History

Humboldt Basin

The first discovery of gold in Mormon Basin was made by some men from Humboldt River Nevada. They had been to the Auburn mines, and like many others, became discouraged at first sight of the country and were on their way home again when they made their discovery. Charles Stubley dug the first ditch from Glengary gulch to Sunburnt flat. Mr. Ingraham came to the camp January 2, 1863, and got an interest in some claims where he and two others did the first sluicing in the spring of ’63, taking out $65 per day per man. Mr. Getchell made … Read more

Arrivals, Incidents and Anecdotes of Baker County Oregon

Joseph Kinnison came to Powder River valley in July and took up a ranch where he has ever since resided. To him belongs the honor of plowing the first furrow ever turned in Baker County. In the spring of 1863 he had about forty acres in cultivation. About the first of June there was a severe frost and all growing vegetables seemed to be thoroughly frozen. Mr. Kinnison offered to take fifty dollars for his crop but found no buyer. He was most agreeably surprised to find, when the frost was gone, that no serious damage had been done, and … Read more

Public Schools of Baker County Oregon

It is much to be regretted that all records of matters pertaining to public schools during the first years of the settlement of the county, have been lost. All that can be done now is to record such matters as may be remembered by those who were engaged in school affairs in those days, as teachers or otherwise. As stated elsewhere, Mrs. Packwood taught the first school in the county, at Auburn, in the fall of 1862. Soon after her arrival she engaged in the work of raising money for the purpose of building a schoolhouse, and in a short … Read more

Early Education in Baker County Oregon

Permanent among the educational institutions of Baker County is the Baker City Normal and Business College which has just finished its sixth year of usefulness. This school of education for business pursuits and the preparation of persons for the teaching profession, was organized January 10, 1887, by Mr. C. H. Whitney, a graduate of the National Business College. At first the branches taught included single and double entry bookkeeping, business penmanship, commercial arithmetic, business correspondence, etc. together with an actual business department in which the student received practical instruction in the branches passed over in theory. During the autumn of … Read more

Pioneers of Baker County Oregon

One of Baker County’s early pioneers and daring Indian scouts was C. C. Davis, better known, perhaps, as Lum Davis. Mr. Davis was born in Greencastle, Putman County, Ind., February 20, 1836. When quite young he moved with his parents to Iowa and in 1862 came to Baker County, Oregon. Went to Portland in the winter and returned in ’63 and spent part of the summer on Burnt river; and back to Snake river in the fall. For some years Mr. Davis spent most of his time at Rye Valley and Mormon Basin, mining part of the time and part … Read more

Auburn Oregon Catholic Church

As stated elsewhere, the first church established in Baker was the Catholic Church, organized at Auburn in 1862 by Father Mesplie. On that first visit he solemnized the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Packwood, the second event of the kind in the county, that of Mr. and Mrs. Hall a short time before being the first. Father Deilman came over from Canyon City to Auburn at intervals afterward and held services but there was never any resident priest at the town. Father Deilman got lost on one of his trips, and wandered in the mountains three days with nothing to … Read more

Burnt River Ditch

In 1863, some work was done on a ditch which had been surveyed from Clarks Creek mines to Burnt River, and the next year a company was incorporated to prosecute the work, under the name of the Burnt River Ditch company, W. H. Packwood, Jasper Hall, Robert Kitchen and Lamar stockholders. There was not much done towards constructing the ditch, however, until 1867, when the matter came up again on a proposition to build a ditch to convey water to the Shasta district, and the work was begun, eleven miles being dug that season. The next year, 1868, it was … Read more

Quartz Mining, Baker County Oregon

About two thousand claims on quartz lodes have been recorded in Baker County since 1862. More or less development work has been done on most of them, perhaps one half of them having been worked to the extent which the law requires in order to make the claim secure. Nineteen quartz mills have been built, ranging in capacity from two to sixty tons per day. The first one built was the Ruckles mill at Baker City, which was put in operation in 1864. The mill was run by waterpower, and was built to work the ore from what was then … Read more

Gold Discovery on Giffin’s Gulch

A little more than thirty-one years have passed away since the first discovery of gold on Griffin’s Gulch an event which led to the first permanent settlement in Eastern Oregon southwest of the blue mountains. Many of the pioneers of thirty years ago are still living, but their number is growing less year after year, and soon there will be no living witness to the stirring events. The toils, hardships and adventures of those gold seekers who first made known the resources of the country. True, the old emigrant road passes through Powder river valley, and most of the early … Read more

Baker City, Baker County Oregon History

Baker City In the month of August 1864, R. A. Pierce laid claim to the SE ¼ of Sec. 17, Tp. 9. S. 40, east of the Willamette meridian, and proceeded in 1865 to get a title to the same from the state. He built a house west of where the court house now stands, and early in the spring of 1865 laid off the SE quarter of the quarter section for a town site, which he named Baker, but somehow people would call it Baker City and that became the adopted name. Mr. Fisher owned the land east of … Read more

St. Stephens Episcopal Church, Baker County, Oregon

The first service of the Episcopal Church held in Baker City was by the Rt. Rev. R. W. Morris, D.D., June 5, 1870. The bishop found two communicants, in the city, Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Henderson. Finding that there was a sentiment favorable to the enterprise of building a church a subscription paper was circulated and the sum of $900 was pledged for a building fund. That amount not being sufficient for the purpose, the matter rested for a time. In June 1873, at the request of Bishop Morris, Rev. R. D. Nevius took charge of the mission in Grande … Read more

Baker Valley Oregon Churches

Ministers of various denominations visited Baker County and held meetings at different places, but no one was a resident minister within the county prior to 1868. The Rev. Ellsworth, of La Grande, came to Powder River Valley frequently in 1864-5, and later Elder Newton of the Methodist church, south, held meetings, frequently at Auburn and in the valley. The Rev. Koger of the Baptist church preached at Wingville a number of times, but the Methodist Episcopal church was the first to appoint a resident pastor and hold regular services. The following sketch of the work of the church was kindly … Read more

Baker County Oregon Sketches

Sydney Abell, Justice of the Peace opened the first legally constituted court in Baker County, October 29th 1862. The first case was that of the people vs. D. Scott, action to bind defendant to keep the peace, entered on complaint of Thomas Ricketts. The prosecuting witness failed to appear and the case was dismissed. Of the thirty-two cases docketed up to January 1st, 1863, there were four of the kind above cited, three suits about town lots in Auburn, Fifteen to recover money, five replevin cases, one unlawful detention, one felonious intent to cheat, one petty larceny, one assault and … Read more

Incidents in Pioneer Days in Baker County, Oregon

People who come to the Pacific States in palace cars, making the trip in four or five days, can have but a faint conception of the toils and hardships endured by those who crossed the plains with teams before the advent of railroads. Experience would also be necessary, perhaps, to enable one to fully appreciate the humorous phases of the journey; but doubtless scores of old pioneers have smiled at sight of a certain paper which was posted on a tree by the side of the trail between Elk creek and Auburn in the fall of ’62, for it could … Read more

Events in Baker County, Oregon History

Most of the miners about Auburn, and throughout the country also, during the first years of the development of the mining business, were Californians, and that there was a difference betwixt them and Oregonians at that time, was apparent to any one who met a considerable number of persons from each of the two states. It seems remarkable that such a difference should exist between the people of two adjoining states which had been settled by immigrants from the same sections of the country east of the Missouri river, and that settlement, too, of so recent date that the youths … Read more

Rye Valley Oregon

Joseph Benoit and Charles Van Clay discovered gold in Rye Valley in the spring of 1863 and laid a claim on the waters of Dixie creek and begun digging a ditch. They went over to Mormon Basin and offered Mr. Ingraham an interest in their discovery which he declined, thinking he had a better prospect in the Basin. In 1864, Russell and Archambeau owned the ditch which conveyed water to the lower portion of the diggings. In that year Walter Fernald, J. C. Powers, and Joseph Yowell went over to the camp from Mormon Basin and Fernald, Powers and Odell … Read more

History of Mathew Gray Post – Grand Army of the Republic

This was organized in the fall of 1881 with 27 charter members. The final membership reached 127. It lasted until the last member, James Deal, died in 1930. The post was given its name in honor of Matthew Gray, a highly respected soldier who had died just before the organization. For many years, the Mathew Gray Post was very active and great enthusiasm was displayed in the observance of Decoration Day and the Fourth of July. Each year on those days, the Civil War Veterans would dress in their blue uniforms, one carrying a large flag and the rest a … Read more

From Subjects To Citizens

Little wonder that it is said the Creoles wept as they stood on the Place d’Armes and saw the standard of a people, whose national existence was a mere twenty-years’ experiment, taking the place of that tricolor on which perched the glory of a regenerated France. On that very spot some of them had taken part in the armed repudiation of the first cession. The two attitudes and the two events differed alike. The earlier transfer had come loaded with drawbacks and tyrannous exactions; the latter came freighted with long-coveted benefits and with some of the dearest rights of man. … Read more

The Battle of New Orleans

Once more the Creoles sang the “Marseillaise.” The invaders hovering along the marshy shores of Lake Borgne were fourteen thousand strong. Sir Edward Packenham, brother-in-law to the Duke of Wellington, and a gallant captain, was destined to lead them. Gibbs, Lambert, and Kean were his generals of division. As to Jackson, thirty-seven hundred Tennesseeans under Generals Coffee and Carroll, had, when it was near Christmas, given him a total of but six thousand men. Yet confidence, animation, concord, and even gaiety, filled the hearts of the mercurial people. “The citizens,” says the eye-witness, Latour, “were preparing for battle as cheerfully … Read more

Why Not Bigger Than London

The great Creole city’s geographical position has always dazzled every eye except the cold, coy scrutiny of capital. “The position of New Orleans,” said President Jefferson in 1804, “certainly destines it to be the greatest city the world has ever seen.” He excepted neither Rouge nor Babylon. Put man’s most positive predictions are based upon contingencies; one unforeseen victory over nature bowls them down; the seeming certainties of tomorrow are changed to the opposite certainties of today; deserts become gardens, gardens cities, and older cities the haunts of bats and foxes. When the early Kentuckian and Ohioan accepted nature’s highway … Read more