Lane County Historian

Elijah Bristow

LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETYVol. XIII, No. 3 Eugene, Oregon Fall, 1968

LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETYMrs. C. A. Huntington, President 740 West 13th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97402

Dr. E. E. Gray, Membership Secretary 450 1. Goodpasture Rd., Space #45, Eugene, Oregon 97401

Mrs. Stoddard Malarkey, Editor 2075 East 27th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon 97403

Manuscripts submitted for publication should be typewritten and double-spaced. If the author wishesto retain his copy, then please submit a duplicate copy for consideration.

CONTENTSA SHORT HISTORICAL SKETCH OF A PART OF THEBRISTOW FAMILY 63

By Fannie LeggettHISTORY AND ROUTES OF THE EUGENE TOMAPLETON STAGE RUN 69

By Loris F. InmanTHE LURE OF GOLD 76

By Leah C. MenefeeEARLY PETITION 79

Susanna Bristow

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_A Short J'hitorica/ Shth 0/ a Part o/ ih/3ristow 7am4

By Fannie Leggett*

In writing this sketch of a partof the Bristow pioneer family ofLane County, Oregon, it is not myintention to give all minor detailsof the work done by these people,but to help preserve the history forfuture generations, and to leave thethought with you of how anxiouscivilization of the West.they were to do their part in the

Mr. James Bristow, who was ofEnglish descent, came to the Unit-ed States when a small boy. Someyears later he married Miss DelilahElkins. They had three childrenborn to them, all in Taswell Coun-ty, Virginia.

The mother of these childrendied, and James Bristow took forhis second wife Miss Betsy Cleven-ger. They became the parents ofa large family. Some of the chil-dren of their son, Wesley, becameresidents of Oregon.

Elijah Bristow, the oldest childof James and Delilah Elkins Bris-tow, was born in Taswell County,Virginia, on the 28th of April,1788. His boyhood days werespent in the mountainous regionsof Virginia, where his early train-ing accustomed him to the wood-man's ways and to the use of firearms. Here he rapidly b e c a m enoted as an expert marksman andhunter. His surroundings and earlytraining caused him to have a rest-less spirit of adventure, and uponarriving at manhood, he turnedhis face westward, and emigratedto Kentucky. Here he commencedthe improvement of a home, ac-quiring in the meantime, the dif-ferent trades of hatter, blacksmith,and gunsmith. He followed the two

latter trades, as they were his fa-vorites, together with the occu-pation of a farmer, until old agepalsied his arm and he was unableto do further work.

He was the first in his localityto volunteer his services to hiscountry when war was declared.He was in the war of 1812 andwas an active participant in thebattle of Taladega with the Creeknation. His accurate marksman-ship soon brought him under thespecial notice of General Jackson,who took occasion to put him fre-quently on special duty and inother places of honor.

On November 7, 1812, he wasmarried in Overton County, Ten-nessee, to Miss Susanna Gabbert.She was born August 23, 1791, inthe same county. They moved fromTennessee to Cumberland County,Kentucky, in about 1819 or 1820.From here they moved to Mc-Coupin County, Illinois, in about1827. Later on they moved to Mc-Donough County, w h e r e t h e ylived for about twenty-three years.

During the Black Hawk war,his neighbors, becoming alarmed,built a fort in which to place theirfamilies for safety. In order toquiet their fears, Mr. Bristow vol-unteered to go to the front andascertain if any immediate dangerwas pending; in doing this he wentalone from his home to Kock Islandand back, a distance of over ahundred miles. T h e c o u n t r ythrough which he traveled wasvery peaceful. He returned to hisneighbors, quieted their fears, andcaused the 1 i t t 1 e settlement to

*Fannje Leggett of Ashland is the oldest daughter of Alice and Lewis Cornelius.

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again resume its round of dailyoccupations.

Elijah left his home and familyat Blandensville, Illinois, in thespring of 1845, f o r t h e Pacificcoast. He crossed the plains by oxteam. The winter of 1845 wasspent at Sutter Fort, California.The outlook here was not satis-factory. It was that summer thathe, with other home-seekers, rodeponies from California to Oregonon an Indian trail, as there wereno wagon roads.

Elijah Bristow, in the spring of1846, travelling on the old terri-torial road which passed throughthe Siuslaw Valley where Loranenow stands, passed t h e presentsites of Crow, Elmira, and Mon-roe, on down the west side of thevalley to Rickreall.

Sometime in June, 1846, he leftthe home of James Howard, on theRickreall River, in what is nowPolk County, in company with Wil-liam Dodson, Felix Scott, and Eu-gene Skinner, to come up the val-ley to locate near where Salemnow stands.

They came up the east side ofthe valley to where the village ofJasper is located, and finding thevalley becoming quite narrow, theyforded the middle work to thesouth side, coming out of the stripof timber along the Willametteriver near what was at one timecalled Uncle John Shelley's home.There they saw in front of them alow ridge covered with scatteringoak trees with timbered mountainsrising above it. Mr. Bristow risingin his stirrups, turned to his com-panions, saying, "There I will takemy claim; and I am going to nameit Pleasant Hill. That ridge withthe mountains in the backgroundreminds me of my boyhood homein old Virginia."

At one glance of the eye youcan behold the oak, ash, and mapletrees. The earth here is covered

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with a most beautiful, luxuriantgreen, while your vision is attract-ed on every hand by evergreens,firs, cedars, and pines, that raisetheir stately tops to mingle aboutin vapors that float above. Allaround in almost every directioncan be seen different mountainpeaks. Mr. Bristow gave appropri-ate and significant names to allthese peaks. He staked his claimon the ridge ever since known asPleasant Hill.

Many Lane County people areat present familiar with the Pleas-ant Hill spring and grove wherethe annual May Day picnic isheld. It was near this spring in thebeautiful fir grove, that the partyof home seekers camped. His com-panions located in different partsof the valley. There are very fewpeople who know that at Mr. Bris-tow's request, the first territoriallegislature passed an act naminghis donation claim of 640 acres,Pleasant Hill. That name standson the statutes of Oregon today asone can see from the official rec-ords of the Territorial Government.

In the early spring of 1848 thesettlers were frequently disturbedby Indians. A band of KlamathIndians came over the mountainson the old Indian t r a ii leadingdown the middle fork of the Wil-lamette river, creating a very un-easy feeling among the little bandof settlers at Pleasant Hill. Thefirst hostile act was shown bykilling an ox belonging to Cor-nelius Hills. The settlers, five orsix in number, headed by ElijahBristow, armed themselves a n dstarted in pursuit. While on thissearch for the Indians, they cameacross a stream which was betweenthem and the butte from whichthey expected to locate the Indians.As a result, this butte was namedButte Disappointment.

Later in the season one of thetribe came to the Bristow cabin

and made threats of what he andhis people were going to do to thesettlers. This was too much forMr. Bristow, he quickly reachedfor his rifle but away ran the In-dian who was followed by a shotfrom the gun. The marksman sawhim tumble and crawl out of sightinto the brush. Later, a Molallaliving near the butte, came downto the settlement and told Mr. Bris-tow that the Klamath had diedfrom the effect of the wound theday after he was shot. Mr. Bristowreplied, "The whole tribe must goback east of the mountains or Ishall exterminate every one ofthem."

In 1848 Pleasant Hill was visitedby Klickitat Indians who were do-ing damage in the upper Willam-ette Valley. Five of this tribe visit-ed the Pleasant Hill ranch, killed afatted ox and carried away part ofit. Later another tribe visited him.Elijah Bristow, to show courage,caught one of them and floggedhim severely. The next day he wassurrounded by thirteen braves whodemanded pay for the whipping oftheir brother. This he refused andin the same instant seized a hand-spike and struck at the Indiannearest him. He missed the manand killed his horse. This was toomuch for the braves who turnedand fled with old Grandpa Bristowafter them armed with his hand-spike.

After selling the farm in Illinois,the family and some friends beganthe long toilsome journey acrossthe plains to the new-found home.Captain Hale drove one of Mrs.Bristow's teams while "Uncle Wil-liam" Bristow drove another. Dur-ing the year immigration swelledthe population of the country tomore than double the former num-ber. The family arrived in 1848 andlocated in this same vicinity wheretheir descendants still reside. Atthis same time James and Caswell

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Hendricks, Robert Callison, Michalland Harrison Shelley, and otherscame and settled on Pleasant Hill.

Some of the family have ren-dered important aid in the legisla-tion of the state. Elijah Bristowserved on the first jury ever heldin Polk County. They also helpedin the preparation for the commonschools and colleges.

Mrs. Bristow was the mother offifteen children. She lived a life oftrue devotion to her family, herchurch and her God. Althoughthere, were trials and hardships,joys and sorrow in the pioneer'slife, she, by her patience, a n dChristian fortitude, did much to-wards making her husband's lifehappy and successful.

Mr. Bristow was lovingly called"Uncle Bristow" by his closestfriends, for they all had a warmaffection for him. Although unedu-cated, he had the natural qualitieswhich made him a leader of men.He erected the first house in LaneCounty, located in the vicinity ofPleasant Hill. Although this prop-erty is now owned by other partiesand the house has been destroyed,the rocks from the chimney havebeen made into a memorial foun-tain in his honor which t od a ystands not far from the PleasantHill church.

From 1848 to the time when"Uncle Bristow" laid the founda-tion of the first log cabin untilsome time in the fifties, communi-cation by letter with relatives inthe "states" was limited. The earlypioneer knew little of what wastaking place in the outside world.Letters were generally sent acrossthe plains by emigrants, and fre-quently failed to reach their destin-ation. He wrote fifteen letters, oneto each of his children, telling themof the country "Where rolls theOregon." He told them to sell whatthey could not bring with them andcome to him as there was room for

all. Those letters were carried backacross the plains by George Jack-son, who afterwards lived for manyyears in Clackamas County, Ore-gon. The letters arrived in Illinoisin September. W h e n t h e newsspread that Elijah Bristow hadwritten home about Oregon, peoplecame from far and near to hearthe letters read.

The mail reached Pleasant Hill,Oregon from the E a s t comingaround Cape Horn by water toOregon City, then up to Salem,from there to Eugene. Here a manby the name of Smiley Carter car-ried it to Pleasant Hill, where Eli-jah Bristow acted as Postmaster.

Mr. Bristow gave the ground forthe first school house which wasbuilt in the fall of 1849. It, ofcourse, was made of logs, and ahuge fireplace occupied or adornedthe greater portion of one end ofthe building. It was built by ElijahBristow assisted by his sons andtwo sons-in-law, Robert Callisonand James Hendricks. Some grand-sons lent a helping hand. The loca-tion of this school house is nowinside the Pleasant Hill cemetery,at the southwest corner. In Marchof that year, William W. Bristowbegan the first term of school inthe new far western settlement.

"Uncle Bristow" donated theground for the grave yard. Thefirst death was probably that of atraveler coming from California,who was stopping with "UncleBristow." This is the oldest ceme-tery in Lane County.

The children hunted game inthe woods, gathered nuts and ber-ries from the forest, romped andplayed on the commons, or angledfor fish in the streams for an oc-cupation. All was joy and promiseto Elijah Bristow, who looked onthe pleasing transformation withjoy mingled with anxiety, realizingthe effort for good or evil that this

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little community would have onthe state of his adoption. Believingthat education and the religion ofJesus Christ was the hope of thenew community, he gave from hishomestead forty acres of suitableland for the use of school andchurch purposes.

On August 4, 1850, he organizedthe Christian Church with twenty-three members, in the old logschool house. Mr. Bristow was theonly elder in Pleasant Hill at thattime. He remained an elder untilhis death. "Uncle Bristow" hadbeen baptized in 1837 or 1838. Itoccured in a little stream, a branchof Crooked Creek, two miles fromthe town of Blandinsville, McDon-ough County, Illinois, and only aquarter of a mile from his ownhouse. Uncle Henry, his son, saysthat Crooked Creek is almost aslarge as the Coast Fork oppositePleasant Hill! Two or three yearsafter his baptism, he and severalothers cut and hewed trees andbuilt a church about half a milefrom the spot where he was bap-tized. He called it the LibertyMeeting House.

He was still a member of thischurch when he crossed the plains.He deeded four acres of the groundfor the church. A cemetery is nowwhere the church stood, and themembership of the church alltransferred to Blandinsville. Mr.Bristow died in September 19,1872, at the age of eighty-fouryears. He left a large family andcircle of friends, the rich legacyof a long life of usefullness anduntarnished honor. His wife quietlyfollowed him in that better landon March 7, 1874, in her eighty-third year.

Abel Bristow was the second sonof Elijah and Susanna Bristow. Hewas born in Cumberland County,Kentucky, Jan. 6, 1819, and wasbaptized two or three years after

his father, Elijah Bristow, in thesame stream. The ice was two feetthick and a hole had to be cutthrough so that his ordinancecould be performed. Before comingto Oregon he helped to build the"Liberty Meeting House."

"Uncle Abel" Bristow was mar-ried to Miss Almira Kelly Gooch,January 26, 1843, and they cameto Oregon with his family and rel-atives, making the trip by ox team.They started from Wacomb, Illi-nois in April and reached Oregonon October 22, 1848. He took upa donation claim; the house inwhich they lived was built in theearly fifties. It is still standing.

Mr. Bristow died May 29, 1881,at the age of sixty-two years, fourmonths and twenty-three days. Hewas buried on the 30th of May,which was his wife's 56th birthday.Abel Bristow's wife was born May30, 1825, in Illinois, where in lateryears, Beardstown was founded.She was the second white childborn in those parts. She was theeldest of the two daughters of Sam-uel and Ruth Powers Gooch.

In her early days in Oregon Mrs.Abel Bristow devoted considerabletime to the study of medicine, be-ing called upon many times to al-leviate the suffering of her neigh-bors, where she rode many mileson horse back. Her sister, Mrs.Malvina Willis died in CottageGrove after she had reached her103rd birthday.

Grandma enjoyed reading theBible, having read the New Testa-ment through forty times withinher last eight years, and had readas far as the ninth chapter of Lukeon the forty-first time, when shewas stricken with paralysis. Shelived a life of true devotion to herGod and her church amid the joysand sorrow, the trials and hard-ships of pioneer life. She died onMarch 7, 1917, at the age of ninety-

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one years, having lived in the statesixty-nine years. Mrs. Almira Bris-tow was the last one of the chartermembers of the Pleasant Hillchurch, which was organized in1850. It is now the oldest Churchof Christ west of the Rocky Moun-tains.

The funeral services were con-ducted at the Pleasant Hill Chris-tian church, at one o'clock, Friday,March 9th, 1917, Bro. P. R. Bur-nett officiating. She was laid torest by the side of her husband inthe Pleasant Hill cemetery. Tothem were born seven children.

Alice Helena Bristow, Abel andAlmira Bristow's second daughter,was born at Pleasant Hill andspent her girlhood days on thefarm, with the exception of two orthree winters that she lived withher grandparents, Elijah and Su-sanna Bristow, while she was at-tending the Pleasant Hill school.She was a careful student ready touse the dictionary at all times andwas always exceptionally good inremembering dates. She was alover of song books. Because ofher blindness, for many monthsbefore her death she would singand sing and put the rest of herfamily to shame. She was a goodmother, very energetic, and alwaysfound herself busy in the duties ofhome life.

Alice Bristow was born August10, 1852, at Pleasant Hill, Oregon,where she spent most of her life.She was a pioneer of the Christianchurch becoming a member at theage of fourteen years. At the timeof her death she had been a mem-ber for sixty-eight years.

She was married to L. J. Cor-nelius at Pleasant Hill, March 14,1878. P. R. Burnett performed theceremony. They spent a few yearsof their early married life in thePleasant Hill country.

From there they moved toSpringfield, where Mr. Cornelius

was engaged in running a ferryboat for two years across the Wil-lamette River. Leaving there, theymoved into the Siuslaw country,to a homestead where they madetheir home for fourteen years. Astheir family of five children wasgrowing and they saw the need ofa better opportunity for school,they moved back to Pleasant Hill,April 12, 1896.

About this time the Abel Bris-tow land claim was divided andthey moved on their part of theclaim, consisting of about one hun-dred acres. They immediately be-gan to improve the land and makea comfortable home.

On September 7, 1925, Mr. L. J.Cornelius died at the Goshen Hos-pital. He was born in RandolphCounty, Missouri, September 22,

Elijah Bristow home at Pleasant Hill

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1847. After the father's death, themother spent some time with hertwo sons, Millard at Pleasant Hillon the farm, and Archie at Anlauf,Oregon. Much more of her timeshe spent with her oldest daughter,Fannie, in Ashland, and for thelast four years of her life madeher home with her.

Mrs. Cornelius died on Septem-ber 14, 1934, at the age of eightytwo years, one month and fourdays. Though she is greatly missed,we know she has gone to her re-ward, trusting the God she lovedand served all these years.

Her sister, Mrs. Genoa Robineet,preceded her in death sixteen days.The only survivor of Abel and Al-mira Bristow is Mrs. Delilah B.Todd, who makes her home withher son, Dr. E. B. Todd, in Con-cord, California.

Jhs lor5f and Routei of ihe Cu1jene to

map/don Sla1je leunBy Loris F. Inman

The actual time of beginning ofthe mail route from Eugene toMapleton has not been ascertained.There would be no mail route with-out a post office and vice versa.The dates of post offices are givenin order from Eugene:

Long Tom established Sept. 3,1853, first postmaster A. L. Hum-phrey. (This post office may havebeen on the Eugene to Crow routeby this time.)

Elmira established March 4,1884, first postmaster I. N. Duck-worth.

Chesher (Noti) established April1, 1875, first postmaster J. P.Chesher.

Hale established Aug. 4, 1886,first postmaster George Hale.

Walton established June 12,1884, first postmaster J. J. Walton(later judge).

Glentena (Austa) establishedJuly 26, 1888, first postmaster A.C. Barbour.

Meadows established Aug. 30,1887, first postmaster Levi Tall-man.

Mapleton (Seaton) establishedNov. 13, 1885, first postmaster W.W. Neeley.

Mapleton post office was servedby boat from Florence before thestage route was started. After thestage route was started, mail, pas-sengers, and freight were trans-ferred from stage to boat for thetrip on down the river to Florence.

Early post offices in the outlyingareas of Lane County were servedonce a week by a rider on horse-back. It was mostly a case of con-venience for himself and an accom-modation to his neighbors to havethe mail delivered close at hand.

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The postmaster's pay was thestamps he sold. The mail consistedmostly of letters and upon arrivalof the mail, the postmaster tookthe mail pouch to the living roomand dumped its contents on thefloor. He then proceeded w i t hthe help of everyone present tosort the mail.

The route of the rider had few,if any bridges; the pony soon be-came adept at swimming streams.Horses used for stage horses wereusually very spirited and theywould often balk or run away.

Florence Curtis Inman, whosefather carried mail on the Crow-Hadleyville - Panther-Alma -Moundroute, remembers the pony he rodeand swam it across the Siuslaw asa matter of course.

Elijah Bristow, the first settlerin Lane County arrived in 1845from California; his family arrivedin 1848 from across the plains.Accompanying the family was Cal-vin T. Hale, 21, who returned tothe states and led a wagon trainwest in 1852. An old Indian toldhim of a little valley on an uppertributary of the Long Tom. Hesought it out and named it ElkPrairie. His claim took most ofthe valley, including the bottomground along Elk Creek and springwatered hillside land, completelysurrounded by high hills. He builthis cabin on the old trail to theWildcat and Siuslaw Rivers, sometwo miles vrest of present Noti. Hehad three sons and three daughtersand spent the rest of his life onhis claim.

As the Willamette Valley becamesettled and the good land taken,

other settlers began to search outhomesites across the divide anddown the narrow valleys of theWildcat and Siuslaw Rivers. SinceCalvin Hale's claim was the lastone west before the divide, it be-came the last stopping place be-fore leaving the valley.

There were two trails leavingElk Prairie for the Siuslaw: Onetrail led over Badger Mountain,down the Wildcat, using the river-bed part of the way. In winter andat flood time it was a dangeroustrail, sometimes impossible evenfor pack animals. Florence Inman,who once lived near the pack ani-mal trail over the mountains nearthe Mound P.O. on the MiddleSiuslaw, says the old road to Eu-gene forded the river twenty-seventimes.

The other trail led over Chicka-hominy Mountain, down to t h eheadwaters of ChickahominyCreek, on over Nelson Mountainand down Nelson Creek to LakeCreek, which it forded and followeddown to the Siuslaw. The reasonfor the trail over Chickahominyand Nelson Mountains to LakeCreek was a sort of "divide andconquer" technique: To go down

Long Tom Bridge - Elmira

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the north bank of the Siuslaw inwinter was almost an impossibility.The most serious threat was themouth of Lake Creek in flood.The best solution was to go downNelson Creek and ford it beforereaching Lake Creek, then takeLake Creek above the side streamsof Deadwood Creek and IndianCreek, then each of those twostreams on the way down the westside of Lake Creek. By taking themone at a time, the danger was notnearly as great as fording LakeCreek below the mouth of theseand smaller streams. On this routethe Siuslaw was not crossed at all.

The latter trail was the first tobe used by wagons. This was thefirst mail route to Mapleton, firstby pack horse. There are storiesof a Dutchman who carried themail by horse and two-wheeledcart. Next the Whisman brothers,Joe and John, got a contract tocarry the mail. They improved thetrail as much as they could withlittle or no equipment. By follow-ing the ridges they avoided grad-ing, but the road was steep, sosteep that there are tales of tyinglogs to the back of the wagon onsome downhill slopes.

As the Whismans grew accus-tomed to the road, they added twohorses to make a four-horse teamand began to haul passengers andfreight. The drivers seemed to beafraid of nothing, but they some-times terrified their passengers.

The following article was takenfrom the April 8, 1892 issue ofThe West, published in Florenceby Alley and Blinton:

Joseph Whisman, stage driver,came near losing his life while at-tempting to cross Deadwood CreekWednesday morning of last week.After having dispatched his passen-gers, mail sacks and baggageacross by a log foot path, he start-ed to cross. Midway of the streamwhere the current was the swif t-est, his horses, four in numberwere thrown from their feet bythe current and became tangled inthe harness. To save himself, Joejumped into the stream and wascarried down stream about onequarter mile. His brother, John,and nine year old boy made goodtime in reaching a log canoe andpaddled 'out to the rescue. Theypulled in the apparently lifelessform of Joe and paddled to theshore and there at once began roll-ing on a log. This operation wascontinued for some time but nolife was apparent, still they workedfaithfully on and were finallyawarded by signs of returning life.There is no question but that hewas dead when taken from thewater. The horses were alldrowned. They were pulled intoshallow water, unharnessed andallowed to float on down stream.

Joe Whisman's homestead wasat the mouth of Nelson Creek onthe west side of Lake Creek. Hisshortest route to the outside andto Eugene was to ford Lake Creek,then follow up Nelson Creek toNelson Mountain, then cross thedivide to Chickahominy Creek,

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then cross Chickahominy Moun-tain and come down to Elk Prairienear Calvin Hale's place for a dir-ect route to Eugene. He raised hisfamily on the homestead, whichhad a sizeable amount of levelground along the river and madea good farm. When post offices ofSeaton (later Mapleton), Dead-wood, Hale, Chesher, Elmira andLong Tom were established, thiswas then the only practical year-round route to serve them. Whetherhe and his brother, John, initiatedthe route or not has not beenestablished.

Item from county surveyor's of-fice: "Chickahominy road No. 573across Chickahominy Mountainwas relocated by County road sup-,erintendent C. E. Carlyle in 1905and is now closed. The route wasthe same or followed near the onemade by Whisman brothers."

We have no dates until 1879,when a survey was begun for astate road to go down the Wildcatand the main stem of the Siuslaw.Here is an article that appeared inthe Eugene Guard April 16, 1879,in form of a letter:

Mr. H. C. Perkins, head of sur-vey party and surveying party forthe survey of the Siuslaw wagonroad reached Mr. T. C. Hale's onWed., April 9. Here they were metby the viewers Messers H. Hill, W.Hamilton and S. McConnell. Not-withstanding dame Nature's indis-position we punched out into thepelting rain and commence thework. We arrived at this camp onlast Saturday evening, having sur-veyed 61/2 miles of the road. Thiscamp is located at the junction ofthe Chickahominy and WildcatCreeks, and is 25 miles west and 2miles south of Eugene City. Belowthe junction of the two creeks thestream is called Wildcat and itunites with the Siuslaw about 5miles south and west of this place.

The camping equipage and provi-sions have been transported to thisplace by means of pack animals butfor the remainder of the trip theviewer have concluded it can bemore expeditiously done by takinga canoe down the Wildcat, thencedown the Siuslaw to the terminusof the survey. The canoe has beenconstructed and will be ready tomove the camp today. The tripthus far has been very disagree-able on account of the rain, but atpresent fair weather seems to bedawning upon us.

In reaching this point from theWillamette Valley Badger Hill onthe east side is 1207 feet at the topof the hill which is 3/ of a miledistant from the bottom the heightis 1475 feet above the sea, makingan ascent of 366 feet per mile. Thegrade on this side of the hill isequally as gradual. The route fromhere to the coast is a gradual des-cent down the Siuslaw river. Theroute according to what is nowknown of it is by far the mostfavorable of any yet known for awagon road across the coast moun-tains."

The letter continues the descrip-tions of the route, but this isenough for a date and informationof the preparation for construction.In 1880 an article appeared in thesame paper describing a publicmeeting in Eugene to begin con-struction on the road down theSiuslaw:

Eugene Guard, 1881: "Siuslawroad association meeting Eugene,Oregon 31st of May at the court-house pursuant to public notice toconsider the practicability of open-ing a wagon road from Elk Prairiein Chesher precinct to tide wateron the Siuslaw river on a routeheretofore located by the county.The board met and appointed thefollowing committees to canvas forsubscriptions with the request they

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canvas at once their respective pre-cinct and report the results." Thequote is longer than this, but thisshows the date and motive. Theeffort to raise $1000 was success-ful. This was a small amount forover 20 miles of road, and in 1887it had only reached Beecher andTilden Rocks above the mouth ofLake Creek. These rocks were abarrier at high water for manyyears. At low water the river bedcould be used. A steep detour wasfound up and over the rocks; thedrivers named it Hardscrabble.

Some time before 1900 Eli Bangsof Bangs Livery Stable of Eugenewon the contract to carry the mailover the Eugene to Mapleton run.He held the contract until the rail-road in 1914 replaced the stageroute. At least three of the driversof the old stage run are still livingand bring alive for us some of thedangers and hardships of the road.Em Duckworth, born 1879, begandriving when 20 years of age anddrove continuously until 1914. Hehad the run from Mapleton toHale then back to Mapleton.

The stage schedule before EmDuckworth was a driver is not cer-tain. Em remembers the scheduleafter he began to drive about 1900.It was as follows: Leave Eugene 6o'clock each morning. Arrive Hale,noon if possible. Arrive Mapleton6 o'clock if possible. Also in theopposite direction: Leave Maple-ton 6 o'clock each morning. ArriveHale noon if possible. Arrive Eu-gene 6 o'clock if possible.

Joe Fowler's and George Hale'swere the places to stop for dinner.

Thus a driver left both Mapletonand Eugene each morning. Thedrivers traded stage coaches atHale at noon if possible. Freshhorses were hitched to each stagethen the drivers each took his newoutfit on to its destination. Horseswere changed at Elmira, one-

fourth the total distance, Hale, one-half to total distance, Meadows,three-fourths the total distance.They always greased the wagon inthe covered bridge a c r o s s themouth of Lake Creek and at Lyons.

At each post office along theroute the driver rested the horseswhile the mail was being sortedand sacked. Each patron had aseparate canvas sack with his num-ber and name on it and a strapacross the top. At each home therewas a post with a hook at the topthat the driver could reach fromthe stage coach seat. Thus thedriver made the mail deliveries ateach home on his way out andpicked up the sacks on his wayback.

No matter what time at nightthe stage arrived at Eugene orMapleton it had to start the returnat 6 o'clock the next morning. Theday that Lester Ogden had a horsekilled on Hardscrabble, the stagearrived at 4 o'clock the next morn-ing, but the driver met the dead-line and started back at 6 o'clockon schedule.

In 1899 Mrs. Ellis (Dena) Rich-ardson remembers that she, hermother and sister rode to Seatonfrom Mapleton where they stayedall night. Indian Jeff had shot an-other Indian at Florence. Mrs.Richardson knew the Indian. Shewas so scared she wouldn't go tobed, so they told her Indian Jeffwas down in the barn and she wentto bed, but the next day shelearned that the Indian had sleptin the bedroom next to hers.

Mrs. Richardson also remembersDecember 21, 1911, on her honey-moon, that they rode the stage toEugene from Mapleton. There were13 passengers. Reece Zumwalt wasdriving from Hale to Eugene. Theroad was very bad and the stagewas overloaded. Mrs. Richardsonremembers they left Mapleton, 6

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The Old Mon of the Siuslaw, visible from oldstage road below Swisshome.

o'clock, December 20 or 21 andcontinued to Hale at 9 o'clock inthe evening. They changed horsesat Elmira. Another man had to getto Eugene, but Zumwalt refused totake him, so the passengers helpedhim climb on the mail sack on theback of the stage. He rode to Eu-gene and slid off at Blair Streetwithout paying fare. On the waythey got stuck in the mud at pres-ent Elveta. It took some time toget the horses out of the mire,and it arrived in Eugene at 3o'clock the next morning.

An open top stage was used onthis route as a covered stage wouldnot go under Tilden Rock. Therock hung completely over the

road and could be reached by rid-ers on the stage.

Ira Jeffers drove the stage for ashort time in about 1910. It waswinter and very disagreeable. Theyput the meanest horses on thestage to work the meanness out ofthem. On one trip down river thestorm had blown a tree across theroad near Tilden Rock, and he hadto camp overnight under the rock.He decided there must be betterjobs than that!

When the route over Chicka-hominy and Nelson Mountains wasabandoned and the route over Bad-ger Mountain and down the Wild-cat and Siuslaw was begun, thestage missed Deadwood P.O. AnnieWhisman, daughter of Joe Whis-man, carried the mail on horsebackfrom Swisshome to Deadwood. Oneday, horse and rider unexpectedlymet a bear on the road. The horsereared, threw Annie off, and ranaway. Supposedly the bear ran,too. When Annie fell, she hit herhead so hard she was in a dazeand couldn't remember whethershe was headed toward Swisshomeor towards Deadwood.

The reader will be interested inseveral other memories of theroute to Mapleton:

Em Duckworth remembers onthe trip downriver in winter thatlanterns were lighted and hung onthe outside hame of each horse atMeadows, fifteen miles from Maple-ton. The rest of the way was indarkness. Mr. Duckworth also re-members that one morning whenthe stable hand hitched his horsesto the stage at Mapleton, he forgotto undo the lines from the hames.When Em climbed into the seatthe horses started and he had nolines to control them. He decidedto ride it out, and the horses keptto the road. They ran two miles tothe Neely place and stopped attheir regular stop.

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Em remembers that CharlieTaylor started across the bridgeat Meadows with the stage andthe covering caved in. Fortunately,he escaped unharmed.

Darwin Hale remembers thatLester Ogden was driving the yearafter the Green Gay slide, one toone-and-a-half miles below Walton,and while he was climbing Hard-scrabble, the steep climb acrossBeecher and Tilden Rocks, in a badwindstorm, a falling tree killed ahorse. He had a young female in-valid as a passenger whom he car-ried onto the George Kirk placethe nearest house. He later marriedthe girl.

Farmer Hale remembers thedeath of Sheriff Withers. The Sher-iff had gone over Badger Moun-tain to get Elliot Lyons for steal-ing a horse. Lyons shot the Sher-iff and he was brought back toHale, bleeding badly. The followingis taken from a transcript of a con-versation between the writer andFarmer Hale:

Yes, he shot him along afterdark. Then in the night the Lyonsbrotherstwo of his brot hersput him in a wagon and broughthim over here to our place andhe was here at our house . . . Iwas just a small kid and I can re-member that they had him on apretty high bed, and I can remem-ber my dad lifted me up and Icould see where the bullet struckhim, right here where they sticka hog with a knife. There was morepeople here than there was in Eu-gene the few days after that. Ithink they were about all out here.There wasn't a place to hitch ahorse. . . . They convicted him forshooting Withers and he was hungright there on the jail yard, rightthere in Eugene. Fred Fisk wassheriff.

Lois Inman Baker, whose UncleJesse Inman was once a s t a g edriver, remembers the bells on the

hames of the horses. The purposewas to alert anyone ahead of thecoming of the stage. The post-master was alerted, too. Their chiefpurpose, however, was on the longstretches of single-width roadalong the river, so that approach-ing vehicles could wait at a pass-ing place and not meet them whereone or the other would have toback up to pass.

APPENDIX IDRIVERS

14. Jesse InmanDutchman 15. Elza Pickardwith cart 16. Frank TaylorJohn Whisman 17. Bill TaylorJoe Whisman 18. Pearl CartwrightLester Ogden 19. Ed WalkerPlas Bailey 20. Ray WalkerTom Murphy 21. Joe FowlerBert Gates 22. Oscar RichieReese Zumwalt 23. Ernest MabeEarl McNutt 24. Billy WellsDarwin Hale 25. Bill HamiltonEm Duckworth 26. Ira JeffersCharles Taylor

Sta9e Coach on Eugene to Mapleton Run

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APPENDIX IIFROM COUNTY COURT RECORDS

In the county records, the followingwere found concerning Siuslaw road:May 7, 1875 C. T. Hale petitioned for a

county road across Elk Prairie. Petitionwas granted and survey began May 24,1875.

July 1879 the county court declared theSiuslaw road to be a public highway.

September 1882 R. B. Hayes, supervisor,was instructed to open as much of theSiuslaw road between T. C. Hale's andtidewater as possible. He was allowed$1500.00 for the project.

April 29, 1886 contract let to John Brownto complete Siuslaw road. Contractprice $1150.44. $600 payable when roadaround Plymouth Rock completed. $550payable when rest is approved bySuperintendent.

July 29, 1887 contract let to L. N. Roneyto build a bridge across the mouth ofLake Creek. Bid price $3875.00. Bridgeto be open for travel by Oct. 15, 1887.This is the Swisshome bridge whichopened the road for year around traf-fic. There was a road already in usefrom Swisshome at the mouth of LakeCreek to the head of tide.

A great deal has been writtenabout the various "gold rushes" inthe United States, with the chiefemphasis on the discovery at Sut-ter's Mill in California. Oregon,however, had its gold too and per-haps the most famous of her dis-coveries is known as the BlueBucket. It was and still is usuallycalled a "mine" but mine it neverwas for it was never worked. Itwas merely discovered.

The story is that in 1845 an emi-grant train guided by Stephen H.L. Meek attempted a cut-off fromthe Oregon Trail at the Maiheurriver to the upper Willamette val-ley. There were about two hundredand fifty wagons and over onethousand people. Someonestoriesdiffer as to whopicked up somestones in a dry stream bed andplaced them in a blue bucket.Hence the name of the "find." Itwas not until sometime later thatit occured to Meek train peoplethat this was goldor so thestories run.

Gold meant nothing to peoplewho lacked food, were ill, distrust-ed their guide and wished only toget out of the predicament intowhich they had allowed him tolead them. They revolted, turnednorth and came out on the OregonTrail again at the Columbia river,blue bucket, nuggets and all.

It was when gold was discoveredin California that the eastern Ore-gon discovery began to be talkedabout. Meek, himself, looked forthe spot where the nuggets werepicked up. Some parties slippedaway from the Willamette valleyto look for the dry stream bedsomewhere north, or was it southof Harney and Malheur lakes? Orwas it east or west of them? It is

Jhe ,fure 0/ co/IBy Leah C. Menefee

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a vast dry basin and there arenumbers of streams that are dryby fall. These parties came backas silently as they had left, empty-handed. The adventurous still lookfor it today with jeep and trailbike replacing the pack horses andmules of another century.

It will never be known how manyparties actually looked for BlueBucket gold in the years after theMeek train crossed eastern Oregon.Some gathered large partiesforthe area was inhabited by hostilenorthern Paiutes. The newspapersof the day often reported on theseparties. One left Lane county in1858 and included A. S. McClureand Henry Harlow, one keepinga diary and the other telling manytales of the journey.

The 1858 party, from all ac-counts, was bent partly at least onfinding gold but also on having atrip. It was well-supplied withwhatever was needed and was outsome weeks. They covered a gooddeal of eastern Oregon, saw no In-dians, found no gold and at leastone account makes the journeysound like a fall jaunt of bachelorswho wanted to get away from thehome chores.

In 1859 Capt. Henry D. Wallenled troops into the eastern Oregoncountry from the army post atThe Dalles. He was seeking a routefor a new cross-Oregon road. Thereis no indication in Wallen's officialreport that gold was looked for enroute to the Oregon Trail at oldFort Boise on Snake river. How-ever, among the 184 enlisted menwith Wallen it would be strangeif someone did not have an eyefor each dry stream bed which thecommand crossed. It was a largeparty, 319 persons in all with 154

horses, 344 mules, 121 oxen, 30wagons, an ambulance, a travelingforge, and 60 head of beef cattleto furnish meat for the assemblage.What a treat to the grasshopper-eating Indians of the basin thismust have been. Wallen did nameHarney lake for his commander,General Harney.

In May and June 1860, knowingthat another army detachment wascoming south from Fort Dalles,and that Superintendent of IndianAffairs for Oregon, E. R. Gearywas planning to be in the Harneycountry to make a treaty with theSnakes, as the northern Paiuteswere more popularly known, an-other civilian Blue Bucket junketwas arranged. A group of menfrom Linn, Lane and Benton coun-ties, decided to make an attemptto find the location where the 1845nuggets had been picked up. Theircaptain was G. W. Bunch. Thiswas probably George M. Bunch, ofLinn county, born in 1816 in ClayCounty, K e n t u c k y. Bunch hadmoved to Macon County, Missouriwhere he married in 1843. Hemoved to Oregon in 1852.

A newspaper, the DemocraticHerald existed in Eugene, Lanecounty, Oregon in 1860. AlexBlakely was editor. From J. B.Roberts, Blakeley secured namesof the party. One Henry Martin isnamed a "pilot." Martin was muchinterested in the Blue Bucket andhis name appears in other partieswhich searched for it.

The experiences of the 1860group under Mr. Bunch were fardifferent from those of 1858. Theymanaged to reach a point, appar-ently in the southern end of theBlue mountains above Harney val-ley, before the Indians struck. Theywere attacked twice, lost the ma-jority of their horses, and many ofthem walked home to the Willam-ette valley.

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An account of his life, and inci-dentally of this adventure, waswritten by Robert Millican, of LaneCounty. His daughter, Mrs. AdaMillican Brewbaker, of Eugene,had kindly allowed us to use thisnarrative, the original of whichis in Millican's own hand-writing.

The Indian attack was far moreserious than Mr. Millican's matter-of-fact account indicates. It was nosmall accomplishment that menescaped and managed to reachhome at all. The attack took placeJune 7th, 1860 and 63 h o r s e swere run off in this surprise. A Mr.Leggett (or Liggett) had woundedhimself in the foot June 2nd, andwas therefore not ambulatory. Twoother men were ill. It appears thatthe first Indian attack was afterthe horses and probably to stam-pede the men so that the Paiutescould gather in their possessionsas well.

The Blue Bucket seekers decidedthere was nothing to do but starthome with their remaining 37horses. The Indians attacked themwithin two miles from the sceneof the first affair. The valley menbelieved they killed some Indiansbut a Mr. "Phips" was wounded,according to an account of thetrip by Nelson Cochran, which isin the Oregon Historical Societycollections.

Knowing that SuperintendentGeary was north of them, andwishing to warn him about the at-tack on their party, as well as ob-tain revenge on the Indians, themen drafted an appeal to the Hon.John Whiteaker, governor of Ore-gon. They sent two of their num-ber, Archibald Rader and "Alecc"Vaughn to carry this to Mr. Gearyand the commander of the troopsoperating out of The Dalles to-ward the Harney country. The ap-peal read as follows:

To His ExcellencyGov. Whiteaker

Dear SirWe the undersigned citizens of

Oregon pray your Hon. JohnWhiteaker Gov. of Oregon thatyou call upon Maj. Gen. Harney tosend troops and chastise a band ofSnake Indians that inhabit theregion of country lying betweenthe head of John Days river andFort Boise. We being on an ex-ploring and prospecting expeditionpeacebly travelling through to theMalheur were attacked and sixty-seven head of horses and muleswere driven off and one man sev-erely wounded.

In two engagements we had withthem 5 Indians were killed andseveral wounded, we will raise acompany of rangers to try and re-capture our property if sanctionedby the Government authorities,which will act in concert with theGov. troops now in this country,hoping that you will see justicedone us we believe that no whiteman is or will be safe in travellingthrough this country until thisband of Indians are subdued. Wealso believe that the emigrationwill be in danger of loosing theirlives and property unless stronglyguarded by Govt. troops. Yourswith respect

(signed)G. W. Bunch, Capt. Albert HaysLaban C. Buoy Washington JewettJames W. Swank, Sgt. A. A. MorganC. H. Paine John P. StevensC. Roth Samuel WarfieldHorace Lane S. M. LongA. H. Vaughn Simeon BartmessR. Millican J. L. MulkeyJames Pollock Walter HastonA. Rader (Huston?)John T. Craig John M. RoachA. P. Trimble George SmiettJohn Jewett J. W. CarlinSam Bradford Milton C. HarnerJohn Bradford N. G. CochranJ. C. Templeton Robt. HallJ. W. Miller N. GilmoreC. Clark Doctor JenningsJ. Doan James R. Roberts

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J. P. Haley Joseph PhippsW. J. Fox W. B. SmithG. Smelser John BrownJohn Eaton D. Willard BartonJohn Fox Elijah LiggettHenry Marlin Samuel Wren

(Martin) Christian MartinNelson Cochran's letter to the

late George Himes of the OregonHistorical Society, has a list some-what different from the above. TheDemocratic Herald list also differs.Henry Martin is given as "pilot."J. B. Roberts as clerk. George"Smiet" is "Smidt." The followingnames are not on the petition list:

Samuel Brown, A. J. Fox, J. W.McCaslin, A. P. Trimble, 0. P.Adams, R. L. Ferguson, J a m e sDemocrat, F. G. Barger.

James W. Swank, of the expedi-tion wrote Gov. Whiteaker June25th, 1860 from Brownsville, LinnCounty, that : : The last of our ill-fated expedition will get home to-day."

According to t h e Cochran ac-count the men had crossed theCascade mountains over a difficultand unmarked route from the Des-chutes river to the McKenzie riversettlements in some six days. Thisis a feat unparalleled in those daysof only Indian trails. In 1853 aparty of men took this same jour-ney from the Deschutes and wan-dered for weeks before coming outon the McKenzie.

Regular a r my troops did godown into the Harney basin andCaptain Andrew Smith's reconnais-sance party bound for the Owy-hee was attacked the 23rd of Juneeast of Malheur lake and wasforced to return to the main body.It is probable that Smith's at-tackers were the same Indians whohad just completed the route of theprospectors from the Willamettevalley led by George Bunch andHenry Martin. No property lost bythe Blue Bucket seekers was recov-ered as far as the records show.

Ca14 4PeijijonTo the Honorable Court and General Assemblyof the Territory of Oregon*

We, your Petitioners would respectfully request your honorable bodyto strike off township 24 S., Range 4 W. of the Willamette Merridian inUmpqua county from the said Umpqua county and attach the same toLane county for the following reasons, first that by adding the said terri-tory to Lane county it will straighten the line between the aforesaid countyand secondly that it is inconvenient for the settlers in said township toschool their children, whereby if the said township were added to Lane itwould enable the settlers to school their children to a better advantagefor which your petitioners in duty bound will ever pray.

Dan Locke T. S. KnoxJ. H. Butler M. E. AndersonJ. N. Petty Louis LejoyLewis Martin Nelson SwaggardJ. F. McBride John Deyles (?)Laban Buoy John WilesJacob Clinesmith James ApplegateGeorge Small A. H. MulvenyAndrew John HedrickWm. Currin C. SnowdonJeremiah Despain Philander C. DavisJoseph Despain John ApplegateJohn Cole James MooreTerrance McMurry Wm. A. MulvanyGuy Welby (?) E. T. EslesGordon McCarty Wm. J. J. ScottWm. Shields Wm. GoldenMr. John Paul Wm. HaskinsC. C. McClure Wm. WardJohn B. Beckner Samuel HallJohn W. Martin Samuel Holt

(Written beside names: "There is 4 settlers in this township but oneis going to leave it in the spring which will leave one family and 2 bachelors,a part of this township which lies in lain [sic] another advantage to thepublick by attaching the rest of the county to lain it willquite a portionof the through road of lain on the road where there is no settlement toimprove it or to help keep it up at present.") This was hard to read andnot very clear in meaning. It was referred to committee, Jan. 7, 1857.Reported adversely, Jan. 15, 1857.

* Submitted to the Historian by Leah C. Menefee.

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- lAM fiHIVTl

llSt' $0' t$)

Oregon

LANE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY740 West 13th Ave., Eugene, Oregon

Elijah Bristow Fountain

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Non-ProfitOrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 96Eugene,