Linn County, Oregon

Date: 28 Dec 1847
Location: Linn, Oregon, United States
Surnames/tags: Linn_County Oregon United_States

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Team Leader: Margaret (Robe) Summitt

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Contents 1 Linn County, Oregon 1.1 History 1.1.1 Timeline 2 Sources 2.1 Places 2.2 Resources 3 Sources

Linn County, Oregon

• Official Website
• Wikidata: Item Q506015, en:Wikipedia
• Linn County Genealogy on FamilySearch
• Linn County, Category
• WikiTree Profiles that link to this page.

History

Industry and Agriculture

The first grist mill began in 1847 on a patch of ground along the Calapooia River. The donation claim of John R. Courtney, being left vacant, was taken over by Richard Chism Finley, who saw on Courtney's donation land claim a suitable site for the grist mill he wanted to build. When Courtney returned, he found Finley felling a tree across the river and threatened him. With the support of James Blakeley and Finley's father-in-law, Alexander Kirk, Courtney was encouraged to give up his claim and settle elsewhere. Finley's first mill, set where McKercher Park is now, washed out in the great flood of 1861-62, but he built another one which he later sold to the McKerchers. Finley and Philemon Vawter Crawford promoted the building of a new mill in the 1850s on the Calapooia a mile or so east of Shedd, a mill they called the "Boston Mill."^[1] Crawford and Alec Brandon were bought out in 1866 by William Simmons and the Simmons family and Finley were operators for the next 25 years.^[2] The grist mill was the reason for the historical town of Boston.

The first railroad, now the Oregon and California part of the Southern Pacific, was open to traffic soon after 1870. Previously all supplies were hauled by wagon from Portland and Oregon City.

In 1871 the Oregon and California railroad bypassed Boston 1 1/2 miles to the west and a new town called Shedd's Station sprang up beside the rail line. The town of Boston died overnight, but the mill flourished and operated continuously for over 140 years, eventually becoming Thompson's Flouring Mills.^[3]

The Eagle Woolen Mill began in Brownsville in the 1860s. It burned in 1955.

Logging was a major industry. The Calapooia was a feeder stream for log drives down to the Willamette. Sawmills proliferated, moving upstream as areas were logged off.^[4]

The settlers from the east plowed under the camas fields to grow wheat. In the fall, the fields were cleared and the stubble burnt off. Smoke from burning stubble was even until the late 20th century a feature of the valley in late summer and fall.

Another major crop in the 19th and early 20th centuries was hops. Hop picking was a seasonal activity drawing people of all ages. The hopyards furnished work in September for Indians who came from the Siletz reservation on the coast.

Today, Linn County is the largest producer of pedigreed grass seed in the world.

Timeline

The original inhabitants of Linn County were ancient mound builders and later the tribe known as Kalapuya. The ease of finding food in the valley made the Kalapuya vulnerable to intruders, including other tribes. At the time of Lewis and Clark, about 2000 Kalapuya were distributed among forty villages. Flooding during the rainy season drove the natives from the valley up the buttes to the east. It also drove small animals to higher ground, which were eaten. When floods receded, fields of camas yielded the bulb of the camas lily which for them was a cash crop. Fields of camas were cleared and then burned in the fall.

Members of the first wagon train around Barlow Pass (south side of Mount Hood) arrived 1846-1847 on the banks of the Calapooia River. Among them were Hugh Leeper Brown, his nephew James Blakeley, Jonathan Keeney, and Richard Chism Finley.^[5] Alexander Kirk and his son Riley Kirk arrived in the spring of 1847. Alexander Kirk established a ferry across the river in 1847. It consisted of a stout rope. It was operated by his wife, Sarah (Sweeten) Kirk, on the frequent occasions that Alexander Kirk had to be away.

1847: Jeremiah Ralston halted his team of three wagons in the autumn of 1847 at what is now the town of Lebanon.^[6]

Linn County was founded December 28, 1847 when it was created by the Oregon Territorial Legislature from the southern portion of Champoeg (later Marion) County. The county was named for Jacksonian Democrat Senator Lewis Fields Linn, of Missouri (1796-1843), who during his Senate career was chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims.^[7]Linn advocated tirelessly for passage of the Donation Land Claim Act and was a proponent of United States occupation of Oregon Territory as a counterclaim to the British.

1849: the town of Albany was first settled. Brothers Thomas and Walter Monteith built the town's first frame home. It was one of the first houses in Oregon built from sawed lumber.^[8]

1849: Linn County's first organizational meeting was held in Rev. Henry Harmon Spalding's schoolhouse.

1850: Rev. Henry Harmon Spalding was appointed first postmaster. The name of the town today known as Brownsville was changed from Kirk's Ferry to Calapooia in 1850.

1851: parts of Linn County were taken to form parts of Lane and Wasco Counties. In that year the legislature designated the county seat as Albany.

1852: Rev. Wilson Blain, working to heal the rift between Presbyterians and Associate Reformed Presbyterians, established the first United Presbyterian Church at a meeting at Union Point in October 1852.^[9]Blain founded the Union Point Academy, which later became Albany College, and still later Lewis and Clark College.

1856: a special election reaffirmed Albany as the county seat.

1870: the town of Crawfordsville was founded east of Brownsville on the land of Philemon Vawter Crawford by Crawford and Robert Glass.^[10]

1872: A U. S. post office was established at the town of Tangent. "Tangent" refers to the more than 20 miles of straight railroad track on this stretch of the Southern Pacific line.^[11]

1919: A devastating fire destroyed most of downtown Brownsville.

1921: Indian Lize, the last survivor of the Kalapuyas, died.^[12]

1966: Linn-Benton Community College was established by popular vote. It was constructed 1970-1974, two miles south of Albany.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ WPA Interview with James Vawter Crawford,http://www.lgsoregon.org/lgstng/showmedia.php?mediaID=22398
2. ↑ http://www.historicalgazette.net/hgv4n8.htm
3. ↑ https://bostonmillsociety.org/
4. ↑ https://www.sweethomenews.com/story/2020/09/30/news/calapooia-river-has-wound-its-way-through-lot-of-local-history/23477.html
5. ↑ http://linncountyroots.com/
6. ↑ https://www.ci.lebanon.or.us/community/page/history-lebanon-oregon#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20story%20of,what%20is%20now%20Lebanon%2C%20Oregon.
7. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Linn
8. ↑ https://www.monteithhouse.org/
9. ↑ http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/index.php/research/sites-of-interest/horner-museum-tour-guide-series/pioneering-from-the-santiam-to-the-calapooia/
10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawfordsville,_Oregon#:~:text=Crawfordsville%20was%20founded%20on%20the,the%20Oregon%20Trail%20in%201851.
11. ↑ https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Tangent,_Oregon
12. ↑ https://www.sweethomeor.gov/community/page/history#:~:text=Sweet%20Home%20was%20built%20on,jasper%2C%20crystals%2C%20and%20minerals.&text=In%201893%2C%20Sweet%20Home%20became,city%20in%20Linn%20County%2C%20Oregon.
13. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linn%E2%80%93Benton_Community_College

https://www.oregon.com/attractions/historical-marker-brownsville

Places

County seat: Albany

• Schools
• Cemeteries

Resources

• State Sources
  • General Sources
  • External Links
• Linn County Sources

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Sources

1. ↑ WPA Interview with James Vawter Crawford,http://www.lgsoregon.org/lgstng/showmedia.php?mediaID=22398
2. ↑ http://www.historicalgazette.net/hgv4n8.htm
3. ↑ https://bostonmillsociety.org/
4. ↑ https://www.sweethomenews.com/story/2020/09/30/news/calapooia-river-has-wound-its-way-through-lot-of-local-history/23477.html
5. ↑ http://linncountyroots.com/
6. ↑ https://www.ci.lebanon.or.us/community/page/history-lebanon-oregon#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20story%20of,what%20is%20now%20Lebanon%2C%20Oregon.
7. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Linn
8. ↑ https://www.monteithhouse.org/
9. ↑ http://www.bentoncountymuseum.org/index.php/research/sites-of-interest/horner-museum-tour-guide-series/pioneering-from-the-santiam-to-the-calapooia/
10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawfordsville,_Oregon#:~:text=Crawfordsville%20was%20founded%20on%20the,the%20Oregon%20Trail%20in%201851.
11. ↑ https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Tangent,_Oregon
12. ↑ https://www.sweethomeor.gov/community/page/history#:~:text=Sweet%20Home%20was%20built%20on,jasper%2C%20crystals%2C%20and%20minerals.&text=In%201893%2C%20Sweet%20Home%20became,city%20in%20Linn%20County%2C%20Oregon.
13. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linn%E2%80%93Benton_Community_College