Roseburg, Oct. 12.--J. B. Riddle, a pioneer of 1852, died Saturday after a few days' illness. He was prominent during his life in the upbuilding of the community. He was past 70 years of age and is survived by a large family. I. B. Riddle, of Roseburg, and Ed Riddle were sons, and Mrs. George Frater and Mrs. Dave Crosby, of Riddle, and Mrs. Stauffer of Taft, Cal., daughters.

Mrs. A. Merriman and Mrs. R. V. Beall, Who Settled at Riddle in 1852, Make Visit to Relatives in Portland.

Roseburg News-Review, July 30, 1925, page 1


    G. W. Riddle, commandant of the Oregon Soldiers' Home at Roseburg, is also commander of the Indian War Veterans' Association. Judge Riddle is one of Oregon's best informed and most interesting pioneers. We spent an hour together recently, and he told me of the work he is doing as commandant of the Soldiers' Home. He also told me of his boyhood days in Southern Oregon.
    "My father, William Riddle, was born in 1805 at Riddle Station, Bourbon County, Kentucky," said Judge Riddle. "His father's name was also William and he was a native of Pennsylvania. My mother's maiden name was Maximilia Bouseman. She was born in Ohio. Her father served in the War of 1812. My parents removed from Ohio to a place on Sangamon River, 10 miles from Springfield, Ill., in 1838. I was born on that farm, December 14, 1839. Isaac Constant owned the farm next to ours. In 1848 he became restless and crossed the plains. After spending a year or more in the Willamette Valley he came back to Illinois to sell his farm. On his return trip he came on horseback, leading a pack horse. When he showed Father the gold dust he had brought from the newly discovered California mines, and when he told of the beauty and fertility of the Willamette Valley, my father decided then and there to go to Oregon. My father owned 160 acres of farm land, besides 40 acres of hardwood timber on the Sangamon River bottom. He sold his 200-acre farm for $3000. Mr. Constant crossed the plains again to Oregon in 1852. He took up a donation land claim on which the town of Central Point is now located.
    "The winter of 1850 was a busy one with us, for Father was fixing up our wagons and breaking steers, while Mother was preparing the necessary clothing and gathering and packing provisions for the six months' trip. We started in April, 1851. There were 13 in our family and Father hired Newton and George Bramson and Jack Middleton to drive our three wagons. Each of these wagons was drawn by three yoke of oxen. In addition to this we had the family rig, drawn by four horses. We also took 40 cows and young heifers. We crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, then known as Kanesville.
    "The first night out of Council Bluffs a small party of Indians charged our cattle, cut out 10 head and escaped with them. We had good reason to think, from what we heard, that these Indian cattle thieves were really white men masquerading as Indians. Road directions and messages were written on the whitened foreheads of buffalo skulls. These skulls were used as autograph albums, so that we had a pretty good idea of who was traveling ahead of us and how far they were ahead. We had very little trouble with Indians, though we had a good deal of trouble in fording swollen streams. One of the most exciting events of our trip was a stampede. Our loose stock became frightened and stampeded. This frightened the ox teams and they ran pell-mell after the loose cattle. A whole wagon train stampeding is a picturesque and fearsome sight. It is almost impossible to stop the oxen till they decide to stop of their own accord.
    "At Soda Springs our wagon train divided, most of the emigrants going to Oregon by the regular Oregon trail. We went with our neighbor, Cornelius Hill, who was making his second trip to Oregon. We took the southern route, following the California trail to the Humboldt River. Then we swung west, crossing from the Klamath Lakes to Ashland by the Green Spring Mountain trail. There were only 12 wagons in our wagon train after we took the southern route. Cornelius Hill was elected captain of the train. John Welch, who, with his brother, had started across the plains with us, was shot through the arm by the Indians near the Humboldt River. His brother had died of mountain fever on the Platte.
    "One of the hardest drives we made on the entire trip was across the desert from the sink of the Humboldt River in Nevada. We had to make a 40-mile drive without water except what we could carry with us in tubs and barrels. We traveled all night, but our trouble commenced the next day. We had to constantly stop and wash the tongues of the cattle, for they were so swollen they couldn't draw them back into their mouths. On both sides of the road we saw scores and hundreds of dead oxen, broken wagons, bedclothes, cookstoves, plows, mahogany sideboards and all sorts of furniture that had been dumped. A hundred families could have been outfitted from the abandoned property on the Black Rock Desert. Ours was the only train that crossed the desert in 1851.
    "In High Rock Canyon, through which we passed several days later, we found more abandoned wagons. Near one of them something had been buried. Through curiosity one of the men of our party dug to see what had been cached. He found a 50-gallon barrel of whiskey and a 50-gallon barrel of brandy. Cornelius Hill, leader of our train, refused to allow any of the liquor to be brought along. However, considerable of it was surreptitiously smuggled along in water casks, churns and other receptacles. We passed through Surprise Valley, crossed the Plum Creek Mountains, and on Fandango Creek found a wagon that had been abandoned, apparently for several years. In the wagon were hundreds of law books. We skirted Goose Lake and started for Tule Lake. Here the Indians tried to stampede our cattle, but did not succeed. In our party were 16 men and four boys. The Indians were armed with bows and arrows. When they tried to stop us every man in the party who had a gun aimed at the Indians and waited for the signal to fire. There were about 100 Modocs. They gave way and let us by, so we passed Bloody Point successfully. The following year a number of emigrant trains were ambushed at Bloody Point and one of the wagon trains was wiped out, the emigrants being killed and the stock run off.
    "After crossing the mountains by the Green Spring Mountain trail we struck the main north-and-south road near Ashland. A few weeks after we had passed gold was discovered at what is now Jacksonville. We followed the Rogue northward, fording near the present site of Grants Pass. At the time we came to the valley there were only three cabins south of Roseburg. Joe Knott lived at Canyonville, William Weaver three miles south of Myrtle Creek and Jesse Roberts on Roberts Creek. On Grave Creek we saw the grave of Miss Leland, who had been buried there in 1846.
    "I told you there were 13 in our family crossing the plains. My sister Jane, who had married Thomas Wilson, did not come with us. My sister Artinecia was the oldest of the children who crossed the plains, She married Harry Chapman and, after his death, W. H. Merriman. At the south end of the canyon, which caused so much grief to the emigrants in early days. we met I. B. Nichols, who was taking a pack train load of supplies to Yreka, Cal. My sister Isabel later married him. My brother William H., who crossed the plains with us, died in 1857. I was the next child. Then came Abner, then John, then Maria, who later married R. V. Beall at Central Point. Tobias was the baby. Abner and Stilley, as we always called Tobias, and I are the only three of the family now living."
Oregon Journal, Portland, August 13, 1925, page 8


    "In the late '40s and early '50s the hardest and most nearly impassable 10 miles on the entire trip between the Missouri River and the Willamette Valley was the 10-mile stretch through the canyon south of Canyonville in Southern Oregon," said Judge G. W. Riddle, when I interviewed him recently. "We came up the bed of this stream in the late summer of 1851. The hills descend abruptly to the stream, making it necessary, for a part of the distance, to travel in the bed of the stream itself. This was strewn with smooth, round boulders ranging in size from a tar bucket to a tub, so that the oxen were constantly floundering and falling, and unless great care was used the wagons were overturned. The men walked on both sides of the stream with ropes fastened to the sides of the wagons to keep them from tipping over. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent by the government when military roads were being made in Oregon prior to the Civil War, and other hundreds of thousands have been spent by the federal government, the state and the county in improving the road through the canyon south of Canyonville. Today you can go in half an hour over a beautifully paved road through the canyon, while 75 years ago it took one to two days, and it was a nerve-wracking, heart-breaking experience.
    "We reached Canyonville on September 20, 1851. Joseph Knott had a claim at the head of the canyon, on which the city of Canyonville was later located. He went with my father to help him pick out a good donation land claim. He was born in New Jersey in 1809. He crossed the plains to Oregon with his family in 1850. Up to 1852 he ran a store at Canyonville and later ran a store at Scottsburg and ran a pack train to the mines. In 1854 he bought 1600 acres of land in Douglas County, but four years later sold this place, moved to Portland and started a butcher shop on Front Street. In 1860, with his sons, he bought cattle and drove them to the mines in Eastern Oregon. In 1861 he and his sons purchased the Stark Street ferry. A. J. Knott, one of the sons, managed the ferry for many years.
    "My father took up a claim at the mouth of Cow Creek canyon, four miles west of where the town of Riddle was later located. Mother and the children camped on Roberts Creek for a month while Father drove to Corvallis to get supplies. Jesse Roberts, for whom Roberts Creek was named, had taken up this place in the spring of 1851. He had come from Polk County. He had a herd of about 500 long-horned Spanish cattle. He later built a flouring mill at Canyonville.
    "We moved to our donation land claim in October, 1851. Our nearest neighbor, William Weaver, was eight miles away. We lived in friendly relations with the Cow Creek Indians. Miwaleta was chief of the tribe when we moved to our place. He was a tall, well-built man, and about 65 years of age. His grandson, Sam, who was about my age, and I became chums. The Indians knew no English, and Father knew nothing of their language, but within three months I had taught Sam to speak pretty good English and he had taught me their language, so that Sam and I served as interpreters, and my father, the chief and his tribesmen got along amicably. The Cow Creek Indians spoke the tongue of the Rogue River Indians, although they were at war with them. Miwaleta was chief of the five bands of Indians in that vicinity.
    "In 1853 many of the Cow Creek Indians took sick of lung fever and died, among them Chief Miwaleta. My mother wouldn't let me go to the Indian camp for fear I would catch the disease. One day when I was walking through the hills I found Sam lying on the hillside, where he had been left. The Indians had moved, and as they thought Sam would die in a few days anyway, they left him. He was my chum and we were very fond of each other. I hated to think of his dying in solitude, so I persuaded my mother to let me bring him to the house. If ever a person was grateful it was that Indian boy. He lived for several months. When he died I picked out a sightly spot under an oak, dug a grave for him, carried him out and buried him. The Cow Creek Indians, through the influence of Miwaleta, my father and John Catching, did not join the other Indians in the first Rogue River war. In 1853 General Joel Palmer made a treaty with these Indians. He told the Indians they must elect a new chief, with whom he could deal. When the Rogue River Indians went on the warpath in 1855, Tom, the second chief, persuaded the Cow Creek band to join them. It was a fatal decision for the tribe, for not a single grown Cow Creek Indian survived the war. They were hunted down and killed by settlers and soldiers, and the women, boys and children who were left were sent to the Siletz Reservation.
    "Because of our large family, we built a log cabin 18 by 30 feet, a story and a half high, to which we added a lean-to kitchen. Instead of a chimney of sticks and mud, we built a huge stone chimney. The usual size of a log cabin was 12 by 14 feet. About the time we took up our place gold was discovered in Southern Oregon, and Jacksonville sprang into existence. This brought many settlers to the valley. Among those who settled in our neighborhood in 1852 were John Catching and family, his brother, James Catching, and Mrs. John Catching's brother, W. L. Wilson. I. B. Nichols, who had come from Iowa to California in 1848, married my sister Isabel in July, 1852.
    "The first white child born in Southern Oregon below Roseburg was Mary Catching, a daughter of John Catching, later Mrs. Mary F. Riddle. When my brother Abner was 12 and I was 14 we would go to Portland for supplies, each of us driving an ox team and wagon. My father was a mechanic and blacksmith, and he was kept busy manufacturing plows and other farm implements. Abner and I freighted from Portland to our place for three years, 1852 to 1854.
    "We lived well in those days. We had all the venison, grouse, wild geese and other game we could eat. One of our staple breakfast dishes was boiled wheat with cream. When we were tired of deer meat or grouse we ate salmon or trout. In spring and summer we had all the wild strawberries, raspberries and huckleberries we could eat. We wore buckskin suits and moccasins. Because our place was on the road between: the Jacksonville mines and the Willamette Valley, we put up travelers. If they had money, they paid; if they hadn't they were given all they could eat and were welcome to stay several days if they cared to. During the summer of 1852 my father traded a wagon and some oxen for a ton of flour and a load of bacon. The winter of 1852-53 was so severe that flour went to a dollar a pound. My father refused to charge that price for if, but loaned it to the neighbors with the understanding that they could return it the following year, when it had gone down to normal price."
Oregon Journal, Portland, August 14, 1925, page 8


    "In the winter of 1854-55 I went to school at Wilbur Academy, which had been started by Rev. J. H. Wilbur. Wilbur Academy at that time was the only frame schoolhouse in Southern Oregon," said Judge Riddle when I interviewed him recently. "I stayed with the Clinkenbeards. I was nearly 15 and a good worker. I chopped cordwood to pay for board and lodging. Sarah Tibbetts, whose sister later married Binger Hermann, was also working there for her board. The three months I put in at Wilbur Academy was about the extent of my scholastic education.
    "In the summer of 1854 Father moved from our farm to Roseburg, going into partnership with John D. Bowen in the manufacture of plows. They employed six men in their blacksmith shop. My job was to keep the books and do the cooking. I not only cooked for my father and the six men but had to furnish meals for any customer who happened to want to stay for a meal. My father's partner, when drinking, was very abusive. He would come in in the middle of the afternoon and want a meal. Finally patience ceased to be a virtue, and with a stick of cordwood I permanently cured him of abusing me. This resulted in my father's dissolving partnership with him.
    "Bad blood had existed for some time between Indians and whites. On October 7, 1855, some miners wantonly attacked some squaws, children and a few old Indians on Butte creek. The murder of 40 or 50 defenseless Indians, who themselves had done nothing to provoke attack, was so inexcusable that many of the whites were as much shocked as the Indians. Two days later the Indians rose and over 36 white settlers were killed. The settlers gathered, October 10, at William Weaver's place. I was sent to Roseburg. My mother, learning that our Indians were going on the warpath, rode out to where they were camped and asked them to come and talk with father before they decided to go to war. The chief, with a number of his men, came to our place and expressed his confidence in my father and in the settlers there, but said they were unable to protect the Indians from bad white men. He told of the massacre at Grave Creek, also of the killing of Tipsu Bill and of the slaughter of the defenseless Indians on Butte Creek. He said since the white men were going to kill all the Indians anyway, the Indians felt it would be better to die fighting. They went away from the conference and joined the fighting Indians, and in a short time all were killed.
    "During that winter our family stayed at Roseburg, my father running a blacksmith shop while my mother kept boarders. When I was 16 my brother Will and I enlisted in Company A, commanded by Edwin Sheffield. We went with Lieutenant S. S. Bunton to the Cow Creek Valley. When Lieutenant Bunton decided on an expedition against the Indians he detailed me to stay in camp. They were mounted, but I followed on foot and finally overtook them, and when my comrades begged Lieutenant Bunton to let me go along he relented and I formed the foot part of the cavalry company. We scouted through the mountains but failed to see any Indians. The close of the war and the surrender of the Indians came before we saw any active service.
    "The following year, 1857, I struck out for myself. I was nearly 18, so I decided to become a merchant prince. My total cash capital was $2.50, which I had earned by helping drive a band of hogs through the canyon. I invested this in Preston & Merrill's yeast powders, which I sold to the Chinese miners that were working the tailings south of Roseburg. I soon enlarged my business and furnished the Chinamen foodstuffs and other foods.
    "I started a store 16 miles out of Roseburg, near the diggings. I cleaned up $1700 that year, which I invested in cattle. By 1861, when I was 21, I owned 45 head and 32 head of horses. At the breaking out of the Civil War I enlisted in Company C, First Oregon Cavalry, commanded by Captain Coles. We were at Corvallis a short time and later went to Southern Oregon, to build Fort Klamath. With another soldier, named Wright, I took a contract to furnish the logs to build the fort. I hired other soldiers to do my guard duty while I cut logs. I averaged $6 a day. I also burned a pile of charcoal, which I sold to the government for the use of the government blacksmith.
    "The hard winter of 1861-62 killed all of my stock. My friends laughed at me and said I had gone into the war with 45 head of cattle and 32 horses and had come out with my riding horse and a Modoc Indian boy that I had bought. As a matter of fact,  however, I had made $1500 cutting saw logs. burning charcoal and doing other work, and I had invested this in land at $1.25 an acre. I didn't have much ready cash, but I got hold of a stallion, which I traded for 50 hogs. I bought more hogs, all of which I turned into bacon, and sold the bacon to the government for $800. I added to my land until I had 2200 acres, 600 of which was good plow land.
    "In 1866 I was married to Anna M. Rice. You probably knew her uncle, B. L. Willis. We had four children. After my wife's death I married Helen Gazley, in 1877. We had two children. For many years I was in the stock business. In 1877 I started a store at Canyonville. When the railroad missed Canyonville I sold out and started a store at Glendale. While the railroad was being built south I was running three camp stores. I built the first house and also the first store in Grants Pass, and the second brick building there.
    "On November 1, 1921, I was appointed commandant of the Soldiers' Home. I served till August, 1924, when I was removed for political reasons. Last January I was reappointed.
    "Della, my daughter, married George K. Quine, formerly sheriff of Douglas County and now county judge. My son George R. is in the hardware business at Grants Pass. My daughter Clara married C. W. Hunt, whose father, G. W. Hunt, was a well-known railroad builder of Eastern Oregon. Mrs. G. W. Hunt lives in Portland. My daughter Ethel married J. A. Wharton. They live at Grants Pass. Audrey married W. T. Langlois, who at one time ran the Union Hotel in Portland. My son Norbert Glenn was a buck private in the World War. He is now a captain in the reserve corps. Sometime if you will come down to Roseburg and visit me at the Soldiers' Home I will be glad to tell you more about the early days in Southern Oregon."
Oregon Journal, Portland, August 15, 1925, page 4


    ROSEBURG, Or., Sept. 22.--(Special.)--Judge George W. Riddle, Oregon pioneer of 1851 and superintendent of the Oregon state soldiers' home of this city, died today noon following a heart attack. Judge Riddle, who was 87 years of age, was born on a farm near Springfield, Ill., December 14, 1839. He came from forebears who always had lived on the western outposts of American civilization, and it was when he was 11 that William H. Riddle, his father, set out for Oregon with his family in three covered wagons drawn by oxen, and a large carriage with four horses, which had to be abandoned at the Platte River.
    The Riddles came into Oregon by the southern route, passing through what now are Klamath and Jackson counties. They settled in Southern Oregon, where the town of Riddle was named after them.
    Judge Riddle, as he was known throughout Southern Oregon, obtained his title by election to the judgeship of Douglas County in 1890. He later served four terms in the state legislature and in 1897 was named one of the state commissioners sent to Washington, D.C., to intercede for pensions for Indian war veterans. He also served as one of the directors for the Lewis and Clark exposition in Portland. His vocations were diversified, but he was best known as one of the most extensive lumbermen and ranchers in Southern Oregon.
    Several years ago Judge Riddle published in pamphlet form his pioneer experiences, under the title of "Early Days in Oregon." The edition, however, was limited and privately circulated by the author among his friends.
Oregonian, Portland, September 23, 1927, page 10

Last revised October 2, 2024