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6A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Offb eat Oregon: Portland’s ‘Temperance War of 1874’ By Finn. J.D. John for The Sentinel T he temperance move- ment, when it came to Portland in the early 1870s, really shouldn’t have taken anybody by surprise. What was surprising, though, was the form it took when it got there. Portland’s temperance drama reached a climax in April 1874 with a genuine knock-down-drag- out riot on the streets of downtown Portland, as angry citizens exchanged punch- es and clobbered each oth- er with chairs — while, the whole time, serene as if they were singing in a forest glade, a cluster of upper-class ladies in their Sunday best sang hymns and prayed for their souls. And then, almost as soon as it appeared, the temperance movement was gone again from the public eye, apparent- ly destroyed from within aft er some of the preachers who fancied themselves its leaders overplayed their hand. It’s going to take several ar- ticles to tell this entire story. And it’s a bit of a slow starter: we don’t get to the really in- teresting part until next week. But here’s how it came about: E arly in the spring of ’74, word started reaching Portland of the great temper- ance movements in Ohio. Th ere were, of course, plen- ty of other temperance move- ments across the country, and there had been for some time. But what was new about the Ohio movement was its spir- it of assertiveness and evan- gelism. Participants — most of them women, who were largely excluded from “saloon culture” but not from its ef- fects on their husbands and sons — were no longer con- tenting themselves with pray- ing in churches and “setting a good personal example in the home.” Th ey had started going out into the community to spread the word, and actually went to saloons to urge temperance upon their owners and cus- tomers. And they’d had some success at this — most notably in persuading saloonkeepers to leave the business. In Portland, the mainstream newspapers — there were three of them at the time: the Morning Oregonian, the Port- land Bulletin and the Evening Telegram — mentioned these events only briefl y and occa- sionally. Likely they thought nothing of them; in 1874, three decades before Carrie Nation picked up her hatchet, the concept of aggressive tem- perance workers was new. But Abigail Scott Duniway, editor and publisher of Th e New Northwest, was paying close attention. Readers of her weekly paper, mostly women, were kept very much up to date on the temperance move- ment. Duniway was a legend even in her own time, and her pro- fi le has grown since. Th e great passion of her life was a quest for legal equality of the sexes and voting rights for women. She saw temperance as an issue that would have been quickly resolved if 50 percent of the population were not forbidden to vote — in other words, as a symptom of the great social evil that she had devoted her life to overturning. She was the sister of leg- going out two by two, as Je- sus sent forth his disciples, to hold their temperance-church services in the saloons them- selves. A few of the more conser- vative ladies thought that was too much, and when the deci- sion was made to do this, they dropped out. But there re- mained a total of 13 game sis- “Can you imagine what it would be to go into a saloon to pray? Then you can imagine how we felt..." — Laura Francis Kelly April 1874 endary longtime Morning Oregonian editor Harvey Scott — who, due to some political machinations going on at that time involving rail- road-and-stagecoach baron Ben Holladay, was then work- ing as editor of the Bulletin. Th e New Northwest devot- ed considerable coverage to the temperance movement’s successes back east. And that’s probably the primary rea- son the whole thing came to Portland in the fi rst place. It’s certainly why the fervor of the movement was so startling and unexpected to Portland men. Th ey were nearly all caught off guard, because they were reading the wrong newspa- pers. Nonetheless, those among them who happened to be preachers in temperance churches rose to the occa- sion with alacrity. Soon their churches were crammed to bursting with women yearn- ing to do something about this terrible social evil. Th ey assembled in church- es. Stirring sermons were preached. Invitations went out to men all over Portland to come and be inspired, and a pledge of abstinence from alcohol was circulated at each service. Hundreds of people signed. Yet mere hundreds wouldn’t change the course of histo- ry. Plus, those hundreds were most oft en already teetotalers. Th en as now, the pub-crawl- ing set wasn’t seen much in church, or at least not in the kind of churches that would preach temperance and absti- nence. Inspired once again by Th e New Northwest’s dispatches of events in Ohio, the ladies of several Portland church- es decided they needed to be more assertive. Th ey and their pastors organized themselves into an interdenominational coalition — the Women’s Tem- perance Prayer League — and made their headquarters at the Methodist Church on Taylor Street. Th ere they decided, as the Portland Daily Bulletin’s re- porter put it, to “go forth and beard the lion in his den” — by ters who were ready to go out there and change the world. And so it was that on March 23, 1874, a team of fi red-up ladies streamed out of the church and, in groups of two and three, fanned out across Portland. T he ladies’ battle plan was simple. Th ey would pres- ent themselves at each saloon and ask the proprietor if they might enter and lead a prayer service. Most of the time, the answer was yes — although that would change later. Th en they’d pray, sing a hymn or two, circulate a pledge for the drunks to sign promising to abstain from alcohol, sing and pray some more, and leave. For a Victorian-era lady, this was nowhere near as easy as it sounds to the modern ear. Laura Francis Kelly, one of the temperance crusaders, wrote a hand-written account of how it went: “Can you imagine what it would be to go into a saloon to pray? Th en you can imagine how we felt. I cannot tell you. “Th e saloon keeper received us cordially, ushering us into the card-room. As the song rose from trembling hearts: ‘Holy Spirit, faithful guide, Ever near the Christian’s side,’ etc., the bar-room quick- ly fi lled with young men to whom the barkeeper freely dispensed his liquors. “As we knelt in prayer, the clink of glasses well nigh drowned the petitions that rose from trembling lips. When the short service was over, the bar keeper invited us very pleasantly to ‘come again.’ Oh! how we hastened back to church and kindred spirits! But the pastor, George W. Izer, met us with, ‘Back so soon? Did you visit only one saloon?’ Th en we saw what was before us.” At the end of the day, they were exhausted and demoral- ized. True, the ladies were treat- ed courteously everywhere (with, the Bulletin sniff ed, the notable exception of “the proprietress of a low doggery on Second Street” — and one other place, which we’ll talk Heraej=bbkn`]^haHqtqnu Assisted Living and Memory Care Apartments Our beautiful community is designed for those who need assistance or have memory impairments. You can be assured that you or your loved one will receive the best in care along with compassionate personal attention from our well trained staff. Call or stop by for more information and a personal tour! We are available 7 days a week! 1500 Village Dr., Cottage Grove, OR 97424 T 541-767-0080 www.MiddlefieldOaks.com about next week). But as Kelly mentioned, saloons were noisy places. A pair of frightened ladies standing close togeth- er in a corner singing hymns was easily ignored. In the pubs where they were not ignored, they were treated as objects of curiosity, as if a circus act was visiting the saloon. Back in the church, the la- dies prayed for strength and then went home for the night. T he next day, things were a little diff erent. Th at’s because rather than fanning out across the city two by two, the ladies decided to go in a group. All 13 of them would pay a call on a single saloon. Th e ladies fortifi ed them- selves with a lengthy prayer service, then poured once again out of the church. Today they descended upon the Mount Hood Sa- loon, owned by a chap named Th omas Shartle; he graciously let them in and gave them the run of the place. Shartle did not, however, turn off the taps, and was probably glad he did not. If two Victorian ladies in a saloon was a little like a circus act, thirteen of them was more like the whole circus. People poured into the Mount Hood. On the surface, it looked like a repeat of the previous day’s disaster, only on a bigger scale. Mr. Shartle did a brisk trade. Th e ladies got the same faux- hearty “best of luck to you, God bless you, here’s to ya” re- sponse from the same saloon bums, and fi elded the same fake signatures on the temper- ance pledge. But this time, the “clink of glasses” was powerless to drown out their voices as they sang. Th ere were, aft er all, a baker’s dozen of them. Th ey were too large a presence to ignore. Th e ladies moved on, going downmarket a bit and visiting a rum house called the Eve- ning Call. Again, they brought the proprietor plenty of busi- ness and left with very few le- gitimate pledges. Back at the church, the la- dies learned that word had gotten around the saloons that their presence represented a large business boom. One sa- loon owner actually sent them an invitation to come to his place, which — to his delight — they did the next day. But the sense of demoraliza- tion was now utterly gone. Th e ladies knew they were onto something. If some people were laughing at them, at least they were now being heard; their seed might have been falling on stony ground, but at least it was being sown. Th ey started going out every day, each day to a diff erent saloon. And slowly, things started to change. We’ll talk about that change — and about the one saloon owner whose bellicose resis- tance to the ladies’ missionary eff orts caused riots on the city streets — in next week’s col- umn. (Sources: Th e Women’s War with Whisky; or, Crusading in Port-land, a book by Frances Fuller Victor, published in 1874 by Himes; “Th e War on the Webfoot Saloon,” an article by Malcolm Clark Jr. published in the March 1957 issue of Oregon Historical Quarterly; Edward Chambreau: His Autobiogra- phy, a Ph.D. dissertation by Timothy Wehrkamp, published in 1976 by the University of Or- egon; OHS archives (MSS 1535 and 550); archives of Th e New Northwest and Portland Daily Bulletin, March–July 1874.) Finn J.D. John teaches at Oregon State University and writes about odd tidbits of Oregon history. For details, see http://fi nnjohn.com. To contact him or suggest a topic: fi nn2@offb eatoregon.com or 541-357-2222. Bring or mention this ad for 30% off clothes! C l ot he s Games C andy Anime (541) 946-3132 538 e. Main St., Cottage Grove www.delightinthegrove.com Your one-stop shop. •Printing & • Notery Services Document Finishing • Postal products & • Packing & shipping services • Mailbox Services • ID/Passport photos The UPS Store Safeway Shoppping Mall 1498 E. Main St., Ste 103 Cottage Grove, OR 97424 541.767.0888 theupsstore.com/5813 Hours: Mon-Fri Sat. Sun 8:00 am-6:00pm 9:00am-5:00pm Closed TURNING 65 AND NEED HELP WITH YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES? Call Paul to help simplify the complicated. 541-517-7362 Paul Henrichs ~ Local Independent Agent coverage4oregon@gmail.com Capt. Johnny Rush With Treasures from the Sea •Halibut • Sea Bass • Ling Cod • Salmon • Halibut Cheeks • Ling Cod Cheeks 10 lb. Bag • $9/Pound • Half of Store Prices B O N N E V I L L E Corner of Main Street & OR-99 Cottage Grove Call First 503-860-1851 $5 Gas Rewards for Out of Town Customers P O W E R A D M I N I S T R A T I O N Native Oaks Ridge land acquisition to protect Oregon fi sh and wildlife habitat The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) intends to fund the purchase of a conservation easement on approximately 326 acres of oak dominated habitats located close to Cottage Grove in Lane County, Oregon. When the purchase is complete, the McKenzie River Trust will manage the property for wildlife conservation purposes. The United States will hold third party rights of enforcement to ensure that the habitat values on the property are always protected. The funding will be provided as part of BPA’s ongoing eff orts to protect, restore and enhance prairie and oak woodland habitat in the Willamette Valley. Funding this conservation easement partially fulfi lls commitments made by BPA in the 2010 “Willamette River Basin Memorandum of Agreement Regarding Wildlife Habitat Protection and Enhancement between the State of Oregon and Bonneville Power Administration” as part of ongoing eff orts to mitigate for the impacts to fi sh and wildlife from the construction and operation of federal fl ood control and hydroelectric facilities. The protection of this property will provide long-lasting fi sh and wildlife benefi t s and will become part of a growing network of conservation lands in Lane County. The McKenzie River Trust has developed a management plan to guide the protection and enhancement of habitat on the property. BPA reviewed the plan for consistency with the conservation purposes of the acquisition. A letter describing the proposed purchase, a map and information describing environmental review requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act are available at https://www.bpa.gov/efw/Analysis/CategoricalExclusions/Pages/2019. aspx. For more information, contact BPA project manager Sandra Fife at 503-230-3678 or safi fe@bpa. gov. You can also call 800-622-4519 toll free. Please refer to the Native Oaks Ridge conservation easement.