ISHAM E. SALING. – The gentleman whose name appears above is the leading merchant in the thriving city of Weston, Oregon. He came to his position by that firm and steady application to business which is everywhere the guaranty of success.
Mr. Saling is a native of Monroe county, Missouri, and was born in 1830. In 1852 he came to Oregon across the plains. At Salmon Falls on the Snake he exchanged his oxen for horses, packing in from that point to the Jacksonville mines, and remaining in that section until 1855. Coming to Yamhill county he engaged in farming until 1859, when he crossed with his stock into the Walla Walla country. The hard winter of 1863 starving to death many of his cattle, he decided to confine himself to farming. This occupation he followed until 1874, being among the first to prove the fertility of the general upland soil.
In that year he established himself at Weston in the merchandise business, and is now head of the largest business in the county. His other interests are also large. He owns a half interest in the brick hotel, three brick stores, and also the tract known as Saling’s Addition, and a farm of two hundred and thirty acres nearby. With his two sons he has three hundred head of horses and cattle on a place near the Columbia in Washington; and he is also much occupied there with operations in farming.
He was married in 1856 to Miss Melinda Morton of McMinnville. They have eight children. The eldest daughters are now married, and are conducting homes of their own. His sons are in business.
The labors of Mr. Saling and his compeers have even yet but slightly lifted the curtain of the future of the valley of the Columbia and its boundless possibilities. From this starting point, however, for him his children, as well as for many others, has begun a new world.