Benton County, Oregon - Chapter 35: Benton County, 1885

Benton County, although comparatively small in point of numbers and wealth contains some of the finest agricultural land in Oregon, and is well watered and timbered; the hills adjacent to the valleys are not only favorable for grazing purposes but also produce abundantly, especially of the cereals. Its eastern portion is situated in the heart of the Willamette valley, described by old voyagers as one of the most charming and fertile valleys of the world, the scenery not being excelled by any, while its western border is indented with bays and inlets.

The county is bounded on the north by Polk, east by the Willamette river, which separates it from Linn, south by Lane, and west by the Pacific ocean. It embraces an area of about seven hundred and thirty-five thousand acres, while it has been estimated that only seventeen per cent, of this vast extent is wood land, other counties in the State running as high as seventy per cent, there being only five counties that show a smaller average and all of these, except Yamhill, are to the east of the Cascade Range and are almost treeless. With its excellent prairie, grass and grain lands in the eastern portion, with valuable forests of timber, good bays and harbors, fertile valleys and valuable banks for fisheries along its entire western boundary, with good mill sites and water power for all kinds of manufactories, Benton has natural sources of unbounded wealth still undeveloped, and in soil, price, climate or adaptation to any department of industry, or any avocation in life, cannot fail to furnish the most fastidious with a satisfactory location and a desirable home.

The division of the county lying along the Willamette river is admirably adapted to the production of grain of every description, as well as all kinds of fruit and vegetables. More to the west are the foot-hills, not only susceptible of cultivation, but covered with abundant grass affording pasture for countless numbers of live stock, still further west arise in their splendor the coast mountains, whose peaks, piercing the fleecy clouds, catch the first and reflect the last rays of the rising and setting sun, and against whose western base the mad waves of the Pacific dash in ceaseless thunder. Although this range of mountains extends across the county from north to south, yet near the center they are so low as not to deserve the name of mountains, being only low hills, thus leaving a gap forming a natural and easy pass to the ocean. Through this a wagon road is kept up by the county and through this is the line of the Oregon Pacific Railroad.

sloping each way, east and west, affording passage for the three principal rivers that water it, the Yaquina and Alsea on the west and Mary's river on the east.

The Yaquina rises in the middle portion of the county, about twenty-five miles from the ocean, in an air line, and flowing west empties into Yaquina bay, with a winding course of about forty-five miles through a number of fertile valleys and an abundant stock-range. This charming stream, however, is for twenty-five miles above the bay, more properly speaking a tidal estuary. Five miles or more above the harbor it has an average width of eleven hundred feet, with a rise and fall of tide of from seven to eight feet. It narrows to about two hundred feet, twenty-five miles above. Eight sloughs, varying in length from two to six miles, branch off from the main river, five on one side and three on the other, and are navigable to their heads for batteaux, upon which farmers can take their produce to port on two tides, if not one, with but slight assistance from sail or oar.

Forty years ago, the country conterminous to the Yaquina river was densely wooded A fierce and devouring forest fire in a dry season (1844) we are informed, swept over hundreds of square miles of territory, leaving only bare trunks where there stood a thicket of pine, spruce and fir. Since then an annual growth of fern and brush has clothed these rolling hills with matted verdure. A thrifty population, yet sparse in numbers, but hopeful of the future, have made homes there, but there is room for many more.

The Alsea river rises in the Coast Range about thirty miles in adirect line from the sea and flowing first south and then west falls into Alsea bay about twelve miles south of Yaquina bay. From its source to a point about fifteen miles from its mouth it is described as a mountain stream full of rapids and bowlders, with abrupt falls at various places of from three to five feet, obstructed by rocks and with very little water. Here the stream is eighty feet wide and from three to six feet deep at low tide, and gradually widens and deepens until the mouth of Drift creek, nine miles below, is reached, where it is three hundred feet in width; the depth in this section varies from three to twenty feet, with an uneven, and occasionally, rocky bottom. The stream is inclosed on both sides by hills ranging from three hundred to six hundred feet high, covered with grass, fern and young thickets. On the left bank the hills slope to the water's edge; on the right bank a strip of level bottom, land, several feet above high tide, and from two hundred to six hundred feet wide extends along the river, broken occasionally by projecting spurs along the ridge.

About three miles and a half from its mouth the river spreads out into Alsea bay which is from three thousaud to seven thousand feet wide at high tide, covered with mud flats bare at low water and through which are numerous narrow channels. For a mile inside the mouth there is a channel and a perfectly protected anchorage with a depth of from twelve to twenty feet; immediately inside the bar is a hole two thousand feet long and three hundred feet wide, to which no bottom has been found at six fathoms. Near its mouth the bay is separated from the ocean by a sandspit about twothirds of a mile long and one-third of a mile wide, which narrows at the outer end, the external one hundred feet being covered at high tide; the channel at the mouth of the bay is about three hundred feet wide, with the depth as indicated in the deep hole above described.

Immediately in front of the mouth of the river, extending about two thousand feet into the ocean, is a sand bar, over which the least depth at low water is about eight feet, the distance across it being in the vicinity of eighteen hundred feet, and the fairway twelve hundred feet wide. The tide rises about eight feet at the mouth, and there is a rise of about six feet, eight miles above, the tidal influence being felt up to the foot of a line of rapids fifteen miles away.

Mary's river has its birth near the source of the Yaquina and after flowing in a southeasterly direction joins the Willamette at the city of Corvallis.

The cradles of these two streams are but a few feet apart. A drop of water falling straight from the clouds may descend on one side and soon find its way to the ocean in the rushing current of the Yaquina; but, should a west wind blow it but a little in the other direction, it will pass many weary days ere it can reach its home in the Pacific byway of Mary's river, the Willamette and the Columbia.

But the subject of the topography of the county needs more than a passing notice. We have stated that the eastern portion of the county lies in the Willamette valley, with its generally level or slightly rolling prairie, becoming more broken as it approaches the base of the mountains, comprising the finest agricultural lands to be found any where; let it now be our duty to touch upon that part of Benton lying west of the summit ridge and embraced in the district now widely known as Yaquina Bay.

West of the Summit ridge the hills are generally bold and precipituous, the valley of the Yaquina narrow, but of superior soil and the side hills exceedingly rich. The timber has been for the most part killed by fire, as noted above, while here and there evidences of sandstone and marl are to be detected, with now and again a ledge of iron ore. The underbrush is salmon berry, cherry, vine maple, elder and filbert. At the tide limit on the Yaquina the river bottoms become broader and the hills less lofty, the undergrowth being, however, of the same nature, while, the land is rich, clear of rocks, moist and mellow. The country is well watered. The hills at the head of Yaquina bay are from two hundred to five hundred feet in height and clear of surface rock, and with a gentle slope, but towards its mouth the hills become lower, with more timber and various localities designated. At nine miles, and on the south side of the bay the waters of Mill creek mix with those of the bay where there is an excellent water power, while, on the east bank, at the mouth of Oolilla slough, is a good landing for vessels, the banks of the stream being covered with a luxuriant vegetation. Here the bay is about three hundred yards wide, the hills become much lower and tide grasses extend nearly to the oyster beds. At twenty miles by water is Oysterville. a hamlet on the north side of the bay, along a steep bold bluff. The oyster fishery here gives employment to several people while schooners load and carry off the produce to market. The bay at this point is about nine hundred yards wide, the channel twenty-four feet deep at low tide, the oyster beds two miles and a half long and from four to eight hundred yards wide, and the tide eight feet high. About one mile southwest from the village an island of about twenty acres in extent rises from the tidewater - here the dead of the district sleep their last slumber.

Six miles down the bay widens out to a mile, the overflowed land being covered with grass, the hills low and rich, sandstone on the bluffs and the country heavily timbered and picturesque with the scenery grand and striking. At its mouth the bay narrows down to four hundred yards, and jutting into it is a point of high bluffs.

A few miles north of Yaquina bay is the Siletz Reservation, a tract of one hundred and seventy-five thousand acres of fine open country upon which about six hundred Indians are located. This territory is looked upon with longing and covetous eyes by settlers, who hope for the removal of the aboriginal with keen expectancy.

About three miles and a half north of Yaquina bay is Cape Foulweather, situated in Lat. 44° 43' N., Long. 124° 05' W. and forming a headland boldly jutting out about three-fourths of a mile into the sea from the low beach, with high mountains in the rear

It is a mass of black basalt rising to a height of from eighty to one hundred feet above the sea, the base honey-combed with caves formed by the action of the waves- The cape, by its position, forms bays on the north and south, the one fronting northwest and the other south and southwest. On the north the shore line is crescent-shaped, the outer extremity pointing north, a reef making out from it in a direction northnortheast a distance of about five thousand feet, terminating at a lone rock about one thousand eight hundred feet from the beach. The depths on this reef vary from ten to thirty feet, except for a distance of about twelve hundred feet, near the cape, where there is a channel of that width with a depth of thirty to forty feet. The lone rock referred to at the north end of the reef seems to be connected with a rocky point opposite on shore by a well-marked reef, upon which there is a depth of four fathoms.

The north bay is inclosed therefore on the east by the mainland, on the south by the cape and on the west by the long reef. It is nearly a mile long and about one thousand seven hundred feet between the three fathom curve and the reef. It contains about two hundred acres, with a depth of from three to eight fathoms and a sandy bottom, which gives good holding ground for anchoring vessels.

The south bay is formed by the main shore and the cape and is protected on the east, north and northwest. On the south and southwest it is open and exposed to the terrible southern gales, from which it is most desired to find shelter. The bottom is sandy, the depth gradually increasing from near the shore, where it is three fathoms, to twenty fathoms two miles off shore. The general depth on a line drawn south from the cape is from four to six fathoms.

The spring tides rise and fall about nine feet. Dense fogs overhang the cape from time to time during the year, particularly during the month of July.

We have been thus precise in our mention of this locality as farther on we shall lay before the reader the strenuous steps that were taken by the people of Benton county towards having a Harbor of Refuge built under the lee of Cape Foulweather.

A few miles north of Cape Foulweather is the scene of the wreck of the Uncle Sam and what a terrible place for a vessel to be cast ashore ! Hard unrelenting rocks ; dreary dismal woods ! What were the feelings of the poor fellows buried here, as the inhospitable beach loomed up through the storm ? Short the suspense - crash ! crash! - scarcely heard above the thunder of the mad surf, dashing the angry billows into a sea of frothy foam ! How vain the human struggle ! On the rough, sharp, cutting rocks, the tide left the mariner. The Indians, cold in sympathy, carried the mangled form of some mother's darling to the edge of yonder dismal wood and there buried him. Nothing marks the grave and a few more years will give the ocean back its victim.

Going down the coast from Yaquina bay we have Alsea bay, mentioned above. Near its mouth it turns suddenly to the south and passes out over a sandy bar. On the south is an abrupt sandy bluff and to the north a low beach also of sand. Skirting the water are narrow bottoms which frequently widen into tide-lands of the beet quality ; on the south are two creeks or sloughs entering the bay, on which there is much good land and at their head-waters stand much excellent fir, spruce and cedar ; while on the north is Drift creek. Surrounding the bay are low hills, in many places extending nearly to the water's edge, which too are covered generally with fir and spruce timber of the best quality. Farther down the ocean's shore is a range of low hills covered, more or less, with scrub pines near the coast, but a little distance backwards displays a grand forest of trees. Some three miles down the beach Big creek enters the ocean, where there is some good land, while at about seven miles from Alsea bay is the old Agency farm, which comprises a prairie one mile and a fourth in length and half a mile wide. Immediately below this point is the Yahuts. This is a most beautiful part of the coast. The stream is a clear pure water-way situated ten miles below Alsea bay in a very romantic spot. Should this locality ever become easy of access it will develop into a great resort for health and pleasure-seekers. The Yahuts, a fresh-water stream, runs into the Pacific on a hard sandy beach, so smooth where their waters join that there is formed the most ideal place for sea-bathing. But it should be stated that for a mile before this river is reached, there is a range of rugged rocks, where, when the surf tumbles against its iron sides, the water flies, by tons, high into the air, creating a scene of unparalleled grandeur.

Still below the Yahuts is a belt of prairie on which are numerous shell mounds, or Kj'6kkenindddings % some of them two to three hundred feet in diameter at the base and between forty and fifty feet in height, marking the location of Indian camps for centuries perhaps.

About two miles below Yahuts is Cape Perpetua, a bold promontory that juts out into the sea forming a prominent landmark for vessels in the offing, and indicating the extreme southwest corner of Benton county.

Let us now retrace our steps to Alsea bay forty miles from which is the Upper Alsea valley, covering an area of about three hundred square miles. This is considered one of the finest portions of Oregon for agriculture, the flax and wheat being excellent; while, among the many beautiful vales and tracts of country, comparatively unknown even to many residents of the county, may be mentioned Lobster and Five River valley. It is located about six miles southwest of Alsea valley and can be reached only by trail over the range of hills that separates the Alsea from the Lobster. The valley is about fifteen miles long and from half a mile to a mile in width. The soil is a rich black loam, remarkably fertile and adapted to the production of a great variety of crops. On either side of this strath the hills are generally low, comparatively free from timber or brush, and well adapted for grazing and dairy purposes.

Having recrossed the Coast Range, we turn to King's valley, famed far and near. It is about six miles long and two wide. At the point, in the bend of the Luckiamute river - which rises near the source of the Siletz river, in an almost unexplored and impenetrable portion of the Coast Range of mountains and flowing in a southeasterly direction for some time, but then turning abruptly to the north forms the valley - is a chain of moderately high hills, the general trend of which is nearly north and south, which are more or less open and yield good feed to cattle. To the east of the valley is a high ridge, forming the .divide between the waters of the Luckiamute and those of the Willamette, which runs north and south. It extends to a point within three miles of the North Fork of Mary's river, where a spur runs off to the southeast, while the main divide turns suddenly to the west and joins that between the North Fork and the Luckiamute, thus completely closing in King's valley, with the exception of the outlet to the north. Along the fork of Mary's river is some excellent valley land, the arable soil extending well up on the foot-hills, as well as up the small streams putting into the river.

A short distance southwest from King's valley, but lying considerably higher, is Blodgett's valley, to the north of which the hills are low and mostly covered with timber.

In the southern portion of the county we have the Willamette valley dissected by the Long Tom river, the South Fork of Mary's river, Muddy, and Beaver creeks with other more insignificant streams, each, however, adding its mite to the general fertility of the district.

What would any account of the topography of Benton county be without a description, however faint, of the glorious panorama to be gazed at with mute rapture from the summit of Mary's Peak, that grim sentinel that keeps watch and ward over the portals of Yaquina and Alsea, holds the surrounding timber-clad peaks in check and showers its benison upon the fruitful valleys below. Unhappily tradition is silent as to how this noble mountain received its name, yet from its very simplicity and beauty is both poetical and apt. It is situated about twelve miles west of Corvallis and affords the finest view of the Willamette valley from Portland to the Calapooia mountains to be found in the State, also of the proud old Pacific in all its glory and majestic splendor ; the Yaquina bay looks like a little pool by the wayside, yet nevertheless it is not void of beauty. On the one hand is the bold Coast Range of mountains ; on the other, in the blue distance, the noble Cascade chain. It is indeed a rare opportunity to feast the eye. Hence the course of the Willamette river may be traced in many a beautiful meander by the dense mass of woods that skirt its banks as it courses its silent way through the rich and fertile plain. The Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson, Mount Hood, Mount St. Helens, Mount Ranier, all with snow-capped summits, are distinctly visible. These, with their awe-inspiring and silence-compelling grandeur serve as a background to the tranquil picture of the valley below. Nestling in their "bosky surroundings," are easily distinguished Eugene City, Junction City, Albany, Corvallis, and several other smaller towns, exemplifying by their quietude the life of their inhabitants. Far out, westwards, on the shining bosom of the " Peaceful Sea " we detect numbers of shimmering sails, white-winged messengers of peace and plenty, while yonder dark cloud points out the wake of some passing steamship bound to some opulent mart bearing precious cargoes of human freight and valuable merchandise.

pure fresh air and delights to look upon the marvelous and beautiful works of nature. The entire summit is carpeted with the most luxuriant bunch grass - the finest possible. On it herds of deer feed, affording food for the rifle of the sportsman, while flocks of grouse whir away before him. A little below the apex is a spring of pure, delicious water, but eight degrees above the ice point, as tested by actual experiment, whence arises a stream, down whose valley, beneath groves of the peculiar silver-fir, are to be found camping grounds of rare beauty of location. Among the marked features of the place is the Booking Stone, a huge basaltic fragment of rock weighing many tons, eggshaped, and poised on' a square pedestal of the same formation, while there is also the Slipper Stone, so called from its resemblance to a neatly finished article of that kind.

Mary's Peak is easy of access, within a short distance of Corvallis, and embodies all the advantages of proximity to traffic, sylvan beauty and health-giving atmosphere, while as a resort for the sportsman no finer locality could be chosen in the State of Oregon.

Unfortunately no special geological survey has been made of Benton county, nor indeed of the State, which is to be regretted, for there is scarcely a subject which, in the whole range of scientific research, is fraught with so much interest to the general reader and sure to yield a rich harvest to the investigator. Benton county is rich in minerals, chiefly coal and gold, although some outcrops of iron have been detected. The gold of the Coast Bange, has only been found in paying quantities in the sand of the sea-beach, from which it is washed at low tides. These beach diggings extend for hundreds of miles, with gold enough yet left in them to pay moderate returns for ordinary labor, and with a record running back over a period of twelve or fifteen years, whose statements may be divided into the "reasonable," the " marvelous " and the "fabulous," and the numbers corresponding to each successive stage be stated at twelve to fifteen dollars per day to the hand; fifty to one hundred, and eight hundred to one thousand dollars per day - the last figures, doubtless, seldom found.

The gold of the beach is discovered in heavy, black sand, apparently either brought down from the interior by those rivers that come from a gold-bearing region and distributed along the beach by the waves of the ocean, or else derived from broken up ledges of gold-bearing rock near where it is found - the latter supposition seeming to find confirmation in the fact that the best diggings (not only, but the only ones that have paid at all) are either around those capes and sunken ledges of rock that mark the extension seaward of the cross ranges of mountains, the Siskiyou, the Umpqua and and the Calapooia, or else places where spurs of the Coast Bange itself come down to the sea. We find accordingly around - first, the seaward extension of the Siskiyou Mountains, at Point St. George, near Crescent City, extensive beach diggings; second, the extension seaward of the Umpqua Mountains, marked by a ledge of rocks running out four miles into the ocean and only lost in the increasing depth, which is, too, surrounded by important beach diggings; third, from Cape Perpetua, several miles northwards, marking the extension of the Calapooia Mountains - extensive beach diggings still worked with paying results. At or near one of these three points have been found the principal gold diggings of the beach, while in every instance not connected with these points in which gold had been found, the other class of facts were present, viz: the extension down to the sea of some spur of the Coast Bange.

The inquiry naturally arises: Did the storm-surf disengage the gold from these sunken ledges of rocks, these heads of gold-bearing mountains here plunging into the sea? Or, did the rivers bring it from the interior - the waves distributing it along the beach in the direction in which prevailing winter storms would drive it - sunken ledges of rock extending across their path, arresting and holding it in their eddies ?

Marvelous stories are told of the wealth taken in former years from some of these diggings. They are still worked in three or four places with paying results. They extend from the California line to the Straits of Fuca, but the principal ones are those named.

Since 1849 the Pacific coast has been the scene of continuous gold excitement. Sometimes the Oregonians were rushing south, then north, or east or west. That gold has been found in paying quantities, and that vast fortunes have been amassed in an incredibly short space of time, is beyond question, but it is also true that while a few have been enriched thousands have been beggared in the search for the shining ore. Many well-to-do farmers have sold their stock, mortgaged their farms and placed their families on short rations for the purpose of procuring an outfit for the mines, and after one, two, or three years of toil and privation, with shattered health, perhaps, they have returned "strapped." During the Port Orford, Colville and other excitements, fields of grain were left unharvested, stores closed, the fires of the forge quenched, carpenter s tools scattered in wild confusion and the plow and harrow left rusting in the field. Truly raining is a very uncertain business at best! Yet, there are thousands who are not content with the slow and sure process of accumulating wealth by manufacture, production or commerce. These excitements however are detrimental to a country and should ever be discouraged. These thoughts occurred to us as we read in the Corvallis Gazette of April 6, 1867, of the establishment of a mining camp under the laws of the State, at Newport, on Yaquina bay. That gold does exist in the region is not at all impossible, indeed, we have demonstrated the fact that it is found in the black sand of the sea shore, but that it will ever be found in paying quantities is highly improbable

We have also learned of a slight excitement being created in the month of November, 1869, by the reported discovery of the precious metal on the bars of Mary's river, in the vicinity of Philomath, which of course came to nought, as indeed will every other such a rush as far as this county is concerned.

Not so with coal, however. From the evidences it is known that that commodity exists along the Coast Range, while it is believed that coal beds are scattered over a large tract of the district around Yaquina bay. In 1866, traces of coal were found in the gravel of the bed of the Siletz river, in such quantities as to lead to the supposition that these were a wash from some larger deposits along the banks of the stream, but this was on an Indian Reservation and could be of no use or benefit to the public at large. In 1867 coal was found on Yaquina bay, the croppings being discovered on its north side, about half a mile below Oysterville, by John Black, H. C. Neute and others. On excavation a well-defined bed of the article, mixed with slate, lying in a horizontal position between sandstone formation was brought to light, and much excitement resulted, and still farther augmented by the daily detection of float coal along the shore. It was duly tested by three separate blacksmiths in their forges who pronounced it a genuine article without smell, declaring that it should supersede charcoal.

In May, 1867, another discovery of coal was made on Bear creek, a tributary of the Yaquina river, by Messrs. Dixon and Oglesby, of a very superior quality, while about the same time more of the same substance was found on Elk creek, six miles above Elk City, to work which a company was formed. In February, 1869, under the direction of £n experienced miner, Mackey & Co., struck a solid vein of good coal five feet in thickness, since when many more discoveries have been made, but sufficient has been said to show that coal, and that of a good quality does exist in Benton county and awaits only enterprise and capital to develop it.

In September, 1867, iron ore of a good quality was discovered on Yaquina bay, while it may be safely asserted that the day is not far distant that all the wealth of the district now hidden in the bowels of the earth will be brought forth and add greatly to the wealth of the country.

Ere making a few remarks upon the character of the soil and productions of Benton county, we may premise by saying that the prairies and bottom lands, and especially those lands which were naturally moist, or could be easily irrigated, were the first occupied by the hardy pioneers, because, it was thought, during the dry summers only such lands would be productive. Experience, has, however, proven that this early idea of the first settlers was not wholly true ; for any land susceptible of thorough cultivation can be, and for years has been, made highly productive, not only of cereals, but also of vegetables.

The prairies of the Willamette are wonderfully fertile, deep, mellow and lasting. When in geological ages long gone by, the valley was under water, the now prairies were the deep holes of the bay, for it was such, and as a consequence the dSbris from the various rivers, creeks, etc., rushed down from the Cascades, Coast chain and Calapooia mountains into the bay and necessarily settled in the lowest places. Hence, logs, leaves, sand, gravel and vast quantities of organic substances formed these immense deposits, deposits which in after years were to become the homes of men, animals and forests - a busy scene of life. For ages, impossible to number, the winds sported with