Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/336

326 Marion County; J. H. Douthitt, of Linn County; F. A. Chenowith and Greenbury Smith, of Benton County; S. Ellsworth and J. H. D. Henderson, of Lane County; Stephen F. Chadwick, of Umpqua County; John E. Ross, of Jackson County; A. F. Hedges and A. L. Lovejoy, of Clackamas County, and S. B. Parrish, of Multnomah County; while the directors of the Oregon Central Company were J. B. Underwood, of Lane County; Wm. T. Newby, of Yamhill County; Thos. R. Cornelius, of Washington County; and John C. Ainsworth and Joseph Gaston, of Multnomah County. It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to testify to the public spirit and high character of these men who have passed away, and who in their day did their whole duty in unselfish labors to lay deep and broad the sure foundation of civic institutions and commercial prosperity for the State of Oregon; and while it was true that $50,000 of the preferred stock referred to was issued and deposited in the safe of E. N. Cooke, of Salem, for each one of the east side directors in pursuance of the scheme of Elliott, it is gratifying to know that not a man of them ever accepted a dollar of it, and could never be used by Holladay to promote or approve his questionable methods, and who for that reason, when he organized his new company were all left out of it. As the railroad could not be located on both sides of the Willamette River, it was inevitable that there should be a contest for the franchise and the land grant which accompanied it; and now, when the bitterness engendered by the contention has long since passed away and been forgotten, and both sides of the Willamette Valley have secured through the labors of those pioneers in public works all the benefits of railroad transportation, their places in the historical record of the state may be clearly denned, arid the legend end with, "Well done, good and faithful servants." JOSEPH GASTON.