USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 75
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Another woollen-mill was established at Brownsville in 1875, with four sets of machinery, which could manufacture tweeds, doeskins, cassimeres, satinets, flannels, and blankets. Its sales were about 8130,000 annnally, on a paid-up capital of $36,000. Linn county had a hosiery factory also, At Albany, also, there was a hosiery-mill, called The Pioneer, owned by A. L.
733
IRON-WORKS.
Stinson. It had the only knitting-machines in the state, and did its own carding and spinning. A woollen-mill at Ashland manufactured goods to the value of from forty to fifty thousand dollars annually, and was the property of two or three men. Its goods were in great demand, being of excellent quality.
The woollen manufactures of the Pacific coast excel in general excellence any in the United States, which is due to the superior quality of the wool used. The blankets made at the Oregon mills, for fineness, softness, and beauty of finish, are unequalled except by those made in California from the same kind of wool. The total amount invested in these manufactures in 1885 was about half a million; $400,000 worth of material was used, and $840,000 worth of fabric manufactured annually.
The first iron-founding done in Oregon was about 1858. Davis & Mo- nastes of Portland, and the Willamette Iron-Works of Oregon City, were the pioncers in this industry. At the latter were built, in 1859, the engines and machinery for the first two steam saw-mills in the eastern portion of Washing- ton and Oregon. These two mills were for Ruble & Co. at Walla Walla and Noble & Co. at The Dalles. According to Hittell, boiler-making was begun in Portland as early as 1852. Resources, 658. A. Rossi, F. Bartels, R. Hur- ley, and D. Smith were the owners of the Willamette Iron Foundry. Or. Argus, July 3, 1868. The Salem iron-works were erected in 1860, and turned out a variety of machinery, engines, and castings. They were owned by B. F. Drake, who came to California in 1851, and after mining for a short time settled at Oregon City, where he remained until he built his foundery at Salem. His foreman, John Holman, had charge of the works for fifteen years, and employed 12 men. Hittell's Resources, 663-1. John Nation, a well-known iron-worker, was at first associated with Drake. In 1862 this foundery built a portable engine of eight horse-power, to be used on farms as the motive power of thrashing-machines, the first of its kind in Ore- gon. Since that period founderies have been planted in different parts of the state as required by local business, Portland and The Dalles being the chief centres for the trade on account of the demands of steamboat and railroad traffic.
The presence of iron ore in many parts of Oregon has been frequently re- marked upon. It is known to exist in the counties of Columbia, 'Tillamook, Marion, Clackamas, and in the southern counties of Jackson and Coos. Its presence in connection with fire-clay is considered one of the best proofs of the value of the coal-fields of Oregon, the juxtaposition of coal, iron, and fire- clay being the same here as in the coal-bearing regions of other parts of the world. The most important or best known of the iron heds of the state are in the vicinity of Oswego, a small town on the Willamette, six miles south of Portland, and extending to the Chehalem valley, fifteen miles from that city.
Equally rich beds of the ore are found near St Helen, and from the out- croppings between these two points the deposit seems to curve around to the west of Portland, and to extend for twenty-five miles, with the richest beds at either end. At St Helen the ore has never been worked, except in a black- smith-shop, where it has been converted into horse-shoes. Several varicties of iron ore exist in the state, including the chromites of Josephine county.
The Oswego iron was tested in 1862, and found to be excellent. Or. States- man, Jan. 19 and Feb. 9, 1863; Or. Argus, Jan. 24, 1863. It yields about fifty per cent of pure metal; and it is estimated that there are sixty thousand tons in the immediate vicinity of this place, while less than three miles away is another extensive deposit, from twelve to fifteen fect in depth. A company was formed at Portland February 24, 1865, under the name of the Oregon Iron Company, to manufacture iron from the ore at Oswego, which proceeded to erect works at this place, Sucker Creck, the outlet of a small lake, furnish- ing the water-power. President, W. S. Ladd, vice-president, H. C. Leonard; capital stock, $500,000, divided among 20 stockholders, most of whom resided in Oregon, the remainder in S. F. The incorporators were Louis McLane, Charles Dimon, W. S. Ladd, Henry Failing, A. M. Starr, H. D. Green, and
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MANUFACTURES.
H. C. Leonard. The stack was modelled after the Barnum stack at Lime Rock, Connecticut, and was put up by G. D. Wilbur of that state. Its foun- dations were laid on the bed-rock at a depth of 16 feet, and it was constructed of solid, dry stone-work, covering a space of thirty-six square feet. The stack itself was built of hewn stone, obtained on the ground; was thirty-four fuet square at the base, thirty-two feet high, and twenty-six feet square at the top. On top of the stack was a chimney, built of brick, forty feet high, and containing the oven for heating the air for the blast. The diameter of the top of the lower pyramid in which the smelting takes place was ten feet. The blow-house was built on the ground near the stack. The machinery for driving the air was propelled by water. The blast was furnished by two blowing cylinders of wood, five feet in diameter and six feet stroke. Char- coal was used for fuel. The capacity of the works was designed to be ten tons in twenty-four hours. The ore to be tested was the variety known as brown hematite, and it was found to yield from forty-six to seventy per cent of pure iron. The timber for making charcoal was in the immediate vicinity, and every circumstance seemed to promise success. The works reached com- pletion in June 1867, having cost $126,000. The first run was made on the 24th of August, six tons of good metal being produced, which, on being sent to the S. F. founderies, was pronounced a superior article. By the first of October the Oregon Iron Co. had made 225 tons of pig iron, costing to make twenty-nine dollars per ton, exclusive of interest on capital and taxes. The experiment, for experiment it was, proving that iron could be produced more cheaply in Oregon than in other parts of the U. S., though not so cheaply by half as in England, was satisfactory to those who had no capital in the enterprise, if not to those who had. The cost was distributed as follows:
166 bushels of charcoal, costing at the furnace 8 cents. $13 28
SS pounds lime, costing at furnace 4 cents. 3 52
4,970 pounds of ore, costing at the furnace $2.50 a ton. 5 50
Labor reducing ore, per ton.
6 67
$28 97
Browne's Resources, 219-22; Or. City Enterprise, June 8, 1867; Clackamas County Resources, 1. J. Ross Browne, in his very readable work, the Resources of the Pacific States and Territories, 220-1, published at S. F. in 1869, gives the relative cost of producing iron in England and the United States. An establishment, he says, capable of making 10,000 tons annually in this coun- try would cost altogether, with the capital to carry it on, $2,000,000, while iu England the same establishment, with the means to carry it on, would cost $800,000. At the same time the interest on the American capital would exceed that on the English capital by $120,000. Iu the U. S. a fair average cost of producing pig-iron was not less than $35 per ton, while in England and Wales it was $14, to which should be added the difference caused by the greater rate of interest in the U. S. See also Langley's Trade Pac., i. 9-10; Portland Oregonian, July 28, 1866.
Owing to an error in building the stack, which limited the production of metal to eight tons per diem, the works were closed in 1869, after turuing out 2,400 tons. Some of the iron manufactured was made up into stoves in Port- land, and some of it in the construction of Ladd & Tilton's bank. It sold readily in S. F. at the highest market price, where, owing to being rather soft, it was mixed with Scotch pig. In 1874 the works were reopened, and ran for two years, producing 5,000 tons. In 1877 they were sold to the Oswego Iron Company, under whose management it was thought the production could be made to reach 500 tons a month. The sales for ISSI exceeded $150,000.
One serions disadvantage in smelting iron in Oregon was the lack of lime rock in the vicinity of the iron beds, and the cost of lime obtained formerly from San Juan Island or from Santa Cruz in California, and recently from New Tacoma. Limestone has often been reported discovered in various parts of the state, but no lime-quarries of any extent have yet been opened with kilns
735
LIME AND SALT.
for burning lime for market; and the want was greatly felt in house- building, as well as in manufactures. The only mineral of this character which has been worked in Oregon, or rather in Washington (for the works were on the north bank of the Columbia, though the rocks were found on both sides of the river), is a native cement, or gypsum, obtained from the bowlders in the neighborhood of Astoria. It was probably the same rock so often pronounced limestone by the discoverers in different parts of the state. As early as 1850 some military officers at Astoria burned some of the rock, and pronounced it limestone. A year or two later a kiln of it was burned and shipped to Port- land, to be sold for lime. But the barge on which the barrels were loaded was sunk in the river with the cargo, which remained under water until 1864, when the barge being raised, it was found the barrels had gone to pieces, but their contents were solid rock. On these facts coming to the notice of the Ore- gon Steam Navigation Company, the officers contracted with Joseph Jeffers of Portland to furnish 500 barrels in a given time for the foundations of their warehouse in Portland. Mr Jeffers proceeded to build a kiln and burn the rock on the premises of John Adair, at upper Astoria, without consulting the owner. When the first kiln had turned out 100 barrels of cement the work was inter- fered with by Mr Adair and others, who claimed an interest in the profits as owners of the rocks and ground. A company was then formed, which filled the contract with the navigation company, and had 100 barrels more to sell. The masons found on slaking it that it contained lumps which remained hard, and gave them annoyance in the use. The plan was then conceived of grind- ing the cement to make it uniform in consistency, and works were erected for this purpose on the north side of the Columbia, by J. B. Knapp, at a place which received the name of the manufacturer. This article became known in the market as Oregon cement. Of quarrying stone, few varieties have been dis- covered in Oregou. This is greatly due to the overflow of basalt, which has capped and concealed the other formations. On Milton Creek, near St Helen, was found a bed of sandstone, which was quarried for the Portland market; and sandstone is reported at various localities, but before the Milton creek discovery stone was brought from Bellingham Bay in Washington to build the custom-house and post-office at Portland; and the custom-houseat Astoria was built of rock taken out of the surrounding hills.
In Marion county, and in other parts of the state, as well as in Clarke county, Washington, near Lewis River, a yellowish and a bluish gray marl is found, which when first quarried is easily cut into any shape, but on exposure to the air, hardens and forms stone suitable for many purposes, though always rather friable. Mantels, door-sills, ovens, and many other things are cut out of this stone and sold to the farmers in the Willamette Valley, who use it in place of brick in building chimneys. Black marble has been found on the north side of the Columbia, in the Lewis River highlands. A beautiful and very hard white marble has been quarried in Jackson county, where it became an article of commerce, limited to that portion of the state. No other com- mon minerals have been applied to the uses of mankind, with the exception of salt. In 1861 the manufacture of salt fromn brine obtained from wells dug at the foot of a high range of bills six miles south-east of Oakland, in Douglas county, was attempted, and was so far successful that about 1,000 pounds were obtained daily from the evaporation of two furnaces. The pro- jectors of this enterprise were Dillard, Ward, and Moore. The works were run for a period, and then closed.
On the farm of Enoch Meeker, about the north line of Multnomah county, was a salt-spring, similar to those in Donglas county, and situated similarly, at the foot of a range of high, timbered mountains. Meeker deepened the well about twenty-seven feet, and made a little salt by boiling, as an experi- ment. In this well, at the depth mentioned, the workmen came upon the charred wood of a camp-fire, the sticks arranged, without doubt, by the hands of men. The salt appeared good, but had a bitter taste. In 1867 Henry C. Victor leased the salt-spring and land adjoining, with a view to establishing the manufacture of salt. Works were erected, which made about two tons per
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MANUFACTURES.
day for several months, but the returns not being satisfactory, they were closed, and the manufacture was never resumed. The salt made at these works granulated in about the fineness used in salting hutter, for which pur- pose, and for curing meats, it was superior to any in the market, being abso- lutely pure, as was proved by chemical tests. A sample of it was taken to the Paris exposition hy Blake, one of the California commissioners. Henry C. Victor was born Oct. 11, 1828, in Pennsylvania. His parents removed to Sandusky, Ohio, in his boyhood, and he was educated at an acadomy in Norwalk. He studied naval engineering, and entered the service of the U. S. about the time Perry's expedition was fitting for Japan, and sailed in the San Jacinto. He was in Chinese waters at the time of the opium war with the English, and distinguished himself at the taking of the Barriere forts, he- coming a favorite with Sir John Bowering, with whom he afterward corre- sponded. After three years in Asiatic ports, he returned to the U. S. and was soon after sent to the coast of Africa. The locality and the time suggested controversies on the slavery question and slave-trade. Victor was in opposi- tion to some of the officers from the southern states, and in a controversy in which a southerner was very insulting, gave his superior officer a blow. For this offense he was suspended, and sent home. Shortly after being restored to service came the war for the union, and he was assigned to duty in the blockading squadron before Charleston. In February 1863 he brought the splendid prize, Princess Royal, to Philadelphia; shortly after which he was ordered to the Pacific. While cruising along the Mexican coast, fever pros- trated a large portion of the crew, Victor among the rest, who, having had the dangerous African fever, was unfitted by it for duty, and resigned. While at Manzanillo he made a survey of the lake extending from this port toward the city of Colima, which becomes dry at some seasons and breeds pestilence, with a view to cutting a canal to the sea and letting in the salt water. Selim E. Woodworth of S. F. joined with him and several others in forming a company for this work. An agent was employed to visit the city of Mexico, and get the consent of the government to the scheme. Permission was obtained, but the vessel being soon after brought to S. F. with a disabled crew, and Victor's resignation following, put an end to the canal scheme, so far as its projectors were concerned. The year following, 1864, Victor went to Oregon and engaged in several enterprises, chiefly concerning coal and salt. Like many others, they were premature. Mr Victor perished with the foundering of the steamer Pacific, in November 1875, in company with about 300 others. His wife was Frances Fuller, whose writings are quoted in my work.
Paper, of a coarse quality, was first made at Oregon City in 1867, but the building erected proved to be not adapted to the business, and was sold for a flouring mill after running one year. Buck's Enterprises, MS., 4-5. The originator of the enterprise, W. W. Buck, then built another mill, with capital furnished by the publisher of the Oregonian, and was successful, manufacturing printing and wrapping paper, which was all consumed in and about Portland. Nash's Or., 225; Adams' Or., 31; Hittell's Resources, 636.
The production of turpentine was commenced at Portland in 1863, by T. A. Wood. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1864, after which this article was wholly imported, although the fir timber of Oregon afforded immense quantities of the raw material, many old trees having deposits an inch or more in thickness extending for twenty feet between layers of growth. But the high price of labor on the Pacific coast at the period mentioned was adverse to its manufacture, and the close of the civil war, allowing North Carolina to resume trade with the other states, brought down the price below the cost of production in Oregon.
Pottery began to be manufactured at Buena Vista about 1865, from clay found at that place. For several years the business languished, the proprietor, A. N. Smith, being unable to introduce his goods into general use. Subse- quently, however, the Buena Vista works employed over fifty men, and fur- nished all descriptions of stoneware, fire-brick, sewer-pipes, and garden-pots
737
FLAX AND LEATHER.
equal to the best. Resources Or. and Wash., 1881, 70-1. Soap, for all pur- poses, was long imported into Oregon, the first factory being established in Portland in 1862, by W. B. Mead. Or. Argus, June 7, 1862. In 18.5 R. Irving commenced the manufacture of this article, and being joined by G. A. Webb, the Oregon Standard Soap Company was formed, which turned out fifteen varieties of soap, and was the second mannfactory of this kind on the Pacific coast. Review Board of Trade, 1877, 12; Hittell's Resources, 719. Vinegar was made for market at Portland and Butteville, to the amount of four hundred thousand gallons annually.
Fruit-drying was carried on at Oregon City and other points to a consider- able extent, but no reliable figures are to be found concerning tuis industry, which is divided up among individual fruit-raisers. Patented movable dryers were used, which could be set up in any orchard. Plnms, prunes, pears, and apples were the fruits commonly dried, and their excellence was unsur- passed, the fruit being fine, and the method of preserving leaving the flavor unexhausted, and each separate slice clean and whole.
A flax-mill was established at Albany in 1877, which manufactured 5,000 pounds of linen twines and threads per month. The flax was grown in Linn county, by tenant farmers, who worked on shares for one third of the crop at twelve cents a pound for the fibre, and the market price for the seed. The mill company, having two thirds of the crop for rental, only paid for one third of the flax nsed, which left them a profit of about $9,000 a year in the fac- tory. The seed produced was worth $45 an acre. It had long been known that flax was a native product of Oregon. It was discovered by experiment that the cultivation of it was favored by the soil and climate. Linsced oil was first manufactured at Salem. The company was incorporated in November 1866. Their machinery, having a capacity for crushing 30,000 bushels of seed per annum, was shipped around Cape Horn, and since 1867 the Pioncer Oil Mill has been running, its capacity being increased to 60,000 bushels. Brown's Salem Direc., 1871, 1874; Gilfry's Or., MS., 86; U. S. Agric. Rept, 1872, 451. Tow for upholstering was made at this establishment. The hore of Oregon flax is very fine and strong, with a peculiar silkiness which makes it equal to the best used in the manufacture of Irish linens.
The first tannery in Oregon, other than household ones, was that of Dauiel H. Lownsdale, on Tanner's Creek, just back of the original Portland land claim. Here was made the leather, valued at $5,000, which purchased Petty- grove's interest in the town. The manufacture of this article has not been what the natural resources of the country warranted until recently. Small tanneries existed at several places, including Portland, Salem, Engene City, Brownsville, Coquille City, Parkersburg, and Milwaukee. Leinenwcher & Co. of upper Astoria first connected the manufacture of leather with the making of boots and shoes. The Oregon Leather Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1878, A. W. Waters, president. The company employed convict labor, and turned ont 30,000 sides annually, at a good profit. Hitteli's Resources, 495. Boots and shoes were made extensively by several firms. Aikin, who began the manufacture in a small way at Portland, in 1839, was later associated with Selling & Co., and had a profitable trade with Idaho and Montana. The Oregon Boot, Shoe, and Leather Manufacturing Com- pany of Portland is the successor to Hibbard & Brazce who begun mann- facturing in 1873, and projected the new company in 1881, which employed fifty workmen. The factory of B. Leinenweber & Co. at Astoria cost $40,000, employed 35 workmen, and manufactured $78,000 worth of goods annually. Gloves of the coarser sort were made at two places in Portland, and one place in Engene City. Saddle and harness making was carried on in every town of any importance, but only to supply the local demand. Wagons and carriages were also manufactured to a limited extent. Brooms and brushes were made at Portland. Malt liquors were produced at thirty-four different breweries in the state, to the amount of 24,000 barrels per annum. Portland early enjoyed a spice and coffee inill, candy factory, and various other minor industries.
Manufactures which are secondary to trade are slow in development, the HIST. OR., VOL. II. 47
738
MINES AND MINING.
country lacking population and excess of capital. But the requirements for becoming a manufacturing state are present in abundance in water-power, tim- ber, minerals, and the means of rapid transportation, and out of the small beginnings here referred to as proof of what our generation of men have ac- complished in the face of unusual obstacles, another generation of their descendants will be able to evoke grand results.
MINES AND MINING.
I have not yet particularized the mineral resources of Oregon, except as to iron mentioned incidentally along with manufactures. Gold, as a precious metal, has exercised a great influence in the progress of the country. It gave the people a currency which emancipated them from the thraldom of wheat-raising and fur-hunting, by which alone any trade could be car- ried on previously. It improved their farms, built mills and steamboats, chartered ships, and loaded them with goods necessary for their comfort. It enlarged their mental and social horizon, and increased their self-respect. It was California gold which first revolutionized pioneer Oregon. But there was guld in Oregon sufficient for her needs, had it been known. James D. Dana, of Wilkes' exploring expedition, remarked upon the appearance of southern Oregon, and its resemblance to other gold-bearing regions, as early as 1841. Ten years later John Evans was appointed U. S. geologist to insti- tute researches on the main line of the public land surveys about to be com- menced in Oregon, and was, through the petitions of the Oregon legislature, continued in the service for several years. Evans was thoroughly identified with the study of Oregon geology. He was born in Portsmouth, N. H., Feb. 14, 1812; educated at Andover, studied medicine, and married a daugh- ter of Robert Miles of Charleston, S. C. He was appointed assistant to David Dale Owen to prosecute some geological surveys in the west, and soon after completing this work was sent to Oregon. He died of pneumonia at Washington city, April 20, 1861, Silliman's Journal, xxxii. 311-18; Or. Statesman, May 20, 1861. But aside from satisfying the government of the value of its territories in a general way, these scientific surveys had little bearing upon the actual development of mineral resources. Gold deposits were always discovered by accident or the patient search of the practical ininer.
Following the discovery of the placer mines of Rogue River Valley in 1851 was the discovery of the beach mines in 1852, on the southern coast of Oregon. Late in 1853 more than a thousand men were mining south of Coos Bay. Then came other discoveries, and finally the current of gold-seeking was turned into eastern Oregon, not altogether ignoring the western slopes of the Cascades, where mining districts were marked out, prospected, a pocket or two of great richness found and exhausted, and the district abandoned. These things have been spoken of as they occurred in the settlement of the country.
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