Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/732

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people of this small town have attempted to change its name, but without success. An act was passed by the legislature in 1858 to change it to Napo leon a questionable improvement. Or. Laws, 1858-9, 91. It was changed back by the legislature of 1860. Or. Jour. Sen., 1860, 68. The question of whether the county seat should be at Wilderville or Kirby ville was put to vote by the people in 1876, and resulted in a majority for Kirby ville. Or. Jour. House. It retains not only its original appellation, but the honor of being the capital of the county. The towns of Althouse, Applegate, Waldo, Slate Creek, Murphy, Galice, and Lelaud are contemporaries of the county seat, having all been mining camps from 1852 to the present. Lucky Queen is more modern.

Klamath county, the name being of aboriginal origin, was established October 7, 1882, out of the western part of Lake county, which was made out of that part of Jackson county which was taken from the south end of Wasco county. It contains 5,544 square miles, including the military reservation and the Klamath Indian reservation. The recent date of the division of ter ritory leaves out statistical information. The altitude of the country on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains makes this a grazing rather than an agri cultural county, although the soil is good and the cereals do well, excepting Indian corn. Link ville, situated on Link River, between the Klamath lakes, was founded by George Nourse, a sutler from Fort Klamath, about 1871, who built a bridge over the stream and a hotel on the east side, and so fixed the nucleus of the first town in the country. It is the county seat and a thriving business centre. Nourse planted the first fruit-trees in the Klamath country, which in 1873 were doing well. It contains the minor settlements of Fort Klamath, Klamath Agency, Langell, Bonanza, Mergauser, Yainax, Tule Lake, and Sprague River.

Simpson Wilson, born in Yamhill co. in 1849, is a son of Thomas A. Wil son, who migrated to Oregon in 1847. Father and son removed to Langell Valley, in what is now Klamath co., in 1870, to engage in stock-raising. Simp son Wilson married, on the 16th of July, 1871, at Linkville, Nancy Ellen Hall, who came across the plains with her parents from Iowa, in 1858. This was the first marriage celebrated in Klamath co. They have 2 sons and 3 daugh ters,

John T. Fulkerson was born in Williams co., Ohio, in 1840, his parents having migrated from N. Y. in their youth. In 1860 John T. joined a train of Arkansas emigi-ants under Captain Joseph Lane, migrating to Cal. and set tling in the San Joaquin Valley, where he remained until 1865, when he re moved to Jackson co., Oregon, and in 1867 to Laugell Valley, being one of the earliest settlers of this region, then still a part of Jackson co. He mar ried, in 1866, Ellen E. Hyatt, formerly of Iowa, who in crossing the plains a few years previous lost her mother and grandmother. They have 4 sons and 3 daughters.

Jonathan Howell, born in Guilford co., N. C., in 1828, and brought up in 111. He came to Cal. in 1850, overland, and located in Mariposa co., residing there and in Merced and Tulare 9 years, after w Inch he returned to the east and remained until 1876, living in several states during that time. When he returned to the Pacific coast it was to Rogue River Valley that he came, re moving soon after to the Klamath basin, and settling near the town of Bo nanza. He married, in 1860, Susanna Statsman, born in Schuyler co., 111. They have living, 2 sons and 1 daughter.

Thomas Jefferson Goodwyn, born in Suffolk co., England, in 1846, went to Australia in 1864, and from there migrated to Oregon ten years later, settling at Bonanza. He married Genevieve Roberts of Jackson co., in 1881, and has 2 sons and 2 daughters.

John McCurdy, born in Pugh co., Va, in 1836, and reared in 111. ; migrated to Portland, Oregon, in 1864, where he chiefly resided until 1880, when he settled in Alkali Valley, Klamath co. He married Frances M. Thomas of McDonough co., 111., in 1857. They had 2 sons and 1 daughter, when in im migrating hia wife died, and was buried in the Bitter Root Mounta