Through the courtesy of Mr. Martin McDonough, of Medford, the Rogue River Fruit Grower is loaned the original copy of the census for Jackson County taken in 1854 by his grandfather, the late William Kahler. As this census is valuable historical information to both the pioneers and the new settlers of Rogue River Valley, it will be published in full in this magazine, and the first section of it is herewith given.
    The roll is written in a record book, the pages of which are of the blue-tinted paper such as was used for legal purposes half a century ago, and the writing is a model of clearness and legibility, the chirography being perfect and the ink as black and distinct as though used but recently. Some of the pioneers may not find their names or those of their friends spelled correctly, but the printed copy herewith given is spelled exactly as in the original copy. It will also be observed by those familiar with the names of the pioneers of Rogue River Valley that the names of many of the early settlers do not appear on the roll. This omission doubtless came about through several causes. Many of the settlers were living in out-of-the-way places and were not interviewed by the enumerator, and others were on prospecting trips in the mountains, and others were out of the valley with pack horses on which to bring in supplies from Crescent City and Scottsburg, these being the nearest seaports from which goods could be had, or to the Willamette Valley for food supplies, that being the nearest farming district.
    This census does not show as large a population in Jackson County as it would be supposed the county had at that time. Following the discovery of gold in the winter of 1850-1 [sic] almost simultaneously at Rich Gulch, now Jacksonville; Sailor Diggings, now Waldo, and on Canyon Creek in the lower Illinois Valley [sic] there was a big rush of miners to Rogue River Valley for the next two years. At the height of the rush there were, according to the belief of pioneers now resident of the valley, fully 2000 men in the mines and prospecting. During this period there were, it is said, over 1000 men at work at one time in Rich Gulch and on Jackson Creek. The town of Jacksonville extended for half a mile along Jackson Creek, and there was another town, or camp, on the creek a mile above Jacksonville that was known as Kanaka Flat. The Indian war of 1852-3 [sic] coming on, and the richest of the placer mines being worked out, many of the miners left the valley. So it is likely that the population of Rogue River Valley was less in 1854 than it was when the big rush of miners was on.
    Jackson County was organized by the territorial legislature of Oregon at the session of January, 1852. [The legislature created Jackson County in that month, but the county only existed on paper until it was organized in Jacksonville in March 1853.] The first officers of the county were appointed by Governor John P. Gaines and assumed their duties in January [sic], 1853, according to the best authority obtainable by the Rogue River Fruit Grower. At that time Jackson County in area was larger than many of the eastern states, for it extended from the Pacific Ocean east for 300 miles and from the California line north to the Umpqua Mountains, a distance of 100 miles. From this big county has since been made Klamath and Lake counties to the east and Josephine and Curry counties to the west.
    Mr. Kahler was the first assessor for Jackson County, but whether he was appointed by Governor Gaines along with the other officers at the time the county government was inaugurated, or was elected at the first election held in the county on June 6, 1853, has not as yet been ascertained by the Rogue River Fruit Grower. [The first assessor elected was George C. Pearson; Kahler was first elected assessor in 1860.] Judge Silas J. Day, a pioneer of Jacksonville of 1851 and yet a resident of that town, kindly offered to look up the data from the old county records, but the records are in such condition that he was unable to find that part telling of the assessor's office for that time. Details of county matters were not kept as thoroughly then as now, and of the records kept some have been stolen, others destroyed as supposedly useless, and those remaining are stored away in boxes and vaults and, not being indexed, it would take a week or more to find mention of a certain event.
    Under a law that was passed at the time Oregon became a territory in 1849 and which was continued for a number of years after the state constitution was adopted in 1858, the county assessors were required to enumerate the people each year at the time that they listed the livestock and property valuations. [If this is correct, George C. Pearson would have been the enumerator of the 1854 census--unless contracted to another party, such as Kahler.] Later this law was amended, and now assessors only take the census each ten years at the period midway between the times the United States census is taken. It was under the territorial law that Mr. Kahler took the census of Jackson County. At what time of the year he took the census and made the property enumeration cannot be ascertained, except by a thorough search of the old records, for he put no date on the roll, the title page bearing only the words "Census Roll for Jackson County, A.D. 1854." It is quite likely that he did the work in the spring, as that was the rule with later assessors.
    Mr. Kahler moved with his family from Morgan County, Ohio, to Rogue River Valley in 1852, coming by ox team and arriving in Jacksonville late in the fall of that year. In 1853 Mr. Kahler took up a donation claim near Fort Lane, now Tolo, and with his family resided there until 1888, when they moved back to Jacksonville and where he died on March 28, 1891.
   

*Mulatto