Binger Hermann

“ Such pioneer names are worthy of the honor you do them in this assemblage today, and may their memories be equally cherished by those who shall follow after. They come down to us as a good pioneer American ancestry and go down to a patriotic American posterity. ”

“ Port Orford comes down to us from almost time immemorial. It is a pioneer within itself. Its history was first brought to light over 300 years ago by Martin de Aguilar, an old Spanish explorer, who discovered the westerly headland near here and named it Cape Blanco. ”

“ Even the white man's increasing and overpowering military could not repress him. When at the last Colonel Buchanan with his forces met the assembled hostiles at the mouth of the Illinois River to secure their surrender and their removal to the distant government reservations, it was Chief John who stepped forth into the council, and defiantly addressing the Colonel, said: "You are a great chief, so am I. This is my country. I was in it when these trees were very small, not higher than my head. My heart is sick with fighting, but I want to live in my country. ”

“ The vast timber, coal, and gold bearing resources tributary to Port Orford, and now made accessible by transportation facilities, with greatly increased manufacturing investments here and nearby, now more than ever justifies the local improvement of harbor shipping; while the old-time necessity for a safe port for sailing vessels to enter during a heavy southwest gale is more than ever called for by the increasing commerce on the high seas. ”

“ Coming from California mines and new settlements on Coos Bay and interior Oregon, soon thousands of these hungry gold seekers were washing out from ten to twenty dollars per day by every kind of crude device and handmade structure.
A CITY GROWS
Port Orford, like a fabled dream of Utopia, at once grew into city proportions in a few weeks time. Ships by steam and sail came into port with passengers, mail, stores and supplies to maintain the gathering hosts. ”

“ The punishment inflicted upon the hostile Indians and the military preparations for further hostilities with a competent garrison now retained at Port Orford did much to overawe the warring Indian element, and peace for a period was the result all along the coast.
GOLD DISCOVERED
A new and better fate in 1853 now awaited the little settlement in the unexpected turn of fortune in its uncertain destiny. Gold was discovered in the beach sands and for thirty miles up and down the sea shore the glittering sands were worked out by excited throngs. ”

“ He had sailed with Captain Cook on his two previous voyages. Vancouver, in his exploration, charted this Port Orford harbor, and named the cape nearby as Cape Orford in honor of his friend the Earl of Orford. For over 200 years the straits of Anian still continued to be a mystery. All above the 43rd degree of latitude of the Pacific Coast was an undiscovered country through the seventeenth and three-fourth of the eighteenth centuries. ”

“ This navigator was Captain William Tichenor. His ship reaching Portland in her regular journeys from San Francisco, he at once made notification and entry in the Surveyor General's office at Oregon City for one section of land, embracing this site and naming it Port Orford—transferring and adopting Vancouver's name of "Orford" from the cape and restoring its former name. Congress the previous year had enacted the Donation Land Law, giving to heads of families 640 acres of land and to others less. ”

“ Under Colonel Silas Casey portions of three companies on October 31, 1851, were soon in pursuit of the enemy, who were found ready for action at the middle fork of the Coquille River on November 22, 1851, where, after a brief engagement, 15 Indians were killed and the rest forced to retreat through the forest, with no casualties among the troops. Soon these were on their return to Port Orford, and then back to California on December 1, 1851. ”

“ He had also guided the American regular army troops under Major Kearney to California in 1846, all of which rightly commended him to Captain Tichenor as a competent leader for the Port Orford road makers. This new corps were then brought and safely landed at Port Orford on September 3rd, together with a portion of U. S. troops found stationed at Astoria, which because of the Battle Rock siege and further expected hostilities was thought necessary by the military authorities. Port Orford now also became a military camp with other troops from California ordered forward. ”

“ To these should be added the coarse gold mining in the coastal interior, such as Coquille River, Salmon Mountain, Johnson Diggings, and the Sixes mines, which largely influenced Port Orford prosperity.
PORT ORFORD CEDAR
This growth made building material necessary, and in the immense white cedar forests so near the town, sawmills were soon attracted. The first one of size was by the Neefus and H. B . Tichenor Company of San Francisco. The first schooner load of manufactured lumber was shipped in the spring of 1854 to San Francisco, and brought $125 per thousand there. ”