Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/263

Rh Crosby, and named "Milton." But whether the creek gave the name to the town or the town named the creek, Captain Crosby left no clue. It had a sawmill and a small population, and a convenient boat landing, but was finally overshadowed by the next city below—St. Helens—which was founded by Captain Knighton and others in 1845.

It is not hard to understand the fact of so many townsite locations having been made in the vicinity of Portland. Everybody in the country in those pioneer days, could see as well as we can now, that there would be somewhere above the Columbia river bar, a town started which would grow into a great city, and make a fortune or fortunes for the lucky proprietors. Every man had his individual ideas of the proposition. The city would either be at Astoria, where Astor located, or it would be up near the mouth of the Willamette river. It would be wherever the ships cast anchor to discharge cargo. If they did not stop at Astoria, they would sail on up the river until they reached the outlet of the Willamette valley. And every man of much prominence was busily engaged in trying to find the favored spot. It was not even a question of buying the townsite. The whole country was open to location. The land was free. No one knew whether it would be English or American. But it did not cost any money to claim it if the true location could be determined. And so there were, counting in Portland, the ten locations we have named; and the result was a contest for the survival of the fittest; a purely evolutionary movement in commercial developments.

Every townsite proprietor had his unanswerable reasons why his town was the right place for the great city, but not one of them, except Hall J. Kelley, who has not been counted among the competitors, ever supposed there would be a town of more than twenty thousand people. The Oregon City lot holders with Dr. McLoughlin at their head, believed that the great water power for manufactures at that point, and the head of navigation for ocean vessels, would build the city at the falls. Moore and Burns argued that as their side of the river was the best place for the canal and locks and nearer to the Tualitin county farms by a ferry charge, therefore the city would be on the west side of the river opposite Oregon City. They guessed right as to the canal and locks, but missed on the farmers.

The Milwaukee owners claimed that Oregon City was not the head of navigation, because the Clackamas river had dumped a pile of gravel into the Willamette, that ships could not get over, although Captain Couch had once got his ship clear up to the falls on the June freshet. But the gravel argument did finally "sand-bag" the hopes of all the falls people on both sides of the river. But it shut out the two falls towns, it did not help out Milwaukee to any appreciable extent. Milwaukee had its day for several years, and then had to yield to Portland.

St. Johns and Linnton united to decry Portland as the head of navigation, just as Milwaukee had cried down the Willamette falls towns. They pointed out that Swan Island was an impossible barrier to ships from the ocean, and that while they could easily sail right in over the Columbia river bar, and right along up the Columbia to their towns, the ships could never do any business at Vancouver or Portland. And Linnton pointed with pride to the fact that it had three rivers to support its hopes and make sure its prosperity—the Columbia, the Willamette and Willamette slough.

Wyeth's townsite on the end of the nose of Sauvie's Island, was the first aspirant to the honor and profit of the great city; and also the first failure in the race for fame and prosperity. And for the reason that Dr. McLoughlin had apparently transferred all his hopes to Oregon City while still holding Vancouver as a vassal of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the occupier of the most beautiful townsite on the great river. Vancouver was thus practically shut out from any chance to grow as a trade center until after Portland got such a sub-