History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848, Part 52

Author: Bancroft, Hubert Howe, 1832-1918; Victor, Mrs. Frances Auretta Fuller Barrett, 1826-1902
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: San Francisco : The History Co.
Number of Pages: 850


USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 52


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78


Most of these adventurers had left comfortable homes, and the position they occupied on first reach- ing Oregon was humiliating and discouraging. The shelter afforded in the rude dwellings of the colonists, although bestowed with true hospitality, involved heavy cost and much discomfort on both sides. The community was suddenly divided again into old and new settlers, and the new were often peevish and un- reasonable.23 They had recently endured so much that they could not realize that the settlers of a year


they were reduced to an allowance of half a pint of corn a day, and had just three bushels left in the general store. Emmet kept a jealous watch over the remainder of his company to prevent them from taking passage on the General Brooks for the settlements below. One young man and his wife contrived to eluge his vigilence and were taken to St Louis by the steamer. What became of those who remained with Emmet is not known, but they were intending to hunt buffalo, and with this food supply to prosecute their journey to Oregon. Niles' Reg., Ixviii. 339-40.


29 Burnett's Recollections of a Pioneer, 175.


·


525


NAMES OF THE NEW-COMERS.


or two had undergone similar experiences. To them it seemed as if the first comers were reprehensible for taking up the most convenient land, compelling others to travel farther and find claims, when they had come to Oregon to be near the sea and a market. With the better class this feeling passed away after a few weeks, and they became cheerful again. But there were some who never ceased complaints, and who only exerted themselves when forced to do so by necessity.


Undoubtedly the journey of two thousand miles with ox-teams, and the peculiar misfortunes incident to each migration, often exhausted vitality and changed the character of individuals, so that many never recov- ercd their lost ambition and energy; and that the children weakened by unfavorable circumstances lacked the temper of body and mind which crowns effort with success. The few who rose superior to these trying influences, had they remained in their own country, would probably have risen to eminence.30


30 The following are some of the men of the immigration of 1845: S. Arm- strong, N. H. Armstrong, J. M. Armstrong, Joseph C. Avery, James Allen, William Allen, M. B. Alderman, Henry Alman, Arim, J. C. Avery, J. J. Burton, John D. Boon, H. D. Boon, Joel Barlow, Samuel K. Barlow, William Barlow, James Barlow, B. Berry, F. Baker, John Wesley Baker, Owen W. Bozarth, Arthur Burrow, Bailey, J. J. Burston, F. Budroe, C. A. Bradbury, William Buffum, Baber, H. M. Bryan, Lorenzo D. Brooks, Mahlon Brook, Lyman E. Byard, John Brown, F. Babel, J. M. Bacon, W. W. Buck, Buck- ley, Edwin Bryant, Benj. F. Burch, F. Berry, William Berry, Bean, J. R. Bean, Joseph Cunningham, Creighton, Jacob C. Caplinger, Benjamin Corne- lius, sen., Thomas R. Cornelius, Benjamin Cornelius, jun., Samuel Cornelius, David Carson, Joseph Champion, Thomas W. Chambers, Rowland Chambers, Nathaniel W. Colwell, John M. Courtney, Joseph Charlton, Charles Craft, Patrick Conner, E. W. Conner, J. Cassada, L. W. Coon, Jesse Cayton, W. D. Cole, Samuel Y. Cook, Samuel Clark, John R. Coatney, John M. Cantrel, Ari Cantrel, Samuel Chase, Reuben Crowder, John W. Crowell, N. H. Coffin, G. W. Coffinbury, Jesse Cadwallader, Elias Cox, David Colver, James Camp- bell, Eli C. Cooley, F. C. Cason, Couzine, Jackson Cooley, John Conner, Andrew Chambers, Thomas W. Chambers, David J. Chambers, Albert T. Davidson, James Davidson, F. G. Dewitt, David R. S. Daley, David Delaney, Reuben Davis, Jehu Davis, Felix G. Dorris, Dodson, Franklin Duval, Solomon Durbin, John Durbin, Leven N. English, William English, Napoleon B. Evans, Harvey Evans, William Engle, J. Engle, I'LLer Elkins, John Ed- monds, Joseph Earl, S. D. Earl, John Foster, Rev. E. Fisher, William Flett, A. H. Frair, Levi Fanning, William Finley, Farwell, Field, Sidney S. Ford, Joseph H. Foss, Dr Foley, Elisha Griffith, William Glaser, Gerrish, William Gale, Basil Ground, R. A. Gesner, J. Grazer, Thomas Hart, Silas Height, Andrew Hood, Hipes, Jacob Hampton, Isaac Hutchins, N. Huber, B. F.


526


THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.


On the 20th of August, 1845, the house of repre- sentatives adjourned until the first Tuesday in De-


Hale, David Hill, Henry Hawkins, Francis S. Holland, Samuel Hancock, Phineas Hunt, H. G. Hadley, W. J. Herron, Daniel Herron, N. Herron, George Hannon, Isaac Hinshaw, John Hammer, Hough, Lawrence Hall, William Hake, H. H. Hide, Amos Harvey, Hackleman, D. C. Ingalls, B. B. Jackson, Ulysses Jackson, Rev. Johnson, George W. Johnson, W. Carey Johnson, John T. Jeffries, Joselyn, H. M. Knighton, Morgan Keyes, John Killin, George Knox, Knox, Kennedy, Kirby, Orrin Kellogg, Joseph Kellogg, Rev. Thomas Simpson Kendall, John E. Lyle, Jesse Lovelady, D. R. Lewis, John Lemon, John Lloyd, Jonathan Laggett, Joseph Linn, Lampson, Lock, Jeremiah Lawson, John W. Meldrum, Job McClane, Zebe- diah Martin, W. B. Maley, James Maley, Job McNamee, Alexander W. McNary, James Morris, McDonald, Sylvanus Moon, Josiah Morris, Alfred Markham, George Moore, J. H. McMillan, Henry Noble, Gideon R. Night- ingale, A. Nightingale, Nathan Olney, Owenby, John M. Pugh, William Porter Pugh, Dr Samuel Parker, Joel Palmer, W. Peers, Francis Perry, Patterson, Elisha Packwood, John Packwood, Robert Packwood, Tait Pack- wood, Larkin Packwood, Charles Packwood, James M. Pyle, Powell, John Phillips, Robert Pentland, William H. Rector, Clark Rogers, Thomas Ruge, Thomas M. Reed, Orville Risley, Joseph B. Rogers, John P. Rogers, John Rounds, William Ryan, R. A. Riggs, James B. Riggs, Sherry Ross, Thomas G. Robinson, J. S. Rinearson, Peter M. Rinearson, Raines, Roumia, John Rowe, Ridgeway, William Savage, Alonzo A. Skinner, Eugene F. Skinner, Sharp C. Senters, Samuel Simmons, Simeon Smith, Harris Speel, Samuel Smith, G. D. Smith, Hiram Smith, Shelly, William Sportsman, J. Sanders, Startuff, Stephen Staats, Henry Sewell, Green B. Smith, Davis Shannon, S. Scroggins, Isaac Staats, Spence, Stansbury, Switzler, Tabritas R. Smith, Ross Sherry, Price Scott, Solomon Tetherow, James Taylor, Philip Thomp- son, Rev. Lewis Thompson, William Taylor, W. G. T'Vault, John Travers, William Levi Todd, Stanley Umphlet, George Urben, J. H. Voss, C. Wheeler, William Wheeler, James White, John White, Benjamin Wood, Ellis Walker, Frederick Waymire, John Waymire, Richard E. Wylie, Ralph Wilcox, Leo Weston, H. Wright, Charles Austin Williams, J. L. Williams, John J. Wil- liams, A. W. Walley, Henry Clay Welch, Presley Welch, .Joel Welch, Amariah Wilson, Mitchel Whitlock, P. Wilkes, Anthony Whitaker, Asa Williams, James L. Williams, Henry Williamson, E. L. Walter, Helm Walter, Waldrom, Claiburne C. Walker.


Leven N. English, born near Baltimore, Maryland, March 25, 1792, re- moved while in his childhood to Kentucky, where he afterward married. On the breaking-out of the war of 1812 he volunteered, and fought in several battles on the frontier of Canada. After the settlement of the difficulty with England he removed with his family to Illinois, where the attempt at creating a home in the wilderness was interrupted by the Black Hawk war, in which he was commissioned captain of a company raised by himself. In 1836 he made another move westward as far as Iowa, where he settled and erected a mill. But not being yet satisfied with emigration, he sold out his Iowa prop- erty and came out to Oregon, losing one of his sons on the journey. In 1846 he built 'English's Mills' at Salem, which aided greatly to build up that town. He served in the Cayuse war of 1847-8. In 1869 he removed to California, but returned to Salem in 1871. He was twice married, living 39 years with his first wife, by whom he had 12 children; and 'by his second marriage 7 more, making, even in prolific Oregon, a family of unusual size. Eng- lish died March 5, 1875, being nearly 85 years old. Or. Pioneer Assoc., Trans., 1875-6.


William P. Pugh, born in Sullivan County, Ind., March 9, 1818, settled in Marion County, Oregon, in 1845; died Feb. 21, 1877, at his home, leaving a


527


BIOGRAPHICAL.


cember, which, according to organic law, was the appointed time for the assembling of the legislature.


large family of children, and numerous friends by whom he was respected and honored. Id., 1877, 73.


Simeon Smith, born in Columbiana County, Ohio, Feb. 16, 1823, was a son of James Smith, who also emigrated to Oregon. The family removed from Ohio to Missouri in 1838, from which state they started for the coast of the Pacific. Simeon Smith settled in Marion County, but left his farm near Tur- ner's station for Salein after 10 years of country life. He died May 1879, leaving 4 children. His wife was a Miss Barger. Id., 1878, 92.


Joseph Cunningham was born about 1796, and was the son of Nathaniel Cunningham, one of the foremost men of the town of Spencer, Massachusetts, who helped to capture Fort Ticonderoga under Ethan Allen, and who fought through the revolution. Joseph, when not quite 17 years old, was a volun- teer in the war of 1812-13, and served under General Crawford. In 1818 he went west, and joined Ashley's company for the Rocky Mountains. After 2 years spent with Ashley he returned to Boonville, Missouri, whence he went to Oregon. He settled on the lower end of Sauvé Island; and in 1847, in partnership with the Canadian Plumondon, built a saw and grist mill at the falls of Des Chutes River, at the head of Puget Sound. He afterward resided on Suave Island and at McMinnville, where he died March 14, 1878. Salem Mercury, March 26, 1878.


Henry Hawkins was 70 years of age when he came to Oregon. His wife was the first white woman at Louisville, Kentucky. He followed flat- boating on the Mississippi River before the days of steamboats. He lived for 33 years in Marion County, dying at Silverton, at the age of 103, in July 1878. Portland Standard, July 13, 1878.


Sidney S. Ford was born in the state of New York in 1801. In 1846 he settled north of the Columbia in the region of Puget Sound. He belongs, therefore, to the history of Washington, where he took an active part in pub- lic affairs. Mr Ford died October 22, 1866.


Owen W. Bozarth was a native of Marion County, Missouri, born in 1820. He settled on Lewis or Cathlapootle River, a short distance north of the Columbia, where he died Feb. 15, 1875.


Henry Clay Welch was a native of Randolph County, Virginia, born Sep- tember 2, 1839. He died in Oregon April 11, 1863.


Thomas G. Robinson resided for many years at Portland, where he died July 27, 1867.


James Barlow, who came hither at the age of 19, and resided in Clackamas County, died at his home July 20, 1866, aged 40 years.


J. J. Burton settled on a farm in Marion County; died September 8, 1878.


Hiram Smith came to Oregon from Danville, Ohio, in 1845, but returned to the States the following year, and came out again in 1851. He brought with him several hundred head of choice cattle, and 100 horses, for improving the stock of the country. He afterward made a similar expedition for this purpose. Mr Smith was a charitable, intelligent, and successful business man. He died in San Francisco January 17, 1870. Portland Oregonian, April 2, 1879.


James B. Riggs settled in Polk County, where he resided till his death, which occurred at his home in Dallas August 15, 1870, at the age of 69 years. Salem Statesman, Aug. 26, 1870.


George Moore, who was about twenty years of age when he arrived in company with John D. Boon, died at Salem in April 1871. Salem Statesman, April 5, 1871.


John Lemon was born in 1800, in Kentucky. He died at French Prairie, September 13, 1869.


Charles Craft settled at Salem, where he assisted in erecting some of the first residences. He died July 23, 1869. Salem Unionist, July 31, 1869.


J. R. Bean, with his father and family, settled in Yamhill County, where


528


THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.


The recent large immigration could not but affect legislature to some extent. Governor Abernethy, in


they resided many years. Bean removed with his family from McMinnville, in that county, to Seattle, Washington, in 1874. He was born in 1824.


Mrs Mary A. Noble who with her husband crossed the plains in 1845, and settled in Washington County, died February 20, 1870. Portland Advocate, March 12, 1870.


Lawrence Hall was one of the lost immigrants. He settled in Tualatin County-now Washington-and was elected to the legislature in 1846, and served with a strong American bias. After the territorial government was organized, he was elected a member of the council. He died in Portland, February 11, 1867. Portland Oregonian, Feb. 16, 1867.


William Engle was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, removed with his parents to Jefferson County, Virginia, and in 1820 to St Clair County, Illinois, and thence removed to Oregon. He settled in Marion County, where he died May 18, 1868, aged 79 years. Portland Oregonian, May 30, 1868.


Francis G. Dewitt engaged in mercantile pursuits in Portland, where he resided for a number of years. He removed to California, and was accident- ally killed at Point Arenas in the spring of 1872. Id., April 20, 1872.


Benjamin Cornelius was a native of Kentucky, born February 9, 1802. He went to Missouri, and thence to Oregon, settling with his family in the Tualatin plains, Washington County, where he lived in the midst of his sons until his death, December 13, 1864. Id., Dec. 24, 1864.


Job McNamee settled on the town site of Portland, and at one time claimed the land but failed to secure it through the decision of the United States land-office. In 1868 he removed with his family to Pacific County, Washing- ton. He died at Portland, October 1, 1872, aged 59 years. Mrs Hannah McNamee, his wife, born in 1815, in Ross County, Indiana, died in Pacific County, Washington, one month before her husband. Portland Herald, Sept. 19 and Oct. 2, 1872.


Orrin Kellogg was one of the fathers of masonry on the Pacific Coast. He brought the charter from Missouri in 1845 for the organization of Multnomah Lodge No. 1, at Oregon City. By the masons made at that time, the first lodge in California was instituted about 1848. He was esteemed a useful and public-spirited citizen. His death occurred at Portland in February 1873. Portland Bulletin, Feb. 17, 1873.


Gideon R. Nightingale was a printer, who came to Oregon in the same year with Fleming. It is stated, although the Oregon Spectator does not show it, that he set the type for the first number of that paper, issued four months after his arrival. He removed to Marysville, California. Id., Aug. 12, 1871.


Rowland Chambers settled in King's Valley, Benton County, where he resided continuously until 1869, when he made a visit to the scenes of his early life. A few days after returning to Oregon, in January 1870, he sud- denly died. Portland Advocate, Jan. 29, 1870.


Jonathan Laggett was born in Wythe County, Va., March 7, 1790. In 1814 he was married to Elizabeth Fanning of Tenn., and the following year removed to Missouri, whence he came to Oregon in 1845, settling in Polk Co., where he resided until his death, November 26, 1868. Id., Feb. 20, 1869.


E. L. Walter was born in Ohio in 1813. After coming to Oregon in 1846 he married Naomi Williams, and settled in Linn County, where the town of Brownsville now stands. He was for several years justice of the peace, and for one term a member of the legislature, and afterward treasurer of the county; a man esteemed for his intellectual and moral traits. He died April 11, 1867. Id., April 27, 1867.


Ross Sherry was born in Indiana, February 11, 1824. He married Rebecca Deardorff in November 1851, and resided in Portland until his death in Jan- uary 1867. Id., Jan. 19, 1867.


Morgan Keyes was born May 14, 1814, in Washington County, Penn.,


529


EFFECT ON LEGISLATION.


his message to the house of representatives in De- cember, recommended the consideration of military


being the second son of a family of 12 children. In 1832 he removed to Illi- nois, and thence to Iowa in 1837, where in March 1841 he married Mary Ban- ning, and four years later reached Oregon. He settled in the spring of 1846 on the Santiam River, in Linn County, where he continued to reside for the 20 years preceding his demise on the 7th of March, 1866. Id., March 31, 1866.


Elisha Griffith, the son of William N. and Sabra Conner Griffith, was born in Fayette Co., Penn., March 13, 1803. He married Elizabeth Findley, in Clark Co., Indiana, in 1824. They lived some years in Indiana and Illinois before removing to Oregon; and after arriving in the Willamette Valley, lived in Linn Co. Mr Griffith died at Brownsville, October 12, 1871. Id., Nov. 16, 1871, and Aug. 13, 1874. Mrs Elizabeth Griffith, his wife, born in Westmore- land Co., Penn., March 11, 1805, died at her home, June 6, 1874.


Isaac Hinshaw was born in Highland Co., Ohio, December 15, 1813. He, like others, moved from Ohio to Indiana, and from Indiana to Mo., ever drifting westward until he arrived on the shores of the Pacific. His first wife was Mary Cox, whom he married in 1838, and who died in 1843. He married Miss Melissa Buell, Jan. 1, 1851. Becoming insane from con- tinued ill health, he committed suicide by drowning, June 27, 1873. Id., July 17, 1873.


John Lloyd came from Clay County, Missouri, and settled in Benton County, near the present town of Monroe. His son W. W. Lloyd, who was but four years old when he started for Oregon, and who grew up to be an es- teemed citizen, died at the age of 33, in Benton County. Id., March 19, 1872.


John Wesley Baker was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, November 12, 1831. He came with his father's fa ily to Oregon; and in 1848 settled on French Prairie, where he married Mary Jane Brown in March 1866. He removed to Pacific County, Washington, in 1872, and died on the 26th of March 1874. Id., April 16, 1874.


Harris Speel, a native of Philadelphia, went from Oregon to California in 1846, and served in Frémont's battalion. He was killed by a fall at Santa Cruz in June 1858, aged 52 years. S. F. Bulletin, June 10, 1858.


Mrs Tabitha Ridgeway, a native of Kentucky, accompanied her husband to Oregon in 1845. She died at Sheridan, in Yamhill County, Nov. 4, 1877-6 years after the death of Mr Ridgeway-aged 55 years. Portland Advocate, Dec. 13, 1877.


George Hannon was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1820. At the age of 23 he removed to New York, and thence to Missouri, in which state he married Liza Jane Eavens, Feb. 2, 1844, and the following year joined the caravan to Oregon. He went first to Oregon City, where he remained some years, finally settling in the Umpqua Valley, where he died Feb. 23, 1877, leaving his wife and 7 children at Garden Bottom in Douglas County. Roseburg Plain- dealer, March 17, 1877.


David C. Ingalls, a native of Maine, was born Oct. 31, 1808. In 1836 he removed to Columbus, Ohio, in which state he was married in 1839, moving to Iowa in 1840, and to Oregon five years later. In the spring of 1849 he settled at Astoria. His daughter, Mary Columbia, was the first child of white parentage born at that place. Ingalls was much esteemed and beloved by the people of Astoria, among whom he lived until the 31st of Aug., 1880, when he quietly passed away, according to an impression entertained by him for five years that he should die at that time. Daily A "forian, Sept. 12, 1880.


John T. Jeffries, born in Missouri, in 1830, emig, uced to Oregon in 1845, and settled in Yamhill County. When eastern Oregon began to attract attention he removed to the Dalles, where he practised law, but finding cattle buying and selling more profitable, he engaged successfully in that business. He died Feb. 24, 1867, at the Dalles, leaving two children, a son and a daughter. Dalles Mountaineer, March 2, 1867.


HIST. OR., VOL. I. 34


530


THE IMMIGRATION OF 1845.


affairs, currency, the sale of spirituous liquors, weights and measures, the seat of government, and a new road


Thomas Simpson Kendall, born in Ohio, was educated at Jefferson College and Cannonsburg Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania. His first congrega- tion was in Tennessee, from which state he was driven on account of his denunciation of slavery. He was an influential minister of the Presbyterian denomination in Oregon from 1845 to the time of his death, which occurred Dec. 5, 1871, at the age of 62. His wife was the daughter of James Williams of Linn County. Albany Register, Dec. 10, 1870.


Francis S. Holland was born in Liberty, Indiana, Dec. 21, 1823. He set- tled in Clackamas County in 1845, of which he was clerk for many years. In 1862 he removed to the Dalles, where he held the office of recorder for the remainder of his life, his death occurring in San Francisco, Feb. 10, 1867. He left two children. Dalles Mountaineer, March 2, 1867.


William Berry emigrated from Farmington, Illinois. He was one of the mien left at Fort Deposit in the Cascade Mountains in the winter of 1845. He went to the Willamette Va.ley in the spring of 1846, but eventually settled on the Lewis and Clarke River of Clatsop plains. In March 1875 he died alone in his boat, in which he was returning from Astoria, at the age of 55 years, leaving a family. Astorian, March 27, 1875.


Mrs Rebecca Fanning, mother of Levy Fanning, died at her residence near Albany, in Feb. 1881. She was believed to have been 100 years of age on the Ist of January previous. She was the mother of 18 children, 15 of whom lived to be men and women, and 13 of whom were living at the time of her death. Portland Standard, Feb. 18, 1881.


Samuel Simmons settled on Howell Prairie. His wife died November 6, 1879, aged 79 years. Their children were 5 sons, and one daughter who is the wife of Wesley Shannon of Salem. Salem Statesman, Nov. 14, 1879.


Thomas Hart settled in Polk County soon after arriving in Oregon. For 30 years he resided on his farm, amassing a considerable fortune. He was 95 years old at the time of his death, in February 1874, and until 5 years before had continued to labor upon his farm, doing the work of a man in his prime. He served in the war of 1812, being then 33 years of age. Portland Oregonian, Feb. 14, 1874.


Elisha Packwood, brother of William and Samuel who arrived the pre- vious year, was born in Patrick County, Virginia, in July 1810, and removed with his father's family to Indiana and Missouri, whence he migrated to Ore- gon. He remained two years in the Willamette Valley, after which he went to Puget Sound with his brother William, who determined to settle there, but not liking the country, returned to the Willamette, and in March 1848, went to California by sea with his family, arriving just before the gold discovery. His first expedition from Yerba Buena was to the Santa Clara Valley, where a cousin, Parrington Packwood, was living. He then went to the New Alma- den quicksilver mine, but soon hearing of the gold found above Sutter's Fort, fitted up a wagon, and with it moved his family to the gold-field. He spent the summer of 1848 working with his 16-year-old son Samuel Tait, at Mormon Island, after which he went to Coloma and established a trading post, where he remained until November 1849, when he returned to the States by way of the Isthmus of Panama, by the steamer Unicorn, Captain Paster-a British vessel with an American crew-arriving by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi River at their former home. In the spring of 1850 Mr Packwood returned across the plains to California, with a large train, arriving in the San José Valley in October. He brought out several hundred cattle, chiefly cows, and went into the business of supplying fresh milch cows to milkmen, taking from them their old stock. In 1852 he brought out, by an agent, another herd of cattle, and continued in this business of dealing in neat stock until the great flood of 1861-2, having acquired property to the amount of about $40,000; but the disasters of that memorable year deprived him of


531


ROAD-MAKING.


into the Willamette settlements.31 With regard to the latter, no less than three petitions were presented to the legislature for authority to construct roads across the Cascade Mountains, and a committee was appointed to take testimony in relation to the prac- ticability of the routes suggested ; and also to prepare a memorial to congress praying for an appropriation to construct a road over the Blue and Cascade moun- tains. The memorial when read in committee of the whole was rejected. Among the applicants for road charters was Thomas Mckay, who received authority to open and construct a toll-road from the settlement on Santiam River, now the town of Albany, across the Cascade and Blue mountains to Fort Boisé,32 to be completed before the 1st of Au- gust, 1846, or in time for the next immigration. The road was not built, nor the pass discovered,33


all his profits. His land was ruined by being covered with sand, and his stock was drowned, while he narrowly escaped with his life. After this he returned to Oregon, and went to the mines then recently discovered in Baker County. After several efforts to repair his fortunes, he finally settled, with his son, S. Tait Packwood, on the Snohomish flats, in the year 1868, at a place now known as Packwood Landing. Elisha Packwood died May 27, 1876, aged 66 years, having furnished a striking example of the industry, courage, and patience of the early pioneers of the Northwest Coast, as well as of their small rewards. His son while living in California married Matilda Wardle. His eldest daughter, Chilitha, married Bennett, living at Ellens- burg, in the Kittetas Valley, Washington. He had also a son Joseplı. His brothers who came to Oregon in 1845 were Larkin, John, Charles, and Robert Tait. A cousin, James Packwood, also belonged to this immigration. Morse's Notes on Hist. Wash. Ter., i. 55-85.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.