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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1881)
204 THE WEST SHORE. August, 1881 I'OkTLANP-llOW IT CAME TO HE THE OREOON EMPORIUM. Trior to 1S49, Oregon City, then commonly called Willamette Fall, or The FalU, wm the social, political and commercial metropolia of the country west of the Rock Mountain and north of California. Indeed, iu auprcmacy might I aid to have extended over San Francisco, then a straggling adobe village called Ytrba Duma-, where lived an enterprising merchant, C. L. Rom, who in April, 1848, ndvcrtiicd hi country atore in the column of the Oregon metropolitan preta, and re ferred to it principal merchants Kil born, Lawlon, .Alwrnethy and other. Hut the discovery of Cold In Califor nia in 1848, soon changed jail thi, and the oWure Verba Bucna auddenly khot up Into the famout San Francitco, and ovcrhadowed the whole Pacific Coast Thi dicovery wa oon fob lowed by an active trade between San Francisco ami Oregon, via the Colum River, which brought prominently forward tho question of where wa the proper place for the future commercial town of Oregon. Although Portland had been located and named a early a 1844, it wa yet a doubtful experiment, and much known, a only "a place twelve mile Iwlow Oregon City." The trade and commerce of the country were based upon the agricul tural product and the contumption of the Willamette V alley. The ox-team and the row-boat particularly the formerwere the principal, if not the only mean of transport between tide water and the interior. The row-boat, carrying from 500 to 5,000 pound, wa slow ami labonou proceu of ex changing Oregon flour for Sandwich Island tugar and coflcc. The people on the cat tide of the river could draw moderate load to and from Oregon City with their team, but owing to the height of the mountain range on the west bank of the river, it waa difficult to get to it with wagon below the mouth of the amhill. Hut Oregon City itelf wa above the head of ahip navigation and the passage of the Clack ama Rapid waa then very difficult and tediou for even row boat, except for a few week in the June rie. While the annual cargo of the Hudson's Hay Company, and the occasional aupplic of the Mixtion and a few independent trader, consti tuted the merchandise of the country, it wa not so material whether the lace of trade or exchange was nt or above the head of ship navigation. But now the external commerce ol the country wa growing so rapidly that it became a matter of the first moment to bring the prairie schooners and the ocean-going vessels together. Of the northern part of the valley, the west side 01' the river was much the larger and more productive coun try. The Tualitin Plains and Yamhill District contained large bodies of arable prairie land, to which many of the earliest arttlcr of the country were attracted ; while the corresponding sec tion of the country on the east side was comparatively densely wooded and sparsely settled. Various attempts had been made to establish towns on the west bank of the Willamette and the south bank of the Columbia, with a view of commanding the trade of this west side country. Besides Portland, there were, among others, Linnton, St. Helens and Milton. The first named was situate about one and a half miles below the site of Springville. It was commenced in 184 upon the site of an old Hudson's Hay Company landing, by McCarver and Burnett Great thing were ex pected of it. In 1844 McCarver wrote back to "the States" that Linnton would soon be one of the largest cities in America 1 they tout J only (et nails trnwfk. Poor MacI What draA he made upon the rosy future. Surely he was the man of whom the poet said : "Hope splines eternal In the human hreatt N new m, IhiI slwajrs to blest. " Within five year thereafter nothing re mained to mark the site of thi prospec tive city. Hut it hopeful projector and exalted prophet, through many muta tions of lortune, still dreamed of the great mart he should build on the Pa cific shore, and just thirty yean from the announcement of the future great ness of the now forgotten Linnton, he breathed hi last, some nine score miles to the northward of it, where he had founded another city of the future the deep-water port and terminal town, Tacoma. In 1846 trail wai cut through the wood from Portland to the plaint along the comparatively low ridge be tween the Canyon and the Barnes' Road. Thi was the first direct com munication between Portland and the interior. Gradually thii trail broadened into a wagon road, and the ox-team found its way to the ships at Portland, while Linnton, comparatively isolated from the interior by the height of the mountain in its rear, languished and died. In the Spring of 1848 Lownsdale, who then owned the tannery back of town, discovered the pass to the Plains, now called the Canyon, and soon after Wilcox, Carter, and he explored it and ascertained that a good road could be made through it to the Plains at a com paratively small cost. In the Fall of the same year, Lowns dale purchased the Portland Claim for 15,000 in leather, and commenced working up the project of getting a road to the interior and up the valley through this Canyon. The plank road furore had lately swept over the Western States, and the farther wave of it had now broken upon the Oiegon shore. The Stick road," as the natives called it, was thought to be just the thing for the emergency. Accordingly, on January 39, 1851, an act was passed by the Legislature incorporating "The Port- 1 rn T11 n 1 tana ana v auey riunn xvoau vimipnj, for the purpose of constructing a plank road from Portland, in the county of Washington, to the town of Layafette (via Ilillsboro), in the county of Yam hill, to some point on Mary's River, to be determined by said Company." On July 30, 1851, the Company was organized at Lafayette by the election of 1 lembree, Flanders, Carter, Chambers and Chapman as directors. Soon after the corner-plank of the road waa laid at the mouth of the Canyon with due ceremony and much rejoicing. Even the great political leaden and rivals of the day King and Dryer fraterniicd on the occasion, and united in apostro phising the American eagle and laud ing this first great internal improve ment on the Pacific Coast. What fol lowed is toon told. The wooden way was not laid through the valley. Sundry Portland tubscriben failed to ' come to time on the assessments on their stock, and the farmen and othen along the line of the route who took stock with a view of getting the road through their neighborhoods were com pelted to make good the deficiency. I But within a year the Canyon was