USA > Oregon > Douglas County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 55
USA > Oregon > Jackson County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 55
USA > Oregon > Josephine County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 55
USA > Oregon > Coos County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 55
USA > Oregon > Curry County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 55
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The timber covering the Coast Range differs in some respects from that of the Cascades, the chief point of distinction being the vast quantity of white cedar to be found in these coast mountains. Though found on the eastern slope, this valuable tree is only seen in its splendor and abundance on the sides of the mountains that look out upon the sea. The red cedar also exists in quantity. Red and white fir and spruce are also found in abundance. Along the water courses, especially on the western slope, myrtle is found in such quantities as to dispute the pre-eminence of the stately firs and cedars. The myrtle is known in California as laurel or pepper-wood, and in other places as the bay tree. Not less imposing in appearance, though less numerous, are the maples which fairly divide the traveler's attention with the myrtles. These prefer likewise the soft, mellow soil of the bottom lands. They grow as high as their neigh- bors and perhaps slightly higher, but so equal are they all in size, height and appear- ance that the harmony of the groves is unbroken. Both grow from fifty to seventy feet, stand at regular distances and form a dense shade. Both are deciduous ; that is, they drop their leaves at a certain season and stand uncovered before the blasts of win- ter. Their rich foliage lies upon the ground to quietly decompose and add its elements to the soil already enriched by the deposits of centuries. The resulting mould forms the richest and most easily cultivated soil of which the state of Oregon can boast. For root crops and grasses it has no equal.
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As yet the forests of the Coast Range stand almost in their primeval condition. Here and there the mountain side is scared with great patches of black, sometimes miles in extent, where forest fires have ravaged the vergin forest ; but man has made little impression upon them in taking out the few thousand feet of lumber his needs have required. The patches cleared by settlers, chiefly the maple and myrtle from the bottom lands, represent the most considerable inroads upon the forests; when slaughtered, or " slashed," for that purpose, the trees are generally disposed of by burning. The timber forests of Douglas will be a source of wealth to her people for many generations to come.
There is another element of natural wealth, and that is the mineral treasure the earth contains, both of gold and silver. The most important mineral region is the Bohemia district, situated in the Calapooia mountains, about fifty miles northeast from Oakland, and seventy miles southeast of Eugene City. The quartz ledges are chiefly found in the immediate neighborhood of three peaks, named Mounts Majesty, Fairview and Grouse. One Johnson, a prospector, discovered the ledges in 1867. In the next year several persons examined the locality, ascertaining that a very large number of gold and silver-bearing veins existed there. The most prominent ledge, named Excelsior, is situated upon the crest of Grouse mountain from which a precepi- tous canyon descends, affording access to the vein at great depths, with comparatively little tunneling, and obviating the use of pumping and hoisting works. Assays were early made of this ore, the results reaching two thousand dollars per ton. An ample supply of ore for years was at hand. Judge Mosher and other gentlemen of Roseburg became owners of claims in this district and set about developing them, after a great deal of expense and trouble to find them profitless. Mr. Veatch, a capable mineralo- gist and expert, since deceased, made a journey to these mines under the auspices of the owners and reported thereon at length, describing them in flattering terms and only taking exceptions to the road thence which he denounced as of unparalleled difficulty. With great difficulty and at a cost of three thousand dollars the Bohemia and Cala- pooia Ridge route to the mines was opened in 1871.
Many unavailing efforts were made to work these mines, but without success. John Rast, of Roseburg, owning a claim, became much interested therein, but his dis- coveries extended only to finding an extraordinary species of animal life in the snow thereabouts. Joseph Knott and son, of Portland, purchased a steam quartz mill of five stamps and ten-horse power, transported it at great cost and trouble to the top of the mountain and set it up. His venture was not altogether unsuccessful, if we may believe newspaper reports, for his mine produced some very valuable ore. From a crushing, of one hundred tons the yield averaged forty-five dollars per ton-an extraordinary production for any gold quartz mine. No base metals were found in the rock to render amalgamation difficult, and the gold was free and coarse. Even under such desirable conditions work soon ceased and has not since been resumed. It is to be understood from this that the veins carried but small percentage of gold-bearing quartz, the greater proportion being barren rock. Bohemia District is now practically abandoned ; but the not distant future may see its mines re-opened and work carried on with vigor. Developments showed that silver-bearing rock existed to some extent, one very rich streak having yielded chloride of silver to the amount of nearly two hundred dollars
RESIDENCE OF H. C. STANTON, ROSEBURG, DOUGLAS CO.
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per ton. This fact is of importance as pointing out what form future developments may take. Quartz ledges also exist on Poorman's creek, between Olilly and Cow creeks, and at other places in the county.
From the vicinity of the Bohemia district flows Steamboat creek, which has its sources high in the Calapooia mountains, at an altitude of not less than 7,000 feet. Along the creek there are several thousand acres of land, good, not only for agricul- tural, but mineral pursuits. In 1860 several persons were engaged in mining on the stream, among whom was Robert Easton, who made with a short sluice from two to four dollars a day. Another attempt was made by a company in 1864, but a difference in their councils stopped the work when it was likely to be profitable. Since that time nothing has been done, and one of the best portions of the county has remained a wilderness. The creek is accessible from Patterson's mill by an Indian trail; but small difficulty would be found in building an excellent wagon road to the headwaters of the most magnificent branch of the North Umpqua, which will develop a section of the county unsurpassed for mining or grazing purposes, without counting its agricul- tural facilities.
About the time when Steamboat creek was being prospected, miners were also examining the other tributaries of the North Umpqua with a view to working the auriferons sands. In 1870 placers were discovered on Fall creek, flowing into the south side of the river, in township 26 south, range 3 west. Eor a time the miners were said to be making from four to ten dollars per day. These deposits proved of small extent, however, and were soon abandoned. On White Rock creek, Copperhead creek, and neighboring small streams the " color" was easily found, and a small amount of gold was taken out, chiefly by some half dozen men, among whom was R. L. Cavitt, now residing in the vicinity of his mining labors. Three hundred dollars were the result of his operations in a certain small gulch. The deposits of gravel, though pay- ing pretty well for a short time, proved of too small extent to be of importance, and placer mining upon the North Umpqua and its tributaries is a thing of the past.
Placer mining has been carried on for a number of years in a desultory manner and with varied success, on Cow creek, and its tributaries, Tennessee gulch, Hog 'Em and Starve-out. Cow creek takes its rise on the south side of the Umpqua mountains, but turning north cuts through these mountains and empties into the South Umpqua about twenty miles south of Roseburg. Hog 'Em, Starve-out and Tennessee gulch are south of the canyon. Placer gold has also been discovered and mined on Coffee creek, a stream which empties into the South Umpqua twenty miles above Canyonville ; on Olilly, a branch of Looking Glass creek ; on Poorman's ereck near Canyonville ; and on Myrtle creek. Mining is now being quite extensively pursued along Cow creek, where the hydraulic process is being used to some extent. There are no data by which the amount of gold obtained from these mines can be ascertained, but it is very considerable, the most of them having yielded largely when first discovered. They are all surface diggings, and having been carelessly worked, have for the most part been abandoned to the Chinese, who undoubtedly work them with profit.
Quicksilver is another mineral to be found in Douglas county, and for several years the cinnabar ore has been worked to advantage. In 1882 the firm of Todd, Emerson & Co. made a run of 100 tons of ore at their Elk Head mine, and took out
51
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500 lbs. of quicksilver, besides which some 200 lbs. more remained in the condensers. They claimed to have an abundant supply of ore, their works passing through over thirty feet of paying rock. This company began work in 1880. The Nonpareil and Bonanza mines, both worked by the Quicksilver Mining Company, are in the vicinity of Oakland. Tellurium, also, is being mined by the Tellurium Mining. Company, which has been at work several years with good success. Copper and nickel are found, but no mine is being worked. Valuable deposits of lime rock and cement also exist.
The item of coal must not be omitted in detailing the bountiful gifts nature has bestowed upon this region. Coos county, adjoining Douglas on the west and south- west, is almost a solid bed of coal beneath the surface, and this broad expanse of car- boniferous veins extends far into Douglas county. Coal also exists in the Calapooia mountains. No effort is being made to develop this great resource in this county, but it lies there ready to yield up its treasure to those who seek it. With the most dili- gent and extensive working of these mines the fields would remain inexhaustible for centuries to come.
The most permanent, reliable and available source of wealth Douglas possesses, is her winding valleys and fertile soil. Here thousands of people have built their houses, and here they draw from the willing earth the food that supports many thousands more. Though small in proportion to the whole area of the county, the total of valley and bottom lands amounts to many thousands of acres. The valleys have, in the main, long since been cleared of obstructing timber and subdued to the yoke of the plow, or fitted for the grazing of sheep and cattle, There is, however, much bottom land, and some valleys somewhat remote from the usual routes of travel, which can still be located upon by those seeking homes. When the land has been denuded of its enormous store of trees, the flats, hills and bottoms become valuable for the crops they will raise or the herds they will support. The soil is good ; no other could support the immense growth of trees and shrubs. It is mostly a dark mould derived from the decomposition of vegetable matter, as leaves, roots, trunks of trees, and their admixture with earthly ingredients, carried sometimes by the floods upon low lands, or by the force of gravity from higher elevations. A sort of rich, red loam is frequent, a gravelly soil of less productiveness covers large tracts, and sticky clays, of various colors and appearances, are often found. Quite to the top of high hills the best of soil is found, and few locali- ties are so sterile as to be unable to produce grass sufficient for the support of sheep or stock. Wheat, oats, barley, corn, flax seed, vegetables, etc., produce in abundance. Potatoes and other root crops are of superior quality. The Umpqua basin is the only portion of Oregon lying west of the Cascades, except Rogue River valley, where corn can be produced in quantity and quality to make it profitable. The season of 1883 was a phenominally dry one, the total rainfall at Roseburg being but 22.48 inches, while in June, July and August but .05 of an inch fell. Notwithstanding this fact the grain crop of this region was a large one, many fields yielding from thirty to thirty- five bushels of wheat to the acre in fields as large as 100 acres.
The sheep and wool of the Umpqua valley are the most celebrated of Oregon, and Umpqua fleeces command the highest price in the San Francisco market of all that reach the city from the Pacific coast. It was several years after the settlement of Umpqua valley before sheep were introduced in considerable number. The Applegates, of Ump-
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qua, were the first to enter upon wool growing, and from the flocks of Charles Applegate many of the later sheep owners obtained their start. The sheep of this flock were without pretentions to purity of blood, were a hardy, useful, good framed and tolerably well wooled lot, shearing about four pounds of medium lengthed wool to the fleece, and may be taken as a fair type of the average sheep. From the Willamette valley and from California importations were made at times, varying much in quality. From the former region came the splendid flock of of merinos owned by T. Smith, a very prominent and successful wool grower and once president of the State Agricultural Society. The improvement of sheep engaged more and more attention as time passed. Some few merino rams were introduced before 1860, but in that year came Rockwell, a noted importer, breeder, and more than all, seller of stock sheep. His coming is not yet forgotten in Douglas, at least among the sheep men. He brought a flock of merino rams for which he found a ready sale at prices ranging from $300 to $700. Few were proof against his persuasive powers- Among others, mechanics, men who had not an ewe to their names, bought his $500 rams. It was an astonishing revelation of the power of the Yankee tongue, cultivated by study and practice, on the susceptible western imagination. The theme of sheep- raising became a bucolic poem in his honeyed mouth ; merino wool and moral eleva- tion, heavy fleeces and eternal happiness seemed for the time insuperably connected, and the mesmeric trance of the listening subject generally ended by his finding a ram in his pasture, and his note for $500 in Rockwell's pocket. Some of these sheep did good service. Those purchasers who found on recovering their normal condition that they had no use for their rams, sold them at much reduced prices to those who had ; and although many of these sheep died during the first or second year, yet they left an improved progeny. Since that time the most notable importation of merino stock has been that of the MeLeod flock, by Smith and Walton; but, although some of these sheep were fully equal to the Rockwell lot, the Scotchmen, not having the financial dexterity and persuasive power of the Vermonter, was content to sell them at one-tenth the price. The prominence here given to merino stock is because the desire for improvement has taken this direction. Of late years a number of flocks of long-wool sheep, especially the cotswold, have been introduced with good success, though the reputation of Umpqua wool still rests upon its splendid merinos.
Formerly, Douglas was a great stock county, but gradually pastures have disap- peared before the plow, and cattle have given way to grain ; still, the stock interests of the county are considerable. Durham and Devon cattle are the prevailing breeds, though a few Jerseys have recently been imported, a few of pure blood and the others crossed. Cattle thrive best when fed through the winter season, though they can pick their own living in the foothill ranges. The excellent winter pasturage, affording grass for the cattle at a season when the stock of the eastern dairy regions are living upon hay renders the Umpqua valley especially adapted to dairying. The blood of draft horses in the county has been undergoing a process of improvement for a number of years by breeding to imported Percheron stallions.
As a fruit region, the Umpqua valley shares with the Rogue river region the honor of producing the finest quality and greatest abundance of Oregon fruit. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and grapes grow in profusion. In the line of small
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fruits, especially strawberries, Douglas county rules the Portland market. The first settlers found plums and raspberries growing wild in the greatest luxuriance, and time has shown how well the soil that sustained them was adapted to the cultivated varieties. Transportation facilities play an important part in developing the natural resources of any region. Douglas was, until four years ago, but poorly provided with means for sending her products to market. She now is better situated and expects soon to be even more favored. The route to the sea, by the way of Gardiner, involves hauling by wagon to Scottsburg and transfer to steamer at that point. For a number of years, Roseburg was the southern terminus of the Oregon & California railroad, but that line has been extended south, and now passes through the whole length of the county, from north to south. A project of much importance is well advanced, and that is the con- struction of a road from Roseburg to Coos bay, passing by way of the Coquille through the heart of the vast timber and coal regions of Douglas and Coos counties. The con- struction of a railroad line to some harbor on the coast, accessible to deep water vessels, has long been regarded as the one thing needful for the Umpqua valley. A project to build such a line to Port Orford was at one time well advanced. After a number of years of slow progress, the Roseburg and Coos bay road seems now in a fair way to early become an accomplished fact. This region will then enjoy a short and cheap means of communication with the sea, with all the palpable advantages of such a facil- ity. The population, products and general wealth and prospects of Douglas county will, beyond question, be largely augmented during the next four years.
WALLING-LITH - PORTLAND, OR.
GEO. J. STEARNS.
HON. D.W. STEARNS.
RESIDENCE PROPERTY OF HON. D.W. & GED. J. STEARNS, OAKLAND, DOUGLAS Co.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.
Condition of this Region when the Provisional Government was Organized-First Knowledge of Douglas Coun- ty-Sir Francis Drake and his Pilot Morera-Bartolome Ferrelo in 1543-Cape Blanco and Rio de Aguilar- Legend of a Spanish Vessel in the Umpqua-Disaster of Jedediah S. Smith-Fort Umpqua Built by the Hudson's Bay Company-First Organization of Counties in this Region-Early Settlements-Towns Founded Along the Umpqua-Umpqua County Organized-Douglas County Organized-County Seat Contest-Ump- qua and Douglas Consolidated-Subsequent Events.
At the time when the few American settlers who had gathered on this far western frontier, knowing not yet to whom this fair country belonged, and feeling the absolute need of some form of government for the protection of society, for united defense in case of an attack by the aborigines, and for all those purposes for which governing authority is necessary even in such a primitive state of society, organized the Pro- visional Government of Oregon, there were then no American settlers living within the limits of the present county of Douglas. The only representatives of the Caucasian race living south of the Calapooia mountains, were the few white employees of the Hudson's Bay Company, stationed at Fort Umpqua, just opposite the mouth of Elk creek, and the members of trapping parties belonging to that great corporation, trap- ping along the streams of that region and Northern California. The fertile valleys which are now the abode of civilization, whose surrounding hills echo the ringing invitation of the church bell, where the school house door stands open and the smoke curls upward like an incense to heaven from the chimney-tops of a thousand happy homes, were then occupied by a race of savages. The fertile fields which now reward the husbandman's toil with bountiful harvests of grain, knew not the uses of the plow; seed time and harvest came and went unheeded. Nature had dealt lavishly with this fair land, and upon her bounteous gifts these simple natives depended for their suste- nance. Their food was the wild game of the forest, roots, grass seeds, nuts, berries, wild fruits and fish. They were children of nature, and nature had to provide for their wants unaided. The extent of their own providence consisted of laying in a store of each thing in its season, to be used when nature was resting from her labor and recu- perating her energies for another effort. This much had they learned from sad experi- ence, but little more. Forty years have wrought a mighty change, how great the following pages fully show. The Indian has disappeared before the irresistible advance of a superior race ; the fittest has survived ; the lesser civilization has vanished. It is all in accordance with that great rule of evolution and steady development towards higher and better forms by which the whole universe is governed ; and no one, seeing the great results accomplished, can fail to say that it is best. Even the few survivors of the lower race, gazing upon the blossoming fields which once belonged to their
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ignorant ancestors, though the iron enters their soul and they mourn the decadence of their people, sadly admit that the result was inevitable and was so ordained by the Great Spirit.
There is much uncertainty as to the knowledge of the Oregon coast possessed by the early Spanish explorers. From their reports it seems that in nearly every instance when, indeed, they reached as high a latitude at all, they remained out of sight of land from Cape Mendocino to Vancouver island. It thus happened that the extreme northern coast was explored and its details marked upon the maps with approximate correctness long before the character of the coast line of Oregon was understood, and before the mouth of the Columbia was discovered Spain and England were involved in a quarrel at Nootka, on the Island of Vancouver, many leagues further north.
It is possible that Douglas county contains the soil upon which rested the first Caucasian foot that ever was set on the Pacific coast of the United States. In 1578, Sir Francis Drake, that great English freebooter and scourge of the Spanish com- merce, who was knighted by his queen for being the most successful pirate of his time, ravaged the Pacific colonies of Spain and plundered and burned her ships. Accord- ing to Spanish accounts, though English narratives of his adventures are silent on the subject, Drake made his first landing on the northern coast in the vicinity of the Ump- qua. Here he entered a " poor harbor" and put ashore his Spanish pilot, Morera, leaving him among savages who had never before scen nor heard of a white man, to perish at their hands or by starvation or exposure while making his way through 3,000 miles of unknown wilderness to Mexico. It was an act to be expected of such a reckless sea rover. Morera seems to have accomplished this wonderful journey, since from him only could the account have come, provided the whole story is not an invention of early Spanish historians, whose opinion of Drake was little better than or the father of all evil himself.
Though Drake was the first to make a landing on the coast, he was not the first to see it from the deck of a vessel. In 1543, Bartolome Ferrelo, in command of two vessels dispatched by the Mexican Viceroy, coasted as far north as lattitude 43º or 44°, though no effort was made to land or to explore the details of the coast. In 1603, Ensign Martin de Aguilar, in command of a small Spanish fragata, explored the coast of this region. Torquemada, in his history of this voyage, says: "On the nineteenth of January, the pilot, Antonio Flores, found that they were in the latitude of 43 degrees, where the land formed a cape or point, which was named Cape Blanco. From that point the coast begins to turn to the northwest ; and near it was discovered a rapid and abundant river, with ash trees, willows, brambles and other trees of Castile on its banks. which they endeavored to enter, but could not from the force of the current." In lattitude 42º 52' is Cape Orford, so named by Vancouver. Cape Arago, called Greg- ory by Captain Cook, lies in latitude 43º 23', and the cape named Blanco may have been Orford or Arago. The river was probably the Umpqua, though it is within the limits of possibility that Rogue river is the one referred to. It would seem, how- ever, that they passed Cape Blanco and continued up the coast some distance, else they could not have known that it turned to the northwest, and came upon the Umpqua. The discovery of this river created considerable interest in Spainand led to some pecu- liar geographical speculations. The Colorado river had been explored many miles
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