Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/388

 CHAPTER XVI.

1863—1910.

The city of Portland being the railroad center and railway exchange not only of the state of Oregon, but also of the three states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, the history of the railway system which converges to this point is a material and important part of the history of the city.

The first steps to build a railroad in the state of Oregon, followed up by connected and continuous efforts and organization, were taken at Jacksonville in Jackson county, in October, 1863. Sporadic meetings had been held and corporations formed prior to that time in several places in the Willamette valley proposing to build railways, but nothing had resulted but talk not worth recording. That the first substantial effort to develop the state by railroad transportation should have taken form at a small interior town three hundred miles from a reliable seaport is quite remarkable, but not unreasonable. Jacksonville was the county seat and trade center of the beautiful Rogue River valley, which has been more benefited by railroad transportation than any other community between the Columbia river and San Francisco bay. Steamboats could run up the Sacramento river one hundred and fifty miles from San Francisco; and other boats could get up the Willamette river one hundred and twenty-five miles from the ship landing to Eugene; and teams, pack trains, and stage lines could serve a limited trade and population in all the region on the north and south route between these river boat termini. But limited to these pioneer transportation facilities, the trade and population of all this region must forever stand still. There are in what is known as the "Rogue River valley," of which Jacksonville, Ashland, Talent, Medford and Gold Hill are trading points, about a million and a quarter acres of fine agricultural, timber, mineral and grazing lands, and of which in 1863, not more than one-tenth had been taken up by actual settlers. The pioneer farmers saw the necessity and the immense benefits to be gained from a railroad which should pass through their valley from