USA > Oregon > Multnomah County > Portland > History of Portland, Oregon : with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 10
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by Stephen Coffin to come to Portland and build the first steam saw mill. Upon arriving in our city he successfully accomplished this task, and for many years thereafter was engaged in the manufacture of lumber at Portland or The Dalles. In January of 1850 Mr. Cyrus A. Reed, Oregon's landscape painter, arrived in the city, having made the voyage from San Francisco on the Brig Sequin, under command of Captain Norton. He, also, was a New Englander, a native of Grafton, New Hampshire, and had received there a substantial education. In 1849 he set sail for California, and engaging in his trade, as painter of signs, was very successful · financially. With Mr. Abrams, however, he came to Portland, and has been a devoted lover of Oregon from the day of his arrival.
Much interesting and characteristic incident is related as to the building of the old steam sawmill. It was begun in December, 1849, and finished in the summer of 1850. The main portion being forty by eighty feet, and the timbers solid fir beains sixteen inches square, it was found impossible to obtain inen enough in the city to "raise " it. Coffin set off for Oregon City with a flat boat for help, but even thus could not secure a sufficient force. The very painful and somewhat ridiculous predicament appeared of having a mill too big to be put together by all the available men in Oregon. At this juncture Mr. Reed, who had been employed from the first in all sorts of work about the building, offered to build a derrick, agreeing to forfeit one hundred dollars of his wages if he failed. By means of derrick, blocks and tackle, he enabled the inen present to lift every timber to its place, and the work went on swimmingly. In 1852, after teaching a term of school, he became a partner in the inill, which was operated under the firm name of Abrams, Reed & Co. Among the workmen on this structure was J. W. Trutch, afterwards Surveyor-General of British Columbia. In 1852, John Gates, Portland's great inventor, came up froin San Francisco and joined the company, acting as engineer. General Coffin was still a silent partner, dealing much in lumber, shipping it to San Francisco. On one occasion-to show the uncertainty of business-he is said to have consigned two ship loads to Winter & Latimer, of that city, who reported a low market and advised at length that they were compelled
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to sell at a sacrifice. They, moreover, presented a bill of eleven thousand dollars for wharfage, demanding immediate payment. By Mr. A. B. Bonnell, as agent, it was discovered that there were fifteen thousand dollars due Coffin; a judgment for which was obtained.
The mill was burned in 1853-after Reed had removed to Marion County-entailing a heavy loss upon the owners. It was situated near the foot of Jefferson street, at the mouth of a deep gulch which has long since been filled up.
Mr. J. A. Strowbridge arrived in Portland in 1852. He was then but a youth, and the early days of his life in our city were much distressed by the death of his father, who had contracted mountain fever in crossing the plains. Being, however, of a courageous spirit, the young man soon addressed himself to business, engaging in the purchase and shipping of fruit to San Francisco. He was one of the first, if not the very first, to consign Oregon apples to dealers in California, and was of much service to the State in going among the farmers and encouraging them to plant orchards, under the promise that he would take all their fruit at remunerative figures. He after- wards engaged in the boot and shoe business, and later in the leather trade, with great success, and is now one of our most wealthy and popular citizens. His brothers were also engaged in business with him at an early day.
Mr. George W. Snell, the pioneer druggist of Portland, a native of Augusta, Maine, arrived at Portland early in the spring of 1851, having spent some ten months previously in California. With him was Dr. J. C. Hooper, also of Maine, and the two forined a partnership, bringing to Portland a stock of drugs. Dr. Hooper died in 1851, and Mr. Snell was soon succeeded by Mr. George L. Story, and the latter in turn by Smith & Davis. In the course of time this firm was consolidated with Hodge, Calef & Co., and under that designation did business for many years. Latterly, however, it is operated under the firm name of Snell, Heitshu & Woodard. This house, with which Mr. Snell has been so long connected, and indeed at the head, is known throughout the Northwest as one of the great wholesale establishments of our city.
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Mr. Nelson Northrup, long known as a merchant in old Oregon, was born in Auburn, N. Y., and coming to Oregon engaged in business at the Cascades, but soon brought his stock of goods to Portland, where he went into partnership with Montreville Simonds, from Massachusetts. In 1856 he went to Coos Bay, but subsequently returned to Portland, where he died.
Edward James Northrup, the son of the foregoing, was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1834. He came to Portland in 1852, and for a few years served with his father as clerk, but in 1856 engaged in business on his own account, opening a hardware store under the name of Northrup & Blossom, which was the beginning of the present extensive i establishment of Thompson & DeHart. Mr. Northrup died at Portland in 1883.
Judge P. A. Marquam, whose memory will be perpetuated in the name of the hill at the south of the town, as well as by his public works, arrived in Portland, August 13th, 1851. A man of keen observation and excellent memory it is most delightful to listen to his account of his voyage hither, and of his impressions upon his arrival. Upon crossing the Columbia Bar, he was much attracted by the sight of the verdure of the hills, and of the general appearance of natural exuberance of the soil. Portland, as a city, took the new comer somewhat aback, being yet in the deep woods. The streets were mire holes during the rainy weather, and settlers from below town hauling wood used frequently to be inired on their way through. A striking habit of the place was also the manner in which the country people, having come to town in their wagons and camped over night, used to get up early in the morning to pound on the doors of the stores to wake the still slumbering clerks. The Canton House on the corner of Washington and First streets, built by Stephen Coffin, was the principal hotel. It was a three-story wooden building, and may now be seen in its present position at the foot of Jefferson street. The Columbia Hotel had a famous proprietor in the person of Col. Gordon, properly Gen. Hinton, of Ohio.
J. C. Carson, a man of wealth and influence in Portland for nearly forty years, was born in Center County, Pennsylvania, in 1825. In 1832 he went to Ohio and there spent his early life, gaining an
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education and studying medicine. In 1850 he came to San Fran- cisco with the intention of aiding his former instructor in medicine in the establishment of a hospital in that city. From considerations of health, however, he decided to come to Oregon, and arrived here in the autumn of '51. He operated as contractor and builder until 1857, when he erected at the foot of Jefferson street a sash and door factory, the first in the city. This business, long since removed to a site at the north end of the city near Weidler's saw mill, has now grown to immense proportions. Mr· Carson has been active in our city in educational, religious and political circles. He is one of our most prominent men.
George L. Story, a pioneer in the drug business of our city, and at present an efficient member of the Fire Commission, was born in Manchester, Mass., in 1833, and received his education at a private school in Salem. In 1847 he entered a wholesale drug store, and thoroughly mastered the subject of pharmacy. In 1850 he came out to California, and in '51 came on up the coast to Oregon. With a partner, Devaux Babcock, he bought out the drug store of Hooper, Snell & Co. and carried on the drug business here. He afterwards bought out Babcock and formed a partnership with Story, Redington & Co., of San Francisco. He closed out his interest here, however, to Smith, Davis & Co., and entered into a large wholesale business in San Francisco, but returned to Portland in 1862, and has remained here to the present time. In 1872 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Common Council, and was thereafter elected to the same position and served three years. He has also served in the State Legislature from Multnomah County. At present he conducts a large fire insurance business, and is a man held in high esteem by all our people. From no one better than from him may we gain an understanding of the old times in Portland, when the old pioneers were young men together, ambitious and eager to succeed, but all equals, and never so much engrossed in their own concerns as to allow one overtaken by bad luck to go by the board.
W. S. Odgen came on the bark Madonna in 1849. Col. Backenstos was also a familiar figure.
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At the end of this chapter will be found a list of the names of those living in Portland prior to 1852, which it has been attempted to make complete.
PUBLIC EVENTS AND STRUCTURES OF THE PERIOD.
It is recorded that in 1849 the growing population felt the necessity of some building sufficient for public uses, and that in consequence a movement was set on foot for a schoolhouse, which might also serve for religious and other public meetings-the cooper shop now being too small, or too much cumbered with its own proper belongings, or the owner grown tired of having his tubs and buckets turned upside down for seats. Two thousand two hundred dollars were subscribed and out of this the public building was erected, and served at stated times, in addition to the uses indicated above, as a court room. It was near the Ainsworth Block.
Portland had as yet no newspaper. Its rival, Milwaukie, was setting up the Western Star, and at Oregon City the Spectator was growing alnost venerable with the weight of years. Plainly such a condition could not be endured. Col. Chapman, with more or less definite purpose to relieve the situation, went down to San Francisco, taking along in the bark on which he sailed a stick of fir timber one hundred and thirty feet long, cut from the woods on the ele- vation now occupied by W. S. Ladd's residence. He intended it as a present to the people of the golden city to serve as a flag staff. Finding there one Thomas J. Dryer, a journalist, with the plant of a newspaper, he engaged his materials and services, agreeing with him that he should come to Portland and publish a journal to be called The Oregonian. To this work Dryer was also urged by H. W. Corbett, at that time in San Francisco. The office was shipped in October, 1850, on the bark Keoka. By reason of hard winds and storms the vessel did not reach the Columbia as early as expected. The editor elect was, imoreover, stranded financially at Astoria, and had to be relieved by a moderate advance from the pocket of Col. Chapman. On this account the new paper was preceded some weeks by the Western Star. It was not until the 4th of December that the first issue appeared. On the night of its publication all
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hands were busy and the town was illuminated by an immense bon fire in the streets. Various orgies were solemnized in the office, one among them being the initiation of the devil, who was blindfolded and made to perform certain circuits and at stated revolutions to abjure his former occupation by affirming that he would split no more rails. Col. Chapman provided a man to take a bundle of the new issue and start early next morning on horse back, on the west side of the river, and distribute the paper as far up as Corvallis and return by the east side.
In its first issue the Oregonian contained some terse and forcible English, and complimented the people upon the rapid growth of their city, and the neat appearance of their residences, remarking that Portland was a town which had sprung up in an incredibly short time. "The buildings are mostly new, of good style and taste, with their white coats of paint, contrasted with the brown and the dingy appearance of towns generally on the Pacific Coast; giving it a most homelike appearance."
The Western Star, of Milwaukie, after running a few months, was brought down to Portland and published under the name of The Oregon Weekly Times.
The Methodist church, on the corner of Third and Taylor streets, was dedicated in the autumn of 1850; the Congregational church, on Second and Jefferson, in 1851; the Catholic church on Third and Stark, was begun in 1851, but not dedicated until February, 1852.
A public occasion of much interest was the celebration of St. John's day, in 1850, by the Masons. The people assembled at the Masonic Hall, which was still surrounded by logs and stumps, and there formed a procession, and preceded by the military band of Fort Vancouver, marched to the Methodist church, where was delivered an address by Rev. H. Lyman, followed by an oration by T. J. Dryer. Officers were then installed, Lieut. F. S. R. Russell, of the United States Army, acting as Worthy Grand Master. In the evening public dinner was served at the California House. In 1850 the Sons of Temperance were organized with much enthusiasm and large nuınbers.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
In October, 1851, a meeting of very great importance was held. This was to ratify publicly the opening of the road to Tualatin Plains. General Coffin performed the ceremony of laying the first plank, and speeches were delivered in which the coming grandeur of the city was quite accurately predicted. Mr. Tilford, a lawyer and fluent speaker, made the oration, using among others the following expressions which elicited hearty applause: "This is the commence- ment of an era of commercial prosperity which will continue to increase until the iron horse takes the place of the plank road. There are persons now within the sound of my voice that will live to see the day when a main trunk railroad will be extended from sea to sea; from the Atlantic to the Pacific."
Indeed, this road, which, however, has not to this day been planked, was the factor determining Portland as the site of the principal city. She became thereby most convenient to the farmers of Polk, Yamhill and Washington Counties, who would not haul their produce three to ten miles further to St. Johns or St. Helens. Although for many years very rough, and through woods so deep that the mud dried only by virtue of the longest droughts, it was nevertheless the most popular highway.
SHIPS AND COMMERCE.
Many vessels crossed the bar of the Columbia in 1849 and a number came up to Portland. Of these none was more serviceable than the Madonna, from New York, under Captain Couch. This was his third trip out, and by far the most successful. His cargo of mixed goods was disposed of in part at San Francisco, his lumber selling for $600 per thousand. On board were W. S. Ogden, a prominent merchant of early times, and G. H. Flanders, a sea captain, before this in the employ of John and Caleb Cushing. Capt. Flanders is a man whose energy and enterprise have done much for Portland's commerce. Reaching the city once more, Couch had his land surveyed and platted. It is said that in laying off a street he gave his half for the use of the public, but Stark refused to meet him half way; thus making A street but half width. It is also reported that upon the surveyor finishing the job, worthi about $700, Couch offered himfor his
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pay, two blocks on Second and Third streets-which were refused. The Madonna was run on the route to San Francisco by Flanders, and the firm of Couch & Co. were so prosperous as to be able to dispatch in 1850 the brig Emma Preston to China-the first from Oregon to China.
The unfavorable condition of steam navigation, already mentioned, which supplied Milwaukie with a river steamer, and St. Helens with ocean craft, but left Portland to voyage by canoes, or to depend upon uncertain winds, was earnestly examined in order to find a remedy. A general desire and willingness to buy a steamner of their own was freely expressed by the proprietors and leading citizens, and this being rumored abroad, attracted to the northern waters the Gold Hunter. She was a side-wheeler, a staunch little vessel, but as stated by one who knew her well, having such a capacity for consuming fuel that on a week's voyage so inuch of the space between decks had to be used for storing wood as seriously to interfere with room for freight, passengers or supplies. Nevertheless, when she appeared in the Willamette and promised steam communication with San Francisco and the outer world, she was deemed acceptable and bought. Sixty thousand dollars was the purchase price, sufficient to give Portlanders a controlling interest, and of this, twenty-one thousand dollars were paid on the spot; eighteen thousand six hundred dollars were furnished by the Portland proprietors and the rest was made up by the citizens in sinall shares. Much rejoicing was occasioned by this event, and Portland began to loom up at once as a seaport. Hall, a seafaring man then a resident of Portland, was made captain, and A. P. Dennison, purser. Each owned a few shares of stock. The jubilation, however, was short lived, and the purchase proved a disastrous failure. Some of the stockholders, contrary to expectation, disposed of their shares to the San Francisco holders, thereby giving to the latter a majority interest. After a few trips the Gold Hunter was ordered off the route and sent to Central America. This was done wholly without the knowledge of the Oregon owners, and they watched and waited in vain for the return of their steamship. She never came back, but was attached, on the southern coast
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for debt and involved her owners in still further expense and loss. Many blocks had to be sold by Coffin and the other proprietors to make good their unprofitable outlay. Although thus unfortunate, they did nevertheless gain their ends. The necessity of steam to accommodate Portland was made apparent, and the ability of her people to supply themselves was proven; and to forestall others from reaping the profits, the Lot Whitcomb, and the Pacific Mail steamers both inade Portland their terminal point. It was in March, 1851, that the first vessel of the latter company came hither. This was the steamship Columbia, a commodious and fine vessel, which ran uninterruptedly until 1860, doing a most successful business. At the latter date slie was drawn off for the China trade, and in the Oriental seas was destroyed by fire. 1
The establishment of the Oregonian, the opening of steam communication, and the construction of the wagon road to the Tualatin Plains were the things that gave Portland her first suprem- acy. Of the three none was inore decisive than the wagon road, for it fixed the trade of the farmers, brought down loads of grain and other produce, and the droves of cattle and hogs. It made Portland popular; the occupants of the woods and plains finding here rest and relaxation from the limbo of their self-imposed exile. In April, 1851, at the first city election, which was rather a tame affair, since as yet there were no politics involved, there were cast two hundred and twenty-two votes; indicating a population of six hundred or seven hundred-as a very large proportion of the inhabitants were adult 11en. Although this is but the figure of a village, it shows that Portland had passed all other Oregon towns, and had assumed
1 It seems that there were three captains of the name of Hall; T. A. Hall, of the Ocean Bird; O. C. Hall thought to be his son, of the Gold Hunter; and William Hall who married a daughter of Captain Warren, and afterwards went to Washington county, building a flour mill, but was fatally injured by the fall of a burning tree.
Crossing the Willamette in an early day was sometimes dangerous. The story is told of the first ferryman's being forbidden by the proprietor of the East Side, to land on his premises; the crossing was made in a skiff, in the face of the loaded shot gun of the man on the East shore of the river. When the boat touched the sand, however, the ferryman, upon pretense of shipping his oars, suddenly produced a rifle and under its protection the passengers landed unmolested. The affair was watched from the Portland shore by a number of citizens who feared a bloody issue.
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metropolitan importance. Indeed, whether from their spirit and energy, their cosmopolitan make-up, or their great expectations, the people of Portland have from the earliest times surrounded their city with the air and manner of a great place.
As indicating something of the strength and importance of the city in 1851, the following list of business houses is given, which is believed to be comprehensive.
H. W. Corbett, general store; Josiah Failing, with his two sons, Henry and John, general store; Capt. C. H. Lewis, of the firm of Allen & Lewis, general store; J. H. Couch, general store; Breck & Ogden, general store; A. M. & L. M. Starr, stove and tin store; Capt. Norton, a small store, but did the most of his trading from his vessel; Thos. Pritchard, grocery; A. M. Barnes, general store; G. W. Vaughn, hardware; Mr. Vaughn also built the first flour mill. Northrup & Simonds, general store; Hiram Smith, who had the sign "No. 1 Smith," to distinguish him from the later arrivals of his name, general store; Lucien Snow, dry goods; G. W. Snell, drug store; Patrick Raleigh, had on hand a stock of goods to be sold out; Frazar & Jewett, general store. Mr. Thos. Frazar, so universally known in our city came on the steamer Columbia, arriving at Astoria in March, 1851. Fromn Astoria he found passage to Portland on a flat boat run by Capt. O'Neill, since so well known as a purser on the line of steamboats of the O. S. N. Co. Mr. Frazar was from Massachusetts, a native of Duxbury, and is a descendant of John Alden, famous in the history and poetry of New England.1.
Besides tliese stores there were vessels lying in the river with stocks of goods for sale. One of these was a schooner from Boston, under Capt. Watson; another, under Capt. Benj. Smith, with A. P. Dennison as partner, or assistant. A French brig under Capt. Trevalliot, lay for some time along the shore, until by reason of improper unloading, and carelessness as to the fall of water, shie careened on her side and was sunk. This Trevalliot was a notorious
1 As men of influence, such as were known to all in the early day, were J. P. Long, a native of New Orleans and a man of intense Southern ideas who kept a small store on Alder street; and Thos. Pritchard, an Englishman by birth, who re- moved to Victoria as early as 1861.
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character, drunken and profane beyond measure. He gave undue attention to horse racing, having a dark Indian pony, that he called "Siskiyou," upon which he charged up and down the streets, defying the town boys and countrymen.
In the latter part of 1851 there were a number of Jewish merchants who made a beginning here in the mercantile line and began to displace their Yankee competitors.
The following is a list of the names of those living at or near Portland prior to 1852. It has been very carefully made up by Mr. John M. Breck, Mr. Geo. L. Story, Mr. Henry Failing, and Mr. T. B. Trevett, all of whom were living in our city at the time mentioned. They will be recognized as among our most capable business men of the present day and merit the thanks not only of the publishers of this work, but of all interested in Portland, for their interest and efficiency in helping us to make the volume complete.
Geo. L. Story, Capt. Wm. Baker, T. B. Trevett, Col. Wm.M. King, Dr. R. B. Wilson, Dr. L. C. Broy, Frank D. Camp, Rev. Horace Lyman, Rev. C. S. Kingsley, Rev. J. H. Wilbur, Rev. St. Michael Fackler, Knute Peterson, Peter D. Hardenberg, Capt. Molthrop, Samuel R. Holcomb, Nelson Northrup, Mr. Simonds, G. W. Vaughn, Peter Erpelding, Thomas G. Robinson, J. Kohn, Levi Anderson, David Weil, Uriah Harris, Jack Harris, Major Tucker, Nathaniel Coe, Lawrence W. Coe, Eugene F. Coe, Henry Coe, Mr. Tallentire, Thomas Gladwell, Capt. Ayres, A. D. Fitch, Wm. Fitch, John Thompson, Thomas Stephens, Wm. Stephens, Jas. B Stephens, Finice Caruthers. James Terwilliger, Wm. Blackistone, Peter Guild, Col. Loring, Col. Frush, Capt. Richard Williams, Capt. Wells, Hugh D. O'Bryant, Colburn Barrell, Crawford Dobbin, Job McNamee, Richard White, Allen White, Robert Thompson, Shubrick Norris, William H. Barnhart, Thomas J. Hobbs, Nathaniel Brown, Sam E. May, Robt. N. McLaren, Finley McLaren, Henry W. Corbett, Josiah Failing, Henry Failing, John W. Failing, J. J. Lintz, Jos. W. Cleaver, Dr. Salisbury, A. M. Starr, L. M. Starr, Capt. O. H. Hall, Nathaniel Crosby, Thos. H. Smith, L. M. Simpson, Wm. Seton Ogden, John M. Breck, N. H. Owens, Orlando McNight, F. M. Smith, A. L. Francis, I. B. Francis, Otis J. Dimmick, John Orvis Waterman, John Thomas, Charles Lawrence, W. D. M. Carter, Mr. Southmayd (printer), Mr. Berry (printer), C. A. Reed, E. B. Comfort, Harley McDonald, George W. Higgius, Thos. Frazar, Mr. Jewitt T. B. McElroy, Sam A. Clarke, Joseph Durbrow, John Ferguson, Wm. McMillen, David Lewis, Frank Matthias, Lewis Day, Mr. Adams, Richard Hoyt, Zenas Webber, Anthony L. Davis, Jas. Warren Davis, Thomas A. Davis, Lucien Snow, Herman Wasserman, Fleming family, John M. Murphy, Dr. E. H. Griffin, Mr. Ettlinger, Mr. Simonsfield, A. L. Lovejoy, F. W. Pettigrove, L. B. Hastings, D. S. Baker, Geo. W. Snell, Dr. Saml. Hooper, Deveaux Babcock, C. B. Pillow, A. V. Wilson, Clark Drew, A. B. Stuart, M. M. Lucas, Peter Fulkerson, John B. Talbot and family, John Donner and family, Mr. Bennett, O. Travalliot, Lucius H. Allen. C. H. Lewis,
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