When J. M. Shively returned from the East in 1847 he brought with him his commission as postmaster and opened the first post office west of the Rocky Mountains in the Shively building, still standing on the east side of Fourteenth Street, between Exchange Street and Franklin Avenue. The next year S. T. McKean, wife, and six children arrived and took up their residence here. In this year also the news of the discovery of gold in California led to a stampede to the mines and while some of the inhabitants of Astoria went, their places were soon filled by people brought here by the great increase in the amount of shipping done from Columbia River. A great demand for lumber and provisions arose and mills were started to supply this demand. Hunt's mill, just below Westport, had commenced operations in 1846, and when the gold excitement started, had one hundred thousand feet of lumber on hand which was eagerly purchased at $100 per thousand. The Milwaukie mill and Abernethy's mill at Oak Point supplied the greater part of the lumber for the California trade. In 1849 Marland's mill, just above Tongue Point, was started. This mill was later destroyed by fire. In 1851-52 James Welch and others built the first mill in the city proper. It was located in the block bounded by Commercial, Bond, Ninth, and Tenth streets. It was afterward owned by W. W. Parker and known as the Parker mill. The increase in the amount of shipping led to the establishment of the customhouse at Astoria in 1849. The same year Captains White and Hustler arrived and brought the first pilot boat to operate on the Columbia-river bar, the Mary Taylor. The pilots had their headquarters at Astoria, and this led to increased trade for Astoria and the establishment of boarding houses for the accommodation of the shipping men and the passengers of vessels that stopped here either to await favorable wind to proceed to up-river points or to cross the bar or to complete their cargoes of lumber or increase their cargoes of provisions with a few barrels of salt salmon. When Col. John Adair, the first collector of customs, arrived at Astoria he occupied the McClure house and tried to secure land from the different owners of the town on which to build the customhouse. The owners refused to donate the land and fixed the price at a figure which Colonel Adair considered too high. The result of this disagreement was the establishing of the United States customhouse at Upper Astoria and the beginning of the rivalry between the upper and lower towns, which lasted for many years, and led to the building up of two towns mutually jealous of each other yet having every interest in common. Judge Strong, who passed through Astoria in 1850, says: