The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society Part 5

Schools were founded at an early date, the first being taught by Rev.

H. H. Spalding in a log house one mile above where Brownsville now stands, in the summer of 1849. This was a subscription school. The first district was organized on the Calapooia in 1853, being the third district in Linn County. The first school after the district was organized was taught by Robert Moore in the summer of 1853. The churches commenced work very soon and several denominations were represented. Joab Powell, the celebrated Baptist evangelist, used to preach there, and gave it as his opinion that "Thar was some mighty big sinners on the head of the Calapooia." Dr. J. N. Perkins preached for the Christians, and Rev. H. H. Spalding for the Presbyterians.

P. V. Crawford, for whom Crawfordsville is named, was the first regularly appointed postmaster on the Calapooia. Previous to his appointment in 1870 there had been a supplied post office at William Heisler's store, where Crawfordsville now is. There was never any great number of manufacturing enterprises in the Calapooia country. A flouring mill, a sawmill or two, and the woolen mill at Brownsville, built about 1862, const.i.tute the sum of such enterprises. The chief production is still from the farm--live stock and farm produce. The range is now greatly curtailed through growth of brush, close pasturage, and taking up of land.

There were in this region several men who were public spirited and prominent in Oregon affairs in early times. Foremost of all was Delazon Smith, who lived down toward Albany, on the Albany prairie, but was well known and claimed by all the Linn County section. Smith was a preacher when he first lived in Oregon. On one occasion he was heard to say, when preaching at Brownsville, that he had been urged to give up preaching and go into law, but that he would not give up what religion he had for all the wealth of the world. Strange to say, however, that was really the last sermon he ever preached. Soon after he is said to have been offered a fee of $1,000 to defend a man in a criminal case, and from that time on he followed law and politics. He was a member of the const.i.tutional convention, was in the legislature, and stumped the state with Col. E. D. Baker in the race for United States senator. Hugh Brown, founder of Brownsville, was also prominent in politics and was a member of the const.i.tutional convention. J. N.

Rice and Robert Gla.s.s were in the legislature in early times, and R.

C. Finley, though not so prominent politically, was a wealthy, liberal, public spirited man, who wielded considerable influence.

No serious Indian troubles ever came upon the settlers on the Calapooia. T. A. Riggs tells how the Indians used to steal from the whites, and describes a little difficulty he and a neighbor had with them over the stealing of an ox, but the Indians of this section never attempted to make war on the whites. At a later time, 1856, there was a fear that the Indians on the other side of the Cascades, who were then on the warpath, might come over and fall upon the settlers along the Calapooia. At Fern Ridge a fort was built in antic.i.p.ation of such a contingency, but results proved their fears groundless, and that they had perhaps given the eastern Indians credit for more energy than they possessed.

During war times there was considerable feeling in this region. The people were many of them from Missouri, and many were Douglas democrats. When the war commenced a considerable number of Douglas democrats turned Republicans. A party composed of Union men and Douglas democrats put out a county ticket in 1862 in Linn County. It was called the Cayuse ticket. Both Union and non-Union men formed secret societies. The democrats organized a secret society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, one of its objects being to prevent a draft. George Helm was the leading democrat at this time in this section, and was called the "Lion of Linn." The Union men formed the Union League, the chief object of which was to watch the democrats. It was thought at one time that the Knights of the Golden Circle would attempt to capture the fort at Vancouver, but no such attempt was ever made.

As I have before stated, the course of settlement and development in the Calapooia country was quiet and uneventful. The settlers were at first all poor, all subject to the hards.h.i.+ps incident to living in a new country, shut off from many conveniences of an older community, and obliged to ascertain by experiment what crops paid best and how they were best handled. Currency was scarce in the settlement and wheat served to a large extent as a medium of exchange. When the men who had been drawn to the gold mines to seek their fortunes began to return with their gold dust there was a rapid advance in business and prosperity.

The first newspaper of this locality was printed by George Dyson; the name and date I can not now give. The second was the _Informant_, printed, like the first, at Brownsville, and by a man named Stein.

This was in 1886. In 1887 the _Express-Advance_ was started with the _Informant's_ plant and continued two years. The _Brownsville Times_ was started June 15, 1889, by McDonald & Cavendish. With several changes of editors this paper is still printed, the present proprietors being F. M. Brown and A. B. Cavender.

The question as to why the first settlers came to Oregon is difficult to determine. It seems, however, from the very limited amount of direct testimony I have been able to get, that there were two forces which at least had a powerful influence, and these were, first, curiosity to see this great western country; and, secondly, the desire to pick out a good piece of land from the thousands of acres open to settlement here.

ALBANY, Oregon, September 21, 1901.

_Mr. Geo. O. Goodall, Eugene, Oregon_-- DEAR SIR: In compliance with your request I will write a short account of the early settlement of the upper Calapooia Valley and some of the annoyances with which the first settlers had to contend, and as I have to depend entirely on memory, I am aware that my account will be very imperfect and the more so as I am almost alone as one of the first settlers, and I believe the only one above Brownsville.

I crossed the plains in 1846, stopping near Oregon City till the next fall, when I settled in Brush Creek Valley, Brush Creek being the south fork of the Calapooia. When I came here I found Alexander Kirk, W. R. Kirk, James Blakely, Hugh L. Brown, and Jonathan Keeney, all living in the vicinity of where Brownsville now is, they all having crossed the plains in 1846 and come on up the valley to the Calapooia. I also found R. C. Finley some six miles farther up the stream, who also crossed the plains the same year, but settled on the Calapooia in the spring of 1847. Mrs. Agnes B. Courtnay, who came to Oregon in 1845, and whose husband had been killed near Oregon City by a falling tree, made up the settlers on the Calapooia at that time. I will state here that Mr.

Finley had settled at the falls of the Calapooia where he contemplated building, and did in 1848 build a flouring mill, being the first mill south of Salem. In the fall of 1847, as before stated, I and Asa Moore settled in Brush Creek Valley above Mr. Finley, he being the upper settler up to that time, and at the same time James McHargue and Robert Montgomery, who crossed the plains that season, settled below Mr. Finley and Thomas Fields several miles farther up the stream. Wm. T. Templeton, William Robnett, William McCaw, John Findlay, John A. Dunlap, and Thomas S. Woodfin all crossed the plains in 1847 and subsequently settled on the Calapooia, but after the annoyance with the Indians had ceased.

The Indians in these early days were in the habit of stealing horses and cattle from the settlers and butchering them, and the settlers would trail them up and if able to catch them would flog them severely, but the Indians seemed to care about as much as a cur for such treatment and would laugh about it as if it was all a huge joke. Some time during the summer of 1847 Isaac B. Courtnay was hunting in Brush Creek Valley, being above the settlement at that time, when he met with a few Indians, who took his gun and ammunition and allowed him to go home. During the fall and winter of 1847 the Indians annoyed Mr. Fields so much that he finally moved down to my place on Brush Creek and stayed until the spring of 1848.

In the fall of 1847 when I and Mr. Moore came into Brush Creek Valley we were not aware that there were any Indians near there and selected a place to build a cabin in which to spend the winter, we being single men, were going to batch through the winter, when I intended to bring my mother to live with me, my father having died soon after starting for Oregon. When we commenced cutting logs for our cabin two or three Indians appeared on the scene and inquired what we were doing there, and on being told we were going to settle there they demanded pay for the land, and we finally made a bargain with them agreeing to pay them in wheat and pease after the next harvest, this being the way in which many of the early settlers bargained with them.

During the fall and early winter when an Indian happened to be present at mealtime we gave him something to eat, but it soon became apparent that if we kept this up we would run out of provisions before spring, as there were one or more Indians there nearly every meal, so we were obliged to quit feeding them, when they demanded pay for their land again we told them, however, that we would pay them according to contract. Soon after this they moved away, and we saw no more of them on Brush Creek.

As Mr. Finley was contemplating the building of a mill the next summer he traded for a fat ox which I had brought with me, intending to butcher him when he commenced work, but soon after the Indians left the ox disappeared also. When we missed him from the other cattle Mr. Finley and I took a circuit around the range of the cattle and struck his trail going toward the Santiam, and after tracking him a mile or two we came across the same Indians, where they were camped and were drying the beef, having killed the ox. When we turned toward the camp Mr. Finley said if that Indian runs I'll shoot him. When they saw us coming they broke for the brush and Mr. Finley fired at one of them, they in their hurry leaving everything in camp, including the only gun they had.

After selecting such things as we could carry that would be of any value we made a bonfire of the rest, burning everything they had. When we started away I saw an Indian head come up by the side of a log in the timber and took a shot at him, it was a long shot, and I think the ball struck the log, but the head disappeared very suddenly. Another Indian started to run from behind a tree when Mr. Finley fired, aiming, as he said, to break a leg, wounding the Indian above the knee, but not disabling him. This caused quite an excitement in the settlement, the Indians and many of the settlers fearing it would cause an outbreak among the Indians, arguing that we ought not have shot at them, but should have treated them as others had done. However, Mr.

Finley and I told them that if they didn't want to be shot at they must not steal from us, as we would shoot every time and that to kill. This put a stop to their stealing in this part of the country and we were not annoyed after that by the natives, and they never called for the pay for their land.

The Rev. H. H. Spalding taught a neighborhood school in a log schoolhouse one mile above where Brownsville now stands in the summer of 1849, there being no public schools in the country at that time. The first school district on the Calapooia, being the third in Linn County, was organized, I think, in the spring of 1853; but many of the early records of the county were burned in the courthouse, and I am unable to give the precise date. The first school was taught in the district in the summer of 1853 by Robert Moore.

As to the motive for coming to the Willamette Valley at that early date I hardly know how to answer, unless it was love of adventure, as the question of sovereignty had not been settled between the United States and England when I came here. True, the United States senate had been discussing the matter of giving each settler in Oregon six hundred and forty acres of land, and we rather expected that would be done, but we had no real a.s.surance that such would be the case.

Among the early county officers of Linn County, after its organization under the Territorial Government, quite a number were living on the Calapooia, Alexander Kirk being elected county judge, N. D. Jack a.s.sessor, John A. Dunlap representative, and William McCaw clerk in 1849, and in 1850 several men who were elected to county officers went to the mines and failed to qualify, among them the county treasurer, and at a special election I was elected to that office and received and disbursed the first taxes ever collected in Linn County.

In 1851 I was elected a.s.sessor and was the second man to a.s.sess the county. In 1856 I served as second lieutenant in the Rogue-river war. In 1862 was elected sheriff for two years.

Yours truly,

T. A. RIGGS.

FOOTNOTES:

[35] Riggs says 1848; several old settlers say 1849.

DOc.u.mENTS.

A letter of M. M. McCarver to Hon. A. C. Dodge, Delegate to Congress from Iowa, written immediately on the arrival of the immigration of 1843.

[_Explanation_: This doc.u.ment was copied from the _Ohio Statesman_, which had taken it from the _Iowa Gazette_, where it was originally printed.]

(Reprinted from the _Ohio Statesman_ of September 11, 1844.)

OREGON.

ARRIVAL OF EMIGRATION COMPANY NO. I.

On the first page of to-day's paper will be found a notice of the return of Lieutenant Fremont's exploring company. By this company we are put into possession of several interesting letters from different members of the emigrating company, and, among others, three from our former townsman, M. M. McCarver, one of which, directed to our delegate, together with a letter written by P. H. Burnett to the _Saint Louis Reporter_, we publish below.--_Iowa Gazette_ [Burlington].

TWALATINE PLAINS, Oregon Territory, November 6, 1843.

DEAR SIR: I avail myself of an opportunity offered by one of the vessels belonging to the Hudson Bay Company to forward you a few lines.

The emigrants have not all arrived, though more than half are here, and the remainder may be looked for in a few days, all were at the Methodist Mission, about one hundred and fifty miles distant, near The Dalles. On last week several of the families arrived within a few days of Fort Vancouver and the Wallammatte Falls--some by water and others over the Cascade Mountains. The waggons will be brought from The Dalles by water, as the season is now too far advanced to open a road through the mountains. This expedition establishes the practicability beyond doubt of a waggon road across the continent by the way of the southern pa.s.s in the Rocky Mountains. We have had no difficulty with the natives, although we have had a tedious journey. We have had less obstacles in reaching here than we had a right to expect, as it was generally understood before leaving the States that one third of the distance, to wit, from Fort Hall to this place, was impa.s.sable with waggons. Great credit, however, is due to the energy, perseverance, and industry of this emigrating company, and particularly to Doctor Whitman, one of the missionaries at the Walla Walla Mission, who accompanied us out. His knowledge of the route was considerable, and his exertions for the interest of the company were untiring. Our journey may now be said to be at an end, and we are now in the Wallammatte Valley. I have been here near three weeks, having left my waggon in charge of the teamster and proceeded on horseback from Fort Hall in company with some thirty persons, princ.i.p.ally young men.

Your first question now will be, "how are you satisfied with the country? Is it worthy of the notice that Congress has given it?" I would answer these in the affirmative. Perhaps there is no country in the world of its size that offers more inducements to enterprise and industry than Oregon. The soil in this valley and in many other portions of the territory is equal to that of Iowa, or any other portion of the United States, in point of beauty and fertility, and its productions in many articles are far superior, particularly in regard to wheat, potatoes, beets, and turnips. The grain of the wheat is more than one third larger than any I have seen in the States. Potatoes are abundant and much better than those in the States. I measured a beet which grew in Doctor Whitman's garden which measured in circ.u.mference two inches short of three feet, and there is now growing in the field of Mr. James Johns, less than a mile from this place where I write you, a turnip measuring in circ.u.mference four and one half feet, and he thinks it will exceed five feet before pulling time. Indeed, everything here is in a flouris.h.i.+ng condition--trade brisk and everybody doing well.

The emigrants generally are all, as far as I know, satisfied. Wages for a common hand is from $1 to $1.50 per day, and mechanics from $2 to $4. Wheat is quite abundant and sold to s.h.i.+p or emigrants at $1 per bushel. Flour is from $9 to $10 per barrel; potatoes and turnips fifty cents per bushel; beef from six to eight cents per pound; American cows from $60 to $70; California, from $15 to $20. The prairie is coated with a rich green gra.s.s, perhaps the most nutritious in the world; and I am told that the winter is never so severe or the gra.s.s so scarce that a poor horse will not fatten in the s.p.a.ce of one month. Nothing is wanted but industry to make this one of the richest little countries in the world. I say little, because the fertile part of it is small compared with the very extensive fertile countries in the valley of the Mississippi; yet we have a country sufficient in extent and resources to maintain in lucrative occupations millions of inhabitants. Its great hydraulic power immediately on the seash.o.r.e, the advantages for stock grazing or wool growing, its fertile soil and indeed, its very isolated situation from compet.i.tion with the rest of the civilized world, all combine with other circ.u.mstances to make it one of the most desirable countries under the sun for industry and enterprise.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

M. M. McCARVER.

_Hon. C. A. Dodge._

Two letters by Tallmadge B. Word, written from Oregon Territory in 1846 and 1847. See "Doc.u.ments" of preceding number of THE QUARTERLY for an account of the author:

CLATSOP, Clatsop Co., Oregon Territory, February 19, 1846.

DEAR BROTHER: It was with pleasure I received yours of March 8, 1845; also one from Cyrel at the same time (Nov. last, 1845), and was happy to hear of general health, and that I am blest with the same, and have been ever since I have been in this territory; and, in fact, I have not had an hour's sickness for five years past. You ask me to give a sketch of my travels since I first arrived in Missouri. It is not possible for me to do so, with any degree of accuracy at present. Although I have a Journal of much of my trampings, it is now 200 miles distant, and I will not be able to get it before our mail starts for the U. S. I have also a daily journal of our journey to this country, and one of the weather for the first year I was here, which I sent you by the return party of 1845, but we have ascertained, that our letters were all lost, so I am aware you did not receive mine of '45, but hope it may not keep you from writing in the spring.

The s.h.i.+p by which I intended to send you letters, was sold at the Sandwich Islands, and consequently did not return to the U. S. Now of my tramp: I will mearly say that I have ranged over nearly the whole country west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains, from the British line on the north to the center of New Mexico on the south. The country is nearly of a sameness, quite a barren, sandy desert, with the exception of borders of streams, valleys, mountains, &c. The whole country abounds in game and Indians--the latter generally hostile. I could tell you of some long hunting yarns, and Indian fights, but they are of too little interest to spend time with now; so I will wait until I take a walk down East, and then some long evening, over a mug of cider and dish of apples, you shall have them.

I was some of the time in employ of Fur & Trading Co., and some of my time a free trapper. A hunter's life is a dog's life, exposed to all kinds of danger and hards.h.i.+ps, and but little gained at last, but men soon get so accustomed to it that in a short time they fear neither man, musket, or the D----, and there is so much nature, romance, and excitement in their way of living, that they soon become much attached to it, for it is much easier for a white man to become an Indian, than to reverse the thing. I have been compelled to [by] hunger to eat mules, horses, dogs, wolves, badgers, ground hogs, skunks, frogs, crickets, ants, and have been without food of any kind for six days and nights. Cats, dogs, or anything else, is right good eating meat at such times.

At another time we were four days, and three out of the four compelled to fight our way as we traveled, but hungry men are fond of fight and fear nothing, and so we walked through. You may think crickets and ants rather small game to shoot at, and so it is, but we have another way of taking them, which is by going in search, early in the morning, when the crickets (which are in some parts very numerous and as large as the end of your thumb,) by the coolness of the air and dew are very stupid, and climb to the top of weeds in great numbers that the sun may get a fair chance at them; they are at such times easily captured by jarring them off into a basket and then roasting them with hot stones,--feathers, guts, and all,--and make very good eating--when one gets used to it. The ants are taken by sticking a stick in the center of their hill, and making a fire around it, which compels them to ascend the stick, and from that to the basket or sack; in this way a meal is soon procured. But those times are all past with me.