Albany, Oregon

“ Albany, the county seat, founded in 1848 by Walter and Thomas Monti eth, named after Albany, N. Y., by request of James P. Millar, and incorporated in 1864, is the prin cipal town in the county, and the centre of trade for the country between the Santiam and Calapooya rivers. ”

“ Helmick to build herself a home in Albany, Oregon, and live there the rest of her days without want.
September 12,1924, when the West Side Highway was dedicated Governor Walter Pierce and other officials of the state, and 7000 people from the Willamette Valley, through which the highway runs, and in which Albany, Oregon, the home of "Grandma" is located, came to honor her, and pay tribute to the spirit which prompted the generous gift. Living near her in Oregon "Grandma" has two children, six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. ”

“ Albany, twenty-seven miles from Salem, is a good-looking, well-built town of five thousand people. There is an astonishingly large seven-story hotel which seemed to indicate a busy place. Notwithstanding the opportunities to dine at several apparently excellent hotels along this route, we did not regret that we had picked up a lunch at a Portland delicatessen store. It was more enjoyable than any hotel meal when eaten in the open under a group of towering trees by the roadside—and, incidentally it cost less. ”

“ Oregon Institute, Salem. 1842 possible to find recorded songs that go back much before 1900. To the extent that they were composed and sung before then, they were handed down viva voce from class to class. Victor Arundel, who compiled Song Lore of Albany in 1930, has explained how it was in that institution:
This book is only a pioneering effort, catching the song lore of Albany from the uncertain state in whicn it was found—unwritten and threatening to become fragmentary—and bringing it back in definite form. ”

“ A column at Albany ran regularly once a week for 35 years and intermittently for another eight years, and is still going. A column from a small town in Eastern Oregon has been quoted more than 500 weeks over a period of years by a national eclectic magazine that features a department of such shorts. In the Rogue River Valley "Ye Smudge Pot" of Arthur Perry reaches more eager readers than many a magazine, and, at Yoncalla and down at Elkton and far and wide in Douglas County, "Prune Picking" used to give the population of the Umpqua Valley a feeling of companionable unity. ”

“ In 1866 the presbytery consisted of the ministers above named, with the addition of W- J. Monteith, Anthony Simpson, and J. S. Reasouer, the former assigned to Albany, and Simpson to Olympia, which by the lapse of the Puget Sound presbytery, erected in 1858, came again under the care of Oregon. A church was organized at Albany by Monteith, and a private classical school opened, which grew into the Albany collegiate institute under the care of the presbytery, a tract of live acres being donated by Thomas Monteith, one of the town owners, and brother of W. J. Monteith. ”

“ These churches, at least two of them, are feeling the importance of an efficient ministry given to the work. I know of no Baptist member in Salem, yet other denominations, with little strength in the country, are laboring to build up an interest here. Salem is growing with the rapidity of western towns on navigable waters. Albany, also, about 25 miles above Salem, is growing fast. In this town we have a feeble church. Albany is the county seat for Lynn County. 332 The church in this place has only occasional preaching. ”

“ Emigrating to Oregon in 1847, he settled in Linn County, in company with his father and a numerous relationship, amassing a large fortune without losing his high reputation for integrity, being possessed of a sterling worth acknowledged by all men. He died at his residence half a mile east of Albany, November 3, 1875. ”

“ For a subsidy for the extension, Albany citizens raised $40,000 in 1885-86. The bridge was finished Jan. 5, 1887, and the first passenger train between Corvallis and Albany ran on Jan. 6, 1887; the first regular freight train January 13, 1887. The whole project received impetus in 1886 from the visit of John I. Blair and Percy R. Pyne, of New York, bondholders of the Oregon Pacific and directors of the Chicago & Northwestern, who inspected the route to the summit of Cascade Mountains, and commended the enterprise highly. ”

“ The groves of timber are more scattering, and the country more level and open. Except the ash, maple, alder, and willow of the river-bottoms, there is little forest; but the isolated trees of pine, fir, and oak which beautify the plains, are of the handsomest proportions.
Corvallis, about a dozen miles above Albany, on the west side of the river, is about the same age with it. Its first proprietor was Mr. Avery, who still resides there. It is the first town of consequence on the west side of the Wallamet, and the only one excepting Eugene. ”

“ Having now obtained full control, and being more ardent than prudent in his pursuit of business and pleasure alike, Holladay pushed his two roads forward rapidly, the Oregon and California being completed to Albany in 1871, to Eugene in 1872, and to Roseburg in 1873. The Oregon Central was opened to Cornelius in 1871, and to St Joe in 1872. These roads, although still merely local, had a great influence in developing the country, inducing immigration, and promoting the export of wheat from Willamette direct to the markets of Europe. ”

“ In 1846 the Provisional Legislature authorized Tom McKay* to build a road for the emigrants across the Cascade moun- tains from what is now Albany, clear across the mountains to Fort Boise. He was to have it ready for travel by August, 1846, so the emigrants that year could use it. The day before the Fourth of July, it was on my seventh birthday, my father took out a party of men to pick out the route for the new road. ”

“ Ground was broken for the east side branch at Silverton, April 19, 1880, by the wife of Governor W. W. Thayer. The line was opened from Ray's Landing, on Willamette River, near Saint Paul, to Silverton via Woodburn, October 4, of that year: to Scio, November 4, and to Brownsville, December 28. The line reached Coburg in July, 1882. William Reid offered to build to Albany, if that city would erect a river bridge and pay a bonus of $45,000, but the total outlay to Albany of between $100,000 and $140,000 was deemed excessive, and so the narrow gauge passed by Albany to the eastward. ”

“ About the close of 1859, Delazon Smith caused the Oregon Democrat to be established at Albany for his own purposes. It was published by Shepard, made war on the Salem clique, and sustained Lane. Early in 1861 it was taken in charge by P. J. Malone, an able writer, and in 1865 became the State Rights Democrat, with O'Meara for editor. The Pacific Christian Advocate was removed from Salem to Portland about this time, its editor, Thomas H. Pearne taking great interest in politics. In fact, no paper could gain a footing without politics ”

“ A free kindergarten system was inaugurated in Portland; and a Woman s Exchange opened, which gave cheap homes to homeless women, with assistance in finding employment. The Teachers National convention of 1888 at San Francisco showed the work of the Portland schools to be very nearly equal to the best in the United States, and superior to many of the eastern cities. Albany, since the incep tion of the Oregon Pacific R. R. , has gained several new business institutions. The railroad round-house and shops were located there. ”

“ Gill's map of Oregon, 1874, shows a place called Liberty to the northeast of Corvallis and about a mile south of what is now Wells. The post office was established in April, 1856, with James Gingles first postmaster. The office was finally discontinued in May, 1867. The compiler does not know the reason for the name unless it was a patriotic one.
LIBERTY, Marion County. Liberty is a well-known community situated about four miles south of Salem on the old highway south to Albany. It is about a mile west of the new Pacific Highway East. It is the center of a very productive fruit section. ”

“ Hill 248 from Missouri came to Albany, a county seat on the Willamette about 70 miles above this place, and commenced teaching and preaching some time last winter. His labors resulted in organizing a small church ; the proprietors of the lower part of the town have built a school house and at our late convention requested us to send them a teacher and a preacher, with the assurance that the people would help to support him as a minister and donate one-fourth of the lots of their town for church pur-
246 The Hudson's Bay Company had established a post in the Umpqua Valley as early as 1832. ”

“ His reputation as a lawyer and a man was excellent. In 1870 he was elected to the supreme bench, and as a judge was fearless and impartial. His death occurred in 1873. Or. Reports, 4, xi.–xv.; Albany Democrat, May 2, 1873; Salem Mercury, May 2, 1873. ↑ Lincoln's plurality was 270. The whole vote of the state was 14,751. Lincoln, 5,344; Douglas, 4,136; Breckenridge, 5,074. Bell, of the Bell and Everett party, had 197 votes. ↑ The whole vote for congressman was a little over 4,000. Of these Lane received 5, Logan 8, Sheil 131, and Thayer the remainder. ”

“ To meet this great issue successfully they were zealous in extending their party organization. On February 11, 1857, a convention was held at Albany, at which delegates were present from eight counties Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill, Linn, Umpqua, Polk and Benton. [5] W. T. Matlock, of Clackamas, was chairman, and Leander Holmes, of the same county, secretary. Other prominent men in attendance were Stephen Coffin, J. R. McBride, W. L. Adams, E. L. Applegate, T. S. Kendall, S. M. Gilmore and W. B. Daniels. ”

“ Ore. 1853 postmaster Albany several years; bailiff Supreme Court of Oregon 16 years; d. San Francisco, Calif., Oct 18, 1924, Redpath, Dr. Nathan J.; b. near present site of Kelso, 1859; d. Olympia, Wn., April 21, 1924. Ribelin, Mrs. Sarah Finley; b. Mo. 1843; Ore. 1846 d. Halsey, Nov. 10, 1923. Riggs, Green Berry; b. Mo. 1836; Ore. 1846; d. Mead- owview, Aug. 5, 1923. Ritchey, Adam; b. Iowa, 1850; Ore. 1853; d. Eugene, Sept 1. 1924. Robinson, James L.; b. Tenn. 1842; Ore. 1853; d. Walla Walla, Wn., May 11,1924. Roberts, Mrs. George; b. Old Oregon Trail, near Che- halis, Wn., 1853; d. ”

“ Only a man who in his youth has come at last in sight of some great city he had dreamed of all his life and longed to see, can enter into Rolf's feelings as they swept around the big bend, and Albany—Albany, hove in view. Albany, the first chartered city of the United States; Albany, the capital of all the Empire State; Albany, the thriving metropolis with nearly six thousand living human souls; Albany with its State House, beautiful and dignified, looking down the mighty Hudson highway that led to the open sea. ”

“ Daughters of the American Revolution in Oregon held their fifth annual conference at Portland March 15-16. They elected Mrs. F. M. Wilkins, of Eugene, state regent; Mrs. Walter F. Burrell, of Portland, vice-regent; Mrs. Pearl Gregory Cartlidge, of Oregon City, recording secretary; Miss Bertha Cummings, of Eugene, corresponding secretary; Mrs. W. E. Pearson, of Portland, treasurer; Mrs. J. Thorburn Ross, historian; Mrs. Charles Worrell, of Coos Bay, auditor; Mrs. Levi Tracey, Bancroft is the Oregon author and historian, Frances Fuller of Albany, chaplain; Mrs. ”

“ In the afternoon, blue and purple in the far distance, we saw the glorious range of the mighty Catskill Mountains, forming one unbroken series of snow-capped domes, hiding in their deep recesses many of Nature's grandest secrets. The evening was closing in as the steamer passed under the swinging arch of the bridge at Albany, the chief town of New York State.
Albany is chiefly remarkable for its very fine Capitol, which has been in process of building since 1871, and is still far from finished, though it has already cost an enormous sum. ”

“ Julia, these are moments of awful romance; how the soul longs for the consolations of friendship. Albany is one of the most picturesque places in the world; situated most delightfully on the banks of the Hudson, which here meanders in sylvan beauty through meadows of ever-green and desert islands. Words are wanting to paint the melancholy beauties of the ride to Schenectady, through gloomy forests, where the silvery pine waves in solemn grandeur to the sighings of Eolus, while Boreas threatens in vain their firm-rooted trunks. ”

“ Chandler's field of labor.
Yours,
EZRA FISHER. CORRESPONDENCE
133
Oregon City, O. Ter. Nov. To Rev. Benjamin M. Hill, D. D., ?
Am. Home Mission
Cor. Sec. of
Soc.
28th, 1855.
send you my report of labor under the appointment of the Home Mission Society as Exploring Agent for the third quarter ending Dec. 31st, 1855.
Herein
I
have visited Corvallis twice, Albany, Salem and Oregon Oregon City, French Prairie, Shilo, Santiam, Willamette Forks, and Palestine churches. Have labored 13 I
City, Corvallis,
weeks during the quarter; traveled to and from my appointments 660 miles ”

“ Thus Albany is a real capital,—a typical Southern county town, the centre of the life of ten thousand souls; their point of contact with the outer world, their centre of news and gossip, their market for buying and selling, borrowing and lending, their fountain of justice and law. Once upon a time we knew country life so well and city life so little, that we illustrated city life as that of a closely crowded country district. ”