USA > Oregon > Multnomah County > Portland > History of Portland, Oregon : with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 60
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He was married, February 23, 1863, to Miss Anna M. Whitaker, daughter of Lewis Whitaker, of Deckertown, New Jersey, having been granted a brief leave of absence from military duty at the time. Mr. Woodward and family are members of Trinity Episcopal Church.
OULTER, SAMUEL, was born in Tyler county, Virginia, August 20, 1832, and is C a son of Samuel and Sarah (Rodes) Coulter. His father's parents were natives of Wales and at an early day settled in Virginia, while his maternal ancestors came from England. At the age of four years he lost his father and soon thereafter the family moved to Van Buren county, Iowa. When he reached the age of twelve his mother died, after which he went to live with his half brother, Capt. B. L. Henness, who now resides near Mt. Tabor, Oregon, who kindly offered him a home and such educational advantages as the place afforded.
In1 1850 he drove an ox team across the plains to Oregon, arriving at Oregon City on the 12th of September, 1850, his entire possession at the time outside of a scanty wardrobe being two dollars in money. But he was not discouraged and soon
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after his arrival he secured employment and in April, 1851, was able with six others to purchase a wagon and six yoke of oxen and complete outfit for the mines, it being reported at the time that good inines had been discovered near Yreka, California. The excitement caused by the discovery of gold in California was then most intense, and young Coulter determined to try his fortune in this direction. His mining venture was rewarded with a fair degree of success but after one season's experience he returned to Oregon and engaged in lumbering, following this business for a year. He then went to Olympia, Washington Territory, when that part of the country was only accessible hy canoe up the Cowlitz River or trail along its banks. Here lie took up a claim under the donation act upon which lie resided and cultivated for some five years. During this time he married Miss H. E. Tilley, eldest daughter of Judge Abram Tilley, formerly of Indianapolis, Indiana. Soon after his marriage he engaged in the cattle business, which he followed until 1877, when he closed it out and moved to Portland. In 1878, he and C. P. Church purchased the land and built the Esmond Hotel, and the year following in company with James Steel and D. D. McBean he constructed a section of the Northern Pacific railroad from Chany to Spokane Falls. In 1881 he again embarked in the wholesale cattle business with Seattle as headquarters and with branches at Tacoma and Port Townsend. In 1884 the Esmond Hotel burned, after which he purchased Mr. Church's interest in the property and rebuilt it. He retired from the cattle business in 1886, since which he has confined himself to his extensive real estate and mining interests.
IIe was one of the organizers of the Northwest Coal and Transportation company, of which he has since been president. This company owns and is operating mines along the line of the Northern Pacific railroad near Tacoma. He, with his two sons, organized the Washington Lumber company, which has built a line of railroad from timber lands to salt water on Puget Sound. He is also president and principal owner of the Takou gold mines near Juneau, Alaska. Besides these interests he is a large owner of real estate in Portland, and of many thousands of acres of valuable timber lands in Oregon and Washington. In the management of his large interests he finds his time fully occupied and has little opportunity to engage in enterprises not con- nected with his private affairs.
To Mr. Coulter and wife three sons have been born, two of whom are living. The eldest, Clarence W., is manager of the Takou Milling and Mining Company, of A laska, and the other, Alvah S., is also connected with this company. Both sons are also associated with their father in the Washington Lumber Company. His second son Esmond, after whom the Esmond Hotel was named, died at an early age.
Mr. Coulter is a republican in politics, but takes no active part in political affairs. While he resided in Washington Territory, he was, however, appointed by President Grant internal revenue collector for the territory and held the position for four years. Beyond this office he has never held political position and has no inclination in this direction. In all of his business career he has shown rare good judgment and has accumulated a large fortune. He is conservative in his ideas; is a mau of strong con- victions and when he determines upon a course of action is not easily turned aside until the end he has in view has been reached. Coming to this portion of the Union a mere boy in years, he has grown with its growth and is now one of the oldest of the pio- neers in active business life in Oregon. He has ever maintained an unsullied record as a business man, while his life in every way has been exemplary and above reproach.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
He is social and genial in nature and deservedly popular with all who know him. A man of naturally rugged constitution, he is still remarkably active and in vigorous health. He is in the best sense of the term a self-made man and is a representative of the best type that our pioneer times have produced.
TIBERG, CHARLES M., was born in Norkoping, Sweden, in 1820. His youth = and early manhood were passed in different parts of his native land, engaging in various occupations until he became an apprentice at the shoemakers' trade. After acquiring his trade he, in 1841, went to London, where he was employed for nearly three years. He then came to the United States, landing in New York in 1843. From that time until 1850, he worked at his trade in New Milford, Connecticut, New York City, Milwaukee and Janesville, Wisconsin, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1850, he started in business for himself at Milwaukee, but had only gotten fairly underway when he was burnt out by the great fire of 1851. With his entire capital destroyed and several hundred dollars in debt, he determined to seek a new home in Oregon, and in 1852, he started for Portland via the Isthmus of Panama, arriving here July 6, 1852. For a short time after his arrival he worked at his trade, but in December, 1852, opened a boot and shoe store, the first in this line of trade ever started in Portland. He began on a small scale, but fortune favored him and in a short time he was doing a prosperous business. The first money he could spare from his business he used in paying the indebtedness he had incurred at Milwaukee, paying not only the full amount he owed there but interest on it from the time it was contracted until paid. This debt he could have settled at a great reduction, but he refused all offers of compromise, insisting on paying in the manner he did. This incident illustrates his innate sense of honor and honesty which throughout his long com- mercial career lias ever been so conspicuously exhibited. For several years Mr. Wiberg conducted his business alone, but in 1860, J. A. Strowbridge became a partner under the firm name of Wiberg & Strowbridge. In 1864, a wholesale busi- ness was began in connection with their retail trade, and leather and twining were added to their stock. A high degree of success followed their exertions in this line of trade and a large business was built np. In 1869, they sold out the boot and shoe business to Kramer & Kaufman. For some time thereafter, Mr. Wiberg in connection with Mr. Strowbridge continued in the leather and finding business, but he finally sold out and for a few years led a retired life. He then started again in the boot and slioe business and for a time Jolin Kernan was associated with lini under the firm name of Wiberg & Kernan. The latter sold his interest to A. M. Hollahaugh in 1882, since which time the firm has been Wiberg & Hollabaugh.
Mr. Wiberg has been interested in various other enterprises outside of his regular line of trade. He was one of the original promoters and stockholders in the Willam- ette Iron Bridge Company, the Merchants National Bank and the Pacific Insurance Company. He has also been a large operator in real estate, and still owns valuable property in and near the city. Coming to Portland at an early day he has seen all the marvelons changes which have occurred in this portion of the northwest, and is now one of the oldest merchants in the city. His reputation as a business man has been of the highest. The rewards of his honorable business career have been a large fortune and the deserved esteem of all who know him.
& Therkelsen
585
BIOGRAPHICAL.
He was married, in 1858, to Miss P. Ingram, of Portland. They have had nine children, eight of whom are living. Their eldest son, Charles Edwin, died recently at the age of twenty-six.
THERKELSEN, LAURITS WALSE, was born in Denmark, twelve iniles east of Copenhagen, in 1842. He had limited educational advantages and early in life became apprenticed to the carpenter's trade, at which he worked in his native town until he arrived at the age of eighteen years when he came to America, and, in 1861, landed in San Francisco. Here for the next ten years he followed his trade with the exception of one year at San Jose, when he engaged in contracting. In 1871, he came to Portland and for ten years following was largely engaged in contracting and building in the city and vicinity. During this period he erected Trinity church, Bank of British Columbia, First National Bank, Bishop Scott Grammar School, United States Government building at Vancouver, woolen factory at Oregon City, Centennial Block, part of Union Block and hundreds of private residences and other business blocks. From the first his business assumed large magnitude and he not only soon became the largest contractor in the city, but his operations were nearly equal to all of the other builders combined.
In 1881, he made an extended trip to Europe with his family, and after an absence of several months returned to Portland and organized the North Pacific Lumber Company. The progress of this company has been remarkable. The mill was started with a capacity of about 25,000 feet of lumber per day, while its present output is 110,000 feet. The annual business of the company, requiring the employ- ment of 250 men, reaches a sum of $500,000 annually and is the second largest concern of its kind in Oregon. A general wholesale lumber business is conducted and the shipments extend as far East as Chicago. Mr. Therkelsen has been vice-president and manager of the company from the start and its gratifying success is almost wholly due to his sagacious supervision.
Mr. Therkelsen is an enthusiastic republican in politics, but has no desire for political office. He was, however, elected a member of the lower house in the State legislature for Multnomah connty, in 1884, and during his term labored assiduously for the act creating the Portland water commission, in which he, with fifteen others were named as members. Since the bill became a law, the commissioners have purchased the old water supply system and have increased its capacity and usefulness but have now under headway plans for the erection of new works, such as the com- missioners were empowered by the act to construct. In 1887, Mr. Therkelsen was elected school director in District No. 1, but with the two exceptions named he has steadfastly refused to take an active part in local, city or county political affairs. His own private business affairs engross his entire time and attention and this alone would prevent his participation in politics even had he the taste or inclination.
He was married in 1869 to Miss Maggie Pugh, of San Francisco. They have had seven children, three of whom are now living. He and his wife are members of Trinity Episcopal church.
Mr. Therkelsen has always been a hard worker, and has the constitution and physical vigor which permit of continued exertion with little apparent fatigue. All of his ventures have proven highly successful and he has accumulated a handsome
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
fortune. He possesses good business judgment, is conservative rather than bold in his operations, and carefully works out his plans. He is a large owner of real estate in Portland and his operations in this line have exhibited sagacious foresight which have largely added to his financial fortune. He is a firm believer in Portland's future greatness and is ever ready to contribute his share to the general prosperity of the city. His business standing is of the highest, while he is held in deserved respect as a man of unblemished public and private life.
ANTOON, WILLIAM C., was born in Leicester, England, in 1835. At the age of nine years he came with his parents to America, settling in Andover, Massa- chusetts, where his father found employment at his trade in a woolen mill. He received the benefits of a common school education until thirteen years old when he began to work in a woolen mill at Andover. He was employed for several years thereafter in similar mills at Lawrence and Worcester, Massachusetts, and for some three or four years in the State of Maine. During this period he acquired a very thorough knowledge of the business and became very proficient, especially in carding and spinning.
The memorable financial depression of 1857 was particularly severe on the eastern woolen manufacturers and all of them were either forced to suspend operation or continue their business on the most limited scale. Nearly all the weavers in the Eastern States were thrown out of employment. Mr. Noon not being able to secure work at his trade sought new avenues in which he might gain a livelihood. At this time the discoveries of gold in California were attracting immigration from all parts of the country, and in the spring of 1858 Mr. Noon started for the Pacific Coast, at the time having only sufficient money to pay his fare. He arrived in California via Isthmus of Panama, in the spring of 1858, and from that time until the spring of 1861, was engaged in mining and ranching on the American River. In the latter business he was particularly unfortunate, the great flood in the spring of 1861 destroying his entire herd of stock which he had gained at the end of three years of the hardest kind of toil. He was thus reduced to the same financial condition in which he had come into the State. After working a sufficient time to gain the necessary money to pay his fare to Oregon, he left Cali- fornia, and in February, 1862 arrived in Portland. The woolen mills at Salem had then been in operation but a short time, and here lie soon after obtained employment. He remained in Salem until the fall of 1863, when he went to the Salmon River mines, and for four succeeding seasons was engaged in mining, during the winter being employed in the Oregon City mills.
In 1869 Mr. Noon came to Portland and entered the employ of J. W. Cook, a bag, tent and awning manufacturer. This branch of business was conducted at this time on a very limited scale in Portland, but Mr. Noon, with his practical experience with machinery and his knowledge of cloth manufacturing, saw its possibilities if properly managed. In 1873 he purchased Mr. Cook's interest in the business and under liis management it has grown to be one of the largest mannfacturing enterprises in the State. For eleven years Mr. Noon conducted the business very successfully alone, but since, it has been operated by the firm of W. C. Noon & Co. Their factory is the oldest of its kind in the city and its capacity is now more than all the other similar
melon
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
factories in the northwest. It gives employment to seventy persons and is cquipped with the most expensive and latest improved machinery of every description. The building occupied by the firm stands on the corner of First and C streets, is four stories high and one of the most substantial pieces of architecture in the city. The four floors and basement are occupied, and every facility is offorded for making the lightest summer oiling cover to the heaviest canvas for the largest public gathering, besides sails of all sizes and weight. Year by year their trade has extended until at the present time they not only supply the field of Oregou, Washington and Idaho, but also sell largely in British Columbia, Alaska, Montana and Utalı.
The building up of this large business within comparatively a few years lias almost solely devolved upon Mr. Noon. He has been, and is still, the practical business head of the concern, and it has been almost entirely owing to his exertions that such a high degree of success has been attained. Ile has not only had many years experience in this line of work but possesses a high order of mechanical ability. These requisites, added to constant and unflaging industry and honorable business methods, explain the develoment of an enterprise which has grown to be an inportaut factor in Portland's material prosperity.
Mr. Noou has been a consistent member of Grace Methodist Church for many years, and is one of its trustees. He was married in 1867 to Adeline Good, of Oregon City, who died in 1870, two children having been born to them. Mr. Noon's present wife was Miss Emily Sonthard of Norwich, Connecticut. They have had four children of whom three are living, In all that relates to Portland's growth and prosperity, during nearly two decades, Mr. Noon has borne a part of far-reaching influence. His labors have contributed to the now well recognized and acknowledged commer- cial supremacy secured by Portland over a wide territory, and it is largely owing to the efforts put forth by men such as Mr. Noon that the city will continue to hold the bulk of trade of the Pacific Northwest.
AN, FRANK, the subject of this sketch, is of Slavonic descent and was born in Z 1851 in Stavigrard, Dalmatia, while that county was under Austrian rule. After completing his education in the public school of his native town, he was admitted to the Convent of the Dominican Fathers, with the intention of becoming one of their order. After studying theology for nearly two years at that school, lie concluded to abandon the idea of devoting his life to ministerial work; and not wishing to be drafted into military service, to which duty every young man is subject in that country, but desiring to become a sea faring man, he accordingly arranged matters with a sea captain to ship with him for nautical instruction. For nearly a year he followed the sea, but finding such vocation too monotonous for his naturally energetic nature, upon reaching the port of New York he bid farewell to the life of a sailor and started out to try his fortune in the "land of the free." From New York shortly after landing, he came to San Francisco where his older brother, M. Zan, his present partner, was then located engaged in business.
After living in San Francisco a short time he came to Portland in 1870, at that time being but nineteen years of age, to take charge of a branch house in the broon manufacturing business, started in this city a year prior by two brothers, Vincent and George Zan. Business at this time was not very encouraging and the two brothers
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
named sold out the Portland branch to the present firm of Zan Brothers (M. and Frank Zan). The management of the business in Portland was entrusted to Frank Zan and under his charge a high degree of success was attained. At the end of a few years it had grown to such magnitude that his older brother moved to this city, and two years later they dissolved with their San Francisco partner, he taking the California business and Zan Brothers the house in this city. Since that date Portland has been the headquarters of their business.
From a small and unpretentious beginning their business has grown to large pro- portions and to-day occupies a conspicuous position in the industrial life of the Pacific Northwest. Two manufacturing establishments are constantly operated by the firm, a wooden-ware factory located on the east bank of the Willamette River about four miles north of the city, and a broom and willow-ware factory at No. 14 North Front street. These factories are the largest of their kind on the coast. Port- land is the supply depot of three branch houses of the firm located at San Francisco, Seattle and Melbourne, Australia. Goods are shipped all over the coast from Los Angeles on the south to Alaska on the north and as far east as Salt Lake and Denver, while their trade is gradually extending even farther eastward and toward the south.
The building up of this large business within a comparatively few years represents on the part of the members of this enterprising firm not only untiring energy but united and harmonious co-operation and sagacious business generalship. Both brothers have been indefatigable in their exertion, and each has contributed his full share toward the success attained, the work of the one admirably supplementing that of the other.
Mr. Frank Zan has traveled extensively in the interest of the firm and lias visited every important business center in the United States. His varied experience has naturally broadened liis views and liberalized his ideas concerning men and affairs. He is entlinsiastic in his belief concerning the ultimate destiny of the Pacific Coast as a great commercial, manufacturing and agricultural region and in his individual capacity is doing much to hasten the time when this part of the Union will rival the Atlantic States in wealth creating enterprises. He is public spirited but extremely modest and retiring in his disposition and seeks to avoid rather than court positions such as would place him before the public. He is a hard worker, a man of exen1- plary habits and possesses the knowledge and experience which with his vigorous health give promise of still greater achievements in the years to come.
He was married in 1875 to Miss Jennie Donovan, of Portland. They have two children, both boys.
H IENRICHSEN, LARS C., wholesale and retail jeweler, of Portland, was born in Denmark, in 1839. His father was a farmer and he remained at home on the farm until he had reached the age of fifteen years when he went to Apenrade, town of Schleswig, Denmark, to learn the trade of a watchmaker, where lie remained for six years. In 1860, lie emigrated to America and located in Portland, and after working a short time at his trade, removed to Vancouver where lie remained a little more than a year, when he again came to Portland where he has ever since resided.
LibHemichsen
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BIOGRAPIIICAL.
Upon his return to Portland he secured employment with Jacob Cohn, then located on Front street. A few years later, with Gustave Hanson, he purchased his employer's business and under the firm name of L. C. Henrichsen & Co., continued business on Front street, but about twenty years ago removed to First street. Mr. Hanson remained in the firm but three years, and from that time until 1879, Mr. Henrichsen was alone. In 1879, S. H. Greenberg became a partner and was asso- ciated with Mr. Henrichsen for seven years, since which the latter has continued the business alone.
Mr. Henrichsen is not only a dealer in but a manufacturer of jewelry, both for a retail and a wholesale trade, and is the leader in this branch of business in Portland, his trade extending over the entire State. This large business has been built up by honorable dealing, by hard and persistent work and the exercise of excellent busi- ness sagacity. He is recognized in this community as a man of the highest integ- rity and has the perfect confidence of the business public.
He was married in 1867, to Miss Hannah Winter, a native of Denmark. They have three children and one of the most pleasant homes on Lownsdale street. Mr. Henrichsen is a member of the Episcopal Church and of the Masonic order, being a member of the order of Scottish Rite. At the present time lie is the oldest jeweler in business in Portland, and his connection with Portland's growth and progress lias been in every way creditable to himself and beneficial to the city.
LIJOODWARD, TYLER, was born in Hartland, Windsor county, Vermont, in 1835, and is of Puritan descent. His grandfather fought in the war of the revolution, while his father, Erastus Woodward, participated in the war of 1812. He was educated in the common schools and the academies at Kimball, Union and Meriden, New Hampshire, and Thilford, Vermont. When he reached his majority, he taught school in his native town for one term during the winter. He lived at home until 1860, when he came to Marysville, California, and for one year served as clerk in a hotel of which his brother was proprietor. In the summer of 1861, he went to Washoe county, at the time the gold excitement had broken out in that region. Here for some months he was interested in a saw mill, located on the Truckee river, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the Central Pacific railroad starts up the mountains. In the spring of 1862, he sold ont and came to Oregon, spending the summer prospecting and mining in the vicinity of the Florence mines. The follow- ing winter he clerked in a store in Jolin Day's mines, where Canyon City is now located. He then located at Umatilla and for several months was engaged in stock feeding.
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