Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/75

 EARLY SOUTHERN OREGON 63 now forming a part of Josephine County. It was made by a party of sailors, from which in early days the place was known as Sailors' Diggings, but later on as Waldo. It became a prosperous town, and is still the center of many well known and very rich placer mines. It was not long before other discoveries were made in other parts of the same region, and which have made Josephine one of the richest mining counties in the state. So important in 1852 had the shipping of Scottsburg be- come to Southern Oregon and Northern California that often as many as 500 pack mules in one day awaited supplies for the mines, and the United! States Government in that year was induced to provide for the construction of a Military Wagon Road beginning there and extending through to Camp Stewart, following closely the old trail. Congress appropriated $120,- 000 for the work, and it was placed under the superintendency of Col. Joseph Hooker, afterwards the great Union General in the Civil War, and known as "Fighting Joe Hooker of Look- out Mountain." This further greatly aided in the increase of population and prosperity of entire Southern Oregon. Ashland! was that year located by R. B. Hargadine. Thus far in serial order the finding and material develop- ment of Southern Oregon has been followed by its pioneer history. To review in conclusion the desperate struggles of the aborigines to retain possession of their ancestral inheritance would require space not permitted here. Reference has already been made to occasional hostilities at various times and places prior to 1852, but it was not until 1853, after increased white arrivals were tempted by exploita- tion and gold discoveries and with actual appropriation of the Indian land's for permanent homes, that occasional resistance turned to continuous and aggressive warfare. A compact for this purpose was entered into between the hostiles and including those east of the Cascades. It was to have been a war of extermination. It began in most united