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
I crossed the plains in 1846, stopping near Oregon City till
the next fall, when I settled in Brush Creek Valley, Brush
Creek being the south fork of the Calapooia. When I came
here I found Alexander Kirk, W. R. Kirk, James Blakely, Hugh
L. Brown, and Jonathan Keeney, all living in the vicinity of
where Brownsville now is, they all having crossed the plains
in 1846 and come on up the valley to the Calapooia. I also
found R. C. Finley some six miles farther up the stream, who
also crossed the plains the same year, but settled on the
Calapooia in the spring of 1847. Mrs. Agnes B. Courtnay, who
came to Oregon in 1845, and whose husband had been killed
near Oregon City by a falling tree, made up the settlers on
the Calapooia at that time. I will state here that Mr.
Finley had settled at the falls of the Calapooia where he
contemplated building, and did in 1848 build a flouring
mill, being the first mill south of Salem. In the fall of
1847, as before stated, I and Asa Moore settled in Brush
Creek Valley above Mr. Finley, he being the upper settler up
to that time, and at the same time James McHargue and Robert
Montgomery, who crossed the plains that season, settled
below Mr. Finley and Thomas Fields several miles farther up
the stream. Wm. T. Templeton, William Robnett, William
McCaw, John Findlay, John A. Dunlap, and Thomas S. Woodfin
all crossed the plains in 1847 and subsequently settled on
the Calapooia, but after the annoyance with the Indians had
ceased.
The Indians in these early days were in the habit of
stealing horses and cattle from the settlers and butchering
them, and the settlers would trail them up and if able to
catch them would flog them severely, but the Indians seemed
to care about as much as a cur for such treatment and would
laugh about it as if it was all a huge joke. Some time
during the summer of 1847 Isaac B. Courtnay was hunting in
Brush Creek Valley, being above the settlement at that time,
when he met with a few Indians, who took his gun and
ammunition and allowed him to go home. During the fall and
winter of 1847 the Indians annoyed Mr. Fields so much that
he finally moved down to my place on Brush Creek and stayed
until the spring of 1848.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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