Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/388

 346 JOHN TILSON GANOE • m«1 «tt* 1 f|I Then again, going directly to Barry's report, we find: "It is claimed by some of the citizens of Eugene City, that by surveying a line through the Applegate Pass, I  have avoided their town and the whole of the upper end  of the Willamette valley, all of which they claim resulted from getting into the wrong pass. Whatever  may have been the effect of doing so, I certainly had no such object in view. It was neither my desire nor purpose to run to or avoid any particular town, but to discover the nearest and best route for the projected road. Having last year surveyed the line through the Pass  Creek Pass and down the Willamette through Eugene to Corvallis, and having all the field notes and maps of that survey in my possession, I could have no object in going over the same ground again, especially when the friends of a new route were clamoring for an examination of its claims."

Again, further along, he says, "Mr. Elliott recommended the line passing through the Pass Creek Pass (and at that time he was unaware of the existence of the Applegate Pass) down the Willamette river, through Eugene City, crossing the Willamette at Corvallis, then in nearly a direct line through Albany, Salem, Oregon City and on to Portland."

We see then that in October, 1863, Elliott had practically completed his survey. By Jan. 30, 1864, the survey had been completed to Portland. Barry did not complete his until October, 1864, so it must have been someone else. Barry recognized the fact in his survey that Elliott had advocated the line on the East side of the river and since during the intervening years between the time when Elliott withdrew from the party and the time he published his report to the California and Oregon Railroad Company, there is no record of Elliott making a survey, we can only conclude that the report of Elliott, published in 1865, is on the preliminary survey completed in 1863, and thus precedes the Barry survey.