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out his time in the senate, would have served twenty-four years in the senate — twice as long as any other senator from Oregon.
Mitchell was not a great orator; he was not a profound reasoner; he was not a statesman; he was not consistent in anything but his personal desires for public office. But he accomplished more for the state, and had more influence and success in the senate, and satisfied more people by his public service than any other man Oregon ever sent to the senate. He was handicapped by changing his name ; he was kept poor by the political leeches that fed upon his bounty and threatened his ruin unless they were fed; he was bitterly opposed by men of great wealth; and by men in his party of great power and influence, and by newspapers read by all the people ; and over and against all of it he triumphed against all odds and against opposition that would have destroyed any other man. When republicans rebelled at his leadership and repudiated his acts, he called in democrats and beat down his own party leaders with the club of their political opponents. What was the secret of it all? A kind heart, a generous disposition, a friendly sympathetic handshake, untiring industry and sleepless vigilance and persistence. He has imitators, and some of them are succeeding with precisely the same tactics. But not for long. There was but one Mitchell, and there won't be another for a hundred years.
John H. Mitchell was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1835, and baptized in the name of John Mitchell Hippie. He was admitted to the bar in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 1857; came to Oregon in i860, quickly secured a large law practice; was elected to the U. S. senate in 1872, and had his name legally changed by the county court to John H. Mitchell in 1874, al- though passing under that name from the time he came to the state.
The best sketch ever made of Mitchell's political career was that made by Mr. Scott of the advisory board of this history, and which is hereto appended:
"It would perhaps be difficult in all the history of American politics to find a man whose political career equaled that of Senator John H. Mitchell. Men whose political careers have been as full of turmoil and strife as that of the dead senator have sprung before the nation's eye, but they only bloomed and flourished for a brief time, and their names became forgotten with the flight of time. Not so with Senator Mitchell. He became a factor in Oregon politics when the '60s were young, and almost from the day on which he was elected state senator, his name has been one tO' conjure with in the history of things political in Oregon.
When Senator Mitchell first made his hand felt in Oregon politics, he entered a tempestuous conflict. How he weathered those storms that repeatedly broke around him, how he persistently fought and overcame the apparently overwhelm- ing political tides which ever threatened to destroy him, made men marvel for almost half a century. Beginning with the famous bolting caucus of September, 1866, Senator Mitchell has been an issue in Oregon politics to this day. But a handfull of men who mixed and mingled in the political strife at that time are alive today. Only a few of the men whose names are at present on the political horizon are familiar with that part of Oregon's political history. Mitchell had been elected state senator, had served one term. That was the beginning. It was in 1862. In 1864, just two years after he was elected president of the senate. Even as early as this. Senator Mitchell had his political star directed to the United States senate. His political aspirations were in the nature of a whirl- wind, and the harvest of that whirlwind was reaped when he was finally elected to the upper house of congress. Before his ambitions were gratified came the tempestuous days of the legislature, which met in September, 1866,
BOLT DEFEATS GIBBS.
Salem, then as now, was the center of all political storms. Addison C. Gibbs ]
was then governor, and the avowed candidate for senator. It was claimed that 1
