The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 4, March, 1903-December, 1903Oregon Historical Society
History
The quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 4, March, 1903-December, 1903
Oregon Historical Society
Oregon -- History -- Periodicals
Nothing since the Whitman massacre had brought such sorrow to their
hearts. Early in the morning the steamer, loaded with human freight,
started for the sad scene. A steamer had left Fort Vancouver with our
illustrious Sheridan, who, with forty men reached the Cascades first.
On landing they received a volley from the Indians, who fought like
demons. Now the steamer arrived with the Portland volunteers. At the
same time Colonel Steptoe, from The Dalles, with infantry and
volunteers, arrived, who surprised the Indians, many of whom were
horse racing, others were watching Sheridan. As they saw the new
arrival of blue coats, they fled to the hills. Nine of the ring
leaders were captured and hung. To relate all the thrilling incidents
encountered by the early pioneers would fill volumes, and in
conclusion, I feel that the hallowed remembrances of all our loyal
patriotic pioneer fathers and mothers will live to the end of time, as
they braved dangers that tongue or pen fail to express, and by their
life's work each one has erected their invincible monument.
CHARLOTTE MOFFETT CARTWRIGHT,
Pioneer of 1845.
THE UPPER CALAPOOIA.
By GEO. O. GOODALL.
The early history of the white man in the Upper Calapooia was a quiet
and uneventful one. The travelers coming in from their long trip
across the Plains, pushed up the Willamette Valley, and, attracted by
the beautiful and fertile Calapooia Valley, with its abundance of
grass on its surrounding hills, and plentiful supply of water, settled
there to live the peaceful life of farmers or stock raisers, with very
little trouble of any kind to disturb them in their occupation of
home-making. In those early days the hills, most of which are now
heavily wooded, were free from timber and covered with beautiful
grass. One old settler said: "You can not imagine the beauty of this
country when we first came here." The Indians had kept the brush
burned down, burning over the hills each year. The white man neglected
to do this, and now in many places the grass has given way to moss and
timber.
According to the best information I could get, the first settlers came
to the Calapooia in 1846. T. A. Riggs, who came in 1847, and whose
statement is appended below, says that when he came there were three
or four settlers near where Brownsville now stands, and one, R. C.
Finley, six miles up stream. This man Finley was the settler farthest
up the stream till Riggs and his partner, Asa Moore, took up donation
claims two or three miles above Finley on Brush Creek, a tributary of
the Calapooia. From this time on more settlers came every year and
settled all along the Calapooia Valley and on streams tributary. The
settlement here preceded that in the upper Willamette to some extent,
because out in the valley there was less timber, water was less
plentiful, and the soil was not considered as good as in the
Calapooia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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