Frank B. Gill

“ The advantage gained by the owners of the Oregon Portage through their having a railroad from end to end of the Cascades rapids, drawing the steamboat cargoes over its full extent with but two transfers, one from boat to cars, and one from cars to boat, must have induced the owners of the Bradford portage to seek an alliance with Captain J. C. Ainsworth and associates who were building a larger and more powerful steamboat than had yet operated out of Portland. ”

“ Clearly, therefore, by this time the Railroad had been built from the upper landing at the present town of Cascade Locks to the lower landing at or near the mouth of Tanner Creek, just west of the present Union Pacific station of Bonneville.
John Stevenson and his sister, Mrs. Bailey, say that it was common, sixty years ago, to speak of the Oregon Portage Railroad, the "Ruckel Railroad" as it was commonly known, as built without a dollar. By promises of payment, rather than with cash, Ruckel, they say, persuaded men to work for him in the building of the railroad. ”

“ Before the building of the Belle, the steamboat Fashion had been operated between Portland and the Cascades, but she was at this time laid up, and the Belle, which had appeared as a competitor, was now at the opening of 1855 alone on the route.
It was apparently at this stage that Col. Joseph S. Ruckel came to Oregon and joined with Captain J. O. Van Bergen, the original commander of the Fashion, in purchasing her from J. and C. E. Williams, who had become the owners of the boat. ”

“ We stand upon its threshold and there are those living who will witness its full accomplishment, fii the business and travel of northern and eastern Oregon and of our sister Territory a new era has dawned. Henceforth we shall turn to the east for the rising sun of our progress and prosperity.
Messrs, Ruckel and Olmstead deserve high credit for their forecast, energy and perseverance in pushing this portage railroad to its present stage of completion. By autumn they expect to have it finished for the passage of the locomotive train from end to end. ”

“ Leaving out of consideration the seeming lack of confidence in the man, it seems obvious that the time had not arrived for the expenditure of millions in the construction of a rail- road from Portland, or Umatilla even, to Salt Lake City, as the traffic then in prospect, through as well as local, would not begin to support the line. ”

“ There he continued with varied success down to 1855 when he removed to Oregon and became a pioneer in the navigation of the Columbia river. With inadequate means he commenced the building of a railway at the Cascades and in the face of difficulties that would have appalled a less determined man, he persevered until the work he had undertaken was completed. During the three years commencing with 1857 he ran a line of steamers from Portland to The Dalles, and through this line laid the basis of his subsequent fortune. ”

“ A price of one hundred thousand dollars was named by the directors of the Navigation Company, together with certain requirements intended to protect the use as a portage for passengers and freight between the upper and lower landing. This transfer of property was not carried out; it may indeed have only been a protective measure to guard against invasion by opposing interests; certainly the Northern Pacific had more immediate needs for its construction funds ”

“ John W. Brazee commenced a survey for the improved railroad authorized by the directors of the Navigation Company. The Portland Daily Bulletin of August 23, in the interest of the unemployed of the city published a statement that "several men can now receive employment on the Oregon Railroad at the Cascades and receive good wages therefor;" ”

“ Theodore A. Goffe, and he has been a machinist and an engineer all his life. * * * *
The Oregon Pony was built in 1862 by the Vulcan Iron Works of San Francisco for Colonel Ruckle [Ruckel] of the old Oregon Steam Navigation Co., the predecessor of the present O. R. & N. Co., and the line which did so much to build up Oregon. Mr. Goffe was working in San Francisco at that time and had charge of its construction. Upon its completion it was shipped to Portland, still under his charge, on the steamer Pacific. ”

“ The baggage of the stockmen was taken over on the Railroad as in its early days, by mules. The Columbia River Road Company, an Oregon corpor- ation dating from October 14, 1862, having completed a cattle trail along the Oregon bank of the Columbia river approximately between Portland and The Dalles, was given permission to use the Tooth and Eagle Creek bridges under an agreement made April 7,1863, for which use superintendent Bailey was instructed to collect 25 cents per head of cattle and for sheep at half rate. ”

“ Again, all of a sudden, on its being reported that work would shortly be commenced on our portage roads, a display is made of improvement and repairs upon a dilapidated horse railroad which a mule has grown old in holding against competition while the business is being done upon a first-class railroad on the opposite side of the river. ”

“ It is unfortunate that when the railroad was at last ready for use, no newspaper men were present to record the initiation of steam transportation by railroad north of the California state line. The writer has in fact found no account of this first beginning, as we may say of the Union Pacific System except an article published in the Sunday Oregonian of July 23, 1905, at the time of the Lewis and Clark fair. ”

“ An order was given to the Vulcan Iron Foundry of 137-139 First Street, San Francisco, an establishment employing from one hundred to one hundred and fifty hands, for this, the first locomotive built upon the Pacific Coast, first too, to be used north of the California-Oregon state line. The builders operated a brass and iron foundry, built steam engines and boilers and made and sold mill and mining machinery. ”

“ The project was to produce a practicable portage railroad which could be operated very cheaply. It was now to be of three foot gauge, the earlier plan for a standard gauge line being abandoned. The whole of the original line of 1858-1862 could then be traced, but its bridges were decayed and useless. The new engineer reported as had Brazee, that "for two miles along this side hill the whole country seems to be moving steadily toward the river like a glacier. ”

“ Ruckel house where the lower terminus of said road shall be, at the first creek about three hundred (300) feet below said house, and deliver the same from the end of the slide at the warehouse at the landing of the Upper Cascades, but it is understood that the improvements and road below said Ruckel's house and the lower terminus of said road, as above specified, shall not be embraced in or any way affected by this agreement, but the right to and the use of the same shall remain as though this agreement had not been made. ”

“ It ran on a portage road between Brownsville [Bonneville] and the Cascades over wooden rails overlaid with strap iron. * * * Sometimes the Fair visitor who chances to pass the little engine will notice an old man with snowy white hair and beard, but with a springy step and the eyes of youth, who hovers around as though loath to depart from some dear treasure. And then if the visitor manifests any interest in the "Pony" * * * "This was the first locomotive ever run in Oregon," he says, "and I was the man who built and ran it," * * * The man is Mr. ”

“ And this, written in the late fall of 1862 is the testimony of Lieutenant Mullan, the builder of the Mullan wagon road from Walla Walla to Missoula in the early sixties:
" * * * Herring portage of the Cascades, heretofore so great a bugbear in the trip from The Dalles to Portland, is now made in a brief hour on the cars, without detriment or danger. An extra dollar for riding on the cars is charged, though, if you prefer it, you can walk on the road in nearly the same time, free of cost. ”

“ Captain Ainsworth was given, it appears, to expressing his thoughts in direct language, forcible and sometimes picturesque. Among these would-be competitors which after 1863 declared intention of obtaining right of passage over the Oregon Portage were three successive companies with which W. W. Chapman of Portland was connected. ”

“ Bailey that her husband was a partner of Ruckel's in the ownership of the Oregon Portage. Captain T. W. Lyles of San Francisco had put money into the Ruckel enterprises, but whether as a partner or as a loan does not clearly appear. Captain Van Bergen was afterward associated with O. B. Gibson in the firm of Van Bergen and Gibson, "forwarding and commission merchants, dealers in choice wines, liquors, lime, plaster, cement, doors, window blinds, etc.," their establishment being on Front Street between Washington and Stark Streets in Portland. ”

“ Bradford, hearing of this from his brother Putnam while the former was traveling in the Puget Sound country, in a letter of August 24, 1862 to "My Dear Captain" (J. C . Ainsworth) , said that he had learned that Ruckel had asked Ainsworth or Thompson whether Bradford & Co. were entitled to any of the earnings of the Cascade portage as they had no railroad. "I don't believe," the letter went on to say, "the Col. has entirely lost his judgment or he would hardly agitate such a question. As it is, it is not a matter for the Company's consideration ”

“ On October 31, 1858, General Harney issued an order [23] which practically opened the upper country to settlement, assuring would-be settlers that "every encouragement" would be given them to locate near the military posts, provided that no infringements were made upon military or Indian reservations. ”

“ This conclusion is based on a telegram which General Cass, the president of the Northern Pacific Company sent to Portland to ask if J. C. Ainsworth was willing to have the Navigation Company buy Chapman's charter for $50,000. Ainsworth's reply was, "No, would not give fifty cents." "This Chapman," said Ainsworth, "is a man OREGON'S FIRST RAILWAY 225 without means or reputation and has long been trying to blackmail the O. S . N. Co. He has neither friends nor credit. I don't believe he could borrow fifty dollars in Portland without giving security. * * * His railroad chart- er is worth nothing ”