from three to five vessels loading at a time with lumber and coal, since which period coal-mining, lumbering, and ship-building have been carried on at this point without interruption. Railroads were early projected, and many who first engaged in the development of coal mines became wealthy, and resided here till their death.[1]
Some also were unfortunate, one of the shareholders, Henry A. Stark, being drowned in the spring of 1854, while attempting with five others to go out in a small boat to some vessels lying off the bar.[2] Several of the Umpqua company, after the failure of that enterprise, settled at Coos Bay, prominent among whom was S. S. Mann, author of a pamphlet on the early settlement of that region, embellished with anecdotes of the pioneers, which will be of interest to their descendants.[3]
Any new discovery stimulated the competitive spirit of search in other directions. Siuslaw River was explored with a view to determining whether the
- ↑ P. Flanagan was one of the earliest of the early settlers. At Randolph his pack-train and store were the pioneers of trade. Then at Johnson's and on The Sixes in a similar way. Later, he became associated in the partnership of the Newport coal mine, where his skill and experience added largely to its success.
- ↑ Stark was a native of New York, emigrated to Cal. in 1849, thence to Or. in 1850. He was a land claimant for the company at Coos Bay, as well as a shareholder. John Duhy, a native of New York, emigrated to the S. I. in 1840, thence to Cal. in 1848, going to Yreka in 1851, and thence to Coos Bay at its settlement in 1853. John Robertson was a native of Nova Scotia, and a sailor. John Winters was born in Penn., and came to Or. through Cal. Alvin Brooks, born in Vt, came to Or. in 1851. John Mitchell of New York, a sailor, came to Or. in 1851. Portland Oregonian, March 25, 1854; S. F. Alta, March 22, 1854.
- ↑ Coos Bay Settlement, 18. This pamphlet of 25 pages is made up of scraps of pioneer history written for the Coos Bay Mail, by S. S. Mann, afterward republished in this form by the Mail publishers. Mann, being one of the earliest of the pioneers, was enabled to give correct information, and to his writings and correspondence I am much indebted for the facts here set down. Mann mentions the names of T. D. Winchester, H. H. Luse, A. M. Simpson, John Pershbaker, James Aiken, Dr Foley, Curtis Noble, A. J. Davis, P. Flanagan, Amos and Anson Rogers, H. P. Whitney, W. D. L. F. Smith, David Holland, I. Hacker, R. F. Ross, Yokam, Landreth, Hodson, Collver, Bogue, Miller, McKnight, Dryden, Hirst, Kenyon, Nasburg, Coon, Morse, Cammann, Buckhorn, and De Cussans, not already mentioned among the original proprietors of the Coos Bay Company; and also the names of Perry, Leghnherr, Rowell, Dement, Harris, Schroeder, Grant, and Hamblock, among the early settlers of Coquille Valley.
