Oregon Historical Quarterly/Volume 5/The Beginnings of Lane County
THE BEGINNINGS OF LANE COUNTY.
By W. B. Dillard.
When the white people first reached the land now included within the present limits of Lane County, the only tribe of Indians that lived in it was the Callapooias, although it was visited and made the place of short stops by various other tribes.
The Callapooias were short, heavy set, and extremely dark, with black eyes and straight hair. They had some traits of character peculiarly of their own. They were rarely known to commit any act of depredation or lawlessness in the sight of man or to raise their arm to injure him, but were ever ready to take advantage of 'an unprotected woman, and compel her to prepare for him a meal which he would sit down and enjoy, or force her to remain a passive spectator while he helped himself to the limited supply of winter's food. These Indians were ofttimes caught and severely flogged by the early settlers, hut never tried to get revenge on the body of the man who flowed them. Even during the trouble with the Rogue River Indians in 1853, the Callapooias remained friendly to the whites, who, though did not think it safe to trust them too far, but barricaded themselves in different places throughout the country. In the southern part of the county the settlers gathered at the house of J. Cochran and prepared to resist an attack, but were not molested.
The chief of the tribe was Shellou, a man of shrewd mind a dose observer of nature, and renowned as a medicine man. One winter the Klickitats, who were going south, were compelled t<> camp near the Callapooias until the snow should melt. Shellou, who claimed to have superhuman power, was offered three horses if he would cause the snow in the mountains to melt. He kept putting them off until he noticed that it had turned warmer, and that the snow had begun to fall from the trees, then he accepted their proposal. The next morning the snow had nearly all disappeared, and he was given the horses.
In the winter of '54 he was visited by the Klamaths for assistance for a sick squaw. After he had used his skill as a medicine man, she was able to resume her journey, but the next night she died. This so incensed the Klamaths that the next night they returned and killed the chief. Shellou was the last chief of the tribe, though they still continued the practice of allotting the different sections of the country to members of their tribe, who regarded it as his illahee.
In 1856 the Government removed these Indians to a reservation in Yamhill County, but only succeeded in placing about one-half of the tribe on the reservation. The rest returned to their former abode, but have gradually disappeared, until at present (1904) only one remains.
Though the Indian is no more, we have permanent reminder of his existence in the names he has left us; thus: Wineberry means red huckleberry; Willamette means "big river, almost, not quite." The dispute in regard to the pronunciation of the word was due to the fact that the nearer to the mouth of the river one went, the broader the sound in pronouncing it.
Spencer Butte was so named because Spencer, a man in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, being alone on the butte in search of game, was killed by an Indian to avenge the death of some of their tribe at the hands of some of the representatives of the company.
Except the settlements of the fur companies at Astoria and Vancouver, the first permanent settlement was made at French Prairie, in the Willamette Valley, as the most favored spot for farming, a nucleus for a future commonwealth. When the stream of immigration began to flow in it naturally chose this valley for its home, so new settlements were made at convenient distances from the old ones.
But one of these immigrants, wishing to select a place for a home that would not be reached by very many men for at least two years so In- could send word to his folks and friends in the East and have room for them near him when they would coim-. So in 1846 Elijah Bristow, with three companions, Captain Scott, William Dodson, and Eugene F. Skinner, left the settlements far behind and journeyed southward. When this party reached a point on the Middle Fork, a few miles southeast of its junction with the Coast Fork, to form the Willamette, and had crossed the river and ascended the smith bank, they were struck with the beauty and grandeur of the scene before them. Then E. Bristow. as he raised his hat and let the refreshing breeze cool his heated brow, exclaimed: "What a pleasant hill! This is my claim; here will I live, and when I die, here will I be buried."
So he proceeded to erect a claim cabin, and stepped off his claim of 640 acres. About October 1, 1846, he completed his house, a lop cabin, which was the first one erected in Lajie County. Mr. Dodson next marked off his claim, south and east, and adjoining Mr. Bristow's. Mr. Scott selected the one on the north, which, however, he abandoned and settled on the south bank of the McKenzie. opposite the mouth of the Mohawk. The next spring Mr. Skinner settled on the claim on which a part of Eugene now stands.
The name Pleasant Hill was given to the claim of Mr. Bristow, at his request, by the legislature of Oregon in an act passed December 27, 1847.
Late in 1847 quite a company arrived in Lane County by way of the southern route, or as follows: When 61 miles Inflow Fort Hall they crossed over the ridge into the Humboldt Valley and down it for 300 miles; thence 50 miles across the desert to Black Rock; thence through Surprise Valley, Kandango Valley, by Goose Lake, up Lost River, by Klamath Lake, over the Cascades into Rogue River Valley; thence across to and through Umpqua Valley to Lane County.
Among these immigrants were: Isaac Briggs, Elias Briggs, Prior Blair, Charles Martin, and their families, who settled near Mr. Bristow; Cornelius Hills, who settled across the river north of Mr. Bristow; Benjamin Davis, John Akin, H. Noble, and Charnel Mulligan, who settled near Mr. Skinner; while Abrain and Louis Coryell settled near the junction of the Coast and Middle Forks. Their cabin, which was finished November 3, 1847, was the last house along the road till one reaches the Sacramento Valley. The next, year L. ('oryell and D. Hasty put in a ferry on the Umpqua. They expected a large immigration, but were disappointed, though they had a good trade in ferrying miners on their way to the gold fields in California. In May Coryell sold out to a Mr. Hend ricks and went to the gold fields, where he remained a few years, when he returned to Lane County, where he still resides, an honored resident of Crow.
In this year John Diamond and M. Wilkins settled near where Coburg now stands, Jacob C. Spores settled at the place afterwards known as Spores Ferry, while James Chapin settled one and one-half miles of where Cottage Grove now stands.
Other settlers of this year were: Cornelius Hills, E. W. Griffith, W. S. Davis, Ephriam Hughes, George Gilbert. A. O. Stevens, Isaac Stevens, J. Ware, —— Snook, R. J. Hills, and Luther White.
In the early '50's J. Diamond, in company with four other men, while viewing a road up the Middle Fork over the Cascades scaled a lofty peak called Diamond's Peak, in honor of the first white person who reached its snowy summit. These early settlements were made the nucleus around which future immigrants settled. These pioneers had few of the necessities, and none of the comforts, of life, but what little they had they were ever ready to divide with the weary traveler, and the cry of sickness, hunger, or distress was quickly responded to. They had endured many hardships and privations, but were eager to make life pleasant for those who came after them.
The immigration of 1848 more than doubled the population of the county; all of whom settled near some former settler, except the Fergusons, Richardsons, Browns, and Hintons, who formed the first settlements on the banks of the Long Tom. During this year Elias Briggs located a claim where Springfield now stands, and a Mr. Wells took one where Cottage Grove now stands. Springfield was so named because a spring bubbled forth in a field near the road, while Cottage Grove was named by Mr. Pierce, its first postmaster.
The year 1849 brought only a very few people to Lane County, and 1850 and 1851 brought but few more.
In 1848 President Polk appointed General Joseph Lane, of Indiana. Territorial Governor of Oregon. General Lane, coming by the southern route, arrived in Oregon March 2, 1849. and immediately assumed the duties of his office. Lane County, named from Oregon's first Governor, was organized by an act of the legislature, passed January 24, 1851.
The first election was held the first Monday in June, 1851 at which only 57 votes were cast, but so fast was the increase in population during '52 and '53 that 394 votes were cast in the election of June, 1853, that located the county seat on the donation claim of Charnel Mulligan.
The first white child born in the county was a daughter of H. Noble, born November, 1847. The second was a daughter of Mrs. Wells., born March 15, 1848; and the third, a child of J. Briggs, born June 21, 1848. The first native son was Wade Martin, born in the fall of 1848, while J. M. Hendricks, the second, was born in June, 1849.
The first white person buried in the county was an immigrant, who died in 1846, and was buried about three miles south of Creswell. The second was a little child of Mrs. D. Wells, who fell from a wagon and was killed. It was buried at Skinner's. The third was a young man, 19 years of age. by the name of Gilliam, who took sick at Blair's and soon died.
Educational matters were not neglected during these early pioneer day. The first schoolhouse was built near the home of Mr. K. Bristow in 1850, its first teacher being W. W. Bristow. The same year, and near the school house, was erected the first church.
Means of communication with the Eastern States was very slow, very often taking as much as six months for people here to hear from their friends or relatives in the East. When the first post office was established at Pleasant Hill, in 1850, the mail was carried from Oregon City on horseback. The first mail carrier was Smiley Carter, and the second was Hart Crosby.
The first couple married in the county was the widow Wright and a man by the name of Luce. The second wedding was a double one, in which George Coryell and Charles Sweet married the McBee girls.
The first sawmill erected in the county was the one erected by E. P. Castleman, on Blair's farm, but was moved to Cloverdale in 1851. There it was used to saw the timbers for a flour mill, which was erected the next year by William R. Jones.
In 1854 Jones and Gilfrey started a store, and in 1855 Gilfrey laid out a townsite. Cloverdale was named by Jones from a town in California, and was a prosperous village till the coming of the railroad in 1871, when it was moved to the present site of Creswell.
To the men who made these settlements we owe a debt of gratitude that never can be paid. By their thrift, industry, and endurance, they made possible the rapid growth and development of Lane County. Then may not we? who are reaping the fruits of their labors, say: "All hail the pioneers of Lane County."
The foregoing was carefully compiled from notes set down more than 30 years ago by Mrs. S. Rigdon, and corrected by L. Coryell, a pioneer of '47. I have set down all that is not already a matter of record.