28
THE DALLES TIMES-MOUNTAINEER.
mained thus at a standstill until in 1872, A. J. and E. B.
Dufur purchased the farm there and engaged in stock
raising. They took up adjoining lands, imported a large
number of tnoroughbred sheep, and engaged in sheep rais
ing on a large scale. Gradually the fertility of the high
lands became known and their range became more and
more contracted. In 187 the business- opportunity attrac
ted the attention of a Michigan merchant, C. A. Williams,
and he came to 15-Mile and built a house and engaged in
general merchandising. Dufur Bros., being wide awake
business men seeing the opportunity to build a town on
their farm, had a small area laid out in lots and blocks,
filed a plat of the town ana Dufur took its place on the map
of Oregon.
We will pass over the infantile stage of the new town,
the school house was moved from Pine Hollow, the post
office and stage period came and went, and Dufur began to
attract attention as a trading point; farmers having child
ren of school age sent them to its school; some built
houses within its limits, and soon the original town plat
had to be enlarged. Then came such men as Dr. Vander
pool, deceased; D. E. Thomas, J. A. Gullifoed, Win. Ileis
ler, Ed. Bohna, A. J. Brigham, W. R. Menefee, George Ne
drow, Johnston Bros., T. H. and G. W., (who purchased the
business interests of C. A. Williams) two young and enter
prising business men, who came to do what they have
done, built up a fortune for themselves, and assisted vastly
in building a town around them.
In 1881 Ridgely lodge I. O. O. F. was organized, and a
commodious two-story hall and lodge room erected. This
was the first large building and was the pride of the com
munity. In 1884, the old school building that was so grand in 'G7,
became too small to accommodate the pupils. Mr. Bohna
having built a large hall with lodge rooms above, the I. O.
O. F. lodge removed to new quarters, and their first build
ing was sold to the district for a school house, with two
rooms, 25x40, and the school question seemed settled for an
indefinite period.
houses have been erected and many old ones improved. A
new and handsome school building, modern in style and
convenience, has been built, with accommodations for 250
pupils, and Professor Frazier, spoken of above, in charge.
An excellent water system sufficient for a city of five
times the size, has been provided, showing the confidence in
its growth. . A large cemented reservoir on a hill, some two
hundred feet above the town, gives abundant pressure to
the hydrants in nearly every residence, and with the large
mains makes an ordinary conflagration easily controlled,
thus making insurance rates reasonable.
Dufur has a population of about 500, and while her
growth in the past has not been abnormal, it has been
steady and healthy, and with ordinaiy enterprise on the
part of her citizens and the prosperity of the immense
agricultural interests tributary, Dufur in the next 'five
years should become a handsome and thriving city of at
least 2,500 inhabitants. This prophesy is not in the least
chimerical, all the necessary elements for such a growth
are present; the town is so situated that building material
and fuel may be had for years to come at a low figure.
A few miles above the town abundant water power can be
had for the manufacture of electrical force with which to
drive the machinery of every conceivable enterprise in the
manufacturing line. The major portion of our land holders
are alive to the fact that dear land is not conducive to
the increase of immigration, and when a stranger comes
among them to purchase residence of farm property he is
not met with prohibitive prices, but is offered every pos
sible inducement to encourage him to locate.
There are several large counties south of "Wasco county,
the traffic of which, by proper methods to secure it, may be
made to center in Dufur. To secure this, county roads
leading in her direction need only be improved, and a few
new ones constructed. Capital will eventually be engaged
to build a railroad from The Dalles to her borders, and
capacious warehouses be constructed. Her present mer
chants, and others to come, will carry large and complete
supplies, enabling the purchaser to provide himself with any
There is a house!" on seeing the one house that then con
stituted the city of The Dalles, for it was the first house
we had seen since leaving Independence, Missouri, except
ing the forts Laramie, Hall and Boise.
The Klinger family, consisting of father, mother and six
children, were among the first to cross the Cascades on the
Barlow road, which was completed that year, (1847) and
en route cooked of their scant supply of rice (which with a
smaller allowance of bread made up their sole provisions,)
on the spot where Dufur now stands.
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LdMJi
L. J. KLINGER, MAYOR OF DUFUR.
THE DUFUR
In 1888 Professor Aaron Frazier, whose reputation as an
educator was second to none in the state, was engaged as
principal of the Dufur school, the directors having confi
dence in his ability gave him full control, and the tax
payers backed him with funds when the state money was
insufficient. Under his system the school was graded, and
so successful was his management that pupils were attrac
ted from all parts of Wasco, and adjoining counties; the
large building that was thought large enough to accom
modate the increase of pupils for many years, was in less
than five years crowded beyond comfort. One great cause
of the popularity of the school was that Dufur Bros, had
placed in each deed a proviso that no intoxicating liquors
should be sold on the land, thus patrons of the school
knew that pupils attending would not be ruined by drunk
enness; it gave the place a moral standing without which
no school town can be a success.
During the greater part of the present decade, times
have been very hard throughout the West, farmers getting
but low prices for produce, but despite all this, Dufur has
improved steadily, each season marked by new cottages
and business houses.
In 1894 the town was incorporated by special act of leg
islation that it might be better governed.
In May 1896 The Dufur Dispatch, a weekly paper was
established. The founding of a well conducted newspaper
marks an era in the growth of a town, and the Dispatch
in the hands of H. S. Turner, a newspaper man of many
year's experience was no exception to the rule. Without
any attempt to boom but by legitimate advertising of the
natural resources of the surrounding country, Dufur has
shown a more rapid growth than ever before. In the past
year there has been an increase of over 50 per cent, in the
population. Twenty substantial residences and business
SCHOOL HOUSE,
and eveiy article at figures that will render it unnecessary
for him to add thirty miles of travel to the cost of living
in order to get his products to market or exchange them
for supplies.
To reach the markets of the world the farmers for a
hundred miles or more south of Dufur are compelled to
travel through or near Dufur, which, if made a distribut
ing point by the building of a railroad, will at once take
a pace of growth and prosperity that will result in the
realization of the prophesied population and activity.
The vast wealth that will be developed in Southern Was
co and Crook counties is incalculable, all of which will
render Dufur more desireable as a residence and business
center.
Aside from the improvement in the town, over a million
feet of lumber have been consumed in improvements in
adjacent communities; over 600,000 bushels of wheat
raised within a radius of 12 miles this season; this, with
the fruit interests and its probabilities, and the live stock
interests of no small proportions, considering all this what
may we not do with a united and determined effort to take
advantage of the resources and natural opportunities which
favor us, and are we not sustained by these in our fore
cast? In conclusion let us say to capital seeking profitable in
vestment, get your eye on Dufur, for there is a harvest
there for such an one.
FIFTY YEARS IN OREGON.
Hon. Louis J. Klinger, present Mayor of Dufur, was born
in Warren county, Missouri, in 1837, and came to Oregon
when only ten years of age.
Although half a century has passed, says Mr. Klinger, I
well remember our joy and how we cried "There's a house!
1847 was a hard year on the emigrants to Oregon. 7000
is the estimate of those who started; hundreds died on the
road, and wrere buried between the wagon tracks that the
savages might not find and dig up the bodies, and. hundreds
that reached Eastern Oregon were in a destitute and starv
ing condition. For instance, one of the Klinger party traded
a shirt for a salmon at Tygh Valley, and was so starved
that he ate so much that it killed him.
To Dr. McLaughlin and his comrades at Oregon City, Mr.
Klinger gives the honor of saving hundreds of lives by
their kindness and generosity; meeting the starving emi
grants with fresh cattle and provisions and helping them
over the mountains.
The elder Klinger arrived at Oregon City with 25 cents
in money, a wife and six children on his hands. Wheat was
worth $6.00 a bushei, but Dr. McLaughlin sold them grain,
taking a note for payment, (as he did for hundreds of
others,) and they settled at Mollala Prairie, 10 miles above
Oregon City, on a well earned donation land claim, and
here the subject of our sketch grew to manhood, and here
in 186i, was married to Melissa J. Woodcock, daughter of
W. D. Woodcock, a pioneer of 1844.
In 1863, 34 years ago, Mr. Klinger removed to Wasco
county, settling on "8-Mile Creek," four miles from Dufur,
and engaged in farming and stock raising with an occas
sional job of teaming to Boise. The teaming, as well as the
farming in those days was mostly done along the creek bot
toms, and Mr. K. claims that on one trip to Boise he crossed
the same creek 119 tiniest on a toll road at that.
Mr. Klinger, in company with John R. Doyle and John
McIIaley, brought the nrst separator to Wasco county. It
was a "Sweepstakes" and swept the chaff from wheat for
10 cents per bushel, oats and barley 8 cents.
By purchasing calves cheap in the Willamette Valley and
moving them to the bunchgrass hills of Wasco, by selling
the products of his farm, and by mowing the wild grass on
the hills near Dufur and hauling it to The Dalles, where it
sold readily for $20.00 a ton, Mr. Klinger gathered together
his first thousand dollars, wnich with good judgment he in
vested and added to until in 1889 he concluded he had
sufficient to keep himself and wife at ease for the remain
der of their lives, sold his farm, and removed to Dufur.
During the early days, when game was plentiful, Mr.
Klinger became an expert rifleman, and is, though 60 years
of age, known as the most expert and enthusiastic sports
man with the rod and gun in Wasco county. His summers
are spent far away in the mountains where the brook trout
lurks in the streams and where the wild deer yet abounds.
Mr. Klinger is known throughout Oregon as an honorable
upright citizen, generous to all, and with his estimable wife
is noted in his community as the first to find out and re
lieve sickness and distress. He has steadily refused prof
fered political honors and would only accept the mayor
alty on condition that it would not interfere with his sum
mer camping trips, compared to which political honors
were as naught.
A HOME INSTITUTION.
All cities take pride in heralding the merits of their home
institutions, and in the same manner it is a pleasure for us
to speak highly of one of ours, particularly as it has done
so much towards alleviating the sufferings of mankind.
In 1883 Dr. L. Vanderpool settled here, and in a short
time was known as a successful physician. He had pre
viously attracted attention as a specialist In cancer
troubles, and his time was largely taken up treating suffer
ers of that disease. This led him to place some general
remedies in the local stores to accomodate those whom he
could not visit. In the course of time he found out that
he could not manufacture enough of these remedies to sup
ply the ever increasing demand so he suggested to one of
the merchants, Mr. A. J. Brigham, the advisability of
manufacturing them on a larger scale, and that suggestion
led to the organization and incorporation of this beneficial
institution. From that time to the present their business
has grown steadily without regard to times or conditions,
until today it is as well established, as is the world re
nowned Mt. Hood near the base of which our beautiful
little villa lies. Their product is in every well established
store on the Coast, and has received commendations from
thousands of homes. Although Dr. Vanderpoolr whose for
mulas are used is gone, the name of his son, W. L. Vander
pool, coupled with that of Geo. W. Johnston and A. J.
Brigham, the present stockholders of the S. B. Medicine
Manufacturing Co., is a safe guarantee to the public that
the work begun during the late doctor's life, will be contin
ued with care and success.