34
OREGON CITY COURIER-HERALD NEW YEAR NUMBER.
HARVEY E. CROSS.
One of the Most Public Spirited Men of Clackamas County
Ex-State Senator H. E. Cross is a prod
uct of Clackamas county. He was born in a
log cabin on his father's donation land claim
near Canby on the 6th of June, 1856. He re
members with vividness his first pair of red
topped boots, his first Fourth of July and
his first attendance in the little log school
house presided over by a daughter of the
old pioneer school teacher. John D. Post,
where he was kept in proper subjection by
being tied, as occasion required, very secure
ly to the teacher's apron strings. At the
age of 6 he came with his parents to Oregon
City and has resided there and at Gladstone
every since. His education was obtained in
the public schools of Oregon City. At the
age of 18 his nest was stirred up, and he
started out in life for himself and began
teaching school at Sandy in a log school
house yet standing just below the residence
of F. Revenue. The next winter he taught
a successful school in the Palmateer neigh
borhood and in the fall of the year 1875 be
gan studying law with the firm of Johnson
and McCown at Oregon City. He was ad
mitted to the bar on the 8th day of January,
1879 and began at once the practice of his
chosen profession, which has continued tin
interruptedly to the present time. Outside
of the routine of a successful practice at the
bar few men have so thoroughly identified
themselves with the life and development of
his home city and county as has Mr. Cross.
As a promoter of public improvements he
has few equals. He early saw the advantage
of the business men of Oregon City standing
shoulder to shoulder, unitedly working for
the welfare of the town and county. It was
this thought that led him to organize the
Oregon City Board ot Trade, Hon. John
Myers being' its first president and Mr. Cross
its first secretary, a position which he re
tained without pay for four years. It was
during this period that the first start was
made in large city and county improvements
leading to the improvement of Seventh,
Fifth and Main streets in Oregon City, the
construction of the suspension bridge and
the survey and location of main county roads
leading out from the county seat.
Perhaps the most useful work of Mr.
Cross as a citizen has been that done upon
the county roads of Clackamas county. He
has preached the doctrine of good roads tor
twenty years. Most people who read the
county papers will remember the successful
completion of the Molalla and Highland
roads, and the later work in the Abernethy.
Clackamas, and Eagle Creek roads, in all
of which and in many others Mr. Cross has
been an indefatigable and successful worker.
In 1891 he raised in land and money a sub
sidy of $7,000.00 and obtained the location
at Oregon City of the Oregon City Fruit
and Vegetable Cannery, that employed the
first season as many as 250 hands. Owing
to a serious mistake of the business men of
the town this great industry was lost to them
at the end of the first year. In 1890. with
F. O. McCown and Judge W. S. Moore, he
constructed the Gladstone sawmill at a cost
of over $.20,000.00 and managed the opera
tion of it until the fall of 1896, when a sudden
high water in the Clackamas washed out the
mill race and left the mill without power. In
1892 as president of the Gladstone Real Es
tate Association, he joined with other land
owners north of the Clackamas rier and
raised the necessary subsidy that insured the
construction of the East Side Railway from
Portland to Oregon City. Mr. Cross fur
nishing as a part of his subsidy four miles of
ties and all the timber which entered into
the construction ot the large bridge across
the Clackamas river. He shortly afterwards
built the stub road to Gladstone Park and
opened up this beautiful woodland to public
enjoyment. It is likely however that more
personal enjoyment and satisfaction has
come to Mr. Cross in connection with the
organization and development of the Will
amette Valley Chautauqua Association, than
in any other work of his life. A postal card
from our talented Mrs. Eva Emery Dye and
directed to the subject of this sketch in the
fall of 1893 was the inspiration that led to
the organization of this greatest Chautauqua
Association on the Pacific Coast, and has
been the means of bringing our boys and
girls and men and women into mental touch
and friction with the finest minds in Amer
ica. The mental and moral uplift to our peo
ple (lowing out from this popular gathering
will never be known this side of eternity.
Mr. Cross constructed the great auditorium
in twenty days. At his own expense he
cleared the Park of underbrush, made the
lences. furnished the lumber for the railroad
platforms, installed the water system and
in a helpful way has stood by the manage
ment ot the Association in their work of
making it a success.
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Some people have imagined that Mr.
Cross must make money in some way out
of this organization, but those who know the
facts can cheerfully testify to the contrary.
The real estate company which he controls
gave the Chautauqua Association a fiity
year lease of the 75 acres constituting the
Park for the nominal sum of one dollar. For
eight years he voluntarily took upon him
self the laborious and thankless task of
ground manager and has become a familiar
figure to the many thousands of people who
yearly visit the annual gatherings of the
assembly. He is now its secretary by unani
mous choice and promises that the assembly
of 1902 shall be the most prosperous in its
history.
In politics Mr. Cross is an independent
republican. He has not been an office seeker
as is generally understood by that term and
yet he was elected and served as county
treasurer of Clackamas county for one term,
succeeding F. S. Dement under whom he
acted as deputy. He was also county treas
urer for one year by appointment of the
county court. He was also city attorney of
Oregon City under Mayor Sullivan during
the construction ot the Seventh and Main
street improvements, and done the legal
work and conducted the litigation connected
with these improvements to a successful
termination.
In 1890 Mr. Cross was elected to the leg
islature as joint senator for Clackamas and
Marion counties by a majority in the two
counties of over 1.200. He attended the ses
sions of 1X91 and 189,5 but did not seek a
re-election. It was in the session of 1893 that
he likely broke the record by passing eleven
bills through the legislature, each receiving
the signature of the governor. His monu
mental work however was in the introduc
tion and passage of what are commonly
known as the "cash road bill" and the "sal
ary bill." The first running counter to the
usage of the people from the organization
of the state and the other meeting the in
tense opposition of the professional office
holding class. The cash road law while not
always handled in a fair and business like
way. has brought about a revolution in the
roads of this county. We now have nearly
100 miles of modern roads in Clackamas
county as against one-fourth mile in 1803.
The salary bill doing away with the old fee
system in the clerks', sheriffs', and recorders'
offices effects an annual estimated saving of
ten thcusand dollars.
THE CLACKAMAS DEVEOPMEXT
COMPANY.
"
The last large undertaking by Ex-Senator
Cross is the organization of outside capital
for the erection of a power plant at Glad
stone and the development of the vast lim
ber resources of the Clackamas river. A
solid cement dam generating over 1300 horse
power at low water will be erected at Glad
stone next season, mills and factories pro
moted, while booms will be constructed and
the river improved for logging purposes to
the Forest Reserve. J. C. Ainsworth, the
president of Ainsworth National bank, of
Portland, D. C. O'Reilly, one of the principal
constructors of the Columbia Southern rail
road. Dan J. Moore, and the well known
contracting firm of Smyth & Howard are
some of the leading capitalists of Portland
enlisted in this enterprise. The capital stock
of the concern is $100,000.00 and it will all
be utilized in the promotion of the project.
The development of this large business will
center in the townsitc of
GLADSTONE,
and it will become a more attractive place
tor homes and investments than ever. Mr.
Cross has taken great pride in the growth
of Gladstone, the beautiful northern suburb
of Oregon City, with its 3-cent fare to Ore
gon City and 15-cent fare to Portland, its
level contour, its pure water and healthy lo
cality, with the added manufacturing con
cerns needed to manufacture the billions of
feet of timber on the Clackamas river, and
utilize the water power developed. Glad
stone will have a notable future. Mr. Cross
has constructed 15 dwellings in his lifetime,
one of which appears in this number, being
the home of Thos. E. Gault at Gladstone.