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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 1955)
TWELVE MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Sunday, January 19r 193S nn v JVL V M Priceless Historic Items To Remain As Remembrances Records of Family Found Interesting Br HARRY NORDWICK Mail Tribune Staff Wrilar 1 II I I-'J irK liiiJe. V'J 'V r - With the death of Miss Amalia (Molly) Britt of Jacksonville last Oct. 13, the history of one of southern Oregon's most famous families was closed. However, the benevolence of her will, involving a $250,000 Estate, will leave many material and incorporeal remembrances to southern Oregon residents in the form of priceless historic items and scholarships for worthy students. One of the first' provisions of the will was the bequest of what is probably the most famous residence in the area, the Britt home and gardens, to he Southern Oregon Historical Cociety, Inc., of which she was a member. Will Hat Proviso The bequest was made with the proviso that the. place be maintained by the. Historical so ciety as a museum and histori cal monument in honor of the memory of Peter Britt. The will also provided that if the society accepted the terms and condi tions, the sum of $25,000 was to 1 a t m j oe piacea.in a irusi zuna xo De used by the society for care and o display of the property. How- " ever, only $1,000 could be used annually for such purpose and an equal sum ; was to be pro vided by the society. In event the society was un able to maintain the home as a museum, the will stipulated thajt the $25,000 should go ctoward making up a $50,000 trust fund to provide scholar ships .for graduates of Jackson ville high school. After numerous other gifts, Including $25,000 to the Shrin ers hospital for crippled chil dren, and smaller amounts to various relatives and friends, the will leaves the remainder of the considerable estate to the Oregon state board of ' higher education to be used exclusively at Southern Oregon College of Education, in Ashland. Society Investigates After an extensive investiga tion, the Historical society found it could not maintain the Britt home as a public museum on the money available, even though some charge be made for admis sion. Instead, the SOHS sug gested to Herman L. Land, Port land, executor of the estate, that a special display of Britt items be placed in the Jackson ville museum. He agreed, and a selection of relics will be made by a committee of SOHS mem bers to be named by the so ciety's president, Miss Claire Hanley, the executor and repre sentatives of the state board of higher education. The balance of the items will be sold.' Also, under interpretation of the will, it was felt that the. real property could go to the city as a memorial park. No action has been taken yet on this matter. If such a park were to1 be dedi cated, the historic ; residence would probably be removed. Uncommon Lot , , . The real property involved is Lot 5 Block 28. The "lot", how ever, is not of the common city variety. In fact, the county as sessor's office says there's noth ink quite-like it in all of Jack- y jfcaSut gums jl ' ) W PORTRAIT Shown are three of the Britt children Emil is sead left with the magazine, Amalia (Molly), center, and Jacob. Jacob was Mrs. Peter Britt's son by a former marriage. He died in 1896. The portrait was taken, probably in the early 1890's, utiliz ingostudio props. Both Emil and Molly were active in Jacksonville affairs during their lives. . , - II - II PETER BRITT Shown is one of Jacksonville's most famous early citizens, Peter Britt. He ar rived in the mining camp in 1852 and set up a photographic studio in a log cabin. -In 1854, he built a studio of lumber and hung out his shingle for. a "daguerrean artist." The picture, a self por trait is from a stereopticon old time viewer for four images, ap parently taken by Peter by using a mirror. son : county. Its measurements are, on the east side (fence), 346.5 feet; south side (barn), 325 feet; west side (old Britt ditch), 376 feet, and north side, 357 feet. . On the land are many rare trees and many first plantings in southern Oregon. On June 23, 1947, the Oregon Federation of Garden clubs gave a posthumous award to the heirs of Peter Britt for planting the first garden in southern Oregon and for his life-long interest in promoting horticulture in the early days. Many of the plants and shrubs in his garden are the parents of those that beautify Jacksonville today. The plot also provided seasoning and fruits for the pio neer settlers. Sequoia Tree - Of notable interest are several plantings. A sequoia tree was planted in 1862 by Peter Britt, the day his son Emil was born. Today it is 93 years old and is 16 feet 8 inches in circumference two feet above the ground. , Earlier plantings include ' a pear tree in 1858, which is said to be "granddaddy" of the Rogue valley's fruit industry. The tree still produces a heavy crop at the age of 96 years. A willow peach tree, planted in 1856, bloomed and bore fruit for 56 years, before being felled by a heavy snow storm, r ' Others, include a ; dwarf Jap anese maple five feet high, a dwarf maple 4V feet high and a Gingo tree 25 feet high. Seeds From Washington The esteem of Peter Britt as a horticulturist is shown by a letter from Senator Binger Her mann inl881. It stated he had sent Peter a package of choice seeds selected by the superin tendent of " the U. S. Botanical gardens in Washington, D. C. The local history of the Britt family begins with the story of a pioneer of the old tradition, Peter Britt-, who arrived in the new mining camp of Jackson ville on November, 1852, accord ing to information compiled by Mrs. Myrtle P. Lee, curator of the Jacksonville museum and friend of the family since she was a small child. Starts With $5 He had only $5 when he ar rived, after a wagon and oxen I STUDIO A-portion of Peter Britt's photo graphic studio is shown. A number of cameras with lenses for, different size photos can be seen on the left. A self-portrait is shown next to the baby's chair, and the center trip across the plains to Oregon, accompanied by three others as far as Portland. His -first sight of the valley and Mt. McLough- lin is said to have reminded him of his native Switzerland'. He left there and came to America in 1845 when 26 years old; with his father and brother. Thev settled in' Illinois. In 1847 'Peter took up daguerreotyping, '.after instruction from J. H. Fritzgi bons, St. Louis, a leading da guerreotypist. The process in volved use of a silver plate. When Peter arrived in Jack- sonville, it was a frontier - city of tents and log cabins. He took up a donation 1 land . claim ad joining Jacksonville, later padd ing 80 acres. . i Thus began a career .V that eventually was to include; the occupations of photographer, gold miner, painter, freighter, money lender horticultalist, weather observer, wine rfiaker and wholesaler, and proQably some others. . - Had Gold Claim Like many early pioneers, he was successfuLat almost every thing he turned a hand to. A claim on the south fork of Jack son creek produced for him and two others about $500 a day while working a pocket, accord ing to information from Mrs. Lee. ' To meet a growing . supply problem caused by the influx into the mining camp, he went into the freighting business to serve the area in 1853. His pack train travelled to Crescent City, via the Applegate, until 1856 when he sold out. Two of the pack saddles are now at the museum. '. First Studio ' The first log cabin built by him served as a home and studio until 1854, when he built a sep arate studio from lumber, with a skylight for illumination. Liv ing quarters had been added to the studio by 1856. The studio had ; an outdoor sign stating "daguerrian artist," and did a prosperous business, according to his son, Emil. ' - In 1856, Peter went to San Francisco, where he purchased a i larger and more complete photographic outfit. Among the equipment was a Harrison lens, weighing 30 pounds. From then on, he was actively engaged in photography in a big way, until 1900, when he retired. ; Many Portraits Some of his early photographs included landscape scenes of the region and hundreds of pictures of early day figures such as Judge P. P. Prim, and Orange Jacobs, who later-became gov ernor of the .Washington terri tory (they were " opposing law yers in first regular trial at Jacksonville in 1853); Judge Deady, Capt W. W. Fovjller, "A" company, : volunteers, 1853 (who also built first log cabin there); Henry, Klippel, who sur veyed the first township in 1852; U. S. - Hayden, first alcalde (judge); Mathew G. Kennedy, first sheriff; B. F. Dowell, law yer, and many other important personages of the Oregon terri tory. : His historic pictures ' and paintings of the time, including many types of photography, daguerreotypes,, melainietypes, tintypes and others,, are among the richest items in historical value left with the estate.. A large collection of old time pho tographic equipment, including several cameras, many lenses, five large studio backdrops and other items, is still intact. Peter's first camera, a -heavy , wooden box used for making daguerreo types, is included. HouM Described The main part of the present Britt residence was erected in 1860. A rear portion, including another large studio room on the second floor, was added in the early 1880's. The house as it stands now has 14 room's, three stories, with a large wine cel lar. There are three .. bedrooms on the first floor, a dining room, waiting room for the upstairs studio, hothouse, personal living room, parlor and kitchen. A small bedroom over the kitchen was also included for extra help. The hothouse was heated from the personal living room.Oranges WINE CELLAR Shown are several of the 15 wine casks still preserved in the Britt residence cellar. Peter Britt had a 15-acre vineyard and produced excellent wines for the wholesale trade under the name Valley View Winery. Records show he gathered four tons of grapes to the acre. Such wines as claret, zinf andel, muscat and cabaret were produced. An individual, cask's capacity was ZOO gallons, allowing a operation. and lemons were gfown there, as well as a number of cactus and rare potted plants. The second floor was devoted entirely- to a studio with two large skylighted rooms and printing and developing rooms; The studio .room walls were covered by photographs and paintings, with some 3,500 small pictures which have been cata logued by Mrs. Lee, acting for the executor. The third story was used for storage of photographic plates and painting material. Wine Casks . Still in the cellar are 15 wine casks of 200-gallon capacity each, plus 13 glass jugs in wood en cases, and smaller jugs. These, remnants tell another successful enterprise . of Peter Britt, the Valley View winery. Britt, who was reared in the grape district of Switzerland, is credited with bringing in the first tame grape plant to the area and starting a vineyard of 15 acres. ; Mrs. Lee reported that his mo tive for. setting out a vineyard was to prove that where wild grapes grew so prolifically, the tame grape plant would do as well. He obtained his first vines from California in .1854-55, which were of the mission varie ty . .. .... - ' Notations in his ' records showed that he gathered about Shingle Weavers ' ." " ..." ' Study Wage Boost Portland (U.R) Portland and southwest Washington shingle weavers were to meet here Sat urday afternoon to consider, a 71i-cent hourly - wage increase offered by employers. .'- AFL workers have asked for a boost of from 25 to 45 cents and hour, saying they, have not had an .increase since August, 1950. Shingle . mills ; at Grays Harbor, i Wash., and. seven in the Portland area, have been closed by what operators termed a "slowdown strategy"" to en force wage demands. - ' Verne Newcomb, attorney for the., employers, said "workers also have been offered any fur ther benefits worked out by the joint labor and management board recommended by the fact finding- panel which studied is sues of last summer s lumber strike.? .. .j 'J- .: ",; ; Provisions . also were made for opening wage negotiations within' the: contract term, New-, comb said. He said crews from Portland: Shingle . Mills' opera tions here and at Ridgefield and Kelso, Wash., were to attend the meeting. male portrait is a painting of Col. Davenport (Davenport, la., is named after him), which' was one of Peter's first commissions before coming west to Oregon from Illinois. Scenes of earty Jacksonville 'appear below. I large storage capacity lor the four tons to the acre, with a ton of grapes producing 135 gallons of wine. Entries showed many types of wine on hand. One noted in 1893 that he had sold a blend of claret, which was "very clear and fine, but very sweet." The cellar also contained mus cat, zinfandel and cabaret wines. ; He dealt in wholesale trade, and it was said that the grapes produced in the valley gave as fine a wine as any in Europe. One prominent' customer was Father Francis X. Blanche t, for mer Jacksonville priest, who purchased wine for religious pur poses : for his Catholic parish after he had moved to St. Paul, Ore. Other leading persons of the day were on "his customer lists. ' v Another contribution to the history of the area was weather reporting by both Peter and his son, Emil. Peter . kept private weather records in a diary from 1852 until January, 1891, when Emil took the task over. The lat ter began work as a cooperative observer for the U. S. weather bureau, on Aug. 1, 1891 and served for 58V4 years. He died six months before being awarded a medal by : the U. S. Depart ment of Commerce. ; ' Random - items from their weather records show that Feb ruary, 1894, was the year of a big snow, with 14 inches falling. The city's highest recorded tem- It ft tanft3&f3MBMe1 .1 (1. RESIDENCE Pictured is the historic Britt residence at Jackson ville sometime prior to 1912. The main portion of the 14-room house, was erected in 1860, with a rear addition in the early 1880's. An elaborate photographic studio covered the entire second floor of the' building. .The gardens surrounding the home contain many first plantings in the valley and rare trees and shrubs. PARLOR One of the showpoints of the Britt residence in Jacksonville is the ornate parlor. The floral-design carpet, which was purchased in 1884 by Molly Britt, is extremely well pre served. The ceiling .fixture has been con perature was 106 in August, 1901, and lowest was 5 degrees above zero on .Feb. 4, 1899. The average number of. days each year that the temperature rose above '90 was 20, and average for under 32 degrees was 75 days a year.. Average annual precipi tation was 27.74 inches One of the most consistent weather beacons was the croak ing of frogs in the lily pond be fore each storm, a . common weather report . entry. ; Besides the bustle of activity during the -'50s, and '60s, Peter Atomic Sub Scheduled To Start Trials on Monday; Extensive Sea Tests to Be Held Washington (U.R) The atomic-powered submarine Nau tilus, first vehicle, of any, kind having nuclear power, will be gin sea trials .Monday. The Navy announced Friday night that the 2,800-ton vessel, built at a cost of more than $40,000,000, will leave the dock at Gro ton, Conn., and head down the Thames river for builder s trials. Trials Delayed Its tests at sea were delayed for three months - when it was discovered last fall that the wrong kind of piping had been installed. . .. The Navy announced that fin- itial . trials at sea will . be held on the surface to conduct under way tests of the propulsion plant and the other systems common to conventional submarines." In formed sources disclosed that the Nautilus' atomic reactor has been producing heat for several days. ... . . Last Dec. 30 it was learned that the Nautilus was scheduled to begin sea trials in mid-Janu ary. Later that same day, the Navy announced that the trials would not begin until, early March. ' Extensive Tests . The Navy said that exact tim ing of trials during early stages cannot- be predicted because of the "developmental nature of this submarine." Tests and ad justments at dockside and at sea will be more extensive than -in previous submarines. ; Tests of the reactor and steam propulsion equipment now are near completion at the General Dynamics . Corporation Electric Boat division, . which . built the sub and is building a sister ship, the Sea Wolf. The other atomic powered subs . are now . in the Navy's building program. . , "When the Nautilus casts her lines off the dock and heads 1 I sr Psit; found time to marry Amalia Grob in 1861 at the old Henry Kubli home on the Applegate. His wife was a former childhood sweetheart whose first husband had died,, leaving' her with one child,- Jacob. She arrived; here by stage after a steamer trip from San Francisco to Crescent City. The Kubli home where they were married was a night stop on the stage line. Children born to Peter and Amalia were Emil, 1862 (died January, 1950), Arnold, 1863 (died August, 1864), and Amalia down the Thames river," the Navy said, .; "it. will represent the results of years of develop ment of nuclear" power by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Navy." . - U.M. Secretary Elleete Rh Formosan Envoy UnUed Nations, N. Y-0J. Secretary General Dag Hammar- skjold plunged Saturday into, a round of diplomatic appoint ments, informing U.N. chief, dele gates of his free-the-fliers mis sion to Red China. - : Hammarskjold's first caller Civil Service Week . Marks Anniversary Of Merit System National Civil Service Wck, Jan. 16 through 22, marks the 72nd anniversary of the civil service merit system, according to Eldon Humphries, president, Lodge 1089, American Federa tion of Government Employees. He stated that it is a tribute to the merit system that mis conduct or dishonesty on the part of government employees is headline-making news. During the years preceding the passage of the1 civil service act of : 1883, when government office was obtained either in re ward for political services or in a straight cash sale, it was ex pected that the officeholder would attempt to enrich himself at the public expense until four years later a new administration, even of the same. party, would replace him, he continued. , Now, however, the picture is far different, Humphries noted. First of all, to gain entrance to the career civil service, one must be appointed through open, com petitive; examination. A . pro bationary period follows for; a year, before permanent appoint ment. The latter can be revoked after a hearing. j The AFGE annually sponsors National Civil Service week to tell the ; story of the merit sys tem to the American people, he concluded. ; . . . . Other local lodge officers, be sides Humphries,' are Clyde Wil liams,... vice.,- president; Doris Oakes, secretary, : and Walter Wills, treasurer. r- park uiEiv nonsnG ncr.iE 906 WEST MAIN STREET Msdford, Oregon -' Pest operatives, chronics and convalescents Specialized car with kindness - Under Registered Nurse. Supervision NURSES ON DUTY :: !L - -J. '4 verted to electricity from gas. The picture on the left is a scene painted of Mill Creek falls, ,; near Prospect. An unscratched Steinway grand panio is just out of sight on the left D. (Molly), 1865 (died October, 1954). Jacob, son of Mrs. Britt from her former marriage, died ' in July, 1896. Mrs. Britt died in 1871 and Peter died in 1905. The Britts were active in com munity affairs. Peter ' served' in various capacities throughout his life, and Emil served on the city council for 15 years and: was . mayor for six years. Amalia (Molly) was worthy matron of Adarel chapter, Eastern Star, ' 1903-5, 1913-14 and in 1922. She held office in the chapter for 50 years straight, a record equalled by few. . , c The submarine, w h i e n was commissioned last September, . will be able to cruise at unprec-' edented speeds and distances under the surface. was Nationalist China's Dr. Ting- ; M 1 m.5 . T . A - learn the reaction expressed by Red Chinese Premier Chou En-i shek's Formosa stronghold : Everyone Afraid In his first public disclosure : of details of his mission, Ham- marskjold was asked Friday whether Chou .had expressed, fear nf invasion from Formosa. "One of the most curious and upsetting features about the pres- . ent world situation in the East ; is that everybody is afraid of ; everybody," Hammarskjold re-. plied. ; : Others expected to see Ham marskjold during the day were Selim Sarper of Turkey and Ar- , thur S. Iall of India. - ; First to receive a full report 1 was U. S. Ambassador Henry .. Cabot Lodge Jr.; who was closet-. ed . with Hammarskjold shortly after his arrival Thursday night from Peiping. Ruptured Men Get $3.50 Gift For Trying This Kansas City. Mo. Hera Is in improved means of holdinff run- ture that has benefitted thou sands of ruptured men and wo men in the last year. Inconspicuous, with o u t le straps, elastic belts, body en circling springs or harsh pads, it has caused many to say, "I don't see how it holds so easv. I would not have believed,-had I not tried it" So comfortable so easy to wear it would show . you the way to , joyous freedom 'from your rupture trouble. - - : - You can't lose by tryinftV lt la ? sent to you on 30 days trial. You -'. receive a $3.50 special truss as a A gut tor making this trial. Write for descriptive circular. It's free. Just address Physician's j Appliance Company, 1666 Koch Jtsiag., zbub mam, jumsas uij p, -j. Missouri. : -' , But do it today before you lose; the address, t (Paid Adv.) Phone 2-o93t 24 HOURS DAI V
