ment, Overton interested Lovejoy and Pettygrove in the property, offering them one-half ownership if they would secure the title. The quick eye of Lovejoy saw the advantages of this spot where Indians sometimes camped, and the three men soon completed the transaction. But before improvement could be made, Overton became restless and sold his interest to Pettygrove for fifty dollars.
Lovejoy, a native of Massachusetts, had read the glowing literature circulated in the East by Kelley, and under its influence emigrated to Oregon in 1842 with the Elijah White party. En route he was detained by Marcus Whitman at Waiilatpu, and with him made a return ride in the dead of winter. The following spring he joined the “Great Migration” and again set out for Oregon. This time he reached “the settlements.” That same year of 1843, Pettygrove, a native of Maine, entered the Columbia River aboard the bark Victoria. With him came his family and a stock of merchandise. The latter he exchanged at Oregon City for a quantity of French Prairie wheat, which he then shipped abroad. With money thus obtained he built the first log cabin on his Portland claim.
A few lots sold before the town had any name. That name was ceremoniously chosen—not at Portland but at Oregon City—by the flipping of a coin. Lovejoy wished the new town to be named Boston, while Pettygrove wanted it to be called Portland. Two of three tosses fell in Pettygrove’s favor, and Portland became the name of the new town among the fir stumps.
Growth started slowly. For nearly three years the majority of emigrants paused there only briefly, then passed on to settle in the ample Tualatin Plains or around Oregon City, or on the broad prairies higher up the Willamette.
One of the first to linger was James Terwilliger, who erected a blacksmith shop. Pettygrove put up a store but for a time had little business. Sailing vessels, with growing frequency anchored in the river and enjoyed more trade exchanging imported cargo for furs and wheat, than did Pettygrove as a merchant. On an adjacent claim Daniel H. Lownsdale started a tannery. Presently a road mounted westward out of town.
