"Phoenix, in Southern Oregon, was originally named Gasburg," writes Fred Lockley, feature writer of the Portland Journal, in a sketch about that well-known Rogue River Valley village and its founders, in Tuesday's issue of that publication.
    "Samuel Colver took up a donation land claim in the fall of 1851, on which the town of Phoenix was later built. In 1852 his brother, Hiram Colver, came with his own family and that of his brother Samuel. Each of these brothers took up a full mile square of land. Other settlers who took up places in 1852 were Sam Van Dyke, Matthew Little, E. E. Gore and O. D. Hoxie. In 1853 a number of other settlers took up places nearby, among them being George T. Vining, C. S. Sergeant, James Sterling, John Pullman and his brother H. M. Pullman, J. P. Burns, W. Lynch, Milton Lindley, Henry Church, Harry and Harvey Oatman.
    "The town of Phoenix was laid out in 1854. The following year Sam Colver donated land to S. M. Wait to start a flour mill. Later Mr. Wait sold the mill to E. D. Foudray, and Mr. Wait went up to Washington Territory and founded the town of Waitsburg. In 1859 William Hess bought the mill, selling it three years later to James T. Glenn. Two years later Glenn sold it to E. D. Foudray, who ran it until 1871 and sold it to G. W. Wimer. This old mill was taken over by the grangers in 1876. Later they sold it to P. W. Olwell. Harvey Oatman built the first hotel in Phoenix. Harrison B. Oatman and Henry Church ran the first store there. One of the first teachers at Phoenix was Orange Jacobs, who later became a distinguished jurist in Washington. He served as chief justice and also as delegate in Congress from Washington Territory."
Medford Mail Tribune, October 16, 1930, page 10  Originally printed in the Oregon Journal, October 14, 1930, page 10.


    Little more than the hand-hewn rafters and the moss-grown steps, over which the shoes of miner, miller, farmer, saloon keeper and missionary passed to and from the altar in the days of '62, carrying early settlers of Southern Oregon to worship their god, remain today where the First Presbyterian Church of Phoenix stood a few months ago in a grove of pine trees.
    Once the white sentinel of the grove, which also shelters the marble markers and little green graves of many pioneer dead, it is today just a skeleton of timbers, supporting a tower from which the bell tolled the hour of worship, thanksgiving and for burial.
    The bell has not blended its echoes with the sighing of the pines for the past four years, but the church stood silent and erect on the rocks and stones which form its crude foundation until a few months ago, when it was sold for $50. The razing started soon after.
    The church was established in 1862 by the Methodists and Presbyterians of the Rogue River Valley, according to a history written of this region. It was later owned exclusively by the Presbyterians, who met within its walls for worship until its large and modern successor was constructed within the little town four years ago.
    All was prosperity in Phoenix in 1864 when the Presbyterians took over the church, the history book, found upon the counter of the Phoenix general merchandise store, relates. In 1874 the slump came to endure for 10 years, but was broken when the railroad ran its ties into the Rogue River Valley, connecting Southern Oregon with the outside world in 1884.
    Four dry goods stores were established at Phoenix, a traveler through the town announced in a letter home. One hardware shop was opened, three blacksmith shops, three hotels, two flouring mills, one livery stable and four saloons. The little church established in 1862 is also mentioned in his letter quoted in the history book.
    For 20 years the cemetery forming the churchyard was operated by the school board, Phoenix being, the residents state, the only town in the state to require this duty of its school officials.
    Thirteen times marauders of hoboes in search of shelter entered the church, the battered door reveals, 13 scars remaining where the previous locks were broken. Each time a new one was placed in the panel, and today the last is holding firm the door, which opens into space.
Medford Mail Tribune, June 5, 1932, page 9


    "I was born right here in Phoenix on October 18, 1863," said Mrs. Lilly Blackwood when I interviewed her recently at her home in Phoenix. "My maiden name was Lilly Caldwell. My father, Dr. Matthew Caldwell, was born at South Salem, Ohio, September 1, 1824. My mother's maiden name was Mary Jane McCormick. I was their only child. My father died when I was 10 years old, and my mother passed on when I was 18. Father attended the Cincinnati Medical College. He went to California in 1849 and mined on Feather River. His partner was the Rev. M. A. Williams, a Presbyterian minister.
    "Father came here to Phoenix in 1853 and started a drug store. There was a woman who lived here at that time who was quite a gossip. They called her 'Gassing Kate,' so, out of revenge, she called Phoenix 'Gasburg,' and the name stuck to it for years.
    "When my mother married Father she was a widow with one son. Father took down the house and moved it to what is known as Wagner's Soda Springs, 11 miles south of Ashland on the old California-Oregon stage road. Father and Mother ran a hotel there, and this hotel was used as a stage station, and later our place became a well-known summer resort. My father purchased 1000 acres of land at $1.25 an acre. They ran this hotel and resort nine years. I was only a year old when we moved there, in the fall of 1864. Father died in 1874 and Mother leased the place.
    "Four years later Mother married D. C. Courtney. At that time he was mining on Galice Creek. I was 11 years old when I entered St. Mary's Academy at Jacksonville. This was after Mother had leased our place at the springs. My father had taught me at home, and he had taught me so well that I was able to enter classes with girls older than myself. Among my schoolmates were Carrie Beekman, Ben B. Beekman, whose father, C. C. Beekman, was the leading banker of Jacksonville, Minnie Day, daughter of Silas J. Day, Anna Miller, sister of Colonel Robert A. Miller of Portland, and Allie Hanley, whose brother, Bill Hanley, is a rancher in Harney County.
    "I was married on August 17, 1881, to R. T. Blackwood, a railroad engineer. We farmed my father's old home place. We had one child, Mary Jessamine, who married W. S. Stonecliff. My husband died in 1906. I live with Mrs. Frederick Malmgren, who was born in Holland and who is the widow of Dr. Theodore Malmgren."
    Phoenix is located on the donation land claim of Samuel Colver. He took up a claim there in 1851 and in the summer of 1852 his brother, Hiram, took a claim adjoining his brother's. This same year a number of other settlers took up claims in the vicinity of what is now Phoenix, among them being George T. Vining, James Sterling, John and H. M. Coleman, C. S. Sergeant, J. P. Burns, Milton Lindley, W. Lynch, Harvey and Henry Oatman and Henry Church. The town of Phoenix was laid out in 1854. The following year S. M. Wait built a flour and grist mill there. Later Mr. Wait sold his mill to E. D. Foudray and went to Washington Territory, where he started the town of Waitsburg.
    The first hotel in Phoenix was built by Harvey Oatman. The first merchants of Phoenix were Henry Church and Harrison B. Oatman, the firm name being Church & Oatman. Judge Orange Jacobs was a teacher there and later practiced law there. He was born in New York state in 1829 and crossed the plains to Oregon when he was 23 years old, settling at first at Salem and moving from there to Phoenix. He was appointed associate justice of Washington Territory in 1867 and shortly thereafter became chief justice. He represented Washington Territory in Congress two terms. In 1880 he was elected mayor of Seattle. Four years later he was elected to the Washington Territory senate. He lacked but one vote, while living in Oregon, of being elected to the United States Senate.
Oregon Journal, Portland, August 18, 1933, page 8