USA > Oregon > Multnomah County > Portland > History of Portland, Oregon : with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 19
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1878-9-Mayor, W. S. Newbury; Police Judge, W. H. Adams; Treasurer, Joseph Bachman; Assessor, R. H. Love; Auditor and Clerk, R. L. Durham; Superinten- dent of Streets, W. Braden; Surveyor, W. S. Chapman; Attorney, J. C. Moreland, Chief of Police, L. Besser. Councilmen-First Ward, Thomas Stephens, F. Opitz, J. W. Payne; Second Ward, William H. Andrus, Joseph Simon, E. H. ·Stolte; Third Ward, Noah Lambert, G. W. Yocum, H. Weber.
1879-80-Mayor, D. P. Thompson; Police Judge, L. B. Stearns; Treasurer, Joseph Baclıman; Assessor, W. J. Kelley; Auditor and Clerk, R. L. Durham; Surveyor, W. S. Chapman; Attorney, J. C. Moreland; Chief of Police, J. H. Lappeus. Councilmen-First Ward; F. Opitz, J. W. Payne, R.Gerdes; Second Ward, Joseph Simon, E. H. Stoltze, T. L. Nicklin; Third Ward, J. F. Watson, J. S. Keller, H. Weber.
1880-1-Mayor, D. P. Thompson; Police Judge, L. B. Stearns; Treasurer, Josepli Bachman; Auditor and Clerk, R. L. Durham; Surveyor, W. S. Chapman; Attor- ney, J. C. Moreland; Street Superintendent, William Braden. Councilmen-First Ward, J. S. Raleigh, R. Gerdes, Henry Hewett; Second Ward; E. H. Stolte, T. L. Nicklin, W. A. Andrus; Third Ward, H. Weber, J. S. Keller, J. B. Kellogg. 1881-2-Mayor, D. P. Thompson; President of Council, W. B. Honeyman; Auditor, R. L. Durliam; Treasurer, D. C. McKercher; Attorney. J. C. Moreland; Surveyor,
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
D. W. Taylor; Superintendent of Streets, William Braden; Deputy Superinten- dent of Streets, J. H. Phirman; Police Judge, L. B. Stearns; Chief of Police, J. H. Lappens. Councilmen-First Ward, Henry Hewett, J. S. Raleigh, Richard Gerdes; Second Ward, T. L. Nicklin, Charles Holm in, W. L. Chittenden; Third Ward, J. B. Kellogg, J. S. Keller, W. B. Honeyman.
1882-3-Mayor, J. A. Chapman; President of Council, W. B. Honeyman; Auditor, M. F. Spencer; Treasurer, D. C. McKercher; Attorney, S. W. Rice; Surveyor, D. W. Taylor; Superintendent of Streets, William Braden; Deputy Superinten- dent of Streets, W. F. Matthews; Police Judge, S. A. Moreland; Chief of Police, J. H. Lappeus. Councilmen-First Ward, Henry Hewitt, D. Mackay, J. E. Smith; Second Ward, W. S. Scoggin, Charles Holman, W. L. Chittenden; Third Ward, J. B. Kellogg, W. H. Adams, W. B. Honeyman.
1883-4-Mayor, J. A. Chapman; President of Council, W. H. Adams; Auditor and Clerk, R. B. Curry; Treasurer, D. C. McKercher; Attorney, R. M. Dement; Surveyor, W. S. Chapman; Superintendent of Streets, A. F. Sears; Deputy Superintendent of Streets, W. F. Burke; Police Judge, S. A. Moreland; Chief of Police, W. H. Watkinds. Councilmen-First Ward, R. Gerdes, J. B. Hailey, J. E. Smith; Second Ward, W. A. Scoggin, W. H. Andrus, W. L. Chittenden; Third Ward; A. F. Sears, Jr., W. H. Adams, W. B. Honeyman.
1884-5-Mayor, J. A. Chapman; President of Council, W. H. Adams; Anditor, R. B. Curry; Treasurer, D. C. McKercher; Attorney, A. H. Tanner; Surveyor, W. S. Chapman; Superintendent of Streets, F. E. Vaughn, Deputy, W. S. Broocke. Police Judge, S. A. Moreland; Chief of Police, S. B. Parrish; Councilmen-First Ward, R. Gerdes, J. J. Holland, J. E. Smith; Second Ward, W. A. Scoggin, W. H. Andrus, C. M. Forbes; Third Ward, A. F. Sears, Jr., W. H. Adams, Wm. Fliedner.
1885-6-Mayor, John Gates; President of Council, Wm. Fliedner; Auditor and Clerk, B. L. Norden; Attorney, A. H. Tanner; Surveyor, W. S. Chapman; Street Com- missioner, F. E. Vaughn; Treasurer, D. C. McKercher; Police Judge; R. M. Dement; Chief of Police, S. B. Parrish. Councilmen -- First Ward, R. Gerdes, J. J. Holland, J. J. Gallagher; Second Ward, S. Farrell, W. H. Andrus, C. M. Forbes; Third Ward, A. F. Sears, Jr., F. Hacheny, Wm. Fliedner.
1886-7-Mayor, John Gates; President of Council, Sylvester Farrell; Auditor, W. H. Wood; Treasurer, D. C. M_Kercher; Attorney, A. H. Tanner; Superintendent of Streets, W. S. Chapman; Surveyor, E. W. Paget; Police Judge, Ralph Dement; Chief of Police, S. B Parrish; Councilmen-First Ward, R. Gerdes, J. J. Holland. J. J. Gallagher; Second Ward, S. Farrell, R. H. Schwab, C. M. Forbes; Third Ward, Tyler Woodward, F. Hacheny, Win. Fleidner.
1887-8-Mayor, John Gates; President of Council, C. M. Forbes; Auditor, W. H. Wood; Treasurer, H. W. Mounastes; Attorney, W. H. Adams; Surveyor, E. W. Paget; Superintendent of Streets, W. S. Chapman; City Physiciau, F. B. Perry; Councilmen-First Ward, R. Gerdes, C. Castendieck; J. J. Gallagher; Second Ward, S. Farrell, R. H. Schwab, C. M. Forbes; Third Ward, Tyler Woodward, F. Hacheney, Wm. Fleidner; Police Judge. Ralph M. Dement; Chief of Police, S. B. Parrish.
1888-9-Mayor, Van B. DeLashmutt; Treasurer, H.W. Monnastes; Anditor and Clerk, W. H. Woods; Attorney, W. H. Adams; Superintendent of Streets, W. S. Chap-
Frank Dekun Thank
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STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
man; Surveyor, E. W. Paget; City Physician, F. A. Meyer; Police Judge, A. H. Tanner; Chief of Police, S. B. Parrish; Overseer of Street Cleaning and Sprink- ling, S. B. Matthews; Deputy Auditor and Clerk, Walter Matthews; Deputy Superintendents of Streets, W. E. Mulhollam, William E. Braden, William Con- ner; Assistant Surveyor, D. S. Whitfield. Councilmen -- First Ward, C. Castendieck, R. Gerdes, Richard Hoyt; Second Ward, S. Farrell, R. H. Schwab, C. M. Forbes; Third Ward, Tyler Woodward, William Showers, William Flied- ner. President of the Council, Tyler Woodward.
STREETS, AND STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
The first streets were laid out in 1845, parallel with the river, which here flows a few degrees east of north, and were thereby deflected to the same extent from the points of the compass. Front street was then a part of the levee, and extended to the Willamette, making a broad landing place for the equal use of all residents. But four streets were at first laid out. They were numbered First, Second, etc., and were but 60 feet in width. The side streets of the same width, were named Washington, Alder, Morrison and Taylor, being christened by Pettygrove, as is thought. It was natural to name the first for the great president; "Alder" probably was derived from a tree of that species at its foot; "Morrison," was in honor of a resident of that name, living on the street; "Salmon," named later, was for the senior partner of the firm of Salmon & Elliot, of San Francisco; and "Taylor" was without doubt to signify the Whig politics of the city. As the city was extended in 1849, surveyed by Short, and mapped by Brady, it became natural to use the ordinals to designate the north and south streets, and to the cross streets the names of presidents were applied with no thought of mmnemonic value for the school children, giving us "Jefferson," Harrison," etc. "Clay" was probably named by some one who thought that the great Kentuckian ought to have been president. "Stark"was from Benjamin Stark, who owned the site from that street north to "A." The names "Oak," "Pine" and "Ash" were naturally suggested by "Alder." Upon the addition of Couch's donation claim all effort to think up names significant or pretty was discarded, and with the barrenness of nomenclature for which Americans are remarkable, the letters of the alphabet were used for the cross streets, making in truth a convenient
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
method for finding blocks, and when the Roman letters are exhausted we hope to see the Greek and Hebrew applied.
On the environs of the city, as the streets were multiplied, the names of early pioneers have been bestowed, such as "Chapman," "Lownsdale," "Carruthers," "Corbett," etc. North Portland is laid out by the point of compass and Sonth Portland is also square with the north star. The east and west streets are all 60 feet broad, excepting A, which is but 30-Stark not meeting Couch half way, when the latter laid ont his claim. From Third street the width of the streets north and south is 80 feet, except East and West Park, which are but half of this. Such narrowness would be fatal, but for this one thing- that between East and West Park are the park blocks, 120 feet in width, and, except for a small distance in the center of the city, are entirely free. These are of little value as parks, but will make, together with the streets on each side, a splendid avenue 200 feet broad, from one end of the city to the other-barring the encumbran- ces from Yamhill to B, which may be removed. An avenue 125 feet broad leads down to the water front in North Portland, and this and the park boulevard will become the common center for motor lines and driveways. Properly ornamented, provided with fountains, statues, arches, seats for the strollers, and shade trees, it will become the pride and joy of Portland. This prediction-made by another- will be fulfilled.
The bend of the river, determining the course of the streets, gives Portland, particularly upon the map, the irregularity of appearance that Europeans contend is picturesque-or at least like their capitals. By reason of the undulating face of the hills to the west the uniformity of straight lines and parallels is still further prevented. The blocks on all the Heights are so laid off as to best suit the knolls and hollows, and to make the grades of the streets as easy as the incline will allow. In this manner the curves of the hills are preserved in the streets, and the "line of beauty" cannot be banished, even by force. In time this will cause the residence portion of the city to assume a striking grandeur of appearance, and stimulate the erection of buildings, and the beautifying of grounds, on a style and scale to consort with the requirements of the
205
STREET IMPROVEMENTS.
topography. There is something in having a site which forbids the geometrical homeliness into which the crudely civilized so insensibly slip.
Some sort of improvement of streets early began to be imperative Digging stumps was the first, and the millionaire now lives who worked out road taxes by removing the roots of a fir tree from the highway in front of his store. The surface was also vrey irregular, from gulches, knolls, hummocks formed by the roots of fallen trees, and by the hollows or pits left by the lifting of the soil beneath. All these inequalities were to be remedied, and the work was early undertaken. The grading of the streets was heavy and expensive.
Immediately following was the paving. During the soft months the mellow brown soil was quickly cut into mire, and trodden into inortar. Planks were first used. In about 1858 a macadam road was built out to the Red House, some three miles south, the first of its kind in the State. In 1865 the Nicholson pavement was laid on Front and First streets, and for a number of years was in great favor. It soon began to fail, however, due either to improper construction, or to the extremes of moisture and dryness of our seasons, and quickly fell into condemnation. In the June floods, moreover, which occasionally overflowed the levee part of the city, it had to be weighted down with rock to be kept in place. As this pavement gave away, the Belgian block was substituted, and now prevails on Front, First and Second streets, from G street on the north, to Jefferson street (with some exception on Second street) on the south. It is a block clipped or split out from the basalt along the river, the principal quarry being near St. Helens. It is obtained in brick-shaped pieces, some 4x10x15 inches. The stone is hard and when evenly laid makes a firm, but noisy, road. By constant nise, however, the corners of the blocks are worn down, making a sort of cobble stone surface, which is slippery and difficult of hold to horses drawing heavy loads. Owing to the non-uniformity of the ground beneath, as to firmness, the old sections are becoming warped, with hollows and bunches. The constant lifting of the blocks to repair sewer and water pipes, or for street railway purposes, has also worked toward an uneven surface.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
A short piece of bituminous rock pavement has been laid on Washington street, and as affording a very easy, neat and quiet surface is far in advance of all else, but it lias not proved substantial.
The rest of the streets are macadamized. The material, made from the andesite rock of the hills near by, is rather soft, and a little hard wear reduces it, under exposure of the weather, to fine dust, which is washed into the sewers or carted off with the street sweep- ings. Much of the macadamizing has been cheaply and improperly done, and the recommendation of Street Commissioner Chapman that heavier rollers be used in compacting the work should be heeded. It is hardly excusable to use improper material, since the hardest of basalt, limestone, and even granite, may be obtained-although not without added expense. Much consideration has been given to the use of gravel, which exists in immense deposits near East Portland, and is extensively laid on lier streets. A proper assortment of boulders, coarse and fine gravel, with sand intermixed, is believed to afford the best of road beds, and will perhaps be tried.
Cross-walks of the streets are of plank or slabs of stone, the latter a foot or more in breadth by some four or five in length, laid treble. Many of them are of granite, brought from England or China in ships as ballast, being most cheaply obtained in that manner.
The sidewalks in the business portion of the city are of stone squares, quarried from the hills, or, now almost universally, of the artificial stone, manufactured from sand. This is handsome and dur- able. Brick, with concrete dressing of fine gravel, was used a little in old times, and now remains on a few walks on Front street. The manu- factured stone is used extensively around the blocks occupied by fine residences, but for the most part the walks are of plank. Quite frequently they are made too broad for beauty, especially on the upper streets, but the most are not thus cumbrous, and a space for turf is left between the foot-walk and the pavement, giving relief from the glare and hardness of aspect which is painful to the eye and offensive to the taste.
In 1885 there were fifty-two and one-half miles of improved streets-thirty miles inacadamized, three Belgian blocks, three and one-fourth planks, sixteen and one-fourth graded only. There were
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CAR LINES.
one hundred miles of sidewalks, sixteen and one-half of wooden cross- walks, nearly two of stone and over two miles of trestles.
In 1886 about nine miles of new sidewalks were built, a mile of cross-walks, a mile of macadamized, three-fourths of a mile of pave- ment, six miles of plank roadway, quarter of a mile of bridging, and two miles of grading.
In 1887, sidewalks, ten and a quarter miles; cross-walks, two; macadamized, one and three-quarters; bridging, one-half; grading, four; sewers, three.
In 1888 were built, sidewalks, ten miles; cross-walks, one and a half; macadamized, two and three-quarters; bridging, one-half; grading, four and three-quarters; sewers, three; bituminous rock pavement, two hundred feet.
These figures represent a large expenditure, and show an attempt to fulfill the requirements of the city. In the main, the streets look well and are kept tolerably clean. The greatest need is a proper crematory, or incinerary, to consume the refuse and garbage.
STREET CAR LINES.
Portland is well supplied with this necessity of rapid transit from one point to the other. The first track was laid in 1872, on First street, from the Clarendon Hotel-then new-and the railroad station at the foot of F street to the vicinity of Jefferson street on the south. This has been subsequently extended to South Portland. Some years later the Third street double track was laid, now extending from the Marquam gulch on the south to G street on the north, and up that street to Twenty-first on the west, with a branch to North Portland. The Washington street line-double track-then followed, with branches to south and north respectively on Eleventh and Fifteenth streets. This leads into B street and out to the Exposition building and the City Park. A line beginning on Morrison street leads into Ninth street and on to B, with a return on Yamhill to Front. A cable road extends from Front by Alder to Fifth, reaching Jefferson, and proceeds thence to the Heights. An electric road makes a continuous line from G street to Fulton Park, three miles, on Second [14]
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
street. Entering by the Morrison street bridge there is the East Portland system, extending to all of East Portland and to Mt. Tabor by motor line. By way of the Stark street ferry, the motor line to Vancouver enters the city. By way of the Jefferson street ferry the Hawthorne avenue motor line is accessible. By the Steel bridge the electric motor cars have exit to McMillan's and Holladay's addition to East Portland, to Albina and St. Jolin's.
The following from the report of the street commissioner for 1888 gives more exact details:
"Street car tracks have been extended over quite a number of streets during the last year, increasing the total length of all street car tracks in the city from 12.7 miles in December, 1887, to 17.45 iniles at the date of this report, an increase of 4. 75 miles. The increase is divided between the Transcontinental Street Railway Company, which have laid three miles in extending their tracks down Yamhill and Morrison streets to Front, and there connecting thein; in doubling their track on G street from North Thirteenth street to North Twenty-first street, on North Thirteenth between G and S streets and on S street between North Thirteenth and North Sixteenth streets, and laying a double track on S street from North Sixteenthi street to North Twenty-third street, where said company has erected large brick stables; the Multnomah Street Railway Company, which has laid 1.2 miles in making the Washington and B streets line a double track road from Second street to the old city boundary, near the City Park, in the western part of the city, and the Willamette Bridge Railway Company, which has laid 0.55 miles of track, from Front street across the bridge to the city boundary, in the center of the Willamette river.
"The Traction Street Car Company has a franchise for laying tracks from the northwestern part of the city through E, Second, Sheridan, Front, Porter and Corbett streets, a distance of nearly four miles. The Transcontinental Company has also been granted the right to extend their Yamhill and Taylor street tracks to Fourteenth street and thence along North Eighteenth street to their double track on G street, and this extension will undoubtedly be completed
209
SEWERS.
and in operation before the approaching summer shall have passed. Appearances indicate that more street car tracks will be laid in Portland during the coming season than in any previous year."
SEWERS.
The surface of the city is very favorable to good drainage, sloping well toward the river. It gains thereby a strong wash, and throws the refuse far into the stream. There are, however, two great difficulties to contend with; one is natural, and the other results from the carelessness of the first who laid the sewers; or, perhaps, more strictly to the inertia of those who are allowing a system that worked very well for a village to still serve for the city. The natural difficulty is the backing up of the river by the Columbia in the summer and the other the mistake of laying the sewers down the streets east and west, to discharge in the river in front of the city, instead of northward, to cast their outflow below the city.
As to the pollution of the river front by sewage, F. E. Vaughn, then superintendent of streets, said in 1885: "These mains all extend to the Willamette river, and discharge their contents into that stream immediately in front of the city, a disagreeable fact, which will eventually demand more serious consideration than is now accorded it. I would respectfully ask that you consider the practicability of adopting a system whereby all river mains that are hereafter laid in the northwestern portion of the city shall extend north and south. By this means their outlet will be below the city front as now defined."
In 1886 he called attention again to the same fact, and in 1887 recommended that to correct the evil a sewer be built in Front street, " from Sheridan street to a point entirely beyond the occupied portions of our city, large enough to take up the sewers entering therein, as all the present sewers extend into the Willamette river and discharge their contents into said stream along the city front," a state of affairs detrimental to the healthy condition of the city. The bad condition thus recognized and described must very soon be rectified.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
As early as 1883, Major A. F. Sears thus strongly described the situation:
In the month of June, when the floods of the Columbia river back up the Wil- lamette, the month of every sewer is closed by the high water.
In the winter, during the rainy season, all this filth is carried safely away from the town, because in those months there is a strong outward current ; the river water then is of excellent quality. Already the drainage of more than twenty streets, with the wastes of three hundred blocks, or five hundred acres, finds its way to our river. So near as I can estimate this sewage contains the wastes of about twelve thousand lives.
The movement of this water in passing up stream under the summer sun is so sluggish, that if no extraneons filth entered the river, the organic matter contained in suspension is subject to putrifying influence that cannot but have a disastrous effect on the public health.
While the evil thus stated is an important-may I not say a horrible-one, it is not the only danger. When the water on the city front, during the summer, remains in this quiet condition, certain gross particles of filth, not dissolved, but held in suspen- sion, as well as the tainted liquid itself, assists to poison the earth of the shore and create an infecting, stinking sludge, to be thrown open to the seething influence of the sun when the floods retire, producing a second source of disease.
But, during these months of flood, when, as previously stated, no rain is falling and the ends of the sewers are closed, there is only the intermitting, ordinary domestic water supply to keep them clean. I have lately had occasion to learn the insignificance of this amount for the ordinary purposes of cleansing. In the last month of November, after twenty-four hours of continuons, though light, rains, the greatest depth of flow in any sewer has been less than three inches, and this was regarded as extraordinary, the truth being that it was rare to find more than one inch, . and generally only a film of liquid running along the pipes.
In the summer, therefore, when the sewers must rely solely on the domestic water supply, they become elongated cesspools and throw their poisonous gases on our atmosphere or into our houses.
The catch-basins, that are filled by the last rainy season with a rich deposit of rotting wood, street filth, dead cats and all unnameable things that reek, are dispensing the gases of putrefaction along the sewers for distribution in our houses or at the street corners.
This is a condition of things existing at the present time, while the district under consideration is, as compared with other cities, sparsely settled.
He spoke of the suggestion of Win. E. Morris, in 1872, that an intercepting sewer be built along Front street to lead to a point below the city, and that the Warring system be adopted, by which the waste of water, etc., is carried off in separate pipes, which are kept clean and flushed by steady automatic injectments of water at the dead end from a flushing tank furnished with syphons. The expense of the work, $348,958, was deemed so great as to render the change
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SEWERS.
impracticable. Nevertheless, at this day, when the population is five times that at the time the report was made by Major Sears, and the expense would not be above six dollars per capita, no better system could be devised.
The condition of the sewers in the summer time is thus spoken of by W. S. Chapman, present superintendent of streets: "Something like five miles of street sewers are submerged from one end to the other by from ten to eighteen feet of back (dead) water during the summer freshets." The sewers thus referred to are in the lower, or northern, portion of the city. But all the sewers are stopped up at the mouth by the high water. How this great difficulty may be remedied it is hard to see, unless it be by concentrating all the mains upon one large sewer, and carrying that far below the city, and there, during high water, emptying it by means of powerful pumps.
In 1885 the total length of sewers aggregated fifteen and a half niles of terra cotta pipes, ranging from nine to eighteen inches in diameter. During 1886, 12,739 feet (two and one-fourthi miles) were added, the principal work being on Jefferson street. Work was also begun on the Tanner Creek sewer. This is of brick, 500 feet in length of circular, and 3,836 feet egg-shaped, making upwards of three-fourths of a mile in all; to which has been added more than a quarter of a mile within the past year. It carries a large volume of water, draining a considerable portion of the range of hills; $36,067.74 were spent on this in 1887, and $16,181.25 for pipe sewers. In 1888 special attention was given to the southern portion of the city, laying a sewer to carry off the drainage of the Marquam creek. This is of brick, built at a cost of $7,559.25, and, together with lateral pipes, aggregated some $25,000; $40,788.97 were spent on pipe sewers in 1888. The great work for 1889 has been the beginning of the Johnson creek sewer, in the northern part of the city, to be erected at a cost of $60,000. Pipe sewers in the northwestern portion are also being provided with arrangements for a main. The expense of construction of sewers is borne by the property adjacent, and averages about $20 per lot. This is undoubtedly a bad plan, as lot owners along the line nise every method to reduce expense, and the sewers are not built except in the
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