USA > Oregon > Douglas County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 57
USA > Oregon > Jackson County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 57
USA > Oregon > Josephine County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 57
USA > Oregon > Coos County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 57
USA > Oregon > Curry County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 57
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In Umpqua county the county seat was not definitely located for several years. Court was held sometimes in Elkton and at other times in Scottsburg. In 1854 James F. Levins surveyed a town site at Elkton, consisting of 160 acres, which he donated to the county for a county seat, and on the thirtieth of the next January an act was passed by the legislature locating the seat of justice at that place. Coos
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SOUTHERN OREGON.
county was created by the act of December 22, 1853, out of the counties of Umpqua and Jackson, embracing all the land lying between the Coast Range and the ocean, and extending from a line eight miles below the mouth of the Umpqua to the Cali- fornia boundary. At the general clection of 1855, the people of Douglas county voted unfavorably upon a proposition submitted by the act of the twentieth of the previous January, to annex the northern end of the county to Umpqua. By the act of December 18, 1856, Camas Prairie was detached from Coos county and annexed to Douglas.
By 1862 Umpqua county had seriously retrograded. Scottsburg had lost its trade with the mines, and had faded away to a village, while Elkton had not succeeded in taking the place of the deposed metropolis. To maintain a county government was too burdensome, and the difficulty was relieved by the act of October 16, 1862, con- solidating Umpqua and Douglas counties, with the county seat at Roseburg. An amendment to the consolidation act was passed October 21, 1864, definitely fixing the boundary line of Douglas county as follows : "Commencing at the mouth of the Siu- slaw, on the south bank; thence following up the south bank of said stream, to a point fifteen miles west of the main traveled road known as the Applegate road ; thence southerly to the summit of the California [Calapooia] mountains; thence east- ward along the summit of said mountains to the summit of the Cascade range; thence southerly along the summit of the Cascade range to the former corner of Douglas county ; thence continuing southerly along the summit of the Cascade range to the sum- mit of the dividing ridge between the headwaters of the South Umpqua and the waters of Rogue river; thence westerly along the summit of said ridge to the summit of the Coast Range of mountains, separating the waters of Coquille and Coos rivers from the Umpqua ; thence in a straight line to the southwest corner of township 20 south, range 9 west, of the Willamette meridian ; thence due north to the summit or divide between the waters of the Umpqua river and thoserunning to the ocean ; thence northerly or northwesterly along side summit or divide to a point due west of Loon lake, at the head of what is called Mill creek; thence in a direct line westerly to the coast at the mouth of Ten Mile creek ; thence northerly along the coast to the place of beginning."
The next great local question in Douglas county was that of a division again into two distinct counties. The town of Oakland had grown up in the northern end of the county, and, backed by the settlers for miles around, who would find a county seat more convenient when located at Oakland than at Roseburg, made a strong effort to secure the coveted prize by the division of the county. An act was passed by the legislature on the sixteenth of October, 1868, providing for a special ballot on that subject at the general election to be held on the third of the next month. All north of the main fork of the Umpqua and a line running from the junction of that stream with the South Umpqua due west to the line of Coos county, was to be called Umpqua county, with Oakland as the county seat. At the same time the people of the proposed new county were to elect county officers, who should enter upon the discharge of their duties in case the vote of the whole county favored the division. The majority of the voters decided that such division was unnecessary, and Douglas county escaped the threatened division. On the twenty-first of October an act was passed submitting
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DOUGLAS COUNTY.
the question of the location of the county seat in that portion of the county which would still bear the name of Douglas, and Roseburg, Myrtle Creek, Canyonville and Round Prairie were designated as candidates. This act was not to take effect if the vote of the county was unfavorable to the proposed division, and sinee that proposi- tion was voted down the question of a new county seat disappeared with it.
By the act of October 19, 1878, the boundaries between Coos and Douglas counties were more closely defined, and again it was found necessary to designate these with still more minuteness by the act of October 16, 1882. The exact boundaries given by the statute are as follows : Beginning on the shore of the Pacific ocean, at the township line between townships 22 south and 23 south ; thence east along said line to the section line between sections 3 and 4 of township 23 south, range 10 west; thence south along said line to the south boundary of said township; thence east to the northeast corner of township 24 south, range 10 west ; thence south to the southeast corner of said township; thence east to the seetion line between sections 3 and 4, township 25 south, range 9 west ; thence south to the south boundary of township 26 south, range 9 west ; thence east to the southeast corner of said township ; thence south to the southeast corner of town- ship 28 south, range 9 west ; thenee west to the section line between sections 3 and 4. township 29 south, range 9 west ; thence south to the south boundary of said township; thence west to the southwest corner of said township; thence due south to the summit of the ridge dividing the waters of Rogue river from the Umpqua, which is the south- east corner of Coos county. From this point the county line as it exists at present follows the old boundaries defined in the act of October 21, 1864. to the ocean at the mouth of the Siuslaw.
The growth of Douglas county has been one of steady development from the day when the first settlement was made until the present time. There have been no spas- modie changes, but the county has been gradually built up by the energy and persis- tent industry of the people. There was one era, however, which was marked by more rapid progress than any other, and that was the few years immediately following the construction of the Oregon and California railroad to Roseburg in 1872. The exten- sion of the road through the county southward has stimulated industry and business in that section, and the flattering prospect of a road to Coos bay is producing a similar effect throughout the county generally. The indications are that Douglas county has entered upon an era of prosperity far greater than any before enjoyed, during which its population, wealth, business, and products of all kinds will be largely increased
The following statistics of the county's assessable property speak eloquently of the value and steadily increasing development of its resources. The total taxable property, which consists of the gross assessed valuation less the legal deductions for indebtedness and exemptions, was as follows for the past thirty years : 1855, 8908, 56 ; population, 587 ; 1856, $679,000 ; 1857, 8454,796; 1858. 81,406,226; 1859, $1,570,690; 1860, $1,398,752; population, 3,091; 1861, $987,108; 1862, $815,002 ; 1863, $1,057,156 ; 1864, $1,420,602; 1865, $1,606,440; 1866, $1,423,504; 1867, $1,243,704 : 1568, $1,476,500; 1869, $1,474,500; 1870, $1,454,933; 1871, 81,550,995 ; 1872, 82,091,- 933; 1873, 83,366,013 ; 1874, $2,745,520; 1875, $1,910,791 ; population, 6,147 : 1876, $1.862,045 ; 1877, $1,997,565 , 1878, 82,042,275: 1879, 82,189,118: 15S], $2,419,750; 1882, $2,349,210: 1883. 53,087,64. The following summary of the
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assessment roll of 1883, gives a good insight into the present condition of Douglas county :
DESCRIPTION.
TOTAL VALUE.
Acres of land
NO. 504,366 1,233
$1,867,152
Town lots
250,375
Improvements .
416,930
Merchandise and implements.
377,595
Money, notes, accounts, shares of stock, etc.
1,124,495
Household furniture, carriages, watches, etc.
120,020
Horses and mules
4,211
162,370
Cattle.
5,428
131.060
Sheep
117,753
180,745
Swine
11,467
26,215
Gross value of property
$4,656,957
Indedtedness
$1,292,743
Exemptions
276,650-
$1,569,393
Total taxable property
$3,087,564
Number of polls, collected
610
not
962- 1,572
The number of acres of land assessed in 1882 was 486,516, valued at $1,597,300, showing an increase in the assessed acreage of the county of 17,850 acres, and $269,- 850 in valuation.
B
WALLING-LITH-PORTLAND-OR.
BIRDS EYE VIEW OF R
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URG. DOUGLAS CO.
CHAPTER XLIX.
ROSEBURG.
Settlement of Aaron Rose-His Trading Post-First Called Deer Creek-Secures the County Seat - First Business Men-County Jail and Court House-The School House-Winchester Absorbed by Roseburg Roseburg and Coos Bay Road-Arrival of the Railroad-Roseburg Incorporated-Burning of the Jails - Fire Department-Brick Buildings-Business Enterprises-Climate-Extension of the O. & C. R. R .- Roseburg and Coos Bay R. R .-- Wool and Grain Shipments-Generosity of Mr. Rose-Churches and Societies-Needs of the City-Newspapers-Noted Men who Hail from Roseburg.
When the northwest coast of the United States was little less than a howling wilderness and the strong handed pioneer was forcing the light of civilization onward to the western sea, Aaron Rose, a man of medium stature, iron will and nerves of steel, eame journeying from the forests of Michigan, seeking a quiet home in Oregon. He left nothing behind him to attract his gaze from the setting sun. His family and effects were conveyed along with him in the usual prairie vehicle, moved by the usual steady, stubborn oxen. After many days of toilsome travel in crossing the Great American Desert, and climbing and descending the Rocky and Sierra Nevada ranges, when the Siskiyous were successfully passed and the famous Cow creek canyon was in the rear, on the twenty-third day of September, 1851, he found himself looking with admiration upon the small valley at the junction of the South Umpqua river and Deer creek.
Mr. Rose saw, here, the realization of his dreams and claimed, as a donation from the government, the land upon which Roseburg now stands. He built him a clap- board shanty of sufficiently ample dimensions, near the place where the center of the city now is, and engaged in selling to travelers, teamsters and packers, who were very numerous in those days, such things as they needed. He also engaged in the business of farming and stock raising. Uncle AAaron, as he is familiarly called, seems to have thrived and prospered well in his mercantile and other pursuits, notwithstanding the fact that he sometimes sared money by taking his customers' notes for less than half the amount they owed him-and he can show you some of the notes to-day, still unpaid. The Indians of the Umpqua and Calapooia tribes were all around him, but a friendly relationship always existed between him and them. He had one of them in his service, known far and wide as " Rose's Jim," who remained with him for years. The neigh- bors, within a radius of several miles, were few. W. T. Perry located on what is now known as the Bushy place, across Deer creek and just north of the city. Phillip Peters, still an active man, resided some six miles away, engaged in cattle raising and farming. Jesse Roberts, also cattle raiser and farmer, lived only a few miles away, and John Kelly worried the patient backs of his mules with the complaining pack saddle, and awoke the ready echoes with his lusty shout, in the immediate vicinity. There were others, also, but they were few.
53
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In 1852, there was a considerable immigration to Douglas county, and Roseburg, or Deer creek as it was then called, began to assume somewhat larger proportions, since which time it has steadily grown, depending solely upon its natural advantages, In 1853, -- Bradbury imported the first stock of general merchandise and opened the first regular store in Roseburg. His stock was ample and well selected, and his success marked. He was the fore-runner of a long list of successful merchants, some of whom are still in business here, while others are gone, and a few have ceased their labors forever. Mr. Rose lost no opportunity of advertising his proposed town, and used both his energies and his means with a generous hand to encourage enterprising and wealthy men to make their homes therein. It is intimated that the immense majority by which Roseburg was chosen as the county seat of Douglas county in April. 1854, was due to his hospitality and diplomacy, in some degree, at least. He donated three acres of land and $1,000 toward building a court house for the county, and the court house was built and the money expended under his direction. It was a wooden building and served its purpose for years, but, at this writing, is doing service as a store room and tinshop for R. S. and J. C. Sheridan. The county jail which accommodated the prisoners of those days was somewhat unique. It was built of logs, not handsome but secure. There was no door opening from the first floor, but the means of ingress was furnished by a trap door in the office of a justice of the peace who occupied the second story. Instead of sending the prisoners up, his honor was accustomed to send them down for so many days, and there was small chance of escape between the sen- tence and the execution thereof. It was from this house, and out of this trap door, that Judge Lynch took the only man upon whom he ever passed judgment in Roseburg, and hanged him on the rafters of the Deer creek bridge. One day, however, this primitive jail was discovered to be on fire and about all that was saved were two white men and two Chinamen, all the occupants at the time.
In 1855 began the Indian war, and Roseburg was the central point for the North- ern Battalion, which formed and procured its supplies here. About this time the town first began to be known as Roseburg. The population was steadily increasing, and houses thickly dotted the little valley and hill sides. Business was increasing and its future was secured. Uncle Aaron did not cease his efforts, but was always first in con- tributing to proposed improvements. He was always ready to donate lots to churches, and gave the land upon which our public school building is now situated, and also $1,400 towards building the house. About 1857 the U. S. Land Office was built at Winchester-a two-story building which was afterward moved to Roseburg, bodily-and this excited the people of Roseburg to outdo the rival town by erecting a school house of grander proportions than the Land Office. They accordingly erected the three- story edifice which vibrates to the tread of their district school children to this day. It was more magnificent than necessary, but it fully satisfied their ambition and drew heavily on their purses. The two rival houses, one built at Winchester and one in Roseburg, some four or five miles apart, now gaze upon each other at a stone's throw, one used as an Odd Fellows' Temple and the other never changed. These were the finest buildings in Southern Oregon at the time of their construction. In about 1859 Roseburg's attractions became so great that Winchester was not able to resist them, and was rolled over the intervening space, and the two became one. The Land Office,
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DOUGLAS COUNTY.
above mentioned, the store of Floed & Co., just as it appears to-day, with a little change; A. R. Flint's old store, now on Washington street, between Main and Jackson, and Mrs. Moffit's residence, near the banks of the South Umpqua river, with others, were moved bodily from Winchester and placed in Roseburg, where they now stand. In a short time the once busy little town on the bank of the North Umpqua river had en- tirely disappeared, and it lives only in the memory of its former inhabitants and the pages of the county records. The music of the ringing anvil is hushed, the jingle of bar glasses and gold has ceased, the shrill cry of the hoodlum unheard, and the busy merchant no more presents his little bill on Monday morning, on the streets of Win- chester. In the years following, when the eastern and southern portions of our com- mon country were bathed in blood and convulsed with civil war, the fateful influence was strongly felt even in these outskirts of the world. During all this time Roseburg was the radiating center and headquarters of all parties. Men seemed to take a deeper interest in the issues presented, if that were possible, and talked louder and more threateningly, than did their brothers at the seat of war. But nothing retarded the steady growth of the future city, and all things conspired to build her up. In 1869 steps were taken toward building a wagon road from Roseburg to the head of tide water on Coos bay, and a joint stock company was formed for that purpose. Like all enterprises, this one found favor in the eyes of some persons, and was denounced as impracticable by others. The opposition claimed, in this instance, that the road would never pay for itself on account of the large amount of money which would be required to build it They also alleged that nature had made a natural highway from Roseburg to the sea ; that the Umpqua river only needed a few thousand dollars ex- pended upon it to become a navigable stream for boats. The route to the seaboard, by way of the river, was, as has been related on page 385, demonstrated to be a failure, and the Coos bay wagon road enterprise moved on to success. Iron, giant powder, muscle and money, dug, blasted out, graded and paid for the present road to Coos City, which, though for a long time somewhat precarious and unreliable, is at last a success, and it is possible to ride very comfortably in a wagon over a fair mountain road from Roseburg to the sea. Most of the former stockholders in the road are prominent busi- ness men in Roseburg, and deserve the success which they achieved and the coin bene- fits which they received when, in the beginning of 1883, they sold their road, fran- chise, etc., to C. Crocker. In 1872 the most important event for Roseburg occurred when the O. & C. railroad track was laid across her boundaries. It was not a question whether the railroad should come through Roseburg or not. It was bound to come, ou account of the lay of the land. While the finishing of the railroad to this point was a matter of vast importance to the town, the ceasing of the work at her gates was no less so. Up to that time Roseburg had been only a way station on the O. & C. Stage road, and the commerce of the county amounted to very little, or nothing, all told. Very little grain was raised except for flour, feed and seed, and the wool clip was greatly smaller than it has since become. The only means of transportation were the heavy wagons usually drawn by horses or mules, over a mountain road to the Willam- ette valley. The beautiful and fertile valleys in which Douglas county abounds, lying secluded among her magnificent hills, were used principally for stock range, when their possibilities were much greater. She was, as it might be said, a perfect electrical
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machine, complete in all its parts, with the poles of her battery not joined. But when the iron rails were laid and the shrill whistle of the locomotive waked the echos in her mountain fastnesses, the connection was made and all the machinery felt the influence and moved in perfect harmony. Roseburg became a center of commerce for the country. Warehouses were built at the depot, and the granaries and wool rooms became more and more crowded each year, until the first warehouses became too small and had to be increased or replaced by new and larger ones, with all the modern improvements for preparing produce for the market. Jackson and Josephine counties received their goods, wares and merchandise at Roseburg, thus increasing the business of the city and helping to swell the tide of her prosperity.
Roseburg was incorporated by the act of October 3, 1872. At the first election, which was held the eleventh of the same month, the following officers were elected: Trustees, C. Gaddis, afterward chairman ; George Haynes, S. Hamilton, William I. Friedlander, and T. P. Sheridan ; Recorder, Andrew Jones ; Marshal, L. C. Roden- berg; Treasurer, E. Livingston. The taxes of the city have never been burdensome -- not over three mills-and the ordinances passed by the boards are salutary, compre- hensive and not oppressive. As is true of all young towns, so it happened that the houses of Roseburg were nearly all built of wood, and the majority of them remain so to this day ; yet losses by fire have been remarkably infrequent. Not a half dozen fires have been known where any considerable damage has been done. We have already mentioned the first jail, which succumbed to the fire fiend. The one which was erected to replace it was also destroyed by fire. This was built of brick, with iron cells for prisoners, and stood southeast of the present court house. Several times prisoners effected escapes from it. In the spring of 1882, a man had been incarcerated therein, having committed some petty offense, and was awaiting his trial. One morn- ing, just about daylight, the jail was discovered to be on fire, and a crowd soon col- lected to render what assistance was possible to the poor fellow within the iron walls. It appeared, however, that the fire had been raging within for some time, for the building was so hot that no human being could approach near enough to even see what had happened on the inside. All that could be done was to stand at a respect- ful distance and wait for the fire to complete its work. Later in the day, when the roof, floor, and other woodwork had been consumed, and the blackened walls sur- rounded the curled and twisted sheets of iron of which the cage had been composed, an entrance was effected. Nothing resembling a human form could be discovered, but, just at the bottom of the iron door, and immediately under an opening therein, was a small heap, which, upon examination, proved to be all that was left of the recent prisoner. He had escaped, and all that remained to indicate that he had been there was a crisp and blackened lump which would hardly have been taken for what it was in any other place or under any other circumstances. What was left was decently buried by the county, and the place which knew him last, knows neither him nor the old jail any more forever. The jail which the county has at present is an elegant little two-story brick building, with the most approved, impregnable cells, and an airy corridor running around. It is both comfortable and safe. On the upper floor are offices, neat and well ventilated. The county court house, a substantially built and commodious and conveniently arranged structure stands on the same block.
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IN J Owens
WALLING-LITH, PORTLAND, OR.
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DOUGLAS COUNTY.
Though there never has been a devastating fire in Roseburg, yet, until last year, there had been no fire company of any possible efficiency in the city-a few ladders and buckets constituting the only available apparatus for extinguishing fires. The fire fiend had every opportunity for glorious work, but did not seem disposed to take it- In the spring of 1883, however, steps were taken to organize a fire company, and, on the tenth day of May, the Board of Directors passed an ordinance creating the fire department for the city of Roseburg. There are two companies composing the depart- ment-the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1, and the Umpqua Hose Com- pany, No. 1. The city has built a large reservoir on the hill east of town, some 150 feet higher than the houses, and laid iron pipes therefrom down Washington street to Marks & Co.'s building, with occasional hydrants at convenient points. It has also procured several hundred feet of hose, and provided, at large expense, a handsome and thoroughly furnished hook and ladder truck.
In a city which is mostly comprised of wooden buildings, it is not amiss to briefly mention those more subtantially constructed. The first brick house in Roseburg was built by Mr. T. P. Sheridan, in 1859, to be used for a store, and is still owned by members of the same family. It is 20x40 feet, two stories high, and is situated on the east side of Jackson street, between Douglas and Washington. It was considered a wonderful building at that time. The second was built by Dr. S. Hamilton, in the year 1866, at the southeast corner of Washington and Jackson streets. In 1874, was completed the brick house where the postoffice still is, and built by H. C. Stanton, who still occupies it. Next in order came the handsome iron-front briek of S. Marks & Company, in 1878, situated on the northwest corner of Washington and Jackson streets. It is 36x100 feet, two stories high, and cost about $20,000. Next came Dr. Hamilton's new drug store, adjoining his former one, built in 1878. Then came the elegant cut-stone-front brick store of Abraham, Wheeler & Co., built in 1879, on the southwest corner of Oak and Jackson streets. The dimensions of this block are 45x00 feet, and two tall stories high-the largest in the city. Mr. E. M. Moore put up a single story brick store for Caro Bros., next to the postoffice, in 1880. Last, but not least, in importance, was the Douglas County Bank, on the east side of Jackson street, in 1883.
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