USA > Oregon > Multnomah County > Portland > History of Portland, Oregon : with illustrations and biographical sketches of prominent citizens and pioneers > Part 61
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In the spring of 1864, he purchased a stock of goods consisting of general mer- chandising and miners' supplies; chartered a train and started for Stinking Water mines in Montana. He joined forces with a train in which L. H. Wakefield was interested, and together they started on the long and toilsome journey which was beset with nnusual dangers and hardships. They arrived in Hell Gate, or Bitter Root Valley in July and here started business in a house built by John Grant, chief agent of the Hudson Bay Company, near where Missonla is now located. For four years a successful business was conducted under the firm name of Woodward, Clement &
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Co. Clement then sold his interest to the other partners and the firm became known as Woodward & Wakefield. Supplies were purchased in Portland and Mr. Woodward during the following six years made frequent trips to our city and became thoroughly acquainted with the city's business men of that day. Besides merchan- dising Mr. Woodward was engaged in farming and stock raising during this period and most substantial success followed liis efforts in all three directions. In 1870, he sold out lis interest in Hell Gate, with a view of locating in Portland, thoroughly convinced at this early day of the city's ultimate destiny as the commercial centre of this portion of the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Woodward's journey from Hell Gate after closing out his business there, for a distance of some three hundred miles was one he will always have cause to remember. The country at this time was without safeguards against lawlessness and was peopled by many desperate characters. Taking with him all of the money he had accumulated, amounting to some thirty thousand dollars, he started alone on horseback, but had not proceeded far before he was pursned by high- waymen, whom he knew only waited for a convenient opportunity to rob him. Years of residence among the rough characters who infested mining camps made him fully aware of the dangers of his situation. It was simply a question of endurance and strategy between himself and pursuers, and it was only by constant watchfulness and knowledge of the country that he was enabled to elude them. Until he reached Spokane Falls he was followed and had he been overtaken he would have lost his money and, without doubt, his life.
After his arrival in Portland, Mr. Woodward made a trip to his old Eastern home, but he soon returned and has since made his residence here. He immediately invested largely in real estate, and became a member of the real estate firm of Parrish, Atkin- son & Woodward. His operations were rewarded with success, although at the time he was considered by many as engaged in a hazardous business. Ile had unlimited faith in the city's advance and he backed his judgment with money and reaped a ricli harvest. His speculations in real estate have been continued up to the present and he is now largely interested in city and suburban property.
He was one of the organizers and incorporators of the Trans-Continental Street Railway and for several years has been its president. He was also one of the first promoters and stock holders in the Walla Walla railroad, and has been interested in several other minor business ventures, but the street railway and his real estate opera- tions have absorbed most of his time and attention.
Since the birth of the republican party, he has been a zealous republican, casting his first vote for Gen. John C. Fremont. While in Montana, he was almost the only active republican in Missoula county and did much to keep up the party organization. Ile served as postmaster of Hell Gate and at that time was perhaps the only repub- lican official in Montana Territory. Since residing in Portland he has served one terin as county commissioner and is now serving his second term as member of the city council. While strong in his political faith and a zealous supporter of his party he has never been an aspirant for political office, having decided repugnance for the usual methods employed to gain political power.
He was married November 8, 1872, to Miss Mary J. Ross, a native of Portland and a daughter of Sherry Ross, an early Oregon pioneer. To them one child, a daughter, has been born.
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Mr. Woodward's character was developed amid the surroundings of a newly settled country, where men are called upon to act quickly and independently and to rely wholly upon themselves. This has made him strongly self reliant and indepen- dent in nature. In all that he does he is governed by his judgment and is influenced but little by the actions of others. He is reserved in manner, but is warm in his friendships, and steadfastly loyal to all whom lie trusts with his confidences. Ile has been very successful in business, possesses excellent business habits and judgment, and is a good type of that class of men who have inade the Pacific side of our continent all that it is; possessing in large measure that same unconquerable, enterprising spirit which will make it a worthy rival of the Atlantic sea board.
M ARQUAM, HON. P. A., was born near Baltimore, Maryland, February 28, 1823, and is the eighth child in a family of nine children of Philip Winchester and Charlotte Mercer (Poole), Marquam. His grandfather was a wealthy merchant of England, enploying many ships in carrying on an extensive trade. His father was born in England but at the age of twenty came to America. His mother was a daughter of Henry Poole, a wealthy planter, on whose plantation now stands Pool- ville, Maryland. On account of sickness and financial misfortune the father of our subject soon after his marriage decided to leave Maryland with the hope of bettering his fortune, and to seek a new home in the west. With his family he first settled in Ohio, but shortly moved to Lafayette, Indiana. IIere the family settled on unim- proved government land, where a rude home was erected and pioneer life com- menced. At the end of a few years, by the united labors of father and sons a greater portion of the wild tract upon which they had settled was cleared. By this time Mr. Marquam's elder brothers had left home to seek their own fortunes, leaving him at home to assist in the support of the family. Being the youngest of the hoys and naturally strong and vigorous he was naturally selected as the one to remain upon the farm. If, however, he cheerfully accepted his lot it was not without a strong determination to make of himself something more than the prospects held out to the average farmer's boy in a new and undeveloped country. The circumstances which surrounded him'were anything but encouraging. His father was not only unable to give him an education but needed his constant labor on the farm to maintain the family. To assist his parents and at the same time, by self application, to acquire an education was the double task which confronted young Marquam, but he undertook it with that same pertinacity of purpose that in later years brought him honorable position and the attainment of a large fortune. Day by day as he labored on the farm, and without neglecting his work he managed to devote considerable time to his studies. His evenings and odd times, when most boys would have heen playing, or resting, he devoted to acquiring knowledge. When an opportunity offered he would take up his books and it was in this way that he not only gained a common English education, including some of the higher branches, but sufficient knowledge of the Latin language to be able to translate the Latin phrases found in law books. In the meantime he had saved sufficient money to buy a library of elementary law books sufficient to enable him to commence the study of law, to which he had determined to devote himself.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
His preparation for his chosen profession was pursued in the same way that his elementary education had been gained-devoting alternate hours to work and study -a method he believes the only true way of gaining a proper mental and physical training. At the end of three years of such progress he had not only equipped him- self for entering, but had saved enough money to pay his tuition at the law school at Bloomington, Indiana. He had, however, previously made quite an advance in liis legal studies by studying at home under the directions and guidance of Hon. Godlove S. Orths, an able lawyer of Indiana, and who at one time was a representative in Con- gress, and subsequently Minister to Russia. He completed the prescribed course at Bloomington, and in 1847 was admitted to practice in the courts of the State.
He began the practice of his profession at Wabash county, Indiana, where he remained but a few months when he located at Renselacr, Jasper county, in the same State. Here he acquired considerable business and remained until he left for the Pacific Coast.
The excitement caused in 1848 by the discovery of gold in California, induced Mr. Marquam, with three companions, in March, 1849, to start across the plains with ox teams in search of the "golden fleece." The journey was filled with many incidents of interest, but finally three of them landed in the Sacramento Valley in September, 1849, after a trip of six months duration. After resting a few weeks Mr. Marquam proceeded up the Sacramento Valley to the Redding mines.
As soon as he arrived at his destination he went to work in the mines, and remained there during the winter of 1849 and until the spring of 1850, occasionally relieving the monotony of the pick and shovel by going on expeditions to expel the bands of marauding Indians, who in those days, were the mortal dread of the hard working miners. In these engagements he received several serious wounds, which laid him up for several weeks.
In the spring of 1850, still suffering from the injuries he had received Mr. Marquam, with others, left the mines and descending the Sacramento Valley, located in a small town called Fremont, at the junction of the Sacramento and Rio Del Plumas rivers, about twenty-five miles from Sacramento City. At this place, then the county seat of Yolo county, he commenced the practice of law, and at the first election held under the new State constitution of California, was elected county judge, practically without opposition. Many novel questions came up before the new judge, and he rendered important service in the organization of the county and State, which one incident will serve to illustrate. The legislature failed to name the amount of the bonds the county officers were to qualify in before the county judge. Judge Marquam thereupon fixed the amount for each county officer in Yolo county, and reported his action to the legislature, whereupon that body approved his course by adopting in the general laws of the State the sums he had affixed.
After serving two years in the capacity of Judge, Mr. Marquam came to Oregon, in August, 1851, his principal object at the time being to visit his brother Alfred, who had come to Oregon in 1845, and settled in the southern part of Clackamas county, at a place now a village known as Marquamı, where he died in February, 1887. After looking over the country he was so well pleased with it that he determined to locate here. With that end in view he returned to California, resigned his position as judge, settled up his business and in the latter part of 1851 moved to Portland, where he at
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once began the practice of his profession. Ile was very successful from the beginning and within a year had a large and lucrative practice. He saw that Portland was some day destined to be a metropolitan city, and with good judgment he invested in real estate all of the accumulations from his practice, above a sum sufficient to support his family. With the eye of a business man he looked around him and secured some of the most valuable property in Portland and the suburbs, a very large part of which he still owns. Among his large purchases was that of 298 acres, known as Marquam's Hill, which is one of the finest residence sites in the city of Portland. Some of this large tract he has disposed of, but a large share he has retained for his own use and on which he has long resided.
In 1862 Mr. Marquam was elected county judge of Multnomah county. So highly satisfactory to the people was his discharge of the duties of this office, that after the expiration of a term of four years, he was re-elected for another term, by a very large majority. During the eight years he served in this office he was never absent but one day from any term of court, and that was occasioned by sickness in his family. At the expiration of his second term he returned to his law practice, which, with the management of his real estate and other private business demanded his attention.
Ile lias recently completed a theatre building known as the Marqnam Grand, which for elegance of appointments is not excelled on the coast, and which in con- nection with the store and office building he is now constructing will form the finest structure in Portland, and greatly add to the architectual appearance of the city.
Of late years Judge Marquam has been gradually relinquishing the practice of his profession, and at the present time has practically retired from legal work, his extensive private interests demanding all of his time and energies.
He has always taken an active part in whatever was for the best interest of the city and county. At an early day he endeavored, but without success, to have the Market and Park blocks, which had been donated to the city, improved, and thereby forever secured for public purposes, and also strongly advocated a free bridge across the Willamette, connecting Portland and East Portland. In furtherance of the latter project he prepared, had printed and circulated throughout the county, petitions to the county court asking that the county be authorized by general tax to build a bridge across the river to he forever free to all travel. This petition, although signed very generally by the tax paying portion of the community, failed to accomplish the object asked for. Although now a stockholder in the present Morrison street bridge he is still in favor of a free bridge.
In 1882 Judge Marquam was nominated as the republican candidate for the legis- lature from Multnomah county. Although he in no sense desired the office nor made the slightest effort to secure an election, he was elected, receiving a very flattering vote, at which term he rendered important service to the county and State. In politics he has always been a staunch republican, but has never been a seeker after public office. Positions he has been called upon to fill have come unsolicited, and have been accepted in obedience to the clearly expressed desire of his fellow citizens that his services were needed. Duty to the public rather than his own inclination or personal interests has controlled his actions in this regard.
Judge Marquam was married May 8, 1853, to Miss Emma Kern, daughter of William Kern, a lady of culture and refinement, and admired for the many excel-
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lencies of her character, Their union has been one of singular congeniality and hap- piness. To the patience, fortitude, devotion and faith of his wife that never faltered as well as her untiring energy and attention to his interests, Judge Marquam accords the highest credit for whatever success he has attained. They have liad eleven children, all of whom are living and enjoying the best of health.
Beginning the race of life without the bestowed advantages of education or riches, every step of Judge Marquam's career lias been one that shows the innate strengtli of his character-an iron will that no difficulties could daunt, and that failure only serves to render stronger. His struggle for an education, his life amid the hardships and danger of the frontiers, and the persistent patient labors of later years against many and great discouragements all show the mettle and unconquerable spirit of the man. Coming to Portland at an early period of its history, lie at once displayed a belief in its future, as wonderful as it was unswerving. Through days of doubt, seasons of sunshine and storm; he never lost faith; and the city's marvelous growth during the past few years has been but a fulfillment of what he always claimed was surely coming. His faith led him to make many investments in the city when most men doubted his wisdom in doing so, but the large fortune he now possesses as the result of these early investments has proven the correctness of his judgment. Judge Marquam has led a remarkably active life, but possesses a hearty and rugged constitution which no excesses have impaired, and to-day he enjoys the best of healthı, and presents the appearance of one much younger than his years. A man of direct methods and perfect integrity, he has ever maintained an unsullied record for business probity and as a high minded Christian gentleman. Secure in the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens, it is to be hoped that many years of peaceful con- forts may be in store for this honored pioneer of l'ortland whose career is inseparably linked with the city's growth and progress.
ODD, CHARLES H. In no summary of the forces and agencies which have made D) the Pacific Northwest within the last two decades take such rapid strides in material greatness, should be omitted the part bourne by the subject of this sketch. For- nearly a quarter of a century he has been a conceded power for good in the com- mercial, intellectual and moral progress of a wide extent of country, and has left in inany places and on many things the impress of his individual work. The following sketch of his life belongs very properly to the history of a city where lie has long resided and held such a prominent place in public affairs.
Charles H. Dodd was born in New York City, February 26, 1838, and is of English parentage, both his father and mother having been born in England. At the age of nine he left New York and became an inmate of the home of a daughter of John Bissell, at Stamford, Connecticut. His education up to this period had been carefully conducted and his progress had heen beyond that of most boys of that age. At Stamford he was enabled not only to enjoy exceptional educational advantages, but the influences which surrounded him were such as tended to develope a strong, self- reliant character, and give a proper direction to his mode of thought and action. A member of a family of culture and refinement, and in a community which represented the highest type of New England life, there was naturally inculcated within him a
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spirit of self-reliance; a feeling that the accident of birth conferred no patent to mobility; that the only things worthy of respect were work and worth, and an intense admiration for the principles underlaying our representative republican form of government. Amid influences thus wholesome he passed perhaps the most important period of a boy's life, pursuing his studies with such avidity and under such favorable conditions that at the age of twelve he had gained a fair English and Latin education and three years later was far enough advanced to enter Yale college, which famous educational institution he then entered with the intention at the time of finishing the full course. Two years later, however, just before he had completed the Sopho- more year, an incident occurred that turned the whole current of his life. At this time, 1855, the project of building a railroad1 across the Isthmus of Panama, to facilitate the increased travel caused by the discovery of gold in California, was under way. It was an undertaking beset with dangers and hardships, and up to the time mentioned hundreds of lives has been lost in the enterprise. Men competent and willing to run the many risks involved were hard to find. In looking for recruits, Col. Totten, engineer-in-chief of the road, came to New Haven and before the students in Yale college explained the undertaking and solicited the aid of any brave enough tojoin in the work. It was a project likely to arouse the interest of any young, ener- getic, healthy and adventuresome boy. Young Dodd with three others volunteered to join the engineering corps; was accepted, and without delay started for the field of operations. For nearly a year he was engaged in this hazardous and novel work, gaining an experience in many particulars hoth unique and interesting. Commen- cing at Aspinwall (now known as Colon), he proceeded with the engineering party the whole distance now traversed by the road to Panama, a portion of the way being along the Chagres River, where he contracted the well known "Chagres" fever, and for several weeks was so ill that liis life was despaired of. He, however, recovered in time to proceed with his party, being one of the comparatively few who originally started out who remained until the work was completed.
At Panama he fell in with C. K. Garrison, a prominent figure in the early com- mercial history of California; at that time agent of the Nicaraugna Steamship Company, and who three years previously had established the first banking house at Panama. By Mr. Garrison he was sent to San Francisco on the steamer Golden Gate. Upon his arrival in San Francisco he secured employment with Farwell & Curtiss, hardware and commission merchants. His work for this firm after he had been with them some .ime brought him through a most valuable experience. Ile was selected to find the whereabouts of a vessel belonging to Peabody & Co., a well known ship- ping house, of Boston, which had been either lost or stolen, but which, it was presumed, was at some port in South America. In fulfilling the task assigned him, Mr. Dodd made perhaps a more extended journey through South America than up to that time had been made by anyone from the northern part of the Western Continent. Leaving San Francisco near the close of 1855, he proceeded hy steamer to Panama, thence along the western coast to Callao; thence further south, crossing the Andes from Concepcion, he proceeded to Mendaza, Buenos Ayres, Montevideo and Rio Janeiro. From the latter point he proceeded by steamer to Panama, finally reaching San Francisco, after having spent nearly a year on the journey and being perhaps the first American to cross the Andes from Concepcion. He succeeded in finding the vessel he went in search of at Monteivdeo, which he supplied with a new captain and crew and sent to Boston.
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HISTORY OF PORTLAND.
Upon his return to San Francisco, after so many months of adventure and excite- meut, it was not strange that Mr. Dodd should look for avenues of employment offering more to stimulate his fancies than the prosaic life of trade could offer. The mines seemed to offer such a field, and he, therefore, began the life of a miner, beginning his search for the "golden fleece" in Grass Valley, Nevada country, where he remained two years. From thence he worked with his companions at Gold Bar, on the South Yuba. He then followed in the train of the Washoe excitement and went to Virginia City, Nevada, and was among the early discoverers of the Esmeralda mines. Although he was moderately successful in mining he became convinced, after quite an extended experience, that wealth, however great, gained at the expense of all domestic ties or elevating social life would be acquired at too great a sacrifice. So in 1861 he abandoned mining and with the capital he had acquired he opened a hard- ware store in Esmeralda in connection with Win. Molininx, continuing in business for four years with a fair degree of success. In the meantime, near the close of 1864, he joined the Esmeralda Mounted Rifles; was elected lieutenant of the company, and accompanied his command to Arizona, where it was sent to quell the raid of the Piutes and Mohave Indians on San Carlos and upon inhabitants of Owen Lakes country. In this service he was engaged until Angust, 1865, when he resigned his commission and resumed business at Esmeralda.
In May, 1866, Mr. Dodd was married to Lucy A. Sproat, a native of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Life now began to assume a new aspect. He began to feel the neces- sity of establishing a home where there would be a degree of permanency such as no strictly mining locality ever offers. With this idea in mind he sold out his business at Esmeralda and started for Salt Lake City, where he contemplated establishing a hardware store in connection with the Hawley Bros., of San Francisco. The Mor- mons held undisputed control of Salt Lake City at that time and President Brigham Young ruled affairs with all the absolutism of the Czar of Russia. Mr. Dodd was soon informed that he could not start in business at that point unless he would agree to pay tithes to the Mormon rulers, this he refused to do. He, therefore, began to look for a more inviting field for beginning operations, and came to Oregon. After making a tour of the State, he located at Salem where he established a hardware store in September, 1866. For two years he was rewarded with moderate success when he disposed of his stock and in October, 1868, came to Portland where he opened the hardware story of Hawley, Dodd & Co., Edward A. Ilawley being his partner and M. C., Walter N. and Geo. A. Hawley, of San Francisco, furnishing a portion of the capital to start the business, and becoming their financial backers, but all the details of the business, its management and development, were entrusted to Mr. Dodd and partner, but Mr. Dodd, possessing a most thorough knowledge of the business, assumed practically its control and direction. In 1880, he bought out his partners' interest and has since been sole proprietor, although the firm name of Chas. II. Dodd & Co., has been retained. From a concern with limited capital against strong compe_ tition the business has grown to large proportions, and now employs a capital of from $350,000 to 500,000 and for many years has maintained branch stores at Albany and Athena, Oregon; Spokane, Pullman, Colfax and Walla Walla, Washing- ton, and Moscow and Lewiston, Idaho.
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