the autumn of 1880 he had in operation in the Willamette Valley 118 miles of road, when he applied to the legislature for a right to enter the city, and locate his road upon the public grounds therein, but was opposed by Villard's railroad companies and the city government. The legislature, however, passed the bill over the governor's veto, and the Scotch company was triumphant, Reid being local president. The construction of the road into Portland was proceeded with, and the grading had reached to a point within 11 miles of the city, when the stockholders in Scotland, despite the protests of the local president, gave a 96 years' lease of their railways to Villard for a guarantee of 7 per cent on the stock. Reid then abandoned the management, and turned to other enterprises. His next undertaking was the introduction into the state of the roller system of manufacturing flour, and the City of Salem Company, with a capital of $200,000, was the result. In 1883 it erected the Capitol A and B mills at Salem and C mill at Turner, at a cost of $230,000, with a combined capacity of 900 barrels per day. The success of these mills led to the erection of others on the same plan, in Portland and elsewhere. The First National Bank of Salem was organized in 1882 by Mr. Reid erecting the bank building and becoming the first president. Having relinquished all connection with the Scotch companies above mentioned, in the spring of 1883 he organized the Oregon Mortgage Company of Scotland, with a capital of $1,000,000, which he managed for two years. In 1884 he organized the Portland National Bank, and was made its first president, and also president of the Oregon and Washington Mortgage Savings Bank. In the mean time the successors to Villard in Oregon repudiated the 96 years' lease of the narrow-gauge system, because the road was uncompleted and unproductive. The courts appointed a receiver; the legislative act under which the Oregonian Company was chartered became inoperative through the expiration of the time allowed for the completion of the road, the people of the valley desired to have a road to tide-water put in operation, and Reid was the man to bring it about. Another bill was introduced in the legislature, contested as the first had been by the city of Portland and the Oregonian Railway Company; but the bill became a law, and the Portland and Willamette Valley Railway Company, organized by Reid, undertook to connect the Willamette Valley system with Portland by the 1st of Nov., 1886. The state gave the new company a contract, to last for 15 years, to carry the freight and passengers of the uncompleted road to Portland. Mr. Reid is eminently a financier. There has been loaned on real-estate mortgages from May 1874 to June 1885, $7,597,741 of Scotch money. As one dollar borrowed represents three of value at minimum estimates, and as much of the property mortgaged is never released, there are many millions' worth of Oregon and Washington lands held in Scotland.
Thomas H. Crawford was born in Indiana, June 24, 1840, and came to Oregon in 1852, with his parents, who settled in Linn co. on a farm. For 6 years his opportunities for study were limited. Then he was sent to the Santiam academy at Lebanon for about a year, after which he entered the Willamette university, from which he graduated in 1863, after which he began teaching. His first school was in Sublimity, where he remained three years, when he took charge of the public schools in Salem for 1½ years. From there he came to Portland in 1868, and taught in the Portland Academy and Female Seminary as assistant for two years. In 1870–2 he was principal of the North Portland school, after which he was elected to the chair of natural sciences of Willamette university, remaining in that position three years, returning to Portland in 1875, and being elected principal of the Central grammar school. On the resignation of the former superintendent of public schools in Portland, in 1877, he was elected to fill that position. Mr Crawford has labored conscientiously to improve the school system and management, in which he has been eminently successful; much attention has been given to plans of building, and all matters connected with the public schools, until those of Portland are not excelled by any city of its population anywhere in the United States. It is noteworthy that the leading teachers in Portland for many years have been educated in Oregon.
