USA > Oregon > Oregon, pictorial and biographical > Part 21
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The birth of Mr. Haines occurred in Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, on the 7th December, 1827, being the second son of Reuben and Nancy (Connely) Haines, who were natives of Augusta county, Virginia. The mother having departed this life three years after our subject was born, the father married a second time. Mr. Haines moved with his parents to Missouri in 1844, settling on the Chariton river near Bloomington, Macon county, where he resided until the spring of 1849, when as a youth of twenty-one, he bade farewell to home and friends and began the journey across plain and mountain to the wild and unknown Pacific Coast country. He was then con- nected with the quartermaster's department of the Rifle Regiment, United States Army, commanded by Colonel W. W. Loring (better known later as a general in the Confederate army), which was ordered west to take possession of all Hudson Bay territory under the United States treaty with Great Britian. While en route he was stricken with cholera, but recovered from the disease, being in this respect more fortunate than many of his fellow comrades. After a journey beset with many dangers and hardships the regiment arrived at Vancouver, taking possession of the same.
The following taken from Mr. Haines' own personal memoirs presents more vividly the difficulties encountered in his trip across the plains, and his earlier connection with the history of Oregon:
"Gold was discovered in California in 1848, at Sutters Mill on the American river near Sacramento. I was at Hannibal on the Mis-
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sissippi river in the summer of 1848, waiting at the hotel for the steamboat to go down the Mississippi to St. Louis, and was talking to some men about the news of the discovery and told them that I was bound for California, although nothing but a boy. I went to St. Louis and back to Bloomington, and with some others that had just returned from the Mexican war, fitted up a team in the fall of 1848, and supplies of all kinds for six of us, armed with bowie knives, Allen's revolvers, and rifles for the trip to California. I told the boys that I would go on up the Missouri river to Fort Leavenworth in Weston and informed me that the wagon would be along and we and Weston, Missouri. My brother Robert met me a few days later would go to St. Joseph, and meet it there about the first of May, 1849. But before this, or about this time, I became acquainted with some parties that were fitting out trains for the Rifle Regiment, ordered by the secretary of war to cross the plains to Oregon to take possession of all the Hudson Bay territory and property, under the treaty made with the United States by Great Britain, with the result that on the 23d of April, brother Robert and myself enrolled our names and were assigned to the quartermaster's department under acting quartermaster, Lieutenant Frost, who later became a general in the Confederate army.
"In about two weeks, everything being in readiness, the regiment and trains started. Our first camp presented a most imposing appearance, being near a small stream, on a beautiful rolling prairie. The wagons, three hundred in number, were formed into a circle and fencing quite a large field. The soldiers, one thousand in num- ber, had their tents pitched in regular order, making quite a city. It was really a pleasing sight to see so many fine animals and men, all seemingly in high spirits, enlivened by the martial music of the military band; but the pleasing side was destined to soon wear off. Colonel Loring, our commanding officer, in order to facilitate our progress, found it necessary to divide the command into three divi- sions, giving to each one hundred wagons. I was assigned to the third division, while brother Robert was transferred to the staff in the hospital department, and was ordered forward with the first divi- sion, in which he drove a six mule ambulance the remainder of the journey. Consequently I saw no more of him until we arrived at Fort Hall. Doctors Moses and Smith, and one or two other sur- geons, and the hospital stewards were kept very busy with the cholera patients. Every night more or less men were turned out of the ambulance my brother drove, victims of the dreaded disease; and the regimental band played the dead march most every night, from
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the time we left Fort Leavenworth, until we arrived at Fort Laramie. Robert never took the cholera, although he handled the patients every day, taking them out of the wagon, and putting them in; but I, who was with the quartermaster train, where there were only three persons out of four hundred teamsters that had the cholera, was one of the victims. Thanks to Dr. Smith, regimental surgeon, who blistered me all over and doped me with opium and sugar of lead pills, I survived the cruel cholera crisis.
"How well I remember coming to Green river, and then over to Bear river, and across the divide over to Snake river at Fort Hall, where we turned in seventy-five wagons, and left some troops and mules; and well remember coming on, down around the bend of Snake river through Idaho, and into Oregon, then known as Oregon territory. And well do I remember coming into Powder River val- ley about the first of September, 1849. The rye grass in this valley was so high that when we turned our mules out we had trouble in finding them, for at that time we had, after leaving those at Fort Laramie and Fort Hall, about three thousand animals, consisting of horses, mules and cattle. We camped here and all went fishing for trout in Powder river and Chris Hinkler's slough. We had with us some Freiberg mineral experts, who prospected for gold on the Chris Hinkler slough and also on the North Powder river, and they found the glittering metal and so reported to Colonel Loring and the sec- retary of war. We went over the Ladd road to Grande Ronde val- ley, where our sappers and miners worked upon the road along Ladd creek and hill, so that we could get across the valley, crossing about where Old LaGrande now stands. They were sent ahead to work on the road over the Blue Mountains, so that we could get over with the regiments and teams, and were instructed to treat with the Indians, that the emigrants might travel with more safety. We arrived at Umatilla near the middle of September, and found plenty of grass. There we made acquaintance with the Indians and presented them with scarlet cloth and beads, and a couple of horses; and they returned to Colonel Loring three or four very fine cayuse horses, and about a dozen fine beef cattle, which was a rare treat to the regiment and quartermaster men, for we once more had good juicy beefsteaks.
"After traveling some hundred miles down the Columbia river, we arrived at The Dalles, where we remained about a week to recuperate. Owing to deaths and desertion the command was now reduced to about one third, and a hard looking lot to behold. Here we took the palisades of the old Methodist Mission, which were
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formerly used as a protection against the Indians. From these we made a raft by bolting the hewed logs together with the three thou- sand iron picket pins, used by the regiment to picket horses and mules. After the raft was completed, I intended going down on the same to the Cascade Falls, but by mere accident I did not get off. But two of my messmates, John and Henry Macklin, and a man by the name of Biglow, saddler of the regiment, and Miller, a carpenter Kinlock, and an Irishman named Vaughn, captain of the raft, and one other named Ford did go down the river with disastrous results. The raft was loaded with quartermaster stores, saddles, bridles, spurs, camp equipage, and boxes of dragoon revolvers and some rifles. Toward evening when they had arrived opposite the landing of the Upper Cascades, the men wanted Vaughn to land the raft, but he demurred, and John and Henry Macklin paid an Indian sixteen dollars to take them ashore in his canoe. Then Kinlock wanted Captain Vaughn to land the raft, and he said, 'No, I am going to run her on down, if I run her to hell.' He did run her down and when he got her in the current of the cascades, Kinlock, a big Scotchman, caught Vaughn around the waist and said to him: 'You were going to run the cascades or run the raft to hell, now we are going to hell together'. He held him like a vise, and the raft went over the Cascade Falls; and not a particle of the logs or any- thing else was ever seen afterwards, except that Ford and Biglow, who were washed ashore by the current, were saved; but nothing was ever seen of Kinlock or Vaughn.
"We crossed the Cascade Mountains on what is now known as the Barlow road, arriving at Oregon City on the 15th day of October, where we remained for three days. We were short of supplies coming over the mountains and consequently had to subsist on about a one-half ration, except for beef straight, and that was poor and tough. Leaving Oregon City and going down the Willamette river, on the last lap of our journey in Uncle Sam's service, to the great Oregon country, we crossed the Columbia at Switzlers ferry and entered Fort Vancouver, Washington, and took charge of the same pursuant to the treaty with Great Britain. Vancouver was the main headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company, extending to the 49th parallel north latitude. Brother Robert and myself were dis- charged and paid off with Mexican dollars and doubloons, there be- ing no United States coin in this country at that time. We had more . Mexican dollars than we could very well carry and the troops started various Monte banks on the sward between the fort and the river, and we soon had more or less Mexican coins. While the others were
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playing their games of Monte on the green grass, I went to see about our canoe, and saw a man floating down the river. I went back and reported to the boys and with one of them, I took the canoe and pushed out into the river and picked up the body and it proved to be that of Miller, the carpenter of the regiment, who went over the Cas- cades on the raft fifteen days before. We took him ashore and buried him at the fort.
"Our regiment left Fort Leavenworth on the 10th day of May, 1849, and arrived at Oregon City on the 10th day of October, 1849; completing a distance of two thousand, three hundred and sixty miles. Cholera and desertions had reduced the regiment from one thousand to a little over three hundred men. Some of the men de- serted during the winter following their arrival and headed for Cali- fornia, and were killed by the Indians in Rogue river and Shasta valley, for in the spring of 1850, I was with a party in the Rogue River valley, who captured a lot of Indians and found on them, soldiers' buttons and revolvers and gun caps strung on strings like beads.
"After leaving Vancouver and the service, I went to Milwaukie and helped to get out timbers for a Mr. Luallen, who built the first sawmill in Oregon. I worked at this until the rain came in Novem- ber, when I concluded to spend the winter in Portland. Portland at that time was but a small village containing about one hundred souls of a roving, restless disposition, but all with the same object and purpose in mind: that of searching for that hidden treasure, nature's most precious gift to humanity, and the regulating medium of society-Gold."
The spring of 1850, we find Mr. Haines buying horses and fitting out an expedition to go overland to California, the goal of his long trip to the Pacific's golden shores. Leaving Portland the 15th of April, he traveled up the Willamette, over the Calapooia mountains and across the Umpqua and Rogue River valleys; over the Siskiyou mountains and across the Shasta valley; over the Shasta mountains and crossing the Sacramento river at Soda Springs. After an en- counter with the Indians he arrived at Major Redding's ranch, the present site of Shasta. The latter place was the first mark of habita- tion since leaving the Umpqua, a distance of nearly three hundred miles of the most rugged mountainous country. From here he went over on Hopkins creek, and the South Feather river, where he spent the summer mining; his diggings yielding never less than fifty dollars per day and frequently one thousand dollars a day. The fond dreams of his excited imaginations having been realized, he returned to Port-
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land, Oregon, sailing from San Francisco, and being out at sea for thirty-three days before reaching Astoria. In Portland he and his brother engaged in the mercantile business, and remained there until 1853, when they moved to Jackson county and opened a general merchandise store at Jacksonville. They were in business here but a short time when the Randolph gold excitement broke out. They subsequently went to Coos Bay and erected the first house there, using it as a hotel and general merchandise store. Their goods ar- rived on the sailing vessel Synosure; Mr. Haines acting as her pilot and guiding her safely across the bar, she being the first sailing vessel that, laden with merchandise, ever entered that harbor. They re- turned to Jacksonville in the fall of 1854, and carried on a general merchandising business until 1862, when the subject of our sketch began to read law under the Honorable P. P. Prim, his brother Robert, taking up the study of medicine.
In 1864, Mr. Haines was admitted to the bar and began the prac- tice of his chosen profession, opening an office in Silver City, Idaho. He soon won distinction as a legal practitioner of unusual ability, and was retained as counsel in the Poor Man mining case, and many other celebrated and important litigations. He spent the winter of 1865-6 in San Francisco, having for companions Binger Herman, Thomas H. Brents, and others who have since become equally success- ful in public life. Here the brothers separated, Dr. Robert H. Haines remaining in San Francisco, engaging in the mining brokerage business. Up to this time they had been bosom companions in all busi- ness enterprises and adventures, except during the period that Robert H. fought with Captain W. H. Harris' Coos County Volunteers, in the Indian war of 1855-6. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Haines began the return trip to Idaho, and while passing through eastern Oregon he met a number of old friends and comrades of the "days of '49", at Auburn in Baker county. By these he was persuaded to remain, but not long, however, for the next year he moved to Baker City where he resided ever since, again turning his attention to the practice of law, beginning his career of success and usefulness as an attorney and political leader. He was a stanch democrat and a strict partisan.
As a man of affairs he won the honors of an admiring con- stituency and enjoyed a distinguished reputation in the state as a shrewd, just, and loyal representative of the people of Baker county in both houses of the legislature for a continuous period of ten years, in which body he previously represented Jackson county in the lower house in 1862. Mr. Haines was a ready speaker and took an active
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part in all debates. His long service in the legislative assembly has caused his name to become almost a household word in the history of our state. It was largely due to his efforts that the county seat of Baker county was removed from Auburn to Baker City in 1869. Mr. Haines became the owner of extensive landed interests and great herds of sheep in Powder River valley, and also accumulated much val- uable realty in Baker City. He likewise founded the town Haines, which has now become an important shipping point for the produce raised in the valley. The townsite is still owned by his heirs.
In Baker City, Oregon, on the 23d of November, 1871, Mr. Haines was joined in wedlock to Miss Sarah Minerva Dorsett, a native of Quincy, Illinois, and daughter of James A. and Sarah Ann (Ross) Dorsett of southern lineage, who crossed the plains to Au- burn, this state, in 1864. Unto them were born five children, namely: Stella M., who is now the wife of Judge J. B. Messick of Baker City; Robert W., an accountant and bookkeeper, and captain of Company A, Third Infantry, Oregon National Guard, of Baker City; Amy C., a stenographer and teacher, of Baker City; J. David, a musical director and teacher, and lieutenant in the National Guard, of Baker City; and Elsie A., who is deceased.
In 1873, after twenty-four years of successful adventure in the west and having enjoyed some of the good things pertaining to this life, Mr. Haines and his brother Robert made an extended tour of the eastern states, and visited their old home for the last time. The year next following, Mr. Haines received the painful intelligence of the death of this brother in San Francisco, who then was married but six months.
Fraternally Mr. Haines was identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, his name being on the charter of Baker Lodge, No. 25, and he attained the high office of past chief patriarch of Eleazar Encampment, No. 7, a degree of the same, at Baker City. His demise, which occurred on the 19th of June, 1892, was the oc- casion of deep and widespread regret. No man was ever more re- spected, and no man ever more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people; and none ever better deserved such respect and confidence. In his lifetime the people of his state, recognizing his merit, rejoiced in his advancement and in the honors to which lie attained, and since his death they have cherished his memory. It is an important public duty to honor and perpetuate as far as possible the memory of an eminent citizen-one who by his blameless and honorable life and distinguished career reflected credit not only upon his city and state but upon the whole country. Through such memorials as this at hand
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the individual and character of his services are kept in remembrance and the importance of those services acknowledged. His example in whatever field his work may have been done, thus stands as an object lesson to those who come after him, and though dead he still speaks. Long after all recollection of his personality shall have faded from the minds of men, the less perishable record may tell the story of his life and commend his example for imitation. The period of his resi- dence in this part of the country covered forty-three years and dur- ing that time he witnessed and aided the work of upbuilding and de- velopment, until the frontier region had been transformed into a dis- trict replete with all the evidences of an advanced civilization. His widow still survives and makes her home in Baker City, where she has a host of warm personal friends.
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Lee Laughlin
Lee Laughlin
EE LAUGHLIN is one whose life interests have L been closely associated with the progress and de- velopment of Yamhill county. His activity in the business and political affairs of Yamhill, where he now resides, has shown that he is not wanting in those essential features of judgment and integrity which win the success due to the man displaying them. The inti- mate connection he has had with the development of Yamhill has proved his foresight, sound judgment and altruism.
Mr. Laughlin was born in Lincoln county, Missouri, January 17, 1833. His father, Samuel Laughlin, was a native of Pendleton district, South Carolina, while his mother, Nancy (Doughty) Laughlin was a native of Buncombe county, North Carolina. They were married in Missouri, where they lived for seventeen years. The father had been previously married and had lived in Missouri seven years. By his first union there were seven children, all of whom are now deceased. In 1847, crossing the plains to Oregon, Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin settled in Yamhill county and each took up a donation claim of three hundred and twenty acres. Mrs. Laugh- lin's death occurred before she had proved her claim and it reverted to the government under the ruling of the donation law. Mr. Laughlin, however, lived upon his original three hundred and twenty acres throughout the remainder of his life, engaging in farm- ing and stock-raising. By his second marriage he also had seven children, namely: William, living retired in Yamhill, Oregon; Lee, the subject of this sketch; Samuel, who died in 1911 at the age of seventy-six years; Delia, who married William Smith and both are now deceased; Nancy, the widow of J. D. Capps, of Portland; Lucinda, who married J. W. Sapington but both have now passed away; and Mary, the deceased wife of G. W. Sapington, also deceased.
When but sixteen years old Lee Laughlin started to make his own way in the world. Lured by the reports of gold in Califor- nia, he and a number of companions eventually worked their way to Trinity river after various prospecting trips. The rainy season be- gan after he had worked about two and one-half months and Mr. Laughlin found himself without employment in a strange country
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and without the provisions necessary for existence. Forced by these conditions, he walked the greater part of the way to San Francisco, from which place he set sail in a bark, the Ann Smith, of which Captain Flanders was master, for Portland and proceeded north by ocean to the mouth of the Columbia river. Reaching home, he re- mained there until 1851, but gold mining again seemed to make a stronger appeal than farming and for the second time Mr. Laugh- lin set out for California. He found however that there was little gold to be dug at Yreka and was soon back home in Oregon. After farming for one year he took a three years' course of study at the Tualitin Academy and the Pacific University. About the time he finished this work the Indian war broke out and his love of adven- ture led him to enlist as a volunteer in that treacherous war. He actively served for three months.
On October 8, 1856, Mr. Laughlin was married to Emma Stewart, a daughter of Benjamin and Ann (Crumbaker) Stewart, of Putnam county, Ohio, who crossed the plains with their family in 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart were both born in Pennsylvania and died in Oregon. They were the parents of eight children: Mrs. Laughlin; David C., deceased; Eminger, who resides in Grant county, Oregon; James and Orville, both deceased; Montgomery, of Monmouth, Oregon; Frances A., deceased, who was the wife of John Fox, of Astoria; and Eva, the wife of John Stewart.
After his marriage Mr. Laughlin located on a donation claim of one hundred and sixty acres which he had previously taken up. He lived upon this for eight years and then removed to Idaho, where he remained for two years. After his return he sold his claim and em- barked in the general merchandise business in North Yamhill. With his partner, Francis Hauswirth, he carried on this business success- fully for eight years, but in 1874 he sold his interest and now that leisure was again his, he started on another trip. This time he went toward the center of that civilization which he had helped to ad- vance in its progress in the west. After visiting various points of interest he attended the Centennial Exposition, then being held in Philadelphia.
Upon his return to Oregon Mr. Laughlin purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty acres, immediately adjoining the town of Yamhill. This was a business deal, contracted purely as such, for instead of engaging in agricultural pursuits upon it he sold it in a very short time in two separate tracts. In 1877 he again engaged in mercantile business, entering into a partnership in Yamhill, which connection lasted for nine years. At the end of that time he sold out and built himself the very substantial and comfortable residence
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which he now occupies. The discontinuance of this business under- taking marked the close of his mercantile activities.
In politics Mr. Laughlin is an enthusiastic and vigorous sup- porter of the republican party. His first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln. In 1860 he began serving his party by accepting offices. His first position was that of county assessor of Yamhill county and he acted in that capacity during 1860 and 1861. In 1870 he was elected to the Oregon state legislature and again to the same office in 1874. His third election to the legislative body of his state took place in 1880 and again he served a full term. He introduced a resolution before the house of representatives to amend the state constitution, striking out the word "male" from the qualification of the electors, thus giving woman equal suffrage with man. This resolution was passed by the house and subsequently by the senate but when finally submitted to the vote of the people of the state was defeated.
In his own city he showed his public spirit and interest in the general welfare by an active support of the public schools, serving for many years as director. He also acted as president of the city council for several terms. In March, 1888, Mr. Laughlin was one of the organizers of the McMinnville National Bank at McMinn- ville, Oregon, and was its first vice president. This office he held for eight years and upon the death of the president was unani- mously elected to fill the vacancy, an office which he was particularly well qualified to hold. After eleven years' service as president, Mr. Laughlin felt that the arduous duties of the position were too great for him to assume any longer and he retired from the presidency but is still a director.
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