which were put up on the site of Umpqua City. In charge of the company's business was Addison C. Gibbs, afterward governor of Oregon, who was on his way to the territory when he fell in with the projectors of the scheme, and accepted a position and shares.[1]
Thus far all went well. But the Umpqua Company were destined to bear some of those misfortunes which usually attend like enterprises. The passage of the Oregon land law in September was the first blow, framed as it was to prevent companies or non-residents from holding lands for speculative purposes, in consequence of which no patent could issue to the company, and it could give no title to the lands it was offering for sale. They might, unrebuked, have carried on a trade begun in timber; but the loss of one vessel loaded with piles, and the ruinous detention of another, together with a fall of fifty per cent in the price of their cargoes, soon left the contractors in debt, and an assignment was the result, an event hastened by the failure of the firm in San Francisco with which the company had deposited its funds. Five months after the return of the Samuel Roberts to San Franciseo, not one of those who sailed from the river in her was in any manner connected with the Umpqua scheme. The company in California having ceased to furnish means, those left in Oregon were compelled to direct their efforts toward solving the problem of how to live.[2]
- ↑ D. C. Underwood, who had become a member of the association, was a passenger on the Kate Heath, a man well known in business and political circles in the state.
- ↑ Drew remained at Umpqua City, where he was subsequently Indian agent for many years, and where he held the office of collector of customs and subsequently of inspector. He was unmarried. Marysville Appeal, Jan. 20, 1864. Winchester remained in Oregon, residing at Scottsburg, then at Roseburg and Empire City. He was a lawyer, and a favorite with the bar of the Second Judicial district. 'He was generous in dealing, liberal in thought, of entire truth, and absolutely incorruptible.' Salem Mercury, Nov. 10, 1876. Gibbs took a land claim seven miles above the mouth of the Umpqua, laying out the town of Gardiner, and residing there for several years, during which time he returned to the east and married Margaret M. Watkins, of Erie county, N. Y. Addison Crandall Gibbs, afterward governor of Oregon, was born at East Otto, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., July 9, 1825, and educated at the New York State Normal school. He became a teacher, and studied law,
