exact information about him. The few brief biographical accounts of him are vague and conflicting in their facts, being unfortunately consistent only in giving the year of his death as 1900 instead of correctly as 1899.
Although not much has been written about him biographically, there is considerable published comment on his poetry, his attitude towards it and his manner of writing it.
Mrs. Frances Fuller Victor said of him:
Among the poets of the Willamette Valley, Samuel L. Simpson deserves a high rank, having written some of the finest lyrics contributed to local literature, though his style is uneven.
Joseph Gaston in his Centennial History of Oregon referred to him briefly in his summary of Oregon literature:
Samuel L. Simpson is the popular poet of Oregon. He had the happy faculty of embodying in his lyrics the beau ties of Oregon, and will for this reason be longer remembered than those who appealed to sentiment. While not born in Oregon, he came to the state in childhood and was educated at Willamette University. His lines on the Oregon river made his fame.
Fred A. Dunham in the Pacific Monthly for July, 1899, told about the poet's indifference, even his objection, to a published volume:
When asked one day by the writer why he did not publish his poetry in a volume, and strive for the fame and incident financial reward, he answered: "I have not even acopy of my poems. I have never written anything that satisfied me. There are so many half-way poets deluging the
world with so-called poetry that I am disgusted, and do not
