crook
county shall be located at Prineville in said county until
a permanent location shall be adopted. At the next
general election the question shall be submitted to the
legal voters of said county, and the place, if any, which
shall receive a mapority of all the votes cast at such
election shall be the permanent county seat of said
county ; but if no place shall receive a majority of all
the votes cast the question shall again be submitted to
the legal voters of said county between the two points
having the highest number of votes at said election, and
the place receiving the highest number of votes at such
election shall be the permanent county seat of said
county. Section 4. Said county of Crook shall for repre
sentative purposes be annexed to the 17th representa
tive district. And for senatorial purposes said county
shall be annexed to the 16th senatorial district.
Section 5. The county clerk of Wasco county shall
send to the county clerk of Crook county, within thirty
days after this act becomes a law a certified transcript
of all delinquent taxes, from the assessment roll of 1882,
that were assessed within the limits of Crook county ;
also a certified transcript of the assessment of all per
sons and property within the limits of Crook county
for 1882, and the said taxes shall be payable to the
proper officers of Crook county. The county treasurer
of Crook county shall, out of the first money collected
for taxes, pay over to the treasurer of Wasco county
the full amount of state tax on the assessment of 1882,
due from the citizens of Crook county, Provided, That

710

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the citizens of Crook county shall not be exempt from,
but shall pay their due proportion of the indebtedness of
said Wasco county for the year 1882. The said clerk of
Wasco county shall also make out and send to the clerk
of Crook county, within the time above limited, a tran
script of all cases pending in the circuit and county
courts of Wasco county between parties residing in
Crook county, and transfer all original papers in said
cases to be tried in Crook county.
Section 6. The county clerk of Wasco county
shall, within forty days after the passage of this act, as
certain the proportion of the amount of money ex
pended by Wasco county for building a court house in
the year 1882 ; collected in taxes from the inhabitants
now to be embraced in the county of Crook, and make
a certificate thereof and deliver the same to the
treasurer of Crook county; and that the treasurer
of said Wasco county pay over to the county said
amount so paid by the inhabitants of said district on the
presentation of said certificate.
Section 7. The said county of Crook is hereby at
tached to the Fifth Judicial District for judicial pur
poses. Section 8. The county court of Crook county shall
be held at the county seat of said county on the first
Monday of every alternate month, beginning on the
first Monday of the next after the appointment by the
goyernor of county officers as provided in this act.
Section 9. Until otherwise provided for the county
judge of Crook county shall receive an annual salary
of four hundred dollars, and the clerk and sheriff of
said county shall be entitled to receive the same fees
that are now allowed by law to the clerk and sheriff
of Wasco county.
Section 10. The county treasurer of Crook county
shall receive an annual salary of two hundred dollars.
Section 11. As early action in virtue of the provis
ions of this act is important, this act shall take effect
and be in force from and after its approval by the Gov
ernor. Approved October 24, 1882.
The first officers named by Governor Moody
as officials of Crook county were the following:
County judge, S. G. Thompson; county clerk,
S. T. Richardson; sheriff, George H. Churchill;
commissioners, B. F. Allen, C. M. Cartwright;
assessor, S. J. Newsome ; school superintendent,
H. A. Dillard ; treasurer, G. A. Winckler ; cor
oner, Richard Graham.
The fact that the senatorial fight of John H.
Mitchell in the legislature of 1882 came near de
feating the bill for the creation of Crook county
is not generally known. Had it not been for the
work of Hon. B. F. Nichols, at that time a mem
ber from Wasco county, the measure would
have failed. Mr. Nichols went to the legislature
pledged to the creation of Crook county and

against John H. Mitchell for United States sen
ator. Almost at the beginning of the session Mr.
Nichols introduced house bill No. 65, which was"
for the creation of the new county. This meas
ure passed the house by a large majority, but
was tabled in the senate without discussion.
This was" done to force Mr. Nichols to vote for
John H. Mitchell which he refused to do.
About this time an opportunity occurred for
the state treasurer to pay out about $100,000 on
the state's indebtedness, and thus save a large
amount of interest. Edward Hirsch, the state
treasurer, with the sanction of the governor and
attorney general, paid out $100,000. A bill was in
troduced in the lower house to legalize this act.
Through the efforts of Mr. Nichols it was tabled.
Solomon Hirsch, senator from Multnomah
county and brother of the state treasurer, was
quite anxious that this bill should become a law.
He was also chairman of the committee on
counties. Mr. Hirsch interviewed Mr. Nichols
and was informed that the bill to legalize his
brother's act would be passed after the Crook
county bill had become a law. Consequently the
senate was compelled to pass the bill creating
Crook county in order to legalize the payment of
the $100,000 of state indebtedness.
During the second session of the county
court, December 5, 1882, the members appointed
Elisha Barnes justice of the peace, and T. S.
Mealy constable for Prineville precinct. These
were the first officers appointed by the new
county court of Crook county. February 6, 1883,
A. Aldridge was appointed road supervisor of
District No. 1, also the first appointed in the
county. The area of the new county was about 8,6oo-
square miles, and it contained a population of
about 2,500.
March 15, 1882, a messenger arrived at
Prineville from Willow creek, who announced
the news of the killing of two men named A. H.
Crooks and S. J. Jory, a son-in-law of Crook's.
The name of the supposed assassin was Lucius
Langdon. The murderous deed, by shooting,
was committed just over a small knoll at the rear
of Langdon's residence, and out of sight of the-
road. Mr. Garrett Maupin, passing the road at
the time, heard two shots. He went immediately
to the place and found the two men dead, and
saw Langdon leaving on a horse and armed.
It appears that Langdon had had some diffi
culty with Crooks and Jory concerning a piece of
land. (The land office afterwards confirmed
Langdon's title to the property).
The coroner's inquest was held by Justice
Powers and the following verdict rendered :
"We, the jury, empaneled to inquire into the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

?ii

cause of the death of A. H. Crooks and Stephen
Jory, find from the evidence that the deceased
came" to their death by gunshot wounds inflicted
by Lucius Langdon.
"(Signed.) "H. A. Belknap,
"J. H. Garrett,
"S. S. Brown,
"S. G. Wood,
"J. W. Page,
"C. A. Newbill."
The following is a letter from Deputy Sheriff
J. L. Lukey at Prineville to Sheriff Storrs at
The Dalles on the lynching of Langdon.
Friend Storrs — I' wrote you in my last of the begin
ning of a terrible tragedy, and to-day I will give you,
as I hope, the end. The people turned out and went
in several directions looking for Langdon. He had a
brother working on Mill Creek, about seventeen miles
from here, and six men went there the same night after
the shooting. At one o'clock in the night they ap
proached the cabin where his brother was stopping, saw
a light, but before they could surround the house the
dogs gave the alarm. Our boys were so near they saw
him run, but it was very dark and he got away; so
a runner was sent back to town and every available
man able to bear arms turned out determined to get
him if possible. They scoured that whole country and
guarded all the avenues where it was thought he was
likely to escape.. J. M. Blakely and a party of men
thought he would return home, as the boys at Mill
Creek had captured his horse and gun. They were sta
tioned just south of Langdon's house, when they saw
a man approaching on horseback. They were not cer
tain of their man, however. James B. covered him
with his Winchester before he knew he was near any
one. He surrendered and they started immediately for
town. In the meantime Justice Powers had issued a
warrant for a man by the name of W. H. Harrison
who had been stopping at Langdon's, and when the
inquest was held on the bodies of Crook and Jory,
gloated over it and said it served them right, striking
his breast and saying, "Big Ingin Me !" They were
trying to make him accessory after the fact.
They all came over to town together, Harrison and
Langdon prisoners, arriving here about two o'clock.
Blakely woke me up, saying they had captured Langdon
and wanted to turn him over to me. I went down to
the stable office where they had him, put the shackles
on him, took him into the hotel, had a good fire built
and told Langdon to take some sleep on the lounge.
I sat down by the stove to guard him. The town was
soon aroused; at least quite a number of men came
in to see Langdon, as I suppose through a morbid curi
osity. Mr. W. C. Foren, deputy marshal, came in and
stayed with me. Harrison went to bed and at about

four o'clock got up and sat by the stove in charge of
L. Nichols. At about five o'clock in the morning, as1 I
was sitting at the stove with my back to the front door,
the door was suddenly opened and I was caught and
thrown backward on the floor and firmly held, while my
eyes were blinded and immediately a pistol was fired
rapidly five or six times. I heard some one groan just
about the time the firing ceased. Harrison was hur
ried from the room. I could tell it was him by his
cries. The doors were closed and I was allowed to get
up. I went to Langdon and found him dead. I looked
around and a masked man stood at each door, warning
by ominous signs for no one to undertake to leave the
room. So soon as they were satisfied that Langdon was
dead they quietly left the room. At daylight I took
some men and began the search for Harrison, and found
him hanging from a banister of the Crooked river iron
bridge. i
The town is quiet today. Powers held inquests upon
the bodies. I am not informed what the verdict in
either case was. I feel conscious of having done my
duty as an officer, so there I let the matter rest.
It is quite probable that the murders of
Crooks and Jory were the incentives for the for
mation of a vigilantes committee, which organi
zation was subsequently opposed by a party call
ing themselves "Moonshiners." The latter, it is
understood, represented an element standing for
legality as against the court of Judge Lynch.
At least the Vigilantes was organized, secretely,
in the winter of 1881 and 1882, ostensibly for the
protection of the county against outlawry and es
pecially for the detection and punishment of
horse thieves. It is not recorded that a horse
thief was ever captured or punished by this or
ganization, although a number of suspects were
ordered to quit the range and leave the country.
But in addition to the various acts of illegal
vengenance the Vigilantes are stated to have
carried their operations to extremes. Through
active or quiescent sympathizers they secured
political control of the county government. It
is stated also that few were punished legally,
although evidence was overwhelming. Grand
juries were hampered in their actions by active
sympathizers of the Vigilantes who were picked
upon for jurymen. The first act of this organiza
tion was the killing of Langdon and Harrison,
as heretofore related. Their second enterprise
was the shooting of Al Swartz while he was play
ing a game of cards in Burmeister's saloon.
Swartz, it is reported, had openly defied them and
was always in danger of an ambuscade. On the
night of December 24, 1882, he entered the saloon
ancl seated himself at the card table facing the
door that he might not be taken unawares. At
about ten o'clock some one walked up to the win-

712

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

dow behind Swartz and shot him once in the back
¦of the head, killing him almost instantly.
The same night they proceeded to the house
of W. C. and J. M. Barnes and shot and then
hanged two young men named Sidney Huston
and Charles Luster. The reason assigned for the
killing of Huston was that he was planning ta
steal a band of horses. The real object in kill
ing Luster was that he was a jockey who had
agreed to throw a race, but had bet $60 on his
own horse which he rode and won. The next
tragedy was the killing of Mike Mogan in Bur-
meister's saloon by J. M. Barnes. This was in
the -spring of 1883. As reported at the time
Barnes walked up to Mogan and demanded $6
which, he claimed, Mogan owed him, stating
at, the same time that if he did not pay him he
would shoot him. Barnes shot him through the
lungs killing him almost instantly.
. , • The last act in this series of tragedies was
presented December 18, 1883, when Frank Mo
gan, a brother of Mike, was killed by Colonel
William Thompson, colloquially known as "Bud"
¦Thompson. Mogan had worked for Thompson
and there was a disagreement between them in
the settlement. They quarreled in Kelley's sa
loon and in moving about Thompson got behind
¦Mogan and shot him in the back of the head
causing, intant death. "Not a true bill" was the
verdict of the grand jury in the Thompson case;
he was never punished. The widow of Mogan
.sued him for damages and received a judgment
for $3,600, but this was never satisfied. Thomp-
;son was a bright newspaperman, and at one time
was on the editorial staff of the Morning Oregon
ian, a newspaper published at Portland, Multno
mah county, He had also been editor of a num
ber of other papers throughout the state. He
received his title of "Colonel" in the Modoc war.
The "Moonshiners" organized in the winter
¦of 1883-4 for the purpose of putting a stop to
the rather too industrious work of the Vigilantes
and incidentally to gain political control of the
county. Comprising it were some of the leading
.citizens of the county ; organization was perfected
in three precincts, but the party at Prineville was
- the leading one. Quietly they worked, but it was
work that was noticeable in all portions of the
county. Little, if no attention was paid to poli
tics and they worked in unison against such
men as were in sympathy with the Vigilantes.
The "Moonshiners" were successful at the polls
and elected nearly their whole ticket. A strong
undercurrent exists among the old timers who
still reside here, but it seldom appears on the
surface. Some ex-members of tke Vigilantes live
in the county, honored ancl respected citizens :

some have left the county ; some have committed
suicide and some have gone via the "booze route,"
and some have gone insane.
February 6, 1883, the county court allowed its
first bill. This was in the amount of $40 for
chairs, and was in favor of Fried & Company.
The members of the first jury empaneled in the
new county were: T. B. James, J. Hampton,
Stephen Staats, John Powell, H. Hennigan and
Monroe Heisler. S. J. Newsome made the first
assessment of Crook county in the spring of
1883, the amount of taxable property at that
time being $1,263,000.
The first term of the circuit court was held
in May, 1883, with Hon. A. S. Bennett on the
bench and Hon. T. A. McBride prosecuting at
torney. Elisha Barnes, one of the first justices
of the peace appointed, performed the first mar
riage ceremony six days after the organization of
the county, the high, contracting parties being
Barney D. Springer and Miss Ann Todd. This
ceremony was performed at the Occidental hotel.
Justice Barnes also was the first mayor of the
city of Prineville.
In October, 1884, the total assessment valua
tion of property in Crook county was $1,612,323,
one-half of which was represented by cattle,
horses and sheep in nearly equal proportions. It
was then one of the foremost stock regions in
the state. Beginning with the creation of the
new county there was noticed a more permanent
settlement. Strangers came into the county and
secured valuable claims along the many streams
debouching into the Des Chutes and Crooked
rivers. Substantial buildings were erected and
the agricultural and stock industries were rapidly
increased. An unusual degree of prosperity pre
vailed and as taxes were low and the farming
and stock business profitable, Crook county soon
became one of the wealthiest according to popu
lation in the state.
At the general election of 1884 the following
county officials were chosen: F. A. McDonald,
county judge; A. C. Palmer, county clerk; J.
M. Blakely, sheriff ; J. H. Garrett and G. L. Friz
zell, commissioners ; M. D. Powell, assessor ; J.
T. Bushuell, treasurer ; W. R. McFarland, sur
veyor; D. W. Aldridge, school superintendent;
J. R. Stites, coroner.
Mr. McDonald was appointed register of the
United States land office at The Dalles in 1885,
and Charles A. Van Houten was named as his
successor in the office of county judge.
In the autumn of 1885 the county court ac
cepted the bid of H. A. Belknap of $5,474 to
build a county court house under which con
tract the structure was accepted and completed

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

7l3

December 28, 1885. The bidders for this edifice
were J. R. Marshall, $5,880; W. S. A. Johns,
$5,667; H. Belknap, $5,474-
The legislature of 1885 detached the Beaver
creek country from Grant, and made it a por
tion of Crook county. This district proved a
very valuable addition and it is one of the wealth
iest parts of the county, adding a large amount
of taxable property. The severe winter of 1884-5
proved a severe blow to Crook county. Cattle,
horses and sheep perished by the thousands from
lack of food and shelter ; financial losses to stock
men were enormous.
From the Ochoco Review of September, 1886,
it is learned that the total valuation of taxable
property in Crook county in 1886 was $1,347,-
722. September 8, 1887, a contract was entered
into between the Crook county court and the
Pauly Jail Building & Manufacturing Company
for the construction of a county jail for the sum
•of $4,200. This building was accepted and paid
for November 17, 1887. The taxable property
for 1888 was $1,455,165.
Roads paved with wool may appears rather
-expensive in these days of economic industry.
Yet such was the result of exorbitant freight
charges in the spring of 1894. We read from the
Antelope Herald of April 9th:
"We are reliably informed that the citizens
of the Hay creek community are grading and
repairing their public roads with wool, preferr
ing to utilize it in this way rather than haul it
"to The Dalles and lose money on it. Three loads
were emptied into a mudhole near Hay creek
last week and covered with earth."
In April, 1894, many of the ranches along the
Ochoco, especially in the upper valley, were
more or less damaged by high water, in some
cases largely impairing their value. In Novem
ber, 1895, fire bugs appeared in northern Crook
county. On the second the destructive torch was
applied to about 180 tons of fine hay belonging
to James Connolley on Cherry creek, ancl in a re
markably short space of time all of his winter's
feed had ascended in smoke. This was the fourth
lot of hav that had been destroyed in that section
within a few weeks. It was plainly evident that
unlawful efforts were being made by certain per
sons to drive the sheepmen out of business. The
same year the population of Crook county, ac
cording to the Oregon state census, was 3,212.
The livestock assessment of 1897 was : Sheep,
320,000; hogs, 1,500; horses, 10,500; mules, 250;
cattle, 40,000. January 1, 1898, Mr. J. N. Wil
liamson said :
"I will make the statement, truthfully as I
think, and without any pretense of booming the
<county, that Crook county has withstood the

pressure of the recent hard times as well as any
community on the Pacific coast. There have been
fewer business failures, less enforced idleness
and want than elsewhere. This statement of
facts simply proves the assertion that a stock
raising country is the best country on earth for
a poor man."
January 1, 1898, the population of Crook
county was estimated at 5,000. September 10,
the same year, Assessor Shown exhibited the
following statement of the financial condition of
the county:

Tillable land  32,109
Non-tillable land  504,504
Improvements on deeded land 
Value of town and city property 
Improvements on town lots 
on lands not deeded 
Merchandise or stock in trade 
Implements machinery, wagons,
carriages and other vehicles 
Money 
Notes and accounts 
Shares of stock 
Household furniture, libraries.
jewelry, watches and firearms 
Horses  10,173
Cattle  26,490
Sheep  246,892
Swine  805

4) 0) O
< ¦
$185,645 504,316 147,801 22,70858,15026,469 41.710
36,477 10,173
141,875 35,654 35,364
64,983
238.456246.892 1,605

Acres

32,281
520,131

11,879
24.180
288,724 582

00 OT3 « ,
*. O O
c N£Q
U« .
? 3 =
« S?a
4) <U O
|»o
1140,379 471,751 149,681 19.301
60.50026,01045.552 40.654 17,876
137,300 37,31537.51375,926
241.800406,077 1,164

Gross value of all property.
Exemptions 
Total taxable property 

$1,798,769

$1,902,899

136,831

150,600

1.661,888

1,752,209

Of all the Des Chutes river projects the Des
Chutes Reclamation & Irrigation Company had,
in 1898, proved the most successful in its aim
to accomplish the purposes of its promoters. To
this enterprising company must be given the
credit of being the pioneers of irrigation on the
Des Chutes river. The originators of the scheme
were G. W. Swalley and James R. Benham.
In 1898 they succeeded in interesting others in
the project. In October of the following year
the company was incorporated. At that period
the stockholders were: W. H. Gaun, C. B.
Swalley, W. R. McFarland, W. H. Birdsong,
William Johnson, B. C. Low, G. W. Swalley
and James R. Benham. Mr. Gaun later sold his
share to the company, and some time afterward
Frank Glass purchased it, making him one of
the share holders.
C. M. Elkins of Prineville, also acquired
a half interest in Mr. McFarland's share after an
organization had been perfected. The original
intention of the promoters was to select land

7i4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

under the Desert Land Act and encourage set
tlers to come in and acquire an interest in the
canal by doing an equal amount of work, or by
purchase of rights from the company. The ap
propriations of lands immediately contiguous to

theirs by large concerns that afterward came in
forestalled their plans, however, and caused the
little company to select a small area of its own
and carry out the work without further aid.
They had a segregation of 1,280 acres.

CHAPTER II

PASSING EVENTS— 1889 TO 1905.

Another prosperous year for Crook county
was 1899. Erom the stock and wool sales of
this year the people realized $1,010,000 which.
divided among a voting population of 1,200 made
$842 in money that came into the county for
every male citizen over the age of twenty-one
years, from the stock industry alone. During
this year the county was for the first time con
nected with the outside world by telephone ; a
line was constructed between Prineville and The
Dalles. Another element making for the good
of Crook county was the extension of the Col
umbia Southern railway. This considerably les
sened the distance to markets.
Nearly ail the threshing done in the county
in the fall of 1889 was of rye with about enough
oats ancl bariey to furnish seed for the follow
ing year. Nearly, or quite, all the flour was
imported from Webfoot and other successful
wheat growing localities. And yet this country
was not in the midst of calamity or threatened
famine. The inhabitants were as well, or bet
ter oft than those of the most favored agricul
tural region of Oregon. They were not in an
agricultural community and stock was their
wealth. They had a sufficient number of horses,
cattle and sheep to sell to purchase such bread-
stuffs they required for a decade to come. They
had uo worn out agricultural machinery that
was not paid for, and but few were under mort
gage. The poorest man in their midst could
spare the price of a horse for flour.
Ten years subsequently, in 1899, it may be
said that the great measure of prosperity was
due to the marked conditional improvements of
the past two years which had afforded ready sale
for the products of the range. Probably 75 per
cent- of the business of the county was con
ducted on a credit basis, but it was a noteworthy
fact that no business failures had been recorded
in the history of the county. The money hold

ings of the people were 33 1-3 per cent greater
since November 1, 1897, and fully 200 per cent
greater than November 1, 1896. Gold was the
principal medium of exchange; silver for change
being nearly always scarce, continually making
its way back to the centers of trade.
Election Precincts.
At a special meeting of the county court of De- .
cember n, 1899, there were present: W. C. Wills,
judge; T. S. Hamilton anfeD. E. Templeton, commis
sioners; Arthur Hodges, clerk, and the following pro
ceedings were had :
It was ordered that Crook county be divided into'
the following election precincfe-with names and boun
daries as follows :
Prineville No. I — The whole of that part of Crook
county embraced within the corporate limits of the city
of Prineville, shall be known and designated as Prine
ville Precinct No. 1.
Ireland No. 2. — Commencing at a point on the west
boundary line of Crook county, where a line running-
due east and west through the center of township t8
south, crosses said boundary, running thence east to a
point three miles north of the southeast corner of town
ship 18 south of range 14 east, thence south to the
southern boundary of the county ; thence west to the-
western boundary of the county and thence north along
the western boundary of the county to the place of be
ginning, and it shall be known and it is ordered by the-
court that this precinct be designated as Ireland Pre
cinct No. 2.
Bend No. 3. — Commenting at a point three miles
north of the southeast corner of township 18 south of
range 14 east; thence north to a point three miles south 1
of the northeast corner of township 16 south of range
14 east ; thence west three miles ; thence north three
miles ; thence north three miles ; thence west along the
township line between townships 15 and 16 south to the-
northwest corner of township 16 south of range 11 east;;

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

715

thence south six miles ; thence due west twelve
miles ; thence south six miles ; thence west six miles ;
thence three miles to the place of beginning, and it is
ordered by the court that this precinct shall be known
and designated as Bend No. 3.
Montgomery No. 4. — Commencing at the southwest
corner of section 18 township 16 south of range is
east of Willamette Meridian ; thence east to the south
east corner of section 13 ; thence north to the north
east corner of the same section ; thence west to the
northwest corner of same section ; thence north to the
southwest corner of section 1, township 15, south of
range 15 east, thence east to the southeast corner of
section 6, township 15, south of range 16 east ; thence
north to the southern boundary of the city of Prineville ;
thence west and north to where the north and south
line crosses Crooked river; thence down Crooked river
to its junction with the Des Chutes river; thence south
up the Des Chutes river to the township line between
townships 15 and 16 south; thence east to the northeast
corner of section 14, township 16 south of range 14
east ; thence south three miles ; thence east three miles to
the place of beginning, and it is ordered by the court
that this precinct shall be known and designated as
Montgomery No. 4.
Black Butte No. 5. — Commencing at the southeast
corner of township 16 south of range 11 east of Wil
lamette Meridian ; thence east to a point where the
Des Chutes river crosses the township line between
townships 15 and 16 south; thence mrth along the
Des Chutes river to the mouth of the Matoles ; thence
at the Matoles at a point where the Matoles crosses
the township line between townships 11 and 12 south;
thence west to the northwest corner of township 12 ;
thence south thirty miles to the point of beginning, and
it is ordered by the court that this precinct shall be
known and designated as Black Butte No. 5.
Haystack No. 6. — Commencing at the southeast cor
ner of township 13 south of range 14 east of Willamette
Meridian ; thence west to intersection with Crooked
river; thence down Crooked river to the junction with
Des Chutes river to the mouth of Willow creek ; thence
up Willow creek to a point where the north and south
line between ranges 14 and rs crosses said creek ; thence
south to place of beginning, and it is ordered by the
court that this precinct shall be known and designated
as Haystack No. 6.
McKay No. 7. — Commencing at the southeast cor
ner of township 13 south of range 14 east of Willa
mette Meridian; thence north four miles; thence east
twelve miles : thence south seven miles ; thence south
three miles; west four miles; thence south three miles;
thence west to the city of Prineville ; thence around
the city of Prineville. following the corporate limits
thereof to Crooked river ; thence down Crooked river to
a point where the township line between townships 13
and 14 south crosses said river; thence east to place of
beginning, and it is ordered by the court that said pre

cinct shall be known and designated as McKay Pre
cinct No. 7.
Hay Creek No. 8. — Commencing at the southeast
corner of section 1, township 12. south of range 16 east
of Willamette Meridian ; thence north seven miles ;
thence west 4^4 miles ; thence north 2% miles ; thence-
west to line between range line of 14 and 15 E; thence
north four miles ; thence west to the Des Chutes river ;
thence down the Des Chutes river to a point where the
said Des Chutes river crosses the boundary line of
Crook county ; thence west to the summit of the Cas
cade mountains ; thence south on summit of Cascade
mountains to a point where the township line between
11 and 12 crosses said line; thence due east on said
line to where said line crosses Matoles ; thence down
Matoles river to its junction with Des Chutes river;
thence down the Des Chutes river to the mouth of Wil
low creek ; thence up Willow creek to where the range
line between 14 and 15 east crosses said creek ; thence
north to the southeast corner of section 1, township 12
south of range 14 east of Willamette Meridian ; thence
east twelve miles to place of beginning, and it is or
dered by the court that said precinct shall be known and'
designated as Hay Creek No. 8.
Willow Creek No. 9. — Commencing at a point two-
miles south of northeast corner of township 13, south,
of range 16, east ; thence north seven miles ; thence west
to southeast corner of section 1, township 12 south of
range 14 east ; thence south seven miles ; thence east to
place of beginning and it is ordered that said precinct be
and is hereby known as Willow Creek Precinct No. 9.
Cross Keys No. 10. — Commencing at the southeast
corner of section 33, township 10, south of range 16
east of Willamette Meridian ; thence due north twelve
miles to the boundary line of Crook county ; thence west
to a point where the boundary line crosses Des Chutes
river; thence up the river to where the township line,
between townships 9 and 10 crosses said river ; thence
east to the southeast corner of township 9, south of
range 14 east ; thence south four miles ; thence east 7V
miles; thence south 2j< miles; thence east 1 ^4 miles to
the place of beginning, and it is ordered by the court
that said precinct shall be named and designated as
Cross Keys Precinct No. 10.
Upper Trout No. 11. — Commencing at the south
east corner of section 1, township 12. north of range
16, east ; thence due east six miles ; thence due north
to the county line nine miles; thence due west on the
county line nine miles ; thence due east three miles ;
thence due south seven miles to the place of beginning,
and it is ordered by the court that said precinct shall
be named and designated as Upper Trout Precinct
No. 11.
Cherry Creek No. 12. — Commencing at the south
east corner of section 1, township 12, south of range
r7 east, thence due east twelve miles to the east boun
dary of the county ; thence north along the boundary of
the county to the northern boundary of the county;.

716

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

thence west twelve miles ; thence south nineteen miles
to the place of beginning, and it is ordered by the
court that said precinct shall be named and designated
as Cherry Creek Precinct No. 12.
Johnson Creek No. 13. — Commencing at the south
east corner of section 13, township 14, south of range
16 east of Willamette Meridian, thence due west four
miles; thence due south three miles; thence west to the
eastern boundary of the corporate limits of the city of
Prineville; thence south and west to intersection of sec
tion line between sections 5 and 6, township 15 south of
range 16 east ; thence west two miles ; thence south
seven miles ; thence east one mile ; thence south three
miles ; thence east eight miles ; thence north four miles ;
thence east four miles ; thence north 5J4 miles ; thence
west five miles; thence north nj4 miles; thence west
one mile ; thence south to place of beginning, and it is
ordered by the court that said precinct be and is hereby
named and designated as Johnson Creek No. 13.
Mill Creek No. 14. — Commencing at the northeast
corner of the southeast quarter of the southeast quar
ter of section 5, township 15, south of range 17 east ;
thence east five miles ; thence north i8J4 miles ; thence
-west six miles ; thence south seven miles ; thence east
one mile; thence south n^4 miles to the place of be
ginning, and it is ordered by this court that said pre-
•cinct be and is hereby named and designated as Mill
Creek Precinct No. 14.
Ochoco No. 15. — Commencing at the southeast cor
ner of section 25, township 15 south of range 17 east;
thence east twelve miles ; thence south twenty-two miles
to the place of beginning, and it is ordered by this court
that said precinct be and is hereby named and desig
nated as Ochoco Precinct No. 15.
Summit Prairie No. 16. — Commencing at the south
east corner of section 24, township 15, south of range
19 east ; thence east to eastern boundary of the county ;
thence north four miles ; thence west twelve miles ;
thence north six miles ; thence north to the boundary
of the county; thence west thirteen miles to the place
of beginning, and it is ordered by the court that said
precinct be and is hereby named and designated as
Summit Prairie Precinct No. 16.
Bear Creek No. 17. — Commencing at the northeast
corner of section 36, township 16 south of range 17
east ; thence west twelve miles ; thence north two miles ;
thence west six miles ; thence south to southern boun
dary of county; thence east to intersection of range line
"between 18 and 19 east ; thence north to northeast cor
ner of section 24, township 17 south of range 18 east ;
thence west six miles to the place of beginning, and it
is ordered by the court that said precinct be and is
hereby named and designated as Bear Creek Precinct
No. 17.
Camp Creek No. 18. — Commencing at the north
west corner of township 18 south of range 19 east ;
thence south to the county line; thence west 18 miles;

thence north to the place of beginning, and it is ordered
by this court that said precinct be and is hereby named
and designated as Camp Creek Precinct No. 18.
Hardin No. 19. — Commencing at the northwest cor
ner of township 18 south of -range 22 east; thence east
twenty-four miles ; thence south six miles ; thence west
six miles ; thence south six miles, thence west twelve
miles to place of beginning, and it is ordered by the
court that said precinct be and is hereby named and
designated as Hardin Precinct No. 19.
Beaver No. 20. — Commencing at the northwest cor
ner of section 30, township 15 south of range 23 east;
thence west 18 , miles; thence south fourteen miles;
thence north to the place of beginning.
Maury No. 21. — Commencing at the northeast cor
ner of section 25, township 15 south of range 22 east;
thence due west twelve miles ; thence due south four
teen miles ; >thence due east twelve mi-les ; thence due
north fourteen miles to the place of beginning, and it
is ordered by this court that said precinct be and is
hereby named and designated as Maury No. 21.
Newsom No. 22. — Commencing at the southeast cor
ner of township 17 south of range 20 east; thence west
twelve miles ; thence north three miles ; thence west six
miles ; thence north ten miles ; thence east twelve miles ;
thence north one mile ; thence west six miles ; thence
south fourteen miles to the place of beginning, and it
is ordered by the court that this precinct be and is
hereby named and designated as Newsom Precinct
No. 22.
In 1873 Dr. Baldwin settled about twenty-
five miles north of Prineville at a place now
known as Hay creek and engaged in stock rais
ing. At that period he owned 160 acres of land.
From this small beginning there has grown up
a stock ranch which is not only the largest in
Oregon, but is famous the nation over for its
accomplishments in raising thoroughbred sheep.
Mr. Edwards was at that time manager of the
company. He erected a residence costing about
$7,000. In the year of the St. Louis Exposi
tion two car-loads of the best sheep were sent
there which received favorable consideration and
were not brought back but were disposed of in
the east. On the ranch is an extensive shearing
plant the motive power of which is a gasoline
engine. It has forty patent shearers and from
twenty to sixty men are required to conduct it
at the shearing season, and sometimes as many
as a hundred men are employed.
In igoo what was known as the '"Desert
country" underwent a marked and distinctive
change in the way of developing into a thickly
settled farming country. It was remarked by
many retired owners that the days of wool grow
ing were coming to an end ; that it was then im-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

717-

possible to get them on to the summer ranges
on account of fences. "We had to go out of
our way to get through lanes" they said.
There was considerable truth in this pessi
mistic attitude. Sheep were increasing in num
bers and fences were increasing on every hand.
Yet they were only a forrunner of what soon
took place in eastern and southern Oregon.
While thousands of acres were barren and
known as "desert land," yet within easy access to
every section of this country were mountain
streams with a sufficient flow of water to irri
gate every section. There were every summer,
prospectors, surveying parties, and capitalists
looking over the field ; irrigation companies were
formed and ditches dug. There was scarcely a
stream in the whole country that had not been
explored. There were many filings on rights
on streams purely for speculative purposes, and
there were, also, many who had begun serious
work and were already irrigating large areas of
land. Something like a stampede was made along
the Des Chutes river in the western section of
Crook county. This stream courses through a
mountainous country and in many places on both
sides, lie vast areas of rich valley lands that have
been called "desert" along with all other vast
sections of the country. The Oregon Irrigation
company was organized in 1901 by C. C. Hutch
inson. He obtained 35,000 acres of land under
the Carey Act. This company afterward ob
tained another segregation making its holdings
56,000 acres.
In October, 1900, there was organized in
Crook county and incorporated under the laws
of the state, The Butte Development Company.
The main object of this corporation was to
obtain water from the Des Chutes for the re
claiming a vast amount of what is commonly
known as "desert" land; to lay out the two of
Pilot Butte, thirty miles southwest of Prineville,
on the Des Chutes; to build dams and in other
ways develop the vast water power of the Des
Chutes river which, at the present time, runs its
entire course without turning a single wheel.
At the head of this enterprise was Mr. A. M.
Drake, formerly of St, Paul, where he had been
interested for vears with his father in railroad
and land business. Ill health compelled Mr.
Drake to leave St. Paul. Hearing of Central
Oregon, its pure water, vast pine forests, clear,
bracing air, thev, Mr. Drake and his wife, passed
several months "in carefully looking over the ad
vantages of Crook county. How well pleased
they were may be taken for granted when it
is known that they built a log house for their
winter quarters at Pilot Butte.

The work, as planned by the company was-
: thoroughly and carefully considered. An up-to-
,date sawmill with modern appliances for the
manufacture of commercial lumber of all kinds
was constructed; an electric light plant, general
'store and school house were among the plans for
rthe future. The company had a segregation of
'85,000 acres. Outside of the Cascade reserve
Crook county contains over 6,000,000 acres of
land. Of this at least 5,000,000 are vacant pub
lic lands. Crook county has not a foot of railroad track
within its borders. The nearest railroad point is
Shaniko, the present terminus of the Columbia-
Southern, sixty miles north of Prineville, from
which all goods and merchandise for the inter
ior are handled by freight teams. Formerly all
shipping was from The_ Dalles, 150 miles dis
tant. This condition will not, however, long
prevail. A road has been surveyed south from
The Dalles following generally the course of the
Des Chutes called The Dalles Southern. This
would tap the best farming sections as well as
the vast fields of yellow pine on the Des Chutes
and further south.
After entering the Des Chutes canyon near
the mouth of White River in Wasco county, it
will follow up the Des Chutes to the mouth of
Trout creek, thence Up Hay creek to divide east
of Agency plains and the Haystack country,.
tnence south, crossing Crooked river at Carmi-
chael's, thirteen miles northwest of Prineville,.
thence southwest across the "desert" back to Des
Chutes river at or near Pilot Butte where it
would strike the timber belt and from which point
it could be extended south or southeast indefinitely
to a southern or eastern connection. The Cor
vallis and eastern is more than a probability. It
is now built to within ten miles of the western
boundary of the county, at the summit of the
Cascades from whence eastward through Crook,
Harney and Malheur counties the route has been
surveyed and definitely located, crossing the Des-
Chutes at Pickett island, twenty-five miles west
of Prineville, thence taking a southeast course-
across the "desert."
This line, when built, will afford Crook the
advantages of a direct route east for shipments of
wool, cattle, sheep, horses and lumber. Either
road will penetrate the great stretch of "desert"'
soon to be brought under irrigation, and the
timbered portions of the county, thus opening-
up and aiding the development of two most im
portant resources. With the completion of these
roads as indicated and then extension of the Co
lumbia Southern from Shaniko eastward up the
John Day valley to the Sumpter and Grant-
countv gold fields, and a connecting link between,

7i8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Shaniko down Antelope and Trout creeks to a
junction with The Dalles Southern at the mouth
, of Hay creek, Crook county and the interior of
eastern Oregon will have all the transportation
facilities necessary for their proper development.
January i, 1902, the estimated population of
Crook, county was 7,500. A history of the early
days of the territory now within the bounda
ries would comprise a volume as interesting as
these stories of the early settlement of the At
lantic states that have delighted the past gen
erations and will continue to fascinate more
strongly the generations yet to come. The trials,
the vicissitudes, the thrilling adventures, of dan
gers from savage foe, and his brothers, the four-
footed savages of forest and "desert" these
themes will charm and warm ancl hold captive
those who come after us as long as the love of
adventure for hardy manhood and deeds of dar
ing warm the blood in human veins.
In 1902 the total valuation of taxable prop
erty in Crook county was $1,852,281. In 1903
it had increased to $2,379,020. The Crook
county census of 1903 showed 1,297 children be
tween the ages of four and twenty years. It was
claimed at the time that this signified a gross
population of 6,985. This increase in the coun
ty's population was quite perceptible, especially
in the eastern and central portions. In the year
1893 Crook county made a most substantial
showing. The semi-annual statement of the of
ficials showed that the county was wholly out of
debt, owing liabilities of only $1,501.65, while
it had in the treasury $39,378.61. The county
owned a block of land on which the court house
stands and all its improvements were warranted.
Few counties in the state were in as good con
dition as Crook.
In 1903 the Columbia Southern Irrigation
Company, capital $100,000, had been incorpor
ated by W. H. Moore, E. E. Lytle, and W. A.
Laidlaw. In May of the same year was incor
porated the Central Oregon Irrigation Company,
the capital stock of which was placed at $5,000.
E. E. Lytle and Newton Killen were the incor
porators. In 1904 was organized the Squaw
Creek Irrigation Company, by William Wurz-
weiler, and it has a segregation of 11,766 acres.
The Buck Mountain Irrigation Company was or
ganized in 1904. After negotiating for the sale
of its property for a period extending over a
year, the Pilot Butte Development Company dis
posed of its contract to W. E. Guerin, J. O.
Johnson, W. J. Turney, for a consideration of
$70,000. The Hutchinson rights on the Des
Chutes river were also included in the purchase
and the sum received was about half that paid the
Drake interests. The new Des Chutes Irrigation

& Power Company, which now had charge of the
work on the Des Chutes river had applied for
80,000 acres more land making a total appropria
tion of 210,000 acres. It is the intention of the
present company to take out the main canal some
eight miles further up the river than had been
contemplated by the Pilot Butte company, thus
securing 100,000 acres of land which is suscepti
ble of cultivation. The total length of the main
canal will be about 120 miles, and it is the pre-
curser of a plan to bring 25,000 acres under
these conditions.
June 23, 1904, a special meeting of the state
land board apportioned the Des Chutes Irriga
tion lien for irrigation of the 84,600 acres of
land lying under its ditches in Crook county,
Oregon. This amount practically appraised the
land. The rush of homeseekers had begun.
About 12,000 applications for the land was made
within a week by actual settlers.
In 1904 the total taxable property in Crook
county was $2,688,783. In February, 1904, fire,
beginning in the roof partially destroyed the sec
ond story of the court house at Prineville. The
offices on the first floor and the county court
room were not damaged. Damage to the upper
story amounted to $2,000. It was in June, 1904,
that a most desperate engagement begun in Crook
county. The following letter from Prineville to
The Dalles Times-Mountaineer is apropos to this
subject Prineville, Oregon, June 17. — Conflicting range ter
ritory in Crook county led to the first open slaughter
of sheep last Monday (June 13) when masked men
shot and killed sixty-five head belonging to Allie Jones,
a sheep owner residing about fifteen miles east
of this city. The killing occurred on Mill creek in
the vicinity of the "dead lines,'' the men threatening
a greater slaughter if the herds were not removed in
stantly from the district.
The sheep were in charge of one herder who was
taken unawares and was unable to offer any resistance
to the attack. He was compelled to stand quietly a
short distance away, guarded by one man, while the
others went about their work. After sixty-five of the
band had been killed the herder was told to turn the
remainder back and keep them out of the territory in
which they had been found.
The first outbreak in the sheep industry in this
county recalls vividly tha wanton slaughter which has
recently occurred in Lake county and marks the first
steps in the range difficulties which are likely to be en
countered here during the coming season. The scene
of the killing is in the territory where an effort was
made a short time ago to establish lines for the sheep
and cattle. Three weeks ago the district was visited
by a party of sheep owners from Antelope and a meet-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

719

ing arranged between them and the cattlemen in the
southeastern part of the county. The matter of rang
ing stock in the Blue mountains was gone over thor
oughly, but a decision relative to the establishment of
limits failed to be reached. The sheepmen went home
and the slaughter this week is the result of their fu
tile efforts to come to an understanding.
While it is not believed that open hostilities will
break out between the sheepmen and cattle owners in
this territory during the summer ranging months, it
is asserted that an encroachment upon this disputed
region by nomadic sheep will be the signal for forcible
resistance. The "dead lines'' of last year will be strictly
enforced, which means that stockmen will not be occu
pying a peaceable neighborhood.
The Des Chutes Echo of June 18th, contained
the following:
"The first depredation as a result of the con
flicting territories occupied by the cattlemen and
sheep owners in this county occurred last Mon
day, when sixty-five sheep belonging to Allie
Jones were shot and killed on Mill creek by
masked men, who threatened greater slaughter
if the band were not removed from that local-
;ty * * * * Tlie first outbreak against
the sheep marks the first step in the range diffi
culties. The scene of the killing is in the district
in which an effort was made a short time ago to
¦establish lines, but nothing definite was decided
upon." A meeting of the Oregon Wool Growers' As
sociation, with a large attendance of prominent
sheepmen, was held at Antelope, Tuesday, June
2 1 st. The object of the discussion was the long
continued range trouble between the cattlemen
and sheepmen. As a result of the debate a re
ward of 500 was offered by the local association
in addition to the $1,000 reward offered by the
state association "For information leading to the
arrest and conviction of any person or persons
guilty of shooting, killing or maiming any member
of the above association, or any employe of such
member while engaged in his duties or the herds
of such a member while engaged in his duties."
A committee consisting of J. D. McAndie and
H. C. Rooper, president and secretary of the
local association, and Joseph Bannan, a promi
nent sheepman, was appointed to go to the scene
of the troubles in the Blue mountains, for the
purpose of conferring with the cattlemen with
reference to making lines for a summer range.
The tone of the meeting was positive and em
phatic. The Wool Growers' association was de
termined that the slaughter of sheep should
stop, and each member present readily subscribed
his quota of the reward offered, which was
placed in the hands of the association.

These range disputes culminated in the sum
mer of 1904 in the slaughter of 1,000 head of
sheep belonging to Morrow & Keenan, own
ers of about 12,000 head of sheep, whose home
ranch was on Willow creek, fifteen miles north
of Prineville. Morrow & Keenan were ranging a band of
sheep on Little Summit Prairie, forty miles east
of Prineville, and on Friday on that week twenty
horsemen, with their faces blackened, over
powered the herder, bound him hand and foot
and then began shooting sheep, continuing the
slaughter until 1,000 were killed. The herder
was alone when assaulted, but young Keenan
was nearby and hearing the firing crawled
through the underbrush at a safe distance, from
which point he was an eye witness to the work
of the mob. He made no attempt at retaliation,
although it was understood that both he and the
herder were armed with the latest automatic
rapid-firing Colt's revolvers. No clue to the
guilty parties could be obtained as the various
disguises worn by the mob made identification
impossible. In default of a steam railway it was decided
that an automobile route should be established
in Crook county. Accordingly in January, 1905,
the Central Oregon Transportation Company
was established with the following officers : A.
E. Hammond, president; D. P. Rea, general
manager. This company constructed a sixteen-foot
roadway from Gross Keys, a stage station
twenty-three miles south of Shaniko, the pres
ent terminus of the Columbia Southern railroad,
to Bend, a distance of seventy-five miles. The
largest automobile of its kind on the Pacific
coast was especially constructed by a machine
firm in Portland for use on this road, for the
purpose of hauling passengers and freight. This
machine will seat sixteen passengers and some
times it, also, hauls a trailer in which about two
tons of freight are carried.
This company was organized to provide
means of transportation for the many settlers
coming into Crook county to locate upon the
newly irrigable lands of the Des Chutes Irri
gation & Power Company. The latter company
has selected some 300,000 acres of semi-arid
lands in Crook county, lying contiguous to Bend,
under the provisions of the Carey Act. Until the
organization of this automobile company there
were no means of egress into this region except
by stage from Shaniko via Prineville, a distance
of nearly 100 miles. The roadway was first
plowed, then scraped, leveled and rolled with a
ten-ton roller, after which it was treated with
a coat of petroleum and again subjected to a

720

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

thorough rolling. Up to June i, 1905, the sowth
half of this road from Forest, on Crooked river
to Bend, a distance of twenty-three miles, had
not been completed so that the automobile could
run over it, but it is expected that by August the
entire route will be in condition for travel. The
company was capitalized for $50,000 and the
seventy-five miles constructed cost in the neigh
borhood of $25,000. It is quite probable that
when this chapter is read the remaining twenty-
three miles of road to the northward will have
been completed.
At the date of the completion of this work
the terms of the Carey arid land grant, Ore
gon, applied for 424,616 acres of land in East
ern Oregon, of which 100,000 acres had been ap
proved by the interior department. This, it is
understood, will be reclaimed by private enter
prise. In the Valley of the Des Chutes river,
in Crook county, the most extensive works have
been undertaken and the greatest progress has
been made.
The federal law grants to the state not more
than 1,000,000 acres upon condition that it be
reclaimed. The state law authorizes the state
land board to grant contracts to corporations for
the reclamation of specified tracts to companies to
secure their compensation from actual settlers.
The total cost is fixed by the state land board
for reclamation and this is apportioned among
the forty-acre tracts according to their relative
value, and becomes a lien upon the land in fa
vor of the reclamation company. Persons desir
ing to secure this land must pay off the com
pany's lien whereupon the state issues a deed
conveying the state's title to the applicant. The
title is derived by patent from the United States
whenever reclamation has been proven and then
by deed from the state to the settler.
As the state law accepting the terms of the
Carey Act was not enacted until 1901 and con
siderable time was necessary to get it into prac
ticable operation and secure contracts with the
department of the secretary of the interior, very
few irrigation enterprises have progressed so
far that water has been turned upon cultivated
land. About 5,000 acres have already been put
under cultivation and water is available for the
irrigation of over 60,000 acres the coming sea
son. Twenty reclamation enterprises have been
started in Oregon under this law ranging in area
from 600 to 85,000 acres. The smaller tracts will
be reclaimed by individuals who will take the land
themselves. The larger enterprises have been
undertaken by corporations. The state land
board fixes the rate to be charged for the u?e
of water. The cost of construction in the
larger enterprises is placed at $10 per acre, and

the annual charge is $1 per acre, which, also,
goes to the company. When apportioned to the
several forty-acre tracts the liens range from
$2.50 to $14.75 Per acre, the amount being de
termined by the area of irrigable land in each
forty-acre tract.
In January, I9©5, 500 more sheep were ruth
lessly slaughtered. They were the property of
Fred Smith, of Paulina. The event occurred
New Year's day, and almost in Mr. Smith's door-'
yard, and entirely without the limits of the cat
tle range of the country. The deed was com
mitted by six masked horsemen. They sur
rounded the herder in the afternoon while the
sheep were resting near Grindstone, and he was
bound and blindfolded. The sheep were then
driven a short distance away, and the 'horsemen
began a terrific fusillade until 500 lay dead on
the ground. About 500 more scattered in all di
rections to become food for coyotes, and other
wild animals. July 16, 1905, the Morning Ore
gonian published the following :
The following anonymous communication was re
ceived yesterday from the "Crook County Sheep-Shoot
ers' Association," with an enclosed report which it,
to say the least, terse and to the point. Just who com
pose this remarkable organization or whether the com
munication is genuine is not known to the Oregonian.
This is what it has to say regarding the enforcement
of so-called laws in Crook county :
"Mr. Editor. — Seeing that you are giving quite a
bit of publicity to the sheep-shooters of Crook county,
I thought I would lend you some assistance by giving
you a short synopsis of the proceedings of the organi
zation during the past year. We have not been ac
customed to making unusual reports of the doings of the
'order,' but we have made such a respectable showing
during the closing year that I think a brief summary
of some of the most important transactions of the as
sociations will be of interest to your readers. There
fore, if space will permit, please publish the following
report :
"'Sheep-Shooters' Headquarters, Crook County,
'Oregon, December 29, 1904— Editor Oregonian: I am au
thorized by the association (The Inland Sheep Shoot
ers to notify the Oregonian to desist from publishing
matter derogatory to the reputations of sheep-shooters
in Eastern Oregon. We claim to have the banner
county of Oregon oh the progressive lines of sheep-
shooting and it is my pleasure to inform you that we
have a little government of our own in Crook county,
and we would thank the Oregonian and the governor
to attend strictly to their business and not meddle with
the settlement of the range question in our province.
" 'We are the direct and effective means of con
trolling the range in our jurisdiction. If we want
more range we simply fence it in and live up to the

jcene on

the Deschutes

Tne Sisters

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

¦21

•maxim of the golden rule that possession represents
nine points of the law. If fencing is too expensive for
the protection of the range, dead lines are most
effective substitutes and readily manufactured. When
sheepmen fail to observe these peaceable obstructions
we delegate a committee to notify offenders, some
times by putting notices on tent or cabin, and some
times by publication in one of the leading newspapers
of the county as follows :
" 'You are hereby notified to move this camp within
twenty-four hours or take the consequences.
"'Signed: Committee..'
"These mild and peaceful means are usually ef
fective, but in cases where they are not, our executive
committee takes the matter in hand, and being men of
high ideals as well as good shots by moonlight, they
promptly enforce the edicts of the association.
"We have recently extended our jurisdiction to
cover a large territory on the desert heretofore occu
pied by sheepmen, and we expect to have to sacrifice
a few flocks of sheep there this winter. Our annual re
port shows that we have slaughtered between 8,000 and
10,000 head during the last shooting season, and we are
expecting to increase this respectable showing during
the next season providing the sheep hold out and the
governor and Oregonian observe the customary laws of
neutrality. We have burned the usual number of camps
and corrals this season, and also sent out a number of
important warnings which we thing will have a satis
factory effect.
"We have just received a shipment of ammunition
that we think will be sufficient to meet any shortage
which might occur on account of increase of territory
requiring general protection. In some instances the
woolgrowers of Eastern Oregon have been so unwise as
to offer rewards for the arrest and conviction of sheep-
shooters and for assaults on herders. We have here
tofore warned them by publication of the danger of such
action, as it might have to result in our organization
having to proceed on the lines that 'Dead men tell no
tales.' This is not to be construed as a threat to commit
murder, as we do not justify such a thing except when
flockowners resort to unjustifiable means in protecting
their property.
"Mr. Editor, please excuse the lack of systematic
order in preparing this, our first annual report. Our
office is not yet supplied with the necessary printed
forms so useful in facilitating reports. We have
thought of furnishing the names of our officers, and
also those of honorary members of the order, but as
your space will probably not admit of a supplementary
report at this time, we will not be able to furnish a
roll of honor that will be complimentary to the cause.
"(Signed.)" " 'Corresponding Secretary.'
"Crook County's Sheep-Shooting Association of East
ern Oregon." Supplementary Report.
"The New Year was duly observed by our brave
46

boys by the slaughter of about 500 head of sheep be
longing to a gentleman who had violated our rules or
laws. The names of the active participants in this last
brilliant action of the association have not ye: been
handed in. When they are we will take pleasure in re
cording them on the roll of honor above mentioned.
"The Crook county papers have recently said some
S uncomplimentary things about our order which may
! invite attention later on. Our work is now of too much
! importance to justify a diversion from the regular order
! of business.
I "Cor. Sec. C. C. S. S. Association-.'
Concerning the railway outlook the Cline
• Falls Press of April 22, 1905, said
"The prospects of a railroad being built into
i Crook county and Cline Falls looks brighter from
! day to day. Among the several roads which
i have their objective points centered in Crook
i county, the Great Southern seems to be the most
I likely to reach us in the least possible time. John
j Heimrick, president of this road, says it will be
| built from The Dalles to Bend with as little de-
i lay as possible, and as more than thirty miles
of the road is already graded it would appear
that he means what he says. But this is not the
only reason why things are looking a bit
brighter. The business men of Portland are get
ting in earnest and are using every means at
hand to force those who are responsible for the
delay in building into this county, to act. They
want the trade of central Oregon and know that
their only hope lies in getting it well established
before others arrive to dispute it and direct it
into other channels."
In April, 1905, the D. I. & P. Company had
thirty men at work on the Pilot Butte flume, and
would have hired more good carpenters at $3
a day if thev could have been secured. The
flume was intended to send water down the canal
bv Mav 1, 1905. Ten miles out on the desert
it was found necessary to build a flume 720 feet
long. Lumber for their construction was
hauled there from the High-tower Smith Mill,
beyond the Tumalo. The D. I. & P. Company
has completed fifty miles of ditch and laterals
and has under water about 50,000 acres. The
Bend Bulletin of April 28, 1905, said :
"W. E. Guerin. Jr., Mayor Goodwillie, G.
C. Stennemann and Tom Sharp drove over to
Prineville Monday and set on foot there a scheme
to irrigate 37.000 acres of rich land in the valley
to the eastward of the town. About 6,000 acres
are deeded: 15,000 belong to the railroad com-
panv. and the remainder, 16,000 acres is open
government land.
"As outlined the plan is to dam the Ochoco
river twice and Mill creek once. Survevs that

722

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

have been in progress for some time show the
feasibility of leading the water out of those
streams to the thirsty acres that are now only
half cropped at best. It will take between $600,-
000 and $700,000 to install the reclamation en-.
terprise. "The Prineville Business League has taken
the matter up in earnest. There was a large at
tendance and free discussion of the project at
a meeting held last Monday night and T. M.
Baldwin, Thomas Sharp and C. Sam Smith were
appointed a committee to visit Portland and see
what can be done with the wagon road people
in the way of securing encouragement for the
work. Mr. Guerin will leave for New York next
week in the interest of the new development
project." Meanwhile rumors had been freely circulated
that the D. I. & P. Company had made arrange
ments to dispose of their enterprise in Crook
county. The main portion of these pessimistic
reports emanated from the columns of the Morn
ing Oregonian, published at Portland. The ap
pearance in Prineville of J. O. Johnston, of the
D. P. & I. Company at once put a stop to these
rumors. "It is not an unusual rule," said Mr. John
ston, "for men who are financing a scheme of
such proportions as that in the Des Chutes val
ley, to look over their ground thoroughly and
know the exact amount which will have to be
expended before an enterprise is brought to a
successful termination. Our company is no ex
ception to that rule, and there are ample funds
to provide for everything in the undertaking. It
is true that we laid off a force of men some time
ago ; but that was made necessary by the delay
in the rock work at the end of the flume. Until
that was finished it was necessary to haul water
some twelve or fifteen miles on to the desert 'to
the crew working on the ditch and we found it
to be to our interest to lay off the latter force
until the rock-work was completed and water
flowing in the ditch so far as construction of it
permitted. The report of a prospective sale
may have gained ground by this action of ours,
but it was, nevertheless, without foundation. We
have paid cash and a lot of it for everything
a.-; we went along and we expect to continue this
course in the future until every detail of the re
clamation work is completed. There is a check
ready and waiting for anyone who is dissat
isfied." May 4, 1905, the scheme promoted by the
Citizens' Business League to irrigate 40,000
acres of land lying north of Prineville was prac
tically assured. Sheriff Smith, who was a mem
ber of the committee appointed to confer with

Mr. C. E. S. Wood, the Portland representative
of the Willamette Vally & 'Cascade Mountain
Wagon Road Company stated that the confer
ence was satisfactory in every respect, and Mr.
Wood assured the road company's co-operation
in the undertaking. This signified that the latter
corporation would agree to a disposal of its lands
as soon as water had been brought to them.
During the absence of the committee M. E.
Guerin, Jr., who had been a prime mover in the
project and who had assured the league finan
cial backing in the event of favorable action by
the road company,- received a telegram from
New York stating that the necessary funds were
available with which to construct the reservoirs
and canals necessary to reclaim the tract. The
Crook County Journal said May 4, 1905 :
Sheriff Smith while in Portland was approached by
others who offered enough funds to complete the project,
as it is certain that the money will be forthcoming with
which to carry the scheme to a successful and early ter
mination. The amount of money necessary for the re
clamation work is placed at $500,000 and it is believed
considerably less than that sum will eventually finish all
details of the scheme.
Inside of a few days the financial matters will be
definitely arranged and preparations will then be made
for the engineering work, after which the reservoirs and
canals will be constructed. Sheriff Smith expressed
the belief that the final surveys can all be complete by
the first of July, in which event actual construction will
begin soon afterwards. With the latter work pushed
ahead rapidly almost the entire tract can be brought un
der irrigation before the present year has elapsed.
The first definite move toward securing transpor
tation facilities for the Crook county section of East
ern Oregon was the filing of a water right on the falls
at the mouth of Willow creek. This was in May, 1905,
Negotiations were then, too, pending with the Willa
mette Valley & Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Com
pany to secure a lease or the right to purchase from
them Steel Head Palls, below the lower bridge on the
Des Chutes river. At these two points sufficient elec
trical power can be developed to supply a current capa
ble of running electric cars from the Columbia to the
Central portion of Crook county. The action taken was
in line with the proposition outlined by Archie Mason
some time ago when he visited the city. In represent
ing Portland and eastern capitalists he was in a po
sition to state that if the business rrten here advanced
enough money to build the first ten miles of road south
of the Columbia and secured right of way the balance
of the distance to Prineville, the necessary funds would
b» forthcoming with which to take up the bonds. When
here Mr. Mason stated that only the securing of right
of way was now necessary to enlist the necessasy capi
tal, and steps were immediately taken to seal the agree-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

723

ment and advance along the lines proposed. This pros
pective line will touch the Columbia at The Dalles or
some point on the Portage road and will continue south
ward through the canyon of the Des Chutes river to the
mouth of Trout creek, thence eastward across the
agency plains to Crooked river, and up the latter stream
to this city.
Early in 1905 the Columbia Southern Irrigation Com
pany, which succeeded the Three Sisters Irrigation
•Company, had completed about thirty-five miles of
ditches and laterals, and had nearly all of its segrega
tion of 30,000 acres reclaimed. They took the water
from the Tumalo river and the land lies in the Tumalo
.basin, west of the Des Chutes river.

Tuesday, May 23, 1905, was the day set for opening
to entry a large area of land south of Bend which had
been withdrawn for forestry purposes. This land had
been open to settlement since January 5, 1905, the pur
pose of the department being to offer every facility to
those who wanted lands for homes^— to give them every
advantage over scrippers or others desiring the land
for other purposes. Of thirty-five applications filed in
the Bend office on the first day for 3,400 acres, all but
six were homesteads. The homesteaders do not have
to hurry. Those who have made bona fide settlements
and improvements and occupied the land on the twenty-
third had ninety days in which to get their application
on record at the district land office.

CHAPTER III

PRINEVILLE.

The first question one naturally asks upon
arrival at Prineville is "Where are all the tillable
acres for the maintenance of the several hun
dreds of inhabitants of this inland town?" But
let one remain a week or two and his under
standing of conditions will have attained a much
broader scope. Prineville cannot boast of long
stretches of waving fields of golden grain in its
immediate vicinity but she has much else of ma
terial value.
This pretty little city, the county seat of
Crook county, is situated on a level plain at the
junction of Crooked river and Ochoco creek, the
greater portion of the city lying between them.
Prineville has been called the treasure house of
a "vast pastoral empire." In many respects this
is true. A large area of country pays this city
tribute and in consequence it is one of the best
trading cemters in the Inland Empire.
Mr. Barney Prine and his wife, Elizabeth,
came lib the Ochoco valley in 1868. They set
tled down upon the present site of Prineville,
Mr. Prine building a small log cabin of willow
logs near where Med Vanderpool's house stood
in 1900. Mr. Prine at first opened a blacksmith
shop and subsequently a small store. These two,
Barney and his wife were followed by the
Hodges, Vanderpools, Gullifords, Aliens and
W. G. Pickett, who built houses. Thus w«s
started a small town named Prineville, after Mr.
Prine. Having engaged in the blacksmithing,
-mercantile business, saloon keeping ancl stock

raising, Mr. Prine sold out his property in
Prineville and removed to Weston.
The capital of Crook is about as near the
center of the county as possible and is, there
fore, the natural location for the county seat with
stage lines in every direction. Going into de
tails more thoroughly concerning the early his
tory of Prineville a writer in 1870 says :
During that summer Barney Prine started Prineville
by building a dwelling house, store, blacksmith shop,
hotel and saloon. I think he was all of one day build
ing them. They were constructed of willow logs, 10 by
14 in size, one story high and all under one roof. His
first invoice of goods cost $80; his liquor consisted of a
case of Hostetter's Bitters, and the iron for the black
smith shop was obtained from the fragments of an old
emigrant wagon left up on Crooked river. In addi
tion to his other business ventures Barney laid out and
made a race track that ran from the banks of Crooked
river up along where now is the north side of First
street, and many were the bottles of Hostetter's lost
and won over that track by the local rfecers of the per
iod. Right here I want to tell of the first poker game
played in this country which was also my first venture in
that direction.
A few days before the game some one from The
Dalles had brought out a wagon-load of apples which
Barn&y had purchased. On this day I happened to go
to the "towav and Barney took me out and very solici
tously inquired! if I was versed in the mysteries of
"draw," stating that if I would go in wfth him we

724

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

could make a "raise'' out of some Warm Spring In
dians who were camped on the river and wanted a
game. I very frankly confessed my almost criminal ig
norance in that useful branch of a boy's education ; that
my parents had not been able to send me to college, so
my education was limited to a country school grade ;
but I was willing to learn; as he told me that if I
would sit just to his right and "cut" the cards just to
his "break" we would go through those Indians like a
case of the itch in a country school. I consented and we
soon had the game in full blast; Barney and I and two
of the Indians. Barney would run up hands and I
would "cut," generally using both hands to get the "cut"
correct. My work was a little "coarse" but I got there
"Eli" all the same. Those Indians could speak only two
English words, "I passe," and every time Barney and
I would get in a good shuffle and "cut" those confounded
heathen would ejaculate "I passe," with a unanimity that
was paralyzing to our hope as it was astonishing, and
when it came their turn to deal, the surprising hands
that would be out ! But the most singular part of it
all was, invariably one of the condemned Indians would
have the top hand, and it was not long before the In
dians had all of Barney's money, and I am inclined
to believe that it was all the money in the settlement
at that time. After our money had all been lost we
bet apples at $4 a box, and it was not long before the
Indians had won the entire load of apples. Then the
game Stopped. We were busted. We had nothing else
the Indians wanted. I stood and watched them load
their ponies with the apples and when they started off
I turned to my partner and whispered, "Barney, I passe."
He just snorted and said that any one was a blanked
fool to play with a blankety blank "Stoten Bottle,"
though what resemblance there was between those In
dians and a stoten bottle I couldn't perceive.
Barney was a good fellow ; a man who stood by a
friend and was always willing to divide the last crust
with any one who needed it. I remember that one fall
some strangers who were camped on the creek had the
misfortune to lose everything they had by fire, leaving
them destitute. Barney went down into his pocket and
gave them $20, and I am certain that at that time he
did not have a mate to that twenty.
The second store in Prineville was built and
occupied by William Heisler, with a stock of gen
eral merchandise. This was in 1871. The first
hotel in the town was erected by Monroe Hodges
in 1871. The first Baptist church of Prineville
was organized April 15, 1873. The first post-
office in Crook county was established at Prine
ville in 1873, with Dr. L. Vanderpool as post
master. The third store in Prineville was erected
by Hodges & Wilson in 1876. It carried a stock
of general merchandise. The Prineville flouring
mill was built by James Allen in 1875. After
operating it for a time, he sold the property to

Breyman & Summerville, who conducted it un
til they sold to Stewart & Pett, the former one
of the present owners. L. Senders & Company
established a general merchandise business in
1882 and continued for five or six years. In:
1884 the mercantile firm of Uren & Childs was
established, who sold, in a few years, to W. F.
Fuller & Company. This last firm bought out
Hahn & Fried. M. Sichel & Company started
business in 1881 and retired in 1881. In 1881
R. Rowan & Son opened a tin and hardware
store and retired later. I. L. Ketchum started a
shoe shop in 1877. The county court house was
built in the fall of 1885 by H. A. Belknap, The-
Prineville public school building was erected in
1887. In 1887 D. E. Templeton & Son opened.
a drug store and still conduct the same. In
1887, P. B. Poindexter opened a restaurant in
Prineville. In 1889 Ah Tye, an American Chi
naman, opened a notion store which he con
ducted a number of years and then sold. M.
A. Moore began business in Prineville in 1891,
first doing harness work and later opened a drug
store. Dr. C. A. Cline opened a dentist office
in 1891. Mesdames Cline and Elliott engaged
in millinery in 1892 and continued some time.
In August, 1897, Will Wurzweiller and A.
Thomson opened a general merchandise store,
and in July, 1900, Arthur secured an interest in
the firm. The initial drug store was built and
conducted by Dr. L. Vanderpool in 1876.
Prineville's second hotel was erected by Oli
ver P. Jackson in 1876 and was conducted by
him until about 1880, when the management
passed into the hands of A. B. Culver. In 1876
Prineville contained a population of upwards of"
200. The townsite plat of Prineville was filed'
for record in the office of the clerk of Wasco
county March 28, 1877. It consisted of seven
teen full, and five, half blocks. The blocks were
240 feet square and were divided into six lots
each. The streets were eighty feet in width
with the exception of Main street, which was
100 feet wide.
June 3, 1878, two desperadoes, Van Allen and
Jeff Drips, came into Prineville and attempted
to "run" it according to their own peculiar ideas.
To this presumptuous proceeding the citizens
did not take kindly and a street fight was im
mediately precipitated. Following this row a
warrant was issued for their arrest and Deputy
Sheriff James T. Chamberlain was ordered to
serve it. The desperadoes resisted. Allen was
killed ; Drips escaped but was captured the same
night by Jerry Luckey, taken to The Dalles for
trial and was acquitted.
The first religious structure erected was a:
union church built in 1879. The initial brick

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

725

building was erected in Prineville by J. M.
Powell & Company, in 1879, and was utilized
as a general merchandise store. Prineville was
incorporated as a town October 23, 1880, by
special charter by the Oregon legislature. An
amended charter was granted February 14, 1887.
An amended charter incorporating Prineville as
.a city was granted February 16, 1899. A Prine
ville correspondent of The Dalles Times, Sep
tember 16, 1880, wrote :
Prineville is becoming quite an important village and
we naturally feel somewhat slighted to be ignored, neg
lected and overlooked by the newspapers of our own
¦county. * * * * Our town is growing quite rapidly.
Several more or less, pretentious residences have been
¦erected this summer and fall. Mr. Selling of Port
land has a large store building nearly completed. This
will make three dry goods establishments in the place.
We, also, have a variety store, a drug store, furniture
store, harness and saddlery establishment, several
blacksmith shops, a planing mill, two livery stables and
two first-class hotels, one of them kept by Oliver Jack
son and the other by Dan Richards — than whom there
is no more obliging and attentive hotel keeper extant.
The Prineville city council convened for the
first time December 22, 1880, E. Barnes pre
siding. The members of this initial council
were: F. E. Whittaker, Alexander Hodges, J.
Wilson and D. Richards. The original town of
ficers of the young city were : Elisha Barnes,
mayor; S. J. Newsom, recorder; Richard Phil-
laber, marshal ; A. H. Breyman, treasurer and
George Noland, town attorney.
Prineville was visted by a disastrous blaze
at four o'clock a. m., Saturday, November 10,
1883. The fire originated in the kitchen of the
Occidental hotel, but was not discovered until it
nad burst into uncontrollable flames. Everything
was as dry as tinder; the fire spread with won
derful rapidity through the rooms, and it soon
became evident that the entire building was
doomed. The flames were not checked until the
principal business houses on one side of the
street were destroyed. The losses were estimated
as follows: Wilham Circles, Occidental hotel,
$9,000; R. R. Kelly, hotel furniture, saloon fix
tures, etc., $1,200; H. A. Dillard's new building,
$1,500; Mrs. M. A. Holbert, millinery, $400;
News office, $300; A. Hodges, store building,
partially insured $2,800. The stock of Selling
& Winkler was damaged to a considerable ex
tent. At one o'clock, Saturday morning, January
19, 1884, another fire visited the place. The mer
chandise store of Selling & Hinckley, a vacant
store building adjoining Kelly's saloon, T. Bush-

nell's harness shop, an unoccupied building in
close proximity, S. Wilson's saloon and Til
Glazes' livery stable were soon reduced to a mass
of ruins. Here the flames were checked by an
upon space. The total loss was estimated at $10,-
000, with insurance of $3,300. This blaze was
undoubtedly the work of an incendiary.
The first bank in Prineville was opened in
May, 1887, and was known as the First National
Bank of Prineville. In 1899 Prineville was re
incorporated as a city with a- mayor and six
councilmen. January 1, 1900, the population of
the town was estimated at 1,000. House Bill
No. 275, which passed the legislature early in
1900, was for the re-incorporation of the city of
Prineville ; the corporate limits were as follows :
"Section 3 — The corporate limits of the city
of Prineville shall be as follows : Commencing at
the northwest corner of the southwest quarter
of section 31, township 14, south range 16, east
of the Willamette Meridian, Crook county, Ore
gon, and running thence east one mile ; thence
south one mile ; thence west Y\ °f one mue to
the southwest corner of the southeast quarter of
the northeast quarer of section 6, township 15,
south range 16 east of the Willamette Meridian,
Crook county, Oregon ; thence north eighty rods ;
thence west one mile ; thence north to the town-
snip line between townships fourteen and fifteen
south ; thence east on township line to the north
west corner of the southeast quarter of section
6 township 15, south, range 16 east; thence
north one-half mile and to the place of begin
ning." At a special meeting of the city council in July,
1899, an agreement was entered into with M. S.
G. Howeson, representing Morris & Whitehead,
bankers of Portland, to sell them $10,000 worth
of water bonds. The amount of $5,000 was to be
delivered August ist; and $5,000 January 1,
1900. Mayor L. N. Liggett published the fol
lowing in the Portland Morning Oregonian of
January 1, 1900:
The past year has been an eventful one for Prine
ville. One year ago, isolated from the outer world —
120 miles from railroad and telegraph communication —
today we have a railroad building toward our city, and
we are also in telephone connection with Portland and
other cities. With the ushering in of the New Year we
expect to have a system of water works and electric
light plant in full operation. The city has issued bonds
to the amount of $10,000. These have been sold and the
amount turned over to H. V. Gates, who has part in
this system.
During the past year thirty or forty buildings have
either been remodeled or erected. Many more would
have been built if sufficient building material could have

726

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

been obtained. Next year the building will be resumed
and the outlook is very flattering for another year. The
population of Prineville is nearing the 1,000 mark. New
comers are constantly arriving in our city asking em
ployment or looking for business locations, having
heard of our city's thrift. The business interests of
Prineville are in the hands of wide-awake, energetic and
progressive business men. Good public schools are
maintained and the city is well supplied with churches
and newspapers.
The claim for a new charter enlarging the
powers of the city council demanded the atten
tion of this body at the beginning of the year
1900. Through the efforts of Hon. J. N. Will
iamson, legislative representative from Crook
county, one passed the legislature and became a
law February 16, 1899. The new charter legal
ized all existing ordinances except when they
conflicted with the new charter. Consequently
the city of Prineville was occasioned consider
able expense in drafting ordinances in con
formity to the new charter.
The First Presbyterian church of Prineville
was organized in November, 1900, by the com
mittee of the East Oregon Presbytery, with
eleven members. David E. Templeton was
elected and installed elder. Six trustees were
elected and instructed to incorporate. B. F.
Harper was called to become the permanent pas
tor of the new church. Lew Johnson was se
cured to assist in a series of special meetings be
ginning January 6th.
The following shows the number and amount
of money orders issued at Prineville's postoffice
from January 1, 1897, to and inclusive of De
cember 15, 1900: No. Amount.
i897  2,855  $29,924.99
r8°8  3,248  31,313-69
1899  3,475- •'  33,632.36
1900  3,402  32,896.42
Receipts from the sale of stamps for the same
years were: 1897, $1,820.72; 1898, $2,339.31;
1899, $2,540.01 ; 1900, up to November 30,
$2,300.73. This office is the distributing center for the
following mail lines : Prineville to Burns, 162
miles, two round trips per week ; Prineville to
Sisters, 38 miles, three round trips per week ;
Prineville to Crook, 48 miles, two round trips
per week; Prineville to Lamonta, 16 miles, six
round trips ; Prineville to Silver Lake, 102 miles,
two round trips ; Prineville to Mitchell, 55 miles,
three round trips ; total number of offices served
on these routes, 26; total mileage routes termin

ating at Prineville, 496. Prineville was raised*
to a third class office July 1, 1900, with a salary
of $1,200 and clerk hire.
The year 1901 was marked by unusual build
ing activity. More structures were erected than
for the preceding five years. There was, also, a
noticeable change in the style and quality of
the buildings in that those erected that year
were of a substantial character and the archi
tectural designs of the latest approved styles. Ex
penditures for improvements approximated
$150,000. April 20, 1901, the Prineville Review
published the following:
The question of water supply for irrigation pur
poses in the city was again agitated this week. On the
arrival of Mr. Gates in Prineville he made a proposition
to sell the Maling ditch to the city for $1,100. At a
meeting of the council held Saturday afternoon he made
his proposition to the city and a committee was appointed
by them to canvass the city and ascertain the wish of
the citizens in this matter, and as many had signified
their willingness to give a bonus to the city in paying
for the ditch, a subscription paper was circulated and
about $450 was subscribed and the citizens were nearly-
unanimous in favor of the city purchasing the ditch.
Another meeting of the council was held Monday
afternoon and these matters fully laid before the coun
cil and it was then on motion decided to purchase said-
ditch from Messrs. Gates and Forsythe for the sum of
$1,100 and the judiciary committee was instructed to
draft the necessary ordinance to authorize this purchase
and report at a future meeting. A committee was ap
pointed to make a report of the necessary repairs to
be made to the ditch, and be in a condition to com
mence active work on the construction of a dam as
soon as the necessary papers can pass between the par
ties interested.
The citizens of Prineville have asked that the coun
cil purchase this ditch and they have done so. It has-
been a good investment as we believe. The water right
alone is worth the purchase price. This right takes-
350 inches of the water and during the summer Ochoco
does not carry more than that.
Mr. Pringle who owns the irrigating ditch north of
the Ochoco has a ditch commencing in the city limits
and extending on below town for several miles, and he
was an applicant for the purchase of this right. But Mr.
Gates gave the city the first chance and they took it,
hence Mr. Pringle has a good piece of property in his-
ditch but the most important thing of all, has no water,
which is to be regretted as his ditch passes along some
very fine land.
A water and electric light plant was erected'
in Prineville, in May, 1900. The last charter
granted the town in 1898, made provisions for
these plants and the Prineville Light & Water

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

727

Company was formed for the purpose of supply
ing them. The water is taken from a system of
22 wellSj and is absolutely pure. Two duplex
Dean pumps 14x12x7 inches are used, lifting
eight hundred gallons per minute and discharg
ing it into the reservoir situated north of the
town, and about ninety feet above it. This res
ervoir has a capacity of 100,000 gallons, and is
cemented and housed so that nothing can con
taminate the water. The pressure for domestic
purpose is 40 pounds, but in case of fire the
valves of the pipes of the reservoir are closed and
the direct pressure from the pumps is thrown
into the mains. The pumps have a capacity of
more than 1,000,000 gallons per day, while the
average daily use is almost 50,000 gallons. Their
are used in the system 7,000 feet of 4-inch, and
4,000 feet of 2.y2 inch mains, besides the usual
quantities of service pipes. For fire protection
there are five patent hydrants and 20 Don muzzle
hydrants, 2^ inch. The electric light plant is in
the same building. It furnishes 500 16-candle
power light. There is a provision in the fran
chise that the city, upon proper notice at the end
of each term of five years may purchase the
plant, otherwise the franchise runs for 15 years.
Evidently determined to keep in line with
the steady march of prosperity, Prinevrlle seems
alert to the best interests of Crook county. To
this end, in August, 1904, betweeen 30 and 40
business men of Prineville met at Athletic hall
and effected an organization to be known as the
Citizens Business League of Prineville. The
officers were as follows: T. M. Baldwin, presi
dent; C. M. Elkins, vice president; M. R. El
liott, secretary, and A. H. Lippman, treasurer.
The board of directors consisted of Fred Wilson,
C. Sam Smith and T. H. LaFollette. This meet
ing was called at the instigation of a number of
the business men in the city who had felt for
some time the necessity of a commercial organ
ization, or promotive association of some kind
which would run hand in hand with the rapid
development of the county. Following his elec
tion as president Mr. Baldwin stated that for its
foundation, progress and the betterment of civic
conditions ancl the taking of an active part in
the building up of Crook county, the league,
through its board of directors and committees ap
pointed by the president saw that Crook, and the
business centers of Crook county, received a
bountiful share of advertising. Its resources
were made known to the outside world through
the use of circular letters sent in reply to numer
ous inquiries concerning the county which were
constantly received. Statistics and data con
cerning the agricultural, timber, mining and ir
rigation interests, were gathered and kept on file

where publicity could at any time be given them.
It was decided at the local meeting that the league
should become a member of the Oregon Devel
opment League, with headquarters at Portland.
Carl Abrams writes to the Prineville Herald
under date of November 24, 1904 :
The growth and development of Prineville has been
slow, but it has never flagged ; there never was a time
in which any doubt existed as to the future of the city,
and it has always been known as one of the best trading
points in Eastern Oregon. Such a thing as a boom is
entirely unknown, and today the city does not present
the beautiful picture of fine buildings and picturesque
avenues which might be expected, or which are possiJ
ble, and the reason is apparent to the economic student.
Men by the score have gone to Prineville and engaged
in ^business only to reap a golden harvest for their ef
forts, and then move to the valley or some larger" city,
and the result is that some of the largest business houses
in Oregon are transacting their business in wooden
structures, some of them almost a makeshift. However,'
this is all now past. Merchants are recognizing the
vast possibilities of the future for Crook county and
hence for the city. They have determined to become
permanent residents of Prineville, are almost without
exception heavily interested in Prineville property, and
last summer a building boom was inaugurated, with
the result that the prediction is now made that within
two years every business house on Main street will be
of brick, and many of them will be erected next year.
As a trading center it stands alone, and holds
almost undisputed control of the largest region
of country in the United States not traversed
by a railroad. In order to supply the needs of so
large a territory for transportation, large stocks.
of merchandise are necessary, yet the necessity
is always fully met and every want supplied by
the energetic firms doing business in the city.
. No city in Oregon is better supplied with live
business houses in almost every line, yet there is
so far no exclusive cigar or confectionary stores,
and the need of a steam laundry is keenly felt
and this field offers enticing opportunities to one
in that line of business. In November, 1904, the
present houses included four general merchandise
stores, three drug stores, two variety stores,
one grocery, two meat markets, two jewelry
stores, five saloons, two hotels, one restaurant,
two barber shops, two public halls, three livery
and feed stables, five boarding and lodging
houses, a brewery, two dental offices, three phy
sicians, five attorneys, three lumber yards, one
planing mill and one flouring mill. There were
three churches — Methodist, Presbyterian and
^aptist denominations.
The bank statement for the quarter ending
October 1, 1904, is a good index to the financial

728

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

condition of the city of Prineville. The open de
posits subject to check at that time amounted
to $277,270.36, which takes into account none of
the numerous time deposits.
In November, 1904, it was joyfully an
nounced that Prineville was in communication
by telephone with Shaniko and The Dalles, and
had six stage lines running to Shaniko, Burns,
Sisters, Crook, La Monta, Silver Lake, Mitchell
and Bend. The total mileage of these routes was
476. A total of 26 offices were served by these
stage lines.
During the year 1904 there were over
10,000,000 pounds of freight forwarded from
Prineville. These figures did not, however, in
clude the many tons of freight which have been
hauled through Prineville to Burns, or the
freight shipped in from the railroad by indi
viduals, stockmen and others.
In May, 1904, a deed to the land lying south
of the high school which is to be converted into
a city park, was received and placed on record. .
This deed came from the Willamette Valley and
Cascade Mountain Wagon Road Company, and
was obtained only through the tireless efforts of
Mr. Elliott. The land was easily worth $2,000
and the city owed its thanks to Mr. Elliott for
the interest he took in the matter and his influ
ence and work in securing the tract as a gift to
Prineville. Probably in the future Mr. Elliott's
work will be more generally felt than it is at
present. Some of the results of the Citizens'
Business League was a new $3,000 roadway, and
final arrangements practically made for the re
clamation of 40,000 acres of land in the im
mediate vicinity of which was directly traceable
to a civic organization.
The following postmasters have served

Prineville since 1873 : Dr. L. Vanderpool ; D. E.
Thomas; T. M. Baldwin; J. F. Moore; A. C.
Palmer; P. B. Howard; M. A. Moore; George
Summers. The present city officials, 1905, are:
William Wurzweiler, Mavor; F. W. Wilson, A.
H. Lippman, J. W. Wigle, Walter O'Neil, D.
F. Stewart, and W. F. Stewart, councilmen ; J.
L. McCulloch, treasurer; M. H. Bell, recorder;
R. P. Harrington, marshal.
During the early days of 1905 the population
of Prineville was quoted at 1,000. It is located
200 miles southeast of Portland and 64 miles
south of Shaniko, the shipping point. It is the
center of a fine stock raising country and has
two live weekly newspapers, the Prineville
Review and the Crook County Journal; electric
lights, water works, two banks, flouring mill,
brewery and fire department, long distance tele
phone connections, daily stage to Shaniko ancl
six other stage lines to interior points and a
daily mail. Religious denominations are repre
sented by the Methodist Episcopal, Baptist,
Presbyterian and Christian churches.
Following is the Fraternal Society directory
of Prineville :
Prineville Lodge No. 76, A. F. & A. M. ;
Carnation Chapter No. 44, O. E. S. ; Ochoco
Lodge No. 46, I. O. O. F. ; Ochoco Lodge No.
101, Ancient Order United Workmen; Sunbeam
Lodge No. 36, Degree of Honor; Prineville
Camp, No. 216, W. of W. ; Juniper Circle, No.
37, Women of Woodcraft; Luna Lodge No. 65,
K. of P.; Pilot Tent No. 93, K. O. T. M. ;
Prineville Assembly, No. 163, United Artisans ;
Lookout Rebekah, No. 103, I. O. O. F. ; Lucere
Temple, No. 28, Rathbone Sisters; Prineville
Camp, No. 956, M. W. A. ; Welcome Camp No.
 , Royal Neighbors.

CHAPTER IV

OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS.

BEND AND VICINITY. r
The town of Bend is situated on the Des
Chutes river on the line between the desert and
tne vast yellow pine belt about 25 miles south
west of Prineville. Its altitude is 3,618 feet above
sea level. In May, 1904, the ground upon which
now stands the city of Bend was a portion of the
¦great Central Oregon Desert. Nine months

later $100,000 had been expended in the con-
s. ruction of business blocks and residences.
The townsite of Bend was platted May 31,
1904, by the Pilot Butte Development Company,
A. M. Drake, president, and is situated in section
32, township 17, south range 12 E. W. M. Under
the management of this company the town came
rapidly to the front. Bend is headquarers of
numerous irrigation enterprises that ate now re-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

729

claiming hundreds of thousands of acres of rich
land in Central Oregon. It is connected with
other points by long distance telephone and
there is, also, a local exchange. The roadwav
for an automobile line between Bend and Shaniko
has been completed.
In the "front yard" of Bend lie half a mil
lion of acres of irrigated land, and its "back
yard" holds about forty billion feet of mer
chantable pine. There is no chance elsewhere
for a mill pond between Bend and the Columbia
river, nor can a location for one be found for
many miles to the south of the town. That is one
reason why manufacturing interests will, even
tually, center here. Moreover the configuration
of the country makes it peculiarly easy to rail
road logs to this point, and lumbering concerns
that will employ 7.500 men have already ar
ranged for manufacturing sites at Bend. The
Pilot Butte Development company which owns
the townsite, controls a total of 125,000 horse
power at three points on the river within twenty
miles of the town.
Bend has had about the most rapid growth
ever seeen in the northwest. Later A. L. Good-
willie came out from Chicago and became asso
ciated with Mr. Drake in ownership of the town-
site and allied interests.
Bend is not North or South Bend or Horse
shoe Bend — just Bend. Crook county, Oregon. It
was known as Farewell Bend in pioneer times.
when travelers followed down the river to the
ford near Pilot Butte, bidding farewell to the
Des Chutes and broke across the desert to the
eastward. The name, too long for busy mod
erns, has been felicitously shortened to "Bend."
the only Bend in the LJnited States.
The conveniences of modern business ami
social life, are multiplying rapidly. September
4, 1904, a bank capitalized at $25,000 was estab
lished. In Januarv, 1903. Bend has been wiped off the
map of Oregon, and "Deschutes" duplicated by
the third ex-postmaster general. This, how
ever, proved a temporary arrangement, as a re
monstrance was at once forwarded to the post
master general bv the people of Sherman county,
as they "already, 'had a postoffice by that name in
Sherman county. Consequently it was renamed
Bend a short time subsequently.
The First Presbyterian Church of Bend was
•organized Monday evening. July 20, 190^. but
the societv has not, so far. erected a building.
The thirtv miles of telephone line between Bend
and Prineville was completed Wednesday morn
ing August 17, 1004. Th officers of the company
were W. E. Guerin. Jr.. president; A. L. Good-
wvillie. vice president, secretary and treasurer:

Gerald Grosbeck, manager. During the year
1904 up to November nth eighty buildings had
been erected in Bend at a total combined value
of $75,000. The Baptist church of Bend, a com
fortable building, was completed in December,
1904 at a cost of about $2,800. The same year
the question of incorporating the town came up
before the people and the election was held at
Bend with the following result: For incorpora
tion, 104- against incorporation, 3 ; Mayor, A. L.
Goodwillie ; council, C. W. Merrill, C. H. Erick-
son, J. S. West, D. McMullan, C. M. Redfield,
and F. G. Shonquest ; recorder, J. W. Lawrence ;
treasurer, F. O. Minor ; marshal, E. R. Lester.
The Bend Light, Water & Power Company
was incorporated early in December* 1904, with
a capital of $100,000.
In December, 1904. the Methodists of Bend
organized a church society and Sunday school.
In January, 1905, a contract was awarded to
Brasterhous Brothers by the city council to build
a jail. The contract bid was $292.32.
In April, 1905, a crew of 25 men were put
to work laying water-mains. This work was
completed from the river up to Wall street and
along Wall nearly to Oregon. From that point
south a number of rock points were encountered
which made progress slower. The pipes were
put down three feet, the trench being left open
onlv long enough to lay the pipes when it was
immediately filled. Most of this rock was
picked out; some of it blasted. By July the
water svstem was in operation.
In Mav, 1905. the city voted to buy from the
A. G. Long Company, of Portland, a full fire-
fighting apparatus for Bend. It consisted of 1 1
street hvdrants ; 1 ,000 feet of best quality fire
hose ; two hose carts : one 27-foot ladder, one
16-foot roof ladder and two 16-foot ladders ;
four nozzles each with a i-inch and a three-quar
ter inch tip: six hydrant wrenches and six hose
spanners. The entire cost of this plant was
$1,395.50. besides freight. It was paid for
with six per cent, warrants on the fire fund, half
to be redeemed in 1906, and half in 1907.
In 1005 the city of Bend marked a new era
in the development of Central Oregon, and is a
fine example of what can be accomplished when
energv and capital unite in the development of
vast "resources. Prineville, the county seat, lies
30 miles northeast and Shaniko, the shipping
point, eighty miles northeast.
MADRAS.
This voting community is situated in the
Willow Creek basin, thirty miles north of Prine
ville. This basin is about three miles long and

73°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

three-quarters of a mile wide. Madras is the
center of the farming district of Crook county.
There are about one hundred and fifty thousand
acres of tillable land surrounding the town, and
in the districts of Haystack, Lamonta and
Agency Plains. The Indians of the Warm
Springs reservation as well as the Hay creek
country, with its countless sheep and fine cattle
make Madras their trading point. It is only a
short distance from the yellow pine belt of the
Blue Mountains, and this circumstance makes
lumber for building purposes comparatively
cheap. Within the past two or three years many
people have come from the middle west to settle
upon the government lands of this part of the
county. There are about one thousand families
now settled there and most of them make Madras
their center of trade. The soil of this country has
been found to be very fertile and the people who
have set out orchards and shrubs have met with
good success. Sugar beets have been planted
and found to produce as much as ten tons per
acre. In the Prineville Herald of November 4,
1904, Timothy Brownhill wrote:
Situated in a graceful curve of willow creek is what
is commonly known as "the basin,'' a flat area of land
shaped similar to a basin. In the center of this country
surrounded by slight hills, and lying along a small
creek is the growing city of "Madras." This town is on
the line of the proposed extension of the Columbia
Southern railroad, thirty miles north of Prineville, and
forty miles south of Shaniko, the present terminus of
the Columbia Southern railroad.
Madras is in the center of the great argicultural dis
trict of Crook county, comprising the Agency Plains
country, with its 150,000 acres of the finest wheat land
in Oregon, and the Haystack and Lomonta districts.
which furnish the greater part of the wheat and grain
now consumed in Central Oregon. Madras is, also,
the trading point for the Hay creek stock country,
with its sheep upon a thousand hills and countless herds
of the finest range cattle in the northwest. Just twelve
miles west is the Warm Springs Indian reservation.
with about 800 Indians, who are all farmers and stock
growers, and who will bring all their business to Mad
ras. The reservation contains many thousands of acres
of fine farming and timber lands, and the day is not
far distant when it will be thrown open for settlement
by the white men.
In the past two or three years many homeseekers
from the middle west who have grown tired of the un
certainty of crops and the certainty of drouth and flood
in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and other Missis
sippi valley states, have taken up government lands in
this favored locality, and it can be safely stated that
there are about 1,500 families living there, who will do

all their bartering and buying in Madras. The yellow
pine belt of the Blue mountains is a short distance only
from Madras and prices for good lumber for building
purposes prevail about the same as along the Columbia
river. Willow creek basin, where Madras is located, is a
wide place in the Willow creek valley, about three miles
long and an average width of three-fourths of a mile.
The soil there is of light, loamy quality, very fertile
and underlaid with gravel and sandstone. Water is-
easily obtained in wells averaging from ten to fifteen
feet in depth, and is of a very fine quality, containing
no trace of alkaline substances.
There are fine openings in Madras for business men
who have some capital to invest in stores, mills, etc.,
and as the country develops many branches of legiti
mate business will be opened. This country has grown
and developed wonderfully within the past few years,
although it has been quite a distance from the railroad ;.
and now, that the extension of the Columbia Southern
from Shaniko to Bend is an assurred fact, business of
all descriptions will increase and grow beyond all ex
pectations. Madras is well represented along business
lines, having two general merchandise stores, one black
smith and wagon shop, a drug store, hardware store,.
meat market, two physicians, a good public school sys.-
tem, a weekly newspaper, United States commissioner,
harness shop, barber shop, two hotels, livery and feed-
stables, contractors and carpenters and other smaller-
lines too numerous to mention. A number of churches
are also represented.
The First Baptist Church of Madras was or
ganized Sunday, April 30, 1904, with a mem
bership of twelve. The population of the town
is estimated at fifty. PAULINA.
The altitude of Paulina, named after an old
Indian chief of the Piutes, is 2,444 feet above sea
level. There is established a postoffice and in
its vicinity are located many residents.
It is located in the center of some of the
finest natural meadow country in the northwest.
It is situated on the north bank of Beaver creek,
on what is known as the Paulina flats, five miles
irom where Beaver creek empties into the
Crooked river. The Paulina flat is a part of
the wonderful Beaver creek valley, the entire
length, nearly twenty miles, being one great
natural meadow, yielding from one to three tons
of the very finest hay per acre, and the section of
Crook county of which it is the trading center
includes the valleys of Beaver, Grindstone, Indian,
Little and Big camp and the north and south
forks of Crooked river are indeed a stockman's
paradise and the day is not far distant when it
will be known for what it really is, the best dairy—

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

731

ing and stock farming country in the Indian
Empire. Not only shall it be known as a great
dairying section, but lately there have beeen dis
covered in the foothills near the Grant county
line rich croppings of gold ores, both base and
free milling; also several prospects of cinnabar
have been lately discovered, but it is not known
whether or not they are in paying quantities.
ASHWOOD.
The population is given at 100. A village was
first settled in 1898 on Trout creek, twenty-five
miles south of Shaniko, its railroad point, and
forty miles north of Prineville, the county seat
of Crook county. Gold has been found in its
vicinity and the town now contains two general
merchandise stores, and is connected by long
distance telephone line and stage with Antelope.
Trout creek flows through the center of the
town. The townsite of Ashwood was platted
June 16, 1899, by James Woods and Addie B.
Woods and consisted of fifteen blocks in section
36, township 9, south range 16, E. W. M.
In 1905 Lester Cohrs wrote of Ashwood as
follows :
The town of Ashwood is situated on Trout creek
in the northern part of Crook county, near the Wasco
line. There are many fine ranches near Ashwood. One
ranch, about three miles above the place, is owned by
T. S. Hamilton who runs sheep on it. Mr. Hamilton
puts up about 600 tons of hay each year. Another ranch
about nine miles above Ashwood is owned by the Bald
win Sheep & Land Company. The ranches below Ash
wood are small compared with those above. Alfalfa bay
is raised along Trout, as well as Hay, creek. When the
news spread over Crook county that gold had been dis
covered on Trout creek there was a great rush to the
mining district. James Woods, one of the present resi
dents of Ashwood, took the land where the town of
Ashwood stands today as a homestead. During the
rush to the mines the town of Ashwood was laid out in
town lots. The town has grown rapidly since 1900.
Judging from the amount of developments already
done in the mines the camps of Ashwood will rank
among the first of the gold and silver producers of Ore
gon, and possibly, copper and lead. Most of the min
ing experts of the county consider the formation to
carry precious metals and the same formation exists in
other mining districts where thousands of tons of ore
have been obtained.
There is only one mine in the district that has been
developed to any extent, and that is known as the Sil
ver King mine. It is owned by the Oregon King Min
ing Company. They have a shaft on one of these ore
chutes that is 600 feet deep, showing large bodies of
low grade ores which are generally found on the hang

ing wall of the vein. Since the development of this
mine began a large quantity of ore has been extracted.
and shipped to the Tacoma smelter. From this there has
been a report of very good returns. The principal ob
ject of this company has been to block out the ores, -
or rather to place the ore in sight, without extracting it
and have it in shape so that it can be extracted at any
time. Besides the Oregon King Mining Company's pros
pects, there are many others that show good values at
the surface and will probably be good properties with
proper development. There are a number within ten
feet of the surface that are reported to carry values from
$10 to $45 per ton. The ore is generally base, and is
found in the oxide zone of the Oregon King mines
which runs to a depth of about 125 feet. The silver ore
is in the form of a chloride and carbonate. Then comes
the sulphide ore which carries gold, silver, lead, copper
and zinc. The development work of these mines is re-
tarted and has been retarded since the discovery of the
mines by different litigations. Whenever these law
suits are settled and cheaper transportation for the
ores provided, these mines will be one of Crook county's
best resources.
March 30, 1901, the Prospector said :
Where now stands the beautiful and thriving little
city of Ashwood with its score or more business and
dwelling houses, its elegant school house and level
streets was, years ago, the well improved farm of James
Woods. The fertile Trout Creek valley had long been
inhabited by a class of people, thrifty and industrious,
who turned their entire attention to the stock and farm
ing industries. For many years thousands of sheep,
cattle and horses had roamed over the hills adjacent to-
the valley and were a source of great profit to the own
ers. The people were fast becoming well-to-do; were
happy and contented.
In 1896 a petition was circulated and signed by every
body in the community asking for the establishment of
a postoffice. After some delay their request was granted
and James Woods appointed postmaster and the office
christened Ashwood. The petition asked for the es
tablishment of a postoffice to be called Ash, after Ash
Butte just across Trout creek, and for the naming of
James Woods as postmaster. For some reason (doubt
less a good one) the Washington authorities did not give
the name Ash to the new postoffice, but instead added
the name of the postmaster, and the office was christened
Ashwood. In April, 1898, the town was surveyed and
platted and lots put upon the market.
In August, 1808, the large general merchandise store
of J. W. & M. A. Robinson was built and a complete-
stock put in. The following month O'Neil Brothers.
of Prineville, opened the Ashwood saloon, and after
conducting it for a time sold out to Benton & Grater.
H. Y. Huston started a blacksmith shop and W. H_

732

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Grater a hotel and several other business enterprises
were established. Upon the discovery of gold in the
new town it took on new life, becoming a lively and pros
perous mining center ; not of the type of a pioneer camp
in California or Colorado, but in a modern sense, the
living and other expenses being as cheap as in other
towns of the interior, the comforts of home life being
within the reach of all miners and prospectors.
CLINE FALLS.
The altitude of Cline Falls is 2,875 feet- The
•city is located on the Des Chutes river in Crook
county, about twenty miles west of Prineville.
It lies in the center of a vast tract of land under
irrigation during the past three years and sold
under the Carey act. Through this means 400,-
000 acres of land has become available for culti
vation, and a large portion of it is now producing
crops. The land is now admirably adapted to the
growth of alfalfa, and sugar beets. The Cline
Falls Power Company owns immense water
power at this point and at the lower falls, several
miles below, 40,000 horse-power being available
for manufacturing and other purposes. The falls,
forty feet high, are of unceasing interest ; its
climate is mild ; summer days are warm and the
nights are cool. The winters are generally mild,
the temperature seldom falling below the zero
mark. The Eastern Oregon Transportation
Company has built an automobile line from Shan
iko to Bend.
The wonderful cataract of Cline Falls rivals
the Willamette falls at Oregon City. A petition
for a postoffice at Cline Falls was favorably con
sidered by the department at Washington, D. C.
The official papers giving notice of the fact were
received in November, 1904, and Mr. Meredith
was appointed postmaster. Cline Falls was then
on the map. Late in November, 1904, the fol
lowing was published in the Pacific Homesteader
of Salem, Oregon :
One of the most promising of the cities springing
up as if by magic in the western part of Crook county is
Cline Falls, situated near the great waterfall which
bears that name in the Des Chutes river. The townsite
was only recently platted, and lots offered for sale less
than two months ago, yet the sale has been enormous.
The Cline Falls Power Company of which D. J.
Harris is president, and F. T. Hurlburt, of Shaniko,
secretary and treasurer, was organized about two years
ago, and at that time secured control of all the water
power of the Des Chutes river at that point. The com
pany now owns 2,500 acres of land, 1,500 acres of which
lie on the west, and 1,000 acres on the east side of the
river at Cline Falls. Of this land 1,800 acres are til
lable and all can be irrigated. The soil is very fertile

and with the application of water abundant crops are
produced. At present about 250 acres are cultivated
by the company.
July, 1904, the company platted eighty acres of land
into a townsite containing 500 lots, which were offered
for sale to the public at from $60 to $250. The rap
idity with which the lots were sold was a surprise to the
townsite company and to all other persons interested. In
the first three weeks of selling, and with scarcely any ad
vertising sixty lots were sold, a portion going to specu
lators who could look into the future and see a great
increase in the valuation of Cline Falls property, but
most of the lots are owned by people who will in the
near future become bona fide residents of that city.
When the writer called there in September, forty
families had signified their intention of becoming resi
dents of Cline Falls before winter sets in, and the fol
lowing are the business houses now being erected and
to be completed within thirty days : Meredith Broth
ers ; Walla Walla general merchandise store ; R. M.
Bishop, feed stable ; F. W. Hanna, store ; F. M. Don
aldson, meat market; J. W. Broen, hotel; Thomas R.
Rayburn, hotel ; Louis McAllister, commission house. A
printing office has been established for some weeks, and
the Cline Falls Press, a weekly newspaper, devoted to
promoting the welfare of the country, is now published
with a circulation of 1,000 copies. A school house is
now being erected 24 by 32 feet in dimensions, and a
large attendance is expected as many of the farmers of
the surrounding country are planning to move to the
city and send their children to school. The question
might with impunity be asked, "What advantages are
there to make a city spring up at Cline Falls in the midst
of a vast wilderness?" But transportation facilities with
the outside world such as are enjoyed by other cities,
will make Cline Falls complete. This cannot be de
layed any great length of time.
The great features of Cline Falls are pure water —
cold as ice — electric lights, and cheap power, and sur
rounded by a tract of nearly half a million acres of land
which are now being irrigated by strong companies un
der the Carey Act, with water taken from the Des
Chutes river and tributary streams. A portion of this
is already settled and will in the next five years sup
port an average of one family to each eighty-acre tract.
In addition to this might be mentioned an ideal cli
mate, beautiful scenery, fertile soil and abundant crops.
Very simple, yet what more could be said of any city in
the world ; in fact it is doubtful if any city was launched
on the road to success with as many natural advantages
as Cline Falls possesses. At that point the angry Des
Chutes river plunges over the rocks for a distance of
forty feet giving 15,000 horse power easily developed.
By damming and fluming this can be doubled and with
the lower falls, also controlled by the company, bring the
total available power up to 40,000 horse power, far
greater than the power that has made Spokane such a
thriving city.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

733:

LYTLE.
The townsite of Lytle was platted by the Lytle
Townsite Company, John Steidle, president, Sep
tember 1, 1903, and consisting of sixteen blocks
in section 29, township 17, south range 12 E. W.
ivi. The altitude is 3,600 feet at the eastern base
of the Cascade mountains, and its tiimate is
sans reproche.
Articles for the incorporation of Lytle were
filed in the office of the county clerk in April,
1903. The incorporators were H. W. Reed, John
Steidle and Charles J. Cotter. The capitalization
was $50,000, with 500 shares of $100 each. Lytle
is in a peculiarly favorable location to control
the vast volume of trade which is sure to be
drawn in that direction from the broad areas of
arid lands now being reclaimed by irrigation. It
is, practically, surrounded on all sides by irri
gated lands upon which homes and farms are
springing up as if by magic in the midst of a
wilderness solitude. SISTERS.
This town was platted by Smith Brothers,
Alex and Roberts, July 10, 1901, and consists of
ten blocks in section 4, township 15, south range
10, E. W. M. The location of the town is so
unlike that of any other municipality in Eastern
Oregon that it is conspicuous to those who are
fortunate enough to make a visit to that section
of Oregon. It is situated on the main highway
to the Willamette valley, a feature which alone
makes Sisters prominent and a profitable loca
tion for the merchant. The little town is situated
in the midst of one of the most delightful pine
forests to be found anywhere. It is only a short
distance from the foothills of the three snow
capped peaks known as the "Three Sisters," and
from which the town bears its name. The stately
pines shade the village from the burning sum
mer sun and protect it from the cold blasts of
midwinter. A stage from Prineville reaches Sisters every
afternoon. It is the last stopping place until
the station of Garrison, eight miles west and in
the foothills is reached. The main road to the
Willamette valley via Eugene— the McKenzie
road— and the Santiam road pass through the
town making it an important stage point. The
altitude of Sisters is 3,050 feet. It is twenty-
five miles from Bend. In the Prineville Herald,
of November, 1904, F. C. Welch wrote as fol
lows : 1
There are two good stores, a hotel, blacksmith shop,
saloon, real estate office, livery barn and a splendid

school house, costing $1,800, and a short distance from
the town is a fine lumbering mill. The largest store in
the town is owned by Smith & Wilt. The store building
is 25 by 40 feet, while in the rear there is a large ware
house 20 by 40 feet. The company carries a $5,000 stock
of groceries, hardware, harness, stationery, a small drug .
department, etc. The townsite belongs to this firm. The
only other store in the town is owned by Alex. Smith.
This building is 20 by 60 feet. A large stock of some
$4,000 of gent's furnishings, boots and shoes and dry
goods is carried. The year's business aggregates to about
$12,000. Real estate has been changing hands so fre
quently of late that an office has been opened. The
real estate and insurance business is run by W. B. Booth,
who is an experienced business man and well able to
handle such an important business. The only saloon
on the place is run by George A. Stevens.
The only industry belonging to the town of
Sisters is the saw mill owned and managed by
Mr. W. F. E. Wilson. The mill is four miles
west of the town and is run by water of twenty
horse-power, taken from Pole Creek. This mill
has a capacity of 5,000 feet of lumber a day.
LAIDLAW.
The townsite of Laidlaw comprises the west
half of section 31, township 16, south range 12,
E. W. M. It was laid out by the Laidlaw Town-
site Company, B. S. Cook, president, and A. W.
Laidlaw, secretary, August 8, 1904. The post-
office was established January 20, 1905, with W.
G. Stiles, postmaster.
This town was named after its founder, A.
W. Laidlaw, of Portland/ and was chosen with
peculiar regard to the natural conditions of the
country and will not, doubtless, fail to become a
city of some importance. Seldom it happens that
new towns enjoy a more favorable outlook from
the start than did Laidlaw. It is situated eight
miles below Bend, on the angry Des Chutes, and
it is surrounded on all sides by rich prairie
land which is being reclaimed by irrigation, while -
to the west as far as the eye can reach is a vast
stretch of fine yellow pine timber, with the Tu-
melo river affording a well-regulated flume for
bringing down the logs, and a natural millsite
and unlimited water power at Laidlaw.
The town of Laidlaw was surveyed and care
fully laid off into streets and avenues and the
townsite filed September 7, 1904. Headquarters
of the Columbia Southern Irrigation Company
are at Laidlaw. The company is composed of
the following officers : E. E. Lytle, Portland,
president ; Walter H. Moore, Shaniko, vice
president ; A. W. Laidlaw, Portland, secretary
ancl manager. This company has been operating

734

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

for three years past, having purchased the in
terest of the Three Sisters Irrigation Company.
Their segregations of land from the government
for irrigation was 27,700 acres.
HAY CREEK.
This Crook county valley along the creek
. bearing its name was settled in 1873, lies
twenty-five miles north of Prineville, the county
seat, and thirty-six miles south of Shaniko, its
shipping point. The town has long distance tel
ephone service, daily mail and stages to Shaniko
and Prineville. The business of the place is rep
resented by the Baldwin Sheep & Land Com
pany ; C. M. Cartwright and J. G. Edwards, gen
eral merchandise and blacksmiths.
Fire, starting from an overheated stove set
fire to the interior of the Baldwin Sheep &
Land Company's general merchandise store at
Hay creek, Friday, May 6, 1904. The store and
contents were totally destroyed, and the loss ap
proximated $5,000. FOREST.
The altitude of this place is 2,313 feet above
sea level. The store at Forest is owned by the
Lone Pine Company. The store is located at
the junction of the roads leading to Prineville,
thirteen miles ; Bend, twenty-two and one-half
miles ; Cline Falls, twelve miles ; Shaniko, sixty
miles ; Sisters, Silver Lake and the Willamette
Valley. There is no prettier point in Crook
county than Forest, where numerous freighters
daily stop for refreshments and rest. Shade and
fruit trees are abundant. There are two stables
for accommodating horses and one chop mill
with a capacity of twenty tons daily.
HAYSTACK.
This is one of the earlier of Crook county
towns, the postoffice of which was established in
1882. It lies twenty-five miles north of Prineville
and fifty miles southwest of Shaniko, its shipping
point. It has a tri-weekly stage and mail to Prine
ville. It derived its name from the Haystack
Butte, which looms up within its borders and re
sembles a hayrick of great size.
The first settler in the valley was H. C. Belk
nap, father of Dr. Belknap, of Prineville, who
came in the year 1876. The second settler was
Thomas Jenkins, in the year 1878. A few years
later when the possibilities of that country be
came known it was rapidly settled by eager home
seekers. In the vicinity of the Haystack country
there are several places of great interest. One

of them is the "Cove." It is located about a mile
from the Des Chutes, on the Crooked river, and
reached by a very narrow grade one and one-
half miles in length. Looking up on the upper
portions of the grade, one sees the rocky cliffs
which are almost perpendicular. Looking down
one sees the river which appears to be a tiny
stream in the distance. When the bottom of this
grade is reached it appears to be one of the most
delightful of places. An abundance of all kinds
of fruits that are grown in temperate latitudes
are raised there. Colloquially all the country
around the postoffice is known as the "Haystack
country," as there is no "town" of any import
ance. Another place of interest is the opal
spring, situated in the Crooked river canyon, 800
feet below the surrounding country. This can
be reached only by a very steep and dangerous
trail leading down the canyon. The spring com
ing out of the rock is sixty feet wide and six
feet deep. Opals are constantly boiling up from
below. From that country many snow-covered
mountains can be seen including Mounts Hood,
Jefferson, Washington and the Three Sisters.
LAMONTA.
John C. Rush, in April, 1905, laid out the
townsite of Lamonta the lots of which are now
on the market. This action was taken because
of the development of the Haystack country,
and to the automobile line through that locality.
The townsite was platted April 3, 1905, by J. C.
Rush, in section 3, township 13, south range
14, E. W. M. and contains twenty-four blocks.
The postoffice was established in 1896, seventeen
miles northeast of Prineville, and sixty-two miles
south of Shaniko, its shipping point. It has a
tri-weekly stage between it and Prineville.
LAVA.
Lava is a postoffice on the Des Chutes river,
fifty miles southwest of Prineville, and 115 miles
south of Shaniko, its shipping point. It has a
stage to Prineville and daily mail. Mrs. Sadie
Vandervert is postmistress and proprietor of a
general merchandise store, hotel and restaurant.
HOWARD.
This is a postoffice established in 1897 on the
Ochoco river, twenty-eight miles northeast of
Prineville, and eighty-eight miles southeast of
Shaniko, the railway point. Hydraulic mining is
Ihe principal industry. It has a tri-weekly stage
to Prineville, daily mail and one general mer
chandise store.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

735

POST
This is a country postoffice on the Crooked
river, twenty-eight miles southeast of Prineville
and fifty miles south of Shaniko. It receives a
semi-weekly mail. CULVER.
- Culver is a postoffice established in 1899,
twenty-four miles northwest of Prineville, and
fifty-five miles south of Shaniko, the railroad
point. It contains a school house and Baptist
and Christian church organizations, a general
store and daily stage and mail between it and
Prineville. In October, 1900, O. G. Colver
•erected a store building at this place which bears
his name (with a slight difference in ortho
graphy) and stocked it with general merchandise.
OTHER TOWNS.
Desert postoffice was established in the Hay
stack country with S. S. Pringle as postmaster.
This point supplies a large settlement with mail
and is a great convenience to the people. It is
¦on the line between Prineville and Warm
Springs. In 1887 the postoffice of Mowry was estab
lished at the residence of M. A. Carson in the
Beaver Creek region. Mr. Carson was postmas
ter. The precinct in which the postoffice was
established was formerly known as Maury. In
organizing this precinct in 1886 a petition was
circulated for the establishment of a postoffice at
M. A. Carson's to be called Maury in honor of
Lieutenant Maury who had a small command of
soldiers near the place. In the petition the name
was incorrectly spelled "Mowry" and after the
establishment of the postoffice everything went
by the name of Mowry. The mountain at the
base of which Lieutenant Maury had his camp
has always been called Maury on all maps. So,

in deference to that gallant officer, and with a de
sire to have the name accord with facts the Crook
county clerk, in making the record of the boun
daries copied the name of the precinct "Maury"
as it should always have been.
Crook is a discontinued farmers' postoffice
on Bear Creek, thirty miles southeast of Prine
ville. The postoffice of Crater was established in
1888 at the Big Meadows. C. H. Findlay was
postmaster. There has, also, been established a
postoffice in the Meadows at C. W. Clark's place,
his wife, Mrs. Clark, was postmistress.
In 1889 a postoffice was established on what
was known as west Branch, a tributary of Bridge
Creek. The Columbia Southern Railroad Company's
suveyors laid out a townsite in the Agency Plains
which was known as Tallman. There are indi
cations that the place will be the center of a sec
tion of country admirably adapted to the cultiva
tion of immense wheat crops.
Tremalo postoffice was ready for business
in September, 1904. Its initial postmaster was
George W. Wimer who was authorized to em
ploy a carrier to take up the mail below Bend.
The altitude of Heisler, according to the
United States Geological Survey is 1,875 Ieet
above sea level. A postoffice was established
here with A. R. Lyle as postmaster, and a Triad
from there to Madras is now in operation.
Fife is another foothills postoffice with an
elevation of 3,375 feet.
Grizzly is a country postoffice sixteen miles
north of Prineville. It has daily stages to Prine
ville and Shaniko.
The population of Warm Springs is given as
thirty. The postoffice is at the Warm Springs
Agency on the Des Chutes river, eighty miles
south of The Dalles, its shipping point, and sixty
miles north of Prineville, the county seat. It
contains a Presbyterian church and a general
merchandise store.

CHAPTER V

DESCRIPTIVE.

Larger fhan many states in the union is the
territory embraced by Crook county. It is about.
108 miles across from east to west and 84 miles
north and south. In round numbers it contains

about 8,000 square miles. From this it will be
seen that it is six times as large as the state of
Rhode Island, four times as large as Delaware ;
about as large as Massachusetts. This vast

736

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

area had a population in 1900 of 3,896. Massa
chusetts, had a population of 2,846,670. Had
Crook county been as densely settled as Rhode
Island it would have sustained a population of
3,500,000. Concerning the climate of Crook county it
may be generally observed that for at least four-
fifths of the year the skies are cloudless, with
occasional rains from August to November.
During the "heated term" the temperature
ranges in the 90's for a week or so, and about
zero generally for four or five days along about
holiday time. These are the extremes, and be
tween them the climate of Crook county is not
excelled in Oregon. In the lower altitudes snow
seldom falls to a greater depth that one foot,
and rarely remains more than a week at a time
until dissipated by a gentle "chinook" wind.
Plowing is in progress every month of the year,
except January and not infrequently in that
month. Cattle and sheep are fed from one to
three months owing to locality.
As a summary it may be said that the climate
of Crook county is very much the same as that
of the entire Inland Empire with few exceptions.
In the northern portions of the county the cli
mate varies. On the higher hills in the Blue
Mountains the winters become very cold, con-
smerable snow falling, which drives the cattle
to the lower levels. Along the creek bottoms
it is quite different. Little if any snow falls
during the entire year. The climate is very much
the same as that west of the Cascade mountains,
stock running out without shelter during the en
tire year. On the desert lands south of Prine
ville, the cold, bleak winds make is very dis
agreeable and unpleasant as a place of residence.
However, the stock remains on the range the
entire year.
Along the Crooked and Ochoco rivers the
summers are very beautiful, while the winters
are quite similar to those of northern California.
The greatest elevation of Crook county above the
sea is 3,500 feet. It lies in the geographical cen
ter of the state, and exclusive of the Warm
Springs Indian reservation contains _in round
numbers 7,000 square miles, the Cascade moun
tains timber reservation lopping off a slice of its
western territory. To the northwest of Prine
ville for a distance of ten miles there is a stretch
of semi-desert, about five miles wide on an aver
age, comparatively level land : soil classed second
rate; it is raised from 30 to 150 feet above the
creek and river bottoms. The soil is largely min
eral and very productive when irrigated and the
longer it is cultivated the better it becomes.
There are but few claims taken in this stretch,

sage-brush and the omnipresent road sections
holding the most of it.
To the north of this Grizzly butte, a spur of
timbered mountains, pushing westward, rises
nearly two thousand feet above the country
around it. To the west of this butte is the Hay
stack country, near 300 square miles of good
farming land, soil number 1, but the want of
water bars settlement, except near the hills, where
springs are plentiful. To the north of Grizzly
butte, Willow Creek valley, about forty square
miles, is a rolling, excellent farming country. Al
though some 3,000 feet above the sea, cereals of
all kinds grow and ripen to perfection. This re
gion has been the best grain section of the coun
try, but the Haystack country now claims the
honor. All through the northern portion of the
county there are deep gorges, with sometimes
small, rich spots of bottom land. When clear, or
cleared of stones they produce the finest apples,
peaches, pears, plums, prunes, melons and to
matoes. Passing on northward over rolling bunch
grass hills, Hay Creek next attracts the view.
There in the widening bottom lands of Hay
Creek and its tributaries the B. S. & L. Com
pany have a vast expanse of alfalfa fields, the hay
piled in numerous stacks and barns to insure the
wintering of their stock that graze on a thousand
hills. Hay Creek is a lower country than Prine
ville, six or eight hundred feet.
Northward from Hay Creek, over a series of
hills eight miles lower Lower Hay Creek and part
of Lower Trout Creek come Into view. This be
ing lower, rolls in its wealth of alfalfa, vegetables
and fruit. Here we are near the north boundary
line of the county. Thence eastward up Trout
Creek seven miles the creek emerges from a huge
gorge, or crack in mother earth, perpendicular
at times, rock bound,' rock tumbled, impassable
to man or beast, for eight or nine miles Trout
Creek boils and bubbles then Upper Trout opens-
out, the valley extending southeasterly ten miles
wide, average over a quarter of a mile wide, pro
duces grain, alfalfa, fruits, berries, vegetables,
the yield being enormous. To the north of Upper
Trout Creek amid rough hills and buttes high
and sharp a few very small, but very rich valleys
are located and cultivated. Eastward, three-quar
ters of a mile from Trout creek, and two miles'
from where it enters tht canyons, the King mine
is located which bids fair co be one of the mines
of the world. A mile further upward is the town
of Ashwood, a new but thriving village. To the
southwest of Upper Trout Creek for eight miles
the hill rises in a series of benches. Upon many
of these claims are taken and immense crops of

- .-....,

Old Brokentop

Benham Falls of tke Descliutes

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

737

grain and vegetables are raised without irriga
tion, there being a clay subsoil and springs
abounding everywhere.
Northeastly from Trout Creek, and nearly
parallel to it, from four to six miles distant, is the
divide between the waters of the John Day and
the Des Chutes rivers. A high, rough and rocky
ridge with a few claims taken on the benches ancl
in the small valleys. Current ancl Muddy creeks
drain a large part of this slope and Cherry creek
the remainder. These creeks, with immense
grade, fall rapidly toward the John Day river.
Their narrow, rich bottoms produce wonderful
crops of alfalfa, corn, melons, peaches ancl grapes,
this being by far the warmest portion of the
county. Throughout the whole region from
Grizzly Butte to the John Day river the soil is
first-class, where it is clear from stone and level
enough to be plowed. There are many small
benches ancl little bottoms yet unoccupied. Good
springs abound through the whole region.
Following the divide between the Des Chutes
ancl John Day rivers southeasterly we enter fine
timber in the northeastern portion of township
n, south range 17 east Willamette Meridian.
This is an extensive timber belt composed
chiefly of yellow pine, but fir, black pine ancl
tamarack are plentiful. This timber belt extends
southeasterly to the eastern boundary of the
county ancl beyond.
Forty miles east of Prineville is Summit
Prairie, of 25 to 30 square miles area, about 4,000
feet above sea level. It produces a vast quantity
of wild grass ; hay and summer pasture. It is all
owned and' fenced by prosperous stockmen. This
prairie is surrounded by timber. The north fork
of Crooked river has its source near Summit
Prairie. First it flows eastward, thence bearing
southward it describes a semi-circle and forms a
junction with the south fork nearly clue south of
its source. The Beaver Creek country is situated
in the most easterly portion of the county. Beaver
Creek has two branches. The north fork has its
source in Grant county, and the south fork in
Harney county. They come rapidly down to a
point about four miles west of the eastern boun
dary of Crook. There the bottoms widen out to
about a mile in width, nearly twenty miles long,
the creek falling only two feet to the mile. Here
are the largest natural meadows in the county.
To the north of Beaver creek, Wolf creek, a trib
utary, is -rich in meadow land ancl alfalfa is
grown to some extent.
Elevated ancl surrounded by low hills, Pau
lina and Rabbit Valleys lie between Beaver
Creek and the north fork of Crooked river. These
valleys are as beautiful as they are isolated, rich
in their abundance of hay and produce. Passing
47

south from Beaver Creek near the county line wc
come to Little Camp creek. With a rich, nar
row valley here, near the lower end of the valleyy
is the Red Rock soda spring, destined some time
to become famous. This spring comes sparkling
out of a rock, red with oxide of iron, covered with
a low bank of alluvial earth, one dwarfed, -man
gled, cattled-twisted willow constituting all sem
blance of timber near it.
Then comes Little Trout creek, noted for
large herds of sheep. On southward, over not
a very rough country is old Harding, at one time
a postoffice on Twelvemile creek, a tributary of
the south fork of Crooked river. Twelvemile
ancl its tributaries are principally devoted to the
sheep industry. Thence, southeasterly, a half
day's journey — for be it known that this is a
country of "magnificent distances" — we come to
Buck creek. Here is plenty of limestone ; down
Buck creek valley, which is narrow, but rich,
some five miles the creek disappears — such they
call it — merging into a very extended, very level
sage plain of some two hundred square miles in
area, bounded on the north by a range of low
hills ; on the east by Buck mountain, which is
timbered ancl a low gap passing southeasterly to
the rest of the world, to the south by Glass butte,
a mountain, sharp topped by vitrous rock, on the
west by Hampton butte, ancl near the center of
this alkali-impregnated sage bush plain, the south
fork of Crook river rises boldly, but quietly out
of the earth ancl creeps off northward with inv
tree nor bush to betray its presence for several
miles. There are level bottom lands for ten or twelve
miles in its northwesterly course, then it enters a
rock-bound canyon in which is the White Sul
phur springs — the "stinking springs" — of the
early emigrants. Ten or twelve miles further it
emerges from the canyon, jumps a perpendicular
fall, opens out in a rich bottom, picks up Beavcr
creek ancl winds its tortuous course along in a
general northwesterly direction ; about twelve
miles from the confluence of Beaver creek it
forms a junction with the north fork. The
latter, after emerging from Summit Prairie,
plunges, roars and foams through a very rough,
rocky gorge, commonly called canyon, for most
of its course, to the junction with the south fork,
with places for only two farms in the entire dis
tance. From the junction of the two forks,
northwesterly, tortuously it winds its way for'
about eighty miles and empties into the Des
Chutes. For little over half the distance there
are bottom lands of various widths, no place ex
ceeding one mile, all in cultivation. The other
part is canyon, rough, ragged ancl rocky ; for
many miles rim rocks from two- hundred to three

73§

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

hundred feet high, stand guard over the river
an one side or the other, and for long stretches
on both sides, appearing as if the rock had
cracked in cooling ancl drawn a part the inden
tions on one side matched by protuberances on
the Other.
To the north of Crooked river from the
north fork to Pilot Butte, fifteen miles south
east of Prineville, is a rough, rugged hilly coun
try, with splendid grass ; the name "Horse Heav
en" given to it expresses it well. A few ranches
are located on the creek bottoms and branches.
To the south of the river Camp Creek, running
nearly east for about fifteen miles, turns north
around the eastern base of Maury mountain, and
empties into Crooked river. Maury, or Mowry,
mountain could properly be termed an island
mountain. It is surrounded by streams ; Crooked
river on the north, Camp creek on the east and
the south and Bear creek on the west. On his
mountain there is a body of good timber pine,
about fifteen miles long, averaging three or four
miles wide. There is a saw mill there supplying
the local demand with lumber. Camp Creek
bottoms are level and good and there are several
large ranches, with hay in large quantities and
horses, cattle and sheep grazing on the rough
and rugged hills for many miles around. Here in
the Camp Creek valley are the notorious soap
holes that, some years ago, were thought to be
ridi in silver, held in liquid form. In one of
these soap holes there is a pipe out of which
flows the only artesian well of the county. West
ward Bear Creek rises and flows, thence north
ward into Crooked river. This, like all other
mountain streams, has its small farms and vast
expanse of hills in all directions.
Hampton buttes, some twenty-five miles
south of and nearly parallel to Maury mountain,
about tweny miles long, terminating with Glass
butte, on the east, and bounded on the west by
the i desert, or great sage plains, stands sentinel
•over the great desert near the south boundary
line of Crook, and north boundary of Lake
counties. The agricultural possibilities of the desert are
claimed to be great. The river bed and belt
around the base of the butte are the better part
of it, but other large tracts will be good if thor
oughly irrigated. But little of it is good without
water. The waters of the Des Chutes river are
available to most of it, and companies are now at
work constructing water ducts to reclaim the
desert. Now the most wonderful river in the world in
some respects attracts our attention. Its sources
are near the snowcapped peaks, Diamond Peak
and Mt. Thielson, of the Cascade range. All the

branches have but little fall, with level, grassy,
meadow-like bottoms bounded by dense black
pine forests, with at times yellow and sugar
pine ; for about fifty miles, where at the Big
.ueadows all the streams join their feeders and
form a "big river." Deep and slowly it flows
along, dammed by a comparatively recent lava
flow, over which it pours, bubbles, boils and roars
for three-quarters of a mile, when it reforms into
a very mannerly, well-behaved river from 200 to
300 feet wide and from two to three feet deep, it
flows rapidly to the northward for about forty
miles to its junction with Crooked river. This
part of the river, no matter how much the pre
cipitation, never rises eighteen inches above low
water mark. On account of this houses and barns
are built near the water's edge, and bridges rest
ing on trestles only a few feet above the water
never float away. It is also, a wonderful stream
for fish ; for quality and quantity. To the west of
the Des Chutes, Tornello creek, or river, comes
tearing down from the Cascades. Its waters are
available and work is progressing to utilize them
in reclaiming a large area of sage brush, semi-
desert, lying west of the Des Chutes river.
Northward about twenty miles, through scat
tering yellow pine and juniper timber, is Squaw
creek, a large stream with low banks and a level
country, sparsely timbered for miles around, and
most of it located. This is the home of red
clover and the best adapted to irrigation of any
part of the county. Rye and the hardier vege
tables grow to perfection here. Passing over the
Des Chutes northeasterly, raised above the river
about 300 feet is the country called the "Agency
Plains." It is a continuation of the Haystack
country northward, but cut off it by the Willow
creek canyon, a very deep, ugly, rocky gorge.
These plains are devoid of water, from 60 to 80
square miles in area, very level and soil very-
good, but little sage brush ; one vast stretch of
waving bunch grass. Water is iavailable from
the Des Chutes river, but the cost would be im
mense. Once there, in proper shape, it would be
the garden spot of Crook county.
As has been previously stated Crook county,
geographically, lies in the center of the state of
C (regon. The county's 220 townships may be
divided as follows : 26 in Cascade reserve, tim
bered ; 12 in Warm Springs Indian Reservation;
48 timbered ; does not include above ; 30 "desert"
kinds ; 104 rolling hills and valley. Crook county
is bounded on the north by Wasco and Wheeler;
on the east by Wheeler, Grant ancl Harney ; on
the south by Harney, Lake and Klamath ; on the
west by Lane, Linn and Marion counties. The
headquarters of the Baldwin Sheep & Land Com
pany are situated on Hay creek, about twenty-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

739

five miles north of Prineville. The eastern and
¦southern parts of Crook county are chiefly farm
ing ancl grazing lands.
Outside of the Cascade Forest reserve Crook
county contains over 6,000,000 acres of land, of
which at least 5,000,000 acres are vacant, public
land, subject to homesteading or for sale as
school land, the minimum price being $2.50 per
acre for the latter. The cost of filing on a home
stead in Oregon is $16. The price of irrigated
land under the Carey act is averaged at $10 per
acre. A price is set on every 40 acres ranging
from $5 to $15. All of the above are good propo
sitions and worthy of the homeseeker's investiga
tion. The amount of public land open to settle
ment in Crook county on January 1, 1905, was
2,006,847 acres. A. C. Palmer writing in the
Morning Oregonian of date January 9, 1902,
said: The so-called "desert lands" cover an area of about
30 townships in the south central part of the county.
The term "desert" is not properly applied to these lands.
It is not a desert under the ordinary acceptation of the
word. The land is generally level, broken here and
there by low ridges and occasionally a volcanic butte
or crater extinct ages ago, and sloping to the north
ward with the general watershed of the Des Chutes
and Crooked rivers which bound the desert on two
sides of this triangular form. A large part of it pro
duces a scattering growth of red juniper, valuable for
fire wood and fence posts ; thousands of acres of
black sage and chemise, valuable for nothing except
as an indication of the fertility of the soil, and above
all, that which makes Croqk famous for its live stock-
bunch grass being in profusion everywhere. Except
a few springs near the hills there is absolutely no
water to be found in the section. Hence the name
"desert." During the year 1899 the long contemplated
floating of logs down the Des Chutes and from
within the county has been demonstrated to be
possible. One million feet of pine logs were cut
on the Matoles in the western part of the county,
hauled to that stream and from there floated or
driven down to a boom on the Lower Des Chutes.
Crook countv has immense tracts of fir suitable
for lumber of excellent quality and easy of access.
It produces annually several million pounds of
wool. It has, extensive water power. Situated
about 25 miles west of Prineville, and extending
a distance of more than forty miles along the
Des Chutes river are numerous falls ranging
from 6 to 20 feet, where the fall equals if not
exceeding 100 feet per mile. Fall river, a trib
utary of' the Des Chutes is five miles long. It
has 'its source in three large springs, any one

which would turn a mill. Near its mouth is a
beautiful millsite at a fifteen foot fall that will
some day be valuable. Other streams afford some
power, but these are the fnost important.
As the present and prospective plans concern
ing the subject of irrigation subdivide into so
many important considerations, it is difficult to
treat the matter under one general head.
The farmer in an irrigated country has many
advantages over the one who has to depend upon
the capriciousness of the weather. Having water
available in his ditch or reservoir the irrigation
farmer can control it and distribute it where it is
needed and in such quantities as experience has
taught will produce the best results. Further
more, the local conditions making irrigation nec
essary to the production of crops practically in
sures immunity from damaging storms during
the harvest season and, other things being equal,
a crop is insured beyond all doubt every season.
Among the number of companies whose sole
attentions are directed to the irrigation problems
may be mentioned the Des Chutes Irrigation
and Power Company, at Bend, the Three Sisters
Irrigation Company, and many others of smaller
proportions. In March, 1904, the company be
came interested in the projects of the Pilot Butte
Development Company, by purchase of their
rights and ditches. Since then they have steadily
pushed ahead until today, thousands of acres are
rented. The Pacific Homestead, Salem, Oregon,
November, 1904, said :
This company has undertaken to reclaim 215,000
acres of land in the Des Chutes valley as their first
segregation and to do this will be required the expen
diture of over $2,000,000. The company is capitalized
at $2,500,000. The Hay creek ranch, owned by the Baldwin
Sheep and Land Company, is more extensive
than any other such enterprise in the county. It
was originated in 1873 by Dr. Baldwin who came
from California ancl took up 160 acres of land 40
miles from Shaniko and 25 miles from Prineville.
From this it has grown to be the largest stock
ranch in Oregon, and, although there are larger
ranches in the world, this is the largest of its
kind ancl stands alone before the world unchal
lenged in its products ancl accomplishments in
sheep breeding.
The main ranch is located in a valley, and a
village formed by tlte settlements of the owners
and employees, which is a well-planned city,
adorned with shade trees ancl is surrounded by
waving fields of alfalfa, so that to the traveler
approaching- from either direction, from the wiH
and rock-ribbed mountains ancl sandv deserts

740

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

which the road passes, it appears as a charming
oasis in the desert, and gives one a feeling of rest,
and the close proximity of paradise. The busi
ness of this mammoth company is breeding fine
sheep, and from the establishment money has not
been spared in securing the best the world pro
duced in sheep. The present owners are C. M.
Cartwright, president ; J. G. Edwards, general
manager, and J. P. Van Houten, secretary and
assistant manager. The company is making a
good showing by exhibiting animals at all the
world's great shows. They sent 83 head of pure
bred animals to the St. Louis exposition, making
two carloads. This shipment included Delaines,
Rambouillets, and Spanish Merinos. Most of
these animals were sold to eastern breeders so
soon as the exposition closed. The annual
amount of wool sheared and sold for market is
about 500,000 pounds, which, considering the fact
that the highest market price is always realized
and usually something above the market price is
realized on account of the excellence, makes a fine
income. The chain of ranches has a regular system of
water works supplied from mountain springs. The
proprietors are men who have worked themselves
up in the world, and being of the class not ham
pered with bigotry they are always commonplace
and sociable and well liked by everybody with
whom they come in contact.
The Crook county lands are of a volcanic
loam of unknown depth, ancl need nothing but
water to grow anything in abundance that will
grow in this latitude. Grain, hay, vegetables,
fruits and everything of a temperate climate
grows here in abundance. The soil is so rich that
it will be years before any fertilizing will be used.
It needs but one thing and that is water. The
rivers and mountain streams carry an abundance.
Along the banks of Crooked river in Crook
county, lie a series of rich valleys rarely ever
equaled for their beauty and fertility of soil.
From the mouth to the source of this stream a
continuous unbroken chain of rich meadows
greet the eye of the traveler. The broad areas of
alfalfa, natural meadows and wild rye higher up
in the foothills, dotted here and there with beau
tiful homes, surrounded with shade trees and
green lawns, make one grand, serpentine pan
orama of beauty, wealth ancl comfort, such as is
rarely seen in any other place in eastern or central
Oregon. While stock-raising is the grand chief re
source that goes to make Crook county the
wealthiest in the state, the hay raising of Crooked
river is one of the great auxiliaries. But higher
up the stream at its very source is the greatest of
all institutions on Crooked river. The back bone

of the stock industry in Crook county is sheep
raising, and the back bone of sheep-raising in
Crook is the natural advantages of the section,.
including climate, soil and water, grazing grounds
and topography.
At the source of the river, on the very sum
mit of the mountains, is a broad area of prairie-
land known as Summit Prairie, 35 miles east
from Prineville, the capital of the county. This
prairie contains at least 40,000 acres of natural
meadow as fine as the sun ever shone upon. Down
among the foothills of the mountains not very far
away are Muddy and Current creeks. The val
leys of these streams are sheltered from the win
try winds and all through that season the grass
continues to grow here and the valleys and hill
sides are as green as the tender vegetation of a
well-kept park.
Upon Summit Prairie ancl in these valleys is-
located the entire system of ranches of the Prine-'
ville'Land & Livestock Company. This is one of
the important institutions to which the people of
Crook county point with pride. It was organized
back in 1887 by Henry Hahn and Leo Fried on
a smaller scale and like every thing else in this
section of the state has grown with rapidity. The
well-known capitalist and business leader,' Henry
Hahn, is the president of this company. Among
all the leaders of commercial life on the Pacific
coast the names of Hahn and Fried stand out as
beacons of success. They began business several
years ago in Prineville on a small scale, and with
good judgment ancl splendid management grew
with the rapidly developing country. Besides
their large stock interests they are connected with
one of the largest businesses in the city of Port
land, the firm of Wadhams & Company, who con
duct one of the largest wholesale grocery estab
lishments in that city of large business enter
prises. Besides, they have many other interests
than their main line of sheep raising.
About 24 townships bordering the Cascade-
reserve ancl in the Paulina mountains, 20 town
ships in the Blue mountains and four in Maury
mountains make up the timber area covered prin
cipally by yellow pine of excellent quality, free
from undergrowth and easily available. A fan-
estimate of the stumpage per section would be
not less than 6,400,000 feet, making a grand total
of more than 1,000,000,000 of feet of merchant
able lumber. Practically all of these lands in the
Blue and the Maury mountains and about one-
third of that along the reserve is government
land open to settlement or purchase. In all this
area, however, the school sections have been sold
and are held generally by eastern capitalists and.
lumbermen. About fifty miles from Prineville, in a south-

^'*«ifc .

Alfalfa Field. Scene m tke Haystack Country

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

74i

western direction, is one of the greatest wonders
of the Pacific coast. On account of its isolation
from railroads ancl other means of convenient
public conveyance it is but little known. It is
practically on a mountain top ancl towers above
the Des Chutes river, upon whose banks it is situ
ated the raging waters rolling ancl surging
among the rocks ancl boulders 1,400 feeet below.
It is known as The Lava Butte. The main butte
is symmetrical. From the main level it extends
1,000 feet in the air to a sharp point barely large
enough for the crater, which is of shallow depth.
This cone is of pure volcanic ashes, with a yel
lowish cast, tinged with red, that gives it the ap
pearance at a distance of still possessing internal
fires. Ancl below the sight is more awe-inspiring.
An area of several square miles is covered with
great heaps of lava piled up in irregular form.
This lava, or rock, is full of cells which are sur
rounded by a reddish dross that gives them the
appearance of still being hot. To climb over
them is almost impossible ; the irregular surface,
the sharp points that cut almost like a knife, make
it hazardous for the shoe ancl trying to the feet.
The whole surface of the lava beds looks as if
the fire were smouldering beneath ancl one can
scarcely content one's self to remain alone in the
solitude of this ruin.
In the immediate vicinity of the Des Chutes
there are other attractions for the tourist. None
are more interesting than a succession of caves
which are found here. Some caves have as yet
been only partially explored, some of them as far
as a mile, but the main length and depth of the
main ones are yet unknown. They are compara
tively smooth as far as they have been explored,
ancl travel in them is easy, but the attractions here
are so numerous, ancl the people who have visited
the spot so few, that no account has been given
of a thorough examination. One of the most
wonderful phenomena of these caves is that most
of them are natural icehouses and have ice Jn
them the year around. The few ranchers in the
vicinity regard the caves as commonplace and go
into them in the summer time and supply them
selves with ice to save fresh meats and make ice
cream and think nothing of it, but investigation
has shown that these are the only ice caverns in
the United States, and that they are among the
wonders of natural phenomena in the world. A
few such discoveries have been made in Euro-
pein countries but they are rare.
On the upper Des Chutes there are a number
of lakes from one mile in length to ten miles.
They are fed by springs ancl mountain streams
ancl fairly teem .with every species of trout. When
one tires of mountain climbing, sight-seeing, kill
ing bear or deer, he may stop here and camp

beneath the tall pines on the shore of some clear
lake and catch fish to his heart's content. In
proper season these lakes are also the home of
wild geese, clucks, brants, swan and every kind of
water fowl. They are seldom molested and
shooting here is good enough even for the ama
teur sportsman and a "picnic" for the profes
sional. Most of the streams flowing into the Des
Chutes ancl Crooked rivers, are good fishing
waters and some of the finest "catches" in the
country are made here.
Than the warm springs and rivers that boil
from the earth, there are no more interesting fea
tures in Crook county. Near the headwaters of
the Des Chutes are cold springs that boil up out
of the earth — you might say out of the sage
brush. In the parched sands, as if neglected for
centuries, these streams shoot forth with a rush
ancl flow away through the valleys, giving life to
vegetation along their way. In the southeastern
part of the county is a chain of warm springs.
These springs have a large flow of water, and the
medical qualities of the water are said to be equal
to any in the world.
In the week of May 25, 1905, final arrange
ments were made for the organization of a fur
nace company to burn the cinnabar ore from the
New Alamaden, Quick Silver and Gold Mining-
Company's property on Lookout Mountain. E.
W. Elkins went to Portland to arrange such de
tails as were necessary to the project. C. Fitzger
ald, who came from San Francisco to erect the
structure stated that he was highly pleased with
present indications and that there was sufficient
ore on the dump to justify an expenditure of
$8,000 or $10,000 for the erection of a furnace.
The furnace was completed in the fall of 1905.
The cinnabar mine is located about thirty miles
east of Prineville, on the north slope of Lookout
mountain, near the headwaters of Canyon City
creek. It was located in the fall of 1899 by Carl
Sitterly and H. S. Cram. The following Portland
capitalists were interested in the property and
it has since been developed as extensively as
means of transportation would permit. It was
incorporated in 1901 under the name of the
American Alamaden Quicksilver and Gold Min
ing Company, with a capital stock of 1,500,000
shares. The principal stockholders were Levi
Tillotson, H. S. Cram, vice-president; E. N.
Wheeler, secretary ; J. S. Silcox, treasurer ; Will
iam Tillottson, and John Combs, board of direc
tors. The general topography of the country is
rough ancl broken, being well timbered with sev
eral varieties of fir, pine, tamarack and spruce.
The property is well watered by several large
springs. Of the many and various resources of Crook

742

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county none is more noteworthy than the quartz
and placer deposits of the Oregon Mayflower
Company, at Howard, on the Ochoco, twenty-
eight miles from Prineville. The company since
making its first purchase here has acquired all
the holdings of any consequence in the camp, so
that the property is made up of twenty-seven
claims, five lines of ditch, a large storage reser
voir and all the available water rights. Timber
is abundant for all, the district being in the Blue
mountain district. The mines of the camp are
found in a tract of porphyrite making up Gold
Hill Bunco and Inda Hills, and covering portions
of the main Ochoco and Scissors creek. The
veins are fissures, cutting through the porphy-
rites and generally have a northeast strike. On
the Gold Hill system the Mayflower vein is the
chief one as in depth all others on the hill will
unite with it. The placer deposits at the camp,
worked spasmodically, and without system since
the '70's have yielded large amounts of gold. The
Oregon Mayflower Company, owner of this prop
erty, is a Washington corporation formed by
Thronson Brothers. J. A. Thronson is secretary ;
C. J. Thronson, treasurer, and Thron Thronson,
an assayer, geologist and mining engineeer of
repute and reliability, is president and manager
with address at Howard, Oregon.
The Oregon King, formerly known as the

Silver King, the first claim located in the Trout
creek district, was discovered by a Walla Walla
man named Wilson, in 1898. Soon after the dis
covery Wilson organized a company compose* 1
of John Kirby, Thron Thronson, J. T. and John
Hubbard, and John Knight, ancl this company
after sinking the shaft to a depth of about 100
feet, sold out their claims, twelve in number, to
the Oregon King Mining Company, which com
pany was organized by P. J. Inealy, of Krum-
merer, Wyoming, and J. G. Edwards and C. M.
Cartwright, of Hay Creek, the original company
retaining a controlling interest in the stock of the
new company.
In the north central part of the county lies an
extensive mineral belt upon which hundreds of
mining claims have been located and a few of
which were actively developed in 1902. At the
head of Ochoco creek, east of Prineville, is an
other district containing some" good prospects.
During the summer of 1901 indications of pe
troleum were found over a large territory to the.
south and east of Prineville, and several compa
nies were formed for the purpose of boring for oil
and several thousand acres of so-called oil land
filed on, but further than this nothing was done.
Crook county is quite rich in minerals, but
owing to the lack of transportation facilities it
has been held back until within, say, 1902.

CHAPTER VI

POLITICAL.

The first county officers of Crook county were
appointed by Governor Moody, who was at the
time of Crook county's separation from Wasco
county, chief executive. These officials were :
County Judge, S. G. Thompson ; County Clerk,
S. T. Richardson ; Sheriff, George H. Churchill ;
Commissioners, B. F. Allen and Charles Cart
wright ; Assessor, S. J. Newson ; School Superin
tendent, H. S. Dillard ; Treasurer, G. A. Winck-
ler ; Coroner, Richard Graham. These appoint
ments were made in September, 1882.
Following this apppointment of county of
ficials the first election in Crook county was held
fune 2, 1884, ancl at which 748 votes were cast.
Following is the result :
For Gongress — B. Herman, rep., 318; John
Myers, dem., 430.

For District Attorney — T. A. McBride, rep.,.
381 ; W. B. Dillard, dem.; 352.
For Joint Senator — C. M. Cartwright, rep.,
322 ; S. G. Thompson, dem., 357.
For State Representatives — A. R. Lyle, rep.,.
349 ; W. H. Dufur, rep., 300 ; J. B. Condon, dem.,
332 ; W. McDonald Lewis, dem., 446.
For Woman Suffrage, 224 ; against, 327.
For County Judge — B. F Nichols, rep., 279;-
F A: McDonald, dem., 415.
For Sheriff — J. P. Combs, rep., 132; J. W~
Blakeley, dem., 380 ; George H. Churchill, ind.,
174- ¦
For County Clerk — A. C. Palmer, rep., 375 ',
L. N. Liggett, dem., 320.
For Treasurer — J. T. Bushnell, rep., 427 •;
Aaron Senders, dem., 257.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

743

For Commissioners — B. F. Allen, rep., 352 ;
L. C. Perry, rep., 144 ; L. Frizzell, dem., 507 ;
J. H. Garrett, dem., 379.
For Assessor — M. D. Powell, rep., 441 ; J.
W. Hereford, dem., 245.
For School Superintendent — Eunice Luckey,
rep., 305 ; D. W. Aldridge, dem., 370.
For Surveyor — O. Tucker, rep., 199; R. Mc
Farland, dem., 489.
For Coroner — A. W. Powers, rep., 143 ; J.
R. Sites, dem., 529.
The vote on the question of county seat for
which there were nine aspirants, was as follows :
Prineville, 467 ; Willow Creek, 16 ; Cleek, 85 ; Mc
Kay Creek, 5 ; Cross Keys, 2 ; Carmicle, 7 ; Black
Butte, 3 ; Mill Creek, 40; Mitchell, 43. Majority,
Prineville, 1.
November 4, 1884, the citizens. of Crook held
their initial election for president of the United
States with result as follows : Republican elec
tors, 315; democratic electors, 426; prohibition
electors, 1.
What is called the June or general election
of Oregon was held June 7, 1886, with the fol
lowing result :
For Governor — T. R. Cornelius, rep., 315 ;
Sylvester Pennoyer, dem., 529; J. E. Plouston,
pro., 40.
For Member of Congress — Binger Herman,
rep., 347; N. L. Butler, dem., 512; G. M. Miller,
pro., 30.
For District Attorney — W. R. Ellis, rep., 379 ;
George W. Barnes, dem, 522.
For State Representatives — A. R. Lytle, rep.,
386; A. D. McDonald, rep., 309; W. H. Biggs,
dem., 457 ; W. L. Wilcox, dem., 492 ; W. H. Tay
lor, pro., 30 ; A. T. Qumalt, pro., 30.
For County Judge — W. S. A. Johns, rep.,
450 ; J. F. Armis, dem., 358.
For County Commissioners — W. M. Allen,
rep., 395; S. F. Allen, rep., 296; T. J. Logan,
dem., 569 ; P. Perkins, dem., 382.
For County Clerk— A. C. Palmer, rep., 257;
Z. M. Brown, dem., 564.
For Sheriff— J. N. Williamson, rep., 476;
J. M. Blakely, dem., 347.
For Assessor — Perry Read, rep., 291 ; W. R.
McFarland, dem., 533.
For Surveyor — C. A. Graves, rep., 511; S.
J. Newsom, dem., 304.
For Treasurer— M. Sichel, rep., 219; T. M.
Baldwin, dem., 606.
For Coroner — Linn Woods, dem., 523 ; B. F.
Allen, rep., 19; Leo Fried, rep., 21; M. C. Au
brey, rep., 2 ; V. C. London, dem., 4.
For School Superintendent — Ira Walefield,
rep., 257; William Johnson, dem., 564.
General election June 4, 1886:

For member of Congress — Jobn M. Gearin,
dem., 532 ; Binger Herman, rep., 520; G. M. Mil
ler, pro., 8.
For District Attorney — W. R. Ellis, rep., 558;
J. L. Story, dem., 489.
For Joint Senator — C. A. Coggswell, dem.,
529; C. M. Cartwright, rep., 499.
For State Representative — George W. Barnes,
dem., 479; J. N. Williamson, rep., 511.
For County Clerk — Z. M. Brown, dem., 625;
H. A. Dillard, rep., 378.
For Sheriff— W. A. Booth, dem., 499; John
Combs, rep., 502.
For. County Commissioners — William Foster,
dem., 580; H. Taylor Hill, dem., 522; W. C.
Plummer, rep., 409 ; Z. F. Keyes, rep., 475.
For Treasurer — T. M. Baldwin, dem., 555;
E. R. Carey, rep., 450.
For Assessor — J. H. Kelly dem., 531 ; G. W.
Ridgewav, rep., 475.
For Surveyor — W. R. McFarland, dem., 589 ;
C. A. Graves, rep., 399.
For School Superintendent — George W. Slay
ton, dem., 531 ; H. P. Belknap, rep., 475.
For Coroner— J. R. Sites, dem., 526; V. Ges
ner, rep., 491.
The presidential election of November 6, 1888,
resulted as follows : Democratic electors, 522 ;
republican, 438; prohibitionist, 17.
General election, June 2, 1890:
For Governor — Sylvester Pennoyer, dem.,
740; David P. Thompson, rep., 332.
For Member of Congress — R. A. Miller, dem.,
614; Binger Herman, rep., 471 ; J. A. Bruce, pro.,
2. For District Attorney — E. B. Dufur, dem.,
612; W. H. Wilson, rep., 464.
for State Representative — T. J. Stephenson,
dem., 629 ; J. W. Stewart, rep., 393.
For County Judge — J. C. Sumner, dem., 657;
W. C. Wills, rep., 361.
For County Clerk — Arthur Hodges, dem.,
593 ; C. M. Elkins, rep., 441.
For Sheriff— W. A. Booth, dem., 528; John
Combs, rep., 507.
For Commissioners — G. Springer, dem., 604;
Francis Forest, rep., 430.
For Assessor — W. A. Gerow, dem., 604: A.
Black, rep., 433.
For Treasurer — Edward N. White, dem., 581 ;
J. H. Templeton, rep., 451.
For Surveyor — Knox Houston, dem., 548;
Leslie Powell, rep., 471.
For School Superintendent — C. M. Hedg-
pette, dem., 543 ; M. R. Elliott, rep., 482.
For Coroner — L. W. Woods, dem., 614; M.
A. Aubrey, rep., 385; George Cline, rep., 12.
General election, June 6, 1892 :

744

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Member of Congress — C. J. Bright, pro.,
16; W. R. Ellis, rep., 393; J. C. Luce, pop., 62;
James H. Slater, dem., 509.
For District Attorney — G. F. Moore, dem.,
591 ; W. H. Wilson, rep., 376 ; E. P. Sign, pop., 6.
For Joint Senator — C. A. Coggswell, dem.,
552 ; A. Snyder, rep., 372 ; Roscoe Knox, pop., 14.
For Representative — B. F. Nichols, rep., 521 ;
A. M. Roberts, dem., 440.
For County Clerk — E. G. Bolter, rep., 162;
Arthur Hodges, Dem., 796.
For Sheriff— W. A. Booth, dem., 570 ; J. N.
Williamson, rep., 383.
For Commissioners — J. P. Combs, rep., 424;
James Zevelly, pop., 1 : J. W. Howard, dem, 522.
For Treasurer — S. T. Belknap, rep., 355 ; Ed
ward N. White, dem., 598; I. L. Ketchum,
pop., 1.
For Assessor — J. H. Gray, rep., 483 ; A. L.
Wigle, dem., 468.
For Surveyor — Knox Huston, dem., 493 ; H.
B. Stewart, rep., 444 ; P. B. Nelson, pop., 2.
School Superintendent — H. P. Belknap, rep.,
509; L. N. Liggett, dem., 435.
For Coroner — V. Gesner, rep., 428 ; L. W.
Woods, dem., 516.
The presidential electors for the national cam
paign, fall of 1892, were : Republican delegates,
318; democratic electors, 411; populist electors,
121 ; prohibitionist electors, 5.
General election, June 4, 1894:
For Governor — William Galloway, dem.,
386; James Kennedy, prohibition, 15 ; William P.
Lord, rep., 486 ; Nathan Pierce, populist, 139.
For Member of Congress — W. R. Ellis, rep.,
527; A. F. Miller, pro., 10: James H. Rayley,
dem., 369 ; James Waldrop, pop., 105.
For District Attorney — E. B. Dufur, dem.,
390; A. A. Jayne, rep., 508; E. P. Sine, populist,
104. For State Representative — George W. Barnes,
dem., 369 ; A. R. Lyle, rep., 496 ; G. Springer,
pop., 117.
For County Judge — M. E. Brink, rep., 502 ;
J. C. Sumner, dem., 321 ; D. E. Templeton, pop.,
175- For County Clerk — Arthur Hodges, dem.,
546; J. S. McMeen, pop., 63; B. F. Nichols, rep.,
392- For Sheriff — W. A. Booth, dem., 490; John
Combs, rep., 502.
For Countv Commissioners — E. Cyrus, pop.,
108 ; H. T. Hill, dem., 429 ; Charles Requa, rep.,
455- For Treasurer — H. P. Belknap, rep., 463;
C. L. Solomon, pop., 103 ; Edward W. White,
dem., 427.
For Assessor — W. C. Congleton, dem., 448 ;

E. F. Foren, rep., 406; J. M. Mansfield, pop.,
136. For Surveyor — J. H. Miller, rep., 520; S. J.
Newsom, dem., 459.
For School Superintendent — W. R. McFar
land, dem., 575 ; Hattie O. Palmer, rep., 409.
For Coroner — E. F. Barnes, dem., 396; W.
H. Birdsong, pop., 166; O. M. Pringle, rep.,
428. General election, June 1, 1896:
For Member of Congress — A. S. Bennett,
dem., 437 ; W. R. Ellis, rep., 325 ; F. McKercher,
pro., 5 ; H. H. Northup, ind., 273 ; Martin Quinn,
pop. 117.
For District Attorney — John Cradlebaugh,
dem., 516; A. A. Jayne, rep., 659.
For Joint Senator — O. C. Applegate, rep.,
465 ; B. Daley, dem., 523 ; R. K. Frink, pop.,
157- For State Representative — George E. Houck;
rep., 382 ; R. E. Misener, dem., 418 ; D. E. Tem
pleton, pop., 370.
For County Clerk — Arthur Hodges, dem.,
655 ; J. N. Williamson, rep., 525.
For Sheriff— J. W. Elliott, dem., 308; J. H.
Gray, rep., 519; L. W. Woods, ind., 359.
For County Commissioner — T. S. Hamilton,
rep., 610 ; H. T. Hill, dem., 542.
For Assessor — James T. Robinson, dem.,
523 ; I. F. Shown, rep., 624.
For Treasurer — B. F. Nichols, rep., 896 ; M.
H. Bell, dem., 1, and T. M. Baldwin, H. M. Bell, -
Sam Oden and Sam Chipman, democrats, 1 each.
For Surveyor — W. R. McFarland, dem., 908 ;
J. O. Douthit, Pres. Nelson, and Ira Darrow,
democrats, one each.
For School Superintendent — H. H. Davis,
rep., 513; William Johns, dem., 627.
For Coroner — J. P. Combs, rep., 641 ; R. E.
Daisy, dem., 469; John Combs, rep., 1.
The presidential election of November 3, 1896,
resulted in Crook county as follows :
Republican electors, 607 ; democratic electors,
576 ; prohibition, 2 ; populist, 39.
General election, June 6, 1898:
For Governor — H. M. Clinton, pro., 21 ; T. T.
Geer, rep., 667 ; Will R. King, dem., 492 ; John
C. Luce, populist, 25.
For Member of Congress — H. E. Courtney,
populist, 23 ; C. M. Donaldson, dem., 421 ; G. W.
Ingalls, pro., 23 ; Malcolm Moody, rep., 642.
For District Attorney — N. H. Gates, dem.,
418 ; A. A. Jayne, rep., 654.
For State Representative — W. H. Lasseer,
dem., 473; J. M. Williamson, rep., 663.
For County Judge — M. H.^Bell, fusion, 542;
W. C. Wills, rep., 572.
For County Clerk — S. C. Belknap, rep., M.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

745

R. Biggs, fusion, 264; Arthur Plodges, inch, 477.
For Sheriff— J. PI. Gray rep., 581; M. A.
Moore, fusion, 578.
For Commissioner — I. B. Meyer, ind., 416;
D. E. Templeton, fus., 634.
For Assessor — P. B. Doak, ind., 229 ; J. B.
Merrill, fus.. 408; I. F. Shown, rep., 440.
For Treasurer — J. W. Boone, fus., 375 ; B.
F. Nichols, rep., 691.
For Surveyor — Knox Huston, fits., 504 ; C.
F. Smith, rep., 540.
For School Superintendent — William John
son, fus., 648: H. G. Kibbell, rep., 419.
For Coroner — Josiah Hinkle, fus., 438 ; A.
Lippman, rep., 596.
General election, June 4, 1900 :
For Member of Congress — Leslie Butler, pro.,
29; M. A. Moody, rep., 502; J. E. Simmons,
ind., 147 ; William Smith, clem., 298.
For District Attorney — Frank Menefee, rep.,
481 ; James F. Moore, dem., 493.
For Joint Senator — A. S. Bennett, dem., 443;
J. N. Williamson, rep., 554.
For Joint Representatives — R. A. Emmett,
rep., 441 ; T. H. McGreer, rep., 428 ; G. Springer,
dem., 409 : George T. Baldwin, clem., 401 ; Henry
¦C. Leibe, dem., 383.
For County Clerk — Arthur Hodges, rep., 419 ;
J. J. Smith, dem.. 3S3.
For' Sheriff— W. C. Congleton, dem., 596 ;
Hugh J. Lister, rep., 419.
For County Commissioner — H. J. Healy,
dem., 613 ; A. Zell, rep., 389.
For Treasurer — B. F. Nichols, rep., 415 ; J.
N. Poindexter, dem.. 583.
For School Superintendent — William Boegli,
reP-> 555 : J- P- Holland, dem., 438.
For Assessor — G. D. LaFollette, dem., 592 ; E.
E. Laughlin, rep., 389.
For Surveyor — Knox Huston, dem., 481 ;
John D. Newsom, rep., 512.
For Coroner — W. H. Brock, dem., 491 ; J.
Inslev Huston, rep., 458.
The presidential vote for Crook county, No
vember 6, 1900, was as follows :
Republican electors, McKinley and Roose
velt, Tilmon Ford, 475 : J. C. Fullerton, 474 ; W.
J. Furnish, 475 : O. F Paxton, 469.
Democratic electors, Bryan ancl Stevenson,
Ernst Kroner, 365 ; Walker M. Pierce, 381 ; Dell
Stuart, 379: John Whittaker, 371.
Prohibition electors. Wooliev ancl Metcalf, N.
A. Davis, 16; N. F Jenkins, 16: C. F. Mills, 16;
F. R. Spaulding, 14.
Regular People's Party, Barker ancl Don
nelly, T. V B. Embree, 3 ; Lucus Henry, 3 ; J. L.
Hill. 4 ; John C. Luce, 2.
Social Democratic electors, Debs ancl Harri

man, N. P. J. Folen, 19; Joseph Meindl, 21 ; J.
Frank Porter, 23; C. P. Ruthford, 21.
General election, June 2, 1902 :
For Governor — George E. Chamberlain, dem.,
538 ; William J. Furnish, rep., 590 ; A. J. Hunsa-
kay, pro., 12; R. R. Ryan, soc, 47.
Initiative and Referendum — For, 607 ; against,
92. For Member of Congress — W. F. Butcher,
dem., 399 ; Diedrich T. Gerdes, soc, 37 ; F. R.
Spaulding, pro., 21 ; J. N. Williamson, rep., 688.
For Joint Representative — P. B. Doak, dem.,
568; L. E. Morse, dem., 414; Earl Sanders, dem.,
387 ; J. N. Burgess, rep., 455 ; R. A. Emmett,
rep., 476; N. Whealdon rep., 402.
For County Judge — W. A. Booth, dem., 762;
W. C. Wills, rep., 402.
For County Clerk — Carey Foster, rep., 389 ;
J. J. Smith, dem., 760.
For Sheriff— G. S. McMeen, rep., 567; C.
Sam Smith, dem., 582.
For Treasurer — M. C. Aubrey, rep., 379; M.
H. Bell, dem., 486; G. N. Poindexter, ind., 282.
For County Commissioner — C. B. Allen, dem.,
362; M. D. Powell, rep., 714.
For Assessor — B. F. Johnson, rep., 616; J. B.
Merrill, dem., 468.
For Surveyor — C. A. Graves, rep., 560 ; Knox
Huston, dem., 521.
For Coroner — J. H. Crooks, dem., 664; J. L.
McCulloch, rep., 392.
For High School building, 651 ; against high
school, 323.
General election, June 6, 1904 :
For Member of Congress — George R. Cook,
soc, 103; J. E. Simmons, dem., 348; H. W.
Stone, pro., 57; J. N. Williamson, rep., 841.
For District Attorney — Frank Menefee, rep.,
764 : Dan P. Smythe, dem., 480.
For Joint Senator — W. A. Booth, dem., 799 ;
J. A. Laycock, rep., 477.
For State Representatives — J. B. Griffith,
dem., 408: J. A. Taylor, rep., 601 ; J. A. Shook,
rep., 601 : R. E. L. Steiner, rep., 519.
For County Judge — W. A. Bell, rep., 612;
M. R. Biggs, dem., 443 ; J. B. McDowell, soc, 287.
For County Clerk — J. F. Caywood, soc, 72 ;
C. A. Gilchrist, rep., 443 ; J. J. Smith, dem., 870.
For Sheriff — W. H. Birdsong, soc, 80 ; Frank
Elkins, rep., 653 ; C. Sam Smith, dem., 656.
For Treasurer — M. H. Bell, dem., 544 ; V. C.
Gray, rep., 675 ; G. A. Riggs, soc, 11 1.
For Countv Commissioner — Thomas Arnold,
soc, 176; E. F. Slayton, dem., 491 ; S. S. Stearns,
rep., 644.
For School Superintendent — William Boegli,
rep., 5^8 ; C. B. Dinwiddie, dem., 604; B. F Wil-
hoit, soc, 142.

746

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Assessor — J. R. Benham, soc, 156; J. D.
LaFollette, dem., 804; J. L. McCulloch, rep.,
349- For Surveyor — C. A. Graves, rep., 656; W.
R. McFarland, dem., 616.
For Coroner — J. H. Crooks, dem., 633 ;

C. L. Edwards, rep., 555 ; David Hill, soc,.
106. At the presidential election in Crook county-
in 1904, the following was the result/:
Republican electors, 763 ; democratic, 266 ;
prohibitionist, 18; socialists, 119; populists, 7.

CHAPTER VII

EDUCATIONAL.

The first school taught in Crook county was by
William Pickett, who had formerly been an edi
tor of some paper in Albany, probably the Herald.
He was a man of superior editorial and literary
ability, but somewhat dissipated and his friends
had located him at Ochoco, where he could be
more remote from temptation. But Mr. Pickett
was, not of the hardy build of western pioneers,
and could not emulate, or even compete with the
results of the strong muscles of his neighbors ;
he was unequal to either the tasks of driving oxen,
chopping logs for house building, cooking, or
splitting rails. But he made friends with every
one, and the settlers decided it would be best for
him to teach a pioneer school. To this end a school
was built, the old log house that now stands in the
fields just north of Wayne Claypool's residence.
Here, in the fall of 1869, William Pickett
taught Ochoco's first school, and if he could not
earn his salt by mauling rails he certainly more
than earned his salary at school teaching. The
house was floored with puncheon, and seated with
benches of hewn logs and lighted by numerous
"chinks" between the logs. A blackboard was
entirely beyond the "reach" of the school direc
tors ; no two children had books alike ; some had
none, and taken altogether they were the wildest,
most mischievous, fun-loving set of youngsters
who ever were taken in hand by a fatherly edi
tor. But he did it somehow to the complete sat
isfaction of all the patrons and went away re
spected by his neighbors and their children. Per
haps the names of those who were matriculated
to this primeval curriculum may prove interest
ing. They were : Jake Johnson, Virgil Marks,
Arthur Judy, Al Judy, John Marks, Henry
Marks, William Daugherty, H. D. Davis, H. J.
Anderson, Margaret Johnson, Geneva Marks,
"Boz" Daugherty, Tiney Johnson, Clara Clark,
Ann Clark, Nettie Marks, Luther Claypool and
Clara Claypool.
The toddlers of that school are the men and

women of today, and are sending toddlers of their
own to some other school. Let us earnestly hope
that the today boys and girls are enjoying life
to the full extent of that of their parents and
pioneer students of Crook county.
The second school in the county and the first
in Prineville, was conducted in an old log house.
The teacher was Andrew M. Allen, of Polk
county. In 1872 when O. D. Doane was superin
tendent of schools for Wasco county which is now
Wasco and Crook counties, the present Crook
county had but three school districts. This sec
ond school building was subsequently enlarged,.
in 1876, and two more teachers added. The
present school house, however, in Prineville, was
erected in 1887 and is a four- room frame build
ing. Following is the report of County Superin
tendent William Johnson for i£"~

Male. Female. Total.
Number persons of school age. 694 610 i,3°4
Number pupils enrolled  349 291 640
Average daily attendance  ... 499
Number teachers employed .... 13 24 37
Number pupils not attending
school  324 296 620
Number teachers in private
school  I 3 4
Number pupils in private schools 24 12 36
Average salaries of male teachers  $43-J5
Average salaries of female teachers  38.61
Value of school houses and grounds  11,593.00
Value of furniture and apparatus  i,9S3-S0
Number of districts in county  35
Number of districts reporting  35-
Number of months taught (average)  3V
Number of private schools in county  5
Number of school houses built during year  5
Number of school houses in county  27
Number of graded schools  I
Number legal voters for school purposes  927
Receipts  $14,148.68
Disbursements  8,967.92:

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

747"

Following ¦ are a few statistics from the re
port of County School Superintendent W. R. Mc
Farland on the condition of Crook county's edu
cational interests :
Number males between 4 and 20 years of age
residing in the county  650
Number of females  630
Total  i,2So
Total number of pupils enrolled in county  1,163
Average attendance  986
Number male applicants for teachers' certificates. 6
Number female applicants  8
Estimated value of school house grounds. .. .$12,687.00
Estimated value of school furniture  2,000.00
Estimated value of school apparatus  500.00
Amount of insurance on school property .... 4,580.00
Average salary of male teachers  42.76
Average salary of female teachers  38.80
Number of commissioned teachers in county  36
Number of organized districts in county  41
Number school houses in co'ty. (log, 2; frame, 37) 39
Average number of months taught during the year 4.
Total amount received for all school purposes $10,281.20
Total amount disbursements  9,661.59
Amount cash on hand  619.61
January 28, 1898, the Prineville Review pub
lished the following:
Those interested in the permanent organization of
the Prineville Academy met last Tuesday at the Review
office and adopted the following articles of incorpora-.
tion. "Know all men by these presents that we, J. H.
Gray, W. A. Booth, and D. F. Stewart, all of Prineville,
Crook county, Oregon, for the purpose hereinafter
mentioned, and under and by virtue of the general
laws of the state of Oregon, have incorporated our
selves and our successors and interest together, and
by these presents do incorporate, and to that end and
for that purpose have made and formed the following
articles of incorporation, to wit :
"Article 1. The name assumed by this incorpo
ration and by which it shall be known, is and shall be
'The Prineville Academy,' and the duration of the
said incorporation shall be perpetual.
"Article 2. The enterprise, business, pursuit and
occupation in which the said corporation purposes to
engage in are to build, equip, maintain and carry on an
academy or place of learning in the town of Prineville,
Crook county, Oregon, in every respect as academies
are carried on and maintained for the purpose of
affording a means of higher education for the people
of Oregon and their children ; and to that end the cor
poration shall have power to buy, hold, own, lease,
rent and sell real property ; to hire teachers ; to make
rules for the government of the said school ; to receive
money and legacies ; to own, buy and' sell personal

property, and to do all things necessary to be done in
order to carry on such an undertaking.
"Article 3. The place where the said corporation
purposes to and will have its principal offices and place
of business shall be Prineville, Crook county, Oregon.
"Article 4. The amount of the capital stock of the
said corporation shall be $1,000, to be divided into 100
shares of $10 each."
The incorporation above mentioned are now solicit
ing stock for the new corporation and are meeting with
liberal support. There is no excuse for any one fail
ing to take a share or two in this laudible enterprise.
This corporation should be broad in its management
and this the incorporators 'desire. No one shall be
refused stock in the corporation and no one should
neglect this opportunity.
For a time the affairs of the prospective acad
emy "dragged" in a business sense. At a meeting
held in September, 1897, it was decided to go on-
with the school. The following officers were
elected to manage the work for the ensuing year :
Trustees, G. W. Barnes, W. A. Booth and J. H.
Gray ; treasurer, Dr. H. P. Belknap ; clerk, L. N.
Liggett. Professor I. L. Ullery, of Canfield,
Ohio, had been engaged to officiate as principal of
the new educational institution. Formerly he had
been successfully at the head of a number of edu
cational enterprises. The fall session of 1898
marked the beginning' of the second term of the
Prineville Academy, of Crook county. Professor
Ullery remained at its head. This academy ran
several years and finally suspended.
The report of Crook county's superintendent
of schools, William Johnson, for 1899, is as fol
lows : Male. Female. Total.
Number children of school age. 612 629 1,241
Number pupils enrolled  362 418 780
Number pupils not attending . . 218 196 414
Average daily attendance  ... 600
No. of teachers employed  23 44 67
Number of teachers in private
schools  I 2 3
Number of pupils in private
schools  9 11 20
Value of school houses and grounds  $15,715.00
Value of furniture and apparatus  3,895.59
Average salary of male teachers  4165
Average salary of female teachers  34-6o-
Salary of superintendent  300.00
No. of districts in the county  47
Number of districts reporting  46
Number of rivate schools in county  3
Average number of months taught  5
Number of school houses  .•  43
Number of legal voters for school purposes  989*
Receipts  $13,121.25
Disbursements  11,512.72

748

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The following is the first report made by a
county superintendent after the amputation of
Wheeler county from Crook. This was in 1900 :
Male. Female. Total.
Number children of school age. 537 531 1,068
Number children enrolled  338 336 704
Number not attending school . . 188 157 435
Number teachers employed .... 22 43 65
Average daily attendance  540
Number of private schools  ... 1
Number private school teachers ... ... 1
Number private school pupils 4 i 8
Value of school houses and grounds  $11,710.00
Value of school furniture and apparatus  2,920.40
Average salary of male teachers  43.20
Average salary of female teachers  38.66
Salary of superintendent  400.00
Number of districts in county  41
Number of districts reporting  40
Average number of months taught  $y2
Number of school houses  39
Number of legal voters for school purposes  1,086
Receipts  $16,740.37
Disbursements  12,936.72
In 1901 the capital of Crook county, Prine
ville, had an excellent graded school of 165 pu
pils under the management of Professor F. M.
Mitchell and three assistants. Throughout the
county generally these schools were being graded,
or classified according to the course of study pre
scribed by the state board of education. The
schools were well supplied with apparatus and a
number had installed libraries consisting of books
of reference ancl supplementary reading. There
were forty-two teachers, nine of whom held
state certificates or diplomas. It should be no
ticed that at this period, 1901, the Crook county
teachers received better salaries than ever before.
In 1897 the average salary paid male teachers
was $34.25 ; female teachers, $25.15; in 1898 we
find this raised to $38.40 and $33.50 ; in 1899
to $41.65 and $34.60, and in 1900 to $42.20 and
$38.66. In September, 1901, the Prineville schools fall
term began with 121 pupils, by October 26th it
had increased to 191. The school was in a most
healthy condition ancl the discipline excellent.
There was a demand for higher grade work and
the ninth grade could now be organized.
March 12, 1904, the contract for building the
county high school was awarded to C. A. Gray,
a contractor of Salem, his bid being $19,998. It
was specified that the material of the building
should be brick and stone. The following gen
eral history of this structure, written by Prof.
A. C. Strange, is of interest to all residents of
Crook county :

Owing to Oregon's very limited railroad facilities
a large area of the eastern section of the state is thinly
settled and given over to a considerable extent to the
stock business. As a consequence this portion of the
state, until within the last few years, has been almost
entirety without institutions of high school or academic
rank. Residents were compelled to send their children
at an early age away from home to remote sections of
the state to procure desired education. To provide
means of supplying this need the legislature of 1901
passed an act authorizing counties so desiring to submit
to their voters the question of erecting buildings and
maintaining county high schools, to be supported by a
special tax and to be under the supervision of a board
consiting of the county judge, the two county commis
sioners, the county superintendent of schools and the
county treasurer.
Accordingly the matter was submitted to the people
at the biennial election, June, 1902, and the vote was
favorable by a considerable majority. Throughout the
campaign the measure received the hearty support of
the leading citizens of the county. But to no one is
more credit due for the success of the movement than
to William Boegli, at that time county superintendent.
The furtherance of the project then devolved upon
the High School Board, consisting of Judge W. A.
Booth, Commissioners M. D. Powell, and M. D. Healy,
Superintendent Boegli and Treasurer M. H. Bell, to
whom must be given the credit for its successful estab
lishment. As the county possessed no suitable building
an agreement was entered into with the school board
and Principal E. E. Orton, of the Prineville public
schools, to have the first year of the high school work-
taught in connection with the Prineville public school
work. At the opening of the session about one dozen
pupils presented themselves, of whom eight completed
the year's work. It is quite probable that more would
have completed had not an epidemic appeared in the
community near the end of the school year compelling
adjournment of schools.
During the year Judge Booth resigned on account
of ill health, and M. R. Biggs was appointed by the
governor as his successor and to him much credit is
due for the upbuilding of the school. For the second
year a room in the postoffice building was secured and
A. C. Strange employed as teacher. Sixteen pupils
enrolled in the two years' work, of whom six in the
second and seven in the first completed the required
branches. During the year a contract for the erection of a
$20,000 building, as has been stated, was awarded to
C. A. Gray, with the result that the county now pos
sesses a brick and stone building that would be an
ornament to any city. It contains four well-lighted
class-rooms, of which two are separated by a sliding
door which makes possible their conversion into an
assembly hall, besides two smaller rooms adapted for
use as library and office. A basement for use as a

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

749

gymnasium extends under the entire building and
furnishes an abundance of room for all forms of in
door athletics. The building is heated by steam and
is perfectly ventilated by the foul air shaft system.
The campus is large and with proper improvement can
be made very beautiful. The structure is located in a
sightly spot where it meets the eyes of all entering
the city from any direction.
At the biennial election in June, 1904. an almost
entirely new board was chosen ; County Judge \Y. A.
Bell, Commissioner S. S. Stearns, Superintendent C. B.
Dinwiddie and Treasurer O. C. Gray. However, these
men are all public spirited citizens and the interests of
the school did not suffer at their hands. The third
year's enrollment increased to 40, a class of 24 having
entered the first year. Another teacher, Miss Sarah
Marshall, an alumnus of an eastern normal, was secured
and she has conducted classes in English and Latin,
leaving the work in mathematics, science and history
to Mr. Strange. The school offers two regular courses :
Scientific and Latin, covering the following studies :
History, English, Science, Mathematics and Latin. In
English ; grammar, rhetoric. English and American
Literature; English readings and themes are studied;
in history, Greek, Roman. European, English and
American; economics and citizenship; in science, physi
cal geography, hygiene, botany, geology, zoology, phys
ics and chemistry; in mathematics, algebra, higher
arithmetic, plane and solid geometry and bookkeeping;
in Latin, Cornelius Nepos, Ca?sar and Virgil. Besides
this required work classes in bookkeeping are main
tained for those who desire it. who may not have com
pleted the eighth grade examination necessary to admit
them into the school.
At the close of the session of 1904-5. the first class
in the history of the school was graduated. The mem
bers were Misses Gertrude Sharp and Iva Booth, and
Charles O. Christiani who had completed three years'
work, it being thought best by the board to limit the
course to three years until attendance was sufficient to
warrant the expense of maintaining the full four years'
work. The future of this school appears bright. The
county is large, wealthy, and of unlimited resources,
and is having marvelous growth. With the incoming
of many new homeseekers will come a great increase of
attendance; additional apparatus will be secured, more
teachers employed as needed, and there should grow up
in Prineville one of the best institutions of high school
rank in the state of Oregon.
The Following is the annual report of County
Superintendent William Boegli, for the year 1904 :
Male. Female. Total.
Number persons of school age. . 787 757 L544
Number persons enrolled  511 493 1.004
Number persons not attending. . 169 146 3lS

Male.

Female. Total. 616
50 67

Average daily attendance 
Number teachers employed .... 17 50
Number districts in county  50
Number districts reporting  4^
Number school houses  4,
Average number of months taught 
Number legal voters for school purposes  1.22,
Number private schools in county 
Number private school teachers 
Number private school pupils (male, o: female, 2) '
Value of school houses and grounds  $20,585.00
Value furniture and apparatus  3,900.00
Average salary male teachers  57-00
Average salary female teachers  42.99
Receipts  S21.615.84
Disbursements  15.972.38
We cannot more appropriately close the edu
cational chapter of Crook county than with the
following comprehensive and interesting article
on the present condition of the schools of Crook
county, written by County Superintendent C. B.
Dinwiddie :

The schools of Crook county are in a state of rapid
development in every way. The old rough, lumber
school houses are fast giving way to new painted and
belled school houses, and the home-made, back-break
ing instruments of torture called 'seats" are being
replaced by patented seats, and a general interest is
being taken in the appearance and comfort of school
houses and surroundings.
Nor is the outward improvement the only one. We
have a better class of teachers than ever before, or
rather the same class have attained a greater degree
of excellence, for many of our teachers have been at
work in the county schools for some time, and as a
result are prepared to do much toward aiding the proper
development and grading of schools. Nearly all our-
new teachers are persons of broad experience and ex
ceptional ability.
Another is in the way of salaries paid teachers, the
average having risen nearly $10 per month during the
present year. Salaries range from S40 to S75 per month
in country schools, and from $40 to $80 in city schools.
Prineville public schools employ six teachers with an
enrollment of over 200 pupils. Bend public school
employs two teachers with an enrollment of over 100
! pupils. Both city schools expect to build new additions.
Prineville's graduating class numbered 31 for the clos
ing term of 1904-5. Crook county's high school build
ing is something of which to be proud. It is a brick
and stone two-story building. The school itself is in
a flourishing condition with two teachers.
There are in the county 54 districts, in running
order, with an enumeration of over 1.500 pupils. The

75°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

present year will see a probable increase of 300 or 400
on account of the rapid settling up of some parts of the
country. The schools of the county are fairly well
graded according to the course of study, and the teach
ers are making a strenuous effort to get them in bet
ter condition. The average length of the school term

has also increased during the present year and bids
fair to increase during the coming year.
We believe the schools of Crook county will com
pare favorably with any interior county where natural
school conditions, distances, settlements, etc., are no
morv! favorable than here.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
CROOK COUNTY

VAN GESNER, M. D., is one of Crook
•county's wealthy stockmen and resides about
thirty miles out from Prineville on the Burns stage
road. He is a native Oregonian, his birth place
being Salem and the date of that event July,
1852. R. A. Gesner, his father, a native of Il
linois, crossed the plains with ox teams in 1845
and settled on a donation claim near Salem.
He became a wealthy and prominent man of that
section. He married Mary E. Bartlet, a native
of Indiana, who moved to Illinois with her par
ents when a girl, where her wedding occurred.
She accompanied her husband across the plains
and was one of the pioneer women of the Wil
lamette valley. Our subject was well educated
in the Salem schools and then entered the Wil
lamette University where he spent one year.
After that he matriculated in the Jefferson Med
ical College of Philadelphia and graduated in
1883 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In
the same year Dr. Gesner located at Prineville
and opened an office. From the outset he was
favored with a good practice which grew rapidly
and steadily while he remained in the profession,
but the strain of such an extensive practice wore
¦on his health ancl he was forced to retire for re
cuperation. He tried the salubrious climate of
San Jose, California, but later it was found that
he must abandon his practice entirely or pay the
forfeit of death. Consequently in 1891 he laid
aside his office life entirely and invested his money
in sheep. Later he entered partnership with J.
N. Williamson and they now have a very extern
sive holdings in Crook county in both land and
in stock. The same splendid success that at
tended the doctor in his professional life is now
being enjoyed by him in the stock business, which
manifests him a man of thoroughness, of splendid
judgment and of industry.

In 1886 Dr. Gesner married Annie Fields, a
native of Brownville, Oregon. Her father, Wil
liam Fields, was among the earliest settlers to
Oregon and was a well to do and prominent man.
To the doctor and his wife two children have been
born, Maude and Van.
Dr. Gesner is a member of the A. O . U. W.
and a very popular man, while he and his wife
are among the leading citizens of the entire
country.

O. G. COLLVER, a merchant at Culver,
Crook county, was born in Douglas county, Ore
gon, in 1854. His father was Alfred B. Collver,
a native of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and one of
the very early pioneers to Oregon, having crossed
the plains in 1852 to Douglas county. The
mother, of our subject was Ruth (Rice) Collver,
also a native of Ohio, who came across the plains
with her husband. In 1857 our subject was taken
by his parents to where Marshfield, Coos county,
is now located, Marshfield then being unknown.
They moved thither over a pack trail as no roads
were then in the county. Our subject gained his
education from the public schools and from
Wilbur Academy of Douglas county, from which
institution he would have graduated six months
later had not his health failed. Being obliged to
quit study on account of failing health, he then
took cnarge of a fruit evaporator and conducted
the same for three years. In 1880 he came to
The Dalles and was there engaged for five years.
Then he sought out a location in Crook county,
taking a homestead, pre-emption and bought a
quarter section besides. He gave his attention
to farming this land and stock raising and with
a good degree of success until 1900, when he sold
out the entire property and opened a general

75^

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

merchandise establishment at Culver. He suc
ceeded in getting the postoffice established there
and since that time Mr. Collver has prosecuted
the mercantile business with splendid success.
He carries a well assorted and complete stock
of all kinds of goods used in this section of the
country and is building up a splendid trade.
On October 16, 1881, Mr. Collver married
Margaret Barnett, who was born in Linn county,
Oregon, on December 24, 1856. Her death oc
curred on January 21, 1900. Her father was E.
M. Barnett, one of the early pioneers of Oregon,
having crossed the plains in 1852. In 1901 Mr.
Collver married Virginia (Prentice) Foster of
Kansas City.
Fraternally our subject is a member of the
A. O. U. W., the Artisans and the Degree of
Honor. He also belongs to the Christian Science
church and takes a marked interest in education
al and religious affairs. He has done the work of
a pioneer well and has assisted materially in
building this part of the west.

A. W. BOYCE is a farmer ancl stockman re
siding at Haystack. He was born in New York
state in i860, the son of Aldis Boyce, a native of
New Hampshire. His education was received in
Massachusetts, ancl when eighteen years of age
he came to California where he worked for wages
for a short time. In 1879 Mr. Boyce came on
to Oregon and sought employment on the John
Day river, where he was engaged for two years.
Then he went to Trout creek and still worked
for wages. After that he took up the "sheep busi
ness for himself and continued in the same for
ten years. Then he sold his bands of sheep
and engaged in cattle raising which he still con
tinues. He and his wife now have some fifteen
hundred acres of land and a beautiful residence,
besides considerable stock. Mr. Boyce is a man
of thrift and good taste and everything connected
with his place indicates these qualities. He has
been favored with good success, owing to his in
dustry and careful management and, therefore,
is one of the leading men of this part of the
county. In December, 1896, Mr. Boyce married Mrs.
Mary Weber, the daughter of S. S. Brown, who
is mentioned in another portion of this work.
To this union one child, Mamie, has been born,
who is six years of age.
Mr. Boyce is a member of the A. O. U. W.
and the Artisans, while in politics he is a good
active Republican. He is a man of good stand
ing and has many friends throughout the county.
To illustrate some of the hardships of the

early settlers of this country had to contend with
we mention the winter of 1884-5, when the snow
lay five feet deep on the level. Before that it
was the general opinion that it was safe to run
sheep without ' putting up hay for the winter.
That was the second year after our subject had
started in the sheep business. He had as a part
ner his younger brother, and out of two thousand
six hundred sheep they lost twenty-two hundred.
They had no hay and no way of moving the sheep
to it if they had possessed it. In the spring they
bought more sheep and paid for them all in due
time, paying ten per cent interest both on the
price of them and on a large debt hanging over
the dead ones. Still they perserved ancl came out
all right in the end.

JAMES M. STREET is now one of the sub
stantial men of ,Crook county and has been a typi
cal frontiersman in this and other western sec
tions. He is one of the hardy, fearless men whose
pleasure it was to take up the hard part of pioneer
living and fight back the savage until the way was
was open for the more timid class from the east
to settle in this country. Mr. Street follows
farming and stock raising at the present time
and resides about thirty-seven miles out from
Paulina on the Burns stage road. He was born
in Putnam county, Tennessee, on January 4, i860.
John Street, his father, was born in Charleston,
South Carolina, on January 12, 1812. When a
young man he removed to Tennessee and en
gaged in farming. Also he gave considerable
attention to teaching school both in South Caro
lina ancl in Tennessee. He enlisted at the
time of the outbreak of the Mexican war and was
an orderly sergeant under Genearl Scott. After
serving during that entire struggle he returned
to Tennessee ancl married in 1851. Upon the
outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted to fight
throughout. In 1870 -he journeyed to California
ancl there remained until his death, on August
30, 1884. He was a prominent, well educated
and leading man. He had married Martha A.
Roberson, a native of Putnam county, Tennes
see. She was the mother of ten children and ac
companied her husband in his various journeys,
ancl is now living in California. Our subject was
but a lad when the family came to California and
there he received his education. When eighteen
years of age he came to what is now Harney
county, Oregon, and engaged as a cowboy. For
two years he followed that business steadily, be
coming one of the most expert horsemen and
ropers in the country. Then he returned to
California and farmed for a couple of years. He

Mr. and Mrs. James M. Street

George W. Noble

Ckarles T . Lillard

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

753

traveled about considerably until 1884 when he
journeyed to Crook county and wrought for
wages two years before taking the government
land where he now resides. He has ridden the
range in Nevada, California and Oregon and is
thoroughly acquainted not only with the country
but with the dangers and hardships of cowboy
life. Starting in life with no capital whatever,
Mr. Street has become a wealthy man and has
gained it all by his own efforts.
In 1897 Mr. Street married Miss Emma
Hamilton, who was born in Lane county, Oregon,
and came to Prineville with her parents in 1876.
Her father, William C. Hamilton, was born in
Indiana, raised in Illinois and crossed the plains
to Oregon in 1852. He married Jane Gholson,
a native of Illinois, who was raised in Iowa and
crossed the plains to Oregon in 1853. Mr. and
Mrs. Street have one child, Eva G. During the
Bannock war Mr. Street was a scout for Colonel
Bernard and did much excellent service. During
this time he made one of the most famous rides
on record. Being pursued by Indians, he started
for help at three o'clock in the afternoon and
the next morning at • nine o'clock reached his
destination, after riding one hundred and twenty
miles. He escaped his pursuers and arrived in
safety. He held the office of orderly sergeant
of the home guards during this Indian war and
his fearlessness and excellent service were well
known to those who participated in that struggle.

GEORGE W. NOBLE lives on Beaver
creek ten miles up from Paulina, and follows
farming and stock raising. He was born in Linn
county, Oregon, on September 30, 1851, the son
of William and Sarah (Sulesberger) Noble. The
father was a native of Ohio, came to Iowa in
1845 and remained there until 1850, in which
year he crossed the plains with ox teams to Linn
county, Oregon. During the trip they had a great
many battles with the Indians and lost a good
deal of their stock. Finally when they reached
the Cascades their teams were so depleted that
they were forced to yoke in the milk cows to as
sist in pulling the wagons across the mountains.
Even then they were obliged to abandon one
wagon in the mountains. Mr. Noble settled on a
donation claim in Linn county and remained there
until 1 87 1. In that year he came to Crook county
and located a ranch on Beaver creek. That
•was his home until just prior to his death when
he returned to the Williamette valley. Our sub
ject's mother was born in Germany and came to
Ohio with her parents when nine years of age.
There she grew up and was married and accom-
48

panied her husband across the plains and was a
faithful helpmeet to him in all the pioneer labors
that he performed. She is still living in Prine
ville. When fifteen years of age George W. began to
assume the responsibilities of life for himself
and about that time went to California and re
mained in that state nine years. In 1875 he came'
north again and finally took government land
where he now resides. He purchased land m1
addition until he has a fine large estate well
fitted up with everything for a first-class farm-
and fruit ranch. He has displayed splendid abil
ity in business lines and every move that he has
made has been one of success. The result is
that he is today one of the wealthy men of Crook
county and one of its leading citizens.
In 1885 Mr. Noble married Miss Etta Stew
art, who was born in Benton county, Oregon,
the daughter of John and Cordelia (Hobb)
Stewart. The father, a native of Indiana, crossed
the plains to Oregon in 1845 and became a very
prominent man in this state. He was a member
of the legislature from Douglas county and did
much to promote the settlement and the upbuild
ing of the state. His wife was born in Boone
county, Missouri, and crossed the plains with
her parents in i860. To our subject and his
wife two children have been born, Albert and
Elme. Mr. Noble is a member of the A. F. & A. M.
and the I. O. O. F.

CHARLES T. LILLARD, an enterprising
farmer and stockman of Crook county, resides
about twenty miles south from Paulina on the"
south fork of Twelve Mile creek, where he does
a fine business and has a well improved place.
He was born in Santa Clara county, California,
on April 11, 1865, being the son of David B. and
Hetty (Allen) Lillard, natives of Kentucky and
Missouri respectively. The mother died when
our subject was a child. The father was born on
May 13, 1827, and when six years of age moved
to Missouri with his parents where he was reared
and educated. In 1846 he enlisted in the Mexican
war. and spent two years under arms. After that
he returned to Missouri, married and in 1853
crossed the plains with ox teams to California.
He started to ranching there, continued in that
business ever since and is living now on the same
place. He has always taken a prominent part
in public affairs and was a sturdy pioneer both
of Missouri and California. Charles T. was edu
cated in the schools of his native country and
when grown to young manhood engaged with

754

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Miller and Lux, very large stockmen of that sec
tion, where he wrought for a number of years.
In 1887 he came to Harney county, Oregon,
and spent one winter. The next spring he jour
neyed on to Crook county and finally selected his
present place, taking it through government
right. He has bought other land since and has a
good farm, well laid out and improved. Mr.
Lillard immediately engaged in stock raising
and he has continued in that business very suc
cessfully since. He handles cattle, horses and
mules. His horses and mules are all first-class
draft animals and he does a fine business in this
line. When Mr. Lillard started out in life he had
no capital of his own and all he gained was
hy his own individual labor. Owing to his thrift
and sagacity he has accumulated a fine prop
erty. His ranch is a large and valuable one.
His stock is first-class and he has lots of it. Also
he owns other property. He is one of the repre
sentative and substantial men of Crook county
and has a splendid standing among his fellow
men. In 1894 Mr. Lillard married Miss Grace S.,
the daughter of A. O. and Mary A. (Calvert)
Bedell, natives of Missouri. They crossed the
plains in early days to Montana and were pio
neers in the west. Mrs. Lillard's parents both
came from prominent and well to do families
and were leading people. Mrs. Lillard was born
in Montana, and when still a child was brought
to Oregon by her parents. To Mr. and Mrs.
Lillard two children have been born, Joe Alvin
and Dorothy.
Mr. Lillard is a member of the I. O. O. F.
'and the A. F. & A. M., while his wife belongs
to the Eastern Star. He is a man who takes a
lively interest in political matters and in edu
cational' affairs and in addition labors for the
upbuilding and improvement of this country.

STEPHEN W. YANCEY is a farmer and
sheep raiser residing on the Adams ranch, eight
miles southeast from Prineville. He was born in
Kansas on February 18, 1870, the son of J. P.
'and Susannah (Hegler) Yancey, natives of Il
linois. In 1852 they crossed the plains to Cali
fornia where the father tried farming for some
time. In 1857 he went to Nevada, followed var
ious occupations and finally, with others, dis
covered the famous Walker mines in 1858. It
was 1881 when he came to Crook county with his
'family, and in 1897 he removed to Lakeview
where he engaged in 'freighting and also con-
'ducts a feed stable. He is well known for his
honesty and sagacity. Our subject was educated |

in the public schools of Prineville and early en
gaged in sheep shearing. He also raised stock
for himself and followed various other occupa
tions until he entered the sheep business in which
he has now got a fine start, owning nearly three
thousand head.
On October 22, 1893, Mr. Yancey married
Miss Sarah Adams, the daughter of William
Adams, a pioneer of Crook county and now resid
ing at Prineville, who also is mentioned in an
other portion of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Yancey
have three children, Orville, Adrian and Hazel.

SAMUEL R. SLAYTON, one of the vener
able pioneers of Oregon and well acquainted
with the various sections of the Pacific coast,
is now living a retired life in Prineville, Oregon.
He was born in Windsor county, Vermont, on
August 27, 1830. Leland Slayton, his father,
was also born in the same county and there re
mained until his death, being a farmer all his
life. He was a very prominent man in religious
matters, being at first a Universalist and then a
member of the Adventist church. The original
Slayton family came from England to America
among the earliest colonists of Massachusetts. A
little later they located in Vermont, being the
first settlers in Woodstock. The father married
Cassendana Ransom, who was also born in
Woodstock. She came from a very prominent
family of a distinguished martial record. Her
brother, Truman B. Ransom, was president of
the Norwich Military Academy in Vermont and
later was a colonel in the Mexican War and was
killed during the battle of Chapultepec. His
son, Greenfield Ransom, was a brevet major
general in the Civil War. Our subject began his
education' in his birthplace, then entered the
Kimball Union Academy, New Hampshire, but
before completing the course he decided to come
west and accordingly journeyed across the plains
in 1852 to Sacramento, California. A few weeks
later he started for Linn county, Oregon, and
there took a donation claim near the present city
of Harrisburg. He made several trips to the
mines in California, then he sold his donation
claim and took another piece of land in what is
row Douglas county, Oregon. He improved
that well, taught school ancl did mining, and in
1 863 sold out ancl came to Polk county, Oregon.
In 1869 we find him in what is now Crook
county, Prineville then being composed of one
building. He located in the vicinity of Prineville
rnd took some stock on shares. Notwithstand
ing his early labors, fortune had not smiled upon
kirn and he started here with very little means.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

755

The constant and industrious efforts brougiTt
their due reward and he began to prosper and has"
become one of the wealthy and leading stock
men of central Oregon. Recently Mr. Slayton
retired from active life and simply attends to the
oversight of his business from Prineville.
In 1858 Mr. Slayton married Eliza J. Savery,
who was born in Mississippi, the daughter of
Seaborn and Massie Savery. The father died
in Iowa. Mrs. Slayton, who died. October 31,
1901, came across the plains in 1852 and settled
in Douglas county, where she met and married the
subject of this sketch. Mr. Slayton took part in
the terrible Indian struggles and saw three
months' service in the Rogue River War. The
children born to our subject and his wife are
Edgar T., a rancher in Crook county; George S.,
a rancher in Cottonwood, Idaho ; Mrs. Virginia
U'Ren and Mabel Engs. For many long years
Mr. Slayton has labored here and has achieved
a success of which any one would be proud. He
is now enjoying the fruits of his labors sur
rounded by many admiring friends. He certainly
is to be classed among the leading citizens' of the
county and has done well the extended labors
which he has performed.

EDWARD NEWTON WHITE, an horti
culturist ancl farmer of Crook county, is now liv
ing five miles southeast from Prineville. He is
to be classed as one of the early pioneers of this
county, and, in fact, has been on the frontier all
his life. He was born in Hancock county, Ill
inois, on April 28, 1828, the son of Edward
White, one of the earliest pioneers of Illinois.
He was reared in the wilds of Illinois, being
among the Indians a large portion of the time,
until March 13, 1845, whe he was seventeen
years of age. He was then taken as interpreter
for a train which was to make its way across the
plains to the Pacific coast. When they arrived at
the Boise river they were surrounded by hostile
Indians, but Mr. White, owing to his skill and
knowledge of the savages, succeeded in extricat
ing his train without bloodshed. They settled
in the Willamette valley and remained until 1849,
when he went to the California mines. A year
later he returned to Linn county. While going to
California in 1849, on the R°gue river> he> with
fifteen companions, was suddenly met by a large
number of hostile Indians. Owing to his coolness
and knowledge of Indian ways, customs and lan
guage, he was enabled on this occasion also to
avoid bloodshed. Much is due to him on this oc
casion and especially at this last time for it was
very evident that a massacre had been planned.

In the spring of 1855 he went to Colville, Wash
ington, on account of his health, and in the fall,
when he returned to the Willamette valley, he
enlisted to fight the Indians. He was in the ser
vice for three months and then returned to the
valley, where he farmed until 1871. In that year
he came to Crook county and settled on the up
per Ochoco, eight miles east from where Prine
ville now stands. He engaged in stock raising for
ten years and then purchased a place one and a
half miles from Prineville, where he remained
about fifteen years with the exception of three
years, which he spent at Dufur, for the benefit of
his health. Three years since he came to his
present location and secured one hundred ancl
sixty acres of land. He has put out one of the
choicest orchards to be found in eastern Oregon
ancl doubtless the best one in Crook county. He
also retains his farm near Prineville, but pays
especial attention to the home place. Mr. White
has taken great pains to beautify and improve his
place ancl is very skillful in horticulture.
In 1848 Mr. White married Catherine J.
Burkhart, a native of Greene county, Illinois.
Her father, John Burkhart, was a pioneer of
1847. Aftr her death Mr. White married Anna
Woodsides, the latter wedding occurring in i860.
This Mrs. White was born in Ohio. Her father,
Thomas Woodsides, was a pioneer of 1847. He
started across the plains in that year with his
family ancl he and four of his children died before
they reached the Willamette valley, the last one
being burled at The Dalles. To Mr. and Mrs.
White the following named children have been
born: Mrs. Cynthia L. Harshler, of Dufur; Mrs.
Adelia A. Baker, of Benton county ; Mrs. Jane
McCullos, of Prineville; Mrs. Udosica Zeace, of
Boise ; Grant, of British Columbia ; Aaron W., in
Harney county ; Mrs. Grace E. Cham, and Ed
ward C. Mr. White has passed a long and event
ful career and is now hale and hearty and has the
great privilege of spending the golden years of his
life supplied with the competence that his labor
and thrift have secured, while he has the esteem,
confidence and good will of all who know him.

JOSEPH H. DELORE, a farmer and stock
raiser residing in Prineville, who was born in
Marion county, Oregon, on May 21, 1849. His
father, Peter Delore, was born where LaGrande
Oregon, now stands, in 1821, and is one of the
historical characters of the Webfoot State. He
now resides in southeastern Crook county, ancl a
detailed history of his career will be found in
another portion of this work. Joseph H. obtained
his primary education in Marion county, and

'56

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

also attended school in Wasco county, where he
remained until 1874, when he went to Nevada
and rode the range for fourteen years.- He came
to Crook county in 1889 and selected a place on
Beaver creek where he engaged in horse and
cattle raising until 1900. In that year he sold his
land and bought his present place, consisting of
one-fourth section of fine agricultural soil. This
lies six miles north of Prineville and is well im
proved with house, barn and other buildings and
is all under cultivation, producing the cereals and
hay. Mr. Delore also owns a residence in Prine
ville where the family dwell during the school
months of the year.
In 1902 Mr. Delore married Virginia Bert-
rand, the widow of Scipion Bertrand. Mrs. De-
lore and her former husband were born in France
and came to the United States in 1893, settling
in Connecticut. There Mr. Bertrand died in
1899. Five children survive him, three of whom
are living with our subject and the other two in
Connecticut. In 1901 Mrs. Delore came to
Prineville and there occurred her marriage to
our subject as stated above.
Mr. Delore is a hard working man and is
fast laying the foundations for wealth and inde
pendence, being considered one of the well-to-do
farmers of this section. During the Indian
troubles he was engaged as a scout with his
brother, Peter, who was captain of the scouts and
who is also mentioned in this history. Mr. and
Mrs. Delore are members of the Catholic church.

SAMUEL RUSH, a farmer residing at La-
monta, Crook county, was born in Jackson
county, Alabama, on April 24, 1829. His father,
Jacob Rush, was born in North Carolina, in
1806, and married Malinda Satterfield, who was
born in Jackson county, Alabama, in 1813. Our
subject received his early education in the com
mon schools of Alabama, but owing to the fact
that the country there was very new, he had little
opportunity for schooling. However, he studied
books and periodicals that he could secure out
side of school and became well read. He went
with his parents to Crawford county, Arkansas,
in 1846, where they settled on a farm and re
mained until March 15, 1852, when they
started with an ox team across the plains.
Our subject's father was the captain of the
train and the company consisted of twenty-
one wagons and one hundred and five people.
Their first difficulties were encountered when
they got to the Big Blue, as there the cholera
broke out and one man died. In a very
short time the disease spread throughout the

train and to other trains on the road and when-
they reached the Little Blue our subject's father
died. Our subject, one brother and his young
est sister took the disease and just at the critical
stage a doctor came along and gave them medi
cine, which with good care pulled them through..
So terribly fierce were the ravages of this disease
that a cavalry captain in the United States army
who came along at that time counted eleven hun
dred graves inside of ninety miles. As the In
dians were hostile, our subject was urged to push
on and they finally got to Fort Kearney, over
taking five wagons of their train that had gone-
on. There six people from these, wagons died in
seven days. Then the little train pushed on up the-
Platte valley and everything went well until in
the Rockies, when Nancy Rush, a sister of our
subject, took mountain fever. She lingered un
til they crossed the John Day and then died. At
Willow creek, in Morrow county, they had ex
hausted their provisions and our subject pur
chased from a man who was camped on the road,
seventeen pounds of flour for eighteen dollars.
On Fifteenmile creek, in what is now Gilliam
county, they came to a settler's place, named Na
than Olney, who sold them a few potatoes for
thirty-seven and one-half cents per pound. When
they arrived at The Dalles, our subject had no'
money but he sold a yoke of oxen and bought a
little flour 'which cost three bits a pound. As
Mr. Rush could get no passage on the boats on
the river, he hired Indians to take him and the
balance of the family to Cascade Falls. His
brother, Richard, drove the cattle down; and
took the typhoid fever. Then they hired another
party to take the cattle on to the mouth of the
Sandy and the family went down the river on a
flat boat owned by Joseph Stephens, who, owing-
to their terrible troubles, suffering and shortage
of cash, took them down free of charge. At the
mouth of the Sandy, the mother died and was
there buried. They had left one wagon on the
Malheur in Eastern Oregon and one with Parker
& Elliott at The Dalles, who agreed to deliver
it at Portland by December 25. Afterwards, Mr.
Gates; an attorney at The Dalles, said that the
wagon was carried away by a freshet so our sub
ject sustained that loss. At Sandy, he secured a
wagon from Mr. Smith to carry their effects to-
Oregon City with the agreement with Mr. Smith
that the wagon was to be delivered in Linn county
by December 25. They were very short of pro
visions on this trip to Oregon City and on one
occasion he met a man who had a little sugar who
kindly divided with them as they had almost noth
ing. Out of one hundred and five souls starting
on this memorable trip across the plains, but for
ty-five reached Oregon, the others having air

um

%
- ¦ 1 1 ^L

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Rusk

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

757

•succumbed to disease. Many times the train was
threatened by the Indians, but they had no seri
ous trouble wit| them. Mr. Rush saw Mr. Smith
from whom he had gotten the wagon and told
him it was impossible for him to bring it to Linn
county but that he would pay him for it if he
would sell it. Mr. Smith said to bring the wagon
or one hundred dollars by December 25. This
agreement our subj ect carried out although nearly
at the cost of his life. He took the money on
foot from Oregon City through snow and ice to
Mr. Smith's place. Heavy amounts of water had
fallen and every swail was full. This was frozen
and deep snow had fallen over it. The ice was
not heavy enough to bear his weight up and he
was constantly breaking through. It was a most
¦exhausting trip, and often wet, entirely worn out
at night, he was unable to find a place to sleep.
On some occasions, he fought with the people to
secure entrance within their doors. At one time,
he 'was two days without food. Finally, he
reached Mr. Smith's place on December 24, but
this man refused to give him a receipt in full as
he had failed to bring a chain that belonged with
the wagon. Young Rush was not to be put off
thus and finally Smith yielded and gave a receipt
in full. Mr. Rush came back, arriving in Ore
gon City on January 10, 1853. He was then
brought face to face with the gloomy outlook of
caring for his five brothers and sisters with
scarcely no means in hand and provisions terri
bly high, flour being thirty-five dollars per bar
rel. Finally his money run out and our subject
applied to Dr. McLaughlin of the Hudson's Bay
Company, who then owned the flouring mill at
Oregon City,- for work to buy flour, saying that
he had a yoke of oxen and would do him good
work. The doctor replied that he had no need of
any work. Mr. Rush pushed his case, showing
that they were starving and must have provis
ions. Still the doctor refused and Rush said. "If
vou do not let me have flour, I will go down to
the mill and take it." The doctor perceiving his
resolute spirit and desperate condition, invited
him to his house and gave him money with which
to buy food. The next year Mr. Rush had earned
-monev enough to repay the doctor and brought
it to liim, much to that 'gentleman's surprise, who
complimented the young man for his sterling in
tegrity, saying, "Keep the money, a man with
vour grit " can alwavs get flour from me." The
next move for Mr. Rush after the flour incident
was to take a contract from William Barlow to
cut fifteen thousand rails at one dollar and fifty
cents per hundred, taking- flour at twenty-two and
twentv-five cents per pound for pay. His brother
was still weak from the fever and unable to work.
Mr. Rush remarks that Mr. Barlow was very

kind to him in many ways at this time and he
continued in his employ until August, 1853, then
the family made its way into Lane county, where
our subject took a donation claim, the date being
September 3, 1853. He lived there fifteen years
and then in 1867, moved to Jackson county, where
he remained until 1884. Then he journeyed to
Crook county. Here he purchased land and has
continued farming since. He has done pioneer
work both in the valley and here and deserves
much credit as a frontiersman and pathfinder.
On March 12, 1857, Mr. Rush married Eliza
beth Breeding, who was born in Missouri, on De
cember 25, 1838. The children born to this cou
ple are Jennie, the wife of J. R. Bennett; Ma-
linda, married to J. W. Robinson; J. C. ; Mrs.
Ella Springs ; Belle, wife of James Wood ; and
Mamie, wife of J. T. Robinson.
Mr. and Mrs. Rush are members of the Chris
tian church and are worthy people. In politics,
he has always been a Democrat. Everything that
is for the betterment of the country finds in Mr.
Rush a hearty support ancl he is well known ancl
highly esteemed. '""
It is of interest to know that Dr. Benjamin
Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independ
ence, was a brother of the grandfather of our
subject.

DAVID E. TEMPLETON, a prominent citi
zen ancl an early pioneer of Crook county, is en
gaged in overseeing his interests in stock raising
and farming and in the drug business. He was
born in Indiana, on May 4, 1831, the son of Will
iam T. and Elizabeth (Ramsey) Templeton. The
father was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia,
in 1809, and descended from one of the prominent
colonial families. The Templetons first came
from England and settled in the wilds of the new
world with the Jamestown colony. They were
identified with the American cause before there
was a United States and were sturdy and substan
tial people. The father moved with his parents
to Indiana and settlement was made on a farm in
Henry county. In 1837 ne came to Missouri,
where he remained until the spring of 1847, then
lie journeyed across the plains, being accompan
ied by his wife and nine children of whom our
subject was the oldest. They used oxen to make
the trip and finally landed in Linn county, where
the father took a donation claim and remained
until his death. He was one of the leading citi
zens of the country ancl became wealthy before he
died. The Templeton family was among the first
settlers in Virginia, in Indiana and in Linn
countv, Oregon. The mother of our subject was
born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, and came

758

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

with her parents to Indiana when young. There
she was married. Her ancestors were of Irish ex
traction. Our subject received his early educa
tion in Missouri and then completed his studies iii
Rev. Spalding's missionary school in the Willam
ette valley. He labored on his father's donation
claim until of proper age, then took one for him
self adjoining. That was his home until 1870,
when he came to the vicinity of Prineville and
took government land and engaged in stock rais
ing. He soon became one of the large stock own
ers of the county and now owns five quarter sec
tions and much stock. With his son, he is oper
ating a drug store, under the firm name of Tem
pleton and son.
In 1855, Mr. Templeton married Lavinia Pell,
who was born in Ohio and came with her father
to Missouri in 1852 and then crossed the plains to
Oregon. Her parents were Calvin and Mary
(McCarren) Pell, pioneers of Oregon. Our sub
ject was county commissioner of Crook county
for four years and has always taken a keen inter
est in political matters. He has always done a
great deal to advance the interests of Crook
county. He is a man of sterling worth and in
tegrity and is well known in central Oregon. Mr.
Templeton and his wife belong to the Presbyte
rian church, he having joined when he was twen
ty-one years of age. He started in life with very
little funds and in 1849 went to the mines of Cal
ifornia where he was very successful. It is of
interest to know that our subject was the clerk
of the first election held in Linn county. Being
then eighteen years of age he distinctly remem
bers that there were but seventeen votes cast at
the election.

WALLACE POST is one of the industrious
and capable men of Crook county and has la
bored continuously here for the past twenty years
and has accomplished very much in the line of
improvement and building up which is the
strength of any community. He is a man with a
deep sense of honor ancl has so conducted himself
that he has won the admiration and respect of
every one who is acquainted with him. At pres
ent, he is engaged in general farming and stock
raising and resides about twenty-six miles out
from Prineville on the Burns stage road. His
birth occurred in Illinois, on November 19, 1847.
Stephen Hoyt Post, his father, was horn in
Pennsylvania ancl moved to Illinois in very early
clays with his father, Joseph Post. There he
grew to manhood, followed farming and in 1850,
crossed the plains with ox teams to California. He
remained one year in that new country then re
turned home and in 1852 he crossed the plains

with ox teams a second time, landing in Cali
fornia. In 1854, he returned to Illinois and the
next year moved to Blackhawk county, Iowa,
where he remained a year. His next move was to
Missouri, where he purchased a farm and re
mained until 1857. In that year, he brought his
family across the plains to Siskiyou county, Cali
fornia, being captain of the train. In 1859, they
settled in Polk county, Oregon and in 1864, they
went to Benton county, Oregon. There he re
mained until his death. On both trips from the
Pacific coast back to the states, he went by water.
He married Ursulia Wells, a native of New
York, where also the wedding occurred. She
crossed the plains with her husband in 1857. Our
subject received a little education in states before
he was ten years of age, but after that, as the fam
ily were on the frontier all of the time, all he
gained from reading at home. He was reared on
the farm and labored with his father until the
latter's death, then he supported his mother until
she married a second time. After that, he began
farming for himself and bought and sold several
farms in the Willamette valley. In 1885, Mr.
Post came to his present location and took gov
ernment land. He immediately began raising
sheep but later exchanged them for cattle. Now
he has a fine ranch with one hundred acres under
ditch and considerable stock. He has been pros
pered in his labors here and is considered one of
the well-to-do men of the county. Although Mr.
Post started in life with absolutely no capital he
has won his way by his own labors to a place of
competence and has gained for himself the entire
confidence ancl esteem of his fellows. Although
he himself was not permitted to enjoy the privi
leges of school, he is a very warm advocate and
supporter of educational institutions. He has a
very active mind which has been gathering infor
mation all these years and he is a man well posted
on the questions and issues of the day and is a
first class reasoner.
In 1 866, Mr. Post married Lucy E. Herbert,
who was born ancl reared in Benton county, Ore
gon. Her father, Joshua Herbert, was born on
Lake Erie ancl followed the trade of the mill
wright during his life ancl. came in 1844, to the
Willamette valley. He located the first flour mill
south of Oregon City. He married Elizabeth
Smith, who crossed the plains in 1846. Mr. and
Mrs. Post have nine children : Mrs. Annie M.
Crosby, Mrs. Ida Young, Mrs. Emma J. Gillmor
ancl Mrs. Estella E. Boardman, whose husbands
own fruit ranches in the Hood River country ;
Frank M., and William PL, ranchers in Crook
county ; Joseph R., Clarence ancl Nelly B., at
home. Since he was sixteen years of age, our subject

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

759

has been a member of the Christian church and
has always been very active in his labors for the
spreading of the gospel ancl the upbuilding- of the
churches. He has labored much in Sunday school
work ancl has been superintendent of thr- school
for years. He ancl his wife are devout Christians
and are constantly on the alert to set forth those
principles taught by Scripture for the good of
all' mankind.

JAMES M. FA UGHT has been a pioneer of
the Pacific coast for a great many years and vari
ous sections of the country bear evidence of his
industry and thrift. He now resides on the Burns
stage road, ten miles out from Prineville, where
he has a good place and follows farming. He was
born in Indiana, on November 4, 1834 the son of
William M. Faught, a native of Shelby county,
Kentucky. The father came to Indiana in early
day and settled on a farm twenty miles west from
Indianapolis. In addition to handling his farm,
he operated a flourmill, a sawmill and a distillery
and became very wealthy. In 1840, he lost his
wealth by going security for other parties. Fol
lowing that, he disposed of what property he had
left and moved to Davis county, Iowa, and took
up government land. In 1850, he and our sub
ject crossed the plains to California where they
were engaged in mining for three years, then they
returned to Iowa with a pack train. The next
year the father brought his family to the west,
accompanied by two brothers. They located on
land which they supposed belonged to the gov
ernment but which afterward proved to be a
Spanish grant. Upon ascertaining that point, Mr.
Faught sold his improvements and the remainder
of his life, lived with his children. He had mar
ried Nancy Sears, a native of Virginia, the wed
ding occurring in Indiana. Our subject was but
ten years of age when the family moved to Iowa
but as there were practically no schools in that
then wild country he had very little opportunity
to gain an education. As before stated, he ac
companied his father on a trip across the plains
then journeyed with a pack train back to the
states ancl in 1854, came a second time to Cali
fornia. Wheu twenty-three years of age, he
started for himself, having as his capital a Span
ish horse ancl a change of clothing. He began by
renting land ancl during the harvest seasons op
erated a threshing machine until he finally secured
sufficient monev to purchase a farm in Mendocino
countv, California, in 1865. Twelve years later,
he sold that property for eight thousand dollars
ancl moved to Trout creek, Crook county, taking
up the sheep business. He handled the first sheep
in that part of the country and in 1882, moved to

Prineville, where he remained two years, hand
ling sheep. Two years later, he purchased a
ranch on Bear creek which was the headquarters
for the sheep business, until 1895. In that year,
he sold all his stock ancl purchased the ranch
where he now resides, which has been his home-
since. In i860, Mr. Faught married Mary F. Stuart.
She was born on a tract of land which was in
dispute between Missouri and Iowa and which
afterward became a part of the former state.
With her parents, Abel and Elizabeth (Peal)
Stuart, she came across the plains to California
in 1849. The father was born in New York and
was a veteran of the War of 181 2, having par
ticipated in the battle of Lundy's Lane. He was
a well known forty-niner to California, ancl a
prominent man. The mother came from Ger
man ancestry. Following are the children born
to our subject ancl his wife: William, a cattle
raiser in Wallowa county, Oregon ; Cora I. ;
Elmer J., a stock raiser on Bear creek; and
Elam C. Mr. Faught enjoys a good reputation
and he and his wife have so conducted themselves
that thev have won the admiration and esteem of
all, have achieved a splendid success in financial.
matters and are best known as progressive and
first-class people.

JOHN WAGONBLAST has lived in Oregon
for half a century which is the larger portion of
his life. He was born in Buchanan county, Mis
souri, on October 24, 1848, and now resides at
Madras, Crook county, Oregon. His parents
were Gottlieb ancl Christina (Rieff) Wagonblast,
natives of Germany and now deceased. Their
marriage occurred in their native land ancl in the
early thirties they journeyed to the United States.
In 1855, with ox teams, they crossed' the plains
and spent the first winter on Willapa creek in
southwestern Washington. After that the father
bought land six miles southeast from Oregon City
where they remained until 1871. At that time
our subject started out for himself ancl worked
for a time at various places. In 1873 he bought
land and three years later sold out and settled
four miles east of Vancouver, Washington, just
across the river in Multnomah county. In 1878
he left that place ancl rented land in Wasco
countv, then purchased one hundred ancl twenty
acres of land on Threemile creek just out from
The Dalles. Mr. Wagonblast made that one of
the finest farms in Wasco county and in March,
1904, sold the same for fifty dollars per acre. Then
he took a homestead at Agency Plains in Crook
countv, where we find him at the present time.

760

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

He is planning extensive improvements on his
homestead and will raise grain and handle stock.
In Clarke county, .Washington, in 1873, Mr.
Wagonblast married Miss Mary C. Payne. Her
parents were Almon and Minerva Payne, natives
of Illinois. They crossed- the plains with ox
teams in 1852 and now reside in Clarke county,
Washington. Mr. Wagonblast has the following
named brothers and sisters : Jacob, William,
Henry, Charles, Frank, Margaret, wife of W. S.
Douthit; Caroline, wife of John S. Simmons;
Alice E., wife of Plenry Johnson. Mrs. Wagon
blast has one sister and three brothers, Jane, wife
of Sidney Stamp and Charles, Ben and Harvey.
Our subject is a member of the United Ar
tisans and in politics is a Republican. He has
seyeral times been a delegate to the conventions,
is active in the campaigns and is a respected and
popular citizen. He is a representative man in
;his community, liberal and public minded and
.has always labored for the upbuilding of Oregon.

JOHN W. ROBINSON, a merchant of Ash
wood, Oregon, was born in St. Johns, New
Brunswick, on September 23, 1857. His father,
James T. Robinson, was born in the northwestern
part of Ireland and settled in St. John, New
Brunswick, where he followed ship carpentering
and building. While thus occupied, he took a voy
age to England and many other parts of the
world. He married Susan Wiggins, on December
23, 1847, w'10 was °f English and Irish parent
age. Our subject was left an orphan when quite
young, his mother dying in 1867 and his father
In 1868, leaving him to he cared for by relatives.
He was educated at Canterbury, in York county,
New Brunswick, by his cousin, the Hon. Rob
ert Robinson, M. L. C. In 1874, he returned to
his native city and went to sea as ship steward,
which he followed for two years. During this
•time, he had one of the most thrilling experiences
of his life. In the fall of 1875, while steward of
the schooner, Rubina of St. John, Captain James
Secord, while on a voyage from Pictou, Nova
Scotia, to Boston, Massachusetts, loaded with
coal, they were caught in a southeast gale off
Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. The little vessel was
driven before the gale, the sails being "wing
and wing," shipping heavy seas, one of which
hroke over the stern, carrying away the only
hoat, snapping the three inch iron davits like
pipe stems, unshipped the wheel causing the ves
sel to broach too, jibing the mainsail, which threw
the vessel on her beam end nearly capsizing her.
The main boom broke in two at the jaws. The

vessel was now laboring very hard in the trough
of the sea and it took prompt and heroic work
to save her. The wheel was put in place and
orders given to cut away and let the main boom
and sail go by the board. The foresail was also «
blown into ribbons, watercasks and everything
were swept off the decks, the main boom was car
ried along the deck, tearing off the hatch bars and
tarpaulins, leaving the hatches perfectly loose,
which had not been caulked down as is custo
mary, as they had not anticipated such heavy
weather. It looked for awhile like the voyage
would end, using a sailor's phrase, "In Davy
Jones' Locker." They got the hatches nailed down,
but the seas sweeping the decks poured lots of
water into the hold through the uncalked hatches.
Their wooden pump heads had been split by the
main boom, which were repaired with difficulty.
They had to keep the pumps running constant
ly to keep afloat while driven before the gale
"under the gib only" across the mouth of the Bay
of Fundy toward the coast of Maine. They made
Owls Head harbor. Striking a reef going in
caused the ship to spring a leak. They were
then towed to Rockland, Maine, where the cargo
was discharged and the vessel repaired. After
this voyage, our subject shipped before the mast,
following the coasting trade. On March 19, 1877,
he shipped from New York and sailed around
Cape Horn on the ship Freeman Clark, under
James Dwight, captain, having a rough and tedi
ous voyage encountering many gales and much
head wind. The principal mishap occurred dur
ing a gale in the South Pacific when the block
on the foreweather brace broke. The foreyard
carried away, causing the loss of the foresail and
fore lower topsail. The seas were so rough it
was over a week before a new yard could be
rigged up. They arrived in San Erancisco Sep
tember 5, 1877, being at sea five months and six
teen days, having put into no port on the voy
age and sighting no land after rounding Cape
Horn until they sighted the Golden Gate. He
settled in Jackson county, Oregon, and followed
farming and mining until 1891, when he en
gaged in the mercantile business at Wimer in that
county, until 1898. In that year he took up min
ing, following that for a year. In 1899, he came
to Ashwood, Crook county, Oregon, and erected
the first building on the new townsite. Here he
has been engaged in general merchandising. He
has a large store and carries a complete line of
general merchandise and is a leading and pros
perous business man.
Mr. Robinson is a member of the Woodmen
of the World, Circle of Woodcraft, and Ancient
Order of the United Workmen. In politics, he

Mr. and Mrs. Jokn W. Rokinson

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Maupin

Mr. and Mrs. Columkus Friend

Tkomas S. Hamilton

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

761

is a Democrat, but not radical, while in church
relations, he ancl his wife are members of the
Christian church.
Mr. Robinson married Malinda A. Rush, No
vember 13, 1878, who was born in the Willamette
valley, October 11, 1859, the daughter of Sam
uel Rush, whose biography appears in this work.
The fruit of this union is two children, James
C. and Lenna B., wife of Lee Wood. His only
, brother, James T. Robinson, resides on his farm
near Culver, Crook county, Oregon.

HOWARD MAUPIN, deceased. Many
brave and noble men have labored to open this
western country ancl few have displayed greater
courage and more genuine pioneer equalities than
the subject of this memoir.
Howard Maupin was born in Kentucky, in
181 5, and during the first fourteen years of his
life was reared there and received his education.
Then the family went to Missouri, where he re
mained until 1852. Then he brought his family
across the plains to the Willamette valley, where
they lived until 1863. At such early days as that,
he came to Antelope valley, then Wasco county,
and engaged in stock raising. He had a fine band
of cattle and some twenty-two horses. Chief
Paulina and his renegade band stole all his
horses shortly after Mr. Maupin settled in the
Antelope valley. This was a terrible calamity
but Mr. Maupin was never able to recover his
horses nor did he ever get any remuneration.
Their nearest trading point at that time was
The Dalles, many miles distant. They kept a
stopping place for travelers and engaged in the
stock business besides. Later, they journeyed
from that place to the juncture of the Little ancl
Big Trout creeks where Mr. Maupin took a ranch,
being one of the first settlers in that section of
the country. He erected buildings, provided cor-
ralls and was giving close attention to the stock
business and farming. However, he had been
there but a short time, when one night Chief Pau
lina and six of his band came to the corral ancl
started off with Mr. Maupin's horses. Although
single handed, Mr. Maupin was not a man to be
deterred, so seizing a pistol he started after the
band. He killed one Indian near the house but his
companions packed him away. Also they ran the
horses off. Mr. Maupin, although alone, pursued
the band ancl surprised them in Paulina Basin,
about two miles from the present site of Ash
wood. He fired uoon Chief Paulina ancl wounded
him in the leg. The other Indians fled, leaving
their chief ancl another shot from Mr. Maunin's
trusty weapon killed another of the band. Then

he returned to the chief and dispatched him as
he was terribly wounded. Paulina had been the
terror of the settlers and Mr. Maupin took his
scalp and his bones as trophies of one of the
most renegade Indians the country produced. It
certainly was an act of great bravery on the part
of Mr. Maupin to pursue this band of thieves and
secure his property, for he got back all his
horses. It was bloody work, but it was a great
benefit to the settlers for there were no more
raids from these savages. They never even re
turned to get the body of their chief. Mr. Maupin
preserved the scalp and bones of Paulina until
his house was destroyed by fire when they were
destroyed with it. In 1878, Mr. Maupin passed
the way of all the earth and his remains rest in
the land that he had assisted so materially to open
up for the settlers.
In 1841, in Platte county, Missouri, Mr. Mau
pin married Miss Nany McCullum. She ' was
born in Clay countv, Kentucky, in 1821. She
spent her hildhood days in her native state, then
went to Missouri where she was married. To this
union were born five children, Perry, Elizabeth,
Rachel, Garrett, and Nancy.
Mr. Maupin was a veteran of the Mexican
War, enlisting in 1846 and serving until the close
of the struggle. Mrs. Maupin is now eighty-four
years of age, well preserved and vigorous and is
passing the golden years of her life in the coun
try which she has seen grow from a wilderness
to its present prosperous conditions.

COLUMBUS FRIEND, deceased. It is
very proper in a work of this character to in
clude a memoir of the esteemed gentleman whose
name appears at the head of this page, since he
wrought well here, was known as a staunch citi
zen, a man of integrity, and a kind and loving hus
band and father. He was born in Iowa, on May
23. 1846, and came to Oregon in 1870, receiving
his education in his native state. He remained in
the Willamette valley for a few years and then
came to what is now Crook county and engaged
in the cattle business. After a few years in that
line, he took up sheep raising and continued in
that until his death in 190?. He acquired a fine
property ancl left his widow with a splendid ranch
besides much other property. He was known as a
verv successful man in his labors, being a skill
ful stock raiser ancl a first class farmer who al
ways performed his labors in such a manner as to
bring about the best results.
In 1888, Mr. Friend married Henrietta
(Crooks) Hale, the daughter of Aaron Crooks.
The father was born in Iowa and came as a pi-

7&-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

oneer to Oregon in 1852, making the trip with ox
teams. Mrs. Friend was born in Linn county,
Oregon, in 1863. Mrs. Friend's first marriage
was to John Brown. After that, she was married
to Daniel Hale ancl finally to the subject of this
sketch. Mrs. Friend has the following named
children, Anna and Lenna Brown, Aaron and
John Hale, and Angie, Edith, deceased, Roy,
Ethel, and Bennie Friend.
Mrs. Friend has shown excellent skill and
fortitude in attending to the business since her
husband's death ancl has so handled the estate
that it has increased in value, which demonstrates
her capabilities in this line. She has a lovely
home, a very valuable farm and is well known
and a lady of many virtues.

THOMAS S. HAMILTON is one of the
leading stockmen of Central Oregon and he has
gained this position through his untiring efforts
since the early pioneer clays of this country. Dur
ing all his labors, he has shown an energy and
carefulness, coupled with skill that could but win
the smiles of Dame Fortune. At the present
time, he is living two miles south of Ashwood and
in addition to handling his extensive real estate
ancl stock interests has a one-half interest in the
mercantile firm of Irvin & Hamilton.
Thomas S. Hamilton was born in Clay county,
Missouri, on March 10, 1850. His father, An
derson Hale, was born in Missouri and there mar
ried Mrs. Elliott and in 1853, brought his family
across the plains. Our subject was but two years
of age when he accompanied his parents on that
weary journey which ended in the Willamette
valley. The father made settlement sixteen miles
south of Eugene in Lane county. There are sub
ject was reared and educated and in 1870 he
came to Lake county in this state and worked for
wages for one winter. Then he herded sheep
near Reno, Nevada, one winter and in this way
got his start. He returned to the valley and re
mained during the winter of 1872 and 1873 and
then came' to Summer Lake in Lake county, Ore
gon, and settled clown on a ranch. He had forty
head of cattle and thus he began really, his career
of ranching and stock raising. In 1874 he traded
his cattle for sheep ancl four years later came to
his present location. Since that time he has stead
ily followed the business of stock raising ancl
farming with such splendid success that he now
owns two thousand eight hundred and forty acres
of land, seventy-five hundred sheep, two hundred
head of cattle besides much other property.
Twenty head of his cattle are fine registered Short
Horn animals and Mr. Hamilton has the dis

tinction of being the first man to introduce
blooded stock in this part of the country. He is
certainly deserving of much credit for his efforts
in this line for it has resulted in very materially
improving the quality of stock. As stated above,
in addition to this property, Mr. Hamilton has a
half interest in the firm of Irvin & Hamilton and
is well known as a thorough, conscientious busi
ness man.
In January, 1889, Mr. Hamilton married Lo-
renda Crooks, who was born in the Willamette
valley, her father being Aaron Crooks. Two chil
dren have been born to this marriage, Arena and
Josephine. Mr. Hamilton is a member of the Masons,
the Odd Fellows, the Eastern Star and the Mac
cabees. The success that Mr. Hamilton has won
in the financial and business world, speaks vol
umes of the man's ability and carefulness and in
addition are a great incentive to others to strive
well in the business world. He has done a great
work in opening up and building up the country
and is to be classed as one of the county builders,
while he receives at the hands of his fellows, un
stinted confidence ancl esteem of which he is emi
nently worthy.

CHARLES CLYDE HON was born in Linn
county, Oregon, on July 8, 1871 and now lives
about twenty-three miles east from Prineville,
where he owns three-quarters of a section of land
and is engaged in stock raising. His father, John
Wesley Hon, was born in Iowa and crossed the
plains to Oregon in company with his mother in
the early fifties, She took a donation claim in
Linn county and he wrought on the farm until
grown to manhood. The mother had crossed
the plains with four children, the oldest being but
a small boy. The elder Hon married Olive Coyle,
1 native of California, who came to Oregon with
her parents in pioneer days. She died when our
subject was two years old. Charles Clyde was
educated in the Willamette valley ancl as early as
1886, came to Crook county and settled on a
ranch. Since then, he has given almost his entire
attention to stock raising and has gained very
good success in his labors. Mr. Hon has identified
himself with the interests of Crook county and
this portion of Oregon in a decided manner ancl
has always displayed an industry and progressive-
ness that stamp him one of the substantial men of
the county. His ranch is a good one, well im
proved and fitted for stock raising ancl he has a
good many animals on the range. Pie selected a
choice location when coming here and has made
it much more valuable by carefully improving it
and in addition to doing stock raising, his place is

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

763

admirably fitted for general farming and dairying.
In 1894, Mr. Plon married Miss Daisy Zevely,
who was born in Union county, Oregon. She
came to Crook county with her parents, James
and Elizabeth (Boyle) Zevely, in 1886. Her
father was born in Missouri and crossed the
plains to Oregon with his parents when a child.
Her mother was born in California and came to
Oregon in pioneer days. To our subject and his
wife one child has been born, Olive. Mr. Hon is
a member of the M. W. A. and a man of good
standing in the community.

JOSEPH P. PIUNSAKER is one of the sub
stantial and well known citizens of Prineville. He
was born in Illinois, on February 11, 1827, the
son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Brown) Hunsaker.
The father was a native of Pennsylvania and de
scended from Dutch stock. He came to Illinois
as a pioneer and settled near Quincy and there
grew to be a prominent and well-to-do man. Our
subject was educated in a little log school house in
Adams county and there grew up on a farm. It
was 1850 that he crossed the plains, first coming
to Oregon City in an ox team train. The next
year, he returned to Illinois and in 1852, crossed
the plains with ox teams a second time, landing
in Oregon City. Then he journeyed on to Linn
county and took up a ranch, which occupied his
attention until 1873. In that year, he put into
execution a plan he had formed previously, that
of exploring central Oregon and afterward se
lected a ranch on the Ochoco. He immediately
began the good work of building a home and
opening up a farm. Since that time, he has given
his entire attention to stock raising ancl general
farming ancl now he has splendid property some
nine miles out from Prineville on Combs Flat. He
also owns a residence in Prineville, where he
makes his headquarters ancl resides most of the
time. He has achieved success in this country
and has gained his property through his wise
labors here. For over thirty years, Mr. Hunsaker
has dwelt here and during all that time he has
shown an industry and ability to build up and im
prove the country, second to none. Much credit
is clue him for his labors ancl he certainly deserves
a conspicuous place in the front ranks of pioneers.
In 1854, Joseph P Hunsaker married Eliza
beth Campbell, who crossed the plains in 1852
with her parents, being in the same train with Mr.
Hunsaker. Her parents are John and Nancy
(Shook) Campbell, natives of Kentucky. To
our subject and his wife, the following named
children'have been born : Mrs. Alice Oman, living
in Portland; Mrs. Annie Gray, living on a ranch

in Crook county; and Mrs. Ida Maredth, in
Prineville. Mr. Hunsaker has so conducted himself in his
long residence in Crook county that he today en
joys a splendid reputation and .is known as a
man of uprightness and integrity.

THOMAS N. BALFOUR is rightly classed
as one of the early pioneers of Crook county. His
residence is forty miles out from Paulina on the
Burns stage road where he owns a fine ranch ancl
follows farming and stock raising. His birth oc
curred in Fifeshire, Scotland on March 28, 1855.
Robert Balfour, his father, was born in Scotland
ancl was a prominent ancl wealthy man. He mar
ried Elsbeth Nicholson, a native of Scotland who-
died when our subject was very young. Thomas
N. was educated in Scotland and while he was
still young, his father also died. He ancl his sister
being the only ones of the family, they remained
together for some time ancl Mr. Balfour learned
the German language and took a position as Ger
man correspondent and translator for the firm of
A. Bruntsch ancl Company. He continued in that
position until 1874, when he came to Oregon and
accepted a position on a farm in Linn county.
Later he rented a ranch ancl afterward purchased
a farm in that county. In 1882, he came to his
present location ancl took government land, then
sold it and purchased his present place and en
gaged in the stock business, and has continued
steadily in that. When Mr. Balfour settled here,
his closest neighbor was twelve miles distant. He
and his family were forced to undergo much
hardship and deprivation in their determined
stand to open this country and make for them
selves a good and comfortable home, but they
were not the kind of people to give up at every
little obstacle, but on the other hand with every
rising difficulty and hardship their determination
ancl spirit increased according and the result is
that they have not only overcome but have gained
for themselves a fine property.
In 1876, Mr. Balfour married Mattie Wilson,
who was born in Linn county, Oregon, where also
she was reared and educated. Her parents,
Thomas and Martha (Smith) Wilson, were na
tives of Indiana and Illinois respectively and
crossed the plains to Oregon with ox teams in
1847. The father took a donation claim in Linn
county and has become a very prominent citizen.
He was a well known breeder of fine stock ancl
was a leader in that line. He died in 1892, in
Linn county. The children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Balfour are Mrs. Maude Bixby, Mrs. Zoe Gib
son, Bruce B.. and W. Stanley.

764

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Mr. Balfour established Fife postoffice and
gave the name to the same. For ten years he was
postmaster and was an efficient public officer. For
four years past he has been justice of the peace
and has alwayrs taken a very prominent part in
educational matters and in the political affairs
•of the country. It is worthy of note that in 1884,
when there was an uprising of the Indians so
serious that most of the population of the country
housed themselves up in the forts, our subject
and his family remained on their farm between
Prineville and Burns and one other family besides
his were the only people who were not in the
fort. It is evident, as we stated before, that Mr.
Balfour and his family were not made of the ma
terial that gives way to difficulties and they came
to this country to stay and open it up, to make
thsemselves homes and they have succeeded ad
mirably.

HARDY ALLEN, a stockman, blacksmith
and general business man, resides at Sisters,
Crook countv, Oregon. He was born on Ochoco
creek, four miles from Prineville, April 13, 1874.
His father, Albert Allen, born in Missouri in
1844, was taken by his parents in 1845, when he
was one year old, across the plains, in a wagon
drawn by oxen. They were in the Meeks party,
and it is claimed that Meeks deserted them in
what is now Lake county. Then his father's
father, the great-grandfather of our subject, as
sumed charge of the train. The family settled in
Polk county, Oregon. Mr. Albert Allen lived in
Polk county until February 12, 1865, when he en
listed in Company A, First Oregon Volunteers,
under Captain LaFollette, and served until the
close of the war. In 1868 he came to what is now
Crook county, being among the first settlers. He
lived here until 1880 when he left and returned in
1895. At present he resides near The Dalles.
Our subject was among the first white chil
dren born in the territory now comprising Crook
countv. In 1880 he removed with his parents to
The Dalles. Here he received his education, re
maining until 1897, when he came to Crook
county. He located a homestead near the mouth
of the Matoles river, and engaged in cattle rais
ing until last spring, when he came to his pres
ent location and became the proprietor of a hotel,
and also did a considerable amount of blacksmith
work. He retains his ranch and about one hun
dred head of cattle.
In 1900 Mr. Allen was married to Miss Daisy
Davidson, born in Wasco county, Oregon. She
is the daughter of W. J. Davidson, a native of
Canada, who located near The Dalles. Our sub
ject has one brother, Marion Allen, living at

Boyd, Wasco county, and two sisters, Hattie
Thompson, residing at Prineville, and Clara Egg-
bert, of The Dalles. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have
one child, Harold, three years old. Politically he
is a Republican.

JAMES H. HAWKINS is a lumberman and'
stockman of Crook county, who has achieved
prosperity in his labors since coming here. His
mills are located about twenty miles above Prine
ville on the Ochoco. His father, Thomas D.
Hawkins, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and
removed to Arkansas when a led of twelve years
of age. Being left an orphan when quite young,
he had to make his own way in the world and
early learned to meet adversity. When the Re
bellion broke out, his sympathies were with the
union and the result was that he had to leave that
portion of Arkansas where he was living. On
account of this, he lost all his property. He
joined the First Missouri Cavalry and served dur
ing the entire war, being under General Blunt
much of the time. He was in seventy-two regu
lar battles, among them being Pea Ridge and
Vicksburg. He had two horses shot from under
him, three bullets through his hat and many
through his clothes. However, he escaped in
jury. For two years he was a scout and ren
dered invaluable services to the army in this ca
pacity. In 1886, he came to Oregon and re
mained here until his death. He had married
Cynthia Hughes, a native of Tennessee, who had
journeyed to Arkansas with her parents when a
child. In .1862, she went to Missouri and there
remained about a year, then returned to Ar
kansas. Our subject was educated at Rockbridge
Missouri, then engaged in lumbering in the same
state. In 1886, he came to Union county, Oregon,
and the next year, went to Boise county, Idaho,
where with his father and brother, he built a saw
mill. For three years they operated that plant,
then came on to Oregon and in 1894, erected a
mill on Combs flat ancl also bought the Marshall
mill. In 1895 he bought another mill. In 1899
he sold out this property and came to his pres
ent location and erected a new mill. Shortly
afterwards, he purchased another mill located
nearby and in company with his brother, W. J.,
he has continued in the operation of this since.
They own a section of fine land and have two
hundred head of cattle in addition to the two
mills. They supply Prineville and the surround
ing country with lumber and are doing a splendid
business. In 1893, Mr. Hawkins married Miss Mary
Thomason, a native of Arkansas. She came to
Oregon with her parents in 1886. To this mar-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

765

riage seven children have been born, Andrew,
Alta, Mamie, Henry, Roy, Willie and Pearl.
Mr. Hawkins is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the M. W. A. and the R. N. A. In addition to
his other qualifications, Mr. Hawkins possesses a
splendid ability in the mechanical line and is a
machinist of much skill. He has been able to
meet and solve all the various and intricate prob
lems that arise in frontier and commercial saw
milling. He has shown himself a master of the
business through and through for he has won a
splendid success and is becoming one of the
worthy and well-to-do men of the country. He
stands well, has many friends, and is a represen
tative man. —  ? « » 
WILLIAM HUBBARD PECK follows
blacksmithing and farming and resides two miles
west from Culver. He was born in Shiawassee,
Michigan, on June 4. 1853. the son of John Peck,
a native of Canada. The father was an early set
tler in Michigan and died in 1856. Our sub
ject received his education in his native country
and in 1870, went to Missouri, where he dwelt
four years. In 1875 he journeyed on west to
Santa Barbara, California and remained there
four years. On August 27, 1879, he started with
teams overland from Santa Barbara to the Wil
lamette valley in which latter place he spent two
years engaged in farming. He came to his pres
ent location in 1881 and took a preemption to
which he added, later, a homestead adjoining.
He engaged in stock raising and freighting and
other enterprises and in 1885 built a blacksmith
shop and began work at his trade. He had fol
lowed the same in Michigan, Missouri, and Cali
fornia and was a skillful mechanic. Mr. Peck
was the first blacksmith in this vicinity and has
continued at the same work more or less since.
He has a good farm which is well handled and
does a good business in the shop.
On "September 12. 1872^ Mr. Peck married
Man- Elizabeth Newman, who was born in \\ ar-
ren county. Kentucky, on December I7,_ 1S52. Her
father, Alexander Newman, was a native of Vir
ginia. To our subject and his wife the following
named children have been born: Mrs. Vena M.
Merchant, in Missouri, on July 11, 1873: David
W ., at Santa Barbara. California, in 1875 ; Mrs.
Hattie Cvrus. in California, on December 15,
1877 ; Lee Oscar, in Yamhill county, Oregon, on
December 29, 1879: John Alexander, in Crook
county, then Wasco county, on July 23, 1882:
Euretta, in Crook county, on December 8 1884;
Ralph W., in this county, on March 30, 1888.
The children are all settled nearby, on home
steads, except the two youngest, who are at home.

Mr. Peck is a member of the A. O. U. W,
he and his wife are members of the Degree of
Honor and the United Artisans. Politically, he
is a Socialist and takes pleasure in keeping him
self well informed on the questions of the day.

HENRY T. GRIMES has long resided in
Crook county end been known as one of the sub
stantial and industrious stockmen and farmers of
this part of the state. His home is now five miles
northwest fr®m Prineville, where he lives retired
from active business, having accumulated a com
petence sufficient to warrant this pleasant change.
He was born in Indiana, on January 1, 1844, the
son of John Grimes, a native of Kentucky. He
remained in Indiana until fifteen years of -age, re
ceiving his early education there, then removed
with his parents to Iowa, where he lived until the
spring of 1864, in which year he crossed the
plains with mule teams, consuming six months in
tne journey. He settled near Salem, Oregon and
followed farming there until 1877, when he came
to Crook county. He first took a homestead
where he resided for six years, then he sold out
and leased a large quantity of state land which he
made his headquarters for the stock business. He
handled cattle and horses for a number of years
there, then came to his present location, where he
purchased two hundred acres of land and con
tinued in the stock business. About one year
since he sold his entire stock holdings and is now
living a retired life.
In 1871, Mr. Grimes married Samantha El
liott, a native ®f Missouri. They have become the
parents of the following named children : Willie,
Maggie, John, Mary, deceased, Dave, Addie,
Fred and Frank.
Politically, Mr. Grimes is a Democrat and
always takes a keen interest in the campaigns. He
and his wife are members of the Methodist
church and for many years have labored faith
fully for the spread of the gospel and the ad
vancement of church interests, also they have been
ardent workers for the progress of education and
the betterment of educational facilities wherever
tnev have resided and have endeavored faithfully
to accomplish everything in their power for the
upbuilding of this worthy cause. They are highly
respected people and have hosts of admiring
friends.

AMOS FISK THOMPSON is in real truth
a genuine pioneer, for he has lived on the fron
tier nearly all his life. He now is retired from
active business and resides four miles north from

766

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Prineville. His birth occurred in Ohio, on De
cember 24, 1824, and his father was Daniel
Thompson, a native of Vermont. Our subject
was brought by his parents to Indiana when
quite young and remained there until 1828; then
tney moved to Illinois and settled about twenty
miles from the present site of East Springfield.
That was their home until 1831, when they jour
neyed to the western part of Illinois. There they
remained two years, then the family made another
move into Iowa. Our subject was one of the first
white children in that territory and this move to
Iowa was made shortly after the Black Hawk
War. He remained in Iowa for some time but
moved many times, so that he was always on the
frontier. In 1847 he started from St. Joe, Mis
souri, with an ox team outfit in a train of forty-
nine wagons and a carriage. They were six
months in crossing the plains and he finally se
lected a place on the Santiam, ten miles above the
present site of Lebanon. He wrought for wages
until 1849, then he went to California to seek his
fortune. For two years he delved in the golden
sands of that territory, then he went to Yreka
and mined one summer. During his journeys he
was shipwrecked at the mouth of the Rogue.
River but escaped with his life. Finally, Mr.
Thompson returned to the Sanitiam and in 1852
began farming. For twenty-two years he was
on that place, then he moved to Ochoco in Crook
county. His house was the last one east of the
mountains, as one journeys west and therefore,
by virtue of the position, became a natural stop
ping place for travelers. For twenty-five years
Mr. Thompson entertained the travel on the old
Santiam road, then sold the property and moved
to town. Later he sold his town property to
John Luckey and then bought two houses and five
lots in Prineville, which is a valuable property.
He also owns a ranch on McKy creek.
In 1852, Mr. Thompson married Elizabeth
Nye, who was born in Ohio, in 1821 and crossed
the plains in 1851. She died July 25, 1901. Her
father, Jacob Nye, was a pioneer of 1850 and a
native of Pennsylvania. He also was a veteran
of the War of 1812. The children born to Mr.
and Mrs. Thompson are Susannah, the wife of
Silas Hodges; Riley; Mrs. Jane Coyle ; Minta
Allen, deceased; Mrs. Victoria Powell; Preston,
and Frank, deceased.
In politics, Mr. Thompson chooses the man
rather than the party and reserves for himself the
settlement of all issues, regardless of party lines,
He is a consistent member of the Methodist
church and has always labored ardently for the
advancement of the gospel and the betterment of
educational facilities. He has been a pathfinder
on the frontier all his life and has done a splen

did work in this capacity. He has so conducted
himself that he has won the esteem and confi
dence of all who know him and is one of the ven
erable and respected men of the county at this
time.

EWEN JOHNSON is not only a pioneer but
comes from a family of strong and hardy pio
neers who have labored in various parts of the
country on the frontier in the great work of sub
duing the wilderness and blazing the path for
others to follow. He and his estimable wife are
now enjoying the golden days of their life in re
tirement at Prineville, have been blessed with an
excellent abundance of this world's goods as the
result of faithful labor in long years past. Our
subject was born in Kentucky, on November 24,
1838. His father was William Johnson, also a
native of the Blue Grass State and the Johnson
family were among the very earliest settlers in
Kentucky. In 1855 the father came on west to
Missouri and there settled on a farm which was
nis home until death called him hence. Our sub
ject's grandfather, also William Johnson, came
to Kentucky among the very first settlers in the
state and was personally well acquainted with
Daniel Boone. On one occasion he was accom
panied by a brother and sister and all were gath
ering wood. Upon looking up, they saw the
door yard full of Indians and being afraid hid
under the bank of the creek. The father and
mother, who were the grandparents of our sub
ject, and the children who were in the house, were
all killed. The mother of our subject was Polly
(Calavan) Johnson, also a native of Kentucky,
who came to Missouri with her husband and there
remained until her death. Ewen Johnson re
ceived what education could be obtained from the
early schools of his native state but was well in
structed in the lore of the pioneer. He remained
with his father until September, 1855, and then
went to Missouri and took a preemption. For
ten years he labored there, after which he decided
to come west. Accordingly he bought an ox team
and joined a train to the Willamette valley. Two
years were spent in that location and he jour
neyed to what is now Crook county, Oregon, lo
cating a ranch on Mill creek. Mr. Johnson's
family were the first to settle in the precincts of
what is now Crook county. Some unmarried
men had settled here before, but his was the first
family and Mrs. Johnson was the first white
woman to enter these wilds. Mr. Johnson im
mediately began stock raising ancl the good labor
of building uo a home here. In these lines he con
tinued steadily until 1898, achieving the success
that honest industry and esteem are bound to

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

7°7

bring forth. In the year last mentioned, Mr.
Johnson rented his farm and stock and removed
to Prineville, whence he oversees his property,
being retired from the greater activities of life.
During the Civil War, Mr. Johnson was a
member of the Missouri Home Guards and was
twice called out to defend the country from the
ravages of opposing soldiers.
The marriage of Mr. Johnson and Nancy S.
Stinson, a native of Kentucky, occurred in Wil
liamsburg, Kentucky, on September 20, 1854.
Mrs. Johnson's father, Jacob Stinson, was born
in Kentucky from one of the earliest families set
tled in that country. He married Elizabeth Wells,
also a native of the Blue Grass State ancl the
daughter of pioneers in Kentucky. To Mr. and
Mrs. Johnson, twelve children have been born:
W. J., a farmer nearby ; Mrs. Margaret J. Cadle ;
Sillistina; John J.; James; B. F., the assessor of
Crook county ; and six, who are deceased.
Personally, Mr- and Mrs. Johnson are genial
and kind people and have won the friendship and
the good will of all who know them. In business
affairs, he has always conducted himself in such a
manner as to win success ancl at the same time
keep unsullied the honor of his name. As a citi
zen, he is broad minded, progressive and takes a
lively interest in all that is for the welfare of the
community. He and his wife are to be com
mended for what they are and have accomplished
ancl that they have sought for the good of all.

D. P. ADAMSON is one of the younger bus
iness men of Prineville and is blessed with a
prosperity and success which are very gratifying.
nis birth occurred in Harrison county, Indiana,
on December 13, 1870 and he is now a- first- class
druggist of Prineville. Mr. Adamson is a self
made man in every respect and in the words of
the noted Mark Twain, "he did not stop until the
job was completed." Our subject's father, Elisha
Adamson, was also a native of Indiana and came
to Oregon in 1883. He made settlement in Linn
county and is now living near Oregon City, oc
cupied in farming. Our subject's mother, Sarah
(Turley) Adamson, was born in Indiana and
came to Oregon in 1884. D. P. studied in the
common schools of Indiana and Linn county, Ore
gon, until 1890, when he entered the state Agri
cultural College at Corvallis. He graduated
with the degree of B. S. A. and one year later
completed a post graduate course for which he
received an additional degree of Bachelor of
Sciences. In 1895, we find Mr. Adamson in
Prineville, teaching school and there he remained
until 1899. In that year, he started in the drug

business and with such an energy and wisdom has
he practiced the same that he owns today one of
tne most complete establishments in this part of
the state. He has a splendid patronage, which is
fully merited by his promptness, his accuracy and
his deferential treatment of all. His establish
ment is one of the finest business places in Prine
ville. In 1898, Mr. Adamson married Miss Tillie
Lafollett, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret
J. (Allen) Lafollett, who are mentioned in an
other sketch in this volume. Mrs. Adamson was
born in Crook county, Oregon, and educated at
Prineville. It is very interesting to know in
this connection that Mr. Adamson started in life
without any means whatever and everything that
he now possesses and the labors he has achieved
are the result of his own unaided efforts.
Fraternally, he is associated with the Masons
and the order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Adam
son is a close student and keeps fully abreast of
the advancement of science and is a well informed
ancl an up-to-date man.

ARTHUR HODGES. There is something
in the career of success which shows the marks
of true worth ancl stimulates others to better ef
forts, that is exceedingly interesting to follow.
It is our pleasure and privilege at this time to
chronicle the salient points of the life of one who
has demonstrated beyond a peradventure, that
he is made of the stuff which climbs to the top
round of the ladder. Although still a young
man, Mr. Hodges has demonstrated his popular
ity and ability in the business and 'commercial
world in such a manner that gives him unstinted
approval and the commendation of all who are
acquainted with him. His has been a life of hard
work and close application to the business in
hand and the success that is now crowning his
efforts has not come by itself but has been hon
estly earned by him.
Arthur Hodges was born in Benton county,
Oregon, on March 14, 1865. His parents are
mentioned in another portion of this work. When
but five years of age, he came to what is now
Prineville and since that time, has made this the
field of his labors. The tenacity, stability and
integrity of the man have been abundantly shown
in all his efforts in this place. The public schools
01 this county gave him his primary education
but not being contented with that, he entered the
agricultural college at Corvallis in 1882 and com
pleted a course. Then he entered the Colum
bia College in Portland and graduated in 1884.
Returning then to Prineville, Mr. Hodges taught

768

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in the city schools one year. In 1886 he was ap
pointed deputy county clerk and served in that
capacity four years. In 1890, he was elected
county clerk and for five consecutive terms he
held that office, a record that is hard to beat. In
1888, Mr. Hodges was elected mayor of Prine
ville and held that chair for two terms. In 1900,
Mr. Hodges determined to enter the commercial
world and accordingly bought an interest in the
business under the firm name of Wurzweiler and
Thomson. Since that time, he has been steadily
engaged with this firm, which carries the largest
stock of general merchandise in Crook county.
They have a fine selection of everything that is
needed in this country and are among the leading
merchants of eastern Oregon.
On January 17, 1900, Mr. Hodges married
Miss Stella Gesner, who was born in Salem, Ore
gon, where also she was reared and educated.
Her father, Hon. Alonzo Gesner, came to Ma
rion county, Oregon, in 1845, having crossed the
plains with teams. He became a very prominent
citizen, held various offices, among which was
that of state senator and followed his profession,
that of civil engineering. He married Rhoda
Neal, a native of Marion county, Oregon. Mr.
and Mrs. Hodges have one child, Rhoda.
Mr. Hodges is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and a popular man in fraternal circles. He and
his wife are leading people in society, are genial
and kindly hosts and their home is a center of
refined hospitality.

B. F. JOHNSON is holding the important
position of assessor of Crook county. He re
sides at Prineville and is one of the best known
men throughout the county. He was born on
the ranch about twelve miles east from Prine
ville, on November 5, 1872, being one of the first
white children born in Crook county. His father,
E. Johnson, was an early pioneer to Oregon and
settled east of the Cascades in 1867. Our sub
ject was educated in Crook and Sherman coun
ties and has spent the major portion of his life
in Crook county. He has seen the country de
velop from the wilds to its present condition and
has assisted materially in bringing about this
good end. Mr. Johnson well remembers the
days of the "vigilance committee" and also one
morning that he saw two horse thieves dangling
from a tree where they had been left by these
executors of the law. As soon as he was able,
he was more or less in the saddle and has been
identified with -the stock industry from the ear
liest days until the present time. He owns a
ranch of two hundred acres of fine deeded land
on Mill creek and has ninety head of cattle, be

sides horses and improvements for the place. In
June, 1902, Mr. Johnson was elected to the office
of county assessor on the Republican ticket but
has refused renomination. In this office he has
given entire satisfaction and displays a conscien
tiousness and skill very befitting.
On May 5, 1898, at Burns, Oregon, Mr.
Johnson married Jennie McPheeters, who was
born in Missouri, on September 21, 1873. Her
father, C. M. McPherson, a physician ancl sur
geon, came to Oregon in 1886 and died on June
22, 1901. Our subject has three brothers,
W. J., a rancher and stockman in Crook county ;
J. J., a cattle man in Malheur count)- ; and J. E.,
a sheep raiser in Harney county.
Mr. Johnson is a good active Republican,
belongs to the Masons, is a member of the K.
P., the W. W. and the circle.

WILLIAM A. BOOTH, who has shown him
self one of the leading commercial men of Crook
county, was born on September 6, 1849, in Lee
countv, Iowa. Robert Booth, a native of England
was his father. He came to America when young
and settled in New York and as early as 1852,
crossed the plains to Yamhill county where he
took a donation claim and in 1867, he moved to
Douglas county and soon after to Josephine
county, all in the state of Oregon. He was a
preacher of the gospel in the Methodist denomi
nation and was a man of prominence. Our sub
ject's mother, Mary (Minor) Booth, was born
in Indiana and came to Iowa when a young girl.
She crossed the plains in 1852. After studying
in the common schools, our subject entered the
Wilbur Academy in Douglas county, Oregon, and
there completed his education. In 1871, he came
to what is now Crook county and engaged in the
stock business. He was especially successful in
this line and was soon one of the leading stock
raisers of the state of Oregon. Being thus pros
pered, he gained wealth rapidly and at the same
time, demonstrated his ability to handle it very
successfully. From 1894 to 1899, he embarked in
the mercantile business and gained an equal suc
cess in his labors to that in stock raising. Twice
Mr. Booth has been sheriff of Crook county and
gave the people a splendid administration. In
1902, he was chosen county judge. At the pres
ent writing, Mr. Booth is the moving spirit in the
establishment of a Bank in Prineville. With sev
eral others, they have secured the incorporation
papers and will soon elect their officers and open
the doors of the institution. He is a man abund
antly fitted to take charge of an enterprise of this
sort and we may expect the same careful business

WILLIAM A.BOOTH

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

769

dealing as has been pursued in his life hereto
fore. The people have great confidence in Mr.
Booth and it is well merited by his life.
In 1877, Wilham A. Booth married Lucy S.
Carey, a native of Marion county, Oregon, and
the daughter of Abijah Carey, one of the ear
liest pioneers of the Willamette valley. Two chil
dren have been born to this union, Luren A.
ancl Iva E.
Mr. Booth is a member of the A. F. & A. M.
and the K. P. He is deservedly classed as one of
the earliest pioneers and is a leading citizen and
one of the substantial and representative men of
Central Oregon.

W. J. JOHNSON is one of Crook county's
substantial farmers. He has . the distinction of
being one of the earliest pioneers of central Ore
gon and his name is rightly embraced in any line
of this worthy class of people. His father's farm
is located on Mill creek, about eleven miles above
Prineville and W. J. has made it his home for
many years, and is now operating the entire
estate. W. J. Johnson was born in Mercer
county, Missouri, on February 3, 1857, the son
of Ewen Johnson, a native of Kentucky. A de
tailed sketch of Ewen Johnson's life is found in
this work elsewhere, therefore we need not repeat
it here. Our subject came with his parents across
the plains in 1865 and soon thereafter they lo
cated in central Oregon where he was reared and
educated. His brother, James, was the first
white child born in Crook county and the John
son family is well known among the pioneers
here. Our subject assisted materially to build up
the country, has labored here steadily, has held
various offices and is one of the substantial men
of the county. He was the first deputy sheriff of
Harney county.
He is a member of the A. F. & A. M. and has
been for twenty years, and for the last twelve
years has been affiliated with the I. O. O. F.

WILLIAM H. CADLE follows the dual
occupation of farming and stock raising, his
headquarters being on the Ochoco, nine miles
above Prineville. He has a splendid ranch, well
kept and properly improved for the business and
is one of the prosperous and well-to-do men of
the country. He was born in Iowa, on May 9,
1858, the son of James M. and Ellen (Stalcoup)
Cadle, natives of Tennessee. They came to Iowa
in earlv days, later crossed the plains, having
then a 'family of five children, and settled on a

ranch in California. There the father remained
until his death in 1901. Our subject was edu
cated in the Golden State and in 1880, came
north to Oregon. He soon selected a location
on the Horse Heaven mountain in Crook county
and there remained until 1902. Then he came
to his present place, purchased a farm and en
gaged in stock raising and general farming. As
stated, he has a fine place and knows well how
to handle it in the best manner. He raises cattle
and some horses and has good stock.
On October 29, 1882, Mr. Cache married
Margaret J. Johnson, who was born in Missouri
and crossed the plains with her parents in 1865.
A more extended sketch of her parents is given
in another portion of this work. To Mr. and
Mrs. Cadle, two children have been born, Alpha
W. and Ruby M. Mr. Cadle is one of the suc
cessful men of central Oregon. He has gained
this distinction all through his business ability
and the thrift and thoroughness with which he
manages his affairs. He is not only entitled to
the prosperity he has achieved but is worthy of
the esteem ancl confidence bestowed upon him by
a large circle of admiring friends.

MICHAEL CHRISTIANS a retired farmer
now residing in Prineville, has had a most re
markable and adventurous career. He was born
in the old country, in 1 83 1 and twenty-two years
later, left his native land for the United States.
He landed in New York and worked in a meat
market for a while after which he went to She
boygan, Wisconsin. Shortly after that he went
to Greenbay and then to Menomonie in the same
state. Lumbering occupied him for a while and
at the time of fhe Pike's Peak excitement, he
came on to Colorado. He mined there until the
Salmon River excitement broke out, when he
came to that point. He located the second cabin
on Grasshopper creek, Montana, in the fall of
1862,' and secured a claim. This claim yielded
him about eight thousand dollars. In the spring
of 1863, we find him in the Yellowstone park,
That was before the government had set apart
that for a national park. He traveled all over
Montana and Wisconsin and was in one hard
Indian fight on the Big Horn, when the miners
defeated the Crowe Indians. Next we see him
in the famous Alder Gulch in Montana and in
the spring of 1864 he went to Kootenai, British
Columbia. He remained there until September
5th of the same year, then journeyed on down to
Walla Walla. From that point he came to Port
land and after spending two weeks in the city
went to the adjacent country and remained dur-

49

77-o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON:

ing that winter. The next spring he went to the
mines and this occupation, in various sections of
t;.e- country, engaged him until 1873, when he
came to Prineville with a band of sheep. He
purchased a ranch and settled down to raising
sheep which he followed for a short time, then
tanned until 1894, in which year he came to
Prineville^ bought a comfortable home and since
that time has been retired from business. He
still owns his ranch, which is valued at ten
tnousand dollars, and also has considerable other
property. On April 6, 1882, Mr. Christiani married
Malinda Jane Barnard, who was born in Linn
county, Oregon, on February 6, 1866. Her
father, James Barnard, was born in Tennessee
and crossed the plains in early days. Mr. and
Mrs. Christiani have two children, Charles O.,
aged twenty and Malinda Caroline, aged eleven.
Mrs. Christiani is a member of the United
Artisans. Our subject and his wife are respected
and esteemed people, have shown an industry
and carefulness in their labors here which have
met with their proper reward and they have
done a good part in developing the country.

JUDGE WELLS A. BELL, a prominent and
successful attorney at law, now residing at
Prineville, Oregon, was born in Benton county
of the same state on April 22, 1872. His father,
Matthew H. Bell, crossed the plains as early as
1852, making settlement in Benton county.- He
married Elizabeth C. Wells, who also crossed the
plains to Oregon in 1852. Our subject was
reared on a farm and educated in the early
sonools of his native county and then entered the
college at Corvallis. In 1890, he went east and
cornpleted his literary training in Monmouth
college/ Illinois. Then he entered the Oregon
law school and in 1894, was graduated with the
degree -of Bachelor of Laws. In the same year
he located at Prineville and commenced practic
ing. ¦ For ten^ years he has continued steadily in
this field, winning splendid success. His stand
ing in the community is of tke best and he is es
teemed as a leading citizen. Mr. Bell has been a
thorough student during his life, which, added
to 'his natural ability, makes him a professional
man1 of merit and standing. Among his col
leagues he- is recognized as a forceful and keen
lawyer,' devoted to the interest* of his clients ancl
a hard fighter. He has won, step by step, a fine
practice and presaging the future by the past,
we 'may look for even much greater things from
Mt- Bell. He was deputy prosecuting attorney
for -the seventh judicial district from 1894 until

June, 1904, when he was chosen judge of Crook
county. In 1895, Mr. Bell married Effie D. Vander
pool, who was born and raised in this county.
Her parents are William and Elizabeth (Temple
ton) Vanderpool, pioneers to Crook county. Two
children have been born to our subject and his
wife Fayne C. and Don A.
Judge Bell is a member of the K. P. and the
W. W. and the Maccabees. He and his wife are
leading members of society, are devoted support
ers of everything that tends to build up this
county and are highly esteemed people.

PERRY B. POINDEXTER is the. owner
and proprietor of the hotel Poindexter one of the
choiest places of entertainment in eastern Ore
gon. Owing to his business management and his
kind and constant care for his large number of
guests Mr. Poindexter has made his hotel one of
the most popular places in this part of the state
and it is constantly crowded. Being one of the
leading business men of Prineville and also a
very successful man it is quite fitting that a de
tailed account of his life should appear in this
volume. Perry B. Poindexter was born in Eugene,
Oregon, on August 26, 1858. James Newton
Poindexter, a native of Illinois, was his father
and he came across the plains in 1852. He was
prominent in political matters and sheriff of Lane
county, Oregon from 1874 to 1878. He was also
a pioneer blacksmith of Lane county. His death
occurred in Prineville, on March 20, 1903. El
vira McCord, a native of Missouri, crossed the
plains in the same year as James N. Poindexter
and they were married later in Lane county. She
is still living. Our subject was educated in
Eugene and there remained until 1878, then he
went to Portland and worked for wages until
1 88 1. In that year he came to Prineville and
worked for wages in a livery stable and hotel
until 1888. Then he opened a restaurant, having
at that time very limited capital but possessed of
sagacity and aptnes* that could win success. He
began to have a fine patronage from the start
and continued in handling the restaurant until
1901. Then he built the hotel Poindexter and
the original restaurant is bis dining room at the
present time. The hotel is one of the best in
the eastern part of the state and is a model of
comfort and neatness. In addition to this prop
erty, he owns a fifth interest in the Bernolia
mining property, owns one hundred and sixty
acres of land at Pickett Island and two pieces of
property in Prineville, one worth ten thousand

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

//¦

dollars and one worth five thousand dollars. In
, addition to this, he and his wife have a half sec
tion of fine timber land, besides considerable
other property. Mr. Poindexter has accumulated
these holdings since starting in business in Prine
ville and it bespeaks a man of superior business
ability. On November 22, 1885, Mr. Poindexter
married Isabella Wilson. Her father, Robert
Wilson, crossed the plains in 1854, settled in Lane
county and later removed to Clackamas county,
where he died February 10, 1877. Her mother
had come across the plains in 1849. She was a
pioneer of Crook county in 1877 and is still liv
ing in Prineville. Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter
have five children, Ralph Victor, Bernola, Rob
ert Newton, Dot, and Gerome Vernon.
Mr. Poindexter is a member of the A. O.
U. W., the W. W., the Degree of Honor, and the
Circle. Politically, he is a Democrat. Mr. Poin
dexter is very widely known throughout the
county and is very highly respected. In addi
tion to laboring faithfully to secure the personal
success that has crowned his efforts, he has al
ways shown a very marked interest in the wel
fare of the community and is one of the pro
gressive, public minded men of the country.

JAMES LAWSON, who follows the sub
stantial calling of the agriculturist and farmer,
heing located some thirteen miles up from Prine
ville on Mill creek, was born in Kentucky, on
August 28, 1828. From worthy ancestors, he in
herited a name untarnished and honorable and
has kept it in the same way during a long and
eventful life. He is one of the sturdy pioneers
of the great state of Oregon and has done a
lion's share in making it what it is today. Nathan
Lawson, the father of our subject, was fcorn in
Georgia and came to Kentucky with his parents
when a small boy. He followed farming all his
hie and died in the Blue Grass State, being prom
inent and wealthy. He married Amy Smith, a
native of Virginia, who came with her parents to
Kentucky in pioneer days. From the public
schools of the Blue Grass State, our subject re
ceived his education and grew up on a farm.
When of the proper age, he married and moved
on west to Missouri. In 1863, he joined the tide
of emigration to the Pacific coast and with his
wife ancl two children, crossed the plains with
ox teams. After an ordinary trip, they found
their way to Linn countv and there he purchased
land and engaged in farming. In 1870. he de
cided to try the country east of the Cascades and
accordingly sought out a location in Crook

county. The same year, he purchased a quarter
section of land and has since added another quar
ter, having now a half section of choice agricul
tural land. The same is well improved and dis
plays the thrift and sagacity of our subject. In
Missouri, Mr. Lawson was a member of the state
militia during the Civil War.
In 1849, occurred the marriage of Mr. Law-
son and America Calavan. who was born in Ken
tucky, the daughter of James Calavan, a native
of Tennessee. Mr. Lawson and his wife have
labored long and hard in this western country
and have not only accomplished much for them
selves but have inspired many in the same good
work. They are estimable people, have many
iriends ancl have well earned the honorable posi
tion which they have occupied in this community.

MICHAEL L. BROWN, of the firm of
Meyer and Brown, is a well known stockman of
Crook county. The business and holdings of the
firm are particularly -mentioned in the sketch of
ivxr. Meyer, which appears in another portion of
this work. Michael Brown, was born in Erie
county, Pennsylvania, on April 7, 1861. His
father, Joseph Brown, was born in Baden, Ger
many, and came to America when a young man,
making settlement in Erie county. There he be
came a wealthy and prominent citizen. He mar
ried Lena Delanter who was born in Badenburg,
Germany, ancl came to America when a young
girl. Our subject received his education in his
native county and when twenty years of age,
came to Oregon. Since that time, he has been
associated with Mr. Meyer and in the early eigh
ties they entered into partnership in the stock
business in Crook county. They have continued
in the same ever since and are now among the
leading stockmen of this county. He started here
with no capital except his hands and everything
that he now possesses is the result of his wisely
beetowed labors.
Mr. Brown is one of the representative men
of the community and is respected and esteemed
by all.  *-—* 
MRS L. ROSE LAWSON resides some ten
miles out from Prineville on the Ochoco, making
her home with her children who own consider
able property and are occupied in general farm
ing and stock raising. She was born in Marion
county, Oregon, the daughter of James Miller,
a native of Missouri. He crossed the plains by
teams with his father in 1847 and settled where
Silverton now stands. Then he went to Cali-

77*

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

fornia, where he received his education and later
returned to Silverton, Oregon, and became a
prominent and well to do man. His father,
Charles Miller, owned the first drug store at Sil
verton. Mrs. Lawson's mother, Julia (Smith)
Miller, was born in Arkansas and came to Ore
gon with her parents in 1847, being then but two
years of age. Mrs. Lawson was educated at
Silverton, Oregon, and in 1873, married J. J.
C. Lawson. The following year, they came to
Crook county where Mr. Lawson taught school
and later did stock raising. He spent twenty-
five years of his life as an active educator and
was very successful in that calling. For two
years, he was superintendent of schools for
Crook county and was a well known and promi
nent man. To Mr. and Mrs. Lawson, four chil
dren have been born, Una, Douglas, Gilbert and
Louise. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson were pioneers
in Crook county and have done a great deal to
assist in its development.

DAVID F. STEWART is one of the best
known men in Prineville, being one of the pioneer
business men there, who is still in active busi
ness, and having been intimately associated with
the interests of the town and county since the
early days. He is a miller and is also interested
in other lines of 'business. David F. Stewart was
born in West Virginia in 1853. His father,
Joseph Stewart, was a native of Ohio. Owing
to the disturbance of the schools by the Civil
War, our subject was not favored with as good
opportunities for education as he desired, still,
by improving what he had, he secured a fair edu
cation and in 1 87 1, left West Virginia and came
to Nebraska. He worked for wages there until
1872, when he engaged in the milling business
remaining there until 1876. Then he came to the
Willamette valley, where he stayed until De
cember 25, 1879, at which date he came to Prine
ville. He took charge of the flour mill owned
by Breyman and Summerville in which capacity
he remained until the following year, when he and
Mr. Pet bought the property. Mr. Pet sold later
to Mr. Fuller and the firm was known as Fuller
& Company. In 1899, Mr. Hodson bought an in
terest and the firm became Stewart & Company.
Upon the death of Mr. Fuller, in 1900, our sub
ject purchased his interest. Since October, 1902,
the firm has been known as Stewart & Hodson.
Our subject was also engaged in merchandising
for a number of years with Mr. Fuller and later
he was with Mr. W. A. Booth and at the present
time is associated with the firm of Michel & Com
pany. Mr. Stewart was here during the reign of

the vigilance committe and was one of the five
who organized the Moonshiners, a political or
ganization to put down the terrors of the vigilance
committee. They succeeded in bringing in law
and order and much credit is due this stalwart and
intrepid man who was assisted to establish the law.
In 1875, Mr. Stewart married Miss Plummer,
a native of Ohio. To them three children have
been born, Grace, James E. and Una E. Mr.
Stewart is a member of the A. O. U. W. and the
W. W.
Politically, he is a Republican, while in church
relations, he and his wife belong to the Baptist
denomination. Since 1872, Mr. Stewart has been
continuously engaged in the milling business be
sides the mercantile and he is considered one of
the leading and substantial business men of the
country. He has won and retains the respect
and confidence of all the people and has done' a
good labor towards building up the country and
is a leader in society.

JOHN D. LaFOLLETTE, a stockman re
siding seven miles north from Prineville, was
born in Iowa, in 1858. His father, Jerome B.
LaFollette, was born in Indiana and was one of
the business men of Crook county, coming to the
territory now embraced in the county, in 1871.
He took an active part in politics and at one time,
was nominated for the legislature, from Wasco
county. His death occurred in 1884. John La
Follette, his father, the grandfather of our sub
ject, was born in Kentucky and his brother was
the grandfather of Robert LaFollette, who served
three terms as governor of Wisconsin, and is now
United States senator from that state. Our.sub-
ject came with his parents to Marion county, in
1862, crossing the plains with horse teams on a
six months' journey. They settled near Salem
and three years later moved to Linn county,
where our subject received his education. In 1871,
as stated before, they came east of the Cascades
and settled near where Prineville now stands, be
ing among the first pioneers of the section. At
that time, the nearest postoffice was The Dalles,
distant one hundred and twenty miles. For about
five years they were on that location and then sold
and moved to Camp Creek taking up the stock
business. Five years later the father sold his
cattle on Camp creek and moved to Prineville,
where he bought a blacksmith shop and a livery
barn. In 1881 he disposed of that property and
moved to the place where our subject now re
sides, and there he was killed in the fall of 1884,
by the accidental overturning of a load of hay.

Mr. and Mrs. David F. Stewart

M

gffirv

¦ 1
B
^^j
M'^m
E ¦",<--
V l^* -1
Jokn D. La Follette
Tkomas H. La Follette
HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

773

Then our subject engaged in the stock
btisiness ancl has continued thus since, with the
exception of four of five years spent in Prineville.
He owns a ranch of three hundred acres and
fine bands of cattle and horses.. The brothers
and sisters of our subject are T. H., of the firm
of Allen & LaFollette ; Edgar A. P., a stockman
on Dry creek ; Charles F., a lumberman at High
land, California; ancl Elma L., the wife of Ben
jamin F. Allen, a miner at Grant's Pass, this
state. In 1903, Mr. LaFollette married Mrs. S. N.
Tetherow, a native of Nevada. Her parents
were both born in Illinois.
Politically, Mr. LaFollette has always been
prominent ancl influential and in 1900, was chosen
county assessor on the Democratic ticket, receiv
ing next to the highest majority of any man
elected, which speaks very strongly in his favor
since the county is strongly Republican. In 1904
he was re-elected to the same office, receiving
then the highest majority of ' any county officer.
He has shown himself a man of sterling worth
and ability in both public ancl private capacities
ancl is highly esteemed throughout the county.
During the Indian troubles of 1867 ancl 1868, our
subject's uncle, Captain Charles LaFollette, came
across the Cascades with a command and estab
lished Camp Polk, on Squaw creek in the Black
Butte country. The LaFollette family embraces
many men of prominence in various capacities and
is a strong- and old American family.

THOMAS H. La FOLLETTE. Crook
county has some of the leading and most wealthy
stockmen of the state of Oregon. Among this
number we mention the gentleman whose name
appears above ancl who has labored here for years
and won that success which industry and practical
wisdom merit. His residence is in Prineville,
where he oversees his interests ancl he is con
sidered one of the leading citizens of the county.
Thomas H. LaFollette was born in Indiana,
•on March 1, 1853. His father, Jerome B. La
Follette, was also born in Indiana. And his
father, the grandfather of our subject, came to
Indiana from Virginia in very early days. In
1862, our subject accompanied his parents across
the plains with ox teams to Marion county, Ore
gon, and in 1871, they came to Crook county and
the father took land where Prineville now stands
ancl engaged in the stock business. He became
a prominent stockman in this vicinity and is one
of the leading citizens of Central Oregon. He
married Sophia J. Howard, a native of Tennes
see who went with her parents to Indiana in early

clays. The marriage occurred in Indiana and
Mrs. LaFollette accompanied her husband across
the plains. The mother is still living in this vi
cinity, but the father died in 1884. The common
schools of Oregon furnished most of the educa
tional training of our subject ancl about 187 1
he commenced operations for himself in what is
now Crook county, taking his father's stock on
shares. He continued in that business until 1896,
when he formed a partnership with B. F. Allen
and together they are making a specialty of fine
blooded sheep. They now have eight thousand
first class Merino sheep, some of them being from
the best strains known. They keep constantly on
hand young blooded animals that sell for breeding
purposes and the firm is well known among the
leading sheep men of the northwest. In 1876
Mr. LaFollette married Margaret J. Allen, who
was born in Illinois and came to Oregon via the
isthmus when ten years of age. The children born
to this union are Mrs. Tillie Adamson, Leo B.,
Guy, and Frank. Mr. ancl Mrs. LaFollette are
among the leading people of the country, have
showed those qualities of substantiality and worth
which are so indispensable in building up the
country and their efforts have always been val
uable in bringing about the consummation of
movements that are for the benefit ancl advance
ment of the community. They are kind, gener
ous people, well liked ancl have hosts of friends.

ISIDOR B. MEYER, of the firm of Meyer
ancl Brown, stockmen of Crook county, is one of
the representative citizens of this part of the
state. The headquarters of the firm are twenty-
three miles above Post on Crooked river, ancl
there they own one thousand acres of good land,
besides a large quantity of stock. Isidor B. Meyer
was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, on April
\o, 1859. His father, Dennis M., was born in
Elsass, France, and came to Buffalo, New York,
when a young man. Soon after, he went to Erie
county, Pennsylvania and settled on a farm ancl
became a wealthy ancl prominent citizen. He
married Barbara Kraus, a native of Bavaria,
Germany. She had come to the United States
with her parents when a girl. Our subject was
educated in the district schools of his native
countv ancl when twenty-one years of age, came
to the Willamette valley. His first occupation
was bridge carpenter on the railroad and the next
summer was spent in searching over the great
state of Oregon for a location. In 1882, he
•^elected a place on Hay Creek, Crook county, and
worked for wages for a short time. About that
time, he and M. L. Brown formed a partner-

774

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ship and the}- have wrought together since. At
first they bought sheep and later gave their at
tention to raising cattle which they are engaged
in at the present time.
In 1894, Mr. Meyer married Philippina Berz,
a native of Germany. She came to America in
1889 and her parents are Jacob and Anna Berz,
who are prominent and wealthy people. The
father has held many offices of public trust and
is a well known man. To Mr. and Mrs. Meyer
two children have been born, Edward D., and
Marie E.
Mr. Meyer is a member of the A. O. U. W.
and is an advocate of good schools and roads
and general improvement. The success he has
achieved has been due to the industry and sagac
ity which he has manifested and he well deserves
the generous competence he has secured and the
enviable position which he holds in the com
munity.

J. J. SMITH is a highly respected citizen
of Crook county and at the present time is hold
ing the office of countv clerk. He was elected
to this office in 1900 on the Democratic ticket and
twice since then he has been chosen to the
same office, which speaks very highly of Mr.
smith's integrity and ability as the county is
Republican by two hundred majority.
J. J. Smith was born in Linn county, Oregon,
on October 15, 1854. His father, Hon. I. N.
Smith, was a native of Illinois and crossed the
plains in 1852. He was a prominent citizen of
Oregon and was a member of the territorial
legislation in 1853. He followed the practice of
law and was one of the first lawyers in the Willa
mette valley. In 1865 he journeyed to Idaho
and practiced in the various courts there, being
also clerk of Ada county. He was one of the
first attorneys in Boise and later moved to Crook
county, where he died in 1886. John Smith,
the grandfather of our subject, was one of the
pioneers of Linn county ancl crossed the plains
in 1852. He was sheriff of Linn county for ten
or twelve vears. He was also a member of the
territorial legislature in 1861, and was a very
prominent man. For twenty years, he held the
position of Indian agent at Warm Springs and
died while an incumbent of that office. The
mother of our subject was Josephine S. (Gray)
Smith, a native of Indiana. She crossed the
plains with her parents in 1852, being a mem
ber of the same train as her husband. Her death
occurred in 1880. Our subject received his
early education principally in Boise and com
pleted the same in the Episcopalian Academy
there. After that he was salesman in several mer

cantile houses ancl in 1886, located the Sisters-
postoffice and opened a mercantile establish
ment. He continued there until 1897, then came-
to Prineville. In 1900 he was elected, as stated
before, to the office of clerk of the county and
has made himself an efficient and capable man
in this position.
In 1887 Mr. Smith married Olive A. Forrest,.
who was born November 17, 1865, near Eugene,
Oregon. Her father, Richard Forrest, was one-
of the pioneers of the Willamette valley and fol
lowed stock raising until his death. To our sub
ject and his wife, four children have been born,
Newton F., Verna O., Edith, and Paul J. In fra
ternal affiliations our subject is connected with
the A. O. U. W., the K. P. and the Maccabees..
He is a man of excellent standing and is very
widely known in this part of the state.

GEORGE ROBA, who resides some eight
miles north of Paulina, is engaged in the stock
business and has achieved a splendid success in
his labors in Crook county. It is much to Mr.
Roba's credit when we understand that he came
here in 1889 and began working for wages. Since
that time he has secured a fine estate and a large
amount of stock besides other property, which
achievement has manifested his ability as a busi
ness man and a financier. In the meantime Mr.
Roba has so conducted himself that he has won
the admiration and respect of all who know him
and is a man who has hosts of friends.
George Roba was born in Austria-Hungary,
on March 15, 1862. His parents, John and Mary
(Badner) Roba, were born in the same place as
our subject ancl were well to do farmers. George
received a first-class education in his home place-
and when nineteen came to Pennsylvania and
secured employment in the factories and mines.
He wrought thus until 1889 when he decided to
try the west. He journeyed on seeking various
locations until finally he landed in Crook county,
where, as stated before he labored for wages.
Shortly after coming he secured a homestead and
then soon went into the stock business, starting
in a very small way. From that time until the-
present he has been very successful in his labors
and has come to be one of the representative men
of the country.
In 1886 Mr. Roba married Miss Mary Sojka,
who also was born in Austria-Hungary. She
came to America with her parents when a young
girl. To Mr. ancl Mrs. Roba eight children have
been born, Joseph, Annie, Mary, George, Ula,
Rose, Andrew, and Nellie.
Mr. Roba is a man who has not onlv been

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

7/>

successful in his labors but has shown a first-
class industry and has also manifested scholarly
ability. He has made a special study of the
English language until he reads and writes it
with ease and pays considerable attention to read
ing. He is a respected citizen, a good business
man and one of the sucessful stockraisers of Ore
gon.

JOHN M. ELLIOTT, one of the industrious
and wide awake farmers of Crook county, re
sides five miles northwest from Prineville and
was born in Nebraska, in January, 1866. His
father. Kenman Elliott, was a native of Missouri
and brought his family across the plains in 1867.
Our subject was then an infant one year old and
remembers little of the journey. The family
settled in Polk county, Oregon, where they re
mained until 1876, when a move was made to
the territory now embraced in Crook county. Set
tlement was made at Powell Butte where they
remained eight years. Then our subject came
to his present location and engaged in farming,
which he has followed since.
On September 21, 1891, Mr. Elliott married
Miss Frances Backus, who was born near Al
bany, Oregon. Her father, Aaron Backus, crossed
the plains to Oregon in 1851. Mr. and Mrs. El
liott have seven children, Harry Morgan, Fred
Layton, Rova Leone, Elbert Aaron, Fay, Helen,
and Violet.
Fraternally Mr. Elliott is affiliated with the
M. W. A. and he and his wife are well known
people and have labored faithfully here during
the years of their residence.

CHARLES M. LISTER, a farmer and
stockman residing about nine miles up the Ocho
co in Crook county, is one of the first settlers in
the territory now embraced in this county and
has labored here since, assiduously and wisely.
The result is, he has achieved a splendid success
and is now enjoying the fruits of his labors
here. He has seen the country grow from the
wilderness that prevailed everywhere when he
came, to its present prosperous condition and has
assisted very materially to bring about the same.
Charles M. Lister was born in Kentucky, on
fanuarv 22. 1852. His father, Thomas Lister,
was born on the Atlantic ocean between Liver
pool and New York and spent his boyhood days
in Boston. Then he journeyed west to Kentucky,
being a voung man and there enlisted to fight in
the Mexican War. He served all through that
struggle with Taylor and at the close of the war,

returned to the Blue Grass State. In 1853. he
crossed the plains to Oregon, using ox. teams
for the trip and made settlement in Lane county;
His train was the noted one which started on
the Meeks cut off and nearly perished in crossing
the barren plains of Central Oregon. By almost
superhuman effort, however, they finally reached
the Cascades and sent three men on over the
mountains to secure aid ancl assist the others
along. In due time assistance came and what
was left of the train finally made its way into
the Willamette valley. The father remained on
his donation claim in Lane county until 1870
when hec ame to what is now Crook county,
bought land ancl engaged in the stock business.
This occupied him until his death. He became a
very prominent and well to do man in this coun
try and was widely known. The mother of our
subject is Mary E. (Geter) Lister, and was
born in Kentucky, where she was reared and
married. She participated in the labors and suc
cesses of her husband and was a true helpmeet
to him all through the trying pioneer days. Our
subject was educated in Lane county and came
with his father in October, 1870, to what is now
Crook county. He bought land and engaged in
the stock business which he started in a very
modest way. having practically no means, but
has gradually increased his holdings until he now
has twelve hundred acres of choice land and a
large number of live stock. He is one of the rep
resentative men of the country and is justly en
titled to the position which he holds.
Mr. Lister has been twice married. His first
wife was Clara Claypool. who died on January
16. 1888. To them were born three children,
Clarence. Warren, and Kenneth, deceased. The
second wife was Miss Mary Miller, a native of
Marion county, Oregon, and one child has been
born to this union, Laddas. Mrs. Lister's father^
James F. Miler, was a native of Missouri and
crossed the plains to Oregon in 1849, accom-
paning his father, Charles Miller. The Miller's
were a very prominent and wealthy family and
enjov an excellent and extended reputation. Mrs.
Lister's mother was Julia (Smith) Miller, a na
tive of Arkansas and she crossed ,the plains with
her parents in the early forties. Mr. Lister has
everv reason to take pride in the success that
he has achieved and his example is a worthy one
to emulate.

JOSEPH H. CROOKS is one of the pioneers
of Crook count}- and is well known all through
this part of the state. At the present time, he
is handling a fine butcher business in Prine
ville, having been occupied in this for the past

776

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

nine years. He was born in Mercer county, Illi
nois, on May 6, 1844. Hon. John T. Crooks,
his father, crossed the plains from Illinois to the
Willamette valley with ox teams in 1848, bring
ing his family with him. They were six months
on the road. He was a prominent man in the
valley, being one of the very first settlers, and
was a member of the first territorial legislature
for two terms. He died in 1898, aged eighty-
six. He married D. Everyman, who accompanied
her busband in his pioneer journeys. There were
no schools in the Willamette valley when our
subject arived there with his parents and he had
little opportunity for education except what he
could gain by his own personal efforts. He re
mained on the farm with his father until 1865,
when he went to Helena, Montana, where he
spent one summer. Returning to his old home,
he continued there until 1872, then came to Prine
ville and engaged in stock raising. He followed
t.iat successfully until 1896, when he opened his
present business which has occupied him since.
He does a good business and stands well in this
community. In 1873 Mr. Crooks married Miss America
Warren, who was born in the Willamette val
ley in 1855. Her father, Andrew J. Warren,
crossed the plains from Missouri in 1855 and
settled in the Willamette valley. He had mar
ried Eliza Spalding, who was born on the Nez
Perce reservation in 1832, the daughter of Rev
erend H. H. Spalding. She was the first white
child born west of the Rocky mountains so far as
in. known. However, there is a rumor that there
was a white child born in 1819 in the vicinity of
Spokane Falls. Mrs. Warren was captured by
the Indians during the Whitman massacre. She
is now living at Wenatchee, Washington. To
Mr. and Mrs. Crooks five children have been
born, Mrs. Robert E. Simpson, Mrs. Granville
Clifton, Charles A., John Warren, and Beulah.

THOMAS J. POWELL, one of the repre
sentative stockmen of Crook county and a lead
ing citizen, resides four and one-half miles north
west from Prineville. He was born in Missouri,
in 1845. His father, John Powell, was born in
Tennessee, in 1818, and was a man of great re
ligious zeal, and a deacon in the Baptist church
for fifty years. Although a man without edu
cation, still he was well taught in the scrip
tures. His father, Joab Powell, the grandfather
of our subject, was a noted preacher, ancl a very
powerful and commanding speaker. In 1852,
our subject was brought by his parents across the
plains to Linn county and there the father re

mained until 1870, then removed to Prineville,
where he resided until his death in 1891. The
mother of our subject was Millie (York) Pow
ell, a native of North Carolina. Her mother lived
to be ninety years of age. The family settled on
a farm in Linn county and there this son re
mained until 1872, when he came to the western
part of what is now Crook county and settled on
rJeaver creek, taking a preemption. He also
bought state land and engaged in stock raising,
handling horses, cattle and sheep. For fifteen
years he prosecuted that business and then moved
to his present location, where he took a home
stead ancl also bought five hundred acres. He
retains his ranch of thirteen hundred acres on
Beaver creek, and his estate on McKay creek,
an alfalfa field of four hundred acres, the choic
est in the entire country. Mr. Powell is one of
the leading stockmen of the country, both in num
bers owned ancl in the success he has achieved in
the business. He has wrought many years faith
fully and has not forgotten during that time to
always forward with zest and interest the meas
ures for the benefit and upbuilding of the county.
He has hosts of friends and is an influential man.
Mr. Powell married Amanda J. Ritter, a native
of Missouri. Her father, Jackson Smith, was
a pioneer of this state in 1852. Mr. and Mrs.
Powell have the following named children : F. A.,
a stockman in Crook county, who owns four
..undred and fifty head of cattle and a large body
of land ; R. M., a sheepman in the county, who
has about sixteen hundred head of sheep, be
sides a nice farm ; Mrs. Lettie A. Miller, living
in Manila, Philippine Islands. She went thither
alone to meet her husband, Lieutenant Miller,
who was in the military service. She was forced
to travel three hundred miles from the town of
Manila through a country inhabited by vicious
savages but yet her pluck was equal to the oc
casion. Lieutenant Miller died ten days after
her arrival.
Politically Mr. Powell is a Republican. He
always takes a keen interest in these affairs, as
also in eduactional matters and the general im
provement and building up of the country.
Thomas J. Powell died April 21, 1905, at his
home on McKay creek.

PETER DELORE was born on January 1,
1 82 1, where LaGrande, Oregon, now stands. He
now lives sixteen miles north from Suplee and fol
lows farming. He is a venerable man who has
had some of the most thrilling experiences possi
ble on the frontier and is well known not only
in Crook county but in various other parts of the
northwest. He is highly esteemed both for his

Peter Delore

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

777

personal worth and as a pioneer and it is a pleas
ure on our part to be enabled to give somewhat
in detail an account of his life. His father, Joseph
Delore, was born fh Montreal, Canada, and when
yet a young man entered the employ of the Hud
son's Bay Company as a hunter and a trapper. He
came right on to the west ancl there were no white
people anywhere in this country except the very
few connected with this company. His business
being hunting and trapping he was forced to adopt
the customs and, habits of the Indians and lived
as they lived. During the time he was trapping
he married a Spokane maiden, the daughter of a
noted chief in that tribe, and she accompanied
him on all his journeys ancl was a faithful help
meet to him during his life. Finally during the
early forties, he, with several other French peo
ple, settled on the prairie in the Willamette val
ley, now known as French prairie, ancl they did
the first farming in Oregon. Mr. Delore se
cured an old plowshare and supplied the other
parts of wood ancl with that instrument did the
first plowing in the state of Oregon. This was
on French prairie in the Willamette valley. He
Ciied there at the old place in the valley when he
was ninety-'scven years of age. Much of the
time in his early connections with the Hudson's
Bay Company, Mr. Delore lived on meat entirely,
with what berries the family could gather. Occa
sionally they would get a little flour, two or three
times a year ancl after that they were allowed the
generous stipend of one sack of flour in a vear.
The marriage ceremony of Mr. Delore ancl the
Indian maiden named was celebrated according
to the custom of her tribe but upon the arrival of
Catholic priests in the Willamette valley, they
performed the ceremony according to the church.
Her name was Lizzett, which was given by the
French people, the Indian name not being remem
bered. Our subject was born on the trail while
they were on a trapping expendition and spent his
entire early life on these trips. He early learned
the art of hunting and trapping but had no
schooling as there were no schools in the coun
try. Later he learned from instructions privately
but never had the advantage of school training
now supplied to the youth. On many, many oc
casions, the}- were attacked by hostile Indians ancl
were forced to fight vigorously for their existence.
About the hardest battle that Mr. Delore remem
bers participating in, in those days, occurred on
the head waters of the Missouri. In his father's
company were about forty Frenchmen besides
their wives and children, and twelve lodges of
friendly Flathead Indians. The American Fur
Trading Company, through jealousy of the Hud
son's Bay people, inveigled the Blackfeet Indians
to attack the employes of the latter company. The

battle commenced at daybreak and our subject's
father with his compartiots and all they could
muster, fought vigorously against the overpower
ing numbers of the enemy. During the battle, the
eider Delore was shot through the breast, the bul
let coming out through his shoulder blades. He
was assisted back to his lodge, where Peter, then
a young lad, was awaiting him. Immedi
ately upon coming to the lodge the elder
Delore instructed his son to bring a sharp
knife so that in case the Blackfeet gained the clay,
he woud be prepared for them. While he was
thus obeying his father's instructions, the bullets
began to pass through the lodge and young Peter
was instructed by his father to lie down flat on the
ground and place a camp kettle over his head.
Thus they remained until the battle was over, the
French people gaining the day and slaughtering
the Blackfeet greatly. Among the killed was the
Blackfeet chief. The Hudson's Bay people lost
four of their number ancl two of the friendly
Flathead Indians. Our subject continued with*
his father, spending the entire time in hunting
and trapping. As his mother spoke the Spokane
language, be became very familiar with it ancl
from his father learned the French thoroughly.
Also he learned to speak the language of every
Indian tribe in the northwest so that he could
easily converse with them. Not until the white
people began to come in from the east, did young
Delore learn the English. Finally his father de
cided to abandon this roving and dangerous life"
ancl settled on the prairie now known as French
Prairie, as stated previously.
Our subject well remembers the first Catholic
priests to come in. They needed some assistance
to erect tneir church and he was detailed by his
father to haul the logs. After completing the
job the priests paid him in gold coin. He sup
posed the\- were buttons and wrapped them up in
his handkerchief and brought them home. His
father asked him if he had finished the job ancl
was paid. He replied that he had completed the
job ancl the priests gave him some buttons. His
father at once asked for the buttons and upon
examining them remarked very emphatically to
his son, "always bring such buttons home to me."
As his father and mother were forced to do, so
our subject lived upon meat and berries, occasion
ally upon Christmas and New Year, getting a
taste of flour. Yet thev were seldom sick, being
vigorous and hearty. For years they had no salt
ancl Peter well remembers when he first saw his
lather put salt on his meat. He supposed it was
good to eat and put a handful in his mouth but
found he had no taste for such food. He remem
bers the first peas that he saw ancl thought they
were beads ancl was afraid to eat them. For

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

dishes they would hollow out the quaking asp
chip. For spoons, they used pieces of buffalo
horn. Alter our subject grew to manhood, he
took a donation claim in the Willamette valley
near his father but it was contested on the ground
that he had Indian blood in him and it was taken
away from him. Not being discouraged however,
he went to oak grove and settled on and improved
another piece of land. He was the first person to
settle on and improve land at Oak Grove. In the
early eighties, he came east of the mountains and
settled in the eastern part of what is now Crook
county. He gave his attention to stock raising
and farming and now owns two fine farms. He
was engaged in all the early Indian wars and was
especially active with General Crook against the
Paiutes, being a scout for that personage. Mr.
Delore has passed a long and eventful career and
from the wildness of the uninhabited country he
has seen the change to the prosperous and thrifty
condition at the present time. He has done well
his part in bringing it all about and has also won
the esteem and confidence of all who know him.

MONROE HODGES, a farmer and stock
man of Crook county, is also one of the earliest
pioneers of the northwest and one of the first
settlers in what is now Crook county. He resides
at the present time in Prineville. His birth oc
curred in Allen county. Ohio, on December 18,
1833. his parents being Monroe and Catherine
(Stanley) Hodges. The father was born in
South Carolina, on December 8. 1788, and was a
veteran of the War of 1812. He served during
that entire struggle and participated in many
battles and skirmishes, including the battle of
Horseshoe Bend and New- Orleans. In 1847 he
brought his family across the plains with ox
teams and made settlement in the Willamette
valley. He died in Benton county, Oregcn. in
1S77. aged eighty -nine years. The mother was
born in the same place as her husband and ac
companied him in the pioneer journeys and died
in Benton county. Our subject drove an ox
team across the plains from Missouri, Platte
county, to Benton county-, Oregon, being then
but fourteen years of age. They were six
months making the trip and when they reached
their destination, they sought out a claim in the
wilderness nine miles north of the present site
of Corvallis. The country was wild and almost en
tirely uninhabited ancl it was a great undertaking
to can-e out a home in such a place. Our subject
was raised in this locality and completed his edu
cation as best he could. He remained with his
father on the farm until 1854. then went to the
mines at Jacksonville, where he was employed

for one year, then returned to the old home place
and took up farming, continuing in that until
1871. Then he came to the present site of Prine
ville and took a homestead. He soon moved his
family there and engaged in stock raising. In
1873 he built the first hotel and livery stable in
Prineville which he operated for a number of
years. In 1876 he made final proof on his prop
erty and platted the town of Prineville. One
line of his homestead is Main street at the pres
ent time and all west from that is built on his
former homestead. He still owns forty acres of
the original piece. Mr. Hodges has seen the en
tire growth of Crook county and Prineville and
not only has seen it but has materially aided in
the unbuilding of the country. He has always
been a progressive man and has labored hard
and wisely for the good end of making a fine
county and a good. town. He was here during'
the reign of the vigilance committee but took no
past in such dealings, being a law abiding, dti-
zen. On January 13, 1855. Mr. Hodges married
Miss Rhoda Wilson, who was born in Missouri,.
on March 6, 1837. Her father, Samuel Wilson,
was a native of Rockbridge county, Yirginia,-
and was shot by a white man in 1853, while cross
ing the plains. He had -married Sarah Delaney,
a native of Kentucky-. After her husband was
killed, she succeeded in bringing the family
across the plains and made settlement in the Wil
lamette valley about nine miles above Corvallis.
There she married Mr. Charles Johnson and
moved to the vicinity of Conrallis. Her death oc
curred in Prineville. Mrs. Hodges died July
12. 189S. Mr. and Mrs. Hodges had the follow
ing named children, Lewis, Marion, Mrs. Sarah
Luckey, Samuel, deceased, Arthur, Mrs. Carrie
Wright and Eddie deceased.
Air. Hodges is a Democrat and always
takes a keen interest in the campaigns. He and
his wife were members of the Baptist church for
forty years ancl always labored faithfully for
the advancement cf church interest and educa
tion as well as for the promotion of all good en
terprises. It is of interest to note that when Mr.
Hodges' train was crossing the plains they met
the Pawnee Indians at Ft. Laramie and had a
pitched battle, defeating the savages. The next
battle was on the Snake river with the Snake
Indians. On June 4. 1005. Monroe Hodges died at his
home in Prineville. He had lived continuously
here since 1S71. in which year he filed on a home
stead claim, which land is now where Prine
ville is situated. He was one of Crock county's
oldest settlers and was largely instrumental in
tne establishment and upbuilding of Prineville.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

•779

LUTHER D. CLAYPOOL is rightly classed
with the early pioneers of this country. Flis
birth occurred in Linn county, Oregon, on Sep
tember 13, 1858, and he now resides five miles
north from Paulina and is devoting his atten
tion to farming ancl stock raising. D. Wayne
Claypool, his father, was born in Hendricks
county, Indiana', on October 8, 1834. He came
with his parents to the vicinity of St. Joseph, Mis
souri, when three years of age and in 1846 ac
companied them across the plains with ox teams
to Marion county, Oregon. Later they moved to
Linn county where his father took a donation
claim. Wayne Claypool remained there until
grown to manhood, when he took land for him
self and engaged in farming. D. Wayne Clay
pool joined the Oregon Volunteers in the In
dian War of 1856, being enrolled in the Linn
County company, captained by John Suttle, in
the regiment commanded by Col. Thomas R.
Cornelius. They were out about three or more
months and traveled east to the mouth of the
Palouse river. Their provisions "beoming ex-
-hausted, they were forced to live on horse meat
for three weeks. In the fall of 1867, in company
with William Smith, Captain White, Elisha
Barnes, Raymond Burkhart and Calvin Burk
hart, Mr. Claypool came to what is now Crook
county and made location on Mill creek. They
were the first settlers in the country and the only
white men who spent the winter of 1867-68 in
Crook cpunty. That same winter a band of out
law Indians camped at what was known as Ges
ner station on Crooked river, learned of the set-
tiers being there and in the spring made a raid
on them. They succeeded in capturing a good
portion of the stock belonging to the settlers and
getting away with it. The men gathered up the
balance 'and moved to Camp Polk, a deserted
government post. Captain White remained to
care for the stock while the balance crossed the
Cascade mountains on snow shoes to Linn
county. In a short time they returned with other
settlers and began to establish themselves in this
county. During the summer of 1868, the In
dians burned the house of Mr. Claypool. It was
the headquarters for all the old settlers and their
blankets and provisions were there. The fire con
sumed everything and the men were obliged to,
make their way to Warm Springs station with
out any food. However, they were not to be de
terred by such things as this and came back again
with supplies, the distance being something over
fifty miles. The house was rebuilt, other houses
were erected ancl the country began to be opened.
Mr. Claypool took the first homestead in what
is now Crook county and had the first house
built in the county. He was very prominently

connected with early settlers of the country and
was a broad-minded and sturdy pioneer. He mar-
Louisa Elkins, who was born in Belmont county,
Ohio, February 2, 1835. She crossed the plains
from Ohio with her people in 1852. Our subject
came with his father to Crook county in 1868,
being then but ten years of age. He had secured
some education, in the Willamette valley and fin
ished that important part of life's training here
in this county. In 1874 he came to his present
location with a bunch of cattle and when he be
came of age, he went into the cattle business for
himself. His present home place has been his
headquarters since 1879 and during that time he
has been farming and stock raising. He owns
five hundred and twenty acres of land and some
considerable stock.
In 1892 Mr. Claypool married Helen Dou-
thit, who was born in Linn county, Oregon, on
May 12, 1867, and came to Crook county in
1883. Her parents, James O. and Louisa J.
(Thompson) Douthit, were born in Indianapo
lis, Indiana, and Missouri, respectively, and'
crossed the plains with horses and ox teams in
1853. To Mr. and Mrs. Claypool four children
have been born, Roscoe D., Thurman D., Luther
E., and Winfield W.
Mr. Claypool is a member of the W. W. and
the A. O. U. W. He takes a lively interest in-
politics and school matters and is a good sub
stantial citizen.

THOMAS H. BRENNAN, a stockman and
farmer of Crook county, lives on Grindstone
creek, fifteen miles from Suplee. His birth oc
curred in Ontario, on January 13, 1861, and his
parents,. John and Mary (Hennesy) Brennan,
were natives of Ireland and died when our suf>
ject was eight years of age. Being thus early
in life thrown on his own resources he has learned
a great deal of the hardships connected with
the world and knows well what it is to stand
against trials and obstacles of life. He began
to work for wages when very young and also
worked for his board and attended school. In
this way he continued until 1880, when he jour
neyed to Auburn, Indiana, remaining there un
til the following spring. Then came a trip to
San Francisco and he wrought there until 1882.
That was the year that he traveled overland to
Prineville, Oregon, and began working for
wages as he had done in other places. In 1888,
he selected a location on the south fork of the
John Day river, in Grant county, where he re
mained until 1902. Then he came to his pres
ent location, purchased a ranch and has been de
voting himself to cattle raising and farming. He

780

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

has made a reasonable success and has shown
splendid industry here.
On November 28, 1889, Mr. Brennan married
Polly Hinkle, who was born in Wasco county,
Oregon. Isaac Hinkle, her father, came to Ore
gon in very earl}- day. He had married Mar
garet Mozier, a native of the Willamette valley.
Mrs. Hinkle's father was one of the early set
tlers in the state of Oregon. Four children have
been born to our subject and his wife, Joseph H.,
Mary M. E., H. Ruth, and Claude.

PERRY READ, who resides at Culver, in
Crook county, was born in Benton county, Ore
gon, on May n, 1849. Thomas M. Read, his
father, was born in New Hampshire, in 1812 and
was reared in Massachusetts. He operated a flat
boat on the Mississippi for a number of years,
then in 1845, crossed the plains to Oregon. At
The Dalles, the people of the train were sent
down the river on rafts, while the wagons and
teams went over the Cascades. Mr. Read located
a donation claim in Benton count}-, six miles north
of the present site of Corvallis. He married
Nancy White, a native of Ohio, the wedding oc
curring on November 10, 1846. She had crossed
the plains in the same train as her husband. Our
subject was one of the first white children born
in Benton countv, Oregon, and he received his
education from the common schools of that county
ancl there remained until he had grown to man
hood. In 1 87 1 he came to the present site of
rrineville ancl was occupied there variously for
two years. Then he went to Willow creek, where
he took a homestead, preemption and timber cul
ture. He purchased other land until he had all
told, eight hundred acres ancl engaged in general
farming and stock raising. He had a fine herd of
cattle and a splendid location, but the trying
times of 1888-89 broke him up financially as that
did many another good man and he was forced to
begin life over again, practically. However, his
courage ancl spirit were equal to the occasion and
he took hold with a will ancl soon was on the
high roacl to prosperity. In 1897 Mr. Read came
to his present location and purchased four hun
dred acres of choice land. In 1904, he erected
one of the most beautiful houses in the county
and all the other improvements on the estate are
commensurate therewith. He is a very thrifty
man ancl although he has met with many reverses
during his life, he is still favored by the goddess
of good fortune ancl is one of the prosperous
men of the county today.
On December 16, 1873, ^'r- Read married
Hattie E. Montgomer}'. She was born at Brown

ville, Oregon, on May 15, 1856. Her father,
Kennedy Montgomer}', was a native of Iowa and
crossed the plains in 1852. He made settlement
in Linn county ancl became one of the prominent
men there, being one of the early pioneers. He
is now living on Willow creek in this county. He
married Ellen Blakely, a native of Tennessee,
who crossed the plains in 1846. Her father,
James Blakely, was one of the most prominent
men of Linn county. He was captain of a com
pany in the Cayuse War and was a member of the
state legislature. At the present time, he is nine
ty-one years of age, is very active and retains all
his faculties. He raised a family of ten children
all of whom are prominent and substantial peo
ple. The boys take a leading part in politics and
James M. is at present sheriff of Wallowa county,
Oregon ; William is ex-sheriff of Umatilla county.
To our subject and his wife, the following named
children have been born: Lilly May, on May
21, 1875 ; ancl Pearl ancl Pen-}-, twins, on January
15, 1882; Lilly is a graduate of the agricultural
college at Corvallis and is now engaged in teach
ing. Mr. Read has two sisters and three broth
ers, Thressa, born in Benton county, Oregon, in
1847, being one of the first white children born
there, ancl being now deceased ; Clara, born ill
1851 ; Columbia, Sumner, and Charles.
' Mr. Read is a member of the A. O. U. W.
ancl the Artisans. He has always taken a very ac
tive part in building up the country and in pro
moting every enterprise for the public good. He
is always found ready for any enterprise that
is worthy ancl is known as a progressive, public
minded and substantial man.

MRS. MARTHA J. SPALDING WIGLE,
who lives at Prineville, Oregon, was born at Lap
wai agency, twelve miles above Lewiston, Idaho,
on March 20, 1845. She was educated at Forest
Grove, Oregon, then moved to Walla Walla,
where she married William Wigle in 1859. Soon
after their marriage, they journeyed to eastern
Oregon where Mr. Wigle engaged in the stock
business. In 1886, he came to Prineville and here
they have resided since ancl are known as sub-
stanital ancl good people.
Mrs. Wigle's father was the well known mis
sionary, Reverend H. IT. Spalding. This histori
cal character is one of the best known men in
the northwest ancl certainly did a work the like
of which there are few to compare in the United
States. It is quite in place that a brief review
of his life should be embodied in this article. H.
II. Spalding was born in Steuben county, New
York, on November 26, 1803. He received a col-

Mr. and Mrs. Perry Read

Mrs. Martka J. Spalding Wigle

George W. Barnes

Mr. and Mrs. W. R. McFarland

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

781

lege education and then graduated from Lane
Theological seminary, being ordained a minister
in the same year, 1835. He was also appointed
that year as missionary of the Nez Perce Indians
by the American board. In 1833 he had married
Eliza Hart of Oneida county, New York, and in
1836 together they started on their journey to the
then trackless west. It required no small amount
of courage for a man to take his wife and leave
civilization and travel over unbroken wilds and
mountains for two thousand miles to a land amid
savages, where there was no assurance of any wel
come or freedom from hostilities. The Reverend
H. H. Spalding and his lovely wife were not
Christians in name only but Christians in reality
and they could trust the God who had brought
them from darkness to light to guide their steps
through the desert ancl across the mountains and
even protect them amid the savages to whom they
were longing to bring the precious gospel. It
would give- us great pleasure were more details
furnished both of this trip and of the life they
spent afterwards but it is necessary to content
ourselves with what has been furnished. In due
time, the little party arrived at their destination
and found the Nez Perce Indians. They selected
a proper place to settle and erected the rude build
ings necessary for their shelter and began the
task of teaching the Indians and preaching to
them the gospel. As early as 1839, so vigorous
ly did Mr. Spalding prosecute his work, he suc
ceeded in establishing a printing press, the first
on the entire Pacific coast. This press is now the
property of the historical society at Portland,
Oregon. He translated portions of the New Tes
tament into the Nez Perce language and printed
it for distribution among the Indians who were
taught to read. He also taught the Indians to
farm and before the Whitman massacre they had
progressed so well that they were producing
twenty thousand bushels of grain annually. He
brought in sheep, cattle, and horses and taught
the Indians how 10 raise them. While he was
engaged in these labors, his wife would gather
the Indians, sometimes her school would amount
to five hundred in number, and teach them to
spin and weave. Thus they labored on until 1845.
Their station was some one hundred and twenty-
five miles east of the ill fated Whitman station and
at that time one of Mrs. Wigle's sisters was at the
Whitman mission. Mr. Spalding was on the jour
ney to the Whitman mission to take his daughter
home from her visit and just before he reached
it he was met bv a Catholic priest who was flee
ing and who informed him of the awful tragedy
and urged him to flee for his life. It seemed best
for him to return to his family at Lapwai as he
was not sure but that his own Indians would be

on the war path as well. What trial of heart and
terrible suffering this good man passed through
as he hurried back over the one hundred miles
and more to his loved ones we are not told but
the God who had guided him safely thus far pro
tected him and his and although the excitement
ran so high that he was even afraid to show him
self to his own Indians, still he was enabled to get
his family and make his way in safety to the
Willamette valley. Colonel Olney, one of the
Hudson Bay people, learned that Miss Spalding,
who was attending school at the Whitman mis
sion, had not been killed but was held captive
with others by the Indians. He immediately en
tered into negotiations for her release and ad
vanced the money necessary to secure it. So
that three weeks after she was captured, her par
ents had the satisfaction of having their beloved
daughter with them ancl the family circle un
broken. This young lady is now Mrs. Eliza War
ren and lives at Chelan, Washington. The work
of H. H. Spalding ancl his faithful wife was not
without fruit as is evidenced among the Nez
Perce Indians to this clay. He is a character well
known in history and his life has been written
many times. Suffice it to say that to such men
as he and to such brave women as his wife the
people wh?> dwell in this favored country now,
as well as the savages to whom they brought the
good things of civilization and the precious gos
pel of the grace of God, owe a debt of gratitude
which may never be fully paid.
Mr. and Mrs. Wigle are parents of five chil
dren, named as follows : John H., born in Linn
county, September 9, 1861 ; Ida, deceased, born
in 1863 ; Minnie L., born in Linn county, July
15, 1865; Albert Lee, born June 10, 1868; Eliza
L., born May 2, 1875, in Umatilla county.

GEORGE W. BARNES, a leading attorney
of Prineville, is also one of the earliest pioneers
of this part of Oregon. He was born in Andrew
county, Missouri, on March 10, 1849. His father,
Elisha Barnes, was born in Kentucky and was
one of the forty-niners crossing the plains to Cali
fornia. After two years spent there mining, he
returned to Missouri and then in 1852, he brought
his family back west across the plains, our sub
ject being then but three years of age. In the
fall of i860 he settled in Linn county, where he
remained until the fall of 1866, when with five
others, he came to the Ochoco and spent two
years. Then he returned to the Willamette valley
and moved his family to a place about three
miles distant from the present site of Prineville.
There he remained until 1898, when he returned
to Missouri and died there in the same year. Our

782

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

subject's mother, Susannah T. (Glenn) Barnes,
was born in Missouri and is now living in Prine
ville. George W., as stated above, came across
the plains in 1852 and received his early educa
tion in the schools of Linn county. In 1867, he
joined his father in Western Oregon and with him
took up the stock business. There were no range
difficulties here at that time and they were mon-
archs of all they surveyed which made the stock
business a splendid occupation. When our sub
ject became of age he took a homestead two and
one-half miles distant from the present site of
Prineville and engaged in farming. For seven
years he conducted that occupation, then sold out
and removed to Prineville, where he prosecuted
further, the study of law, which he had been tak
ing up for some time previous. In 1880 he was
admitted to the bar and at once began the prac
tice of his profession. From that time, until the
present period of twenty-five years, he has stead
ily attended to this occupation and has won
many distinct and brilliant triumphs. Mr.
Barnes has seen the entire development of the
country, and remembers the first house built in
Prineville, and has seen the growth and improve
ment of everything that makes the wealth of
Crook county today. He was the first attorney in
Prineville and has made- an indelible mark in
the history of this county. He has assisted very
materially in all the forward enterprises and
is a man whose labor and life speak much.
Mr. Barnes well remembers the viligance com
mittee of the early days and is as intimately
connected with the history of the country as
perhaps any man here today. Being one of the
earliest pioneers and a leading man, he stands
in a position to view the progress of the years
and the achievement of his own life with a sat
isfaction at the gratifying results in both cases.
In 1870 Mr. Barnes married Miss Ginevra
Marks, a native of Linn county, Oregon, her
father, William Marks, being one of the early
pioneers of that county. To this union the fol
lowing named children have been born : Mrs.
Mattie Nickelsen of Hood river, Mrs. Mary Mil
ler of Brandon, Mrs. Susie Helms of this county,
widow, Bert, Arthur and Valdie.
Mr. Barnes is a strong Democrat and takes
a keen interest in political matters. He is well
known through the country as a man of influ
ence and worth and is one of the leading profes
sional men of this part of the state.

W. R. McFARLAND, an educator, a civil
engineer and one of the representative mten of
his county, is now residing at Prineville. He
was b'orn in Johnson county, Missouri, in 1848.

His father, William Alexander McFarland, was
a major in the United States army. Our sub
ject was well educated in Missouri and there
kept his residence until 1875, when he came to
the Williamette valley. Settlement was made in
Yamhill county and he gave his attention to
teaching school. He taught in Eugene and var
ious other places of the valley until 1886, when
he removed to Canyon City and taught there at
John Day, in Prairie City and at other parts of
Grant county. In 1896 Mr. McFarland settled
on a farm in the Ochoco, where he resided three
years. Then he taught at the Prineville school
and has held various county offices, among them
county superintendent of schools, surveyor, as
sessor and so forth. In 1864 Mr. McFarland
took a trip to Colorado- and there enlisted in the
First Colorado Cavalry and saw much hard ser
vice in fighting the Indians. It was 1898 that he
took up his permanent residence in Prineville
and in addition to holding the positions above
mentioned he has maintained an office for civil
engineering and has done much in that class of
work. He is very skillful in the profession and
is a man whose reliability and integrity are well
known. In 1874 Mr. McFarland married Lucy Jane
Masterson, who was born in Lane county, Ore
gon. Her father, William Masterson, was a
pioneer of Oregon. The children born to this
union are Etta, Blanche, deceased, Pearl, Wil
liam A., Walter and Edward.
Mr. McFarland is a member of the I. O. O.
F. and the Maccabees, while he and his wife both
belong to the Methodist church. Politically, he
is a life-long Democrat and is always able to
give good reasons for his position. He is an
aggressive, capable man of good standing, who
has won and retains the friendship of many peo
ple.

CHARLES A. GRAVES, who is the ef
ficient surveyor of Crook county, is also a pi
oneer of this portion of Oregon, having come
to Crook county in 1881. He was born in Ben
ton county, Oregon, on July 16, 1855, the son
of James and Melvina (Pyburn) Graves. The
father was born in Ohio and in his youthful days
learned the stone mason's and the carpenter's
trades. In 1852, the year of the terrible cholera
ravages, he crossed the plains with ox teams to
the Willamette valley. He followed his trades
in various portions of the valley and became a
very prominent ancl well to do man. He and his
wife are now living at Hillsdale, Oregon. The
mother of our subject was born near Inde
pendence, Missouri, and was left an orphan at

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

7«3

an early age. In 1852 she accompanied some
relatives across the plains and located at Cor
vallis, Oregon. Our subject was educated in
the common schools of his native county and in
the Agricultural College, at Corvallis, and made
a practical study of surveying and civil engi
neering. In 1902 he located a homestead in the
Powell Butte country. In 1886 he was elected
county surveyor of Crook county and is. now
serving his sixth term in this office. He has
demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricate
problems of this important branch of county
work to the entire satisfaction of his constitu
ency, while also he has manifested himself a pro
gressive citizen, a good man ancl a generous and
faithful friend.
In 1889 Mr. Graves married Miss Monia
Lewis, a native of California. She came to Ore
gon with her parents when a child. Frank
Lewis, her father, who was born in New York,
was a pioneer to Wisconsin ancl then to Cali
fornia in 1850. For years he was mining in the
Golden State. His mother was, in maiden life,
a Miss Clark and her father, Abraham Clark,
was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
The Clarks were a very early colonial family and
prominent in those pioneer clays.
Our subject is a member of the A. O. U.
W. and is deepy interested in everything for the
welfare of his country. When living in the
Willamette valley, his father's first neighbors
were M. H. Bell", D. E. Templeton, and Joseph
Hinkle, with others who are now residents of
Prineville, Oregon. Mr. Graves has shown him
self a genuine pioneer and has done a great deal
for the advancement and building up of Crook
county.  ¦*—-*¦ 
WILLIAM ADAMS is to be numbered with
the stockmen of Crook county and has done faith
fully the work of the pioneer in this place. He
now resides in Prineville. His birth occurred in
Missouri, in 1838 ancl his father, Elijah Adams,
was a native of Kentucky. While William was
very young the father died and so he remained
with his mother until twenty years of age, re
ceiving his education in the public schools. In
1859, "being strongly attacked by western fever,
he determined to try mining ancl accordingly
went to Colorado during the Pike's Peak ex
citement. For three years ' he freighted and
mined then came to Tdaho and spent three vears
more in mining. After that he went to the Willa
mette valley, married and settled on a farm. That
was his home until 187T, when he came to Beaver
creek in what is now Crook countv. He settled
on school land ancl took up cattle raising. In

1878, during the time of the Indian troubles, he
was forced to flee with the other settlers and
sought safety for his family near Prineville and
one year later settled on McKay creek. Some
time thereafter he sold his farm to Thomas Pow
ell then moved to a place eight miles southeast
of Prineville. There he engaged in the sheep
business and has followed the same steadily
since. He owns an estate of eight hundred acres
and also a residence in Prineville, where he now
lives. in 1867, in Lane county, Mr. Adams married
Nancy A. Maupin, who was born in 1850. She
died in 1901. Her father, Boyd Maupin, was
a pioneer to Lane county in 1853. To Mr. and
Mrs. Adams the following named children have
been born : R. B. ; George and John, in Alaska ;
William, deceased; Mrs. Manda Boegli, in Prine
ville; Mrs. S. W. Yancey; Silas, a sheepman in
this county ; Charles ; Oliver ; and Effie.
Mr. Adams and his wife are members of the
Christian church and he is one of the stanch
pioneers and substantial citizens of this county.
During his long career here, Mr. Adams has al
ways labored for the spreading of the gospel, has
taken a keen interest in forwarding educational
matters and is allied with everything that is for
the benefit and upbuilding of the country.

CHARLES WILLIAM PALMEHN, who
is one of the pioneers of the Pacific coast, now
resides one mile west from Grizzly. He was born
in Washington county, Minnesota, on March 2,
1858, the son of Peter and Helen Christeen
(Lund) Palmehn. In 1866, the family left Min
nesota and came via the Isthmus to Polk county,
where the father bought an interest in a sawmill.
He operated the same until his death and our sub
ject received his education at the home place in
Polk county. Until 1881 he remained there, then
came to Eastern Oregon, taking a homestead
where Madras now stands. He and his brother
are engaged in the sheep business there and as
•they prospered, bought more land until they
owned the entire basin. In 1892 they bought the
place where our subject now resides, which con
sists of four hundred acres. M\r. Palmehn gives
his attention to general farming and also raises
stock. He has shown industry and thrift in this
occupation and is reaping a good reward for his"
labors. He has one brother, lohn, and one half
brother. Walter Waymire. The latter lives in
Whitman county, Washington.
He also has the following sisters and half
sisters : Mrs. F. J. Waymire, in Wilcox, Wash
ington ; Mrs. Clark Randall, Pulman, Washing
ton ; Mrs. Abram Robinson, Waverly, Washing-

784

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ton; Mrs. J. A. Waymire, Mt. Idaho; and Mrs.
Glide Hale. The last named one is the half
sister. Mr. Palmehn's father came from Northern
Sweden in 1846, or thereabouts, and worked in
a sawmill somewhere on Lake Michigan until
he became head sawyer. In 1856 he purchased
a piece of land in Minnesota. His death occur
red in 1873, eight miles south from Dallas, Ore
gon. The mother came with her parents from
Southern Sweden about 1845 and settled in Illi
nois. A few years later they removed to Min
nesota and there she married Mr. Palmehn. Af-.
ter his death she married Mr. Waymire, and is
now dwelling at Wilcox, Washington.
Our subject went to work in a sash, door
and furniture factory and continued at that busi
ness until 1879. Then he tried farming and in
1880 he was teamster for the surveying party
that was running the narrow gauge in the Willa
mette valley.

FRANCIS FOREST, a representative stock
man of Crook county, residing twelve miles
northwest from Prineville, was born in Polk
county, Oregon, in 1857. Mose L. Forest was
his father ; his father, the grandfather of our
subject, was one of the early pioneers of Oregon
and from him the well known town of Forest
Grove was named. Francis was reared and edu
cated in Polk county until completing the com
mon schools, then he took a course in the Col
umbia Business College at Portland. In 1876 he
came to what is now Crook county and took up
the sheep business. Later he sold his sheep and
bought cattle and from that time until the pres
ent has steadily pursued the occupation of rais
ing cattle. However, during this time Mr. For
est was engaged some in the mercantile
business at Forest, Crook county. At the pres
ent time he owns a fine estate of twelve hundred
acres of good land and one hundred and forty
head of well bred cattle. He devotes his attention
both to stock raising and general farming, and
is considered one of the successful and substan
tial men of the county.
In 1885 Mr. Forest married Rebecca M.
Rodman, who was born in Iowa, the daughter of
William Rodman. Four children are the fruit
of this union, Celia, Earl, Mark and Florence.
In political matters Mr. Forest is a strong
Republican. He always takes an interst in the
campaigns, keeps himself well posted in the
questions of the day and thoroughly abreast of
the times. He is a man of excellent standing
and is to be classed with the builders of Crook
county.

WILLIAM J. SCHMIDT, one of the leading-
stockmen of Crook county, resides eight miles
east of Howard. He was born in Pennsylvania
in 1850, the son of Peter Schmidt, a native of
Germany. He was raised and educated in his
native place and in 1871 went to Pittsburg and
served his time at the machinist's trade. Then
he followed steamboating on the Mississippi river,
returning occasionally to his old home in Penn
sylvania until 1878, when he journeyed west to
San Francisco. For five years he was engaged
there in the Union Iron Works, then traveled
about some until October, 1885, when he located
his present place. He took a homestead and re
sided there a short time, then being dissatisfied
he left the country and was occupied for wages
in various portions of the west. In 1892 he re
turned to his present location and took up stock
raising. He started in a very modest way, hav
ing one horse and two cows, but Mr. Schmidt
was not a man to either to despise the day of
small things nor become discouraged at the
paucity of his holdings. He carefully took up the
good work of stock raising with the intention to
succeed and with such wisdom and industry did
he prosecute the calling that he has won splendid
success. He now owns three hundred and fifty
head of cattle, forty head of horses and a ranch
consisting of sixteen hundred acres of good land.
Mr. Schmidt is achieving success in which he may
well take pride and which has stimulated many
others to good efforts in this country.
In 1900 Mr. Schmidt married Sarah Lowrey,
who was born in the east. They have four chil
dren, Ira, Alice, Mary and Glennie.
Mr. Schmidt is a member of the Masonic or
der and is a man of good standing and rated as
one of the substantial property owners of the
county.

JOHN T. FAULKNER, who has for twen
ty-three years been the efficient and faithful post
master at Paulina, where also he handles a fine
mercantile business, is one of the leading citizens
of Crook county. In addition to the affairs men
tioned, he oversees a farm of five hundred acres
ancl a fine stock business. He was born in Ohio
on January 8, 1846, the son of Thomas J. and
Mary M. (Keener) Faulkner, natives of New
York and Ohio respectively. The father came
to Ohio as a pioneer and in 1850 started from that
country with ox teams to the Pacific coast. He
arrived in Marion county, Oregon, in 185 1 and
soon thereafter moved to Linn county, where he
took a donation claim eight miles southeast of
Albany. That was his home until his death and
he was known far and near as a substantial and

Francis Forest

Mrs. Francis Forest

William J. Sckmidt

Mrs. William J. Sckmidt

W"

%<

V

y

Jokn T. Faulkner

William Smitk

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

785

good man. Our subject was educated in Linn !
county and after growing to manhood he en- j
gagecl in farming. It was November 21, 1877,
wnen he came to the territory now embraced in
Crook county, making settlement near Warm
Springs. In 1881 he came to his present location
and took a homestead. He has since purchased
land until his estate is of the dimensions men
tioned above. In the spring of 1878 Mr. Faulk
ner with the other settlers of the country, was
obliged to flee from the Indians, who were on
•the war path, and the property that the settlers
left behind was confiscated by the savages. He
has labored faithfully during all the intervening
vears from the time of settlement until the pres
ent and he has accomplished a great deal for the
upbuilding of the country. He knows well the
hardships of the pioneer and the arduous labors
and clangers incident to such life, having experi
enced them all. He is to be classed with the
worthy pioneers of Oregon and is known as a
splendid business man and an excellent neighbor.
In 1871 Mr. Faulkner married Charity E.
Foster, who was born in Marion county, Oregon,
tlie daughter of Henry Foster, a pioneer to Ore
gon in 1842. Three children have been born to
this marriage, Orla B., Malissa A. and Henry J.
Mr. Faulkner has always taken a deep interest
in educational matters and in everything that
tends for the improvement and building up of the
country, and is liberal in the support of every
public institution. He is a member of the A. O.
U. W., and is considered one of the representa
tive men of the country.

WILLIAM SMITH. No record .could be
written of the pioneers of western Oregon that
could claim any measure of completeness if it
did not contain the name of the gentleman men
tioned above. He is well known as the earliest
pioneer of the country now embraced in Crook
county and has been here through all the history
making epochs since before the county organiza
tion. In all this he has taken the part of the good
citizen and is certainly deserving of much credit
for what he has done. Mr. Smith's home is
some twelve miles up from Prineville on
Mill creek. He was born in England, the
son of James and Catherine (Baxter) Smith,
both natives of the same country. After re
ceiving his education in his native place he
came to America in 1850 and spent one year
in New York, then he went to Ohio ancl
worked on a farm for wages for two years The
next move was to Rock Island, Illinois, and then
with mule teams he crossed the plains in 1864 to
50

Stockton, California. He wrought for wages
for some time there ancl in the spring of 1865
came to Linn county, Oregon. In the fall of the
same year he journeyed east of the Cascades to
Camp Polk, a military post in what is now Crook,
county. He remained there until 1866, when he
returned to the Williamette valley and stayed one
summer. In 1867 Mr. Smith came east of the
mountains again, took land by squatter's right
and built the house where he is now located.
There were no settlers here then ancl he, as far
as we have any record, is the first permanent set
tler in Crook county. The land was all unsur-
veved and the wilderness uninhabited, save by
the savages ancl the wild beasts. Warm Springs
Post, a small military station some fifty miles
awav, was the nearest white man's abode and The
Dalles, distant one hundred ancl thirty miles,
was the nearest postoffice. Mr. Smith had to de
vise all sorts of plans to maintain himself in this
new country and it was with difficulty that he se
cured the necessities of life. His flour had to
be made in a coffee mill and it was no small task
to raise wheat, cut it with a sickle, thresh it with
a flail, winnow it by the breezes of heaven and
thus gain bread for his subsistence. However,
despite the adversities and the exceeding hard
work that was necessary to gain all this, Mr.
Smith continued. In the spring of 1868 six set
tlers located in this vicinity where Mr. Smith
was residing. The Indians came in and stole
their work oxen and one horse ancl the entire set
tlement buried their provisions and left the coun
try. The next spring, however, Mr. Smith re
turned and since that time has made his home
here. His is the oldest house in the country and
his place is one of the abiding land marks c.c this
part of Oregon.

KNOX HLTSTON is a well known pioneer
! of what is now Crook county and resides at
' Prineville. He was born in Washington county,
Indiana, on March 10, 1839. His father, Samuel
B. Huston, was a native of Kentucky and*
moved to Indiana in 1825, being one of the early
settlers of Washington county, that state. He fol
lowed farming and distilling and was a substan
tial and prominent citizen and was recruiting of
ficer during the Mexican War. Margaret (Ken
nedy) Huston, our subject's mother, was born
where Louisville now stands, on December 31.
1799, and came from a prominent ancl wealthy
family. Six of her uncles w-ere in the Battle of
the Thames. The Kennedys were a strong race
of hardy pioneers and Mrs. Huston's father
came from Pennsylvania to Kentuckv among the
verv early settlers in that country. Being strong

.786

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and hardy men, they were long lived and were
prominent and leading citizens. John Park, her
•uncle, was the first white child born in St. Louis.
The family later moved to Indiana and there va
rious members of them were under General Harr
a-ison's army and became famous Indian fighters.
Our subject received his primary education in
the common schools of Indiana and Iowa, whith
er he went with his parents by team in 1850. In
1858 he entered Cornell college and remained
there until he had very nearly completed the full
•course. In i860 he traveled via the Isthmus of
^Panama to California and two years later, came
•ion to Lane county, Oregon. Shortly after land
ing in Lane county, he went to the Salmon river
.emines and then returned to Lane county. Until
3878 he was engaged in teaching school, then
secured a band of sheep and drove them across
-the mountains to Central Oregon. The Paiute
Indians being then on the war path, he had much
.trouble and encountered dangers, being accom
panied by his family. Still they managed to es
cape the dangers without loss of life and Mr.
Huston gave his attention to stock raising in
'Central Oregon until 1890, when he was elected
surveyor of Crook county. In early life he had
-given his attention to civil engineering in which
lie is very proficient. Upon being elected to the
^office named, he moved with his family to Prine
ville, both for the purpose of attending to the
-•duties of his office and to educate his children.
For ten consecutive years he has served in the
¦ county and has done most of the civil engineering
-work in the county. In 1890 he lost heavily in
vthe stock business but has made more since.
In 1866 Mr. Huston married Victoria Chil-
• de-rs, who was born in Franklin county, Missouri-
• -on December 9, 1839, and crossed the plains to
¦Oregon in 1852 with her parents, Thomas G.
: and Mary (Hinton) Childers, natives of Vir
ginia. The mother's father, Colonel Clayton,
was colonel of a regiment in the Mexican War.
To Mr. and Mrs. Huston, the following named
¦-children have been born : Henry Y., a blacksmith
-'in Baker county ; Mrs. Maggie O'Neil, who
-graduated in the Prineville high school; Knox
"D., a stockman in Crook county; Wade H., a
- graduate of the Prineville high school who also
taught school some in the county ; Sarah E.
'Thomson; Jesse I., engaged in the government
printing office in Manila.
Formerly Mr. Huston was a Democrat, but
he has now allied himself with the Socialists.
In addition to his work as a civil engineer, he
lias done considerable writing and is possessed of
no mean ability in the literary line. It is of note
that his father was contemporaneous with

George D. Prentice and assisted in the compila
tion of the biography of Henry Clay.
Mr. Huston had one brother, Hon. Henry
Clay Huston, who crossed the plains to Linn
county, Oregon, in 1852 and was state senator
from that county in 1866. He also served in the
Rogue River wars and was orderly sergeant in
Captain Keith's company. He was badly wounded
in the battle of Big Meadows, and was a true
blue soldier. Hon. Henry C. Huston was also
well known for his literary ability, having been
author of many bright gems. His death occurred
on December 18, 1899.

S. J. -NEWSOM, now one of the retired
stockmen in Crook county, has the distinction of
being one of the first pioneers here and the fore
most man during the years since. He was born
in Springfield, Illinois, on March 13, 1834. His
father, David Newsom, was born in Green Brier
county, Virginia, in 1808 and was an early pion
eer of Oregon, crossing the plains in 185 1. He
was a noted temperance advocate and did much
good work both in Oregon and Washington. His
death occurred in 1880. He had married Mary
Fluston, who was born in Monroe county, West
Virginia, in 1815. She came of Scotch-Irish
ancestry, her grandfather being a native of Ire
land and her grandmother of Scotland. Our
subject remained in Springfield, Illinois, until
seventeen years of age, then, -it being 185 1, came
across the plains with his parents. They uti
lized ox teams for this journey and settlement
was made in Marion county a few miles north
east of Salem, the father taking a donation
claim. Our subject remained in that vicinity for
twenty years, making several trips to the mines
in the meantime. In 1863 he returned via the
Isthmus to Kentucky, wintering in Illinois, and
the next spring returned to Oregon, bringing
stock with him to his western home. In 1868
he purchased a farm near the home place and
dwelt there two years. Then he came to that
portion of Wasco county now embraced in Crook
county ancl selected a home on the creek which
received his name, some thirty miles east from
where Prineville now stands. He continued there
until 1879, then removed to Prineville, where
he has resided since. He took up stock raising
when he first came here and continued actively
at it until a few years ago, when he retired from
business. He owns now more than twenty-five
hundred acres of land in Crook county, one-half
section of which is within the city limits of Prine
ville. Mr. Newsom has made a splendid success

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

787

in the financial world and is looked up to as one
of the leading men of the county.
On August 24, 1876, in Albany, Oregon, Mr.
Newsom married Sarah J. Simpson, who was
born in Linn county, Oregon, on January 7, 1853.
Her father, Frank Simpson, was born in Frank
fort, Kentucky, and there grew to manhood and
married. Then he moved to Missouri, where his
first wife died. Later he married Mary Ann
Corum, a native of Clay county, Missouri. She
is now living in Pomeroy, Washington. Mr.
Simpson left Missouri in 1850 and came to Ore
gon, settling on a donation claim near Albany. In
1870 he moved to Lassen county, California,,
and there died in 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. New
som the following named children have been
born, John D., Gale S. and Samuel J. John D.
was born March 8, 1899, and received his early
•education in Prineville, graduating from the pub
lic schools when eleven. Then he entered the
state normal, graduating when he was eighteen
years of age. Then he enlisted in Company C,
from Lane county, responding to the first call for
volunteers during the Spanish War. He went to
the Philippine Islands with the Second Oregon
Regiment ancl did duty there for fifteen months.
He returned in 1899 and matriculated in the
Portland law school from which he graduated
on March 3, 1902. He is now deputy state min
eral surveyor, under thirty thousand dollar bonds.
Gale S. was born on September 7, 188 1, and
after completing the public schools in Eugene,
Oregon, he attended the normal and also took a
business course in Portland. In 1900 he en
tered the medical college and graduated in April,
1904, and is now practicing at Arlington, this
state. Samuel J. was born June 5, 1889, and is
now a student in the high school.
Mr. Newsom served in the Yakima and Cay-
4ise Indian Wars and although two captains, a
lieutenant, a mate and companion were killed and
crippled near him and he had many close calls,
still he was never injured. At one time during
the campaign, he subsisted for twenty days on
horse meat, they being obliged to kill the worn-
out cayuses for this purpose. He waited forty-
seven years before receiving his pension for this
service but finally succeeded in getting it. In
1879 Mr. Newsom filled the unexpired term of A.
H. Brehman, the county assessor, and then was
elected assessor of Wasco county. At the crea
tion of Crook county, he was appointed sur
veyor by the governor, being the first encumbent
of that office, and while performing his duties,
be was urged by the county court to bring in the
assessment for Crook county. Owing to that, he
resigned his duties as surveyor and became as
sessor. He filled this office with credit to him

self and, as in every capacity, was a thorough and
stanch business man. Politically, he is a Demo
crat and gives of the time and interest that is
demanded in this realm.

LEANDER N. LIGGETT, the present
deputy sheriff of Crook county, residing at Prine
ville, was born in Polk county, Oregon, on De
cember 23, 1853. His father, Joseph Liggett,
was born in Missouri and came with his father,
our subject's grandfather, across the plains.
Joseph Liggett settled on what is known as the
Liggett donation claim near Lewisville, in the
Willamette valley. He started to fight the In
dians but being taken sick at Oregon City he was
obliged to return. His. death occurred at Yakima,
Washington, in 1892. He married Anna E.
Sleeth, a native of Indiana, who crossed the
plains in 1852 and died on March 16, 1903. Our
subject remained on the ranch with his father in
Polk county until 1866, when the father was
elected sheriff and the family removed to Dallas.
There Leander entered school and later matricu
lated at Corvallis college, graduating from the
complete course in 1873. Among his classmates
was William F. Harrin, now a leading attorney.
After leaving school, Mr. Liggett went to Linn
county and taught school. In 1875 he had charge
of running the level from Corvallis to Newport,
on the first line that went through that country.
Then he took a position in the office at Albany
as bookkeeper and assistant manager of the busi
ness, continuing until 1880. In 1878, however,
he was elected superintendent of schools for Lina
county and served two years.
On February 6, 1878, Mr. Liggett married
Catherine E. Cowan, and to them one child has
been born, Florence Ethel, the date being Decem
ber 6, 1879, and she is now deputy clerk of Crook
county. In the fall of 1880, Mr. Liggett left
the valley and came to Crook county, engaging
in the stock business. In 1893 he moved to
Prineville, taking the position as principal of the
city schools, continuing in the same for three
years. In October, 1895, he bought the Prine
ville Review, which he conducted until July, 1902,
then sold to William Holder. Fou three terms
Mr. Liggett was mayor of Prineville and was re
corder one term. For many years he was chair
man of the Democratic county central committee,
and has always been very active in political af
fairs. He belongs to the A. O. U. W., the W.
O. W. and the K. P. and is one of the representa
tive men of this county.
On January 30, 1905, since the above was
written, the sad event of the death of Mr. Lig-

788

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

gett has been chronicled. Regarding it, one has
said : "No death in recent years has come as such
a sudden blow to the community, to the family,
ancl to the many friends of the deceased. Few
knew that Mr. Liggett was suffering from any
bodily ailment. The death of Mr. Liggett marks
the close of a lifelong career of usefulness and it
is with a feeling of genuine sorrow and regret
that the host of friends and acquaintances
throughout the county and state see his remains
laid to rest."
Mr. Liggett was a popular and beloved man,
was a leader in many lines, had endeared himself
to all by his sterling worth and principle, and in
the midst of an active life, just when the prime
of days had come to him, he stepped forth to the
realities of another life. The entire community
joined the intimate friends in extending sym
pathy to the bereaved widow and family.

WILLIAM H. FOSTER has been in Crook
county nearly twenty years. During that time he
has labored assiduously as a stockraiser and til
ler of the soil and the result is that today he is
one of the well to do men of the county, has a
good standing, and is a representative man. He
was born in Linn county, Oregon, on December
28, 1870, and resides at the, present time some
nine miles up Wolf creek. His father before
him was a pioneer and his father's father, being
known as hardy and brave frontiersmen who
blazed the way for others to follow in many sec
tions of the United States. William W. Foster,
our subject's father, was born at Silverton, Ore
gon, and followed farming in the Willamette
valley until 1893 in which year he came to Crook
county, where he is still engaged in stockraising.
His father, Henry Foster, the grandfather of
our subject, was born in Missouri, crossing the
plains to Oregon in 1846 and was the first white
man married in what is now the state of Oregon.
When coming to the west, this venerable pioneer
was forced to transform his wagon boxes into
boats and thus ferry his people and goods across
the Mississippi river and the other intervening
streams on the way to the west. The mother
of our subject,' Mary (Marks) Foster, was born
in Linn county, Oregon, her people being
among the first settlers in the state. William
H. received his education in the Willamette val
ley and in 1887 came to Crook county, selected
his present place, which is nine miles up Wolf
creek from Paulina, and began stock raising. He
purchased land until he owns four hundred and
forty acres, which is well fitted for a good stock
ranch. He has given his entire attention to the

breeding of stock and has gained steadily in
wealth as the years have gone by. He is a man
of substantial and excellent qualities and has
done his share to build up the country, and stands
well today.
In 1897 Mr. Foster married Josephine Brown,
a native of Crook county and the daughter of
Charles Brown, who was born in Sweden and
came as a pioneer to this county. Two children
are the fruit of this union, Roy L. and Mildred.

GUYON SPRINGER is a representative citi
zen of Crook county and a leading stock breeder
of this part of the state. He has shown excep
tional ability in the lines he has pursued by the
unbounded success he has achieved. He resides
three miles southwest from Culver and has one
of the choicest estates in this part of the country.
It consits of eight hundred acres of splendid ag
ricultural land, a large body of excellent timber
and three thousand acres of grazing land. He
has fine improvements and is a man who shows
excellent taste and the best of judgment.
Guyon Springer was born in Polk county,
Oregon, ou March 8, 1854. George W. Springer,
his father, was a native of Steuben county, New
York, and February, 1827, was the time of his
birth. He crossed the plains with his parents,
the grandparents of our subject. He was a lead
er in the Christian church, and his father, Barney
D. Springer, kept a hotel among the stumps on
the ground where Portland now stands, and was
a stanch church worker. The mother of our
subject was Sarah A. Clark, a native of Ohio,
and the daughter of Elder Israel L. Clark, the
noted preacher of the Christian denomination.
The common schools of Yamhill county, Oregon,
gave the early training to our subject and then
he completed in the Portland Business College.
In 1876 he removed to Whitman county, Wash
ington, and in company with his brother, Byron
Springer, introduced the first Clydesdale horses,
Jersey cattle and Poland China hogs in that part
of the country. Also they handled fine poultry
and were very progressive men in these lines of"
breeding fancy stock. In 1880 he returned to the
valley and there resided until 1887 when he came
to his present location, taking a homestead. The
next spring he went east and purchased some fine-
thoroughbred horses which he brought back with
him. Since then he has been handling thorough
bred stock ancl has fifty head of choice horses.
They are Clydesdale, Standard Trotters, Cleve
land Bays, ancl other kinds. He is the first man
crossing the English Hackney and the Standard
Trotters, and has made a good success in this:

Mr. and Mrs. Guyon Springer

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

789

breeding. Mr. Springer also handles blooded cat
tle and has some choice full bloods in poultry
lines. Among these he has Barred Plymouth
Rock, Black Langshan, Silver Wyandotte and
-others. On December 15, 1883, Mr. Springer married
Miss Nora Goucher, a native of Yamhill county,
Oregon, ancl the daughter of Dr. G. W. Goucher,
who was a minister and physician, and also an
influential man in politics, having been in the
legislature in California. Mrs. Springer has one
brother, Dr. Goucher, a noted physician located at
McMinnville, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Springer
have two children, Melissa ancl George W., aged
five ancl two respectively. Mr. Springer is a
member of the A. O. U. W. and the Artisans.
He is also a deacon in the Christian church and
is past master of the Yamhill county grange.
Politically- Mr. Springer is a Democrat and has
served this county as commissioner and is a mem
ber of the board of road viewers. In all his
labors he has manifested that thrift, sagacity,
and keen foresight that are so needful in winning
success. He is recognized as one of the leading
men of the country and has stimulated much
worthy effort in the line of improvement ancl
upbuilding. His thoroughbreds are among the
finest to be found in this part of the country and
his skill as a horseman is known far and near.

RICHARD W. BREESE, who lives twelve
miles out from Prineville on the Burns road, has-
wrought out a success for himself here that is
well worth the commendation of all lovers of
industry and thrift. A detailed account of his
life will be interesting and instructive and with
pleasure we append the same. Richard W.
Breese was born in Butler county, Ohio, on Jan
uary 15, 1854. His father, John Breese, a native
of England, came to America in 1850 and settled
•on a farm in Ohio. In 1856, he moved to Jen
nings county, Indiana, and in 1868, moved to
Livingston county, Illinois. In 1880, we find
him again journeying and this time to Linn
county, Oregon. Four years later he left that
country and came to Crook county and here he
remained until his death. He was a very exten
sive farmer in the east and also operated here in
the west. During the time of the Civil VVar, he
was captain of the home guards in Indiana and
assisted to repel Morgan at Madison, that state.
He married Mary Rooke, a native of Scotland
who came to America in 1850, their wedding oc
curring in Ohio. Mrs. Breese came from a
prominent and well-to-do family. Sir George
Rooke, the English admiral who had charge of

the English and Dutch forces that captured Gib
raltar in 1704, is the great-great-grandfather of
Mr. Breese. Our subject was educated at home,
being well trained in the ordinary English
branches and accompanied his father on all of
the journeys prior to 1876. In that year, he came
to Linn county, Oregon, where he was engaged in
farming and stock raising until 1889. That year
he sought out a location in Crook county, taking
a homestead near where he lives at present. Since
ttiat time, he has purchased land until he owns
an estate of eleven hundred acres. During the
past fifteen years, he has given his undivided at
tention to the improvement of his estate and to
handling cattle, the result being that he has
gained a large amount of first class property and
is one of the leading citizens of Crook county.
In 1878, Mr. Breese married Miss Charlotte
Gray, who was born in Linn county, Oregon, the
daughter of John ancl Isabel (Rooke) Gray, na
tives of Kentucky and Scotland, respectively.
Mr. Gray crossed the plains with ox 'teams in
1852 and took a donation claim in Linn county.
He became one of the prominent citizens of the
state and was a strong opponent to what was
known as the Golden Circle, being more favor
ably inclined to the Union League. To Mr. and
Mrs. Breese two children have been born, Mary
and Ralph.
Like many of the most substantial men of our
country, Mr. Breese started without any capital
whatever except bright hopes, strong hands ancl
an unlimited supply of courage and stability. He
has won his way to his present prosperous condi
tion by virtue of his own industry and sagacity
and has always left an unsullied reputation. He
has many friends, is well known and stands high.

MARCELL SENECAL, a native of Oregon,
has passed his entire life in the territory em
braced in this state. He is now residing four and
one-half miles north from Suplee, in Crook
county, where he follows stock raising and farm
ing. Mr. Senecal was born in Marion county, on
September 5, 1855. Dedron Senecal, his father,
was a native of Canada, his birth place being
near Montreal and he comes from French extrac
tion. In early life he was associated with the
Hudson's Bay Company and when young came
on west to what is now Oregon. He was a trap
per for that company for years and was all over
Oregon before there were any settlers here. He
finally took a donation claim on what is now
French prairie in the Willamette valley, the point
first settled in Oregon. There he remained until
1876 in which vcar he moved to Wasco county,

790

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

which was his home until his death. His entire
life was spent on the frontier and as a brave
adventurer he was a decided success. He mar
ried Lucy Dushart, who was born in Marion
county, Oregon. Her father also was one of the
employes of the Hudson's Bay Company. Our
subject remained in Marion county until he was
eighteen years of age, when he came east of the
mountains to Wasco county. He selected a
ranch, married and lived there until 1900 in
which year he came to his present location. He
has a good farm and is doing well in farming
and stock raising.
It was 1874, that Mr. Senecal married Mary
Delore, a native of Marion county, Oregon. Her
father, Peter Delore was also a pioneer of Ore
gon and married Lizzie Depree. Mr. and Mrs.
Senecal have two children, George and Albert G.

J. H. GRAY, one of the leading and repre
sentative men of Crook county, devotes his at
tention to farming and stock raising. *He resides
twenty-four miles east from Prineville on the
Burns stage road and has an estate there of
nearly two thousand acres. When he first ac
quired the place, it was very much run down but
by his thrift and wisdom, he has made it one of
the richest ranches in Crook county. He handles
a great many horses and cattle of the finest
strains. He also breeds Poland China hogs.
Among cattle, he pays the most attention to the
Hereford stock and his thoroughbreds are among
the finest to be found in this part of the state.
Altogether, he is a very successful and wealthy
stockman. Among the ancestors and relatives of Mr.
Gray, we will give a brief mention of the fol
lowing. His great-great-grandfather, Mr. Jack
son of Ireland, married Miss Horner, also a na
tive of Ireland and to them was born Martha
Jackson. James Gray married Martha Jackson
in Ireland. He was born in 1725 and died in
Kentucky. To this marriage were born the fol
lowing named children : Nizzle, on September 3,
1745, who died in Pennsylvania, on June 3, 1767 ;
Mary, on February 19, 1747, married David
Cowan of Bourbon, Kentucky ; Rachel, Febru
ary 28, 1749, married Mr. Cowan in Pennsyl
vania; George, May 10, 1751, ancl died September
21, 1775, the date he was to be married: Gennett,
August 20, 1753, died July 30, 1767; James, June
11, 1755, married Mary Caldwell in Pennsyl
vania and died at Bourbon, Kentucky; Elizabeth,
November 5, 1757, married Joseph McEnulta
and died at Nicholas, Kentucky, in 1804; Sarah,
May 24, 1760 and married David McKinley ;

William, on November 8, 1762, and married Miss
Mary, last name lost; David, on January 18,
1767, married Nancy Mooney, in Kentucky, in
1792. Martha (Jackson) Gray, the mother of
these above mentioned, was a cousin of General.
Jackson and lived to be one hundred and five
years of age, her death occurring in Kentucky.
To David Gray and Nancy (Mooney) Gray
were born the following named children : Nancy
Gray, on April 21, 1793; James, on January 27,.
1797 ; Martha, on March 26, 1799 ; John, on De
cember 19, 1802; William, on February 7, 1805;.
David, October 23, 1807; and Jane, in 1813. The
first two of these seven children were born in
Bourbon, Kentucky. The other five were born
in Nicholas, Kentucky. Their father, David
Gray, died in Preble county, Ohio, on Novem
ber 23, 1840. His father died in Preble county,
Ohio, on November 25, 1837. Of the seven chil
dren of David and Nancy (Mooney) Gray, we
have record of the death of six : Nancy Gray died
in Crawfordsville, Linn county, Oregon when
ninety-four years of age ; Martha, died in Preble
county, Ohio, December 14, 1845 > Jonn> who is
the father of the immediate subject of this sketch,
died in Portland, Oregon in February, 1879 —
it is supposed that he was drugged and put out
ot a hotel at night ; he was found on the street in
sensible and died a few hours after being taken
to the hospital ; William died in Preble county,
Ohio, where he lived on the old home place of his
parents from the time they came there from Ken
tucky until his death ; David died at Albany, Ore
gon, and was buried on his donation claim beside
his wife, Elizabeth, who had died many years
previously, near Halsey, Oregon ; Jane died in
Nicholas, Kentucky in 1813, aged twenty-one
years. Nancy (Mooney) Gray, the mother of
these children named, is the grandmother of J.
H. Gray, the subject of this sketch. Her father
was Patrick Mooney and would be the great
grandfather of J. H. Gray. This venerable pa
triarch was born in 1681 and died December 14,
1799, being one hundred ancl eighteen years of
age. He married Jane Beard of Ireland and to
them were born in Virginia, United States, on
March 1, 1768, Nancy Mooney. After the death
of his first wife Patrick Mooney married a sec
ond time. This wedding occurred when he was
one hundred years of age and his bride was eigh
teen years of age. They lived together eighteen
years before his death. Patrick Mooney was a
well educated and prominent man. He was
born in the north of Ireland but came of Scotch
ancestry. One time during his life, while on a
pleasure voyage their ship was wrecked. He and'
two others were attacked by pirates and sold as
slaves on the island. Later they succeeded in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

79 *

making their escape and came to America. The
Gray family is related to the families of Presi
dents McKinley and Jackson.
J. H. Gray, who is the immediate subject of
this sketch, was born in Linn county, Oregon, on
April 23, 1855, the son of John and Isabel
(Rook) Gray, natives of Kentucky and Scotland,
respectively. The father came with his parents
to Ohio when a boy, crossed the plains in 1852
with ox teams and located on a donation claim in
Linn county, Oregon, ancl became a very prom
inent ancl well-to-do man. We have already men
tioned concerning his death. His wife came to
the United States when a young lady and accom
panied him across the plains after their marriage.
Our subject was educated in Linn county and
there grew up and engaged in farming. In 1876,
he came to Crook county and wrought for wages.
for two years, then went into a blacksmith shop
at Prineville, completing the trade there. Later
he bought land and also ,took government land^
Finally he sold his property and in 1899, bought
the estate where he is now located.
In 1875, Mr. Gray married Rebecca Hun
saker who was born in the Willamette valley and
came to Crook county in early days. The chil
dren born to this union are O. C, a merchant at
Prineville, ancl treasurer of Crook county ; Bruce,
also in the mercantile business in Prineville ;
Pearl, the wife of Mr. Rowell, a rancher in
Crook county ; ancl Roy, farming with his father.
In 1896, Mr. Gray was appointed by Governor
Lord a member of the state board of agriculture
but owing to the fact that he had just been elected
sheriff of Crook county, he was unable to ac
cept. He filled that important office for two
terms and county assessor one term, ancl was a
very excellent official.
Mr. Gray is a member of the I. O. O. F., a
prominent man and one of the leading citizens
of central Oregon.

RALPH PORFILY was born beneath the
perfect skies of Italy, Agnone being his native
heath, and October 23^' i860, the date of this im
portant event in his career. His parents, Fran-
cecsi ancl Marie (Domenica) Porfily, were born
in the same place as our subject and there re
mained until their death. The father followed
farming ancl stock raising. Ralph received his
early education in his native country and
wrought on his father's farm until 1881,-then he
came to America. At first he secured employ
ment of the railroad in Pennsylvania, whence
later, he went to Texas and wrought in a stone
quarry. In 1883, he took a trip on foot through

old Mexico and had many and varied experiences-
and he soon discerned that the United States was
the better place for a man of thrift ancl industry
and accordingly he made his way back. In 1888
he worked in the California quick silver mines,,..
and in 1889, located in Crook county, Oregon,.
He immediately secured work herding sheep and
soon got a band for himself. Then he took gov
ernment land and bought land where he is now
located, some fourteen miles out from Prineville
on the Burns stage road, and started in the busi
ness for himself. He made himself master of
the sheep industry and farming and knew welL'
how to make everything count. Success could
but attend him and he rapidly gained property,.
He now has about fifteen hundred acres of land
and a large amount of stock. All this has been
the result of his own efforts here and Mr.
Porfily is to be commended for what he has
achieved. He is a good citizen and takes an ac
tive interest in politics and educational matters
as becomes a man of this free country.

PETER DELORE, Jr., one of the pioneers -
of Crook county, and a man well known in the
days of the Indian wars, is residing about three
miles north from Suplee, where he has a nice-
estate and a good band of stock. His birth oc
curred in Marion county, Oregon. His father,.
Peter Delore, was born at Lagrande, Oregon*
and was a son of one of the Hudson's Bay Com
pany's employees. That gentleman was at La-
grande, Oregon, before any white people were
there and also spent his life traveling for the-
Hudson's Bay people to all portions of the west,.
long before any settlers were here. Our subject's •-
father finally settled in Marion county, Oregon,
on a donation claim. There he remained until
1 86 1, when he came to Wasco county, settling'
near Oak Grove. In 1884, he came to Crook
county and is now living here, aged eighty-nine.-
He married Lucy Delore, who was born at Fort
Colville, Washington. Her father also was inr
the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. Our
subject came to Wasco county with his parents
when a boy ancl secured his education there and
in his native county previously. When the
Modoc Indian war broke out, he was employed
as a scout a portion of the time and did some ex
cellent service. After the war, he went to Ne
vada and did ranching until 1889, when he came
to his present location and here has been en
gaged in the stock business since. In 1897, Mr.
Delore married Margaret Mosier.
It is worthy of note that in the Paiute In
dian War, Mr. Delore was captain of the scouts.

792

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and did much excellent service. .Being thor
oughly acquainted with the country, a man of
fearlessness and keen to discern the acts of the
enemy, he was enabled to direct the other scouts,
which resulted in the success of the soldiers and
volunteers in quelling the outbreak. On one
occasion, Mr. Delore was sent with seven scouts
in his command to the top of Steen Mountain,
by General Forsythe. The purpose was to as
certain the whereabouts of the savages and their
nurhbers. While on the mountain, they sur
prised a couple of warriors building signal fires.
Upon demanding their surrender they fired and
killed the horse Mr. Delore was riding. Then
the scouts captured one of the redskins and the
¦other escaped under a volley from the white men.

HORACE P. BELKNAP, M. D., has the
distinction of having practiced medicine in
Prineville longer than any other physician in the
county. During these years he has demonstrated
satisfactorily to an appreciative ancl discriminat
ing public his ability as a physician and surgeon,
his integrity as a man ancl his progressiveness
and broadmindedness as a citizen. Being a native
Oregonian Dr. Belknap has always spent his life
beneath the stars of the Occident and became fast
wedded to the great Webfoot State. A detailed
account of his life will be very interesting to the
citizens of this county and we accept with pleas
ure the privilege of submitting the same.
Horace P. Belknap was born in Monroe,
Oregon, on April 5, 1856. Harley Belknap,
is father, was born in Ohio in 1832. Eight years
later he moved with his parents to Iowa and
ten years after that came with them across the
plains by ox teams to the Willamette valley. He
took a donation claim ancl there resided until
1875, when he came to what is now Crook county,
where he engaged in the stock business. He
also was a carpenter and builder and followed that
•occupation jointly with stock raising and many of
the best contractors in Prineville testify to his
skill ancl ability in this line. He married Thirza
Inman, who was born in Tennessee, in 1836, ancl
came with her parents to Missouri when six vears
of age. In 1853 she accompanied her parents
across the. plains to Oregon. She ancl her hus
band are now living retired in California, having
secured a generous competence of this world's
goods through their industry ancl thrift.
Our subject was educated in the Willamette
University and after graduating from that institu
tion matriculated at Ann Arbor, Michigan, where
he remained two years. Then he entered the

tamous Bellevue Medical College at New York
and graduated thence with honors in 1886, hav
ing fully earned the title of Doctor of Medicine,
which was bestowed upon him. The doctor came
to Prineville and since that time has been stead
ily engaged in the practice of medicine. He is
extensively known and has a large practice. For
two years Dr. Belknap was superintendent of
schools for the county, then he was county treas
urer for two years and for three years has been
mayor of the city of Prineville. In these public
capacities he has manifested a thoroughness
ancl faithfulness to the interests of the people
that have established him well in their confidence
and esteem. Dr. Belknap is a thorough profes
sional man, being well fortified with a classical
education and an extensive medical course. He
secured a thorough professional training and is
also keeping well abreast of the advancing science
of medicine all of which added to a splendid tal
ent make the success which he has won and
Prineville is to be congratulated that a man of his
ability and skill is located there. The doctor comes
from a family which has showed itself one of
ability in various lines as well be noted by the
following : Harvey B. is a contractor in Cali
fornia, and skillful in his work ; S. I. is a leading
druggist and assayer ; V. C. is a skillful physician
at Prairie City, Grant county, Oregon and Elbert
is a druggist. All of these are brothers of our
subject and are prominent businses and profes
sional men.
On March 15, 1888, Dr. Belknap married
Miss Wilda Ketchum, who was born in New
Brunswick and came to Prineville with her par
ents when a child eight years of age. The child
ren born to this union are Horace P., Wilfred H.,
Leland and Hobart.
Dr. Belknap is a member of the I. O. O. F.
ancl the A. F. & A. M. He and his wife are
leading people of Crook county and have well
earned the confidence and esteem which is gen
erously bestowed upon them.

I. L. KETCHUM, who resides about a mile
and one half west from Prineville, has one of the
beautiful places in this part of the state. He is
one of the pioneers of Grook county and is also
one its leading citizens. His birth occurred in
Carlton county, New Brunswick, on November
30, 1839, his parents being John William and
Sophia (Grant) Ketchum, both natives of King
county New Brunswick. The father was born in
1788 and followed milling during his life. Our
subject received his education and was reared
in his native place ancl there began to work for

Dr. Horace P Belknap

Mrs. Horace P. Belknap

Mr. and Mrs. I. L. Ketckum

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

793

himself, continuing until 1878. In that year he
came to his present location ancl purchased a tract
of school land. It was very barren and uninviting
and Mr. Ketchum began at once to improve and
among the first things he did was to secure a
water right and dig a ditch for irrigation pur
poses. This made the desert bloom as the rose
and he soon had one of the best estates to be
found. He provided all improvements that could
be desired, as fences, barns, outbuildings, orchard
and so forth, and in addition planted a fine grove
well laid out so that his grounds are very beauti
ful. Mr. Ketchum erected comfortable farm
buildings ancl has taken great pride in beautify
ing ancl keeping his place in splendid order.
These labors have all been very worthy, and are
to be commended for others have been stimu
lated to greater effort by what he has accom
plished. In 1886 Mr. Ketchum married Sarah Dingee,
who was born in Carlton county, New Bruns
wick, on March 22, 1849, the daughter of Charles
D., a native of New Brunswick. To Mr. and
Mrs. Ketchum the following named children have
been born : Alwilda, the wife of Dr. Belknap ;
Fannie, the wife of Columbus Johnson ; Jessie,
married to Otto Grey ; Emma, the wife of Henry
Whitchet ; Elizabeth ancl Randolph. Mr. Ket
chum is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the A.
O. U. W. He and his wife are substantial mem
bers of the Methodist church ancl are known as
upright ancl good people.

T. F. BUCHANAN is to be numbered with
Crook county's substantial stock men and farm
ers. He resides two and one-half miles north
west from Grizzly, where he owns three hundred
and sixty acres of land. His stock consists
mostly of cattle.
T. F. Buchanan was born in Henry countv,
Missouri, on October 5, 1856, the son of Elja
Buchanan, a veteran of the Black Hawk War. In
his native state our subject was educated and
reared. When eighteen years of age, being pos
sessed of an adventurous spirit, he determined to
try the west and accordingly journeyed to Cali
fornia. He did farming ancl worked for wages
for about six years. Then, it being 1880, he came
to Grant county, Oregon, and engaged in freight
ing from The Dalles to Canyon City. Seven
years were occupied at that arduous labor and
then he came to Crook county. He secured a
place near Prineville ancl there was engaged in
farming until 1898, when he came to his present
location and secured the estate mentioned above.
Mr. Buchanan has been favored with good suc

cess and is one of the substantial men of this part
of the county.
In 1890, Mr. Buchanan married Miss Hale
and to them one child has been born, Nora. Mr.
Buchanan is a member of the well known and
prominent Buchanan family, one of whom was
president of the United States in the fifties. Many
members of the family have been distinguished
people ancl are prominent in the professions.

JACOB STROUD is a genuine Oregonian.
He was born in Benton county, this state, on
March 8, 1849, and has passed his life within the
boundaries of the state, showing, during the
years intervening, his stability and his resource
fulness in the walks of life. His father, David
D. Stroud, was born in Henderson county, Illi
nois, on April 23, 1812, and crossed the plains
with ox teams in 1845. At The Dalles they had
trouble with the Indians, but finally made their
way down the river and then selected a place six
miles north from where Corvallis now stands.
May 11, 1846 was the date when settlement was
made and there the family remained until 1874.
Our subject was one of the first white children
born in Benton county ancl he received his edu
cation in the common schools ancl in the agricul
tural college at Corvallis. Also, he spent some
time in teaching in the college. Then he started
out for himself. His father continued on the old
place until the date last mentioned, when he re
moved to Butter creek, in Umatilla county ancl
engaged in the sheep business until 1877. He
died in Prineville in 1887. He had married Miss
Susan Hawkins, a native of Kentucky, who
crossed the plains with her husband and was one
of the first white women in Benton county. She
was a faithful helpmeet to her husband in his
pioneer labors, ancl remained thus till her death
in 1881. When our subject started for himself,
he worked for wages until his marriage and
then he settled down to farming in Benton
county. After a few years at that, it being 1878,
he turned his attention to handling sheep in Uma
tilla county. He was on Camas prairie at the
time of the Indian outbreak and after taking his
family to Umatilla Landing for the protection
there afforded, he returned to round up his sheep
and spent six weeks in the saddle. Then he re
turned to the valley and remained until 1885, in
which year he came to the vicinity of Prineville
and there engaged in stock raising until 1899.
On March i of that year he came to his present
location, two miles west from Lamonta, where he
took a homestead and bought land so that with
his son he now owns four hundred and forty

794

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

acres. The estate is choice land and is well im
proved with fine house, barns, out buildings, and
so forth. They also own a threshing outfit which
they operate during the fall of each year.
In 1872, Mr. Stroud married Miss Mary M.
Seales, who was born in Arkansas, on January
18, 1852, the daughter of Burell Seales, a vet
eran of the Mexican War. Mr. Stroud has the
following named brothers : William, in Idaho ;
John, in Josephine county ; Zechariah and Henry,
in Prineville ; David, at The Dalles ; Isaac, in
King valley, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Stroud have
two children, J. F. and Mrs. Ella V. Rodman.
Mr. Stroud is a member of the A. O. U. W. and
holds with the Democratic party. He and his
wife both belong to the Baptist church and are
good people.

W. T. WOOD. Without doubt the subject of
this article is to be classed as one of the most
successful pioneers of central Oregon. While he
has not been within the presincts of the state so
long as some, still he is one of the pathfinders of
Crook county and his labors have resulted in very
much good for the development of the country.
To give a detailed account of his career would
occupy more space than we are permitted to use
but a succinct statement of the same would be
very interesting and instructive to all.
W. T. Wood was born in Illinois, on Decem
ber 29, 1830, the son of Milo and Elizabeth Ann
(Telford) Wood, natives of North Carolina and
Tennessee respectively. The father was born in
1795. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and
died in Illinois, in 1870. The mother was born
in 1795 and died in Illinois, in 1875. Our sub
ject completed his education in the Presbyterian
school at Jacksonville, Illinois, and remained on
the farm with his father until eighteen years of
age. Then the family came to Petersburg, Illi
nois, where he continued until twenty-three years
of age. Then he went to Nebraska, where he was
variously engaged for a time. Mr. Wood dis
tinctly remembers being on the grounds now oc
cupied by the great city of Omaha when the
first platting was done and he was offered a plat
of sixty lots for the horse he was riding but re
fused to make the trade. These lots now are in
trie heart of the city. He owned a ranch at that
time of one section of land on the Platte river,
where he was engaged in farming. He also,
later, freighted from Omaha to Denver. During
that time the buffalo were very plentiful on the
plains and also it was when William F Cody
was riding the pony express and gained notor
iety and the soubriquet of "Buffalo Bill" by

shooting a large number of these roamers of the
plains. In 1863, our subject went to California
and engaged in farming for nine years. It was
1872, when he landed in the Willamette valley,
where he was occupied for eight years. Then he
came to his present location, which is Ashwood..
This was a very fine country so Mr. Wood was
induced to take up stock raising. He handled
both cattle and sheep and his farm home is the
place where Ashwood now stands. While he was
engaged in the sheep industry, he handled bands
of about six thousand all the time and was very
successful in the business. About 1884, while-
Mr. Wood was digging a well, he discovered iron
sulphate which led him to make further search
and he soon discovered other unmistakable evi
dences of an ore body. He at once went to work
to organize a company to develop the properties
and was one of the leading spirits in opening the
Ashwood mines. He is largely interested in that
at the present time, owning a heavy amount of
stock in two companies.
Mr. Wood is still handling stock and doing
general farming in addition to his mining inter
ests, and has disposed of his sheep, confining his
operations to cattle. He is well known through
out the country and is esteemed as a man of
ability and integrity.
In 1861, while in Nebraska, Mr. Wood mar
ried Martha J. Rush, who was born in Ohio, on
October 27, 1847. Her father, Isaac Rush, was a
sheepman in Ohio and Nebraska. To this union,
three children have been born, James, Milo and.
Lee.

JAMES WOOD, the postmaster at Ash
wood, who is also one of the early pioneers of
Crook county, is to be mentioned as a leading
citizen and a stanch business man. He is now
occupied in mining and stock raising. His birth
occurred in Nebraska, on May 22, 1862. His
father, W. T. Wood, is mentioned elsewhere in-
this work. Our subject was taken by the family
from Nebraska to California when quite young.
In 1875, they journeyed on to the Willamette val
ley and then he came to Ashwood. In 1880, he
took a band of stock east and has driven cattle
across the plains. He engaged in sheep and cat
tle raising, in 1886, and still continues handling
cattle. In his labors, he has gained a good suc
cess, having displayed both energy and skill. In
1889, he began to work on the Red Jacket mines,
which are now owned by the Red Jacket Mining
Company and since that time, has been more or
less engaged with mining. He discovered the
Dexter and Red Jacket mines and has spent a
good many thousand dollars in developing these

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

795

properties. At present, he is general manager of
the properties mentioned. On the Oregon King
they have a large quantity of ore blocked out. In
addition to this, Mr. Wood owns a half interest
in the Ashwood mines and owing to his indus
try and push, the mining interests of this section
have been brought to the notice of the public
and steps are being taken to make producers of
these properties. In the spring, of 1899, Mr.
Wood laid out the townsite of Ashwood and
still owns the principal portion of the same. At
the establishment of the Ashwood postoffice, he
was appointed postmaster and has held the office
since to satisfaction of all.
On March 8, 1902, Mr. Wood married Ada
Belle Rush, the daughter of Samuel Rush, who
is mentioned in another portion of this work.
Two children have been born to this union, Floyd
and Bessie.
Mr. Wood is a member of the Masons and
in politics, he is a Republican. He is looked up
to and respected by all and readily holds this po
sition, owing to his sagacity and his stanch prin
ciples.

CHARLES BOLSBY who was born in Den
ver, Colorado, on September 22, 1862, is now one
of the substantial agriculturists of Crook county
and resides in Suplee. His father was John K.
Bolsby, a native of Ireland. When a young man
he came to America and settled at Soda Springs,
Colorado. By trade he was a cooper and baker
and followed these occupations in Colorado.
He fought in all the early Indian wars
in that part of the country, and became a very
prominent and leading man. He married Sophia
Streeter of Scotch nativity who came to Amer
ica when a young girl and the wedding occurred
in Wisconsin'. Our subject accompanied his pa
rents from Colorado to Wisconsin when a mere
boy and from that state, they journeyed later to
Missouri. After that, they lived in Kansas and
in 1876, Charles came on to the Willamette val
ley. His education was completed in the univer
sity at Eugene, Oregon, and following that he
held the position of brakeman on the Oregon and
California railroad for a number of years. Fi
nally, in 1884, he came to Prineville, Oregon, and
went into the stock business. That occupation
has held him since and he has been quite success
ful in prosecuting the same. His ranch con
sists of six hundred acres of good land and at
this time he is giving his attention to tilling the
soil in addition to raising some stock. The place
is well improved and Mr.Bolsby is planning more
extensive additions and improvements to his
estate in the near future.

Mr. Bolsby married Lily Delore, who was
born at Dufur, Oregon, and died January 25,
1892. The household has been blessed by two
children, Edith and Iva P Mr. and Mrs. Bolsby
enjoyed the esteem and confidence of all.

JOSEPH H. DEEN, a native Oregonian, re
sides two and one-half miles north from Suplee.
The date and place of his birth was Wasco
county, January 27, 1871. Jacob Deen, his
father, was born in Missouri ancl crossed the
plains in 1847, to where Portland now stands.
For five years he remained there, then came to
Wasco county and took government land and
engaged in farming and stock raising. He con
tinued the same until 1880 in which year he re
moved to Lewiston, Idaho. Four years were
spent there and he returned to Wasco county,
where he remained until 1905. He had fought
in the Rogue River, Modoc and the Paiute In
dian Wars and showed bravery and faithfulness
in these trying and dangerous times. He married
Frances Kingston, a native of Missouri, who
crossed the plains with her parents to Oregon
in 1848. Our subject was educated and reared'
in Wasco county and in 1893 came to his present
location and took a homestead. He engaged in
farming and stock raising ancl has continued the
same ever since, with reasonable success.
In 1899,-- Mr. Deen married Miss Bertha
Bush, who was born in Missouri and they now
have two children, Velva and Lowel. Mrs.
Deen's father, James F. Bush, was born in Mis
souri and became a well-to-do farmer. He mar
ried Sirena Thompson, a native of Putnam
county, Indiana. She was brought to Missouri
by her parents when three years of age and in
1847 came With them across the plains to the
Willamette valley. The father took a donation
claim near Salem and in 1852 removed to Port
land. From thence they journeyed to San Fran
cisco and started for Cuba by ship, but instead of
stopping there they went on to New York then
to Pennsylvania and finally back to Missouri.
There Mrs. Bush remained until 1897, when
they came back to Oregon. She was a pioneer
in the true sense of the word and always lived on
the frontier ancl never saw a cook stove until
after she was sixteen years of age.

JOHN W. GILCHRIST is one of the pro
gressive stockmen and farmers of Crook county
and is to be numbered with the pioneers of
central Oregon. His birth occurred in Indiana,

796

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

t>n October 23, 1856 and he now resides twenty
miles out from Post, on the Burns stage road.
His parents, James and Charity M. (Adams)
Gilchrist, were born in Scotland and Indiana, re
spectively. The father came to Indiana in pio
neer days and was a very prominent Presby
terian minister. The mother journeyed to Cali
fornia in 1875, where she remained until 1880
when she returned to Indiana and there died in
1893. Our subject was educated in Indiana and
at the age of seventeen came west, stopping first
amid the attractions of the Golden State. There
he remained until 1877, when he journeyed on to
the Willamette valley and one year later left
that country for western Oregon. He has trav
eled over a large portion of the country east of
the Cascades and south of the Columbia and fi
nally located at the place where he now resides.
From the beginning, he has been engaged in rais
ing stock and now also does considerable farm
ing in addition thereto. The success that has
crowned his efforts has made him one of the
well-to-do men of the county and he is consid
ered a very substantial man.
In 1879, Mr. Gilchrist married Nellie Parish,
who was born in the Willamette valley, the
daughter of Edward Parish. Five children are
the fruit of this union, Fred, Jamie, Floyd, Paul,
and Willda. Mr. Gilchrist by experience knows
well the hardships and arduous labors of the pio-
aieer's life and he has done his share in opening
this country for the ingress of civilization. There
fore it is with pleasure that his name is to be
added to the list of worthy pioneers of this part
-of Oregon.

GEORGE H. OSBORNE, who is one of
the representative agriculturists of Crook county,
is residing at Culver, where he has a good estate.
He was born in Missouri, in 1852. His father,
Hon. William F. Osborne, is a native of Indiana,
-and was one of the first commissioners of Green
wood county, Kansas, and also enjoyed the dis
tinction of being sent three times to the legis
lature of that state. He is a man of influence and
ability and has had an interesting career. He
made a trip to California at the time of the dis
covery of gold there ancl then returned to his
"home in Greenwood county where he resides at
the present time. He married Mary Barnes, who
was born in Missouri, ancl whose death occurred
in 1864. Our subject was taken by his parents
to Greenwood county, Kansas territory, from
Missouri, they being among the earliest settlers
of that territory. In 1872 our subject came from
Kansas, where he had received his education, and
located near Goose Lake, in Oregon. Three

years later he removed thence to the Willamette
valley and there remained until 1878, when he
came to his present location and took a home
stead. He also took a timber culture and since
then he has devoted his energies to farming, and
has made a good success.
On November 6, 1877, Mr. Osborne married
Miss Ella Rogers, and they have become the pa
rents of ten children, whose names follow :
Franklin C, Robert C, Francis E., Maude L,
Lulu M., Winford C, Floyd H., Lois W., Flor
ence G., and Rex R. Mr. Osborne is a member
of the A. O. U. W. and the Artisans and is to
be numbered with the pioneers of the Haystack
country. He has shown commendable industry
in his labors and has a good standing in the com
munity.

LEE WOOD, who resides at Ashwood, Ore
gon, was born in Lake county, California, on
April 15, 1869. His father, W. T. Wood, is men
tioned in another portion of this work. Mr.
Wood is one of the stirring young business men
O' the county, possessing marked industry and
integrity. He came from California to Lane
county, Oregon, with his parents when but two
years of age. The beginning of his education
was gained in the Lane cdunty home and in 1879,
the family came thence to what is now Crook
county. Here our subject was reared and com
pleted his education and has been more or less
connected with stock raising ever since the father
settled here. It is interesting to note that where
the shaft of the Oregon King is now located, Mr.
Wood herded sheep for years, not knowing there
were such valuable bodies of ore underneath. He
is now largely interested in mining as well as
stock raising and bids fair to become one of the
wealthy men of this part of the country.
In the fall of 1901, Mr. Wood married Lena
B. Robinson, the daughter of J. W. Robinson, an
account of whose life is found elsewhere in this
volume. Mr. and Mrs. Wood are young people
of excellent standing, are favorites in society and
are to be commended for their energy displayed
in the good work of developing this country.

C. C. O'NEIL, a merchant, residing at For
rest, which is thirteen miles west of Prineville,
is a man whose labors have accomplished very
much for the development and upbuilding of
Crook county. He was born in Connersville, In
diana, on August 27, 1857, the son of William
G. O'Neil, who was born in Tennessee, in 1812
and was one of the pioneers to Indiana. Our

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

797

subject was educated and reared in Indiana until
1870 when he went to Kansas and spent three
years. Then came the journey to California
where he settled on a fruit ranch in Sonoma
county. For nine years he was occupied there
and then he came to the Bend, Oregon, in 1882.
One winter was spent there ancl after that Mr.
O'Neil engaged in the stock business in this
county. In 1890, he took charge of the Prine
ville Land and Live Stock Company and contin
ued in the management of the same until 1889.
During that time, he was instrumental in for
warding many things that were for the advance
ment of the county. He has always taken a deep
interest in bringing Crook county to the front
and developing her resources to make them pro
ductive. In this line, Mr. O'Neil has been a real
leader and deserves much credit. In 1904, he
severed his relations with the company above
mentioned and came to his present location, pur
chased twenty-six hundred acres of land, one-
half 01 which is agricultural. He also purchased
the store at this point and enlarged it, putting
in a tine stock of general merchandise. He is in
partnership with his brothers, George W. and
Walter in the business and the firm is known as a
very progressive and up-to-date business house.
Mr. O'Neil also buys and sells hay and grain and
operates a general supply depot for this part of
the country. In 1894, Mr. O'Neil married Mary-
Clarke, who was born in Iowa. Mrs. O'Neil
died, leaving three children, Annie, William and
Bercia. Mr. O'Neil is a member of the W. W. and
the A. O. U. W. In politics he is a Republican
and is always on hand during the campaigns
pushing forward the interests of his party.

SAMUEL F. KING has succeeded in his
labors in Crook county and may well take pride
in what he has achieved. He resides about a
half a mile west from Paulina and devotes his
attention to farming. His birth occurred in
Montgomery county, Kansas, on January 13,
1878, being the son of R. N. and Mary King, na
tives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. The
father settled in Indiana in pioneer days and later
came to Kansas where he died when our subject
was nine vears of age. Then Samuel F. left
home and began life for himself. _ Although very
young, he was enabled to make his own way and
for four years did so in Kansas. Then, being
thirteen years of age, he came on to the William
ette valley and wrought there until 1897. At that
time he came to eastern Oregon and worked in
Wheeler county for wages. He also wrought in

various other portions of the state and being of
an economical and thrifty turn of mind, he saved
his wages and in 1902 was enabled to purchase a
half section of fine agricultural land, (where he
now resides. Mr. King is still a very young man
and the fact that he has secured a farm of one-
half section which is being improved and placed
in a high state of cultivation, indicates the man
ner of man and his business ability. He bids
fair to become one of Crook county's substan
tial men.

R. P. HARRINGTON, city marshal of
Prineville, county seat of Crook county, was born
in Columbia, Boone county, Missouri, December
27, 1853. His father was a native of Missouri,
and although he took no part in the Civil War,
he was met in the road by a party of Union
troops and shot to death.
In 1881 our subject left Missouri and came
west to Silverton, Marion county, Oregon, where
he remained one year. He then came on to
Prineville where at first he worked on a ranch,
and subsequently engaged in the sheep business.
In 1901 Mr. Harrington was appointed marshal
of the city of Prineville, and subsequently was
elected for three terms, which position he at
present holds.
In 1891 Mr. Harrington was united in mar
riage to Miss Ada J. Crane, born near Eugene,
Oregon. She is the daughter of Andrew J.
Crane, a native of Illinois, who crossed the plains
in the fifties. They have one child, Ernest Har
rington. Fraternally our subject is a member of the A.
O. U. W., and politically he is a Democrat. Mr.
Harrington is- an excellent official, and conducts
the duties of his office in a most satisfactory man
ner. He is a popular gentleman, and numbers
many friends in both business and social circles.

B. F. SHEPHERD who was born in Da
kota territory, on October 28, 1867, is now resid
ing twenty miles south from Paulina. He gives
his attention to stock raising in which he has
achieved a splendid success. Benjamin Shep
herd, his father, was a native of Whiteside, Illi
nois, and came to Iowa when a young man.
Thence he moved to Dakota. ' He married Esther
Drur, a native of Indiana. Our subject went
with his parents from Dakota back to Iowa when
a small boy and in 1881, came to California. After
spending one year in that state, he came on to
Crook county and soon after landing here en
gaged in stock raising. He has continued stead-

798

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ily at it from that time until the present and, as
stated before, he has achieved a splendid success.
He has a goodly amount of first-class stock, a well
improved place and is one of the substantial and
representative' men of the county. In 1901 Mr.
Shepherd married Miss Annie L. Pickett, who
was born in Nevada and came to Crook county
with her parents when a young girl. Her father
was David C. Pickett. Mr. Shepherd is greatly
in love with Crook county and believes it one of
the finest places in the west. He has always taken
a lively interest in politics and educational matters
and is a man of excellent standing.

JOSEPH STREET, who was born in Put
nam county, Tennessee, on May 28, 1854, the
son of John and Martha A. (Roberson) Street,
is now residing forty miles south from Paulina in
Crook county. His parents are more particularly
mentioned in the sketch of James M. Street,
which appears elsewhere in this work. Our sub
ject received his education in Tennessee and in
California whither he went with his parents in
1870. When he arrived at manhood's estate, he
engaged in ranching in Modoc county, California,
and remained there until 1886, then he came north
to Oregon and finally to the vicinity of his pres
ent home. He soon bought land and engaged in
raising cattle and horses. He now owns two hun
dred and forty acres of good land and has a fine
bunch of stock and is one of the enterprising
and successful men of the country.
In 1884 Mr. Street married Nettie Best, who
was born in California where also she was reared
and educated. Her parents, John and Nettie
(Larson) Best, were natives of Wisconsin and
Norway, respectively, and crossed the plains to
California in early days. To Mr. and Mrs.
Street, six children have been born, Wesley,
Maudie, William H., Lena J., Eddie, and Fran
cis. Mr. Street began life without any capital and
he now possesses a good home, a good farm and
a nice holding in stock besides other property
which is the result of his own labor and worthy
efforts.

LEE STEERS is a pioneer of central Ore
gon and has done a splendid work both as such
and as a stockman and farmer in later years here.
He was born in Lincoln county, Illinois, on July
23, 1863, and now lives at Suplee in Crook
county. James F. M. Steers, his father, crossed
tlie plains from Illinois in 1865 to the Willam
ette valley. He drove four oxen and his wife
drove four horses and thus they made their way

to the west. After one year in the Willamette
valley, they came to Wasco county and later
here the father died in 1867. The mother was in
maiden life, Alvira Hieronymus. She was a de
voted and faithful helpmeet to her husband and
is still living in Wasco county. The schools of
Wasco county furnished the educational training
for our subject and he remained there until 1886,
when he moved to his present location and took
government land. He immediately began to im
prove and soon acquired more land, having now
an entire section. The same is well laid out and
in a good state of cultivation and supplied with
everything needful for a first class farm and
stock ranch. Mr. Steers has displayed great
thrift and industry, the result of which is that he
is possessed of a good fortune and is one of the
leading men of the country.
In 1890, occurred the marriage of Mr. Steers
and Nellie F. Laughlin. She was born in the
Willamette valley and came to Wasco county
with her parents in 1871. Her father, Samuel D.
Laughlin, crossed the plains to Wasco county in
early day and became one of the prominent men
of the state of Oregon. He married Amanda
Minter, a pioneer of Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs.
Steers, four children have been born, Lulu, Ruby,
Verne and Alvira. Mr. Steers has been devoted
to improvements for the good of the country
and its development and has accomplished a
great deal on these lines. He is a worthy citizen,
a good man and is rightly classed among the lead
ing people in this part of the state.

FULGENZIO YANINA is a man of very ex
tensive travels and wide experience in various oc
cupations and enterprises in different parts of the
world. He was born in Biasca, Canton of Ticino,
Switzerland, on July 15, 1844. His father, San-
tino Vanina, was born in the same place as our
subject and there owned a small farm. In addi
tion to operating that, he did logging in the moun
tains. In 1854 he went to Australia and did min
ing for about ten years. Then he returned to
Switzerland and remained there until his death.
He married Veronica Vanza, who was born in
Osogna, Switzerland, and remained in Switzer
land until her death. Our subject left home when
twelve years of age and went to Australia. He
spent seventeen years in that country and New
Zealand and mined in all the leading camps of
those great countries. While operating in the
mines he learned to read and write the Italian
language from a friend. His other educational
qualifications have been gained in the same way
by personal effort without much assistance from

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

799

the schools. Finally, in 1872, he left the South
ern Pacific ocean and returned to his native land,
making a short visit to the home place. He then
set our for California, whence he journeyed on
to Nevada. Then he took a trip to Alaska after
which he returned to California and engaged in
the dairying business for five years. In 1882 Mr.
Vanina came to The Dalles and engaged in ranch
ing in that vicinity for two years. Then he
came to the vicinity of his present location and
here he has remained since, with the exception
that one year was spent in traveling along the
Pacific coast. He now owns a large estate of
eleven hundred and sixty acres and handles a
great many cattle. He is considered one of the
wealthy men of Crook county and has gained
every bit of it by his own efforts as he started
in life without any capital whatever. In 1878 Mr.
Vanina married Catarina Rivera, who was born
in the same place as our subject. She came to
California in 1877 and was married in that state.
Mrs. Vanina's father is Pietro Rivera, a native
¦of Switzerland. He journeyed to California in
1856 and remained in that state until his death.
He had married Domenica Vanina, a native of
Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Vanina have one
child, Mrs. Lena Lowery. She and her husband
are operating a farm in Crook county. Mr. Vanina
has traveled very extensively and has seen great
hardships and trying labors during his life. He
has been in some very dangerous places but has
always succeeded in making his way out and al
though he did not meet with the best of success
in his many enterprises, nevertheless he is now
one of the wealthy men of the country.

MARCUS J. WILT is a representative man
of the country where he resides, and stands at
the head of a good business. He is following
merchandising in Sisters, and shows an ability
and integrity that commend him to all who
know him. He was born in Pennsylvania, on
August 19, 1854. His father, Andrew Wilt,
was also born in that state and enlisted in the
Second Iowa calvary, in 1861, being one of those
who pressed forward at the first call. He saw
hard service and died in the field hospital from
,the effects of it. Our subject left Pennsylvania
'with his parents when two years of age and they
settled in Iowa. There Marcus received his edu
cation and remained until he had grown to man
hood. When twenty-one he went to Leavenworth
and there worked for wages for eight years. After
that he came on west to Squaw creek and there
took a homestead and engaged in raising cat
tle. He began with small means and has la

bored steadily along since that time, receiving
the due reward of industry and wisdom. Later
he entered into partnership with Mr. Smith and
they opened a general merchandise establish
ment which is being conducted successfully at
this time. Mr. Wilt also retains his ranch which
is rented, while he in person attends to his store.
In 1879 Mr. Wilt married Miss Creamier,
who was born in Missouri. Her father, Joseph
Creamer, was a native of Georgia. Mr. Wilt
has two brothers, John and George. He is a
member of the A. O. U. W. and stands well in
this community. He has labored faithfully ancl
has accomplished good results. In business he
is upright, accommodating, and careful of the
interests of his customers. The result is that he
has won the esteem of all and is worthy of the
same.

HIRAM GIBSON, one of the representative
stockmen and farmers of Crook county, resides
about thirty miles southeast from Crook on
the head of Crooked river, his place being known
as the Cold Springs ranch. He was born in
Meigs county, Tennessee, on March 18, 1853,
the son of Randolph and Sarah (Brady) Gibson,
natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively.
The father came to Tennessee in an early day
and settled on a farm in Meigs county. After a
number of years, he removed thence to Texas
and there remained until his death. His wife's
father resided on the Tennessee river and there
did farming and operated a ferry. Our subject
received a little education in Tennessee but ow
ing to the fact that the schools were broken by
the war then in progress he was not enabled to
pursue his studies very much. When twenty
years of age he journeyed to California where he
worked for wages for a time. Later, he went
to ranching for himself in Tulare county and in
1878 he ' came with his family to Polk
county, Oregon. The next fall he lo
cated at The Dalles and took up sheep rais
ing which he followed for years. It was 1885
when Mr. Gibson came to Prineville and engaged
in the stock business in Crook county. He finally
selected his present place in 1891 and purchased
it. Since that he has made this his headquarters,
has improved the farm and is raising stock. He
is one of the enterprising citizens of the county
and always displays a lively interest in its up
building and improvement.
In 1875 Mr. Gibson married Margarete R.
King, who was born in Arkansas and went with
her parents, William and Rhoda (Enloe) King,
to California when a small child, where she was
reared. The parents took this trip from Missouri

8oo

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in 1859. To Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, four children
have been born, Randolph, Mrs. Mary Hutton,
Abbie, and William H. Mr. Gibson has been
prospered in his labors here in Crook county and
has become one of the well to do men. He has a
good standing, is widely known and has many
friends.

JAMES S. McMEEN is a stock raiser and
farmer residing three miles northwest from Lam-
onta. He was born in Ohio on February 25,
1852. His father, John McMeen, was born in
Pennsylvania and was a veteran of the Civil
War, having enlisted in Company J, Thirty-sev
enth Ohio Cavalry, in which he served until 1863,
when he was thrown from his horse in Louisville,
Kentucky, from the effects of which he died that
same year. Our subject was educated in the com
mon schools of Ohio and remained on the old
home place until twenty-one years ob age. Then
he went to Philadelphia, later visited Chicago and
then went back to the old home place in Ohio
from which he started on September 8, 1883, for
the west. He came direct to his present location'
and took a homestead. At that time, he had a
capital of one hundred dollars. He began raising
sheep and horses and has continued in that busi
ness together with farming. He is in--
creasing his property holdings so that he now
owns eight hundred and eighty acres which is
well improved and productive. He has a beau
tiful home, one hundred head of cattle and other
property. In November, 1884, Mr. McMeen married
Emma F. Williams, a native of Illinois and the
daughter of William Williams. Three children
are the fruit of this union, Charles, Lloyd and
Bruce. Our subject has one brother, David, in
Ohio. Fraternally, he is a member of the W. W. and
is a man well known as substantial and indus
trious.

ALEX SMITH, a prosperous merchant of
Sisters, Crook county, was born in New Bruns
wick, Canada, August 16, 1869. His father,
John B. Smith, was one of the first settlers of a
portion of New Brunswick, where he plunged
into the -dense timber and succeeded in clearing a
fine and productive farm of three hundred and
twenty acres.
At the age of fourteen years our subject left
New Brunswick and journeyed to Boston,
Massachusetts, where he remained two years in
the "Hub of the Universe," as the city has been
felicitously called from time immemorial. It

was in 1886 that he came to Grass Valley, Sher
man county, Oregon, of which locality he was one
of the earliest settlers, as it might be said ; a pi
oneer of pioneers. Here, for a period of twelve
years Mr. Smith was engaged in the industry of
raising sheep. He then disposed of his holdings
in this business and came to the town of Sisters
where he at once engaged in the mercantile busi
ness, in which he has been quite successful, and
which he still profitably continues.
Mr. Smith is, fraternally, a member of the I.
O. O. F., and the A. O. U. W. He has made a
success of every undertaking in which he has
engaged since coming west, and has excellent
reason to be proud of his present prosperity. He
numbers many friends in the community in which
he resides and has won the confidence of his fel
low citizens by upright business dealings and
strict probity.

S. S. BROWN resides one mile east from
Haystack in Crook county, where he has a choice-
estate of four hundred acres. He gives his entire
attention to general farming and has made a good
showing in that line. His place has good im
provements and he raises sufficient stock to
handle the estate.
S. S. Brown was born in eastern Tennessee,
in 1844. His father, J. B. Brown, was a native of
North Carolina and was a veteran of the Revolu
tion. The mother of our subject was Sarah
(McNeil) Brown, also a native of North Caro
lina. In his native state, Mr. Brown received
his early education and at the breaking out of the
Civil War, belonged to Company A, of the Ten
nessee Militia. His company and Company B
were retained in the service by General Burnside
and they spent some time in active service. In
1864, Mr. Brown removed to Kentucky and a
few years later, went thence to Kansas, where he
was engaged in farming for about eleven years.
In 1876, he came on west to Linn county, Oregon,
and did farming there for three years. Then, it
being 1879, he came to this side of the mountains
and settled on Willow creek in Crook county.
That was his home for eleven years and then he
sold out and came to his present location, pur
chasing four hundred acres, which is his farm
today. Mr. Brown has always shown himself a
man of industry and thrift, laboring faithfully
and steadily to bring about the best results in his
entire business enterprises and to build up the
country. In 1861 Mr. Brown married Miss Ross, a na
tive of Tennessee. Mr. Brown has the follow
ing named children : Mary Jane, James A., John

S. S. Brown

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

8o'i

B., Warren, Ella, Maude, Lulu, Vesta, Roy, Fred,
and Thelma.
Fraternally, our subject belongs to the I. O.
O. F. ancl the A. O. U. W., while in political
matters, he is allied with the Democratic party.

G. S. MILLER, an industrious and substan
tial farmer of Crook county, resides one and one-
half miles southwest from Lamonta. He was
born in Illinois, on March i, 1837, the son of
George Miller, who was a pioneer all his life. He
always lived so far out on the frontier that he was
away from railroad all his days. John Miller,
the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a
patriot of the Revolution. Our subject received
his education in his native country ancl in 1850
crossed the plains on horseback, driving cattle
all the way. They chose a location in Linn county
and at once set about stock raising and general
tanning, clearing their land for that purpose.
Soon after landing in Linn county, however, our
subject began to travel to different portions of the
west and he has been engaged in the stock busi
ness in various localities all the time since. He
has done much riding on the range and has ex
perienced every phase of frontier ancl pioneer
life. About five years since, Mr. Miller came to
his present location and took a homestead, which
has been the scene of his labors since. He also
owns a ranch in Lincoln county, Washington,
and has some other property.
In January, 1861, Mr. Miller married Miss
Walton, who was born in Ohio and crossed the
plains in 1851. Her father, Ralph Walton, was
a pioneer of the Pacific coast and has recently
died. His widow is still living in this county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Miller five children have been
born, F. D., A. C, George M., Eva M., and
Estella. Mr. Miller always 'takes an interest in politi
cal matters and has labored faithfully in many
portions of the west to build up and develop the
country. He is now passing his golden years in
this favored region and has the esteem of those
who know him.

MARCUS D. POWELL, one of the prosper
ous ranchers of Crook county, and one well ancl
favorably known in the community in which he
resides, was born in Linn county, Oregon, No
vember 21, 1853.
His father, John Powell, a native of Tennes
see, crossed the plains from Missouri in 1852.
He was a prominent worker in the theological
field, and assisted in founding the Baptist church
51

at Prineville. His father, Joab Powell, was a fa
mous preacher in Oregon, Washington ancl Cali
fornia. The early education of our subject was re
ceived in Linn county. When seventeen vears of
age, in 1870, he came to Prineville, where, in
those pioneer days of roughing it, there were no-
public schools. But a short time after his arrival
the people of the vicinity organized a subscrip
tion school, securing as teacher Mr. S. R. Slay
ton. This educational institution our subject at
tended and made the most of the slender oppor
tunities offered, ancl here he received the greater
part of his education. On attaining his majority
he took a band of cattle on shares and began
ranching on Beaver creek, where he remained
about three years. Subsequently he engaged for
a short time in the mercantile business, but again
went on a farm where he continued six years.
Then for, six years afterward Mr. Powell was in
the grocery business in Prineville, ancl on dispos
ing of his interests in this enterprise he came to his
present location, which is called the "Hay Ranch."
This year Mr. Powell stacked between six hun
dred and seven hundred tons of hay. His ranch
at present consists of four hundred acres — in this
body — and four hundred ancl eighty acres in
other parts of the countv.
In 1880 our subject was married to Victoria
Thompson, a native of Linn county. She died
ill 1893. Her father was Amos Thompson. In
1894 Mr. Powell was united in marriage to Mrs.
Gerow Zevely, born in Linn count}-. She is the
daughter of John M. Zevely. Their living chil-'
dren are Elizabeth ancl Lloyd. Ora, Marcus and
Becky are deceased.
Politically Mr. Powell is a Republican, and
was the first assessor elected in Crook county.
For the past two years he has served as county
commissioner, and during his official career as
commissioner there have been a number of val
uable improvements made in the county. Fratern
ally he is a member of the A. O. U. W.

EDMUND A. PARKER, a native of Oregon;
having been born in Clackamas county, on Eeb-
ruary 29, 1864, is now an enterprising and suc
cessful stockman and farmer of Crook county,
residing sixteen miles south of Prineville. His
parents, Edmund A. and Sara E. (Bell) Parker,
were born in Missouri and .Kentucky, respec
tively, and crossed the plains with ox teams in
1850. The father took a donation claim on Rock
creek ancl later moved to Oregon City, where his
father-in-law, A. H. Bell, operated a drug store
for a number of years. His death occurred in

So?

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Albany, in 1902. Our subject was- educated in
the public schools of the various places where
the family lived when he was of school age and in
1885 he came across the mountains to Crook
county. He soon secured employment, as he ar
rived here without capital and worked steadily
until he finally decided to take land. Then he went
into the stockbusiness for himself. Later he en
tered into partnership and he and his partner to
day own a large ranch and a great many cattle.
• In 1895 Mr. Parker married Gertrude Rich
ards, who was born in Illinois and came to Ore
gon when young. Some five years since, he was
called to mourn the death of his wife, who left
one child, George.
, Mr. Parker has achieved splendid success in
his labors in this county and is always known as
a public minded and progressive man.

WILLIAM H. MILLIORN has been a citi
zen of Crook county for a long time and is num
bered with the progressive and leading men of
this part of Oregon today.. He was born in
Monroe county, Tennessee, on June 20, 1835.
John Milliorn, his father, was a native of Vir
ginia and moyed to Tennessee when a young
man. He crossed the plains with ox teams in
very early day to Lane county, Oregon, taking a
donation claim where he remained until his
death. He became a wealthy and very promi
nent citizen in this state. He descended from
Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors and married Mary
W. Lee, a cousin of Robert E. Lee, who was
born in Virginia and crossed the plains with her
husband. She came from a very prominent and
well known family. Our subject was a boy when
he accompanied his parents across the plains, yet
lie. drove five yoke of cattle and became very ex
pert in this business. Leaving the states when
he was young and coming to a pioneer country
where no schools existed he had a very poor
chance of gaining an education but made the best
of what he had. In 1855 he went to the Rogue
river country and participated in the Rogue River
War, being under General Wool. After that the
family were in Lane county for a number of years
and in 1880, came east of the Cascades. He located
his present place very soon, which is known as
Crook postoffice. Here he has remained for nearly
twenty-five years, engaged, in the dual occupa
tion of farming and stock raising. Owing to the
skill he has displayed and the industry, he has
made a splendid success and is one of the well to
do men of the country.
In 1859 Mr. Milliorn married Sarah J. Lem-
ley, who was born near Little Rock, Arkansas, on

September 16, 1844, the daughter of P. G. and
Nancy (Fletcher) Lemley, natives of Arkansas,
In 1853, Mr. Lemley brought his family across
the plains with ox teams to Lane county and
there he became a very prominent man and for
years was clerk and judge of Lane county. Mrs.
Milliorn was reared and educated in Lane county
and came to Crook county with her husband. For
nineteen years past, she has been postmistress at
Crook and is a very efficient and popular encumb
ent. To Mr. and Mrs. Milliorn the following
named children have been born, Thomas H., Mrs.
Maude Logan, Mrs. Lucy Long, P. G., George
D., John, and Mrs. Jennie E. Mulholland. Mr.
Milliorn has the distinction of being one of the
earliest settlers in this portion of the county
and for years he labored here when neighbors
were scattering and few and in the good work of
opening up the country, he has done a commenda
ble part. The adversity and hardship incident
to pioneer life have been experienced by him in
no small degree and he is rightly classed as one
of the builders of the country.

CHARLES LINCOLN REAM, one of
Crook county's substantial farmers and stock
raisers, resides on Crooked river thirty-three
miles southeast of Prineville on the Burns stage
road. He there owns two hundred and forty-
acres of finely irrigated land which produces
abundant crops and is well improved by substan
tial buildings and all things necessary for the op
eration of the place. He also owns a quarter sec
tion a few miles from this home place.
Charles L. Ream was born in Des Moines
county, Iowa. His education was obtained
in the public schools of his native state
and he remained with his parents until he
had arrived at his majority, when he began life
for himself. His father, Enoch Ream, a native
of Pennsylvania, was a brickmaker by trade and
followed this occupation in various sections of
the country. When yet a young man, he came to
Iowa and there married Miss Frances Dowell,
a native of Indiana. Her parents had moved to
Iowa when she was a young girl. Mr. and Mrs.
Ream crossed the plains to the Willamette val
ley, making settlement near Eugene where he fol
lowed his trade. They were the parents of nine
children, namely : Harriett Wells and Henry, of
nugene, Oregon ; Edward, in California ; Mrs.
Mathilda Montgomery, in Iowa ; Charles L., who
is our subject; Enoch, Adam, Fred, and Gus, all
in Oregon. In 1873 occurred the marriage of Charles L.
Ream and Miss Ida M. Dowell, the latter being a

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

80 ¦-

.native of Illinois, in which state the wedding was
celebrated. They came west in 1881 and our sub
ject worked at brickmaking with his father in va
rious places along the coast until 1889, when our
subject was obliged, on account of the ill health
01 his wife, to return to Illinois. She died there
the same year. Two children had been born to
.them, Edward and Frances, both at home. After
his wife's death, our subject returned to Oregon
and took a homestead on McKenzie river in Lane
county, where he engaged in farming and milling
until 1900. In that year he came to Crook
county and raised sheep one year. Then he sold
his sheep and purchased the place where he now
resides. On May 17, 1895, Mr. Ream contracted a sec
ond marriage, this time, taking Mrs. Elizabeth
Wade, a native of Texas, as his bride. Her par
ents, James H. and Margaret (Hurst) Wade,
were natives of Texas and Alabama, respectively.
Mrs. Wade died in her native state and Mr. Wade
came to Oregon and settled in Lane county. Mr.
and Mrs. Ream are the parents of four children,
Daniel, Archie, Maude, and Nora. ^
Politically, Mr. Ream is very liberal, choos
ing men and principles for himself, rather than
having the directions of any party. In educa
tional matters, he is very active and a strong ad
vocate of good schools and in fact everything for
the upbuilding of the country.

and a wise farmer. His stock consists of horses
and cattle of which he has a goodly number. He
is one of the respected men of the commumty
and is well known for his integrity and sagacity.

J. O. GARNER has demonstrated what a man
can do in this rich section of the west by taking
hold with his hands with energy and wisdom. He
resides on the Grindstone, just out from Suplee
and follows farming and stock raising. His
birth occurred in Iowa, on October 4, 1859, his
father being Frank Garner, a native of Indiana.
In very early days he moved to Iowa and fol
lowed farming. When ten years of age, our sub
ject went from Iowa to Missouri and there re
mained until he had grown to manhood being oc
cupied in the meantime in farming. His educa
tion was secured from the public schools and he
remained in Missouri until 1884. In that year Mr.
Garner decided to come west and after investi
gating concluded that Central Oregon was the
best spot to locate. He accordingly made his
way to Crook county and soon began to work for
wages. Shortly thereafter he took land where
he now resides and as the years went by, has
added by purchase until he now owns ten hun
dred and forty acres. The same is well supplied
with all improvements and handled in a skill
ful manner, for Mr. Garner is a good stockman

ALFREu HENRY GRANT, postmaster of
Bend, Crook county, Oregon, and the first one to
fill that official position, was born in the West
Indies, October 3, 1846, the son of Alfred and
Katherine (Blair) Grant, both natives of Eng
land. The father of our subject was a major in
the regiment commanded by the Prince of Wales,
and was stationed in the West Indies where our
subject was born. He was on the island of Ja
maica in 1859. The mother, after the death of
her husband, came to the United States, and af
ter traveling extensively through the eastern por
tion of this country, located in Canada, where she
died, May 28, 1864.
The greater part of our subject's early youth
was passed in the West Indies with his parents,
and until he was thirteen years of age. He re
ceived his early education at home, his parents
engaging for this purpose an accomplished tutor.
At the age of thirteen he went to England where
he resumed his studies which had been temporar
ily interrupted, and again under a private tutor.
At the age of seventeen years young Grant' ran
away from home ancl enlisted in the English army
with which he remained seven years. He then
purchased his discharge and came to the United
States. This was in 1870. Until 1874 he served
in the capacity of bookkeeper for the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company, located
in Chicago. That year he went to California
where he worked at various employments for
wages, remaining in the Golden State until 1890,
when he migrated to Utah and Wyoming, still
pursuing a variety of industries. During the
year 1899 Mr. Grant was a deputy county clerk
in the state of Wyoming. Subsequently he served
on a steamer trading between this coast and
China and Japan. In the course of his extensive
travels our subject has visited all the continents
with the exception of Africa. For a period of
two years he was bookkeeper for the Baldwin
Sheep & Land Company.
Mr. Grant came to Bend in May, 1903, where,
in company with some associates he erected a
store — the first one in the place. He disposed of
his interest in this enterprise and was appointed
postmaster at Bend, April 16, 1904, which posi
tion he still retains and the duties of which he
performs efficiently and satisfactorily. In 1900
Mr. Grant was united in marriage to Miss Bertie

804

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Hazen, a native of Shawneetown, Illinois. This
union has been blessed with one child, William
Hazen Grant.
Fraternally our subject is a member of the
I. O. O. F., the Sons of St. George and the M.
\V. A. Politically his affiliations are with the
Republican party.

W. E. GUERIN, Jr., a prominent banker
and leading business man of Bend, Crook county,
was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, November 24,
1871. His father, W. E. Guerin, is a retired
capitalist, residing in New York city.
When quite young the subject of this bio
graphical sketch removed from Kansas to the
state of Ohio. He laid the groundwork of an
excellent education in the public schools of the
Buckeye State. Subsequently he was matricu
lated in Cornell University, one of the leading
colleges of the United States, from which he was
graduated with honors.
In December, 1893, Mr. Guerin was admitted

to" the bar, commencing the practice of law in
Ohio. In this state he was elected to the legis
lature, being a member of the Seventy-fifth As
sembly. April 1, 1904, Mr. Guerin came to Bend ancl
is now president of the Central Oregon Banking
and Investment Company. He erected a substan
tial building for the busings of the company, his
attention being divided between commercial pur
suits and the practice of law. He is, also, the
principal promoter of an excellent telephone
system throughout the Bend country, and has
charge of the sale of the land of the Des Chutes
Irrigation & Power Company.
March 7, 1895, Mr. Guerin was united in mar
riage to Miss Alice T. Greenleaf. They have
one child, Mary B. Fraternally our subject is a
member of the Elks, and all the branches of Ma
sonry, including the Scottish High Masons.
Mr. Guerin is a man of excellent business
sagacity, popular in the community in which he
resides and one who has a lively interest in the
social and commercial welfare of the town of
Bend.

PART VII
HISTORY OF LAKE COUNTY

CHAPTER I

EXPLORATION AND INDIAN WARS.

1'he political division of which we are now
about to tell is the county of Lake, situated in
the south central portion of the state of Oregon, a
•county whose population is less than one person
to each two square miles of area ; a county of
lakes, of mountains, of fertile valleys, of deserts,
ancl of great possibilities.
This great section of the state of Oregon was,
before the advent of the white man, the home of
the Indians. The natives who inhabited the lake
country belonged to the Shoshone family, whose
territory spread over Southeastern Oregon,
Southern Idaho ancl the whole of Utah and Ne
vada, extending into Arizona ancl New Mexico,
and the eastern border of California. This fam
ily has been divided by historians into two great
nations, the Snakes, or Shoshones proper, and
the Utahs ; ancl these nations in turn were divided
into several different tribes, who claimed differ
ent sections of the countr}- as their home. The
Snake branch of the family inhabited South
eastern ( )regnn, Idaho, Western Montana, ancl
the northern portions of I 'tab ancl Nevada.
Here, from time immemorial, in the valleys
and on the lake shores of the present Lake
county dwelt one tribe of the savage and war
like Snakes. Here were doubtless fought many
bloody battles in ages past with the other warlike
tribes who inhabited the Northwest, for the
Snakes of the lake country bore the reputation
of being the most crafty ancl best skilled in war
of all their neighbors. They tell of many battles
and wars in which their forefathers took part be

fore the white man was known to exist. All this
is legendary, however, from the historian's stand
point, ancl we must content ourselves with the his
tory of the lake country after it became known
to the Caucasian race.
This countr}-, for ages past the home of the
Indian alone, was not destined to always remain
so. Early in the nineteenth century the fur trad
ers began to penetrate the interior of the north
west country. At first these traders did not send
their men into the remote places, but gradually
they were sent farther and farther into the inter
ior until nearly every part of the country was
covered. That they penetrated the Eastern Oregon
country at a very early day is known for fact,
though the records of their visits are very mea
ger. In these explorations and trapping expedi
tions there is evidence that the lake country,
which was afterwards formed into Lake county,
was covered to some extent and knowledge of the
country gained. Ewing Young, in the fall of
1833, led a trapping company from the tributary
streams of the Columbia river, across Oregon, to
the upper end of the Sacramento valley. The
records fail to state the exact route taken, andjt
may have been by the way of Goose lake ancl Pit
river ; in fact, that is the most practicable route
of travel between the two points named.
But we have better evidence than this that tlie
present Lake count}- was visited during the thir
ties bv employe* of the Hudson's Bay Company.
In 1838 Col. J. J. Abcrt, a United States engi-

8o6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

neer, prepared a map of the Oregon country, in
which Warner lake and other natural features of
the present Lake county had a place. The data
for this map, as credited by Col. Abert, was pro
cured from Hudson's Bay explorers and trap
pers. Another map prepared from the same
sources was published in 1844 by M. Mofras, at
tache of the French legation to Mexico. These
maps showed a chain of four lakes in Warner
valley, lying in a northeast and southwest direc
tion, called by Mofras "lacs des plants" — lakes of
plants or vegetable growth— and according to Ab
ert, connected by "Plants river." Upon Mofras'
map is shown a train called "Route des wagons
des Utate Unis au Oullamet" — the United States
wagon road to the Willamette — crossing the val
ley between the second and third of the "lacs des
plants." The first visit of members of the Caucasian
race to the present Lake county, Oregon, of which
there is record, was in December, 1843, when
John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder, and party trav
ersed the county, while on his second exploring
expedition to the northwest coast. The party was
on a journey through the unexplored regions be
tween the Columbia river and California, and
embracing the central basin of the continent be
tween the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Ne-
vadas. It was not originally intended to cross
the latter, but to turn homeward over the Rocky
mountains at some pass near the headwaters of
the Arkansas.
The start was made from The Dalles of the
Columbia river about the nineteenth of Novem
ber, 1843. In his reports Fremont said of the pro
posed trip :
This was our projected line of return — a great
part of it absolutely new to geographical, botanical and
geological science — and the subject of reports in rela
tion to lakes, rivers, deserts, and savages hardly above
the condition of mere wild animals, which inflamed
desire to know what this terra incognita really con
tained. It was a serious enterprise, at the commence
ment of winter, to undertake the traverse of such a
region, and with a party consisting only of twenty-
five persons, and they of many nations — American,
French, German, Canadian, Indian and colored — and
most of them young, several being under twenty-one
years of age. All knew that a strange country was to
be explored, and dangers and hardships to be encoun
tered ; but no one blanched at the prospect. On the con
trary, courage and confidence animated the whole party.
Cheerfulness, readiness, subordination, prompt obedi
ence, characterized all; nor did any extremity of peril
and privation, to which we were afterwards exposed,
ever belie, or derogate from, the fine spirit of this brave
and generous commencement.

Space will not permit our giving an extended
account of this trip through the Eastern Ore
gon country, except that part of it through the
countrv now embraced within the boundaries of
Lake county. Coming from Klamath marsh the
explorers entered the present Lake county in the
Sican marsh country, which marsh Fremont
called a "green savannah." From here the party
proceeded east to Sumner lake, which name was
given to the lake by Fremont. Although in the
dead of winter, he found the lake and valley free
from snow. Thence the party crossed Chewau-
can marsh and discovered Abert lake, which was
so named in honor of Col. J. J. Abert, chief of the
bureau of topographical engineers of the army
at that time, and under whose direction Capt.
Fremont was then working. Leaving Abert lake
tne party proceeded in a southeasterly direction
to Warner valley, which it reached December 23.
On December 15 Fremont wrote as follows.
The party was then just entering Lake county
from the west :
A present consisting of useful goods afforded much
satisfaction to our guides ; and, showing them the
national flag, I explained that it was a symbol of our
nation ; and they engaged always to receive it in
a friendly manner. The chief pointed out a course,
by following which we would arrive at a big water,
where no more snow was to be found. Crossing a hard
frozen swamp on the further side of the Rond, we
entered again the pine forest, in which very deep snow
made our traveling slow and laborious. We were
slowly but gradually ascending a mountain ; and, after
a hard journey of seven hours, we came to some naked'
places among the timber, where a few tufts of grass
showed above the snow, on the side of a hollow ; and
here we encamped. Our cow, which every day got
poorer, was killed here, but the meat was rather tough.
On December 16 Summer lake was discov
ered, ancl in his diary that day Fremont wrote :
We traveled this morning through snow about three
feet deep, which, being crusted, very much cut the feet
of our animals. The mountain still gradually rose ; we
crossed several spring heads covered with quaking
asp, otherwise it was all pine forest. The air was dark
with falling snow, which everywhere weighed down
the trees. The depths of the forest were profoundly
still ; and below, we scarce felt a breath of the wind'
which whirled the snow through their branches. I
found that it required 'some exertion of constancy to
adhere steadily to one course through the woods, when
we were uncertain how far the forest extended, or what
lay beyond ; and, on account of our animals, it would'
be bad to spend another night on the mountain. To
ward noon the forest looked clear ahead, appearing:

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

807

suddenly to terminate ; and beyond a certain point we
could see no trees. Riding rapidly ahead to this spot,
we found our selves on the verge of a vertical and rocky
wall of the mountain. At our feet — more than a thou
sand feet below — we looked into a green prairie country,
in which a beautiful lake, some twenty miles in length,
was spread out along the foot of the .mountains, its
shores bordered with green grass. Just then the sun
broke out among the clouds, and illuminated the coun
try below, while around us the storm raged fiercely.
Not a particle of ice was to be seen on the lake, or snow
on its borders, and all was like summer or spring. The
glow of the sun in the valley below brightened up our
hearts with sudden pleasure, and we made the woods
ring with joyful shouts to those behind ; and gradually
as each came up, he stopped to enjoy the unexpected
scene. Shivering on snow three feet deep, and stiffening
in a cold north wind, we exclaimed at once that the
names of Summer Lake and Winter ridge should be
applied to these two proximate places of such sudden
and violent contrast.
We were now immediately on the verge of the for
est land, in which we had been traveling so many days ;
and looking forward to the east, scarce a tree was to
be seen. Viewed from our elevation, the face of the
country exhibited only rocks and grass, and presented
a region in which the artemisia became the principal
wood, furnishing to its scattered inhabitants fuel for
their fires, building material for their huts, and shelter
for the small game which ministers to their hunger
and nakedness. Broadly marked by the boundary of
the mountain wall, and immediately below us, were the
first waters of that Great Interior Basin which has the
Wahsatch and the Bear river mountains for its eastern,
and the Sierra Nevada for its western rim ; and the edge
of which we had entered upwards of three months before
at the Great Sale Lake.
When we had sufficiently admired the scene
below, we began to think about descending, which here
was impossible, and we turned toward the north, trav
eling always along the rocky wall. We continued on for
four or five miles, making ineffectual attempts at sev
eral places ; and at length succeeding in getting down
at one which was extremely difficult of descent. Night
had closed in before the foremost had reached the bot
tom, and it was dark before we all found ourselves
together in the valley. There were three of four half-
dead dry cedar trees on the shore, and those who first
arrived kindled bright fires to light on the others. One
of the mules rolled over and over two or three hundred
feet into a ravine, but recovered himself without any
other injury than to his pack; and the howitzer was
left midway the mountain until morning.
Un the 23d we find the party approaching
Warner lake. Fremont's journal for the rest of
the time the party was in Lake county follows :

Dec. 23. — The weather is mild, the thermometer at
daylight 38 degrees, the wind having been from the
south for several days. The country has a very for
bidding appearance, presenting to the eye nothing but
sage and barren ridges. We rode up toward the moun
tain ; along the foot we found a lake which we could not
approach on account of the mud, and passing its south-'
ern end, ascended the slope at the foot of the ridge,
where in some hollows we had discovered bushes and
small trees in which situation a sure sign of water.
We found here several springs, and the hillside was well-
sprinkled with a species of festuca, a better grass than
we had found for many days. Our elevated position
gave us a good view over the country, but we discov
ered nothing very encouraging. Southward, about ten
miles distant, was another small lake, toward which a
broad trail led along the ridge, and this appearing to
afford the most practicable route, determined to continue
our journey in that direction.
Dec. 24. — We found the water of the lake tolerably
pure and encamped at the farther end. There was some'
good grass and canes along the shore and the vegetation
at this place consisted principally of chenopo diaceous
shrubs. Dec. 25. — We were aroused on Christmas morning
by a discharge from the small arms and howitzer, with'
which our people saluted the day, and the name of which
we bestowed upon the lake. It was the first time, per
haps, in this remote and desolate region in which it had
been so commemorated. The day was sunny and warm,
and, resuming our journey, we crossed some slight di
viding grounds into a similar basin, walled in on the
right by a lofty mountain ridge. The plainly beaten trail
still continued, and occasionally we passed camping
grounds of the Indians, which indicated to me that
we were on one of the great thoroughfares of the coun
try. In the afternoon I attempted to travel in a more
easterly direction, but after a few more laborious miles
was beaten back into the basin by an impassible country.
We encamped on the valley bottom, where there was
some cream-like water in ponds colored by a clay soil
ancl frozen over. Chenopodiaceous shrubs constituted
the growth, and made again our fire wood. The animals
were driven to the hills where there was tolerable good
grass. Dec. 26. — Our general course was again south,1
the country consists of larger or smaller basins
into which the mountain waters run down, form
ing small lakes ; they present a perfect lever
from which the mountains rise immediately and
abruptly. Between the successive basins the divid
ing ground is usually very slight, and it is probable
that in seasons of high water many of these basins are
in communication. At such times there is evidently an
abundance of water, though now we find scarcely more
than the dry beds. On either side the mountains, though
not very high, appear to be rocky and sterile. The basin

8o8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in which we were traveling declined toward the south
west corner, where the mountains indicate a narrow
outlet, and turning around a rocky point or cape, we con
tinued up a lateral branch valley, in which we encamped
at night on a rapid, pretty little stream of water, which
we found unexpectedly among the sage on the right side
of the valley. It was bordered with grassy bottoms and
clumps of willows, the water partially frozen. This
stream belongs to the basin we had left. By a partial
observation tonight, our camp was found to be directly
on the 42d parallel.
The camp of December 24 was probably on
Christmas lake, north of the stone bridge. The
camp on Christmas was, in all prabability, at the
place which is now known as Long Point. Leav
ing Warner valley Fremont proceeded southward
and entered California, reaching Pyramid lake
January 14, 1844.
It was nearly six years after the Fremont ex
pedition before the next party of white men set
foot on the soil of Lake county, so far as any rec
ords show. This was an exploring party under
command of Capt. William H. Warner, U. S.
Topographical Engineer, who in 1849, under
the direction of General Persifer F. Smith, ex
plored the country on the southern boundary line
of Oregon for a practicable emigrant ancl military
road and also for a railroad pass about that lati
tude. Accompanying Capt. Warner was an es
cort of the Second infantry, commanded by Lieu
tenant-Colonel Casey.
The party left Sacramento in August, 1849,
and examined the country for several weeks to
the east of the headwaters of the Sacramento,
coming upon a pass in the Sierra Nevada with
an elavation of not more than thirty-eight feet
to the mile. Warner explored the country to the
east and north of Goose lake, ancl several weeks
were spent in the Warner basin. In returning
through the mountains the party was set upon by
Indians on September 26. Capt. Warner, Fran
cis Bercier, the guide, ancl George Cove were
killed. The exact spot upon which this tragedy
was enacted has not been determined, but it is
generally believed to have been in Warner val
ley. A range of mountains, a valley ancl lake
have been given the name of Warner in honor of
the explorer. After the death of Capt. Warner
the command of the expedition fell to Lieut. R.
S. Williamson, who continued the work ancl re
ported in favor of the Pit river route.
After this disastrous expedition of 1849 ancl
until the early sixties the country now embraced
within the boundaries of Lake county was not
penetrated by white men, so far as is known. Dur
ing these years it was the home of the Snakes,
who dwelt here in all their savage freedom, un

molested by the whites. These Indians, it is be
lieved, occasionally took part in the massacre of
immigrants on their way to the settlements by
way of the south road, but their remoteness from
the' settlements prevented any successful pursuit
or campaign against them such as was the lot
of the Modocs and other tribes who were guilty
of the same offenses.
The discovery of gold in Eastern Oregon ancl
Idaho in the early sixties was the cause of the
lake country becoming quite well known ancl the
traversing of the country by a detachment of
volunteer troops under Co. C. S. Drew in 1S64.
In order to make clear the object of the troops
in penetrating this country at this time, we shall
divert here to give a brief description of the con
ditions as they were in this part of the Northwest.
The newly discovered gold fields of John Day,
Powder river and Jordan creek in Eastern Ore
gon and Boise, Idaho, caused a heavy influx of
miners and others to those districts from the set
tlements of Western Oregon and Northern Cali
fornia. The natural routes of travel to these newly
discovered mines was through the unsettled Snake
ancl Piute country, and as that tribe was then,
as it had always been, hostile to the whites, and
was continually robbing and murdering all small
parties passing through their country, as well as
annoying the frontier settlements and advanced
mining camps, it was deemed necessary to estab
lish military posts in the vicinity of these routes
of travel and near the settlements, not only as
points from which to send scouting parties to
protect settlers and travelers, but as bases from
which to send expeditions to hunt down and pun
ish the aggressive Indians. It was in pursuance
to that policy that a line of posts from Chico,
California, to Owyhee, Idaho, the main route of
travel from California points to the new mines,
was established, part of the route being garrisoned
or guarded by posts in California and Nevada by
California troops, ancl the northern part by Ore
gon troops.
While the principal forts on the immediate
frontier were made permanent, the numerous
small stations along the routes of travel were
more temporary. Thus Fort Klamath in Oregon,
Fort Bidwell in California, Fort Boise in Idaho ;
ancl others were the main frontier posts, while
Camps Alvord, McGary, C. F. Smith and others
were points on or very near the routes of travel,
ancl from these points small parties of soldiers
were distributed at the different stations on the
road as guards.
While these forts were being established ancl
the routes of travel protected, that strip of coun
try lying along the California line between the
Klamath lakes ancl Stein's mountain was being

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGQN.

809

scoured by the soldiers as a separate district — be
ing in fact a part of the district of California. It
was during the summer of 1864 that the soldiers
first entered this territory and traversed the coun
try which ten years later was set off as Lake
county. Toward the last of March of this year, Col.
Chas. S. Drew, of the Oregon volunteer cavalry,
received orders at Camp Baker, in Jackson county
from the department of the Pacific, to repair to
Fort Klamath as soon as the road over the Cas
cades could be traveled, ancl leaving there men
enough to guard the government property, to
make a reconnaissance to the ( Kvvhee country
and return to Fort Klamath.
The snow being still deep on the summit of
the mountains, in May a road was opened through
it for several miles, and on the 26th the command
left Camp Baker, arriving at Fort Klamath on
the 28th. The Indians being turbulent in the
vicinity of the fort, it became necessary to remain
at that post until the 28th of June, when the ex
pedition, consisting of thirty-nine enlisted men of
Troop C, First Oregon Gavalry, proceeded to
Williamson 'river, ancl thence to the Sprague
river valley, over a succession of low hills, cov
ered for the most part with an open forest of
pines. He had proceeded no farther than Sprague
river when his march was interrupted by news of
an attack on a train from Shasta valley, Califor
nia, proceeding by the way of Klamath lake,
Sprgue river and Silver lake to the John Day
mines. This attack occurred within the boundaries of
the present Lake county, near Silver lake. The
train was in charge of John Richardson and con
sisted of seven wagons ancl fifteen men, several
of whom were accompanied by their families.
The Indians fell upon the train on June 23 and
succeeded in capturing seven oxen ancl 3.500
pounds of flour. Three men were wounded in
the fight. Fortunately Lieutenant Davis from
Fort Crook, California, with ten men came up
with the train in time to render assistance ancl
prevent a massacre.
The train, escorted by Lieut. Davis, fell back
fort\- miles to a company in the rear, and sent
news of the attack to Fort Klamath, after which
they retreated to Sprague river. An ambulance
having been sent to take the wounded to the fort,
the immigrants all determined to travel under
Drew's protection to the Owyhee, and thence to
the John Daw
Col. Drew, escorting the immigrant train,
then proceeded up Sprague river to its headwat
ers, ancl across the Goose Lake mountains into
Drew's valley, so named after the expedition's
commander. From here the party entered Goose

Lake valley and proceeded around the head of the
lake to a point thirty-one miles clown its east side
to the intersection with the immigrant road from
the states near Lassen's pass, where a number of
trains joined the expedition. Passing eastward
from this point, Drew's route led into Fandango
valley, a glade a mile and a half west from the
summit of the old immigrant pass, and thence
over the summit of Warner range into Surprise
valley, passing across it ancl around the north
end of Cowhead lake, eastward over successive
ranges of rocky ridges, clown a canyon into \\ ar-
ner valley, ancl around the south side of Warner
mountain, where he narrowly escaped attack by
their redoubtable chief Paulina, who was deter
red onlv bv seeing the howitzer in the train. Pro
ceeding southeast over a sterile country to l'u-
ebla valley, the expedition turned northward to
Camp Alvord, having lost so much time in escort
duty that the original design of exploring about
the headwaters of the Owyhee could not be car
ried out. The last wagons reached Drew's camp,
two miles east of Alvord, on the 31st of August.
Prom this point, with a detachment of nineteen
men, Drew proceeded to Jordan creek valley and
I'Yirt Boise, escorting the immigration to these
points, and returing to camp September 22. Here
he found awaiting him an order requiring his im
mediate return to Fort Klamath, to be present
with his command at a council to be held the fol
lowing month with the Klamaths, Modocs and
Paulina's band of Snake Indians.
( In his return march Drew avoided going
around the southeastern point of the Warner
mountains, finding a pass through them which
shortened his route nearly seventy miles, the road
being nearly straight between Stein's ancl War
ner mountains. Thence he went westward across
the riclge into Goose Lake valley, with a saving
in distance of another forty miles. On rejoining
his former trail he found it traveled by immigra
tion to Rogue river valley, which passed down
Sprague river and by the Fort Klamath road to
JacKsonville. A line of communication was opened
from that place to ( )wyhee ancl Boise, which was
deemed well worth the labor ancl cost of the expe
dition, the old immigrant road being shortened
between two and three hundred miles. The mili
tary gain was the discover}- of the haunt of Pau
lina and his band at Warner mountain, ancl the
discovery of the necessity for a military post in
Goose Lake valley.
Again in 1 865 the country now embraced in
Lake countv was traversed by the Oregon volun
teers, who followed practically the same route
as that of Col. Drew of the year before, (hie or
two skirmishes with the Indians took place this
year. Tt was early in the summer of 1865 that B.

8io

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

J. Pengra, the president of the Southern Oregon
Military Wagon Road Company, was surveying
the route of that road from Eugene, Oregon, to
the eastern boundary of the state. He asked for
and obtained an escort of a portion of Company
A, First Oregon Cavalry, commanded by Capt.
J. M. McCall. They established the line of their
road on the route of Col. Drew's expedition of
the year before. The escorting party was aug
mented by a detachment of Company C, First
Oregon Cavalry, Capt. Kelly, at or near Stein's
mountain, and on its return, late in August, was
met at Round Grove, near the head of Sprague
river, by Capt. Sprague's detachment of Com
pany I, First Oregon Infantry, and a detach
ment of Company C, First Oregon Cavalry, com
manded by Second Lieutenant Patrick McGuire.
Orders were borne by these latter troops for Capt.
Kelly's detachment to proceed with Capt.
Sprague's commands to Stein's mountain to aid
Capt. Borling, of Company G, First Oregon, In
fantry, in establishing and maintaining the mili
tary post of Camp Alvord, in the present county
of Harney. Capt. Kelly, owing to some trouble between
himself and Major W. V. Rinehart, then in com
mand of Fort Klamath, returned with Capt. Mc-
Call's company to the latter post under arrest.
The troops designated, under the command of
Capt. F. B. Sprague, proceeded on the expedi
tion. Sprague's orders were to go by way of Sur
prise valley and arrange co-operative measures
with the commander of the post there. But when
he arrived at Camp Bidwell, on the 28th of Oc
tober, Capt. Starr, of the Second California Vol
unteer Infantry, was already under orders to re
pair with his company, except twenty-five men, to
Fort Crook, before the mountains became impas
sible with snow.
He decided, however, to send ten men, under
Lieut. Backus, with Sprague's escort, to prove
the supposed location of the main body of the
Indians. On the third day, going north, having
arrived at Warner's creek, which enters the east
side of the lake seven miles south of the crossing
of the Drew road, without falling in with any
Indians, Backus turned back to Camp Bidwell,
and Sprague proceeded.
No sooner had this occurred than signs of the
enemy began to appear, who were encountered
12 c; strong, about two miles south from the road.
While the troops were passing an open space
between the lake and the' side of a mountain
they were attacked by the savages hidden in
trenches made by land-slides and behind rocks.
Sprague, being surprised, and unable either to

climb the mountain or swim the lake, halted to
take in the situation. The attacking parties were
in the front and rear, but he observed that those
in the rear were armed with bows and arrows,
while those in front had among them about twen
ty-five rifles. The former were leaving their
hiding places to drive him upon the latter. Ob
serving this, he made a sudden charge to tne
rear, escaping unharmed and returning to Camp
Bidwell. On November 15, owing to the fact that there
were not enough rations at Alvord for all the
troops there to winter on, and the failure to hear
from any source of supplies being forwarded,
First Sergeant O. A. Stearns, of Company I,
First Infantry, was ordered to return to Fort
Klamath with part of the troops. This he did,'
taking with him twenty-five men of I Company
First Infantry; twenty-five men of C Company,
First Cavalry ; ten men of A Company, First Cav
alry, and a train of fifty mules that had been
hired to convey the provisions, equipments, etc.,
01 the outgoing troops. Later supplies were re
ceived at Camp Alvord via Fort Boise.
Two days after Sergeant Stearns and his
troops started, all the cavalry horses at Alvord
were run off by Indians leaving nothing but
teams and pack mules for mounts for the cavalry
troops, and for a fruitless pursuit of the thieves.
This fact also prevented the overtaking and bring
ing back of the troops under Sergeant Stearns,
as was desired.
The early abandonment of Camp Alvord and
many of the other frontier posts and the estab
lishment of Camp Warner, Camp Harney and
others would seem to indicate that the earlier
posts were not well placed for the purposes de
sired, doubtless from insufficient knowledge of
the country to be policed.
Thus we learn from these expeditions and
campaigns that Lake county during the early
sixties, though without a settler within the whole
length and breadth of it, had been visited a num
ber of times and at least a portion of its topog
raphy known. A little later, when a military
post, Camp Warner, was established within its
boundaries, and the Indian war begun, it became
better known, and with the termination of the
war by General Crook in 1868, the country was
so well known that the following year settlers
began to pour in.
So far the military authorities had only at
tempted to provide protection for travelers go
ing through the lake country and no vigorous
campaign had been waged against the Indians.
The murders and robberies continued, and it was
finally decided to begin a campaign against the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

811

Indians to punish them for the past misdeeds and
to exert a wholesome effect upon their future con
duct. Early in 1866 Major-General F. Steele took
command of the Department of the Columbia. He-
caused the abandonment of many of the camps in
Southeastern Oregon, but he also made provision
for the establishment of others. So early as
March 20 he wrote to General Halleck, command
ing the Division of the Pacific, that the Indians
had commenced depredations, with such signs of
continued hostilities in southern portions of Ore
gon and Idaho that he should recommend the es
tablishment of two posts during the summer from
which to operate against them the following win
ter, one at or near Camp Wright, and another in
Goose Lake valley, from which several roads di
verged leading to other valleys frequented by hos
tile Snakes, Utes, Pit Rivers, Modocs and Klam
ath s. Accordingly, that year a small party was sent
out from Fort Vancouver into the interior coun
try to select a site for a fort from which to oper
ate against and hold in subjugation the murdering
savages. This party selected the point in Warner
valley, on the west side of the lake, upon which
Camp Warner was afterwards built by Gen.
Crook. However, Camp Warner was first established
to the east of Warner lake. Troops stationed at
Fort Boise were ordered to proceed to the point
selected and there establish a camp. The com
mand reached Lake Warner, and the discovery
being made that the lake was many miles in length
and that the country bordering its shores was
rough and hazardous, the commanding officer de
cided that it would be best to establish camp on
the east side of the lake and here the camp was
made. It was at a point about fifteen miles east
of North Warner basin, and became a military
post in the year 1866. This camp is generally
referred to as Old Camp Warner to distinguish it
from the Camp Warner which took its place the
following year on the other side of the lake.
During the fall of 1866, after the establish
ment of the camp, a number of scouting parties
socured the southeastern part of Oregon. They
skirmished here and there, seldom inflicting or
sustaining much loss. One of the most important
of these skirmishes took place in territory later
formed into Lake county. On September 26
Lieut. Small attacked the enemy at Lake Abert,
ancl after a fight of three hours, routed them,
killing fourteen and taking seven prisoners. The
horses, rifles and winter stores of the Indians fell
into the hands of the troops.
Shortly after the skirmish at Lake Abert, an
other fight with the Indians took place on Lake

county soil — on Chewaucan marsh. On the morn
ing of the fifteenth of October Lieutenant Oat
man, First Oregon Infantry, from Fort Klamath,
with twenty-two men and five Klamaths as scouts,
set out for Fort Bidwell to receive reinforcements
and provisions for an extended scouting expedi
tion. He was t joined by Lieutenant Small with
twenty-seven cavalrymen. The command
marched to the Warner Lake basin, seeking the
rendezvous of the enemy. Two days were spent
in vain search, when the command undertook to
cross the mountains to Lake Abert, at their west
ern base, being guided by Henry Blowe, a Klam
ath chief. After proceeding six miles in a di
rect course, a deep canyon was encountered run
ning directly across the intended route, which
was followed for ten miles before any crossing
offered which would permit the troops to pass on
to the west. Such a crossing was at last found,
the mountain being passed on the twenty-sixth
and at eleven o'clock of this day the command
entered the beautiful valley of the Chewaucan by
a route never before traveled by white men.
About two and one-half miles from the point
where they entered the valley, Indians were dis
covered running toward the mountains. Being
pursued by the troops, they took up their po
sition in a rocky canyon. Leaving the horses with
a guard, the main part of the command advanced,
and dividing, passed up the ridges on both sides
of the ravine, while a guard remained at its mouth.
At twelve o'clock the firing began and was con
tinued for three hours. Fourteen Indians were
killed and twice as many wounded. The Indians
then fled into the mountains and the troops re
turned to their respective posts.
But these brushes with the Indians were of
infrequent occurrence before Gen. Crook's ar
rival at Old Camp Warner and the subsequent re
moval of his command to the new camp. The
lake tribes and their allies, consisting of maraud
ing bands from different other tribes, had been
carrying things their own way throughout the
Southeastern Oregon country. The soldiers in
the field were brave enough and were constantly
on the alert, but they were unfortunate in not
finding the Indians. The latter were generally
broken up in small marauding squads, knew the
country well, and after raiding a settlement or
immigrant train, fled across the desert like Arabs
and hid in some small valley, rich with grass and
surrounded by rock-ribbed mountains that were
divided from the next range by a wide expanse of
desert. When tired of their retreat they would
break forth again, and another Indian raid, leav
ing crime and death in its trail, would be reported
at military headquarters. The soldiers would
rush out to the pursuit, but the Indians had al-

8l2

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ready generally made their escape, even beyond
finding their trail.
Late in 1866 George Crook, then Lieutenant-
Colonel of the Twenty-third Infantry, later gen
eral, relieved Marshall in the command of the
district of Boise, and at once began a vigorous
campaign. Crook was a man of quiet determina
tion, ancl his previous record as an Indian fighter
was good. The people of Oregon expected much
of him, and the}- were not disappointed. To him
is due the credit of subduing the hostile Indians
of Southeastern Oregon, thus making possible
the settlement of that vast country.
When Crook took charge Eastern Oregon was
for the most part a terra incognito. The Oregon
volunteers had spent some time in exploring it
and tracking the Indians to their hitherto un
known haunts. Now it was decided that the In
dians must be fought in the winter, ancl prepara
tions were made for that style of campaign. Two
companies of Indians allies were formed, who
materially assisted in the campaign.
Crook, in assuming command, found that the
Indians were already hemmed in by a cordon of
camps ancl posts, with detachments continually in
the field harassing ancl reducing them, but unable
to capture them and break their power. With a
small company he had started out to his new com
mand at Warner from Boise, ancl on the way he
had not been idle. He had made a circut from
his most direct route more than once on the way
to attack Indians who had committed depreda
tions in the settlements. The fact that with his
small command he had done more Indian fighting
on his way from Boise to Camp Warner than the
command stationed at the latter place had done
altogether led the men to believe that there was
now going to be something doing.
The winter of 1866-7 was ver7 severe in the
Warner lake region, which has an altitude of
about 5000 feet above sea level. The soldiers at
the camp suffered severely in consequence. It is
said that the entire company were compelled to
walk around a small circle in the snow for sev
eral nights, not daring to lie down to sleep for
fear they would freeze to death. There was at
least one death from the cold during the winter.
A sergeant got lost and perished in the snow.
It was partly clue to the severe weather, and
partly- to the fact that General Crook consid
ered the site a poor one from which to operate,
that induced the relocation of the camp in the
summer of 1867. On the 29th of July Crook left
Old Camp Warner with forty troops under Capt.
Harris, proceeded by Darragh with his company
of scouts, with a view of selecting a site for a new
camp. Passing southerly around the base of War
ner buttes, and north again to the Drew crossing

of the shallow strait between Warner lakes, he en
camped on Honey creek, fifteen miles northwest
of the old camp. Here he found Darragh, whom
he followed the next clay up the creek ten miles,
finding that it headed in a range of finely timbered
mountains trending north and south, with patches
of snow on their summits.
July 31 the new camp was located in an open
timbered country, about fifteen miles west of
North Warner Basin and thirty-five miles north of
the Oregon, California and Nevada state boun
dary line, in latitude 42 degrees, 50 minutes north,
and longitude 120 degrees west. The elevation
was 500 feet lower than that of the former camp.
The selection of the new site was made in keeping
with the government's usual care and judgment
in such matters. The place was surrounded by
mountains with only one outlet. It could have
been approached from only one direction by an
enemy, and then one rapid firing gun could have
defended the place against a thousand warriors.
A large spring of pure water flowed out of the
side of the mountain near the fort and this fur
nished a small waterworks which supplied the
soldiers with all the pure water that was needed.
The mountains were covered with stately pines,
ancl from this forest they secured timber to con
struct the government buildings and wood for the
fort. A small sawmill was set up in those days,
ancl while some of the soldiers were fighting and
scouting, others were engaged in logging, saw
ing and carpentering.
Concerning the removal from Old Camp War
ner to the new camp Paul DeLaney has written :
When Gen. Crook arrived on the scene to take
command in person of the troops and found that the
originally selected site had not been made the head
quarters, he is reported to have been very indignant.
"Why did you not proceed to the place named in the
orders?" the general is said to have asked. "We could
not cross the lake,' replied the officer previously in com
mand. Gen. Crook decided to move to the originally se
lected site immediately. The old camp was surrounded
with lava rocks ; in fact, the whole face of the earth
was covered with them. The general selected the nar
rowest point across the lake and ordered men to bring
rock to the shore at this place. The carts and wagons
belonging to the command were brought into requisi
tion. They were loaded with rock to their fullest ca
pacity and were then backed up to the lake and the rocks
dumped into the water. This was kept up until a foun
dation was made and a fill was started across the lake.
Men were placed on the fill as it proceeded to keep
the rock straight and to see that they were properly
placed, and in a few weeks the famous rock road across
Warner lake was completed. Crook and his forces

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

8i3-

crossed over and built Camp Warner where it was origi
nally intended to be.
This stone bridge still stands, and farmers oc
casionally cross the lake on it, though by its own
weight all of these years it has sunk a few inches
beneath the surface of the water, and during
high stages of water it is sometimes a consider
able depth below the surface.
On the first of August Crook's command,
which had been on the west side of the lake select
ing the new site, returned to the old camp, having
discovered some fresh trails leading toward Cali
fornia. At the old camp were found Capt. Perry
and McKay, who had returned from a scout to
the southeast without finding an Indian. Archie
Mcintosh, a half breed Boise scout, had brought
¦ in eleven prisoners, making forty-six killed and
captured by the allies within two weeks.
When Crook had completed the buildings at
New Camp Warner he prepared for unceasing
action. He had engaged the services of Indian
scouts and these had not been idle. They informed
him of the movements of the Indians, the number
ancl their many places of rendezvous. The gen
eral sent out detachments of soldiers and kept
the various bands of Indians on the go. They
were practically squads of brigands and never
strong enough to give the soldiers a standing
fight. But Crook's pursuit of them was -unre
lenting. He would not give them time to rest or
recuperate at any place. As soon as they would
find what they deemed a safe retreat his men were
upon them ancl they were kept upon the run.
On August 16, by a general order issued from
the headquarters of the department of the Pa
cific, Fort Klamath, Camps Watson, Warner,
Logan and Harney were designated as constitut
ing the district of the lakes, and assigned to
Crook, who also had command of the troops at
Camp Bidwell, should he require their services.
General Crook set out about the first of Sep
tember for that part of the country from which
he believed reinforcements of the Indians to
come. His forces consisted of three companies
of cavalry, one of mounted infantry and all of the
Indian allies. It was hoped that by marching by
night and lying concealed by day, the troops
might surprise some considerable number of the
enemy. On the ninth Indians were reported in the
tules about Lake Abert. On proceeding from
camp on the east side of Goose lake two days in a
north course, the trail of a party of Indians was
discovered, but Crook believed them to be going
south. Dividing his forces, he sent Capts. Perry
and Harris and the Warm Spring allies north to
scout the country between Sprague ancl Des
Chutes rivers, taking ill Crooked river and termi

nating their campaign at Camp Harney in Har
ney valley.
Crook with the rest of the forces took a south
east course to Surprise valley and the Pit river
country. It is not the province of this work to
tell the whole history of the Shoshone war, ex
cept as it relates to Lake county. Therefore it will
be necessary to pass over, with a word or two, the
interesting events that took place when Crook
met the Indians in the country south of Lake
county. Crook came upon the Indians well for
tified in the lava beds. He fell upon them ancl a
two days' battle ensued. The troops captured
the fortress of the Indians, but the latter had es
caped. On September 30 the troops began their
return march, and on October 4 went into camp
at new Camp Warner. Says Bancroft in his his
tory of Oregon :
"The result of this long projected campaign
could not be said to be a victory. According to
Wassen, it was not claimed by the troops that
more than fifteen Indians were killed at the Pit
river fortress, while the loss sustained by the
command in the two days' siege was eight killed
and twelve wounded."
The expedition under Perry, which had pro
ceeded north, did not find the enemy. However,
fifty-one men from Fort Klamath and ten Kla
math scouts, under Lieut. Small, came across hos
tile Indians in the vicinity of Silver ancl Abert
lakes, and between the second and the twenty-
second of September succeeded in killing twenty-
three and capturing fourteen. Among the killed
were two chiefs who had signed the treaty of
1864, and an influential medicine man.
During the winter of 1867-8 General Crook
continued his aggressive campaign, and portions
of his troops were constantly in the field, hunting-
down the now scattered bands of savages. This
kind of warfare was beginning to tell and the-
various bands of marauders began to get to
gether for mutual protection. Their provisions
were running low, their horses were being re
duced to skeletons by constant riding with no
feed or rest. They had one resort which the
white men had not yet discovered. This was a
secluded valley where two rivers came together
near the foothills of Stein's mountain, far away
from the soldiers and the fort. Here they had
long kept their wives and children, while they
raided other portions of the country. Chased from
one point to another on the desert by Crook's
men, they begain to gather at this point. Here-
they began a council of war and decided to make
a final stand — not where they were, however, but
at some other point on the desert, while their-
wives ancl children remained here in security.
A number of their leaders were still on the plains,.

814

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

dodging the soldiers, and it was decided to wait
until all were in before the final stand should be
made. Crook's scout located the Indians in their re
treat in the Stein's mountain country. They imme
diately reported and Crook made preparations for
the march. He led the command in person and
marched night and day to the place. Fortune
favored the troops, and the fates seemed to be
against the Indians. A heavy headrise in the
river completely hemmed in the Indians, ancl
upon the arrival of the soldiers they found them
at their mercy. The battle which ensued was
known as the Battle of Donner and Blitzen, it
having been fought on the creek of that name, and
occurred in February, 1868. Fourteen Indians
were killed and captured.
Another battle was fought with the Indians in
the neighborhood of Stein's mountain on April
14, when several were killed. The troops met the
Indians at other points that spring, and invariably
defeated them. General Crook did not rest after
his victories, but relentlessly pursued the scattered
bands. He rounded Up a considerable number
of them in Devil's garden, in the lower part of
Goose Lake valley, where he again defeated them
and destroyed their property.
Gen. Crook's campaign had been of the whirl
wind variety and the power of the hostiles was
broken. There was nothing left for the Indians
to do but surrender.
According to an order of Gen. Halleck, no
treaty could be made with the Indians by the
officers in his division without consulting him,
and it became necessary for Crook to wait for in
structions from San Francisco. He repaired in
the meantime to Camp Harney, where the prin
cipal chiefs of the hostile bands were assembled,
and where a council was held on the 30th of
June, 1868.
"Do you see any fewer soldiers than two years
ago?" asked he. "No; more." "Have you as
many warriors ?" "No ; not half as many." "Very
well ; that is as I mean to have it until you are all
gone." The chiefs knew that this was no empty
tnreat ancl were terrified. They sued earnestly
for peace, and Crook made his own terms. He did
not offer to place them on a reservation, where
they would be fed while they idled and plotted
mischief. He simply told them he would ac
knowledge Wewawewa as their chief, who
should be responsible for their good conduct.
They might return free into their own country
and establish their headquarters near Castle Rock
on the Malheur, and so long as they behaved
themselves honestly and properly they would not
be molested. Crook's idea of the best way to
maintain peace with these wild people seems to

have been to show the natives that the whites did
not fear them. Therefore the Indians were not
entirely unarmed, but on the contrary, ammuni
tion was issued them and orders were given for
all the trading posts to supply ammunition to the
Indians that they might make their living by hunt
ing. These mild terms were eagerly accepted,
and the property of their victims still in their
possession was delivered up.
Crook had no faith in reservations, yet he felt
that to leave the Indians at liberty was courting a
danger from the enmity of white men who had
personal wrongs to avenge which might provoke
a renewal of hostilities. To guard against this,
he caused the terms of the treaty to be extensively
published, and appealed to the reason and good
judgment of the people, reminding them what it
had cost to secure the peace which he hoped they
might now enjoy.
The disposition of these Indians was, how
ever, an annoying and perplexing question.
Among the worst of the tribes that took part in
the Shoshone war were those inhabiting the
Warner valley under Chief Otsehoe. Gen.
Crook in military correspondence after the war
said : "Among these bands and those near Har
ney are some as crafty and bad as any I have ever
seen, and if they are retained in the vicinity of
their old haunts, and the Indian department man
ages -them as it has other tribes in most cases,
there will be trouble."
Early in November, 1868, Superintendent A.
B. Meacham, having been appointed to the posi
tion formerly held by Mr. Huntington, held a
council with the Indians assembled at Camp
Warner under Otsehoe and persuaded this chief
to go with his followers upon the Klamath reser
vation. But the war department gave neither en
couragement nor material assistance, although
Otsehoe and other Indians about Warner lake
were known by Crook to be of their race, and
dangerous to leave at large.
True to his restless nature, Otsehoe left the
reservation in the spring of 1 870, where his
people had been fed during the winter. They de
serted in detachments, Otsehoe remaining to the
last, but when the commissary required the chief
to bring them back, he replied that Major Otis
desired them to remain at Camp Warner, a state
ment which was true, at least in part, as Otis
himself admitted.
Otsehoe, however, finally consented to make
uis home at Camp Yainix, so far as to stay on the
reservation during the winter season, but roving
abroad iti the summer through the region about
Warner ancl Goose lakes. On March, 1871, by
executive order, a reservation containing 2,275
square miles was set apart on the north fork of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

8i5

the Malheur river, for the use of the Shoshones.
In the autumn of 1873 a portion of them were in
duced to go upon it, most of whom absented them
selves on the return of summer. Gradually, how
ever, with many drawbacks, the Indian depart
ment obtained control of these nomadic peoples,
who were brought under those restraints which
are the first steps toward civilization.
Indian raids ceased in that portion of Oregon
and peace has since reigned there. Where Gen.
Crook's men scouted and fought Indians live now
prosperous ranchers, ancl the site of Camp War
ner is one of the most prosperous in the country.
Although the Shoshone war was at an end,-
Camp Warner was not abandoned at once, and a
force of three companies remained there for sev
eral years. When the Modoc war broke out in
1872, troops from Camp Warner went to the
front and took part in that bloody and disas
trous war. After that war Camp Warner was
abandoned, the troops leaving the camp during
the months of October and November, 1873.
The site of Camp Warner is now an isolated
ranch, many miles from any other habitation. The
ranch house occupies the old parade grounds,
and a beautiful meadow spreads out in front, ancl
from this the stockman cuts enough hay annually
to feed his band.
At first sight one would not recognize the evi
dences of the former days, but with a little in
formation and a further investigation, one finds
enough to convince one that it was really a mili
tary post, and there are many things to remind
one of this. An old rock chimney stands alone on
the hillside near the ranch house. It shows awk

ward, but substantial, construction. In front of
the fire place, cut in this old chimney, the foun
dation logs of the former building still remain.
Then, as one investigates further, piles of rocks
are found here and there and the foundation logs
of other buildings. These were the officers' quar
ters. The chimney, still standing, was the one
that conveyed the smoke from Gen. Crook's head
quarters while he was stationed at Camp Warner.
The number of names cut into the hard rock indi
cates that many people have visited this remote
point, many miles from railroads and even stage
coaches. In fact, only a mere trail leads to it.
But these are not the only evidences of the
presence of the government's strong arm here. On
the opposite side of the parade grounds from the
officers' quarters were the stables of the command.
Here may be found mule shoes, harness buckles,
parts of harness and traces, bridle bits and many
other things that were required to handle the
mounts. And about the grounds may be found
old cooking utensils, broken sabers, officers'
epaulets and other remnants of the equipments
of the fort which were abandoned by the soldiers
upon leaving it. The uniform initials "Tj. S."
distinguish them from property belonging to civ
ilians. But up on the hill, nearby, surrounded by a
grove of towering pines, are sadder evidences of
the former days. Wooden headboards here ancl
there, lying about the ground, tell in very dim
letters of the death of this one or that who was
a member of a certain company, while the posts
that supported the fence around the little plat
have long since been hauled away and destroyed.

CHAPTER II

SETTLEMENT AND CURRENT HISTORY— 1869 TO 1905.

So far this history has treated of events that
took place in the county-of-Lake-to-be prior to
the arrival of the first settler. Up to the late six
ties there was not a settler in the county. The
lake country had been visited by a few trappers
and explorers at a very early date. Later vol
unteer troops had passed through and gained
some knowledge of the country. Then came the
establishment of Camp Warner ancl the occu
pancy of the country of lakes by the soldiers. Co
incident with this event was the Shoshone war,

which kept the whole Eastern Oregon country in
a state of nervous excitement, and which was not
terminated until Gen. Crook had completely sub
jugated the hostile Indians in the summer of 1868.
It seems hardly creditable that any one would
have had the hardihood to attempt to make his
home in this country, overrun by hostile Indians,
prior to the victory of Gen. Crook, and yet we
find that such is the case.
In 1867 a man by the name of Joseph Ross
settled in Goose Lake valley, just across the line

8i6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in California, at the foot of "Sugar Hill." When
he came there the Indians were on the warpath
and had not yet felt the restraining hand of the
military authorities. No lumber was to be had
in the vicinity, of course, and as the task of get
ting logs out of the woods for a cabin was con
sidered too risky by the daring adventurer, Ross
concluded to forgo the luxury of a cabin, ancl
burrowed his abode in the ground. Bands of
, Indians frequently visited the place, but because
of Ross' manner of living and his peculiar ways
he was not molested. Afterwards the Indians
stated that they believed him a "crazy pale face,"
and for this reason no harm was done him.
Another settler of 1867 was David R. Jones,
who claimed Lake county as his place of resi
dence from Sept. 15, 1867, until his death, Oct.
10, 1901, over 34 years. Mr. Jones at an early
day came by boat from New York to San Fran
cisco. From there he had gone by stage to Jack
sonville, Oregon, in i860. Later he went to
Washington Territory, and in 1866 to Idaho,
where he engaged in the freighting business. In
1867 he loaded his big teams with grain and fol
lowed the soldiers to Camp Warner, where he ar
rived September 15, of that year. Here he made
his home, and until the subjugation of the Indians
the following year, he was under the protection
of the camp. He took up a ranch in Warner val
ley near the camp and began raising hay, which
he sold at the camp. He experienced all the
perils and hardships incident to frontier life in
the country's early history. Many hairbreadth
escapes from the murderous Indians were his.
Fleet footed and cautious as he was, in those
days he came near meeting his death on several
occasions. One of the first settlers in Goose Lake valley
was John O'Neil, who is still living in Lake
county. When Gen. Crook took charge of the
military forces in the lake country Mr. O'Neil
came with him in charge of the pack train, ancl
reached Camp Warner in July, 1868. The party-
stopped at Camp Warner for a time and then pro
ceeded through Goose Lake valley to Fort Crook
in California. Mr. O'Neil was again -in charge
of the pack train that accompanied the soldiers.
After Gen. Crook left for Arizona, Mr. O'Neil re
turned to Goose Lake valley and settled near the
state line, early in 1869.
A settler of Goose Lake valley in 1868 was
A. Snider, who took up a claim at Willow Ranch,
on the California side of the line.
This constitutes the list of settlers in the pres
ent Lake county and in Goose Lake valley close
to the line until after the subjugation .of the In
dians. After it became known that the power of
the Indians had been broken, there was quite a

rush of settlers to Goose Lake valley, and during
some score or two settlers came and began

building their homes there.
E. C. Mason, afterwards closely identified with
the political history of Lake county, settled in the
valley on October 8, 1869. E. P. Bodger came
the same year and settled about three miles over
the line in California. Mr. Bodger was a prom
inent figure in the destinies of Goose Lake valley.
He later removed to Alturas, California, where he
died in 1904. E. V. Coffer came the same year
and settled in Lake county. A. Z. Hammersley
and William Hammersley came with their fami
lies and settled just south of the line. In the party
with these two there came from the Willamette
valley Joe Robnette, T. Reed, William Tandy,.
Robert Tandy, Milton Brown, A. F. Snelling, H.
M. Henderson, Sparks, Stone and Bogue. The
Tandys located three miles south of the line.
Alexander Reed was another settler of 1869. He
lived in Lake county for many years and became
one of its best known citizens. All of these set
tlers had located in Goose Lake valley, and so far
as we leave been able to learn there was only one
who located in the county that year outside of the
valley. This one was M. McShane, who settled
on Crooked creek.
E. B. Reed was also a settler of 1869. He
was the first to file a water right in the present
Lake county. In the records of Jackson county
is filed the following official notice of this claim r
Goose Lake Valley, Jackson county, Ore.,
November 17, 1869.
Notice is hereby given that I, E. B. Reed, do this.
day claim all the water flowing down this canyon from
this point up or from the head of my ditch made for
the purpose of conveying the water flowing down this
canyon, or that may hereafter flow down said canyon,
to have and to hold the use of said water for milling,
mining and irrigating purposes.
Said canyon is situated on the east side of Goose
Lake valley, about four miles north of the line dividing
the states of Oregon and California. (Signed) : E. B. Reed.
Filed for record at four o'clock p. m. July 23, 1870,.
and recorded the same day. Silas J. Day.,
County Clerk Jackson county, Ore.

A. Tenbrook the same year settled on what Is
now known as the McKee ranch, some five or six
miles south of Lakeview. Samuel Crane settled
on the Vernon ranch, and gave the name to Crane
creek. M. Cogswell located the Cogswell creek
propert}' : Alex Cooper took up the Robnette
ranch : James Wardwell the Fleming place ; Ben
Warner what is now known as the Luhman

Fort Rock, a Noted Landmark in Lake County

A Result of the Lake County Range War

On the Lake County Desert

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

817

place ; Oliver Shafer the Reed place ; Ira Cogs
well the Studley place ; Frank Cogswell tj^e Dee-
ter place ; Alex Contner what is now the Con
verse ranch ; B. F. Lewis located adjoining Ben
Warner; John Clark near the state line; M. W.
Bullard on the Lakeview townsite. Other set
tlers of this year were William Greenman and
Milton Brown. August Miller brought in a
band of cattle and became one of the first stock-
raisers of Lake county. At Willow Ranch, on
the California side of the state line, C. U. Snider
secured a claim in 1869, and D. A. Lambert the
same year became a settler of Warner
valley. So extensive was the settlement of Goose
Lake valley during 1869 that parties conceived
the idea of starting a store. Accordingly one was
opened near the state line, on the Oregon side, by
Desible, Powley & King, and a man by the name
of Darling was put in charge. The venture was
not a success and in a few weeks the firm failed
and the stock was removed. Thus came and went
Lake county's pioneer store.
The year 1870 brought a few more settlers,
among them the Cooksey brothers, who settled
in the north end of Goose Lake valley. The next
year witnessed the arrival of a few more, and
during the few succeeding years the settlement,
while not large, was steady.
C. Hagerhorst came at an early day and was
the first man to run sheep in Lake county. Cap
tain Barnes located in Drew's valley in the early
seventies and engaged in cattle raising. An early
settler of North Warner valley was a man by the
name of Ish. In South Warner William Wal
lace settled at the mouth of Deep creek, and Jo
seph Wheeler at the mouth of Twentymile creek
at what is known as the dug out. Both these set
tlers came at an early day.
During the winter of 1871-2 the settlers of
Goose Lake valley devoted themselves to pros
pecting the hills on both sides of the valley for
mineral, and succeeded in working up quite a
mining excitement among themselves. Two min
ing districts were organized — Campbell's, on the
west and north sides of Goose lake, and Goose
Lake district to the east of the lake. In the rec
ords of Jackson county, of which county Goose
Lake valley was then a part, are found the fol
lowing notices of the formation of these dis
tricts :
Campbell Mining District, Goose Lake Valley, Ore.,
December 25, 1871.
Silas J. Day, County Clerk Jackson County, Ore. :
Sir — You are hereby notified that at a miners'
meeting held this day at the residence of Joseph Cook

sey, at which twenty persons were present who are inter
ested in mines, a mining district was formed, to be
known as the "Campbell Mining District," and bounded
as follows, viz. :
Commencing at the mouth of Drew's creek and run
ning due west to the mountains beyond Sand creek,
thence northerly along said summit to a point due west
of the summit between Chewaucan and Goose Lake
Valleys, thence to said summit and along the same east
erly to the summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains,
thence southerly along said summit to Bullard's canyon,
thence westerly down said canyon to the foothills of
Goose Lake valley, thence along said foothills southerly
to the south side of Barton creek, thence down the south
bank westerly to Goose lake and across said lake to the
mouth of Drew's creek, the place of commencement, be
ing all in Jackson county, state of Oregon. In witness
whereof we have set our names this twenty-fifth day of
December, 1871. James Smith, President.
Charles A. Cogswell, Recorder.

Goose Lake Mining District, Goose Lake Valley, Ore.,
January 8, 1872.
Silas J. Day, County Clerk, Jackson County, Ore. :
Sir — You are hereby notified that at a miners' meet
ing held at the residence of Ira Cogswell, Esq., on the
23d inst, a miners' district was formed, to be known as
the "Goose Lake Mining District," bounded as foll6ws,
viz. : Commencing at the summit of the Sierra Nevada
mountains on the California and Oregon state, line, and
running due west to Goose Lake, thence along the lake
northerly to the mouth of Barton creek, thence along the
south branch of said creek to the foothills of Goose
Lake Valley, thence northerly along said foothills to
Bullard's canyon, thence easterly up said canyon to the
summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains, thence south
erly along said summit to the state line, to the place of
commencement, being all in Jackson county and state* of
Oregon. In witness whereof we have set our names this.
8th day of January, A. D. 1872.
Charles A. Cogswell, President.. ^
M. J. Cogswell, Recorder.

The instruments were both filed and recorded
with the Jackson county clerk on February • 2,
1872. The settlers did not confine their efforts to
the creation of the mining districts ; they pros
pected the hills, and thirty-three claims were lo
cated. Lake countv undoubtedly contains some
mineral, but it has not yet been located in quan
tities that would warrant extensive workings.- -The
filings of claims in these two districts during the
winter of 1871-2 are also a pirt ^f the records of
Jackson county. The}- are as f?Ibv. s :

52

8i8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

No. of
Claims

Locators

L. G. Torrance

Date

Mining Dist.

Jan. 8. 1872 Goose Lake

Name of
Location
Hidden
Treasure
' Lode

M. J. Cogswell
Ira Cogswell
L. G. Torrance
Frank Cogswell
/ Chas. A. Cogswell
Fred A. Cogswell
| Amos Cogswell
Silas J. Dav
) Wm. Brown
M. C. Smith
v Geo. Vanderhoff
Ira Cogswell
M. J. Cogswell
Frank Cogswell
J. F. Campbell
J. F. Campbell
Silas J. Day
F. H. Wells
D. D. Cook
„J. F. Campbell
Silas J. Day

Dec 17, 1871

I Cumber-
Goose Lake-( land
( Ledge

I General
Jan. 31, 1872 Goose Lake-j Logan
I Lode

( Hidden
Sept. 28, 1872 Goose Lake-j Treasure
( Lode

j Hidden
Nov. 17, 1871 Goose Lake-j Treasure
( Ledge

Jan. 25, 1872 Campbe

I Hi
11 < Ch
( Le

Hiland
Chieftain Ledge

* IkifJllt/" ^b. 18, 1872 Campbell j £*£<»
1

I. F. Campbell
Silas J. Day
F. H. Wells
D. D. Cook

Highland
Feb. 18, 1872 Campbell -j MaryLedge

1 J S. H. Vernator Aug. 29, 1872 Campbell \ U°,i
1 J. Vernator j Ledge
The year 1872 brought about the establish-
, ment of a mail route through the country after-
. wards set off as Lake county, and the establish
ment of the first postoffice. In 1870 the Oregon
.legislature had memorialized congress to grant
mail facilities to that part of Southern Ore
gon east of the Cascades. The memorial was
as follows :
To the Honorable Congress of the United States :
The memorial of the legislative assembly of the
state of Oregon.
Your memorialists respectfully and earnestly repre
sent that there is a large district of country in the south
ern portion of this state, embracing an area of over ten
thousand square miles now being rapidly settled by
citizens of the United States, which is at present desti
tute of any kind of mail facilities. To secure to the said
citizens the desired mail accommodation, it is necessary
• that the following routes through said district be desig
nated as post roads by act of Congress, viz.. From
Ashland, Oregon, by Brown's, Link River, Lost River,
Yainix, Drew's Valley, Hot Springs (in Goose Lake
Valley) to Lake City (in California) two hundred and
thirty-three miles ; also from Yreka, California, by-
Ward's (on Klamath river, California), Brown's (on
same river, (Oregon), Link River, Klamath Agency, to
Fort Klamath, one hundred and three miles.
Your memorialists further represent that the estab
lishment of mail service over the above routes will secure
mail supply to a population of over three thousand per

sons, who are at present destitute of any such accom
modation. Wherefore your memorialists respectfully pray your
honorable body to pass an act establishing post roads
over the routes above described.
Passed the House September 29, 1870. B. Hayden.
Passed the Senate September 30, 1870.
James D. Day,
President of the Senate.
The request of the Oregon legislature was
granted, and in the spring of 1872 a contract was
let to Mr. Kilgore, of Ashland, to carry the mails
from that point to Lake City, California. The
contract called for weekly trips and for this serv
ice the contractor received nearly $5,000 per year.
Mr. Kilgore had charge of the mail route until
1875. A route from Redding, California, north
to connect with this line was also established. A
postoffice was at once established at New Pine
creek, in Goose Lake valley, just north of the
state line, and the settlers for the first time had
mail facilities. S. A. Hammersley was post
master and the office was at his house.
The winter of 1872-3 was a severe one and
many hardships were encountered in delivering
the mail. A man by the name of Reed carried the
mail between Linkville and New Pinecreek on
snow shoes, hauling a hand sled upon which the
mail sacks were strapped. The snow that winter
was so deep that it was impossible to keep a road
open, and most of the travel was upon the lake,
which was frozen over, and from the surface of
which the wind blew the snow.
The establishment of the postoffice was a great
convenience to the settlers. Before they had been
obliged to go to Willow Ranch, and before the
latter postoffice was established in 1869, the set
tlers had been obliged to go a much farther dis
tance. In 1873 the second postoffice was established
in Goose Lake valley. This was at the A. Ten-
brook ranch, some five or six miles south of the
present town of Lakeview, and Mr. Tenbrook was
the postmaster. Shortly after the establishment
of the postoffice C. Hagerhorst started a store
within a few rods of the postoffice. This was
quite an event in the history of the valley. Be
fore, the settlers had been obliged to go to Camp
Warner or Willow Ranch, for their supplies.
While the Hagerhorst store was not conducted on
a large scale and the stock of goods was limited,
it answered the purposes. J. W. Howard, now a
merchant of Lakeview, was a clerk in the Ha
gerhorst store. With the establishment of this en
terprise the postoffice was moved to the store and
Mr. Hagerhorst became postmaster. Later Henry

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

819

Dunlap was given charge of the office. William
Hammersley succeeded him to the office, which
was then moved to the Vernator ranch. J. W.
Howard later purchased the stock of goods of
Mr. Hagerhorst, and when the town of Lakeview
came into existence, he moved the store building,
and all to the new town. The postoffice was dis
continued when the Lakeview office was started
in 1876. Our story has now been brought up to the year
1874, the year the legislature authorized the crea
tion of Lake county. In a previous chapter of
this work we have told of the creation of Wasco
county in 1854 out of all that territory east of the
Cascade mountains. This, of course, included the
present counties of Lake and Klamath. This lat
ter territory was shortly afterward taken from
¦Wasco county and annexed to Jackson county,
the political division lying immediately to the
west and on the opposite side of the mountains.
By 1874 the settlers of Jackson county living
east of the Cascade mountains thought their coun
try had gained sufficient population and import
ance to entitle it to set up a county government of
its own. The settlers of the Klamath basin, Lost
river and Langell's valley were over 100 miles
from their county seat, Jacksonville, while the set
tlers of Goose Lake valley and other settled por
tions of eastern Jackson county were from 200 to
300 miles from their seat of government. Separ
ating the eastern part of the county from the
western was the Cascade range of mountains. In
tervening between the county capital and these
interior settlements were mountains, lakes and a
very rough country in which the roads were an
abomination. The time was ripe for the forma
tion of a new county. In this country, including
the present counties of Lake and Klamath, lived,
probably, 800 or 900 people, the census taken the
following year showing a population of 944.
D. W. Cheesman, a resident of the country
which it was desired to cut off, was Jackson
county's representative in the Oregon legislature
and it was he who introduced the bill and worked
for the passage of the act. Petitions were sent in
from the settlements of the future Lake county
asking for the creation of county to be called
'Crook, taking in all of Jackson county east of the
Cascade mountains. It was the almost unani
mous desire of the settlers that the proposed new
county be called Crook in honor of General Crook,
the peerless Indian fighter. Notwithstanding this
fact, Mr. Cheesman introduced the bill with the
proposed name of Lake and as such it became a
law. A few years later the legislature created a
county from a part of Wasco ancl named if in
honor of General Crook. The name Lake is a
very appropriate one, on account of the many and

large lakes that occupy a considerable portion of
its surface.
On October 24, 1874, the bill for the creation
of Lake county was approved by Governor
Grover and became a law. Following is the full
text of the bill :
Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the
State of Oregon :
Section 1. That all that portion of the state of
Oregon embraced within the following boundary lines
be, and the same is hereby created and organized into a
separate county by the name of Lake : Beginning on the
forty-second parallel of north latitude at a point where
said parallel is intersected by the east boundary of
township number 23 east of the Willamette meridian ;
thence due north on said township line to the south
boundary line of township number 22 south of the
Oregon base line ; thence due west on said township line
to the east boundary of Lane county; thence southerly
along said boundary line and the east boundary line of
Douglas county to the southeast corner of said Douglas
county; thence to and south on the east boundary of
township number 4 east of the Willamette meridian to
said forty-second parallel of north latitude ; thence due
east along said parallel to the place of beginning.
Sec. 2. The territory embraced within said boundary
lines shall compose a county for all civil and military
purposes, and shall be subject to the same laws and re
strictions, and be entitled to elect the same officers, as
other counties of this state. Provided, That it shall
be the duty of the governor, as soon as convenient after
this act shall become a law, to appoint for Lake county,
and from among her resident citizens, the several county
officers allowed by law to other counties of this state,
which said officers, after duly qualifying according to
law, shall be entitled to hold their respective offices until
their successors are duly elected, at the general election
of 1876, and have duly qualified as required by law.
Sec. 3. The temporary county seat of Lake county
shall be located at Linkville, in said county, until a
permanent location is adopted. At the next general elec
tion the question shall be submitted to the legal voters
of said county, and the place, if any, which shall receive
a majority of all the votes cast at said election, shall be
the permanent county seat of said county, but if no place
shall receive a majority of all the votes cast, the question
shall be again submitted to the legal voters of said
county, between the two points having the highest num
ber of votes at said election, at the next general elec
tion, and the place receiving the highest number of
votes at such election, shall be the permanent county
seat of said county.
Sec. 4. The legal electors of Lake county shall be
entitled to elect, at the general election of 1876, and
thereafter until otherwise provided by law, one member
of the house of representatives, while the county of
Jackson shall be entitled to elect but two, and said

820

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county for senatorial purposes, be annexed to the 16th
senatorial district.
Sec. 5. The county clerk of Jackson county shall
send to the county clerk of Lake county, within 30
days after this act becomes a law, a certified transcript
of all delinquent taxes from the assessment roll of
1874 that were assessed within the limits of Lake county,
and also a certified transcript of the assessment of per
sons and property within the limits of Lake county for
1874, and the said taxes shall be payable to the proper
officers of Lake county. The county treasurer of Lake
county shall, out of the first money collected for taxes,
pay over to the treasurer of Jackson county the full
amount of the state tax on the assessment roll of 1874
due from citizens of Lake county; the said clerk of
Jackson county shall also make out and send to the
clerk of Lake county, within the time above limited, a
transcript of all cases pending in the county and circuit
courts of Jackson county between parties - residing in
Lake county, and transfer all original papers in said
cases to be tried in Lake county.
Sec. 6. The said county of Lake is hereby attached
to the first judicial district for judicial purposes, and
the term of the circuit court of said district shall be
held annually, at the county seat of Lake county, on the
fourth Monday of June and November, in each year
until otherwise provided for.
Sec. 7. The county court of Lake county shall be
held at the county seat of said county on the first Mon
day of every alternate month, beginning on the first
Monday of the month next after the appointment by the
governor of county officers, as provided for in this act.
Sec. 8. Until otherwise provided for, the county
judge of Lake county shall receive an annual salary
of $300. Sec. 9. The county treasurer of Lake county shall
receive an annual salary of $100.
Approved October 24, 1874.
By tracing on the map the boundaries as de
scribed in the enabling act, it will be seen that the
county did not take in the Warner valley country.
This was later added to Lake county, being taken
from Grant county in 1885. This addition to the
county will be treated more fully in its chron
ological order.
On Monday, February 1, 1875, the county of
Lake as a separate political division came into
existence. On that day there met at the house of
George Nurse in the town of Linkville, which
was named in the act as the temporary county
seat, E. C. Mason, county judge; Henry Fuller,
county commissioner ; William Roberts, clerk ;
and Thos. Mulholland, sheriff, who took the
oaths of office ancl proceeded to organize the
county of Lake. W. J. Small, deputy clerk, was
also present ancl recorded the doings of the
county court.

Thus the county began its existence, with a
territory of many thousand square miles and with
less than one thousand inhabitants. According
to the census taken during the summer of 1875,
there were 944 residents in the new county. At a
special election held on October 25 of the same
year there were only 210 votes cast. This hardly
represented the voting strength of the county,.
however. The election was for the choosing of a
congressman, in which not much interest.
was taken, and not nearly a whole vote was
polled. Until the closing days of 1876 the county seat
of Lake county was at the little town of Link
ville, now known as Klamath Falls, then the only
town in the whole 11,000 or 12,000 square miles
which comprised the county. A building was
rented from William Angle as a place for con
ducting county business, ancl in this little build
ing what little official business was required was
done. For the year 1875 the county court made a
tax levy of twenty mills on the dollar. Of this
six and one-half mills was for state purposes,
eleven and one-half mills for county purposes, and
two mills for school purposes.
The county's first assessment was made in
1875, and the total taxable property was found
to be $469,334. Tax was collected on 249 polls.
There were 13,088 acres of land assessed, which
was returned at a total value of $32,081, or about
$2.45 per acre. In addition to this there was
placed on the rolls 297,975 acres of wagon road
land, assessed at $119,190, or 40 cents per acre.
The total value of town lots was placed at $300.
Other items on the roll were : Improvements,. '
$32,171 ; merchandise and implements, $35,341 ;
money, notes, etc., $56,194; household furniture,.
carriages, watches, etc., $6,993 5 2>84: horses and
mules, $69,640 — average value, $23.46; 22,030
cattle, $220,056 — average value $9.99; 20,148
sheep, $40,296— -average value, $2.00 ; 739 swine,
1,500 — average value, $2.03. This made the
gross value of property $613,762. The indebted
ness was $82,824 and exemptions $61,604, leav
ing a total taxable valuation of $469,334.
On the first assessment roll were 201 names
for the precincts which compose the present Lake
county, and 164 for the precincts composing the
present Klamath county. Following are the
names of the taxpayers in the precincts of the
present Lake county and the gross value of all
their property as assessed. The names of those
witn no amount following were assessed only for
their polls. Some few of the. others had sufficient
indebtedness or had exemptions, so that they had
no taxes to pay except the poll tax. The amounts
given are the gross valuations and not the net :

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

821

SUMMER LAKE PRECINCT.

J. Partin  $715
John Whitaker  2,500
W. Cawthorn  800
J. Conger  200
Rufus Dillard  ....
Michael Suit  610
A. J. Cruzon  800
J. Sellers  200
A. A. Averil  728
W. H. W. Averil  1,020
John Leonard  843
T. S. Hamilton  962
R. Sherlock  370
C. Hagerhorst  8,641
T. Sherlock  70
S. A. Caldwell  1,825
A. Hamilton  1,705
S. Hamilton  342
William H. Mills  3,230

C. Sherlock  $70
J. W. Belknap ....... 458
W. S. Bennett  300
James Foster  41845
J. A. Foster 
J. Foster 
J. B. Blair  500
S. B. Hadley  3,950
A. H. Hadley  100
Phelix Dorris  197
J. Dorris  20
W. Hill  185
C. Hayes  400
A- J- Scott  355
John Withers  2,540
J. S. Wooley  941
J. G. Hampton  720
Thos. Winkelman . . . 785

CHEWAUCAN PRECINCT.

P. R. Baldwin  $1,200
J. Grundike  5,070
J., Bringle  485
A. Fuller  385
Root & Hoskins  290
J. O. Elder  507
R. M. Elder  1,370
T. J. Brattain  1,190
C. W. Young  2,930
W. B. Small  75
John Burries  250
W. M. White  5,470
J. Simmons  230
Studley & Brother . . 1,000
J. W. Henderson .... 380
Thos. Morgan  1,025
O. L. Morgan  1,710
Frank Scott  : . 3,270

Small & Bro  $6,420
J. M. Small 
G. Wert  386
J. H. Sears  235
W. Harvey  160
J. B. Phelps  3m
G. W. Avery  1,420
P. Avery  2,601
S. P. Moss  3,479
W. D. Newland  1,590
G. H. Small 
J. G. D. Hepburn 
C. L. M. Innes 
Hepburn & Innes .... 10,330
J. C. Avery  4,500
C. Gaylord  3,970
D. W. White  1,354

CROOKED CREEK PRECINCT.
Colvin & Freeman . . .$5,446 A. G. Colvin 
H. L. Davis & Bros. . 1,380 T. Barnum & Colvin 520
W. Heryford  7,787 D. W. Cheesman ... 1,290
J. McKee  700 W. Patton  2,045

H. R. Heryford

J. McFay  65

R. Reading  4,850 T. O. Blair  673
J. W. Loveless  1,501 M. McShane  1,4m
J. N. Rouse  '. .. no C.A.Rice  935
13. S. Chandler  375 John Hollings worth. . 360
GOOSE LAKE PRECINCT.
A. F. Snelling  $1,614 W. Barrington  $100
D. Snelling  John Hall  600
Tandy & Bro  200 M. Brown  1,132

GOOSE LAKE PRECINCT.
(Continued.)

J. M. Harrington 
J. G. Clark  $569
A. B. Contner  815
Lucy Contner  890
E. B. Mulholland  630
C. A. Charlton  435
Estate Wm. Crickett. 2,534
Estate A. J. Rountree 1,100
R. Buck & Co  1,950
G M. Whitaker  287
C. A. Cogswell  913
A. D. Clerk  350
A. Tenbrook  2,572
Martin Walters  782
W. Hammersley,  526
J. Stanley  410
A. Reed  1,556
B. Warner  862
'M. Wade  221
L., E. Henderson  533
Joseph Robnette .... 6,945
Isaac Robnette  795
R. L. Cheesman 
R. Tenbrook  5 10
J. A. Moon  2,675
T. C. Snider  2,494
W. H. Cone  3S3
O. B. Allen  50
Augustus Miller  867
M. W. Bullard  875
Leonidas Turner  540
C. Turner & Bros. . . . 1,250
N. A. Robinette  650
M. A. Gaques  790
M. S. Taylor  200
J. J. Charlton  1,771
R. Moore  300
G. W. McGowin  405
M. Wade  221
W. T. Lowry  1,370
J. W. Smith  850

T. J. Hickman  $4,320
James Barnes  7>920
Hagerhorst & Co. ... 6,000
Henry Blecher  2,000
C. E. Randall  1,830
H. McDaniels  3S9
M. D. Hopkins ...  1,030
W. Vincent  100
J. E. Watkins  50
E. A. Buck 
G. Hammersley  140
W. R. Davidson  175
John T. Fitzgerald . . 150
S. A. Hemmersley. . . 1,772
A. Z. Hammersley . . . 2,040
J. S. Vincent  519
F. Vincent 
B. F. Dowell  4,042
Thos. Mulholland . . . 2,595
S. H. Taylor  900
Wm. Greenman  900
C. D. Mulholland .... 120
E. L. Miller  1,005
S. Johnson  4°
W. M. Spry  2,020
J. W. Tullock . :  605
C. W. Broback  2,137
M. M. Denny  1,216
C. Pendleton . . :  260
McMillan  662
A. J. Hutson  2,785
S. C. Hutson 
J. Howard 
B. Vincent  440
J. H. Page  '.... 375
J. Vernator  980
G. W. Elliott  ". 684
I. Smelser  1,840
J. Fitzgerald  676
John O'Neil  320
I. Eccleston  402

DREW S VALLEY.
G H. Penland  $3,024 O. P. Russell  $305
W. Clark  869 Thos. Lofton  595
R. S. Favil  386
SILVER LAKE PRECINCT.
Marion Martin  $1,700 J. Jackson  $5,945
J. M. Martin  25 E. H. Noble  2,320
A. V. Lane  3,76o P. G. Christman  2,730
J. F. Sullivan  260 G. R. Chrisman  678

822

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

SILVER LAKE PRECINCT.
(Continued.)
N. M. Hawley  $2,330 George Langdon 
C. P. Marshall  1,990 Horning Bros  $2,540
J. H. Barnum  340 J. Q Hanan  90
J. A. Musick  4,775 L. L. Hawley  1,810
Alonzo Musick  S. W. Smith  2,280
In 1876 the county seat of Lake county was
moved from Linkville to Lakeview. It will be
remembered that the enabling act provided for
the location of the temporary county seat at Link
ville ; that at the general June election of 1876,
the selection of the permanent seat of government
should ue made by the voters ; and that if no place
then received a majority of all the votes cast, the
question should again be submitted at the next
general election, the two places having the lar
gest votes at the preceding election to be the
only candidates.
When in 1874 the legislature named Linkville
— the present Klamath Falls — as the temporary
county seat, that was the only town in the whole
territory named as Lake county. Although this
little town in the western portion of the new
county was the only one, the greater population
was in the eastern part of the county — in Goose
Lake, Summer Lake, Chewaucan and other val
leys. The first assessment roll, as previously
stated, showed 201 names in the eastern to 164 in
the western part of the county. Having the bulk
of the population, the east siders laid their plans
to secure the county seat.
No town had yet been builded on the east side,
but the settlers decided ,on "Bullard's Creek," or
"Bullard's Ranch," as the place for which to vote
for the removal, and preparations were made to
build a town at this point. So early as April the
store building of A. & C. U. Snider was started,
and before the election in June, several other en
terprises were under way. This town was being
started at "Bullard's Creek," the present site of
the town of Lakeview, although that name had
not yet been applied to the place. The history of
the town of Lakeview will be told in a later chap
ter, so we shall not here tell more of the building
of the town-.
The election was held on June 5, and 384
votes were cast on the county seat question. As is
usual in cases where votes are cast for a place
without a definite name, the vote for "Bullard's
Creek" was divided as to the designation of the
place, but evidently with unanimity as to inten
tion. The votes cast for "Bullard's Creek,"
"Goose Lake," "Goose Lake Valley," "Bullard's
Ranch," and "Bullard's Creek in Goose Lake
Valley" were 193, a slight majority of all the

votes cast. The vote by precincts at this election-
was as follows :

Candidates

£ S »
?. V r* OJ OJ U .Z.
ax g j js u oj
»< i. 3 s

0)

tl 3 "-• ci
, » o a £ 2 "
ca ojs p:3 ^ °- ••? .S £
WOUMWOWiJM H
Bullard's Creek  72 1 23 .... 24  120
Sprague River  1  13 . . 3 17
Bonanza  38 38-
Drew's Valley  2  1 . . . . 3
Goose Lake  17 . • 1 . . . . 18
Goose Lake Valley .... 5  $.
Bullard's Ranch  39  39
Chewaucan  I  1
Linkville  5 -- •¦ 2 .... 76 5 88:
Big Springs  1  6 4 n
Blank  33
Bullard's Creek in
Goose Lake  n  11
As might naturally be expected, trouble arose
over the election. Fraud was alleged in the can
vass of the votes. The east side people contended
that the plain intention of the voters was to desig
nate Bullard's Creek as the county seat, while
those living in the present Klamath county main
tained that it was not clear that the intention of
the voters voting "Goose Lake," "Goose Lake-
Valley," etc., was to select "Bullartl's Creek," and
they contended that no majority had been re
ceived and that therefore the county seat should
remain at Linkville until the next general elec
tion should be held and the contest finally de
cided. A majority of the county court was favorable
to the east side and ordered the county records re
moved to Mr. Bullard's ranch in Goose Lake val-
lev. R. B. Hatton, the county clerk, was a Link
ville man, however, and refused to remove the-
records in accordance with the court's instruc
tions. Following is the official action taken by
the county court at a session held on August 10 :
Whereas an election was held on the 5th day of
June, A. D., 1876, in accordance with an act of the
legislative assembly of the state of Oregon, 1874,
creating Lake county, and fixing the salaries of county
judge and treasurer.
It appearing from the poll books returned from
the various precincts of Lake county that Bullard's-
Creek did receive a majority of all the votes cast at
said election for the county seat of Lake county as
provided for in said act.
And that whereas Bullard's Creek and Bullard's
Ranch, two names used in voting for said county seat,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

823.

does appear from evidence, and the knowledge of this
court, and that it was understood by all who voted,
that Bullard's Creek and Bullard's Ranch are both
one and the same identical place, and from a careful
examination of the poll books returned from various
precincts, it appearing that a wrong, intentionally or
otherwise, has been done a majority of the people
of Lake county, that the abstracts are false, and that
a majority of the legal voters of Lake county have
decided by their votes that Bullard's Creek is right
fully and legally the county seat of Lake county,
Bullard's Creek in Goose Lake valley did receive
202 votes, Bullard's Creek and ranch being the same
place, leaving a majority for Bullard's Creek of 45
votes, and then counting 17 votes from Silver Lake
against Bullard's Creek, it then leaves' a majority of
11 votes in favor of Bullard's Creek.
This court is satisfied from evidence adduced that
the' 17 votes from Silver Lake reported by the board
of canvassers of the vote of election declaring 17 votes
from Silver Lake to be for Goose Lake, were not so
voted, but were voted for Bullard's Creek, as is clearly
proven. It appearing to the satisfaction of this court that
there is no such place as Blank, and that it was in
tended to cheat and defraud the people of their rights
at the polls; in view of all the facts that Bullard's
Creek is the county seat of Lake county, and the clerk
of Lake county, R. B. Hatton, is requested and in
structed to select two justices of the peace, or the
county judge for one, and to proceed to recount the
votes on the poll books, in conjunction with the dupli
cate poll book of Silver Lake, which explains the blots
and errors in the poll book of said precinct of Silver
Lake, and to make out a true and perfect abstract of
the same, and that he forward a copy of it to the
governor of Oregon as required by law ; and that the
clerk immediately thereafter, within five days from
this time, remove the books, papers and records of his
office to Bullard's house at Bullard's Creek, in Lake
county, Oregon, and that the expenses of the same
be paid by Lake county.
Done in open court August 10, 1876.
(Signed) E. C. MASON,
Chairman Board of County Commissioners, of Lake
County.Anticipating the refusal of Mr. Hatton to
comply with the court's orders, that body took
further action the same day as follows :
The clerk having intimated that he would not re
move his office to Bullard's, it is hereby ordered that
if he neglects to do so within five days from this
date, it is ordered that H. K. Hanna, district attorney,
B. F. Dowell and William Harris commence suit im
mediately in the name of Lake county, an action or
actions at law, suit or suits in ' equity, mandamus, or

any attachment or proceeding against the said clerk that
they may deem necessary to compel the said clerk
to remove the books, papers, records of his office, to
Bullard's house at Bullard's Creek in said county,
and that said attorneys be authorized to employ one
or more agents, attorneys, to collect the evidence and-
assist in the perfection of said action or suit.
Done in open court August 10, 1876.
(Signed) E. C. MASON,
Chairman Board of County Commissioners,
of Lake County.
Although this radical step was demanded by
the county court, it was not carried out; neither
did Mr. Hatton remove the records. The east
side people believed that they could easily carry
the election, which was to be held November 7,
and waited their time. In the meantime Lake-
view had come into existence and been given a
name, and there was no danger that the mistakes
of the June election would be repeated. Four
hundred eighty-three votes were cast, 181 for
Linkville and 242 for Lakeview.
Linkville put up a hard fight at this election,.
and a number of her emissaries invaded the ter
ritory of the enemy. It is said that some of these
carried 'long sacks" containing the wherewithal
to secure votes for Linkville from Goose Lake-
valley. The result shows that but little was ac
complished by these tactics.
One incident is told by Mr. J. T. Fitzgerald
of an attempt to secure a vote for Linkville from
a resident of Summer Lake valley by a Linkville
man. The occurrence was on election day at the
polls at Hagerhorst's store. C. Hayes, who made
his home at Summer Lake, was present and in
tended to vote for the location of the county seat
on the east side of the county. Mr. Hayes could
neither read nor write. The Linkville worker
approached him and found that Mr. Hayes
claimed to be a relative of Rutherford B. Hayes,
on that day elected president of the United States,
and proceeded to establish a confidential acquain
tance with Mr. Hayes by praising the distin
guished relative. At the right time the Linkville
emissary approached Hayes on the election and
proposed to fix the ticket for him. He was al
lowed to "fix it," but as soon as the ballot fixer
left his man, Mr. Fitzgerald, who had been
watching the performance, went to George White-
aker and told him what he had seen. Mr. White-
aker met Mr. Hayes on his way to the polls and
asked him if he had voted, to which Hayes re
plied, "No ; I am going to vote now." Mr. White-
aker asked him to let him see his ticket. Mr.
Hayes produced the "fixed" ticket and Mr.
Whiteaker read it. "Why," said he, "you don't
want to vote for Linkville, do you?" Mr. Hayes

¦824

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

replied that he certainly did not. And then Mr.
Whiteaker seized the opportunity to "fix" the
ticket, and Mr. Hayes was hurried off to the polls
and voted "Lakeview."
The official vote by precincts was as follows :

•a -3, g J 3 <-> « is „
•2 sSis-gl^'l ¦=
cflOj33.^up,0.5 o
WOumtnUMJJ H
-Linkville  5 4 .. .. 5 .. .. 50 117 181
-Lakeview  104 14 25 29 29 17 11 8 5 242 >
The westsiders then gave up the fight. How
ever,, they began to lay their plans for the division
of the county so soon as the population would
•warrant. Their desires were not brought about
untill 1882.
Soon after the election the records were re
moved to Lakeview and that city has ever since
been, the county seat. The first session of the
county court was held on December 6, 1876, and
there were present E. C. Mason, county judge;
Stephen Moss and A. Tenbrook, county commis
sioners ; T. J. Brattain, sheriff; and R. B. Hattan,
clerk. When the county seat was moved to Lakeview
in 1876 M. W. Bullard donated twenty acres of
land to Lake county for county purposes, and a
part of this, after the platting of Lakeview, was
sold to private parties in town lots.
Arrangements were soon made to .erect a
building for a clerk's office at the new county
seat. December 9, 1876, the county court auth
orized the erection of a 16x28 foot building, and
Milton Brown was appointed to supervise its
erection and procure material and help with which
to erect it. This was soon completed, but it was
not until 1881 that the county had what might be
properly called a court house. A county jail was
the next thing in order and at a special session
¦cf the county court on April 14, 1877, a contract
was let to S. J. Hickman for $130, and in a
¦short time this was completed.
As is often the case where a new political di
vision is set off from the parent county, litigation
arose between Jackson and Lake counties over a
settlement. This was in two suits — one, Jack
son County vs. Lake County, for the recovery of
'$423.68; the other, John Orth, Treasurer of
Jackson County, vs. George Nurse, Treasurer of
Lake County, for the recovery of $1,066.18.
The first named case was brought about in
this way: Some time in 1874, before Lake county
was created, a murder was committed in the ter
ritory afterwards set off as Lake county. The
alleged murderer was arrested and confined in the
•county jail at Jacksonville before the new county

was created. After the organization of Lake
county the prisoner was tried at Jacksonville and
the costs of the trial paid by the old county.
Jackson county demanded payment from Lake
county for the costs of the trial, which was re
fused. Lake county put in a counter claim, al
leging it had money clue in final settlement with
the older county.
The suits were brought in 1877 and extended
litigation seemed probable. In view of this fact,
on June 7, 1877, the county court submitted a
proposition to settle the matter by arbitration. It
suggested that Jackson county should withdraw
all actions it had begun at law, and that the de
cision by the board of arbitration should be bind
ing upon both parties ; that the arbitration board
should consist of three members, one chosen by
Lake county, one by Jackson, and the third to be
selected by the other two ; that the board hold its
meetings at Ashland, Jackson county. The offer,
was refused by the county court of Jackson county
and the suits were pressed. Lake county em
ployed A. C. Jones and G. F. Harris as attorneys
to represent it.
The cases were tried in the circuit court for
Lake county before Judge Prim, who, on No
vember 20, 1877, decided both cases in favor of
the plaintiffs, giving the judgments asked for. On
January 24, 1878, both cases were appealed to the
supreme court and A. C. Jones and R. S. Strahn
were selected as Lake county's attorneys to con
duct the cases before that tribunal. On January
6, 1879, the supreme court ordered the appeal dis
missed, that Jackson county recover from Lake
county the costs of the suits, and that the cases be
remanded to the lower court for further proceed
ing. The cases finally went against Lake county,
and on April 8, 1881, a warrant was ordered
drawn for $663.88 in favor of Jackson county, a
final settlement of the case.
During the first five years of the county's ex
istence there was a rapid settlement, and' where
in 1875 there were 944 people we find in 1880 that
there are 2,804, nearly three times as many. The
population was divided into the several precincts
as follows :
Chewaucan  179
Crooked Creek  83
Goose Lake, Lakeview and New Pine Creek  936
Linkville  737
Lost River  374
Plevna  "  139
Silver Lake  92
Sprague River  118
Summer Lake  146
Total  2,804

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

825

Of these, 2,722 were whites, three colored,
seven Chinese, and twenty-seven Indians. The
native born population was 2,575 > foreign born,
229. The precincts which were two years later
set off as Klamath county contained 1,368 of this
number, leaving 1,436 in the present Lake county.
Other statistics from the census of 1880 are
interesting because they show the condition of
the county at that time :
Number of farms, 347 ; number of owners, 237;
number rented for money, 6 ; number rented for shares,
15. Acres tilled, including fallow and grass in rotation.
9,691. Number of acres of permanent meadows.
pastures and orchards. 33.312.
Value of lands, fences and buildings, $430,025 ;
value of farm implements and machinery, $48,630:
value of live stock, $506,201 ; amount paid for wages,
$40,633; grass lands mown, 11,844; tons of hay, 12,651;
number of horses, 5,318; mules, 224; oxen, 97; milch
cows, 1,405; other cattle, 31,342; sheep, 25,809; swine,
679; pounds of butter made, 53,315; cheese, 2.550
Estimated value of farm productions, $225,971. Acres
of wheat, 611; bushels, 9,635. Acres of oats, 332;
bushels, 7,031. Acres of potatoes, 49; bushels, 5,299.
Acres of barley, 731 ; bushels, 18,215. Acres of apple
orchard, 27 ; bearing trees, 83 ; bushels, 66. Total value
of all orchard products, $75; market vegetables, $1,995.
In 1 88 1 the county purchased a building for
$1,600 from George Conn, moved it onto the
county property, and on June 11 of that year let
the contract to N. A. Clark for $965, to make
additions and complete a court house. When this
was completed Lake county had a court house,
ti.e one which is still used for that purpose.
In 188 1 the county purchased a building for
math county from the western portion of Lake
county. This took off about one-half of the
county as it was at that time. Ever since the re
moval of the county seat to Lakeview in 1876,
the people of the Klamath country had been de
termined to have this county formed. Agitation
was begun before the 1880 session of the legisla
ture, but at that time the population and as
sessed valuation of their country would not war
rant such a step, and the agitation did not reach
the stage of having a bill introduced in the legis
lature. During the next two years the question
was a live one, and the separation was accom
plished in 1882.
While this legislation cut clown the dimensions
of the county to a considerable extent, it was only
a few years later that a generous slice of terri
tory was added to the county. By 1885 Warner
valley, which at that time was a portion of
Grant county, had become settled to some
¦extent. The county seat of Grant county

was Canyon City, half way across the
state, and naturally this fact was a source of
great inconvenience to the Warner valley settlers.
All their relations, except official, were with Lake-
view, which was comparatively only a short dis
tance away, about thirty or forty miles, and it
was only natural that they should desire to have
their valley annexed to Lake county. Agitation
was begun in 1882, but results were not obtained
until three years later. The annexation was made
by the legislature of 1885, the bill being intro
duced by W. F. Abshier, representative from
Lake county. The bill as passed was as follows :
Be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the
state of Oregon.
Section 1. That all that portion of Grant county
lying within the following described boundaries, to-wit :
Beginning where the north boundary line of township
33 south intersects the east line of Lake county, thence
east along said township line to the northeast corner
of township 33 south, of range 28 east, thence south
along said range line to the south boundary line of the
state of Oregon, thence west along said line to the
southeast corner of Lake county, thence north along
the east boundary line of Lake county to the plac?
of beginning; be, and the same is hereby, taken from
said Grant county and annexed to and made a part
of Lake county.
Sec. 2. The treasurer of Lake county shall pay to
the treasurer of Grant county such a portion of the
indebtedness of Grant county as the taxable property
of the territory described in section one bears to the
whole amount of taxable property of said Grant county
not to exceed five thousand dollars, as said taxable prop
erty appears by the assessor's roll of 1884.
Sec. 3. Inasmuch as the boundary lines as they now
exist between the counties of Grant and Lake are a
source of great inconvenience to many citizens, this act
shall take effect and be in force from and after its
approval by the governor.
The bill passed both houses of the legislature
and was approved by the governor on November
21, 1885. This added a generous slice of terri
tory to Lake county, and proved a great con
venience to the Warner valley settlers.
The annexation of Warner valley brought
about a suit between Grant and Lake counties. On
August 3, 1887, Grant county commenced an ac
tion to recover the amount due by virtue of sec
tion 2 of the act of 1885. The suit was for
$4,298.82, the amount claimed as the Warner val
ley share of Grant county's indebtedness accord
ing to the taxable property. The case was
brought to .trial in the circuit court for Lake
county at the June term in 1888. The court gave
Grant county judgment for $483 with interest at

826

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

eight per cent, from November 21, 1885. From
this decision both parties took an appeal to the
supreme court, which remanded the case to the
circuit court with instructions to render judgment
against Lake county for $4,298.82, without in
terest. The opinion was rendered by Judge
Thayer May 8, 1889.
According to the state, census of 1885 Lake
county had a population of 1536. This was be
fore the Warner valley country had been added
to the county, but after Klamath had been set off.
The federal census of 1880 had given the county
a population of 2,807, when Klamath was in
cluded. The increase in the county with its new
dimensions during the five years was not large,
being just about 100.
During the latter part of the eighties a few
new settlers came into the county, but very little
of importance transpired during these years. The
census of 1890 gave the county a population of
2,585. At that time there were only five coun
ties in Oregon having a smaller population.
The even tenor of the ways of Lake county
was marred in 1894 by a lynching at Lakeview,
the first and last that has taken place in the
county's history. On Monday morning, August
20, about one o'clock, W. S. Thompson was taken
from the jail at Lakeview and hanged, it was
generally believed, by residents of Warner valley.
He was taken from the jail by a number of
masked men who had previously held up acting
nightwatchman Heminger, and secured the keys
of the jail.
Thompson lived in Warner valley and was
known as a desperado. He was in jail at the time,
charged with the crime of drawing a gun on sev
eral Warner valley citizens. It was not for this
offense that the lynchers demanded the life of
Thompson ; it seems to have been the almost
unanimous opinion that the man should be hung
on general principles. The day before the hang
ing he had indulged himself to the extent of
smashing his wife's nose, breaking three of her
ribs, cutting to death her saddle horse and rip
ping open the abdomens of a few other horses in
the barnyard. A coroner's jury found that
Thompson came to his death by strangulation at
the hands of unknown parties.
While the lynching was deplored by the citi
zens of Lake county in general, they realized that
the community was much better off than it would
have been had the crime not been committed.
During the financial depression of the nineties
Lake county made little advancement. Being a
stock raising country, it did not receive the set
back which the agricultural districts of our coun
try suffered owing to the low price of cereals. The
depression was hard enough, however, to retard

the county to a considerable extent. The taxable
property in the county in 1894 was $1,388,-
409, and according to the census of 1895 the
county's population was 2,197, a loss in the
five years.
After the hard times period Lake county came
to the front again, and during the late nineties
and the first few years of the 20th century the
development was the greatest in its history.
The year 1899 was an exceptionally good one.
On January 1, 1900, Beach & McGarry, then pub
lishers of the Lake County Examiner, wrote of
the preceding year as follows :
"Lake county in 1899 enjoyed a degree of
prosperity never before known in its history. It
might be said that 1899 was a banner year for the
stock industry, for agricultural and horticultural
development and for numerous industrial enter
prises. Every industry has shown a material in
crease and every one is prosperous. The sale and
shipment of about 35,000 head of beef cattle
brought into the county nearly $1,000,000. On
75,000 head of sheep driven to market $225,000-
more was added to the Lake county stockman's
income. One million, five hundred thousand
pounds of wool were sheared and shipped: Last
year's product brought the sheepmen $195,000.
Besides sales of cattle, sheep and wool, there
were sold from 1,500 to 2,000 head of horses and
mules, valued at from $25,000 to $40,000 ; also
1,000 to 1,500 hogs for $90,000 and 2,500 goats
for $7,500, making a total of $1,460,000 re
ceived from stock.
"The sawmills of the county were not able to
supply the demand for lumber last year, notwith
standing that they turned out over 1,250,000 feet,
valued at $20,000. The number of buildings
erected last year was nearly double the number
of any former year, and the indications are fav
orable for greater building in 1900. New farm
houses, barns and fences are good indications of
the prosperity of the farmers. Nearly every one
in the county made improvements of some kind
during the year.
"Immigration to Lake county, while not large,
has been steady, ancl the increase in population
is quite perceptible."
Nineteen hundred was another prosperous
year. In the spring immigrants began to come
in from all parts of the country. The county's
resources were becoming known to the outside
world, and the outside world was beginning to
investigate. The federal census taken that year showed
2,847 people in the countv, a gain of 243 in ten
vears. Only three counties, Curry, Harney and'
Wheeler, had less population. By precincts the-
population was :

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

827

Silver Lake  229
Summer Lake  129
Paisley  326
Crooked Creek  150
North Warner  143
South Warner  218
South Lakeview  234
North Lakeview  527
Drew's Valley  109
Goose Lake  l  233
Cogswell Creek  3jg
Thomas Creek  230
Total  2,847
The total taxable property for 1900 was
$1,546,916, an increase of $81,000 over 1899. By
1903 the valuation had reached a figure of $724,-
507, a gain of $150,000 over the preceding year.
In 1904 the valuation had increased to $2,068,696.
In the county were assessed that year 136,003
acres of tillable land, valued at $402,146, and
371,156 acres of non-tillable land, valued at $446,-
238. Stock was assessed as follows: 5,011 horses
and mules, $61,890; 23,716 cattle, $355,740;
139,887 sheep, $279,774 ; 373 swine, $749.
The year 1904 witnessed the breaking out of
the range war in Lake county. The county, de
voted almost exclusively to stock raising, during
all the years of its history had never been the
scene of any trouble over range matters, and the
events of the year 1904 are deplored by all fair
minded citizens. Since 1904 there has been no
repetition of the troubles ancl it is safe to say that
there will not be.
As usual in range wars, the sheep men were
the losers, and the trouble started with the slaugfw
ter of sheep. The killing took place near Christ
mas lake in the "desert" country, far from the
inhabited portions of the county. Christmas lake
is situated about twenty miles east ancl twelve
miles north of Silver lake, and is nearly in the
center of what is known as the "great Oregon
desert." We shall not undertake here to describe
the desert country, as a description of it will be
found elsewhere in this history, but we shall en
deavor to picture briefly- particular localities which
were the scenes of the sheep slaughters. The
particular locality of Christmas lake is a rough
sagebrush plain, cut up by rim-rocks ancl ridges
covered, with scrubby juniper timber. Standing
upon one of the high' points of these ridges or
rim-rocks, one can see for miles around ; drop
clown into a valley or ravine, and you are shel
tered from storms. At many places on the desert
almost complete enclosures can be found, where
sheepmen with a little work can make corrals by
piling rock and brush across gaps in the rim-rock

and pitching camp in an outlet. In some instances
these enclosures cover several acres of ground.
It was in one of these enclosures that a band
of sheep, most of which belonged to Benham
Brothers, was corralled on the evening of Febru
ary 3, 1904. No sooner had the herder corralled
his sheep than five masked men rode up to him,
emerging from a hiding place near by, where
they had evidently awaited this opportunity, com
pelled him to stand with his arms up and his back
to the crowd while they placed a sack over his
face and tied his hands. He was then compelled
to stand by a juniper trees, while, with rifles, pis
tols, knives and clubs, the clubs being juniper
limbs about four feet long and the size of a man's
wrist, the masked men proceeded to slaughter
sheep. There were in the neighborhood of 3,000 head
in the flock. It was just getting dark' when the
slaughter commenced, and it took nearly all night
to complete the job. The sheep stampeded and
about 800 escaped the deadly onslaught, but many
of these escaped the men, only to fall a prey to
the predatory coyote. When the men had com
pleted their job, they returned to the herder and
told him what they had done, and warned him
that other sheep found grazing on certain range
would be treated the same way. They also stated
that they had drawn dead lines, and that it was
death to all sheep crossing them.
The men rode away, leaving the herder to
contemplate the situation. Not, however, until they
had cautioned him about "talking too much." The
herder struck out at once for Silver Lake to give
the news. He reached the town of Silver Lake
late the next day ancl telephoned to Lakeview, a
hundred miles away. Before an officer could
reach the spot three days had elapsed and no
trace of the perpertrators could be found.
A quiet investigation was carried on for some
time. Men who were thought to be in possession
of evidence received letters and warning in vari
ous ways, cautioning them to be careful what
they said. One morning when one of the mer
chants of Silver Lake went to open his store he
found a small piece of rope tied to the door knob
and a note advising him to "keep quiet." All
these warnings came from mysterious sources ;
some of the letters were mailed at distant post-
offices, and no clue could be safely traced. The
whole thong was a mystery, as it was generally
believed that the sheep men and cattle men were
on good terms, and it seemed impossible that the
range war that had been a common thing in the
counties farther north had begun in Lake county.
Time wore on, and finally J. C. Conn, a mer
chant of Silver Lake, lost a valuable string of
freight wagons by fire. Mr. Conn, while very

'828

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

reticent about the subject, showed evidence of his
belief that parties connected with the sheep killing
were punishing him for the leaking out of some
facts connected with the sheep killing. He went
to Lakeview ancl remained a few days. He acted
very nervous about the affair, but said little.
On Friday morning, March 4, 1904, J. C.
Conn ate his breakfast, went to the store, asked
the clerk if he had got the mail, and then walked
-out. He went out along the road and was seen
about a niile from town later in the morning. Mr.
Conn did not return. Searching parties were
sent out, but no track or trace of the lost man
could be found. The creek, which at that time
was running high, was dragged for miles up and
down; parties scattered farther and farther out,
but no sign could be found. More men were sent
out ; day after day and week after week passed
and still no trace of the lost man. It was be
lieved that every foot of country had been
searched and the mystery grew deeper. Six
weeks after Conn's disappearance a vaquero
found his dead body lying in a field about a mile
from the town and a quarter of a mile from the
road leading north ancl west from Silver Lake.
This was on April 25. The verdict of the coro
ner's jury, composed mostly of stockmen in the
vicinity of Silver Lake, was to the effect that Mr.
Conn came to his death by gunshot wounds self-
inflicted. The body was lying on the ground,
face up, arms outstretched, ancl Conn's revolver
lying by his side. The body at first sight seemed
to be in a fair state of preservation, but upon ex
amination it was found to be badly decomposed.
Two bullet holes were in the breast and one in
tne back ; one bullet had passed through the body
and was found a few inches under the surface of

the ground.

Regardless of the verdict of the

coroner's jury, there were some who held out the
belief that Conn was murdered.
On the 29th of April another band of sheep
was raided some twenty or thirty miles from the
scene of the first slaughter, but on the same range,
and out of a band of 2,700 head, about 300 or 400
were all that could be found. Several sheepmen
who had wintered their flocks on the desert had
driven their ewe bands to the valley for lambing
purposes, and for convenience and economy had
put their weathers all together and left a Mr.
Wilcox in charge of the band. Wilcox, in relat
ing the story of the slaughter, said :
"About four o'clock on the evening of April
29 nine men on horseback came upon me when
I was heading the sheep for the corrals. The
men were all heavily armed and masked. They
said unless I removed the sheep in two hours
they would kill them, and then they left me. It
was then nearly time for sheep to bed, and it was

absolutely out of the question to move them that
day, so I proceeded to corral them, thinking prob
ably they would not molest me that night. My
expectations were not to be realized, however,
for in two hours the men came back, and after
placing a sack over my face and tying my hands,
they told me they had come to kill the sheep and
if officers came to arrest them they would treat
the officers the same way, also that if any one
offered a reward for their arrest they would kill
the parties offering the reward. They were very
deliberate in their work and went about it just
;.s if it were an every day occurrence."
Wilcox reported this killing at Silver Lake
as soon as he could reach there, and men were
sent out to investigate, but the results were the
same as those of the earlier slaughter.
The governor of Oregon was appealed to and,
although he refused at first, he finally offered a
reward of $300 for the conviction of any one of
the gang of sheep killers and $2,000 reward for
the murderer of J. C. Conn. The sheepmen of
the county got together and formed an organi
zation. They offered a reward of $2,000 for the
conviction of any party guilty of maliciously kill
ing sheep belonging to any member of the organ
ization. The county court also offered a reward
for the capture of the parties who killed the
sheep. No arrests were made, although informa
tion was filed against several unknown parties. In
the state legislature of 1904-5, as a result of the
Lake county range war, two bills were introduced
for the protection of range stock. One was for
the appropriation of $10,000 and empowering the
governor to use the money in apprehending and
punishing persons guilty of maliciously killing
stock belonging to others. The other bill was
one making counties and municipalities respon
sible for the destruction of live stock to the
amount of one-half the value of the stock de
stroyed. The former bill passed, but the latter
was defeated in the senate.
The people of Lake county and of the whole
of the stock country of Eastern Oregon are law
abiding citizens, and the malicious deeds of the
few who took part in the sheep killing episodes
are not upheld by them.
In the spring of 1905 Lake county got out of
debt, a condition which had not existed in the
county's history for seventeen years. Three years
before the county had outstanding and unpaid an
indebtedness of $63,000. The statement of the
compilation of the state tax levy for the year 1905,
as compiled by the governor, state treasurer and
secretary of state, showed a reduction in Lake
county's portion of $2,140 under the levy for
1904. Lake's portion for 1905 was $10,967.50
against $13,1.07.50 for 1904. A reduction of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

829."

$2,140 in the state taxes and a small reduction in
county taxes placed Lake county in pretty good
shape financially, and the further promise of a
still greater reduction in taxes for 1906, by reason
of the county getting out of debt in April, 1905, is
great encouragement to the people. With no in
terest to pay and an economical conduct of the
county's affairs there will be an attraction for out

side capital that is never overlooked by investors..
Based on the humber of children enrolled in-
the public schools, an estimate of the population
of the county for 1905 is made at 3,011. With
this population Lake county disputes the claim
of Crook county to being the richest county in
Oregon per capita. If Lake does not rank first.
in this particular, it certainly is a close second.

CHAPTER III

THE LAND GRABBERS.

There have been two events in the history of
Lake county which we have as yet failed to men
tion in the current history chapters. This is be
cause they have both covered periods of time
from the earliest days of the county's history up
to the present time and are entitled a separate
chapter. They are the granting of a large tract
of alleged swamp land in Warner valley and the
subsequent litigation for the possession of the,
same, and the grant of about 40,000 acres of Lake
county land to the Oregon Central Military
Wagon Road Company and the alleged building
of a wagon road by that company through South
ern Oregon.
The first of these is the more important. Un
doubtedly the prolonged litigation for the posses
sion of the Warner valley lands between the set
tlers and the Warner Valley Stock Company is
one of the most interesting events that has taken
place in the county. Oregon is the breeding
place of contests for the possession of government
and state lands, and the Warner valley cases are
the most noted of all that have arisen in the state.
The contest has not yet been brought to a close
and it is reasonable to believe that no decision will
be considered final until one is handed down by
the United States supreme court. The contest is
for the possession of from 4,000 to 5,000 acres of
valuable land, it being worth from $35 to $100 per
acre. Litigation has extended over a period of
more than twenty years, and while the last de
cision was favorable to the stock company, the
case has been appealed to the Oregon supreme
court and will probably be fought out in the
highest court of the land-
Before beginning the history of this noted
case we wish to tell of the effect it has had upon
Lake county and the part it has played in the
shaping of the county's history. It is not our in

tention to make this a treatise of the case from
the standpoint of either party to the controversy,
but to give the facts as we find them. The case
has been decided several times in favor of each
party by people higher in authority than the-
author, and we hope to leave it in such a condi
tion that the higher courts can decide it finally
with minds unprejudiced by anything that may
appear herein.
But the fact remains that the failure of the
Warner valley settlers to obtain title to the lands
upon which they live has been detrimental to the
county whose history we are writing. It has re
tarded immigration to the rich valley in question
and has forced many who attempted to build
homes there to vacate. It has caused a valley, by-
nature intended for the small farmer and stock
raiser, to be the range ground for a large stock
company. It has left a section of the county, cap
able of supporting a large population, but sparsely
settled. The few settlers upon these lands who
have fought for what they believe to be their
rights have built homes, raised families, estab
lished schools, paid taxes and made valuable im
provements. This they wish to continue to do
and to encourage others to come and settle among
them as neighbors. On the other hand, a great
stock company desires the valley for a stock
range. It does not take the decision of a court
to show which would be the better condition for
Lake county and its inhabitants.
The history of the Warner valley case began
years ago. On September 28, 1850, congress
passed an act granting to the several states the
swamp lands within their borders. Oregon was
not then a state and this act did not apply to any
lands within the boundaries of Oregon. On
March 12, i860, this act was applied to Oregon,
which had the year before been admitted to state-

83o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

hood, and to Minnesota. The act provided that
all "swamp and overflowed" lands should become
the property of the state in which they were situ
ated. The state of Oregon made no effort to dis
pose of such lands, nor was any attempt made by
private parties to secure them, until 1870. That
part ot Oregon in which there were swamp lands
was not settled to any extent until the late six
ties, and consequently the swamp lands, as well
as most of the other lands, were unoccupied and
unclaimed. But in 1870 the Oregon legislature
passed a law authorizing its citizens to purchase
without limit as to acreage, the lands granted to
the state by the act of congress March 12, i860.
Very little of the land of eastern Oregon had
been surveyed in 1870, and the character of the
land, whether swamp or upland, was not of rec
ord in charts of field notes. Because of this
arose the dispute between the claimants in Warner,
valley and other parts of eastern Oregon. The
United States had granted to Oregon, and Ore
gon had authorized the sale at a nominal figure to
its citizens, the "swamp and overflowed" lands
within the boundaries of the state, but there was
no record of what lands were swamp, and the
whole controversy during all these later years has
hinged on the question of whether the lands in
dispute were swamp lands on March 12, i860, the
date of the passage of the bill by congress. On
that date there were no settlers in the present
Lake county and the facts as to the character of
the lands in Warner valley could not be deter
mined by direct proof.
Immediately after the passage of the act by
the legislature of 1870, authorizing the sale of
swamp lands, individuals and corporations were
not slow in filing with the state authorities to pur
chase all the swamp lands in the state, and, ap
parently, a large part of the state looked
"swampy" to them. Special agent, Charles
Shackelford, who was sent out in 1886 by the
government to investigate the conditions of the
lands in controversy, said concerning the attempts
to secure lands from the state immediately after
the passage of the bill of 1870, that one-named in
dividual, and a few others in secret compact with
him, filed with the state board of land commis
sioners of Oregon to purchase nearly one-half of
the state as swamp land; that their filings included
mountain ranges, sage brush plains, lava beds,
lakes ancl deserts, surveyed ancl unsurveyed.
He made direct ancl specific charges against a
number of United States officials, including
former special agents, deputy surveyors and local
officers, indicating that all these officers were
members of the "swamp ring," who, acting con
jointly with the agents of the state of Oregon, had

made fraudulent returns, reports, etc., in the mat
ter of swamp land surveys, and inspection of the
field, selection, etc.
The importance of this report, which has
formed the basis for all subsequent action, justi
fies a further quotation from it, as follows :
"These selections embrace hundreds of thou
sands of acres of dry, arable land, situate in val
leys or on hillsides and mountain ranges, all with
drawn from settlement. Other selections have
been made by different parties in the same reck
less manner. The chief object appears to have
been to secure control of all the water frontage,
as well as all approaches to water in eastern Ore
gon, and to obtain all the grass lands in that sec
tion of the state, for the purpose of sales to cat
tlemen." As this act of 1870 was responsible for all the
litigation in the Warner valley cases, and as
under it, as claimed by the special agent, Shackel
ford, half the state of Oregon was filed upon as
swamp lands, we here reproduce the bill in full :
An act providing for the selection and sale of the
swamp and overflowed lands belonging to the state of
Oregon. Whereas, Congress, by an act entitled "An Act to
extend the provisions of an Act to enable the State
of Arkansas and other States to reclaim -the swamp
lands within their limits, to Minnesota and Oregon and
for other purposes, approved Sept. 12, i860, has granted
to this State all the swamp and overflowed lands within
its limits; and
Whereas,, By the failure of the Secretary of the In
terior to notify the Governor of the State that the
surveys have been completed and confirmed in accord
ance with the provisions of said Act, no swamp or over
flowed lands have been selected in this State ; there
fore, Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the
State of Oregon as follows :
Section 1. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner
of Lands to appoint a suitable person or persons as his
deputies to proceed as soon as practicable to select in
the field all the lands rendered unfit for cultivation by
inundation or overflow within this State, and to make
return of the same to said Commissioner. And it shall
be the duty of such deputies to describe each tract or
swamp or overflowed land they may select in a clear
or distinct manner, either by legal subdivisions or by
actual survey, and upon the receipt of such returns it
shall be the duty of said Commissioner to carefullj
examine the same.
Sec. 2. So soon as the selection of swamp and
overflowed lands in any county has been completed by
said Commissioner of Lands it shall be the duty of
said Commissioner to make out maps and descriptions
thereof in duplicate, one copy to be kept in suitable

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

831

books in his office, and the other to be filed in the office
of the County Clerk of the county in which such swamp
lands may be located ; and it shall be the duty of such
County Clerk to forward his official certificate to the
Commissioner of the date on which said maps and
descriptions were so filed. Upon the receipt of such
certificate it shall be the duty of said Commissioner
to give public notice of said completion, approval and
filing, for four weeks successively in some weekly
newspaper published in such county; and if no news
paper is published in such county, then in such news
paper as he may select in an adjoining county.
Sec. 3. The swamp and overflowed lands of this
State shall be sold by said Commissioner at a price
not less than one dollar per acre in gold coin. Any
person over the age of twenty-one years, and being a
citizen of the United States, or having filed his declara
tion to become a citizen, as required by the naturaliza
tion laws, may become an applicant for the purchase
of any tract or tracts of said swamp or overflowed lands
-upon filing his application therefor (describing the tract
or tracts he desires to purchase), by the actual survey;
or, if no survey has been made, then by fences, ditches,
monuments, or other artificial landmarks, with said Com
missioner, whose duty it shall be to immediately en
dorse thereon the actual date of such filing. In case
of adverse applicants for the same tract or parcel of
swamp land, it shall be the duty of said Commissioner
to sell the same to the legal applicant therefor whose
application is first filed. Within ninety days after the
date of the public notice provided in section two of this
Act, twenty per centum of the purchase money shall
be paid by the applicant to said Commissioner, whose
duty it shall be to issue to the applicant a receipt there
for, and the balance of said purchase money shall be
paid on proof of reclamation, as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 4. No patent shall be issued to any applicant
for any swamp or overflowed lands until the applicant
therefor has proved, to the satisfaction of said Com
missioner, that the lands for which he claims a patent
has been drained or otherwise made fit for cultivation ;
but upon such proof being made, and payment of the
halance of the purchase money on the amount of land
actually reclaimed, the said Commissioner shall issue
to the applicant making such proof and payment a patent
for the land so reclaimed. Said patent shall be ap
proved and signed by the Governor, Secretary of State
and State Treasurer, as provided for by the Constitu
tion. At the expiration of ten years from and after his
first payment, all swamp lands claimed by an applicant,
upon which no such proof of reclamation has been made,
shall revert to the State, and the money paid thereon
shall be forfeited ; Provided, That all swamp land that
has been successfully cultivated in either grass, the
cereals or vegetables for three years shall be considered
as fully reclaimed within the meaning of this Act.
Sec. 5. The deputies employed to select the swamp

and overflowed lands, as provided in section one of this
Act, shall receive not to exceed five dollars per day
for each day actually employed in the discharge of
their duties and such further allowance for traveling,
assistance and other necessary expenses, as may be ascer
tained by said Commissioner, which shall be paid as
other expenses arising from the management of the
Slate lands.
Sec. 6. As the State is likely to suffer loss by
further delay in taking possession of the swamp lands
within its limits, this Act shall take effect and be in force
from and after its approval by the Governor; Provided,
That in case the office of Commissioner of Lands is not
created hy law, the provisions of this Act shall be
executed by the Board of Commissioners for the sale
of school and university lands.
Approved October 26, 1870.
The lands, for the ownership of which has
resulted in the prolonged litigation of which we
are telling, are situated in Warner valley, in the
southeastern part of Lake county. In the early
days these lands were considered unfit for agri
cultural purposes or for anything but stock rais
ing. Later development showed the section was
a rich agricultural valley. The lands were found
to be among the most valuable in the county and
hence the determined struggle on both sides to
secure title. The lands involved are situated in
townships 39 S. R. 24 E. ; 39 S. R. 25 E. ; ancl
40 S. R. 24 E. W. M. In the early surveys these
lands were returned as the bed of Warner lake.
The first survey of lands in Warner valley
was made in June, 1875, by James H. Evans. His'
survey included fractional townships 39 S. R.
24 E. and 39 S. R. 25 E. A large part of the two
townships was described ancl meandered as a
lake. The field notes and general description
were very meager and gave no light as to the
character of the body of water therein spoken of
as "Warner lake" and "lake." In July and Au
gust, 1879, a survey of township 40 S. R. 24
E. was made by Byars and Gray, in the returns
of which a large portion of the township was de
scribed as marsh or lake, and was defined by a
meander line running through "land marshy
along lake covered with tules and flag grass ;"
"tules in ancl along lake ;" "these lands are subject
to overflow by the creek and lake."
White settlers began to come into the valley
about the fall of 1876, and some 7,000 or 8,000
head of cattle and several thousand hogs were
taken there in the winter of 1876-7, and thence
forward it was a winter range for stock. Al
though a few settlers came in 1876 there was not
much settlement until 1885 and the following few-
years. Before taking up the story of the settlement

832

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of the valley and the subsequent contests that
arose for its possession, let us tell of the acquir
ing of this land from the state under the swamp
land law passed by the legislature of 1870.
That clause in the act making the first filed
application the one of preference in case more
than one party filed on the same piece of land
caused the filing on the Warner valley lands just
as soon as the bill became a law and a description
of the lands could be secured. This application
was made December 2, 1870, by W. A. Owen,
A. P. Owen, T. G. Reams, C. C. Beekman and
B. F. Smith. It is not possible for us to believe
that these parties intended to reclaim this land or
to make payment on the purchase price of these
lands. Their intention seems to have been,
merely, by filing an application, to secure the pref
erence right to purchase and to hold the prefer
ence right for speculation.
This interesting application filed with Gov
ernor L. F. Grover was as follows :
We, the undersigned, citizens of the United States,
and each over the age of twenty-one years, do hereby
apply to purchase the following described unsurveyed
swamp and overflowed lands situated, lying and being
in Grant county [Warner valley was at that time a
part of Grant county] : Commencing at "Stone Bridge;"
thence west to the road called "Lower Bidwell Road,"
near foothills; thence in a northeasterly direction to a
point of willows on Honey creek and near the sink
of said creek; thence north 20 miles, or along foothills
on west side of marsh; thence east five miles to or
near the east foothills; thence in a southerly direction
along east side of marsh and near the foothills to the
C. F. Smith military road, east of "Stone Bridge;"
thence west to the place of beginning. Also commenc
ing at the "Stone Bridge," south to point of hill ; thence
west to spring near road; thence south along foothills
to springs called "Warner Springs ;" thence south along
foothills to a large stone, the lower Bidwell road passing
on each side of stone; thence along the road, called
lower Bidwell road, to and including a lake called
"Little Warner," at foot of mountain; still continuing
along said road, passing old mail station known as
Soldier Camp ; still following said road, passing a small
alkali lake; still south along said road to a point on
Deep creek called "Halfway House;" still southward
along said road to a creek with willowy growth on
banks ; thence eastwardly along line of said marsh, near
foothills surrounding same; thence northerly along
the line of said marsh of the camp of C. F. Smith mili
tary road; thence westerly to the place of beginning,
the same intended to include both Lake Warner and
Little Warner Deep Creek and all marsh lands sur
rounding the same.
This application is made under the provisions of an
act of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon,

entitled an act for the selection and sale of swamp and
overflowed lands belonging to the State of Oregon, ap
proved October 26, 1870.
Witness our hands this 25th day of November,
1870, at Jacksonville, Oregon.
W. A. Owen,
A. P. Owen,
T. G. Reams,
C. C. Beekman,
B. P. Smith.
No tender of money was made with this ap
plication and no transfer of the lands asked for
was made at this time.
On October 28, 1872, the Oregon legislature
passed an act, the substance of which was that
any lands which were held by actual settlers un
der the preemption, homestead or donation laws
at the time the application was made by the
swamp land claimants should not be included in
the lists of lands for which application had been
made. Farther, the state agreed to, upon request
of the settler and his presentation of sufficient
proof, issue a quit claim deed to such lands.
No further effort was made to secure the
lands in Warner valley under the swamp act until
December 6, 1876, when R. F. and Martin Mc-
Connaughy made application to purchase 3,366
acres in township 39. The application was re
jected. Although the applicants had so far failed to
secure title to any of the lands in Warner valley,
in other parts of the state they were more success
ful, and the people began to see large tracts of
Oregon land passing into the hands of the swamp
land claimants. It was seen that a mistake had
been made and a vigorous campaign was inau
gurated against the land grabbers. The legisla
ture on October 18, 1878, passed an act which
limited the sale of state swamp lands to 320
acres to any one person. It also provided that
no sales should be made for less than one dollar
per acre.
Another provision of the act was that all ap
plications made prior to the passage of the act
which were not regularly made in accordance
with law, or that applications in which the appli
cants had not fully complied with the law, in
cluding the payment of the twenty per cent, of
the purchase price, should be declared void. The
same provisions were made in this act as in the
one of 1872 to protect the actual settlers under the
preemption and other laws for- the acquiring of
government lands.
Notwithstanding this act of 1878, on Septem
ber 7, 188 1, we find H. C. Owen filing an applica
tion to purchase 78,901 acres in township 39, in
Warner valley. He tendered payment of the
twenty per cent, requited for first payment, but

A Tenderfoot on the Range

Table Mountain

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

«33

the application and tender were both refused, In
accordance with the law just mentioned.
October 31, 1882, R. F. and Martin McCon-
naughy filed another application for the purchase
of Warner valley lands. The lands asked for
were only a part of those asked for in their first
application, being for 902 acres in township 39.
Accompanying the applications were affidavits by
T. A. Henderson and M. W. Poindexter, dated
August 9, 1880, stating that the lands had been
reclaimed within the meaning of the provision
of the act of 1870. R. F. McConnaughy made
affidavit to the same effect and tendered the eighty
per cent, balance of the purchase price of the
lands. This was accepted and on January 18,
1883, the deed to this land was issued to the
McConnaughs — the first land in Warner valley
acquired under the swamp act.
H. C. Owen filed his second application on
November 5, 1883, this time for the purchase of
63,500 acres of the land embraced in his former
application. The tender of the twenty per cent.
$12,700, was made and rejected as in the former
application and on the same grounds — that one
person was not entitled to purchase more- than
320 acres from the state.
On March 14, 1884, H. C. Owen filed his
third application, this time for 78,901 acres. This
time he presented an assignment from W. A.
Owen, A. P. Owen, T. G. Reames and C. C.
Beekman, who had, with B. F. Smith, filed the
very first application covering these lands, in
1870. The board of commissioners for the sale
of these lands this time accepted the tender of the
first payment of twenty per cent., $15,780.32 and
issued a certificate of sale for all the lands applied
for. The officials who had twice before rejected
the application because of the law of 1878 now
made arrangements for the sale of nearly 80,000
acres of Warner valley lands. The state author
ities justified their action in this manner: Under
the former applications Mr. Owen was entitled
to only 320 acres of swamp lands, but bearing the
assignment of the preference right filed by sev
eral men in 1870, he was entitled to 78,000 acres,
because at the time of the first filing there was no
limit to the amount of land that might be secured.
It must be remembered that at the time of the
issuance of the certificates of sale to H. C. Owen
and R. F. and Martin McConnaughy and for
some time afterwards none of the lands so sold
had been selected or approved as swamp or over
flowed lands, belonging to the state of Oregon, by
any officer, agent or representative of the state
or of the United States.
On April 3, 1884, Owen sold his right in a
portion of these lands to R. F. McConnaughy and
other portions to other parties. April 8, 1884, he
53

conveyed the title to all the rest of the lands then
in his possession, 43,207 acres, to C. N. Felton,
ex-United States senator from California, in con
sideration of $15,780.32 advanced by Felton in
making payment of the twenty per cent, of the
purchase price for the whole 78,901 acre*, the
certificate of sale of which was granted to Owen.
On October 15, 1884, Mr. Felton sold his in
terests to R. F. McConnaughy, who remained
the owner of these lands until Jan. 15, 1892,
when the Warner Valley Stock Company was
formed and acquired title to all the lands in War
ner valley which had been obtained from the state.
It is this company which has been one of the
parties to the litigation that has been in progress
ever since.
During the eighties these lands were quite ex
tensively settled upon by men who expected to
secure title from the United States government
under the laws provided for the disposition of
agricultural lands. These settlers ancl the dates
of their arrival upon the lands were as follows :
J. L. Morrow, November 20, 1885 ; S. E. Sloan,
November 17, 1885; D. T. Faskett, June, 1886;
R. Beatty, November 17, 1885; W. M. Harvey,
January 28, 1887 ; Charles Tonningsen, July,
1886 ; John H. Green, July, 1888 ; Peter Tonning
sen, Julv, 1879 ; Emma Nesham, November 20,
1885 ; L. D. Frakes, September, 1887 ; Jesse B.
Morrow, November 20, 1885 ; John W. Morrow,
Mav 20, 1885 ; Joseph A. Morrow, November 20,
1885 ; A. D. Frakes, September 15, 1887 ; A. N.
Bennett, May 28, 1885 ; T. B. Wakefield, Novem
ber, 1885; L. N. Frakes, October 1, 1887; S.
Dixen, January 16, 1886 ; L. F. Winkleman, No
vember, 1885 ; Jerry Harrington, March 15, 1888;
R. C. Clark, December 5, 1888; J. E. Du-nnavan,
January 16, 1888 ; A. D. Crawford, November 12,
1889; N. M. Frakes, August 12, 1887; John W.
Morrow, March 12, 1888; W. H. Cooper, 1889;
M. W. Poindexter, October 10, 1886.
These settlers were living upon the lands and
cultivating them — lands which by previous sur
veys had been declared as being within the mean
dered lines of a lake. During the year 1886,
and for some time prior disputes arose as to the
ownership of the lands. Complaints were sent in
to the general land office at Washington by set
tlers living on the lands and within the boundar
ies of what was returned as Lake Warner by the
respective surveys of Evans in 1875 and of Byars
and Gray in 1879. These settlers represented
that there were large areas of dry land within the
limits of the meandered lake, upon which land
thev had made bona fide settlements, and relief
was earnestly requested.
The character of the land forming a part of '
and surrounding the boundaries of Lake Warner, .

«34

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

as well as other lands in Eastern Oregon, had
been the subject of conflicting reports by agents
of the land department, and it was charged by
those claiming under the settlement laws, that
fraudulent returns had been made by deputy sur
veyors and other government officials, whereby
lands dry and in many instances desert in char
acter, had been described as swamp and over
flowed, etc., in order that said lands might be cer
tified to the -state of Oregon- under the provis
ions of the Act of March 12, i860.
The charges of fraud against certain officials
• of the government, and those claiming as grantees
-of the state of Oregon, being pressed so vigorous
ly and the demands of the settlers being repeated
with such persistence, special agent, Charles
Shackelford, was directed to investigate the al
leged irregularities and frauds, and by letter of
June 30, 1886, he submitted an exhaustive report,
•which in the main related to conditions existing in
Warner valley.
His report was of no uncertain tone. He
charged fraud right and left on the part of those
-who claimed the land as swamp and many of the
government officials and surveyors. Extracts from
.his report follow. The names of those against
whom he made charges are omitted and blanks
substituted :
The survey of what is called Lake Warner, near
Deep Creek, in T. 39 S. R. 24 E. W. M., was made
in 1875 by the late register of the Lakeview land
office,  , who reported a false meander
.of that part of the so-called lake, and embraced within
the meander lines over one thousand acres of good
-arable land, much of it requiring irrigation, upon which
a number of settlers have constructed their cabins and
are living in the lake in dry land. The meander corners
and meander lines show unmistakable evidence of fraud.
I found a like condition of affairs near Dug Out ranch,
at the southern end of the so-called lake, where nearly
two thousand acres of land, now occupied by settlers,
have been fraudulently included within the meanders of
the alleged lake by surveyors  , in a
survey made in 1879. I found the homes of fifteen or
tw&nty settlers on land reported by surveyors 
as within and part of Lake Warner in townships 39 and
40 S., R. 24 E. W. M.
******
My examination thus far justifies the conclusion
that the reports of Messrs  and
 in regard to swamp and overflowed
lands are unreliable, inaccurate and corrupt, and that
special agent,  's report and acts are part
->and parcel of the conspiracy entered into by 
and his confreres to defraud the United States out of
large tracts of land, and that the attempted bribery of
surveyor general,  the false surveys
of the public domain; the perjury committed in proving

up swampy and overflowed condition of mountains and
elevated sagebrush plains ; the procurement of the is
suance of false certificates of sale by the state officers
in Oregon ; the bribery of special agent,  ;
the procurement of the issuance of certificates of the
Interior department authorizing the issue of patents on
the faith of the corrupt reports of said 
by the State of Oregon without any consideration; the
sale by the said  to his secret partner,
 , of all his fraudulent titles to al
leged swamp land and the sales by the said 
of the titles to said land * * * all constitute links
in the chain of a conspiracy to defraud the United
States of the said lands. 1
The department of the Interior at once or
dered a survey of all the lands embraced within
the alleged Warner lake, or so much as practica
ble. Acting Secretary Muldrow said of the case
at this time : "In fact, his report clearly indicates
that there is no lake to be found as located by the
government surveys. * * * The settlers
can not, for the want of survey, get their claims
of record, and it is stated that the swamp land
claimants threaten them with suits in ejectment
as trespassers." The survey thus ordered was made in August
and September, 1887, by John H. Neal and the
survey was accepted by the department
June 1, 1888. With the exception of a small
meandered lake (Pelican), the area of which was
given as 444.31 acres, the lines of survey were
extended in their entirety through what had been
returned as the bed of Lake Warner in T. 39 S.
R. 24 E., 39 S. R. 25 E. and 40 S. R. 24 E.,
though the field notes showed much open water
in places. The lands in the townships in question
returned by Mr. Neal, which were shown by the
former surveys to be in the lake, amounted to
9,913.36 acres in T. 39 S. R. 24 E. ; 9,279.29 acres
m T. 40 S. R. 24 E. and 2,801.20 acres in T. ™
S. R. 25 E.
Substantially all the land thus surveyed was
claimed by the state and its grantees under the
swamp land act of i860 and was included in list
61 ancl presented to the Interior department in
December, 1888. Many of the tracts were claimed
by individuals under the United States laws for
the disposal of agricultural lands, and contro
versies at once arose in the courts and land de
partment. Some of the early contests were suits
of replevin brought by R. F. McConnaughy, who
claimed title under deed from the state, against J.
N. Willey ancl many others to recover hay al
leged to have been wrongfully cut by Willev ancl
the other settlers from the land of McConnaughy.
The defendants set up their defense by alleging
tnat they had settled upon the lands, established
residence, made improvements and maintained

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

83;

possession thereof, intending to acquire title under
the provision of the preemption laws, and that
the land at the date of settlement was vacant, un-
surveyed public land of the United States.
The Washington authorities interested them
selves in these suits and through the recommenda
tion of Commissioner Sparks, the United States
district attorney for Oregon, Lewis L. McAr
thur, was present at the trials to lqok after the
interests of the government, and, in the language
¦of the commissioner, "To spare no effort to pre
vent the acquisition of the lands in question un
der fradulent claim." The cases came to trial and
on January 16, 1888, Judge Deady decided in fa
vor of the settlers. The court held that the pur
chaser from the state took the lands subject to
the determination of the secretary of the Interior
as to the character of the lands — whether or not
they were swamp or overflowed, and that it did
not appear that such question had ever been'
passed upon by the department of the Interior.
Judge Deady in his decision said :
Having reached the conclusion that the plaintiff
cannot maintain this action, it is not necessary to pass
on the question whether this land is swamp or not. And
I do not regret it. For in my judgment no one is
qualified to decide the question in a case like this,
where, apparently, there is room, in the present condition
of the land, for difference of opinion, without having
a v/iew of the premises.
None of these cases was appealed from the
decision of Judge Deady, nor were the cases fur
ther prosecuted in the federal courts.
But from the time of the approval and filing
of the plats of the Neal survey in 1888, there
arose numerous contests in the local courts of
Oregon, as well as in the general land office. In
junctions ancl other writs were issued at the in
stance »f those claiming as grantees of the state
of Oregon, against those claiming under the tim
ber culture, desert land, preemption and home
stead laws, and the fifty or more claimants living
in Warner valley at the time under the settlement
laws nearlv all had individual contests before
the land department. Thousands of pages of tes
timony were taken in these cases. Some of the
cases had been decided adversely to_ the settlers
ancl manv were still pending when, in 1892 the
Interior department took action to settle all the
cases- i_ ^
On March 21, 1892, and on November 16,
1892 clear lists thirty and thirty-one, of Ore
gon swamp land selections, embracing nearly all
the lands before and then involved in litigation,
were submitted to the Interior department with
the recommendation of the general land office that
they be approved. April 9 and December 3, re
spectively, these lists were approved by Secre

tary Noble as inuring to the state of Oregon un
der the acts of congress September 28, 1850, and
March 12, i860. The approval of these lists was
made "subject to any valid adverse rights that
may exist to any of the tracts therein described,"
which was the uniform character of approval
given to all swamp land lists.
The settler claimants, by resident counsel, on
December 28, 1892, applied to the department for
the exercise of its discretionary power over the
lands embraced in said clear lists Nos. 30 and 31.
Secretary Noble then directed that further in
vestigation be made and that no patents be is
sued for the lands without further instructions.
The assignee of the state at once filed applica- >
tions for their patents and the settlers filed sup
plement statements, accompanied by numerous
exhibits. The secretary, after having considered the
showing made in behalf of the two parties and
after having examined all the records relating
to the case, on March 3, 1893, revoked his pre
vious order approving lists 30 and 31. He stated
at the time that had the charges and allegations
made by the settler claimants been before him
prior to his approval of the lists, he would hardly
nave approved the same, without further exami
nation, etc., and that he took this later action in
order that the consideration of the cases might
not be prejudiced by his action approving the lists
in the absence of full and accurate information.
Hoke Smith became secretary of the Interior
in March, 1893, and at once began an investiga
tion of the Warner valley cases. In addition to
the papers, files, reports and petitions which had
been before the land office for years, he also had
affidavits, statements and briefs filed by the re
spective parties subsequent to March 2, 1893.
On December 19, 1893, he rendered a decision to
the effect that on March 12, i860, the lands in
volved were a part of the bed of Lake
Warner, a permanent body of water, and
that they were therefore not of the class
and character contemplated by the act grant
ing swamp lands to the state of Oregon.
He took official notice of the fact that a great
many contests arising between the claimants un
der the land laws of the United States and the
state of Oregon and its grantees had been decided
adversely to the settlers by the general land of
fice, ancl that other contests of lifte character were
then pending, ancl directed that the general land
office "cause all decisions recommending or hold
ing for cancellation entries or declaratory state
ments, upon the ground that the lands in contest
were granted to the state of Oregon as swamp and
overflowed lands by the act of March 12, i860, to
be set aside ancl annulled ancl the cases reinstated,
and all contests based upon said ground alone, to

836

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

be dismissed, and that you require all bona fide
claims to said lands, lawfully initiated, to be pros
ecuted and perfected with all due diligence, ac
cording to law ancl the rules of practice."
An application for a new hearing was made
to Secretary Smith, but on October 10, 1894, this
was denied.
On December 13, 1894, there was transmitted
to the Interior department clear list 39, made up
of the tracts in lists 30 and 31 not within the area
surveyed in 1887. There was presented to the
department an application for certiorari by R. F.
McConnaughy seeking to have reviewed the ac
tions of the general land office of January 5, 1895,
and the appeals of Jesse Morrow, Alexander
Cameron, Robert Beaty, S. E. Sloan, Chas. Ton-
ningson, Nils P. Tonningsen and Walter Poin
dexter from the action of the general land office
of October 4, 1895, dismissing their protests
against their approval of list No. 39. On Au
gust 4, 1896, Secretary Smith rejected and can
celled clear list No. 39, and in the decision of
that date he said : "The true effect and meaning
of the decision of December 19, 1893, in the case
of Morrow et al vs. State of Oregon et al, above,
was to cancel lists 30 and 31, and to reject and
annul all claims of the state of Oregon and its
alleged assignees to any ancl all of the tracts of
land therein described. * * * The lands em
braced in said lists 30, 31 and. 39 were not on
March 12, i860, swamp and overflowed lands,
made unfit thereby for cultivation, and the state
of Oregon has no right, title or estate therein."
Apparently not satisfied that exact justice
had been done, on August 11, 1896, Secretary
Smith recalled his decision of the week before
for further consideration and directed that all
action thereunder be suspended until further no
tice. No definite further action was taken by
the department of the Interior on these Warner
valley cases until the spring of 1899, when the
cases were again brought up ancl for several years
were threshed out in all the departments.
Although the contestants did not find them
selves fighting the cases over again in the land of
fice prior to 1899, they were not idle and the
courts had their innings, the case finally landing
in the United States supreme court.
Prior to the decision by the department of
August 4, 1896, the Warner Valley Stock Com
pany filed a bill in equity in the supreme court
of the District of Columbia against Secretary
Smith and Commissioner Lamoreaux, claiming
as grantee of the state under the acts of congress
of 1850 and i860.
It was prayed that Secretary Smith and the
commissioner be directed to prepare and issue
patents to the state of Oregon for the lands em
braced in lists 30 and 31, it being contended that

Secretary Noble's approval of those lists was a
final determination of the character of the lands
embraced therein, and that thereafter he was
without authority to recall or annul such approval,
and that his action in revoking and cancelling the
same was consequently void. The bill was dis
missed by the supreme court of the District of
Columbia on March 21, 1896, and upon the plain
tiff's appeal the decree of that court was, on June
11, 1896, affirmed by the court of appeals of the
District of Columbia. In both the supreme court
of the District of Columbia and in the court of
appeals, the contention that the action of Secretary
Noble approving said lists was final and not sub
ject to reconsideration, was denied, and upon the
further appeal of the Warner Valley Stock Com-
- pany t© the supreme court of the United States
it was held that the suit was abated by the resig
nation of Secretary Smith, and it was directed
that the bill be dismissed.
Secretary Francis, who succeeded Hoke Smith
as the head of the Interior department, on Jan.
11, 1897, directed that all further action affecting-
the lists be suspended. His successor was to take
office in a short time and he did not desire to
take definite action which might not be in accord
with his successor's plans.
The governor of Oregon, on April 5, 1897,
addressed a communication to the department
asking that patents issue for lands embraced in
lists 30 and 31, but, in accordance with the de
cision of the department, no action was taken.
In the spring of 1899 preparations were made
to start the cases all over again. E. A. Hitch
cock, who had then become secretary of the In
terior, noted the fact that each of his successors
who had undertaken to dispose of the case had
afterwards revoked or vacated his own decision
and suspended action, that Secretary Francis,
while rendering no decision in the case, had also
suspended further action thereon ; that therefore
it was necessary that affirmative action be taken,
and that as it did not appear that there had been
a complete and fair hearing, with notice to all'
parties, he ordered that the decisions of Decem
ber 19, 1893, October 10, 1894, and August 4,
1896, be accordingly vacated and all decisions
respecting the character of these lands that had
previously been rendered by the Interior depart
ment, the general land office or the Lakeview land
office, be set aside with a view to a full and fair
hearing after due notice to all concerned. It was
further directed that the hearing should extend
in addition to the lands embraced in lists 30, 31
and 39, to include any and all lands in contro-
versey in Warner valley.
The description of the lands in controversy,
the names of the claimants, the kind of entry and'
the date of entry is as follows :

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

837

-Sec. T. 39 S. It. 84 E. Name Entry
9 Lots 2 and 3 (vacant) 
14 Ne Va  C. Tonningsen  TC 1017
22 Se Va, Se J4  
23 S V, Sw Va and Sw yA, Se yA  T. D. Faskett  Hd 1171
23 E V, Ne V2 and E yi, Se Va  Charles Willey  TC 1017
23 E V2, Nw Va and Ne yA, Sw %.... M. P. Barry  Hd 1957
24 W yi, Nw Va and W y2, Sw y4....A. C. Willey  TC 1018
24 W JA, Ne y\ and E }A, Nw yA  Clara A. Larkin  Hd 1936
26 W V2, Ne yA and E yi, Nw %  Emma Neacham  DS 3376
26 E y2, Se 14  H. P. Tietje  ...TC 1008
26 Nw %, Se y and Ne #, Sw % ......... H. P. Tietje  Hd

S. W. Sloan  DS

27
.28

33 Lots 9, 10, 11 and 12  Jos. A. Morrow  Hd

33

A. D. Frakes  DS

Date
March 12, 1889 (Can.)
Jan. 16, 1889.
March 3, 1889 (Can.)
April 1, 1897.
March 12, 1889 (Can.)
Jan. 22, 1895.
May 15. 1886, Jan. 10, 1889 (Can.)
March 5, 1889.

1 16-7
3368

27 Lot 6 
26 w y2, Nw yA
27 e yi, Ne y.
27 Lot 1, Sw 14, Ne y and W y2, Sey. . C. Tonningsen  Hd 1938
Sw ;4  A. F. Tonningsen  Hd 1942
Se Va  W. E. Poindexter/  Hd 1931
29 Lots 1 and 2  Wm. Ballou  Hd 641
33

Jan. 15, 1889.

Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8  Jesse Morrow  DS 3378

1937
33»2 1169

S V, Ne 14 and S yi, Nw yi,  J. W. Morrow  DS
33 N yi, Se 14 and N yi, Sw yA  J. L. Morrow  HD
34 Lots 1, 2 and 3  Jas. Williams  DS 2569
34 Lots 1, 6, 7 and Se ;4, Ne %  R. Baty  Hd 1170
34 Lots 8 and 9 and N yi, Se y  W. M. Harvey  TC 931
35 Nw y  J. W. Morrow  TC 1015
35 N Vi, Sw y and Lots 3 and 4  Chas. Combs  DS 3448
T. 40 S. K. 34 E.
2 Lots is, 16, 17 and Sw yA, Ne y  Chas. Willey  DS
Se lA, N y, Sw y, Sw y, Sw y  Vacant 
Lots I, 2 and 3  J- P. Barry  Hd 1939
Lot 4  ) „, . „ ,
_. . ( J E. Dunnavin  Hd
Lots 1 and 2  )
S V, Sw y and S y, Se y  E. F. Grant  Hd
1 Lots 3 and 4 and S V, Nw V  Jos. A. Morrow  TC
S Lots 1 and 2 and S V, Ne %  H. J. Stein  Hd
7 Lots 5 and 8 and N yi, Se V  S. Dixon  Hd
7 Lots 6 and 7 and S V, Se %  A. C. Willey  DS 3375
8 N y2, Sw V, Se V, Sw y, Sw y, Sty N. M. Frakes  DS 3366
8 Ne y  L. A. Frakes  DS
8 E y, Se y and
9 W V2, Sw 54.. G. J. Phinney  Hd

Nov. 17, 1885.
Jan. 28, 1895.
Feb. 4, 1895.
January 16, 1895.
March 19, 1887 (Can.)
June I, 1878, Jan. 15, 1889.
Jan. 23, '95 (FC 587, July 8, '95)
May 20, 1885, Jan. 16, 1889.
Jan. 12, 1889.
May 4, 1885, March 8, 1887.
Jan. 15, 1895-
Jan. 28, 1889.
March 1, 1889.
March 15, 1888, March 5, 1889.

3437 Jan. 5, 1889, March 5, 1889 (Can.)

1935
2162 10231950
1 166

3447 3309

1927
9 Ne Va  | Isabel Vineyard  Hd 3021
9 W y2, Se J4 and E yi, Sw V  L. D. Frakes  DS 3371
10 Nw y  '  Ellie Platt  Hd J932
17 Sw y, Nw y and W V, Sw y  L. W. Winkleman  TC 984
18 S V, Ne l4, Se y, Nw V, Lot 10. .. . A. Boyd heirs  Pre
N ^,Se V, SeV, Sw Va, L°t 9--v-- A. N. Bennett  DS
N y, Ne V, Ne Va, Nw V, Lot 11.'. ..J. M. Willey  Hd

18
18 18 Lots 7 and 8  T.B.Wakefield  TS
18 S V, Se y  j> T B Wakefield  Hd
19 Ne y, Ne V and Lot 12  \
20 W y, Nw V and W V, Se V  F. B. Houston  Hd
T. 39 S. B. 25 E.
19 S y. Se y, Se y, Nw y and Lot 2. . Robt. L. Barnes  Hd
20 Lots 5, 6 and 7  Vacant 
29 Lot 2  Vacant 
30 Lots 7, 8, 9 and 10  R- C. Clark . Hd

Jan. 21, 1895.
Jan. 21, 1895.
May 7, 1898.
March 13, 1889.
Jan. 3, 1895-
Jan. 1889.
May 28, 1885.
Sept. I, 1887, Jan. 16, 1889.
March 12, 1889.
Oct. 7, 1887, Jan. 16, 1889.
Jan. 16, 1895.
Nov. 20, 1895.
Oct. 7, 1887.
Jan. 16, 1895.
March 18, 1889.
Jan. 16, _i895.
March 28, 1885, Jan. 16, li
Jan. 16, 1889.
March 11, 1889.
1 1 96 Feb. 13, 1889.
1933 Jan. 14, 1895.
2133 Nov. 20, 1897.

185533771 173
1026

1924

.31 Lots 5, 6, 7 and Ne VA, Nw Va  J.B.Morrow....,  TC 1016
31 Lot 8  Vacant 

Dec. 9. 1895.
March 12, 188c

838

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The north half of the southwest quarter and
the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of
section 10, T. 33 S. R. 26 E., were included in ap
proved list No. 31, but were omitted from the
stipulation. It was also found that the southeast
quarter, the north half of the southwest quarter
and the southwest quarter of the southwest quar
ter of section 3, T. 40 S. R. 24 E., included in
the stipulation, were patented to the state as
swamp land on March 25, 1890. September 16,
1899, the Warner Valley Stock Company filed a
waiver or disclaimer of any intent or purpose to
prove the swampy character of lot 12 in section
19 of T. 40 S. R. 24 E., embraced in the home
stead entry of T. B. Wakefield.
It was agreed between the parties to the suit
that the cases should be consolidated and tried
as one case in so far as possible, and on July 17,
1899, the celebrated case of J. L. Morrow et al
vs. The Warner Valley Stock Company was be
gun in the land office at Lakeview, before E. M.
Brattai, register, and Harry Bailey, receiver. The
attorneys for the settlers were John Mullan and
Joseph K. McCammon, and for the state and the
Warner Valley Stock Company were Frederick
D. McKenny, Archibald Young and Chas. A.
Cogswell. A continuance was had until July 31,
and again until August 4, and it was August 7 be
fore the trial began. The case was closed as to
taking evidence on August 28.
Voluminous evidence as taken and the case
as stubbornly contested by both sides. The set
tlers sought to prove that at the time of the grant
of the samp lands to the state, March 12, i860,
the lands which they were seeking to hold were
the bed of a permanent lake and consequently
not swamp lands. The state and its grantees
sought to prove that at that time the land in ques
tion was a swamp. As there were no witnesses
who had been in Warner valley in i860, and none
in subsequent years until 1864, the testimony was
not of a direct nature.
On February 3, 1900, the local land officials
rendered their decision favorable to the settlers.
They held that from the testimony adduced it
was reasonable to believe that the lands in ques
tion were on March 12, i860, the bed of an ap
parently permanent lake, and as such did not
come under the description of the lands granted
to the state by the act of congress of i860. The
lands were therefore held to be open to settlement
under the homestead, preemption and other laws
applicable to settlers. A paragraph from the de
cision reads :
"The testimony shows that in 1864 the lands
in controversy were covered with an apparently
permanent body of water, and the weight of tes
timony tends to show that this body of water

continued to cover this land until about the year
1 88 1 ; that the waters had gradually receded
with the exceptions of a few years at intervals^
when they would rise again, until the year 188 1,
after which they continued to gradually recede
until the fall of 1889, when the land in contest
became practically dry."
The decision was a complete victory for the
settlers. However, it was understood by both
parties that the case would be carried to the high
est authorities. The valuable lands of Warner
valley, which had been the cause of strife for so
many years, were not to be lost by either sifte by
an adverse decision in the local land office. On
February 28 and March 9, 1900, respectively, the
state of. Oregon and the Warner Valley Stock
Company filed appeal and specifications of error
on appeal. This brought the case up before the
general land office, of which Binger Hermann-
was commissioner. Briefs were submitted by both
parties and oral arguments were heard by the
commissioners, the hearing beginning on Jan.
18, 1900.
November 6 Commissioner Hermann reversed
the decision of the local land office, ruling in fa
vor of the state and stock company. Then, fol
lowing the precedent of all who had previously
handled the cases, the commissioner, on Novem
ber 30, vacated his decision for further considera
tion because of "my attention having been called
to the omission of very material testimony nec
essary for a just and impartial review of the
merits of the case," and for other causes. Mr.
Hermann them gave the matter his personal at
tention and reviewed the case in all its details. He
said in his later decision :
Impressed with the gravity of the question at issue,
as there is involved herein the title to thousands of acres
of fertile and valuable land, conscious of the many
suits at law and equity and contests before the land
department, the continuous litigation of many years
that has destroyed the peace of all parties hereto
and wasted their substance in fees, costs and retainers,
and doubting whether a just and right conclusion had
been reached, I decided that, notwithstanding the great
labor involved in the examination of so voluminous a
record, the limited time now at my disposal, as in addi
tion to the routine duties of this office, I am, during the
sessions of the congress, called upon to consider bills
and proposed legislation affecting the disposition of the
public domain, it was my duty to personally consider
said case. I have, therefore, in pursuance of such de
termination, attempted by personal examination of the
papers in the case and the files, plats and field notes of
survey on record in this office relating thereto, to reach
the very truth as to whether said lands were "swamp
and overflowed" within the meaning of the act -of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

839

Sept. 28, 1850, at the time the provisions of said act
were extended conditionally to the state of Oregon,
to-wit, March 12, i860. The task was not an easy one.
It has, however, convinced me that the former con
clusion was not justified by what I now find from a
personal search and reading of the testimony to be
the real facts in the case and herein will be found not
as before, a few incomplete references, but a full and
careful summary and review of all the material facts.
In an exhaustive review of the case and de
cision rendered March 2, 1901, Commissioner
Hermann permanently recalled his decision of
November 6, 1900, and upheld the decision of
the local land office. In this finding, addressed
to the officers of the Lakeview land office, he
said: The communication of this office, dated Nov 6,
1900, reversing your office and awarding the land in
controversy to the state of Oregon et al., temporarily
recalled on Nov. 30, 1900, for further consideration, is
now on motion of this office permanently recalled,
vacated and annulled, in whole and in part, and the fol
lowing findings and judgment substituted in lieu thereof:
The lands included in lists 30, 31, 39 and all others
described by the agreement of stipulation filed in the
office of the Honorable Secretary of the Interior on
May 4, 1899, were not as a whole nor as to the greater
portion of a smallest legal subdivision, swamp and over
flowed on March 12, i860, and that the state of Ore
gon and those claiming under it, has no title, interest
or estate in and to any part of said lands by or through
the provisions of the act of March 12, i860. It is
therefor the judgment of this office that the claim ol
the state of Oregon and those holding under it, in
and to any of the lands included in lists 30, 31 and 39,
or described in the foregoing stipulation, in any way
arising or asserted by or through the provisions of the
act of Sept. 28, 1850, as extended to the state of Oregon
by the act of March 12, i860, should be held as naught,
rejected and cancelled, and said claims are hereby
rejected and said lists held for cancellation.
The case having once been considered by the de
partment is current work and in case appeal is filed,
the case will be so treated and forwarded to the de
partment as such.
Notify the parties thereof. Resident counsel will
be advised by this office. Respectfully, Binger Hermann, Commissioner.
This was the second consecutive victory for
the settlers, and their hopes for a final settle
ment in their favor were high. Of course, it was
understood that the case would be appealed to
the secretary of the Interior, but having favor

able decisions from both the local land office and
the general land office, they were led to believe
that their contentions would be sustained by the
higher authority. An appeal was at once taken
by the state of Oregon and the Warner Valley
Stock Company to the secretary of the Interior,
where the case was again reviewed in all its de
tails. Secretary Hitchcock rendered a decision on
March 16, 1903, in which he reversed Commis
sioner Hermann and found the facts to be dia
metrically opposite to those found by the commis
sioner. Mr. Hermann had held that the lands in
question were on March 12, i860, the bed of art
apparently permanent lake, and as such did not
come under the provisions of the act granting
swamp lands to the state of Oregon. Here is
Mr. Hitchcock's finding in this regard:
The evidence established that the lands in con
troversy at the date of the grant were not the be«S
of a lake or apparently permanent body of water, but1
were swamp lands, subject at times to be entirely over
flowed, and at all seasons were thereby rendered unfit
for cultivation. While these lands would for con
siderable periods of any year of ordinary rain or snow
fall present the appearance of a shallow lake, a care
ful examination would then, or at any time, have-
disclosed from its vegetation and soil, that it was a
swamp upon which the waters coming in time of
floods were retained by the spongy soil, dense and fallen
vegetation, and lack of drainage channels, ancl that it
was not a lake or permanent body of water retained^
by continuing banks or shores.
Concluding his decision the secretary, in a let
ter to Commissioner Hermann, said.
For the reasons herein given, your office decision
of March 2, 1901, rejecting the claim of the state
is reversed, and all of the claims, except that of the-
heirs of Amos Boyd, and any other existing preemption-
claim which has been or may be perfected before this-
decision is carried into effect, are hereby rejected.
Your office will prepare and submit for approval*
a new swamp land list, embracing such of the lands in-
controversy as properly pass to the state under this
decision. Very Respectfully, E. A. Hitchcock, Secretary.
This was a blow to the settlers who for so
many years had fought for the possession of ther
lands upon which they had made their homes.
They at once asked for a review of the case, but
their request was denied, Secretary Hitchcock
declaring the case to be closed so far as the Inter
ior department was concerned.

'840

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Finding that no further hearing could be had
before United States officials, the settlers took
their case to the state authorities. In June, 1903,
thirty-two settlers presented a petition to the
state land board, asking that the state should
not take patent to the lands, as it had a right
to do under a recent decision of the department
of the Interior. The settlers asked that the state
give up its claim, so that the United States gov
ernment might be free to issue patents to the
lands tP the settlers.
The settlers interested Gov. Geo. E. Chamber
lain in their behalf, and that official became very
active in his efforts to protect the interests of the
Wafney valley citizens. He requested the Wash
ington authorities to withhold the issuance of the
patents in favor of the state until he had thor
oughly investigated the case, but his request was
ignored by the Interior department. In October,
1903, he started for Washington on business con
nected with the case and before departing left
instructions that when the United States patent
conveying title to the swamp lands to the state
arrived in should no be filed or recorded. The
state had already conveyed its title to the stock
company and all that was lacking for the stock
company to get clear title was the filing of the
patent conveying title to the state.
Ordinarily a patent or deed is delivered by the
grantor to the grantee. In this case, however,
the attorneys for the Warner Valley Stock Com
pany evidently expected delay if the patent
reached the governor's hands, and they secured
the document direct from the general land office
at Washington. News to this effect was received
by the state authorities at Salem on October 13,
1903. This proceeding was in accordance with in-#
structions from Secretary Hitchcock.
Balked in their attempts to prevent the issu
ance of the patent, the settlers, now vigorously
backed by Governor Chamberlain, sought relief
in the state courts. In April, 1904, the settlers
asked the state land board to begin a suit against
the Warner Valley Stock Company to set aside
the deeds by which the company ancl its prede
cessors secured the land from the state. The set
tlers offered to pay all the costs of the suit and
secure the state against loss. The board was of
contrary opinion as to whether or not to pro
ceed as requested. Secretary of State Dunbar
and State Treasurer Moore, constituting a ma
jority 'of the board, decided on May 5, that the
board had no authority to order a suit brought.
Gov. Chamberlain, the other member of the
broad, filed a protest and then sent to Attorney
General Crawford a letter directing him to bring
suit in the name of the state to set aside the deeds.
In this letter the governor was very positive

in his statement of belief and very caustic in his
remarks concerning the case and those govern
ment officials who had conducted it. The letter
in part is as follows :
Hon. A. M. Crawford, May 5, 1904.
Attorney General,
Salem, Oregon.
Dear Sir — J. L. Morrow and other settlers in what
is known as Warner valley, in township 39 south,
range 24 east, have, through their attorney, Hon. John
H. Hall, made application to the state land board, re
questing the members thereof to authorize a suit to be
instituted in the name of the state of Oregon against
the Warner Valley Livestock Company to have can
celled and set aside certain deeds made by the state
land board in 1891 and in 1899 to said Warner Valley
Stock Company, or its predecessors in interest, but a
majority of the state land board have declined to
comply with the request of the settlers for the reasons
set forth in the records of the state land board, to
which I now refer you. As a minority member of the
state land board I disagreed with the board and felt
then and feel now that the state land board should have
granted the application of the settlers and should have
requested you as Attorney General of the state to
institute proceedings to cancel and annul the deeds re
ferred to. ******
In about 1885 J. L. Morrow and other persons
undertook to and did settle on about 5,000 acres of
land embraced within the Owen's application ; improved
cultivated and built homes on the same and are now in
actual possession thereof. It does not appear that any
of the settlers ever had a hearing before the state land
board. For nearly twenty years they have contested
the claim of the Warner Valley Livestock Company and
its predecessors in interest in the federal land office
with varying degrees of success. Sometimes decisions
have been rendered in their favor and sometimes against
them. My attention was called to this contest by these set
tlers nearly a year ago, and I have given their claims
and the claims of the Warner Valley Livestock Com
pany my very careful and painstaking consideration,
and so much impressed was I with the belief that
these settlers had not had such a hearing as I felt they
were entitled to as citizens of this state that when I was
notified by the commissioner of the general land office
at Washington that the lands in controversy had been
clear listed to the state as swamp land, I requested that
no patent should be issued until I had investigated the
merits of the controversy between the conflicting
claimants. The swamp land act provides in substance
that the patent to swamp lands shall issue at the re
quest of the governor. Notwithstanding the fact that
I did not request the issuance of the patent but on the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

841

contrary vigorously protested to the secretary of the
Interior against the issuance hereof until the matter
could be investigated by me, the patent did issue and
contrary to all precedent was not delivered to the of
ficers of the state and never has been, nor has it ever
been recorded. On the contrary, I was advised by the
department that the patent had been placed in the
hands of the Warner Valley Livestock Company.
Under all these circumstances I feel that the set
tlers on the land in controversy have had a right to
"have their cause heard, tried and determined in our
own courts, untrammeled by any of the "red tape''
methods of the department of the Interior, over the
doors of which the plain, every day, ordinary citizen
-of the United States, at least finds written the motto
which is found inscribed over Dante's Inferno : "Who
enters here leaves hope behind."
If these men are defeated in one of the courts
¦of our state the controversy will be ended ; otherwise,
in my opinion, there will always lurk in the minds of
many of the citizens of this state the suspicion that
they have not obtained a fair and impartial hearing of
their cause. ,
I, therefore, as governor and ex-officio land com
missioner of the state of Oregon request you as attorney
general of the state to institute a suit in the name of
the state against the present owners of the land in con
troversy, with the end in view of ascertaining whether
or not they have been fraudulently obtained from the
state. Provided, however, the parties directly in in
terest give satisfactory security to indemnify the state
against the cost and expenses that may be incurred by
such suit as provided by section 370 of Bellinger &
Cotton's Code.
I have the honor to remain,
Yours very truly,
George E. Chamberlain. Governor.
Attorney General Crawford brought the suit
as directed, and thus we find, in 1904, the state
of Oregon on the side of the settlers, where al
ways before the state had had its name linked
with that of the Warner Valley Stock Company
in all suits.
The suit was brought in the circuit court of
Lake county before Judge H. L. Benson. John
Hall, former United States district attorney, and
E. B. Watson, former judge of the state supreme
court, appeared as assistant counsel for the state
in the suit. The bill set up alleged frauds and
prayed for the cancellation of the patents and a
decree that the patents were void.
The Warner Valley Stock Company filed a
demurrer on the ground that the facts alleged did
not constitute a cause of suit. The case was ar-
:gued before Judge Benson and submitted shortly

before the vacation in 1904. Judge Benson had
the case under advisement until January 13,
1905, when he signed an order sustaining the de
murrer and forwarded the order to Lake county
to be entered in the records of the circuit court.
In sustaining the demurrer, Judge Benson'
held in substance that the state did not have an
interest sufficient to permit it to be a plaintiff in
the proceedings. The United States supreme
court has held that the government cannot prop
erly be a party plaintiff unless it has either a pe
cuniary interest in the result of the litigation or
is under some obligation to some person or per
sons, which obligation is necessarily involved in
the result of the litigation. Following this prin
ciple Judge Benson held that the state, having
received full value for the lands in controversy,
as swamp lands, and being under no obligation to
the homesteaders or other claimants under the
federal laws, had no substantial interest in the
result of the litigation, and therefore could not
maintain the suit.
This is the last decision on the case and in
this manner the matter stands at present. An ap
peal has been taken to the supreme court, but a
hearing has not yet been had. Some time it will
be decided once and forever in favor of one party
or the other.
Many of the settlers, worn out by the prolonged
litigation, abandoned their homes, making the best
terms possible with the stock company. The oth
ers, about thirty in number, have, since their set
tlement in the valley, lived upon and occupied
the lands in controversy. The lands are very pro
ductive and were it not for the heavy expense of
litigation, the valley would be one of the most
wealthy in the state of Oregon.
THE WAGON ROAD LANDS.
Not resulting in the extended litigation that
characterized the procurement of the Warner
valley lands, but of great importance to Lake
county was the grant of a large tract of land
within its borders to the state of Oregon, which
was later turned over to a private corporation,
for alleged services rendered.
Like all other undeveloped countries, south
eastern Oregon in the early days needed aid in
its development ; some action or inducement from
the government was deemed necessary to bring
in settlement. The territory was rough and tin-
traversed. Bands of Indians roamed the hills and
valleys at will, and the county's isolated condi
tion offered them an opportunity to hold their
country for their own.
It was believed that the southeastern part of
the state would be found to be a hidden treasure

842

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ground if it could only be reached by a sufficient
number of thrifty settlers to make a stand among
the savages. To accomplish this, it was believed
that roads must be built from civilization into
the country. It devolved upon the state to build
these roads as there were no county governments
with sufficient interest or means to accomplish
the huge task. Even the state hesitated at the
enormous expense, and appealed to the United
States government for aid. Application was made
for a grant from the government of every odd
section by numbers, three miles on either side of
the road proposed to be built.
The Oregon Central Military Wagon Road
Company was organized and contracted with the
state to construct a wagon road from Eugene
City to the eastern boundary line of the state.
This road was surveyed and enough work was
done on it to secure the lands granted for the
construction of the road. The road took a south
easterly course from Eugene City through Lane
county and across the Cascade range, striking
the present Klamath county near its northwest
corner. It then followed a more southerly course '
to the southern boundary of the Klamath Indian
reservation ; thence an easterly course was taken
to the western boundary of what is now Lake
county. From its point of entrance to Lake
, county the road bore southeast, passing the site
of the present town of Lakeview. From that
point the road ran northeast to the only feasable
crossing in Warner valley, the point where was
afterwards built the stone bridge. This crossing
was a about a quarter of a mile wide, while for
twenty miles north and as far south the valley
was impassible. This bridge is a natural division
between North and South Warner. From here
the road took a northeasterly and easterly course
to the east boundary of the state.
The grant to aid in the building of this road
was made by congress, approved July 2, 1864,
the act being entitled "an act granting lands to
the state of Oregon to aid in the construction of
a military wagon road from, Eugene City to the
eastern boundary of said state." Amended acts
were passed by congress, approved December 3,
1866, and March 3, 1869. By these acts all the
vacant and unappropriated lands in the alternate
sections, designated by odd numbers, three miles
on either side of the proposed road was granted
to the state of Oregon by the United States gov
ernment, and the state in turn granted these lands
to the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road
Company. It was a vast undertaking and months
were consumed in arranging the preliminaries.
In fact more time was consumed in making sure
of the grant than was spent in building the road.

Through the territory which is now Lake
county the road was very poorly constructed, and
considerable difficulty was encountered in tracing
the road. A crossing was effected at the north
end of Goose Lake by means of long ropes. When
the swamp in Warner was reached tules were cut,
bound in bundles and thrown into the swamp until
the working crews could cross, but it is not
known how the rim-rock on the east side of War
ner valley was climbed. When, in 1867, the sol
diers attempted to cross by this road in moving
the post to the west side of the lake, they were
unable to do so without spending a long time
in making the rock fill, as told in the first chapter
of the Lake county history.
Notwithstanding the loose methods employed
in the construction of the road, on July 2, 1870,
the governor of Oregon approved the road and
the lands passed into the hands of the wagon
road company. The company was now the owner
of the alternate sections three miles on either side
of the road. But the act provided that only the
unappropriated and unreserved lands should pass
to the state, ancl consequently as some of the
lands in the odd numbered sections within the
grant, especially on the west side of the moun
tains, were otherwise claimed, the company did
not obtain title to as much land as it desired, and
steps were at once taken to secure a further al
lotment. An appeal was made to the United States gov
ernment for an additional grant the entire length
of the road, three miles on either side of the
original grant, to be known as indemnity lands,
and from which selections could be made in lieu
of lands located previous to the company's grant.
No trouble was experienced in securing this ad
ditional grant, it being approved December 8,
1871, by C. Delano, secretary of the Interior.
By the original grant and the additional in
demnity strip the road company secured approxi
mately 400,000 acres of land in Lake county.
Litigation resulted between settlers on this land
and the road company, but the company won in
every instance and finally secured absolute title
to all the lands it claimed Several transfers had
been made by the settler claimants, but the fact
that innocent parties were in possession gave
them no advantage.
In 1903 the California ancl Oregon Land and
Livestock Company purchased all the road lands
in Lake county, and in fact all east of the Cas
cade mountains. This company has sold some of
the lands and leased other portions. * Efforts
have been repeatedly made to consolidate the
lands by exchanging with the government, but a
transfer has never been effected.

CHAPTER IV

CITIES AND TOWNS.

In Lake county are four towns. The largest
and most important of these is Lakeview, the
county seat and only incorporated town in the
county — a place of about 1,000 population. The
other three, in the order of their size, are Pais
ley, New Pine Creek and Silver Lake, all towns
of from 150 to 300 population, each surrounded
by a country almost an empire in size, from which
to draw support.
Besides these towns are four postoffices as
follows: Add, Plush, Summer Lake and War
ner Lake. The two first named each support a
store ; the other two are simply country post-
offices, established and maintained for the conven
ience of the citizens residing in the vicinity.
LAKEVIEW.
Lakeview, the capital and principal town of
Lake county, is a city of nearly 1,000 inhabitants.
It is beautifully situated in Goose Lake valley,
about four miles north of Goose lake. The town
is builded up against a ridge of hills which ex
tend north and south to the east of the town.
On the other three sides extends Goose Lake
valley, as level as a billiard table, for several
miles. The elevation of this point is 4,825 feet
above sea level, one of the highest towns of Ore
gon. Lakeview is a beautiful town, its business
houses being almost entirely constructed of brick,
and its residences of latest architectural design
and all neatly painted. It is not only a pretty
town, but it is also a splendid business point.
Lakeview is one of the remote towns of in
terior Oregon, and yet it is one of the most pros
perous in the whole interior country. It enoyed
the distinction a few years ago of being the farth
est from a railroad of any county seat town in the
United States. During the greatest part of its
history Lakeview was 150 miles from the nearest
railroad point, but the construction of a narrow
gauge road to Madeline, Cal., has reduced this
distance to ninety-five miles. In all other direc
tions the town is a much greater distance to a
railroad. .Mthough it is far from a railroad, it is

connected by first-class stage lines with all the-
surrounding towns, all of which carry mail. To
the west a line extends to Bly, connecting there
with lines to Bonanza, Klamath Falls and Poko-
gama, on the Klamath Lake railroad. To , the
north a line runs to Paisley and Silver Lake, con
necting with Prineville and all towns to the north.
To the south a stage line operates to New Pine
Creek, Alturas and Madeline, the nearest rail
road point. All these stage lines are daily. To
the east is a tri-weekly line to the Warner Val
ley country.
Lakeview, although an inland town, is not
so remote from the outside world that it is void
of the modern conveniences. An instance of the
energetic nature of the people : Years ago some
of the early settlers concluded that about the first
thing necessary to the well being of a well regu
lated town was a city waterworks. Away in the-
mountains several hundred feet above the town-
site, were a number of springs which they appro
priated. Iron pipe to convey the water down the-
canyon was then an impossibility so far away
from the railroad. They procured machinery and
manufactured wooden pipe from pine logs. The
wooden pipe served the purpose until 1904, when
the increased population made it necessary to in
crease the capacity of the plant. Steel pipe was
substituted for the wooden pipe that had done-
service for so many years, and today Lakeview
has a modern waterworks system capable of sup
plying a citv of io.ooo-inhabitants, with the best
of pure, spring water. Two of the advantages
that Lakeview people mention, when speaking of
their city, is their fine school and an abundance
of good, pure water. A modern electric light
plant, driven by water power, located at Pine
Creek, fifteen miles away, supplies the city with
electric light.
•Lakeview is a self made town, made by self
made men. There is not a dollar of outside
capital invested in any enterprise in the town.
The people have worked out their own salvation
and they are proud of it. While many of the lead
ing citizens are inclined to boast modestly of

¦844

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

what they have accomplished as individuals and
as a community, they have no desire to build a
Chinese wall around their community for the ex
clusion of the outsider. The newcomer is always
welcomed — outside capital is not regarded as
•dangerous to the well-being of the people. While,
as has been noted, no outside capital has so far
found its way to Lakeview, it is not to be in
ferred that there is no room for the outsider
with money to invest in legitimate enterprises.
Lakeview is a centennial town. The founders
of the city waited until the government of the
United States was ioo years old before they put
Lakeview on the map.
In a preceding chapter we have told of Gen
eral Crook's subjugation of the Snake Indians,
and of the comparative rapid settlement of Goose
Lake valley, which, prior to 1869, was without
settlers. It was only natural that in time a town
should spring up in this valley, then the most
thickly settled portion of the lake country.
Among those who came to the valley in 1869
was M. W. Bullard, a bachelor, who settled near
the head of the valley, upon land that is described
in official papers as section 15, township 39 south,
range 20 east — the land upon which the town of
Lakeview was afterwards built. Here Mr. Bul
lard took two claims of 160 acres each, one under
the preemption law and the other under the home
stead law. He obtained title to the preemption
claim on January 20, 1871, and to the homestead
claim June 24, 1878. Mr. Bullard lived on this
land until after the town was started, but moved
away soon after. The place was known among
the early day settlers as "Bullard's Ranch" or
"Bullard's Creek." Today the former owner's
name is perpetuated in the creek that flows
through the town, a canyon through which the
creek flows and 'one of the principal streets of
Lakeview. Mr. Bullard built a log house near where
Harry Bailey's residence now stands, on the pre
emption claim, and afterwards moved it onto his
homestead, near the M. T. Walters residence. The
structure was rudely put up of rough logs, and
partitioned off into three apartments. One was
used for a living room, where Mr. Bullard
cooked his meals, ate ancl slept ; the next room
was used for a wood shed and store room, and
the other was used for a barn. His land was en
closed by an oddly built fence. A trench or
ditch, about two feet wide by two feet deep, was
dug around the land, and posts were set at in
tervals along this ditch, upon which poles were
placed, fastened with wire.
The site upon which was afterwards built the
town of Lakeview was well known to all the early
settlers of the Lake country. C. U. Snider has

told the writer of a trip he made from Camp
Warner to Willow Ranch in 1869, passing along
the north end of Goose lake. The site of the fu
ture Lakeview was then covered with a very tall
growth of grass and was, indeed, a beautiful
spot. The day he first saw the location a large
band of antelope was browsing there. M. T. Walt
ers, who came to Goose Lake valley in 1872, has
written of this spot as follows : t
I saw the spot on which Lakeview now stands when
the calmness of undisturbed nature was upon it. In
the spring of 1872, approaching this place from the west,
I was obliged to pass around the north end of the
valley to get to the east side. The gently inclined plain
upon which our pretty little town is built was then a
beautiful meadow, all covered with water. The lake
then extended north to this point. A mean log cabin,
belonging to a man named Bullard, was standing at
the mouth of the canyon of that name, and was the
only indication that a man had been here before me.
The landscape was indeed beautiful. Wild birds and
animals looked at me in shy surprise, but could hardly
be said to be afraid of one.
For some time Mr. Bullard was without near
neighbors, but later a family named Petree set
tled on the other part of section 15. The Petrees
took a squatter's claim, but never proved up on
it. In the family were four brothers, James,
William F., Malen and Tom. They lived in a
little log cabin located about where V. L. Snel-
ling's residence now stands. When the town was
founded in 1876 the Petree and Bullard cabins
were the only ones on the townsite.
Prior to the year 1876 the thought of estab
lishing a town at this spot never entered the mind
of anyone. In order to make clear the reasons
for the founding of a town in the valley at this
time we shall review briefly a subject treated
heretofore in this work.
By an act of the legislature of 1874, Lake
county, then including the present counties of
Lake and Klamath, was created, and Linkville
(the present Klamath Falls) was named as the
temporary county seat, the selection of a perma
nent seat of government being left to be decided
at the general election in June, 1876. At that
time the settlers of eastern Lake county outnum
bered those of the western portion, but the west
enders had the advantage in one particular —
they had a town, Linkville, which had been
founded in 1867 by George Nurse. It was this
fact that led the legislature to name a place on
the west side as the temporary county seat. Out
numbering the Klamath settlers, the settlers of
Goose Lake valley and of the other settled por
tions of the east side laid their plans to secure

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

845^

the county seat at the June election in 1876. In
order that the whole vote should be concentrated
they agreed among themselves to vote for "Bul
lard's Creek" or Bullard's Ranch." Mr. Bullard
agreed to deed twenty acres of his land to the
county should his place be selected. A. and C.
U. Snider, who had previously been post traders
at Camp Warner, but more recently engaged in
the mercantile business at Willow Ranch, Cal.,
were prevailed upon to open a store at Bullard's
Ranch, and in April the store building was begun,
the first business house of the coming Lakeview.
The vote for the location of the county seat in
June was clearly in favor of Bullard's Ranch, but
this preference was made known on the ballots
under such a variety of names that the removal
of the county government was not accomplished
until some months later. The question of the
location was voted on again at the November
election, and by this time "Bullard's Creek" had
become "Lakeview," and was the choice by' a
vote of 242 over 181 for Linkville. Almost im
mediately thereafter the county records were
moved to the new seat of government.
But during the summer and fall of this year,
while the campaign for the permanent location of
the county seat was going on, the town of Lake-
view was coming into existence, and by the be
ginning of 1877 there was quite a little village
here. To this place was given the name of Lake-
view because of the excellent view of Goose
lake that could be obtained from the townsite
at that time. The lake then extended farther
north than it does at the present time, and at the
time of the founding "Lakeview" was not a
misnomer. The store building of A. and C. U. Snider,
which had been begun in April, was completed in
September, and a stock of general merchandise
was put in. The store stood on the corner at
present occupied by Bailey & Massingill's gen
eral merchandise store. Goods were freighted in
from Red Bluff, Cal, by horse teams, over a
rough and rocky winding road, a distance of 250
miles. It required about thirty days to make the
trip for goods, and these trips were accomplished
with more or less danger on account of the Ind
ians. Andy McCallen was placed in charge of the
store, and he also kept the postoffice, which was
established that year. The firsf mail delivered at
the office was carried from Fort Bidwell on horse
back, but later a mail route was established from
Redding, Cal. The arrival of the first mail was
a great event. The papers, then a month old,
seemed as fresh and newsy to the inhabitants of
the little town and were read with even more
eagerness than is now the case with the dailies,
forty-eight hours from the press.

The second building erected was a hotel
put up by A. R. Jones on the lot opposite where
the Hotel Lakeview now stands. This hostelry,
though unpretentious, was a creditable frontier
establishment, and many a weary traveler found
there the warmest hospitality and much needed
refreshment from a hard journey through a coun
try very thinly inhabited. John Moon began the
construction of a livery stable the same year, but
sold out to M. T. Walters, who completed the
building and conducted the first feed and livery
stable. Mart Hopkins built a blacksmith shop-
that year, located about where Mr. Lake's repair
shop is now. He also erected a residence about
where the George Jammerthal's business estab
lishment now stands.
Another stroke of enterprise in 1876 was the
erection of a two story building, to be used for
a court house, by Geo. Conn on the present loca
tion of the Neilon residence. A saloon license
was granted to T. J. Hickman by the county court
on August 6, 1876, and his was the first saloon in
Lakeview. It was located where the Hotel Lake-
view now stands.
These were buildings erected and enterprises
started in the town during 1876, and they pre
sented quite a showing on the spot where a few
months before there were only two log cabins.
Of this period of the town's history Mr. Walters
has said: "Most of our early day visitors were
from the Rogue river or Willamette valleys. They
were to us as our newspapers now are. If a
newspaper chanced to come into possession of one
of us it was passed around and read in every
family, and reread until worn out from handling
it, though we were more careful with it than with
money." The town was not yet platted, but preparations
were made for the platting in the following
spring. On December 7, 1876, Mr. Bullard deed
ed the county twenty acres of land and on the
following day sold the other 300 acres to J. A.
Moon. The townsite was platted by Mr. Moon
on May 25, 1877. The site was surveyed by
Frank M. Cheesman, and consisted of blocks A,
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. On the west of the site ran the
county road, and parallel to this, one block east,
was Water street. The present Main street was
not laid out. Running east and west, separating
the blocks, were Bullard street and Canyon
street. The plat was recorded in the records of
Lake county on May 26.
Additions to the town of Lakeview have
since been platted as follows :
North and South additions, July 14, 1878,.
by John A. Moon.
West addition, July 20, 1878, by John A.
Moon, George Freeman, Alice E. Freeman, Thos.

.'846

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Colbin, L. A. Colvin, Joseph Robnett and Mary
E. Robnett. ,
County Property addition was filed on Febru
ary 17, 1877, but was not recorded until April
3, 1886. This addition consisted of four blocks
and was the property of Lake county.
Walters' addition, November 14, 1899, by M.
T. Walters. McCallen's addition, October 6, 1900, by A.
McCallen. Lane's addition, August 13, 1902, by F P.
Lane. The year 1877 and the few following years
were not much behind 1876 in the matter of con
struction of buildings and establishment of busi
ness houses. During the winter of 1876-7 A.
Tenbrook moved a building from his ranch, about
five miles down the valley, to the new town and
started a second hotel, the Overland House. In
the fall of 1877 C. A. Cogswell put up a two
story building, and in the lower part of this Dr.
Casen opened a drug store. Dr. Wright moved
to the new' town from Davis creek in 1877 and
became the first doctor. He remained only a
short time and moved away. Returning shortly,
however, he purchased the Casen drug store.
Cobb Henkle opened the second saloon in 1877.
Odd Fellows hall was erected that year and the
lower floor was occupied by a saloon.
Soon J. W. Howard moved his store building
from Hagerhorst and J. Frankl put one up, both
being built on the locations now occupied by build
ings still belonging to the same men. E. W.
Joseph built a residence back of the Frankl store,
which was later purchased by M. T. Walters and
moved to where Mr. Walters now resides. The
State Line Herald was established by Watson
Bros, in 1878. A man by the name of Goos built
a two story brewery on the corner now occupied
by Reynolds & Wingfield. Other early day busi
ness enterprises were a shoe shop opened by A.
Buckhart and a barber shop by Cosley Snelling.
Hagerdine & Latta built the town's first brick
building, on the present site of Ahlstrom's har
ness store and there opened a general merchan
dise store.
By the close of the year 1878 we find in the
little town three general merchandise stores, two
hotels, a newspaper, two livery stables, a harness
shop, two blacksmith shops, a barber shop, two
saloons, a drug store, and a county seat.
An important event in the history of the town
was the removal of the land office from Link
ville where it had been established several years
before, to Lakeview in the spring of 1879. James
Evans and George Conn were the first register
and receiver, respectively, upon its removal. Geo.
Conn was succeeded as receiver by Jerome Knox,

who served with Mr. Evans and also with War
ren Truett, who succeeded Mr. Evans as register.
Truett and Knox were succeeded by A. F Snel
ling, register, and Wm. H. Townsend, receiver.
vVarren Truett again became the register of the
Lakeview land office in 1889 and served until
1892. C. LT. Snider became receiver in 1890 ancl
served until 1894. J. W. Watts succeeded Mr.
Truett in 1892 and served two years. W. A.
Wilshire was appointed register and V. L. Snel
ling receiver by President Cleveland in 1894 and
served four years. They were succeeded in 1898
by E. M. Brattain, register, and Harry Bailey, re
ceiver, who served until 1903. The present in
cumbents were then installed. They are J. N.
Watson, register, and C. U. Snider, receiver.
The year 1880 marked the first fire that visited
Lakeview. The large two story brewery build
ing of Mr. Goos was destroyed, together with the
plant of the pioneer newspaper, the State Line
Herald. The next fire of any importance was
the A. R. Jones hotel building. Aside from these
all the early day buildings remained intact until
the big fire of May 22, 1900.
By 1880 Lakeview had grown to be a town of
270 people, according to the federal census taken
that year. During the eighties Lakeview emerged
from its pioneer ways. There was no boom, no
rush, but a steady advancement. Settlers were
coming into the country and the town advanced
to keep pace with the settlement. Each year wit
nessed the beginning of a few new enterprises.
The year 1887 was an exceptionally prosperous
one for the little town. That year $60,000 was
spent in building improvements.
By 1889 the citizens believed the town had
reached a stage where incorporation was needed.
The act incorporating Lakeview became a law
February 20, 1889, when it was filed in the of
fice of the secretary of state. The act provided
for the government of the town by a mayor and
common council of four members, and that the
other officers should be a recorder, attorney, mar
shal, treasurer and surveyor, all to be elected at
annual electidns. The first election was held
on March 11, 1889, and thereafter the annual
elections have been held on the first Monday of
each November. The judges of the first election
were Joseph Lane, W. H. Lackey and P. G.
Christman, and the clerks were W. R. Stark and
F. W. Beach. Those who were elected and thus
had the honor of first serving the city in an
official capacitv were: W. M. Townsend, mavor ;
Will'T. Boyd,' B. Dalv, J. S. Field, John McEl-
hurney, councilmen ; Jerome Knox, attorney ; Al
Heminger, marshal : S. C. Wallis, treasurer ; J.
O. Willits, recorder. The first meeting of the
council was held on March 18, 1889.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

847

Citizens who have held office since the incor
poration of the town, beginning with those elect
ed at the first general election, November, 1889,
are as follows :
1889 — Mayor, W. M. Townsend ; councilmen,
Bernard Daly, A. Snider, A. McCallen, M. T.
Walters ; marshal, Al. Pleminger ; recorder, Chas.
Eshleman ; attorney, Jerome Knox ; treasurer, S.
C. Wallis. 1890 — Mayor, Warren Truett ; councilmen,
Wm. Carll, A. Frankl, W. M. Townsend, W. T.
Boyd; marshal, B. J. Neilon ; recorder, C. A.
Moore; treasurer, H. M. Barnes; attorney, E. D.
Sperry. 1891 — Mayor, A. Snider; councilmen, B.
Daly, S. F. Ahlstrom, W. A. Massingill ; marshal,
M. M. McBride; recorder, A. C. Auldron; attor
ney, Jerome Knox ; treasurer, Chas. Eshleman.
1892 — Mayor, C. A. Cogswell ; councilmen,
J. S. Dewey,' F. M. Miller, J. S. Field, H.
Schminck ; marshal, J. S. Lane ; recorder, Will
T. Boyd ; attorney, E. D. Sperry ; treasurer, Chas.
Eshleman. 1893 — Mayor, C. A. Cogswell ; councilmen,
F. M. Miller, H. Schminck, J. S. Dewey, J. S.
Field ; marshal, Wm. McBride ; recorder, Will
T. Boyd ; treasurer, Chas. Eshleman.
1894 — Mayor, John McElhurney ; council-
men, S. F. Ahlstrom, J. S. Field, Wm. Reid, G.
A. Fallett ; recorder, Will T. Boyd ; treasurer,
T. V Hall.
1895 — Mayor, C. A. Cogswell; councilmen,
S. F. Ahlstrom, J. S. Field, N. R. "Heryford,
T. J. Magilton ; marshal, J. N. Ruggles ; recorder,
Will T. Boyd ; treasurer, Harry Bagley.
1896 — Mayor, A. McCallen ; councilmen, J.
, S. Field, IT. R. Heryford, T. J. Magilton, C. E.
Sherlock ; marshal, Al. Heminger ; recorder,
Winslow Bagley ; treasurer, T. V. Hall.
1897 — Mayor, B. Daly; councilmen, S. F.
Ahlstrom, T. E. Bernard, X. Arzner, Gus
Schlagel ; recorder, Will T. Boyd ; treasurer, B.
Reynolds. 1898 — Mayor, S. F. Ahlstrom ; councilmen,
T. E. Bernard, X. Arzner, Gus Schlagel, J. W.
Tucker ; marshal, Manley Whorton ; recorder,
Will T. Boyd ; treasurer, B. Reynolds.
1899- — Mayor, F. M. Miller; councilmen, X.
Arzner, S. F. Ahlstrom, Gus Schlagel, T. E. Ber
nard ; recorder, Chas. Umbach ; treasurer, Lee
Beall. T900 — Mayor, F. M. Miller: councilmen, X.
Arzner, Gus Schlagel, Peter Post, T. E. Bernard ;
marshal, Manley Whorton ; recorder, Chas. Um
bach ; treasurer, B. Reynolds.
1901 — Mayor, F. M. Miller; councilmen, T.
E. Bernard, Gus Schlagel, Peter Post, X. Arzner;

marshal, Wm. Harvey; recorder, Chas. Umbach;
treasurer, A. Bieber.
1902 — Mayor, H. C. Whitworth ; councilmen,
W. D. Woodcock, E. C. Ahlstrom, Peter Post, X.
Arzner; marshal, Wm. Harvey; recorder, W. B.
Snider; treasurer, A. Bieber.
1903 — Mayor, W. P. Heryford; councilmen,
V. L. Snelling, B. Reynolds, A. Y. Beach, Harry
Bailey; marshal* Manley Whorton; recorder, W.
B. Snider ; treasurer, A. Beiber.
1904— Mayor, W. P. Heryford ; councilmen,
V. L. Snelling, H. Bailey, D. P. Malloy, J. W.
Tucker; marshal, Manley Whorton; recorder,
W. B. Snider ; treasurer, A. Beiber.
South Lakeview, a few miles south of the
county seat town, was platted May 12, 1891, by
Geo. G. Gibson, whose purpose seems to have
been to found a rival to Lakeview. A neighbor
ing newspaper said of the attempt :
A Yankee has reached Lake county with a yearn
ing to be the founder of a new city. His name is Geo.
G. Gibson, of Oswego, N. Y., and he proposes to
start a 40 acre town, three miles south of Lakeview.
Laid off in town lots, streets, alleys and lanes, there
lies the tract, away up on the mountain opposite Frank
Duke's place, and it looks at a distance like seven or
eight rows of old barn yards somebody had dragged
up there to give them fresh air. We fear it will be a
long time before the boom strikes South Lakeview,
And it has not struck yet. Although the town-
site of South Lakeview never reached the import
ance of having a building erected upon it, it was
entensively advertised and nearly all the lots were
sold in the east by the gifted Gibson.
February 10, 1893, a revised charter was
granted Lakeview by the legislature. The new
charter provided for the government of the town
by a mayor and four councilmen as did the for
mer charter. The recorder and treasurer under
the new charter were to be elected, but the mar
shal, street commissioner and town attorney Were
to be appointed by the council. The new charter
was broader than the old one and provided for
several improvements which the old one did not.
During the middle nineties there was no ma
terial advancement in Lakeview, owing to the
prevailing hard times. However, it was not hit
so hard as were many of the towns of the coun
try which relied for their support on an agri
cultural country. Emerging from the depression
in the late nineties, the town took on new life.
In 1898 a new charter was granted to the
town of Lakeview, giving power to undertake
some needed municipal improvements. During
this period the town, which had been before the

848

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

most completely isolated, was given telephonic
and telegraphic connections with the outside
world. In 1899 agitation was begun for the construc
tion of a system of waterworks and an electric
lighting system. A proposition to bond the city
for $25,000 for these purposes was voted down
that year, but on March 27, 1900, by a vote of
44 to 20, authorization was given for the issu
ance of $10,000 bonds for these purposes, and
shortly after both were put in by the municipal
ity. May 22, 1900, is a date that will never be for
gotten by anyone who was. in Lakeview on the
evening of that day. It was the day of the big
fire, one of the most destructive that ever visited
a town of the size of Lakeview. Every business
house in the town, except two, was consumed,
and a loss of about $250,000 was entailed.
Sixty-four buildings were destroyed, many of
them big merchandise stores carrying immense
stocks. In this great conflagration there were de
stroyed six general merchandise stores, one dry
goods store, two drug stores, two hardware
stores, two harness and saddlery stores, two jew
elry stores, three confectionery stores, one fur
niture and undertaking store, one fruit and vege
table store, three hotels, one restaurant, one grill
room, one brewery, six saloons, three barber
shops, one blacksmith shop, one wagon maker's
shop, two printing offices, two dental offices, two
bicycle shops, one law office, one soda fountain,
one shoe shop, postoffice building, government
land office, Bank of Lakeview, telegraph office,
one livery stable, one laundry, three millinery
stores, one tailor shop, eight residences, town hall
and jail, Masonic and Odd Fellows halls, two
physicians' offices, one paint shop and one butcher
shop. The extent of the fire can be summed
up as follows: Two entire blocks in the main
business portion of the town were completely
wiped out. The greater portion of six other
blocks adjoining the two mentioned were con
sumed, taking in the entire business portion, in
cluding several residences.
*The burning of Lakeview made such a big
blaze that it was observed for over 100 miles in
several directions. Citizens of Klamath Falls,
over 100 miles west of Lakeview, noticed the
heavens illumed and it was remarked at once
that Lakeview must be burning. Silver Lake,
100 miles north, saw the fire and it was thought
to be Lakeview. Alturas, sixty miles south, and
Cedarville, seventy miles southeast, both saw the
fire. No lives were lost, but the excitement, worry,
overwork and smoke nearly proved fatal in sev

eral cases. Many people lost all they had on earth,
saving only what they had on their backs.
The fire started about 8 :30 o'clock in the even
ing, when a large part of the population was
gathered at the town hall, where there was being
held a Republican mass meeting. It started in
the upper story of Hotel Lakeview, and the or
igin of the conflagration is a mystery to this day.
When the alarm was given the fire had gained
considerable headway and there was no possible
chance to save the building. It seemed but a
moment until the flames were leaping to the sky
and fire brands flying in all directions, causing
many brave hearts to quake.
From the Lakeview House the fire spread in
all four directions, taking first Hart & Beach's
store on the north, Charles Tonningsen's stable
on the west, Beall & Willey's drug store on the
south, and J. Frankl's residence on the east. Many
thought the brick bank would stop the confla
gration on the north, but it was not to be. Fol
lowing the bank, George Ayers' store, J. W. -
Howard's store, Chas. Graves' shoe shop, E.
Lake's bicycle shop, Peter Post's residence, occu- •
pied by E. M. Brattain, and several buildings in
the near vicinity belonging to W. K. Barry were
in flames while the fire was raging in the other
direction. South from the Lakeview House, Beall &
Willey's drug store, H. Schminck's hardware,
postoffice, Dunlap's variety store, C. U. Snider's-
store, A. Devine's barber shop, H. C. Rothe &
Co.'s general merchandise store and Bailey &
Massingill's general merchandise store were in the
path of the flames. Dr. Dewey's office was the
limit south on the east side of Water street. Every
building on the blocks between Main and Water
streets from the court house north to the old
Racket store and old meat market building were
consumed. The buildings destroyed in this sec
tion were the Commercial hotel and contents,
Whorton & Fitzpatrick's saloon, Hong Sang's
restaurant, Lakeview Drug Company's drug
store, Ahlstrom Bros.'s Monogram, B. Rey
nold's store, city hall, I. O. O. F. hall, bowling
alley and soda works, Tonningsen's stable and
residence overhead, J. Aviragnete's barber shop,
Henckle & Turpin's saloon, Lakeview brewery
saloon, L. B. Whorton's vegetable store, Coulter
& Co.'s meat market, G. S. Easter's jewelry store,
Lakeview Rustler office, Lakeview brewery, Os-
mus Tonningsen's residence, G. Schlagel's black
smith shop, and harness and saddlery store, Geo.
Jammerthal's saloon, B. Daly's barn and resi
dence, occupied by Mr. Tetro.
On the west side of Main street from and in
cluding Mrs. Coulter's hotel, followed Harris &
Sublette's furniture store, the Masonic hall and

View of Chewaucan Marsh

A Common View in Lake County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

849*

Lake County Examiner office, S. F. Ahlstrom's
harness and saddlery shop, Mrs. Neilon & Miss
Maxwell's milinery store, T. J. Magilton's hard
ware store, Mrs. Aviragnete's residence and
Beiber & Field's store. Numerous sheds and
small buildings, ice houses, etc., were included.
Quite a number of people occupied upstairs rooms
ancl offices, among tham Dr. Demorest's dental
office over C. U. Snider's store, the land office
over the bank, and a number of roomers in the
Miller building. Post & King's saloon, Frank
Smith and the telegraph office we,re located in the
Lakeview House, and Frank Gunther's jewelry
store was in the Monogram.
Many of the merchants and business men
lost everything, while some saved a large portion
01 their goods. Following are the losses sus
tained. The figures are those furnished by the
Lake County Examiner in its first issue after the
fire: Geo. H. Ayres, general merchandise  $13,000
Ayres & Tonningsen, brewery  5>000
Chas. Tonningsen, livery stable  2,000
Beall & Willey, drug store  4,5°o
H. C. Rothe & Co., general merchandise  16,000
Peter Post, dwelling  1,200
Geo. Jammerthal, saloon  2,000.
Dr. B. Daly, store buildings, etc  4.000
J. C. Oliver, Rustler plant  800
G. S. Easter, jewelry and millinery  2,000
Dr. O. F. Demorest, dentist office  1,000
L. F. Conn, personal effects  250
Bank of Lakeview  6.000
United States land office  entire loss.
G. Schlagel, buildings, tools, harness and saddlery 4,000
Miller & Lillenthal, buildings  6,000
F. D. Smith, barber shop  300
Dick J. Wilcox, buildings  1,°00
H. Schminck, hardware  ' 
H. C. Whiteworth, hotel  i°>000
B. Reynolds, general merchandise  :  8.000
Lakeview Drug Company  20°
B. Daly  30.000
J. Frankl, dwelling, store building, stock, etc.. 16,000
E. Lake, bicycle shop  5oo
Harris & Sublette, furniture and undertaking
goods  3,ooo
J. W. Howard, store  S.000
C. U. Snyder, dry goods  4.0O0
W. K. Barry, dwelling  2.500
S. F. Ahlstrom, saddlery and building  10,000
Ahlstrom Bros., dry goods  8,000
Bailey & Massingill, general merchandise  18,000
Hart & Beach, confectionery, tobaccos, etc.... 800
Chas. Graves, shoe shop and stock  5°°
L. B. Whorton, confectionery and vegetables.. 250
54

S. D. Coulter & Co., butchers  500
J. J. Magilton, hardware  2,000 "
Beach & McGarry, Lake County Examiner. .. . 2,000'
Mrs. S. D. Coulter, Cottage hotel  1,500 *
Mrs. Neilon and Miss Maxwell, millinery.... 250
Hudspeth, bicycle shop  300
'C. P. Dunlap, confectionery and tobaccos  1,000 ¦
Dr. F. E. Smith, office  580
Henkle & Turpin, saloon  1,000
Hong Sang, restaurant  200 '
Whorton & Fitzpatrick, saloon  1,000."
Commercial hotel  5,000 '
Bieber & Field, general merchandise  9,000'
J. Aviragnete, dwelling and barber shop  800
Odd Fellows hall  9,000 '
Masonic hall  i,8oo4
Town hall  800 '
The fire was a great blow at the, time, but the '
citizens were not discouraged and they at once set
about to rebuild the town. Merchants left at
once for the cities to purchase new stocks of
goods, contracts were let for the erection of new
business houses, and every one seemed imbued'
with the idea that Lakeview must be rebuilt,-
ancl in a more substantial manner than before. At
the time of the fire the business portion of Lake^-
view, including Water and Main streets, was "
composed almost entirely of wooden structures.
In the whole town there were only four brick
buildings. ,
By the first of October the town was largely
rebuilt. There were then fifteen handsorrre brick
buildings standing and three others were in
course of construction. Commenting on the re
building of Lakeview, the Examiner said: "And1
look at Lakeview today! Within the few short
months, attended by many adverse circumstances
and unavoidable inconveniences, a wonderful'
transformation has taken place. Where stood'
the gloomy ruins now stand solid brick blocks,
the wonder of man's skill and living monuments
to the enterprise of proud citizens."
Lakeview is today one of the best builded
towns in Oregon, certainly the best in interior
Oregon. Tho fire of May 22, 1900, will never be
forgotten, but its disastrous effects have been
overcome, and the fire has produced the direct
result of a better Lakeview.
On November 23, 1902, Lakeview was visited
by another fire, which, but for the newly in
stalled water system, would have done much dam
age. The losses were about as follows : W. K."
Barrv, hotel building, $7,000; L. F. Winkleman,
furniture and supplies, $2,500 ; C. Henkle, saloon,
$400 ; Geo. Jammerthal, residence, $800 ; S. N.
Guilliams, barn and hay $150 ; town of Lakeview,
$100; J. Aviragnete, $150.

85o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The population of Lakeview, according to the
federal census of 1900, was 761. Since then
there has been a slight increase and the popu
lation is now estimated at between 800 and 1000.
The years since the fire have been prosperous
ones. Peace and plenty have been the lot of the
town and its citizens. When the government
irrigation project in southern Lake county shall
have been completed and the iron horse has en
tered the town, Lakeview will take on metro
politan airs and become a city. Until then it
will continue to be one of the best towns in the
interior. Lakeview is one of the strongest lodge towns
in interior Oregon and supports some eight or ten
of the. best secret organizations.
The first lodge to be organized in the town
was Odd Fellows Lodge, No. 63. On April 26,
1878, George Conn, Abram Tenbrook, George
H. Penland, William Tullock, B. F. Barnum and
R. S. Parker made application for a charter. Dis
pensation was granted these brothers of the three
links, and on May 13, 1878, the lodge was insti
tuted. A good membership was soon gained and
the lodge progressed rapidly. In the early part

of 1

the members of the Odd Fellows lodge

started a movement for the organization of a
higher degree in Odd Fellowship, and on May
18 of that year a charter was granted to Lakeview
encampment No. 18. The charter members were
S. P. Moss, William Tullock, Frank W. Beach,
A. McCallen, Dr. H. Wright, B. F. Barnum, T.
W- Colvin, A. F. Snelling, John Simmons, A.
Fitts, R. S. Parker, V. L. Snelling, O. L. Stan
ley, William Townsend and H. R. Heryford. The
•camp, like the subordinate lodge, prospered. Be
ing the only camp in southeastern Oregon, it
gained members from all over that section of the
country and from Northern California. The
property and records of the encampment burned
with the hall in the big fire of 1900. Immedi
ately thereafter the order started out with more
zeal than ever and now supports a strong lodge.
Some time after the organization of the Odd
Fellows lodge its members and their wives began
preliminary work for organizing a Rebekah de
gree. The exact date of the issuance of the char
ter cannot be obtained, as the date of the original
charter is not given in the duplicate charter is
sued after the fire. Dispensation was granted ancl
a . .charter issued to the following persons :
Brothers A. Fitts, C. U. Snider, B. F. Barnum,
O. Ju. Stanley, William Tullock, T. W. Colvin,
George P. Lovegrove, Frank W. Beach, F. P.
Light, H. R. Heryford, C. Henkle, John Sim
mons, W. M. Townsend, J. Frankl, and Sisters
R. F. Stanley, S. P. Moss, Ann Barnum, A. R.
Tullock, Flora J. Stanley, M. L. Heryford, L. A.

Colvin, N. C. Parker, Frances Colvin, Anna
Wright, E. P. Steel, M. Simmons and Mrs.
Townsend, for Lakeview Rebekah Lodge No. 22.
A duplicate charter was granted May 25, 1900.
George Conn, William Denny and Abram
Tenbrook applied to the grand lodge of Free
and Accepted Masons of Oregon for a dispensa
tion and charter for a Masonic lodge in Lake-
view. The dispensation was granted on June 12,
I, and George Conn was made master, Will

iam Denny senior warden and Abram Tenbrook
junior warden. There were about twelve char
ter members.
Some time after the institution of the Masonic
lodge agitation for an Eastern Star lodge was
commenced, and on April 19, 1883, a dispensa
tion was granted to Martha Hammersley, Mag
gie Evans, L. A. Huff, Martha Bonebrake, Fan
nie Burrus, Mary J. Hanks, Lucinda Follett, J.
B. Phelps, S. Hertzog, Mary Ramson, Orvilje
Harrington, Kate Hutton, Lovina A. Blair, C. E.
Down, N. J. Lesieur, E. Penland, Katie Dunlap,
Carrie Phelps and Jennie Phelps for Oriental
Chapter No. 5. J. Frankl was the first worthy
patron, Louisa A. Blair worthy matron, and
Martha Bonebrake associate worthy matron. A
new charter was issued on July 20, 1894.
In October, 1886, Lakeside lodge No. in,
Ancient Order of United Workmen, was organ
ized in Lakeview. The first officers'were : James
Clarkson, P. W. M. ; C. A. Beach, M. W. ; C. U.
Snider, foreman ; W. T. Boyd, recorder ; William
Townsend, financier ; George P. Lovegrove, re
ceiver. So well did the A. O. U. W. lodge flourish
that it was soon decided to organize the auxiliary
lodge and Lakeshore Lodge No. 77, Degree of
Honor, came into existence with the following
first officers: Mary E. Snider, P. C. of H.
Frances Burrus, L. of H. ; Lillie Harris, recorder
Anna Sherlock, receiver ; Nellie Snelling, J. W.
Anna M. Milon, C. of H. ; Frances P. Bieber, C.
of C. ; Minnie L. Willits, financier ; Lulu Max
well, L. U. ; T. S. Handley, O. W.
Court Pinewood Lodge No. 8530, Ancient
Order of Foresters, came into existence October
5, 1896, ancl started off under very favorable cir
cumstances. The charter was granted to William
Gunther, S. F. Ahlstrom, B. Daly, E. C. Ahl
strom ancl H. Schminck.
^ Lakeview Camp No. 526, Woodmen of the
World, was the next to come into existence in the
town, the charter being granted October 3, 1899.
The first officers installed were: Ashley Follet,
consel commander; Thomas Cloud, banker; M.
A. Striplin, escort ; Joseph Judge, sentry ; A. A.
Graham, master lieutenant; J. M. Batchelder,
clerk; C. Linebarger, watchman; T. V. Hall,

IHSTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

851

physician ; H. M. Stoutenyer, O. F. Demorest and
H. C. Whitworth, managers.
Solace Circle No. 374, Women of Woodcraft,
was organized soon after the W. O. W. Fol
lowing were the first officers : Lillie C. Harris,
advisor; Ella Rehart, magician; B. M. Blair, mu
sician ; Sadie A. Linebarger, past guardian neigh
bor; Mollie McGarry, clerk; Ida M. Striplin, at
tendant ; Annette Cheney, inner sentinel ; Lucy
T. Sublette, guardian neighbor ; Maggie C. Ber
nard, banker; Anna E. Sherlock, captain of
-guards ; C. P. Linebarger, outer sentinel ; E. H.
Smith, physician ; E. F. Cheney, Bessie Combs
and J. H. Tonnehill, managers.
The last fraternal order to be organized in
Lakeview was Rimrock Aerie, No. 777, Frater
nal Order of Eagles, which came into existence
December 1, 1904, with fifty-one charter mem
bers. The dispensation was granted to L. N.
Brautlacht. Lakeview supports two churches and each or
ganization owns its own place of worship and
conducts regular services. PAISLEY.
Second in size to Lakeview of Lake county
towns is Paisley, a town of from 250 to 300
-people, forty miles north of the county seat and
about 140 north of the nearest railroad point,
Madeline, California. To the north it is about
200 miles to the nearest railroad point, Shaniko,
and nearly the same distance to Pokegama, its
nearest point to the west, i'he town is the near
est one to the geographical center of the county,
and the people hope that some day their town will
be designated the county's seat of government.
Paisley is located on the Chewaucan river
near the foothills, and its site is one of great
beauty. In fact nature seems to have placed all
her resources under tribute to create this little
paradise. The town is on the south side of the
river, which is here heavily fringed with_ a
growth of cottonwood timber. The elevation
above sea level is 4,550 feet.
Approaching the town from the north the first
glimpse of Paisley by the stage bound passenger
"brings an exclamation of surprise to the lips as
with his face to the south he ascends a small
eminence from a level plain and the sudden vision
of beauty is revealed. Hidden in the luxuriance
of nature's growth, among orchards and shady
poplar, beside the beautiful, sparkling river of the
Chewaucan here spanned by a large bridge, with
"the smoke from fifty homes and firesides gently
floating on the balmy and exhilerating air down
the valley, the town presents to him a picture of
beauty that would defy the skill of an artist to

reproduce or the word painter to describe. On
the west of Paisley rise tall, majestic mountains,
adorned with fragrant forests of the stately pine
and fir, relieved by canyons and high cliffs, among
which sunshine and shadow chase in and out, pic
turing alternately the light and shade in seeming
fantastic pleasure upon the water of the river,
making a scene sublime. To the south lies the
low, level valley of the Chewaucan ancl to the
north opens a practically level country for miles
which terminates upon the desert beyond and
which contains thousands of acres. . Paisley is
situated like Reno, Nevada. One is on the Che
waucan, the other is on the Truckee, both streams
flowing from the high Sierras to f»U lakes on the
desert. Three general merchandise stores, a drug
store, a blacksmith shop, livery stable, saloon,
barber shop, brickyard, carpenter shop and avfirst-
class hotel cater to the wants of the people. A
flouring mill run by water power stands on the
banks of the river. The district supports a good
school and there is one church in the town, the
Methodist. The Masons, Eastern Star, Odd
Fellows, Woodmen of the World and Circle of
Woodcraft have lodges here. The growth of
Paisley has not been rapid, but it has been sub
stantial. It is an excellent trading point and one
of the prosperous towns of the county.
The first settlers in the Chewaucan valley, in
which Paisley is located, came in 1871. Among
the earliest were Root & Hoskins, who drove in a
band of cattle from California, ancl a Mr. Gil
lespie. One or two others came that year and a
few the next year, among them N. A. King of
Portland, who brought in cattle and located on the
marsh. By 1873 there was quite a settlement in
the valley.
In 1876 a mail route was established through
this interior country from The Dalles, by way of
Prineville and Silver Lake, to Lakeview with
weekly mail service. That same year a post-
office was established four miles south of the pres
ent site of Paisley and named Chewaucan. It
was at the home of T. J. Brattain and that gen
tleman was postmaster. The following year tlie
postoffice was moved to John Blair's ranch, six
miles farther south, and Mr. Blair officiated as
postmaster until he resigned about four years
later, when the office was discontinued.
The site upon which afterwards was built the
town of Paisley was state land, having been ob
tained from the government as agricultural col
lege lands. Three eighties, upon part of which
the town was afterwards laid out, were purchased
from the state by Messrs. Averill, J. P. Cochran
and Robert Drinkwater. The first business house
of the future town was a store started in 1878 bv

852

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

George Steele and J. P. Cochran. Unlike many
of the first enterprises of a new town, this store
was quite a pretentious affair, the stock put in
being valued at about $10,000. The goods were
freighted in from Red Bluff, California, and until
the railroad was built to Redding the store was
obliged to secure all its stock from that far away
town. Soon after the establishment of the store a
postoffice named Paisley was granted and George
Steele was made postmaster. The name was sug
gested by Charles Mitchell Innes, a native of
Scotland, and was named after the Paisley of
Scotland. During the year 1878 other enterprises
were started and a little village began to make
its appearance on the marsh. A blacksmith shop
was opened by Graham & Hamliry. T. J. Brat-
tain opened a hotel and feed stable, and in the
fall a school house was erected. This latter was
a big help in the building up of the town. A nine
months' school was maintained, and the surround
ing settlers would come to the little town and
make their homes there during the winter months
that their children might have the advantages of
the school. In the spring of 1879 Paisley busi
ness houses were added to by the opening of a
saloon by J. Fickle.
Paisley was platted May 2, 1879, by S. G.
Steele and John P. Cochran, but the plat was not
filed until December 14, 1879. The site was
surveyed by J. H. Evans. It consisted of four
blocks. Running north and south were three
streets named Willow, Main and Chewaucan. The
blocks were separated by one street running east
and west — Mill street. Additions have since been
platted as follows : South, East and West addi
tions, October 1, 1881, by J. P. Cochran, William
F. Mah and E. H. Morgan ; Second addition, July
16, 1883, by J. P. Cochran, William F. Mah and
E. H. Morgan ; West, Second North and Second
South additions, June 27, 1889, by Herman J.
Sadler, Minnie C. Sadler, J. P. Cochran and
Mary E. Cochran.
A second store was opened in 1881 by George
Conn. Two years later Virgil Conn bought an
interest and later acquired the whole business.
George Conn then established the third store in
Paisley. An important move forward in the his
tory of the town was the building of a flouring
mill in the early eighties by George and Virgil
Conn. It is said that 250 barrels of flour were
manufactured the first year — quite a record for
that period of the county's development.
Since its founding the growth of Paisley has
not been rapid. It is now and always has been
the trading point for a vast section of country in
central Lake county and the educational center
for the same region.

NEW PINE CREEK.
Third in size and importance of the towns of
Lake county is New Pine Creek, the state line
town, situated fifteen miles southeast of Lake-
view, in the most fertile and productive part of
Goose Lake valley. It is the nearest to a railroad
of any town in Lake county, being only seventy-
miles north of Madeline, California.
Surrounded as it is by a large scope of agri
cultural country, New Pine Creek is an important
business point, and the volume of its business-
compares favorably with that of any town of
like size in Oregon. It has a population of 150
or 200 people. There are two general merchan
dise stores, a drug store, two hotels, two feed
stables, a blacksmith shop, barber shop and meat
market. A good school is maintained here and
there are three church organizations, Methodist,
Baptist and Christian.
New Pine Creek is one of the best locations
for a town in Southern Oregon or Northern Cal
ifornia. It is beautifully situated with the majes
tic hills to the east and Goose lake to the west.
The scenery is truly magnificent. In a few hours
travel in the warmest months of the year one can
ride to the summit of a mountain to the delightful
Cave lake and mineral spring, where the atmos
phere is uncomfortably cold at night without a
good supply of wraps and bedding. The town-,
site is certainly a model one, with its broad
stretch of bottom land converging to the mag
nificent Goose lake, with its pretty mountain
scenery, with the great level plateau leading down
from the foot of the mountains, with its splen
did water power and natural irrigation facilities
dashing down its canyons. It is a garden spot.
New Pine Creek despite its name, is the old
est town of Lake county. The first settlers to the
county came to Goose Lake valley and the greater
part of these settled in that part of the valley
near the Oregon-California state line, some in one-
state and some in another. In the history chap
ter we have told of these early settlements and
shall not repeat the events of the valley in treat
ing of the town that afterwards came into exis
tence there.
Although the name, New Pine Creek, was not
officially applied to a town or post office until in
the early seventies, there was a business house on
the state line near the present town so early as
1869. That year Desible, Powley and King
started a store, which, however, ran only a few
weeks. In 187 1 a flouring mill was built by
Joseph Robnette, about one-half mile west of the
store location. The mill was necessarily of the
old-fashioned, primitive style, in which burrs were
used. Mr. Robnette operated the mill four sea-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

853

sons and then sold to A. Z. Hammersley. The
latter ran it until July 1, 1879, when the State
Line Milling Company was organized and took
over the ¦ interests of Mr. Hammersley. The
members of this company were Luke Mulkey, Jo
seph Robnette, Enoch Loper, Stephen P. Moss
and Johnson Mulkey.
But before these changes in the mill property
had taken place New Pine Creek had gained an
official standing and had become entitled to a
place on the map. In 1872 the mail route asked
tor by the Oregon legislature having been
granted by the Washington authorities, the set
tlers of the Pine Creek country petitioned the
postoffice department for the establishment of a
postoffice in their valley to be called Pine Creek.
The petition was favorably acted upon and Lake
county's first postoffice came into existence. Ow
ing to the fact that there was at the time one
¦postoffice in Oregon named Pine Creek, another
of the same name could not be established, so
the authorities made out • the commission under
the title of New Pine Creek, and as such it has
always been known. S. A. Hammersley was the
first postmaster, and the office was maintained at
his house. The office remained at this point until
1897, when it was moved a half mile east to its
-present location.
When the State Line Milling Company pur
chased the mill in 1879, it opened a store at New
Pine Creek and the following year the townsite
was platted. The site was surveyed by Frank M.
Cheesman and was platted December 16, 1880,
by Enoch Loper and his wife, Mary E. Loper.
The original townsite consisted of eight blocks.
The streets north and south were named Center
and West, and those east and west were Mill
street, Church street and State Line avenue. The
townsite is located just north of the California
line, one of the streets touching the line. There
have been no additions platted.
The State Line Milling Company sold the
-store in 1883 to B. W. Rees, who conducted it
two years and then moved it to Lakeview. In
1884 the company also sold the mill property to
J. R. Hammersley. The latter ran it until 1900,
when he sold to A. M. Smith, and the latter to E.
Keller. From the date of the removal of Mr.
Rees' store to Lakeview up to 1890 there was no
-store at New Pine Creek, and the town during
these years consisted only of tne postoffice and
the mill.
On the latter date some of the farmers in the
vicinity formed a corporation and opened at New
Pine Creek a cooperative store. Farmers' co-
ooerative business ventures are seldom success
ful and this was no exception to the rule. Al
though it was not a prosperous venture, the store

continued to exist for some time. Ben Warner,
one of the supporters of the corporation, finally
came into possession of the store, and about 1898
the remnants of the cooperative store were sold to
Lemons & Hartzog. These gentlemen conducted
a general merchandise business a couple of years,
and the business then passed into the hands of
Fleming & Hartzog. In 1903 Fleming Bros.
bought the store and still conduct it. Another
store was started in 1897 by Stanley McLaughlin,
who shortly afterwards sold to Capt. Follett, and
the latter to his son, Eb. Follett. The stock was
finally closed out.
The town of New Pine Creek did not grow
to any extent until about 1900. The mill, store
and postoffice constituted the town until the gen-
erel prosperity of late years has caused it to grow
to some extent. The year 1900 was a prosperous
one and at the beginning of 1901 we find there
are two general merchandise stores, a hotel, black
smith shop, livery stable and several residences.
A petition was circulated in 1901 asking for a
change in the name of the postoffice from New
Pine Creek to Orcal, but the proposed name did
not prove popular with the citizens and was not
made. "Orcal" is made up of the abbreviations of
the two states upon the dividing line of which
the town is built, but despite the novelty of the
name, the old fashioned one of New Pine Creek
was considered good enough.
Several attempts have been made to start a
saloon in the state line town, but the sentiment
against it is strong, and so far the attempts have
been unsuccessful. SILVER LAKE. *
Silver Lake is the most northerly town of
Lake county. It is one of the most interesting
points in Oregon in many ways. Its remoteness
irom railroads, its natural surroundings, its
varied resources, make it an important factor in
the development of Inland Oregon. It has been
called the "Gateway to the Oregon Desert."
If there is a town in the United States which
is farther from a railroad than Silver Lake, its
whereabouts is unknown to the writer. Its near
est point is Shaniko, 170 miles distant to the
north. To the west the nearest point reached by
wagon road is Eugene, about the same distance.
to the south is Madeline, California, nearly 200
miles away, while to the east the distance to a
railroad is much greater.
Within a radius of twenty-five miles of Silver
Lake are to be found some rich farming lands,
the greater portion of which can be easily irri
gated. The village is a thriving little community
and will continue on the map of Oregon as a town

854

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of more or less importance for all time to come.
While the citizens of Silver Lake and vicinity are
very ambitious, they do not insist that their town
is about to become the metropolis of eastern Ore
gon. The place has a population of about ioo
people. It is situated on Silver creek, and has an
elevation of 4,300 feet above sea level.
The town supports two general merchandise
stores, a newspaper, a hotel, livery stable, black
smith shop, shoemaker's shop and a saloon. There
is one church, the Methodist, and one lodge, the
Woodmen of the World, organized in February,
1899. A good school is also maintained here.
Although the town of Silver Lake did not
come into existence until the middle eighties,
there was some little settlement in Silver Lake
valley in the seventies. During the winter of
1874-5 a postoffice named Silver Lake was estab
lished on the lake of the same name at the home
of G. C. Duncan, nine miles east of the present
site of the town. The postoffice was in the little
log cabin belonging to Mr. Duncan and that gen
tleman was postmaster. The office continued in
existence for many years, being discontinued
about 1881. In 1882 the office was re-established
at the ranch of C. P. Marshall, about one and
one-half miles west of the present town, and Mr.
Marshall was the postmaster.
The site of the present town of Silver Lake
was government land until it was settled upon
by Mr. H. F. West under the preemption laws in
1884. Here Mr. West built a little cabin and',
lived for a time. Later he took up a homestead
and moved his Cabin onto that.
For the convenience of the settlers in the Sil
ver Lake country and as a business proposition,
in the fall of 1885 J. P. Roberts, who had prev
iously been engaged in the mercantile business at
Linkville and Merganser, in the Klamath coun
try, freighted in a stock of goods and opened a
store. This was just west of the present site of
the town. The store was conducted in a little
log building, and the stock was valued at about
$1000. Mr. Roberts was not successful in his
venture and the business went into the hands of a
receiver. Mr. Johnson, the receiver, took charge
of the store in February, 1886.
In the fall of 1886 the first business house on
the land now platted as the townsite of Silver
Lake was established. This was the Silver Lake
hotel, put up and run by George Elliott and wife.
A feed barn was put up about the same time and
was run by Mr. Elliott in connection with the
hotel. A little later Mr. Johnson moved the Rob
erts store over to a point opposite the hotel and
the new town boasted two business houses. The
Roberts stock of goods was closed out in the
spring of 1887.

The fall of 1886 witnessed the establishment
of the second store. This was put in by J. H.
Clayton. Shortly afterwards the postoffice was-
moved from the Marshall ranch to the Clayton
store and U. F. Abshier was appointed postmas
ter. He was succeeded by R. S. Manseargh, and
in 1891 F. M. Chrisman became postmaster,
which position he has held ever since.
About the time of the establishment of the
Clayton store the citizens of the surrounding-
country raised $700 by subscription and estab
lished a school at Silver Lake, which was at that
time the pride of the settlement, and it may be
said that the Silver Lake school has ever since-
been an institution in which the people take pride.
Fifteen scholars attended the first term.
In 1887 several new enterprises were estab
lished in the little town. Milton Brown that year
purchased the stock of the Roberts store, freighted
in a lot of new goods, built a two thousand dollar
building ancl started a general merchandise store.
He continued in business until 1891. A saloon-
was also established that year by F. A. Duncan
and Felix Green.
Silver Lake was platted October 19, 1888, by
H. F. West and his wife, Emogene West. It
was surveyed October 19 by Lincoln Taylor, sur
veyor. The site consisted of fifteen blocks. North
and south the streets are First, Second, Third,
Fourth and Fifth. East and west the streets are-
named Main, Center and South.
Sam Allison started a blacksmith shop in
1888, thus filling a long felt want in the little
town. In 1890 F. M. Chrisman purchased a one-
half interest in the store of J. H. Clayton. Two-
years later W. A. Chrisman bought Mr. Clay
ton's interest, and in 1894 F. M. Chrisman be
came sole owner of the business which he still
conducts. A second store was established in 1892
by J. C. Conn, which he ran until his death in
1904. During the year 1894 we find that Silver
Lake had grown to be a town of about fifty peo
ple. On Christmas eve of that year occurred the
most horrible catastrophe that has ever taken
place in a town the size of Silver Lake, and one of
the most terrible that ever occurred in the history
of Oregon, — the death of forty-three people in an
awful holocaust. That number of persons taken
out of a small community leaves vacancies in the
homes that will not be filled this generation.
On the evening of December 24 there were
gathered at the J. H. Clayton hall, on the lower
floor of which was the store of Chrisman Bros.,
between 175 and 200 people, come together for
the Christmas eve festivities. A well ar
ranged program had been prepared and the exer
cises were drawing to a close. The applause of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

855

the audience was resounding throughout the hall,
showing the appreciation of the entertainment.
All were happy and free from care that night.
But how soon a time of pleasure ancl enjoyment
can be replaced by one of the darkest despair !
How quickly unsuspecting souls can be hurled
into eternity !
The persons who were to take part in the last
number of the entertainment were behind the cur
tain preparing for their appearance, when some
one in the audience, wishing either to get a better
view or to leave the room, arose and walked
across the benches. In doing so he accidentally
struck the hanging lamp with his head, which
threw some of the oil into the burner. This im
mediately ignited and a burst of flame shot to the
ceiling. Francis M. Chrisman, who was seated
near by, rushed to the blazing lamp, succeeding
in getting it from its frame, and started to carry
it to the door.
He doubtless would have averted the terrible
calamity that followed had he been left alone.
But, as is usual in a case^ of this kind, the audi
ence became excited and then panic stricken. The
courage of Mr. Chrisman ancl a few others who
calmly attempted to carry the burning lamp from
the thronged hall was made useless by the ex
cited crowd, which dashed it from Mr. Chris-
man's hands, scattering death and destruction in
its path. Of what avail is human forethought in
an emergency of this kind, when reason gives
way and not even thought of self-preservation
exists ?
When Mr. Chrisman started for the door with
the burning lamp the excited ones began to strike
it with hats, coats and whatever came handy. The
lamp was knocked from Mr. Chrisman's grasp
and rolled upon the floor, a burning, seething
mass. When a realization of the dangerous state
of affairs began to dawn upon the excited and
horrified people, a bold dash was made for liberty.
For a very short space of time, while the burn
ing lamp lay near the door, there was compara
tive quiet, although even then women and chil
dren ancl some few of the men were being held
back by other who were cooler. Possibly the dis
aster might have been less direful had not some
one jumped through the flames and reached the
door, thus exciting others to imitate him. A
young lady approached the fire's edge, doubtless
with the intention of attempting an escape in the
same manner. She hesitated for a moment as if
about to leap, when a tongue of flame reached out
and caught her dress. Some of the less excited
people went to her rescue and in that way their
attention was taken from those whom they were
restraining. It is not known whether it was because of the

imprisoned ones' belief that the only avenue of
escape was through the doorway, or because the
sight of the lady's burning apparel moved them
to a fenzy of fear — perhaps both — that caused
the wild rush to the door. A little girl, at a dis
advantage from her stature, was pushed or fell
down ancl was trod upon. Her mother cried:
"For God's sake, don't trample on my child," and
bending to lift her, was herself forced down by
the crowd. Others stumbled over them, and the
flames from the oily floor enveloped them as they
did all who fell.
The building in which the catstrophe oc
curred was a two-story structure, about 24x50
feet. There was only one small door that opened
from the inside, and this was approached from
the outside by a narrow flight of stairs. The door
was in the rear of the building. The only other
means of escape were two windows, both in the
front end of the hall. After the first rush of the
crowd for the door in its mad effort to escape a
burning death had been made, a rush was made
for the windows.
The rudely constructed benches that were in
the center of the hall greatly impeded the progress
of escape. At the first onslaught the blockade at
the door 'and windows was so great that it was
necessary for help inside and outside to break
the jam and effect escape. Under the burden of
men rushing from the hell of sudden flame the
stairs fell to the ground, and those who escaped
thereafter fell from the landing to the ground, a
distance of about thirteen feet.
The windows offered no deliverance except
through flame and smoke that few human beings
could withstand, but the stifling, shrieking,
crazed victims in the blazing passage attempted to
stagger thither, many to fall to rise no more.
Some, however, escaped from this outlet, being
aided greatly by a small porch under the win
dows. It was on this porch that Walter Duncan
stood and helped several to safety. Instead of
jumping off when pulled out, they stood there
until about twenty had been rescued, when the
porch gave way and all fell to the ground. A
ladder was then placed at the windows, but only
two more persons were saved from the windows
after the porch fell. In his testimony before the
coroner's jury Mr. Duncan said of this rescue at
the windows.
I broke out one of the front windows and spoke
to some ladies that were standing on the stage to come
that way. I threw myself out on the porch and pulled
them out. I think I must have helped out about fifteen
persons, big and little. One man came through the win
dow, when I heard my wife scream on the inside : "For
God's sake, pull me out; I am burning up." I reached

~8S6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

my arms and body through the window and got hold
of her, the smoke coming out of the window at the time.
Just then the porch gave way and we fell to the side
walk. I hallooed for a ladder and then raised my wife
up, and she said : 'Where is our baby ?" I left her and
ran around the house to the stairway. When I got
there I saw that all hope of getting any one out at the
door was gone, as the blaze was coming out of the door
twenty feet high. I found my boy there alive. A ladder
-was put up in front and just two persons, Mrs. Busick
and Roy Ward, were saved after the porch fell.
,. It was hardly more than two minutes after
.the lamp fell until the entire building was aflame.
everything was in a turmoil of excitement and
.commotion. Some were calling loudly for loved
.ones that could not be found. Some were rush
ing hither and thither through the blinding heat
.and smoke and flame, trying to find some means
of escape from the prison of flames. Same knelt
down and prayed, while others, so overcome by
the suddenness of the dangerous situation, fainted
and fell prostrate in the flames. One who went
-through this terrible ordeal has written of the
•few minutes of hell :
The scene can not be imagined by one not actually
present at this or some similar catastrophe. Now and
then for an instant when the thought of self or the help
of others was not uppermost, some expression of face
would catch your eye and leave its impression on your
memory forever. In many a face was the expression
or terror mingled with pain and fear. On top, trying
to crawl over those erect, could be seen some with eyes
protruding. One such sight leaves with you a memory
never to be forgotten. The expression of those eyes
said plainer than any words, and said nothing else:
"Life! Life! I must have life!"
Amid this scene, however, there were examples of
manly courage. One man who tried to rescue a little
girl whose clothing was on fire and who undoubtedly
would have been trampled upon in another moment,
hurriedly went to her assistance, picked her up on his
shoulder, at the same time trying with his bare hands
:"to smother the fire which was rapidly consuming her
garments, the flames from which all the time lapped
his head and face. He remained cool and was apparently
aware of the selfishness of pushing onward or back
ward to the injury of others. Suddenly he was seen
- to stagger and sink, evidently having inhaled the flames
from the girl's burning clothing. Appeals for help were
heartrending. When the last of the rescued were pullerj
from the building not a sound or a moan was to
be heard above the roar and crackling of the
flames. The gas doubtless produced instant suf
focation, and the forty odd souls that perished in
the death trap met their death without suffering
after the first terrible agony. Further rescue was

impossible and those who had escaped were
obliged to stand and witness the terrible scene.
It was one of the most horrible, ghastly spec
tacles that was ever presented to the human gaze.
Nearly all who were present had relatives or
friends who were being consumed before their
very eyes. It was truly a heart-rending and
sickening sight to behold.
Forty persons met their death that night and
three died from the effects of the fire two or three
months later. The forty-three victims of the
holocaust were :

S. A. Ward.
Ella Ward.
Etta Ward.
Royal R. Ward.
Juda J. Absbier.
W. C. Martin.
Rebecca Martin.
Melinda J. Payne.
George p. Payne.
Robert J. Small.
Whanetta E. Williams.
Henry C. Williams.
Ella LaBrie.
Hazel W. LaBrie.
H. F. West.
Emogene P. West.
Herbert H. West.
Bertha A. West.
Isabella R. Phillips.
Lillie Phillips.
Frank R. Ross.
Mrs. Wm. M. Owsley.
D. Bruce Owsley.
S. Gertrude Howard.
Harry B. Howard.
Bessie E. Howard.
Ada B. Hurst.
Woodford F. Hurst.
Mary J. Snelling.
Robert Snelling.
.Tames J. O. Buick.
Frankie M. Horning.
Marietta L. Buick.
David N. Buick.
Lela Buick.
Mrs. T. Cashow.
Lucinda C. Schroder.
Eston B. Schroder.
E. A. Bowen.
Laura F. McCully.
Fred M. Busick.
Ira C. Hamilton.
Lillie W. Owsley.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

857

The seriously injured were George L. Payne,
Mrs. T. J. LaBrie (who is Ella LaBrie), Robert
Snelling, Miss Gertie Busick, L. J. Henderson,
Miss Annie Anderson, Mrs. Ida Hamilton and
son, Bert Gowdy, Henry Egli, Charles C. Ham-
brick, Clara Snelling, Samuel Wardwell, R. E.
Ward and Mrs. S. A. Ward. Of these the first
three named later died from the effects of the
burns and injuries received. Slightly injured in
the disaster were Mrs. S. K. Busick, Miss Cdrena
Howard, Mrs. J. R. Horning, Mrs. J. J. Buick,
C. F. Hamilton, W. H. McCall, Mrs. War
ren Duncan and son, Miss Annie Egli,
Miss Mabel Egli, Amel Egli, Mrs. N.
¦Comegys, Mrs. Effie Hamilton, Mrs. J. J. Ward
and son, J. M. Ward, W. L. Coshow, T. J. Jack
son, W. J. Thomasson, Mrs. C. P. Marshall and
S. G. Hadley.
There was nothing left of the unfortunate
ones by which they could be identified except a
few charred bones which would fall to pieces
with the slightest touch. Immediate attention
was given to the injured and suffering, and the
entire 'village was turned into a hospital. Cour
iers were at once dispatched to Summer Lake,
Paisley and Lakeview, and assistance came from
all over the county. Everything was clone that
willing hands hands could do to alleviate the suf
fering of the injured. Drs. Thompson of Silver
Lake and Daly of Lakeview attended to the in
jured. In getting to the scene of the disaster,
Dr. Daly accomplished a feat never performed
before in Oregon. In twenty-four hours he rode
over 200 miles across vales and mountains, the
snow girth deep in a hundred places and the ther
mometer below zero.
The charred remains were gathered ancl a few
days later the funeral was held, the remains be
ing buried in one coffin.
A coroner's inquest was held, whose findings
were as follows :
We, the coroner's jury empaneled to ascertain the
•cause of the death of the following deceased persons,
to wit: * * * do find that the said deceased per
sons above mentioned were residents of Silver Lake,
Lake county, Oregon, and that said deceased persons
mentioned above came to their death on Dec. 24, 1894,
by being burned by fire while in Chrisman's hall, when

the said hall was accidentally consumed by fire ; and
we find that the cause of death was accidental.
J. R. McCormack, Foreman.
Geo. M. Jones,
G. C Duncan,
J. B. Blair,
W. O. Stone,
P. W. Jones,
Wm. H. Hayes, Acting Coroner.
In 1898 a handsome monument was erected
in the cemetery at Silver Lake in honor of the
memory of those who met their death in the awful
holocaust. The growth of Silver Lake during the nineties
was not rapid. It continued to be the trading
point for the immense, but thinly settled, country
surrounding. During later years, however, the
town has advanced to some extent. In 190 1 the
town had its first telephone, when a company of
local people built a line to Lakeview, ninety-eight
miles long.
The year 1904 was an exceptionally prosper
ous one for the little town. The country sur
rounding was settled upon quite extensively, the
timber land in the vicinity was taken up and the
town felt the effect. A few new enterprises were
started and several new residences were built.
ADEI.
Add is the name of a postoffice on Deep creek,
thirty-five miles due east of Lakeview. In addi
tion to the postoffice there is also a store owned
by J. J. Monroe. A tri-weekly stage operates
between Add and Fort Bidwell, and the office has
a tri-weekly mail. The postoffice was established
in 1896. PLUSH.
Plush postoffice is located on Warner lake at
the mouth of Honey creek, forty miles northeast
of Lakeview. There is one general merchandise
store in Plush owned by'Daniel Boone.
SUMMER LAKE.
Summer Lake is a postoffice and stage station
sixty-five miles northwest of Lakeview.
WARNER LAKE.
Warner Lake is a country postoffice situated
near the southern end of Warner lake, twenty-
two miles southeast of Lakeview. It has a tri
weekly mail and is connected by stage with Plush,
Lakeview and Fort Bidwell.

CHAPTER V

DESCRIPTIVE.

Most appropriately named is Lake county.
It is in the center of the great lake
country of Central Oregon, where are located
some of the most remarkable bodies of water
in the world. This county lies in tlie central
southern portion of the state, about midway be
tween the eastern and western boundaries. On
the north it is bounded by Crook and on the
east by Harney county, on the south by the
states of California and Nevada, and on the
west by Kalamath, which latter was at one time
a part of Lake county.
Regarding its area it stands third in the state,
having a trifle over 8,000 square miles. Mal
heur county has 9.784 and Harney 9,986 square
miles. Its length is about one hundred and fif
teen miles and its width east and west is eighty
miles. Some idea of these figures is obtained
by comparison. When the statement is made
that its area is 8,000 square miles, a correct un
derstanding of its size may not be gained, but
when it is said that Lake count}- is larger than
Delaware, larger than Rhode Island, larger than
Connecticutt, larger than New Jersey, and about
tlie size of Massachusetts its proportions be
come clearer and more distinct. Yet in all this
vast area are living about 3,000 people only.
Compare this with the conditions in the states
just named, and stronger grows the belief that
there is room for more people in Lake county.
The countv contains 5,230,080 acres divided
as follows: 1,986,048 acres of agricultural land;
1,124,352 acres of grazing land; 1,152,000 acres
of timber land; 714,240 acres unsurveyed land
and 253,440 acres covered by lakes of which
80,000 acres can be drained. The land ap
proved and deeded amounts to 1,000,000. There
are temporarilv withdrawn from settlement
1,801,550 acres. There were on January 1, 1905,
2,346,293 acres of government land in Lake
countv opened to settlement. The county is sit
uated at an average height of 4,500 feet above
sea level. Generally the country is mountain
ous interspersed with numerous large, ancl count
less small and fertile vallevs. On the

mountains is an abundance of grass and
hundreds of thousands head of stock are there
pasturing continuously. The land is well adapt
ed to agricultural purposes, but scarcely suffi
cient has been cultivated to supply local de
mands. Professor E. B. Cope, a high geolog
ical authority, has writen concerning the forma
tion of Lake county :
"The whole countr}- appears to have been
covered at some not very remote geological peri
od, by a great sheet of lava, which has been
cracked, uplifted and depressed in various pro
portions ; almost every plateau ends in an es
carpment of naked basalt, known throughout
that region as rimrock, perhaps, geologically,
the most characteristic feature of the county ;
nearly ever}- valley is enclosed in such forma
tion." There are numerous natural hot springs
scattered throughout Lake county, in which
eggs may be boiled hard within two minutes.
There are fine forests of timber, numerous saw
mills, great cattle ranches, an abundance of wa
ter flowing through the mountain canyons all the
year round. In the way of sport and pleasure
there are the finest fishing pools and camping
places in the northwest. Here can be found on
the summit of the mountain, at an elevation of
8.000 feet, a lake of crystal water abounding in
mountain trout, ancl at the edge a mineral
spring the waters of which are said to possess
remarkable curative powers. At Summer lake
a river bubbles forth from the ground and cours
es through the valley. Bands of antelope num
bering in the hundreds scurry over the hills and
the big mule deer can be found in numbers any
where on the mountains and foothills. Here may
be found majestic mountains, mazes of sylvan
solitude and poetic silence, broken only by the
murmurs of the sad and solemn pines ; sparkling
streamlets ripple and sing, weaving through
myriad-tinted meadows like threads of silver
hair. In the way of majestic, picturesque scen
ery nature has contributed bountifully to Lake
countv. While located among- the mountains the-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

859-

county is interspersed with some of the finest
vallevs in Oregon, and only second in extent of
area to tlie far-famed Willamette valley. Be
tween these valleys are ridges and in some places
mountains covered with juniper, fir, mahogany,
and pine, shrubs and wild plums.
The principal valleys are Goose lake. North
and South Warner, Chewaucan, Summer and
Silver lake. These valleys cover an area of hun
dreds of square miles and are very productive.
When properly cultivated all the soils of Lake
county yield abundantly. The bottom lands are
covered with native grasses and grow huge crops
of alfalfa, as well as cereals and vegetables.
There is no body of land, occupied or unoccu
pied, in Lake countv that is farther than ten
miles from timber. However, the county is so
large and its resources and natural wonders so
many and varied, that a general description
would convey only a faint idea of them. It is
our purpose to tell of each portion of the county
in turn. First let us direct our attention to the
several valleys which lie within the boundaries
of the county.
One of the largest and most productive is
Warner valley, the lands of which have been in
continued litigation for so many years. As we
have given a full account of this legal tangle in
a preceding chapter we shall here confine our
selves to a simple decription of the valley-. It is
located in the southeastern portion of the county.
is about 70 miles long, north and south, by from
four to ten miles wide, east and west. Y\ arner,
in fact comprises two valleys. North and South
Warner, separated by what is called the Nar
rows. Running through the valley and into
Warner lake are several large streams, the prin
cipal ones being Twenty-Mile creek, flowing
into the lake from the south : Deep creek on the
west, and Honey creek into North Warner from
the west. While there are these streams flow
ing through the valley and into the lake, tliere
are none flowing out. and the water goes into
North Warner lake where it either evaporates
or sinks. This valley produces fruit of all kinds adapt
ed to the climate, and all varieties of vegetables.
Grain grows here as well as it does in any valley
in Oregon, but on account of being so far from
market very little is raised. The principal pro
duct of the valley is hay, where it grows in pro
fusion, natural and tame. Warner valley, as you
first see it. looking from the graded road of Deep
Creek canyon, presents a beautiful view. The
haystacks, so thickly dotted over the meadows.
tell thdr own storv of prosperity. The comfort
able houses with their gardens and orchards, are
pleasant features of the scene, and besides these

are thousands of acres of land which are unques
tionably swamp. Warner basin is a settling
basin, and seems to occupy the bowl of an extinct
crater, and is surrounded on the east, south ancl
west by igneous rocks, chiefly brown basalt,
which on its west side rises abruptly from 1.500
to 2,000 feet above the level of the basin. The
existence of Warner basin is due, no doubt, to its
having been within a zone of displacement of the
eartlfs crust in a past period when near the bor
der of an immense volcanic movement that once
visited this region.
The Chewaucan basin is part of the Great
Basin that covers parts of Utah, Nevada, Cali
fornia and Oregon, and which has no outlet to
the sea. The Great Basin is divided into seven
small basins, Sulton. Boneville. Lahonton, Ow
ens. Mono and Chewaucan. each having no con
nection with the others. The Chewaucan is the
most northerly of the smallest of these basins.
From the headwaters of Crooked creek to the
Silver lake summit is about 100 miles, and east
and west from the rimrock east of Lake Abert
to the rimrock west of Summer lake is about 60
miles. This rimrock is due to the faulting of
the formation, and rises about 3.000 feet in
places almost perpendicularly above the valley
that lies between. In this valley there are
between 150.000 and 200,000 acres of fine agri
cultural land and the basin is protected on all
sides by high ranges. At one time this entire
basin was covered by Lake Chewaucan. Its
dessication has been marked by five distinct
stages where the old shore lines can be plainly
traced. During the glacial period the waters of
this lake were from 300 to 400 feet deep where
Paislev now stands, and extended nearly a hun
dred miles in length. The water has receded un
til all that is left is one small lake under the rim
rock on either side of this basin. The origin of
this basin was volcanic and the leaching of the
volcanic rocks has impregnated the waters of
these lakes with salt, soda and potash, just as
has been done in varying degrees in each of the
other divisions of the Great Basin. These salts
will be valuable whenever a railroad offers a
market. The Chewaucan basin has three prin
cipal divisions. Summer lake. Chewaucan marsh
and Crooked creek. Clover flat is a small settle
ment higher up on the mountain, and there are
several ranches on the Little Chewaucan.
Should one desire to view grand and im
pressive scenerv let him climb the mountain <~>n
the east side of the Chewaucan valley, where he
mav feast his eyes on the great Shewaucan pano
rama, which in its entire length is 19 miles long
bv 7 miles wide. The elevation of Chewaucan
marsh is 4.336 feet above sea level.

"86o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Goose lake valley is one of the largest and
most productive. The entire section more resem
bles a middle west farming country than a Pacific
"Northwest farming and stock raising district.
Grain, hay, fruits, berries, vegetables and melons
¦grow there in abundance. It is an ideal valley
and extends from the northern part of California
northward to some distance above Lakeview. To
the west of Gpose lake is Drew's valley, a rich
and productive section, 4,951 feet above sea
"level. Summer and Silver lake valleys are, also,
fertile spots in the county. The former, just be
yond the Chewaucan, and over a crest of hills,
is the paradise where fruit and berries grow
-abundantly and mature more rapidly than in any
other section of Lake county. This valley hugs
the rimrock mountains, and is a naturally shel
tered spot where beautiful flowers mingle their
fragrance with the lovely wild flowers of the foot
hills. Here is the spot for the fruit grower, with
"high mountains to the west and a beautiful lake
covering the heart of the valley. Here, also,
many wealthy farmers and stock raisers have
their homes. This valley was discovered in 1843
by General Fremont who named it Summer .lake.
Silver lake valley, thirty miles north of Sum
mer lake valley, is decidedly a stock country, and
many extensive ranches are located within it. It
lies close to the great desert and it has a fine out
let for stock. There are excellent agricultural
lands here in abundance and a progressive people
make up the community. Besides these there are
a number of smaller valleys where agricultural
pursuits are carried on to some extent. The whole
northern part of the county is known as the "des
ert," and of this we shall have more to say later
on. While these valley lands are well adapted to
agricultural purposes onlv sufficient to supply lo
cal demands and to furnish the mills and stock
men has thus far been cultivated. This is be
cause Lake county is remote from railway trans
portation, and there is no profit in raising grain
and shipping to the outside. The soil is diversi
fied, consisting of rich, black loam, sage brush
loam of different grades and in some places it is
sandy. Irrigation is yet in its infancy in Lake county.
Only a few ditches have been constructed and
these are on a small scale. Subirrigation from
lakes and streams is mostly depended upon at
present. Water is going to waste that would be
ample to irrigate all the yalley lands of the coun
ty, and there are a sufficient number of ample
reservoir sites to store the snows and rains of win
ter ancl spring to irrigate all the level lands of the
region. The United States Reclamation Service
•engineers are making a careful investigation of

the reservoir sites in the neighborhood of Lake-
view. It is estimated that at least 200,000 acres
of land can be reclaimed and irrigated in the
county. All this land is not in one body like the
Klamath Falls project, but it is quite as easy to
reclaim, and at less cost per acre, because there
are no vested water rights to be bought out as
was the case in Klamath county. The engineers
are, also, looking over the marsh and lake bottom
lands that it is proposed to drain. The landhold
ers have all expressed a willingness to promptly
comply with the governmental conditions with
reference to signing up their lands if by so doing
they can induce the secretary of the Interior to
approve of the project. According to the third
annual report of the service — covering the years
1903 and 1904 — and issued in 1905, the govern
ment has investigated three sections of Lake
county with a possible view of undertaking gov
ernment irrigation. These are the Chewaucan,
Ana river and Silver lake projects. Concerning
the Chewaucan project the report says :
The lands for the Chewaucan project lie generally
north and east of Paisley and Chewaucan mursh. in
the south central part of the state. Their elevation
above sea level is approximately 4,500 feet. The lands
to the east and north of Chewaucan marsh are very
fertile and, for this altitude, unusually free from frosts.
* * * Tne area 0f irrigable lands which can be
covered by a gravity system is about 33,000 acres.
* * * Owing to the high elevation late frosts fre
quently occur in the bottom lands and prevent the gen
eral cultivation of such vegetables as tomatoes and
potatoes. Along the foothills, however, in the more
protected places, all the fruits and products of the ordi
nary garden are grown. Two crops of alfalfa are now
successfully raised. It is not believed that these lands,
remote as they are from railroads, could at present
stand a charge for even a storage supply of more than
$20 per acre. Surveys have been made during the past
season of two reservoir sites in upper Chewaucan
valley. One of these, with a 100-foot dam, will store
130,000 acre-feet, and the other, with a dam of the
same height, will store 95,000 acre feet. Prelimiary
lines were also run from a division point at the lower
end of the canyon to determine the amount of land
which could be covered. The withdrawal from all entry
of irrigable lands under the project, together with reser
voir sites and division site has been requested. Prob
ably not 15 per cent are patented.
Concerning the Ana river project the report
says :
This project lies northwest of the Chewaucan
project and north of Summer lake, in south central
Oregon and has an elevation of about 4,500 feet above

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

86 p

sea level. Ana river rises in five large springs in the
west half of section 6, township 30 south, range 17 east,
and flows south into the north end of Summer lake,
about five miles distant. The lower pool or spring is
about 25 feet above the surface of the lake, and the
river for a mile or more flows through a narrow canyon
from 30 to 50 feet in depth, cut in a soft, whitish earth
or volcanic ash. The discharge from the springs is
said by people in that vicinity to be constant. A meas
urement made in July of this season showed 155
second-feet. With this supply it is estimated that
12,000 to 15,000 acres could be irrigated. The tempera
ture of the water as it flows from the springs is from
65 to 68 degrees.
On the west side of Summer lake fruit and garden
produce of all kinds are grown in abundance. The area
that could be irrigated from Ana river should have
the same climate as Summer lake, except that it would
be more subject to winds. The soil in places is very
alkaline and much of it is covered with sand dunes.
With water at this temperature and running the entire
season, it is believed that the alkali can easily be taken
care of and that a sufficient amount of level land can
be found to at least justify further investigation. It
is believed that for this water supply the land will easily
stand a charge of $20 per acre. The lands under this
project are practically all unpatented. Pending further
investigation the lands covering the division of the river
have been withdrawn from all entry and the irrigable
lands from all except homestead entry. Surveys have
been made this season of the sources of Ana river, and
preliminary lines run to determine the available area for
irrigation. A preliminary estimate has been made,
based on these surveys, for raising the water 70 feet
by a dam, and diverting it over the better alkaline
lands. Speaking of the Silver Lake project the report
continues :
The land for this project lies north of Silver lake,
in Lake county, and is what is locally known as the
Low Desert, or Silver Lake Desert. There have also
been included lands west of Silver Lake. The lands
of Silver Lake Desert are a little lower than Silver
lake, which discharges a greater or less amount of
water in different years toward Thorn lake. There is
said to ,be a reservoir site on upper Silver creek from
which lands west of Silver Creek may be irrigated.
The general elevation of this region is about 4,700 feet
above sea level. Practically nothing is known of the
water supply available, but it is said that water can
be found at a little depth below the surface over the
Silver Lake Desert. A fresh water well on the border
of Christmas lake indicates that here and at Thorn
Lake the water table is probably near the surface, and
that there is a constant flow to these lower places. Sil
ver lake water is entirely fresh, showing that this year's

discharge is not unusual at least. It is said that the
wild hay lands of Pauline marsh would be materially
improved if a portion of the flood waters could be
diverted. Not even an approximate estimate of the-
area can be made until measurements of the discharge
of the streams emptying into Pauline marsh have been
made. The climate in this region is more severe than
in the Summer lake and Chewaucan regions. Frosts
occur every month in the year and snow is said to drift
a great deal in the winter. It is not probable that the
land so remote from railroads and with such a climate
could stand a charge for water of more than $15 per
acre. Practically all of the land of the Silver lake
district is unpatented. Of that west of Silver lake-
probably half is patented. No surveys have yet been:
made. Gaging stations may be established on the
streams flowing into Pauline marsh and at the outlet
of Silver lake. The withdrawal of all entry of lands
bordering on Silver lake and of all irrigable lands from
all except homestead entry under the reclamation act .
has been requested.
In Lake county apples, prunes, cherries and
all the hardier fruits can be grown. Lake county
apples are noted for their preservative qualities.
Sound, well-flavored apples one year old are quite
common. Berries of all kinds are easily culti
vated and as they ripen from four to six weeks
later than the berries of Hood river and the Willa
mette valley they would find a ready market in
Portland were there any means of getting them
there. A. Y. Beach writing to the Morning Ore
gonian for a special edition of that paper of Janu
ary 1, 1898, said of the fruit industry of Lake
county :
"Early settlers in Lake county made the same
mistake as has been made in nearly every fruit
district on the Pacific coast. Many of the old
orchards are composed of trees planted without
regard to their quality. In case the fruit was
poor the settler said, 'This is no fruit country.''
Later a more dauntless settler came ; he planted a
few good trees, and with the argument of experi
ence said, 'This is a fruit country.' Today Lake
county produces peaches that for quality can be
excelled nowhere. During the last year the ap
ples of Lake county have so impressed the Cali-
fornians that private parties from as far south as
Sacramento have sent here for their winter's sup
ply ; this though the fruit must be hauled 150
miles in a freight wagon. White cherries that ri
val the famous orchard product of General John
Bidwell are raised in abundance. That we have
them is an accident; it simply happened that a
good variety was planted. The purple cherries
are a poor variety, but the few good trees that
have later been planted give most satisfactory re
sults." Plums, prunes and pears grow in such

862

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

abundance that a description would jeopardize
the veracity of an honest man. There is now on
exhibtion in the office of the Lake County Ex
aminer a picture taken of some plum trees so lad
en with fruit as to give impression of fraud. But
this is not all ; some of Lake county's orchards
are twenty years old, yet insect pests are un
known. Our orchardists could not tell a wooly
aphis from a primeval man, and a sprayer would
be as worthless as the proverbial fifth wheel to
a wagon." Because the rich valleys are made to produce
only a fraction of what they are capable of pro
ducing, owing to their remoteness from trans
portation, and markets, the stock industry is the
leading one, as it ever has been since the country
was first settled. On the mountains is an abun
dance of grass and many thousands of head of
stock graze there continuously during the sum
mer season. The term "desert" as applied to a
part of Lake county is misleading. The "des
ert" affords good pasturage for thousands of head
of stock of all kinds every winter, where they rus
tle for themselves and do well so long as the melt
ing snows afford them water. When this fails
they work into the valleys until the pasturage
gets dry or short, when they drift into the foot
hills or mountains as the snow recedes.
1 he great desert surrounding Lake county and
emerging inside its borders, with its expansive
acreage, is looked upon by the stranger cros
sing it as an awful waste of God's own gifts — fit
for nothing but to dampen the ardor and make
gloomy the days of the traveler. But the stock
men of Lake county will tell you that the
same desert, "Nature's folly," let it
be called, was made purposely by Provi
dence for the benefit of all men in his business. It
is the natural winter home of the great herds of
Lake county stock. There only sufficient snow
falls to furnish water for stock, while all around
and about on the outside of the desert snow falls
so deep that stock must be kept up and fed to save
them from starving, at least two months in win
ter. Labor Commissioner O. P. Hoff in his re
port, January, 1905, said : "There is sold annu
ally out of this county about 10,000 head of beef
cattle, 60,000 head of mutton sheep, and 1,200,-
00O pounds of wool. In the county are pastured
about 220,000 sheep, 10,000 head of horses ancl
50,000 head of cattle, besides a large number of
mules, goats, swine, etc."
In Lake county there are many new indus
tries in contemplation and some that have been
worked only moderately will take on new life ancl
be extended when easy transit for products is se
cured. There is in the county a natural salt mine
that furnishes the crude product for all the local

stockmen. Near the headwaters of Warner lal'.e
there are a succession of small lakes not exceed
ing one mile in length or breadth. These lakes go
dry in the summer, and with the evaporation of
the water a layer of salt is left on the ground sev
eral inches in depth. Tons and tons of this salt
are gathered by the ranchers which they feed to
their stock. In fact no other salt is shipped into
this vast section of country except for table use.
As a stock salt it is said to be of superior quality.
There is very little cost in getting the salt ; three
men can pile up 100,000 pounds in a week ; then
all there is to do is to sack it, weigh it and haul
it to market. This salt is delivered in Lakeview
for $1.25 per hundred pounds. In an ordinary
year 500,000 pounds can be taken off the marsh,
ancl in a dry year there is much more available.
This salt marsh has been known and used by the
Silver Lake stockmen for more than a dozen
years. In quality it is much better and purer
than that usually found in salt marshes, as the
little lakes are fed by salt springs. Six gallons
of the water when boiled will make one gallon of
fine, pure table salt.
Near Lakeview there is, also, a lime mine, in
exhaustible, the quality of the product of which
is said to be equal to any on the Pacific coast.
The discovery of borax was an accident, and the
industry at this point has never been developed.
A few years ago when the lakes went dry one
season, they failed to leave the salt deposit. The
ranchers thought there must be a salt mine be
neath, and as their stock was suffering for salt,
proceeded to the place and began to dig for it.
Within a few feet they struck a white substance,
but it was not salt. They took it to a local black
smith who did splendid welding with it, ancl they
afterward learned that it was a fine grade of bor
ax. No development has been made, however, to
this date, although the borax is practically inex
haustible, and is worth from nine to six cents
per pound. In the vicinities of Summer and Ab
ert lakes are potash deposits that in time may be
developed into profitable industries. Natural rock
quarries abound in Lake county and there are
millions of dollars' worth of fine quality of rock
and gravel for building purposes and road con
struction within five minutes' walk of Lakeview.
Not the least valuable resource of Lake county
is its timber, but, as is the case with agricultural
industries, lack of transportion has retarded de
velopment of the lumber industry. The county
has an area of 5.230,080 acres of which nearly
200,000 acres are covered with valuable timber —
black and yellow pine, sugar pine, fir, juniper
ancl mahogany. While there are no vast bodies
of timber compared with tsliose of the Cascade
range the manv small bodies ancl belts are dis-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

863

tributed over the entire county and convenient for
local use in the numerous valleys. This divis
ion has an advantage worthy of notice. Destruc
tive forest fires are comparatively unknown in
these small bodies as the lack of underbrush to
carry the fire any great distance, and the small
valleys that head off the progress, prevent the
raging fires that consume so many thousands of
acres of timber in more extensive forests. It will,
also, be noticed that while other parts of the state
have large saw mills with capacities ranging from
25,000 to 100,000 feet per day, there have been
only five small mills operating in the Lake county
timber, the capacity of which in no instance will
exceed 10,000 feet per day in a running season of
not more than six months in the year. This, in
addition to the fact that most of the fencing is
of wire and posts of juniper — a species of timber
unfit for lumber — and most Of- the fuel of the
same, must be seen to have preserved Lake coun
ty's supply of , saw timber. There has never been
a foot of lumber shipped out of this county, and
unless railroads are built through here over which
such transportation can be secured the limited
lumber demand will keep out large mills.
Ihe climate of Lake county is unsurpassed.
Owing to its high altitude the summer months
are seldom extremely hot. The actual winters
are about two months long and never severe. The
following incomplete figures will convey some
idea of the general range of the mercury and
the amount of precipitation in Warner valley and
Lakeview :
Mean temperature and precipitation for the years
1868 to 1873, inclusive, as kept by the United States
Hospital corps at Camp Warner during the years men
tioned :

Year Mean temperature
1868  43.4
1869  46.6
1870  47.0
1871  48.1
1872  45-7
1873  45-0

Precipitation

11.79 132417.6714.26

The mean temperature and precipitation by months
for this same period was as follows :
Month Mean temperature Precipitation
January  28.9 1.61
February  29.9 1.98
March  34.6 1.21
April  40.5 1.21
May  49.6 189
June  59.2 .64
July  68.1 .28

Month Mean temperature Precipitation
August  65.2 .19
September  57.0 .60
October  47.5 .23
November  37.4 1.70
December  30.1 2.89
The following record for later years is from the
station at Lakeview :

Year Mean Temperature
1884  43-7
1885  50.1
1886  50.4
1887  
1890  46.6
1891  
1892  -= —
1895  

Precipitation

14.07 12.44

24-55 19.67 14.62

The precipitation and temperature by months for
this period was :

Month Mean temperature
January  27.9
February  29.3
March  36.3
April  43.0
May  52.9
June  58.0
July  66.8
August  66.5
September  57.9
October  49.7
November  39.1
December . . .  30.9 •

Precipitation 2.82 2.60 1.99 1-56
1.98 r-45 ¦37¦30
•85-79
i-59
2-54

Within the boundaries of Lake county there
are about 1,000 miles of county roads which are
maintained by a tax levy. They are not, all
things considered, in a particularly good condi
tion. No section in the Pacific Northwest excels
Lake county as a fishing and hunting ground.
Brook trout as large as two pounds in weight
have been taken from its mountain streams and
lake trout weighing as high as eight pounds are
numerous in lakes and tributary streams. Mule
deer weighing 210 pounds dressed, have been
killed in the glens, and the mountains and deserts
are alive with them. Bands of fifty have been
seen running over the hills. Antelope number
ing as high as 500 in one band have been seen
within thirty miles of Lakeview. Wild geese and
ducks of every variety make their home here and
rear their young.
In February, 1888, Mr. Henry J. Biddle con
tributed the following geological view of the Lake

864

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

country, embracing the counties of Klamath, Lake
and Harney, to the West Shore:
In very remote times, but in what the geologist calls
one of the later periods, this region lay below the level
of the sea, and probably while it was still under water,
was covered with vast sheets of melted rock and beds
of broken volcanic material. These beds covered not
only this region, but extended into California, Nevada
and Idaho, and accumulated to a thickness of many
thousand feet. Later, when a great upheavel of the re
gion took place, the crust of the earth was broken into
huge blocks. These blocks were tilted, some eastward,
some westward ; some had their edges thrust far above
the others, or sunk down leaving great depressions. The
raised or tilted blocks form the mountain ranges of to
day; the sunken ones the valleys. In time the winds,
the rains and running streams carved ravines and can
yons in the mountain flanks, shaping the peaks and
gorges in all their manifold and wondrous forms, while
the depressions were partly filled with the washed
down mountain mass, and became broad, level plains,
But in many places the sheer and stupendous cliffs still
show where the crust of the earth was rent and the
mountain range upheaved. These are the "fault
scarps" of the geologist. The lake basins of the region
are thus of two kinds ; either a block has sunk, leaving
a cliff on each side; or a depression has been formed
on the lower edge of a tilted block, and the edge of its
neighbor rises as a cliff on one side, while the surface
of the tilted block forms a gradual slope on the other.
Some of the larger valleys combine both of these types.
Hoping to have made clear to the reader how the
lake basins were formed, I will now consider another
of the prime causes of their existence, namely the
climate. Everyone knows that there is an immense region
in the interior of North America in which the rail fall
is very slight. In a great portion of this region so little
rain falls that it is all dried up by the summer's heat,
and the streams never reach the ocean. Thus we have
a region of interior drainage, or, as it is generally
called, the Great. Basin. The lake country of Oregon
lies in this dry region, and nearly all the lakes are with
out any outlet. Strange as it may seem some of the
lakes owe their existence to the fact that the rainfall is
so limited. If they received a greater supply of water
the basins would fill up until the water overflowed at
some point. Then the streams forming the outlets of
the lakes would cut their channels deeper and deeper
in the course of time, and the lake basins would be
completely drained off. This has been the history of
great lakes which once existed in northeastern Califor
nia, and is, also, probably the reason why no large lakes
are to be found in the northern half of Oregon. Thus
the lake country of Oregon is the dryest part of the state ;
and outside of this dry region, not a single large lake
exists within her borders.

In what the geologists call the glacial period, when
the lofty peaks of the Cascade range had huge tongues
of ice stretching down from their summits, the climate
was probably moister than today; or what amounts to
much the same thing, the climate being colder, the
rainfall was more slowly evaporated. Hence the lake.
basins of Oregon received larger supplies of water than
now, and lakes of great size and depth existed in
the valleys where we find the much smaller lakes of the
present. The waves of these ancient lakes cut away
the hill slopes, and, in places built up great bars of
gravel. Among the most interesting features of this
region are the old beach lines, which may be plainly
seen stretching for miles along the mountain sides,
showing us how deep the water once stood over what
are now fertile plains where horses and cattle graze.
Lake county, as we have observed, received
its name from its topographical character. Whol
ly, or partially within its borders are four large
bodies of water, Goose, Warner, Abert and Sum
mer lakes. Besides these are the considerable
lakes Silver, Alkali, Christmas, Benjamin and
innumerable small lakes in the mountains. De
scriptions of these lakes, many of which are nat
ural curiosities, and nearly all of which possess
peculiar characteristics, may prove of interest to
our readers.
In the southeastern corner of the county lies
Warner valley. It is a singularly wild and pict
uresque region. It was named after Captain War
ner, of the United States army who was killed
here by the Indians while he was exploring the
route of a military road to California in 1849. The
valley, long and narrow, stretches nearly north
and south, and has been formed by the dropping
down of a gigantic block of the earth's crust.
Steep precipices of black, volcanic rock rise on
either side to an immense height, bare, rugged
and imposing. To their summits cling a few
stunted cedars ; at their base sage brush grows
among the huge boulders. But broad meadows
cover the level floor of the valley, and marshes,
with here and there a lake.- The freshness of
its verdure contrasts distinctly with the dark,
barren mountain sides. On the maps Warner
lake is shown as a long, narrow sheet of water
of considerable size. In reality there is a chain
of small lakes separated by marshy tracts. The
water drains through sloughs during the wet sea
son into the northernmost lake. No outlet has
this latter, and its water is brackish while that
of the others is fresh. This valley was entirely
filled by an ancient lake, which left the mark of
its water line on the mountain sides, but never
rose high enough to find an outlet. As all streams
have some salt in their waters, they are continu
ally supplying salt to the lakes or ocean into

.V4

1 r

. A~T :
«.' ¦ :*
' - tl
m
M
«q
Lakeview. County Seat of Lake County
¦HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

865

which they empty. The water evaporates but the
salt stays behind ; hence a lake without an out
let will, in time, become salt like the ocean. This
ancient lake no doubt existed long enough to ac
cumulate a great deal of salt, and when it finally
dried up, it left its salt in the mud upon the floor
of the valley. So it is no wonder that there are
pools or marshes in parts of this valley, filled
with a strong brine. When they dry up in sum
mer they leave crusts of salt and this is collected
and sold. The elevation above sea level of War
ner lake is 5,455 feet.
Goose lake is the largest in this region, but
only a portion of it belongs to Oregon. It lies
on the southern edge of Lake county, extending
across the border into Modoc county, California.
Its greatest length in a nearly north and south
direction, is thirty miles, and its greatest width,
east and west, is about ten miles. It covers about
190 square miles, a third of its area being within
the boundaries of Oregon. The country about
this lake is mountainous. The mountains about
their summits are clothed with fir and pine, while
lower down is a sparse growth of cedar, ancl the
lowest slopes are overgrown with sage brush. The
floor of the valley, particularly the north end, is
a level sage plain, which, nearer the lake, gives
place to broad meadows of natural grass, extend
ing to the marshy border at the water's edge.
The water of the lake is for the most part shal
low at the edges, and only attains a depth of about
twenty feet near the center.
Any one approaching Lakeview from the west
can see a sharply defined line drawn horizontal
ly on the mountain side behind the town, and sev
eral hundred feet above it. It is the water line
of the ancient lake which filled this valley in a
past time. It had on outlet at its southern end,
and its waters found their way through the Pit
river into the Sacramento. The outflowing water
cut a deep channel nearby, but not quite deep
enough to completely drain the valley. Goose
lake usually does not overflow, but during an
exceptionally wet season it rises high enough to
discharge some of its waters through this ancient
outlet. This occurred in 1869 and again in 1881,
but not long ago its surface was very much lower
end one of the pioneer trails crossed it at a point
now deeply covered by water. Professor Israel
C. Russell, of the University of Michigan, in his
"Geological Reconnaissance in Southern Ore
gon, 1881-82, says that for a term of years prior
to 1869, the waters of Goose lake ran much lower
than at the time of writing, as was shown by the
fact that a road then crossed the lake basin some
four or five miles from its southern end, at a nlace
which was in the early 80's covered by fifteen
feet of water. 55

The water of Goose lake is slightly brackish
ancl usually filled with the mud stirred up from its
bottom. The lake well deserves its name, for in
the autumn it is the resort of vast numbers of
wild geese, together with clucks and all manner of
other water fowl.
Abert lake lies nearly north of Goose lake,
covering only some sixty square miles. But of all
the lakes of Oregon it is the most interesting.
The basin in which it lies has been formed by
a single great crack, or fault, running nearly
north and south. The block on the west side of
the crack has been tilted so that its edge next
to the break, is depressed, while the block on the
east side has its edge thrust high in the air. The
basin thus formed has a gradual slope on the west
side, and stupenduous precipices on the east. The
strange, wild beauty of the landscape here can
hardly be described in words. Viewed from the
south the deep, blue-green water is seen stretch
ing away in the distance ; on the left a rugged
slope of rock, scantly overgrown with sage brush,
rises from the shore ; on the right huge boulders,
fallen from the cliffs above, lie in confused masses
on the water's edge ; above these tower the migh
ty cliffs, rising fully one thousand feet above the
lake, black, silent and majestic. Far into the
distance stretch these awful heights, their colors
mellowing and contours softening until they are
lost in an indistinct mountain mass on the far
horizon. We look in vain for a sign of life ; a
single sail upon the broad expanse of water ; the
smoke of a settler's cabin on the shore ; all is si
lent and desolate ; nature is alone in her grandeur.
This lake is without any outlet and its waters
are as salt as those of the ocean. They contain
not only common salt, but carbonate of soda and
glauber salt as well, ancl impart a strange, greasy
feeling to the skin. No fish can live in the water,
nor any living thing except little brine shrimp.
Chewaucan river, its principal feeder, is filled
with fish. At the mouth of this stream there is
a fall where fish that have ventured or fallen
over these falls are there in evidence to show
that nothing can live in Abert lake. The shores
of the lake at this point are composed of dead
fish and fishbones. Tons of these bones could
be gathered up, and at certain seasons of the
year the shores are lined with fish in all stages
of decomposition. When the fish first strikes the
water of the lake it makes for the shore and tries
to flounder out, and if it fails, hugs the shore as
closely as possible, with its head out of the water
until it dies. The geese and ducks and other
water fowls that abound in this section do not
even light upon the lake, except at the mouths
of fresh water streams. The elevation of Abert
lake above sea level is 4,209 feet.

866

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Summer lake is located near the geographical
center of Lake county, dividing the distance be
tween the north and south, east and west boun
daries nearly equally. The lake itself extends
over twenty miles in length, fifteen miles in
width, and as seen from surrounding table
land deflects a deep, green tint. This
lake was named, as stated before, by Gen
eral Fremont in 1843. A story contradictory to
this historical fact has gained some little credence.
It is to the effect that a romantic plainsman
named Sohmers wandered into the country many
years ago, fell in love with a native daughter, a
beautiful black-eyed Pocahontas of Oregon, was
jilted by her ancl died of a broken heart, leaving
his name as a legend among the Indians, which
some transformed into the appropriate name of
Summer lake.
This valley is bounded by high and abrupt
mountains, timber-clad on west and south; low,
sloping desert hills on north and east. The val
ley contains probably 100,000 acres that could be
converted into the best agricultural land by irri
gation ; of this only a few thousand acres are in
actual use. The country is, practically, in its in
fancy ; a few early settlers scattered throughout
the vale have grown rich in cattle raising, but
have made little or no effort toward improvement..
. Ana river, one of the greatest natural curiosi
ties in the state of Oregon, is the source of sup
ply of this lake. The river is clear as crystal, is
fifty feet wide and at places of immeasurable
depth. Its tide is constant, varying little with the
seasons, and it flows for the most part through a
level country, bank high, and so close to the sur
face that one can readily partake of its refresh
ing water with the lips by kneeling on its banks.
Its source is composed of seven immense springs,
probably submarine overflows, for the volume of
water flowing from the earth is so great as to
render the term spring inapplicable. From these
springs flows water sufficient to irrigate all the
present arid lands of Summer lake valley.
Silver lake lies only a few miles northwest of
Summer lake and completes the list of those in
Lake county. It is of small size, being only fifteen
to twenty-five square miles in area, and so shal
low that one can almost wade across it. It lies
in the corner of a basin which once contained
a much larger lake, covering some hundreds of
square miles, and stretching northward over
what is known as the "desert." A remarkable
feature of this lake is that, although it has no out
let,- its water is perfectly fresh. As before stated
lakes which do not overflow usually become salt
in time. It is possible that this exception to the
rule may be explained as follows : Silver lake lies
somewhat higher than Summer lake, 4,300 feet,

and is separated from it by a rocky ridge a few
miles wide. Now, it is possible that the water
finds its way underground beneath this ridge, and
reappears in the large springs mentioned at the
north end of Summer lake. Thus the water in the
lake being continually renewed would remain
fresh. But it must be understood that this is
merely a theory, and there is nothing to absolute
ly prove it. Professor E. B. Cope says that a
comparatively small elevation of the waters of
Silver lake would connect the waters of that lake
with those of Summer lake, eighteen miles dis
tant, and those of Summer lake whh the Chewau
can river, seven miles distant. This would con
vert the Chewaucan swamp into a lake, and con
nect Abert lake with the series.
Lake county has no large rivers within her
boundaries. There are a few of fair size, how
ever, and numerous creeks. The principal streams
are the Big and Little Chewaucan and Summer
rivers. These are magnificent rivers, full of fish
and would furnish water to irrigate large tracts
of land. Summer river bubbles up out of. the
ground at the north end of Summer lake valley,
and rolls on to Summer lake. The waters of this
river stand the year round at a temperature of
68 degrees, and are clear and limpid. In the big
basin where the water boils up, in places forty
feet deep, one can see a silver coin at the bot
tom. The Chewaucan river is another fine stream
heading in the great snow belt near the Gahart
mountains. The river is an old one, and in the
subsidence of the waters of the old tertiary sea,
when land first appeared on hills, extended up the
river to the falls, or near them, a distance above
the site on which Paisley now stands. It has a
winding course from the mountains and flows east
for about sixty miles and empties into the south
end of Lake Abert. Chewaucan is an Indian
name, a translation of which is said to be "Big
patch of small potatoes, or camas." '
Ana river, at the head of Summer lake, is an
interesting study to the stranger. Only five or six
miles from the head of this beautiful lake Ana
river springs out of the ground like a torrent,
and flows down through the sage brush to sup
ply the lake. Winter and summer the water boils
forth from a hollow basin more than an acre in
width and breadth, and flows away making a
current large enough to float an ordinary river
boat. The water has a lukewarm temperature,
winter and summer, and is pronounced artesian
water by all who see ancl taste it. There are
many theories about Ana river. It is claimed
that it flows under a mountain and is fed by Silter
lake, on the opposite side of the mountain, many
miles away. Silver lake is of a much higher alti-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

867

tude, and although it does not have a feeder its
depth is about the same the year round.
Lake county contains within its borders some
of the most remarkable formations and natural
curiosities found anywhere in the world. We
shall attempt to describe a few of these that have
come under our observation.
The northern part of the county embraces a
large territory lying in what is known as the
"desert," and within this territory are found won-
• ders that will afford food for thought for the sci
entist for years to come. When they are known
to the outside world they will draw a horde of
tourists and students of science to them annually.
The field is a virgin one as yet, only having been
visited by the stockmen who have interests in the
vicinity, and an occasional traveler who is hur
rying from one business point to another.
The fossil fields, the moving lake, the modern
Dead Sea and the salt and borax deposits, the hot
springs and natural artesian wells are, possibly,
among the best of the wonders within this terri
tory, but they are so prominent and many of them
cover such a larg_e section of the country they
could not remain hidden from the most casual
observer, ancl their remarkable appearance could
not fail to attract the attention of the most disin
terested student in the formations of nature.
Few people realize the beauty and gradeur of
the rim-rocks of Eastern Oregon, and Lake coun
ty has her share of these. In fact many people
do not know what they look like, and some do not
know what the word signifies. In the "desert"
country these rimrocks are prominent features.
The country is a succession of level plains, vary
ing in width and length from a few miles to more
than a hundred. These plains are often spoken
of as plateaus from their high elevation above
sea level ; in fact they are nothing more or less
than a succession of basins, in many cases resemb
ling crater beds, for they lie among the mountain
tops, only lower than the snow-capped peaks that
have to be ascended from almost every point to
reach them, and the tall rim-rocks that tower im
mediately above them. These plateaus or basins
are separated by the rim-rocks and along one side
or the other of the large lakes they tower from a
few feet to hundreds of feet in the air. The walls
-of' these rocks are perfectly perpendicular, often
possessing the appearance of having been con
structed by skilled human hands. Layer upon lay
er of smooth rocks lie upon one another, with
the joints broken as carefully as modern masonry
work, with pillars now and then, many feet tall,
to support them on larger tables or rock. These
pillars, however, are close together and although
possessing various sides, from a triangle to an
•octagon, they fit perfectly together. At the top

of these walls lie broad, level rocks, jutting out
to several feet above the sides of the wall, like the
leaf of a table or the rim of a hat. It is impos
sible to descend from the top of this rim down
the wall, or to ascend from below to the top of
the rim-rock, except where the wall is broken by
crevices, gulches or canyons.
A two days' drive from Silver Lake (in the
northern part of the county), the entrance way
to the main "desert," brings one to the greatest
wonder on the Pacific coast, possibly the greatest
in the United States. Here is a vast fossil field
covering hundreds of acres, in the midst of which
is the wonderful "moving" lake. One does not
see it move, in fact, but the evidence is there to
show that it moves, and there are men living in
Lake county who can verify the fact that it is
constantly on the move. Not only the water
moves, but the lake changes its bed from time to
time, and in the course of a few decades traverses
considerable territory.
In this region there are many sand beds. The
sand is of the finest grain and of unknown depth.
It is always dry, as it seems to never rain to
amount to anything at this point, ancl what little
rainfall there is in this section does not even
dampen the sand, much less moisten the earth.
At this place tlie wind blows a gale most of the
time, and carries with it clouds of the sand. In
a few days' time the wind shifts the sand until
a point that was high last week is a deep hole, or
pit, this week. Then the wind changes and blows
from another direction for a few days, and this
shifts the surface of the earth at this point again.
The lake which lies in these sands is necessarily
compelled to change its bed continually. As the
wind sweeps out a hole on the north side the
water must follow ; then it changes to the west
so that one can see where it has traveled about
the desert for years, never getting far from home,
it is true, but still it travels considerable distances
for a lake. It is a mystery to all who visit this
section why the lake never dries up in such a
place. There seem to be no springs ancl there is
no stream to feed it ; the rainfall is light, and
being constantly on the move one would naturally
think that it would be absorbed by the dry sands.
But within the knowledge of the first settlers of
the country this lake has never been dry, and has
neither grown larger or smaller.
But the greatest object of interest to the sci
entist in this section are the fossil beds. The en
tire sand-covered section is a fossil field. Animals
for ages have come to this lake (Fossil, or Mov
ing lake) for water, and as the aged ancl sick ones
have died they have been covered by the dry sands
and their bodies preserved in such a state so long
that they have become completely fossilized. And

868

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

as they have followed the lake in its travels the
consequence is that the field is a large one. The
inexperienced who pick up the petrified bones of
these animals find many the species of which are
unknown to them. It is said that species have
been found here that puzzled and interested the
few scientists who saw them. They have been
carried away by the occasional visitors and adorn
man}- of the yards of distant ranches. But the
field is still full of them, and the scientist may
find work here for years to come.
Fort Rock, one of the most peculiar rock
formations to be found in the west, is situated
just sixteen miles north of Silver lake. It is
so named because it is a natural rock-walled fort,
enclosing about thirty-five acres of land, with a
rock wall averaging 300 feet high. The fort is
circular in form and rises from a level plain
many miles from the surrounding mountains. The
wall is about 200 feet thick at the base and thirty-
five feet wide at the top. Outside it rises per
pendicularly, but there are several places on the
inside where by exercising care ancl caution one
may scale it. Such a feat is impossible from the
outside. At the south side of the fort there is an
opening less than one-eighth of a mile wide,
which makes it easy of access.
there is no particular legend or tradition
among the Indians regarding Fort Rock. They
say it has always existed so far as they know. It
was never used as a fort or place of refuge during
tribal wars. The name Fort Rock was given to
the formation by the early settlers owing to its
resemblance to a fort. During the warm, sultry-
days of summer cattle and horses in the neigh
borhood seek the sheltering shade of the high
rock wall. The only use ever made of Fort Rock
was occasionally as a round-up corral by cattle
ancl horsemen. During the years to come thous
ands of people will visit this curiosity from all
parts of the country, and possibly in the future
Silver lake will be one of the noted places on

some trunk line railroad, where tourists will be
advised to stop ancl see the sights. Recently the
land where this natural curiosity is located, which
during all these years has been government land,
was filed upon.
Lake county, like most of the counties of
Southern Oregon, has a number of hot springs
where boiling hot water rushes from the earth.
A number of these springs lie just outside the
town of Lakeview. Most of these have been taken
up by settlers on their homesteads, but they are
lying idle awaiting the time when it may pay to
improve them. In passing through the country
on a cold clay the steam arising from these springs
conveys the idea, from a distance, that a great
fire is raging at that particular place. All vege
tation is killed near the springs, but as the water
flows away in the distance and the temperature
is reduced, a heavy growth of grass is produced,
ancl winter ancl summer stock come to these places
to graze. Another peculiar formation in Lake county
are the "pot-holes," so called, situate in South
Warner basin. They appear to be large, inverted,
cone-shaped rock formations, the chasms between
the scarps of the rocks being filled with water,
around the extreme outer edge of which grow
dense clusters of vigorous tules from fifteen
to twenty feet high. These pot-holes are al
ways dangerous to man or beast ; both alike
dread them ; for once in them the chances of
escape from drowning seem to be few and far
between. In concluding this chapter we desire to ex
press the opinion that Lake county will, in fu
ture years, hecome one of the richest in Southern
Oregon. When conditions make possible the de
velopment of its resources, then the county will
contain a population many times as great as at
present. It is now among the richest, if not the
richest, according to population, of any county in
Oregon.

CHAPTER VI

POLITICAL.

Next to Wasco, Lake county is the oldest in
the series of counties herein treated, and next to
the "Mother of Counties" of eastern Oregon,
Lake county's political history dates back farther
than any of the others. The first election held

within the boundaries of the present Lake county
was in June, 1870, four years prior to the forma
tion of the county. This territory was then a
part of Jackson county, and for the election the
county court of that county granted an election

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

869

precinct for the settlers of Goose lake valley. The
voting place was at A. Tenbrook's ranch, about
five miles south of the present site of Lakeview.
An active interest was taken in the election and
about twenty-five or thirty votes were cast, more,
in fact, than there were settlers in the precinct.
Many of the votes cast were by soldiers who came
over from Camp Warner, and who were not le
gally entitled to vote. Thereafter until the county
was created in 1875 the settlers voted, the Lake
country being a precinct of Jackson county.
During all of its early history Lake county
was strongly Democratic. At all of the presi
dential elections a safe majority was given the
Democratic electors ; the Democratic state and dis
trict tickets nearly always carried the county, and
it was only occasionally that a Republican was
found serving the county in an official capacity.
Each election would find both parties in the field
with the Democrats carrying off the plums. These
conditions prevailed until the nineties, when the
Peoples party appeared in the field. That party
gained considerable strength and carried the
county in 1892 for its candidate for president. It
also occasionally elected a county officer during
the nineties. The Republican party during these
years became stronger and began to contest the
claims of the Democrats of being the dominant
party in Lake county.
During the later years the county has been
quite evenly divided on the local ticket, both the
Republican and Democratic parties electing a part
of their ticket. William McKinley, in 1900, and
Theodore Roosevelt, in 1904, carried the countv
by overwhelming majorities, the first time in his
tory that the county cast its vote for Republican
presidential candidates.
Complete data for the political history of
Lake county is not available, but we have, by a
careful gleaning of all records known to be in
existence, compiled as nearly complete an account
of trie different elections as is possible.
Lake county came into existence on February
1, 1875, by authority of an act passed by the legis
lature and approved by Governor L. F. Grover
on October 24, 1874. The enabling act provided
that the governor should appoint the first county
officers of the new county, and this Governor
Grover did on January 22, 1875. A Democratic
administration being in power at the time, most
of the first officers of Lake county were Demo
crats. Their term of office was from February 1,
1875, until their successors, elected in June, 1876,
qualified. They were :
Eli C. Mason, Democrat, county judge ; Hen
ry Fuller, Democrat, county commissioner ; A. F
Snelling, Democrat, county commissioner; Will
iam Roberts, Democrat, county clerk; Thomas

Mulholland, Democrat, sheriff ; George Nurse,
Republican, treasurer; J. J. P. Smith, Democrat,
assessor. Besides these, William R. Jones was selected
by the county court to serve as school superinten
dent, the governor having neglected to name an
incumbent for the office. County offices in these
early days of Lake county's history were not
sought so eagerly as is the more recent custom,
ancl there were many resignations before the first
term expired ancl other officials were named to
fill the unexpired terms. J. J. P. Smith resigned
the office of assessor and George C. Duncan was
appointed in June, 1875. Henry Fuller resigned
as commissioner and J. P. Roberts was named
for that office August 23, 1875. On the same date
Nelson Stephenson was appointed clerk, vice
William Roberts, resigned. In October, 1875,
Quincy A. Brooks was chosen school superin
tendent, taking the place of William R. Jones.
These men named served as the county's first of
ficers and their terms of office expired in July,
1876. The first justices of the peace were appointed
bv the county court ancl were as follows : Che
waucan precinct, Stephen Moss, appointed Feb
ruary, 1875 ; Crooked Creek, O. L. Stanley, Feb
ruary, 1875 ; Summer Lake, Dr. Colwell, Febru
ary/ 1875; Silver Lake, A. V. Lane, February,
1875 ; Linkville, Nelson Stephenson, February,
1875 ; Crooked Creek, George Freeman, June,
1875 ; Linkville, I. W Hamaker, October, 1875 ;
Eagle Point, O. "P. Russell, October, 1875. For
Eagle Point precinct M. T. Walters was appoint
ed constable in June, 1875.
Although the first general election was not
held until in June, 1876, there was a special elec
tion held on October 25, 1875, to elect a member
of congress. At this initial election held in Lake
county there were 210 votes cast. The official
vote was : Lafayette Lane, dem., 143 ; Henry
Warren, rep., 65 ; J. W. Dimmick, 1 ; Whitney, 1.
The county was divided, at the first term of
the county court, February 1, 1875, into nine
election precincts, and at the meeting of the coun
ty court on June 7, the first election judges were
named. The precincts and first election officers
who served at the special election of October 25,
1875, were:
No. 1 — Linkville precinct, place of voting at
the town of Linkville. Judges, O. T. Brown, N.
Stephenson, Stephen Stukle.
No. 2 — Lost River precinct, polling place at
the house of John Shook. Judges, John Fulker
son, John Shook, J. H. Colahan.
No. 3 — Sprag-ue River precinct, polling place
at the house of lohn Smith. Judges, J. A. Smith,
William Ferrell, W. M. Prine, Sr.

870

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

No. 4 — Goose Lake precinct, polling place at
the house of John Broback. Judges, A. R. Jones,
James Barnes, Thomas Lofton.
No. 5 — Eagle Point precinct, polling place at
the house of L. Lowry. Judges, M. T. Walters,
A. Tenbrook, James Fitzgerald.
No. 6 — Crooked Creek precinct, polling place
at the house of Loveless. Judges, Robert Red
ding, Thomas Patton, George Freeman.
No. 7 — Chewaucan precinct, polling place,
"at the house now occupied by Henry Fuller."
Judges, Stephen Moss, George Elliott, T. J. Brat-
tain. No. 8 — Summer Lake precinct, polling place,
"at the house now occupied by James Foster."
Judges, J. B. Blair, A. C. Marks, James Fos
ter, Sr.
No. 9 — Silver Lake precinct, polling place,
"at the house now occupied by Lane & Chase."
Judges, Horace Lane, E. H. Noble, J. L. P.
Smith. Of these nine precincts the three first named
were in that part of the county later formed into
Klamath county ; the others were all in the pres
ent Lake county.
Lake county's first general election was held
on June 5, 1876. The judges and clerks of elec
tion of the several precincts were :
Linkville — J. L. Hanks, John Shalloch and
William Hicks, judges; F. M. Smith and John
A. Miller, clerks. Lost River — N. S. Goodlow,
J. IT. Campbell and S. N. Hazen, judges ;-0. C.
Applegate and A. H. Griffin, clerks. Sprague
River — Enoch Loper, J. A. Smith and William
Prine, judges ; B. B. Demming and Robert Scott,
clerks. Goose Lake — William Denny, Chas. Bro
back and Thomas Lofton, judges; S. Campbell
and J. J. Charlton, clerks. Eagle Point — M. D.
Hopkins, G. C. Clark and D. H. Hartzog,
judges ; M. T. Walters and A. B. Contner, clerks.
Crooked Creek — Chas. A. Rice, Jas. McAfee and
William Patton, judges; J. C. Shellhammer and
W. H. Patton, clerks. Chewaucan — T. J. Brat-
tain, J. C. Elder and John Alexander, judges;
S. P. Moss and J. M. Small, clerks. Silver Lake
— G. C. Duncan, F. J. Murdock and A. V. Lane,
judges; J. O. Bunyard and P. G. Chrisman,
clerks. At this first general election there were cast
389 votes, a gain of 179 over the vote at the spec
ial election of the preceding October. Nearly the
full vote of the county was cast, due largely to
the interest taken in the permanent location of the
county seat. The number of votes cast by the
several precincts of the county was as follows :
Eagle Point, 79 ; Goose Lake, 23 ; Chewaucan,
23 ; Summer Lake, 42 ; Silver Lake, 23 ; Crooked

Creek, 24; Sprague River, 17; Linkville, 103;
Bonanza, 53.
Owing to the county seat contest the elec
tion was an exciting one and the excitement
continued for some time after the ballots were
counted. The canvass of the returns was made
by County Clerk N. Stephenson, John P. Shook,
justice of the peace for Lost River precinct, and
J. W. Hamaker, justice of the peace for Link
ville precinct. The action of the board of can
vassers was not unanimous. The canvas was
signed by the two first named, while Justice Ham
aker protested, His protest, annexed to the ab
stract as signed by the other members of the
board, was as follows :
I hereby protest the correctness of the above ab
stract, there being no precinct in Lake county, Oregon,.
known as Hamaker precinct.
J. W. Hamaker,
J. P., Linkville Precinct.
Mr. Stephenson annexed the following expla
nation to the findings of the board :
Justice Hamaker protests receiving and counting
"Bonanza,'' which was endorsed on the back of the
"poll books" as returned to this office by the clerks
and judges of election. The polls were held on the
day of election, at "Bonanza" school house in said
precinct of Lost River — hence the protest of Justice
Hamaker. The vote of Bonanza was allowed to stand.
Had it been thrown out there would have been
only one change in the result of the election ; S. C.
Hudson would have been elected sheriff instead
of T. J. Brattain.
The result of the vote as declared by the
county clerk and Justice Shook was :
For District Attorney, First Judicial District
— H. K. Hanna, dem., 230; C. B. Watson, rep.,
142. For State Senator — S. G. Thompson, dem.,.
213; E. Barnes, rep., 129.
For Representative — D. W. Cheeseman, dem.,
202; O. C. Applegate, rep., 174.
For County Judge — E. C. Mason, dem., 200 ;
Q. A. Brooks, rep., 149.
For County Commissioners — S. P Moss,.
dem., 231; W. H. Plorton, rep., 170; A. Ten
brook, dem., 222; O. T. Brown, rep., 139.
For Sheriff — S. C. Hudson, dem., 175; T. J.-
Brattain, rep., 202.
For Clerk — R. B. Hatton, dem., 243 ; J. J.
Charlton, rep., 133.
For Treasurer — J. L. Hanks, dem., 204; Geo..
Nurse, rep., 169.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

871

For School Superintendent — Ed. Fitzgerald,
dem., 156; H. M. Thatcher, rep., 217.
For Assessor — G. C. Duncan, dem., 168;
Milton Riggs, rep., 210.
For Surveyor — Frank Cheesman, dem., 191 ;
Lyman Hawley, rep., 182.
For Coroner — C. W. Broback, 101 ; E. C.
Mason, 4 ; O. A. Brooks, 2.
For County Seat — Bullard's Creek, 120;
Sprague River, 17; Bonanza, 38; Drews Valley,
3; Goose Lake, 18; Goose Lake Valley, 5; Bul
lard's Ranch, 39 ; Chewaucan, 1 ; Linkville, 8 ; Big
Springs, 1 1 ; Blank, 33 ; Bullard's Creek in Goose
Lake Valley, 11.
All the officers elected at this election served
the full two year term with the exception of the
treasurer. J. L. Hanks resigned that office and
on August 9, 1876, Louis Hanks, Democrat, was
appointed. The latter also resigned after serving
less than a year and Andrew McCallen, Democrat,
was appointed June 7, 1877.
The first presidential election in which Lake
county participated was held November 7, 1876,
and showed the county to be in the Democratic
column by nearly 100 majority. There were 438
votes cast, a gain of 49 over the June election.
The official vote was :
For Democratic presidential electors — Samuel
J. Tilden and Thomas A. Hendricks — 258 ; for
Republican presidential electors — Rutherford B.
Hayes and W. A. Wheeler — 172.
For Congressman — L. F. Lane, dem., 250;
Richard Williams, rep., 171.
For County beat — Linkville, 181 ; Lakeview,
242. Four hundred ninety-three votes were cast at
the general election of June 3, 1878, a gain of 204
in two years. The Democrats succeeded in elect
ing every officer. The official vote :
For Congressman — John Whiteaker, dem.,
296; H. K. ITines, rep., 190; T. F. Campbell, 1.
For Governor — W. W. Thayer, dem., 319; C.
C. Beekman, 143 : M. Wilkins, 5.
For District Attorney — J. R. Neil, dem., 290 ;
H. Kelly, rep., 104.
For Representatives — H. Wright, 180; C. W.
Broback, 216; D. W. Cheesman, 37.
For County Commissioners — C. E. Randall,
dem., 275 ; Jacob Bales, dem., 218 ; Jacob Thomp
son, rep., 164; Geo. H. Penland, rep., 214.
For Sheriff — J. L. Hanks, dem., 227; T. J.
Brattain, rep., 209; J. K. Beals, 1.
For Clerk — R. B. Hatton, dem., 239; Chas.
S. Moore, rep., 199.
For Treasurer — A. McCallen, dem., 272 ; J.
H. Clayton, rep., 199.
For School Superintendent — E. O. Steele,
dem., 283 ; H. C. Dyar, rep., 150.

For Assessor — Henry Conn, rep., 197; A. J.
Foster, dem., 244.
For Surveyor — V. L. Snelling, dem., 275 ;
Lyman Plawley, 2; J. Neal, 1.
For Coroner — D. W. Cheesman, dem., 35 ; H.
Wright, 11 ; E. C. Mason, 1 ; C. FI. Broback, 5 ;
.c. Reed, 1 ; C. Pendleton, 3 ; L. Hawley, 2 ; F.
W. Netherton, 4; Jesse Hill, 1; Frank L. How
ard,^ 5. .....
These officers served their full term with the
exception of the school superintendent. E: O.
Steele died while holding that office and on De
cember 4, 1878, P. B. Vernon, Democrat, was
appointed to fill the vacancy.
At the next general election, that of June -7,
1880, over 700 votes were cast, a gain of
over 200 in two years. The official vote on
the congressional and district tickets was as
follows :
For Congressman — John Whiteaker, dem.,
417; M. C. George, rep., 286.
For Judge First Judicial District — A. P.
ITammond, rep., 294; T. B. Kent, dem., 407.
The Democrats succeeded in electing nearly
all their candidates on the county ticket, although
a few Republicans were chosen, among them O.
A. Stearns for representative. Unfortunately the
official vote of the county election cannot be ob
tained. Those elected were : O. A. Stearns, rep.,
representative; George Durand, dem., county
commissioner; George W. Penland, rep., county
commissioner; J. L. Hanks, dem., sheriff; F.
M. Cheesman, dem., clerk; A. McCallen, dem-.,
treasurer; J. S. Watts, county judge; William
Tullock, dem., assessor; J. H. Clayton, rep.,
school superintendent; T. W. Colvin, dem., sur
veyor; William Harvey, coroner. With one ex
ception these officers served the full two year
term. Geo. Durand resigned the office of county
commissioner ancl U. F. Abshier, Democrat, was
appointed in August. 1881.
The next general election, that of June 5, 1.882,
showed a falling off in the vote, there being a
trifle less than 600 votes cast. The Democrats
elected every candidate on the county ticket ancl
carried the county by over 100 mnjority for all
the state, congressional and district tickets Fol
lowing is the official vote :
For Congressman — W. D. Fenton, dem., 346;
M. C. George, rep., 238.
For Governor — Joseph H. Smith, dem., 354;
Z. F. Moody, rep., 224.
For District Attorney — Thos. Kent, clem:,
351 ; Merritt, rep., 219.
For Representative — S. P. Moss, dem., 316;
H. Clayton, rep., 228.
For Sheriff — J. L. Hanks, dem., 310; Robt.
Emmitt, rep., 220.

872

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Clerk — R. B. Hatton, dem., 317; L. G.
Ross, rep., 211.
For Treasurer — A. McCallen, dem., 379;
Hoffman, rep., 155.
For Assessor — E. B. Miller, dem., 318; N.
Clark, rep., 222.
For County Commissioners — U. F. Abshier,
dem., 360; J. B. Phelps, dem., 304; P. G. Chris
man, rep., 247 ; Manning, 2.
For County Surveyor — H. C. Dyar, rep., 216.
For School Superintendent — T. B. Vernon,
dem., 217; Hays, 153; Dunlap, 170.
For Coroner — J. W. Howard, dem., 538.
In 1882 Klamath county was cut off from the
mother county and Lake was reduced by about
one-half. We find at the next election, June 2,
1884, that the county under the new conditions
was still strongly Democratic, that party electing
every county officer. The vote of this electjon
cannot be obtained. The county officers elected
were: A. Fitts, dem., county judge; W. D. Ar-
nett, dem., county commissioner; T. O. Blair,
dem., county commissioner ; A. F. Snelling, dem.,
clerk; A. McCallen, dem., treasurer; O. L. Stan
ley, dem., assessor; W. J. Moore, dem., school
superintendent; A. W. Charlton, dem., sheriff.
Again in 1886 the Democrats swept the coun
ty, electing the whole county ticket with the ex
ception of clerk. Nearly 500 votes were cast. The
official vote of this election, which was held on
June 7, was :
For Governor — T. R. Cornelius, rep., 185 ;
Sylvester Pennoyer, dem., 289; J. E. Houston,
pro., 17.
For Congressman — Binger Hermann, rep.,
186; W. L. Butler, dem., 287; G. M. Miller,
pro., 17.
For Judge First Judicial District — H. Kelly,
rep , 249 ; W. M. Colvin, dem., 230.
For Joint Representative (Lake and Klam
ath) — Robert McLean, rep., 174; John F. Miller,
dem., 286.
For County Commissioners — T. J. Brattain,
rep., 156; G. H. Penland, rep., 213 ; G. M. Jones,
dem., 245 ; C. C. Loftus, dem., 290.
For Sheriff— J. S. Field, rep. ; A. W. Charl
ton, dem., 328.
For Clerk— W. T. Boyd, rep., 285; W. J.
Moore, dem., 164.
For Assessor — Geo. Miller, rep., 151 ; O. L.
Stanley, dem., 301.
For Treasurer — S. V. Rehart, rep., 126; A.
McCallen, dem., 324.
For School Superintendent — J. Q. Willits,
rep., 171 ; A. H. Fisher, dem., 283.
For Surveyor — P M. Curry, rep., 242.
For Coroner — Geo. Rawson, rep., 184; J. W.
Howard, dem., 268.

The office of county judge became vacant in
1887 by the death of A. Fitts,. and on February
10, Charles A. Cogswell, Democrat, was appoint
ed by Governor Sylvester Pennoyer to fill the un
expired term.
A special election was held on November 8,
1887, to vote on several proposed constitutional
amendments. One of these was the prohibition
question. The result in Lake county was:
For the amendment, 160 ; against, 204.
Lake county polled 282 more votes at the June
election of 1888 than two years before. The Re
publicans were successful in electing four candi
dates on the county ticket, which was the best
record they had made in the history of Lake
county politics. The officers elected at this elec
tion were : W. A. Wilshire, dem., county judge ;
J. E. McDonough, dem., assessor; L. Taylor,
rep., surveyor ; R. L. Sherlock, rep., commis
sioner ; Wm. A. Bagley, dem., commissioner ;
Wm. Carll, rep., sheriff; Wm. T. Boyd, rep.,
clerk ; J. W. Howard, dem., coroner ; A. McCal
len, dem., treasurer ; W. J. Moore, dem., school
superintendent. At the presidential election this year the here
tofore big Democratic majorities were cut down,
and Grover Cleveland received a majority of only
thirteen over Benjamin Harrison for president.
At the general election of June 2, 1890, over
800 votes were cast. The Democrats regained the
offices they had lost at the election two years
before and again made a clean sweep. The Re
publicans carried- the county for their candidate
for joint representative. The official vote :
For Governor — D. P. Thompson, rep., 330;
S. Pennoyer, dem., 484.
For Congressman — Binger Herman, rep.,
405 : Robert A. Miller, dem., 409.
For District Attorney — C. B. Watson, rep.,
251 : Wm. M. Colvig, dem., 551.
For Joint Representative — Andrew Snider,
rep., 486 ; G. W. Smith, dem., 308.
For Commissioner — Silas J . Studley, rep.,
365 ; A. V Lane, dem., 428.
For Clerk— Will T. Boyd, rep., 250; W. N.
Sutton, dem., 542.
For Sheriff — C. Hinkle, rep., 378; William
Heryford, dem., 413.
For Treasurer — Will J. Miller, rep., 288; A.
McCallen. dem., 504.
For School Superintendent — J. Q. Willits,
rep., 326; A. H. Fisher, dem., 463.
For Assessor — Will J. Clelan, rep., 327 ; J.
E. McDonough, dem., 473.
For Coroner — J. W. Howard, dem., 783.
There was a falling off in the vote at the gen
eral election of 1892, only a little over 700 votes
being cast. This election was the first one at

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

873

which the people of Lake county had a chance
to vote for candidates of the Peoples party, there
being candidates of the new party on the congres
sional and district tickets. The vote they received
in Lake county ranged from 70 to 182. The Re
publicans gave Binger Hermann for congress a
plurality of twelve over the Democratic candi
date. The contest on the county ticket was close
in several cases, the Republicans electing one of
ficer, John McElhurney, for commissioner by a
plurality of five votes. The official vote :
For Congressman — Binger Hermann, rep.,
301; Winfield T. Rigdon, pro., 6; M. V. Rork,
peo., in ; R. M. Veatch, dem., 289.
For Judges Circuit Court — W. C. Hale, rep.,
284; H. K. Hanna, dem., 413; P. P. Prim, dem.,
403 ; Ira Wakefield, peo., 182.
For District Attorney — H. L. Benson, rep.,
286; W. C. Edwards, peo., 118; S. U. Mitchell,
dem., 289.
For Joint Senator — C. A. Cogswell, dem.,
403 ; A. Snider, rep., 268 ; Roscoe Knox, peo.,
27. '
For Joint Representative — B. Daly, dem.,
478; O. A. Starns, rep., 154; W. F. Welch, peo.,
70. For County Judge — W. M. Townsend, dem.,
429; J- P- Willits, rep., 270.
For Clerk — S. T. Colvin, rep., 168; W. N.
Sutton, dem., 527.
For Sheriff — H. A. Brattain, rep., 343 ; A. W.
Charlton, dem., 358.
For Commissioner — John McElhurney, rep.,
351; Wm. Tullock, dem., 346.
For Treasurer — H. Bailey, rep., 201 ; A. Mc
Callen, dem., 499.
For Assessor — U. F. Abshier, dem., 481 ; C.
S. Benefiel, rep., 208.
For School Superintendent — H. C. Fleming,
dem., 364; J. J. Monroe, rep., 329.
For Surveyor — P. M. Curry, rep., 336; F.
B. Houston, dem., 358.
For Coroner — J. W. Howard, dem., 654 ; W.
H. Patton, 1.
Although a poor showing was made by the
Peoples party at the June election, that party
carried the county at the presidential election on
November 8, the electors favorable to General
leaver for president receiving 300 votes. The
Harrison electors received 237 votes and the
Cleveland electors no. The county gave the pro-
hibtion electors one vote.
The election of June 4, 1894, was a close one.
The Peoples party had gained in strength until
it now ranked up close to the old parties. All
three parties had county tickets in the field and the
contests were all close. Nearly 800 votes were
cast. The Republicans carried the county for

their candidates for congressman, governor and
district attorney, while the Democrats succeeded
in carrying the county for their candidate for
joint representative. On the county ticket the
Republicans elected five officers, the Democrats
three and the Peoples party one. This year
marked the change in the condition of Lake coun
ty politics from solid Democratic to close and
doubtful. The official vote was :
For Governor — Wm. Galloway, dem., 242 ;
Wm. P. Lord, rep., 308 ; Nathan Pierce, peo.,
200 ; James Kennedy, pro., 7.
For Congressman — J. K. Weatherford, dem.,
229 ; Binger Hermann, rep., 339 ; Chas. Miller,
peo., 174; John D. Hurst, pro., 4.
For District Attorney — W. H. Parker, dem.,
194; H. L. Benson, rep., 355; Abe Axtell, peo.,
173- For Joint Representative — B. Daly, dem., 317 ;
Virgil Conn, rep., 252 ; R. K. Funk, peo., 171.
For County Judge — E. M. Brattain, rep., 277 ;
J. W. Scott, dem., 254; S. P. Moss, peo., 205.
For Commissioner — A. V Lane, dem., 301 ;
Wm. McCormack, rep., 283 ; L. A. Carriker, peo.,
160. For Sheriff — C. Henkel, rep., 251 ; F. P. Lane,
dem., 284; R. A. Paxton, peo., 209.
For Clerk— U. F. Abshier, dem., 219; W. A.
Massingill, rep., 388; J. S. McLaughlin, peo.,
136. For School Superintendent — H. C. Fleming,
dem., 271; J. J. Monroe, rep., 292; T. B. Ver
non, peo., 179.
For Treasurer — A. McCallen, dem., 296 ; J. S.
Field, rep., 337; H. Schmick, peo., 103.
For Assessor — J. E. McDonough, dem., 231 ;
Geo. Miller, rep., F. E. Harris, peo., 273.
For Surveyor — J. P O'Farrell, dem., 281 ;
Chas. Moore, rep., 428.
For Coroner — J. W. Howard, dem., 349; B.
Reynolds, rep., 331.
The election of June 1, 1896, showed a slight
gain in votes cast, there being over 800. Again
the three parties had tickets in the field and again
the contest was close. The Republicans carried
the county for their candidates for congressman,
district attorney and joint representative, the
Democrats for joint senator. Six Republican
candidates on the county ticket were elected and
two Democrats. The official vote :
For Congressman — Thos. H. Tongue, rep.,
346; Jefferson Meyers, dem., 232; W. S. Van-
derburg, peo., 211; N. C. Christenson, pro., 17.
For District Attorney — Geo. W. Colvig, rep.,
359; S. S. Penz, dem., in; J. A. Jeffrey, peo.,
333- For Joint Senator — O. C. Applegate, rep.,
226; B. Daly, dem., 473 ; P K. Funk, peo., 109.

874

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Joint Representative — Virgil Conn, rep.,
361 ; J. L. Hanks, dem., 96; J. A. Larrabee, peo,
335- For Sheriff — John McElhurney, rep., 278 ; F.
P. Lane, dem., 291; A. W. Charlton, peo., 241.
For Clerk — W. A. Massingill, rep., 546 ; R.
W. Vernon, dem., 106 ; F. W. Foster, peo., 148.
For Treasurer — Harry Bailey, rep., 501 ; A.
H. Fisher, dem., 296.
For Assessor — Wm. Barnes, rep., 348 ; F. B.
Houston, dem., 273; Duke Bennett, peo., 175.
For School Superintendent — J. J. Monroe,
reP-> 336; W. J. Moore, dem., 448.
For Surveyor — P. M. Curry, rep., 425 ; Chas.
E. Moore, dem., 355.
For Coroner — A. Lessig, rep., 428; J. W.
Howard, dem., 352.
For County Commissioner — Chas. Tonning
sen, rep., 349 ; F. M. Greene, dem., 305 ; Ben
Warner, peo., 149.
The Republicans had shown the greatest
strength at the June election, but in the presi
dential election, November 3, the Democrats and
Peoples party, united on William Jennings Bryan
for president, carried the county over William
McKinley. The vqte of this election was as fol
lows :
McKinley electors, 350; Bryan electors, 382;
Palmer electors, 2.
A slightly smaller vote was cast at the elec
tion June 6, 1898, than was two years before.
The Republicans had by this time become very
strong and were acknowledged to be the dominant
party in Lake county politics. They carried the
county for all their candidates on the state, con
gressional, judicial and legislative tickets and
lected all but four candidates on the county ticket.
A fusion of some of the county officers was ac
complished between the Democrats and Peoples
party, the first and only time in the county's his
tory fusion was tried. The official vote follows :
For Governor — T. T. Geer, rep., 433 ; Will
R. King, fusion, 323; H. M." Clinton, pro., 7;
John C. Luce, regular peo., 10.
For Congressman — Thos. H. Tongue, rep.,
440; R. M. Veatch, fusion, 303; L. H. Peder-
son, pro., 10; J. L. Hill, regular peo., 16.
For Circuit Judge — H. L. Benson, rep., 483 ;
J. A. Jeffrey, fusion, 251; H. K. Hanna, inde
pendent, 327; J. L. Batchelor, peo., 35 ; Jonathan
Tressler, peo., 13 ; E. C. Wade, fusion, 193.
For District Attorney — C. B. Watson, rep.,
433; A. N. Soliss, fusion, 310; J. B. Wells, peo.,
23- For Joint Representative — W. A. Massingill,
rep., 502; J. B. Griffith, dem., 257.
For County Judge — Chas. Tonningsen, rep.,
442 ; S. P. Moss, fusion, 342.

For Sheriff — A. J. Neilon, fusion, 439 ; Harry
Roberts, rep., 345.
For Clerk— J. M. Batchelder, rep., 457; O.
E. Charlton, fusion, 325.
For Treasurer — S. F. Ahlstrom, rep., 489;
T. E. Bernard, fusion, 277.
For Assessor — George H. Stevens, rep., 266
Feliz Duncan, fusion, 272; Chas. Umbach, ind.,
243- For School Superintendent — J. Q. "willits,.
rep., 423 ; Thos. Beall, dem., 338.
For Surveyor — P M. Curry, rep., 430; Geo.
D. McGrath, dem., 317.
For Coroner — F. E. Harris, fusion, 558.
For Commissioner — S. B. Chandler, rep., 349 ;
Geo. L. Gilfrey, dem., 414.
Eight hundred and three votes were cast at the
general election of June 4, 1900. The entire Re
publican county and district tickets were elected
by safe majorities with the exception of treas
urer and coroner. Bernard Daly, fusion candi
date for congressman carried the county over
Thomas H. Tongue. The Peoples party was
eliminated from the county ticket at this election
and again the Republicans and Democrats met as
of yore. The official vote :
For Congressman — Thos. H. Tongue, rep.,
364; Bernard Daly, fusion, 390; W. P. Elmore,
pro., 5 ; J. K. Sears, peo., 7.
For District Attorney — C. B. Watson, rep.,
404; R. A. Reames, dem., 301.
For loint Senator — J. N. Williamson, rep.,
447 ; A. S. Bennett, fusion, 300.
For Representative — R. A. Emmett, rep., 408 ;
T. R. McGeer, rep., 380; A. S. Roberts, rep.,
353 ; G. T. Baldwin, dem., 250 ; H. C. Liebe,
dem., 278; G. Springer, dem., 221.
For Sheriff— H. R. Dunlap, rep., 461 ; A. J.
Neilon, dem., 326.
For Clerk — William Gunther, rep., 453 ; R. A.
Hawkins, dem., 332.
For Treasurer — L. G. Beach, rep., 356; Lee
Beall, dem., 417.
For Assessor — J. B. Blair, rep., 417 ; W. W.
Hampton, dem., 332.
For School' Superintendent — J. O. Willits,
rep., 456 ; H. C. Fleming, dem., 299.
For Surveyor — P. M. Curry, rep., 570.
For Coroner — F. E. Harris, dem., 554.
For Commissioner — S. J. Prose, rep., 372 ; T.
B. Wakefield, dem., 361.
A big change is noted in the presidential elec
tion of 1900. AVhile in 1896 W. J. Bryan had
carried the countv by 32 plurality, William Mc
Kinley at this election carried the county by a plu
rality of 224. The vote was : Republican electors,
456 ; Democratic electors, 232. This was the first
time in Lake county's history that a majority had"

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

875

been given the Republican party at a presidential
election. Nearly 850 votes were cast at the general
election of June 2, 1902. The election was an
exciting one ancl very close. The Democrats
secured a majority of the county officers, while
the Republicans carried the county for state and
district candidates. The official vote :
For' Governor — William J. Furnish, rep., 491 ;
Geo. E. Chamberlain, dem., 328; A. J. Hunsacker,
11 ; R. R. Ryan, 13.
For Congressman — Thos. H. Tongue, rep.,
509 ; J. K. Weatherford, dem., 272 ; Hiram Gould,
12; 11. F. Ramp, 11.
For Joint Representatives — J. N. Burgess,
rep., 468 ; R." A. Emmett, rep., 479 ; N. Wheal
don, rep., 424; P. B. Doak, dem., 305; L. E.
Morse, dem., 255 ; Earl Sanders, dem., 257.
For County Judge — Chas. Tonningsen, rep.,
368; Bernard Daly, dem., 468.
For Sheriff — H. R. Dunlap, rep., 448; A.
B. Shroder, dem., 354.
For Clerk — William Gunther, rep., 409; A.
W. Manring, dem., 434.
For Treasurer — G. W. Johnson, rep., 344;
Lee Beall, dem., 448.
For Assessor — J. B. Blair, rep., 509; O. L.
Stanley, dem., 306.
For Surveyor — P. M. Curry, rep., 356; C.
E. Moore, dem., 474.
For Coroner — F. E. Harris, rep., 610.
For Commissioner — J. M. Martin, rep., 377;
W. A. Currier, dem., 451.
A special election was held June 1, 1903, to
elect a successor to Thos. H. Tongue, who died
while serving a term as congressman. The elec
tion was a walkover for Binger Hermann, Re
publican. The vote : Binger Hermann, rep.,
325; A. E. Reames, dem., 154; W. P. Elmore,
pro., 2; J. W. Ingale, soc, 2.
At the election of June 6, 1904, 783 votes
were cast. The Republicans were in the main
successful, though the Democrats succeeded in
electing three candidates on the county ticket. The
official vote :

For Congressman — Binger Hermann, rep.,
471; R. M. Veatch, dem., 229; H. Gould, pro.,
20; B. F. Ramj), soc, 15.
• For Circuit Judges — H. L. Benson, rep., 512;
H. K. Hanna, rep., ^88; E. B. Dufur, dem., 191 ;
J. R. Neil, dem., 248.
For District Attorney — E. M. Brattain, rep.,
396; W. J. Moore, dem., 345.
For Joint Senator — J. A. Laycock, rep., 390 ;
W. A. Booth, dem., 315.
For Toint Representatives — J. S. Shook, rep.,
384; R.'E. L. Steiner, rep., 532; J. B. Griffith,
dem., 23(1; J. A. Taylor, dem., 190.
For Sheriff — E. E. Rinehart, rep., 443 ; F.
M. Duke, dem., 314.
For Clerk — E. N. Jaquish, rep., 361 ; A. W.
Manring, dem., 398.
For Treasurer — F. O. Ahlstrom, rep., 451;
T. E. Bernard, dem., 289.
For Assessor — C. Umbach, rep., 310; W. D.
West, dem., 445.
For School Superintendent — J. Q. Willits,
rep., 639.
For Surveyor — C. E. Moore, dem., 557.
For Commissioner — C. W. Dent, rep., 462; J.
C. Dodson, dem., 253.
The voting strength of the several precincts
at this election was as follows: South Lakeview,
132; Summer Lake, 21 ; Crooked Creek, 39; Sil
ver Lake, 98; Paisley, 102; North Lakeview,
no; Goose Lake, 49; Drew's Valley, 23; Pine
Creek, 81 ; North Warner, 33 ; South Warner,
50 ; Thomas Creek, 36 — Total, 783.
The last election in Lake county was the
presidential election held on November 8, 1904.
It shows the county to be overwhelmingly
Republican on national issues. The plurality
of 244 for McKinley in 1900 was increased 55
for Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. The official
vote :
Republican electors, Roosevelt, 397 ; Demo
cratic electors, Parker, 118; Prohibitionist elec
tors, Swallow, 9 ; socialist electors, Debs, 5 ;
Peoples party electors, Watson 10.

CHAPTER VII

EDUCATIONAL.

Lake county is in no whit behind the other
counties of Oregon in matters educational, in fact,
she holds an enviable position in the state and in
many points excels her sister counties. As to the
average wages paid teachers, there is but one
county in the state that pays higher than does
Lake. Possessed of a population wide awake to
the necessities of educational facilities for the ris
ing generations, and with the determination to
provide for her sons ancl daughters, in this im
portant point, steady progress has been made in
the county from the date of the first school held
in a ground floor shanty until today many com
modious school houses dot the hillsides in rharge
of a corps of teachers up to date and capable. The
people have kept pace with the demands in fur
nishing facilities for proper schools and as fast
as new districts were needed they have been or
ganized and: suitable buildings erected so that all
communities might have the benefits of instruc
tion as needed. It is well known that the school
system of any community or section reflects the
intelligence of the residents and applying this
test, Lake county need have no fear of falling be
hind the other counties of the great state of
Oregon. Inasmuch as much relative to the schools of
the county has been stated. in different portions
of the chapters where the thread of history has
called for such expression, it simply remains for
us in this brief chapter to give such statistics as
are available and will be useful for reference, as
a detailed account of each school is not called
for and would be burdensome to the reader.
There has always been and is today that health
ful and friendly rivalry between districts in Lake
county that is productive of so much effort to
make a good showing for the home place ancl
each community has many things to show that
are very commendable. It would be our pleasure
to make extended mention of the many incidents
of school life throughout the county ancl enter
into the spirit of the district scholar's work, both
routine arid extra, as the pleasant matches and
various meetings public and regular that are held

from time to time, and chronicle much that would
be interesting to the younger minds, especially,
but the facts are that we have been utterly unable
to find data for such a chapter. While there has
been no lack of zest and inspiration among the
scholars and teachers of the county, there has
been an almost total lack or preserving minutes
or accounts that would assist us in making such
a chapter. Therefore, it is impossible to place
it here, though we much desire it. The early de
bates, the spelling matches, the exhibitions and
many other things that combine to make school
life happy and interesting have all had their place
in Lake county and still do, as the spirit of emu
lation in kindliness is fostered by the teachers and
is a sign of healthful growth.
As to the course of study, we find substan
tially the same as in all well regulated schools of
the land, while the thoroughness of instruction
constantly maintained brings the privilege of the
Lake county boys and girls to gain a good edu
cation well up to the best to be found.
Thus far in her history Lake county has not
voted the high school allowed by the state laws
and the school in Lakeview is the only graded
one in the county. Therefore all districts look to
Lakeview to furnish the opportunity for the
scholars to pursue the higher branches. The city
has not been slow to respond and in addition to
the regular grades two years of high school work
have been maintained while it is intended at once
to add another year. This will provide for the
students who are inclined to seek the benefits of
extended study, the privilege of enjoying the
same in their home county. A splendid corps of
teachers are employed in Lakeview and the large
brick school house is filled each year with earnest
seekers for the knowledge that is power. In ad
dition to the regular residents of Lakeview, there
are many pupils from the country districts in at
tendance on the city schools and the high school
course being extended is thus beneficial to all
parts of the county. Owing to this, Lakeview
schools are prosperous and excellent as every
endeavor has been made to provide the best for

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

877"

the students in the way of instruction. When
Lakeview was swept by the demon of flames fate
decreed that the school building should remain
and this was an untold benefit to the youth as
the school was enabled to continue its way with
out interruption.
No school was held in the boundaries of what
is now Lake county prior to 1873, although there
were many settlers. Among those settlers were
few families ancl therefore the need for schools
had not been felt. But in the year mentioned
there were a number of families in Goose Lake
valley ancl it was apparent that a school was
needed. The law in Oregon is that a three
months' term of school shall be held in a sec
tion desiring to be organized into a district be
fore the organization can be consummated. There
fore the first step was to secure a teacher and
commence actual instruction of the young. As no
person in the valley held a school certificate it
was decided that Miss Nannie Fitzgerald should
apply to the county superintendent of Jackson
county, for Lake was then embraced in Jackson
county, for a permit to teach the required three
months in Goose Lake valley. Miss Fitzgerald,
now Mrs. John O'Neil, secured the permit asked
for from the superintendent at Jacksonville and
in clue time was installed as teacher of the school
in Goose Lake valley. A little shanty about twelve
feet square with no floor except the ground was
set aside for the school house, it being on A. Ten-
brook's ranch, ancl there gathered the fifteen chil
dren to be found in the settlement. Many of
these children had never attended school before
and there was a great scarcity of suitable books.
But who can stop the spirit born in the atmos
phere of the west ! Ground floor, rough shack,
lack of books, with nothing but the most primi
tive conveniences, or, rather, necessities, for the
word "conveniences" is strangely out of place in
this description, could not do it. The new teacher
and the new scholars adapted themselves to the
situation with a spirit of determination to make
the best of it and soon they were in the harness
in real earnest and the hum of the little school
was as real and pleasant as that in many a more
favored region of wealthy communities. They
studied ancl taught and labored on together with
the real inspiration of the muse of learning and
various ones can point back to many pleasant
days even in the floorless shack a third of a cen
tury ago. Thus started the first school in what
is now Lake county. Upon the completion of the
required three months the district was organized
and so was set in motion the regular machinery
of education. The next year, 1874, Miss Fitzgerald taught a

term of school on Kelly creek, which was the
second school of Lake county. The school was
held in a little log cabin and the enrollment was
about twenty.
In 1875, the year Lake count}- was organized,
the enrollment of school children in the entire
county was 248, while the attendance was much
less. It must be remembered that while we have
been detailing the starting of the first and sec
ond schools in what is now Lake county, there
were other schools started before this in what
was then set off as Lake county in 1875, which
accounts for the seemingly large number of
school children in this year. But the county of
Lake, as originally set off, embraced what is now
Klamath county.
It is very unfortunate that there is not avail
able, so far as the writer is able to ascertain, the
detailed reports of the various school superin
tendents of these early days. Beside bare statis
tics, only what can be gained from personal inter
views can be found now, and it is a matter of
common understanding that it is very hard for
the human memory to recall such things as schooL
history which now would be so interesting, back
for a period of thirty years. Some can recall
items, here and there, ancl then others may bring
up memories of some other things, but few can
make accurately any statements as to the actual
conditions. Therefore, we can do nothing other
wise than to pass these things.
William J. Moore, superintendent of schools-
for Lake county for the year ending June 30,
1886, reports at that time fourteen organized dis
tricts in the county, 274 pupils enrolled with an
average daily attendance of 211, while seventeen
teachers were employed. There were eight school
houses and the total value of the school prop-
ertv amounted to $3,010.00. This allows a com
parison to ascertain the growth from 1873, with
the start of the ground floored shack with fifteen
pupils, to 1886. The figures present a showing
or good growth and a mindful interest in things
educational. The next three years show an equally in
creased growth as the enrollment was 490, daily
attendance 330, while the total number of school
children was 788. Concerning this A. H. Fischer
remarks in his annual report, "This is much bet
ter than the older counties are doing in the thick
est portions of the state." In this year we learn
that the county had sixteen organized districts,
fifteen school houses ancl the total value of school
property was $9,928.00.
In 1892 we note that there were in the county
nineteen organized districts, seventeen school
houses and twenty-three teachers employed. The-

878

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

number of enrolled pupils was 512 while the
average daily attendance was 453. The
value of school property had increased to
$25,629.00. From the statistics prepared by the state su
perintendent of public instruction, we reproduce
the following table showing the number of chil
dren between four and twenty years of age in the
county, number of pupils enrolled and the aver
age daily attendance, for the years from the or
ganization of the county until 1902.
Year. No. Children. No. Enrolled. Aver. D. A.
1875  377 248 —
1876  562 us —
1877  412 171 156
1878  507 190 no
1879  601 271 179
188c/  863 285 175
1881  '....738 348 270
^882  845 436 248

Year. No. Children.
1883  400
1884  409
1885  52S
1886  576
1887  787
1888  709
[889  788
1890  818
1891  785
1892  801
1893  698
1894  821
189S  824
1896  860
1897  853
1898  876
1899  939
1900  979
1901  977
1902  968

No.

Enrolled. Aver.

D. A.

272

I9'S

267

215

249

220

274

211

367

247

441

345

490

330

590

322

S82

393

512

453

603

333

518

374

614

367

576

398

631

338

590

447

633

423

625

560

757

319

753

400

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

LAKE COUNTY

JOSEPH L. MORROW. The subject of
this sketch is a prominent farmer and stock raiser
residing in South Warner valley, two miles south
from Add postoffice. No resident of Warner
valley stands higher in the estimation of his
fellow settlers than does Mr. Morrow, chiefly
on account of the leading part he has taken on be
half of the people of Warner valley against the
Warner Valley Stock Company in the far-famed
land contest that has occupied the attention of the
citizens of the valley for the past nineteen years.
The case was brought about and is kept in
' progress through the effort of the aforementioned
stock company to procure the lands of the valley
under the Swamp Land act, ancl have it set aside
for use only as grazing land. In reality the land,
in order to be made productive, requires irriga
tion, and in consequence the settlers have con
structed the Deep creek and Twenty-Mile creek
irrigation ditches with which they irrigate their
farms. Notwithstanding this fact, the efforts
on the part of the Warner Valley Stock Com
pany have been persistent to deprive tha settlers
of their land, and the fight has been one of the
bitterest in the history of the state. Mr. Morrow
has from the first been the champion of the set
tlers' cause, and in their interest he has made
three trips to Washington, D. C, and six to the
Oregon state capital, for all of which strenuous
effort his fellow citizens give him due honor and
credit. Joseph jL. Morrow is a native of Chariton
county, Missouri, born July 2, 1834, .but was
reared in Macon county, Missouri. His father
was the Rev. Jesse S. Morrow, a Baptist minister
and a farmer born in Kentucky, and an early
pioneer of Missouri. He died on March 2, 1855,
in Macon county, Missouri. Mr. Morrow's
mother was Henrietta (Williams) Morrow, also
a native of Kentucky, who died in Platte county,
Missouri, in 1838- Mr. Morrow has one brother,

John S. Morrow, a resident of Macon county,
Missouri ; and one sister, Esther A. Morrow, of
Texas. One brother and two sisters, William W.
Morrow, Mrs. Rebecca Summers and Mrs. Eliza
beth Green, are deceased.
Although he never enjoyed the opportunity
of attending school, Mr. Morrow acquired a
good common school education by home study,
both in the state of his birth and after coming
west. In the spring of 1854 he started west
with Tom Goram's train of ox teams, he having
hired to Mr. Goram at twenty dollars per month
as driver of three yoke of oxen. The train
started on April 12 ancl arrived at Nevada City,
California, August 19, 1854, our subject having
walked the major part of the distance. While
en route the train was annoyed to some extent
by the hostile tribes, and in one fight Mr. Mor
row was shot in the leg with an arrow, though
not critically wounded. After arriving at Nevada
City he engaged in working in the mines, later
going to the Forest City mines, where he mined
until 1858, when he went to Sonoma county,
California- He was there married, July 2, 1858,
to Sibbrina AharL a native of Roane county,
Tennessee, born June 21, 1835. Mrs. Morrow's
parents both died during her childhood, and she
crossed the plains with a brother-in-law and
sister, Mr. and Mrs. James Cook, and two
brothers, James Ahart, of Amador county, Cali
fornia, and Spencer Ahart, of Sonoma county,
California. She has another sister Mrs. Hanna
Puckett, of Douglas county, Oregon.
Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mor
row removed to Big River Mills, where Mr. Mor
row was engaged in the sawmill business until
the autumn of 1859, when they returned to
Nevada county. Here our subject again en
gaged in mining until the fall of 1865, when he
emigrated to Douglas county, Oregon, and en
tered the business of farming and mining on

88o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Myrtle creek. In 1881 he removed to Fort Bid-
well, California, ancl there made his home for
four years. In the year 1881, while on a horse-
hunting expedition, Mr. Morrow passed through
the Warner valley, and was so favorably im
pressed with the country that in 1885 he brought
his family to reside here, settling on the ranch
where they now live. He has taken an active in
terest in the welfare and development of the
country from the day of his arrival and has al
ways been one of the most nearly indispensible
citizens of the valley.
Mr- Morrow now owns three hundred and
twenty acres of good hay land but represents
six hundred and forty acres, one quarter-section
of which belonged to a son, now deceased, and
the remaining one hundred and sixty acres be
ing the property of a minor grandson. He has
some stock, but having leased his land, Mr. Mor
row is now living a life of semi-retirement.
To Mr. and Mrs. Morrow have been born six
children, named as follows : John W., born in
Mendocino county, California, April 21, 1859,
and died July 25, 1889; Joseph A., born in Ne
vada county, California, April 2, 1861 ; Nancy
J. Bennett and Jesse B. Morrow, twins, born in
Sacramento county, California, May 16, 1863 ;
Mrs. Sarah E. Neisham, born January 24, 1869,
in Douglas county, Oregon, and died in Chico,
California, August 5, 1892; and Mrs. Mary E.
Cooper, born July 21, 1872, in Douglas county,
Oregon.

AHAZ WASHINGTON BRYAN resides
some twenty-three miles north of Lakeview at
what is known as the Bryan stage station. He is
a stage contractor ancl has been in the business
for many years in Lake county. ' He was born
on Decemher 16, 1858, in Mercer county, Mis
souri, the son of Daniel Boone and Mary (Fair-
ley) Bryan. The father was born in Tennessee,
in 1828 ancl served in the state militia in Mis
souri during the Civil War. The mother is a
native of Ohio. They now live in this county.
The other children of the family besides our
subject are Mrs. Ella Strohm of Yamhill county,
Oregon ; David M., of this county ; Mrs. Lucy
J. Reed of this county ; and Mary H. The family
crossed the plains with ox teams in 1864, mak
ing settlement in Yamhill county, where our
subject was reared on the farm ancl received
his education. When still young, he took a trip
to western Oregon, then returned to Yamhill
county and in 1887 journeyed to Lake county.
He worked for wages for several years then be
gan sub-contracting on the mail routes. Finally,
in 1902, he secured the contract of the mail from

Lakeview to Paisley and he has been handling
the business ever since. In 1902, he purchased
his present home, an estate of five hundred acres,
one-third of which is first class hay land. He
has a good house, large barn, blacksmith shop
and various other improvements. He does his
own horse shoeing and blacksmith work- Mr.
and Mrs. Bryan keep a stage station for the
accommodation of the traveling public ancl are
doing a good business in that line. He also
raises cattle and horses.
Fraternally, he is a member of the A. O. /
U. W. and the W. W. On July 24, 1892, Mr.
Bryan married Nancy J. Moss, who was born
in Modoc county, California, the daughter of
Stephen P- and Susan (Casteel) Moss. To this
union three children have been born, Bessie E.,
Tressie H. and Annie L.

WILLIAM ANDREW CURRIER, who is
engaged in stock raising, resides fourteen miles
northwest from Paisley, his postoffice. He was
born at Corvallis, Benton county, Oregon, on
October 12, 185 1. His father, J. M. Currier, was
born in Irasburg, Vermont, February 12, 1827.
He went with his parents to New York state in
1842, thence journeyed to Missouri in 1844 and
two years later, crossed the plains with his
brother-in-law, A. L. Humphrey, and two sisters,
and settled on a donation claim near Corvallis
where he still resides. He took part in the
Cayuse Indian War. In August, 1850, he mar
ried Maria Foster, who was born in Coshocton
county, Ohio, April 11, 1834. Her father, An
drew Foster, fought in the War of 1812. She
had crossed the plains in 1845 with her parents.
To Mr. and Mrs. Currier, four children were
born, of whom our subject, Mrs. J- W. Belknap
of Hanford, California, and M. C. Currier, of
Paisley, are still living. It is of interest to note
in this connection, that Mr. Humphrey was a
member of the first Oregon Legislature.
William A. Currier came to Lake county in
1875 and settled at Summer Lake where he still
lives. He had married on January 19, 1875,
Miss Kitty E. Hadley ancl to this union three
children have been born, Eva, Ada and*William
Manley. Mr. Currier is in Lake county a most
prominent ancl respected citizen and has the
confidence and esteem of all who know him.
He has been instrumental with others in making
the county what it is today and has been very
faithful in his labors. Since Mr. Currier has
been elected commissioner of the county, it has
prospered beyond expectation and is now en
tirely out of debt and he deserves great credit

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

881

for bringing about these desirable ends. He is
a successful business man and has accumulated
a snug fortune since he came to Lake county-
He owns seventeen hundred acres of land, all
under fence, good comfortable house and barns,
and raises all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Mr.
Currier also owns two thousand head of cattle
and is considered one of the largest horse owners
in Central Oregon, having over -a thousand head
of these valuable animals.
Fraternally, Mr. Currier is a member of the
I. O. O. F. lodge, No. 177, of Paisley.
Mrs. Currier was born on July 7, 1862, in
Siskiyou county, California. Her father, S. B.
Hadley, was born May 10, 1828, and died April
20, 1 89 1, at Paisley, Oregon. Her mother,
Amelia (Shinn) Hadley, was born September 21,
1825, and died October 3, 1886, at Myrtle creek,
Douglas county, Oregon. Mr. and Mrs- Hadley
were married on April 10, 1851, and the same
year crossed the plains from Galesville, Illinois,
and settled in the Umpqua valley, Oregon, in 1852.
To them were born the following named chil
dren: Albert, December 20, 1852, deceased;
Margret, March 9, 1854, deceased ; Samuel, De
cember 3, 1856; Melvin and Melvina, April 21,
1858; John, March 14, i860, deceased; Kitty,
July 7, 1862; and Henry, June 15 1866.

WILLIAM L. POPE is a native of Yreka,
California, born September 18, 1864, and is now
a cattle raiser residing five miles south from
Warner Lake postoffice on Twenty-Mile creek.
His ranch is known all over southern Oregon
as the "20-Mile Ranch" and is a noted way sta
tion on the Fort Bidwell-Plush road.
Mr. Pope is the son of Charles W. and
Medora (Combs) Pope, California pioneers. The
father was born at Chillicothe, Ohio, and crossed
the plains to California in 1849, settling at Yreka,
where he was engaged in mining and the stock
business until 1868. He then removed to Little
Shasta, where he resided until his death, which
occurred in May, 1889. He was sixty-eight years
of age when he died. The mother was a native
of West Bend, Indiana, born in 1842, and crossed
the plains to Yreka, California, at the age of
ten years. She died in 1880.
Our subject grew to manhood at the home
of his parents, and received a good public school
education. In June, 1884, he came to Lakeview
and engaged in the sheep business with D- V
Cleland, Jr., under the firm style of Pope &
Cleland. Three years later the firm dissolved,
and Mr. Pope engaged in the business of buying
and selling sheep, which business he followed
56

until 1901, when he abandoned the sheep busi
ness ancl engaged in raising cattle. Fie now de
votes himself exclusively to the raising of cattle
and the management of his ranch. He purchased
his present home in 1895, but has lived upon it
only since 1901. Fie has three hundred and
twenty acres, about forty acres of which is in
alfalfa meadow, thirty in grain and one and one-
half acres in orchard. He has three miles of irri
gation ditch and flume, receiving an abundance
of water from Twenty-mile creek. His land
will produce any variety of fruit or vegetable
adapted to the temperate zone.
On November 27, 1896, Mr. Pope was mar
ried to Mary L. Clark, a native of Lake City,
situated in Surprise valley, California. Her
father, John A. Clark, was a native of Arkansas,
who cinie to Oregon in 1856, ancl a short time
later removed to Surprise valley. He was one
of the pioneer settlers of that valley, and served
during the Piute Indian war as a volunteer sol
dier. He has been engaged in the stock busi
ness the greater part of his life since coming
west, ancl is now living on Twenty-mile creek,
Lake county, Oregon. Mrs. Pope's mother was
Jane A- (Ford) Clark, born at Yreka, California,
ancl died at Plush, Oregon, on March 12, 1893.

. L. N. KELSAY is the editor ancl proprietor
of the Central Oregonian. It is a sheet of great
merit considering that it has been but a
short time in the field and especially does it
show forth excellent judgment in its policies
ancl general make-up which but reflect Air. Kel
say's probity and substantiality. Less than two
years have passed since the first issue of the
Central Oregonian appeared and it has so un
mistakably voiced the proper sentiment that it
is the exponent of the progressive element of the
community ancl Mr. Kelsav well deserves the
patronage of all, being entitled to win success
in his chosen field.
L. N. Kelsav was born in Lane countv, Ore
gon, on November 4, 1878, and received his edu
cational training in the public schools of Wasco
county and the Portland University, from which V
latter institution he graduated with honors in*
1901. Hon. William Kelsav, his father, was a
native of Kentuckv. being- born June 11, 1831.
In 1853 ne crossed the plains with ox teams and
settled on the homestead in Lane countv and en
gaged in farming and stork raising there until
1885, then he removed to Wasco countv ancl em
barked in sheep raising, which h*= followed for
several years. Then he disposed of these in
terests and is now engaged in the real estate

882

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

business at Shaniko, this state. He is a veteran
of the Rogue River Indian War and draws a
pension from the government. In 1886, he repre
sented Lane county in the state legislature.
He married Miss Lucy M- Saylor, a native
of Iowa. Her father, the maternal grandfather
of our subject, was a farmer ancl also a native
of Iowa and crossed the plains with ox teams to
Oregon in 1853.
Following his graduation, our subject worked
one year as a freight agent for the Shaniko Ware-
! house Company at Shaniko but being possessed
of a desire to enter journalism, he bought an
interest in the Shaniko Leader in 1902 ancl set
to learn the printer's trade. In the spring of
1903, he sold his interest in the Leader and re
moved to Silver Lake, Oregon, and founded the
¦Central Oregonian which he is at present con-
- ducting. He has closely identified himself with
the interests of the country and has so voiced
its resources through the columns of the Ore
gonian that he has won much attention to this
section ef Oregon. The result is, the country is
'being invaded annually with home seekers and in
a short time we may expect a large population in
this favored region.
At Paisley, Oregon, on the 28th day of Octo-
!ber, 1903, occurred the marriage of Mr. Kelsay
- and Miss Georgia Tribou, the daughter of George
F. and Annetti (Tucker) Tribou. Mrs. Kelsay
was born on May 8, 1885, at Portland and her
father, a pioneer of Oregon, died in 1886. Her
mother married a second time, R. L. Sherlock
becoming her husband, ancl they now reside at
Paisley, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Kelsay have
•one child, Leston Lovelle, who was born January
32, 1905. Mr- Kelsay is a good strong Republi
can and voices the principles of that party with
ability through the columns of his paper. He is
a aian of great clearness and has ability to ex
pound his belief in a very convincing manner.
The result is, he has an interested and increasing
circle of readers. He is a progressive and en
terprising man, takes a keen interest in every
thing • for the upbuilding of the country ancl is
especially active to build up educational facilities.
He and his wife have won many friends during
their stay in Silver Lake and are popular young
people.

GEORGE F. MAUPIN was born in Shelby
countv, Missouri, lanuary 10, T858, the son of
Charles M. and Elizabeth (Barton) Maupin, the
former a native of Virginia and the latter of
Kentucky. The father served during the Civil
War under General Price, of the confederate

army, and died in Missouri, in August, 1896.
The mother is now living, at the age of eighty-
two years, in Clarence, Missouri.
The brothers and sisters of Mr. Maupin are,
Daniel, Roscoe, Charles M., Mrs. Mary R. Kirby,
John T. and Fannie Maupin, all of whom are
still residents of Missouri with the exception of
the last named brother, who resides in the Warner
valley, Oregon.
Mr. Maupin grew to manhood in his native
county and state ancl came west to Glenn county,
California, in 1882- He came to Warner valley
in December, 1888, and engaged in riding the
range as a cowboy. Soon afterward, however,
he took a pre-emption claim and engaged in the
cattle business. In September, 1900, he entered
the sheep business in conjunction with his cattle
business, and now has large numbers of each
of these animals and is making a success of his
business. His home is one and three-fourths
miles south from Warner Lake postoffice, where
he has two hundred ancl forty acres of choice
land. His land is well improved and is irrigated
by the Twenty-mile creek ditch. Alfalfa, natural
hay, and fruit are his principal products.
Mr. Maupin was married March 3, 1895, to
Mrs. Ella (Brooks) Piatt, a native of the state
of California. At the time of her marriage to
Mr. Maupin, Mrs. Piatt was the mother of three
children, Anna, Dora ancl Rufus. Mr. and Mrs.
Maupin are parents of three children, Myrtle I.,
Grace V. ancl George E.
Mr- Maupin is a member of the Eagles fra
ternity, and one of the prominent citizens of his
locality. Upon coming to Warner valley in
1888, his entire estate consisted of one horse and
a buck-board, but he is now rated as being in
comfortable circumstances.

RICHARD L. SHERLOCK is a prominent
wool grower of Summer Lake valley, residing on
a sheep ranch one and one-half miles south from
Summer Lake postoffice. He was born in Coun
tv Cork, Ireland, December 14, 1852. His father,
Thomas Sherlock, now deceased, was a prominent
attorney at law in Ireland. His mother, Mary
C. (Kingston) Sherlock, is also dead.
Mr. Sherlock was educated in his native coun
try, and at the age of sixteen he ancl a brother,
Thomas H. Sherlock, went to New Zealand and
engaged in the sheep business, following it suc
cessfully until t«7i, when thev came to Hum
boldt county, California, ancl continued in raising
sheep there. In 1872 our subject came to Lake
count}-, where he engaged to work on a ranch
as a herder of sheep. He has the distinction of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

883

having put up the first crop of hay ever harvested
in the Silver Lake valley. Two of his brothers
were here at that time ; Thomas PL, who came
in 1871, and Charles E. They formed a partner
ship in the sheep business, in which business our
subject has been engaged continuously since, with
the exception of two years he spent in the Klon
dike at the time of the memorable rush to that
country in 1898. Fie has always prospered in his
business and is now one of the wealthy wool
•growers of Lake county.
He was married in 1886, ancl is now the fathei
of three daughters- Mr. Sherlock, being one of
the pioneers of Lake county, was in the country
during the Modoc Indian war, during which he
saw many hardships and had many narrow es
capes. Richard L. Sherlock is regarded as one of
Lake county's most substantial citizens and at
one time was chosen by the voters as member
of the board of county commissioners.

LORENZO D. FRAKES is a farmer and
stock raiser residing in Warner Lake valley. He
is a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, born June
24, 1864, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan M.
Frakes. The father was born in Kalamazoo,
Michigan, in 1841, and died in Warner Lake
valley, August 22, 1904. In 1873 he came to
Glenn county, California and in 1887 to Warner
Lake valley. The mother, who is now Mrs. P
A. Flower, is living, at the age of eighty-four, in
Warner Lake valley. Her ancestors were promi
nent in the early history of the United States,
some of them being soldiers in the Revolutionary
War ancl her father served in the War of 181 2,
tinder Commodore Perry.
Our subject is the eldest of a family of five
children. He has three brothers, Lewis N.
Alonzo D.,and Leon W., who are likewise stock
men of Warner valley, and his only sister, Libbie
L., died November 27, 1893.
Mr. Frakes grew to manhood at the home
of his parents, and with them came to Warner
Lake valley in 1887. The familv remained united,
all working in mutual partnership, until ten years
ago, when our subject started in business for
himself. He began an independent life by filing
a preemption claim on a quarter section of land,
to which he has since added by purchase one
hundred and thirty acres, making him now the
owner of two hundred and ninety acres in all.
He has his land well improved, as to buildings,
orchard, and so forth, ancl it all is under irri
gation, his mother, brothers and himself owning
irrigation ditches leading from Twenty-mile
creek.

On October 22, 1895, Mr. Frakes was mar
ried to Mrs. Nellie (Green) Allen, a native of
Eldorado county, California, and daughter of
Benjamin F. and Sarah (Wilson) Green. To
this union three children have been born, Nathan
B., Lewis G. and Dow F.
Mr- Frakes has been deputy sheriff of his
county during the past five years, and is one
of the most prominent citizens of Warner Lake
valley. He is doing a prosperous business, rais
ing cattle almost exclusively, of which he- has
a large herd. He is now in comfortable circum
stances financially, notwithstanding the fact that
he started in life in this county almost without
means.

WILLIS E. SCAMMON was born February
18, 1862, in Stanislaus county, California. He
is now 'a stock raiser residing at Plush, Oregon.
His father is Benjamin Scammon, a native of
the state of Maine, who, in 1849, came via the
Panama route to California. Mr. Scammon's
mother was Mary Jane Scammon, also a native
of Maine. She came west with her husband, ancl
some years later the two took a trip up the Fraser
river to Alaska, ancl Mrs. Scammon is supposed
to have been the first white woman in that coun
try. Their journey was one beset with many
perils, ancl while still in the far North Mrs.
Scammon was stricken ill and had to be carried
out bv men a distance of three hundred miles.
She died in 1896. the father of our subject being
now a resident of Surprise valley, California.
Elsworth Scammon, a brother of the subject
of this sketch, is now county recorder for Modoc
county, California, and another brother, R. R.
Scammon, is a resident of Humboldt county,
California. He also has one sister-
The early boyhood of Mr. Scammon was
spent in San Joaquin valley, and in T871 he came
with his parents to Surprise valley. At the
age of fourteen years he left home ancl went
to Harney valley, Oregon, and worked on
the stock ranch of Hardin & Taylor. He
was in this valley at the time of the
Bannock Indian war, and it was he who carried
the dispatch from Harney vahey to Camp creek,
warning the settlers of the sudden hostility of the
Indians. After this war Mr. Scammon worked
cn the ranch of Mr. Hudspeath for thirteen years,
the latter three vears of which time he was fore
man of the ranch, and then took a homestead on
Rock creek and engaged in the stock business
for himself. He sold his ranch ancl came to
Plush in 1901. Here he purchased two hundred
and fortv acres of land, the most of which is

884

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

meadow land and now well improved as to build
ings, and so forth. He also owns the store
building at Plush. His stock business consists
chiefly in raising draft horses, mules, ancl some
cattle. He has a stallion of the English Shire
breed that weighs twenty-two hundred pounds.
In 1898 Mr. Scammon was married to Mrs.
Lena Sweet. Mrs. Scammon had at the time
of her marriage to our subject, two children,
Maud, wife of Joseph Fine, of Warner valley ;
and Alfred Sweet, now a student in the Cedar-
ville, California, high school.

WILLIAM P. MOULDER formerly was a
prominent stock raiser of Warner Lake valley,
but now is a resident of Plush, Oregon. Born
March 14, 1835, in Tennessee, he was the son of
, John and Margaret (Yadon) Moulder, and was
the eldest of a family of four children. He has
one brother, Thomas D. Moulder, in Indian Ter
ritory, and two sisters ; Mrs. Mary Byrum, of
Fort Smith, Arkansas ; and Mrs. Caladonia
Voucher, of Kansas City, Kansas.
Early in life he went with his parents to Ala
bama, and from that state to Fort Smith, Arkan
sas. In 1854 he crossed the plains with Bennett
& West's train to the San Joaquin valley, Cali
fornia. Here and at other points in California,
he followed mining until 1861, when he went to
the Walla Walla valley, in Washington, in the
employ of the government as wagonmaster in
the army. He was in the service of the United
States government continuously until 1891, serv
ing in the capacity of wagon-master, pack-mas
ter, guide and scout. During this time he saw
service in the Pinto, Modoc and Bannock Indian
wars, being wounded repeatedly by gunshot and
arrows, and travelled through southern Oregon,
California and Nevada. He was in Warner val
ley as early as 1866 before there were any white
settlers here. In 1892 he located a homestead
where Add postoffice now stands and engaged in
ranching and sheep raising. He followed this
occupation until 1902, when he sold his interests
and retired from active life.

JOSEPH HOWARD is a stock raiser resid
ing twenty-four miles west from Lakeview, where
he maintains the half-way house on the Klamath
Falls stage road between Lakeview and Ely. He
was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August
21, 1852, the son of James W. Howard, a native
of England, and Emily Howard, a native of New
Jersey. The father came from England with

his brother and two sisters, Joseph W., now of
Lakeview, and Betsy and Maria Howard, who
are living in Philadelphia. Mr. Howard, senior,.
was a mechanic by trade, and died in Philadel
phia. The mother, now aged seventy-seven
years, is still living in Philadelphia.
The brothers and sisters of our subject are,.
James, William, Mrs. Anna Miller, and George.
The brothers are all well-to-do business men of
Philadelphia. During his sojourn in the Quaker
City our subject followed the business of team
ing. He was married in that city in 1875 to Ply-
ner Taylor, who was born in England, and who-
came to the United States with her parents as a
child. Mrs. Howard's father, now deceased, was
James Taylor, who served as a volunteer during
the entire Civil War. The mother, Mary Tay
lor, also is dead.
In September, 1886, Mr. Howard came to-
Lake county, Oregon, having been preceded here
by an uncle. He purchased his present home and
engaged in the stock business. He and his sons
now own three thousand acres of land, the greater
portion of which is adapted to the culture of hay,
in Drew's valley. All of this tract is fenced and
well improved in regard to house, barns, and so
forth. They are doing a successful business and
own some of the best bred cattle, sheep and horses
in the valley.
To Mr. and Mrs. Howard have been born five
children : Walter, Frank, Oliver, married to Ida
Humphrey, Ida, and Eva Howard. Each of the
sons owns his own ranch and some stock.

DANIEL CHANDLER has an extensive-
stock ranch on the Lakeview ancl Klamath Falls
stage road twenty-one miles west from Lakeview,.
upon which he lives during the summer months,
and he also owns a fine modern home in the city
of Lakeview where he lives with his family dur
ing the school year in order to give his children-
the advantages of the city school.
Born January 13, 1854, in Dane county, Wis
consin, Mr. Chandler is the son of Bazelial S.
and Rebecca M. (McKinney) Chandler. The
mother died in 1902, in Lakeview, while the father
is still living in that city, being over eighty years
of age. Bazelial Chandler is a native of the state
of Ohio and was an early pioneer of Dane countv,
Wisconsin. He served two years during the Civ
il War, the second year being spent in a hospital
as an attendant, and he was an active participant
in many of the most bloody battles of the strug
gle. He is a member of the Grand Army of the
Republic ancl is now living a quiet life in his-
own home in Lakeview.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

885

Mr. Chandler is a member of a family of nine
children, seven of whom are still living. Omit
ting our subject, their names are: Salmon B.,
Lakeview ; Mrs. Mary E. Kinsey, Lakeview ;
James A. ; Mrs. Adell A. Tucker, ancl Heaton L.,
of Lakeview. Two sisters, Armonia A. and El
len are dead.
At the age of seven Mr. Chandler went with
his parents to Fayette county, Iowa, and in the
fall of 1866 he came with them via the New York
and Panama route to San Francisco, and settled
in Yolo county, California. Here the father took a
homestead and settled, but the son left home and
went to Plumas county, California, and in the fall
of 1875 ne came to the Crooked Creek valley,
Lake county, Oregon, and began work on a ranch
for wages. Three years later he filed a home
stead on the tract of land where he now lives and
began to make improvements on his land. He
also invested the small amount of money he had
in cattle and engaged in a small way in the stock
business. In 1899 he went into the sheep busi
ness, which he still follows greatly to his profit.
He has now a flock of a few thousand sheep, and a
tract of seven hundred and forty acres of land.
His ranch for the most part is natural meadow
land, though he cultvates some timothy for hay.
He makes a specialty of raising hay on his land
to feed to his sheep. He now has his ranch in a
high state of improvement in regard to fencing,
buildings, and so forth.
When he first came to Drew's valley Mr.
Chandler found a few settlers, but all whom he
found here then are gone elsewhere now, so in
reality he is the pioneer inhabitant of the valley.
On June 1, 1886, Mr. Chandler was married
to Elva C. Sanders, daughter of Jacob and Kate
Sanders, who now live near Avon, Washington.
To this union seven children, all girls, have been
born. Their names follow, Mabel F., Evalyn,
Opal, Edith, Belle, Pearl and Leah.
Mr. Chandler is a member of the Woodmen
of the World lodge of Lakeview. He is a pros
perous and, one might say, wealthy man today,
despite the fact that he came to the country abso
lutely without means.

JOHN A. MORRIS is engaged in the general
merchandise business at Plush, Oregon, and it is
in his store building that the Plush postoffice is
located, Mrs. Morris being the postmistress. Mr.
Morris carries a complete line of groceries, cloth
ing, hardware, and so forth, his store being run
according to strictly modern and up-to-date
methods. Born, February 14, 1869, Mr. Morris is a na

tive of Daclc county, Missouri, and the son of
William and Sarah Elizabeth Morris, who are
now living in Jackson county, Oregon.
During early life Mr. Morris came west with
his parents and grew to manhood in Jackson
county, Oregon, where his father followed the
business of mining. Our subject received a thor
ough common school education, and worked with
his father in the mines. In 1890 he came to
Warner valley and engaged in the occupation of
a cow-boy in the employ of the "J. J." ranch.
Six years later he engaged in the stock business
for himself, raising cattle and horses. After
ward, selling his cattle, he returned to the em
ploy of the "J. J." ranch. He now has a large
drove of horses, some of which are of large draft
breed and choice animals. In 1904 Mr. Morris
purchased the store, residence, barn and twenty
acres of ground, belonging to Daniel Boone, in
Plush, and is now engaged in the management of
his business, of which he is making a success.
On Christmas day, 1899, Mr. Morris was mar
ried to Daisy Overton, a native of Fort Bidwell,
California. The father of Mrs. Morris is living
in Curry county, Oregon, and her mother is now
Mrs. James N. Givan, a resident of Warner
valley. To Mr. and Mrs. Morris have been born two
children : Hallie Evlyn and Raymond Morris.
Mr. Morris is a member in good standing of
the Lakeview lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F. He is a
prominent man of the county and is in prosperous
circumstances, although he started in life here
practically without means.

NEHEMIAH FINE. Born March 20, 1858,
in Petaluma, Sonoma county, California, Nehe
miah Fine is now a wealthy stock raiser residing
ten miles east from Plush, Lake county, Oregon.
His father was Fred E. Fine, a native of Missou
ri, ancl one of the earliest pioneers of California,
he having crossed the plains to where San Fran
cisco now stands prior to the advent of that great
city. During the latter part of his life he was en
gaged in the stock business in Sonoma county,
and died in Marion county in 1894. The mother
was Jane (Cushenbtirg) Fine, a native of Cali
fornia. Our subject was reared on a stock ranch, and
during his early life lived in different sections of
the state of California. While residing in Merced,
San Joaquin county, he was married to Rose
Hag-eland, a native of Illinois, who came to Cali-
fornia while a child. Her parents were Walker
and Jane Hageland.
In 1878 Mr. Fine brought his family to Lake

886

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county, Oregon. This was during the time
that the Bannock and Pinto Indians were on the
war path, and many were the hardships and
dangers that the early settlers of Warner valley
were compelled to undergo on account of this
fact. Upon first coming here Mr. Fine filed a
preemption and homestead claim on the land
where he now makes his home, and engaged in the
stock business. He now has a large herd of cat
tle and an equal number of horses, and his realty
holdings consist in fourteen hundred and "forty
acres of land, the greater part of which is suita
ble to the culture of hay and grain. He came to
the county without a dollar, but was an indus
trious, hard-working man and a skillful manager
of business and stock, and is now, as was stated
at the beginning of this sketch, one of the well-
to-do citizens of Warner Lake valley.
Mr. and Mrs. Fine have been parents of two
children, a son and a daughter. The son, Joseph
Walker, is married to Maud Sweet, has one child,
Charlotte, by name, and is a stock raiser of War
ner valley. Their daughter, Maud, lives at home
with her parents. Both the children have been
well educated by their parents.
Mr. Fine is a member of the A. O. U. W. fra
ternity of Lakeview.

WALTER D. TRACY is a farmer and dairy
man residing twenty miles west from Lakeview,
Oregon, on one of the most valuable tracts of
land in that locality. He has in all five hundred
and sixty acres of land, about one-half of which
is natural meadow and under irrigation, produc
ing an abundance of feed for his large herd of
dairy stock. All of his land is well improved and
under fence.
Mr. Tracy is a native of Clayton county, Iowa,
born November 21, 1864, the son of John S. and
Malissa (Baker) Tracy, the former a native of
Illinois and the latter of New York. John S.
Tracy was an early pioneer of Clayton county,
Iowa, and came to California in 1876, settling in
Shasta county, vyhere he still lives at the age of
sixty-four years. His father, James Tracy, came
from Ireland to Illinois and died in Iowa at about
the age of eighty years. The mother of Walter
D. Tracy removed in early life with her parents
to Iowa, where she was married. She came west
with her husband ancl died in Shasta county, Cal
ifornia twenty-two years ago.
The brothers and sisters of Mr. Tracy are,
Charles C, Mrs. Clara Tooney, John O., and
Ernest F., all residents of Sacramento, California.
Mr. Tracy came west with his parents ancl
grew to manhood on a farm. In the spring of

1884 he came to Silver Lake, Oregon, where he
obtained work for a short time, after which he
took a homestead and preemption in Drew's val
ley and engaged in improving his land and raising
stock. This land he sold in 1897, when he pur
chased his present farm.
On November 17, 1886, Mr. Tracy was mar
ried to Miss Nannie Barker, a native of Shasta
county, which union has been blessed with five
children, Lawrence E., Joe E., Agnes E., Doug
las O. ancl Roy A.
Mrs. Tracy was a daughter of George and
Mary Barker, who came via Panama to Shasta
county in very early days. Her grandparents
were about the first who crossed the plains with
an ox team and settled in Shasta county, where
both they and Mrs. Tracy's parents since have
died. In fraternity life Walter D. Tracy is associat
ed with the Woodmen of the World and is a mem
ber of Lakeview lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F. Both
he and Mrs. Tracy are members of the Rebekah
degree of Oddfellowship and Mrs. Tracy belongs
to the Women of Woodcraft.
Mr. Tracy deserves great credit for his pres
ent high standing among his social and business
associates, as he started in life in his present lo
cality with hardly a dollar to his name. He is a
man of pluck and energy, honor and integrity, —
qualities which have won him a place in the con
fidence and esteem of a wide circle of friends.

ALBERT STEPHEN DOWN has followed
the sea a great many years and probably has
seen as much of the world as any man in the
state of Oregon. He is now a farmer and stock
raiser residing two and one-half miles south from
Lakeview, Oregon, where, he says, he is content
to spend the remaining years of his life. He is a
native of the historic city of Hastings, England,
born July 9, 1837, the son of John and Mary
(Stace) Down. The latter attained the age of
seventy-eight years, dying in Hastings, October
8, 1895. Mr. Down is the eldest of a family or
iginally comprising four children, only two of
whom, himself ancl his youngest sister, are living.
This sister is now Mrs. Mary Ann Clark, ancl "is
living at Hastings, England. She and her brother
have not met since she was two years of age.
Mr. Down went to sea on board a fishing
boat at the age of ten years, ancl remained with
this craft for. four years, after which time he
shipped with a merchant vessel as a common
seaman. He was at his home in Hastings for
the last time in 1855, thence went to Gothen
burg, Sweden. He was in Constantinople in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

887

1856, when peace was declared between Russia
and the allied powers. From this city he voy
aged to different parts of the civilized and un-
cvilized world, ancl in 1858 he left the sea to en
gage in mining in Australia. There he became in
terested in many different mines, but in 1866 he
abandoned the business ancl sailed for San Fran
cisco, California, arriving at that city March 25,
iSOfi. He left his ship and went to Sonoma
county, where for four years he worked in the
redwoods, and on February 23, 1870, he was
married to Carrie Elizabeth Ballard, a native
of Atchison, Missouri.
Mrs. Down crossed the plains in a "prairie
schooner" with her father in 1862, to Sonoma
county. Her parents were Smithfield and De-
lina Ballard.
In 1878 Mr. and Mrs. Down went to Co
lusa county, California, and in the spring of 1879
came to the Goose Lake valley, Oregon, and set
tled eleven miles west from Lakeview. Mr. Down
purchased his present home in 1896. He has two
hundred and sixty acres of land, the major por
tion of which is choice hay land and well im
proved with good farm buildings, orchard, and
so forth. Formerly, Mr. Down owned sheep,
but he has disposed of them and is now engaged
in raising cattle and horses in connection with
farming. To Mr. ancl Mrs. Down have been born six
children : Mrs. Effie Vernon, Lakeview ; George,
married to Myrtle Grimes, Lakeview ; Mary,
wife of Flint Vernon, Lakeview ; James, deceased
since 1886; Anna, wife of Homer Pollard, San
Jose; and Stephen. The first named has five chil
dren, the second, one, ancl the third, four.
Mr. Down was made a Mason in 1868 and
is now a member of the Lakeview lodge of that
order. Both he and Mrs. Down are members of
the Eastern Star.

FRANK PEARSON LIGHT, in partner
ship with George D. Flarrow, conducts the lead
ing hotel in the city of Lakeview, Oregon. Their
house is a three-story brick structure, containing
sixty rooms, exclusive of parlor, dining room ancl
kitchen, with a first-class bar in connection.
Born in Humboldt county, California, Octo
ber 25, 1859, Mr. Light is the son of James ancl
Mary (Pearson) Light, pioneers of Humboldt
county. The father was born in Maine ancl reared
to young manhood in Massachusetts. Early in
life he took to the sea ancl before many years be
came captain on a merchant vessel. In 1846 he
set sail from Boston ancl sailed around Cape
Horn to San Francisco. Here he abandoned the

sea and three years later he went to Humboldt
county, being a member of the second party ever
to penetrate that wild country, and his second son,
Edwin A. Light, was the first white child born
in that county. Mr. Light lived in Humboldt
county until his death, which occurred in 1881.
The mother died in the same county in 1875. The
surviving children are, Monroe, Edwin A., our
subject, and Mrs. Clara Yocum, all of whom,
with the exception of our subject, are still resi
dents of Humboldt county, California.
Mr. Light grew to manhood in his native
county, came to Lakeview in the spring of 1880,
ancl has made his home there ever since. In 1900
he engaged in partnership with F. M. Miller in
the hotel business. Two years later Mr. Miller
disposed of his interest in the business to Mr.
Flarrow, the present junior member of the firm,
who is a pioneer of Lake county of about twenty-
one years. Messrs. Light and Harrow conduct a
first class and up-to-date hostelry and are doing
a creditable business.
On May 8, 1901, Frank Pearson Light was
married to Minnie Cannon, to which union -one
child, Amos Evans, has been born.
Mr. Light is a member and past grand of
Lakeview lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F., and is also-
a member and past chief patriarch of Lakeview
encampment No. 18. He belongs also to the
Knights of Pythias order.

FRANK M. DUKE has a home consisting
of two hundred and thirty-seven and one-half
acres of land three miles south from Lakeview,
where he is engaged in farming and stock raising.
Flis land is well improved and is for the most
part devoted to the growing of hay for feed for
Mr. Duke's large herd of cattle.
Born April 18, 1861, Frank M. Duke is a na
tive of Morgan county, Missouri. His father was
William H. Duke, a native of Madison county,
Kentucky, and went to Missouri at the age of
nineteen years. He came to the Goose Lake
country in 1876, and lived there until his death at
the age of seventy-three years, March 18, 1904.
William H. Duke's father was Patrick Flenry
Duke ancl his grandfather served in the patriot
army during the Revolutionary War. Our sub
ject's mother was Ann (Thompson) Duke, who
was born, ancl who died, in Missouri.
Mr. Duke came west with his father in 1876.
He began life for himself in 1882, his start being
by working for a salary on a ranch. He located
a homestead in 1888 and has been engaged in
stock raising and farming since that time.
In 1904 Mr. Duke was the nominee of the

888

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Democratic party for the office of county sheriff,
but owing to the great strength of the Republican
party in Lake county, and to the popularity of its
nominee for the office to which Mr. Duke aspired,
he was defeated at the polls.
Mr. Duke was married November 20, 1887,
to Mary E. Feeler, born in Walla Walla county,
Washington. Fler father is Simon Feeler, a na
tive of Indiana and an early pioneer of Walla
Walla county. From Walla Walla he removed to
California, then to Goose Lake valley, and lastly
to the vicinity of Fruitland, Stevens county,
Washington, where he is now living. Mrs.
Duke's mother was Martha (King) Feeler, a na
tive of the state of Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Duke are parents of one child,
Lora Ethel Duke.
Mr. and Mrs. Duke are regarded as being
among the most strictly moral and honorable resi
dents of Lake county, and both are members of
the Baptist church.

GEORGE H. SMALL resides one-half mile
north of Silver Lake, where he has a magnificent
estate of sixteen hundred acres well supplied with
buildings and other improvements. Portions of
the estate are irrigated from Silver creek and he
makes a specialty of raising hay and stock. He
: is one of the prosperous men of the county and
is doing a good business here. An account of
his life will be interesting reading and it is with
pleasure that we append it.
George H. Small was born on September 18,
1843, in Pettis county, Missouri. His father,
George Small, a native of Kentucky, moved to
Missouri in early days and crossed the plains with
his family to Lane county, Oregon in 1853. Later,
he removed to Glenn county, California, and there
died. The mother Malinda (Hindi) Small, a
native of Missouri, is also deceased. The chil
dren born to this worthy couple are named as
follows : Mrs. Garrett Long, of Benton county ;
Mrs. Gabriel Stockton, of Glenn county, Cali
fornia ; Mrs. A. V. Lane ; George H., our subject ;
James M., of Silver Lake ; Barton ; Samuel ; Mrs.
David Mosby ; Mrs. Jane Payne ; Parthenia ;
Amanda, born on the plains. The last six named
are deceased. Mr. Small assisted his father in
bring the stock across the plains ancl although
young, drove cattle every day that they trav
eled. The old donation claim in Lane county
was the first home in the west, then the family
moved to Glenn county as stated in another por
tion of this work. Our subject gained his edu
cation as best possible on the frontier and as
early as 1872, came to the Chewaucan valley, se

cured a ranch and went to raising cattle. In
he came to the Silver Lake valley and took

a preemption and homestead and has added to
this by purchase until he has the fine estate above
mentioned. He has given his attention to farm
ing and stock raising constantly since and has
achieved a splendid success in this line, having
now a good holding in property.
On July 6, 1879, Mr. Small married Mary
Underwood, a native of Douglas county, Oregon.
Hon. David C. Underwood, her father, was born
in Middlesex, New York state, and came to Cal-
fornia by way of Cape Horn in a sailing vessel
in 1849. He worked in the mines on American
river until the fall of 1850, then removed to Ump
qua valley, Oregon, being one of the pioneers to
that section. He took a donation claim near
where Oakland, Oregon, is now situated, in June,
1857. There he remained until 1869, having
married Eliza J. Long. He served one term in
the state legislature and was the first county
judge of Douglas county. He built the first
court house of that county, the same being lo
cated on his farm. He participated in the Rogue
River Indian War of 1856 and in 1862 enlisted
in Company A, First Regular Oregon Volunteers,
under Colonel E. D. Baker, with the expectation
of going east to the seat of war. Owing the Col
onel Baker's death, our subject remained in Ore
gon to keep the Indians quelled. He was with
the command that located Fort Klamath and had
charge of the same. He was very instrumental
in bringing about the treaty with the Indians
which was concluded there. He participated in
many skirmishes with the Indians but was never
wounded. In 1869, he received his honorable
discharge as first lieutenant, and in the same year
went to Cottage Grove where he engaged in the
mercantile business until 1877, when he removed
to Eugene and there operated as a broker in part
nership with his brother, J. B. Underwood,
until his death on August 14, 1882, being then
aged fifty-two. He married Eliza J. Long, a na
tive of Missouri who crossed the plains with her
father, John Long, when eleven years of age.
This was in the early forties and they were a-
part of the Donner party. She died at Pacific
beach, California, on May 30, 1904, in her seven
tieth year. Mrs. Small has the following named
brothers ancl sisters : Hiram E., of Cottage Grove ;
David M., deceased ; John M., of Oelrich, South
Dakota ; Anna E. Underwood, of Tacoma, Wash
ington ; Mrs. George Wall, a physician of Cot
tage Grove; Mrs. A. E. Johnson, of Pacific
Beach, California ; ancl Mrs. C. E. Hubbard, of
Pacific Beach, California. The last named is a half
sister of Mrs. Small. To Mr. and Mrs. Small
three children have been born, namely : Malinda,

Mr. and Mrs. George H. Small

Mr. and Mrs. Jokn A. Foster

William H. Blurton

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

a graduate of the agricultural college of Corvallis
and now teaching in the public schools of Silver
Lake; Lora M., a graduate of the Portland busi
ness college and a stenographer ; and Irvin Earl,
a student of the agricultural college at Corvallis.
In addition to property already mentioned, Mr.
Small owns eleven hundred acres of grazing land
in Thompson valley and his stock consists of
horses and cattle of which he has a large numDer.
He was active in pioneer days and has done very
much to build up the country. During the In-
1 dian uprising in 1873, he was one of the settlers
who assisted to drive the savages out of the
Chewaucan valley. He has ever shown himself
a man of worth and ability and he and his wife
are leading people in Lake county.

JOHN A. FOSTER resides some six miles
south of Summer Lake postoffice on the west
bank of Summer Lake. He has a splendid farm
of two hundred acres extending for a mile and
more along the lake front and here he has resided
for many years. The farm is well improved and
equipped with a good six room residence, barns
and other outbuildings and is one of the choice
ones of the county. It is so situated that it is
especially adapted for raising both grain and fruit
as well as all kinds of vegetables. Mr. Foster
has an orchard that contains every kind of fruit
adapted to this climate and he has made a great
success in this line. He raises corn, tomatoes,
watermelons in abundance and potatoes grow so
thrifty that the larger ones will weigh over four
pounds apiece. In addition to general farming,
Mr. Foster pays great attention to handling
blooded stock; he has between thirty and fifty
Shorthorn animals all prize winners and from
the best strains imported into this state by Mr.
Miner of Heppner, Oregon. One animal that
Mr. Foster owns weighs over two thousand
pounds and is still under three years of age. In
all his labors here, Mr. Foster has met with the
success deserved by his thrift, wisdom, ancl sta
bility and he is one of the leading men in this part
of the country. This valley where be resides has
always been famous for its wild game, such as
almost every kind of fowl, besides bear, cougar,
deer and other animals. It is still a great paradise
for the sportsman.
John A. Foster was born December 29, 1851,
near Corvallis, Oregon. His parents were James
and Elizabeth (Currier) Foster. He grew up on
the old homestead with his parents in Benton
county and there received his education. As early
as 1872, he came to Summer Lake valley, being
•among the, very first settlers here. He located on

his present place, taking it as a homestead and
for over thirty years, he has resided here. He
came in as a sturdy young pioneer with no means
except two good strong hands and abundance of
grit, and everything that he now possesses is the
result of his own labor and wisdom. In addition
to the stock mentioned, which Mr. Foster raises,
we should speak of the extra fine Poland China
hogs which he is breeding. He has very good
success in this enterprise ancl has some choice an
imals as well as some fine horses.
On June 19, 1890, Mr. Foster married Loura
Mercer, who was born near Monroe, Oregop.
Her father, George Mercer, was a native of Ohio
and crossed the plains to Oregon with ox teams
in 1853. His parents both died when he was a
child and he was forced early to meet the hard
ships of the world but his fund of determination
and genuine grit, enabled him to make the best
of life and although not favored with schools, he
gained a good education and soon was able to
teach school which he did for some time. Then
he followed merchandising and also was surveyor
of Benton county, which office he held for almost
twenty years. He is now living a retired life on
his farm near Corvallis, this state. He is a mem
ber of the A. F. & A. M. and the I. O. O. F. His
birth occurred on January 15, 1829. The mother
of Mrs. Foster, Elizabeth (Hilemon) Mercer,
was born in New York state, on December 1,
1833. She crossed the plains one year before her
husband did and they were married in the west.
They now are both living a retired life and are
highly esteemed people. For years they have
been members and supporters of the Presbyte
rian church and have labored for all good enter
prises. The children born to this venerable
couple are Albert, Mrs. Foster, Frank, deceased,
Lester, Walter, George and Bertha. To Mr. and
Mrs. Foster, one child has been born, Earl Law
rence, on October 7, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Foster
are both members of the Methodist church and
are highly respected people.

WILLIAM H. BLURTON who is operating
a hotel and livery barn in New Pine Creek, was
born on February 26, i860, in Butte countv, Cal
ifornia. His father, John, was a native of Mis
souri and came across the plains with ox teams in
1858, making a settlement in Butte county, Cali
fornia. Later, he lived in Monterey countv a
short time then returned to Butte county and in
1872, came to Goose Lake valley. Fie settled
near the mouth of Davis creek and engaged in
stock raising there until his death in Julv, 1898.
He had married Rachel L. Boydstun, the wed-

890

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ding occurring in Missouri. She accompanied
him across the plains and was a faithful help
meet until his death. She is now residing in this
valley. They were the parents of fourteen chil
dren, eight of whom are now living. Our subject
was educated in the various places where his pa
rents lived during his youthful days and accom
panied them on their journey to this portion of
Oregon in 1872. He was here during the ravages
of the Modoc war, there being but few settlers in
the valley at that time. At the age of thirteen,
Mr. Blurton began the occupation of riding the
range and soon became an expert horse breaker.
He has handled some of the fiercest and most
stubborn animals in this . county and has always
mastered them in fine shape. He has the reputa
tion of being one of the best horsemen in the
county. For a time, he had a band of stock on
the range, then he sold out his horses and ranch
and came to New Pine Creek. Here he pur
chased two acres of ground and erected a fine
two story hotel of thirteen rooms and a fine liv
ery barn, thirty-six by sixty-four feet. His hotel
is well handled and a fine stopping place. His liv
ery is supplied with all rigs and horses necessary
and.gives a first class service. Mr. Blurton is be
ing prospered in his business and is one of the
substantial men of the town.
On February 29, 1888, Mr. Blurton married
Miss Annie Wallace and to them four children
have been born, Edith May, Roy Earl, William
Lee, and Crystal Lonson.

JAMES T. FITZGERALD is a farmer and
stock raiser residing five miles south from Lake-
view. He is a native of McMinn county, Tennes
see, born June 3, 1830, and the son of Joseph B.
Fitzgerald, a native of Jackson county, Tennessee,
and Nancy (Thomas) Fitzgerald, also a native
of Tennessee. The grandfather, also a native of
Tennessee, was a veteran of the Indian wars of
colonial days.
Mr. Fitzgerald grew to manhood in the state
of his birth, acquiring a common school educa
tion in a subscription school held in a log house.
He was married September 8, 185 1, to Sarah
Neil, who was born within five miles of the birth
place of our subject, June 14, 1832. Her parents
were John and Sarah (Lane) Neil, both natives
of Tennessee. Her father was the son of Irish
parents, and her mother's father was Isaac Lane,
a soldier in the Revolutionary War, who lived to
be ninety-eight years of age, when he was killed
in an accident.
In 1859 Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald removed to
Laclede county, Missouri, and remained there

during the Civil War. Here they accumulated
considerable property, but it was all destroyed by
the soldiers during the war. During Price's last
raid through that section Mr. Fitzgerald was
informed by Colonel Cosgrove of the union troops
that if he did not accompany his command he
would be considered a bushwhacker, and as such
be dealt with. Our subject was persuaded by this
argument to become a member of Colonel Cos-
grove's band, severing his connection with it thir
ty days later.
In the fall of 1870 Mr. Fitzgerald left Mis
souri and brought his family to Jackson county,
Oregon ancl settled near Ashland. Two years-
later ne was employed by the government as
teamster in Major Wright's command, and served
in that capacity during the Modoc War. After
the war he returned to Ashland, and in May, 1873,
came to Goose Lake valley, and located south of
the present site of Lakeview. Lake county was
at that time a part of Jackson county, and Mr.
Fitzgerald was instrumental in having the pres
ent Lake county created and the county seat lo
cated at Lakeview.
Mr. Fitzgerald came to Ashland with only
seventy-five cents to his name, but made some
money during the Modoc War, and during the
war he purchased a right to a claim seven miles
south from Lakeview. When he came here to
live he filed an additional homestead and began
at once to improve his farm and he now has one
of the pleasantest and most valuable homes in
the valley. He has two hundred acres of land in
all, the greater part of which is suitable to the
growth of hay, and is under irrigation.
During his life here he has been constable and
for two years he was deputy sheriff. He was made
the Lakeview lodge of that order. He and Mrs.
Fitzgerald are members of the Baptist church.
They have been parents of five children : Nancy
J., wife of John O'Neil, of Pine Creek ; -Montez,
who died in Missouri ; Esther N.. wife of Loyal
Carter, Santa Rosa, California: John N., married
to Bertha Pike, Lakeview ; and George C. Fitz
gerald, who is a wool grower of Lake county ancl
a partner with his father in the stock business.

C. OSCAR METZKER is the editor and
publisher of the Lake County Examiner, pub
lished in Lakeview, which is the leading news
paper in that section of the state of Oregon- He
is also engaged in a prosperous real estate busi
ness in connection with the management of his
newspaper. Mr. Metzker received his first ex
perience in the newspaper business in 1894, when

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

891

he became connected with the Examiner as a
printer. He worked in this capacity until Febru
ary, 1901, when he went to Paisley, Oregon,
and established the Chewaucan Post, which pub
lication he managed successfully for three years,
when he sold out and in March, 1904, he pur
chased the Examiner. This paper was founded
in 1880, and for a number of years thereafter was
the only paper in Lake county. It always has
been one of the most influential newspapers in
Southern Oregon.
Mr. Metzker was born January 19, 1869, in
Yamhill county, Oregon, and was reared to the
age of twenty years on a stock ranch. He re
ceived a good common school education in the
states of Oregon and California, which, together
with the self-education which he has acquired,
has amply qualified him for his chosen field of
labor. The father of the subject of our sketch, Will
iam Metzker, crossed the plains from Iowa . in
1852, and settled near Portland. His father,
John Metzker, was captain of the train of ox
teams by which means the journey across the
plains was made. He is now living in Portland
at the age of eighty-six. William Metzker came
to Goose Lake valley in 1869, removing to that
section with his family one year later. He en
gaged in the stock business here and continued
thus engaged until recently, when he removed
to Modoc county, California, where he now lives.
Our subject's mother, Tacy S. (Reese) Metzker,
died in 1896-
Mr. Metzker was married November 19, 1901,
to Renna V. Kearney.
In fraternitv circles Mr. Metzker is identified
with the Odd Fellows and A. O. U. W. societies.
Of the former he is a member and past grand
of Lakeview lodge No. 63, and is a past chief
patriarch of Lakeview encampment No. 18.

DAVID H. HARTZOG is a prominent
pioneer of Lake county ancl a farmer residing
five miles south from Lakeview. He is a native
of Hickman countv, Tennessee, born April 13,
1847, tne son °f Richard and Susana Hartzog.
The father was a soldier in the federal army dur
ing the Civil War.
Mr. Hartzog while still a child removed with
his parents to Cooper county, Missouri, ancl
during the latter part of the Civil War he en
listed and served for a brief term in the Union
armv. After the close of the Rebellion he went
to Cedar county, Missouri, where he was mar
ried, in the year T870. to Susan Eslinger, daugh
ter of John and Martha Eslinger.

In 1874 he came west to Yolo county, Cali
fornia, ancl to Goose Lake valley the following
year, arriving here August 5, 1875. He settled
on a homestead and began at once to make im
provements, in order to do which he was com
pelled to work for wages among the settlers round
about. Mr. Hartzog was a judge of the election
when it was voted to establish Lakeview as the
county seat of Lake county, and was a juror
of the first circuit court to sit in Lakeview. He
has served four years as deputy sheriff of his
county, ancl has held other prominent positions
manifesting the confidence and trust reposed in
him by his fellow-citizens.
When he first came to this locality Lakeview
was unheard of, and Mr. Hartzog recalls the
times when he has harvested hay on the land
where the city now stands. He came to the
country with only five dollars in currency and a
span of ponies and a light wagon, but both he
and Mrs. Hartzog have always been industrious,
frugal people and their patient efforts brought
reward in the form of a competence in the way
of worldly goods, so that they now own six
hundred and fifty acres, a part of which is as
good land as can be found in the valley, the
principal part of which is devoted to the raising
of hay and cereal crops of all varieties ancl their
farm is one of the best improved in Lake county.
They have some cattle, horses and the other
domestic animal commonly found on a well-reg
ulated farm.
To Mr. ancl Mrs. Hartzog have been born
eight children, four of whom are still living.
Their names are ; Edwin, married to Elma Funk,
Pine creek ; Pearl A., Clara L. ancl Mary Delphia,
the three latter living at home.
Mr. Hartzog is a member of the Masonic
fraternity, of Lakeview, and both he ancl Mrs.
Hartzog are devout members of the Baptist faith.
They have always taken an active interest in all
things pertaining to the betterment of the com-
munitv in which they live, especially through
the medium of the church and school.

AHIRA W. MANRING came to Lake
countv. Oregon, in the spring of 1886 and be
gan life here as a wage earner. Later he en
gaged in the sheep business, which he followed
successfully until 1901. In the spring- of 1902
he entered politics as the candidate of. the Demo
cratic party for the office of county clerk. At
the polls he was victorious, though Lake county
went Republican and the great majority of the
Democratic candidates were defeated. He was
re-nominated in 1904 and elected to succeed

.892

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

himself, receiving an increased majority of votes
over his previous election, so is now serving his
second term as clerk of Lake county.
Mr. Manring was born in Gallia county, Ohio,
December 13, 1864. He was the son of Alvin
.and Nancy (Tanner) Manring, both of whom
also were natives of Gallia county Ohio. He is
the second in point of age of a family of eight
children ; Charles E., Whitman county, Washing
ton ; Ahira W- ; Benjamin F., Lakeview, Oregon;
Ora V., a pharmacist of Spokane, Washington ;
George W., Whitman county, Washington; San
ford A., Whitman county ; Cora E., deputy coun
ty clerk of Lake county ; and Edgar A., a harness
merchant of Colfax, Whitman county, Wash
ington. At an early age our subject accompanied his
parents to Gentry county. Missouri, and in the
spring of 1878 the family crossed the plains in a
"prairie schooner" to Whitman county, Washing
ton, being among the early pioneers of that
county. They settled on a homestead adjoining
the present site of the town of Garfield, upon
which the father lived until his death, which oc
curred during October, 1903. The mother died
in 1895.
This farm was also our subject's home until
he removed to Lake county, as stated above.
He received a good common school education in
Whitman county, and is .amply fitted for the
duties of the office to which the voters of his
adopted county have elevated him.
In society and fraternity circles he is a man of
considerable prominence. He is a member and.
past grand of Lakeview lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F-,
of the Rebekah degree, and the Encampment,
No. 18. and also holds membership in Damon
lodge. No. 31, Knights of Pythias, of Garfield,
Washington.

THOMAS BENTON VERNON, ever since
his advent into Lake county, has taken a most
active part in Jhe religious and educational
progess of the county. He came here a poor
man, financially, but he is now a well-to-do
farmer and stock raiser residing on a two hun
dred and twenty-acre timothy and alfalfa farm
five and one-half miles south from Lakeview.
His land is all well improved, irrigated by water
taken from Crane creek, and his farm buildings
are of the latest and best models.
Mr. Vernon was born December 13, 185T,
in Laclede countv, Missouri. His. father was
Anderson Perry Vernon, of English ancestrv,
a native of Tennessee and a son of Col. Miles
Vernon, an officer in the War of 1812. Col.

Miles Vernon also served in the state legislature
of Missouri, representing Laclede county, for
sixteen years. He died at St- Louis at the age
of eighty years. The father of our subject set
tled in Missouri when a young man, and a few
years later went to Texas, thence to Benton
county, Arkansas. He came to Surprise Valley,
California, in 1876 and the following fall located
a homestead near where Lakeview now stands.
Here he engaged in farming and stock raising
until his death from cancer in 1901, aged seventy-
eight years. While a resident of Missouri he
enlisted in General Price's army, serving during
the Civil war. The mother of our subject, who is
now living on the old homestead near Lakeview,
aged seventy-four years, is Dollie (Leathers)
Vernon, and a native of Tennessee. Both pa
rents have always been devoted members of tEe
Baptist church. They reared a family of thirteen
children, ten of whom are now living, nine sons
and one daughter. Their names follow, Miles,
Thomas B., Richard W., Sterling P., Elliott, Mrs.
Grace Stanley, — the latter two being twins' — ¦
Stonewall J., Flint, Hurley and Lester.
Mr. Vernon went with his parents to Texas
and to Benton county, Arkansas, in 1866- He re
ceived a thorough common school education, and
spent some time in college, and he taught school
some years in Arkansas. He came to Siskiyou
county, California, in 1875, and here engaged in
school teaching until returning to Arkansas sev
eral months later. He was married January 6,
1876, to Mary F. Duckworth, a native of Benton
county, Arkansas, and daughter of Johnathan P.
ancl Nancy (Alexander) Duckworth, natives of
Missouri and Bowling Green, Kentucky, re
spectively. The father of Mrs. Vernon emigrated
to Arkansas when young and is now living in that
state at the age of eighty-seven years. The
mother died in August, 1902, aged seventy-six
years. Mrs. Vernon is a member of a family
originally comprising nine children, six of whom
are living; Rev. Joseph Duckworth, Tahlequah,
Indian Territory ; Mrs. Vernon ; Gideon, and
George W., Benton county, Arkansas ; Johnathan
P., Lakeview ; and Andrew J., Benton county,
Arkansas. Mr. ancl Mrs. Vernon went to Surprise val
ley California, in 1876, ancl the following year
they came to Goose Lake vahey, Oregon, where
Mr. Vernon followed school teaching for several
years. He was later appointed to fill a vacancy
in the office of countv school superintendent of
Lake county, which then included Klamath, and
was elected on the Democratic ticket to succeed
himself upon the expiration of his term.
He now owns his handsome home, referred
to above, and a quarter section of grazing land

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

893.

besides. He has some stock, consisting princi-
pally of cattle, with some horses, hogs and sheep.
Mr. and Mrs. Vernon have been parents of
eight children : Perry Johnathan, deceased ; Ger
trude May, a graduate from Monmouth college,
and now a teacher in the Moro, Oregon, schools ;
Minnie Ethel, Rilla Ann, deceased; William
Pulaski, Harry, Grover, and Agatha Beryl.
Mr. ancl Mrs. Vernon are actively affiliated
with the Baptist faith.

ELMER E. RINEHART is sheriff of Lake
county, Oregon, having been elected to that
office on the Republican ticket in the spring of
1904. He came to Lake county in 1894 and en
gaged in the saw mill business in partnership
with Rhesa A. Hawkins, a pioneer of the county,
under the firm name of Hawkins & Rinehart.
Their plant is situated in the Crooked creek val
ley, where the company also owns a large tract
of timber and agricultural lands. They are still
running the mill with profit, ancl in addition they
are quite extensivdv engaged in the business of
cattle raising and farming.
Mr. Rinehart is a native of Chillicothe, Ohio,
and was born January 29, 1864. His father,
David G. Rinehart, is a native of Pennsylvania,
but removed to Ohio about the time of the con
struction of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. Upon
the outbreak of the Rebellion he enlisted in the
army and his military record covers a period of
three and one-half years, during which time he
was a participant in some of the most severe
battles of the war. among which may be men
tioned the battle of Bull Run. He is still living
in Ross county, Ohio, at the age of eighty-two
years. Our subject's mother was Elizabeth
(Erlywine) Rinehart, a native of West Virginia.
She had attained the age of sixtv-five years when
she died, in 1895.
Mr. Rinehart was a member of a family of
eleven children, eight of whom are still living.
The first twenty years of his life were spent in
the state of his birth. In 1884 he came west
and settled in Surprise valley, California. Dur
ing his boyhood he mastered the trade of station
ary engineer, and since coming to the west has
followed that trade, his work being confined to
the running of engines in lumber and grist mills.
On May 20, 1888, Mr- Rinehart was married
to Addie Peters, a native of California, ancl
daughter of Claus Peters, a German by birth,
and a pioneer of California. Claus Peters was one
of the first settlers in Surprise valley, and his
death occurred there December 14, 1904. Mr.
and Mrs. Rinehart have, been parents of one

child, a son by the name of Clarence D.
It may be said to the credit of Mr. Rinehart
that he started in business in Lake county ten
years ago without a dollar in his own name ; but
so diligently has he applied his energies to his
business and so faithfully has he met all ad
versities that he is now in the best of circum
stances and enjoys the good will of a wide circle
of friends.

RUFUS K. FUNK resides seven and one-
half miles south from Lakeview, where he fol
lows the business of farming and stock raising.
He is a native of Hocking county, Ohio, born
December 31, 1853. His father was Abraham-
Funk, a native of the same county as is our sub
ject, and son of Daniel Funk, born in Pennsyl
vania, and one of the pioneers of Ohio. Daniel
Funk was the son of Rev. Christly Funk, of Ger
man birth, who came to America in 1750 ancl set
tled in Pennsylvania. Rev. Christly Funk was a
captain under George Washington during the
Revolutionary War, and was the father of seven
sons, six of whom were in his company. The
seventh, Daniel, was a teamster in General Wash
ington's army. One of the sons, Abraham by
name, is said to have lived to the age of one
hundred and thirty years. The father of our sub
ject removed to Macon county, Illinois, in 1863,
where he died at the age of eighty-two years, in
1891- Our subject's mother, Martha (Crook)
Funk, who was born in Hocking county, Ohio,
and died in Illinois, at the age of seventy-two
years, in 1885, was the daughter of George
Crook, a Revolutionary War soldier. She was
also first cousin to General Crook of Pacific coast
Indian war fame. The brothers and sisters of"
Mr. Funk are, Mrs. Susan Beery, Henry, Daniel,
Amos, Albert R., and John A. Funk. One
brother, Noah, and two sisters, Mrs. M. Stiers
and Mrs. Emma Dudrey are now deceased. All'
who are living reside in the eastern states.
Mr. Funk went with his parents to Macon
county, Illinois, where he received a complete
common school education. He taught school near
his home for some time, then, in 1874, went to
Texas, where he worked on various stock
ranches and also in a cotton gin. He traveled
extensively over the states of Texas, Missouri'
and Kansas, after which he returned to Illinois.
In the spring of 1878 he started with a party
of emigrants across the plains, arriving in Para
dise Valley. Nevada, just in time to participate
in the Bannock Indian war- He took an active
and prominent part in this war, after which he
returned to Illinois. Here he gathered together

894

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

a party, formed an emigrant train of fifty-seven
wagons and started on his second journey toward
the west. He acted as captain and guide for the
train. A large number of these emigrants came
with him to the Goose Lake valley, where Mr.
Funk has since made his home.
Mr. Funk arrived here without means, but
took a claim and began at once to farm, later
engaging, to a limited extent, in stock raising.
He now has two hundred and eighty acres of
choice land, good improvements, and a large
herd of cattle and some horses. He has always
taken an active interest in politics, and in 1892
was a delegate from the state of Oregon to the
Populist convention in Omaha. Nebraska.
Mr. Funk was married January 28, 1877. in
Macon county. Illinois, to Lydia King, a native
of Pennsylvania, and daughter of Daniel and
Elvina (Homm) King, the former a native of
Pennsylvania, now living in Macon county.
Illinois. The mother is now deceased. Both of
Mrs. Funk's parents were of German ancestry.
To Mr. and Mrs. Funk have been born five
children, Henry A-. Elma E.. now wife of Edwin
Hartzog. Daniel G.. Oran J., and Corda M.
Mr. and Mrs. Funk are pronounced Baptists
in religious faith.

judged by the foregoing facts relating to his
life, and is generally looked upon as one of the
leading citizens of southern Oregon.

JOHN DAVID EDLER is a .well-to-do wool
grower of Klamath county. Oregon, residing
principally in Lakeview. He was born May 27.
1865. in Perrv countv. Pennsylvania, the son of
John and Doratha (Myers) Edler. He has one
brother, Jacob, and one sister. Emma C. Edler.
both residing in Crawford county, Kansas.
As a boy Mr. Edler removed with his pa
rents to Illinois, and from that state the family ;
emigrated to Crawford county. Kansas, where the '
father took a homestead, upon which he lived j
until his death, and upon which the mother is j
still making her home. In June, of the year
1885. Mr. Edler removed to Alturas. Modoc
county. California, and during the following
autumn came to Lake county, Oregon. He be
gan life here as a sheep herder, but socn acquired
capital sufficient to enable him to purchase a
small flock of sheep cf his own. With that start
he has continued during subsequent years to
add to his flock until his sheep now number sev
eral thousand. He also owns eighteen hundred
a~res of land twelve miles east cf Bonanza,
Klamath county. Oregon, the tract being known
far and wide as the "Keno Springs ranch"
Mr. Edler is a —.ember of the United Wcrk-
rr.en lodge of Lakeview.
He is a man of great industrv. as mav be

JAMES P. DUKE is a fanner and stock
raiser, residing seven and one-half miles south
from Lakeview, where he has four hundred and
ninety acres of land, the major portion of which is
devoted to the culture of hay and grain. His land
is well improved, as to buildings, and so forth,
and water is piped into his house from a near by
spring. His stock consists chiefly of cattle.
though he keeps a few head of horses and a small
drove of swine. Although he came to the coun
ty in what might be called an impoverished con
dition, he is now considered to be well supplied
with the good things of the earth.
Mr. Duke is a native of Benton county, Mis
souri, born January 25. 1859, the son of William
H. and Ann (Thompson) Duke, the latter dying
in 1865. Mr. and Mrs. William H. Duke reared
a family of four children. John M.. Mrs. Jennie
Cogburn. James P. and Frank M. Duke. The
father was married for the second time in 1869
to Mrs. Elizabeth Thurston, and to this union
were born four children. Walter, Mrs. Anna
Sherlock, Samuel, and Mrs. Estella Dunlop.
Our subject came to Lake county with his par
ents in 1876 and settled in the Goose Lake valley.
where he worked with his father in the building
of a home. In 1881 he went to work for wages
and in 1890 he filed a preemption claim on his
present home.
He was married January- 8. 1893, to Minnie
Mvrtle. who was born about seven miles south
from Pine creek in Modoc county. California.
Mrs. Duke is the daughter of Horace D. and
Nancy C. 1'Bogart'i Myrtle, the latter now resid
ing at the home of our subject. The father was
one of the first settlers of Goose Lake valley, com
ing- here in 1869. He was a native of the state
of Kentucky, from which state he removed to Mis
souri. He was a veteran of the Mexican War and
of the more recent Rogue River Indian war. He
first crossed the plains to the Willamete valley
dv.ring the early "50's". and died in 1883.
Mr. and Mrs. Duke are parents of four chil
dren. Lera. Essie. Ross, and Mildred.
Mr. Duke was among the first settlers of
Goose Lake valley, and has seen all of the hard
ships and vicissitudes of pioneer life in the far
west. Lakeview was. unthought of at the time of
his advent into the valley, although there was
a small postoffice near the present site of the city-.
known as Lake pr st> ffice. which received mail
thrice a week. He takes a pardonable pride in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

895

the fact that he began life here in a raw country
ancl without means, but is now in comfortable cir
cumstances, all of which is the direct result of
the hardest of toil.

WILLIAM JOSEPH MOORE was born
May 22, 1862, in Adair county, Missouri. He was
the son of John W. ancl Edna F. (Payton) Moore,
the former a native of Indiana, who early in life
removed to Illinois and later to Missouri, ancl
the latter of Missouri. Mr. Moore has one
brother ancl one sister, Charles A. Moore, a prom
inent attorney of Baker City, Oregon, and Mrs.
Mary D. Moss, of Lakeview.
During boyhood Mr. Moore accompanied his
parents from his native state to New York city,
whence the family went by steamer over the Pan
ama route to San Francisco, California. They set
tled in Shasta county, and in the autumn of 1870
returned by rail to Adair county, Missouri. Two
years later they came again to Shasta county. In
1874 they again journeyed to their old Missouri
home and four years later they returned to Shas
ta county, whence they came to Lake county, Ore
gon, and settled at Lakeview in June, 1878, which
city is our subject's present home. The father,
however, had in 1852, crossed the plains with ox
teams passing through the Goose Lake country,
to Yreka, California, but remained only a brief
time before returning to Missouri. After about
twenty years' residence here Mr. Moore, senior,
removed to Crescent City, California, where he
died February 15, 1901, aged sixty-four years.
The mother is now living in Lakeview, aged fif
ty-nine years.
In 1893 Mr. Moore entered the law office of
Judge E. D. Sperry in Lakeview, engaged in the
study of law and four years later was admitted
to the state bar. He is now a practitioner in all
of the courts of the state of Oregon.
Mr. Moore has twice held the office of super
intendent of schools of his county, his first elec
tion to that office having taken place in 1884.
At that time Mr. Moore had just been graduated
from the public school and had no actual experi
ence as a teacher. He served two terms, being
a candidate both times on the Democratic ticket.
In addition to superintending schools he engaged
in teaching. This occupation he followed in dif
ferent sections of his county for several years.
He had taken a homestead in the meantime, ancl
worked hard as opportunities presented them
selves at improving his land. He also engaged in
a small way in the stock raising business. In
1894, while still a law student, he was again elect
ed to the office of school superintendent, and in

June, 1904, he was elected prosecuting attorney
for the second district of Oregon, which includes
the counties of Lake and Klamath. Fie was elect
ed as a Democrat by fifty majority, notwithstand
ing the fact that his district went Republican by
upwards of four hundred majority.
July 6, 1885, occurred the marriage of our
subject and Miss Anna H. Moss, a native of Linn
county, Oregon. Mrs. Moore's father, Hon. S.
P. Moss, is a pioneer of Lake county, ancl a well-
to-do stock man residing near Paisley. Her moth
er in maiden life was Sarah Robnett, and is now
deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore five children have
been born : William C, deceased ; Frank S., a stu
dent of Lakeview high school; Ralph A., de
ceased ; Bessie and Beatrice, twins.
In lodge circles Mr. Moore is identified with
the I. O. O. F., Rebekah degree, Woodmen of the
World and the United Workmen. He is past
grand of Lakeview lodge of Odd Fellows and for
several years has held the office of scribe in En
campment No. 18. Mrs. Moore also is a member
of the Rebekah degree.
Our subject is owner of five hundred and
sixty acres of land in Lake county, and a fine
home ancl two-acre plot of ground in Lakeview.
He also owns the Lakeview Herald, a newspaper
published in Lakeview, ancl for two and a half
years past has been its editor and manager. He
now leases the plant to other parties.
Mr. Moore is a man of exemplary habits ancl
of high standing in his community, which fact
is attested by the very complimentary vote he
has received whenever his name has been before
the public for election to office. He is an enthus
iast in matters appertaining to education and has
held some office in connection with this good work
almost continuously since he left school. At pres
ent he is a member of the board of directors of
Lakeview school district, which position he has
occupied for the past six years.

GEORGE VINCENT is a farmer residing
one and one-fourth miles north from New Pine
Creek. He was born June 17, 1843, in Scotland
county, Missouri, the son of John and Matilda
(Moore) Vincent, both natives of Virginia. The
father was born in 1803 ancl died at Pine Creek
in 1886 at the age of eighty-six years. His father,
Josiah Vincent, was a participant in the battle of
Waterloo. The present Vincent family descended
from two brothers who came originally from
Scotland and settled in Virginia early in the life
of the American republic. Mr. Vincent's moth
er's ancestors were of Revolutionary fame.

896

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Our subject remained in Missouri until at
taining- the age of seventeen years, when the Civil
War broke out and he went to Wapello county,
Iowa. Here he enlisted in the Seventeenth Iowa
Cavalry as a member of Company C, and served
three years and three months in the federal army.
Later he was sent west to protect the frontier
settlers from the ravages of the hostile Indian
tribes and while on this mission was engaged in
many hot skirmishes in New Mexico, Colo
rado and Kansas. Returning to Iowa he was
married during March, 1868, to Maggie Jackson,
a native of Nodaway county, Missouri. In the
spring of 1869 Mr. and Mrs. Vincent came west
to Jackson county, Oregon, and the spring follow
ing to Goose Lake valley, where they have since
lived, with the exception of a few months spent
in the Willamette valley in 1870.
When Mr. and Mrs. Vincent first came to
what is now Lake county there were but few set
tlers here, and many hardships had to be endured
in starting a home. Mr. Vincent purchased his
present home of eighty acres upon which now
stands the first log school house ever erected
in the county, built in 1872.
His home is well improved by a first class
house, with barn and other outbuildings to cor
respond, and contains four acres of thriving or
chard. He makes a specialty of raising grain,
although he each year harvests a large quantity
of hay. Mr. and Mrs. Vincent have two children :
William, married to Nora Smith, and James, mar
ried to Cora Martin. The former has four chil
dren and the latter two ; both have homes adjoin
ing that of their parents.
Each member of the family belongs to the Bap
tist church.

CHARLES S. LOVELESS resides five ancl
one-half miles north from Lakeview at the well
known road station, Warner Canyon or Loveless
Place. He was born on January 2, 1862, in
Plumas county, California. J. W. Loveless, his
father, better known as "Dave" Loveless, was
born and reared in Essex countv, New York. He
went to the lumber woods in Wisconsin then to
Iowa and later to Louisiana and Mississippi. In
1857, he journeyed from Iowa across the plains
to California and did mining ancl trapping. He
returned to Iowa and married Emma Mil
ler ancl the next year crossed the plains and
located in Plumas county, California. His wife
died there, leaving one child, the subject of this
sketch. In June, 1871, Mr. Loveless journeyed
to Oregon, settling on the Crooked creek in what
is now Lake county, being the second settler in

that valley. Very few people were in the entire
country and the nearest postoffice was Willow
ranch, a distance of thirty-eight miles. During
the Modoc War, Mr. Loveless carried the mail
on snow shoes from his place to Camp Warner.
He was a large and very powerful man and has
been known to carry ninety pounds of mail at
one load. The first fourteen winters after com
ing to Oregon, he spent on snow shoes, trapping
and carrying the mail. He was also engaged in
stock raising. In January, 1884, Mr. Loveless-
contracted a second marriage, Roberta A. Davis
becoming his wife at that time. She died in De
cember, 1889, leaving two children, Frank D.,
and Lena A. Mr. Loveless was very successful
financially and was one of the foremost citizens
of the country. He died in 1901, being then sev
enty-one years of age. Our subject has spent
most of his life in this county and grew up with
his father on the frontier and early learned the
stock business. He used to herd his father's
sheep and soon he went into the sheep business
for himself. In 1901, he purchased the place
where he now resides, which consists of four hun
dred and forty acres of land, half of which is ex
cellent hay land and the balance, is timber and
pasture. He has a fine eight room residence,,
very large barn, plenty of other outbuildings and
all improvements needed on the farm. He makes.
a specialty of raising hay and keeping the travel
ing public and is widely known as a very gen
erous and hospitable man.
He is a member of the A. O. U. W. and For
resters and has always taken a great interest in-
building up the country and especially in educa
tional matters.
On April 15, 1891, occurred the marriage of-
Mr. Loveless and Cora B. Sloan, who was born
in Leavenworth county, Kansas, the daughter of
Lemuel D. and Henrie (Cuthenthal) Sloan, na
tives of Ketucky and Missouri, respectively..
Mrs. Loveless has one brother, William Albert
and one sister, Mrs. Winifred Huff,, the former
older and the latter younger than she. Mrs..
Loveless came with her parents from Colorado to
Lake county, Oregon in the fall of 1890. Her
father died on May 2, 1891, and then her mother
returned to Kansas where she is now living...
Three children have been born to Mr:, and Mrs.
Loveless, Emma, Mary and Ralph.

HERBERT E. REED is a well known farmer
and stock raiser of Lake county and resides nine
miles south of Paisley. His birth occurred on
February 3, 1868, in the province of New Bruns
wick, Canada. His parents, George- and Annie-

Mr. and Mrs. Ckarles S. Lovele

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert E. Reed

James Foster

Mrs. James Foster

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

897-

E. (Mitchell) Reed, are now living at Paisley,
Oregon. Our subject came with his parents to
Boston, Massachusetts, when a child and also re
sided in various parts of the east. Then they
crossed the plains with ox teams from Iowa to
Saguache county, Colorado, in 1874. Five years
later, they removed to Wyoming ancl from that,
point journeyed to Ashland, Oregon, in 1886. It
was 1889, when they came to this county and our
subject soon filed on a preemption in the Goose
Lake valley. Then he herded sheep and shortly
afterwards in company with his father and
brother, Walter F., engaged in the sheep busi
ness. Later, he and his father purchased a ranch
which our subject now owns, being known as the
Avery ranch, and it is one of the first locations in
the Chewaucan valley. His house was the first
lumber residence in this part of the country. In
1897, our subject bought his father's interest and
since has added by purchase until the estate is six
hundred and eighty acres,- about one-fourth of
which is very valuable agricultural land and the
balance is pasture. Mr. Reed makes a specialty
of raising hay, some alfalfa and handles cattle
and horses. He has a good residence, plenty of
barns, outbuildings and other improvements and
is a prosperous man.
On November 17, 1895, Mr. Reed married
Lucy J. Bryan, who was born in Yamhill county,
Oregon. Her parents, Daniel Boone and Mary
(Fairley) Bryan, are living in this county. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Reed are Rex E.,
Lester H., Lee R., and Ivan W.

JAMES FOSTER is one of the leading citi
zens of Lake county and is, as well, one of the ear
liest pioneers of the Summer Lake valley. His
. residence is eighteen miles northwest of Paisley
on the west bank of Summer lake. He was born
On July 4, 1827, in Coshocton county, Ohio. His
father, Andrew Foster, who fought in the War of
i8i2, was a native of Virginia and a pioneer to
the Willamette valley in 1845. He married Eliza
beth Smith, a native of Ireland. They had a fam
ily of nine children and our subject is the only
one now living. He crossed the plains with ox
teams in 1845, the train coming via the Meek's
cut off with Mr. Meek as guide. They came on
to the Harney valley and later went where Cor
vallis is now situated in Benton county, Oregon.
Previous to taking this trip across the plains,
our subject migrated with his parents from Ohio
to Missouri and from this latter place they started
across the plains. His education was received in
the various places where the family resided dur
ing his youthful days and in 1848, on November
30, he married Elizabeth Currier. She was born
57

in Vermont, on June 18, 1832, and came to Mis
souri with her parents where they both died. She
and her sister, Mrs. A. L. Humphrey, came
across the plains to Benton county in 1846. They
came via the Goose Lake valley and Rogue river
and were the first white women that went through
the Cow Creek canyon. They crossed the Mis
souri river on May 10, arriving in Benton county
on December 5. Our subject was engaged in
farming and stock raising in the Willamette val
ley until the spring of 1871, when he moved to
the Summer Lake valley, his present place. This ¦ ,
has been his home since and for over a third of a- '
century he has been one of the prominent and'
leading men of Lake county. Very few settlers-
were in the countr}- when he came ancl he has
seen it grow from the wild to its present state
of development, having assisted materially in this
transformation. Mr. Foster has always been on
the frontier. Ohio was new when he was born
there. Before it was much settled he was on the
frontier in Missouri. Then they came to the Willa
mette valley and opened that country and after
wards he was one of the first settlers in Lake
county. He has done a noble work as a pioneer,
adventurer and frontiersman and is deserving
of the esteem and respect which has been accorded
to him. To Mr. and Mrs. Foster, the following
named children have been born : Lorena, and I.
Manley, deceased ; John A. and James A., in this
valley; Angeline, William H. and Annie E., de
ceased ; Frederick W., of this valley ; Marion L.,
deceased; Elizabeth F. Klippel, of this valley;
Luvia S., deceased; Endora Hartin, of Tonopah,
Nevada ; Aurora A. Walters, of Spokane ; Ralph
C, of this valley; and Lulu Schmink, of Lake-
view. Mr. Foster has always been in the stock busi
ness since coming here and now owns a fine band
of cattle. He also has one hundred and sixty acre?
of good hay land which is improved with a large
twelve room residence, good stables, four acre
orchard and everything needed in the carrying on
of his business. He raises all kinds of fruit, as
peaches, apricots, apples, pears, plums, prunes,
berries, cherries and so forth. Formerly, he made
a specialty of raising race horses ancl raised the
noted Oregon Eclipse, which he took to various
places in the west and also to Chicago. He sold
him for seven thousand dollars. He owned his
half brother, Hercules, who was also a well
known horse.

SVANTE F. AHLSTROM is a native of
Christianstadt, Sweden, ancl was born May 12,
1850. His father was John F. Ahlstrom and died
at the age of seventy-seven. His grandfather.

'898

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of the same name, was a soldier of Sweden, and
lived to the age of ninety-nine years and nine
months when he died from the effects of an acci-
'dent. Mr. Ahlstrom's mother, Johannah (War-
ling) Ahlstrom, died in 1861.
In 1869 Mr. Ahlstrom went to Denmark,
Germany, France and England, afterward com
ing to New York. From the latter state he
came by the first overland train ever run over
the Union and Central Pacific railroad from
'Omaha to San Francisco. He removed from
San Francisco to Red Bluff, California, where
he learned the saddler's trade, which he has fol
lowed as means of livelihood ever since. In 1873
he went to Marysville where he worked with
H. M. Harris as a saddle and harness maker
until 1886, when he formed a partnership with
his employer and came to Lakeview- Here they
engaged in business under the firm name of
Harris & Ahlstrom, ancl continued in partner
ship until 1889, when Mr. Ahlstrom purchased
the interests of Mr. Harris, since which time
he has conducted the business independently.
Fire destroyed his shop and the greater part of
his stock in 1900, since which time Mr. Ahlstrom
has erected a modern brick building on the site
of the old. In addition to this building he owns
a first class two-story residence in Lakeview.
Mr. Ahlstrom was married in 1876 to Mary
Gunther, who was born in San Francisco and
reared in Marysville, California. Her parents
were Jacob J. and Sarah C. Gunther, natives of
'Germany and early pioneers of California.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ahlstrom have been born
'three children; Elmer C, a Lakeview merchant;
Fred O., also a merchant and treasurer of Lake
¦county; and Lottie Ahlstrom, bookkeeper for
Ahlstrom Brothers-
Our subject was elected county treasurer on
the Republican ticket in 1898 ; he has been school
director for six years and has been a councilman
and mayor of his home city. He has been a
member of the Odd Fellows lodge for a period
of thirty years, is now a member and past grand
*of Lakeview lodge, No. 63, is a past chief patri
arch of Lakeview encampment, and has on dif
ferent occasions represented his lodge in the con-
-ventions of the grand lodge. Both he and Mrs.
Ahlstrom are members of the Rebekah degree,
and he is also a charter member of the Forest-
• ers, of which order he has been chief ranger ancl
Is now district deputy.
Mr. Ahlstrom may feel justly proud of the
business he has built up in his line since locating
in Lakeview. Fie manufactures a special grade
of saddle known as the "Lakeview saddle," the
popularity of which has become so great during
recent years that he ships great quantities of them

to the states of Idaho, California, Nevada and
the eastern states, besides the great number which
find ready sale in his home state. Some have
found a market in even as remote a locality as
the Hawaiian islands. He also makes a specialty
of manufacturing saddles and harness to order.
From a beginning the most meagre his establish
ment has grown through the popularity of his
goods into the most extensive plant of its na
ture in the state, outside the city of Portland.

EUGENE SPENCER EDE is proprietor of
the hotel and livery barn at New Pine Creek, and
is also proprietor of a flock of two thousand
head of sheep. Born September 15, 1869, in
Plumas county, California, Mr. Ede was the son
of Abraham and Mary J. (Easton) Ede, the for
mer a native of England. While a child of seven
years Abraham Ede came to the United States
with his parents and settled in Illinois, whence
he crossed the plains to Plumas county, Cali
fornia, in 185 1. Here he settled on a farm, where
he lived until his death at the age of sixty-eight
in 1900. The mother is still living in Plumas
county. The brothers ancl sisters of our subject are
Walter, Mrs. Emma O'Conner, Edward J., Steph
en, Mrs. Ida A. Anderson, and Albert A. Mr.
Ede grew to manhood in Plumas county, Califor
nia, where he received a thorough common school
education, notwithstanding the fact that he was
reared on a stock farm, and in September, 1894,
came to Lakeview. Here he purchased four hun
dred head of sheep in partnership with his broth
er, Walter, and subsequently purchased his broth
er's interest. In 1897 he was indebted for more
than the value of his property, but so skillfully.
did he conduct his affairs that two years later
he was free from debt and in 1900 he had one
thousand two hundred dollars in cash additional
to an increased flock of sheep of about one thous
and head. He has been successful in business
ever since coming here. He continued to manage
his sheep until during the fall of 1901, when he
leased them to other parties and the following
spring he purchased the hotel and stables at New
Pine. He has recently built an addition to his
hotel making it a three-story building containing
twenty-five sleeping compartments, with office,
dining room, kitchen and so forth. It is a strictly
modern hostelry in every respect, located just
thirty feet from the California state line. Mr.
Ede also has his livery ancl feed stable well
stocked and equipped.
On November 4, tooo, Mr. Ede was married
to Iva D. Basey, daughter of John C. and Kate

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

899

Basey. To this union two children have been
born, Albert Irving and Edwin Leroy.
Mr. Ede is a member of Pine lodge, No. 48,
A. O. U. W., of New Pine Creek, of which lodge
he is also recorder, and both he and Mrs. Ede
.are members of the Degree of Honor, of Lake-
view.

WILLIAM HARVEY has been a continu-
•ous resident of Lake county, Oregon, for the
past thirty-two years, all of which time he has
followed the sheep business, making him, by a
wide margin, one of the pioneer wool-growers of
the county.
Born August 21, 1845, m the northern part of
Ireland, Mr. Harvey came to the United States
and direct to California in 1870. He lived for a
time at Tehama, California, and in August, 1872,
came to Summer Lake valley, Lake county, Ore
gon, — at that time, however, Lake county was
included in the county of Jackson. The nearest
store to him was that at the Willow ranch, in
Modoc county, California, distant seventy miles,
and the nearest postoffice was at Hot Spring, fif
ty miles away. There were no roads nor public
improvements of any sort in the valley, and at the
time of Mr. Harvey's advent the valley contained
only eleven inhabitants. Here our subject took
a homestead and preemption, to make the required
"improvements upon which required his working
for wages, and in 1875 ne went to California and
purchased a small flock of sheep. He brought
his sheep to his Summer Lake valley ranch, and
irom year to year he has continued to add to the
flock until he is now one of the wealthiest stock
men of the state. He owns two ranches contain
ing about four thousand acres each, but his head
quarters are at the Summer Lake ranch, which is
situated at the southern border of Summer lake,
about twelve miles west from Paisley. He has
here one of the finest homes in Lake county, upon
which he produces all varieties of fruit grown in
this latitude and upon which he has the best of
improvements. He also owns a handsome home
in Lakeview. Mr. Harvey was married during April, 1892,
to Ruby Aitken, of Tehama, California. Two chil
dren have blessed this union : William Hamilton
and Joseph Balentine.

SILAS J. STUDLEY is one of the large
property owners of Lake county, his residence
being ten miles south from Lakeview. He was
horn on March 17, 1844, in Walderboro. Lincoln
•county, Maine, the son of Thomas and Hannah

(Gilchrist) Studley. The father was born while
his parents were en route from England to the
United States and the mother was born in Maine.
They both remained there until their death. Our
subject was well educated in the public schools
of his native state and at the age of twenty, he
came via New York and the Panama route to
San Francisco. He at once engaged in mining
then traveled to Yreka and afterwards to Aden,
California. In the latter place, he did stock rais
ing until 1869, when he assisted to drive the first
cattle to the Big valley from Yreka. It was 1876
when he came to where Lakeview is now located
and soon located a ranch about eight miles from
that point. In the spring of 1 88 1, he disposed of
that and took land where he. now resides. He
has some thirteen hundred acres of land in three
different tracts, each farm being well improved.
The home place has a fine ten room residence, two
good barns, and a large orchard of all kinds of
fruit and is in a high state of cultivation. Mr.
Studley has a nice band of cattle ancl much other
property. He started in life without a dollar and
has made by business tact and industry every
dollar that he now possesses, which speaks very
favorably of his business ability.
On September 11, 1873, Mr. Studley married
Mary J. Stanley, who was born in Yreka, Cali
fornia, on June 16, 1855, the daughter of William
ancl Johanna Stanley. The parents crossed the
plains in 1853. To our subject and his wife eight
children have been born, named as follows, Jer
ome, Harry, Bertha, May, Chester F., William
Thomas, Alsy, ancl Oscar. Four of them are liv
ing at home but the first four born are deceased.

LESLIE I. V ANDERPOOL is a farmer and
stockman of Lake county and resides five and
one-half miles south of Lakeview. He was born
on October 20, 1869, in Marion county, Oregon.
James Vanderpool, his father, was born in Mis
souri and came west across the plains in 185 1,
using oxen for the teams. He located in Ma
rion county, served all through the Rogue River
War and died at Klamathton in 1899. He mar
ried Mary E. Miller, a native of Illinois, who
took a trip across the plains in 1852. Her mother
died while they were en route ancl thus bereft
thev made the last part of the journey. Settle
ment was made in Polk county when thev arrived.
Mrs. Vanderpool is now living in Prineville,
where she has been for twenty-five years except
the time when her husband was sick when they
staved at Klamathton. She has a nice property
in Prineville and is living retired.
Our subject went with his parents to Prine-

900

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ville in 1875 .and there was reared and received
nis education. When not in school, he was rid
ing the range with his father and became thor
oughly acquainted with the stock business. He
has made two trips to Chicago with cattle and is
one of the leading stockmen of this part of the
state. The old home place lies six miles out from
Prineville and consists of three hundred and
sixty acres of choice agricultural land. Mr. Van
derpool is interested in stock raising where he
resides and has a fine band of cattle and horses.
He also owns a large band of horses in Crook
county. On December 1, 1902, Mr. Vanderpool mar
ried Edna R. Venator, who was born in Lake
county, Oregon, the daughter of Jesse Venator.
She owns a half interest in the Venator estate,
where Mr. Vanderpool now resides and which
estate he is managing. They are well-to-do peo
ple, have a good standing in the community and
are reckoned among the leading citizens of the
county.  +—~*  1
CHARLES U. SNIDER. One of the earliest
pioneers of Lake county, and one who, probably,
has done a lion's share toward the upbuilding and
development of the county and especially the city
of Lakeview, where he now resides, is the man
whose name forms the caption for this sketch. Mr.
Snider came to Jackson county, now Lake county,
March 12, 1869, and soon after his advent here
he engaged in clerical work for his uncle, A. Sni
der, who conducted a merchandise store at Camp
Warren. He began as bookkeeper but in the fall
of the following year he assumed the manage
ment of a store, also belonging to his uncle at
Camp Harney. Two years later he took charge
of a store at Willow Ranch, in California, six
miles from the Oregon line. In 1874 he formed a
partnership with his uncle under the firm style
of A. & C. U. Snider, and in April, 1876, built
the first business house in Lakeview. In 1890
Mr. Snider was appointed by President Harrison
to the position of receiver for the United States
land office at Lakeview, which position he filled
four years at that time, and on October 12, 1903,
he received an appointment to the same office at
the hands of President Roosevelt, so is now serv
ing his second term. In politics Mr. Snider has
from the first been a Republican. He cast his
first presidential vote for General Grant and has
voted the Republican ticket ever since. He has
been continuously in the mercantile business until
1904. He has built and owned grist and saw
mills in different parts of the county, and has also
been engaged more or less in the business of
farming and stock raising. He has always been

actively interested in the promotion of education
and has ever been ready to donate substantial aid
toward the erection of churches and all institu
tions making for the moral betterment of his-
community. Charles U. Snider is a native of Shawnee
town, Illinois, born March 20, 1846. His father
was Joseph U. Snider, a native of Germany, who
came to the United States at the age of eighteen.
years and located in Mansfield, Ohio. From that
city he went to Shawneetown in 1842, and there
died at the age of seventy-eight, in the year
1893. Margaret (Dorsey) Snider was our sub
ject's mother. She was born in Hagerstown,.
Maryland and died in 1872.
Before coming west Mr. Snider received a
common school education, and in 1862 he became
a clerk on an Ohio river steamboat. In this ca
pacity he worked until coming to Oregon. He re
turned to the east in 1876, and was there married,.
May 2 of that year, to Miss Mary E. McCallen,
a daughter of Andrew and Mary A. (Castle)
McCallen, of Shawneetown, Illinois. To this
marriage five children have been born, two of
whom died during infancy. The three now living-
are : Warner B., married to Frances Jones ; Mae
and Clarence U. The first named is now city
recorder of Lakeview.
Mr. Snider is prominently identified with the
fraternity interests of his city, being a member
of the Blue lodge, A. F. and A. M., Lakeview
lodge, No. 63, I. O. O. F., of which he is a past
grand, and of the A. O. U. W.
He has a considerable amount of city prop
erty in Lakeview, including a brick and a frame
store building and a first class home. He is one
of the first pioneers of Lakeview, and is looked
upon by the public generally as one of her first
and best citizens.

STERLING P. VERNON was born in
Crook county, Texas, on February 13, 1862, and'
now resides some three miles south of Lakeview,
wnere he follows farming and stock raising. He
has a choice ranch of two hundred and seventeen
acres, mostly first class hay land. Owing to his-
thrift, industry and wisdom, he has gained a fine
holding in property through his own labors here-
and is considered one of the substantial men of
the county. His parents, Anderson P. and Dollie
(Leathers) Vernon, journeyed to Benton county,
Arkansas, when our subject was a young lad. In
1876, the family came to Surprise valley, Cali
fornia, and the following year, to Lake county.
Thus they were among the early pioneers in this
section of the country. They made location in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

901

the Goose Lake valley ancl selected a homestead.
There were only two or three houses in Lakeview
.at that time ancl the entire country was very
sparsely settled. Game of all kinds was in abun
dance on every hand and it seemed to be a verit-
.able paradise for pioneers. Our subject, being
of a studious turn of mind, gained an education
although his opportunities were very limited. He
.accomplished this by studying much at home and
in clue time, he received a certificate ancl began
teaching school. For three years, he-followed this
, occupation and showed himself a thorough and
first-class educator.
In 1892, on October 12, Mr. Vernon married
Miss Effie Down, who was born in Sonoma
county, California, the daughter of Albert S. and
Carrie (Ballard) Down. To this happy mar
riage,, six children have been born : Ralph, Wil
lard, Dora, Vera, Frank and May. Vera is de
ceased. Mr. Vernon is a member of the A. O. U. W.
while he and his wife both belong to the Baptist
•church. They have been very active in church
work and also constantly labor for the upbuild
ing of the cause and the spreading of the gospel.
In addition to doing school teaching as mentioned
above, Mr. Vernon has always been a warm ad
vocate of educational advantages and has a strong
record in that line. Besides the property men
tioned, he owns a fine band of well bred cattle,
has a good large barn, plenty of outbuildings and
so forth and is one of the prosperous 'and well-to-
do men of the county. He also owns two hun
dred and seventy-three acres of land six miles
east from his home place which is utilized for
pasture. When it is considered that Mr. Ver
non started at twenty-one years ©f age without
any means and has gained this fine list of property
besides some more, entirely through his own ef
forts, we can well see that he is a man of energy
ancl wisdom.

BERNARD DALY, M. D., is judge of
the county court of Lake county and a prominent
physician of Lakeview. His reputation as a
practitioner, however, is not confined to his home
city, but extends over the entire state of Oregon.
Dr. Daly was born February 17, 1858, in Ire
land, and came to America when a boy, and it
was in the United States that he obtained his
excellent education. He was graduated from the
Ohio state normal university, and later from the
medical department of the University of Louis
ville, Kentucky. In 1887 he came to Lake county,
Oregon, and has been successfully practicing
medicine here continuously since. A lifelong
Democrat, he was elected to the house of repre

sentatives of Oregon in June, 1892, and to the
state senate on that ticket in 1896, serving four
years. During his tenure in office his party was
in the minority in the senate and Dr. Daly was
one of the Democratic leaders throughout his
term. In 1900 he was his party's candidate for
Congress for the first judicial district, but was
defeated in election after running ahead of his
ticket by five thousand votes. Though Lake
county was a Republican stronghold, Dr. Daly
was elected, in 1902, by a flattering majority, to
the office of countv judge, which office he still
holds. During the past fifteen years he has been a
iiember of the board of trustees of the Lakeview
high school and has given marked attention to
educational affairs in his county in general. He
was one of the organizers of the Bank of Lake-
view, instituted September 1, 1898, which is
recognized as being the strongest bank in the
state of Oregon south of Salem, having a paid up
capital of ninety thousand dollars and a surplus
of sixty-five thousand dollars. Our subject is
now president of this bank. Fie was also one of '
the organizers and is president of the Lake
County Land & Live Stock Company, incorpo
rated, which has a capital of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. He has been president during
tne past twelve years of the Lake County Agri
cultural society, instituted for the purpose of en
couraging the agricultural ancl horticultural inter
ests of Lake county.
Dr. Daly is a member of the American Medi
cal association, ancl of the Oregon State Medical
society, ancl maintains a high standing among his
fellow practitioners throughout his state. He is a
successful financier, not only' in the management
of his personal affairs, but those of the public,
ancl since assuming the office of county judge he
has been instrumental in freeing his county from
debt without incurring additional burdens upon
the tax-payers.

CHRISTOPHER WALTER DENT is
county commissioner of Lake, county, Oregon,
and a wool grower ancl stockman residing in War
ner valley. His postoffice address is Plush, Lake
county, Oregon. He is a native of St. Francois
county, Missouri, and was born June 18, 1863,
the son of Flemmon and_ Adaline S. (Tullock)
Dent. The father also was born in St. Francois
countv, where his father, grandfather of our sub
ject, Absalom Dent, was a pioneer of 1815. The
mother was a sister of William Tullock, one of
the first settlers in Drew's vallev, Oregon.
The brothers and sisters of Mr. Dent are :

902

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

William F., Big Springs, Texas ; Mrs. Mary A.
Waller, New Franklin, Missouri; Mrs. Lucy J.
Sublette, Chico, California ; Housten, Drew's Val
ley, Oregon ; Albert, Lakeview, and Mrs. Rebecca
E. Devine,- Bismarck, Missouri. Another brother,
John H., died in Warner valley in 1893.
Mr. Dent grew to manhood on a farm in his
native state and started west August 22, 1885, ar
riving in Lakeview during September of that year
and immediately engaged in herding sheep. In
1895 he purchased a flock of sheep and engaged
in the sheep business for himself. He now has
several thousand head of these animals, and a
small herd of cattle. He has two ranches in
Warner valley, one of which, contains two hun
dred and forty acres, including one hundred acres
of alfafa pasture, and the other, upon which he
makes his home, is a natural meadow ranch, sit
uated where old Camp Warner stood in early
days. Both of these ranches are well improved.
Mr. Dent also owns a handsome home in Lake-
view. In 1904 Mr. Dent was elected to the office of
county commissioner for Lake county, on the
Republican ticket, which office he is still holding.
During the past twenty years he has been a mem
ber of the I. O. O. F. fraternity, and is now a
member of Lakeview lodge and also of the en
campment No. 18. He also belongs to the Re
bekah degree.
On June 27, 1903, occurred the marriage of
Mr. Dent and Mrs. Percy Benefield.
Mr. iJent is another example of the sturdy
type of men who came to the west without means,
ancl who, by their indomitable energy ancl per
severance, have striven against adversities and
eventually became well-to-do and influential citi
zens. After man\- years of toil he took a vacation
during the fall of 1898, going first to San Fran
cisco, where he sailed for the Hawaiian islands.
Returning, he visited Arizona, New Mexico,
lexas and his old home in Missouri. He con
sumed four months on this tour and returned
with the impression that Lake county was the best
country he had seen and is now more content than
ever before to spend the remaining years of his
life here.

MARION S. BARNES. Lake county is well
supplied with good mechanics and as a leader
among the number stands the gentleman whose
name initiates this sketch. He resides at Lake-
view ancl in company with Eldon Woodcock,
operates a large general blacksmith and wagon
shop. Thev do all sorts of wagon work, horse
shoeing and general mechanical work. They
have a fine business and perhaps the best equipped

shop ip the county. This partnership was formed
in February, 1904.
Marion S. Barnes was born on May 11, 1869,.
in Mono county, California, the son of James and
Mary (Patterson) Barnes. The father was born.
in Iowa and served in Company H, Third Iowa
Cavalry until he nearly lost his eyesight from ex
posure, being then discharged on account of this
disability. In 1863, he started across the plains
with wagons for California, making his first stop
at Aurora, Nevada. They had considerable
trouble -with the Indians and at one time lost
their entire band of stock, which, however, they
recovered later. After some time in Nevada, he-
journeyed on to Mono county, California, where
he followed freighting and the stock business-
until 1885. In that year, he came to the Goose
Lake valley and settled at the Willow ranch just
south of the state line, where he lived until 1893,
the year of his death. His wife was also born in
Iowa, crossing the plains with her husband and
is now living with our subject. The children of
this couple were Hiram, of New Pine Creek ;
William, of Silver Lake; Frank, of Summer
Lake; Marion S., our subject; and Mrs. Emma
Harris, deceased. Our subject grew up on a
ranch received his education from the early
schools and learned the blacksmith trade. He
wrought at this in' various vicinities, among.
which was Baker City, Oregon, and then he re
turned to this valley and opened a shop in Lake-
view. Here he has continued uninterruptedly
since, having gained a splendid patronage, owing,
to his skill and ability as a workman.
On December 17, 1888, Mr. Barnes married
Stella C. Linville and to them three children have
been born, Fay Lillian, Ralph Hobart, and Marvin
James. Mr. Barnes belongs to the A. O. U. W. and is
a man of excellent standing in the community.
Mrs. Barnes' parents are L. G. and Emmeline
(Stevens) Linville, and reside in Lakeview. Mr.
Linville is a native of Missouri and crossed the
plans with ox teams as early as 1852. He set
tled in Lane county, Oregon, and in October,.
1855, he volunteered to fight the Indians in the
Rogue River War. He was in active service
throughout the entire struggle and among other
battles, participated in that of Risley's Ferry
under Captain .Miller, and in the fight at Hungry-
Hill. Fie also was in many other battles and
skirmishes. He was in the mining camps in
Yreka, California, and participated in quelling
several uprisings in that state. In 1870 he came-
to Goose Lake valley ancl settled on the Modoc
count}- side. He was among the first settlers in
the valley and was one of the sturdy pioneers who
assisted to open up and subdue this country. He-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

9°3.

and his wife have resided in Lakeview for the
past fifteen years. He is aged seventy-two and
his wife sixty-one. They are the parents of
twelve children, eight of whom are now living
and they are substantial and highly esteemed
people.

WILLIAM FIOLDER is now one of the
thrifty tillers of the soil and lives in the vicinity
of Paisley, Crook county, Oregon, his home be
ing eleven miles south of that place. He was born
on August 11, 1854, near Cornwall, Benton
county, Oregon. His father, Adam Holder, was
born in Pennsylvania, crossing the plains from
Iowa in 1853 to Benton county ancl in 1859 set
tled in Corvallis, where he followed blacksmith
ing. In 1885, he came across the mountains to
Sherman county where he is now living, aged
eighty-two years. He married Julia A. Kompp,
who was born on the Rhine, in Germany. She
came to the United States when a girl and lived
in Iowa where she was married. She is now sev
enty-two years of age and is still living. Her
father, August Kompp, was an officer in the Ger
man army. Our subject has one brother, Lewis
D., of Sherman county, Oregon, and one sister,
Mrs. Pinkie Johnson, deceased. William was ed
ucated in the public schools ancl the agricultural
college at Corvallis. In 1881 he went to Sher
man county and engaged in farming. In
1894, he was elected sheriff of Sherman
county, his name appearing on the Repub
lican ticket ancl he was the first Republi
can sheriff of the county. So well did he fill the
office that two years later he was chosen again to
the same position and in 1898, the people deter
mined to give him a third term ancl accordingly
he was overwhelmingly elected. This gives him
six years of continuous service in that impor
tant office and he left a record of uprightness and
faithfulness seldom exceeded. In 1900, Mr.
Holder went to Shaniko, where he operated a
newspaper for a while, then he bought the Prine
ville Review and conducted it for a time. After
that, we find him in charge of the Paisley Post
and in the fall of 1903, he purchased one hundred
and sixty acres of good land where he now re
sides, one-third of which is in cultivation ancl it
is a splendid estate. It possesses some natural
meadow, has an abundance of water for irriga
tion, has all the improvements ancl conveniences,
as house, barn, orchard ancl so forth.
i\lr. Holder has been twice married and has
six children : Nellie, the wife of Erwin Pike of
Sherman county ; Minnie, wife of Prof. Frank
Henry, of Moro, Oregon ; Carl ; Neva ; Eulalia ;
and Thomas,

Mr. Holder is past grand of the I. O. O. F.
and present noble grand. He is a member of the
encampment, also of the W. W., the Maccabees.
and the K. P. He has been representative to the
grand lodges of the I. O. O. F. and the Macca
bees. He is a man of energy and intelligence,
well informed on the questions of the day and a
progressive, public minded citizen.

JOHN S. FIELD, of Lakeview, Lake
county, Oregon, is a pioneer of 1879 and has
passed through all the hardships and vicissitudes
attending the life of the frontiersman. He was
born December 28, 1856, in Pettis county, Mis
souri, in which state he grew to manhood. His
parents both died during his childhood, so he has
had to shift for himself the greater portion of his
life. He came to Susanville, California, in 1876,,
ancl, as has been stated, to this county three years.
later. Lakeview at that time was a mere hamlet
containing only a few houses scattered about and
was in a truly primitive state. Mr. Field adopted
the life of the cowboy soon after coming to this
state and for three years rode the range for vari
ous pioneer cattle men, after which he started the
first meat market in the town of Lakeview. Pie-
later engaged in the general merchandise busi--
ness, also following the business of sheep raising
to a limited extent meanwhile. In 1900 his store
was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss to its owner
•of eight thousand dollars. Mr. Field then erected
a brick structure on the site of the burned build
ing, which he later sold to the Odd Fellows lodge,
ancl he now has under course of construction a
two-story brick ancl stone building. He is at the
present time engaged in the butcher business, but
expects to re-enter the mercantile business upon
the completion of his new block. He still has a
flock of sheep ancl is doing a good business.
During the year 1886 Mr. Field was married
to Cora Walters, daughter of Martin T. and Har
riett Walters. In 1890 Mrs. Field died, leaving
one child, a daughter named Ottie. Our subject
was again married in 1901, his wife being Julia
Robinson. This union has been blessed by two
children, Neta ancl Opal.
Mrs. Field is a milliner by trade, and now
conducts a millinery shop in Lakeview.
Mr. Field is a charter member of Lakeview
lodge, I. O. O. F. In 1896 he was elected to the
office of countv treasurer, running on the Repub
lican ticket, serving one term. He now devotes
his entire time to his business.
Upon his arrival in the county Mr. Field had
onlv twenty dollars in his possession, but he is
now classed as one of the well-to-do men of Lake

904

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county, notwithstanding his great loss by fire
only a few years ago. All that he has he has
made by diligent application to business and un
tiring industry. '

FRANKLIN O. BUNTING was born Sep
tember 9, 1868, near Virginia City, Nevada, the
son of Alexander J. and Mary M. (Schalk)
Bunting. The father was born in Ohio and
crossed the plains to California in 1852, and after
residing short periods in different parts of the
state removed to Virginia City, Nevada, where he
engaged in the freighting business. From Vir
ginia City he removed to Austin, Nevada, thence
to Reno. From the latter city he at length re
turned to the state of California, founded the
town of Buntingville and entered the general
merchandise business. He came to Lake county,
Oregon, in 1883 and located at Lakeview where
he lived until 1900, when on account of failing
health he went to San Francisco. He died in a
hospital in that city at the age of seventy years.
Our subject's mother was a native of Louisville,
Kentucky, and emigrated to the west with her
parents during the pioneer clays.
1 he brothers and sisters of Mr. Bunting are:
Charles A., of Merrill, Oregon ; Mrs. Kate E.
Hazelton, of Lakeview ; and Edward R., of Reno.
When at the age of sixteen years, shortly after
coming to Lake county, Mr. Bunting started in
life for himself. He had no means, so in order to-
get a start, he worked for a time on salary for a
utock man. In 1894 he took a contract to run a
stage line between Lakeview and Paisley ancl
Plush, the latter a small town in Lake county.
Four years later he began running a stage from
Lakeview to Alturas, California. This line he
conducted until 1902, when he retired from the
stage business. During the meantime he engaged
in the stock raising business. In 1900 he went to
Missouri ancl purchased a herd of pure bred Her
eford cattle, ever since which time he has made a
specialty of raising that particular strain of stock.
He has the largest herd of pedigreed Hereford
cattle in the state of Oregon, numbering two hun
dred and thirty head, — all pure bred Hereforcls.
Of lands he has in all one thousand acres in
Drew's valley twenty-three miles west from
Lakeview, and a small hay ranch six miles south
west from Lakeview. All of his land is fenced
and well improved, yielding him all the feed re
quired for his stock. His large farm is known
far ancl wide by the name of "The Bunting Stock
Farm." In addition to this property Mr. Bunt
ing has a modern home in Lakeview, where he
spends the winter each year in order to give his

children the benefit of the city schools, and the
summer months are spent on the farm.
On December 9, 1897, occurred the marriage
of Mr. Bunting ancl Miss Alice Rebecca Tullock,
a native of Drew's valley, Lake county, Oregon.
Mrs. Bunting's father and mother, William and
Armona Rebecca (Chandler) Tullock were the
first settlers in Drew's valley, where they fol
lowed the stock business during their residence
there. The last ten years of their lives they spent
in Lakeview. The father died in 1899 and the
mother in 1898. Mrs. Bunting was their only
child. To Mr. and Mrs. Bunting have been born two
children, Frederick Oscar and Ruby Armona,
though they have another child, Elma Chandler
by name, whom they are caring for as their own.
Mr. Bunting is one of the most prominent stock
men in his state. He enjoys a wide circle of ac
quaintances ancl is a man of great popularity ow
ing to his public spirit and his many acts of kind
ness and generosity. He is also a prominent Odd
Fellow, being a member of Lakeview lodge, No.
63, of which he is a past grand. He is also a
past chief patriarch of the encampment No'. 18,
of Oregon.

MARK E. MUSGRAVE is a farmer residing
one and one-half miles south from Lakeview,
Oregon, the Lakeview hot springs being on his
farm. The springs mentioned have become a
well-known health resort of Lake county, and
since coming into possession of them Mr. Mus
grave has spared neither money nor pains in plac
ing them in condition to invite tourists and health
seekers. The water of the springs contains sul
phur, iron, borax and magnesia in considerable
quantity and are at one hundred and seventy de
grees in temperature. Mr. Musgrave has erected
a building over them which building contains a
swimming bath twenty-two by fifty-two by seven
feet in dimensions. The waters have attained a
wide reputation for their curative properties, and
Lakeview Hot Springs are rapidly becoming one
of the leading resorts in southern Oregon.
Mark E. Musgrave was born June 23, 1878,
in Siskiyou county, California, the son of Mark
ancl Lorinda (Burr) Musgrave, the former a na
tive of Devonshire, England, and the latter of
Ohio. / The father, upon coming to the United
States, settled in South Carolina, ancl in 1856 he
crossed the plains to Yreka, California, where he
engaged in mining. He is now living in San
Jose. The mother, also living at San Jose, is the
granddaughter of a cousin of Aaron Burr, of
colonial fame.
Our subject was reared in a mining camp in

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin O. Bunting

Mr. and Mrs. Mark E. Musgrave

Joim B. Blair

Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Heryford

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

905

Siskiyou county until ten years of age, when he
left home and went to work on a ranch, prefer
ring ranch life to that in a mining camp. He soon
went to San Jose, where he worked and attended
school for a time, and later went to San Fran
cisco, ancl there learned the wire-worker's trade.
Later he learned to be a cook, and travelled ex
tensively over, the state working at the latter
trade. He made several short voyages abroad
coastwise steamers during his travels in Califor
nia, and in 1897 he enlisted in the navy as a
landsman aboard the United States coast defense
monitor Monadnock, and while aboard that ves
sel he became familiar with all the ports along the
Pacific coast from Mexico to British Columbia.
During the war with Spain Mr. Musgrave was
stationed on different vessels, the greater part of
which time he was either first or second cook.
He was aboard the "Mohegan" when she made a
flying trip from Mare's Island with ammunition
for Dewey's fleet before the battle of Manila.
The Mohegan was met at Honolulu by the Balti
more which took the carge of ammunition to
Dewey, who was then stationed at Flong Kong.
Mr. Musgrave was one of the crew of the Mo
hegan which replaced the Hawaiian flag with
that of the United States on August 12, 1898. He
was also at Hilo, Hawaii, at the time of the recent
great earthquake. On May 8, 1900, he was dis
charged from service. During his time of en
listment he had travelled pretty generallv over
the entire world and saw more sights than it is
commonly given any one man to see.
Mr. Musgrave while in the navy, always re
ceived a good salary, and being saving with his
money, he was enabled to start into business
upon uis discharge. He came to Lakeview in
1901, ancl engaged first as cook in the Lakeview
hotel, but purchased his present home in May,
1902, and has .resided here since that time. He
has two hundred and ten acres of land, the major
portion of which is first class hay and grain land,
and well improved.
On March 16, 1902, Mr. Musgrave was mar
ried to Rose E. Rehart, a native of Modoc county.
California. Her parents are Charles A. and
Martha Rehart, sketches of whose lives appear
elsewhere in this volume.
To Mr. and Mrs. Musgrave has been born
one child, who is christened Charles Paul.

JOHN B. BLAIR, a prominent citizen of
Lakeview ancl formerly county assessor of Lake
county, is a native of Lee county, Iowa, born
March 23, 1844. His father, Hon. Colbert P.
Blair, was one of the earliest pioneers of southern

Oregon, coming here with an ox train, of which
he was captain, in the summer of 1853. He was
a native of North Carolina, born January 1, 1805,
and for the past fifteen years has made his home
in Pendleton, Oregon. Although on the eve of
his one hundredth year he is as hale and hearty
as many men a quarter of a century his junior.
He is a veteran of the Black Hawk and the Rogue
River Indian wars, in both of which he saw ac
tive service as a scout ancl much severe fighting.
After coming to Oregon he settled in Benton
county, which county he at one time represented
m the state legislature. Our subject's grand
father was Colbert Blair, a native of Scotland and
a soldier during the Revolutionary War. Mr.
Blair's mother was Elizabeth (Hill) Blair, also a
native of South Carolina and of Scotch paren
tage, her father being Henry Hill. He, too,
served in the Revolutionary War. The mother
lived to the age of sixty-five years, when she died
in Benton county, Oregon.
The brothers ancl sisters of John B. Blair are :
Thomas J., Pendleton ; James H., and Mrs.
Meeky Trapp, both of Lincoln county, Oregon.
One brother, Oliver P. Blair and four sisters, Mrs.
Fanny Scovel, Mrs. Cloe Jane Skipton, Mrs. So
phia Irwin, and Martha B. Blair, are dead.
Mr. Blair crossed the plains with his father
ancl family, the family at that time consisting of
the parents ancl eight children, and assisted his
father in opening a ranch in the wild and unset
tled prairie in Benton county, Oregon. Oppor
tunities for attending school were at that time de
cidedly meagre, but notwithstanding that fact our
subject managed to obtain a fair common school
education by applying himself to study at home.
He was married during August of 1867 to Jennie
Fuller, ancl in the spring of 1872 he came to the
Chewaucan valley, now Lake county, but at that
time Jackson county. Oregon. The valley at that
time contained only five settlers ancl was not im
proved even by as much as a public road. The
following spring he went to Summer lake valley
and took a preemption and worked for wages in
order to make improvements on his ranch. Later
he traded his claim for cattle ancl engaged in the
stock business. Returning to the Chewaucan
valley, he took a homestead, upon which he made
his home until 1901. In 1900 he was elected to
the office of county assessor and two years later
he was elected to succeed himself. He was elected
on the Republican ticket, and was the first man
in the county to be elected to the office of as
sessor a second time. He removed to Lakeview
in 1 901, where he has since made his home. He
is one of the most highly respected citizens of
Lake county, where he is universally regarded as
a man of ability and of honor. As an example of

906

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the trust reposed in him by his fellow citizens we
may mention the fact that he is at the present
time executor for two estates, the testator in each
instance appointing him with the request that he
perform the duties of the position without being
placed under bonds.
Mr. Blair has been a member of Lakeview
lodge, I. O. O. F., for twenty-five years, that be
ing the only secret order with which he is affil
iated. To Mr. and Mrs. Blair, five children have been
born : Wellington S., married to Birdie McDon
ald ancl residing at Paisley, Oregon ; Dollie Viola,
deceased ; Tracy C. ; Richard, deceased ; and
Dovie Maria, the wife of James Reeder, of Sil
ver Lake, Oregon. Wellington and Birdie Blair
have three children. Tracy C. Blair, the second
son mentioned, is married to Annie Miller and has
one child. He is a surveyor and civil engineer
of prominence in Anaconda, Montana. He has
been a surveyor on the Great Northern railroad
for three years, and is now in the employ of the
Anaconda Copper Company for which h engi
neered the flume and great smoke-stack at Ana
conda. It is pleasant to state that since the above was
written, our subject went to Pendleton, Oregon,
and there, January i, 1905, with other members
of the family, celebrated the one hundredth an
niversary of his father's birth, Hon. Colbert P.
Blair.

HENRY R. HERYFORD, one of the early
pioneers of the territory now embraced in Lake
county and a steady laborer here for the upbuild
ing and improvement of the country since those
early days, is now residing a mile and one-half
north of Lakeview, where he owns six hundred
acres of choice farming land. He was born on
July 29, 1850, in Knox county, Missouri, the son
of Clemens R. and Nancy (Chambers) Hery
ford, natives of Missouri and Ohio, respectively.
The mother is now deceased and the father is liv
ing retired in Santa Rosa, California, in his eigh
ty-fourth year. The children born to this ven
erable couple are William P., in Lakeview ; Mrs.
Sarah Hunt, of Shasta county, California ; Henry
R., who is our subject; John M., of Shasta
county, California ; James D., of Lakeview ;
Thomas J., of Shasta county, California ; and
Aaron M., of that same county. Our subject
crossed the plains with his parents in 1857, being
in an ox team train. They made their way to
Shasta county, California, where the father en
gaged in farming. There the father remained
until 1900, when he moved to Santa Rosa, Cali
fornia, as stated above. On July 3, 1872, our

subject, then being a young man of twenty-two,
came to the portion of Oregon now occupied
by Lake county. His two brothers, William P.
and James D., accompanied him and they camped
where Lakeview now stands and well remember
that the rye grass was higher than their heads.
On July. 4 of that year, they settled on the north
end of the valley and entered into partnership in
the stock business. This continued until 1896,
when our subject sold his interest. Since that
time, he has been operating alone and in addition
to the fine estate that we have mentioned, he owns
one hundred and sixty acres of timberland. His
residence is a large twelve room structure pro
vided with all conveniences, while the other im
provements of the place are equally as good. His
farm is supplied with plenty of water and among
the various springs are some boiling hot.
On August 12, 1877, Mr. Heryford married
Mary L. Parker, who was born in Iowa, the
daughter of Robert L. and Ellen (Conger)
Parker. In 1875, they journeyed from Iowa to
Oregon and now live in Jackson county of mis
state. To our subject and his wife, eight chil
dren have been born, named as follows : Nellie,.
wife of Fred Ahlstrom ; Lem, who married Sel-
ma Averiganett; Ollie E., wife of A. H. Ham-
ersley; Harry; Fred; Willard; Hazel; and Hil-
dred. Fred is deceased, and Mrs. Hamersley
died March 4, 1905.
Mr. Heryford is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
being past grand of the order. He is also past.
chief patriarch of the encampment and is a pop
ular man in fraternal circles. In addition to gen
eral farming, Mr. Heryford gives considerable-
attention to handling stock, the same consisting of
well bred horses and cattle. He is to be classed
among the earliest pioneers of this section and for
over thirty years, he has labored assiduously for
the upbuilding of the country with a measure of
success that has placed him not only in posses
sion of a large amount of property but as one of
the leading citizens of this part of the state who
enjoys the esteem and confidence of his fellow-
men.

GEORGE REED, a carpenter and cabinet
maker of Paisley, is one of the leading men of
this part of the county and is doing a fine busi
ness. He has a large shop, well fitted and sup
plied with everything necessary to do first-class.
work in the lines mentioned. He has a gasoline
engine which operates circular, groove, rabbit,
scroll, and other saws and planes, while also he
has a first class lathe. Mr. Reed is a mechanic
of no small ability and is able to do first class
building and also other lines of carpenter work.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

907-

He has been especially successful in this line and
is a very valuable man for the county as there is
much to do still in building up and improving
this fertile section.
George Reed was born on December 15, 1839,
near Fredericton, New Brunswick. His father,
Joseph Reed, was a native of the same place and
his father, Benjamin Reed, the grandfather of our
suDject, was born in New York and was a sea
captain. The mother of our subject was Abagail
(Jewett) Reed, born in the same place as her hus
band, ancl her father, Daniel Jewett, a native of
the same place as his daughter, was a miller. Our
subject's parents both died in New Brunswick.
They had a family of fourteen children, twelve of
whom lived to be grown and nine of whom are
now living. After securing a good education,
George was apprenticed to a first-class carpenter
and served four years in that capacity, during the
latter portion of which he received twelve and
one-half cents per day as compensation. In 1865,
he went to Concord, Massachusetts, where he
worked at his trade for a year and one-half.
Then he returned to New Brunswick and in 1867,
married Annie E. Mitchell, a native of New
Brunswick. It was with her father, James
Mitchell, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, that our
subject learned his trade. Mrs. Reed's mother
was Fanny (Heustis) Mitchell, also a native of
New Brunswick. Following his marriage, Mr.
Reed returned to Concord, Massachusetts, and
worked for the same firm he had been with before.
For the last two years, he was foreman in their
carpenter shop. Following this service, he went
to South Dakota and dwelt just across the line
from Iowa. He wrought in Akron, Iowa, erect
ing the first hotel and various other buildings
there. . His son, Walter F., was the first white
child born in that town and one of the streets
was named for Mr. Reed. After three -years in
that section, Mr. Reed moved his family to San
Luis valley, Colorado, the date then being 1875.
He assisted in the organization of Gunnison
county there in 1876 ancl was the first county
commissioner. In 1878, he moved to the head
waters of the Tongue river in Wyoming and lo
cated a ranch that is now part of the townsite of
Sheridan. He was one of the very first settlers
111 that vicinity and engaged in the stock busi
ness. There was a large quantity of game of all
kinds such as deer, elk, buffalo, antelope, and so
forth, and Mr. Reecl greatly enjoyed hunting. So
sparselv settled was the country that whenever
one discerned a moving object, he could be rea
sonably sure that it was a wild animal or an
Indian. In the fall of 1886, Mr. Reed removed
with his family to Ashland, Oregon, and in the
spring of 1S88, he came to the Goose Lake val

ley. After that, he returned to Eugene, Oregon,.
and the fall of 1890, he came to the Chewaucan
valley and there was engaged in the stock busi
ness with his sons. After they were married, he
sold out and came to Paisley where he opened a
shop that he now is operating. In addition to do
ing general building, he makes a specialty of the
manufacture of furniture, which finds a ready sale
through the country. He has a good residence
ancl some other property and is a member of the
I. O. O. F. For two years, Mr. Reed served as-
deputy sheriff of this county and was a capable
and efficient officer. The children born to Mr.
ancl Mrs. Reed are Herbert E., in New Bruns
wick and now a stockman near Paisley ; Walter
F., born in Akron, Iowa, and now living at Bly;.
ancl Maude E., born in Colorado, and now the wife
of John McCormack, of California.

JOHN N. WATSON is register of the
United States land office ancl a prominent wool
grower residing in Lakeview, Oregon. He was
reared on a farm in Montgomery county, Illinois,
ancl upon the outbreak of the Civil War he en
listed in Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-
sixth Illinois Infantry, being a member of the
first regiment which was a part of Kimball's pro
visional division attached to the Sixteenth corps.
He joned the army in August, 1862, and was-
given an honorable discharge in August, 1865.
During his term of enlistment he was in many of
the prominent battles and in numerous minor
fights ancl skirmishes, prominent among which
we may mention the siege of Vicksburg and the
battle of Little Rock. He is now a member of the
Gen. O. M. Mitchell post, G. A. R., of Reno,.
Nevada. After the war Mr. Watson returned to Illi
nois ancl in 1866 he went to Labette county,.
Kansas, in fact, prior to the organization of that
county, as he was one of its organizers and was
elected its first sheriff. In 1875 he came to Port
land, Oregon, and the year following to Chico,.
California, where he engaged in the stock busi
ness and freighting. He went to San Francisco
in 1884 ancl there engaged in the business of buy
ing stock for a number of the prominent whole
sale meat markets of that city. In 1891 he came
to Lake county in the interest of his firms and
seven years later he came to locate here, though
he still continues to buy stock for the San Fran
cisco markets. He engaged in the sheep busi
ness upon coming to this county and rapidlv in
creased his holdings in sheep ancl land until he
now has a large flock of sheep and four hundred
acres of choice land in Lake county. He was ap-

•9o8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL' OREGON.

pointed register of the United States land office
during October, 1903. He always has been an
uncompromising Republican in politics. He was
made a Mason in November, 1868, and is now a
member of the Paisley lodge of that order.
Mr. Watson is classed as one of the well-to-do
citizens of Lake county, although he started in
business here with very small means. He is a
man of great energy and perseverance and of
strict honor, traits to which is wholly dtie the
success he has made of his life.
John N. Watson was born in Scott county,
Illinois, January 3, 1843, the son of James C.
Watson, a native of Ohio, and Serena (Thomas)
W'atson, whose native state is New York. He
was married in May, 1868, to Malissa Craft, in
Chetopa, Kansas. Mrs. Watson died in April,
1882, at Chico, California, leaving three children,
whose names follow : Bertha, wife of Robert S.
Boyd ; Maud, wife of Robert W Gray ; and Ben
jamin C. Watson, married to Irene Lutgen. All
-of the children are residents of San Francisco.
In December, 1904, Mr. Watson married
Mrs. Cornelia (Barnard) Knox, the daughter of
James E. and Luemma Barnard, at Lakeview,
Oregon.

JOHN D. FARRA is one of the leading citi
zens of Paisley, where he is operating a first-
class livery barn. He is favored with an excellent
patronage, owing to his care for the interests of
"his patrons, and he is considered one of the
most skillful business men of this part of the
county. The birth of Mr. Farra occurred on Sep
tember 6, 1861, in Jackson county, Kansas, his
parents being David R. and Mary (Rice) Farra,
natives of Kentucky, and South Carolina, re
spectively. The father made a trip across the
plains to California in 1849 and later returned
east. The brothers ancl sisters of our subject are
Thomas J., deceased: Mrs. Mary White, of Kla
math Falls ; Edward L., of Jackson county, Ore
gon; Mrs. Lucy J. Singleterry of Portland, Ore
gon, and Walter H. and Samuel G., of Blv. 'Mr.
Farra is the second one of the children. Our sub
ject went with his parents to Daviess county, Mis
souri, when a child and came with them also to
Jackson county, Oregon, in 1870, where they
both died. He secured his education in the vari
ous places where he dwelt during his boyhood
clays ancl was reared on a farm. In the spring of
1880, he came to Silver Lake in this countv and
began to work for wages on a stock ranch. Later,
he went to Goose Lake A "alley and was foreman
on the X. L. ranch for over five vears. Then he
engaged in the stock business for himself and re
moved to the Chewaucan valley. This was about

1887. He purchased a ranch and continued stead
ily in stock raising until 1897, when he engaged
in the livery business at Paisley. His two ranches
of over five hundred and fifty acres in the valley,
are operated by tenants. He personally handles
the livery barn and oversees the ranches, and the
handling of the stock which consists of about two
hundred head of cattle. The ranches are mostly
hav land and are valuable. The entire property
that Mr. Farra now owns has been gained by him
since coming to this county, as he started entirely
without means. In addition to what has been
mentioned, he has a good residence in Paisley
and some other property.
Fraternally, Mr. Farra is affiliated with the
A. F & A. M. and the Eastern Star.
On June 9, 1902, Mr. Farra married Fannie
ri. Taylor, who was born in Umatilla county, Ore
gon, the daughter of Pres and Clara (Wilson)
Taylor, both living near Paisley. Two children
have been born to this union, Earl Merrit and
Opal Esther. Mr. Farra has also one step
daughter, Virgie. Mr. Farra has served as
school clerk for several years and also as con
stable and at the present time, he is justice of the
peace in the Paisley precinct. He is a good citi
zen, an upright man and a first-class business
operator.

JAMES H. TURPEN resides in Lakeview,
Oregon and follows the business of wool grow
ing. He is a native of Benton county, Missouri,
born November 4. 1856, and the son of Jonathan
and Emily (Atterbury) Turpen. The father was
a native of the state of Kentucky. Mr. Turpen
is a member of a family of three children, having
a brother, Edwin, who now lives in Lane county,
Oregon, and a sister, Mrs. Emma Starts, of Bend,
Oregon. The family crossed the plains with an
ox team in 1857, coming to Stanislaus county,
California. In 1865 they came to Lane county,
and soon afterward our subject went to Idaho,
where he resided until 1883. The father lived
in Lane county until his death, which occurred in
1902, when he was eighty years of age. The
mother died in 1876.
In 1883 our subject came to his present lo
cality, and the following year he went to Goose
Lake valley, where he followed working for vari
ous stock men for a means of livelihood. In 1886
he engaged in the sheep business on his own ac
count ancl has followed that industry continu
ously from that date. Mr. Turpen is a member of
the Lakeview lodge of Foresters of America.
He is one of Lakeview's substantial citizens
and business men.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

909,

GEORGE CONN is one of the wealthy citi
zens of Lake county ancl stands at the head of
several important enterprises. His birth occurred
on January 31, 1840, in Cass county, Indiana. His
father, Henry Conn, was born October 12, 1816,
in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, ancl descended
from an old American family, many of whom
were in the various colonial struggles and espe
cially in the Revolution. He came west to Hamil
ton county, Ohio in 1837, then was in Cass
county, Indiana, about 1839, and in 1854, crossed
the plains to Roseburg, Oregon, with teams. He
took a donation claim near Roseburg and there
remained until his death in May, 1896. He had
married Miss Mary J. Stultz, who was born in
Hamilton county, Ohio. She died on the old
donation claim in 1898. Her birth had occurred
on April 24, 182 1. They were the parents of
eleven children, nine boys and two girls and nine
of the number are now living. Our subject ac
companied his parents on their journey to the
west and received his education from the common
schools, finishing in the Willamette University
at Salem. Then he taught school for a time ancl
in 1862 was on the crest of the wave that rolled
into the Salmon river mining country. He trav
eled all through that section, through the Grande
Ronde valley ancl the Walla Walla country, also
visiting Florence ancl many other mining places,
as Boise ancl Canyon City. He was at the last
place in 1862. In March, 1865, he enlisted in
Company A, First Oregon Volunteer Cavalry,
and went as escort to the parties locating the mili
tary road across the state. After that, he was at
Fort Klamath, then went to Vancouver, where he
was mustered out in March, 1866. During his
service in 1865, he was through this country,
where Paisley now stands ancl August 18, of that
year, camped on the site of the town. Indians,
wild game, and grass were all that were here in
those days. After his discharge, he taught school
and being a natural mechanic, did contracting and
building. In May, 1872, he was appointed the
receiver at the United States Land Office at Link
ville and five years later the office was removed
to Lakeview, where he continued until January,
1882, making ten years in that capacity. In 1880,
he opened a general merchandise establishment in
Lakeview and in September, 1881, he moved his
stock of goods to Paisley, where he has contin
ued steadily since. He now has a large stock of
goods and does an extensive business. In 1886,
Mr. Conn erected a fine roller flouring mill of
fifty barrel capacity, which property he still owns.
He has a fine eight room residence with some
eight hundred fruit trees on the grounds. Mr.
Conn has made a splendid success in raising fruit
of all kinds and such vegetables as tomatoes and

so forth. He has about eight hundred acres in
his ranch, ;six hundred of which are tillable.
About ninety acres are* producing alfalfa and he
also has some natural meadow on the estate. Mr.
Conn has quite a bunch of stock and altogether
is one of the most prosperous and wealthy men
in this part of the country.
On February- 27, 1887, Mr. Conn married.
Miss Margaret Sergent, who was born in the
Rogue river valley in this state. Her parents-
are Conrad S. and Loetta (Hauck) Sergent and
are now living in Jackson county, Oregon, hav
ing been pioneers of the state in 1861. Mr. Conn
came to this country without means and by his
own efforts unaided, he has made his splendid
success in the business world which he enjoys-
todav.

DANIEL BOONE was born December 28,.
1842, in Lincoln county, Tennessee, the son of
William and Sarah (Howard) Boone, both of
English descent ancl the former a native of North
Carolina. The father was a soldier in the War
of 18 1 2, and, although still almost a boy, was with
General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans.
William Boone was a son of Benjamin Boone,
who was the son of John Boone, the latter being
a brother of Squire Boone, the father of Daniel
Boone, the famous Kentucky pathfinder. This-
branch of the family is descended from George-
Boone, who came from England and who was
an early pioneer of Pennsylvania.
Daniel Boone grew to manhood on a farm in
his native state, and at the age of sixteen was
graduated from the Darnell College, of Marshall
county, Tennessee. At the age of seventeen he
went to Washington county, Arkansas, and on
May ,27, 1 86 1, enlisted in the confederate army
under General McCullough. He was the young
est member of Company I, but was soon made
captain of his company. He served in Arkansas
until the battle of Elkhorn, or Pea Ridge, when
his company was transferred to Corinth, Mis
sissippi. Captain Boone participated in the bat
tles of Iuka. Corinth and the siege of Port Hud
son, as well as numerous skirmishes, and was
finally returned to Arkansas. He was involved
in the battle of Prairie Grove, in the latter state,
and later was again sent to Mississippi. He was
under" General Dick Taylor against General
Banks in the Red River campaign, during which
he was in two hardly contested battles. Return
ing again to Arkansas, Mr. Boone fought his last
battle with General Price at Saline river. During-
his military service Mr. Boone was wounded
numerous times though, fortunately, never very-

¦910

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

seriously, and his army record is one of bravery
and attention to duty.
Following the war our subject taught school
for three years in Washington county, Arkansas.
He was married June 24, 1868, to Millie Dodson,
also a native of Tennessee. He was a merchant and
farmer in Washington county for sixteen years,
and then brought his family to Modoc county,
California, mainly for the benefit of his own and
his family's health, which was very poor in their
home state. They arrived in the Surprise valley,
California, in the spring of 1884, but soon after
ward Mr. Boone came on to Big valley, Lake
county, Oregon, and purchased land. He was
joined by his family in 1890. He was engaged in
the cattle and mule raising business for a num
ber of years in Warner valley, and in 1898 he
gave his land and stock to his son and he ac
cepted the position of postmaster at Plush. Here
he also started a small store, which he managed
in connection with the postoffice, and before many
years he had a stock of. general merchandise on
hand ancl was doing a good and profitable busi
ness. He has recently sold out his store at Plush,
but expects soon to engage in business at Lake-
view. Mr. and Mrs. Boone have been parents of
nine children, as follows: Erin and Veva, who
fell victims of scarlet fever in the Surprise
valley, California ; Dr. Eugene D. Boone, a
graduate from the Missouri Medical College, and
now a practicing physician and surgeon at Cald
well, Idaho ; J. Early, E. Marvin and George P.
Boone, partners in the stock business in Warner
valley, Oregon ; Mirth and Mayfield Boone.

WILLIAM JOHN SHERLOCK is one of
the prominent wool growers in Lake county and
has won his way to the front by virtue of his hard
labor and wisdom. He resides in Paisley, where
he has a good dwelling and from which he handles
his stock interests in other parts of the country.
William J. Sherlock was born in Bandon, county
of Cork, Ireland, the son of Thomas ancl Eliza
beth Sherlock, the date of this event being June
3, 1863. After studying in the common schools
until fourteen, he went to sea as an apprentice ancl
rose from that position to second mate of a fine
craft. For ten years Mr. Sherlock sailed and vis
ited almost all the principal ports of the world,
being acquainted with many peoples ancl their
ways. Afterwards, he came to the United States
in 1888 ancl in June of the same year, landed in
the valley where Paisley is now located. His
brother, Thomas, was here before ancl together
they labored in the sheep business until finally,

Mr. Sherlock decided to go into business for him
self. He has a good ranch, several thousand
sheep, comfortable residence and other property.
In February, 1883, Mr. Sherlock married Miss
Lucy Austin, who was born in Ireland. Their
wedding occurred in London, England. Mrs.
Sherlock's parents are William and Jane (Bar
rett) Austin, natives of Ireland. The father was
a manufacturer in London and is now deceased.
The mother is living in Clonkillty, county of
Cork, Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Sherlock, four
children have been born : Thomas Austin, Will
iam John, now in the county of Cork, Ireland ;
Richard Flemming and Walter Alexander in the
civil service in South Africa.

MANLEY CROMWELL CURRIER, who
resides in Paisley, Oregon, was born on July 6,
1856, in Benton county, Oregon. His father,
Jacob Manley Currier, was born in Vermont,
February 12, 1827, and crossed the plains from
the state of Missouri in 1846 to Oregon, taking a
donation claim near where Corvallis is now lo
cated. He served among the volunteers in the
Cayuse Indian war and of the Rogue river war
and is still living on the old donation claim near
Corvallis, in his seventy-ninth year. He married
Maria Foster, who came across the plains in 1845
to what is now Benton county. She is now de
ceased. Our subject has one brother, William
A., of this county and one sister, Mrs. Laurena
Belknap of King county, California. Our sub
ject grew to manhood in Benton county and there
secured his education. In the fall of 1880, he
came to Summer Lake in this county and engaged
in the stock business. In 1896, he sold out and
located in Paisley and two years later opened up
a retail liquor store. He has a prosperous busi
ness and owns a good residence in town.
Fraternally, Mr. Currier is affiliated with
the I. O. O. F.
On November 11, 1903, Mr. Currier married
Kittie Bell Hanan, who was born in Lake county,
Oregon, near Summer Lake valley. Her father
was John C. Hanan and her mother Margaret E.
(Hadley) Flanan. John C. was born on Feb
ruary 29, 1844, at Oregon City and as far as is
known, was the first white child born in the ter
ritory now embraced in the state of Oregon. His
father, George W. Hanan, had come to the Will
amette valley in the employ of the Hudson's Bay
Company as a shoemaker. John C. Hanan came
to Lake county in 1875 and was married in the
Chewaucan valley to Margaret E. Hadley, who
died in 1902. They were the parents of eight
children, George, Mrs. Emma Kelsay, Mrs. Cur-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

911

rier, Charles M., Henry E., Andrew, John and
Waymen. Mr. ancl Mrs. Currier are well known as are
also Mr. and Mrs. Hanan, having been pioneers
in this county.

JOHN ALLEN WITHERS, deceased. It is
very fitting that in a volume which purports to
speak of the early pioneers and prominent citi
zens of Lake county, we should incorporate an
epitome of the life of John A. Withers, for he
certainly was one of the leading men of this part
of the county and was beloved ancl esteemed by
ail who know him. The old home place is about
nine miles northwest from Paisley where his son,
Charles W. Withers, resides at the present
time. John A. Withers was born on May 1, 1854,
in Benton county, Oregon. Flis father, Peter
Withers, married Effie A. Early and they crossed
the plains from Missouri to Oregon in every early
days and are now living in Lane county. Our
suDject was the oldest of the family and the other
children are Peter, of Lane county ; Mrs. Mary
Hadley, of Lane county; and Mrs. Ada Roberts,
of Preseott, Arizona. Our subject grew up with
his parents and received as good an education as
the pioneer country would afford. Then in 1871,
he came to Summer Lake and soon after located
a homestead. He engaged in the stock business
and on May 10, 1875, married Melvina Frances
Hadley who was born in Shasta county, Califor
nia. Her father, Samuel B. Hadley, crossed the
plains from the state of Illinois to Oregon in
the early forties and was about the first settler
where the city of Portland now stands. Later,
he went to Douglas county and took a donation
claim being one of the first settlers in that county.
After that, he journeyed to Shasta county, Cali
fornia, and returned to Douglas county and then
came to Summer Lake valley in this county. This
was in 1871 and he was one of the very first set
tlers here. He made this his home until his
deatn in 1891. He married Emily A. Hammond,
who accompanied him across the plains and died
in Douglas county in 1886. The brothers and
sisters of Mrs. Withers are Albert H., deceased ;
Mrs. Margaret L. Hannan, deceased; S. G., of
Silver lake ; Melvina F., who is the wife of our
subject, and Melville F., twins, the latter in Lin
coln county, Washington : John T., deceased ;
Mrs. Kitty E. Currier of Summer lake : and
Henry M. of Fruitland, Washington. To Mr. and
Mrs. Withers, two children were bbrn, Chester
Lawrence, who married Melva Lewis and is now
in the general merchandise business in Paisley ;
and Charles Wavman, who married Lottie D.

Harris. Fie was formerly in partnership with his
brother in the store but sold out and bought the
old home ranch which consists of one thousand
acres of hay and pasture land. It has all con
veniences, good house, barn and orchard, and is
one of the choice places of the country. Mr.
Witners has quite a band of sheep and also
raises cattle and horses. To him and his wife,
two children have been born, Muriel Frances and
Vancil Allen. The sons of Mr. Withers are both
members of the I. O. O. F. He gave them both
a college education in Portland and San Fran
cisco. On March 27, 1902, Mr. Withers died
from the effects of smallpox. His death was
most sincerely mourned as he was one of the
leading and good men of the country. His circle
of friendship was as wide as his acquaintance
and he was looked up to and respected by
everybody. He was a prominent citizen and de
voted and faithful husband and a kind and gen
erous neighbor. He was always ready to assist
in every movement for the upbuilding of the
country and no unfortunate person ever appealed
to him for help without receiving the same.

ALVA L. HOWELL was born in Michigan,
January 23, 1850, the son of William H. and
Ellen (Hackett) Howell, and at an early age
crossed the plains by ox team with his parents to
Oroville, California. Later the family settled in
Sutro county, of the same state, where, for a
number of years they lived on a farm. They
then went to Petaluma county, California, then to
Colusa county, and lastly to Tulare county, where
the father died. The mother died in Colusa
county. The son then came to Lake county, Oregon, in
June, 1878, and engaged in the stock business in
Goose lake valley. Lakeview, at that time, was a
very small village,- with only a handful of inhabi
tants and there were but few families living in
the valley of which we speak. Mr. Howell con
tinued in the cattle business here until 1901,
when he disposed of his cattle to engage in the
sheep business, which he now follows success
fully. He has a stock ranch near Lakeview, and
quite a large flock of sheep. He also has a resi
dence in Lakeview, where he makes his home.
Mr. Howell was married in 1889 to Alice
McGarey, a native of Shasta county, California.
She died in 1898, leaving one child, Bessie Clarey
Howell, who is now attending school in Shasta
county. Mr. and Mrs. Howell were parents of
four children in all, three of whom died in in
fancy. Mr. Howell is a member of Lakeview lodge,

912

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

L O. O. F. and of the Lakeview encampment,
No. 18.
Alva L. Howell came to this county with
limited means and has seen, perhaps, more than
one man's just share of hardships and sorrows.
He has been energetic and persevering, however,
and is now realizing the fruits of his labor, being
one of the popular and prosperous citizens of
Lakeview.

CHARLES A. REHART is a wool grower
residing in Lakeview, Oregon. He was born in
Perry county, Ohio, November 24, 1852, and in
1863 he went with his parents to Keokuk county,
Iowa. Three years later he crossed the plains
with his father, Joseph Rehart, to Marion county,
Oregon, and in 1868 they removed to California,
since which time they have lived in different parts
of California, Colorado, and Oregon. Our sub
ject came to Lake county in 1883 and engaged in
the sheep business, which he has continued to fol
low succesfully ever since. Twelve miles north
from Lakeview, on Crooked creek, he has eigh
teen hundred acres of land, two hundred acres of
which are meadow land and well improved. In
1899 Mr. Rehart removed to his present home in
Lakeview, where he has a two story, nine room
house ancl twenty acres of highly improved land
adjoining the city. He now owns several thou<
sand head of sheep, and some cattle and horses.
He is a member of the Woodmen of the World
fraternity, ancl one of the prominent citizens of
his city.
Mr. Rehart has been twice married — the first
time to Martha A. Brooks, in Modoc county,
California. Bv this union seven children were
born, Ella A., Rose R., William J., Edna, Artie,
Roy and Benjamin. Mrs. Rehart died in 1889,
since which time our subject was married to Mrs.
Clara (Wright) Simpson. This marriage has
been blessed with six children : Mildred, Katren,
Marie, Georgie, Ruby and Ethel.
Mr. Rehart's second wife was a widow at the
time of her marriage to Mr. Rehart, and was the
mother of two children, Myrtle and Nellie Simp
son. These children were very small at the time
of their mother's second marriage, ancl are being
raised by Mr. Rehart, making in all fifteen chil
dren in the family, all of whom are still at home.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS CANNON
is certainly to be classed with the leading pioneers
and substantial citizens of Lake county. He now
resides at New Pine Creek where he has a fine
estate ancl does general farming and stock rais

ing. He was born on February 11, 1842, in Holt
county, Missouri, the son of George W. and
Mary A. Cannon. The father died in the Goose
Lake valley aged eighty-three and the mother
died here at the age of eighty. They have been
members of the Methodist church for over
sixty years. In 1853, the family came across the
plains with ox teams the father being captain of
the train. On the 30th day of May in that year,
thev crossed the Missouri river and on October
26th of the same year they landed on Salt creek
in Polk county, Oregon, where Mrs. Cannon's
father, William Robinson, was living. He had
come across the plains in 1847. In 1854, Mr.
Cannon removed to the Umpqua valley and there
built a mill which was burned down during the
Rogue river war. In 1861, our -subject began
prospecting in the promising fields of western
Oregon, Idaho ancl Washington and was well ac
quainted with all the leading camps. Then he re
turned to Lane county whither his parents had
come and in 1869 he came to the Goose Lake val
ley, locating at the mouth of Lassen creek. He
built his cabin on June 14, 1869 and is supposed
to be the only man now living here that helped to
celebrate the 4th of July in that year. In 1871,
the parents came and remained here until their
death. Our subject hired to a Mr. Snyder to
operate a sawmill and for seven years labored in
that capacity, receiving as wages, one hundred
dollars per month. ( Then he engaged in farm
ing and stock raising and several years ago sold
his ranch in Lassen creek. He now has about
three hundred acres of fine land adjoining the
town of New Pine Creek, part of which is located
on his land. His farm is all under cultivation,
has three fine, dwellings and three good barns, be
sides many other improvements and is one of the
valuable estates of the county.
In 1887, Mr. Cannon married Miss Blanche
Follette, the daughter of Captain E. and Chris
tina Follette. They formerly came from Iowa
to California and then settled in this country, be
ing- now residents of New Pine Creek. Mr. and
Mrs. Cannon have one child, Olive Blanche. Mr.
Cannon and his wife and daughter are all mem
bers of the Methodist church and are highly re
spected people. As early as fifteen years of age,
our subject started out for himself and has made
his entire holding by reason of his industry and
thrift. He had the privilege of assisting to care
for his parents in their declining years and was
very faithful in all his duties. It is very inter
esting to know that when Mr. Cannon first came
here, he was considerable of a nimrod and had
great experiences in slaying elk, deer, bear, cou
gar ancl so forth. He has met and slaughtered
many of the genuine grizzly and has had some

Charles A. Rehart

Christopher C. Cannon

William R. Randc

j

^fr?ffm> .

1 w

r

•\ *z

L

'^?' 1u&^*

Mrs. Rhesa A. Hawkins

Rhesa A. Hawkins

John D. Venator

Mrs. Francis M. Chrisman

Francis M. Chrisman

Felix D. Di

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

913'

very narrow escapes. On one occasion, he was
very nearly killed by a cougar but he always man
aged to find a way out ancl generally brought
trophies of slaughtered game.

WILLIAM RANDOLPFI RANDOM is
proprietor of the hotel Paisley, in Paisley, where
he is doing a good business. He makes a genial
and first class host and he has so conducted his
hotel1 as to make it a favorite with the traveling
public. In addition to this he oversees his- estate
lying near Paisley, which is One of value. Mr.
Random was born on March 5, 1856, in Port
land, Oregon, being thus one of the natives of
the Webfoot State, where he has been, engaged
most of his life. Robert E. Random, his father,
was born in Maryland and in 185 1 came across
the plains, settling in Portland where he engaged
in the mercantile business until 1859, the year of
his death. Our subject's mother, Elizabeth
(Lambert) Random, was born in England and
came to the United States when a child. In 1850,
she accompanied her parents across the plains
to Portland where her father, Noah Lambert, was
a well-to-do contractor and builder. He ac
quired a good fortune there ancl died in 190 1,
being ninety-three years of age. Mrs. Random is
now living in Red Bluff, California. Our subject
went to Yreka, California with his mother at the
age of six and received his education in the com
mon schools of Yreka, California. In 1880, he
came to Lake county and for a time labored in the
Goose Lake valley. After that, we find him in
the vicinity of Summer Lake where he rode the
range for some time. Afterward, he came to the
Chewaucan valley ancl secured a farm of one
hundred and forty acres, which lies about a mile
southeast from Paisley. It is all good creek land
and is supplied with comfortable house, barn and
improvements ancl is one of the very productive
farms of the county. Mr. Random also raises
stock. On Thanksgiving day, in 1885, Mr. Random
married Harriett L. Bagley, who was born in
Siskiyou county, California ancl the daughter of
John ancl Lucretia (Millsap) Bagley, the former
of whom is deceased. The family crossed the
plains from Arkansas to the Willamette valley,
then went to Siskiyou county and about twenty
years ago, settled in the Chewaucan valley. To
Mr. and Mrs. Random, two children have been
born, Virril Lambert ancl Verda Wanneta.
Mr. Random is one of the well known citizens
of the county and has done much pioneer work
here. His portrait is found on another page in
this volume. 58

RHESA A. HAWKINS, of the firm of Haw
kins and Rinehart, is one Of the leading business
men of the county. Mr. Rinehart is now sheriff
of Lake county and the firm conducts a large
sawmilling business, while also they own a ranch
and buy and sell stock. Mr. Hawkins resides in
Crooked creek valley, Lake county, sixteen miles
north of Lakeview. He was born in the Shen
andoah valley, Virginia, on July 15, 1857, the son
of Rhesa and Eliza (Crabill) Hawkins, natives
of Virginia. Fie was the youngest of a family of
nine children and his parents both died in Vir
ginia when he was a small boy. Thus he was
early called to meet the responsibilities ancl hard
ships of life and he got his education as best he
could, growing up amid these adversities. In 1878,
he determined to try his fortune in the west and
alt-hough he was without means, he succeeded in
borrowing enough to pay his way to the Surprise
valley, California. The next year, 1879, ne came
on to Goose Lake valley and worked in a sawmill
for Mr. Russell for three years. Fie not only
was enabled to pay up all his debts but by econ
omy ancl thrift saved some. Then he returned to
Surprise valley and engaged with his brother,
John Hawkins, in a flour mill at Cedarville, Cali
fornia. Two years later, he sold out to his
brother, who is still operating the mill. He re
turned to Lakeview in 1887 and bought a half
interest in a sawmill near where his mill is now
located. His partner sold out to Elmer E. Rine
hart and together Messrs. Rinehart ancl Hawkins
have operated the business since. They do an
extensive business and are well known ancl thor
oughly reliable men.
On November 26, 1887, Mr. Hawkins married '.
Lena Best, the daughter of John C. and Anetta
Best. She was born in Missouri and came with-
her parents to California in early days. Soon they
moved to Lakeview, where they reside at the
present time. Our subject, as stated before, be
gan early in life to do for himself ancl by his
labors ancl careful management has come to be '
one of the well-to-do and leading citizens of Lake
county. He. is a member of the I. (). O. F., the
encampment ancl the A. O. U. W. Personally, he
is a sociable, kindly man, has many friends and
is one of the active elements in the upbuilding of .'
the country.

JOHN D. VENATOR is a prominent attor
ney at law residing in Lakeview. He is a native
cf Lake county, born July 5, 1873, on the old
Venator homestead five ancl one-half miles south
from Lakeview. His father was Jezereal Vena
tor, a native of Tennessee, who came to Illinois
at the age of nineteen years and crossed the plains

•914

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

an 1852 to the vicinity of Albany, Oregon. Here
Jezereal Venator took a donation claim, where
he made his home until the outbreak of the Rogue
.River Indian war. He was actively engaged,
¦'•and was wounded in this war. He came to Goose
"Lake valley in the fall of 1870 and located the
ranch now known as the "Old Venator ranch"
-mentioned above, which was the first ranch lo
cated in what is now Lake county. This place
"was originally filed upon by a man named Crane,
irom whom Crane creek derived its name, who
sold it to a Mr. Moon, who erected upon it a
log cabin which was the first house built in the
¦county, and which was only recently razed. Mr.
Moon sold his claim to Mr. Venator, who en
gaged in the stock business and lived on the
homestead until his death at the age of sixty-
four years. Just prior to his death Mr. Venator,
senior, started to Harney county on business and
it is the supposition that he became lost in the
desert and perished for the want of water. His
remains were found in a canyon, which has since
taken the name of Venator canyon. The mother
of our subject, Eliza (Miller) Venator, was born
and'" reared in Illinois. She crossed the plains
with her husband, and is now living on the old
homestead, aged seventy-two years. Our subject
is the youngest of a family of nine children. His
l^rothers and sisters are, Ira K, Mrs. Mary Cook-
.sey, Al, Ulyssus G., Frederick, and Mrs. Edna
H. Vanderpool ; two of the children being dead.
Mr. Venator was given a common school edu
cation while living on the old homestead, after
which he topk a four-year course in the law de
partment of Ann Arbor, being graduated in
1901. He was admitted to the bar of the states
•of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, while in the
east, and upon his return was admitted to the Ore
gon state bar in November, 1901. In each of the
¦ states named he is entitled to practice before the
"supreme court. He has been engaged in the prac
tice of his profession ever since his return to
TLakeview. Mr. Venator is a member ancl past grand of
Lakeview lodge, No. 63. I. O. O. F., of the Lake-
view encampment and of the Rebekah degree.
He owns one-half interest in the old home
stead, which consists altogether of three hun
dred and sixty acres of the choicest land in Goose
Lake valley. The farm is well improved in every
particular, and is irrigated by a ditch leading
from Crane creek. It is regarded' as being the
"foest ranch of its number of acres in the valley.
Air. Venator also owns cattle ancl horses.

FRANCIS M. CHRISMAN is one of the
.*best known business men in Lake county. He
¦^personally supervises his diversified interests in

such a manner that he has won a splendid suc
cess in every line. Without doubt an account of
his life will be very interesting to everybody.
Francis M. Chrisman was born in Lane coun
ty, Oregon, on October 29, 1865. His father,
Peter G". Chrisman, better known as "Major"
Chrisman, a native of Illinois, crossed the plains
to Oregon in 185 1. He came west with his father,
Campbell E. Chrisman, who was the grandfather
of our subject Major Chrisman was one of the
sturdy and leading pioneers of the Willamette val
ley ancl in 1874, came to Silver lake, being among
the first settlers of this section. He occupied him
self with the stock business until 1882, when he
sold out and was a moving spirit in the organi
zation of the Lakeview Bank. For eleven years
he was president of that institution and then re
tired from active life. For a time he dwelt in
California and now is residing in Baker City,
Oregon. He married Nancy Porter, who crossed
the plains from Illinois to Oregon about the
same time as her husband. She is now living with
her husband in Baker City. They were the
parents of four children: Francis M., who is our
subject; Mrs. Amanda J. Moore of Baker City;
Rhoda and Wiley A., deceased. After studying
in the public schools, our subject took a three
years, course in the state university at Eugene.
He had come with his parents to Silver Lake in
1874 and after returning here from his school
work, he engaged in the stock business. Later,
he sold these interests and went into partnership
with J. H. Clayton in general merchandising, the
firm being known as F. M. Chrisman and Com
pany. This was in 1890. Two years later Mr.
Chrisman's brother purchased the interest held by
Mr. Clayton and the firm was changed to Chris
man Brothers. Owing to the failure of his broth
er's health, Mr. Chrisman purchased his broth
er's interest and has since conducted the estab
lishment alone. His brother died in 1895. Mr.
Chrisman has a fine large store building, forty-
four by sixty, two stories high with two store
rooms below, and the upper apartments, which
are all well fitted with a first class assortment of
general merchandise. He carries everything in
the line of dry goods, notions, groceries, crock-
en-, clothing, boots and shoes, hardware, farm im
plements and so forth. Mr. Chrisman is a very
progressive and energetic man and is also a skill
ful buyer. Thus he is enabled to keep his store'
replenished ancl thoroughly up-to-date. It is the
second best stock of goods in Lake county. The
store building is supplied with a fine fire proof
safety deposit vault which is first class in every
respect. Since 1891, Mr. Chrisman has been
postmaster at Silver Lake and is now also no
tary public. In addition to this, he handles the
hotel Chrisman, the leading hotel in Silver Lake,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

9L5

which is a fine, up-to-date hostelry. This thriv
ing hotel business is practically under Mrs.
Chrisman's management. Nearby, Mr. Chris
man has a comfortable dwelling, besides other
property in the village. He owns one hundred
¦and sixty acres of first class farming land. He
is vice president of the Lakeview Telephone ancl
Telegraph Company and is among the largest
stockholders. He also owns town property in
Silver Lake. Thus it is seen that in the business
world, Mr. Chrisman is one of the leading men
of this part of Oregon. His ability ancl integ
rity as a business man is first-class and his stand
ing in the community is of the very best. Mr.
Chrisman has so handled his large interests that
everything from the minutest detail to the gen
eral management is conducted on sound buiness
principles with a wisdom ancl an energy that is
bringing success in every department.
Fraternally, he is associated with the Ma
sonic lodge at Eugene, Oregon. Mr. Chrisman
has always been very active in educational work
and is a moving spirit for the betterment of fa
cilities in this line constantly. He is a public
minded man, generous ancl always ready to assist
every movement for the benefit of the commun
ity. In church matters, Mr. Chrisman has al
ways donated liberally ancl is an ardent suppor
ter of the gospel.
On September 28, 1888, Francis M. Chris
man married Juda E. Robinett, who was born in
Lane county, Oregon. Her father, James Robi
nett, was born in Boone county, Missouri, and
crossed the plains from Buchanan, Missouri, to
Clackamas county, Oregon, in 1847. Later, he
removed to Linn county, then to Lane county,
where he remained until his death in 1896, be
ing them in his sixty-fourth year. He married
Jennie Shields, a native of Clark county, Illi
nois, who journeyed with her parents to Buchan-
na county, Missouri, ancl there attended the same
school as did her husband. She crossed the plains
in 185 1 with her parents to Linn county, Oregon,
where she was married on November 27, 1851.
She is now making her home in Silver Lake. Mr.
ancl Mrs. Chrisman have one daughter, Vida R.
Mr. Chrisman ancl his wife ancl her mother all
belong to the Baptist church as also did Mr. Robi
nett before his death. In addition to the other
enterprises mentioned, we note that the public
telephone is in Mr. Chrisman's office.
Mr. Chrisman was owner of the goods in the
storerooms of the building which burned on the
night of December 24, 1894, in which terrible
conflagration sixteen men, sixteen women, ancl
eight children lost their lives, ancl which is fully
detailed in another portion of this work. Imme
diately upon receipt of the news of the fire in San

Francisco, Mr. Chrisman's creditors garnisheed
such an amount of his insurance as would cover
their accounts, ancl telegraphed to the Portland
creditors that a balance of insurance was availa
ble to apply on their accounts. Let it be remem
bered that so terrible was the catastrophe that
the whole country was dazed at the appalling loss
of life ancl property, and scores of homes were
draped in mourning for loved ones. Every effon
was being put forth to rescue the remains of the
unfortunates, and Mr. Chrisman, with others,
was wholly occupied in looking after the injured
ancl rescuing the remains of the dead. At such
a time, the harsh act of the San Francisco men
tell heavy. However, some men were found in
Portland who had enough of the milk of human
kindness and honor to reply to the unwarranted
advances of the San Francisco men by wiring
back that F. W. Chrisman would pay every cent
of his obligations without such harsh actions in
the time of such deep sorrow. Ancl he did —
paid every cent, but we can well understand how
differently he feels toward the two set of credi
tors. Hon. Campbell E. Chrisman was a member
of the Oregon legislature in earl}- days and was a
man who succeeded in life well, not only in fin
ancial lines, but in leaving a testimony for right
ancl integrity. He stood above reproach and his
advice and counsel was sought by all who knew
him. He died in 1884, at Cottage Grove, Ore
gon. G. R. Chrisman, who is an uncle of our sub
ject, is countv judge of Lane county and inter
ested in the First National Bank in Eugene.
It is interesting to note that P. G. Chrisman,
our subject's father, built a log cabin on Silver
creek, hired a teacher and had school for six
months for his and the neighbors' children, this
being the first school on the creek. He was very
liberal in his dealings, was highly thought of by
his neighbors, who had the utmost confidence
both in his integrity and his ability to handle
finances. Even in the stringent times of 1892,
and thereabouts, while he was president of the
Lakeview bank, they all counted on his ability to
carry the .institution through safely, which he did.

FELIN DORRIS DUNCAN should be
named among the early pioneers of the country
now embraced in Lake county. He resides some
eight miles southeast of Silver Lake postoffice on
the west bank of Silver Lake ancl there owns a
nice home place besides two hundred acres at the
foot of the lake. He gives his attention largely
to stock raising ancl has some very choice Dur-

916

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ham cattle ancl Norfolk horses. He takes great
pride in raising first-class stock ancl always has
fine animals. Mr. Duncan started without capital
wnatever ancl has gained the property that he
how owns through his own efforts entirely.
Felix D. Duncan was born on March 26, 1858,
in Lane county, Oregon, the son of George C.
ancl Louise (Rinehart) Duncan. They crossed
the plains from Iowa in 1854 and made settle
ment in> Lane county. In 1873 they came to Sil
ver Lake valley, where the father is now liv
ing. The mother is deceased. Mrs. Duncan's
mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Rinehart, died in Febru
ary, 1903, aged ninety-seven. Our subject grew
up in Lane county and there received his educa
tion. When the family came on to Silver Lake
valley, he accompanied them and here rode the
range and took his present place as a home
stead. He has been laboring steadily since in
stock raising and farming and has a very good
holding in property at this time. Fraternally,
Mr. Duncan is affiliated with the W. W. and in
1898, he was elected assessor of Lake county on
the Democratic ticket. Mr. Duncan was among
the first ones of the early settlers to come to this
valley. Those who located in the Silver Lake
valley in 1873, were Charles P. Marshall, James
Sullivan, Emery Noble, George Thompson, Al
bert Rose, A. V. Lane, Samuel Smith, A. R.
Chase, Mr. Murdoch and G. C. Duncan and fam
ily. Mr. Marshall, Mr. Sullivan and the Duncan
family are the only ones of the entire number
that still remain. Mrs. Duncan, Mrs. Murdock
ancl A. V Lane's mother were the only women
that wintered here in 1873. Our subject has as
sisted materially in the transformation of the
country from the wild to its present prosperous
condition and has always been a good substantial
citizen.

ALVIN N. BENNETT is a prosperous wool
grower residing one mile south of Warner Lake
postoffice, in south Warner valley. He is a na
tive of Waldo county, Maine, born March ib,
1846. Flis father, Morton Bennett, and his,
mother. Sarah (Martin) Bennett, were also na
tives of the Pine Tree State. The father was of
English ancestry.
At the age of fourteen young Bennett went to
sea aboard a man-of-war, upon which he served
for three years, during which time his vessel was
engaged in the attack on Fort Sumter. Later he
shipped on a merchantman, serving nine years.
While aboard this vessel Mr. Bennett saw the
greater portion of the civilized world and touched
on many of the South Sea islands. In 1870 he
went to Nevada, with the intention of remaining

there, but the longing for the sea was irresistible
and he soon returned to the life of a sailor. Three
years later, however, he came to California and
engaged in mining in that state and Nevada until
1877, when he came to Fort Bidwell. In 1885 he
settled in Warner valley, Lake county, Oregon,
where he was one of the first settlers in the coun
try. He came into possession of land in south
Warner valley and is today the only one of the
first eight settlers to locate here, all of whom
came at the same time. He first engaged in the
business of raising horses, later disposed of his
horses and entered the cattle business, and lastly,
in 1897, he engaged in his present business, that
of raising sheep. He owns a flock of several
thousand sheep, and has a choice hay ranch of
one hundred and sixty acres where he makes his
home. His land' is well improved, as to build
ings, fencing, and so forth, and is all under irri
gation ditch, making it one of the most desirable
farms in the county. He also owns several hun
dred acres of grazing land.
On July 22, 1883. Mr. Bennett was married
to Miss Jennie Morrow, born, in the Sacramento
valley, California. Mrs. Bennett's father was
Joseph L. and her mother Sibbrina (Ahart) Mor
row, pioneers of California.
To Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have been born two
children : Lenora E., now the wife of Irvin Wake
field, of Warner valley ; and Joseph M. Bennett.
Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield have one child, a daugh
ter, named Daisy Wakefield.
although Mr. Bennett came to Lake county
with limited means, and had a hard struggle for
existence for some years after locating in Warner
valley, he has made a success of his business and
today is in circumstances commonly classified as-
"well-to-do."

JOHN PRADER, a farmer of Lake county,
resides a mile ancl one-half southeast from Sum
mer Lake postoffice. He was born on August
24, 1855, in Switzerland, the son of John L. and
Verona Prader, also natives of that same coun
try. The father is now dwelling in North Da
kota. The mother died before the family left
Switzerland and 'the father married a second
time. Our subject has three sisters, Mrs. Eliza
beth Guler, in the Willamette valley, Anna, of
North Dakota, and Maria, deceased. He also
has the following named half brothers : Andrew,
in Spokane; Peter and J. Lucius and Lawrence-
of North Dakota. Our subject received his ed
ucation in the old country and there remained un
til 1873, wllen he journeyed to the United States.
He first sought a location in Sauk county, Wis
consin, and then went to North Dakota and as-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

917

sisted to organize a county. After that, he trav
eled to various portions of the United States a
great deal ancl finally in 1888, came to Crook
county ancl there remained seven years. After
that, he traveled again ancl finally in 1898, he lo
cated in Lake county securing his present place
of one-half section. It is a good farm, mostly all
tillable land and is well improved with barns
ancl other equipments. Mr. Prader gives his at
tention to raising hay ancl doing general farm
ing. In this line he has been very successful
and is one of the substantial men of the county.
Mr. Prader has three children, Rena, John
and Walter. Mr. Prader is a member of the
W. W. and when in North Dakota was commis
sioner of his county. He always takes a lively in
terest in political matters and is a warm advo
cate of general progress and better educational
advantages.

FREDERICK WARNER FOSTER has
one of the most beautiful places in Lake county.
It consists of six hundred and sixty acres of
farm land and lies on the west bank of Summer
lake, about a quarter of a mile north from Sum
mer Lake postoffice. The farm is well improved
with a fine residence, good barn and other out
buildings and is productive of large returns in
grain, timothy, alfalfa, red top, natural meadow
hay, besides also a first class orchard which con
tains every variety of fruit grown in this latitude.
Mr. Foster also raises a large amount of first
class vegetables and has an abundance of toma
toes, potatoes, corn; watermelons and so forth. He
started in life without any means and has gained
this fine property by his own efforts unaided. He
raises some stock, horses and cattle, and alto
gether is one of the rich and prosperous men of
this portion of the state.
Frederick W. Foster was born in Benton
county, Oregon, on March 11, 1862, the son of
James and Elizabeth (Currier) Foster. He grew
up with his parents on the farm and received his
education in the home place. In the fall of 1872,
the family came to this county ancl our subject
the next year began to ride the range. When he
was of age, he located a homestead five miles
south from where he lives at present and began
stock raising and farming. He improved his
ranch in fine shape ancl in 1897 sold it. Then he
purchased the estate which he now owns and
where he has made his home since. The farm is
laid out wisely and extends for a mile and a quar
ter along the lake beach and is an ideal place.
A magnificent grove of poplar and locusts
beautify the residence site and everything indi
cates a taste and thrift which are very becoming.

The main county road runs right by his house and
Mr. Foster certainly has an ideal home. He
takes especial pains in raising blooded stock
and has a fine band of registered Shorthorn
animals. On May 28, 1887, Mr. Foster married Ada
McDowell, who was born in Iron county, Mis
souri, the daughter of John ancl Flavia (Harris)
McDowell. The father died in Missouri and the
mother came across the plains with Mrs. Foster
ancl another daughter about twenty years ago.
The other daughter is now Mrs. Ava M. Barnes.
To Mr. and Mrs. Foster, four children have been
born : James Guy, Ruby Faltel, Carmel and
Harold Neal.
Mr. Foster is a man who always takes a keen
interest in the progress ancl upbuilding of the
community and has ever labored ardently for the
betterment of educational facilities. He is giv
ing his children a thorough education at the Cor
vallis institution. Mr. Foster believes in thor
ough education and is a very progressive and
up-to-date man.

JAMES N. GIVAN. Born April 13, 1862,
in Keokuk county, Iowa, James N. Givan is now
a prominent stock raiser residing one mile south
from Add postoffice, in Lake county, Oregon.
His father, Henry C. Givan, is a native of
Indiana and a veteran of the Civil war, ancl his
mother is Phoebe E. (Jacobs) Givan, both of
whom are now living at Fort Bidwell, California.
In 1871 our subject came with his parents to
Surprise valley, California, in what is now Modoc
county, and eight years later came to Warner
valley, Oregon. Here he worked for a salary on
tne "J. J." ranch for a period of twenty-one
vears, the last ten years of which time he was
foreman of the ranch. In 1899 he purchased his
present ranch and two years later he engaged in
the sheep and cattle business. In 1902 he sold his
cattle and for a time was exclusively a sheep
raiser, but later he disposed of his sheep and
bought cattle so that now he has a large herd of
the latter and is doing a prosperous business.
Where he lives, Mr. Givan has two hundred and
twenty acres of land, the greater portion of which
is adapted- to the raising of hay, and eighty acres
of which is seeded to alfalfa. He can irrigate the
most of his land from an irrigation ditch leading
from Deep creek, and his home is well improved
v.-.ith good dwelling and outbuildings, a first-
class orchard, shade trees, ancl so forth.
Mr. Givan was married to Mrs. Dora E.
Overton, December 6, i8qo, which union has been
blessed with three children, Earnest Truman,
Hazel Olive and Dallas Gordon.

9i8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The only secret society to which Mr. Givan
belongs is the Odd Fellows, he being a member
of Lakeview lodge, No. 63. He was one of the
early settlers of the valley and when he came
here all that was his in the way of worldly goods
was a saddle pony and saddle. He was indus
trious and saved his earnings until he could get
a small start in the stock business, after which
time skilled management and good business judg
ment have brought him ample returns and he is
now one of Lake county's substantial stockmen.

GILBERT B. WARDWELL is United
States land commissioner at Silver Lake. He is
a well known resident of this part of Lake county
and is one of the leading business men. He
was born on May 28, 1854, in Swampscott, Mass
achusetts, the son of Gilbert and Abbie (Sargent)
Wardwell, now deceased. The father followed
the seas and traveled over the most of the world.
His death occurred in Massachusetts. Our sub
ject has one brother, Edward, still living in- the
home state. Gilbert B. was educated in the com
mon schools and in a classical college of Massa
chusetts.. He also completed a business course
in the Bryant and Stratton. college. Then he en
gaged as a salesman in a mercantile house and
also did bookkeeping. In the fall of 1876, he
came west to Hutchinson, Kansas, and was en
gaged in trade and traffic through Kansas, Indian
Territory, Texas ancl Colorado. After that, he
went to the Black Hills in South Dakota and fol
lowed mining and prospecting. Returning to
Hutchinson, he was there married on July 2T,
1880, to L. Matilda Ward, a native of Pennsyl
vania and the daughter of Samuel A. and Eliza
beth (Russell) Ward. The father was born in
Pennsylvania and met his death at the terrible
Silver Lake fire in 1894. The mother is still
living in Silver Lake.
Our subject ancl his wife started across the
plains about August 1, 1880, by wagon and ar
rived at the Grande Ronde valley in December
following. In the summer of 1881, he moved to
Asotin county, Washington, and followed farm
ing. While there, he was county commissioner
for two terms. In 1888, Mr. Wardwell journeyed
to the Willamette valley with a band of horses.
Later, we find him in Lincoln ancl Spokane coun
ties, Washington, and in the fall of 1889, he ar
rived in Lake countv. Pie immediately engaged
as bookkeeper and salesman in Mr. Chrisman's
store and on April 21, i8q8, he was appointed
United States land commissioner by Indge Bellin
ger. At the expiration of his term of four years,
he was reappointed and is now filling his second

term. He is clerk of the W. W. order in Silver
Lake and chairman of the Republican central
committee of the Silver Lake precinct. Mr. and
Mrs. Wardwell have the following named chil
dren : Samuel S. ; Cora A., the wife of Arthur
A. Martin ; Jennie and Elizabeth, deceased ; Alice
and Gilbert. Mr. Wardwell owns a homestead
of eighty acres, half a mile east of Silver Lake
town, which is his home at the present time. It
is a fine location, provided with a good nine
room residence, large barn and all other improve
ments necessary.
Mr. Wardwell is a good citizen, an ardent
laborer for the progress of educational interests
and the general upbuilding of the country and is
considered one of the substantial men of principle
and integrity in this part of the country.

WILLIAM H. COOPER is a stock raiser
residing one ancl one-half miles south from Adel,
Lake county, Oregon. He is a native of Wiscon
sin, born September 3, 1859.
His father is Byron Cooper, a native of the
state of New York, and his mother was Malissa
(Frekes) Cooper.
Earlv in life Mr. Cooper removed with his
parents to the state of Minnesota, and in the fall
of 1872 the family came to Colusa county, Cali
fornia, thence to Alturas county, of the same-
state. Here the mother died. Our subject came
to Warner valley in 1888, and soon after returned
to Alturas county, California, only to remove
with his father ancl two sisters to Warner valley,
where he took a homestead and preemption claim.
He engaged in the stock business, on a small
scale at first, and now has a fine band of cattle
and four hundred and eighty acres of land. The
major portion of his land is devoted to the cul
ture of hay and is irrigated by the Deep creek
irrigation ditch, in which Mr. Cooper is heavily
interested. On March 17, 1892, Mr. Cooper was married'
to Mary E. Morrow, a daughter of Josenh L.
and Sibbrino (Ahart) Morrow. Two children-
have been born to this union, Malissa Sibbrino
and Martin Franklin Cooper.
Mr. Cooper's father is still living, at the age
of seventy-seven years, in the Warner valley.

WARREN M. DUNCAN, the senior mem
ber of the firm of Duncan & Company, is man
aging a livery and feed business at Silver Lake
He was born on July 31, 1854, where the town
of Vale now stands, in eastern Oregon, while

HISTORY , OF CENTRAL OREGON.

919-

his parents were crossing the plains to Oregon.
His father, George C. Duncan, was a native of
Tennessee and came to Iowa at the age of six
teen. He located near Des Moines and there
married Louise Rinehart. They started across
the plains in the spring of 1854 and arrived in
Lane county, Oregon, September 17th, of the
same year. Mr. Duncan took a donation claim in
Lane county and for four years was assessor of
that county. As early as 1873, he came to the
Silver Lake country, locating on the west bank
of Silver Lake, ancl engaging in the stock busi
ness. He is now living a retired life in Harney
county, this state, being nearly eighty years of
age, his birth occurring on October 12, 1825. The
mother is a relative of the Rinehart family of
Union county, this state, and her mother, Isabel
Rinehart, died in 1903, in her ninety-seventh year.
Mrs. Duncan died in 1882. The children born
to this venerable couple are Mrs. Sarilcia
Comegys of Burns, Oregon; Mrs. Emma Bun-
yard of Harney county, Oregon; Warren M.,
who is our subject; Felix D., of Silver Lake ;
and George W., of Lakeview. Our subject lo
cated on a farm with his parents in Lane county
and came with them to Silver Lake in September,
1876. He engaged in the stock business and took
a preemption ancl a homestead in the Silver Lake
valley. Later, he sold this property and came
to the village of Silver Lake where he built a
large livery stable. Since that time, he has been
engaged in the livery business, his son being his
partner. He has some good rigs and plenty of
horses and does a general livery, feed ancl sale
business. Mr. Duncan also has a good six-room
residence in Silver Lake and one hundred head
of cattle. On December 31, 1880, Mr. Duncan married
Ida Vanderpool, who was born in Marion county,
Oregon. Her father, James Vanderpool, was a
pioneer of Oregon in 1856 and also was one of
the earliest settlers of Crook county, coming
there in 1871. He died in Prineville in 1898.
Her mother, Mary (Moore) A'anderoool, is now
living at Prineville. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have
one child, Leslie Willard, who is actively engaged
with his father in the livery business.
Mr. Duncan is a member of the W. W. and
is a very active and stirring man.

WILLIAM K. McCORMACK, a leading
citizen of Lake countv, is occupied in wool grow
ing and resides some eight miles northwest of
Paislev. He was born on August 16, 1875, in
New Brunswick, Canada. William McCormack,
his father, a native of the same place, descended
from Scotch ancestors and came to the United

States in 1876. In the same year he made his
way to the Sacramento valley in California and <
in 1881, moved to Sierra county, California, and
in 1887, he landed in Paisley. He engaged in tlie. -,
stock business until 190 1 when he sold out and is
now living retired in Los Angeles, California..
He married Elizabeth McKinzie, also a native
of New Brunswick, who is still living-;. The _-
children born to this couple are John R., in Inyo .
county, California ; Mrs. Anna Moss, near Pais
ley; and William K., our subject. William K.
came with his parents to California in 1876 and to ,
this part of Oregon in 1887. He graduated fromi
the high school in Lakeview when seventeen 1
years of age and two years previous to that had]
secured a certificate to teach school. However,
he never engaged in that business but when nine
teen bought a few cattle and commenced stock.
raising, in which he has continued since. Im.
1903, he purchased- sheep ancl now has about two--
thousand head and is giving his attention largely-
to wool growing. He has quite a large band of '
thoroughbred Durham cattle and also owns nine-
hundred ancl twenty acres of land, at the home -
place, which is practically all suited to raising^
hay. The improvements are a good large barn,.
comfortable residence, two acres of orchard,.
fences and so forth and so forth. In the- orchard,
besides other varieties of fruit that can- be grown*
in this latitude, Mr. McCormack has planted- •
some English walnuts, which are doing-very fine- -
at this time. He also owns four other ranches
in different parts of the county, which are utilizedf
for grazing purposes.
On October 25, 1899, Mr. McCormack mar
ried Frances Uren, who was born in Wisner,
Nebraska. .Her father. William Uren, married .'
Frances J. Ivey ancl both are natives of England.
They came to the United States ancl lived in Ne
braska, then in Colorado, and in 1881 came ta,
Oregon. After spending some time in The-
Dalles, they came to Crook county and are now
residing at Oregon City. Mrs. McCormack's-
brothers and sisters are William S., an attorney at
Oregon City; Mrs. Salina Child of Lane county;
Thomas, who was a wholesale merchant at
Johannesburg, South Africa, ancl died there in
July, 1900; Charles of Wasco countv. Mrs. Mc
Cormack is the youngest of the family. She is a
graduate of the state normal at Monmouth and,
holds a life certificate for teaching in the state
of Oregon. She has taught in various places and-
is a thoroughly well educated woman. To Mr..
and Mrs. McCormack have been born two chil
dren, William Uren and Elizabeth. Mr. Mc~-
Cormack belongs to the W. W. and is a stanch
Republican. He is a well informed man, a gooct.
citizen and highly esteemed by all.

920

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

JAMES M. SMALL, who resides some two
and one-half miles east of Silver Lake, was born
-on July 27, 1850, in Pettis county, Missouri, the
son of George and Malinda (Hindi) Small. In
1853, the family crossed the plains with ox teams
from Missouri to Lane county, Oregon, where
the father took a donation claim. That was their
home until i860, when they journeyed on down
to Glenn county, California, and there the father
died the next year. Our subject gained his edu
cation in the various places where the family
lived during his youth, and as early as 1873 made
his way into the Chewaucan valley, arriving here
in May of that year. The mother came into the
valley in the same y-ear ancl they were among the
-very earliest settlers in the country. In 1880. she
journeyed to Lane county, Oregon, and there died
four years later. Our subject met the various
•adversities and hardships incident to pioneer
life and took hold with a will and very soon had
land opened up ancl a good band of cattle on the
range. In 1886, he journeyed from his first lo
cation to the Silver Lake country ancl here has
been raising cattle and sheep since. He now has
disposed of his sheep and handles cattle ancl
horses, having a nice stock of each. Fie has been
well prospered in his work and is among the sub
stantial men of this part of the country.
On December 12, 1880, Mr. Small married
Maude Brattain, who was born in Lane countv,
Oregon, the daughter of Thomas J. ancl Permelia
J. Brattain. Mrs. Small's parents crossed the
plains from Iowa to Oregon in 1850 and were
among the early pioneers in Klamath county.
Later they returned to the Willamette vallev and
in 1873 came on to the Chewaucan valley, where
they are now residing. To Air. and Mrs. Small.
three children have been born : Belle, the wife of
Ernest Carlson of Summer Lake ; Robert, who
was burned to death in the Silver Lake fire on
December 24, 1894; ancl Ross. Mr. Small owns
about two thousand two hundred acres of land
in Lake ancl Klamath counties, five hundred of
which are utilized for hay. The home place is
well improved with house, good barn ancl other
equippage and he is considered one of the pros
perous ancl - leading men of the country.

ELMER D. LUTZ is one of the industrious
farmers and stockmen of Lake county and re
sides about a mile north of Silver Lake, where
he has one of the best farms in the countv. It
consists of two hundred and forty acres of first
class soil, well adapted to the production of all
kinds of grain, fruits and vegetables usually
¦grown in this latitude. The place is well im

proved and kept in a good state of cultivation and
Mr. Lutz is considered one of the thrifty and
substantial men of this county.
Elmer D. Lutz was born on February 7,
1864, in Forest Grove, Iowa. His father, Charles
Lutz, was born in Pennsylvania and was an early
pioneer in Iowa. He was in that state when the
Sioux Indians were on the war path and was ex
posed to much danger and hardship. He married
Martha Long and they are now living in What
com, Washington. The .brothers and sisters of
our subject are Albert J., on the police force of
Whatcom; Mrs. Irene Boyd; Charles B. ; John
L. ; Walter A., a druggist; ancl Mary; de
ceased. Those living are dwelling in Whatcom.
Our subject was the third child in the family and
from the time he was twelve years of age, has
been doing fox himself. He has met with much
adversity ancl has seen a great deal of hard labor
but has always been possessed of sufficient grit
ancl force to overcome. His education was se
cured in the various places where he lived
during his bovhood days ancl when the family
journeyed to South Dakota, he went with them.
In 1866, he came to California, settling in
Shasta countv and a year latter journeyed
thence to Silver Lake vallev, landing here
in May, 1887. He first took a preemption
but was beat out of that owing to the swamp
act However, he succeeded in getting a clear
title to the place. Silver Creek ¦ runs through
the land and he irrigates portions of the
farm from it. His ranch is very productive and in
addition to handling that, Mr. Lutz raises cattle
ancl horses ancl is prospered in his labors. He had
no means ancl everything that he now owns has
been gained by his labors ancl careful manage
ment here. Mr. Lutz stands well in the com
munity ancl always takes a keen interest in educa
tional matters ancl politics and everything that
tends to build up the country.

WILLIAM D. WEST, the efficient assessor
of Lake county, resides about two and one-half
miles northwest of Silver Lake. He was born on
November 13, 1850. in Waseca county, Minne
sota. His father, Hiram West, was a native of
New York state ancl an early pioneer of Waseca
countv, Minnesota, and was there during the ter
rible Sioux uprising in early days. He was aud
itor of Waseca county for several years and died
•in 1864. He had married Susan Bailey, also a
native of New York state and who died in Sierra
county, California, in 1882. Besides our subject,
one other child was born to this marriage. Ward
R., who now resides in Modoc county, California.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

921

Our subject crossed the plains to Sierra county,
California, with his mother in 1870. His educa
tion was received in the public schools ancl in
1883, we find him in Modoc county, California.
In the spring of the next year he came on to the
Silver Lake valley and rode the range here for
several years. Finally, he took a homestead where
he now resides and engaged in raising horses.
He has a band of horses at this time, owns one
hundred and sixty acres of meadow land which is
well improved with house, barn and so forth,
-and is one of the prosperous men of this part of
the county. On June 4, 1904, his name was on the
Democratic ticket for assessor of Lake county
•and he was promptly elected by the people, his
term being for four years. Mr. West is a man
-well known- and has labored faithfully with
display of integrity and uprightness in this county
for many years. He is deserving of the success
he has attained and is the recipient of the good
will and esteem of all.

WILLIAM H. McCALL is a wool grower
residing two miles east and two miles north of
Silver Lake. He was born -on April 2, 1855, in
Lane county, Oregon.- His father, William Mc
Call, was a native of Tennessee and journeyed
to Illinois whence he crossed the plains with ox
teams to Lane county, Oregon, being one of the
•earliest settlers in that section. He located a do
nation claim and remained on the same until his
death. He was an elder in the Christian church
and an exemplary man. His birth occurred in
1815 and his death in 1877. He was of Scotch-
Irish extraction and married Matilda Markley, a
native of Ohio, who accompanied her husband
across the plains. She was born in 1820, and is
now living in Eugene, Oregon, being of German
ancestors. Our subject grew up in his native
country and secured his education there. In 1873,
he made the first trip to Silver Lake valley with
stock. From that time until he came here to
reside in 1877 he visited this country each year.
but made his residence in Lane countv. When
he finally removed here, he took up land near his
present home and at once went to riding the
range. He had a family, a wife and five chil
dren, ancl was practically without means, so that
he knew well the hardships incident to pioneer
life. For three years, Mr. McCall was foreman of
the G. S. S. ranch. In 1897, he engaged in the
sheep business and now has a fine band of sheep
ancl twelve hundred acres of land, over half of-
which produces hay. He also has taken up ten
acres under the Saline Act. On this tract, there is
:a lake of about five acres which is fed by salt

springs that come up in and around the same.
There is a very large per centage of salt in this
water with a very little soda. It is located about
ten miles northeast of Silver Lake postoffice in
what is known as the desert and some years many
tons of salt are formed by evaporation of the
water. Mr. McCall expects to put in an evaporat
ing plant and produce salt for the market shortly.
On November 28, 1875, Mr. McCall married
Cynthia I. Miller,, a native of Yamhill county,
Oregon. Her father, Alexious N. Miller, was a
native of Missouri and crossed the plains in
1847 to this state. He settled in Yamhill county
and afterwards in Lane county, where he lived
until his death at Pleasant Hill. The same oc
curred on November 11, 1902, he being then
seventy-nine years of age. He married Jane
Hutchinson, who was born in Missouri. Her
parents came from Kentucky and she came west
a few years after her husband, the marriage oc
curring in Oregon. She is now residing at
Florence, being in her seventy-seventh year.
Mrs. McCall has the following named brothers
and sisters ; R. N. of Okanogan countv, Wash
ington, W. M., J. R., E. G., ancl D. J. of Eugene,
Mrs. C. M. Hamilton. Mrs. Fred Wilhelm, Flor
ence, Mrs. T. Elliott, Robert, and John. The last
three are deceased. Mrs. McCall is the fourth
from the youngest. Mr. McCall has the follow
ing named brothers ancl sisters, James, John A.,
Henrv D.. Lorenzo D., Aclin J., deceased, Mrs.
Elizabeth Rowland. Mrs. Martha Bristow, Mrs.
Ella Bridges, Mrs. Emma Miller, and Catherine,
deceased. Mrs. McCall's mother was a great
niece of Chief Justice Marshall. The children born
to Mr. ancl Mrs. McCall are named as follows;
Olo J., the wife of Marion Conlev of Paisley;
Claude M., Aclin N., Ira C, Virgil, Henry,
Robert M.

CHARLES P. MARSHALL is one of the
earlv pioneers of the Silver Lake valley, where
he now- resides some five miles northeast of the
lake. He has labored here assiduously for over a
quarter of a century and deserves to be classed
with the builders of the country. He was born
on January 19, 1834, in England,, the son of
Nicholas ancl Marv A. Marshall. He came with
his parents to the Lhiited States in 1839 and lived
in Pennsvlvania, where he engaged in the coal
mines as soon as he had arrived at sufficient age.
He secured his education "between times" when
a bov ancl in 1846, went aboard a man of war at
New York city. He was in the merchant marine
ancl has been at the various leading ports of the
world. He circumnavigated the globe and was
on the sea in all some ten years. At the time he

922

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

quit1, he was first mate of the good craft Aquilla,
which was later sunk in San Francisco bay. In
1856, he quit the sea at San Francisco and de
voted his attention to mining until 1869 when he
journeyed to Modoc county and settled at farm
ing in the Big valley. There he raised stock and
tilled the soil until July, 1873, when he came to
Silver Lake valley. He was one of the very first
men to settle here and since that time has con
tinued here steadily except two years spent in Al
bany, this state. When he located, he had some
stock and has continued in that business together
with farming since. In those early days to run
to the postoffice was no slight job as it was one
hundred miles distant. All kinds of supplies had
to be brought in over rough mountain roads with
great expense ancl labor. Nevertheless Mr. Mar
shall continued his good work here ancl has not
only done well in building up but has stimulated
others by his industry ancl thrift.
On February 22, 1887, Mr. Marshall married
Mrs. Frances A. (Brown) Anderson, a native of
Missouri. Her father, Milton Brown, crossed
the plains from Missouri in 1846 and settled at

Oregon Citv, being one of the earliest pioneers
of that vicinity. He was also one of the first
settlers of the Summer Lake valley and came to
Silver Lake where he engaged in the mercantile
business. His death occurred here on November
18, 1904, he being then in his ninetieth year. He
was one of the substantial and good men of this
county, well known and beloved by all. He
was faithful in labor, upright and honorable in
business and a genuine good citizen and a first-
class man. He married Christian Farris, who is
also deceased. By her former marriage, Mrs.
Marshall had three children: Ida, the wife of
John Hill in The Dalles; Mary, the wife of F.
M. Taylor, of Benton county; and Anna C, the
wife of William Hough of Silver Lake, all in
this state. Mr. Marshall formerly operated the
hotel at Silver Lake but now is giving his entire
attention to his stock business and farming. Mr,
ancl Mrs. Marshall are people of good standing
and have many friends throughout the country.
They have certainly clone an excellent work as
pioneers and deserve to be classed with those who
have made the country what it is.

PART VIII
HISTORY OF KLAMATH COUNTY

CHAPTER I

FROM EARLIEST DAYS UNTIL SETTLEMENTS OF 1867

Klamath county came into existence as a
separate political division in 1882. Prior to that
period, although it had before been a part of
Wasco, Jackson and Lake counties, respectively,
the territory that now comprises it was known
as the "Lake Country," or the "Klamath Coun
try." The history of the Klamath country dates
from many years before the .formation of this
county and even prior to the advent of its first
settlers. This country was inhabited by the Klamath
and Modoc Indians when the first small, crawling
wave of immigration curled over the bunch grass
plains and through the foothills and mountain
peaks — ever ^onward to the settlements west of
the mountains. And this had been the Indians'
home for centuries. The Klamath Indians, then
known as the La Lakes, inhabited that district of
the country — the vicinage of Big Klamath lake,
and north of Klamath, and west of Link rivers.
They were strange, uncanny tribes ; their very
language was peculiar to themselves while they,
at the same time, also understood the universal
"jargon." The Modocs inhabited the country south of
Little Klamath lake, and around Tule lake, east
of Goose Nest Mountain, and west of Goose
lake. They, also, conversed in a language com
mon only to themselves and the Klamaths. In
reality they were only one people. There was
only a slight difference in the pronunciation of a
few of their words, yet no greater difference than
there is in the speech of northern and southern
white people. They were friendly tribes ; they

intermarried. It has been written and published
in histories that the Klamaths and Modocs were
hereditary enemies. This is not so. At all times
they were friendly. Overlapping the present
Klamath country in the vicinity of the Sican
marsh dwelt a branch of the Snake Indians. But
the greater portion of the present Klamath coun
try was inhabited by the Klamaths and Modocs..
Through the country of these two tribes —
the present Klamath country — led Indian trails
over which the natives traveled to and from their
favorite fishing grounds. Nearly all evidence of
these primeval trails has been erased, although
we know that they were in existence when the
first white men set feet on Klamath soil.
And of these "first white men" they were, un
doubtedly "the Rocky Mountain men" who
visited nearly every part of the country. While
there are no accounts of their visits here, there-
remains undeniable evidence that they were here
on several occasions at a very early day — before
the explorations of John C. Fremont, the "Path
finder." It was during the winter of 1843-4 that Fre
mont's party traversed the Klamath country.
Coming in from the north their journal shows
that thev found themselves at the Klamath marsh,
or, as Fremont terms it in his journal, "Tlameth
lake." This point was reached December 11,
1843. Here was the Indian village Ouyx, of
which Skidat, father of "Dave Hill," of later
day prominence, was chief. Observing this In
dian village on the border of the marsh, and un
acquainted with the temper of the tribe, the

924

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

"Pathfinder" discharged his cannon with the re
sult that the Indians scattered in all directions
among the willows and tules. Presently the
chief and his squaw came out to meet Fremont
and personally assured the latter of their friend
liness. Fremont greatly admired the soft-voiced
chief and his comely wife. In his journal he
states that this was the first time he had known
-a woman to take part in the circumstances of
war. The following day this chief, as a pledge
of his friendship, piloted Fremont across the
marsh and led him through the forest in an east
erly direction to a "green savannah" which we
now recognize as Sican marsh.
Fremont's party continued to the east until
they won their way to Summer lake which they
so named on account of finding the snow all gone
at that point, although it was in the middle of the
winter season. Hence they went in a southeast
erly direction passing the; point where is now
situated the town of Paisley, passed around the
north end of Abert Lake, ancl on to Christmas
Lake, or as it is now commonly termed Warner
lake. Thus we perceive that the Klamath country,
-although not settled until the 6o's, had previously
been visited and, at least, a portion of its topo
graphy known, at a comparatively early period
in the history of this country. Only a few years
later, however, an enterprise was undertaken
and accomplished which, while not resulting in
an extensive exploration of the whole Klamath
country, made a part of it very well known. This
was the establishment of the South Emigrant
Road in 1846, and which diverted a large part
of Oregon immigration through the southern
part of the present Klamath country. Let us re
vert to a period three years anterior ancl tell
of the arrival of the builders of this road to
Oregon. Away back in the 40's when Oregon was a
wilderness ; when even its possession was in dis
pute between the United States and Great Brit
ain ; when no permanent American settlement had
been made on the Pacific coast, that is, in 1843,
a vast train of immigrants numbering some 800
people with their cattle, horses, wagons and
household goods, left the Missouri river early in
the spring. This party gained the Willamette
valley after the closing in of winter — the first
through wagon train. In this company were the
three notable Applegate brothers, Charles. Lind
say and Jesse, all men who became conspicuous
in the history of Oregon. Lindsay was the father
of Ivan, Lucien and Oliver Applegate, early pio
neers of the Klamath basin. Ivan and Lucien,
aged respectfully three and one years, were iun-
ior members of this expedition of 1843. .Oliver,

a native son of Oregon, was born two years
later. Having made permanent settlement in the
Willamette valley, Lindsay and Jesse Applegate,
in company with thirteen other courageous men,
performed the historic feat of laying out the
"South Road" to Oregon in 1846. The names of
these other thirteen pioneers were : Captain Levi
Scott, John (Jack) Jones, John Owens, Henry
Boggs, William Sportsman, Samuel Goodhue,
Robert Smith, Moses- (Black) Harris, John
Scott, William G. Parker, David Goff, Benjamin
F. Burch and Bonhett Osborn.
Passing through the Umpqua canyon, Rogue
River valley, over the Cascades, through the
Klamath basin and on the Humbolt river and to
Fort Hall, they conducted an emigrant train to
the Willamette by that route. As they passed
through the Little Klamath lake, Lost river and
Tule lake countries, they noted the extent and
character of the great Klamath basin.
We here present to the reader the story of
the selection of the South Emigrant Road, ex
tending from Fort Hall to the Rogue River Val
ley in 1846, as told in after years (about 1888 or
1890) by Lindsay Applegate, (now deceased)
one of the party. This route passed through the
southern parts of what are now Lake and Kla
math counties :
On the morning of June 30th we moved along the
north bank of the creek, and soon began the ascent
of the mountains to the eastward, which we found
gradual. Spending most of the day in examining the
hills about the stream now called Keene creek, near the
summitt of the Siskiyou ridge, we moved on down
through the heavy forests of pine, fir and cedar, and
encamped early in the evening in a little valley now
known as Round prairie, about ten or twelve miles,
as nearly as we could judge, from the camp of the
previous night. We found no evidence of Indians be
ing about, but we did not relax our vigilance on that
account. We encamped in a clump of pine in the valley
and kept out our guard.
On the morning of July ist, being anxious to know
what we were to find ahead, we made an early start.
This morning we observed the track of a lone horse
leading eastward. Thinking it had been made by some
Indian horseman on his way from Rogue river to the
Klamath country, we undertook to follow it. This
we had no trouble in doing as it had been made in
the spring while the ground was damp and was very dis
tinct until we came to a very rough, rocky ridge where
we lost it. This ridge was directly in our way. Ex
ploring northward along the divide for considerable
distance without finding a practicable route across it
we encamped for the night among the pines. The
next morning, July 2d, we explored the ridge south-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

9^5

ward as far as Nthe great canyon of the Klamath, but
having no better success than the clay before, we en
camped at a little spring on the mountain side. The
next day, July 3d, we again traveled northward farther
than before, making a more complete examination of the
country than we had previously done, and at last
found what appeared to be a practicable pass. Near
this was a rich, grassy valley through which ran a
little stream, and here we encamped for the night. This
valley is now known as Long prairie, Parker's home,
On the morning of July 4th our route bore along
a ridge trending considerably toward the north. The
route was good, not rocky, and the ascent very gradual.
After crossing the summit of the Cascade ridge, the
descent was, in places, very rapid. At noon we came
out into a glade (Spencer creek) where there were
water and grass and from which we could see the
Klamath river. Afternoon we moved down through
an immense forest, principally yellow pine, to the river,
and then traveled up the north bank, still through yellow
pine forests, for about six miles, when all at once we
came out in full view of the Klamath country, ex
tending eastward as far as the eye could reach. It was
an exciting moment, after the many days spent in the
dense forests and among the mountains, and the whole
party broke forth in cheer after cheer.
An Indian who had not observed us until the
shouting began, broke away from the river bank and
ran to the hills a quarter of a mile away. An antelope
could scarcely have made better time, for we continued
shouting as he ran and his speed seemed to increase
until he was lost to our view among the pines. We
were now entering a country where the natives had
seen but few white people. Following the river up to
where it leaves the lower Klamath lake, we came to a
riffle where it seemed possible to cross. William Parker
waded in and explored the ford. It was deep, rocky
and rapid, but we all passed over safely and then pro
ceeded along the river and lake shore for a mile or so
when we came into the main valley of the Lower
Klamath lake. We could see columns of smoke rising
in evesy direction, for our presence was already known
to the Modocs and the signal fire telegraph was al
ready in active operation. Moving southward along
the shore we came to a little stream, coming in from
the southward, and there found pieces of newspapers
and other unmistakable evidences of civilized people
having camped there a short time before. We found
a place where the turf had been cut away, also the
willows near the bank of the creek, and horses had been
repeatedly driven over the place. As there were many
places where horses could get water without this trouble
some of the parties were of the opinion that some per
sons had been buried there and that horses had been
driven over the place to obliterate all marks and thus
prevent the Indians from disturbing the dead. The
intense excitement among the Indians on our arrival
there strengthened this opinion.

Colonel Fremont, only a few days before, had
reached this point on his way northward when he was
overtaken by Lieutenant Gillspie of the United States
Army with important dispatches and returned to Lower
California. The Mexican War had just begun and the
"Pathfinder" was needed .elsewhere. On the very night
he was overtaken by Lieutenant Gillispie the Modocs
surprised his camp, killed three of his Delaware Indians,
and it is said that had it not been for the vigilance and
presence of mind of Kit Carson, he would have suf
fered a complete rout. At this place we arranged our
camp on open ground so that the Indians could not
possibly approach us without discovery. It is likely
that the excitement among the Modocs was caused,
more than anything else, by the apprehension that ours
was a party sent to chastise them for their attack on
Fremont. We were but a handful of men surrounded
by Hundreds of Indians armed with their poisoned ar
rows, but by dint of great care and vigilance we were
able to pass through their country safely. On every
line of travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific there had
been great loss of life from a failure to exercise a
proper degree of caution, and too often have reckless
and foolhardy men, who have, through the want of
proper care, become embroiled in difficulties with the
Indians, gained the reputation of being Indian fighters
and heroes, while the men who were able to conduct
parties in safety through the country of warlike savages>
escaped the world's notice.
On the morning of July 5th we left our camp on
the little creek (now called Hot creek), and continued
our course along the shores of Lower Klamath lake.
This threw us off our course considerably, as the lake
extended some miles to the southward of our last
camp, and we did not reach the eastern shore until
the day was far spent. We camped on the lake shore
and the next morning, July 6th, we ascended a high,
rocky ridge to the eastward for the purpose of making
observations. Near the base of the ridge on the east,
was a large lake, perhaps twenty miles in length. Be
yond it to the eastward we could see a timbered butte,
apparently thirty miles distant, at the base of which
there appeared to be a low pass through the mountain
range which seemed to encircle the lake basin. It
appearing practicable to reach this pass by passing around
the north end of the lake, we decided fo adopt that
route and began the descent of the ridge, but we soon
found ourselves in the midst of an extremely rugged
country. Short lava ridges ran in every direction, while
between them were caves and cvrevices into which it
seemed our animals were in danger of falling head
long. The farther we advanced the worse became the
route, so that at length we decided to retrace our steps
to the smooth country. This was difficult as our
horses had become separated among the rocks, and it
was some time before we could get them together and
return to the open ground. Then we discovered that
one of our party, David Goff, was -missing. While irr

•926

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the lava field he had discovered a band of mountain
sheep and in pursuing them had lost his way. Some
of the party went quite a distance within the rocks,
but could hear nothing of him. We decided to proceed
to the meadow country, at the head of the lake, en
circling the lava beds to the northward and encamp until
we could find our comrade. While we were proceeding
to carry out this program we discovered a great number
of canoes leaving the lake shore under the bluffs, and
making for what appeared to be an island four or five
miles distant. We could, also see a lone horseman
riding leisurely along the lake shore, approaching us.
This soon proved to be our lost friend. The Modocs
had discovered him in the lava fields, and probably ex
pecting that the whole party were about to assail them
from the rocks, took to their canoes. He said that,
seeing the Indians retreating, he concluded to leave
the rocks and ride along the lake shore, where the
going was good. We nooned in a beautiful meadow
containing about two sections near the head of the
lake. After spending a couple of hours in this splendid
pasture, we repacked and started on our way toward
the timbered butte, but had not proceeded more than
a mile before we came suddenly upon a large stream
(Lost river) coming into the lake. We found this
stream near the lake very deep, with almost per
pendicular banks, so that we were compelled to turn
-northward up the river. Before proceeding far we
discovered an Indian crouched under the bank and,
surrounding him, made him come out. By signs we
indicated to him that we wanted to cross the river.
By marking on his legs and pointing up the river he
gave us to understand that there was a place above
where we could easily cross. Motioning him to ad
vance he led the way up the river about a mile and
pointed out a place where an immense rock crossed the
river. The sheet of water running over the rock was
about fifteen inches deep, while the principal part of the
river seemed to flow under. This was the famous
Stone Bridge on Lost river so often mentioned after
this by travelers. For many years the waters of Tule
lake have been gradually rising, so that now the beauti
ful meadow on which we nooned on the day we dis
covered the bridge is covered by the lake, and the back
water in Lost river long ago made the river impassable;
is now probably ten feet deep over the bridge.
After crossing the bridge we made our pilot some
presents, and all shaking hands with him, left him stand
ing on the river bank. Pursuing our way along the
northern shore of the lake a few miles, we came to a
beautiful spring, near the base of the mountains on
our left and encamped for the night. After using the
alkali water of Lower Klamath lake the previous night,
the fresh, cool water of this spring was a real luxury.
There was plenty of dry wood and an abundance of
green grass for our animals and we enjoyed
the camp exceedingly. Sitting around the fire

that evening we discussed the adventures of the past
few days in this new, strange land. The cir
cumstances of the last day had been particularly inter
esting. Our adventure in the rocks, the retreat of the
whole Modoc tribe in a fleet of thirty or forty canoes
across the lake from Goff, the singularity of the natural
bridge, the vast fields of tule around the lake, and the
fact that the lake was an independent body of water,
were subjects of peculiar interest and only intensified
our desire to see more of this then wild land.
July 7th we left the valley of Tule lake to pursue
our course eastward over a rocky table land among
scattering juniper trees. We still observed the timbered
butte as our landmark, and traveled as directly toward
it as the country would admit. This butte is near the
state line, between Clear and Goose lakes and probably
distant fifty miles from the lava ridge west of Lost
river, from which we first observed it, supposing it
to be about thirty miles away. In pursuing our course-
we passed through the hilly, juniper country between
Langell valley and Clear lake without seeing either the
valley or the lake, and at noon arrived at the bed of
a stream where there was but little water. The course
of this stream was north or northwest and appearances
indicated that at times quite a volume of -water flowed
in the channel. This was, evidently, the bed of Lost
river, a few miles north of where this singular stream
leaves the Clear lake marsh.
Leaving this place we pursued our journey through
a similar country to that passed over during the fore
noon, and encamped at a little spring among the
junipers, near the base of the timbered hill, and passed
a very pleasant night.
On the morning of July 8th we passed our land
mark and traveled nearly eastward, over a comparatively
level but extremely rocky country, and nooned in the
channel of another stream where there was a little
water standing in holes. On leaving this place we found
the country still quite level but exceedingly rocky — for
eight or ten miles almost like a pavement. Late in
the afternoon we came out into the basin of a lake
(Goose lake) apparently forty or fifty miles in length.
Traversing the valley about five miles along the south
end of the lake we came to a little stream coming in
from the mountains to the eastward. The grass and
water being good, we encamped here for the night.
Game seemed plentiful, and one of the party killed a
fine deer near the camp. From the spur of the moun
tains near our camp, we had a splendid view of the
lake and of the extensive valley bordering it on the
north. On the east between the lake and mountain
range running nearly north and south and which we
supposed to be a spur of the Sierra Nevadas, was a
beautiful mealow country, narrow, but many miles in
length, across which the lines of willows and scatter
ing pines and cottonwoods indicated the courses of a
number of little streams coming into the lake from a
mountain chain. A little southeast of our camp there

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

927

appeared to be a gap in the mountain wall, and we
decided to try it on the succeeding day.
Space will not permit us to publish in full
the very entertaining article written by Mr. Ap
plegate. There is much in his narrative that
bears directly on the country west of the Cas
cades ancl east of the territory embraced within
the limits of the territory now under considera
tion. There is, however, a great deal that is
necessary to complete the earlier history of Klam
ath county, and this we shall continue, confining
our work to such scope of country as falls within
the perspective of our story. It was on the morn
ing of July 14th that, according to plans matured
at Black Rock, the explorers divided into two
parties ; eight men leaving in a southerly direc
tion, and seven men, including Mr. Lindsay Ap
plegate, laid their course to the east. The survey
was continued until July 23d, when they as
cended by a very gradual route to the table lands
from which they could plainly see Black Rock.
Exploring the country about them they found
the Rabbit Hole Springs. Continuing his narra
tive Mr. Applegate says :
The line of our road was now complete. We had
succeeded in finding a route across the desert and on
to the Oregon settlements with camping places at suit
able distances, and since we knew the source of the
Humboldt river was near Fort Hall, we felt that our
enterprise was already a success, and that immigrants
would be able to reach Oregon late in the season with
far less danger of being snowed in than on the Colum
bia route down the Humboldt and over the Sierra
Nevadas. The sequel proved that we were correct in
this opinion, for this same fall the Donner party, in
endeavoring to cross the Sierras, were snowed in,
suffered the most indescribable horrors, and about half
of them perished.
Among other interesting events related by
Mr. Applegate is the rescue of a party of immi
grants en route to the Willamette valley. Mr.
Applegate says :
So soon as we could possibly make the arrangements
we sent out a party with oxen and horses to meet the
immigrants and aid them in reaching the Willamette
settlements. For this assistance we made no demand,
nor did we tax them for the use of the road as was
alleged by partie's inimical to our enterprise. It had
been the distinct understanding that the road should be
free, and the consciousness of having opened better
means of access to the country than was afforded by
the expensive and dangerous route down the Columbia
which we had tried to our sorrow, would be ample
compensation for all our labors in opening the South
road.

Of course our enterprise was opposed by that
mighty monopoly, the Hudson's Bay Company, whose
line of forts and trading posts on the Columbia, af
forded them rare opportunities for trade with the immi
grants. Many of the immigrants who followed us dur
ing the fall of 1846 had a hard time, though not as hard
as they would have experienced on the other route;
and some of them, not understanding the situation fully,
became infected with the spirit of persecution, which had
its origin with the Hudson's Bay Company, and joined
in charging us with leading the travel away from the
Northern Route for purposes of personal speculation.
Certain members of the party were singled out to bear
the burden of' persecution, whereas, if any member of
the party was animated by improper motives in seeking
to open the road, all were equally guilty, as the party
was governed in all its proceedings by a majority vote
of all of its members.
The efforts of the Hudson's Bay Company to put
down the road proved an eminent failure. Its superior
advantages were better and better known and ap
preciated every year. It never ceased to be an im
portant route of travel, and a large portion of the
population of our state entered by this channel. It is
a very significant fact that the great thoroughfare of
today, from the Willamette to the Siskiyou chain, and
thence out through the Lake country and on to the
Humboldt, departs rarely from the route blazed out by
the road company 42 years ago.
So early as 1848 an abortive effort was made
to settle the Klamath country. The strenuous
party who two years before had traversed the ter
ritory in "blazing" the South Emigrant Road had
been favorably impressed with the natural beau
ties and possibilities of that country. A number
of them developed a plan of settlement of such
an inviting field. The historic "Klamath Com
monwealth," was organized in 1848 ; the scene
was the Willamette settlement ; the principal pro
jectors, Jesse and Lindsay Applegate. Prepara
tions were made to start a colony at some avail
able point in the Klamath country.
Preparations were elaborate ; all agencies were
brought to bear to make the venture a success.
The party was a strong one ; danger from In
dians were fully realized ; the party was heavily
armed and fully organized. Among them were
farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, millers, doctors,
millwrights and nearly all classes of people.
Eastward to the Klamath country they headed,
accompanied by a long ancl amply guarded train
of wagons conveying everything which they be
lieved might prove necessary in a settlement out
side of all practical communication with civili
zation. Had it not been for the discovery of gold in
California the entire earlier history of Klamath

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

county would, doubtless, have read far different
from what it does in the Year of Our Lord, 1905.
For it should be known that this gold discovery
wrought dissensions in the Klamath Common
wealth, and this pioneer enterprise proved but
Dead Sea apples, attractive to the eye but ashes
to the taste. The original design never reached
fruition. A portion of the community were
strongly in favor of carrying out their original
schemes ; an equally strong opposition were de
termined to seek the land of gold. Leaving the
South Emigrant Road the whole party proceeded
to Strawberry Valley, California, when opinions
as to the course to be pursued becoming widely
divergent, caused a complete disruption of the
entire enterprise. The once brilliant plan of set
tling the Klamath country faded from view
and was abandoned. A portion of the common
wealth proceeded to the gold fields in Sacra
mento; the balance of the party returned to their
homes in the Willamette valley. That portion
which decided to seek the gold fields encountered
Peter Lassen' at the head of an emigrant train,
and assisted him in exploring a route to the Sac
ramento valley.
In those parlous pioneer days it should be re
membered that all "roads," "routes" ancl "trails"
of travel were dangerous. Following the com
pletion of the South Emigrant Road in 1846 by
the Applegates ancl party, much of the travel to
the settlements west of the Cascades was made
via this route in preference to the northern route
by way of the Dalles of the Columbian river.
But severe was the penalty paid by these immi
grants for their choice !
The Modoc Indians in the country along that
part of the road where it passed through the
southern portion of the Klamath country, Ore
gon, and the northern portion of the present Mo
doc countv, California, earned the character of
the most barbarous and blood-thirsty savages
west of the Rocky mountains. Peculiarlv
adapted was this country to protect them in their
depreciations, slaughter and cruelties ; to shield
them from successful pursuit, punishment or cap
ture. Following sudden and impetuous raids on
wagon trains, they could retire into the impreg
nable lava beds where nothing less than a large
ancl well equipped army could dislodge them from
their coign of vantage as was learned later in
the Modoc war of 1872-3. Not only were they
able to exact a heavy tribute from the emigrants,
but their possession of the strongholds of the
lava beds made it possible for the Modocs to
exert a powerful influence and control of the
neighboring tribes.
Innocent and unoffending immigrants, accom
panied by their families, passing through the

Modoc country along the old southern immi
grant road, were attacked and butchered indis
criminately by these painted savages ; their prop
erty confiscated or destroyed; their bodies in
humanly mutilated, and left unburied, a prey to-
wolves. In some cases the victims of these
Modocs were caused to suffer excruciating tor
tures before relieved by death. In some cases
girls were kept among them as captives for
months ; to suffer more than torture, with death
only to crown their miserable existence.
More than 300 immigrants are known to have
been slain in this manner by Modoc Indians ;
facts ascertained by actual count of their bleach
ing skeletons along the road, previous to the es
tablishment of the military post at Fort Klamath
in 1863. Where the road met the shores of Tule-
lake was a favorite point of attack ; it appropri
ately gained the name of "Bloody Point." Here
were enacted tragedies of the bloodiest descrip
tion — tragedies that, even at this late day, cause-
one to shudder on visiting the scene. Here the
Modocs would' fall upon the poor, weary and'
footsore immigrants as they wended their way
along the point. Speaking of Bloody Point,
Major C. S. Drew, when in 1863, he recom
mended the establishment of a military post in
the Klamath country, said :
"Since 1846 one hundred and fifty-one per
sons have been murdered and an estimate of
about three hundred other persons more or less.
seriously wounded by Indians in that vicinity."
Certainly, it appears incredible that the Unit
ed States government had not before taken some
effective steps in protecting this country. Ac
cording to records of the war department the-
governrnent had little to do with the Modocs.
until the establishment of the post at Fort Klam
ath in 1863. Aside from the volunteered ef
forts of _ settlers west of the Cascade mountains
in occasionally assisting immigrants through the-
country, no efforts were made to check the mur
ders committed or to punish the red fiends who
committed them, with the exception of the Ben
Wright expedition in 1852.
Of course no idea of settling in such a coun
try was entertained by any one. Yet we find'
that when practical military protection was at
last granted, the country was quite rapidly set
tled—for that period in Oregon's historv. Little
did these immigrants — passing Westward in the
shadow of death— dream that 'this country would
ever be fit for the habitation of white men. To
them the Klamath country was only a land of
sage brush plains, big lakes and Modoc Indians.
In the spring of 1852 a party was packing
from Scottsburg to Yreka. One evening while
camped about T1/, miles south of Cole's place

Williamson River at the Mouth of Spring Creek

Link River

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON".

929

on the west side of the mountains, Indians stole
four of their horses. Four ol these packers at
once set out in pursuit. They trailed the Indians
to their camp, on the present site 'of Keno. Here
the packers fell upon the Indians — about 16 of
them — completely surprised them and killed four
of the hostiles. The rest escaped across the
• Klamath river. The packers found their stolen
horses ancl returned with them. Jerden Metland
was one of the party.
The same year an attack was made on immi
grants at Bloody Point in which many of them
were killed, ancl to wreak vengence upon these
Modocs and teach them a lasting lesson, a com
pany of volunteers was formed at Yreka, Cali
fornia, and proceeded to the Modoc country. This
company was under command of one Ben Wright.
They rapidly advanced to the Modoc country,
and in Lost River valley, near where now stands
'the town of Merrill, they killed 40 Indians out
of a party of 47. Of this sensational campaign
many conflicting stories are told. As stated bv
the volunteers they met the Indians in council ;
-that treachery was apparent on the part of the
savages and in order to save themselves they ad
ministered the first blow. The facts appear to
be that a big barbecue had been arranged for, at
which was to be served an ox roasted whole,
which animal had been brought with the volun
teers from Yreka. The whites ancl Indians were
then to meet in friendly council and, if possible,
come to an amicable understanding. Before the
feast, however, a Modoc squaw, friendly to the
whites, told Wright that treachery was intended
and that at the feast all the whites were to be
massacred. Ben Wright was a man who did not
hesitate to act when immediate action was im
perative. Without further delay he fell upon the
unsuspecting Modocs.
There were those, however, who maintained
that the Ben Wright party was guilty of the
basest treachery and that their conduct was a
shade darker than anything ever attempted by
savages ; that Wright had no reason to believe
that treachery was intended, and that his action
was wilful and premeditated murder.
Without discussing the merits of the case,
we will state that then ancl there the Modocs
were taught a severe lesson, and one which they
did not soon forget. Upon their return to Yreka
the volunteers, who were miners from that
famous mining camp, were received with all the
honors of conquering heroes. If their conduct in
dealing with these Indians was not of the best,
it is certain that censure was not apparent at
home. We here reproduce a short article written
by E. Steele, a frontiersman who for many years
had dealings with various tribes of Indians. It
50

is only proper to state that little credence can be
placed in the poisoning story related :
The Modoc War of 1852 took place whilst I was
away at Crescent City; therefore all I know of that
is hearsay ; but I know that it was generally known that
Ben Wright had concocted the plan of poisoning those
Indians at a feast, but that his interpreter Indian,
Livile, had exposed the plot to them so that but few
ate of the meat, and that Wright and his company then
fell upon the Indians and killed 40 out of 47, and the
others died of the poison afterward. There is one of '¦
the company now in the county who gives this version,
and I heard Wright swearing about Dr. Ferber, our "
then druggist, selling him an adulterated article of '
strychnine, which he said the doctor wanted to kill
coyotes. That the plan was concocted before they left
Yreka defeats the claim now made for them that
they only anticipated the treachery of the Indians. John '
Schonchis was one of the Indians that escaped, and in
a late interview he made this an excuse for not coming
out to meet the commissioners during the Modoc War'
of 1873. The story of the Indians corresponds so well'
with what I have frequently heard from our own people,-
before it became so much of a disgrace by the reaction,
that I have no doubt of the correctness in its general
details. At the time others, as well as myself, told'
Wright that the transaction would sometime react fear
fully upon some innocent ones of our people, but so*
long a time had elapsed that I had concluded that the
matter was nearly forgotten by all, and that nothing
would come of it, until the night of my second visit
in the cave, when Schonchis -would get very excited
talking of it as an excuse for not going out.
Adverse criticism of the proceedings of the
Ben Wright party is nil among the pioneers still
living who were in the country at the time the
event occurred. By their personal admissions the
Indians for years had been guilty of most cruel
murders committed upon immigrants. They had
put to death by torture those whom they had cap
tured ; they had taken captive white girls and
women and compelled them to live with them.
Many of the Ben Wright party were relatives of
those who had been murdered by the Modocs.
Opinion has been freely expressed that had it
been Wright's intention to poison the Modocs, as
suggested, it was justified by the crimes that had '
been committed by the savages.
The following version of the Ben Wright af-'
fair is given by the Alturas (Cal.) Plaindcalcr
in 1902. Somebod3' has surely been "stuffing" DeLaney
( correspondent of a Portland paper). The latter says
it was Mose Hart of Malheur county. But the utter
absurdity of arming Ben Wright's men with Winchester:

'93°

hISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

rifles should have warned our friend of the hoax, as
Winchesters were unheard of until 12 years later. The
, 'old Henry rifle, the forerunner of the Winchester, was
aiot placed in the hands of our soldiers until late in
-1863. The true story of the "Ben Wright massacre," as
some have been pleased to term it, and as detailed to
sus by Frank Riddle, one of Wright's men, was in sub
stance as follows : It must be remembered that the
Modoc Indians in 1850 and in 1851 had committed all
lands of atrocities upon the immigrants. Hundreds
- had been massacred. Colonel Ross in 1850 had arrived
irom Jacksonville with a company of miners in time
to bury 100 men, women and children. He remained
- in the country until the. .remainder had passed safely
through the Modoc country. The next year John F.
Miller arrived at Bloody Point on Tule lake just in
time to save a large train that was surrounded and would
most certainly have perished but for his timely arrival.
The Indians were fiercely attacked and severely pun
ished. Many were killed and the remainder chased into
•the lava beds where they were safe from pursuit. He
also captured a good many of their women and children.
These were held until the immigrants passed when they
were turned loose.
In the fall of 1852 news was received at Yreka that
, a large immigration was coming. Knowing the danger,
Ben Wright organized a company of 32 men.' They
•were well armed with rifles and revolvers. He pro-
- •ceeded to the Modoc country and escorted the immi-
¦•grants safely through. The lesson taught the year
"before by Miller and his men had had its effect. The
Indians came in and proposed a treaty. Ben ^Wright
was then encamped at the peninsula. The Indians were
feasted on an ox that Wright had purchased from the
¦ immigrants. They told Wright they had two captive
¦ white girls which they would surrender so soon as they
'•could be brought in. Several days were spent in waiting
when Wright moved his camp to Lost river, near where
Merrill now stands. The Indians accompanied him
snd camped close by. Days of waiting occurred, the
Indians all the time protesting good faith. But Wright
and his men had noticed that the Indians were in
creasing in numbers. One morning he told his men
:that they were trapped. He bade them get ready, and
,-at. a signal they were to fire their rifles and charge with
revolvers. He told his men that he was going to the
Indian camp, would demand of the chief the instant
, •delivery of the captive girls, and if refused or further
, delay was sought, that he would kill the chief then and
there. That to pay no attention to him as they would
. all, probably, be killed anyway.
Accordingly Ben Wright went to the camp 7$
yards away. He told the chief he had come for the
;-girls. The chief said in reply that he would not de
liver them and had never intended to do so. That he
• ihad men enough to kill all the white men and would
,-do it. Scarcely had the words escaped the lips of the

treacherous old savage than Ben Wright whipped a
revolver from beneath his blanket and shot him dead.
He then, with a revolver in each hand, fought his way
out as best he could. The instant that the first shot
rang out, the men in waiting opened with their rifles,
and then charged, revolvers in hand. This sudden on
slaught terrified the savages who, after two or three
ineffective volleys of arrows, fled in dismay. Many
jumped into the river and attempted to hide under the
steep banks.
They were punched out with willow poles, and' shot
while struggling in the water. Others hid in the sage
brush and were hunted out and shot as they ran. About
185 of the savages were killed and most of them scalped
to prove to friends in Yreka that they had done good
work. After the fight Wright and his men returned
to Yreka. Ben Wright was afterward assassinated
by a half-breed while acting as agent on a coast reserva
tion. This is the true and unvarnished story of the
Ben Wright massacre.
The two captive girls were never released. One
was killed at Hot Creek by the chief to settle a quarrel
among the Indians. The writer and Judge Bellinger
made a search and found a portion of her remains
scattered about in the rocks where the body had been
thrown. The other girl probably met a similar fate.
Shortly after the Wright expedition another
one was dispatched, in 1853, t0 punish the Modocs,
for fresh atrocities. This was commanded by a
detachment of regular soldiers, under command
of Captain Mack Bushy, and California volun
teers. They encountered the Modocs in North
ern California and defeated them. These Indians
were, driven to the shores of Clear lake, where
they took to their canoes and sought refuge on an
island where they believed themselves safe from
furthur pursuit. The soldiers, however, camped
near the lake, constructed boats, attacked the
hostiles on their island and again defeated them.
During the very early days a few fur traders
penetrated the Klamath country, as they did all
portions of the northwest, One of the best known
of these traders who visited the Klamath country
was Mart Frain. ancl the knowledge he gained of
the customs of the Indians who dwelt in the
Klamath basin was extensive. The Klamath
Falls Express of May 5, 1892, related one of
Mr. Frain's experiences in Klamath land, when
that country was known to only a few traders
ancl explorers, as gleaned from an interview with
Mr. Frain. The Express said :
Thirty-five years ago last Saturday night, April
30, 1857, Mr. Frain camped out under the big ledge
of rocks on the river bank near which Reames, Martin
& Company's store now stands. He had journeyed from
Yreka with five mules laden with beads which he in-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

931

tended trading to the Indians for furs. He arrived on,
the west bank of the river in the 'afternoon and on
the opposite side — the present townsite of Linkville —
were camped bands of Modocs, Klamath, Snake and
Cayuse Indians who had assembled to trade their furs.
It was "barter day" — the natives never failing to con
gregate at certain times of the moon as it was a
popular belief that the fish would not come up the river
if the formal gathering were not held at the regular
period. Frain swam his mules across the river and a
squaw conveyed his beads and saddle over on a tule
float, which had in the center a hole through which she
thrust her limbs, using her feet as paddles. By sun
down the beads were in the hands of the Indians and
Frain was in possession of 1,200 skins. The night was
devoted to gambling for the beads at an "odd or even"
game, and as there was an element of science as well
as luck in the transactions, it was not long before a
dozen of the most expert natives owned the greater
bulk of the ornaments.
"There was one kind of pelt that I never ob
tained," said Mr. Frain. "On barter days the richer
Indians brought with them for show stuffed white deer,
the skins of which were worth from $75 to $150 apiece,
and the Indians would rarely part with them. Oc-
-casionally they would sell one for Indian money called
allicochick — a shell obtained from the Queen Charlotte
islands. A piece of this shell reaching from the line
of the palm of one's hand to the middle joint of the
little finger was worth $5 ; nearly every native had a
scale of measurement marked on his arm, from the
shoulder to the elbow, and ten pieces of shell that
would reach from the end of the thumb to a certain
mark on the arm were valued at $100; the smaller and
less valuable pieces were worth $25 a fathom. The
Indians prized allicochick so highly that they would
pay handsomely in gold for the smallest amount."
"Were your relations peaceable with the Indians?"
"Yes," answered Mr. Frain, "and would have con
tinued so, had not the whites popped down one every
now and then. That reminds me of one of their very
odd customs. The Indians would not revenge them-
- selves upon the murderer of one of their number, but
instead would kill the near relatives, beginning with the
father and slaughtering the whole family except the
murderer before they were appeased ; their idea being
that if they killed the man who did the shooting his
death would not occasion him so much grief as would
the loss of his relatives.
"Their burial ceremony was peculiar and lasted
two days, accompanied by feasting and dancing, and at
the conclusion the departed brave's squaw shaved her
head and wore a hat, largely made of pitch, for several
moons.'' As has been said, very little of the Klamath
country was known during the 50's, with the ex
ception of what could be gleamed by immigrants

as they journeyed through the extreme southern
portion of the county- on their way to the set
tlements west of the mountains and by fur traders
who penetrated the country. However, we find
that one or two stockmen had' the hardihood to
winter stock in this wilderness during the late
50's. As a matter of history it might prove in
teresting to know that Judge F. Adams was the
first man to introduce a band of cattle into Klam
ath county. He grazed 2,000 head where Keno
now stands, in the winter of 1856. He was un
disturbed by Indians, having made terms with
Captain Jack. Judge Adams stated that the
winter was quite mild ; the wild rye so high and
plentiful that stock came out in the spring fat
and ready for market. He sold 1,100 cattle at
$80 a head at Yreka and the northern California
mining towns.
Another of these pioneer stockman was Wen-
dolen Nus, who during the winter of 1858-9
grazed a band of stock on the Klamath river,
where is now the ranch of O. A. Stearns a few
miles southeast of Klamath Falls. Mr. Nus later
went to the John Day mines, but returned to the
Klamath country in the 6o's and became the first
settler of the county.
Under Lieutenant Piper, in 1859, a detach
ment of soldiers from Fort Jones penetrated the
Klamath country. For a short period they
camped upon the soil of the present Klamath
county. Lieutenant Piper was with an expedi
tion looking for stock that had been stolen by
Indians. For a few days he camped on the west
side of Klamath river, just below the present
site of the town of Keno, at the place known in
early days as "the cabins." Proceeding up the
river the soldiers, when they gained a point
which is now the O. A. Stearns' ranch, saw a
band of Indians approaching them. Not know
ing whether the Indians were peaceably inclined
or not, the soldiers hastily threw up entrench
ments near the river bank, and prepared to de
fend themselves should an attack be meditated.
A few trees were felled and around these was
thrown up the earth. But the Indians proved to
be peaceable. A conference took place ; Lieu
tenant Piper was confident that the stolen stock
was not in the neighborhood ; the troops resumed
their line of march. Wendolen Nus was in the
vicinity at the time with a band of stock. Later
he related the incident to the early settlers. Mr.
O. A. Stearns afterward took up the land, and
while one day mowing a meadow found the in-
trenchments at the spot described by Mr. Nus.
Because of the knowledge gained quite valua
ble was an expedition made through this terri
tory in 1 86 1. A portion of the country visited
had never before been explored. As a result of

932

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

this trip Fort Klamath was established which
made possible the settlement of the country.
Lindsay Applegate, one of the two brothers who
selected the South Emigrant Road, at the head
of a company of 42 volunteers, crossed the Cas
cades and proceeding- to Bloody Point on Tule
lake there met an emigrant train menaced by
Modoc Indians. Wallace Baldwin, of Klamath
Falls was a member of the party and has fur
nished us valuable data relative to the meeting
of the emigrant train at that point. The party
were met by Chief Schonchin and his warriors.
They first inquired if the part}- had come to
"We replied that we had not," says Mr. Bald
win, "but that we were prepared for just such
an emergency. The Indians sized us up, counted
our men and evidently came to the conclusion
that their mission was, also, peaceful. Upon in
quiry concerning the whereabouts of the immi
grant train that we were to meet, Schonchin
maintained that he knew nothing of it. We de
cided to push on further. Instead of following
the road, at the instigation of the Indians, we
proceeded by a "cut-off" trail, which Schonchin
said would, and which did, save us many miles
of travel. However, when we again reached the
road we found that the train had recently passed
while we had been on the trail recommended us
by the Indians. We suspected treachery and im
mediately set out on a forced march to overtake
the train. We should not have been surprised
to find the immigrants massacred and the Indians
in readiness to attack our party. But such was
not the case. We came upon the immigrants
safe, but greatly alarmed by actions of the In
dians who were endeavoring to approach the
train, as they explained, to tell the new arrivals
of our whereabouts. The immigrants would not
allow the Indians to approach, and in this an
tagonistic position we found them. They had ex
perienced a severe journey, and all they had left
to eat was a cow recently killed. We were well
supplied with provisions and, if I ever saw a
grateful party of men ancl women, it was that
same band o'f immigrants."
Anxious to see more of the Klamath country,
Mr. Applegate divided his company, sending
twenty men with the train to Rogue river valley,
while with the remaining twenty-two he jour
neyed up Lost river valley, passed near the site
of the present town of Klamath Falls, on up the
east side of Upper Klamath lake, crossed the
Wood river valley ancl returned to Rogue river
by the way of the Dead Indian country. The
members of this party were :
Captain Lindsay Applegate, First Lieutenant
C. F. Blake, Ivan Applegate, Marion Anderson,
George Brown, Wallace Baldwin, A. J. Walls,

William Songer, Joseph Wells, Giles Wells, Jr.,.
I. P. Chandler, Norman Lee, John McCoy, Rash
Simpson, Robert Tenbrook, Louis Hyatt, Wil
liam Jaquett, D. F. Cole, G. W. Gaskell, William:
Harris, Warren Vennoi, Mike Murphy, William
Pittenger, Peter Smith, John Sperry, John Rob
inson, William Steward, F. F. pulton, J. W.
Mills, Thomas Williams, J. C. Raper, J. J. Car
ter, Charles Sumner, David Laugherty, J. P.
Woodson, William West, Samuel Richey, W.
W. Shedd, Daniel Chapman, C. F. Blake, Isaac
McCoy, Ben Johnson.
In the early 6o's the discovery of gold in the
John Day country of northern Oregon was the
incentive to considerable travel through the
future Klamath county. During 1861 and 1862-
several different parties went from California to
the mining districts in the north, driving stock
and taking in provisions and mining untensils
by means of pack trains. Their route through
the territory was by way of Tule lake, Lost river,
Sprague river, Sican marsh, Silver lake and
thence to the north.
Observing more of the extent, fertility and
resources of the Klamath country on the trip
of 1 86 1, previously mentioned, it was resolved
to take advantage of every opportunity offered
for opening up the country for settlement. Lind
say Applegate was enthusiastic in his desire to
see a military post established in the Lake region
for the two-fold purpose of protecting travel on
the South Road through the Modoc country, and
to encourage the income of settlement. As a
member of the Oregon legislature in 1862 he ad
vocated the passage of a memorial to congress-
praying for the establishment of Fort Klamath
and the negotiation of a treaty with the Klamath
and Modoc Indians. These measures proving
successful the fort was located in 1863.
It may be stated that the establishment of
the post was by the advice of General Alvord,
then in command of the district of Oregon. He
maintained that the post was necessary to "pro
tect the emigrant roads ancl the frontier settle
ments." Although General Alvord was in com
mand of the district of Oregon, the site was se
lected by Colonel C. S. Drew who made a trip
into the interior for the purpose.
As we have stated Fort Klamath was estab
lished to protect travel through the Klamath
country. Up to this period there was not a set
tler in the whole of what is now Klamath county,
and the only route of travel was via the old emi
grant road. Why, then, was the fort established
at its present location in preference to a point
nearer the road where troops would be of some
use in protecting emigrant trains? This is ex
plained as follows :

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

933

When the Oregon legislature rhemorialized
•congress for the establishment of a military post
in the Klamath country, no suggestion was made
as to a definite location. It was, of course, un
derstood that it would be located near the road.
Pine Grove was a point mentioned by many who
had become acquainted with the country and
certainly it would have been much more desir
able than the one selected. Entering into the
situation of the fight was jealously existing be
tween the towns of Ashland and Jacksonville on
the west side of the mountains. Ashland fav
ored a location on Lost river, or at some point
near the road. Jacksonville, per contra, realized
the advantage this would give its rival town
which, being nearer, would have the advantage
in furnishing supplies to the post, etc., and laid
its plans to have the post located where the ad
vantage would be with Jacksonville. Colonel
Charles Drew, who recommeded the site, was
favorable to the county seat town — Jacksonville
— and his influence prevailed. A road over an
impracticable route was built from Jacksonville
to the site selected. The post was established
where Jacksonville wanted it, but the folly of
the choice was apparent ever after. The road,
the first to penetrate the county, beside the old
South Emigrant road, was built in 1863 by the
soldiers under Colonel Drew when that officer
was on his trip to select a site for the post. The
road was as bad as could well be imagined ancl
after the other road was built in 1865 by Captain
Sprague it was not used.
At the date of establishment of Fort Klamath
the Civil war was in progress. Regular troops
were all in the east ; the fort was first garrisoned
bv Oregon volunteers. The original garrison sta
tioned at the post was Trooo C. First Oregon
Cavalry, under command of Captain William
Kelly. They arrived in the fall of 186^ ancl dur
ing that winter lived in tents. In the spring
were begun the fort buildings, all of which were
completed in the spring of 1864. A primitive
sawmill was installed at the fort, which prepared
lumber for the buildings. The structures erected
this year, ancl which served until the regulars
garrisoned the post, were nearly all built of box
lumber, a few of logs. There were -four officers'
quarters, the adjutant's office, a guard house ancl
arsenal of logs, a quartermaster's and commis
sary store house, also of logs; hospital, barracks
for two companies in one long, double building,
with two small additions, for first sergeants' of
fices, stables for two troops of cavalry, the best
and most substantial of all the buildings : a com
pany bakery ancl four log houses occupied by the
families of the married men of the trnon.
In the spring of 1865, Company I, First Ore

gon Infantry, which had been recruited in Jack
son county the preceding year, was stationed at
the post. Captain Franklin B. Sprague was the
company commander. Major W. V. Reinhart,
of the same regiment, was in command of the
post. In 1865 the second road was built from
Fort Klamath across the mountains to Jackson
ville. The work was done by members of Com
pany I, First Oregon Infantry, under command
of Captain Sprague. This time a more practi
cable route was selected ancl a fairly good road
was the result. The Drew road was such an im
possible one that when Captain Sprague took
charge of the post early in 1865, he asked per
mission of the government to select a route and
build a new road. This permission was granted,
and with John Mathews, a mulatto, and old hun
ter ancl frontiersman. Captain Sprague selected
the route, and the road was built by the mem
bers of Company I.
The post received another troop of the First
Oregon Cavalry in the fall of 1865. This was
Troop A, of which Captain John McCall was
commander. All these troops remained there
until the spring of 1866, when the two cavalry
troops were ordered to Vancouver to be mustered
out of service. Company I remained at the fort
until July, 1867, when it was relieved and moved
to lacksonville, where it was mustered out on the
19th of that month.
The Civil War was now over ancl thereafter
Fort Klamath was garrisoned by regular troops.
Captain Sprague's company was relieved by
Troop A, First United States Cavalry, com
manded by First Lieutenant John Snell. Cap
tain McGregor, of the same troop arrived later
and took command of the fort. The regular
troops at once began the erection of new build
ings at the fort, all of which were completed in
1868; the ruins of the others may still be seen
on the old site. In 1870 Troop B, of the First
Cavalry, commanded by Captain James Jackson,
relieved Troop A, ancl at the outbreak of the
Modoc War Major John Green, of the First Cav
alry, was in command of the fort.
Following the Modoc War. Fort Klamath
was garrisoned by a few regular troops until
1889, when it was abandoned. In 1886 the gov
ernment ,was on the point of ordering its aband
onment, but so many urgent protests against such
a course were received in Washington from the
people of Klamath county that the order was not
issued. September 28. 1886. a mass meeting of citi
zens was held at Linkville to protest against the
proposed abandonment of Fort Klamath ancl the
removal of United States troops. County Tuds:e
G. W. Smith was chairman of the meeting and J.

934

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

W. Hamaker was made secretary. The people
were very much in earnest in protesting against
the removal of troops and adopted the following
resolutions :
Whereas, It is proposed by the Hon. Secretary of
War to abandon Fort Klamath, in this county, and to
remove the United States troops therefrom ; and,
Whereas, The Klamath, Modoc and other tribes
and bands of Indians located on the Klamath Indian
reservation, located in said county, have always re
quired the presence of a strong military force in the
vicinity of said reservation in order to maintain peace ;
and. Whereas, It was the inadequacy of the military force
at said post that was the cause of the Modoc War
of 1872-3 : and
Whereas, There is at present only a small frag
ment of one company of troops at Fort Klamath ; and
Whereas, owing to the present disputes between
the whites and Indians' as to the boundary lines of
the reservation, the constant trespassing thereon (as
alleged by the Indians) of cattle, horses and other
animals belonging to the whites ; the constant driving
off. of those animals by the Indians ; the recent killing
of an Indian by a white man, growing out of these
disputes ; all these facts show that there is imminent
danger of another Indian war unless Fort Klamath is
strengthened by additional troops ; and
Whereas, An adequate military force is as necessary
to protect the Indians from trespass and injury by
whites, as to protect the whites from trespass and in
jury by the Indians, therefore be it resolved :
First : That we respectfully and earnestly protest
against the proposed abandonment of Fort Klamath,
and request that the order therefor be countermanded,
or indefinitely suspended.
Second : That we most respectfully and urgently
urge and request the Hon. Secretary of War to in
crease the military force at Fort Klamath to at lea-t
two companies of cavalry. ,
Third : That we heartily endorse and approve the
able letter on this subject addressed by Senator1 John H.
Mitchell, of Oregon, to the Hon. Secretary of War.
Fourth : That a copy of the proceedings of this
meeting be forwarded immediately to the Hon. Secre
tary of War, and to each member 0 f our delegation in
congress. Thus for a time the people of Klamath county
were able to postpone the abandonment of the
fort. But an order for the removal of the troops
came a few years later. In 1889, after having
been garrisoned 26 years Fort Klamath was
abandoned. An earnest remonstrance was for
warded to the authorities at Washington, but
this time it did not prevail. As an excuse for the
abandonment the government said that it was
much more economical to retain a large body of

troops at one post than to scatter them throughout
the country at a number of small stations, adding
that there' was now no necessity for troops at
that point.
During the Indian unrest and occasional up
risings caused by the Messiah craze throughout
the west in 1890 and 1891, the people of Klamath
county made efforts to induce the government to
regar'rison Fort Klamath. Their efforts were
unavailing. The following letter from the sec
retary of war to Congressman Hermann, explains
how that gentleman felt in regard to the matter :
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 8th ultimo, calling attention to the
defenseless condition of the Pacific coast and Oregon
frontier, and stating that the buildings and cavalry
stables at Fort Klamath are all in good repair and'
that there is a very general desire on the part of the
people in that vicinity that troops should be stationed'
at that place until the spirit of hostility and unrest
disappears from the Indian tribes.
In reply! beg to advise that upon reference of the
matter to the commanding general of the division of
the Pacific he reports that upon the Indian reservations
of Oregon the Indians are actively engaged in civil
pursuits, trying to make a living; that in his opinion
there is no military necessity for the placing of troops
on the Klamath reservation ; and that he can not
recommend the re-occupation of Fort Klamath, as in-
the case of formidable trouble there, the post would
be of no use to the government. He adds that from
the numerous reports received at the headquarters of
that division of anticipated Indian troubles, it is
problematical where an outbreak will occur, if anywhere,
and that the alarming reports concerning the hostile-
demonstration by the Bannock Indians have proven
to be without foundation.
It may be added that the reservation is now with
all appurtenances thereon under the control of the-
secretary of the interior.
Fort Klamath was the most beautiful frontier
post that it was ever permitted a soldier to oc
cupy. Historic interest, exquisite scenery and
streams of crystal purity cast a charm over Fort
Klamath which haunts a visitor to its solitude
for many days after his departure. Though the
soldier has left it in solitude, the eye quickens
none the less at its charm. Abandoned, the
buildings of Fort Klamath soon fell into ruin.
Today a few of the old buildings still remain,
uncared for and unoccupied, save by an occa
sional company of Indians from the reservation.
About a mile from the buildings of old Fort
Klamath stands the new Fort Klamath, a little-
village located in one of the most. beautiful spots-
of Klamath county.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

935~-

With the completion of. the entire history of
Fort Klamath we have taken several long strides
ahead in the chronological order of our work.
The year following the establishment of the
fort, in the fall of 1864, there occurred an import
ant event in the history of the county. This was
a treaty with the Klamath and Modoc Indians
and the creation of the Klamath reservation. Es
tablishment of the fort had been for the protec
tion of travel through such a hostile country and
the encouragement of settlement. Naturally the
next succeeding step to bring about the latter
condition was a treaty with the Indians in-
habitating the country. This was finally accom
plished; the 'two tribes ceding all their lands to
the government, except the reservation, on
which the Indians were to live. This treaty was
made October 14, 1864, at Council Grove near
Fort Klamath, between Superintendent Hunting
ton, of Oregon, A. E. Wiley, superintendent of
California, by his deputy, Agent Logan, of Warm
Springs reservation, Lindsay Applegate, ancl ti~~
Klamath, Modocs ancl Yahooskin band of
Snakes. The military present were a detach
ment of Washington infantry under Lieutenant
Halloran, W. C. McKay with five Indian scouts,
Captain Kelly ancl Lieutenant Underwood, with
a detachment of Company C. The Indians on
the ground numbered 1,070, of whom 700 were
Klamaths, over 300 Modocs and 20 Snakes, but
more than 1,500 were represented. Huntington
estimated that there were not.more than 2,000 In
dians in the country treated for, though Colonel
Drew and E. Steele, of California, made a much
higher estimate.
Special Agent Lindsay Applegate and McKay
acted as counsellors and interpreters for the In
dians. There was no difficultv in making a treaty
with the Klamaths. The Modocs and Snakes
were more reculant, but signed the treaty which
they perfectly understood. It ceded all right to
a tract of country extending from the .14th paral
lel on the north to the ridge which divides the
Pit and McLeod rivers 'on the south, ancl from
the Cascade mountains on the west to the Goose
lake mountains on the east. The boundaries of
the Indian reservation as defined in the treaty
are as follows :
Beginning upon the eastern shore of middle
Klamath lake at the point of rocks about twelve miles
below the mouth of Williamson river; thence follow
ing up said eastern shore to the mouth of Wood river ;
thence up Wood river to a point one mile north of the
bridge at Fort Klamath ; thence due east to the summit
of the ridge which divides the upper and middle Klamath
lakes; thence along said ridge, to a point due east (west)
of the north end of the upper lake to the summit of

the mountains on the east side of the lake;, thence
along said mountains to the point where Sprague river
is intersected by Ish-tish-ia-wa creek; thence in a
southerly direction to the summit of the mountain, the
extremity of which forms the point of rocks ; thence '
along said mountain to the place of beginning.
This tract contained, besides much country
that was considered unfit for settlement, the
Klamath marsh, which afforded a great food
supply in roots, seeds, etc., a large extent of fine-
grazing land, with sufficient arable land to make-
farms for all the Indians and access to the fishery-
on Williamson river and the Great, or Upper
Klamath lake. The Klamath reservation, as
did every Indian reservation, if that on the Ore
gon coast was accepted, contained some of the
choicest country and most agreeable scenery in
the state. White persons, except government-
officers and employees, were by the terms of:
treaty forbidden to reside upon the reservation,.
while the Indians were equally bound to live-
upon it ; the right of way for public roads only
being pledged. The United States agreed to
pay $8,000 per annum for five years, beginning
when the treaty should be ratified ; $5,000 for the
next five years ancl $3,000 for the following five-
years ; these sums to be expended under the di
rection of the president for the benefit of the
Indians. The United States further agreed to
pay $35,000 for such articles as should be fur
nished to the Indians at the time of signing the-
treaty, and for their subsistence, clothing and
teams to begin farming for the first year. As
soon as practicable after the ratification of the;
! treaty, mills, shops and a school house were to
j be built. For 15 years a superintendent, a far
mer, blacksmith, wagon maker, sawyer, and car
penter were to be furnished and two teachers for
22 years. The United States might cause the
land to be surveyed in allotments, which might-
be secured to the families of the holders. The
annuities of the tribes could not be taken for the
debts of individuals. The United States might*
at any future time locate other Indians on the-
reservation, the parties to the treaty to lose no
rights thereby.
On the part of the Indians thev pledged"
themselves not to drink intoxicating liquors on
pain of forfeiting their annuities ; and to obey
the laws of the United States, the treaty to be
binding when ratified.
At this great council which was attended bv
nearly all the Indians in the basin,, they asked
the appointment of Lindsay Applegate as their
agent, which appointment was made during the
summer of 1865, and he repaired to Fort Klam
ath in October of that year with Oliver Applegate,.

-936

HISTORY- OF CENTRAL OREGON.

his son, as clerk and interpreter, his only em
ployee, and took charge of the Indians. The
treaty had not yet been ratified by the United
States senate ancl little could be clone for the bene
fit of the people.
In May, 1866, the agent, with Lucien Apple-
gate, Oliver Applegate, Samuel D. Whitmore
and a man named Reed, with a wagon drawn by
four yoke of oxen and laden with various articles
for the begining of agricultural operations on
the reservation, came over the Cascades on the
old emigrant road. They crossed Link river
where the boom now is, at the head of the river,
swimming the cattle and horses ancl ferrying
the wagons ancl goods over in Indian canoes.
Knowing no way up the big lake except the
rocky trail along the lake margin, they supposed
they would have to make the circuit around Lost
river gap and down Sprague river to reach the
proposed site of Klamath agency, but a Link
river Indian volunteered his services and piloted
them directly through the mountains to William
son river, the present road from Klamath Falls
to Naylox being on the route traveled. At the
"Point of Rocks," north of Naylox, they climbed
to the summit of the mountain, thence along the
summit and clown the steep bluff to the ford on
Williamson river, a few miles above the site of
the present bridge. They christened the Indian
guide Moses, for obvious reasons.
At this point in our history we divert for
the purpose of giving the list of agents who have
served at Klamath agency since the establish
ment of the reservation.
A gentleman named Rogers was the first
agent, he having served from the time of tlie
treaty until the appointment of Lindsav Apnle-
gate, in 1865. The latter served until 1869. Mr.
Applegate was succeeded by O. C. Knapp, who
continued in charsre about one year. John Mea
cham was a special agent for a very short time.
He was succeeded by L. S. Dyar who held the po
sition for a number of vears. Matthews was for
a short time agent, and he was succeeded bv E.
L. Applegate who continued in charge about two
years. L. S. Wilkenson was agent about eight
years. The next succeeding agent was Toseph
Emery, who was, in 1898, succeeded by Captain
O. C. Appleeate who remained in charge until
Mav. 1005, when H. G. Wilson became asrent.
Having established the Klamath Indian
agency the Applegate party proceeded up
Sprague river ancl located Yainax, as a sub-
agency station for the benefit of the many In
dians residing in the beautiful valley of that
stream, being watched the entire distance by the
wilder Snake and Piute Indians of Silver and
.Summer lakes, their signal fires being many

times observed on the summits of the northern
hills. Ivan Applegate was in charge of this sub-
agency until the summer of 1871. With one
white assistant he built a few log buildings, or
ganized an Indian police force, fenced some land
and raised a crop of grain the summer of 1870,
with aid of the Indians. During the summer of
1871 about twenty log cabins were erected at the
sub-agency for the Indians, and other improve
ments were made. O. C. Applegate took charge
in 1871. The main Klamath agency was established at
Ko-was-ta, at the head of Klamath lake, May
12, 1866. A log cabin was erected ancl plowing
at once began. Wheat, oats, rye and barley, with
an assortment of the hardier vegetables, were
successfully grown that season ancl the feasibility
of field culture in the Klamath basin was demon
strated. The Indians entered into the spirit of
the new proceedings with great zest and the
field was fenced in a day with willows, sage
brush ancl pine limbs, the interpreter, with-
thirty stalwart warriors doing the work. The
next season rails were made, mostly by the In
dians and several miles of substantial fence
were made, much of which still stands as a
memorial of those initial days of enterprise and
improvement. Ancl long after the establish
ment of the agency it was menaced bv the Snake
Indians, then on the warpath, and the little
log buildings were hastily enclosed by a stockade
ancl was for a portion of the time guarded by a
detachment of troops from Fort Klamath. Vexa
tious delays attended the ratification of the
Klamath ancl Modoc treaty, so that operations
could not be commenced under it until the year
1867. In October of that year Superintendent
Huntington undertook to lead in a band of beef
cattle for the Indians, and several ox and horse
teams laden with annuity goods, the first in
stallment to come from The Dalles to Klamath
agency, via the Warm Springs reservation. As
the Snake war was yet in progress there was no
little clanger of the great train falling into the
hands of Paulina, the war chief of the Oregon
nomads. Mr. Huntington called upon the agent
for assistance and he went at once to meet him
with an escort of five regulars from Fort Klamath
and < )liver Applegate, with his hastily organized
company of Klamath scouts. Two of the princi
pal chiefs were his lieutenants ancl the sub
ordinates consisted of the most daring and active
of the voung warriors. This was called the "Axe
ancl Rifle Company," as these men guarded the
train through the hostile country and, going in
advance through the dense black pine forests,
between the Des Chutes ancl Klamath, cut out
the way with their axes for the teams, mostly

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

937

along the route of the old Indian trail. This
great train in November encountered a snow
storm in the Des Chutes country ancl for a hun
dred miles progress was difficult and trying.
At the period the original treaty with the
Indians was made the reservation had not been
surveyed, the boundaries being described by what
were supposed to be well defined topographical
features. This treaty was signed in 1864, ac
cepted by the Indians and ratified by the govern
ment. But when a survey of the reservation
was made it was found to be a difficult task to
locate the boundaries ; this led to complications
which were not settled for many years after.
In 1870 the described line was surveyed bv
Mr. Mercer, of Corvallis. He submitted his map
to the Indians at that time. They then claimed
that he had not included all the land which they
had supposed was reserved to them in the treaty.
His survey cut off a portion of Sican valley and
the whole upper portion of Sprague river valley.
The Indians declared that all this country had
been included in the tract reserved as they had
agreed upon the boundary in making the treaty :
but Mr. Mercer could not find it so in the treaty.
The Indians then insisted that it was not written
as they understood it ; but the Mercer survey
was accepted and ratified by the government.
Thus the whole land business and settlement of
Klamath county conformed to the survey as
placed upon the records. The difference be
tween Mercer's reading of the treaty ancl the ver
sion of the Indians is the cmestion as to what
point was to be considered the junction of "Ash-
tish'' creek ancl Sprague river. The treaty pro
vided that from a point near the head of Klamath
marsh the line should run to "the point where
Sprague river is intersected by 'Ash-tish,' or Wax
creek." Now this creek after emerging from its
upper ancl mountainous course, spreads out, some
what after the fashion of Lost river, over a wide,
nearly level, marshy plain, which is called upper
Sprague river valley, but does not intersect anv
other water course until it reaches what is called
the middle fork of Sprague river. The surveyor
ran a line to this, the first point of intersection
with another stream that he could find, and main
tained that he could not follow the directions
ancl do otherwise. The Indians said they con
sidered Ash-tish creek as ended where it reached
the vallev or plain, ancl that the stream thence
onward was Sprague river; ancl they had intended
to keep the whole of upper Sprague river valley.
The treaty was written bv Afent Huntington ancl
the boundaries were described to him bv the
Indians through an interpreter. Neither he nor
the witnesses to the tearty went over the line,
and it is not surprising that opportunity was left

for future disagreement. The description in the
treaty was vague ancl indefinite, and the surveyor,
Mercer, undoubtedly interpreted it conscien
tiously and properly.
Thus the matter rested for many years. The
Indians were dissatisfied with the survey of 1870
and believed that they were entitled to the whole
of Upper Sprague river valley, as they under
stood the treaty of 1864. The government hav
ing accepted the Mercer survey of 1870, leaving
out of the reservation the rich lands of upper
Sprague river valley, this land was settled upon
by whites ancl patents to the lands were issued
by the government.
At last efforts were made to effect a settle
ment of the perplexing question. As the repre- ,
sentative of the Indians Mr. Ivan Applegate went
to Washington, D. C, where he succeeded in hav
ing action taken. It was during the second ad
ministration of Grover Cleveland that congress
authorized the appointment of a commission to
investigate ancl report the claims of the Indians.
This commission was composed of William C.
Coleman, of Missouri, Richard R. P. Hammond,
of California and Ivan Applegate, of Oregon.
Upon investigating the case in all its details
the commission found that the treaty provided
for the whole of Sprague river valley to be in
cluded in the reservation ; that according to the
later surveys a large portion of that valley had
been left out ancl had been setled by whites ;
that between 500.000 and 600,000 acres of land
had thus been denied the rightful owners, the
Indians. The commission fixed a value of about
78 cents per acre on the land and recommended
that an appropriation be granted the Indians in
payment. The report was accepted, but up to
the present time the appropriation has not been
granted bv congress, although attempts to pass
such a bill are made at nearly every session.
The Klamath and Modoc Indians of the
Klamath reservation all dress as whites, wear
their hair short ancl are well advanced in civiliza
tion. AVhile they are not what might be termed
fully civilized, the elements of progress are well
grounded and steadily developing among them.
A stranger riding through the district would
never suspect that he was passing through an
Indian settlement. Commodious residences, s:ood
barns, extensive stock pastures and hay meadows,
stacks of hav and good fences, with what little
live stock they have in fine condition, show gen
eral prosperity ancl give it the appearance of a
community of prosperous white pioneers, instead
of being" among the Klamath and Modoc Indians.
some of whom were hostiles of the "Lava Beds"
troubles of 1872 ancl 1873.
With the exception of the very old people

938

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

these Indians are fairly well educated, a majority
of them being well advanced, and of the 200
whose signatures were attached to an agreement
with the government in 1900, 95 signed their
own names. All appear to understand English,
and most of them, both men and women, speak
the English language quite intelligently ancl with
out native accent so common to most tribes.
The Klamath Indians, in customs, education
and business ability, are superior to most of the
American tribes and are surpassed by none. Con
trast the Klamaths with the blanketed, long
haired Sioux or any of the several branches of
that tribe. The Klamaths are far in advance of
them. The government has taken good care of its

wards on the Klamath reservation. At the agency
is maintained one of the most promising Indian
schools in the service, having an average attend
ance of about 125 pupils. As shown by statistics
it stands only second to the Chemawa Training
school, or Harrison Institute, near Salem, among
the several Indian schools of Oregon, ancl is a
permanent institution. The school buildings
alone represent a valuation of not less then
$30,000. Besides the school there are several
other institutions at the agency for the benefit
of the Indians. Early in the present decade con
gress appropriated $11,000 for improvements at
the agency. Of this amount $5,700 was for a
system of water works; $2,100 for sewers, and
$3,200 for electric lighting.

CHAPTER II

FROM EARLY SETTLEMENT TO MODOC WAR

We have now advanced to the primal settle
ment of Klamath county. Prior to the Indian
treaty no thought of permanent settlement in the
country had entered the mind of any one. To a
few people only was the country known — those
who had come from the far western settlements
to pilot immigrants across the mountains and pro
tect them from Indians ; a few trappers and trad
ers ; two or three men who had had the courage
to graze stock upon the range ; and a small force
of troops under Colonel Drew who had made an
exploration of the country. But with the estab
lishment of the military post and the resultant
knowledge gained of the country, a few stalwart
pioneers ventured to build homes and wrest a
heritage from the wilderness. But this early set
tlement was not accomplished without great dan
ger, privations and hardships. Few and far be
tween were the settlers ; surrounded by wild
beasts and wilder men, deprived of all life's com
forts and the conveniences of social life ; they
joined determinedly in the struggle with material
things. But to these pioneers the swamp and
sage plains of Klamath county presented a scene
at once picturesque, but unpromising, except for
the sole industry of stock raising. The natural
meadows afforded sustenance for winter, and the
bunch grass hills were the almost limitless pas
tures where their cattle flourished ancl fattened.
'thus the Klamath country for so many years

passed by with indifference ; considered fit for
nothing hut savage Modocs, sage brush, coyotes
and jack-rabbits, was discovered to be valuable
as a stock raising country. One by one the-
pioneers ventured in here and thus satisfied the
more timid that this was indeed a fair and goodly
land — that in addition to being a good stock, it
was a farming country as well. But this latter
fact was not demonstrated until many years
later. The honor of being the first permanent settler
in Klamath county undoubtedly belongs to Wen-
dolen Nus, who was later killed in the Modoo
War. We have related the experiences of Mr.
Nus during the winter of 1858-9, in the Klamath
country, and of his subsequent removal to the
John Day mines. In 1866 Mr. Nus returned to
the Klamath basin. With him he brought a band"
of cattle. He located on the west side of Klamath
lake at a point about three miles north of the-
present town of Klamath Falls. Here he built a
cabin, did some fencing and passed the winter of
1866-7. That winter he furnished beef for the-
fort. In 1867 he took up a place on the east bank
of Klamath river, about two miles below the pres
ent site of Klamath Falls. Here he built a cabin-
ancl ran a ferry acrQss the Klamath river.
In April, 1867, two soldiers stationed at the-
fort. First Sergeant O. A. Stearns ancl Lewellyn
Colver, of Company I, First Oregon: Infantry,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

939^

selected land in the Klamath country upon which
to settle so soon as they were mustered out of the
service. This occurred in July, of that year, at
Jacksonville, and they at once returned to their
new homes. The holdings by them selected were
state lands on the west side of Klamath river,
seven miles southwest of the present town of
Klamath Falls. Messrs. Stearns ancl Colver
formed a partnership which was maintained for
several years. They built one cabin and laid
the foundation for homes. Being without means
they were obliged to work out a portion of each
year in order to secure a "grub-stake" to start
them in the stock-raising business.
O. T. Brown, who had been at the fort for
some time previous, accompanied Stearns and
Colver in their search for land, and about the
same time located on Spencer creek. Mrs. Brown
accompanied her husband and was the first white
woman to make her home in the Klamath
country. Arthur Langell was a settler of 1867. Pie lo
cated upon the Hot Springs property, just east
of the present town of Klamath Falls. Later he
sold this property and moved to the valley which
now bears his name.
Another settler of 1867 was Dennis Crawley
who settled on land on the west side of Klamath
river near the O. A. Steam's place. H. M.
Thatcher, who was a school teacher living in the
settlements west of the mountains, was a part
ner of Mr. Crawley ancl came out the following
year. He took land adjoining his partner. Be
ing of small means these two men decided to
economize in the matter of buildings and so only
one cabin was erected, and that was on Mr. Craw
ley's claim. They put in a crop of grain, their
intention being to supply grain for Fort Klam
ath. Their venture resulted in failure ; their part
nership was dissolved, and each member settled
at different points in the county.
C. C. Bailey, in the same year, settled on the
present site of Maylox, the place then being
known as Humming Bird Spring.
Another settler of 1867 was A. J. Burnette,
who took up his place of residence on the east
side of the lower end of Upper Klamath lake.
William Hicks, also, came to the country this
year and was employed by Mr. Langell on his
place at the Hot Springs.
The crowning event of the year 1867 was the
founding of the town of Linkville, on Link river ;
the present town of Klamath Falls. The creation
of the town at this time was not effected with
loud whoops ancl a brass band. Possibly it is
stretching a point to say that the town was
"founded" at all. But we will accept the benefit
of the doubt and say that Linkville was founded

in 1867. At all events a cabin was built here by
George Nurse and Edgar Overton, and within
L.e cabin was a store consisting of the remnants
of Mr. Nurse's sutler's stock at Fort Klamath. .
The entire assortment could, probably, have been
loaded on a buckboard. It consisted of trinkets
which caught the Indian's eye ; tobacco which was
more to the liking of the white man ; and a few
other articles generally found in a frontier sut
ler's store. As we shall in a later chapter tell of
the subsequent history of this town, let us pass it
here with this brief mention.
Thus we find at the close of 1867, where at
the beginning there was only one settler, a town
with something less than a dozen people ancl a
few scattered settlers living in the Klamath coun
try, aside from the soldiers at Fort Klamath. The -
year 1868 witnessed the arrival of quite a num
ber of new settlers in the Klamath country. These,
as did those of the preceding year, came with a
view of making permanent homes for themselves
and families. Being quite doubtful of the prac
ticability of successful farming, they gave their
more serious attention to the raising of horses
and cattle.
From the general character of the soil it soon.
appeared to the casual observer that crops might
be grown, barring the doubt entertained of the ef
fect of severe winters and early frosts. However,
the human family is endowed with an experimen
tal temperament, and these hardy pioneers had
unlimited possession of it.
The subsequent four or five years determined.
the fact that grain by careful and expedient cul-
vation could be grown with moderate success in
about four particular localities, viz: the John
H. Miller and O. A. Stearns' places, near Keno ;
the Reames & Martin place, near Linkville and
the A. J. Burnette place on the eastern shore of
Klamath lake. Grain at that time sold readily at.
three, four and five cents per pound. Around
these four small farms centralized the thought
and experiment of the entire community in har
mony with the owners who performed the manual:
labor, the desire of the consumers being to avoid
transportation of this much needed article over a
rugged, rocky, rough and mountainous road from
Rogue River valley on wagons drawn by horses -
ancl mules. These places were located on the
shores of Little Klamath lake, or swamp sur
rounding the lake, immediately adjacent to the
natural swamp grases used for hay ; the lands in
their wild state being covered with small brush
and weeds — not the variety commonly known as
sage brush land of which the county is mostly
composed, but rather the intermediate between-
swamp and sage brush land.
These supposed favored localities were taxed'

94-c

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

to their limited capacities in an effort to supply
the demand of a rapidly increasing stock country
which was being populated by migratory herds
from every county and state on the Pacific coast
for the purpose of gaining free access to the
bunch grass that carpeted the hills and plains. The
stockmen were reclining at their ease, reaping
handsome profits from their fat herds of cattle
ancl horses. A very large percentage of the reve
nue derived from the sale of stock was expended
in Rogue River valley for flour, vegetables, fruits
and other necessaries of life. So commonly was
the settler seen on the road after supplies that
the lookers-on facetiously remarked, "There goes
another sage-brusher down to Egypt after corn."
In 1868 Messrs. Coultas and Kuhn, with their
wives, settled in the Klamath basin. These ladies
were the second ancl third white women to become
residents of Klamath county. In 1868 J. T. Fulk
erson ancl Mr.' Harris took up homes about ten
miles southwest of Linkville where they built
cabins. Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Fulkerson were
also, among the first white women to locate in the
county. Steven Stukel, still a resident of Klam
ath county, settled two and one-half miles east
of Klamath Falls, on what is now known as the
Mitchell place, in 1868. He made his home
there until 1878 when he moved to the Merrill
neighborhood. In the fall of 1868 a Mr. Miller
accompanied by his three sons, John H., Will
iam ancl Warren settled on land on Little Klam
ath lake on what is now known as the Downing
ranch. Robert Whittle, who for several years
previously had annually come from Yreka up to
the Klamath river where Keno is now situated, to
catch fish which he took back to Yreka to sell, in
1868 with his son-in-law, Francis Picard, built a
cabin and the two became residents of Klamath
county. Joseph Conger also came in 1868, ancl
worked for George Nurse at Linkville for several
years. Two other settlers of this year were John
Corbell and John Scheffbauer, who bought the
Hot Springs property of Arthur Langell.
The year 1868 was, also, fraught with other
events of importance. A sawmill was then estab
lished in the territory now embraced by Klamath
county. It was located on Spencer creek by
Granville Naylor and John Hockenyoss. For ten
years it continued to saw lumber for the settlers
of southern Oregon ancl northern California. In
1871 this property was purchased by E. Spencer.
This mill was quite a primitive one, but it an
swered well the demands of that primitive period.
Nearly all of the buildings in Klamath county in
the earlier days were erected from lumber sawed
at this mill.
More settlers came in 1869. At the close of
that year there were, possibly, 100 people living

within the boundaries of the present Klamath
countv. This settlement of 1869 Was due, largely,
to the ending of the Snake Indian war following
the successful campaign of General Crook. To
Goose lake valley there was quite an immigra
tion that year, and as the route was through the
Klamath county territory, many, being satisfied
with the country, stopped off and settled. Among
the new comers this year were George S. Miller,
who drove in a band of cattle and located at Lost
river gap ; Thomas J. Brattain, who settled near
Linkville that year and moved to the Bonanza
neighborhood the following season; William J.
Horton, Anion Shook, and several sons who lo
cated near the Stearns ranch; Francis Smith,
Edward Penning ancl John S. Shook who took
claims in, ancl named Alkali, (now Yonna) val
ley; Benjamin Hall ancl a small party who found
homes in Lankell's valley; Jacob Thompson,
Jesse D. Walker, who located on the west side of
Klamath river near Keno; Mr. Whitney who
built the bridge at Linkville ; Judson Small, Den
nis Small, A. F. Woodruff, Joseph Campbell, Si
las Kilgore and George Thomas, all of whom lo
cated southwest of Linkville.
It was in 1869 that the few settlers who had
made homes in the Klamath countr}- began to dis
cuss seriously the question of a road ¦ through
their particular section of the country. The road
from Fort Klamath to the towns west of the
mountains was of no benefit whatever to those
who had settled in the southern portion of the
county. The members of the county court of
Jackson county were not, at first, inclined to
grant the petition of the settlers east of the moun
tains for a county road. Through a country so
sparsely settled the court could not see the wis
dom of building a roadway. But, eventually, af
ter two of the settlers had' furnished a bond for
$1,000 to cover expenses in case it was not found
practicable to lay out the road, they dispatched
a surveyor to the Klamath country. He made a
favorable report and laid out the road. This was
all the settlers wanted ; they constructed the high
way. It wound up along the Klamath river;
thence to Lost river ancl clown that stream to the
Stukel place ; thence down the east side of Tule
lake to the state line.
Another event of this year was the survey of
a railway route across the county. In the Klam
ath Falls Express of April 20, 1893, Mr. D. B.
Worthington. who was a member of the survey
ing party, said of this incident :
We call attention to the fact, though forgotten no
doubt by many, that Hon. Jesse D. Applegate made a
preliminary survey across the Cascades in 1869, which
penetrated Klamath county.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

941

Applegate's line commenced near the old James
Miller place on Little Butte, following the same toward
its head in the Cascades to Fish lake ; thence southeast
to Lost Prairie; thence on nearly the same course
across the main summit to Buck lake ; thence in a
more easterly direction to Aspen lake ; thence easterly
to the Klamath river, ancl crossing the same at the
old Nus ferry, about three miles below Klamath Falls;
thence in a southwesterly course to the Oregon and
California line.
Our information in this matter is not borrowed, as
ye scribe (D. B. Worthington), was one of the chain
bearers on that memorable expedition, and the scenes
and incidents occurring along the virgin line are yet
quite vivid in our memory, notwithstanding the inter
vention of many years. This route proved to be
exceedingly rough in places, especially along Butte
Creek and its head tributaries, abounding- in brush,
rocks and heavy timber, until we reached the neigh
borhood of Lost Prairie. Then the woods became more
open and rocky, precipitous gorges and cliffs less fre
quent. From there on we had no great difficulty in run
ning several miles each clay, and on reaching the Kla
math basin we had plain sailing until we suddenly and
quite unexpectedly ran intu Captain Jack's camp on
Lost river, near the old Byuee & Colwell stock ranch.
Here our further progress was questioned by his high
ness, Captain Jack, who informed us through his in
terpreter, Scarface Charley, ..that he did not desire his
dominion should be surveyed, as he had no intention
of joining the "Bostons" in agricultural pursuits.
When made to understand that the survey was not
being made for that particular purpose, but for a line
of railroad, be was still obstinate (one of his noted
peculiarities) and said that he did not want a rail
road ; his ponies being good enough for him and his
people. After a talk which lasted nearly through the
night, costing the outfit all the tobacco it possessed and
nearly everything eatable, he told us we had his per
mission to proceed to our objective point, the state
line, but not to linger, as his people were "Hiyu sullix
copa Boston" (angry at the whites) and he would
not hold himself responsible for any loss of life or
property which we might suffer at their hands. As
the redoubtable captain looked very much in earnest
while he was saying this, we were not inclined to doubt
him in the least. On the following day we connected
with the state line and returned at "double quick'' to
Linkville with feelings of considerable relief that we
were well out of a bad scrape.
To the best of our recollection this survey was
made at the instigation of a party of wealthy and
prominent men of Oregon, to test the feasibility of a
railroad line from Rogue river valley across the Cas
cades to the Klamath basin. The route following the
Applegate survey is altogether practicable, though ex
ceedingly rough in the vicinity of Little Butte ; but
a rough surface in building railroads does not cut any

very great figure so long as a sufficiently easy grade
can be obtained.
Some definite idea of the population of Klam
ath county in 1870 may be gained from the fact
that at the election in June of that year there
were cast in the precinct of Jackson, lying east.
of the mountains, including the present Lake and
Klamath counties, 32 votes.
During the three years preceding the out
break of the Modoc War, 1870, '71 and '72, set
tlement was quite vigorous, although when the
war came there were not to exceed 400 men, wo
men ancl children, possibly not over 250, in what
is now Klamath county. Data is not available to-
give the names of all these settlers, but a few
who lived in the county for many years and be
came closely identified with the county's history
in after years have been brought to our notice.
In 1870 came J. P. Roberts, James Taylor, Jo
seph Sweigle and Benjamin Stout. In 1871 W.„
M. Roberts, John Gleim, J. F. Arant and Henry
C. Duncan. The year 1872 brought George Mc
Donald, Daniel Colwell, Isaac Wilson, John Loos-
ley, Michael Hartery, J. F. Adams, Thomas Wil
son, I. P Chandler and W. F. Arant.
Prior to the spring of 1872, although the
Klamath country was settled to a considerable
extent, there had been no mail facilities. The
troops at the fort secured their mail from Henley,
California, on the west side of the mountain, a
soldier making the trip once every two weeks.
The settlers got their mail as best they could.
But in the spring of 1872 the government
was prevailed upon to grant a mail route into
the interior country, and a contract for carry
ing the mail was let. The route was from Ash
land, Oregon, to Lake City, California, via Link
ville. At the latter town a postoffice was estab
lished with George Nurse as postmaster. Later -
another office was opened at Merganser, of which
J. P. Roberts was postmaster.
The contract for delivering over this route
was let to Mr. Kilgore, of Ashland, for between
$4,000 ancl $5,000 a year. Weekly trips were
made, the mails being carried by Mr. Kilgore and
his sons ; sometimes on horseback ; often in a
light vehicle, and occasionally they carried the
mail sacks afoot on their backs. This contract
was held bv Mr. Kilgore three years.
In 1875 Garrett & Hatton were awarded the
contract to convey the mails, subletting the route -
from Linkville to Lake City to John McCtirdy.
Then they turned their attention and energies
toward building up a first-class, old time stage -
route between the two first named points. The
terms of the contract called for semi-weeklv
trips from Ashland to Linkville, which continued"

•942

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

until the expiration of the first two years. Re
ceiving nearly all the government passenger
traffic to and from Fort Klamath, which was
neavily garrisoned at that period, and as the
Klamath country was beginning to be rapidly
settled up, the staging business increased accord
ingly. Two-horse stock and light wagons fail-'

ing to accommodate the general public, regular
Concord coach, four and six-horse stock, was sub
stituted at great expense, and the service in
creased to daily trips, running the original con
tract price up to $17,000 per year, which contin
ued until the expiration of their contract. Dur
ing- the four years' service they lost only one trip.

CHAPTER III

THE MODOC WAR.

In previous chapters we have told of the stir
ring events in the Klamath country — which is
now the political division known as Klamath
county — from the date of the first visit of white
men up to the opening of the Modoc War. It
remains to detail the tragic incidents of this short,
but desperate struggle between a few score of the
Modoc Indians, under the leadership of Captain
Jack, and the United States troops and Oregon
volunteers. But at the outset let us consider the status of
the Klamath country at the date of the outbreak
in the fall of 1872. "Within the. present boundaries
of Klamath county at that period were living
between 300 and 400 white people — stock rais
ers, mainly, in Lost river, Tule lake and Lan-
gell's valleys, on Link river, and one or two on
Sprague river. Within this county were two
small trading points ; Linkville on the present
site of Klamath Falls, and Merganser, on the east
bank of the river, two or three miles below Link
ville. Each of these towns boasted of a store and
two or three other business houses, which catered
to the trade of the settlers in the Klamath coun
try. To the north of these settlements, from
40 to 60 miles was Fort Klamath, garrisoned
by a small body of troops. On the Klamath reser
vation lived the Klamath Indians and portions of
a -few other tribes who, according to the treaty of
1864, had agreed to live there. The Modocs,
in defiance of the treaty, occupied the old lands
and laid claim to them, levying tribute on the
settlers who wished to make homes there.
The war broke out in November, 1872. Under
Captain Jack the Modocs swept throught the set
tlements of Lost river and Tule lake valleys,
murdered the white inhabitants, destroyed homes
and, retiring into the impregnable recesses of the
'lava beds of Northern California, bade defiance to

the combined forces of all the United States
troops in the country, and several companies of
volunteer troops from Oregon and California for
nearly a year. A trail of blood, ashes and tears
was left from Linkville to the lava beds; terror
entered the hearts of every settler in the Klam-
math country. One of the fiercest Indian wars
ever fought, it attracted world-wide attention.
During the progress of this war, covering
1 period of less than a year, nearly as many were
killed — soldiers, volunteers and citizens — as were
lost in battle on the American side during the
Spanish-American war. The money expended
in this outbreak by the United States was more
than $4,000,000.
Briefly the primal causes of the Modoc War
was the. refusal of this tribe of Indians to live on
the Klamath reservation, as provided by treaty,
and the attempt of the government to force them
to do so.
The main incidents leading up to the breaking
out of hostilities are told in an official communi
cation from Brigadier General Edward R. S. Con-
by, commanding the department of the Colum
bia, to the assistant adjutant general of the mili
tary division of the Pacific, dated Portland, Feb
ruary 7, 1872. This communication in part was:
The treaty with the Klamaths, Modocs and
Yahooskin Snakes, was made on the 14th of October,
1864, and approved by the senate with certain amend
ments on the second of July, 1866, but not finally
ratified until the 10th of December, 1869. This long
delay made the Indians who were parties to the treaty
very suspicious, and I have been informed by the
superintendent that when the treaty, as amended by
the senate, was interpreted and explained to them,
Captain Jack, the present leader of the troublesome
Modocs, protested that it did not represent what they

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

943.

had agreed to. He was, however, convinced by the
testimony of the other chiefs, and finally assented to it.
When they were established on the reservation they
went to work with a good deal of interest to build
cabins and enclose ground for cultivation, but were so
much annoyed by the Klamaths that they complained
to the local agent, who instead of protecting them in
their rights, endeavored to compromise the difficulty
by removing them to another location. At this point
the same difficulties recurred, ancl a third selection was
made. The Modocs then abandoned the reservation,
alleging that the last point selected was a trap to
place them in the power of their enemies, the Klamaths.
These changes were made without the concurrence
of the superintendent, and I believe did not come to
his knowledge until after the Modocs had fled from the
reservation. All subsequent attempts to induce them
to return have failed.
In the summer of last year, and in consequence
of complaints against these Indians, the superintendent
sent commissioners to confer with them, who author
ized the Modocs to remain where they were until the
superintendent could see them. This has been' under
stood as a settlement of the question until some
permanent arrangement could be made for them ; and
unless they have violated some subsequent agreement,
I do not think that the immediate application of force,
as asked for, would be either expedient or just. They
should, at least, be notified that a new location has
been selected for them and provision made for their
wants. They should, also,- be allowed a reasonable and
definite time to remove their families and fully warned
that their refusal or failure to remove to the reserva
tion within the appointed time would be followed by
such measures as may be necessary to compel therm
I am not surprised at the unwillingness of the Modocs
to return to any point of the reservation where they
would be exposed to the hostilities and annoyances
they have heretofore experienced (and without ade
quate protection) from the Klamaths, but they have
expressed a desire to be established upon Lost river,
where they would be free from this trouble, and the
superintendent informed me last summer that he would
endeavor to secure such a location for them.
In no other respects are the Modocs entitled to much
consideration, and although many of the cbmplaints
against them have been found to be greatly exaggerated,
they are, without being absolutely hostile, sufficiently
troublesome to keep up a constant feeling of ap
prehension among the settlers.
As stated in General Canby's report the Mo
docs were taken upon the reservation where they
remained only a short period when they again
left and went to their chosen home on Lost river.
It was in January, 1870, when Superintendent
A. B. Meacham succeeded in removing them to

the reservation. The story of the accomplishment
of this deed is worth preserving. The party that <
entered upon this mission were Superintendent
of Indian Affairs A. B. Meacham ; O. C. Knapp,
agent of the Klamath reservation ; W. C. McKay,
the noted scout, ancl Ivan Applegate, then in
charge of the Yaimix agency. They assembled
at Linkville and preparations were made to go to
the Modoc camp, on Lost river, to confer with
Captain Jack's band. A messenger was dis
patched to Jack, who returned word that he did
not recognize their authority and that he would
not confer. However, they went to his camp.
As a matter of precaution a detachment of sol
diers, fourteen strong, in command of Sergeant
Beard, were brought down from Fort Klamath
to Linkville. Here they were ordered to remain
while the party under Meacham went to the Mo
doc camp.
The latter party, accompanied by Silas Kil
gore, of Linkville, as teamster, and Chief Henry
Blowe and "Jim" Parker, Indian interpreters,
with their squaws, proceeded to the Indian camp
where they met Jack's party in conference. As
usual Captain Jack was haughty and refused to go
upon the reservation. He produced letters from
white men of Yreka advising him to remain where
he was. It appeared as if the efforts of the
.Meacham party would prove unavailing. Such
was the condition when a very unexpected event
occurred — unexpected to both the Indians and the
commissioner's party.
It was after dark ; the party of white men
noted a commotion in camp. Men and women
were gesticulating wildly ; the whole party was
thrown into the greatest excitement. The camp
was panic stricken. Some of the warriors bolted
the camp ; the greater portion remained a disor
ganized mob. This is what had happened : The
thirteen soldiers under Sergeant Beard, who had
been left at Linkville, had immediately upon the
departure of Mr. Meacham's party, proceeded to
fill up on Linkville liquor. Before night they
were in a condition to imagine that all sorts of
tragedies were being enacted at the Modoc camp,
in which the Meacham party was being massa
cred and greatly in need of assistance. With
Sergeant Beard to imagine was to act. With
his thirteen followers he set out on a lope for the
Indian country. It was dark when they gained
the camp and surprised the Modocs and the com
missioner's party. Throwing his command into
a line of skirmishers Beard advanced. The In
dians, not being able to distinguish the num
ber of soldiers, and imagining that they were
confronted by the advance guard of an army, be
came panic-stricken and utterly demoralized.

944

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Having been unable to accomplish anything
before, Superintendent Meacham decided to take
advantage of the unexpected arrival of the sol
diers and the excitement of the Indians. Agent
Knapp assumed charge of the fourteen men, and
so disposed them as to surround the camp. Then,
with some of the warriors, the women and chil
dren, he proceeded to Link river where they went
into camp. Captain Jack, with seventeen men,
had escaped and gone to his stronghold in the
lava beds, a thing which he did subsequently ; but
when the women and children were not in cus
tody, as we shall show later, Captain Jack and his
following of seventeen not wishing to desert the
women, soon came in to Linkville and gave them
selves up. His whole band was removed to the
Klamath reservation peaceably. Here they re
mained only a short time, soon taking up their
residence on Lost river.
During the closing days of 1871 and the be
ginning of 1872 the Modocs became arrogant and
numerous complaints were made of depreda
tions upon the Klamath county settlers. Among
others molested was J. M. True, who resided
on Lost river. The Indians knocked clown the
fence surrounding his haystack and turned in
their cayuses to his winter feed. They also
carried off some of the hay to their own tepees.
This they did on several occasions. Other set-'
tiers were, also, annoyed by Indian thievery. Sev
eral household utensils were stolen from Mr.
Doten and some halters from Mr. Whitney. From
Mr. True the Modocs demanded money. Captain
Jack threatened the lives of several white men,
among others Messrs. Ball and Blair who lived
near Lost river. These facts were sworn to in
an affidavit made bv Mr. True, January 3,
1872. Conditions had become serious. The Indian's
grew daily more and more arrogant ancl over
bearing in their behavior. Their threats to kill
and burn, together with their numerous depreda
tions, alarmed the settlers of the Klamath coun
try. Many sent their families west of the Cas
cade mountains for safety. Those who did not
very shortly regretted it. Apparently the gov
ernment was making no effort to better the con
dition of the settlers, and this led to a strong
petition signed by fourty-four residents, which
was forwarded to the military authorities ancl to
the department of Indian affairs, asking that
steps be at once taken to remove the Modocs to
the reservation. Following is the petition of the
citizens of the Klamath country to A. B. Meach
am, superintendent of Indian affairs, and Gen
eral Canby, commanding the department of the
Columbia, presented in January, 1872 :

Hon. A. B. Meacham,
Superintendent of Indian Affairs :
General Canby,
Commanding Department of the Columbia :
We, the undersigned, citizens of Lost and Link
rivers, Klamath and Tule lake country, after suffering
years of annoyance from the presence of the Modoc
Indians, who, through the delay of the Indian and
Military departments, have not been removed to the
reservation as required by the treaty stipulations of
1864, entered into by the authorized agents of the
government and the chiefs of the Modoc Indians, by
which all their lands were ceded to the United States
except those embraced in the reservation, as stipulated
in said treaty; but notwithstanding -all the conditions
of. said treaty have been faithfully performed on the
part of the government, it is a well known fact that
a factious band of the Modocs of about 300 who were
parties to that treaty have, through the influence of
citizens of an adjoining state, who have been engaged
in an illicit traffic with them, instigated to set the
authority of the government at defiance, and to utterly
refuse compliance with their treaty stipulations, by
not going on the reservation ; and since there is no
longer any conflict between the Indian and military
department, such as prevented Sub-Agent Applegate
from bringing these Indians on the reservation, we
therefore make this earnest appeal to you for relief,
knowing that you have the cavalry force we petitioned
to be sent to Fort Klamath two years ago for this
specific purpose at your command.
We ask you to use for the purpose for which it
was procured, that the departments, both civil and
military, have not been kept ignorant of the fact that
we have been repeatedly on the verge of a desolating
Indian war with this band of outlaws, who, by your
delay to enforce the treaty, have been led to despise
rather than to respect the authority of the government.
Their long continued success in defying its authorities
has emboldened them in their defiant and hostile bear
ing until further forbearance on our part would cease
to be a virtue ; that in many instances our families have
become alarmed at their threats to kill and burn, until
we were compelled to remove them for safety across
the Cascade mountains, thereby suffering great loss of
time and property. That the agent at Klamath and
commissary at Yainix, during this long delay grow
ing out of this unfortunate conflict of departments,
have done all they could to prevent a war, and bring
about an amicable adjustment of our troubles we have
no reason to doubt ; but wc ask now, since no such con
flict exists, shall a petty Indian chief, with twenty des
peradoes and a squalid band of three hundred miser
able savages any longer set at defiance the strong arm
of the government, driving our citizens from their
homes, threatening their lives, and destroying their
property?

Lake Ewaucan

Lost River, Klamath's Historic Stream

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

945

Their removal to the reservation in the winter sca-
-son may be easily accomplished lay any one acquainted
with them and their country, and will not require more
force than can be furnished from Fort Klamath. We
recommend Com. A. (I.) D. Applegate, of Yainix, to
the consideration of the department as a suitable man
to take charge of any force or expedition to their re
moval His long connection with the Indian Depart
ment, and thorough knowledge of them and their coun
try, and all facts connected with the whole Modoc ques
tion, and as a stock raiser equally interested with us in
their removal, point him out to us as the right man in
the right place, in charge of this much needed expedition
for the removal of the band of Modocs to their reserva
tion, for which we, your petitioners, will ever pray.
' Signed by I. N. Shook, Samuel Colver, James H.
Calahan, Simpson Wilson, Thomas Wilson, Frank Hef-
ling, David P. Shook, James Ninson,' I. J. Brattam, G.
S. Miller, H. Duncan, Edwin Crook, D. C. Kilgore, A.
C. Modie, Joseph Langell, O. H. Swingle, C. A. Miller,
Willis Hall, I. C. Turindge, E. Hall, G. B. Van Riper,
H. Hall, P. H. Springer, I. T. Heant, J. V. Kuhn, Jo
seph Seeds, H. Berlmann, John E. Naylor, Thomas Cal-
lar, George Vuen, G. M. Rambo, Edward Overton,
Drury Davis, William Roberts, W. Dingman, John Gatt-
rod, John Gleim, W. Hicks, W. H. Miller, O. A.
Stearns, Isaac Harris, O. L. Stearns, George Thomas,
John Fulkerson.
The condition of affairs at this time is plainly
set forth in a letter written by Jesse Applegate
on February i, 1872, to A. B. Meacham, superin
tendent of Indian affairs. Mr. Applegate's let
ter in part was as follows :
Having broken away from the reservation in de
fiance of the agent and the military, and conciliatory
means alone resorted to to induce them to return, they
(the Modocs) have misunderstood your forbearance
and humanity, and think your policy dictated by weak
ness and fear, and the impunity with which they com
mit aggressions and levy "blackmail" upon the settlers,
encourages and confirms that belief.
From advices from that quarter, their arrogance and
impudence have been greater than ever before, and the
patience and forbearance of the settlers most inclined
to peace is well nigh exhausted.
The Indians help themselves to what they want when
by intimidation they fail to obtain permission. Instead
of a more friendly feeling growing up between the
races, the hatred of one and the assurance of the other
is by this conduct continually intensified, and open hos
tilities may any day commence between them. This
state of affairs. discourages new settlers, and keeps those
in the country in a feverish state of uneasiness and
alarm, and instead of their increased numbers driving
the Indians into better behavior, the number of Indians
are constantly recruited by the bad and discontented
60

flung to them from the neighboring reservations, and
they being concentrated in a body, they actually hold
the settlements on Lost and Link rivers at their mercy,
and being perfectly aware of the fact, they use it to
their own advantage.
But at last the military authorities took action
for the protection of the settlers. February 16,
1872, orders were issued from the headquarters
of the Department of the Columbia, at Portland,
to the commanding- officer of the district of the
lakes, at Camp Warner, to establish a force of
fifty or sixty cavalrymen at some point in the
threatened country with a view of giving protec
tion to the settlers. These troops were to be
taken in nearly equal proportions from Fort Kla
math and Camp Warner, ancl Yainix Station on
Sprague river, was suggested as a suitable place
from which to operate. This order was not in
tended as a demonstration of war, as the follow
ing paragraph in the letter of instructions will
show :
"You will be careful to impress upon the com
manding officer that the object in view is not to
make war upon the Modocs, but if possible to-
avert war by preventing collisions between them
ancl the settlers, and taking such other measures
as may be necessary to keep the peace and secure
the settlers from depredations ancl hostilities. *
* * But if hostilities should actually be com
menced or be inevitable, the most prompt and
energetic measures must be adopted to suppress
and punish them, and to this end all the resources
in men and material at the posts in the district of
the lakes will be at your disposal."
During this time the question of selecting a
new location for the Modocs was being duly con
sidered by the commissioner of Indian affairs at
Washington, D. C. Owing to the inability of the
Modocs and •Klamaths to live peaceably on the
Klamath reservation, it appeared desirable to
some that a new location should be secured for
the Modocs. This plan had been suggested by
Superintendent A. B. Meacham to the department
at Washington, he having recommended that a
small reservation be made for the Modocs at the
north end of Tule lake, but no action was taken
by the department along that line.
The fact that no action was taken by the gov
ernment toward granting a new reservation for
the Modocs cannot, by any possibility, be con
strued as a mistake on its part. By treaty the
Modoc Indians had agreed to live on the reserva
tion, and had ceded their Lost river iands to the
United States : the greater portion of them were
willing to remain on the reservation. Here were
the conditions : Captain Jack, who represented
only the worst element of the tribe and whose au-

946

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

thority as chief of the Modocs the government
did not recognize, had taken a small part of the
tribe and, in defiance of the treaty, was assuming
control, and ownership of a country in which
he had no right to live. With this cut-throat
element of the Modocs he wanted a reservation,
in the heart of a country which was settled by
whites with no protection against the lawless
deeds of the Indians. Had a reservation been
granted them on Lost river conditions would have
remained the same as we find at this date, and
the settlers would have lived in constant fear of
attack and would have been obliged to suffer from
their thievery and threats. Aside from these
conditions the effect on other Indians would have
proved unfavorable. They would have seen that
a treaty was not to be considered binding and
that when they desired to repudiate it and se
cure a new location, all they would have to do
would be to leave ; intimidate all the settlers in
the country to which they moved ; commit a few
depredations and the government, fearful of an
outbreak, would readily grant them all they
asked. We desire to state here positively that the plan
of granting a new reservation to the Modocs was
an impossibility. In our opinion if any error was
committed by the authorities during and preced
ing the Modoc war, it was not in refusing to
grant the reservation on Lost river.
We have previously stated that the cause of
the Modoc war was the refusal of these Indians
to live upon the Klamath reservation, coupled
with the attempt of military authorities to remove
them. To everyone that fact was patent. But
the Modoc war would never have broken out had
there not been another cause — a cause which it
is necessary to detail in order that a faithful his
tory may be presented. This was the relation
existing between the Modocs and certain resi
dents of California, notably those of Yreka. For
many years while the Modocs were living on the
lands of Lost river all their trade and business
ldations had been with the people of that Cali
fornia town. Many of the Modoc squaws had
become wives of white men of Yreka. The In
dians were treated fairly by Yreka people, ancl
through long intercourse had come to look upon
them as friends and advisors.
Such were the actual conditions when the
Modocs became dissatisfied with their treaty ob
ligations ancl refused to live on Klamath reser
vation. Had it not been for the advice of their
Yreka friends they would have been easily per
suaded to do so, and there would have been no
Modoc War.
At the several times when attempts were made
to get the Captain Jack band of Indians to go

back, this advice from Yreka was each time' en
countered, and it balked the efforts of the su
perintendent of Indian affairs in the accomplish
ment of his mission. Practically this advice from
Yreka to Captain Jack was : "We are your
friends and will stay by you. The Oregon of
ficers have no. authority over you. Stay where
you are on your Lost river lands and we will
see that you are not removed, but that your
homes shall be there forever."
These statements are not from hearsay evi
dence, but are made from letters which were
turned over by Captain Jack when efforts were
made to remove him. This advice did not come
from irresponsible parties, but from men of high
standing at Yreka. However, there can be Only
one explanation for such advice — selfishness. Had
the Modocs been removed to the reservation
Yreka would have been deprived of a profitable
trade with the band. These Yreka men knew of
the treaty of 1864 and that the Modoc Indians
had no legal or moral right to the lands on Lost
river. So when attempts were made to remove Cap
tain Jack's band the commissioner was met by a
haughty chief. "My white friends tell me to stay
here," argued Jack. "You of Oregon have no
authority over me. I shall never go to the reser
vation." Without this advice and promised sup
port from Yreka these Indians would have been
placed on the reservation with very little diffi
culty and the Modoc war would have been
averted. Along the same lines was the part taken by
the large stockmen just over the line in Cali
fornia. It is the history of the west that stock
men have always discouraged settlement by farm
ers^ and these large stockowners of Northern
California, who ranged their cattle up into the
present Klamath country, did not wish to see the
country settled. Their influence was thrown to
the side of the Indians in their .contentions for
their old lands on Lost river.
This California influence was apparent
throughout the war and the several propositions
to grant the Modocs a reservation on Lost river
were considered by the Washington authorities
mginated in Yreka, California. That this re
grettable stand taken by Yreka parties resulted
in a prolongation of the war, as well as being
the actual cause of it, is apparent. Through it,
and the first reports of the war sent out to the
world from Yreka, a decidedly wrong idea was
conveyed. These reports were wired bv people
who were interested in retaining the trade of the
Modocs, and were all prepared from the Indian
point of view. In fact, the correspondents at
Yreka at the outset, had no data from which to

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

947

write their stories except that as told by the
Indians themselves. Because of this the reading
public did (and were justified in doing so) believe
that the Modocs were a much abused people and
were fighting for a principle much the same as
our forefathers did in the War of the Revolution.
Influence from all parts of the country was
brought to bear on the authorities to grant the
Modocs a reservation on Lost river. So strong
was it that this was nearly done, despite the
better judgment of the authorities. No greater
mistake could have been made.
In February, 1872, Superintendent Meacham
suggested to General Canby that either Linkville
-or Langell's valley would be a more eligible point
for the cavalry to operate from than the other
suggested point, Yainix. Either of these two
places was only four or five hours' ride from the
Modoc camp, ancl with no mountains between,
while Yainix was some 50 or 60 miles from the
camp and in the vicinage of a rough country.
It was the opinion of Superintendent Meacham
that the presence of the cavalry at either of these
places would have the effect of intimidating the
hostiles and at the same time afford assurance to
the settlers which would not be the case were
the cavalry stationed at Yainix. The suggestion
of the superintendent was put into effect ; the
troops came direct to the threatened country.
In accordance with instructions from head-
ana rters of the Department of the Columbia,
Major Elmer Otis, commanding at Camp
"Warner, left that point March 15, 1872, to move
on the threatened country. With him was a de
tachment of two officers, Captain D. Perry and
Second Lieutenant J. G. Kyle ; Acting Assistant
"Surgeon L. L. Dorr; Chief Packer Mason Mc
Coy, Guide and Interpreter Donald McKay ; twen
ty-seven enlisted men and a pack train of 25
mules. He proceeded first to Fort Klamath, ar
riving there March 24th. On the 30th Major
Otis sent Guide and Interpreter Donald McKay,
-with four Indians, to invite the Indians to a con
ference ten miles from Link river, east, on Lost
river, at a place called the "Gap." This con
ference was to be held without the presence of
troops. April ist the command started for Link river.
The force was augmented by a detachment from
Fort Klamath as follows : Lieutenant Moss, Act
ing Assistant Surgeon C. W. Knight, 23 enlisted
men and ten pack mules. The command reached
Link river on the following day. It was met
here by McKay and also by two messengers from
Captain Jack. Following a considerable "pow
wow" with the messengers it was learned that
Captain Jack would meet Major Otis at the Gap
-on the following dav, April 3d, provided he would

bring no troops. Major Otis took with him
Major J. N. High; sub-Indian agent of the
Klamath agency, and I. D. Applegate, commis
sary at Yainix agency ; Interpreter Donald Mc
Kay and the four Indian scouts and proceeded
to the Gap. About noon Captain Jack, with some
35 or 40 Indians made their appearance, all
armed. However, Jack left some of his arms
on the opposite side of the river. The council
began between Major Otis, Captain Jack and
about 35 of his warriors. Some of the neighbors,
settlers in the vicinity, also made their appearance.
Following is a report of the conference written
by Edward Everett Young, the substance of
which was gained from an interview with Major
J. N. High, who was at that time Indian agent:
Jack and his warriors, who were divided into three
bands, occupied what is known as the Tule lake dis
trict, 15 to 40 miles south and east of the Klamath
Falls. Colonel E. Otis, a field officer of the United
States army, and Major J. N. High, the then Indian
agent, met Ivan Applegate at the town of Linkville,
and after consultation decided to communicate with
Captain Jack through a squaw known as "Mary,'' and
arrange for a friendly meeting next day.
The woman left Klamath Falls soon after dark on
this May night. She rode a horse and promised to re
turn with her message from Jack at dawn the next
morning. This she did, reporting that Jack would see
the commission that day without arms and with only
an equal number of men. It was understood that Cap
tain Oliver C. Applegate. who was then in charge of
thet sub-agency at Yainax, on the reservation, should
join them the next day and act as secretary of the com
mission, which he did. With him came Dave Hill, the
Indian, always friendly to the whites, and one other
Indian. These then made up the party representing the
white men and the government, which went out on that
occasion to meet one of the fiercest Indian warriors of
whom border history makes any note. Colonel E.
Otis. United States Army, Major J. N: High, Govern
ment Indian agent at the time; Captain O. C. Apple-
gate, in charge of the sub-agency at Yainax ; Ivan
Applegate, pioneer, interpreter and general defender of
the settlers; Dave Hill, the friendly Klamath Indian
from the reservation.
The party arrived at the rendezvous on time, but
no Indians were visible. The meeting place was in an
abandoned dwelling situated in Lost river gap, about
ten miles from here to the southeast. Finally the In
dians were seen coming horseback and following the
Lost river road, which afforded the whites only a par
tial view by glimpses, and the number of Indians could
not be determined. Major High maintains that there
were 70 in the band, while Captain Applegate is of the
opinion that there were not more than 50. They rode
to a clump of small trees in a flat bend of Lost river,

948

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and there detailed men from their band to hold their
horses. Later developments showed them to have been
armed with Winchesters and revolvers. They left
their rifles behind with their horses, but wore their
pistols as also did the whites, despite the former pre
caution. So soon as Captain Jack and his warriors approach
ed the meeting house it was observed by the Apple-
gates, who understood these tribes thoroughly, that
they were hostile, and but rudely concealed their pre
determined plan to murder the entire commission.
They did not greet the commission when they arrived
but elbowed their way into the cabin where the council
was to be held. Captain Oliver Applegate went in
stantly in among them to determine whether they bore
side arms. This he soon ascertained by rubbing up
against them and feeling the butts of their pistols
through their clothing. He quietly gave his associates
to understand that Jack and his warriors were to mur
der all the whites and the friendly Indians. There
seemed to be no other recourse but to proceed with the
business of the peace commission, await results and
take chances, which at best looked like certain death. At
this point Major High will be introduced and allowed
to tell his story in his own modest way :
"There was only one door to the little abandoned
dwelling in which we met. It was formerly occupied
by a pioneer named Galbraith. There was a. little table
on the left of the door as one entered. On the side
toward the door sat Colonel Otis and on the other side
sat Captain O. C. Applegate. He was acting as sec
retary for the commission, reducing all questions and
answers to writing to be submitted to Washington. Ivan
Applegate was the interpreter, and while Captain Jack
could speak fairly good English, he preferred to speak
through an interpreter on this and other similar occa
sions. T was sitting on the right of Colonel Otis and
nearest the door. The cabin was packed with Indians.
They were in an ugly humor and their questions and
answers and general demeanor did not please Colonel
Otis. Finally, appearing somewhat exasperated and evi
dently discouraged at the prospect of not arriving at
any satisfactory understanding, he gave vent to a re
mark expressing his feelings, and at the same time
wrenched his belt around, bringing his revolver to the
front and within easy reach. All the commissioners
followed suit. Scar Face Charley, Jack's chief lieuten
ant, was standing near me and a little in front. He
looked down at me, and, observing my revolver's hilt,
asked with a sneer what I thought I was going to do
with that. I answered that they had come to kill us, but
that some of them would die as well. I told him that
I would get him the first one.
Captain Jack had been sitting across the room
against the wall and his keen eye and ear had seen and
heard what had passed between Scar Face Charley and
myself. -He came swiftly to us and asked us what we
were quarreling about, but before I could reply beck

oned me to follow him outside. I felt sure that 1
could see my finish. I went. As we passed out of the
door Jack said something to Charley in their native-
tongue, but under his breath. I want to divert here to
say that while in the cabin and expecting that every
minute would be our last, I could not but observe the
calmness and serenity of Captain Applegate, whose
hand never even trembled in his writing, although he
knew that any scratch of the pen might have been
his last. "Jack and I walked about ten paces from the cabin,
when he suggested that we lie down under some small"
underbrush. We talked there I think about an hour. I
was not in the best of humor, and upbraided him, charg
ing that he had evidently come to a peace conference
with his warriors instructed to murder us. He looked
at me silently for a few minutes and then answered that
he had come there to kill us all. He spoke fairly good'
English. I began to reason with him. I asked him
what he wanted ; what he was holding out for. He an
swered that he wanted for his people the Tule lake-
district, and explained that without its grasses and fish
products neither their ponies nor themselves could sub
sist. He explained that the section in question had be
longed to their fathers before them ; that the only way
to insure peace between them and the Klamaths was to-
build a stone wall from the earth to the sky, not meaning
a material one, but a legal one; one which it would be-
death for either one to cross. He grew excited and'
jabbed a stick in the ground with his right hand, re
marking as he did it, that he would hold that country,
meaning the Tule lake district and the lava beds or die
in the attempt.
"I tried to show him that he was taking the wrong
course by deciding to murder us. I explained that I
was 1be agent of the government, and willing to treat
him and his people fairly; that I was not his personal'
enemy; that bloodshed would delay him in getting what
he wanted. I told him that the Applegates had always
been the Indians' friends when the latter were in the
right, and that they were the interpreter and secretary
of our commission, and that at present we could not
present the Modocs' claim, etc., at Washington with
out the assistance of the Applegates. He seemed to fol
low me closely, arid hope began to revive for myself and
companions. I told him that Colonel Otis had never
done him a wrong, but was a field officer of the United
States Army, and if Jack's band killed Otis the army
would send enough soldiers out to surely kill Jack and
his people. I promised that if he would give us time
the matter would be submitted to Washington and he
would be heard.
"Finally he fixed his piercing eye on me and looked
at me with an expression of disappointment and anger
which I shall never forget, and then slowly said :
" T came here to-day to kill you all, but you have
changed my mind for the present. You and your
friends may go this time, but I'll be  if I don't.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

949

"kill the next peace commissioners who come near me.
I'm tired of this talk, talk, all time talk.'
"I thanked him and suggested at once that he go
into the cabin and so inform his warriors, to which he-
replied :
" 'When we left the cabin I said to Scar Face, you
not kill until I come back; so your people are safe.'
"I then understood what he had muttered to his
lieutenant as we passed out of the door. Our commis
sion returned all safe, but Jack kept his oath and Gen
eral Canby and Rev. Mr. Thomas of the next commis
sion were murdered and A. B. Meacham would have
tjeen had not a friendly squaw now on the reservation
and known as Toby Riddle, ran in and cried out that
the soldiers were coming. As it was Meacham was
scalped, but the scalp was left dangling in the rush for
safety. "I asked Jack on that occasion if I could take my
wife and mother, who were sick, from Klamath Falls
to Red Bluffs. California, where I would reach the rail
road. His warriors infested the mountains interven
ing, and plains, and life was not safe. He told me that
he would guarantee that I could make the trip unmo
lested. I agreed to get ready and start on a certain
day, which I did. Sikes Warden drove the ambulance,
and George Barge drove the wagon for us. We trav
eled the first day and camped the first night and saw no
Indians. The second night about one o'clock, I was
sitting at my right front wagon wheel smoking. My
wife and mother were sound asleep. I looked to my
right, and there, not three feet from my side stood an
Indian warrior, tall, straight and silent as a post. Mj
hair seemed to push my cap off my head. I swallowed
my heart back a time or two, and then exclaimed :
"'What do you want here?' to which came the an
swer in English : 'Nothing.'
"I then asked, 'where are y®u going?' He an
swered, 'Nowhere.'
"I then ventured, 'Did you come here to fight?'
At this he broke into a real, hearty laugh, a wild laugh
which rang out on the night air almost like an echo
from hell. Between his fits of laughter he finally ejacu
lated : 'If I had come to fight you would not now be
here to talk.' I
"This reassured me completely. I realized in
stantly that what he said was absolutely true. He then
motioned me to a log a few feet away, and after as
suring me again of his friendly mission, said : 'Cap
tain Jack tell me watch you three days and two nights.
Any Indian make ready to kill you I say to them Cap
tain Jack say no. I near you all day yesterday, all
night last night: all day today and night. Tomorrow
I be near you all day. Tomorrow night I leave you.
You then be near Red Bluff.'
"So saying he vanished into the darkness and I
never saw him more. Again alone in the forest, sur-
¦rounded by blood-thirsty savages known to be on the
warpath, I sat and thought over the strange, contra

dictory elements of character possessed by the unfor
tunate Jack. He had merely given me his word that I
should not suffer while passing through his alleged ter
ritory or that occupied by his men, and yet he had sent
one of his men to shadow me all the way and protect
me from his own men. Yet about seven months later
Jack and his men killed General Canby and Rev. Mr.
Thomas of the next peace commission. Jack paid for
his perfidy on the gallows at Fort Klamath, October 3,
1873." With all due respect for Major High, ancl
with our knowledge of his services at the con
ference, and his intention of giving an accurate
account of the event, there are a- few corrections
which the author deems necessary to make. This
is in order that the report of the peace commis
sion may stand as unimpeachable history. Our
authority for these corrections is from a source
that cannot be disregarded.
Major High has placed the number of Indians
present at 70 ; there were, probably, not to ex
ceed one-half of that number. We, also, believe
that Major High has considerably overestimated
the clanger to the party who composed the com
mission. While subsequent events fairly proved
that Captain Jack and his associates were cold
blooded cut-throats, capable of the basest treach
ery ; while those present realized fully the char
acter of the savages with whom they were deal
ing ; while there was more or less clanger, as there
invariably was when in contact with this, the
worst element of the Modoc tribe, the fears that
were entertained by Major High were not mani
fested bv the other members of the party. We
believe that there was no more than the ordinary
danger attached to the meeting.
The fact that Captain Jack provided a guard
for the family of Major High in their trip out of
the country is, certainly, worthy of consideration,
ancl was so regarded by himself. It was an ex
ception to Jack's general conduct. We have
talked with a number of veterans of the Modoc
War. Some of them had had personal acquaint
ance with Captain Jack and members of his com
pany. Their testimony is almost unanimous that
Jack was a savage of savages ; a red man who was
not noble ; a man with no decency of character
?nd without honor ; one who possessed none of
the traits with which he was accredited by a few
people, most of whom, however, lived east of
the Appalachian rang^e of mountains.
We present here the official report of the con
ference as made bv Major Otis to the Assistant
Adjutant General of the Department of the
Columbia :
On the 3d of April. TR72. Major Elmer Otis, First
Cavalry, held a talk with Captain Jack, chief of the

95°

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Modoc Indians, at "the Gap" on Lost river, Oregon,
Mr. High, sub-agent of the Klamath agency, and Mr.
Applegate, commissary at Yainax station, and about 35
men of the Modoc tribe being present.
Major Otis informed Captain Jack that settlers
complain that his band frighten women and children
at their homes during the absence of the men, by going
about armed and demanding food; that the Modocs
have stolen cattle, and hay for their ponies and turned
their animals in to graze, or have tramped down the
grass in hay fields while in the pursuit of game ; that
these acts charged as committed during the past winter,
and still continued.
Captain Jack was warned that he must restrain or
punish his men, or the whites would do it. He was re
minded that the country in which he lived did not be
long to, his tribe, having been ceded by the Klamath
tribe,, which the Modocs signed ; that his band were
only suffered to remain where they are until the presi
dent can determine the propriety of giving them a
suitable portion of land to live on apart from the Kin-
maths, and he was warned that he must control his
men thoroughly and prevent their further molesting
the settlers and that troops would, for the present, be
kept in the neighborhood to secure their quiet and good
order. Major Otis demanded of Captain Jack that he
keep his Indians apart from the settlers, except when
they desired to work ; that when in need of food they
should go to Camp Warner for supplies, but under no
circumstances go armed among the settlers to demand
food or steal it.
Captain Jack at first denied these charges, and
throughout the talk evaded, as far as possible, direct
answers to specific charges against his band. He en
deavored to convey the impression that if these thefts
had been committed at all, they were the acts of the
Klamaths (to which tribe the Modocs are hostile) or
of other Indians, and that his own disposition, and that
of his tribe, was friendly.
When Major Otis arrived in Linkville with
his troops early in April, 1872, at the time of
the conference with Captain Jack, he interviewed
many of the settlers there and in the vicinity in
regard to the conditions. The evidence was al
most unanimous. They asserted that in 1870
and 1 87 1 they, the settlers, were either located
or seeking suitable sites for ranches in the Lost
river country, or in the neighborhood of Tule
lake; that after leaving the Klamath. reservation
in 1870, the Modocs claimed the entire country in
that vicinity, ancl demanded compensation for
ranching, or for hay cut ; that they stole, com
mitted depredations, assumed a hostile attitude
ancl excited such fears for the safety of their
property, ancl in a few cases for life, so as to drive
them (the settlers) from the country. Such was

the evidence adduced from the testimony of
Messrs. Poe, Bull, G. S. Miller, Charles Monroe,
George Nurse, Drury Davis, Joseph Seeds, Hud
son, Applegate, Forcythe and Trip, residents of
the Klamath country.
On the other hand two settlers, Henry Miller,
later killed by the Indians, and Mr. Ball, who re-
resided respectively ten and six miles from
the Modoc camp, stated that they had not been
molested, and did not believe that the Modocs
had committed any of the crimes of which they
were accused. Both were friendly to Captain
Jack and accompanied that chief to the confer
ence with Major Otis.
The intentions of the military authorities at
the time troops were sent to the Modoc country
are shown by the following extract from a letter
by General Canby dated April 17, 1872 :
I propose to hold the Modocs under quiet super
vision for the present, by keeping a detachment of cav
alry at this point, selected by Major Otis for the pur
pose o' exercising a salutary restraint upon the Indians
and preventing any collision between them and the set
tlers. The temper of both parties is such that a very
slight cause may give rise to serious consequence.
Nothing having been accomplished by Major
Otis' attempts to bring about a peaceable removal
of the Modocs in April, conditions remained
about the same as formerly during the summer of
1872. The Washington authorities were wrest
ling with the question of what to do with the
Modoc Indians. At last the proposed plan of
giving them a new reservation was discarded and
in the latter part of November, 1872, F. B. Ode-
neal, superintendent of Indian affairs for Oregon,
having replaced Mr. Meacham, receiv'ed instruc
tions from the Commissioner of Indian affairs at
Washington to remove the Modocs to Camp
Yainax of the Klamath reservation, "peaceably
if you possibly can, but forcibly if you must.""
The superintendent went at once to Link river to
arrange for a conference with the Indian chiefs.
The band which were defying the authorities
numbered about eighty warriors all well armed.
Mr. Odeneal sent I. D. Applegate to the camp of"
the Modocs to arrange for a conference to be held
at Link river. Mr. Applegate returned bearing
a haughty answer from the Modocs. They defi
antly declined to meet the superintendent. They
authorized Mr. Applegate to say that they did not
desire to see or talk with Mr. Odeneal, and that
they would not go upon the Klamath reservation.
In a communication to Major John Green,
commanding the forces at Fort Klamath, dated
November 27, the superintendent in accordance-
with his instructions from the commissioner of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

951

Indian affairs, called upon the military authori
ties to force the Modocs to go to Camp Yainax
on the Klamath reservation. The matter of com
pelling the Modocs to go to the reservation was
on this date transferred from the department of
Indian affairs to the military. The hostile In
dians at this time were encamped near the mouth
of Lost river. Just previous to the commence
ment of hostilities they were in. three bands, as
follows :
Captain Jack, with several warriors and their
families, about three miles from the mouth of Lost
river, on the west side.
Hooka Jim, a petty chief, with his band, oc
cupied the shore of Tule lake, east of the mouth
of Lost river, in Oregon.
The Hot Creek band were camped on the
south side of Little Klamath lake, in California,
some twenty-five miles from Captain Jack's band
in a southwesterly direction.
November 28th order 93 was issued from
Fort Klamath signed by F. A. Boutelle, adjutant,
by order of Major Green. This was for Captain
James Jackson, First U. S. Cavalry, with all the
available men of his troop to proceed at once via
Link river, to Captain Jack's camp, endeavoring
to reach there before the following morning. If
any opposition was offered on the part of the
Modocs to the requirements of the superinten
dent of Indian affairs, Captain Jackson was or
dered, if possible, to arrest Captain Jack, Black
Jim and Scar Face Charley. His orders were to
accomplish the desires of the superintendent with
out bloodshed, if possible, but if the Indians re
fused to obey the orders of the government he
was ordered to use such force as should be neces
sary to compel them to do so ; "and the respon
sibility must rest on the Indians who defy the
authority of the government."
Captain Jackson left Fort Klamath at nine
o'clock on the morning of the 28th ancl at once
proceeded to the camp of the Modocs. Then en
sued the first battle of the Modoc War. Follow
ing is a graphic report of the same, and the events
leading up to it as related by Ivan Applegate :
At noon on the 28th day of November, 1872. Cap
tain Jackson with 35 men of Company B, First United
States Cavalry, left Fort Klamath and arrived at the
pioneer town of Linkville at a little after dark. Here
he met Superintendent Odeneal and received instruct
ions as follows :
"When you arrive at the camp of the Modocs, re
quest an interview with their head men and
say to them that you did not come to fight
or to harm them, but to have them go peacea
bly to Camp Yainax on Klamath reservation,
where ample provisions have been made for their com

fort and subsistence, and where, by treaty, they agreed
to live. Talk kindly but firmly to them, and whatever
else you may do, I desire to urge that if there is any-
fighting let the Indians be the aggressors. Fire no gun
except in self-defense, after they have first fired upon
you. I. D. Applegate will accompany you as my repre
sentative ; he will also act as guide and interpreter."
During that dark, rainy night we made our way
from Linkville dcwn the Klamath valley towards the
stone bridge on Lost river, where Captain Jack was
encamped on the west side of the river. About a third
of his forces tinder Hooka Jim and the Curley-Headed
doctor and some other of his trusty lieutenants were
encamped on the east side of the river near the Dennis
Crowley cabin.
We found it very difficult in the darkness to make
our way through the heavy sage brush, for we had to
leave the road in order to avoid being discovered by
the wily Indians who doubtless were observing us
closely as possible every movement. We followed along
the foot of the chain of hills west from Lost river and
at daybreak we were about one mile west of the Modoc
camp, which was at that point on the river bank where
Dan Colwell's residence now stands.
The company was formed into two platoons and
we rode directly through the village and halted upon
the river bank, facing the encampment. As we came
near the river Scar Face Charley, who had crossed just
before we came up, fired at us from the other side
of the river, shouting at tlie same time to arouse the
sleeping Indians. In a moment there was great ex
citement and commotion. As soon as the men were
dismounted and advanced in line, standing at order
arms in front of the horses, I was directed to enter
the camp to see Captain Jack and inform him of our
friendly mission and assure him that no harm was
intended but that he would be required to remove with
his people to the reservation. Going from camp to
camp I was not able to find Captain Jack. As I came
out of one of the huts I saw Scar Face coming up the
river bank. As he passed Major Jackson, who was
still mounted, the major ordered him to halt, at the
same time drawing his revolver. To this Scar Face
paid no attention, but came on into the village, all the
time haranguing his people and demanding that they
fight to the death ; telling them that if they would be
quick enough they could kill every soldier without the
loss of a man. With an oath he rushed past me and
went into Bogus Charley's tent, and in a moment both
Scar Face and Bogus appeared with their guns drawn
and called to the women and children to throw them
selves flat on the ground. Then I knew that they
were going to fire upon us. I immediately started
toward our men, saying, "Major, they are going to
fire." At this the major ordered Lieutenant Boutelle,
who stood in advance of the line, to take four men and
arrest the two Indians who had guns in their hands.
As Boutelle stepped forward with the four men the

'952

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

two Indians fired. The warriors in the camps and in
the heavy sage brush in the rear of the village, fired
¦almost simultaneously. Then all was din and com
motion ; men were falling in the line; the riderless horses
"were dashing here and there and kicking among us,
but instantly came the order from the bravo major,
"lire!" The attack was so sudden and desperate, tho
Modocs rushing on to us with demoniac yells, that the
men were forced back a step or two, and is seemed for
a moment that the thinned line would yield and break.
But immediately came the order, "forward!" and it
was like an inspiration. The men sprang forward under
the leadership of the brave Boutelle, delivering a
•deadly fire, and the Indians were forced back. Scar
Tace's first shot struck Boutelle's revolver, disabling
it, and cutting through the sleeve of his blouse, passed
through the clothing on his right shoulder. Scar Face
was knocked down by a bullet which cut through the
handkerchief he had tied around his head, and Watch
man, Captain Jack's most daring lieutenant, fell, riddled
with bullets almost at our feet. Boutelle's calmness
saved us. Speaking to his men coolly and confidently,
he led the charge into and through the village, driv
ing the Indians out, advancing his skirmish line far
beyond the heavy sage brush.
O. C. Applegate, who was to take charge of Cap
tain Jack's band in case they came onto the reserva
tion, rode from his station at Yainax on November
28th, reaching Linkville (Klamath Falls) late in the
evening. Superintendent Odeneal informed him of the
movement on foot and requesting him to be present
to assist in securing, if possible, a peaceable removal
of the Modocs. With the Klamath scout, Dave Hill,
and five trusty citizens, he forded Lost river near the
Lone Pine that night and reached the Crowley cabin,
near Hooka Jim's camp, about daylight on the morn
ing of the 29th, finding there Messenger Brown of the
Indian Department, Dennis Crowley, Dan Col well and
a few other citizens. When daylight revealed the
presence of the cavalry in Captain Jack's camp, Hooka's
men made a rush for their canoes, evidently to re-
enforce Captain Jack, but were prevented by the citi
zens. The object of the authorities was explained
to the Indians and a few of them were in the act of
giving up their "arms when the firing began at Captain
Jack's camp. Instantly the Modocs fired on tho citi
zens and a fierce fight al close range took place, so
that looking across the river during the fight with
Captain Jack, we could see another battle going on
almost opposite to us. Two citizens, Jack Thurbor
and William Nus were killed and Joe Penning was
maimed for life, and the Indians securing their horses,
which wore near at hand, escaped to the long, rocky
ridge east of where the Frank Adams farm is now
located; while the citizens rallied at the Crowley
cabin. Captain Jack, with most of his best and most
desperate men, had made good his escape, although at

at the time both ho and Scar Face wore reported killed,
even by the prisoners. We had lost Sergeant Harris,
killed, and as nearly as I can remember, six men
wore mortally wounded, and several others painfully
though not dangerously hurt. Among the Indians
killed were Watchman and We-sing-ko-pos, leading
warriors, and Black Jim, Long Jim and Miller's
Charley were among the wounded. The loss on our
side amounted to nearly a third of the military force
then in the field and was quite sufficient to disable
Captain Jackson's small force for the time being.
After the fight Captain Jackson sent his wounded
across the river in a canoe, Dave Hill being the oars
man; Surgeon McEldcrry and a few more as a guard
were also taken over and the men wore conveyed to the
Crowley cabin. The remaining troopers mounted their
jaded horses and, as there was no ford in the vicinity,
hastily rode up toward the Stukel ford, seven miles
distant. Before arriving at the ford word reached
them that Jack and his infuriated men had renewed the
light. Looking toward Tule lake great volumes of
smoke could be seen arising from burning buildings.
Dashing through the rapid, the poor horses seemed to
realize the awful situation as the}' put renewed effort
down the river with utmost speed on the cast side and
soon tho cavalry rode on to the ground where the
citizens and Hooka's men had so lately fought, but
the wily savage was wreaking vengeance on the in
offensive settlers beyond the ridge, on the plains at
tho head of Tule lake.
The butchering and devastation on Tale lake had
already begun, and eighteen settlers were added that
day to the long list of Modoc victims. The ModQC
War was fairly inaugurated. A war, short, terrible
and dramatic, but the unwritten history of which would
fill volumes. From the beginning until the 3d of
October, 1873, when the curtain fell upon the last scene
of the tragic drama, the execution of Captain Jack,
Black Jim, Schonchin John and Boston Charley for
the peace commission massacre, it abounded in thrill
ing incidents and startling adventures.
It is here proper to add to the above two offic
ial reports made by Captain Jackson concerning
this opening battle of the Modoc War, November
20, 1872. Although each report covers certain
features of the same event, the two should be
read together in order to properly understand the
circumstances from Captain Jackson's view point:
Crowley's Ranch, Lost River, Oregon, November
30, 1H72: Major— I have the honor to report that I
jumped the camp of Captain Jack's Modoc Indians
yesterday morning, soon after daylight, completely
surprising them.
I demanded their surrender and disarming, and
asked for a parley with Captain Jack. Captain Jack,
Scar Face Charley, Black Jim and some others would

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

953

neither lay down their arms nor surrender, and some
of them commenced making hostile demonstrations
against us, and finally opened lire. I immediately pour
ed volley after volley among the hostile Indians, took
their camp, killed eight or nine warriors and drove the
rest into the hills. During the engagement I had one
man killed and seven wounded, throe of the last severe
ly and, perhaps, dangerously.
The band that I attacked was on the south side of
the river; another smaller band on the north side was
attacked by a party of ten or twelve citizens, and their
surrender demanded ; but when the firing commenced
in Captain Jack's camp, those Indians opened on the
citizens, and drove them to the refuge of Crowley's
ranch. One citizen was killed during this fight, and
two others coming up the road, unsuspicious of any
trouble, wore shot: one (Mr. Nus) mortally wounded,
and the other Joe Penning, badly. My force was too
weak to pursue and capture the Indians that made off,
owing to the necessity of taking immediate care of my
wounded, and protecting the few citizens who had
collected at Crowley's ranch. The Indians wore all
around us, and apprehensive of a roar attack, I des
troyed Captain Jack's camp, and crossed to the other
side of the river by the ford, a march of fifteen miles,
taking post at Crowley's ranch, whore I now am. 1
need re-enforcements and orders as to future course.
There are ,i number of citizens and families in this
valley and it will bo necessary to look after them and
protect them if they are not already killed. Most of
the Indians have retired to llieir caves south of Tule
lake, but I imagine they will soon bo out in war parties.
From the best information I can secure. Captain Jack,
Scar Face Charley and Black Jim are killed or mor
tally wounded.
The troop behaved gallantly and deserves every
praise. The tight was at close quarters, and very
severe for thirty minutes. The citi/ens engaged did
good service, T learn, and deserve much credit; but for
them we would have had a lire in the rear that would
have been very destructive. The Indians, or their lead
ers, were determined on a fight at all hazards, and got
enough of it, 1 think. The worst men among them are.
undoubtedly, killed, not loss than l6 of them being
put out of the way. T need more men, for the valley
will have to be scouted to protect its citizens. The
troops from Warner should come o\ or immediately
if it is intended to pursue these Indians. Please send
me instructions by courier at once. Dr. McElderry,
who goes up this morning with the wounded will give
you more detailed information.
Citi/ens killed: John Thurher, William Nus:
wounded. Joe Penning.
Soldiers killed: Private Harris; soldiers wounded.
Corporal Fitzgerald, severeh; Corporal Chandler:
Private Totten, Private Doyle: Private Kas-hafer,

severely: Private Kershaw; Private Gallagher,
severely. In haste, I am respectfully, your obedient servant,
James Jackson,
Captain First Cavalry,
Commanding B Troop.
Major John Green,
First Cavalry.
Later and fuller report of the battle by Cap-
lain Jackson ; also an account of the massacre of
settlers and the names of the victims :
Camp at Crowley's ranch, Lost River, Oregon,
December 2, 1872 :
Major — I sent you two days ago a hasty report of
operations in the field. I now have the honor to sub
mit a detailed report of my operations since I left Fort
Klamath, Oregon.
In compliance with your orders No. 99. of Novem
ber 28th, I moved from Fort Klamath, Oregon, at 11
a. in., with Lieutenant Boutelle, Dr. McElderry, 36
men of B troop in column and four with the pack train.
Guided by Air. Ivan Applegate we marched all day and
night through a heavy rainstorm, and arrived at the
principal camp of the Modoc Indians about daylight.
Forming line I moved down on the camp at a trot,
completely surprising the Indians, and creating great
commotion among them. Halting just at the edge
of the camp. I called upon them to lay down their
arms and surrender. I also got Mr. Applegate to in
terpret to them my intentions and ask them to comply
with the orders of the Indian department. Some of
them seemed willing to do so, but Scar Face Charley,
I'.lack Jim and some others kept their guns and com
menced making hostile demonstrations against us.
After repeated demands on them to lay down their
arms and surrender had been unheeded, and seeing
that the hostile Indians were getting more numerous
and determined, I directed Lieutenant Boutelle to take
some men from the line and arrest the leaders if
possible. This order, was followed by firing on the part
of the Indians, and a general engagement immediately
ensued. I poured in volley after volley among their
worst men, killing ^most of them, capturing the camp
and driving the Indians to the refuge of the brush
and hills, from whence they kept up a desultory fire
for some little time. I lost during the engagement,
and almost at the first fire one man killed and seven
wounded and one horse killed. After driving the
Indians out of range it became necessary to take care
of my wounded : to prevent the squaws remaining in
camp from killing and mutilating them. Leaving a
slight skirmish line in charge of Lieutenant Boutelle,
1 took what men could be spared and had the dead
and wounded carried to the river bank, and from there
canoed across to Crowley's ranch, half a mile below.

954

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

I then dismantled the camp, capturing Captain
Jack's three rifles and his two saddles. All Indian
guns found in camp were broken up or thrown in the
river. At the same time that I moved on the main
camp of the Modocs, a smaller camp on the north
side of the river was attacked by the citizens, among
them Mr. Oliver Applegate, Mr. Brown, Mr. Jack
Burnett, Mr. Dennis Crowley, Mir. C. Monroe, Mr.
Thurber, Mr. Colwell and others ; they, alsol demanded
the surrender of these Indians, which was not acceded
to, and when the firing commenced on the main camp
they opened on the citizens and the citizens on them.
One citizen (Mr. Thurber) was killed, and it is be
lieved several Indians were killed and wounded. The
citizens after the first attack, retired to Mr. Crowley's
ranch and kept up the fight at long range, preventing
the Indians from crossing the river and attacking my
flank or rear.
Two citizens coming up the road, not knowing of
the fight, were shot, one mortally and the other dan
gerously wounded. Soon after the fight Mr. Applegate,
Mr. Brown, Mr. Burnett and some others left to warn
citizens in other places of danger, leaving but a small
force at the house where my wounded had been sent,
and where a family resided. Mr. Crowley rode up
and asked for protection at the ranch, stating that the
Indians were preparing for a new attack. I mounted
my command and moved out at a trot for the ford,
some eight miles up the river, sending Lieutenant
Boutelle with a skirmish line to clear the Indians out
of the sage brush, which he did effectually. It was
between 3 and 4 'o'clock when the troop arrived at
the ranch, where we took post to await supplies and
care for the wounded. While moving around to the
ranch some straggling Indians collected on the other
side of, the river and burned a haystack and house be
longing to Mr. Monroe. After this they moved out
down Tule lake for their refuge in the caves and rocks
south of the lake. One band from the north side of
the river, who had been fighting the citizens, moved
down on that side of the lake during the fight, and
commenced killing the unwarned inhabitants of Tule
Lake valley.
It was not until the next morning after the fight,
while sending the wounded away in charge of the
surgeon, that I learned that there were any inhabitants
near the scene of the conflict, or that they had been un
warned of approaching danger. I immediately sent a
detachment with Mr. Crowley to ascertain the condi
tion or fate of these people. He visited the first place
(Mr. Boddy's) about three and one-half miles below
his (Mr. Crowley's) ranch, and found the house de
serted, but everything in order ; no sign of attack
or murder; no tracks around the house, a dog tied
to the doorstep and animals in the corral. Thinking
from appearances that the family must have had warn
ing and fled, and believing that the warning had h^n

carried down the valley, he came back and so re
ported. That evening, November 30, I moved to the ford
to meet the supply train and prevent its being inter
cepted by prowling bands of Indians. The pack train
came up at midnight, and the next morning, December
ist, the command was moved back to Crowley's ranch
for station, until such time as supplies sufficient for
a campaign could be collected. The evening of the 1st
of December two citizens, residents of Tule lake valley,
came in and reported that the men of the Boddy fam
ily had been murdered right after, or during the fight,
by the band of Indians who had escaped, and that
the women of the family had not been molested, but
had walked across the mountains to Lost river bridge
and were then in Linkville. Lieutenant Boutelle with
a detachment was sent down with these men this
morning, and some of the bodies of the Boddy family
found in the timber, quite a distance from the house,
where they had been cutting and hauling wood. The
detachment was proceeding on down the valley when
they were met by Mr. Ivan Applegate, Mr. Langell
and some others, who had come up the valley visiting
the ranches on the north side of the lake. They re
ported the killing of the men of the Brotherton family
(three), two herders and Mr. Henry Miller. Mrs.
Brotherton, with her two little boys had fought the
Indians away from the house, wounding some of them.
She, with her three children, two boys and a little
girl, came up with the party of citizens and soldiers
and are at this station. Quite a party of citizens have
collected here.
Tomorrow quite a large force will move down'
the valley to 'hunt up the remains of the murdered in
habitants. I send you a list of those known or sup
posed to have been killed :
Mr. William Boddy, Rufus Boddy, William Boddy,
Jr., Nicholas Schira, William Brotherton, W. K.
Brotherton, Christopher, Erasmus, Robert Alexander,
John Tober,  Collins, Henry Miller.
I have sent a detachment to Clear lake for the
protection of Mr. Jesse Applegate's family, and will
move the infanttrv you send me into Langell's valley
and Clear lake, the only places now threatened. A
company of Klamath Indians, 36 in number, commanded
by Captain Ferre, of Klamath Indian Agency, came in
today and will go out on the trail of the Modocs
tomorrow to hunt them up and keep them from raid
ing until the troops can move on their place of hiding.
I think it will be necessary to make a depot of supplies
at this point, as beyond this, in the direction the
Indians have gone, wagons can not be moved any dis
tance and the troops will have to depend on a pack
train for supplies.
The troops behaved splendidly under fire, although
a number of the men were raw recruits. Dr. Mc
Elderry was present on the field during the fight, and?

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

955

I take great pleasure in commending him and Lieutenant
Boutelle for coolness, gallantry and efficient service.
I am, Major, very respectfully, your obedient
servant, James Jackson,
Captain First Cavalry,
Commanding B Troop.
Maj. John Green,
First Cavalry Commanding,
Fort Klamath, Oregon.
The following are extracts from a, letter writ
ten by Major John Green, commanding at Fort
Klamath, dated December 3, 1872, reporting the
first battle :
It was believed that the Modocs would submit
to go on a reservation if surprised by the troops ; if
not, the leaders were to be arrested if possible, in the
hope that the balance would surrender.
The troop as expected made its march, and com
pletely surprised the Indians, and could have almost
destroyed them had it not been fair to give them a
chance to submit without using force. * * * I ex
pect that the cavalry troop from Camp Warner will
reach the field of operations by the 6th or 7th instant,
after which, when I hear from district headquarters,
I expect to go to the field in person. If the war be
prolonged (and I fear it will be) it will be necessary
to have a depot of supplies at or near Tule lake for
the troops operating against the Indians. * .* * At
the urgent request of citizens of Linkville, I have issued
20 muskets and ten carbines, with ammunition, for self
defense. I have also issued 10 carbines to the Yainax
agency, and ten to the Klamath agency at the re
quest of the agents. I understand from Dr. Dyar, agent
for the Klamaths, that he has sent 30 or 40 Klamath
Indians into the Modoc country.
As is almost invariably the case in move
ments of the military, there was considerable
criticism of the officers who participated in and
were responsible for the initial fight with the
Modocs at Lost river, on November 29, 1872. It
has been urged that the soldiers should not have
undertaken the removal of the Indians with the
small force which was at Captain Jackson's com
mand. The authorities believed that by appear
ing at the camp of the Modocs unexpectedly the
latter being taken by surprise, would at once
yield ancl allow themselves to be taken peace
fully to their reservation. That such was not the
case, ancl that many lives were lost as a result
is, certainly, to be deplored. The Indians out
numbered the troops sent to conduct them to the
reservation, ancl were fully armed.
But this plan, it appears to us, is not open to
grave censure. It surely had a precedent as we

have previously shown when in 1870, Captain
Jack's whole band, when taken by surprise, were
removed to the reservation without a shot being
fired. . And that, too, with a force of only four
teen men, and they not in the best fighting condi
tion. No doubt exists in the minds of any of
those who took part in the battle that the troops
were badly handled and that serious blunders
were made. Instead of placing his men in a posi
tion to prevent the escape of the Indians, and
then making known his errand, Captain Jackson
marched his troop right into the heart of the vil
lage ancl lined them up on the river bank on foot,
the horses having been left some distance on the
other side of the camp. They were in an exposed,
perilous position. The Indians knew it. The
latter were in their tepees, out of sight ancl pro
tected from the fire of the soldiers by the ridges
of earth which were always banked up at the base
of the wickiups. Although, as stated by Captain
Jackson, the troop "fired volley after volley into
the camp of the Indians," the only damage to
them was the wounding of a squaw. This is a
matter of fact, although otherwise reported. Had
this camp been properly approached Captain
Jackson should have been able to remove the
Modocs without a fight.
Without offering any further criticism on the
handling of the troops at the time of the first
battle, it remains our opinion that had the pre
cedent established two years previously been fol
lowed, after this camp had been taken and the
women and children captured, the Modoc War-
could have been ended then and there. A mis
take was certainly made after the battle. It is
an error concerning which very little has been
written, but one which in our opinion was respon
sible for the massacre of the settlers which fol
lowed. Captain Jackson in his reports speaks of
having captured the Modoc camp and the squaws.
But he makes no mention of having later released
them and permitted them to rejoin the warriors.
This release of the women and children was re
sponsible for the horrible butchery which fol
lowed. Is it possible that any one acquainted
with the characteristics of Indians believes that
the savages would have entered upon their butch
ery while their women were in the hands of the
troops ? It is indisputable that none of the whites
were killed until after the squaws were released.
The holding as prisoners of war of women and
children may not favorably appeal to those who
are acquainted only with civilized warfare, but
such a course would have saved many lives.
Captain Jackson and his troops fully be
lieved that in this first fight all the leaders and
,the worst Indians had been killed including Cap
tain Jack. That fact was, doubtless, the reason

956

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the commander did not take the precaution to
hold the camp and women after the battle. Be
lieving that he had broken the power of the
outlaws, the possibility of the butchery that fol
lowed did not, apparently, enter the head of Cap
tain Jackson. While we can, at this late day, see
that a mistake was made, we can, also see that it
was a natural mistake under the conditions as
Captain Jackson then saw them.
General Edward R. S. Canby, commanding
the department of the Columbia, who was after
ward killed by the Modocs, in a report dated Jan
uary 15, 1873, said:

A grave mistake was no doubt committed in at-
tet'mpting their removal before a sufficient force had
been collected to secure that result beyond the proba
bility of failure. * * * The questions as to the' time
and manner of applying force rested in the discretion
of the military commander to whom it had been com
mitted and, while I think that Major Green was in
error upon this point, I do not think that he or the
superintendent should be judged wholly by the result.
If the measures had succeeded, the conception and the
execution would, probably, have been as highly com
mended as they are now censured.

CHAPTER IV

CONTINUATION OF MODOC WAR- 1872-73

The massacre of the settlers which was al
luded to at the close of the preceding chapter,
was one of the most deplorable incidents of the
Modoc War. Subsequent to the affray between
the command of Captain Jackson and the band of
hostiles on the west side of Lost river, under
Captain Jack, the Indians led by Hooka Jim, on
the shore of Tule lake, east of the mouth of Lost
river, scattered in small parties among the isolated
settlements, within a radius of twenty-five miles,
and massacred eighteen unoffending citizens,
sacked and destroyed their residences and drove
off their cattle ancl horses. For two days lasted
this hellish work of butchery and pillage. Eleven
citizens were murdered on the 29th, and seven on
the 30th of November, by Hooka Jim's savages.
This band had not been approached by the sol
diery. On the fateful 29th a few miles below the
scene of the fight, a mule team was seen coming
toward the Boddy residence, but no driver held
the reins. The team was secured, unhitched and
stabled by Mrs. Boddy. With apprehensive fear
she called to her married daughter, Mrs. Schira,
and hastily the two women started toward the
woods where the men had gone that morning to
their accustomed work. They had not gone far
when they saw the Indians a short distance away
and heard the fearsome war-whoop. Soon they
came upon the stripped and mutilated body of
Mr. Schira, and soon after those of Mr. Boddy
and his elder son. The younger boy who had
been on the plain below herding sheep could not

be seen and the sheep were wandering at will
among the sage. These heroic, but horror-
stricken, women knew that all were killed ; that
nothing remained for them but to seek their own
safety in flight ; to hide themselves among the jun
iper and mahogany, in the almost trackless and,
jto them, unknown woods. Struggling onward,
the}' knew not whither, only that they felt that
they were going away from a sad and awful
scene, soon night settled upon them among the
mountain solitudes. As they shivered amid the
snow ancl strove to look clown through fears of
burning anguish toward the mutilated forms of
clear ones and upon desolated homes, what tongue
could tell, what pen depict the poignancy of their
grief. The following letter bearing .upon this
massacre, was written by General John E. Ross,
of the Oregon militia to Adjutant Owens, dated
Camp Tule lake, Oregon, December 12, 1872:
There were a number of families living down the
east side of the lake, among them, the first below where
the fight took place being the Boddy family. About
three miles from the battlefield Mrs. Boddy and her
married daughter, Mrs. Schira, were at the two re
spective houses of herself and daughter, only about fifty
yards apart. They say that at 10 minutes to 12 o'clock
m., on that day, not knowing anything of the fight
in the morning just above them, the daughter looked
out and saw her husband's team running down the hill
from where himself and Mr. Boddy, her father and
brother had gone after wood. Her mother and her
self ran out to meet the team supposing it had run

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

957-

away and perhaps killed her husband. When they
reached the team they saw blood scattered on the
wagon and followed back on the track about half a mile,
and found where her husband, Schira, had been dragged
' from the road about twenty yards, where she found
him with his face buried in the sand, with gunshot
wound in his cheek and through the back. They saw
about this time six Indians and one squaw ; four of
them they knew, Hooka Jim, Long Jim, One-Eyed-
Mose, Jerry and Hooka Jim's squaw. They rode up
to us (them?) and asked for the other white man, and
then rode past them. They (the women) then went
on and found the son. He was shot through the chin,
with several other wounds on his person. They then
went on to ascertain if they could find anything of the
father, and saw one more Indian at some distance,
but did not recognize him. The indications were that
there were more in the sage brush and juniper, as they
saw two more at a great distance off. They were
afraid to return to their home, and made across the
hills for Lost river "Gap,'" and lay out on the hills
that night after a wretched trip over the rocks and sage
brush. They had no fire and came very near freezing
to death. The next day the Indians, or a part of them,
went about three miles below the Boddy ranch and
killed one Alexander, who was herding sheep, and
William Brotherton and two of his sons who were in
the hills after wood, and came on to Mr. Brotherton's
house, where his wife, her two small sons and daugh
ter were. Mrs. Brotherton, with Spartan bravery.
barred the doors and made loop holes, and with a good
gun they had in the house kept the Indians at bay
from Saturday noon until the following Monday be
fore they got any relief. This point is six miles down
the valley of the lake below the battle ground, at or
near what is known as "Bloody Point.'' A part of my
command. Company A. under Captain Kelly, has been
very vigilant and industrious hunting for the dead
bodies and the Indians.^ In fact they have been in the
saddle all the time since they left Jacksonville. Yes
terday a squad of men under command of Sergeant
Snyder, found the body of one of the Boddy family.
a young man who had been herding sheep. This boy
had his throat cut from ear to ear. besides being shot.
The body was found about two and one-half miles
from the Indian ranch where the fight was. A portion
of the command under Captain Kelly today found the
body of Alexander about four miles below here, shot
in a number of places through the body and hands.
They also found today the body of Henry Miller, shot
through the head and body; in fact badly shot to
pieces, about five miles below here near Bloody Point.
Those last named men were all killed on Saturday after
the fight, probably twenty-four hours or more, having
no knowledge, of course, of the fight, but being very
close to it. I have ordered the bodies to be sent to
Linkville for burial.
H. H. Bleecher, who was one of the early set

tlers of the Klamath country, in after years re
lated this incident of the war to the Klamath-
Connty Star of March 24, 1893:
"When the Indians were fighting at Tule
Lake," he said, "I met them. Each warrior had
nothing on but a suit of war paint, with a ban
dana kerchief round his head and one around his
leg. They told me to go home, but I went down
to California, ancl while I was gone my friends
had nie set clown for dead. When I returned I
discovered that I was alive. My 12,000 sheep and
800 head of cattle were, also, alive. I am going
to live 100 years longer. Whiskey can't kill me ;
Indians won't kill me, and my enemies are all
dead. Yes, sir, I am going to live another 100-
years ancl then get on to a rosy summer cloud and
sail to glory."
At this point we desire to deflect the thread
of our story long enough to say a word or two-
concerning the part taken in the Modoc War and
tne protection afforded settlers by two men still
residing in Klamath county, Oliver C. and Ivan
Applegate. To Captain O. C. Applegate is probably due-
more credit for saving the imperiled settlements
of the Klamath country than any other man. The
darkest period ever known in the history of
Southern Oregon was during the Modoc War.
His phenomenal control of the Paiutes, Snakes
and Modocs under his charge at Yainax sub-
agency at the beginning of the outbreak doubt
less prevented many restless warriors from join
ing the hostiles. His courage and skill as cap
tain of the company of citizens ancl picked Indian
scouts organized byr him for the protection of the-
settlements ancl for offensive operations in the-
lava beds, are well known and duly appreciated
in the Klamath country.
Ivan Applegate has been referred to as "The
pioneer defender of western homes ; the noted'
scout of three Indian wars and respected citizen
of Klamath county." During the Modoc War he
many times took his life in his hands in order to
protect the settlers. With a small body of men
he scoured a country overrun with members of"
Captain Jack's band, far from the protecting aegis
of soldiery, warning those who had not yet been
attacked and assisting them to places of safety.
Immediately after the outbreak he organized a
force of volunteers in Linkville for this work.
The small company consisted of himself, O. A.
Stearns, John Burnette, Joseph Seeds, George
Fiock, Charles Monroe and Jack Wright. While-
the troops were anxiously awaiting reinforce
ments, this party proceeded down Langell's val
ley to Clear lake and through the Tule lake coun
try. They rescued Mrs. Brotherton, and chil
dren ancl gave warning to many others. Ivan;

958

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Applegate served as guide and interpreter for
nearly all the early commissions which attempted
to remove Captain Jack's' party to the Klamath
reservation. He fought in the first battle of the
Lava Beds, January 17, 1873, although attached
to no command, and in General Miller's report,
he received special mention for bravery on the
field. In fact he took a part in the Modoc War
second to no man whose name falls into the warp
and woof of this history.
Following the outbreak and massacre in the
valley settlers flocked to Linkville for protection.
Accommodations of this little town were taxed to
their utmost. Precautions were immediately
taken to defend the town from an attack by the
hostiles. On the high ground north of Main
street, east and north of the present location of
Baldwin's hardware store, was erected a stone
enclosure wherein the people proposed to con
gregate and repel the Indians in case of attack.
This wall was about five feet high. Farther south
the Indians had all they could attend to and did
not get so far north as Linkville ; the town es
caped attack. At Mr. Whitney's place, the Hot
Springs property just east of the town, a stock
ade was erected, pierced with loop-holes, and sur
rounded by a trench wherein protection was of
fered those who desired to avail themselves of it.
Throughout the entire country people were in a
state of panic. At Merganser armed men pick
eted the town and guarde'd it from surprise. At
a number of farm houses settlers gathered and
placed pickets around them. War was in the air ;
the reign of terror existed for some time follow
ing the massacre.
At this dark period all classes of people la
bored under the greatest excitement. An incident
is related illustrating to what length this excite
ment led some of them. December 4th a band of
about forty-five Modocs who had been living on
Hot creek and who had participated in none of
the murders, were rounded up and headed for the
reservation in charge of Messrs. Fairchild, Davis,
Ball and Colver. They proceeded northward. On
the 5th they reached Bob Whittle's ranch on Link
river. Here they were met by a party of eight
or ten settlers who opposed their proceeding
further. They were also met by the Indian agent
who informed the men in charge of the Hot creek
band that a mob had congregated on the opposite
side of the river which would certainly attack the
Indians should they attempt to make a crossing.
The settlers appeared imbued with but one idea
and that was to wreak vengeance for the murders
already committed ancl were not at all particular
what Indians became the victims. These Modocs
had been in no way connected with Captain Jack's
band of desperadoes ancl had always been peace

fully inclined. Those in charge of them attempted
to pilot the Indians to the reservation without go
ing through Linkville. But the Indians had be
come frightened ; they bolted and scattered all
over the country. Finally they found their way
back to Yreka and were later taken to the reser
vation. Following the first fight with the Indians re
inforcements were at once sent to the front from
Camps Warner, Bidwell, Harney and Fort Kla
math. Every available soldier stationed at points
in the district of the lakes was soon on the field
as well as two companies of volunteers. Imme
diately after the outbreak and slaughter of set
tlers Governor Grover authorized the mobiliza
tion of a volunteer force to assist in bringing the
hostile Modocs to time. This action was taken
on receipt of a telegram from Hon. A. J. Bur
nette, dated Linkville, November 30th, which told
of the massacre and stated that the forces in the
field were insufficient to protect the settlements.
A mass meeting was held at Ashland attended by
over 100 citizens at which a resolution was
adopted asking the governor to authorize them to
recruit a force of volunteers to co-operate with
the regular troops.
These Oregon volunteers were composed of
Companies A, Captain Harrison Kelly, and B,
Captain Oliver C. Applegate, under command of
Brigadier General J. E. Ross. These two com
panies served during the first part of the war.
Their term of service began December 2, 1872,
and they were mustered out January 24, 1873.
Companies C, Captain John H. Hyzer ; D, Cap
tain Thomas Mulholland ; E, Captain George R.
Rodgers, also under command of General Ross,
were mustered in April 14, 1873, and served dur
ing the latter part of the war.
The part taken by the volunteers, many of
whom are now residents of the county in which
they fought, was- important. They not only par
ticipated in the battles side by side with the regu
lar troops, but they thoroughly policed the coun
try of the lakes, protecting settlers and exerting
a strong influence over other tribes who at times
seemed on the point of joining the hostiles. Nor
must we forget the point taken by the loyal In
dian allies. Ivan Applegate has paid the follow
ing tribute to these allies of the whites in an ora
tion delivered July 4, 1892 :
"Only a few years ago the straggling settle
ments of Klamath would have been swept away
by the hand of savage war had it not been for the
noble defense made by a mere handful of brave
and hardy pioneers, nobly supported by our ever
loyal, ever trusty ancl ever faithful friends, the
Klamaths, and those patriotic heroes, Modocs, led
by the old hereditary chief, Schonchin. These

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

959

people here with us today, native Americans,
people who but a few years ago were the wild
men of these wild forests, proved themselves true
patriots and through these trying times stood
shoulder to shoulder with the white pioneer, and
were among the first to go to the rescue of our
people in distress."
Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wheaton, command
ing the district of the lakes, at once hastened to
the scene of hostilities and assumed command in
person. He established headquarters near Crow
ley's ranch ; preparations were at once made to
proceed against the hostile , Modocs who had
moved south to their stronghold in the Lava Beds.
These Lava Beds, lying principally in Modoc
county, California, bordering Tule lake on the
south, are certainly most hideous freaks of na
ture. Here is, indeed, a feast for the eyes of
those who prefer the grewsome, uncanny and re
pulsive to the sublime and beautiful. Of the lat
ter the Lava Beds are the antipodes. They are,
in fact, practical Gibraltars, as was proved in this
campaign when a mere handful of half starved
Modocs held at bay for many .months a large
force of United States troops aided by volunteers
and Warm Springs Indian allies. Had the Modocs
been plentifully supplied with food and ammuni
tion it appears quite probable that it would have
taken twice as long to dislodge them as it did
the Spaniards to wrest from the Moors the his
toric Gibraltar, and that consumed a period of 800
years. The intricate formation of the Lava Beds
needs to be seen in close proximity to be duly ap
preciated ; and it is well worth time and trouble to
those seeking the outre ancl bizarre to visit this
world-famous locality. To those who anticipate
doing so we here tender a bit of advice ; provide
yourself with a guide and a plentiful supply of
rattlesnake bite antidote ; the Lava Beds are cer
tainly the fatherland of- that venemous reptile.
Howitzers were brought in and on January
16, 1873, camp was broken and the cavalry, in
fantry and artillery forces, together with the vol
unteers, started on their memorable campaign of
the Lava Beds. The forces under Colonel Whea
ton numbered about 400, of which 225 were reg
ulars, and the others volunteers. Opposing them
were about 150 Indians, according to Colonel
Wheaton's estimate. But the natural stronghold
was such that everything favored the Indians.
Colonel Wheaton attacked the Modocs on the
17th of January and lost sixty-five men — sixteen
killed and forty-nine wounded, accomplishing
very little except making a reconnaissance devel
oping the Modoc strength and position. In his
report of the battle Colonel Wheaton said:
We fought the Indians through the Lava Beds to
their stronghold, which is in the center of miles of

rocky fissures, caves, crevices, gorges and ravines, some
of them one hundred feet deep. In the opinion of any
experienced officer of regulars of volunteers, 1,000 men
would be required to dislodge them from their almost
impregnable position, and it must be done deliberately
with a free use of mortar batteries. The Modocs were
scarcely exposed at all to our persistent attacks; they
left one ledge to gain another equally secure.
I have been 23 years in the service of the govern
ment, and have been employed a greater portion of that
time on our remote frontier, and generally engaged in
operating against hostile Indians. In this service I have
never before encountered an enemy, civilized or savage,
occupying a position of such great natural strength as
the Modoc stronghold, nor have I ever seen troops en
gage a better-armed or more skillful foe.
Owing to the conditions described in the re
port none, or very little, injury was inflicted on
the Indians. The troops taking part in this bat
tle were: Regulars — Company C, 21st Infantry;
Company B, 21st Infantry; the former com
manded by Captain C. H. Burton, the latter by
Lieutenant John M. Ross ; detachment of Com
pany F, 21st Infantry; Company F, ist cavalry;
Captain D. Perry ; Company G, ist cavalry, Cap
tain R. F. Bernard; Company B, ist cavalry,
Captain James Jackson ; Companies A and B,
Oregon Volunteers, the former commanded by
Captain H. Kelly ; the latter by Captain O. C.
Applegate'; Twenty-fourth California Volun
teer Riflemen, Captain J. A. Fairchild.
It was estimated at the time that more than a
ton of lead was poured into Captain Jack's strong
hold. Yet, incredible as it may appear, only one
Indian was hit, while sixty-five regulars and vol
unteers were killed ancl woun led. The dead were
left where they fell, but the wounded with one
exception were carried out. Two men were killed
in an attempt to drag this poor fellow to a place
of safety. The spot where he lay was lost owing
to the fog, and he was. perforce, left in the
hands of the merciless savages. He belonged
to Captain Perry's troop of United States cav
alry. This battle was an emphatic defeat for the
troops. Colonel Wheaton was forced to retreat
to a suitable camp on Lost river. The Modoc in
surrection had now assumed a quite formidable
aspect. Three hundred more troops were asked
for bv Wheaton. They were at once dispatched
to reinforce him. Before they arrived orders
were received from the war department to sus
pend hostilities, indicating a desire to again re
sort to peace measures. Considerable humiliation
was felt by the troops over this order. Practically
it was to so place the troops that they might pro
tect the citizens, but if possible to avoid war. The

960

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

order was received January 30, 1873, ancl was the
first step toward peace in the endeavor to accom
plish which General Canby and Dr. Thomas
were massacred.
From the date of these instructions from
Washington suspending military operations
against the Modocs until April 11, 1873, active
efforts were made to secure this desired peace.
Commissioners were appointed to confer with
Captain Jack ancl secure his consent to live upon
a reservation with his tribe. To the commission
ers was given great latitude in treating with these
Indians. They were authorized to grant a sep-
erate reservation if the Modocs would consent to
lay down their arms and live peaceably.
General Canby, who had up to this period re
mained at headquarters, at Portland, acted with
the commissioners ancl at once joined the forces
in the field. February 15th he reached Linkville.
The day following he went to Dorris ranch, Cal
ifornia ; later to Fairchild ranch and Van
Bremer's ranch. February 18th the commission
was organized. It at once tried to open com
munication with Captain Jack. During the suc
ceeding few weeks there were many changes in
the personnel of the commission. For nearly two
months they were unsuccessful in making satis
factory arrangements with the Indians. Captain
Jack and his followers would occasionally prom
ise to meet for a "talk", but there was, inevitably,
some excuse put forward ; the proposed meeting
did not materialize. During this prolonged pe
riod the military authorities were so disposing
their forces as to cut off all avenues of escape for
the Modocs. The disposition of the war depart
ment is shown by the following extract from a
telegram from General W. T. Sherman to Gen
eral Canby, dated March 13, 1873 :
It is manifestly desired by all in authority that
this Modoc affair should be settled amicably, and for
that reason I advise you to exercise considerable
patience. * * * But should these peaceful measures
fail, and should the Modocs presume too far on the
forbearance of the government and again resort to
deceit and treachery, I trust you will make such use of
the military force that no other Indian tribe will
imitate their example, and that no other reservation
for them will be necessary except graves among their
chosen Lava Beds.
At last, on April 11, 1873, Captain Jack con
sented to a conference. General Canby and three
commissioners, Rev. Dr. Eleazer Thomas, A. B.
Meacham ancl L. S. Dyar set forth to meet the
Indians, accompanied by T. F. Riddle and In
dian wife, Toby, or Winema. The details of the

fearful tragedy that ensued are told officially by
Colonel Alvan C. Gillem in his report to the ad
jutant general of the United States army as
follows :
Fleadquarters Modoc Expedition,
Camp South of Tule Lake, April n, 1873.
Sir — It is with the most profound sorrow that I
have to inform you of the death of Brigadier General
E. R. S. Canby, U. S. A., which occurred today at 1 :3a
p. ni., about one mile in front of this camp under the
following circumstances :
For a day or two communication between the
Indians and the peace commission had been virtually
suspended. Yesterday morning an Indian (Boston
Charley) came into camp and informed the commission
that Captain Jack would "talk." In order to avoid all
misapprehension, the commission sent their interpreter
(Frank Riddle and his squaw, Winema) into the Indian
camp ; they returned in the evening and reported that
Captain Jack said he would not meet the commission,
nor come out of his stronghold again until the troops
were removed from the vicinity. An Indian returned
with Riddle and confirmed his statement. This morn
ing, however, the Indian, Boston Charley, asserted that
Riddle (the interpreter) had not told all that Captain
Jack had said, and asserted that Jack had agreed to
meet General Canby, myself and the commission at a
tent that had been pitched about a mile in front of this
camp. In order to reconcile these conflicting state
ments the two Indians, Boston and Bogus, were sent
back to the Indian camp. They soon returned and said
that Jack would meet five of us — General Canby, my
self and three commissioners, at the tent. After duly
considering the subject it was determined to accept the
proposition. I was too ill to accompany the party, and
before leaving the interpreter brought the commission
ers to my bedside and asked me to bear witness that he
had warned them that there was danger in going out ;
however it was decided to go.
At 11 :o6 a. m., the party left camp. I directed the
signal officer to keep a strict watch on the tent and to
inform me of everything that occurred. At I :30 p. m.,
the signal officer brought me information that Major
Mason's camp on the east had been attacked and two
officers probably captured. (This afterwards proved to
be incorrect.) Convinced that treachery was intended,
I sent for Assistant Surgeon Cabaniss, who volunteered
to take a note to General Canby- I could not send a
verbal message as many of the Indians understood Eng
lish. I had written but a few words when shots were
heard, and officers from the signal station brought the
information that General Canby and the peace com
missioners had been murdered. The troops were under
arms at once and advanced. I found the bodies of
General Canby and the Rev. Dr. Thomas about seventy
yards from the tent. Mr. Meacham was near, severely.

V

Klamath- County Alfalfa Field

Nesting on the Klamath

%

•"

S&U

1

^iy

¦4%
> em

¦

lamatk County Fruit, 4,200 feet above sea level

Typical Klamath Indians

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

961

if not mortally wounded; all were stripped. Mr. Dyar,
one of the commissioners, escaped unlmrrt, having a
small pistol which he drew on his pursuer.
The remains of General Canby and Dr. Thomas will
be sent to Yreka tomorrow, in charge of Lieutenant
H. R. Anderson, A. D. C, to the general.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Alvak C. Gillem,
Colonel First U. S. Cavalry, commanding
Modoc Expedition.
To Adjutant General U. S. Army.
In this report of Colonel Gillem we have the
bald facts. There were many sensational details
of this tragedy which were subsequently brought
out in evidence at the trial of the captured as
sassins. One of the most important witnesses
was T. F. Riddle, the interpreter, and the fol
lowing is an extract from a portion of his evi
dence :
Mr. Meacham, then he made another speech, and
lie told -Captain Jack: "Jack, let us talk like men and
not like children," and he sort of hit him on the knee
or shoulder once or twice, or tapped him — he said, "Let
us talk like men and not talk like children." He said ;
"You are a man that has common sense, isn't there any
other place that will do you except Willow creek and
Cottonwood?" And Mr. Meacham was speaking rather
loud, and Schonchis told him to hush ; that he could talk
a straight talk; to let him talk. Just as Schonchis said
that, Captain Jack rose up and stepped back, sort of
in behind Dyar's horse. I was interpreting for
Schonchis, and I was not noticing Jack. He stepped a
few steps out to one side, and I saw him put his
hand to his bosom like —
* * * Well, he stepped back and came right up
in front of General Canby and said: in Indian. "All
ready, boys  " at we — that is "All ready," and the
cap busted, and before you could crook your finger he
fired. * * * Yes, sir, and after the cap busted, be
fore you could crook your finger, he fired and struck
General Canby under the eye, and the ball came out
here (showing — in the neck under the chin.) I jumped
and ran then, and never stopped to look back any more.
I saw General Canby fall over, and I expected he was
killed, and I jumped and ran with all my might. I
never looked back but once, and when I looked back
Mr. Meacham was down, and my woman was down,
and there was an Indian standing over Mr. Meacham
and another Indian standing over her, and some two or
three coming up to Mr. Meacham. Mr. Meacham was
sort of lying down this way (showing) and had one
of his hands sticking out. * * * They commenced
firing all around. I could not tell who was firing ex
cept Schonchis, here ; I saw him firing at Mr. Meacham.

but the others were kind of up in behind me, and they
were firing and I did not turn around to look back
to see who it was. I thought it was warm times there.
Since the assassination of President Lincoln
probably no news had created such intense ex
citement throughout the countr}- as did this mur
der of General Canby and Peace Commissioner
Thomas by these perfidious Modocs. To the four
winds of heaven was scattered the policy of
"peace." It was' war to the knife and knife to the
hilt. In recapitulation of what has been said
concerning this fiendish deed it may be said that
Boston and Bogus Charlie had come in on Thurs
day the 10th, and solicited an interview at the
cave, a mile beyond the tent, at exactly the same-
spot where they had previously attempted to
entrap the commission. The members refused
to go to this place but were willing to compromise
on the tent as neutral ground. It is undeniably
true that both Riddle and his wife advised the
commission not to go, insisting that treachery
was in the air, but they were overruled by Dr.
Thomas and General Canby who could not believe
that after their kind treatment of the Indians
harm could befall them.
"They are firing on the peace commission !''
Such was the terrible cry that echoed through
the camp and such was the fearful fact. Hastily
the soldiers responded to the long roll and swept
onward toward the fateful conference ground.
Colonel Miller's battery E. Fourth artillery, was
in the van, and cavalry and infantry followed,.
crossing the lava field to the scene of the affray —
Colonel Miller and Lieutenant Leary with their
own men at the double quick, closely followed by
Major Throckmorton, commanding batteries K
and M, with Lieutenant Harris taking the right
center, and Captain Wright, Company E, and
Lieutenant Howe on the extreme left. These
companies followed each other so rapidly that it
was difficult to determine which was ahead.
Too late ! That which was sought to be pre
vented had been committed. General Canby had
been killed by Captain Jack — shot in the eye, the
ball ranging downward, emerging through the
jaw and breaking it. He had, also, received a
stab under the right ear,, dislocating the neck,
probably, as it was found to be broken.
Dr. Thomas was shot by Boston Charley who-
that verv morning had eaten breakfast with him,
and had walked with him to the field of death.
Truly a hellish deed, equalling in atrocity the
barbarity of ancient piracy. He was shot through
the right lung, this wound itself being almost in
stantly fatal. Having fallen he was again shot'
through the head, the ball entering rather back

61

g6-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

of the apex of the crown. He was seen to throw
tip his hands after the first shot, as he fell to his
knees, and heard to exclaim, "Don't kill me !" The
second shot put an end to his life. He died
without a struggle ; a peaceful smile was on his
lips when found, as though he was asleep.
From the dead let us- turn to the living.
Schonchin attacked Mr. Meacham. The first shot
crashed through his arm ancl disabled it, probably
knocking him down. Another bullet shaved away
an eyebrow and cut the bridge of the nose, wound
ing the bone ancl cartilage quite seriously. An
other bullet struck him at the lower lobe of the
left ear, glancing along the skull and emerging
some three inches above. An attempt had been
made to scalp him, but further than cutting a
large ugly gash partly around the head, the fiends
had not succeeded. Meacham was taken to the
hospital where every attention was paid him.
Aside from the other injuries mentioned a bullet
had shattered the forefinger of the left hand.
Let us in this place consider the miraculous
escape of Mr. Dyar. He was standing by his
horse when the first cap exploded. Instinctively
alive to this sudden exhibition of treachery, like
a deer he sprang past the rocks in the direction
of the camp. He was closely followed by Hooka
Jim who fired two shots at him. Dyar turned and
presented his derringer. The cowardly savage
bounded away in the opposite direction ; Dyar
resumed his run for the camp which he gained
in safety. The advance of the troops was checked by
Colonel Miller who, just as the bodies were found,
had received from Major Green, commanding
tiie forces in the field, through Acting Adjutant
Lieutenant Taylor, an order to assume command
of the whole line. Just as the cave around the
bend was reached, where Jack had tried to get the
conference, could be seen, three-fourths of a
mile away, the flying Modocs, some mounted on
horses captured from the commissioners. It was
impossible to come up with them before they
reached their stronghold, and as the canteens and
haversacks were empty of water ancl provisions,
it was necessary to return ancl await for another
,dav of reckoning.
During the progress of the war Wi-ne-ma, of
whom we have spoken, was selected as the official
interpreter by the government. She was one of
the brightest of the Indian tribe, the daughter of a
Modoc chief. Her early life had been passed on
the lakes of the Klamath country ancl along their
shores. She used to gather with the great peace
parties on Link river, at the foot of the falls, now
the present site of Klamath Falls. By her beauty
in early days and extraordinary intelligence,
Wi-ne-ma won the heart and hand of her present

white husband. They were legally married and
when the Modoc War broke out she enlisted in
the cause of the white people, as a peacemaker,
however, between two races. Wi-ne-ma still
lives. She resides on the Klamath reservation.
The romance of her life has passed ancl she now
goes by the simple name of Toby Riddle, after
having served the white race faithfully and be
yond all compensation.
General Canby began his military career as a
cadet at West Point in the summer of 1835, grad
uating- in 1 83c). He was continuously in the
service for thirty-eight years, passing through all
the grades to Major General of Volunteers, and
Brigadier General of the regular army. He
served in early life with marked distinction in
the Florida and Mexican wars, and the outbreak
of the Civil War found him on duty in New Mex-
¦ ico where, after the defection of his seniors, he re
mained in command and defended the country
successfully against a formidable inroad from
the direction of Texas. He was afterward trans
ferred east to a more active and important sphere,
where he held various high commands, and at the
close of the Civil War was in chief command of
the military division of the west. In the cam
paign he received a serious wound, but he had the
honor to capture Mobile and compel the sur
render of the rebel forces in the southwest. Fol
lowing the close of the war he was repeatedly
chosen for special command. In 1869, when
fatigued by a long ancl laborious career, he con
sented to take command of the Department of
the Columbia, where he expected to enjoy the re
pose he so much courted. The following tribute
to General Canby is found in general order No.
3, issued by command of General W. T. Sher
man, at Washington, April 14, 1873 :
"He responded to the call of his government
with alacrity, and has labored with a patience
that deserved better success, but, alas ! the end is
different from that which he and his best friends
had hoped for, ancl he now lies a corpse in the
wild mountains of California, while the light
ning flashes his requiem to the furthermost cor
ners of the civilized world.
"Though dead, the record of his fame is re
splendent with noble deeds well clone, and no
name on our Army Register stands fairer or
higher_ for the personal qualities that command
the universal respect, honor, affection ancl love of
his countrymen."
Following the massacre of General Canby and
Dr. Thomas a vigorous campaign against the
Modocs was inaugurated, such an onslaught as
should have been commenced months before. The
¦'shilly-shally" of "peace" was now exchanged
for the stern reality of hot ancl impetuous war.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

963

Of this campaign space forbids an exhaustive ac
count, but we shall confine ourselves to the salient
features of this last, but decisive movement
against the treacherous tribe led by Captain Jack,
a name that must go down in Indian history, as
has that of Blackbeard, the inhuman piratical
monster of the Spanish Main, in the story of the
sea. The perfidy and treachery of the savages must
be punished to the fullest extent. Authorities at
Washington who had so long dallied with the
"peace policy," now forwarded instructions of no
uncertain interpretation. The Modocs must be
exterminated or captured — their power broken to
jthe utmost. Colonel Gillem, of the first cavalry,
had assumed command of the forces in the field.
April 14th he began an advance into the Lava
Beds. Realizing the impossibility of taking the
Modoc stronghold by assault, this officer deter
mined to surround the hostiles, thus saving his
own men ancl preventing the escape of the In
dians. Fighting began on the 15th. Mortars and
howitzers played no unimportant part. During
the day the loss to the soldiers was Lieutenant
Eagam wounded; three men killed and nine
wounded. On the 1 6th lines were advanced ancl fight
ing was severe. The command was pushed to
the immediate vicinity of the caves held by Cap
tain Jack. A junction was formed by the com
mands of Majors Green and Mason; the water
supply of the Indians was cut off. During the
night" of the 16th firing was almost continuous.
The hostiles attempted to break through the lines
to procure water; they were unsuccessful. On
the 17th the stronghold was captured, but the
savages had fled ; they were not discovered until
the 20th. Then they were located about four
miles south of their old stronghold. Here they
remained until compelled to come out for
water. No more fighting occurred until the
26th. Then a company under command of
Captain Evan Thomas fell into an ambuscade
and was annihilated, the most disastrous event of
the war. The party consisted of six commis
sioned officers, sixtv-four enlisted men and four
teen Indian scouts, sent out by Major Green to
reconnoiter the position of the hostiles with a
view of taking a mortar battery by pack tram
through a lava bed to a sand hill, near the center,
about five miles distant from the camp. The ob
jective point was reached without difficulty by
noonday: the party halted for rest and refresh
ment. No Indians had been encountered ; no re
sistance appears to have been expected. A gen
eral feeling of security seems to have prevailed
among the officers. A signal sergeant was pre
paring to send a message back to camp announc

ing the success of the enterprise when a few
shots in close proximity announced ' the presence
of the enemy.
1'hough surprised the officers immediately
sprang to action. However, a well directed fire
from the Indians by this time caused a large
number, probably two-thirds of the enlisted men,
to break and fly in a most cowardly manner. The
officers, thus deserted by their men, rallied the
few brave spirits, mostly non-commissioned offic
ers, and fought the foe with undaunted courage.
They were all found, killed or wounded, where
the}- had so noblv, but ineffectually fought.
General Jeff C. Davis, who a short time later
assumed command in the Lava Beds, in his report
of the affair said : "The result was conspicuous
cowardice on the part of the men who ran away,
ancl conspicuous bravery and death on the part of
the men and officers who stood."
Major Green went at once to the scene of the
fighting. Captain Thomas' command was en
tirely disorganized and scattered. In the lava
chasms were found the dead bodies of Captain
Thomas, Lieutenant A. B. Howe, Lieutenant
Thomas F. Wright, Lieutenant Arthur Cranston .
and thirteen enlisted men. Lieutenant George M.
Harris, Acting Assistant Surgeon B. Swing and
sixteen enlisted men were found wounded where
they had so gallantly made a stand. The bodies
ot four Modoc Indians were found near the scene
of the fighting.
General Davis arrived at the Lava Beds May
2d. It had been his intention to make another
effort to dislodge the Indians immediately. But
the recent defeats, culminating in the disaster of
April 26th, had exerted a demoralizing influence
among the troops, and General Davis decided to
await further developments before resuming ac
tive operations. We shall now tell the story of
the rest of the campaign in General Davis' own
words as related in his report :
The order assigning me to the command of the de
partment of the Columbia was dated April 14, 1873 ',
it was received at Indianapolis, Indiana. I at once left
for the Lava Beds and reached the camp of the troops
on the 2d of May. I found them laboring under great
depression of spirits ; their cheerless winter camps,
heavy losses and repeated failures, had doubtless
diminished their zeal and confidence to a considerable
extent before the disaster to Thomas' command. Its
effects were very "visible upon the morale of the com
mand; so much so that I deemed it imprudent to order
the aggressive movements it was my desire and inten
tion to make at once upon my arrival, in order to watch
the movements of the Indians. During the few days
required to examine into the condition of affairs, and
to effect a re-organization of the command, made neces-

964

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

sary under the circumstances, as well as by the arrival
from San Francisco of Captain Mendenhall's command,
I sent a couple of friendly Indian squaws of the Modoc
tribe into the Lava Beds. After two days they returned
almost exhausted from fatigue, having searched the
country quite thoroughly. They reported the Indians
gone but recently. A few Warm Spring Indians sent
out the next day confirmed their report.
Hasbrouck's and Jackson's companies, with the
Warm Spring Indians, all under command of the
former, were immediately sent out in pursuit, and signs
of Indians were found near Sorass lake, where the
troops camped for the night. On the morning of May
10th the Indians attacked the troops at daylight ; they
were not fully prepared for it, but at once sprang to
their arms and returned the fire in gallant style. The
Indians soon broke and retreated -in the direction of
the Lava Beds. They contested the ground with the
troops hotly for some three miles.
The object of this hasty movement of the troops
was to overhaul the Indians, if out of the Lava Beds,
as reported, and prevent them from murdering settlers
in their probable retreat to another locality. This object
was obtained and more. The troops have had, all things
considered, a very square fight, and whipped the Modocs
for the first time. But the whole band was again in
the rocky stronghold. So soon as the result was made
known to me by signals, I immediately ordered the
troops to be dismounted and follow the enemy on foot,
the horses to be sent to a safe place for grazing, and
never lose sight of him. Water and provisions were
ordered up also. Major Mason, with his own and
Mendenhall's foot artillery, was ordered to leave be
hind suitable camp guards, and to move directly through
the Lava Beds, so as to take a position as near as
possible to the enemy, and opposite the one assumed
by Hasbrouck's command. This scramble (it can not
be properly called a march) of fourteen miles was
exceedingly creditable to the troops and commander,
Major Mason.
The Indians were now closely threatened with at
tacks from two sides, sandwiched but not surrounded.
All the troops by this time were much recuperated and
inspirited, and J resolved to carry out my plan, formed
when I first arrived. This was to move them, the
troops, all into the Lava Beds and form a series of
bivouacs from which they could fight when opportunity
offered, or could rest and take things easy, like the
Indians. The pack trains engaged in supplying the
troops already there were ordered to be increased with
this view, but the Indians had already become ex
hausted in watching the forces threatening them so
persistently since their fight at Sorass lake that a retreat
or capture was inevitable. The chief could no longer
keep his warriors up to the work required of them;
lying on their arms night and day watching for an
attack. These exactions were so great, and the conduct
of the leader so tyrannical, that insurbordination sprang

up which led to dissensions and final separation of the
band into two parties; they left the Lava Beds bitter
enemies. The troops soon discovered their departure
and were sent in pursuit. Their trails were found lead
ing in a westerly direction. Hasbrouck's command of
cavalry, after a hard march of some fifty miles, came
upon the Cottonwood band and had a sharp running.
fight of seven or eight miles. The Indians scattered in
order to avoid death or capture. The cavalry horses
were completely exhausted in the chase, and night com
ing on, he withdrew his troops a few miles distant to
Fairchild's ranch for food and forage:
Indians captured in this engagement expressed the
belief that this band would like to give themselves up-
if opportunity were offered. When given this, through
the medium of friendly Indians, they made an effort to-
obtain terms, but I at once refused to entertain any
thing of the kind; they could only be allowed safe
conduct through the camp to my headquarters when
they arrived at the picket line. They came in on the
22d of May and laid down their arms, accompanied by-
their old men, women and children; in all seventy-five.
It had been rumored for a day or two that Jack's party
had taken a different direction from this band. These
captives confirmed this report, but from them I could
learn only enough to satisfy me that he and his band
had fled in one of two directions; north, in the Pit
river country, or east, toward Goose lake, either course
endangering the lives of citizens and destruction of
property. The mounted troops were all drawn, by
recent operations-, west of the Lava Beds, and this
band of the marauders was yet at large, probably about
100 miles from us, perhaps on the rampage, enjoying
an Indian's luxuries in the settlements outside of reser
vations. In order to meet this emergency the cavalry force,
including Indian scouts, was divided into three de
tachments under Captains D. Perry, H. C. Hasbrouck
and James Jackson ; Major John Green commanding
the whole. All were ordered to rendezvous as soon as
possible at Boyle's camp, east of Tule lake. This move
ment would require at least three days. To learn the
exact whereabout of the Indians was now very im
portant, and I determined to accept of the offered services
of a Modoc captive; one who up to the time of their
separation was known to be in the confidence of his
chief, and could lead us to the hiding place of the band.
He was an unmitigated cut-throat, and for this reason
I was loath to make any use of him that would com
promise his well-earned claims to the halter. He de
sired eight others to accompany and support him, under.
the belief his chief would kill him on sight ; but three
others only were accepted and those of the least guilty
ones. (Hooka Jim is the one referred to as the "cut
throat.") They were promised no rewards for this
service whatever. Believing the end justified the means,
I set them out thoroughly armed for the services they
were to perform.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

96;

Before the last of the Modocs were taken into
custody, the troops were aided to a considerable
extent in capturing the remainder of the band
by four Modocs who had participated in the
Canby massacre. These were Steamboat Frank,
Hooka Jim, Bogus Charley and Schacknasty Jim.
They had seen the handwriting on the wall and
volunteered their services in running to earth
Captain Jack and the remnants of his band. For
this service they were not included in those se
lected for trial for the murder of General Canby
and Dr. Thomas, although they were, possibly,
equally guilty with the others. We now resume
the report of General Davis :
After nearly three days' hunting they came upon
Jack's camp on Willow creek, east of Wright lake,
fifteen miles from Applegate's ranch, to which I had
gone after separation from them at Tule lake, to await
their return and the arrival of the cavalry. The scouts
reported a stormy interview with the angry chief. He
denounced them in severe terms for leaving him ; he
intended to die with his gun in his hand; they were
squaws, not men. He intended to jump Applegate's
ranch that night, the 28th, etc. On the return of these
scouts I immediately sent Captain E. V. Summer, aid-
•de-camp, back to the rendezvous at Tule lake with
orders to push forward Captains H. C. Hasbrouck's
and James Jackson's commands to Applegate's ranch,
with rations for three days in haversacks, and pack
mules with ten days' supply. All arrived and reported
by 9 o'clock a. m., the 29th, under command of Major
John Green, their veteran cavalry leader since the
-commencement of the Modoc War, in excellent spirits.
The impenetrable rocky pedregal was behind them ; the
desperado and his band were ahead of them in com
paratively an open country. After allowing the animals
an hour's rest the pursuit was renewed, and about one
o'clock p. m., Jack and band were jumped on Willow
creek near its crossing with the old emigrant road. This
stream forms the headwaters of Lost river. It was a
complete surprise. The Indians fled in the direction
of Langell's valley. The pursuit from this time on
until the final captures, June 3d, partook more of a chase
after wild beasts than war ; each detachment vying with
each other as to which should be first in at the finish.
Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wheaton, Twenty-first
Infantry, reported to me in compliance with his orders
from Camp Warner, on the 22d, at Fairchild's ranch.
He was placed in command of the district of the lakes
and the troops comprising the Modoc expedition. After
-making necessary disposition of the foot troops and
captives at Fairchild's ranch, he .came forward to Clear
lake and joined me at Applegate's with Perry's de
tachment of cavalry; these troops were at once sent to
join in the hunt. Most of the band had by this time
been run down and captured, but the chief and a few

of his most noted warriors were still running in every
direction. It fell to the lot of these troopers to capture Jack.
When surrounded and captured he said his "legs had
given out." Two or three other warriors gave them
selves up with him. Though called for, no reports have
been received of these operations from the different
detachment commanders, hence details can not be given.
As soon as the captives were brought in, directions were
given to concentrate the troops, captives, etc., at Boyle's
camp on Tule lake. There the Oregon Volunteers who
had been called into the field by the governor, turned
in a few captives they had taken over on their side of
the line. 'It is proper to mention in this connection that
these volunteers were not under my command. They
confined their operations to protecting the citizens of
their own state. Yet on several occasions they offered
their services informally to report to me for duty in
case I needed them. No emergency arose requiring me
to call upon them.
By June 5th the whole band, with a few unim
portant exceptions, had been captured and was assembled
in our camp on Tule lake, when I received orders from
the general of the army to hold them under guard until
further instructions as to what disposition would be
made of them.
The Modoc War was ended. The following
table shows the number of killed and wounded
soldiers ancl citizens participating therein :
Killed. Wounded. Total.
Officers  7 4 n
Enlisted men  39 61 100
Citizens  ,  16 1 17
Indian scouts  2 2 4

64

(,:¦',

132

Following the capture of the hostile Modoc
Indians there occurred a deplorable affair on Lost
river. A band of Hot Creek Indians, who had
taken no part whatever in the war, were being
removed to the reservation, when they were set
upon by a part}- of settlers, and six of their num
ber slain. These Indians had always been peace
able, had had no hand in the massacre of settlers,
ancl this attack on them was entirely unwarranted.
After the capture of the Modocs General
Davis at once prepared to execute without trial,
eight or ten of the ringleaders, when he received
instructions from Washington of a contrary na
ture. In a dispatch to General Schofield dated
Tule lake. June 5th, General Davis said :
I had already made arrangements to execute eight
or ten of the ringleaders ; scaffold and ropes were

966

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

prepared. I was engaged in determining the exact list,
with a view to executing them at sunset tomorrow,
when your dispatch was handed me. I have no doubt
of the propriety and the necessity of executing them on
the spot at once. ,1 had no doubt of my authority, as de
partment commander in the field, to thus execute a band
of outlaws, robbers and murderers like these, under the
circumstances. Your dispatch indicates a long delay
of the cases of these red devils, which I regret. Delay
will spoil the moral effect which their prompt execu
tion would have had upon other tribes, as also the in
spiring effect upon the troops.
That General Sherman's idea as to the proper
disposition of the captured Indians was in ac
cord with General Davis is shown in the follow
ing communication dated June 7th :
"It is to be regretted that General Davis was
interrupted in his proposed dealing with the
Modoc criminals, but the dispatch having been
shown to the attorney general, he thinks that no
action should be taken until he has furnished his
opinion on the subject of their final disposition
to the president."
The captured Modocs were taken to Fort Kla
math and held under military guard. Before a
military commission which convened at Fort Kla
math, July 1, 1873, and remained in session until
July 9th, Captain Jack, Schonchis, Black Jim,
Boston Charley, Barncho alias One-Eyed-Jim ancl
Sloluck, alias Cok, were tried for the murder of
General Canby and Dr. Thomas. The members
of this commission were Lieutenant Colonel
Washington L. Elliott, First Cavalry, president ;
Captain John Mendenhall, Fourth Artillery ; Cap
tain Robert Pollock, Twenty-first Infantry ; Sec
ond Lieutenant George W. Kingsbury, Twelfth
Infantry. Major H. P. Curtis, judge advocate
United States Army, served as judge advocate
of this commission. Each one of those tried was
found guilty. The sentence imposed by the com
mission was :
"Ancl the commission does therefore sentence
them, Captain Jack, Schonchis, Barncho, alias
One-Eyed-Jim, Sloluck, alias Cok, Black Jim,
and Boston Charley, Modoc Indian captives, 'To
be hanged bv the neck until they be dead, at such
time and place as the proper authority shall di
rect, tzvo-thirds of the members of the commis
sion concurring therein.' ''
The proceedings, findings and sentences of
the commission were approved by the commander
of the department of the Columbia, August 22,
1873 ¦ thev were also approved by President LI. S.
Grant, who named October 3, 1873, as the date
of execution. September 10th President Grant
modified the sentences of Barncho and Sloluck to
life imprisonment, designating Alcatraz Island,

harbor of San Francisco, as the place of confine
ment. The other four were hanged October 3, 1873,
at Fort Klamath. Of these four Captain Jack
was the only one who lost his stoical nerve and
failed to "die as a man." For this weakness he was
upbraided by Boston Charley, one of the con
demned. After the quadruple execution the two
sentenced to life imprisonment were taken to the
island. The other Modocs, 153 in number, in
cluding Scar Faced Charley, who died in Indian
Territory about 1900, were first taken to Fort:
McPherson, Nebraska, arriving there October 29,
1873. There were 39 men, 54 women and 60
children. Shortly afterward they were all re
moved to the Quapaw agency, Indian Territory.
Near the buildings at the fort are four headboards
bearing the names of those hanged and the date
of their execution. Although these monuments
are still standing the bodies are not buried there
and never were, having been removed immmed-
iately after the hanging. This is a fact not gen
erally known.
No punishment was inflicted by the civil au
thorities for the murder of settlers during the
war, although efforts were made to do so. The
following telegram explains itself :
Jacksonville, Oregon, October 4, 1873.
To Jeff C. Davis, U. S. A.,
Commanding Department of Columbia, Port
land, Oregon :
The hour of the execution of Captain Jack and his
co-murderers at Fort Klamath, on yesterday, the sher
iff of Jackson county was present with bench warrants
and exemplified' copies of the indictments of the Lost
river, murderers, and demanded their surrender to the
civil authorities of this state for trial and punishment.
A writ of habeas corpus has also been issued by Jus
tice Prime, of the circuit court of Jackson county,
commanding that the indicted murderers be brought
before him and cause be shown why they are with
held from trial. I respectfully ask that you communi
cate the proceedings to Washington, and that final ac
tion in the premises be taken by order from there.
L. F. Grover,
Governor of Oregon.
This was communicated to the authorities at
Washington, but the request of the governor of
Oregon ancl demand of the civil authorities were
ignored. The order had previously been issued
to take the Modocs to the east and this order was
in no way changed. Following are the names of
the Indians indicted by the Jackson county grand
jury November 29th ancl 30th, 1873: Scar Face
Charley, Long Jim, Humpy, Little Charley,
Dave, Plooka Jim, Old Doctor, One-Eyed Mose,.
Boston Charley and Little Jim.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

967

Just thirty years after the deportation of the
153 Modoc Indians from the Klamath country to
the Indian Territory in 1873 — in June, 1903 —
forty-seven, the remnant of these, returned to the

Klamath reservation. Their arrival was reported
to be agreeable to the other Indians on the reser
vation, ancl they were treated cordially and gen
erously.

CHAPTER V

FROM CLOSE OF MODOC WAR TO THE YEAR 1905.

Following the subjugation of the Modocs in
1873 conditions in the Klamath country again
became normal. A small increase in population
was noted each successive year during the 70's,
but immigration was not large. Settlers devoted
their energies almost exclusively to stock-raising.
Only a few residents of supposed favored loca
tions attempted to till the soil. A large majority
of the people believed the bulk of the land worth
less for anythipg save grazing purposes. Thus
conditions existed until about the year 1881. Then
an experiment was made with sixty acres of sage
brush land on what was known as the Plevna
ranch, near Keno. Thirty acres were sown to
barley with the surprising result of a yield of
thirty-six bushels per acre. The following sea
son other tests were made on uplands with simi
lar favorable results. From that date onward
there was annually a steady increase in cereal
acreage ancl the number of settlers engaged in
agriculture. Yet for a number of years after the demon
stration of grain growing possibilities, it was still
believed by many that grain could only be suc
cessfully produced west of Linkville (Klamath
Falls.) Practical tests proved the fallacy of this
and soon the Lost river, and other valleys, east of
the town of Linkville were classed as grain pro
ducing sections. TAX PAYERS OF 1 875.
Following is a list of all the taxpayers among
the residents of the present Klamath county in the
year 1875, as taken from the Lake county assess
ment roll for that year, and the gross value of all
the property :
KLAMATH INDIAN AGENCY.

S. Worden ......
L. S. Dyar 
John Kieykendall

$2,600 J. R. Hamersley.$ 665
3.037 James Harer  140
907 Enoch Loper .... 1,925

SPRAGUE

RIVER.

J. A. Stewart. .

. .$ 800

J. P. Gearhart. . .

.$

Fred Muntz . . .

. . 4,1 to

W. D. Ferrill ...

J. W. Gearhan.

. . 1,082

Isaac Gearhart . .

1S2

S. Gardner

. . 1,800

W. M. Prine, Jr

. 815

R. W. Scoville. .

. . 980

. 270
W. M. Prine, Sr
¦ ¦ !.227
J. Smith 
. 660
W. H. Gearhart
. . 2,669
.3,280
FORT KLAMATH.
John Stanley . .
..$
R. Flutchinson . .
$ 864
Jay Beach 
. . 920
James H. Collahan 6,100
John Loosley .
¦• 1,364
T. J. Goodwyn .
1,470
John Brannan
LINKVILLE.
J. T. Arant  $1,765
Thomas Lang .... 120
Ben Stout  1,050
S. B. Cranston. . . 2.301
Small Bros  8,367
W. J. Small 
Dennis Small ....
J. W. Hamaker . .
Chere (Chinaman)
M. Cody 
J. S. Ball 
John Dick 
Ed Penning  475
H. M. Thatcher. . 1,000
J. P. Baker  1,300
J. N. T. Miller.. 1.160
John F. Miller . . 1,000
John Kuhn  150
James H. Hudson 235
S. S. Wilcox 
Applegate Bros ..16,200
John M. Corbell..
John La Tourette. 1,898
H. S. Conn  1,926
J. W. Conn  1,220
T. J. Ferree  1,945
M. Powell 
Quincy A. Brooks 1,200
Jesse D. Walker. . 2,682'
E. F. Walker .... 3,455
Jacob Thompson. . 3,520
F. French 
William Jaquette
Henry Duncan . . . 440
H. E. Spencer. . . . 2,532
H. A. Spencer.... 1,010
A. Rockafellow . . . 1,040
C. Frafton  505
M . Tunget  60
Benson Walton . . 1,185
Dan Gordon, Sr.. 1,010
W. P. Martin  555
Stukel & Co  1,619
R. G. Galbreath. .. 1,082
William Hicks . . 595
J. L. Hanks  1,631
-968

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

LINKVILLE — CONTINUED.

Joseph Penning .

.$1,252

George C. Thomas

$1,330

W. F. Arant. . . .

¦ 975

N. Stephenson . .

¦ 225

John Gleim 

• 3,305

Robert Whittle .

. 876

J. E. Kennedy. . .

. 380

S. Walker 

40

Dennis Crawley. .

• 2,095

W. Y. Decker ..

291

Jacob Bales 

. 1,850

G. Sherman ....

. 840

John H. Miller..

• 1,705

John Burnette . .

C. Pratt 

420

C. Canton 

George Conn . . .

• 930

Joseph Conger . .

S. A. Eaton 

. 846

A. F. Woodruff.

. 1,081

0. T. Brown. . . .

¦ 3,033

J. Gordon 

120

Sam Colver ....

. 2,844

L. Goodwin ....

20

O. A. Stearns. . .

¦ l,T4°

James Tabin ....

. 1,410

A. N. Smith 

. 108

James Barkley . .

¦ 135

Thomas McKay .

• 470

¦ 330
J. H. Snyder ...
120
Amerman estate.
1,960
G. T. Baldwin. .
. 280
George Nurse. ...
17,110
William Forsythe
210
Handy & Roberts
4.305
N. Pratt 
• 834
LOST
Calby & Co
RIVER.
[ 19,190
J. J, B. Smith...
$ 95
R. Buckmaster . .
$ 80
Louis Land ....
3J75
Coleman & Goddar
d 250
C. Horsten 
I.S40
Robert Taylor . .
1.400
M. Walter 
591
S. D. Whitmore.
410
Shook & Walter.
300
W. S. Feicke....
970
10
J.' H. Campbell..
202
Henry Vinson . .
3.135
G. B. VanRiper.
1,820
James Vinson . .
965
Joseph Russ ....
4,100
George S. Miller.
2,630
Louisa Boddy . . .
726
F. Hefling 
1,207
S. N. Hazen. . . .
357
George McDonald
830
C. Mvers 
320
Thomas Wilson.
3,973
John F. Fulkinson 584
Asa A. Horrow.
315
Matthew Kewen.
885
N. S. Goodlow. .
480
Bybee & Colwell.
2,756
370
Arthur Langell .
9,210
S. Nelson 
725
J. Langell 
500
Simpson Wilson
680
L. Hiatt 
394
N. Fisher 
Albert Modie . . .
500
William Lockie. .
L550
Ben Hall 
1,790
J. Buckmaster . . .
180
I. X. Shook 
2.T12
E. Kilgore 
Sri
D. P. Shook . . .
D. C. Kilgore . . .
200
A. Shook 
200
James Kilgore . . .
350
William Roberts.
3.394
M. Hartley 
710
W. H. Horton..
1,640
S. W. Kilgore ..
350
I. P. Chandler....
. 868
FI. White 
3.205
L. M. McWharton
298
It is undoubtedly true lhat the settlement of
the Klamath country during the 70's ancl 80's was
greatly retarded by land grabbers, colloquially
known as "swamp angels.'' In many instances — ¦
far too many — they forced settlers to leave the
country ancl, by their high-handed and presump
tuous attempts to secure possession of too much
of the best lands prevented settlers coming in.
A history of Klamath county devoid of mention
of this really serious status would be incomplete ;
we purpose to present a brief account of this land
grabbing. In i860 the United States government granted
to several states the swamp lands within, their
borders. This was before there were many set
tlers in the Klamath country. The purpose of
the grant was to place these lands in the hands
of the states, who could to better advantage dis
pose of them ancl supervise their reclamation. In
the Klamath country very little attention was paid
to this swamp land grant prior to 1870. Only a
few years before the first settler had located
within the boundaries of the present Klamath
county. But in the year mentioned a bill was in
troduced in the Oregon legislature, passed, and
was signed by Governor Grover making it pos
sible for much of the best land to come under the
pernicious control of the "land grabbers." Os
tensibly the bill provided for the reclamation of
swamp lands in Oregon. It provided for the fil
ing on swamp lands by private parties, who were
to pay $1 per acre for the same, twenty per cent.
to be paid down ; the balance when proof of re
clamation should have been made and accepted.
No sooner had the ink dried on the governor's
signature to the bill than 200,000 acres of Kla
math soil was filed upon. The bulk of this land
was secured by Quincy A. Brooks, the author of
the bill, A. J. Burnett, N. Owens and a few others.
Had the land thus filed upon been all swamp land
ancl unfit for cultivation and pasture without re
clamation, there would not have been the set-back
to settlement which resulted. But much of the
soil thus taken was "swamp land" only in the
minds of the land grabbers. Some of this land
had already been settled upon by homeseekers.
Others came ancl began to till the soil and raise
stock on the lands which were high and dry.
Then ensued a long, tedious campaign on the
part of the land grabbers to secure titles from the
state. They were successful ; then began the
contest between the settlers who had taken claims
and the state which had given away the lands to
the- land grabbers. The result was extended liti
gation, the state attempting to wrest from the set
tlers the lands upon which they were building
homes. It was not a contest between the land
grabbers and the settlers, but the responsibility
and expense of doing this was placed upon the
shoulders of the state. The land grabbers were
employed by the state to prosecute the cases. Most
of the settlers gave up in despair ancl moved to
other parts of the country. They had tilled the
soil and engaged in the stock business, trying to
HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

969

build themselves homes. Intending settlers
steered clear of the country where such strife
was going on ancl where they were led to believe
the titles to all lands was clouded. The few who
fought for their rights to a finish — some fourteen
or fifteen in Klamath county — won their cases in
every instance. But the litigation produced a de
leterious effect on the country and retarded its
growth as did no other cause.
Those who have read the preceding chapters
of this volume have learned of the various county
formations of Oregon. For the benefit of those
who have not it may be well to state that in 1854
all that portion of Oregon between the Cascade
ancl Rocky mountains was formed into Wasco
county, with the seat of government at The Dalles.
A little later the present counties of Lake and
Klamath became a part of Jackson county. Then
in 1874 that part of Jackson county east of the
Cascades comprising the present counties of Lake
ancl Klamath, was formed into Lake county, with
Linkville as the county seat, the seat of govern
ment two years later being removed to Lakeview.
The next county remodeling was the creation of
Klamath county from the western portion of Lake
county; this brings us up to 1882.
Klamath is a name of aboriginal origin, ancl
is the name of a tribe of Indians which has occu
pied the country since ancl before the advent of
white men. The Indian name, besides the now
authentic spelling, has been spelled Clamet, Kla-
met, Tlemath and Tlamatl.
Agitation for the formation of a new county
from the western portion of Lake, began before
the 1880 session of the legislature. The moving
of the county seat to Lakeview in 1876 had the
effect of making a division desirable so soon as
the population would warrant it. Although some
thought the time had arrived in 1880, the effort
along this line was not united and the matter was
not brought before the legislature that session.
But in the winter of 1881 ancl 1882 a united effort
was put forth ancl continued until Klamath
county was created in the fall of 1882. Mass
meetings were held at various points in the west
ern part of Lake county to obtain the sentiment
of the people ancl to devise means to carry their
desires to a successful termination. Following
are the proceedings of one of these meetings as
reported bv the Ashland Tidings of Dccmbcr 16,
1881: Pursuant to notice meeting was called to order at
2 o'clock p. m., B. Price being chosen chairman and
T. J. Goodwyn. secretary. After a somewhat lengthy
discussion of the bridge question, the propriety of divid
ing Lake county and forming a new county was sub
mitted to a vote, when it was determined that all

present were in favor of such division. A resolution
was also passed requesting the secretary to furnish a
copy of their proceedings to the Ashland Tidings for
publication. Quite naturally the people of the eastern side
of Lake county objected to the dismemberment of
their count}-. Still, this opposition was by no
means intense or bitter. They were willing to al
low the slicing of their county provided "the
western end had taxable property enough to sup
port a county organization," ancl they argued that
this was not the case.
The campaign of the "west-enders" was
waged spiritedly throughout the spring and sum
mer of 1882. During the months of July and Au
gust a petition to the legislature was circulated
asking for the cutting off of the Klamath basin,
Langell ancl Sprague river valleys, to form the
new countv. This petition was liberally signed
and found its way to the legislative halls. The
bill was introduced by E. C. Mason, a resident of
Goose Lake valley, ancl in due time passed both
houses ancl was signed by the governor Oc
tober 17th.
The population of Klamath county at the time
of its organization was, probably, about 700 or
800. At the general election held in June, 1882,
the precincts of Lake, which were afterward
formed into Klamath county, polled 258 votes. A
proper multiple to be used for that period in de-
terming population from the voting strength was
not over three, which would give the proposed
new countv a population about as stated. Fol
lowing is the Klamath county enabling act:
Re it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the
State of Oregon :
Section I. That all that portion of the State of
Oregon embraced' within the following boundary lines
be, and the same is hereby created and organized into
a separate county by the name of Klamath, to-wit : Be
ginning on the south boundary line of the State of Ore
gon at its intersection with the line between ranges
No. 15 and 16 east; thence due north to the south line
of township number 32 south ; thence due west to the
line between ranges No. 11 and 12 east; thence due
north to the south line of township No. 22 south, being
the south boundary of Wasco county; thence due
west to the summit of the Cascade mountains ; thence
southerly along said summit to its intersection with
the line between ranges No. 4 and 5 east; thence due
south on said range line to the south boundary line of
the State of Oregon, and thence east along said boundary
line to the place of beginning.
Sec. 2. The territory embraced within said
boundary lines shall constitute a county for all civil
and military purposes, and shall be subject to the

970

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

same laws and restrictions and be entitled to the same
rights and privileges as other counties of the state.
Sec. 3. The county seat of Klamath county is
hereby located at the town of Linkville, in said county,
until otherwise located, as provided in this act, and
the county court of Klamath county shall not expend
any of the funds of said county for the erection or
construction of county buildings until after the first of
July, A. D., 1884.
Sec. 4. The county clerk of Lake county shall,
within thirty days after this act becomes a law, make
out and deliver to the county clerk of Klamath county
a certified transcript of all deeds or other records per
taining to real estate in Klamath county, or to any
right, title or interest therein, together with a transcript
of all liens and mortgages upon real or personal prop
erty in said Klamath county, which said transcript when
filed in the office of the county clerk of Klamath county
shall have the same effect as original records of the
county; and the expense of making said transcript
shall be paid by Klamath county.
Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of the county clerk
of Lake county to make out and deliver to the county
clerk of Klamath county, within thirty days after this
act shall have gone into operation, a transcript of all
taxes assessed upon persons and property within said
Klamath county, and which shall remain unpaid on
the day that this act shall become a law, and said taxes
shall be paid to the proper officers of Klamath county.
Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the county judges
of Lake and Klamath counties to ascertain the amount
of indebtedness of Lake county on the day that this
act becomes a law ; from this indebtedness shall be de
ducted the value of the county buildings of Lake
county, as estimated by said county judges; also the
amount of all state taxes assessed in Lake county and
remaining unpaid, together with all money then remain
ing in the hands of the county treasurer of Lake county,
school funds excepted. Two-fifths of the remainder
is hereby fixed as Klamath corunty's proportionate share
of said county indebtedness, and when said propor
tionate share shall be ascertained as aforesaid, the same
shall be paid without delay to Lake county out of the
treasury of Klamath county. And it is hereby made
the duty of the county treasurer of Lake county, within
thirty days after this act becomes a law, to pay over
to the county treasurer of Klamath county, upon the
order of the school superintendent of said county, all
school funds then in his charge belonging to the several
school districts in Klamath county.
Sec. 7. The counties of Klamath and Lake shall
constitute one representative district, and the legal
voters of said district shall be entitled to elect jointly
one representative to the legislative assembly of this
state; and the counties of Lake, Klamath and Wasco
shall constitute one senatorial district, and the legal
voters of said district shall be entitled to elect jointly
one senator to the legislative assembly of this state.

Sec. 8. The county of Klamath is hereby attached
to the first judicial district for judicial purposes, and
the terms of the circuit court of said county shall
commence on the third Monday in May and the fourth
Monday in August in each year.
Sec. 9. The first term of the county court of
Klamath county shall commence on the second Monday
after this act becomes a law, and thereafter the regular
sessions of said court shall commence on the first
Mondays of March, June, September and December
of each year.
Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the Governor, so
soon as convenient after this act becomes a law, to
appoint for Klamath county, from among her resident
citizens, the several county officers allowed by law tc
said county, which said officers, after duly qualifying
according to law, shall hold their respective offices until
their successors are duly elected and qualified as pro
vided by law.
Sec. 11. Until otherwise provided by law the county
judge of Klamath county shall receive an annual salary
of two hundred and fifty dollars, and the county treasurer
an annual salary of one hundred dollars.
Sec. 12. At the first general election after this act
becomes a law the question of permanently locating
the county seat of Klamath county shall be submitted
to the legal voters of said county, and the place which
shall receive a majority of all the votes cast at said'
election shall be the permanent county seat of said'
county. Sec. 13. As the citizens living within the boundaries
of the proposed county of Klamath labor under a great
inconvenience in the transaction of necessary business
at their present county seat (Lakeview), this act shall
take effect and be in force from and after its approval
by the Governor.
Approved October 17, 1882.
Monday, November 6, 1882, the official ma
chinery of Klamath county was set in motion.
On that date, in the little town of Linkville, the
commissioners' court convened for the first time-
and formally orginized the county government..
At this meeting- there were present Hon. W. S.
Moore, county judge; Stephen Stukel and O. T..
Brown, commissioners; Charles Putnam, sheriff,
ancl W. C. Llale, clerk. The business transacted
at this initial assembly was the approval of the
bonds of the several county officers ; the making
of arrangements for county records and the ap
pointment of precinct officers.
The first assessment of Klamath county,
1883, disclosed the fact that the taxable property
in the new political division was $499,013. The
first tax levy was as follows : County purposes,
TO^ mills; state, 5^ ; school, 4; total 20 mills.
The county court found it necessary to raise
$5,800 upon the assessment roll of 1884. The

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

971

amount of taxable property was $561,536. The
levy was: County purposes, 10 4-10 mills; state,
5 5-10 mills ; school, 4 mills ; state university tax,
1-10 mill. Total, 20 mills.
The new county began its career in poverty.
At first no effort was made to provide county
buildings ; nothing very elaborate was required.
Whenever the county officials had need of a tem
porary office they generally found a way to pro
vide the same without cost to the county. Finally,
however, a court building became an actual neces
sity. July 8, 1884, a structure for this purpose
' was leased from G. W. Smith for $20 per month.
There was a steadily increasing demand for a jail.
In August of the same year the county purchased
of W. J. Nichols lots 3 and 4 of block 23, for
$200. A contract was let to Paul Breitstein to
erect a jail building at a cost of $800 ; before the
close of the year the county had provided a cage
for its jail birds.
While immigrants were settling in some other
portions of Oregon quite rapidly during the early
'80s, Klamath county, being so remote from
transportation ancl trade centers, was overlooked.
There was, practically, no increase of population
up to 1884; in lact there was no immigration
up to that time. Beginning that year, however,
settlers began to come in and locate within the
boundaries of the new county. Even so late as
1884 when there was quite a settlement in the
county, there were few who considered the lo
cality capable of producing crops, mainly on ac
count of frosts. This year, however, quite a
number sowed crops and Thomas Martin erected
a grist mill on Link river, just above Linkville,
the first one in the county and a pronounced suc
cess. Wmle irrigation projects in Klamath county
are now working wonders in the development of
this section, it is not a new undertaking. In 1884
William Steel came to the Klamath country from
Reno, Nevada, ancl undertook to irrigate a large
tract of land. He bought for himself ancl son-in-
law, George W. Wilson, several hundred acres of
land, secured a right of way and built an irriga
tion ditch, taking water from Big Klamath lake.
This enterprise brought many settlers and land
which could be supplied from this ditch at once
increased in value from $1.25 to $10 per acre.
Others undertook like enterprises. Vanbrimer
Brothers expended thousands of dollars in bring
ing water from Little Klamath lake for a like pur
pose, reclaiming quite a scope of otherwise value
less land. The latter enterprise was incorporated
in January, 1886, as the Little Klamath Water
Ditch Company.
The year 1885 was a prosperous one for Kla

math county. According to the Oregon state cen
sus of that year the population of the county was
1,222. The Klamath Weekly Star claimed that
the population was double what it had been the
year before, as was the actual wealth of the
county. This was, probably, an exaggeration, but
wonderful advancement had been made. The
assessed valuation for the year was' $630,9 15. The
entire indebtedness of the countv on July 3, of
that year, was $4,774.76.
The first header for Klamath county, owned
by Naylor & Townley, made its appearance in
1885, ancl its advent may be noted as a new era
for this country. While it was standing in the
streets of Linkville it brought fresh to memory
the earlier days of California and the first one
that was brought to that state, ancl that, too,
when it was by many thought doubtful whether
the growing of grain in northern California could
be made a success.
The taxable property for 1886 was $709,236,
and this was increased the year follow ing to
$1,015,559, showing that the country was rapidly
developing. The Star of May 13, 1887, said:
"The assessed value of property in the county
today will more than double that of 1884. The
acreage seeded to grain this season will, also,
double that of any previous year in the county.
Today we see our valleys dotted here ancl there
with comfortable homes, decorated with green
fields of growing grain. The mighty lakes and
rivers, bv the hand of industry, have been made
to contribute to the dry sage brush plains a con
tinuous stream of water converting them into
ever green meadows for the benefit of man."

In September, 1887, the county court pur
chased grounds in Linkville, and decided to erect
a court house at a cost not to exceed $7,500. The
lots were bought of Mrs. Lizzie Brooks for $500;
bids were solicited for the erection of the building
at a cost within the amount above stated. At the
session of November 25th the contract for this
building was let to W. S. Moore & Company for
the sum of $3,500. County Judge G. W. Smith
strenuously objected to the action of the county
court at this time. Upon the commissioners'
journal of November 25th appears the following:
"G. W. Smith, county judge of Klamath
county, hereby refuses to take any part in letting-
a contract to build a court house for Klamath
countv under either of the bids or specifications
now on file and being considered by the commis
sioners, as he does not believe either reaches the
wants of this county or is agreeable to the tax
payers to build such a structure as is represented
bv either bid ; ancl in signing the journal of this
day's proceedings I wish it distinctly understood

972

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

that I object to any order going on the journal to
let said contract.
"(Signed.) "G.W.Smith, "County Judge."
Notwithstanding this protest the other com
missioners let the contract. The building was
•erected and occupied July 2, 1888. It is the same
building now in use for county purposes. While
it answered all purposes during those early days
it has now outgrown its usefulness and is today a
disgrace to the rich county of Klamath whose
people generally take great pride in their public
buildings. It is a question of only a short time
when the county's capital building will be one to
which its citizens can point with some satisfaction.
The gross property value of the county, ac
cording to the assessment roll of 1888 was
$1,392,929. The net taxable property valuation
was $988,566.
The contract for a new jail building was let
March 8, 1889, to L. Biehn for $3,500. This was
erected upon the same grounds on which the
court house stands. September 5th, the jail build
ing was accepted. The population of Klamath
county according to the United 'States census of
1890 was 2,444. Of all the counties of Oregon
only two, Sherman and Curry, had less popula
tion. This was an increase of over 100 per cent.
over the population of 1885 — doubling in five
years. The total assessed property in 1891 was
$1,186,635 ; in 1892 this was reduced to
$1,080,323. During 1892 an effort was made to secure a
railroad through Klamath county. Considerable
interest was aroused ; the people as an inducement
offered a fair bonus in land to the proposed rail
way company. It was announced that the South
ern Pacific Railway Company offered to build a
road to be finished by December, 1893, for $100,-
000 in land and cash. April 29, 1892, there had
been collected $10,153, in cash, and 2,497 acres of
land. But the railway company abandoned the
project ; the money and lands were returned to the
donors. In truth the people of the county were
unable to raise the large sum demanded. Other
railway projects subsequently resulted in failure.
Then followed the "hard times" prevailing
generally throughout the country between 1893
and 1897. The growth and prosperity that had
prevailed during the preceding nine years was
checked. Practically the county was at a stand
still and in common with the rest of the United
States waited for the unfolding of the silver lin
ing within the cloud.
In 1893 the total valuation of property was
:$i,476,393. In 1894 this was increased to
$1,558,709. The population of the county in

1895, by the Oregon state census, was 2,318, a
decrease from the census of five years previous.
In 1896 the total taxable property listed was
$1,589,440, but in 1897 this had decreased to
$1,496,822. In 1898 it had gained to $1,529,398.
Emerging from the "hard times" period Kla
math county once more came to the front as one
of the leading interior counties of Oregon, and
prospects appeared to favor the possibility of
her no longer being an interior county. Early in
November, 1899, the Oregon Midland Railroad
Company was formed to build a railroad from
Klamath Falls to a point on the Southern Pacific
at, or near, Klamathon, California, a distance of
about sixty miles. The incorporators were George
T. Baldwin and R. S. Moore, of Klamath county;
David Horn, of Siskiyou county, California, and
L. W. Van Horn, W. J. Woods and J. A. McCall,
of Jackson county. The capital stock was fixed at
$1,000,000, divided into 10,000 shares of $100
each. Preparations were at once made to build
the road ; surveyors were placed in the field and
for several months worked on the proposed line.
Nothing, however, eventuated.
During the year 1899 the price of real estate
advanced fully 100 per cent. Alore transfers of
property were made this season than in any other
year since 189 1. During 1899 there were erected
in Klamath county, in all 52 dwellings, 23 barns
and 16 stores, with a total valuation of $64,050.
For this year the total taxable property was
$1,483,443. According to the census of 1900 the popula
tion of Klamath county was 3,970. During the
previous ten years the county had gained 1,526
people, an increase of 62 per cent. For the entire
state of Oregon the gain had been only 31 per
cent. Klamath had eclipsed all neighboring
counties ; Crook had gained 746 ; Harney, 37 and
Lake 243. Jackson county gained about 17 per
cent. Following is a comparison bv precincts:
Precincts. 1900 1890
Dairy  '  221 231
Klamath Lake  52 59
Langell Valley  195
Lost River  187 363
Lakeville  852 787
Plevna  239
Snow .  183 340
Poe Valley  156 141
Tule Lake  336 194
Sprague River  145 119
Wood River  278 210
Klamath Indian Reservation  1,136

3,970

2,444

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

973.

The population in 1901 was estimated at 5,000
Assessed valuation for 1901 was $2,299,169,
about $800,000 more than in 1900.
In 1901 a correspondent of the Portland Ore
gonian wrote -of Klamath county conditions as
follows :
Klamath county in enjoying a growth in improve
ment unprecedented in its history. The influx of new
settlers was never so great. Of late all stages coming
here, besides many private conveyances, have been loaded
with homeseekers, timber men and others in quest of
different investments. * * * The rush for timber
has begun. Dozens are already in the woods, some to
locate new claims and others to inspect large tracts
owned by individuals for eastern buyers. Reliable in
formation states that hundreds of people, hitherto quietly
waiting on the outside for the snows to disappear from
the mountains, will soon augment the scramble for
Klamath county pine. The growing demand has ad
vanced the price somewhat. The spirit of improvement
is rife everywhere in the county. The most important
is that of enlarging irrigating canals and building new
ones. The pay-roll of the Klamath Falls Irrigation
Company, whose canal is being widened, is $1,000 per
week. Work is progressing on two ditches near Bly
and there is assurance of two more in the vicinity of
Bonanza this season. Surveys are in progress for the
proposed irrigating ditches for Klamath reservation.
Preparations are being made for the building of electric
light, water works and sewerage systems for the agency,
appropriations for which were made at the late session
of congress. Work of , construction will begin soon
and be pushed as rapidly as possible.
The year 1902 was another era of prosperity
for Klamath county. "Times were good ; the
only complaint voiced was that there was more
work to be clone than could be accomplished by
the limited number of laborers. Money was plen
tiful and good wages prevailed. In various en
terprises was capital invested. Hundreds of men
and women, during this year, went into the moun
tains between Klamath ancl Goose lakes to take
up yellow pine timber land under the timber ancl
stone act.
November 13, 1901, work was begun on the
only railroad which so far penetrated Klamath
county. This road was built by those interested
in the Pokegama Lumber Company. The Offi
cers of the road who were also members of the
above named company, were George Mason,
president; Hervey Lindley, vice-president, and
general manager ; J. E. Coffin secretary and Dean
Mason, treasurer. This line was named the
Klamath Lake Railroad, and was built from
Thrall, California, to Pokegama, in the extreme

southwestern corner of the county. This road
was completed to Pokegama in May, 1903.
While the year 1902 had been a most pros
perous one for the county of Klamath, 1903 com
pletely distanced it. Day by day increased the-
number on the ground. New stage lines were
added and the old ones increased their equipment.
Filled to overflowing were the hotels of the sev
eral towns. Various were the causes which pro
duced this rush. Some came to secure the little-
government timber land that remained; others
sought investments and business opportunities in-
the towns. The total value of taxable property
in 1903 was $2,756,690.
In the spring 1904 the Klamath Canal Com
pany began operations, undertaking to irrigate
an extensive tract of land with water taken from
Lrpper Klamath lake. This company was incor
porated in San Benito county, California, May
16, 1904. The capital stock was $1,000,000.-
William K. Brown was the attorney in fact and
general agent. The officers were' Charles N-
Hawkins, president ; Paul F. Brown, vice presi
dent ; John Peterson, secretary; Bank of Hollis
ter, California, treasurer. The directors were-
Paul F. Brown, Charles N. Hawkins, Frank E.
Shore, Thomas S. Hawkins, Nash C. Briggs,,
all of Hollister, California. In the spring of 1905,
arrangements were made for a sale of this plant
to the government, as was the case of the other
two large 'irrigating projects.
This irrigation scheme of the government's,
involving a contemplated outlay of $4,400,000, is
'destined to work wonders for the Klamath coun
try. During the past summer (1904) govern
ment engineers were in the field and it was esti
mated by them that the amount of land to be re
claimed will be in the vicinity of 320,000 acres.
Nearly all of this land is of the best quality and
well adapted to the growing of grain, alfalfa,
potatoes and all varieties of vegetables.
This is, probably, the cheapest and greatest
irrigation enterprise undertaken by the govern
ment in the west. In the Klamath basin it is
rapidly assuming substantial form. The people-
of the region are thoroughly enthused over the
project and all conflicting elements have been
swept away with the purchase of private inter
ests in other canal projects. T. H. Humphries
is the engineer in charge of the work. Mr. Hol-
gate represents the legal department of the gov
ernment in all its proceedings. These gentle
men have been to California where they asked'
that state to cede to the government all its unsold
swamp land in the basin. The same request
was ma'de to the Oregon legislature and granted.
Before the government drains the lakes and!

974

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

marshes contemplated in a portion of the tract
it wants title placed with it so that the land may
be sold as homestead as soon as the work is com
plete. The state of Oregon holds title proper
under the old swamp land act. The tule lands
adjacent to the lakes have already been sold to
private interests, and now all of these acquiesce
in the government plan.
LTpper Klamath lake will be used as an im
mense storage reservoir for which its situation
is admirable. Two other lake beds will be util
ized for storage reservoirs for which there will
have to be clams, but this work will be at a low
figure as the sites are well adapted to the pur
pose. Upper Klamath lake is at an altitude of
4,142 feet above sea level. It has an area of
65,000 acres, and there is marsh and tule land
at 'the head covering 75,000 acres. This vast
swamp is remarkably level, ancl by lowering the
level of the lake three feet the swamp will be
drained sufficiently for agriculture. When the
75,000 acres of marsh is drained it will be irri
gated, from Sprague and a sister river, which
have sufficient volume to irrigate all of this land
and fill the great lakes for the irrigation work
in lands below.
Lower Klamath lake covers 84,000 acres,
the water being of but one to twelve feet in
depth. Tule, sometimes known as Rhett, lake and
situated near Lower Klamath, has an area of
94,000 acres, with a depth of from ten to twenty-
five feet. Clear lake is within six or seven miles
of Tule lake. Lost river running out of the for
mer, circulates about 100 miles through trr
country and returning to Tule lake keeps it re
plenished. Lower Klamath is but 56 feet less
altitude than upper lake. The river running
through the valley near Lower Klamath has cut
a channel 16 feet deep, and at Keno there is a fall
of 50 feet in a mile. The government purposes
cutting a channel from Keno down until the falls
are destroyed, giving 12 to 15 feet drainage for
Lower Klamath lake, which will leave that basm
entirely dry. The water of Clear lake will be
reservoired' and then used for irrigation, the
waste being diverted so that it does not reach
the Tule lake basin, and by the natural process
of evaporation it will soon become dry.
Drainage will be built to expedite this process
if necessary. Clear lake will be restrained with a
dam 30 feet high. This basin will be made to im
pound 500,000 acre feet of water which will be
distributed bv a canal forty miles long. The
watershed for Clear lake comprises about 400
square miles, and will be ample to store it during
the wet season. Another basin is near Clear lake,
known as Horse Fly valley. A clam 70 feet high
will be built across one end of this valley, pro

viding a basin that will impound 200,000 feet
of water. Its drainage basin is also ample to
furnish this volume. A canal fifteen miles long
will distribute the water from this reservoir, it
reaching the east side of the Lost river valley,
and the Clear lake canal on the west side of the
same valley. These two canals will water three
areas, known as Langell valley, of 15,000 acres;
Alkali valley, of 20,000 acres ancl Swan lake
valley of 30,000 acres. The government experts
estimate that the two reservoirs will be equal to
this task, with a margin of water to spare.
A channel will be taken out of Link river im
mediately below its origin in Upper Klamath lake.
This ditch will have a length of 40 miles and
water an area of 60,000 acres in what is known as
Klamath River valley ; 10,000 acres north of Tule
lake, 50,000 acres in Tule lake basin and 84,000
acres in the lower Klamath lake basin. The water
that can be controlled in the upper lake is good
for 600,000 acres, so that this canal when made
sufficiently large, will be ample to fructify the
entire region indicated.
The secondary reclamation scheme mentioned
which is not collected with the main project out
lined, is in the Butte Creek valley, where 25,000
acres of good land are found. The engineers
believe that Klamath river may be made to pump
sufficient water to irrigate half of this tract, lift
ing the flow 150 feet, ancl that storage reservoirs
may be constructed so as to irrigate the other
half. However, this enterprise is not to be
pressed until the other larger work is finished.
The canal begins from Link river, near the
head, and is to tap the upper lake half a mile east
of Klamath Falls. Since the government entered
the field the people who have made contracts with
the private canal companies seek to have them
release them and many who had signed with
these companies have signed with the govern
ment. During the summer of 1904 there was an
other stir in railroad circles, and it is still quite
a live issue. In June, 1904, it was announced
that the "Weed" railroad was to be constructed
to Klamath Falls. At this time the road was
being built in the direction of Klamath county,
in California, by the Weed Lumber & Railroad
Company, the personnel of which was : Abner
Weed, president ; B. F. Brooks, secretary ; G. H.
Wendling, San Francisco, G. E. Bittinger, Los
Angeles; E. S. Moulton, Riverside; Mr. Martin
ancl others, directors.
For some time there was much speculation
concerning this enterprise. Surveyors were in
the field. Early in January, 1905, a definite prop
osition was submitted by the owners of the Weed
road. They agreed to have a road built into

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

975

Klamath Falls, from Weed, California, by March
31, 1907, providing the people of Klamath
county would secure a right of way from the
California line, in addition to a bonus of $100,000
to be paid upon the completion of the road. The
citizens of the county at once became active ancl
set to work to meet those requirements. In the
summer of 1905 the $100,000 was raised, all be
ing subscribed in Klamath county with the ex
ception of $15,000 raised by San Francisco peo
ple. This indicates that this road is a cer
tainty. While the attention of the people of Klamath
county is riveted to the building of the Weed
railroad and the irrigation project, there is an
other enterprise that will prove of great benefit
to the county. This is the proposed road to
Crater Lake by the Medford & Crater Lake
Railway Company. The first sod in the construc
tion of this road was turned early in April, 1905.
At present the plans are to build into the timber
belt west of the mountains, but in time it will
be extended into the Klamath county.
'The increase in valuation of assessable prop

erty in the county for the past year (1905) is
the greatest in its history. It has reached a
total of $3,163,955, above a valuation in 1904 of
$2,755,690, or an actual gain of $506,965. The
financial condition of the county is excellent. It
probably ranks with the best in the state. While
it is nearly four years behind with its warrants,
yet it has the full confidence of the commercial
world, for its largest warrants, when they can be
obtained, are selling at a premium immediately
upon issuance.
And now we bring to a close the history of
Klamath, the favored county of Oregon. In
the earlier clays it was the dreaded Modoc coun
try ; now it is the county of happy homes. Where
once resounded the blood-curdling war-whoop of
savage Indians, now live a contented people at
peace with all the world. Ancl yet this county
is but in its infancy. Could we be permitted to
read a history of Klamath county from 1905 to
1950, what wonders would be revealed. But
it is quite certain that it would be a record of
peace and prosperity ; not of war ancl pioneer
hardships.

CHAPTER VI

CITIES AND TOWNS.

Within the boundaries of Klamath county
there is only one town that has reached a stage
which may be termed "important." This is Kla
math Falls, the county seat, a town of 1,100 or
1,200 people. It is the trading center of a large
territory ; it is rapidly becoming one of the prin
cipal towns of southern Oregon.
Two other towns in the county have won their
way to municipal government and have been
granted charters by the legislature. These are
Merrill and Bonanza and rank second and third
in importance. Besides these three mentioned
are the villages of Fort Klamath, Keno and
Dairy, each eligibly located ancl surrounded by
rich farming sections and a country abundant
with resources. With the general advancement
of the county these are keeping pace. Each has
a good school ancl a few business houses to supply
the immediate wants of the people in the vicinity.
Aside from the points mentioned are a number
of country postoffices near some of which are

stores, sawmills, etc. There are nineteen post-
offices in the county as follows : Bedfield, Ely,
Bonanza, Dairy, Forest, Fort Klamath, Keno,
Klamath Agency, Klamath Falls, LangelFs Val
ley, Lorella, Merrill, Odell, Olene, Pelican, Poke
gama, Royston, Vistillas and Yainax.
KLAMATH FALLS.
The capital of Klamath county lies in the
great Klamath basin at the mouth of Link river,
near which point the extensive irrigation canal
will receive its water to irrigate 300,000 acres
lying in Klamath county and northern California.
It is situated on Lake Ewauna, which in Indian
lore means "Elbow," the lake at this point assum
ing that form. Sheltered on the north by a low
range of mountains it is seldom extremely cold
here in winter ; the breeze from many surround
ing lakes contribute to make it a delightful place
in summer. The elevation of the town is 4,169
feet above sea level.

976

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Klamath Falls was originally called Link?
ville, and it is as Linkville that the greater por
tion of this history will treat it. Although the
town is an old one it has but recently put on a new
appearance and is now forging rapidly to the
front. Adjacent to the town are a number of
hot springs famed for high temperature and medi
cinal qualities. While at present Klamath Falls
has an electric light plant and water system, they
are to be greatly enlarged and improved to meet
the demands of a growing city. The town has
one of the best equipped telephone systems in the
interior. At present Klamath Falls is 33 miles
from the nearest railway point which place is
reached by stage. The present route to Klamath
Falls is via the Southern Pacific Railway to
Thrall, in northern California, thence by the
Klamath Lake Railway to Pokegama, and thence
by stage. There are also daily stage lines from
Klamath Falls to Merrill, Fort Klamath, Lake-
view and all intermediate points. The Lakeview
line passes through Dairy, Bonanza and Bly. The
Methodists and Presbyterians each have substan
tial edifices at Klamath Falls and large member
ships. The Catholics are preparing to build a
church and school. Fraternal societies are rep
resented by the Masons, Odd Fellows, K. of P.,
A. O. U. W. and W. O. W.
The pioneer selected this spot by instinct and
experience as the natural trade center of this re
gion on account of its striking location and here
pitched his tent. In later years the keener busi
ness man and close observer cast his lot here
willing to bide his time. One bright, sunny after
noon in the year 1858 a solitary individual might
have been seen winding his way up the steep
mountain side fringing the town on the west. On
gaining the summit he accumulated two piles of
brushwood and lighted them almost simultan
eously. Two columns of smoke rose in the air —
the signal for barter — which met an almost im
mediate response from the Lost river hills. In
less than an hour's time native riders and their
horses reeking with sweat, had gathered about
Mart Frain — pre-eminently the first white trader
to visit the present townsite of Klamath Falls.
Linkville, Klamath county's first town, was
founded in 1867. George Nurse, its founder, had
had for some time previously business relations
with the troops at Fort Klamath. Ever since the es
tablishment of this post he had had dealings there,
being post sutler, carrying a small stock of goods
to sell to the soldiers and trinkets for the Indians.
Here he remained for some time, but at last de
termined to leave the fort and establish himself
at another point in the Klamath country. The
location he selected was the site of the present
town of Klamath Falls, on the east bank of Link

river, at the point where it broadens into the
Little Ewauna Lake. Securing a "permit" from
the government in the spring of 1867 he ran a
ferry across Link river, now spanned by the coun
tv bridge, at the foot of Main street. This work
was done under the supervision of Mr. Edgar
Overton and was begun in March. Nelson Ste
venson, a carpenter, did most of the work in
building the ferry boat.
Under the direction of Overton, who appears
to have been interested with Mr. Nurse in his
adventures, lumber was rafted down from the
fort that summer, and the pioneer building in
Linkville, a little box lumber cabin was con
structed. It was built on a rocky point on the
river's bank, the site of the Brick Store Com
pany's building. About the same time, or pos
sibly a little later, a second cabin was put up just
across the street where the Lakeside Inn is now
located. Into this building Mr. Nurse moved
the remnants of his sutler's store and opened a
business which he conducted .until 1883. Al
though Mr. Nurse has always been given credit
for founding the town there was associated with
him in nearly all his enterprises Mr. Alexander
Miller. Mr. Miller had been his old time part
ner in the sutler business, and when the change;
was made to Linkville, Mr. Miller was, also, a
partner in the venture, although all the business
was transacted in Nurse's name.
Of all the frontier stores established in Ore
gon this was, undoubtedly, the most picturesque
and primitive. The "trade" at first was almost
exclusively with Indians ; the "stock" carried
consisted largely of articles that appealed to the
natives. These were exchanged for furs. Grad
ually, however, as settlers flocked into the coun
try Nurse added to his stock until in time the
store assumed fair proportions and "Umcle
George's store" became a distributing point for a
large territory. The land upon which Mr. Nurse
built his store, and that adjacent thereto, he se
cured from the state. His idea from the incep
tion seems to have been to found a future
town at this spot, as he at once platted the site
and placed lots on the "market." This early plat
ting, however, was very informal and never re
corded. Later, in 1878, the townsite was re-
platted and recorded ; the original plat was de
clared void.
Appropriately enough the town was named
Linkville by Nurse because of its location on Link
river, the stream which connects Upper Klamath
lake with Lake Ewauna. Thus came into exist
ence the future metropolis of the Klamath coun
try. During the four years following the estab
lishment of the store a few other buildings were
erected. On nearly all of these the carpentry

Klamath Falls, County Seat of Klamath County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

977

was clone by O. A. Stearns and William Angle.
In 1868 or 1869 a saloon for James Barclay ancl a
blacksmith shop for a Mr. Coultos were built. In
1869 a carpenter's shop was put up by Nelson
Stevenson ancl a residence by James Barclay.
This same year the ferry was replaced by a
wooden bridge across Link river. It was built
by George Nurse at a cost of $1,200 or $1,500.
inis structure served until the bridge that now
spans the river was erected by the county in the
middle '80s. In 1869 or the year following, two
cabins were erected on the west side of the river
for Dave Durvall and another party. This was
the beginning of West Klamath Falls. The Link
ville postoffice was established in 1872. George
Nurse was the postmaster for 12 years. As
stated in a previous chapter in the spring of this
year a contract for carrying the mail from Ash
land to Lake City, California, via Linkville, was
let — the first mail facilities that Klamath county
had secured. In the fall of 1872 the United
States land office was located at Linkville, quite
an event in the history of the little town. George
Nurse was appointed receiver but did not qualify.
The receiver and register who opened the office
were George W. Conn and Judson S. Small. This
office remained at Linkville until 1879, when it
was removed to Lakeview.
Quite slowly grew Linkville during these
days ; it was not until 1872 and 1873 that its
name became immortalized in history's pages by
the occurrence of one of the bloodiest Indian wars
that ever crimsoned the land. At the time of
the outbreak of the Modoc War, in the fall of
1872, Linkville was a town of, possibly, 40 inhab
itants. There were the store and a postoffice, a
hotel, a blacksmith shop, a feed stable, ancl a few
residences all close to the river at the foot of
what is now Main street. Later a drug store
was added to the business enterprises of the little
town. In previous chapters we have told of the
war and the part taken by the citizens of Link
ville. It was from this point that most of the
war news was sent broadcast throughout the
length and breadth of the land; the name of
Linkville was upon the lips of every one who read
of the bloody deeds enacted in that short, fierce
struggle. Linkville was advertised in blood ; the
most catchy advertising ink in the world.
The next event of importance in the chro
nological history of this little frontier town was
the creation of Lake county in 1874, and the
naming of Linkville as the county seat. This
honor she held only two years ; the seat of gov
ernment being moved to Lakeview as the result
of the election of November, 1876.
Following the close of the Modoc War the
surrounding country became more thickly settled
62

and as a result a few more business houses were
added to the town during the next few years.
Among other enterprises was the establishment
of a hardware store by George T. Baldwin, who
brought in a stock of goods in 1875. Mr. Bald
win still conducts the business here and his is the
oldest commercial establishment in Klamath
Falls. Although the Linkville townsite had been
platted previously- by George Nurse it was not
until February 26, 1878, that an official plat was
made, the former platting not having been made
according to law. The true plat was recorded in
the office of the clerk of Lake county January 27,
1 679. The townsite comprised 40 blocks, exterid-
ing from Link river to Ninth street, east and
west, and from High to Klamath street, north
and south. Following is the acknowledgement
made by George Nurse February 26, 1878:
This is to certify that I, George Nurse, am the
original owner and proprietor of the land on which
the town of Linkville, Lake county, Oregon, has been
laid out ; that said town is situated on section 32, town
ship 38, south of range 9, east of the Willamette
Meridian, and that the above is a correct plat of said
town. All former plats of said town made by me are
hereby revoked and -cancelled, the same not having been
recorded as required by law. Block No. 12 is dedicated
to common school purposes, and is hereby granted to the
school district in which said block is situated. Wit
ness my hand and seal this 26th day of ¦ February,
A. D., 1878. (Signed.) George Nurse, Proprietor.
This acknowledgement was made before J.
W. Hamaker, notary public. West Linkville, om
the west side of Link river, was platted by George-
Nurse and LI. M. Thatcher. The survey was-
made July 6, 1880, and the plat was recorded in
the clerk's office at Lakeview on October 2, 1880.
Nichols' addition to Linkville was platted' by
W. J. Nichols and Quincy A. Brooks, October 5,
1885. The plat was recorded in the county
clerk's office at Linkville, November 20, 1.885.
Klamath addition to Linkville was platted
September 4, 1900, by Christine Murdoch, .Hiram
F Murdoch, Charles E. Worden, Emma>. Wort
den, J. G. Pierce and Edna F. Pierce.
Fairview addition was platted December 23;
1903, by Charles E. Worden and A. L. Sargent.
East Klamath Falls was platted by I. A.
Duffy, May 3, 1904.
Mountain View addition was platted by-
Charles E. Worden, July 20. 1904.
The first addition to Klamath Falls was plat
ted by G. H. Woodbury and L. B_ Yaden, De
cember 17, 1904.

978

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Lakeside addition was platted by Paul Breit-
¦ enstein, January 17, 1905.
North Klamath Falls was platted by George
Biehn, March 9, 1905.
Fairview addition No. 2 was platted by G. W.
White, February 6, 1905.
Shive's addition was platted by W. T. Shive,
April 5, 1905.
By 1880 we find Linkville grown to be a town
•¦of 250 people, according to the United States
• census taken that year. Two years later we find
it a county seat, Klamath county having been
icreated in 1882, and the metropolis named as the
capital city. Up to 1884 the growth was slow.
In the year above mentioned two events occurred
which had an influence for good in the little town.
One was the establishment, May 10th, of the coun
ty's first newspaper, the Klamath Weekly Star.
The other was the building of the county's first
grist mill on Link river, just above the town, by
Thomas Martin. During the succeeding few
years the town enjoyed a steady growth and there
was considerable business activity.
Linkville's first church, Presbyterian, was
erected in 1885, being dedicated November 15th,
Revs. S. Sayers and Robert McLean officiating.
Its cost was $2,810.79. In the spring of 1886 we
find Linkville's business houses to consist of
seven stores, four saloons, three hotels, three
blacksmith shops, a brewery, three livery and feed
stables, a flouring mill, sawmill, sash and door
factory, harness shop, butcher shop, U. S. tele
graph office, four doctors, four lawyers and one
newspaper. In the fall of 1886 the Star claimed
.a population of 600 for Linkville, which was,
¦ probably, an over estimation. Several business
/houses were built this year. The lack of banking
facilities was a great annoyance to the business
",men. The cost of building improvements this
wear totaled $35,800.
The growth of Linkville had been so favor
able in the past few years that an attempt was
made to secure municipal government. In Janu
ary, 1887, a bill was introduced in the Oregon
legislature to incorporate the town of Linkville.
This measure, however, was defeated, and a city
• government was not established until two years
; later. At the legislative session of 1889 a city
charter was granted to Linkville, going into effect
February 25, 1889. The last section of the act
- granting municipal government reads :
"Inasmuch as improvements are very much
needed in the town of Linkville, and said town is
greatly in need of municipal government, this
act shall take effect and be in force from and
: after its approval bv the Governor."
W. S. Moore, W C. Hale and Charles

Graves were named in the act as inspectors of the
first election which was held on the first Mon
day in March. Unfortunately the early records
of the town of Linkville are lost and the names
of those who first served the town in an official
capacity cannot be learned. Following are the
names of the citizens who have served as town
officers from 1891 to 1905, inclusive :
1891 — Trustees: G. W. Smith, C. S. Ser
gent, R. W. Marple, A. M. Peterman, Wallace
Baldwin ; treasurer, T. F. Miner ; recorder D. C.
Brownell. 1892 — President of council, G. T. Baldwin;
trustees, A. M. Peterman, B. F. Van Brimmer,
John W Siemens ; treasurer, Alex. Martin, Jr. ;
recorder, C. L. Parrish.
1893 — President, A. L. Leavitt; trustees, G.
T. Baldwin, J. D. Fountain, C. S. Moore, C. S.
Sergeant ; treasurer, W. E. Bowdoin ; recorder,
C. L. Parrish.
1894 — President, R. W. Marple; trustees,
Wallace Baldwin, J. F. Goeller, C. S. Moore, C.
S. Sergent; treasurer, W. E. Bowdoin; recorder,
C. L. Parrish.
1895 — President, J. D. Fountain; trustees,
Joseph Conger, R. S. Moore, E. R. Reames, B.
F. Van Brimmer ; treasurer, John W. Siemens ;
recorder, C. L. Parrish.
1896 — President, William M. Shellabarger ; ''
trustees, Wallace Baldwin, John V. Houston,
Henry F. Schallock, A. L. Leavitt; treasurer,
John W. Siemens ; recorder, C. L. Parrish.
1897 — President, A. L. Leavitt; trustees,
Wallace Baldwin, J. V. Houston, H. F. Schal
lock ; treasurer, John W. Siemens ; recorder, C.
L. Parrjsh. 1898 — President, A. L. Leavitt; trustees,
Wallace Baldwin, H. Schallock, John V. Hous
ton; Joseph G. Pierce; treasurer, John W. Sie
mens ; recorder, C. L. Parrish.
1899— President, R. W. Marple; trustees, A.
D. Carrich, Joseph Conger, Marion Hanks, Wil
liam Terrill; treasurer, J. W. Siemens; record
er, C. L. Parrish.
1900 — President, J. G. Pierce ; trustees, W.
W. Hazen, Otto Diedrich, S. Ed. Martin, H.
F. Schallock; treasurer, John W. Siemens; re
corder, C. L. Parrish.
1901— President, Otto Heidrick ; trustees, C.
C Maltby, George Humphrey, A. C. Beals, W.
W Hazen; treasurer, John W. Siemens; re
corder, H. W Keesee.
1902— President, J. G. Piercer trustees,
George R. Hum, A. C. Beals, William Terrill,
J. B. Campbell; treasurer, John W. Siemens; re
corder, H. F. Schallock.
1903— President, W. F. Shives ; trustees, A.

HISTORY OE CENTRAL OREGON.

979

•C. Beals, E. B. Henry, Frank Ward, J. B. Camp
bell ; treasurer, John W. Siemens ; recorder,
Fred Schallock.
1904 — President, Alexander Martin, Jr. ,
trustees, Frank Ward, George R. Hum, B. St.
George Bishop, L. F. Willits ; treasurer, John
W. Siemens ; recorder, C. C. Brower.
1905 — President, Alexander Martin, Jr.,
trustees, L. F. Willits, Frank Ward, B. St.
George Bishop, Fred Schallock; treasurer, John
W. Siemens ; recorder, C. C. Brower.
On the morning of September 6, 1889, oc
curred Linkville's "big fire," which destroyed
almost the entire business portion of the town
and entailed a loss estimated at $50,000. The
commercial houses at that period occupied that
portion of Main street extending from the
bridge to the bend of the street. On the- east
side this was solidly built up as was the greater
part of the north side. Both sides of that por
tion of the street were entirely destroyed. The
fire broke out at two o'clock, a. m., the blaze
continuing for two hours. Furiously the citi
zens worked to subdue the flames, but all efforts
were unavailing. The only fire protection af
forded by the town was a hand pump, and this
was, practically, worthless against a blaze of
.such magnitude. Everything was quite dry and
burned readily. The bridge across Link river
caught fire, and this was the only structure
saved. A severe blow to the little town was this
fire; insurance was light and rebuilding did not
afterward progress rapidly.
For many years Linkville, and as it was af
terward known, Klamath Falls, supported a
troop of the First Cavalry, Oregon National
Guard. This was troop B, and was organized in
1889. John W. Siemens, formerly a soldier at
Fort Klamath, was selected captain, which po
sition he held during the life of the organization.
At the time agitation for incorporation began
there was a disposition among many citizens to
•change the name of the town. " Klamath City"
was a name proposed and met with popular ap
proval. Linkville was not distastefrd with the
"exception of the diminitive termination. The
town was growing; its citizens expected it to
rapidly increase in size, and considered that a
name with "city" attached to it would be more
appropriate than one terminating with "ville."
However, when the bill incorporating the town
was passed, "Linkville" was the name used. The
change in name to Klamath Falls was brought
about by Isa Leskeard. It was suggested by
him in 1891. The first mention of Klamath
Falls as the name for the town made in print
.appeared in the Kalmath County Star of April
10, 1 89 1, as follows:

"Isa Leskeard, who has been in Portland
most of the time since last summer, thinks the
name of this town should be Klamath Falls.
That name advertises the fact that there are falls
here, and thus gives the town an advantage fully
recognized as such by other towns similarly sit
uated, though provided with names of the falls
at which they stand. 'There is' he said, 'a great
deal in the name of a town situated by a heavy
cataract,' and we are inclined to think so, too."
In December, 1891, a petition addressed to
the first assistant postmaster general was drawn
up by Attorney W. C. Hale, of the firm of Cogs
well & Hale, setting forth reasons why the pres
ent name was objectionable. This petition was
placed in the hands of County Surveyor Isa Les
keard, Town Recorder D. C. Brownell and Real
Estate Agent Robinson, and names solicited.
December 18th the Star said :
"There is an argument of one or two dry-
mouthed old settlers that Linkville is well
enough known by its present name. But the
more spirited believe that the town is not and
never will be known by her present name as she
ought to be."
The prayer of the petition was granted. The
first assistant postmaster general sent to Post
master C. H. Withrow the following communi
cation which was received March 16, 1892, and
it is self-explanatory:
Washington, D. C, March 11, 1892 — Sir: The post
master general has changed the name of your post-
office from Linkville to Klamath Falls, in the county
of Klamath and state of Oregon. The new name, how
ever, must not be used until the beginning of the next
quarter, nor until you have executed a bond and been
commissioned under the new name.
Q. G. Rathbone,
First Assistant Postmaster General.
Linkville postoffice officially became Klamath
Falls April 1, 1892. Although the postoffice had
been known as Klamath Falls since April 1,
1892, the incorporated town was still Linkville
and remained so until February 7, 1893, when a
new charter was granted the town and its official
name became Klamath Falls. At the last stroke
of 12 on Monday night, February 6, 1893, Link
ville ceased to exist except in memory.
Klamath Falls was again visited by fire on
the morning of April 8, 1892, when the Grand
Central block, in which was conducted a general
store, hotel, barber shop and saloon, was burned,
with a loss of between $20,000 and $30,000.
A considerable business portion of the west
end of the town was consumed by fire Monday,
July 2, 1894. The losses were :

980

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Howe & Parrish, $5,000, insurance, $2,800;
T. E. Clapp, $4,600 ; insurance, $3,500 ; J. D.
Fountain, $3,000, insurance, $1,500; Dunn &
Ammerman, $2,500, insurance $1,500; F. E.
Robinson $2,500, insurance, $1,000; Ky Taylor,
$200; Troop B, $2,000; Athletic Club, $150; C.
S. Sergent, $600, insurance, $600; M. H. Dag
gett, $1,000, insurance, $500.
A census of the town of Klamath Falls taken
in April, 1895, gave a population of 452. Dur
ing 1896 an electric light plant was placed in-
commission and a system of water works in
stalled. Although the city had not entirely re
covered from the business depression incident to
that period several business and residence houses
were erected in 1896. During the "hard times"
which held the whole country in their grasp
from 1893 to 1897 Klamath Falls suffered in
common with all other towns. Practically, the
city was at a standstill ; business was dull ; en
terprise stifled and the town simply existed,
waiting for the promised better times to come.
With the revival of business conditions through
out the country Klamath Falls emerged from its
comatose state and again ' resumed its place as
one of the lively towns of southern Oregon. The
streets were crowded with teams and the stores
with people ; the general animation to be seen
on every hand was such as to make the heart
glad and the poc^.etbook full.
The vear i960 was a prosperous one for
Klamath Falls. Good crops were havested,
good health was the rule, ancl favorable rail
road prospects (which did not, however, at that
time materialize) made the town a lively one.
The population this year was 447 according to
the federal census. During the few years fol
lowing conditions were about the same. There
was no- big rush, but the growth was steady,
brought about by the increasing settlement of
the surrounding country.
Then came the first intimation that the gov
ernment was considering a big undertaking for
the Klamath country, the irrigation of nearly
300,000 acres of land. This was in 1904. To
illustrate the growth of the town it may be said
that at the beginning of 1904 the assessable
property within the corporate limits of the city
was $167,820. At the opening of 1905 it was
$231,179, an increase in the year of $63,359. At
this writing, summer of 1905, the irrigation pro
ject is assured, and the effect on the business
conditions of Klamath Falls is highly favorable.
We stated at the beginning of this chapter
that Klamath Falls is the favored town of the
interior of Oregon. We wish to repeat ancl em
phasize that statement here. Klamath Falls is
today a town of between 1,100 and 1,200 people,

its population having nearly tripled in the past
five years. It will, in all probability, five years-
from this date, be a city of 5,000 people. A rail
road is coming, right of way through the city
having been granted ; a franchise for a street
car system has been secured ; new enterprises
are being started on every hand ; the town is tak
ing on the airs of a city. The business portion
of the town is principally built upon one street
— a street a mile long and almost solidly built
up. Adjacent to the street and along its whole
length, is the residence part of the town, in
which are beautiful homes, surrounded by hand
some lawns and shade trees.
Thirty-eight years ago, in the summer of
1867, when George Nurse opened his "store"
at the point of rocks, with his ambition to estab-
list a town at this spot, did he imagine that such
would be the conditions in 1905 ? Can we imagine;
what Klamath Falls will be forty years hence?
MERRILL.
The town of Merrill, on the historic Lost
river, twenty-two miles southeast of Klamath
Falls claims to be the second town in importance
to the county seat. It is located in a beautiful
valley four miles wide and from ten to fifteen
miles long. The town was named for N. S.
Merrill, who laid it out a number of years ago.
The valley is to receive the benefits of govern
ment irrigation, and its fertile soil will add ma
terially to Klamath county's great output. The
site is ideal ; its buildings are substantial, and the
surrounding heights, with Mount Shasta's-
hoary head in the distance, combine to present
most picturesque and attractive scenery. Merrill
has now one flouring mill, a large sawmill, two
large department stores, two hotels, two saloons,
two blacksmith shops and a livery stable. The
town has no bonded indebtedness, but on the con
trary is in excellent financial condition. It is
with justice that Merrill boasts of her public
school. It is a most substantial building, and
the number of pupils enrolled is 67. At present
the town numbers between 200 and 300 inhab
itants, although one of the youngest towns in
Klamath county. Previous to, and for some time
after, the founding of the town there was a little
place called Gale, about one and three-quarter-
miles northeast. At Gale was a postoffice, a
store owned by James O'Farrell, a blacksmith
shop conducted by Mr. Woodcock and the Pion
eer hotel. With the founding of Merrill, how
ever, Gale moved into the new town.
Merrill is located upon land the patent to-
which was issued to Benjamin Van Brimmer at
quite an early date. It was not until 1894 that

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

981

any serious efforts were made to build a town
here. It was platted by N. S. Merrill May 22.
1894, and recorded May 28th. The number of
.acres platted was eighty. The original enter
prise was a grist mill built the same year by
Martin & Brandon. The building of a mill is
a better initiative for a town than the selling of
many lots, and during .1894 quite a little village
appeared. The mill people built a residence, the
:second building on the townsite. This was fol
lowed by the store of James O'Farrell, black-
simth shop of James Stobie and a number of
dwelling houses. A school house 24x40 was
erected in 1895. The money for this purpose
was secured hy subscription in Merrill and the
surrounding country. In 1896 a postoffice was
established with H. E. Momyre as postmaster.
The town was incorporated May 18, 1903, and
at that time the town board comprised F. S.
Brandon, George Jory, H. E. Smith, W. P.
Rhodes and George Offield. S. Ed. Martin was
recorder, M. E. Hutchison treasurer ancl A.
Schortgen, marshal. BONANZA. I
This town claims to be next in importance to
Merrill. It is 26 miles east of Klamath Falls on
Lost river. The town draws a trade from a ra
dius of 15 to 20 miles, and lies in the heart of a
rich country, including Langell's, Poe, Alkali
and Lost river valleys. Its products consist of
cattle and horses, grain, hay, fruits and vegeta
bles. These valleys are a portion of the field for the
great government irrigation projcet, and with the
thousands of acres now lying idle, placed in cul
tivation, Bonanza is destined to become an im
portant town. Already it has two stores, two
hotels, two blacksmith shops, a hardware store
and two livery stables, a daily mail by stage line
east and west, an Odd Fellows and Rebekah
Lodge. It has also a Methodist church and a
good school. Bonanza is an incorporated town,
in good financial condition, out of debt and with
a surplus of $500 on hand. The school has an
average attendance of 45 ancl the school property
is valued at $1,100. This town was founded, in
1876 by J. P. Roberts, at which time he opened a
store and conducted it twelve years. The town-
site, comprising eleven blocks, was platted by
Benjamin Price May 16, 1878, ancl recorded in
the clerk's office at Lakeview. The first addi
tion to Bonanza was platted March 30, 1888, by
J. Q. Hamaker. At the opening of 1888 the
town had two general stores, two hotels ancl a
blacksmith shop. True, Bonanza's growth has
been slow, but at the present writing the town
:is coming rapidly to the front. During the many

years since its founding it has been a trading
post and supply point for a rich agricultural
country. Now it has aspirations to become a
city. FORT KLAMATH.
1 his place is 39 miles north of Klamath Falls, ,
at the junction of Wood river and Anna creek,
near the head of Upper Klamath lake. It is lo
cated in a romantic place, and here was once the
seat of government of the reservation. It was
a lively miltarv post when garrisoned — especial
ly lively and business-like during the Modoc
War. Here, also, was enacted the closing scene
of that dark tragedy, the trial and execution of
the chiefs of the rebellion. But now most of the
buildings of the fort have' been abandoned and
are rapidly falling to decay. A writer describ
ing the location of Fort Klamath has written
that "It looks like an Eden whose first inhabitants
were struck with sluggishness for daring to oc
cupy the land before acquiring a patent from the
Kingdom of Glory."
The elevation of Fort Klamath is 4,200 feet
above sea level. At present it has two general
merchandise stores. While the site of the fort
was the first spot occupied by white people in
Klamath county, the town of Fort Klamath is
a new one, having been established only a few
vears ago. It was platted June 19, 1902, by
William T. Shive. KENO.
This is a small-sized town twelve miles south
west of the county seat, on Klamath river. Be
sides the business houses necessary for the trade
of that section, it is the shipping point for the
products of two sawmills. The town is eligibly
located on Klamath's big stream and where its
waters cease their tranquility and go roaring and
foaming clown miles upon miles of canyon. The
site of the town is a novel and pretty one. Kiss
ing the border of a dense forest on the south, it
has for its northern boundary the Klamath river,
which at this point is broad and deep. Across
the river is a substantial bridge.
Keno has two sawmills, two general stores
and a hotel and two blacksmith shops. On the
site of Keno was erected one of the first grist
mills in the county, but it was not until 1887
that the town of Keno came into existence.
March 23, 1888, the Star said: "Keno now has
all the requisites necessary to make a first-class
town ; one grocery and dry goods store, one ho
tel, one blacksmith shop and a saloon, besides
other attractions. Keno will surely become
quite a town at no distant date."

982

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

October 19, the same year, the Star added :
"The town of Keno, although but one year
old, has a long street on which are two large,
freshly painted hotels, a large mercantile estab
lishment, blacksmith shop, liverv stable, saloon,
wagon shop, stage station and private resi
dences." DAIRY.
This town is located 21 miles east of Klamth
Falls. It has one general store, two hotels, a
harness and blacksmith shop and a saloon. Du
ring the year 1885 about 25 families settled in
this! vicinity and a little village named Dairy
came into existence. At the close of the year
there was a general store conducted by Mr.
Purdtim, a blacksmith ancl carpenter shop ancl
a halting place for travelers where accommoda
tions; could be secured. Dairy townsite, consist
ing of only four blocks, was surveyed by Rufus
Moore March 24, 1886. The plat was dedicated
April 19th, the same year, by William Roberts,
the owner of the townsite, and recorded the clay
following. Soon after this a number of lots were
readily disposed of. BLY.
This is a postoffice on Sprague river 54
miles north of Klamath Falls. It has two gen
eral merchandise stores, two hotels and a saloon.
Blv is near the east end of the Klamath Indian
reservation, but not on the reservation. The pre
cinct at the last election cast 150 votes; this
would indicate a population of about 750 in the
precinct. The products of the valley consist of
horses, cattle, mules and sheep, although the lat
ter are few in number. At least 1,000 head of
cattle, 100 head of horses and a like number of
mules are sold annually from this valley. The
soil products are oats, red clover, Alsike clover,
timothy and natural meadow hay. At least 5,000
tons of hay are cut annually. The schools are
good, there being two districts in the valley. J.
O. and J. S. Watts, under the name of Watts
Brothers, are conducting a large merchandise
business at Ely, dealing also in farm machinery
and implements. W. F. Reed is postmaster, also
proprietor of a hotel. J. W. Wells is a large prop
erty owner and a worker for the interests of Blv.
In the summer of 1888 Ely consisted of one store
and a hotel combined. OTHER TOWNS.
Klamath reservation, the seat of Indian gov
ernment, is on the Williamson river, 31 miles
north of Klamath Falls. Here is an Indian

school, government sawmill and blacksmith
shop, ancl one general merchandise store. W.
Huse who visited Klamath agency in the sum
mer of 1 90 1, had this to say of the village in his
paper, the Klamath Republican :
"This is an elegant little town ancl under the
energy of Captain Applegate is rapidly growing.
During the past year it has had fine systems of
waterworks, and electric lights, a large and sty
lish school building, a well arranged hospital,
skillfull}- conducted by Dr. Hemenway and
many other appropriate improvements in the way
of streets, shade trees, gardens, etc. In good looks
the agency reminds one of an old eastern village
where the good taste of citizens has been for
years at work adorning their homes and sur
roundings." Yainax is a sub-agency of the Klamath res
ervation, on Sprague river 42 miles northeast
of Klamath Falls. Here is located the Yainax
Indian school, a store and a blacksmith shop.
A postoffice was established at this place in May,
1894, with Frank Terry as postmaster.
The only railway town in Klamath county is
Pokegama, in the extreme southwestern portion
of the county. It is 36 miles southwest of Kla
math Falls. It is the terminus of the Klamath
Falls railroad which runs from Pokegama to
Thrall, California, on' the Southern Pacific, 24
miles southwest. The town is built on a mountain
and is surrounded for miles by a dense forest.
This place consists principally of tent buildings ;
but has a hotel, good school, telephone service
and is the present terminus of the Oregon Stage
Company's line from Klamath Falls. The town
derived its name from the Pokegama Lumber
Company. We first hear of the place in a letter
written in 1901, when work was commenced on
the Klamath Lake Railroad. At this time the
company purchased the 1,500 acre "Virginia-
Ranch" on which to lay out a townsite and upon
which to build their terminal station.
Lorella lies 38 miles southeast of Klamath
Falls. It is a country postoffice having a Meth
odist church ancl a sawmill. Formerly Lorella
was known as Haynesville. It is located on-
what was recognized as the "Simp Wilson" do
main. Haynesville came into existence in 1887
at which time a postoffice with F. K. Haynes
as postmaster was established. Soon afterward a
store was opened by J. L. Truett and Mr. Haynes
started a blacksmith shop. February 17, 1888,.
the town was platted by Simpson Wilson.
March 14, 1895, it was announced that the name
of the postoffice had been changed to Lorella.
The reason for this move was that "Haines"
ancl "Haynesville," Oregon, were so near alike
that the one was often mistaken for the other.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

9%.

Whitelake City, on the shores of White lake,
about three and one-half miles from Merrill, is
known as Klamath county's newest town, al
though considerable history has been made there.
It is a "boom" town and its most enthusiastic
supporter can not deny that. Early in Septem
ber, 1904, J. E. Loy, president ; L. G. West, vice-
president and F. T. Cook, treasurer of the Okla
homa & Oregon Townsite Company, came to
Klamath county to select a site to lay out a town
under their scheme. They at once secured an
option on 350 acres of land belonging to C. N.
F. Armstrong, on Lower Klamath lake, south
of Merrill. The purchase price was understood
to be $10 an acre. The town was platted May
15, 1905. The drawing, or more properly, the
assignment of lots took place June 1, 1905, at
tended by about 250 visitors. For some little
time previously lumber and tents had been ship
ped in and a few temporary buildings had been
run up and a few business houses, on a small
scale, opened.
Altamont, about four miles east of the me
tropolis, contains a general merchandise store and
a postoffice. It came into existence in the spring
of 1895. Judge Smith officiated as the first post
master and conducted a small store.
At Olene, a postoffice on Lost river, about
11 miles east of Klamath Falls, is a sawmill,
store, hotel and blacksmith shop. It is on a
stage line ancl has a daily mail.
Langell's Valley, a country postoffice on
Lost river, is 43 miles southeast from Klamath
Falls, and contains a sawmill. Although small
it is a historic location in Klamath county.
Vistillas, a postoffice, lies 60 miles east of the
county seat, ancl 35 miles west of Lakeview. It
has a semi-weekly mail. The postoffice was es
tablished in the spring of 1892.
Odell postoffice on the Des Chutes river, is
no miles north of Klamath Falls. The office
was established in 1901 and was supplied by
special mail from Rosland. Eva M. Graves was
the first postal official.
In May, 1902, Representative Tongue se
cured the establishment of a postoffice at Odessa,
and Blanche Griffith was postmistress.
Pelican is a summer resort and postoffice on
Pelican bay, of Upper Klamath lake, 31 miles
northwest of Klamath Falls.
Royston postoffice, 48 miles northeast of Kla
math Falls, is "on the stage line to the latter point,
10 miles east of Bly and about five miles east of
Keno springs. Mrs. Laura E. White was ap
pointed postmistress at the time of the establish
ment of the office in February, 1893.
Forest postoffice is on Klamath river, 17
miles southeast of Klamath Falls, ancl about the

same distance from Pokegama. It is on the-
Pokegama-Klamath Falls stage line and has
a daily mail.
Bedfield is a postoffice on Lost river, 18 miles
southeast of Klamath Falls. L. Pfannstiehl is
postmaster. There is only one "dead" town in Klamath,
county. That was Merganser. Only the earlier
settlers of the county remember the town of'
. Merganser, at one time the rival of Linkville. It:
was the second town founded in the county
and for several years was a place of consider
able importance, especially during the Modoc
War of 1872 and 1873. The townsite of Mer
ganser was on the west bank of Klamath river,
about two miles below the city of Klamath
Falls, and the town came into existence in
1870. The cause of the founding of the town in
such close proximity to the village of Linkville
was that the proprietors of the older town site-
did not offer inducements to people to start in>.
business in competition with lines already es
tablished, and it was impossible to secure lots-
upon which to conduct business which would in-.
any way interfere with the few lines of business -
there represented. It was this fact that led to-
founding of Merganser by J. Roberts and Albert.
Handy. For a time this new town was known as
Lakeport, but shortly after the name Merganser-
was given it. The naming of the town was
brought about in a peculiar manner. Two
Scotchmen named Ennes were one day at the lit
tle town and in the vicinity shot a merganser
cluck. The question of a suitable name for the
town was being discussed when one of the
Scotchmen suggested "Merganser," which was
at once adopted. The founding of the towm
dates from 1870, when the first business house-
was established, a general merchandise store,.
by J. P. Roberts and Albert Handy. Following;
a short delay a postoffice was secured, the second
in Klamath county. Mr. Roberts became post
master. The new town did not enjoy a mush
room growth, although the store did a fairly
good business and Merganser became a favorite
trading point. Mr. Wallace Baldwin, who re
sides at Klamath Falls, visited at a time during
the Modoc War at Merganser, and has told the
writer that at that time the town consisted of
the store of Roberts & Handy, the postoffice, a
blacksmith shop and the residence of Joseph Pen
ning. Following tne close of the war the town took
on new life and other business houses were es
tablished. Joseph Penning laid out a townsite
in 1S75. It was surveyed July 1 by E. C. Mason.
The plat was filed for record in the clerk's office
of Lake county August 3, 1875. The town's

984

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

business houses were increased by a harness shop
of Robert T. Baldwin, ancl a large hotel built by
John Gleim. A bridge was constructed across
Klamath river. A little later Paul Breitenstein
began the brewery business in 'the building which
had been occupied as a harness shop, Mr. Bald
win having moved his business to Linkville. But
this rival town was doomed; Linkville was des
tined to become the only place of importance in
the county. The Roberts & Handy store at last
secured a site in Linkville and moved from Mer

ganser ; the blacksmith shop elsewhere and the
brewery closed clown. The last business estab
lishment abandoned the place and the town
passed away. Now it remains only in the mem
ory of pioneers who lived in the country prior to
the '8o's. The bridge which spanned the river
was left to rot and fall away, ancl the last of this
was only a few years ago torn clown when the
first steamboat was placed in commission on the
river, %ie old structure impeding navigation of
the stream.

CHAPTER VII

DESCRIPTIVE.

"A river ran through Eden1 ancl watered the
garden." — Genesis.
The rough outline of Klamath county may
easily be traced on a map, but there is no skill
ful word-painting so deft that it will portray the
beauty, wonder and grandeur of that which na
ture has within these four cold walls to the north,
the east, the south and the west. Ancl yet, no
man who has resided there a quarter of a cen
tury can truthfully say that he has seen more
than a portion of these creations of nature.
Lofty mountains, dressed in stately timber,
are seen everywhere below, everywhere above.
Broad and attractive lakes sleep here ancl
there, catching the glint of the noonday sun,
or lying silent, bathed in the moonlight and
reflecting the shades of the heavy shadows
above. Rivers, nearly ice cold, from the Cas
cades and as clear as the air above them.
•dash through canyons and gorges, to afterward
meander dreamily through flowery prairies to
lose themselves in the lakes ; hot springs, warm
springs, and cold springs are on every hand. All
in all 'tis a delightful country. The natural re
sources wonderful ; game and fish are in abun
dance. There are medicated hot springs, sol-
fatara or hot earth, fossiliferous deposits and vol
canic formations. Such, in general is a not
overdrawn picture of Klamath county. The
Klamath Republican in 1900 said :
It is said that the early Indians of this country
cherished the belief that Klamath county comprised
the only and original holy lands with the settlement
of Noah and his descendants thrown in. Hence, in

stead of Mount Ararat, it was the antecedent of Crater
Lake on which the ark landed after the freshet of
several thousand years ago, B. C. We would suggest
that it was amidst the verdant foliage and picturesque
beauty of old Fort Klamath set the pace and in
augurated sin by surrounding some forbidden fruit —
probably vegetables in the shape of turnips instead of
apples. This presumption is suggested by climatic con
ditions. Therefore Babylon and a few other important
towns were strung along Williamson river instead of
the Euphrates. Then Sprague river should have the
place of the Tigris in history. Klamath Falls, doubtless,
succeeded to the old site of Jerusalem and Klamath river
in reality is the river Jordan, and so on. All the
ancient patriarchs and others mentioned in the scriptures
were Indians. That is about the way the first Indians
of this country had the situation figured out, and is a
version of sacred history quite novel to most of us.
Many residents of Oregon even regard the
Klamath region as a vast stock range, encom
passed by the seclusion which that term im
plies — a place memorable in the annals of the
state for the Modoc massacres and the fortunes
that sturdy stockmen, defying isolation, have
made there during many successive years.
But a visit to the county dispels all this. Vis
ions of vast sage plains ancl foot-hills tenanted
only by stock, covered by waving bunch grass
fade before this showing, or are rounded out into
a variety that is at once pleasing to the imagina
tion and suggestive of prosperity, real and pos
sible in a material sense.
Klamath county is situated in Southern Ore
gon, east of the Cascade mon tains and is among

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

985

the largest counties in the state. Its mean or
plateau altitude is about 4,200 feet above sea
level. It comprises an area of 5,854 square miles,
3,732,480 acres divided as follows: 1,206,000
acres of agricultural land; 1,000,000 acres of
grazing land; 1,259,000 acres of timbered land
and 276,480 acres covered by lakes and marshes.
The county is larger than the state of Con
necticut. Klamath is limited on the south by the
south boundary of the state ; on the east by
Lake county ; on the north by Crook and
on the west by Jackson, Douglas and Lane
counties. It is her boast that she has
more sunny days in the year, hardier range
cattle and sheep and greater forests of soft.
pine than any other section of America. One
such feature would make any locality worth liv
ing in ; but with all three and many minor ones
this county has a future before it of great
wealth, great population and great industries.
The main deterrent to immigration into this in
land plateau so richly endowed by nature, -has
been the lack of transportation facilities. But
"before many more months the great civilizer and
foundation of agricultural ancl commercial ad
vancement — the railroad, will have pushed its
way into this beautiful upland of fertile valleys,
large, navigable lakes, crystal streams of cold
water and forests of the grandest pine trees that
ever reared their tops to the blue sky of a cloud
less heaven.
There is every indication that at some former
period this country was hemmed in by the Cas
cades ancl Siskiyou mountain ranges, until some
convulsions of nature of volcanic origin rent the
mountain barriers on the west ancl permitted
the waters to escape toward the Pacific ocean
through the rocky gorge now known as the chan
nel Of the Klamath river. Succeeding ages have
obliterated many of the land, or rather water
marks, made by the wash of the angry waves of
this ancient sea ; enough, however, remains to
trace its former boundaries. And the deposits
of fertilizing material have formed the basis of
a soil rich in all the elements of plant growth.
The ages of accumulated vegetable mould ; the
wash of disintegrated volcanic rock, ancl pomice
and deposits of lime and chalk combine to form
a variety of soils according to the preponder
ance of the several materials that are not only
productive of a varied class of agricultural pro
ducts, but are very easily subdued by the plow
ancl respond handsomely to intelligent culture.
The cereals of all kinds are produced in
abundance. Oregon flour has fame for superior
ity wherever introduced. The first prize for
wheat awarded at the World's Fair in Chicago
in 1893, went to wheat on exhibition from Kla

math county. All the hardier vegetables flourish
here and are of a flavor and crispness fotmd in
but a few other localities. Potatoes yield bounti
fully ancl are never affected with pests or other
unsoundness so common elsewhere. Sugar beets
grow well and contain enough saccharine mat
ter to justify their culture for sugar making. '
Apples, pears, plums, prunes, cherries and in
some localities peaches and berries are success
fully raised. All kinds of grasses do well here,
Dtit the main ones used are the natural grasses
and alfalfa. Flax is native of this county but
the cultivation of tame flax has nexer been tried.
Oregon marshes would furnish a wonderful
revenue if prepared for cranberry culture, as
the location and general characteristics are ideal
for the raising of that berry which has made
many a millionaire in the eastern states. On
the dry uplands alfilerilla, sain foin, sand vetch
and other productive forage plants have been
successfully cultivated and if more extensively
planted would become a valuable source of rev
enue to the stock raiser. Hops, though not
raised for the market, are grown somewhat ancl
never fail to yield abundantly.
January 1, 1905, the government land opened
to settlement in Klamath county was 399,191
acres. The climate is all that can be desired, the
temperature ranging from 95 degrees in summer
to zero' in winter in the plateau section and -the
average annual precipitation is 19.76 inches.
There is none of the hot, dry, enervating weath
er of the more southern regions and none of the
severely cold weather of the east. It is in fact
a climate that conduces to the highest develop
ment of man and the most perfect development
in the animal and vegetable kingdom. Quite the
largest percentage of the precipitation occurs
from October to May, the snowfall varying
greatly, some winters being from three to four
feet ancl others not exceeding six inches. At no
time of the year does rain fall in torrents or in
very heavy showers, but it is usually a gentle
downfall lasting for several hours.
During the summer the wind, or gentle
breeze, as it might be more properly called,
prevails from the north and during the winter
from the south. No cyclone or blizzard was ever
known to occur in this region, nor any severe
drouth, flood or other unusual climatic occur
rence. From the records compiled by the Ore
gon Weather Bureau for eighteen years are
taken the following average laws in Klamath
county :
Average mean temperature, 45.6; average
maximum temperature, 59.3 ; average minimum
temperature, 31.9; highest temperature on rec-

986

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ord, 95 ; lowest plateau temperature, 15 ; aver
age precipitation, 19.76 inches; average number
of days clear each year, 112; average number of
days partly cloudy each year, 158; average num
ber of clays cloudy, 95 ; average number of days
each year on which one-one hundredth of an
inch of precipitation fell, 84.
Mean temperature and precipitation at Fort
Klamath from 1863 to the time of the abandon
ment of the fort as observed by the U. S. Hos
pital corps and the U. S. Weather Bureau :

Year.1863..1864 .
1865 .
1866 .
1872 .
1873
1874 -
187S ¦
1876 .
1877 -
1878 .
1879 •
1880 .
1881 .
1882 .
1883 .
1884 .

, Mean Tern. Precipitation

1886
1887
1888

42.4 38.6

44-2
43-2
45-0 44.6
44-4 44.242.440.0 40.939-2
43-4 42.2
45-7 44-744-3
43-S

30.06

18.05

19.90
22.7220.0226.40

27.24
23-15 11.94
22.4222.61 27.08
23-4523-59

At Klamath Falls the temperature is much
warmer than at Fort Klamath, and the southern
part of the county is milder still than at Kla
math Falls. By months' the mean temperature
and precipitation at Fort Klamath for the period
above tabled was :
Month Mean Tern. Precipitation
January  25.3 3.72
February  28.3 2.85
March  33.3 2.84
April  41.4 1.42
May  48.8 1. 19
June  55 9 -94
July  62.0 .46
August  60.2 .30
September  52.6 .55
October  43-3 1-57
November  35.1 325
December  29.2 3.66
Annual mean temperature, 42.9.
Annual mean precipitation, 22.60.

The county of Klamath is so extensive, the
resources and conditions of different sections so
varied that a general description of the county,
covering all points is impossible. We will en
deavor to describe the county by sections, pre
senting a brief description of each. Our atten
tion will be first directed to agricultural sections
which are located in the different valleys. These
sections are the valleys of Lost river, Tule lake,
Sprague river, LangeH's, Swan lake and Poe, the
fertile lands bordering Link river, Lower Kla
math lak; and Wood river valley.
Lost River Valley, as it is generally termed,
comprises the territory between Klamath Falls
and Lost river as far south as the head of Tule
Lake valley. It averages about five miles wide
by 20 miles long and by reason of its twenty-
mile irrigation system which has been in opera
tion several years, early settlement, great extent
and proximity to the county seat is one of the
best known and most improved. It produces
abundantly of grain, alfalfa, potatoes, etc., there
being some 4,000 or 5,000 acres irrigated. It
lies so that 50,000 acres of it can be irrigated
and at present this is one of the main feeding
grounds of the county.
Tule„Lake Valley lies from the California
line about five miles north and is some 15 miles
in length. Its principal town is Merrill and its
chief pursuits raising grain, alfalfa and cattle.
The soil is sandy and peculiarly adapted to the
raising of alfalfa. The principal irrigation sys
tem is known as the Little Klamath Irrigation
Company — or locally the Adams Canal. The
water is taken from the Little Klamath lake by
two lines of canals, the length of one being fifteen
miles and the other 28 miles. Combined they
have a capacity to irrigate 15,000 acres of land.
This company claims that its irrigation system is
the most complete in the United States.
Poe Valley, which is about four miles wide,
begins at Lost River Gap and runs in a sottth-
easternly direction for about ten miles. It is-
quite well settled and the residents devote their
attention to the raising of farm produce and cat
tle, the latter having good range on the surround
ing hills. The Klamath Canal Company's sys
tem extends through this valley, and when in
operation will cause this to be one of the most
fruitful areas in the county.
Langell's Valley is about five miles in width
and extends eastward from Bonanza some four
teen miles. It is essentially a valley of stock-
growers, owing to its ample range and large-
areas of natural grass land. It lies quite level
and is watered through its entire course by Lost
River ancl its tributaries. Much irrigation is
done here in a small way, but it remains for pub-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

987-

lie enterprise to establish canals which will bring
out the fullest values of the lands of this valley.
The floor of this valley is quite level and is wa
tered throughout its entire course by Lost River
and its tributaries.
Sprague River is very extensive, most of it
being in the Klamath Reservation and therefore
of interest to the homesteader when the reser
vation is opened for settlement. Its course runs
for fifty miles through the county, ranging in
width from half a mile to a dozen or more miles.
It has a magnificent range for stock adjacent to
its whole length and the valley is a veritable
wonderland of natural meadows.
Sican Valley is a tributary to Sprague River
valley and through its forty-five miles, ranging
in width from half a mile to ten miles, the
stream meanders in and out of rich meadows and
large flats of agricultural lands. It is devoted
at present to stock raising by the Indians, but
some day will be a great and wealthy stock rais
ing section.
Williamson River Valley extends from the
mouth of Williamson river, where it empties into
the Upper Klamath lake, for fifty miles to the
northeast and with its various tributary valleys
forms a large system of fertile agricultural,
meadow and natural grass lands, supplemented
by excellent range on the surrounding hills and
mountains. The valley varies from half a mile
to fifteen miles in width and contains the vast
Klaniath marsh of some 60,000 acres.
Horsefly and Barnes Valleys are in the up
lands of the eastern part of the county and are
devoted to the raising of cattle, a very extensive
range falling under the control of these small but
well-located valleys.
Swan Lake Valley lies north of Lost River
valley, a range of high hills intervening. It is
about six by ten miles in extent and has a lake
on the east side which by its overflow produces
large areas of grass land. This valley is well
watered toward the upper end and is surrounded
by an exceedingly large territory of valuable
range land and timber. The residents devote
their, attention to stock raising.
Yonna Valley, which is about twenty miles
east of the county seat, is some ten miles long
and four miles wide. It is well watered ancl pro
duces much natural grass on the overflow lands.
It is surrounded by good timber and plenty of
range for cattle, which is the chief industry, al
though considerable grain is raised ancl general
farming clone. Alkali lake is located in this
valley and is one and one-half miles wide by
three miles long. This lake is fed by enow and,
by the numerous large springs flowing from the
sides of the mountain. Thus it will be seen that

nature has provided irrigation. It is surrounded
by plenty of range for cattle and fine, large tim
ber. Wood River Valley in which is located the
town of Fort Klamath, is one of the most beau
tiful valleys in Oregon. It is noted principally
for its fine beef and dairy products. After mak
ing a trip to the Wood River country in the sum
mer of 1901, Mr. W. Huse published the follow
ing in his paper, the Klamath Republican:
From all we saw we feel ready to maintain that.
the Wood River country is one of the most favored.
spots that nature ever smiled upon. And the time will
come not long hence when that country will be crowded
with people, and Wood River and Big Klamath lake:
will be celebrated as summer resorts by tourists every
where. Klamath River Valley which lies along the
north and west side of Klamath river, is from
one to five miles in width and extends from
Klamath Falls along the river for twelve miles.
There is much natural grass land and its inhabi
tants devote their attention to both stock-raising-
and diversified farming.
The Odd country has been, declared by the
editor of the Klamath Republican as the "Dark
est Klamath Land." And yet Odd is the largest
and remotest school district in the United States.
This Odell precinct, a rich belt of country, of fer
tile valleys and magnificent forests, practically
unknown to the remainder of the county, is over
100 miles from Klamath Falls and is gained
by trails and circuitous routes. From 10 to 1 1 days
are required for a letter mailed at Odd to reach
the county seat. While the vote of Odell precinct.
is only 17, yet the exact results of an election
are invariably delayed for days and even weeks,
until Odell can send in her returns. This pe
culiar precinct lies at the extreme north end of
the county on the headwaters of the Des Chutes
river, and it is claimed that it was discovered to-
belong to Klamath county only a few years ago.
Charles Graves wrote in the Klamath Republi
can, February 16, 1905, as follows :
Arriving here on the Des Chutes a few years ago
I was astonished to find such a beautiful river and such
fine forests of yellow pine mixed with sugar- pine on
the higher ridges. This river has many rapids and with
its high rock walls, dam building is easy and inexpensive.
The continuous descent gives opportunity for as good"
water power here as there is in the world. Walker
Basin, the principal valley, is sixty miles long and
averages from six to twelve miles in width. Much of
this basin is good agricultural land, and where tried
produces timothy and red clover to perfection; also'

988

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

wheat, barley, rye, oats and vetch, yielding an ex
ceptionally good crop.
Many eastern people have timber claims here and
no doubt will now take agricultural land as it has
been restored to entry. This part of Klamath county
has only recently been discovered. Two years ago the
assessor found it and pounced down on two or three
settlers who had discovered the region and located here
hoping to elude him. The sheriff also discovered it about
six months ago. Odell had a school district containing
two schools. The teachers say that the county school
superintendent has so far been unable to find or even
locate the district. This, however, is not to be wondered
at. The district embraces 1,554 square miles. January
1, 1902, the district contained $4,095 worth of taxable
property; March 1, 1904, there was nearly $350,000, and
by March 1, this year it will reach, or even exceed a
half million dollars in value. There is one postoffice in
the district — Odell. It receives mail twice a week from
Rosland. A letter to reach Klamath Falls must go
north to Rosland, thence southeast to Silver Lake, thence
to Lakeview, and thence west no miles to the county
seat town, a total distance of 295- miles which requires
eight to eleven days for a letter to reach its destina
tion. This is rather inconvenient for settlers and re
tards the development of this portion of the county.
Strangers will not settle where the mail facilities are
so poor. A gauging station has been established at
Odell by the United~States Reclamation Service.
Aside from its splendid farming and stock-
raising facilities Klamath county contains the
finest timber belt in interior Oregon. It is con
servatively estimated that there are at least 15,-
000,000,000 feet of pine now standing awaiting
the logger, the mill and transportation facilities
to carry it into the outer world where it is so
badly needed. This timber, consisting of both
yellow and white pine, is of superior quality. Ten
years ago Charles H. Pierce, of Seattle, wrote
as follows concerning Klamath county timber :
The principal varieties of timber for commercial
value in Klamath county are sugar pine, yellow pine,
red fir, yellow fir, red cedar, larch and white pine.
The area covered by sugar pine in any appreciable
quantity is very small, that timber being confined almost
alone in Klamath county to the Jenny creek plateau,
which extends from Lake of the Woods south to the
California line, and from the summit of the Cascades
eastward to the Klamath river. The sugar pine of
Klamath county is apparently of as good quality as any
on the coast, and of very healthy, clean growth.
Notwithstanding the small area to which the growth
of sugar pine is confined I should estimate the total
stumpage of that timber in Klamath county and that
small strip in Jackson county which lies on the eastern
slope of the Cascades at not less than 400,000,000 feet:

Yellow pine largely predominates in quantity over any
other timber in the county, and it is probable that three-
fourths of all timber in the county is yellow pine of
some variety, for I class, the so-called "bull pine" as
a species of yellow pine, with, however, a thicker
sap and of smaller and younger growth than the finer
body of the true yellow pine, which also grows best
on the Jenny Creek plateau, but is found in more or less
quantity all over the county. Pacific coast yellow pine
is a much better wood than the best yellow pine of the
Southern states, being softer, closer grained, and freer
from pitchy Substance.
Red and yellow fir are fairly abundant in Klamath
county and in some spots high up in the mountains
predominate over all other timber, notably in the
Dead Indian region, where a large portion of a body
of fir ranks with the best fir on Puget sound in quality
and yield per acre. As a general thing the fir which
grows among the pines of Southern Oregon is not of
so good quality as the fir which abounds in the moister
climates of Northern Oregon and the Puget sound
region of Washington. There is sufficient good fir in
Klamath to round out the other and more valuable
timber and to enable the mills to fill general and
mixed orders for heavy and long framing sticks and
structual timbers to which pine is not well adapted.
The red cedar of the Cascade range iri Southern
Oregon is not of much value, due to the peculiarly
hot, dry summer seasons, which climate, however, is
just adapted to the superior growth of sugar and
yellow pines. The Klamath red cedar will answer
very well for shingles and fence posts, but the dry
rot which enters nearly every tree, even in the grand
Jenny Creek section, renders this cedar of little value
for timber. The larch and white pines of the Klamath
slope grow together in one place only so far as the
writer knows, high up on the summit plateau of the
Cascades, but readily accessible to the river or to the
Upper Klamath lake. The quality of both woods is
fine, but the quantity is rather limited, especially the
white pine, of which there is, all told, less than 25,000,000
feet scattered among the other timber.
Larch has been used and highly commended as a
furniture and finish wood by firms in Portland and
Oregon City. Of larch there is not probably to exceed
250,000,000 feet in Klamath county, confined within the
radius of six miles of the natural point for operations,
in places the heaviest stand of timber in all Southern
Oregon, and equal to almost everything on the coast.
Tn general figures even, it would be very difficult for
the best timberman in Oregon to even approximate the
amount of saw timber tributary to the Klamath lakes
and the upper end of the Klamath river. But I have
little hesitation in saying that I think when sawed, it
will aggregate more than 5,000,000,000 of feet.
I have estimates on nearly every 40 of timber on
the Jenny creek plateau, including everything north
as far as Lake of the Woods, made by competent

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

989

cruisers, and on that great plateau alone I am prepared
to state emphatically that there is three billion feet of
merchantable pine, yellow pine, fir, larch and white
pine. The balance of the county and that portion of
Jackson county which drains toward the Upper Klamath
lake must surely contain as much more timber, though
the average yield per acre for the balance of the county
is much less than for the Jenny creek plateau, and the
timber sur'rounding the lakes is shorter bodied and of
smaller growth. Assuming that five billion feet of mer
chantable timber now stands tributary to the lakes and
upper portion of the river, what does it mean? It
probably means that lumber of such quality, when
worked up, including the dressing of the same, yield
on an average $12 per M. at the mills, assuming that
the value of Klamath's timber will enhance much be
fore it is half cut off, and that of this $12 about $8
for every thousand feet manufactured will come to and
be spent in Klamath county in some form or other,
or counting it as a basis of exchange. This means
$40,000,000 certain revenue for Klamath county at some
time in her history, almost incredible figures, but which
will, I firmly believe be borne out by the facts.
For stock raising Klamath county is emi
nently fitted. Buyers from all parts of the coast
come here ancl purchase cattle. The number of
communities more or less isolated from the great
commercial markets of the nation have never had
a greater factor in producing prosperity and ac
quiring- a reputation for industrial success than
the dairying industry. When hay and other agri
cultural products would not pay to ship they were
fed to cows ancl the products — butter and cheese
— yielded a profit that was distributed through
out the entire community, creating a prosperity
that always comes from frequent payments of
honestly earned cash, so this county, should any
thing occur to cause an overplus of hay, can do
likewise with every factor to secure a successful
competency. The fishing grounds of Klamath county are
extensive ancl embrace a large variety of game
fish than any similar resort on the coast. In the
Upper Klamath lake ancl Link river seven varie
ties of the steelhead trout have been caught, rang
ing in weight from a few ounces to sixteen pounds
which raise to the fly readily during the summer
months, take the spoon in the spring and fall and
the minnow at all seasons of the year. The fa-
motisTDolly Varden trout are found in Cherry and
Sun creeks, Seven mile creek and other streams
which flow into the Upper Klamath lake. In Lost
river, which flows within ten miles of Klamath
Falls', there is an annual spring run of mullet of
such an extent that a cannery has been established
at the point of vantage. In Klamath river which
flows from Klamath Falls to the Pacific ocean, the

fall fishing for salmon, salmon trout and silver
side trout is exceptionally fine. The most noted
of all the fishing streams are Spring creek and
Williamson river, celebrated for their exception
ally game}- rainbow trout weighing from a half
to fourteen pounds, and Pelican Bay which teems
with lake trout.
Deer are plentiful along the summit plateau of
the Cascade range and spurs east of the lakes, and
bear and elk are occasionally found. In the way
of lesser game may be mentioned pheasants, .
grouse, sage-hens, prairie chicken ancl rabbits,
while the great marshes of the lakes abound in
swans, pelicans, ducks ancl geese. Snipe shoot
ing about the lakes has long been a favorite sport
with the sportsmen of Klamath Falls.
It is now ours to describe in a humble way
some of the wonders of Klamath county — or
rather attempt a description — for some of them
are indescribable. These will include its rivers,
lakes, springs ancl last, but not least, its famous .
"berry patch." The magazines and newspapers
of the countr\- have told of the beautiful scenery
of Klamath county. Crater Lake, one of the most
famous productions of nature, is here, and com
prises a portion of a panorama of grandeur which
has been converted into a national park and to
which thousands come annually to visit.
Upper Klamath lake is forty miles long with
an average of ten miles in width and is navigable
its entire length ancl breadth. It is fed by two -
large rivers ancl numerous smaller streams, and a
number of these are navigable for smaller craft, .
into which the man with rod and gun may pene
trate ancl enjoy unexcelled sport. This lake is
connected with Lake Ewauna hy Link river. The
two lakes are one mile apart, and the river is a
gradual fall, the water boiling over the rocks
with a roar. At the foot of this stream is the-
town of Klamath Falls, the capital of the county.
From Lake Ewauna flows the Klamath river into
the Lower Klamath lake, another vast body of
water lying in Oregon and California, which is,
also, navigable. Indeed, Lake Ewauna, Klamath
river and Lower Klamath lake are all used at
present for navigation purposes with Klamath
Falls the market for the products of the country
adjoining them. It has been a perplexing ques
tion where Klamath river begins. In reality its
source is Lake Ewauna ancl the head of the river
is at Baldwin's Island. The following story is
given as a tradition among the Cahroe Indians :
The Coyote went at length on his tour of inspection
to the country of the Klamath river and found the
people there in the most destitute condition. The river
had had an abundance of salmon, /but three Skookums
at the mouth of the stream had constructed a dam so-

990

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

that they might get all the fish, and thus prevented the
ascent of the customary food supply. By this self-
fishness of the Skookums he was much incensed and
vowed that before many days so much fish should come
up the river as to give all the men, women and children,
and even the dogs, all the food they could eat.
He went to the mouth of the river and found the
house of the Skookums, and entering as a homeless
•coyote began his observations. Although he was hungry
and whined for some of the fine fish that the Skookums
had, he was not noticed, and his fast was unbroken,
even with the smell of delicious salmon in his nostrils.
He saw, however, where the Shookums kept their key
for the gate of the dam, and the next morning, when
one of the three women started down to open the trap
-and let out a fish for herself, he darted out of the
lodge and running between her feet succeeded in trip
ping her, so that she fell and threw the key out of her
hand. Seizing this instantly the Coyote went to the dam
and opened the gate, letting the swarming salmon pass
-through, and up to the country of the Cahroes. He
then broke down the dam and since that time the fish
have gone every year to the upper stream.
One of the most important and historic
streams in the state of Oregon is Lost River.
Some of the best ranches in Klamath county now
lie along this stream, though in the early days it
was the battle ground of the Indians. It was
here that more immigrants were slain than at any
other point in the country, and here it was that
Ben Wright and his famous twenty-three wreaked
vengeance upon the savages by attacking a whole
band and killing and scalping the men, women and
children. The river runs through a level plain,
"losing" and "finding" itself alternately. It rises
as a vast spring and after flowing a long distance
it disappears in the sands, but emerges again with
in a short distance and one may watch its course
and easily determine that it is the same stream.
Hence the name Lost River. Along its banks the
soil is fertile, and where the Indian once laid in
wait for the weary, travel-stained immigrant who
sought the water of this stream, after crossing
the plains, for himself and team, and to pass a
few days in this, at that time the great oasis in
the Oregon desert, now well-to-do and prosper
ous farmers and stockmen dwell in peace and
comfort, ancl the latch-string of their homes is
always out to the weary traveler.
Lost River is one hundred miles long, and
averages eighty feet in .width. Through the
lava beds, noted as the stronghold of Captain
Jack and his Modoc confederates, the stream has
a subterreanean channel. The ice caves which
refreshed the Indian warriors of 1873 add to their
stores by seepage from this famous stream. In

the stirring times of war the nearby thunder of
rushing waters mingled with the Modoc tongue
in a large cavern occupied by the savages for
refuge and council. In this chamber Captain Jack
and his band, sipping from chips of ice and im
provising seats from the bones of prehistoric an
imals, would plan to frustrate the federal sol
diers. '•
Link is really the upper course of 'the Kla
math river, and is a stream of considerable vol
ume. Upon leaving Upper Klamath Lake the
river plunges over a succession of rapids, de
scending about one hundred feet in the course of
two miles, and providing a fine water power. At
Klamath Falls it broadens out, forming a lakelet,
and then flows placidly through the level plains
until joined by the stream from Lower Klamath
lake. Here it begins its turbulent descent
through the grand and picturesque gorge of the
Klamath. It has an average width of three hun
dred feet. In a distance of a trifle over a mile
it has a fall of between sixty and seventy feet, thus
providing power sufficient to turn the wheels of
all the machinery that could be located along its
banks. Geographers have made the mistake of
saying that Link river connects Upper and Lower
Klamath lakes. This is erroneous, Lower Kla
math lake being a dozen miles from the place
where Link river terminates. It connects Upper
Klamath and Ewauna lakes. A few times within
the memory of white men Link river has been
dry, not from the usual causes, but owing to heavy
winds driving its waters back to their source. On
each occasion this phenomenon has been preceded
for a number of days by strong south winds.
Sprague, which flows into Williamson river,
a few miles from its mouth, rises in the eastern
portion of the county. With its tributaries it
forms an immense valley nearly one hundred
miles long. This section of the country is de
voted almost exclusively to the industry of stock-
raising, the range grasses and natural meadows
being practically inexhaustible.
Williamson river is a wide and beautiful
stream fringed by trees on both banks. It flows
from the northern part of the county and de
bouches into Upper Klamath lake. It is equal to
its tributary, Spring Creek, as a fishing stream,
but it is not so clear and cold, the temperature of
Spring Creek being 38 degrees the year round.
The latter stream is about six miles east <?f the
Klamath Agency, and its surroundings are as
peaceful and glorious as the sylvan dells and
shaded retreats of the Rhine. It derives its name
from the many springs which may be seen bub
bling up out of its white, sandy bottom. In many
places in the bed of Spring Creek are patches

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

991

of water balls of a greenish brown hue, filled
with a gelatinous liquid. They present an inter
esting picture.
The waters of Wood river are deep, clear as
crystal ancl cold as ice. The streams flowing into
the northern end of Upper Klamath lake are
Wood river, with its tributaries, Fort, Crooked,
Cherry, Anna and Sevenmile Creeks.
Rogue river rises just within the boundaries
of Klamath county and the famous Des Chutes
heads in the northern end. The principal lakes
of the county are Upper and Lower Klamath,
Tule, Lake of the Woods ancl Crater. Aside
from these there are Davis, Odell, Crescent, Sum
mit, Fish, Aspen, Wocus, Long, Round, Buck,
Two-Mile, Four-Mile and Diamond.
Of these lakes the one that looms highest on
the horizon of natural scenery is Crater which,
with its surroundings, presents a most magnificent
ancl marvellous spectacle. The geology and pet
rography of Crater Lake National Park have
been described by Joseph Silas Diller and Horace
Bushnell Patton, and their work published by the
government in 1902. From their report we take
the following excerpts :
Twenty years ago Crater Lake was unknown to
the general public, but since then a knowledge of its re
markable features has been spread abroad through the
press, and Congress recognized its worth as an educa
tional feature and made it a national park by the act ap
proved May 22, 1902.
As defined by the bill the park is "bounded
north by the parallel forty-three degrees four minutes
north latitude, south by forty-two degrees forty-eight
minutes north latitude, east by the meridian one hundred
and twenty-two degrees west longitude, and west by the
meridan one hundred and twenty-two degrees six
teen minutes west longitude, having an area of two
hundred and forty-nine square miles."
A great impetus to the spread of information con
cerning Crater Lake was given by Mazamas of Port
land, Oregon, who held a meeting at the lake in August,
1896, which attracted many visitors. The principal fea
tures in the history of the lake has previously been made
out, and the Mazamas, recognizing the fact that the
great peak which was nearly destroyed in preparing
the pit for the lake had no name, gave it the name of
their own society. Upon the rim of the lake are a
number of small peaks, each having its own designation.
The term Mount Mazama refers to the whole rim en
circling the lake. It is but a mere remmant of the once
lofty peak, the real Mount Mazama, which rose far
into the region of eternal snow. To get a basis for re
constructing the original Mount Mazama it is necessary
to study in detail the structure and composition of its
foundation, now so attractively displayed in the en
circling cliffs of Crater Lake. * * * The wrecking

of Mount Mazama was the crowning event in the vol
canic history of the Cascade Range, and resulted from
a movement similar to that just noted in Mount Thiel-
sen but vastly greater in its size and consequences.
This volcanic activity culminated in the development of
a great pit or caldera, which for grandeur and beauty
rivals anything of its kind in the world.
The rim encircling Crater Lake, when seen from a
distance from any side, appears as a broad cluster of
gently sloping peaks rising about 1,000 feet above the
general crest of the range on which they stand. A
good view is obtained from the road along Anna creek,
where the southern portion of the rim appears as shown
on PL in, B. Here Castle Crest and Vidae Peak are
the most prominent features, with the canyon of Anna
Creek in the foreground. The topographic prominence
of Mount Mazama can be more fully realized when it
is considered that it is close to the head of Rogue, Kla
math and Umpqua rivers. These are the only large
streams breaking through the mountains to the sea be
tween the Columbia and the Sacramento, and their
watershed might be expected to be the principal peak
of the Cascade range. To one arriving by the road
at the crest of the rim, the lake in all its majestic beauty
suddenly appears upon the scene, and is profoundly
impressive. The eye beholds twenty miles of unbroken
cliffs, the remnant of Mount Mazama, ranging from
over 50c to nearly 2.000 feet in height, encircling a
deep, blue sheet of placid water in which the mirrored
walls vie with the original slopes in brilliancy and great
ly enhance the depth of the prospect. The lake is about
4 yA miles wide and 6y miles long, with an area of
nearly 20^ square rriiles.
From the wooded slope a shirt distance within the
rim at Victor Rock, an excellent general view of the
lake may be obtained. The first point to catch the eye
is Wizard Island, lying nearly two miles away, near
the western margin of the lake. Its irregular west
ern edge and the steep but symmetrical truncated cone
in the eastern portion are very suggestive of volcanic
origin. We cannot, however, indulge our first impulse
to go' at once to the island, for the various features
of the rim are of greater importance in unraveling the
earlier stages of its geological history.
On the left is the western border of the lake, with
the Watchman, Glacier Peak, and Devil's Backbone
opposite Wizard Island, and Llao Rock beyond. * *
* * * On the right is the southern border of the
lake. Castle Crest, Kerr Notch, Scott Peak, Senti
nel Rock and Cloud Cap appear in the distance along
the rim. The boldest part of the southern rim is cut
off from this view of Castle Crest. * * * There are
three types of lavas in Mount Mazama — andesites,
dacites and basalts. The immediate rim of the lake is
made up wholly of andesites and dacites, chiefly the
former; the basalts are limited to the outer slope. They
came from the smaller vents around the base of the
larger cone.

992

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The theory of magmatic differentiation, so ably ad
vocated by Professor Iddings and others in this coun
try to explain in differences lavas erupted from the
same volcanic center, accords well with the course of
events in Mount Mazama. Its eruptions began with
and long continued to be composed of lava having in
termediate composition. This lava was followed first
by less siliceous lava, the basalt from a number of
small vents on the flanks of the great volcano, and
finally by the dacites, which closed the petrographic
cycle. It is possible that the basalts and dacites may
have been in part contemporaneous, but the last erup
tion from the great mountain was of dacite. Then
came the great engulfment, and a new petrographic cy
cle began with the andesite of Wizard Island.
With the above scientific ancl reliable descrip
tion of Crater Lake as an introduction let us con
tinue our story of this marvelous and picturesque
sample of nature's handicraft along less scien
tific yet, possibly, more attractive lines. In 1902
Governor Geer wrote :
"The crater which holds the lake, including
the 2,000 feet of walls above it, would easily hold
Mount Hood as it stands today. In fact if Mount
Hood were inverted and dropped into Crater lake
it would make a very happy geological fit."
In 1881 there was published at Lakeview a
paper called the State Line Herald. A writer in
that journal thus describes a "Trip to Crater
Lake :"
The only means we have of determining the grand
eur or magnitude of an object is by comparison, using
some other as a standard. But where we can find no
suitable standard for comparison, the mind is for a
time absorbed with contemplation, until by degrees the
reality is unfolded, and in the case under consideration,
the greatness of the scene dawns upon the beholder and
the traveler is made to feel that he is gazing upon one
of the great natural wonders of the world. For a
time our little party stood in silence, almost dazed in
contemplating the silent, solemn grandeur before us.
Here, ages ago were enacted some of those terrible
upheavals, which within a day raise up or tear down
mountains. Evidences of volcanic action are scattered
and piled all around us, and evidently this mammoth
excavation has at some time been the crater of an ac
tive volcano, now extinct. Just imagine this a boiling
cauldron, eight by fifteen miles in extent, and of an
unknown depth, with its liquid fire shooting tongues
of flame toward the sky, blackening and charring the
walls of its rocky prison from base to summit. The
tracks of flame are clearly visible and will remain so
for all time. The walls are composed of conglomer
ate masses of rock all showing more or less the unmis
takable influence of fire. These walls, or rather this
wall, for it encircles it completely without a break,
varies from 1,500 to 3,000 feet in perpendicular height

above the surface of the lake. In places the wall is-
nearly perpendicular, and a rock dropped from the high
est points finds no obstacle in the way for at least one
thousand feet, and with three bounds strikes the water
three thousand feet below. The writer tried the ex
periment. Lying flat, his face beyond the brink, he
dropped a stone from his hand and as he watched it
rapidly sink down, down, down, was taken with an al
most irresistible impulse to follow. The sensation was
too unpleasant for repetition.
The character of the scene may be better understood
by the reader who is conversant with high mountains,
if he will imagine a lofty peak 14,000 or 15,000 feet
high, with 5.000 or 6,000 feet of the top taken off, and
the inside hollowed out to the dimensions given of
Crater lake. Toward the west side is an island 1,500
feet high, having a hollowed place on the top which
is usually filled with snow. This mountain is evi
dently the last chimney of the old volcano, which judg
ing from the character of the rocks composing it and
the timber occupying its sides, has slept for ages and
to all appearances will sleep on to the end of time. There-
is but one place where it is possible to make the de
scent to the water, and there is great caution required
to avoid an accident. At this point a track or cause
way has been worn through the cliff by the rolling of
rocks, which have ground and battered down these-
natural battlements and left in their stead rock dust
and ashes into which the traveler sinks ankle deep as he
slowly winds his way downward. This causeway is-
about 100 feet wide, and in places has walls from two
to four hundred feet high. It is perfectly straight and
about 1,500 feet in perpendicular height above the water,
the angle inclination varying from twenty to forty-five
degrees from the perpendicular. We amused ourselves
for a time rolling rocks down this pathway, and were
astonished at the velocity they obtained. Huge bould
ers weighing a ton would bound along with accelerated
speed until their great velocity would cause them to
spring 100 feet in the air, and strike near the bottom,
after flying through space for two hundred yards when,
with a final spring they would plunge beneath the waves
two hundred yards from shore. By placing the
ear to the edge of the cliff the sound of the falling
boulders could be heard as they bounded from rock
to rock for some time after they had disappeared below
the surface. Some time before our first visit to this mystic spot
a party had been there and after great difficulty had'
lowered a skiff to the water, and with sounding line and
lead had embarked upon the lake. They turned their
course toward the cone-shaped island before described,
and about two miles distant. At different points they-
played out all their line; about 600 feet and touched
no bottom. They landed upon the island and with dif
ficulty climed to the summit of the cone. There is no
visible inlet or outlet to the lake, but currents are
distinctly traceable upon its surface, showing that ther

Crater Lake

Threshing Scene in Klamath Valley

Pelican Bay, Upper Klamatk Lake

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

993

waters have ingress to and egress from this giant basin.
This theory is confirmed by the fact that Anna Creek,
which flows into Klamath lake from the north, emerges
in a body from the side of this mountain and about one
and one-half miles from the summit, and coming from
the immediate direction of this lake. Rogue River,
also, though its course lies to the west and finds its
way directly to the ocean, has its source in Crater lake.
It, as does Anna creek, flows in a body from the side
of the mountain and about two miles from the summit.
While investigating the curiosities to be found and
wonders to be seen about the banks of the lake, a storm
of wind and snow came upon us. None except those
who have been on high mountains under like cir
cumstances can easily imagine the effect of a snow
storm among the clouds. Here, 9,000 feet above the
ocean, we found ourselves suddenly enveloped in clouds,
which seemed in a body to roll along on the surface
of the mountain, while we, thus surrounded, were al
most suffocated by the blinding, whirling flakes as
they were deposited among the rocks and peaks about
us. Within five minutes the waters of the lake were
hidden from our view, and our party were forced to
seek the shelter of trees near at hand.
The writer had a curiosity to descend to the water
and view the appearance of Crater Lake in a snow
storm. No one else seemed inclined to attempt the de
scent under the circumstances, so providing ourselves
with a staff we started alone. The trip down was made
in a reasonably short time, and standing there we looked
about upon the surging billows and then around at the
towering walls that hedged us in. It is difficult to
give an idea of the effect upon one's nerves. There
-we stood, apparently in the bowels of the earth, the
clouds formed a complete covering and seemed to rest
on the top of the mighty wall. Those of the party at
the summit, though they declined to accompany us,
stood upon the bank, though they could not be seen
from the bottom. The wind had lashed the lake into
fury and foam, and the waves were running four and
five feet high and beating the shores as if in a mad
dened effort to break their prison walls and give free
dom for the lake. The old skiff lay upon a rocky shelf,
and that we might claim a solitary credit we pushed
it into the water and in a minute more were afloat upon
the stormy waves. We did not Venture far, however,
and breathed freely when again on terra firma.
From this point a splendid view of the towering
cliffs could be had, and in that lonely spot alone we,
in imagination, saw re-enacted the terrible convulsions
of nature that once held headquarters near and trans
formed the country for hundreds of miles in extent.
The walls seem at that time to have been in a semi-
molten state when old Vulcan with the power alone
vouchsafed to him, belched forth the missies -of war, fire
and lava, throwing boulders of tons in weight with such
force as to imbed them in the plastic wall where they
still cling, an evidence of volcanic power. Here the
83

maddened flames played, and in liquid flashes darted
their fiery tongues heavenward. Here the awful thun
ders belched forth terror to the inhabitants of the sur
rounding country, and the frightened Indian crouched
in fear beneath the shelter of neighboring mountains,
or fled before the mighty avalanche of burning lava
that poured down from the devil-possessed heights.
Here, alone in this loneliest of spots, with the waves
fire-begrimed and time-scarred battlements of nature,
dashing madly against the shore, surrounded by this
the clouds resting upon its summits, and apparently
shutting us in from all the world alone ; where the
seething fires of hell seem once to have held high car
nival and, cancer-like, to have devoured a mighty
mountain, we were seized with a feeling that in this
awe-inspiring solitude some of the minons of Beelze
bub might still lurk to punish the presumption of sin
ful man who should dare to invade even this deserted
sanctum of his Satanic Majesty.
The Indians of this section of the country have a
tradition that this lake is the abode of evil spirits, and
that to him who had the hardihood even to look into
its silent depths, the penalty of death will surely be
meted out. Hence they do not come near it, and have
warned the whites of the danger of incurring the dis
pleasure of these spirits.
The water of Crater Lake is nearly pure, very cold
and incomparably clear. Objects are seen at a great
depth, but no one has yet succeeded in ascertaining
how deep the waters are. Our curiosity was soon sat
isfied and, in dread of the task ahead, we commenced
the toilsomei ascent. At every step one sinks ankle
deep in the loose deposits of ashes and pulverized pum
ice and the journey becomes tedious and tiresome. To
avoid excessive fatigue we turned from the cause
way and attempted to clamber up among the rocks,
where it seemed we might find firm footing; but we-
came near being the victim of an accident which would1
have thrown another young widow upon the world.
With great difficulty we regained the causeway and after
an hour of laborious climbing rejoined the party that
was awaiting our return.
The clouds had passed away and old Sol again il
luminated the deep recesses of these rugged moun
tains, and gave a more cheerful prospect for our in
vestigation. We climbed to the summit of the highest
peak, and from that point saw one of the most inter
esting and extensive landscapes it has been our pleasure
to behold. The following short description of Crater
Lake is from the pen of W. S. Parrott, written in
1892. Mr. Parrott is an eminent artist and
painted a picture of the lake which he visited
about that time:
What a grand spectacle in mid-winter when swirls
of frost driven by Arctic storms howl through the
splintered crags of Castle Mountain and sigh among

-994

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the sturdy hemlocks — a mass of knots apd twists —
that hang in the almost sunless caverns of perpetual
winter ! This hardy specimen of the vegetable king
dom is almost immortal, for it will grow on the crests
of toppling pinnacles which seem held intact only by
the network of roots which fetter it to its drossy en
vironment. Again it may be seen at the base of some
dizzy height from which it has been hurled hundreds
of feet through the open air, but still clutching some
of its native soil in its cancer-like grasp, continues to
grow on as though transplanted, and year after year
comes forth from a grave of ten months' snow as
fresh and green as the arbor vitae of our gardens.
Now wander back in fancy to the ancient crater
Lake mountain and for a moment revel in the handi
work of the furies as they paint the stormy panorama
through unreckoned ages of chaos, written only in the
hieroglyphics of crumbling walls and sunken moun
tains. But with a Dante's ambition to transcend, in
search of a terror inferno, may we through burning
firmament descend to the war of primitive nature where
tableaux of vanishing recreation linger for a moment,
then vanish in the fierce maelstrom of unchained ele
ments; at last the furies, their work complete, join
hands in their wrath and the troubled earth rises to
mid-heavens, a Plutonic throne of fire to light the sur
rounding world — but, alas ! a temple of time, it fell
back with a crash that shook a continent, to slumber
forever 'neath the lake ultramarine.
Nature's wreck and man's glory, may you on canvas
. and in poet's pen forever live !
The most picturesque of all the larger lakes of
'Oregon may be said to be Upper Klamath. Theo
retically, this lake, with the Klamath marsh, the
-plains in the vicinity of Klamath Falls, and the
"basins of Lower Klamath and Rhett lakes, were
all formerly submerged under a single sheet of
water of great size. This prehistoric lake, it is
supposed, was drained off at the period when the
g-orge of Klamath river had been cut down be
low its level. Comparatively speaking the present
lakes are only pools of water left in the deepest
parts of its bed.
At the base of the Cascade Range lies Upper
Klamath lake. Over 4,000 feet above sea level is
its elevation; its area is about 130 square miles.
'To our knowledge its depth has never been as
certained. It is hemmed in by magnificent, im
posing mountains. On the west rise the densely
wooded slopes of the Cascades, some of whose
loftiest peaks are mantled with perpetual, snow.
To the east are bare, rocky acclivities, of no slight
elevation. Especially fine is the view from the
hills at the south end of this lake. To the north
ward sleeps the lake, framed in mountain peaks,
-while far to the southward the summit of Shasta,

overtopping all intervening ridges, forms the
most prominent features of the landscape.
Of irregular outline are the shores of Upper
Klamath lake ; they are, mainly, steep and rocky,
and a few small islands dot the surface. Several
large streams flow into the northern part, and at
the southern end the waters discharge through
Link river. This is the only large lake in Ore
gon that overflows.
Lower, or Little Klamath lake, is of small
size and only a portion of it (some nine miles)
lies in Oregon. It is navigable and steamers ply
its waters from Klamath Falls to various points
on the lake.
Rhett, or Tule lake is a fair-sized body of
water, but properly it belongs to California, only
about four square miles of its area lying within
the boundaries of Oregon. Rhett, Tule or Wright
lake as it is variously called, is a body of water
known to fame. On its southern shore lie the
celebrated Modoc lava beds.
Lake of the Woods, some five miles in length,
surrounded by dense forests and green meadows,
is situated about ten miles west of Pelican Bay,
of Upper Klamath lake. It is near the western
boundary of the county. It has a beautiful peb
bly shore, and is among the handsomest of lakes.
For over thirty years Klamath Falls (Link
ville) has stood on the shore of a little lake now
known as Ewauna. Until lately it had no name,
and was referred to locally as simply "the lake."
The name Ewauna, according to Captain O. C.
Applegate, was conferred upon it by the Indians,
and signifies "elbow."
South of Lake of the Woods five compara
tively small lakes, in the midst of a vast field of
lava, lie at a great altitude, surrounded by a dozen
lofty peaks, constituting what was known in ear
lier clays as the "Snowy Cluster."
There is in the immediate vicinity of Klamath
Falls a "nest" of hot springs. Some of them con
tain medicinal properties ; some of them do not.
They vary in temperature, one of them running
exceedingly high, so high in fact that it has been
named the "Devil's Tea Kettle." Throughout
eastern Oregon some of these springs are used
by ranchers ancl butchers for the purpose of scald
ing hogs ; in earlier days they were utilized by
Indians for boiling their meats. But the "Devil's
Tea Kettle" is too hot for all practical purposes.
Near this place, also, is the famous hot earth,
or solfatara, a spot — an acre or so in extent —
situated on a hillside, at least 150 feet above the
big hot spring, or "Devil's Tea Kettle." By bor
ing down seven feet into this hot earth the tem
perature was ascertained to be 210 degrees. It is
claimed that this hot earth, when applied to the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

995

parts affected with lumbago, acts like magic. To
relieve pain in cases of rheumatism, neuralgia,
sciatica and paralysis, this treatment is said to be
equally efficient.
Of Klamath county's big berry patch the
Morning Oregonian of November, 1900, pub-
ilshed the following account:
Along the side of Crater Lake and Pelican Bay, in
Klamath county, there is a great wonder which is vis
ited by thousands of people annually, that is seldom
mentioned and but little known outside of southern
Oregon. The great huckelberry patch of Oregon is
situated 75 miles from Klamath Falls, in a northerly
direction, and eight miles from the famous Crater
Lake. At least 3,000 people visited the place this year,
and from 3,000 to 5,000 people journey thither every
year. They do not visit it as sightseers, but strictly
with a business motive.
In earlier times it was the home of the bear and the
great storehouse of the Indian. Here the different
tribes met on friendly terms and picked the berries
and dried them for winter food. Now the bear have
almost entirely disappeared and the red man and the
white man meet on equal terms and pick this fruit
from nature's own orchard.
This remarkable huckleberry patch covers an area
of land 20 miles long and from four to five miles wide.
The bushes average from three to five feet in height,
and are literally loaded with the fruit every year. A
failure of the crop has never been known. The "patch"
lies along the summit of Huckelberry mountain, a
peak of the Cascades, at an altitude of 7,000 feet. The
berries are blue-black in color, about the size of a tame
cherry and are of delicious flavor. Besides the Indians
and Whites of southern Oregon, the inhabitants of
northern California and western Idaho flock to this
place every year. The berries are picked and canned,
or dried on the ground, and taken home ready to be
stored for winter's use. In early days the Indians dried
them exclusively, but now they have learned the white
-man's ways.
, During the huckelberry season the mountain resem
bles a city. From 3,000 to 4,000 people are camped

about the place, and the numerous camp fires send up
their smoke by day, and shoot farther their light by
night and the mountain is made merry for twenty
miles by the shouting of children and song and merry
making. The berries begin to ripen in August and
picking continues until snow flies, generally the latter
part of November. One person usually picks five or
six gallons a day, which when sold bring $1 a gallon
in the town. Most of the berries, however, are put up
by private families for home consumption. The ber
ries here picked and saved annually run up into the
hundreds of thousands of gallons.
Visits to this section are marked by both pleasure
and profit. Every kind of amusement is carried on.
There are music, dances, Sunday schools and preach
ing. Besides berry picking there are other features
of attraction. Although the bear is practically driven
from this, his desirable home, a number are still killed
every season while stealing in to make a meal from
the lucious berries. Deer are plentiful and hundreds
of them are killed annually. Fishing is good in all the
lakes and mountain streams, and the place is an ideal
spot for the romantic pleasure seeker as well as families
who desire to replenish the larder for winter.
We cannot more appropriately close this de
scriptive chapter of Klamath county than with a
short quotation from J. W. Howerton, who pub
lished the following in the "Farm and Irrigation
Age:" "This great county, with its healthful climate,
its vast area of irrigable land, its numerous beau
tiful lakes and rivers, so happily situated to be of
the greatest service to man, the mountain reser
voirs, the great extent of mountain grazing lands.
the great herds of horses, mules, cattle and sheep,
its marshes, with an abundance of natural hay,
the beautiful alfalfa meadows, its enormous body
of choicest timber, the adaptability to -all staple
crops of its fertile valleys, the cheapness of land
and the possibilities of irrigation, invite to its
shores all good people less favorably situated, to
assist in developing these wonderful resources and
to secure a happy home."

CHAPTER VIII

POLITICAL.

Since its organization Klamath county has
made few mistakes in the selection of men to
transact the county's business. Only once in her
political history, from 1882 to 1905, has a county
official betrayed the confidence of the people who
placed him in office. Up to a few years since the
county was sparsely settled and those who were
candidates for office were known personally to
nearly all the voters in the county. Thus the
people have been enabled to select honest,
capable and conservative officials with but very
rare exceptions.
Prior to the formation of Lake county, in 1874,
the territory which now comprises Lake and Kla
math counties was a part of Jackson county. At
that period, aside from the soldiers at Fort Kla
math, there were few settlers in southern Oregon
east of the Cascade mountains. What few there
were, however, occasionally took part in the po
litical matters of Jackson county. The incon
veniences this interest in matters political occa
sioned is illustrated by an event which occurred
in 1866. O. A. Stearns was then a soldier at Fort
Klamath, and was selected as a delegate repre
senting that part of the county east of the moun
tains in the county convention held at Jackson
ville. He was granted a twenty days' furlough
in which to perform this service. For the trip
he was denied the use of any of the horses in the
government service and was compelled to accept
the proffer of a decrepit, feeble pony on which he
determined to make the start at least. After wad
ing through snow, mud and slush for nine days,
the destination was reached, and Mr. Stearns was
on time to participate in the deliberations of the
convention. He left the pony on the eastern slope of the
mountains after about half the trip had been ac
complished. Here he fell in with a party who
offered the use of an unbroken mule to ride,
which offer was accepted. He made the return
trip on a mule that belonged to the government
and which he had been requested to conduct to
the fort. But for all its utility to him, he says, he
would not have disturbed the long-eared animal

in its Rogue River lodging. He won his way to-
the fort two days before the expiration of his
furlough, and expressed himself as glad that he
did not have to repeat this experience.
When Lake county was formed, in 1874, con
ditions were materially improved, but in 1882 the-
Klamath country was granted a county govern
ment of its own, with the seat of government at
the little town of Linkville.
When the county machinery was put in mo
tion at the initial meeting of the commissioners'
court, November 6, 18,82, the following were the-
officials who took the oath and served as the first
officers of Klamath county: W. S. Moore, county
judge; Stephen Stukel, commissioner; O. T„
Brown, commissioner ; W. C. Hale, clerk ; Charles
Putnam, sheriff; Evan R. Reames, treasurer; S-
C. Sumner, coroner. With the exception of
Treasurer Reames these gentlemen were all Re
publicans and were appointed by Governor
Moody. It was not until a month later, December 6,.
1882, that a school superintendent was chosen.
He was selected by the county court and his sal
ary was placed at $100 a year. C. H. Dyar, a
Republican, was the one appointed to this posi
tion. J. W. H.amaker's bond as county surveyor
was approved at this meeting of December 6th.
J. H. Clark, Republican, was the first assessor-
June 6, 1883, he resigned and W. C. Clark was
appointed to succeed him by the court.
Klamath county's first election occurred June
1, 1884. At that time there were six voting pre
cincts. The precincts and judges of election of
this first political contest were as follows :
Plevna precinct — E. Riggs, John Connolly, C.
H. Withrow.
Linkville — John F. Miller, D. J. Ferree, J. L.
Hanks. Lost River — I. D. Applegate, G. B. Van-
Riper, Ira Chandler.
Tule Lake — R. Hutchinson, D. Van Brimmer,.
E. Whitney. Sprague River — William Robinson, James
Barnes, M. Obenchain.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

997

Wood River — George Loosely, George Nully,
Sr., W. J. Tuhoey.
The following were the officials elected : G. W.
Smith, Dem., county judge; Mat Obenchain,
Rep., commissioner ; R. Hutchinson, Dem., com
missioner ; W. C. Hale, Rep., clerk ; Charles Put
nam, Rep.,* sheriff ; J. O. Allen, Rep., surveyor;
Evan R. Reames, Dem. treasurer; M. D. Childers
Dem., assessor; C. R. De Lap, Rep., school su
perintendent. At this election the vote did not exceed 350.
At the June election of 1886 the vote of Kla
math county totaled 596, a gain of 265 since June,
1884. The election was quite hotly contested, and
the Democrats secured a majority of the county
¦officers. The result :
For Congressman — N. L. Butler, Dem., 304;
Binger Hermann, Rep., 292 ; Robert A. Miller,
Dem., 2.
For Governor — Sylvester Pennoyer, Dem.,
,.326 ; Thomas R. Cornelius, Rep., 267 ; J. E.
Houston, Pro, 1.
For Circuit Judge — J. R. Neil, Dem., 158; L.
R. Webster, Rep., 427.
For District Attorney — W. M. Colvig, Dem.,
.310; H. Kelly, Rep., 277.
For Joint Representative — John F. Miller,
Dem., 200 ; Robert McLean, Rep., 336.
For Commissioner — John Conolly, Dem., 223 ;
John A. Wells, Dem., 390; R. A. Emmitt, Rep.,
.327. For Sheriff— M. D. Childers, Dem., 310;
Charles Putnam, Rep., 241.
For Clerk— Charles P. Hughes, Dem., 242;
W C. Hale, Rep., 403.
For .Treasurer — George T. Baldwin, Dem.,
353 ; scattering, 4.
For School Superintendent — W. E. Greene,
Dem., 277; H. M. Thatcher, Rep., 272.
For Surveyor— J. B. Griffith, Dem., 275 ; Ru
fus Moore, Rep., 276.
For Assessor— R. B. Hatton, Dem., 286; W.
F. Arant, Rep., 261.
John Wells, Democrat, who was elected
countv commissioner, failed to qualify, and James
L. Hanks, Democrat, was appointed in his place.
Over 700 votes were cast at the June election
of 1888, a gain of more than 100 in two years.
Again were the Democrats successful in securing
a majority of the county officers. There were
Democratic majorities, also, for candidates on
state ancl district tickets. The official vote :
For Congressman— Binger Hermann, Rep.,
•336; John M. Gearin, Dem., 369.
For Prosecuting Attorney — William M. Col
vig, Dem., 416.
For Joint Senator— C. M. Cartwright, Rep.,
.-313; C. A. Cogswells, Dem., 385.

For Joint Representative — S. J. Studley, Rep.,
321 ; S. P. Moss, Dem., 380.
For County Judge — N. F. Hilderbrand, Dem.,
297 ; W. S. Moore, Rep., 382.
For County Commissioners — N. S. Goodlow,
Dem., 267; W. B. Grubb, Rep., 321 ; L. B. Kes-
ter, Rep., 342 ; W. C. Crawford, Dem., 427.
For Sheriff — I. C. Johnson, Rep., 329 ; M. D.
Childers, Dem., 3 so.
For Clerk— W". W. Smith, Dem., 328 ; A. L.
Leavitt, Rep., 351.
For Assessor — J. O. Hamaker, Rep., 248;
John Smart, Dem., 433.
For Treasurer — W. C. Hale, Rep., 301 ;
Charles Graves, Dem., 379.
For School Superintendent — J. S. Orr, Rep.,
320 : P. L. Fountain, Dem., 359.
For Surveyor — S. B. Low, Rep., 336; J. B.
Griffith, Dem., 348.
For Coroner — H. Kossler, Dem., 329 ; J. W.
Siemens, Rep., 347.
The returns for the presidential election of
1888 are not obtainable but the number of votes
cast in Klamath county Tuesday, November 6th,
for the presidential candidates were about 750,
with a Democratic majority of 89.
There was a small gain in the spring vote of
1890 over that of 1888. The Republican county
ticket fared somewhat better than usual. The
Republicans elected the county judge, sheriff,
clerk ancl treasurer. They also carried the county
for Hermann for congressman. The Democrats
carried the state and district tickets. The official
vote: For Congressman — Binger Hermann, Rep.,
381 ; R. A. Miller, Dem., 361.
For Governor — D. P. Thompson, Rep., 316;
Sylvester Pennoyer, Dem., 425.
For District Attorney — W. M. Colvig, Dem.,
386: C. B. Watson, Rep., 351.
For Joint Representative — G. W. Smith,
Dem., 369; A. Snider, Rep., 336.
For County Judge— J. S. Orr, Rep., 458; H.
W. Keesee, Dem., 267.
For County Commissioner — Charles T. Sil
vers. Dem., 395 ; Dan Cronemiller, Rep., 319.
For Sheriff— E. W. Gowen, Rep., 369 ; H. L.
Webb., Dem., 355.
For Clerk — A. L. Leavitt, Rep., 452; J. F.
Kertchem, Dem., 274.
For Treasurer — W. E. Howe, Rep., 420; H.
Kessler, Dem., 308.
For Assessor — J. H. Smart, Dem., 486; G.
D. Horner, Rep., 289.
For School Superintendent — P. L. Fountain,
Dem., 435 ; J. G. Walker, Rep. 289.
For -Surveyor — W. B. Simpson Rep., 350;
Isa Leskeard, Dem., 373.

998

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

For Coroner — J. T. Forbes, Dem., 371 ; scat
tering, 69.
There was quite a change from the regular
Democratic victories at the spring election of
1892. At this contest every Republican on the
county ticket was elected with the exception of
the candidate for assessor. On the district ticket,
also, the Republican candidates carried the
county, failing only on the member of the state
board of equalization. The People's party had a
ticket in the field for the first time and polled a
very respectable vote. The total vote was about
the same as that of 1888. The official result :
For Congressman — Binger Hermann, Rep.,
373 ; Winfield T. Rigdon, Pro., 5 ; M. V. Rork,
PP., 129; R. M. Veath, Dem., 234.
For Joint Senator — C. A. Cogswell, Dem.,
317 ; A. Snider, Rep., 361 ; Roscoe Knox PP., 47.
For Joint Representative — B. Daley, Dem.,
253 ; O. A. Stearns, 321 ; W. L. Welch, PP., 161.
For Member State Board of Equalization — V.
A. Dunlap, Dem., 464; George W. Dunn, Rep.,
179 ; S. H. Holt, PP., 97.
For Circuit Judges — W. C. Hale, Rep., 432 ;
H. K. Hanna, Dem., 444 ; P. P. Prim., Dem., 236 ;
I. P. Wakefield, PP., 188.
For Prosecuting Attorney — H. L. Benson,
Rep., 347; W. C. Edwards, PP., 130; S. U.
Mitchell, Dem., 275.
For Sheriff — H. B. Compson, Dem., 249 ; T.
M. Durham, PP., 149 ; E. W. Gowen, Rep., 329.
For Clerk — P. L. Fountain, Dem., 220; A. L.
Leavitt, Rep., 433 ; W. W. Norton, PP., 77.
For Treasurer — George T. Baldwin, Dem.,
333 ; W. E. Howe, Rep., 370.
For Assessor— A. H. McClellan, PP., 117; C.
L. Parrish, Rep., 296; John H. Smart, Dem., 317.
For County Commissioner — J. T. Henley,
Rep., 333 ; R. Hutchinson, Dem., 211 ; N. S. Mer
rill, PP., 172.
For School Superintendent — C. R. De Lap,
Rep., 339; W. R. Hendricks, Dem., 208; A. T.
Wilson, PP., 181.
For Surveyor — A. Castel, Rep., 424; Ira
Leskeard, 279.
For Coroner — J. W. Siemens, Rep., 638.
The presidential election of 1892 was a great
victory for the People's party in Klamath county,
the Weaver electors carrying the county by a safe
plurality. The official vote : Republican electors,
Harrison, 270 ; Democratic electors, Cleveland,
76 ; People's Party electors, Weaver, 324 ; Prohi
bitionists, 7. Total vote 677.
The election of June 4, 1894, was one of the
most interesting ancl exciting ever held in Kla
math county. The People's Party which had
made such a good showing at the previous elec
tion, had made gains, and now secured the bulk '

of the county offices. Each party, the Republi
cans, Democrats and People's Party, had a full
ticket in the field and were of almost equal
strength, which resulted' in a close and interest
ing contest. For the head of the ticket 765 votes
were cast. The official vote :
For Governor — William Galloway, Dem.,
186; James Kennedy, Pro., 9; William P. Lord,
Rep., 294; Nathan Pierce, PP., 276.
For Congressman — Binger Hermann, Rep.,
312; John D. Hursh, Pro., 4; Charles Miller,
PP., 267 ; J. K. Weatherford, Dem., 172.
For Joint Representative — Virgil Conn, Rep.,
273 ; Bernard Daly, Dem., 199 ; R. K. Funk, PP.,.
288. For Prosecuting Attorney — Abe Axtell, PP.,
264; Henry L. Benson, Rep., 328; William H.
Parker, Dem., 170.
For County Judge — C. S. Moore, Rep.,_3i5;.
G. W. Smith, Dem., 189 ; H. Snogoose, PP., 256.
For Sheriff — I. D. Applegate, Rep., 239; A.
A. Fitch, PP., 276 ; J. H. Smart, Dem., 250.
For Assessor — J. A. Chastain, Dem., 119; J.
A. Hill, Rep., 270; A. T. Wilson, PP., 359.
For Treasurer — Alex Martin, Jr., Dem., 259 ;
J. O. McClellan, PP. 257 ; C. S. Sergeant, Rep.,
241. For Clerk — O. H. Harshbarger, Dem., 250; A.
L. Leavitt, Rep., 297; William Terrill, PP., 217.
For County Commissioner — S. W. Kilgore,
Rep., 192 ; Fred Melhase, Dem., 244 ; John Wells,
PP., 314.
For School Superintendent — W. T. Butcher,.
Dem., 246 ; C. R. De Lap, Rep.,242 ; Mrs. C. N.
Gordon, PP., 269.
For Surveyor — Fred Beck, PP., 323 ; A.
Castel, Rep., 408.
For Coroner — R. G. Galbreath, PP., 679.
The election of June 1, 1896, found the three
parties, Republican, Democratic and People's
again in the field with full tickets, and with nearly
equal strength. On the county ticket the Popu
lists elected one candidate, the Republicans three-
ancl the Democrats four. There were cast 796
votes, the largest poll in the county's history up
to that period. The official vote:
For Congressman — N. C. Christenson, Pro.,
9 ; J. Myers, Dem., 190 ; T. H. Tongue, Rep., 342 ;
W. S. Yandeburg, PP., 236.
For Joint Senator — O. C. Applegate, Rep.,
339 ; B. Daly, Dem., 189 ; J. Gaston, Peo., 235.
For Representative — V. Conn, Rep., 265'; J.
L. Hanks, Dem., 213 ; J. A. Larrabee, PP., 288.
For District Attorney— G. W. Colvig Rep.,.
337 ; J. A. Jeffrey, PP., 266 ; S. S. Pentz, Dem.,
163. For Sheriff — W. F. Arant, Rep., 254; A. A..
Fitch, PP., 308; O. H. Harshbarger, Dem., 224.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

999

For Clerk— C. H. Withrow, Rep., 365 ; D. F.
Driscoll, PP., 330; R. W. Marple, Dem., 81.
For Assessor — J. I. Donnell, Rep., 242 ; A. T.
Wilson, PP., 247 ; Charles Horton, Dem., 264.
For School Superintendent — Charles Pattee,
Rep., 232; W. F. Chase, PP., 218; P. L. Foun
tain, Dem., 313.
For Treasurer — J. W. Siemens, Rep., 298 ;
William Nail, PP., 212; Alex. Martin, Jr., Dem.,
266. For Commissioner — R. M. C. Brown, Dem.,
181; George McDonald, PP., 267; William
Davis, Rep., 320.
For Surveyor — W. B. Simpson, Rep., 231 ;
Fred Beck, PP.., 229 ; W. T. Butcher, Dem., 306.
For Coroner — L. Biehn, Rep., 330; J. Hun-
sacker, Dem., 349.
In the fall election for president November 2d,
Bryan carried the county by a plurality of 116
over McKinley. The official vote : McKinley elec
tors, Republican, 347; Bryan electors, Demo
cratic, 463 ; Levering electors, Prohibition, 8 ;
Palmer dectors, gold Democrat, 8.
The election of June 6, 1898, was hotly con
tested and resulted in a pronounced victory for
the Republican forces. The Democrats, Popu
lists and silver Republicans joined forces and
placed a union ticket in the field. They succeeded
in electing only two candidates on the county
ticket. There were cast 837 votes for the head
of the ticket, a slight gain over the vote of two
years previous. The official vote :
For Governor— H. M. Clinton, Pro., 15 ; T.
F. Geer, Rep., 439; W. R. King, Union, 342;
John C. Luce, PP., 41.
For Congressman— J. L. Hill, PP., 61; L.
H. Pederson Pro., 12; T. H. Tongue, Rep., 443;
R. M. Veath, Union, 318.
For Circuit Judge — H. L. Benson, 470 ; J. L.
Bachelor, PP., 51; H. K. Hanna, Inch, 397; J.
A. Jeffrev, Union, 269; E. C. Wade, Union, 184;
J. Tressler PP. 28.
For District Attorney — A. N. Soliss Union,
285 ; C. B. Watson, Rep., 459 ; J- B- Wells- PR>
75- For Joint Representative, Klamath and Lake —
J. B. Griffith, Union, 397; W. A. Massingill,
Rep., 408.
For County Judge— C. T. Silvers, Union, 347 ;
L. T. Willits, Rep., 465.
For Clerk— M. E. Hutchinson, Union, 257;
C. H. Withrow, Rep., 551.
For Sheriff— A. Kershner, Rep., 413; W. D.
Woodcock, Union, 399.
For Treasurer — Marion Hanks, Union, 344;
H. H. Van Valkenburg, Rep., 448.
For Assessor— W. S. Hoagland, Rep., 449;
Charles Westlotorn, Union, 352.

For Commissioner — H. T. Anderson, Union,.
415 ; J. W. McCoy, Rep., 394.
For School Superintendent — P. L. Fountain,,
Union, 413 ; D. A. Presley, Rep., 389.
For Surveyor — W. T. Butcher, Union, 354';:
E. B. Henry, Rep., 451.
For Coroner — S. Hemenway, Rep., 473 ; John.
Hunsacker, Union, 326.
The People's party was eliminated at the elec
tion of 1900, and again the two old parties were
the only ones in the field. The contest was close
and each party elected a portion of its ticket, the-
Democrats having a shade the best of it. There
was a falling off of the vote, there being only a
few over 800 cast. The official vote :
For Congressman — Thomas H. Tongue, Rep.,
389 ; Bernard Daly, Dem., 343.
For District Attorney — A. E. Reames, Dem.,
408 ; C. B. Watson, Rep., 391.
For Joint Senator — J. N. Wiliamson, Rep.,
413 ; A. S. Bennett, Dem., 397.
For Joint Representative — R. A. Emmitr,.
Rep., 544; George T. Baldwin, Dem., 441 ; Harry-
C. Liebe, Dem., 281 ; T. H. McGreer, Rep., 362;:
A. S. Roberts, Rep. 335 ; G. Springer, Dem., 224..
For County Clerk — James H. Driscoll, Dem.,.
433 ; C. L. Parrish, Rep., 364.
For Sheriff — S. T. Summers, Dem., 393; A..
Kerchner, Rep., 391.
For Treasurer — H. H. Van Valkenburg,
Rep., 453; Alex. Martin, Jr., Dem., 336.
For Assessor — Jasper Bennett, Dem., 456; W..
S. Hoagland, Rep., 336.
For Commissioner — Fred Melhase; Dem., 431 ;;
S. B. Gardner, Rep., 360.
For School Superintendent — C. R. De Lap,,
Rep., 425 ; George W. Offield, Dem., 366.
For Surveyor — W. B. Simpson, Rep., 574.
For Coroner — R. W. Marple, Dem., 490.
Following are the returns, official, of the pres
idential election of the fall of 1900: McKinley
electors, Republican, 428 ; Bryan electors, Dem
ocratic, 324 ; Woolley electors, Prohibition, 10 ;
Barker electors, middle of the road Populists, 4.
There were cast 915 votes for the head of the
ticket at the June election of 1902, a considerable
gain over the two years previous. The Demo
crats elected the greater portion of the county
ticket, while the Republicans carried the county
for the state, congressional and district tickets..
The official vote :
For Governor — George E. Chamberlain,.
Dem., 414; W. J. Furnish, Rep., 501.
For Congressman — Thomas H. Tongue,.
Rep., 523; J. K. Weatherford, Dem., 349.
s For UJnited States Senator — T. T. Geer, Rep.,.
484; C. E. S. Wood, Dem., 361.
For Joint Representative — R. A. Emmitt,.

I ooo

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Rep., 584; N. Whealdon, Rep., 452; I. N. Bur
gess, Rep., 476; P. B. Doak, Dem., 366; L. E.
Morse, Dem., 325 ; Earl Sanders, Dem., 313.
For Clerk — A. Castel, Rep., 389 ; J. H. Dris
coll, Dem., 569.
For Sheriff — J. W. Siemens, Rep., 407 ; S. T.
Summers, Dem., 539.
For Treasurer — George W. Bradley, - Dem.,
469; H. H. Van Valkenburg, Rep., 481.
For Judge — George T. Baldwin, Dem., 535 ;
L. F. Willits, Rep., 339.
For Commissioner — N. S. Merrill, Dem.,
497 ; O. A. Stearns, Rep., 429.
For Surveyor — W. T. Butcher, Dem., 503 ; A.
C. Lewis, Rep., 424.
For Coroner — R. W. Marple, Dem.,, 353; F.
D. Reames, Rep., 567.
There was a special election held June 1,
1903, for the purpose of electing a congressman
to succeed Congressman Tongue, deceased. The
result in Klamath county was as follows : Binger
Hermann, 387 ; A. E. Reames, Dem., 273.
There were cast 962 votes for the head of the
ticket at the spring election of 1904. Neither
party could claim the election, each securing a
portion of the ticket. • Politically Klamath county
was quite close at this period. The official vote
of 1904: For Congressman — Binger Hermann, Rep.,
562; R. M.. Veatch, Dem., 351 : H. Gould, Pro.,
17; B. F. Ramp, Soc, 32.

For Circuit Judge — H. L. Benson, Rep., 716;
E. B. Dufur, Dem., 259; H. K. Hanna, Rep.,
562 ; J. R. Neil, Dem., 334.
For District Attorney — E. M. Brattain, Rep.,
434; AY. J. Moore, Dem., 571.
For Joint Senator — J. A. Laycock, Rep., 542 ;
W. A. Booth, Dem., 438.
For Joint Representative — R. E. L. Steiner,
Rep., 477; John S. Shook, Rep., 458; J. A. Tay
lor, Dem., 341 ; J. B. Griffith, Dem., 568.
For County Clerk — George Chastain, Dem.,
506 ; W. P. Rhoads, Rep., 493.
For Sheriff — Charles Horton, Dem., 488;
Silas Obenchain, Rep., 524.
For Treasurer — R. I. Hammond, Dem., 407;
L. Alva Lewis, Rep., 476.
For Assessor — D. G. Brown, Rep., 435 ; J. P.
Lee, Dem., 517.
For Commissioner — J. W. McCoy, Rep.,
462 ; Fred Melhase, Dem., 496.
For School Superintendent — C. E. Fox, Dem.,
373 ; J. G. Wright, Rep., 589.
For Surveyor — E. B. Henry, Rep., 682.
For Coroner — H. B. Hargus, Dem., 438; G.
W. Merryman, Rep., 524.
The presidential election of 1904, November
5th, resulted as follows : Republican electors,
Roosevelt, 553 ; Democratic electors, Parker, 268;
Prohibition electors, Swallow, 10 ; Socialists,
Debs, 29 ; People's party, Watson, 8.

CHAPTER IX

EDUCATIONAL.

It was not until the fall of 1870 that the juve
nile population of the Klamath country reached a
number making it necessary to provide a school
for their education. This initial school was at
that time established at Linkville. From the
county no funds could be obtained for school
purposes, but this fact did not deter the citizens
from raising an amount of money sufficient to
pay a teacher ancl rent a building for school pur
poses. A gentleman by the name of Nail was
secured to teach, and Klamath county's first
school was in full swing. From its inception the
attendance was fairly good, including many half-
breed children. After this school had been con
ducted three months it was possible to secure
county aid ; the Linkville school was organized by

the county court. Mrs. Chauncey Nye taught the
second term.
The second school in the county was not far
behind the Linkville institution and was estab
lished near the present town of Bonanza, in the
Lost River settlement.
The third school was in the Plevna district,
southwest of Linkville. Three patriotic settlers
furnished $75 each and about 1877 erected a
school house. School commenced with four
pupils. Such was the educational genesis of Klamath
county. Other schools were established in the
Klamath country, and by 1883, just after the or
ganization of Klamath county, we find that there
were 345 children between the ages of 4 and 21

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

IOOI

years, of which 164 were enrolled. The average
daily attendance was 131.
The following table shows the number of chil
dren from 4 to 20 years old in the county, the
number enrolled and the average daily attend
ance in public schools each year from the organi
zation of the county up to and including 1903 :
Av. Daily
Year. No. Children. No. Enrolled. Attend.
1883  345 164 131
1884  417 190 220
1885  474 236 133
1886  582 249 162
1887  630 318 194
1888  792 384 245
1889  91 1 437 277
1890  :  876 551 330
1891  907 609 360
1892  927 625 380
1893  964 573 409
1894  988 624 388
1895  1028 650 442
1896  1052 701 511
1897  1065 758 505
1898  1 1 14 752 490
1899  1107 758 492
1900  1033 736 474
1901  1073 728 405
1902  ;  1072 765 433
1903  :  1168 818 475
Educational facilities in Linkville during the
early days were limited. School was held in a
little, primitive wooden shack, crowded with
scholars. It was a disgrace to the otherwise
thriving town. A writer in the Star of July 25,
1885, said: "No citizen of pride would, if he
could avoid it, point out our excuse of a school
house, east of town, to an eastern man, as our
institution of learning."
At last the people of Linkville, ashamed cf
the public school facilities, called a mass meet
ing, December 1, 1885, and took steps toward se
curing a suitable building to cost not less than
$5,000. Still no progress was made, although
numerous other meetings were held.
Finally a building was erected, but at a cost
much less than the original sum suggested, the
new school house being erected for $1,550. Up
to the present writing this building has been In
commission, but otherwise educational interests
are keeping abreast of the times. Saturday, May
28, 1904, District No. 1 voted to issue bonds to
the amount of $11,500 to erect a public school
building which edifice is now in process of erec
tion and will be a credit to the county seat.
Late in 190 1 agitation was begun in Klamath

Falls for the founding of a high school. This
was continued until the high school became a
fact, as it is now being erected, the contract price
for which is $29,500. Previously students were
compelled to go outside the county in order to
secure a higher education. The act providing
for the founding of a county high school was
passed by the Oregon Legislature and approved
by the governor February 26, 1901, and under
this act the people of Klamath county proceeded
to make their plans. It was necessary to put the
question to a vote, which was done at the general
election, June 2, 1902. The result was, for high
school, 597; against high school, 161. January
12, 1905, the county court made a six-mill levy to
secure funds with which to erect a county high
school to cost $25,000. This will be a handsome
structure with all modern improvements and up
to date in every respect. However, the contract
price for the high school building is $29,500.
The latest available report of Klamath county
schools is that of 1903 :
No. of children between 4 and 20 years of age. .. .1168
No. pupils enrolled  818
Average daily attendance  475
Teachers employed during the year  67
Teachers holding state certificates or diplomas.... 13
Teachers holding first grade certificates  13
Teachers holding second grade certificates  20
Teachers holding third grade certificates  5
Teachers holding primary certificates  1
Teachers holding permits  ¦  13
No. of organized districts in county  31
No. of school houses  30
Following is a roster of the teachers of Kla
math countv for the year 1903 :
Mrs. Myrtle Weeks, Merrill; Elizabeth Y.
Dix, Pokegama; Mrs. G. D. Brown, Crystal;
Miss Gertie Van Meter, Bedfield ; Miss Evelyn
Bunnell, Klamath Falls; Miss Elizabeth More-
land, Pokegama ; Gilbert D. Brown, Crystal ; Miss
Alice Swift, Beswick, California; Miss Nett R.
Drew, Dairy ; Dora A. Eglington, Bedfield ; E.
Ray Fountain, Klamath Falls ; Miss Nora Keith-
lev, Dairy ; Miss Restora French, Klamath Falls ;
Miss Dora Goss, Bonanza ; Maril Elsie Grey, Kla
math Falls; Miss Anna Maxx, Merrill; Mrs.
Tames Worlow, Fort Klamath ; Miss H. F. Gan-
iere, Klamath Falls ; Daisy Pattison, Bonanza ; U.
S. Worden. Klamath Falls ; Mrs. Helen Gay Sun-
wait, Tule Lake ; Miss Louise E. Sargeant, Keno ;
W. R. Dilley, Olene ; Miss Stella Campbell, Lo
rella ; Miss Minerva C. Cal, Klamath Falls ; Miss
E. V. Cogswell, Klamath Falls ; Miss Alice Ap-
pegate, Klamath Falls ; W. H. Musselman, Kla
math Falls ; Kitty C. Wells, Fort Klamath ; Miss

1002

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Emma Bussey, Lorella ; C. E. For, Lorella ; Miss
Jennie L. Cartwright, Odessa ; Miss L. L. Dick
son, Fort Klamath ; Miss Edna Wells, Ashland ;
D. A. McComb, Klamath Falls ; Miss Joyce Arant,

Klamath Falls ; Mrs. Jennie M. Kearns, Evely R.
Applegate, Mrs. Lou Norris, Gertrude Richard
son, Beagle; Ida C. Grigsby, Klamath Falls ;,C
C. Brown.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

KLAMATH COUNTY

THOMAS H. WILKERSON is well and fa
vorably known in Klamath county. He resides
one mile southeast of Lorella where he has an
estate of two hundred and forty acres, well im
proved and in a high state of cultivation. He
handles considerable stock and is known as one of
the prosperous men of the community. His birth
occurred in Monroe county, Missouri, on January
17, 1842. The father of our subject, William Wil-
kerson, is a native of Kentucky and an early pion
eer to Monroe county, Missouri, arriving there
about 1819. In 1850, he crossed the plains with
ox teams accompanied by his three brothers. Af
ter working for some time in the mines, he
started home in 1852 and was taken sick on the
Isthmus of Panama. From that place he was
transferred to the Island of Cuba, where he died
the next year. His father, William Wilkerson,
the grandfather of our subject, was born in Eng
land ancl came to the United States when quite
young being one of the early settlers of the
county. He was well acquainted with Daniel
Boone, served in the War of 18 12 and was a
captain in the Black Hawk War. He did a great
deal of scouting in Virginia and once was cap
tured by the Indians, who held him for three
years. His death occurred in Monroe county,
Missouri, when he was aged ninety-two. The
mother of our subject, Margaret (Dale) Wilker
son, was born in Tennessee and came to Monroe
county, Missouri, with her parents when she was
a child, it being about 1827. She made a trip
to Oregon with our subject in 1875 and two
years later returned to Monroe county where she
died in 1878. Her father, John Dale, was a lieu
tenant in the battle of New Orleans, and a captain
in the battle of Tippecanoe. He was captured
there by some Indians but as they were taking
him awav, he struck one into the wafer with a
paddle and so escaped. He was known as John
Dale, of Tippecanoe fame. The Dales were all

of Irish extraction and our subject's uncle, Matt
hew Dale, lived to be one hundred and ten years
of age. The brothers and sisters of our subject
are named as follows : John, deceased ; Wiley,
in Monroe county, Missouri ; Sarah, wife of
Alexander Clemens, a brother of the famous
Mark Twain, and they now live in Monroe coun
ty, Missouri ; Ross in Monroe county, Missouri ;
Mary, deceased ; Milton in Monroe county ; and
Nancy, deceased. Our subject was the fifth from
the last. He grew up on a farm in Missouri, at
tended school in the little log cabin of the day,
being obliged to walk many miles even for that.
In the spring of 1862, he started across the plains
with Dr. Hugh Glenn's train who was afterwards
a noted land owner of California. Mr. Wilkerson
drove a band of mules across the plains and then
mined in California for some time. He was at
Virginia City in 1867 and returned via the Pana
ma route to New York city, whence he journeyed
back to Missouri. He had been very successful
in the west and in Missouri engaged in farming
and stock raising.
On September 11, 1873, Mr. Wilkerson mar
ried Julia Hardwick, a native of Monroe county,
Missouri. George Hardwick, her father, was born,
in the same county and died in Yamhill county,
Oregon, in 1895, being then sixty years of age.
His father, John Hardwick, was born in Madison
county and was one of the early settlers of Mon
roe county, Missouri. Many of the ancestors of
this family were in the Revolution. Mrs. Wilker-
son's mother, Mary A. (Sisk) Hardwick, was
born in Alabama and most of her ancestors came
from North Carolina. She died in Missouri. The
brothers and sisters of Mrs. Wilkerson are
named as follows, she being the oldest : Jethro,
of Portland, Oregon ; Lucy, deceased ; John, of
Marion county, Oregon ; Clementine, deceased ;
George T. ; and Mrs. Dollie Leveatt, both of
-Yamhill county, Oregon. In the fall of 1875, our

:-ioo4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

subject started west with his wife and family,
being accompanied by his mother and his wife's
father and family. They headed toward Oregon
and in clue time arrived on the Pacific coast and
located in West Chehalem valley. There he was
¦ engaged in general merchandising for eleven
years. Not being especially successful, he sold
out and came to his present place in June, 1886.
He took up a homestead and engaged in stock
.-raising and farming. Few settlers were here
then and the hard winter of 1889-90 swept near
ly all of his stock away. Since then, however,
he has been prospered and has gained a nice hold
ing of property. His residence is a fine two story
eleven room structure, which is surrounded with
fine improvements and makes a beautiful place.
The children born to this family are Nora M.,
wife of James Krogue ; Ella L., wife of Clarence
Walker ; Eugene W. ; William L. ; Clementine M.,
wife of Charles Wiley ; Geneva A., a school
-teacher ; Mary, Lulu and Kenneth C. Ella used
to teach school. The children are all located
near by and the two oldest have ranches in this
vicinity. Our subject and his wife are consistent
members of the Christian church and also two of
their daughters belong to that denomination.
They are known as substantial, upright, and good
-people and fully deserve the generous confidence
ancl esteem bestowed upon them by their fellows.

CHARLES C. LEWIS is one of the younger
-men of Klamath county, who has demonstrated
his ability to make a financial success in general
farming and stock raising as is evidenced by
his present holding. He resides one mile south
of Olene and his birth occurred on May 27, 1875,
'in Custer county, Colorado. His father, Leonard
A. Lewis, was horn in Indiana ancl served in the
Civil War. He came to Colorado, where he did
farming ancl stock raising ancl in 1885, journeyed
v\ est to Klamath valley. He settled on Round
Lake first and later went to Klamath Falls. That
-was his home until a short time previous to his
death, when he went to Eureka Springs for his
health. There in March, 1902, he passed into
the world beyond. He had married Mary A.
Burner, a native of Iowa who survives him and
is now dwelling in Klamath Falls. Our subject
accompanied his parents on their various trips
and received the balance of his education in the
agricultural college -at Corvallis. Owing to his
father's ill health, he was obliged to stop the
course and in 1896 he came home ancl engaged in
stock raising. He purchased the old homestead
and operated there until 1900 when he sold his
-property and purchased a farm where he now re

sides. It consists of two hundred and eighty
acres, two hundred of which are agricultural land.
Three fourths of this land is under cultivation
and eighty acres are seeded to alfalfa. The en
tire alfalfa field is irrigated from large springs on
his farm. Mr. Lewis has improved the place
with his own hands and has splendid buildings,
an orchard of all varieties of fruits and other
things needed in the carrying on of his farm.
He formerly handled considerable stock but now
has sold the stock and gives attention to raising
grain and hay.
On June 2, 1901, Mr. Lewis married Miss
Caroline Stock well ancl to them one child, Leon
ard, has been born. Mr. Lewis is a member of the
A. O. U. W., and is a well known and substantial
man. He started here with no means whatever
and took hold with his hands to carve out his for
tune. So well has he succeeded that he is now
rated as one of the well to do citizens of the coun
ty and bids fair to be one of the wealthy men here
in the near future.

GEORGE W. COPELAND, an industrious
farmer ancl stockman of Klamath county, re
sides some two miles east of Lorella. His father,
William H. Copeland, was born in Ohio in 1852
and came west about thirty-five years ago. Set
tlement was made near Portland, Oregon, and in
1885 he came to Klamath county and located in
Langell valley. He took up general farming and
stock raising and now owns an estate of some
four hundred acres, which is well improved with
all necessary buildings, machinery and so forth.
In addition to this fine estate, he also has a nice
band of cattle. The mother of our subject, Mary
L. (Nesmer) Copeland, was born in Arkansas.
Her parents had crossed the plains in early days.
The other child of the family besides our subject
is Mrs. Martha M. Abbaloose of this county.
George W. was born on August 17, 1871, in Co
lumbia county, Oregon, and came to this county
with his, parents in 1885. His education was re
ceived in the various places where he lived dur
ing his boyhood days and as soon as he became of
age he began farming for himself and took a
homestead where he now resides. He has added
a quarter section more ancl improved the place
with good residence, barns, orchard and so forth.
The estate is cropped almost entirely to hay for
his cattle, of which he owns a goodly number.
On June 17, 1902, Mr. Copeland married
Aliss Bessie McClung, who was born in Cali
fornia, the daughter of Carter and Mary Mc
Clung. Two children are the fruit of this union,
Floyd L. and Flossie Marie. Mr. Copeland has

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

IOO:

the distinction of having started for himself in'
this county with no means and gained his entire
property by the fruit of his own industry and sa
gacity. He is a modest, unassuming man and one
of the solid, substantial citizens of Our county.

HENRY T. ANDERSON was born on April
9, 1850, near St. Louis, Missouri. He now re
sides five miles northeast from Merrill, where he
owns a good estate and gives his attention to
farming and stock raising. His father, Richard
Anderson, was born in Virginia and came as a
pioneer to the vicinity of St. Louis and served as
a soldier in the confederate army. During the bat
tle of Prairie Grove, one of his legs was shattered
by a ball. Nevertheless he fought all through
the battle and died from the effects of the wound.
His father was Richard Anderson, the grand
father of our subject, and was a prominent plant
er of Virginia ancl owned many slaves. Our sub
ject's mother, Eliza (Brand)- Anderson, died
when he was a small boy. He was the second of
a family of three, the others being Mrs. Emma B.
Albin, of Chico, California and Robert C, near
Merrill. Henry T. was reared on a farm and
educated in the public schools and in the spring
of 1870 started west. He finally landed in Sac
ramento valley and went to work for wages. Af
terwards, he rented a farm, then journeyed to
Colusa county, California. In 1882, he moved
to Ashland ancl wrought on the S. P. railroad.
In the spring of 1884, he came to Klamath county
and took his present place as a homestead. Here
he has resided since. He also took a timber cul
ture and then bought a quarter section, which
gave him the generous allowance of four hundred
and eighty acres which is all fenced and over
three hundred acres in cultivation. Among the im
provements, is a seven room, two story house,
large barn, plenty of outbuildings, a good well
and wind mill, orchard and other accessories.
Some two miles east from Merrill, Mr. Anderson
owns three hundred and eighty acres of choice
farm land all under the plow. Two hundred and
twenty acres are producing alfalfa and the other
one hundred and sixty, grain. He has a nice large
herd of cattle, some horses, and a good many of
them well bred. When Mr. Anderson started
here, he had no means and he has labored here
to gain his present holdings and is to be com
mended for the success he has achieved. He has
won many, friends and a popularity in the county,
which was demonstrated in 1898, when he was
elected county commissioner on the Democratic
ticket For thirtv-four vears he had been absent
from his old home near St. Louis and in May,

1904, accompanied by his wife, who had not seen
her parents in Illinois for twenty-eight years, he
journeyed east and visited the world's fair and
the old farm places, both of his wife's and his
own native home. The trip was fraught with
many pleasures and is one of the prominent in
cidents of Mr. Anderson's life.
On November 30, 1877, Mr. Anderson mar
ried Miss Mary Crawford, who was born in Per
ry county, Illinois, the daughter of Jacob J. and
Eliza (Wiedon) Crawford, natives of Tennessee
and Kentucky, respectively. Mrs. Anderson is-
the oldest of a family of twelve children. Her
people moved to the Sacramento valley in 1876'
and there her marriage occurred. The children!
born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are Frank, mar
ried to Grace Sims, of this county; Charles I.,
Herbert E., Dora M., Pearlie, and Gladys E. In
1882 Mr. Crawford came to Klamath county,
then went to Ashland and finally returned to this
county, where he died in 1897, aged sixty-six.
His widow resides with her children.
Mr. ancl Mrs. Anderson are good, substantial'
people, well known and highly esteemed, and their
labors and uprightness have won for them much.
success and many friends.

CHARLES H. HOAGLAND is one of the
prosperous farmers and leading citizens of Klam
ath county. He resides some three miles east of
Bonanza and was born on March 9, 1863, in Coles
county, Illinois. His father, Henry W. Hoag
land, came to California in 1852, then went to
Oregon and afterward returned to Illinois. Again'
he crossed the plains, both times with ox teams,
the last time being in 1865. He settled a second
time in California, and finally, in 1879, came to<
Klamath county, where he died in 1890. The
mother of our subject is Jane Hoagland, who is
now living in Central Point, Oregon. There were
ten children in the family. Our subject came
with his parents in 1865 across the plains to Napa
county, California, then moved to Merced county
and accompanied them later to Langells valley in
1879. Few settlers were here then and his father
purchased the first place that had been taken in
the valley, which our subject owns at this time.
It is one of the most valuable pieces of land in-
the county, being very fertile, and on the bottom.
The father engaged in farming and stock raising
and became very prosperous and had much land."
and stock but sold all except this quarter before
he died.
On July 1, 1884, Mr. Hoagland married Miss-
Margaret Burzan, who was born in Jackson coun
ty, Oregon. Her father is deceased and her moth-

joo6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

<er is living in that county now. Six children have
been born to our subject and his wife, Bird, wife
of Levi McDonald of this valley, Georgia, Emma,
Lewis, Fernie and Grace.
Mr. Floagland is a member of the A. O. U.
W. ancl has the distinction of having gained his
entire property through his own efforts of in
dustry, since he started here with no means what
ever.

FRED L. POPE. Among the enterprising
men of Klamath county, it is with pleasure that
we are privileged to mention the gentleman
whose name appears above. He is a progressive
farmer and stockman, residing some three miles
east of Merrill and was born on September 15,
1861, in Hillsboro, Iowa. His father, James W.
Pope, was born in Highland county, Ohio, and
was an early pioneer to Henry county, Iowa. His
father, Samuel Pope, the grandfather of our sub
ject, was a native of Virginia and one of the ear
liest pioneers in Ohio. He died in Iowa at the
age of ninety-three. The mother of our subject
was Eliza J. (Stephenson) Pope, a native of In
diana. She came to Iowa where her wedding oc
curred. Her father, Dr. Samuel Stephenson, was
born in Ireland, came to Indiana, then moved to
Iowa, where he died at the age of eighty-four.
The brothers and sisters of our subject are men
tioned as follows: Elizabeth D., Edgar B., Mrs.
Fannie B. Kane and Mrs. Margaret Thompson,
twins, ancl Mrs. Bertie Auble, all of Modoc coun
ty, California. Fred L. was the oldest of the fam
ily and was much associated with his father in
the various occupations' in the different places
where they resided. In 1864, the parents crossed
the plains with wagons, being members of a very
large train. They came direct to Yreka, Cali
fornia, and until 1870, the father followed team
ing and freighting. Then he came to Stone Coal
valley in Modoc county, being the first man that
took a claim in that valley. A short time there
after he removed to Hot Springs valley, a dis
tance of seven miles, where he secured three hun
dred and twenty acres of land. Since that time, he
has made that place his home. For a while he
was postmaster at Canby but his attention has
been largely given to stock raising. At this time
he is about sixty-eight years of age. Our sub
ject's mother died in 1887. He grew up on a ranch
and worked at home for wages until he rented the
Davis ranch, where he engaged in farming and
stock raising, and where he made his start in life.
In November, 1898, he sought out his present
place and bought it; it consists of two hundred
and sixty-five acres. In June of the following
year, he moved his family here ancl this has been

his home place since. He has a nice eight room
residence, barn, other outbuildings, shade trees,
and so forth and the place is one of the best ones
of the county. Forty acres are bearing alfalfa'
and the entire estate is good land, producing hay
and grain. Mr. Pope also owns one hundred and
twenty-seven acres just east of Merrill, half of
which is producing alfalfa and the balance is
used for grain and pasture. Mr. Pope makes a
specialty of raising choice Shorthorn cattle and
has been favored with splendid success in the en
terprise. On March 27, 1892, Mr. Pope married Miss
Dora O. Ballard, a native of Modoc county, Cali
fornia. Her father, James L. Ballard, was born
in Illinois and came as a pioneer to California. He
was a skilled carpenter and wrought on the state
capital at Sacramento and in many other im
portant places. As early as 1872, he brought his
family to Modoc county and there died in 1902.
He was a millwright as well as carpenter and built
the first sawmill in Hot Spring valley. He mar
ried Serilda Thornton, a native of Missouri who
is now living in Modoc county. Mrs. Pope's
brothers and sisters are Simeon T., Charles A.,
Nora E., Anna H., James T., Jesse L., John R.
and William. She is the third child. To our
subject and his wife five children have been
born, Leslie B., I. Leland, Marjorie D., Wanda
M., and Fred L., Jr.
When the time came for Mr. Pope to start in
life, his father was not in a position to assist him
with any capital, consequently with his bare
hands and a good stout heart, he began the bat
tle alone, and everything that he now owns is the
result of his own labors. His mother taught
school a great many years and was successful in
this calling. Being the oldest of the family and
much of the time on the frontier, he had little
opportunity to gain an education compared with
the youth of today, still he has made himself a
well informed and well trained man mentally.
He is enterprising and progressive, has many
friends and is considered one of the leading men
of this part of the county.

MAJOR JEROME WHITNEY, a native of
Klamath county, and now residing two miles
southeast of Merrill, was born in the house where
he now lives, On October 29, 1875. The old
homestead owned by his father is now owned by
him ancl -his brother, Johnson. The parents of
our subject were Elkanah and Mary A. (White)
Whitney, who are named more fully in the
sketch of another son in this work. Our subject
grew up in this county and received his educa-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1007

tion from the public schools. Early in life he be
gan to work for himself. In the spring of 1898,
in company with his two brothers, Albert and
Daniel M., he started to Alaska, sailing from
Portland, Oregon, with the intention of mining.
They later turned from this intention, owing to
the discouraging reports, and stopped at the
Islands of Karluk ancl Kodiak and were engaged
in the salmon fisheries there during the season.
In the fall, they returned to San Francisco and
thence journeyed home. Much of the time until
his father's death, our subject was associated
with him, then later purchased the homestead
with his present partner. Before that, he was in
partnership with all his brothers in the stock bus
iness and they prospered well until 1900, when
they divided all their holdings. They still hold
a large band of sheep altogether and are recog
nized as among the leading stockmen of the
county. The place where our subject resides is a
quarter section, half of which is growing alfalfa
and the balance grain. The two brothers have a
a fine band of cattle and horses all well bred and
the farm is stocked with everything needed to
handle it in first class shape.
On August 16, 1900, Mr. Whitney married
Miss Emma Shuck, a native of Canton, Illinois.
She came with her parents, S. A. and Cornelia
Shuck, to the Rogue river valley when a child.
Later, they came to Klamath county, where her
mother is now living. The father died on the
ranch near Merrill in 1902. Mrs. Whitney's
brothers ancl sisters are Charles, near Merrill;
Mrs. Edith Warren of Canton, Illinois; Mrs.
Clara E. Bush, deceased; Lora E. and Lois E.,
living with their mother. Mr. and Mrs. Whitney
have one child, Chester Leroy. It speaks well of
the industry of our subject when we know that
he started in life without any means and owing
to sagacious management of the resources placed
in his hands, he is now one of the well-to-do citi
zens of Klamath county. He is a man of unques
tioned integrity, surrounded by a wide circle of
admiring friends ancl is to be credited with doing
.a great deal for the upbuilding of the county.

-OSBERT E. IRVINE is one of the substan
tial and well known business men of Merrill. He
Is operating a first class hotel and owing to his
skill and sagacity as host has met with a very
gratifving patronage. He was born on July 27,
1862, in "Buchanan county, Missouri, the son of
Tohn M. ancl Malissa (Gibson) Irvine, natives of
Misouri and Virginia, respectively. The father
is a veteran of the Civil war ancl for many years
•of his life was engaged as an educator. Our

subject grew up in Missouri and there received
his education. In 1879, he came west to Redding,
California accompanying his parents and later
they journeyed by wagon to Josephine county,
Oregon. The father died April 4, 1880, and the
family moved to Ashland. The mother is now
living at Vancouver, Washington in her eigh
tieth year. Our subject traveled over various por
tions of California, Oregon and Washington.
Finally in 1885, he came to Klamath county. He
wrought here at various places and did farming in
Barnes valley. Finally, in May, 1899, he came to
Merrill and since that time has been one of the
active builders of this county. He now owns a
good residence and eight lots in Merrill, also sixty
acres of valuable land, one-half mile south of the
town. The agricultural land is all under culti
vation and well improved. Mr. Irvine gives his
attention amost entirely to his hotel and oversees
his other interests.
On December 15, 1896, occurred the marriage
of Mr. Irvine and Miss Florence Gibson, a native,
of Arkansas. She came with her parents to
Oregon when a child. One child has been born
to this union, Erie M.
Mr. Irvine is a member of the W. O. W. and
a good progressive man.

GARRETT K. VANRIPER is to be classed
as one of the pioneers of the territory now em
braced in Klamath county. When he came here
it was Jackson county, later Lake county, and
now Klamath county. Thus, he has lived in
three counties without moving from his farm.
His residence adjoins Bonanza on the west. He
was born on June 20, 1863, in Douglas county,
Oregon, the son of Hon. Garrett B. and Sarah
(Cozad) VanRiper, natives of New York and
Pennsylvania, respectively. The father was
reared in Michigan and in the spring of 1850,
came across the plains in wagons to Douglas
county, Oregon, and took a donation claim and
engaged in farming. In 1870, he came to Poe
valley, this county and built the first house in that
valley. While in western Oregon, he had partici
pated in the Rogue river Indian war. The Modoc
War broke out after he settled in Poe valley and
realizing the danger he hurried his family to a
place of safety, just in time to escape the ravages
of the savages, for they burned his house and de
stroyed all his property but a few hours after he
had left. After the war, he built another house
and in 1885, moved to Bonanza. Later, he set
tled in Ashland and there died in 1902, aged sev
enty-three. He had always lived on the fron
tier and was a genuine pioneer. In 1874, he was

ioo8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

a member of the state legislature, this then being
Jackson county and he was instrumental in get
ting Lake county organized. It embraced this
territory. The ancestors are traced back to the
Mayflower and come of Holland Dutch extrac
tion. The mother's ancestors came from France.
She now lives in Ashland, aged sixty-nine. The
other children of the family besides our subject
are Mrs: Anna Walker, in Langell valley; Mrs.
Fannie Hughes, of Poe Valley; Mrs. Ida Crane,
of Sacramento, California; Gard P., of Ashland.
Our subject grew up on the farm and received
his education from the early schools in the vari
ous places where he lived then graduated from
the old normal school at Ashland, Oregon. He
has been engaged in stock raising most of his life
and has made several trips with stock to Cali
fornia. In 1885, he located his present home as a
homestead and here he has remained ever since.
He now has one-half section, well improved and
mostly under cultivation. A good barn, wind
mill, pump and various other buildings are in
evidence, while his residence is a very comfortable
dwelling. Mr. VanRiper pays especial attention
to raising hay and cattle and also handles some
fine horses.
On June 13, 1888, Mr. VanRiper married
Miss Nellie Patterson, who was born in Butfe
county, California, and for the past eighteen years
has lived in this vicinity. The children of our
subject and his wife are Garrett K., Jr., Jessie H.,
Lillie and Josie. Mr. VanRiper has always taken
a marked interest in political matters and the ad
vancement and development of the community
and especially in educational affairs. He has
given of his time and served on the board and is a
very enthusiastic supporter of everything for the
benefit of the county.

JOSEPH NICHOLS, a farmer and stock
man of Klamath county, came to this section when
but few settlers were to be found and since that
time has labored with a display of energy and en
terprise, both ,in building up the country and in
creasing his own exchequer. A sturdy and capable
frontiersman, a substantial and good man, he has
not only won success in his labors during this time
but has also won many friends and a fine stand
ing. When he landed here in the fall of 1878, he
was without means and had a family to support.
Consequently there was much arduous labor and
many trying experiences to pass through but he
and his family have weathered all and he has
become one of the prosperous and well-to-do men
of the country.
Joseph Nichols was born on April 1, 1844, in

Linn county, Iowa. The parents were Joseph and
Indiana Nichols, natives of Virginia and Indiana,
respectively. The mother died in Linn county,
Iowa, in 1852. The brothers and sisters of our
subject are Mrs. Eliza Cochran, died at Yakima,
Washington ; John, died near Bonanza ; Mrs.
Elizabeth Lewis, died near Prineville ; Amos, died
in Kansas ; William, living near Viola, Washing
ton ; Mrs. Sarah J. Payne, residing near Denver,
Colorado ; Nathan, of Union county, Oregon ;
Taylor living near Bonanza. Our subject is the
third from the last. He lived in Linn county.
Iowa, during the early days and remembers well
the hostility of the Indians and frontier life on
the prairie. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Com
pany F, Thirty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry
and was in the department of the Gulf of Mexico.
He participated in the siege of Vicksburg, the
capture of Fort Morgan and Mobile and saw
much hard service. He was injured at Vicks
burg and for several months languished in the
hospital. During the siege he was obliged to
work four nights out of each week. He contin
ued in the service until September, 1865, being
then honorably discharged. Many times he was
on short rations and on the verge of starvation
and was in many trying scenes where his com
rades were falling all about him, yet he escaped
with his life and the consciousness that he had
fought well for his flag. Shortly after his dis
charge, he went to Lawrence, Kansas and in
1875, came to Placer county, California. The
following winter his father joined him and in the
fall of 1878, they came to what is now Klamath
county. Mr. Nichols' located his present place,
which is one and one-fourth miles north of Bon
anza, as a homestead and his father took one ad
joining. The latter lived there until his death on
November 18,' 1898, being at that time one hun
dred years, nine months and twenty-nine days old.
Mr. Nichols now owns a half section of land, two
hundred acres of which are under cultivation and
the estate is all fenced and well improved with
good residence, barns and so forth. He raises
grain and hay and handles some cattle and!
horses. On October 27, 1872, Mr. Nichols married
Miss Mary A. Griffiths, a native of Missouri. Her
father is deceased and her mother is living in
Lawrence, Kansas. Her brothers and sisters are
named a follows : William T., of Douglas county,
Kansas; Mrs. Lizzie Hughes, of Lawrence, in
that state; James of Auburn, California; and
Mrs. Lou Davis, of the same place. To our sub
ject and his wife, nine children have been born:
Clara, wife of Edward Wallace of Merrill ; Nellie,
the wife of George Moore, of Mabton, Washing
ton; Harry; Lou, wife of Charles Wallace, of

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1009

Antelope, Oregon ; Eva, wife of Alax Bradburn,
of Antelope, Oregon; Homer; James; Charles;
and Myrtle.
Mr. Nichols has always dwelt on the frontier
ancl has always shown himself an enterprising and
progressive man. Pie has endured his share of
the hardships of life and has overcome them in a
good manner, being now one of the respected and
substantial men of the county.

DANIEL F. DRISCOLL is a member of the
Driscoll Mercantile Company, dealers in general
merchandise, farm implements, etc., of Bonanza,
Oregon. He was born June 25, 1868, in Nevada
county, California, the son of John ancl Catherine
Driscoll, both natives of Ireland.
Mr. Driscoll was married in February, 1894,
to Grace C. Kuhn, a native of Lake county, Cali
fornia. She was a daughter of John B. Kuhn,
deceased, and Sarah E. Kuhn. The family of
Mrs. Driscoll were among the early pioneers of
Lake county, locating twenty-five years ago.
Three children have been born to Mr. and
Mrs. Driscoll, Mary Agnes, Johanna Frances,
and Viola Alethea.

JOHN ANDREW SHORT, a prosperous
farmer and stock man of Klamath county, resid
ing seven miles southeast of Klamath Falls, was
born on December 24, 1850, in Moore county,
North Carolina. His father, Burrell H., was also
a native of North Carolina and was killed in 1862
in the battle of Richmond, being in the Confed
erate army. He had married Mary Cole, a native
of North Carolina and now deceased. The chil
dren of this family are Mrs. Martha England, of
Venos, Texas; Pleasant, of Greensburg, North
Carolina ; John A., who is our subject, and James
of this county. Our subject grew up on a farm
and was educated in the public schools. In 1864,
his mother was called away by death. In Union
county, Georgia, on December 31, 1874, Mr.
Short married Miss Clementine Odom, a native
of the same county. Her father, Washington
Odom, served in the confederate army and par
ticipated in many battles. He was wounded and
his death occurred in Georgia, May, 1903, being
in his seventy-fourth vear. The mother of Mrs.
Short is Mary (Chastain) Odom, a native of
Georgia ancl now deceased. There were three
children born in this family ; Mrs. Martha Neece.
of Sunset, Texas ; Mrs. Short and John W., of
Lake countv, Oregon. In 1885, Mr. and Mrs.
Short came to Klamath county and took their
64

present place as a homestead and here they have
lived ever since. Out of the quarter section of
land, they have one hundred acres in cultivation*
a good house, barn, and orchard ancl plenty of
other improvements. Mr. Short turns his atten
tion almost entirely to raising grain and pota
toes, in which he has made a good success. He-
has one son, Burrill, owning half a section near
the home place, two hundred acres , of which; are-
uncler a ditch and one hundred acres planted, to-
alfalfa. They handle some stock, mostly cattle.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Short, are-
Burrill W., married to Elizabeth Rothley; Robert
C, married to Inez Turner ; Mary E., wife of
James Dixon ; and Samuel P.
Both Mr. and Airs. Short are members of the
Baptist church and are very substantial and re
spected people.

CLYDE BRADLEY, who resides five miles
northwest from Merrill, is known as one of the
substantial and progressive agriculturists of Kla
math county. Pie was born on February 13, 1861,
in Grayson county, Kentucky, the son of Creed
and Naoma (Preston)) Bradley. His childhood
days were spent in Harden county, Kentucky,
where he received his educational training. In
1884, Mr. Bradley journeyed west to Lewis
county, Missouri, and in 1886 he went to Solano
county, California. Two years later, he came
thence to Klamath county and entered a pre
emption where he now resides. It is all fine sage
brush land, fifty acres of which are under the
ditch and seeded to alfalfa. The balance is all in
cultivation ancl produces grain crops annually. He
has the place well improved, with barns, fences
and other accessories. When Mr. Bradley first
came here, the country was all sage brush and set
tlers were far apart. He has done his part in
building up the country and in making it the pros
perous place that it is today. Since coming here,
he has taken a trip to California and also one to
Kentucky. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Klamath
Falls lodge of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Bradley is still
a bachelor. He has one of the finest places in the
county and is a highly respected man.

NATHAN S. MERRILL, who resides at
Merrill, was born August 22, 1836, in Hillsbor
ough, county. New Hampshire. His father,
Nathan Merrill, was also born in New Hamp
shire ancl his father, William, the grandfather of
our subject, was a native of that city. They de
scended from three brothers who emigrated from

lOIO

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Paris and landed in the New World about the
same time as the Mayflower. These men settled
in the vicinity of Boston and from them came the
Merrill family. The mother of our subject was,
Julia A. (Merrill) Morrill, also a native of New
Hampshire. Her father died in service in the
war of 1812. Our subject was the oldest of the
'•children and the rest are named as follows :
'William R., of Calusa, California; John A., of
"Redding, California ; Charles H., of Merrill,
'•Oregon; Morris A., of Willows, California; and
Mrs. Henrietta Scruggins of Calusa, California.
' Our subject came west with his parents to Kane
county, Illinois, in 1846 and was well educated in
'"¦' the common schools. In the fall of 1857, he and
¦ his parents removed to McDonald county, Mis-
' souri, ancl in the spring of 1862, he returned to
Kane county, Illinois, and in the fall of 1869,
accompanied by his wife and his father, our
subject came to Calusa county, California. There
i he engaged in farming until 1881, when he emi-
• grated to Chehalis county, Washington. In that
* "vicinity, he gave his attention to agricultural
•work until the fall of 1890, when he came to his
' present home place, which is in Merrill. He pur
chased a ranch and in the spring of 1894, he laid
- out a portion of the town of Merrill. The town
occupies eighty acres of the farm and Mr. Mer
rill owns two thirds of the townsite. He has five
^hundred acres adjoining the town and all of it is
in cultivation. Two hundred acres of this are in
: alfalfa and the balance produces grain. It is all
under ditch and Mr. Merrill owns an interest in
f the ditch. He has a nice two story, eight room
Ihouse, a barn sixty-two by one hundred and six
teen feet, and two acres in orchard, having all
kinds of fruit in this lot. In addition to this, Mr.
Merrill has improved the place wonderfully by
artistically arranged shade trees and other im
provements, so that his is one of the best places
.- and one of the most beautiful homes in the county.
- 1902, Mr. Merrill's name appeared on the Demo-
• chatic ticket for county commissioner and he was
promptly elected, carrying the Merrill precinct by
three to one. His term was for four years and
he has given entire satisfaction in this position as
he brings to it a wealth of experience and saga
city that have made him the successful business
-man that he is today. Mr. Merrill was the first
man to sign the charter of the Klamath Falls
Lodge, number 137, I. O. O. F., ancl is past grand
of that order. His wife is a member of the Re
bekahs. He has withdrawn from that lodge,
rbeing a. charter member of Tule Lake Lodge, No.
187, and noble grand. He has always been very
active in every enterprise to build up and im
prove the country ancl is one of the leading men
< Df this part of the state.

On October 26, i860, in McDonald county,
Missouri, Mr. Merrill married Miss Nancy J.
Newland, who was born in Washington county,
Arkansas. They are representative people and
are widely and favorably known in this part of
the state. The knowledge, wisdom ancl progress
manifested by Mr. Merrill in his career here have
done much to build up the country and to further
its prosperity. In addition, his integrity and up
rightness have won him a place among the people
which is very gratifying.

GEORGE W. BLOOMINGCAMP resides
on a stock ranch three miles north from Bly,
Oregon, on the north side of the Sprague river
valley. He and his brother, Edward, are in part
nership in the cattle business, the firm style under
which the operate being Bloomingcamp Bros.
George W. Bloomingcamp was born at Eureka,
Siskiyou county, California, December 23, 1879.
His brother was born at the same place February
13, 1877. They are sons of John F. and Adeline
Bloomingcamp, both natives of Germany. The .
parents came to California during the 6o's and are
now engaged in the stock business in Siskiyou
county, the father being now seventy-one years
of age and the mother five years his junior. Our
subject is' a member of a family of ten children,
equally divided at to sex.
Our subject engaged in the stock business on
Sprague river in 1890, and seven years later
formed his present partnership with his brother.
He started in the business with no means, and
today the firm is in a state bordering on wealth.
The brothers have on Sprague river a tract of
twelve hundred and forty acres, most of which
is choice hay land, and in the Klamath basin they
own four hundred and eighty acres of good real
estate. They make a specialty of raising hay
which they feed to their large herd of choice cat
tle. Having been born and reared on the frontier,
and trained from infancy in the handling of stock,
they are eminently fitted for their business and
are making it a signaLsuccess.

CALEB TOWNSEND OLIVER is the
owner and operator of one of the finest livery
barns in southwestern Oregon. It is located at
Merrill, while he also has one at Klamath Falls,
and they are certainly a source of pride to the
county. Being a practical horse man ancl es
pecially endowed with talent for the business,
Mr. Oliver has made a success in his enterprise,
which is very gratifying and bespeaks both his

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ion

ability ancl his industry. In addition to general
livery, feed and sale business, wherein he is most
careful in every particular to provide for his
patrons everything first class, he also has taken
a great interest in breeding fine horses for the
betterment of the county stock. Mr. Oliver has
eight as fine stallions as are to be seen in south
ern Oregon, everyone of which is registered, and
everyone of which is a choice prize winner. His
barn is next his Mascot stables and his stallion,
Mascot, is one of the finest horses in the west.
At this writing, he is a little over four years of
age and when four years of age weighed exactly
twenty-two hundred pounds. When he has fin
ished his growth, he will weigh at least twenty
five hundred pounds. He is a cross between a
registered Clyde ancl a registered Percheron. He
is one of the most beautiful draft horses to be
found and certainly the stock men of Klamath
county are to be congratulated that through the
untiring efforts of Mr. Oliver, have been brought
to Klamath county such magnificent stallions,
Mr. Oliver owns choice driving horses and has
some of the best roadsters in this part of the
state. His driving teams are known all over and
some of the finest rigs to be found on the roads
come from his barns. He takes great 'pride in
securing the comfort and safety of his patrons
and altogether is one of the most successful gen
tlemen and up-to-date business men to be found
in Klamath county.
Joseph C. Oliver was born in Iowa. With
his parents, he went to Ohio when young and
graduated from Miami university. He was then
retained in the college as an instructor, continu
ing there until the breaking out of the Civil War.
Then he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth Ohio In
fantry as private and was soon promoted to a
captaincy. He served under General Thomas
and at the battle of Chickamauga was taken
prisoner. For three months he languished in that
infamous den, then with three companions, dug
his way out. They were six weeks in getting
awav and finally when they reached their own
lines, thev were almost naked and had traveled
barefooted through snow and over the frozen
ground. He then took part in Sherman's march
to the Sea and was in command of two companies.
He participated in many hard fought battles and
in numerous skirmishes and served in all four
years. Then he received his honorable discharge
and since has been verv prominent in G. A. R.
circles. When the war ended he returned home
and again took up teaching and later was prin
cipal of the public schools in Champaign, Illinois.
At Goshen, Ohio, he was married to Martha
"Washington Gatch, who was born at Mulberry,
Ohio. She had followed teaching school for sever

al years ancl was a yen- prominent educator. Pier
father, John D. Gatch, was born in Baltimore, re
moving to Virginia and later settled in Ohio.
They were descendants from Godfrey Gatch and
came from England in 1727 and settled in the
vicinity of Baltimore. The colony established
was known as the Gatch settlement and the Meth
odist church was organized by them which was
known as Gatch chapel. One of the noted mem
bers of the family was Rev. Philip Gatch, who
was a powerful speaker and one of the noted pio
neers of Ohio. He did very much throughout
( )hio and especially in Clermont county, preach
ing the gospel, being a fervent ancl devout Meth
odist. He attended the first conference ever held
in America, which was in 1773. He was ap
pointed the first judge of Clermont county in
1800 and represented that county and the first
constitutional convention ever held in the north
west territory, it being 1802. After that, he gave
his whole life to preaching the gospel and was a
noble and successful man. He was born in 1751.
During colonial days, many of the Gatch family
had titles of honor for various works that they
had done. They are a very prominent and strong
American family. Our subject's father taught
in various places in the west then came to Santa
Barbara county, California in 1873 and was prin
cipal of the public schools there until 1880, when
he moved to Los Angeles and engaged in the
real estate business. He is still operating in this
capacity and is one of the very successful men of
that state. The children of the family are Nel
lie, a teacher in the schools of Los Angeles;
Caleb T., who is our subject; T. Scott, a writer
of considerable merit now on the St. Louis Globe-
Democrat: Byron L., a graduate of Ann Arbor,
and a leading attorney of Los Angeles and a noted
orator; Myrtle G., wife of Professor Frederick
Stien, who is teaching in the Philippines. Our
subject was well educated and from a child
showed a marked talent for handling horses.
Early in life, he gave himself to this and the re
sult is that he is today one of the most success
ful horsemen in the state of Oregon. He worked
with horses in various places in California and
came to this county in 1884. He was handling
horses for a firm on salary for a time and finally
located some sage brush land near Merrill and
commenced raising horses for himself. He had
come to this country on horseback from southern
California. He succeeded very well until 1890,
when a hard winter swept away all his stock.
He restocked ancl staved with the business until
1904, at which time he owned two hundered of
the finest horses and cattle in Klamath county.
Then he sold the ranch and engaged in his pres
ent business, commencing in a very modest way.

1012

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

The business has grown continuously since under
-his wise guidance and he stands today one of
the representative men of this part of the state.
He early began bringing in pure bred stallions
of different breeds that he could purchase ancl the
result is that Klamath county has come to have
some of the best horses to be found in the west.
On October 21, 1890, Mr. Oliver married
Miss Frances Gertrude Brown, a native of Wood
land, California and born August 20, 1873. Her
father, John T. Brown, was an early pioneer to
California from Minnesota. He had married
West Anna Lyle. To Mr. and Mrs. Oliver, one
child, John Joseph, has been born.
Since the above was written, Mr. Oliver has
purchased the Exchange stables of Klamath
Falls, and is handling them in connection with
those at Merrill. The stables in both places are
named Mascot Stables, and they are to be num
bered with the very best in the entire Northwest.
Mr. Oliver named his stables from his magnifi
cent stallion Mascot, which, undoubtedly, is as
fine a horse as can be found on the coast.

GEORGE WASHINGTON OFFIELD is
well known in Merrill where he has resided for
some time. He owns about three hundred acres
of choice agricultural land besides a fine resi
dence and eight lots in Merrill. He was born on
January 14, 1868 in Parkersburg, Coos county,
Oregon, thus having the distinction of being a
native Oregonian. His father, John L. Offield,
came from English ancestry. He married
Amanda E. Vance, of French extraction. Our
subject grew up in his native place and spent his
time between laboring on the farm and attending
the public schools until he was sixteen years of
age. Then he started -out for himself, working
at various occupations, on the farms, in the stores
and so forth all through western Oregon and
northwest California. At the age of twenty-
seven, he discovered that it would be more
to his advantage for him to be skilled in educa
tional matters, consequently he began studying
in a private business college at Bonanza, Ore
gon. In addition to the business course which
he completed in due time, he had made special
progress in various other branches and came from
the institution fairly skilled in an ordinary Eng
lish education. After quitting the course, he
took the Civil service examination under the gov
ernment for bookkeeping and secured one hun
dred as his mark, a very remarkable standing.
Later, he took another examination in other
branches and secured ninety one per cent. In
1886, he had come to this county and after his

examination, he spent three years in teaching
here. Then he purchased a ranch and has added
since until he has the amount mentioned, which
is all first class agricultural lands. One half of
it is under cultivation and he produces alfalfa
and grain. In 1901, Mr. Offield accepted a posi
tion as bookkeeper of the Whitney Mercantile
Co., of Merrill, which position he still holds. His
residence is a nice six room cottage and he also
has other property besides which has been men
tioned. On October 1, 1899, Mr. Offield married Miss
Winifred Brown, who was born near Pueblo,
Colorado, the daughter of Rice and Mary Brown,
the latter deceased. Mr. Brown was a native of
Missouri and immigrated to California in early
clay and about twenty-two years ago, came to-
Ashland, Oregon. In 1886, he settled in Klam
ath county and is now living some nine miles-
west of Klamath Falls. Mrs. Offield has one
brother, Madison, of Billings, Alontana. Three
children have been born to our subject and his
wife, Elda Ruby, Lester Clifford and Vera
Viola. He and his wife are members of the Baptist
church and are highly esteemed people. Mr.
Offield is serving his second term as justice of
the peace and also is in his second term as mayor
of the town of Merrill. In 1900, he was nomin
ated by the Democratic party for county super
intendent of schools but as the county was Re
publican, he lost the day by a very small majority.

WALTER F. REED is the proprietor of
the Pioneer hotel, and is postmaster at Bly, Ore
gon. He is a native of Plymouth county, Iowa,
born September 2, 1871. His father, George
Reed, now a cabinet maker at Paisley, Oregon,
was born in the province of New Brunswick and
came to Alassachussetts in 1865. Five years
later he went to Iowa and from Iowa to Colo
rado in 1872. From the latter state he went to
Wyoming and in 1887 he came to Oregon and
settled in Ashland. Two years later he came to
Lake county, where he has since lived. Mr. Reed's
mother is Anna E. (Alitchell) Reed, a native of
New Brunswick. The family is composed of
the father, mother and three children, of which
our subject is the second in point of age. He
has a brother, Herbert E., residing near Paisley;
and a sister, Airs. Alaud E. AlcCormack, who lives
in California. Mr. Reed grew to manhood on his parents'
stock farm. The family was the second that
lived in what is now Sheridan county, Wyoming,
where they remained eight years. Sheridan county

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1013

was at that time included in Johnson county. The
Reed home was situated only about forty miles
from the scene of the historic Custer massacre.
The family experienced no trouble with the In
dians while in Wyoming, but while living in Colo-
roda the savages were on the warpath ancl made
life for the settlers decidedly disagreeable. Large
game, such as deer, elk, antelope and buffalo,
was plentiful at that time, and Mr. Reed can re
call the times when he has watched his father
stand in his door and shoot the later named
animals with his rifle.
Our subject attended school at Ashland, Ore
gon, and at the age of twenty he engaged in the
sheep business with his father and brother. They
also farmed to some extent and did a great
amount of contract work, during harvest time,
harvesting .hay. Mr. Reed was always success
ful in what he undertook and as a result is now
in well-to-do circumstances. He owns near
Paisley one hundred ancl sixty acres of land.
The farm where he resides consists of a quarter
section of well improved land and may be irri
gated by a ditch, in which he is heavily inter
ested. He purchased this in 1903. The farm is'
known as the Blv ranch. In Ely, Mr. Reed owns
the Pioneer hotel, as has been stated, containing
twenty rooms, and he is also the proprietor of a
large livery and feed stable, and keeps the stage
station for the Klamath Falls & Lakeview stage
company. On September 25, 1892, Mr. Reed was mar
ried to Mattie B. Mulkey, a native of Missouri
and daughter of Willis J. and Alary E. Mulkey.
Air. and Mrs. Mulkey came to Oregon eighteen
years ago ancl are now engaged in running a hotel
at Eugene, Oregon.
To Mr. and Airs. Reed have been born five
children, Archie M., Helen M., Bennie A., Rich
ard W., and Violet B.
In addition to the property already enumer
ated Mr. Reed owns the town hall of Bly, a build
ing twenty-six by sixty feet in dimensions,
known as Reed's, Hall. This hall is used for pub
lic entertainments and social gatherings.

FRANK OBENCHAIN is a prominent stock
raiser residing on Merrill creek near the north
bank of Sprague river, ten miles northwest from
Blv. Born January 19, 1877, in Jacksonville,
Oregon, Mr. Obenchain was the only child of
Aladison and Alinnie (Crah) Obenchain, Ore
gon pioneers. The father was born in Buchanan
county, Iowa, and crossed the plains to Califor
nia during the early days. After one year in that
state he came to Jackson county, Oregon and set

tled in the Sprague river valley in 1881. Here
he died eight years ago. The mother is a native
of Germany and is now living in Jacksonville,
Oregon. Our subject grew to maturity on a farm and
was educated in the common schools of Jackson
ville. He is now engaged in the cattle business
and is making a success.
Mr. Obenchain was married June 8, 1898, to
Carrie A. Wendt, daughter of Henry and Marie
Wendt, both natives of Germany.
Air. and Airs. Obenchain have two children,
Minnie Alarie, and Aladison.
They are prominent and well-to-do citizens
and enjoy the respect and confidence of a wide
circle of friends in southern Oregon.

THOA1AS JEFFERSON OFFIELD is a
well known business man of Klamath county'
where he has won splendid success in the finan
cial world. He was born on January 23, 1870,
in Coos county, Oregon. His father, John L.
Offield, is a native of Indiana and came of English
extraction. His father, William Offield, the
grandfather of our subject, participated in the
War of 1812. John L. Offield came across the
plains in 1850 with ox teams and while en route,
his mother died. He settled near Oregon City
and later was appointed assessor of Clackamas
county. He moved to Coos county after some
time and to Klamath county in 1886. Three
years later he journeyed to Lane county ancl then
went to Ellensburg, in Washington in 1900, where
he died the following year. He had married
Amanda J. E. Vance, a native of Missouri. She
came to Oregon in 1850 ancl is now living in
Ellensburg, Washington. The children of the
family are William H., of Tacoma ; George W.,
of Alerrill; Thomas J., our subject; Lafayette V.,
Arthur L., Walter and Nellie, all in Ellensburg.
Our subject lived with his parents in the various
places where they dwelt until 1886, when they
came to Klamath county, then he began riding the
range and in 1890, engaged with Geber brothers,
wholesale butchers of Sacramento, on their ranch.
Five years later, he was appointed as foreman and
had charge of their business, shipping cattle, until
the fall of 1903. In the winter of 1895, he took
a lav off which continued for six months, during
which time he traveled all over the states of Cali
fornia ancl Oregon, then resumed his work. On
Alav 22, 1895, Air. Offield married Miss Laura
Maxim, who was drowned the following August
while in bathing. On Alay 19, 1899, Mr. Offield
married Airs. Elizabeth Dorris of Yreka, Cali
fornia. She is a near relative of the late Senator

1014

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Vest of Alissouri. In 1890, Mr. Offield pur
chased one hundred and seventy-four acres of
land one mile north of Merrill. He now has one
hundred and fifty acres of this in fine alfalfa and
in 1903, he purchased one hundred and forty
acres more which he expects soon to seed to al
falfa. When he quit the Geber ranch, he engaged
in the hotel business at Merrill and now owns
the two story, Riverside hotel which has a fine
bar in connection. He personally conducted the
hotel until July; 1904, then rented it to Thomas
A. Balis, still retaining a half interest in the bar.
In addition to this, Air. Offield has a mercantile
establishment, which is under the charge of his
wife. He also owns several lots and buildings
in the town of Merrill and has a fine band of cat
tle on the range. His time is given largely to
attending to his real estate and stock interests,
although he superintends his other business mat
ters. Air. Offield has shown himself a thorough and
talented business man and has won a success
which is very gratifying. He has the esteem and
confidence of all who know him and has shown
a generous and progressive spirit in the upbuild
ing of the country.

THOAIAS W GARRETT is a stock raiser
residing three fourths of a mile northwest from
Bly, Oregon. He was reared on a farm in St.
Francis, county, Alissouri, in which county and
state he was born October 24, 1861. In Alay,
1884, he came west to the San Joaquin valley,
California. Here he worked on a salary until
the fall of 1886, when he came to Goose lake
valley, Oregon, and procured employment on a
stock ranch. In 1889 he took a homestead near
Goose lake and afterwards purchased a quarter-
section ¦ more of land adjoining. He sold his
homestead in 1895, but still owns his remaining.
one hundred ancl sixty acres. He came to Bly
in the fall of 1895, and for two years thereafter
managed the Pioneer hotel at this place, after
which he purchased his present home. He has
in all two hundred and eighty acres of land, a
good portion of which is valuable for agricultural
purposes and well improved. Air. Garrett also
owns an interest in the irrigation ditch which
runs through that section and can irrigate a
great portion of his land. Pie is engaged exten
sively in raising hay for his large herd of cattle.
Air. Garrett was married October 27, 1889,
to Alay Millis, who passed away September 16, ,
1903, leaving no children.
Air. Garrett's parents, William and Susan C.
(Grider) Garrett, were both reared in the same

county ancl state as was he. The mother died
there in the month of April, 1900. The father
made his home in that county until the fall of
1903, when he sold out and came to Bly. He is
now sixty-eight years of age and makes his home
with the subject of this sketch.
Thomas W. Garrett is now serving his third
term as constable for the Sprague river precinct.
He is a man of wide acquaintance and of great
prestige in Lake county.

JOSEPH STUKEL is a native of Klamath
county, having been born in Klamath Falls, on
March 17, 1873, the son of Stephen and Delilah
(Perdue) Stukel. He is one of the prosperous
young men of the county and has demonstrated
himself possessed of excellent ability. His labors
have all been along the line of stock raising and
farming for himself and in everything that tends-
to build up the country in general. He is widely
known as a successful, substantial and capable
man. The other members of the family are
Frederick; Ollie, wife of S. Al. Heller, in Iowa;
Alamie. wife of G. W. Wilson of Merrill ; Amy,
wife of Bert Davis of Merrill; and Stephen, at
home. Air. Stukel resides some four miles north
west of Merrill on Lost River. The farm is
beautifully situated at the foot of Stukel moun
tain and the bridge across Lost river at this point
is known as Stukel bridge. When our subject was
about four years of age, he came with his parents
to this location, worked with his father, and
gained his education, meanwhile.
On November. 4, 1893, he married Florinda
A. Booth, who was born in Iowa, the daughter of
Shannon ancl Laura Jennings Booth. She had
recently come from Iowa at the time of her mar
riage. He brothers and sisters are Olive, wife of
G. W. Jory ; Alamie, wife of Frederick Stukel ;
Ella, wife of Carl Robley ; and Harry. To our
subject and his wife, two children have been born,
Golclie Olive and William Charles. In the spring
of 1903, Mr. Stukle and his brother Fred pur
chased the home ranch where he had spent his
days after he was twelve years of age ancl to
gether they are now operating the same. The es
tate consists of five hundred ancl thirty-three
acres, all fenced and all good land. Four hun
dred ancl fifty acres are under ditch and the bal
ance will be irrigated from a new ditch now being
constructed. This makes it an especially valu
able place. It is well improved, with all build
ings needed, having three barns, residence and so
forth. They give their attention largely to hand
ling stock and raising hay for the same on this
valuable ranch. They grow some horses but

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ioic.

mostly cattle, of which they have a large band
at this time. The Stukel estate was one of the
first places taken in this part of the county and
it is considered one of the best ranches of its
size in this portion of the state.

EDWIN CASEBEER. Born near the town
of New Philadelphia, Ohio, August i8,- 1849,
Edwin Casebeer was the son of Josiah and Eliza
beth (Alosier) Casebeer, and the fourth mem
ber of the family of five children. The following
are the names of his sister and brothers: Mrs.
Mary Morgan, Kansas ; William Casebeer,
Colorado; George, in Kansas; and Jacob AL, at
Ashland, Oregon.
Mr. Casebeer's father was a native of Penn
sylvania, who, as a youth, emigrated to Ohio.
From Ohio he removed to Buchanan county,
Iowa, in about the year 1854, traveled extensively
over the United States and finally settled in the
Rogue river valley, Oregon, in 1873 and died
seventeen years later in Ashland, Oregon, aged
seventy-six years. The mother was a native of
the state of New York and died during her
eighty-seventh year in Ashland, Oregon, in the
year 1903.
The first eighteen years of Mr. Casebeer's
life were spent with his parents, after which he
went to Sedgwick county, Kansas, where he en
gaged in the stock business; and upon attaining
his majority he took a homestead. Kansas was
comparatively a wild state at that time and Mr.
Casebeer can recount many a buffalo killed by
him almost from his door-step. In 1871 he came
to California and to the Rogue river the year
following. Here he engaged in ranching and
fruit raising until 1879, when he came to the
Sprague river valley and again engaged in the
stock business. He brought into the country
the first band of Plereford cattle to be imported
into the Sprague river valley, and at the same
time he imported a start in the mule raising busi
ness, which he has since successfully followed in
conjunction with his cattle raising. In. April,
1898, he took a band of mules into Alaska for
sale. Pie went through British Columbia over
the old Telegraph trail and up the Frazier river
to Glenore, on the Stehikin river, where he dis
posed of his animals at a profit. From that point
he went via dog sledge to Skagway, whence he
took a steamer for home. While on this trip
Air. Casebeer suffered many hardships, such as
frequently befalls travelers in the far north. On
one occasion his supply of provisions became ex
hausted and he was compelled to sustain life for
several davs on a diet of badger meat.

In 1900 he sold his cattle and three years.
later invested in a flock of sheep and has been-
engaged in the raising of wool ever since. His
sheep number some thousands and he also, owns
a thousand acres of fenced land, a few hundred
acres of which is hay land and well improved
with a large twelve-room house, two barns and
other outbuildings in proportion. His dwelling
is One of the largest and finest farm houses in the
state of Oregon. His home lies three fourths oL
a mile east from Bly.
On October 28, 1889, occurred the marriage-
of Mr. Casebeer to Mrs. Caroline H. (OwenJ
Watts, a native of Clark county, Missouri, and
daughter of James and Susan F. (TullJ Owen,
natives, respectively, of the states of New York
and Kentucky. Mr. Owen removed from the
state of his birth to Hancock county, Illinois,
where his parents both died, after which he went
to Clark county, Missouri, being an early pio
neer of that county. The brothers and sisters ©ft
Mrs. Casebeer are : John S., Haden Hill, Cali
fornia ; Airs. Alary L. Kilgore, LangelPs valley,
Oregon ; Airs. Margaret E. Long, Susanville,
California; James H. Owen, residing near Bly;
and George W. Owen, Ashland, Oregon.
Airs. Casebeer's father started across the
plains as a member of a large train of emigrants
bound for California. He had with him his wife
and five children ancl experienced many hard
ships in making the journey on account of the
hostility of the tribes inhabiting the plains. On
one occasion the entire train narrowly escaped
a massacre. His family were among the first to
settle in the Sacramento valley, and lived in many
places in California before coming to the Sprague
river in 1878. Here Air. Owen engaged in the
stock business, ancl followed that occupation
until his death in 1901. The mother died ten,
years previously.
Airs. Casebeer was living in Aden, Alodoc
countv, California, during the Modoc war, and
several times during that struggle between the
red men and the white she was a witness to the
Indian war dance. In 1870 she was married to
S. Watts, now deceased. She has two sons,
John S. and James O. Watts, who are merchants
of Bly.
Air. ancl Airs Casebeer have two children,
Edwin J. and Susie Alay Casebeer.

IYON D. APPLEGATE. The name Apple-
gate is indissoluble from the history of Oregon.
No mention of the early history of this state to
any extent can be made without including the
labors of different members of this leading

ioi6

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

family. It is our purpose to deal particularly
with the gentleman whose name stands at the
head of this article and had we the full data, it
would be very interesting to mention more fully
regarding the other members of the family as
well. Ivon D. Applegate was born on January 25,
1840, in St. Clair county, Alissouri. His father,
Lindsay Applegate, was a native of this county
ancl married Elizabeth Aliller. As early as 1822,
he settled in Missouri and there was married.
In 1843 he crossed the plains and settled in the
Willamette valley, Oregon. The history of that
most wonderful trip in which these brave pio
neers with their families wended their way
through the unbroken regions of deserts and
mountains, beset with wild animals ancl wilder
men, forms an epoch in the history of this great
country ancl Lindsay Applegate with his brothers
took a very prominent part along with Dr. Whit
man. They were men composed of the right ma
terial for such an enterprise as a calm review
of their acts indicate and their subsequent lives
prove. A limited account of that journey would
fill a volume in itself ancl has been mentioned in
other portions of this publication. In clue time,
Al r. Applegate reached the Willamette valley
ancl with his brothers, settled near what is now
Dallas, in Polk county, being among the very
first settlers there. From this time, until Ore
gon assumed proportions of a prosperous terri
tory, the Applegates were moving spirits in assist
ing emigration, in opening up the country, in
fighting the savages and in all movements for the
general good of the people. Their efforts were
not confined to any local section but were as
broad as the state itself and their influence was
always for the good. Lindsay Applegate and his
brother, Jesse, located the south road through
the Tule lake country to the Willamette valley
in 1846. Thus they were among the first pio
neers of what is now Klamath county. In 1861,
Lindsay Applegate was captain of the volunteers
and he came through this vicinity again. Our
subject was with him at that time ancl was ap
pointed Indian agent ancl helped to establish the
Indian reservation. The father died in 1891,
aged eighty-three. Swan lake being the place of
his demise. Our subject was with his parents
on their memorable trip across the plains and
lived with them in Polk county ancl received his
education from home training and the primitive
schools of the country and in 1850, went with
them to Douglas county. In 1859 they journeyed
to Jackson county and in 1862, he enlisted in the
militia as captain. In 1864, he was appointed
recruiting officer, by Governor A. C. Gibbs and
stationed at Eugene. In 1868, he was appointed

bv Superintendent Huntington in charge of the
commissary in the Indian department of the
state. While . in this position, he acted as in
terpreter of the Snake Indians and took charge
of that trip, bringing them to the reser
vation. He established Yirnax agency in 1869.
In 1870, he settled in Swan lake valley and laid
aside public duties, preferring to devote him
self to stock raising. The next year, however,
he received a special appointment from the gov
ernment as special representative to the Alodoc
Indian camp on Lost river and while in this
capacity participated in the first battle of the
Lava Beds, one of the first battles in the
western Indian warfare. The personal bravery,
of Air. Applegate is shown in that he went with
six men in the very heat of danger to secure the
bodies of some citizens who had been slain. He
was a man who knew no fear ancl owing to this
was most successful in handling the savages for
the government, which has resulted in untold
good to the pioneers. Air. Applegate was among
the very first settlers in this county, ancl has done
a lion's share in developing it and stimulating
others to worthy effort. In addition to his estate,
he has a fine residence in Klamath Falls where
he is making his home at the present time.
On July 14, 1871, in Jackson county, Mr. Ap
plegate married Aliss Alargaret Hutchinson, a
native of Pennsylvania and the daughter of Rich
ard and Anna Armstrong Hutchinson. Mrs. Ap
plegate came west in 1869. To this marriage,
five children have been born, Alice A., who
graduated from the state normal school at Alon-
mouth ancl has been retained as a member of the
faculty in the training department, and later was
transferred to the Ashland normal as principal
in one department, afterward was principal of the
Klamath Falls public school ancl is now assistant
principal of the Klamath Falls high school ; Ada
F., deceased, who was the wife of J. G. Pierce and
was also a graduate of the state normal school ;
Morav Lindsay, who graduated from the state
normal school at Monmouth in 1896. Following
that he matriculated in the state university at
Eugene and in 1898 enlisted in the Second Ore
gon Volunteers ancl served eighteen months in
the Philippine wars. He was with Company C
and participated in the principal campaign in that
conflict. From the fourth of February until the
following June he was in almost constant fighting
ancl in 1898, he returned to the university and
graduated with honors in 1900. In the fall of
Hint year, he returned to Alanila ancl was ap
pointed assistant to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction in that city. He continued in that
capacity until 1902, then was with the ethnologi
cal survey. After that, he was collector for the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1017

Philippine exposition for the world's fair ex
hibit ancl directed that work until everything
was completed for the exhibit. Later, he returned
to Klamath county ancl now expects in the near
future to enter the stock business with his father.
Lena L. was educated at the state university and
is now the wife of Dr. Hargis of Klamath Falls.
Jessie is still at home.
Air. and Mrs. Applegate are leading people
in Klamath county and as stated before, the Ap
plegates are leading people in the state of Ore
gon. Our subject is a man of unquestioned in
tegrity whose life has shown forth self sacrifice
and uprightness and whose labors have been most
excellent in bringing about the development of
the county and the state of Oregon. He has
been a great benefactor to his fellow men and re
ceives what is right, a most generous compensa
tion in esteem, respect and love.

CHARLES NEWTON MEYER, a farmer
and stock man residing three and one-half miles
southeast of Klamath Falls, is one of the sub
stantial residents of the county. Although he has
not been in this particular section as long as some
of the early pioneers, still Mr. Meyer is to be
classed as a leading pioneer of various sections of
the country. His life has been filled with ad
venture and extensive service ancl all will be in
terested in an account of the same.
Charles N. Aleyer was born on September 4,
1850 in St. Louis, Missouri. Charles W. Meyer,
his father, was a native of New York ancl was in
the government employ during the Civil War,
giving his attention to buying horses. He had
seven brothers who were killed in the service. He
was one of the starters and promoters of the
Union Stock Yards in St. Louis and his death
occurred in that city, in 1868. He had married
Alary Shannen, who was born in Alayo county,
Ireland and is now deceased. Our subject had
one sister, Mrs. James Brennan, who is deceased
ancl one brother, John, a business man in Chicago,
both being older than he. After receiving a good
education, our subject went to Cheyenne in the
fall of 1870 ancl in the spring of the following
year he commenced to clerk for the government.
He occupied that position for two years, then as
packer for the government, first operating in the
Black Hills. After that, he was in the Big Horn
country and was on the ground where Custer
and his forces were massacred and saw the re
mains of that terrible conflict. Then he took
part in the Rosebud Indian fight and later, re
turned to Collins in the vicinity of Cheyenne.

Afterwards, he was in the famous Aleeker massa
cre where every pack and train mule was killed.
Pie was among the few survivors and escaped the
Indians. Following that, he was ordered to Fort
Bridger, where he was promoted to the position
of wagon master and was then sent to Salt Lake
City. Later, he bought a ranch in Arizona and
raised stock some but continued in the employ of
the government. When the Spanish-American
War broke out, he was ordered to Washington,
D. C. and reported to the quartermaster general.
He was sent to Savannah, Georgia, then to Tanj-
pa, Florida, to break mules to be used in Cuba.
Returning to Savannah, he there remained until
the stock began to return from Cuba, when he
took charge of the same. Later, we find him at the
Jefferson barracks, Alissouri, and then he was
sent to the Philippine islands. He had charge of
the pack train known as number thirty-eight and
took part in numerous battles. At the battle of
Niac, the pack train was cut off but the thirteen
packers were enabled to hold their stock although
the goods were all pierced with bullets. Next,
he was ordered to Alanila but being taken sick,
was sent back to San Francisco. When able to
be out, he was ordered to Portland, reporting to
A Taj or Jacobs. Then he was sent to China on the
transport Lennox, being in charge of three hun
dred ancl seventy cavalry horses and one hundred
pack mules. On July 6, 1900, they started on the
expedition with the allied forces to suppress the
Boxer uprising and rescue the foreigners at
Pekin. He was in the entire pack service and
saw the downfall of Yangtsun, Hosiwu, Tung-
chow and Pekin. Following that, he returned to
the United States in the transport Packling, hav
ing been gone eleven months. He returned to
Portland ancl received horses there, for the gov
ernment for a short time, then resigned, having
been in the employ of the government for twen-
tv-one years. During this long service, he had
traveled to various portions of the country and
had wide experience in many lines. He finally
came to Klamath county and selected the place
where he now resides, making settlement in the
summer of 1902. Air. Aleyer is exceptionally
well pleased with the climate and the resources of
this part of the country and expects to make
this his permanent home. Being a man of great
economy, he was enabled to save during the long
service for the government, a nice sum of money,
so that now in the later years, he has abundance
to make life more pleasant.
In 1884, Air. Aleyer married Jennie Wilson,
who died, leaving one son, James. Just as Air.
Aleyer quit the service of the government, his son
died. On June i", 1904, Air. Aleyer married Airs.
Charity E. Leafdahl, who has one adopted daugh-

ioi8

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ter, Delia. Mr. and Mrs. Aleyer are representa
tive people of Klamath county, have a beautiful
and pleasant home and have made many warm
friends during their residence here.

ROSCOE E. CANTRALL, one of the most
extensive and prosperous farmers in Oregon, re
sides upon a large and beautiful agricultural
ranch five and one-half miles southeast of Kla
math Falls. He was born July 14, 1872, in Jack
son county, Oregon, the son of John and Sarah
(Newland) Cantroll. The father, a native of
Illinois, was one of the earliest of California
Argonauts, crossing the plains with ox teams
in 1849. Arriving in Oregon he soon afterward
settled in Jackson county, securing a donation
claim where he lived until his death, which oc
curred in 1 89 1. The mother of our subject is,
also, an -early pioneer of Oregon, and is now liv
ing in Jackson county.
In the latter county our subject was reared
and received his education in the public schools
in his vicinity. He pursued the twin industries
of farming and stock, raising, and in 1900 came
to his present home in Klamath county and, in
partnership with his father-in-law, Henry
E. Ankeny, purchased one thousand two
hundred acres of land, nearly all of which
is copiously irrigated by an extensive ditch.
About four hundred and fifty acres of this land
are devoted to alfalfa ; the remainder to grain
and pasture. It is all level, one of the best
ranches in the valley and produces two thous
and tons of hay and twenty thousand bushels of
grain annually. The principal crops are alfalfa,
wheat, barley, oats ancl timothy.
September 21, 1898, Air. Cantrall was united
in marriage to Nannie M. Ankeny, born in the
Willamette valley, the daughter of Henry E.
and Cordelia (Striker) Ankeny. Her father is
a brother of Senator Levi P. Ankeny, of Walla
Walla, Washington, junior UJnited States Sen
ator from that state. Air. and Airs. Cantrall
have three children, Edward L., Howard S. and
Cordelia A. Fraternally he is is a member of
the I. O. O. F., the A. O. U. W. and the United
Artisans.

RUSSELL A. ALFORD, residing six miles
southwest of Klamath Falls, Klamath county.
Oregon, is a prominent stock-raiser and general
business man of that community who has
achieved success commensurate with his enter
prise, industry a nd superior business sagacity.
He is a native Oregonian, having been born in

Linn county, March 16, 1865, the son of
Albert and Catherine (Brinker) Alford. The
father, a native of Alissouri, born May 4, i833t,
settled in Linn county on a donation claim in
1850. He was, at one period, a volunteer in the
Rogue River Indian war. In 1869 he removed
/.-ith his family to Jackson county, Oregon,.
where he has a farm near Talent. His father,-
Thomas Alford, crossed the plains in, company
with him, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-
two years, dying in Linn county. He was a native-
of Tennessee. The parents of our subject are
still living in Jackson county. They have four
children, viz: Russell A., our subject; Moses L.,
of Aledford, Jackson county; Mrs. Alice Willets-
and Mrs. Ollie Watters, of Talent. The 'latter
was educated in the public schools, and, also, at
tended the academy at Ashland.
Alay 9, 1880, our subject was united in mar
riage to Jennie Neil, born in Jaskson county,.
the daughter ,oi Clayborn Neil, who crossed the
plains from Tennessee in 1852 and located in
Jackson county. Air. and Mrs. Neil were the
parents of nine cmldren most of whom are at
present living in Oregon.
It was in 1885 that our subject went to Sis
kiyou county, California, where he secured a
homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of
land which he still owns. To Klamath county,
Oregon, he came in 1890, and soon afterward
leased his present ranch and became interested
in the_ stock business, mainly cattle. Since re
moving to Oregon, Mr. Alford has been quite
successful in all of his business enterprises, and
reaped the rewards usually attendant on indus
try and ability. He owns also, a substantial res
idence in Klamath Falls.
Two children have been born to Mr. and
Airs. Alford, Albert C. and Lloyd R. Fratern
ally, he is a member of the A. F. & A. AL, his
lodge being at Klamath Falls. His band of cat
tle is at the present writing quite an extensive
one, including a number of thoroughbred Here-
fords. •  ++-* 
FRANK H. DOWNING, an enterprising-
stock raiser of Klamath county, resides on his
ranch nine miles south of Keno. He was born
June 1, 1864, at Susanville, Lassen county, Cal
ifornia, the son of George W. and Alargaret A.
(Elliott) Downing. The father, a native of In
diana, removed to Alissouri, and served a short
period in the Civil War, and was discharged1
owing to poor health. Following this event he
crossed the plains in 1862, locating in Lassen-
county, California. The mother, a native of Vir
ginia, is now living in Oakland, California,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1019

They were the parents of six children ; Thomas
J., a commercial man, of Oakland, California;
our. subject, Frank PL; Ulysses S. G., now en
gaged in the hotel business in British Columbia;
Mrs. J. L. Smith, of Oakland; Lucy, of Oak
land and James B. of Tonapah, Nevada.
With his parents our subject removed to
Santa Barbara county, where he attended the
public schools in that vicinity and grew to man
hood, having received a practical business edu
cation. In 1890 he went to Siskiyou county, Cal
ifornia, where he engaged in general business,
remaining there until the. spring of 1903 when,
in partnership with his oldest brother, he pur
chased his present home and they engaged in
the stock business. They have over one thous
and, two hundred acres of land, all fenced, quite
a large band of cattle, the land being mainly de
voted to hay and grazing purposes.
This property lies about three miles west of
Miller Lake. Mr. Downing has won his un
doubted prosperity by a continued career of in
dustry and superior business sagacity in the con
duct of whatever enterprise he had in hand. He
began with practically no means at his command
and has achieved success in the face of many dis
heartening obstacles. Today he is one of the
well-to-do citizens of the community in which he
resides. His home comprises an excellent house,
fine orchard, substantial barns and an abundance
of water in his immediate vicinity.
Fraternally Mr. Downing is a member of
the order of the Eagles, his lodge being at Yreka-
California.

S. EDWARD MARTIN, a responsible and
leading business man of Klamath county, is re
siding at Merrill. He was born on December
7, 1874, near Otterville, Illinois, the son of
Thomas and Thirza (Pattenmore) Martin, both
natives of England. They came to the United
States in 1872, and dwelt in Illinois. Six years
later they journeyed to Phoenix, Oregon, where
the father followed his trade of milling. In
1884, they canie to Klamath Falls and the father
erected the Linkville flour mill which was the
first completed in this county. He erected it at
first as the burr system but since then the roller
process has replaced the former. In partnership
with Frank S. Brandon, he erected the roller
mills at Merrill. These two places are the only
milling establishments in Klamath county and
have been instrumental in building up the coun
try. Air. Alartin was among the early pioneers
here ancl has always been a very enterprising
ancl progressive man. Two years since, he re
tired from the mill business ancl moved to his

large farm in Spring Lake valley, some thirteen
miles south of Klamath Falls. Here he gives his
attention to stock raising and general farming.
He is a member of the A. O. U. W. The brothers
and sisters of our subject are Charles J. and Airs.
Elizabeth Ransby, of Klamath Falls, John H., at
Alerrill, May and Alaude at home. Our subject
grew up in the various places where his parents
lived and received his education from the com
mon schools and at the Aledford business col
lege. He thoroughly learned the miller busi
ness in all its branches and was associated with
his father until the latter retired from business..
Air. Alartin owns one-third interest in the mill
at Alerrill, where he resides, also si third interest in
the one at Klamath Falls. His brother, Charles
owns a third interest in each plant and the father
owns the other third in each one. While our
subject handles the one at Alerrill, his brother is
in charge of the one at Klamath Falls, being ex-
an experienced and skillful miller. Our subject
has owned his interest in the Klamath Falls mill
since 1895 and the Alerrill one for four years.
In addition to the business mentioned, Air. Alar
tin in company with his brother Charles has
opened a general merchandise establishment in
Merrill. This was in June, 1904, ancl it is now '
one of the substantial business enterprises of the
county. They own a large building and have a
fine and complete stock of dry goods, hardware,
clothing and gents furnishing, groceries, farm
implements and so forth. The mills are each
of sixty barrel capacity per day and in addition
to what has been mentioned, Mr. Martin has a
fine residence and other property.
On May 21, 1899, Air. Martin married Miss
Myrtle B. Ramsby, a native of Oregon. Her
parents are Ephraim and Sophia (Woodcock)
Ramsby, the former an early pioneer of Oregon
and the latter born in Oregon, and both now liv
ing at Klamath Falls. To Mr. and Mrs. Martin,
two children have been born, Vera ancl Dorotha
E. He is one of the substantial men of Klamath
county and is well known all over this part of
the country, where he has hosts of friends.

HARRY H. VAN VALKENBURG. an en
terprising farmer and stock raiser, resides four
miles southwest of Klamath Falls on the Poke
gama road. He was born March 4, , 1866, at
Rockford, Illinois, the son of George Van Valk
enburg. The latter was a native of Illinois and'
enjoved the distinction of a splendid war record
serving with the federal forces four years and
being wounded five times. Having received a
promotion to a first lieutenancy he was sent home

1020

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

invalided from a wound, and died in 1867. He
was a descendant of an old and distinguished
Holland family.
The mother of our subject, Josephine (Bil-
lick) Van Valkenburg, is also, a native of Ill
inois, and is now the wife of Ky Taylor, of
Klamath Falls. Our subject has one brother,
L. G. Van Valkenburg, of Sumas, Washington,
After the death of his father, our subject ac
companied his mother to Poweshiek county,
Iowa, where he was educated in the public
.-schools in that vicinity, and subsequently worked
on a farm. It was in 1881 that he removed to
the far west, and in 1882 came to Klamath
county, remained on the ranch till 1890 then vis
ited Washington and Montana. Returning to
Klamath Falls in 1895, he engaged in the jewelry
business. In this he continued until the spring of
1904. Soon after his arrival here he studied
telegraphy and had a telegraph office in his jew
elry store. For a while, also, he had the tele
phone office in connection with the telegraph
system. Entering the political field in 1898 he was
elected county treasurer on the Republican tick
et, and was re-elected in 1900, and again ini902.
In the last named election he was the only Re
publican candidate elected on the ticket which
was defeated generally by a majority of one
hundred and fifty. This is a political record of
which Air. Van Valkenburg may certainly feel
-proud. During the spring of 1903 he purchased
his present place of one thousand, eight hundred
acres, about half of which is farm and hay land,
and the other half grazing range. The entire
ranch is fenced ancl provided with a comfortable
house and commodious barn. This land lies
along the western bank of the Klamath river. It
was in July, 1904, that he disposed of his store
and removed on to the ranch where he is now
profitably engaged in the stock business, and also
owns some property in town still.
November 14, 1897, our subject was married
to Emma Mcllmoil, a native of Alarysville, Cal
ifornia. She is a daughter of R. H. Mcllmoil,
one of the early pioneers of the Pacific slope,
who same here in 1852. In 1884 he came to Kla
math county, but removed to Phoenix, Arizona,
in 1900. Twelve years ago, with practically no means,
our subject returned to Klamath county, ancl
worked for one dollar a day on the same ranch
that he now owns. He is a member of the A.
F. & A. AL, ancl the A. O. U. W., both lodges
of Klamath Falls. In the spring of 1004 Air.
Van Valkenburg was a delegate to the state con
vention ?t Portland, and is p member cf the st^te
Republican central committee.

WILLIAAI S. HOAGLAND, who is a
farmer and stock raiser, residing some nine miles
southeast of Bonanza, has certainly shown him
self to be an active builder in the great common
wealth of western United States. He was born
on March 6, 1837, in Holmes county, Ohio, the
son of Arod and Alargaret (Anderson) Hoag
land. The father was an early pioneer of Illi
nois then came in 1844 with his family to Coles
county, being among the first settlers there.
Later he moved to Aloultrie county in the same
state and there remained until his death in 1854.
Our subject accompanied his parents to Coles
county and in that frontier place he was reared
ancl received his education. The schools were
very primitive and he had to travel four miles
to a little log cabin where his studying was done.
He remembers well the days when they traveled
fifty' miles to mill. On July 7, 1861 in Douglas
county, Illinois, he enlisted in Company H, Twen
ty-fifth Illinois Infantry as regimental wagon
master. They were transferred to Alissouri im
mediately and he participated in the battle of
Pea Ridge. In 1862 he was at the evacuation of
Corinth, Alississippi and then was with General
Buell at Louisville, Kentucky. He was at the
battle of Crab Orchard and through exposure
was paralyzed before but he continued
with his command until they got to Crab
Orchard ancl there was discharged on ac
count of disability in October, 1862. In
1864 he was engaged by the government as
wagon master for a supply train at Raleigh, Mis
souri. After this he took up farming, then sold
his property and moved to Barber county, Kan
sas, in 1883. In the spring of 1889 he .journeyed
west again and came this time to Klamath
county and in 1897 he purchased his present
place. He has a quarter section of good land.
one hundred acres of which are in cultivation.
The place is supplied with a good residence.
large barn and Air. Hoagland makes a specialty
of raising grain ancl hay and also handles some
cattle. He is a member of the G. A. R. and also
of the I. O. O. F. In 1898 he was elected as
sessor on the Republican ticket and served two
years. In December, 1899, Air. Hoagland mar
ried Aliss Frances Bear.
A point of early history in his life is of inter
est and we append the same. In the spring of
1859 he started from Illinois journeying west to
.Atchison, Kansas. There he joined a freight
outfit ancl went as far as Salt Lake City with
them. The train consisted of thirty-one wagons,
each of which was supplied with six yoke of oxen.
He drove one of the teams but at Ogden, he
parted company with the freight outfit and en
gaged to assist in driving a band of cattle

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

I02I

through to California. Later he returned via
the Panama route to New York City and back to
Illinois. Air. Hoagland had considerable exper
ience on the frontier and has also shown himself
an industrious and substantial man.

HORATIO HILL BURNHAM resides
nine miles northwest of Langell postoffice in
Langells valley. He owns six hundred and
forty acres of land, four hundred acres of which
are good for agricultural purposes. The place
is utilized for pasture and timber. He has three
hundred acres under the plow at this time which
annually raises bounteous crops of the cereals
and hay. His farm is provided with everything
necessary for its successful operation including
three fine barns, good house, splendid orchard
with bands of stock, as cattle and horses. He
has a verv fine spring on the place which irri
gates his garden and orchard.
Horatio H. Burnham was born in New
Brunswick, Canada, on April i, 1847. His father,
Enock B., was a native of the same place and
came to Minnesota where he remained until his
death. He married Mary H. Hall, also a native of
New Brunswick, where, also, her death occur
red. The brothers and sisters of our subject
are Mrs. Julia Smith, Samuel and Mrs. Mary
Wilkenson, all of Minneapolis. Horatio H. is
the third of the children. At the age of sixteen,
having acquired a good common school educa
tion in his home place, he journeyed to Maine,
and there learned the tanner's trade. In Sep
tember, 1868, he sailed from New York city and
journeyed via the Isthmus of Panama to San
Francisco and went thence to Santa Cruz. In
1870, he went to Butte county, California, and
engaged in mining for two years. His next
venture was to purchase a sawmill Which busi
ness employed him until 1889, then he sold his
property and came overland with teams _ta
Langells vallev, settling on the place he had pur
chased the winter before. He had one hundred
ancl sixty acres of unimproved land and went to-
work to "build a home and make a fortune. He
now has the fine estate mentioned above and is
very prosperous.
On November 26, 1885, Mr. Burnham mar
ried Sarah Patterson, who was born in Coles
county, Illinois, the daughter of John W. and
Louisa (Weaver) Patterson, natives of Indiana
and Pennsylvania, respectively. Mrs. Burn
ham has the following named brothers and sis
ters: Harmon and Samuel, of Oroville, Califor
nia • Myles, of Durham, California ; Thomas, de
ceased ; and Mrs. Lucy Strong, of Paradise, Cal

ifornia. Mrs. Burnham came with parents
via New York city and the Panama route to
San Francisco in 1867. Her father settled in
Butte county, California, and is living there now
aged seventy-two. Her mother died there on
December 9, 1885.' To our subject and his wife
three children have been born : Ernest Horatio,
in Butte county, California, on October 9, 1886:
Hall Harrison, January 30, 1894; Hazle Patter
son, September 10, 1895.
Air. Burnham is a member of the A. F. &
A. M., having joined that order in 1868, and of
the I. O. O. F., while his wife belongs to the
Rebekahs. It is of interest to know that Mr. Burnham
started here without any means whatever and
has gained his entire property holding through
his efforts of thrift and industry. He stands well.
in the community and is a man who has many
warm friends.

JAMES B. AIOORE, one of the successful:
and enterprising stock raisers of Klamath coun
ty, residing three miles southwest of Klamath
Falls, is a native of Washington. He was born
near Walla Walla, March 16, 1862, the son of
Joseph Moore. The latter is a native of Muncie,
Indiana, who crossed the plains in 1850 and lo
cated in Washington territory, near Walla
Walla, where he engaged in general farming-
and stock raising. Twenty-two years ago he
came to Klamath county where he continued to-
make his home until recently. He has just re
moved to Fresno, California, where he expects
to make his permanent home. He is about sev
enty-six years of ago, a devoted member of the
M. E. church, in which he does church work
in the line of preaching. The mother of our sub
ject was Elizabeth E. (Morris) Moore, a native
of Tennessee. She died in 1902 at the age of
seventy-five years, a devoted and consistent
member of the M. E. church, a noble woman and
one without enemies.
The brothers and sisters of our subject are
Joseph Al., of Klamath county ; William E., Ma
dera county, California; Lydia A., of Madera
county; Mrs. Martha F. Sigler, Klamath Falls;
Airs. Alice Norton, Woodland, California.
In 1868, at the age of six years, our subject
accompanied his parents to Davisville, Sacre-
mento county, California, remaining there one
year, subsequently removing to Lake county, in
the same state. A few years afterward the fam
ily located in Yolo county. Having passed sev
eral years in the public schools of California
our subject went to Mendocino county and in-

1022

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1883 came to Oregon and located in Klamath
-county. He secured a homestead in Poe valley,
made a number of trips to California, and lived
at Red Bluffs four years. Two years ago he lo
cated permanently on his present ranch of .nine
hundred acres, where he is profitably engaged
in stock-raising. Two hundred and fifty acres
of this land are under cultivation, the ranch is all
fenced, he has a good house, barn, and all neces
sary farming implements. His stock consists
of cattle and horses of which he has a fine band.
January 1, 1899, our subject was married to
Nettie F. Lewis, daughter of Leon and Mary
Lewis. To them have been born three children,
Nellie L., James AL and Lola E. Air. Aloore
came to Klamath county with only a horse and
cart, and was compelled to work for wages
- among the neighboring ranches. During three
and one-half years he drove a team for the late
Judge G- W. Smith. He was one of the early
settlers of Klamath county, endured many vicis
situdes and hardships, but today he is recognized
.as one of the successful and enterprising busi
ness men of the locality in which he resides.

FRANK H. McCORNACK residing five
¦miles northwest of Klamath Falls, is in partner
ship with his brother, Eugene P. McCornack,
and together they own one of the best bands of
-stock in the vicinity. Our subject was born
January 31, 1869, near Eugene, Oregon. His
father, Alexander McCornack, was a native of
Scotland who came to the United States when.
quite young, settling first in Illinois. In 1852
he crossed the plains with ox teams extending
..his journey through to Puget sound. A short
time afterward he came to Lane county, Oregon,
and located on a donation claim. One of the
¦ earliest pioneers of Lane county, he enlisted as
a volunteer in the memorable Alodoc War, and
soon afterward was killed by a runaway team.
This sad accident occurred near his home, in
Lane county.
The mother of our subject was Maria (Ea-
kin) McCornack, a native of Ireland. She came
to Illinois where she was married and crossed
the plains with her husband, dying in 1902. Our
subject is the youngest of a family of twelve
children, all of whom are living with the excep
tion of the oldest. Reared on the Lane county
ranch, he was educated in the public schools in
his vicinity, and, also, attended the state uni
versity, at Eugene, and the business college at
Salem, Oregon. He removed to his present lo
cation in 1891, where he at once engaged in the
stock business, the same year, December 25, he

was united in marriage to Rosa Wolf, who was
born in the Williamette valley. Her parents were
among the earliest pioneers of Oregon, her fath
er now living near Falls City, Oregon. Her
mother is dead. Eugene F., Mary E. and Agnes
M. are the three children of Air. and Mrs. Mc
Cornack. The extensive ranch owned by the McCornack
Brothers comprise nearly twelve thousand acres,
mainly hay, swamp and grazing land. They are
engaged in raising cattle, sheep, and horses, and
have quite a considerable herd of stock, princi
pally cattle and sheep. Our subjcet has witness
ed many of the vicissitudes of life, and endured
many of life's hardships. At one period, he
worked on ranches for others where the remuner
ation did not rise to over fifty cents per day. And
this experience ran through a number of well
remembered years. He came to the community
in which he now resides, with very limited
means, and his unqualified success is due to the
sterling qualities of industry, energy and super
ior natural business ability.
Air. and Mrs. McCornack are members of
the Presbyterian church. Politically, he is a
Republican, a progressive citizen and highly es
teemed by all with whom he has business or
social relations.

LUCIEN B. APPLEGATE is well known
in Klamath county. His residence, one of the
finest in the county, is eight miles northeast of
Klamath Falls in the Swan Lake valley. There
Air. Applegate has a magnificent estate of five
thousand acres, a considerable portion of which
produces alfalfa, timothy and grain. He has
commodious out buildings, besides a large ten
room two story residence, well supplied with all
modern conveniences. Mr., Applegate gives his
attention to farming and stock raising and has
prospered very much in these endeavors. Each
winter he takes his family to California, both for
the purpose of improving his life and giving
his children first class educational facilities.
Lucien B. Applegate was born in St. Clair
county, Missouri on April 24, 1842, the son of
Lindsay and Elizabeth (Miller) Applegate.
These worthy pioneers joined the first emigrant
train that ever wended its way through the wilds
to the Pacific coast, it being led by Marcus Whit
man and made that journey with their infant
son, in 1843. Whitman has often been credited
with bringing the first train of emigrants across
the plains to the Pacific coast, but he followed
the train which Mr. Applegate was conducting,
overtaking them when they were nearly through.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1023

After that he rendered valuable assistance in
furthering the emigrants of the Applegate train
and those with him. Fremont, also, followed
the Applegate trail until overtaking them. The
first ones had a very hard time as they were
called on to clear much of the way in hard places
Settlement was made in the Willamette valley
where our subject was reared. Owing to the
fact that school facilities were very limited he
was obliged to study at home under the instruc
tion of his father. In those primitive days, the
light for the student was the flickering glare of
the fireplace and the dim blaze of the wick lying
in a vessel of oil, and despite all these drawbacks,
he received a good education, as did also the
other brothers of the family. His father owned
a toll road across the mountains from Oregon to
California and at one time owned a large por
tion of the land where Ashland is now situated.
Our subject was engaged in the mercantile busi
ness when he arrived at manhood's estate and
was also interested in the woolen mills. He
came with his father to help locate the Klamath
agency. After that, he was superintendent of
farming there and in 1869, located in Swan Lake
valley. The valley received its name from the
fact that numbers of these noble birds were
found on the lake. He engaged in stock busi
ness and this has been his home ever since. His
means were very limited when he started and sc
well has he conserved the resources to be found
that he is now one of the wealthy men of this
part of the state.
On June 7, 1866, Mr. Applegate married
Aliss Margaret E. Grubb, who was born in Io
wa and crossed the plains with her parents in
1852. Her father and mother, Samuel and
Elizabeth Grubb, were early pioneers from Iowa
to the Rogue river valley. To our subject and
his wife six children were born, named below :
Elmer Ivan, married to Esther Ogden, who was
a special student in botany in Stanford Univer
sity and was for two years professional botanis-
in the employ of the government covering the
country from California to Washington but is
now secretary of the Klamath Water Users As
sociation in the government irrigation project;
Alinnie A., wife of C. C. Chetwood, of Klamath
Falls, and she is well educated and a talented art
ist ; Fred L. married to Alyra VanBrunner ; Eve
lyn R., a graduate of the conservatory of music in
San Jose, California; Bessie B., a student at
Stanford ; and Elsie T., studying music in San
Jose. Air. Applegate is a member of the A. F. &
A. Al. and the A. O. U. W He is a man wh-
receives the esteem and respect of all who know

him and he has so wrought that his efforts have
resulted in much good besides the accumulation
of his fine fortune.
Upon the outbreak of the Rebellion, Mr. Ap
plegate was. commissioned by Governor Gibbs,
major of the Oregon volunteers. Air. Apple-
gate has always taken an active part in politics,
out never would accept office for himself.

JOHN I. DONNELL, a farmer and stock
raiser residing fourteen miles northwest from
Bonanza near the head of Alkali valley, was born
on January 15, 1844, in Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania. His father, Moses D., was also a
native of the same county and followed black-*
smithing. He remained there- until his death in
1862, being then sixty-two years of age. He
had married Miss Sockman who was also born
in that county. She died in 1866, aged sixty-two.
Our subject was the youngest child in the fam
ily, the others being named as follows: Mrs.
Margaret Neville, of Dayton, Pennsylvania;
Airs. Susan Gormin of Burr Oak, Kansas ; Char
lotte, deceased ; William, who served in the Civil
War and is now deceased ; Thomas, of Madison
county, Arkansas, who served three years in the
Civil War. Our subject grew up in his native
county and in addition to receiving a good ed
ucation from the common schools, learned the
blacksmith trade from his father. In September,
1861, he enlisted for three years in the Union
Army being in Company C, Fourth Pennsylvania
Cavalry. He was transferred from Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania to Washington, D. C, then was sent
to the Army of the Potomac under General George
B. McClelland. His first fight was in the Seven
Day Battle of Richmond, then he was at An-
tietman, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, after
which he participated in the awful struggle at
Gettysburg. He was in the battle of the wilder
ness, of Spottsylvania and took part in the strug
gle of Petersburg. He was in much other fighting
and in all was in fifty-two battles. He was in
constant service and although in the hottest of
the fights where scores of men were shot down
around him, he never received a wound. His
clothing was frequently pierced by bullets and
he was, as it would seem, at the very cannon's
mouth, but providence decreed that he should
escape uninjured. He had two horses shot
down under him and he was in many, many
trying places. He never was in the hospital
and although sometimes sick, he never was
so disabled but that he always reported for
duty. The result was that Air. Donnell
experienced a terrible and trying time, dur-

1024

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ing the years of his military career. His cup
of hardship and arduous service was filled to
the brim but he showed himself a staunch and
capable man and a brave soldier, whose actions
in defense of his country, gained him a higher
command. After being mustered out, he re
turned to his home in Pennsylvania then travel
ed around for several years and finally, in 1870,
located in Jewel county, Kansas, where he en
gaged at his trade. In 1883, he came to Ogden
with wagon train, whence he journeyed by cars
to San Francisco and shipped to Coos Bay,
Oregon. He worked at his trade for the Coos
Bay Coal Company until the fall of 1885, when
he came to Dairy, in the Alkali valley. He op
erated a shop for a time there, then sold out and
opened a general merchandise store. After this,
he was appointed postmaster which place he held
for about twelve years. Then he removed to his
ranch and engaged in farming and stock raising.
He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land
and raises mostly hay for his stock. He has a fine
barn, residence ancl other improvements while
his place is especially well provided with water.
•Mr. Donnell is a member of the A. O. U. W.
On March 31, 1871, Air. Donnell married Har
riet B. Harrell, born in Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania, and was living in Ralls county,
Alissouri, at the time of her marriage. She died on
May 22, 1902. Seven children have been born
to this union, three of whom died in Kansas. The
others the Blanch, the wife of Loren Bailey,
of Lakeview, Oregon ; John H., Myrtle L., and
Cora Al.
Air. Donnell is a reliable and substantial man
and is one of the good citizens of Klamath coun
ty. Since the above was • written Mr. Donnell
died at his home near Dairy, January 11, 1905,
and was buried at Bonanza cemetery.

HON. ORSON AVERY STEARNS, the
pioneer settler of Klamath county, is of long ancl
honorable record ancl a decendant of one of the
most distinguished families in the United States.
At present he is engaged in general farming and
dairying, ancl resides seven miles west of Klamath
Falls. He is a native of Winnebago county,
Illinois, born January 9, 1843. His father,
David E. Stearns, a son of Vermont, was born
February 11, 1808, ancl subsequently became one
of the earliest settlers of Winnebago county,
going there in 1835 and casting his lot with the
ancient tribe of Winnebago Indians, that is, re
siding in a locality entirely surrounded by them.
By trade the elder Stearns was a carpenter, and
built some of the larger buildings in Buffalo, New

York. In Winnebago county he secured land
upon which he resided until 1853, when the stir
ring times on the Pacific coast attracted his at
tention ancl he made the perilous trip across the
great plains, accompanied by his family, a wife
and five children. Six months and four days from
their departure they arrived in the Rogue River
valley. He secured a donation claim, and then
found himself with but limited means at his com
mand. Potatoes were selling at twenty-five
cents per pound, and flour at thirty-three dollars
per hundred pounds. Here the elder Stearns
traded a two-horse wagon for one hundred hills
of potatoes — and dug them himself. He was
accompanied across the plains by three brothers
and two sisters, Alyron N., Samuel E., Avery P.,
Airs. Velina A. Williams and Airs. Charlotte E.
Pengra. With the exception of Mrs. Pengra
they all settled in the Rogue River valley. With
her husband, Byron Pengra, she located near
Eugene, Oregon. He was one of the founders
of the town of Springfield, Oregon. With the
exception of the two sisters the family is now de
ceased. David E. Stearns died in 1878.
The paternal grandfather of our subject,
John Stearns, born at Alonkton, Vermont, April
14, 1778, accompanied his son, David E., across
the plains. At the advanced age of ninety-two
years he passed away in the Rogue River valley
in May, 1870. The mother of David E. Stearns,
died in Vermont at the age of one hundred
years, and his grandmother died in Winnebago
county, Illinois, June 9, 1852. A great-grand
father of our subject, Ebenezer Stearns, was a
native of New Hampshire, and was captured by
the Tories during the Revolutionary war. A
genealogy of the Stearns family has been pub
lished in two volumes, and it contains more than
eighteen thousand names, all descendents from
three brothers who came from England to Amer
ica on the shipArabclla, in 1630. They settled
in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Our subject had five brothers and sisters,
viz : Oscar L., deceased, Newell D., deceased,
Airs. Arminda Purves, of Rogue River valley,
George A., deceased and Emily M., deceased.
In 1864 our subject enlisted in Company I, First-
Oregon Infantry, his being the first name on the
company roster.
He saw service in Oregon, and was stationed
at Fort Klamath, but was in various parts of the
state at different times. Some comrades in his
company discovered what is now called "Crater
Lake." Our subject named this body, of water
Alajestic Lake, ancl by that name it was recog
nized two years. It was later renamed Crater
Lake by James Sutton, editor of the Oregon
Sentinel, who published the account of a discov-

Orson A. St.

earns

Charles D. Willson

Louis Hessig

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1025

ery of a crater on an island in the lake. In July
1867, he was mustered out, being a member of
one of the last companies to be discharged after
the war. The present townsite of Linkville, or
Klamath Falls, was the first location in the
county. Two weeks subsequently our subject
secured his place, and a man named O. T. Brown
took the third place, on Spencer creek. For
thirty-seven years Mr. Stearns has made his
home in one place in Klamath county. He par
ticipated in the Modoc war.
In Sacramento, California, May 17, 1873
our subject was married to Margaret J. Riggs,
born in Ray county, Missouri. The wife died
May 17, 1895, on the twenty-second anniversary
of their wedding. To them were born three chil
dren, Leslie Orrin, Blanche Alice, wife of George
Ager, and Eva Alay, wife of Theodore Bryant.
January 10, 1897-, our subject was again married,
his bride being Luella M. Sherman, daughter of
Salsbury Sherman, a second cousin of William
Tecumseh Sherman, the distinguished union
general. They have one child, E. Orson Everett
Stearns, born September 1, 1898. Our subject
was the first justice of the peace in Klamath
county, ancl in 1880 was elected representative
on the Republican ticket.

CHARLES D. WILLSON, a merchant in
Klamath Falls, was born on November 6, 1862,
in Clinton, Iowa. His father William N. Will-
son, was born in the state of New York and
came with his father, Daniel Willson, the grand
father of our subject, to where Clinton county,
Iowa, now is. He was one of the first settlers
there. Daniel Willson later lived in Root county
and followed his profession, that of physician,
there for many years. He was a member of the last
territorial legislature and the first state legisla
ture of that state. Mr. William Willson married
Miss Sarah Tupper, the mother of our subject.
She was born in Sheboygan, Michigan. Charles
D. has one sister, Airs. Ballard, of Klamath Falls.
Our subject left home when a boy and was en
gaged at various occupations, and in 1883 came
to Cassia countv, Idaho where on July 12, of the
same vear he married Alay D. Alley. They were
the first couple married in Cassia county and
came thence to Columbia county, Oregon, where
his parents were. Mrs. Willson, the mother of
our subject, died there ancl her husband is now
living in Klamath Falls, one of the prosperous
and wealthy men here. In 1888, Air. Willson
came to Klamath countv. He first engaged in
the' stock business, afterward he moved to town

and took up the grocery business in the spring of
1890. He was not very successful at the start
but has since become to he one of the wealthy men
of Klamath Falls and is doing an extensive busi
ness. He is a member of the Elks in Portland,
and the Foresters in Klamath Falls. When he
landed in this count}-, he had very limited means
but at the present time, he owns much valuable
business property in Klamath Falls, has a fine
two story, ten room residence and several hun
dred acres of choice timber land. Mrs. Willson
was born in Phelps county, Alissouri. Her father,
Leonard B. Ally, was a wealthy citizen of that
county and later moved to Oregon where he re
mained until his death. He married Aliss. Lou
Love who is now living in Portland. To Mr.
and Mrs. Willson, three Children have been born,
Thomas, deceased, Delia ancl Arthur.

LOUIS HESSIG is a well known merchant
at Fort Klamath where he has a fine business es
tablishment and is favored by a good trade. He
was born on June 27, 1843, in Galena, Illinois.
His father, Jacob Hessig, a native of Switzer
land, came to Illinois in early days and was a
pioneer miner at Galena. He was also one of the
first copper miners of the copper district and in
1849, crossed the plains with ox teams. He met
with much opposition from the Indians and had
a hard trip, twelve of the party being killed by
the savages. Being one of the earliest pioneers
to the Golden State, he assisted to hew many of
the first trails through the country. Plis trade
was carpentering ancl he followed that in various
mining mills and erected a quartz mill at French
Gulch, where he was interested. He was in most
of the leachng camps of the state and continued
in the business until his death in 1862, which oc
curred in Shasta county. He was burried by the
Royal Arch Masons. Pie had been a good and
upright man and had many friends, during his
life. He had married Miss Rosa Versell, a native
of Switzerland. After his death she married Mr,
Francis ancl is now living with one of her grand
children in Edgewood, California, aged eighty-
four. She has one brother, Joseph Versell, who
is a pioneer of Rock Island county, Illinois, and
served as assessor of his county for twenty-two
years. He is now ninety-five years of age, hale
ancl hearty. Our subject is the oldest of three
children. His brother John, who was a promising
young man, was slain by the Indians in 1864,
while mining at Hay Fork, Trinity county, Cali
fornia. He was then aged nineteen years. Mary,
the sister of our subject, is now deceased. She

65

1026

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

was the wife of Dave Gibson, who was one of
the fortyniners of California and the first man in
the Humboldt country. He got there about 1850
ancl remained until 1885, the time of his death.
He was there when the Laura Virginia came into
port, the first ship that ever entered LIumboldt
hay. Air. Gibson was conducting the first pack
train into that country and one day when out of
camp was shot by the Indians, one ball entering
his body and an arrow his groin. As he came
staggering back to the camp, he was mistaken for
an Indian and his friends shot him with a charge
of buckshot. However, he survived it all and lived
-until 1885. It is interesting to note that while
handling this pack train, one of the hands, an old
-sailor, expressed himself as not understanding
why they unshipped their cargo every night.
Our subject came via the Panama route in 1854
to San Francisco, arriving there on April 2.
They immediately went to French Gulch to join
his father, but later went to Weaversville, where
"he attended school. After that, he followed
packing for years in Humboldt county, then was
engaged in the general merchandise business with
his brother-in-law, David Gibson, for fourteen
years. After that period, he went to Siskiyou
county and took up stock raising. During all
these years, Air. Hessig was well acquainted with
pioneer life, being out in the camps in snow and
storm and enduring all sorts of hardships while
"he performed his arduous labor. He also showed
the true frontiersman spirit and overcame many
obstacles that seemed unsurmountable. Finally,
iin- 1900, he came to Fort Klamath and opened a
-merchandise establishment. He now has a nice
store, a good residence, and enjoys a liberal pat
ronage. He still owns a stock ranch in Siskiyou
county, California besides other property.
Fraternally, he is affiliated with the A. F. &
A. AL, having joined in 1876.
On Alay 1, 1872, Air. Hessig married Miss
•Charlotte Keer, a native of Denmark. After sev
enteen years of happy life, Airs. Hessig was
called to the world beyond, leaving a devoted
husband, three sons and a daughter. She was a
member of the Eastern Star and was a lady be
loved by all. The children are Harry, Herbert,
John Humboldt, Joseph ancl Airs. Salmona Jos
ephine Farewell, of San Francisco. The two
youngest boys are graduates of Heald's business
college, of San Francisco.
In 1895, Air. Hessig contracted a second mar-
-riage, Airs. Alarv Bridget Francis Butler becom
ing his wife at that time. They are both highly
respected people and have won the confidence of
all. Air. Plessig is the daughter of Patrick and
Elizabeth (AlcCormic) Suiivan, natives of Ire

land. They migrated to the United States in
1844 and made settlement in Vermont, where this
laughter was born. Later they removed to Burn
ham, Alaine, where they reside at this time.

ALFORD MELHASE, residing about four
miles southwest of Fort Klamath, Klamath
county, Oregon, is one of the most extensive
and prosperous ranchers in that vicinity. He was
born June 7, 1858, in Prussia, Germany. He is
of a family of seven children, viz : Fred, our sub
ject, Richard, Gustave, Emma, Clara and Bertha,
deceased. When ten years of age our subject came
from Germany with his parents, sailing from
Hamburg and landing in New York city. This
was in 1868, soon after the close of the Civil
War. From the metropolis of the Empire state
the family removed to Hannibal, Missouri. There
still residing with his parents, he grew to man
hood. In 1889, at the age of thirty-one years,
Mr. Melhase removed to Oregon, locating first
at Klamath Falls, where he resided two years.
At the close of that period he came to the vi
cinity where he now resides and, in a small way,
engaged in the stock business. He confesses
that he experienced periods of ill fortune, and
"went broke" a couple of times. But in 1896
the clouds broke, exhibited a silver lining, and
since then he has accomplished a great deal in
the way of acquiring a competence. In that year
he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of
land, to which he subsequently added until he
now has seven hundred and twenty acres, all
natural meadow land and well adapted to the
grazing of sheep which is his principal industry.
Mr. Melhase also owns seven hundred and six
ty acres in another tract which is mainly hay and
swamp land. He also has a half section neai
Klamath Falls. On his original homestead he
has a fine seven room house, two large barns,
supplied with all the conveniences necessary for
successful sheep growing, and he is, in short.
one of the most substantial sheep growers. Ancl
all this prosperity has come to him since 1896 —
a trifle over eight brief years. He has a large
band of sheep and quite a number of cattle ancl
horses. June 13, 1881, Mr. Melhase was married to
Dora Brummer, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio
She was reared at Hannibal, Missouri, where
her parents are both living. Airs. Melhase has
one sister, Mary,' wife of Richard Melhase,
brother of our subject. Six children have been
born to our subject ancl his estimable wife, viz:
Tohn, Delia, Emma, William, Edna, ancl Daniel
W.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1027

Our subject is a member of the A. O. U. W..
of Klamath Falls. He is one of the pioneers of
the community in which he resides, and this was
not his first experiece in the west, as, in 1875,
he went with his parents to Humboldt, California,
where they lived three years, returning to Han
nibal. He is enterprising, broad minded ana
progressive, and takes a lively interest in edttca
tional work. His father died a few years since ;
.his mother is still living.

HON. JOHN SAMUEL SHOOK is one of
:the first settlers within the precincts of Klamath
county. His residence is one and one-half miles
.south of Dairy and he was born on February 26,
.1847, in Ripley county, Indiana. His father,
Amon Shook, was also a native of Indiana. John
Shook Sr., the father of Amon, came from
Baltimore, Maryland to Indiana, settling in
the Miami bottoms in early days. There
he lived until aged eighty-four, the time of
his death. Our subject's father came on
to Iowa in early days and in 1864 crossed
the plains to Jackson county, Oregon. In 1869
he located in Klamath county and remained there
until his death in 1903, he being then eighty-
seven years of age. He had married Catharine-
Yost, who was born in Jennings county, Indi
ana. Her father was born in Germany. Her
grandfather on her mother's side, Samuel Glas
gow, was born in Pennsylvania and lived to be one
hundred years of age. He came from Scotch
ancestry. Mrs. Shook is still living, her home
being that of our subject and her age eighty-
three. Her children are Mrs. Mary J. Sutton,
near Dairy ; Mrs. Hattie Parker, of Los Angeles,
California ; Mrs. Fannie Schumann, of Guata-
mala, Central America; Mrs. Ada Rueck, near
Dairy; John S., who is our subject; Isaac N.,
of Ashland, Oregon ; David P., a partner of our
subject; and William H., of Klamath county.
Air. Shook came with his parents to Davis
-county, Iowa, when a child. Schooling facilities
were very limited but he was determined to have
an education so spent his evenings studying be
fore the hickory bark fire of the old fashioned
fireplace. At the age of fifteen, it being in the
spring of 1862, he left home and took up the
weary journey across the plains with a larger
emigrant train of ox teams. At American Falls
on the Snake river, they were attacked by In
dians and ten of their party were killed while
fourteen were wounded. Coming on, he landed
in Susanville, California, where our young trav-
-eler worked for fifteen dollars per month for the

first winter. During the evenings he kept up his
studies and the next year he followed teaming
in Virginia City. In the fall of 1863, Mr. Shook
walked from Virginia City to Susanville and
used all the money he had to start a store with.
In the fall of the next year, he sold out and went
to where his parents had located in Phcenix,
Oregon, they crossed the plains in 1864. In the
spring of 1869, he started out to find a first class
stock location and lighted on Yonna valley, in
what is now Klamath county. Such excellent
grass, fine water and other favorable things as
were evident there induced him to locate and he
succeeded in getting his people to come there too.
They bought a few head of stock and went into
business. Very few people were in the country
then and much danger was experienced from
hostile Indians. During the Alodoc War, Air.
Shook enlisted as scout in Company B, Oregon
State Militia and was chosen sergeant. He did
excellent service, was in many trying and danger
ous places, assisted to quell the savages and when
the war was ended returned to his ranch. Later
he located a sawmill at the Big Springs, which
he afterward called Bonanza where Bonanza is
now located and furnished the lumber to build
the first school house in Bonanza. After com
pleting it, he taught the first term of school there
then later he dropped the lumber industry and
turned his attention exclusively to stock raising,
being in partnership with his brothers, Isaac N.
and David P. In 1887, Isaac N. Shook sold his
interests and the firm has been confined to the
two brothers since. They are known among the
leading stockmen of this part of Oregon and
have bands of cattle and horses besides three
thousand acres of land, two thousand acres of
which are mostly meadow. At one time, the
Shook brothers had about two thousand head of
cattle On the range, besides a great many horses
and mules. They have been very prosperous in
their business and now their extensive meadows,
dotted with great hay stacks, their fine bands of
wrell bred cattle and horses, and their other prop
erty proclaim them leading and substantial men.
In addition to the- clangers from Indians they
experienced considerable trouble with cattle and
horse thieves, but were instrumental in putting
the latter entirely out of business. In the spring
of 1904, Mr. Shook was elected to represent the
twenty-first district of Oregon in the state legis
lature, being joint representative of Klamath,
Lake, Crook and Grant counties. He is a man
of experience, of ability and force, and will, with
out doubt, conserve carefully the interests of his
constituents. Mr. Shook is a member of the
state stock association of Klamath county and

1028

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

was delegate to the national live stock associa
tion at Portland in January, 1904. He was also
a delegate to the Republican state convention in
April, 1904. Air. Shook has always shown a
marked interest in getting the country settled
up and developed and in making it prosperous.
He has done a lion's share in this noble endeavor
and is to be commended for his generosity and
progressiveness. He was a charter member of
the Klamath Falls lodge, I. O. O. F. and also a
charter member of the Bonanza lodge when it
was organized. Being a pioneer, he has endured
much hardship, performing a great deal of trving
and arduous labor, but despite it all, he is a man
well preserved, vigorous, forceful and has the
confidence and esteem of all the people.
On April 20, 1904, Air. Shook married
Cora (Jones) Blake, who was born at Cedar-
ville, Ohio. In addition to their stock business,
the Shook brothers have taken great pains to
show what the country will produce and thev
have orchards in which some of the trees are over
twenty years of age and in the fall of each year,
these magnificent trees bend to the earth with
their great wealth of luscious fruit. They have
fine vegetables and produce some of the cnoicest
to be found in the country. Altogether thev are
known as thrifty, progressive and substantial
men.

EUGENE R. HANAN resides four miles
west of Fort Klamath and is one of the leading
stock raisers of Klamath county. He was born
on January 10, 1857 in Douglas county, Oregon.
George Hanan, his father, was born in Ireland
and came to New York with his parents in 1844.
They crossed the plains with ox teams in the sec
ond train that ever made the trip. They landed
in Oregon City and he there followed shoemak
ing. Afterward, he came to Garden valley on
the Umpqua in Douglas county ancl secured a do
nation claim. That was his home until his death
in 1876, being then aged sixty-five years. He
was a very active and progressive man and did
verv much to open and build up this thriving
country. He served as treasurer of Douglas
countv and was a leading man there. He mar
ried Miss Eliza Evans, a native of New York
citv. The wedding occurred in that city and she
accompanied her husband across the plains. She
is now living at Lewiston, Idaho, aged eighty-
one. Our subject grew up on a farm in Douglas
county and received his education from the early
schools. He continued on the farm until eight
een years of age and then took up stock raising.
He lias handled both cattle and sheep and at the

present time is raising cattle almost exclusively.
On October 14, 1875, Air. Hanan married
Aliss Harriet C. Gilliland, a native of Putnam
county, Illinois. Alexander B. Gilliland, her
father, was born in Brown county, Ohio, of
Scotch ancestry. He married Alary T. Willis
and in the spring of 1853, with a family of three
children the}- started across the plains to Oregon.
Airs. Hanan was then four years old. It took
them nine months to reach Douglas county and
the trip was arduous and trying. Air. Gilliland.
took a donation claim and was one of the sturdy
pioneers to build up that county. A few years
before his death, which occurred in 1884, he re
tired from the farm to Roseburg. ' He was aged
sixty-four at the time of his departure. The
mother died in 1896. In 1901, Mr. Hanan.
brought all his cattle from west of the Cascades
to Klamath county. He has an estate of one
thousand three hundred and twenty acres, where
he now lives, which produces abundance of hay
for his large herds. He has over four hundred
head of cattle with horses enough to handle the-
enterprise. Air. Hanan is a member of the A. O. U. W..
lodge and is a progressive and good man. They
have four children, George Alar, Ariel, deceased;.
Alyrtle and Wren. Air. Hanan is the fifth in his
family and his brothers and sisters are named as.
follows : John C, William J. and Henry, de
ceased; Airs. Ella, widow of A. C. Aiarks ; Jeffer
son D., deceased ; Airs. Belle Fenton ; and Rich
ard E. Airs. Hanan's brothers and sisters are
Lyle W., Airs. Alargaret Smith, Cyrus B., Rob
ert O. and Cassius C. deceased ; Inez, the wife
of T. B. Foster and Lillie, the wife of John
Jamison, both of Portland. Air. Foster is with
the First National Bank there. Airs. Hanan was
the second child of her father's family.

JAMES G. WIGHT has the responsible po
sition of county superintendent of schools for
Klamath county. His residence is at Bonanza.
The birth of our subject occurred on April 27,
1859. in Ontario, Canada. His father, James
AL, was born in Scotland, a son of William
Wight, who was a soldier in the Napoleonic
wars. The mother of James G., Agnes (Mc
Kinley) Wight, was born in Scotland. The pub
lic schools of Canada contributed the educational
training of our subject then he studied in various
other lines. In 1879 he came to the United
States and settled first in Solano county, Cali
fornia, where he gave his attention to studying;
further. It was 1885 that Air. Wight came to

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1029

Klamath county where he took up teaching.
After that, he took a course in the state normal
school at Monmouth, Oregon, graduating in
1896. Then he was principal of the high school
department at Carlton, Oregon, and now is
teaching his fourth term in the public schools of
Bonanza. In the spring of 1904, he was elected
on the Republican ticket as superintendent of the
county schools ancl has given his attention to
that, together with his teaching. He is a very
•efficient and thorough educator and has the con
fidence of the people ancl the good will of all.
Air. Wight is a member of the Alethodist church
ancl is an exemplary citizen. He has a farm 6i
two hundred and forty acres of land in Yonna
valley some' twelve miles northwest of Bonanza
all of which is good land and a portion is in cul
tivation.

RICHARD Al. MORGAN has done a good
work in Klamath county and is now- one of the
leading and representative stockmen. He re
sides about a mile west from Fort Klamath,
where he has a fine estate of one quarter section
of choice meadow land. The same is under irri
gation and produces abundance of forage for his
bands of stock. He was born on September 21.
1868, in the Rogue river valley, Jackson county,
Oregon. Edwin Alorgan, his father, was born
in England and came to the United States when
a boy with his parents. They settled in the state
¦of New York and in 1850, he crossed the plains
with ox teams and on the journey had several
severe fights with the Indians. They finally-
landed in San Francisco all right and he drove
the first stage from Sacramento to Carson City.
He followed mining in the various camps
throughout the state and in the early fifties, came
to Oregon. He was a volunteer in the Rogue
River War and fought in several battles. He
finally settled in Douglas count}- ancl took a do
nation claim, but later, he came to Jackson coun
ty and in 1889, settled in the Wood river valley,
where he remained until his death in February.
1806, being then sixty-five years of age. He was
a stanch and enterprising pioneer and had blazed
the way into many regions that are now pros
perous places. He" was an upright and good man.
and won many friends. In fraternal circles he
rffiliatecl with the I. O. O. F. He married Miss
Lucretia F. Odin, a native of Alissouri. She
crossed the plains with her parents in 1S52. with
o-; teams ancl came direct to the Willamette val
ley. After the death of her husband, she went
to Tackson county where she died in 1904. aged
¦sixty years. Seven children are the fruit of this

union, whose names are given below, Charles
D., Walter S.. Richard AL, who is our subject,
Alark P.. William H., Airs. Elizabeth Alorrison,
and Airs. Alary C. Pankey. Our subject grew
up in Jackson county ancl came with his parents
to Klamath county, in 1889. He took a home
stead on Anna creek and worked out for a time
to get means with which to improve it. Then
he began raising stock and continued there until
1903. when he sold out the entire property and
bought his present farm. It is a fine place and
Mr. Alorgan has prospered in handling it and in
raising stock.
On Mav 30, 1805. ^ir- Morgan married Aliss
Tessie Scott, a native of Pennsylvania. She
came with her parents to Oregon twenty-two
vears since. Her father and mother, Joseph and
lennie (Foster) Scott, now live in Aledford, be
ing retired from active life. The father fought
through the Civil war. Airs. Alorgan has two
brothers. William and Thomas. Air. Alorgan
is a member of the Foresters and a man of first
class standing. They have three children, Floyd
N.. lennie and Rydal B.

ALBION H. BOOTHBY is one of the prom
inent and successful stock men of Klamath coun
tv. He resides about four miles northwest from
Fort Klamath and was born January 11. 1841. in
Athens. Alaine. His parents, Bradford ancl Re
becca (Leman) Boothby, were also born in that
state. The father's ancestors were English and
two brothers of them came to America with the
verv first colonists. They were stanch .Amer
icans and fought in the Revolution. He died
about sixteen years since, aged seventy-five. The
mother came '. from Scotch-English extraction
ancl is now living at South Livermore, Alaine,
aged seventy-five. Our subject went to see her
some four vears since, after an absence of thirty-
five years. " He is the oldest of five children, the
others being Adnev. Loretta, deceased, Edwirt
ancl Airs. Clara E. Howard. Our subject grew
un in his native nlace and there received a good
education and also taught school for several
terms. On February 18. 1862. he started from
New York citv on a steamer, via Panama, tc
San Francisco, landing at the Golden Gate about
the middle of Alarch." For a short time he fol
lowed mining then in the fall of i8tu. came to
Tackson countv. Alilling occupied him for a
time then he taught school and finally turned his
attention to sawmilling:. On August 13. 1871.
in Jackson cnuntv. Air. Boothby married Alis^
Alargaret T. Noland, who was born in Portland,

1030

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

Oregon. Her father, Henry Noland, was a na
tive of Kentucky and came to Oregon as a pio
neer. He died in Pendleton. His wife had died
when Airs. Boothby was a small child. Our sub
ject lived at Prospect, in Jackson county and the
last few years spent there were occupied in rais
ing stock. In July, 1903, he came to his present
home where he secured a half section of fine land
Part of it is hay and part timber. Anna creek, a
beautiful mountain stream, clear and cold, crosses
through the place and supplies abundance of
water for irrigating purposes. He has a nice
band of stock and is well prospered. He owns a
quarter section of land near Prospect, Oregon
and also a hotel building in that place. Mr. and
Mrs. Boothby are devout members of the Aleth
odist church and are substantial and upright peo
ple. They have seven children : Sarah R., wife of
Joseph Buck of Jackson county; Edwin AL ;
Clara AL, wife of Chauncey F. Arant; Charles
W. ; Albion T. ; Ida I. ; and Elfa A.

JAMES Al. EMERY, who resides about one,
half mile north from Fort Klamath, was born on
November 13, 1865, in Gilroy, California. His
father, Rev. Joseph Emery, was born in Pennsyl
vania seventy-three years since. He was edu
cated in the Washington and Jefferson college as
a Presbyterian minister and has followed preach
ing ancl school teaching during all his life. He
came west via the Panama route in 1850, to Cali
fornia, did mining for a couple of years then
continued preaching. In 1868, he came to Cor
vallis and was installed as professor of mathe
matics in the state agricultural college' there. For
eighteen years he held that chair, then was ap
pointed Indian agent by President Cleveland for
the Klamath agency. At the second term of Air.
Cleveland, he was reappointed but was finally let
out under President AlcKinley, then he returned
to California, where he expects to pass the bal
ance of his days. After coming west he united
with the Alethodist church, South, ancl has affil
iated with that since. His home is in Hollister
California, and although he has passed his three
score years and ten, he is still in good health and
rugged. Pie married Sarah E. Finley, a native
of Alissouri. She same across the plains with
her parents when a small girl and her wedding
occurred in Carifornia. She is now sixty-three
years of age. Her brother, Air. Finley is cor
oner of Portland. Our subject is the seconc
child in a family of nine children, the following
named ones being still alive ; W. G., Mrs. Bertha
Lake, Airs. Lilian Vanderhurst, and Airs. Lulu'

Shaw. Our subject had an excellent opportun
ity to gain an education in the Corvallis college
and improved the same well. On December 17,.
1886, he married Aliss Etta Matthews, who was
born at Fort Lapwai, Idaho. Her father, Cap
tain Jack Alatthews, was a pioneer to the coast
and a soldier in the Rogue River War. He rep
resented Jackson county in the state legislature -
and at one time organized a company of Volun
teers in Oregon to fight the Indians and was
stationed at Fort Lapwai. His death occurred
in Albany, Oregon, in 1880. He married Hen
rietta Worth, who is now deceased. Mrs. Emery
is an only child. Air. Emery came to this county
in 1889 and engaged in farming and stock rais
ing near Klamath Falls. In 1896, he located at
his present place. He has a quarter section of
fine hay land with a large band of stock. He has
sold a good deal of stock and now gives his atten
tion largely to dairying. When he landed in
Klamath county, he had no means whatever but
by his industry and thrift has accumulated a fine
competence. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. and has
served his third term as justice of the peace. To
Air. and Mrs. Emery, five children have been
born; Charles M., who is attending the agricul
tural college, at Corvallis ; Earl ; Hazel, who has
developed a fine musical talent; Edith and.
Juanita. Air. and Mrs. Emery are substantial people,
have won the confidence of all who know them-
and have done much to build up and advance the
interests of the county.

DANIEL B. NICHOLS, who resides some
three miles southwest of Bonanza, and devotes
himself to stock raising ancl farming, was born
on February 16, 1852, in Linn county, Iowa.
John Nichols was his father, and he was born in
Indiana and came as an early pioneer to Linn
county, Iowa, and to Shasta county, California.
About 1879 he settled in Poe valley and there
remained until his death in 1902, being then aged
seventy-six. His father, James Nichols, who is
the grandfather of our subject, was born in Vir
ginia in 1798. He lived on the frontier all his
life, split rails where Indianapolis, Indiana, now
stands and died in the vicinity of Bonanza in
1900, being one hundred and one years and eight
months of age. His trade was that of the mill
wright and he was a sturdy pioneer and substan
tial man. Our subject's mother was Anna
(Lewis) Nichols, a native of Indiana. She-
came with her parents to Iowa in early days ancl

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1031

is now living near Bonanza, aged seventy-two.
She is the mother of nine children and the only
one of the family who is deceased is the father,
mentioned above. The children are Daniel B.,
who is our subject; Simeon L., of Leavenworth
county, Kansas ; Mrs. Eliza E. Wise, of Lake
county, Oregon; Benjamin F. and John A., near
Bonanza; Mrs. Malinda, of Merrill; Mrs. Alice
Parker, of Josephine county; A. Abram of Al
mira, W ashington ; and Norman, of Bonanza.
For fifty years no death occurred in the family,
so far as is known, it being a most remarkable
record. Our subject went with his parents from
Linn to Fayette county, Iowa, when a child ancl
when sixteen went with them to Douglas county,
Maine. There, on January i, 1874, he married
Julia A. Warren, a native of Missouri. In the
fall of that year, he came to Shasta county, Cali
fornia, and followed teaming in the mines, re
turning the next year to Kansas. In 1877 he
came back to Shasta county and in September,
1879, came to Poe valley. He selected a place
and since has remained here, engaged in stock
raising and farming, with the exception of a
short time spent in Crook county. The country
was very new and wild when he came and his
finances were soon depleted and having his fam
ily to support met with much hardship. In 1882
Mr. Nichols was called to mourn the death of
his wife, who left two children, Edwin D. and
Bertha, wife of Hugh Clopton, at Bonanza. On
September 21, 1904, Mr. Nichols married Miss
Mildred J. Frazier, who was born in Harrison
county, Iowa. The daughter of Daniel R. and
Matilda (Inther) Frazier, the former living in
Douglas county, Washington, and the latter de
ceased. Mrs. Nichols has one brother, Kenneth
E., of Douglas county, Washington. Mr. Nich
ols has a good farm, half of which is in cultiva
tion and a fine band of well bred horses and
mules. He is a charter member and past grand
of the Bonanza Lodge, of the I. O. O. F., and
also belongs to the Rebekahs.

JEFFERSON KIRKPATRICK is operating
a hotel, feed store and butcher shop at Fort
Klamath and in company with G. S. Hoyt also
conducts a general merchandise establishment.
He was born on July .27, 1859, in Uba county,
California. His father, John Kirkpatrick, crossed
the plains with ox teams in 1847 t0 Oregon,
where he was engaged in mining for a number of
years. Then he settled in Uba county and took
up the stock business. He made several trips
across the plains to the west, has traveled over
a large portion of California and is one of the

old timers. He was a volunteer in the Modoc
Indian War ancl at the time of the Cayuse War
in 1847, he enlisted at Vancouver and was dis
charged honorably at Fort Walla Walla, after
having participated in the heat of the struggle.
He was in the mining excitement in California
in 1849 and operated one of the first pack trains
in the state. Finally in 1884, he came to this-
county ancl engaged in the stock business. After
that, he sold out and is now retired, being eighty-
seven years of age. His father, the grandfather
of our subject, died recently in Illinois at the age-
of one hundred and four years. The mother of
Jefferson was Rebecca (Coplantz)' Kirkpatrick..
Sne came west when young and died in Juner
1900, at the age of seventy-eight. There were
ten children in the family of whom the follow
ing named are living, our subject, who is the
oldest, Esther A. Steele, Charles, Algernon, An-
gress, Orlando and Willis. Our subject accom
panied his parents twice on trips to the west and
spent most of his younger days on a stock farm:
in California and this state. He was educated in
the public schools and in 1882, came to Klamath
county. He entered a pre-emption claim near
Fort Klamath and was among the first settlers
in this vicinity. He took up stock raising, and
conducted the same until 1903, when he sold his
ranch and entered the feed business in Klamath
Falls. He purchased property here and is doing
a nice business in the lines mentioned. Fratern
ally, he is affiliated with the A. O. U. W. and is
a man of good standing.
On September 24, 1883, Mr. Kirkpatrick
married Miss Alfaretta Pearsons, who was born.
in Ottumwa, Iowa. Her father, Jerry Pearsons,.
died when she was small. Her mother, Eliza
(Watkins) Pearsons, is now Mrs. Gray and'
dwells in this county. One child has been born-
to Mr. and Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Maude Ray, ort
May 20, 1900.

DR. JOHN ALEXANDER CHASTAIN,.
who is now living a retired life in Bonanza, was
born on April 3, 1834, the old home place being
situated one mile above Blythe ferry at the mouth
of the Hiawasse river in Aleigs county, Tennes
see. His father, William Chastain, was born in
Simpson county, Kentucky, on February 11,
1809. When twelve years of age, he accompan
ied his father, Rev. Joseph Chastain, to Aleigs
county, Tennessee. Joseph Chastain, who was
the grandfather of our subject, was a noted Bap
tist preacher, the son of John Chastain, one of the
French Huguenots who came over from France
on account of religious persecution and settled in-
South Carolina. He preached for the Baptist

1035

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

church also and was known as the nine shilling
bell man, owing to the fact that his powerful
voice could be heard as far as the nine shilling-
bell. He was well known all over North and
South Carolina, Georgia and adjacent states.
Joseph Chastain was with General Jackson in the
War of 1812. Our subject's father grew up in
Aleigs county, Tennessee and there married Aliss
-.-ary Ann Frie, the third daughter of John ancl
Abagail Frie. She was born in Blunt county,
Alabama ancl came with her parents to Aleigs
county, Tennessee when thirteen years of age. In
1837, William Chastain enlisted in Captain Ver
non's Company, LTnited States Volunteers for the
purpose of gathering- the Cherokee Indians and
placing them on the territory reserved for them
in the Cherokee Nation. It was then that the
Hiawasse purchase was made. He was mus
tered out of service in July, 1838. -In October
of the same year, he moved to Lawrence county,
Alissouri, twenty miles west of Springfield, which
•was then a mere hamlet of four or five houses,
ancl farmed there for sixteen years. Then he sold
and moved to Howell county. When the war
broke out, he enlisted in the confederate army in
General AlcBride's brigade, under Price but
afterward was transferred to Marmaduke's bri
gade. At the breaking out of the war he had
much property but it was all destroyed or con
fiscated. Later, his family moved to Oregon
county, Missouri where he died on January 24,
1866 in his fifty-ninth year. The mother died in
1879, in Arkansas in her sixty-sixth year. They
were the parents of six children, three of whom
are living, Joseph and Elizabeth, both of Baxter
county, Arkansas, ancl our subject. He grew
up with his parents but his schooling facilities
were meager. He studied by the open fire place
and by the light 'of the old clip candle at home so
thoroughly that when twenty years of age he se
cured a certificate to teach school. His first term
was taught in Jasper county, Alissouri. He also
taught in various other places ancl engaged then
in buying horses and mules to take to Louisiana.
While teaching, he studied medicine and in 1856,
went to Yell count}', Arkansas and studied under
the noted Dr. Ward. Then he drove a team west
and later returned to the lead mines of Alissouri
where he dealt in mining property successfully.
After this, he was salesman in a store, bought an
interest in the same but owing to a lawsuit, lost
all. Then again he turned to medicine, studying
under Dr. James, in Granby, Newton county. He
handled a drug store in Jasper county, then sold
out ancl went to Neosho river, Cherokee Nation,
where he took up the practice of his profession.
Returning to Jasper county, he was appointed
deputy sheriff and took the census of that di

vision in i860. On March 3, 1861, the day be
fore Lincoln's inauguration, he married Aliss
barah T. Boyd. On August 29, 1862, a son was
born to them and the mother died the following
morning. The child is William Chastain, now a
farmer in Douglas county, Oregon. On Novem
ber 29', 1862, the doctor left his boy with an aunt
ancl organized a company of men for the confed
erate army. He was clerk of the brigade in the
commissar}- department under General Shelby
and in the fall of 1863, he went into the ranks, be
ing appointed regimental quartermaster. Resign
ing- from this, he was recruiting officer ancl gath
ered a company of seventy-four. In August,
1864, he was elected captain of Company C, in
Colonel J. T. Caffrey's regiment. This company
was left at Bateville on provost duty and part
of that year he was detailed as recruiting cor
poral. In the fall of 1864, he was appointed on a
special duty to make a map of the country pre
paratory to making a raid that was planned. His
work was so favorably received that he was
recommended to Richmond to be appointed as
inspector general of Fagan's cavalry, of the
trans-Alississippi department. The commission
was issued but owing to the close of the war, it
was never received. On June 8, 1865 he was pa
roled at Shrevesport then went to Baton Rouge
ancl at Balls Bluff bade his company farewell.
Among other things, the doctor stated that he
was forced into the war and he made as good a
soldier of himself as he'knew how. Now he pro
posed to return to private life and make as good
a citizen of himself as he could. He was in thir
teen engagements ancl many skirmishes. During
much of the time, he was sharpshooter and
though in many close places ancl though his cloth
ing was pierced by many bullets, he never re
ceived a wound. He saw many men shot clown
at his side and endured all the hardships of a
soldier's life. After the war, he went where his
father was living in Oregon county, Alissouri and
engaged in farming, having lost everything dur
ing the war. He had lost trace of his son but
found him later in Cooper county, Alissouri.
On Alarch 1, 1866, Dr. Chastain married Miss
Alary J. King, who was born in Greene county,
Illinois. She had moved thence to Tennessee and
later to Howell county, Alissouri, accompanied by
her parents, W-'ilsey P. ancl Eliza P. King. The
father was a soldier in the army ancl died in Kla
math county Alarch 17, T904, aged eighty-four.
The mother had died in Howell county, Alissouri
ten years ago. In the fall of 1867, Dr. Chastain
moved to Izard county, Arkansas ancl engaged in
the mercantile business. After that, he raised
cotton ancl later moved to Boone county, Arkan
sas where he was editor of the Boone County

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

[033

Record, at Bellefonte, Arkansas. He fitted up
two wagons with ox teams and on April 28, 1875,
started with a train of emigrants across the plains
to Oregon. At Cheyenne he sold one outfit and
in clue, time reached Moonville on the Rogue
river. He located on October 15, on a rented
farm and began the practice of medicine. He
soon was very busy, riding forty miles in every
•direction. Finally, we find him at Phoenix, Ore
gon, where he had a large practice and also oper
ated two drug stores. Later, the doctor sold out
and moved to Williamsburg, Oregon, continu
ing his practice, then returned to Phoenix. Finally
in April, 1888, he came to Bonanza ancl here took
up the practice of medicine. He had all he could
do and his family handled a hotel and feed barn,
ancl also conducted a farm. In 1901, the doctor
sold the hotel and barn ancl moved to his ranch.
Later, he traded that for town property and re
tired from business. He is now comfortably fixed
in Bonanza while he ancl his wife are enjoying the
competence that their labor and skill have pro
vided. The doctor has filled various positions,
as, justice of the peace, notary public, was mem
ber of the first council in Bonanza and president
of the board, and is now town recorder. For
forty-six years he has been a Mason ancl a mem
ber of the Baptist church. He was baptized by
his grandfather, Rev. Joseph Chastain. Airs.
Chastain is also a member of the church and of
the Rebekah ancl Eastern Star lodges. To the
last marriage of the doctor ten children have been
born : Charles, deceased : George, married to Effa
Sutton, at present clerk of Klamath county ;
Cora, Price, and Adah, all deceased; Ann Eliza
beth, wife of A. T. Langell ; Etta, wife of R. I.
Kilgore ; Claude, clerk in a store ; Sarah J., wife
of Robert L. Goss ; ancl John K., a harness maker
in Bonanza. The doctor and his wife are hearty,
genial people, highly respected ancl substantial.
Thev have educated their children well and are
happily located in that all live near by and are
prosperous.

MARION HANKS, who resides about one
mile north from Klamath Falls, was born on July
28, 1865, in Douglas county, Oregon. His pa
rents. James L. and Alary J. (Perdue) Hanks, are
mentioned in another portion of this work. Ala
rion remained with his parents in Douglas county
until 1873 being then eight years of age, when
the family came to this county, then included in
Lake county. He received his education in the
public schools ancl grew up here so that he is
practically a product of this county. After
school davs, he learned the butcher business and
followed the same for about eight years in Kla

math Falls. Then he sold out and purchased the
ranch where he is now residing, which consists of
three hundred and eighty-five acres. He turns his
attention to farming ancl stock raising and has a
nice band of well bred cattle, besides some horses.
Just recently, Mr. Hanks sold his farm for twelve
thousand dollars but he is still residing upon it.
He owns his cattle and personal property and will
soon secure a new location. He has made a splen
did success in financial matters ancl is considered
one of the leading men of Klamath county.
Fraternally, he is affiliated with the A. O.
U. W., has filled all the chairs and has repre
sented his lodge in the grand lodge.
On September 24, 1903, Mr. Hanks married
Aliss Amelia Fledrick, who was born in St. Louis,
Alissouri, the daughter of Otto and E. E. Pied-
rick, natives of Germany. Airs. Hanks came to
Portland, Oregon with her family when a child.
The year following, about 1876, they came to
Klamath Falls, where the father remained until
his death. To our subject ancl his wife two chil
dren have been born, Eva and Leona Fern.
Air. Hanks is a reliable and esteemed man
and is one of the leading citizens of the county.

STEPHEN HERLIHY resides at Naylox,
which is eleven miles north from Klamath Falls
on the east bank of Klamath Lake. He was born
on October 16, 1870 in the county of Victoria,
province of Ontario, Canada. His father, Jere
miah Herlihy, was born in Canada and came of
Irisli parents. Later in life he moved to Roch
ester, New York, and there remained until his
death. He married Aliss Katherine O'Shea, a
native of Canada. Her parents were born in Ire
land. At the age of seventeen our subject left
home and came to North Dakota. There he
worked some in handling horses and finally went
to Itasca county, Aiinnesota and entered a home
stead in the timber. Being an expert hand in
handling a threshing machine, he used to go each
year to the wheat districts where he received
seven dollars per clay with the threshing crew.
After a while, he took a stone and timber claim
adjoining his homestead which gave him a full
section of fine timber land. After the election pf
AlcKinley in 1896, owing to the protective tariff
on lumber, Air. Herlihy sold it at a very fine price,
reserving the land for himself, which he still
owns. He had endured great hardships and did
much arduous labor but reaped a good reward for
it all. Then he took a trip to Rochester, New-
York to see his people ancl in 1900, he determined
to see the Pacific coast. He purchased a ticket
to Seattle but stopped over in Spokane where he

IQ34

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

fell in with a party who told him about Klamath
county. Becoming greatly interested, he traveled
thither and after viewing the country over thor
oughly, he purchased his present place. This
was known as the Captain Frie station as that
gentleman had built a toll road in early day and
kept here a toll gate. It was a very famous camp
ing place for the Indians in early days and by
them was called Naylox, which means daylight.
Mr. Herlihy owns a half section of fine meadow
land, a large two-story house and considerable
stock. He has two large barns and plenty of
other outbuildings and all other improvements
needed and in addition to his general farm and
stock raising, keeps a hotel and a feed stable. Be
ing on the main traveled road, he keeps a large
number of guests. Air. Herlihy is so well pleased
with this country that he is determined to make
this his permanent home.
On Alay 24, 1903, occurred the marriage of
Mr. Herlihy and Miss Elanore Garlarneau, who
was born in Portland. Her father, Charles Gar
larneau, was born in Canada and came to Ore
gon thirty-five years ago. He has been a resi
dent of Klamath county for twenty years. He
married Eliza Ryan, a native of Ireland. Mrs.
Herlihy graduated from the state normal school
at Ashland 'and taught for some time in Jackson
county, before her marriage. Mr. Herlihy started
fn life a poor boy and everything he possesses has
been won by hard labor and wise management
and it is very gratifying to know that from his
modest start, he has won his way to competence
and wealth. He is one of the substantial men of
the county and is considered a leading citizen.

GEORGE WASHINGTON MORINE.
Since thirteen years of age the gentleman, of
whom we now have the pleasure to speak, has
been doing for himself and although having trav
eled a great deal and been in various enterprises,
his financial ability has been such that he has
never been without money. He was born in St.
Louis, Missouri, on December 6, 1848. His
father, Antoine Alorine, was born in Toronto,
Canada, of French ancestry and came to St. Louis
in earlv day. He resided in that portion of St.
Louis known as Frenchtown, until the spring
of 1852, when he started across the plains with
his family. His team being a part of the very
first ox train that made its way to Hangtown,
later known as Placerville. There he took up
mining ancl also followed it in various places. His
death occurred' in Jackson county, Oregon, in
1896, he being then in. his eightieth year. His
mother lives in St. Louis, being one hundred and

four years of age. The mother of our subject,
Mary Magdalene (Cook) Alorine, was born in,
Germany, came to St. Louis when a child and
died soon after coming to the Pacific coast. -The
children of this worthy couple are Mrs. Henrietta-
Woodliff, deceased ; George W., who is our sub
ject; Albert, of Jackson county; Charles E. and
Frank, twins, a "farmer in Jackson county, and a
farmer in Bonanza, respectively ; Mrs. Eliza
Burch, of Red Bluff, California; and Mrs. Cyn
thia V. Reeves, of Oakland, California. Our
subject accompanied his parents across the plains
in 1852 and was with them until thirteen years
of age. At that time, his mother died and then
he began work for himself. He worked in a
blacksmith shop until he had mastered the trade
and at the age of twenty, started a shop of his
own, this being in Colusa county, California. For
several years he beat the anvil there, being well
known and highly respected. In 1881, he came
to Central Point, Jackson county and opened a
shop. There and in other places he wrought at
his trade, being one of the best blacksmiths in the-
state. In 1898, he came to Fort Klamath and did
blacksmithing and stock raising until 1901, when
he sold out and removed to Bonanza. Here he
purchased a hotel and livery barn and since that
time has been successfully operating these enter
prises. His barn is sixty-five by seventy-five feet,
supplied with water from living springs near by
and equipped with good rigs and horses. His
hotel is a seventeen room structure, well furnished
and provided with the best the land affords. Air.
Morine secures his share of patrons both in the
livery barn and hotel and is a popular man in
this part of the county.
In 1881, Air. Morine married Miss Addie
Clift, who was born in Canada. She came to
Jackson county, Oregon with her parents when a
child. Six children have been the issue of this
union; Alice, wife of Charles Conrad of Aurora
Grande ; Henrietta, a clerk in a shoe store in Kla
math Falls ; Silas F. ; Alabel ; and Harold and
Harry, twins. The last named died at Fort Kla
math. Mr. Alorine is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and is a very enterprising ancl substantial man.

JAMES LOUIS HANKS, who resides about
three miles north of Klamath Falls on the east
bank of Klamath Lake, was born on February 14,
1820. His native place was a farm near Decatur,
Macon county, Illinois. His father was John
Hanks and his mother, Susan (Wilson) Hanks.
She was born in Grayson county, Kentucky and'
came from English ancestors. Her death oc
curred in 186^?. The father's father, Williatru

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1035-

Hanks, the grandfather of our subject, came from
Ireland to Virginia before the Revolution. He
and two of his brothers served in that war, one of
them being Colonel Benjamin Hanks under Gen
eral Washington. William Hanks was a brother
of Nancy Hanks, who married Thomas Lincoln.
They were the parents of President Lincoln. This
makes our subject a second cousin to that great
man. The Lincoln farm adjoined the Hanks
estate in Alacon county ancl as John Hanks was a
first cousin to Abraham Lincoln, they became very
mtimately acquainted. He was born on Febru
ary 9, 1802 in Nelson county, Kentucky and for
a while lived in Grayson county, that state. He
was a few years older than Abraham Lincoln and
the latter made his home with John Hanks for
many years. These two young men used to split
rails together and in company made several
trips down the Ohio ancl Mississippi rivers in the
old time flat boats. In 1828, he moved to De
catur, Macon county, Illinois, and on the trip
passed by the home of Thomas Lincoln in Indi
ana. Mr. Lincoln requested Mr. Hanks to in
quire what kind of a country Illinois was and
as the report was favorable, the Lincolns moved
on out, settling near the Hanks farm. They
were very hard working people and when the
Black Hawk war broke out in 1832, John Hanks
and Abraham Lincoln enlisted in the same com
pany, the latter being captain of the company.
Being thus together so much, they became in
timately acquainted and in i860, when Mr. Lin
coln was nominated for president at Chicago, Mr.
Hanks had the distinction of carrying one of the
rails split by Mr. Lincoln. At the commence
ment of the Civil War, John Hanks enlisted in the
Twenty-First Illinois "as wagon master, although
he was about sixty years of age, and served faith
fully for two years in Missouri, Tennessee, Ar
kansas, Alabama and Mississippi, until he was
incapacitated by an attack of rheumatism, when
he was honorably discharged at Winchester, Ten
nessee, in 1862. He had made the trip across
the plains to California in 1850 and returned to
Illinois later and there made his home until his
death in 1889. The brothers and sisters of our
subject were eight, five of whom are now living;
Mrs. Emily Loomis of Bloomington, Illinois;
Grayson A., of Alaysville, Missouri ; Airs. Alary
E. Manon, of Humboldt county, California ; and
Levi, of Macon, Illinois. Our subject grew up on
the farm in Illinois, was much with Abraham
Lincoln in those days, and in the spring of 1850,
came across the plains to California with his
father and two years later, they returned via the
isthmus. In the spring of 1853, Mr. Hanks
started from Decatur, Illinois, and crossed the
plains with ox teams the second time. He stopped

at Springfield, Illinois and bid his cousin, Abra
ham Lincoln, good by, ancl this was the last he
ever saw of him. After reaching California, he
spent some time in mining, visiting nearly every
prominent camp, and finally in 1859, came to
Douglas count}-, where he mined.
In Douglas county, on September 25, 1861,
Mr. Hanks married Mary J. Perdue, who was
born near St. Joseph, Alissouri on February 14.
1845. Her father, John Perdue, was a native of
Virginia and came from German ancestrage. They
came across the plains in 1852, settling in Doug
las county, Oregon where he lived until his death,
in 1901. He had married Mar}- F. Mills, a native
of Virginia. She died in 1902. They were aged
eighty-two and eighty-four, respectively, at the
time of their death. Mr. Hanks did considerable
freighting in the early clays through southwest
Oregon and was also out during the Modoc war
when it was very dangerous. He endured many
hardships ancl performed much arduous labor. In
the spring of 1873, he located where he now re
sides, taking a homestead near the site of his
present dwelling. He was among the very first
to settle here and since that time has been a pro
gressive and enterprising citizen. He now has-
three thousand acres of fine soil, mostly under
cultivation. His crops are grain and hay and he
owns a large threshing outfit besides all machin
ery necessary. His residence is a good eight
room, two story structure, while three large barns
and various outbuildings, orchard ancl many other
things are in evidence on the place. He has made
his farm one of the finest in the country and an.
air of thrift and taste pervades everything. In
addition to general farming, Mr. Hanks handles
considerable stock and has a fine herd of regis
tered Durhams and Galloways. He also has a-
nice band of horses. In 1876, Air. Hanks was
elected county treasurer on the Democratic
ticket. In 1878, he was elected sheriff and was
twice re-elected making six years in that office.
After that, he was chosen county commissioner -
which completed ten years in constant service for
the county, in all of which he showed unswerving
integrity ancl uprightness so that he has won the
esteem ancl confidence of all who know him. He
brought the same wisdom and good practical
judgment to bear in the discharge of his duties
that he did in his own affairs and the result was
of much benefit to Klamath county.
Mr. Hanks is a member of the A. F. & A. M.
and has been for thirty years. He is also a
charter member of the Klamath lodge.
To Mr. and Airs. Hanks, ten children have-
been born, named as follows: John, of Red
Bluffs, California; Marion, in this county; Mrs..
Ella Eastwood of Mono county, California ; Ala-

1036

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

linda, deceased ; Emma, deceased ; Jessie, at home ;
Airs. Effie Hill, of this county ; Louis, of Califor
nia ; Edward, deceased ; and William, of Klamath
Falls. It is interesting to note that when Mr. Hanks
came to Klamath county, he had very little means
but at the present time, he is one of the wealthy
citizens of the county, all of which has been
gained by his own labor and wisdom.

REV. JAMES T. ROBERTS is well known
in Klamath county ancl adjacent sections, being
both a stockman, farmer and a preacher of the
gospel. He resides in Poe valley near Bedford
postoffice ancl was born on January 9, 1853, i"
Washington county, Arkansas. His father, Joel
(Lee) Roberts, was born in Kentucky ancl went
with his parents to Indiana. Then they removed -
to Illinois, later to Alissouri and finally to Ar
kansas. His mother was a sister of Gen. Robert
E. Lee. During the war he went to Arkansas
but had to return to Alissouri as a refugee, ancl
there enlisted in the union army, being a member
of the state militia. In 1886 he came to Poe
valley, this county, where he engaged in the
stock business. Here he remained until his death
in September, 1903, being at that time in his sev
enty-ninth year. He was a devout member of the
Alethodist church, South. He married Malinda
Spencer, also a native of Kentucky j who is now
living with our subject and his brother, Elijah W.
She is seventy-five years of age ancl has been a
life long member of the Alethodist church, South
and is a devout and honorable Christian woman,
highly esteemed by all. Our subject is one of
eleven children, six of whom are now living,
named as follows: Airs. Julia Alarsh, of Salem,
Oregon; John J., of North Yamhill, Oregon;
James T, who is our subject; Elizabeth J.," the
wife of Hiram Roberts, he being the same name
but no relation, and now residing in Poe valley ;
Elijah W., who is the partner of our subject ; and
Airs. Rosa Taylor, of Olene, Oregon. At the
age of eleven, James T. went with his parents to
Alissouri ancl later learned the barber trade, which
he followed for fifteen years. During this time
he was rather a wild young man, paying little
attention to the claims of God ancl his soul, pre
ferring rather the pleasures of a season to re
ligious ways. In 1890 he came to Poe vallev,
where his parents ancl brothers were living, ancl
soon thereafter he was led to grasp the faith of
the Scriptures and turned his attention to their
study. He soon was licensed to preach, having
joined the South Alethodist church, the date of
his first licentiate being June, 1896, in Roseburg

district. He preached in Langell and Yonna val
leys and is very earnest in this labor. Soon after
coming here he entered into partnership with his
brother, Elijah W., and they went to work by the
month to get a start. They invested their earn
ings in cattle and gradually became more deeply
engaged in the stock business, purchasing land
betimes and increasing their herds. They now
own over seven hundred acres, two hundred acres
being natural meadow ancl about two hundred
acres in cultivation. They also have four hundred
acres in the Klamath Basin under the ditch and
eighty acres are seeded to alfalfa. They own a
fine band of cattle and horses, having gained their
entire property holdings by their own industry
ancl excellent management. They are hard work
ing men, highly respected and upright.

FRANKLIN PIERCE VAN AIETER is
one of the enterprising men who have made Kla
math county the prosperous political division she
is today. His residence is in Poe valley, near
Bedfield and there he owns a fine estate of two
hundred and forty acres, half of which is under
cultivation.. He was born in Lasalle county, Illi
nois, on August 9, 1854. The father, Jacob R.
YanAIeter, was horn in Grayson county, Ken
tucky and came to Illinois in 1852. Five years
later he moved to Kentucky and was a veteran of
the Mexican War. The mother of our subject
was Rhoda (Hackley) VanMeter, a native of
Kentucky. She died in Redding, California in
1893, aged seventy-six. The children of the fam
ily are named as follows : Dr. Abraham, a prom
inent physician at Lamar, Barton county, Alis
souri ancl who followed his profession four years
in the Civil War ; Isaac L., now deceased, who
served his country four years in the Rebellion,
being corporal; James H., deceased; Dr. Miles
E., one of the most prominent and skillful physi
cians and surgeon in San Francisco, California,
being also a lecturer on surgery and medicine ;
Franklin P., who is our subject; Alarion L., a
mechanic and farmer of Poe valley ; George W.,
a machinist in Los Gatos, California ; John H., a
farmer and stockman in Poe valley ; Charles E.,
a leading machinist of San Francisco whose skill
brings him a salary of two hundred and forty
dollars per month ; Airs. Sarah E. AlcClure, de
ceased ; ancl Alary, deceased. Our subject grew
up on a farm in Missouri ancl also learned the en
gineer's, art. His education was received from
the common schools ancl he made the best of his
opportunities. In 1876, he went to Colusa
county, California and engaged in engineering.
Two years later, he returned to Alissouri and on

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1037-

August 13, 1878, there married Miss Maggie A.
Carter, a native of Linn county, Missouri. Her
father, Collin T. Carter, was born in Kentucky
and came to Alissouri in the early forties. In the
spring of 1862, he joined a wagon train for Sac
ramento, Airs. VanAleter being one of the chil
dren then in the family. In 1867 the family re
turned to Linn county via the Panama route and
in all, they made five trips across the plains. He
died at Springfield, Alissouri, in 1900, aged sixty-
six. He came from Irish extraction. The mother
of Mrs. VanAleter was Emily AL (Sandusky)
Carter, a native of Kentucky, who died in 1872,
in Linn county, Alissouri. The other children of
the family are William S., of Greene county, Mis
souri ; Lee D., of the same county ; Mrs. Emily
Adams, deceased ; and George, deceased. In the
spring of 1882 Air. VanAleter came to Colusa
county, California ancl engaged as a stationary
engineer. For three years afterward, he was
foreman on a ranch and in the spring of 1894, he
came to Poe valley and located a homestead.. He
soon brought his family here and a careful invoice
of his capital showed that beside his wild land, he
had only five dollars in cash in all his holdings.
He had very little else to do with, but undaunted,
Mr. VanAleter took hold with his hands and has
made a splendid success financially. His farm is
well improved, having a house, barn ancl other
accessories. He has a good band of cattle, some
horses, plenty of implements for the ranch, and
altogether he is one of the prosperous men of
Klamath county. He has labored assiduously
Since coming here and has shown himself a man
of uprightness and unswerving integrity. The
children born to this family are Roy L., Gertie,
and Clara Alay. Roy L. is raising .stock and
farming in Poe valley. Gertie holds a first-class
certificate ancl has taught school throughout the
county. She possesses a fine talent in drawing
and is an artist of considerable note, having
made some very excellent pictures. Her people
justly take considerable pride in her labors and
give her the encouragement that she so thor
oughly merits. Air. VanAleter has been a great
traveler, having crossed the plains five times, and
is a man of wide experience and good ability.
He comes from a strong family and he and his
wife are among the most substantial ancl progres
sive people in this part of the country.

REV. JOHN WALLACE BRYANT resides
in Klamath Falls and was born on July "19, 1847,
in Wilson countv, Tennessee. His father, Elijah
L Bryant, was a native of Tennessee and came
trom English ancestry. He married Mary A.

AlcConnell, a native of Tennessee. Her parents
were born in Ireland. Our subject was raised
in Tennessee until the close of the war when the
family removed to Hart county, Kentucky, where
the father was drowned. Our subject received a
good education, was graduated from the theo
logical course under the auspices of the Methodist.
church south, and then, in 1875, entered the min
istry of that church.
On December 23, 1869, Air. Bryant married
Aliss Sarah N. DeWitt, who was born and reared
in Hart county, Kentucky, where also her wed
ding occurred. She was a daughter of the Rev.
Nelson C. DeWitt, a native of Bedford county,.
Virginia. He was a teacher for years, was as
sessor of Hart county sixteen years and preached
locally for the Alethodist Church south. His
father, James DeWitt, served in the War of 1812
and his grandfather in the Revolution. They
came from an English family. Airs. Bryant's
mother was Henry Ann (Alarkham) DeWitt,
also a native of Virginia. Her father, John Mark-
nam, was in the War of 1812 and her grandfather
was a patriot in the Revolution. Her family
also is from English ancestry. Mrs. Bryant was
educated in the public schools and in the sem
inary and taught school for thirteen years while
her husband preached the gospel. In Alarch,
1889, they emigrated to Klamath county, Ore
gon and for a few years, Air. Bryant was engaged
in preaching. Next we see him in Applegate and
later in Aledford. After that, he united with
the Congregational church at Ashland, Oregon,.
and held various pulpits in Jackson county and
other places. Then he was Sunday school organ
izer in Jackson county, Oregon, preached in Cal
ifornia and also in various other places. His home
for eight years has been constantly at Klamath
Falls but he has made trips to the various fields
of labor. In the latter years, Mr. Bryant has
been retired from regular pastorate work, al
though he frequently holds different pulpits still.
To our subject and his wife, the following
named children have been born : Mary, the wife of
Robert Williams in this county ; Emily, wife of
Henrv Farrer of Klamath Falls ; James L. and
William N.. deceased ; Theodore J., who married
Eva Stearns of Klamath Falls; Elijah C, de
ceased ; Ella, the wife of Leon Lewis of Klamath
Falls ; Sallie W and J. F. DeWitt.
Air. Bryant is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and the A. F. & A. AL Airs. Bryant is a member
of the Rebekahs and holds the position of noble
grand. Mr. and Airs. Bryant have a comfortable resi
dence with six lots in Klamath Falls and in addi
tion own a choice quarter section of land under
the ditch, which is very valuable for agricultural

io38

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

purposes. They also have a five acre tract of land
in Medford, Oregon, well improved. They are
highly respected people and have labored faith
fully for the benefit o.f humanity, during many
years.

WILLIAM HENRY McCLURE. Klamath
county has many vigorous and enterprising men
but few of them have been more active and pro
gressive than the gentleman whose name appears
at the head of this sketch. He is a farmer and
stockman in Poe valley, his estate being near
Bedfield postoffice and an epitomized review of
his career would be interesting to the citizens of
this county.
W. H. McClure was born July 24, 1862, in
Linn county, Missouri, the son of James F. Mc
Clure, a native of Kentucky and born about 1842.
The father came to Linn county, Alissouri when
a child of six years and later served in the state
militia. He remained there until his death. His
. ancestors were of Irish extraction and he mar
ried Sarah VanMeter, a native of Illinois, who
died in Missouri. Our subject has three sisters
who married brothers, Mrs. Mattie E. Foster,
Airs. Laura E. Foster, Airs. Rhoda Foster. Will
iam H. grew up in Linn county, Missouri and
received a fair education and when eighteen years
and five months of age, on December 24, 1880,
married Miss Irene Roberson, who was a native
of the same place as her husband. Her father,
Ed Roberson, came from Virginia, being one of
the pioneers of Lincoln county and a highly es
teemed citizen. He married America Easley, a
native of Virginia and they are both now de
ceased. In 1 88 1 our subject with his wife came
via San Francisco to Portland, experiencing three
wrecks on the railroad and a severe storm at sea
without any loss of life. Being of an active and
roving disposition, Mr. McClure always desired
to see the place just ahead and he has traveled
with his wife over almost all the United States.
They have visited every principal city and it is
with no small pride that he can remark that he
has made plenty of money for all their journeys.
They have made two trips to the Atlantic coast,
have been seven times to the Mississippi valley
and traveled nine times up and down the Pacific
coast. His wife has acompanied him on all these
trips and he has followed numerous occupations
in various parts of this great Republic. Finally
in 1887, he selected a place in Klamath county
and here he has resided every since. He imme
diately gave his endeavors to stock raising ancl
farming and also in the past eleven years has
been doing butchering, selling the meat over the
country. He has slaughtered over two thousand

beeves besides other animals and has made a
good success in this enterprise. Such a life of
activity as Mr. AlcClure has led has not been
without much hardship and adversity yet he has
overcome all and is now well-to-do, owning two
hundred and twenty acres of land well improved
besides other property. At this present writing,
Mr. McClure and his wife are enjoying a trip to
the world's fair at St. Louis whence they expect
to return to their Klamath county home and for a
time at least, retire from active labor, renting the
property. Five children have been born to this
union, Georgia Gertrude, the wife of Benjamin
Johnson, James E., Virgile, Charles Amos, Flos
sie. Mr. McClure landed here without capital but
has made such a good success that he is rated
among the substantial and well-to-do men, with
plenty of means to enjoy the good things ©f life.
He is a good and respected citizen and has hosts
of friends while he and his wife have always la
bored for the upbuilding of the country and the
advancement of its interests in such a manner that
they have accomplished a great deal, both for
themselves and theirs.

JOHN FRED GOELLER, who came to
Klamath Falls in very early days, is one of the
wealthy men of the county. He has been an ac
tive business man here during all the intervening
years and is personally very closely connected
with the upbuilding of the country. He stands
at the head of a large manufacturing plant an*
has shown himself a man of ability and enterprise.
His plant embraces machinery for the manufac
ture of lumber, of all kinds of building material
and is one of the most important institutions in
the county. It is a large two-story structure lo
cated on the wharf, is provided with the latest
and best machinery and is conducted in a manner
that demonstrates Mr. Goeller's ability as a ma-
chanist and manufacturer. He has followed con
tracting and .building in connection with his man
ufacturing work and all of tlie larger buildings of
this part of the state, show his handiwork. A de
tailed account of Mr. Goeller's life is an import
ant part of Klamath county's history and with
pleasure we append the same.
John F. Goeller was born in Winesburg, Tus
carawas county, Ohio, on January 22, i860. His
father, John M. Goeller, was born in Sandusky
county, Ohio and his father, the grandfather of
our subject, came from Germany. John M.
Goeller was a butcher and now resides at Beach
City, Ohio. He married Barbara Woener, a na
tive of Ohio, and a descendant from German an
cestors. The brothers and sisters of Mr. Goeller

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1039

are John, a jeweler in Payette, Idaho; George
and William of Pratt county, Kansas ; Charles
ancl Caroline of Beach City, Ohio. Our subject
received a good common school education during
the first eighteen years of his life and was ap
prenticed to learn the carpenter trade. While
working at that in the day, he spent his evenings
in studying at a business college. At the age
•of twenty-two, he went to Nemaha county, Kan
sas and followed his trade there for eight years.
In 1890, we find Mr. Goeller in San Francisco,
later in Santa Rosa, then in Alameda, following
his trade in all these places. Finally in Sep
tember, 1891, he landed in Klamath Falls, Ore
gon and soon purchased a half interest in a plan
ing mill and door factory, his partner being A.
Al. Peterman. The firm name was known as
Peterman and Goeller. In the spring of 1892,
Air. Peterman sold his interest to C. A. Dillon
and the firm was known as Goeller and Dillon.
Later, C. H. Witherow bought Mr. Dillon's in
terest and the firm was known as Goeller and
Witherow. He later sold to O. H. Harshburger
and the firm was known as Goeller and Harsh-
burger. Finally in 1896, Mr. Goeller bought his
partner's interest and since that time has handled
the entire business himself. He is now doing a
large business, both in building and in the manu
facturing field and is one of the leading men of
the country. In addition to the property men
tioned. Mr. Goeller owns two and one-half sec
tions of fine timberland, has a quarter section of
agricultural land, has a large number of fine busi
ness lots and a beautiful residence situated in a
plot of ground one hundred and sixty by two
hundred feet. The same is beautified by trees
and so forth, while the dwelling is one of the best
in the county. It is a ten room structure of mod
ern architectural design, supplied with all the
conveniences of the day. He has the house heated
by a fine furnace, lighted by electricity and ace-
talene gas and everything bespeaks a man of
ability and culture. Mr. Goeller handles in addi
tion to his business, a large stock of builders'
hardware, paints, oils and so forth, and does a
good trade. Politically, he is an influential man
and always takes a keen interest in all the cam
paigns. He was elected chairman of the Demo
cratic central committee for the county and has
served in the city council. He has always shown
himself a man of progress, public spirited and
ready to assist in any line for the building up of
the country.
On September 1, 1887, at Garden City, Kan
sas, Air. Goeller married Aliss Alice Sawyer, who
was born near Boyle, Kansas, on January 21,
1868. Her parents are Cyrus A. and Delia F.
(Hull) Sawver, natives of Kentucky and Ohio,

respectively. The father emigrated to Alissouri
in early days and at the time of the Civil War,
went to Kansas where he served as a teamster in
the army. The mother came to Kansas with her
parents when a girl. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer are
now living at Fairview, Kansas. The other chil
dren of the family besides Mrs. Goeller are:
Clara B., deceased; Mrs. Lula Rutherford, de
ceased ; Bertha E., who has the degree of D. O.
and presides in Ashland, Oregon; Cyrus H.,
Walter Al., Lawrence I., Daisy Al., all in Brown
county, Kansas. Mrs. Goeller was well educated
and had prepared herself for school teaching
prior to her marriage. To our subject and his
estimable wife, three children have been born,
Harry E., Hazel M., and Barbara F.
Mr. Goeller is a member of the I. O. O. F.
in Klamath Falls, is past grand, and was dele
gate to the grand lodge in Oregon in 1902. He
also belongs to the encampment. He and his
wife are members of the Rebekahs, she being
past grand of that order and in 1903 was dele
gate to the grand lodge. Mr. Goeller belongs to
the A. O. U. W. and he and his wife also belong
to the order of Washington.

CHARLES IRA ANDREWS, a well known
merchant at Olene, was born October 9, 1867, in
Mower county, Aiinnesota. His father, Webster
Andrews, was a native of Maine and emigrated
to Minnesota in eafly days. He served in the
Seventh Minnesota Infantry until wounded then
lay for many weary months in the hospital at
Memphis. After the war, he came to Lincoln
county, Kansas and took a homestead. Later, he
moved to Ellis county at Fort Hayes and was
engaged in farming and in the livery business.
In 1 88 1, he traveled across the plains with a large
emigrant train of some three hundred families.
In March, they left Fort Hayes and journeyed
via North Platte where they saw Buffalo Bill,
and then on to Fort Laramie. Under induce
ments of the railroad company, that they would
receive high wages in the west, the emigrants
shipped their stuff to Ogden but were unable to
secure the employment and the company refused
to give them their goods until they would secure
the company by- a mortgage upon them. This
they refused to do and a pitched battle ensued.
The company called the soldiers to their assist
ance. Finally a settlement was made and the
company carried the emigrants on to Pocatello,
Idaho. Again they had trouble and thirty of
the train got away with their outfits and contin
ued the journey. Later, they were overtaken
by armed men sent by the company and the emi-

1 040

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

grants disarmed their assailants and sent them
back empty handed. In crossing the desert, they
paid as high as three dollars per barrel for water.
Finally, they reached Portland and the father se
cured a farm, twenty miles east of that city.
There he remained until his death in 1891. The
mother of our subject was Cyrena Andrews, a
native of Alaine. She died in 1885. There were
nine children in the family. Our subject grew
up on the farm and received his education from
the common schools and as early as sixteen, went
to logging. Later he got the contract of carrying
the mail from East Portland to Eagle creek and
continued it for six years. He secured eighty
acres of land near the home place and improved
it well and in 1891, came to Klamath county. Here
he did logging. In January, Mr. Andrews mar
ried Aliss Georgia Cottrell at Klamath Falls.
She was born in Alilwaukee county, Wisconsin,
the daughter of George and Carrie Cottrell. They
farmed here and later lived at Ashland, Oregon.
Three children have been born to this union,
Carrie C, Clyde C, ancl Alta A. Later, Air. An
drews returned to his Portland farm but owing to
ill health came again to Klamath county. He still
owns the Portland property. In 1901, Air. An
drews took a homestead near Olene and later
bought a small tract of land in town. Upon this
latter he erected a nice store building and has a
good stock of general merchandise, including- dry
goods, groceries, hardware, boots, shoes, gents'
furnishing and so forth. He is doing a fine busi
ness and best of all his health is fully recovered
in this excellent climate. He and his wife are
substantial and highly respected people and are
among the leading citizens of this part of the
country.

ARTHUR C. LEWIS, a prominent stock
man of Klamath county, also owns and operates
a city meat market in Klamath Falls. He does
a general wholesale and retail business in meats
and is one of the prosperous and entergetic busi
ness men of the town. He was born on Septem
ber 5, 1871 at Bedford, Iowa, the son of Leon
ard A. and Alary A. (Bruner) Lewis, natives of
Indiana and Iowa, respectively. The father was
a veteran of the Civil war. Besides our subject,
they had the following named children, Airs. Nel
lie Aloore, Charles C., L. Alva, C. Leon, ancl
Lester and Leslie, twins, deceased. Our sub
ject came with his parents to Greenwood, Colo
rado in 1873 where the father engaged in stock-
raising until 1885. In that year they came to
this section ancl followed the same business until
his death in March, 1902. The mother is still
living on the old home place which adjoins the

town of Klamath Falls. After attending the
common schools until he was twenty years of age,
our subject thirsted for more education and ac
cordingly began to work his way through the
state agricultural college at Corvallis. After
four years of arduous labor, paying his own ex
penses by his labor entirely, he graduated with
well earned honors and returned to Klamath
county ancl took up the stock business. After
operating here for two years, he went to Clack
amas county and began raising teasels for the
woolen mills. For three years, he did that suc
cessfully and then came back to this county and
again embarked in the stock business. Since
that time, he has continued uninterruptedly in that
industry. He handles cattle and horses and is
fast breeding his cattle into thoroughbreds. He
makes a specialty of full blood Herefords and
Shorthorn cattle and is very successful. His
estate consists of three hundred acres of choice
meadow land three miles out from Klamath Falls
on the Klamath river. It is a very valuable place,
producing abundant returns of hay. In addition
to this, he has one hundred and sixty acres, fif
teen miles southeast from town on Lost River.
He also owns valuable property in Klamath Falls.
For two years, he has been conducting the City
Aleat Alarket and has won for himself splendid
returns. On Alay 25, 1899, in Clackamas county, Ore
gon, Air. Lewis married Aliss Iva AL Sawtell,
who was born in Clackamas county, November
8, 1875. She spent two years at Corvallis in
college when her husband was there. Her father,
A. J. Sawtell, was of English birth and was one
of the well known pioneers of Oregon. He died
in September, 1901. Her mother, Eliza E. (Dib
ble) Sawtell, crossed the plains with her parents
in early days and was a pioneer of the state. To
Air. and Mrs. Lewis, two children have been
born, Rollin O. A., ancl Ruby Ollis.
Fraternally, we find Air. Lewis affiliated with
the W. O. W. and A. O. U. W. He and his
wife are members of the Presbyterian church and
are leaders in society here.

DANIEL GORDON, Sr., is a retired busi
ness man residing at Keno, Klamath county,
Oregon, who has seen a great deal of life in the
east and far west. He was born September 13,
1810, on the bank of the St. Lawrence river, St.
Lawrence county, New York, the son of John
and Jerusha (Barnett) Gordon. The parents
were natives of Scotland, the mother dying while
our subject was quite young. The father lived
to be over one hundred years of age.
It was but a limited schooling received by 'the

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. L

ewis

Mr. and Mrs. William P. Whitney

Mr. and Mrs. William P. Rhoads

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1041

subject of this sketch, but he improved his op
portunities and by working around mills and
machinery became a most expert machanic. He
constructed wool carders, spinning wheels,
looms, etc., ancl becoming an expert millwright
constructed saw and grist mills. In 1829 he went
to New Orleans and was in the employ of the
government for two years. Here he saw his
first railroad and enjoyed his first ride on the
cars, going from the Crescent City to Fort Pike,
a distance of five miles. In 1831 he was engaged
in carpenter work in Buchanan county, Missouri,
and established a shop where he manufactured
wagons and plows. Following a visit to his old
home in New York he went to Muskingum
county, Ohio, where he became acquainted with
his future companion in life, and they were soon
afterward married. The name of the bride was
Sarah Castle. Remaining there four years the
couple then removed to Buchanan county, Mis
souri. The spring of 1852 he sold out his busi
ness, purchased several yoke of cattle, wagons,
etc., ancl journeyed across the plains with an im
migrant train. Six months later they arrived at
Yreka, California. Here he engaged in dairying,
and subsequently built a saw mill costing $13,000.
During the Modoc war he served as a volunteer
citizen with his three sons, fighting the Indians,
and then although over sixty years of age, saw
some active service. It was in 1873 that our sub
ject came to Klamath Falls, and built a saw mill
near where Keno now stands, the first one in
that part of the country, as was the mill at Yreka
the first in that district. He now owns one hun
dred and sixty-five acres of improved land ; one-
half farm land, the balance timber : He also owns
valuable property in Klamath Falls. At the age
of ninety-four our subject is in fairly good
health, except some inconvenience from an injury
by being thrown from a horse in 1902, and he is
the oldest inhabitant in Klamath county. Airs.
Gordon died in 1899 at the age of eighty years.
Seven children were born to them : Jane, widow
of the late Newton Pratt ; Airs. Adeline Sherman,
deceased ; Airs. Mary Hamacker, deceased ; John,
deceased ; Daniel, in Klamath county ; Alexander,
deceased; and Newton, a former deputy sheriff
of Klamath county, but now an attorney of Yreka,
California.

WILLIAA1 PERRY WHITNEY is a promi
nent farmer and stockman residing two and one-
fourth miles south and one and one-fourth miles
east from Merrill. W:ith his brother, he owns
over eleven hundred acres of choice land, part of
which lies in Oregon and part in California. They
have three hundred and fifty acres seeded to alfalfa

and expect to sow at least one hundred and fifty
acres more as they have five hundred acres of
level land under the ditch. They own an interest
in the irrigation ditch besides having a very fine
equipment for general farming and stock rais
ing, including a first class steam thresher and
everything needed in their business. Mr. Whit
ney was born on January 18, 1865, at Cottage
Grove, Lane county, Oregon. His father, El-
kanah, was a native of New York and came
across the plains in the early fifties. He settled
in Lane county, being one of the pioneers there
and wrought until 1871, when he journeyed to
Klamath valley. He lived near Klamath Falls for
two years, then came to where Alerrill now stands,
settling first near the California line. He was a
prominent man and sturdy pioneer. His death
occurred in 1898. He came from a strong Amer
ican family. John Whitney came from London to
the colonies in 1635, being the first American
progenitor. The V mtney family took a prominent
part in the Revolution and have always been
stanch Americans. The father married Alary A.
White, a native of Indiana, who crossed the plains
with his parents in the early fifties and settled
in Lane county. She died in 1896. The children
born to this worthy couple were Albert, of Mer
rill, William P., who is our subject ; Daniel M.,
the partner of our subject and now living with
him; Airs. Caroline Ball, of lower California;
Major J. and Johnson, in Merrill; Mrs. Martha
A. Brandon and Rosana, of Merrill. Our sub
ject was but six years of age when he was
bi ought by his parents to the Klamath valley
and the rest of his career has been spent in this re
gion. He has seen the country grow from an al
most unsettled wilderness to its present prosper
ous condition ancl has materially aided in building
up and developing the same. His education was
gained in the public schools here and with his
three younger brothers, he has spent the time in
ranching and in raising stock. His first work for
money was done when he was about sixteen or
seventeen, when he herded sheep for thirty dol
lars per month and continued for twenty-four
months in that trying occupation. The brothers
all worked together until the spring of 1901, when
they divided their property and our subject and
Daniel AL entered into partnership. They now
possess the property that has already been men
tioned and in addition thereto, in 1901, they pur
chased a two-thirds interest in a general mercan
tile establishment at Merrill. The business is in
corporated under the style of Whitney Alercan-
tile Company and is one of the best in this city.
They own a commodious building and well se
lected stock of all kinds of goods used in this part
of the country. The four brothers are interested

80

1042

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in a large band of sheep. It is very interesting
and instructive to know that the Whitney broth
ers all started in life without capital and each one
now is a wealthy man and a most respected citi
zen. All this has been gained by their integrity,
industry and sagacity. The two brothers have
plenty of horses and cattle besides their other
stock and many implements.
On June 6, 1901, Air. Whitney married Miss
Augusta Kattenhorn, who was born in Nevada.
Her mother is now residing at Merrill. One child
has been born to this union, Myra Augusta, now
deceased. Mr. Whitney is a member of the I. O. O. F.
and one of the leading citizens of Klamath
county.

WILLIAM P. RHOADS is an enterprising
business man of Klamath, county. He resides in
Merrill where he has a choice eight-room dwel
ling and where the family lives during the school
year. His business is sawmilling and he owns
-a fine plant on Stukel mountain, some seven miles
north from Alerrill. He has been operating it for
some years, with good success. In addition to this
"he owns four hundred and eighty acres of fine
'timber land and is becoming a prosperous and
well to do man. The fact that he came to this
county recently with his finances well depleted
and has secured the fine property mentioned in a
short time, speaks very flatteringly of his ability
as a business man.
"W. P. Rhoads, the father of our subject, was
born in New York and went to Minnesota in very
early day. He was there during the terrible New
Ulm massacre and although in imminent danger,
he escaped with his life and fled to Iowa. His
father, the granfather of our subject, was killed
in the Mexican War. The mother of William P.
was Hannah (VanCamp) Rhoads, a native of
Pennsylvania. Her father was also killed in the
Mexican War. The children of the family are
"Charles T., William P., who is our subject, Mil
ton and Mrs. Anna Wuestney. Our subject re-,
mained in Iowa until fourteen years of age and
there received his primary education. Then he
came with his parents to the head of the Elkhorn -
river in Nebraska where his father was engaged
in the cattle business: There also his mother died..
In the spring of 1888, the father came. to Win-
lock, Washing-ton, and later settled on Vashon
. Island, where he is now living, aged seventy-four.
In 1889, our subject came on to the sound coun
try and soon entered Vashon College, where he
completed the commercial course. After gradu
ating from that, he went to work in the mills at
different places and soon was a skillful mill man.

He was accustomed to hard labor previous to
this, however, as he had earned all the money
that paid his expenses in college. Among other
mills, he worked at Port Blakely mill and became
a first class sawyer. Being economical, he saved
his wages and soon bought an interest in a saw
mill. This was burned later and resulted in a
total loss as they had no insurance on it. Again,
Mr. Rhoads went to work for wages and later
came to Medford, Oregon. There on September
15, 1893, he married Miss Mattie Boussum, who
was born in the Willamette valley. After that,
we find Mr. Rhoads in the American Bar mines
on the Klamath river, laboring for one year. Then
he was appointed foreman and held that position
for four years. In 1898 he came to Merrill and
leased a ranch. Some time thereafter, he bought
a sawmill and in March, 1900, erected it on Stukel
Mountain. Since that time, he has given his un
divided attention to the operation of his mill and
has met with splendid success. He has shown
himself one of the substantial and progressive men
of the county and is public spirited and bright
minded. Three children have been born to Mr.
and Mrs. Rhoads, Beulah C, Robena R., and
Donovan A., deceased.
In fraternal circles, Mr. Rhoads is affiliated
with the I. O. O. F. In the spring of 1904, he
was nominated on the Republican ticket for clerk
of Klamath county but owing to the fact that
the county is Democratic, he was defeated, yet
only by thirteen votes, which demonstrated his
popularity.

ANTONE CASTEL is to be classed as one
of the earliest pioneers of Klamath county and
he is now one of the leading citizens of Klamath
Falls. On Januajry 17, 1859, in Cologne, on the
Rhine, occurred the birth of Antone Castel. He
received a good education in the schools in his
native country, learning during that time, the
English language. When fourteen, he shipped
as a deck boy on a merchantman and before
twenty years of age, had visited every leading
port in the world ancl had circumnavigated the
globe as well as becoming acquainted in
many places. In 1879, he landed in New York
city and quit the sea. After that, we find him in
Chicago ancl for the next three or four years he
was an extensive traveler in the United States,
visiting nearly every state and territory in the
union. Finally in 1884, he made his way to
southwest Oregon and selected a location at
Klamath Falls. He had made a study of survey
ing during his navigation ancl in 1892, was elected
to the position of county surveyor. He was re-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1043

elected in 1894 on the Republican ticket and in
1897, was appointed postmaster at Klamath
Falls. This position was held for five years. In
1902, he received the nomination on the Repub
lican ticket for county clerk but owing to the
• county being Democratic, he was defeated. From
1889 to 1892, Mr. Castel was engaged in„the liv
ery business. In 1903, he erected a brewery in
Klamath Falls and is now owner and operator
of this plant. He has a nice establishment, a
¦good trade and has shown commendable wisdom
in the conduet of the same.
On May 1, 1894, Mr. Castel married Miss
Alpha Engle, who was born in Pittsburg, Penn
sylvania. To this union, one child has been born,
Alfred B., on June 6, 1895. Mr. Castel has a fine
home in Klamath Falls and has won many friends
-during his life here. He is a man of enterprise
and ability and has always taken hold to assist
in building up the country.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH P. LEE a popular
and leading citizen of Klamath Falls, is now
holding the responsible positjon of assessor in his
county. His residence is ten miles south of Kla
math Falls and in addition to the public business
he discharges, he oversees his farm and stock in
terests. Joseph P. was born on November 15,
1840 in Maury county, Tennessee. William T.
Lee, his father, was a native of Virginia and a
first cousin to General Robert E. Lee, who traces
his ancestry back to colonial days. He died in
Tennessee at the age of seventy-seven. He had
married Elizabeth Aldmond, born near Peters
burg, Virginia, who lived to be eighty-five years
of age. This worthy couple has seven children,
only one of whom is living besides our subject,
named Dr. J. G. Lee, a prominent physician in
the old home county in Tennessee. Our subject
had limited opportunities to gain an education but
made the best of them and at the age of fifteen
engaged in the drug business with his brother,
continuing there until the war broke out when he
enlisted in Company H, First Tennessee Infan
try. He responded to the first call and for three
years was captain of his company. He served the
Confederacy faithfully and participated in the
battles of Sheep's Pass, Shiloh, Corinth, Perry
ville, Chickamauga. Atlanta, Jonesborough and
many others. In addition to this he was 111 yery
arduous service in skirmishing much of the time.
He was wounded three times and once very se
verely After the war he returned to Tennessee
and took charge of his father's place and in 1886,
decided to come west. He was appointed to take
charge of the farm on the Klamath agency ancl

held that position for three years. His wife was
assistant teachef in the Indian school. They re
signed, owing to the change of administration and
came to Klamath Falls, where they opened a
hotel. A few years later, Mr. Lee decided to take
up the stock business so secured the estate where
he now resides and has given his attention to this
since. He has a fine meadow farm and raises
good stock.
On December 31, 1867, Air. Lee married Miss
Dellie Davis, a distant relative of the noted Jef
ferson Davis. She was born in the same vicinity
as her husband. To this union the following
named children have been born : William T., mar
ried and following general merchandising in Han
ford, California; Emma, wife of F. H. Mills an
attorney of Klamath Falls; Minnie, the wife of
E. B. Henry, a merchant of Klamath Falls;
Aggie; and Louise. ,
Mr. Lee has been a member of the A. F. &
A. M. for forty years. He and his wife are mem
bers of the Christian church and are highly re
spected people. In June, 1904, Captain Lee's
name appeared on the Democratic ticket for as
sessor of the county and although the county. is
strongly Republican, he was elected by a hand
some majority and makes a very efficient and re
liable officer.

JOHN V. HOUSTON, proprietor of a thriv
ing restaurant and the Houston opera house in
Klamath Falls, is one of the prominent and well
known business men who have achieved a marked
success here. He was born in a little log cabin
near South English, formerly Houston's Point in
Keokuk county, Iowa. His father, James H.
Houston, was born in Indiana, married in Iowa
and settled in Keokuk county and in very early
day, came to Oregon. He participated in the-
Rogue river Indian war and later returned east
and followed the hotel business in South Eng
lish, Iowa. Then he came west and bought an in
terest with his sons in the business in Klamath
Falls, where he continued until his death. He
had married Aliss Elizabeth J. Tate, a native of
Indiana. Our subject accompanied his parents to Nod-
awav county, Alissouri where his mother died,
then he came with his father to Leadville, Col
orado in 1878 where the former engaged in min
ing. Our subject had received a fine common
school education, and then he began to learn
the newspaper business, serving first on the Lead
ville Herald. For eight years he was engaged on
that paper, then with his partner, Hon. James
Little, established the Meeker Herald at Meeker,
Colorado, the year being 1885. They built up a

1044

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

good circulation and made the sheet very pros
perous, then he sold to his partner and was ap
pointed postmaster at Meeker. Later, he en
gaged in the printing business, but owing to ill
health, sold his entire interest ancl came west.
He finally landed in Klamath Falls and here en
gaged in business with his brother, Jabe A., under
the firm name of Houston Brothers. This was in
1894. His father came on west, afterwards
bought the brother's interest and the firm was
changed to J. H. Houston and Son. In 1897,
they erected the Houston Opera House and on
the death of- his father, on December 18, 1901, he
took entire charge of the business and has suc
cessfully continued it since. He has a fine large
property well located in the center of the town
and owns other property, including the opera
house recently erected at Merrill, Oregon. He is
one of the prominent citizens here and has been
a very faithful laborer in building up the country
and bringing in the prosperity that is enjoyed here
at this time. Air. Houston is a public spirited
man and takes a keen interest in politics ancl
everything that tends to build up and forward the
country. On December 24, 1882, in Leadville, Colo
rado, Mr. Houston married Aliss Mae McClarren,
a native of Ohio. Three children have been born
to this union, Thomas Alerle, Edna May and
Elizabeth Ellen. Mr. Houston has one sister,
Mrs. Celia B. Roberts, of Mullan, Idaho.

WILLIAAI W. HAZEN, the owner and op
erator of the Klamath Falls livery barn, is one
of the enterprising business men of the town. He
was born in Linn county, Iowa, on March 8,
1857, the son of Sears N. and Martha Hazen,
natives of Pennsylvania. He has one brother,
John P., of this county and one sister. Airs. Nancy
Cameron of Alodoc county, California. Our sub
ject crossed the plains with his parents in 1863,
coming with ox teams to Sacramento county, Cal
ifornia. Six months were consumed on the jour
ney which was about the ordinary trip of that
kind at that time. Later, they came to northern
California and in 1873, the family, with the ex
ception of the mother, who had died in Califor
nia, settled on Lost river. It was then in Jack
son county, Oregon. Later it was situated in
Lake county and is now in Klamath county. The
father -is now living near Merrill in this county.
Our subject was reared on the ranch and edu
cated in the public schools and in boyhood days,
rode the range for several years. Then he went
in the stock business for himself and later took a
trip through Wyoming. Afterwards, he returned

to this county and in 1898, he opened a livery
business in Klamath Falls. He has one of the
largest establishments of the county and does a
general sale, feed and livery business and has his
place well stock with rigs ancl horses.
He gets a good share of the public business
and is a favorite with travelers, owing to the care
and pains he takes to make everything comfort
able ancl safe. In addition- to his business here,
Air. Hazen has a nice residence, well located, sur
rounded by lawn, shade trees and so forth, be
sides owning other property.
He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and is
past grand, while he and his wife belong to the
Rebekah lodge. He is past grand of that order
ancl captain of the Rebekah team.
On September 2^, 1895, Air. Hazen married
Aliss Hattie Arant, who was born in Douglas
county, Oregon. Her parents were early pio
neers to this state and are now deceased. To
Air. and Airs. Hazen, one child has been born,
Sears N.

IRA R. HANSON is one of the enterprising
stockmen of Klamath county and resides on Peli
can Bay just one-half mile southwest from Peli
can postoffice. The bay is a tributary of Klamath
Lake and is in one of the best locations in Kla
math county. Ira R. Hanson was born in An-
glaise county, Ohio, on September 25, 1862. His
father, James Aladison Hanson, is a Alethodist
preacher and is now dwelling in Kansas, where
he is active in his profession. He was enrolling
officer during the Civil War and his brother,
Amaziah, was at one time state treasurer of
Ohio. They trace their ancestors back to one
John Hanon , who was very prominent in the
colonies before the Revolution, being president
of the united colonies. James Hanson, the grand
father of our subject, was a veteran of the War of
1812 and lived within thirty days of being one
hundred years of age. Our subject's mother,
Rosa (Welch) Hanson, is now deceased. Her
grandfather was one of the five charter members
of the order of Odd Fellows in the United States.
The organization was effected in 1819 and he
was influential in it. Mr. Hanson has one
brother, Albert, and two sisters, Airs. Elva Arbo-
gast, deceased and Airs. Jenette G. Copeland, who
died some ten years ago in this county. Our
subject went with his father to Bates county, Mis
souri and there commenced his education. Later,
he went to Fort Scott ancl completed his training
in the schools, then went to Anderson county,
Kansas. In 1886, we find him in New Mexico,
whence he journeyed to Arizona and did rail
roading for a while. During this time, he

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1045

learned the engineers trade and operated an en
gine for some time. He traveled over various por
tions of California and finally in 1893 landed in
Klamath county. In 1897 he came to his present
place ancl engaged in the stock business. He has
a fine quarter section of hay land and an unlim
ited range for stock. He owns now one hundred
and fifty head of cattle besides a lot of horses and
has been prospered exceedingly. Coming here
without funds and starting in to build a home he
has succeeded so well that today he is worth fif
teen thousand dollars at least. Air. Hanson is ac
tive as a guide for home seekers and has the satis
faction of having established many a good lo
cation. On April 11, 1896, Air. Hanson married Mrs.
Hopy (Dodson) Wilson, who was born in Yam
hill county, Oregon, the daughter of Robert and
Mary L. (Roy) Dodson. The father is deceased
and the mother is now living with this daughter.
The, parents crossed the plains with ox teams in
1847 and settled in Washington county on a don
ation claim. They came in the same train but
were not married until after they arrived in Ore
gon. Mrs. Hanson's former husband, Thomas
Wilson, was of Washington county, Oregon ancl
to them five children were born : Chloe, wife of
John Linn, in this county ; Clay, a miller in Wash
ington county ; Mary, Burke, and Thomas B.
Mr. Hanson is a member of the I. O. O. F.
in Klamath Falls. He and his wife are substan
tial people, well known ancl highly respected.

KY TAYLOR, a tensorial artist of excel
lent skill, is handling a thriving establishment
in Klamath Falls. He is a genial and good man
and has won the confidence and friendship of all
who know him. Air. Taylor is a respected and sub
stantial citizen ancl one of the pioneers of this
part of Oregon. He was born June 6, 1850 in
Poweshiek county, Iowa. The parents were Hi
ram and Alargaret (Severns) Taylor, natives of
Ohio and early pioneers to Iowa. They are now
deceased. Our" subject is the only one of the fam
ily living and was left an orphan when eleven
years of age. Since that time, he has been entirely
on his own resources. He gained a good education
bv industrious effort and in 1868 entered an ap
prenticeship with a barber, ancl since that time,
he has followed his trade at different times ancl
places. He has a fine establishment in Klamath
Falls ancl owns a half interest on a fine business
corner ancl a store which he rents. Mr. Taylor
also has a very nice residence in one of the choice
locations of the city ancl the place is well im
proved with shade and fruit trees, making it

valuable ancl beautiful. He has always taken an
interest in the affairs of the county and has lab
ored hard for its prosperity. In 1881, he came
to Reno, Nevada ancl shortly thereafter journeyed
by stage to Aden, California. There he bought
a team and wagon and journeyed overland to
Portland. Later, he visited other points of the
west and northwest and on May 21, 1882, land
ed in Klamath Falls. For a short time he followed
farming ancl stock raising then removed to town
and engaged in the barber and confectionary
business. He closed out the store later and con
tinued in the operation of the barber shop ever
since. Klamath Falls, it was Linkville, then, was
a very small hamlet and but few settlers were
in the county. Air. Taylor has not only witnessed
the growth of the county and town in these years
but has very materially assisted in their pros
perity and upbuilding.
On November 26, 1871, Mr. Taylor married
Airs. Josephine A. Van Valkenburg, of Dutch an
cestry. By her former husband she has two sons,
Luman G., a prominent mining man of Sumas,
Washington and Howard H., a leading stock
man of Klamath county and also ex-county
treasurer. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Masonic fra
ternity and also the A. O. U. W. He and his
wife are highly respected people ancl are good
substantial citizens.

JOHN L. JONES, who resides about seven
miles northwest from Klamath Falls on Long;
Lake, was born on April 2, 1854, in England. His
parents, Inigo and Agnes L. (Lemmey) Jones
are now deceased. At the early age of eleven, our
subject left home and went to sea, shipping on
the sailing vessel, Maggie, bound for Alediterran-
ean ports. After a voyage of nine months, he re
turned to England and shipped as an ordinary
seaman to Calcutta. Then he went to China and
later to San Francisco and in 1871 went to the
mines at various points in California. Two years
later he went to South America and worked in
a saltpeter mine for five years. After that, he
again went to sea and held the position of mate
on various vessels and traveled all over the
globe. Three times he has sailed around the
globe and every port of any importance in the en
tire world has been visited by him. During this
long career of thirteen years on the water, he was
shipwrecked twice, both times in the English
channel, and on those occasions it was only by the
utmost exertion that his life was saved. In 1880
he quit the sea at Puget sound ancl journeyed
down to Yamhill county, Oregon where he did
farming for seven years. Then he raised hops

1046

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

until 1897, after which he sold out in Yamhill
county and came to Klamath county in 1899. He
located on Long lake, as stated above, where he
owns something over a half section of land part
of which is fine meadow and part timber land.
It is well located for stock business and he has
considerable stock at the present time. In addi
tion to handling his farm and stock, Air. Tones
is logging for Aloore Brothers on Upper Klam
ath Lake ancl has been so engaged for a long
time. He is one of the successful men in this
business and is also a leading and a substantial
citizen. On October 23, 1884 in Yamhill county, Mr.
Jones married Miss Mary E. Wood, who was
horn in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Her parents
are Ora ancl Mary E. (Lake) Wood. The father
is deceased. To this union thirteen children have
been born, eight of whom are living, named as
follows : Agnes L., wife of F. Z. Hawkins, Inigo,
Lorenzo T., Edith I., Frank M., Mary E., Lillie
M. and Richard V.
Air. Jones is a member of the I. O. O. F. and
is well and favorably known. He takes a great
interest in politics ancl in everything that tends
to upbuild the country. While Mr. Jones has
traveled all over the world, he believes that
Klamath county is one of the best sections he
has ever visited and is thoroughly in love with
the country ancl the climate. It is interesting
to note that while Mr. Jones has been in all kinds
of company in his long and extensive traveling,
he has never acquired the habit of using tobacco
or intoxicating drinks and has, set an example
wortny to be copied by his associates. He has
the following named brothers and sisters : Richard
V., Isaac, Mrs. Catharine Chapman, deceased;
Inigo ; Lorenzo W. ; Annie ; Thomas ; Perinella.
Those living are in England. Our subject is the
eldest of the family. Since coming to Oregon,
Mr. Jones has shown commendable industry and
enterprise and is one of the substantial men here.

RUFUS S. MOORE, a lumber manufacturer
of Klamath Falls, was born March 7, 1855, in
Marion county, Oregon. He came from an old
and prominent family of colonial times, many of
whom distinguished themselves in fighting for
their country. His father, Judge William S.
Moore, a native of Illinois, came from Scotch-
Irish ancestry and crossed the plains with ox
teams in 1849 t0 Oregon City. He took a dona
tion claim in the Willamette valley ancl also fol
lowed his trade of Millwright. He wrought on
the Oregon City plants and also built a flour mill
at Salem and in 1873 he came to Klamath Falls.

Here he took to sawmilling and operated a mill.
at the agency in addition to one at Klamath Falls.
He was also postmaster for several years at Link
ville, now Klamath Falls, and was appointed the
first judge of Klamath county. In 1888, he was
elected again to that position but resigned to
move to Portland, in 1890. He then built and
operated a mill at Gladstone, but later lost his-
health and died in 1899, at his house in Port
land. He married Miss Alargaret O. Meldrum,
also a native of Illinois who crossed the plains-
with her parents with an ox train in 1845. They
made settlement at Oregon City where her
mother is now living, aged eighty-six. Her fa
ther passed away in 1890. They were well known
ancl highly respected pioneers. Mrs. Moore is
still living, aged sixty-eight. The brothers and
sisters of our subject are Charles S., treasurer
of the state of Oregon, Mrs. Estella O. Bellinger,.
Mrs. Frankie Hammond, Alary B., and Hen
rietta E.
Our subject attended the public schools in the
Willamette valley then finished his education in
the Willamette University, perfecting himself in
surveying. He was in the employ of the United
States government, as United States deputy sur
veyor, for a good many years and surveyed all
through the state of Oregon. He came to
Klamath county in 1877 and since then has made
this his headquarters. In 1887, he and his
brother Charles S., went into the sawmill business
at Klamath Falls and they now handle a large-
business. They purchased the property owned
by their father and in addition have several thou
sand acres of timberland. They do all kinds 01
wood manufacture for building and are one of the
large establishments of the county.
On July 7, 1900, Mr. Moore married Miss
Clara A. Shaw, who was a resident of Portland,
Oregon. Politically our subject has always taken-
a keen interest in the campaigns and in 1900 was
delegate to the national convention which nom
inated AlcKinley and Roosevelt at Philadelphia,
in 1900. Mr. Moore is a man of ability and enter
prise and enjoys the confidence and esteem of
his fellows.

DANIEL M. GRIFFITH lives at Odessa
about twenty-eight miles northwest from Kla
math Falls. He was born June 19, 1861, in
Franklin county, Virginia, the son of Captain S.
H. and Alary (Campbell) Griffith, both natives
of the same county.. Their children number ten,
six boys and four girls and nine of them are-
living. The father was a prominent man in his
county, having been sheriff for some time and
was quite wealthy at the breaking out of the-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1047

Civil War. He enlisted in the confederate army
as captain and fought through the entire struggle,
only to find then that his property was all gone
and he was a poor man. He came west to Shel
by county, Missouri, and there died about fifteen
years since, aged seventy-six. His father, Dan
iel Griffith, the grandfather of our subject, was
a veteran of the Revolution. Daniel M. learned
the printer's trade after receiving his education
and at the age of fifteen came west to Gunnison,
Colorado. For twenty years thereafter he was
engaged in mining and has been in all the prin
cipal camps in Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Cali
fornia and Idaho. Also, he has operated a great
deal in Oregon. He has been superintendent of
some very large properties and is a very success
ful and thorough mining man. For a good many
years he made his home at Sumpter, Oregon, and
was the owner of the Griffith placer mines there.
In 1901, Mr. Griffith purchased the place where
he now resides and two years later, moved over
from Sumpter. The place was formerly known
as the Poplars and is one of the choicest nooks
that nature has made on the Pacific coast. The
great Klamath lake lies in front, a magnificent
sheet of water. To the back and west rise the
Cascades among whose towering peaks is Mount
Pitt, capped with snow throughout the year. The
springs are as fine as can be found anywhere
ancl lie one half mile west from the lake. So
large is the flow of water from them that the
steamboat is enabled to make its way right up
into the springs. The water is nearly ice cold
and on the banks stands the beautiful hotel that
Mr. Griffith has just completed. The country
adjacent for miles in every direction is beautiful
in scenery ancl filled with all sorts of game, as
bear, elk, while the lakes and creeks swarm
with trout and aquatic fowl. The steamer makes
regular trips from Klamath Falls to Odessa and
the summer tourist sees the delights of the moun
tains with the comforts of civilization right at
hand, having the choicest spot for his outing.
Mr. Griffith has planned great improvements and
every year sees the banks of the lake ancl the
spring, white with the campers' tents. For those
who prefer the accommodation, he has provided
the best in his hotel and also a large number of
separate cottages, all of which may be secured
at very reasonable rates. Boats of all descriptions
are at hand and everything to make life pleasant
ancl happy for the city sick is to be found. Mrs.
Griffith, a most estimable lady, with her mother,
personally supervises the hotel and attends to
every detail that may bring her guests comfort.
They are both ladies of culture and provide a
hearty welcome for those who may find their way
to this pleasant place. Airs. Griffith has traveled

extensively and is highly educated in English,
German, and French, speaking all three of the
languages fluently and is a great student of books
and nature. With her other accomplishments,
she is a first class stenographer, but instead of
seeking the busier marts of the world is far hap
pier in this sequestered spot. It will certainly
repay every tourist to visit Odessa on Klamath
Lake, Oregon if it is possible for them so to do.
There is a spot of land adjacent to the spring
called "Squaw's Garden'' which had been tilled
by the Indians for over one hundred years be
fore the white men secured the place. Many
spots in the vicinity have historical interest in
connection with the aborigines ancl many beauti
ful tales are told in connection with these of In
dian lives and Indian loves.
Mr. Griffith has erected a sawmill and
owns several thousand acres of timber land and
in addition to handling the same is doing a fine
lumber business. He owns the steamer Alma
and makes regular trips from Klamath Falls to
Odessa. He also handles stock and owns a fine
large dairy. Ihe new steamer "Winema," also
makes regular trips to Odessa.
In Victoria, British Columbia, on February
5, 1897, Mr. Griffith married Mary (Thompson)
Clave, who was born in Derbyshire, England. By
her former marriage, she has one son, Robert
Clave, who is a student in the State university in
Idaho and is captain of the cadets in the miliary
department. Air. Griffith belongs to the Alasonic fratern
ity, while he and his wife belong to the Eastern
Star ancl the Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs.
Griffith are very extensively known although
they have been here but a few years and are
highly respected people.

RICHARD I. HAMMOND, one of the lead
ing merchants of Klamath Falls, was born July
4, 185 1, in St. Louis, the son of William and Isa
bella Hammond, both natives of Ireland. The
father located in St. Louis at an early day, wliere
he followed the profession of an architect and
builder. He died when our subject was but two
months old. The mother subsequently married
Robert T. Baldwin, with whom she came to Ash
land, Oregon, in the early '70s. Later they re
moved to Klamath Falls where she died in 1897,
in her seventy-seventh year.
Our subject attended the common schools
and, also, the Christian Brothers College in St.
Louis, receiving a good .business education. In
1872 he came to Ashland, Oregon, with his moth
er, where he obtained a position as a clerk. During

1048

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

the Modoc Indian War they took refuge in Fort
Klamath, where they witnessed the hanging of
a number of Alodoc Indians. In 1878 Air. Ham
mond settled in the Tule Lake country, Klamath
county, where he engaged in the stock business.
It was in 1880 that he came to Klamath Falls.
November 15, 1882, in Linkville, now Kla
math Falls, he was united in marriage to Aliss
Frankie S. Moore, born at the place where Alt.
Angel now stands, in. Alarion county, Oregon.
Her father, Judge William S. Moore, was born
in Belleville, Illinois, April 24, 1829. By trade
he was a millwright, and in 1849 came to Ore
gon City, where he assumed charge of the con
struction of a large flouring mill. This was in
the spring of 1850, and the mill is still in opera
tion. In 1870 he was elected treasurer of Alarion
county by a large majority. In 1878 he was ap
pointed postmaster of Linkville, and at the time
of the organization of the county he was ap
pointed county judge, and was elected to the
same office in 1888, but resigned in 1890, and re
moved to Portland. For several years before
his death June 10, 1898, he was a confirmed in
valid. Her mother, Margaret O. (Aleldrum)
Moore, was a native of Illinois, and crossed the
plains with her parents, settling at Pacific City,
near the mouth of Columbia, on the Washington
side. She was married in 1854, ancl is now living
in Portland, Oregon, at the age of sixty-eight
years. The brothers and sisters of Mrs. Hammond
Etta E. Moore. Mrs. Hammond received an ex
cellent education, and taught school four years in
Klamath county. Mr. and Mrs. Hammond have
three daughters, Mabel K., Bessie M. and Ber
tha Al. They take a profound interest in the
education of their children.
Our subject has engaged in various occupa
tions. During five years he clerked in the Link
ville Hotel, and in 1890 removed to Portland,
where he remained fifteen months. On his re
turn he was appointed postmaster ancl conducted
the office in connection with a small store. In
March, 1903, he was burned out, sustaining a loss
of about five thousand dollars with no insurance.
Nothing daunted he rebuilt on a larger scale, ancl
now has a handsome and commodious store build
ing, in which he carries a complete stock of gen
eral merchandise. In addition to the store build
ing he has six rooms in which his family are
most corhfortably housed. He is agent for the
Wells-Fargo Express Company and the Oregon
Stage Company. During three years he served
as a member of the school board. Fraternally
he is a member of Klamath Lodge, No. 137, I.
O. O. F., also the encampment, No. 46, of which
he is treasurer, and Linkville Lodge No. no, A.

O. U. W. Mrs. Hammond is a member of the
Degree of Honor, of which she is past chief,
and in 1902 was representative to the grand
lodge. She is also a member of the Rebekah de
gree, and has served two years as financial sec
retary. In 1904 Air. Hammond was nominated on
the democratic ticket for the office of county
treasurer. He was defeated by a very small ma
jority, the county being strongly Republican
and his opponent a cripple.

EVAN ROGERS REAMES, one of the lead
ing capitalists and bankers of Oregon, resides
in a beautiful home on the banks of Klamath
river, Klamath Falls. The place of his nativity
is Litchfield, Montgomery county, Illinois, hav
ing been born April 5, 1850, the son of Wood
ford and Alahulda (White) Reames, both na
tives of Hart county, Kentucky. Woodford
Reames was born April 4, 181 1; his wife, April
2, 1825. The paternal grandfather of our subject,
Aaron Reames, although living in the south and
being a large slave owner, was found firmly on
the LTnion side when slavery became a national
issue. He then emphasized his sincerity by lib
erating those who had toiled for his personal suc
cess in life. Probably of Scotch descent his an
cestors settled in Virginia, whence his parents
moved to Kentucky, where he was born. Dur
ing the Civil War he attained to the rank of col
onel in the Union army. Aaron Reames was
the father of nine children, and lived to an ad
vanced age.
Woodford Reames, the father of our subject,
in his youth learned the blacksmith trade, work
ing at the same in Kentucky and, also, after he
had removed to Montgomery county, Illinois.
In April, 1852, when Evan R. was two years of
age, he crossed the plains accompanied by his
wife and four children, and a long train of many
other emigrants, itie family tarried one winter
at St. Helens, Columbia county, Oregon, and the
following spring Woodford Reames located about
one mile south of Phoenix, Jackson county, Ore
gon, where he secured a donation claim of three
hundred and twenty acres. On this land he made
many improvements, and in connection with his
farming operations conducted a blacksmith shop,
this being one of the first in the neighborhood.
Plaving erected a small log cabin and cleared a
patch of ground which he sowed to grain, he
removed his family to Talent, and thence to
Fort Wagner. In each of these places the set-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1049

tiers had erected stockades to protect themselves
from the hostile Indians. Following the Rogue
River Indian War, assured of greater safety,
they returned to their land and resumed their
improvements of a "home in the wilderness."
About 1879 he removed to Jacksonville where
he lived a retired life until his death in 1884. His
wife survived him until 1890. They had a fam
ily of six children, the two youngest being born
in Oregon ; Thomas G., a banker in Jackson
ville, Oregon, who died in March, 1900 ; Martha,
widow of Joseph Rapp, of Talent, Oregon;
James R., a farmer on the old homestead at Phoe
nix, Oregon; Dora, the wife of Oliver Har-
batigh of Jacksonville, Oregon ; Richard, who
died in infancy ; and our subj ect, being the fourth
of the family.
The latter received a fair education in the
public schools of that pioneer period and at the
age of nineteen entered upon a six-year clerk
ship in the store of Major James T. Glenn. At
the breaking out of the Modoc Indian War he
promptly responded by enlisting as second lieu
tenant, Compay A, First Oregon Volunteer Cav
alry. This was on November 26, 1872. He
served until April, 1873, under Captain Harris
Kelley, and was detailed to service in southern
Oregon and northern California. In his first
important battle he received a flesh wound in the
leg. Returning he again assumed his old posi
tion in the store. In 1881 he was in partnership
with his brother, Thomas G., in a general mer
chandise store, with a branch store at Klamath
Falls, then called Linkville, of which Evan R.
took control, removing here the same year. In
1886 he disposed of his interest in both stores and
turned his attention to stock-raising. His ranch
comprised two thousand acres, two miles south
of Klamath Falls. He engaged two years in
business in San Jose, California, chiefly on ac
count of the superior educational advantages of
fered for his daughter.
In 1890 Air. Reames engaged in the hard
ware business with George T. Baldwin, at Kla
math Falls, but in 1898 disposed of his interest
and inaugurated a general merchandise and
banking business, in company with Alexander
Martin & Sons. He purchased Martin's inter
est in two years and has since conducted the
same under the firm name of Reames & Jen
nings. He is one of the promoters and stock
holders of the Klamath Falls Electric Light &
Water Power Company, and is treasurer and
owner of a quarter interest in the Alidway Tel
ephone & Telegraph Company, and is, also, vice-
president of the Klamath County Bank. Polit
ically Air. Reames is independent and he has held

many positions of honor in the community. At
the organization of Klamath county he was ap
pointed treasurer by the governor, succeeding
himself at the following election. He has served
several terms in the city council, and has ever
been recognized as a broad-minded and public-
spirited citizen. He is a member of Klamath
Falls Lodge, No. 77, A. F. & A. M., the Knights
Templar and the Royal Arch Masons.
October 3, 1873, near Jacksonville, Oregon,
he was united in marriage to Jennie E. Ross, a
native of Jacksonville, born in 1855. She is a
daughter of General John E. Ross, one of the
best known Indian fighters in the northwest.
They have one daughter, Molette, an accomplish
ed ancl very popular lady, the wife of F.
W. Jennings, of the firm of Reames & Jennings.

ISAAC A. DUFFY, who stands at the head
of the Duffy Alercantile Company of Klamath
Falls, is a well known business man of accred
ited ability, whose labors in this county have,
for years past, won a success which is gratify
ing, indeed. He was born in Belmont county,
Ohio, on January 12, i860. His father, Barney
Duffy, a native of Ireland, came to the United
States when a boy and married Miss Elizabeth
Hess, a native of Pennsylvania, of German ex
traction. He is deceased but his widow is still
living in Alacon county, Missouri. When a child
our subject accompanied his parents from his na
tive state to West Virginia, thence to Missouri,
in which place he grew up and received his edu
cation. Then he engaged in the drug business,
continuing the same for twenty years. At the
end of that period, he determined to try the
west and accordingly made the journey to Ore
gon. For a while the stock business employed
his energies, his headquarters being on the
Owyhee river. After' that, we find him at Gray's
Harbor in the general mercantile business. Then
he moved to various sections and finally located
in Palouse Citv, Washington. In 1897 he journ
eyed thence to Klamath Falls and being im
pressed with the location, opened a small general
merchandise store. From the beginning he was
successful and trade rapidly grew. Finally in 1901
he organized the Duffy Alercantile Company and
erected a fine new building in one of the best lo
cations of the city and stocked the same with a
full line of dry goods, clothing, groceries, shoes,
gents iurnishings, crockery and hardware. The
trade has increased in a remarkable degree and
Air. Duffy is considered one of the most skillful
ancl enterprising merchants of this part of the

1050

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

state. In addition to this business he is inter
ested in the boats that navigate the Upper Kla
math lake which are doing a good business. In
every way Mr. Duffy has shown himself t© be an
enterprising and progressive man and has la
bored assiduously for the improvement and up
building of the country. Every enterprise which
is for the betterment of the country and the
bringing in of improvements has been fostered
and favored by Air. Duffy. He stands well in
the community and is a public spirited man and
one of the leading citizens of the county.

SILAS H. OBENCHAIN, sheriff of Kla
math county, resides at Klamath Falls. He is
by birth an Oregonian, having been born at Cen
tral point, Jackson county, September 18, 1863,
the son of Bartlett and Nancy (Morse) Oben
chain. The father is a native of Virginia; the
mother of Pennsylvania. Bartlett Obenchain
crossed the plains in 1861, accompanied by his
wife and three children. One winter they tar
ried at Marysville, California, coming thence to
Central Point, where he was one of the earliest
settlers. He located a homestead upon which,
with his wife, he is still living, in his seventy-
seventh year. His estimable wife is sixty-nine
years of age. Besides our subject they had seven
children, viz: Meldoran M., of Gold Hill, Ore
gon ; George E., of Klamath county ; Mrs. Alice
A. Lindsay; Mrs. Jennie Wilson; Mrs. Sarah
Pankey ; Mrs. Nannie Pankey, and Mrs. Minnie
Penniger. On the Jackson county farm our subject was
reared, receiving a common school education
in the public schools of his vicinity. He came, to
Klamath county in 1885, but subsequently re
turned to Jackson county. During the spring
of 1886 he secured a homestead in Klamath
county, in the Langells valley, but continued to
work for wages, while at the same time saga
ciously improving his ranch. For seven years he
was in the employment of Gerber Brothers driv
ing beef cattle. He also worked the same length
of time for Swanston & Son, both firms having
headquarters at Sacramento, California. For
them he, also, purchased and sold cattle.
June 15, 1904, Mr. Obenchain was married
to Emma Grohs, a native of Placer county, Cal
ifornia, where she was reared and educated. Her
parents were Fred P. and Mary L. (Brendeau)
Grohs. Both of them are dead. She has a
brother, Frank P. Grohs, of Klamath county, and
three . sisters, Mrs. Minnie Martin and Mrs.
Lollye Foster, of San Francisco, and Airs. Jewel
Carpenter, of Sacramento.

Sheriff Obenchain owns two hundred acres-
of land, with a substantial house and all neces
sary improvements. He has, also, a small band
of cattle and horses. In June, 1904, he was elect
ed sheriff of Klamath county, on the Republican
ticket, and is now serving in that official capac
ity. Fraternally he is a member of the A. O. U.
W., an enterprising and progressive citizen and
one highly esteemed by his numerous friends and
acquaintances.

JOHN W. BRANDENBURG, an esteemed
citizen of Klamath Falls, is now living retired
having passed a life of activity. He was born on
November 14, 1840 in Richland county, Ohio,.
the son of John W. and Lydia J. (Sisney)
Brandenburg, natives of Maryland and Ohio,
respectively. The father's father, William Bran
denburg, was born in Germany. He was the son
of Solomon Brandenburg, who was a wealthy
and influential military man and left Germany-
owing to some supposed insult to the Richstag.
He came to America in 1770. This man was de
scended from the old and influential Branden
burg family, who has at one time owned the
walled town of Brandenburg. Our subject's
father came to the coast in 1850 and settled in-
Linn county and there remained until his death
in 1864, being aged sixty-one. The mother was
a granddaughter of Colonel Conine, who was a
commissary officer under General Washington,
in the Revolution. She crossed the plains sev
eral years after her husband and died at the home
of her daughter, Mrs. M. J. Countiss, at Port
land, December 4, 1904, aged eighty-two. The
other children of the family besides our sub
ject, are Otho S. and George, the former in Har
risburg and the latter in Portland, Oregon; Airs.
Martha Countiss, in Portland ; and Mrs. Annie -
Kiehlmeyer, of Tacoma, Washington. Our sub
ject went with his parents to Ottumwa, Iowa, im
1845 and his oldest sister is the first white girl'
born there. In the spring of 1859, he crossed the-
plains with an emigrant train and settled near
Petaluma, California. Later, he came to Linn
county and took a normal course in the academy
at Lebanon. After his school days were finished
he made a trip to the Cariboo mines in British-
Columbia in 1802, and the same year, came to»
the Santiam, where he discovered, with five other-
prospectors, a year later, the Santiam mines,
at Quartsville, which caused a marked excite
ment. For a time, Air. Brandenburg served as--
deputy sheriff of Linn county.
On July 8, 1868, at Albany, Oregon, he mar
ried Melissa Cooper, who was born in Adams
county, Illinois, on December 3, 1849. Her fath-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1051

er, Wiliam H. Cooper, was born in Kentucky,
in 1812 and was one of the early settlers in
Adams county. He came to California in 1849,
and returned in four years to Adams county,
and then went to Putnam county, Missouri.
Later, he was in Texas and in the spring
of 1862, crossed the plains with ox teams. Set
tlement was made in Lane county and later,
they removed to Linn county where his death
occurred in 1880. His father was an officer in
the war of 1812 and was of German ancestry.
The mother of Mrs. Brandenburg was Mary
(Job) Cooper, a native of Indiana. Her father,
a Baptist minister, was a native of England. She
was the granddaughter of Emily Little, who
lived to be one hundred and fifteen years of age.
Mrs. Cooper is now living in Albany, Oregon,
aged seventy-eight. Her children, besides Mrs.
Brandenburg, are Mrs. Martha Elson, Mrs. Nan
cy Burkhart, Mrs. Sarah Arnold, and Otho. Mr.
Brandenburg served seven years in an official
capacity at the state penitentiary of Oregon, com
mencing in 1 87 1, and was a very faithful and
trusted officer. Later he had charge of a por
tion 'of the asylum at Salem. In 1887, he came
to Klamath Ealls Indian reservation and took
charge of the Indian school, conducting the same
for six and one half years, his wife being matron.
Later, he had charge of the industrial school at
the agency and was disciplinarian. In this last
position he served six years. In 1899, they
came to Klamath Falls, determined to live retired
and there purchased a beautiful home place. It
consists of two acres of choice fruit and garden
land, a nice residence and other improvements.
He also owns ne hundred and sixty acres of
land- near Merrill, a nice tract adjoining the
state grounds near Salem and a quarter section
of timber. Mr. Brandenburg is a member of the A. O.
U. W. and is a very popular and substantial man.
The children of this worthy couple are Altha,
the wife of Mr. Pogue, an attorney of Salem,
Oregon ; Clyde K., of Klamath Falls ; Maude
M., wife of Horace W. Cox, Indian agent and
officer at Quinault, Washington; Floyd K., of
Klamath Falls; Grace E:, Mabel E. and Earl R.
The last three are deceased. It is of interest to
note that Count Brandenburg, who was prime
minister of Germany in 1848, was of the same
family as our subject.

JUDGE HENRY L. BENSON, residing at
Klamath Falls, was born July 6, 1854, in Stock
ton, California. His parents were Rev. Henry
C, D. D., and Aiatilda A!. (Williamson) Benson,

the father a native of Ohio ; the mother of Ken
tucky. 'the ancestors of Rev. Henry L. Benson were
of Scotch-Irish descent and early pioneers of
Ohio. It was in 1852 that Henry C. came to
California as a missionary for the Alethodist
Episcopal church. He followed preaching and
editorial work on various religious journals in
California and Oregon, until a few years before
his death in 1897, having been fifty years in
active work. He died in San Jose, California,
in his eighty-third year. The mother of our sub7
ject was a granddaughter of the late Earl of
Warwick. She was reared in Indiana and was-
married to Rev. rienry C. Benson at Greencastle,
that state, during the period when he was pro
fessor of ancient languages at Asbury, now
DePauw University, Bishop Simpson being at
that time president. Airs. Benson died at San
Jose, California, in December, 1901, about eighty
years of age. To them were horn a family of
twelve children, nine of whom are now living,
viz : Sanford G., city editor of the San Jose Daily
Mercury; William W., a merchant; our subject;
Frank W., an attorney of Roseburg, Oregon,.
and president of the Douglas County Bank ; Fred
T., a farmer, near Salem, Oregon; Mrs. Emma
E. Goodell, whose husband is an attorney in
Alaska; Mrs. Susie P. Carpy; Mrs. Gail E..
Perkins, her husband being assistant state treas
urer, at Salem, Oregon; and Mrs. Clara Tonkin,.
living at San Jose, California.
In 1864 our subject came to Portland, Ore
gon, with his parents, but in 1868 returned to-
San Jose. There he was matriculated in the
university from which he was graduated in 1873
with the degree of A. M. Subsequently he re
ceived the degree of Doctor of Literature. He
then studied law in the office of Judge Herring-
ton, of San Jose, and was admitted to practice
in all courts in 1878. For two years he followed
his profession in San Jose, coming to Roseburg,.
Oregon, in 1880. Here he devoted himself to
teaching, and, for a period, was principal in a
private academy. It was in 1886 that he went to
Grant's Pass where he practiced law, and in:
1892 he was elected district attorney for the First
Judicial District of Oregon, embracing Jose
phine, Jackson, Klamath and Lake counties. In
1896 Judge Benson was elected to the Oregon
Legislature and was chosen speaker of the house.
In 1898 he was elected as one of the two cir
cuit judges for the same district in which he had
served as district attorney, on the Republican-
ticket, and removed to Klamath Falls. He was
re-elected in 1904, by an overwhelming majority.
September 7, 1876, our subject was united in:

51052

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

:marriage to Susie E. Doughartv, born in Lafay
ette, California, July 14, 1858." To them have
been born six children, viz : Rea W., married to
Grace Cook, a bookkeeper in San Francisco;
Arthur S., department clerk in the supreme
•court, Salem; Clark, deceased; Gail E., Harry
G., and Louise R. Two children have been born
to Airs. Cook, Cyril ancl Elwood.
Fraternally Judge Benson is a member of the
Alasons, Elks and A. O. U. W.

-++->-

JAA1ES HENRY WHEELER, one of the
leading citizens of Fort Klamath and a well
known business man, was born in AlcHenry
county, Illinois, on May 1, 1863. His father,
James Wheeler, was a native of Vermont and
a veteran of the Civil war, dying in the serv
ice of his country when our subject was an in
fant. He had married a Mrs. Anna Holda
Whiteman and after her husband's death she
married Dr. Wentworth and resided in Kansas
until her death, which occurred in 1877. James
Henry had a very poor opportunity to gain and
¦ education but made the very best of his chance
ancl was largely thrown on his own resources,
¦being but nine years of age when he left home.
He worked his passage to Wadsworth, Nevada,
¦at such things as washing dishes, herding cat
tle and anything that he could find to do. Final
ly, he desired to see the country on west and in
company with some companions of the same
lrflnd, journeyed from Wadsworth to Tule Lake,
Oregon, where they embarked in stock-raising.
He has been in Klamath county since and has
met good success in his labors, being now one of
the substantial property owners of the county.
He has considerable property in the town of Fort
Klamath and one of the finest residences there.
He has just completed a large hall which is used
for lodge purposes ancl also owns considerable
other property.
On Alarch 4, 1896, occurred the marriage of
Art. \v heeler and Miss Gesine Janssen. the daugh
ter of Cornelius and Alarie(Olfs) Janssen, natives
of Germany. Airs. Wheeler was born April 6,
1878. Her father died in Germany in 1882 ancl
she came to the United States with her mother,
making settlement first in Iowa. Later, they
came to Klamath county and the mother is re
siding here. Air. ancl Airs. V-Tieeler have one
child, Grace Alarie, who was born January 6,
1897. Fraternally Air. Wheeler is a member of the
A. O. U. W. ancl the Foresters. He is past chief
ranger of the latter order and is now director of

the same. He is also deputy grand master for
this district. Politically, he is a very strong and
active Republican always taking a keen and very
lively interest in the campaigns as well as in every
thing that is for the building up of the commun
ity. Owing to the fact that Mr. Wheeler had
little opportunity to gain an education, he is
greatly interested in educational matters and not
only is providing the best means for the educa
tion of his daughter but is an ardent worker for
the betterment of all school facilities. Mr. and
Mrs. Wheeler are highly esteemed people and
have very many friends in the country.

ALARK L. BURNS, a wide awake and pro
gressive real estate man of Klamath Falls, was
born near the old Spanish grant on Sand creek,
Tulare county, California, on March 9, 1873.
Two years later he came with his parents to
Wilderville, Josephine county, Oregon, and was
raised on the farm, receiving a good education
from the public schools of Josephine county.
Also he studied three years in a private high
school conducted by Prof. John H. Robinson.
He was contented to remain on the farm until
he reached life's majority, at which time he as
sumed responsibilities for himself, taking up
mining as his first venture. He operated on the
Illinois river in his home county and succeeded
in locating some fine old channel diggings and
worked on the same for two years successfully.
He was variously engaged until 1900, when he
selected Klamath Falls for a business point and
came here in charge of a large band of cattle
which he took to Fort Klamath and sold. He en
gaged in the mercantile business there for a
while, then sold out and located in the town of
Klamath Falls. At first he opened a butcher
shop but sold the same in 1903 and engaged in
real estate and insurance and is now handling a
very excellent business. He is the agent for the
Altitual Life Insurance Company ancl has made
a marked success in that line. Mr. Burns is an
up-to-date man, full of energy ancl believes in
going right after business, which is the secret
of his success. He is a genial man, social and
kindly disposed and the result is, he has won
many friends. His close application to business
and perseverance, backed by good natural abil
ity, have brought him the business he has
sought for and he is considered one of the most
successful men of the town. In political matters,
Mr. Burns is a Democrat ancl takes a keen inter
est in the campaigns as well as in every move
ment that tends to build up the country. Al
though his residence has not been so long in

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

!053-

Klamath county as some of the pioneers yet he
has so thoroughly identified himself with its in
terests that no work purporting to mention the
leading men could with impunity omit his name.
He has accumulated a nice property both in Kla
math Falls and in farm holdings and is one of
the well to do men of the country.
The father of our subject is Francis G.
Burns, a distant relative of the noted poet Burns,
and was born in Ohio, whence he removed to
Michigan, where he received his education. At
the age of seventeen he crossed the plains to
Tuolumne county, California, and engaged in
placer mining, which occupied him for some
time. Later, he married Miss Caroline, the
daughter of James and Susan Woody, pioneers
of Oregon. Later he and his wife removed to
Grant's Pass, Oregon, where they now reside.
They are parents of the following named chil
dren: Sarah L., James T., Mark L., who is our
subject, Robert G., Wiley, Alary J., Caroline,
Frank, William J., John S., and Harvey. The
last named one is deceased.
At Grant's Pass, Oregon, on February 25,
1894, Mr. Burns married Aliss Emma S. Long-
enbaker, the daughter of John and Margaret
Longenbaker, natives of Germany, who came to
this country before the Civil war. Mr. Longen
baker is a veteran of that struggle and now re
sides at Grant's Pass, Oregon. To Mr. and Airs.
Burns, the following named children have been
born, Lena AL, Raymond L., Elsie AL, John F.,
Albert, Caroline and Marie.
Air. Burns is a member of the K. O. T. M.
and in that as in everything else he undertakes,
he is an enthusiastic and ardent worker. He and
his wife are highly esteemed people and have
many friends in the places where they have
dwelt.

JOSEPH AL MOORE was born in Wasco
county, Oregon, on June 29, 1857, and now re
sides in Klamath Falls, Oregon. His father,
Joseph Moore, was a native of Muncie, Indiana,
and crossed the plains in 1850, locating near
Walla Walla, Washington, where he engaged
in general farming and stock-raising. He later
removed to Wasco county and then to Red Bluff,
California. In 1883 he journeyed with his fam
ily to Klamath county, and located in Poe val
ley, taking a homestead. It is claimed that he
raised on that place the first wheat ever grown
in Klamath county. He made his home there
until recently, when he removed to Fresno, Cal
ifornia, and there he expects to dwell. He is
seventy-six years of age and devotes much time
and attention to church work and does some

preaching. He is a member of the Methodist
church and a devout and earnest Christian. Our
subject's mother was a native of Tennessee and
died in 1902, aged seventy-five. She also was
an ardent and consistent Christian worker and an
estimable and honorable woman. James M.
Moore received his education in the common
schools of Lakeport, California and came with
his parents to Klamath county, where he took
a homestead which he disposed of. He has been
constantly engaged in freighting from dif
ferent railroad points to the interior of Klamath
and Lake counties for some fifteen years and he
hauled the first load of freight from Pokegama
to Klamath Falls.
On February 22, 1883, occurred the mar
riage of Air. Aloore and Airs. Ella A. Wilson, at.
Cloverdale, California. Airs. Moore was the
daughter of Benjamin ancl Amanda Wilson, na
tives of Iowa. They followed farming and are
now both deceased. Airs. Moore died at Red
Bluff, California, in 1893, leaving two children,
Joseph B. and Lena Campbell, who are now both
deceased. Air. Aloore owns considerable valu
able property in Klamath Falls and is a citizen
of influence and excellent standing. He has
many warm friends and is kown as a good man.

ISAAC W. BURRISS, proprietor of the
Linkville Hotel at Klamath Falls, is one of the
leading citizens of the town. His house is a
favorite with the traveling public and is known
as one of the best places of entertainment of the
county. It is a commodious structure, with a
fine dining room, office, bar and so forth, with
plenty of sleeping apartments. Mr. and Mrs.
Burriss are skillful ancl up-to-date hotel people
and have made themselves very popular with all.
Isaac W. Burriss was born in Paris, Missouri,.
the son of Isaac and Eliza A. (Foreman) Bur
riss. The early progenitors of the family
were W'elsh people. Three brothers came-
to the colonies and settled in Virginia. They
were patriotic and staunch men and did their
part to make this country free. The father
learned the trade of the hatter, then removed
from Virginia to Kentucky, and later returned
to Virginia. He finally came to Paris, Missouri,
where he died a few months before our subject
was born. The mother was born in Virginia
and was married in Kentucky and after the death
of her first husband, married A. L. Chapman, a
blacksmith. He came to California in 1859 and
two years later returned to Alissouri and in 1852
took his family across the plains with ox teams
in company with Lane brothers, who became

¦io54

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

famous and wealthy miners in California. They
settled in Stockton, California, and in 1854 went
to Andrews county, later to Solano county and
finally to Santa Clara county. There he re
mained until his death in 1902, being then ninety
years of age. He was one of the prominent pi
oneers of California and was a Knight Templar
Mason. Mrs. Chapman is still living in Santa
Clara county, in her ninetieth year. Our sub
ject was the only child born to the first mar
riage. To the second were born Mrs. Fannie
Horn, Mrs. Lucy Lane, Mrs. Mattie A. Proc
tor, and Mrs. Susan Lampkin of Santa Clara,
and Asa, deceased. When a mere lad, our sub
ject began prospecting, but made his headquar
ters at his home. In 1863 he went to the Boise
Basin and made some money. He then return
ed to California and engaged in farming. In
1872, he went to Modoc county, California, and
took up the sheep business, having over two
thousand head. The hard winter following
swept away all his sheep. During that time the
Indians were on the war-path and he had much
fighting in company with the soldiers, to subdue
-the savages. Later, our subject returned to Ba-

kersfield, California, and engaged in the sheep
business. He was successful and operated in
the various places in the state until 1879 when
he closed out the business and came to Ashland,
Oregon. There he did business about twenty
years and in 1901, he came to Klamath -Falls and
took charge of the Hotel Linkville, which he has
operated since. Mr. Burris has a one hundred
and sixty acre farm near Merrill besides other
property. . On February 29, 1883, at Ashland,
Oregon, Air. Burriss married Miss Fracina Erb,
who was born in Illinois. She crossed the plains
with her parents in 1864. Three children are the
fruit of this union, Warren E., Lois E. and
Hazel. Air. Burris is a member of the I. O. O. F.,
the encampment and A. O. U. W. He is one
of the early pioneers of the Padfic coast and is
intimately acquainted with all that country be
sides having endured much personal hardship
in those early days. By way of reminiscence,
we note that in 1854 he purchased a hat from a
Mexican which he wore several years and then
preserved as a relic, having it still, as much his
tory is connected with it.

ADDENDA

CHAPTER I

PRESS OF WASCO, SHERMAN, GILLIAM, WHEELER, CROOK, LAKE
AND KLAMATH COUNTIES.

A most potential force is a well-written,
lively, up-to-date country newspaper. True, the
journalist who strenously labors for the best in
terests of his locality and the general good of
humanity, is, as a rule, poorly compensated for
his toil and effort. But he stands for something ;
he represents something tangible ; he poses in
no reflected light; he is, perforce, compelled, to
have opinions of his own and, oftimes, he gives
them free ventilation; but he is several pegs
ahead of the colorless, negative, non-trenchant
money-grabber, bounded by the narrowest social
horizon of any man on earth. The daily laborer
•on a daily newspaper — or weekly — will per
chance, find himself beset by hornets and made
the victim of bitter revilings. But he who has
no enemies has few friends, ancl in the long run
the average country editor is proven in _ the
right as a progressive and hustling advisor.
Quite often the pioneer journalist is editor, com
positor, reporter and pressman. Once each week
must his paper appear, as a ruk on time, even
though the overburdened toiler is compelled to
work eighteen or twenty hours a day. Never
must he neglect fo accord full meed of _ praise
where praise is due; if he fearlessly administers
rebuke where rebuke is merited, he is likely,
north, south, cast or west, to be suddenly ^and
unexpectedly confronted by the proverbial "bad
man with a gun."
But the theme of editorial routine is, in these
early days of the Twentieth Century, a trifle
trite and threadbare. His weal and woe are
more familiar to the reading public than they
were in the times of old, when even a tinge of
mysterious romance clung to the smut-stained,
inky printer's devil. Even country weekly jour
nalism is, nowadays, a hard, matler-of-fact, busi

ness proposition, requiring that wonderful com
bination of financial, literary, diplomatic, mechan
ical and, eftsoons, pugilistic genius. We come
now to chonicle the varied histories of the news
papers within the counties mentioned above.
WASCO COUNTY.
April i, 1859, the first newspaper in Eastern
Oregon made its appearance at The Dalles. This
was The Dalles Journal. It was established by
Captain Thomas Jordan, then in command of the
garrison- at Fort Dalles. Mrs. Lord states that
this semi-official journal was "edited by two
educated soldiers," and it is to be presumed that
they, also, set the type. One year subsequent to
the appearance of the Journal, April 1, i860, the
plant was purchased by W. H. Newell, and the
name changed to The Mountaineer. Of Editor
Newell, Mrs. Lord says:
Mr. Newell was an able writer, but extremely deaf.
His office was on the corner of Main and Union streets,
opposite and west of the new Columbia hotel, where
Victor Trevitt owned store rooms with those high,
square fronts.
One day there was a very high wind, and this being
an exposed corner, the wind caught the front of the
printing office and whirled it away. Some one seeing
it go ran over to the office. There stood Mr. Newell
composing and "setting up" his editorials at the same
time, which was his habit, as he seldom wrote them
first. They shouted to him :
"Don't you see the front of your office has blown
off?" He replied in the quietest tone imaginable :
"Well, well; I thought I heard something."
I want to explain that the ground where those build-

1056

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ings stood has caved away, and Mill Creek has cut
down so much that it looks nothing like the original
place. In 1862 The Mountaineer was issued daily
ancl so continued until June 21,, 1866, when the
weekly edition only was printed. These four
successive years of daily journalism in the his
tory of The Mountaineer comprised a period of
most exciting mining operations in Idaho. It was
in 1866 that Mr. Newell was succeeded by
Messrs. Cowne & Halloran, who assumed charge
of the columns of the paper. In 1867 Air. W.
M. Hand purchased The Mountaineer and con
tinued at the helm until his death, September 19,
1881. aged forty-seven years. During Mr.
Hand's proprietorship of the paper he labored
assiduously to build up ancl develop the country.
He was a man loath to give offense to any one,
and so conducted his journal that it incurred no
man's enmity. By his genial affability in business
affairs he won a large circle of friends.
A stray copy of The Mountaineer, printed
May 12, 1869, shows it to be a six-column folio.
The running head-line reads "Vol. IN. No. 34."
Following the death of Air. Hand The Moun
taineer passed into possession of a joint stock
company by which it was published a short time
onlv. Colonel T. S. Lang was the editor, in
which position he continued until its consolida
tion with The Dalles Times. This event took
place August 14, 1882. We will now consider
the history of the Times which was established
April 27, 1880, by R. J. Alarsh and John Alich
ell. At its inception it was a seven-column folio,
Republican in politics. Its salutatory appeared
April 27th :
With this issue appears Volume 1, Number 1, of
The Weekly Times, a journal devoted to the interests
of the community, and the publishers by their honest
and earnest endeavors to promote the welfare of Wasco
county, hope and expect to receive a share of the pub
lic patronage. We do not think this is asking too much
of the citizens of our county as we intend to make
The Times a live paper, taking note of everything
in our columns which may be of importance and inter
est to the whole county in which we have lived for
nearly fifteen years, and thus giving our readers an
equivalent for their patronage.
In politics The Times will be Republican because
the predilections of the publishers are in that channel.
* * * To the newspaper fraternity in general we
shall try to be courteous and gentlemanly.
Marsh & Michell,
Editors and Publishers.
From the first The Times was successful,
financially, and the publication was an excellent

one. In a trifle over a year a new press was
installed ; increasing patronage demanded an en
larged paper. June 1, 1881, it appeared as an
eight column folio.
In July, 1882, R. J. Alarsh disposed of his
interest in the printing business, and on the 18th
inst. he left The Dalles. Air. Alichell then be
came sole publisher and shortly afterward The
Times was consolidated with The Mountaineer,
and he became publisher of The Times-Moun
taineer, a nine-column folio. August 19th the
paper said :
This issue is the first since the consolidation of
The Times and The Mountaineer under the editorship
of John Michell. We are too well known to our read
ers to require any extended introduction in assuming
editorial management of The Timcs-Mountaincer. In
politics, as heretofore, we shall be Republican, but shall
criticise the actions of members of our party as well
as those of the opposition. * * * * Our constant
aim will be to make The Timcs-Mountaincer a me
dium of news, local and general.
The Timcs-Mountaincer became a nine-col
umn folio. The original press of this paper was
an old Potter press, and was brought here from
San Francisco, California, ancl on which the
Alta-Californian, the first paper in California,
was printed.
The first issue was an evening paper, but it
was at once changed to a morning edition. This
it will be remembered, was the second time the
paper was issued as a daily. September 1, 1895,
J. H. Douthit bought The Timcs-Mountaincer,
ancl continued as editor and publisher until its
suspension. November 30, 1900, The Daily
Times-Mountaineer suspended. The editor said:
For five years the present management has en
deavored to make The Daily Mountaineer a welcome
visitor to its many readers, and we believe our efforts
have been appreciated, but we do not feel justified in
continuing the publication of a daily paper at a loss.
To the many patrons of The Daily ^Mountaineer we de
sire to express our appreciation of their patronage and
request that it be extended to the Weekly Times-Moun
taineer. November 12, 1901, The Timcs-Mountain
cer began the publication of a semi-weekly edi
tion, a six-column folio published Tuesdays and
Fridays, until its suspension, September 30, 1904,
when the following valedictory appeared, writ
ten by Editor Douthit :
This is the last issue of The Times-Mountaineer
under the present management, and probably the last

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1057

paper that will ever be issued under the above name.
Conditions are such that 1 have found it impossible to
continue further the publication of the paper.
For three years past The Times-Mountaineer has
been losing money, and the drain has been such as to
consume former accumulations. The party holding a
mortgage on the plant has insisted on a settlement
and the only means of settlement is to turn the plant
over to the mortgagee.
September 1, 1895, I bought and assumed the pub
lication of The Times-Mountaineer, and during the past
nine years it has been my endeavor to publish a paper
in the interest of The Dalles and Wasco county. How
far such efforts have' succeeded only the reader can
judge. It has been my aim to give my patrons the worth
of their money, and at the same time to help build
up the community.
To those who have given the paper a loyal support,
I desire to say that their support has been appreciated,
and I thank them for it. And while I am forced to
say good-bye to my readers, I assure them that it
is with the profoundest regret that this step is neces
sary. J. A. Douthit.
And so passed out of existence the oldest pa-
paper in Eastern Oregon, the paper which, as The
Mountaineer had been greeting the people of
W^asco county, daily, semi-weekly or weekly, for
over forty years. At the time of its suspension
it was a semi-weekly, six-column folio. The
editors of this paper had been successively Cap
tain Jordan, W. H. Newell, Lieutenant Halloran,
Lieutenant Catley, Henry Aliller. George B.
Curry, Colonel Thomas L. Lang, John Alichell
and T- A. Douthit. Among its correspondents
it had had Joaquin Aliller, Alinnie Alyrtle Miller,
Al. Aubrey Angelo ancl other well-known literary
celebrities on the Pacific coast.
However, the second paper to be published
in Wasco county was the one named The Weekly,
which was issued a short period in i860, at The
Dalles. Comparatively little of its history can
be traced. The third paper to liven up times at
The Dalles, but one of which very little can be
learned, was the Daily Journal, published during
the "boom" mining times of 1863-4-5. It was a
five-column folio and Democratic in politics. It
is thought that, for a time at least, its editor was
Hubert" Bancroft, the historian.
October 28. 1875, Al. H. Abbott issued The
Dalles Tribune amf continued at the head of the
paper until July 7, 1877, when it was discontin
ued, and the plant removed to La Grande.
It was a six-column folio, a weekly, the fourth
paper in The Dalles, and was democratic in poli
tics. The fifth paper to be published at The Dalles
was the Inland Eifipire. Its publication was com-
67

menced July 6, 1878, ancl was suspended Decem
ber 10, 1880. Its editor, Mr. T. B. Alerry, was
an able writer ancl well known throughout Ore
gon and the whole Pacific coast. He became the
first editor of the Sunday Oregonian of Port
land. It was a seven column folio and politically
democratic. The Wasco IVcekly Sun was presented to
the public of The Dalles June, 4, 1881, with T.
Draper as editor. Subsequently it fell under the
management of C. Y. Draper, and August r,.
1882, it passed into possession of Lang &
Alarsh, with Air. Thomas' S. Lang as editor.
It rapidly grew in popular favor and assumed a
prominent position in the political and historical
affairs of Wasco county. April 23, 1884, the
daily edition suspended publication. Air. Floed
was for a period editor of the journal, but he
severed his connection with it ancl returned to
his home in Roseburg. He was succeeded by
Professor W. S. Worthington, ancl the latter's
successor in the editorial chair was Colonel T.
S. Lang. January 23, 1884, the Sun plant was
damaged by fire to the extent of $500. January 1,
1887, The Times-Mountaineer said :
T. S. Lang, Esquire, who has been the soul and
brains of the Sun since it passed under its present man
agement, severed his connection with that paper last
Wednesday. As a writer on political economy he Was
a forcible advocate of protective tariff, and never missed
an opportunity to speak in favor of this doctrine. In his
articles on stock and agricultural industries he displayed
a practical knowledge possessed by few, and in his ad
vocacy of internal improvements was on the side of the
people. The paper did not state on whom the mantle of
editor would fall, but we presume this will appear in
due time.
April 15, 1887, articles of incorporation of
The Dalles Publishing Company were filed
with the clerk of Wasco county. The object of
this incorporation was the publication of The
Sun. The capital stock was placed at $4,000, di
vided into 400 shares, no one person being per
mitted to subscribe for more than five shares.
The names of the incorporators were :
George H. Knaggs, O. S. Savage, N. H.
Gates, R. F. Gibons, J. L. Story,' J.
H. Jackson, George Herbert and A. S. Bennett.
In October of this year the Sun was sold to
certain representatives of the Democratic party.
In September, 1890, F. C. Middleton assumed
.editorial charge of the Sun. He had been pre
ceded by Air. Alorgan. Air. T. H. Ward followed
Air. Middleton as editor, and his valedictory ap
peared Alay 20, 1891. He was succeeded by
George P. Morgan. The latter resigned in Sep-

io58

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

tember of the same year. Meanwhile the paper
was published by Campbell brothers. January
6, 1882, we find that Air. Morgan had again
become editor ancl business manager of the pa
per. In February, of that year Campbell Broth
ers severed their connection with the Sun as
publishers. November 5th, we are informed
James W. Armsworthy began editing the Sun.
In Alarch, 1893, D. C. Ireland accepted the man
agement of the W^asco Sun. The paper, how
ever, never resumed publication after the great
flood of 1894. Air. Ireland was the last editor
•of the paper.
The Oregon Democratic Journal came into
The Dalles journalistic field October 2, 1884,
with AL H. Abbott as editor. It went out of
•existence in the latter part of the year 1885. With
Mr. Abbott was associated Charles Craig.
The Trade Journal with Mr. T. J. Simpson
as editor made its appearance April 2, 1896.
This paper, it was claimed, was placed in the
field for political purposes and was continued
¦only three or four months.
In Alarch, 1889, appeared at The Dalles, Vol-
nmn 1, Number 1, of the Economist, published
by Dr. Wingate, and issued as the organ of the
American Progressive League. This was a
monthly, printed in The Times-Mountaineer of
fice, and was in form a four column octavo. It
was continued about one year.
In 1890 the only paper published in The Dal
les, a city then of 5,000 inhabitants, was the
¦daily and semi-weekly Chronicle. Alone it oc
cupied a field in which so many periodicals had
ibeen horn, only to pass away in periods of time
'ranging from a few weeks to forty-five years.
The Chronicle was born December 10, 1890. It
was put on its feet by a stock company and was
a result of a municipal fight concerning the
water question. J. H. Cradlebaugh was the first
¦editor. At the time of its organization the prin-
•cipal stockholders of the company were: D. M.
French, J. W. French, Robert Alays, B. F.
Laughlin, W. Lord, Max Vogt, Hugh Glenn,
1. C. Nicholson, A. S. McAllister, S. L. Brooks.
The capital stock was $5,000, of which the five
incorporators, D. Al. and J. M. French, Alays,
Brooks and McLaughlin, subscribed $500 each.
The initial manager of the paper was B. F.
Laughlin. It opened for business as an evening
daily. For a period Mr. Cradlebaugh was edi
tor, ancl he was succeeded by Mr. Hugh Gour-
lay, who printed his salutatory February 26,
1891. It appears that D. C. Ireland was editor
<of the paper for awhile, resigning early in the
year 1893. and accepting the editorial manage
ment of the Wasco Sun. Since its event the

editors of The Dalles Chronicle have been : J. H.
Cradlebaugh, Hugh Gourlay, D. C. Ireland, S.
L. Brooks, F. W. Wilson, J. H. Cradlebaugh, R.
J. Gorman, Miss Rose Michell, Hugh Gourlay,
Miss Rose Michell, John Michell, and, again,
Aliss Rose Michell, the present editor.
The publication of the Hood River Glacier, a
seven-column weekly, was begun in June, 1889,
by Judge George T. Prather. The earlier issues
were edited by John H. Cradlebaugh, and the
paper was printed in the office of the Sun, at
The Dalles. At its inception it was a five-col
umn journal. In September of that year Mr.
Cradlebaugh secured a printing plant and per
manently established the Glacier at Hood River,
enlarging the paper to a six-column folio. Mr.
Cradlebaugh continued in possession of the Gla
cier until July, 1894, when the paper was pur
chased by Samuel F. Blythe. A six-column
folio with patent outside, continued to meet the
demands of the community until August, 1899,
when the paper was enlarged to seven-columns.
In 1902 the Glacier was published by S. F.
Blythe & Son.
May 1, 1904, Arthur D. Moe purchased the
Glacier and changed it to a seven-column quarto,
an home print. In January, 1905, he installed
a simplex type-setting machine, and now has
the most complete office and publishes the best
and largest weekly newspaper in Wasco county.
Arthur D. Moe was born in Princeton, Wis
consin, August 31, 1865, and attended the pub
lic schools at Beaver Dam, that state. In 1881
he was inducted into the printing business at
Princeton, and continued there until 1891, when
he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and started the
South St. Paul Daily Reporter, which he sold
to Swift & Company in 1892. He then went to
Grand Forks, North Dakota, and with W. Mur
phy, of the Minneapolis Tribune, bought the
Daily Plaindealer. On May 1, 1904, Mr. Moe
purchased the Hood River Glacier and is still
editor and publisher.
The Glacier is exclusively a paper for Hood
River. It aims chiefly to furnish its patrons with
a resume of local happenings, served in a style
that makes it all wholesome reading matter, and
with the intention to give outsiders a truthful
pen picture of what Hood River offers to the
industrious home seeker. The paper is read by
nearly every one in the valley, and offers an ex
cellent advertising medium through which to
reach the attention of Hood River people.
Under the management of the Blythes the
Glacier was, politically independent. When Air.
Moe assumed charge it became a Republican
journal. The Glacier is the only paper ever pub-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1059

Jished in Hood River, with the exception of the
Sun, and which was only for a brief period.
The Baptist Sentinel was established at The
Dalles in 1894 by Reverend Miller, then pastor
of the Baptist church at that place. It was a
religious journal and was continued until 1897,
when it was removed to North Yakima.
In the latter part of April, 1894, the Re
former was first issued at The Dalles and con
tinued in existence about a year. This was an
organ of the People's Party, ancl edited by H. D.
Joey. January 9, 1897, The Dalles Chronicle com
mented thus on the demise of another ambitious
organ at The Dalles. '
"The Dispatch is dispatched, turning up its
little toes this morning. There never was room
for it here ; in fact there is not room for the
papers already here, and that it was doomed to
an early death every person who knows any
thing of newspapers was well assured. * * *
Miller made a hard struggle to keep it going,
but it was a task neither he nor any one else
could accomplish in The Dalles under present
• conditions." G. J. Miller the editor, conducted the paper
about six months. The Dispatch was a daily,
and Republican in politics.
The Hood River Sun, a seven-column folio,
weekly, published at first by Sloan P. S. Schutt,
rose on the journalistic horizon in 1899. Mr.
Schutt three weeks later sold it to E. R. Bradley.
The paper lingered several months when it was
discontinued and Mr. Bradley confined his at
tention to a job office.
November 28, 1891, the material for a new
paper, the Dufur Dispatch arrived at The Dalles.
Mr. Brooks, the prospective editor, removed this
plant from Monmouth to Dufur. Shortly af
terward the paper was issued, a seven-column
folio, and it was filled with interesting local
news. In his salutatory Editor Brown said: "It
will be a country paper, giving its attention
mostly to Dufur and vicinity, kindly permitting
the president and congress to run the United
States ; Democratic by proclivity, and independent
by force of circumstances."
The Dufur Dispatch was continued for
about a year when it was discontinued. _ Then
Dufur was without a paper until the spring of
1896. At that time H. S. Turner moved a plant
to Dufur, and Alay 8, 1896, he issued the first
number of his paper which he called, also, the
Dispatch, and headlined the paper Volume 2,
No. 1, thus making it a continuation of the
Brooks publication. It was a six-column folio,
enlarged November 26, 1897, to seven columns.
In October, 1898, Air. Turner began the publi
cation of a daily. January 6, 1899, he disposed

of his interest in the Dispatch to A. J. Douglas,
and the daily edition was discontinued. Under
the new ownership Airs. Edith Douglas became
editor. Alay 2, 1899, Hisler & Temple became
the publishers and December 22d, the same year,
the property was disposed of to Henry Menefee.
September 1, 1901, the Dispatch was purchased
by Charles H. Reed, and February 27, 1903, it
was enlarged to a six-column quarto. For some
time previous four pages had been "patent," and
this is the form in which it is now issued. March
ist the publishing firm became Reed & Shepherd.
February 24, 1905, Mr. Reed purchased his
partner's iqterest and is now sole publisher of
the paper. The Dufur Dispatch is a neat little
paper, loyal to the town in which it is published
and the town is loyal to the paper.
The only newspaper in southern Wasco
county is the Antelope Herald, published by
Max Luddemann. It has an extensive field
and is prosperous. It was established July 22,
1892, by E. M. Schutt ; a six-column folio. It
was, politically, independent. October 29, 1897,
Mr. Schutt disposed of the Herald to M. E. Mil
ler and went to Pleppner where he started an
other journal. During the summer of 1898 Max
Luddeman took the Herald over from Mr. Miller.
This was shortly after the fire at Antelope. Sep
tember 29, 1899, E. C. Goodwin became asso
ciated with Mr. Luddemann in the publication
of the Herald, the firm name being Luddemann
& Goodwin. November 1, 1900, the partner
ship was dissolved, Mr. Goodwin retiring. In
the spring of 1905 the Herald was increased in
size to a seven-column folio. H. G. Kibbee pur
chased the Antelope Herald of Max Ludde
mann and is now acting as editor and business
manager. One attempt only has been made to publish
a journal in Antelope in opposition to the Her
ald. This was the Republican the initial num
ber of which was issued in July, 1900, by A. M.
F. Kircheiner. The Republican suspended in
October, 1901.
In April, 1900, the plant of the Moro Leader
was purchased and shipped to Shaniko. Arthur
Kennedy, of The Dalles took charge of the jour
nal, William Holder being the owner. The new.
Shaniko Leader made its appearance April 10,
1900. The paper suspended publication in 1902,
and the plant was removed to Crook county.
This was the only newspaper ever published in
Shaniko. The latest paper to make its appearance in
Wasco county is the Tygh Valley Bee, establish
ed in April, 1905, by E. O. Shepherd, formerly
one of the proprietors of the Dufur Dispatch.
The Bee is a four-column quarto.

io6o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

SHERMAN COUNTY.
Four weekly newspapers are being published
in Sherman county at the date of writing. They
are the Sherman County Observer, published at
Aloro by D. C. Ireland & Son ; the Wasco News
of Wasco, by J. W. Allen ; the Grass Valley Jour-
uel, of Grass Valley, by W. I. Westerfield, and
the Kent Recorder, at the little village of Kent, by
E. H. Browns. There is, also, a quarterly,
The Occidental Magazine ancl Parishioner's
Guide, a Catholic publication edited by
Rev. AL J. Hickey, ancl printed at the
office of the Wasco ATcws. Consequently
the press history of' Sherman county is not very
extended, although there have been a number
of other papers published within its limits in ad
dition to those mentioned above. While their
numbers have been small the history of each is
quite interesting from a journalistic view point
owing to the many changes in ownership and
the different places in the county from which
the same papers have been issued.
Sherman county's first paper was the Wasco
Obserz'er, established at Wasco November 2,
1888. It is still published as the 'Sherman County
Observer, at Moro, the county seat. During the
later '80's that portion of Wasco county lying be
tween the John Day and Des Chutes rivers, had
become settled by a population of thrifty stock
men and farmers, and in 1888 the question of
forming a new county was one exciting consid-
e'rable animation. A few small towns and trad
ing points had sprung up and the population of
what, a little later, became Sherman county, had
reached about 1,400. Yet there was no newspaper
within the proposed boundaries of the new
county, and few are the counties created without
the advantageous assistance of a newspaper pub
lished within its borders. This condition led to
the establishment of the W^asco Observer. Its
first issue was dated November 2, 1888; pub
lished by C. J. Bright and A. B. McMillan. The
Observer was, politically independent, at its in
ception, but it became staunchly Republican when
D. C. Ireland & Sons assumed charge. In April,
1889, Air. Bright, being appointed school sup
erintendent of the new county, the plant was
turned over to Mr. McMillan, who conducted it
until February, 1890, when the paper was sold
to J. B. Hosford. He continued it until July,
1 89 1, when he removed the plant to Moro. The
journal then became the Moro Observer. Doubt
less this change was made by Mr. Hosford un
der the belief that he would better his condition
thereby. Aloro was a growing prosperous town,
and was without a paper. Indications at this time
pointed strongly to the selection of Moro as the

county seat at the election one year away. To-
the paper Aloro promised liberal support. Fol
lowing its removal to Moro C. E. Jones became
interested with Air. Hosford in the publication
of the Observer, but in July, 1892, he retired and
the paper was in the sole charge of Mr. Hosford..
In November of that year the latter sold the
paper that he might devote himself exclusively
to the practice of his profession as a lawyer. For
a short period the Observer appears to have been
in charge of E. Al. Shutt, as it is recorded that
he retired June 1, 1892.
However, F. Al. Bixby assumed editorial
cnarge of the paper, succeeding Mr. Hosford in
November, 1892. December ist Mr. Hosford
wrote :
"I desire to notify the readers and Jriends of
the Observer that I- have leased the paper to Air.
F. Al. Bixby, a competent ancl enterprising jour
nalist, who will donate all his time and talents-
to the management of said paper. J. B. Hosford."
January 12, 1893, Air. Bixby severed his con
nection with the Observer, and the paper was
conducted for Air. Hosford by Mr. Clyde Wil
liams. June 7, 1894, appeared the following
self-explanatory articles in the Observer:
With last week's issue my connection with the Ob
server ceased. I have disposed of the paper to Mr.
D. C. Ireland, who is an excellent journalist, a talented
writer and a gentleman who will take pleasure in aiding
with his pen the development of eastern Oregon and
Sherman county. The readers of the Observer may-
rest assured that under Air. Ireland's management
the columns of the paper will always be bright and
newsy. I shall always feel a warm interest in the wel
fare of the Observer and in Sherman county, where
I intend to continue in the practice of law. It is, of
course, unnecessary, for me to solicit a continuance of
your patronage for my successor, as the Observer will
furnish in its own columns proof of his merit sufficient
to entitle him to the support of all who appreciate a
good newspaper. Respectfully yours,
J. B. Hosford.
It may be stated in this connection that no change
in the management of the paper is contemplated, so
far as the political complexion is concerned. Air. Hos
ford has trimmed the sails of the Observer and shaped
its course to suit us, and we shall continue upon the
lines marked out, producing as nearly a first-class fam
ily paper as our ability and business will justify. It
shall be our constant endeavor to properly represent
Sherman county at all times, and upon all occasions to-
assist in every laudable undertaking having the up
building of the Inland Empire in view, and a complete-
development of the wonderful resources of nature sur
rounding us, and for this purpose a cordial invitation

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1061

as extended to all men of a progressive and enterprising
•spirit irrespective of political preferences, to make the
Observer office frequent visits, to the end that we may
become well acquainted with one another.
Very respectfully yours,
D. C. Ireland.
Air. Ireland then organized the firm of Ire
land & Sons, C. L. and F. C, which continued
until about 1898, when Ireland Brothers had
charge of the paper for a short time. In Sep
tember, 1901, C. L. Ireland secured a two-thirds
interest in the Observer.
The term "Inland Empire" was originally ap
plied to regions tributary to the Columbia and
Snake rivers, by the "O. Man," (D. C. Ireland),
in the Astorian, in his contention for an open-
river from Lewiston to the sea. In 1903 Mr.
Ireland had been publishing papers in Oregon
for 40 years, among other ventures having es
tablished the Astorian, of Astoria. The Sher
man County Observer is an eight-column folio,
all home print, independent in politics and all
other matters. Since its establishment in 1888
It has taken a prominent part in all matters re
lating to Sherman county, ancl today is one of
the leading papers of Eastern Oregon. D. C.
Ireland is editor ancl C. L. Ireland, business
manager. Following the removal of the Wasco Obser
ver to Moro in July, 1891, another plant was
brought in ancl another paper took its place. The
new coiner was the Wasco News, published' by
J. AL Cummins, formerly of the Goldendale
Courier, ancl Dr. H. E. Beers. This was Sher
man county's second newspaper. In August,
1892, Mr. Cummins disposed of his interest in
the News ancl removed to Centerville, Washing
ton county, being succeeded by Frank AL Bixby,
who continued with the paper four months. In
November of that year the News became the
property of James W. Armsworthy. Of this
gentleman The Dalles Times-Mountaineer of
January 1, 1898, said :
The well-known and popular editor of the Wasco
'Nczi's is one of those jovial, good fellows that it does
one good to meet. His first work was on the old Ob
server, and he afterward completed his mechanical
knowledge in Portland. Returning to Wasco in 1S92,
in November of that year, he bought the plant of the
Wasco Neius, and by adding a complete job depart
ment to it, has today the most complete printing office
in the county.* The policy of his paper is of an in
dependent character, and as he wields a facile pen and
lis well informed upon state and national affairs, his
paper is sought after by the intelligent class of readers.
Lie is, also, an indefatigable news gatherer, and no la

bor, trouble or expense are spared to secure for the
News the first publication ' of a piece of news.
In October, 1897, the News was published
by Armsworthy & Brock, who made the paper a
five-column quarto. In 1889 the Sherman
County Bank took the paper under a chattel
mortgage. Lucius Clark was the assignee ap
pointed by the bank ancl, with the assistance of
A. H. Kennedy, he edited the paper. February
15, 1900, Norman Draper purchased the plant
ancl V. C. Brock was again placed in charge. In
the spring of 1901 the News ancl People's Re
public, of Aloro, were consolidated, V. C. Brock
continuing as manager and editor until April 1,
1902, when A. S. AlcDonald bought the paper.
He conducted it about two months ancl then dis
posed of it to Pound & Alorris, of Arlington. In
the fall of 1903 G. E. Kellogg became the owner,
conducting it until the spring of 1904, when it
was sold to J. AV. Allen and Al. P. Morgan. Air.
Alorgan retired about six months afterward and
Air. Allen assumed sole control and is the present
owner ancl publisher of the paper.
The first edition of the Grant Dispatch was
issued Saturday, December 16, 1892. It was
published by W. H. Brooks, and the plant was
the same used for one year in the publication
of the Dufur Dispatch. It was the third paper
published in Sherman county. In July, 1893,
publication of the Dispatch was suspended.
Another journalistic venture, however, was
placed in the town of Grant. This was the Grant
Gazette, edited by W. O. Maxwell, formerly of
Goldendale. It was independent in politics; a
kind of "boom" sheet, ancl the plant was washed
awav in the great flood of 1894, May 14th.
The first number of the Grass Valley Jour
nal was thrown to the breeze November 12,
1897. Politically the new venture was independ
ent Republican. C. E. Brown was editor, and
the paper was owned by The Journal Publish
ing Company. It was a seven-column folio,
"patent sides." It is the only journalistic ven
ture ever made in Grass Valley (with the ex
ception of the school paper), and has been suc
cessful. In July, 1898, we find that the Journal
was issued by The Grass Valley Publishing Com
pany. The capital stock was $2,000; C. E. Brown,
George Wr. Bourhill and J. H. Smith were the
incorporators, ancl William Holder, C. W.
Aloore and J. E* Wilcox the principal stock
holders. In 1897 W. I. Westerfield came to
Grass Valley and was employed by the publish
ing company to edit the Journal. At the ex
piration of a year he leased the plant, November
iS. 1898. February 24, 1902, Air. Westerfield
purchased the paper ancl has since ably and sue-

1062

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

cessf ully conducted it. It is a popular journal
ancl fully covers the field.
Alarch 2, 1898, the Moro Leader came into
existence, issued by the Moro Publishing Com
pany. The raison d'etre for this move was that
some of the businessmen of the county seat were
dissatisfied with the Observer, or rather, some of
the principles advocated by it. If. H. Hunting
was editor of the Leader, an eight-column folio,
politically Republican. As editor of the paper
Mr. Hunting was succeeded by Mr. Fitzmaurice.
Some time previous to the removal of the Leader
' to Shaniko, William Holder became the editor.
This removal occurred in April, 1900, when the
publication of the Shaniko Leader was begun.
This left the Moro field exclusively to the Ob
server, and the Republic ; the removal of the lat
ter a short time later left the Observer the only
journal in Moro.
So the Republic was taken away to Wasco
in April, 1898. It became a seven-column folio,
was attractive, typographically, and was ably
edited by Air. W. J. Peddicord, at that period
county school superintendent. Politically it was
a People's party organ and their only exponent
of populism in Eastern Oregon. Its first issue
was dated April 21, 1898. July 21 of the same
year we find that Air. Peddicord retires from the
editorial chair. He was succeeded by F. E. Kel
logg. The People's Republic was subsequently
removed to Moro, making the third paper at the
county seat. Here it was published until Decem
ber, 1900. December ist, of that year, The Dal
les Times-Mountaineer said:
V. C. Brock, of Wasco, and F. E. Kellogg, of Aloro,
have formed a co-partnership for the publication of the
two~ papers — the Wasco News and Moro Republic. Both
papers will be printed at Wasco, though the Republic
will maintain an office at Moro. It is their purpose to
improve both papers so as to make them a necessity
to the people of Sherman county.
These papers were finally consolidated and
publication continued under the name of the
Wasco News. And this was the last of the Peo
ple's Republic.
In April, 1902, the plant of the Shaniko
Leader was moved back to Moro and the Al'oro
Bulletin was issued by William Holder. It was a
six-column folio, politically Republican. Its form
was soon changed to a seven-column folio and
it continued that size until its suspension, Nov
ember 2Tst of that year. This was the plant that
had formerly been in commission at Aloro in
the publication of the Moro Leader, and which
was removed to Shaniko in 1900.
"Tl'c A"' v.-^s for nearly a voir the official

organ of the Aliddle Oregon Academy, at Grass
Valley. It was devoted to educational subjects
and was a worthy publication.
The first issue of the Kent Recorder was
printed November 4, 1904, by Edward H~
Browns. It is a seven-column folio, having com
menced as a six-column folio. It was enlarged
after a few issues were printed. The Recorder
is the latest venture in Sherman county jour
nalism. GILLIAM COUNTY.
The press history of this part of the Inland
Empire is, necessarily incomplete owing to the
loss of many of such records as may have ex
isted at one time. We must therefore, perforce,.
give only a skeletonized description of Gilliam
county journalism.
The first that we hear of the Arlington-
Times is in the statement in The Dalles Times-
Mountaineer of December 18, 1886, that the Ar
lington Enterprise was no more as it had been
consolidated with the Inland Times, and would
appear the next day as the Arlington Times. Mr.
Qrval Tucker was the editor and proprietor of
the journal. The first issue of the Arlington Town Talk
was printed in February, 1889. It was edited by
Harry Hawson and was rather a spicy sheet.
Alay 4th, of that year we find that the paper
suspended. In July, 1894, the Riverside Enterprise was
published at Alkali by Al. C. Harris. Typograph
ically the paper was neat and attractive one, and
decidedly newsy.
In April, 1898, Robinson & Pound began
the publication of the Arlington Review, a five
column folio, which they conducted about a year
and then disposed of the paper to W. A. Alax
well. Politically it professed to stand in the mid
dle of the road, looking neither to the right or
left, but devoting its attention strictly to pur
veying the news. April 14th Mr. Pound dis
posed of his interest to his partner who continued
to conduct the paper.
From The Dalles Times-Mountaineer we
learn that the Arlington Advocate was first pub
lished bv Jayne & Shutt, November 11, 1890.
In Alarch, 1891, S. P. Shutt purchased the inter
est of A. A. Jayne in the Advocate and removed
the plant to Condon, where it was issued as the
Condon Globe. It appears that the Arlington
Advocate was issued Alarch, 1899, by R. H. Rob
inson who soon after sold the same to C. E.
Hicks. Later in the year the name was changed"
to the Arlington Independent. In 1901 J. Al.
iohns purchased the Independent and consoli-
drted it with the Record. The Independent had'

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1063;,

been a six-column folio. At the time- of this
merger C. E. Hicks was' publisher of the Inde
pendent. It was a newsy, local paper, but the
attempt to give it a footing in a field already
covered by the Record was, evidently, a mistake.
The Arlington Record was founded in Jan
uary, 1892, by John A. Brown. With the expi
ration of the first year it came into possession of
J. Al. Johns, January 6, 1893. He conducted
the paper until October 10, 1895, and placed it
on a paying basis. On the date mentioned he dis
posed of the property. to W. A. Maxwell, for
merly of Grant. Until January 1, 1900, Mr.
Maxwell conducted the Record, when he sold it
to the Record Publishing Company and Attor
ney S. A. D. Gurley became editor. July 28,
1900, J. M. Johns again purchased the plant.
From a small "patent outside" the Record has
grown to a seven-column folio, all home print.
Politically it has always been Republican, but
by no means a partisan organ.
The Arlington Appeal made its initial ap
pearance February 26, 1903. It began in a small
way as a four-column, four-page paper, and still
continues the four-column make-up, but has en
larged to ten pages. Since its advent Mr. S. A.
Thomas l has been editor and proprietor. Its
motto was "All Coin Looks Alike to Us." Mr.
Thomas was formerly editor of the Ortonville,
(Minn.) Journal. The salutatory "bow" of the
Appeal was :
In establishing a newspaper it has been customary
in all ages for the editor to make a statement of his
intentions and the policy to be pursued by the paper.
In establishing the Appeal it is not our intention to
run any one out of town or business. It is with us, as
with all other enterprises, a business proposition. We
feel that the field is large enough to support another
newspaper, and it will be our earnest endeavor to make
the Appeal a newspaper in every sense of the word. In
national and state politics the Appeal will be repub
lican, while in county and municipal affairs we shall
support those best qualified to fill the position, but we
will endeavor to give the news regardless of politics, and
.an assure the public that we do not intend to publish a
political sheet. To those who have placed their adver
tisements in our columns we shall always feel grateful
and assure them that our efforts shall always be used
in their behalf. The columns of the Appeal are always
open for the discussion of any subject that is before
the people.
It will be recalled by the reader that S. P.
Shutt removed the plant of the Arlington Ad
vocate to Condon, the capital of Gilliam county,
and began the publication of the Condon Globe.
This Wc3 in Alarch, 1891. In his salutatory,
published Alarch 27th, Mr. Shutt said :

Realizing the fact that sooner or later Condon would
have a newspaper of its own, and knowing equally wall
that no better location for a newspaper exists in Gill
iam county, we have concluded to pitch our tent among
you. Henceforth the Globe will be your friend. Its.
columns will be devoted to the general and local news
of the day, which it will endeavor to give you faith
fully and impartially. Editorially it will be independ
ent, worshipping at no political shrine in particular,
but honestly striving to promote the general good Of
Gilliam county and Eastern Oregon.
We solicit your patronage and support, confident
that you will recognize both the advantage of having
a newspaper in your midst and the necessity of helping,
to maintain it.
In February, 1898, the Globe plant passed
into the hands of S. A. Pattison, who during the
four years previous had published the Emmett
(Idaho) Index. Air. Shutt had conducted the
Globe nearly seven years successfully, finan
cially and otherwise. Editor Pattison announced
his intention of conducting the paper as a non
partisan, non-sectarian, '"local newspaper, and
as a business proposition." Alarch 31st the pa
per was enlarged from a six to a seven-column
folio to take care of increasing patronage. De
cember 1, 1904, it was again enlarged to a five-
column quarto.
The initial number of the Condon ' Weekly-
Times was printed in July, 1900 ; a seven-col
umn folio, edited by William Christie. It was
issued by the Condon Publishing Company. Its.
editor announced that the paper would be im
partial in county matters, but would favor the re
publican administration. In December, 1904, Mr..
Christie left the Times and was succeeded by
Edward Curran, who is at present editor and
proprietor, having purchased the plant from the
Condon Publishing Company.
CROOK COUNTY.

In the fall of 1880 John E. Jeffrey began
the publication of the Ochoco Pioneer. This
was the initial journal published in Prineville,
the present capital of Crook county. It was a
brisk, lively sheet and continued financially suc
cessful for some time when business depression
compelled its suspension. As described by The
Dalles Times the Pioneer was a "neatly printed,
7-column folio, independent in politics and de
voted to the best interests of Wasco county,"'
there being no Crook county at that early period.
In 1 88 1 the Prineville ATcws was issued under
the management of Dillard & Company. It was
independent in politics, with Republican inclin
ations. With the suspension of the Pioneer Prine-

1064

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ville was without a paper for nearly a year, when
the News was thrown to the breeze. While Hor
ace Dillard was the projector of this venture he
subsequently formed a partnership with D. W.
Aldridge and under their control its publica
tion was continued for several years. Saturday,
November 11, 1883, the Nczvs suffered a loss by
fire of about $1,500, although nearly all the ma
terial was saved except the press. The net loss
was estimated at about $300.
In June, 1885, the city of Prineville was
made lively by the appearance of the Ochoco
Reviczv with the names of Barnes & Douthitt as
publishers. It was made bright and breezy by
the editorial pen of George W. Barnes. We find
that it had been a foljo, but in July, 1887, it had
blossomed into a quarto, just doubling its orig
inal size. In 1888 The Rezriew was being pub
lished by J. A. Douthitt. From The Dalles
Times-Mountaineer, of Alay 6, 1893, we learn
that F. R. Willmarth had published his valedic
tory ancl retired to be succeeded by D. W Ald
ridge. In August, 1894, the Ochoco Revieiv and
Prineville News were consolidated as one jour
nal under the name of the Ochoco Review and
the management of J. N. Williamson, formerly
editor of the Nezvs. This left Crook county with
only one newspaper, and with a claimed popu
lation of double that of Gilliam county. In Oc
tober, 1895 rne editorial control of this journal
was handed over by Mr. Williamson to L. N.
Liggett, a resident of Prineville. August 17,
1897, Air. Liggett said :
With this issue the Prineville Revieiv enters upon
its fourth year and twenty-two months under the pres
ent management. During this time we have tried to
give the news both general and local. How well we
have succeeded its many readers can testify. In en
tering upon another year we can only reiterate what
we have said on former occasions that we will work for
the interests of Crook county and that the state at large
and above all things will be non-partisan in politics.
The Review has the largest circulation of any other
paper in the county and, hence, is eagerly sought after
as an advertising medium. It is the official paper for
Crook county in which all official notices are published.
We take this opportunity to thank its many patrons for
the liberal support they have given this paper in the
past and hope to merit the same in the future.
In July, 1902, the Prineville Review again
changed hands. Air. L. N. Liggett had edited
the journal six years, and now sold out to Will
iam Holder, publisher of the Shaniko Leader
ancl Aloro Bulletin. April 16, 1904, the Des
Chutes Echo said : "A. H. Kennedy, formerly of
this place, has purchased the Prineville Rczicw

of William Holder ancl is now sole proprietor
of that publication."
In October, 1896, A. G. Palmer purchased
the plant of the Alitchell Monitor and removed it
to Prineville where it was known as the Crook
County Journal. But in August, 1897, we find
that Mr. Hugh Gourlay, of The Dalles, had taken
charge of the Journal. July 23, 1898, the Prine
ville Review said of the Journal:
Mr. Hugh Gourlay informs us that he has issued
the last number of the Crook County Journal under
his management. Mr. H. J. Palmer, one of the Journal,
was over last week and arrangements were made to
turn the paper over to the owners, A. C. and H. J.
Palmer, but as neither one appeared before this week's
issue appeared no arrangements were made. In justice
to Mr. Gourlay we will say that since he has taken
hold of the Journal he has made a first-class paper out
of it and it will revert back to the Palmer Brothers
in a great deal better shape than when they delivered
it over to Mr. Gourlay.
According to the Review' of April 6, 1901,
another change was made in the fortunes of the
Journal: The Journal came to hand this week with the name
of W. T. Fogle as editor and publisher. He promises
a great deal for his paper, and time will tell whether
he can carry out his intentions. We hope the relation
ship between the Review and the Journal in the future
will be of a different nature than it has been in the past.
In the meantime the Review will remain under the
same management that it has for over five years and
still publish the best county newspaper in Crook county.
In November, 1901, Mr. Fogle sold a half-
interest in the Crook County Journal to W. H.
Parker, of Albany, Oregon, who had held the
position of foreman on the Daily Herald of that
city for nine years. Air. Fogle remained as edi
torial writer ; Mr. Parker having charge of the
mechanical department. In June, 1902, the
Journal was enlarged to a 12-page paper. In
January, 1903, the Journal again changed
hands, pasing under the management of W. C.
Black, and S. AL Bailey, the former assuming
editorial charge. In April, 1903, Air. Bailey
disposed of his interest in the Journal to W. C.
Black. In September of the same year an in
terest was purchased in the paper by D. F.
Steffa, who became a resident of Prineville. But
in January, 1904, we find that at some previous
period the Journal was under the joint manage
ment of Steffa & Bailey, for in January of that
vc-ar Alessrs. Steffa & Bailey disposed of their
interest ancl \\T . C. Black again resumed posses
sion.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1065

Volume 1, Number 1, of the Bend Bulletin
appeared in March, 1903, with Max Ludde
mann as publisher and Don P. Rea as editor. It
was a six-column quarto with "patent sides." In
August of that year J. AL Lawrence purchased a
half interest in the paper. In May, Mr. Rea with
drew from the editorial management with the
intention of devoting himself to other interests.
He was succeeded by J. M. Lawrence, a news
paper publisher of ability ancl experience.
In June, 1902, the Des Chutes Echo, pub
lished at Bend, Crook county, was the latest
newspaper venture in the state. The paper was
edited by A. C. Palmer. It was naively ob
served by the Grass Valley Journal that '"Mr.
Palmer has started his paper a little early in
order to catch some of those always welcome
to the printer, timber notices."
In July, 1903, there occurred a change in the
¦ownership of the Echo. Up to that date H. J.
ancl A. C. Palmer had judiciously managed the
journal. On the above date they disposed of
the plant to The Des Chutes Publishing Com
pany, of which George Schlecht was the con
trolling factor. In July, 1903, the building, with
the entire printing plant of the Echo was de
stroyed by fire, it was impossible to ascertain
the origination of this blaze. Thenceforth for
about a year the Echo was issued from the office
¦of the Prineville Rcviezv. In July, 1904, it sus
pended publication. The Echo was in its third
year, had enjoyed a good circulation and had
been edited by George Schlecht at Des Chutes
and, as stated, since the fire printed in the
Review office. The editor, finding more lucra
tive employment elsewhere, decided to abandon
the little paper and turned it over to the Rcviezv
managment. But the latter found it inexpedient
to employ a writer at Des Chutes and having no
time to look after the paper decided that the
best thing to be done under the circumstances
was to abandon the field to the Bend Bulletin.
In July, 1904, a six-column folio, all home
print, called the Madras Pioneer, was started at
Madras by the Pioneer Publishing Company. It
was edited by Timothy Brownhill. April 1,
1905, the paper was purchased by A Lax Leudder-
mann. It was, then, a six-column folio, all home
print, and conducted for Air. Luddemann by
S. D. Percival.
In 1904 the Cline Falls Press issued its first
number. It was a four-column folio and entered
at the Prineville postoffice. It appears to have
been under the editorial supervision of B. F.
A longer, ancl financed by F. T. Hurlburt, a
banker of Shaniko.
The Ashwood Prospector was established
Alarch 30, 1901, by Alax Luddemann, a five-

column paper printed from the office of the
Antelope Herald. This paper was discontinued
in April, 1905. LAKE COUNTY.
Three newspapers are being published in
Lake county at the present time, the Lake County
Examiner, of Lakeview, by C. O. Atetzker ;. the
Lakeview Herald, by William Wagner; and the
Central Oregonian, of Silver Lake, by W. D.
West. Besides these only three other papers have
had an existence in the county.
The first paper started in Lake county, and the
first in Southern Oregon east of the Cascade
mountains, was the State Line Herald, which
first greeted its subscribers at Lakeview in De
cember, 1878. The plant upon which this paper
was printed had formerly done duty in the pub
lication of the Bidwell Herald at Fort Bidwell.
That paper was edited by Fred Smith, one of the
soldiers stationed at Fort Bidwell. When the
troops were removed to another post the Herald
suspended publication.
After the suspension at Fort Bidwell the plant
was moved to Lakeview and relaunched as the
State Line Herald. It was purchased from W. B.
Ayer by C. B. Watson and W. W. Watson, who
were the first publishers. The Herald at the start
was a six-column folio, but was later enlarged to
an eight-column paper. Later B. P. Watson, an
other brother, secured an interest and the firm
name was "The Watson Bros." Of these broth
ers, B. P. is dead ; C. B. is an attorney at Ashland,
Oregon ; and W. W. resides in Portland.
For the first two years of its life the Herald
was a valuable piece of property. The pioneer
paper saw many exciting times in Lakeview, and
it is alleged that shooting at the editor was not an
uncommon occurrence. However, the paper
never failed to come out each week, except once,
when the office was over the old Goos brewery,
when fire destroyed both the brewery and the
Herald office.
In the spring of 1881 C. B. Watson left Lake-
view, and on March 16 the paper was sold by
C. B. and Wr. W. Watson to J. H. Evans, at that
time register of the Lakeview land office, the con
sideration being $700. August 11, of the same
year. Air. Evans sold to R. F. AlcConnaughy, and
lie the same day to B. P. Watson, the considera
tion in each case being $898.70.
During the political campaign of 1882, there
was a fierce campaign waged between the State
Line Herald, which was a strong Republican
organ, ancl the Lake County Examiner, which at
that time was as strongly Democratic. The latter
wen and left the Herald without much support,

io66

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

and as the town was too small to properly sup
port two papers, arrangements were made to
leave but one paper in the field. The Examiner
purchased the Herald's plant, subscription list,
good will, etc., and Lake county's pioneer paper
ceased to be.
Lake county's second newspaper was the Lake
County Examiner, established at Lakeview early
in 1880. In the fall of 1879, Lake county, then
comprising the present Lake and Klamath coun
ties, was strongly Democratic, and a number of
leading Democrats decided to start a newspaper
in opposition to the State Line Herald, a Republi
can paper, and the only one published in South
eastern Oregon. They organized a stock com
pany, among the stockholders of which were S.
P. Moss, M. T Walters, A. F. Snelling, C. A.
Cogswell, Bob Redding, William Tullock, T. N.
Lofton and George T. Baldwin. They bought a
plant at Adin, California, paying $2,000 for it,
and, as it was in the dead of winter, they had
to haul it in on bob-sleds. There was no road
broke down the valley, and when the teams bring
ing the plant struck the south end of the lake,
which was frozen, they took to the ice and slid
the outfit the entire length of the lake, about
forty-five miles.
The first week in January, 1880, the Lake
County Examiner was established as a Demo
cratic paper with Frank Coffin as editor and man
ager. It managed to hold its own against the
opposition paper, and in 1882 enlarged its plant
and its field of support by purchasing its rival.
Shortly after this Bruce Allen bought an interest
in the paper and conducted it until March, 1885,
when W. F. Beach came to Lakeview and bought
Allen out. Three months after this transfer S.
C. Beach came to Lakeview and bought up a lot
of outstanding stock from C. A. Cogswell. The
publishing firm now became Beach & Beach, and
the Examiner took on a look of prosperity. Under
this management the paper was independent po
litically, but leaned heavily to the Republican
party. In 1890 or 1891 F. W. Beach sold his interest
to S. C. Beach, and a year later William Town-
send and A. Y. Beach bought S. C. Beach out. In
1892 Mr. Townsend was elected county judge,
and shortly afterward A. Y. Beach bought Town-
send's interest in the paper and ran it independent
until the campaign of 1896, when it was made a
Republican organ. In January, 1898, J. E.
McGarry bought a half interest in the Examiner,
and the publishers became Beach & AlcGarry.
On Alay 22, 1900, the fire which wiped out of
existence the business portion of Lakeview, de
stroyed the Examiner plant, all that was saved
being a job press, a little type and a small quan

tity of paper. From the time of the fire until
October of the same year the paper was printed
on the job press and issued as a three column,
eight and ten-page paper. Then a new plant, in
cluding a cylinder power press, was put in and
the Examiner became a five-column, eight page
paper. John E. AlcGarry died on November 17, 1902,.
'and in May, 1903, A. Y. Beach bought from the
administrator of the AlcGarry estate the half in
terest in the paper for $2,000. The next change
in proprietorship occurred on March 10, 1904,
when C. O. Aletzker, who up to a short time be
fore had been publisher of the Chewaucan Post,
at Paisley, purchased the Examiner from Mr.
Beach. Mr. Aletzker has continued the paper in-
the same form and with the same political prin
ciples as under Air. Beach.
The Examiner ever since its establishment,
over twenty-five years ago, has been an active fac
tor in the advancement of Lake county. Today
it is one of the best known and most reliable-
papers in Southern Oregon. Its plant is up-to-
date and is one of the most expensive ever put in
a town the size of Lakeview.
It was fifteen years after the establishment of
the Examiner before the next newspaper came
into existence in Lake county. This was the-
Lake County Rustler, known since at various
times as the Lakeview Register and the Lakeview
Herald. It was during the fall of 1894 that agi
tation was begun for a second paper in Lakeview.
The People's party had been gaining strength
during the preceding years, and at the presi
dential election of 1892 had carried the county-
for General Weaver. It was the promised sup
port from the members of this party that "in
duced the establishment of the Rustler.
The plant of the John Day Living Issue,
which paper had suspended some few months be
fore, was purchased and the Lake County Rustler
came into existence' in January or February,
1895. Oliver & B^ker were the publishers, the-
latter retiring a few months afterward, when J.
C. Oliver became sole publisher. October 15,
1898, J. G. AA'alters leased the plant, changed the
name to the Lakeview Register, ancl conducted
it as a Democratic orgsn. At tlje expiration of
Air. Walters' lease, October 1, 1899, J. C. Oliver
again took charge of the paper and rechanged the
name to the Lake County Rustler.
On Alay 22, 1900, the Rustler was entirely
destroyed by fire. For one or two issues there
after the Rustler was gotten out on the job press
saved from the Examiner plant. Then Air. Oliver
took his forms to Alturas, California, where he
printed the paper, sending the edition to Lake-
view to be mailed.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1067-

During the summer of 1900 Mr. Oliver inter
ested C. B. Irvine, who furnished a second-hand
printing plant against ©liver's subscription list
and book accounts, and the Lake County Rustler
was again issued from its own plant in Lakeview.
Oliver & Irvine published the Rustler until Dec.
1, 1901, when W. J. Aloore took up Mr. Irvine's
half interest. Oliver & Aloore continued at the
helm until July 1, 1902, when Chas. A. Fitch
purchased Mr. Oliver's interest. Moore & Fitch,
in September of the same year, renamed their
journal the Lakeview Herald. Mr. Fitch died on
November 6, 1902, and W. J. Moore then as
sumed full control and published the Herald until
September 8, 1904. On the latter date the plant
was leased by William Wagner, and on Decem
ber 15, of the same year, that gentleman became
the proprietor. The Herald is Democratic.
The fourth paper to be established in Lake
county and the first one in the county outside of
Lakeview, was the Chewaucan Post, which for
nearly four years was published in the little town
of Paisley. The Post was founded on February
7, 1901, by C. O. Metzker, the present editor and
proprietor of the Lake County Examiner. It was
established as a six column folio and it was inde
pendent in politics.
On April 9, 1903, the Post was purchased by
William Holder, who, at the time, was interested
in several newspapers in Eastern Oregon. Under
Mr. Holder's administration the Post was a Re
publican paper. May 24, 1904, Chas. H. Keith
bought the Post and at once changed it to a
five-column folio, with all of its pages printed at
home, it having had two "patent" pages before
this change. Mr. Keith continued to publish the
paper until in December, 1904, when it sus
pended, and the plant again became the property
of Mr. Metzker. The Post during its life was a
potent factor in the development of Northern
Lake county ancl deserves a large share of credit
for the settling of the country in that vicinity.
In February, 1903, the looming up of a big
list of timber notices which had to be published,
the lands lying in the vicinity of Silver Lake,
caused several" newspaper men to cast longing
glances in that direction. William Holder, who
had formerly published the Shaniko Leader, and
was at that time publishing the Prineville
Reviczv, associated himself with W. A. Bell, a
U. S. commissioner at Prineville, and they started
for Silver Lake with a plant. Bailey & Black,
publishers of the Crook County Journal, pub
lished at Prineville, also gathered up a printing
outfit ancl started for Silver Lake, at the same
time, L. N. Kelsav, not knowing of the move
ments on foot for the establishment of a news
paper at Silver Lake, bought the Shaniko Leader

from William Holder, and after getting out only
a few issues at that place, he, too, headed for
Silver Lake. The three plants arrived at Silver
Lake within a few days of each other and their
owncrs began making preparations for business.
Three newspapers in such a small town
seemed like overdoing the thing, so Bailey &
Black and Kelsay consolidated their plants and"
began the publication of the Central Oregonian,
which first appeared on March 5, 1903, under the
firm name of Bailey & Kelsay. In Novem
ber of the same year the Central Oregonian
absorbed the Bulletin, at which time the publish
ing firm became the Central Oregonian Publish
ing Company, L. N. Kelsay editor and manager.
On August 5, 1905, W. D. West purchased the
Central Oregonian and he is still the publisher.
In the history of the Central Oregonian we
have told of the rush of newspaper men to Silver-
Lake. On the day following the launching of the
Central Oregonian, — on March 6, 1903, — the Sil
ver Lake Bulletin came forth under the proprie
torship of Holder & Bell and with L. N. Liggett
as editor ancl manager. In November of the
same year, after the greater portion of the tim
ber in the vicinity of Silver Lake had been thrown
into a forest reserve, and filings thus prohibited,
the Bulletin was consolidated with the Central
Oregonian, the owners of the former taking a.
part ownership in the latter paper. The Bulletin
was in existence thirty-eight weeks.
WHEELER COUNTY.
The weekly journals of Wheeler county are,
as a rule, bright, newsy and up-to-date. Among -
the first publications was the Fossil Journal which
was published in 1886. It was a sheet worthy the
patronage of the citizens. Sloan P. Shutt was
the publisher and it was edited by H. H. Hen
dricks. The Fossil Journal first appeared Friday,
October 15, 1886.
In October, 1894, Bruce Smith, backed by a-
number of responsible people, placed a journal in
the field, at Alitchell. This paper favored a new
county seat, ancl it was the general opinion that
Alitchell ought to support a good newspaper. No
vember 30, 1894, the Condon Globe said :
"The first issue of Mitchell's new paper, the-
Monitor, reached our table last week. 'Rocky
Alountain Smith,' the notorious temperance re
former (who tries to drink all the liquor himself"
in order to discourage others from drinking) and
W. F. Magee, a school teacher over there, were
partners until the first issue came out and in it
their dissolution notice appears. 'Rocky' has hit
the road again and the paper is now owned and
managed by Air. Alagee. The first issue was, of

-io68

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

• course, edited by 'Rocky' and is filled up mainly
" by abuse of neighboring editors, some of them
receiving flattering comments. We wish the
paper success under its new management, buFbe-
" lieve it will fall short of its main object — that of
" having a new county cut off — for a number of
years yet, at least until the population and wealth
justifies it."
In 1895 the Monitor came perilously near giv-
" ing up the ghost, but just as it was about to yield
up its existence, a Alitchell attorney, A. C.
Palmer, came to the rescue and he became editor
and publisher. In October, 1896, it was the opin
ion of the Condon Globe that the Mitchell Moni
tor had changed hands nearly every month since
its establishment, and had finallv pulled up stakes
and moved to Prineville. Thereafter it was
known as the Crook County Journal.
In March, 1900, we find the Wheeler County
News, edited by E. Al. Shutt, formerly of Ante
lope and Heppner, published at Twickenham. It
was a crisp, newsy little paper and became quite
an important factor in the interests of the town.
In June, 1900, Roy C. Irvine, a bright and
experienced newspaper man from Independence,
Polk county, assumed editorial charge of the
Wheeler County News. • Air. Shutt withdrew in
a graceful and well worded editorial, and the
plant was turned over to Air. Irvine. In Novem
ber, 1900. Mr. Irvine sold the paper to J. E.
Adamson. In his salutatory the latter said :
"Where others have quit I have begun anew." In
April,' 1902, the Wheeler Countv Nczvs ceased
to exist and its plant ancl subscription list passed
into the hands of James Stewart, of the Fossil
Journal. But the Nezvs was not dead ; only sleeping. In
July, 1902, it was awakened and came out as a
five-column journal with "patent insides." In
100^ J. E. Adamson again resumed charge of the
Alitchell Nezvs, having purchased it from James
S. Stewart to whom he had sold it a year
previous. In Alarch, 1904, we find the Alitchell Sentinel
in the field, a six-column folio published bv the
Sentinel Publishing Company, which in reality
meant Helm & Gillenwater. Air. Helm finally pur
chased the whole interest. In August, 1904, the
Sentinel plant was washed sway by a water
spout, but immediately replaced with an entirely
new outfit. Tt still remained, politically, uncom-
promisin°lv Republican. In November, 1904, the
Pacific Homestead said :
The leading Republican paoer of Alitchell at the
present time is The Sentinel, which was founded in the
year 1R04 by Hon. W. P. Gillenwater and A. Helm, as
- a six-column paper to be devoted to the interests and

advancement of Southern Wheeler county. It is a
bright, newsy sheet, well filled with interesting local
news and has a good circulation in the surrounding
country. The paper suffered somewhat of a mishap
during the waterspout of last July in that town, the
office and supplies being swept away by the angry wat
ers and publication was suspended until September ist,
in order to allow the publishers to replace the lost ap
paratus. It has now appeared again as the local Re
publican organ, and with renewed activity on the part
of the publisher. The paper is well patronized by citi
zens and merchants of the town and country, both as
a newsy sheet and as an advertising medium. The
Hon. W. P. Gillenwater died on April nth of the pres
ent year, leaving Mr. Helm as sole proprietor of the
paper. •
In October, 1901, the first number of the
Spray Courier made its appearance. It was a
journal creditable to the editor Jesse Shelby, and
the town in which it was published. In Novem
ber the paper had passed into the hands of
David E. Baxter, an able newspaper man who
owned the lot and building. 1
KLAMATH COUNTY.
In Klamath county there are two newspapers,
the Klamath Falls Express and the Klamath
Republican, both ' published at the county seat.
They are good papers and are doing much to ad
vertise the county in which they are published.
Although the history of the press of Klamath
county covers a period of over twenty years, there
have been established in the county only four
newspapers, all at the county seat. It was over a
year after Klamath had been cut off from Lake
county before the click of type was heard in
Klamath land. The pioneer paper was the Kla
math Weekly Star, which first greeted its readers
Alay 10, 1884, the plant from which it was issued
having been brought from Etna, Siskiyou county,
California, where it had formerly done service for
the Etna Post. The Star was started as a six-
column folio, all home print, and was very much
devoted to Klamath county and the little town of
Linkville. The founders of this pioneer news-
piper were Jospeh A. Bowdoin and a Air. Curtis,
the firm name being Bowdoin & Curtis. These
gentlemen had been partners in the newspaper
business elsewhere, and while they started the
Star as partners, Air. Bowdoin had sole charge of
the Linkville paper and Mr. Curtis was never in
the town. August 1, 1885, the partnership was
dissolved ancl Mr. Bowdoin became sole pub
lisher. Every one who was in Klamath county prior
to the establishment of the Star remembers how

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1069

much people, who could not often come to town,
wished to know of the happenings of the county,
ancl how warmly the few business men talked
about having a paper to advertise in, and thus
keep the business relations with their patrons a
little closer. Notwithstanding this good will of
the people toward the paper, owing to the sparsely
settled condition of the county at that time, the
prospect was far from flattering, but the indom
itable will power of Air. Bowdoin, coupled with
his business ability, overcame the difficulties and
he conducted the venture to a successful issue.
Air. Bowdoin died February 14, 1904.
Air. Bowdoin was a Democrat in politics, but
he conducted the Star as an independent and
strictly neutral paper, although he allowed its
columns to be used for the free discussion of all
political questions. The patronage of the paper
increased and on June 1, 1886, it was enlarged
to a seven-column folio. Another change was
also made on this date. The name of the publi
cation was changed from Klamath U'eekly Star
to Klamath County Star.
In July, 1889, j. A. Bowdoin retired from the
Star, selling to his son, W. E. Bowdoin. A few
weeks later, on September 6, 1889, the plant was
destroyed by fire which wiped out almost the
entire town of Linkville. A new outfit was at
once purchased and publication continued.
September 5, 1890, Air. Bowdoin sold an in
terest in the Star to P. J. Connolly, who for a
year previous had been editing the paper. Mr.
Connolly, who was known as "Peter the Poet,"
by the newspaper fraternity, was a gifted writer
and his articles were copied extensively. Under
Bowdoin & Connolly the publication became a
strong Republican organ and took an active part
in county politics. During three years the Star
was one of the best country papers ever pub
lished in Oregon and was a credit to the Klamath
country. _^
The firm was dissolved on September iSI
1S94, and Air. Connolly became sole publisher
ancl proprietor. It then became an ardent advo
cate of the principles of the People's party,
which at that time was very strong in Klamath
countv. ancl it remained an organ of that party
until 'its suspension. Air. J. K. Haynes became
associated with Air. Connolly in the publication
of the paper in January, 1895, the latter, how
ever, retaining the ownership of the plant. Fin
ancial troubles overtook the Star in the fall of
1805 and in September of that year an attach
ment was placed upon the plant. Air. Connolly
was forced to retire and for a few weeks the
paper was issued bv Air. Haynes. On October
31, the last issue was printed and the Star was no
more.

The plant, subscription list and other ac
counts were purchased by the express. The plant
did duty for a short time in the publication of
the Independent at Klamath Falls, but in Jul}-,
1896, it was shipped to Sisson, California, and
was used in the publication of a paper at that
point. On April 28, 1892, appeared the first number
of the_ Klamath Falls Express, the second publi
cation to come into existence in the county of
Klamath. The Star at this time was a strong Re
publican organ ancl the Express was established
in the interests of the Democratic party of Kla
math county, ancl it filled the bill admirably. The
Express was an eight-column folio with the two
inside pages "patent matter." David B. Worth
ington was the editor and proprietor, and under
his management the paper was a creditable one.
The hard times had its effect on the Express
ancl on August 23, 1894, the size was reduced,
being made a seven-column folio.
Air. Worthington sold the paper in the spring.
of 1895 to Joseph G. Pierce and George J. Farns
worth, who assumed charge June 6th. The fall
of this year was a bad one for the newspaper
men of Klamath Falls, and, like the proprietor
of the Star, the publishers of the Express experi
enced financial difficulties. December 16th an as
signment was made, precipitated by an attach
ment of the plant under an action brought in the
circuit court by J. W. Hamaker on two prom
issory notes aggregating $669. On the 19th Evan
R. Reames, assignee of the dissolvent partner
ship of Farnsworth & Pierce, took charge of the
paper and issued a few numbers. On January
0. 1806. the financial tangle having been straight
ened, we find that Air. Pierce became editor and
proprietor. He subsequently conducted the paper
for nearly seven years. Under his management
the journal advocated free silver principles and
was the organ of the fusion forces of Klamath
county. October 27. 1902, the paper was purchased by
Rov Hamaker, who presided over its destinies
about a year and a half. Under his management
the paper took very little part in politics and was
independent. J. Scott Taylor, the present owner,
purchased the plant and business in Alay, 1,904,
the first number under his control being issued on
the 19th. Air. Taylor made many improvements
in the Express, among other things making it an
all home print paper. It is strongly Democratic
and is conducted 6n up-to-date principles.
Early in February, 1896. D. C. Boyd leased a
part of the Star plant which a short time before
had been purchased by the Express, and launched
a new paper, the Independent, a seven-column
folio, at Klamath Falls. Not filling the "long felt

.1070

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

want," after a life of only a few months, it sus
pended, and the Republican, launched immedi
ately after the suspension of the Independent,
was more successful in filling the want.
The Klamath Republican, established April
.23, 1896, has had many changes in ownership
during its life of less than ten years. As its name
suggests it is a Republican paper and has been
throughout all its many changes in editors and
proprietors. The Republican was established by
W. E. Bowdoin, who had formerly been the pub
lisher of the Star, and was a seven-column folio.
One year after founding the paper Mr. Bow
doin took as a partner Milan A. Loosley, and in
July, 1898, Mr. Loosley became sole publisher.
June 1, 1889, Mr. Loosley sold the Republican
and for a short time it was published by the Re
publican Publishing Company, Charles J. Rob
erts, manager. September 21, 1899, W. Huse &
Son, formerly of Ponca, Nebraska, purchased the
business. Additions to the plant and improve
ments in the paper were made during the own
ership of Huse & Son.
Wesley O. Smith the present owner, pur
chased the Republican April 30, 1903. The paper
was made all home print early in 1905, to accom-

moderate the increasing demands of its patrons,
and it is one of the "live" papers of Southern
Oregon. On January 1, 1904, was born the Klamath
High School News, a publication devoted to the
interests of education, a four-column folio, quar
terly publication. It was organized and is still
published by the students of the Klamath County
High School, the only publication of its kind in
interior Oregon. From the start the paper met
with success, and on November 1, 1904, it be
came a monthly publication. It is printed in the
office of the Klamath Republican. Following was
the staff at the date of founding: John G. Swan,
editor-in-chief; John Yaden, assistant editor;
Agnes Stevenson, exchange editor ; Bertha Ham
mond, society editor; Harry Benson, business
manager; Will W. Baldwin, assistant business
manager. The staff at present is: Professor John G.
Swan, editor-in-chief; Agnes Stevenson, assis
tant editor; Alexander Martin, local editor;
Georgia B. White, society editor; Maud E. Nail,
exchange editor; Will W. Baldwin, business
manager; Austin White, assistant business man-
as:er.

CHAPTER U

REMINISCENT.

INDIAN WARS OF 1854-56.
February 23, 1881, C. W. Denton published
the following concerning the stirring times of
that epoch in the history of Oregon :
"It was during the occupancy by Major Hal
ler, of Fort Dalles, that the first Indian war
broke out, some of the incidents of which I will
relate. Soon after the great treaty made by Gen
eral Palmer at Ine Dalles in October, 1854, hos
tilities commenced. The general had with him as
interpreters Messrs. McDuffe, John Through,
Alex. McKee and C. W. Denton, the writer. This
treaty included all the important tribes of In
dians in the northwest. The greater portion of
these Indians became dissatisfied with the terms
of the treaty, or, perhaps, never were satisfied
with the stipulations. At any rate they_ soon
ignored its provisions.
"Your correspondent thus accounts for the

action of the Indians : The Hudson's Bay Com
pany used to trade and. traffic a great deal with
them ; in fact their trade had grown to such an
extent that the company established trading posts
at Vancouver, Walla Walla, Boise river, Fort
Hall, Colville and Coeur d'Alene. Air. Thomas
McKay, the father of Alexander McKay and
others of the younger McKay boys, was the over
seer and had charge in building these posts. By
treaty stipulations between the United States and
Great Britain, these were evacuated, and the
'King George men,' as the Indians termed them,
were removed into British Columbia. This, I
think, was the principal cause of the Indian out
break, though, perhaps, other causes of slight
importance, such as their right to hunting and
fishing grounds, might have played some part in
the matter. The dissatisfaction seemed to be
general throughout all tlie Indian tribes of the
northwest.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1071

"The first act ,011 the part of the Indians
was by the Klickitas who killed two or three
miners. Lieutenant Rowland, from Vancouver,
was detailed to ascertain, if possible, what was
the cause of the outrage and to prevent any fur
ther depredations. While in the faithful dis
charge of his duties the lieutenant was killed by
the hostiles at, or near, what is now called the
'blocKtiouse' in Klickitat county. He had before
this sought an interview with the Indians, but to
no avail. Quartermaster Forsythe detailed an
Indian by the name of Alark and your correspond
ent to deliver a message to Stock Whitley and
.his tribe, requesting a 'wa-wa' between the In
dians and the government authorities at The
Dalles ; but the old chief refused such an inter
view. Immediately after these unsuccessful at
tempts at reconciliation, Major G. O. Haller pro
ceeded to the scene of action, taking with him
about sixty men. He encountered the Indians in
large numbers between the Klickitat and the
Yakima rivers. Here a terrible battle ensued,
his handful of men fighting manfully all day
against fifteen or twenty timfs their number. The
soldiers were eventually cut off from water and
in a perishing condition they maintained the un
equal fight. The command finally extricated
themselves with the loss of several killed and
fifteen or sixteen badly wounded — among the
latter Sergeants Reaper and Laweety and Private
Murray. Some few of the wounded afterward
died. Captain John Darragh did gallant service.
He had charge of the pack train and managed to
bring supplies to the camp of the besieged. This
was one of the most skillfully conducted engage
ments of the war, though unsuccessful. A scout
by the name of Douglass was detailed to bring
in the crippled and wounded, and he so adroitly
managed it as not to lose a man. Instead of fol
lowing the trail direct to The Dalles, Douglass
made the nearest point on the Columbia river,
which he did by traveling an old road near what
is now called Goldendale, and from thence to the
river at or near where Columbus now stands,
from which point he came to the city. He made
this tedious and perilous trip in about two days,
landing the crippled and wounded at The Dalles,
where they received proper care. Had the hos
tiles attacked this place then, they could have
taken and destroyed it, as there were not here a
half dozen able-bodied men. The slaughter
would have been terrible, as, besides the wounded
men there were several helpless women and
children." An "Old Settler" commenting on this portion
of Mr. Denton's article, wrote: "The idea that
'a half dozen able-bodied men' were all the town

could afford is absurd. The town was full of
refugees from the country, and while there were
some who predicted our capture, and even went
so far as to see the Indians coming several times,
nothing happened here to warrant such fears."
"Major Haller with his remaining command
fought his way to The Dalles, losing, however,
several of his men, among whom was James B.
Moholland, a promising young man, who was
one of the bravest and most faithful I ever knew.
About this time Colonel James K. Kelly, since
United States senator from this state, was doing
desperate fighting with his command of Oregon
volunteers in the vicinity of Walla Walla. In
several engagements he fought against great
odds, and, on one occasion the volunteers were
outnumbered by the Indians thirty to one. The
fighting was done in rifle pits and lasted seven
days and nights. It is acknowledged by all to
have been the hardest Indian fight on the Pacific
coast and to this day is called the 'Seven Days'
Fight' among the volunteers, several of whom,
officers and privates, are still living among us,
honored and respected for their bravery on this
occasion. "While this fighting was in progress at Walla
Walla, Colonel Wright, of the regular army, was
en route to reinforce Colonel Kelly with his vol
unteers, and being delayed at The Dalles in mak
ing ready for the trip, an Indian outbreak took
place at the Cascade Falls, the news of which
had not been received, however, until he and his
command had started and were camped on Five
Mile creek. A messenger (the writer of these
reminiscences) was sent to apprise Colonel
W^riglit of this state of affairs. He immediately
returned to The Dalles and every preparation was
made for the relief of the settlers at that place.
The colonel and his command, together with a
number of volunteers, proceeded down the river
the next day, taking with them two steamers, the
"Mary" and "Wasco," and a large flat boat, the
latter loaded with artillery and cavalry horses.
On the trip the machinery of the "Mary" became
disabled, in consequence of which the whole con
voy was compelled to stop all night at Wind
Mountain. The Cascades was reached early the
next morning. Orders had previously been given
by Colonel Wright not to fire a musket until a
landing was made, for fear of causing a general
stampede among the cavalry horses, and the old
flat-boat being a very frail craft. While nearing
the shore the Indians opened fire, wounding one
cavalry horse in the hip. While landing ancl
climbing up the bank, one regular soldier was
killed. He was a. young man from Baltimore,
Alaryland. A general fight now ensued, and in

1073

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

a short time fighting was going on along the river
at different points for a distance of five miles.
During the battle Phil Sheridan and his soldiers
could be seen at Bradford's Island, on the Ore
gon side. He rendered great assistance by co
operating with Colonel Wright's forces.
"Your readers can easily conceive from these
short reminiscences, which I draw entirely from
my memory, of the events, the obstacles and dif
ficulties our pioneers encountered in first mak
ing their homes in Eastern Oregon and Eastern
Washington. This vast region, extending from
the boundary of Southern California, Nevada
and Utah, and thence northward to the Missouri
river and its tributaries, seems to have been the
desired hunting grounds of all the Indian tribes
west of the Rocky mountains. Indeed they had
roamed undisturbed wherever their wild and
semi-savage fancy led them. When immigration
extended westward and this once uninhabited re
gion became sparsely settled by the whites, it
seemed to mar the quiet disposition of the In
dians. Civilization was not congenial to their
savage natures. Sickness and disease came
among them from the whites, and this, also,
seemed to increase their hatred of the conquer
ing race. The several treaties made between the
United States and the different Indian tribes,
which on the part of the government had not been
kept in good faith, had the effect to cause the
Indians to look with distrust upon the white man,
and to lose confidence in the government. This
has been a source of great annoyance to the early
settlers of our western territory and thousands of
our citizens have been sacrificed to appease the
wrath of the savages."
HOW EXPLORER CLARK SPELLED HIS NAME.
Many histories, reminiscences, and historical
sketches, including a "Journal" purporting to
have been published by Captain Meriwether
Lewis, spell the name of Captain William Clark,
companion of Lewis, "Clarke," with the final "e."
There is no authority for this. The copyplate
of his signature is spelled "Clark." But the fol
lowing letter from Hon. Walter B. Douglas,
Judge of the Circuit Court, Eighth Judicial Cir
cuit of Missouri, received by the publishers of
this volume February 20, 1905, removes all doubt
concerning the correct orthography:
"Dear sirs — Your letter to the secretary of
state was sent to me by him ; he thinking that by
reason of my being president of the Missouri His
torical Society, I might be able to give an authori
tative answer to your question.
"The Historical Society has a collection of

letters of Governor Clark's, and I have seen many
other of his writings. In every instance he spells
the name 'Clark.' as all of the members of his
family did and still do. He wrote the name some
thing like this (nere is given a spelling with a
slight flourish on the end), I have not made the
flourisn at the end quite like he generally did.
Sometimes it looked not at all like an 'e' — some
times very much like one, but at all times it was
only a flourish. The usage of spelling the name
'Clarke' in the public prints came, I think, from
Gass's book. That book, as you know, was the
first published account of the exploration. Gass
was an unlettered sergeant, whose notes were
written out by a Virginia country schoolmaster
in what is now West Virginia. Gass, no doubt,
had letters or papers signed by Clark, and the
schoolmaster took the flourish for an' 'e.' The
Historical Society has commissions given to mili
tary officers of the state by Clark when governor.
These are all printed 'William Clark, Governor
of Missouri Territory.'
"George Rogers Clark, the governor's brother
wrote his name witlva like flourish, yet it was
never mistaken for an 'e,' and his name is always
printed 'Clark.' I may add one other bit of evi
dence. A monument to Governor Clark, erected
by his descendants, over his grave, was unveiled
here (St. Louis), last fall. Upon that his name
is, also, spelled Clark. These various instances
ought to settle the question.
"Yours truly,
"WALTER B. DOUGLAS." t
A REMINISCENCE OF TFIE INDIAN WAR.
O. P. Cresap served as a guide to General
Howard during the Bannock and Piute war of
1878, and in that capacity witnessed much of the
campaign. His account of the adventures in
which he participated during this war is interest
ing and is as follows :
Tom Aleyers and I left Elk creek on the morn
ing of July 2, 1878, bound for Canyon City. We
had no particular object in view except to visit
the city and did not know there was an Indian
war in progress. We arrived at the old Dribbles-
by ranch, now known as the Smith ranch, about
noon, intending to stop there for dinner. I went
up and knocked at the door but could get no an
swer, so went back of the house to see where the
family had gone. But I could find no one and
going into the house discovered that things were
undisturbed. I concluded that the occupants
were away on the hills. We fed our horses' and
secured a cold lunch for ourselves, and rode on.
At the next ranch I found no one at home ; like-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

!Q73

wise at the next. Then I became suspicious and
the more so because I saw a man scouting near
us. So I made bold to inquire of him the reason
for this condition of affairs and learned for the
first time that the Bannocks and Piutes were on
the war-path ancl that he was one of General
Howard's scouts. As he was going to Canyon
City we rode along with him and learned more
of the trouble. He said that Howard was south
of Canyon City in pursuit of the Indians, who
were crossing the range and headed toward Long
creek. At Canyon City there was a material stir in
the air and all was excitement. Most of the men
were under arms and a portion of the women and
children had been removed to the mining tun
nels west of the town. A shipment of one hundred
stands of arms together with ammunition had
just been received from The Dalles in response
to an appeal from the citizens, who found them
selves short of weapons, and every able-bodied
man and boy in the town was well equipped and
ready to give an account of himself, should the
redskins appear. As soon as I learned enough of
the particulars to convince me that the people at
Elk creek were in danger I made preparations for
an immediate return. Before midnight I was
well on my way accompanied by Tom and two
others who joined us. 'that was one of the dark
est nights I have ever seen and we had to walk
our horses so soon as we reached the foothills.
We reached Elk creek, or Susanville, about nine
o'clock the next morning and in a short time the
six or seven families there, the Blake, Bison,
Mad and other families, had packed what few
necessities were required for the trip and with
the exception of John Blake, the merchant who
offered to stay and keep watch until we could re
turn, the party headed southward.
After we were well on our way, John Austin
and I left the company with the intention of re-
connoitering ancl if possible discover the exact
whereabouts of the redskins, who were thought
to be over toward Fox valley. We took a north
eastward course. We saw no signs of Indians
that day ancl camped that night on Long creek,
about eight miles above the town of that name.
The next morning we descended the creek,
soon reaching the open country. We passed
Thomas Keeney's place but looked in vain for
the next ranch house. I knew about where the
house was situated and could not account for my
failure to see it now. As we came a little nearer
we noticed that the chickens were out of their
yard and huddled together in the branches of a
tree. By this time we were close to where the
house had stood and looking again very closely,
we easily solved the mystery of its non-appear

ance, for there lay a pile of ruins still warm.
Although we were aware that the Indians were
probably not a great many miles away, we did
not believe they were very close to us and rather
ascribed the fire to accidental causes than to the
redskins. The ruins of the next ranch house were
smouldering wlien we reached it ancl then it
dawned upon us that we were probably close to
the trail of the redskins. From that on we pro
ceeded with great caution. The next house was
burning and alar off we could sec the flames
leaping skyward and the smoke curling up in
great clouds. Here we saw our first Indian, a
scout, but evidently he thought we were advance
scouts of the army for he quickly rode out of
sight. Little did we think we were so close upon
the Indians' heels, but in a few minutes we came
in sight of a party of Indians which had passed
through Long creek the day previously ancl was
now neaded toward the middle fork of the John
Day. The inhabitants of this town ancl settlers liv
ing near by had constructed a log fort ancl stock
ade here ancl in it were gathered the population
of the town and those who had come in from
surrounding ranches. When the. Indians reached
this place they attempted to send a small force
into the fort on the pretext of being friendly /
Indians. Wisely ancl fortunately for those in the
fort the warriors were refused admission. Fur
ther parley followed, the Indians endeavoring to
effect an entrance through some ruse ancl each
time meeting with a repulse. Finally, seeing
that the whites could not be deceived ancl that the
fort was too strong to be attacked successfully,
the war party passed by within two hundred yards
of the fort without offering in any way to molest
property. Had the redskins succeeded in gain
ing an entrance to the fort a massacre of the
whites would probably have followed.
Of the Indians there were likely between six
and seven hundred, mostly Bannocks and Piutes.
The old men, women and children formed the
van, the fighting men the rear. With the Indians
were some two or three hundred head of horses,
which were herd ;d ancl driven by those unable to
fight. The wickiups, personal property and
plunder were packed on poles which were dragged
by the horses. Tnis advance did most of the
plundering and pillaging.
Here at Long creek we met Colonel Bernard,
who was the real fighter of the army. He asked
me where I had come from and what I had seen
of tlie Indians and I told him all I knew. I told
him of conditions at Susanville and he very
kindly placed a small detachment of troops at our
disposal to guard property at Elk creek. Austin
accompanied the soldiers back. With the army

68

1074

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

were about thirty scouts, recruited mostly from
Arizona, and in command of Rube Robbins.
While these scouts were well acquainted with
Idaho and that portion of Oregon lying near the
southern boundary, they were unfamiliar with
this region and Colonel Bernard was looking for
a man who could pilot them northward through
the mountains. He proposed that I go with them
and I accepted his offer to act as guide, though
no actual enlistment was required of me.
General Howard's plan was to make no at
tempt to drive the Indians, but rather to follow
them closely and keep them headed northward if
possible, planning to surround and capture them
on the Columbia river. He was afraid that if
the Indians were pushed too hard they might
make a dasti across the Columbia before he could
place troops and boats there in sufficient numbers
to check them while he tut off their retreat. Dur
ing the whole time the Indians were marching
northward troops had been gathering along the
Columbia river, but their movements were very
slow. Up to this time but one battle had been
fougnt in this region, the battle of Silver Creek,
in which the Indians held their own and might
be said to have been victorious. As to General
Howard's ability as an Indian fighter, opinions
differ, but that he was sincere in his belief that
it would be disastrous policy to push the Indians
too hard, there is no doubt in my mind. The In
dians did not go very far out of their way to
commit depredations, but confined themselves
strictly to their line of march, evidently wishing
•to delay hostilities until they- were reinforced by
their hoped for Umatilla allies.
Thus the army moved slowly, going from
Long creek north across the middle fork of the
John Day, thence to the north fork and down on
Camas prairie toward Pendleton. Our route
was marked on every hand by evidences of de
struction and carnage. Sometimes we found
ranch buildings razed to the ground by fire ;
-again simply ransacked, furniture destroyed,
•clothes, carpets, etc., stolen, windows broken and
•goods scattered about. Occasionally we found
a white man murdered by the savages. At all
the ranches the stock had been driven away and
killed, and one had only to notice the dead horses
and cattle along the road to know that the In
dians had passed that way. At one ranch on
Birch creek we fovmd a baby carriage drawn out
under the arbor leading to the door of the house,
and in the carriage was placed a dead colt. At
another place, evidently a dairy farm, in Camas
prairie, our attention was attracted by a huge
pile of butter stacked up near the house. From
the appearance of it the little Indians had used it

as a toboggan slide. As we approached one place
we noticed a huge, white pyramid. At first we
could not make out what it was but as we drew
nearer we saw that it was composed of dead
sheep, several hundred of them. One of the most
pitiful and frequent sights was that of a dead
lamb tied between two posts so that it could not
move and under its body the ashes of a small fire
showing that it had been burned to death. Around
these dead lambs were always small moccasin
tracks, indicating that this was the work of the
children. Our scouts had frequent skirmishes with the
Indians but none of enough consequence to be
worth relating. Tne scouts always moved in
front and were followed by the cavalry, the in
fantry, pack train and artillery bringing up the
rear. Next in command after General Howard
were Colonel Forsythe and Brevet Colonel Ber
nard. When we reached the headwaters of the
north fork there were two courses for the In
dians to leave the country, by Butter Creek or by
the Grande Ronde river. By a little maneuver
ing we turned them from the Grand Ronde and
they started down Butter Creek. Here we fought
a battle. A succession of low hills slopes away west
ward, forming an ideal place for the Indians to
make a stand and they did make a stand. When
we came up, the hillside was fairly alive with
Indians ancl they commenced heavy firing in our
direction. The scouts fell back, the cavalry was
ordered t@ the front and formed into two lines
and the men were then ordered to dismount. Then
the gatling gun, the only one with the army, was
brought up and in less time than it takes to tell
it, was dashing out in front of the army on its
way up the first hill. The redskins were on the
second hill, while between the two there was a
small elevation within two hundred yards of the
Indians. Slowly the horses mounted the first hill,
reached the summit, and then to the astonish
ment of all, kept on its way to the smaller eleva
tion. The Indians could not understand such ap
parently foolhardy actions and they stood thun
der struck, not even offering to fire. Had they
not been overcome by the audacity of the act our
men would have certainly met death. As the
lead horses reached the summit of the elevation
they whirled around; the carriage was unlum-
bered and in an instant a prefect storm of bul
lets was carrying death and destruction to the
ranks of the dusky warriors. The redskins
scrambled from their hiding places and rushed
pell mell over the summit of the highest hill and
into the timber. Our troops came to support the
gun, but were not needed. The officers did not

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1075

allow the soldiers to take full advantage of this
victory and the result was that the Indians were
pursued only a short distance. George Smith,
a soldier was killed in action and several were
wounded, though none mortally. After the bat
tle scores of dead horses covered the ground
telling plainly of the deadly work of the bullets.
This fight took place between the 10th and 15th
of July. The casualties among the Indians must
have been great, though I never learned just
how great. I had followed the gatling gun up
the hill and so saw the whole fight very plainly.
The defeated braves, closely pursued by the
army, pushed northward and, as is well known,
were defeated in battle by Miles near Pendleton.
With the death of their chief and leader, Egan,
the Indians lost courage and executing a flank
movement, commenced to retreat southward. We
followed and came up with them a few days
later on Lake creek, which empties into the North
Fork. Here the Indians made another and final
stand and had they possessed the courage which
accompanies success they might have made us
pay more dearly for victory.
This time they chose for their battle ground
a high table rock covering several acres and with
nearly perpendicular sides. From its top they
bade defiance to the cavalry and scouts, who were
under Colonel Forsythe. The trail over this high
plateau led through a small gap which could be
¦easily defended against hundreds by a handful
of brave men. The scouts, led by Rube Robbins,
-were ambushed while attempting to gain the
summit of this rock through the gap and as a re
sult suffered the loss of one man killed and sev
eral wounded, among the latter being Robbins
himself. Kennedy, the man who was killed, was
wounded in the arm and bled to death. I found
him on the field and after giving him a drink of
water from my canteen, went for the surgeon
and informed him of Kennedy's condition. Then
I went to look after another wounded man named
Campbell. When the, surgeon found Kennedy he
was dead.
The cavalry were drawn up in line for a
charge when Colonel Bernard came up to me and
asked if I knew of any way to dislodge the red
skins without great loss of life. I pointed to a
high steep hill to the west, which overlooked
the table rock, and told him that if he could gam
Its summit it would be an easy matter to take
the Indians in the rear. The troopers having
ascended the hill in safety soon dislodged the In
dians and forced them to retreat.
The last defeat was too much for the Indians
and soon after they divided into two bands, one
¦going south by wav of the Greenhorn mountains

and the other down the Dixie range. The party
which returned by way of the Dixie range killed
a Frenchman near Robinsonville and Jimmie
Varderman on Elk creek. The Indians kept in
the mountains as much as possible, however, and
destroyed little if any property. The war was
now at an end and as I could be of no further
service to the army I helped to take Campbell,
the wounded man, down Burnt river, after which
I returned to my home at Susanville.
FIRST MARRIAGE IN WASCO COUNTY.
In her entertaining and valuable book en
titled "Reminiscences of Eastern Oregon," Mrs.
Lord says :
This is the first authentic account of a legal
marriage in the county which was really then a
part of Clackamas. I will give the incidents as
given to me by George Snipes. While I have
been familiar with the facts and incidents here
related, as they occurred, and have related them
many times, as being of an interesting character,
yet I was not sure enough of details and felt a
delicacy about using the story without having it
verified. Air. Snipes says :
"I came across the plains in the year 1853,
arriving on Ten Mile creek in September. While
camped there I met a man who, in conversation,
asked me where I was from. I told him from
Iowa. He asked what county. I replied from
Jefferson. He then said he wondered if I knew
his people ; his name was Nathan Olney. I told
him I knew them all, but could not remember
that I had ever seen him, as he had been away so
long. "While we were hitching up to start, intend
ing to take the road which branched off across
the Cascade mountains, I saw a card on the
ground and on picking it up found on it the name'
of Dr. Shaug, 01 The Dalles. I had known him
well in Iowa, as he had been our family physician
for years before coming west. I told one of the
boys I wished one of them would drive for me
that day, as I wanted to go into town and see an
old acquaintance. This was on Saturday, and it
was the intention that the train should lie by on
Fifteen Mile creek over Sunday. Out from The
Dalles are Three Mile, Five Mile, Eight Mile,
Ten Mile and Fifteen Mile creeks. I intended to
make my visit and overtake them there.
"When I found the doctor he was out at the
ranch which he had taken up, the place where I
now live. After awhile he said that he thought
I would better stop in The Dalles. I said I did
not see anything there to make me stay for, but
he said it was a good country and he could assure

1076

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

me that I would do well. He said if I wanted a
farm he could pick out a good place for me. I
said that was what I was looking for, but I
thought I had better go on, as I came with that
intention. " 'Well,' said the doctor, 'I went through
when 1 came and I have come back because I
think this is a better place for a man to get ahead
than in the Willamette valley.'
" 1 don't think I can stop now,' I replied ; 'the
fact is I have got to go on, as I am going to be
married when I get there. The old man won't
give me my girl, and I will have to steal her ; but
I am going to steal her so soon as we get through
to the valley.'
•" 'Is tlie girl willing for you to steal her?'
" 'Yes ; she says so.'
"'Well, why not steal her here and stay?
I'll get some fellows I know to go with you and
I'll furnish the horses. I know where we can
get a side saddle for the girl to ride on, and you
can steal her now.'
"I thought about this for awhile when the
doctor said :
" 'Let's go back to town and talk it over with
my wife.'
"We did so and Mrs. Shaug was delighted
with the plan. I concluded to try it. Then they
told me to go into the tent and write a letter
telling the girl just what to do, which I did. The
doctor got two men, Jim Thompson and Jim
Griffin to go with me and furnished cayuses for
all three and one with a side saddle for my girl.
When we got to Fifteen Mile we found my train
camped there, but the Imblers had gone on, ancl
were either going through to Tygh Valley or
make a dry camp before reaching there. I told
my friends what I was going to do. They did
not like to have me leave them but all understood
how the affair stood and wished me good luck.
We went on until we got up near where the
Brookhouse place now is, and found their train
had made a dry camp. Griffin and myself waited
at a safe distance, while Thompson went up to
the camp, having been instructed how to pro
ceed. "he tied his horse to a wagon having a cer
tain name, or number on it, went to where they
were eating supper, asked for Mr. Imbler and
told a yarn about expecting to meet a brother
with that train. On being asked to eat supper
with them he said that he had eaten supper, but
would take a cup of coffee just to be sociable.
On seeing Aliss Imbler go to the wagon he made
an excuse to see to his horse and managed to
give her the letter. He then returned to the
campfire and told so many tales that when he

finally took leave old man Imbler had become
suspicious. He at once called the men together
and told them that the fellow who had taken a
cup of coffee with them had acted and talked so
suspiciously that he believed a gang was coming
to steal tneir cattle in the night. They were all
excited and drove the cattle up and set a guard
over them.
"Vvhen Aliss Imbler received the letter she
called her sister to bring a light and they read it
together.' By the time she was ready to start
the cattle had been rounded up in front of the
wagon she was in and her two brothers were
standing guard directly opposite. There was
nothing to do but wait with patience for an op
portunity which at last came. While both of the
hoys were talking with their backs turned toward
the wagon she slipped quietly away and walked
down the road to where we three men were wait
ing for her. When she joined us we all quickly
mounted our horses and started for The Dalles,.
where we arrived at half past two o'clock. We
rode up to Dr. Shaug's tent and told them every
thing was all right. The doctor replied :
" 'I have good news for you; I have a preach
er here.' "We had expected to have to go to Portland
to be married, but one of the Hineses came up on
the boat that evening to meet a brother expected
across the plains. The doctor called in several
persons and we were married within an hour
after arriving."
Here is another case which is, apparently, the
first marriage after Wasco county was created.
It is taken from a newspaper of recent date:
In the pioneer days of the 50's weddings were of
infrequent occurrence. In fact, Wasco county had been
established more than two and one-half years before
a marriage was solemnized within its borders. Still,
men were susceptible to the charms of women, and
doubtless others would have fallen victim to cupid's
wiles had the fairer sex been more plenty. Neverthe
less fair maidens were led to the altar by brave men,
and the first marriage in Wasco county of which there
is any record, was celebrated October 3, 1856. In a lit
tle volume among the county's archives this record is
found :
"Territory of Oregon, County of Wasco, ss:'
"This is to certify that the undersigned, a justice
of the peace, did on the 3d day of October, 1856, join
in lawful wedlock William C. McKay and Miss M.
Campbell, in the presence of Dr. Atkins, Dr. Bates, R. ,
R. Thompson and many other witnesses. Oh ! what a-.
glorious time we had.
"C. W. Shaug,
"Justice of the Peace.''

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1077

A GOOD INDIAN.
The following is a reminiscent sketch from
Airs. Lord's book :
Somewhere along between 1855 and 1856 a
family by the name of Peat took up a place on
Three Mile, above the Bettenger place. A bach
elor had the place above the Canyon Citv road.
Art. Peat had to go to the valley on business and
left his wife alone except for a small child and
a boy who herded their sheep. A young- Indian,
handsome and saucy, who had been spoiled by
associating with the whites, came into town ancl
bought a bottle of whiskey and got just full
enough to be a fool. Starting home he remembered
that Mrs. Peat was alone, so he thought he would
take her home with him. Of course she was
nearly frightend to death, but kept her wits about
her. He worked with all his might to put her on
his cayuse, but about the time he thought she
was safely mounted she would fall off; then he
would whip her and force her to climb on again.
Then he would attempt to mount the pony, too,
and again she would fall off: Next time he would
lead the horse a short distance ancl she would
fall off again. The little one would cry, but he
would beat and threaten to kill her, but Airs. Peat
persuaded him not to. The boy talked English
very well. He had tied the white boy, who finally
got the fastenings loose, ancl slipping away went
to Air. Brownlee's for help. Airs. Peat's repeated
falls were for the purpose of gaining time until
some one would come. I don't know that she
knew the boy had gotten away.
The Indian was arrested, tried, convicted ancl
hanged for his night's entertainment. He was
hanged from the limb of a large pine tree which
used to stand near the Fourth street bridge. He
hung there all night and the next morning his
relatives got permission to cut clown ancl earn-
away the body. I can remember those squaws
with it across the saddle, going up the beach, wail
ing their death chant, the most weird and ghastly
sound one ever heard. The Indians were very
sulky for some time.
BUILT AN EIGHTY-TON BOAT.
The following diversion of 1857 is from The
Dalles Chronicle, of 1896:
If any one imagines that the days of daring
enterprise in the far west began with the advent
•of the railroad and telegraph, they will be unde
ceived when they read the following truthful in
cident of a task performed which _ seems her
culean, and if a similar one were projected today
it would be pronounced visionary and impossible
of execution.

In 1857 R. R. Thompson ancl Jonathan Jack
son built a saw mill on the present Wiley place
on Fifteen Alile, five miles above Dufur. One
day, at a time when there was a temporary lull
in business, Air. ( ). Humison, then residing at
The Dalles, appeared at the sawmill with an as
tounding proposition. It was to build a boat to
navigate the upper Columbia and enter the field
of commerce as a common carrier. The plan was
to build the boat at the sawmill and haul it over
land to a point above the Celilo Falls and launch it
in the Columbia. The sawmill men were very
skeptical regarding the virtue of the plan, as
mry readily be imagined; but were finally per
suaded to enter into the scheme by the very mag
netism ancl confidence of the projector. So they
began work on it. The boat was seventy feet in
length ; eleven and one-half feet beam, and had
a carrying capacity of eighty tons.
It was at length finished ancl the most difficult
part of the work was before them ; how to get
this unwieldly river monster, weighing many
tons, to the water. Three days were spent sur
veying a route for it. It was then decided to gain
the ridge between Des Chutes ancl Fifteen Mile,
and follow it down. This leads into a precipitous
canyon, and just how that part of the trip was
accomplished is, unfortunately, not known at the
present day. But the boat was hauled along by
eight yoke of oxen, on slides or long sleds, and
it took three weeks to haul it to the river, a dis
tance of thirty miles. Talk about Napoleon
crossing the Alps ! His heaviest artillery was but
a toy to this gigantic river craft, two-thirds as
large as the "Regulator." The men of '57 on this
coast were built of the staunchest kind of stuff,
and nothing could daunt or appall them. They
didn't think about Prince Albert coats, immaculate
shirt fronts, toothpick shoes, but they just set
themselves to some task for the development of
the country, ancl they went ahead. If they lacked
?nv refinement of science or mechanics, any labor-
saving device, implement, tool or appliance, they
simply conjured up a substitute or got along
without it.
And thev launched their boat. And they
christened it the "Mountaineer." With the aid of
pike poles ancl lines from the bank they ascended
t-i-ie river to Wallula ancl returned, conveying
freight and passengers both ways. When the
round trip was accomplished, ancl they counted
1111 the money in the till, it was found that there
was enough funds to pay for all the expenses
undergone, of building the boat, hauling and
launching it ancl operating it up the river and
down a sain, and a handsome surplus over and
above all.
Afterward the proprietors put sails on the

.,1078

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

boat, and besides being the first boat on the river,
it was for many years the fastest, as well. This
company was the nucleus of the old Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, afterward merged into the
Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. Before
the days of the "Mountaineer" nothing navigated
the river except the batteaux of the Hudson's Bay
Company ancl the Indian canoes. The "Moun
taineer" opened the way and pioneered the steam
navigation on the Upper Columbia.
A massive shaft of California granite in Sun
set Cemetery today marks the last earthly resting
place of this pioneer of navigation of the Upper
Columbia. Chiseled out of this durable stone
near its base appears the name, "Humison," ancl
this is the man whose memory the Chronicle, in
this humble way, desires to recall. He was a
pioneer. THE CASCADE MASSACRE.
Concerning the following account of this
tragedy it should be remembered that the massa
cre occurred just across the river from the Cas
cades in what is now the state of Washington,
during the Indian war of 1855-6. Although it
did not actually take place on Wasco county soil,
it was so closely identified with the history of that
county that it should be given in this place. The
latter portion of the data brings the story into
The Dalles and Wasco county. Our first extract
is from a letter published in the Portland Oregon
ian of January 1, 1857, written by L. W. Coe:
The following letter handed us by Putnam F.
Bradford, Esq., descriptive of the massacre at the
Cascades, on the 26th of March, 1856, now ap
pears for the first time in print, and is probably
the only recorded history in detail, written con
temporaneously. Mr. Bradford was at the time
in Massachusetts, and having large interests and
acquaintances at the Cascades, the letter was in
tended to convey to him thorough information
and description : THE LETTER.
Cascades, W. T., 6th April, 1856.— My dear
Put : — We have had a little "tea party" since you
left, and I will try and give you a little descrip
tion of the same.
On Wednesday, Alarch 26th, about 8 :30
o'clock, a. m., after the men had gone to their
usual work on the bridges of the new railway,
mostly on the bridge near Brush's house, the
Yakimas came clown on us. There was a line of
them from the Mill creek above us to the big
poirt at the head of the falls, firing simultan
eously on the men. The first notices v. ere the

bullets ancl the crack of the guns. Of our men,.
at the first fire one was killed and several-
wounded. Will give you a list herein after. Our
men, on seeing the Indians, all ran for our store-
through a shower of bullets, except three who
started clown stream for the middle blockhouse,
distant one and one-half miles. Brush and his
family also ran into our store, leaving his own
house vacant. The Watkins family came to file
store, after a Dutch boy, who was lame from a
cut in the foot, had been shot in their house. Wat
kins, Finlay and Bailey were at work on the new.
warehouse on the island, around which the water-
was now high enough to run about three feet
deep under the bridges.
There was great confusion in the store at first,.
ancl Sinclair, of Walla Walla, going to the rail
road door to look out, was shot from, the bank
above the store and instantly killed. Some of us
then commenced getting the guns and rifles-
which were ready loaded, from behind the
counter. Fortunately about an hour before there
had been left with us for transportation below
nine United States government rifles, with cart
ridge boxes and ammunition. These saved us..
As the upper story of the house was abandoned,
Smith, the cook, having come below, and as the-
stairway was outside where we dare not go, the
stovepipe was hauled clown, the hole enlarged
with axes, and a party of men crawled up, and'
the upper part of the house was soon secured.
We were surprised that the Indians had not
rushed into the upper story, as there was nothing
or nobody to prevent them. Our men soon got
some shots at the Indians on the bank above us.
I saw Brush shoot an Indian, the first one killed,
who was drawing a bead on Airs. Watkins as she
was running from our store. He dropped in-
stanter. Alexander ancl others mounted into the
gable under the roof and from there was done
most of our firing, it being the best place of ob
servation. In the meantime we were barricad
ing in the store ; making portholes and firing
when opportunity offered. But the Indians were
soon very cautious about exposing themselves. I
took charge of the store, Dan Bradford of the
second floor, and Alexander of the garret and
roof. The steamer "Mary" was lying in the mouth
of Mill creek, and the wind blowing hard clown
stream. When we saw Indians running toward
her ancl heard the shots, we supposed she would
be taken, ancl as she lay just out of our sight and'
we saw smoke rising from her, concluded she
was burning, but what was our glad surprise
after awhile to see her put out and run across--
the river. I will give an account of the attack
on her hereaft?r.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1079

The Indians now returned in force to us, and
we gave every one a shot who showed himself.
They were nearly naked, painted red and had
guns, bows and arrows. After awhile Finlay
came creeping around the lower point of the
island toward our house. We shouted to him to
lie down behind a rock and he did so. Pie called
that he could not get to the shore, as the bank
above was covered with Indians. He saw, while
there, Watkins' house 'burn. The Indians first
took out all they wanted — blankets, clothes, guns,
etc. By this time the Indians had crossed in
canoes to the island, and we saw them coming, as
we supposed, after Finlay. We then saw Wat
kins ancl Bailey running around — the river side
toward the place where Finlay was, ancl the In
dians in full chase after them. As our men came
around the point in full ' view, Bailey was shot
through the arm and leg. He continued on, and
plunging into the river, swam to the front of our
store and came in safely, except for his wounds.
He narrowly escaped going" over the falls. Fin
lay, also, swam across and got in unharmed,
which was wonderful, as there was a shower of
bullets around them.
Watkins next came running around the point
ancl we called to him to lie down behind a rock,
but before he could do so he was shot in the
wrist, the ball going up the arm ancl out the
elbow. He dropped behind a rock just as the
pursuing Indians came following around the
point, but we gave them so hot a reception from
our house that they backed out and left poor Wat
kins where he lay. We called to Watkins to lie
still and we would get him off ; but we were not
able to do so until after the arrival from The
Dalles of the steamer "Mary" with troops — two
clays ancl nights afterward. During this period
Watkins fainted several times from weakness and
exposure, the weather being very cold, and he
was stripped for swimming, down to his under
clothes. When he fainted he would roll down
the steep bank into the river, ancl the ice-cold
water reviving him, he would crawl back under
fire to his retreat behind the rock. Meantime his
wife and children were in the store, in full view,
and moaning piteously at his terrible situation.
He died from exhaustion two days after he was
rescued. The Indians were now pitching into lis right
smart. Thev tried to burn us out ; threw rocks
and fire-brands, hot irons, pitchwood — every
thing that would burn on to the roof. But you
will recollect that for a short distance back the
bank inclined toward the house, ancl we could
see and shoot the Indians who appeared there.
So thev had to throw from such a distance that
the largest rocks ancl bundles of fire did not quite

reach us, and what did generally rolled off the
roof. Sometimes the roof got on fire and we cut*
it out, or with cups of brine drawn from pork
barrels, put it out, or with long sticks shoved off
the balls. The kitchen roof troubled us the most.
How they did pepper us with rocks ; some of the
big ones would shake the house all over. There
were now forty men, women and children in the
house — four women and eighteen men who could
fight, and eighteen wounded men and children.
The steamer' "Wasco" was on the Oregon side
of the river. We saw her steam up ancl leave
for The Dalles. Shortly after the steamer
"Mary" left. She had to take Atwell's fence
rails for wood.
So passed the day, during which the Indians
had burned Iman's two houses, your sawmill and
houses, and the lumber yard at the mouth of Alill
creek. At daylight they set fire to your new
warehouse on the island, making it as light as
clay around us. I suppose that they reserved this.
building for the night that we might not get Wat
kins off. They did not attack us at night, but the
second morning commenced as lively as ever. Wre
had no water, but did have about two dozen bot-
ties of ale and a few bottles of whiskey. These
gave out during the day. That night a Spokane
Indian, who was traveling with Sinclair, ancl was
in the store with us, volunteered to get a pail of
water from the river. I consented ancl he stripped
himself naked, jumped out and clown the bank,
ancl was back in no time.
Bv this time we looked for the steamer from
The Dalles, and were greatly disappointed at her
non-arrival. We weathered it out during the
day, every man keeping his post ; never relaxing
in vigilance. Every moving object, shadow or
suspicious bush on the hill received a shot. The
Indians must have thought the house a bombshell.
To our ceaseless vigilance I ascribe our safety.
Night came again; saw Sheppard's house burn;
Brush's house, near by, was also fired, and kept
us in light until about 4 o'clock a. m., when, dark
ness returning, I sent the Spokane Indian for
water from the river, and he filled two barrels.
He went to and fro like lightning. We, also,
slipped poor James Sinclair's body down the slide
outside, as the corpse was quite offensive.
The two steamers now having exceeded the
length of time we gave them in which to return
from The Dalles, we made up our minds for a
long siege and until relief came from below. Wre
could not account for it, but supposed the Ninth
Regiment had left The Dalles for Walla Walla,
and proceeded too far to return. Alorning
dawned — the third morning — ancl, lo, the "Alary"
and "Wasco," blue with soldiers, and towing a
flat boat with dragoon horses, hove in sight. Such

io8o

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

a haloo as we gave ! As the steamers landed the
Indians fired twenty or thirty shots into them,
but we could not ascertain with any effect. The
soldiers as the}' got ashore could not be re
strained, and plunged into the woods in every
direction, while the howitzers sent grape after the
now retreating redskins. The soldiers were soon
at cur store and we, I think I may say, experi
enced quite a feeling of relief on opening our
doors. During this time we had not heard from be
low. A company of dragoons, under Colonel
Steptoe, went on down : Dan with them. The
block house at the A liddle Cascades still held out.
Allen's house was burned and every other one
below. George W. Johnson's, S. AL Hamil
ton's. F. A. Chenowith's ; the wharf-boat at
Lower Cascades — all went up. Next in order
comes the attack on the "Alary.'' She lay in Mill
creek — no fires — and wind hard ashore. Jim
Thompson, John Woodard ancl Jim Hermans
were just going up to the boat from our store ancl
nearly reached her as they were' fired upon. Her
mans asked if they bad any guns. No. He went
up to Iman's house, the rest staying to get the
steamer out. Captain Dan Baughman and
Thompson were ashore on the upper side of the
creek, hauling on lines, when the fire became so
hot that they ran for the woods past Iman's
house. The fireman, James Lindsey, was shot
through the shoulder. The engineer, Buskmin-
ster, shot an Indian on the gang plank with his
revolver, and little Johnny Chance, Watkins' step
son, climbing up on the hurricane deck, with an
old dragoon pistol, killed his Indian. Johnny was
shot through the leg in doing so. Dick Turpin —
half crazy, probably — taking the only gun on the
steamboat, jumped into a flat boat lying along
side, then jumped overboard and was drowned.
Fires were soon under the boiler ancl steam was
raising. About this time Jesse Kemptem — shot
while driving an ox team from the sawmill — got
on board — also a half-breed named "Bourbon,"
who was shot in the body. After sufficient steam
to move was raised, Hardin Chenowith ran into
the pilot house, ancl, lying on the floor, turned the
wheel as he was directed from the lower deck.
It is almost needless to say that the pilot house
was a target for the Indians. After the steamer
was backed out and fairly turned around, he did
toot that whistle at them good. Toot ! toot ! toot !
It was music in our ears. The steamer picked up
Hermans on the bank above. Iman's family,
Sheppard ancl Vanderpool all got across the river
in skiffs, and boarding the "Mary" went to The
Dalles. Colonel George Wright ancl the Ninth Regi
ment, Second Dragoons, and Third Artillery, had j

started for Walla Walla and were out five miles,
camped. They received news of the attack at n
o'clock p. m., and by daylight were back at The
Dalles. Starting clown they only reached Wind
Mountain that night, as the "Mary's" boilers were
in bad order because of a new fireman the day
before. George Johnson was about to get a
boat's crew of Indians, when "Indian Jack" came
running to him saying the Yakimas had attacked
the blockhouse. He did not believe it, although
he heard the cannon. He went up to the Indian
village on the sand bar to get his crew ; saw some
of the Cascade Indians who said they thought the
Yakimas had come, and George, now hearing the
muskets, ran for home. E. W. Baughman was
with him. Bill Alurphy had left the blockhouse
early for the Indian camp, and had nearly re
turned before he saw the Indians or was shot at.
He returned, two others with him, and ran for
George Johnson's about thirty Indians in chase.
After reaching Johnson's Alurphy continued on
ancl gave Hamilton and all below warning, and
the families embarked in small boats for Van
couver. The men would have barricaded in the
wharf boat but for the, want of ammunition. There
was considerable government freight in this
wharf boat. They staid about this craft and
schooner nearly all day, and until the Indians
commenced firing- upon them from the zinc house
on the bank. The}- then shoved out. Tommy
Price was shot through the leg in getting the
boats into the stream. Floating down they met
the steamer "Belle" with Sheridan and forty
men, sent up on report of an express carried
clown by Indian Simpson in the morning. George
ancl those with him went on board the steamer
and volunteered to serve under Sheridan. The
steamer returned and the Indians pitched into
Sneridan ; fought him all da}- and drove him
with forty men and ten volunteers to below Ham
ilton's, notwithstanding he had a small cannon;
one soldier was killed.
The steamer "Belle" returned next day (third
of the attack) ancl brought ammunition for the
blockhouse. Your partner, Bishop, who was in
Portland, came up on her. Steamer "Fashion",
with volunteers from Portland came at the
same time. The volunteers remained at the lower
Cascades ; Sheridan took his command, and with
a batteaux loaded with ammunition crossed to
Bradford's island on the Oregon side, where they
found most of the Cascade Indians, they having
been advised by George Johnson to go there for
the first day of the attack. They were crossing
ancl recrossing all the time and Sheridan made
them prisoners. He pressed a boat's crew and
as they towed up to the head of the island and
above, saw great numbers of Indians on the

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1081

Washington Territory side ancl opposite them.
Sheridan expected them to cross ancl fight him,
and between them ancl the friendly Indians in his
charge, he thought he had his hands full. Just
then Sheridan discovered Steptoe ancl his dra
goons, infantry and volunteers, coming down
from the "Alary" surprising completely the In
dians, who were cooking beef ancl watching Sher
idan across the river. But on sound of the bugle
the Indians fled like deer to the woods with the
loss of only one killed — "old Joanam." But for
the bugle they ought to have captured fifty.
So ended the battle. The Ninth Regiment
are building a blockhouse on the hill above us ;
also at George Johnson's, ancl will hereafter keep
a strong force here. Lieutenant Bissell ancl
twelve men who were stationed at the upper Cas
cades, were ordered away, and left for The Dalles
two days before the attack was made upon us.
The Indians Sheridan took on the island were
closely guarded. Old Chenoweth (chief) was
brought up before Colonel Wright, tried ancl sen
tenced to be hanged. The Cascade Indians, being
under treaty, were adjudged guilty of treason in
fighting. Chenoweth died game ; he was hanged
on the upper side of A 1111 creek. I acted as inter
preter. He offered ten horses, two squaws and a
little something to every "tyee" for his life ; said
he was afraid of his grave in the ground, ancl
begged to be put in an Indian dead house. He
gave a terrific war-whoop while the rope was be
ing put around his neck. I thought he expected
the Indians to come ancl rescue him. The rope
did not work well, ancl while hanging he mut
tered, "Wake nike quash copa memaloosa !" He
was then shot. I was glad to see the old devil
killed, being satisfied that he was at the bottom
of all the trouble. But I cannot detail at too
great length.
The next day Tecomcoc ancl "Captain Joe,"
were hanged. "Captain Joe" said that all the
Cascade Indians were in the fight. The next day
Tsy. Sim Sasselas ancl "Four-fingered Johnny '
were hanged. The next day Chenoweth Jim,
Tunwalth ancl Old Skein suffered the same fate,
ancl Kenewake sentenced to death, but reprieved
on the scaffold. In all nine were executed. Ba-
naha is a prisoner at Vancouver, ancl decorated
with ball and chain. The rest of the Cascade
Indians are on your island ancl will be shot if
thev get off from it. Such are Colonel W right s
orders. Dow, Watiquin, Peter, Alakooka John
ancl Kotzue, ancl perhaps more, have gone with
the Yakimas.
I forgot to mention that vour house at the
lower Cascades, also Bishop's, were burned ; also
to account for Captain Dan Baughman and Jim
Thompson. Thev put back into the mountains,

ancl at night came down to the river at Vander-
pool's place, fished up an old boat and crossed
to the Oregon side. They concealed themselves
in the rocks on the river bank opposite, where
they could watch us, and at night went back into
the mountains to sleep. They came in safely
after the troops arrived. We do not know how
many Indians there were. They attacked "the
blockhouse, our place, and drove Sheridan all at
the same time. We think there were no less than
two or three hundred. When the attack was
made upon us three of our carpenters made for
the middle blockhouse, overtook the cars at the
salmon house, cut the mules loose and with the
car-drivers all kept on. They were not fired upon
until they got to the spring on the railroad, but
from there they ran the gauntlet of the bullets
and arrows to the fort. Little Jake was killed
in the run, and several were wounded. I append
a list of the killed and wounded, but this is a
long letter ; knowing you would be anxious to
have all the particulars I have endeavored to give
you a true description. Dan is writing to others
at home, and he has read this letter. We have
got to work again building and transporting ; are
going to build a sawmill as soon as we can. We
had but few specimens of poor men here during
the fight — generally all behaving well. There
was, however, one notable exception, a person
who arrived at the store a few minutes before the
fight commenced and whose name I will give you
in person. KILLED.
George Griswold, shot in leg; B. W. Brown
and wife, killed at sawmill, bodies found stripped
naked in Alill creek ; Jimmy Watkins, driving
team at the mill ; Henry Hagar, shot in Watkins'
house, body burned ; Jake Kyle, German boy ;
Jacob White, sawyer at the mill ; Calderwood,
working at the mill ; "Bourbon," half-breed, died
on the "Alary" going to The Dalles; James Sin
clair, of the Hudson's Bay Company, Walla
Walla ; Dick Turpin, colored cook on the steamer
"Alary;" Norman Palmer, driving team at mill;
Three United States soldiers, names unknown;
George Watkins, lived four days ; Jacob Roush,
carpenter, lived six days.
WOUNDED.
Fletcher Alurphy, arm; P. Snooks, boy, leg;
T. Lindsav. shoulder ; Tommy Price, thigh ; Two
soldiers United States Army ; H. Kyle, German ;
Aioffat, railroad hand: Johnny Chance, leg; AL
Bailev. leg. arm : J. Alain, slightly.
I am a little afraid to go to Rock Creek to fish,

1082

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

in fact have had no time so far. Don't think I
shall have much fishing this summer. Wish
you were back. Yours,
L. W. Coe.

March 30, 1881, The Dalles Times published
another reminiscence relating to the same melan
choly tragedy. The Times said :
The following letter from Colorado Springs
to a lady in this city from an old resident of
White Salmon, Washington Territory, and who
fled from there on the "Mary" as described, at the
time of the terrible massacre at the Cascades in
1856, has been handed to us for publication :
I am very grateful to you for awakening so
many reminiscences by your recent postal. I have
never saved by writing or picture any one of
these early experiences ; but they come back to
me vividly — freshly as I ponder them o'er, filling
my otherwise lonely hours with brighter pictures
than I find in books, so that I am only afraid of
being too lengthy or egotistical.
Yes, I was there that 26th of March, 1856,
waiting at Mr. Atwell's, on the opposite side of
the Columbia, while my husband returned to The
Dalles on business. You may recollect that only
three weeks before I had seen our own home con
sumed by Indian fires and heard their savage
yells as the troops attempted to cross the river,
but returned to the Oregon side to await further
orders. So, as we heard firing on the opposite
side of the river, and saw the strange course of
the steamer "Mary" as she staggered in the
strong current, dropped down, down, turned and
trembled, and finally made trifling headway up
ward, we were perhaps more calm than some
when the hurrying neighbors said it was the In
dians. — "The woods on the other shore are alive
with hostiles ; tney have killed, will kill every
body ; their hideous yells even now come across
the water. But see ! The "Alary" is nearing our
shore. We are safe."
Mothers hurry their crying children on
board; fathers carrying wood and rails; (any
thing to burn, for I think she burned hatchways
to get across). We gather a little bedding, a few
eatables, but think more of escaping with our
lives. At another time we might have said,
"what a bare, comfortless boat," but now it was
our only hope. Her every plank meant protec
tion ; escape. My first greeting from the engin
eer is, "Can you do anything for the wounded?"
And as I looked around I realized how narrow
the escape — only six men on board ; four of them
wounded while getting her off ; no officer but the
engineer. The men who have families on board
help as well as landsmen can. We are barely
under way when a small boat hails, and a woman

is lifted aboard with a babe scarce twenty-four
hours old.
On the bare floor of the little cabin one of the
wounded ones is moaning sadly, while his life
blood is tickling through his blanket and stain
ing the boards. We ask can we help him ; try
to find him a pillow ; but he seems not to under
stand our language and turns away, so we seek
for the others. Little Johnny Chance is in the
cook's bunk, crying piteously. "Where are you
hurt, Johnnie?" . "Oh, my leg — they will cut off"
my leg !" And then he cries for his mother. But
when we take off his boot and find the bullet in
it, having gone clear through the leg, he is less
excited, and he seems to believe us when we tell
him, "They won't cut off your leg." We meet
the third man, Jesse, by the engine, holding his
shoulder, and trying to show the raw hands how
to help, and to our query, "What can we do for
you?" says, "I am pretty bad, but that fellow in
Brush's room is worse." So we go on to find
Air. Lindsay, with the cold drops of perspiration
on his forehead, and his lips closely pressed from.
excessive pain. The ball had passed through his
lung. Can we staunch the blood? We fincl in
the engineer's satchel some cotton and make lint
as we have read, for not one person has had ex
perience. We bathe his hands and face ancl try
to find something to nourish him ; succeed in
getting a little tea, of which the man in the cabin
partakes. The sick woman has a few blankets on
the other side of the cabin, and the children are
huddled in the corner and the women soothing-
as best they can, lor there is nowhere else to go.
As the long hours pass by — the boat runs slowly
against the wind and current — the engineer is
now at his engine, now at the wheel, untiring,,
calm, masterful.
Mrs. Atwell, I think it is, finds us something"
to eat; some flour on board, and soda that she
mixes and bakes while doing her part watching-
the cmldren and sick. She is a brave, true-
woman, and I feel ashamed wdien I see her ener
gy and endurance ; but I can't stay long from the
sufferer in the little room. To die so ! Can we
prolong his life until help is reached? We haye
not time to think of the dear old home so re
cently devastated as we glide slowly past. The
night shadows are gathering now, ancl weariness
and well nigh despair come over me as I steal
over the guards ancl curl down at the end of the
boat. Rumor says The Dalles was to be attacked
at the same moment with the Cascades. It was-
just as unprepared. So we may be met by hos
tile foes instead of our friends. If so, what can
we do? No friendly port within reach! We
drop back to meet the foe almost anwyhere on-
either side. There is no outlet over these impass-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1083

able mountain ranges. We almost hear savage
yells as we round rocky points or steer nearer
shore, to avoid the swift current. It is quite dark
now. The man in the cabin has ceased to breathe.
Lindsey is sinking. We forget self as we try to
minister to his needs. We can give the cup of
cold water if nothing more.
How welcome the cry, "The Dalles ! The
Dalles!" The lights are burning as usual. All is
well. What a crowd of citizens is on the shore,
for word has reached them by the little "Wasco"
of our peril and probable escape. How precious
is kindness now. How keenly we appreciate the
upper room made ready for us by Mrs. Cushing.
Lindsey is carried so carefully to a room, and the
army surgeon is ready to do all that can be done,
and after a long illness he recovers. The engi
neer has done a brave, grand deed, for which I
cannot think he was ever suitably rewarded.

A publication unknown to the writer, several
years ago published the following relating to the
Cascade massacre and the blockhouse which still
stands at the upper Cascades :
"It has been suggested that the old block
house at the upper Cascades be sent to the
World's Fair as a historical relic of this region,
and especially because of the association with the
name of Sheridan, who, as is often asserted, was
quartered there and had a hard battle with the
Indians during the great war of 1855-6. There
are two reasons why this blockhouse should not
be a memento of either that battle or Sheridan.
First, it was not built until after the battle; and
second, Sheridan was never quartered in any
blockhouse, and did not defend one. There was a
blockhouse on the level ground known as the Mid
dle Cascades, now gone completely to ruin, where
a battle was fought in February, 1856. But Sher
idan was not there. When news of the battle
reached Vancouver Sheridan, then a lieutenant,
was sent with some troops on a steamer to the
scene of trouble, arriving the second day of the
fight. He made a landing at the lower Cascades,
was driven off by the Indians, and retired to
Bradford's island, in the river opposite the block
house, where he remained until the troops that
had come down from The Dalles, under Colonel
Wright and Colonel Steptoe, drove the attacking
Indians away. It was after this that the present
blockhouse was built, two miles up the stream
from the old one, ancl it has stood all these years
without receiving a hostile bullet. Sheridan after
ward became a great general, but the spurs he
won in this fight were very small ones, not for
want of bravery, but because he had not men
enough to fight the swarm of Indians opposed to

him, and he was compelled to seek refuge from
destruction."

JOHN SLIBENDER.
The following is from "Hood River Fifty
Years Ago," by H. C. Coe :
Old John Slibender, the subject of this sketch,
was the last of the old Indians who were
strictly residents of Hood River valley, as he and
his ancestors for as far back as his family tradi
tions go, made their home here. Slibender must
have been close to his hundredth year, for when I
first knew him, nearly fifty years ago, he must
have then been between forty and fifty years of
age. This would fix his birthday close to the-
period of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Dur
ing my early boyhood I used to frequently visit
his camp, and being the only white boy in the-
valley the Indians made a good deal of me and
taught me to speak their language, which I could
do quite fluently. Many a lovely Sunday have I
wandered down to old Slibender's camp and list—
tened to his wonderful legends and traditions.
Among many, very many, was the noted one,.
"Bridge of the Gods," and how his great, great
grandfather used to paddle his canoe through
this wonderful arch and of his uninterrupted
canoe trips to sea and return, and how Mount
Hood and Mount Adams grew angry at each-
other, and after a great deal of preliminary
swearing, went to work in good earnest, throw
ing stones at one another until they finally
knocked this mighty bridge down and dammed
up the river, overflowing much land and killing
many Indians. Of the absolute truth of this
tradition I never had any question, and the dates
must have been about as he stated.
He claimed that his paternal grandparents
were very long-lived, and allowing them seventy
years each, it would have placed his great-great
grandfather about two hundred years before his
time, about the year 1600, or, perhaps later ;
certainly not before that. John Slibender was
a true friend of the whites. All through the
Indian wars of 1856 he was unswervingly our
friend, upright, truthful and honest ; a man one
could trust if his skin was dark. A few years
ago he was converted to the Christian religion
and became a member of the Indian branch of
the Shaker church that is spreading so wonder
fully throughout the tribes in eastern Oregon
ancl Washington. He was an earnest and enthus
iastic worker in his new found hopes. Vale,
good John ! And for your sake ancl mine, may
your belief in a happy, never-ending future be
fully realized.

10S4

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

FORT BOISE MASSACRE.
To the Dufur Dispatch of April 16. 1897,
Hon. D. W. Butler contributed the following :
Probably the hardest horseback ride ever
made through a hostile Indian country, ancl the
most remarkable case of endurance on record
in the northwest, was the 400-mile ride of Enoch
Fruit from Fort Boise to The Dalles, in August.
1854. when, without rest he traveled the distance
in four days and nights. Fruit was employed
by H. P. Isaacs ancl Orlando Humason to con
vey the news of the massacre of twenty-three
emigrants at a place some forty miles east of Fort
Boise. The horrible story told by the messenger
created great excitement at The Dalles : but as an
•eye witness of the scene of horror a short time af
ter, I can testify that man could not tell of, nor
pen describe the sickening sight and do it jus
tice, and to the memory of all those, who with me
viewed it. it will always rank in the annals of
savagery as the most fiendish ever perpetrated —
but of that later.
On receipt of the news we gathered as quick
ly as possible a force of regulars and volunteers.
ancl started for' Boise. Our companions num
bered thirty-six regulars under Ala j or Granville
O. Haller, and by picking up a few after starting,
we had about the same number of volunteers un
der Captain Nate Olney. with Orlando Neal ancl
I. Stoley. lieutenants. At Grande Ronde Val
ley we were joined by about twenty Cayuse and
Nez Perce Indians as allies ; R. R. Thompson
as Indian agent, with his two packers, and Ex-
Governor Gaines also accompanied us from this
point. Governor Gaines being on his way to meet
his family who were on their way to Oregon (he
met them near the scene of the massacre.)
On leaving Grande Ronde Olney took about
18 men and our Indian allies and made a forced
march to the Owyhees where he surprised at
early dawn an Indian encampment, killing about
ten and taking fifteen prisoners, which he held
in the bastions of old Fort Boise until the arrival
of Alajor Haller with the rest of the command.
As soon as Alajor Haller had made camp a
short distance from the fort the prisoners were
started from their quarters with the intention cf
bringing: them before him. It happened to be
about dinner time, ancl at the sound of the bugle
call our captives took it for granted their death
warrant had been signed, so scattered to make
a desperate run for liberty. A half-breed Indian
addressed them in their own tongue and suc
ceeded in reassuring them and all but one stop- 1
ped. This unfortunate was brought to a halt 1
bv a charee of bird shot fired by one of our tame
Indians who bore the very appropriate name of '

"Cut Alouth John." The shot did no serious in
jury but the Siwash concluded to make the most
of it, so jumped into the air. fell flat, and after a
few struggles was, apparently, dead. We gath
ered around the corpse, but old Cut Alouth John
declared him "wake memalose" and deliberately
poked the end of his iron ramrod into the vic
tims eye which, though a severe test of death,
in this case proved a very effectual one. for the
victim jumped to his feet with a howl and went
back to his comrades.
We were soon convinced that this band had
not been concerned in the massacre, and learned
that the tribe that had committed the deed had
gone north, so we took a northeasterly course and
after a few hard days' ride reached the Payette
valley, and the second day found their camp with
fires still burning; here it was very evident the
band had scattered in all directions to avoid pur
suit. The next morning we saw two hostiles and
closely pressed they ran into a small creek and
hid. but our most careful search could not dis
cover their hiding place, so the whites abandon
ed the search. Not so with our Indian allies
who would not leave the stream until they secured
the scalps of the fugitives, and finally their per
severance was rewarded : the fugitives w-ere
found in a hole which the water had washed in
the bank, and which the sod and vegetation con
cealed from view of an}- but these human blood
hounds. The volunteers also captured an Indian and
his family this day and took them along, strik
ing south to the Boise valley ; here we found
the thigh bone and leg down to the boot of some
boy that had been killed. We turned down the
river to the scene of the massacre. It is over
fort}- years since I visited that spot, and vet the
horror of the sight is often before my eyes. Here
were the ghastly and mutilated remains of 2^,
men. women and children stripped of their cloth
ing ancl putrifying in the sun. The men and
children had been killed, the wagons burned and
six women of mature age had been taken a dis
tance of fifty yards, thrown clown and ravished.
Ancl not even then satisfied to dispatch their
victims, these inhuman fiends took the red hot
bolts from the burning wagons and thrust them
into the bodies of their helpless victims, thus
burning- them to death. After stripping all their
victims naked the fiends had cut open the feather
beds ancl scattered the feathers over the bodies.
Art. Isaacs ancl others had attempted to has
tily bury the decaying bodies, but the Indians had
returned and dragged them from the shallow-
graves and left them to rot, exposed to sun and
storm, or be devoured by wild beasts. The un-
fortunte train consisted of three families named

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1085,

Ward, Wilson, and the other I have forgotten.
Two of the Ward boys, twelve and fourteen
years of age, escaped, forded the river and made
their way to Fort Boise where they were cared
for by Isaacs and Humason, who brought them
to The Dalles. I afterward became acquainted
with one of the Wards at The Dalles. After
burying the bodies we started back to Fort Boise.
I have forgotten to mention however that owing
to the increase of our force, prisoners, etc., we
had been out of provisions two weeks, ancl had
been living on horse flesh; but when we reached
the fort we met the government supply train
which had been delayed on account of being
burdened with an old cannon sent out by Uncle
Sam. The season being so far advanced it was
thought best that part of our force return to The
Dalles, so Alajor Haller, ten regulars and about
as many volunteers, with our Indians, took the
old cannon ancl started on our return. On the
upper Umatilla river we found a large concourse
of friendly Indians (estimated from two to three
thousand of them) who had prepared a grand
reception — killed beef, brought vegetables ancl
made ready to treat us royally, and here we
camped, cooked ancl made merry. After dark
commenced the war dances over the scalps we
had brought in. They built two rows of fires
about 150 yards long, the warriors taking the
middle aisle with the squaws on the outside ; then
with the beating of drums, tom-toms, pounding
on boards and sticks, with songs ancl chants in
terrupted frequently with the most unearthly
yells, and with their war-clubs fringed and paint
ed they beat the scalps from one end of the rows
of fires to the other, ancl all the time keeping up
their war dances, the figures made weird ancl
horrible by the firelight, it was such a reception
as few have ever had the fortune, or misfortune,
to be honored with. The next day for fear of
more honors we wended our way toward The
Dalles, which we reached in due time ancl were
discharged. Just forty years after we received our pay
for the hardships of this trip at the rate of $17
a month ancl a land warrant, which we might
have had much sooner, but Uncle Sam was so
busy providing for the support and education of
the fiends who had caused the trouble, together
with their offspring, that he had no time to at
tend to the just claims of those who protected
his western empire.
A REAL LIVE PRESIDENT.
The Dalles was visited by President Hayes,
Mrs. Hayes, Secretary Ramsey and General W.
T. Sherman, in October, 1880.

Through the city the news had been pretty
freely circulated that the presidential party would
arrive on the fourth. Excitement began to boil
about ten o'clock, a. m., on that day. A special
boat had been chartered ; every one was on the
qui z'ivc. In honor of the occasion one of the
elegant, first-class coaches lately arrived from
the east had been handsomely decorated for the-
occasion. The interior was festooned with ever
greens ; two American flags ornamented the ends
of the coach ; the chandeliers were girdled by
wreaths of beautiful flowers, contributed by Airs.
J. T. Storrs ancl Airs. S. L. Brooks. The whole-
ornamentation was the work of ladies of the
citv, principal among whom might be mentioned
.Mrs. H. H. Salisbury, Airs. E. R. Noble, Airs.
S. L. Brooks ancl Aliss Ella Aloran.
A large number of people thronged the rail
road bridge, eager to secure a sight of one "real,
live president," of the United States. At 2 :30
p. m., a whistle announced his approach. Crowds
rushed clown to the wharf-boat, and besieged
the steamer Hassalo, anxious to obtain a glimpse
of the notable part}-. The coach was taken to
the boat landing ancl the administrative repre
sentatives placed on board the cars. President
Hayes came out on the platform and addressed
a few pleasant remarks to the assembly. He was
followed by Secretary Ramsey and General Sher
man, and vociferous was the applause from The
Dallesites. Mrs. Hayes appeared and in her cus
tomary agreeable manner expressed her appre
ciation of the ovation. Three hearty cheers were-
given, followed by a general handshaking.
The presidential train was cn route for Walla
Walla. It stopped in front of the Umatilla House
where the same crowd again thronged around
the car, and again the president greeted them
with a smile ancl a handshake. Both the Uma
tilla House and the Cosmopolitan Hotel were dec
orated with flags. Amid shouts and waving of
handkerchiefs the train roared on its way to Ce
lilo. That afternoon was a half holiday ; the
president had promised to stop for awhile at
The Dalles on his way back from Walla Walla.
That evening a public meeting was held at the
court house, and preparations made for a recep
tion of the party. A number of committees were
appointed. The two days following were de
voted to preparing Alasonic Hall for receiving
the honored guests. The streets were crowded.
Almost every store was decorated with flags
ancl bunting. Arrangements had been made that
when the party arrived at Celilo notice should be
given bv ringing the bells of the city so that the
school children might meet and march to the hall.
But it was eight o'clock p. m., before the bells
rang out ; by that hour every one had congregat-

io86

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

ed at the hall. Therefore it became inconven
ient for the children to meet at the school house.
Around the new Alasonic hall the streets were
densely packed on the arrival of the presidential
party. Mr. Hayes appeared leaning on the arm
of the mayor, accompanied by Mrs. Hayes, Sec
retary Ramsey and General Sherman. The presi
dent was escorted to a platform and Judge W.
Lair Hill, in a few appropriate remarks welcomed
the guests of the evening. In response President
Hayes expressed astonishment at meeting so
"large an assembly to greet his party. He said
that his visit to Oregon had been, a constant suc
cession of suprises, and that he had been most
favorably impressed with the Columbia river and
the country that he had seen along its banks. He
declared that the grandeur of its scenery rivalled
that of the St. Lawrence or the Hudson, and far
surpassed that of any other river on the Ameri
can continent. Many of his hearers, he doubted
not, had been pioneers in this country, and had
wended their difficult way many years ago over
mountains and across plains to these far away
shores where they had remained patiently wait
ing for the "good time coming." They had, he
said, not much longer to wait, for within a few
years at most they would have two lines of rail
way connecting them with the wealth and popu
lation of the Atlantic coast, and then Oregon
would become an important and populous state.
At the conclusion of the president's speech
Secretary Ramsey and General Sherman were in
troduced and spoke briefly. Mrs. Hayes was
then requested to greet them, with which request
she graciously complied, bowed her acknowledge
ments and was welcomed with enthusiastic
cheers. At the close of the speeches over 300
children filed into the hall and were > pleasantly
•greeted by the president and Mrs. Hayes. Tastily
dressed and carrying wreaths of flowers the lit
tle ones swarmed around the party and shook
hands with the distinguished guests. At ten
o'clock, p. m., carriages were in waiting, and es
corted by The Dalles Fire Department, brass
band, etc., the party boarded the boat and went
down the river the following day.
A pleasant incident occurred at the close of
fthe general reception. Mr. Ben Robinson came
in with a basket of fine Oregon apples, as a pres
ent to Mrs. Hayes, by "Alaster Winfred Robin
son." She looked at this fruit in. amazement, ancl
thought they must be wax work. She was as
sured that they were apples grown around the
country where General Sherman said he didn't
know how men made a living. She was very
much pleased with the present and declared she
would take them home with her. On entering

the carriage she was very careful that she had
her basket of fruit with her.
Thus ended an event long to be remembered-
in the history of The Dalles. The crowd might
have filed past the president and his lady with
more military precision and thus pleased the taste
for discipline which General Sherman's military
education had given him ; but all attempted to give
the president and his party a cordial and hearty
welcome, and by so doing to attest their appre
ciation of his administration and their loyalty to
the national government.
THE GREAT OREGON SNOWSTORM OF 1884-5.
December 25, 1884, over one hundred weary
passengers on the snowbound Pacific Express ate
their Christmas dinner in the snowbanks, near
Viento, Wasco county, Oregon, a small station
on the main line of the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company's road, sixty miles east of Port
land. There were no turkeys and cranberry
sauce ; no plum pudding and pumpkin pies ; no
Christmas tree, holly or mistletoe ; no Santa Claus
showed up to fill the stockings of the little ones.
But there was a superabundance of snow, ice and
chilling east wind. The latter swept down the
Columbia river gorge in unabated fury. Old time
residents of Portland will well remember the per
iod of that historic blockade — twenty-three days
when the Pacific Northwest was in the grip of a
record breaking storm ; a ceaseless fall of snow.
All over Western Oregon and Washington Terr;-
tory, as well as the Inland Empire, the storm
raged angrily ; traffic was blockaded ; many lines
of industry were paralyzed.
During this memorable episode the center of
interest was the blockaded train in charge of Con
ductor Edward Lyons. For three weeks the Pa
cific Express was hemmed in by snow and ice,
and all the time big Ed. Lyons busied himself
looking after the wants of the passengers and do
ing everything possible that might contribute to
their comfort and safety. Once he risked his
life by going alone on foot to Cascade Locks
to procure food for the imprisoned passengers.
This ill-fated train left The Dalles on the
morning of December 19, 1884. During fifteen
days the train was tied up in the snow two miles
west of Viento. Following the breaking of that
blockade it was held at Cascade Locks for sev
eral days, while a thousand workmen cut and
picked at a solid bank of snow and ice that ob
structed the track between Oneonta and Mult
nomah Falls. At last the second blockade was
broken and Conductor Lyons brought his train
through, reaching Portland shortly after mid
night of January 7, 1885.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1087

At the time of the Viento blockade the Co
lumbia River line was the only transcontinental
railroad leading into Portland. The blockaded
train consisted of seven cars, containing 150
passengers, aside from through mail and express
from the east. The train left Wallula Junction
with passengers from the Northern Pacific and
the through Pullman car from St. Paul, as well
as a Pullman from the Dayton-Walla Walla
branch. At Umatilla Junction passengers from
Huntington were picked up, and the train won its
way to The Dalles without serious delay. Here
two days were passed, ancl after a conference
with H. S. Rowe, the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company's superintendent, Conductor
Lyons decided to attempt the run to Portland. An
other train that had followed from Umatilla was
consolidated with the first train, which still re
mained in charge of Conductor Lyons and En
gineer Charles Evans. The train was, also, pro
vided with a "helper" engine.
The night of December 17th snow-plows
were sent westward from The Dalles, and when
it was reported back that the track was opened
to Mosier the Pacific Express pulled out. With
out serious delay Hood River was reached; the
train proceeded to Viento. Two miles west of
this station snowdrifts became impassible; the
train was brought to a standstill. Night came
on dark and gloomy. Fuel and provisions were
running short; steadily the drifting snow grew
deeper. The paralyzed train hung close to the
massive rocks that almost overhung the Colum
bia ; the chilling winds tossed broken limbs of
pine and fir upon the cartops. The sullen river
at first ran flush with ice floes; latter on they
were frozen into a solid sheet. No news or com
fort came with the morning to cheer the impris
oned passengers.
Conductor Lyons was fully alive to the fact
that the situation had become alarming. He
promptly decided to organize his colony. Ac
cordingly he appointed himself commander-in-
chief, and two railroad men from the Northern
Pacific line were selected as lieutenants, and
placed in charge of the commissary. Supplies
of food had been brought from Hood River on
sleds; the "lieutenants" purveyed it so judici
ously that no one suffered from hunger. Two
days' dragged away monotonously ; on the morn
ing of December 22d all able-bodied men were
ordered to "move on." Accordingly some twenty-
five men struck out on foot for Cacsade Locks,
eleven miles distant. Some of these became ex
hausted and sought refuge at neighboring ranches.
But the greater number of them reached the
Locks safely. Afterward they came on to Port
land—walking until the relief trains met them

near Troutdale. Between December 23d and 30th
more men abandoned the train and started for the
Locks. One hundred passengers, mainly women
and children remained, aside from the train crew.
Provisions were at a low ebb and there was no
coal. The pine limbs that fell upon the cars
were cut and burned.
Conductor Lyons started on his memorable
journey to Cascade Locks on the morning of
December 24th. He proceeded alone flounder
ing through blinding snow, and reaching his des
tination about dusk. Here he organized a re
lief party and employed a dozen Columbia river
fishermen to assist him in .conveying his sup
plies to the storm-bound train. To each of these
men Lyons gave an order for $20 on the Oregon
Railroad & Navigation Company. Christmas
morning they left the Locks and toiled through
the heavy drifts and blinding snow. With them
they carried a substantial, if not a delicately as
sorted, Christmas dinner. It consisted of ba
con, beans, canned fruit, pickles and coffee.
One dreary week of imprisonment passed;
then another and still the blockade remained un
broken. Meantime the Oregon Railroad & Navi
gation Company was making most strenuous ef
forts to reach the train. From Portland were
brought all the idle men to dig snow and ice
from the tracks between that city and Bonneville.
There were more than a thousand shovelers.
Every hobo in Portland was provided with a
pick and shovel; the prisoners in the city jail
were liberated and set to work. From both di
rections snow-plows were digging steadily in,
still it was impossible to get within miles of the
train. Between Hood River and The Dalles the
engine attached to one of the snow-plows up
set, killing Engineer Hudson. It is estimated
that the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company
expended $5,000 a day to liberate the passengers
from the blockade. Officials of the company and
laborers endured many hardships, but worked
on doggedly; human endurance against the ele
ments. So fast as snow was cleared from one
portion of the track it piled up again. Fresh
storms swept over the country, but the powerful
snow-plows and determined shovelers wrought
on grimly. December 30th, from Wallula, a Northern
Pacific snow-plow, larger and 'heavier than any
owned by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation
Company, was sent down to The Dalles. This
gigantic' machine was in charge of J. M. Buck
ley, Western superintendent of the Northern Pa- '
ci'fi'c Company. It reached Vienta on the 31st.
Here the Pacific Express had backed down in or
der to be sidetracked. Two days later the road
was opened as far as Bonneville, into which sta-

io88

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

tion the blockaded train followed Superinten
dent Buckley and the big plow. Upon learning
that no supplies were to be had at Bonneville;
Conductor Lyons backed his train to Cascade
Locks and awaited developments. The storm
had nearly exhausted its fury ; still there remain
ed an almost solid wall of snow ancl ice between
Oneonta and Multnomah Falls. Eight hundred
men were assaulting the frozen mass. On the af
ternoon of January 7, 1885, the road was cleared ;
a "chinook" wind sprang up ; the storm was over
and traffic was resumed.
RELIC OF THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION.
Within a stonethrow of the Pacific ocean,
surrounded by a thicket of underbrush, a score
or two of smooth stones, almost conclealed by
a century's growth of dwarf pines ancl rank
grasses, compose a most interesting relic of the
Lewis and Clark expedition. In the winter of
1805-6 these smooth stones which still by their
arrangement suggest a small oven, were utilized
by the explorers for boiling salt from sea water.
Recently the Oregon Historical Society has
spared no pains to establish the fact that these
stones actually composed the famous cairn used
by Lewis and Clark, and has protected the pre
cious relic from the attacks of cows and vandals
bv surrounding it with a high barbed wire fence.
This ancient salt cairn is located on the beach
at Seaside, Oregon, half a clay's journey from
Portland. A visit to it composed one of the many
side trips enjoyed by visitors this year to the
Lewis and Clark exposition. A short distance
from Seaside is the site of old Fort Clatsop where
the Lewis and Clark expedition passed the win
ter of 1805-6. This locality, aside from its natur
al attractiveness, is one of peculiarly historic in
terest. The story surrounding this heap of rocks
makes an interesting chapter in the entertaining
history of the daring explorations of these men.
The Lewis and Clark expedition, commemorat
ed this year by the grand exposition at Portland,
was notable as being the primal cause of adding
to the domain of the United States, by right of
exploration, the vast "Oregon country," com
posed of the states of Oregon, Washington and
Idaho, and portions of Montana ancl Wyoming;
a territory of wonderful fertility ancl vast min
eral wealth, covering 307,000 square miles. Inci
dentally the expedition opened the way to further
acquisitions of territory, which included Alaska,
Guam, the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands.
December 28th, accordng to the journals of
the explorers, five men were sent, "each with a
large kettle," to the seaside "to begin the manu
facture of salt." This was the first successful ef

fort made to secure the salt, and the cairn which
the exposition visitors went to Seaside to view,
was built by the five men who started out so bold
ly "each with a large kettle." The five men were
five days in discovering a suitable place. The
cairn erected by them was substantial and suit
able for the purpose. It measured 33 feet in cir
cumference, with a long, narrow fireplace to ac
commodate the five kettles. It was constructed
of the smooth, clean stones that abound in the
neighborhood, and the stones were cemented to
gether with a native clay found near at hand. The
authenticity of this pile of stones which now
remains to mark the place has been established
by the affidavits of Silas B. Smith, a grandson
of old Chief Comowool, and Airs. Jennie Michel,
or Tsin-is-tum, a squaw who recently died at a
great age.
January 5th two of the five salt makers re
turned to Fort Clatsop with a gallon of home
made salt, the result of four days' labor. The
narrative says of it that it was "white, fine and
very good, but not so strong as the rock salt
common to the western parts of the United
States. It proved conclusively to be a most agree
able addition to our food, and as the salt makers
can manufacture three or four quarts a day, we
have prospect of a very plentiful supply."
But the prediction of "three or four quarts a
day" proved incorrect. It was a rainy winter.
Sergeant Gass, whose journal is a valuable source
of information, writes under date of April 8,
1806: "Some of the men are complaining of rheu
matic pains which are to be expected from the
wet and cold we suffered last winter during which
from the fourth of November, 1805, to the 25th
of Alarch, 1806, there were not more than 12
clays in which it did not rain, and of these but
six were clear."
Rain and salt making did not go well to
gether. The task of securing fuel proved diffi
cult ; the boiling process was slow and tiresome
in the extreme. Practically every one in the
party, with the exceptions of Captains Lewis
ancl Clark, was compelled to do his turn at the
cairn, and when the party was ready to leave
winter quarters and begin the long return jour
ney across the mountains, only twenty gallons of
salt evidenced their labors. Of this supply twelve
gallons were packed in kegs to be used until the
party sould reach the Alissouri river caches,
where the supply could be replenished.
The story of the salt makers, forming as it
does a single incident in the romance of Lewis
and Clark, has been read with unusual interest
by many this year on account of the Lewis and
Clark exposition which opened June 1st. The trip

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1089

to Seaside and the salt cairn is entertaining, and
is made at comparatively small cost. On the way
to the coast one may stop off a day at Astoria,
a delightful old town which owes its name to
John Jacob Astor, and which bears the distinction
of being the first American settlement on the
Pacific coast. COLONEL GILLIAM.
"No doubt the name of Colonel Gilliam is a
household word with many in this county," says
the Fossil Journal of February 22, 1889. "If it
isn't it ought to be. Aside from the fact that
this county is named after him, the late Colonel
Gilliam's services in behalf of his fellow men en
title him to an important place in the history of
this coast. A few facts regarding his career may
be interesting to our readers. He was born while
Washington was yet president, in 1798, in the
state of North Carolina. His father's family
moved westward and settled in Alissouri, where
during the year 1820, in Ray county, the colonel
married Aliss Mary Crawford. Ten years later
we find him elected sheriff of Clay county. Those
days were full of stir and eventful happenings
throughout the land. In 1832 the last signer
of the Declaration of Independence died. The
same year the Indians of the northwest began
hostilities. In 1835 trouble began with the In
dians in Florida. In 1836 ancl 1837 were the
financial panic and Texan war for independ
ence. It seems that Mr. Gilliam determined to
have a share in some of those things and, when
during the early part of Van Buren's adminis
tration, it was decided to push the Seminole
war to a speedy end, he went from Missouri in
1837 as a captain. He served during the winter
of 1837-38 in that vigorous campaign which
Zachariah Taylor carried on in the everglades
of Florida. During the summer of 1838 Captain
Gilliam returned to Missouri, having won hon
est distinction during this brief but arduous
service "In the fall of this same vear, when it had been
decided by the state authorities to remove the
Mormons, or rather to expel them from then-
homes in Jackson county, and the militia had
been summoned to the field, Captain Gilliam
raised a company and was chosen its captain. Lie
was soon promoted and made colonel on ac
count of meritorious conduct. When the Alor-
nions had been helped to emigrate, and his serv
ices were no longer needed, he returned to his
faniilv ancl devoted his energies to helping -<m
their interests. Previous to his going to the Mor
mon war he had removed to Andrew county,

Missouri, where he lived until his emigration
to Oregon. Somewhere about 1840 he was sent
to represent his county in the legislature. While
attending upon this session of the legislature he
seems to have become an ardent admirer of
Thomas H. Benton. It is probable that his no
tion of going to Oregon came from Mr. Benton's
well known enthusiasm about the west, and his
plan for settling the Oregon boundary seems to
have found a responsive chord in Colonel Gill
iam's breast, and it was not long until he was
one of that company which looked toward those
'continuous woods where rolls the Oregon, ancl
hears no sound save its own dashings.'
"The year 1844 saw the difficulties, the trials
and finally the successful ending of Colonel Gill
iam's journey across the plains. He first settled
in Dallas, in Polk county, but soon sold out and
moved a little farther south, settling on Pee Dee
creek, somewhat north of King's \ alley in Ben
ton county. Not many are aware that Air. Gill
iam was a life long member of the Alasonic fra
ternity, but such is the fact. * * * *
"Following the Whitman massacre Colonel
Gilliam led a company up the Columbia to The
Dalles, and in the spring and summer of 1848
led a vigorous campaign against the hostiles. His
death, as related by William A. Jack, an eye wit
ness, occurred at Wells Springs, north of Hepp
ner. His command was marching from Walla
Walla to The Dalles. Colonel Gilliam had put
his lariat in a wagon driven by a man named
Evans. In the evejiing the colonel asked for the
rope, and while pulling it out, Evans in some
manner discharged the rifle of a half-breed, which
had the ramrod clown upon the bullet. The bul
let missed the coionel, but the ramrod struck him
in the middle of the forehead, killing him in
stantly. "Colonel Gilliam was a religious man in the
truest sense of the word. In this connection it may
be said that soon after his settlement in what
is now Polk county, he organized a Free Will
Baptist church in what was known as the Gage
neighborhood on the North Luckiamute. The
church held its meetings in the house of Joseph
( ?) Gage, and Colonel Gilliam was their preach
er. Some of the members of that old organiza
tion yet live, though the organization itself has
long been a thing of the past. To those who
knew him intimately, it is a great pleasure to
cherish their knowledge of his quiet, unobstru-
sive pietv. In the words of a writer who has
prepared an interesting biography of the late Col
onel Gilliam, 'he was indeed, a good man, whose
wise and kind words furnished guidance to some
who still live to cherish his memory.' "

69

1090

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

HANK VAUGHN.
The Dalles Times, January 4, 1882: Air. J. H.
Ward, who was in a livery stable across the street
at the time of the occurrence, gave us the fol
lowing version :
Vaughn and Long had quarreled in the morn
ing over a game of cards. About four o'clock
in the afternoon they met in Til Glaze's saloon,
and Vaughn, approaching the counter said, "Gen
tlemen, I wish you to drink with me as a gentle
man." At this several walked up to the counter
and among the rest Charlie Long. Vaughn went
up to Long and said : "Now, Charlie, if I'm right,
drink with me like a gentleman, and if I am
wrong, commence shooting." At this they grab
bed left hands and emptied their revolvers at
each other, Long taking the first shot, which was
the glancing scalp wound Vaughn received. Both
were intoxicated at the time and the ranging-
-of the balls at such quarters would give evidence
that they moved around considerably and fired
. unsteadily. Vaughn fired five shots and hit Long
four times. Long shot four times. Both had
self-cocking pistols. During the shooting there
were only two men in the room besides the com
batants — one of them hidden behind a screen, and
the other dead drunk and lying on the floor be
tween two barrels.
After the shooting Vaughn came out and
told the crowd it was a hard fight, and then
-walked up to Graham's saloon, said he was a
dead man and invited the men to take a drink
with him, after which he was taken home in a
buggy. Our informant says Long is getting
alone nicely, but he thinks he will lose the use
of his left arm, as that shoulder is terribly shat
tered. Dr. Baldwin has called to see Vaughn
and after probing for the ball came to the con
clusion that it had ranged upward and lodged
in the body but not in any vital point. He thinks
with care Vaughn may recover.
PEDRO AND WILSON.
In the early days there lived in the Klamath
-country two Indians, Pedro and Hunter Wilson,
who, in their palmy days, according to a story
told by Sikes Worden, himself an early day resi
dent, far outstripped all others in the skill of
hunting and trapping. Among Indians or hunt
ers they never had any peers in the country and
their names ar(e familiar to all the very early set
tlers. They were widely known as crack shots
ancl as adepts in finding wild game. But with
all their skill and daring in bear hunting, their
¦efforts never resulting in failure, they had many

hair-lifting experiences with the long-clawed
huggers of the forest and many narrow escapes
from being devoured.
However their valor never left them when in
close quarters with a hungry bear, and when in
numerous instances wherein guns could not be
used, they whipped out their knives and over
powered the ferocious animals in a hand to. hand
fight. Wilson was a better marksman than Pe
dro, while the latter surpassed in the ability of
an observer, that is to hunt out and locate retreats
of big game. They were not only well known
as hunters, but bore high reputations for friend
ship to the whites, and frequently acted as guides
for the latter, ancl their services were particular
ly sought often and considered valuable by the
•soldiers when they were stationed at Fort Klam
ath. Neither of the two hunters took part in
the Alodoc War, each refusing to break his
friendly ties with the whites. Wilson was a
Klamath Indian and lived on Williamson river.
Pedro was a survivor of the Molla band and be
came blended with the Klamaths by marriage as
a sequel to periodic visits to that tribe in his youth.
ADVISING THE GOVERNMENT.
During the progress of the Modoc War the
authorities at Washington received many sugges
tions for the conduct of the war. After the In
dians had been captured the departments at our
national capital were fairly deluged with peti
tions ancl advice as to the disposal of the Indians
under sentence of death and the rest of the tribe.
Most of the petitions were for clemency. To
those acquainted with the habits of the savages
on what was on their frontier, these petitions
were often amusing. Most of the prayers for
clemency came from the eastern states and the
knowledge of the subjects written about were
often limited.
One enthusiast suggested that sulphur smoke
be employed to bring the savages 6ut of their
"lava holes." Another thought the proper disposi
tion of the captured Modocs would be to distrib
ute them among the farms of Pennsylvania,-
where they could secure employment. Still an
other thought they should be taken to a distant
island ancl that he, the writer, should be employed
to take care of them. We reproduce two of the
letters :
"New Brunswick, April 17, 1873 — This morn
ing I wrote to Mr. Creswell suggesting that it
might be of much, good practice to use any ma
terial that would be most likely to drive the Mo
docs from their fastenings, but as by the morning
papers Mr. Creswell is not in Washington, per-

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1091

mit me to suggest that gas — smoke from sulphur,
as the most sure means of forcing the savages
out of their lava holes. "Yours respectfully,
"A. Hamilton.
"The Hon. Secretary of the Interior."'
"Concordville, Delaware County, Pennsyl
vania, Ninth month, 11, 1873, Esteemed Presi
dent : I am a member of the Society of Friends,
for which, however, I do not claim to be a saint,
but if rightly knowing my own mind, I have a
strong desire for the advancement of truth and,
practical righteousness.
"I presume thou hast received many letters in
relation to the Modocs, and I do not wish to be
in any way troublesome, but as I sat in meeting
this morning the subject of those prisoners arose
before my mind, and it seemed to impress me so
forcibly that I believe it to be right to lay the
the case before thee, hoping that thy judgment
in the matter (be it what it may) will be for the
very best.
"It appeared to me that the government that
had shown so much advancement in Christian
charity in the treatment of those lately in rebel
lion against it should not now be stained with
the blood of a few miserable savages ; poor, ig
norant and deluded, yet withal, men ancl brothers
in the sight of the Infinite Creator of us all.
And the proposition came before me which I will
state, in a spirit of love, for thy consideration.
"It is that these prisoners be sent to some
Island, or place of security for the rest of their
lives, with or without some of the rest of their
tribe, ancl some one or more be sent with them
to have charge over them ; that endeavors be used
to enlighten them in better way of life, and
awaken in their hearts that sense of truth and
right which wil! lead them into a condemnation
of their previous course.
"Now, though I have a good home, and sur
rounded with a family whom I love, ancl have
no desire for preferment in political affairs, yet
should there be no one more suitable, nor will
ing to undertake the task, my name is at thy
command for, as undesirable as is the undertak
ing, I would much rather do it than to see the
Christian name and power of this beloved nation
lowered in the sight of God and man.
"Very truly,
"Lewis Palmer.
"U. S. Grant. "Ninemonth, 24, 1873.
"P. S., Since writing the above I have de
ferred sending it, hoping it would not be re
quired, but I now seem to feel it right to send it.
H "L. P."

INCIDENT OF THE MODOC WAR.
During the Alodoc War and the massacre of
settlers which accompanied the breaking out of
hostilities, some of the incidents are retained in
the' memory of those wo took an active part
during this stirring perod. but who can tell in
detail the tragedies enacted when the hostile Mo
docs swept down Upon their unsuspecting vic
tims? Who can depict the terror which entered
the breast of the settler when he heard the savage
warwhoop and knew that his life was demanded ?
The parties of men who scoured the Tule
lake valley after the massacre hunting the bod
ies of the victims and seeking to rescue possible
survivors of the massacre, came in contact with
many incidents that did not raise their estimation
of the "noble red man."
One case was that of Adam Schillinglow, a
Scotchman who had settled just south of Tule
Lake, in close proximity to the stronghold in the
lava beds. After the massacre a party of five
soldiers from Captain Jackson's command, under
the leadership of Ivan Applegate visited the cab
in of Mr. Schillinglow. The cabin was devastat
ed ancl partly burned. A bloody arrow and
blood-stains in the cabin told the story of the
Alodoc's visit. The remains of a man supposed
to have been murdered could not be found and
the party passed on.
A little later Ivan, accompanied by his brother
O. C. Applegate, ancl a small party of friendly
Indians, again visited the Schillinglow's cabin.
Now it was. daylight ancl a bloody trail could be
traced leading away from the house in a north
erly direction. It was evident that the Scotch
man had made his escape, though in a badly
wounded condition, ancl the Applegates decided
to follow the trail and if he still lived to rescue
the man. The trail of blood was visible for some
distance and the party spread out to make the
search more thorough. The dead body of Air.
Schillinglow was at last found. The searching
party came near being cut off and massacred by
Indians, but the succeeded in escaping.
The details of the attack on the Scotchman
were learned after the war was over and the Mo
docs were taken into custody. The Indians had
stealthily approached the cabin at night and a
few made their way to the roof. An opening
was made in the roof without awakening the
sleeper within. When an opening sufficient- for
their purpose had been made the Indians began
tapping on the roof, which of course aroused the
sleeper. He arose, lighted a lamp and, the tap
ping continuing, looked up to see what caused
the noise. Then came an arrow through the

1092

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

hole which struck Mr. Schillinglow in the throat
and ranged downward.
The wounded man pulled the arrow from his
throat, dashed it upon the ground in front of
the cabin and made a dash for his horse, which
was in a stone corral back of the cabin. Almost
miraculously, it would seem, he succeeded in
mounting his horse ancl making his escape, start
ing for the settlement in the north. One can
only imagine the terrors of that ride. Wounded
to death he continued on until from loss of blood,
he fell to rise no more.
DAVE HILL, THE KLAMATH SCOUT-
Dave Hill, the well known Klamath chief ancl
scout, the white man's friend ancl an acknowledg
ed leader of his people in civilization, was about
forty-six years old when assassinated near Link
ville. The followng account ot his death was
published in the Ashland Tidings in April, 1892,
by Mr. O. C. Applegate:
His father, Skidart, was the chief of the old village
of Ouxy, on the Klamath marsh, when Fremont reached
there on his exploring exposition. Wa-wa-laix, as
Dave was known in youth, was a worthy son of su
perior parents. He acquired great skill in athletic
sports, as horsemanship and the chase, and while
yet quite young gained credit as a scout and warrior
in the days of almost ceaseless conflict among the In
dians, prior to the Klamath and Modoc treaty of Oc
tober 14. 1864.
In 1866 he distinguished himself as a scout in the
Snake war in connection with the Oregon volunteers
under command of the lamented Lieutenant John F.
Small. The Klamath scouts took an active part in
an attack on the Snakes at Lake Albert. Dave killed
the chief, Chac-chach-chuck, and did more, perhaps,
than any other man toward the final discomfiture of
his band. Late in the fall of 1867 Hon. J. W. Perit
Huntington, superintendent of Indian affairs in Ore
gon, undertook with a band of beef cattle and a large
wagon train laden with supplies and annuity goods for
Klamath agency, to traverse the country from The Dal
les to Klamath, along the eastern side of the Cascade
chain. This was a hazardous undertaking at that sea
son, as there was a hundred miles of almost unbroken
forest to encounter, and deep snows were liable to
occur in October and November in the high lands about
the source of the Des Chutes.
The Snakes were yet at war, and the contemplated
route lay through Chief Paulina's realm. Agent Lind
say Applegate received orders -to meet the superintend
ent and immediately set out to comply, accompanied
by an escort of six regulars and the writer's hastily
organized company of Klamaths. This was a unique
and interesting organization. It was the famous "Axe

and Rifle" company which rendered efficient service-
in guarding the train through the Snake country, but
more in opening the way through the black pine forests
about the upper Des Chutes, Corral springs and Klam
ath marsh, during a snowy November when some nights
all the animals, including sixty or eighty head of wild
•steers had to be tied to the pines to prevent their in
stinctive flight from the regions of snow. Dave Hill,
who was, I believe a second lieutenant, Allen David
being first, was throughout the campaign tireless in
his vigliance and activity, and the success of the expe
dition was due much to his activity and skill.
In 1869 in company with Superintendent A. B.
Meacham and Ivan Applegate, Dave was present at the
treaty made with the Piute chiefs, How-lock, E-e-gan
and O-che-ho, at Camp Harney, and assisted in estab
lishing O-che-ho's band at Yainax on the Klamath res
ervation. Later the same autumn he took an active
part in the removal of Captain Jack's band of Modocs
from Tule lake and in their establishment at Aflodoc
point on Klamath lake. On the breaking out of the
Modoc War Dave Hill was the first loyal at the front.
On the night preceding the outbreak, with the writer
and Charlie Monroe, he lay in wait for Modoc scouts
at the lone pine on Lost river; at daylight he was in
the Modoc encampment, near the Crawley house on
the north side of the river encouraging those sullen
people to lay down their arms and consent to go
peaceably to Yainax, and when the firing began we had
no man more fearless or intrepid on the field that day.
Seeing the Modocs, who considerably outnumbered
our force, on the north side of the river, getting their
horses and escaping to the hills, the writer and four
men, including Dave Hill, started to intercept them,
when a wounded sergeant from Captain Jackson's com
mand, which was engaged with Captain Jack on the
opposite side of the river, galloped within hearing of
us with a request from Jackson to assist in getting his
dead and wounded across Lost river. Nearly a third
of his command-^ten men out of 35 — were already
either dead or wounded and they were placed on the
river bank, under a strong guard, a quarter of a mile
above us, awaiting assistance. There were no boats
on Jackson's side. We first detailed Dave Hill and
Dan Colwell to take a canoe and row up the river, but
this proved of no avail on account of a heavy wind.
Then Dave sprang onto the horse behind the writer,
with his Winchester before him, and we were soon at
a point opposite Jackson where we had the good luck
to find a canoe which we used in conveying the dead,
wounded and a guard across the river.
It is impossible in a brief sketch of this character to
detail all the thrilling events in which Dave Hill took
an active part in the tragic drama of the Modoc war.
Suffice it to say that during the interim, while Captain
Jackson's command, disabled by the first fight, was
unable to protect the settlements, and no other troops,
either state or national were in reach, a few citizens,

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1093

a small detachment of Indians from Yainax and 36
Klamaths under Chief Blowe and Dave Hill, held the
Modocs at bay, protected the persons and property of
¦settlers and gathered up the stricken victims of Modoc
treachery from the sage plains of Tule lake, where' they
fell in the massacre of November 29, 1872. After the
arrival of troops Dave was given a command of a de
tachment of 20 Klamath scouts, attached to the regular
cavalry, and operated with Colonel Bernard, on the
•east side of the lava beds, during and subsequent to
the investment of the stronghold, and rendered active
and efficient service. The writer's company, which in
cluded 27 Indian scouts, was with General Wheaton, on
the west. In 1874 a company, was organized in Boston, hav
ing in view the presentation upon the American stage
of scenes representing Indian and, frontier life; the
conflict between settlers and Indians, and the eventual
reign of peace between the races and the final acceptance
of the Indian as a civilized man. The conception was
a unique and original one and it was hoped the enter
prise would pay its way,' and perhaps more, while
awakening new interest in the cause of the Indian
throughout the country. As far as possible the actors
were to be characters who had participated in such
scenes on the border as it was the intention to present.
James Ridpath, the well-known author and hu
manitarian, was to be the manager; Major C. B. Ray
mond, treasurer; Colonel A. B. Meacher, lecturer, and
the writer was engaged to take charge of the Indians ;
to attend to the dramatic part of the program, and to
translate the speeches of the Indians.
Mr. Meachman selected Frank Toby (Winemar)
and Jeff Riddle from the Klamath country; George
Harney, wife and child from Siletz agency, and Scar
Faced Charley, Steamboat Frank and Shacknasty Jim
from the Indian Territory. The writer selected Dave
Hill and his faithful friend, Tecumseh, from the
Klamath reservation. The company met A'Ir. Ridpath
at St. Joseph, Alissouri, and began its career at
that ^ point as "Ridpath's Modoc Lecture Company."
It subsequently appeared at Jefferson City, St. Louis,
Terre Haute, Louisville, Covington, Washington,
Philadelphia, Morristown, Reading, Camden. Tren
ton, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark and repeatedly
in New York City. In Washington the company
was delayed for some time on account of the ill
ness of Harney's wife. During that time, however, we
appeared several times at the National Theatre, called
on President Grant at the White House; visited the
capital and other places of interest and interviewed the
Commission of Indian Affairs in regard to the wel
fare of the Klamath agency.
Dave was a natural orator, made a fine appearance
on the stage and became very popular. Some of his
-speeches were models of their kind. Surrounded by
mementoes of American liberty and with the portraits
.of the fathers of the republic looking down from the

walls, he made a speech in old Independence Hall,
Philadelphia, a stirring appeal for Indian civilization
and eventual citizenship — which was greatly appre
ciated. In New York and Brooklyn considerable interest
was awakened, and finally Peter Cooper tendered the
use of Cooper Union for a grand mass meeting in the
interest of these people, to be addressed by our com
pany. So far the company had not been a financial
success, and the Boston Bank, in which Major Ray
mond's capital was deposited had failed, but a success
ful issue of the Cooper Union meeting would, prob
ably, give us such recognition as would likely open the
way for final success. The writer was taken sick at
the St. Charles hotel and on the very day the meeting
was to occur at Cooper's Institute, Dave Hill myster
iously disappeared, having, evidently been kidnaped in
the hope of a reward, as he was regarded as indispens
able to the company.
The police were notified the same evening; de-
te'ctives were employed and everything was done that
seemed possible to discover his whereabouts, but with
out avail. Two or three weeks were spent in the search.
The Indians were disheartened. The organization was
reluctantly abandoned. The Modocs were sent without
escort to the Indian Territory, and the writer, with
George Harney, the Rogue River chief, and family,
and the disconsolate Tecumseh, returned to Oregon.
Two months and a half later, Dave Hill, footsore
and travel worn, arrived among his people who rejoiced
as one risen from the dead, and narrated the story of
his strange experience. Of how two men representing
themselves to be Christians and his friends, enticed
him away from the hotel ; full of information about
his people and his own career; they told him he had
been accused of treachery in the lava beds, secretly tried
and a scaffold erected for his execution. While insist
ing upon the truth of this bewildering story, they had
taken him into a covered vehicle and had driven about
the city until night was at hand and he had entirely lost
his bearings. They kept him constantly under guard
in a cellar for several days. Then one night they took
him on to a train and to a small town in the country,
where he was concealed for some time, when he was
returned to the same cellar in the city. This was,
probably, during the time that negotiations for a reward
were going on.
Finally, no doubt fearing detection, one of his
guardians escorted him to the train at night, accom
panied him as far as Cincinnati, gave him $40 in money
and gave him Godspeed for his journey homeward.
In the overthrow of the hereditary chieftainship of
the Klamaths, in 1868, by the reduction of La Lakes
and the elevation of Allen David according to demo
cratic principles ; in the emancipation of Pit river slaves
held by the Klamaths; in the opening of the Modoc
Point road in 1870; in the settlement of prospective
trcvble with the Snakes in 1873 ; in the liberation of the

io94

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

people from the domination of unprincipled medicine
men; in the prompt execution of the few murderers
known to the Klamath agency, history since the treaty
of 1864 ; in the improvement of morals, opening of
schools and farms ; in the settlements of disputes and
in the efficient work of the police force, Dave exer
cised great influence.
Brave, honest, enthusiastic, he was the champion of
the white man's civilization among his people, arid his
influence was of inestimable value in maintaining peace
able relations between the whites and Indians. Few
people in the Klamath basin realized how much grati
tude was due to Dave Hill ; for the pioneer settle
ments knew no defender more ready, fearless and siii;
cere. The writer who saw him tried o'n many occasions
of peril, knew well the worth of this man, and hoped
he would live to realize the gratitude that was his due
for the honorable part he performed in the struggles
of the early days, but a cruel fate decreed otherwise.
CHIEF HENRY BLOWE.
In Alay, 1904, W. W. Nickerson wrote as
follows concerning Chief Henry Blowe, one of
the best known Indians who helped make history
in the Klamath country :
At his home on Williamson river, on the Klamath
reservation, died ex-chief Henry Blowe, on the morn
ing of May 17, 1904. It is only just that the record of
this noted man should be mentioned through the pub
lic journals, I think, for no man took a more hon
orable part as a leader of his people during the darkest
days in the history of the early settlement of the Kla
math country, and as a fast and forceful friend of our
government. He was one of the signers of the great
treaty of October 14, 1864, was a scout with the United
States ' troops during the Paiute war; was with Hill
as his associate at the head of a detachment of Kla
math Indians, 36 strong, as a guard to the settlements
immediately following the outbreak of 1872 until the
arrival of troops sufficient to make the country prac
tically safe. In 1869 he was chosen second chief among
the reservation tribes, and subsequently, on the retire
ment of High Chief, Allen David, became his suc
cessor. In the organization of the mounted police force he
became its captain and was for many years a most
efficient factor in the work of this executive arm of the
agency administration. In all of his official work, either
as a chief in his tribe, as a judge of the court of Indian
offenses; as a policeman, or in whatever capacity he
was called upon to serve, he was a safe and conserva
tive, though forceful leader of his people, as well as
an unswerving friend to the government and a strong,
right arm of the agency authority. * * J
At the time of Blowe's death he wss about 76
ve-rs cf a~c. All his chi'dren have preo'dcl bin to

the great beyond, and of the 26 chiefs who signed the
great treaty of 1864 with the tribes of southeastern
Oregon, only Allen David and Lelu and Charley Pres
ton, the official interpreter, now old and feeble, remain.
STORIES OF THE RANGE.
Paul DeLaney, who has written many inter
esting things, fictitious and historical, of the
Southern Oregon country, has penned the fol
lowing relative to some of the landmarks of Lake
county :
"Interior Oregon, that is, the isolated por
tion, contains many interesting landmarks that are
familiar to the stockman of that section, and which
will later be regarded as a part of the most in
teresting history of that wonderful country.
These landmarks are far apart, and in traveling
through the country one always finds it neces
sary to cover the distance between two of them
every day. They are usually watering places, and
it takes a hard day's travel from one to another
in most cases ancl in some cases it requires travel
deep into the night. They stand out in the great
Oregon 'desert' like the beacon lights and guid
ing points to the mariner at sea. The stockman
or traveler who does not know the landmarks
of the Oregon range is in as much danger as the
pilot at sea who is ignorant of the charts and
maps of the country he is in.
"One of the most interesting of these is Rain's
Peak or Wagontire Alountain. It is marked on
the maps as Ram's Peak, but few stockmen know
it by that name. They all speak of it as Wagon-
tire, and this name carries with it a great deal
of speculation on the part of those who hear the
story, and the story is a romantic one, too. This
mountain is situated near the Harney and Lake
county line. It is supposed to be geographically
in the center of the desert. A large creek flows
from its foothills and a number of springs boil
out from its base.
It is thirty to fifty miles from this point in any
direction to other water. The water from the
creek and springs flows out into the plains and
is drunk up by the dry sands. But along their
channel and for many acres distant the moisture
causes vegetation to spring forth like a well cul
tivated garden and all wild vegetation always
grew here, ancl now a few hardy ranchers have-
settled at the place and have fine meadows, ancl
some are beginning to raise vegetables and fruits.
Ram's Peak was formerly a great game country,
and also a great rendezvous for the Indians.
When the latter were hard pressed by the early
day Indian fighters they would hie themselves
across the desert and take refuge in the foothills
where game rnd water and grass were plentiful,.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1095

while a lookout from the peak could observe the
approach of the enemy.
"Deer, antelope, elk and smaller game were
as plentiful as horses and cattle are now ; in fact
there is scarcely a day of the present time that
the antelope do not visit fields of fresh grass.
The settlers sit in their houses and watch them
graze among their cattle and horses as a sort of
way of breaking the monotony of the isolated
and lonely section, where a stranger is some
times not seen for months.
"It is claimed that the name on the map origi
nated from the fact that in early days there were
hundreds of wild sheep on the mountain ; that
these animals came down into the meadows oc
casionally and when hard pressed would climb
up among the peaks and look out from the over
hanging rocks and ledges at the enemy and stamp
their feet with all of the known impudence of the
mountain sheep when once out of danger. There
are old timers yet who still remember when an
old ram stood guard on the highest peak, and
they claim that the name of the mountain origin
ated from this . particular ram.
"But the name of Wagontire originated from
another cause, and no one who roams the plains
will permit it to be called anything else. In
early days a large pile of old, worn out wagon
tires were found near a spring at the foot of the
mountain. A trail led across the desert at this
place and it was naturally presumed that an emi
grant train had found its way to this point. But
no person has ever been able to explain how or
why the old tires were placed there. The mys
tery about the matter lends importance to it, and
for all these years there has been all kinds of
speculation about the wagon tires.
"There are those who think that an emigrant
train wandered this way in the early days and
that. the Indians attacked it and massacred the
immigrants and destroyed their wagons and took
away their animals and property. They think that
they burned the wagons in a heap and for that
reason the tires were found in a pile. But this
theory is offset by the argument that no skeletons
were ever found at the place, and that had there
been murder committed these evidences would
have remained undestroyed. But there are those
who argue that some member escaped and after
wards returned and buried the bones of the de
ceased, or that other immigrants may have per
formed this act of charity later, and that there
may have been a massacre after all.
"The theory of the famous Blue Bucket mine
is also interwoven with the story of the place,
ancl there are those who are positive that buck
ets full of gold nuggets are lying idle in some
of the gulches of the mountain. It is well known

that a woman, the member of some immigrant
train in early days, somewhere in Oregon, Ida
ho or Northern California, discovered the Blue
Bucket mine, and that it has never since been ac
tually located. People of all these places know
'about' where it is. The well known story is that
the immigrant train was in camp and that they
were exhausted and dying of thirst. Each mem
ber of the firm took a bucket or pail, or whatever
he or she could get, and all started out in dif
ferent directions to search for water. After many
hours a woman of the party returned with a
bucket of water — it was an old blue bucket — and
she had in a pocket of her dress a handful of
little curios that had attracted her attention. She
exhibited them, stating that she had found them.
in a stream where she procured water. Upon ex
amination they were found to be gold nuggets,
ranging from the size of partridge eggs down.
'Why, I could have picked up this bucketful,'
said the woman, and this gave the mine the name.
"A death occurred in the party as a result
from the exposure and after burying her — it was
the woman who found the mine — they searched
for a few days for the mine and moved on. Al em
bers of the party afterwards returned and
searched for the mine, but they were unable to
find it. Other persons have been searching for
it ever since. Every watering place and every
gulch from Idaho to California bear evidence of
being the place where the Blue Bucket mine was
discovered, and no one will be surprised at find
ing it any time.
"Wagontire, the people of that section claim,
was surely the place. They say it is perfectly
reasonable that there were immigrants there or
the wagontires would not have been there. They
say that Indians may have massacred the immi
grants and that that is a good reason why the
mine was never found. Then there are those who
say it is perfectly reasonable that the immigrants
were the ones who discovered the mine for the
reason that if they were not massacred by the
Indians they stopped there and repaired their
wagons, and while the men were doing this the
women went out and discovered the mine. Any
way, no one has ever been able to shake anv of
these respective communities on their theory of
the mine, and in spite of the official name on the
map, of Ram's Peak, the people of the interior
will always call it Wagontire.
"Almost due south from Wagontire, at a dis
tance of about fifty miles, is another landmark
with a name given it at a more recent date, which
is equallv as interesting to stockmen. This place
is Horseshoe Spring. A sluggish spring seeps
out from the base of Juniper mountain and fills
a few holes about the place wliere cattle and

1096

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

horses come for miles to exhaust the water daily
and lick the damp ground where the water had
formerly stood. A large area around this spring
is covered with old horseshoes ancl bleached bones
of horses. This is a great mystery to the stock
man who does not know the story. It is well
known that the horses of the desert were never
shod, and why these piles of bones and hundreds
of horseshoes should be found at this faraway
and isolated place is a puzzler to them. Anyway,
these horseshoes were the cause of the naming
of the spring.
"In the early days a Californian was travel
ing through Oregon looking for a loca
tion for a stock ranch. He saw this spring
and thought that if it was properly protected
the point would make a good one for his stock
ranch. He accordingly hired men and hauled
wire and posts several hundred miles to the place
and erected a fence about the spring, taking in
all of the meadow adjacent to the spring. This
meadow was fine and the water was ample when
protected from the stock generally, and he
brought several hundred fine horses from Cali
fornia to the place. He left a man in charge and
returned to his home.
"As fall approached the representative of the
' Californian decided to come out for winter sup
plies. He had to come more than a hundred miles,
and while he was out winter came on, which
comes on suddenly in that country. The snow
followed, and it was unusually severe. The herd
er was delayed several weeks in getting back to
the ranch, and when he finally reached it he found
that the snow had drifted many feet high all
over the fenced portion, completely covering up
the band of horses. They had all either starved
or frozen to death, ancl this accounts for the
bones and horseshoes at Horseshoe Spring."
A RELIC OF EARLY DAYS.
Ever since the days of the . early settlement
of Lake county, up to a couple of years ago,
travelers in the vicinity of Abert lake saw, not
far from the shore, portions of a wagon project
ing from the waters of that lake. Various opin
ions have been rife as to how that wagon got
into the lake, one of them being that sometime
in the distant past a venturesome traveler at
tempted to drive across the lake on the ice ancl
broke through. The most probably theory is,
perhaps, that before the early settlement of Lake
county, a band of immigrants with their train of
wagons passed through this country and were
killed by Indians. The train was probably on
the top of the rim, overlooking the lake, when
the murders were committed, and the wagon was
rolled clown into the water by the savages.

The east side of Abert lake is too rough for
wagons to go clear around, and another theory
is advanced that immigrants, who had wandered
off the regular route of travel, had attempted
to go that way, and finding it impossible, they
abandoned their wagons. Years ago, it is said,
other portions of wagons were found on the shore
of the lake, and in recent years a tar bucket, such
as was carried by all the early day immigrants,
was discovered in the same vicinity. Great in
terest has been aroused in those historically in
clined in the solution of this unexplainable mys
tery, but so far nothing authentic has been
learned that would tend to solve it.
In the fall of 1903 the wagon was hauled out
of its long abiding place in Abert lake. Con
trary to expectations, there were only two wheels
ancl the hind axle of the wagon, instead of the
complete wagon as was always supposed. It was
an old fashioned thimble skein, with nuts to
nold the wheels on, and not a lynch pin as was
supposed. The action of the alkali water from
years standing submerged nearly ate into the
center of the wood parts, and the tires were
rusted in two. DEATH ON THE DESERT.
Leading out from a great basin, surrounded
by an irregular border of mountains and rim-
rocks, near the east boundary line of Lake coun
ty, is a deep canyon which leads out in a zig
zag course to another plain, writes Paul DeLan-
ey in one of his stories of the Eastern Oregon
country. There are many canyons leading out
from this basin, but this one is the most noted
by reason of the history which gave it its name.
The basin covers many thousand acres of ground
and upon approaching it in summer from a dis
tance it looks like a vast snow field. The trav
eler knows that cannot be true, for the thermome
ter rises far above one hundred degrees in the
shade, when a shade can be found. It might be
called the "death valley" of Oregon but for one
redeeming feature.
In spite of the alkali that lies deep upon the
surface ancl blinds the eyes during the summer
wind storms, giving the whole country the ap
pearance of snow banks in the distance and the
appearance of vast lime kilns at a nearer ap
proach, water can be found here. Near the cen
ter of the plain a large spring of pure water
boils forth ancl is drunk up by the alkali dust,
but not until it has flowed some distance formed
a small lake, which is designated on the map as
"Alkali." It is after the death of a man for whom
the canyon was named, whose remains were
found a few miles from the place, after a fearful
death from starvation and thirst.

HISTORY OF CENTRAL OREGON.

1097

Mr. Vernator, of Lakeview, which is about
75 miles from Alkali, started alone on horseback
into the region in search of horses that had wan
dered away. After he was absent many days
his friends became alarmed and went in search
of him. Large rewards were offered for his dis
covery, as he was wealthy and the head of an
influential family. After many days the horse
he had ridden was found near the spring in the
center of the alkali beds, browsing on the runty,
dry grass. The saddle was still on the animal
and a fragment of rope about its neck showed
that it had broken loose from some place at which
it had been tied.
The back trail of the horse into the mouth
of the canyon is many miles distant. Here the
other fragment of the rope was found tied to a
juniper bush, which told a story. The horse had
been tied there, and when the biting pangs of
hunger and thirst could be endured no longer,
it had thrown its strength against the rope, brok
en it and made it way to grass and water with
animal instinct.
The search was then renewed for the lost
man. Finally his tracks were found leading along
the foot of the rim-rocks, at first, and afterwards
leading out into mid-desert. Then they found
where he had paused and walked about in a circle.
Then the trail led out again in another direction,
the feet having sunk to their ankles in the soft
alkali sands.
Then they came to holes dug in the heated
soil at intervals along the trail. They ranged in
depth from six inches to two feet, and the marks
showed that it had been done by means of a
pocket knife and the naked hands.
They at last came upon his body, which
showed that he had died an agonizing death. He
had removed one of his boots and placed it under
his head. He still clasped his pocket knife, and
"by his side there was a deep hole, which he had

dug in his delirium, doubtless imagining that he
might obtain water in this way. Irregular marks
of the last knife stabs were still visible about
the hole he had dug, which showed that to the
last breath he had vainly plied the instrument.
Since that time the canyon has borne his name.
RELIC OF THE STONE AGE.
In 1884 Dr. Oglesby, of Fossil, brought into
that place a beautiful Indian relic which he had
found imbedded in the roots of a fir tree near
Mary's Peak. This tree, or rather the remains
of a tree, was about three hundred years old, and
so far advanced in decay was the trunk that it
could be easily kicked to pieces. The relic re
sembles the blade of a huge knife, 18 inches in
length, three inches in width and 1^ inches
thick. It is cut out of brown granite, and has an
exceedingly high polish, being nearly as smooth
as dressed marble. This, it is quite evident, is a
relic of the Stone Age, although it has been
claimed by scientists that implements of this de
scription have never been found north of Mexico.
Dr. Oglesby came to the coast in 1853, and
during those pioneer days became intimately ac
quainted with a certain Indian chief. This ac
quaintance ripened into friendship. At one time
the old chief was attacked by a vicious grizzly
bear Dr. Oglesby went to his aid, killed the
animal and saved the chief's life. The latter was
conversant with the traditions of his tribe and he
related to the doctor a legend which had been
handed down from father to son for ages. It was
to the effect that at one time a people came from
the ocean armed with big stone knives, and
while the local Indians slept peacefully in their
wigwams these ferocious invaders would attack
and murder them. It is the belief of the doctor
that this stone instrument is one of the knives
described by the old chief.