USA > Oregon > Benton County > History of Benton County, Oregon > Part 50
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What is that distant song, brought down to them by the rippling tide, and grow- ing clearer as the awe-struck face of each listener is turned towards the southern hills ? It is the death song of the Alseas. Nearer and more distinct it comes, and out from the black shadows of the overhanging trees a canoe glides noiselessly towards the ocean in the west. " Calling Quail " and her young lover are recognized by all. She sits in the bow of the canoe, her arms hang idly by her sides, her face is grave and set, all the time she softly sings that solemn strain. He plies the paddle silently, his clothes are torn and bloody, and the death look is on his face as the pale moonbeams strike on it with an unearthly whiteness. They call loudly to that spectral boat ; they urge them to land but the maiden shakes her head and the canoe speeds swiftly onward towards the bar. Some of the younger ones rush towards their own canoe that they may follow and force them to return. But the old men hold them back, and all listened spell-bound to the sounds, now growing fainter and yet fainter in the distance as "Calling Quail " and her murdered lover pass away out into the Peaceful sea.
So much for romance, we will now turn to the more sober facts of the early settle- ment by Anglo-Saxons, and others, of Benton county.
It is difficult to determine, who the actual first settler within the present confines of Benton county really was, for there were several claims taken up late in the year 1845, but from the weight of evidence we are prepared to concede that honor to Thomas D. Reeves and Mr. McKissick, both of whom located their claims in the fall of 1845, and at once erected cabins, lived in them during that winter, 1845-46, and became permanent inhabitants of the district. The claim of Mr. Reeves is still occu- pied by that veteran, while that of McKissick became subsequently the property of E. Hartless, the hill to the west of the farm being known for many years as Mckissick's Hill.
It may be stated that there are many claimants to the honor of being the first settler in Benton county, but as an absolute fact the memory of our earliest residents are very treacherous, especially in regard to dates, therefore to state unhesitatingly who the pioneer par excellence of Benton county is, would be but laying ourselves open to unfair criticism.
Among those who came upon the heels of the gentlemen just named was the late James L. Mulkey. This worthy man was a native of Virginia, where he was born in the year 1797. After residing for several years in Missouri, where his wife died in 1843, in the spring of 1844, he crossed the plains, meeting with all the difficulties and enduring all the hardships that attended that perilous journey in those days. The winter of 1844-5 he passed at Umatilla, and as early as possible, in the following season pushed on into the Willamette valley, and halted in Yamhill county. He now commenced to make search for a place on which to permanently locate, and proceeding southward selected the open prairie land bounded on the eastern hand by the Willam- ette river and overlooked by the rounded crest of Mary's Peak, and the wooded slopes of the lesser foot-hills. One mile and a half to the northeast of where since has arisen, first the town of Marysville, and subsequently Corvallis, Mr. Mulkey chose his claim in the winter of 1845; losing no time he erected a log cabin and early in the spring of 1846 brought his nine motherless children-the eldest eighteen, and the
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youngest six years of age-to make their home. The names of these youthful pioneers are John D., James L., David B., Mary E. (now Mrs. Liggett), Charles J., Margaret I. (now Mrs. Sears), Malinda P., and Albert G. Through life Mr. Mulkey proved himself to be a man of strict integrity ; he served a term in the first Territorial Legis- lature, representing Benton county, and after years full of usefullness died at his home in 1855.
At the same time that James L. Mulkey took up his claim, his brother Johnson Mulkey also took possession of a tract of land, but it was not until 1847 that he came to reside upon it, for in the meantime he had returned to Missouri to bring his wife and family to their new home on the Pacific.
During the winter of 1845 several claims were taken, notably that of J. C. Avery, on which the southern portion of the city of Corvallis is now built, while the northern part was taken up in the spring of 1846 by William F. Dixon. That year too came Nahum King, who gave his name to King's valley, with his sons Isaac, Stephen and Soloman and his son-in-law Rowland Chambers; on Soap Creek, Arnold Fuller and David Carson, had located; where Philomath now stands, were Eldridge Hartless, Wil- liam Wyatt and Wayman St. Clair, while to the south was John Lloyd.
It is thought that the first birth of a white child in what is now Benton county, occurred in the early part of the year 1845. The mother of the infant was the wife of Joseph Hughart, who resided where the town of Philomath now stands, while the first in the county to be called to face the mysteries of the great hereafter was this same lady who did not long survive the birth of her infant.
In 1847 the tide of immigration continued; Hon. A. L. Humphrey, located near where Monroe now is; J. M. Currier, Isaac and John Foster in what is now Willam- ette precinct ; Oscar F. Clarke and Luke Mulkey in the vicinity of Marysville ; Francis Writsman and Drury Hodges on Soap Creek; while the well-known Belknap settle- ment was founded.
In this year too, December the twenty-third Benton county was created with bound- aries fitted for a State, extending as they did to the California line. It received its name in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Benton, a distinguished citizen of Missouri, of whom many an anecdote is related. Among others we give the following :
It was the opinion of this popular citizen-soldier that Solon Robinson's chief merit, like that of Sampson, lay in his hair. "Fellow-citizens," said Col. Benton once in a. speech at St. Louis, "the editor of the New York Tribune, Horace Greely is the whitest man I ever saw. His hat is white, his coat is white, his pantaloons are white, he has white hair, and a white face, and I think his liver is about the whitest thing about him. The assistant editor of the Tribune, fellow-citizens, is Solon Robinson. Solon Robinson is an Irishman-everything about him is red. He has a red face and a red head, and-" just then the speaker caught sight of a couple of red-headed double-fisted Irishmen standing near, who looked pretty much as if they would a little rather swallow him than not- " But, fellow-citizens," he continued, " I mean no disrespect to my Irish friends by speaking of a red-headed Irishman. Indeed, I may say, as a compliment to any such who may chance to be here to-day, that I never saw a red-headed woman in my life that was not virtuous, or a red-headed man, with a single exception, that was not honest; and it is my deliberate conviction, fellow-
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citizens, that if it had not been for Solon Robinson's red head he would have been hanged long ago."
It is not our purpose in this place to follow settlement by settlement in Benton county, but to give a list of these farther on in this chapter ; suffice it to say that the immigration year by year swelled the county's population. True that in 1848 and 1849 no marked addition was made, in fact owing to the universal hegira to the Cali- fornia gold mines its strength was materially decreased. Some went, never to return ; others drifted thence back to the Atlantic States only to return again after a series of years to find a populous county where they had left a wilderness. The "glorious days of '49" have much to answer for. Do you see yonder old man, bent with years, and his keen grey eyes looking far into the past. As he watches the ponderous log now crackling with merry noise, he sees behind a dark speck harmonizing with his dreary thoughts. As he gazes into the dancing flame his life passes in review before him ; first his mother's joy, then her hope, and afterwards her mainstay. Suddenly he is led captive by the seductive cry that comes from the Pacific shores and echoes back from the rocks of the Atlantic coast, " there is red gold for the winning!" Amid the entreaties of home, the wail of a mother's heart went up and begged of him to stay ; but no, in a few years at most a fortune will be made, there will be enough for all, and to spare ; and what has been the result ? Hard work, bad luck, ill health and lost hope ! But this is not all that he sees. There is he with rakish air, who spends his dust with that insouciant air of "easy come and easy go, " who, when his back is turned is forgotten by his erst awhile boon companions. There is he, the father of a family, who has left loving wife and children in a little home in some Eastern State, who toils with unceasing vigor to reach the goal that will take him back to those he loves, with sufficient for them and others besides-long his cherished desire ; and so passes by this panorama of human life, each having their own thoughts, good, bad and indifferent, and still the boisterous jest and rollicking song goes on, and still the sparks fly from the burning log, and hour gives way to hour and dark to dawn.
In continuation of the settlement of Benton county we now produce a list of the pioneers from 1846 to 1860 inclusive. It has been found utterly impossible with the time at our command, to verify the dates of actual settlement except in a very few instances. The names have been chiefly obtained from a careful examination of the county records, and we give them in the years in which these citizens were called upon to perform some official act, after the organization of the county.
1846 .- James L. Mulkey, J. C. Avery, William Miller, Hovius and Stemmer- mann, John Stewart, William F. Dixon, Alfred Rinehart, Thomas Norris, Joseph Hughart, James Watson, Arnold Fuller, William Matzger, John Lloyd, Jesse H. Caton, R. B. Hinton, Wayman St. Clair, Thomas M. Read, Lazarus Vanbebber, Row- land Chambers, Nahum King, Elijah Liggett, S. K. Brown, Talbot Carter, Robert W. Russell, Haman C. Lewis, H. C. Buckingham, Stephen King, Nicholas Ownby, J. C. Alexander, Smilie Carter, John Foster, D. D. Stroud, Isaac Foster, Prior Scott, J. L. Halter, Johannon Carter, Isaac King, Lucius Norton, David Carson, Thomas D. Reeves, Harvey Young, David Henderson, J. S. Kendall, Archimides Stewart, Price Fuller, Green Berry Smith, James Taylor, Sol. King, A. G. Mulkey, D. B. Mulkey, John D. Mulkey, C. J. Mulkey.
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1847 .- A. L. Humphrey, Nimrod O'Kelly, O. F. Clark, George Belknap, Samuel F. Starr, Jacob Martin, Francis Writsman, John Trapp, Silas M. Stout, A. N. Locke, Abeatha Newton, Chatman Hawley, Abner Drumm, John Wilds, Monroe Hodges, Drury Hodges, D. D. Davis, Johnson Mulkey, Jacob Hammer, Jesse Belknap, Orrin Belknap, Luke Mulkey, Aaron Richardson, William Wyatt, Morgan Savage, David Hawley, Thomas Bowers, Stephen Robnett, Silas Belknap, J. P. Friedly, William Taylor, Hiram Allen, Ransome A. Belknap, George L. Boone, David Butterfield, William H. Elliott, Jacob Modie, Anthony Roberts, Henry Belknap, Harley A. Belknap, C. G. Belknap.
1848 .- Eldridge Hartless, N. A. Starr, J. V. Lewis, James H. Stewart, Philip Mulkey, John Grimsley, A. M. Witham, William Blodget.
1849 .- William Knotts, Mark Cahoun.
1850 .- A. G. Hovey, Charles Johnson, J. A. Bennett, Obadiah C. Motley, Isaac W. Winkle, John Sylvester, B. W. Wilson, Alfred Writsman, W. H. Johnson, Frederick A. Horning.
1851 .- James Gingles, Richard Irwin, Levi E. Penland, Henry Penland, D. Carlisle, William M. Pitman, George Murch, E. A. Abbey, A. M. Rainwater, James H. Slater, George Hubbard, George E. Cole, - Rittner, G. W. Bethards, J. W. Starr, William Burget, John Phillips, John Wilson.
1852 .- John J. Haskins, James W. McAffee, B. R. Biddle, Harlow Bundy, Isaac Sheets, Thomas R. Musick, William Gird, John Feichner, L. D. Gilbert, Jacob Allen, James White, James E. Barclay, Abner Lloyd, Lewis Dennis, John Wren, Harrison Douglas, B. H. Baird, John Luce, J. Doak, J. Hedge, E. A. Shirley, E. Blevins, John Thomas, J. M. Currier, John T. Fortson, G. W. Roberts, C. R. Rouse, George P. Wrenn, E. F. Chapman, Abraham Acock, Lemuel Leneve, Charles Bayles, Henry Powell, E. D. Keys, Job S. Hayworth, Washington Patterson, Charles Allen, M. W. Ellis, John E. Porter, William G. Porter, William Coyle, David Williams, William Barclay, E. E. Taylor, Lewis Morris, J. P. Welsh, W. A. Tryon, Charles Wells, Thomas P. Adams, - McNeil, - Dowling, Charles Knowles, L. A. Clark.
1853 .- Charles A. Williams, George L. Mulkey, William Phillips, Johnson Toppen, William Harris, William Ownby, Norris P. Newton, Gallatin Atkins, William B. Perry, Dr. T. J. Right, Samuel Rice, William J. Berry, S. Newcomb; J. M. York, Joseph Whitaker, C. B. Hinton, T. W. Close, Wesley Graves, William L. Cardwell, William Wilson, James M. Chisham, Thomas Alphen, James W. Bingham, D. C. Belcher, J. E. W. Cottingham, William Wood, James Dunn, Philip Ritz, James L. Rounds, John D. Bryant, Ahial Benedict, Ira Hunter, William P. Crowe, Jessie Gage, Jacob T. Richie, Thos. Scott, Daniel Carland, A.D. Grimsley, David Grubb, Lampson Stone, Henry Noble, W. H. Backus, Montgomery Patton, Lorenzo Abbott, Jas. Bush, L. D. Beckett, Chs. Brun, Robert Boyd, Austin Daniels, J. K. McCormick, Albin Chappel, Lewis Casteel, Jeremiah Criss, H. Campbell, Welcome Mitchell, J. H. Morris, D. W. Nichols, Andrew Palmer, Joseph Parks, McCauley Porter, Benjamin Cutler, Robert Trimble, W. P. Smith, J. C. Roberts, Alfred Writsman, George Wil- helm, W. W. Wilkinson, Wiley Winkle, Ernest Fisher, William Graham, Thomas H. Garrett.
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1854 .- John Pike, Patrick Egan, D. Hathorn, Charles Silvey, Joseph Latter- field, Isaac Moore, Samuel G. Irwin, J. M. Smith, Owen Bear, W. M. McCarcle, E. Vineyard, John Robinson, Woods Jackson, T. S. Boyd, Robert Burns, J. A. Hughes, George Mercer, William Hunter, James W. Bigham, Michael Barry, F. A. Harrison, James Kinney, Asa Stark, James Mathews, Laban Buoy, R. Burton, E. W. Davis, Jefferson Stewart, Caspar Kamp, John B. Congle, Isaac Hargrove, George Knowlton, James L. Rounds, Joseph Wood, Ichabod Hinkle, Erastus Holgate, Jacob Holgate, George Rhyecraft, Horace Matheson, Dudley Darr, John Withers, James Graves Jesse Ownby, William Bohanon, James Cook, Gabriel Lang, Dudley Keys, James Greer, John Hillhouse, Charles C. Davis, John Gearhart, Andrew Kinney, George W. Bridger, Hiram Wood, William Pierson, James Caldwell, Daniel Nickolson, Jacob Resser, Alfred Morrison, George W. Deweese, Charles Hodges, William B. Carter, Rowland Robb, Samuel Hoptenstall, Philip Starr, Warren Garrett, Joseph Dimmick, Stephen Howell, Jacob Slagle, Robert Grimsbury, J. M. Compton, Thomas J. Blair, Hilkiah Banks, Samuel Clark, James Foster, William Quivey, David A. Sackett, Franklin Wood, Merrill Jasper, Joseph White, Joseph C. Belcher, J. B. Starr, James McCoy, John H. Dohse, James T. Yeater, John Ulrey, John Richard, Dennis Haw- thorne, A. R. McConnell.
1855 .- Robert M. Thompson, William Linnville, Sr., William Linville, Jr., William Ryals, Elisha Willoughby, Henry Willmore, Jacob Miller, T. B. Odeneal Adam Holder, W. J. Robertson, J. W. Hinton, W. Nickson, R. C. Richardson, T. Richardson, George Coffee, William W. Dow, Samuel Stannus, Thomas Adams, John C. Kline, Peter D. Sears, George C. Ross, M. L. Robbins, - Tatham, John C. Bell, Thomas H. Kizer, Byron P. Cardwell, Jesse Woods, Albert Taylor, Benjamin Lin- coln, Robert Foster, Robert Garrett, Robert Irwin, John Proctor, Thomas Perkins, Peter Withers, Robert Trimble, John Harris, George W. Stewart, Martin Charles, Carrington Belknap, George Smith, Warren Garrett, Jacob W. Curran, Stephen Howell, George W. Starr, Azariah Starr, Philander Gilbert, William E. Flannery, James Herron, Jesse Hawley.
1856 .- Rufus McLane, Craghan Rhodes, Zero Coston, Stephenson Rayburn, Nathan Sparks, Rowland Robb, Marcus Bronson, John Burns, William Lupton, Wes- ley Dixon, Moses E. Milner, Thomas Skipton, Sanford W. White, Austin D. Barnard, John C. McBee, John Atterbury, Mordecai Adams, Thomas Ellis, James M. McIntyre, Isaac Rambo, Emerson Rednours, Robert Rains, John Lawrence.
1857 .- James Barnhart, A. F. Atwood, Robert Herron, John A. Knight, Gus- tavus Hodes.
1858 .- John Rogers, John Creel, David Blake, Philip Miller, Larkin Vander- pool, Newton Benson, William Walton, John Vanderpool, L. Scoville, James Glass, Beriah Robertson, John Burnett, Martin Henderson, Isaac N. Miller, Preston Love- lady, John Walton, Colbert C. Blair, William McClagan, Linus Bronson, A. J. Hinkle, Peter Mason, Jonathan Mason, David G. Clark, Andrew Roberts, James Brunfield, Alfred Henson, H. J. Allison, William Henderson, George W. Houck, Samuel Gage, Ezekiel Marple, George Spencer, S. H. Bernard, Isaac Newton, James Martin, William J. Kelly, George W. Carson, Powell Ownby, Joel Perkins, Stephen Tarbox, Albert Lloyd, Joseph Kelsay, W. C. Woodcock.
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1859 .- L. B. Monson, J. J. Williams, M. Doughtrey, J. H. Blair, Martin Williams, L. A. Davis, Perman Henderson, W. W. Piper, Andrew Purdy, William Hunter, J. C. Wood.
1860 .- H. I. Inlow, J. W. Meredith, Julius Brownson, C. B. Hand, A. Noltner, J. S. McIteeny, Gilbert Webb, M. L. Charles, Caspar Rickard, J. McP. Brien, R. S. Gillespie, Isaac B. Justice, F. P. Kinder, Charles Gaylord, Emory Allen.
None but those who have actually " crossed the plains " by what an old pioneer has termed the "ox-express," can ever be able to realize the hardships suffered, dangers encountered and fatigue endured on that six months and more of daily plod- ding. At length, weary, anxious and foot-sore, the long looked for haven of rest was reached, and after climbing forbidding mountains, penetrating dark forests, clamber- ing over rough ravines, and ferrying rushing torrents, a feast for the eye presented itself as the fertile prairie of the Willamette valley was espied from the far-off height of a crag or mountain pass. And what was it like? For mile upon mile and acre after acre, tall wild grasses grew in wonderful profusion-one great, glorious green of wild waving verdure-high over the backs of horse and ox and shoulder high with the brawny immigrant. Wild flowers of every prismatic shade charmed the eye, while they vied with each other in the gorgeousness of their colors and blended into dazzling splendor. One breath of wind and the wide emerald expanse rippled itself into space, while with a heavier breeze came a swell whose rolling waves surged over the foot-hills, beat against the mountain sides, and, being hurled back, were lost in the far away horizon. Shadow pursued shadow in one long merry chase; the air was filled with the hum of insects, the chirrup of birds and an overpowering fragrance weighted the air. The river's bank was clothed in its garment of green foliage, while, the dark green forest trees lent relief to the eye. The impenetrable jungle of to-day, at this time was not, the smaller growth being kept low by Indian fires, while the timber land presented a succession of tempting glades open to movements on foot or on horseback.
But with what frowns of fortune did not these heroic pioneers and their no less heroic wives have to endure before they reached the place whereon they should pass the remainder of their days. The difficulties encountered by all were somewhat similar, therefore let us give to the reader the experiences of a few as gathered from the Corvallis Gazette dated December 31, 1880:
One popular official of the county says : "I was but a little shaver then, in 1845. We came by way of The Dalles. There was my father, Nahum, his name was, and my four brothers, all older than I was, and there were Watson and Chambers, and their families, in the company. We crossed the plains and got with the wagons as far as The Dalles. There were thirteen wagons in the crowd and we rafted them and the cattle and all the rest of it down the Columbia. A pretty big raft it was-all made of green fir timber we cut down, and tied together with slighter trees laid across and peg- ged down. It took us about all the morning to get out into the current and all the afternoon to get back to shore again ; and then we came to the Cascades. We had to just put the wagons together and cut a road for six miles, round the portage, till we could take to the river again. Then we got boats and came down the Columbia and up the Willamette, past where Portland stands. There was no Portland then. I forget what the town near by was called. Then we got to the Tualatin Plains, where Forest
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A. G. Walling, Lith. Portland, Or.
12 Miles South of Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon. 640 Acres. FARM RESIDENCE OF JOHN RICKARD.
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Grove station is now, and there we camped for that first winter. All the lot of us crowded into one little log cabin. Oh, we lived pretty well. There was a little grist mill near by, and the folks had raised a little wheat and some potatoes and peas. I tell you, it was rough ; we had no meat all that winter. The next spring we came into King's Valley and took up the old place.
"Indians ? I should think there were! About two or three hundred Klickitats were camped in the valley. Good Indians they were; tall and straight as a dart. When we came in and camped, the Chief, Quarterly, his name was, came to my father and said :
" What do you want here?
"We have come to settle down and farm and make homes for ourselves,' replied my father. 'Well,' said the Indian, 'you can if you don't meddle with us; we won't hurt you."
No more they did; we never had a cross word from them. The country did not belong to them; it belonged to the Calapooias and the Klickitats had rented it of them for some horses and clothes, and what-not, for a hunting ground. There were just lots of elk and deer and the bunch-grass grew waist high. The Indian ponies were as fat as butter, and good ones too.
"The Klickitats had regular lodges-sticks set round in a circle and tied together at the top and covered over with those rush mats. Good workers they were, too. I remember very well, one day, the Klickitats came running in to say there were ever such a lot of Calapooias coming to attack them and they sent off all their squaws and children to the hills, and then drove all their horses down to our camp. Strange, wasn't it, they should think their stock safer with five or six white men? There must have been several hundreds of these Calapooias. That did not come to anything that time; they patched it up with some presents of horses, beads and other things. What are left of those Klickitats are all up north now, on that Reservation on the Columbia. Good Indians they were. The Calapooias and the Klickitats had their big fight just before we came into the country. It was just by the Mary's river bridge, where they had it out. It was quite a battle. The Calapooias got the best of it, for they out- numbered the Klickitats two to one. Yes, it was pretty rough in those days, you bet!"
Such is the graphic account of the journey to and first settlement of Nahum King, whose name is handed down in that of the fertile valley, where he lived and died.
Let us now tell the story of how one of her most respected clergymen left his eastern home to cast his lot with the other pioneers in Benton county.
"You never heard of our Presbyterian colony, did you ? Well, I had just finished my theological studies and had got married. It was in 1851, when the law had been passed, giving each settler in Oregon a half section of land, or three hundred and twenty acres, and a half section more for his wife. I had heard Oregon was a very healthy place and had fine land, so I put an advertisement in the paper a year ahead, that in the spring of 1852 I intended starting for Oregon from my home in Pennsyl- vania, and would be glad for any Presbyterian to join me and found a colony there. I had about eighty answered who agreed to go, but about forty dropped off. Some twenty more came in later, so we started about sixty strong. When we left St. Joe, in Missouri, we had twenty wagons and sixty persons in the crowd. I had a nice car- 43+
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riage with four mules, for my wife, and a half-share in a wagon and ox-team. We left St. Joe, in May, 1852, and arrived in Oregon four months and a half afterwards. We laid over for Sunday every week but one, and I preached every Sunday in the journey but that one, when we were crossing an alkali desert and to push on through. There was the heaviest emigration to Oregon that year there ever has been. I have many times stopped on some hill on the emigrant trail and counted a hundred wagons and more ahead, and a hundred or more behind us. We carried no feed with us and it was terribly hard on stock, for the grass was so eaten down. It was harder on the oxen than it was on the mules. I brought all my mules safe into Oregon, but only one ox out of our team. When some of a man's oxen gave out he would leave them there and cut his wagon in half and leave the hinder half behind and come on with the front as a cart. We had no special adventures on the way; no trouble with Indians. We came into Oregon by way of Boise City, Umatilla and The Dalles. The last sixty miles my wife and I walked nearly all the way, for the mules gave out when they came to climb the Cascades, and we made very slow time of it. What a blessing it was when we came down this side of the Cascades and stopped at Foster's, a few miles east of Oregon City. It was a big farm and sort of hotel; there would be a hun- dred men there some nights. We got milk and butter too. There was one old lady in the party who fancied some butter and her son went and bought some for her, but she did not like to eat it; she said it tasted of silver too much. We traveled up this valley and settled down about three miles from Corvallis, Marysville it was called then. There were just twelve houses in the place, two of them were stores. When I had taken up land, the first thing was to build me a house; so I set to work and cut down a few fir trees and split out shingles. Then I set to and got up the house. I built round my wife as she camped in the middle of it. This valley was all open then. A man could drive seventy miles from Salem to Eugene. All this oak brush has grown up since; it was hardly knee high then. There were flour mills at Salem, Milwaukee and Oregon City. The fall I got here they were shipping flour to San Francisco and selling it at six dollars a barrel; and that same winter we were paying twenty-five dol- lars a barrel for it here. Coffee was half a dollar a pound, bacon half a dollar, butter a dollar and beef a quarter of a dollar. The next fall, in 1853, we organized the Presbyterian church here with seven of the persons who had left with me the year before; so, you see, we have grown since that day. I did very well with my farming. One year I recollect, bacon was too cheap in the valley so I loaded up two wagons with my bacon and went off to Yreka, three hundred miles south of this, and came back with seven hundred and fifty dollars in my pocket. The first thing, and the best thing, I did when I started was to buy five cows for one hundred dollars each. The valley looks different to-day, I can tell you.".
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