1846 James Welch and family and David Ingalls arrived. Mr. Welch took possession of the Shively claim during Mr. Shively's absence in the East and divided the claim into city lots as Mr. Shively had previously done. This led to a dispute over the ownership of the claim which was finally settled by an equal division of the claim between the two interested parties.
When J. M. Shively returned from the East in 1847 he brought with him his commission as postmaster and opened the first post office west of the Rocky Mountains in the Shively building, still standing on the east side of Fourteenth Street, between Exchange Street and Franklin Avenue. The next year S. T. McKean, wife, and six children arrived and took up their residence here. In this year also the news of the discovery of gold in California led to a stampede to the mines and while some of the inhabitants of Astoria went, their places were soon filled by people brought here by the great increase in the amount of shipping done from Columbia River. A great demand for lumber and provisions arose and mills were started to supply this demand. Hunt's mill, just below Westport, had commenced operations in 1846, and when the gold excitement started, had one hundred thousand feet of lumber on hand which was eagerly purchased at $100 per thousand. The Milwaukie mill and Abernethy's mill at Oak Point supplied the greater part of the lumber for the California trade. In 1849 Marland's mill, just above Tongue Point, was started. This mill was later destroyed by fire. In 1851-52 James Welch and others built the first mill in the city proper. It was located in the block bounded by Commercial, Bond, Ninth, and Tenth streets. It was afterward owned by W. W. Parker and known as the Parker mill.
The increase in the amount of shipping led to the establishment of the customhouse at Astoria in 1849. The
