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Jackson County 1872 At [Portland] we entered the cars of the Oregon and California Railroad, and passed through the Oregon City, Salem, Albany, Harrisburg and many small stations to Eugene, the terminus of the road. Here we were again introduced to mud wagons and onward moved through rain, mud, snow and picturesque corduroy roads, which cannot be fully understood or appreciated only by genuine mule feet. The staging between Eugene and Tehama is three hundred and seventy-five miles, but work is progressing on both divisions of the road, and in twelve months it is supposed the staging will be reduced at least one half. The rain, snow and mud continued to greet us by day and night until we reached Jacksonville, Oregon, one hundred and fifty miles south of Eugene. This is quite a thriving village, and much of the country has been dug and worked by miners. Many are now waiting for rain. Some Chinamen by means of water wheels raise the water from the rivers into their ditches and flumes, and make fair wages, but gulch mining in this country is not profitable. The principal towns on this stage route are Jacksonville, Roseburg, Canyonville, Yreka, Red Bluffs and Tehama. There are many beautiful valleys, and the land seems very productive. At Roseburg we examined a farm of fifteen hundred acres prairie all fenced, and two hundred acres of rich agricultural land, the balance pasture with good barns and dwelling house, all of which was sold for five thousand dollars. In Northern California and Southern Oregon there are many nice sheep ranches, and farmers are generally engaged in that business. On the Siskiyou Mountains we found eighteen inches of snow, very cold and disagreeable. At the foot of these mountains on the south side there is a large post fixed in the ground around which is a huge pile of rock representing the state line. At the foot of these hills there are a few sheep ranches, and the summit is honored with a frontier hotel and toll gate. After crossing these mountains we had Concord coaches, six horses, fine roads and rapid traveling. Thirty-five miles north of Red Bluffs, we left the mail route and visited the old mining town of Shasta. The country about this city is diversified with hills, valleys and mountains, but very little timber. The town is in a dilapidated condition, but has many evidences of former prosperity. The gulches and valleys are full of ditches, old flumes, shanties and other evidences of a large mining population, but on account of the scarcity of water, mining in this region does not pay. "The Far West," Clay County Herald, Marshall, Illinois, January 5th, 1872, page 5 JACKSONVILLE,
The county seat of Jackson County, is the largest and
most flourishing town in Southern Oregon. It is located on the western
side of the celebrated Rogue River Valley, on the Portland and
Sacramento Stage Road, distant two hundred and ninety-five miles from
Portland, and three hundred and forty-seven miles from Sacramento. The
Portland and Sacramento stage passes through town daily, and semi-weekly
stages leave for Crescent City, California, a seaport town about one
hundred and twenty miles distant, containing six hundred inhabitants,
and whose harbor is the natural port for the shipments and imports of a
large and fertile region, inland. Jacksonville contains between six and
seven hundred inhabitants; and, as it is the center of a rich
agricultural, stock raising and mining district, and commands the entire
trade of the valley, its business interests are of considerable
importance. Formerly, it was entirely dependent for support upon the
product of the mines in the immediate vicinity, which still give
employment to a large number of miners, and will continue to be an
important interest to the town for many years. It contains many handsome
buildings within its corporate limits, and is justly celebrated for the
salubrity of its climate and the beauty of the surrounding scenery.The beautiful and fertile Rogue River Valley spreads out on each side of the river, and comprises almost all the agricultural land of Jackson County. Since its first occupation in 1852, the crops have always been good. At the lower end of the valley the river becomes an impetuous torrent, rushing through narrow gorges and over steep declivities, rendering navigation impossible, and making the inhabitants depend upon Crescent City for their supplies of groceries and such other articles as they do not produce themselves. The inhabitants of Jackson County number between five and six thousand. Much of its land is admirably adapted to stock raising, and its mountains are clothed with forests of magnificent timber. The creeks and rivers abound with fish, and the woods, prairies, etc., with elk, antelope and various kinds of small game. Its mines of gold and silver have been successfully worked since 1852, and new discoveries are being constantly made. Deposits of copper, iron and coal have also been discovered, but remain only partially prospected. At salt springs existing in the county, salt of a superior quality is manufactured and finds favor in many of the markets of Southern Oregon and California. Farming land can be bought for from five to ten dollars per acre, and good government land can also be obtained in many portions of the county. The assessable property is valued at $1,500,000. The Traveler's Guide and Oregon Railroad Gazetteer, Portland, July 1872, pages 24-26
A well-known, but not popular writer, as far as the will of Oregon
goes, once wrote, when on the tour of the Pacific, that California
ended and Oregon began where white sugar failed and a brown Kanaka
article was substituted. This is, perhaps, fiction; but it is safe to
say that even the Chinese wall does not divide two more distinct
peoples than did the Siskiyou Mountains, until within a very few years.
And, even now, after the infusion of the new life, the original Chinook
or Cayuse Oregonian--a transplanted cross of Pike and Posey
County--remains, as uninformed and unaffected as the Chinaman, after
twenty years' contact with the Yankee.
These people held, by donation of the government, all the best portions of the state; every head of a family holding 640 acres, as a rule. They put up log cabins, fenced in a calf pasture and a cabbage patch, turned their stock loose on the native meadows, and, living on the increase of the same, reared as idle and worthless a generation as ever the sun went down upon. The old men trapped, traded in stock, ate, smoked, and slept, were very hospitable in their way, and, no doubt, were happy. The young men wore long hair, rode spotted cayuse horses; in fact, lived mostly on horseback, and mixed largely with the Indians. True, there were many men of enterprise, education, and all that, in this country--skilled mechanics, fine farmers, good lawyers, and sound men generally, who held and still hold high places in the state; but, as a rule, the old Oregonian was and is a distinct and singular individual. This is the manner of man I found on the Willamette, twenty years ago. Twenty years ago, the old Oregonian, with his cattle on a hundred hills, had neither butter nor milk on his table, save that which he bought of his neighbor, the newly arrived immigrant. He is the same today--improvident and uncivilized. The first one you encounter is on the Oregon side of the Siskiyou Mountains. He stands in the door as the stage passes, with his hands in his pockets, patches on his knees, and with three or four blue-haired children clinging to his legs and staring at the great stagecoach. He wears a broad slouch hat, long hair, and looks as though he had just got out of bed, and is only half awake. But what will attract your attention at this first house in Oregon is the immense sign that stretches across the toll road. We pass under it as under a great gateway on entering an ancient city. The letters are so large and prominent that they suggest a popular text in holy writ: "T-O-L-E ROAD." "What does that mean?" Charley Robinson, who held the lines at my elbow, again snapped the silk at his leaders, and, lifting his head to the great Rogue River Valley before us, said, "That means we are in Oregon." Oregon is an anomaly. With a population made up largely of such people, she has always had some man in Congress who was, in his day, a power in the land. Here you pass a house that stands in a little pen, mossy with age. In it a generation has been born and raised, yet it has never had a window. Get into the house, if you can for the dogs and deer skins under your feet, and there you find an order of things not much above the simple siwash. The next house you pass, perhaps, will be a model of architecture and rural ornamentation, with people polite and progressive. And so it goes. Oregon is wonderfully mixed. The best and the worst of men; the sunniest and wettest of weather, and the first and most worthless livestock in the world. Rogue River Valley, which mainly lies away from that stream to the south, on Bear River, is a staid, sweet place. Rains are less frequent here than farther on, and many accept it as a compromise between the droughts of California and the great rains of the Willamette, and are not to be allured away, although it is now the most isolated portion of the state. Joaquin
Miller, "A Ride Through Oregon," Overland
Monthly, April 1872, page 303
Description of Oregon.
The following letter, written by Mr. D. R. B. Winniford, a native, we believe, of this county, and son of Mr. David Winniford, will be found exceedingly interesting:WILBUR, DOUGLAS CO., OREGON,
I made a start for this state on the 6th October last, passing over the
Memphis & Chattanooga Railroad to Corinth, Miss. Here our party
stopped from 5 o'clock p.m. till 11 a.m. the following day. We then
came by the Mobile & Ohio Railroad to Columbus, Ky. From this point
we traveled by the Iron Mountain Railroad to St. Louis. Here we were
detained from 9 o'clock a.m. till 7 o'clock p.m. We then came by the
North Missouri Railroad to Pacific Junction. From thence to Omaha, by
Kansas City, St. Jo. and Council Bluff Railroad. At Omaha we stopped 24
hours. This is a beautiful and prosperous city. We stopped at the
Wyoming Hotel, a very excellent place, with good fare and polite and
accommodating landlord and attendants. Here we strike the Union Pacific
road. Traveling over this road, one has but little time to make
observations of the country--only enough to see wide-spreading plains
and rolling prairies, as far as vision can reach, with now and then a
small farmhouse, evidently occupied by some hardy emigrant who has left
the more populous parts of the country and settled where he can have
wide and free range for his stock, and plenty of rich soil to
cultivate. As we passed along down the North Platte River, quite a
number of buffaloes were seen in the distance, quietly grazing upon the
lowlands. The tourist passing over this road to San Francisco will find
the trip the most delightful on the continent. The beauties of the
Grand Valley of the Platte, the grandeur of the scene at Sherman, the
highest point in the world reached by the iron horse, 8,242 feet above
the level of the sea, the grand park of Laramie plains, and the
wonderful wall of Echo and Weber canons, whose wild and weird scenery,
so majestic, so awe-inspiring in their sublimity, are unsurpassed in
the world. Great Salt Lake, that spreads its beautiful surface for
miles along the road, is among the many attractions of this route.
Passing over the Sierra Nevadas, the scenery is very
magnificent. Donner Lake, lying in the lap of this range, deserves
particular notice, from the fact of its having been the scene of great
suffering and death. A large party of emigrants bearing the name of the
Donner party,
from whence it takes its name, on their way to California in 1846,
stopped here a few days to rest, and were snowed in, the snow falling
to the depth of 20 feet. They were compelled to kill their cattle and
mules to eat. After these were consumed, and still the snow continued,
they had to resort to the horrible fate of eating one another, drawing
lots for each victim. Only four escaped to tell the sad tale. [The drawing of lots was proposed, but not done. Forty-eight survived.]
The water of this lake is so clear you can see a five-cent piece on the
bottom where it is fifty feet deep. I am told that near the center it
has been sounded 2,000 feet and no bottom found. [The lake is 238 feet deep.]
It is about one mile in width by three in length. The highest point of
these mountains over which the cars run is 7,042 feet above the level
of the sea. We arrived at San Francisco, the grand metropolis of the
West, on the 18th of October, and spent two days in the city. We then
took passage on the steamer Pacific,
and came up to Umpqua, stopping at intermediate points, and landed at
Gardiner City, a small town at the mouth of the harbor, very tired and
seasick, after which we came by land to this point. So much for my
trip; I will now endeavor to give you a truthful description of Oregon,
so far as I have seen and have been able to gather from reliable
sources.March 3rd, 1872. The astronomical position of the state is between the degrees of 42 and 46, 20 min. latitude and 116 deg., 30 min. and 124 deg., 30 min. longitude, with an area of 95,274 square miles, or in round numbers, 61,000,000 acres of land. Of this 25,000,000 may be classed as fit for cultivation, the remainder being forest and grazing lands, lakes, rivers and mountain peaks, above the region of vegetation. The physical features of Oregon are forest-clothed and snow-capped mountains, deep and fertile valleys, noble rivers and rolling plains. The Coast Range running near the coast protects the interior from the northwest winds, and the picturesque Cascades, with the towering peaks of Jefferson and Hood standing as sentinels along its high walls, separate the low valleys from the elevated plateau of the east. The great valleys are Umpqua, Rogue River and Willamette, the latter being the largest, having a breadth of 40 miles by 200 miles in length. Three mountain chains pass through Oregon from north to south, parallel to the ocean line. The Coast Range is from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high, and has its main summit about 20 miles from the sea. The Cascades, or snowy range, is from 4,000 to 7,000 feet high, with several peaks rising much higher, and the Blue Mountains, about 4,000 feet high, fifty miles from the eastern boundary of the state. The Cascade Range forms the principal topographical feature of Oregon. It divides the state into two main divisions, widely different from each other in soil, climate, vegetation productions and general resources. The snow peaks, which rise far above the level of the adjacent mountains, are prominent features of the Oregonian landscapes. Of these, the most prominent is Mount Hood, 13,000 feet high, Mount Jefferson, 11,000 feet high, the Three Sisters, 11,000 feet high. RIVERS AND LAKES.
The chief river of Oregon is the Columbia, which forms the northern
boundary of the state for 300 miles, and is for purposes of navigation
the most valuable stream on the Pacific Slope of the New World. The
Columbia is one of the great rivers of the world--great in width and
length, having a thousand miles of channel navigable for steamboats. At
the Cascades, 140 miles from the ocean, navigation is interrupted.
There is a portage of 6 miles by railroad, and again 190 miles from the
ocean at the Dalles, where there is a railroad fourteen miles long. The
Willamette River empties into the Columbia 100 miles from its mouth,
and is navigable for steamboats 150 miles. The Umpqua and Rogue are
large rivers, which rise in the Cascade Range, south of the Willamette
Valley and, breaking through the coast mountains, empty into the ocean.
Snake River, the main tributary of the Columbia, and a very large
stream, varying in width from a quarter to a mile, is the eastern
boundary of the state for about 175 miles. The tributaries of Snake
River in Oregon are the Owyhee, Powder, Malheur and Grande Ronde
rivers. In Southern and Southeastern Oregon there are numerous lakes,
among which the principal are Klamath, Summer, Abert, Harvey, Malheur
and Christmas lakes. Klamath, the largest, is 20 miles long and 4 miles
wide.RAIN.
The Cascade Range divides Oregon into two meteorological districts, so
different that each must be considered as entirely distinct from the
other. Western Oregon has a very mild climate, cool in the summer, dry
in the fall, and not cold but very wet in the winter. The quantity of
rain is greatest near the ocean, but gradually decreases as we go
inland. At Portland the rainfall is forty-five inches, and is confined
chiefly to the winter months, though there is always enough moisture in
the summer to keep vegetation green and vigorous. In the Umpqua and
Rogue River valleys the rainfall is less.TEMPERATURE.
The mean temperature at Astoria is 43 deg. in January and 61 deg. in
July, At Port Orford, in latitude 42 deg., 44 min., January has a mean
of 48 deg. and July 61 deg. As we go inland the heat of summer and cold
of winter increase. Eastern Oregon generally has a dry year, a hot
summer and cold winter. We may say in general terms that Western Oregon
has thirty inches more rain in the year, and twenty degrees more warmth
in winter, than Eastern Oregon. The climate in both divisions of the
state is salubrious. Fevers and epidemic diseases are rare, and the
people generally have robust health, No settled part of the state has
been visited since white men have lived there by an earthquake, tornado
or violent hailstorm.PUBLIC LANDS.
The federal government has given 3,375,786 acres of land to the state
for educational purposes, and 500,000 acres for public buildings;
reserved 1,040,000 acres for Indians; given and sold 3,000,000 to
individuals for settlement; granted 1,813,000 acres to assist the
construction of wagon roads; granted 4,500,000 acres to assist the
construction of the Oregon & California Railroad, and 3,200,000
acres to assist the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The
aggregate of the sales and gifts is 17,278,786 acres, or nearly
one-third the area of the state. The grant to the Oregon &
California Railroad Company extends from the Columbia River to the
southern boundary of the state, through the heart of the western
division, and is of great value. The land is offered for sale to
settlers by the European and Oregon Land Company, at very fair price,
ranging from $1.25 to 5.00 per acre. In the Willamette Valley prices
range, for improved farms, from $5 to $40 per acre. Many of the people
are ready to sell, and those who have cash to spare can find great
bargains in Eastern Oregon. Large areas of excellent land can be
purchased at the government minimum price of $1.25 per acre. In Coos
and Curry counties, lying between the Coast Range and the ocean, is a
quantity of very fine land subject to homestead or pre-emption,
generally covered with a dense growth of timber, composed of fir, ash,
maple and myrtle.RAILROADS.
Provisions have been made to connect Oregon with the Middle and North
Pacific railroads. Congress has given 12,800 acres per mile for the
construction of a railroad from Portland to Sacramento, a distance of
600 miles, and the cars are running two-fifths of the distance, the
road being about one hundred miles from the ocean, and parallel in
general course with its shore. The Northern Pacific Railroad is to come
down the valley of the Columbia River, on the north side to Portland or
vicinity; and to that 25,600 acres of federal land has been given for
each mile of the line. There are some other [rail]roads of minor
importance in the state.TIMBER.
Western Oregon is abundantly supplied with timber. The hills and
mountains are covered with dense forests of large conifers, which
extend into the bottom lands and there mingle with deciduous trees. The
most valuable and also the most abundant trees of the state are the red
and yellow fir. They frequently reach a height of 250 feet; and a
thickness of eight feet in the trunk. The wood is hard and strong, and
makes excellent frames for houses and frames and planking for ships,
but it is too rough for finishing the inside or even the outside of
houses to advantage. Finishing lumber is supplied by the pine and
Oregon cedar, both of which grow about as large as the firs. The yew
and juniper give variety to the evergreen forests. Deciduous trees are
few comparatively, the most common being oak, ash and alder. Neither
the oak nor ash timber of Oregon is equal, in strength or elasticity,
to that of the middle and eastern states. No hickory, black walnut,
poplar or wild cherry is procurable without importation.AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
The agricultural productions in 1869, the latest year for which we have
statistics on that point, included 1,750,000 bushels of wheat, worth
$1,750,000; 500,000 bushels of oats, worth $270,000; 500,000 bushels of
potatoes, worth $300,000; 200,000 bushels of maize, worth $200,000;
200,000 bushels of barley, worth $200,000; 5,200 bushels of rye, worth
$5,200, and 75,000 tons of hay, worth $637,000, making a total value of
these articles of $3,112,200. Of butter, 1,000,000 pounds were made,
and of cheese 105,279 pounds. The wool clip of Oregon for the year
ending June, 1870, was 1,080,269 pounds. Oregon is noted for the
abundance and excellence of its apples; the annual yield averages
800,000 bushels, or more than 200 pounds a year for every person in the
state. The climate of Western Oregon is well adapted to pears, quinces,
plums, gooseberries and currants; grapes, peaches and apricots thrive
in Rogue River Valley, but not in other parts of the state, where there
is too much cold or moisture. The wheat is of excellent quality, and is
considered a sure crop, and is the main agricultural export.FISHERIES.
The rivers of Oregon have a variety of fish, of which the most
important is salmon, and of these there are half a dozen different
species, all large, palatable and valuable for exportation. This fish
weighs from 15 to 25 pounds each, and can be purchased in the fishing
season at 1 cent per pound. Sturgeon, halibut, flounder, cod, herring
and smelt are also found in the rivers or near the coast, besides many
other fishes of less value.POPULATION.
The population in 1870 was 90,923, and is probably not less [than]
96,000 now, or a little more than one person to the square mile; it is,
however, very unevenly distributed, the largest proportion, or 60,000,
living in the Willamette Valley. The following is the population of
some of the principal towns, as reported by the census of 1870:
Portland, 8,293; Salem, the capital of the state, 3,981; Albany, 1,992;
Dalles, 1,542; Oregon City, 1,382; McMinnville, 1,125; Lebanon, 1,012;
Walla Walla, 900; Eugene, 891; East Portland, 830. In the towns most of
the adult people are New Yorkers and New Englanders, and in the country
mostly natives of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and adjacent states, and
are people of strong character and enterprise, as might be inferred
from the condition under which the country was settled; they are kind,
sociable and hospitable. The Indians were formerly numerous in Oregon,
but the present number is small, and all are friendly with the whites.MINING.
Oregon abounds in mineral wealth throughout its entire extent. The gold
placers of the southern part have been worked since 1850, yielding
about $2,000,000 annually. Silver, copper, lead, coal, iron and salt
are found in large quantities. Coos Bay sends 20,000 tons of coal to
San Francisco annually. Thus it will be seen that Oregon is rich in
minerals. Just here, though a little out of place, I will say that
Eastern Oregon is preeminently a stock-raising country, though good
crops of wheat, oats and barley are raised in the Rogue River Valley.
All the cereals, potatoes, and the grasses attain a high degree of
perfection. Throughout the western part of the state wheat is a sure
crop; neither drought, rust, blight, nor the ravages of insects have
ever affected its growth. Only twice during a period of thirty years
was there rain enough in harvest time to damage the crops. The quality
of the grain is superior, and attains to more than the ordinary weight
per bushel. The yield per acre ranges from 20 to 40 bushels. Oats is
the principal crop raised for feed; it is always a sure crop, yielding
from 50 to 100 bushels per acre, and commands from 10 to 15 cents more
per hundred pounds in San Francisco than California oats.EDUCATION AND LAWS.
The state has made liberal provisions for the maintenance of free
public schools in every district, and the cause of education is in no
danger of being neglected.The state has a specific contract, under which written promises to pay debts in any special kind of money are enforced, and under this law, gold is the common currency, federal treasury notes being regarded rather as merchandise. No local bank issues paper money. The legal rate of interest is ten percent per annum, though agreements for one percent per month is valid. The state has very little debt, and most of the counties are out of debt. Neither the state nor any county or city can, under the constitution, become a stockholder in, or lend its credit or give aid to, any corporation. I must now bring this long letter to a close. In the future I may give you some more particulars in regard to our state. The foregoing are facts, and may be relied on. The Virginian, Abingdon, Virginia, May 3, 1872, page 1
CHAPTER XIX.
Rogue River Valley, like the Umpqua,
extends from the Cascade Range to the sea, embracing all the country
drained by Rogue River and its tributaries. It has the Umpqua Mountains
on the north, the Siskiyou Mountains on the south, and is the most
southern division of Western Oregon. This valley, like the
Umpqua, is an aggregation of smaller valleys, divided by rolling hills,
and the whole encircled by elevated mountain ranges. The Rogue River is
not navigable any great distance from its mouth, owing to the numerous
rapids and falls with which it abounds, but for the same reason
furnishes abundant water power. Ocean steamers can enter and carry
freight as far up as Ellensburg. It is a stream of unsurpassed beauty,
with water as blue as a clear sky, and banks overhung, in some places,
with wild trees, shaggy cliffs, and in others by thickets of grape
vines and blossoming shrubbery.ROGUE RIVER VALLEY. About half a mile off the road to Jacksonville is a fall one hundred and fifty feet in height, down which the river plunges, between rocky cliffs, into a basin in the gorge below, and then rushes roaring over its rocky bed, for some distance, through a deep and narrow ravine--the whole forming one of the most beautiful of the many beautiful wild scenes in this altogether picturesque country. It is not claimed that there is as great an amount of rich alluvial soil in this section of Oregon as in the valleys north of it. It is rather more elevated, drier, and on the whole more adapted to grazing than to the growth of cereals. Still, there is enough of rich land to supply its own population, however dense, and for fruit-growing no better soil need be looked for. A sort of compromise between the dryness of California and the moisture of Northern Oregon and Washington--warmer than the latter, from its more southern latitude, yet not too warm by reason of its altitude--the climate of this valley renders it most desirable. Midway between San Francisco Bay and the Columbia River, what with its own fruitfulness, and the productions of the Willamette and Sacramento valleys on either hand, within a few hours by railway carriage--the markets of the Rogue River Valley can be freshly supplied with both temperate and semitropical luxuries. The grape, peach, apricot and nectarine, which are cultivated with difficulty in the Willamette Valley, thrive excellently in this more high and southern location. The creek bottoms produce Indian corn, tobacco, and vegetables equally well, and the more elevated plateaux produce wheat of excellent quality, and large quantity, where they have been cultivated; still, as before stated, this valley is commonly understood to be a stock-raising, fruit, and wool-growing country--perhaps because that kind of farming is at once easy and lucrative--and because so good a market for fruit, beef, mutton, bacon and dairy products has always existed in the mines of this valley and California. The placer mines of Rogue River Valley continued to yield gold in paying quantities to white men for about twelve years, since when the diggings have chiefly been abandoned to Chinamen, who are content with smaller profits. Quartz leads bearing gold, copper and silver mines are known to exist in this valley, as well as lead, iron and coal mines, but the limited capital of the inhabitants and the greater security of other means of living have caused them to remain undeveloped. Like every part of the Pacific Coast, this valley has its mineral springs, and like all the rest of Oregon, its trout streams, its fine forests, game, and abundance of good, soft water. No local causes for disease seem to exist here, and with care to avoid the miasma always arising from freshly broken ground, we cannot conceive of a country more naturally healthful, or in every way pleasant to live in. The Rogue River Valley is divided into three counties--Jackson, Josephine and Curry. Jackson County covers an area of 11,556 square miles and has a population of 4,759, about fifteen thousand acres of cultivated land, and assessable property to the amount of $1,500,000. The price of farming land is from five to ten dollars per acre. Jacksonville, the county seat of Jackson County, with a population of one thousand, is located at the head of a valley forty miles long by about twelve wide, near the foot of the Siskiyou Mountains, in a romantic and beautiful situation. It is a thriving business place, being the point of exchange between the mining and the agricultural population. Ashland, the second town in the county, sixteen miles southeast of Jacksonville, has a fine water power and a woolen mill erected upon it, which manufactures blankets, flannels and cassimeres. A flouring mill and two lumber mills, are also located here, besides a marble factory and machine shop--showing the manufacturing enterprise of a small community. The marble used here is taken from a quarry close by and is of a good quality. It is sparkling, white, hard and translucent looking like a conglomerate of large crystals. It is sawed by water power, the saw only penetrating about three inches per day. Josephine County embraces 2,500 square miles of the more mountainous middle division of the Rogue River Valley. Only about six thousand acres have been put under cultivation. Its population is disproportionately large when the amount of land cultivated is considered, which only proves that its principal wealth is presumed to consist in its mines of gold, silver and copper. Mining has been carried on with profit for about ten years and the enterprise of some companies in turning the water out of the beds of some of the streams has lately opened up rich placers of gold and given a new impetus to gold mining. Copper mining has not been so successful, chiefly on account of the purity of the metal, making it difficult to work. Another obstacle is want of transportation for the ore to any port or shipping point. This latter obstacle to mining operations is one that time and capital will remove. The chief mining localities are on Josephine, Althouse, Sucker and other tributary creeks flowing into the Illinois River, itself a tributary of Rogue River. Owing to the shifting nature of mining populations everywhere, Josephine County has less assessable property than other portions of the country. Yet it is one of the most delightful parts of Oregon, with grand mountains and quiet, fertile valleys lying between beautiful slopes, with oak groves looking like old orchards and open woods of the noble sugar pine, with abundant wild fruits and flowers, balmy airs and odors of sweet-scented violets. ''It is," a lady said to us, "a paradise of beauty, where, if one had one's friends, life would be as charming as could be desired." Kirbyville is the shire town of Josephine County, situated on the Illinois River, and doing the business of a flourishing country town. Several other places of minor importance are located on the different streams. Educational and religious privileges have not kept pace with other improvements in this part of the Rogue River Valley, for the same reason that renders all mining localities inattentive to such matters--the want of a permanent population. They wait for an influx of steady-going settlers with families, a great number of whom could find delightful homes in Josephine County, at government prices, or under the homestead law. Curry County differs from Josephine in being more heavily timbered, as the mountains nearest the coast are always found to be. In among the mountains are some small prairies, and others are found extending along the sea shore. The soil everywhere is highly productive, but owing to the great preponderance of lumbering and mineral interests, this county will not become notable for agriculture, though it might be esteemed an excellent fruit or dairy country. Its population is small, on account of its inaccessibility. The present population follow gold mining, chiefly on the ocean beach, where is an inexhaustible mine, which the winter winds and tides throw up each year for the work of the following summer. The gold which is everywhere found on the coast of Oregon, but more particularly this southern portion, conclusively proves that deposits of the precious metal exist in the Cascade or Coast mountains, or both. That which is found at the mouth of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers might have been washed from the Cascade Range, as those rivers rise there. But farther north, on the coast, where the streams all rise in the Coast Range, gold is also found, though it has not been mined, as in these localities it has. In fact, the ''color" may be "raised" in almost any stream in Oregon, and we have seen it taken out of the gravel in a well which was being dug in Portland. Curry County is well supplied with game and fish. Its splendid cedar forests are worth more than a gold mine to whoever will convert them into lumber. Cedar trees that have not a limb on them for a hundred feet, and from three to eight feet in diameter, are not uncommon. Port Orford, the only port of the Rogue River Valley, is in this county and also Cape Blanco, the westernmost point in Oregon. There is good harborage at Port Orford and water enough for such vessels as are used in the lumber trade. In fair weather, the ocean steamers sometimes call here. A road is built across the mountains from the port into the Umpqua Valley, so that, with some improvements, Curry County might be brought into note for its natural productions, instead of being considered too far out of the world to be habitable. Ellensburg is the county seat. Curry County shares, in common with all the coast country, a climate superior in some respects to the valleys. The changes in temperature are less than in the interior, being cooler in summer and warmer in winter. The sea fogs keep the vegetation forever green, and miasmatic diseases are unknown. These are certainly advantages not to be condemned. The settlers in the valleys would like to live on the coast, if it were not for the mountains between it and their fertile prairies. Yet, it is just by these mountains that the climate of each division is made what it is--partially confining the sea fogs and winds to the coast, by which one is made cool and moist, while the other is comparatively warm and dry. Frances Fuller Victor, All Over Oregon and Washington, 1872 San Francisco, page 217 After leaving behind Lower Klamath Lake, in a couple of days one sees rising in the blue air the singular form of Pilot Knob, an elevation of the Siskiyou Mountains which, becoming a landmark to immigrants journeying to Oregon, has attained its name. This rock is a great mass of black volcanic substance, which rises perpendicularly from the mountain-crest. The Siskiyou Range has here an elevation of twenty-five hundred feet, and the knob is about five hundred feet higher; but its singularity has led to great exaggeration, and many travelers have spoken of it as eighteen hundred feet high, and of the Siskiyou Mountains as next to Shasta in importance. This is simply ridiculous. The aspect of the pass is not very prepossessing. The volcanic origin of the mountains all through this region accounts for their singular lack of beauty. The angles are so sharp that the earth which covers their skeletons cannot adhere, and comes off in great landslides, leaving the mountainsides bare and exposed. But the trees which skirt the base of the hills are very beautiful. Every step toward Oregon from this point seems to increase the size of the forests. The trees grow thicker together, and the firs and pines are larger. There are also birches, balsams, ashes, spruces, and other trees of northern climates, and it must be noted that the number and size of the firs is continually increasing, until they predominate over the pines. There is no lack of oaks, too, through these valleys, and the wagon trail often winds through groves that are parklike in the beauty of their natural arrangement; for there is this singularity about the oaks of this region, that they grow in groups or clumps, with just such distance between them as permits the fullest development of each individual, and yet preserves them in masses of the highest beauty. No landscape gardener has completed his education who has not studied the oaks of Northern California. The mistletoe is found here also in immense quantities, and one sees occasionally trees that have perished from its embrace. But this appears to be only when the tree from some other cause had received a shock to its vitality. Healthy trees do not suffer from the clasp of the parasite, and one observes continually oaks whose lower trunks are one mass of mistletoe, without any injury or loss of strength. William Cullen Bryant, ed., Picturesque America, or, The Land We Live In, 1872, vol. 1, page 426 On Tuesday last I joined an excursion from this city to Roseburg on the South Fork of Umpqua River in the southern part of Oregon. It was a "pleasure" excursion, "so called." but I observed in this, as in many former experiences, that the pursuit of pleasure is of itself a severe labor. The distance of 180 miles to Oakland was accomplished in nine hours and three quarters by the train of the Oregon and California Railway, ascending the beautiful valley of the Willamette River. Thence, the journey was accomplished to Roseburg, 18 miles, in less than three hours, by the old-fashion stagecoach such as the people of Milledgeville traveled in to Macon and to Augusta in pre-railroad times. The excursion party was large, but ample facilities were provided. The only "squeeze" was on the stagecoach, and there I happened to be seated next to one of the blooming belles of Oregon. I like squeezes of that kind, but I did not see much of the scenery outside, being occupied in studying the scenery within the coach. Along the Willamette Valley striking evidences of improvement are visible. Fine residences are taking the place of log cabins. Large barns are becoming plenteous; and the waving wheat fields and the rich meadows promise that they shall be well filled. The Oregon & California Railway passes along the eastern side of the river (which river, contrary to American usage, runs northwardly) through as beautiful and picturesque a country as exists on the globe, traversing the counties of Clackamas, Marion, Linn, Lane, Umpqua, and entering Douglas. The latter two counties are on the waters of the Umpqua River, the railway passing from one valley to the other through a mountain gorge in the Calapooia Mountains. Nineteen miles below this "divide" is a spot notable in the history of Oregon. It is Yoncalla, the home of Jesse Applegate, the Addison and the Boone of Southern Oregon whose pioneering adventures are historical, and whose vigorous and polished pen long ago received the praise of masterly expression and graceful finish from the lips of Benton, the Father of the Senate in his day. His home near the railway is beautifully situated in a grove of monarch oaks and other trees which he has permitted no vandal ax to mangle or destroy. They were there when he first saw the spot forty years ago, and there they will remain while he and mortal lile remains. One point in the railway gave rise to much merriment among the impudent male excursionists and their blushing fair companions. The road ascends a steep at "Rice Hill," curving upon itself almost to a "double," and on a steep up-grade making progress slow and laborious. This curve has been appropriately named "The Grecian Bend." This great line of railway, as its name indicates, is destined at no distant day to connect with the California system of railways. A journey from this city to San Francisco will then be a mere trifle in the way of travel. I must not consume the valuable space in your Federal Union with longer descriptions of our excursion. Suffice it to say that we all returned to this city safely--none suffering worse damage than a few sentimental young men who appear to be Heart-Hungry ever since. Joe Baldwin, "Our Letter from Oregon," Federal Union, Milledgeville, Georgia, August 14, 1872, page 1 Our ride today was a pleasant surprise; we had no rugged mountains to cross, and the coach was quite comfortable. Soon after leaving the Klamath we enter Oregon, and the impression given on this road is that the state is covered by one immense and gloomy forest. In places the very daylight seemed to vanish into a mild twilight, and, in the few "clearings" we passed through, the sunshine was novel and enjoyable. After noon the country began to show signs of improvement; settlers' cabins became numerous, and, after running down a narrow cañon, we come out into the beautiful valley of Rogue River. Here is said to be the finest climate in Oregon, and to wearied passengers just over the mountains the sight was like a revelation of beauty. Where we enter, the valley is no more than two miles wide, but, as we go down, it widens gradually to five, thirteen or twenty, while on every hand appear fine farms, thrifty orchards, great piles of red and yellow apples of wondrous size, barns full of wheat and fine stock, and we feel with delight that we are out of the mountains and "in the settlements." Though far retired from the road, the mountains still appear rugged and lofty, sending out a succession of lofty spurs--one every two or three miles--and between these, far back into the hills, extend most beautiful coves in long fan-like shapes. The air was mild, the roads firm and smooth, and the coach rolled along with just enough of motion to give variety--and appetite. Everybody and everything we saw had the unmistakable "Oregon look." We were among the "Webfeet" at last, and a comely race they are, if I may judge from the plump forms and fresh, clear complexions I saw on this part of the route. The climate had no suggestions of extra dampness, the sky was clear and the air cool and dry, with the general features of Indian summer in Ohio. Double plows were running in many of the fields, "breaking fallow for spring wheat," the natives said, and the apples, just gathered, were lying in heaps, to be stored away the last of the month, allowing that no freeze is to be apprehended before December. Though not extensive, this is one of the finest valleys in Oregon, and well settled. Land appears to be as high as in the rural districts of Indiana. All the farmers whom I questioned at the stations held theirs at fifty or sixty dollars per acre. "The Way to Oregon," Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, December 5, 1872, page 2 Our San Francisco Letter.
Yreka--Its Past, Present and Future--Siskiyou Mountains--Politics by the Wayside--Story of the "Lop-Eared, Web-Footed Oregon Pike Member of the Legislature?--Overshot vs. Turbine Wheels for Running Academies--Rogue River Valley and its Early Settlement--Ashland and Jacksonville--Indian Battles and Massacres--A Lofty Waterfall--Agriculture and Horticulture--Valley of the Umpqua--Its Landscapes and Other Attractive Beauties--Canyonville and Roseburg--Bad Roads--The Lowest Deep Has a Lower Still--Stagecoach Moralizing, etc. San Francisco, December 25, 1872.
To the Editor of the Herald:A moonlight midnight is unfavorable to observation, yet, from what I saw of Yreka while passing through, and during the stoppage of half an hour at a very well-appointed hotel, I formed a pleasant opinion of its appearance and enterprise. It is not as flourishing now as in earlier years, before the placer mines were worked out, and the quartz broke to the hope the promise it made to the eye, but should the Oregon and California Railroad take Yreka in its route, as originally designed, there is a chance for it to become the center of an extensive country. This, I imagine, is its only hope for future growth, and since the idea has been conceived of constructing the railroad through the lake region, east of the Cascade Range, this hope has been gradually fading, so that when speaking of the railroad now, the Yrekian qualifies all visions with those discouraging words, "If the railroad comes!" Yreka is isolated, and the country around it, without facilities for transportation, is only cultivated for home supplies. There are 2,000 inhabitants here; they have built a handsome town, have fine public buildings and elegant residences, and it will go hard with them before they relax their efforts to obtain a business communication with the rest of the world. Eight miles beyond Yreka we commenced the ascent of Siskiyou Mountain. It was a slow, cold process, and we were glad to stop at Cole's, with the work half done, to partake of a good breakfast. We knew the mountain air had sharpened our appetites to the point of extreme eagerness. "It was a nipping and eager air," and reminded us forcibly of a midwinter ride which we took some years ago over Boulder Divide. Stopping at the Mountain House to change horses, we were much amused with the conversation which the landlord directed at us, concerning Oregon and Oregonians, generally. He, it seemed, had lived in California until within a year, and still retained all the prejudices incident to that location. "So," said he, "Greeley ain't elected after all. We supposed he was. Our precinct went for him by a large majority, and we thought that conclusive. Every man that could not read or write voted for the Democrats, and in Oregon that always carries the majority. We elected one of those lop-eared, web-footed Oregon Pikes to the Legislature. He had heard that new members held office two years, and he went down to Salem and engaged board for the whole period. He didn't find out his mistake until the Legislature adjourned after a session of a few weeks, and the state refused to pay him for any longer service. A lot of these amphibites have been building an academy down in Ashland, and ever since it was finished they have been trying to decide whether they will run it by an overshot or a turbine wheel. They've got mixed up on the question, and there's nineteen of 'em who expected to graduate in time to run for some office at the last election that have got to remain in ignorance until the question is decided. They expect when once in operation it will turn out about forty finished scholars a day." How much longer this kind of conversation would have continued we were deprived of knowing by the cry of "all aboard" from our driver, so bidding our hyperbolical friend "good morning," we resumed our descent into Rogue River Valley. To one who has seen the beautiful valleys of Montana, this valley in appearance is a failure. It has none of the landscape beauties of Gallatin or Deer Lodge, though skirted by the Cascades on the east, and bounded by lofty spurs on the north and south; Rogue River, so called because of the rogueries of the Indians in the early settlement, runs through the valley to the ocean. That part of the valley traversed by the stage road is well settled, farm houses are numerous and well appointed, large orchards stretch along the roadside, the ground is covered with decaying fruit, and farmers are everywhere visible putting in their fall crops. The improved face of the country presents a pleasing contrast to the wild and tenantless forest whence we have just emerged. Next to the pine, the black oak is now the most familiar tree. It grows all over the Oregon valleys in great profusion, and its bleaching foliage is spotted with the dark-green clusters of innumerable mistletoes. Another feature of the oak, new to eastern eyes, is the long, fibrous, pale-green moss depending the entire length of every limb, giving to the tree a strangely weird and unique appearance. Miniature forests stretching for miles, draped in this livery, occur at irregular intervals in all the valleys. These beautiful lichens and fungi are doubtless caused by the frequent rains of this region. We entered the valley upon the heels of a storm, which had passed over it a day or two before, and in our ride through it were able to form some opinion of Oregon mud. A ride of a few miles from the base of the mountain brought us to the pleasant little village of Ashland, with its neat, white dwellings, mills and stores. Here we fell in with a loquacious citizen, who, in answer to a few inquiries, betrayed such an ardent affection for Oregon, and for Ashland especially, that we found, in the brief period he was with us, we were receiving much more important information than we had bargained for. He pointed out to us the academy of which our friend on the mountain had spoken, a modest little building with a cupola, and assured us that it contained, as he supposed, the best furnished school room on the continent. Every other improvement in the town was extolled in equal phrase, so that when our informant left us we were in doubt which of us had been most successfully imposed upon. It was a sort of mutual thing all around. We listened with as much complacency as he related the wonders of the little world he lived in. An intelligent gentleman, who rode with us from Ashland to Jacksonville, and who was among the earliest settlers of the valley, entertained us with a detailed account of the Indian battles and massacres, which were more frequent and bloody in this than any other part of Oregon. He pointed out as we rode along the various sites of these early struggles of the whites and their sufferings, "all of which he saw, and part of which he was." The narrative was full of stories of thrilling adventure and fearful forays. "Beyond those tabular hills," said he, "was where Crook had his battle with the red devils in 1857, and a good whipping he gave them, but it was of little account. [Crook's Pit River Expedition did not extend into Oregon. The informant must be referring to General Lane's 1853 encounter in the battle on Evans Creek.] They kept us in hot water all the while. I once had a run of five miles for my life, with three Indians in close pursuit, over the very ground we are now passing. Arrows flew all around me, and when, finally, they saw my escape was effected, the leader among them praised my speed in good set terms, and in his Indian way said I deserved to escape for my good wind." As we crossed the bridge across the river, "right here," said our friend, in 1848, some thirty of us en route for the California gold diggings encountered a company of a hundred or more Indians. There was no bridge here then. We were fording with pack animals. There was no alternative but fight, and fight we did, killing over fifty of our assailants, and losing but a single man. But it was desperate work, and but for that ridge of rocks which prevented us from running away, I fancy we should all have been killed in attempting to escape. The best way always with Indians is to give fight at once and never run." Jacksonville, at the head of the valley, is the largest town in Southern Oregon. The scenery of mountain, rock and hill surrounding is romantic, interesting and full of variety. There is a cataract of 135 feet in the river, a few miles distant, which is said to possess many points of beauty. The town, the largest and handsomest we have seen since leaving Marysville, contains several fine churches, and a large number of neat, villa-like residences. It is growing rapidly, and is the point of exchange between the mining and agricultural population. It is 120 miles distant from Crescent City, a small seaport town, where shipments are made and freights received for a large and fertile inland country. The mines in the vicinity give employment to a great number of miners, and though they have ceased to be the only dependence of the town, they still form, and will continue to for many years, a very prosperous resource. In the seventy miles between Jacksonville and Canyonville we passed through several thriving settlements, and crossed Canyon Mountain into the beautiful valley of the Umpqua. There is a quiet landscape beauty to the scenery, which comes in admirable place after the ride through the Valley of Rogue River-- it is that of repose--as if nature had doffed her robes of rock and mountain and waterfall, and sought among these oak and maple groves, by the side of this gurgling stream, a rest from toil. The surface of the earth in this valley is nowhere smooth or level, but then its inequalities are just such as one would like to have who wished for hill and vale and forest in a home. The variety is all here, never reaching to grandeur or falling into insipidity, but preserving that mild beauty, which for all practical purposes is preferable to either. When within five miles of Roseburg our driver gravely informed us that we had passed over all the good road. He meant it literally, but we had, as we supposed, been riding for twelve hours over the most execrable road in the world, and the idea of finding beneath that "lowest deep a lower still," had never occurred to us. but it was true. We have encountered many bad roads in our time, but for depth, adhesiveness and impassable consistency, none ever tried our patience more grievously than this black mud of Oregon. Our six noble horses dragged us through, and at one o'clock in the afternoon, after a stage ride of four nights and three days, we drove up in front of the hotel in the little oak-embowered village of Roseburg, the present terminus of the Oregon and California Railroad. Notwithstanding the fatigue of this long journey, we left the stagecoach with regret. In no other conveyance could we have seen so much of the beautiful region through which we had passed, or learned so much of its history. The coach is the most sociable vehicle in the world. The bruises, with all other unpleasant memories, soon pass away, but the sights we have seen, the stories we have heard, the pleasant acquaintances we have formed, these remain, to be recalled with pleasure so long as life lasts. ALTER EGO.
Helena Weekly Herald, January 16, 1873, page 2Out of California into Oregon.
J. H. Beadle, traveling correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, who came by the overland route from California in November of the present year, has this for Southern Oregon:"Soon after leaving the Klamath we enter Oregon, and the impression given on this road is that the state is covered by one immense and gloomy forest. In places the very daylight seemed to vanish into a mild twilight, and, in the few 'clearings' we passed through, the sunshine was novel and enjoyable. After noon the country began to show signs of improvement; settlers' cabins became numerous, and, after running down a narrow canyon, we came out into the beautiful valley of Rogue River. Here is said to be the finest climate, and to wearied passengers just over the mountains the sight was like a revelation of beauty. Where we enter the valley it is no more than two miles wide, but as we go down it widens gradually to five, thirteen, twenty, while on every hand appear fine farms, thrifty orchards, great piles of red and yellow apples of wondrous size, barns full of wheat and fine stock, and we feel with delight that we are out of the mountains and in 'the settlements.' Though far retired from the road the mountains still appear rugged and lofty, sending out a succession of rocky spurs--one every two or three miles--and between these, far back into the hills, extend most beautiful coves in long fan-like shapes. The air was mild, the roads firm and smooth, and the coach rolled along with just enough of motion to give variety--and appetite. "Everybody and everything we saw had the unmistakable 'Oregon look.' We were among the 'webfeet' at last, and a comely race they are, if I may judge from the plump forms and fresh, red complexions I saw on this part of the route. The climate had no suggestions of extra dampness, the sky was clear and the air cool and dry, with the general features of Indian summer in Ohio. Double plows were running in many of the fields 'breaking fallow for spring wheat,' the natives said, and the apples, just gathered, were lying in heaps, to be stored away the last of the month, showing that no freeze is to be apprehended before December. Though not extensive, this is one of the finest valleys in Oregon, and well settled." Coming over into the Umpqua Valley. he says: "Driving hour after hour through the seemingly endless forests, often hidden from the sunlight in their somber shades, it seems strange that lumber should be scarce anywhere, for here is enough of it to supply the nation for a half a century. But the railroad is needed to make it available, and now that I have reached the terminus, the general opinion is that the Oregon and California line will not be built beyond this for some years. The same company own the road that own the principal line of ocean steamers from Portland to San Francisco, and it is freely stated that they only wanted the road to the head of the Willamette Valley to serve as a feeder to their ocean line, and that to construct it through would be only to make a rival for themselves. "At Canyonville we ran into the point where the river comes in from the east. Crossing it by an uneasy and dangerous bridge we travel down the east side of the valley the rest of the day, as the river then turns due north. Many clear and pretty streams dash down from the Cascade Range, cross our road and the valley and empty into the Umpqua. The valley is larger than that of the Rogue River, but the climate does not appear so genial. The Cascade Range, which is really but a northern continuation of the Sierra Nevadas, bends in more toward the coast, hence none of these valleys are so wide as the Sacramento and San Joaquin of California." Oregonian, Portland, December 27, 1872, page 2 Last revised October 3, 2024 |
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