Rain dropped from the heavens like a pitcher pouring water when my great-great-grandfather and his party entered the Willamette Valley on November 3, 1847. Six months on the trail had left him weary and arriving in the midst of fall’s annual deluge didn’t help his spirits. Astride his horse, he followed the river’s edge seeking […]
Donation Land Claims
- General
- ...
Story Keeper#2–Barreling Along
When my great-great-grandfather left his family on the east coast and headed west, he brought two important skills with him. He had apprenticed as a cooper, working for the Syracuse Salt Works, making fifty cents a day. He had logged in the woods as well, learning the skills a frontiersman would need to tame the […]
Story Keeper #1–Lust for Land
The promise of free land in Oregon Territory in the early 1800’s lured many settlers westward. Entrepreneurs like John Jacob Astor, who founded the Pacific Fur Company in 1811, moved to the region and sought to establish their businesses almost as soon as Lewis and Clark finished their overland expedition to the Pacific Ocean. By […]