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 Medford News 1942 Medford-related news items from
1942.
Old Fort Lane Some time ago we commented on the fact that many of our present army camps are situated near or on the sites of forts of the frontier days. One such is Camp White, not far from Medford in Oregon. The editor of the Mail Tribune of Medford, dipping into his history texts, has given us some of the story. "Commodiously, even handsomely, built. That is the description of the military establishment on the Agate Desert north of Medford. But, strange as it seems, this referred not to Camp White, the great cantonment which now spreads from the slopes of Table Rock to the hills of Antelope. It was, instead, a statement made nearly a century ago describing old Fort Lane, an army post built in 1853 and named after Oregon's first territorial governor and famous Indian fighter, Gen. Joseph Lane. Walling's 'History of Southern Oregon' told of the picturesque old fort in glowing terms. It was constructed of logs, as was the custom of the times, and boasted a parade grounds, barracks, officers' homes and an army hospital. Here were garrisoned the hardy United States army troops during the turbulent 1850s." "The Knave" editorial and feature section, Oakland Tribune, November 29, 1942, page B1 The Old "Big Sticky" "In a recent 'Knave' section, old Fort Lane, Camp White, Table Rock and Agate Desert were mentioned." It is Eph L. Musick of Newark[, California] speaking. "It has been said that many people must go away from home to learn neighborhood history. It has been more than half a century since I left my last home near Table Rock, and two of those names were were as unknown to me before November 29 as Revolutionary War terms were to Rip Van Winkle after his mountain sleep. My parents located near Table Rock, Oregon when Medford was little more than a sagebrush-surrounded depot, and my wife's parents settled in that town in the '90s. Neither, in my recollection, ever referred to Fort Lane, which is reported to have stood on or near the present site of Camp White, on Agate Desert. Mrs. Polly Foster and Mrs. Nancy Hunter were, according to their claims, the first and second respectively of the white women who settled in Rogue River Valley. I met the former first in Smith River in 1885 and the latter in Crescent City in 1888, and cannot recall ever having heard either mention Fort Lane in a hair-raising Indian story. What is now called Agate Desert was known only by me as 'Big Sticky.' The great number of agates on the desert, however, make the name Agate Desert more appropriate classically if not topographically. Medford is where it is for the same reason that Redding is in California. When Shasta town property owners asked the railroad company too much for a right of way, the company, according to early reports, ditched the old mining town and established Redding. Had the people of Jacksonville not made a similar mistake, it is probable that the town would have had the railroad routed through it. [Musick has the story upside down.] Unpublished History "The company routed the line through the center of the mountain valley," Musick continues, "thus arranging for the founding of Medford. Today Redding and Medford are thriving cities, while Old Shasta and 'Jacktown' are listed among the ghost towns. But there had been a fort in Rogue River Valley. Its whereabouts is not so important as the reason for its having been there, and herewith 'Knave' readers will be given a bit of unpublished history of early days in the West. When the discovery of gold at Sutter's Fort reached Oregon Territory, a company of pioneers traveled overland to the California mines. On arrival at the north end of Rogue River Valley, the company made camp near Table Rock. One member of the company was Ephraim Cannon Catching. His story of what happened at that camp as told to me more than forty years ago was about as follows: 'While we were busy with our camp arrangements, friendly Indians, some of whom had never seen white men before, gathered around and watched everything we did, but they did not bother anybody. Suddenly, and without provocation, a foolhardy member of our party fired his rifle at an Indian standing apart at a distance. The Indian fell dead, and a panic followed. The Indians swarmed around and demanded that the murderer be turned over to them for punishment. After considerable wrangling among us, we took a vote on what the Indians demanded. A majority voted to protect the murderer. I voted the other way.' Right there began the Rogue River War which took the lives of hundreds of whites and Indians and which cost this country millions of dollars. Catching was the first white settler in Coos County, Oregon, where he founded the town of Myrtle Point. He married late in life and became the father of thirteen children, one of whom, Mrs. Rose Crocker, lives in San Francisco. Every year hundreds of 'Knave' readers drive their automobiles the full length of the old farm, perhaps with never so much as a glance at his lonely grave at the top of a knoll a few rods away." "The Knave" editorial and feature section, Oakland Tribune, December 27, 1942, page B1 Last revised December 9, 2019 |
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