The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811–1912/Volume 1
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THE CENTENNIAL HISTORY
OF
OREGON
1811–1912
BY
JOSEPH GASTON
[With notice of antecedent explorations]
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1912
PREFACE
The author and publishers of this work having in 1910 brought out a history of the City of Portland, entitled "Portland and its Builders," which received such a flattering support from the citizens of Portland, they were encouraged thereby to undertake the greater and more important work of the History of the State, including, as it does, the history of the "Old Oregon Country."
The decision to undertake such a work was not made, however, upon the sole reason of the encouraging financial support offered. As a matter of practical business it may be stated that no history of Oregon heretofore published has ever returned to the publishers the first cost of the undertaking. But the Centennial celebration of the founding of the City of Astoria, coming on with the delivery of the Portland book, punctuated the century of Oregon's development with such a public-spirited, patriotic reason for a history coeval to, if not coequal with, the first century of the most unique development of American character and institutions on the western hemisphere, that the publishers were induced to take the risk of getting out a work equal to the great subject, and at a cost far surpassing the combined cost of all other preceding histories of Oregon. This is the first and only general history of Oregon to receive the aid and illumination of expensive illustrations. In this respect the publishers have not spared any expense to secure everything that would throw light upon the text and prove interesting to the reader.
This book is the work of many minds and hands. The author desires to express here his great obligations to the many friends who have extended most generous assistance. And first of all to that veteran pioneer laborer to preserve the history of Oregon—George H. Himes. It is not saying too much to record here that without the aid of Mr. Himes and the great foundation of facts and material largely secured by him for the Oregon Historical Society, no complete history of Oregon could be written. For forty years he has delved, digged, traveled, collected, arranged, stored and studied every avenue and scrap of Oregon history to be found or obtained until he is now a walking storehouse on the great subject.
Other men and women have helped, and generously helped. From Cyrus H. Walker, the oldest living white man born west of the Rocky Mountains, and chaplain of the Oregon State Grange, we have had very great assistance. To Rev. J. Neilson Barry, of Baker, the history is indebted for the complete synopsis of the tribes and families of Indians in old Oregon and their original homes in the state. This required much study and investigation, and Mr. Barry has done the work so carefully and completely that it will become the standard authority on that subject. Mr. Barry also added much to what was known in Oregon heretofore of the wanderings and sufferings of the Wilson Price Hunt party. To the old veteran. Hon. Wm. H. Packwood, we are indebted for much of the history of Eastern Oregon and Coos and Curry mining, and Indian war history. To Orvil Dodge, of Curry county, and Binger Hermann, of Douglas county, the history is under great obligations for many facts in the history of Coos and Curry, especially to Mr. Dodge for rare old photographs, which could not be had elsewhere. To Major Lee Moorhouse, of Pendleton, the history is indebted for the Indian illustrations, some history on the last Indian war, and many other favors. To Capt. O. C. Applegate, of Klamath Falls, we are indebted for the line of Fremont 's expedition through Oregon; for an original copy of Lindsay Applegate 's journal of the location of the Fort Hall and Southern Oregon Trail, now entirely out of print, and which is a complete and conclusive justification of that route, showing its value and practicability against all the petty fault-findings of such tender feet as J. Quinn Thornton.
To Hon. Harrison R. Kincaid the history is indebted for a copy of the Constitution of the Provisional Government of Oregon, not printed in the "Archives," and never before printed except in Mr. Kincaid's collection of state papers and political biographies. Also to Mr. Kincaid for the best collection of the autographs of our public men—many of them the pioneer friends of Oregon—that has ever been preserved.
To Ellen Condon McCornack, of Eugene, this history and every reader of it, are under inexpressible obligations for the intensely interesting chapter on Oregon geology, nearly all of which is the work of Mrs. McCornack. Such literary work requires a degree of special study, preparation and care which few readers comprehend, but who are all the more under obligations for the knowledge imparted. To Mr. D. W. Craig, of Salem, for scraps of history of Oregon's early politics; to Dr. Cardwell for Horticultural reminiscences; to Mrs. Lischen Miller, of Eugene, for history of Oregon magazine literature; to Miss Clara Munson, of Warrenton, for Clatsop county history; to Valentine Brown for volumes of poetry, proof reading and correction—to all these friends our thanks are due for many favors. All have helped with a hearty good-will, and their names should go down to the future with this book. And last but not least to the painstaking overworked, ever-patient and always cheerful Miss Mabel Dudrow, who took up the whole tangled mass of penciled, interlined, patched and tangled manuscript and handed it back a neat, clean, readable and enjoyable book, the author's thanks are especially returned.
Joseph Gaston.
CONTENTS
1492–1792
THE WORLD-ROUND WEST-BOUND MARCH OF MAN—WAS THE EARTH ROUND OR FLAT—THE PROPOSITION OF COLUMBUS—HOW AND WHY NAMED AMERICA—THE DREAMS OF NAVIGATORS—THE FABLED STRAIT OF ANIAN—DE FUCA'S PRETENDED DISCOVERY—MALDONADO'S PRETENDED VOYAGE—LOW'S REMARKABLE MAP—VISCAINO AND AGUILAR REACH THE OREGON COAST IN 1603—CALIFORNIA AN ISLAND—CAPTAIN COOK'S VOYAGE AND DEATH—BEGINNING OF THE FUR TRADE ON THE PACIFIC—SPAIN DRIVES ENGLAND OUT OF NOOTKA SOUND AND THEN MAKES A TREATY OF JOINT OCCUPATION—GRAY DISCOVERS THE COLUMBIA RIVER |
1 |
1634–1834
THE LANDWARD MOVEMENT WEST—TWO DIFFERING MINDS OF CIVILIZATION AND INDEPENDENT MOVEMENTS OF POPULATION MOVE WESTWARD—THE FRENCH CATHOLIC ON ONE SIDE, AND THE ENGLISH PROTESTANT ON THE OTHER—MARQUETTE, 1665—LA SALLE, 1679—HENNEPIN, 1680—JONATHAN CARVER, 1766—ALEXANDER MACKENZIE, 1793—LEWIS AND CLARK, 1804—MAJOR ZEBULON PIKE, 1805—SIMON FRASER, 1806—ANDREW HENRY, 1808—JONATHAN WINSHIP, 1809—DAVID THOMPSON, 1810—WILSON PRICE HUNT, 1811—JEDEDIAH SMITH, 1826—NATHANIEL J. WYETH, 1832—LIEUT. B. L. E. BONNEVILLE, 1833—AND JOHN C. FREMONT, 1843 |
19 |
1792–1840
THE INDIANS, THEIR FAMILIES, TRIBES AND DISTRIBUTION—THEIR ANCIENT STONE AGE DESCENT AND IMPLEMENTS—THEIR MYTHS, HABITS AND RELIGION—THEIR NUMBERS AND WEAKNESS—THE JARGON LANGUAGE—THE INDIAN IDEA OF LAND TENURE |
63 |
1640–1824
THE PIONEERS OF THE FUR TRADE—GROSEILLIERS AND RADISSON—PRINCE RUPERT SENDS OUT A SHIP—THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY—THE NORTHWEST COMPANY OF CANADA—INDEPENDENT AMERICAN TRAPPERS—THE RENDEZVOUS—THE WAR BETWEEN ENGLISHMEN AND SCOTCHMEN—FUR TRADING STARTS FROM ST. LOUIS—THE MISSOURI FUR COMPANY—JOHN JACOB ASTOR ENTERS THE FIELD—ORGANIZES THE PACIFIC FUR COMPANY—FOUNDS ASTORIA—DESTRUCTION OF ASTOR'S ENTERPRISE—TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS BY THE FUR TRADERS—THE SERVICES OF THE FUR TRADERS TO CIVILIZATION |
91 |
1834–1845
THE ERA OF EVANGELISM—THE AGITATION OF HALL J. KELLEY—THE QUEST OF THE FLATHEADS FOR THE "BOOK OF HEAVEN"—THE COMING OF JASON LEE—THE MARCUS WHITMAN PARTY—THE CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES—DE SMET, THE GREAT APOSTLE TO THE INDIANS, ANSWERS THE CALL OF THE FLATHEADS—THE RIVALRIES AND WORKS OF THESE MEN—THEIR SERVICES TO OREGON AND THE NATION |
113 |
0000–1862
WHAT DID THE FORELOPERS FIND HERE—THE FACE OF NATURE—THE GEOLOGY AND EXTINCT ANIMAL LIFE—THE VAST WATER POWERS—MADE VALUABLE BY APPLICATION OF DISCOVERIES IN ELECTRICITY |
131 |
1774–1805
THE EVOLUTIONARY POLITICAL MOVEMENTS TOWARD OREGON—THE PIONEER AMERICAN PUSHING WEST—GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND OLD VINCENNES—WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON CO-OPERATING TO HOLD THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY—WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON PLANT STAKES TO HOLD OLD OREGON |
147 |
1834–1846
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT A COUNTRY WITHOUT LAWS OR CIVIL GOVERNORS—THE SCHEMING OF RIVAL SECTS AND INTERESTS—THE GREAT WORK PERFORMED BY THE PIONEERS—THE HEROIC AGE OF OREGON |
159 |
1792–1846
AMERICAN TITLE TO THE COUNTRY—THE SPANISH SEA COAST DISCOVERIES—THE PAPER TITLES OF SPAIN, FRANCE AND ENGLAND—GRAY'S DISCOVERY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER—THE PURCHASE OF LOUISIANA—THE DOCTRINE OF CONTIGUOUS SETTLEMENT—THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPLORATION—THE PURCHASE OF THE SPANISH TITLE—THE CAMPAIGN OF "FIFTY-FOUR FORTY OR FIGHT"—THE TREACHERY OF PRESIDENT POLK—OREGON SAVED BY THE AMERICAN SETTLERS |
207 |
1834–1844
OREGON IGNORED BY U. S. GOVERNMENT—TREATY OF NON-OCCUPATION—NO MAN'S LAND—THE OREGON TRAIL—OREGON IN CONGRESS FOR THE FIRST TIME—ROUTE OF TRAIL LOCATED BY HUNT AND STUART—WHITMAN WITH THE FIRST WAGON ON THE TRAIL—IMMIGRATION OF 1843—PREPARATION FOR STARTING—ON THE TRAIL—CHARACTER OF THE IMMIGRANTS—BENEFITS OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT—THE RESULTS OF THE MISSIONS |
231 |
1834–1848
THE OREGON HALL OF FAME—WHO SAVED OREGON? THOMAS JEFFERSON? THOMAS H. BENTON? HALL J. KELLEY? JASON LEE? MARCUS WHITMAN? JOHN M'LOUGHLIN? JOSEPH L. MEEK? FRANCOIS XAVIER MATTHIEU? GEORGE ABERNETHY?—SAVED BY ALL SETTLERS PULLING TOGETHER |
265 |
1844–1848
THE COLONIAL PERIOD—WORKING OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT—RIVAL FACTIONS SILENCED BY LAND CLAIMS—TOMAHAWK CLAIM DESCRIPTIONS—TITLES TO LAND CLAIMS—PRICES, AND COST OF LIVING—FOUNDING RIVAL CITIES, AND HOW THEY STARTED—IMPORTATION OF HORSES, CATTLE, SHEEP AND GOATS—FOUNDATION OF THE FRUIT GROWING INTEREST—ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES—COMMENCEMENT OF TRADE AND COMMERCE—DISCOVERY OF GOLD, AND THE OREGON MINT—BRIEF SKETCHES OP EARLY PIONEERS |
315 |
1844—1912
|
FOUNDING OF PORTLAND—TOWNSITE PROPRIETORS—FIRST TEACHERS, PREACHERS, DOCTORS AND LAWYERS—FIRST STEAMBOATS AND THEIR BUILDERS
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
355 |
1847—1855
|
THE WHITMAN MASSACRE—THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT ARMY—THE CAYUSE INDIAN WAR—ROGUE RIVER INDIAN WARS—BATTLES OF BATTLE ROCK AND BIG MEADOWS—GENERAL LANE BLUFFS OUT 150 SAVAGES—CHIEF JOHN, THE LAST "BRAVE" TO SURRENDER THE YAKIMA WAR—THE MODOC WAR—THE CANBY-THOMAS MASSACRE
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
375 |
1849—1858
|
THE EVOLUTION OF ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT—ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT LOCATION OP THE STATE CAPITAL THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION AND ITS MEMBERS ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE GOVERNMENT—THE GOVERNORS AND REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
421 |
1843—1908
|
THE COUNTY ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
443 |
|
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES—THE STATE OF NATURE GAME AND FISH—PRAIRIE AND TIMBER FREE LANDS AND LAND GRANTS—SOIL AND IRRIGATION—FORESTS WEALTH, MOUNTAINS AND WATER POWERS
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
475 |
1849—1910
|
GOLD AND SILVER IN ANCIENT TIMES THE CHARACTER OF MINERS IN ANCIENT TIMES—MINING LAWS IN AMERICA DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA—DISCOVERIES IN OREGON—PRESENT CONDITIONS OF MINING IN OREGON—MINES OF OTHER VALUABLE MINERAL DEPOSITS THE INFLUENCE OF MINES ON THE STATE
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
|
487 |
1843–1911
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS—THE FIRST FERRY AND CANAL—THE FIRST MAIL CARRIERS—THE FIRST STEAMBOATS—THE FIRST EXPRESS LINES—THE FIRST TELEGRAPH—THE FIRST RAILROADS |
503 |
1810–1911
AGRICULTURE—HORTICULTURE—ANIMAL INDUSTRIES—FARMS, FARM LANDS AND VALUES—COMMERCE—MANUFACTURES—THE STATE FAIR—THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION |
539 |
1843–1912
THE MORAL AND EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES BUILDING THE STATE—THE CHURCHES AND CHURCH SCHOOLS—PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES—POETS, HISTORIANS AND PIONEER EDITORS—AUTOGRAPHIC HISTORY—THE GRANGE—DIVORCES, VICE AND CRIME |
573 |
1843–1912
THE EVOLUTION OF LAWS, CONSTITUTIONS AND POLITICS—THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES AT STAKE AT OLD CHAMPOEG—THE POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY DOCTRINE THAT OVERRULED ALL OTHERS—TAXATION, PROHIBITION AND SLAVERY—THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY—THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE PROGRESSIVES AND CONSERVATIVES OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY—THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD—LEADERS, BOSSES, AND CORRUPT PRACTICES FINALLY PRODUCING POPULISM, DIRECT PRIMARY AND DIRECT LEGISLATION |
639 |
INTRODUCTION
Prophecies: "Fixity of residence and thickening of population are the prime requisites of civilization; and hence it will be found that, as in Egypt where great civilization was developed in a narrow valley hemmed in by deserts, and in Greece limited to a peninsula bounded by the sea on one side, and mountains on the other, when the Caucasian race, starting from India and pursuing its western course around the earth, shall reach the shores of the great Pacific ocean, it will dam up in the strip of country between the Rocky Mountains and the sea, and there in the most dense population, produce the greatest civilization on the earth." (From the Vestiges of Creation, 1838, anonymous, but supposed to be written by Robert Chambers, of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was in fact written before the emigration wave started for Oregon.)
"I say the man is alive, full grown, and listening to what I say, who will yet see the Asiatic commerce traversing the North Pacific ocean—entering the Oregon river—climbing the western slope of the Rocky Mountains—issuing from its gorges—and spreading its fertilizing streams over our wide extended Union!
"The steamboat and the steam car have not exhausted all their wonders. They have not yet found their amplest and most appropriate theatres—the tranquil surface of the North Pacific ocean, and the vast inclined plains which spread east and west from the Rocky Mountains, the magic boat, and the flying car are not yet seen upon the ocean, and upon the plain, but they will be seen there; and St. Louis is yet to find herself as near Canton as she is now to London, with a better and safer route by land and sea to China and Japan than she now has to France and Great Britain." (Extract from an address by Thomas H. Benton, U. S. Senator, at St. Louis, October 10, 1844, eighteen months after his fellow citizens of Missouri had started to Oregon with their wives, children and ox teams to take the country from the British.)
The settlement of Old Oregon, embracing all the territory west of the Rocky Mountains, north of California and up to Alaska, being the result of a long series of explorations by sea and land covering three hundred years from 1506 to 1806, is the most interesting story of the entire settlement of North America. The history of this great territory is both national and local. Apparently the last grand movement of the German Indo–European race of men in its all-conquering march from farthest East to farthest West, the history of Oregon is not only national in its fundamentals but also finds its original root-graft in the oldest of the virile tribes of men. The same Providence that cast the Mayflower on the rockbound shores of New England to land the Pilgrim Fathers in a new world, inspired the men and women and furnished them with the faith and courage to overcome mountains, deserts and savage tribes and plant Christianity, civilization and laws in the wilderness of Old Oregon.
And whatever of difference there may lie in the local coloring which differentiates Oregon from all other of the forty-eight states of the Grand Republic, it is entitled to its history, its origin, and its influence in moulding the general mass. So that this book is written not only to inform the newcomer to Oregon, but also to arouse an interest in the boys and girls in all the Oregon schools to read and find in the history of their state a more exciting and instructive story than they can find in any other country or in any creation of the most gifted imagination.
For more than three hundred years the territory of Oregon was a prize for which the most powerful nations in the world contended. And for this country one after another, Spain, Russia, France and England played the rights of discovery, the game of diplomacy and the bluff of threatened war; and all of them to see in the end the final word and the rightful decision rendered, almost wholly by half a hundred American farmers in the Willamette valley. Such a page of exciting incident, unlooked for surprises, and far-reaching consequences cannot be found in the history of any other state or nation.
Born to a conscious existence of its dignity as an organized community of civilized men, and influenced by the antecedent dangers and trials through which the community fought its way to recognition by congress, it is not singular that there should be found here types of men and women, and a civil government with laws and institutions out of the ordinary; and if not admitted to be superior it has for originality and force challenged the attention and led the champions of reform throughout the nation. A state isolated from the rest of the great body of the American people by two thousand miles of mountains and arid plains that can accomplish these results and secure this position among the states of the Union is no ordinary community, and must have a history at once both unique and forceful to an extraordinary degree.
To search out facts from twenty thousand pages of printed matter heretofore issued to the world as veritable history of Oregon, a great deal of which is uncertain, much of it romance and not a little of it in dispute, is the task set before the author. In taking up this task no bias in favor of or against any person, society, creed or party can be allowed to have any influence whatever. The truth of history, and justice to all the actors in the great drama of life to be recorded, must be the unwavering guide.
The history of Oregon has been so fruitful a field for writers of every description that it is safe to say that more pages, if not more books, have been written about this region, its discovery, its name, its missionaries, Indians, the trials and sufferings of its immigrants, its novel provisional government and its latter day new laws and politics, than about all the other states west of the Ohio river. From this vast storehouse of historical material it is plain that only so much as will give the general story and controlling facts and movements, can be included in a volume that the general reader will care to purchase.
In writing the history of a state a common plan has been to divide the whole period into parts or epochs, each limited by distinctive dates. To the reader desiring to know what took place at any given period this plan has its merits. But it has appeared to the author that in the case of Oregon the more instructive plan, especially to the younger readers whom it is desired to interest in this book, would be to divide the history into subjects, and then give all that is to be said on that subject in one chapter. By pursuing this plan it is believed that there will be a relationship created between all parts of the narrative, so that each part will be more readily apprehended, more easily understood and longer remembered.
That the conditions of life and the environment of men and women—the individual merits of society—have at all times influenced and shaped the institutions of society, cannot be denied. And the best illustration of this universal principle can be found in the history of Oregon. The trials and dangers of the long journey from the Missouri river to Oregon; the presence of the unfriendly if not savage possessor of the land; the shadow of the foreign power in the background; all conspire to develop a people alert to assert and courageous to maintain their rights by organization, proclamation and defence. These characteristics of the mass developed traits in the individual no less marked and distinguishable. The independent fur hunter in lonely mountains, the pioneer farmer on the isolated prairies—all held themselves ready to defend the home or fly to the common defence. These hard circumstances developed in Oregon a race of men and women independent in thought and deed, courageous to insist on their rights and careless of wealth or fame.
It has been urged by some writers that there is a unity in all history of the human race. But if this were a uniform rule, there would not be the difference between nations and peoples, between wild tribes, half civilized barbarians and cultured races which is every where observable. That there is a unity in the history of all the nations on certain facts of development there can be no doubt. In fact no progress, or even existence, could be maintained without a unity of purpose for self-preservation, common defence, and the control of nature's storehouse of food and clothing. The history of Oregon shows a unity in the great trend of population to move westward—the American idea to organize government for common defence in which all the individual units of society will stand upon the same level and have the same voice in the compact. But this has no similarity to the governments set up by Spain in Mexico and all the South American colonies; nor is it akin to the colonial charters from English kings to the colonists on the Atlantic sea coast. The settlement of Oregon was exceptional and extraordinary, made so by the conditions and surroundings of the time and place; and its history cannot be judged by the rules and principles applicable to the history of states in general.
The highest and most valuable purpose of history should be to teach by actual example. If there is no lesson, no useful thought to the reader, then the history is of no more value than the every-day novel. If those who come after can learn nothing from those who have gone before, it is a waste of time to make up the record for any other purpose than selling the story as any story of fiction might be sold. But the historians of Oregon may justly point with pride to the illustrious history of the state, crowded with examples of the daring, courage, toils and homely virtues of its pioneer settlers; and to the wisdom, patriotism and heroism of its founders, state builders and law givers.
In the evolutionary race around the earth from east to west, the Oregonian Americans were the first to reach the Pacific and establish permanent institutions. The Spaniards came first, but their presence and influence was a blight and a curse upon the country. The Russians came next, but left no impression of any kind. The English came next, but their influence for the benefit of mankind was practically limited to the life of a single man—John McLoughlin. The Americans came last, and founded states. Recognizing the beginning of the end of Spanish rule on the Pacific coast, Governor Pico, of California, said to his people:
"We are threatened with hordes of Yankee immigrants. Already have the wagons of that perfidious people scaled the almost inaccessible summits of the Sierra Nevadas, crossed the entire continent and penetrated the fruitful valley of Sacramento. What that astonishing people will next undertake, I cannot say; but in whatever enterprise they embark they will be successful. Already these adventurous voyagers, spreading themselves over the country that seems to suit their tastes are cultivating farms, establishing vineyards, erecting sawmills, sawing lumber and doing a thousand other things that seem perfectly natural to them."
Several volumes of biographies of Oregon men and women will accompany this historical volume. Many persons assume that these personal biographies are not valuable. But that is a mistake. All history is but the recital of the works of the men and women of the past. These personal biographies will be the mine from which will be drawn the facts for histories in the future. They are worth reading and we commend them to all subscribers for this book. Now for the story!
OREGON CHRONOLOGY
1542—It is said that Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo. a Spaniard, sailed up the coast as far as 44 degrees, landed and returned south. This would be somewhere in the neighborhood of Port Orford.
1578—Authorities differ as to the distance which Sir Francis Drake, an Englishman, sailed up the coast. There is no record of his having landed north of San Francisco Bay.
1592—Is given as the date upon which Juan de Fuca, a Spaniard, discovered the straits which now bear his name. It is doubted whether he ever saw them as claimed by him.
1603—Sebastian Vizcaino, a Spaniard, named Cape Blanco, also reported a snow-capped peak to the eastward, calling it San Sebastian (Mt. Shasta). He also discovered a river, supposed to be the Umpqua. Capt. Aguilar, one of his expedition, claimed to have discovered the Columbia river.
1742—Two sons of Chevalier de La Verendrye. of Montreal, led an overland expedition to the Stony mountains (Rockies), coming as far west as the country embracing Missoula. Deer Lodge and Silver Bow counties in Montana. On May 19, 1744, they set up a monument and christened the country "Beauharnois."
1744—Lieut. Juan Perez, a Spaniard, sailed as far north as 54 degrees. On his return trip he discovered a mountain now called Mt. Olympus. He gave it the name of Sierra de Santa Rosalia.
1763—Kodiak Island settled by the Russians.
1766—The river "Oregon" was conceived in the mind of Capt. Jonathan Carver, of Connecticut, who made an expedition into the country adjacent to the headwaters of the Mississippi in that year. This river has borne several different names, among them being: Spanish-Esenada de Asuncion (Assumption Inlet"*. Esendada de Heeeta (Heceta Inlet), Rio de San Roque (River of San Roque), Rio de Aguilar (River of Aguilar). and Rio de Thegays (River of Thegays).
1775—Capt. Bruno Heceta, a Spaniard, planted a cross on July 14th. upon n point to which he gave the name of Punta de Martinez (Martyr's Point), a location now known as Point Grenville. On the same day some of the crew of one of his vessels went on shore for a supply of fresh water, and were massacred by the Indians. This was the first recorded instance where the blood of the white race was shed in the Pacific Northwest.
1778—On March 7th, Capt. James Cook named Cape Foulweather. and Cape Flattery on March 22d. The latter had been previously (1774) called Punta Martinez by Perez.
1785—Capt. James Hanna, an Englishman, arrived. Not for the purpose of exploration, but to gather furs for the Oriental market. He was quite successful, selling his cargo in the Cantonese market tor $20,000. This was the first expedition coming to the North Pacific waters solely for trading purposes.
1787—Capt. Dixon, an Englishman, was the first to establish the fact that Queen Charlotte Island was an island. He named it in honor of his vessel.
1788—The American sloop, Lady Washington, of Boston, arrived, at Nootka on August 16. She was commanded by Capt. Robert Gray, who afterwards discovered the Columbia river. On the voyage up the coast, the vessel was run into Murderers' harbor, since known as Tillamook Bay. While here one of the crew was murdered by the Indians, the first instance of the kind occurring south of the Columbia river, so far as known.
1791—Capt. Robert Gray, who returned in the ship Columbia after making a voyage to Canton and Boston, wintered in the harbor of Clayoquot, Queen Charlotte's Island. He there erected buildings and mounted guns, the first thing of such a nature to be done by an American. During his stay there he built the first American vessel to be built on the Pacific coast. This was the sloop Adventurer. Robert Haswell, formerly mate with Capt. Gray, was the first master of this vessel. She was sold to Capt. Cuadra, the Spanish commander in the Pacific Northwest, in 1792, when she was taken south.
1792—In the spring of this year, Capt. Robert Gray left Queen Charlotte's Island, where he had wintered, and coasted south. On May 7th he entered Bulfinch harbor (now known as Gray's Harbor) naming it in honor of the owners of his vessel. On the 11th he arrived off the Columbia river bar and successfully crossed it, anchoring above Tongue Point in what is now known as Gray's bay. He was the first to be certain that it was a river. Capt. Gray was the first American to circumnavigate the globe.
1793—Alexander Mackenzie, a Scotchman, was the first white man to make the trip across the continent to the Pacific ocean. He discovered the Fraser river, while enroute, which he believed to be the Columbia. The Fraser river was so called in later years for Simon Fraser, who established a trading post upon its banks in 1807.
1805—Lewis and Clark expedition came across the plains. Followed down the Columbia river and wintered at Fort Clatsop, a fort built by them at the mouth of the river, the winter of 1805-6. They bestowed names upon many of the tributaries of the Columbia, gave the Indians names of others and named prominent points along the route.
Castle Rock they called Beacon rock; Hood river, Labiesche river; Klickitat river, Cataract river; John Day river, Lepage river; Touchet river, White Salmon river. This was subsequently named John Day for a Kentucky hunter coming with the Hunt party in 1811. Sandy river, Quicksand river; Washougal river. Seal river; White Salmon river, Canoe river; Sauvie's Island was Wapato island; the Willamette was Multnomah river from the Columbia to the falls; above the falls the stream was known as the Willamette; Tillamook was named by Clark Killamuck Head. It had been called Cape Falcon by the Spanish and Cape Lookout by Meares.
With this party came York, the first negro to come to the Pacific coast.
1807—Fraser river named for Simon Fraser, who established a trading post on Fraser Lake adjacent to it.1808—American Fur Company organized. Fort Henry established on Snake river. The first American trading post.
1810—Capt. Jonathan Winship located at Oak Point, Oregon, opposite the present place of that name in Washington. The floods washing away his houses, and learning of Astor's plans, he deemed it inadvisable to try to compete with Astor, and abandoned the undertaking.
1811—Astoria founded by Pacific Fur Company. Fort built on a point called Point George, by Lieut. Broughton, in 1792. The first of this company to arrive, came on the Tonquin. She anchored in Baker's bay, March 22, 1811. This was the first vessel to be blown up on the coast, her ship's clerk doing so to kill a host of Indians on board who had murdered the crew two days before. Alexander McKay, a partner of Astor, the first husband of the wife of Dr. McLoughlin, was among those whom the savages massacred. October 2, 1811, was launched the first vessel, the Dolly, built here. She was afterwards called the Columbia. Here the first marriages in the Paeific Northwest were celebrated, and the first children born, one of whose parents were white; the first river steamer, the Columbia, 1850, was built; the first custom house erected on the coast, and one of the two (Oregon City) postoffices west of the Rockies. Twelve potatoes planted at Astoria in May yielded 190 potatoes. Turnips and radishes also raised.
Wm. Cannon was probably the first American to come to the Pacific Northwest and permanently reside here. He came in 1811 with the Hunt party, and after years of employ as a trapper for the fur companies, finally settled in the Willamette valley. He was a native of Pennsylvania. His death took place at French Prairie, August 29, 1854. He was 99 years of age at that time.
1812—January 12th, the Hunt party arrived at Astoria.
In November, Robert Stewart of the Astor expedition, discovered the South pass. This became the main gateway through the Rockies used by the pioneers.
John Clark, of the Astor expedition, hanged an Indian for stealing. The first "neck-tie" party on the Pacific coast. Fort Boise established by Donald McKenzie on Snake river. 1813—December 12th, Astoria rechristened Fort George by Capt. Black, a British naval officer, and the Northwest Company succeeding the Pacific Fur Company through the treachery of some of the Scotch partners.
Fifty bushels of potatoes from the start of 1811.
1814—Ship Isaac Todd arrives at Astoria. On her came Jane Barnes, the first white woman to set foot on the Pacific Northwest. On this vessel also came the pioneer physician. Dr. Swan, to the Pacific Northwest.
1818—Fort George again becomes Astoria on August 18. Old Fort Walla Walla (originally Fort Nez Perce) established. The site was where the town of Wallula, Wash., now stands.
1821—Dr. John Floyd, of Virginia, introduced an Oregon bill in congress. This was the first bill introduced providing for the occupation of the Pacific Northwest by the government.
1825—Fort Colville established by Hudson's Bay Company. David Douglas, Scotch scientist, who found and named the Douglas spruce of the Pacific coast, discovered the natives cultivating the indigenous tobacco plant of the Columbia river.
1827—The first apple trees grown in the Pacific Northwest were planted at Vancouver, Washington. They sprang from the seed of an apple eaten at a dinner party given in London, England. One of the ladies present, more in jest than in earnest, took the seeds from an apple brought in with the dessert, and gave them to Captain Simpson, of the Hudson's Bay Company's coast service, who was also a guest, telling him to plant them on his arrival at Vancouver.
First sawmill west of Rocky Mountains built by Dr. John McLoughlin, six miles east of Fort Vancouver, the Hudson 's Bay Company 's post on the Columbia river.
1828—Massacre of the Smith party by the Rogue river Indians.
Hudson's Bay Company's ship, William and Ann, wrecked on the Columbia river bar. Some twenty lives lost, said to have been murdered by the Clatsop Indians, who plundered the vessel. Dr. McLoughlin caused their village to be bombarded, during which many of them were killed, among the number two chiefs, and since then their chiefs have been merely phantom rulers.
1829—James M. Bates, American, settled at Scappoose, Oregon.
Etienne Lucier, settled where Portland (east) now stands. He afterwards moved to Fi-ench Pi'airie. Was one of the fifty-two men who voted to form the provisional government. Died March 6, 1853.
Dr. McLoughlin located Willamette Falls (Oregon City) and erected a sawmill there.
Captain Dominis of the brig Owyhee, arrived from the Atlantic seaboard. On the voyage out, he secured some peach trees at the Island of San Juan Fernandez (Crusoe's Island), which he brought to Vancouver and presented to Dr. McLoughlin, who had them planted. These were the first peach trees to come to the Pacific Northwest. During his stay on the coast the captain went to California and while there brought up a shipment of sheep, the pioneer shipment. The captain was a good sailor, but a poor stock raiser. When the sheep were landed they were all found to be wethers. On his return to Boston he took with him a shipment of salmon in barrels. This was the first shipment of this kind going to the eastern states.
Hogs arrived at Vancouver during this year from China and the Sandwich Islands. Cattle came from Fort Ross, Red river, settlement.
1830—Nathaniel J. Wyeth 's overland expedition arrived. Wyeth was the first to export salmon, sending to market half a ship's load in barrels in 1835. He established Fort William on Wapato (Sauvie's) Island, in 1834. Left in 1835.
1832—Hudson's Bay Company established an English fur trading post on the IJmpqua river. It was besieged in 1839 by Indians.
1833—First school taught in the Pacific Northwest at Vancouver by John Ball, one of the Wyeth party of 1832. The scholars were all Indians.
Louis LaBonte settled in Yamhill county, Oregon. He was the first settler in that section.
Fort Nisqually established.
1834—Revs. Jason and Daniel Lee, Methodist missionaries, arrive. They establish a mission on the Willamette river. In 1840 same was moved to Chemeteke plain, now Salem.Rev. Jason Lee preaches first serinou delivered in tiie Pacific Northwest on Sunday, September 28th, at Vancouver, and the first in the Willamette valley on September 28th.
Webley Hauxhurst erects a grist mill at Champoeg. He was the first white person to become converted in the Pacific Northwest. (January, 1837.)
Hall J. Kelley and Ewing Young arrive in October. Kelley's plan for a Pacific Northwest metropolis embraced all the land between the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers on the east bank of the Willamette and south of the Columbia.
1835—Rev. Samuel Parker, a Congregational missionary, arrives at Vancouver, coming across the plains. The next year he left via the Sandwich Islands and did not return.
1835—Dr. W. J. Bailey, the first doctor to locate in the Willamette valley, arrived. He died at Champoeg, February 5, 1876.
Ewing Young and Lawrence Carmichael set up a still and manufactured whiskey.
Rev. Herbert Heaver and wife arrived by sailing vessel at Vancouver. He was the first Episcopal divine to come to the Pacific Northwest. They left again in 1838.
1836—Steamer Beaver arrived from Gravesend, England, the first steam vessel to come into the Pacific Ocean. Came under sail. First ran under steam in the Columbia, April 17th. Was wrecked in 1888 in Burrard's Inlet, B.C.
Dr. Whitman and wife. Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife, and W. H. Gray arrived and established a mission at Wai-il-at-pu. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding were the first white women to cross the plains and come to the Pacific coast.
John Work explored the Umpqua.
1837—(Sir) James Douglas and Miss Nellie Connolley were married at Vancouver. This was the first marriage ceremony performed in Washington. Miss Connolley had Indian blood in her veins.
July 16th, occurred the first marriage among the white race on the Pacific coast. Rev. Jason Lee was man-ied to Miss Anna M. Pittman, and Mr. Cyrus Shepard to Miss Susan Downing. It was a double wedding. Rev. Daniel Lee performed the fir.st ceremony and Rev. Jason Lee the second.
Alice C, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, born at Wail-il-at-pu. March 14, 1837, was the first white child born on the Pacific coast, and was drowned in the Walla Walla river, June 22, 1838.
1838—The first step taken to secure a government for Oregon by Americans, was made March 16, 1838. Thirty-six of the settlers in the Willamette valley sent a memorial to congress setting forth the resources and conditions of the country, petitioning occupation by the United States. This was presented in the senate on January 28, 1839, and after its reading was laid on the table and neglected.
The first sawmill erected by Americans, built on the Chehalem, Yamhill county, by Ewing Young.
The first paper, called the Oregonian, was published this year at Lynn, Massachusetts.1839—(Vicar General) Blanchet and (Bishop) Demers, the pioneer Catholic missionaries, arrived.
Rev. Demers rings the first church bell in the Pacific Northwest at the Cowlitz Mission, Washington, October 14th.
Rev. Blanchet blesses the first church bell blessed in the Willamette valley on French Prairie, December 23rd; also celebrates the first mass to be celebrated in the valley at the same place in January, 1840.
Pioneer printing press of the Pacific coast brought from the Sandwich Islands. Set up at Lapwai Mission. Booklets, etc., printed in the Spokane and Nez Perce languages. It was brought here by E. O. Hall. He was the first printer to work at his trade on the coast. This press and type is now in the custody of the Oregon Historical Society.
Rev. J. S. Griffin arrives. He published the first paper issued in the Pacific Northwest.
Peoria Party arrives. This was the first company of immigrants to come.
1840—Harvey Clarke independent missionary party arrives.
First American vessel, the Thomas H. Perkins, to enter the Columbia with cargo, arrives.
Salem, Oregon, founded. First called "The Mill," called "Chemekete" by the Indians. The latter name means "Here we rest" or "Place of Peace." "Salem" has also a similar meaning.
1841—Joseph Gale and others built the Star of Oregon, the first vessel built by Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Gale was one of the first executive committee of the provisional government. He died in Wallowa county, December 23, 1881, aged 92 years.
THE AUTHOR
The first person in history to choose and bear this name, born in 1250—was the son of Roger Bernard III, of Foix, a town of France, situated in the gorge of a narrow valley at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains, 44 miles south of Toulouse. Roger Bernard, more famous as a poet than a warrior, got into a war with Philip the Bold, was taken prisoner by Philip, and subsequently also by Peter III of Aragon; and before his death in 1302, began the quarrel of the house of Foix with that of Armagnac. Roger's son and successor, Gaston I, [the first Gaston] continued the war. and was excommunicated in 1308 by Pope Clement V, and imprisoned in the Chatelet, Paris, but regaining his freedom shortly afterwards, joined Louis X, in 1315, in an expedition against Holland, and died on the way home. This family name is followed in French history without difficulty down to 1472, when the house of Foix, on the death of Gaston IV, was merged in that of Navarre, to appear later on as the surname of many families tracing their relationship back to the original families of Gaston de Foix, or that of his father-in-law Jean II of Navarre.
The Protestant Reformation making such headway in France in the 16th Century as induced King Henry IV [who was himself a Gaston] to issue a proclamation (April 13, 1598) having the authority of a law, and known in history as the "Edict of Nantes," the Protestants were thereby guaranteed the free exercise of their religion, and equal political rights with Catholics. Under this law many of the Gastons throughout the Kingdom became what was (at that time) reproachfully termed "Huguenots." The Huguenots were the Puritans of France. After King Louis XIV had ascended the throne of France, in October, 1685, he proclaimed an edict revoking the former edict of Henry IV, and by which the Protestants (Huguenots) were prohibited the free exercise of their religion and denied equal political rights with Catholics. Rather than submit to this great injustice, and risk burning at the stake, a great majority of the Gastons, who had as a wide spread family, embraced the Protestant religion, emigrated from their native land with over three hundred thousand other Protestants—the Gastons settling first in Scotland, and soon after moving over to the north counties of Ireland. From Ireland many of these expatriated Gastons came over to America from the year 1690 to 1720, settling in North and South Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
These facts are interesting only as showing how families started in European countries and through wars and religious persecution were forced to emigrate to America, and add their blood, education and influence—whatever it might be—to the building of the new nation. From the north of Ireland settlement, three brothers, John, William and Alexander Gaston, emigrated to America in the year 1700, establishing their home in the Carolinas. From this Carolina stock came Alexander Gaston, bom in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1769, and who was the father of Dr. Joseph Gaston, who died at Lloydsville, Ohio, in 1833, and the grandfather of Joseph Gaston, of this review. Alexander Gaston removed from Charleston to Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1791, and there met and married Rachel Perry, a daughter of John Perry, a neighbor and friend of George Washington and under whom he served as a soldier throughout the Revolutionary war as an officer of the Virginia Light Dragoons.
In the year 1800, Alexander Gaston and his family, with that of John Perry and his family, removed from Pennsylvania to Belmont County, Ohio, settling near Morristown, where Alexander Gaston and his wife (the first woman physician in regular practice in the United States) practiced medicine until the end of their lives.
Dr. Joseph Gaston, aforenamed, was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Fowler, April 16, 1830. Miss Fowler was the only daughter of John Fowler, who fought with Commodore Perry in the battle of Lake Erie, and was one of the six marines who rowed the commodore through the British line after Perry 's flag-ship had been disabled; and Perry himself was a relative of John Perry, the great-grandfather of the author of this history.
Dr. Joseph Gaston dying prior to the birth of his son, he was reared in the home of his grandmother, Mrs. Jean MacCormack-Fowler, in Morgan County, Ohio; obtaining what education he could in the country log school house of the times, in which a three months' winter session was held in each year for five years. The remainder of the year was devoted to woi*k on the farm until he was sixteen years of age when he began life for himself, teaching country schools and working on farms and sawmills until he was twenty -two years of age, when he entered the law office of Daniel Peck of St. Clairsville, Ohio, as clerk and law student. On being admitted to the bar he practiced law for five years, and then removed to Oregon, reaching Jackson County, in April, 1862. Here he worked in the mines near Jacksonville for six months, and then entered into law practice in Oregon in partnership with John H. Reed, who was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of Oregon; and at the same time edited the Jacksonville Sentinel, the first Republican party paper in Southern Oregon.
In 1864 he took up the project of building a railroad from the Columbia river to the southern boundary of Oregon; and in 1864-5 prosecuted surveys for such a road from Jacksonville to Portland. In 1864 he removed from Jacksonville to Salem, Oregon, where he continued the practice of law, and edited the Oregon Statesman to earn money to pay family living expenses, while still following up the railroad project by agitating the subject before the people of Oregon and pressing it upon the attention of members of congress for a grant of public lands in aid of the enterprise. He followed the business of promoting and building railroads in the state from 1864 to 1880, an account of which will be found in Chapter XIX of this history. On retiring from this railroad work he settled on a farm at the town of Gaston in Washington County, and devoted sixteen years to the work of draining and converting the disease breeding swamp of Wapatoo Lake—a thousand acres—into a fruitful and beautiful farm. In this work, as in all others, he was most efficiently supported by a faithful and energetic wife, who in addition to the duties of home and household, devoted her time and means to the improvement of the neighborhood. She established the first Sunday school in the south part of Washington County, starting the school in the first warehouse at Gaston railroad station: and subsequently, in company with Mrs. Eunice Brock (still living) raised the money and means to erect the Gaston Union church—the first church building on the railroad between Forest Grove and McMinnville. (Mrs. Gaston's maiden name was Narcissa Doddridge Jones, born at St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1836, and passing away at the family home in Portland, November 11, 1898.)
In 1896, Mr. Gaston disposed of his farm and returned to Portland where he now resides on Portland Heights, devoting his time to a fruit farm on the Columbia river opposite the town of Hood River, and to the management of a great manufacturing enterprise in Lake County—the development of the soda-borax deposits of Alkali Lake.
During his career, Mr. Gaston has been an editor, connected with a number of political and agricultural journals; notably the Daily and Weekly Bulletin of Portland, a competitor of the Oregonian in the years 1870 to 1875; with several agricultural journals, his taste for farming and country life leading him in that direction; and also as editor and proprietor of "The Farmer's Journal," which was substantially the founder and defender of the Populist political party in Oregon. While always taking an interest in politics and public affairs, he has never been an office holder, and only once a candidate for office, being the Populist candidate for the office of justice of the supreme court in 1894; the election resulting in 40,450 votes for the Republican candidate. 26,135 for the Populist candidate, and 18,625 for the Democratic candidate. Outside of journalism and contributions to monthly magazines, Mr. Gaston's literary work is limited to "Portland, its History and Builders," a volume of 700 pages and two volumes of biographies of Portland builders, published in 1911, and this present work, "The Centennial History of Oregon," both issued by the same publishers.