USA > Oregon > Douglas County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 67
USA > Oregon > Jackson County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 67
USA > Oregon > Josephine County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 67
USA > Oregon > Coos County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 67
USA > Oregon > Curry County > History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties, comp. from the most authentic sources > Part 67
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The Rogue river is noted for the quality and quantity of the salmon caught in its waters. There are two distinct runs of these fish, called the spring run and the fall run, the first taking place in April, May and June, the fall run occurring mainly in September and October. The latter run is most abundant, but the fish taken in the spring run are the best in quality. A. F. Myers established a fishery at Ellensburg, in 1857, for the purpose of taking, salting and barreling salmon. From this compar- atively small beginning, the business has increased until there are now ten thousand cases of canned salmon shipped yearly, as an average product. This business is the most important and lucrative in the whole county, and is conducted at a single cannery, which is owned by R. D. Hume. The necessary buildings are built over the water, resting upon piles, and contain apparatus for cleaning, cutting up and packing the fish, as well as for the manufacture of cans and cases. Mr. Hume has, with rare foresight, taken great pains to keep up the quantity of living salmon, both by abstaining from catching too many and also by establishing a hatchery wherein the fertilized salmon eggs can be brought to maturity, and an immense number of small fry let loose to replace those annually caught.
Ellensburg contains a court house, situated at the lower extremity of the town ; a school house of excellent pretensions ; the office and drug store of Dr. Von Der Green, the only physician in the county ; Miss Geisel's millinery establishment, the post office, three hotels, cooper shop, blacksmith shop, shoe-shop, store, saloons, offices, etc. Gold Beach lodge, No. 70, A. F. and A. M , and Rogue River Grange, No. 190, Patrons of Husbandry, meet in Ellensburg. The steam saw mill has been an important factor in the destinies of the place.
About 1871 Hastings and Sanders built a small grist mill four miles above Ellens- burg. They made the mill stones from rock which themselves quarried out, and began to make flour to supply the local demand. Hastings was unfortunately drowned; and the partner has since run the mill. He does not turn out sufficient flour for all the demand, and the remainder is brought by sea mostly from San Francisco by the steamer Mary D. Hume. The ruling prices of articles on the coast of Curry county, of course vary with circumstances as elsewhere, but may in general be said to conform to this list, which exhibits them for the fall of 1883. Hay, twelve dollars per ton ; salmon, twenty cents each ; potatoes, cabbage, wheat, oats and barley, each two cents per pound ; fresh pork, retail, eight to ten cents; fresh beef, retail, twelve to fifteen cents ; butter, twenty-five to forty cents. Wheat, flour, horse feed and even vegeta- bles, are at times brought from San Francisco, while hundreds of acres of excellent myrtle bottom exist not far from Ellensburg, capable, if cleared and cultivated, of pro- ducing enormous crops of vegetables, clover, grain, etc., and supplying ten times the
WALLING-LITH-PORTLAND-OR
FARM RESIDENCE OF JOHN B. WRISLEY, 3 MILES NORTH OF MEDFORD, JACKSON CO.
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demand of the small coast population. Were there cheap, speedy and regular means of transportation to and from San Francisco, Curry county ought to furnish that me- tropolis with many of the above articles, instead of receiving them from her.
The trail southward from Ellensburg crosses Hunter's creek, a small stream, with a narrow valley, cultivated by a few settlers. The region all about is extremely wild and romantic, both ocean and mountainward. Grazing is much pursued, and upon the " prairies " many sheep may be seen. Between Hunter's creek and Pistol river the trail ascends a very high mountain, where a splendid view of the Pacific may be gained. Pistol river is larger than the first mentioned stream, and is fifteen miles by the trail from Rogue river. Upon this stream also dwell settlers who have made valu- able improvements. Near Whale's Head-a remarkable promontory bearing a resem- blance to that animal-is a considerable tract of fertile land, upon which R. Scott is located and has an excellent establishment, devoted mainly to grazing. Fourteen miles beyond is Cheteo (so called from the name of an Indian tribe) where dwells quite a community of farmers, graziers and dairymen, who make up a section ranking fourth in the county as to population. The soil is extremely fertile, and within the limited area of the section there are ample opportunities for a self-supporting population to thrive and prosper. The Chetco river or creek is crossed by two ferries-Miller's, nearest the mouth, and Smith's, two miles above. At the latter the stream is about. 120 yards wide and is fordable in summer. For a dozen miles or so along the stream, settlers possess and are clearing the rich soil, and so making pleasant homes for them- selves and their posterity. South of the creek a bench of level and rich soil begins, a mile in width, fronting on the ocean and backed by low, fern-covered hills which lie toward the east. Here are some very fine farms, mainly devoted to wheat raising, but possessing orchards and other improvements Some prominent settlers are the Cooleys, Blake and Me Vay. William Kirk keeps a store at a point a fourth of a mile south of the Blake ranche. The port of Chetco hardly deserves the name of harbor, being only a landing where the steamer Hume and schooner Ester Cobos occasionally call, to bring merchandise and carry away wool, hides and dairy products. The Chetco conn- try has often been called Egypt, since at one time it supplied nearly all of Del Norte county with wheat. In this region are to be found good roads-very rare in the remainder of the county. There are no mills, either for lumber or flour making in Chetco, but the wheat is hauled to Smith's river, six miles beyond the state line, and there ground into flour. Lumber is also purchased in Del Norte county. There are two small fisheries on Cheteo creek but the catch is transferred to Del Norte county for canning and shipment. Dairying is quite an industry hereabouts, and an excellent article of butter is made on various ranches, particularly J. A. Cooley's " Fountain ranch," which is well fitted up, having a stream of running water to propel the churn, and also to keep the temperature of the dairy house at the right point.
Winchuck-an Indian word-is the name of a small river, the southernmost stream in Curry county, and almost upon the state line. Salmon swarm in the Win- chuck and J. B. Wilson has the small beginning of a fishery, where he puts up a hun- dred barrels each year. Upon and about the lower portion of the river there are set- tlers, mostly recent ones, who are carving ont homes for themselves in a promising local- ity, though a very isolated one. 62
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Although the Winchuck is looked upon as the dividing line between California and Oregon, its mouth is half a mile north of the true boundary, which is the forty-second parallel. Upon the beach can be seen a stone post which marks the line accurately. A farm house near by stands upon the line, and its distinguished owner enjoys the felicity of eating in the one state and sleeping in the other. Upon the north side of the river, and consequently in Oregon, is a grove of redwood trees-the sequoia sem- perrirens-supposed to be the only living representatives of this species in the state.
COOS COUNTY.
CHAPTER LX.
THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE COUNTY.
Boundaries of Coos County-The Coquille and its Tributaries-Splendid Forests-Valley of the Coquille-Her- mansville and its Founder-Myrtle Point-Catching Creek-Forks of the Coquille-Norway-The Coquille Navigable-Coquille City- The Road to Coos Bay Parkersburg-The Salmon Cannery-Grube's Saw Mill Randolph-Bandon-The Coquille Bar.
Coos county is situated on the coast of Southern Oregon, and is bounded on the north and east by the county of Douglas, on the south by Curry and on the west by the Pacific ocean. The county is irregular in outline, and has a length from north to south of about fifty miles, with a maximum breadth of about thirty. Its area is ap- proximately 1,100 square miles, or about 700,000 acres of land. Its surface is very broken and diversified, containing mountains, though not of great altitude, valleys, streams, swift or sluggish, and finally a bay of considerable extent. Generally speak- ing, the contour of Coos county is basin-like, with hills completely surrounding it, and forming its rim, excepting on the western edge, which terminates at the sea beach. At this particular part of the coast of Oregon, the Coast Range mountains recede from the ocean, leaving a comparatively level tract of land which forms the greater portion of Coos county, and approaching the sea to the north and south the mountain spurs ent off and isolate the region almost perfectly. That part of the Coast Range lying east of Coos county is usually termed the Umpqua mountains ; and those to the south and southwest are called the Rogue river mountains. The two chains are continuous, how- ever, their point of union being at Camas valley, on the headwaters of the middle fork of the Coquille, where a low pass exists, whereby communication takes place from east to west. Passes exist also at other localities, but of less favorable character for ordinary communication. The most frequently traveled route between Coos county and the val- ley to the castward is the Coos bay stage road, which ascends the north fork of the Coquille and crosses the range at the head of Brewster canyon and west of Looking- glass valley. To the north of the stage road the mountains are exceedingly rough and mountainous and entirely impassable. Among them several streams head, those in the west side flowing into Coos bay, while the eastern slope is drained by the Umpqua. A still larger number of streams rises among the Rogne river chain-the Coquille and its tributaries draining the northern and western slope, the South Umpqua the eastern, and the Rogue river the southern.
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SOUTHERN OREGON.
Coos county is divided naturally into two topographical sections, the valleys of the Coquille and Coos bay. The country drained by the Coquille forms about two-thirds of the total area of the county, and comprises the southern part. The tributaries of that river are its three branches, called north, middle and south forks; Russell, Catch- ing, Hall, and other creeks, and many sloughs. The Coquille itself is formed by the confluence of its forks at the head of tide water near Myrtle Point and flows into the ocean sixteen miles due west of the point of junction, but forty-five miles, if the meanderings of the stream be counted. For all the distance it is navigable for small vessels, and for the lower twenty miles for craft of large size. Consequently the stream is of great importance to the county, affording a reliable and cheap means of commu- nication. It serves the purpose of a highway, and nearly all traffic is carried on by means of boats borne upon its waters. It forms the longest navigable highway in Ore- gon south of the Willamette. The Coquille, as well as its tributaries, flows through a heavily wooded country. Splendid forests of fir, cedar, myrtle, maple and other beau- tiful and valuable woods adorn the banks, and cover the hills and valleys as far as the vision can extend. The soil that supports these growths is of a rich description, being composed of the finely divided particles of sandstone worn from the mountains which compose the Coast Range, and brought down by the torrents in winter and deposited on the lower part of their course, where, mingled with vegetable matter, they form a soil of a light, porous nature, easily worked but wonderfully productive of nearly every known crop. These are the myrtle bottoms, so styled by the settlers because the myr- tle is found growing thereupon. The myrtle groves are extremely beautiful, the stately shafts of the trees resembling, with their spreading capitals of limbs and leaves, some imaginative picture of an ancient cathedral. The shade is very dense, nearly every ray of sunlight being interrupted by the thick crown of lance-shaped leaves interlock- ing from tree to tree, so that a sort of twilight always reigns. The usual height of the myrtle is abont sixty feet and the trunk is bare of limbs for a great part of its height. The myrtle has great value as an ornamental wood suitable for cabinet making. It grows in such vast quantities in the low lands along the coast that no demand could ever arise which could not be fully met. It is said that under certain conditions of temperature that this wood is liable to decay, but that point is not yet fully settled. Aside from its value as fuel, this beautiful, hard, dense and finely-grained wood is not in extensive use or demand. The fir, of three species, yellow, red and white, is being converted into lumber as fast as circumstances require. Nowhere in the world does the fir attain a greater size than in Coos county. It forms a resource of great impor- tance, though by no means an inexhaustible one. The same remarks apply to the white cedar, with the qualifications that this tree is more in demand, as its lumber brings a higher price, is less abundant and likely to become extinct in comparatively few years.
The valley proper of the Coquille is about four miles wide, and the greater part of the land included in it would be tillable if cleared of the trees. The fertility of the myrtle bottoms, which occur on nearly all the streams in Coos county, as well as Curry and the western part of Douglas, is amazing. Crops of all sorts that are suited to the climate flourish exceedingly, and the soil being deep and porous admits of thorough drainage and easy cultivation. There is, however, great difficulty in clearing these
WALLING-LITH.
MAADELICIELA ADECAN
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COOS COUNTY.
lands, for the myrtle is extremely tenacious of life, and after the tree is felled the stump retains its vitality for generations, and will continue to put forth rank, green shoots which grow rapidly and require to be trimmed off each year. It costs, say the farmers of the Coquille, not less than fifty dollars to clear an acre of myrtle bottom, and con- sequently comparatively few acres are yet denuded of their trees. It is the prevailing impression that for vegetables and cultivated crops of all kinds, and for elover and grasses generally, these lands are not exceeded in the world. This is the belief which thirty years of hard experience has taught, and that no one who has traveled through the Coquille country will deny.
Upon the Coquille and its tributaries are Hermansville, Ott, Gravel Fort, Myrtle Point, Norway, Dora, Sitkum, Fairview, Coquille City, Parkersburg, Randolph and Bandon-all places of note, and some importance.
Beginning with the tributaries, we learn that Hermansville takes its name from Dr. Hermann, of Baltimore, who led a colony of industrious and intelligent Germans to Coos county in 1859, and settled upon the rich bottom lands of the south fork, a few miles from its mouth. Here the colonists made homes for themselves and prospered finely by the exercise of industry, and acquired skill in their new pursuit of farming. The leader was a gentleman of the highest integrity and the noblest impulses. To him the country owes a great debt, as he drew into its borders an intelligent class of men nearly all of whom have proved most exemplary citizens, and some of them still live, venerated and respected by all. The younger generation of the colony have grown now to manhood and middle age and occupy important positions in the community. Hermansville, the family seat of the Hermanns. is still in the possession of the family, and is the residence of the mother ; but Doctor Hermann has passed over to the silent majority, having died on the sixteenth of December, 1869. Myrtle Point, located near the mouth of the north fork, is a village of importance and promise. It has a good location at the head of tidewater, and stands upon a plateau sufficiently elevated above the river to secure immunity from floods, and is capitally situated for trade, and sup- plies the valleys of the south and middle forks with merchandize and receives in exchange, the products of those fertile regions. The population of the village is about 150. It has two stores dealing in general merchandise, a drug store, post office, two excellent hotels, a lawyer's office, butcher and blacksmith shops, furniture shop, and other buildings, but no saloons. There is an excellent brass band, and a literary society.
On the site of Myrtle Point was once an Indian village. Ephraim Catching filed a donation claim to it in 1853, and in 1861 a village was platted and laid out by Henry Myers, from whom it was named Myersville. The great freshet of 1861-2 put a period to the progress of the new town. In 1876, another name was bestowed-that it now holds-and the place was again surveyed. The name is derived from the beautiful myrtle groves near by. A steam grist mill was erected by C. Lehnherr, which for a time formed the only business of the place ; but Binger Hermann, obtaining a valuable part of the site, commenced building actively, and has made the town the busiest place in the county. Mr. Hermann has erected a fine hotel, thought to be the best in Southern Oregon ; an immense store 100 feet long, with a concert hall in the second story ; warehouses, and other buildings. The ammal sales by the merchants of Myrtle Point amount to about $50,000, and the cost of freight from San Francisco is eight
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SOUTHERN OREGON.
dollars per ton. The average value of cleared farming land near the town is forty dollars per acre, and the cost of clearing is supposed to average thirty per acre. There is some vacant government land near by, but it is hilly and covered with timber, the most of which has been ruined by forest fires. The lumber men of the vicinity sell their logs at the mill, being at the pains of felling and peeling them, hauling them to the stream and floating them to the mill. Here they receive five dollars per thousand for first-class fir, and three dollars for second-class. Cedar commands ten and eight dollars for the first and second classes respectively, and ash, somewhat more valuable, sells in small quantities for twelve dollars per thousand feet. Binger Hermann estimates that there are 50,000 acres of timber standing upon the south fork, 28,000 upon the middle fork, and 75,000 upon the north fork. This estimate of course includes the lesser tributaries of these streams. The whole area is thought to contain 800,000,000 feet of timber, the most of it of a good quality, and part of it unexcelled for any uses to which lumber may be put. Fir is the most abundant kind, but there are very fine bodies of Port Orford cedar upon the south fork.
Catching creek empties into the South fork, a mile above Myrtle Point. It is a small stream, only large enough to float saw logs, for which purpose it is made available. It heads at White Rock, near the Curry county line; has a course of twelve miles, passing through a narrow valley in which reside ten settlers with their families. These are mostly farmers, and do some lumbering besides. They have a school house. The mail route to Denmark, Curry county, passes up this creek and through Lost Prairie near its head, and over the high divide leading to Floras creek. All about that region are grazing lands in abundance-prairies with the richest grass, and streams of excel- lent water-a great deal of the territory unoccupied as yet. Catching creek received its name from one of the first settlers in the neighborhood. In the Indian troubles of 1856 a stockade was built near the mouth of this creek, by the settlers aud some vol- unteers from Port Orford, who came up with Captain John Creighton, to protect the people living thereabouts. J. B. Dully, E. Catching, Abram Hoffman, William Myers, H. H. Woodward, William Rowland, and Miller were among the first settlers in the upper Coquille valley. Dully's claim was where Ratcliff's mill now stands.
The settlers on the middle fork with their families, are thought to number from 350 to 400 persons. They have a post office, Enchanted Prairie by name, which is a considerable distance up the stream, and nearly due east from Myrtle Point. This place was settled first by George Barber, in 1853. There is no saw mill upon the stream, but two grist mills have been put up, owned by A. H. Fish and O. Reed, the latter's being at the mouth of the fork, not far from Myrtle Point. For a considerable distance above Enchanted Prairie the middle fork passes through narrow canyons, but near its head the traveler comes to Camas valley, on the western edge of Douglas county. Here the stream rises, flowing thence in a generally westerly direction.
On the north fork a considerable amount of cultivatable land exists, mostly in small and isolated sections. The myrtle grows plentifully, and many clearings have been made, but the badness of the so-called road-the only one in that part of the county-prevents the pleasant valley from being settled. Sitkum is the name of a stage station in Brewster canyon, thirty-two miles west of Roseburg, and an equal distance from Coos City. Ten miles below is Dora, the residence of Mr. Scofield, who
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COOS COUNTY.
is postmaster. Near by is a school house. The stage road, leaving Dora, turns toward the Coos bay region, but here begins another and equally bad trail which leads along the north fork, through a pleasant and sparsely settled country to the forks of the river. Two miles below Dora, and on the north fork, there is a small saw mill, built for supplying the demand of the neighborhood, and capable of cutting 2,000 feet of lumber daily.
Norway, three miles below Myrtle Point, is usually reckoned the head of naviga- tion on the Coquille, although the small steamers in use upon the river are able to ascend to Myrtle Point, except in the lowest stages of water. Norway is a small post- office town, containing a population of fifty or seventy-five people, with hotels, a store, ete., and comfortable and commodious dwellings. Surrounding the place are quite a number of farms, progressively and intelligently cultivated.
The Coquille, from Norway to the sea, is a sluggish, deep and comparatively nar- row stream, well adapted for navigation. Its banks are lined with various sorts of veg- etable growth, of the most luxuriant description. The trees are mostly myrtle and vine-maple, with a considerable variety of other species. At places on this beautiful stream the spreading myrtles form almost an entire arch, overhanging the water for miles. Nothing can exceed the picturesqueness of the scenery of the Coquille and its tributaries.
The Coquille, as has been said, is navigable. Sea-going vessels, mostly schooners, come in from the Pacific and load with lumber at Parkersburg or Coquille City, or with salmon at the cannery, and by the aid of a tug pass down stream and put to sea. Local traffic on the river is already very considerable, for about 2,000 people derive their necessary supplies of merchandise through this one artery of commerce. Two steamers ply upon the river, the propeller Ceres and the stern-wheeler Little Annie. They make alternate trips between Bandon and Norway, or Myrtle Point, touching at all the landings upon the river, which are many. The length of their trip is forty miles, and they occupy a day in making it, and return the next day.
Coquille City is the most populous town upon the river, and is a place of no mean pretensions. It possesses a paper, the Coquille Herald, edited and published by Mr. Dean, who issued the first number but a year since, and has already built up a satisfac- tory circulation. The Herald deals mainly with local affairs, paying great attention to the resources of the Coquille region. It is an accurate source of news, painstaking and reliable in every respect, and considered as a local paper has not a superior in Oregon. The Coquille City steam saw and grist mills are the most important industries of the town. They were built in 1880 by Bunch, Bennett and Company, but are now owned by B. Hermann. The saw mill has a capacity of 15,000 feet of lumber per day, and contains circular saws, edgers, and planing and matching machines. The shipments are made to San Francisco, and average one schooner load per month, con- sisting of white cedar and planed fir lumber. The number of employees is fifteen, and their wages range from forty to one hundred dollars per month each. About three million feet of lumber is annually made at the mill, for which the local prices are, for rough, second-class fir, nine dollars per thousand ; flooring, eighteen dollars ; rustic, sixteen dollars ; first-class cedar, forty dollars.
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SOUTHERN OREGON.
The town contains two hotels, several stores, a drug store, post office and the usual assortment of blacksmith and carpenter shops found in a place of this kind. There is also a brewery. Evan Cunningham was the pioneer of the place, coming in very early years, where very few white men had entered the country.
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