Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/740



was founded about 1869 by Edwin Russell, proprietor of the iron-works at that place, who failed, and left it just in time for other men to make fortunes out of it.

Sellwood, named after the episcopalian ministers of that name, was laid off in 1882, during the land speculation consequent upon railroad building. St John, six miles below East Portland, is an old settlement, with a few man ufactories. Troutdale, six miles east of Portland, Mount Tabor, Powell Valley, Arthur, Leader, Pleasant Home, Rooster Rock, and Willamette Slough are the lesser settlements of Multnomah county.

Polk county, named after James K. Polk, was organized as a district De cember 22, 1845, and comprised the whole of the territory lying south of Yamhill district and west of a supposed line drawn from the mouth of Yam- hill River to the 42d parallel. Its southern boundary was established in 1847, and its western in 1853, when the counties of Benton and Tillamook were created. Its present area is about 650 square miles, of which over 167,000 acres are improved. The valuation put upon its farms and improvements is over four and a half millions, its live-stock in 1884 was valued at $600,000, and its farm products at $1,200,000. The real and personal property of the county was assessed at a little short of two millions. Population, 7,000. Dallas, on the La Creole River, was named after the vice-president. It was made the county seat in 1850-1, and incorporated in 1874. An act was passed for the relocation of the county c-eat in 1876, but Dallas was again chosen by the popular vote of the county. It is a prettily located town of 700 inhabitants, with a good water-power, several manufactories, and a private academy. Independence, situated on the Willamette River, was incorporated in 1874, has a population of 700, and is a thriving place. Monmouth, the seat of the Christian college, is a flourishing town of 300 inhabitants in a populous precinct. It was founded by S. S. Whitman, T. H. Lucas, A. W. Lucas, J. B. Smith, and Elijah Davidson, for a university town. It was incorporated in 1859. Buena Vista, on the Willamette, had a population of two or three hundred. In it was the chief pottery in Oregon. It was incorporated in 1876. Bethel, Luckiamute, Eola, founded in 1851 by William Durand, Grand Rond, Elk Horn, Brooks, Lincoln, Lewisville, Ballston, Crowley, McCoy, Parker, Perrydale, Zena, and Dixie, are the lesser towns and settle ments of Polk county. The culture of hops in this county assumed consider able importance.

Tillamook county, the Indian appellation given to the bay and river by Lewis and Clarke, was created out of Clatsop, Yamhill, and Polk counties, December 15, 1853. It contains nearly 1,600 square miles. Lumbering and dairying are the chief industries, and little farming is carried on. The value of improvements of this kind is between four and five hundred thousand dol lars. The valuation of real and personal property in the county amounts to less than $100,000.. The county seat is Tillamook, at the head of the bay. The whole white population of the county is less than a thousand, including the towns of Nestockton, Kilchis, Garabaldi, and Nehalem. The Siletz Indian reservation is in the southern end of the county.

Umatilla county, the aboriginal name, was organized September 27, 1862, out of that portion of Wasco county lying between Willow Creek on the west and the summit of the Blue Mountains on the east, and between the Columbia on the north and the ridge dividing the John Day country from the great basin south of it. Its boundaries have since been made more regular, and its present area is 6,500 square miles. There are over 144,000 acres of improved land in the county, valued, with the buildings and fences, at over two and a half million dollars, the farm products a little less than a million, and the live-stock at $1,800,000. The assessed valuation of real and personal property in the county is $2,094,000. Population in 1884, 10,000. Pendleton, the county seat, named after George H. Pendleton, was founded in 1868 by com missioners appointed for the purpose, and incorporated October 23, 1880. It is situated on the Umatilla River, in the midst of a beautiful country, and pn the edge of the reservation of the Umatillas, with whom, as well aa \n