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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1920)
G SWAN ISLAND DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Expenditure of $10,000,000 Called For in Extensive Proposal to Con vert Island Into Asset and Open West Channel to Navigation. L ' . r-r.--t::m t '' " ' charinel. affording dockage for -ships ILhL-V 5' ' w , , -vxSJrTTi-Tr . Tllflf I III 7 I QTtfVr t I I I T and the construction of a causeway . --i-.IV T X ''I1"'V.V ? ' lArlM S?5' 4 from the southerly end of the island I , 1 standard or Importance. Is the re- I vi&vm. onu tiiniujiuu;u --. y.;i .. FOR many years navigators and port enthusiasts have realized that Swan Island, in the bath way of the Willamette river, con stitutes the chief obstacle to the proper development of the port of Portland. Tct if the Swan island de velopment project, announced to. the public last week, through the commit tee of 15, Is carried to fruition, the obstacle will not only sing its swan PROPOSED LEVEE REVIVES HISTORY OF 50 YEARS AGO Incident of When Former Mayor Vaughn Erected a Building One Day and Citizens Tore it Down the Next Is Recalled. CITT ENGINEER LAUMAAED'S I proposal to clean all buildings off the waterfront from Jeffer son to Gllsan streets between the cast side of Front street and the harbor line, and convert the area into & public leveo, reminds old timers of the aspirations of Portland in this same direction 70 years ago. Whether or not Pettygrove and Lovejoy. the original proprietors of the townsite bad a levee in mind Is a matter of judicial doubt. One court decision held that the proprietors so intended and decided for the people. Another decision held that, the proprietors did not create a levee, and even if they did. It was immaterial, as they did not have the' right under their titles to the land to do anything of the kind. At that the story of how Portland loBt in the courts the levee -which it is now seeking to establish la interesting. Away back in 1850, the year before Portland was incorporated, Josiah L. Parrish sued tho town proprietors to enjoin them and their vendees from erecting buildings on the river bank In front of his property. Justice Pratt of the territorial district court, issued an injunction, after which the pro prietors and especially Coffin,, set on foot a compromise with the citizens whereby a portion of the levee was to be private property and the re maindcr a public way. Pending nego tlations. Coffin and others claiming under the proprietors, erected build ings on the disputed ground. The compromise failing, the parties to the suit reverted to their original rights and brought the entire levee under adjudication. Justice Olney decided the issue in an opinion handed down in the supreme court of Oregon in January 185. lis reviewed the eviilbuce Utken at the trial and held that Pettygrove song, but will be converted into an asset of incalculable benefit to the port. The proposal, which has the in dorsement of the committee of 15, tlie Port of Portland and the commission of public docks, embraces a $10,000. 000 development enterprise in harbor improvement and presents the follow ing programme: 1. The acquisition of Swan island. and Lovejoy, who bought the town- j site from Overton, in 1845, did in fact dedicate the levee to the public. Reputable Ivitnesses testified to this effect and said that the levee was never understood until about 1850. Pettygrove testified that he had never intended to make the levee public property and had not told any one of such intention unless he was in a pet or under the influence of liquor. The court decreed that Water street, as Front street was then called, -was bounded on the east by the Willam ette river from the south line of Jef ferson street to the south line of Ankeny street. Justice Olney did not deem it fit to order the removal of the buildings on the levee, but author ized the city of Portland to petition the court for the benefit of the decree whenever such removal became neces sary in the public interest. At the June term of the supreme court in 1854, certain of the defend ants asked for a rehearing on the perpetual injunction granted by Justice Olney. They urged, as one of their principal contentions, that even if the original proprietors did dedi cate the levee to the public, the dedi cation did not bind those who suc ceeded to the rights of proprietorship. This time the decision was rendered by Chief Justice George H. Williams, who was later United States senator from Oregon, attorney-general of the United States, and, in the late years of his life, mayor of Portland. He held against the defendants and ruled that if the original proprietors had legally transferred any portion of their title to individuals or to the public, the transfers held good against their successors In interest, and that the new proprietors, having adopted and made sales by the plat of Port land as laid off by their predeces sors, were estopped from saying that the streets and public grounus wr not such as the plat showed them 2. The acquisition of all the low land in the so-called Guild's lake dis trict, lying between St. Helens road and the Willamette river opposite Swan island and required for deposit ing material dredged from Swan island and the west channel of the river. 3. The acquisition of all low land in Mock's bottom on the east side of the river to -the island and the cre to be. In -conclusion Judge Williams said: "Eleven intelligent and unim peached witnesses testify with more or less pointedness that a levee was held out by the proprietors and gen erally regarded as public property and their testimony is confirmed by the unchanging lines of the map pro duced In evidence. But two witnesses appear to bolster up the opposite side. Is not the conclusion Irresistible from such an exhibition of proof that the levee was set apart for public use? Portland was laid out for what it has come to be, the emporium for a large country, and common sense forbids us to suppose that the first proprie tors intended that the commercial transactions of such a place should be carried on through the back doors and windows of shops and stores crowded along the water's edge. Public levees are almost as neces sary in such towns as public streets." Justice Deady dissented to the Williams' decision, and seven years later declared It void. Notwthstanding- the court decisions", the townsite proprietors of the time, Daniel H. Lownsdale. Stephen Coffin and W. W. Chapman, asserted their claims to tho levee. No serious trou ble seems to have arisen until the early part of 1858, when the appear ance of woodyards on the levee caused one of the newspapers to sug gest to the citizens "the propriety of having an afternoon's frolic to clean off tho public levee for the public good." By ordinance approved May 8, 1858, tne city council ordered all obstructions removed from the levee within three days. Apparently matters drifted until 1869, when the final fight over the levee began. In March George W. Vaughn, a former mayor of the city, built op the levee at the northeast corner of Front and Morrison streets and on July 1 J. P. O. Lownedale. a son of Daniel H. Lownsrlale, started building at the southeast corner of Front and Taylor streets. Vaughn built a wharf on the Morrison street property in the win ter of 1859 and on March 20, 1860, started the construction of - a com mercial building. That day the coun cil instructed the marshal to remove all obstructions after giving 24 hours' notice. The following day Vaughn put a force of men at work and by nightfall had fully completed a build ins 50x2fl feet. On the morning of THE SUXDAT OREGONIAX, PORTLAND,- APRIL 4, ation of a tstill water basin between Swan island and Mock's bottom. 4. The closing of the narrow and unsafe channel to the' east of Swan island by a causeway constructed from the mainland on the east side of the river to the inland and the cre ation of a still water basin between Swan island and Mock's bottom. 5. The removal of approximately the west half of Swan island and the dredging of a straight channel on the March 22 a large number of citizens headed by Mayor Robbing tore down the building which -Vaughn had erected. Two years later Vaughn sued the city for $17,275 damages, and on February 14, 1S63, was given a judg ment for $1000 in the state circuit court. Building; I" Continued. Following the Vaughn incident. Mayor Robblns on April 12 sent a message to tho council In which he said "The city Is already engaged at . law with Individuals for lands claimed to - have been dedicated to public use. I need not say that the public expects you to defend inviolate every equitable claim to the soil that it possesses." J. P. O. Lownsdale proceeded with his building until November 9, when the city arrested his workmen and threatened to clean him off the levee as it had done with Vaughn. Then, upon the claim that he was a citizen of Indiana, he filed a . bill for an injunction before Judge Deady In the United States.distriet court. The city in its-answer pleaded the decree of the Oregon supreme court in 1854 in the Parrish case. The lxiwnsdale case was . heard June 8, 1861 on the exceptions to the amended answer to the amended bill. Judge Deady ruled against the city, holding that Petty grove and Lovejoy, the town pro prietors who succeeded Overton, had no interest in the soil, never acquired any and had nothing to dedicate such as a levee; that they simply held the naked possession of the land under tho laws of the provisional govern ment organized at Champoeg in 1843, according to the custom of the coun try, and when they gave up this pos session to Daniel 11. Lownsdale he took it as though the foot of - man never had been upon it. Judge Deady heard the case Decern ber 5, 1861, on tho pleadings and proof and the following day rendered a decision adverse to the city. Among the points decided by him were the following: 1. That Pettygrove and Lovejoy took up the Portland claim in 1845 and held it under the land law of the? provisional government until September 22, 1848, when they sold to Daniel H. Lownsdale, who in 1849 sold interests to Chapman avnd Coffin as joint occupants. . 2. That Pauiel IL. LownTdale rcr west side of Swan island 1600 feet in width. 6. The filling of all land in the Guild's lake district above described and the filling of dock Kites and the dredging of slips along the west bank of the river opposite Swan Island. 7. The filling of the easterly por tion of Swan island, the construction of a mole 1087 feet wide and 6000 feet long extending the full length of the island along the new west fected his title to tho land under the donation land law of 1850. 3. That on April 29, 1852. the com mon council of Portland by resolu-1 tion adopted the plat of the town drawn by John Brady as the city plat; that on August 2, 1860, the council by ordinance asserted the strip of land east of Front street to be a pub lic levee, which ordinance was re pealed June 14, 1861; that on August 6. 1861, the council by ordinance de clared the so-called levee to be pri vate property and permitted the hold ers to erect wharves thereon. Taxea Are Collected. I 4. That in 1834 and 1858 the city assessed the property and collected taxes thereon from Lownsdale. 5. That on April 20, 1851, and for six successive weeks Daniel H. Lownsdale published a public nottce claiming the land east of Front street and warning all trespassers to keep off. 6. That the city s allegation of a dedication of the levee by Pettygrove and Lovejoy was not supported by evidence, but on tne contrary, the evidence tended to show that they occupied the levee as private property and had built a' private wharf and slaughter house on it. But if the fact were otherwise and it appeared beyond doubt that Pettygrove and Lovejoy did make such dedication it wonld be Immaterial, as they had nothing in the land to dedicate. They were mere occupants-- of the public land, had only the naked possession, which terminated with such occu pancy and could not by any act charge the land in the hands of any subsequent occupant with any ease ment or incumbrance. 7. That the allegation that Daniel H. Lownsdale confirmed the Petty' grove and Lovejoy dedication after he succeeded to the title was untrue, as well as unproved. 8. That the adoption by the common council of Portland of a (Brad-y) map upon which Front street was represented as being bounded by two parallel lines so as not to Include a strip of land lying between it and the river was a solemn admission by the city that the levee was not a part of Front street. 9. That the city of Portland be per petually enjoined from asserting- any clatm to the property. The city council in a rescl.tlrn In 1920 IS FOR to the east shore, affording access to the island by rail and truck. 8. The filling of the low land in. Mock's bottom opposite Swan island from the easterly line of the present channel to the adjacent high- land. The plan has been presented to tho city council and its members have visited and investigated the vicinity of Swan island and the island itself, carefully checking up the suggestions made and the topographical difficul ties. Public hearings on. the matter will bo held by the city council be fore tho project is definitely passed upon. Kirst in the programme, by the standard of importance, is the re moval of the westerly half of the is land to provide a deep, safe passage for commerce. The estimated cost of opening this channel is $5,000,000. Whether the entire project is or is not carried out opinion is general that the opening of the west channel has be come imperative, if the normal growth of the port is to continue. The width of this channel would be 1600. feet. Material obtained from the dredg lug of the channel, of the still water basin on the east side of the island and from the cutting away of the island itself, would be utilized to fill troduced by William M. King and adopted March 30, 1862, referred to the Deady decision and provided: "That the city will and hereby does abandon any claim of property to or in the lands or tenements situated between Front street and the Wil lamette rlver within the corporate limits, and the city attorney is hereby instructed to withdraw and discon tinue all notices and proceedings on behalf of the city as to the decree in said district court, but this is in no way to affecf the right of the city to the streets leading to the Willamette river." Now, after a lapse of 68 years the city is seeking to obtain the levee which it once thought it owned. "DANDERINE" Stops Hair Coming Out; Doubles Its Beauty. A few cents buys "Danderine." After an application of "Danderlne" you can not find a fallen hair or anr dandruff, besides every hair shows new life, vlaror. brightness, more color and thk-Kuej. . GREATER PORT In the lowlands of Mock's bottom on the east side of the river, and Guild's lake to the west. 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Post OQce. ttrsct and No while the terminals planned on the east side of the river could be utilized for the handling of freight passing through the city. Suggestion for financing the project is for the Issuance of bonds not to ex ceed 5 per cent of the assessed valua tion of the property within the port boundaries. Widening and deepening of the west channel and the creating of a still water basin on the east side would entail the removal of 36.377,072 cubic yards of sand and dirt. But the same task will serve for the reclama tion of a total of 1530.79 acres of land S8S.29 acres in the Guild's lake dis trict, 159.20 acres on Swan island and 4S3.30 on Mock's bottom. i George W. Boschke. designer of the famous seawall at Galveston, Tex., is the engineer who wrought out the plan for Swan island development un der the employment of the port and dock commissions. His plan was re cently approved by both commissions and by the special committee of 15. 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