Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 4.djvu/147

Rh and in wealth, as many of the supplies were drawn from the town.

The school census for the years 1859-70 shows a steady growth in population brought about by the establishment of new enterprises, the settlement of the country tributary to the town, and the increase in amount of shipping from the Columbia River, especially the establishment of a regular line of steamers from Portland and Astoria to San Francisco. In 1865 Christian Leinweber started the Upper Astoria tannery which gave employment to about thirty persons. In 1867 what was afterwards known as the Hume mill was built near Thirteenth and Commercial streets and was one of the city's most important resources until its destruction by fire in 1883.

In 1867 Judge Cyrus Olney, who had succeeded to the claim of John McClure, formulated a plan to dispose of a part of this property at a uniform price per lot. This plan was known, locally, as the Olney lottery. Tickets were sold for $50 each, entitling the holder to a lot in the city and a chance to draw the "grand prize," which consisted of two lots and a house, the property now owned and occupied by Louis Kirchoff and situated on Twelfth Street, between Exchange Street and Franklin Avenue. The other lots were situated in different parts of McClure's Astoria. The plan then amounted to this: each ticket entitled the holder to a lot, though the location was a matter of chance, and a chance to win two lots and a house. Many lots were disposed of by means of this lottery.

By 1870 the population of the town had increased to six hundred and thirty-nine, and the population of Clatsop County had increased from four hundred and sixty-two in 1850 to one thousand two hundred and fifty-five in 1870. Small sailing vessels and steamboats were run-