Oregon, pictorial and biographical, Part 20

Author:
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 708


USA > Oregon > Oregon, pictorial and biographical > Part 20


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"The pioneer had no cultivated or domestic fruit but there was a plentiful supply of wild fruits in their season, consisting of sal- mon berries, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries and crabapples. Sunday was the day for gathering the fruit. The canoe Telephone (Edison was unknown to us), operated by our women, would send word to our neighbors to meet at a certain point or bend in the river. Then with lunch and pails our ever-ready canoe would glide down the river to the place of meeting. Having filled our pails with fruit and enjoyed a pleasant chat over our lunch, we would return home for milking time. For pleasure and recreation we had our barn raisings and log rollings. When a new settler had located his claim and building site, and cleared a small patch, he would select the most suitable trees for his log cabin or barn and then on an appointed day the neighbors for miles around would go to his place and roll, notch and fit the logs in position, and before night, would leave him with the framework of a good log cabin, having worked and feasted


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all day, returning to our homes contented and at peace with all the world. Nor did we forget to celebrate the glorious Fourth of July. How well do I remember when that great-hearted pioneer, William T. Perry, placed his flatboat at our disposal for a two weeks' trip to Whiskey Run, where the Schroeder boys, Henry and Gus, were mining. What a royal welcome they gave us, with music, feasting and dancing and exploring the beach, gathering agates and shells, nor did we forget to indulge in the various shell fish we found among the rocks. I will never forget that trip nor the various mem- bers who composed the party. Alas, how many of them have passed over to the Great Beyond. As memory carries me backward forty years how well I remember the generous, brave-hearted pioneers, the Hermanns, Schroeders, Perrys, Dements, Yoakams, Lockharts, Kenyons, good old Ben Figg, Ned Fahy, the Low brothers, the Roger brothers, monarchs of industry on Coos river, the Hillborns, Hollands, Butlers, Captain Harris, the Aiken brothers, Dr. Hodson, the Rook brothers, W. D. L. F. Smith, generous B. F. Ross, the Stauff brothers, good old John Kronenburg, the Noble brothers, H. H. Luce, Empire City's pioneer mill man, Al Simpson, the man whose active brain has kept his mill and shipyards in active opera- tion in good or bad times for forty years, P. Flanagan and S. S. Mann. Ah, these last two men are entitled to more than a passing notice. Pioneers of pioneers, their skill, judgment and enterprise made coal mining a success on Coos bay. Hospitable, generous and kind to their employes, their home was known far and wide as a place where the traveler would be royally entertained without money and without price. Both held positions of trust in Coos county. Their good deeds and works can never be forgotten by the old pioneer. C. H. Merchant, for many years a hard worker but by his business foresight and enterprise, his strict integrity and economy, is now able to sit in the stern and steer while others paddle his canoe. Andrew Nasburg, a successful farmer and merchant, was the first postmaster in Marshfield, and his salary was twelve dollars per year. He held the office many years and when he re- signed in favor of the writer, the commission on the business done amounted to about seven hundred dollars per annum. Mr. Nas- burg was taken from us in the prime of life, but left behind a name and record of which his family may justly feel proud.


"The pioneer women, how nobly they have done their part! How well in our absence have they defended our homes! With their trusty gun they have slain the fierce lynx that stole our poultry, with the faithful dog by their side and ax in hand they have chased


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the prowling bear that would have carried off our hogs, they have braved the flood waste-deep to drive the cattle to the hills for safety, and in a thousand ways have proved their indomitable courage. All honor to our pioneer women! During the flood of 1861-2 I left Eastport at 7 o'clock in the morning with grub and blankets to last three days, expecting it would take me that time to reach my home. John Canyon and myself worked at the coal mines during the winter and improved our places in summer. Our wives lived together during our absence, that being convenient, as our farms joined. I started homeward, crossing the isthmus as usual, but the water of the Coquille river was so high that I left the regular trail, doubling Green Point and made straight for Cedar Point. Crossing the river I made a beeline for Fishtrap, then crossed the stream again and came out at the Malcolm place -now Fred Schroeder's elegant home. I then entered the woods and proceeded to Perry's Prairie, arriving before sundown, hav- ing been but nine and one-half hours on my journey. If the water had been ten feet lower I should have had to follow the sinuosity of the stream, and no doubt it would have taken me three days to have reached my home. When I was at Cedar Point I saw a log cabin floating down the river. Then my heart sank within me and 'where is my home and how fares my neighbors,' were the ques- tions that involuntarily came to my mind. The flood was so general and the current rushed so rapidly that it seemed as though the whole upper river was submerged, and the sweetest music that ever greeted my ears was the voice of good old lady Perry, when, in answer to my inquiry when I arrived at her cabin, she said 'yes, Tom, here is Lou; we are alright.' As before stated, my wife and Mrs. Canyon were living together for company. They had an intuition that there would be a great flood and had rounded up our cattle in the timber but couldn't make them cross a slough at the , lower end of my clearings in order to drive them to higher ground, hence they were obliged to leave them to their fate. The next morning the water was still rising and they started what cattle they had in the clearing and followed them an eighth of a mile, wading waist-deep in the water and forcing the cattle to swim to higher ground. Having saved the stock they then began to think of their own safety. Their canoe was gone and they must reach Perry's, more than a mile away. They crossed a slough by climbing a myrtle whose overhanging branches interlocked with the limbs on the oppo- site side. After their perilous climb they landed on the proper side and waded to the bank of the stream opposite Perry's place just as


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that grand old man was giving orders for a boat to go to the rescue of Nancy and Lou.


"Pioneers of the '50s, our voyage is near its end, our canoe trip has not always been one of pleasure nor yet of sorrow. Sometimes we have met strong floods to check our progress, sand-bars and shoals to contend with, rapids to shoot, snags and whirlpools to lure us to destruction, and often cold wet and weary, our limbs aching with toil, and making little headway. Then again the tide would turn, favorable winds would waft us onward, giving us rest and renewed courage to face the dark canyons of adversity or the green fields of prosperity. To the pioneers who have been called hence, we bid you a kind farewell; to the pioneers who are still with us, you whose sun has passed the zenith, may peace and contentment be with you, may your canoe float gently down stream to pleasant lakes, and when you make the last landing on the shore of time, may you find the trail blazing to guide you to the great wigwam, and be welcome by Sah-la-Tyee, or great spirit of the universe."


In 1873 Mr. Hirst removed to Marshfield and was there en- gaged in the general mercantile business until within a short time of his death, which occurred on November 14, 1903. He left to his widow an estate of one hundred and sixty acres near the city limits of Bandon, also a personal property interest in the merchandising establishment at Marshfield, and a beautiful residence in that city, now occupied by Mrs. Hirst as her home.


On November 12, 1855, Mr. Hirst was united in marriage to Miss Louisa A. Milton, who was born in New South Wales, Australia, November 29, 1838, and received her education in the pub- lic schools of Australia. Her parents, James and Ellen (Donahoe) Milton, were natives of London, England, and removed to Aus- tralia at an early period in life, their marriage being celebrated in that country. The father for some time conducted a shoe store and later was engaged in farming. The father and mother both died in Australia, the former at the age of seventy-seven and the latter at the age of seventy-four. In their family were eight children: Mrs. Ellen Johnson, of Australia; James, deceased; Louisa A., who is the widow of Thomas Hirst; William, deceased; Ruth, of Aus- tralia; Edward, whose death occurred in Australia; Thomas, de- ceased; and Elizabeth, of Australia. Mr. and Mrs. Hirst adopted a son, Milton E. Hirst, when he was a child two years of age. He was born in 1878 and now resides in Marshfield.


Mr. Hirst while a resident of Marshfield was for two years the regularly appointed postmaster of that place. He has a place in


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the history of Oregon on the honored roll of her early pioneers. He was a man of unusual intelligence and during life was ever to be relied upon to identify himself with every measure of public interest seeking the welfare of the people of his county and state. Mrs. Hirst is a devout and active member of the Episcopal church of Marshfield.


yours Truly Elle tp


Jesse TO. Bounds


J ESSE W. BOUNDS, well known in connection with the timber interests of the state and a valued citizen and business man of Eugene, was born in Monroe, Benton county, Oregon, April 26, 1870, and is a son of John A. and Nancy (McBride) Bounds. The father was born in Missouri in 1836 and was a son of John Bounds, Sr., a native of Tennessee, who became one of the pioneer residents of Missouri. Having arrived at years of maturity, John Bounds, Sr., wedded Elizabeth Lovelady, and unto them were born the following named: Nancy, Margaret, Thomas, Jane, Jesse, Amanda, John, Ann, Sarah and James S. It was about 1846 that the family left the middle west and came to Oregon, settling in Polk county, where the grandfather of our subject followed the occupation of farming. John Bounds, Jr., was a little lad of less than ten years old when the family crossed the plains to the northwest. They camped at Eugene on their way down the valley and in the years that followed were closely associated with the pioneer development of the city.


Jesse W. Bounds, whose name introduces this review, pursued his education in the Alpine schoolhouse at Monroe to the time he was thirteen years of age, when the family removed to Alsea Bay. About a year later they took up a homestead at Ten Mile Creek, whereon they resided for three or four years, and then removed to a farm in the vicinity of Florence, upon which John Bounds, the father, lived for seven or eight years. Jesse W. Bounds remained on that place for four or five years and then went to Long Tom, where he continued for two years. He has been a resident of Eugene for seventeen years and throughout this period has been interested in the timber business. Other business activities, however, have claimed his time and energies at intervals. He was the representative of the Singer Sewing Ma- chine Company for six or seven years, continuing in that line of busi- ness until 1905, when he began to devote all his time to cruising timber. He thus cruised and bought for a number of large concerns, notably the Sunset Lumber Company, and became a prominent representa- tive of this line of business in Oregon. During all the years from his boyhood he was deeply interested in the timber business and with a hope of some day engaging therein was familiarizing himself with


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timber lands and their owners, biding his time, however, until market conditions should enable him to embark in his present line of business. In 1908 he felt that the hour was propitious and embarked in business on his own account. Since that time he has carried through some of the biggest deals in timber ever made in the state, selling timber to the value of two million dollars in four years. He knows where the best reserves of Oregon are to be found, has acquainted himself with their extent, is familiar with market conditions and has placed himself in a position to reap the reward of his energy and labors. He is presi- dent and manager of the Bounds Timber Company, capitalized for fifty thousand dollars and organized and incorporated May 11, 1912, for the purpose of dealing in timber land. Mr. Bounds has organized the Lillie M. Mining & Development Company, which was incorpo- rated on the 12th of January, 1912, his associates being W. H. Kay and Edgar Grimm, of Nome, Alaska. This company was organized for the purpose of engaging in mining on Nome Beach.


Mr. Bounds was united in marriage to Miss Lillie M. Montgom- ery, a daughter of Andrew and Margaret Montgomery, of Benton county, and they have one son, Frank, whose birth occurred July 12, 1893. They also lost a little daughter, Lila, at the age of two years and nine months.


Mr. Bounds belongs to Eugene Camp, No. 5837, M. W. A., and is a director of the Douglas County Tax Association of Douglas county. He is recognized as one of the most progressive and enter- prising business men of the city and the success which has crowned his labors shows him well entitled to the enviable reputation which he bears.


Since the above was written Mr. Bounds was killed in an auto- mobile wreck September 14, 1912.


Jm J. Mariner


William J. Mariner


ILLIAM J. MARINER is one of the foremost of W the active, progressive and influential business men of Oregon and to none other is greater credit due for the reclamation and development of the arid lands of the state. He has been an untiring worker along that line, spending time and money without hope of direct remuneration. He has given incontrovertible evidence of his public spirit not only in this way but in innumerable other directions, particularly in his support of the interests of navigation on the Columbia river. That his efforts in that direction have been forceful, practical and of lasting benefit finds its proof in the activity of the United States government in its work along the Columbia, especially in building the Celilo canal near The Dalles. With notable prescience Mr. Mariner recognizes what the future has in store for this broad and growing western country and seeks in every possible manner to further the work of general im- provement, development and progress.


A native of Lebanon, Tennessee, he was born September 25, 1853, a son of William and Nancy Agnes (McPherson) Mariner, who were natives of Maine and Tennessee respectively. The father was professor of languages and mathematics in the Cumberland University prior to the Civil war and after the close of hostilities entered upon a similar connection at Lincoln, Illinois. Later he con- tinued his educational work at Mount Zion, Illinois, and next became connected with Whitman College, at Walla Walla, Washington, where he remained for a number of years. He then retired and moved to Spokane, where he passed away. His widow still survives, at the age of eighty-four years.


William J. Mariner acquired his early education in Lebanon, Tennessee, and in the public schools of Illinois, but ill health pre- vented him from utilizing to the full the opportunities that were af- forded him in that direction. In 1872 he became a resident of Walla Walla, Washington, being much benefited by this change. He was connected with the cattle industry in the eastern part of the state and with farming until 1880. Since coming to the northwest he has real- ized much of the possibilities of the country and his labors and efforts


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have ever been directed in those channels through which flows the greatest good to the greatest number. His efforts have largely been of a character that has contributed to public progress as well as to individual success. He had charge of the building and operation of the flume for ties that were used in the construction of the line of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company through Washington to Portland, Oregon. In 1880 he removed to Wasco county, now Gill- iam county, Oregon, where he took up a claim, and has added to his holdings from time to time until he now has about three thousand acres. He has demonstrated clearly that this method of farming may be profitably followed and his practical labors have been attended with gratifying results. Mr. Mariner has taken an active part in opening up the Columbia river to navigation, and for a time in con- nection with his partner, J. A. Smith, operated a line of boats on the upper Columbia river. His identification with river transportation has continued long and has been of immense value to the public. At one time he and his partner had a complete survey for a portage road on the Washington side of the river and he is now one of the three commissioners in charge of the Oregon State Portage Railway from Celilo to The Dalles. In 1905 they organized the Baker Irrigation Company, of which Mr. Mariner is the treasurer and manager. This company expect to handle fifteen thousand acres of land in their proj- ect which they are making a profitable proposition. Mr. Mariner is second vice president of the Oregon Irrigation Congress, which was recently organized, and he has studied systematically and along scien- tific lines the subject of introducing water to the arid country and thereby promoting its fertility. He was active in advancing the Uma- tilla extension government reclamation project. He has always con- tended that the government should cooperate with the settlers and build the main canals and reservoirs and thereby the responsibility would fall on the reclamation bureau. He believes that the govern- ment should not compete with private enterprises in the development of irrigation and reclamation projects. In all public improvements he has been active and his cooperation can ever be counted upon to advance the welfare of the community or the state at large. He is the greatest factor in the reclamation of arid land the state has ever had and is still putting forth notable activity along that line.


Local interests have also profited by the cooperation and ability of Mr. Mariner who in 1887 was appointed postmaster at Blalock, Gilliam county, and has since held that position continuously. In politics he has ever been a republican but never places partisanship before the general welfare. He was one of the commissioners that


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aided in forming Wheeler county and in 1889 he was chosen county commissioner of Gilliam county for a term of two years. In 1891 he was elected county judge of Gilliam county and served continuously on the bench for twelve years, his decisions being strictly fair and impartial and causing his retention in office. In 1908 he was elected a representative to the state legislature from Wheeler, Gilliam and Sherman counties, and such was the creditable record which he made in the general assembly that he was reelected in 1910. During his first term he succeeded in securing the passage of the Oregon state railway bill and he was also active in the good roads movement. By appoint- ment of the governor he was made a member of the commission on the consolidation of the Oregon State University and the Oregon Agricultural College. In 1912 he was appointed a member of the state tax commission and all this makes his activities very wide and far-reaching. He is directly responsible for the present system of taxation eliminating the state equalization board and cutting out ad- ditional classifications. His work on assessment taxation was the most important feature in his career as a member of the legislature.


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Mr. Mariner is a remarkable example of the self-made man. Ill health retarded his progress in early life but he overcame all his early disadvantages and as the years have gone by has made wise use of time, talents and opportunities. He has firm faith in the future of Oregon, recognizes its possibilities and resources, has long been prominent in the public life of the state and has made a record which reflects credit and honor upon Oregon for all time. The west is mak- ing her history and Mr. Mariner is numbered among those who are writing some of its most important chapters.


I. C. Scharff


I. C. Scharpf


C. SCHARPF is the owner of one of the large lum- L. beryards of Pilot Rock, Oregon, and also the cashier and business manager of the only banking institution in that place. He is a young man of unusual ability, having won his way to a leading place in the business affairs and social life of Umatilla county. He was born in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, July 30, 1887, a son of George J. and Mary (Bracher) Scharpf, both of whom were natives of Prairie Du Chien. His father was one of the representative business men of that city, owning a grocery store there for a number of years. In 1901 he removed to Bassett county, Iowa, where he engaged in the lumber business until his death, which occurred in the year 1909. He is survived by a widow who now resides at Portland, Oregon, to which place she removed upon the death of her husband.


L. C. Scharpf was reared in his father's home and acquired his early education in the public schools of Wisconsin and Iowa. He spent the early years of his manhood under the parental roof and worked for his father in the lumber business at Bassett, Iowa. There he learned the rudiments of the business and with this knowl- edge as the only capital with which to start in life at the age of sixteen years he removed to the state of Washington in the year 1903, locating at Monohan, where he was an employe in one of the lumber mills for three years. His knowledge of the lumber busi- ness acquired in his father's yards and office in Iowa made his serv- ices very acceptable to his employer. Later he removed to Portland and there secured a clerkship in the Lumberman's National Bank of that city. While serving in that capacity he became a student at the Holmes Business College and was graduated from that institu- tion. He remained an employe of the Lumberman's National Bank of Portland for two and one half years and in the spring of 1909 he severed his connections therewith and removed to Pilot Rock, where he established himself in the lumber business. On May 1, 1911, he was offered the position of cashier of the Bank of Pilot Rock, which as it in no way interfered with his lumber business, he accepted and


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has since remained in that position, having full charge of all the business interests of the bank.


On the 7th of May, 1912, Mr. Scharpf married Miss Eva M. Fanning of Portland, a daughter of G. F. Fanning. He is a mem- ber of Alto Lodge, No. 165, I. O. O. F., of Pilot Rock, and also of Ya Tenneowitz Tribe, No. 27, Improved Order of Red Men. He is an enthusiastic oarsman and is a member of the Portland Rowing Club, and belongs to the Presbyterian church of Pilot Rock. Mr. Scharpf is prominently identified with all the social and business interests of his community, and for one year served as mayor of the city. His influence is always exerted in behalf of advancement and moral improvement.


Cora m. Maschmann


John Maschmann


J OHN MASCHMANN, who is engaged in general farming near Pendleton, was born in Germany, June 29, 1882. He is a son of Carl and Winnie Masch- mann, both of whom were also natives of Germany. The mother having passed away in that country, the father came to America in 1895 and located on a farm in Umatilla county, Oregon, where he is still living, being engaged in farming with his son John, who is the only surviving member of a fam- ily of five children.


John Maschmann was reared under the parental roof and re -. ceived a thorough common-school education and also completed a business course. On putting aside his text-books he engaged in farming, which occupation he is still following in connection with his father. They are now operating a tract of fourteen hundred and forty acres.


In 1909 Mr. Maschmann wedded Miss Cora Hudemann, who is a daughter of Julius and Margaret Hudemann, both of whom are now living in Pendleton. In politics Mr. Maschmann is a republican, and fraternally he is a member of the Order of Eagles at Pendleton. He is a thrifty and progressive man, very successful as a farmer, and has many friends in the community where he resides.


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It Haves


Don. Israel D. Daines


ON. ISRAEL D. HAINES, who passed away two H decades ago, enjoyed a reputation more than state wide, for he was a lawyer of pronounced ability, win- ning for himself a name respected by every man in the profession throughout the state and bringing to his office many distinguished clients. His sincerity, of purpose and broad-minded interests in the general welfare, com- bining with sterling integrity and worth a degree of native ability, entitled him to occupy a place of leadership and prominence among his fellows. A pioneer of pioneers, he knew well the topography and understood well the genius of the west, facts which caused him to become distinguished in the counsels of the state during his long service in the Oregon legislature.




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