USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. I, 1834-1848 > Part 78
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James Steele, of Scotch lineage, his grandfather having come to the U. S. from Scotland, while his grandmother on the paternal side was a Gladstone, a cousin of the English premier, was born and educated in Moore co., Ohio, in 1834, moving to Iowa in 1856, just as the first railroad was being con- structed in that state from Davenport to Iowa City. Several years were spent in Iowa and Kansas, when he came to Oregon in 1862. His first employment here was in R. Pittock's grocery store, where he remained for one year. After that he was book-keeper for Harker Bros two years. When the Ist National Bank was organized in 1866-the first on the Pacific coast-he was made cashier, remaining there 16 years, resigning in 1882 to engage in banking on his own account, he being one of the organizers of the Willamette Savings Bank, and its first president; also sec. and treas. of the Northwest Timber Co., or- ganized in 1883, the lands of the company being near Astoria. The Oregon Construction Co. was another enterprise in which Steele became interested, its purpose being to construct railroads. This co. built the Palouse branch of the N. P. R. from Colfax to Moscow. Then there was the Oregon Con- tract and Pavement Co., with the object of making all kinds of street im- provement, another important industry in which Steele was early interested; also the Oregon Pottery Co., which is a consolidation of the Buena Vista Pottery Co. with the Portland Pottery Co., incorporated by Steele in 1884; besides having mining interests in Idaho, and being a promoter of an enter- prise which contemplated reduction-works at Portland. This is Scotch thrift and American enterprise united.
J. C. Carson, born in Pa in 1825, removed with his parents to Ohio in 1834, where he studied medicine until 1850, when he came to Cal. by sea as asst to a surgeon, Kinnaman, who designed erecting a hospital at Sacramento. Not finding things as they expected, the hospital was given up, and Carson went to the mines; but after drifting about for two years, he came to Port- land, at that time a rude hamlet in a forest. Finding nothing to do here, he taught a country school for a year. In 1852 Portland began to grow rapidly, and taking advantage of the movement, J. C. with D. R. Carson established a sash and door factory, in time employing 50 men. Carson has been several times member of the city council, and was its president in 1854 and 1855. In 1866 he was one of the three commissioners selected to report on the value of the H. B. Co. property in Oregon and Washington. In 1870 he was a member of the lower house of the legislature from Multnomah co., and re- elected in 1880. In 1884 he was elected to the senate.
Jonathan Bourne, Jr, born in New Bedford, Mass., Feb. 23, 1855, was educated at Harvard university, graduating in 1877. He travelled abroad for a year, and came to Portland in 1878, where he read law with W. H. Effinger, being admitted to the bar in 1880, and entering into a partnership with him. Bourne became president of the Oregon Milling Co., owning mills at Turner and Silverton, in Marion co .; president of the Divided Car Axle Co .; president of E. G. Pierce Transfer and Forwarding Co., with a branch in San Francisco; and sole owner of the town of Grant's Pass, recently made
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the county seat of Josephine co., besides having interests in various other manufacturing and railroad enterprises. He was elected to the legislature from Mulnomah co. in 1884. In politics he is an ardent republican, as was his father Jonathan Bourne, Sr, who was four times member of the executive council of Mass., and was the first delegate to vote for the nomination of Lincoln in the convention of 1860, since which time he has been a mem- ber of every republican national convention to the present time. The son inherited also the father's business talents, who was for many years the largest whale-ship owner in the world, and later interested in railroads and various manufactures.
John Somerville, a native of Ill., was born in 1846, and migrated to Ore- gon in 1873 in company with his father, Alexander Somerville, born in Ky in 1816. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Stephenson. They had two other children, Edgar J. and Mary J. The family settled on a farm in Linn co., where the father died in 1880. John engaged in merchandising, and sub- sequently in stock-raising in eastern Oregon, in company with A. H. Brey- man. In 1883 Somerville, Breyman Bros of Salem, and B. J. Bowman established the National Bank of East Portland. Somerville married, in 1867, Ellen E. Shelley, a native of Lane co.
James Lotan, born in Paterson, N. J., served a term of enlistment in a N. Y. regiment in the civil war, and came to Oregon in 1864, having first been employed in the navy-yard at Washington for a year. He was foreman and manager of the Oregon Iron-works for several years, and in 1873 became a large stockholder and supt of the Willamette Iron-works. The company was incorporated in 1865 with a capital of $50,000, the money used in the business afterward increased to about $200,000; M. W. Henderson pres., B. Z. Holmes vice-pres., W. S. Stevens sec., and John Mair supt. The com- pany in 1883 had a business worth $400,000, which fell off subsequently as the railroads were completed.
B. F. Kendall, born in Springfield, Ill., Feb. 6, 1827, came to Oregon in 1851, and engaged in farming and stock-raising, having 80 acres of improved land in Baker co., and several hundred head of cattle and horses. He was elected county commissioner in 1883 on the republican ticket.
S. A. Caldwell was one of a joint-stock company of 150 persons from Boston who in 1849 came to Cal. by sea in a vessel of their own. After ar- rival, and finding that as a company they could do nothing, they sold their vessel and disbanded, Caldwell coming to Oregon in 1850. In 1852 he formed one of a company which purchased stock of the immigrants. The winter of 1862 being a severe one, they lost 5-6 of their herd, having neither shelter nor food, and the cattle being worn down with their journey across the plains. In 1854 Caldwell settled in Eugene, where he resided for 8 years, when he removed to Auburn, and in 1876 settled near Malheur City on 160 acres, 120 of which was arable land.
W. McClanahan, born in Ind., came to Oregon overland in 1852 in the company of William Huntington. In the spring of 1853 he went to Shasta, Cal., and engaged in mining, remaining there 5 years, when the Fraser River excitement carried him to B. C., from which place he returned in the autumn of the same year. In 1859 he married Annie Butt of Forest Grove and moved to Clarksville, where he mined and kept hotel until 1872, when he settled on a farm near Bridgeport. He secured 480 acres, 260 of which was rich bottom- land, and the remainder upland, all good for farming purposes. McClanahan gives the name of James Fleetwood and William Mitchell as early settlers in his section, and mentions Frank Koontz as having erected the pionecr saw- mill here. The mill was subsequently sold to Clements. A school was es- tablished in the district, and religious services hell once a month.
H. W. Sloan, supt of the Humboldt Mining Association of Canon City, furnishes the following: The stock of the co. is divided into 8 shares, held by 6 working members; namely, H. W. Sloan, two shares, value, $3,000; J. Sprowl, two shares, $3,000; W. C. Sprowl, HI. Heppner, F. Yergenson, and H. Hunter, one share each, $6,000. They have a patent to 140 acres of min-
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ing ground, and work the mine by hydraulic apparatus; have a 7-mile ditch, including one mile of flume, which carries 1,000 inches of water. The qual- ity of the gold is $18.40 to the ounce, or .909 fine. A clean-up of $2,500 to $3,000 is made every 5 or 6 weeks. The 6 stockholders and 6 Chinese are employed in working. Sloan also secured a hay rancho of 100 acres, which he stocked with fine brood mares.
John Laurence, born in N. C., came to the Pacific coast in 1857, and located himself at Yreka, Cal., engaging in mining and farming. In 1865 he removed to Grant co., Oregon, settling in John Day Valley. In 1877 he began merchandising at Prairie City, and also purchased the Strawberry flouring mill, built in 1872 by Morehead & Cleaver, which made from 25 to 30 barrels of flour per day of 12 hours, and a chop mill, both run by water-power from Waldon Warm Springs. He became owner with his brother, Isham Laurence, of 320 acres of grain land, and raised wheat, oats, and barley. He also owned an interest in the Keystone gold mine with Starr, Carpenter, and Shearer. It was situated 7 miles from Prairie City, and had a 5-stamp mill upon it. Considerable tunnelling was done on two levels. The ore ran 3} ounces of gold and 52 ounces of silver to the ton. The mine cost $25,000, and yielded up to 1886 $31,000.
M. V. Thompson, of the firm of Groth & Thompson of Canon City, se- cured with his partner the Eureka Hot Springs, a fine place of resort; also a large stock rancho for raising horses.
George D. McHaley, a farmer and stock-raiser near Prairie City, came to Oregon in 1843 with his parents, who settled at Oregon City. In 1850 he went to the Cal. gold mines near Redding, where he remained over two years. He subsequently located himself in the John Day country as a farmer, remov- ing from the North Fork to Prairie City in 1881, where he secured 160 acres of hay land, his cattle feeding on the public lands in summer. He was elected in 1884 a member of the lower house of the legislature.
Quincy A. Brooks was born in Pa in 1828, and educated at Duquesne college, Pittsburg, graduating in 1846. He studied law, and came to Oregon in 1851, locating himself soon after at Olympia on Puget Sound, then a por- tion of Oregon. He was appointed inspector of customs, and afterward deputy collector of that port. Gov. Gaines appointed him prosecuting attor- ney in 1852 for the northern district of Oregon, which office he held until the organization of Washington territory. He took part in its early politics, and was appointed by Gov. Stevens clerk of the supt of Indian affairs, holding that position under Stevens, Nesmith, and Geary. In 1857 he removed to Salem, where he married Lizzie Cranston in 1858; and thence went to Port- land, where he remained until 1861, when he went into mercantile business in Walla Walla, and afterwards at Auburn. In 1865 he received the appoint- ment of postal agent for the Pacific coast, holding that office through John- son's administration. On the breaking-out of the Modoc war in 1872, he was commissioned quartermaster-general of the state troops, with the rank of major, and served during the war. After the removal of the Indians he located himself near Linkville, where he secured 1,000 acres of land, and some valuable solfatara hot springs. His son, Edward C. Brooks, was appointed to the military academy at West Point, graduating in 1886.
David Feree, a native of Ind., born in 1836, of Ky parentage, enlisted as a private on the breaking-out of the civil war, remaining in the service to the close, and fighting in 37 battles, under Sherman, Sheridan, Rosecrans, and Grant. He rose to be captain during his service. In 1869 he migrated to eastern Oregon, settling in 1870 in what is now Klamath co., at the south end of upper Klamath Lake, where he made a farm, and engaged in raising stock cattle and horses. For 2} years he was supt of farming on the Klamath Indian reservation. He married May E. Johnson of Brightborough, Iowa, in 1858.
John S. Shook, born in Ind. in 1843, came to Oregon about 1862. He was the son of Amon Shook, who also was born in Ind., but removed to Iowa in 1847. The family being large with little wealth, John migrated to Oregon
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and located himself in Jackson co. In 1864 the remainder of the family, con- sisting of the parents, 3 sons, and 5 daughters, followed, and in 1870 John again became the pioneer, taking some land in the Klamath country, where Alkali is now situated, and being followed by the others and their joint prop- erty, 15 cows, with which they went into stock-raising, working for wages and investing all their earnings in cattle. John took a leading part in build- ing up the town of Bonanza, where he was postmaster for several years, and taught the first school. The Shooks in a few years were independent, and became the largest land and stock owners in the country.
Richard Hutchinson, born in Pa in 1826, came to Cal. in 1867, residing in Sierra and Mono cos until 1864, when he removed to Jackson co., Oregon, and subsequently to Tule Lake, Klamath co. He married Annie Armstrong, of Tyrone co., Ireland, in 1848.
Newton Franklin Hildebrand, born in Moniteau co., Mo., in 1843, came to Cal. in 1874, settling in Yolo co. In 1879 he made a tour through Idaho and eastern Oregon, and in 1884 settled in Klamath co. He married Rhoda E. George in 1872.
Joseph Henry Sherar, born in Vt, came to Cal. by sea in 1855, being then 23 years old. He proceeded to the Salmon River mines, where he remained 3 years mining. In 1859 he removed to Hoopa Valley, purchased a farm of 450 acres of good farming land, and a train of 40 mules, with which he carried on freighting to Arcata on the coast, to the mines on Salmon River, and 150 miles up the Klamath River. While in this business he had for a partner Jonathan Lyon, a nephew of Gen. Lyon of the army of the civil war. In the spring of 1862 Sherar, with a passenger and freight train, started for the Powder River mines. The route was along Trinity River to Trinity Centre, across the mountains to Scott Valley, from there to Jacksonville, and thence to Oregon City, crossing the Cascade Mountains by the old Barlow road, the snow in places being 20 feet deep in June, to Tyghe Valley, Des Chutes Bridge, John Day River, Umatilla, Walla Walla, Grand Rond, and over the Blue Mountains to Powder River. Returning to the Dalles he loaded his train for the John Day mines. A German in his party built an oven of clay to bake bread in, en route, giving the name to a settlement which was afterward formed there. This company also named Antelope Valley from the great num- ber of those animals found there, and Cold Camp from the cold experienced there. Near this camp, while they lay there, Berryway killed Gallagher for his money and pack-train; he was arrested, tried, and hanged at Cañon City. Proceeding, Sherar's company named Muddy Creek, Cherry Creek, and Burnt Rancho, where Clark and his partner were burned out by the Indians. Bridge Creek was so called on account of a small bridge of juniper logs, built over it by Shoeman and Wadley, who came from Cal. and went to the John Day mines with a train. Beyond here was Alkali Flat, where the first hotel on the road was erected in 1863. Crossing the Blue Mountains to the head of Rock Creek, the trail led to the John Day Valley, and thence to Canon City. This was the road afterward so much molested by Indians, 180 miles in length, and guarded by the 1st Oregon cavalry. Sherar continued to carry freight over it for two years. In 1863 he married Jane A. Herbert, and settled in Wasco co., raising horses until 1871. Sherar's bridge over the Des Chutes has the fol- lowing history: In earliest immigration times, as my readers will remember, it was frequently forded, at some peril to the traveller; sometimes the Indians carried passengers over in canoes. In 1860 a bridge was built at the crossing by Todd and Jackson, carried away by high water in 1861, and rebuilt in 1862. Jackson sold to Todd in the autumn, who took in Hemingway and Mays as partners. Hemingway soon purchased the interest of the other partners, after which he sold to O'Brien, who sold to Sherar in 1871, for $7,040, who expended $75,000 in improving the roads on every side of it, 66 miles of which he kept in repair. In 1876 he purchased the White River flouring mills, which manufactured 40 barrels of flour per day. He had also a saw-mill cutting 2,800 feet daily. He purchased the Fenegan rancho 14 miles east of his bridge, containing 1,580 acres, worth $25,000; had 6,500
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sheep and horses and mules for farm work. He kept the stage-station and post-office at the bridge, where a little settlement grew up, and was considered worth $60,000. Here was a pioneer; a man who by hard work became owner of $100,000 worth of property, with a good yearly income. Many such there are in this favored land.
Rodney Glisan was born at Linganore, Md., in 1827, of Maryland's earliest English ancestry, and educated at the university of that state as a physician. In 1849 he passed a competitive examination by a board of army surgeons, was accepted, and commissioned asst surgeon U. S. A. in 1850. After being on temporary duty at several posts in the west and south-west, he was ordered to the Pacific coast, arriving in S. F. in 1855 on the steamer John L. Stephens, from Panamá. Soon after he was ordered to southern Oregon with the troops sent to suppress the Rogue River Indians, at that time in a hostile attitude to the white settlers, and in this service endured hardships from which one might well shrink. In 1861 he settled in Portland, where he married, in 1863, Elizabeth R. Couch, daughter of the pioneer John H. Couch. He has been president of the Multnomah County Medical Society, and the Medical Society of the State of Oregon; member of the American Medical Association, and an emeritus professor of obstetrics in the medical dept of the Willamette uni- versity. He published a book entitled A Journal of Army Life, and is the author of several brochures upon different branches of medicine and surgery. In 1881 he was appointed by the medical societies of Oregon delegate to the International Medical Congress held in London, and spent two years subse- quently in the hospitals and medical colleges of Europe, whence he returned to Portland in 1883.
William Ried was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1842, of Scotch parentage. He was brought up in an atmosphere of railroads, his father being manager of the Glasgow and South-western Railway, and a railroad builder for 20 years. William was sent to St Andrew's parish school, and educated in the Presbyterian faith, under Samuel Neil, author of Logic and Literature. At an early age he left his father's house to do battle in the world for himself, succeeding in securing an education in Glasgow university, with a knowl- edge of the law which enabled him to practice as a partner of Alex. Douglas of Dundee, soon after which he married Agnes Dunbar. While at Dundee he met Mrs Lincoln, widow of President Lincoln, and performing for her some literary service, was rewarded by the appointment of U. S. vice-consul at Dun- dee, which office he held from 1869 to 1874, when he resigned to come to Oregon. His frequent intercourse with Americans led him to give much attention to the country, and in 1873 he published a pamphlet on Oregon and Washing- ton as Fields for Capital and Labor, which was widely circulated, and re- sulted in the formation by its author of the Oregon and Washington Trust Investment Company, for doing business in Portland. The president of the company was the earl of Airlie, and Mr Reid the secretary. This company invested over $1,000,000 in Oregon and secured mortgages on much valu- able property, being subsequently converted into the Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company, with Reid as manager. Mr Reid has been very active in commercial and financial affairs. Soon after arriving in Portland he organized the Board of Trade, with A. P. Ankeny and 85 other mem- bers, who elected him secretary. In Sept. of the same year he procured the establishment by the legislature of a State Board of Immigration, the gov- ernor appointed him one of the commissioners, and the board making him secretary. He prepared pamphlets, which were printed in several languages, and circulated at the Paris exposition and the Philadelphia exposition, at- tracting much attention to the north-west. He was the organizer of the Ore- gon and Washington Mortgage Savings Bank of Portland, the first deposit savings bank in the state. In 1878 he conceived a system of narrow-gauge railways in the Willamette Valley, to be built by Scotch capital, under the name of the Oregonian Railway Company, Limited; and secured the passage by the legislature of a law entitling foreign corporations to build railroads in the state, with the same powers belonging to domestic corporations. In
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the autumn of 1880 he had in operation in the Willamette Valley 118 miles of road, when he applied to the legislature for a right to enter the city, and locate his road upon the public grounds therein, but was opposed by Vil- lard's railroad companies and the city government. The legislature, how- ever, passed the bill over the governor's veto, and the Scotch company was triumphant, Reid being local president. The construction of the road into Portland was proceeded with, and the grading had reached to a point within 11 miles of the city, when the stockholders in Scotland, despite the protests of the local president, gave a 96 years' lease of their railways to Villard for a guarantee of 7 per cent on the stock. Reid then abandoned the management, and turned to other enterprises. His next undertaking was the introduction into the state of the roller system of manufacturing flour, and the City of Salem Company, with a capital of $200,000, was the result. In 1883 it erected the Capitol A and B mills at Salem and C mill at Turner, at a cost of $230,000, with a combined capacity of 900 barrels per day. The success of these mills led to the erection of others on the same plan, in Portland and elsewhere. The First National Bank of Salem was organized in 1882 by Mr. Reid erect- ing the bank building and becoming the first president. Having relinquished all connection with the Scotch companies above mentioned, in the spring of 1883 he organized the Oregon Mortgage Company of Scotland, with a capital of $1,000,000, which he managed for two years. In 1884 he organized the Portland National Bank, and was made its first president, and also president of the Oregon and Washington Mortgage Savings Bank. In the mean time the successors to Villard in Oregon repudiated the 96 years' lease of the nar- row-gauge system, because the road was uncompleted and unproductive. The courts appointed a receiver; the legislative act under which the Orego- nian Company was chartered became inoperative through the expiration of the time allowed for the completion of the road, the people of the valley de- sired to have a road to tide-water put in operation, and Reid was the man to bring it about. Another bill was introduced in the legislature, contested as the first had been by the city of Portland and the Oregonian Railway Com- pany; but the bill became a law, and the Portland and Willamette Valley Railway Company, organized by Reid, undertook to connect the Willamette Valley system with Portland by the Ist of Nov., 1886. The state gave the new company a contract, to last for 15 years, to carry the freight and pas- sengers of the uncompleted road to Portland. Mr. Reid is eminently a finan- cier. There has been loaned on real-estate mortgages from May 1874 to June 1885, $7,597,741 of Scotch money. As one dollar borrowed represents three of value at minimum estimates, and as much of the property mortgaged is never released, there are many millions' worth of Oregon and Washington lands held in Scotland.
Thomas H. Crawford was born in Indiana, June 24, 1840, and came to Oregon in 1852, with his parents, who settled in Linn co. on a farm. For 6 years his opportunities for study were limited. Then he was sent to the San- tiam academy at Lebanon for about a year, after which he entered the Wil- lamette university, from which he graduated in 1863, after which he began teaching. His first school was in Sublimity, where he remained three years, when he took charge of the public schools in Salem for 1} years. From there he came to Portland in 1868, and taught in the Portland Academy and Female Seminary as assistant for two years. In 1870-2 he was principal of the North Portland school, after which he was elected to the chair of natural sciences cf Willamette university, remaining in that position three years, returning to Portland in 1875, and being elected principal of the Central grammar school. On the resignation of the former superintendent of public schools in Portland, in 1877, he was elected to fill that position. Mr Crawford has la- bored conscientiously to improve the school system and management, in which he has been eminently successful; much attention has been given to plans of building, and all matters connected with the public schools, until those of Portland are not excelled by any city of its population anywhere in the United States. It is noteworthy that the leading teachers in Portland for many years have been educated in Oregon.
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