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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1931)
W.H . Hobson Onlv Stavtoriife Living There From Davs irif '5 i .By Mrs G; F. Kori nek j ElgUiy years; isa mighty long tlnYe'ago, and there la only one person living t here now who wan 1 n ;t his ."com in u n 1 1 y , w h o w aa her-, -when; ;T,heV Statesm an was estab lisaed.That person I Hon. W. F. Hobson, ; pioneer merchant. Hoh Boh'jeame; from Virginia with, hi? paTettls.' when but two years old. The," family "..located r wo miles northeast, - of if -Stay ton, where Chatlfts '-' Hottinger f now - lives. There was. no town at Stayton, bbrrowf another ,$50. "When he '. . : I STAYTON'S FJRSTjBAND between Turner and Stayton "that he Is of the opinion that the stream was a natural one? In 1S71 Ilohson started the first store" in Stayton and in 1S74 took in a a partner, Uriah Whit ney. Whitney had come from Maine to IMarion countyIn -1854, landing - at ;-Aumsville on Decpm ber 25. He ' had left home1 with $150, but Jhls wag !not' sufficient to, pay his way via the Isthmus of Panama and.' he was ' obliged to ' v ; f..: ''.'x;.:"-,:';D! " " v - i , - ; j. . " ; i ' THK BAKT LED BY E. I. ALEXANDER AS TTiAPPEARKO JCTDY, 4, 1905. BEADING KOM LEFT TO RKiHT 1HKJ ARK: -WILLIAM FITTOX.ajOE ZUBER. BKN K1.ECKEB. JAKE - SPA'S IOL. CHARLI E STREFF. ALBERT -EOY. HENRY SORESSOH. OEOROE GEJIT.EN, NICK OEHLEN. KRAKK SILHAVY. E. V. AX.EX A50ER, JHEKRY 8IEOMUND AND FRANK-SlCGMUStl.-, r bt Sublimity, was quite a flonr ishihc. Tillag.e. - Mr.. Hobson " told the writer that'. from '.his earliest Tecollec tions this country was all prairie land. ", When the family cattle would stray, Hobson. then a small boy,-would mount his horse and ride -to the-hill where the f e mo te ry is, .the Ibighest point around. Often" the cattle, could be seen gfaxing'.two or. three miles dis tant, on" the ,' place where Harry Porter.'- now," lires. There were hundredaof white tail deer also to be seen.' Also an abundance of other wild, animals. ' "About' 1857 tne Salem ditch was dug."rls , It any wonder! when one crosses this : stream, seven times r -J v V .-..ft 9 - t i ....-.. y . v.-.--- "" v i ' - J - - - Photo KemII EUi rW;-RosebraugK Head of the. W. W.. Rosebraugh Company,- oldest manufacturers of furnaces on the Pacific coast.. This business specializes in the making! of heating apparatus of various kinds, for a variety of needs. Mr. Rosebraugh arrived In , Salem - from .' Illinois in 190 1. In 1912 he organized and head ed"' the "company bearing his name. This ' concern has been in continuous operation since its in-r ception. and. has not made even a, temporary shut-down In fifteen years.'- Tire;-output of the" com pany'' is consumed 1 principally in Oregon,' Washington, Idaho, Cal iiernla, -vflth ,some export, busi ness to; Central and South. Amer ica. Tlie annual payroll is in ex 6ess'.6f $20,000.' Twelve ; to 30 menafe :stadily-.employed, and thenplat-. covers .40,000 square feet of ground. ' ! - landed here he had but a few dol lars. He worked for the- McKin ney's near Aumsville and in 1871 bought a farm northeast of town where Harry Porter now lives. . Whitney sold .his Interest in the store : to Hobson and left for Maine. Here he married and again came to Oregon In .1876 and again formed a partnership with Hobson. This year they started the grist mills now owned by A. D. Gardner. Drury Stayton, another pioneer, wished the town tobe called Flor ence, after one of his daughters. When application: waa'.VnwMe jtit. Washjiigtoii; for a - posof jFhwprd j vnuir uiii-n injf -mere .aireaay .was a Florrfleelh t Oregon.': ': town was called Stayton. ' Mail wag poured out in a" tub ift the' Hobson-Whltney . store a- and eacn helped himself. -Whitney didj a good-bit "of hauling for the st6re the'trip toPortland? for supplies taking five-days. ; v'o) ' Mr. Whitn'eVwithdrer rmTthe telllTbuSineis in-llfi.-IIe dld lh , Oct eir.r: 1 -J at in - jage'f fit : M for lnorfe than.50: years ;ad -ee-re Cttry ' of the lodge, erf -TS yea sV ' ZFifty, yeaTraJ agc taylok tl had ;t he . f ie.t -wat er- Bys t em. :WteV,' wM pu hieVt7kff mr theydltcii4near-tij griijihrti lth';a -raifciid J fur--isVwafeJto thAjifBsi d NTliainft . brtitliitk'TpveKS Stable and Jack Richardson, the hotel man. . - , ,'- ," ;' , Lee Brown First N Mayor in 1884 f ? Stayton was Incorporated ' in 1884 and Lee Brown, i he saw mill man was its first : mayor. ' -Besides Mr. - Kooaon .there ia only one- other person living here now who was here -when the town waif laid out,: That perspn is Mfs. Anna Stayton. - An - afternoon .... ,,.-.... . . mame woman is inaeea-;a, treat, Antia Jeter came withl; her rtpar- ehts from Missouri. when; but a -. : -v . . V. t.- Small-KJrl,.ln 1S65.- She; was: born ,,.-. . .... ...... ... in Virginia, later -moving to Mis souri. This .family; lived- for- a year near Salem. In. 1866,- her father. Rev. William Jeter, began to look for another location; He had several span of fine oxen he wanted to trade' ih on a place. A (Continued on Page 20) ... H- SALEM IRON WORKS One of the oldest business In stitutions in Salem is the Salem Iron Works. It occupies the same site in which it was found ed: in 1860 by B. F. Drake, and thus Is the oldest business In the city continuously operated in the same location. The first proprietors were B. F. Drake and John Nation. In 1862 the latter retired and Mr. Drake took in John H. Moore in partnership in 1863. After 1867 Mr. Drake was the sole proprie tor for a long term of years. September 22, 1869 the foun-; dry and i machine shop burned down, with the sash and door factory of Boothby and Stapleton adjoining on Front street. Im mediately, the place was rebuilt with the 5 brick building which still stands. Later proprietors of the Salem Iron Works were Boothby and Hutton: then a Mr. Gill; and about 1902 Henry Edgar took over the, property. In 1904 Shand ajjd Marcus became the owners, ' then fieorpe Shand alone. In September, 3 925, the own ership passed to the Carl F. Ger linger interests of Dallas, who have continued the plant and en larged Its operations. Affiliated plants are located at Dallas, and Klamath Falls. The Salem Steel, and Supply is also affiliat ed." and does a wholesale and re tail business in steel and iron products. The Salem Iron works, handles a variety! of business including: manufacture of sawmill and log ging equipment, paper nrill ma chinery, grey iron - and brass castings, Shand centrifugal pumps, Cerlinger carriers. Salem drag saw?. Pacific spark con sumers. ' In addition the plant does all kinds of boilerwork, pat tern work and custom repairing and manufacturing. The manager is Art McLauch-lan. OREGON MUTUAL .( FIRE RELIEF COMPANY 1 i Incorporated! 1894 HOMEOFFltE:: McMlNNVILLE, OREGON The ; Oregon Mutual I Fire Insurance CkmpanyforttierlyW the! Oregon Fire Relief "Associatibnof McMinnyille, Ore- j gon, was organized in 1894 by .1 some of j the citizens ; of t'McMihnville, who be-f -lieved that it was possible f o form a j company that 'would.be for the ; prdtec- tion- and : not for. profit which' would ' eliminate .a 'considerable part of the costjbf their fire 'insurance This com-, panyv began writing -insurance on Janii-f ary 1st, 1895. ' ' '. . ,:" "; j-i 1895 1900 1905 1910, 1915 1920 1925 1930 Insurance in . Force 147,709 8,345,669. 22,130,573, ,35,66675 42,564,185 55,247,948 91,208,613 116,020,380 Assets 209.28 3,686.06 104,2140 f 208,595.70 ; -558,728.26 808,303.15 The company now has a net surplus over aU Habilities of $325,198.17, its surplus being 40 of its entire assets, a showing that can be made by but few insurance companies.- When the company was . first . organized, it was intended to write insurance in Yamhill county only, but within a short time the territory was extended to the Wil lamette Valley. ; A few years later it was provided that they could write in surance anywhere in the State of Ore gon. Their, operations were confined to the State of Oregon until 1913 jit which time they entered the State of California. Since that, the operations" have been extended to include the States of Idaho, Washington and Utah so that at the present' time . it, operates in five. States.. The" growth of the com . Jpahy .has been consistent at all times, the management ha'ving been econom ; icait and conservative. The manage ment .of the company has ? been stable ; nand' it has been the policy of the com pany to make but few changes in their '.' . i official family, the , President; W. C. ;Hagerty, having been connected with the company since 1905, the Secretary,. XL.; ;M. Waugaman ' since 1914, -the , i: Treasurer, E. C. Apperson, since 1901. But few changes have been made- in -the I Board of Directors other than . ; those caused by death. i; It has paid in loss since organiza H tion, $3,690,234.18 and has saved to the policyholders on .the cost of their : insurance from 20 to 25 of that. . which they would have paid in other V cornpariies; The Board of Directors at the present time consist of Thoa. B- ' Kay, - State Treasurer, Charlesr Cleve U land, Capitalist of ,Gresham,. Oregon, s Frank W. Fenton, Attorney-at-law at McMinnville, E. C. Apperson, President of tne United States National bank of McMmnville, W. Ct- Hagerty, President - of the Company and H. Nelsbn, Aa-sistant-Sectetary of the' company. ": ' Among, the first insurers were poli cies in' Marion County. The company was represented for many years there i by H. A. Johnson, Sr., afterwards by j his son, H. A. Johnson, Jr., and later V on by Standley & Foley with offices in the Bush Bank Building, Salem, Stand ley & Foley having taken over this agency in 1920 and now write a very large volume of business in that coiin- . , ;ty.-;: The company t6-day writes more ; i insurance than any other company in 'the State ;of Oregon, carrying insiir- ance;on about one-tenth of the i insur able fire risks of the State. - ' - -T ; '? V- i -rs t ... . - . , r.-A' I . . 1 I ' .ti'-i -i "VrT' - t ifo . ' 't i''-ii " - . . .1 1 ' .-.U "V-. ivV .. rtflL i-it'itW ... Vl'4 ti- LM$t. . ... -JL L. M. Waugaman, Secretary W. C. Hagerty, President Photo Newion biadio, MeMJuTUla. E. C. Apperson, 'Treasurer