Portland, Oregon: Its History and Builders/Volume 1
PORTLAND
OREGON
ITS HISTORY AND BUILDERS
IN CONNECTION WITH
THE ANTECEDENT EXPLORATIONS, DISCOVERIES AND MOVEMENTS OF THE PIONEERS THAT SELECTED THE SITE FOR THE
GREAT CITY OF THE PACIFIC
By JOSEPH GASTON
Illustrated
VOLUME I
CHICAGO—PORTLAND
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING CO.
1911
PREFACE[edit]
The preparation of this work was undertaken at the suggestion of the late Harvey W. Scott. Having prepared a history of the city twenty years ago, and being familiar with the whole history of Oregon and Portland, the publishers were anxious to secure his services in bringing out a later and more extended review of the still greater city. But the hands of the great editor were fully occupied; and great cares pressed upon his time and strength. Deeply interested in this, as in all other things making for the history and development of the city, he had done so much to build up, he turned to the undersigned and urged him to undertake the task of which this book is the result; and at the same time pledging the assistance of his advice and counsel. His invaluable assistance was not to be realized. Already overburdened with great work he hoped to accomplish, his assistance could not be given beyond the generous grant and authority to use any and all of his many contributions to the history of Portland and Oregon.
To secure the assistance of scholars with experience in particular lines of investigation, it was deemed important to create an advisory board. And for that purpose a board of five gentlemen—to wit: Harvey W. Scott, Frederick V. Holman, president of the Oregon historical society, William D. Fenton, vice-president of the society, George H. Himes, assistant secretary of the society, and Dr. George F. Wilson, a leader in his profession, were selected. To these gentlemen the author is indebted beyond any words to express his obligation. Mr. Himes, has been a most efficient and enthusiastic aid on many topics; and has placed his great collection of material in the rooms of the historical society at the service of the author. Mr. Holman's monograph on Dr. John McLoughlin, is the last word on that great character. And to Joseph R. Wilson, D. D., for his like service on Marcus Whitman, and to Mr. John Gill for his sketch of Jason Lee, both the author and the subscribers to this work are under obligations that cannot be expressed in words or measured by dollars. We have in these sketches of these three great pioneer men, the fairest, most complete and satisfactory representation of them ever put in print.
To Mr. Fenton the history is indebted for his faithful review of the life and services of "Father Wilbur;" and for much important matter relating to laws and lawyers. And to Dr. Wilson obligations are many for the chapter on the medical profession, and medical college, and for first hand information about Schwatka's exploratory expedition to Alaska, of which Dr. Wilson was the surgeon.
Acknowledgement is freely made for valuable assistance from many others. To Mrs. Eva Emery Dye for her chapter on Oregon city; to and to General Thos. M. Anderson for much of the chapter on Vancouver; to Colonel Henry E. Dosch for most of the chapter on the Lewis and Clark Exposition, to Mr. W. D. B. Dodson of the Evening Telegram for the report on the Oregon boys in the Spanish war; to W. S. U'Ren for the account of direct legislation; to Dr. J. R. Cardwell for horticultural items; to Daniel McAllen for origin of Lewis and Clark Exposition; to Miss Anna Cremen for accounts of Catholic institutions and original papers relating to Oregon militia; to Mrs. S. A. Brown for account of night school and women's union; to Mr. D. D. Clarke for report on Bull Run water system; and to Mr, R. P. Blossom for original facts about first settlers of the city.
And while every possible precaution has been taken to secure accuracy of statement, it is not to be expected that the work will be wholly free from errors. Investigation shows that the original sources of information, especially where they are founded upon personal statements, are often confused and contradictory. The aim and intention has been to show, that in the great purposes to be achieved by the settlement of Oregon and Portland, and the organization and development of society and civic institutions, there has been and is a unity in the history and progress of the country. That is a greater purpose in any history than exactness in the statement of unrelated facts. And in expressing this final word, it is a pleasure to be able to state that the citizens of Portland have not only given this work a more liberal and enthusiastic support than any of its predecessors in this field of research, but have also supported the History with more liberality and enthusiasm than has been given to similar undertakings by the same Publishers in the cities of Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland and other like places, where other histories have been brought out. And for all this we here express our sincere gratitude.
HARVEY WHITEFIELD SCOTT
In Memoriam
"EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC ADDRESSES OF HARVEY W. SCOTT."
Men yet living, men not yet old, have seen the Oregon country develop from smallest beginnings to its present greatness (1905). But its present greatness is only the promise of its future.
Portland is at the point of natural communication and exchange between the interior and the sea. To this fact Portland owes her existence. This city has done a mighty work already and is now just getting forward to the stronger position which the future is to give her.
Our life, in Oregon, once isolated, is now under the influence of world-wide conditions. Markets, manners, customs, habits, opinions, faiths are brought under this all pervading control. Our industrial processes, our social usages, our religious creeds are all subject to the same law of influence and variation. These changes come by almost imperceptible gradations, but become very marked from one generation to another.
Pioneer life is now but a memory. It will soon be but a legend or tradition. Once we had but a little world of our own. We shall have it no more. The horizon that once was bounded by our own border enlarges to the horizon of man.
Just now, we are having in Oregon a material development such as we never hitherto have known. It is well; we all rejoice at it and all try to promote it; and yet we should not become so fully occupied with it as to overlook the greater importance of the other side of life—that is, right development of thought, feeling, character.
The story of the toilsome march of the wagon-trains over the plains will be received by future generations almost as a legend on the borderland of myth, rather than as veritable history. Mystery was in the movement, mystery surrounded it. It was the effort of that profound impulse which for a time far preceding the dawn of history, has pushed our race to discovery and occupation of western lands.
It is only through industry, stimulated by the instinct for accumulation of property, that the individual or a people can get forward. Nature made the Oregon country a paradise; yet for the native Indian it was no paradise, but only a sort of dog-hole in which he dwelt in darkness, because he had not the principle of growth within himself.
As a geographical expression, the west has ever been indeterminate. The east has been treading on the heels of the west, yet never has overtaken it. Latterly, the west has taken ship on the Pacific and through one of the movements of history has overtaken the east. America has put a new girdle around the earth and the west has moved on till it has reached the gateway of the morning over by the Orient. Men of Oregon, of Washington, of California, of Idaho, of Montana, of Utah, of Colorado, responding to the call of the country, have carried the west on over seas.
It is probable that nothing else has contributed so much to the help of mankind in the mass, either in national or moral aspects, as rapid increase of human intercourse throughout the world. Action and reaction of peoples upon peoples, of races upon races, are continually evolving activities and producing changes in the thought and character of all. This intercourse develops the moral forces as rapidly as the intellectual and material. Populations are stirred profoundly by all the powers of social agitation, by travel, by rapid movements of commerce, by daily transmission of news.
The United States has a frontage on the Pacific as well as on the Atlantic ocean. We must expand in the direction of the Pacific, where the future development of our country lies. Over there is China. Over there is India. Over there are the regions which the energy of the world is now beginning to develop. This is one of the great movements of history, without any one in particular bringing it about. It is irresistible; it is one of the onward movements of mankind. |
The Land of Mystery—The Proposition of Columbus—The Dreams of Navigators—The Fabled Strait of Anian—De Fuca's Pretended Discovery—Maldonado's Pretended Voyage—Low's Remarkable Map—Viscaino and Aguilar Reach the Oregon Coast in 1603—California an Island—Captain Cook's Voyage and Death—Beginning of the Fur Trade—Spain Drives England Out of Nootka Sound, and Then Makes Treaty of Joint Occupancy—Gray Discovers the Columbia River
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17 |
1634—1834.
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The Landward Movement West—Two Differing Minds of Civilization, and Two Differing and Independent Movements of Population, Move Westward—The French Catholic on the One Side, and the English Protestant on the Other—La Salle, Hennepin, Marquette, Jonathan Carver, Mackenzie, Pike, Astor, Ashley, Bridger, Bonneville and Wyeth
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|
31 |
1774—1814.
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The Evolutionary and Political Movements—The Pioneer American Pushing West—The Revolutionary Break-up—George Rogers Clark and Old Vincennes—Thomas Jefferson the Great Colonizer—The Lewis and Clark Expedition—and Capture of Old Astoria
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48 |
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The Antecedent Geological Preparation of the Country—The Native Indians—The Fur Trade and Traders—The Hudson Bay Company, McLoughlin, Ogden—Indian Ideas on Land Tenure—The Possession of the Land, the Bottom of All Troubles Between Whites and Indians
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62 |
1834—1842.
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The Native Indian—How the Hudson Bay Company Managed Him—The Flathead Mission—The Era of Evangelism—The First Missionaries and Priests—Jason Lee, Marcus Whitman—Blanchet and De Smet—The Indian's Fate and Future—The "Jargon" Language
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78 |
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The Oregon Trail—What Started the Emigration—The Far-reaching Influence of the Movement—Lists of Emigrants—The Character of the Emigrants
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92 |
1818—1844.
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Joint Occupancy with England—Free Trade to Oregon—No Man's Land—The Hudson Bay Company Plays to the American Settlers—The Provisional Government
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105 |
1774—1846.
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The Title to the Country—Titles by Discovery—Paper Titles of Spain, France and England—Title by Contiguous Settlement and Possession—The Question in Politics and in Congress—The Treason of President Polk—Oregon Saved by American Settlements
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134 |
1842—1848.
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The Oregon Hall of Fame—Who Saved Oregon, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Benton, Hall J. Kelley, Lee, Whitman, McLoughlin, Meek—Abernethy, Matthieu, Saved by All the Settlers Pulling Together
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146 |
1843—1847.
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Founding a City—Hall Kelley's Plat—Precedent Efforts—Naming the Town — Rival Towns with Map—Deep Sea Navigation Controls Location—Tomahawk Claims—Townsite Titles—William Johnson Was Here First—First Houses—First Ships and Owners—Preachers, Teachers, Doctors, and Lawyers
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193 |
1847—1851.
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The Townsite Proprietors—Map of the Claims—First Preachers—Gold Discovered in California— Teachers, Doctors and Lawyers—First Steamboats and Builders—First Stores and Shops—First Saw Mill—List of Those Persons Living Here in 1852—List of Old Pioneers Now Living (Nov. 10th, 1910)
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206 |
1850—1868.
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The First Ferry—The First Wagon Road —The First City Election—Land Titles, and Litigation Thereon—Judges, Matthew P. Deady and George H. Williams Decide the Laws Made by the Provisional Government Are Binding—The Public Levee—General Condition of the Country in 1856, by H. W. Scott, of the Advisory Board
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220 |
1849—1858.
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The Hudson Bay Company Offers to Sell Out—Organization of Territorial Government—Lane Reaches Oregon City—The First Census of Oregon—The Territorial and State Seals—Effect of the California Gold—Cost of Goods—Character of Clothes—Territorial Progress—Discovery of Gold in Oregon—Organization of State Government—State Officials, Notices of
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231 |
1850—1893.
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The Growth in Shipping, Population, Buildings, Newspapers, and Public Works—The First Cargo of Wheat Shipped Foreign, 1868—The Great Fire of 1873—Salmon Packing and Export Commences—The Express Companies—The Telegraph Lines Come—The First Mails, Delegate Thurston, and Postal Business
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238 |
1850—1910.
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Portland Water Transportation—The Lot Whitcomb, and Other Steamboats—Nesmith's Account of the First Ship—Judge Strong's Account of the First Boats—The Effect of Gold Discoveries in Eastern Oregon—The Bridge of the Gods, and Other Obstructions to Navigation—The Great Territory to Be Developed—The Formation of the First Great Oregon Monopoly—The Oregon Steam Navigation Co.—The Northern Pacific Railroad Buys Controlling Interest in O. S. N. Co. and Then Fails—Ainsworth Picks Up the Old Stock for a Trifle—D. P. Thompson Uncovers Great Profits of O. S. N. Co.—The Jay Gould Scarecrow—Ainsworth Sells Co. to Henry Villard—The Oregon Steam Navigation Company—The Father of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company—River and Ocean Steamers and Sail Vessels
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258 |
1863—1910.
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Development of the Oregon Railroad System—First Money Subscribed, and First Surveys—The Land Grants, and Land Grant Companies—Schemes of the Californians, and Contest for the Land Grants—The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company—The Portland, Dallas and Salt Lake Proposition—Notices of Leading Actors in the Work—The Land Grant Lawsuit—Lands and Values—The Last Lands Granted by Congress in Aid of Railroads—The Advent of Electric Railroads—List of Roads and Mileage in Operation, 1910—The Portland City Street Railway System
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280 |
1864—1910.
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Steamboats and Shipping—Growth and General Improvements—Exports of Produce, Lumber and Gold Dust—First Cargo of Wheat, and Present Crop—Manufacture and Export of Flour—Review of City's Growth of Commerce—Manufacture and Export of Lumber—Manufacture of Furniture—Manufacturers of Iron and Steel—Manufacture and Export of Beer and Hops
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309 |
1851—1910.
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The City Government—The Charters—The Succession of Mayors—The Present Organization—The Public Utilities—Development of the City
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336 |
1825—1910.
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Wheat, Flour, and Dairying—Sheep, Wool, and Woolen Manufactures — Horticulture and Export of Fruit—Live Stock and Meat Consumption
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347 |
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1833—1910 The First Schools in Old Oregon—The First Schools in Oregon—The First Schools in Portland—Organization of the Public Schools—History of the Public Schools—Tabitha Brown's School—Denominational and Private Schools—Colleges and Universities—Libraries, Reading Rooms and Museums
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365 |
1834—1910.
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The First Churches—The Development of the Churches—The Groups of Great Preachers—The Founding of Sectarian Schools—The Steady Growth of Religious Work—Notable Characters, Roberts, Wilbur, Blanchet, Scott, Atkinson, Fierens, Lindsley, Morris, Christie and Stephen Wise
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407 |
1860—1910.
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The Kind Hearts and Willing Hands—Portland's Benevolences—Hospitals, Homes, and Noble Women
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447 |
1839—1910.
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The Pioneer Newspaper, with Much Local History—The Pioneer Printers — Fleming, Craig, et al.—The Oregonian—Various Other Newspapers and Their Editors
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481 |
1859—1910
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Pioneers Days, Legal Tender—The Great Gold Discovery—The Beaver Money Mint—The First Bank and Banker—The Vicissitudes of the Banks — The Present Banks—The Foreign Banks—Financial Institutions—The Financial Situation
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511 |
1850—1910.
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Doctors and Medical Education—Dentists and Dental College—Sanitoriums — Health and Sanitation—Parks and Play Grounds
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536 |
1845—1910.
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The Lawyers that Laid Foundations—The Laws They Made—Their Services to the State—Legislation by the People
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545 |
1858—1910.
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The First Military Company—The Indian Wars—The Grand Army of the Republic—Portland's Part in the War with Spain
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568 |
1874—1905.
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The First Portland Exposition—The Old Mechanics' Fair—The Merchants and Manufacturers Exposition—The Lewis & Clark Exposition—Styles of Architecture—The Great Flood
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583 |
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The Benefactors—The Literary People—Historians, Poets and Story Tellers
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590 |
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The Exposition of the City—Its Commanding Position—The Resources that Sustain It—Its Great Future
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609 |
1850—1910.
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The Social Life—Economics, Prices, and Wages—Economics, Morals and Politics—The Political and Economic Drift—The Lesson of It All
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623 |
1825—1910.
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Vancouver—First White Settlement in Old Oregon—The Governor of the Vast Wilderness—The Character of Old Vancouver—The Disputed Hudson's Bay Company Title—Modern Vancouver—Great Prospects in the Future—The Home of Great Enterprises
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641 |
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Historical Sketch of Oregon City by Eva Emery Dye, Author of "McLoughlin and Old Oregon," "McDonald of Oregon," and "The Conquest."
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650 |
INTRODUCTION
"Westward the course of Empire takes its way;
The four first acts already past;
The fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last."
Prophecies: "Fixity of residence and thickening of population are the prime requisites of civilization; and hence it will be found, that, as in Egypt where great civilization was developed in a narrow valley hemmed in by deserts, and in Greece limited to a peninsula bounded by the sea on one side, and mountains on the other, when the Caucasian race, startfng from India and pursuing its western course around the earth, shall reach the shores of the Great Pacific ocean, it will dam up in the strip of country between the Rocky mountains and the sea, and there in the most dense population, produce the greatest civilization on the earth." (Vestiges of Creation, 1838, anonymous, supposed to be written by Robert Chambers of Edinburgh, Scotland.)
The French naturalist, Lacepede, and one of Napoleon's ministers, writing to Jefferson in 1804 said: "If your nation can establish any easy communication by rivers, canals and short portages between New York and a city that must be built at the mouth of the Columbia, what a route for the commerce of Europe, Asia, and America."
"The city carrying on a trade with the islands of the Pacific, and the people about the shores of the ocean, commensurate with its wants, must advance in prosperity and power unexampled in the history of nations. From the plentitude of its own resources, it will be enabled to sustain its own operations, and will hasten on to its own majesty, and to a proud rank on the earth." (Hall J. Kelley, in his prospectus for a city where University park, Portland, is now located, 1832.)
"I say the man is alive, full grown, and is listening to what I say, who will yet see the Asiatic commerce traversing the North Pacific ocean—entering the Oregon river—climbing the western slope of the Rocky mountains—issuing from its gorges—and spreading its fertilizing streams over our wide extended Union!
The steamboat and the steam car have not exhausted all their wonders. They have not yet found their amplest and most appropriate theatres—the tranquil surface of the North Pacific ocean, and the vast inclined plains which spread east and west from the base of the Rocky mountains. The magic boat, and the flying car are not yet seen upon the ocean, and upon the plain, but they will be seen there; and St. Louis is yet to find herself as near Canton as she is now to London, with a better and safer route by land and sea to China and Japan than she now has to France and Great Britain." (Extract from, an address by Thomas H. Benton, U. S. Senator, at St. Louis, October 19, 1844.)
"The work now formally inaugurated, shall, in its completion, be made the servant and promoter of your future growth, prosperity and wealth, until here on the banks of the Willamette, shall arise a city, which, holding the keys (md being the gateway and handmaid to the commerce between the Atlantic and the Indies, shall rival Venice in its adornment and Constantinople in its wealth." (Extract from address of Joseph Gaston at ground breaking ceremonies for construction of Oregon Central Railroad, April 15, 1868.)
"I tell you my friend if you have any money to invest, to purchase lots here in Portland, or good lands nearby, and hold on to them, for this will be the great city of the Pacific coast." (Advice given by James J. Hill to a friend, at Portland, May 2, 1910.)
The history of nearly every American state or city, has been largely the history of the men and women of the state or city. But the history of Portland, Oregon, is more than that. Produced by the evolutionary forces of the dominant race of man, pursuing its irresistible course around the earth from farthest east to the confines of the west at the sundown seas, and there from natural causes and superhuman forces, selecting, and converging at the gateway of a continent and the seaport to the unobstructed highway to all nations uniting the civilization of the ancient east to the all conquering powers of the youthful west, we are to write the history of a city, unusual, unique and extraordinary among all American communities. Portland is more than a population of so many thousands; more than its great and growing commerce; more than the gateway to the Pacific; and more than the lives of all its leading men. Its foundation and existence stand for a principle; it is the result and fruit of evolutionary forces which could not be turned aside; and it has been, and must continue to be the nerve center towards which and from which tend all the historic ideas and influences which turned the tide of dominion from Russia and Great Britain, and made Portland, Oregon, in fact and truth, unconsciously, the guiding star of that empire which westward took its predestined and irresistible way.
About the time that portentous events were concentrating continental forces at the neck of woods where the great city on the Willamette and Columbia was to be, we find national affairs on the other side of the Atlantic to be in a very incoherent condition. George III, with all his follies and blunders, was passing down from the British throne through the cloud of insanity, while his unspeakable son, George IV, with all his vices and crimes against common decency, had taken his place. Austria was still at the head of that Holy Roman Empire, which Voltaire sarcastically remarked, had ceased to be an empire, to be Roman, or to be holy.
Alexander II, the grandson of the great Empress Maria, was on the throne of all the Russias. He had been the main force in the overthrow of the great Napoleon, whom he treated with great consideration after his downfall. Spain was dwindling to its decadence as a world power; Italy, to use the phrase of the great Austrian, Metternich, was but a geographical expression; and France, after Napoleon had passed its title to Oregon over to President Jefferson, was still in that ferment left behind by the Revolution, by Napoleon, and by the on and off reign of Louis XVIII, who is remembered most by his brilliant epigram—"Punctuality is the politeness of Kings."
From this perspective we get our start for Oregon and Portland. Portland stands alone in its founding and development. In less than sixty years it has arisen from an unbroken forest, uninhabited save by wild beasts and native Indians, separated from its native hearthstones by two thousand miles of unpeopled deserts, plains and mountains, to a city and seaport, one hundred and ten miles from the ocean, that ships more lumber than any other city in the world, more wheat than any other city in America, except New York, and handles more money every day than any other city in the nation of its class. While in wealth it stands without a peer, man for man, yet its growth and development of all the agencies of educational, social, moral and religious culture is even greater than its material prosperity. The history of such a city, is worth recording. And to the busy citizen as well as the student of humanity, the narrative of this history will be found more interesting than a romance, and more instructive than the record of any other city in this great nation.
What should this history contain? What will the intelligent new comer of 1912 want to know about the city he settles in? What will the graduates of our high schools in 1950 want to know about Portland? What will the student of history plodding over the dusty past, one hundred years hence, desire to learn about the origin and development of Portland, Oregon?
In preparing this work it has been kept in view that everything should go in which would show how a city came to be located at this point on the Pacific coast, the great facts which led up to its selection, the influences and factors which promoted the building of the city, and the character and labors of the men and women who have contributed to the great work, moulded its character, inspired its aims and ideals and left their impress on its institutions and progress. Facts, experiences, character, biographies and accomplished results have been sought for in all directions and much that has never been before, is now given to the public. Very much material matter and many incidents of a very interesting character have been lost by deaths and the inevitable destruction by lapse of time. But enough remains to show clearly the hopes, aims, ambitions, and true character of the sturdy pioneers who through Herculean labors and indescribable privations trailed their long weary way across two thousand miles of trackless plains, rugged mountains and desert wastes to lay broad and deep the foundations of a new state and a great city.
This must also be to a certain extent, a history of the contest of ideas as well as the development of commerce, civilization and new states, which was tried out on this page in this great valley, and in the foundation of this city, and can't be left out. And striving to apprehend the aspirations and the heroic self-sacrifice of the men and women who founded this great northwest empire, if I shall be able to write a single line that will inspire in our young men and women the spirit which actuated their pioneer fathers and mothers, I shall feel that I have rendered a valuable service to the city and the state.
But no real history of the city would be complete, or present the picture of Portland now before us today, which did not include so much of the voyageurs, sea-rovers and bold mountain explorers as shows the world-wide panorama of thought, interest, speculation and national aggrandizement which concentered on the Pacific Northwest for more than a century to unravel the mystery which hovered over the land in which our lives have been cast. The history of Portland is intertwined with the grandest feats of land and sea discovery which have been achieved since Columbus struck the Island of San Salvador in 1492. And the very existence of the city as an American community has grown out of the shrewdest diplomacy of the two greatest nations of the globe; and was not only made possible, but actually forced by the uplifted hands and patriotic labors of a mere handful of bold border spirits who "called the bluff" so to speak of the greatest military and commercial power of the world; and with prescient minds, strong common sense and invincible courage, set up an independent state and government, and won the game in winning beyond controversy the rich territory now organized into three great states of the American union. The achievements of the pioneer heroes of Oregon are absolutely without parallel or equal in the history of states or nations. Not founded upon conquest or baptized in blood; not purchased by a compromise or pronounced by great commercial interests we trace the foundations of our city and state to the noble and unselfish labors and sacrifices of men and women proud in giving to all others the equal rights demanded for themselves, and ennobling and sanctifying their work by laying broad and deep the foundations of virtue, sobriety, education and Christianity for themselves, their children and their descendants and successors for all time to come. With such a beginning, with the growth and development already achieved, with an invincible position and natural advantages which cannot be reversed or diminished, Portland is entitled to be called the "City of Destiny"—a destiny assured to be the greatest city of the Pacific coast of North America.