There were in this region several men who were public spirited and prominent in Oregon affairs in early times. Foremost of all was Delazon Smith, who lived down toward Albany, on the Albany prairie, but was well known and claimed by all the Linn County section. Smith was a preacher when he first lived in Oregon. On one occasion he was heard to say, when preaching at Brownsville, that he had been urged to give up preaching and go into law, but that he would not give up what religion he had for all the wealth of the world. Strange to say, however, that was really the last sermon he ever preached. Soon after he is said to have been offered a fee of $1,000 to defend a man in a criminal case, and from that time on he followed law and politics. He was a member of the constitutional convention, was in the legislature, and stumped the state with Col. E. D. Baker in the race for United States senator. Hugh Brown, founder of Brownsville, was also prominent in politics and was a member of the constitutional convention. J. N. Rice and Robert Glass were in the legislature in early times, and R. C. Finley, though not so prominent politically, was a wealthy, liberal, public spirited man, who wielded considerable influence. No serious Indian troubles ever came upon the settlers on the Calapooia. T. A. Riggs tells how the Indians used to steal from the whites, and describes a little difficulty he and a neighbor had with them over the stealing of an ox, but the Indians of this section never attempted to make war on the whites. At a later time, 1856, there was a fear that the Indians on the other side of the Cascades, who were then on the warpath, might come over and fall upon the settlers along the Calapooia. At Fern Ridge a fort was built in anticipation of such a contingency, but results proved their fears groundless, and that they had perhaps given the eastern Indians credit for more energy than they possessed. During war times there was considerable feeling in this region. The people were many of them from Missouri, and many were Douglas democrats. When the war commenced a considerable number of Douglas democrats turned Republicans. A party composed of Union men and Douglas democrats put out a county ticket in 1862 in Linn County. It was called the Cayuse ticket. Both Union and non-Union men formed secret societies. The democrats organized a secret society known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, one of its objects being to prevent a draft. George Helm was the leading democrat at this time in this section, and was called the "Lion of Linn." The Union men formed the Union League, the chief object of which was to watch the democrats. It was thought at one time that the Knights of the Golden Circle would attempt to capture the fort at Vancouver, but no such attempt was ever made.