Marion County, Oregon

“ No young man in Marion county is better known or has more warm p er- sonal friends than he whose name heads this sketch. He is literally a self- made man, and what little of success he has met with in life has been the result of his own eflbrts, and he has had much to contend with. ”

“ He settled in Yamhill county, in 1847, and in the number of his descendants has outdone the Canadians, there being of his line 164 on the Pacific coast; all honorable men and virtuous women, be- sides being physically people of weight. Portland West Shore, February, 1880.
Ralph C. Geer, was the pioneer nurseryman of Marion county. ”

“ The first impulse of a loyal man was to declare his willingness to take the notes of the government at par, and in Oregon many so declared themselves. The citizens of The Dalles held a meeting and pledged themselves to trade only with persons "patriotic enough to take the faith of the government at par." The treasurer of Marion county refused to receive legal-tenders at all for taxes; while Linn received them for county but rejected them for state tax; Clackamas received them for both state and county tax; and Columbia at first received and then rejected them. ”

“ The value of its farms and buildings is considerably over three millions, of live-stock a little over four hundred thousand, and of farm products something over six hundred thousand dollars. In manufactures it has been perhaps the third county in the state, but should, on account of its facilities, exceed its rivals in the future. It is difficult to say whether it is the second or third, Multnomah county being first, and Marion probably second. But the difference in the amount of capital expended and results produced leave it almost a tie between the latter county and Clackamas. ”

“ But the people of Oregon well knew that their immense agricultural resources would bring them out of all their troubles if they would only apply themselves in the right direction and in the right way.
The counties which led in this industrial revival were Washington, Yamhill, Marion, and Polk. The first county fair held was in Yamhill on the 7th of October, 1854, followed by Marion on the 11th, and Polk on the 12th. The exhibit of horses, cattle, and fruit was fairly good, of sheep, grain, and domestic manufactures almost nothing ”

“ Building in a Nineteenth-Century Cooperative Society. by Philip Dole “The Young People Became Restless”: Marriage Patterns before and after Dissolution of the Aurora Colony. by Kimberly Swanson Book Reviews OHS Board and Staff Volume 93, No. 1 (Spring 1992) “It’s Down There Someplace”: Oil Exploration in Harney County. by Dorsey Griffin The Hudson’s Bay Company and the Indians of Southern Oregon. by Nathan Douthit Hadley Hobson, Marion County Pioneer. by Documents - Edited by Terence Emmons Book Reviews Recent Publications Annual Index Volume 93, No. ”

“ He is one of those honorable men who, when our country was in danger, risked life and limb in her defense. Such men should be rewarded with the highest office within their capacity to fill or the power of the people to bestow. Judge Lord's services, we are pleased to note, are meeting with just recognition, and he has become a favorite with the people of Marion county and the State at large. ”

“ For a time the railroad station now known as Miller was called Deschutes. For the history of the name Deschutes as applied to places in Oregon, see under the heading Deschutes and also under Ainsworth.
Miller Butte, Marion County. This butte, elevation 556 feet, is about two miles west of Marion. It was named for a family of pioneer settlers. The head of the family was Charles Miller. At the exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, a sample of flax sent by "Uncle Charley," beat the whole world. ”

“ The shifting nature of the population may be inferred from fact that to Jackson county was apportioned four representatives, while Marion, Washington, and Clackamas were each allowed but three. [10]
A scheme was put on foot to form a new territory out of the southern countries with a portion of northern California, the movement originating at Yreka, where it was advocated by the Mountain Herald. A meeting was held at Jacksonville January 7, 1854, which appointed a convention for the 25th. Memorials were drafted to congress and the Oregon and California legislatures. ”

“ Marion, eighth in total area, but half of its farm lands were improved. There was not so much uncultivated farm land in Marion County as in Multno- mah or Clackamas, but its cultivated areas did not produce crops as valuable as those of Multnomah or Clackamas; however, Portland is the great market center of Oregon, and the farther distant a place is from this metropolis, the greater disad- vantage it must face in marketing its produce. Linn ranked sixth in total area of farm lands ”

“ Solomon H. Smith, vice-president, Clatsop County. Thomas Smith, vice-president, Columbia County. C. H. Davidson, vice-president, Tillamook County. Jesse D. Walling, vice-president, Polk County. Samuel E. May, corresponding secretary, Marion County. Lucien Heath, recording secretary, Marion County. John H. Moores, treasurer, Marion County. A. A. Smith, Lane County; John Smith, Linn County, and William Ruble, of Polk County, were chosen a board of managers. Committees on finance, library, visiting and publication were appointed. The Oregon Farmer was declared to be the organ of the society. ”

“ The comparative amount of wheat raised in 1880 was greatest in Marion county, which raised 1,000,000 bushels, Yamhill, Umatilla, Linn, and Polk following with nearly 1,000,000 each. Clackamas county raised less than 500 bushels. But Clackarnas pro duced $80,000 worth of fruit, being the second fruit county, Linn leading the state. Lake raised almost none, Curry, Clatsop, and Tillamook very little, and all the other counties from $4,000 to $^77,000 worth, all but three, Baker, Grant, and Columbia, producing over $10,000 worth, and nine of them from $30,- 000 to $57,000 worth. ”

“ The post office is in Marion County. Part of the community is on the south side of the river in Linn County. John Shaw and others moved the sawmill from Stayton to this place in 1887 and in the following year had a post office established with the name Mill City. Shaw was a son of Angus Shaw, who established the town of Shaw in Marion County. For story about Mill City by Fred Lockley, see the Oregon Journal, editorial page, July 9, 1932.
Mill Creek, Crook County. Old residents of Prineville say that the first sawmill of the county was built on this stream, hence the name. ”

“ He is well acquainted with the routine business of legislation, is well posted on all subjects and has rendered valuable services to the people of his county.
HON. J. H BAUGHMAN, Of Marion county, was born and raised to manhood in Illinois. His edu- cational advantages were limited in the extreme. He emigrated to Oregon in 1850 and has ever since resided in Marion county. Naturally possessed of an investigating turn of mind, he gathered kn (.) wledge rapidly, ever keep- ing prominently in view the axiom that there never can be any real excel- lence without labor in any deportment of life. ”

“ Throughout the country, west of the Mississippi River, his fame is established for all time. It is fitting that a county of Oregon should be named for him. Crook County is now bounded: on the north by Wasco County; on the east by portions of Wheeler, Grant, and Harney Counties ; on the south by Lake County and a portion of Klamath County; and on the west by Linn, and portions of Lane and Marion Counties. Its county seat is Prineville. Morrow County. Morrow County was created February 16, 1885, by the State Legislature. (Special Laws of 1885, page 239) . ”

“ 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. ”

“ Marion has a little the most capital invested, and produces a little the most, but uses $278,295 more capital in materials, while paying only $8,982 less for labor. Comp. X. Census, ii. 1007-8. The principal factories are of woollen goods. Assessed valuation considerably over six millions. Population, 9,260. Oregon City, founded by John McLoughlin in 1842, is the county seat, whose history for a number of years was an important part of the territorial history, being the first, and for several years the only, town in the Willamette Valley. ”

“ The business-houses are handsome and commodious, and the public edifices are numerous and costly. The city has about twelve thousand inhabitants.
Salem is the county-seat of Marion County, as well as the capital of the State. By the constitution of Oregon the State buildings are all located at the capital. The county court-house, which occupies a square, was erected at a cost of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. The State-house, not yet entirely finished, has cost so far seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. ”

“ Yamhill County was in- cluded in the first named, which also embraced Washing- ton, Multnomah, Columbia, Clatsop, Tillamook, and Polk, as now described. Champoeg district embraced what is 358 W. D. FENTON. now Linn, Marion, Lane, Josephine, Coos, Curry, Benton, Douglas, and Jackson counties; the Clackamas district included what is now Clackamas County, eastern Oregon, a portion of Montana, and all of Idaho, and Washington. At this election 15 to 22 votes were cast in the entire Tualatin district, and 140 to '244 in the entire country for candidates. ”

“ He was elected City Treasurer in 1879 aud in 188U was elected County Clerk of Marion county by a very flattering ma- jority, and in 1882 he was the unanimous choice of the Republican County Convention for renomination, and his election followed, as a matter of course. He has surprised his most enthusiastic friends by the efficiency he has displayed in his official duties, and is universally respected as a faithful and obliging officer. ”

“ He maintained vigorously that the quarrel among the Democrats was entirely a matter of their own, and that they should be left to fight it out in their own way. 2 The proceedings of the Marion county Republican conven- tion contain much that is suggestive of the situation in 1857- '58 from the Republican standpoint^ The preamble to the resolutions referred to "a considerable number of professed Republicans who have been and are opposed to the organiza- tion of an Oregon Republican party and who have by their influence thus far prevented any general organization." ”

“ Grants Pass 3/06/91 91000163 Lane County Musick Guard Station USDA Forest Service Administrative Buildings in Oregon and Washington Built by the CCC MPS NE of Bohemia Mtn., Umpqua NF Cottage Grove vicinity 3/06/91 91000170 Marion County Marion Forks Guard Station USDA Forest Service Administrative Buildings in Oregon and Washington Built by the CCC MPS OR 22, Willamette NF Marion Forks 3/06/91 91000167 Olallie Lake Guard Station USDA Forest Service Administrative Buildings in Oregon and Washington Built by the CCC MPS S of Pinhead Buttes, Mt. ”

“ The agricultural counties of the Willamette Valley rank, Linn first, Yamhill second, Lane third, and Marion fourth, Clackamas ranking least. The coast and Columbia-River counties fall below the interior ones. In the southern part of western Oregon there is also much less wealth than in the W 7 illamette Valley, Douglas county, how ever, leading Jackson. In eastern Oregon, Umatilla leads the other counties in per capita wealth, Grant, Union, W r asco, Lake, and Baker following in the order named. ”

“ All articles of living are from 50 to 100 per cent above your city prices.
Respectfully yours,
EZRA FISHER. Received May 17, 1852.
Oregon City, Ore. Ten, May 25, 1852. Rev. Benjamin M. Hill,
Cor. Sec. A. B. H. M. Soc. Dear Br. :
A desire to be able to communicate the state of the Bap- tist cause in Benton county when I next wrote you and my being unable to visit that county till the first Sabbath in this month forms my excuse for not forwarding the concur- rent certificate of the Shilo church in Marion Co. ”

“ Adams retorted: 'We should like to ask the Advocate whether Jo Lane, delegate to congress; Judge Deady of the supreme court; T'Vault, editor of the Oregon Sentinel; Avery, a prominent member of the legislature; Kelsay, an influential member of the constitutional convention; Judge Dickey Miller, a leading man in Marion county; Mr Soap and Mr Crisp, leading men in Yamhill; Judge Holmes and Mr Officer of Clackamas, and fifty others we might mention, who are all rabid "nigger" men are not "prominent politicians."' Or. ”

“ From Mill City eastward to the Summit, the company appropriated fully ninety per cent of the original surveys made at the cost of Marion County. This need not be objected to, but in addition to this these railroad promoters often exercised an assumed right to name points that will be of permanent interest which they did not discover. This seems hardly fair. From my point of view the Hon. John B. Waldo, who first observed the apparent lowness of the pass, and called my attention to it, is more entitled to have his name attached to it than Col. ”