Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/455

Rh for; The Pacific Mail Steamship Company procured the removal of the distributing office for Oregon from Astoria to San Francisco about 1853, as I have before mentioned, causing confusion and delay in the receipt of mails, the clerks in San Francisco being ignorant of the geography of Oregon, and the system being obnoxious for other reasons. A mail arrived after the ordinary delay at Oregon City, Dec. 21st, and lay there until Jan. 1st, with no one to attend to forwarding the mail-bags to their proper destinations up the valley. Such was the state of things in 1856. The legislature petitioned and remonstrated. In 1857, when Lane was in Oregon and was re-elected to congress, he gave as a reason for not having secured a better mail service that the republicans had a majority in congress, when this same republican congress had appropriated $500,000 for an overland mail to California, which was intended to operate as an opening wedge to the Pacific railroad; but the democrats, by way of favoring the south, succeeded in establishing the overland mail route by the way of El Paso in Mexico. A contract was concluded about the same time with the P. M. S. S. Co. for carrying mails between Panamá and Astoria, for $248,250 per annum, and the service by sea was somewhat improved, although still very imperfect. In the mean time the overland mail to California was established, the first coach leaving St Louis Feb. 16, 1858. It was some months before it was established, the second arriving at San Francisco in October, and the first from San Francisco arriving at Jefferson, Missouri, Oct. 9th, with six passengers, in 23 days 4 hours. This was quicker time than the steamers made, and being more frequently repeated was a great gain in communication with the east for California, and indirectly benefited Oregon, though Oregon could still only get letters twice a month.

Before 1857 there was no line of passenger coaches anywhere in Oregon. One Concord coach owned by Charles Rae was the only stage in the Willamette from 1853 to 1855. A stage line from Portland to Salem was put on the road in 1857, making the journey, 50 miles, in one day. In 1859, a mail and passenger coach ran once a week from Salem to Eugene, and from Eugene to Jacksonville. Weekly and semi-weekly mails had been carried to the towns on the west side of the valley, Hillsboro, Lafayette, Dallas, and Corvallis; but the post-office department in 1860 ordered this service to be reduced to a bi-monthly one, and that the mail should be carried but once a week to Jacksonville and the towns on the way. 'If Lane keeps on helping us,' said the Argus, 'we shall soon have a monthly mail carried on foot or in a canoe.' On the other hand, the people were clamoring for a daily mail from Portland to Jacksonville, with little prospect of getting it until the California Stage Company interposed with a proposition to the postal department to carry the mail daily overland to Oregon. This company, formed in 1853 by the consolidation of the various stage lines in California, had a capital stock of $1,000,000 to begin with, including 750 horses and covering 450 miles of road. James Birch, president, was the first advocate in Washington of the overland mail to the east, and by his persistence it was secured. In 1859–60 the vice-president, F. L. Stevens, urged upon the department the importance of a daily mail line overland from S. F. to Portland, and succeeded in gaining his point and the contract. In June 1860 the California company placed its stock on the road as far north as Oakland, connecting there with Chase's line to Corvallis, which again connected with the Oregon Stage Company's line to Portland, making a through line to Sacramento in October. It required a considerable outlay to put the road in repair for making regular time, and at the best, winter travel was often interrupted or delayed. Then came the great flood of 1861–2, which carried away almost all the bridges on and the Oregon delegate was instructed to ask for land offices to be opened at Jacksonville and The Dalles, for the survey of a portion of eastern Oregon, and for the establishment of an Indian agency and