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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1915)
3: ScfeTitistorAqrfee, HwcwefTThdt Uystefbuj7 Lcpom trine KtfauGig me oe, dna , MifkarLfBdiGve itbTfom Stiip WecK Ago On OfeQonJJo&Jl TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PO RTJj AND, APRIL 23, 1915. BY LESLIES M. BCOTT. HV is it "beeswax" at Nehalem each a Bhipwreck cargo; In stead or mineral wax a nat ural deposit? The wax substance which white per sons have known now more than a cen tury and which Indians found previous- ly for untold (fenerations why is this substance called by chemists and most preologists and history seekers the Jiroduct of the honey bee, and by others the fossil residue of petroleum? . If beeswax, the material is obviously the remnant of prehistoric shipwreck; its place in the ocean and sand leaves no doubt of that. If mineral wax, de posited by natural process, we look for more of it elsewhere, also for cor roborative evidences, on the Oregon coast, of its petroleum parent in a more convincing place than the storm-beat-, cn sand of the seashore. And if it is mineral wax, .we are driven to the conclusion agrain that the ocean cast it up on the beach. For. whether one kind of wax or the other, it is a substance foreign to Oregon. Mineral wax. or its parent, petroleum, is not found on this Northvest coast, despite the belief of some persons that they have seen "signs." The substance is, in all probability, beeswax from a ship cast up 150 or 200 years ago. Tides and winds strewed the wax on the beach; alternately cov ered and uncovered it with the sand and exposed it to sea and sun. Freshets """","t ueposns mineral of the Nehalem River probably flowed wax paraffin even then, the geolog over it and scattered it still wider. In- lcaI explanation of the Nehalem wax dians and white men carried it broad cast and used it for fire and lighting And watftr-nrnoflne. ljter. n.fter the surface "croppings" disappeared, white klnd of beeswax produced in Southern Survey, held in 1896 that the location men dug it out and sold it for profit. Asla: mind you- not the kind Produced of the wax and the man-made marks Even at am early day white men in America or Europe. Chemists of thereon "clearly indicate that the prod noted ship wreckage nearby. Below hlgh standing have shown that the uct is not a natural product of Ore the wax "mine," at low tide they saw Nehalem wax contains organic com- gon." But Professor Diller went on to relics of old wreckage. Tom H. Roger, Pounds unknown in mineral wax but say that these evidences "do not prove of McMinnvlHe. found the remnant of present In beeswax and produced only that it is wax and notj ozocerite." "It is -what seemed a ship hulk in 1900; the by llees- evident." he wrote, "from the locatior wood wa not Oregon's it wax tenk Round about the place of the wax of the body of the wax that it was not ile presented the Oregon Historical So- ciety with a gavel made of this very wood. Many years before, John Hob pom, of Clatsop County, recovered ship timbers and an anchor chain that were found alongside the wax. All this has been a frequent theme in Oregon some 20 years. The wax was known to white men from earliest times, and by them was regarded as beeswax until in 1893 the ozocerite theory sprang up from the opinion of the Austrian commissioner at the Chi cago Exposition. As is well known, Austrian Galicia is the chief source of the world's paraffin, which is derived mainly from the mineral ozocerite. The Austrian commissioner, evidently be ing "strong" on the Galician substance, saw a resemblance from Nehalem, and pronounced "ozococerite." This made considerable scientific trouble. It then became necessary to cmnlov chemistry to vindicate what had long been an accepted historical or mens of the "sand rock" may be due June 16, 1906 (Oregonian, June 17, 1906. mythical or self-evident truth. There to variations in the content of the wax page 8). said: "Physically, chemically were persistent legends, from the In- and tno Pitch. Discovery of wax and. in my opinion, indisputably, the dians, about the wreck of a beeswax chun'-ts . ne r Ilwaco and Chinook, substanace found on the Nehalem beach ship, and the white explorer, Alexander Wash., ancj, oil traces at the Hawkins is, real beeswax and not a natural de Henry, who was at Astoria in 1813, re- farm near Chinook, do not prove the posit." norted having seen a red-headed In- mineral wax theory. Nehalem chunks Chester W. Washburne, geologist of dian, "the supposed offspring of a ship iht was wrecked within a few miles of the entrance of this river many have tho testimony of early pioneers source, there is no doubt as to its na years ago. Great quantities of bees- that Indians, both north and south of ture, and no ground remains for calling wax continue to be dug out of the sand Nehalem, used the sea beach wax lor it fozocerite. It has no more connec- near this spot, and the Indians bring it to trade with us." (Coues, Vol. II, page 768.) We shall mention again the ship- wreck legends in a later connection. In the dispute between "beeswax" and "ozocerite." champions of the former have won. frequent victories, from sup- port of chemists and geologists and pioneer historians. After each debate the question has been laid away, sup- posedly for good, tagged "beeswax." And whv is the "beeswax" theory so this region, or residual wax ozocerite, d"e ot hydrocarbon oil, has no resem-r,vln,.m-? a, it Is -ommonlv called TUr, blance to petroleum residue and has wax Klse why should much of th bave form of candles between one inch, . , "9 f' ' j ' if ' Iw'Ii . - 'i OfcWHS. -"OWtHSkWji . . - 1C- - .w , J iar between two and si and between one and two feet across? Klse why should the- imprint of the bee have been found within the wax? Klse why should chemists unani mously declare "beeswax?" The writer has read all the "litera ture" on this eubject within his reach during many years and studied the wax and consulted with discriminat ing persons whose experience ante dates his time and surpasses his in au thority. He has long held the opinion, "beeswax"; and now he offers this ar ticle for the purpose of reviewing the "authorities." And although it is expected that the "mineral" theory -will continue to have champions chiefly optimists seeking petroleum in Northwestern Oregon yet the "beeswax" theory has the over whelming support of historical proba bility and scientific authority. Even if Northwestern Oregon had many signs of petroleum which it has not; only scantiest traces of its ancient presence and abundant geological evi dences of its disappearance and ab sence and even if this part of Ore- wouia De impossiDie or improDaDie; besides, we have the dictum of the the chemists beeswax and, moreover. on a lon' sand peninsula, between the ocean and Nehalem River rare smearings or drippings of the wax, where evidently It had been melted Into the sand in driftwood fires. This com pound of sand and wa" has moved "mineral" theorists to declaim "wax rock" and "asphaltic sandstone" and mud at the mouth of the Nehalem River are saturated with mineral wax. But the specimens submitted for chem- 'cal analysis show beeswax or pitch evidently oozed from burned driftwood or both. "No true asphaltic sandstone has been submitted from any locality Iti Nnrthn-Mtfirn firnrnn " kavs Ttulletin 590 of the Geological Surrey. Just issued "and at this date the writer knows of none in the state. (Page 67.) . . . The pitch-cemented sand Is common on the Oregon- coast, along which there is a great quantity of Pitchy evergreen timber." Variations of color between speci- have been scattered widely by Indians and whites from time immemorial. We fires and lighting and waterproofing, Even the whites scattered thewav wide- ly- George II. Hlmes. curator of the Oregon Historical Soclet. , says that his parents at Puget Sound in boy- hood in the early fifties used Nehalem wax for domestic purposes that is, wax which they knew came from Ne- halem, and which they called beeswax, Let the scientists or future time prove whether there be petroleum in . . . ; be both petroleum and ozocerite, though the. writer fitrongrljr doubts. Right here x inches thick. V - " tV it is the point to say i.iat the scanty signs of "oil-saturated sands" of tho sea beaches of Oregon and Washington really pitch-soaked and the slight traces (geologically very old) of liquid oil at several localities would appear to fall as far short of proving that the wax in the tidal sand of Nehalem is ozocerite or mineral residue as a particular hue of the moon fails to prove that luminary made., of green cheese. Especially do these proofs fail when we remember that chemical authority proclaims "beeswax." And who are the scientific author ities? J. S. Diller, United States Geological derived frorn the adjacent land, but was transported in a body by the sea and dumped not far from its present location." (Letter In Oregonian. March 27, 1896, page 8.) . ' H. N. Stokes, chemist of the Geologi cal Survey, in 1896, held that "the ma terial" is evidently wax andv not ozo cerite" (ibid). George P. Merrill, head curator In the Department of Geology, Vnited States National Museum, in 1893 wrote In a magazine. Science, that the "eub- stance has all the characteristics of genuine beeswax." O V. Stafford, nrofessor of chemistrv in the University of Oregon, holds that the identitv of Nehalem wax with bees- wax is beyond question (Oregonian, January 26, 1908; reprinted in quarterly of Oregon Historical Society, Vol. IX). Professor C. E. Bradley, professor of chemistry In Oregon Agricultural Col- lege, at the Oregon Academy of Sciences the United States Geological Survey, says in cuueun uau. "Whatever its tion with the occurrence, of oil than the primitive Spanish cannon found nine miles farther north in the sands of Cannon Beach." Chemists of the Commissioner of Ag riculture of British Columbia, to whom specimens were submitted by George IL Himes some years ago, named the sub stanco "beeswax." In The Oregonian of August 22, 1909. a letter from a chemist of New York to S. G. Reed, of Portland, said: "The wax is not a resi some specific gravity and melting point Tho moat prominent of those who i 2 3 ; 4 0 2 I 5 6 T 8 X J & M 0 9 10 " 12 - have pronounced tne suustance "min eral" are the late J. H. Fisk. who called it a residue of paraffin oil (Oregonian, February 27, 1906, page 9); and the late Dr. Augustus Kinney, of Astoria, who called it ozocerite. Neither of these men was a chemist in the expert sense; Mr. Fisk was a mineralogist of high reputation and Dr. u.-Lingmsneu in painoiogy Dr. Kinney evidently relied upon tests made by others, among -whom Profes sor Safford's article mentions a Chi cago chemical company, and the Scien tific American. Neither test seems to have been exhaustive or conclusive. H. A. Mears, of Southern Oregon, up held the ozocerite theory with the same kind of authorities as Dr. Kinney's: Professor Stafford says of them that they relied upon mistaken physical ex aminations, which were wholly insuffi cient.' Mineral wax, ozocerite or native ' " " . nil a f f n i n . . .. . . .. , .11 : . . iumauca 4&uu iui vdnuua nauiicrauona of beeswax. Afso for manufacture of electric cables and matches, for pre serving wood, waterproofing fabrics, coating acid tanks and glossing laundry work. The chief source of paraffin until the last 50 years was ozocerite, which is mined extensively in Galicia and Moldavia, and is the solidified residue of evaporated petroleum. Latterly, paraffin has been manufactured from petroleum, coal and peat. Ozocerite, the large source of paraffin, was known to the Romans as bitumen, which was their general name for fossil resin, mineral pitch, etc. The word ozocerite means "smellinyr like wax," a quality which Is probably imaginary. One rea- son tor the difficulty ot dictinsuiBhiu, it from beeswax by mere piiysical ex- animation is due to the wide range of its specimens as to specific gravity. melting point, color and hardness. But for the positive identification of the Nehalem substance as beeswax, it could be inferred that tho '"wrecked ship" was freighted with ozocerite. ' The most complete and recorded analysis of the wax by chemistry are those of Professor Stafford in volume IX of the quarterly of the Historical Society. These analyses, in the present writer's view are conclusive evidences - . ot Deeswax. Now for historical evidence of bees- wa3C. The first mention of the wax in re- corded history is in the journal of Alexander Henry (1813-14), as referred to in the foregoing. Lewis and Clark (1805-6) are silent on this subject in their journals. Indian tradition told of the wreck of a ship freighted with beeswax. The late John Hobson, pioneer of Clatsop County (1843). gave evidence, very convincing kind, of beeswax. Mr. Hobson states that the wax was im- printed with letters and signs; that some specimens were In the form of candles, the wicks of which. In fre- quent cases, were perfect: that with the wax were found pieces of ship wreckage. Mr. Hobson's letter to The Oregonian on this subject (published June 20, 1894. page (). says that in that year he exhibited at the pioneer reunion in Portland a large piece of the wax, with the lettering "I. H. S." on its face, "which I know was on it when taken from the sand at the mouth of the Nehalem River in 1868 by a man named Baker, from whom I purchased it.' letter continues: "When I first came here, 51 years aso (113), there was beeswax among the Indians, from Salmon River on th xouth to Columbia River on the north. They did not know what it was, and used it for lights and leaky canvas. They said it came from a wreck near the mouth of the Nehalem River. "In talking with the Indians from that place often they would tell us of the wreck and of the vessel that brought the gold and silver coin and carried It up Necanny Neainie) Mountain. After the wreck uf the Hud son Bay Company's bark Vanconvi-r, in ISIS, a lurge case of driiK came ou Hhore near that plar-e. Solomon 11. Smith and myself concluded we would go down and buy the drugs and find out yhat we could from the old In dians about the wax and muno ves sels. "All they could tell us was that long before they were born the wax vessel was lost on the spit, and another an chored near the shore and some people brought a chest up on Necanny Moun tain and carried Facks of money and put them in the chest and killed a man timl put him also In the chest." In 1868 Mr. llobson served as guide tor a corps of Government engineers, who surveyed Nehalem River and bar. His letter continues: i ma it i ii a u ia i&l iiufuLji i;l u halem River) lies on the line of travel of all tho coast and the wax scattered all over it and the constant winds blow ing the sands from the northwest in Summer and southwest In Winter has covered and uncovered It for ages, and the sun has softened it Into different shapes and sizes. Some pieces wen bleached nearly white. There was much dirt and sand In it. which stuck to It when softened by tne sun. "Here is where the Indians used to pick it up when crossing this waste. When the whites came here to settle they collected wax. and one. Baker, made a business of it and found that the most of It, when exposed to view, was lying on a thin stratum of earth, like the sediment of a river freshet (which I believe It was) and scattered all over the peninsula. "Baker took his spade and would prospect the sand dunes. If the clay stratum was found, he would follow it up and find large quantities of wax in all conceivable shapes and sizes, in cluding many candles from one and one-half inches to two inches In diam eter, and where the sun had closed the end the wicks were perfect. I believe that some time after th wreck there was a very high freshet In the river, which spread the wax, logs nrl H.nl.no all I ' u r- Vl A m.ninaillg a.ivi 1 1 ..... i . " ' . ' v. . ....... ... . "On these dunes, many of them, logs rotted and grass grew In places and the drifting sands would sweep over them, thus protecting the v.-ax and the stratum, for there were remnants of r-ilten wood In most of them. The one In which this large piece (wnx) was lound was near tne center 01 tne spiL. J nere was also iouna me remnaui ui a ship timber, with some rusty wrought- iron nans, lour square, mm at ueau. A..nn ' -. h4 , nnfnl r niirlit c.ci. - . -n,-.. inches long, and about, five-eighths of an inch thick at the head. There was also a copper chain, about 50 inches long, with a swivel In the middle of it; links, four or five inches long and five- eighths wide. It was brought from that place by J. Larsen and changed ownership several times, finally being placed, in the mining bureau in San Francisco by Mr. Charles Hughes. "I do not pretend to know where these remnants came from, but believe the vessel to have been English, or Spanish, from China, freighted with wax for some 3outh American port, for church purposes, as the large wax candles would indicate. The monogram (l. H. S.) was cut on this piece, for pastime, I have no doubt, by one. of th failois. The wreck must have occurred In the fifteenth or'sixteenth century." Mr. Hobson wrote this letter at the time when the "mineral wax" theory had arisen to oppose the beeswax theory. But his faith in the beeswax version could not be shaken; hence 1, wrote the foregoing letter to meet the then new controversy. iieeswaii was a. Xretiuent artlclo of commerce on the I'acinc rj'-an. bcfoio ti.e pioneer settlement of Oregon, and i. is plausible that a beeswax shl should have been driven on ti c Oregon beach. I am indebted to Mr. Dimes f tlio Information that In the '41.t (probably 1M7) a Honolulu newspaper; mentions the arrival there of a vessel; from the Columbia River with several' tons of beeswax. Mr. Dimes could not f'nd the article fur this writing, but Mr. mines' memory is always reliable. The article continued to .'-ay thnt it was common kncwledgf that a sliip l.-ulen Avlth beeswax for the Spanish missions ,. CllrvnU In l-.tto. (.. 1 VI V.I"IUI I11U. ,11 II. C III! II t I'fll (. U h ..IV preceding century, had been lust on the- Northwest Coast the article Kavo the inference that the wax then arrived at Honolulu was part of the wrecked carjso. lit ,1.1 -.. ... I nni.llilil could have conii; from suuie other port than Columbia Kiver; probably did. : Again In 1S17, another mention of a . beeswax cargo in the Pacific Ocean; The Poly neslan. of Honolulu lOctu bpr 27, 1 v I T. reprinted In Oregon American and Evangelical l.'iilonist. July 19, 1MK, Washington County. Rev. J. S. Griffin, editor), etild tliHt the Ilremen whaling ship Otahette on April SI, 1M7. fell in with a Japanese junk In distress, laden with beeswax, eust of Japan. Mr. Griffin commented as follows: "These junks have sometimes been known to approach our const and one of them to come ashore and deliver up' to tiie Indians three Japanese men in IS29. May we nut suppose our const bceswa-:. which the Indians so often brinsr In to the settlements, picked up near the mouth of the Columbia, from nmng ihe gravel and of such mlneral- like a ppca ra nee fOUnii Its way ry until melted over, home be.f ItiTik over a century since?" Chemistry trlls us the Nehalem been wax .s the kind produced by bees In Southern Asia. Tho Nehalem beeswax could plausibly have been wrecked in trmniuti klilr. i. rl rnntn fvum Aula In California or South America. The ,-.,n.l!.. u,it!,l (.a lie .il in thu Calli.. olic settlements. Tills seems the mint l.kely theory. It H tho oldest theory and tlio most credible. The French "Green Fairy" G I'STAVE Tery. in the Paris Journal, asserts that the first shot from the enemj's cannon killed "the green talry," in other words, absinthe. He adds that though the question of ab sinthe is settled, the matter of Indem nity still remains nnd asks what indem nity shall be fciven to the manufac turers of this poison. "A number of honest people." says M. Tery, "are astonished that this question should be discussed at all; and a socialist deputy, M. Rlnguler, asks that if the- puiii of death should be suppressed. will i' be necessary to give an Indem- . . i I I I i . I . . . . . 1. 1 i . 1 1 . 1 .1 IV' . T I u 1 1. 1 Mile I' U II 1 11. e r I. I J tloner)." Al. Terry is of the opinion that the government hardly owes to the manufacturer of absinthe the same consideration that it owes to M. Delb- ler; that if one kills a mad dog Is his owner to be eomtiensn ted fnr hid lnwn? But there remain the workmen who uae oeen empioyea in malting aosin-- wis anu ior wnom it win tie necessary to procure other work. As for the iiiiuiiiiiuireB who a l sucn an nour nave I 'l r ,ffrnnlrv t nt.. ...I In.!.. . i I , ...........i.. M. Tery is of the opinion that they should esteem themselves lucky thaC the nation does not demand damages of them for the ruin they have wrought. Indianapolis News. - Volubility of a rrtrul. Manchester (England) Guardian This story comes from one of tbe ll AllllllK Llllll jin. CHHdin , WHO only a few days before had been trans- ferred to the command of H. Company from another battalion and consequent- ly had not time to become acquainted with Its Idiosyncrasies, was Inspecting his men for church parade on the first Sunday of his new command. Noticing at once that, the company was far from being up to strength, he asked the color sergeant why there was such a small muster. "Well. sir." explained the sergeant, "we've 16 I'.ornan Catholics. 12 Wesleyans. six Primitive Methodists, two .lews nnd fnnf r..n.,' ...... - vim i'ui4ii!rii; That sergeant snould he able to face the hottest lire wtinotit Clinching. One or two men in tho ranks gilud. but tlio sergeant was as tolid a a rock.