Image provided by: North Santiam Historic Society; Gates, OR
About The Mill City enterprise. (Mill City, Or.) 1949-1998 | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1959)
Stagecoach to Jet Planes Mules Were First Engines; Steamboats had Colorful History; Railroads' Heyday Dramatic When Eugene produced in 1926 the first of several pageants cele brating development of transporta tion and business in this region, the show was called the "Trail to Rail” pageant. The trail had been one of two highways of the moun tain men and the trappers of the 1830’s and earlier The other had been the river, and the men of those early days used three modes ot transportation — their own feet, their animals, and their canoes. Most of the early settlement of the Oregon country was along the rivers, which furnished handy ave nues of travel with a minimum of trouble The age of steam had not arrived in Oregon in those pre statehood days, and the first light di.iff passenger — and freight - carrying craft were propelled by ctews of Indians; the boats were rigged for sailing, but dependable manpower was still essential. Two of the earliest of these boats were tne Mogul and the Ben Franklin, operating in the Willamette river in 1848. Soon the number was heavily increased. First Steamboat in 1850 After the California gold rush, trading vessels moved up the Coast and into the Columbia and the Willamette. The first steamboat to ply Oregon streams was the Columbus, built at Astoria in 1850. July 3 of that year it set out for Oregon City, then still the metro polis as well as the capital of ter ritorial Oregon. The next day Ore- ton City was the scene of a com bined Fourth of July and marine transportation celebration. The Columbia was a slow and somewhat awkward craft, a double-e n d e r sidewheeler, in the general shape of the modem car-ferry It was 90 feet long, 16 feet beam, 4 feet deep. It had a good engine. Six months later along came the Lot Whitcomb, iiwnwi by and named for the enterprising pro moter of Milwaukie, an early rival of Portland. This vessel was not on ly larger but faster than the Co lumbia. with 600 tons displacment. it was 160 feet long, with a 24-foot beam, and 5 feet 8 inches deep. It was launched at Milwaukie Christ mas Day 1850, with speeches by Territorial Governor John P Gaines and by Mayor Kilborn of Otegon City, In charge of the »•raft was Capt. J. C. Ainsworth, who achieved fame and fortune in Oregon transportation and general business. Another famous steam boat was the Jennie (lark, the first stern-wheeler in the Northwest; it v, as built at Milwaukie by Jacob Kamm, whose name also is famous in Oregon transportation annals The first iron vessel constructed in this area was the Belle of Oregon City, built, in her namesake town, of Oregon-smelted iron. In his very readable book, "Steamboats on the River," Randall V. Mills, late University ot Oregon professor of English, quoted a poetic bit written by Elizabeth Markham, rhapsodiz ing over the Lot Whitcomb, one of the best-remembered of the Wil lamette river boats. Mrs Markham was the mother of Edwin Mark ham, famous author of “The Man With the Hoe.” Probably her poetic outburst could be rated as "not bad.” Here’s a brief excerpt, in which the rhythm is rather r i p - pling: "Success to the Steamer, her captain and crew. She has our best wishes attained. Oh that she may never while running this river tall back on the sandbar again!” Ii surprises most residents along the Willamette to learn that up to about the turn of the century steamboats carried freight and passengers every now and then all the way up the stream to Eugene. Shoals in the river and the inroads of land competition long ago ended all that Mules Pulled First Kail Cars Oregon’s first railroad dates back to the year of statehood; but on the fust little line, mules were the first "locomotives" used, t h e tracks were of wood, and the line, between what are now Cascade Locks and Bonneville, was merely a portage adjunct to water trans portation. It became a steam rail road three years later when t h e Oiegon Pony, first locomotive on the Pacific Coast, displaced t h e mulepower. The first railroad of any consid erable importance in Oregon was the On-gon Central, built along the east bank of the Willamette by Ben Holladay and associates. The line was completed to New Era. 20 miles south of Portland, the day before Christmas in 1869. seven months after the driving of the golden spike on the Union Pacific, first of America's transcontinental lines. It took three years, in those dif ficult financial times, to get t h e line as far south as Roseburg, a- bout 320 miles south of Portland. Connection with San Francisco was not established until 1887, after the ProgressPlanned Economic Development of State Is Ma in Task of Department Oregon has between 70 and 75 per cent of its non-agricultural employment in non-manufacturing industries, and as the standard of living goes up—due principally to innovations, new discoveries and improved technology—then- will be more leisure time and additional M-rviivs Oregon has geographic advan tages for a number of trade and services industries Oregon will progress faster in the next few years than it has re cently. Growth is not a uniform process and there are bound to be ups and downs, however, the ttend is up and the future is bright for Oregon. These- comments and opinions were expressed this week by the Oregon Department of Planning and Development which is under the direct supervision of Governor Mark Hatfield Julius R Jensen is director of the department First Action In IIM.I The- first evidence of the taking o( specific action by the- State of Oiegon in the field of economic de velopment occurred in 1943, with th«- creation of a Post War Read justment and l>velopment Com mission Fears that a great de I ivssion would follow World War II had much to do with th«' creation ol this Commission This agency limited its work primarily to th«- compilation of fundamental econo mic statistic* and to proposals to Ils- Governor on economic prob fems. It was follow«-«! in February, 1950. by a Governor's Advisory Council on Employment, the pur- p, se of which was to help promote employment opportunities in Ore gon This Council was suixxsxh'd in July. 1951. by a nine man Oregon C.wnmittee for Industrial Drvelop- rrent. charged with the responsi I bility of advising the Gevemor how to obtain more defense contracts for Oregon industry Of more lasting importance was tne part this committ«-e played in drawing up long-range plans for the economic development of the state. It recommended a perma nent state development agency to be created by th«- legislature and supported from the general fund Development Commission As a result of this recommenda tion. the Oregon Development C< mmission was crvat«-d by the 1953 Oregon Legislature Its func tions were set forth as follows: "For the purposes of broadening the economic base of stat«- and lo cal communities, for developing community employment, sustaining payrolls and creating additional ones, and for the pur|x»se of co-or dinating the efforts of the existing agencies of th«- state government and insuring proper statistical con tributions tow ani these industries, there hereby is created an Oiegon Dcvelopm«-nt Commission The Department of Planning and Development came into existence in July, 1957, suceei’ding to the Oiegon Developm«-nt Commission as a result of the action of the 1957 Oregon Legislative Assembly. Ex- perience tn other states had indica- t«-d that departments under the di rect supervision of the chief execu tive seemed to have more impact titan did those operating under th«- commission form Also, it seemed to give greater prestige and im portance in s»-«-urtng th«- necessary information to do a selling job to present prospective industry The overall area of activity of the department has changed ma terially from that assigned to the former Oregon Development Com mission and has enabled the de- Southern Pacific had taken over the line. Forty years later the long-plan ned Natron cut-off line was finish ed, running from Eugene along the east side of the Cascade Mountains to Black Butte, near Weed, Calif., by way of Klamath Falls That was the last large railraod extension put through in Oregon Several other lines, independently built, were acquired by the South ern Pacific. An important excep tion is the Oregon Electric railroad serving a wide area with Willam ette valley, owned by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, it is still doing a considerable freight business after 48 years, though re tired from handling passengers since 1934. The first quarter of the t w e n - tieth century was the era of the radroads, which had already put the steamers virtually off the Ore gon rivers. The same type of fate, possibly not far away, appears to be facing the railroads' passenger traffic, as more popular methods of passenger transportation invade the field. The railroads appear safe lor the foreseeable future in the field of the heavy freight haul. Passenger traffic for the rail roads found a stiffening competi tion from overland buses in the 1920's. Meanwhile, too. the indivi dual passenger automobile was cutting deeply into short-haul pas senger business. Improved high ways are a heavy cause and a somewhat less considerable effect on the busses’ heavy inroads into the passenger traffic. Airplanes Serve the State Latest, and apparently most ef fective, of the railroads’ competi tors for the passengers is the air plane. One doesn't have to be a graybeareded patriarch to recall the Wright brothers’ first flights at Kitty Hawk. N. C, Dec if 1903 The longest of their four flights that day was one-sixth of a mile, made in just one second less than a minute — which means speed of about ten miles an hour made by that little pioneer biplane. In less thar 15 years the airplane was used, to a considerable extent, in the first of the World Wars These days the jets go about as far in a second as the Wrights were able to go in a minute. Now Oregon has few localities more than an hour from an airport, and more and more Oregon people do their travel ing in the air. partment to expand these p r o - giams as well as to initiate addi tional activities. Advisory Commitee Although the state’s economic de velopment agency is no longer a commission, there is an advisory committee of the department, chos en by the Governor from leaders of business, industry, and labor Sub-i-ommittees have been created with members of the Advisory Com mittee as chairman to study the following subjects: taxation, trans- poration, agriculture, timber, min erals. roads and highways, fishing power, storage waters, industrial ciedit authorities, and advertising These sub-<?ommittees have receiv ed the cooperation of the approp riate state departments, serving as consulants. The Department has published the following: 1. "GROW With Oregon" — a monthly periodical of the Depart ment giving information about Ore gon’s economy and industry 2. Industrial fact brochures a. Oregon Fact Summary b Agricultural Facts c. Timber Facts d Facts of Oregon’s Water ami Fuel Resources e. Mineral Facts f Transportation Facts g Power Resources h. Research and Education Re sources 3 A non partisan Oregon tax sur vey. released in three parts, by Dr John F. Sly. Princeton Surveys Inc 4. "Qu«'stions and Answers on Small Business Investment Act of 1958" 5. "Industrial Financing." the n port of the study made for th«- Department 6. Th«- Sandwell Area Studies re porting on the feasibility of expand it.g pulp and paper production in Oregon 7 "Why Business Firms Loeat- «-d in Oregon. 1948-1957.” the find mgs of a study made for the De partment by the Bureau of Busi ness Research of the University of Oregon Other activities of the depart ment have been national advvrtis- LOGGERS USING AXES AND A hand-operated saw over a half- century ago were happy to rest and pose for the photographer. "Action” is the by-word today and the crew using an Oregon- made power chain kept working while the lower picture was taken recently. The two-man crew was falling a prime Douglas Fir, 430 years old and 283 feet tall, from which a 40 foot action has been moved to Portland to be displayed at the Oregon Cen tennial Exposition. ing, participation in exhibitions and trade shows; radio and tele vision programs, speaking appear ances; f«?deral-state cooperation ac tiVities: industrial prospect calls; community service and coopera tion: and providing requested in formation. A major task which the department is just completing is the production of a current "Ore gon Manufacturers' Directory and Buyers' Guide ” It is expected to be published by May 1 Two Growth Factors There are two strong factors working toward t h e economi«- growth of Oregon One is techno logical advances that will make possible th«’ higher degree of utili zation of raw materials. Not only does the department a n t i c i - pate continued growth in the non lumber wood products, such as plywood, chipbtiard. wixxi chemi cals and paper, but it fores«es the rapid development of new agri cultural processes and by-products of importance in the state The other favorable factor is the growth of lo»-al and regional mar kets. which will make possible expansion of some of the industries now representing only a small por Hon of the Oregon eeonomy The l»epartment of Planning and De velopment is conducting research to enable it to demonstrate in ob- Xctive terms what Oregon has in raw materials and markets At the sam«' time it has geared i t s activities toward promoting t h e growth of the "scientific" indus- tiros onent«>d neither toward raw materials nor markets Like Cut Gems Tort Umpqua Courirer, Reedsport The GREAT city is that which lias th«> finest men and women If it be but a collection of ragged huts, it would still he the greatest city in the world!' - Walt Whit man There would b«’ no metro politan Portland if Oregon were not studded with scores of little cities- each like a star in the sky with a lustre, a distinction of its own. Th«> worth of a man is not measured by his bulk or brawn, nor is th«» worth of a city by its size and fame. Not always but often, a small city is like a beautifully cut gem-famed for quality of its accomplishments " Thank You — loo Oregon Weekly Newspaper* join this we«-k to present this Ore gon Centennial supplement to their combined iitl.otkl readers. It has bee« produced under th«’ direction i f th«- Advertising Service IN-part nu-nt of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Our appreciation is expressed to the following for permission to use photographs prinh-d herein: Old time scenes ar«- from the l.«v Moorehouse collection of photo graphic negatives now h«us«-<i in the University of Oregon library; Oregon State Highway ( onuni* sion; West t oast laimberman’s As- ■ociatfam; < aterpillar Trai tor t om pany; Oregon State College; I’hil Wolcott; tiile's; I mon Pacific Kail road: and several participat ing new spaprrs.
