Portland, Oregon - History (part 3 of 18)

Among the earliest also was James Terwilliger, who now - in the white winter of his age - is living contentedly on his original claim at the south side of the city. Physically he also was a very powerful man, tall and broad shouldered, and a blacksmith by trade. He was born in New York State in 1809. By the bent of his mind he was early borne westward, scouring the plains of Illinois during the era of buffaloes and wild txirkeys. In 1845 he made the final plunge into the wilderness, coming out at last somewhat worn, but nevertheless little worse for the wear, on the sunset side of the Cascade mountains. He found the most likely spot for residence by the banks of the Willamette where Lovejoy held his claim. In the shades of the beautiful grove he secured a lot and put up his cabin - according to his own recollection the first in Portland. In this labor, he was assisted by some of the crew of the Toulon, of whom were George Geer - an adventurer whose escapades at the mouth of the Columbia in connection with "Blue Ruin," would form an interesting chapter by itself, - and Fred Ramsey, who laid claim to the tract north of the city, since known as the Blackistone place. Terwilliger also supplied himself with a blacksmith shop, doing the welding and hammering of the hamlet for as much as five years, until removing to his farm in 1850.

In March, 1846, came Mr. Job McNemee, of Ohio, who had also crossed the continent the year previous. He brought with him a famih- of wife and four children, three sons and a daughter, the latter of whom all Portlanders now know as Mrs. E. J. Northrup, one of our most worthy and representative women. Upon the arrival of families began those more refined ways and sprung up those interests which take the edge off of the semi-barbarism of a simple shipping station or stopping point.

John Waymire, a Missourian, an immigrant of 1845, came to Lovejoy's claim in 1846. He found occupation here in boating o-oods to Oregon City from the ships that anchored at Portland. In this employment he made use of the oxen which he had brought across the plains; and, in fact, monopolized the express business. He also kept open house at his cabin for travelers, although in those early times those who passed to and fro, either by canoe or by cayuse pony, carried their blankets with them, and were always welcome to eat and sleep at any hut to which they came, particularly if they happened upon that of one whom they had known on the plains. In addition to these labors, Mr. Waymire set up a saw-mill on Front street, the sole machinery being a whip-saw, operated by one man who stood on the log above and did the up stroke, and by another who stood below and did the down stroke and got the dust. This active pioneer, who has for many years been a prominent resident cf Polk county, accomplished ver>- much for the early commerce of Portland.

There was, moreover, a camp of shingle makers who preyed upon the beautiful cedar trees that grew among the fir and hemlocks, - bachelor boys; among whom are to be reckoned Wm. H. Bennett, a nephew of G. W. Ebbert, the octogenarian of Washington county, who came out to the Rocky mountains with Joseph L. Meek in 1829; and Richard E. Wiley. Both were intelligent, active men.

Dr. Ralph Wilcox of New York, a pioneer of 1845, was the first physician, and also the first school teacher. In a little frame building on Front and Taylor Streets put up by Mr. McNemee he kept a school of about a dozen scholars. Dr. Wilcox was for many years prominent before the public as a citizen of Portland, and afterwards

Of others that fill out the dreamy picture of that distant past before '49, may be mentioned a family by the name of Warren, embracing in its circle two beautiful daughters; the two brothers O' Br}-ants, Humphrey and Hugh, the latter becoming subsequently lumber and flour depot at the foot of the street now bearing his name, and who had an intimate friend and parhaps partner in Jehu Scrudder; both excellent men. There was a young man, G. W. Bell, clerk for Pettygrove, who also at one time kept the first bakery, located on the north side of Morrison Street, while the blacksmith shop was on the south side nearer the river.

In 1847, L. B. Hastings arrived with his family from Illinois - a man of much business capacity and energy. There was also a married man, Mr. Tallantyre, who arrived, it is thought, the year before. These remained until '51 when they sailed away in a schooner of their own together with Mr. Pettygrove, to found Port Townsend, in Washington.

Col. Wm. King was but little later upon the scene. The following characterization of this unusual man is found in an address before the Oregon Pioneer Association by Judge R. P. Boise who became familiarly acquainted with him at the Oregon Legislature in 1851. He says: "Col. King was even then advanced to the prime of life. He was a veteran politician, who had done service as a legislator and lobbyist before he came to Oregon, and knew well the various evolutions of legislative tactics. He was a ready debater and could use with equal earnestness sound argument or sophistry, and could marshal the selfish desires, interests and prejudices of men with consummate skill, and like most men who aim at carrying a point he was not overscrupulous as to the means by which it was attained. He was a finn, and faithful friend, and a bitter enemy. He had faults which caused him much trouble and suffering - but who has not faults? He was ever generous and kind, and possessed a keen and penetrating mind, and much intelligence, which would make him a marked man in any community." After Col. King came to Portland, if there was anything going on he was sure to have a hand in it, and perhaps to be ver\' near the bottom of it.

Captain Nathaniel Crosby was from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In early life he went to sea, rose at length to the position of master and finally owner of a vessel. He was, ne.xt after Couch, the first to engage in a regular trade at Portland, and accomplished as much as any one for the establishment of our commerce. After leaving Portland, and not succeeding to his mind in building up a city at the lower mouth of the Willamette, he removed to Puget Sound and engaged in milling at Tumwater, near Olympia. He was one of the pioneers and most prominent citizens of Washington Territor}-.

Benjamin Stark, a name so well known in Portland and perpetuated in Stark street, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 26, 1822. He was graduated from Union School, New London, Connecticut, in 1835. Here he entered upon a business career, beginning in a counting house in New York City, and became a merchant. In 1845 he came to Oregon as supercargo on the bark Toulon and engaged in trade. He afterwards studied law and was admitted to practice in 1850. He now rapidly rose in public preferment and was elected a member of the Territorial House of the Legislature, and in 1861 was appointed U. S. Senator by Governor Whiteaker to fill out the unexpired tenn of Col. E. D. Baker. He served to December 1, 1862. He was prominent in politics as a Democrat, acting as delegate from Oregon to the National Convention of the Democratic party at Chicago in ISG-l, and in 1868 from Connecticut to the Convention in New York. He has for many years been a resident of New London, Connecticut.

From the above enumeration it will be seen that even in the primitive days Portland had a considerable community of intelligent and wideawake people. Being frontiersmen, or at any rate having acquired the frontier habits and manners in coming hither, they were exceptionalh- sociable and hospitable. They kept the evenings lively around their hearthstones, and had candy pulls and parties and took pleasure rides in their canoes on the river. The coming of a ship, the erection of a new house, or the felling of the immense trees, formed items of news and topics of conversation fnllv as valuable and interesting as the staple of to-day. School was kept up, and religious meetings were by no means neglected. In this latter regard the Methodists were the advanced guard ; Rev. J. S. Smith or Father Kelly coming down from their homes at stated times to hold worship in the cooper shop, which was the most commodious building for the purpose.

How it looked at Portland then was about how it looks now at any one of the score of river villages in the woods to be seen on the lower Columbia. The forest was a little notched. Grand trees lay almost three hundred feet long on the ground, and so big and burly that the settler felt grimly after his day's labor in chopping one down, that he had only made matters worse by getting it in the wav. He examined his sore muscles and blistered hands and wondered where the strength was to come from to remove the monster ; while his cow lifted up her nose at the shaggy bark and impending boughs, finding the path that she had made through the underbrush at many days' toil once more hopelessly closed. So much for background. On the river bank was a small wharf ; at the foot of Salmon street a fisher}-. On Front street at the foot of Washington stood Pettygrove's new store, an ambitious building, made of hewn logs and covered with shingles, giving by its peculiar st\le and ensemble something of a shock to the architectural feelings of the new comer. On the same block stood Pettygrove's house, also a pretentious structure. The cooper shop stood on the site of the Skidmore drug .store, and on Second street was a building which the old timers still speak of with more respect than they now accord to the Hotel Portland. This was Capt. Crosby's story and half residence with dormer windows; which is the sole dwelling of our antique grandeur, and now stands on Fourth street. There was one cabin put up by O' Bryant which was covered with a rustic of split cedar boards, but of the ten or fifteen others - not named above - the most were constructed of round logs.

A description by Mr. James Field of the houses in the village in February, 1847, is quite explicit, and although to a certain extent a repetition of the foregoing, may be inserted here. Approaching the town from the lower river one noticed about the foot of B street on the shore, a log hut; sometimes used by Capt. Couch as a place of storage for goods, and possibly for occupation for himself when off ship. Coming further up, past a stumpy shore, you saw on the northwest comer of Front and Washington streets Pettygrove's store and house. Near by was Whittaker's small one-story frame building. On Alder and Front was situated Job McNemee's two-story residence, and on the same block was a house occupied by Thos. Tallant\Te, who had on the river bank in front an establishment for cutting lumber with a whip-saw. On the corner of Taylor and Front streets appeared the double log cabin of John Waymire, in many respects the most important structure in the city. Next south, in the middle of the block, was the house of Dr. Ralph Wilcox. On the north side of Taylor, between Front and First, stood a little cabin 7x9, which for many years led a sort of uncertain and wandering life, such as its exceeding smallness made quite possible. On Main street between First and Second was the blacksmith shop of James Terwilliger and his house stood near. On the south side of Taylor was the cabin of Mr. Doane. There were also one or two houses, or cabins, on the back streets in the gloaming of the fir trees. This baker's dozen of separate roofs comprised all Portland forty-three years ago.

The streets were, of course, little more than ox paths, and skidways among the stumps; gouged out, tramped, bemired in the rainy winter weather; and in the dr\' times raw and dusty. The city was in those days only large enough to grow, but the swift years were on the way to bring it to metropolitan honors. So much for the people and houses; now for the ships.

The river front was, comparatively speaking, lively with crafts during these four or five years. In 1844 Capt. Couch brought the Chenamus up to the mouth of the W^illamette, and boated his goods thence to Oregon City. In 1845 Capt. Nathaniel Crosby brought the bark Toulon into the river, unloading her at Portland; and from that time made regtilar trips. He put up and kept a small storehouse at the city front, but for the most part his goods were boated up to Oregon City. In the summer of 1847, there were three large crafts in the river at Portland; the Toulon, the Whitton, and the Brig Henry. The Whitton was from New York, a swift, trim bark, under command of Roland Glielston. When about to sail away from Portland he took on some cargo of butter, cheese and other produce, and to load these commodities upon the vessel slipped her in close to the steep bank, to which he laid poles from the deck, and planking these over had a platform, or temporary wharf. Those seeing how convenient was the lading of a ship from the Portland shore, predicted that this would be the place of shipping. Ghelston made a second voyage to the Pacific Coast, arriving in San Francisco in 1849 in time to sell his cargo of pans and shovels at an enormous profit. The i/enrj' was under command of Capt. Kilbourne of Massachusetts. He took his brig up to a point on the east side of the river, probably somewhere near U street, and threatened to build a town there as a rival to Portland. Thus early had a spirit of opposition begun to show itself, and so easy was it to go out like Cain and build a city.

Other craft are mentioned as entering the river, as the American bark Parsons, in '46; and the brig Eveline, under command of Capt. Goodwin of Newburyport, Massachusetts, which ascended to the landing on J. R. Stephens' place, on the east side. This vessel and her clever captain were of unusual interest to the Portlanders from the fact that Mrs. Goodwin was also on board. A year or two later, it is mentioned that "A beautiful little vessel that had come up from San Francisco for a load of lumber to be used in constructing government barracks there" ' lay in the river. This beautiful vessel, whose name is forgotten, may be a symbol of other forgotten splendors arid beauties that perhaps clustered about the embryo city, in the mellow, slow days before the gold.

Of those who came in by sea on some of these crafts and became builders of the city, Couch stands first; Crosby next. Following, are Benj. Stark, supercargo on the Toulon ; Richard Hoyt, mate on the Whitton ; and Daniel Lunt, one of the mates on the Chenamus. Among the marked characters of this early time William Johnson alreadj' alluded to was perhaps behind none. Col. Nesmith thus speaks of him : "He was, in 1843, the only settler on the river below the Falls; an English sailor. He was a fine specimen of the British tar and had at an early day abandoned his allegiance to the

British Lion, and taken service on the old frigate Constitution. I have frequently listened to his narrative of the action between the old Ironsides and the Guerriere, on which occasion he served with the boarding party. He used to exhibit an ugly scar on his head made in that memorable action, by a British cutlass, and attributed his escape from death to the fact that he had a couple of pieces of hoop iron crossed in his cap, which arrested the cutlass and saved his life." Besides such live specimens of Maryatt's and Cooper's heroes to afford nights of entertainment, there were occasional excitements and stirring scenes. It appears that the place was some times infested by Indians, who somehow got hold of "blue ruin," a vile sort of intoxicating liquor, and made night hideous with their carousals. As, upon one occasion, their orgies were becoming unbearable, and Joseph Iv. Meek, the Marshal of the Territory, happened to be coming in at the time from the country, riding upon a magnificent white horse that would respond to the slightest touch of the rein, the proprietors of the place appealed to him to rid the town of the savages. Providing himself with a long stout rawhide rope, he mounted his horse and charged upon the camp of the Red Men, laying his strap over their shoulders to right and left, and soon dispersed the tribe into the woods, all terror-stricken at his condign punishment of drunkenness.

Here, moreover, may be quoted Judge Boise's description of the place as he found it some years later : "Then, as now, a place of supply, and containing an abundance of sugar and coffee and some whisky, which latter was often purchased by the hardy pioneer in moderate quantities just to keep out the wet in returning home on his long, slow journey, while he slept by his wagon, often covered by a cloudy sky and exposed to the Oregon mist. ' ' Stories are told also of Madame Cooper and her supply of gin on board a craft off shore.

From the foregoing, the reader may infer that the primitive days were very rude and the early population very intemperate. These incidents, however, are given only as illustrating a certain phase of life to be seen at the time. Situated between the very strict and upright comnuinity at Oregon City, and the very decorous and perfunctory English society at Vancouver, the renegadoes of the two, who did not carry their dignity or national preference to a high pitch, used to slip ofiF and together grow hilarious somewhere between the lines. But the men who made Portland maintained a high character even though sometimes under a plain garb of frontiersmen's buckskin

Proprietors And Growth

As a resume of the foregoing, and for the sake of gaining a clear idea of early movements, the order of acquisition of property is given herewith. Overton laid the first claim, divided with Lovejoy, and sold his interests to Pettygrove. A few streets and blocks were laid off, and the beginnings were made on lots sold at nominal prices or given away for the sake of improvements to be made on them. Couch laid the first claim to the section north, and Ramsay north of him. William Johnson lived on the claim south of the town (Caruthers) and Daniel L,unt south of him, but sold to Terwilliger. South of this was Thos. Stephens. On the southwest, - the heights - the land lay vacant until claimed in 1850 by Thos. Carter, who came to Portland some years before, and with his family was one of the most useful members of the young society. On the east side of the river James B. Stephens and Jacob Wheeler laid claims, covering the water front. These original places were, therefore, in 1849, in about their present shape. But the section upon which the cit}' was started, the Lovejoy claim, was to pass into other hands before the city made a decided growth.

There were three that were usually termed the Portland proprietors, and who so far broadened and deepened the movements of things as to be called with some propriety the founders of the place - not, however, to the exclusion of any honors due to the first trio. Of these proprietors, the first on the scene was D. H. Lownsdale, whose name is most honorably perpetuated among us in the person of his son, J. P. O. Lownsdale. He was one of the representative men of the nation of half a century ago; intelligent, restless, and strongly patriotic, making the needs of his country an active motive in determining his choices. He was sprung from one of the old families of Kentucky, and at an early age moved with his wife to

Indiana. On this remote frontier lie was much distressed by the loss of his companion by death, and returned home, but soon went to Georgia, engaging in the mercantile business. In a few years, owing to failure of health, he traveled abroad, making a prolonged tour of Europe, and spent thus the time from 1842 to 1844. Returning to the United States he found the American public much excited upon the Oregon question, and with no hesitation decided to come to the Pacific shore, and help hold it against the aggressions of the British. Reaching the Columbia in 1845, he looked about for a location, and found none superior to that of Portland. He laid his claim as near the river as he was able, taking the place now owned by A. N. King. This was then a dense woods, much of the timber being hemlock. The presence of these trees and the abundance of hides in the territory-, led Mr. Lownsdale to establish, as a means of livelihood, a tannery, upon the small creek which flowed along the eastern side of his claim, and which, from the fact of the business thus established has become known as Tanner's Creek. This was the first leather making establishment of any importance on the coast and well nigh made Portland. Lownsdale was fully impressed with the value of Portland as a prospectively great city, and sought to gain a holding on the river front. In 1848 he found the opportunit}-. Lovejoy had sold his interest to Stark, and now Pettygrove was becoming so much shaken by ague as to desire to retreat to the coast. Lownsdale accordingly bought of the latter his whole interest, paying therefor $5000 in leather - specie not then being current in Oregon.

Being now owner of the whole site - afterwards coming to an agreement with Stark by which the latter had the triangular strip now included between Stark and A streets, and the river - Lownsdale set in operation as many plans as he could devise for the increase of the place. He sold lots at small prices, or even gave them away, for the sake of improvements. He saw quite early the need of a partner in this work and found the right man in Stephen Cofl5n, then of Oregon City, to whom he sold a half interest.

Coffin, who became during the troubled times of 1861-62 Brigadier-General of the Oregon Militia by appointment of Governor Gibbs, was one of those men of noble presence, fine bearing and generous feelings, for which the early days of our State were distinguished. He is described as possessing a most benevolent face and in his later years a crown of abundant white hair upon his head. He also was a ' ' Down Easter, ' ' having been born at Bangor, Maine, in 1807. While still young he went to Ohio, and as early as 1847 arrived in Oregon. The first two years of his life in our State were spent in hard work at Oregon City so successfully as to enable him to take advantage of Lownsdale's offer.

In the autumn of the same year the third partner, William W. Chapman, was admitted to the partnership, making a very strong triumvirate. Chapman was a Virginian by birth. Early deprived by death of his father, he was left to make his own way in the world, with what assistance might be rendered him by a kind brother and affectionate mother. He succeeded in gaining a substantial education and a recognized position as a lawyer before the Virginia Bar. While still young he went with his family to Iowa, and soon took the lead among the lawyers of that region - in a day so early that the Hawkeye State was still a part of Michigan. He was soon appointed U. S. District Attorney, and in this office made so good a record that when Iowa was set off as a separate Territon,' he was chosen delegate. At Washington he made his mark as the defender of Iowa's claim to the strip of territor)' on the south border which was also desired and at length contested for by Missouri ; and against heavy odds he was entirely successful. In the convention to form a constitution for Iowa upon its admission as a State, he was very influential and became the father of the measure to transfer the gift of public lands from public improvements (roads) to the use of public schools, and to provide for judges by popular election. Both these were new and untried measures, but have now been incorporated into the organic law of the Western and of even some of the Atlantic States. He was also, either in Congress or out of it, the originator of other important legislation, such as the pre-emption law for settlers.

He had come to Oregon in 1847, settling first at Cor\-aIlis and later at Salem. He was also much at Oregon City, and was making a study of the points most likely to rise to commercial importance. He was ultimately convinced that as at Portland transportation by water could most conveniently reach that by land, this must be the place for a city

Of the company thus formed, Coffin was the President, and Chapman, Secretary, and the land was held as an undivided interest. Schemes for the growth of the place began to be elaborated, and all three of the men worked with untiring energ}-. The section was sur\-eyed and platted. The new streets running north and south were made eighty feet wide. The river was examined, and at Swan Island a large log that was a menace to navigation in the narrow channel was removed.

It must not be supposed that simple natural advantages can ever make a city. It is pre-supposed that as much energy and intelligence are put forth in its interests as in that of some rival point. It is only by making the human factor equal to that in other places that the factor of better natural facilities is ever made preponderating. In the early days of Portland, the proprietors had to work like heroes day and night to hold their city up to its advantages. It had a number of exceedingly strong and pugnacious rivals. Oregon City was rather easily letting go the race for commercial supremacy, holding on confidently to its position as the political capital, but Milwaukie was coming into the race with great vigor. The proprietor, Lot Whitcomb, was a man of as much ambition as ever lived in Oregon, and had staked his last dollar and his whole hope of fortune upon the supremacy of the city that he had laid off on his claim. It was for him a serious matter to miss having the greatest city of the Pacific Coast upon his farm. In 1847 he began his operations, and in '48 was greatly strengthened by the arrival at the place of Captain Joseph Kellogg, who at once entered into his purpose to build the city. A sawmill was erected, and soon ships loaded with lumber and produce were dispatched from her wharf down the Coast to San Francisco. The avails of some of these trips were so great that a vessel, the old bark Lausanne, was purchased out of the profits. The transaction was made at San Francisco, and the bark happened to have at that time a pair of engines and all necessary machinery for a steamer, which were included in the bargain. Coming into possession of this steam engine, Whitcomb determined to build a river racer to make sure the advantages of his city. By Christmas day, 1850, his task was done, and the steamer Lot Whitcomb^ amid the tumultuous rejoicing of the people, slid down the ways into the Willamette. She was a first-class, commodious boat, staunch and moderately swift, and at once began making a trip to Astoria, charging $15 fare, and passing by Portland, as she steamed to and fro, without so much as giving a salute.

St. Helens was also a fonnidable rival. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company, who first made Astoria their stopping point, soon bought at St. Helens a large land interest and made this the terminus of their line. By the terms of existing navigation in the winter of '50-'51, Milwaukie was the head of river and St. Helens the head of ocean steam navigation; and Portland was left forlornly in the midst unprovided for. But before seeing how the proprietors extricated themselves from this difficulty it would be more accordant with chronology, and indeed the order of growth, to see what class of citizens and what improvements were being added to the city.

During the summer of 1849 the rush to the gold mines became so general that the city was well nigh depopulated, but three men remaining within its limits. These were Lownsdale, Warren and Col. King. This out-going tide was necessarily calculated to leave Portland high and Ary on her alluvium. But there is never an ebb that is not followed by a flow, and the autumn of that year, and the winter following, saw the Portlauders flocking back again. Losses were more than made up, and the "dust" from California set in motion the wheels of enterprise in a wonderful way. We are told that "the year passed out and 1850 was enthroned with brighter promise. The prices of wheat, flour, lumber, fruit and vegetables, went up to fabulous figures in San Francisco, and Oregon began to reap a splendid harvest from her fertile soil. By and by, too, the miners began to return. They were not much to look at - tanned, tattered, inhabited, maybe, but under their frowsy gaberdines was a complete mail of money belts, and they were just as good as gold. Business revived and enterprise got upon its legs.

Besides Chapman and Coffin, there was a considerable number of new men who added force and brain to the little community. Deacon Homan M. Humphre}-, who gave name to Humphrey's Mountain by taking there his claim, settled in 1849. A descendant of an old Eastern family, he had for some years before coming to Oregon been a pioneer of Iowa, and incorporated in his character the inflexible virtues of his ancestry and the added facility and adaptability of mind gained from Western life. Thomas Carter located his claim a little later, and one Jones, farther up the canyon, made his beginning on the land now occupied by the Poor Farm.

Religious societies began to be fonned. Rev. George H. Atkinson, whose name will always be known in Oregon as one of the most able and self-denying of her missionaries and pioneers of civilization, had come to Oregon the year before and located at Oregon City. While attending to his own field, he was also seeking to establish churches at other points, and for the work at Portland was urging his society to provide a pastor. Designated for this field was Rev. Horace Lyman, together with his wife, who sailed from New York in November, 1848, on the bark Whitton, making the passage around Cape Horn in six months to San Francisco. From that city they voyaged up to the Columbia Bar on the Toulon, whicTi was a month or more on the water, often rocking on the idle swells and lying too, in the murk of a very smoky autumn, waiting for a west wind, and at length running upon a sand flat once inside the breakers. Up the rivers to Portland the}- were accommodated on the prim little Sarah McFarland, while the brig worked up on the tides so slowly that the passengers had ample time to go ashore and hunt bear, or go fowling for geese and ducks. Mr. Lyman was from Massachusetts, bom in 1815 at East Hampton; an alumnus of William's College, and of Andover Theological Seminary. Arrived in Portland, he found accommodations for himself and wife in a building erected to serve as a stable. The first winter was spent by him in teaching school and in preaching, and making ready for a church organization and a church building. He was exceedingly active in religious, educational, benevolent and temperance enterprises, and soon became known over the whole State as among the foremost in these endeavors. He cleared with his own hands the ground occupied by the First Congregational Church at Second and Jefferson streets.

Even more widely known was the first Methodist minister, Father Wilbur, who arrived upon the scene at about the same time. He was a New Yorker, having been born at L,owville in that State in 1811. This was out in the wilderness in those distant days, and as he grew up the boy had the struggle to make with labor and selfdenial. By his Presbyterian parents he was rigorously brought up; taught that the chief end of man was not in the trifling pleasures of the world. With this creed he was not, during his younger days, in full accord, but bent himself to the acquisition of fortune and the accomplishment of secular ends. At the age of twenty-nine, however, but a month after his marriage, he gave up wholly his worldly aims and offered himself to preach the Gospel. His services were accepted by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was licensed to e.xhort. Having obtained a fair academic education, he was able to perform satisfactory work, and labored with much zeal and fidelity in the Black River Conference. In 1846 he was sought as a missionary to Oregon. He came by way of Cape Horn, and was accustomed to perform labors on the vessel for the sake of relieving the tedium of physical inaction. Arriving in Oregon, June 27, 1847, he passed by Portland, in its woods, to Salem, and at that place and Oregon City remained two years. After this he was appointed to the Portland circuit. Being a man of great physical force and power, he not only did the work of pastor, but also performed much manual labor. His toils at that early day are well described by Rev. H. K. Hines in the following language: "Stalwart and strong, the great forest that stood where the church (Taylor Street) now stands, fell before his axe. Versatile and resolute, the walls of the old church and academy rose by his saw and hammer, or grew white and beautiful under the sweep of his brush. Tireless and evangelical, Sunday listened with gladness to his earnest preaching of the Gospel. Poverty was fed at his table. Weariness rested on his couch. Sickness was cured by his medicine."

An ambitious man, full of plans and endeavors for the promotion of religious and humane enterprises, Father Wilbur was a central figure in the community in which he adled. He was one of the radical men of the early days.

Another man noted for his urbanity, generosit)', and ability was Hiram Smith. He came to Oregon first in 1845, as a sort of scout of civilization, to spy out the new promised land for the restless millions behind. He was sometimes known as "Red Shirt Smith,"' to distinguish him from the other Smiths, who bore such pseudonyms as "Chickamin," "Carving Knife," "Three Fingered," or "Blubber Mouth." Such soubriquets as these were by no means a sign of contempt, but rather a mark of familiarity and good fellowship, and illustrates how the early pioneers enlivened their difficult circumstances by broad humor. In 1849 he dispatched goods by way of Cape Horn, in the care of his brother Isaac, and a store was established at Portland in 1850. Himself with a large company came across the plains in 1851. Captain Smith, as he was frequently called, was a man of much business experience, having been a manufacturer of fanning mills in Ohio, and was wealthy, having acquired a fortune of one hundred thousand dollars. He used much of his money in coming to Oregon, and in assisting immigrants- During one season he went out toward the Snake River with a supply of provisions to meet the incoming train of immigrants, but found so many of them destitute of means, and being unable to refuse any of them, whether rich or poor, the necessaries they so greatly needed, he finally gave away the most of his flour and beef, without money or price. Some of those benefitted finally paid him; as a man who came into town a few years later bringing to his store an enormous dressed hog as principal and interest, and also unburdened himself of a long meditated apology for having cursed him because he had not been allowed more. But many never did. To the poor and unfortunate in the city Hiram Smith was a sort of angel of deliverance, and made a special point of putting broken or dispirited men on their feet once more. Since his death unknown benevolences have come to light, and his gifts during the Oregon Indian wars, for the relief of settlers and wounded soldiers, and his fund placed at service in his old home in Ohio for the widows of soldiers of the War of the Rebellion, reflect a world of credit not only upon his own name, bnt no less upon Portland.

In 1850 William S. Ladd stepped ashore at the little primitive wharf. He is a Vermonter by birth, although his early life was spent in New Hampshire. He developed his energies upon a fann, bringing into productiveness one of the most stumpy and rocky pieces of land in the Granite State. Engaging early in the work of school teaching, he amplified his academic acquisitions, and as employe at the railroad station in his place of residence gained business habits and breadth of outlook. He became somewhat familiar with the products and resources of the Pacific Coast, and upon the news of the discovery of gold in California, reasoned that not the region of the mines, but that from which provisions came to the mines would ultimately get most wealth. Finding that the Willamette valley sustained this relation to California, he determined to come to our territory. He stopped at San Francisco on the way and conferred there with an old friend of his, C. E. Tilton, but not being able to persuade him to go into the business of selling at retail the goods he was receiving from New York, came on up to Portland, bringing a few articles of merchandise with him, and started a small store on the ground opposite the present site of the Esmond Hotel. Mr. H. W. Corbett also belongs to this era. Of this gentleman, as of the others foregoing, a full account is given in another portion of this volume. H. McDonald, an architect and builder of skill, from Rhode Island, who did some government work and put up an opera house at San Francisco, and A. R. Shipley, now of Oswego, were also "Forty-niners." W. P. Abrams, a millwright, a man of great intelligence and public spirit, arrived with his family the succeeding year. A native of Grafton, New Hampshire, he always carried his New England thrift and conscientiousness, together with great kindliness and generosity, into his daily life. For a few years before coming to Oregon he had lived in Alabama. While in San Francisco he was sought out and secured by Stephen Coffin to come to Portland and build the first steam saw mill. Upon arriving in our city he successfully accomplished this task, and for many years thereafter was engaged in the manufacture of lumber at Portland or The Dalles. In January of 1850 Mr. Cyrus A. Reed, Oregon's landscape painter, arrived in the city, having made the voyage from San Francisco on the Brig Sequin, under command of Captain Norton. He, also, was a New Englander, a native of Grafton, New Hampshire, and had received there a substantial education. In 1849 he set sail for California, and engaging in his trade, as painter of signs, was very successful financially. With Mr. Abrams, however, he came to Portland, and has been a devoted lover of Oregon from the day of his arrival.

Much interesting and characteristic incident is related as to the building of the old steam sawmill. It was begun in December, 1849, and finished in the summer of 1850. The main portion being forty by eighty feet, and the timbers solid fir beams sixteen inches square, it was found impossible to obtain men enough in the city to "raise " it. Coffin set off" for Oregon City with a flat boat for help, but even thus could not secure a sufficient force. The very painful and somewhat ridiculous predicament appeared of having a mill too big to be put together by all the available men in Oregon. At this juncture Mr. Reed, who had been employed from the first in all sorts of work about the building, offered to build a derrick, agreeing to forfeit one hundred dollars of his wages if he failed. B}' means of derrick, blocks and tackle, he enabled the men present to lift every timber to its place, and the work went on swimmingly. In 1852, after teaching a term of school, he became a partner in the mill, which was operated under the firm name of Abrams, Reed & Co. Among the workmen on this structure was J. W. Trutch, afterwards Surveyor-General of British Columbia. In 1852, John Gates, Portland's great inventor, came up from San Francisco and joined the company, acting as engineer. General Coffin was still a silent partner, dealing much in lumber, shipping it to San Francisco. On one occasion - to show the uncertainty of business - he is said to have consigned two ship loads to Winter & Latimer, of that city, who reported a low market and advised at length that they were compelled to sell at a sacrifice. They, moreover, presented a bill of eleven thousand dollars for wharfage, demanding immediate payment. By Mr. A. B. Bonnell, as agent, it was discovered that there were fifteen thousand dollars due Coffin; a judgment for which was obtained.

The mill was burned in 1853 - after Reed had removed to Marion County - entailing a heavy loss upon the owners. It was situated near the foot of Jefferson street, at the mouth of a deep gulch which has long since been filled up.

Mr. J. A. Strowbridge arrived in Portland in 1852. He was then but a youth, and the early days of his life in our city were much distressed by the death of his father, who had contracted mountain fever in crossing the plains. Being, however, of a courageous spirit, the young man soon addressed himself to business, engaging in the purchase and shipping of fruit to San Francisco. He was one of the first, if not the very first, to consign Oregon apples to dealers in California, and was of much service to the State in going among the farmers and encouraging them to plant orchards, under the promise that he would take all their fruit at remunerative figures. He afterwards engaged in the boot and shoe business, and later in the leather trade, with great success, and is now one of our most wealthy and popular citizens. His brothers were also engaged in business with him at an early day.

Mr. George W. Snell, the pioneer druggist of Portland, a native of Augusta, Maine, arrived at Portland early in the spring of 1851, having spent some ten months previously in California. With him was Dr. J. C. Hooper, also of Maine, and the two formed a partnership, bringing to Portland a stock of drugs. Dr. Hooper died in 1851, and Mr. Snell was soon succeeded by Mr. George L,. Story, and the latter in turn by Smith & Davis. In the course of time this firm was consolidated with Hodge, Calef & Co., and under that designation did business for many years. Latterly, however, it is operated under the firm name of Snell, Heitshu & Woodard. This house, with which Mr. Snell has been so long connected, and indeed at the head, is known throughout the Northwest as one of the great wholesale establishments of our city.

Mr. Nelson Northrup, long known as a merchant in old Oregon, was born in Auburn, N. Y. , and coming to Oregon engaged in business at the Cascades, but soon brought his stock of goods to Portland, where he went into partnership with Montreville Simonds, from Massachusetts. In 1856 he went to Coos Bay, but subsequently returned to Portland, where he died.

Edward James Northrup, the son of the foregoing, was born in Albany, N. Y., in 1834. He came to Portland in 1852, and for a few years served with his father as clerk, but in 1856 engaged in business on his own account, opening a hardware store under the name of Northrup & Blossom, which was the beginning of the present extensive i establishment of Thompson & DeHart. Mr. Northrup died at Portland in 1883.

Judge P. A. Marquam, whose memor\' will be perpetuated in the name of the hill at the south of the town, as well as by his public works, arrived in Portland, August 13th, 1851. A man of keen observation and excellent memory' it is most delightful to listen to his account of his voyage hither, and of his impressions upon his arrival. Upon crossing the Columbia Bar, he was much attracted by the sight of the verdure of the hills, and of the general appearance of natural exuberance of the soil. Portland, as a city, took the new comer somewhat aback, being yet in the deep woods. The streets were mire holes during the rainy weather, and settlers from below town hauling wood used frequently to be mired on their way through. A striking habit of the place was also the manner in which the country people, having come to town in their wagons and camped over night, used to get up early in the morning to pound on the doors of the stores to wake the still slumbering clerks. The Canton House on the corner of Washington and First streets, built by Stephen Coffin, was the principal hotel. It was a three-story wooden building, and may now be seen in its present position at the foot of Jefferson street. The Columbia Hotel had a famous proprietor in the person of Col. Gordon, properly Gen. Hinton, of Ohio.

J. C. Carson, a man of wealth and influence in Portland for nearly forty years, was born in Center Count>-, Pennsylvania, in 1825. In 1S32 he went to Ohio and there spent his early life, gaining an education and studying medicine. In 1850 he came to San Francisco with the intention of aiding his former instructor in medicine in the establishment of a hospital in that city. From considerations of health, however, he decided to come to Oregon, and arrived here in the autumn of '51. He operated as contractor and builder until 1857, when he erected at the foot of Jefferson street a sash and door factory, the first in the city. This business, long since removed to a site at the north end of the cit}' near Weidler's saw mill, has now grown to immense proportions. Mr- Carson has been active in our city in educational, religious and political circles. He is one of our most prominent men.

George L. Story, a pioneer in the drug business of our city, and at present an efficient member of the Fire Commission, was born in Manchester, Mass., in 1833, and received his education at a private school in Salem. In 1847 he entered a wholesale drug store, and thoroughly mastered the subject of pharmacy. In 1850 he came out to California, and in '51 came on up the coast to Oregon. With a partner, Devaux Babcock, he bought out the drug store of Hooper, Snell & Co. and carried on the drug business here. He afterwards bought out Babcock and formed a partnership with Story, Redington & Co. , of San Francisco. He closed out his interest here, however, to Smith, Davis & Co., and entered into a large wholesale business in San Francisco, but returned to Portland in 1862, and has remained here to the present time. In 1872 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Common Council, and was thereafter elected to the same position and served three years. He has also served in the State Legislature from Multnomah County. At present he conducts a large fire insurance business, and is a man held in high esteem by all our people. From no one better than from him may we gain an understanding of the old times in Portland, when the old pioneers were young men together, ambitious and eager to succeed, but all equals, and never so much engrossed in their own concerns as to allow one overtaken by bad luck to go by the board.

At the end of this chapter will be found a list of the names of those living in Portland prior to 1852, which it has been attempted to make complete.

Public Events And Structures Of The Period

It is recorded that in 1849 the growing population felt the necessity of some building sufficient for public uses, and that in consequence a movement was set on foot for a schoolhouse, which might also serve for religious and other public meetings - the cooper shop now being too small, or too much cumbered with its own proper belongings, or the owner grown tired of having his tubs and buckets turned upside down for seats. Two thousand two hundred dollars were subscribed and out of this the public building was erected, and served at stated times, in addition to the uses indicated above, as a court room. It was near the Ainsworth Block.

Portland had as yet no newspaper. Its rival, Milwaukie, was setting up the Western Star, and at Oregon City the Spectator was growing almost venerable with the weight of years. Plainly such a condition could not be endured. Col. Chapman, with more or less definite purpose to relieve the situation, went down to San Francisco, taking along in the bark on which he sailed a stick of fir timber one hundred and thirty feet long, cut from the woods on the elevation now occupied by W. S. Ladd's residence. He intended it as a present to the people of the golden city to serve as a flag staff. Finding there one Thomas J. Dr\'er, a journalist, with the plant of a newspaper, he engaged his materials and servdces, agreeing with him that he should come to Portland and publish a journal to be called The Oregonian. To this work Dryer was also urged by H. W. Corbett, at that time in San Francisco. The office was shipped in October, 1850, on the bark Keoka. By reason of hard winds and storms the vessel did not reach the Columbia as early as expected. The editor elect was, moreover, stranded financially at Astoria, and had to be relieved by a moderate advance from the pocket of Col. Chapman. On this account the new paper was preceded some weeks by the Western Star. It was not until the 4th of December that the first issue appeared. On the night of its publication all hands were busy and the town was ilhiniinated by an immense bon fire in the streets. Various orgies were solemnized in the office, one among them being the initiation of the devil, who was blindfolded and made to perform certain circuits and at stated revolutions to abjure his former occupation by affirming that he would split no more rails. Col. Chapman provided a man to take a bundle of the new issue and start early next morning on horse back, on the west side of the river, and distribute the paper as far up as Corvallis and return by the east side.

In its first issue the Oregonian contained some terse and forcible English, and complimented the people upon the rapid growth of their city, and the neat appearance of their residences, remarking that Portland was a town which had sprung up in an incredibly short time. "The buildings are mostly new, of good style and taste, with their white coats of paint, contrasted with the brown and the dingy appearance of towns generally on the Pacific Coast; giving it a most homelike appearance. ' '

The Western Star, of Milwaukie, after running a few months, was brought down to Portland and published imder the name of The Oregon Weekly Times.

The Methodist church, on the corner of Third and Taylor streets, was dedicated in the autumn of 1850; the Congregational church, on Second and Jefferson, in 1851; the Catholic church on Third and Stark, was begun in 1851, but not dedicated until February, 1852.

A public occasion of much interest was the celebration of St. John's day, in 1850, by the Masons. The people assembled at the Masonic Hall, which was still surrounded by logs and stumps, and there formed a procession, and preceded by the military- band of Fort Vancouver, marched to the Methodist church, where was delivered an address by Rev. H. Lyman, followed by an oration by T. J. Drj'er. Officers were then installed, Lieut. F. S. R. Russell, of the United States Army, acting as Worthy Grand Master. In the evening public dinner was served at the California House. In 1850 the Sons of Temperance were organized with much enthusiasm and large numbers.

This was to ratify publicly the opening of the road to Tualatin Plains. General Coffin performed the ceremony of laying the first plank, and speeches were delivered in which the coining grandeur of the city was quite accurateh- predicted. Mr. Tilford, a lawyer and fluent speaker, made the oration, using among others the following expressions which elicited hearty applause: "This is the commencement of an era of commercial prosperity which will continue to increase until the iron horse takes the place of the plank road. There are persons now within the sound of my voice that will live to see the day when a main trunk railroad will be extended from sea to sea; from the Atlantic to the Pacific."

Indeed, this road, which, however, has not to this day been planked, was the factor determining Portland as the site of the principal city. She became thereby most convenient to the farmers of Polk, Yamhill and Washington Counties, who would not haul their produce three to ten miles further to St. Johns or St. Helens. .\lthough for many years very rough, and through woods so deep that the mud dried only by virtue of the longest droughts, it was nevertheless the most popular highway.

Ships And Commerce

Many vessels crossed the bar of the Columbia in 1849 and a number came up to Portland. Of these none was more serviceable than the Madonna, from New York, under Captain Couch. This was his third trip out, and bv far the most successful. His cargo of mixed goods was disposed of in part at San Francisco, his lumber selling for $600 per thousand. On board were W. S. Ogden, a prominent merchant of early times, and G. H. Flanders, a sea captain, before this in the employ of John and Caleb Cushing. Capt. Flanders is a man whose energy and enterprise have done much for Portland's commerce. Reaching the city once more, Couch had his land surveyed and platted. It is said that in laying oflT a street he gave his half for the use of the public, but Stark refused to meet him half way; thus making A street but half width. It is also reported that upon the -surveyor finishing the job, worth about $700, Couch ofFered himforhis pay, two blocks on Second and Third streets - which were refused. The Madonna was run on the route to San Francisco by Flanders, and the firm of Couch & Co. were so prosperous as to be able to dispatch in 1850 the brig Emma Preston to China - the first from Oregon to China.

The unfavorable condition of steam navigation, already mentioned, which supplied Milwaukie with a river steamer, and St. Helens with ocean craft, but left Portland to voyage by canoes, or to depend upon uncertain winds, was earnestly examined in order to find a remedy. A general desire and willingness to buy a steamer of their own was freely expressed by the proprietors and leading citizens, and this being riimored abroad, attracted to the northern waters the Gold Hunter. She was a side-wheeler, a staunch little vessel, but as stated by one who knew her well, having such a capacity for consuming fuel that on a week's voyage so much of the space between decks had to be used for storing wood as seriously to interfere with room for freight, passengers or supplies. Nevertheless, when she appeared in the Willamette and promised steam communication with San Francisco and the outer world, she was deemed acceptable and bought. Sixty thousand dollars was the purchase price, sufficient to give Portlanders a controlling interest, and of this, twenty-one thousand dollars were paid on the spot; eighteen thousand six hundred dollars were furnished by the Portland proprietors and the rest was made up by the citizens in small shares. Much rejoicing was occasioned by this event, and Portland began to loom tip at once as a seaport. Hall, a seafaring man then a resident of Portland, was made captain, and A. P. Dennison, purser. Each owned a few shares of stock. The jubilation, however, was short lived, and the purchase proved a disastrous failure. Some of the stockholders, contrary to expectation, disposed of their shares to the San Francisco holders, thereby giving to the latter a majority interest. After a few trips the Gold Hunter was ordered off the route and sent to Central America. This was done wholly without the knowledge of the Oregon owners, and they watched and waited in vain for the return of their steamship. She never came back, but was attached, on the southern coast for debt and involved her owners in still further expense and loss. IMany blocks had to be sold by Coffin and the other proprietors to make good their unprofitable outlay. Although thus unfortunate, they did nevertheless gain their ends. The necessity of steam to accommodate Portland was made apparent, and the ability of her people to supply themselves was proven; and to forestall others from reaping the profits, the Lot Whitcomb, and the Pacific Mail steamers both made Portland their terminal point. It was in March, 1851, that the first vessel of the latter company came hither. This was the steamship Columbia, a commodious and fine vessel, which ran uninterruptedly until 1860, doing a most successful business. At the latter date she was drawn off for the China trade, and in the Oriental seas was destroyed by fire.'

The establishment of the Oregonian, the opening of steam communication, and the construction of the wagon road to the Tualatin Plains were the things that gave Portland her first supremacy. Of the three none was more decisive than the wagon road, for it fixed the trade of the farmers, brought down loads of grain and other produce, and the droves of cattle and hogs. It made Portland popular; the occupants of the woods and plains finding here rest and relaxation from the limbo of their self-imposed exile. In April, 1851, at the first city election, which was rather a tame aflFair, since as yet tliere were no politics involved, there were cast two hundred and twenty-two votes; indicating a population of six hundred or seven hundred - as a very large proportion of the inhabitants were adult men. Although this is but the figure of a village, it shows that Portland had passed all other Oregon towns, and had assumed

1 It seems that there were three captains of the name of Hall; T. A. Hall, of the Ocean Bird; O. C. Hall thought to be his sou, of the Gold Hunter; and William Hall who married a daughter of Captain Warren, and afterwards went to Washington county, building a flour mill, but was fatally injured by the fall of a burning tree.

Crossing the Willamette in an early day was sometimes dangerous. The story is told of the first ferryman's being forbidden by the proprietor of the East Side, to land on his premises; the crossing was made in a skiff, in the face of the loaded shot gun of the man on the East shore of the river. When the boat touched the sand, however, the ferryman, upon pretense of shipping his oars, suddenly produced a rifle and under its protection the passengers landed unmolested. The affair was watched from the Portland shore by a number of citizens who feared a bloody issue.

metropolitan importance. Indeed, whether from their spirit and energ\', their cosmopolitan make-up, or their great expectations, the people of Portland have from the earliest limes surrounded their city with the air and manner of a great place.

As indicating something of the strength and importance of the city in 1851, the following list of business houses is given, which is believed to be comprehensive.

H. W. Corbett, general store; Josiah Failing, with his two sons, Henry and John, general store; Capt. C. H. Lewis, of the firm of Allen & Lewis, general store; J. H. Couch, general store; Breck & Ogden, general store; A. M. & L. M. Starr, stove and tin store; Capt. Norton, a small store, but did the most of his trading from his vessel; Thos. Pritchard, grocery; A. M. Barnes, general store; G. W. Vaughn, hardware; Mr. Vaughn also built the first flour mill. Northrup & Simonds, general store; Hiram Smith, who had the sign "No. 1 Smith," to distinguish him from the later arrivals of his name, general store; Lucien Snow, dry goods; G. W. Snell, drug store; Patrick Raleigh, had on hand a stock of goods to be sold out; Frazar & Jewett, general store. Mr. Thos. Frazar, so universally known in our city came on the steamer Columbia, arriving at Astoria in March, 1851. From Astoria he found passage to Portland on a flat boat run by Capt. O'Neill, since so well known as a purser on the line of steamboats of the O. S. N. Co. Mr. Frazar was from Massachusetts, a native of Duxbury, and is a descendant of John Alden, famous in the history and poetry of New England. ' ,

Besides these stores there were vessels lying in the river with stocks of goods for sale. One of these was a schooner from Boston, under Capt. Watson; another, under Capt. Benj. Smith, with A. P. Dennison as partner, or assistant. A French brig under Capt. Trevalliot, lay for some time along the shore, until by reason of improper unloading, and carelessness as to the fall of water, she careened on her side and was sunk. This Trevalliot was a notorious

' As men of influence, such as were known to all in the early day, were J. P. Long, a native of New Orleans and a man of intense Southern ideas who kept a small store on Alder street; and Thos. Pritchard, an Englishman by birth, who removed to Victoria as early as 1861.

character, drunken and profane beyond measure. He gave undue attention to horse racing, having a dark Indian pony, that he called "Siskiyou," upon which he charged up and down the streets, defying the town boys and couutr^'men.

In the latter part of 1851 there were a number of Jewish merchants who made a beginning here in the mercantile line and began to displace their Yankee competitors.

The following is a list of the names of those living at or near Portland prior to 1852. It has been very carefully made up by Mr. John M. Breck, Mr. Geo. L. Story, Mr. Henry Failing, and Mr. T. B. Trevett, all of whom were living in our city at the time mentioned. They will be recognized as among our most capable business men of the present day and merit the thanks not only of the publishers of this work, but of all interested in Portland, for their interest and efficiency in helping us to make the volume complete.

Chapter Iv Land Title Controversies

Measures taken by Proprietors to Protect Land Purchasers' Rights - The Three Causes of Litigation - Legal Points in the Stark vs. Starr Case - Decision of the Courts - Causes of Litigation Over the Lownsdale Estate - Final Settlement of the Case in the United States Circuit Court - Decision of Judge Sawyer and Concurrent Opinion of Judge Deady - Public Levee Case - Grounds of Private and Municipal Claims to the River Front - How the City's Rights were Lost - Legal History of the Caruthers Claim.

IT seems necessary to give in this work some account of the troublesome Htigation which rested for a nnmber of years over the city and retarded its growth. It is not a matter of very general interest, but mention of the subject cannot well be omitted, and if treated of at all, enough of the details should be furnished to state the case with clearness and definitencss.

From the way in which Portland was settled, it may be surmised that she had a world of legal difficulties and vexatious questions as to the titles of property. Such difficulties were clearly forseen by the founders and proprietors, and everything possible was done to forefend and guard against them. In point of fact, the measures adopted at the very first to give validity and pennanency to all titles conveyed were eventually confirmed by the highest courts in the nation, but this did not prevent a long, tedious, expensive and, as it seemed at length, a useless controversy.

When Portland was laid off, in 1845, the ownership not only of her site, but of the whole territory was in hot dispute between the United States and Great Britain. Nobody knew whether the Union Jack or the Stars and Stripes ought to be run up at the gable peak of the old hewed log store and at the little wharf on the river bank. Of course, the Americans expected that Oregon would be held by their National Government, and the existing authority in the land, such as it was, was vested in a local Government which boasted a Governor, a Legislature, supported an army and established courts. It also had recognized the necessity of some sort of land legislation, and had passed a law that any one might hold the " section " of land upon which he was living by right of actual possession. But, in its very nature, this Government at Oregon City was provisional - having stated in its preamble that it was intended to hold the reins of government only until such time as the United States should extend her authority over Oregon. It was, therefore, uncertain how the land legislation and land titles would stand when that time should arrive. Such legislation and titles might be confirmed or supplanted by something else.

From 1845, the time Portland was started, until 1848, the time that the Territorial Government was set up, was a period of three years of uncertainty, and it was two years longer before the Donation Act was passed, which substantially recognized and confirmed the land system of the Provisional Government; and it was not until 1852 that any exact or absolute title was obtained for the town site of Portland.

To obviate the difficulties that might spring up, the proprietors took all the precautionary steps that honest and conscientious men could devise. When Lownsdale, in 1848, purchased the town site and obtained a partner in the person of General Coffin, an agreement was made that all lots which had been sold hitherto should be confirmed to the purchasers; that Coffin should obtain as quickly as possible a United States patent to the tract, and that good deeds should then be given to all those who had bought or should buy. When, in 1849, Chapman became a partner, the same agreement was continued. When, in 1852, it was decided that the property could be obtained only by a division of interests so that Lownsdale should take one portion. Chapman a second, and Coffin the third, they all signed an agreement with an enormous bond attached, that so soon as they obtained legal title they would at once issue deeds to all previous purchasers confirming their certificates.

But, in spite of all these precautions, it was a matter of certainty that titles would be contested. It was beyond peradventure that somebody, at some time, would desire to push the question beyond simple private agreement, or the transient legislation of the Provisional Government to the hard and fast decree of the Supreme Court of the United States. The contest came early and was exceedingly hot, but perhaps was just as well decided then as at any other time. There was considerable temporary feeling generated, and those who were put to expense to maintain what they considered their honest rights naturally felt some exasperation at those who contested them.

There were, in general, three main questions to be decided. These arose first, from the claims of Benjamin Stark; second, from the claims of the heirs of D. H. Lownsdale; and third, from the disposition by the proprietors of what was called "the levee."

As to the claims of Stark, he, as we have already recorded, had purchased Lovejoy's interest in the 640 acres of land which then constituted Portland, but when he went to San Francisco not long after, leaving his interest to the care of Capt. Couch, it seems to have been supposed by Lownsdale that he had abandoned his claim. Nevertheless, while yet in California, and upon returning from the gold mines, he asserted his rights and it was finally agreed as the most equitable settlement that his claim should be conceded to that triangular strip which now constitutes the central portion of the city, namely: the piece bounded by Stark and A streets and the river. But from previous agreements which appear to have been entered into by the proprietors when they supposed that their rights extended down to Couch's line, there arose a number of cases which had to be settled in equity before the United States District Courts. One of these, as a specimen, may be introduced here. This was the case of Stark vs. Starr. It appears that as early as 1850 certain lots 1, 2, and 4, in block 81, had been occupied by persons who had what they regarded as deeds as good as were to be obtained at the time. To be sure these deeds were not given b)- Stark. The deed to lot 1 had the following genealog}-: One Eastman had possession of it, although it does not appear by what legal authority, and gave a deed thereto to Hutchins and Hale, who passed on the same to A. M. Starr and A. P. Ankeny. There was one other link by a certain man, Barnhart, who at one time had a certificate on execution to enforce a judgment of Norton vs. Winter and Latimer, but L. M. Starr was unable to trace his deed to Barnhart. As to lot 2, of the same block, a deed was found from Chapman for the south half, and from Butler to McCoy and also from Marye to McCoy. Lot 4 was found to have been passed in 1850 from Chapman to Powell; in 1856 from Powell to A. M. Starr, and in 1865 from A. M. Starr to L. M. Starr. None of these deeds were traced to Stark, who got his title direct from the United States, and was the first recorded owner. There was a statement by Stark that he never gave a deed to these lots on account of the fact that Chapman had never paid him for them - thus showing quite clearly that all the lots had at some time been held in some sort of an unwritten agreement between Starr and Chapman, but whatever that agreement or understanding might have been nothing of it was at first produced before the Court.

In this situation it appears that Stark concluded to establish what rights he might possess in this quarter, and consequently instituted suit in equity before the District Court at Portland to recover possession. It was decided by the Court that the land had never been conveyed away from Stark, and that whatever understanding there was prior to his acquirement of title under the Donation Act was not material. It was held, however, that the Starrs were holding this property under color of title and in good faith, and they were allowed compensation for their improvements, estimated to be worth |2,000. The possession of the lots, however, was awarded to Stark, and he was also found entitled to rent, which amounted to $5,312.50.

But while Stark thus carried through his case in the United States District Court, in action on the law side of the Court, Starr had been instituting suit on the equity side of the Circuit Court of Oregon for the County of Multnomah as early as 1864, claiming the lots on two grounds: first, that there had been issued a patent to the city of Portland from the United States Land Office, in accordance with the townsite law of 1844, giving it the section upon which the town was built, in trust for the residents of the city, with due regard for the interests and titles of Stark, Lownsdale, Chapman and Coffin ; and second, on the ground that Stark received his patent under the Donation Act to the lots in question in trust for Starr. By the Circuit Court of Oregon it was decided that but one of these causes could be pleaded in one suit, and at plaintiff's option the former was chosen. The lots were awarded by this Court to Starr; upon appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court, this decision was reaffirmed; but upon appeal thence to the United States Supreme Court, the title given to the City of Portland, in accordance with the townsite law of 1844, was declared void, and Starr's claim to his lots fell with it.

But, not being discouraged by an adverse decision, and remembering that he still had cause of action left behind, Starr went back then to that second cause, instituting suit on the equity side of the United States Circuit Court to recover possession of the lots on the ground that when Stark got a patent from the United States covering the ownership of the lots, 1, 2 and half of 4, in block 81, it was simply in trust for himself, in pursuance of certain promises and transactions given and consummated long before. The case came up before Judge Sawyer, of the United States Circuit Court, and Judge Deady, of the United States District Court. In the trial the facts which were not shown in the case of Stark vs. Starr, as mentioned above, were developed, and they explained how Chapman happened to be selling land which appeared only under Stark's patent, as follows: Stark and Lownsdale were both in San Francisco early in 1850, the former leaving Couch as his attorney at Portland, and the latter investing Colonel Chapman with the same powers. While there. Stark and Lownsdale talked over their rights and claims in the Portland townsite, the former urging that he had a half interest on accoimt of his purchase of Lovejoy's interest, (although, as it is said, Mrs. Lovejoy never signed the deed), while Lownsdale spoke of his purchase of the whole site for $5,000 from Pettygrove. But, it was finally agreed in writing to make a division whereby Lownsdale should relinquish to Stark all that portion of the claim north of a certain line which coincides very nearly with the present Stark street; and Stark was to relinquish all south of that line to Lownsdale. It was provided, however, by the latter, that the consent of certain other persons (by which he meant his partners Chapman and Coffin), must be obtained. But, in the meantime, while the two were making this arrangement in San Francisco, Colonel Chapman, acting in his own right and also as attorney for Lownsdale, and not knowing of the agreement, had bought of the compaiiy of which he was a member, this block on Stark's portion; and at the same time arranged to sell two other blocks, respectively, to Lownsdale and Coffin. About a month after this Lownsdale came up to Portland and told his partners of his arrangement with Stark. They refused at once to agree to it, but upon condition that block 81 and the other blocks which had been sold since March 1st, or the time of the agreement between Stark and Lownsdale in San Francisco, be left as it had been agreed by the sales of Chapman, the arrangement was ratified and signed by Couch as attorney for Stark. In June, Stark also came back to Portland and made no objection to the arrangement of April 13th, by which block 81 was secured to Chapman; and he received from Chapman a list of all lots sold out of the part assigned to him north of Stark street.

against all parties but the United States, and that when Stark got a title to this block from the United States it was as in the nature of a trust for Chapman, or his assigns, of whom Starr was the latest at that time. It appeared, therefore, that Chapman gave his deeds to the property in good faith and had never been required to pay anything to Stark, other than that Stark was to be left in peaceable possession of the whole tract north of Stark street, to which Chapman had color of one-third interest. This Chapman gave and Stark received without complaint; the ownership of block 81 being the consideration, or offset, for which Chapman relinquished all claim to that portion of the townsite.

The details of the case, which was thus consummated, are best studied, however, with the second series of cases which arose from the claims of Lownsdale's heirs, to which we now invite the attention of the reader. Indeed, we do not know but that we owe an apolog}- for going minutely into the legal subtleties of these very subtle cases, which Judge Sawyer declared to be sui generis; or like nothing else in the world.

Lownsdale respected all the agreements by which he and his partners were selling town lots, but upon his death his heirs very naturally desired to find out the exact limits of his estate and what were their own rights and interest in it. He left many heirs, most of whom were residents of Indiana, or some other eastern State. These were John R. Lamb, Emma S. Lamb, and Ida Squires, children of Sarah Squires, deceased daughter of D. H. Lownsdale; Marv E. Cooper, J. P. O. Lownsdale, Millard O. Lownsdale and Ruth A. Lownsdale.

They found that D. H. Lownsdale had sold, together with his partners, many lots from the claim to which he was afterwards awarded a title without any reservation by the United States Land Office. They found that he had given no title to such lots connecting with this patent. There appeared nothing upon anv legal record to show that he had given a fee of permanent right and title to any portion of the land which appeared to have been alienated, and they wished to know whether the lots that now appeared to be in the possession of various Portland people were so by legal title, or simply by way of temporary occupancy which ceased as soon as Lownsdale obtained his patent.

The question also naturally arose, First, how could Lownsdale give title for anything more than mere possession to land to which he had no title except of mere possession, as was the case with him before he received a patent in 1852 ? Second, how could a title to Lownsdale for land which he entered in 1852 give any title in the same land, or parts of it, to those who purchased mere possession before that date ? Third, after Lownsdale got a title to the whole claim without any legal reservations, did he not own the whole of it without reservation ? Or by what compulsion could any one obtain from him or his heirs, title to land in every part of which he held a perfect and complete title from the United States, to the exclusion of all others ? Fourth, even supposing that he had made promises to give title to certain lots which he had sold for valuable considerations, when he should get a title himself, was he not prevented, or barred out from doing so, by the clause in the Donation Act providing that affidavit must be made by all who filed upon land under this act that the land claimed "is for their own use and cultivation, and that they have made no sale or transfer, or any arrangement, or any agreement of sale * * * by which the land shall inure to the benefit of any other persons ?' "

In looking over all the facts in the case, it seemed to them and to eminent counsel, that the sales made by Lownsdale before he acquired his legal title were wholly illegal and invalid and without binding force in law, and could extend only to simple temporary possession and use which the purchasers had already enjoyed; and they determined to enter suit to recover all property which was included under the specifications of the patent issued to D. H. Lownsdale by the United States. This would of course, dispossess a large number of Portland's property holders who supposed that they had titles to their land, and in this faith had built upon and improved their property, and were confidently expecting to reap their millions of profit when the great growth of the future should come. The legal possibilities of the case were so great as to attract universal attention and to elicit a multitude of opinions from lawyers and others acquainted with law and judgments. Sympathies of all kinds, this way and that, were excited, and the prospect was that many innocent purchasers would be thrown out of their valuable holdings; for the difficulties in the way of establishing a legal right to the persons then holding lots were confessedh- very great.

It was evident from the start that the courts must proceed in one of two ways - either to stick to the letter of the law and follow a strict and narrow construction, and recognize no title except that conferred by the United States Patent; or else to take a general view of the circumstances and necessities of the case and decide upon the general equities and common understanding of all parties, and to let possession count for all that it was worth.

So far as the heirs of Lownsdale were concerned, it could be very properly claimed for them that they were entitled to all the property and wealth that had been accumulated by him, and that those who had been enjoying the use of his property for so many years without rent or other burden, and for a considerable part of which they had paid but nominal prices, should now be willing to relinquish it to the rightful owners. On the other hand, on the part of the people of Portland, it could be claimed that they had bought these lots with the expectation of permanent possession; that they had cleared them of timber, reduced them to order, built upon them commodious houses, had made for themselves and families permanent homes, and had bv their toil and self-denial at least assisted Lownsdale in creating a metropolis, and by their very living and working here had multiplied the value of Lownsdale's remaining property so that what was left to his heirs was now man}' times as valuable as it would have been if they had not incurred all this effort and expense.

As attorney for the lot-owners Colonel Chapn:an was retained. His legal abilities and acumen were well recognized and he was specially prepared to conduct such a case as this, all the details of which he had known most thoroughly and kept account of most diligently. Dr. Davenport was selected as the one against whom the complainants, or heirs at law, should move, and by whose claims the equities in the case should be determined. District Judge M. P.

Deady, of our city, most readily agreed to the suggestion that Judge Sawyer of the United States Circuit Court should be present from San Francisco, and the case on both sides was conducted with the utmost good spirit and with conspicuous ability, and the final decision of the Court was so careful, cogent and just, as to pass finally without exceptions through the Supreme Court of the United States.

Without following the argument of the lawyers, which was very voluminous, it is possible to give here a brief abstract of the decision itself. It may be premised in a general way that the Court followed a liberal construction, not exactly of the law, as but little law was involved, but rather of the necessities and circumstances of the case. It recognized the validity of the agreements entered into by the proprietors before any United States patents were issued. After giving due attention to the facts in the case. Sawyer's opinion proceeds as follows (First Sawyer, 619) "The decision of this action, I am satisfied, must turn upon the validity, construction, and eifect of the said various contracts aud conveyances * * * ^nd these must be construed in the light of the condition of things existing at the time and with reference to which they were executed.

"It is a matter of public history, of which the Court can take notice, that Oregon was settled while the sovereignty of the country was still in dispute between the United States and Great Britain; that subsequently, a provisional government was organized and put in operation by the people, without any authority of the sovereign powers; that laws were passed temporarily regulating and protecting claims made upon public lands; and that afterwards, the terrritorial government was established under the authority of Congress and put in operation long before there was any law or means by which the real title to any portion of land in Oregon could be obtained. The title to the lands in Oregon were vested in the United States from the moment that the right of sovereignty was acquired, and the first law that was passed, by which the title in fee could in any way be acquired from the government was the said Act of September 10th, 1850, called the Donation Act. Long before that time, however, an organized community had existed; lands had been taken up and improved; towns laid out, established and built up, having a considerable population and a growing commerce. It was necessary, in the nature of things, that some right of property should be recognized in lands, in the dealings of the people among themselves, and laws were adopted by the provisional government regulating the subject. Tracts of land were taken up and claimed by the settlers within the limits, as to quantity allowed; towns laid off, and lands and town lots sold and conveyed from one to another, in all respects as though the parties owned the fee, except that every party dealing with the lands, necessarily knew that he did not, and could not, under the existing laws obtain the fee from the real proprietor. * * *

"But between man and man possession is evidence of title in fee, as against everybody but the true owner. The law protects in his possession the party who has once possessed himself of and appropriated to his use a piece of unoccupied land until he has lost 'his possession and right of possession by abandonment, as against everybody but the true owner. Such possession and right of possession are recognized as property by the common law, and the right is protected and enforced by the Courts. ****** Prior appropriation is the origin of all titles. Prior discovery and an actual or constructive appropriation is the origin of title even in governments themselves. For communities situated like that in the early settlement of Oregon, no rule could be adopted which would better subserve the public interest than to treat prior occupancy as giving a provisional title to lands in reasonable quantities and under proper restrictions, and thereafter, until the real title can be obtained from the Government, deal with it as between individuals in all respects as if the prior occupancy originated and vested a title in fee. This is the natural order of things, and affords a rule of conduct consonant with the ordinary course of dealings, and the common experience of mankind in organized communities."

Proceeding upon this broad basis, the Judge cited the circumstances of the case in hand; the Portland Land Claim was taken up, lots sold, improved and lived upon. The party thus occupying acquired possession as against all but the true owner - the United States. This

"lyownsdale was, on March 30th, 1849, in possession of the six hundred and forty acres, except certain lots already sold. On that day two instruments were executed, each evidently a part of one and the same transaction, between Lownsdale and Coffin, forming a partnership, bv which the legal title was to be vested in Coffin, but to be held in trust for the joint benefit of the two. All profits of sale to be were divided, everj- exertion made to acquire title, each paying half of expenses, and upon dissolution Coffin is to convey one-half to L,ownsdale of whatever he may have under title. In this agreement Lownsdale and Coffin were to own each a half interest in all the six himdred and forty acres, except certain lots already sold to various parties as town property; but every exertion was to be made to gain a title to the whole six hundred and forty acres, not excepting those lots - showing that they claim no further interest in those lots, but were to get title to them for the benefit of those to whom the lots had been sold.

"When, in 1849, Chapman was admitted, the three partners were to have an equal interest in the property, excepting town lots already sold previous to this date as town property; and, in 1852, when the section had to be divided up in severalty, so that the proprietors might obtain a title on their own individual account, as provided by the Donation Act, they make an agreement in which they set forth the fact that they have already obligated themselves to make to their grantees a general warranty deed whenever they, as grantors, shall obtain title from the United States, and bind themselves again to make such deeds to the original grantees, their heirs, assigns, etc. , whenever the)- should get the patents for which they were then taking steps to obtain.

"Whenever a new partner was admitted it was expresslv provided that the lots already sold should be excluded from the use of the partners, but that the title must be got for all. Whence it follows that acquisition of title was for the benefit of the purchasers, and not of the vendors - partners - only."

It was also further held by Judge Sawyer that although Lownsdale only promised to give the deed when he got a title, and was under no compulsion by that promise to get a title, yet nevertheless that when he did proceed to obtain a patent, although voluntarily, he was not thereby relieved of the trust which rested in his promise or co\'enant, but that the trust, having passed from the covenant, now rested in the title, which he procured, and the title thus acquired was in pursuance of the covenant, and therefore for the benefit of the parties designated in the covenant. Moreover, it could not be allowed that Lownsdale was receiving any new valuable consideration frcm the vendees when he agreed to acquire for them a deed for lots previously purchased and paid for, since the only possible value derivable to him from such deed, or promise of it, would be to prevent purchasers going forward to make a claim to their lots in their own name, under the Donation Act, and thus allow him an opportunity to file on the whole claim and get legal title to the whole of it, to the exclusion of the owners or purchasers, of the lots. But that wotild be a presumption of bad faith and fraud, which should not be admitted. The fact that Lownsdale proceeded voluntarily to get title, and not under compulsion of his covenant, or that he received no valuable consideration for procuring this title, would not, therefore, make any difference with the binding nature of his covenant, which was legally fulfilled by the very fact of his obtaining title.

Still further, it was held that the claiise requiring an affidavit of those entering lands under the Donation Act, that such land was for their own use and they had made no contract to sell it, should be decided, or interpreted, in the same liberal spirit. It was held that the law was enacted with a view to the existing state of things, contemplating the fact that many settlers had been living long on their claims, had already sold and bought; and that to confirm sales already made, in the course of business in the past, was no "future contract" such as was contemplated and prohibited by the law. At all events, the clause must be construed so as to work both ways: if it were held to prevent those who had bought land from Lownsdale from holding their lots, it must also be held to prevent Lownsdale from perfecting his title; since it was no more an infraction of the law for them to buy than for Lownsdale to sell. But Lownsdale had been permitted to obtain title, in spite of his former promise to grant titles to purchasers, and upon the validity of his patent must the whole validity of the claim of the plaintiffs be made to rest. But, if his title was valid, in face of his covenant, that covenant was not invalidated by the clause in the Donation Act prohibiting future contracts.