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About The Coquille Valley sentinel. (Coquille, Coos County, Or.) 1921-2003 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1931)
yr Tn COQUI1XI FALLBT SENTINEL, COQUILLE OBBGON, PAGI BIGOT Of Coos County, Told to W< an*s Club, by Mrs. Bertha J. Smith The following interesting story about early Coos county history was read by Mra. Bertha J. Smith before the Coquille Woman’s Club last week: Coea county Was organised in De- comber, 1858, and included the Coast territory on the west from the Cali fornia line extending north to within- eight mile* of the Umpqua river. Thia Coast Empire was so wonder fully prolific in animal life and fish, and food was so abundant on every side that .the native Indiana were, for the most part, lasy and pesce-lov- ■ ing. Jt hae been estimated that at ’ the time of the first settlement by •' white men that there wore at-least 2000 Indians living in the coast coun try between the Umpqua and Port , Orford. Coos county, as first formed con tained an area of about 1,660,000 acres, and was about 120 miles from north to south and 30 miles wide. It now contains 685,838 acres and is about 65 miles long north and south and about the same width as before. In the summer of 1858 Perry B. Marple strayed into Coos Bay and finding it all that he had been told by the Rogue River Indiana it would be, ho at once visualised an Empire, peopled by white men and women, who would till the soil and develop the many vmt resources which were ao apparent on every side. With thia end in view he organised a company, called “The Coos Bay Commercial Co.,” and everyone joining the com pany were given equal shares by pay ing to Marple 8250. This company selected a lege tract of land which in cludes the present town of Empire City and divided the tract into lots, although the town of Empire City wm not incorporated until 1884. Many times the Indians c*me *nd insisted on the whites leaving. Mrs. Esther Lockhart, the mother of Mrs. Sengstacken, writes interestingly of these early days. She relates the story of one encounter after another which they had with the Indians and of having to escape by boats in the night to prevent being massacred and having their cabin burned. White wonten and white children were such a novel sight to the Indians that they offered all sorts of blankets and bas kets in addition to their squaws to induce the white men to trade them their wives. Mm. Lockhart and two other white women with their families arrived on Coos Bay on Oct 18, 1853, and were the first white women to come to Coos Bay. The first school in the county was taught by Mrs. Lockhart at Empire City in 1854. The first settlements were in Em pire and Randolph. Daniel Giles crossed over the Coquille river bar on May 15, 1854, in a boat made by himself, He was the first white man to cross the bar and sailed from Ran- dolph to Port Orford. It has benr estimated that not lees than 810,000,000 in gold dust was taken from along the beaches be tween Gold Beach and Whiskey Run during the year 1858 to 1868. 880,000 was taken out of a place about 20 feet square. In reading the early history of Coos county one is impressed by the fact that the early pioneers had to fight for every bit of freedom and enjoy ment which they obtained just as much aa in the covered wagon days. The first cargo of lumber to be ehipped from the CoquHle river was in April, 1861. In May, 1859, Dr. Hermann and hw Baltimore party arrived in Coos county. I understand that thia was the beginning of the Schroeder clan in Coos county. The first 4th of July celebration was in 1859 at a picnic and barbecue and all night dance held at a point near the present town of Myrtle Point. Russell Dement’s father moved his family from Empire to a place above Myrtle Point and in so doing had ex periences which now seem like a fairy tale, but since their mode of travel waa ao typical of that day, 1 shall describe it in part. Having come up the Bay and Isthmus Slough with hie wife and son, Russell, and his bouse- hoM belongings and blacksmith tools, for some twenty miles, they found that they had a stretch of low hHla to cross that divided the watera of Coos Bay from the waters of the Coquille. The distance was a mile and a quarter and a very difficult task it was to move all their freight on their backs for that distance. The ever present red man was on hand to offer the ser vices of his pack train, which con sisted of the wives, daughters, moth ers and sweethearts of the “noble red men” and this train of squaws and Indian maids showed surprising strength in handling heavy freight An anvil weighing 150 pounds waa at- tached to a strap and the strap placed across a squaw’s forehead, and then she swung the anvil on her back and carried it across the portage with seeming ease. The male Indians were averse to labor of any kind, and seldom paddled their own canoes, but always compelled the squaws to pad dle for them. When they arrived at Beaver Slough their real troubles be gan. The natives put small poles across the trail to enable them to slide their canoes across the portage, then they must travel down Beaver Slough through overhanging willow* and thorny crabapple trees, which ao thickly lined the banks with inter locked branebe* that it was vary diffi cult to get through ao narrow a pas sage, besides «very few hundred yard* they would encounter beaver dam*, which had to be partly removed or els* the cano«s-had-jto be lifted over them. Then, when the open waters of the Coquille River were reached, a camp waa made on the banka of the whan the river for the night Than, ~ tide we* favorable in the morning they started for what is now known a* Norway. -. They camped there the second night and on the third day the mouth of the South Fork of the Co quille river was reached, so three days were consumed in travelling a die- lance which would now require about one hour. We bear so much in these days about scarcity of work and an over supply of workers as though it was a condition peculiar to these present times, and so it la interesting to note that ss far back as 1870 there were about four men for every job. At that time flour sold for >10 a barrel, cash, and was scarce at any price, and at the same time there was no em ployment for anyone for cash wages, so the’ problems were as great or greater than those of this present time. On July 4, 1872, a celebration waa held in the grove where Coquille now stands and J. H. Nosier delivered an oration in which he prophesied that before long people would be riding in buggies and on steamers and rail road ears, but the older settlers dis approved very much of such predic tions and said that anyone Who wasn’t satisfied with the present improve ments and modes of travel had better return to his former homo. It io gratifying to know that Judge Nosier lived long enough to see all his pre dictions a reality and many more im provements besides. HÌIÒ a T, OÔfÛBBR 28, IMI. In^878 the Coo* Bay Wagon road from Roseburg to Coos City was com pleted, and that was the first road in thb county, if indeed it could be called a road at all- The first court house was built in Empire City in 1872. It waa made of split lumber and cost 84000. Prior to that time the records had been kept in private homes. The records were moved to Coquille into the new court house in 1898. rhe first church, being of the Methodist denomination, was organised in 1857. The railroad was built into Coquilh in 1898. The value of Coos county in 1930 waa 828,418,470.00 and the total tax against all Coos County property was 81,785,958.72, and of this amount the special school tax waa 3493,098.51, not including elementary schools nor per capita tax. The population of Coos county in 1920 was 22,257 and in 1930 was 28,- 373. The population of Coquille in 1920 was 1842 and in 1930 was 2782. Our school tax in the last 15 year* has increased 51.59 per cent The to tal school tax for 1931 is 3717,698^1. .The total cash payments and ap portionments for 1930 was 3835,138.- 18. received much benefit from her in struction. A bountiful dinner wax A special session of the Woman’s served at noon. Relief Corps was held October 21, at which Mrs. Endicott, president of Wanted—Tonta, Camp Stove*, Fur Woman’s Relief Corps Department of Arrow Hardware Co., Oregon, was a visitor. Mrs. Endi niture, etc. cott has a pleasing personality. She next door east of Farmers and Mer 15CÍ conducted her “School of Instruction” chants Bank. W. R. C. Greets State President in a kind and forceful manner. There were not as many in attendance as was desired but all who were there Transfer and Delivery Local and Long Distance Hauling Agents for McLain Coal Mill Wood ’ i Two Phone»—101-J and 224-L Mansell Drayage & Delivery Co. ««< Nothing less than a six can give you built-in smoothness Tlir whole question was settled long ago—as to how ’ rnuny cylinders it takes in a motor ear engine to give satisfcctory smoothness. Science definitely established the fact that at least sit are necessary. Engineers confirmed this by repeated teat and experiment. Manufacturers soon took the cylinder question so completely for granted that, one after another, they changed over to the building of sixes and other multi-cylinder can exclusively. So today, the public accepts the multi-cylinder engine in the same way that it accepts 4-wheel brakes, parallel-mounted springs and every other principle of proved and acknowledged superiority. Of course, nothing less than a six can give built-in smoothness. This general acceptance of the multi-cylinder idea has had a great deal to do with the fact that the Chevrolet, month after month, during 1931, has been the largest selling automobile. For Chevrolet la a six. Hence, objectionable vibration never gets a chance to start in a Chevrolet—much less to annoy driver and passengers, and shorten the life of the car! Chevrolet smoothness la built-in! Today, thia six-cylinder smoothness and dependability are within reach of every new car buyer. For Chevrolet has produced a quality aix, powered it with a firmly-mounted motor—engineered it to run at less expense for gas, oil and upkeep than any other car—and priced it right down among the very lowest-priced can in the market. Twenty beautiful models at prices ranging from *475 .o *675 AUpriccaf.o.b. flint, Mich., apcciul equipment NEW CHEVROLET SIX The Great American Value = See your dealer below Southwestern Motor Co Coquille I ■ Myrtle Point
