Image provided by: Yamhill County Historical Society; McMinnville, OR
About The daily reporter. (McMinnville, Or.) 1886-1887 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1886)
RTE» NO. 96. VOL. 1. M c M innville . O regon , T uesday , D ecember Th@ O'lliy Reporter. Our Pioneers. Entered in the Postoffioe at MoMinnvillefor Transmission Through the Mails as Sec ond Class Matter. --------- o--------- D. C. IRELAND. E. L. E. WHITE. B. C. IRELAND & Co. PUBLISHERS. The Daily Reporter. Tn D aily R kpobtkb is issued every day in the week exoept Sundays, and is delivered in the oity at 10 oents per week. By mail, 40 cents per month in advanoe. Rates for ad vertising same as for T hs W huy K xpobtbb . ■••k a Jek Priattaf • We beg leave to announoe to the publie that we have just added a large stock of new novelties to our business, and make a special ty of Letter Heads. Bill Heads, Note Heads. Statements, Business Cards, Ladies' Calling Cards, Ball Invitations (new designs) Pro grammes, Posters, and all descriptions of work. Terms favorable. Call and be con vinced. D. C. IRELAND & CO. Iu times remote the prophet Uri led I he remnant of his people brave and bold From Egypt’s fertile plains through many lands ; Across the frozen regions of the north, And down the western slope of a new world, To build the great empire of the past. There came, evolved frrom out the depth of time, Another race of Argonauts— I Not led by prophet, but each unto him self A prophet, and a peaceful conqueror. These pioneers went forth to cross the plains, And braved the many dangers in their path. No weak, faint hearted men and wo men they, But made of flesh and bone, and sinews stong, And in each bosom brave and bold, a heart As generous as the Samaritan's of old. By perserverance in their lonely toil, They wrought enduring fame upon E. E. COUCHER, M. D. their soil— ’ And their empire in times to come shall PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON. shine McMunmnu ... O bboox . The brightest among the stars of forty- nine. Offioe and reeidenoe, oorner of Third and —Charles (Irissen. D streets, next to the poetoffioe. DR. I. C. TAYLOR. --------- o--------- Late of New Orleans, La., Piles and Fistula a Spe ciality. Consultation free. Ao Cure No Pay. Yamhill County's Roll Medorem Crawford Settleri of 1843. A. J. Baker Samuel Cozine James Houck Thomas Shadden Sitton Settlers of 1844. a. HTTBLBY. McCain & Hurley, ATTOBNEÏ8.AT.LAW AND NOTARIES PUBLIC, • Honor. Settlert of 1842. T. J. Shadden J. G. Baker Mrs. C. B. Cary W. C. Hembree Offioe with H. V. V. Johnson, M D., Thos. Owens MeMinnrille, Oregon. N. K. JAS. M’OAIN. of Geo. 8. Nelson J. C. Nelson Joseph Watt- Settlers of 1845. G. W. Sappington J. A. Sappington Lafayette, Oregon, Especial attention paid to abstracts of title and settlement of estates in probate. Offioe—Jail buiding, up stairs. PIONEERS OF ’42-3. Mrs. M. Shadden. _______ o Fashionable Dressmaker« The Taylor System of Cutting and Fit ting employed. * Third street. Next to Bishop A Kay’s store, MoMinnville, Or. -=Mcfailli folksy Hair Cutting, Shaving and Mi««- pooing Parlor. 15c SHAVING 15c. C. H. FLEUIHG, Proprietor. (Suooeseor to A. 0. Wyndham.) Ladies and children’s work a specialty. 0^*1 have just addbd to my parlor the largest and finest stock of < igars ever in this •ity. Try them. _______ _______ _____ D C. IRELAND A CO., Fine Job Printers, McMinnville, Ore<on. Tis a pleasant task to gather up facts concerning the early days of Yamhill county, and again it is a sad one as we sit and listen to the unroll ing of life’s drama, and hear our gen erous old pioneers tell of those who are yet living and of the ones that have drifted over the great divide into the silent land. Many attempts have been made to write correct historical occurrences of events that have taken place nearly half a century ago; and of a majority of the written articles, nine out of ten are gilded to suit the object in view, i. e., turning an honest penny. Some years since a descriptive let ter was issued by E. De Jongh of Yamhill county and McMinnville, in brief form. There are many glaring defects in his article, caused no doubt, by unreliable information. Also a sma>i monthly magazine bearing no date, but called the Pacific Monthly, 28. 1886. I has attempted in amplified form, to give an honest survey of the past, pres ent and future, at the time of its pub lication. In culling its pages we find much that appears to have been taken from Mr. Win. T. Newby's journal, and shall, therefore, make use of such, giv ing the credit where it is due. Conspicuous among the pioneers who made McMinnville their life long home, we find the name of William T. Newby: “This gentleman came from Mc Minnville, Warren county, Tennesee, and was the founder of McMinnville, Yamhill county, Oregon. He formed one of a large party of immigrants, the first real immigration made for the purpose of settling in Oregon, that came over the plains in 1843. Mr. Newby gives as the impelling Daus« of that immigration, the introduction into congress the season previously of a bill by Senator Linn, of Missouri, giving to every American settler in Oregon 640 acres of land. Added to this the same senator caused to be dis tributed throughout the country the fascinating journals of travels of Lewis and Clarke, in which they gave a glowing account of the richness of the soil and the attractiveness of the climate of Oregon. The spring of 1843, in consequence, saw a large tide of im migrants from various parts of the western border states, with their wag ons, wending their way beyond Inde pendence, Missouri, and striking across the great American desert, as it was then called, boldly making the begin- ing of that wearisome journey of 2,- 000 miles over a trackless, treeless waste, over three groat ranges of mountains, for the sole purpose of founding American civilization in the unknown territory of Oregon. Men, women and children, to the number of over seven hundred souls, bid fare well to friends and homos of their fathers, to make new homes in a wild, untried country, amid savage Indians, the very soil of which was then dis puted territory between the two great nations of the world. To a territory so remote from all communication with the civilized world that it took a year and a half in the ordinary course of the mails to get a letter home and re ceive its reply. But these were sturdy men and women, who had the courage to brave all dangers for the purpose of improving their condition. They were of the stuff* that heroes are mads of, and Oregon to-day owes its thrift and energy, and its great prosperity, to the strong hearts and brave deeds of her bands of hardy pioneers. No drones or cowards could, from the very nature of the undertaking, form any part of such a company. Of that large party, who could tell how many would meet death before the end of their long journey woo Id be reached? Death did enter their party, and took away two, of their number, who had to be buried along that fearful march, PRICE TWO CENTS. and the rude monuments constructed over their lonely graves served as sad guide (Mists to the immigrants of other season«. One bright little lad, nine years of age, full of life and health, the last of all that party likely to die, was thrown from a wagon and crushed so badly that he lived but a few hour«. He was the son of J< m »I Hembree. A halt was made, and he was buried there on the 28th of July, 1843. Mr. Newby engraved his name rudely with such implements as he had, upon a stone that was placed over his grave while his weeping parents and friends stood by. For many years this stone was mentioned as one of the in teresting wayeide marks of the journey across the the plains. “ Mr. Newby himself came near los ing hie life, with three companions, in crossing the Platte river. When the party arrived at the first fork of this formidable stream, they prepared two buffalo skin boats in which to cross, but they found after experiment ing with them, that it would take two weeks to make the passage. Ths stream was greatly swollen by floods. In this dilemma three men, Captain A. J. Hembree, Abijah Hendricks and W. T. Newby, volunteered to perform the dangerous task of wading into the river, and surveying up and down until they could find a ford. The river was a mile across. Mr. Newby says he waded and swam that river seven times in one «lay. A ford was found, but even then it involved about thirty yards of swimming. "At north Platte it was found nec essary to chain the wagons together, and forty or fifty men were placed on the op|iosite side with a rope, that was attached to the leading team, and in this manner they helped the whole line across. It was a dan gerous experiment. The water came up te the middle of the wagon beds, and the whole party came out two and a quarter miles below the start ing point on the opposite shore. Home writers have given Dr. Whitman ths credit of inventing and managing this modo of crowiing, but while Dr. Whit man is entitled 'to much credit for all he has done, he most amuredly was not there and hail nothing to do with getting tip this party of immigrants, and did not join them until after the South Platte was crossed. John G. Baker says emphatically that Dr. Whitman was them, others to the contrary notwithstanding. He saw him cross and recross the South Platt repeatedly in search of a ford for the train, on horseback, and was forced many times to dismount as the animal sank to the middle in the quicksands. Also, the honor of sug gesting the chaining of wagons to gether belongs te Dr. Whitman. Mr. Baker further says that Dr. Whitman was not with the party when it started from the rendevous in Kan- « oaUnaad oa 4th pa««.