Part 2

In 1949-50, final action was taken to change the name of Pacific College to George Fox. It was felt that the increasing confusion of Pacific College with Pacific University at Forest Grove and the use of Pacific in the names of other schools on the Pacific coast made such a change imperative.

There are few colleges that send a larger proportion of their graduates into the so-called sacrificial fields, as teachers, preachers, or missionaries. George Fox, the fifth oldest Quaker college in the United States, emphasizes constantly the ideal of service rather than selfishness, and of character as well as scholarship.

Belleque House _Helen E. Austin_

George W. Eberhard, at the age of 22, arrived at San Francisco by way of Panama from the State of Michigan. He remained in California for five years and came to Oregon by boat in 1859. The following year he bought 320 acres of the Pierre Belleque farm above Champoeg. At that time only 60 acres were cleared. He paid $1,500 for this land which had been farmed by the Belleque family over 25 years. Because of technical regulations in the Land Grant laws, no clear title had been issued, and it was 28 years before Mr. Eberhard was able to secure his official title.

This farm belongs to the very earliest period of Oregon history, having been the location of one of the first fur-trading posts in the entire Northwest Country. It was established by members of the Astor expedition in 1812, and when the Hudson’s Bay Company came to this Western Empire a decade later, they took charge and maintained it as a supply depot and relay farm for brigades going to the Umpqua and country to the south.

It is in the big bend of the Willamette River in Marion County, located two miles west of Champoeg on the river road to Newberg. Highway 219 to the new bridge is the west boundary of the original farm. A historical marker has been erected near the bridge.

Pierre Belleque, who came with the Northwest Fur Company from Canada, settled here in 1831 to develop a farm and home and raise a family, along with other retired fur company men. His neighbor to the west was Etienne Lucier. Here they became prominent in the early history and development of the Northwest Country, long before the wagon trains began to roll over the Oregon trail.

It was the house of Belleque which had been the chief trader’s house, built in the French style, having lapped siding; and dressed lumber was used for finishing. The house had been lined with flowered glazed chintz, a piece of which is still preserved. An outstanding feature was the glass in French-style windows, while the usual log cabins with parchment windows and rough lumber comprised the homes of his neighbors.

Mr. Eberhard, a bachelor, was living here when the flood of 1861 destroyed so many homes and towns along the Willamette. He saved it from going down to destruction in the swirling waters and anchored it on a higher bench of land. Here he brought his bride, Louisa J. Jones in 1865. Soon he began hewing the timbers and building their new home, moving into it in 1869. They used the handmade mantel from the chief trader’s house, and many of the doors and windows. To them were born six children—five boys and a girl, Barbara, who married Henry J. Austin, one of the early merchants of Newberg. They had two children—Louise Austin of the Friendsview Manor in Newberg and George Kenneth, who with his wife still lives in this house in its park-like setting of stately old black walnut and hickory trees. This grandson was among the first to develop an extensive irrigation project. Today he operates a modern dairy.

Although the house has been remodeled, much of the original handwork can be seen. The broadaxe used to fashion the beams still stands by the fireplace. The original hand-dressed flooring remains in one room nailed with handwrought iron nails. One of the original shingles, hand-split and gently tapered with plane or draw-knife, is preserved.

The family has collected shards of china, pottery, old pipe stems and bowls, and various relics from the site of the old trading post, which portion of the farm was sold many years ago.

To this farm belongs the honor of having reared enterprising citizens from the time Pierre Belleque was appointed as one of the first constables—before the formation of our provisional government—to the present day, when the son of Mr. and Mrs. G. K. Austin aided in the designing of portions of our modern-day missiles.

Champoeg Farm House _Henry Zorn_

The house on Champoeg Farm was built between 1867-70, by John Hoefer and Casper Zorn. It is a combination of southern and western design, a two-story frame building, consisting of fourteen rooms. The structure has a brick pillar foundation and the pillars are covered with zinc sheeting, to protect the sills from moisture. The fir lumber used in the building was produced on the farm and wrought-iron square nails were used in the construction. In the front part of the house the lumber was planed, tongue and groove, by hand.

This building was enlarged in the 1880’s to its present size. In 1896, a bell tower, on the roof at the rear of the house, was added. The bell was to call the farm hands from the field at the noon hour. In the same year, the windmill tower was built.

The house was completely furnished; carpeting with large floral designs, heavy drapes, and such furniture as was in use at that period, along with many pioneer articles.

The house is in the center of the Robert Newell Donation Land Claim, surrounded by about 950 acres of fertile farm and timber land. The name Champoeg Farm was registered June 9, 1913, in the Marion County Clerk’s office, Salem, Oregon. The reason for naming the farm was to give it an identity. The largest Indian village in the Willamette Valley was located here. The French Prairie was known as Champoeg Country. Champoeg District, which extended from the Willamette River to the summit of the Rocky Mountains, was named by the Provisional Government. The first flour mill of 1835, and all succeeding mills were known as the Champoeg mills. The establishment of the first American government on the Pacific Coast occurred here. The townsite of Champoeg was situated on the northwest section of the farm.

There were a number of individuals who had a part in the development of the farm by ownership or otherwise, who made history by their courage and determination and who became useful members of a new state. I am mentioning the names of the most prominent: Robert Newell, Donald Manson, William Bailey, Thomas McKay, William Cannon, John Ball, William Johnson, George Laroque, John Hoefer and Casper Zorn. Personally I have owned the farm over fifty-two years.

John Hoefer sailed from Europe to New Orleans; the voyage took six weeks before arriving. For two years he worked as a cabinet maker and then he came by wagon train to California and thence to Oregon by steamer, coming to the Champoeg district in 1852. After arrival, he worked as a cabinet maker and carpenter, building houses for the settlers.

John Zorn, his two sons, and daughter came from Europe to New York and then to Baraboo, Wisconsin; and after a time, decided the Pacific Northwest was the place to establish their home. They went down the Mississippi River by boat to New Orleans, then by steamer to Panama, across the Isthmus, and then by steamer to California, and from there by steamer to the Oregon country, settling in the Champoeg district in 1854.

John Hoefer married Anne, the daughter of John Zorn. Casper Zorn, the older of the two sons, became a partner of John Hoefer. Adam, being a boy, chored around until he became old enough to go on his own.

Hoefer and Zorn ran the old tavern, where the Hudson’s Bay Company quarters had been. They also had a bowling alley, at the townsite of Champoeg. All their property was lost during the flood of 1861.

On February 3, 1862, Hoefer and Zorn bought the flour and gristmill, which had been damaged by recent flood, repaired it, and operated it for fourteen and one-half years. Then on February 24, 1866, they purchased 146 acres from Robert Newell, and the Champoeg Farm house was built on the present site.

The Old Mission Hospital _Robert Moulton Gatke_

In the late fall of 1834, under heavy rains, Jason Lee and his few co-laborers built the log cabin which was to house the Oregon Indian Mission of the Methodist Church. The crudely built cabin of twenty-by-thirty feet was on the banks of the Willamette River, about ten miles below the present city of Salem. As the mission became an Indian orphanage and school, and its mission workers and their families increased in numbers, the log cabin received additions; and a small colony of cabins serving as homes, utility buildings, and work shops grew. These buildings were swept away by the flood of 1861, almost twenty years after the mission activities had been transferred to the present site of Salem.

Only one building of the old mission structures survived the flood. This was the first frame structure, built in 1838, to house the mission doctor, Elijah White; and later added to, so it could serve as the mission hospital. The site selected for the first frame structure was on higher ground, about a mile east of the mission log buildings on the river bank. The location today is on the Wheatland Ferry Road, about ten miles from Salem, on what is now (1963) known as the Mission Blueberry Farm. Oregon’s oldest frame house is privately owned and occupied, as it has been during most of its century and a quarter of history. When the Old Hospital was first known to the writer, about 1920, it was called the Beers’ house because of its long ownership by the Alanson Beers family. This mission family had originally acquired it from the Oregon Mission, when it closed its Indian Mission in 1844. At the time I first visited the house it was unoccupied and showed considerable neglect. In the years since, it has passed through a succession of owners, most of whom have appreciated its historic significance and kept it in fine repair.

With the arrival of the first reinforcement of mission workers, including the first physician, Dr. White, in 1837, and others in 1838, the living conditions in the old mission quarters were impossibly crowded. In a book published in 1848, based on Dr. Elijah White’s source materials, the writer says: “There was some difficulty in accommodating the new comers, but they were obliged to enter the house with the old inmates, already numerous.... (This) made Mrs. White anxious to remove to their own house, which they did in a few days although it was not fit condition for inhabitants. There was no chimney in it, and but roof enough to cover a bed; a few loose boards for a floor, and one side entirely unenclosed.”

The house was completed as soon as possible. But as there was no suitable stone at hand for the hearth, it was made of clay and ashes “which after drying, became measurably though not perfectly hardened. But one of Mrs. White’s greatest domestic privations was that she could never wash her hearth.”

When the mission carpenters, under W. H. Willson, finished the house, and Mrs. White was settled, she made it a home which won praise from the wife of the Fort Vancouver chaplain, the Rev. Herbert Beaver, when she and her husband visited the Whites. “They were much pleased with everything around them, especially the indoor arrangements. ‘Why, Mrs. White,’ said Mrs. Beaver ‘how nice this is; it looks as though a white woman’s hands had been here. This is the first white woman’s house I have been in since my arrival in this country.’”

Many visitors besides the Beavers stayed at the White home, including Dr. Marcus Whitman, from the American Board Missions; Dr. McLoughlin, and visiting missionaries from the Hawaiian Islands. From the size of the retinue which accompanied Dr. and Mrs. McLoughlin, and the description of their camping equipment, it must have been that they camped near the house while they visited, as the party could never have been housed under its roof.

We have a description of the Mission Hospital, as it was some years after Dr. White’s occupancy, from Lt. Charles Wilkes, a United States government exploring agent, who visited the Willamette Valley in June 1841. “We rode on to the log houses which the Messrs. Lee built when they first settled here. In the neighborhood are the wheelwright’s and blacksmith’s, together with their workshops, belonging to the mission, and about a mile to the east, the hospital, built by Dr. White, who was formerly attached to the mission.”

The History of Wheatland Ferry _Mrs. Ross Rogers_

Wheatland Ferry crossed the Willamette River at a very historical pioneer spot. Jason Lee chose the location for the first Methodist Mission of the valley, a short distance south of the village of Wheatland on the east side of the river. There were no roads, so traveling was by water or horse-back, and the first river crossings were in Indian canoes, with often a horse swimming behind.

In 1837, David Leslie came to help at the Mission, bringing his wife and three daughters. They lived in a log cabin on the west side of the river and crossed to the Mission. By 1840 two more daughters were born. They were the first white children born in Yamhill County. In 1843, Daniel Matheny crossed the plains and took up a donation land claim reaching the river at Wheatland. His family operated a ferry across the river for many years, beginning in flat bottom skiffs, and later with a flat boat for wagons.

Here is a story of pioneer days. Matheny’s oldest son was told by his mother that he was too big to go to Camp Meeting without shoes, so he would have to stay home. This was a sad situation as Camp Meeting was the social event of the year. An Indian woman came to the river and signaled for him to come over to take her across. When he reached her he saw her moccasins and began to bargain for them. At first she shook her head, and he began to empty his pockets. At last she consented and he ran home waving his moccasins.

The land around Wheatland was settled rapidly in the 1840’s, and as wheat was the main export, a warehouse and boat landing were built a quarter of a mile south of the ferry by Miles Hendrick. Wheat was raised on both sides of the river. There is no high ground on the east side of the Willamette river for buildings or boat landings. The first warehouse was built a mile south of Wheatland on a bluff near the west bank of the Willamette river. It went out in the 1890 flood. The other one was built about a quarter of a mile north of Wheatland. After harvest the ferry was busy bringing wheat from across the river to the warehouse to be shipped on river boats.

I remember the ferry in the late 1890’s. It was a thrill to cross the river on it; but as the charge was twenty-five cents one way and forty cents round trip, we didn’t cross often. As children, my cousin and I used to go down and ride across free when the ferry man was taking a wagon. He never refused us and no child drowned from the ferry at that early day.

After the Matheny family moved away, the ferry was owned by John Isham, Bill Isham, Dick Wood, and Lane Davidson. While Davidson ran it, a new ferry boat was built. In the early 1930’s, Clyde Lafollette bought the ferry and built a cabin on the ferry so that his son, Clarence, could sleep there and be ready to take late travelers across. There were current boards on the ferry that made the river current help push it across. If the current wasn’t strong enough, the operator had to help with his own strength. Later Mr. Lafollette put a gasoline engine on the ferry to help while the river was low in the summer time.

In 1937, the communities on each side of the river, backed by Clyde Lafollette, began pressing for a free ferry supported by the two counties it connected. Yamhill and Marion counties took over the ferry that year, hiring two men to run it and keeping it open from six a.m. until five p.m. They installed a new gasoline ferry and, of course, ferry travel increased.

Tom Bowden, who is still working on the ferry, began operating the gasoline ferry in 1940. Other helpers have been Roy Lafollette, George Frauendeiner, Frank Hersha, and Frank’s son, Erwin Hersha is the second operator at the present time. There have been two drownings near the ferry on the Wheatland side; Jackie Worthington in 1941 and Sonny Lindsey in 1947. Both were in their early teens and could swim a little. In 1947, a new electric ferry was built that could handle six cars at a crossing, and in the summer time it was often kept busy. In 1959, the present ferry was purchased. It is an all-steel electric one and handles six large cars.

The Wheatland Ferry is one of the few remaining on the Willamette River. In crossing it, you get a wonderful view both up and down the Willamette. If you enjoy the romance of a ferry, do come and cross the Beautiful Willamette on the Wheatland Ferry.

George Kirby Gay _Lenna J. Wilson_

George Kirby Gay was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1796. Gay went to sea at a very early age as a messboy on a voyage to the South Sea Islands and other foreign ports. He left London on the whaler “Kitty.” Landing in New York, he made his way westward to Missouri, where he joined the Pacific Fur Company as camp-tender. Soon he started the overland trek through the wilderness, arriving at Astoria in 1812. The following year, Gay left Astoria and for years sailed the seas to all parts of the world.

After his seafaring life, he left ship at Monterey, California, and joined a trapping expedition, soon starting overland to reach the Willamette Valley and the Columbia River, knowing, however, white men might be found. He was a survivor of the Rogue River Massacre, finally arriving at Wyeth’s Trading Post on Sauvies Island in August, 1835.

The following year, Gay was one of twenty to make the attempt to stock the country with cattle. A goodly number of Spanish cattle were brought through and the Colony benefited by this first business venture. While driving the herd through the Siskiyou Mountains, the company was ambushed. Gay received a fearful wound from an Indian’s arrow. The Spanish cattle brought from California, enabled Gay to build herds that roamed Yamhill and Polk Counties.

Now, being settled somewhat, he thought of a home in the heart of the green Willamette wilderness. He busied himself with the making of brick from the local clay. Clay dug from a nearby pit was “tramped bare-footed,” molded, and burned into brick on the place. With these first Oregon-made red brick, the first brick house west of the “Rockies” was constructed. As a site for the brick house, Gay selected an elevated location, affording a view in all directions. A two-story home with 14-foot walls, built of brick three courses thick was built. At each end of this home was an inside fireplace two feet deep. Hand-dressed woodwork and particularly the woodwork around the fireplaces, handcarved, bore mute evidence of the taste and patience of the one who dreamed of a mansion on a hill. The south wall was designated in Oregon records as a point in the southern boundary of Yamhill County. Here was the scene of unbounded hospitality.

Gay entertained officers of the U. S. Navy and all officers of the British men-of-war, who were visiting in the Columbia. This home was a resort for any and all travelers and immigrants who sought its shelter. He had many servants. During the 1840’s, this house resounded to discussions about Oregon’s provisional government. Meetings were called in March for the purpose of devising means of protection for the herds and to protect the lives of the settlers. At the March 6, 1843 meeting, Gay was chosen one of a committee of 12 to take into consideration the propriety of taking measures for the civil and military protection of the colony. It was this meeting which promoted the epochal meeting at Champoeg of May 2, 1843.

For 40 years, Gay was esteemed by companions as a rollicking good fellow, whose temperament and adventures were becoming to the sailor, fur trapper, valiant Indian fighter, and frontiersman of the early 19th century. He was not a man to be trifled or fooled with, but a useful member in his community—in short, he undertook any and all irregular sort of business, and few things with him were impossible—all had much confidence in him. A handsome, athletic man of powerful physique, he was kind and gentle in his behavior and always good-natured. He was a fine horseman and an expert with the lasso.

For years he was the wealthiest man in the Willamette Valley, outside of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Like many of the old, generous, and hospitable pioneers, he died poor—in his own home—a remarkable career man. The career of the intrepid George Kirby Gay ended, October 7, 1882.

The Amity Church _Dr. James Matthew Alley_

The Amity Church of Christ was born in a pioneer log cabin about two miles north of present-day Amity in March of 1846. This makes it the oldest Christian Church of the Disciples of Christ, west of the Rocky Mountains.

Elder Amos Harvey, a pioneer of 1845, was the organizer of this congregation of thirteen charter members. In a letter to an Eastern religious journal, he tells of the humble beginning of this congregation in these simple words: “We met, as the disciples anciently did, upon the first day of the week, to break the loaf, to implore the assistance of the Heavenly Father, and to encourage each other in the heavenly way.”

Amos Harvey was born of Pennsylvania Quaker stock. The Revolutionary Battle of Brandywine was fought on his kinsman’s land. When a young man, he married Miss Jane Ramage, a member of the Christian Church, and after their marriage he became a member of the same church. He was the organizer of Bethel College in Polk County, chartered in 1856. He had one of the first fruit nurseries in the Oregon Territory and was one of the first officers of the state horticulture society. He was one of the founders of the Republican party in the state.

The second minister of the Amity Church of Christ was Glen O. Burnett, a pioneer of 1846. Soon after his arrival in the Amity area, we find him busy preaching, baptizing, marrying, and burying the citizens of this area. He performed his first marriage, shortly after his arrival in 1846, in the cabin of Joseph Watt, another pioneer of the Amity community. Elder Burnett was a hard-working circuit rider. He was a close friend of Amos Harvey, and the two of them kept the Amity church alive in its infancy. A great amount of credit goes to the laymen of the Amity church of this period. They were the real leaders of the community, and they in turn supported Harvey and Burnett with all that they had to offer in a material way, which was very little. But what they lacked in material help they made up in their faithfulness to this pioneer church.

The congregation met in the homes of the members until 1849, when a log school house was built in the north end of present-day Amity. A young schoolmaster by the name of Ahio S. Watt named it Amity. And we find that Elder Glen O. Burnett “delivered the principal address when the first school in Amity was opened in the spring of 1849.” The California gold rush took some of the members to the goldfields for a few years. The Indian and Civil wars retarded the progress of the little church. It was not until 1869 or 1870 that it had its first building.