Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/754



day for several months, but the returns not being satisfactory, they were closed, and the manufacture was never resumed. The salt made at these works granulated in about the fineness used in salting butter, for which pur pose, and for curing meats, it was superior to any in the market, being abso lutely pure, as was proved by chemical tests. A sample of it was taken to the Paris exposition by Blake, one of the California commissioners. Henry C. Victor was born Oct. 11, 1828, in Pennsylvania. His parents removed to Sandusky, Ohio, in his boyhood, and he was educated at an academy in Norwalk. He studied naval engineering, and entered the service of the U. S. about the time Perry s expedition was fitting for Japan, and sailed in the San Jacinto. He was in Chinese waters at the time of the opium war with the English, and distinguished himself at the taking of the Barriere forts, be coming a favorite with Sir John Bowering, with whom he afterward corre sponded. After three years in Asiatic ports, he returned to the U. S. and was soon after sent to the coast of Africa. The locality and the time suggested controversies on the slavery question and slave-trade. Victor was in opposi tion to some of the officers from the southern states, and in a controversy in which a southerner was very insulting, gave his superior officer a blow. For this offense he was suspended, and sent home. Shortly after being restored to service came the war for the union, and he was assigned to duty in the blockading squadron before Charleston. In February 1863 he brought the splendid prize, Princess Royal, to Philadelphia; shortly after which he was ordered to the Pacific. While cruising along the Mexican coast, fever pros trated a large portion of the crew, Victor among the rest, who, having had the dangerous African fever, was tmfitted by it for duty, and resigned. While at Manzanillo he made a survey of the lake extending from this port toward the city of Colima, which becomes dry at some seasons and breeds pestilence, with a view to cutting a canal to the sea and letting in the salt water. Selim E. Woodworth of S. F. joined with him and several others in forming a company for this work. An agent was employed to visit the city of Mexico, and get the consent of the government to the scheme. Permission was obtained, but the vessel being soon after brought to S. F. with a disabled crew, and Victor s resignation following, put an end to the canal scheme, so far as its projectors were concerned. The year following, 1864, Victor went to Oregon and engaged in several enterprises, chiefly concerning coal and salt. Like many others, they were premature. Mr Victor perished with the foundering of the steamer Pacific, in November 1875, in company with about 300 others. His wife was Frances Fuller, whose writings are quoted in my work.

Paper, of a coarse quality, was first made at Oregon City in 1867, but the building erected proved to be not adapted to the business, and was sold for a flouring mill after running one year. Buck s Enterprises, MS., 4-5. The originator of the enterprise, W. W. Buck, then built another mill, Math capital furnished by the publisher of the Oreyonian, and was successful, manufacturing printing and wrapping paper, which was all consumed in and about Portland. Wash s Or., 225; Adams Or., 31; Hittell s Resources, 636.

The production of turpentine was commenced at Portland in 1863, by T. A. Wood. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1864, after which this article was wholly imported, although the fir timber of Oregon afforded immense quantities of the raw material, many old trees having deposits an inch or more in thickness extending for twenty feet between layers of growth. But the high price of labor on the Pacific coast at the period mentioned was adverse to its manufacture, and the close of the civil war, allowing North Carolina to resume trade with the other states, brought down the price below the cost of production in Oregon.

Pottery began to be manufactured at Buena Vista about 1865, from clay found at that place. For several years the business languished, the proprietor, A. N. Smith, being unable to introduce his goods into general use. Subse quently, however, the Buena Vista works employed over fifty men, and fur nished all descriptions of stonewaie, fire-brick, sewer-pipes, and garden -