Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 37/Number 2/News and Comment
NEWS AND COMMENT
SURVEY OF FEDERAL ARCHIVES
A survey of the records of the agencies of the federal government, one of the projects of the WPA, was begun in Oregon in March and will be continued until June 30, 1936, under the supervision of Jesse S. Douglas, regional director for Oregon and Washington. The purpose of the survey is explained in the following announcement by Mr. Douglas:
"The survey of federal archives is being conducted throughout the United States by the works progress administration in cooperation with the National Archives. The purpose of the survey is to locate and obtain information concerning the condition and use of the records of all agencies of the federal government. The data obtained will become a part of the permanent records of the National Archives at Washington, D. C., and will lead to the preservation of historical material that might otherwise become lost.
"Although records of recent date, as well as older files, are included within the scope of this survey, it is hoped particularly that unknown materials of discontinued agencies and files which have been stored in out of the way places may be discovered. It will facilitate the work of the survey if anyone knowing of such records will inform the regional office of the Survey of Federal Archives, Myler Building, Portland, Oregon."
MEETINGS
The annual celebration of Founders Day drew 1000 persons to Champoeg, May 2, 1936, to commemorate the establishment of a government in the Oregon country, May 2, 1843. Governor Martin spoke on the future of Oregon. Other speakers included C. A. Howard, Rufus Holman, Earl Snell and Austin Flegel. The Portland municipal government was represented by Mayor Joseph K. Carson and Commissioner Bean. Leslie M. Scott, as secretary of the Portland chamber of commerce, presented an Oregon state flag to Champoeg park, Students of the manual training schools of Portland presented a number of birdhouses. Bettylou Swart dedicated an elm tree in memory of Tabitha Brown, one of the founders of Tualatin Academy, which later became Pacific University.
The Wasco Pioneer Association held its annual meeting at The Dalles, May 2, 1936. Ralph Moody, assistant attorney general of Oregon, was principal speaker. Of special interest was the display of 2000 pictures showing events in the history of the state. The Albina Pioneers' Association met at Weimer's Hall, Portland, March 19, 1936. Judge C. H. McCollock, of Baker, made an address, after which several pioneers gave reminiscences of the early days of Albina.
The Geological Society of the Oregon Country elected the following officers at the annual meeting February 27, 1936: Clarence D. Phillips, president; J. C. Stevens, vice president; Lillian Neff, secretary; Mrs. Ben Smith, treasurer; A. F. Pratt, member executive committee. O. R. Bean spoke on the geological work of his grandfather, Dr. Thomas Condon. The society gave Dr. Edwin T. Hodge, the retiring president, a life membership in the grade of honorary fellow, the highest honor in the society.
Twenty-five of the fifty-four members of the Octogenarian Club of the First Presbyterian Church, Portland, were able to attend the annual luncheon at the church April 23, 1936. Mrs. Nancy Paxton, 94, was the oldest member present, and R. W. Barr, 86, was the oldest man.
LEWISTON CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
The centennial year of the founding of the Whitman-Spalding missions will be commemorated in a number of localities during the year. The first celebration was held May 7-10, at Lewiston, Idaho, sponsored and directed by the Idaho Spalding Centennial Association. Among the prominent events was a pageant, “West of the Lolo Trail," written by Mrs. Fred C. Erb to dramatize important episodes in the history of Idaho. Hundreds of Nez Perce Indians assembled for their annual ka-oo-yit festival with which they mark the first yield of food supplies of the new year. The floral parade had representations of the mission press, the first mission house, and the first grist mill. An exhibit that created great interest was the little mission press, which was originally sent to Lapwai in 1839. It is now owned by the Oregon Historical Society, and was loaned for the occasion. In honor of the centennial the Lewiston Morning Tribune, May 3, issued a special number containing many interesting pictures and articles.
HISTORIC MONUMENTS
A granite shaft, inscribed with the Chinook jargon words “Ankutty Tillikum Musem,"—Here the Ancient People Sleep, was dedicated at the Greenwood cemetery, near North Bonneville, Washington, May 27, 1936. The monument marks the site of the reburial of Indian bones and relics removed from Indian graves on Bradford Island when the Bonneville dam construction began. Lieutenant Colonel C. F. Williams, district engineer, has supervised the collecting which has been going on since 1934, by tribesmen of the Yakima and Warm Springs reservation. Walter Hufford, Stevenson, Washington, represented the Oregon Historical Society at the services. Isabella Underwood, granddaughter of Chief Banaha, unveiled the shaft.
The work of restoring old Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia, as a historic monument is progressing under the direction of Major William R. Stewart, commandant of the present fort. The Oregon territorial legislature ceded the site of the present military reservation in 1854, and construction of the fort was begun in 1863. It was named for General I. I. Stevens. The restoration will probably be completed by July 4, 1936, when dedication services will be held. A description of the fort is in the Oregon Journal, April 26, 1936.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Oregon Historical Society has received through the courtesy of Mr. Courtland Matthews, field supervisor of the federal document survey, three photographs of the Indian Citizen, a paper edited and published by the Indian children of the Indian Industrial School, at Forest Grove. The photograph shows the first page of volume 1, number 1, February, 1884, another page dated May, 1884; the third page has nothing to indicate the date. The originals were found in a box in the cornerstone of the Clackamas County courthouse when the building was razed, and are now in the possession of County Judge W. O. Vaughan, Oregon City.
The survey of historic records is bringing to light a number of long forgotten documents. In Yamhill County was found a justice court docket recording civil and criminal cases in Lafayette precinct from 1851 to 1854. At Canyon City a copy of the City Journal, July 26, 1869, owned by Perry F. Chandler, editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle, contained an early poem of Joaquin Miller called "From Benoni," and signed C. H. Miller.
Dr. C. A. Arnold, paleobotanist at the University of Michigan, in examining miocene rocks from eastern Oregon, has identified fossil leaves of Oregon grape, Oregon's state flower, Mexican cedar, which is now native only to the tropics and eastern Asia, the gingko tree and ailanthu, or tree of Heaven, now native only of Asia.
Dr. C. M. Drury lectured at the Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, Portland, March 31, 1936, on the work of the missionaries, Whitman and Spalding. Mr. Drury's biography of Henry Harmon Spalding has recently been published, and a life of Marcus Whitman is in preparation. Dr. Drury told of many interesting incidents learned while he was gathering material for his books.
The members of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, Oregon City, observed the 85th anniversary of its founding May 25, 1936. The church was organized May 25, 1851, at a meeting held in the Congregational Church.
NEWSPAPER NARRATIVES
THE Oregonian, May 3, 1936, began printing a series of motorlogs to describe scenic and historic attractions in the Pacific northwest. The first article is by Philip H. Parrish, who visited The Dalles. Judge F. W. Wilson accompanied the writer and pointed out places of interest. May 10, the log covers the coast from Astoria to the Siuslaw, and Earl Snell and J. Lynn Wykoff tell of the notable places. May 24, Lee Bostwick travels to the Steen Mountain region.
Some of the rare books in the Oregon State Library, Salem, are described by A. L. Lindbeck, in the Oregon Journal, March 8, 1936. One of the rarest books in the collection is the second volume of Grains, or Passages in the Life of Ruth Rover, by Margaret J. Bailey, printed at Portland in 1854.
Two obsidian knives, found five feet below the ground surface near Bend, led Dr. L. S. Cressman, anthropologist at the University of Oregon, to carry on investigations in the summer of 1935. In the Oregonian, March 15, 1936, he outlines the result of his investigations, which indicate that in the glacial period man inhabited the Oregon region.
"Two Brave Women ...," by Philip H. Parrish, Oregonian, May 24, 1936, is the story of Narcissa Whitman and Eliza Spalding, who came to Oregon as missionaries in 1836, and were the first white homemakers in the Pacific northwest.
"History of Oregon's First Man Traced in Columbia Gorge," is an article in the Oregon Journal, March 15, 1936, by Sterling F. Green, which discusses the archaeological discoveries of Dr. E. T. Hodge at the Mosier battlement.
The Willamette meteorite, which was found in Oregon in 1902, is displayed in Hayden planetarium, recently opened in New York. An account of the meteorite, by E. Rumbaugh, was printed in the Oregon Journal, April 26, 1936.
In an article in the Oregon Journal, March 8, 1936, Dr. H. C. Dake says semi-precious gem deposits are found in every Oregon county, and gives a list of stones and where they are to be found.
The Gresham Outlook, H. L. St. Clair, editor, observed its 25th anniversary with a special birthday number containing historical sketches of Gresham and vicinity.
"Impressions and Observations of the Journal Man," by Fred Lockley, in the Oregon Journal, 1936: March 1, 13, Dr. Belle Ferguson; March 2, 5, Mrs. George H. Osborn; March 2, Clark Rogers, J. C. Nelson; March 3, Rose West Johnson; March 4, 7, 9, Samuel L. Gilman; March 10, Thomas R. Rowen; March 12, 14, Louisa Nye Proebstel; March 13, Daniel Jackson Cooper; March 15, William G. Everson; March 18, 20, Eva Emery Dye; March 19, 21, Homer D. Angell; March 24, 26, Horace M. Cox; March 29, Kidnapping of Charles Ross; March 25, 27, Alice Revenue Webster, Alex H. Webster; April 1, 3, Mrs. C. S. Miller, William H. Dillon; April 5, General U. S. Grant at Fort Vancouver; April 7, John Hailey; April 8, Marcus L. Keizur, Thomas D. Keizer; April 9, Della Pickard Brown, Nicholas Schrum; April 10, Estella Pugh Keizer, William P. Pugh; April 12, Frances Fuller Victor; April 13, 15, C. C. Crow; April 17, John H. James, John H. Dickinson; April 19, Jacob Kamm; April 22, Reppa Combs Hamilton, Prineville; April 24, 27, Charles P. Bishop; April 26, Mrs. E. F. Swafford, James S. Vinson, Tom Brents; April 29, Mark A. Burch; April 30, Mary Ingram Royer, Mitchell Ingram; May 1, 10, 21, 23, Albert Tozier; May 2, Zulette Painter, Robert Moore; May 6, 11, 13, Vivian P. Fiske, Willamette University; May 7, Gamaliel Newton, William Wyatt, Philomath; May 9, 15, Charles E. Holtgreive; May 11, Oregon newspapers; May 16, George Grimes; May 18, Nat L. Wiley; May 19, Sarah Ann McKee, Rosella Woodington; May 20, David S. McDonald; May 22, 25, Maggie Butler, Christian College; May 26, Mary Drain Albro.
A CORRECTION
A sketch of Joseph H. Sherar, by Donald von Borstel, appeared in the Oregon Journal, February 16, 1936, instead of in the Oregonian, as noted in the Oregon Historical Quarterly, March, 1936, page 82.
NOTABLE BIRTHDAYS
Austin, Susan G., Albany, February 22, 1936, 100th.
D'Elia, Mrs. Henry M., Astoria, March 8, 1936, 95th.
Everding, Therese W., Portland, April 22, 1936, 93rd.
Johnson, Hannah, Gresham, March 10, 1936, 100th, pioneer of 1852.
Keene, Jennie, Portland, May 13, 1936, 104th.
McArthur, Harriet Nesmith, Portland, April 20, 1936, 85th.
Merritt, Dr. Charles E., Portland, May 8, 1936, 90th.
Proebstel, Louisa Nye, Portland, March 11, 1936, 82nd.
Southwick, Helen S., Salem, March 29, 1936, 89th.
WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES
ELLIS, MR. AND MRS. RALPH J., Molalla, March 24, 1936, 60th.
EVERETT, MR. AND MRS. H. E., Wasco, February 16, 1936, 55th.
FARMER, MR. AND MRS. HENRY C., Shedd, February 29, 1936, 64th.
HIBBS, MR. AND MRS. GEORGE H., Monroe, March 17, 1936, 60th.
KANDLE, MR. AND MRS. M. E., Oregon City, May 9, 1936, 60th.
MCALPINE, MR. AND MRS. J. S., Gaston, February 27, 1936, 65th.
MERRITT, DR. AND MRS. CHARLES, Portland, March 11, 1936, 60th.
TAYLOR, MR. AND MRS. J. E., Gresham, May 3, 1936, 56th.
WRIGHT, MR. AND MRS. FRED, Cottage Grove, February 9, 1936, 55th.
Stone, Louise Myra, Forest Grove, April 30, 1936, 82, born at Portland.
Wade, Anna Florence, Portland, March 10, 1936, 76, born at Damascus, June 20, 1859.
Wade, Samuel, Enterprise, April 17, 1936, 88.
Watson, Mary K., Salem, March 13, 1936, 80, born in Polk County, September 9, 1855.
Weatherford, M. Annette, Albany, May 15, 1936, 82, born in Linn County, October 2, 1853.
Wolfard, Lake D., Portland, February 29, 1936, 79, born at Silverton, January 29, 1857.
Wood, Sydney King, Colfax, Washington, March 13, 1936, 87, pioneer of Oregon.
Wright, Anson, Hardman, May 12, 1936, 76, born in Clackamas County, February 10, 1860.}}