Portland, Oregon - History (part 6 of 18)

There was no product of our valley which met with a greater demand than the Oregon apple. Orchards were exceedingly few, and in 1850 to 1855 the trees were so young that even the total aggregate of the entire Willamette valley was not large. People from the Eastern and Middle States, who had been accustomed to this fruit, and in crossing the plains or sailing around the Horn, or via the Isthmus, when they had been compelled to live upon fried bacon or salt beef, witli little or no fruit or vegetables, were ravenous for the beautiful red or golden apples that grew large and fair in the Oregon rain and sunshine. They were willing, especially if their belts were full of " dust," to give almost their weight in gold for the ponies. A dollar apiece, and even five dollars for a big one, was a regular price in the earliest days. The first shipment was made from the nursery of Luelling & Meek, at Milwaukie, in 1853. This was a consignment of two hundred pounds for the San Francisco market, from which they realized five hundred dollars. In 1854 they sent forty bushels down, making twenty-five hundred dollars by the transaction. About the same time Mr. J. A. Strowbridge, now one of our most substantial citizens, began making collections and consignments, going about from orchard to orchard, and encouraging the farmers to plant trees as rapidly as possible. His returns were large, and the encouragement which he gave the farmers resulted in the extension of the early orchards. In 1855 the export reached fifteen hundred boxes, which sold at fifty cents to a dollar a pound; in 1856, five thousand boxes, selling at twenty-five to fifty cents a pound; in 1857, fifteen thousand boxes, at fifteen cents to fifty cents; in 1858, twenty-nine thousand, one hundred and ninety boxes, at seven cents to thirty-five cents; in 1859, seventy-two thousand boxes, at three cents to twenty-five cents; in 1860, eighty-six thousand boxes, at three cents to nineteen cents. In the winter of 1861, owing to the severity of the season, the orchards suffered a great loss, many of them being completely ruined, so that the exports did not for many years come up to their early productiveness. Even in 1863 we find the exports only forty-two thousand and thirty-one boxes. Yet it is to be noticed that after the discoverv of gold and silver in Eastern Oregon and Idaho, quite considerable shipments were made thither, of which no record is found; and it was becoming customary also to turn the product into dried fruit, which subsequently exceeded in value the shipments of the green. Moreover, as prices fell, the crops were not fully gathered and thousands of bushels were suffered to rot under the trees, or were fed to the cattle and hogs.

About the year 1860, and until 1865, there began a steady change in the character of exports. It was during those years that many of the people of Western Oregon went mining in Eastern Oregon or in Idaho, and as they returned, brought with them large quantities of gold dust; while bars of the precious metals, which had been made in the mining camps or towns of the upper Columbia, began to come down to Portland and were shipped thence as treasure. These shipments soon vastly exceeded in value all other exports combined. Frequently a quarter of a million dollars, and occasionally twice or three times that sum, was sent a\va\- on a single steamer.

are exa(5l, or wholly comprelieiisive, since many shipments were made of which no account was taken, and gold dnst especially was carried off in the pouches of the miners, the quantity of which was altogether unknown). Apples shipped aggregated forty-two thousand and thirty-one boxes; hides, two thousand, three hundred and tweut\- four; wool, two thousand pounds and fifty bales. There were butter, flour, packages of eggs, gunnies of bacon, and live stock in considerable numbers. Of treasure there were nearly three million dollars. In 1864 the shipments of treasure rose to upwards of six million dollars, while other products swelled these export figures by about six hundred thousand dollars. Apples had come up to sixty-one thousand six hundred and sevent\'-eight boxes. The shipment of flour was insignificant compared with that of later days, and that of wheat figured scarcely more, although we find that the bark Almatia took down a hundred tons on one of her trips. We also find a shipment of two hundred barrels of salmon. Although this fish was caught in considerable quantity and prepared by salting for domestic consumption, it figured comparatively nothing in those days before the canneries. Of other exports we find oats, potatoes, turpentine, hoop-poles, lumber, lard, oil, fish, beans, butter and bacon. The characteristic of these early shipments is that of a community of small farmers and housekeepers, who, of afternoons, rainy days and long winter evenings, treasured up betimes the various odds and ends of their domestic and agricultural economies, rather for the sake of a little ready money when they went down to Portland, than as a regular established industry. Even the exports of wheat, flour, lumber and cattle seemed to be the picking up and saving of the odds and ends after the domestic wants had been sujiplied. Theslnpment of treasure was about the onl\- thing that constituted a great industry. To accouiinoJate this commerce, and to meet the wants of travelers, the steamships Oregon, Sierra Nevada, Brother Jonathan, Pacific, George S. Wright and Moses Tavlor were kept in operation. These were old fashioned, side-wheelers, high and wide, and also slow. They are well known among old Oregonians, and the fate of the Brother Jonathan, which was wrecked on the reef near Crescent City, in California, is still remembered with something of the horror that fell upon the isolated communities in Oregon when the news of the great disaster was first received. The George S. Wright also suffered shipwreck, being many years later lost in the northern waters. Of sailing vessels, the barks Industry, Jennie Jones, Cambridge, Jane A. Falkenhurg, Almatia, Samuel Merritt, Helen W. Almy and Panama are named.

In 1863 the value of exports is given as seven million six luindred and six thousand five hundred and twenty-four dollars, the greater portion of which was treasure.

Holladay's California, Oregon and Victoria Steamship Line was running in that year, the Sierra Nevada (1,395 tons) and the Oregon (1,035 tons). The California Steam Navigation Company's line - Hensley - was now operating the Pacific (1,100 tons), and here appears also the new name Orizaba (1,400 tons). These plied to San Francisco. Their rates for transporting horses were twenty-five dollars a head; cattle, twelve dollars; sheep, two dollars and fifty cents; and hogs, four dollars. The slaughtered animals were reduced somewhat; rates for hogs, one dollar and fifty cents; while cattle were still twelve dollars. General merchandise paid ten dollars; wheat, eight dollars, and flour, six dollars per ton. To \'ictoria the steamer Active was run by Captain Thorn.

Sailing vessels to San Francisco were the Jane A. Falkenhurg, 600 tons. Captain A. D. Wass; the H. W. Almy, 600 tons. Captain E. Freeman; the bark Almatia, 700 tons, Capt. Stannard; bark W. B. Scranton, 700 tons, Captain W. Cathcart; bark Samuel Merritt, 550 tons. Captain Joseph Williams, and bark Live Yankee, Captain Wiggins.

The Hawaiian Packet line comprised the bark ,4. A. Eldridge, of 4-00 tons, under Captain :M. Abbott, and the bark Comet, of 700 tons. Of this line, McCraken, Merrill & Co. were agents.

While the lines of commerce were thus maintained to ports outside the State, the internal commerce on our rivers was very active and attained large proportions. The O. S. N. Co., ran steamers to Astoria, to the Cowlitz river, to The Dalles, and the Snake river. To Astoria, the/. H. Couch; to Monacello, a place at the mouth ot the Cowlitz river, which was washed awa)' in the flood of 1866, and has since been called Freeport, the Cowlitz or Rescue; to the Cascades, the New World, Wilson G. Hunt, Cascade or Julia, to connect by means of the portage railway with the Oneonta, Idaho, or Iris. The fare to The Dalles was six dollars; freight, twelve dollars per ton. Connection was made between The Dalles and Celilo, by means of another portage railway, with the Owyhee, Spray, Okanogon, Webfoot, Yakima, Tenino, or Nez Perces Chief, for Umatilla, or the Snake river. Fare to Umatilla was twelve dollars, and freight seventeen dollars and fifty cents. To Lewiston the fare was twenty-two dollars, and freight sixty dollars.

The People's Transportation Company ran between Portland and Oregon City the Senator and Rival, to connect at Canemah with the Reliance or Fannie Patton. For Engene, the Enterprise ran from Canemah.

Some independent steamers, then as now, were moving upon these inland waters, among which were the Alert, for Oregon City, to connect at Canemah with the Active for points above; the Union, plying between Canemah and Lafayette; the Echo, for Eugene; and on the Columbia between Portland and Vancouver, the Fannie Troupe.

The foregoing items foot up $555,457; to which should be added $200,000 for cargoes of which no manifests were made. The shipments of treasure aggregated $8,070,600.

and the bark Ethan Allen, were found in our trade. The .steamship Fideliter, a small, low screw propeller, which alwaj's went with a buzz, and at least preserved the appearance of activit}', took up the route to Victoria. This same year also the dashing and swift steamer Oriflamme, began to ph' on the route to San Francisco.

For 1867 the total export is given as $6,463,793.75. This appears to be more than $2,000,000 less than the preceding year, but this diminution is due to a great decrease in the export of treasure which fell from more than $8,000,000 to about $-i, 000, 000.

Commercial Independence

During this whole period, from about 1845 until 1868 or 1869, the (Oregon merchants, although industrious and active, and carrying on, as we have seen, a considerable volume of business, had been in reality working under the hand of San Francisco dealers. In the firsr part of this time many of them entertained the idea that as Oregon was the region from which the mines of California drew supplies, she must ultimately secure the gold that flowed forth from the depths of the earth. They believed that Oregon would become the head of business, and that her citizens would not only send supplies to California, but also control, to a ver\- large extent, the trade and shipping between the two States. But while this reasoning had much foundation in the natural relation between the two regions, the time was not, however, ripe for its full justiiacation. The out-put of gold in California was so enonnous, so much of it was carried off" at once by the miners, the California business men showed such preternatixral activity, and the agricultural capacities of the Golden State proved to be so great that the greater portion of the capital developed from the mines was held in California and used in building up the great city at the Golden Gate. Oregon products, although always in good demand in California, did not figure by any means as the exclusive supply. The proprietors of Portland, in the loss of the Gold Hunter, found themselves unable to hold the carrying trade, or to control commerce between Portland and California. The Pacific Mail Steamship Compan}- soon controlling this line, found it to their advantage to court the favor of the California money kings rather than that of the Oregon pioneers. In the course of time the steamship lines passed into the hands of CaHfornians exclusively, and the northern trade was looked upon by them as a perquisite of San Francisco.

During all these years, and even up to the present time, the merchants and people of California, partly on account of the money value of this policy and partly out of egotism and profound belief in the superiority of their own section, continually disparaged Oregon and Oregonians. The " Web -Footers " became the butt of all the little jokes that were going upon the streets and in social circles, much as Portlanders, at present, refer to the inhabitants of Tillamook as embodying all that is outlandish and slow in back-woods life. The rivers of Oregon were constantly represented as too shallow and rocky to be fit for navigation, while the mouth of the Columbia river was invested with all of the horrors which had lived over in romance and poetry from the writings of Irving. Merchants and insurance companies either refused to send ships to a place which was scarcely a recognized port, and of which nothing but evil appeared in the commercial papers. Our climate was spoken of as detestable and intolerable to civilized man - as being perpetually gloomy and wet, and, for at least nine months of the year, unfit for out-door occupation. This spirit of humorous jealousy was indeed carried to a most absurd extreme, and, by means of all the exaggeration of wild western fancy, made Oregon, and more particularh' the region of Portland and vicinity, to appear as the fag-end of the American continent, suitable only for the abode of those whose natural inertia and lack of ambition led them to avoid the close competition and high energy of more favored countries - of which California clearly stood at the head. While much of this may be excused as simply humor and vanity on the part of our neighbors, it, nevertheless, worked a real injury to our commerce and to the development of our State.

About the time that railroad communication with the outside world was seriously agitated it began to be seen clearh- by the people of Portland that, in order to build up anything like commerce, they must get themselves upon an independent basis before the world.

If the\- were to bring down to Portland their crops of wheat, aggregating man)- millions of bushels, and worth many millions of dollars, the\- must not follow the policy of shipping all this produce to California, there to be reshipped as the product of that State. Their pride in Oregon was suffering many hard blows from being ignored in commercial circles. They saw by shipping reports that their flour and wheat, which, they fondly believed was the best in the world, all appeared in the markets of the world as from their neighbor State, and went to swell her fame among the nations. Portland was not known in the newsimpers of the east, except perhaps as an insignificent point somewhere on the northern coast. The name Oregon was also carefully sitppressed, and ships bound for Astoria or Portland were simply reported as having cleared for the Columbia river, leaving it uncertain to one whose geographical knowledge was imperfect whether this river was in some northern county of California or in British Columbia. Preparations were made for purchasing goods at New York and importing them to Portland direct, thus saving the expense of port duties at San Francisco, the toll paid to her merchants, and the tariffs of reshipping on the California steamers. The name of the first vessel thus chartered was the Sallv Brown, and her captain, Matthews. She was soon followed by the Hattie C. Besse. There was a sort of "great awakening" on the part of everyone, and the newspapei's exhibited fully the disadvantages of shipping to California. Said The Oregonian: " Now we believe that it can and will be demonstrated to the commercial world that vessels of sufficient capacity to make profitable voA'ages can load on this river. But our interests in this regard have been strangely neglected b\- our people. We have jDreferred to let San Francisco manage matters to suit her own convenience, instead of trying to do anything for ourselves. There is no longer any question about vessels of a larger class being able to cross the bar at the mouth of the river; and, for a long time, as is well known here, vessels large enough for direct trade have no difficulty in reaching Portland. But the impressions which were formed abroad in regard to the Cohimbia river still reniain, which is not strange when we consider the manner in which our trade has been carried on."

"We have fre(iueutlv ur.yed upon our citizeus the importance of establishing a foreifcn commerce and an independent trade for Oregon. Every intelligent man. on first becoming acquainted with the vast natural resources and commercial facilities of Oregon, is struck with astonishment at the apparent want of enterprise exhibited by the business men of this section in the matter of foreign commerce. A few days ago we noticed a sale of flour from the Salem mills at the highest market price; it was quoted in the printed reports as 'California flour.' A gentleman of this city has just shown us a letter from his agent iu New York, advising him of a sale of flour from the mill situated at Jefferson, in Marion county, Oregon, at the highest market rates. That is put down in the commercial report as 'California flour.' Neither the name of Portland nor Oregon is noticed in commercial intelligence. Steamers and sailing vessels loaded for Portland appear in the shipping report as 'cleared for the Columbia.' The imports of foreign goods to San Francisco upon which duties were paid at that port, amounted to $17,987,535.00, for the year 1867. The imports from the eastern .States during the same year were not less than as much more; which would make an aggregate of imports of f35,975,070. Not less than one-third of that entire amount was re-shipped to the Columbia, passing through Portland for a market - sav-, eleven million one hundred and ninety-nine thousand one hundred and seventy-two dollars. The San Francisco commission upon this amount was at least ten per cent. - $1,199, - 927. The freight from San Francisco to Portland upon these goods was not less than f400,000. .Allowing the same amount for commission and return freights, and it will be found that our trade with San Francisco in commission and freights costs $3,198,344. Goods can be shipped directly from New Y'ork and Boston, or from any foreign port to Portland for one dollar a ton more than for San Francisco. B}- direct trade with the east and foreign ports, we have a saving of $700,000 in freights, and 12,398,344 in commissions and charges incident to breaking bulk, re-selling and re-shipping, at San Francisco. During the past two years Portland has paid tribute to ,San Francisco to an amount more than equal to the value of all assessable property. San Francisco has now a population of a hundred and twenty-five thousand. Portland, with a foreign and independent commerce, with the same spirit of enterprise, which has characterized the former city, would now number not less than fifty thousand. This proposition is now mathematically demonstrataWe. The mines naturalh' tributary to Portland are greater in extent and product than those to San Francisco; the agricultural products of Oregon are more certain, and as available as those of California. Our lumber, iron and coal - the three great staples of commerce - together with our manufacturing facilities, are infinitely superior to those of California; we are nearer to the rich commerce of the Indies, and in the direct line of the shortest practicable belt of commerce around the world, when the contemplated railroad systems are completed. With all these superior natural advantages, why do we consent to be a mere dependency? Paying tribute to the amount of onethird of our earnings to a city which constantl}- strives to humble and degrade us ?"

The estimates of the amount Portland was then paying' to San Francisco, as given by the Herald, were probably excessive, but the reasoning presented was sound and weighty, and had a good effect among its constituents, as the like presentations of the Oregonian and other journals upon their readers.

About this time there were others also striving valiantly for release from these restrictions. Among these was Mr. Robert Kinney, who, although not a citizen of Portland, had interests here; and, as the proprietor of large grist mills, was seeking a market for the products of his manufacture. His son, Marshall J. Kinney, at that time his agent in California, found it extremely difficult to charter a ship for crossing the bar independently of the California companies. He was met with all manner of preposterous objections, and he found the prevailing opinions in regard to the Columbia river prejudiced by self-interest, and even dense ignorance. Nevertheless, he succeeded in chartering a bark - the Cutwater - and the cargo shipped on her was among the first, if not the very first, to sail away independently of California.

As the people of Portland became thus moved, measures were introduced in the State Legislature, which convened in the latter part of 1868, to provide relief. Col. W. W. Chapman, still at the front in all matters relating to the prosperity of Portland, undertook the passage of a bill for a tug off the Columbia bar. His first step was to remove the prejudices of the agricultural members, who were naturall)' quite loth to vote money out of the State treasui:)- for the benefit of Portland; but the Colonel was able to show them that, as their groceries, farm machiner>', clothing and other necessaries were taxed heavily by coming through San Francisco, anything to open up direct communication with New York would result in their advantage. In order to prove that there must be some assistance given to shipping, he showed that although there was a depth of twenty-four feet on the Columbia bar at dead low water - which, at the time, was the case - the dangers resulted from lack of uncertainty of winds; and every disaster has been due to such failure. He showed that shippers and ship owners would refuse to dispatch vessels to this port while this embarrassment remained. He recommended that the State give a subsidy for the maintainence of a proper steam tug at the mouth of the river. To show that such subsidy was necessary, he cited the experience of Captain Paul Corno, who had some years before attempted to maintain a tug, but found that the business was not large enough to justify his endeavor. Chapman's recommendations were adopted, a subsidy of thirty thousand dollars was provided - to be furnished under proper restriction and in certain yearly installments - and the rates of pilotage were reduced twentyfive per cent. The tug boat was allowed, when not needed at the bar, to tow vessels to Portland.

Steps were also taken by the merchants of Portland, and by the city as a corporation, to maintain a dredger on the lower Willamette river, and a channel three thousand two hundred feet in length was cut to a depth of fifteen feet at low water, across Swan Island bar, at an expenditure of some twenty-five thousand dollars.

As a result of all these endeavors, a new and steady commerce began to spring up. The Packet line from New York continued regular trips, although, as the transcontinental railways were constructed, the need of them has very largely ceased. The commerce with foreign ports, and particularly with the United Kingdom, has, however, grown steadily from that day to this.

The following table of the exports to San Francisco for 1869 shows the progress of our commerce. It is very incomplete, being much like the others in this regard, as given heretofore:

Of the items above mentioned, it will be noticed that treasure is rapidly decreasing, while flour, wheat and salmon are increasing. Iron appears for the first time in an)- noticeable quantity, and gives proof of the industry established at Oswego. Salmon, as shipped in cases or packages, witnesses the beginning of the great industry about springing up in canning this noble fish. Although salmon were not shipped from Portland exclusively, nor perhaps to a vejv large extent, and although the business of canning was not operated with Portland capital, nevertheless the income from this resource had a decided effect in stimulating business at this point.

In 1870 the commerce to the United Kingdom begins to rise. In that year, in the months from July 1st, 1869, to November, 1870, the exports thither amounted to a value of about $61,000. The following table exhibits the export to San Francisco:

It appears that in the year 1870 no statistics were kept at Portland of exports, and of the above meagre table the Oregonian speaks as follows: "It is but just to this State to say, however, that the above figures do not for either year (1869-70) express the full amount of our shipment to San Francisco, but only such amounts of the various articles as were shipped into the San Francisco market for .sale. It is well known that dttring each year we sent considerable quantities of wheat, flour, salmon, etc., to San Francisco for shipment to Eastern or foreign ports; these were not included in the above table. The very small increase of wheat exports of 1870 above 1869 is accounted for by the fact that in 1869 we shipped but little to foreign countries direct, while in 1870 we exported to foreign countries as much as, or more than, appears in this table. The latest shipment to all destinations would show that our grain and breadstuff's export have increased greatly more in proportion than any other products. It will be seen that exports of .salmon have also increased."

The exports to foreign countries - including China, British Columbia, Sandwich Islands, England, Ireland, Uruguay and Peru aggregated a value of three hundred and seventy-one thousand three hundred and fifty-five dollars - mostlv lumber, flour and fish.

The statistics of 1870 appear incomplete and unsatisfactory - showing negligence on the part of the Portland shippers of that time. The foreign commerce during that period does not seem to have advanced quite so rapidly as was hoped, and the Portland merchants appear to have been somewhat slow to make use of the great advantages open to them by the new order of things. Nevertheless, this was but natural, as the capital was not then in the cit}- to inaugurate a great enterprise, and must be brought in from abroad. The Customs District of Willamette was created and a Custom House established at Portland this year.

This was, moreover, a period of railroad building and excitement, and, consequently, foreign commerce by water was not so rapidly pushed. Still further, the producers of the country, the farmers, lumbermen and stock-raisers, must adapt their industries more directly to commerce, and not consider it a simple addendum to conveniently provide to take care of what they happened to have left over of their domestic industries.

In 1871 foreign exports rise to a value of $692,297. Clearing to foreign ports are found five foreign ships, aggregating three thousand, seven hundred tons, and six foreign barks, two thousand, six hundred tons. Of American steamer clearances to foreign ports, there were twent}'-nine, and six barks and one schooner, aggregating sixteen thousand tons. Imports from foreign countries reached $517,633.

In 1872 we find commerce rising to something like its contemplated proportions. For its purposes, eighteen American steamers and eight barks were employed, with a tonnage of eleven thousand, nine hundred and forty-six; and of foreign vessels, twelve barks and two schooners, aggregating nine thousand, one hundred and fort>- tons.

Imports from England reached a value of $350,980; from British Columbia, $31,294; from Sandwich Islands, $171,332; from Hongkong, $115,338; from other points, $59,831, making a total of $728,825. The large imports from the Sandwich Islands show the value of their trade to Portland, if their products of sugar might be somehow taken away, at least in part, from the San Francisco monopoly.

The wheat shipped to the United Kingdom from August 1st to December 13th reached 209,337 centals, worth $311,166, as against 99,463 centals, worth $257,276 in 1871. There were five vessels engaged in this trade, while iu 1872 there were ten. The value of the grain thus exported did not keep pace with that of the year before, on account of the low price realized. The export to California of flour was 192,500 sacks.

As for coast-wise traffic, there were eighty-two steamers, twenty barks, three brigs, four ships and various schooners, aggregating a hundred and nine thousand, nine hundred and forty-seven tons.

The purely domestic commerce in the Willamette Valley was conducted with the old-time energy, emplo)-ing forty steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of thirteen thousand, seven hundred and ninet)-- one, and twenty-one sailing vessels of \-arious descriptions aggregating two thousand and thirteen tons. The Oregon and California Railway was now in active operation and the Oregon Central had tapped the agricultural portion of Washington county.

In 1873 there appears a great rise in exports. For the fiscal year ending in September the following showing is made: To foreign ports there were employed three steamers, the California, George S. Wright and Gussie Telfair, and thirty-five sailing vessels, for the most part ships or barks of large capacity from England. The exports of wheat to foreign ports was 640,262 centals, valued at $1,055,264; flour, 37,284 barrels, at $158,895, making a total of $1,284,149.

Foreign entrances aggregated a tonnage of nineteen thousand, one hundred and forty-three, and of clearances twenty-three thousand, four hundred and sixty-seven. Of American vessels in foreign trade the entrances were ten thousand, three hundred and two tons, and clearances nineteen thousand, four hundred and forty-four. The imports reached a vahie of $514,343, and exports about $1,600,000. Tliis was all trade with foreign countries.

The aggregate of vessels entering on account of coast wise traffic was 112,100 tons; of clearances, 79,694 tons. The difference noticeable in the entries and clearances is explained for the most part b)- the fact that ships loading at Portland frequently dropped below at Astoria to complete their cargo.

Fro:n the above it will be seen that the total exports both to foreign ports and domestic was about $4,100,000 in value. It will also be noticed that this includes nothing of treasure which figured so largely in early shipments; as b\- this period the business of the country had so far advanced as to be conducted, so far as concerned money, by means of money orders, checks and bills of exchange, so as to obviate the necessity of the transfer of money in a body.

Enlargement

The commerce from this time down to the present has flowed on with steadily increasing volume, and the details need not be so extensively given here as in the preceding pages. It may be noticed that with the coming of Ben Holladay in Oregon, as a railroad princa and capitalist, there was a general increase of energy, and much greater rapidity in despatch and shipments than before. Things took on a livelier air, and assumed more the tone and style of California business. Dash, vim and even recklessness was affected to a greater degxee in all business circles, and especially in commercial ventures. The transference of the lieadquarters of Holladay's ocean steamers from San Francisco to Portland, made also a great difference in the growth of the cit\- and in swelling the streams of trade leading hither.

For 1871 the foreign trade rises to the value of $692,297. There were cleared for foreign ports of foreign vessels, five ships aggregating three thousand seven hundred tons, and two barks of two thousand six hundred tons. The American vessels were twenty-nine steamers and six barks and one schooner, of sixteen thousand tons. The coastwise arrivals aggregated eight>-six thousand four hundred and sixteen tons.

For 1872 the entrances from foreign ports, comprised of American steamers eighteen, and American barks eight, with a tonnage of eleven thousand nine hundred and forty-six. Of foreign vessels, twelve barks and two schooners, nine thousand one hundred and forty. This made the total tonnage for the year, one hundred and thirt)--one thousand and thirty-five.

During these years one notices with interest the stead}' increase in shipment of wheat to the United Kingdom - showing that Portland, as the commercial city of Oregon, was rapidly building up a great foreign trade. In 1871 this was but 99,463 centals, valued at $257,276; while in 1872 the shipments rose to 209,337 centals, valued at $511,166. Flour shipped to California was 192,500 quarter sacks. The total export of wheat was twenty-three thousand eighty-two tons, and of flour fourteen thousand five hundred and fifty-eight tons. Although these figures show a large increase in quantity shipped, the prices realized during this season were so low as to impair somewhat the advantage thus derived.

In the district of the Willamette there were registered this year fort}- steamers, with an aggregate tonnage of thirteen thousand seven hundred and ninety-one tons, and twenty-one sailing vessels of various kinds, two thousand and thirteen tons. This large number of craft on the rivers shows a well sustained inland trade, and that the transportation lines were active in bringing to the sea-board the interior products.

In 1873 Portland experienced the great fire b\- which about a million and a half dollars worth or property were destroyed. This great loss, calling for its repair, all the money that might be raised upon real securities, necessarily withdrew from trade and commerce large sums which would otherwise have been applied to their enlargement. Confidence was for a time somewhat shaken, and the year was less productive than was expected at the beginning; nevertheless, the volume of foreign trade continued to steadily increase as before. For the fiscal year ending in September we find three steamers plying to foreign ports, in British Columbia. These were the California, the George S. Wright and the Gussie Tellfair. The latter of these was looked upon with some interest as the first iron steamship in our waters; and even more as having in her j'ounger and wilder days been a Rebel blockade runner. Besides the steamers there were thirty-five sailing vessels, mostly owned in Great Britain. The total export of wheat amounted to 640,262 centals, valued at $1,055,264; flour, 37,284 barrels, at $158,895; making a total value of wheat and flour export to the United Kingdom, $1,284,149.

Following this year a new impetus to the production of grain was given in the upper Willamette Valley by the opening of the Willamette river to the head of navigation by means of a canal and locks at Oregon City. Steamers were thereby enabled to carry grain from points even as far as Eugene City to Portland without breaking bulk. So soon as the autumn rains - usually in October - swelled the volume of the river, these light crafts began to remove the crops that the farmers hauled from considerable distances to shipping points on the river, and continued the traffic until late in the summer succeeding. The actual proportion of grain thus moved was not so large, but, on account of the competition thus afforded, rates of rail transportation were materially reduced.

The Portland merchants also, both in order to enable vessels of large draft to conveniently load at their wharves, and also to finish their lading beyond a degree of safety for passage down the Willamette river, constructed a number of immense barges to accompany the ships to Astoria, with the residue of their cargoes, or to leave it in store at that port as might ' be needed. This proved, however, to be only necessary as a temporary expedient, since the deepening of the channel between Portland and the ocean renders unnecessary all such expedients. New attention was directed to the safety and facility of passing in and out the Columbia river, and attention was called to the fact that out of more than one thousand arrivals and departures at the bar during the four years preceding but one loss was experienced, and this was due to the fright of the captain, chiefly, who abandoned his ship, to be rescued afterward by a party of salvors. Much railroad agitation was carried on in these years, and all were eager for direct communication with the East. -

A good authority at the time thus speaks of the commercial condition: " In summing up our year's condition, we can say that if it has not been all that the most sanguine expected, it has, never- theless, proved the incorrectness of what grnmblers predicted for it. The sweeping disaster of the great fires of the two preceding years seriously effected nian\- of the sufferers, and the effects of the heavy losses have not yet in some instances been overcome; but, notwithstanding the.se calamities, and a few reverses in trade circles, there have been no failures of large firms or of business suspensions of consequence. The sound commercial basis which underlies our leading houses, their wholesome system of trade, and their positive cautiousness against speculation all combine to provide against disaster and to inspire confidence."

"The bulk of the wheat was exported to the United Kingdom, and also a round aggregate of flour - but the largest proportion of the latter was sent to San Franciso, to New York, to ports in the Pacific, and to China and Japan."

It is reported for this year that nearly two hundred ships were employed in the export trade; but this evidently includes all coast wise craft of every description.

For the year 1875 we find a somewhat low condition - or at least not so flattering as might be expected. From Walling's directory we clip the following: "During the past year, Portland, in common with every other section of the Union, has felt the effect of the stagnation which has had such disastrous effecfts upon the commercial prosperity of the entire cotmtry; but remote as we are from the great centers of commerce, we have been comparatively free from the disastrous conseqiiences which have left their impress upon the business marts of the eastern slope."

As is usually the case in periods of business depression, merchants and others began industriously to invent means of expanding their trade; and soon a hopeful condition of affairs was attained. Work on the West Side railroad, which had been stopped at St. Joe, on the Vainhill ri\cr, was resumed, and the region thus tapped, was brought into more intimate relations with Portland.

Noticing some of the imports we find ten thoitsand bricks from England - evidently brought by way of ballast. Bags, also, were brought from England to the value of $79,086. The trade from China was very largely in rice, a considerable portion of which was for the Chinese consumers in our midst; 731,926 pounds.

From the Sandwich Islands there were imported 160,839 pounds of rice; of sugar, 3,353,552 pounds; of molasses, 1088 gallons. This is evidently before the monopoh- of Spreckles in California.

During 1876 business rapidly revived and the general enthusiasm prevailing throughout the entire United States did much to inspire our merchants with new energy and confidence. More interest was taken in collecting reliable statistics and in showing the world what we were capable of It was found that the exports of Oregon averaged three hundred and eighteen dollars to each man in the State. "With a population of forty thousand men, Oregon's export of wheat equals one-seventh of the total export of the United States."

Eastern Oregon and Washington had now begun to raise wheat in large quantities. W^ool figures as a \'er\- valuable product - the export being for that year 3,125,000 pounds, worth $600,000. The salmon catch was also rising and exports from this source were assuming large proportions. In 1875, 372,000 cases were put up, and in 1876 this was swelled to 480,000 cases. Seventy-two vessels cleared witli cargoes mostly wheat, for European ports. The export of wheat to Europe was 1,824,371 centals, valued at $3,138, - 294. The total export was 1,937,787 centals. The export of flour aggregated 215,714 barrels. The excess of wheat and flour exports for 1876, over 1875, reached a value of $794,857.

In the record of shipments to San Francisco, it is noticeable that apples are coming up to their former figure, being 41,523 boxes of the fresh fruit, and 6,363 packages of the dry; 22,671 sacks of potatoes and 176,939 bushels of oats were also shipped, but the bulk of our shipments thither for that year consisted of 290,076 cases of canned salmon, showing that almost from the first our cannerymen looked for sale of their goods in California. If it had been possible to carry on the salmon business on a purely independent basis before the world, and make Portland, the city nearest the greatest production of this article, the emporium, it is believed that many disasters and difficulties which overtook this business might have been avoided.

As another sign of increase and advance toward commercial supremacy was the change noticeable at this time, by which the country merchants and the jobbers and dealers in small towns began to look to Portland as the base of their supplies.

During 1877 loud calls were heard from the people of Portland for direct railroad communication with the East, and strenuous exertions were made for the building of a road from Portland via The Dalles to Salt Lake. Much of this eagerness for independent rail lines was developed by the fact that in California many emigrants starting overland for Oregon were turned back by the representations of agents of the California Emigration Boards, and the Oregoniaus found their growth in population much retarded thereby.

The total value of exports from the Columbia river in 1876 was estimated at $11,825,087; in 1877 at $16,086,897. Seveuty-eight ships and barks were engaged in carrying to foreign ports 2,341,210 centals of wheat, worth $4,954,475. Upon five vessels there were .shipped 59,389 barrels of flour, wortii $355,690.

We venture to insert here one more table of exports to San Francisco, which the induloent reader nia>- omit in readinc^ unless for purposes of reference and comparison:

The following table is also attended as giving; the comparative shipments and values of wheat, including flour reduced to wheat, for the years 1874-75-76-77:

During the year 1878, however, there were exceedingh- livehtimes between Portland and San Francisco on account of the competition between several steamship companies for the trade. In opposition to the Oregon Steamship Compan\-, the old Pacific Mail steamers of large size, the Orizaba and the John L. Stephens were run. Also the Great Republic^ the largest \essel ever afloat in our waters, carried things with a high hand, sometimes transporting as many as a thousand passengers at a single trip.

In 1879 the total number of steam craft of the Willamette District (Portland) was sixty, with a tonnage of 27,597. Of these the G. W. Elder and the Oregon, belonging to the Oregon Steamship Company, iron ships, built at Chester, were the finest and most conspicuous.

The wheat export required the services of seventy vessels, and nineteen vessels were also engao;ed, either wholly or in part, for flour. The wheat reached 1,932,080 centals, worth $3,611,240; flour, 209,098 barrels, valued at $1,143,530. The total value of wheat and flour shipped both to domestic and foreign ports was $5,345,- 400.

For 1881 the value of wheat was $1,845,537, or, 1,766,515 bushels. For 1881 the shipments of lumber from Portland were considerable, although until this time the Portland mills were for the most part occupied in cutting for local trade, and to supply surrounding and interior points. The tliree principal mills at Portland cutting for this year were the Portland Lumbering and Manufacturing Co., 6,200,000 feet; Smith's mill, 5,000,000; Wiedler's, about 50,000,000.

During this vear greater interest than heretofore had been taken by Portland capitalists in exploring and opening coal and other mines that were naturally tributary to her; and a number of enegetic men in this city formed an organization to encourage the growth of fruit in the contiguous .sections and open a market to the east and up and down the coast. The salmon catch on the Columbia reached 550,000 cases.

The years of 1880-1 were marked by the great business activity resulting from the construction of the Oregon Railway and Naviga- tion Compan\'s lines, the se(?tion from The Dalles to Walla Walla, to the Blue Mountains and to Texas Ferry, then building. The Northern Pacific railroad was running trains from Kalama to Tacoma and constructing the se<flion of their road northeast of Ainsworth fifty-seven miles. The value of imports for this year are given as $486,208.

The following statement will show the state of business during 1882: "Prosperitv of business has been unparalleled. The commerce of the city has been constantly increasing during the past year. The tonnage of ocean steamers arriving at this port shows an increase of more than double the records of any previous year, man\' first-class steamships from foreign countries having made exceptionalh' prosperous voyages to and from Portland. Our regular ships plying hence to San Francisco have been constantly improving in character and increasing in number until the Portland line has become the busiest, most reliable and most profitable marine traffic from the city of San Francisco. The number of passengers carried on this line amounts to 5000 or more every month, and freights average 40,000 tons. The 'deep sea crafts' which visit our river prove the ignorance or malice of those who would represent entrance and navigation of the Columbia and the Willamette as perilous or impossible. There are now lying at our docks vessels which will load to twenty-two feet drafts before slipping their hawsers, and make the open sea without danger or delay."

The Willamette river was much improved, and agitation for the improvement of the Columbia bar was begun. The following excerpt shows the general spirit prevailing at the time: "Every unprejudiced observer of this vigor and of Portland's relation to the surrounding country says 'Portland ought to do the business of Oregon, Washington and Northern Idaho.' The completion of an unbroken line having five hundred miles of railroad eastward, with Portland as its great tenninal point, marks an era in our history which will only be eclipsed b}- the present }'ear. ' '

The year 1883 fully realized all the hopes that were raised by the coiistru(?lioii of the O. R. & N. Company's lines. Portland took long strides towards the pre-eminence naturally assured her by right of position. " It used to be said that three-fourths of our interior trade passed Portland, and was supplied by San Francisco. The past year has changed this condition of tilings so materially that ])ossibh' the conditions are reversed."

" During the year the ocean commerce of Portland seems to ha\'e somewhat diminished, but tliis is most natural, considering the vast amount of tonnage which the railroads have displaced by more rapid transportation. The cit\- has during the year maintained its own powerful dredgers for the purpose of increasing the depth of channel in the Willamette, and less trouble than heretofore has been experienced in bringing ships to Portland. The latter months of 1883 found a greater number of ships in her harbor than one ever .saw here at once, fort\- such \essels being at dock at one time in November."

It was in 1883 that the U. R. & X. Company's lines were finislied and the main line of the Northern Pacific was pushed to a junction with its eastern section.

In 1884, however, a great business collapse resulted from tlie uniisual expansion of the preceding months, and the year was rather disastrous. The Oregon and Transcontinental stocks dropped to a minimum. Villard failed, and many Portland stockholders were greatlv crippled. Fictitious values had to be brouglit down to a substantial basis. Cessation of railroad construction, discontinuance of disbursements, and the fact that the railroad now coming into operation began to absorb tlie flowing moue\- in the country, all tended to create a stringency. Prices of wheat fell low, and produ6lions therefore realized but poorh-; and during the holidays in Portland the whole city was blockaded by an unprecedented storm of snow and ice, so that the somewhat unusual preparations of Portland merchants failed to realize their object. The time of this storm was, however, reckoned as about the lowest ebb of business, and with the advance of winter and the opening of the following season began a "general rise. The main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad having been completed, brou_sjht in iiniiii.i^ration from the East. The (J. R. & N. Company pushed their line to a junction with the ITuion Pacific, and formed a net-work of lines in the valley of the Columbia. The Oreo'on and California road was continued to Ashland, and the Oregon Pacific was finished from Corvallis to Yaquina bay. The section of the Northern Pacific from Portland to a point on the Columbia river opposite Kalama was also built.

The wholesale trade diminished, owing to the cessation of railroad construction, but, as an offset, country merchants found that they could do better at Portland than at the P^ast.

The shipment of wool aggregated 11,558,427 pounds, worth $1,637,936. The value of all exports reached $14,280,670, being $2,347,819 over the exports of the preceding year. The greatest crop of grain hitherto raised in the Northwest was har\-ested this year.

It may be noticed in relation to the foregoing statistics that they are to a large extent incomplete, nor always correct so far as given; but they are the best to be obtained, and it is believed that the natural tendenc}- to exaggeration is largely offset by the difficulty, or even impossibilit}-, of finding a record of all products and exports. Indeed, for the purposes of this work it is not necessan,- that they should absolutely be impregnable, yet they are probably fully as reliable as those tabulated for other cities or other lines of industry. In some departments, such as salmon, wool, and to some extent in wheat and flour, the product of near or surrounding points has been undoubtedly tabulated with that of Portland; and m the case of wheat and flour considerable shipments have been made by rail to Tacoma for lading on foreign vessels. But this feature has now been obviated by the new pilotage laws so that port charges and towage on the rivers do not increase expenses of loading at Portland to a point above that at ports on Puget Sound. The facts given above show substantially the volume of business done by Portland, or by Portland capitalists.

From the preceding pages it will be noticed how Portland has weathered all the storms of opposition from the earliest days, and has advanced to and continued to hold the position as emporium of the Pacific Northwest. In the primitive times she proved the superiority of her position over points on the lower Willamette for lading and unlading. Having securely gained this pre-eminence she proceeded during the second era to emancipate herself from the commercial tyranny of San Francisco, and during the third to build up an independent commerce with the world. Since 1868 she has stood before the nations as an autonomous power in commercial affairs, acting without fear or favor, and pressing her activities on the simple basis of the advantages that she passessed and the facilities which she could give. She boldly entered upon the construction of railroad lines, calling in capital from California, from the East and from Europe, and thereby made a practical test of what she was able to do. If, by virtue of position and business activity, she should prove inferior to other points, these raili'oads would necessarily withdraw from her, her capital and population leaving her stranded upon the shoals of bankruptcy. But if, on the other hand, her position and business enterprise enabled her to serve the entire surrounding region, these lines of transportation would give her still greater advantages. Amid all vicissitudes - ^social, commercial and political - incident upon construction of railroads, Portland steadily held her own; and, now that these lines are completed and in operation, finds her wealth and population increased four or five fold. She finds herself more secure than ever as the emporium and business center of the Pacific Northwest. Her present position is that accorded to her by natxire, as the point of exchange between domestic productions and foreign imports, the point of supply for interior towns and country places, and the general depot for the stores that must somewhere be held in readiness for the use of the people.

and sell wheat; their wool, fruit, ores, liiniber, hsh, coal, iron, cattle and other domestic productions all fig^ure in her lists as passing through her for market.

This work being chiefly historical need not here be burdened with further details of commerce. It is confidently believed, however, that the exports of 1889 will reach a greater value than for any preceding year. These will, of course, be of the same character so far as quality or kind is concerned, as of years before. They, will be drawn from the entire circle of \-alleys and mountains from the California and Montana borders.

It will not be necessary to insert here a disquisition upon the commercial needs of Portland, nevertheless the reader will naturally think of the steps that must be taken to make Portland complete as an emporium. First of all, it remains to perfect that confidence between Portland and the agricultural communities which will induce them to rely upon her merchants. Portland must reach such friendly terms with the farmers and graziers that her business men may never with any semblance of propriety' be called ' 'Shylocks. ' ' Our merchants must seek rather the enlargement of their sales than a large per cent, upon each one, knowing that a profit of even one per cent, on a hundred dollars, or orders worth a hundred dollars, is better than that of three per cent, on but twenty dollars; and the small merchants and dealers of the country must be encouraged to feel that they are n:ade to share with Portland the advantages which result from her superior natural position.

For another thing the people of Portland must learn to regard the whole Northwest as in a measure their "farm." That is, they must feel the same interest in improving and developing the fields, forests and mines of all this region that the energetic farmer feels in making his own acres productive. Every effort must be put forth to bringwild lands in cultivation, to increase the area of orchards and the number of flocks and herds, and, if possible, to render substantial assistance to settlers who find the difficulties of pioneer life too great to be overcome. In some sections capitalists have greatly increased the productions of the soil, and enhanced values by selling land for an interest in the crop for a term of years until the purchase price

For the most part the business men of Portland will find it to their greatest advantage to encourage those kinds of industry and occupation as lead to the settlement of the country and to the introduction of families. It is to be noticed that great as has been the volume of money turned over by the salmon canning business of the country, but comparatively little real advantage has accrued to the State. The business itself has been grossly overdone, the supply of fish well nigh exhausted, and for a large part at least, but an idle, transitory and turbulent element of laborers attracted hither. In like manner the immense lumbering business of Puget Sound and the lower Columbia has brought no benefit proportionate to the amount of capital employed and the money made. E.xhausted forests and too frequently dissatisfied and demoralized communities have followed in the path of the ax aud saw. A lesson also may be gathered from the great plains of Te.xas and Dakota, where the cattle and wheat business are cultivated by a class of capitalists who are themselves in New York or in London, and delegate to agents the management of their immense herds and fields. A band of cow-boys, or a camp of plow-men and harvesters, for a few months in the year are the only inhabitants of plains and meadows that might well support thousands of families. B}' such management the utmost extravagance of methods is engendered. Pastures are eaten out, soils exhausted, and the countr}' left in a condition inviting the English or Irish system of landlordism. Portland wants nothing of this. She should consider that it is a State filled with families, with a multitude of rural towns, and with prodxictive manufactories, that makes demand for the immense imports which she is to store and to distribute, and which provides the immense exports to be exchanged for the imports. For this reason she will principally encourage such industries as fruit raising, dairying, sheep and stock raising by small farmers on small farms; the raising of poultry and the labor of small manufactories, and of persons in rural communities.

It remains also to open up the water ways, to complete the natural entrance at the mouth of the Columbia river, and to unlock the gates of the Columbia to the whole interior.

By such liberal policy, by breadth of plan and outlook, by exercise of a spirit of fraternity and accommodation, Portland will maintain her ascendancy. The conditions out of which monopolies and oppressive combinations arise will be prevented. Although expecting to run a hard race with San Francisco and e\en some Eastern city as Chicago, and with some local rivals for control of the business in certain portions of her field, she need have no fear of the result.

Locally, there is room here for great lumber yards, cattle )-ards, fruit canning establishments, cold storage houses and depots of supply for the merchant marine, for the fishing stations of Alaska, and for the mines of the upper Columbia. Tliese will come in time.

Oregon Pioneer Ship builders and River Navigators - Col. Nesmith's .\ccount of Early Navigation on the Columbia and Willamette - Judge Strong's Review of the Growth and Development of Oregon Steamship Companies - Names and Character of Early Steamships and the Men who ran them - List of the Steamers Built by the Peoples' Transportation, Oregon Steamship Navigation and Oregon Railway and Navigation Companies - Independent Vessels and Their Owners,

IN approaching this subject one finds that, as in all other lines, Portland has gradually become the center of all the navigation companies of Oregon. To indicate the sources of her present facilities it will therefore be proper to mention the efforts made in other places in our State which ultiniated upon Portland. This can be done in no manner so satisfactorily as by inserting here two extracts; one of them being from a speech of Senator J. W. Nesmith, and the other from Hon. Wm. Strong, before the Oregon Pioneer Association.

The former is a rac}- narrati\-e of the ver\' earliest efforts at navigation ; and the latter shows the origin of our steamboat companies. Both the men named were personally cognizant of the facts in the case. Says Nesmith:

It is mv purpose to speak brieflj- of the inception of our external and internal commerce, as inaugurated by the efforts of the e.arly pioneers.

Forty years ago the few American citizens in Oregon were isolated from the outside world. Some adventurous and enterprising persons conceived the idea of a vessel of a capacity to cross the Columbia river bar and navigate the ocean. Those persons were mostly old Rocky Mountain beaver trappers, and sailors who had drifted like waifs to the Willamette Valley. Their names were Joseph Gale, John Canan, Ralph Kilbourn, Pleasant Armstrong, Henrj- Woods, George Davis and Jacob Green. Felix Hathaway was employed as master ship carpenter, and Thomas Hubbard and J. L Parrish did the blacksmith work. In the latter part of 184-0, there was laid the keel of the schooner Star of Oregon, upon the east side of Swan Island, near the junction of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. The representativesof the Hudson's Ba}' Co. either dreading commercial competition, or doubtful about their pay, at first refused to furnish any supplies. But through the earnest representation of Commodore Wilkes - then here in command of the American exploring squadron, who offered to become responsible for the payment - Dr. M'Loughlin furnished all such necessar)- articles as were in store at Vancouver. (According to another account current among old pioneers, the boat builders feigned to be persuaded by M'Loughlin to give up their plan, and go to raising wheat for him. He supplied them with ropes, nails, bagging, etc., etc., such as was necessary for agriculture, and was greatly astonished when in passing the island he saw his farmers industriously building the craft which he had attempted to inhibit, expressing his vexation in the words, "Curse these Americans; they always do get ahead of us.") On the 19th day of May, 1841, the schooner was launched. She had only been planked up to the water ways, and in that condition was worked up to the falls of the Willamette. Owing to the destitution of means and the scarcity of provisions, the enterprising ship builders were compelled to suspend work upon their vessel until Ma}-, 1842. On the 25th of .\ugust the vessel was completed, and the crew went on board at the falls. They consisted of the following named persons: Joseph Gale, captain; John Canan, Pleasant .Armstrong, Ralph Kilbourn, Jacob Green and one Indian boy ten years old. There was but one passenger, a Mr. Piffenhauser. Capt. Wilkes furnished them with an anchor, hawser, nautical instruments, a flag and a clearance. On the 12th of September, 1842, she crossed the bar of the Columbia, coming very near being wrecked in the breakers, and took latitude and departure from Cape Disappointment j ust as the sun touched the western horizon.

That night there arose a terrific storm, which lasted thirty-six hours, during which Captain Gale, who was the only experienced seaman on board, never left the helm. The little Star behaved beautifully in the storm, and after a voyage of five days anchored in the foreign port of Verba Bueua, as San Francisco was then called.

The Star was 48 feet eight inches on the keel, 53 feet eight inches over all, with ten feet and nine inches in the widest part, and drew in good ballast trim four feet and six inches of water. Her frame was of swauip white oak, her knees of seasoned red fir roots; her beam and- castings of red fir. She was clinker built, and of the Baltimore clipper model. She was planked with clear cedar, dressed to 1 '4 inches, which was spiked to every rib with a wrought iron spike half an inch square, and clinched on the inside. The deck was double; and she was what is known as a fore and aft schooner, having no top sails, but simply fore and main sails, jib and flying jib. She was painted black, with a small white ribbon running from stem to stern, and was one of the handsomest little crafts that ever sat upon the water. Capt. Gale and the crew, who were the owners of the Star, sold her at the bay of San p'rancisco in the fall of 1842 to a French captain named Josa Lamonton, who had recently wrecked his vessel. The price was 350 cows.

Shortly after Captain Gale arrived in San Francisco, the captains of several vessels then in the harbor came on board his schooner, and when passing around the stern read Star of Oregon, he heard them swear that there was no such port in the world.

Gale and his crew remained in California all winter, and in the spring of 1843 started to Oregon with a party of forty -two men, who brought with them an aggregate of 1250 head of cattle, 600 head of mares, colts, horses and mules, and 3000 sheep. They were seventy-five days in reaching the Willamette Valley. On their arrival with their herds the monopoly in stock cattle came to an end in Oregon.

Captain Joseph Gale, the master spirit of the enterprise, was born, I believe, in the District of Columbia, and in his younger days followed the sea, where he obtained a good knowledge of navigation and seamanship. Captain Wilkes, before he would give him his papers, examined him satisfactorily upon these subjects. Abandoning the sea he found his way to the Rocky Mountains, and was for several years a trapper. I knew him well and lived with him in the winter of 1843-4, and often listened to his thrilling adventures of the sea and land. He then had the American flag that Wilkes gave him, and made a sort of canopy of it, under which he slept. No saint was ever more devoted to his shrine than was Gale to that dear old flag.

In the suthmer of 1844, Aaron Cook, a bluff old Englishman, .strongly imbued with American sentiments, conceived the idea of building a schooner to supercede the Indian canoes then doing the carrying trade on the Columbia and Willamette rivers. Cook employed Edwin W. and JI. B. Otie and myself as the carpenters to construct the craft. We built her in a cove or recess of the rocks just in front of Frank Ennotinger's house, near the upper end of Oregon City.

None of us had au3' knowledge of ship-building, but by dint of perseverance we constructed a schooner of about thirty-five tons burthen. She was called the Calipooiah. Jack Warner did the caidking, payin.g and rigging. Warner was a young Scotchman with a good education, which he never turned to any practical account. He ran awav from school in the "Land o' Cakes" and took to the sea, where he picked up a good deal of knowledge pertaining to the sailors' craft. I recollect one day when Jack, with a kettle of hot pitch and a long-handled swab, was pitching the hull of the Calipooiah. he was accosted by an "uncouth Missourian," who had evidently never seen anj-thing of the kind before, with an inquir\- as to his occupation. Jack responded in broad Scotch: "I am a landscape painter l)y profession, and am doing a wee bit of adornment for Capt. Cook's schooner."

In the month of August, 1844, we had launched and finished the Calipooiah and went on a pleasure excursion to the mouth of the Columbia. The crew and passengers consisted of Captain Aaron Cook, Jack Warner, Jack Campbell, Rev. A. F. Waller and family, W. H. Gray and wife, A. K. Wilson, Robert Shortess, W. W. Raymond, K. W. Otie, M. B. Otie and J. W. Xesmith. There might have been others on board; if so, their names have escaped nie. The after portion had a small cabin, which was given up for the accommodation of the ladies aud children- Forward was a box filled with earth, upon which a fire was made for cooking purposes. We had our own blankets and slept upon the deck. The weather was delightful, and we listlessly drifted down the Willamette and Columbia rivers, sometimes aided b\- the wind. Portland was then a solitude like an}' other part of the forest-clad bank. There were then no revenue officers here under pretense of "protecting" .\mericau in .ustries, and no custom house boat boarded us.

In four days we reached -\storia, or Fort George, as the single old shanty on the place, in charge of an old .Scotchman, was called. The river was full of fish, and the shores abounded in game. We had our rifles along, and subsisted upon wild delicacies. There were then numerous large Indian villages along the margin of the river, and the canoes of the natives were rarel\- out of sight. The Indians often came on board to dispose of salmon ; their price was a bullet and a charge of powder for a fish.

The graud old river existed then in its natural state, as Lewis and Clark found it forty years before. I believe that there was but one -American settler's cabin on the banks of the Columbia from its source to the ocean. That was on the south side of the river, aud belonged to Henry Hunt and Ben Wood, who were building a saw-mill at that point.

On an Island near Cathlamet some of us went ashore to visit a laige Indian village, where the natives lived in large and comparatively comfortable houses. They showed us some articles which they said were presented to them by Lewis and Clarke, among which were a faded cotton handkerchief and a small mirror, about two inches square, in a small tin case. The corners of the case were worn off and the sides worn through bv nmch handling. The Indians seemed to regard the articles with great veneration, and would not di.spose of them to us for any price we were able to oflFer.

The only vessel we saw in the river was Her Majesty's sloop-of-war Modeste, of eighteen guns, under command of Capt. Thomas Bailie. We passed her in a long nich in the river, as she lay at anchor. We had a spanking breeze, and, with all our sail set and the .American flag flying at our mast-head, we proudh- ran close under her broadside. .\ long line of officers and sailors looked down over the hammocks and from the quarter-deck at our unpainted and primitive craft in apparently as much astonishment as if we were the Flying Dutchman or some other phantom ship from the moon to plant the Stars and Stripes Upon the neutral waters of the Columbia."

The steamer Elizn Anderson, launched November 27, 1858, was entirely built at Portland, of Oregon fir timber, and at this date, July, 1889, is running on Puget Sound with most of her original timber as apparently sound as the dav it was put in her.

Judge Strong, at one time attorney of the old O. S. N. Company, succinctly begins his narrative at the annual meeting of the Pioneer Association in 1878 by stating what he found upon reaching the Columbia:

Astoria at that time was a small place, or rather two places, the upper and lower town, between which there was great rivalry. They were about a mile apart, with no road connecting them except by water and along the beach. The upper town was known to the people of lower Astoria as " Adairville." The lower town was designated by its rival as "Old Fort George," or " McClure's Astoria." A road between the two places would have weakened the differences of both, isolation being the protection of either. In the upper town was the custom house, in the lower two companies of the First U. ,S. Engineers, under conmiand of Major J. S. Hathaway. There were not, excepting the military and those attached to them, and the custom house officials, to the best of my recollection, to exceed twenty-five men in both towns.

At the time of our arrival in the country there was considerable commerce carried on, principally in sailing vessels, between the Columbia river and San Francisco. The exports were chiefly lumber ; the imports generally merchandise.

The Pacific Mail steamer Caroline had made a trip in the month of May or June, 1850, bringing up furniture for the Grand Hotel at Pacific City, and as passengers. Dr. Elijah White, Judge Alonzo Skinner, J. D. Holman and others, who were the founders and proprietors of the city. Some of the proprietors still live, but the city has been long since buried and the place where it stood has returned to the primeval forest from which it w^as taken. The Mail Company's steamers Oregon and Panama had each made one trip to the river that summer, but regular mail service by steamer from San Francisco was not established until the arrival of the steamer Columbia in the winter or spring of 1850-51. The usual length of time of receiving letters from the States was from six weeks to two months. It took, however, three months to send and get an answer from an interior State, and postage on a single letter was forty cents. After the arrival of the Columbia, the\' came with great regularity once a month, and a year or two afterwards semi-monthly.

In 1852 the railroad across the Isthmus was completed, thus greatly improving that route. A route had been established across Nicaragua, which for a time was quite popular, but was finally abandoned on account of internal disturbances in the country, in part, and in part on account of competition and increased facilities upon the Isthmus route. The date when the Nicaragua route commenced to be used and was discontinued I am not able at this time to give. The price of passage bj' the Isthnms route, before their oppositton, was from |200 to f250, which included only a limited amount of baggage. I'reights were extraordinarily high, amounting to a prohibition upon all excepting merchandise.

Ill 1837 the Overland Stage Company was organized and commenced carrying the letter mail between fSt. Joe, Missouri, and Placerville, California, under a contract with the Postmaster General, under an act of Congress, approved March 3d, 1857. The act authorized a semi-monthly, weekly, or semi-weeklj* service, at a cost per annum not exceeding $300,000 for semi-monthly, $450,000 for weekly, and $600,000 for semi-weekly service - the mail to be carried iu good four-horse coaches or spring wagons, suitable for passengers, through in twenty-five days. The original contract was for six years, but was extended, and the line run until the railroad was completed in 1869. After the route was opened, twenty-two days was the schedule time. The stages run full both ways, fare $250. The starting and arrival of the stages were great events at both ends of the line. A pony expre.-;s from San Francisco to St. Joe was started in 1859, and run about a year and a half. It made the trip in ten days.

The first river steamboat in Oregon was the Columbia, built by General Adair, Captain Dan Frost and others, at Upper Astoria in 1850. She was a side-wheel boat, ninety feet in length, of about seventy-five tons burthen, capable of accommodating not to exceed twenty passengers, though I have known of her carrying on one trip over one hundred. Though small, her cost exceeded f25,000. Mechanics engaged iu her construction were paid at the rate of sixteen dollars per day, and other laborers five to eight dollars, gold. She made her first trip in June, 1850, under the command of Capt. F'ros; McDemiott, engineer. It generally took about twenty-four hours to make the trip. She tied up nights and in foggy weather. Fare was twenty-five dollars each way. She was an independent little craft, and not remarkably accommodating, utterly ignoring Lower Astoria, All freight and passengers must come on board at the upper town. She ran for a year or two, when her machinerv was taken out and put into the Fashion. Her hull afterwards floated out to sea.

The Lot Wbitcowb, also a side-wheeler, was the next. She was built at Milwaukie, then one of the most lively and promising towns in t)regon, by Lot Whitcomb, Col. Jennings, S. S. AVhite and others and launched on Christmas Dav, 1850. That was a great day iu Oregon. Hundreds from all parts of the Territorj- came to witness the launch. The festivities were kept up for three days and nights. There was music instrumental - at least, I heard several fiddles - and vocal, dancing and feasting. The whole city was full of good cheer; every house was open and all was free of charge - no one would receive pa)-. Sleeping accommodations were rather scarce, but there was plenty to keep one awake.

The Lot Whitcomh had a fine model, a powerful engine, and was staunch and fast. Her keel was 12x14 inches, 160 feet loug, a solid stick of Oregon fir. Her burden was 600 tons, had a 17-inch cylinder, 7-feet stroke and cost about f 80, 000. She proved a safe and comfortable boat. Fare upon her was reduced to $la between Portland and Astoria. She ran upon Oregon waters until the latter part of 1853, when she was taken to San Francisco and ran for some years on the Sacramento. Captain John C. Ainsworth took command. This was his first steamboating in Oregon. Jacob Kamm was her engineer. Captain .-\insworth was from Iowa, where he had been engaged in steamboating on the Mississippi between St. Louis and Galena about five years. He was a young man about twenty-eight years of age when he commenced in Oregon, and had nothing to begin with but the ordinary capital of an Oregon pioneer - a sound head, a brave heart, willing hands, energy- and fidelity to trust. I have known him through his whole career in Oregon. The fortune and position he has acquired are not the result of accident or chance, but have been secured by industry, integrity, ability, hard labor and prudence. Such fortune and such position come to all who work as hard, as long and well as Captain Ainsworth.

Jacob Kamm, the engineer, was the right man in the right place on such a boat, under such a captain. He proved himself skillful and prudent; no accident ever occurred through his want of skill and care during the long period in which he ran as engineer on Oregon steamboats. The fortune he has acquired has been built up bv hard labor, increased and preserved by skill and prudence.

The Pacific Mail Steamship Company, a New York corporation which had the mail contract Ijetween Panama and Oregon, brought out a large iron steamer called the Willamette. She was built for the company at Wilmington, Delaware, and brought around Cape Horn under sail as a three masted schooner, arriving in the fall (if 1S51. She was soon fitted up and commenced running, under Captain Durbrow. Ijetween Portland and Astoria in connection with the company's sea steamer. She was an elegant boat in all her appointments, had fine accommodation for passengers, and great freight capacity. In fact, she was altogether too large for the trade, and in .\ugust, 1852, her owners took her to California and ran her on the Sacramento. One good thing she did, she put fare down to 810. I'are on this route went down slowly; first |26, then j!15, then |10, then 18, and then J3; it is now f2. It is only within a few that the passenger trade on the lower Columbia has been of any considerable value, or would support a single weekly steamboat. It has now become of more importance.

Navigation upon the Willamette above the falls at Oregon City by .steamboats was opened by tl'.e Hoosier, built at Oregon City below the falls and taken up early in 1851. She ran between Cauemah and Dayton on the Yamhill.

Earlv in 1851 .'Vbernethv & Co's barque, the Success, from New York, arrived at Oregon Citv with a general cargo of merchandise and three steamboats; two of them were small iron propellers, and the third, the Multnomah, was a side-wheel boat built of wood. The Eagle was very little larger than an ordinary ship's yawl-boat. She was owned and run between Portland and Oregon City by Captains William Wells and Richard Williams, Wells was captain, Williams was mate, fireman and all hands; when Captain Dick took the wheel, Wells became the crew. She carried freight for fl5 per ton, passengers $5 each. Pretty good pay for a twelve mile route. She made more money according to her size than any boat in Oregon. Out of her earnings the owners Ijuilt the iron steamboat Belle, and made themselves ])rincipal owners in the Senorita - two, for that day, fir.st-class steamboats. The Washington was somewhat larger, owned by Alexander S. Murray, who commanded her. He took the boat up above the falls in June, 1851, run her there until the fall or winter of 1851-2, when he brought her down and run her between Portland and Oregon Cit)- until the spring of 1853, when she was again taken above the falls, where she ran until July of the same year, when her owners there, .\llan McKinley & Co., brought her below and sent her under steam around to the Umpqua river. She arrived there in safety, crossing the bars of both rivers, and ended her days there in the .service of her owners. .She was known after her sea voyage as the "Bully Washington." The (inly money ever made out of her was made by her first owner, Capt. Murray. He wlis a sharp Scotchman, came from .\ustralia here and returned there when he left Oregon. He is said to lie the father of internal navigation in .\ustralia. He made nnniey. and when I last heard of him was engaged in the navigation of Murray's river, which empties into the ocean at .Adelaide.

The uext and most famous of the steamers that were brought out after the Svccess was the Multnomah . She came in sections, and was set up at Canemah by two or three army or navy officers of the United States, who had brought her out, Doctors Graj- and Maxwell and Captain Binicle; was built of oak staves two inches in thickness and of the width and length of ordinary boat plank, bound with hoops made of bar iron, keyed up on the gunwales; was 100 feet in length, with good machinery, and like her principal owner. Dr. Gray, fastidiously nice in all her appointments. She had no timbers except her deck beams and the frame upon which her engine and machinery rested; was as staunch as iron and oak could make her. It was as difficult to knock her to pieces from the outside as it is for a boy to kick in a well hooped barrel. She commenced running above the falls shortly after the Washington, and run there - her highest point being Corvallis, then Marysville until May, 1852, when she was brought below on ways in a cradle, and thereafter run on the lower Willamette and Columbia, part of the time making three trips a week to Oregon City and three trips to the Cascades. She brought down many of the emigrants of 1852. She fell into the hands of Abernethy & Co., and in the winter and spring of 1853, ran between Portland and Oregon City in connection with the Lot Whitcomh. On the failure of Abernethy & Co.; she fell into the hands of their creditors and had different captains every few trips for a year or two. She was then purchased by Captain Richard Hovt, and run on the lower Columbia route until his death in the winter or spring of 1861-2. She finally came into the hands of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and after much more useful service laid her bones in the bone-yard below Portland.

About the same time, 1851, a small v.ooden boat, a propeller, called the Black Hawk, ran between Portland and Oregon City. She nuuie money very rapidly for her owners.

The other boats built for or run above the falls of the Willamette were the Portland, built opposite Portland, in 1853, by .\. S. Murray, John Torrance and James Clinton. She was afterwards taken above the falls where she ran for some time. On the 17th of March, 1857, she was carried over the falls in high water, leaving hardly a vestige of the boat, and drowning her captain, Arthur Jamison, and one deck hand.

There was the Canemah. side-wheels, built in 1851, by A. F. Hedges, afterwards killed by the Indians in Colonel Kelly's fight on the Touchet in 1856; Alanson Beers and Hamilton Campbell. She ran between Canemah and Corvallis. The heaviest load she ever carried was 35 tons. Passage on her was ^5 to Salem. ,She made little or no money for her owners though she had a mail contract.

The Shoahvater, built by the owners of the Canemah, in 1852-3, as a low- water boat, commanded by Captain Lem White, the pioneer captain upon the upper Columbia, proved U> he a failurs. She changed her name several times, was the Phoenix. Franklin, and Minnie Holmes. Her bad luck followed her under every alias. In the spring of 1854, she collapsed a flue near Rock Island while stopping at a landing. None were killed, but several were more or less seriously injured and all badly scared. H. N. V. Holmes, a prominent resident of Polk county, was badly injured, but jumped overboard and swam across the river to the eastern shore before he knew that he was hurt.

Next was the Willamette, also built by the owners of the Canemab, in 1853. She was a large and expensive boat of the Mississippi style; run above the falls until July, 1854, when she was taken below, and in the fall of the same year was sold and taken to California. She proved a failure everywhere and came near breaking her owners. The current seemed to be against her whether she ran up or down stream.

In the summer of 1853 a company of California capitalists bought the land and built a basin and warehouse on the west side of the Willamette at the falls, near where the canal and locks now are. Their first boat was burned on the stocks October 6, 1853. The second was the ill-fated Gazelle, a large aud beautiful sidewheel steamer. She made her first trip on the 18th of March, 1854. On the 5th of April, 1854, when lying at Canemah, her boiler exploded, causing great loss of lives. Over twenty persons were killed outright, and as many wounded, three or four of whom died shortly afterwards. The Rev. J. P. Miller, a Presb^-terian minister, of Albany, in this State, the father of Mrs. Judge Wilson, now a widow and postmaster at The Dalles (postmistress is not known under the postoffice laws); Mrs. Kelly, wife of Col. Kelly, late U. S. Senator from this State, now resident of Portland, and Mrs. Grover, the wife of Gen. Cuvier Grover. Many other valuable citizens of Oregon were among the killed. The wreck was bought by Captains R. Ho)'t, William Wells and A. S. Murray, taken down over the falls on the 11th day of August, 1855, and converted into the Senorita, of which I have before spoken. The warehouse company afterwards built the Oregon, which was sunk and proved a total loss. The property passed into other hands ; the buildings were afterwards burned, and all was swept away in the flood of December, 1861.

The first stern-wheeler upon the upper Willamette was the Enterprise, Ijuilt in the fall of 1855, by .Archibald Jamison la brother of the one lost on the Portland when she went over the falls, in March, 1854), Captain A. S. Murray-, Armory Holbrook, John Torrance and others. She was 115 feet in length, fifteen feet in width, and had neat cabin appointments. She run on the upper river under Captain Jamison - the first really successful boat on that part of the river - and after some years' service was sold to Captain Tom Wright, son of Commodore, better known as " Bully" Wright, of San Francisco, who took her to Frazier river on the breaking out of the mines there, where she finished her course ; as I now recollect, she was blown up.

In 1856 Captains Cochrane, Gibson, Cassidy and others built the James Clinton, afterwards called the Surprise. She was in her day the largest and best steni-wheeler upon the Willamette.

There were other steamboats during this time and afterwards upon that portion of the river which time forbids me to name. What I have already stated is sufficient to give a general idea of the growth of navigation up to the time when corporations commenced their operation. These boats that I have named, aud others built and owned by private individuals, held the field until 1862-3, when the People's Transportation Company, a corporation under the general incorporation law of Oregon, entered upon its career. They built the canal, basin and warehouse on the east side of the river, and carried on a profitable trade between Portland and the various points up the river, finally selling out to Ben Holladay, who, with his railroad and river steamboats, then held command of the trade of the entire Willamette Valley.

An account of the internal commerce of Oregon would be incomplete without a history of the origin and growth of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. I shall speak of it historically only, how it originated and what it has accomplished Whether its influence has been good or bad, whether, on the whole, it has been or is likelv to be detrimental to the true interests of our people, are questions that are not to be discussed here. Time will only permit me to give a brief sketch of the prominent points in its history. It is an Oregon institution, established by Oregon men who made their start in Oregon. Its beginnings were small, but it has grown to great importance under the control of the men who originated it.

In April, 1859, the owners of the steamboats Carrie Ladd, Senorita and Belle. which had been plying between Portland and Cascades, represented by Captain J. C. Ainsworth, agent, the Mountain Buck, by Col. J. C. Ruckel, its agent, the Bradford horse railroad, between the middle and upper Cascades, by its owners, Bradford & Co., who also had a small steamboat plying between the Cascades and The Dalles, entered into a mutual arrangement to form a, transportation line between The Dalles and Portland, under the name and style of Union Transportion Company. There were some other boats running on that route, the Independence and Wasco, in the control of Alexander Ankney and George W. Vaughn ; also the Flint and Fashion, owned by Captain J. O. Van Bergen. As soon as practicable, these interests were harmonized or purchased.

At this time freights were not large between Portland and the upper Columbia, and the charges were high. There was no uniform rule ; the practice was to charge according to the exigency of the case. Freights had been carried in sail boats from Portland to the Cascades at twenty dollars per ton. I have before me an advertisement in an early number of the Weekly Oregonian, that the schooner Henry, owned by F. A. Chenoweth, now a practicing lawyer at Corvallis, and George L. Johnson, would carry at that rate.

On the 29th of December, 1860, there being then no law under which a corporation could be established in Oregon - the proprietors of the Union Transportation Line procured from the Washington Territory Legislature an act incorporating J. C. Ainsworth, D. F. Bradford, S. G. Reed, R. R. Thompson and their associates under the name and style of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, R. R. Thompson and Lawrence Coe, who then first became interested with the other parties, had built a small steamboat called the Col. Wright, above The Dalles, which went into the line and made up their shares of the capital stock. This was the second boat they had built at that point. The first, when partially completed, was carried over the falls and down the river in high water. There the hull was sold, fitted up and taken to Frazer river on the breaking out of the gold mine excitement in British Columbia, and much to the credit of its builders, made the highest point ever reached by a steamboat on that river.

The Oregon Steam Navigation Company, or O. S. N. Co., as it has been more generally called and known since organized under the act, J. C. Ainsworth was the fir-st president, and with the exception of a single year, when J. C. Ruckel held the position, has been its president ever since. Its principal office was located at Vancouver, and its property formed no inconsiderable addition to the taxable property of Washington Territory. It might have remained there until this time, had it received fair treatment. But the citizens thought they had the goose that laid the golden egg, and they killed it. By unfriendly legislation and unjust taxation, the company was driven from the Territory, and in October, 1862, it incorporated under the general act of Oregon, where it has ever since existed an Oregon corporation; in fact, as it has always been in ownership and name. Its railroads, steamboats, warehouses, wharf-boats and wharves have all been built and established by the company without public aid except the patronage by the public after they were completed.

.\11 its founders started poor. They have accomplished nothing that has not been equally within the power of others 1)y the exercise of equal foresight, labor and perseverance. Thev had no exclusive rights. The rivers are wide enough for all the steamers which can be built, and the passes at the Cascades and The Dalles are broad enough for all the railroads that may be found desirable. They are still unoccupied and open to all.

The O. S. N. Co. have diminished the price of carrying freight and passengers, whenever it has established lines from the great cost of transportation of the early times; fares have come down to So between Portland and The Dalles; Si 2 to Wallula; 520 to Lewiston; $2 to Astoria, and freights have been correspondingly reduced. Wheat and flour were last season brought down from Lewiston for $S, and from Wallula for $6 per ton, including handling over the boat lines and two railroads.

Of one thing the citizens of Oregon may well boast. Taking into consideration what has been done by private enterprise alone, there is no young State in the Union where so much in the wav of internal improvements has been accomplished in so short a time.

The canal and locks in the Willamette at Oregon City, in the main constructed by private means, have worked wonders for the commerce on that river. Their original cost was nearly half a million dollars. Soon we may hope to see the canal and locks at the Cascades, completed by the X'nited States, which will be of equal value to the commerce upon the Columliia river."

An entire volume might be filled with an acconnt of the early efforts of the O. S. N. and P. T. Co., of their successes, and the adventures of their captains, as Battghnian, the Coes, the Grays, Stump, M'Nnlty, Snow, Pease and Troupe; and the tales of river and shore that spring up in the aquatic life of every cominunit)-. But space forbids an\' such enticing enlargement, and instead we must be content with a list of the steamers which were built by the Peoples' Transportation, or Oregon Steam Navigation Co., or have come into possession of the (). R. & X. Co. - which absorbed both the P. T. and the O. N. Co., under the management of \'illard. For this we are indebted to Captain Troupe and jVIr. Atwood, of the O. R. & N. Co.