Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/183



The Pioneer Stimulus of Gold 155

came a growing utility in British Columbia.*® The livestock industry grew ahead of farming in the interior country. Large shipments by sea went from Columbia River to Victoria and Fraser River. Cattle and horses were taken up the Columbia River to Idaho and British Columbia, or driven across the Cascade Mountains.^ Ocean ships, bearing cargoes for the needs of the fast-growing population, took return cargoes of lumber, wool, hides, potatoes and grain. Beginnings of iron smelting were made at Oswego, near Portland, in 1866.*^

The need of supplies for prospectors and miners far inland from centers of production and transit, produced large means of transportation. The great highway, the most practicable one, was the Columbia River. A heavy traffic gravitated to this highway, and was monopolized by one transportation com- pany.*® Long lines of transport, by river steamboats, freight wagons and pack animals, led to the interior country from Columbia River, Fraser River, Missouri River, via Fort Bent<m, Sacramento River, and the Old Oregon Trail. Fast and beau- tiful steamboats plied the waters of Columbia and Fraser rivers. More business offered in the rush seasons of 1861-63 than the boats of Columbia River could carry.*'' This traffic formed the basis of the original stockholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, which continues to the present time, and has greatly multiplied in recent years. Some of the most sub- stanial fortunes were then founded, including those of Robert R. Thompson, John C. Ains worth (Sr.), William S. Ladd, Jacob Kamm and Simeon G. Reed. The rush to Idaho, as chronicled in 1861-64, exceeded in eagerness and volume any mining rush

^3 For srrowth of agriculture in British Columbia, see Howay's British Co- lumbia, op. 590-60^.

44 See Trimble's Mining Advance, pp. 107-8.

45 The Oregon Iron Company. The plant continued work spasmodically until 1885. The town, Oswego, was platted in 1867. See Tfu Oreganian, February a8, 1865; August 22, 1866; August 27j 1867.

a6 The Oregon Steam Navigation Company. For history of this company, see the Quarterly, vol. v, pp. 120-32, by P. W. Gillette; vol. ix, pp. 274*94> by Irene Lincoln Poppleton •

47 For descnption of Columbia River transportation in 1861, see The Orego- MioMv May 27. 20, 30, June s, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 1861. The press of business is narrated by P. W. uillette in the Quarterly, vol. v, pp. 125-28. "At Portland the rush of freight to the docks was so great that drays and trucks had to form and stand in line to get their turn in delivering their goods" {ibid., p. 128). See also, ibid., vol. ix, pp. 274-79, by Irene Lincoln Poppleton.