History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 63

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

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In the year 1847, there settled O. F. Clark, five miles north of Corvallis ; Jacob Martin, to the southwest; John Trapp, one mile northwest; A. N. Locke, four miles north; Abner Drumm, five miles north; Johnson Mulkey, returned to his claim, three miles west; Luke Mulkey, four miles west; Stephen Robnett, three miles west; J. P. Friedly, adjoining the town site; William Taylor, six miles north; Hiram Allen, three miles southwest; George L. Boone, five miles south; David Butterfield, two miles south ; and William H. Elliott, four miles north.

Owing to the discovery of the California gold mines in 1848, emigration tended in that direction therefore the locaters in this portion of Benton county, which had been created in December, 1847, did not receive any great augmentation to its numbers. Some of the names of those who settled in the neighborhood of the present county seat in 1848, are; Eldridge Hartless, eight miles west ; J. V. Lewis, three miles north ; James H. Stewart, two miles north; Philip Mulkey, three miles northwest; and A. M. Witham, two miles and a half west. In 1849, we are given to understand that William Knotts took up a claim four miles north, while, in 1850, A. G. Hovey, now a banker of Eugene City, Lane county, located in Marysville; Charles Johnson to the west of the town ; J. A. Bennett, adjoining it to the southwest; John Sylvester, four miles northeast; Bushrod W. Wilson, seven miles to the southwest. In 1851, D. Carlisle came to Marysville and remained a short time; Levi E. and Henry Penland, located four miles west ; George Murch, in Marysville; and E. A. Abbey, four miles west.

Let us now take the town of Corvallis as the central point and attempt to lay before the reader the positions occupied by the claims of the settlers in that portion of the valley, in 1851.

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First, on the Willamette was the claim of J. C. Avery ; next to the south J. C. Alexander ; beyond, David Butterfield ; next Harvey Young, Tom. Morris, and next Lewis Dunn ; then John Baker; while, still farther south were Thomas Norris, George L. Boone, Nimrod O'Kelly, Isaac W. Winkle and Jeremiah Criss. To the west of J. C. Alexander, was Thomas Adams; west from him, James A. Bennett ; westward still, Prior Scott. To the south of Thomas Adams was James Dunn ; south of Scott, George W. Bethers and Charles Bayles ; next came E. A. Abbey ; between Bethers and Ownby, Hiram Allen ; south of Allen, Nicholas Ownby ; south of Dunn and Ownby, Alfred Rinehart; west of him, Jacob Martin ; while, adjoining Rinehart were Bush. W. Wilson and George E. Cole. To the south of Martin was Hubbard's Mill ; west of Martin came - Ross; west of Ross, - Chisham ; westward still, Hall and Isaac Baily; north of them, John Grimsley ; adjoining him Eldridge Hartless ; on the north was David Henderson (the present site of Philomath); west of him John Matzger. On Geary creek there resided, John Rexford, a Baptist preacher ; while, Charles Wells took up a claim on the same stream, near where the road to Alsea now runs. To the north of Philomath were William Wyatt and Way- man St. Clair, and in their vicinity three men named Kennedy, Wells and Egan. Eastward from Mr. Wyatt, Luke Mulkey had his claim, and adjoining him was John- son Mulkey ; next came John Trapp; adjoining him on the south was A. G. Hovey ; next was Charles Johnson ; beyond, William F. Dixon, (the southern half of the city of Corvallis); west of Dixon was J. P. Friedly ; and north of Dixon, John Stewart ; westward from Stewart was Silas M. Stout ; farther west, James L. Mulkey ; beyond, Chatham Roberts ; still westward, Messrs. Cardwell and Carter. The next claim to the north of John Stewart was that of Smith Stewart, while to the west of the first his son Archimedes Stewart, resided. West from that point was Haman C. Lewis; and west of him, John Robertson and Beriah Robertson ; west of Smith Stewart was James H. Stewart and Levi Russell ; and farther westward William Knotts. Still north, came Teller ; west of him, J. S. Kendall and A. J. Thayer; north of Kendall, John Sylvester ; west of Sylvester and north of Knotts, Oscar F. Clark ; north of Clark, Arnold Fuller; north of him Price Fuller ; to the east came Abner Drumm ; and north of Drumm, Thomas M. Read.

The foregoing information was most kindly given to us by Mr. E. A. Abbey and subsequently affirmed by other pioneers, and although it embraces many claims beyond the limits of this precinct we give them in this place rather than break the sequence of the arrangement of locations.

But as the history of this precinct centers around the city of Corvallis we will now introduce that portion of our chronicles to the reader.

THE CITY OF CORVALLIS.

During the month of October, 1846, the late Hon. J. C. Avery arrived in Oregon and that winter coming to what is now Benton county took up the claim, on a part of which the southern portion of the city of Corvallis stands, and in the month of June, 1846, he took up his abode on it in a log cabin which he erected at once. This, the first residence, or house of any kind, indeed, within what are now the corporate limits,

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stood a few yards from where Mrs. Avery now resides, near the northern bank of Mary's river. It was a long building comprising one room, which was partitioned off by curtains on the arrival of his wife in 1847, and stood until the year 1853, when it was torn down, its uses having departed with the erection of a large frame dwelling in 1852.

With the immigration of 1845, there came to Oregon, William F. Dixon, who, in September, 1846, took up the six hundred and forty acre tract to the north of Mr. Avery, and on which is situated the northern half of the city of Corvallis. Mr. Dixon erected too a log cabin without delay, placing it on a site immediately in front of the present location of Mr. Friendly's steam saw mill, but on what is now the line of Second street. This was the second house within the present corporation limits.

Immediately upon his building his cabin Mr. Avery fenced off about twelve acres of land which is still known as the " little field;" which, in the winter of 1847-48 he staked off a few town lots, the first measured off in the future town of Marysville and present city of Corvallis. These occupy a position at the top of the high ground that rises from Mary's river, at the southern extremity of Second street.

In the fall of 1848 Mr. Avery went to the California gold mines, returning in January following, but went back that same year, 1849, coming home again that fall. During his absence he entered into partnership with a Mr. Grigsby, purchased a small stock of merchandise at San Francisco and Portland, conveyed them to his house, his associate following a month later, and opened a store in a small granary that stood a little to the front of the site now occupied by Mrs. Avery's residence. This building had been erected in 1848 for Mr. Avery by J. C. Alexander, and in it he stored, before leaving for California, seven hundred bushels of wheat, the produce of his first and only attempt at personal farming in the country. With the agumentation of popula- tion the space in the first store in the city soon proved inadequate, Mr. Avery, there- fore, in 1850, erected a new building, on what is now the southwest corner of Second and Washington streets, but after three or four years the accommodation here proved insufficient, so he then constructed a larger structure, the first house in Benton county built of sawed lumber.

The fourth house to be erected in the city was the store of Hartless & St. Clair. It stood on the claim of William F. Dixon, a little to the south of the the west landing of the ferry accross the Willamette river. The fifth house was erected on the ground now occupied by the southeast corner of Second and Washington streets, being built for a hotel by Alfred Rinehart, and stood until the year 1882, when it was torn down.

During the summer of 1848 a school-house, the first in the town, was built in the vicin- ity of the grounds now occupied by the cluster of houses of which the Vincent House is the center, but it was not until 1850 that it was put to its proper uses, the first teacher being A. G. Hovey, now a banker of Eugene City, Lane county. Here a congregation under the Baptist church was organized in 1850 by Dr. R. C. Hill, of Albany, the first denomination to commence the good work of the redemption of souls in the town.

In 1846, Mr. Avery had a canoe on Mary's river, near his residence, which was used to ferry individuals to the opposite shore, the animals swimming, but for the use of which no charge was made, it being placed there simply as a neighborly convenience;

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while, the first ferry across the Willamette, was operated in 1848 by Mr. Dixon. This latter, however, was in 1850, officially established and conducted by Wayman St. Clair and Isaac Moore, who built regular ferry boats; a like undertaking being made on Mary's river, about a quarter of a mile above Mr. Avery's house, by Charles Knowles.

The first female settler in the town of Marysville, was Mrs. W. F. Dixon, where she was domiciled for upwards of one and twenty years. To their son Cyrus Dixon is the honor of being the first child born within the corporation limits, the date being June 21, 1847, while the first wedding, which occurred at the residence of John Stewart between Christmas Day of 1847 and New Year's Day 1848, was that of W. Prather to Mrs. Carter, whose relatives had located on Soap creek. As Mrs. Avery says-" all the country was there." The first death that occurred in the community is difficult to verify, but it is thought to have been either that of Mrs. J. C. Alexander or Mrs. Stemmermann.

In the summer of 1851 Mr. Avery tendered to the county a tract of forty acres of land for county seat purposes ; the like quantity being also deeded by William F. Dixon, and on these cessions has the city of Corvallis since been built, that portion south of the Court-house being the original claim of the former gentleman, while that of the latter lies to the north and includes the block of land on which the county build- ings stand.

The town of Marysville, in the fall of the year 1851, comprised the store of J. C. Avery, already mentioned, a grocery and saloon kept by Kendall & Wiles, a blacksmith's shop owned by George P. Wrenn situated about two hundred feet to the south of Mr. Avery's store, all on the Avery claim, while on that of Mr. Dixon were the store of Hartless & St. Clair, Mr. Dixon's own residence, the school-house, a blacksmith's shop owned by John Stewart and rented to a man named Dulap, and that fall the two new buildings of George Murch, adjoining that of Hartless & St. Clair, and the dwelling of Isaac Moore, since burnt down.

In the fall of 1852 the first steamer made her appearance up the Willamette river and made fast to a warehouse that had been erected about the same time as the store, and stood on the bank of the stream but the site has since been washed away. This boat was named the Canemah, Captain Bennett, commander ; the second steamboat was the Gazelle, which was blown up near Oregon City, after making only two or three trips. These craft came up with general cargoes, all freight hitherto having been transported overland from Portland. Thenceforward, the regular trips of river steam- ers became an accepted fact, while companies sprang into existence for their manage- ment. For instance The People's Transportation Company in 1866 had some excellent vessels on the river afterwards, noticeably the Reliance and Fannie Patton, which left Corvallis every Tuesday and Friday at noon, while, that same year the Enterprise plied regularly between that city and Eugene.

The first mention we have of a road, that is a regularly recognized public high- way, to tap Corvallis is that undertaken by the Territorial government under the provisions of an act passed January 14, 1853, the commissioners appointed being Isaac Moore, Meadows Vanderpool and Isaac Roberts, the location being between Corvallis and Winchester. Up to this time the roads traveled had been those that custom of travel had marked out, the last wagon following the first in the same beaten track.

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A. Q. Welling, Lith. Portiond, Or.

3 Miles West of Wells Station, Benton Co .. Oregon. FARM RESIDENCE OF J. W. WRITSMAN.

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On December 20, 1853, Marysville ceased to be, there being passed on that date the act which changed its name to Corvallis, with the provision " that said change of name shall not affect any right or titles to any lots or blocks of land sold and conveyed in said town." This change was deemed necessary on account of there being a town in California of the same name, on the same stage route, which was wont to produce confusion, therefore it was christened by the very appropriate cognomen of Corvallis- the heart of the valley.

On January 20, 1853, an act was passed by the Territorial Legislature appointing and constituting James A .. Bennett, John Trapp and Lucius W. Phelps a board of commissioners for the construction of the Territorial University, at the town of Marys- ville, on such land as should be donated for that purpose by Joseph P. Friedly, but through some not now very clearly known arrangement, this concession was granted to some other county-although the bricks for the building had been commenced to be manufactured-and the newly-known city of Corvallis given the State Capitol as a sop to Cerberus. The Legislature duly met in that town, and as mysteriously as it had been named the seat of government, so it was as incomprehensibly robbed of its Capitolian crown, and thus was Benton County at one fell swoop robbed of the Uni- versity and the Capitol, both, so remaining until the establishment of the State Agri- cultural College in Corvallis.

It has been our privilege to look at a copy of the " Oregon Statesman, Asahel Bush, editor, published in Corvallis, Oregon Territory, August 11, 1855 "-thirty years ago! Very, very few of the present citizens were here then. What changes have been wrought in those years! How many family circles have been broken up or scattered like chaff before the wind! The infants of those times are the business men of to-day, and the then dimpled babes and bright-eyed, sunny-faced lasses, who tripped in joyous glee across the common, or gathered daisies or blue-bells with which to weave garlands to twine around the hats of their juvenile lovers, are the wives and mothers of to-day-many of them clad in the habiliments of woe. But while the withering impress of the ploughshare of Time is visible, the evidences of progress and prosperity are everywhere apparent. The advertisements of the Statesman of that date were con- fined almost exclusively to Salem and Oregon City. Who can tell of the changes of the next thirty years? We find notice of the Colville gold excitement; a rumor that ten miners in Southern Oregon had been massacred by Indians, and fears were expressed that a general Indian war would be the result; the grasshopper scourge was sweeping over Umpqua and Rogue River valleys and portions of Lane county. One orchard.in the last, worth six thousand dollars, was completely ruined. A correspond- ent proposed to connect Salem and Astoria by military road, then being surveyed " within a distance of one hundred miles." The name of General Joseph Lane is at the mast-head of the paper for President in 1856. The editor had a "leader" on the " Convention Question," and favored the establishment of a State Government-[Cor- vallis being the seat of government at that time.] The following is a local item, which will be read with interest at this time; and although Corvallis for several years seemed to stand still, she is now again marching forward in " substantial improvements." The editor says :- "A first-class court house is nearly completed at this place. There is but one better in the Territory-the one at Salem. Benton county is also free from debt 55+

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and its people are in as prosperous a condition as any in the country. The work upon the Methodist Episcopal church here is well advanced; a couple of stores and quite a number of dwellings have also been erected here this summer, and Corvallis exhibits substantial improvements."

That Corvallis in the year 1854 must have been a place of considerable importance we assume, from the fact tlfat, January 28, 1854, the Legislature passed an act estab- lishing the "Corvallis Seminary," and naming John Stewart, Silas M. Stout, William F. Dixon, John W. York, Robert B. Biddle, Wesley Graves, Perry G. Earle, A. L. Humphrey, Silas Belknap, Samuel F. Starr, Thomas H. Pearne, Alvan F. Waller, Hiram Bond, B. F. Chapman, and James Gingles and their associates and successors, a body corporate and politic in law by the style of the "Trustees of Corvallis Semi- nary," whose first meeting was directed should be held at the house of William F. Dixon. This institution, however, never took root upon the soil of the city, and four years later, January 20, 1858, we have the passage of the act establishing the "Cor- vallis College " with J. B. Congle, B. W. Wilson, J. A. Hanna, J. C. Avery, W. F. Dixon and W. L. Cardwell, as trustees, the difference between the provisions of these acts being that whereas in the first the " Methodist Episcopal Church, within the bounds of which said institution is situated " was given a kind of supervision, and in the latter the trustees should " manage the concerns of said institution as they shall consider most advantageous to the cause of education."

Perhaps this school had been to the city as a payment for taking from her both the Capitol and the University. The gift, so to speak, was accepted and in a short time the sum of three thousand dollars was subscribed towards a school building while the county gave a block of land on which to locate it. In due course of time an edifice was put up, but only the upper floor was fitted and finished, and for a time it was in the hands of the Presbyterian body. Subsequently the upper story was placed in a fit condition for receiving pupils, but the money donated had all vanished and the building and property brought to the hammer in order to defray the expenses of con- struction. These were purchased by Orcineth Fisher in 1860, for the sum of four thousand and fifty dollars and by him transferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, who about 1864, as mentioned elsewhere placed the Corvallis College upon a firm foundation and the sure road to the success it has since attained.

On January 27, 1857, an act to incorporate the town of Corvallis passed the House of Representatives, and on the following day was passed by the Territorial Council, the first section of which enacts: "That the inhabitants of Corvallis, and their successors within the limits of said town, and its additions as it appears and is recorded in the. records for the county of Benton, and residing upon lands adjoining the said town owned by T. H. Pearne, are hereby declared a body corporate and politic, by the name and style of the "City of Corvallis." The limit of the city being as indicated in the first section of the act, and extending on the east to the middle of the main channel of the Willamette river. In accordance with the provisions of the charter an election was duly held on the second Monday of May, 1857, the first mayor being J. B. Congle. The initial meeting of the Common Council took place on May 16, 1857, when the city was divided into wards, and an ordinance passed prohibiting the leading or riding of horses upon sidewalks. Thus the civic machinery of the city

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was started and has ever since continued to proceed in a harmonious manner giving general satisfaction to all. The street commissioner was directed under date Septem- ber 5, 1857, to report a system of drainage of the city, the contract for which was awarded to A. J. Allison. While on the subject of streets we may mention that, Jan- uary 1, 1858, E. E. Taylor was allowed the sum of twenty dollars for " ploughing up " the streets of the city. It was now determined to grade Second street, which being referred to a committee, they reported, "that the street be thrown up from each side at least one foot deep, forming a regular curve from one side to the other, harrowed smoothly and rolled if thought advantageous." E. E. Taylor being employed "to grade said street, to furnish four yoke of oxen, plow and scraper and two hands, at twelve dollars per day." For some reason which does not appear on the records, Alderman Hargrove moved the discharge of Mr. Taylor, March 12, 1858, from " any further service on the streets," a motion that was lost, upon which Mr. Hargrove gave notice that he would take an appeal to some " higher authority," but the records do not mention if the vengeance of the gentleman was satisfied or not. In the year 1859 the first " lock-up" was erected by the city, and when completed it was found to have been constructed on the land of J. C. Avery, who at once gave a deed for the property under certain considerations. In 1860, not much of importance transpired to vary the life of the city of Corvallis: Under date October the eighth the Common Council ordered that books be opened to receive subscriptions to repair and build a road from Corvallis to Oakland upon the nearest and most eligible route, and as commissioners to receive these J. C. Avery, L. Clark and Nat. H. Lane, were appointed. In the month of January 1861, we find that precautions were directed to prevent the spread of small- pox. The first franchise to erect telegraph poles on the streets of Corvallis, was granted .July 28, 1862, to J. E. Strong; while, eighteen years later, in September, 1880, John Ray and son, established the first telephonic communication between Corvallis and the outside world. A company was formed, at the time with the following directors : T. Egerton Hogg, Wallis Nash, James A. Yantis, Thomas Graham, G. R. Farra, T. E. Cauthorn, F. Cauthorn, Frank Butler, Herbert Symonds, C. H. Coote, Sol. King, Samuel McLane, A. M. Witham, J. R. Larner, Zepin Job.

The first mention we have of the Corvallis Fire Department is on March 23, 1863, but it was in existence for some time before then, as the following proceedings of the Council will explain. On the date just mentioned, on motion of E. L. Perham, it was ordered by the Council that the sum of fifty dollars be appropriated to the Fire Department, Mr. Holder subsequently moving the appointment of a committee to con- fer with the department, empowering such committee to offer to liquidate the indebt- edness of the fire organization to an amount not exceeding fifty dollars, with the amount appropriated above, on condition that the company turn over to the city, for the sole use and benefit of the corporation, the Hook and Ladder, Engine, and the materials belonging thereunto, the city engaging to take care of and furnish all neces- sary material for the organizations until the fire companies be disbanded, when, in such event, the materials of these should revert to the city until the reorganization of the fire department of Corvallis. It was also directed that should such anticipated disorganization occur the Mayor should perform the duties of foreman, while those of his assistants should devolve upon the Recorder and Marshal. May 4, 1863, the

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impedimenta of the department were handed over to the city fathers, and the fire department ceased to be. It soon became apparent, however, that the city should not be without some system whereby property should be made more secure from fire. Nothing farther would appear to have been done until June 18, 1872, when Corvallis Engine Company No. 1, was organized with twenty-six members-the name was changed to Young America Engine Company, No. 1, September 21, 1872-and a new engine purchased in San Francisco, which, however, turned out to be new only to Cor- vallis, for in the Bay City it had been almost a " forty-niner," and afterwards did good work in Virginia City, Nevada, where it was known as " Young America, No. 2." Its arrival was the occasion for a grand parade at Corvallis, November 28, 1872, when a beautiful banner was presented to the company on the part of the ladies of the city by Miss Lizzie Butterfield, besides an American ensign, the gift of George Simmons, the whole finishing up with a grand ball in Fisher's brick building. In January, 1875, a Hook and Ladder Company was organized and the Corvallis Fire Depart- ment created. September 10, 1877, the hose tower was completed ; while, November 11, 1878, a petition was received from many citizens asking the Common Council to take charge of the funds deposited by the citizens of Corvallis and vicinity for the pur- pose of purchasing an engine. At this session of the council the regular order of busi- ness was suspended and several speeches made for and against the reception and adop- tion of the petition, but, finally, a motion resulted in its passage. A resolution was then offered, and on motion adopted, authorizing the Chief Engineer to demand of Young America Engine Company, No. 1, immediately to pay over and deliver to the council all correspondence, moneys, subscriptions and all other matters pertaining to the purchase of an engine, and that the said company take no further steps in the matter. In the meantime another engine had arrived. On January 20, 1879, the Sec- retary of Young America Engine Company appeared before the council and reported the action of his company in relation to the new fire engine then lying on the wharf at Corvallis, which statement was embodied in a preamble and resolution as follows :

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History of Benton County, Oregon, Part 63

Author: David D. Fagan Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: David D. Fagan
Publication date: 1885
Publisher:
Number of Pages: