Francis Henry. The Oregon Pioneer; an Idyll. 1876.
This poem was read at the Fifth Annual Reunion of the Oregon Pioneer Association in 1877, “which was rendered as admirably as it was beautiful.” Elwood Evans, giving the annual address, referred to the author, then living at Olympia, W. T., as “scholar, humorist and wit. This idyll proves also that he can revel in the field of poesy and with rare fidelity cull its brightest flowers to weave into a chaplet of never fading beauty.” He read seven verses and then said: “I could not more profitably and pleasantly detain you than in reading through this glorious production. I trust that some reader who will do ample justice to its literary merit, its pure pathos, its hidden humor, its admirable descriptive vein will during these festivities read it, ... Mr. President, accept from me this well thumbed copy presented to me by the author.”
Franklin Johnson. Home Missionaries. 1899.
Walter Phillips. Crossing the Plains in '46. Oregon City. Courier-Herald. 1900.
Signal Fires on the Trail of the Pathfinder. New York. Dayton and Burdick. 1856.
No author given. The book contains several poems in description of the explorations and adventures of Fremont. There is one fine Oregon poem entitled “A Night by Lake Tlamath,” having the lines—
When its mirror moves with
a waving flow,
As odorous winds from the forest blow.
Henry W. Woodward. Lyrics of the Umpqua. New York. John B. Alden. 1889.
Carrie Blake Morgan. The Path of Gold. New Whatcom, Washington. Edson & Irish. 1900.
A paper-bound book of 28 pages and 34 short poems. The subject matter is general, with the exception of one poem, “The Old Emigrant Trail.” The author was an elder sister of Ella Higginson.
P. J. P. Souvenir of Rhyme. Portland. Schwab. 1888.
6
A Land of Many Poets
To catalogue all the Oregon poets, verse writers and rhyme-makers between 1850 and 1900 would serve no useful purpose. The accumulated number for that half century would make a long list, counting all those who did not have books or pamphlets published
