USA > Oregon > Douglas County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 53
USA > Oregon > Jackson County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 53
USA > Oregon > Josephine County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 53
USA > Oregon > Coos County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 53
USA > Oregon > Curry County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 53
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WALLING - LITH-PORTLAND -DR.
RESIDENCE OF T. J. SINGLETON, ROSE BURG, DOUGLAS CO.
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JACKSON COUNTY.
to a grist mill. Pleasant Stone and Hathaway are supposed to have been the first settlers on Little Butte, as they arrived there in the stormy winter of 1852-3. Soon after came Tobias Linkwiler, Levi Tinkham, N. A. Young, Judge Silas J. Day, and Ed. Day, Robert Cameron, Champion Collier, William Collier, John Marshall, and some few previously mentioned. By the time of the last Indian war the settlement had become largely increased, so much so that quite a large military company- Alcorn's-was recruited among the hardy settlers of Butte. At that time all the people were "forted up." Above Brownsborough, on the north fork of the creek is a some- what remarkable soda spring, which was discovered by John Mathews in 1865. Taking a land claim there, Mr. Mathews sold to James T. Glenn. Mr. Simon McCallister now owns the location. The water is said to possess wonderful healing properties, and the place is regarded as a good site for a sanitarium, a Saratoga, as it were, for the invalids of the coast. The north and south forks, Lick, Salt, Osborne, Dead Indian, Antelope, and Dry creeks are tributaries of Little Butte, and are of some importance by reason of the farming and timber land upon their banks, and the grazing to be had. The . land is generally mountainous, the soil rather poor, excepting small tracts of bottom land. The timber is mainly oak, fir, pine, yew, madrone and cedar, and undergrowth of hazel, juniper, dogwood, greasewood and service berry abounds.
WILLOW SPRINGS, a point of some celebrity, was one of the very first settlements made in Jackson county. N. C. Dean settled here in 1851, taking up a donation claim, as previously stated. A little later John Kennedy joined Mr. Dean, and the two kept for several years a wayside hostelry. Kennedy was finally killed by the Indians at Hungry Hill, and his partner, too, has gone the way of all flesh. Near the springs pay dirt was struck in 1852, and successfully worked for many years, and, in faet, to the present date. At this place Mr. Nicholas Cook has a store of general mer- chandise, and keeps the post-office. Not far away is Lane's creek, a mining locality from which considerable gold has been taken, but chiefly memorable for a murder committed upon its banks. The victim was an old man naned Lane, from whom the stream derives its name.
KANE'S CREEK, called also T'Vault's creek, was named for Dr. Kane, who settled near by, in 1853. The other name is that of the once celebrated colonel and editor, T'Vault, who also abode in the vicinity, being the first to arrive. Dr. G. II. Ambrose, Indian agent, came next after the colonel, and John Swinden, now living in the vicinity, came in July, 1853, being the oldest resident of the locality. The stream is small, but is of some importance from its placer diggings, which, like those of all the neighborhood, cannot be made profitable because of lack of water. The farming lands upon the creek are contracted in area, whereby agricultural operations are slight.
The course of Rogue river, previously nearly south, turns sharply to the west on reaching Upper Table Rock and the mouth of Little Butte creek. It pursues this direction for the remainder of its course through Jackson county, and as far as the confluence of the Applegate, in Josephine county. From the Upper Table Rock the river flows by a constant succession of localities made memorable by important occur- rences in the past. Here are the Table Rocks, Bybee's (before styled Hailey's) ferry, Fort Lane, Big Bar-famed for having been so early a mining locality-Gold Hill, Foot's creek, the Dardanelles, Bloody Run, Evans' creek, Evans' ferry, Jewitt's ferry, 49
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Vannoy's ferry, Long's ferry, and numerous other celebrated historical localities. In the four townships through which the river flows in its course from Upper Table Rock to the border of Josephine county, have occurred a very great proportion of the histor- ical incidents of Southern Oregon. In the lapse of a third of a century, nearly every square mile of its surface has become historical ground. Possibly no similar area in the United States has ever been the scene of so many and such varied occurrences, and certainly there is not on the Pacific coast a tract which, in that respect, bears an equal comparison.
About the Table Rocks lived the powerful and warlike Rogue River tribe of Indians. Their war chief's name yet endures in the familiar designation of Sam's valley. In the beautiful little vale behind the Table Rocks, he and his people dwelt ; and in that neighborhood they waged battle against the whites. They were defeated by Major Kearney on the west bank of the river, some miles above the rocks ; they fought the bravest men of Jacksonville at their rancheria further down the river ; they were beaten by Lane in 1853; Fort Lane was built to awe and protect them in the fol- lowing year, this fortification standing on the south side of the river, just east from Gold Hill, and not far below the month of Bear creek. Here the military remained until the summer of 1856, in which year the band of Chief Sam left their old home, escorted by 100 troops, and traveled into the, to them, unknown country west of the Willamette, whence the most of them have, ere this, gone over to the silent majority. A few straying members of the band came back for a visit at a later date, as the people of Sam's and neighboring valleys still remember. But their mission was peaceful ; and soon the country knew them no more forever.
GOLD HILL is most peculiar in its character. From it was taken, as already explained, a remarkable deposit of gold. The hill, so-called, is perhaps 800 feet high, is abont twelve miles from Jacksonville and borders the river, which forms two sides of a triangle, the hill standing in the center. There are many indications that Gold Hill was an enormous slide which broke off from the mountains to the west and fell in the valley below. The valley separating the two elevations is narrow, and through it flows the river, which is compelled to make a sharp turn because of the hill interposed in its course. Some persons have concluded from an examination of the region about Gold Hill that the supposed slide cansed a great lake above by damming up the waters and causing them to overflow the Bear creek and connected valleys, whereby the various gravels and sedimentary rocks which underlie so large a part of the region were formed. They instance the beach marks on Table Rock, the sand cliffs at the head and along the side of the valley, and the worn and drifted appearance of gravel and boulders on "Big Sticky." Whatever may have been its origin, it is a very singular eminence and contains curious mineral substances worthy of examination by scientific men. Iron ore is found there in masses, and a company was formed to work the ore, but nothing came of it. About the base of Gold Hill lies the tract of the great railway line which is to connect California with the Pacific Northwest. Along the steep granite sides of the hill the engineers laboured for months, blasting and excavating with tireless will the adamant bulwarks opposing them. The passage of Rogue river and the cuts about Gold Hill are considered very remarkable works of engineering skill and perseverence and well repay an examination.
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At Big Bar, just by Gold Hill, much mining was done in the early years. At one time in 1852 a rush of miners took place to the bar, where not less than 200 men were prospecting. Generally speaking their work was unprofitable. On several occa- sions companies have been formed and much money expended in endeavoring to dam the river and turn its waters across the bar, whereby its channel may be left dry and the sands worked; but thus far without success. It was considered a great mining enterprise when, in the summer of 1860, a dam was thrown across the river, but the scheme proved abortive, little gold being found in the gravel. In 1875 the Big Bar and Rogue River Mining Company, of Portland, incorporated with a capital of $20,000, for the purpose of " turning the river and working the bar, and improving the naviga- tion of the Rogue river." This scheme was likewise unsuccessful.
THE DARDANELLES, in the neighborhood of Gold Hill, is at present known as the T'Vault place. Here dwelt the colonel and here were gathered the white settlers to seek protection from the Indians in time of war. Near by was Doctor G. H. Ambrose's donation claim. In 1860, the Dardanelles sprang into new life and activity through the establishment of Klippel, MeLaughlin and Williams' steam quartz mill to reduce the rock from the newly discovered Gold Hill mine. A hotel, the Adams House, was put up and other improvements were inaugurated. But soon the " boom " ceased, the mine was exhausted, and the Dardanelles sunk into its previous obscurity.
FOOT'S CREEK was prospected in early times by O. G. Foot, a miner, who dis- covered rich gravel in its bed. From him the stream derived its name. It became celebrated as a mining region in 1852, and ever since has yielded considerably. Lack of water has prevented the larger bodies of gravel from being worked, and it is judged that the introduction of large hydraulic streams would pay very largely and contin- uously. The claims owned by G. W. Lance and S. Duffy are the most extensive. Near the Birdsey place, which is on the south side of the river, stood the army hos- pital for the sick and wounded soldiers of the war of 1855-6. The building used was a double house of hewed logs, which still stands and is in use as a stable. Afterwards the medical department moved to Jacksonville.
ROCK POINT stands upon the north bank of the river, in township 36, range 3 west. It is characterized by an excellent location, being upon the railroad, of which it is an important station, and in the geographical center of the two counties of Jack- son and Josephine. Its name, like those of many other localities, is self-explanatory, and was given, probably in 1852, by packers or miners. The post-office was estab- lished in in 1857 or 1858, with J. B. White as postmaster, the same being the original town proprietor. L. J. White built the first hotel, in 1864, and two years previously Abram Schulz had put up a blacksmith shop. Haymond & White dealt in merchan- dise, beginning in 1868, and the latter partner sold to the Magruder brothers, Il. H. and Constantine, in 1874, so remaining until now. Rock Point now contains a store, hotel, livery stable, blacksmith shop, saloon, post-office, school house and telegraph office. Above the town a short distance is the railroad bridge across Rogue river, a very considerable structure over 1,000 feet long, substantial and durable, one of the succession of extensive engineering works by which the iron causeway attains the valley.
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SOUTHERN OREGON
WOODVILLE, through which passes the railway, at present of but little note, is located at the mouth of Evans' creek, which terminates here. The creek is a considerable stream, upon whose banks for many years miners have labored, and the horny-handed agriculturist is now settling. The stream was named for Davis Evans, nicknamed Coyote, proprietor of the well-known ferry. Prospected for gold before the war of 1853, it was then abandoned by whites from fear of the Indians, and on the final settlement of these difficulties in 1856, the Chinese, then coming in large numbers, took possession of the ground, and mined successfully. They were driven out by whites when their good fortune became known, and the latter took the claims and made good wages. Various other mineral substances of value are found upon this stream. Quicksilver was mined in 1874, and quite an excitement followed. Many locations were made and an assay office was established in Woodville. A salt spring exists there, and Fuller & Company erected apparatus, in 1864, to evaporate the water and to purify the con- tained salt. One of the affluents of Evans' creek, called Pleasant creek from the name of Pleasant Armstrong, who was killed in Lane's battle with the Indians on a tributary of Evans' creek, in August, 1853, afforded pay-dirt to quite a number of miners about the year 1860. Sardine creek enters the Rogue river on the north side, just above Rock Point, and it, too, has a history as a mining region. Its mines were discovered in 1853 by a prospector living with A. J. Kane, near the Dardanelles. The story of its riches went forth, and within a few days a large number of miners were on the ground. The peculiar name, says Mr. Kane, is derived from the fact that sardines formed a part of the provisions of the first arrivals. The banks of the stream were worked extensively, afterward, by whites and Chinese, between whom the usual one-sided antagonism existed.
GRANT'S PASS. - The westernmost village of Jackson county, has long been known as Grant's Pass. At first, known only as a station of the O. & C. stage company where the horses were changed, and tired passengers consoled themselves with an excellent meal, the place took on a new phase with the advent of the railway, and became very quickly the liveliest town of its size in Oregon. Speculative men had lots surveyed and forced them on the market, and houses went up thereon with magical quickness. Grant's Pass is a typical railway town, its interests centering in the arrival and departure of trains, the extension of the road, and the patronage of the train-men, more than aught else. It possesses hotels, saloons, shops of various sorts, and perhaps two scores of dwelling houses where, six months since, hardly a building was in sight. But its principal building is the railway depot, a structure similar in design and construction to those adopted by the O. & C. R. R. Company for all its stations, and built with the highest regard to convenience and beauty. Consequently, the elegant depots of the various railway stations in Southern Oregon, are thus far the architectural culmination of the villages in which they are located. At Grant's Pass the construction and repair shops of the railway are to be permantly situated.
TALLENT is the modern name of the locality formerly called Wagner creek, from Wagner, the earliest settler. It is a station of the Oregon and California railway, and a place of some importance in the history of Jackson county, inasmuch as near by was formed in very early times a well known settlement. In the time of the Indian war of 1853 the Wagner house was a resort of the surrounding settlers who came there for protection from the savages. It is now a thriving and busy locality.
WALLING -LITH-PORTLAND-OR
FARM & RESIDENCE OF W.B. SINGLETON, DEER CREEKVALLEY, DOUGLAS CO.
CHAPTER XLV.
OREGON AND CALIFORNIA RAILROAD.
Early Efforts to Construct a Road- Oregon and California Grant- Line built to Roseburg- Difficulties of the Com- pany-Extension of the Line Southward Difficulty of Construction-Triumph of Engineering Skill-Its Im- portance to Southern Oregon-Character of its Management.
The construction of a line of railroad to pass up the Willamette valley and enter California by way of the Umpqua and Rogue River valleys, engaged the attention of enterprising citizens of Oregon, while yet it was a territory. Several railroad charters were granted by various legislatures, but none of these projects ever assumed a more tangible shape. In the winter of 1865-6 Simon G. Elliott procured from congress a land grant subsidy for such a line, and immediately came to Oregon and incorporated a company to enjoy its benefits. The managers of the enterprise were Ben Holladay & Co. Bonds were sold at fifty per cent., and money enough realized to construct a line 200 miles south from Portland, terminating at Roseburg in 1872. The advent of this road into Southern Oregon, although it penetrated only to the center of Douglas county, was an event of supreme importance. The whole region brought within the cirele of its influence was invigorated and entered upon a season of unwonted pros- perity. For nearly ten years Roseburg remained the southern terminus, and reaped all the benefit to be derived from such a desirable situation. Mneh litigation had attended the operations of Ben Holladay, and the company soon became bankrupt. The German bondholders decided to take possession of the property, and sent Henry Villard here to look after their interests. Out of confusion he brought order, and transformed a bankrupt railroad into a paying enterprise. In 1882 an agreement was entered into with the managers of the Central; Pacific to extend that road northward from the Sacramento valley, and work was then begun at Roseburg to continue this line southward to meet the Central Pacific at the Oregon and California line. This work, as well as the management of the whole road, is under the direct supervision of Mr. R. Koehler, vice-president of the company. Mr. Koehler brings to bear in the handling of the road an experience and judgment that are extremely valuable. He is an affable, courteous gentleman, enjoying the confidence and respect of the owners of the road, as well as all who come in contact with him socially, or in business matters. His official conduct is marked by an enlightened regard for the true interests of the country through which the road passes. The task of extending the road beyond Rose- burg has proved an arduous one.
The construction of the railway through this entire region has been marked by the greatest dispatch consistent with thorough workmanship, and the engineer- ing difficulties to be overcome. The material used is in every particular of the very best procurable. Steel rails of the finest manufacture have been laid, and the greatest
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pains have been taken in the selection of other articles. The utmost resources of the saw-mills of the whole region have been brought into requisition to provide the neces- sary lumber for the bridges, culverts, etc.,and for other indispensable purposes. What- ever of the supplies that were attainable in the surrounding country have been pur- chased there, and employment thus given to the neighboring settlers. Another source of revenue to the latter class has arisen from their employment in the construction of the road-bed, for which an immense treasure has been disbursed.
The advent of the iron horse forms, as it were, an epoch in the history of this section hardly second in greatness and importance to the settlement of the country itself. Railroad communication with the outer world is to the inhabitants of Southern Oregon a matter of deepest significance; its effects, extending to the very groundwork of society, and penetrating every branch of business and every industrial occupation, and making themselves felt by every individual, no matter in what situation he may find himself. The ordinary importance of such an event is here intensified many fold by reason of the previous utter isolation of the region-an isolation which has been pre- viously dwelt upon herein, and which has scarcely a parallel in any extensive civilized locality. The results of the new and improved condition of things have already been felt beneficially, even to the utmost limits of the habitable part of the country, and business, formerly of limited extent and uncertain intent, has gained a wider scope and more steadfast character. The conditions which surrounded the settlement of this region disappeared with celerity at the first blast of the locomotive whistle, and these mountain valleys became at that moment a part of the world at large, and bade adien at once to their former seclusion and lax habits of business.
The immensely expensive work of preparing the road-bed through the rough and mountainous region between the Umpqua and Rogue rivers, which more than once had been pronounced impassable for a railroad, weighed upon their resources, but in a sur- prisingly short space of time, these difficulties were conquered and the army of con- struction moved on to attack the enemy in even a stronger position among the peaks and gorges of the rugged Siskiyou range. It was among these lofty and rugged moun- tains that the greatest difficulties had to be met, and the greatest and most extensive engineering operations carried on. In that portion of the line between Barron's and the state line the obstacles were of the most serious nature, and severely taxed the most powerful resources. The work of building the road across these mountains encounters difficulties almost unparalled in the history of railway construction in this country, and far beyond most European roads. Their extent has previously prevented the union of California with Oregon by rail, and except for the energy, perseverance and discern- ment of the principal officers of the Oregon and California railway company, might have retarded that union for years to come. There are in Douglas and Josephine counties nine tunnels, some of them quite extensive, and in the Siskiyou region there are seven more. Tunnel, number 13, known as Buck Rock tunnel, is 1,650 feet in length, and number 15, the great Siskiyou tunnel, is 3,070 feet long. Siskiyou tunnel, besides being the longest upon the road, will take rank as the highest also, being 4,152 feet above the sea-level.
DOUGLAS COUNTY.
CHAPTER XLVI.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
Position-Boundaries-Area-Topography-Water Courses The Umpqua River-Attempts to Navigate the Stream-Channel Improved by the Government The Cascade Mountains-Grand Scenery Snowy Peaks and Mirror Lakes-Game and Fish of the Cascades-The North Umpqua-The Coast Range.
Of the five counties embraced within the scope of this work, Douglas is the largest and lies farthest to the north. It is bounded on the north by Lane county, on the east by the summit of the Cascade mountains, on the south by the counties of Jackson and Josephine, and on the west by Coos county and the Pacific ocean. Its area is estimated at 4,950 square miles, or about one-twentieth of the whole state of Oregon, of which it is one of the most important and prosperous counties. Its shape is quite irregular, since its boundary lines follow principally the courses of rivers and mountain ranges, and its greatest length is 121 miles, running northwest and southeast.
Douglas county includes the region commonly known as the Umpqua valley ; but this term as we shall see is a misnomer. The only resemblance to a valley consists in the basin-like depression which the whole county forms when contrasted with the height of the mountains which encompass it. To the east lie the Cascades; north are the Calapooias ; south are the Canyon and the Rogue river mountains; while on the west lies that portion of the Coast Range known as the Umpqua mountains. These ranges are mostly co-incident with the county boundaries as established by law, hence it can be seen that nature has set apart this region and surrounded it with rocky walls. The interior of this great basin is composed of small valleys, plains, canyons, gorges, hills and mountains. Irregular ranges proceed from the main mountain chains and cross the county in various directions, cansing an endless variety of hill and dale, meadow land and high elevation. The highest spurs proceed from the Cascades, and diverging westward, enclose between them the various eastern confluents of the Ump- qua, namely, the North Umpqua, South Umpqua, Calapooia, Deer, Cougar, Dead Man's, Bear, Coffee, Day's, and Myrtle, creeks or rivers. From the Canyon moun- tains rises Cow creek, which enters the South Umpqua. In the hills of the south- western portion the Olalla [Olilly], Ten Mile and Looking-glass creeks take their rise, flowing northwest into the South Umpqua. Hubbard, Lake and Camp ereeks, rising in the Umpqua mountains, lose themselves in the main Umpqua, into which run the Calapooia and Elk creeks. Smith river rises in the northern part of the county med flowing west empties into the same stream near its month. Only one important stream
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SOUTHERN OREGON.
within the limits of the county reaches the ocean direct. The Siuslaw, after a course of about fifty miles, runs into the Pacific without first communicating with the prin- cipal river. These streams, with hundreds of lesser size, constitute the means of drainage of the entire region. These means are perfect. The best and clearest water flowing from thousands of springs pervades the whole county, making it one of the best watered districts imaginable.
The Umpqua is second only to the Willamette of the interior streams of Oregon in its value as an artery of commerce, and deserves a somewhat extended description. In 1879 it was surveyed by government engineers, from whose report the following is condensed. It rises in the Cascade mountains and flows westward for 180 miles, measured along its sinuosities, entering the Pacific ocean 175 miles south of the mouth of the Columbia. Its principal branches are the North and South Umpqua, which unite ninety-six miles above its mouth. It drains with its tributaries an area of 4,200 square miles of mountainous country. Scottsburg, situated on the north bank of the river, twenty-six miles from its mouth, is the head of navigation. Above this the channel presents a succession of rapids and deep pools. From Scottsburg to Gardiner, at the head of the Umpqua bay, a distance of seventeen miles, navigation at present is carried on by means of steamboats, which make regular trips between the two points, carrying the mails, passengers and freight. Six miles below Scottsburg the river is from 300 to 1,500 feet deep, except at shoals hereafter to be noticed. Along this section it flows between steep, rugged hills of terraced sand- stone, from 500 to 1,000 feet high, whose slopes extend generally in an unbroken line into the water. Five miles below Scottsburg the river begins to widen. From this point to the head of the bay its width varies from 1,000 to 2,400 feet, while the bases of the hills receding from the banks, leave several strips of level land from three to six feet above mean tide level. All of the arable land on the Umpqua, below Scottsburg, is contained in these mesdows, whose combined area does not exceed 2,000 acres. They are well adapted to agriculture and grazing, the soil being rich and the vegetation easily cleared.
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