BROOKINGS-HARBOR
Thursday, December 15, 1955
PILOT — BROOKINGS. OREGON
-
PAGE ELEVEN
cord Port Ortvrd as then having up on a claim where a creek R. Luse, and they had five child
"28 houses and a population of bearing his name enters Rogue ren.
18. There the 4 drygoods stones. River a few miles up from the
“Jake” (Ralph E .?) Summer»,
1 drugstore. 1 hotel. 1 billiard mouth. There is no record of a or Somers, w as one of the orig
salloon, 1 postoffice and a dram Mrs. Libby mentioned anywhere inal nine men who landed in
— 1>V M. S. BRAINARD
shop. The town has 'very little David was drowned July 15. Battle Rock, or Port Orford, fas
BROOKINGS-HARBOR PILOT
trade dependent upon the gold 1886, in Rogue Rher, and his 1851. He must have been boo»
years
of
residence
was
or*.?*of
its
(Continued from page 1)
AN IN D EPEN D EN T NEW SPAPER
mines 27 miles Northeast. The badly decomposed body was about 181(5 He was married
Enured a j »econd-claas m atter, at the pvdtofitce at BrooUmgs, Oregon. I To enlighten us on these most useful guiding lights. He
lived most of his life in Gold mail steamer calls semi-monthly, found on the lower end of Can- June 14, 1856 to Betsy 'an t o -
M arch 7, liMti. under the Act of March 3. 1S79
tounding fathers, Fred Smith Beach where he died, September weather permitting.”
field Riffle.
dian," by justice S. B. Bkalut,
Ray Pisarck, Joe Murphy
averred he came to Port Orford 27, 1902, leaving a son. Walter,
This official description of Port
Christopher Long, Sr, brought with Jim Hunt and* John Creigh
in July, of '51. under contract to and a daughter, Ruby, who was Orford is at great variance from his sons. Christopher, Jr., and ton as witnesses. They appear to
Editors and Publishers
William Tichenor and in a letter the wife of Edward A. Bailey,
one privately issued on July 2, Sylvester, and daughter, Jane, have been the parents of three
SU B SC R IPT IO N
R A TES:
to the Oregon STATESMAN,
These were the men who start of the same year which makes (w*ho married John Hamblock) : daughters and a son, and in the
»3.00
One Year in Advance On Curry Corny) ...................................
Stephenson wrote that he and ed the infant Curry County on Port Orford definitely more across the plains in ’53. brib in g survey of ’57, was living near
s 3 so
One Year In Advance toutslde Curry County)
.................
G. H. Abbott, on January 28, its way and here is what they did flourishing.
cattle with them all the way, via where the Cape Blanco Road
1854, slaughteied fifteen Indians, about the county's finances, that
Some of those who were in Yreka, to Curry, arriving in ’54. takes off 101. In ’85 he made a
E D IT O R IA L
including two squaws and a baby first meeting.:
Curry County at the time it was The father died soon after get gold strike at the head of SiM»
N IW S P A M t
at Randolph.
R. H. Smith, for his court fun established left records by which ting to Port Orford. The son. which seems to have attracted
P U B L IS H IK S
Aaron Dyer conducted the ctions, put in a bill totalling we can form some idea of the Sylvester, was drowned while every family within "rumor“
ASSOCIATION
A FFIC I ATE M I M Í f »
Rough and Ready Hotel, at Port $114.25. which was for books, citizenry. Among them must attempting to get food from the range. ‘‘Jake” has become al
Orford in ’53 and was a member stationary* and freight, $46.10; | have been a man of some educ beach to Miner’s Fort, Gold most ’'gendary in the northern
of the Port Orford Minute Men I Court Seals. $40; Service as the ation and about which little has Beach, during the siege. Christ part of the county.
| in '56. His children were Emma Clerk, $13.90; Election Expense been turned up by this writer. opher, Jr. and his wife, Alice,
The Tichenors around Curry
His name was Ebenezer Burgess had three daughters and a son.
at the time of its start appear
All it takes is a spark set otf by a couple of K., who married Charles Hil- $4, and as an auditor, $43.25.
Myrlte May, whose name
George Founts came to Port to have been William, Randolph
Aaron Dyer submitted a more Ball, a relative by marriage to
enthusiastic people, and a fire can get going under born;
has for many years been bandied simple statement $48.86, which George Washington. He is said j Orford in July 1851, under con and Neefus. At the time, Will
any project. 1 he Quarterbacks are the latest evidence about with that of the poet, Jo was not itemized and asked for to have come to the area in 1850. tract to William Tichenor, and iam represented Coos and Cur
of this. For’a long time a good percentage of people aquin Miller; Fannie M„ who be $11.99 for running the County to have been a storekeeper and later took up land between Port ry in the state legislature. Ran
school teacher, and left for his Orford and Elk River. In ’73. he dolph maried Clementirte, an In
came Mrs. M. M. Bates, and treasury.
wanted football in Brookings, hut nothing was ever I James M., and Aaron Jr. The Seth Blake handed in an un old home in Virginia in the early was liv ing in Arizona.
dian woman, October 24, 1857.
Seth D. Lounts had a place out He averred he came to Curry in
explained bill for $26.00 and 1860’s.
done, because of the great expense involved in setting elder Aaron died in 1867.
Under the jurisdiction of Coose Peter Ruffner for $15.00.
Very brief excerpts from rec- I about where Caj>e Blanco Road '51, living at times, at Big Bend,
up a program of that type. It was assumed that there County
Thomas R. Lawson acted
Mr. Stephenson billed the ords would lead us to believe takes off Highway 101. He car Gold Beach and Port Orford.
are more important facets of education, besides playing as the Justice of Peace but when county for $25 for assessing plus these men were not unfamiliar | ried William Tichenor’s little Neefus claimed to have shipped
Curry was set off. his place was $15 for taking the census -or with the new county at the time I girl. Ellen, in to the fort, at,Port out the first load of lumber from
football. All those were needed first.
of its birth. There undoubtedly i Orford, when the Indians went his sawmill, in ’54, bound for
taken by Seth B. Blake who held $40 total.
But, if this desire to see football here, was office between July 24, 1855 and Mr. Farrar nicked the county w ?re many more but they were ! on the rampage. It was she for * San Francisco, and went hack
kindled and fanned into a flame, as it was during the September 4, 1857. His wife was for $50 attorney fees and no ex rather reticent when it came to ' w hom "Ellensburg” was named. East in ’57. Jacob Tichenor may
appearing in the archives.
Elisha H. Meservey, a man or may not have been around
Eliza A. Little else has b?en planations.
past week, things have really started happening.
Very little has been turned up from Maine, was elected|Captain Curry at that time. He is sup
Mike Riley probably earned
turned up about him.
We start on the basis that people want foot Peter Ruffner had a saloon in ' the $292.26 he billed Curry for about Seth Blake only that his of militia and served with dis posed to have come with the
services which he totalled as wile's name appears as Eliza J. tinction during the Indian troub family in '51, hut spent consid
ball, and are willing to pay for the installation of a ¡the early days of Port Orford, his
Edward and Martha Burrough les. He and Jane Tautilaugus, erable timet schooling in the Wil
his license having been dated follows: $-1.50 for maintainance
football program. Nobody would question the fact September 16, 1856 and he was ¡of a prisoner; fees, $44.11; clean lived in the extneme north end of according to records of the time, lamette Valley.
that such a program would be a good thing for the also a corporal in the Port Or ing muskets, $15; expenses ex Curry County, where he had agreed to live together as man Alexander Thrift was about 15
ford Minute Men. He and his ecuting, warrants on Enos Thom some 300 acres of land a little and wife. July 22, 1859, and we when he cam? from his nat.v *
youngsters of the district. It would have the happy wife
Ellen, were living in Wasco as. $228.75 (this could have been west of where Langlois is now, find he patented land on what is Ohio to Coes County. and then «
the renegade half-breed who h? was a member of the Port now Port Orford Heads, in ’66. to settle near F orns ( ’reek. He
facility of cementing public interest in school and in County, Oregon in ’64.
stirred the Indians to murder Orford Minute Men, died July He later had a claim about at claims to have picked up a small
Nelson
Stephenson,
also
a
Port
the community.
17, 1870, and is buried at Gold the mouth of Lobster Creek. He fortune. loin*: * ne of the first
Orford Minute Man, served the and pillage the white people.)
There are a few’ problems that lay between the county as its clerk until '63, and
The only other item on the Beach, and William Langlois had two children, George W., and to mine nt Randolph. He married
Elisha. When he died he was Mary Jane Got man, in ’67, a t
desire for fixitball and the opening kick-off. All of nothing else has as yet teen i budget was the county’s territ- bought his place.
Anson Dart, an early day sup buried at what.is now known as Mrs. Geirel’s hot;: and they had
jcrial tax (comparable to our
turned up about him.
these problems have been analysed by the Quarter W. H. Farrar is entirely ab present state tax) of the fright erintendent of Indian affairs, had Lowery’s Resort.
8 children. Alexander lajwd out
John Moore and his son, David the tow n of Dairy ille, in '89.
. a son, George, who was born in
backs—and they think a solution can he worked out. sent from my records other than ening sum of $43.66!
Fred Unican. from Maryland,
Thus, the court voted, that Pennsylvania in 1820 and came Layton, must have been in the
the notation he was attorney
First, money must he raised—to suit up a team. for
first me?ting the grand total of to Curry in ’54. His wife, Anna county at that time. David L., where he was bor" in Baltimore,
the county.
That can be done—if everybody does their share. R. H. Smith:, If he had always $642.02 NOT MONEY but war C., w as a daughter of William S. known at "Late.” is recorded as in 183P, came to Port Orford in
Tichenor. He was a cabinet mak having settled, in ’55. at the July, of '52, also under contrar’’*
Secondly, a coach and schedule must be had. That is signed his name in full, “Regin rants, mind you, payable on the er
by trade and was, for a time, mouth of Euchre Creek. John with William Tichenor. He must
ald H. Smith,” his story would renowned “When(and If” basis.
where the school board comes in—if they think the not have been all mixed up with And on that day of meeting postmaster, at Port Orford. He was the patriarch of an exten have separated f. im William as
two other co-existent ‘‘R. H. ¡their first act toward obtaining died in 1907, in Portland, in his sive family. It is not now known we find he obtained a license to
public—their constituents—want it.
Smiths.”
he was an income was to grant a liquor will h? left nothing to his three who his wife was but w*e know sell liquor and groceries, at FUv
The third and final problem is the hinder. postmaster It at is assumed
’lis children were Asher, David, River in Octoher of 1856. When
Port Orford, in license to John W. Sutton, at children.
We need an adequate field. The school has an option ¡’55, as “R. H. Smith” is so re Port Orford, at $50 for the en Aaron Dyer, in ‘57, had his Rachel. Mary and Melissa Ann. the hugt* forest fire swept al
year. Whether they col home just about on the line be David was only 6 years old when most the entire coast, Fred Un
on some land, which will probably be picked up this corded. But we do find that Reg suing
inald was appointed. "Clerk for lected in "script,” in "kind” or in tween Secs. 18 and 19, at the the family came to Oregon in ican's house w?< th? onlv huiV*-
year. It is only logical to forget about any' property the District Court. July 4, 1856, cash, doesn’t appear in the rec mouth of Elk River, and in that 1850. first living on the banks of mg unburned Ix’tween Elk riwr
and Port Oi.oid. Seeing the fire
year he and G. M. Dyer sold the Rogue.
other than school property, because it would I k * a j held in the village of P o r t ords.
? dug i hole in the
James and Joseph McVay, comini
Records available have been their Elk Ferry to Robert Nel
Orford, O. T., “and as no seal
waste of effort and money, in our opinion, to attempt was available the judge ordered very scant, but, to get an idea son.
brothers, were working on the ground fo* his family and self.
George M. Dyer was also in trail westward from Jackson He married Rridget Mokley in
Smith to get a circular piece of of what constituted the county
to build a field in any other location.
the county, having left Iowa ville, in ’53, and they too. join**1 ’57 and th ‘y had two children,
seat,
one
hundred
years
ago,
we
colored
paper
with
the
words.
Field lighting can wait a while. It is important
"Dist. Court, Curry* County, O.T.’ can look at the field notes on when he was 18. in 1853, and was >n in the Indian troop. They were John and Kate.
first to get a team, a coach, a schedule, uniforms, and Micheál Riley came to Port one of the ?arlier surveys This in the Indian wars. George’s wife he first of the family to come Then were, of course, many,
Orford, September 1, 1853, as a was made in ’57 by Daniel and was the former Fannie Bouker, west from Kentucky and the many others who could w*ell have
a field. Then we have football in the fall.
young man, and during his many M O’C. Murphy and they re- of Pennsylvania, they had four McVay descendants are widely been in C rrv County, that week
children. In 1880, he and W. H. knq«vn in both Curry and Del befor" '”h ■■'rv of 1855. There
are r e c i
r ‘hem but thoae
Averill formed a company to Norte counties today.
Micheál Riley has been prev included in this ai • the ones who
develop Bandon but this only
for the mo: t part, stayed, mar
lasted a couple of years George iously mentioned in this story.
had several years in county of William Augustus Root is cred ried and aised families in the
ited with having come to Curry Coitnt. i Curry Many other
fices.
Avery J. Edson, whose name in 1849, at which time he must names ha* . been included in the
I survives in the ‘‘Edson place" have been 19 years old, and ap- files and ?ovv and then some
just south of the Geisel monu pears to have been 86 when he thing tnr up to be added.
Unfc: * nfely, we have not
ment had a liquor license in passed on, to be buried at Gold
yet
come up with pictures of how
Beach,
An
Ohioian,
he
and
an
Port Orford in ’56. He married
as his second wife. Christina, the Indian lady, both according to the per pie of those days lived
widow and mother bereaved in court records and to tradition, but we c; n h? sure they would
the murder of the Geisels. His must have furnished a great be great v diffe .'nt from wrhat
first wife was Harriet Coleman, deal of entertainment about the we find. to dny so different we
by whom he had a son, Thomas, courts with their marital ( ?) af could i t u.ui ?. hand how they
»
who didn’t stay in the county. fairs, and the gfxxl lady s?ems to existed
Mi. Edson, Sr., also held county have left quite a coterie of heirs In th ' na ; hundred years. Car-
of sorts.
y Ct ntv i
made untellaMe
office on several ocasions.
Robert C. H. Smith, a native advances It would be toolish to
Maverick B. Gregory, who was
in any way prophesy as to what
hit tn thi' baek by a spent ball of Germany, and his wife Jane,
the area and its people wall be
had
a
gn?at
deal
of
grief
most
| at Miner’s Fort, Gold Beach, dur
liki?, a hundred years hence.
of
their
family
having
passed
on
ing the Indian troubles of '56
“M. B ” must have been another In their youth. Rolx?rt came to
of those forever "lapd hunting” Gold Beach in January of ’53, the
as he shows up as a resident now' old home place being where the
I and then, all over Curry County. sawmills now*sit, on lower Hunt
ers (.’reek. The old family cem-
He was county judge in ’61, and
j etary is located there.
| was paid a salary of $200. After
W D.L.F. (Alphabetical) Smith
! he died.yhis widow, Rachel, in ’81
said he came to Curry in Sept
II rold their ranch, just above the ember of ’53 and worked for
North Fork of the Chetco, to some years in Tichenor’s saw
Smoky, d irty -b u rn in g in fe r io r
Johnson Gardner, and now* in mill. He, too, served in the In
grades ot heating o il are never
ownership
of
Mrs.
Carl
White.
*
dian Wars His wife was Mary
"best bur».’ You need R ic h -
The first marriage of record
H t a t H v jtm g O i l ' It b u rn s
in Curry was when John Ham-
clean . kevpt o il lines, ti,..:» ,
block and Jane N. Long were
burn rs clean all season.
wedded, April 15, 1856. S. B.
Shaving Is Slicker —
R IC H F IE L D
Blake t led the knot, as J. P., and
II. B Tichenor and Jackson Blade Changing Quicker
Letts signed as witnesses. Jane,
K E A T IN O O IL
being underage, had to have her
mother’s consent, and the couple
B L U I BLADKS
lived to enjoy their Golden Wed
IN HANDY D ISH N SC *
ding Anniversary, which took
place in the Lower Coquille Val
ley It seems John worked for
I William Tichenor for several
years.
— 24 HOUR SERVICE —
William V. Langlois, a native
Phones 3525-3563-3655
of Guernsey, came to Northern
Curry in ’54. and settled on Flor
as Creek, after having lived In
California. William's wife was
Mary A King, and they must
have been marled lx- fo re com ing
Timber Manager
to Curry. The couple had seven
S t L I IT ,,-R iJ .H E
chiklren.
David Libby was bom In
Maine, took part in the Indian
wars of "35 and ’56 and proved
The
PILOT
THE BIRTH OF CURRY COUNTY
December 18,1855
Football Is Around The Corner . . .
NOTICE
The S. A. Agnew timber interests in Curry County have been
subjected to a series of trespasses, some of which appear to
have been deliberate. An honest check of property lines would
have eliminated this problem. The purchase of logs from a tres
pass area subjects the buyer to paying twice for the same logs.
These practices will not be tolerated. S. A. Agnew will
use every remedy available, both civil and criminal, to
stop this practice.
Brookings Plywood Corporation has been appointed by S. A.
Agnew to safe-guard and patrol his Curry County properties and
to assist in any necessary prosecutions.
Gillette
S. A. AGNEW
BROOKINGS PLYWOOD CORPORATION
VIRGIL L. CLARK
R IC H - H E A T
I
FOSTER and BOL VI
IkrrA&p/r'
WANT A M