History of Portland Oregon

Harvey Whitefield Scott. History of Portland, Oregon: with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers. Portland, Oregon. D. Mason & Company, 1890.

Biographical Sketch of Lars C. Henrichsen

Lars C. Henrichsen, wholesale and retail jeweler, of Portland, was born in Denmark, in 1839. His father was a farmer and he remained at home on the farm until he had reached the age of fifteen years when he went to Apenrade, town of Schleswig, Denmark, to learn the trade of a watchmaker, where he remained for six years. In 1860, he emigrated to America and located in Portland, and after working a short time at his trade, removed to Vancouver where he remained a little more than a year, when he again came to Portland where he has ever … Read more

Biographical Sketch of John Klosterman

John Klosterman, wholesale grocer and commission merchant of Portland, was born in Hoya, Prussia, in 1840. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and also attended an Agricultural College in Eastern Prussia. In 1858 he took charge of an estate for a large land proprietor continuing in such capacity for about ten years. In 1867 he came to America and for the first six months while acquiring the English language worked on a farm in Illinois. He then went to Cariboo, British Columbia and was engaged in prospecting and mining for nearly a year, after which … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Ezra Durand

Ezra Durand was born in Seneca Falls, New York, on March 8, 1833, and is the youngest of a family of thirteen sons and daughters of David and Betsey (Crowell), Durand. His father was a farmer and his early boyhood was passed on a farm. His opportunities for gaining an education were limited to a few winters at the district school. At an early age he left home and went to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he obtained employment in a musical instrument factory. This was followed by similar work in a factory at Norwich, Connecticut. He seemed to have a natural … Read more

Advent of the Missionaries

The Catholic missionaries devoted their time not only to the Indians, but ministered to the Canadian French, who, after leaving the Hudson’s Bay Company, settled in the Willamette Valley and on the Cowlitz. The Willamette Falls was selected by the company in 1829 as a place of settlement for its retired servants. It had previously been the policy of the company not to permit settlements to be made by their servants whose term of service had expired, since they deemed such settlements detrimental to the preservation of the region as a fur producing wilderness. But the company was bound under … Read more

Advent of Ben Holladay

In the meantime work of grading from East Portland to Pudding River was energetically prosecuted, the heavy grading, and certain spots denied right of way being ommitted for the time. The representations of Elliott as to a contract with A. J. Cook and Company, were found to be no longer serviceable. Dr. A. M. Loryea, of East Portland, a bluff; gnarled oak sort of a man, naturally opposite to fine work, then Vice President of the company on his side the river, was allowed to go east on a fruitless search for the contractors, finding them neither east nor west, … Read more