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.
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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.
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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««.