Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/379



CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 351

But there are other explorers and pioneers of this vast western empire yet to be honored by tributes of enduring form, in manner commensurate with their exploits and their merits; and these contributions may most appropriately come from among the people whose fortunes have been happly di- rected hitherward more or less directly through the adventure and toil, the sagacity and self-sacrifice of these noble and in- trepid pioneers who first tracked the waste of wilderness and desert, and supplied to their countrymen the knowledge of the magnificent domain which is now peopled by the most enterpris- ing of their race, and has before it the promise of that still greater development which is so certain in the course of time to be fulfilled in its ultimate grandeur and glory ; when the many States of the Pacific shall be densely populated, and shall out- rank all others of the Union in the leading elements of pros- perity and wealth; and when San Francisco shall become the unrivaled possessor of the rich and enormous traffic of the Indies and China, together with that of the great island continent and the many islands of the broad Pacific.

In this spirit of the performance of this grateful duty, within the measure of the ability of the writer, this sketch of one conspicuous in his lifetime among these early explorers and pioneers is presented.

suspend for want of patronage. On August i4th, following, Mr. O'Meara, asso- ciated with a man named Pomeroy, issued the Southern Oregon Gazette. This paper was so denunciatory of the government that it was denied the privilege of the United States mails, and hence was compelled to suspend in a few months. After that Mr. O'Meara's' editorial services were confined for nearly two years to the Review at Eugene and the State's Rights Democrat at Albany, during which time he kept his remarks within due bounds.

The mining excitement in Idaho Territory in 1862-63 drew him to that section some time in the latter year, and he found employment as the editor of the Idaho World. During this time he was an important factor in the political affairs of that territory, and met a good many acquaintances of the early fifties in California.

About 1869 he returned to California and renewed his acquaintance with Ben Holladay who by this time was engaged in railroad operations in Oregon. In his characteristic manner he impressed Mr. Holladay with the need of an organ in Portland to advance his interests, notably in connection with political operations. This resulted in the establishment of the Oregon Bulletin, issued July 18, 1870, as an ostensibly Republican paper, and an ardent supporter of the political fortunes of John H. Mitchell.

After severing his connection with the Bulletin in 1875 Mr. O'Meara edited the Evening Journal in Portland for a few months, and then went to California. In 1887 he returned to Portland once more and edited the Daily News nearly two years. Then he returned to California, where he spent the remainder of his life preparing historical articles for the San Francisco Examiner and Argonaut and the Californian, an illustrated monthly which appeared for the first time in Decem- ber, 1891. He died January 23, 1903.

He was married in Salem, Oregon, to Miss Fanny Davidson, a pioneer of 1847, on September 5, 1860, who bore him two children, a son and a daughter, and the latter was a teacher in the public schools of Santa Rosa for many years.