Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/199

 lead, between Powder and Burnt rivers, on the immigrant road, Col. Ruckel invested largely in its development, expending a great amount of money, and the ledge has proved to be a most valuable investment. * * * *

Supplementing the above, the following is extracted from another newspaper writeup given the Colonel:

Prominent as Col. Ruckel has been in Oregon it is not generally known that he was among the earliest American settlers in California. Leaving home in the latter part of 1845 he made the Isthmus and is believed to have been the first civilian who crossed that neck of land and reached Panama. Here he was delayed several weeks and finally went down the coast to Callao where he succeeded in securing passage on the U. S. sloop Preble for San Francisco, then called Yerba Buena. He landed at San Francisco in 1846, a year before the discovery of gold and turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. There he continued with varied success down to 1855 when he removed to Oregon and became a pioneer in the navigation of the Columbia river. With inadequate means he commenced the building of a railway at the Cascades and in the face of difficulties that would have appalled a less determined man, he persevered until the work he had undertaken was completed. During the three years commencing with 1857 he ran a line of steamers from Portland to The Dalles, and through this line laid the basis of his subsequent fortune. In 1860 the various steamboat owners on the river consolidated their interests and formed the O. S. N. Company of which organization he has been a Director since the day of its formation. For the last year he has held the office of President and discharged its duties greatly to the satisfaction of the public. We have here briefly outlined the career of a man who has made his mark on the coast and who will bear with him in his retirement the best wishes of hosts of friends. A man of great energy, he is not less distinguished for his kindness of heart. The poor and distressed have never appealed to him in vain, and the hungry he has never turned away empty. A man of his character can illy be spared from any community. * * *

Captain McFarland of The Dalles, as it would appear in pursuance of an understanding with Ruckel and Van Bergen, began the building of a steamboat above the