Joseph Gaston

“ The awful trials endured by the pioneers who opened that old road, where the heroic mothers of Oregon carried their children over the ice and snows of the Cascade Range, can never be comprehended by the gentle women who, in palace cars, with every luxury of modern life, visit the Lewis and Clark Exposition. To the courage, fortitude, and energy of these unconquerable souls is due the honor of founding civilization, establishing law and education, and maintaining religion on the Pacific Coast of North America. ”

“ IN all ages of the world the development of nations and the progress of civilization have been in direct proportion to the construction of highways for travel and transportation between contiguous and distant communities. The absence of means of travel and transportation has been the characteristic of barbarism; and the development of such means has always marked the dawn of commerce, progress, and prosperity. This principle has been clearly illustrated in the history and settlement of Oregon. The native Indian population built no roads, not even trails ”

“ The agitation in favor of railroads in Oregon was started, contrary to the general experience, not by men of capital able to build roads, but by men without capital, and with views and plans somewhat ahead of their time. The first tangible effort, continuously pushed until the actual construction of a railroad was commenced, started at Jacksonville, in Southern Oregon, in 1864. ”